USE AND IMPORTANCE OF DOCTRINE        GEORGE DE CHARMS       1943


January, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.


The Use and Importance of Doctrine.
     Address at District Assemblies
          George de Charms 1
Baptism.
     A Sermon on the Text of John 3:5
          Ormond deC. Odhner 9
The Hope of the New Year
     Sydney B. Childs 17
The Rod of Iron.
     Charter Day Address, 1942
          Norman H. Reuter 21
Obituary.
     Alfred Godfrey - J. S. Pryke 28
     Frank Wilde - William Whitehead 30
Editorial Department.
     An Australian Book Room     32
     South African Mission Magazine     34
     Mission News     35

Military Service Committee.
     Roll of Honor     37
     Our Men and Women in the Services      37
     Extracts from Letters     39
Church News     41
Announcements.
     Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths     47
     New Editions     48

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February, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH IMMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

Swedenborg's Birthday in February
     Alec McQueen     49
Genuine Charity Toward Enemies
     T. C. R. 407.     51
Peace and the Sword.
     Evangelical Sermon on Matt. 10:34
          Martin Pryke     52
The Miracles of the Word
     W. Cairns Henderson     58
The Support of Church Uses
     Charles G. Merrell      68
Editorial Department.
     Early Days at Colchester          71
     "Go up, thou bald head!"     G. A. McQueen     72
     A Missionary Leaflet          75
     Man's Duty to Fight          76
     Hatred of Evil          77
Reports.
     Canadian Northwest     Elmo C. Acton     80
     In the Southland     Bjorn A. H. Boyesen     85
Military Service Committee.
     Roll of Honor          88
     Our Men and Women in the Services          88
     Notes by the Committee          90
Church News          92
Announcements          96

March, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.


The Divine Answer.
     A Sermon on the Text of Psalm 99:8
          Norbert H. Rogers 97
The Triumphal Entry.
     A Palm Sunday Address
          Hugo Lj. Odhner 103
Baptism and the Holy Supper
     Two Gates to the Mind and the Two Sacraments.
          E. E. Iungerich 110
Brought to the Light
     How I Came to a Knowledge of the Doctrines.
          Catherine Letele 117
The Divine Blessing upon the Church
     Conjugial Love and the Love of Offspring.
          F. E. Waelchli 120
Editorial Department.
     Thoughts on the War     125
     India and Italy     129
     One Religion          Eric A. Sutton 131
The Word Explained.
     The Temple of Solomon, Nos. 6244-6247.
          Emanuel Swedenborg 133
Military Service Committee.
      Men and Women in the Services     135
     Letters from England                          137
Church News     139
Announcements     144     

April, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.


Temptation in Gethsemane.
     A Sermon on Matthew 26:36     
          George de Charms     145
The Opening of the Spiritual Mind.
     The Fruit of Redemption
          Gilbert H. Smith 150
The School of Wisdom.
     A Memorable Relation Adapted
          Alfred Acton 156
The Study of Languages
     Stanley F. Ebert 164
The Witch at Endor.-W. E. VI: 6155-6157
          Emanuel Swedenborg 166
The Will and Understanding of Man
     Edward C. Bostock     168
Editorial Department.
     Anointing the Weapons of War          182
     The Name "Nova Hierosolyma."     Alfred Acton     184
Military Service Committee.
     Roll of Honor: Sgt/Pilot Ralph Roschman Hill     186
     Our Men and Women in the Services     187
Church News     190
Announcements.
     Annual Council Meetings-June 21-27, 1943     190
     Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths     192

May, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.


Sign of the Second Coming.
     A Sermon on Matthew 24:3
          F. E. Gyllenhaal 193

Making Things New.
     A Sermon on Apocalypse 21:5
          B. Ishmael Nzimande 197
Betrothal
     Elmo C. Acton 201
The Place of the Humanities in Our Education.
     An Address     
          George de Charms 205
Editorial Department.
     The Word Explained-Volume VI     213
     Conquest of the Land of Canaan     216
     Occupied Regions of Heaven     219
     Influence of the Swedish Idiom     Alfred Acton 221
     A Presumption     E. E. Iungerich 222
Military Service Committee.
     The Roll of Honor     226
     Our Men and Women in the Services     226
Church News     229
Announcements.
     Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths     239
     Annual Council Meetings-June 2127     240

June, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.


The Bright and Morning Star.
     A Sermon on Revelation 22:16
          Willard D. Pendleton 241
The Arcana Celestia.
     Plans for a New Latin Edition
          A. Wynne Acton 249
The Academy Library.
     A Brief History
          Freda Pendleton 253
Libraries in Heaven-Spiritual Diary 5999     263
Editorial Department.
     Swedenborg and the Apostles-Preparation for
     Their Mission at the Second Coming     264
King Solomon.
     From The Word Explained, Volume VI     268
     From The Spiritual Diary     270
Military Service Committee.
     Our Men and Women in the Services     274
     Extracts from Letters     277
Church News     281
Announcements.
     Annual Council Meetings-Program     286
     Academy Joint Meeting-June 5, 1943     288

July, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

The New Freedom     
     Hugo Lj. Odhner 289
Divine Judgment.
     A Sermon on the text of John 8:15, 16
          Norbert H. Rogers 295
Revelation to Perception
     Gilbert H. Smith 301
Ernest J. Stebbing.
     A Memorial Address
          Alfred Acton 308
The Women's Guild of the Bryn Athyn Church.
     Its Organization and Uses
          Beatrice C. Pendleton 313
Editorial Department.
     Impersonations in the Other Life          318
     Familiar Spirits          326
     Influence of the Swedish Idiom     Alfred Acton     327
Military Service Committee.
     Our Men and Women in the Services     328
Church News     331
Announcements.
     Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths     336

August, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.


The Academy and the General Church.
     A Resolution and an Explanatory Statement.
          George de Charms 337
Life Alter Death.
     A Sermon on Luke 16:26
          B. Ishmael Nzimande 341
Communications.
     The South African Mission     W. H. Junge 345

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS.

The Human Essence.
     Address to the Council of the Clergy
          George de Charms 346
Annual Reports.
     Secretary of the General Church
          Hugo Lj. Odhner     356
     Council of the Clergy     
          L. W. T. David     361
     Editor of "New Church Life"     
          W. B. Caldwell     370
     Military Service Committee     
          Doris G. Pendleton     372
     Corporation of the General Church     
          Edward H. Davis     373
Military Service Committee.
     Our Men and Women in the Services          374
     Preserving Freedom. A Poem     
          Lindthman Heldon          377
Church News          378
Announcements     384

September, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

Streamlining Instruction.
     Public Address to the Clergy
          Gilbert H. Smith 385
Council of the Clergy Sessions
     L. W. T. David 392
Joint Council Sessions
     Hugo Lj. Odhner 395
How To Teach.
     Address to the Educational Council
          C. E. Doering 403
Educational Council Sessions     Lois Nelson 414
Brought to the Light.
     How I Came to a Knowledge of the Doctrines.
          Philip J. Stole 421
Military Service Committee.
     Our Men and Women in the Services     424
     South Africa.-Our Boys on Active Service     427
Church News     428
Announcements.
     Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths     432
     Charter Day-October 15-16, 1943     432

October, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

Divine Revelation, How Effected.
     Public Address to the Clergy
          Alfred Acton 433
Science and the Humanities.
     Address to the Educational Council
          Eldric Klein 443
Brought to the Light
     George Nteso 450
The Working Hypothesis of the Soul.
     An Address
          Donald F. Rose 451
The Church and the Kingdom of God.
     Social and Economic Reform
          W. Cairns Henderson 459
Editorial Department.
     Forthcoming Book on "The Word"     466
     The New-Church Herald     467
     Swedenborg House at Axmar     468
     Photographs     469
Military Service Committee.
     Our Men and Women in the Services     470
Parent-Teacher Journal     473
Church News     474
Announcements.
     Charter Day Program     479
     Episcopal Visits     480

November, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

Practical Subjects and the Application of Doctrine.
     F. E. Gyllenhaal 481
Comfort and Encouragement.
     A Sermon on Matthew 5:13
          Gilbert H. Smith 486
A Talk to Children.
     Thanksgiving
          George de Charms 493
Nature and Art.
     The Word and Derived Doctrine
          E. E. Iungerich 496
Rev. L. W. T. David.
     A Memorial Address
          Hugo Lj. Odhner 500
     Biographical Sketch     504
     Photograph     505
Editorial Department.
     Patriotism and Evangelization     506
     A Romance of the Other Life-Review     F. F. C.     511
     Radio Talks     513
Military Service Committee.
     Our Men and Women in the Services     515
Parent-Teacher Journal     518
Church News     519
Announcements     528

December, 1943

New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS
REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

What Shall We Teach About Nationalism?
     George de Charms 529
Marriage Within the Church
     Sydney B. Childs     539
The Second Advent of the Lord.
     A Sermon on John 8:32 and 16:13
          Harold C. Cranch     544
Swedenborg's Mothers.
     Two Corrections
          Ormond Odhner     550
Mr. James Pryke.
     An Appreciation
          Frederick Daniel Balls     555
Directory of the General Church.
     Officials and Councils          557
Military Service Committee.
     Roll of Honor; Our Men and Women in the Services     562
     Obituary: Justin Hugh Davis     566
     Missing in Action: William George Bellinger     567
Church News.
     Chicago District Assembly, etc     568
Editorial Department     574
Announcements.
     Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths     576

No. 1

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXIII
JANUARY, 1943
     (Delivered at Local and District Assemblies, Fall, 1942.)

     What is the real need for doctrine? What is its function and its use? With regard to this the thought of the Christian world has in recent times undergone a profound change. For centuries it has been taken for granted without question that faith meaning thereby an intellectual belief-is the first essential of all religion. It was supposed that only by a true faith could man be saved. This being the case, it followed that the highest function of the church is to determine what a true faith is; and having done so, to defend that faith with uncompromising zeal. Doctrine, as the formal definition of a true faith, was therefore seen to be a matter of supreme importance. It was formulated and proclaimed by learned councils whose decisions were considered as having Divine sanction. Opposing views were declared unorthodox and heretical. But still, opposing views persisted. Being regarded as matters of conscience, they had to be maintained at all costs. Even slight differences of doctrinal opinion were thought to be vital, since they were the distinguishing mark of a true faith. This attitude led to endless quibbling over the technicalities of theology-multiplying schisms, and fostering sectarian intolerance.
     Against all this there has arisen a strong revulsion of feeling. Wearied by interminable and fruitless disputation-deploring the senseless rivalry between sects-many have reached the conclusion that the root of the trouble lies in an over-emphasis upon the importance of doctrine. If men would but strip doctrine of its unwarranted authority-recognizing that, after all, it is merely a matter of human opinion containing perhaps in every case both a modicum of truth and a considerable ingredient of error-it is believed that every incentive to conflict would be removed, charity would prevail, and the noxious mists of sectarianism would dissolve before the rising sun of a universal Christian brotherhood.
     Such is the dominant trend of present-day religious thought; and the result is that the church has almost completely abandoned that doctrinal teaching which at one time was regarded as its chief function. The traditional formulas of faith persist in song and ritual, in creed and catechism, but for the most part they are repeated without thought or understanding as to what they really mean. Few members of any modern congregation have a clear idea as to what are the characteristic tenets that distinguish their particular sect from others. How can they, when no specific teaching is given? Indeed, it is net desired, and any attempt to teach doctrine from the pulpit is liable to rouse strong opposition. This, because the foremost endeavor of the church in our day is to discourage sectarian antagonism by ignoring differences of belief and promoting community of effort. The leading idea is to cultivate a spirit of unity by fostering every form of external charity with out regard to doctrine.
     The evils of sectarianism are so obvious that we are apt to feel an instinctive sympathy with this idea. In fact, many within the New Church, both laymen and ministers, have been deeply influenced by it. For this view they find apparent confirmation in many passages of the Writings. There, on almost every page, it is explicitly taught that charity, not faith, is the prime essential of the church. We are told that men are saved from every religion in the world-in spite of their falsities of doctrine.
     In Divine Providence 101 it is said that "in the spiritual world, into which every man comes after death, it is not asked what your faith has been, nor what your doctrine, but what your life, thus what is its nature and quality; for it is known that such as ones life is, such is his faith and such his doctrine; for the life makes doctrine for itself and faith for itself.'
     And further we read that in the Christian world it is doctrinal matters which distinguish churches, and from them men call themselves Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists, or Reformed and Evangelical, and by other names.

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It is from what is doctrinal alone that they are so called, which would never be if they would make love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor the principal of faith. Doctrinal matters would then be only varieties of opinion concerning the mysteries of faith which truly Christian men would leave to everyone to hold in accordance with his conscience, and would say in their hearts that a man is truly a Christian when he lives as a Christian, that is, as the Lord teaches. Thus from all the differing churches there would be one church, and all the dissensions that come forth from doctrine alone would vanish. Yea, all hatreds of one against another would be dissipated in a moment, and the Lord's kingdom would come upon the earth." (A. C. 1799.)
     All this seems strongly to support the modern view. Since it was written at a time when sectarianism was at its height, and when few indeed would have dared to suggest that the tenets of faith were mere matters of opinion, to be regarded with indifference, some have taken it as evidence that Swedenborg was ahead of his time, anticipating a truth that was not to be discovered until long after his death. The modern development is seen as indicating that the Christian world is rapidly drawing nearer to the New Church, and that it will soon be prepared for a mass-acceptance of the Heavenly Doctrine. Closer examination, however, will show that, even in the passages quoted, the teaching of the Writings by no means runs parallel to the recent trends of Christian thought in regard to the place and importance of doctrine.
     Modern criticism is directed against the symptoms-the outward manifestations of the fatal disease from which the Christian Church is suffering. But the cause of the disease is not known, nor has any remedy been prescribed that can restore the church to health and vigor. The Writings concur in recognizing the evil symptoms, but they probe deeper, pointing out the true cause of those symptoms, and indicating the only possible cure. A Divine Authority that does not belong to them has indeed been ascribed to humanly devised doctrines. This is wrong. It has given rise to bigotry and intolerance. It has caused the spirit of Christian charity to be violated by persecution, and consumed in the flames of enmity and hatred. But these evils cannot be remedied merely by ignoring doctrinal differences and cultivating an attitude of indifference to all matters of spiritual faith.

4



For the charity that is needed to restore internal harmony-the charity that is proclaimed in the Writings to be the first essential of the Church-is defined as the love of spiritual truth for the sake of use. This is impossible where all doctrine-and thus all spiritual truth-is regarded with indifference.
     The key to the distinction between the teaching of the Writings and the commonly accepted view as to the importance of doctrine is found in the very number from the Arcana quoted above. For while that number explicitly states that doctrinal matters should be regarded "merely as varieties of opinion concerning the mysteries of faith which truly Christian men would leave to every one to hold in accordance with his conscience," yet it is added that men "should say in their hearts that a man is truly a Christian when he lives as a Christian, that is, as the Lord teaches."
     Every thing that the Lord teaches is Divine Doctrine. The distinguishing mark of a Christian is that he lives according to this Doctrine. Nor can he do so except so far as he both knows and understands what the Lord teaches. The "doctrinal matters" that should be regarded as mere "varieties of opinion" are human interpretations and applications of that Doctrine. These will vary with individuals and with organizations. They will differ according to circumstances, and will change with the times. They must be different in adaptation to each specific use to which the doctrine may be applied. These differences are of order. They give no cause for enmity or for separation. So far as they are but diverse modes of bringing into act what the Lord teaches, and thus what all in common acknowledge, they will be in internal harmony. They will unite in promoting the life of regeneration, and thus in the spiritual up-building of the church everywhere. While performing distinct uses-each in his own special way-they will all contribute to the perfection of the church as a whole, even as the several organs and viscera of the human body contribute to the perfection of the whole man. But that alone which can bring them into harmony is that all in common acknowledge and love the same Divine Doctrine.
     Charity is indeed the first thing of the church. It is the very end for the sake of which the church exists. But doctrine is the means provided by the Lord whereby alone this end may be attained.

5



It is Divine teaching as to what charity is, and how it is to be exercised. Everyone knows that success in any natural undertaking requires accurate knowledge intelligently applied. Wishful thinking in a state of ignorance can accomplish nothing. All the remarkable developments of modern civilization are the result of scientific learning, of painstaking research and experimentation. That this is the only road to practical achievement is now universally recognized. Men realize the need for an abundance of knowledge, and for a correct analysis of its significance in application to every field of worldly endeavor. This is the reason why there has been such a rapid and astonishing development of civilization on the material plane.
     But at the same time men have lost all vital interest in spiritual truth. They feel no need for accurate knowledge, or for straight thinking, in regard to spiritual things. Vainly they have relied upon the advance of natural learning to banish strife, to prove that crime, dishonesty, selfishness, and greed do not pay, and thus to convince both nations and individuals of the necessity for justice and harmonious cooperation in order to secure the highest good of all. And while they have remained content with ignorance, with unfounded opinion, with wishful thinking, in regard to charity and Christian brotherhood, the evils of self-love and the love of the world have multiplied.
     So long as these evils did not break forth into crime or open scandal, men paid little heed to them, considering them as the natural and inevitable expressions of human nature. And so they merely trimmed the branches of this evil growth, allowing the plant itself to flourish and take deep root. No superficial reforms, no political or economic system, no external device based on scientific knowledge, can remove this deadly enemy to real charity. The only weapon adequate to conquer these evils and destroy them at their source is the Truth of Revelation which men have neglected and ignored As long as this Truth remains unknown, these evils will continue to grow, holding over society an ever increasing threat of violence, and of eventual annihilation. This is the inner cause of the desperate situation in which the entire world finds itself today.
     The only hope of the future lies in the restoration of spiritual charity among men.

6



It is to this end that the Lord has made His Second Coming, giving Divine instruction as to what charity really is, and how man may become a recipient of it. This is the whole burden of the Writings-to make known the laws of spiritual life, the Divinely ordained principles of thought and conduct without which charity cannot now be given.
     We are impressed with the fact that, because it is founded upon a rational Revelation of Truth, doctrine in the New Church is to hold a more important place-it is to perform a more vital use than ever before in the history of the world. The difference is referred to in A. C. 2572, as follows: "It is one thing to be in good, or in love and charity, and another to be in the good of doctrine. Little children who are in love to their parents and in charity toward other little children are in good, but not in the good of doctrine or faith. But they who have been regenerated by the truths of faith are in the good of doctrine. Insofar as these are in good, so far they are in truths, that is, insofar as they are in love and charity, so far they are in faith, consequently so far in wisdom and intelligence. The angels, being in love to the Lord and in mutual love, are also in all truth, and thus in all wisdom and intelligence, not only in regard to celestial things, but also in regard to rational and natural things; for from love, because from the Lord, they are in the very principles of things, that is, in their ends and causes. To see from principles, or from ends and causes, is to see from heaven all things that are below, even those which are on the earth."
     In the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches, men were led by the Lord as little children, subject to direct command. They were not yet capable of rational understanding and judgment with reference to spiritual things, and therefore they were in obedience prompted by innocence, that is, by a simple willingness to be led. They lacked the knowledge of natural things, of physical forces and the laws of their operation in nature, which knowledge is essential to an understanding of how the Lord operates in His government of the universe. From love they derived a perception that what the Lord said was true, and they accepted His Word without question in heart and faith. But they could not yet be given to know how it was true; nor was it necessary that they should, since they were under the immediate guidance of the Lord, like children depending upon the judgment of a wise father.

7




     In the First Christian Church, the race was spiritually in the state of youth, being still dependent, in large measure, upon direct command, yet longing to be free, struggling to understand, eagerly searching for an explanation of the deepest mysteries of life. And though they were not yet prepared to solve those problems-being misled by appearances, falling into error, becoming enamoured of natural knowledges and the external advantages to be derived therefrom-yet this struggle was used by the Lord to form the rational mind, to furnish it with factual data, and to train it in logical deduction with regard to natural uses. All this was a necessary preparation, in order that the Lord might at last give His own Divine explanation of spiritual truth in rational terms such as man is now equipped to comprehend, correcting the errors of human thought and opening the way for man to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith.
     The giving of the Writings introduces mankind into a new state,-the state of spiritual adult life. Man must still be led by the Lord alone. His faith must be founded upon a simple belief in the Divine Truth of the Word-even though in large measure that truth is not understood. In this sense he must still be as a child, for the Lord has said, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 18: 3.) But man is no longer to be led as a child by direct command. He must be led more subtly, by means of spiritual principles acknowledged as Divine Laws that are to be intelligently understood. From these he is called upon to form rational judgments as if of himself, yet inspired by love to the Lord, and by the desire to keep His Commandments. In this necessity to understand and to judge there is a sense of freedom,-a delight and blessedness that could not be given before. But in it also is a unique responsibility to learn and comprehend revealed doctrine. It makes accurate knowledge and sound thinking in regard to spiritual matters as important to his salvation as keen observation and rational deduction are to external success in worldly undertakings. Not that spiritual knowledge alone is saving, but because without it there can be no genuine life of charity.
     This is the reason why, in our Church, complete devotion to the Heavenly Doctrine-an abiding love of spiritual truth-is seen as the "stone rejected of the builders that is to become the head of the corner." It is the reason why we believe in an educated priesthood, systematically trained and devoted to a life-long study of the Writings.

8



It is the reason why we believe in the necessity for a new kind of child-education,-an education designed to demonstrate the vital relation of spiritual truth to every branch of human knowledge and to every field of human use. It is the reason why we look upon the organized body of the Church as a plane for the practical application of the Doctrines to worship, to ecclesiastical government, and to all the activities of social intercourse, that the life of charity may grow and may find ultimate expression among us. And finally, it is the reason why we lay such stress upon the need for regular doctrinal instruction, that the adult members of the Church may increase in spiritual understanding, and may learn ever more fully to apply the Truth of the Writings to their individual and family life. These things we regard as essential uses of charity, whereby in practical ways we may-with the Lord's help-remove the loves of self and the world from our hearts. This removal alone can make our charity genuine, and render the Church spiritually living. It is the Truth of Divine Doctrine-the Truth of Revelation, acknowledged from the heart, loved, and lived-whereby alone the Lord can be present with us to overcome the hells and to build His Church within us.
     This idea is central to the establishment of the New Church. It is far removed from the thought of the day. When the whole world is searching for a new order-an order based on self-interest, on some political or economic plan of ingenious devising, to guarantee universal peace and prosperity; when even those who imagine they are looking to religion interpret it entirely as ethics and natural morality, without regard to spiritual truth; when any belief in the spiritual world, in Divine Revelation that can give us any sure knowledge of God, or of the laws of His Providence, is looked upon with thinly veiled contempt, and is treated with a studied indifference far more deadly than open opposition; it is of extreme importance that we should understand the real value, the indispensable need for Divine Doctrine, and should persist in our determination to make the teaching of the Writings the law of our life. Nothing else can lead mankind back to true charity and mutual love. For this is the way of the Lord's revealing.

9



BAPTISM 1943

BAPTISM       Rev. ORMOND DE C. ODHNER       1943

     "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5.)

     There is a power in ultimates-physical ultimates-that cannot exist in any other plane of creation. Signing a pact as a testimony to a promise, a handshake as a sign of friendship, a kiss as a sign of love,-these are but a few instances in which an ultimate physical act perfectly embodies the love of the heart and the thought of the mind, in which something external and representative makes something internal and spiritual more binding and powerful. Ultimate physical acts are far more powerful than mere thoughts or words because they express on the last plane of creation the spiritual things of life.
     It is comparatively easy to shun evils as long as they are merely in the mind; but once they have been put into physical acts, the habit of evil is upon us and holds us hard. It is easy to promise reformation, but until reformation reaches down into the bodily plane of life, it means practically nothing. Again and again the Writings say that only in ultimates is there power, that the power which comes through the spirit cannot be felt, except as it is ultimated by the physical body.
     All the thoughts of the mind, indeed, are based upon sense-impressions of ultimate physical things. There is nothing we can think of, however abstract or spiritual it may be, which does not in the last analysis, rest upon the impressions we have of the ultimate things of the natural world. The memory of a merely mental thing is flat and insipid; it lacks power and means but little. The memory of an ultimate physical act, however, is clear and strong, full of life and meaning. In the memory of these latter alone can the mind find strength and satisfaction, for the ultimate physical things of life are to the things of the spirit as the foundation of a house is to the house itself.

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     Now the mind of man is the spirit of man; and just as the mind or spirit of man on earth rests upon the ultimate physical things of this world, so also the spirits who inhabit the spiritual world rest upon them,-evil spirits in the vile and disorderly things of nature, good spirits in the beautiful and orderly. All angels, spirits, and devils are associated with men still alive on earth. They live in men's desires and affections; but their final dwelling places in men-the foundations of their dwelling places-are the mental pictures which men have of the physical things of the ultimate world.
     Swedenborg gives many illustrations which show how spirits dwell in the images of the things of this world in men's minds. He teaches us that the literal sense of the Word is more holy and powerful than the internal sense, because it deals with ultimate physical things. Thus it is said that in the Word the term waters is used rather than its spiritual counterpart, the truths of faith, because in the former term-the name of an ultimate physical thing, the angels can live and rest: whereas if the latter term had been used, they would have no basis in man's mind upon which they could dwell. (A. E. 71e.) Again, Swedenborg writes that every time he saw or thought about a certain knife in his possession, he was filled with a desire to do himself physical harm. And when his spiritual eyes were opened, he discovered that his stepmother, who hates him with intestine hatred, was responsible for the distorted craving connected with that knife. She had attached herself to the mental images connected with it in his mind.
     So it is that ultimate physical things form the basis of life, not only for men on earth, but also for spirits. And because there is such power in ultimates, the Lord, when He founded the Christian Church, commanded that two ultimate physical acts of worship be observed in His name,-Baptism and the Holy Supper.
     The true uses of baptism, the Writings teach, are three in number: First, it is a sign of introduction into the Christian Church, and of insertion among Christians in the spiritual world; second, it is a memorial testifying that man may be regenerated through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and its third use is that of regeneration itself. Baptism was commanded, both because of the power that exists in ultimates, and because of its orderly representation; for the washing with the waters of baptism represents the cleansing of the spirit by means of the truths of the Word, just as the body is cleansed from grime by means of earthly waters.

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     The first use of baptism, then, is that it is a sign of entrance into the Christian Church, and of insertion among Christian spirits in the spiritual world. No other people in all the world except Christians are baptized. John the Baptist instituted baptism as a preparation for the Christian Church. The Lord Himself was baptized by John in the waters of Jordan: and after He had risen from the tomb, He commanded His disciples to go forth and baptize all the nations of the earth. The waters of baptism are applied in the sign of the Cross-that sign inseparably connected with the name of Christ. And in the sacrament itself the person is baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the sign of entrance into the Christian Church, then, this part of the first use of baptism should be easily recognized.
     It is said, however, that baptism is also a sign of insertion among Christians in the spiritual world. To understand this, we must recall the teaching that the whole spiritual world is most particularly arranged and ordered, and that upon the preservation of this order the whole order of the universe depends. Spirits dwell there according to their religions;-Christians in the center, Mohammedans round about them, next the gentiles and idolaters, and in the circumferences the Jews. And as everything in the spiritual world rests upon something ultimate in the natural world, it is so with this universal arrangement of spirits according to their religions. Spirits and angels, we know, are associated with every mortal man: and since it is the man who calls to himself spirits like unto himself, it follows that there are with man spirits of the same religion as that according to which he himself lives. This is true with adults. But infants, children, and youths have not this choice of their attendant spirits, for they have as yet no religion that is really their own. And so the Lord provides that with infants and youths there should be spirits of the religion of the adults round about them.
     It might seem that the mere presence of Christian adults around their children would ensure the attendance of Christian spirits upon them, but this is not the case. We must remember here the teaching that the term waters is used in the Word, rather than its spiritual counterpart, the truths of faith, because the former term-the name of an ultimate physical thing,-affords a dwelling place for spirits, which the latter term, the name of an abstract spiritual thing, cannot do.

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And so with the waters of baptism and the mere thinking of a child as being a Christian. In baptism, something ultimate and physical connected with the name of Christ has been applied to the child, and in this Christian spirits can find a sure and lasting dwelling place. They could not find such a home in the mere thoughts of a child's parents that the child is to become a Christian. Indeed, the baptismal sign is the most perfect and orderly ultimate in which Christian spirits can dwell, and by this sign a child is distinguished, in the spiritual world, from all other children on earth. Not that Christian spirits dwell in the waters of baptism, or attach themselves to the baptized child in any mystical way; but when adults who know the meaning of baptism, and regard it as holy, are present at the baptism of a child, the spirits associated with these adults see in their minds the baptismal ultimates, and call Christian spirits to an attendance upon the child.
     It may be asked whether it is really vital that Christian spirits should be associated with Christian mortals, since baptism cannot effect one's chances of ultimate salvation. But to this question the Writings answer an emphatic, Yes. It is true that any man in any religion can be saved; but the association of Christian spirits with Christian mortals is necessary, if the Lord's true church is ever to be established. The church cannot exist in the natural world alone, nor yet in the spiritual world alone; it must exist in both worlds together,-the church in heaven as the spirit within its body, the church on earth.
     We are taught that, without the Christian sign of baptism some Mohammedan or idolatrous spirits might attach themselves to a Christian infant or youth, and breathe into him an inclination to their own religion. We are not to conclude from this that man's attendant spirits can determine the nature of the influx he receives from God. They cannot. The man himself does that. But they can and they do give their own peculiar bent or twist to that influx. A man determines for himself the color of the glass he puts in the windows of his house, but once the glass is there, only the light that is one with the glass can enter in.

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     Again, let it be said that the mere desire to be associated with Christian spirits does not ensure their attendance. It is true that without this desire or affection the baptismal ceremony effects at best only a momentary association of Christian spirits with mortals: for spirits can live only in man's affections and desires. Yet their final dwelling places in man-the foundations of their dwelling-places-are the sense-impressions he has of the ultimate physical things of the natural world. There must be the affection of being a Christian, the desire to become truly New Church, that Christian spirits may continue to be associated with Christian mortals; but there must also be in man-at least in his memory-something ultimate and physical connected with the name of Christ, that Christian spirits may have a sure and permanent foundation for their abode in the man's affections.
     Spirits dwell in man's affections; but they dwell on the sense-impressions he has of the ultimate physical things of the world. The washing of the waters of baptism as the Christian sign of baptism affords them such a permanent basis for their dwelling place in man. Without that ultimate sign, there is no such firm foundation. Without it, there is nothing ultimate and definite, especially in a child, to prevent some spirit of a gentile religion from associating himself with the mortal still on earth. So it is that the Christian sign of baptism-if the desire to become a Christian is connected with it-affords a permanent dwelling place for Christian spirits, assures the conjunction of the church in heaven with the church on earth, and supplies for the Christianity of the angels of heaven an ultimate and permanent foundation.
     Baptism, therefore, is the Christian sign, the sign of entrance into the Christian Church on earth, by which Christians are distinguished from all other men. It is an orderly, representative, physical ultimate in which Christian spirits can dwell. According to it, the one baptized is introduced into a Christian society in heaven-a Christian society which thus becomes his 'home' society, unless, of his own free will, he changes it.
     The second use of baptism is as a memorial testifying that through faith in the Lord man may be regenerated. A memorial is a thing by which we remember something. Through baptism we remember that we have been introduced to an acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ as the one only God.

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We are baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, rather than into any other of the names of God, because in Him, God the Son, is the Divine Trinity in fulness. In Him is the Divine Life, God the Father; in Him is the Divine Operation, God the Holy Spirit. In Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And it is to an acknowledgment of the Lord as the only God of heaven and earth that we are introduced by baptism, which ever after serves as a memorial of that introduction.
     Baptism is also a memorial testifying that through faith in the Lord's teachings-and this implies a life according to them-we may receive eternal life from God, and be conjoined with Him in heaven. "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Baptism is a reminder, therefore, that those of the Christian Church can be saved because the Word is there, and it is only by living according to its teaching that man can be regenerated and receive life eternal.
     Because baptism is a memorial testifying that man can be regenerated through faith in Christ, it seems to follow that the baptismal ceremony should be a public ceremony. (This is also true of the rite of confirmation.) In the sacrament of baptism, certain promises are made to the Lord; and a promise made in public is more easily kept than a vow made in secret. Not only can others present help us to keep such a promise, if they afterwards see us failing in it, and know that when we made it we sincerely desired to keep it, but also a fear of gaining a reputation as a breaker of promises will tend to make us keep the promises made in a public baptismal ceremony. And both of these external aids are of much value in the early stages of regeneration, before the proprium is subdued.
     It is said that, without this second use as a memorial testifying that there may be regeneration through faith in Christ-the first use of baptism-introduction into the Christian Church and insertion among Christians in the spiritual world-is but a name, a hollow mockery, and even absolute treason. And it is well to remember this. To be baptized, or to have our children baptized, and then to fail to keep the promises made at that time, is said in the Writings to be a hollow mockery, and even absolute treason.
     "The second use of baptism," we read, "is that the Christian may know and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and Savior, and follow Him.

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This second use inseparably follows the first. . . . And what is the first use but a mere name, unless the second follows? Is it not really like a subject who attaches himself to a king, and yet repudiates the king's laws, or those of the country, and yields allegiance to a foreign king and serves him? . . . What is the name Christian, so long as the man lives like a barbarian, and contrary to the precepts of Christ, but like looking to the sign of Satan instead of the sign of Christ, although in baptism Christ's name is interwoven in golden threads? What else than rebels and regicides are those who, having received the sign of Christ, deride His worship, mock at His name, and acknowledge Him, not as the Son of God, but of Joseph? And what are their words but blasphemies against the Holy Spirit, which cannot be forgiven in this world or in the next?" (T. C. R. 681, 683.)
     It may be well, therefore, to review the elements of the covenant of baptism. In the sacrament, as administered in the General Church of the New Jerusalem, it is said at the outset that baptism is a solemn covenant with the Lord, by which there is orderly entrance into the church of the Lord, and in which covenant the one baptized (or his parents) promises to renounce the ways of the world (or to do so for their child); and to keep the commandments of God (or to teach their child to do so). In the actual ceremony, the one baptized (or his parents) gives solemn avowal to a belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only God of heaven and earth-and this entails a belief in the Virgin Birth, in the Divinity of Christ, and in the Divinity of the Word as it is written in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings-and to a belief that the evils forbidden in the various senses of the Decalogue are to be shunned as sins against God, because they interfere with the accomplishment of His will not shunned because they are harmful to reputation or to worldly well-being. In the instruction following the actual baptism, the parents of a baptized child are enjoined to teach their child to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as his God and Father, to teach him the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, and to cause him to be instructed in the teachings of the Word and the Writings. In the baptism of an adult, the adult is urged to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, to cultivate with diligence a knowledge of the teachings of the Word and the Writings, to shun evils as sins against God, to renounce the ways of self and the world, and to learn to love the Lord above all things and his neighbor as himself.

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     These are the promises made in the baptismal sacrament,-promises which should indeed be made, that heaven may come to earth, but promises which should never be made unless there is every intention of keeping them, and later, every effort to do so. And if these promises are made, and not kept, or if made with no intention of keeping them, but merely for the sake of reputation, then the sin of it is on the head of the adult who makes them. And great indeed is that sin-the sin against the Holy Spirit, which cannot be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come.
     The first two uses of baptism, then, are introduction into the Christian Church and insertion among Christians in the spiritual world, and the setting up of a memorial testifying that through true faith in Christ there may be regeneration. The third use of baptism, which is its essential use, follows these as an effect follows its cause; and the third use of baptism is that of regeneration itself. Not that regeneration is dependent upon baptism in the sense that it cannot be achieved without baptism, nor that baptism confers regeneration in any sense whatever, but regeneration will surely follow if man truly makes his own the first two uses for which baptism has been instituted. Regeneration will surely come for that man who really enters into the true Christian Church in heart and in life, and who thus associates with himself angels from the Christian Heaven, Regeneration will surely come to that man who really acquires faith in the Lord as the only God of heaven and earth by diligently reading the Word and the Writings and living according to their teachings. For such a man is born of water and of the spirit, and therefore can enter into the kingdom of God. Amen.

LESSONS:     John 3: 1-22. Apocalypse Explained 475:19-21.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy, pages 456, 437, 466.
PRAYERS:     Nos. 39, 45.

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HOPE OF THE NEW YEAR 1943

HOPE OF THE NEW YEAR       SYDNEY B. CHILDS       1943

     "This is new."-C. L. 532.

     In the closing Memorable Relation of the work on Conjugial Lore, Swedenborg writes: "Once, as to my spirit, I was raised into the angelic heaven, and into one of its societies; and then some of the wise ones there came to me and said, 'What is there new from the earth?' I said to them, 'This is new, that the Lord has revealed arcana which in excellence exceed the arcana hitherto revealed from the beginning of the church.'" There follows a comprehensive summary of the doctrines revealed by the Lord in the internal sense of the Word. Included are the significant words of prophecy: "The angels rejoiced greatly that it had pleased the Lord to reveal this great arcanum, so deeply concealed during some thousands of years; and they said that it was for the end that the Christian Church, which is founded upon the Word and is now at its end, may again revive and draw breath through heaven from the Lord." (C. L. 532.)
     Yet these angelic words of hope for a new spiritual dawn which could enlighten all mankind were qualified and apparently rendered negative by the prevailing states of men at the time when Swedenborg wrote: "The angels, on hearing these things, rejoiced greatly; but they perceived a sadness in me, and asked, 'Whence is your sadness?' I said that those arcana which are revealed at this day by the Lord, although they exceed in excellence and worth the knowledges hitherto made known, are nevertheless reputed on earth as of no value. At this the angels wondered and they entreated of the Lord that they might be permitted to look down into the world; and they looked down, and behold there was mere darkness there." (C. L. 533.)
     That such darkness" continues to the present day, there can be little doubt. The remarkable achievements of science which have occurred in the years that have intervened since this Memorable Relation was written may at times have given some credence to the belief of many that a new era of civilization, apart from religion, had rewarded the creative efforts of science and invention.

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But how ghastly the abuse of science, when employed by evil men who seek to build a modern tower of Babel as a monument to their lust of dominion! For the same inventive genius that has evolved instruments to cure disease and alleviate pain has created instruments of death and destruction of a character so terrible that the crazed deviltry of a Nero is rendered almost childlike in comparison.
     The New Year now ushers in so dangerous a crisis that the mind, if unaided by a trust in Providence, shudders at the thought of what further devastation may loom ahead for a world of which it still may be said, there is "mere darkness there." Still, there cannot be total darkness in our world, because the Lord has mercifully manifested Himself through a revelation which is regarded as of utmost value among a few. We know of a certainty that, by means of this revelation, a New Church is to be established on earth,-the crown of all churches. Through explicit teachings of the Writings we have been forewarned that the Last Judgment which has taken place in the world of spirits must result in further judgments on earth. We are given Divine guidance which sanctions the resort to war in just defense of freedom, though at the same time it condemns as a veritable outbreak of hell the type of war which is initiated solely for the aggrandizement of self and the destruction of both the natural and spiritual freedom of others. Hope is given that, in the deadly conflict now raging throughout the world, final victory will be given to those countries which will seek for the establishment of the freedom rather than the enslavement of mankind. We can have faith that victory will provide a means whereby the growth of the New Church can be promoted. For it may readily be seen that, if the outcome were to be such that freedom of worship were destroyed, the hope of the inauguration of the New Church on earth would be well-nigh doomed.
     We know that the 'mere darkness' which prevailed on earth, especially among the learned of the laity and clergy at Swedenborg's time, still prevails, and perhaps in an even more grievous form than was then the case. On the other hand, we know that, in the acceptance of the Writings as the Word of God, a new light has dawned upon earth, in the minds of those who have been privileged to see and acknowledge the Lord in His new coming.

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The transition from a world in which "mere darkness" reigns to one where Divine light prevails must inevitably take time. How great the lapse of time will be, when numbered in years, is known to the Lord alone. For human minds are enlightened through a gradual progression toward wisdom, and the enlightenment in all of its steps must be one where freedom of choice is preserved. It is here that the miraculous guidance of the Lord may be seen as the only means for the salvation of mankind. For we read in our Doctrine: "Every change and variation of the state of the human mind produces some change and variation in the series of things present, and consequently in the things that follow; why not then progressively to eternity? It is like an arrow shot from a bow, which, if it should depart in the least at its start from the line of aim, would at a distance of a thousand paces or more go far wide of the mark. So would it be if the Lord did not lead the states of human minds every least moment. This the Lord does in accordance with the laws of His Divine Providence." (D. P. 202.)
     Thus we can have hope, even in another New Year of war. To us has been given a unique responsibility. Divine Truth, in the revelation which has been entrusted to us, is a veritable pearl of all price placed in our hands. We can follow one of two ways. We can regard the Writings as the most precious of all gifts in the Lord's power to bestow upon mankind,-as the greatest miracle ever performed by God in His never-ceasing effort to reveal Himself to men, and thereby to bring salvation and happiness to all; or we can join in the apathy of materialistic men who would say of this new and crowning revelation: It is "of no value." The former way leads to heaven, the latter to hell.
     Yet, as long as we remain on earth, doubts will arise. Darkness at times will engulf our minds. We will despair at the almost insurmountable obstacles that stand in the way of the growth of the New Church on earth. Here a further reflection upon our teachings on the subject of Providence may prove illuminating: "Of the Lord's universal Providence man sees nothing. If he were to see it, it would be seen only as one passing sees scattered heaps and accumulated material from which a house is to be built, while the Lord sees it as a magnificent palace, with its work of construction and enlargement constantly going on." (D. P. 203.)

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     We can but have faith in the revealed truth, and in the prophecy as to the final establishment of the New Church. We can rest assured that the Lord, unknown and unseen to us, is building this church "as a magnificent palace, with its work of construction and enlargement constantly going on." Every outward event, as well as every inward reaction, is constantly molding human minds in times of peace. How drastic and far-reaching must be the consequences of such action and reaction in times of war! In the crisis through which we have been passing for the past several years, with the final outcome known but to God, the minds of all men must be deeply affected, either for good or for evil. Doubtless all of this apparent calamity may be the means of at least hastening a time, however distant in years, when a Golden Age will be restored upon earth.
     Meanwhile, let us trust in God. Let the New Year be ushered in with hope for the future. However much the forces of evil and darkness may engulf the world, both now and in the years to come, we, who have been blest with the miraculous vision of the Lord in His Second Coming, can say of the infinite wisdom revealed in the Writings: "This is new." The forgotten dream of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, which Daniel revealed to him as "a great image," has a Divine significance to every man on earth today. For therein is revealed the power of God to manifest Himself to all mankind throughout the ages; and to us the Divine prophecy of the establishment of the New Church in its crowning glory is portrayed in the words: "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." (Daniel 2: 34, 35.)

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ROD OF IRON 1943

ROD OF IRON       Rev. NORMAN H. REUTER       1943

     Charter Day Address.

     (Delivered at a Service in the Cathedral, October 16, 1942.)

     In its statement of purposes, the Academy Charter places primary emphasis upon the propagating of the Heavenly Doctrine and the establishment of the New Church, and then it speaks of the promoting of education in all its forms, and also of publication activities. The interior end in view was a continuous and organized study of the Heavenly Doctrine, that the enlightenment thus derived from the Lord out of His Word might build the Church; and the formation of a formal educational institution was seen as a primary and necessary means to that end. For here, in the very order of its statement of purposes, the charter of the Academy expresses the idea that the Academy, as an institution, is wholly devoted to an end beyond the confines of that institution, and that its modes of developing education, as a means to this end, are to be controlled by the needs of this supreme objective-the propagation of the Heavenly Doctrine, and the establishment of the New Church.
     For this reason, the Academy is a unique institution, and its work cannot properly be appraised by comparison with that of other educational centers outside of the Church, but only by its faithfulness to its own stated purposes. Its growth and progress, its mode of teaching and what it teaches, its policies and regulations, must be determined by their adequacy in promoting the understanding and spread of the truth of the Lord's Second Coming and the establishment of a church based thereon. For this reason was the Academy of the New Church brought into being, and for this reason does it continue to exist and function.
     The attitude of the students of the Academy Schools will be in harmony with the established purpose and continued spirit of the Academy, if their principal reason for attendance and study is that they may be prepared to become enlightened and useful members of the Lord's New Church, and only secondarily that they may be equipped with adequate training and knowledge to enter the field of the world's work.

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But this is not to say that the latter is unimportant; for we hope to show that the proper functioning of a New Churchman, in the various fields of the world's work, can only take place when he looks to the Lord for enlightenment in his use: and conversely, that an enlightened and useful member of the New Church is one who does this in his ministry or function, office or employment.
     When we say that the primary purpose should he spiritual, and that natural objectives be held as secondary, we are not even saving that special attention should be placed upon courses of religion and less attention upon other studies: but we refer to the fact that the attitude of the pupil to any study largely determines what he will derive from it. If his desire is to learn truth and order, justice and judgment, that he may be prepared to perform uses from the Lord and to the neighbor, he will discover a spiritual value in a variety of studies, according I to his genius, and will be heeding the Lord's exhortation: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6: 33.) He will be ordering his mind from Divine Truth in preparation for life in the world and heaven, instead of merely gathering knowledge and training for proprial, or selfish, reasons-for success in the acquisition of honor or wealth or power as an end in itself.
     If the spiritual motive is not uppermost in the esteem of the students, even many years spent within the walls of the Academy will not produce the results which are the institution's real objective. This objective is the fullest possible education and training in both spiritual and natural knowledges, and these so imparted as to organize a mind that will seek to be useful in the service of the Lord and the neighbor, rather than primarily for self. Here, again, the Academy shows its unique quality, compared with the high schools and universities of the world.
     The Academy vision and purpose recognizes that the potent appeal of the Writings is not essentially to the emotional natural mind, but to the perceptive rational mind. Yet the rational mind, to be perceptive, must be based upon a natural which is in harmony.

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Hence it is imperative, as a need for our type of education and for our purposes, that the rational faculty be built up by the arrangement of natural knowledge in the light of revealed truth-of Divine Doctrine-that from the rational thus formed the natural may be put into such an order that it is capable of receiving and expressing the life of order and use,-yea, increasingly the life (If heaven itself.
     Like the early Christian Church, the New Church could begin- had to begin-by drawing in the remnant of simple good, through the power of the general genuine truths of the New Revelation affecting the good of the natural still preserved among men. But this could only bring about the restoration of that true Christian religion which might have existed if the Old Church had not failed. Yet this restoration of the ancient Christian verities was essential as the basis for the New Age. However, the Church of the Second Coming is not only called the True Christian Church, but also the New Church. It is not only ordained to restore the natural-moral acceptance of the Lord in His Word, but also to produce a spiritual- rational acknowledgment of the distinctively new truths of His Second Advent. Therefore the process predestined as the essential work of the New Church, and involved in the promise to "make all things new," could not really begin until not only a good natural affection for the Writings was established, but also a genuine rational affection, with the perception of new and interior truths in the Writings which that affection engenders.
     The need for this development of the rational called for an educational institution. It dictated that this institution be in the sphere of the Church and directed by it, in order that the natural minds of children and young people, from their first opening and throughout their formative period, might be instructed under the guidance of genuine rational truth and finally, that thereby truly rational minds might be formed, looking directly to spiritual and Divine truth as their sole guide of thought and life. Only thus could a new mental groundwork be formed, which would promise to be increasingly receptive of the new doctrine of faith and life from the Divine Schoolmaster, and thus organically make possible in the life of the human race the fulfilment of the promised descent of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, from God out of heaven.

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     The Founders saw that the Lord does not operate for the perception, the spread, and the actual life of revealed truth, by means of any vague, mysterious, or ununderstandable permeation, but by the open acknowledgment of that truth and its Divine Source, and this accompanied by a willing and determined endeavor to order all affection, thought, and life according to its prescribed law. Only by conscious reception can the Divine lead men-first by men's willing acceptance of the rule of truth in the understanding; then by the Divine modification of the will, arrived at through the cooperative and willing effort of the individual; and finally, this Divine leading can become secure and permanent only by men's development, as if of themselves, of a way of living that ultimately expresses this acceptance of Divine Truth, and gives opportunity to the modified and renewed will to go forth in acts of charity and use, in order that interior heavenly things may come into their power and delight.
     Divine leading is only operative through man s conscious and cooperative effort. When truth is revealed; when it is seen, and accepted; when it forms our conscience, and we act from it; then that truth (which is the Lord's) is leading us. This seeing and acknowledgment, as a conscious act, is a necessity on man's part. When man, having seen and accepted the truth, repents of the evils exposed by that truth, he cooperates in the work of regeneration and salvation. For the leading of Providence is effective only through the as-of-itself action of man-conscious cooperation. This is not permeation!
     Now such conscious cooperation brings the Church to do those things which it sees will bring order and increase the effective leading of the Lord. And history shows that the establishment of the Academy was a conscious cooperative attempt on the part of a few earnest men to prepare the necessary rational means for the propagation of the Heavenly Doctrine and the descent of truth into life. Their understanding of the doctrine of the Lord's leading showed them the need for a Church Specific and all its works.
     However the Divine Providence not only leads; it also disposes. It leads in so far as man consciously cooperates. But it disposes all the things of a man's life, even the most minute, and this is done while man is unconscious thereof; for this disposing is what is called the secret operation of Providence. This disposition of all the things of a man's life, as well as the life of the human race, has as its objective that man, individually and collectively, may always have the opportunity of salvation-that freedom and reason be preserved, so that through them men may be led back to the Lord.

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We repeat: The secret disposing of Providence has as its end the preservation of human freedom and reason, and the holding open of the opportunity of salvation. But the leading of Providence has as its end the actual salvation of men, and the blessing of them with the delights of eternal life.
     The effects of this disposing of Providence, in world-events and changing states, are what some in the Church have seen as evidence of the spread of the New Church. But these conditions are really the results of vastation-the breaking up of old falsities and the ways of life therefrom-and as such they are the continuing effects of the Last Judgment.
     The establishment of the Church is another matter, and is effected by the leading of Providence, after all things have been disposed and prepared; and this establishment of the Church is accomplished only with the conscious, as-of-itself, cooperative efforts of men. And, as we have said, the formation of the Academy, and its continued work, is such a rational endeavor on the part of men to do their part in inviting the Lord's leading of His Church-to prepare increasingly harmonious rational and natural forms of mind, that this leading may become more full and perfect, and thus the Lord build the house of men's minds and dwell therein.
     Indeed, what the Academy seeks to accomplish is the formulation and practice of such principles from the spiritual in the natural as will make evident the world of spirit within the world of nature,-the eternal and primary importance of the former, and the temporary and secondary place of the latter, and thus the subordination of all earthly objectives to heavenly ones. This bringing of the spiritual down into the natural, and so organizing all natural knowledges and life as to reveal the vital presence of the spiritual within, is the forging of the "rod of iron" with which the "man-child is to rule all nations."
     We are told that the meaning of the verse-"And the woman brought forth a man-child, who is to tend all nations with a rod of iron"-is that the Doctrine of the New Church, by truths from the sense of the letter of the Word, and, at the same time, by rational things from natural light, will convince all who are in dead worship from faith separated from charity who are willing to be convinced. (A. R. 543-544.)

26



And in another place it is said that the doctrine of truth for the New Church, by the power of natural truth from spiritual truth, will refute and convince those who are in falsities and evils, and are yet in the Church where the Word is. (A. E. 724, 726.)
     The "woman" represents the New Church; the "man-child" signifies the Heavenly Doctrine; "to tend" or rule is to teach and instruct; and the "rod of iron" refers to the convincing power of spiritual natural truth, which is fortified by confirmations from the letter of the Word, and "by rational things from natural light."
     Here is a prophetic statement of the power of the Heavenly Doctrine to reach man with spiritual truth even in the natural state. Not that spiritual truth can be seen by the merely natural mind, but that natural truth ordered by a mind that perceives from spiritual truth has the power to "refute and convince those who are in evils and falsities." This natural truth, so ordered from the spiritual, that is, out of a spiritual perception of causes, is the "rod of iron." Such natural truth has power to convince even a natural man-power to refute his evils and falsities, if he is "willing to be convinced."
     It would seem that we here have a plain indication of the instrument which the Lord has given into our hands for the expansion and upbuilding of the New Church-namely, the rod of iron-the whole realm of natural rational truth when presented from a perception of spiritual causes. Our responsibility as a church, and as individuals of that church, is to forge the rod of iron in our own minds,-to develop the power of natural truth from spiritual truth which, we are told, is the mental tool for this age with which to instruct, correct, and convince, and by which the necessary ultimates of growth can be produced. As this is done, the church will he ready to wield this rod of iron for the healing of the nations when opportunity arises. And we can be sure that when the men of the church have prepared themselves, individually and collectively, the opportunity will be given.
     If what we have said is so, if the Lord only leads men by their conscious cooperative effort, and if the Academy represents such an organized effort-endeavoring to arrange natural truth, that is, all the subjects of formal education, from the spiritual, so as to develop the power to instruct, correct, and convince, and to build that form of mind which can ever more and more receive the Heavenly Doctrine-it would seem that students, in a very special sense, have not only an opportunity, but also a spiritual responsibility, here and now, while yet in school, to dedicate themselves to this task.

27




     The students' moving purpose may well be to be caught up by the vision of the Founders, and of the Academy's present leaders and teachers, that they may so conduct themselves while within the walls of our own Academy that when they leave they will he able to offer themselves to the Lord, each according to his or her ability and talents, in the service of this rational endeavor to build the Church on earth. Each student will take part in this foundation work for a New Age by forming all his natural knowledge and performing all his natural activities from a spiritual principle-thus by forging the rod of iron in himself or herself.
     This involves, on the part of the students, an increasing realization that they art not spending their time and energies here merely to gain the best possible preparation for life in the world's work. Indeed, it presumes a growing appreciation of the fact that this is not their main objective, but that the supreme objective is the forging of the rod of iron in themselves, that they may consciously cooperate in preparing the ground for the Lord's leading of His Church and its upbuilding, in order that they may become tools in the implanting of the seeds of a New Civilization. And this calls for an increasing forgetfulness of self in the vision of a great use to mankind. It means that, in place of success in the world as a principal object of education, must be substituted the goal of each, throughout life, according to his genius, contributing something toward the fulfilment of the Academy ideal and the growth of the Church. And this result can only spring from a constant attempt to think from the Writings in the sphere and performance of uses, and the production of distinctive thought and principles and practices therein.
     In such an effort the workers in the field of education are already engaged; but this same process must eventually enter into all fields of human activities. We must so view the whole field of human relations: history, government, politics, and economics.

28



Men must be so engaged in the arts, the sciences, and industry; in professions business, and all employments. We must learn how to bring principles of revealed truth into every forensic and domestic phase of life.
     On such occasions as this we try to be caught up in the true vision of the Founders. Yet we should not do this in a faith-alone manner, but with the thought as to what we can do now and here to make it more a reality. In so doing we are caught up by the vision, led by Providence, and carried into the stream of the Lord's uses. This is to serve the Lord in the first place, and the neighbor as oneself.

     LESSONS:     Revelation 12. A. E. 726:5, 8-10.
ALFRED GODFREY 1943

ALFRED GODFREY       J. S. PRYKE       1943

     This, for Remembrance.

     The passing of Mr. Alfred Godfrey, which occurred on October 19, 1942, from the residence of his daughter and son-in-law at Portsmouth, England, directs the mind to the strange interweaving of human personality and human use. Truly may it be said that to think of Mr. Godfrey was to think of the New Church of the Lord.
     My own acquaintance with him, so far as the church is affected, began upwards of half-a-century ago; for, under Providence, he was responsible for bringing me to a knowledge of the truth. Never can I, while natural memory functions, forget the kindly tolerance which he exercised during my "wild-ass" state, and the patience with which he answered by numerous questions and objections.
     It was not, however, until the year 1895, when the late Rev. Carl Th. Odhner was a guest at the Godfrey's home, that the first glimmerings of light began to lessen my mental darkness. During Mr. Odhner's stay our conversations continued to midnight; indeed, the final one went on until three o'clock in the morning, when the exhilaration of sphere prompted us to finish up by singing "The Holy City."
     In my estimation, Mr. Godfrey was what every faithful New Churchman would wish to be,-a devout and untiring student of the Writings, ever on the alert for an opportunity to communicate their truths to others.

29



He walked, and rode, and travelled many miles to meet persons for whom there was even the slenderest prospect of their being interested in the Glad Tidings. Himself a firm and intelligent adherent to the position that the revelation through Swedenborg was the authentic voice of God to men, he early associated himself with the work of the Academy in England, and never swerved from that to the end of his career on earth. He served upon the council of his pastor, and was actively engaged in the formation and work of the New Church day school at Colchester during the pastorate of the Rev. W. H. Acton, the fruits of which are traceable to this day in those who, in their turn, have become parents and grandparents.
     Mr. Godfrey was a regular attendant at church socials, singing practices, doctrinal classes, and public worship. The Godfrey home was ever made free to members of the society and visitors from other parts of England and abroad-(upon one occasion Father Benade was entertained there)-especially during those periods when the Society was without a resident pastor. In later years, when the New Church Club came into being, he, having in the interval removed to London, was one of its foundation members, proving to be most regular in attendance, prompt to join in the debates, and to contribute his quota of original papers. The British Chapter of the Sons of the Academy found a real adherent in him, seeing, as he did, the significance of New Church education in relation to the continuance and growth of the Church in this country. These interests remained to the end; and, so far as health allowed, his activities did not diminish. Scarcely more than a year ago he wrote me a characteristic letter on the subject of "Fear," to propose of a paper which he had read to the New Church Club, being one of the last presented before the intervention of the War.
     One attractive hobby of his was the collection and reproduction of old photographs of former New Church Worthies, together with the compilation of appropriate biographical sketches. It was one of the joys of life to listen to him descant upon his little excursions into these byways of New Church history.
     Alfred Godfrey was a man of equable temperament, just in his judgments, without resentment, willing to minimize the failings of his fellow men, diligent in spreading a knowledge of his faith; whose supreme interest in life was to know and reflect upon the Everlasting Gospel, ever desirous of perceiving its application and influence in all aspects of life.

30



Such being the man, we can readily conceive of him in his new state, freed from material inhibitions, eagerly seeking out those who worship the Lord Jesus Christ, thankfully accepting the direction of those appointed to that office. We who are left behind may well turn to what may be called the real work of his life, and learn the exalted part which an instructed and loyal layman can take in the dissemination of truth and the furthering of the Lord's Kingdom upon this earth.
     For the moment, then, farewell, servant of the Church. May God in His mercy grant you a safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace with Him at the last: which implies a simple childlike confidence, quickened spiritual sensibilities, and renewed activity of use.
     The final earthly rites were performed by the Rev. A. Wynne Acton during the afternoon of October 22d at Portsmouth. The affectionate sympathy of the church will go out to Mrs. Godfrey, the daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren.
     J. S. PRYKE.
FRANK WILDE 1943

FRANK WILDE       Rev. WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1943

     In Memoriam.

     Now released from this natural life, Frank Wilde long ago accepted the teachings of the New Church as to an immortal life in a spiritual world. From early life he loved to study and discuss that world of causes, with all its implications for a balanced philosophy of life. His vigorous and courageous mind threw aside the sophistries and sentimentalisms of much that passes for religious thought. An ability of abstract thought, coupled with logic in exposition, made him a man of considerable intellectual attainment. But these gifts were laid on the altar of his Church. To find out what was true and good, and stand by it in the conduct of Life, this was his sufficient ambition. When he felt that he was right, he never deserted his guns; and that his choice of position might mean unpopularity or at least obscurity was to him something that was not relevant.

31



In England, his native land, and in the United States, he performed services for the organizations of the New Church with a loyalty and intellectual courage which deserve the grateful memory of our people.
     Yet, notwithstanding his challenging power of analysis and ability to read human nature, he carried a spirit of broad charity and toleration. Impatient with pettiness and injustice he might be, but his way was the way of the good neighbor. There was no bitterness in him, only a warm desire to see that what was true and good might be upheld. And the misfortunes and hardships of life never turned him from that path.
     To what habitation that path has now led him, no man can tell. We only know that the path which he appeared, to tread in this life has its ends in an eternal world in which are gathered all who have loved the Lord and loved the neighbor.
     For our brother, as for all good men, death was but the stepping through a door into a nobler house and home than man has ever known-a new Garden of Life in which disease, and injustice, and misunderstanding, and human frailty, and environmental slavery, no longer hold down the individuality of our souls, and we become at last the men and women that we really are. For it is in this Future Life that we may taste of the peace and innocence of spiritual wisdom--that wisdom which begins in the Lord's Church upon earth.

     FRANK WILDE was born in Birmingham, England, on April 21, 1876. He was baptized in 1896 by the Rev. R. R. Rodgers, who also trained him in the theology of the New Church, after which he was appointed a Leader by the General Conference and preached for several years, chiefly in the north of England. In 1899 he married Florence A. Zieman. In 1912 they emigrated to Toronto, Canada, where they met Mr. Robert Carswell and became acquainted with the General Church. Four years later they moved to New York City, where they affiliated themselves with the General Church Society.
     Mr. Wilde is survived by his wife: two sons and a daughter-Lieutenant Commander John Wide. U.S.N., Mr. Richard Wilde, and Miss Margaret Wilde. His brother, the Rev. Arthur Wilde, is Pastor of the New York Society of the General Convention, and Editor of THE NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER.

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NOTES AND REVIEWS 1943

NOTES AND REVIEWS       Various       1943


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Editor      Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager      Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Business Manager.

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     AN AUSTRALIAN BOOK ROOM.

     FROM "THE NEW AGE," SEPTEMBER, 1942.

     As the Australian New Church Book Room belongs to all New Church folk in Australia, and in many cases further afield, I thought perhaps it would be interesting to readers of New Church literature to give a brief account of what goes on inside as well as outside the Book Room.
     It is exactly three years ago to-day, on the 3rd July, 1939, that I wended my way here to take up the duties of Book Missionary. These three years have taught me many things-things grave and serious as well as happy and hopeful-and I would not change these three years for the whole world.
     The Book Room is situated on the outskirts of the city of Melbourne, and on the outskirts of any city strange and varied people usually live in its precincts. One fails to understand why such seeming poverty and ugliness exists just outside a city which shows, to all appearances, a city of wealth and activity. It is quite impossible to know if these sad and afflicted souls who come to the Book Room are genuinely in want.

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One has to treat all alike, and not give alms to any.
     It is very heartening to know that there are many readers of Swedenborg outside the New Church, but they do not want to come and join us. I well remember one day in 1939. A dirty, disreputable man walked into the Book Room, and I was just on the point of saying. "No, I cannot give you anything," when he threw on the table two shillings, saying, "Give us a couple of Heaven and Hell, will you!" So amazed and astonished was I that I made my way towards the "fiction" library to get the Heaven and Hells. This gentleman has been in many times since, and usually, after a chat, goes away with several old copies of Heaven and Hell or Divine Providence in his pockets, especially to give away to his friends or anyone who he thinks would like them. Another gentleman comes on the same errand to buy new or secondhand copies of Swedenborg's works for the special purpose of giving them away. One lady comes for booklets, also to give away, and there are several others, if space would but permit the telling. But war has interferred with these people, and they do not come so often.
     The majority of sales are done through the post, and it is a special delight of mine to pack up books for dispatch, as the mission of books is such a great missionary work. One never knows where they will land, and how many folk will read and gain pleasure and helpfulness from them.
     Several women and one man, living in far-away places, write to the Book Room for companionship. This writing has been a special work of keeping in touch with far-away folk, and many delightful and friendly letters come. The first of all these letters to come to the Book Room was from a lady in Texas, United States of America, and many letters of interest and help have passed between us. Here again war has interfered.
     There are three things that I have a great ambition for in Australia. First, that Australians will write New Church literature second, that we in Australia will some day be able to print and publish Swedenborg's works; third, that "The Australian New Church Book Room" will some day be right in the heart of one of her great cities, and that is exactly where it should be.
     CAROLINE PETT.

34






     SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION MAGAZINE.

UMCAZI (The Expositor). Periodical of the South African Native Mission of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. Editor: Rev. F. W. Elphick. Editorial Staff: Revs. M. B. Mcanyana and P. J. Stole. Durban, Natal, September, 1942. Vol. I. No. 2, Mimeograph. pp. 7-16.

     Last February we reviewed the first issue of this bilingual publication of our South African Mission in its new form, and we have recently received the second number, the contents comprising an editorial in English and Zulu by Mr. Elphick, an article in Zulu on "What the New Church Teaches," by Mr. Mcanyana, and a Zulu translation of nos, 70 and 71 of the Brief Exposition, by Mr. Stole; also Mission News.
     In his editorial, Mr. Elphick deals with "the difference between the New Church as a New Dispensation and the various organizations of the New Church in this world; for in these matters, it seems, there is much confusion of thought." The gist of his treatment of the subject may be gathered from the following brief excerpts:
     "By the New Church as a New Dispensation is meant a new governance of the Lord by means of a new and distinct Revelation of Himself, which is found in the Doctrines of the New Church, as given through the instrumentality of Emanuel Swedenborg. . . . It is this New Dispensation which all organizations of the New Church on earth look to and serve. And every one of these organizations derives its light and inspiration from the Doctrines of the New Church as given by the Lord in His Second Coming. . . .
     "Organizations of the New Church are collections of men and women who agree together on the acceptance of the principles contained in and drawn from the Doctrines of the New Church, as revealed. Different countries have their own organized groups, in order that they may carry out certain uses to help the establishment of this New Church as a New Dispensation." He then gives a list of such organizations. In conclusion he says:
     "No doubt, in the good time of Providence, the Bantu people will guise and develop according to their own genius, and will eventually have their own organizations and groups. They will find their own way of applying the New Church doctrines to life.

35



But, it seems, the time is not yet. They still need the help of the European; but such help needs to be discerning, sympathetic, just, allowing freedom for spiritual development. Yet, even in this, the aim now, in Bantu South Africa, should be to look for and seek and to rely upon the Divine Source of Doctrine. Such Divine Source is The Old Testament, The New Testament and the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem,-the complete Word of God, as a Revelation of Divine Truth in threefold form. Such looking and seeking will bring the New Church as a New Dispensation to the hearts and minds of the Bantu people."
     From the record of the activities at the various centers of the Mission during the past year, we gather the following items of special interest:

     MISSION NEWS.

     Alexandra Township, Johannesburg.-Rev. Timothy Matshinini and his Society are still meeting regularly. Rev. Jonas Motsi visited them for the 19th of June celebration, and papers were read by Rev. T. Matshinini, P. Sibeko, H. Maseko, and Abul Vilakazi.
     Durban, Mayville.-Rev. Moffat B. Mcanyana holds regular Sunday services, and also visited Verulam for the celebration of New Church Day on June 28th, when the Holy Supper was administered. On August 9, he officiated at the marriage of Miss Maria Ngema to Mr. Sipakanyiswa Mdhlalose of Impapala, Zululand. Both bride and bridegroom are ex-scholars of the late Kent Manor New Church Day School, and the parents on both sides are members of the Church.
     Durban, 19 Turners Avenue.-The Rev. Philip J. Stole maintains afternoon services at this address every Sunday. The Superintendent visited the Society on Sunday, February 15 when the Communion was administered. On March 3. Rev. Stole visited Claremont Township, Natal, where the service was held at the home of Mr. Ajozi. The attendance was 15. There were six communicants, and one child was baptized.
     Ezimfabeni, Mahlabatini, Zululand.-Regular services are held in this district by the Rev. Solomon B. Mkize. The circle is a very small one, the average attendance being about 14.
     Greylingstad, Transvaal. The Rev. Jonas Motsi, who is in charge of this Society and district, visited Grootvlei on June 14 and conducted services morning and afternoon, with attendances of 56 and 42. He also visited his home at Quthing, Basutoland, where the service he held on June 28 was attended by 53 persons.

36




     Hambrook, Acton Homes, Ladysmith, Natal.-A cyclone visited this region in March and seriously damaged the church building which was erected last year be the devoted labors of the Rev. Stephen E. Buthelezi and the members of the Society. The roof was blown off, and much damage done. A subscription list circulated among the members of the Mission in Natal, Transvaal. Zululand and Cape Province now totals L5: 5, and it is hoped that this will enable the Society to rebuild. [An account of the dedication of this building appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE, November, 1941, p. 516.]
     "Kent Manor," Impapala, Entumeni, Zululand.-The Church work here continues under Rev. Peter Sabela, who has the good assistance of Rev. Aaron B. Zungu, Headmaster of the School. On July 8 the Superintendent and the Rev. M. B. Mcanyana officiated at the marriage of Miss Kumbuzile Nene his Mr. Aaron Mkize, both of Impapala. A large congregation witnessed the ceremony. On Sunday, July 12, the Superintendent conducted the Communion Service, assisted by Revs. Sabela and Zungu, Mrs. Ella Plant Mcanyana received baptism, A Zulu tradition of The Four Doctrines his been completed by Rev. A. B. Zungu, but owing to wartime restrictions only The Doctrine of Life will be printed at this time.
     Macabazini, Deepdale, Natal.-Rev. Benjamin I. Nzimande is still in charge at this center. Unfortunately the Government will not grant a church site, and the services are still being held at the home of Amon Radebe. Reporting recent events, Rev. Nzimande writes: "Rev. P. J. Stole visited us again on May 17. He gave a beautiful sermon and administered the Holy Supper. Twenty people were present. The scenery was covered with snow, and it was very cold indeed. However, people forgot all about the sooty when they heard that Stole had come. Instead of celebrating June 19th on its proper day, we had a sermon by Rev. Nzimande on June 21 dealing with the Second Coming. We did not have a feast this year, owing to the high price of things in the stores."
     Sterkstroom, Cape Province.-The Rev. Johnson Kandisa is maintaining a small group at this most distant center of our Mission. Thee meet regularly every Sunday in the church building erected by the Mission in 1936, He writes:
"We had one of the great days of the New Church on June 19th, starting our service early in the morning. On Sunday, June 21, we had many visitors in our church building, and they showed their interest. In the afternoon we had a feast: so it was a very good day for us."

37



MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943

General Church of the New Jerusalem
     
     THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)

     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa, United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942,

     OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, Sgt. Norman,
Heldon, Cpl. Sydney,
Kirsten, Sgt. Theodore,
Taylor, AC. 1 Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bond, L.A.C. J. W.,
Bond, Sgt. Lillian D.,
Bond, L.A.C. Thomas A.,
Evens, Pvt. John,
Evens, Pvt. Robert A.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Hill, Fr/Sgt. Leonard F.,
Hill, Sgt./Pilot Ralph R.,
James, Pvt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Schnarr, Sgt. Joffre G.,
Schnarr, L/Cpl. John G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. H. G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, Sgt. Pilot A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.

     Toronto.
Bellinger, Sgt./Pilot John H.,
Carter, Sgt.-WAG Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Tpr, Thomas J.,
Izzard, F/O Laurence T.,
Jesseman, Cpl. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn.
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Richardson, A/Cpl. David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, L.A.C. Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Bellinger, P/O William G., Ontario,
Evens, A.C. 2 A. Leslie, Alberta,
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.


     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Cpl. Eric D.,
Appleton, A.C. 1 Roy,
Boozer, Dvr, A. E.,
Boozer, Donald,
Dawson, L.A.C. Geoffrey P.,
Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Jones, Harold C.,
Leonard, Maurice, Eng. Comdr.,
Lewin, Ronald,
Morris, O/Cadet. David,
Motum, L/Cpl. John,
Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,
Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Gnr. Michael T.,
Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,
Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,

38





     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, A/P J. Septimus,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Cockerell, John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, A/P Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Pvt. D. B.,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, Pvt. J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, A/P A. N.,
Hammond, Sgt. Harry B.,
Hammond, Pvt. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, P/N Miss S. F.,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, S/Sgt. A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, L/Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, A/M C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,
Ridgway, Pvt. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A.,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Alden, Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, Pvt. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, P.F.C. Ralph E.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Cole, Lt. William P.,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, A/C Rey W.,
Cooper, Pvt. Theodore F.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. (jg) Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davis, Sgt. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
De Maine, Pvt. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine. Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A.,
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, P.F.C. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Finkeldey, Sgt. Philip,
Gansert, Pvt. Otto G.,
Glenn, Pvt. Ernest Bruce,
Gyllenhaal, Pvt. Charles P.,
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, P.F.C. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., H.A. 1/c,
Homiller, Cand. William,
Hyatt, Pvt. Edward D.,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Nilson, A/C. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, Pvt. Ray S.,
Odhner, A/C. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, S 2/c R.T.,
Pendleton, Cand. Philip C.,
Pitcairn, John P.,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, Pvt. Nathan,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Lt. Oliver I.,
Price, Pvt. Kenneth,
Rose, Pvt. Stanley,
Schnarr, Donald, S 2/c,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, A/C David R.,
Walter, Elizabeth, A.S. U.S.N.R.,
Walter, A/C. Robert E.,
White, Cand. Harry J.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Asplundh, Cadet O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., A.S.,
Burnham, Edwin, C.P.O., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, Pvt. Roy M.,
Carlson, Pvt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,
Gunsteens, Pvt. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,
Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, Pvt. Kenneth,
Junge, A.C. Carl F.,
King, Pvt. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Lt. Raymond T.,
Lee, Cedric,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
Melzer, Pvt. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Philip,
Nelson, Cpl. Gerald F.,
Reuter, Cand. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Midshipman Hubert,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, A/C Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C.,
     Michigan.
Childs, Pvt. Walter C.,

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French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, Pvt. John F.,
Peterson, Sgt. Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., E.M. 2/c.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Ensign Alexander,
Packer, E. W. Jr., A.S. U.S.C.G.
Packer, Pvt. Robert F.,
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,

     Pittsburgh,
Brown, Cpl. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,

Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Iungerich, Sgt. Stevan,
Lechner, Pvt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Lt. Alexander H.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Stein, Pvt. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Cpl. Elmer G., Texas.
Caldwell, P.F.C. Neil V., New York,
Carpenter, Lt. (jg) Philip S. P., Fla.
Davis, Tech. Sgt. Charles F., Calif.
Davis, P.F.C. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Lt. Philip B., Ohio,
Fine, P.F.C. Raymond F., Oregon.
Glenn, Pvt. Alfred M., New York,
Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Hilldale, Pvt. Richard M., New York.
Joy, Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Cpl. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Rott, Cpl. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Snyder, Donald, U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Capt. Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 1943

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.              1943

     Lieutenant Linda Hamm, a nurse from Bryn Athyn, accompanied a hospital unit to New Caledonia early in 1942. In spite of strictest censorship, her letters to relatives and friends tell a story, if one can read between the lines. Her life has been full, and she speaks with delight of the climate, the friendly natives, of visits in lovely French homes and my parties in "the town." Interspersed in her casual descriptions are remarks which tell the true nature of her work and the use she is performing. A few excerpts from her letters give a picture of her life amidst primitive surroundings.
     The past few weeks have been very busy ones. From the News Bulletin it seems that we have recovered five of the Solomon Islands. The Marines are doing a good job. It was only a short time ago (about a month) that I was in the 'big city' and saw the Marines land. They were mostly tall, daring looking fellows, ready for anything. The boys that have come back to us since the offensive started tell some real stories-inhuman! They none of them complain, though, just as we were told before we left-the sicker they are, the more cheerful their attitude. Soon we shall be having more authentic news, when some of our girls return from the sea. . .
     "I have written to Cairns Henderson, but could not give him my present address. Today we rode to the nearest town, where we met a few chaps. I asked them if they knew Norman Heldon, and they said that he was in their unit. I wonder whether I shall see him before he leaves. To most of the boys we cannot talk our New Church language. I am afraid there are few minds ready to receive it. [Unfortunately Miss Hamm did not meet Sergeant Heldon of the Hurstville Society.]

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     "Three of our girls have just returned from wandering over the testers for five weeks, where it is extremely hot in more ways than one. They had harrowing tales to tell. One of the girls wants me to go to town today to celebrate our coming off night-duty, but I hesitate because there will be a dance to attend, and it looks as if it would be just another farewell, Ah me! We hate to see them go. So here's good luck, boys! We'll do all we can for you.

     Marine Corporal Gerald Nelson, in a letter written on November 11, says: "I also had a chance to look for Linda Hamm. She is out on a boat now, looking for 'business,' but will be back in a few weeks. I should see her then for a short time, as later she will be moving a fete hundred miles away, more or less."

     A letter from South Africa quotes from an Address by the Rev. F. W. Elphick on the text. "In your patience possess ye your souls" delivered at a service in observation of a National Day of Prayer and the Third Anniversary of the Beginning of the War:
     "Anniversaries are as milestones. They mark the passing of time, whether that time be of war or of peace. Men make review according to their knowledge of events and persons. And in these days of incessant war commentary, given almost to bewilderment, the tendency, the temptation, is to become mentally callous and confused as to the why and wherefore of our times. Yet in all this the practical theology of the New Church gives light and constructive teaching to help reasoning minds see both the cause and the cure of the sad state of affairs into which Christendom has fallen.
     "In the New Church a National Day of Prayer does not mean a mere ritualistic appeal to God, but, without the dress and form and use of public worship, it means a looking to the Lord in His Revelation of Divine Truth, which will enable minds to see what is required to win war, prevent war, establish peace and enact justice. For evil must be punished, punished without the spirit of hatred-hatred of the person. . . And because evil powers have been and will be so great, so powerful, so aggressive, so deceitful, so subtle and so selfish, the Lord gave the admonition, 'In your patience possess ye your souls.'
     "We all know that patience means endurance without complaint; it means fortitude, resignation, long-suffering, It also implies quietness, composure, constancy, diligence. It can be applied to physical discomfort, to illness, to war, to siege, to imprisonment. But to have spiritual patience is to endure all of these natural trials, and also to suffer the endurance of spiritual temptation, which is to fight in one's self against evils, and against what is called 'faith alone' and the reasonings of the natural man-the individual struggle of conscience-the war, the victory, the peace, the reconstruction of the individual soul."

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Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     HURSTVILLE, AUSTRALIA.

     Several events worthy of special mention occurred here in August and September. The main functions in the first of these months were: for the children, Sunday School Prize-Giving Day, and for the adults, the Feast of Charity held on the 23d. Mr. Alfred Kirsten officiated on the former occasion, giving a very useful and interesting talk to the children before presenting the prizes. As for some years note, the social supper took the form of a question evening, and those present seemed to find it even more enjoyable than usual. With an attendance of twelve, the family spirit was much in evidence. The questions submitted related to tin interesting variety of to pies, and exchanges of thought seemed to flow easily in the sphere of informal good fellowship that prevailed.
     The Annual General Meeting of the Society was held on Wednesday, September 2, with an attendance of ten members. An excellent digest of reports was presented by the Secretary. From this it was learned that the membership of the Society is 26, that there had been a further decrease in support in the uses of public worship and instruction, but that very good financial support had been given in the period under review A letter received from the Rev. Richard and Mrs. Morse announced their purchase of a house property, the net rents from which will be applied to reducing the indebtedness of the Society to the General Church for financial support of the pastoral office. It was decided to do without a social committee for the present, two ladies having undertaken to arrange the catering side of our banquets; but with this exception all office holders were re-elected. The Pastor's Council and the Business Committee met later in the month.
     Sermons delivered during these two months have included philosophical, doctrinal, expository, and practical discourses, some of the subjects treated being. "The Human Organic," "The Glorification," "Dwelling in the Tents of Shem," and "Internal Conscience." The series of doctrinal classes on "Heredity" was concluded in August and is now being followed by a series entitled "Men and Women of the Word," in which the representations of the leading characters in the Old and New Testaments are being outlined.
     Both the young people's and philosophy classes held their usual meetings. The latter concluded in September its study of the Rational Psychology, and will spend the rest of the year on material from Psychological Transactions. It is hoped to take up next year the study of Swedenborg's cosmology.
     The stimulating Son's meetings can be reported. At the first, a number of topics relating to permissions of Divine Providence was discussed in extemporaneous speeches, and at the second solid instruction was combined with delightful entertainment in a reading of some of the fables of Dr. Anshutz, which resulted in a very useful discussion. Lack of support has resulted in the Ladies' Guild being discontinued, but from October onward a number of ladies will lunch together and enjoy a social time on the first Thursday in each month.
     October will witness also the launching of another new venture. The objects of the function, which takes the place of the evening service, are to provide for informal pastoral instruction and a free exchange of thought among members, to assist in promoting a New Church social life, and to serve as a means of mutual encouragement and support.

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We hope to make it what the Church understands by a social supper, but in deference to our English background it will be known as a monthly tea!
     There has been quite a lot of sickness in recent months, but for the present at least all is quiet on the health front. Sgt. Norman Heldon is back in Australia again, and we were delighted to welcome him on a recent leave; but L. A. C. Theodore Kirsten is now in Canada, and so we still have one of our young men overseas. On September 23, Fred Kirsten attained his majority, and members and friends gathered in the church hall at a very happy party given in his honor by his parents to wish him well in his spiritual and natural life.
     Two Society anniversaries fell within the period under review. It was on August 6, 1905, that foundation members resigned from the Society worshipping at Thomas Street in Sydney, resolved to ultimate in a new bode their common faith in the Divine Authority of the Writings; and it was in September, 1921, that our Society was eventually established in Hurstville. The results, in point of numbers, are still insignificant, but something has surely been established that will endure and grove.
     W. C. H.

     WYOMING, OHIO.

     It seems that there has been quite a gap in the news reports from the Wyoming Circle. The last report, written by Mr. Richard Waelchli, appeared in the July, 1941, issue of the Live. About a year later, the Rev. Victor Gladish, in his annual report to the Council of the Clergy, said of the Wyoming group that "the situation there does not now appear encouraging." We do not know whether he referred to the numerical situation or the spiritual situation, but we are inclined to agree with him.
     However, we are carrying on as well as we can under the circumstances, and the group has bent fortunate in having monthly visits from the Rev. Norman Reuter. Services are held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Merrell every Sunday at eleven o'clock, and we keep hoping that some New Churchman traveling this way will stop in to join our circle.
     A doctrinal class is held every week, the readings being selected from the excellent material made available by the Pastoral Extension Service. Wednesday evening is the usual time for this class, but in these days of extraordinary activity it is frequently necessary to change the time of the class.
     The younger children have a weekly class under the guidance of Mrs. Wm. Allen Smith, while for the older group, ages 15 to 17, Mr. Donald Merrell fills in the gaps between Mr. Reuter's visits with classes on Heaven and Hell.
     Bishop de Charms spent a day with us in October. The youngsters were delighted with his demonstration and explanation of the Tabernacle. The adults, after a most agreeable supper at the home of Mrs. George Cowing, heard a thought provoking address by the Bishop on "The Use and Importance of Doctrine." It is most unfortunate that, in these trying times, most of us are so tired by evening that we are unable to get the most good from such excellent material as the leaders of the Church provide. The publication of such important studies is therefore all the more essential.
     In common with other smaller groups, we are good "Gastronomic Christians," and a social event is usually well attended. There have been several delightful occasions devoted to gustatory calisthenics, which help to provide the very necessary social plane of New Church life.
     Lieutenant Philip De Maine and his family stopped in Wyoming en route from Florida to their present home in Logan, Ohio. It was a very real pleasure to see them all again even though their time with us was limited to a few hours.

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     Miss Gwynneth Merrell was confirmed by Mr. Reuter on his last visit, November 8th, and has become a member of the General Church. At present our group is made up of nine adults and nine children. Mr. Dan Horigan visited us rather frequently while he was located in Dayton, Ohio, but he has since moved to Detroit.
     The Richard Smiths, of Dayton, and the Robert Barnitzes, of Urbana, have attended our more formal gatherings, but we fear that gas rationing will put an end to these visits until happier times return.
     D. M.

     GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS.

     Winter has definitely arrived in Glenview! Cold weather-then freezing-then a touch of sub-zero temperatures-and now snow! Those of us who heat our homes with oil are hoping that our rationed heat will hold out till Spring. The folks with coal in their basements are shoveling more frequently than they meant to. And those who use gas-well-they feel just too good for words!
     The highlight of the happenings during October was the annual Chicago District Assembly, described on page 573 of the December LIFE.
     Came November 26-Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving for what? wondered this writer-in a world standing on its ear and with war on every side. Well, here's the answer-a few quotations from the sermon preached at our Thanksgiving service, when our church was filled with adults and children who raised their voices in songs of praise to Him whose judgments are "true and righteous altogether":

     "We want to enter into the true spirit of thanksgiving; for our blessings are very great; and this is true although our difficulties are many. It would always be true, even in times of great privation and distress. The thing that we ought most of all to give thanks for is the Lord's Divine and infinite Providence over us.
     "And in the prayers we offer here today, let us have in mind especially our dependence upon the Lord for the maintenance of human freedom, the security of our country, and the success of our armed forces now engaged in the most momentous of all conflicts, fighting in what seems to us a righteous cause, and under the stress of dire necessity.
     "The Lord grant that this great and terrible war may soon come to a fortunate end, and that when it is done there may be a long and happy state of peace. But we pray at the same time that the merciful ends of Divine Providence may be accomplished among men, and that all things will eventuate in their spiritual good. We trust in the Divine potter to accomplish this. And we pray that we may do our best in all the things necessary to bring it about.
     "We pray for the increase of His blessing upon ourselves for the sake of the common good, and for the sake of our country; and for His blessing upon our country for the sake of the world; and for His blessing upon the world, for the sake of the increase of His Kingdom. O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, for His mercy is forever."

     At four o'clock on Saturday. November 28, the wedding of Trumbull Scalbom and Rosalie Hayes took place. I always feel that weddings should be described by a lady, for the reason that the female reporter could tell you the names of the flowers, the nature of the material of the bride's dress, and mention "how beautiful the bride looked" and "how handsome the bridegroom was." All I can say is that Trumbell and Rosalie are the kind of people who make you feel they are well worth knowing, and that Rosalie is going to be a welcome addition to our society.
     In the evening of the same day a society social drew a large group to the buildings where an "old time music-hall entertainment" was put on, to the gratification of all present.

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     Miss Creda Glenn is paying us a return visit. She teaches our school children how to sing-and-for those adults interested in singing from a New Church viewpoint. Creda has meetings where she demonstrates the rational way of singing-and-with some of us at least-gets astonishingly successful results.
     On Sunday morning, November 29. "The Voice of the New Church" was on the air-a radio program sponsored by the Western New Church Union, Chicago. Our pastor, Mr. Smith, had been asked to read the first paper, and at 9.45, over station WJJD, at least 60,000 people listened to a 13-minute New Church sermon
     The folks down at the post office in Glenview have a rubber stamp which is working overtime these days. It reads in part as follows: "Delayed because of incomplete address." You see, we've recently grown up to the extent of having our mail delivered to us, and the lads who bring it around really need to have our street names and numbers off your envelopes.
     HAROLD P. MCQUEEN.

     KITCHENER, ONT.

     Episcopal Visit.

     October.-In place of the Ontario District Assembly this Fall our society enjoyed an episcopal visit by Bishop Alfred Acton. His stay here seemed to us like a complete Assembly though lacking the usual visitors. The seven day visit was crowded with intensely interesting papers. Yes, friends, seven days, and one every day! Glenview, Bryn Athyn, Toronto Pittsburgh, could you "take it"? But then, of course, we have heard that we are the most spiritually minded society in the Church. Seriously, though we wish you could all have been here to enjoy it as we did. It was indeed a pleasure to see our young folk so much interested in hearing about the things of the Church. The informal manner in which we met with Bishop Acton made us feel that he belonged to us in a deeper way than ever before.
     On Friday evening, October 2, a banquet was served by Miss Korene Schnarr, aided by a group of young girls, and the address was on "Baptism and the Holy Supper," giving us a clearer understanding of what the Holy Supper means, and the importance of partaking, regardless of our feelings of unworthiness.
     The following evening, at the home of Dr. Schnarr, the Men's Reading Group heard an address on "The Coronary Arteries."
     At the service on Sunday morning the subject of the Bishop's sermon was "Judge Not!" The Holy Supper was administered, the Rev. Alan Gill assisting. The same evening the society was addressed on "Charity."
     The Son's and Men's Club met on Monday evening at the home of Mr. George Schnarr, and Bishop Acton discussed with them Union Note, that is, a close political relationship between the nations.
     Tuesday evening, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Stroh, the Bishop talked to the young people about the early history of the New Church, and on Wednesday evening he spoke on "The Bronchial Artery" to the Ladies of the Society at the home of Mrs. Horace Day (nee Beatrice Kuhl). This talk was especially interesting to the women as the subject was treated in connection with the position of the artery in the prenatal and post-natal states of the child, and the child's first sensations upon its entrance into the world. The subject was made more understandable by the use of diagrams, illustrating the phases of the development of this artery.
     As Bishop Acton apparently had not seen too much of us, he was persuaded to stay still another night, when he addressed the society on use subject of "The Virgin Birth." For the instruction received on this subject alone the people of the society feel that they owe a great debt to him.

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     The Rev. Raymond G. Cranch spent Thanksgiving week-end here as the guest of the Rev. and Mrs. Alan Gill.
     The marriage of F/O Alfred Bellinger and Miss Margaret E. Bone took place on October 28 in Vancouver, B. C.
     Mr. and Mrs. Horace Day wish to announce the engagements of their daughters: Joyce to Mr. Erwin Brueckman, and Shirley to Mr. William John Dickin.
     On Friday evening, October 30, the society had a Halloween supper and social. The hostesses for the delectable supper were Mrs. Fred Stroh and Mrs. Alan Gill. The Social Committee provided a program of fun and entertainment to suit the occasion. Prize vegetables from Rudy Schnarr Victory Garden enhanced the scenery. The evening wound up with a hearty singsong. In the afternoon of the same day the youngest school children were given a costume party at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Kuhl; and in the evening two other masquerades were given, one for the older children at Mrs. Yadah Hill's home, and the other for this year's and last year's entrance grades at the home of Mr. and Mrs. R. Robert Schnarr.
     November.-A surprise shower was given for Miss Ruth Niall at her home, this preceding her marriage to L. A. C. De Los Facey, which was solemnized at the bride's home on November 21, the Rev. Alan Gill officiating.
     Pvt. Joseph Scott has been on Active Service for some time, but his name unfortunately has not appeared in the list published in the LIFE. Two other names are now to be added: L.Cpl. Jack Schnarr and Gunner Robert Evens. F/O Alfred Bellinger and bride Margaret spent a week here with his mother, Mrs. Alena Bellinger, Margaret has returned with her husband to Vancouver, but now they will be separated by the cruel monster, war, like so many young couples today. Christmas parcels and cigarettes have been sent to all our eight boys overseas: Sgt./Pilot Ralph R, Hill; Flt/Sgt. L, E. Hill; Sgt. Cecil J. James; P/O W. G. Bellinger; Sgt. Henry Heinrichs; Cpl. Joffre C. Schnarr; Sgt./P A. H. Steen; and Gunner R. A. Evens.
     Christmas comes once again upon a war-torn world, and this hemisphere is about the only portion of the earth where there is peace. Let us not forget this for one little moment. Let us give thanks that we have been spared, so far, the real terrors of war, Let us forget our petty quarrels, and remember that our lives and our freedom are at stake; and let us pray that the wracked countries of Europe, Asia and Africa may again know "peace on earth, good will toward men."
     Sincere and heartfelt Greetings to all our boys, wherever they may be and a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you, all over the world!
     H. H. S.

     TORONTO, CANADA.

     By the time this appears in print we will have passed through the gate of the New Year. The old year will have been danced into history, and the new one rung in with bells and song. Our Christmas festival and tableaux will have added another picture to the many lovely memories of these annual celebrations, and the service on Christmas morning, as in former years, will be the center of joy and thanksgiving in the Advent Season.
     At the passing of the old year it has been the custom of the pastor to speak to the assembled guests at the Next Year's ball, and this year, when the world is passing through one of the great crises in human history, we shall welcome his timely encouragement to stand steadfast for the eternal truths which are the basis of order, freedom, and peace, It will be our part to respond by endeavoring to carry on the essential services of the church and country with loyalty, efficiency and a maximum of co-operation in the year which lies before us.

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     The Olivet Society sends good wishes to all friends tar and near:-A Christmas Greeting of joy that the Lord's birth on earth has been fulfilled in His Second Coming, and a message of hope for a New Year in which this Divine Dispensation will bring to our world a better state of order and peace.
     Fifty years will soon have elapsed since the opening of the first Next Church Day School in Toronto. This took place on January 16, 1893, under the leadership of the Rev. E. S. Hyatt as pastor, with Miss Emeline Carswell as teacher, and an enrollment of eleven pupils. This anniversary will be celebrated some time during the coming year, and we hope that circumstances will make it possible to share this memorable occasion with our friends in other societies of the Church.
     C. S.

     DURBAN, NATAL.

     September 30, 1942.-After three years of war, the Durban Society is still cheerfully carrying on, although our activities are at present confined to the daylight hours. Owing to the blackout, evening Doctrinal Classes have been temporarily suspended, but the Ladies' Class continues to meet on Wednesday mornings, and Mr. Elphick is now conducting a Children's Religion Class on Friday afternoons. Once a month, on a Sunday afternoon. Mr. Elphick motors to Pinetown, a suburb twelve miles from Durban, and holds a Service of Worship at the home of either Mrs. Charles Ridgway or Mr. and Mrs. Prins (nee Yveline Rogers). The average attendance at these Services is about 12 adults and 4 children.
     Nearly everybody is affected by the war in one way or another, but this does not prevent us from working for and holding a Sale of Work every now and again for the benefit of Church Funds, which must be maintained. This September a small "Bring and Buy" Sale with refreshments was held on the afternoon of the 9th, for which function Mrs. James J. Forfar kindly lent us her lovely and spacious garden, as she had done last year. A sum of L10 was raised, made up of the takings of the afternoon. L8/8/6, and a donation from Mrs. W. C. Lowe. Our next big Bazaar is scheduled by the Women's Guild to be held on Saturday, December 5.
     Kainon School.-As several families have remained up-country, Miss Champion's leave of absence has been extended to the end of the year, while Miss Pemberton continues tuition to Kindergarten, Transition, and Grade I.
     Tobruk.-We regret to have to report that, at the fall of Tobruk on June 20, six of our men on Active Service were captured by the enemy. They are: Private Frank D. Bamford, Lieut. Brian M. Ridgway, Cpl. Colin Bernard Ridgway, Lieut. Colin Owen Ridgway, Sig. Glenn M. Ridgway, and Bdr. J. B. Robertson. All of their names have been mentioned over the Vatican Radio, indicating that they are Prisoners of War in Italian hands. Official corroboration has been obtained by next-of-kin through the Red Cross Society in every case except that of Mr. Bamford, news of whom is daily expected by his wife and family, who are at present evacuated to Dundee, Natal. There now remain eleven of our men with the Fighting Forces "Up North," while 21 more (19 men and 2 women) are serving their Country in the Union of South Africa, and one man in Northern Rhodesia. This makes a total of 38 men and women on full-time active service, which I think is sufficient explanation of our depleted ranks, and of the fact that no meetings of the Sons have been held here for about two years.
     Sunday, September 6, having been selected by His Majesty the King as a National Day of Prayer, this day was observed as such by the Durban Society. This day also coincided with the third anniversary of our Country's entry into the War. In an inspiring Address at the morning Service. Rev. Elphick spoke on the text of Luke 21: 19: "In your patience possess ye your souls." [See p. 40.]
     P. D. C.

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NEW EDITIONS 1943

NEW EDITIONS              1943




     Announcements




     Emanuel Swedenborg. The Servant of the Lord.

     A True Story for the Young.

     By C. Th. ODHNER.

     Cloth, Illustrated, 114 pages. 75 cents.

     Third Edition.

     This excellent work has been out of print for some years, but a new edition has been printed from the original plates, making the book once more available to the Church.
First Elements of the True Christian Religion 1943

First Elements of the True Christian Religion       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1943

     An Introductory Catechism for the New Church.

     Adapted to the Needs of the Schools, Homes and Missions of the Church of the New Jerusalem.

     Second Edition, 76 pages, 75 cents.

     This valuable Catechism has also been out of print, but has recently been reprinted by the Academy Book Room.
SWEDENBORG'S BIRTHDAY IN FEBRUARY 1943

SWEDENBORG'S BIRTHDAY IN FEBRUARY       ALEC MCQUEEN       1943



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No. 2

NEW CHURCH LIFE

VOL. XLIII
FEBRUARY, 1943
     (Remarks at a Sharon Church Celebration. Sunday, February 1, 1942.)

     Today is a Sunday in February: and in more ways than one it is a good day, a fitting day, on which to commemorate the birth of Emanuel Swedenborg. In some centers of the Church the celebration has already been held on the customary date, January 29th; in others, for reasons of convenience, on the 30th; still others, as far as I know, may have arranged to hold their birthday gatherings on the 31st.
     But we-members and friends of the Sharon Church of the New Jerusalem-we need not feel that we are being tardy in our recognition of the day. As a matter of fact, our celebration comes nearer being authentic than all the others. For one thing, we are celebrating on a Sunday; and Swedenborg was born on a Sunday. For another thing, we are celebrating in February: and Swedenborg was born in February I can prove this, partly from historic evidence, and partly from the words of Swedenborg's own father-that good man, Bishop Jesper Swedberg.
     When Jesper Swedberg was an old man, he wrote down a number of facts about himself and his family. On one page, under the heading, "My Sons and their Names," he gave some excellent advice about the naming of children; he made a plea for names that should be new, and good, and inspiring. He called his second son "Emanuel," because, he said, "it signifies God with us-a name which should constantly remind him of the nearness of God, and of that interior, holy, and mysterious connexion in which, through faith, we stand with our good and gracious Lord."

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     It was a prophetic name, and I believe we have a right to think that the Bishop, in choosing that name, was guided by the Lord. In any case, it was a name of good omen; and Jesper Swedberg, wise and learned as he was, derived innocent pleasure from earthly happenings that seemed like good omens. For example, he was pleased to be able to record that he himself, and his wife, the mother of Emanuel, were both born on Sundays; and that all his sons were born on Sundays too. He had four daughters; three of them were Sunday children, and the other, though she missed Sunday, was born in Easter week. In the folklore of many lands we find verses about children born on different days of the week, with the best qualities assigned to the Sunday babies. Such traditions seemed natural to a man like Jesper Swedberg, upon whom the Sabbath, and all that concerned the Sabbath, made a deep and holy impression.
     So Emanuel, too, was born on a Sunday. And I have to admit that the Sunday on which he was born, in 1688, was called January 29th, whereas I've just put his birth-date in February. But there's not any mystery about this. In 1688, when Emanuel was born Sweden was one of the countries still using the old Julian calendar. Now that calendar, in the course of centuries, had slipped so far away from the real sun time that it was eleven days behind the reformed calendar of Pope Gregory XIII. We cannot blame the Swedes for using the Old Style calendar so long. We in America were just as slow; we changed to the New Style at about the same time. And one of the results of our change was that, whereas George Washington's birth, as recorded in the Washington family Bible, is February 11th, 1732, we celebrate it on February 22nd. Eleven days difference. By the same token, although Emanuel Swedenborg's birth was recorded as of January 29th, we ought to celebrate it on the true date by the true calendar. And that makes it February 9th. All of which means that if anyone would like to have another Swedenborg celebration this year, on a date that would be a hundred percent accurate, it will be possible to do so, more than a week from now.
     But, coming back to my old refrain, let me remind you that, regardless of which calendar you follow-Old Style or New Style-there's no question about the day of the week on which our hero was born. It was Sunday-and Sunday is today.

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     In closing. I propose to recite four lines of verse written by Emanuel Swedenborg in the year 1700, when he was only twelve years old. At the present time, when the world is going through a period of sore temptation and vastation, we can well attend to the encouraging words of a little boy who was destined to be one of the world's greatest men-perhaps the greatest. First I will say the words in English; they are very simple: then I will titter them in Swedish as Emanuel wrote them. And I think nobody here ought to criticize my pronunciation, because nobody knows exactly what Swedish sounded like in Stockholm in the year 1700. First in English:

After dark clouds and gloomy mists
     The sun will shine gloriously;
After cold winter will come
     The spring, and kindly summer.

Effter morka moln och dimma
     Plagar solen harligt glimma;
Effter kalla wintren kommer
     Waren och then blide sommer.
GENUINE CHARITY TOWARD ENEMIES 1943

GENUINE CHARITY TOWARD ENEMIES              1943

     "To love the neighbor is not only to will and do good to a relation, a friend, and a good man, but also to a stranger, an enemy, and an evil man. But charity is exercised toward the latter and the former in different ways-toward a relation and friend by direct benefits, toward an enemy and an evil man by indirect benefits, which are effected by exhortations, disciplines, punishments, and thus emendations. So a judge loves the neighbor when, from law and justice, he punishes a malefactor; for in this way he amends him, and also consults for the citizens, that he may not do evil to them. Further, if anyone repels an insulting enemy, and for protection strikes him or delivers him to a judge, that he may thus avert harm from himself, yet with a mind to become his friend, he acts from the vein of charity. Wars which have for their end the protection of one's country and the church are not contrary to charity; the end for which a war is waged declares whether it is charity or not." (T. C. R. 407.)

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PEACE AND THE SWORD 1943

PEACE AND THE SWORD       Rev. MARTIN PRYKE       1943

     Evangelical Sermon.

      (Delivered at a service in the church of the Colchester Society, November 29, 1942, attended by over fifty cadets of a local Air Training Corps.)

     "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I come not to send peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10: 34.)

     The various bodies of the Church of the New Jerusalem which exist throughout the world have been established in order to proclaim the new Revelation which God has given to mankind through His servant, Emanuel Swedenborg. For our Third Lesson today we read from this Revelation, which is now to take its place with the Divinely inspired Old and New Testaments. Swedenborg, a scientist, philosopher and theologian of the Eighteenth Century, was an instrument-a pen-in the hand of God, just as were the scribes of old,-Moses, David, the Prophets. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It is not the men whom we are to acknowledge and obey, but the Divine Truth revealed through them.
     This new Revelation, appearing in the works of Swedenborg, is the Second Coming of the Lord which He foretold when on earth. It was not a coming in Person, such as He made in Judea nearly two thousand years ago when He assumed the human form from the virgin Mary, but it was a further revealing of Himself by means of the written word. And the new order of life, the New Church, which is eventually to be established upon this Final and Crowning Word of God, is the New Jerusalem prophesied in the Book of Revelation: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away: and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." (Apoc. 21: 1, 2.) Therefore is this church called "The Church of the New Jerusalem."
     One of the outstanding features of this new body of teaching is its very direct and practical application to the least detail of our daily lives.

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The purpose of all Divine Revelation is the guidance of man to an orderly and perfected life in which he may achieve the deepest joy, both in this world and in the life of heaven following the death of the body. For no other reason does God reveal Himself to us in the pages of His written Word. This means that there is no aspect of our life which is not affected by the teaching of God. There is to be no thought, word or deed of ours which is not guided by our knowledge of the Lord and of His commandments. In every conceivable situation, whether it be in our daily work, in our life at home, or in times of recreation, we are to seek His guidance, in order that we may be gradually preparing ourselves for eternal life in Gods heavenly kingdom. For the quality of our eternal life will depend upon the choice we make whilst here in this natural world.
     In the light of this teaching, then, we should be able to see how the words of our text bear directly upon our lives of preparation, that is, upon our spiritual development. In seeking to do this, we shall be able to see their particular application in times of war, such as those in which we now find ourselves. "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword."
     Our first thought of God is of a loving Father who provides for us and protects us with infinite wisdom. And this is a true picture of Him. How is it, then, that He said, when in the world, that He came to man with a sword?
     It is indeed the constant wish of God that all men should enter His heavenly kingdom and receive eternal joy; but He recognizes that no man can be happy or content there who has not himself chosen to go there, and who has not prepared himself accordingly. Therefore no man is compelled to lead a good life; each man is free to choose for himself. This freedom of choice is our greatest heritage; for the deepseated delight and joy of a life well led lies in the fact that we have chosen it for ourselves and earned it by our own struggles. It is because this choice must first be made that we are born into this world. And thus the importance of our life here does not lie in the achievement of worldly well-being and worldly pleasures, but in the mouldling of our spiritual characters-the purification of our thoughts and of our desires-so that we may be worthy citizens of the heavenly kingdom.

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     When, in the early days of the history of the human race, some men refused to follow God, and sought to satisfy their own selfish desires, then evil came into being. Evil was not created by God, but by man when he perverted and distorted God's gifts to him, when he misused the priceless gift of free will. Evil is everything which is opposed to the nature of God, who seeks the good of all men. And so there has been a constant warfare between these two totally opposite forces-good against evil, truth against falsity. And this battle will continue until such time as man, with God's help, succeeds in totally removing evil from the world. This will be accomplished only as each man destroys the influence of evil in his own life-destroying it in every small daily thought and deed. No grandiose scheme for the betterment of the world will have the slightest effect unless it is based upon individual effort and individual achievement of the way of God. And it is with reference to this continuous battle against evil that the Lord said that He came into the world, not to send peace, but a sword.
     God is indeed the Prince of Peace. That this is so becomes clear when we consider the peace that would reign in this world if His Word reigned in the hearts of all men-if His Divine laws pervaded all of society. The tranquillity and lasting joy that would result would be comparable to the peace of heaven-the peace of God which "passeth all understanding." (Philippians 4: 7.) Man, in turning to evil ways, has shattered that peace, and therefore is it described as being past our understanding. That which we call peace is but a lifeless and monotonous image of genuine peace. We call cessation from war peace; we call idleness peace. Yet these are but poor substitutes where there is no peace of the heart,-where the Lord does not reign, giving us that everlasting peace which springs from a trust in His Divine Providence and an opportunity to perform useful works for the betterment of our fellow man and to the glory of God. Of this peace He spake, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14: 27.)
     But this peace cannot be attained until we have prepared the way by battle against all evil and falsity. It is the evil within us which stands between us and God.

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This must first be removed. Therefore it is that God comes to us with a sword, that we may conquer our enemies. He brings us Divine aid. He puts a weapon into our hands, to the end that, with it, we may attain the only true and eternal peace-that which comes from God to man. And this sword, which is placed in our hands, is the sword of truth-Divine Truth revealed to us in the Word of God. This is the sharp two-edged sword with which we may wage war against the common enemies of mankind-selfishness, pride, and all desires which oppose the will of God.
     No man can know the path which is outlined for him by his Creator without receiving teaching concerning the Divine commands. This we have in the works which make up the Divine Revelation. The part of man is to read and study this, so that he may apply the principles there taught to his daily life. In doing this he casts out all evil, and forms his life according to the Divine Laws.
     But we can see that, without a knowledge of the truth, the man is powerless. He does not know what his duty is, and is quite incapable of ordering his life. Such a man is weaponless-unable to defend himself against the onslaught of the temptations of evil. But it is the will of God that man should be able to wage this vital war, and therefore has the Lord placed the sword in our hands. This He did, in the supreme sense, when He Himself came to earth and taught us. "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16: 33.)
     With such provisions, marvellously given for the eternal welfare of man, it rests with him to make use of them. The sword is placed in our hands: it is for us to use it in defence of our spiritual lives. The truth must be made living by becoming active in our daily thought and deed.

"I will not cease from mental fight,
     Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
     In England's green and pleasant land."

          (William Blake.)

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     It is, then, the will of God that we should learn to recognize evil and falsity, and then to overcome them. In every small deed of our lives we must wage the battle. Wherever evil is seen, it must be crushed, in order that the way of God may be established on earth. And when this struggle between the forces of heaven and those of hell makes itself felt between whole nations, it is inevitable that war shall result-just as it is inevitable that there be a battle within ourselves when we are tempted to disobey the Word of God.
     Wars, particularly in the form which they take at this day, are altogether regrettable and deplorable: but this does not mean that we are wrong to defend our country and all that is good and true. This was plainly spoken of in our Third Lesson. God did not cause wars, just as He did not create evil. Man brought both about. But it is God's will that we fight in temptations and in wars, provided that we have ranged ourselves on the side of the right.
     In the present conflict there can be no doubt in the mind of any clear-sighted Christian. We are engaged in a desperate struggle for the overthrow of evil, cruelty and aggression, and for the establishment of freedom,-civil and religious liberty throughout the world. Whilst it is clearly true that we cannot condemn all of our enemies as evil, nor claim that we ourselves are all without evil, yet the cause for which we fight is just and true, and insofar as we seek to further this cause, so far we are furthering the work of God on earth. The cause of the Allied Nations is the defence of true principles; and in supporting this cause we are preparing the way for that true peace which must follow the successful use of the sword. But this true peace can only be established on earth if we each, individually, seek to establish it in our own hearts. This means that we shall have to fight for the cause of God's Word just as earnestly when the present war is over as we do now. Then we shall no longer be fighting on the battlefields, but in our own homes and at our benches and desks-a less glamorous battle, but not one whit less vital.
     There are those who seek to avoid the issue of this war, claiming that at no time are we justified in taking a life, and that no gain may be found in such conflicts, not even a conflict in defence of justice and truth. Such men delude themselves into believing that we can lead a good life in this world without any struggle against the forces of evil.

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They are like the ostriches hiding their heads in the sand, or like hermits who separate themselves from their fellow men, thinking that in doing this they do the work of God. They are those who cry, "Peace, peace, when there is no peace." (Jeremiah 8: 11.)
     It is the first responsibility of every man and woman to learn to recognize what is good and what is evil, and to be willing to fight in defence of the former and for the destruction of the latter. Only thus can the kingdom of God be established upon the earth. Therefore are we all-man, woman and child-called upon to make every effort for the defence of our country, and to set the world free from this reign of tyranny and oppression-where men are set up in the place of God, and power is sought instead of a life in accord with the Divine commands.
     Everywhere and on every plane we are to fight to the utmost of our ability; for, in very truth, our lives do depend upon it,-the lives of our spirits, as well as of our bodies. On the land, on the sea, and in the air, at home and abroad, in the factory and in the services, wherever our task may be, we are called upon to give of our best. Those of us who are not yet in active service are called upon to spare no effort in preparing for the day when the work itself is entered into. No duty is too small, no sacrifice too great; for the work which we seek to do is for the welfare of the whole human race, and is done to the glory of God.
     The Lord came into the world that He might put a sword into our hands,-the sword of truth whereby we might learn to wage war against evil. When this warfare is over, the peace will come. When we have conquered evil in our own lives, we shall be prepared to enter into peace eternal. And when mankind as a whole has renounced the ways of falsity and selfishness, the peace of heaven shall descend upon earth. By waging the sword of truth to the utmost of our power, we bring nearer and nearer the day, of which it was promised, `They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O House of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord." (Isaiah 2: 4, 5.) Amen.

LESSONS:     Psalm 46: 1-11. Matthew 10: 16-39. T. C. R. 412 (portion), 414.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy, pages 437, 446, 469, 472.
PRAYERS:     nos. 105, 110.

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MIRACLES OF THE WORD 1943

MIRACLES OF THE WORD       Rev. W. CAIRNS HENDERSON       1943

     In the Jewish Church, and at the beginning of the Christian dispensation, miracles were necessary to attest the Divinity of the Lord, and to induce men to believe in and obey Him. (D. Min. 4724; E. 815:9; T. 282.) Both these Churches were therefore founded through miracles: "the Jewish by miracles and living speech with Moses and out of Mount Sinai," and "the Christian Church by miracles, and also by speech of men with spirits, for spirits spoke with the apostles" (D. 4770.) This was done in accommodation to existing needs. The Jews were so external that, unless there had been a continual performance of manifest miracles among them, they could not have been compelled to perform their use of representing the spiritual church by observing the worship and the statutes com- mantled them. (A. 4208, 5505; De Mir. I; D. 2433: P. 132.) And in the first infancy of the Christian Church the need for miracles continued, though for a different reason. The truth, then unknown in most lands, "that the Lord who saved souls had come into the world would not have been received without miracles, especially by idolaters. (D. Mim. 4724.) As we are told in another passage, the first faith with all is traditional or miraculous: and it was for this reason that the miracles performed by the Lord were described, and are now preached. (E. 815:9.)
     So it is that the Word of the Old and New Testaments is largely a record of those particular manifestations of the Divine presence and power which are called "miracles." To all outward appearance, these are manifestations in the otherwise impossible: and in the Christian Church a miracle came to be regarded as just that,- as a seeming impossibility. It was held as a sine qua non that an alleged miracle, to be authentic, must transcend every law of order. But the Writings reveal that this is not the case. (E. 401:18) In their pages the rational laws governing the performance of miracles are disclosed.

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The laws concerning the relation of the spiritual world to the natural, and the influx of the former into the latter, together with many other arcana, provide us with a rational explanation of the miracles of the Word; and as a starting point, the teaching given furnishes us with an interior definition of the spiritual phenomenon known as a miracle. A miracle, we are taught, is an ultimate means of Divine power, called "the finger of God," and wrought by influx through heaven, but without its co-operation, whereby the Lord so manifests His power and presence with men as to stir and fill them with amazement, and so cause that the truth shall be confirmed with them, to the end that there may be a leading to good. (A. 6910, 7273; D. 655.)

     Divine and Magical Miracles.-When Aaron performed in Egypt the miracles commanded, the magicians of Pharaoh repeated some, though not all of them. This directs attention to the fact that two kinds of miracles are described in the Word, namely. Divine miracles and miracles not Divine, or magical. The Writings clearly distinguish these two kinds of miracles, and contain interesting series of teachings about them. They differ as heaven does from hell. (A. 7337.)
     Divine miracles have the Divine within them. They proceed from Divine Truth, advance according to order, and their effects in ultimates are miracles when it pleases the Lord that they be so presented. All represent the states of the Lords kingdom in the heavens and on earth. That is their internal form. Those recorded in the Old Testament have this general signification, while the miracles wrought by the Lord all signify the states of the church, and of the human race saved by His coming into the world. Also. Divine miracles have within them the end of building up the things of the church. By these qualities, Divine miracles are distinguished from magical miracles, however much they may appear alike in external form, as was the case in Egypt. (A. 6988, 7337: E. 419:24.) The term includes, of course, the miracles done through Moses. Aaron, and the prophets, as well as those performed by the Lord without a human instrument.
     Magical miracles, on the other hand, signify nothing, because there is nothing of the Divine within them. (E. 419:24.) Yet it is said that all the miracles recorded in the Word contain within them such things as relate to the Lord, to heaven, and to the church" (S. 17:3); and it seems evident that, while the magical miracles signify nothing in themselves, the record of them in the Word is of spiritual significance.

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Concerning these magical miracles we are taught that they are such as are performed by evil spirits by artificial means, and for no good end, but from a most depraved cupidity of acquiring power over others. They are permitted, and they appear similar to the Divine miracles in outward form, because they flow from order, which appears alike in its ultimates when miracles are presented. But they have no internal, and involve nothing at all; and although they counterfeit Divine miracles, they have the opposite end, namely, that of destroying the things of the church. (A. 7337; D. 656.) It is important to note that magical miracles are performed by evil spirits. The magician did not perform them from himself, any more than the prophet performed Divine miracles from himself; but the magician served as an ultimate for influx from hell, as the prophet served as an ultimate for influx from the Divine.
     All magical miracles, then, are from hell. Thus we are informed that the Egyptian magicians learned the deceptive arts by which they performed their miracles from spirits, with whom they had communication through their knowledge of correspondences and of the things of the spiritual world. (A. 5223.) It should be noted that even magical miracles are performed from Divine Truth (A. 8200), but truth perverted through abuse of correspondences. So we read about certain Jesuit spirits who, before the Last Judgment, effected miracles by means of the Heavenly Doctrine, producing various shining forms, and so on. (D. 5413-5420.) Many interesting things are related concerning the evil spirits by whom magical miracles are performed. From their arts came the magical practices of the Egyptians (D. 1755), even, on account of its correspondence, the use of rods in the exercise of magical arts (A. 4936), and the representation of magicians with rods in their hands. (A. 4013.)
     Our interest in magical miracles will center in the question as to why they were permitted. This is answered in an interesting passage which, while referring specifically to the magical miracles performed in Egypt, presumably relates to all the miracles of this class. The teaching is, that these miracles were allowed to provide for equilibrium, and thus for the preservation of freedom.

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Because the magicians could do as Aaron did, doubt was excited among the sons of Israel about the Aaronic miracles, as to whether they were Divine; and thus an opportunity was given of thinking and considering whether they were Divine, and of finally confirming themselves that they were. And this opportunity was given under the law that truth instantly confirmed becomes so persuasive that it has no extension. (A. 7298.)

     How Miracles were Effected.-The spiritual laws operative in the production of miracles have now been made known. It is true that much detail is as yet uncertain, and this is a matter for affirmative conjecture; but enough has been revealed to enable us to understand in a general way how the miracles of the Word were effected. There are two universals upon which the doctrine given insists: first, that all the miracles recorded in the Word were performed by means of Divine Truth (A. 8200); and second, that they all advanced according to order (A. 7337; D. 655), as distinct from the earlier idea that a miracle must transcend order to be authentic. But this is qualified by the important teaching that the order according to which Divine miracles were wrought is that of the influx of the spiritual world into the natural, which was, of course, unknown until it was revealed. (T. 91.) Manifest miracles were produced by an influx of the spiritual into the natural along the normal path of such influx, but by an occasional or special influx, distinct from that perpetual and common one which causes all things to live and grow in due order, with the result that they were recognized as apparent impossibilities. They were effected, we are told, by a bringing in, illationem, of such things as are in the spiritual world into corresponding things in the natural world. (De Miraculis, 60.)
     Some of the miracles done in this way are then enumerated in this passage. "The manna descending every morning upon the camp of the sons of Israel was things flowing down from the bread of heaven and brought into the receptacles of nature. In like manner the bread and fishes into the baskets of the apostles, and also the wine from heaven into the water in the waterpots at the wedding; and that the fig tree withered through there being no longer the influx of spiritual aliment for it which was nourishing it from the root."

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These things were done by an "illation" of the things of heaven into the receptacles of nature; wherefore the passage concludes that miracles have not been done from causes sought out from nature, according to the insanities of certain of the learned, but are of the Divine omnipotence according to the order of the influx of the spiritual world into the natural-the only difference being that the things which come forth actually in the spiritual world are actually brought into such things in the natural world as correspond. In confirmation of this teaching it is said elsewhere that all miracles were done by means of correspondence (A. 8615); and this is illustrated by the statement that the miraculous feeding of the five thousand took place because previously the Lord had been teaching them, and they had received and appropriated His doctrine, and as this was what they had eaten spiritually, natural eating followed, that is, flowed in out of heaven with them. (E. 617:4.)
     Taken in conjunction with the teaching about "illation," already noted, this furnishes a rational explanation of many of the miracles recorded in the Word, especially those which were of a cosmic nature. There was an influx of spiritual forces into their corresponding receptacles in nature, and the result was the production in the ultimates of nature of a corresponding effect. Thus the bread of heaven could be changed into natural food, and this, as to mode, by an intensification of the creation process. The elements could be controlled, and natural things could be made to act in a manner contrary to their inherent nature, as when an axe head of iron was made to swim. (II Kings 6: 4-6.)
     Not all miracles were effected by "illation," however, and another type may be understood from a leading statement in the Spiritual Diary about a remarkable state of interior wakefulness into which Swedenborg was introduced. He had every sensation of being awake, and of conversing with spirits around him: vet, when he returned to a state of bodily consciousness, he found that he was alone in the dark night; and when he spoke later with those spirits, he was informed that it was easy for man to be reduced into such a state, though at this day it is not permitted, and that Abraham. Lot, and Gideon were in it when angels appeared to them. (D. 4250.) Evidently this refers to, and explains, a set of miracles quite distinct from those produced by "illation,"-a set of miracles produced by an opening of the spiritual sight, not by an actual inflowing of spiritual things into natural forms.

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It introduces a second mode, and expands our view of the subject.
     It may be assumed that all the miracles recorded in the Word can be attributed to one or other of these modes, or in some instances to both together. We may not always be able to assign a given miracle to one or the other, because of similarity of appearance, though sometimes the matter is settled for us by the teaching given. Thus it is said, concerning the standing still of the sun and the moon in Gibeon and Aijalon, that this miracle did not take place as recorded, because if it had been done in this way the whole cosmical order would have been overthrown, but that without doubt there was given them a light out of heaven like that of the sun and moon. (E. 401:18.) And it is evident that the spiritual eyes of the sons of Israel were not opened to behold the light given-in which case they would have pursued and slain their enemies in a state of bodily unconsciousness-but that it was a natural light produced by "illation," and therefore having a direct spiritual origin.
     Another line of teaching deals with the conditions necessary for the miracles of healing performed by the Lord when in the world. In essence, this teaching is, that the Lord healed men according to their faith, because the primary thing of the church then to be established was to believe that He is God Almighty. It was only an historical or miraculous faith by which the sick were thus healed, namely, a faith that the Lord was Almighty because He could do miracles of Himself, but it was an indispensable qualification. Such faith healed those who possessed it because they acknowledged the Divine omnipotence of the Lord, which acknowledgment effects presence, and because the diseases healed by the Lord represented the corresponding spiritual diseases which can be healed only by the Lord, and this by looking to His Divine omnipotence and practising repentance. But the deepest reason why such faith was essential was that the Divine, to which belongs the omnipotence from which miracles are done, is not present when the Lord is believed in only as a man, and not as God Almighty. It was because of such a failure on the part of the disciples at that time that they were unable to do miracles in the Lord's name, and were called by Him "men of little faith." And it was for the same reason that the Lord could do no miracles in His own country; namely, because the people there could not add to their idea of Him as a man the idea of His Divine: wherefore His Divine was not present with them. (E. 815:3-8.)

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This makes an important contribution to our understanding of some of the New Testament miracles, showing that in the miracles of healing the influx of spiritual forces into natural receptacles was not direct, but was through the mind of the person healed. If that mind was not so organized as to receive the influx, the miracle could not be performed.

     Miracles in the Old Testament.-Manifest miracles were wrought in the pre-advent church for two immediate reasons. Firstly, men were then natural, and spiritual things could not be revealed to them without their being profaned. Secondly, without miracles they could not have been led to the performance of the only kind of worship possible to them,-representative external worship. In the absence of internal bonds, this worship had to be rigidly enforced from without; and although miracles were not always sufficient, they were the most powerful means of compulsion the Divine could employ. (De Mir. I: T. 501.) This was especially the case with the Jews, who would not have believed in and obeyed the hitherto unknown Jehovah without miracles to compel. (E. 815:9; T. 282.) They were wholly external men, who did not desire to know anything about internal worship, and who could be driven to worship the Lord only by external means such as miracles, which forcibly strike the mind. (A. 7290; E. 815:9.) They believed in Jehovah solely because of the miracles He did. (E. 815:9.) More than the Gentiles, they believed that there were many gods, and they regarded Him as greater than the others only because He could effect greater miracles. (A. 4847, 10566.) And for these reasons, and because they could not otherwise have been compelled to perform their use of representing the spiritual church, manifest miracles were wrought continually among them. (A. 4208, 5508; D. 2433; De Mir. I; P. 132.)
     Hence the Word of the Old Testament is largely a record of miracles. But these miracles had a deeper purpose than driving the Jews to the use in the performance of which lay the only degree of salvation possible to them. They were Divine miracles, and as such were significant of the state of the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth. (A. 6988.)

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Thus we are taught that the miracles done in Egypt describe the vastation of the corrupt ancient churches which were infesting the potential spiritual church. (A. 7465; R. 424.) The later miracles are, in general, descriptive of different phases of the regeneration process. It is noteworthy, however, that of the fifty miracles recorded in the Old Testament, only two-which are both related in the Book of Daniel,-occurred after the Captivity had begun; and that from then on manifest miracles ceased until the Lord began His ministry. The reason is, that miracles are wrought through ultimates belonging to the Lord with man. Thus they were done through the Word, and when the Jews had perverted the Word, miracles could no longer be performed until the Lord came and did them from Himself. (Canons, God; VIII: 12.)

     Miracles in the New Testament.-It is the miracles which the Lord thus performed from Himself that are recorded in the Word of the New Testament. Those miracles are matters of historical fact. It is true that some passages in the Writings state that miracles were wrought previous to the Advent, as though they then ceased (T. 501; et al); but there is a sense in which the Lord had not come until He had glorified His Human; and this interpretation seems to be supported by the teaching that "when the Lord had manifested Himself, and had been received and acknowledged in the churches as the eternal God, miracles ceased." (P. 132.) These miracles were all done by the Lord when He was in the state of glorification (T. 104), and their supreme purpose was to testify that He was Almighty. (E. 815:4.)
     But the Lord's miracles do more than testify to Divinity. They testify to sole Divinity, revealing Him as the triune God. Both their nature and significance divides them into four types: 1) Cosmic miracles; 2) miracles of exorcism; 3) miracles of healing: 4) miracles of restoring to life. It was as Creator that the Lord performed the first type; as Redeemer that He did the second: as Savior that He wrought the third; and as Giver of life that He effected the fourth. And by each He is shown to be that as which He performed it. Because they were Divine, the miracles of the Lord were of heavenly significance. (A. 2916.) They involved such things as are of heaven and the church (E. 152:13), especially the state of the church and race saved by His coming. (A. 6988.)

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In general, they signified spiritual things corresponding to those described in the letter. Thus the miracles of healing signified the coming state of the church, when spiritual diseases would be cured. (A. 7337, 8364.) Those of exorcism imaged the last judgment performed on the ancient churches; and those by which men were restored to life represented, the raising up of the Christian dispensation, especially with the Gentiles.
     As His teaching conveyed Divine Truth to the hearing of His followers, the Lord's miracles manifested the omnipotence of that Truth to the sight of those who witnessed them. They showed His power to save souls, confirmed the Divinity of the doctrine He taught, and spread His fame, causing many who did not believe in Him to wonder who He might be. They moved the simple to that miraculous faith which was the only one then possible (E. 815:9), and confirmed faith in the Lord wherever it already existed. (D. Min. 4724; E. 617:4; T. 501.) They brought judgment upon the evil (E. 815:7-9); and they represented the Divine omnipotence in the sense of the letter for the use of the New Church. (E. 419:24, 815:9; P. 133.) Miracles did not cease, however, with the glorification, but continued, as already noted, until the Lord had been received and acknowledged in the churches as the eternal God. These later miracles, recorded in the Acts, were performed by the Lord through the apostles; and they took place because, as we have seen, the truth about the Lord was unknown to the Gentiles, and would not have been accepted by them without miracles. But when the doctrine was received, the apostolic miracles ceased, and the age of manifest miracles was ended.

     Belief in the Miracles of the Word.-The good, we are taught, do not desire miracles, but believe in those recorded in the Word. The evil deny them. For although actual sight of miracles compels temporary belief (P. 133), faith is not inrooted by miracles, much less by an account of them (D. 3521, 3570); and the negative mind has been quick to avail itself of its freedom to reject the miracles of the Word. (A. 7290; D. 4759; D. Min. 4580.) Both the Higher Criticism and the attitude of the average man toward miracles support these teachings.

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The New Churchman, of course, does not require miracles to substantiate his faith, which is grounded in rational conviction; but he is required to believe in the miracles of the Word.
     Whether the phenomena recorded as such were authentic miracles is not a subject for discussion among us. But there is room for inquiry as to whether all the miracles occurred exactly as they are described. We are taught that the waters of Jordan were divided (T. 283), that the walls of Jericho did fall when the trumpets sounded (E. 700:15), and that the swallowing of Jonah by a whale actually happened in the world. (D. 1391.) These miracles must therefore be accepted as having occurred just as described. But there is at least one instance in which the Writings say definitely that a miracle did not take place as described, namely, the standing of the sun and moon in Gibeon and Aijalon. (E. 401:18.) There was a miracle, and the writer described accurately what he thought he had seen, though this was not what actually happened. And this raises the question whether it may not be said of certain other miracles that, although they appeared to do so, they did not take place exactly as described.
     In some instances, no other view seems possible. A careful examination of certain miracles recorded in the Word, notably the ten plagues which fell upon the Egyptians, reveals inconsistencies which can be accounted for only by the assumption that they did not take place exactly as related, though they are described in good faith according to the appearance because they seemed to do so. For example, it is said that, after Aaron had turned all the water in the land of Egypt into blood, the magicians did the same, which prompts an inquiry as to whence the water they transmuted was obtained. In the account of the final plague, it is said that all the firstborn of cattle were slain: vet, according to the record, all the cattle of the Egyptians had been killed in an earlier plague. (Cf. Exodus 12: 29; 9: 6.) These and other incongruities suggest that, while the miracles did take place, and the record is faithful and exact according to the appearance, the actual extent of these miracles was more restricted than the account itself implies.
     To approach the miracles in this spirit of inquiry is not to regard them negatively, but to submit the literal accounts to rational light. The interpretation suggested preserves the historical validity of the Word, and keeps the miracles themselves within the operation of spiritual law.

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It is well known that the Divine can, and does, clothe Itself in many kinds of appearances. And even if these do not always describe the reality, although recording faithfully what was seen, it is still the Divine that is manifested in them.
SUPPORT OF CHURCH USES 1943

SUPPORT OF CHURCH USES       CHARLES G. MERRELL       1943

     The Envelope System.

     According to our teachings the ideal method of supporting the various uses of the Church is the voluntary contribution. But we are not living in an ideal age, and perhaps the several departures from the method followed by the Fathers may be justified, especially as practically all societies of the General Church still adhere to the voluntary contribution at Sunday services. It may be argued-how speciously need not be discussed-that uses other than worship are in a sense business functions of the Church organizations, and worldly methods may apply.
     When less than one-third of the Church membership contributes anything to the support of the General Church, one is inclined to wonder whether the quality of the members or the general influx of the sphere of the world is responsible for this condition.
     It must be candidly admitted that the New Church is scarcely yet established on earth, either as a true Church or in the individual-with, let us hope, some exceptions. So it may well be that, just as we are led at the beginning on the road to reformation and regeneration by the hope of reward in heaven, we may properly, in these still early days of the Church, use other means than those in order prescribed as ideal.
     One of the means of collecting funds that has the advantage of being at least partly self-compulsory is the envelope system, which, with modification, is applicable to nearly all the uses of the Church. There is probably no one who will not admit the need of some measure of self-compulsion.

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It seems quite in order to say that few of us have reached that celestial state when all our actions are motivated by love to the Lord alone. In our best moments, in states of exaltation, as at assemblies, etc., we all agree that from then on we will take from our income (before anything else, as Mr. Wm. Junge has suggested) a little for the Church uses. But when we get into the daily routine, and find the income-for the time at least-less than the outgo, the needs of the Church, like the bill of the doctor, are postponed to the future.
     The envelope system is simply a mechanical means of doing what the spirit tells us we ought to do, but which the sluggishness of the flesh often prevents our doing. The envelopes are printed for each week in the year, so that one can enclose five cents or five dollars, according to ability or the moving of the spirit; a stated amount each week being set aside for any use of the Church for which the system is provided.
     The plan can be recommended from personal experience. In the instance in which I introduced the envelope system many years ago, the pastor was leaving with an obligation from the Society of $1000 back salary. I borrowed this amount from the bank and paid off the retiring minister; and then, even with some increase in expenses, we ended the year with a balance of $600 to the good. There was no pressure, and very few individual calls, but a presentation of the needs, and the help of a mechanism by which every member could compel himself to support the Church according to his individual ability and interest.
     My recollection is that we secured fully 90 percent in response to this method of supporting the Church. It made a little extra work for the Treasurer in the matter of bookkeeping, but it reduced the work in the matter of collections. From my experience I can heartily recommend it.
     I have sometimes thought that our pastors do not lay sufficient stress on this matter of supporting the Church. I have no delusions as to the function of the sermon, and would deprecate as much as anyone the solicitation of funds from the pulpit; but that does not preclude teaching the doctrine in regard to giving to the Lord. Mr. Waelchli once preached a sermon on the text, "And the king (David) said unto Araunah, Say; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price; neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.

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So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver." (II Samuel 24: 24.) The sermon was on "Self-Denial," and, of course, treated of the spiritual meaning of the text. As my mind at the time was occupied with the subject of this paper, I was impressed with the application of the text to the subject before us. Let me quote briefly from the sermon:
     David would not offer burnt offerings on Araunah's threshing-floor from that which cost him nothing, which means that a genuine worship and a genuine church could not be established with the gentiles if it were one that cost nothing, that is, if it were one into which there did not enter that truth of truths, that all good and truth, and all heavenly life from good and truth, are the Lord's and not man's. . . .
     "It is when man pays the price for that which he desires to offer to the Lord that he can rear the altar upon the threshing-floor,-upon the foundation of the Word, and worship the Lord. He can then offer his burnt offering, which is the good of love, and his peace offering, which is thanksgiving to the Lord for His love and providence. Without self-denial there can be no true offering to the Lord. Man must deny himself and the world, deny those things which the light of truth clearly reveals to him to be evil and to be destructive of the church in him and thus preventing his salvation. Such self-denial calls for struggle and combat; it calls for the trials and miseries of temptation. These are the cost, the price, which man must pay. Let no one imagine that he can attain to what is heavenly without paying it. If he so thinks, he is like those mentioned in the Gospel who cast into the treasury of their superabundance. They gave that of which they did not feel the giving, that which cost them no effort, no self-denial. He who would attain unto heaven must, like the poor widow, give his all.

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GLEANINGS FROM NEW CHURCH HISTORY 1943

GLEANINGS FROM NEW CHURCH HISTORY       Editor       1943


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Editor      Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager      Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.


All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Business Manager.

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
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     EARLY DAYS AT COLCHESTER.

     Sixty years ago, when Academy views found acceptance among a few in England, Mr. George A. McQueen was active at Colchester in voicing those distinctive views which eventually led to the formation of a General Church Society there. Mr. McQueen, now in his eighty-third year, has recently written us from his home in Glenview, Illinois, and in the course of his letter he said have been destroying some old papers, and among them I discovered the enclosed sermon (or it may be called a paper) which was my first attempt at preaching in Colchester. It may be called an 'antique.' as it was delivered fifty-nine years ago-on February 1st, 1884. It was also given at Ipswich and Brightlingsea. It seems to be all right as to doctrine, and I leave it with you to destroy, if it is not worth putting in the LIFE."
     Aside from its historical interest in connection with the beginnings of the Colchester Society, this instructive presentation of the subject of reverence for the Word of God is as timely today as it was sixty years ago.

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"GO UP, THOU BALD HEAD!" 1943

"GO UP, THOU BALD HEAD!"       G. A. MCQUEEN       1943

II Kings 2: 23, 24.

     As members of the Lord's New Church, whatever our duties in life may be, the study of the Bible-God's Word-should be esteemed by us as our greatest privilege. Of the many reasons why this is so, the chief of all is, that we believe ourselves to be in possession of a means of obtaining spiritual instruction not enjoyed by others,-that the Lord has made His Second Advent, and that by making use of the instrumentality which He has provided we may see and feel that He is near us when we are reading the inspired volume and that the more precious the stones we wish to obtain, the deeper we must dig.
     Here it is that many people, who have been delighted when they have for the first time seen (as it were at a glance) the principle upon which the Word should be interpreted, make the great mistake which results in unnecessary mental confusion and disappointment. They suppose that they have only to learn the signification of various symbolical or correspondential expressions of the Letter of the Word, and they will be able to follow in a connected series the spiritual meaning contained therein. It is not long however, before such ideas are discovered to be fallacious. The reason is obvious. The Word has for its Author a Being of infinite wisdom who, in His mercy, condescends to reveal His will to finite creatures; and to accomplish this, His Revelation must be adapted to finite minds. Whatever may be our powers of perception with regard to the interior meaning, we shall always be as far from the perception of the Word as a whole as when we first observed a glimmering of the light. So, whatever may be defective in our worship, or in our comprehension of Divine things, we may feel certain that our desire for light will be rewarded.
     The story of Elijah and Elisha is a very interesting one. Two men filling like offices and fast friends. Their attachment was so great that on three occasions when Elijah had been called by the Lord on some important mission, Elisha could not be persuaded to leave him, but said, "As the Lord liveth, I will not leave thee."

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Certainly Elisha's answer to the men who asked him whether he knew that the Lord would take Elijah from him on "that day" was a very unusual one, or would be so considered at the present day. He replied, "Yea, I know it. Hold ye your peace." Many persons now would consider such words the outcome of a cold and unsympathetic nature, but we know that it is not necessarily so, and might be a confident expression of trust in the Divine Providence.
     Elisha, as a teacher, represented the Great Teacher, the Lord in His Divine Human. He represented the Word-our Teacher. We are taught that, in the spiritual world, when we change our states, a corresponding change takes place in our surroundings. So when we read that Elisha was going up from one place to another, we know that it refers to some spiritual progression being made in the church at large, or in the minds of its members. The prophet was "going up by the way," that is, the way of Truth; for it is by means of truths that we advance from one state to another. And as the prophet proceeded on his journey, little children came forth from the city and mocked him, saying, "Go up, thou bald head: go up, thou bald head!"
     In those days, to be considered bald was repugnant in the extreme, and to call a person "bald," especially without any warrant for so doing, as in the present instance, was to treat the prophet with contempt. In the Word "hair" is used as the representative of what is most external and may be most holy. Our heads are covered with hair, and it is the lowest or most ultimate production of our material frame. Truth is signified by hair, and therefore the hair of our Lord is described as being "white like wool, as white as snow."
     Elisha, as a prophet, represented the Word as our Teacher. The "hair" of the Word is its literal sense, that is, as to its life. Hair is alive, and it should be the same with the truths we learn from the Word; or, to put it another way, in order that our spiritual bodies may be complete, they must be adorned with hair; that is, the truths must be brought into daily life.
     There are many references to hair in the Word. The prophets wore hairy garments as an indication that the truths they tittered reached to the lowest comprehensions of men. No razor was to come upon the head of the Nazarite, because he represented the holy man who dedicates the whole of his being to God-the outermost extremes of his life.

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Samson's strength was said to be in his hair because the strength or power of truth is in its ultimates, when these are in harmony with its spirit. Dr. Bayley beautifully expresses the idea when he says: "The whole army of falsehood is applied to prevent persons from seeing the truth, conscious that, if seen, it will prevail; let it come out, so as to manifest the spirit's hair." We are taught in the Writings that if a man lives an orderly life, allowing the truth to be the governing power in his mind, that truth is outwardly represented by hair neatly combed and dressed, setting off to advantage the countenance which is expressive of the state of his loves.
     To call Elisha "bald head," therefore, is to deprive the Word of its literal sense. This is done by those who reject that sense as a thing of no account, and despise it because of its plain style, and think that if it contained Divine Truth it might have been expressed in more eloquent language. This calling of the Word "bald" is to declare that the letter has nothing to do with us, and that we need pay no attention to the Ten Commandments. Is not this a picture of the treatment of the Word at the present day? The Bible is referred to as a mass of historical blunders and absurd stories describing actions which present-day teachers of morality would prefer to leave unmentioned. They say, "If such is the religion of the Bible, we prefer no religion!" They would ask what kind of a God would allow innocent little children to be torn to pieces by bears because they called a man names.
     Even in the Christian Church there are those who are ignorantly robbing the Word of its "hair." Some have gone so far as to assert that "the sacred writers might not on all occasions have been inspired, as many errors have crept in, but notwithstanding this we should still consider it to be the Word of God." They do not seem to realize that, when the letter of the Word is destroyed, the Lord, redemption, and salvation must go also. Instead of judging from the teaching of the Bible as a whole, as they would of other books, they take a part here and a part there and try to support numerous conflicting creeds.
     It is sometimes said that the Commandments cannot be kept. This is to cry, "Go up, thou bald head!"

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This same treatment of the literal sense is meant by casting Samson into a prison and having his eves put out. The true understanding of the Word is destroyed, and it is brought forth to be made sport of by the critics. The teaching to the New Church is that "doctrine is to be drawn from the literal sense, and confirmed by that sense." The literal sense is the only means of reaching the glory of the spiritual meaning of the Word. We, above all others, must honor the literal sense.
     The little children, it is said, mocked Elisha. It is more correctly translated "young men," meaning those who have some knowledge of the truth, but are under the influence of the reasonings of the natural mind. The prophet, turning back and cursing them in the name of the Lord, signifies the spiritual results which follow from contempt for the letter of the Word-a state of cursing instead of blessing. Then we are left in a dark and wildwood state, out of which come forth evil affections, represented by the bears. This means spiritual death. This is all the opposite to the garden of Eden, which presents such a different picture. Forty-two children were torn to pieces, signifying a state of blasphemy.
NOTES AND REVIEWS 1943

NOTES AND REVIEWS       Various       1943

     A MISSIONARY LEAFLET.

     Bearing the title, "The New Church," with a photograph of the Bryn Athyn Cathedral as background, this four-page leaflet by the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith, Glenview, Illinois, is "a call and invitation to enter the New Church, to read and consider the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg." The New Church, it says, "is very small, and does not strive or wish to increase its membership by any other means than by the appeal to all intelligent people to study the books which contain its Doctrine." And it asks: "Read these books with an affirmative mind, and it may be you will feel the call to enter into this light more fully, and to ally yourself with this New Church."
     In pleasing contrast with evangelical attempts which "hide the light under a bushel" of suppression, Mr. Smith is clear and frank in his outline of essential New Church beliefs. Declaring at the outset that the Doctrine revealed from heaven constitutes the Second Coming of the Lord, and that the New Church is different from all other Christian Churches, he goes on to say:

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"We hope to draw the attention of intellectual minds to the teachings of the New Church, which are little known, and to the difference between them and all other Christian teaching. To emphasize this difference seems a matter of greatest importance."
     Briefly and simply he then explains the divergence between the old dogmas and the new doctrine with respect to the Godhead, the Last Judgment, the Internal or Spiritual Meaning of the Word, the Good Life, and the Divine End in Marriage. Correspondence is invited, and the reader is told where he can obtain copies of the Writings.

     MAN'S DUTY TO FIGHT.

     The chaplain's refrain, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition." has aroused mixed feelings among New Church people, partly because it has been adopted and sung with some levity by the irreverent, which was not the case when it was first used by the chaplain. A former war produced the phrase, "Put your trust in God, and keep your powder dry." Many such war slogans have persisted through the years because they have appealed to the common perception and feeling of mankind, voicing a genuine sentiment and a sound principle. Is it not so with this latest war cry?
     In battle men invoke the Divine aid but they keep up the fight, not expecting victory by faith without effort of their own. The French have a saying, Aide toi, la ciel t'aidera-Aid thyself, and heaven will aid thee. Indeed, the idea is both Scriptural and sound doctrine. The Psalmist has said: "Let the high praises of God he in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand." (Psalm 149: 6.) Of the soldier it is said in our Doctrine: "Before the battle he raises his mind to the Lord, and commits his life into His hand; and after he has done this, he lets his mind down from its elevation into the body and becomes brave, his thought of the Lord, without his knowing it, remaining in his mind above his bravery." (Doctrine of Charity, no. 166.)
     So in the spiritual life, man is to look to the Lord, and shun evils as sins against Him, resisting and combating as of himself, but with the Lord's help. "In the combats of temptation man ought to fight as from himself, but still to acknowledge and believe that it is from the Lord.

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If man does not fight as from himself, the good and truth which inflow through heaven from the Lord are not appropriated to him; but when he fights as from himself, and still believes that it is from the Lord, in this case they are appropriated to him." (A. C. 8179.) Truth from the Lord is the weapon by which alone he may fight as from himself, and for this means of victory he praises the Lord and gives thanks unto Him.

     HATRED OF EVIL.

     In these days, when an intensity of feeling is engendered by the war, the New Churchman will pause betimes to consider in rational light what kind of feeling is right and what is wrong, the one to be cultivated, the other shunned. The Writings describe the zeal of the love of what is good and its righteous indignation toward the opposite, in contrast with the anger and hatred of self-love when it is attacked. Outwardly the manifestations of indignation and anger appear alike, but inwardly they are as diverse as heaven and hell. In the letter of Scripture the Lord Himself is often pictured as angry, wrathful and revengeful toward His enemies, because the zeal of His Divine Love for the salvation of the evil so appears to them when they bring judgment and punishment upon themselves. So do we understand the appearances of the letter in the rational light of the internal sense.
     In this light we are to understand the Lord's words in the Gospel. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies." As the Lord loves both the evil and the good, so the man of the church is to love and desire the welfare even of those who are evil, not hating the person of anyone, seeing that evil itself is the only "enemy" of the spiritual life, to be resisted and combated primarily in ones self from the zeal of the love of good.
     Yet victory in earthly warfare is attained only by the destruction of the person and the property of the enemy, and apparently from hatred and anger, though inwardly with the true Christian it is from the zeal of the love of a just cause.
     An interesting treatment of this subject is presented in the following extracts from a sermon by the Rev. Rupert Stanley B. A., which appeared in THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD for November 21, 1942, his text being, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." (Psalm 97: 10.)

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     It is readily acknowledged that Christianity stresses the virtue of love, of love to God and man. It is not so readily understood that the corollary to this love is hatred of evil and wrong. "Hate" and hatred are nasty words, and some people might like to see them dissociated altogether from Christian life. Christianity, in some people's minds, denotes universal kindness, a sort of Pickwiekian benevolence to all men and everything. To a certain extent that is true. In the Sermon on the Mount we are enjoined to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them which despitefully use us. We realize, of course, that by "love" in these passages is not meant the kind of affection that we bear to our parents, consorts, children or friends, but a spirit of good-will to all men, whether they are well- or ill-disposed towards us. The Christian must have nothing but good-will and good intentions towards all his fellow men. But it is equally true that the Christian must hate what is evil, and that the intensity of his hatred of evil is the measure of his love of good.
     Hatred is of two kinds, according to whether it is predicated of the good man or the bad man; or, as Swedenborg would say, of the "natural" or the "spiritual" man. With the wicked, hatred is a natural, innate antipathy to whatever is good, and to anyone who does not serve him. With the good or spiritually minded man, hatred is an intense aversion toward anything evil-to all cruelty and wrong. And this latter kind is not natural to man, or innate, but acquired. It is an emotion or disposition compounded of thought and feeling which grows and develops with those who become spiritual. Nor is this aversion a mere turning away in cold disdain from whatever appears low and base and ugly in human nature; on the contrary, it is a burning indignation against every manifestation of evil, yet free from any baser elements such as the desire to inflict pain or suffering upon the evildoer. This kind of hatred is as rare as the burning zeal for righteousness from which it springs; it is to be found most conspicuously displayed in the great poets, statesmen and reformers who from use to time have arisen, like the prophets of old, to inveigh against he wickedness and injustice of man's inhumanity to man.
     How much of this genuine hatred of evil is present among men in these days? How much genuine zeal for good is there? . . .
     Certainly this war has stirred people's minds and aroused their emotions. There is plenty of indignation now against Hitler and the outrages he has committed; there is also a fervent desire in many hearts for a better world. But both the indignation and the desire must be of the spiritual, not of the natural kind. Hatred of Hitler and his satellites, and a vindictive desire to see theist punished after the war, is the very kind that must be condemned. This desire springs largely from the passion of anger against those who have brought the tribulations of this war upon tins. Self-love is its source, not the love of God and man. What we need is that purer form of indignation which is aroused, not by a sense of the injuries we have suffered, but by zeal for good when confronted with its opposite-the lusts of evil in all their forms.

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     "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." Love is a fire and flame in the breast. When it comes into contact with evil it is like that same fire when it is stirred and sends out sparks. But there is all the difference in the world between the sparks from this fire and the smoky tongues of flame which dart out from the fires of self-love, enmity and revenge. The distinction between these two kinds of anger or indignation is described in the Writings in the following way: "With regard to the affection of indignation, . . . the man who does not know what the affection of charity is, in consequence of not being in it, cannot have any other idea of the affection of indignation than as of such indignation as a man has when evil is done to him, which is the indignation of anger. But there is no such indignation with the angels, but of zeal, in which there is nothing of evil, and which is as far removed from hatred or revenge, or from the spirit of returning evil for evil, as heaven is from hell, for it originates in good." (A. C. 3839.) This is the kind of hatred which is meant by our text-a hatred or indignation which even the angels feel.
     But what of ourselves? The injunction, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil." expresses the truth that the measure of our genuine hatred of the evil within ourselves is the measure of our love of the Lord, and thus of our love of good. We sing in the hymn: "I hate the sins that make Thee mourn." It is a good sign when a man really feels like that. But it is easy to deceive ourselves into thinking that we hate some particular evil trait or habit in ourselves, when really what we hate, or feel indignant about, is not the evil itself, but the bad effect it has upon us. In this case it is the suffering, or the disorder and wretchedness, which is induced that we hate, and not the bad passion or habit which, in secret probably, we love.
     The point is that no one really hates evil who does not genuinely love good. There can be no genuine hatred of evil without real love of good. This may seem an obvious point to make, but it is a point which needs enforcing, both as it concerns our progress in regeneration and as it concerns the increase of the Lord's kingdom upon earth. Unless there is the flame of love of good burning in men's hearts, and unless there is a genuine deep-seated aversion from, and indignation against, evil in all its forms, man's life, individual and corporate, will remain natural and external. All advances on the moral and spiritual planes of life have been inspired by genuine hatred of evils which at one time were excused and condoned or to which man was at the time indifferent. And all progress in individual regeneration is conditioned by the strength of our hatred of evil in ourselves. The merely natural man does not hate evil, though he may distrust it and avoid it because he sees it is harmful in the long run. Only the spiritually minded man hates evil with what the Psalmist calls that "perfect hatred" (Ps. cxxxix. 22) which accompanies the love of good. "We that love the Lord, hate evil." To the extent that this love and this hate are kindled in men's minds will the iniquities and injustices of this present age be swept away and a more spiritual way of life appear.

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Reports 1943

Reports       Rev. ELMO C. ACTON       1943

     CANADIAN NORTHWEST.

     A Visit to the New Church People in Northwest Canada.

     During the past Summer, it was my privilege and pleasure to visit the members of the New Church in Western and Northwestern Canada. These visits ire of great use to the work of the Church, and I sincerely hope that the time will not come again whets they will have to be discontinued. Its general. I found the people anxious to be instructed in the teachings of the Church, eager to receive her ministrations and grateful and appreciative of the work done for them.
     At the outset of this account I should like to speak of the universal thankfulness, expressed by all among whom the Rev. F. E. Waelchli worked, for the part he played in the building of the Church in Canada. Mr. Waelchli holds a place of love and esteem with all who knew him well. His work its Western Canada will stand as a living monument to his faithful and bold exposition of the distinctive doctrines of the New Church. All of us who have the pleasure of following in his footsteps cannot but feel that we are entering upon the labors of others, and hope that his great work will not have been in vain.
     The trip this year had to be made by train, owing to rubber and gasoline rationing. For this reason. Mr. Heilman seas unable to accompany me, as he had planned, and he was greatly missed by all. He, too, has found a place its the hearts of the people of the Church in Westerns Canada, and I was sorry to be without the benefits of his experience. All who had met him wished to be remembered to him, and hoped that another year he would be able to visit them. He will find an open door wherever he goes.
     I left Toronto on June 29th after attending the Annual Meeting of the Sons of the Academy its Kitchener. My first stop was at Winnipeg, where I visited the daughters of Mr. Jacob Hiebert. Because of the nature of their work, we were unable to hold any classes, but we spent a pleasant time together.
     My next stop was Broadview, Manitoba, where I was met by Mr. and Mrs. Ross Larter and Miss Alice Remple. I stayed over night at the farm of the Larters, who have three children. Its the evening we had a doctrinal class with an attendance of 10 adults, all of whom were in some way connected with Mr. Jacob Loeppky of Secretan. The group here would have appreciated more instruction than could be given in one evening, and it is hoped that on another occasion the visit may be lengthened to a few more days.

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Here, as elsewhere. I found great need for material adapted to the training and instruction of children. Here also, as everywhere else. I was received with kindness and hospitality. In order not to repeat myself too often, let me here thank everybody with whom I stayed on the entire journey for their warm-hearted entertainment, and assure them that I cannot fully express my appreciation.
     Secretan, Saskatchewan, was the next place visited. I stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Henry Remple. The group here consisted of four families: Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Loeppky, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Loeppky, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Remple, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Remple, and the Gorandmother, Mrs. Loeppky, Sr. For four days they met at each other's houses, ate together, and held classes afternoon and evening. We also had a service, including the Holy Supper. In the mornings I met with the children of the Jacob Loeppky's and the Peter Remple's; there were 5 children old enough to attend. At the adult classes the average attendance was lb. Besides these classes there were numerous discussions on the doctrines and allied subjects. This was one of the places Mr. Waelchli visited, and the good effects of his work were very noticeable. It was from here that many of the people moved who are now living at and near Roblin, Manitoba.
     At Secretan I experienced such an invasion of mosquitoes that it was impossible to walk abroad without continually shooing them off. If I had not seen so many mosquitoes at one time, I would not have believed they could be so numerous.
     My next point of call was Calgary, where I spent an afternoon with Miss Mable Evens, the daughter of Mr. William Evens of Oyen. From Calgary I took a short trip to visit with Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert and their son. Mrs. Gilbert was Miss Clara Peppler from the environs of Kitchener. I spent the evening and a morning with them, and was sorry not to have had more time.
     After a thrilling journey through the beautiful Canadian Rockies, and a boat trip of five and a half hours over Vancouver Bay, I arrived at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Frazee near Brentwood Bay, B. C. I had seen a great deal of them while I was in South Africa, and we had an "old home week" talking over the life in South Africa, which we had all enjoyed so much. But more enjoyable still were our many discussions on the Doctrines. On Sunday we had a service at which the Communion was celebrated. Also present were Mrs. Gallie and Keith Frazee, who returned from Bryn Athyn the day after I had arrived. Mrs. Gallie a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hiebert, is living in Victoria. B. C. I hope that she and the Frazees will meet together from time to time for the reading and discussion of the Doctrines. It was unfortunate that her husband, who is a sailor, was not at home.
     During my stay, Mr. Frazee and I went to Vancouver to call upon some New Church people who had moved there from the prairie Provinces. First we called on the Henry Hieberts, and found Mrs. Hiebert and five of her children at home. We spent an enjoyable evening together, and I was only sorry not to have had the opportunity to become better acquainted with them. Mr. Hiebert is in the army, and was then stationed at Saskatoon.

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Later I went to visit him there, but found that he had been transferred to Regina.
     Mr. Frazee and I also called upon Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Hiebert. Unfortunately we found Mr. Hiebert seriously ill as the result of an injury received while working in the shipyards. We only spent it few hours with him. Later, while at Roblin, I received word that he had been called to the spiritual world. Our sympathy goes out to his wife and children, and we hope they may find comfort and peace its the doctrines of the New Church which he had whole- heartedly embraced.
     From Vancouver I went to visit Mr. and Mrs. Owen at Kamloops, B. C. Mrs. Owen is a daughter of Mr. Jacob Funk, of Roblin. Here again I found the need of simple instruction in the doctrines of use Church. The Owens were most anxious to hear about the teachings of the Church, and we spent a pleasant excising together discussing them. During the afternoon of my one day's stay its Kamloops I visited a Mr. Macdonald who had come into the Church through finding, in a remarkable way, a copy of Heaven and Hell. He is an elderly man living alone, and his main interest is the reading and study of the Doctrines. We had an interesting conversation on the teachings of the New Church and his experience in finding. what is to him, the precious pearl of life.
     Edmonton, Alberta, was the next point of call. Here I spent a few pleasant hours with Dr. and Mrs. Madill. They are both interested in Swedenborg's scientific works, and some of our conversation was on this subject. I also had the pleasure of meeting the Rev. Peter Peters, and I was sorry that we seem only able to be together for an hour or two.
     From Edmonton I went north to Gorand Prairie, and was met by John Lemky, who I had known at school in Bryn Athyn. Unfortunately Mr. Lemky Sr. was ill during my stay, but his son arranged things in his stead, and we went ahead with our programme. All of Mr. Lemky's children are married, with the exception of John, and are settled on farms fairly near to his homestead. When they all gather, as they did on Sunday for a service and the Communion, they make a congregation of about 17 adults and 11 children. While here I spent a night with Mr. and Mrs. Mackey, who have a farm about twenty miles from that of Mr. Lemky, Sr. It was a disappointment that more time could not be spent with these earnest New Churchmen, so eager to be instructed in the Heavenly Doctrines. Every minute with them was a delight. I sincerely hope that on another occasion a longer time may be devoted to this promising nucleus of a future New Church centre. The day before I left. Mr. Lemky came home from the hospital, and was able to attend a class on the use of the New Church. The next day, Mr. and Mrs. Lemky and their son Arthur drove me to the station, where I took a train for Pouce Coupe, B. C.
     At Pouce Coupe I was met by Mr. Erdman Heinrichs, whom I had not seen for over twenty years. We both recognized each other, after a drive of a little over an hour I had the pleasure of meeting his wife and family. Here I remained for a full week, which was taken up with classes, services and numerous talks on the doctrines and allied subjects. On the third day, Mrs. Headon Starkey and her three oldest children joined us, having come over from Progress with a lean-to tent for habitation.

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Mr. and Mrs. Miller, of Dawson Creek, and some of their children, were present on three occasions. Each morning I held a class for the children. In the evening we had worship, followed by a doctrinal class, the average attendance being eight from the morning class and seven for the evening. On Sunday a service with the Holy Supper was held, with an attendance of twenty-one, including children. There is not time to mention all the details of this delightful and useful visit, but I am quite proud of the fact that I was fit enough to help Mr. Heinrichs make hay. It was delightful to be with the children, and I hope that some of them will attend the school at Bryn Athyn. It was quite a break to leave Mr. and Mrs. Heinrichs and their family, and I only wish they could receive longer and more frequent visits.
     My next visit was with Mr. and Mrs. Miller, who live a few miles out of Dawson Creek. Here again classes and worship were held, also informal talks, and visits with their daughters, Margy and Edna, who live and work in Dawson Creek. While here I went to see the Alaskan Highway and watched the work out the first five miles out of Dawson Creek. On Sunday August 9, I drove with Mr. and Mrs. Miller and Mr. and Mrs. Heinrichs to Mrs. Starkey's at Progress where we had a service with an attendance of sixteen. I then stayed with Mrs. Starkey and her five children until Tuesday afternoon. We held classes, had many talks, went for walks, and played games. The stay here was all too short, but fortunately Mrs. Starkey and three of her children had been with us at the Heinrichs' and the Millers'.
     Tuesday afternoon I went to stay with Mr. and Mrs. Ted Halley (nee Lorina Doering). They have a delightful home on the crest of a hill, and I enjoyed a pleasant visit. As I was only with them two nights and one full day, we had not time for any formal classes, but we had several informal talks, and another time I hope the visit will be a longer one.
     On Thursday morning I left by truck for Dawson Creek accompanied by Mrs. Starkey. I stayed over night with the Millers and the next day drove with them to Pouce Coupe to take the train for Edmonton. Their kindness in driving me around will not he forgotten. In Edmonton, on Sunday afternoon, I had a pleasant visit with Mr. and Mrs. Madill and several other New Church members, among whom was Major Norbury, who had known my father as a boy in England.
     On Sunday evening I took the train for Saskatoon, arriving the evening of the next day for a visit with Mr. and Mrs. Norman and Mr. and Mrs. William Evens. I was met by Mr. Leslie Evens, who had arrived from school at Bryn Athyn only a short time before. I spent a day with Mr. and Mrs. William Evens and several days with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Evens. The families met together twice a day for classes, and for a service which included the Holy Supper. The two families made a congregation of ten persons, and the sphere of worship and love of the things of the church was very strong.
     Next I visited the group at Rosthern. I was met by Mr. Beck and Mr. Hamm, whit made an arrangement whereby I had my meals with Mr. and Mrs. Beck and their family and slept at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hamm.

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Here, also, I met the Rev. John Zacharias, who kindly offered the use of their church for a service. On Sunday morning we attended a service at which Mr. Zacharias preached an interesting sermon on the significations of Egypt and Assyria. In the afternoon I conducted a service and preached, after which I gave an address on the work of the New Church among the Natives of South Africa. The attendance was about 50 persons. In the evening. Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Klippenstein and their children and two nieces came from Laird for a service at the Beck home at which their infant child was baptized, after which the Holy Supper was administered. Unfortunately, Mrs. Klippenstein, Senior, could not be with us, owing to ill health, and I was sorry not to have seen her. Besides the occasions mentioned above, we had three doctrinal classes, with an average attendance of ten. And there were many delightful conversations of which doctrine was the chief topic.
     At Roblin, Manitoba, I was met by Mr. Jacob Funk and his daughter. My stay with Mr. and Mrs. Funk and his family was most pleasant, and during it I held two classes, with an attendance of ten each time. While here I heard of the death of Mr. Waelchli. He had entrenched himself in the hearts of these people. Their love of the teachings of the church, with which he imbued them, cannot be erased. In remembrance of his faithful and inspired performance of his use, the concluding meeting was devoted to a memorial service for him. Mr. and Mrs. Peter Funk were also present.
     On Sunday, with Mr. and Mrs. Peter Funk and Henry, son of Mr. Jacob Funk, I journeyed through much mud to Boggy Creek. There we met with about sixty people, mostly of the New Church, but also some visitors. A service was held in the afternoon, followed by a class, and then another class in the early evening. Here is an earnest group of New Churchmen eager to receive instruction in the doctrines of the Church, and I was sorry I could not spend a longer time with them. Besides the classes there were many conversations on doctrinal and allied subjects. I was also introduced into the art of stoking (staking bundles) and was told that I did fairly well.
     Mr. and Mrs. Funk drove me to the train for Winnipeg. Here I met Agnes, a daughter of Mr. Jacob Funk, and we had an enjoyable lunch and conversation. And I again had the pleasure of meeting Miss Martha Hiebert. I called on Mr. and Mrs. Peppler, but unfortunately they were not at home. I also met Mrs. Henry Wiebe, a daughter of Mrs. Loeppky of Secretan.
     From Winnipeg I returned to Toronto, where I enjoyed reviewing the trip with Mr. Gyllenhaal, who had previously made about the same journey.
     In conclusion, I repeat that everywhere I went I received a warm and cordial welcome. The people I visited were hungry for instruction in the doctrines and eager to converse on the teachings and affairs of the church Adjectives do not exist with which I should like to express my appreciation of the hospitality I received from all. The delight expressed for the services of the church amply compensated for the difficulties of making the trip. This work is well worth-while and must be continued. My hope is that it may be extended in scope and time. Nearly all would have appreciated a longer visit, and I hope this desire may be fulfilled some use in the future.

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IN THE SOUTHLAND 1943

IN THE SOUTHLAND       Rev. BJORN A. H. BOYESEN       1943

     From October 4th until November 17th I made my second journey as Visiting Pastor to the Southern States. This time it was possible to stay a little longer at some places, but still it seemed rather insufficient. Time passes very quickly in the South, partly because everyone seems to hunger for the things of the church, partly because everyone is so congenial, and partly because every home is so delightfully hospitable. The moment for departure always comes too soon after arrival.
     In the course of this trip I ministered to approximately 45 adults or near adults and 14 children; and at some meetings there were visitors. There are also eight infants among the families in the South, and all but one have been baptized. The young people whom I met on my last visit were either in Bryn Athyn or had removed to "somewhere on the fighting fronts." I conducted 12 services of Divine Worship, 16 doctrinal classes for adults, 7 services and 16 classes for children, and family worship 7 times. The Holy Supper was administered at 11 services. I also baptized one adult and one infant. Besides these formal functions there were innumerable conversations and discussions on doctrinal and other church subjects. In most places my whole stay became an almost continuous conversation with adults or class with children. This spirit among the people is what makes a visit in the South such a happy experience.
     After my last report the Editor rather hinted that, when the account of my Southern trip has been printed he would still like to have some space left in the LIFE for other subjects! So I shall only report how this journey differed from the last.
     Lieutenant and Mrs. Oliver Powell have recently moved to Louisville, Kentucky. I therefore went there instead of to Cincinnati on my way to Birmingham, Alabama. Unfortunately Mr. Powell was called to Bryn Athyn for his father's funeral just before my arrival at his home. However, on my first day in Louisville I spent a most delightful evening with Mrs. Powell (Helena Kaiser) and her two little boys, who are as yet too young for instruction, and with Miss Mary Howard, who came over from nearby Jeffersonville, Indiana. We planned for a service next evening, hoping that Mr. Powell would return by that time. He did, but Miss Howard was not able to come. The service was nevertheless held, and the Holy Supper was administered to Lieutenant and Mrs. Powell. I left later in the evening.
     In Birmingham I missed the presence of Magill Echols, who is now in the Boys' Academy at Bryn Athyn. But we had the pleasure of having Mr. and Mrs. Jack Echols (Esther Nilson) with us, as they were in Birmingham for part of their honeymoon, visiting Jack's father and mother. They arranged a reception for the young couple, with a wedding cake and all the trimmings, and I believe Jack and Esther felt as if they were being married all over again. I was asked to say a few words in honor of the occasion.

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To our little group in Birmingham it was just like having New Church wedding right there. Several friends of the family were also present. It was a very happy occasion. I was also pleased to meet Mr. Lewis Kendig, who, was away from Birmingham when I was there in May. He arranged an enjoyable social at his home, and I also had the pleasure of spending part of one day in his company. It was especially enjoyable to have Jack and Esther keep me company on the train to Atlanta.
     Here I missed Mrs. T. D. Crockett, when I was visiting Bryn Athyn at that time, I believe. Her youngest son, Lloyd, is at the Boys Academy. While in Atlanta I met for the first time Miss Lydia Bancroft, who came from Milledgeville for the week-end, and Mr. and Mrs. Donald I. Howe, who came from Albany. We were very glad to have this addition to our group. We had no less than five doctrinal classes in Atlanta in as many evenings, and one service of Divine Worship with the Holy Supper, and I believe the group would gladly have continued for yet another evening if it had been possible.
     My next stay was with Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Merrell at Dunedin, Florida. It was altogether as enjoyable as the 1st time. Miss L. M. Meech and Miss Janet Richey and her sister-in-law had intended to come to Dunedin for a doctrinal class, of which I conducted two at the Merrell home, but they were not able to come, on account of some changes in train and bus schedules. However, I met them the following day, when Mr. and Mrs. Merrell drove me to St. Petersburg for a service at Miss Richey's home. This time, too, I missed the pleasure of meeting Miss Beatrice Campbell, who also lives in St. Petersburg.
     Its Miami we had quite a gathering on Sunday, October 25 at the house of Mr. and Mrs. David P. Lindsay. At 11 o'clock we had a doctrinal class, then a delightful buffet luncheon served by Mrs. Lindsay, and at 3 o'clock in the afternoon a service of Divine Worship with the administration of the Holy Supper. Among those present, besides those whom I met on my last visit, were Mrs. Hollis B. Hermit (formerly Lister) and Mr. and Mrs. John H. Morey, who has some knowledge of the New Church through the Convention. We were also glad to see Lieutenant and Mrs. Philip De Maine and their children, who came for a short while, but were not able to stay for more than part of the class. The Army is apparently very strict with its doctors. We had hoped to see Lieutenant and Mrs. Andrew Doering, but they were not able to come. He, too, is a doctor. Lieutenant and Mrs. William P. Cole were on our expected list, and Mrs. Lindsay had hoped to get in touch with them, as with the others, by printing in the Bryn Athyn Post an invitation to all our military men in Miami to call her. But apparently it had not reached him, or perhaps some other obstacle came its the way. It is difficult to contact men in the service.
     After a couple of pleasant days with Mr. and Mrs. Jordan Johnson and their children in West Palm Beach, I proceeded to Oak Hill, where I baptized Mr. and Mrs. J. Harry Hilldale's infant son, Douglas, who was born on August 20, 1942. Unfortunately it was not possible an this trip to see Mr. and Mrs. Dewey E. Burnett, of Jacksonville. They did not expect to be home.

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In Brunswick, Georgia, I baptized Mrs. Euphrosyne Posey. Her son, John Alton, who was at the Academy last year, was with us this time. I believe it meant a great deal to Mrs. Posey to become a member of the New Church and it was an added pleasure that her son could be present on the occasion. He was in the process of enlisting for military service.
     In Columbia, South Carolina, I missed Mr. Patrick H. Kennedy, whom I baptized on my first trip through the South, but I spent a couple of very interesting days with Mr. Leighton W. Cozby. Mr. Kennedy had just moved to Atlanta. I hope to see him there next time.
     My last stay in the Southland was in Wadesboro, North Carolina, where I visited Mr. and Mrs. Russell S. Lyman and their children,-Joann, who is 10 years old, and Paul, who is 5. They had not seen a New Church minister for more than three years. Bishop Alfred Acton visited them last, and they were still cherishing that memory. They were most anxious for services and class, and I spent several very happy days at their home. Besides their own friendliness and hospitality, and their loving interest in the things of the church, their home contributed many things of interest to me. Mrs. Lyman has gone in for scientific chicken farming in "spare" time, and has the best equipped farm its the district. It was most instructive to watch her care for more than twelve hundred chickens, and to see little chicks come out of the shell in the incubator. If space permitted, I could tell you, too, how I saw cottonseed oil prepared at a nearby factory, and followed cotton on its way from the raw product to finished cloth in a huge mill, and how women's stockings are made at a modern plant in the vicinity.
     Originally I had hoped to make at least two more visits on this trip, one with the Richard L. Johnson family, at Chester, Virginia, and the other with Sergeant and Mrs. Steven Iungerich, at Quantico, Va., but neither of them was able to make arrangements this time. On my way home to New York I visited my friends, the Rev. and Mrs. Morley D. Rich at Philadelphia, Pa., and on Mr. Rich's invitation, I preached the sermon in his society's worship on Sunday, November 15th.
     In conclusion, let me note that I could write much more. Some people and functions have not even been mentioned, not because they do not equally deserve it, but because they were fully described in my last report. To each and every one who entertained me I wish to convey my sincere appreciation of your hospitality. I thoroughly enjoy the warm and friendly way in which you take me into your houses. And if the readers like to hear more about the South, don't blame me if it isn't here. And don't blame the Editor either. If everybody would like to say as much as I do, he just wouldn't know what to do.

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MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943


     General Church of the New Jerusalem

     THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)

     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa, United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942,

     OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, Sgt. Norman,
Heldon, Cpl. Sydney,
Kirsten, L.A.C. Theodore,
Taylor, A.C. 1 Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bond, A.C. 2 J. W.,
Bond, Cpl. Lillian D.,
Evens, Pvt. John,
Evens, Pvt. Robert A.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Hill, Fr/Sgt. Leonard F.,
Hill, Sgt./Pilot Ralph R.,
James, Sgt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Schnarr, Cpl. Joffre G.,
Schnarr, L/Cpl. John G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. H. G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, Sgt. Pilot A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.

     Toronto.
Bellinger, Sgt./Pilot John H.,
Carter, Sgt.-WAG Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Tpr, Thomas J.,
Izzard, F/O Laurence T.,
Jesseman, Cpl. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn.
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Richardson, A/Cpl. David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, L.A.C. Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Bellinger, P/O William G., Ontario,
Evens, A.C. 2 A. Leslie, Alberta,
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.


     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Cpl. Eric D.,
Appleton, A.C. 1 Roy,
Boozer, Dvr, A. E.,
Boozer, Donald,
Clennell, A.C. 2 Gordon,
Dale, Tpr. Keith B.,
Dawson, L.A.C. Geoffrey P.,
Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Jones, Harold C.,
Leonard, Maurice, Eng. Comdr.,
Lewin, Ronald,
Morris, O/Cadet David,
Motum, L/Cpl. John,
Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,
Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Gnr. Michael T.,

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Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,
Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,

     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, A/P J. Septimus,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Cockerell, John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, A/P Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Gnr. D. B.,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, Pvt. J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, A/P A. N.,
Hammond, Sgt. Harry B.,
Hammond, Pvt. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, S/Sgt. A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, L/Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, A/M C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,
Ridgway, Pvt. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A.,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Alden, Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, Pvt. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, Cpl. Ralph E.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Cole, Lt. William P.,
Cooper, Pvt. Denis,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, A/C Rey W.,
Cooper, P.F.C. Theodore F.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. (jg) Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davis, Pvt. Justin H.,
Davis, Sgt. Tech. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
De Maine, Pvt. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine, Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A.,
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, P.F.C. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Finkeldey, Sgt. Philip,
Gansert, Pvt. Otto G.,
Glenn, Cand. Ernest Bruce,
Gyllenhaal, Pvt. Charles P.,
Gyllenhaal, Ensign Leonard E.,
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, Sgt. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., H.A. 1/c,
Homiller, Cand. William,
Hyatt, Pvt. Edward D.,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Nilson, Lt. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, P.F.C. Ray S.,
Odhner, Lt. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, S 2/c R.T.,
Pendleton, Lt. Philip C.,
Pitcairn, John P.,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Nathan,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Lt. Oliver I.,
Price, Pvt. Kenneth,
Rose, Pvt. Stanley,
Schnarr, Donald, S 2/c,
Schnarr, Pvt. Eugene C.,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, A/C David R.,
Walter, Elizabeth, A.S. U.S.N.R.,
Walter, A/C. Robert E.,
White, Cand. Harry J.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Asplundh, Cadet O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., A.S.,
Burnham, Edwin, C. Sp., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, Pvt. Roy M.,
Carlson, Pvt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,
Elkins, Lois, U.S.N.R.,
Fuller, George, P. O. 2/c,
Gunsteens, Pvt. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,
Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, Pvt. Leslie,
Junge, Lt. Carl F.,
King, Pvt. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Lt. Raymond T.,
Lee, Cedric,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
Melzer, Pvt. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Roger,

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Nelson, Cpl. Gerald F.,
Reuter, Cand. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Midshipman Hubert,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, A/C Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C.,

     Michigan.
Childs, Pvt. Walter C.,
French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, Pvt. John F.,
Peterson, Sgt. Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., E.M. 2/c.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Ensign Alexander,
Packer, E. W. Jr., A.S. U.S.C.G.
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,
Westacott, Ensign Ethel B.

     Pittsburgh,
Brown, Cpl. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,
Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Iungerich, Sgt. Stevan,
Lechner, Pvt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Lt. Alexander H.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Schoenberger, Av/C Walter S.,
Stein, Pvt. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Cpl. Elmer G., Texas.
Caldwell, Cpl. Neil V., New York,
Carpenter, Lt. (jg) Philip S. P., Fla.
Davis, Tech. Sgt. Charles F., Calif.
Davis, Cpl. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Lt. Philip B., Ohio,
Fine, P.F.C. Raymond F., Oregon.
Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Hilldale, Pvt. Richard M., New York.
Joy, Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Cpl. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Posey, Pvt. John A.,
Rott, Cpl. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Snyder, Donald, U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Capt. Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.
NOTES BY THE COMMITTEE 1943

NOTES BY THE COMMITTEE              1943

     A Service Flag-Through the patriotic initiative of Mrs. John Scrimshaw, nee Helen Colley, a General Church Service Flag has been made and presented to Bishop George de Charms. The project has been supported by contributions from members of the Church and everyone on the Military Service List is represented on the flag by the stars. Our Committee takes this opportunity to express appreciation of the thought and affection which prompted the making of this flag. It is a banner which symbolizes the spiritual unity in the General Church, transcending geographical and political boundaries.
     Our List of Names.-It is our aim to print each month an accurate and up-to-date list of the names of Our Men and Women in the Services. To the best of our knowledge the list which appears in the present issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE is complete and correct to January 11, 1943. But the changes and additions are frequent. Those who detect mistakes or omissions are urged to notify the Committee as soon as possible.

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It often happens that errors are due to a lack of information from those who know. We would rather be told the same item many times than not at all.
     The Communique.-A few months ago we mentioned a news letter of soldier activities which we are publishing monthly under the title of "The General Church Communique" edited by the Rev. Willard D. Pendleton and the Rev. Ormond de C. Odhner. This little publication is most popular, not only among the armed forces but also on the home front. We regret, however, that the pressure of our duties prevents our undertaking a subscription list at this time. But the monthly issues of "The Communique" are on sale at The Academy Book Room, Bryn Athyn, Pa., at 5 cents per copy, and we suggest that those who wish to read it may obtain copies through relatives or friends in Bryn Athyn.
     Our Committee.-The personnel of the Military Service Committee in Bryn Athyn has changed since its initiation in August, 1941. Miss Gwen Cooper has become Mrs. R. E. Lee De Maine and lives in the State of Oregon. Miss Joan Davis has joined the WAVES, and is in Iowa. The active group at the present time is as follows:

Mrs. Philip C. Pendleton, Chairman.
Miss Lyris Hyatt, Secretary.
Miss Olena Fine, Treasurer.
Miss Virginia Smith, News Reporter.
Miss Geneva Crockett.
Mrs. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal, Jr.

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Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     EUROPE.

     Continental Countries.

     Little is known of the welfare of New Church groups and individuals residing in the occupied regions of the Far East and Continental Europe. Concerning the latter, however, some information is contained in a report to the General Convention by the Rev. A. L. Goerwitz at Zurich, who is General Pastor ministering to German-speaking societies in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and elsewhere. Extracts from his report are published in The New-Church Messenger, November 11, 1942, p. 305, from which we quote in part:

     "The year 1941 was unique in this way that, for the first time in my ministry since 1907, I could not make any visits to the foreign Societies, my journeys having received no permission, being deemed as 'not war-important.' Even the correspondence with the foreign friends suffered very much from the difficulties connected with the war. But I gather from it the sad fact that Mr. Reissners [Berlin] organization is, as it were, suspended. From the Rev. J. Im. Janacek [Prague] I hear occasionally; his work goes on undisturbedly; he is continuing the translation of Swedenborg; only the publication of the works is hampered by the scarceness of paper available for the purpose. For this reason he could not continue his periodical, A Novy Jeruzalem. From the group in Liepaja, Latvia, I have had no news since my last report; the country has become war-region. So my activity was restricted to Switzerland, where the three centers in Zurich, Herisan and Berne have been regularly served."
     France.-From a report of the Rev. Alfred Regamey, Geneva, published in the 1942 Journal of the General Contention, p. 117, we learn of the seizure of the French editions of the Writings in Paris. He writes:

     "A very hard blow it was indeed to hear of the seizure of all the stock of Swedenborg's books by the authorities in Paris. The extent of the loss thus sustained will be grasped more fully when it is said that it amounted practically to the whole lot of Swedenborg's works available in French. Up to now we have not been able to ascertain the reasons for this drastic measure, but we were told that our movement was supposed to be related to Freemasonry, and was thus comprised in the repressive measures edited against secret societies! We are endeavoring to dispel such misconceptions; but it is very difficult to take any steps from Switzerland; and we are rather anxious regarding the fate of this precious stock of books."

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND.

     Another Innovation.

     A few months ago I sent you a contribution entitled "An Innovation," being the account of a special week-end celebration to which we invited all the young people of the General Church in England. (October issue, p. 477.) I now have another innovations to report.
     For nearly two years I have been teaching elementary mathematics two or three nights a week to an organization for boys 15 to 18 years of age who are hoping to enter the Royal Air Force. These boys are organized under volunteer officers and instructors, and some very useful work has been done.

93



At intervals they hold Church Parades on a Sunday morning, and go to one of the churches in the town. And so, after a good deal of thought and discussion, I invited a contingent of them to attend a service at our church. This they did on Sunday, November 29th. We could not have accommodated the whole squadron, which numbers about 200, but a group of just over fifty, including four of the officers, marched to the church and took part in the service, the congregation numbering 110.
     The whole service was mimeographed for them in booklet form, so that they might have no difficulty in following it; and the sermon was designed to mention very briefly the nature of the New Church and its Doctrine, and to show them how the teachings of the Church support the cause for which we are fighting in this war. [See page 52.]
     We have been wondering whether this is the first time in the history of the General Church that such a Church Parade has been held. In any case we feel that it was a useful experiment. One can never tell what good may result, and it serves to remind our own members of our responsibilities Os the direction of spreading the Gospel of the Second Coming through the Word. The only doubt in my mind as to the wisdom of the undertaking was as to whether it would tend to lessen the distinctiveness of our Church in the minds of both our own people and of those outside. However, it seemed that the advantages outweighed any possible disadvantages. The occasion might be the means of adding to our numbers; it gave us an opportunity to tell our neighbors something of what we believe, and also of making clear our stand with regard to the present conflict.
     I might add that it was a great inspiration to me to have such an opportunity of addressing fifty young men in uniform, and of giving them some little knowledge of the teachings of the New Church. It impressed me most deeply with the thought of the wide field which the Church has yet to cover, and made me most anxious that we should be enabled, under the Providence of the Lord, to lead some of these young men to a knowledge of the Lord's Word of His Second Coming. The officers expressed their enjoyment of the service. We may not have any direct response from the cadets themselves, but they will have opportunities of approaching me on the matter, if they wish to do so.
     MARTIN PRYKE.


     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND.

     Society News.

     December 7, 1942.-The second wedding of the year in the Colchester Society took place on September 5th, when Mr. Eric David Appleton and Miss Martha Mardell were united in marriage, the Rev. Martin Pryke officiating. The bride wore white and carried a bouquet of red roses. Miss Marion Appleton was bridesmaid, and Mr. Brian Appleton (cousin) was best man. Following the ceremony a reception was held, and the happy gathering voiced many good wishes for the young couple. We wish they could have made their home its Colchester.
     Three of our young men have made their confessions of faith this year: Donald Boozer and John Motum when home on leave, and Brian Appleton. It is very gratifying to know that they have started on the right way, and it will be nice when the boys return to take their places in the life of the society.
     The Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving was held in October. The pastor gave a very beautiful address to the children, and then received their offerings of fruit at the altar. The whole service was impressive and enjoyable. Evening services have been held once a month, but owing to the blackout, will be discontinued, at least for a few months.
     Monthly teas are becoming a custom, usually after an afternoon meeting and followed by singing. On one of these occasions there was a Sons of the Academy gathering and another, on November 29th, was a special meeting of the Society at which the pastor presented several matters for discussion, among them the desirability of a building for worship only.

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Had the time come for us to start a building fund? Most of those present were fully in favor, and the pastor has since announced that a gift has been received, and that the collection of such a fund is now in progress.
     At our annual Sale of Work in December the sum of L19 was realized, a very gratifying amount in war time, and considering the difficulty in obtaining articles. Mrs. Potter set us a good example of what can be done as she worked very hard for it.
     In the weekly doctrinal classes we are studying Bishop de Charms' work, The Growth of the Mind, and although the attendance is small, the study is proving most interesting and instructive to those who are able to come. Classes are also continuing for the younger groups.
     The day school is rather unfortunate, as scarlet fever has returned, affecting two of the pupils; we hope it will not spread to more.
     E. B.

     CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

     A New Broadcast.

     "The Voice of the New Church" is the title of a new radio program which goes on the air every Sunday morning at 9.45 CT. over Station WJJD (1100 on the dial.
     Through the zealous initiative of a group of members of the General Convention in the vicinity of Chicago, a Radio Broadcasting Committee of the Western New Church Union was recently formed. The Rev. Harold Cranch and the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith were invited to become members of the Committee, and asked to provide the first scripts for the weekly broadcast. In five broadcasts so far Mr. Smith has been the speaker. The general teachings of the New Church have been presented, and there have been encouraging results. Free literature has been offered to those who respond, and a "follow-up" subcommittee is at work with Mr. Cranch as chairman. The weekly talks are all published, and there have been five or six replies to each talk.
     I may mention that, as a result of the two broadcasts of Immanuel Church services on the Chicagoland Church Hour (now discontinued), there has been one undoubted convert, who is in touch within the Rev. Norman Reuter. It is my firm conviction that, as the printing press was the principal means of spreading Christianity, the radio may become the most effective means of spreading use knowledge, at least, of the New Church. Our recent replies indicate that it is not only New Church people who listen to these talks, but that many other people do so. One out of every six of our replies have been from people to whom the New Church is something new. According to the usual percentage of replies, there most be several thousand who listen to our talks. We think we are conservative in saying we may reach several thousands. This is something big, and a wonderful opportunity. It also represents a genuine desire on the part of a fine group of Convention members to cooperate with us impartially in this evangelistic work.
     After the war, when materials for making records will be available again, it would be possible at relatively little cost to put the "Voice of the New Church" on the air Irons stations all over the country.
     Aside from interesting new people in our Doctrine, the letters we have received indicate that isolated members of the New Church in our district are delighted and benefited by the opportunity to listen to a New Church sermon on the radio.
     GILBERT H. SMITH.
          December 31, 1942.

95



WORD EXPLAINED 1943

WORD EXPLAINED              1943

     BY EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

     Volume VI of the English Version by Alfred Acton MA., D.Th., treating the Books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel and Kings, is now on sale at the Academy Book Room. Price, $4.00.


     THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

     Extract from 'The Word Explained,' Vol. I.

     541.     As regards the kingdom of God-which here and in the preceding pages has been described from the Divine Word, and which will be further described-in order that everyone may give credit to the statement that this kingdom will be such as I have described it, I wish to make it known to all that this kingdom has several times been shown me, first in the quiet of sleep and afterwards in midday or time of wakefulness, so that I could perceive it with the utmost clearness by very sensation-perceiving both how angels, as though by a ladder, descended from Jehovah, the only begotten Son of God, and ascended; that is to say, transmitted their voice from on high even to my ear by means of so many repeated words: and also how that innumerable and heavenly spirits, among whom were the saints who have died, were so consociated together as to form one body and thus one man as it were; and they flowed in so unanimously that not the least discord could be felt; and this to the very sensation, as clearly as in the case of objects before the external senses; and with a clear voice and dictation, [saying] as though from a single person, that this is the very effigy of the kingdom of God. The resulting sweetness and happiness were so great that they cannot be expressed in words: for, in a manner indescribable, they penetrated deep into the fibres and inmost marrows and affected them. And since, from his infinite mercy and grace, the Messiah has granted to me his servant, the most unworthy of all, manifestly to sensate this effigy several times, and to sensate the heavenly sweetnesses and felicities, so frequently during the past two years that I forbear to count the occasions, therefore I must needs bear witness to it.

96



DIVINE ANSWER 1943

DIVINE ANSWER       Rev. NORBERT H. ROGERS       1943




     Announcements





97





No. 3

NEW CHURCH LIFE

VOL. LXIII
MARCH, 1943
     "Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God; Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions." (Psalm 99: 8.)

     The Lord is a merciful God, ever desirous of forgiving man and of raising him into the life of heaven. But man cannot come into a heavenly state as long as the hell-inspired things of his proprium are active with him. These must first be brought into quiescence, and this is not accomplished without severe struggle and as it were punishment. But, because it is the Lord who leads man out of evil and into good, there is the appearance that He is vindictive, that He answers the supplications of man in a harsh manner, demanding appeasement before manifesting any sign of mercy, and charging a high price in human suffering for every favor shown.
     The man who has passed through temptations, and whose reason is enlightened with truths knows well that this is but an appearance. He clearly perceives that nothing unjust, cruel or vindictive can be attributed to the Lord, who is Love Itself. But the unreasoning natural man, whose will is a mass of evil loves, and whose understanding is befogged with falsities sees no otherwise than that the appearance is true. He may acknowledge that the Lord is merciful, because in the end He does forgive His people. But this acknowledgment is not sound, for though it is based as it were upon a true principle, it is bounded by and includes innumerable fallacies and misconceptions. Nevertheless, it encourages him to suffer with greater patience the tribulations which he believes are Divinely inflicted upon him because of the anger which his evil acts have supposedly aroused in God.

98




     Such an erroneous concept of God, and of the quality of His answer to man, was particularly that held by the Israelites, who were extremely natural men, incapable of grasping ideas except in their grossest form. Such was the Psalmist's concept, as is clearly shown by one of the verses preceding our text, which says: "Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His name; they called upon the Lord, and He answered them."
     As an example of this "calling upon the Lord," we may mention the time when Aaron permitted the Children of Israel to fabricate for themselves a golden calf, before which they bowed themselves in worship. This was a sin of their own invention, being particularly heinous because it was perpetrated at the foot of Mount Sinai-the holy mountain of the Lord-and thus as it were in the very presence of Jehovah. According to the account given in the Book of Exodus, this act aroused such wrath in Jehovah that He determined to cut off the people from the promised inheritance. And it was only after three thousand had been slain in the camp as a punishment, and after Moses had conveyed to Him Aaron's excuse for the people, and pleaded earnestly for mercy, that Jehovah consented to forgive the people, renewing His covenant with them.
     On another occasion, very much the same thing occurred. Through Samuel the Lord had commanded that the Amalekites, with all their belongings, were to be utterly destroyed. But Saul and the people, acting upon their own initiative, spared some of the choice cattle of the Amalekites to offer as sacrifices to Jehovah. Worse still, they had spared the king of the Amalekites. Because this sin of disobedience had been committed, it is said that the Lord was displeased with Saul, withdrawing His Spirit from him, and transferring it to David, the son of Jesse. And until the time when David was recognized as the King of Israel, Saul, and the people who had sinned with him, suffered many reverses at the hands of their enemies. This was their punishment. But after Saul's death, the people were forgiven, and they entered upon the most prosperous and happy era of their existence as a nation.
     Reference is made in the Psalm to such instances of the Lord's punishment and eventual forgiveness of the Israelites, not to confirm the Jews in their utterly false concept of God and the nature of His mercy, but to shed light upon the meaning of the words that follow, and to indicate to man in a very tangible way the law or process by which the Lord redeems him.

99



For redemption generally is what is meant by the words: "Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God; Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions."
     The word answer, in the Scriptures signifies a variety of things, depending upon the manner of its use. There is, however, one thing constantly involved by the use of the word "answer." This is reaction; for no answer can ever be given unless a question is first asked, or at least implied.
     In order that man may be regenerated, there must be communication between God and man, which is established and maintained when man answers God, and God man. Without such mutual answering there can be no communication, and when there is no communication, man is as it were outside the Lord's regenerative sphere.
     Man answers the Lord when he reacts to what comes to him from the Lord-when he as it were opens the door of his heart at the Lord's knock. This involves acknowledging the truths of revelation, obeying the Divine Precepts, hearing and doing all that the Lord hath spoken. For by hearing and doing the Lord's Word, man opens his mind to receive the purifying and vivifying influx of truth and good from the Lord, and so comes into that conjunction with the Lord which is regeneration.
     Although it is said that the Lord answers man, it should be noted that this is actually speaking in appearances. For the Lord is constant. And it is only that which is inconstant that can be said to react in fact. The very word "reaction" implies a state of inertia or passivity giving place to one of temporary activity in answer to some stimulus. Every action of man is nothing but reaction, being the response made by a passive vessel to the stimulus and activity of the life received from the Divine. It is otherwise with God. No stimulus whatever can prod Him into action, since He is Life Itself, and acts wholly from Himself. And since the Lord is omnipresent, His Divine activity is everywhere; that which proceeds from Him is all-enveloping.
     Nevertheless, the appearance that the Lord answers man, reacting to him as it were, only when man petitions Him, is not merely an appearance. For it is Divinely ordained that man should approach the Lord and question Him in his search for life eternal.

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We read in the Doctrine that "it is common in all Divine worship that man should first will, desire, and pray, and the Lord then answer, inform and do; otherwise man does not receive anything Divine. . . . The Lord gives man to ask, and what to ask; therefore the Lord knows beforehand; but still the Lord wills that man should ask first, to the end that he may do it as from himself, and thus that it should be appropriated to him." (A. R. 376.) And the fact is, that unless man bestirs himself to seek the Lord, he will not see Him, although He is present. Unless man asks, he will be deaf to the Lords words. For unless a man acts as of himself, he is not in a fit state to notice and to receive what proceeds from the Lord, because he then has no desire to receive it.
     All response from the Divine is effected by means of influx (A. C. 8565), the quantity and quality of which depend upon what man desires and asks for-upon what his state is capable of receiving. For it is the receiving vessel that determines reception. No more can be received than the capacity of the vessel allows; and the shape of the vessel gives form to that which flows in and is contained by it. Though the Divine influx is constantly the same, it appears under different forms with each man according to his individual needs and state. If man seeks instruction from the Lord, he receives instruction-this is the Lord's answer. If man petitions for enlightenment, his understanding will be illumined-this is the Lord's answer to him. If man implores the Lord to animate him with spiritual affections, he receives love and charity-this is the Lords answer to him. If man in temptation, supplicates the Lord for help to resist the hells, he receives strength and consolation-this is the Lord's answer to him. If man seeks forgiveness and purification, he is redeemed-this is the Lord's answer to him. Whenever He is called upon, the Lord answers man according to his need.
     But although the Lord ever answers man's prayers, man is not conscious of receiving anything from the Lord at the time. The Lord's influx is imperceptible, to the end that man's power to act as of himself, thus his freedom, may be preserved intact. Furthermore the Lord's answer rarely is exactly what the man expects or hopes for. The Lord rarely gives man exactly what he consciously asks for. For the Lord answers man according to his real spiritual needs, which He alone, being omniscient, can know.

101



Man does not, and cannot, know his own state; there are too many secret things within him that are hidden from his view, however carefully he may scrutinize himself. Thus he cannot know, except in a very general and imperfect way, the things he needs for life: nor, therefore, is he able to ask for them. Nevertheless, the man must petition the Lord for the things he believes he needs for his regeneration. For in so doing-and it is the only way he can do it-the man turns himself towards the Lord, and as it were opens a way for the Lord to inflow into him with His Divine answer, giving him the things he really needs. That there is a difference between what man asks for and what he receives is indicated in our text by the words: "Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions."
     By Divine forgiveness is to be understood the remission of sins, that is, purification from them, and thence justification by the Lord. By this is not meant that evils are blotted out, even though this term, and others like it, are often used in connection with remission and justification. We read: "Not the smallest evil which a man, during his bodily life, has thought and has carried out into act is wiped away and blotted out entirely; but it all remains even to the very least of it. . . With those who have lived in love to the Lord and in charity towards the neighbor, their evils of life also all remain, but are tempered by the goods which, during their life in the world, they have received from the Lord by means of a life of charity; and they are thereby uplifted into heaven, yea, are withheld from the evils which they have appertaining to them, so that these do not appear." (A. C. 2116.)
     Divine forgiveness actually does not apply to evils. For evil, being opposed to good, can never be forgiven or excused, since forgiveness implies making just; and evil itself cannot become just. And so, when the Lord forgives a repentant man his sins, it is the man that is forgiven and justified, not his sins. The sins of a repentant man are not turned into goods; they are merely rendered harmless by the Lord in His mercy.
     Man is forgiven, and thus justified, by his receiving the influx of good from the Lord. In the degree that the man receives this good, he is endowed by the Lord with perception and wisdom, peace and happiness, together with all the other blessings and delights of the heavenly life.

102



For in receiving the influx from the Lord, man comes into the state of heaven; heaven is in him and he is in heaven as to his spirit.
     But good cannot exist side by side with evil. Where evil flourishes, there good is absent. Therefore no good can inflow into man so long as he remains in his natural state, which is replete with evils of every kind. These evils must first be removed to the outskirts of the mind, where they can do no harm. Then only can goods inflow into man and qualify him. This is the process of reformation.
     However much he may wish it, man cannot be easily purified of his evils, since they are deeply imbedded in his proprium. Nothing but the severe struggle and upheaval of temptations can sufficiently loose the tenacious hold of evils, and permit their being taken up and removed. For this reason the Lord allows man to come into temptation: and for this reason also, temptation is as it were part of the Lord's answer to man's plea for forgiveness. Therefore it is said:
Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God; Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions."
     That the Lord tempts man, is but an appearance. The Lord does not will man's suffering. He permits it that man may be regenerated. All temptation is from hell, and is indeed effected by evil spirits who attack man in an endeavor to destroy his life. And while evil spirits are doing this, they even try to induce man to believe that it is the Lord's doing, and that He is mercilessly vindictive and cruel. If the man gives up hope, and yields in temptation, he will come to believe as the evil spirits wish him to believe; he will attribute wrath and anger to the Divine, and also all evil. But if the man resist the persuasive attacks of the tempting spirits, even to the end, he will come to acknowledge, and also to realize, the full meaning of the great truth that, `in the Divine there is absolutely nothing of anger, and absolutely nothing of evil, but pure clemency and mercy." Amen.

LESSONS:     Psalm 99. John 16: 19-33. A. C. 9014:3.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy, pages 440, 442, 485.
PRAYERS:     Nos. 42, 117.

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TRIUMPHAL ENTRY 1943

TRIUMPHAL ENTRY       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1943

     A Palm Sunday Address.

     Vast crowds of pilgrims were thronging the crooked streets of Jerusalem as the Passover Feast approached. Herds and flocks were being driven to the temple enclosure for the sacrifice. The roads would be tramped by a continual procession, leisurely winding from all directions towards the temple city,-caravans of camels, asses, and even horses, family parties on foot, bundles on the head; all with a joyful greeting for each passer, and often singing the antiphonal psalms of "Hallel!" as honored by custom since the days of David.
     But to some this year's feast was more important than any other. The times were restless; the people chafed under the Roman yoke, resentful of the necessity of depending upon brutal Roman soldiery for peace and safety. And now the rumor had been brought to the city that the day of Israel's redemption and exaltation was drawing nigh. The Messiah had been found! For the last two years His messengers. His ambassadors, had walked about the countrysides, armed with the miraculous power of His name and spreading the gospel that the kingdom of God was at hand, even as John the Baptist had told them. And now He, Jesus the Messiah, was actually coming to the feast-was already ascending up to Jerusalem!
     The disciples had sought to dissuade the Lord from coming. But He rebuked them, and "went before," determined and calm, "ascending" steadily up the road from Jericho plain to Jerusalem. (Luke 19: 28.) There was no turning in His paths, no compromise with temporal things or with merely natural good; no conversion of His aim for an eternal victory into a paltry success which would leave the inward wounds of the world unhealed. And the disciples, held in the spell of a love for Him which even the danger of death could not break, followed, reluctantly.

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     His way led up the eastern slope of Mount Olivet, through Bethany where lived Mary and Martha, and Lazarus whom He had raised from the dead. Here He stayed over the Sabbath, the while a multitude gathered, some for Jesus' sake, some from curiosity. The next day the Lord rose, and went on. And near the village of Bethphage He sent two of the disciples into the village, and told them that near the entrance they would find a colt of an ass tied by a "door without," at a place where two ways met. They were to untie the colt, and if any man questioned them, they were to say, "The Lord hath need of him." From another Gospel we learn that it was the mother-ass that was tied, and both ass and colt were to be brought to Jesus. The disciples then cast their garments upon the colt, on which never man had as yet ridden, and set Jesus thereon.
     All these preparations-yea, every step of the way-were significant, steeped with Divine meaning. For He was to enter as a King-as the Messiah-on this day. In a superficial, worldly sense, it was His crowning day. Yet nothing, either in this, His triumph, or in His passion to come, was unnecessary or irrelevant to the spiritual redemption He had to perform. The Lord had to be accepted as the worldly Messiah, the only Messiah the Jews had in mind. Only as the accepted Messiah could He finish His work as Savior. He had to be accepted as the One in whom the prophecies of the past were fulfilled; had to be visualized in the minds of the Jewish people as their "King-and this with friends and foes, with disciples and Pharisees, with priests and laymen, men, women, and children, with Jews from home and from abroad. For only so could His royalty become the paramount issue in the world of spirits, where all things are spiritually discerned. Only so could there come about the final judgment upon the false church and the false, man-made heavens,- on the basis of the issue of eternal truth which was to reorder the entire spiritual world, and cause spiritual freedom to be restored to spirits and men.
     Thus we see the Lord, mounting the ass's colt, which was draped with the garments of disciples; in royal state-as custom was. No dark memories of battles and bloodshed tainted the victories of this Monarch, whose conquests were not gained through the miseries of others, but were obtained over death and disease and selfish passions. And as He proceeded, the disciples, their enthusiasm fired by the crowds which filed out from Jerusalem to greet Him, cast their garments on the ground to make a royal road.

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Branches of palm were strewn and waved, Hosannas were sung,-"Behold, Thy King cometh, O daughter of Zion!"
     And He accepted this tribute. For when the Pharisees appealed to Him to rebuke the crowd, He said, "I tell you, that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out!" And though the stones were still, though the terraced walls of Jerusalem have since been reduced to impotent ruins, yet they have never ceased to speak the praise of the eternal Savior. As He approached these walls, He wept-visioning the day, shortly to come, when it would be besieged and entrenched and laid waste, because, He cried, "Thou knewest not the time of thy visitation, the things which belong to thy peace."
     Thus, weeping in the day of His triumph, the Lord entered Jerusalem, to lay down, unused, the civil power thrust into His hands by the people. By this refusal He wounded His disciples, in the moment when they thought that glory was within their grasp. And by this He alienated His unsolicited supporters who were ready to start a rebellion in His cause. But by the same token He now transferred the great struggle between good and evil, justice and injustice, from the world of force to the spiritual world, where Truth and Love are the only powers, where multitudes and numbers do not count in the battle, where there is no truckling for human influence, where no evasion is possible, nor any compromise between right and wrong.
     He knew, indeed, that this crowd, for all its spontaneous ovations, would be unwilling to follow the law of love upon which He would found His kingdom, would be unwilling to take up their cross of repentance. Silently averting their intentions, He led them, not towards the royal palace to claim the throne of David for His own, but towards the Temple. That was His own, that alone, in all this city which resounded with praise. That was the capitol of a kingdom not of this world. And there, we are told, He looked round upon all things, as if inspecting to see whether all things were in order, that is, whether they were truly representative of "the temple of His body," which He was to raise up into glory on the third day. (John 2: 13-17.) There, imperiously, "He drove out the traders and moneychangers who had made of it a den of thieves"; and He "would not suffer that any man should carry any [strange] vessel through the temple."

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There He accepted with pleasure the school children's cry of "Hosanna to the Son of David!" And there He healed, and preached of the kingdom that was to be established in the hearts of men.
     Although His kingdom was not of this world, the Lord accepted the homage of these men, and of the children in the temple, because with many it was sincere in its way, and was inspired by angel-choirs who could be present in the holy songs from the Word which were voiced so loudly in the Lord's praise. It was to these angelic songs that the Lord was listening, though they came through the lips of infants and sucklings. And to the view of the angels this welcome to the prophet of Nazareth was turned into a pageant descriptive of the whole life- work of the Lord. They saw in it the coming of the Lord to the church, and His reception there; and also the continual triumph of the Lord in the heavens.

     Advent and Reception.

     The Lord makes His advent when a church has been consummated, when Truth must be given by Divine revelation, and a new church instituted. The Lord came among the Jews as a Person, revealing His bodily form and speaking to them by His own mouth, visibly. Yet it was not as a Person that He entered into them and affected them, but as the Truth-the Divine doctrine of charity and faith. The Truth He taught entered further than into the eyes and ears of the body; it entered into the minds of men, into the spirit-the understanding and the will. Therefore we have the teaching that the Lord makes His advent to men, not only by a new revelation of Himself at the end of a church, in the giving of the Word in a new form, but an advent of the Lord also occurs with the individual man "as when man is being regenerated." Nay, the Lord comes to man anew whenever truth "flows into the thought from the Word." (A. C. 4712.)
     Let us note that there is a difference between the idea of the Lords presence and the idea of His coming, His advent. The Lord is present perpetually "with every man, both good and evil." "The perpetual presence of the Lord causes man to become rational, and to have the ability to become spiritual,"-the ability "to go out and meet the Lord" at His coming. (T. C. R. 774: Inv. 57.)

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The Lord is perpetually present by the unceasing influx of life through man's soul, and the Spirit of God thus forms man creatively from within, inflowing without man's knowledge or consciousness, and causing him to feel as if he lived and willed and thought and acted from himself, or from his own power. The Lord is present with every man, and is "urgent to be received." But man "receives Him." that is, the Lord makes "His first advent" to man, when man "acknowledges" Him as his God, the Creator and Redeemer.
     Acknowledgment that the life which affects man from within is indeed from the Lord's perpetual presence cannot be made until the Lord is seen outside and apart from man. Until this occurs, man confuses the surging affections and evil imaginations of his heart with the life that makes them possible. Before the Lord presents Himself as Truth before man's eyes, and thus comes to man's conscious realization, there is no way by which a man can distinguish his own will, and the qualities which make his proprium, from the inflowing life of God that creatively sustains him. Without instruction from the Word, from the church, from truth and order as they exist outside of him in their many forms, man necessarily confuses good and evil, and takes the life which inflows from God to be his own life,- a life which he believes he has a perfect right to use unchallenged, for whatever end that pleases him.
     This is the reason why the Lord must make His advent to man from without. It is not enough that the Divine King has His dwelling place deeply within every human soul, in an abode of His own creation, kept aloof from human sensation, and impenetrable to perversion. He must also come to us from without, in order to affect us consciously, to reform and regenerate our minds, to heal and to teach. He must be born in our conscious minds, as the Word made flesh, as the Divine Truth not of our making or of our conception.
          He must be sheltered, in Providence, in obscurity, must by degrees become recognized and obeyed, must condemn the evils of our self-love, and elevate our thoughts to the vision of His Divine and transfigured Manhood. And He must, at last, be brought in triumph into the central city of our mind, to become accepted as our King and Savior, as God-with-us, a One with that Divine which secretly governs within our inmost souls and by unfathomable ways rules and over-rules all things of human life without dispelling our human freedom or diminishing the sense of our individuality.

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     This is and must be so, even with the angels. Their thought is freed from the gross appearances of space, and they know that God is within them as well as without them. They have received the Lord in His truth, from without. As truth,-the truths of charity,- He rules in their thoughts, and they know that no life is their own no power their own; they know that nothing which comes from their proprium must be confused with the Divine life. They know that they are receptacles only, both of influx from within through their souls and from without, mediately, into their minds. Therefore the angels "can see God, that is, the Lord, both within themselves and outside themselves." Outside of themselves, when they think about love and wisdom, they see the Lord before them as a Sun, shedding heat and light. But when they think from love and wisdom, thus think interiorly of the Lord, they "do not think otherwise of Him than in themselves," that is, as operating all the wonders of thought and affection, of truth and good, which they then think and feel most distinctly to be their own, as if of themselves. (D. L. W. 130; D. P. 44.)
     Let it not be imagined that the angels do not feel life as their own or that they attribute to their states any Divine quality or Divine authority, as if the Lord were speaking through them as through a medium of Divine Revelation. This only occurs when certain angels serve as "angels of Jehovah," in which state they are not conscious of being themselves. (A. C. 1745:3; S. D. 4048e, etc.) But that the angels, when thinking from love and wisdom, see the Lord within themselves means rather that they clearly acknowledge-in utter self-humiliation-that the Lord is the inward source of all their happiness, their sight of truth, and their delights of good.
     "It is provided by the Lord," we read, "that man may sensibly perceive in himself as his own those things which flow in from without, and may thence produce them of himself as his own, although nothing of them is his." (T. 362.) The things which man wills and understands all come from without, are consciously built up, received as from the Lord, or from hell. (Ibid.) The Lord-as the Sun of righteousness, arising with healing in His wings-descends into man's conscious mind through the truths of the Word: and so far as man welcomes Him, and "opens the door," the Lord thus "enters into the lower parts of the mind," even as He already "dwells in the highest part of it." (T. 366.)

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     The Borrowed Colt.

     But how shall man open the door to receive Him?
     This, indeed, is what is described in the internal sense of all the things that occurred at the Lord's entry into Jerusalem. One thing only the Lord asked for-an ass's colt, on which as yet no man had ridden! For in the language of correspondence the "ass" signifies the natural as to good, or the affection of natural truth, while the "foal of an ass" stands for rational truth. This young colt was found at Bethphage-"the house of unripe figs"-tied to a door at a crossroad, the most important crossroad in all human history.
     Man, though he be in the unfruitful state of merely natural good, still has a progressive remnant of rational truth, not as yet abused by being put to the service of selfish design. Without such a remnant of clear reason-a virgin state of rational truth-the Divine Truth cannot be brought home to our minds. But with it the Divine Truth of revelation can subordinate our rational, so that it can carry the message of the new advent; albeit the mother-ass of old traditions, of popular opinions and prejudices, has to trudge along on the way, lest our convictions feel strange and bewildered. And Truth, devoid of vanity, will graciously accept our humblest fealty, will accept the loan of our paltry garments for a throne-our opinions, our ragged thoughts, our truths of appearance and of innocent fallacy.
     Is it not strange that the Lord came to Jerusalem on a borrowed ass, with borrowed garments on it; that He was to lodge in a borrowed home at Bethany, and eat His last Supper in a room loaned for the occasion, and finally arise into everlasting glory from a borrowed tomb?
     Yet, even so the Divine Truth comes to men and to angels in the Word of God. "Truths Divine themselves are such that they can never be comprehended by any angel, still less by any man," because they surpass the finite understanding. But Divine Truths flow in with them in appearances, and in this clothing they can "both be received and acknowledged." (A. C. 3362.) When the multitudes greeted the Lord with waving palm-leaves, this signified such a confession of the Lord from the truths of the literal sense of the Word which are holy ultimates of truth in which all states may join in confession.

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But the appearances of the literal sense-although borrowed from the lowest ranges of human experience-are sanctified by the Lord and ordered for the reception of His Spirit. And in the Heavenly Doctrine, as in the angelic Word, the appearances that accommodate the Divine Truth are "rational appearances," ordered into a representation of the Lord to convey His presence to man. In effecting a revelation of Divine Doctrine, the Lord deigned to borrow rational truth from the mind of mankind,-such rational truth as could be willingly subordinated to His use, as had not been abused or devoted to evil purpose, nor to denial and doubt.
     Within the rational appearances of Doctrine, the Lord, in the Writings, comes to every man of the church; comes again and again to new states, as our life progresses: even as He came when the Writings were first written by inspiration. He comes, again and again, to receive the tribute of His church, as men come to see reflected therein the infinite Divine light within, which all may discern according to their needs.

LESSONS:     Zechariah 9: 9-17. Matthew 21: 1-16. A. C. 2751 BAPTISM AND THE HOLY SUPPER 1943

BAPTISM AND THE HOLY SUPPER       Rev. E. E. IUNGERICH       1943

     Two Gates to the Mind and the Two Sacraments.

     Everyone who has accepted the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem in faith and life finds heartfelt joy therein, and is moved to give honor to the Lord because of His conjunction with the church as expressed in the words of the Apocalypse, "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready." (Rev. 19: 9.) But this joy, if it is to be a sign that he is really affected by the truth and good of the New Church, must ultimate itself in deeds that make him more and more a member of this Church, and that promote its growth with others as well. If this ultimation of the doctrine in life is lacking, then there can be no heartfelt thanksgiving to the Lord for benefits received, but the man becomes like the unworthy servant who buried his master's talent in the ground.

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     As to the way in which the individual makes ready the church in his own mind, in order that it may enter as a bride into a marriage with the Lord, the following elucidations of the words of the Apocalypse cited above furnish significant instruction:

     In the Apocalypse Explained we read: "'And His wife hath made herself ready,' signifies that the church is now being adorned with truths from good to receive Him; . . . for the Lord inflows with man into the good of his love, and is received by man in truths. All spiritual conjunction is thence. 'To be adorned' means to be taught and to learn, for thus and not otherwise does the church adorn and prepare herself for marriage and to receive the Lord." (A. E. 1220.)
     And in the Apocalypse Revealed we read: "'And His wife hath made herself ready,' signifies that those who will be of this Church, which is the New Jerusalem, are being collected, inaugurated and instructed." (A. R. 813.) And it is further said that inauguration is effected by instruction, and that thereafter men acquire a rational understanding of the Word from the Lord.
     By their being "collected" or assembled is obviously meant that they who come to the New Church not only receive the Doctrines as matters of intellectual interest and of practical application to their lives, but that they also withdraw from their former ecclesiastical affiliations, in order that they may be gathered into an independent New Church organization. Their being "instructed" means that the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the source of the doctrines upon which the New Church rests, not only with respect to the private life of each member thereof, but also with regard to the ecclesiastical organization of that Church. As to what their being "inaugurated" means, we may acquire a more rounded-out idea from the following brief extracts from the Writings:

     1. "Therefore inaugurations into the priesthood were performed by the laying on of hands." (D. L. W. 220.)
     2. "Rings were given in the rites of betrothal, of conjunction, and of inaugurations [into offices]." (A. C. 5317.)

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     3. "Upon the confession that they wish to embrace Christianity, they are inaugurated by baptism." (T. C. R. 677.)
     4. "An infant at baptism receives the sign of the cross upon the forehead and the breast, this being the sign of inauguration into the acknowledgment and worship of the Lord." (T. C. R. 682.)
     5. Of the rites of the Jewish Church "the Lord retained only two,-baptism in place of the washings, and the Holy Supper in place of the lamb that was offered." (T. C. R. 670.)
     6. "What would a kingdom, a city, or a house be without order and if there were not someone in whom the chief command were vested?" (T. C. R. 679.)
     7. "The Christian Church, such as it is in itself, now first begins. The former Church was Christian in name only, but not in reality and essence." (T. C. R. 668.)

     From these statements of the Doctrine we may see that by the inauguration of a New Church is meant that it must have a complete ecclesiastical organization, with a consecrated priesthood, with rules of order to regulate the uses of all its members, and with the right to awaken among them an exclusive respect for its own rites, thus for baptism, the Holy Supper, betrothal, marriage and the consecration of priests, under its auspices.
     The fact that the former Church is still called "Christian" is not sufficient to justify one who has accepted the Doctrines of the New Church in remaining a member of the Old Church, or in partaking of the communion there, or in arguing that, since he was baptized there, he has no need to have, by baptism in the New Church, its sign upon his forehead and his breast. That which is Christian only in name, and not in reality and essence, cannot mean more to the rational and prudent New Churchman than the sheep's clothing about a wolf or the appearance of angelic light about an evil spirit.
     But the fact that the Old Church is at heart a wolf and a devil is not a reason for being unfriendly toward those of its credulous members who are not aware of its true state. On the other hand, the friendly relations which a New Churchman may have with them should not blind him to the fact that the Old Church, as to its spiritual state, is "a habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit" (Rev. 18: 2), and that the dragon of faith alone therein, "having great wrath, persecutes the woman," that is, the New Church, at her every effort to make herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb. (Rev. 12: 13.)

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     Individuals who have become aware that the state of the Old Church is of this character, both from their personal experience and from the teaching of the Writings, and who realize that the New Church would welcome them as a land overflowing with milk and honey smiles upon weary pilgrims, will loose themselves with joy from the fetters of the Old Church, in order that they may be enrolled in the New Church.

     The Two Gates.

     Now this New Church has two doors which are vitally affected by the two sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper. With regard to the relation of these sacraments to the human mind in which the New Church is being built, and to the inhabitants of the spiritual world who are in close association with that mind, we read in the Doctrine: "Baptism is introduction into the church, and the Holy Supper is introduction into heaven. These two sacraments are like two gates to eternal life. Every Christian man, by baptism which is the first gate, is intromitted and introduced into those things which the church teaches from the Word concerning the other life, all of which are means whereby the man can be prepared and led to heaven. The second gate is the Holy Supper, by which every man who has suffered himself to be prepared and led by the Lord is intromitted and introduced into heaven. There are no other universal gates. . . Baptism and the Holy Supper are as two gates through which a man is being introduced into the other life; and beyond the first gate there is a plain which he must pass over; and the second is the goal where is the prize to which he has directed his course; for the prize is not given until after the contest, nor the reward until after the struggle." (T. C. R. 721.)
     As to the relation of these two gates to the human mind, we may say that the lower of the two gates is at the nether boundary of the rational, where it touches the animus or natural mind, which is in need of purification as by the waters of baptism. And when this is effected, the "gates of hell cannot prevail against it."

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It is because of this situation of the lower gate of the natural mind that the relatives of Rebekah on blessing her said, "Let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them." (Genesis 24: 60.) But the more elevated of the two sacramental gates is at the upper boundary of the rational mind, where it is separated from the soul, and was referred to by Jacob after his dream at Bethel, when he exclaimed. "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." (Genesis 28: 17.)
     The rites of the Jewish Church operated to protect the human mind against the infernal enemies which occupied the animus or natural mind, and to bring that lower mind as far as possible into contact with the angels who were above it. But at the end of that Church when its rites had lost their power, the Lord reinvigorated two of them in the form of Baptism and the Holy Supper, as the means of protection for the Christian Church. But after that Church, which was never more than Christian in name, had also died, and both these rites had thereby lost their efficacy, the Lord raised them up anew in the Church of the New Jerusalem.
     The sacrament of baptism into the New Church brings the one who is baptized into an environment of spirits in the world of spirits who are being prepared to enter heaven. And to the one baptized, who also accepts the Doctrine of the New Church, either directly as an adult or indirectly through the sponsors in the case of a child, these spirits transmit their own gladness and joy on account of the baptism, and their hope of soon being brought into heaven. In so doing, these spirits are watchers at the lower gate of his mind, to turn away from him the evil spirits who hate him, and who had been attracted to his unregenerate natural. By his partaking of the Holy Supper, the upper gate is opened in the mind of a man who has previously been baptized into the New Church; and as to that mind he comes into an environment of angels before whom the Lord frequently manifests Himself. For He said to John: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Rev. 3: 20.) And therefore we are also told in our Doctrine that "the Lord is present and opens heaven to those who worthily approach the Holy Supper. . . . For as baptism is introduction into the church, so the Holy Supper is introduction into heaven." (T. C. R. 720.)

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     Now what happens to a man who acknowledges all this, but has not yet brought his will into accord with his understanding by entering through the orderly way of the lower gate into the church; and especially if he partakes of the Holy Supper before he has traversed the plain which separates the lower gate from the upper one, which the higher sacrament should open? In the light of Divine Revelation, the answer is that such a one may come into a dangerous situation, even though the Lord operates at all times mercifully to protect men from untoward results when they transgress from ignorance rather than effrontery. It must surely be evident that if the lower gate is not protected against the enemies that rule over the natural mind, it would be dangerous to open the upper gate through which the bread and wine of heaven descend. Would not these enemies then snatch away or befoul this banquet, as did those flying furies whom the Greek called harpies? A person previously baptized into one of the Catholic or Protestant sects of the Old Church, but unwilling as yet, by means of New Church baptism, to surround himself with vigilant guardians at the lower gate, is more or less a prey to evil spirits from Babylon or under the dragon.
     "This I can state," says Swedenborg, "that those in the church who hereafter confirm faith alone in themselves cannot recede from it except by serious repentance, because they conjoin themselves with the dragonists who are now at large in the world of spirits and are tumultuous, and who, from hatred against the New Church, are attacking all whom they meet. And because they are conjoined with men on earth, they do not suffer any to withdraw from them who have once been captivated by their reasonings; for they hold them as if bound in chains, and then shut their eyes, so that they can no longer see any truth in light." (A. R. 563.)
     A person may think that he is opposed to the ecclesiastical dogma of salvation by faith alone, and is thus in no danger. But let him for once make a careful self-examination to see whether he favors the application of the law of truth to those who have offended him, in preference to the law of mercy according to which he might peaceably bring them into a better state. He may discover that he is not far from the state of faith alone.
     With regard to one's approaching the Holy Supper worthily, the Writings quote the exhortation that is read in Christian churches before the sacrament, which includes this:

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"And if ye shall notice your offences to be such as are not only against God, but also against the neighbor, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto him, being ready to make restitution and satisfaction, according to the uttermost of your powers, for the injuries and wrongs done by you to any other; and being likewise ready to forgive others who have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness by God; for otherwise your reception of the Holy Supper does nothing else than increase your damnation." (T. C. R. 722.)
     Let us add, however, that the celebrant should hesitate to take it upon himself to refuse to administer the Holy Supper to any adult who comes to the Lord's table. For the Doctrine further declares: "The Lord is also present with those who approach unworthily, though He does not open heaven to them. . . . Even so we are not to believe that the Lord closes heaven to those who approach unworthily; this He does not do to any man, even to the end of his life in the world, but the man closes heaven to himself, which he does by rejecting faith and by evils of life. Still, a man is constantly held in a state of possible repentance and conversion, for the Lord is perpetually present, urgent to be received. Wherefore the man himself is in fault, if he does not open the door. The case is otherwise after death, for heaven has then been shut, and cannot be opened to those who, even to the end of life, have approached the Holy Table unworthily, for then the interiors of their mind have been fixed and established." (T. C. R. 720.)
     To approach the Holy Supper worthily, one must not only be in a state of forgiveness toward the neighbor, but must also respect and venerate the church, which is the neighbor in the higher degree. There is the lack of such respect with one who rashly affirms that he can be introduced directly into heaven by means of the Holy Supper, without his having first been introduced by the gate of baptism into that lower heaven on earth which is the church. He is like the man in the Gospel who went to the marriage feast without a wedding garment, and also like the one who would enter into the sheepfold by some other way than the door.

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BROUGHT TO THE LIGHT. 1943

BROUGHT TO THE LIGHT.       CATHERINE LETELE       1943

     How I came to a Knowledge of the New Church Doctrines.

     (This testimony was written by Mrs. Letele in April, 1938, about a year before her death at the age of fifty-five years on August 14, 1939, when Mr. Elphick wrote of her: "Mrs. Letele was associated with the Native Mission in its early Basutoland days, and became intimately connected with the work in 1921 at Maseru, under the supervision of the Rev. Theodore Pitcairn. In 1925 she was moved to the Alpha School, and has remained as Head Mistress ever since that time. The Mission has lost a good teacher, a conscientious member of the Church, and one who had an understanding interest in the New Church Doctrines." (NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1939. p. 527.)

     Had it not been for the merciful Providence of the Lord, I could not have now been leisurely walking through the gates of the New Jerusalem!
     Of myself I could not have stood up to receive the beautiful New Dispensation so freely given to the New Church. I was slow in seeing anything at all in it, even when it had presented itself ever so near me; only when I saw it, I was all for it.
     When it came about, my mind was busy about a way of a living, as I had recently lost relatives and was feeling forlorn and alone in Maseru where I lived. I was feeling really resigned at heart. In the Church there was a hot competition for recognition, which I did not think I could face. Yet there was either that for me to do, or drop from church going altogether, a practice I did not care to adopt either.
     Often enough I resorted to the reading of the Bible, but did not understand it so well as to get the consolation I so much craved, and I wished the Scriptures could show themselves more explicitly. I wished I had the possession of a book, a Scriptural Concordance, which I once had a peep into when quite a child, and which I thought would help, now that I longed to learn about that other life besides. As I grew up, I had always felt an awful backwardness in my understanding of the Scriptures. Always I had thought that I had left the home environment too early to have grasped anything of the teaching there.

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     On a certain day in December, 1918, Mr. Pitcairn and a friend of his came to my place, and as we talked I marked that he said: "But, of course, we know a little more about the spiritual world." I wished to have asked him more about that, but I banished the idea with the thought that, after all, who can tell definitely about the next world. My heart was left aching to know about that world where our friends had gone. Such vague uncertainties as one hears taught in the old churches do not stand the test of such times.
     Soon after, a group of Ministers came to ask me for a conveyance to one of their Missions further into Basutoland. The head of the group was one Samuel Mofokeng. He asked me kindly to provide an upkeep for them when they should return to have their meetings with Mr. Pitcairn. This Samuel Mofokeng was afterwards the means of my coming in contact with the New Church. Being of some trusted position in his church, he was able to secure little jobs for me to do for them. This brought him and his fellow Ministers to my home often, and we always had discussions of their doctrine. Although he was far from convincing in his arguments, he however pressed on my joining their society, and I did not feel like it.
     When Mr. Pitcairn had again arrived, in February, 1920, he gave me to translate into Xosa a book called The Heavenly Doctrine, by Emanuel Swedenborg. The title of the book amazed me, and made me inquisitive to see how these new churches come to claim their doctrines to be from heaven straight. On what grounds?
     On I went with this book, though rather half-heartedly. It was not going to give me permanent work; Mr. Pitcairn had not promised that. And as for its doctrine, I had not the least concern-not until, when almost half through the book, I remembered that something of this nature, by this same writer, Emanuel Swedenborg, was so delightfully related to me by my late husband on two occasions shortly before he passed away. As he came home from his tours as inspector of schools in Basutoland, he had come across this book, and was so delighted to tell me about its contents. But on the two occasions I had put him off from the "Roman Catholic ideas about the spiritual world," as I thought of the news.

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     But here was now a coincidence! All the muddy waters I had been holding began to melt away. I turned whole-heartedly to the new movement. Here was a new thing with a distinct sphere of its own. It was before me every moment, swinging before me like the trunk of an elephant before its face. I felt that the only way of solving any difficulties I had, be they in the soul, mind or body, was by joining this church. I had my own dear ties in the old religion; but when I found that the Lord Himself was putting this before me, I felt I had to choose between whatever ideas I was nursing in my mind and what the Lord now wanted me to take. It dawned in my mind that all that had ever happened to me from childhood, and in all my career, was nothing other than the Divine means of bringing me to this goal.
     From Heaven and Hell and the Heavenly Doctrine I noticed that here was all the help in understanding the Word. Thank goodness!
     Mr. Samuel Mofokeng kept my name long, waiting for the arrival of Mr. Elphick, who was a very good man, he said, and was going to be our next Superintendent. When Mr. Pitcairn and Mr. Elphick arrived, after a short course of instruction, I was received into the New Church. I felt that I had taken a step that was going to single me out of all my environment, but I was determined to look to the Lord, who is the gateway into real joys.
     When I joined the Church in 1921, I had not yet a firm grip of the Doctrines, but I grew gradually in understanding them; and I will always love to learn more and ever more of the beautiful Doctrine of the New Church, which reveals itself in so many bright aspects like a beautiful rainbow in its bright colors. I have always had a firm conviction and a real liking for the Doctrines, insomuch that now, and ever since I joined the Church, there has been nothing more to my satisfaction, and that I so much prize, as the Doctrines of the New Church.
     God bless His New Church with us!

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DIVINE BLESSING UPON THE CHURCH 1943

DIVINE BLESSING UPON THE CHURCH       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1943

     Conjugial Love and the Love of Offspring.

     When Noah and his family had been delivered from the flood, and Noah had built an altar of thanksgiving unto the Lord, we read in the Genesis account that "God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth." (Gen. 9: 1.) Noah and his sons represent the Ancient Church, which was instituted by the Lord when the Most Ancient or Adamic Church had reached its consummation and destruction in the flood of falsity and evil. To this new church the Lord gave His blessing, which was a promise, involving at the same time an exhortation, that they who were of this church should be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth both spiritually and naturally.
     The Lord had given the same blessing to the Most Ancient Church but that church fell away from it. And when, in time, the Noahtic or Ancient Church likewise departed from it, the Lord once more gave it, now to the Israelitish Church, which followed. And to the Christian Church, which succeeded the Israelitish, the same blessing was again given; for to it the Lord said: "I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." (John 15: 16.) But the Christian Church, like the churches which preceded it, has gone down into the darkness of night, and the Lord has established His New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem, to endure forever. And to this church has come the heritage of the oft-repeated blessing; and in the revelation to this church are given the promise and assurance that it will be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
     The members of the Noahtic or Ancient Church understood by this blessing, in its natural sense, that there would be given to them many children, from which the church would increase in numbers, and heaven be supplied with angels. By "the earth" which was to be "filled" they understood the church.

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The love of offspring, for the sake of the increase of the church and of heaven, existed with them, because they were in love truly conjugial, that is, because husband and wife, as one, loved the kingdom of God above all things.
     But as that church declined, there came a change. Conjugial love became ever weaker. They still regarded children as a blessing, but this merely because they desired that their name and honor and wealth might be perpetuated in succeeding generations. The love of self and the world, and not the love of the Lord's kingdom, ruled their affection and thought in regard to this blessing. And this state continued throughout the period of the Israelitish and Jewish Church. In the beginning of the Christian Church there was something of a revival of the ancient, true idea, but there soon came a relapse into the Jewish state. Yea, lower still has Christendom fallen. So utterly has conjugial love perished, that the love of offspring, even for the preservation of the family name, fame and wealth, is rapidly disappearing. Generally speaking, the only fructification and multiplication that is today regarded as a blessing is the growth and increase of worldly wealth, and honor, and pleasure, the lust for which knows no bounds, but would "fill the earth" with its offspring.
     To the end that men may rise from this state, the Lord has made His Second Coming, calling mankind anew to repentance by the Divine Truth of His Word, revealed in the Writings of the New Church, which constitute that Coming. They who heed that call need first of all to combat their merely selfish and worldly conception of a blessing, and seek to come into that idea of a Divine blessing which is in accord with the natural sense of the Lord's words to Noah and his sons, namely, that it consists in the Lord's giving children, by whom the church and heaven may be filled. This idea needs to be the first in the upward progress, because it is fundamental. Without it, the higher conceptions of fructifying and multiplying and filling the earth are impossible. The fundamental, and thus all-inclusive, idea of the growth and increase of the kingdom of God, is that the human race be propagated, and by it the heavens be filled.
     In order that the New Church may come into this idea,-this truth,-and into the life according to it, the Lord has provided that love truly conjugial be restored in this church. He has revealed the truths concerning that love. In the degree in which those of the church are in the earnest endeavor to cultivate that love, they will come into the true love of offspring.

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     But something more than this will be accomplished by the cultivation of love truly conjugial. For upon the foundation of the love of offspring there will be built up a more interior love of offspring,-a love of those spiritual offspring which are all the happy and delightful states of a true married life. These are the spiritual children of those who are in love truly conjugial. All the states of heavenly good and truth, with their delights, into which a married pair come because of their love for each other, are with them the fulfilment of the Lord's blessing, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth." And of this fruitfulness and multiplication there will be no end. There will be no limit to the number of these children. They will be born daily during life in this world, and afterwards to eternity in heaven. And in them will consorts find all the fulness of heavenly happiness. For these children are the blessing of the Lord,-His blessing upon their conjugial love.

     The Regenerate Life.

     Conjugial love is not possible without regeneration. The husband must be a regenerating man, and the wife a regenerating woman. If one be regenerating, and the other not, then conjugial love exists interiorly with that one, and in the other life will come to fulfilment with the true consort, who will there be met. The same applies to the unmarried. If there be regeneration, conjugial love exists in internals, ready to come forth into externals as soon as the true partner is found. There must therefore be a conjugial state within each individual. A marriage must take place within him, and this is nothing else than the marriage of good and truth,-of good, which inflows into him by an internal way from the Lord, with truth, which he receives by the external way of the reading of the Word. And this marriage of good and truth will have its offspring; from it will come the blessing of the Lord,-fruitfulness and multiplication in the spiritual life. It is this blessing of spiritual children, given to each regenerating individual, that was understood in the Ancient Church by the blessing upon Noah and his sons. And it must be so understood by us; for this, in the highest sense, is the blessing of the Lord which it should be our earnest endeavor to receive.

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     Good, inflowing from the Lord by way of the internal mind, and truth, coming by way of the external mind, meet in the interior or intermediate mind, and there enter into a marriage, which is the marriage of the Lord and the Church that is spoken of in the Word. The births from this marriage are interior goods and truths in the interior mind. Into this interior mind, the internal or higher mind constantly inflows, gifting it with heavenly charity, and imparting to it a true conscience. But the influence and operation of the internal mind does not cease in the interior mind, but descends through it into the external mind also, and there leads forth the children of the spiritual marriage into the deeds and words of daily life.
     From what we have said it may be seen that there are three things in the order of life of the regenerating man. First, the presence of the Lord in his internal man: second, the inflowing thence into the interior man, where are the offspring of the marriage of good and truth; and third, the still further descent into the external man, bringing forth into it the children of the marriage. Where such a state exists, there rests the blessing of the Lord. "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth." These words involve the three things of which we have spoken. "And God blessed," signifies the presence and grace of the Lord in the internal man. "Be fruitful, and multiply," signifies the fructification of the goods of charity and the multiplication of the truths of faith in the interior man. "And fill the earth," signifies the same fructification and multiplication in the affections and in the memory of the external man.
     Upon the regenerating man, who loves the truth and applies it in life, will come the blessing,-a blessing the happiness of which he will realize; and yet he will be aware of but little of all that the blessing involves, be aware of but little of the wonderful fructification and multiplication that is taking place within him. When he enters the other world, he will be far more conscious of it, and it will there constitute his heavenly happiness; though even there his consciousness of the innumerable things of fructification and multiplication will he comparatively only a general one. The Lord's blessing involves indefinitely more than any man or any angel can ever comprehend; for in it there is the image of the infinite and the eternal.

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     The image of the infinite and eternal in all fructification and multiplication can be seen in what is outside of man, in nature round about him. Behold and contemplate it in the vegetable and animal kingdoms! It goes on and on indefinitely, ever increasing. So also it is-yea, immeasurably more so-with the fructification and multiplication of the goods of charity and the truths of faith with the regenerating man. There is no end to it, no limit, into all eternity.
     This is the blessing, the marvelous blessing, of the Lord upon the regenerate man, bringing to him a happiness and bliss and joy inexpressible. Who can contemplate it, and not be filled with the most ardent desire that it should be fulfilled in him! Who would say that the attainment of it is not worth all the hardships and trials which the regenerating man must undergo? Who would say that, for the sake of receiving this blessing of the Lord, it is not worth while to struggle against and put away all those affections and thoughts which center in the idea that only that is really a blessing which relates to the fructification and multiplication of what pertains to selfish and worldly desires and ambitions,-the things of honor, wealth, and worldly comfort, ease and pleasure! Surely no man, but one in whom all remains of good and truth have been suffocated and extinguished, would so say or think: and least of all a man of the New Church, to whose eyes is opened the inner glory of the blessing, in all its heavenly splendor.
     The universal of all the blessings given in the Word is the Lord's blessing upon His New Church, the Bride and Wife of the Lamb, now and forever. In this Church, by virtue of her marriage with her Lord, there will he, with all who are truly members of it, that wonderful fructification of the goods of charity and multiplication of the truths of faith which constitute His blessing. And the more fully this blessing inflows into their lives, the more will love truly conjugial find there its happy home. With husband and wife, as a one constituting a church, will there be the fructification and multiplication of endless heavenly states of love and wisdom. And from their love will flow the true love of offspring, of children given as a blessing of the Lord, to be led in the path of eternal life. So will the Lord's New Church grow and increase in numbers, even until there is literal fulfilment of the Divine promise that it will "fill the earth."

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THOUGHTS ON THE WAR 1943

THOUGHTS ON THE WAR       Editor       1943


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Editor      Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager      Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.


All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Business Manager.

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     Patterns of Peace.

     It is the privilege of the New Churchman to elevate his mind above the complexities and confusions of earthly affairs into the light of our Divine Revelation, and from the rarified calm of higher rational truth to look out upon a disordered world with the confidence of a trust in the Divine Providence,-the Lord's all-wise government of the human race for its final good, spiritual and natural. The man of the church is able to acknowledge this Divine providing of eventual good in the permission of the terrible evils of war as the only means of bringing worse evils to their judgment, and thereafter some advance toward better things, to a way of life in some degree emulous of heavenly order,-the Divine pattern of peace foreseen by the Lord as the fruit of every Divine judgment.
     And though the man of the church is aware that the permanent good of mankind, spiritual and natural, can only be realized through the establishment of a true church, and this by the regenerative temptations of the individual, yet he looks for some natural goods, at least, as the results of war's vastation,-the betterment of human relations within nations, and a greater international amity and co-operation in the peace and order that will follow the days of violent conflict; perchance, also, an increased measure of religious freedom favorable to a more extended reception of the Heavenly Doctrine and the growth of the New Church.

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     For the Lord, from His Divine Love, wills the unity of the human race,--the conjunction of men in the bonds of mutual love and the interchange of uses. In the spiritual world this is accomplished by the force of Divine omnipotence, whereby innumerable heavenly societies are kept in a marvelous order and unity, each in its freedom of love contributing of use to every other; while the opposite societies of hell are reduced to a compelled order, and to the performance of such negative uses as, in the Divine economy, they are capable of performing. With men still living in the world, this same omnipotent power of the Lord deals in a Divine way of wisdom with their free will and free choice, teaching and leading those who are willing to regenerate, permitting, yet restraining, the evils of all, that these may not gain full predominance and so frustrate the Divine end of mercy and love toward the whole human race.

     An Overruling Providence.

     It is well for the man of the church to realize the actuality of the over-all Divine governance in the affairs of war and peace, especially when the issues of the conflict seem to hang in the balance, and the outcome to depend solely upon the prudence of men. It is right that men should exercise this prudence, with its planning and effort, for this belongs to their Divinely given liberty and rationality-the human as of itself. But while exercising this full appearance of a dependence upon human ingenuity and skill to wage war to victory, men are wise if they also acknowledge, in their heart of hearts, that there is a God who is supremely dominant over the issues of war which otherwise could not be brought to the end for the sake of which the conflict is permitted,-the eventual good of all mankind.
     Bearing upon this we read in the Doctrine: "There are many causes, which are stored up in the treasury of Divine Wisdom, as to why wars are not prevented by the Lord with kings and leaders either at the beginning or in their progress, but in the end, when the power of one or other of the belligerents is so weakened that he is in danger of destruction.

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Some of these causes are now revealed." And we read further: "That wars in the world are ruled by the Divine Providence of the Lord, the spiritual man acknowledges, but not the natural man, except when a feast is appointed in celebration of victory; then, upon his knees, he gives thanks to God who has given him the victory; and he does the same in a few words before he goes into battle; but when he returns into himself, he then ascribes the victory, either to the prudence of the leader, or to some counsel or incident in the midst of the battle which they had not thought of, and by which nevertheless the victory was gained. The Divine Providence, which is called Fortune, is in the least things, even the lightest; and if you acknowledge the Divine Providence in these, you must by all means acknowledge it in the affairs of war. Successes and the happy outcome of wars are commonly called the 'fortune of war,' and this is the Divine Providence, especially in the counsels and meditations of the leader, even though at the time and afterwards he ascribes it all to his own prudence. This he may do if he wishes, for he is in full liberty to think in favor of the Divine Providence or against it, yea, in favor of God or against Him. But let him know that nothing whatever of his counsel and meditation are from himself: everything of it inflows either from heaven or from hell; from hell by permission, from heaven of the Divine Providence." (D. P. 251.)
     We have said that order is provided and preserved in the spiritual world by the omnipotent force of a Divine power. By this, of course, is not meant any tyrannical exercise of that force with angels and spirits, but a wise and merciful application of power to provide the freedom in which every individual may go where he wants to go,-the regenerate spirit to seek and find that place in heaven where his ruling love is in its complete liberty and joy of association and use; the evil spirit set free from any imagined desire to be in heaven, and allowed to go his way to a place in the lower regions, yet not until he himself is convinced that he belongs there. (D. P. 340:6: H. H. 462b.) He is made as comfortable as can be in this self-chosen place, and this also is a provision of the Divine mercy. We are told that the infernals have "a quiet life from hope,"-the hope of exercising evil, of doing harm to the good and destroying all good uses. (S. D. 2880, 4299.) Their punishment is an eternal restraint, for the protection of the good,-a restraint and subjugation that is imposed upon them by the Divine omnipotence.

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     Chaos and Order.

     In the present world-wide disturbance the New Churchman has recognized the signs of a Divine judgment upon human states and worldly conditions which could no longer be tolerated without danger to the very existence of the race-especially a vastation of evil states which prevent the establishment of a true religion and a true church, for the salvation of mankind. He may also recognize that the chaotic conditions brought about by the war are but an ultimation of the chaotic conditions which preceded it, both within nations and between nations,-the lack of friendly cooperation and the interchange of uses,-chaos instead of order. And the wars chaos follows the usual pattern of a judgment,-the revealing and letting out of inner states of ill will and hatred springing from the love of rule and of earthly aggrandizement.
     Judgment is a separation of things which are ill conjoined-"nation rising up against nation," with a terrible dislocation and confusion, a reduction to chaos, to the end that there may eventually be a new conjunction in a new state of order. Within and above this process of judgment is the force of Divine omnipotence, though it operate also through the prudence of men, especially intelligent and God- fearing men who uphold principles of freedom, honor, justice and religion.
     "Before things are reduced into order," we read, "very commonly they are first reduced to a kind of confusion as it were a chaos, so that the things which do not so well cohere are dissociated: and when they have been dissociated, then the Lord disposes them into order. So in nature, unless there were storms in the atmosphere which dissipate things which are heterogeneous, the air would never become serene, but there would he a fatal accumulation of pestilential substances therein." (A. C. 842:3.) When there is a tempest in the air, the ether remains in a tranquil state, and, acting by a hidden and tacit equilibrating force into the turbulent atmosphere, reduces it to equilibrium and quiet. (S. D. 1176, 2717.)
     And we may see that the same Divine omnipotence which operates through the forms and forces of the universe to purify the air of nature-"for even the wind and the sea obey Him"-executes a judgment upon human states in both worlds, reduces to chaos and restores to order, forms the heavens and subjugates the hells, and controls the issues of war and peace among men and nations in the world.

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NOTES AND REVIEWS 1943

NOTES AND REVIEWS              1943

     INDIA AND ITALY.

     SVENSKA AMERIKANAREN TRIBUNEN, of Chicago, in its issue for January 13, 1943, publishes an article setting forth the claim that there is a widespread interest in the teachings of Swedenborg in Southern India and in Italy. Mr. Alec McQueen has kindly sent us his translation of the article, as follows:

     The renowned Swedish theologian and naturalist, Emanuel Swedenborg, is acknowledged by much more than ten million Hindus in South India as their spiritual teacher, declared the prominent Swedenborg authority, Erik Hjerpe, Librarian at the Swedenborg Bokforlaget in Stockholm, in a recent press interview.
     Hierpe reported, among other things, that adherents of the highest religious caste in Southern India, the Saiva Siddhanta, who believe in only one God, revere Swedenborg as "their spiritual teacher," and read his writings with great appreciation. Their interest dates from about a quarter of a century ago, and the adherents number more than ten million souls.
     Also in Italy, Hierpe stated further, interest in Swedenborg has grown apace. Upon the initiative of a Dr. Ferrari, Librarian of the National Library of San Marco in Venice, a large organization was formed some time ago for the publication of Swedenborg's writings. From as long ago as 1870, a knowledge of Swedenborg had reached various places in Italy, but no public organizations have been established until this one. At the request of this Italian organization, Hjerpe has sent sixty-three volumes in Italian and French to its library.
     Interest in the Swedish theologian seems to be increasing in many lands, explained Hierpe, and he stated that Swedenborg's works have now been translated into twenty-one different languages.

     We would welcome further information in regard to this reported development in Italy, if any of our readers can furnish it. As to the extensive interest among the Hindus in Southern India, Mr. Hjerpe undoubtedly refers to the results of the missionary activity of Mr. D. Gopaul Chetty, who has translated some of the Writings into Tamil, lectured in many parts of South India, and distributed a great deal of literature explaining the teachings of the New Church.

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From time to time we have quoted from his reports to the General Conference, the latest appearing in our issue for August, 1941, p. 381, from which we may here quote:

     The war, he reports, has not affected India in any way, and things have been going on as peacefully and happily as before, and his New Church work has not been disturbed. During eleven months-April, 1940, to March, 1941-he sold 171 copies of his Tamil translation of The Heavenly Doctrine, 48 of Divine Providence, seven of Divine Love and Wisdom, and 110 of Heaven and Hell-in all 336 volumes. In addition, he has sent free copies to newspapers, public libraries, and leading Tamil scholars; 144 copies of Heaven and Hell, and 45 copies of The Heavenly Doctrine. At public missionary meetings he has distributed 170 books and booklets, and has sent out 2,000 copies of catalogues, leaflets, and advertisements of Heaven and Hell.
     He tells of twelve different missionary tours made by him during the eleven months, covering a wide area in Southern India. During all these tours he delivered lectures on Swedenborg's teachings, sold books, distributed booklets and leaflets, and talked with many people.
     The places visited cover a very wide area in Southern India. They include: (1) Arkonam, where there is a large number of sympathisers; (2) Conjeeveram, a place noted for Hindu pilgrimages; (3) Walajapet, an old historic town in North Arcot; (4) Kadathur, where also there are many sympathisers; (5) Ambur, in the district of North Arcot; (6) the district of Chingleput, where he spent several days; (7) a second visit to Conjeeveram; (8) Tiruvarur, where a conference of the Justice party was being held, attended by 7,000 to 8,000 people, where he took advantage of the large gathering to do some useful missionary work; (9) a week's tour in Salem, where he spent several interesting days many ears ago; (10) Tirupali, another place of pilgrimages, where a festival was being held, attended by several thousand people; (11) Vellore, where there is a branch of the Swedenborg Society of India, and where Swedenborg's Birthday was publicly celebrated in 1940; (12) Chidambaram, while a religious festival was in progress, attended by many thousands of Hindus.

     This affords evidence of the fact that the teachings of the Writings are being made known to many in Southern India. As to concrete results in the actual reception of the Doctrines and the establishment of the New Church, we shall await with keen interest the further reports of Mr. Chetty. In China also, before the war, there was an awakening of interest in the Writings that seemed promising: on the part of at least one leader, the need of New Church schools for the instruction of the young was recognized.

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When the days of peace arrive, we shall undoubtedly witness striking developments in the field of religion. The vastating effects of war will set many free from the ties of old faiths, making ready those who can receive the light of the Second Coming, though they be relatively few in number. For mass conversions are commonly followed by mass recessions, leaving but a small residue of genuine converts, with whom the seeds of spiritual truth have actually taken root. So has it been with the establishment of all former Churches.
ONE RELIGION 1943

ONE RELIGION       Rev. Eric A. Sutton       1943

     FROM "THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD."

     The catastrophe that has befallen the world has not overwhelmed the New Churchman with a sense of defeat. He has been led by revelation from heaven to expect and prepare for the breakdown that has taken place. He sees the present chaos, not as one of many assaults upon the Christian faith, but as one consequent upon the fundamentally unchristian character of faith, and providentially preparative of a new and intelligent spiritual awakening. Though no one could have foretold the precise manner of the present chaos, those of the New Church who perceived the real nature of the events which took place in the spiritual world in 1757 have long realized that there could be no quiet drift of humanity from its past ignorance, error and evil into the spirit and life of the New Age. And though it is impossible to foresee the future course of events, there is a pattern discernible in all that is happening. The futility of old dogmas is becoming manifest; youth will have nothing of them, and their own disciples prefer to keep them in the background. Humanity is stirred to its very depths by the perils that threaten it, and in every land a gentilism is gathering strength and usurping the place of former loyalties and beliefs. The very assembling of the nations to the battlefields, though under different and opposing flags, nevertheless betrays the underlying one-ness of mankind.
     This is no local dispute; it is no mere domestic concern of Christian Civilization. It is humanity as a whole that is roused; and the alarm is begotten of a common need upon which the continued existence of the race depends.

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That need is the one, true, all-sufficient faith proclaimed by the New Church,-the knowledge, acknowledgment and love of the Lord Jesus Christ, belief in His Word, the shunning of evils as sins against Him, and life according to His Commandments. Therein lies that alone which will unite the peoples of the earth, bringing sanity to the modes of human thought and order into the affairs of social and international life. It looks beyond all present creeds, all languages, all traditions; it is for the West and for the East, for the South and for the North it is that alone which will make explicit the implicit one-ness of the race.
     It is a thought which in these days should come as a clarion call to all New Churchmen. That it should not be realized is the hope, the despairing hope, of all evil and that hope is the dynamic behind the present world-wide assault on human freedom. Freedom of thought there must be if the New Church is to grow; and the organized hells of the spiritual world are undoubtedly fostering this challenge to human freedom. A duty surely rests upon us here, even in the numerically small organization of the General Conference. It is the duty to keep utterly free from all provincialism the faith we hold in the Heavenly Doctrines disclosed to us, to realize that those Doctrines will be effective for the New Age only as they are allowed to speak for themselves and find interpretation and application in the infinitely varied mentalities of mankind.
     This faith we uphold is no mere adjustment of a traditional creed it is a new atmosphere for a new humanity, and it is sent from heaven that not only English and Scottish non-conformity may be freed from past errors, but that ultimately the adherents of Roman Catholicism, the disciples of Mohammed, the believers in the Buddha and the worshippers in Hindu temples, shall be spiritually fed by the one God Who is the God of them all, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As the world grows smaller, and East and West discover increasingly their common interests, let the New Churchman realize that the day of different religions is passing. The simple logic of the case is that there is but one religion, for there is but one God. The oriental mind and the African mind, the Latin mind and the Anglo-Saxon mind, will all fashion that one religion according to their needs and genius. But it will be one Faith, promoting one worship, inculcating one life-an orientation of the hearts and minds of humanity to the spiritual East.

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     Let us, as a Church, lift up our eyes to this vision, realize that in the Heavenly Doctrines and the New Church the Lord has spoken to all mankind, and, as faithful trustees, maintain the purity and truth of the revelation we have received. Even as these present phases of the world's suffering succeed each other, there is discernible as never before the one fundamental and universal need of mankind. It is the knowledge of its God and Savior, the living and risen Jesus Christ, our Lord.

     [From an Address by the Rev. Eric A. Sutton.]
TEMPLE OF SOLOMON 1943

TEMPLE OF SOLOMON              1943

     Extract from 'The Word Explained,' Vol. VI.

     6244. The temple was now built in place of the tent of assembly, and this that it might represent heaven, and so God Messiah who is his heaven. The temple represents God Messiah and heaven as to his priestly office. The royal house which Solomon built also represented [God Messiah and] heaven, but as to his royal dignity.
     6245. Here it must again be observed that there was nothing in the whole temple save the representation of things which are in heaven, that is to say, which concern God Messiah, his holiness, and the like. They were made so magnificent, in order that the representation of these things might be presented in their true spiritual and celestial from before those who are in inmosts, where celestial things were understood; and so might be lifted up to God Messiah. The temple was covered with gold within and without, and in addition there were sculptures of cherubs, palms, etc., each and all of which were comprehended as such by the choir of angels who proximately took up the things which the eye sees and the natural mind comprehends by its sight. These are merely magnificent things and the like, which delight the eyes and the other external senses; but when they come to the internal sphere of angels, they are carried over into things spiritual, that is to say, into the things which these natural things and their connections and arrangements involve. From there they are carried over more interiorly to the inmost choir of angels of God Messiah, where they become things celestial, and so are presented to God Messiah.

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     6246. Such likewise is also the case with the spiritual man. In objective things, he never seizes upon those which stand forth before his eyes, but upon the resulting uses, or significations of the things, and so upon things spiritual which he then turns to things celestial and to the glory of God Messiah; but this is most perfectly done in the choir of angels in which is all perfection. That the proximate angels seize merely upon the magnificent things, rightly ordered, becoming, and harmonious, which appear before the eyes, is most surely known to me, they having so often admired with affection the beauties of things set before my sight. These were also carried over, in like manner, into things spiritual and celestial. For by the divine mercy of God Messiah, it has also been granted me to learn by experience that all objects set before the exterior sight, and thus before the interior, quickly passed over into things spiritual and celestial, so that something entirely different is sensated, being, as it were, a celestial paradise from an earthly,-a heavenly ordering which is of the understanding alone, from the orderings of nature in the world, and in the body and within its members and organs; while to me at the time, and to the proximate angels, the objects were seen only naturally.
     6247. Nay, and in certain cases the more interior choir sometimes insinuated their own light, so that, in the things read in the Word of God Messiah, I saw only things spiritual and celestial, the literal sense thus perishing.
     Hence the reason for the existence of the temple, as, previously, of the tent of assembly, can now be evident. For the tent of assembly signifies the life of man while he is journeying. Therefore, it is said, that hitherto He had dwelt in a tent [2 Sam. 7:6]. But the temple signifies the kingdom of God Messiah. The two coincide, like things successive with things simultaneous.

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MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943

     General Church of the New Jerusalem

     THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)

     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa, United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942,

     OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, Sgt. Norman,
Heldon, Cpl. Sydney,
Kirsten, L.A.C. Theodore,
Taylor, A.C. 1 Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bond, A.C. 2 J. W.,
Bond, Cpl. Lillian D.,
Evens, Tpr. John,
Evens, Pvt. Robert A.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Hill, Fr/Sgt. Leonard F.,
Hill, Sgt./Pilot Ralph R.,
James, Pvt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Schnarr, Sgt. Joffre G.,
Schnarr, L/Cpl. John G.,
Scott, Pvt. Herbert G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, Sgt. Pilot A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.

     Toronto.
Bellinger, Sgt./Pilot John H.,
Carter, Sgt.-WAG Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Tpr. Thomas J.,
Izzard, F/O Laurence T.,
Jesseman, Cpl. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn.
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Richardson, A.C. 2 David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, L.A.C. Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Bellinger, P/O William G., Ontario,
Evens, A.C. 2 A. Leslie, Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 Norman W., Alberta
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.


     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Eric D.,
Appleton, L.A.C. Roy,
Boozer, Dvr. A. E.,
Boozer, Donald,
Briscoe, Miss Irene G.,
Clennell, A.C. 2 Gordon,
Cohen, Eng. Comdr. Maurice L.,
Dale, Tpr. Keith B.,
Dawson, L.A.C. Geoffrey P.,
Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Jones, Harold C.,
Lewin, Ronald,
Morris, Lieut. David,
Motum, O/Cadet John,Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,

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Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Beatrice A.,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Gnr. Michael T.,
Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,
Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Sylvia M.

     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, A/P J. Septimus,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Cockerell, John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, A/P Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Gnr. D. B.,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, Pvt. J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, A/P A. N.,
Hammond, Cadet Harry B.,
Hammond, Pvt. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, S/Sgt. A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, L/Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, A/M C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,
Ridgway, Pvt. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A.,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Alden, Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, Pvt. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, Cpl. Ralph E.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Carpenter, Lt. (jg) Philip S. P.,
Cole, Lt. William P.,
Cooper, Pvt. Denis,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, A/C Rey W.,
Cooper, Cpl. Theodore F.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. (jg) Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davies, Pvt. Philip T.,
Davis, Pvt. Justin H.,
Davis, Sgt. Tech. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
De Maine, Pvt. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine, Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A.,
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, P.F.C. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Finkeldey, Sgt. Philip,
Gansert, Pvt. Otto G.,
Glenn, A.C. Ernest Bruce,
Gyllenhaal, S/Sgt. Charles P.,
Gyllenhaal, Ensign Leonard E.,
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, Cpl. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., H.A. 1/c,
Homiller, Cand. William,
Hyatt, Cpl. Edward D.,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Nilson, Lt. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, P.F.C. Ray S.,
Odhner, Lt. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, S 2/c R.T.,
Pendleton, Lt. Philip C.,
Pitcairn, John P.,
Pitcairn, A/C Lachlan,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Nathan,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Capt. Oliver I.,
Price, Pvt. Kenneth,
Rose, Pvt. Stanley,
Schnarr, Donald, S 2/c,
Schnarr, Pvt. Eugene C.,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, A/C David R.,
Walter, Elizabeth, S.K. 3/c,
Walter, A/C Robert E.,
White, Cand. Harry J.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Asplundh, Cadet O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., Fireman 3/c,
Burnham, Edwin, C. Sp., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, Pvt. Roy M.,
Carlson, Pvt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,
Elkins, Lois, U.S.N.R.,
Fuller, George, P. O. 2/c,
Gunsteens, Pvt. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,

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Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, Pvt. Leslie B.,
Junge, Lt. Carl F.,
King, Pvt. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Lt. Raymond T.,
Lee, Cedric,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
Melzer, Pvt. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Roger,
Nelson, Sgt. Gerald F.,
Reuter, Cand. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Midshipman Hubert,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, A/C Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C.,
     Michigan.
Childs, Pvt. Walter C.,
French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, Pvt. John F.,
Peterson, Sgt. Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., E.M. 2/c.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Ensign Alexander,
Packer, E. W. Jr., A.S. U.S.C.G.
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,
Westacott, Ensign Ethel B.

     Pittsburgh.
Brown, Cpl. George P., Jr.,
Brown, Cpl. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,
Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Iungerich, Sgt. Stevan,
Lechner, Lt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Lt. Alexander H.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Schoenberger, Av/C Walter S.,
Stein, Pvt. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Cpl. Elmer G., Texas.
Caldwell, Cpl. Neil V., New York,
Davis, Tech. Sgt. Charles F., Calif.
Davis, Cpl. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Lt. Philip B., Ohio,
Fine, P.F.C. Raymond F., Oregon.
Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Griffin, William T., E.M. 2/c, S.C.,
Hilldale, Pvt. Richard M., New York.
Joy, Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Cpl. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Merrell, P.F.C. Frederick, Calif.
Merell, Pvt. Stanley, Calif.
Posey, Pvt. John A.,
Rott, Cpl. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Snyder, Donald, U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Major Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.
Letters from England. 1943

Letters from England.              1943

     Mrs. A. Wynne Acton is our Committee representative in London. The following excerpts from one of her letters to the Committee give an interesting picture of the use she is performing as hostess to New Church servicemen in England:

     London, December 1, 1942.-We have received several copies of "The New Church Communique. I think it is a very useful sheet and well put together. Between The Bryn Athyn Post and the Communique we have traced the fact that Grant Heilman and George Field are somewhere in England. We were surprised to see Henry Heinrich; again. He came over on the same boat with Ralph Hill and Bruce Scott. We have seen Ralph, but not Bruce. One Sunday not long ago, Joffre Schnarr. Tom Fountain, and Cecil James called. We sent them to a restaurant, as we had two guests, but they came back and spent the rest of the day with us. I think the main attraction was some pumpkin pie (none too good)! Our guests thoroughly enjoyed meeting the Canadians.
     We saw Phil Cooper last Sunday. He attended our all-day session at Michael Church-service, luncheon and meeting-and afterwards took us to the cinema and treated us to dinner at a ritzy restaurant. I like my role as hostess to the New Church "Club" at 45a Groveway.

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I sometimes have a wild scramble with the food situation, but the boys are very kind and generally contrive to bring something with them, or I can use part of their ration cards.
     We are kept quite busy with church-work and some little war-work. I have been working one afternoon a week at a welfare clinic, and I am having a Prisoner of War Party at 45a for the people living in Groveway. Our garden was a big help. We managed to grow a lovely pumpkin, lots of tomatoes and beets, and many other things. Our farming now includes two pullets given us by Healdon Starkey. The birds are rather priceless creatures, as they are beginning to lay. One pullet started off by laying three eggs in four days. When you understand that we haven't been able to buy an egg since July, you will realize how excited we get when the dear old pullets perform. But now that we actually have a few eggs to eat, the milk supply has been cut down to four pints a week for us both. Our milk supply is supplemented by tins of dried milk and condensed milk, but we have to juggle the points around to cover so many things that some items get squeezed out. On the whole, however, we do quite well. We are not rationed for coffee! It makes us feel pretty good when we can still get something which you can't! Nothing like being nasty, is there? -RACHEL ACTON.

     Late in November, 1942, the Committee was instrumental in sending five packages of food to England, to be used in helping to entertain American and Canadian boys. The regulations on such parcels are very strict, and the contents were scarcely more than a gesture of appreciation to our friends' hospitality in Colchester and London. A letter from the Rev. Martin Pryke speaks for itself:

     Colchester, January 20, 1943.-Although I understand that three men of the United States Forces are over here, we have so far seen only Major Cooper. I met him on my travels last week, and he seemed very well; he was certainly living very comfortably. I know, because he invited a New Church couple and myself to his place for dinner. I am writing Mrs. Cooper to let her know that he is in good form.
     It was very good of you to send over that food to help us out when entertaining the Canadian and American forces; but you really shouldn't have done it. We can always manage to find something for them. What you have sent will help Rachel Acton a lot, because she is doing most of the entertaining, as more visitors get to London than to Colchester, and our part is very small in comparison. We all have the deepest admiration for what Wynne and Rachel have done. Considering what they have gone through in this war, they take it wonderfully, and we are thankful that the worst of the raids on London seem to be over for them.
     This Christmas we sent small parcels to all the Colchester boys in the forces; and then London and Colchester together sent similar parcels to all Americans and Canadians over here. We could not make the parcels what we would have liked, because of restrictions and rationing, but we were at least able to let them know that we thought of them. We sent a paper-covered edition of the Writings, a "book token" which they could exchange for any book they wanted. We have received a number of acknowledgments, but we are not certain that all the parcels arrived at their destinations.-MARTIN PRYKE,

     February 13, 1943.-The Committee has been informed that Sgt/Pilot Ralph Roschman Hill, of Kitchener, Ont., serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force in England, was killed in action on February 9th and buried on February 12th.

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Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND.

     January 3, 1943.-Since our last news report (February issue), four of our young ladies have made their Confessions of Faith-the Misses Christine, Beatrice, and Sylvia Waters, and Miss Marion Appleton. Thus, in our small society, seven have made their Confessions during the year 1942, and we have also had two weddings-a remarkable year for us.
     Christmas celebrations began on Sunday evening, December 20, with the singing of carols and with tableaux, the scenes being: 1. The Prophet Balaam; 2. The Angel Appearing to Mary; 3. Mary and Elizabeth; 4. The Wise Men and the Star; S. The Wise Men and Herod; 6. The Adoration of the Wise Men. These were beautifully presented, with an accompaniment of organ music and the pastor's readings from the Word, and closing with the music of the Hallelujah Chorus by the organ. It was all very impressive.
     At the service on Christmas morning, a very inspiring address was given to the children and enjoyed by all, after which offerings were received by the pastor. On the following Sunday, December 27, the Holy Supper was administered to 34 communicants. It was a lovely service, and our pastor's efforts to guide us toward heavenly peace must have been realized by all present.
     As is our custom, we held a New Year's Eve social and midnight service. At the social, Mr. Sanfrid Appleton was toastmaster. The toast to "The Church" was first on the list, with a response by our pastor. Then followed "The Old Year and the New Year." Mr. Alan Waters responding. Next we honored "The Kitchener Society" by singing "Friends Across the Sea" with our thanks to them for their very kind thoughts and provisions. We were glad to have the Rev. Henry Heinrichs with us on this occasion. Other toasts followed: To the Rev. and Mrs. A. Wynne Acton, who had come from London to join us; to Beatrice and Sylvia Waters, who are volunteering and leaving us shortly to join the WAAFS (Woman's Auxiliary Air Force); and to Mr. Horace Howard, who has not been able to attend any of our gatherings for some time. Greetings from Bishop de Charms were read, and also several thank-you letters from some of our boys who had received Christmas gifts.
     At midnight the New Year was entered with a short service and the singing of the 48th Psalm, "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised." After the service an exchange of greetings, with fond hopes for peace in 1943, concluded a very happy time.
     E. B.

     DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

     This report is being written from St. Petersburg, Florida, where your correspondent and his wife are taking a much needed rest, and enjoying warm, sunny weather, while Detroit, when we recently left it, was buried in snow, and frigid winds were penetrating to the marrow of one's hones. But the atrocious weather conditions did not keep the Rev. Norman H. Reuter from making his regular monthly visit, January 21-24. He ploughed through the snowdrifts to hold his customary doctrinal and children's classes, also the Sunday service. These were all surprisingly well attended, considering the severity of the weather, even the Childs' family from Saginaw being well represented, in spite of hazardous driving conditions, proving that it takes more than a bit of weather to keep a staunch New Churchman from attending his church services.

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     We shall be out of touch with the church during the three months of our stay down in the "Sunshine City," and we are going to miss our pastor's stirring sermons and the uplifting sphere of the services he conducts. We recall with pleasure the Christmas service, dinner and entertainment, held on December 20. This event was exceptionally well attended and greatly enjoyed, particularly by the children, who were out in full force to receive their Christmas gifts, and to whom Mr. Reuter gave a most interesting and useful talk, in place of the usual sermon. The dinner on this occasion, prepared by our ladies, was something to remember, and the entertainment program, arranged by Mr. Wm. F. Cook, was voted the best yet. (We still laugh when we think of Mr. Childs contribution to this program; it was hilariously funny.)
     Worthy of special mention are our group's lay services, held once a month between visits of Mr. Reuter. Conducted by our secretary, Norman P. Synnestvedt, these services are held on Sunday mornings at the home of a member. They include readings from the Word and the Writings, and a sermon selected from the Pastoral Extension Service. If there is a piano, we use musical selections from the Liturgy; otherwise a recorded musical interlude before the sermon. Good attendances and much interest prove the value of these special services, which we hope to continue. At the one held in December we had as our guest the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt, who preached the sermon, and was assisted by his son, Norman, who read the lessons. We thought it most impressive that both father and son should be taking part in the same service, and it surely added to the sphere of worship.
     Our membership was most interested in the recent birth of a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Leon Rhodes, of New York. Named for her maternal grandmother, Olivia, the baby is the first grandchild in the Geoffrey Childs' family and a source of much happiness, in which we all share.
     Friends of Howells and Edith Walker, now living at La Mesa, Calif., will be pleased to learn that a baby daughter, Edith Marie, was born to them on January 3.
     W. W. W.

     CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

     Sharon Church.

     It seems as though Christmas was a long time ago, but we still remember with pleasure the service held on the Sunday before Christmas and especially adapted to the children. After it they received their gifts around the Christmas tree, and then followed a delightful dinner with appropriate decorations. A service for the adults was held on December 27, and the first Sunday in the New Year had a special meaning for us, as it was the first time we had Communion with our pastor officiating.
     Our monthly Sunday dinner on January 31 became a banquet in celebration of Swedenborg's Birthday. On the speaking program, Mr. Harold Anderson presented interesting illustrations of the visions of the spiritual world which Swedenborg experienced, showing that it was part of his mission to reveal to men in the world what he had seen, and so make the other world real to them. Mr. Alec McQueen spoke of the various types of the reception of the Writings in this world, and referred to an account in a local Swedish newspaper which claimed that ten million Hindus of the highest caste had become readers of the Writings. [See page 129.] He thought that there was a possibility that the number was exaggerated. He went on to speak of Swedenborg's humility in regard to his works, citing the occasion when he saw a book store and was struck with the thought that his works would have greater effect than the works of others, but checked himself with the thought that this was pride, from which he prayed the Lord to deliver him. (Journal of Dreams, no. 78; A. D. 1744.)

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     Mr. Cranch spoke of the evidences of an appreciation of the Writings which are coming to light. A newspaper of India, called "The Heart of India," states that the Arcana Celestia has been translated into Gujarati. He was told by a Mr. Simons that there are two hundred interested persons among the colored people of Chicago, and that they hold weekly services.
     We have faced many difficulties with the problem of a Sunday School, as most of the children live on the South Side, quite a distance from our church on the North Side. We tried the experiment of holding a service in one of the homes on the South Side, but that did not prove to be practical. Then it was held at our church preceding the regular Sunday service, but the transportation difficulties made it necessary to abandon this idea. The plan now is to prepare material for the parents, so that they may give instruction at home for three weeks of the month; and then a service for the children will be held once a month at the church, on which occasion they can review what they have learned, and can also experience the pleasure that comes from doing things in unity.
     V. W.

     TORONTO, CANADA.

     There was no need for us in Canada to "dream about a white Christmas." We had it without dreaming. And despite the fact that it cost the city over $20.000 to remove the lovely flakes from the streets, we still have enough around to make us imagine we are among Greenland's icy mountains. The snowstorm came, and then came Christmas and the New Year's festivities.
     Until recently, the war did not interfere with the normal life of Canadian people. While the swing over from a peace-time to a war-time economy necessitated certain readjustments, and brought about some restrictions, these did not seriously affect our standards of living. Now, however, the rationing of food has made catering on a large scale difficult, and we have been reluctantly compelled to dispense with the weekly suppers at the church. But the doctrinal class is held every week, in spite of the blackouts arranged for Wednesday evenings. The subject of "Evil" has been under consideration since the beginning of the year, and many points of interest have been raised in this connection during the classes.
     One notable event was the announcement of the engagement of Miss Gladys Carter to Mr. Robert Scott. At present Robert is taking his service flying training at Centralia, Ontario and the wedding will take place on the Saturday evening of his next week-end leave, which will be on February 13 or 20.
     The new world towards which we look hopefully, and for which we struggle and pray, must be broadly and deeply based upon a knowledge and love of the Doctrines of the New Church. The instruction given by our pastor through sermon and doctrinal class is designed to this end, and until people see the evils that are destructive of human good, and shun them, the world will not be ready for the peace for which men pray.
     C. S.

     GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS.

     The war has brought about several changes in the life of our society. Chief among these is the holding of our church services in the assembly hall. This in order to conserve oil-one of the many rationed items in these parts. In this writer's mind there's something satisfying about this enforced accommodation. Once more we are using the old chancel furniture-a connecting link with the first days of this society. The altar holding the open Word-the reading desks from which have been read the lessons, and from which have been preached literally thousands of good New Church sermons for upwards of half a century!
     Regular school attendance has suffered because of extreme cold weather. But here again-as in the early days-homes have been made available for classes.

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     Nearly every Friday, after our community supper, we hear letters from our boys in the armed forces-all of them voicing appreciation of their New Church education, and, of course, telling us of their keen desire to be home again.
     Another Silver Wedding was celebrated in December-Mr. and Mrs. Albert Henderson-upon which occasion they received a gift from the society.
     Our Christmas service was held in the assembly ball, with the Christmas recitations and songs by the children-and the "scene,"-an assuring reminder that in spite of war we can, if we wish, have peace in our hearts and good-will towards men.
     At the Swedenborg birthday celebration. Dr. Harvey Farrington was toastmaster, opening the proceedings with a speech and then introduction in turn the two speakers of the evening,-Mr. Robert Pollock and Mr. Sydney F. Lee. Our pastor, Mr. Smith, spoke extemporaneously, and then the toastmaster closed this part of the meeting with further remarks. Toasts to Swedenborg, the Church, and the Men in the Services were honored and the usual songs were sung. Then followed some appropriate lantern slides. The pictures were doubtless interesting, but our projector developed an unfortunate habit of fading out, so that we got what might be described as "fleeting glimpses" of the pictures which the folks in Bryn Athyn so kindly loaned us.
     HAROLD P. MCQUEEN.

     KITCHENER, ONTARIO.

     The Christmas Tableaux, presented on Sunday evening December 20, were an inspiring prelude to our Christmas observance. The eight settings which were depicted by the Tableaux followed "The Story of Mary," from the appearing of the Angel to her to the Adoration of the Wise Men. The Nativity scene was unusually beautiful. The effect of Mary lying in the manger with Joseph bending over her, and a glow of golden light shining up into their laces, gave a feeling of the innocence and simplicity of the Lord's Birth. A chorus of hidden voices, directed by Mr. Nathaniel Stroh, sang selections for three of the scenes, and the Stroh Orchestra supplied instrumental music which was much enjoyed by all.
     This year Mr. Rud. Schnarr took charge of the Tableaux, with the Rev. Alan Gill assisting. Mr. Clarence Schnarr, assisted by Alan Schnarr and Paul Bellinger, worked very hard to attain lovely colored lighting effects, which added character and softness to each scene. The costuming was done by Mrs. (Bee) Glebe, with the help of the Misses Lucille Schnarr, Dorothy Kuhl, and Nancy Schnarr. Mrs. Glebe also spent a great deal of time looking after the detail-work of stage settings and properties.
     On Tuesday, December 22 the teachers gave the school children a party to which they invited all the parents, who were nicely entertained by the recitations and playlets given by the children. The box of the 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th grade gave a fine drill, directed by Sergeant Major Norbert Rogers. Mr. George Schnarr made a very jolly Santa Claus, with his pack on his back and a gift for each child. Tea and cookies were served by some of the pupils.
     The children's evening Festival Service was beautiful. Mr. Gill addressed the children, and packages were presented to them. The Representation was lovely. Two scenes were depicted in one. Appearing at one end of the scene was the Heavenly Host of Angels delivering the message to the shepherds watching over their flocks; while across green hills, studded with white lime rock, a small stable was set in the side of a bill. In the stable were Mary and Joseph kneeling beside a manger, and in the background a stall with a tiny mule and cow peering over the top. The only lighting on the scene was a dim ray from the miniature manger and a bright glow upon the angels. This was done by the Misses Nancy Schnarr and Rita Kuhl, Donald Glebe and Alan Schnarr.

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     At the Christmas morning service. Trooper John Evens was confirmed, a very impressive service indeed. The chapel was effectively decorated with greens and candles, the work being done by the Misses Dorothy Kuhl, Elaine and Jane Bellinger, and Marion Hasen.
     At a special meeting of the Men's Club, at the home of Mr. Fred Stroh. Mr. Robert G. Schnarr, of Ottawa, gave an address on the work of the Research Council in Ottawa.
     Sergeant George K. Steen, of the Canadian Paratroops stationed at Helena, Montana, was here on very short leave.
     New Year.-A delightful social was given by the Young People on New Year's Eve. The decorations consisted of hundreds of glittering stars of different sizes hanging from the ceiling, while dainty snowflakes of various designs adorned the walls. White fencing surrounded the room with a background of evergreens, and blue-covered wall lamps added the final touch to the terrace idea. As is our custom, we saw the New Year in with the singing of Auld Lang Syne. A clever little skit was put on by a group of girls. The evening's entertainment consisted of dancing and games, with Don Glebe as the Master of Ceremonies. At midnight we were served a delightful lunch. The balance of the evening (or morning) was spent in dancing. The heads of the various committees were: Entertainment, Miss Nancy Stroh; Decoration, Miss Audrey Stroh; Refreshments, Rev. and Mrs. Alan Gill. Mr. Randolph (Randy) Stroh breezed in from Ottawa on New Year's Eve to spend a few days with his folks.
     Mr. Isaac Steen passed into the spiritual world on Wednesday, January 20, at the age of ninety-four years. He was one of the pioneer members of the Kitchener Society, and an ardent lover of the teachings of the Church. His smiling face, and his earnest effort in the singing of the hymns in church, will be remembered by everyone. Mrs. Katherine Steen French was here at the time of her father's death.
     Cooperating with the desire expressed by Mr. Gill to have weekly Friday suppers. Mrs. Nelson (Bee) Glebe has undertaken to provide committees for each week. The suppers have been well attended, and excellent meals have been served at the small charge of twenty cents.
     We're snowed in. How about you
     H. H. S.

     ANNUAL COUNCILS.

     The Annual Meetings of the Councils of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., from Monday, June 21, to Sunday. June 27, 1943. The program will include public sessions, and all members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. Further details will be announced later.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS,
          Bishop.

     BOOK NOTES.

     The Word Explained.

     Volume VI of the English Version, treating the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, is now on sale at the Academy Book Room, the price being $4.00.

     A Pamphlet.

     Bishop Acton's Address on "The Spiritual World and the Natural," delivered at the Seventeenth General Assembly, is available at the Book Room in pamphlet form, 15 cents.

     All The Year Round.

     The Book Room has a few copies of Volume 6 of this pocket-size volume of Daily Readings from the Word and the Writings. Issued for the year 1939, it is suited to any year. Paper cover, 30 cents.

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TEMPTATION IN GETHSEMANE 1943

TEMPTATION IN GETHSEMANE        GEORGE DE CHARMS       1943




     Announcements





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NEW CHURCH LIFE

VOL. LXIII
APRIL, 1943
No. 4
     "Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane." (Matthew 26: 36.)

     During His life on earth the Lord Suffered continual temptations. They began in early childhood, and extended in a progressive series of increasing intensity, even down to the passion of the cross. Without knowing the nature of these temptations it is impossible to understand how the Lord glorified His human and redeemed mankind; for they were the means whereby this Divine work was accomplished. Yet the fact that the Lord was tempted throughout His life is not openly declared in the Gospels; and it was entirely unknown in the Christian Church. The reason was that His temptations were conflicts of mind and spirit, silently endured. They produced in the spiritual world judgments of momentous consequence; but on earth, for the most part, they exhibited no recognizable effects that could be seen by men. Even the disciples, who were nearest to the Lord, had scarcely any intimation of them. The Evangelists-recording what they heard and saw-bear testimony only to the temptation in the wilderness, at the beginning of the Lord's ministry, and to the agony in Gethsemane and on the cross, at its end. Yet, in Providence, the account of these two temptations is so written as to involve all the rest. We say these two, because the temptation in Gethsemane was so intimately associated with the passion of the cross as to be a part of it.
     There are two kinds of temptation, distinctly different but inseparable. They are called, respectively, intellectual and voluntary. Intellectual temptations are preliminary, and they are less severe.

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They consist in distress of mind felt when some cherished truth comes into doubt-that is, when the way to accomplish a desired end is not clearly seen. Victory in this temptation comes when, as a result of study and reflection, the way is found, doubts are dispersed, and full confidence in the truth is restored. Such an intellectual faith must first be established before we are prepared to undertake the actual accomplishment of our desired purpose. But when, in that endeavor we are confronted with difficulties which we had not foreseen, our faith is tried anew. Only if we persist through apparent disappointment and failure can we achieve success. This latter temptation involves more than a mere distress of mind; it tests the strength of our will, often in the face of external hardships of various kinds that combine spiritual temptation with natural suffering. The Lord experienced both intellectual and voluntary temptations, similar in all respects to those of men, except that they were grievous beyond all possibility of human endurance.
     The Lord's anguish in Gethsemane was, in fact, the beginning of His passion. It was the intellectual temptation that necessarily preceded and prepared the way for the crucifixion. By it the Lord established within His Human the Divinely rational faith that enabled Him calmly to endure all the suffering of the cross, and willingly to lay down His life for the salvation of men.
     To understand what took place in Gethsemane we must know that the Lord, by means of His temptations, accomplished two distinct things-He overcame the hells, and He reordered the heavens. That He might overcome the hells, the Lord permitted evil spirits to approach and attack Him on the basis of His maternal heredity. But for Him to reorder the heavens it was necessary that He should be tempted even by the angels. In the Gospels the conflict with the hells is represented by the temptation in the wilderness. But the struggle against the angels is specifically described as taking place in Gethsemane. Here the Lord was not in a wilderness, but in a garden. He was not here meeting the disordered states of those in open revolt against the Divine will, and thus in obvious evils and falsities. He was in the presence of angels who were in heavenly love and charity-whose minds, under the Lord's guidance, had been formed into gardens of highly cultivated intelligence and wisdom. Yet this angelic wisdom was insufficient for the Lord's need.

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It was subject to finite limitations. It was bound by appearances of truth that must be penetrated and removed in order that the rational with the Lord might be glorified and brought into complete union with the Divine Truth Itself. Only thus could the Lord instruct the angels in new truth such as they had not seen before, and flood the heavens with new light.
     But little direct teaching is given in the Writings concerning the Lord's temptation in Gethsemane. We find, however, in the Old Testament story of Abraham and his sacrifice of Isaac, a remarkable parallel. Abraham was told to arise and take Isaac, his only son, to a place that God would show him in the land of Moriah, there to offer Isaac as a burnt offering on one of the mountains. It is notable that the Mount of Olives-whereon the Garden of Gethsemane was later situated-was in this same land of Moriah. Abraham is distinctly said to represent the Lord; and Isaac here represents the rational mind with the Lord before it was glorified. In this mind were heavenly appearances of truth similar to those of the angels. This rational must be sacrificed. These appearances must be dissipated before the Human of the Lord could be fully united to the Divine.
     As the story continues, we are told that Abraham took with him two young men, to whom he said, when he saw the appointed place afar off: Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you." So also the Lord when He came to Gethsemane, said to His disciples: "Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then said He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with me. And He went a little farther, and fell on His face and prayed." The similarity is striking, and it is obvious that the internal meaning, so fully given in connection with the Genesis story, applies, with some variation, to the account in Matthew.
     In general, the meaning is that the Lord withdrew from the world, with all its external fallacies. He focused His mind upon purely spiritual and eternal things, thus coming into the immediate presence and association of the angels. So doing, He put Himself, as it were, in the place of the angels, entering into their states, taking upon Himself their appearances of truth, perceiving their limitations, and the difficulties and doubts to which these gave rise.

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So fully was He immersed in their sphere that at the time it was as if their imperfections were His own. Thus it was with all the Lord's temptations. By means of the Mary human, He took upon Himself, as His own, the states of men and of angels, suffering the doubts and anxieties to which they, by reason of ignorance and error, are exposed; and then, by Divine perceptions from the Word, He corrected their thought, dispersing the clouds of doubt, penetrating all appearances, and establishing in His rational mind the Infinite Truth. Thus by degrees He put off the human from Mary, and put on a Divine Human, one with the Infinite Father.
     The nature of His temptation in Gethsemane, however, is most clearly evident from these words: "Isaac spake to Abraham, his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" The doubts of the angels arose from their ignorance. They could not foresee the future. They could not know the true quality of that new power which the Lord was to exercise by means of His glorified Human. Keenly aware of the depraved states into which mankind had fallen; perceiving the powerful hold upon human minds of the loves of self and the world-strongly entrenched through many generations of hereditary accumulation-it appeared to them impossible that man could in freedom be led to acknowledge the Lord from the heart, and to accept the inner truth of the Word in faith and life. That the Lord was present with Infinite Love to achieve this end, they knew. But where were they of the human race that would be willing to yield their self-life in obedience to the Truth revealed? In the state of His temptation this doubt was subtly insinuated into the Lord's mind. Nor could it be immediately dispelled. From this it was that His soul was "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." If the states of the angels were to be changed without spiritual injury to them-if their faith was not to be destroyed, but protected and renewed-this cloud must be dispersed gently, gradually, in merciful consideration for their finite ability to understand. It was to this end that the Lord had assumed their states as His own. He must undergo the suffering of temptation as if He were one of them, conquering as they also might conquer, and thus show them the way, and guide their steps therein.

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     Man overcomes in temptation, not by his own power, but by trust in the power of the Lord, and by obedience to the teaching of the Word. The Lord indeed-unlike man-overcame by His own power. But in states of temptation the Divine was as it were removed from Him. He was then, in all appearance, like mortal man: and then it was that He prayed to the Father as to another. In the face of this impenetrable appearance He conquered even as man conquers-by trust in the Divine and obedience to the Word. Thus in Gethsemane He prayed: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." And this He did three times, while His disciples slept. In this prayer we see both the temptation and the victory. And with the victory came the answer, as described in Genesis: "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for the burnt offering"; and it is significantly added, "so they went both of them together."
     That "they went both of them together" involves the fact that in this way-advancing slowly, step by step along the path of man's own spiritual progress-the Lord carried the angels with Him, preserving their faith, protecting their spiritual life; teaching and leading them in accommodation to their imperfect states-even as is foretold in Isaiah: "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." (Isa. 40: 11.) For the same reason, Abraham was not permitted to slay his son. By the angel of the Lord his hand was stayed; and looking round, he beheld a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. The truth of heaven could not be destroyed. But with the angels it was to be perfected by Divine instruction; and with the Lord it was to be exalted even to Infinity. The ram caught in the thicket represents the imperfections-the binding limitations that were to be removed.
     If even the angels suffered from obscurity as to whether men-without destroying their spiritual freedom-could be led to a genuine faith in the Lord, it is not strange that we also should be disturbed by doubts in regard to the possibility of establishing the Lord's Kingdom in a world so far removed from spiritual thought and love. And if we look into our own hearts-where, in spite of our knowledge of the Truth now revealed from heaven, the loves of self and the world retain such a powerful hold upon us-we may well say with Isaac, "Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

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The redemption of the world is a Divine miracle beyond our comprehension. The regeneration of man-that is, the manner of its accomplishment in any particular individual-can be known only to the Lord. As the Psalmist says: "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." Nor is this required of any man. But if in heart we place our trust in the Lord-if we hold firm our faith in the revealed Truth of His Word, with persistent endeavor to make that Truth a living reality in intention and thought, in speech and in act-then will the Lord slowly dispel the clouds of doubt, and, so far as we can receive it, will give us the answer from heaven in a flood of light: `My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering." For then the Lord-by the Infinite power of His Divine Human-will conquer in us, even as He conquered for all men, in the Garden of Gethsemane. Amen.

LESSONS:     Genesis 22: 1-14. Matthew 26: 36-46. A. C. 4295:2, 3.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy, pages 485, 444, 467. Psalmody, page 267.
PRAYERS:     Revised Liturgy, nos. 48, 114 and 115.
OPENING OF THE SPIRITUAL MIND 1943

OPENING OF THE SPIRITUAL MIND       Rev. GILBERT H. SMITH       1943

     The Fruit of Redemption.

     Man lives morally from a spiritual origin when he lives from religion, thus when he lives according to Divine Laws. By desisting from whatever kind of action appears to him to be against Divine Law, he acquires for himself spiritual life. Then his moral life is from a spiritual origin. This is a thing so well known to us that to repeat it seems unnecessary. And yet there is something more to it-a thing which is not so well known,-namely, that when a man acts thus from a regard for Divine Law, he has an actual communication with the angels of heaven, and there is then opened in him what is called the internal spiritual mind.

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     To live from religion means, with us, to live from the Word or from a holy regard for the Divine Law which is seen in the Word. And when the Word is so regarded, the internal spiritual mind is opened; the thought of the mind is elevated above the merely natural degree. And a man, in that case, has conscience, and also the spiritual affection of truth, which is an affection for knowing the truth and good that is in the Word.
     On the other hand, a moral life which is not from religion, but only from the fear of the consequences of breaking human laws, or from the fear of the loss of gain or reputation, is not from a spiritual origin, but from a merely natural one. In this case, man has no communication with heaven. The internal spiritual mind is shut and closed up. Because those who are such have not any communication with heaven, they lightly esteem all Divine and heavenly things, and some of them deny them, and believe the world and nature to be all and everything.
     But why is it that a man becomes spiritual by those knowledges which are derived from the Word, and not from any other kind of knowledge? It is because all things in the Word are Divine, and they are Divine by this, that they have in themselves a spiritual sense, and through this sense they communicate with heaven, and with the angels there. When a man applies to life the things he learns from the Word, he then has communication with heaven and it is by virtue of this communication that he becomes spiritual or has his spiritual mind opened. Hence it was that Jesus said, "The words which I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life."
     We are instructed that in the other world everyone appears clothed or dressed according to his moral life, and therefore that they who have lived a moral life from a spiritual origin are seen clothed in white and splendid garments of fine linen; but that they whose morality of life has been from a natural origin are not in heaven, and their garments appear of a dark color, and torn, and vile, and ugly. Hence "garments" in the Word signify truths which are derived from good, or, in an adverse sense, falsities derived from evils.
     In this light consider the Psalm in which it is said, "The king's daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of the inweaving of gold; she shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework." (Psalm 45: 13, 14.)

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Here the "king's daughter" signifies the spiritual affection of truth, and therefore the church which is composed of those who are in that affection. The King signifies the Lord and the Divine Truth from Him. The "clothing with gold embroidery" signifies intelligence and wisdom with man from that Divine Truth, and the "raiment of needlework" in which she shall be brought to the king" signifies the knowledge of truth by which men are brought to the Lord.
     In the light of this teaching we can also see what is meant by the man who came to the feast not having a wedding garment. For by a wedding garment is signified the intelligence of the man who is made spiritual from the knowledge of good and truth from the Word. But by him who had no wedding garment is meant a hypocrite; and by a hypocrite is to be understood a man who, by means of a moral life, feigns himself to be spiritual, when yet he is merely natural. He lives a life which to all appearance is moral and good, but there is no religious principle in him from which he lives.
     And since a garment signifies the truths which are loved, the Lord therefore compared the truths of the former church to a "piece of an old garment," and the truths of the New Church to a "piece of a new garment." And further we can see why it was that the soldiers parted the garments of the Lord among them, and cast lots for His tunic. For all the particulars of what was done to the Lord at the time of His crucifixion signify how the church at that time treated the Divine Truth, and thus how they treated the Word, that is, treated it inwardly in themselves by falsifications and evils.
     For the love that men have for the Divine and heavenly truth of the Word, and the use they make of it, is the measure of their love of the Lord and their spiritual life. And the Jews at Jerusalem crucifying the Lord represented that the evils and falsities which they loved crucified Him. All things recorded in the Gospels about the Lord's passion ultimated and represented the perverted state of the church with that nation; for although they accounted the Word holy, yet by their traditions they perverted all things in it, until there was no longer any Divine Good or Truth with them. Evils and falsities arising in infernal loves are what crucified Him.
     It should also be known what was signified by being hanged upon a cross of wood.

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There were two capital punishments with the Jews,-stoning with stones, and hanging upon wood. Being stoned with stones originated in ancient correspondences, and it meant that a person so treated was cursed by the destruction of truth with him. But being hanged upon wood signified condemnation because of the destruction of the good of the church. For a stone signifies truth or its opposite falsity; and wood signifies good or the opposite evil. The Lord therefore suffered the worse of the two forms of condemnation, and by so doing He permitted the wicked state of the church of that day to be represented in their treatment of Him. And this was signified by "His bearing their iniquities." To be mocked, and scourged, and crucified signified the complete falsification and perversion of Truth Divine and the destruction of all good in the church. But His rising again on the third day was the full glorification of the Lord's Human, that the race of mankind might be redeemed and saved through Him.
     Our thoughts are strongly drawn to the resurrection of the Lord and the events which preceded it. Let us never depart from the love of His truth, nor lose delight in the spiritual things of His Word!

     The Cross and Remission of Sins.

     To us it is made clear in our Doctrine for the first time what was meant by the Lord's "taking away the sins of mankind." This has been very grossly misunderstood. It has been thought that He did so by the crucifixion alone, and that all men need to do is to acknowledge that He did so. But by taking away the sins of the world the same thing is meant as by redeeming men and saving them. For the Lord came into the world that man might be saved; and without His coming no one could have been saved, because no one could have been reformed and regenerated. But this can take place now because the Lord, by coming into the world, took away the power of the hells and glorified His Human, or united the Human to the Divine from which it was conceived. Unless these things had been done, no one would have been capable of receiving permanently any Divine Truth, and still less any Divine Good, because the hells would have plucked it out of his heart, if they had not been conquered and subjected to the Lord's power.

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     So the Lord did not take away sins by the passion of the cross, but He removes sins with those who believe in Him by living according to His precepts. Everyone may see from reason alone, if he has any enlightenment, that sins cannot be taken away from man except by actual repentance, and that this consists in one's seeing his sins, imploring the Lord's help, and desisting from them. If anyone believes and teaches otherwise, his teaching is not from the Word, nor is it in accord with sound reason.
     When the Lord stood before the high priest, He first confessed to the accusation that He was the Son of God, and afterward said that they would "see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven." By this is signified that after the resurrection He would possess the Divine power of opening the Word and thereby establishing a genuine church. This could not have been done before because He had not completed His conquest of the hells and the glorifying of His Human. The "Son of man" means the Lord as to Divine Truth from Him. To "sit at the right hand of power" denotes His omnipotence. To "come in the clouds of heaven" means to reveal Divine Truth concerning Himself such as is contained in the Word. To "sit at the right hand" and also to "come in the clouds" have such a signification. They mean that Divine Truth was in its all-powerfulness when the Lord had conquered the hells and reduced to order all things there and in the heavens; and thus it meant that all men might be saved who would receive Him in faith and love.
     Much more clearly do we see and know that the Writings reveal the Divine spiritual truth of heaven, and cause a man to be in communication with heaven. Powerfully can they cause the opening of the internal spiritual mind, and give it form, if from purpose they are daily or continually read,-and if they are loved for the sake of an actual entrance into spiritual life. They, in this modern day, are "the appearing of the Son of Man with power and great glory."
But the world cares little for what the Lord thus offers. This we cannot help. But we of His Church must make the Lord, thus coming to us in His Divine Truth, to be the universally reigning thing; that is, let it be in all our thought and in all our willing. Every mental proposition that comes before our mind, and all that we crave for ourselves, all things of our thought and will, we ought to bring into harmony with this Divine Truth.

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The Human of the Lord must reign in the mind of the man of the church,-the man who is truly such. The Divine Human of the Lord will reign in us, if we love and value these Writings in the highest degree. A low valuation upon this Heavenly Doctrine is represented by the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him who was betrayed by Judas,-the price of innocent blood. A man slays innocence when he puts a low valuation upon the understanding of the Word, and upon the life from it.
     Every man, so long as he lives in the world has the freedom to choose what is good. Though he has departed far from the life of heavenly truth, he still has the ability to choose his way back, even if he must begin by choosing the lesser of two evils. The freedom of choice that will cause a man to be brought eventually into heaven is never destroyed, in the Lord's mercy; but a man must often compel himself. Blessed are we when we can reverse ourselves, and refuse to be led by our first impulse and thought; for it is a usual thing for hell to rise up against us first. We must learn to love instead of hate and envy another; to encourage instead of find fault; to love the routine and tiresome duties instead of shirking them. We must apply our minds to what the Doctrine teaches from the Lord, instead of trusting in our own opinions. Happy are they who, as our Doctrine tells us, can compel themselves to do good, and to think the truth. Self-compulsion, from the fear of offending against the Lord, is the way to the opening of the spiritual internal, and the way to come at last into the delight of spiritual life.
     "They who are being regenerated," says our Doctrine, "are first in truth, and not in any good of life from that truth; then there follows a second state when they are in the good of life from truth, but not yet from good; afterwards, when they are regenerated, they are in the good of life, and now from good itself; and then they see and multiply truths with themselves. These are the degrees of regeneration." (A. C. 6396.)

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SCHOOL OF WISDOM 1943

SCHOOL OF WISDOM       Rev. ALFRED ACTON       1943

     Memorable Relation-T. C. R. 48.

     ADAPTED

     On a certain occasion, Swedenborg was thinking very deeply about wisdom, and what wisdom really is, when suddenly his spiritual eyes were opened, and he saw before him two angels; nor was it long before he learned that one of them came from a society in heaven which was in the East, where those angels live who love the Lord above all; and the other from a society in the South, where those live who are wise in the understanding of truth. This he saw from the expression on their faces, and also from their talk.
     He entered into conversation with these angels, and he soon learned that they knew what he had been thinking of; for they had been with him before his spiritual eves were opened, though he had not then seen them. They therefore asked him whether he knew that in their world there were schools, called schools of wisdom, where men met together to discuss the very thing he had been so busily thinking about.
     "No (said Swedenborg), I did not know that."
     "Well (said one of the angels), in our world there are many such schools, and those who love to think about truths come to these schools whenever they are open, and there discuss with each other, in order that they may grow in wisdom. Before any school is opened, a certain signal is given, and on seeing it, they immediately come together. I see (the angel added) that a signal has just been given, and we will gladly take you to the school that is now being opened."
     So each angel took Swedenborg by the hand and led him between them over a plain in the direction of a hill which they saw before them. When they came to this hill, they saw in front of them a wide avenue lined with palm trees, which led through the woods to the very top of the bill. They walked along this shaded road, and then, at the end, they saw on the hill a level plain, and in the plain a beautiful grove of trees.

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Entering into this grove, they soon saw before them a kind of stage. It was a raised piece of ground in the middle of which was a square plot paved with stones of many colors. On each of the four sides of this square were placed chairs on which sat the lovers of wisdom who had come to the school; and in the center stood a table on which lay a paper which was sealed up.
     When the two angel guides led Swedenborg into the school, he was invited to take a seat, but he preferred to remain standing; for he said "I have come to see and hear and not to sit," by which he meant that he did not wish to take any part in what was to take place; for had he accepted a seat, it would have meant that he had joined one of the groups that were going to enter into the discussion that would follow.

     THE PAPER FROM HEAVEN.

     After Swedenborg had refused a seat, his two angel companions left him standing, and they themselves went to the central table. Then, taking the paper up in their hands, they broke the seal.
     This paper had been sent down from the highest heaven, and on it angels of that heaven had written three questions which they desired the men of the School of Wisdom to discuss. These questions were:
1. What is meant by man's being created into the image and likeness of God? 2. Why is man born entirely ignorant, and must be taught everything, while animals have no need of being taught? 3. What is meant by eating of the tree of life and the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden?
     These were the three questions which were to be discussed. But underneath them the angels had written the request that, after the questions had been discussed, the answers should be connected together, and written on a fresh sheet of paper, and then laid on the table; and if what was written was approved of by the angels, prizes would be given.
     The angel who had broken the seal of the paper then read these questions before the assembly, and asked those who were present to consider them. After having thus completed their mission, the two angels rose up to their heaven, for they were not going to take any part in the discussion.

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     A CUSTOM IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD.

     Now in all the Schools of Wisdom the groups or companies which took part in the discussions, which they called "sports of wisdom," always sat in definite places, according to their wisdom and intelligence. On the North sat those who were more simple in character, but who were eager to hear what was said by wiser men. These we shall call the Spirits of the North. On the West sat men who were also of a simple character, but who were more interested in learning about their duties than in discussing. These we shall call the Spirits of the West. On the South sat those who loved wisdom, and on the East those who were the wisest of all, being like the wise men from the East who came to worship the Lord. These we shall call the Spirits of the South and the Spirits of the East.
     It was also the custom, not only in these Schools of Wisdom, but in all assemblies in the spiritual world, that after a question had been put before a meeting, the simpler spirits should speak first, and then the wise. Consequently, when the first question was taken up, the Spirits of the North were the first to express their opinion. This they did by the mouth of one of their number.

     The Image and Likeness of God.

     The question was as to the meaning of man's being created into the image and likeness of God, as we read in Genesis. The Spirits of the North thought that this meant that God made man able to love Him and to understand the truths that He reveals to them in the Word; for (they said) God breathed into man the breath of lives; and it is said "lives" and not "life," because when a man has a good will and a true understanding, the Lord's life enters into each and the man becomes an image and likeness of God.
     The Spirits of the West agreed with this, but they added that God is always breathing life into man, and it depends on the man whether he will become an image and likeness of God.
     The Spirits of the South, speaking by one of their number, noted that every man is in the likeness of God; for God, who is Life Itself, so made man that he also seems to have life from himself. But to be an image of God, man must love God and obey His Commandments.

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Adam, they said, was created into the image and likeness of God, but when he disobeyed the commandment given him in the Garden of Eden, not to eat of the tree of knowledge, then he was no longer an image of God, though he was still in His likeness, because he still seemed to live from himself. To this the Spirits of the South modestly added, "Let us leave further explanation to our friends at the East."
     After this there was a moment of silence, during which the Spirits of the East rose up and prayed to the Lord for light. Then, sitting down again, one of their number said: "Man is an image of God when he receives His love and wisdom from God, and not from himself; but he is a likeness of God, because, whether he loves God or not, he still has life, and it seems to him that this life comes from himself, although, if he is a good man, he acknowledges it comes from God. Still, even if he loves God, he must yet learn from God and obey His Commandments, as if he were doing this by his own efforts, though he knows that it is God who makes him able to do this." When he had said this, the Spirit of the East was filled with zeal, and added with great feeling: "How can a man be conjoined with God unless he loves Him? And how can any man love God, unless he does this as if by his own will and effort? Without this, he would not be a man, or a likeness of God."
     The whole assembly loudly applauded these words, and one of them made a brief statement of their thought on this subject, as brought out in the discussion.

     WHY MAN IS BORN IGNORANT.

     They then went on to the second question on the paper which had come down from heaven, the question, namely, as to why men are born in ignorance, while animals are born into all the knowledges that are necessary to their life.
     Before discussing this, they called in certain men whom they called "Investigators," to lay before them the actual facts of the case. These Investigators, calling to mind all that they had observed while living on earth, then showed that a baby, when born, is ignorant of everything; it does not know where its mother's breast is, and has to learn this by being shown; it does not know how to talk, or to walk; it does not know what food is good for it, but if not taught would put all kinds of things into its mouth, whether clean or unclean.

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In a word, it is born as a worm, and would remain a worm if it were not taught by others. But with animals, it is quite different; animals know how to walk; fish know how to swim and birds how to fly, and this, without any instruction. They know the food that is good for them, and will not take any other; besides other things.
     With the facts of the case thus established, the members of this School of Wisdom then proceeded to consider the reasons that underlay these facts.
     According to custom, the Spirits of the North expressed their view first, again speaking by the mouth of one of their number. Man is born without any knowledge (he said) in order that he might later come into knowledges of many kinds. Had he been born with knowledges, then he would not be able to acquire any other fields of knowledges. As an illustration, he added: "Man, when born, is like ground in which no seed has been planted, but which is able to receive all kinds of seed, from which can come all kinds of fruits. But animals, when born, are like a field already planted, and which can bring forth only the seed with which it is planted; for all other growths would be choked. This also (he said) is the reason why man takes so many years to grow up, while animals grow up in a short time."
     The Spirits of the West added to this that man is indeed not born with knowledges, but he is born with something greater, namely, the ability to learn all things, and not only to learn them, but also to understand them, and to love what is good and hate what is evil. Animals learn only from their five senses, but man can rise above the senses, and can think about what the senses feel, and can decide whether it is good or evil. Man could not do this if he were born as are animals.
     The Spirits of the South showed that man cannot know a single thing unless he learns it from others; and as he learns, love comes to him, for he begins to love what he learns. But he has one love that no animal has, and that is the love of learning, and, as he grows up, the love of understanding the things he has learned, and also, if he chooses, the love of obeying God.

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They agreed with what had been said by the Spirits of the West and North, but, to what the Spirits of the North had said as to man's being a ground in which were no seas, they added that this was the reason why in Genesis the man was named "Adam" for in the Hebrew the word "Adam" means the ground. They further added that, while animals are born into know-ledges, yet they cannot think or understand or be wise, but are led only by instinct.
     Finally, the Spirits of the East spoke. They agreed with all that had been said, but went more deeply into the matter, saying that the reason why man is born ignorant, and must learn from others, is that he may come to see that all that is good and true comes from God, and not from himself. If he does this, then he becomes an image of God, and because he must do it as if from himself, he is also a likeness of God.
     This ended the discussion of the second question, and it was the wish of all that a statement should be made, expressing their thought in a few words. This, therefore, was done by one of their number.

     THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE.

     One of them then took up the paper, and read the third question,- as to what is meant by eating of the Tree of Life and of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. But because this question required deep wisdom, properly to answer it, the Spirits of the North and West and South felt that they would like to hear from the Spirits of the East, rather than speak themselves. The Spirits of the East readily consented, but modestly said that they would speak, not from themselves, but from God, although it would appear that they were speaking from themselves; yet they acknowledged that they could know nothing of truth save from God. By a tree, they said, is meant a man, and by its fruits are meant the works or deeds done by man. Thus, just as a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, so a good man cannot commit evil deeds. By the tree of life is meant that all life comes to man from God, and by the tree of knowledge, that it seems to man as if he lived from himself, and this because he gets knowledges through learning, and he learns by his own work, and he loves what he learns because it is his own. Thus it seems to him that his life is from himself; and if he loves himself alone, then he really believes this, and refuses to believe that there is any God.

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This love of himself, which is called the love of self, is what is meant by the serpent who persuaded Adam to eat of the tree of knowledge, that is, to think that he got all his life from himself and his own cleverness, whereas God had commanded him not to eat of the tree of knowledge.

     THE ANSWERS SUBMITTED TO HEAVEN.

     The discussions of the three questions contained on the paper were thus finished. But one thing more remained to be done. For, under the questions, the angels had written, "Join your thoughts on these three questions into one thought, and write this on a fresh sheet of paper."
     This led them to some further consideration of the things they had been talking about; but it was not long before they saw that all that had been said could be put together in one single thought. One of them then wrote this thought on a fresh sheet of paper; and what he wrote was this: Man was created that he might receive love and wisdom from God, and yet that it should seem to him as if he had them from himself; and, in order that it may so seem, he was born into utter ignorance, without any love or wisdom. If therefore he learn and acknowledge that all love and wisdom come from God, he becomes a living man, an image and likeness of God; but if he continues to think that love and wisdom come from himself, he becomes a dead man.
     This he wrote on a fresh sheet of paper, which he then laid on the table. And suddenly a bright cloth appeared above the table, and in the cloud were seen angels. These angels descended, and going to the table they took up the new sheet of paper and carried it off to their heaven. And then, almost immediately afterwards, voices were heard from heaven, praising what was written on the paper, and calling it very good.

     THE PRIZES.

     After this came the giving of the prizes that had been promised. An angel was seen flying down from heaven. While he was descending, it seemed as if he were a single angel; and not only that, but an angel with two small wings about his feet, and two about his forehead. These were seen because wings signify the truths which make man able to raise his thoughts above the earth; and the wings seen at the angel's feet and forehead signified that he was wise in natural truths, and also in spiritual.

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     But when he alighted on the ground, it was seen that it was not a single angel, but a company of angels. And these were carrying the prizes given by these heavenly societies,-prizes which were then distributed to the lovers of wisdom who had so well answered the three questions. To the Spirits of the North were given robes of the color of opal; to those of the West, robes of scarlet; to those of the South, caps with borders beautifully inwoven with gold and pearls, and above these, with bright diamonds; and to those of the East, wreaths of laurel, in which were fastened rubies and sapphires.
     With this, the meeting of the School of Wisdom came to an end and the members of the School returned to their homes, wearing their robes and caps and wreaths, as outer signs of the joy that had come to them from the many things they had learned.
     And Swedenborg returned also to his home on earth, that he might tell to men the things which he had seen and heard.
DESPAIR OF VICTORY IN TEMPTATION 1943

DESPAIR OF VICTORY IN TEMPTATION              1943

     "All temptation is attended with some form of despair; otherwise it is not temptation. He who is tempted is brought into anxieties, which induce a state of despair as to the end. The very combat of temptation is nothing else. He who is in a certainty of victory is not in anxiety, and thus is not in temptation. The Lord also, because He endured the most direful and cruel temptations of all, could not but be driven into states of desperation, which He dispelled and overcame by His own power, as is quite evident from His temptation in Gethsemane and afterwards upon the cross. And the Lords temptation is the pattern of the temptation of the faithful. Wherefore the Lord said that he who would follow Him must take up his cross; for the glorification of the Lord is the pattern of the regeneration of man." (A. C. 1787, 7166.)

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STUDY OF LANGUAGES 1943

STUDY OF LANGUAGES       STANLEY F. EBERT       1943

     Remarks at Charter Day Banquet, 1941.

     Humanistic philosophy and the Renaissance of the 16th Century go hand in hand. Previous to the Renaissance, secular life and all education had been subordinated to religious life. The upheaval of the Renaissance replaced this hierarchy with a dualism in which religions life and lay activity became two independent provinces. Thus religion lost its universal authority in education and life. This does not mean that the Church was denied; rather does it mean that the Church's domain of action was limited and restrained.
     This dualistic movement proposed to admit the authority of the Church in the realm of the spiritual, but to confine this to Theology, and to group all temporal mental activity under lay jurisdiction. In this way all intellectual pursuits not strictly theological were divorced from the power of the Church.
     Right here we have the beginning of the modern era of education, of the ever-widening breach between religion and science-and the glorification of "human truth" and that other elusive quality called "personality
     The dualism to which we have referred, which replaced the spiritual hierarchy and feudalism of the Middle Ages, is the great characteristic of the Renaissance. And so, in this new educational circle the study and cultivation of profane writings, of ancient Greek and Latin letters, was the most manifest aspect of Humanism. Petrarch was the pioneer in this movement, and Erasmus its great representative.
     The very term "humanities" suggests human discipline and letters, as opposed to divine studies and letters, or Theology. Greek and Roman studies were called the humanities because they abstracted from Christian Divinity. These works of Antiquity had not been completely ignored in the Middle Ages: Plato and Aristotle played a leading role in medieval philosophies; Ovid and Vergil furnished numerous poetic themes.

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But the Renaissance was to bring to the study of the Ancients two attitudes which seem contradictory, but whose conciliation is one of the features of the Renaissance spirit, namely-passion and method.
     Scholars threw themselves into the works of Antiquity as hungry animals leap upon their prey; and to grasp and hold this prey they devised philology, textual criticism, and language study. The analytic faculties and the dialectic skill, marvelously developed by Scholasticism, but brought to focus only on the Abstract, were now applied to the study of style in writing, of form, and of beauty and precision in language.
     Here, in brief, is outlined the birth of modern language studies-of the study of man by man through his medium of communication. In order that Divine Truth, rationally presented, might be understood by many, the means of communication had to be sharpened and developed. The stages of its development and its present-day outcome are fairly familiar. So, too, are we familiar with its use by Swedenborg in his own development and in his work as a Revelator.
     But what contribution has this Revelation offered to the Humanities and language studies? Decidedly it has rejoined theology and secular studies, making the Word of God the source of all truth in all fields of human activity. It has added a new conception to all words and their meaning, and has placed language as a communicating medium in its rightful connection with education and life.
     We understand now that all communication between God and man is by the proceeding of the Divine Love by the Divine Wisdom and therefore all communication between man and man is by the proceeding of his love by means of his wisdom, or what is the same, his affection by means of his thought. The vehicle of this proceeding affection by wisdom is with man what is called "language," and its end is that man's affection and thought may proceed.
     The Lord, by means of His Proceeding, created all things with an individual character, so that they reflect and express the good and truth from which they originate. All created things are language, and what they speak is good and truth from the Lord. Man is a receptacle of impressions from without; and of influx from within. This influx terminates in the ideas derived from objects outside of man.

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Man also has the power of projecting those infilled impressions from himself to others outside of himself. Thus man communicates with his fellow man.
     Language, in its highest sense and its supreme form, is the Divine Proceeding of the Lord standing forth in ultimate forms; it is truth taking upon itself outward forms. It's one true purpose is, therefore, that man and the Lord may be conjoined. Communication between man and his fellow man is coincidental with this end.
     Consequently, in a New Church study of language, whether secular or religious, the primary aim is the confirmation of Divine Truth and a more thorough understanding of the means of man s conjunction with God.
WITCH AT ENDOR 1943

WITCH AT ENDOR              1943

     Extract from "The Word Explained," Vol. VI.

     6155. Here occur marvels, namely, that a woman of the Python,* that is, of Apollo, raised up Samuel. It must be observed, however, that it was by no means Samuel that was raised from the dead by the Python, and that this was only a fallacious appearance. It was another who was raised up, who represented Samuel; for when it is permitted evil spirits or their leader, they can then represent any person they desire, provided only that the person has been seen by the man, and known to him; and this so cleverly, nay, and with such skill, that not the least inflection of the voice, or anything that was natural to that person, is lacking. This, also, I was twice or thrice made experimentally aware of, by certain spirits who presented before me certain persons known to me during their life, and I spoke with them for some time. They were of the same character as during their life. Yet each time I doubted whether they were the same persons, and this I also said to the spirits. Thus they can bring in whatsoever person is allowed them, provided only that the person has been known to the man. (But see as to how this should be set forth; it is to be told prudently-for I know not whether those spirits to whom it was granted to do this were good spirits; also lest men may thereby doubt concerning the visions referred to above.)
     * Here, and elsewhere without exception, Swedenborg uses Python for the Hebrew obh, as explained by the translator in a footnote. In the English Bible the phrase is "a woman that hath a familiar spirit."

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     6156. That it was not Samuel, is clear enough, because it was a woman of Python who did this; and also because in verse 13 it is said that gods rose up, and in verse 14 that Saul asked whether it was Samuel.
     It is so plain to me that it was not Samuel himself, but was Samuel represented by some evil spirit, that nothing can be plainer.
     6157. It is also permitted evil spirits to tell things that are to come; but this is from God Messiah by means of good spirits, to whom, in a like case, it is permitted to rule the speeches of evil spirits entirely at their nod. This also it was given me to know, and so frequently that I am unable to number the times-namely, that evil spirits speak entirely as those [good spirits] dictate. The evil spirits do not, indeed, know this at the time; but with me it was manifestly indicated in various ways; wherefore they were extremely indignant, for this was opposed to their humor. No one ever knows things to come save Jehovah God alone. But evil genii are quite persuaded that they also know things to come, which is utterly false, for of themselves they cannot put forth even the least sound.
AFTER THE LORD'S RESURRECTION 1943

AFTER THE LORD'S RESURRECTION              1943

     "The Divine order for those who were of the spiritual church was the order which was in heaven from the time when the Lord, from His Divine Human, began to dispose all things in heaven and earth, which was immediately after the Resurrection. According to that order they who were of the spiritual church could then be elevated into heaven, and enjoy eternal blessedness, but not according to the former order. For the Lord had formerly disposed all things through heaven, but afterwards by His own Human which He glorified and made Divine in the world, by which there was such an accession of strength that those could be elevated into heaven who before could not he elevated, as also that the evil from all sides receded, and were shut up in their hells." (A. C. 7931.)

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WILL AND UNDERSTANDING OF MAN 1943

WILL AND UNDERSTANDING OF MAN       EDWARD C. BOSTOCK       1943

     Foreword.

     The purpose of creation is that a heaven may be formed from the human race, and that men may live in the spiritual world to eternity after the death of the body in this world.
     Without revelation little would be known of the will and understanding of man, and nothing of his soul, of the life after death, or of the relationship of the spiritual and natural worlds.
     If we are to enter intellectually into the arcana of revelation, it is necessary not only to read the Writings with affirmative intent, but also to study closely the doctrines on each subject.
     It is the purpose of this article to draw attention to various doctrines concerning the creation of the will and understanding in man. This involves the subjects of creation, degrees, forces and forms, the soul, and the spiritual body.
     Selections from the Writings have been used to a large extent in the composition of this paper. It is the intention of the writer to condense and arrange the subjects so that they may easily be considered in their relation and connection.
     Swedenborg tells us that no man, while in this world, can see spiritual things in their true light. However, he can understand them in a limited way from revelation, and by comparison with the phenomena of this world.

     THE GOD OF CREATION.

     "Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?
     "If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there.
     "If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

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     "Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me." (Psalm 139: 7-10.)
     The beautiful words of the Psalm are accepted by every religious man, but that these words are literally true, and that God is actually omnipresent, can be understood only if he knows that the finite kingdom is created from the Infinite, by means of discrete degrees through the agency of the spiritual sun and the spiritual atmospheres.
     "The Lord, because He is the God of the universe, is uncreate and infinite, but man and angel is created and finite. The uncreate and infinite is the Very Divine in itself. Out of this man cannot be formed, for in such case he would be the Divine in itself; but he can be formed out of things created and finite, in which the Divine can be, and to which it can communicate its own life, and this by heat and light from itself as a sun, thus from its own Divine Love.
     From this it is plain that a man and an angel are not in themselves life, but are only recipients of life." (Divine Love II.)

     ON DEGREES.

     In order to understand how the Lord forms the will and understanding in man, and how men and angels can live in the Lord and the Lord be in them without their becoming Divine, it is necessary to understand the nature of the created universe, and how it is formed by discrete and continuous degrees.
     The nature of continuous degrees is well known in the world. They are sometimes called degrees of breadth. They are as light to shade, heat to cold, hard to soft, dense to rare, gross to fine, and so forth.
     But discrete degrees, which are sometimes called degrees of height, are entirely different. It is by means of discrete degrees that the proceeding Divine forms the spiritual sun, which is the first of creation, and from this sun the spiritual atmospheres, and from these again the natural atmospheres and the resultant matters in the earths, which are called animal, vegetable and mineral.
     It is said of discrete degrees, in the Writings: "He who does not know anything of discrete degrees . . . cannot know anything of the state of man as to his reformation and regeneration, which take place through the reception of love and wisdom from the Lord, and the consequent opening of the interior degrees of the mind in their order.

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Nor can he know anything of the influx through the heavens from the Lord, nor anything of the order into which he is created. For if anyone thinks of these things, not from discrete degrees, but from continuous degrees, he cannot see anything about them except from effects. . . Not anything of cause in its truth can become known without a knowledge of degrees of both kinds." (D.L.W. 187, 188.)

     FORCES AND FORMS.

     Although the natural world is formed by means of and out of the forms in the spiritual world, it is impossible to describe spiritual forms excepting by means of analogy to natural forms. We can, for example, describe the formation of atmospheres, one from another, as Swedenborg does in his Principia. These descriptions are in natural terms, and we think of the formations in terms of motion and time and space. There is no other way in which we can think while in this world.
     We know, however, that there is a continuous connection and composition of all things created, from the prime, which is the spiritual sun, through the spiritual atmospheres, even down to the lowest ultimates of earth. The formation of substantial things in the spiritual world, therefore, must take place by a similar or analogous process to the formation of the atmospheres as described in the Principia. So we visualize these formations by comparison or analogy.
     The teaching of the Writings is clear, that Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are substance and form, and from them the whole of creation proceeds. Love is life, and Wisdom or truth is form, or, what is the same, substance in form.
     In the Principia, Swedenborg describes a cosmos formed by the motion of points. But he distinctly teaches that by points he does not mean imaginary points consisting of nothing, as propounded by Zeno, but points originating from Divine Substance.
     We may believe that Swedenborg envisioned a spiritual world when he wrote his Principia, or we may believe he described merely a natural world. In either case, the Principia clearly contains a philosophy of creation by love and wisdom, or, in natural terms, by activity and form.

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For activity in its essence is life, and life is love. Form is substance, and is a vessel receptive of life.
     "All perfections increase and ascend with degrees and according to them. . . . The reason why all perfections increase and ascend with the degrees, and according to them, is because all predicates follow their subjects, and perfection and imperfection are general predicates, for they are predicated of life, of forces and of forms.* . . . Perfection of life is perfection of love and wisdom. . . Perfection of forces is the perfection of all things which are actuated and moved through the agency of life, in which things, however, life is not. Such forces are the atmospheres as to actualities, and such forces also are the interior and exterior organic substances with man, and also with animals of every kind. Such forces also are all things in the natural world which receive activities immediately and mediately from the sun there. Perfection of forms and perfection of forces make one, for such as the forces are, such are the forms, WITH THIS DIFFERENCE ONLY THAT FORMS ARE SUBSTANCES. BUT FORCES ARE THEIR ACTIVITIES; wherefore to both belong similar degrees of perfection. The forms which are not at the same time forces are also perfect according to degrees." (W. 200.)
     * In all cases, the italicizing of words Writings is by the author of this article.
     In the sequence of creation, Divine Love created the spiritual sun, which is the first form of creation, Divine as to origin, finite as to form. The spiritual sun, by its love or life, created the first spiritual atmosphere or next form of creation. This, in turn, by its resulting life, created the next form, and so on down. It is as end, cause and effect. The effect of one degree becomes the end of the succeeding degree, each degree therefore having its own proper form and force.
     "One thing has been formed from another, and thence have been made degrees, three in the spiritual world, and three corresponding to them in the natural world, and as many in the quiescent things of which the terraqueous globe consists. . . . It is by means of these degrees that all posterior things are receptacles of prior things, and these of things still prior, and thus, in order, receptacles of the primitives of which the sun of the angelic heaven consists, and thus that finite things are receptacles of the infinite." . . . (T. 33.)

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     WILL AND UNDERSTANDING.

     "The Lord created with man and afterwards forms with him a receptacle of love, which is his will, and He adjoins to this a receptacle of wisdom, which is his understanding." (D. Wis. II.)
     It will be shown in what follows that the will and understanding of man, together with the mind or animus are real substances, and form the internal man or spirit. These are spoken of in general as the soul. During life in the world they are sustained within the material body, which is endowed with external sensations, but after death they reside within the spiritual substantial body, which is adjoined to the limbus.
     Man is a dual form, having a spiritual and a natural body. The latter falls away at death. The former, his spiritual body, then becomes the man, and lives to all appearances as in this world. However, instead of living bound by external and material things, he comes into a life of spiritual ends from which he lives. The appearances and externals of his spiritual life are the results or standing forth in external form of his internal life.

     "As there are two things in the Lord, love and wisdom, and these two proceed from Him, and as man was created to be a likeness and an image of the Lord, a likeness through love, and an image through wisdom, so two receptacles were created with mail, one for love and the other for wisdom the receptacle of love is what is called the will, and the receptacle of wisdom is what is called the understanding. . . What the forms of these receptacles are cannot be explained because they are spiritual forms, and spiritual things transcend the apprehension. They are forms within forms, ascending even to the third degree, innumerable, discrete, and yet unanimous, and each particular is a receptacle of love and wisdom. Their origins are in the brains, where they are the beginnings and heads of the fibres, through which their endeavors and forces flow down to all things of the body, higher and lower, and cause the senses to be present in the sensories, the motions to be present in the motories, and the functions of nutrition, of chyle-making, of blood-making, of separation, of purification, and of prolification, to be present in the other organs, thus their uses in each of the particulars." (D. His. Part of II.)

     The receptacles for love and wisdom first exist with man when he has been conceived and is being produced in the womb, but at that time they have no life of their own. "The very first forms are not visible to the eye, but only the first productions of these, which make the head. . . . The formation of the embryo and of the infant man in the womb is an image of creation, and is called generation, because it is effected by procreation.

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From this it follows that especially the first forms with man are receptacles of love and wisdom and that the creation of the other things that constitute the man is effected through these." (D. Wis. 112.)
     From these receptacles of love and wisdom, all things of the body are led forth and produced by creations, one from another, in a continuous chain. From them "fibres are led forth to the sensory organs of the face, which are called the eyes, ears, nostrils and tongue, also to the motor organs throughout the body. . . . These are the initial forms from which are led forth and produced all things of the body, from the head to the soles of the feet." (D. Wis. II:3.) It is said that these things are confirmed "by reason, in that fibres are not possible apart from origins, also that the organic parts of the body, produced from fibres variously combined, are effects, and effects cannot live, feel, and be moved by themselves, but only from their origins through what is continuous therefrom." (D. Wis. II:3.)
     The production of all things in the body takes place according to the laws of correspondence. What is spiritual is the origin, and when what is spiritual becomes visible and perceptible before the senses, there is a correspondence between them.
     "It is a universal law of correspondences that the spiritual fits itself to use, which is its end, and activates and modifies the use by means of heat and light, and clothes it by providing means, until there results a form subservient to the end; and in this form the spiritual acts as an end, use as cause, and the natural as effect although in the spiritual world the substantial takes the place of the natural." (D. Wis. II:4.)

     * * *

     The Lord conjoins Himself with man as the forming Divine, through the receptacles of the will and understanding. He is not in these receptacles and their continuations materially, but in their uses, which, regarded in themselves, are immaterial But the things necessary for uses to become effects are material.

     "These two receptacles, which are the beginnings of man, are from the father; his formation to the full time of birth is from the mother; for the seed is from the man; his are the spermatic vessels and testicles in which the seed is elaborated and secreted; it is received by the female; hers is the womb wherein is the heat by which it is fostered, and in which are the little mouths by which it is nourished. . . .

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As the rudiment of man is seed, and this is a double receptacle of life, it is clear that the human soul is not life from life, that is, life in itself; for there is but one life, and that is God. . . . And as there is a continuation of these receptacles from the brains through the fibres into all parts of the body, it is also clear that there is a continuation of the reception of life into these parts, and that thus the soul is not here or there, but is in every form derived from these, just as the cause is in the things caused, and the principle in its derivations." (D. Wis. III 2.)

     In Chapter III, section 4, of Divine Wisdom, a description is given of the beginnings of the human form as seen by Swedenborg in heaven. Three degrees are described, the higher two of which are in the form of heaven and are dwelling places of the Lord, while the lowest degree is said to be in the form of hell. This description might be taken to mean, either that these degrees are forms in the spiritual world, or that they are purely material forms. Other passages, however, indicate that the forms are dual, that is, both spiritual and material; but that the soul has an actual spiritual form may be seen from Chapter VII, No. 2, of Divine Wisdom, as follows:

     "The spirit of a man is not a substance that is separate from his viscera, organs and members, but it cleaves to them in close conjunction; for the spiritual goes along with every stamen of these, from outermosts to innermosts; and thus wit Ii every stamen and every fibre of the heart and lungs; consequently, when the bonds between man's body and spirit are loosed, the spirit is in a form like that in which the man was before; there is only a separation of SPIRITUAL SUBSTANTIAL FROM MATERIAL. For this reason the spirit has a heart and lungs, the same as the man in the world, and for the same reason it has like senses and like motions, and also speech; and there can be no senses or motions or speech without heart and lungs. Spirits also have atmospheres, but spiritual. How greatly, then, are those deceived who assign to the soul a special seat somewhere in the brain or in the heart; for the soul of man, which is to live after death, is his spirit." (D. Wis. VII: 2.)
     "Someone might possibly form a fallacious idea of the beginnings of the human form, which pertain to the seed of the man, because they are called receptacles. From the term receptacle one may easily fall into the idea of a vessel or a little tube. I desire therefore to define and describe that initial form, as it was seen by me and made clear to me in the heavens, as adequately as the expressions of natural language will permit. These receptacles are not tubular, or hollowed out like little vessels, but are like the brain, of which they are an exceedingly minute and invisible type, with a delineation resembling a face in front, with no visible appendage.

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This primitive brain in the upper convex part was a structure of contiguous globules or little spheres, each little sphere being a conglomeration of like spheres still more minute, and each of these again of the very least. In front, in the flattened region of the nose, a kind of outline appeared for a face; but in the recess between the convex part and this flattened part there was no fibre; the convex part was covered round about with a very thin membrane, which was transparent. Thus was seen by me and shown to me the primitive of man, the first or lowest degree of which was the structure first described, the second or middle degree was the structure secondly described, and the third or highest degree was the structure thirdly described, thus one was within the other. I was told that in each little sphere there were indescribable interlacings, more and more wonderful according to the degrees; also that in each particular the right part is the couch or receptacle of love, and the left part is the couch or receptacle of wisdom, and that by wonderful connections these are like partners and comrades, the same as the two hemispheres of the brain are. It was further shown, in the light that fell brightly on it, that the structure of the two interior degrees was, in its position and flow, in the order and form of heaven, while the structure of the lowest degree, in its position and flow, was in the form of hell. This is why it is said that the receptacles are distinguished into three degrees with man, one within another, and the two higher are dwelling-places of the Lord, but not the lowest. The lowest is such because man, from a hereditary taint, is born opposed to the order and form of heaven, and thus into evils of every kind; and this taint is in the natural, which is the lowest of man's life, and it is not wiped away unless the interior degree that has been formed for the reception of love and wisdom from the Lord is opened in him. . . . As there are three degrees in man, so there are three degrees of the heavens, for the heavens consist of men who have becomes angels." . . . (D. Wis. III: 4.)
     "The will and understanding are called receptacles because the will is not an abstract spiritual thing, but is a sub feet substantialized and formed for the reception of love from the Lord; and the understanding is not an abstract spiritual thing, but is a sub fleet substantialized and formed for the reception of wisdom from the Lord; for these actually exist; and although hidden from the sight, they are interiorly in the substances that constitute the cortex of the brain, and also here and there in the medullary substances of the brain, especially in the striated bodies, also interiorly in the medullary substance of the cerebellum, and in the spinal marrow, of which they constitute the nucleus. Thus there are not merely two, but innumerable receptacles, each one doubled and of three degrees, as has been said above. That these are receptacles, and that they are there, is clearly evident from this, that they are the beginnings and heads of all the fibres out of which the whole body is woven, and that all the organs of sense and motion are formed out of fibres that extend from these, for these are their beginnings and ends. The sensory organs feel and the motor organs are moved solely by reason of their being extensions and continuations of these dwelling-places of the will and the understanding. . . . Their changes of state are affections; their variations of form are thoughts; memory is the existence and permanence of both of these; and recollection is their reproduction.

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The two taken together are the human mind." (D. Wis. V.)

     Sufficient has been said and quoted to show the nature and formation of the will and understanding in man, also how these are clothed in an actual spiritual substantial body which lives after death as the man himself. Something further, however, should be added to show the differences between natural and spiritual men and the manner in which they live.
     "A natural man is wholly different from a spiritual man, and a spiritual man from a natural man; the difference is so great that they cannot be given together. One who does not know what the spiritual is in its essence may believe that the spiritual is only a purer natural, which in man is called the rational; but the spiritual is above the natural, and as distinct from it as the light of midday from the evening shadow in the time of autumn. The distinction and the difference can be known only to one who is ii, both worlds, the natural and the spiritual, and who can change alternately from one to the other, and be in one and their in the other, and by reflection can look at one from the other. From this privilege, which has been granted to me, I have learned what the natural man is, and what the spiritual man is, who is spirit. That this may be known, it shall be described briefly. In all things of his thought and speech, and in all things of his will and action, the natural man has as his subject matter space, time and quantity, with him these are fixed mid permanent, and without them he can have no idea of thought and speech from it, and no affection of the will and action from it. The spiritual man or the spirit does not have these as subjects, BUT ONLY AS OBJECTS.
     "The reason is, that in the spiritual world the objects are altogether similar to those in the natural world; there are lands plains, fields, gardens and forests, houses containing rooms, and in them all useful things; moreover, there are garments for women and for men, such as are in the world; there are tables, food, and drinks, such as are in the world; there are also animal-both gentle and destructive; there are spaces and times, and numbers and measures. All these things have such a resemblance to the things that are in the world that to the eye they cannot be distinguished, and yet all these are appearances of the wisdom belonging to the understanding of angels, and perceptions of loves belonging to their wills; for these objects are created in a moment by the Lord, and in a moment are dissipated. They are permanent or not permanent according to the constancy or inconstancy of the spirits or angels in the things of which they are the appearances. This is why these things are merely objects of their thoughts and affections, while their subjects are those things of which these are the appearances, which, as has been said, are such things as relate to wisdom and love, thus spiritual things." . . . (D. Wis. VII: 5.)

     It is a universal doctrine that love and wisdom must always be conjoined.

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No love can exist apart from its form in wisdom or truth; consequently "perceptions of loves pertaining to the will," mentioned above, must be conjoined with their forms of wisdom, which are said to be the subjects of thought. These, in turn, become objective when they are "created in a moment by the Lord," and they retain their permanence according to the constancy of spirits or angels in the things of which they are the appearances.
     That the phenomena of the spiritual world have extension beyond the minds of spirits, is not only clearly stated in the Writings, but may also be seen from this, that if it were not so, the only vessels of man's spiritual mind or body would be the Limbus or cutaneous covering from the finest things of nature. Such a concept would deprive man of any spiritual being, and would place all sensation within the material plane. Furthermore, all sensations of an objective world could be nought else than memory objects of the natural mind. Such a conclusion is unthinkable.
     We need not be afraid of viewing the spiritual world as a finer natural world if we heed the words of revelation and do not regard it as held by the bounds of time and space and what is material. All creation is finite, including the atmospheres and other forms in the spiritual world, but those in the spiritual world are not fixed or held bound within the limits of time and space, as are the forms in the material world. The two worlds, however, operate in connection with one another, the spiritual resting on the natural.
     We must see that the spiritual rests on the material, and has a constant connection with it. The spiritual body of man retains a covering of the finest things of nature. It has, therefore, a connection or foundation in the time and space world, but it also is spiritual substantial in its higher parts, into which the Divine Life flows by means of the spiritual atmospheres. This body, and the mind within it, are eminently more real than the material mind and body. They are nearer to the source of life, and react thereto far more quickly and brilliantly than was possible in this world. Spiritual forms are actual forms composed of spiritual substance more real than anything we have on this earth.
     If we clearly see that "reality" consists in sensing and understanding spiritual things, or what is the same, living, internal things that spring from the Divine Life, we will not hesitate to accept a "spiritual substantial" world just because we cannot understand what might be called "spiritual mechanics."

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     Opinions may well differ as to how the Lord creates objects in the spiritual world. Our only information is that He does so in a moment. But that they are created is evident from revelation. Whether the objects are large or small does not matter, as there are no fixed boundaries there.
     The spiritual atmospheres are the stuff from which the natural atmospheres are made. By means of them, acting within natural atmospheres, all things on earth were and are created. The will and understanding, which are the two upper vessels of the soul, are substantial; and therefore on the same plane as the spiritual atmospheres, and created from them. Spiritual objects therefore must come from the same source.
     Time is not an element of spiritual creation, because objects are created and last as long as states last. Unlimited phenomena can take place at a given time, and do not interfere with one another. Nevertheless, all these phenomena take place in and about the natural world. This must be evident from the fact that the Limbus, which is composed of the finest things of nature, must reside within nature, also because the spiritual world is present within and around the atmospheres of the natural world.

     * * *

     In the quotations inserted in this discussion, the story of revelation is to be found concerning the formation of the spiritual and natural worlds and of man therein. We seek to understand this story, but at times find it difficult, because our minds are trained in natural thought, and we have only natural phenomena by which to evaluate spiritual things.
     Swedenborg warns that the distinction between the two worlds "can be known only to one who is in both worlds, the natural and spiritual, and who can change alternately from one to the other." He was in these alternate states, and from his personal experience reveals the nature of the two worlds to us. Our investigation, therefore, must closely follow the laws and sequence of this revelation, and not be content with any pattern that rejects any part of the revealed truth.

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     In the Writings, explanations proceed from general principles to particulars. Our subject is no exception. The general teachings concerning the Lord the Creator and the formation of the universe precede the teaching regarding the formation of the will and understanding of man. A study of each subject enlightens and explains the other.
     With regard to creation, it is important to observe the following:
     God is uncreate and infinite. He is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, Substance Itself and Form Itself.
     The created universe, including the spiritual and natural worlds, is finite. Men and angels are finite.
     Man cannot be formed out of the Very Divine, for if he were, he would be Divine; but he can be formed from the substance of the finite universe into which the Divine Life can flow and be adjoined. Consequently, men and angels are not in themselves life, but recipients of life.
     The first of creation is the spiritual sun-infinite as to essence, finite as to form. It is the first discrete degree of creation. From its substance the spiritual atmospheres are formed in a series of descending degrees. "The spiritual atmospheres are discrete substances, or least forms, originating from the sun," (W. 174), and from them in turn are formed the natural atmospheres and all things in the natural world. Creation is like a perfect chain; for each degree is created from the preceding degree, so that the inmost or highest, which is the spiritual sun, enters into the composition of the whole universe, even down to the minerals of the earth.
     But the spiritual sun is not depleted by the creation of the universe below it. It is not in any sense used up, but remains omnipresent in creation. It is within the composition of all created forms, and is around and between them. It is non-spacial.
     The difference between the form of the spiritual atmospheres and the form of the natural atmospheres is not revealed in detail, but we are told they are similar, and perform similar functions. However, the former are substantial, while the latter are material.
     The highest spiritual atmosphere is more universal than the lower spiritual atmospheres; that is, the highest enters into the formation of the succeeding atmospheres, but remains universally around and between them.

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This is true of each succeeding spiritual degree in relation to those following. The spiritual atmospheres form and enter into the natural atmospheres. There are some passages which indicate that they are within them. Also, they are universally around and between them.
     The natural atmospheres are spacial, not only in their individual forms, but because they surround the natural sun, and have time and space boundaries. Like the spiritual atmospheres, the higher are more universal than the lower forms, entering into their composition, but flowing between and around all succeeding forms.
     We now see that our two worlds are physically interlocked and inseparably bound together. In order to understand them we must comprehend a spiritual life that can act and react apart from the time and space limitations which are placed upon the material world.
     Each world has its active forces and its relative passives. Spiritual activities have spiritual forms, and natural activities natural forms. For each degree is formed as end, cause and effect.
     "Perfection of forms and perfection of forces make one, for such as the forces are, such are the forms; with this difference only, that forms are substances, but forces are their activities." (W. 200.)
     With respect to the will and understanding of man, these are spiritual vessels, formed within and above the highest plane of the natural mind. Together they are the vessels that form the soul or spirit of man.
     Beneath the soul lies the body, which enables man to function in this world: the life of the body, however, residing in the soul.
     While in this world man lives and acts from and on the basis of external things. "In all things of his thought and speech, and in all things of his will and action, the natural man has as his subject matter space, time and quantity; with him these are fixed and permanent, and without them he can have no idea of thought and speech from it, and no affection of the will and action from it." (D. Wis. VII: 5.)
     But when a man dies he leaves his material body in this world and becomes conscious on the plane of his spirit. His substantial body then takes the place of his material body.

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     It is important that we understand the nature of the spirit of man and the world wherein we shall dwell after death, if we are to receive the full benefit of the new revelation given to the Church.
     In seeking an understanding of these subjects, however, great care must be exercised not to reject direct teachings regarding the spiritual world because we cannot square them with our meagre knowledge of the laws regarding scientific things on this earth.
     Our phenomena are those of a world described as dead, in relation to the spiritual world, and yet we see marvelous things in nature that we cannot explain, as, for example, the causes of the phenomena of ether in relation to light and radio.
     The Lord alone is the life of man. His life is conjoined with man's will and understanding, but this does not take place by direct influx from the purely Divine into a material limbus, but by an orderly progression into and through actual substantial spiritual forms or vessels. The Divine of the Lord with man, which proceeds from Him, proceeds as the Sun of Heaven, the heat and light from which form and vivify all things in the spiritual and natural worlds. This Divine Life can flow only into a spiritual world that is organized of spiritual vessels especially prepared to receive it.
     It is clear that the soul and spiritual body of man are vessels composed of spiritual substance, and that man after death lives a life among substantial spiritual things. These facts are more important than the method by which they take place.
ATTRACTION OF DIVINE LOVE 1943

ATTRACTION OF DIVINE LOVE              1943

     "The Lord inflows with every man by the Truth which is from Himself, whereby He gives life to man; for the Light which is from the Lord is Divine Truth, and is Life, John 1: 4. This Divine Truth, which is from the Lord, inflows into the good with man, and through it draws the man to Himself; for the life which is from the Lord is attractive, because it is from love; for all love has in itself a force of attraction, because it wills to be conjoined, so that they may be one. When, therefore, a man is in good, and from good in truth, then he is attracted by the Lord, and is conjoined to Him. When a man is not in good, thus not in truth from good, be is then also attracted by the Lord, but he cannot be elevated, for evils and falsities turn themselves away. That the Lord draws man to Himself, the Lord Himself teaches in John, 'I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all to myself.' John 12: 32."     (A. C. 8604.)

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ANOINTING THE WEAPONS OF WAR 1943

ANOINTING THE WEAPONS OF WAR       Editor       1943


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Editor      Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pea.
Business Manager      Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Business Manager.


TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$1.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     In pre-advent times, when warriors prepared for battle, they anointed their swords, spears and shields with oil, and this for both practical and significant reasons. The oil was applied to protect metal against moisture and rust: in the case of leathern shields, the rubbing of oil into the hide that was stretched upon a frame to form the shield made it supple and fit for use. This was the practical purpose of the custom. But in the minds of the men of ancient ages the act was also correspondential and representative; and the anointing of armament was significative of the spirit or love from which men waged war. With the men of the church, the oil was the good of love from which they fought against the enemies of the Lord. "Arise, ye princes, anoint the shield!" (Isaiah 21: 5.)
     Good men fought only in defense of their lands, their families, their religion, and their faith in God. Evil men, animated by self love and love of dominion, waged wars of aggression, seeking the conquest and enslavement of others and enrichment at their expense. The weapons of war were instruments of defense and attack; the oil with which they were anointed typified the war aims of the warriors, good or evil.

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     So today, good men fight from a love of their country and its good,-fight in its defense, that it may be free, and that it may not be seized and despoiled by an enemy who attacks from a love of conquest and gain. Thus good men, in waging a war of defense, are moved by the good of charity toward the neighbor; for their country is the neighbor in a larger sense than the individual. Indeed, they fight also from a love of all mankind-the neighbor in the widest sense-that the human race may be free, may be delivered from bondage to evil loves, to hell; they fight, also, that the country of the enemy may be delivered from the domination of the tyrants who have enslaved it. To wage war in this spirit is to anoint the weapons of war with the oil of a genuine love,-the true love of freedom, which is as zealous for the freedom of others as for its own.
     The wars of Israel against idolatrous nations, as recorded in the Word, represented the defense of the true church against the attacks of evil and falsity; inmostly the Divine combats against the hells. The weapons of war-the sword, the spear, the bow, the buckler and shield-signified the truths of faith resisting falsity and evil in spiritual combat; the anointing oil represented the good of charity, without which truths are of no avail against the falsities of evil. The individual gains no victory in temptation unless he resists evil from that love of good which is from the Lord. From the love of self he may employ the truth in superficial repentance, but he remains interiorly a slave to evil. This is why Saul, the rejected king of Israel, was defeated by the Philistines, who represented faith separate from charity, and why it is said of him "The shield of the mighty was polluted; the shield of Saul was not anointed with oil." (II Samuel 2: 21.)
     Our Doctrine explains: "The weapons of war were anointed, because they signified truths fighting against falsities, and truths from good are what prevail against them, but not truths without good. Wherefore the [anointed] weapons of war represented truths proceeding from the good which is from the Lord, thus truths by means of which the Lord Himself fights for them in man against falsities of evil, that is, against the hells." (A. C. 9954:3; A. E. 375:11.)

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NOTES AND REVIEWS 1943

NOTES AND REVIEWS       ALFRED ACTON       1943

     The Name "Nova Hierosolyma."

     In its Thanksgiving issue for 1942, which has recently appeared, our contemporary, DOCTRINE AND LIFE, has an article by the Editor, in defense of the term "Nova Hierosolyma," as against "New Jerusalem." His argument is based upon the words in the Apocalypse Explained, n. 948, "Nova Ecclesia quae vocabitur Nova Hierosolsma" (the New Church which will be called Nova Hierosolyma), taking these words in a very literal sense as an injunction to call the New Church "Nova Hierosolyma." It has long been known that the Body of the New Church, of which DOCTRINE AND LIFE H the official organ, never refers to the New Church except with the added words "which is Nova Hierosolyma"; and now we have the reason for this curious addition.
     The writer notes the fact that the Greek Testament has both Hierosoluma and Hierousalem, and he goes to great length to show that the two words are from different roots and have different meanings. Yet it is a patent fact that both words are variant forms of the one Hebrew word Jerusalem (literally, the two Jerusalems). Moreover, a study of their usage in the New Testament indicates that Hierosoluma was the form used by the Jews, and Hierousalem that used by the Gentiles. This is confirmed by the fact: 1, That Hierosoluma is frequently used in the plural, but Hierousalem is never so used; 2, that in the Gospels, Hierosoluma is used in thirty passages, while Hierousolem is used only once in Matthew, once in Mark, but twenty-four times in Luke, the Apostle of the Gentiles*; 3, that in the Epistles, Hierosolyma occurs in twenty passages only, nineteen of which are in the Acts, while Hierousalem occurs in fifty-one passages, forty of which are in the Acts; 4, that the Book of Revelation, which is a prophecy addressed to the Gentiles, has only the word Hierousalem.
     * Hierosoluma occurs only five times in Luke.
     The Editor of DOCTRINE AND LIFE further contends that the two words have a different spiritual signification. But that such is not the case, apart from what is involved in the one word being used by the Jews, and the other by the Gentiles, is clearly shown by the fact that, whichever word is used in the New Testament it is invariably translated in the Writings as Hierosolyma.

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There are only two exceptions, namely, in Apocalypse Revealed n. 245, where the Greek Hierousalem of Matthew 23: 37 is transliterated as Hierusalem, and in Apocalypse Explained n. 624:16, where it is translated Jerusalem.
     It may also be noted that Hierosolyma is the only Latin word for Jerusalem, and, except in the two cases just noted, it is used throughout the Writings in translations from the Old and New Testaments. Indeed, so far as is known, the word Jerusalem occurs only four times in the whole of the Writings, namely, in the one case noted above (which is the only case where Jerusalem is used in translating from the Word), and in Spiritual Diary n. 2875; in the reference thereto in the Index, s.v. Dii, Hierosolyma and Judaci; in Spiritual Diary n. 3851; and in the Index, s.v., Draco and Hierosolyma at n. 3042 and s.v., Judaei at n. 2878 and 3042.
     On such slender grounds, and without the support of a single teaching from the Writings, the Editor of DOCTRINE AND LIFE proceeds to the following distinction between the two words: "Hierosolyma (he says) stands for all the various states of the Lord's Church,-which is inmostly and essentially celestial, from firsts to lasts, from inmosts to outmosts, from most ancient and ancient times up to the Second Coming of the Lord and the beginning of Nova Hierosolyma." On the other hand, "the name 'New Jerusalem,' as now commonly used, stands for and represents the esoteric belief and sectarian life of the respective church organizations known by that name."
     One may legitimately wonder how he would deal with the fact that the Book of Revelation, which is a prophecy of the New Church, contains only the word Hierousalem; as in Chapter 21: 2: "And I, John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."
     ALFRED ACTON.

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MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943

     THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)


     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa. United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942.
     SERGEANT PILOT RALPH ROSCHMAN HILL, Kitchener, Ontario. Royal Canadian Air Force. Killed on active service in Wales, February 9, 1943.

[Photo of Ralph Roschman Hill.]

     RALPH ROSCHMAN HILL was born in Kitchener, Ontario, on February 21, 1922, the second in the family of seven children of the late J. Edward Hill and Jadah Roschman Hill. He was a pupil in the Carmel Church School for nine years, and afterwards attended the local Collegiate, finally taking a stenographic course which led to clerical employment in a local industry for about a year and a half before his enlistment. Two visits to Bryn Athyn so impressed him that it had become his settled purpose to enroll as a student in the Academy after the war.
     On a visit to Toronto in September, 1941, he attended a service in the Olivet Church which was in commemoration of the second anniversary of the outbreak of the war, and the special sermon on that occasion deeply affected him; and this "message," together with the fascination which had gripped him on witnessing a precision squad of flyers, was the decisive factor in his determination to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force. This he did, along with a chum, "Bill" Bellinger, of Windsor, Ontario, and they remained together until March, 1942.

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     Ralph obtained his wings in September, 1942, and after the period of training in Canada was completed he was sent overseas in November, 1942, and was posted for advanced flying-training in England and Scotland. Early in the new year, after a reunion with his brother Leonard, a Flight Sergeant in the R. C. A. F., he was assigned to a base in Wales for operational training, and here he achieved his keen ambition to fly Spitfires. And it was here that he gave his life to the cause on February 9, 1943, twelve days before his twenty-first birthday. He was buried on February 12th at Boverton, near Llantwit Major, Glamorganshire, South Wales.
     It is given to few young people to leave upon their elders such indelible vestiges of an unaffected warmth of heart as our friend, Ralph Hill, has left upon his associates in the Kitchener Society. His sprightly good nature and the spirit of benevolence with which he regarded people of all ages were indeed exceptional faculties with him, earning him innumerable friends, not only in the Church, but wherever he chanced to go. And this happy disposition will ever memorialize him for us.-K. S.
OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES. 1943

OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.              1943

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, Sgt. Norman,
Heldon, Cpl. Sydney,
Kirsten, L.A.C. Theodore,
Taylor, A.C. 1 Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bond, L.A.C. J. W.,
Bond, Cpl. Lillian D.,
Bond, A.C. 2 Thomas A.,
Evens, Tpr. John,
Evens, Pvt. Robert A.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Hill, Fr/Sgt. Leonard F.,
James, Pvt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Schnarr, Sgt. Joffre G.,
Schnarr, L/Cpl. John G.,
Scott, Pvt. Herbert G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, Sgt. Pilot A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.

     Toronto.
Bellinger, Sgt./Pilot John H.,
Campbell, Stella, W.R.N.S.,
Carter, Sgt.-WAG Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Tpr. Thomas J.,
Izzard, F/O Laurence T.,
Jesseman, Cpl. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn,
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Richardson, A.C. 2 David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, L.A.C. Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Bellinger, P/O William G., Ontario,
Evens, A.C. 2 A. Leslie, Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 Norman W., Alberta
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.


     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Eric D.,
Appleton, L.A.C. Roy,
Boozer, Dvr. A. E.,
Boozer, Donald,
Briscoe, Miss Irene G.,
Caldwell, Lieut. William T.,
Clennell, A.C. 2 Gordon,
Cohen, Eng. Comdr. Maurice L.,
Dale, Tpr. Keith B.,
Dawson, L.A.C. Geoffrey P.,
Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Halliday, Lieut. Keith C.,
Jones, Harold C.,
Lewin, Ronald,
Morris, Lieut. David,
Motum, O/Cadet John,Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,
Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Beatrice A.,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Gnr. Michael T.,
Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,

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Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Sylvia M.

     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, Pilot Air Officer J. S.,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Cockerell, John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, A/P Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Gnr. D. B.,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, Pvt. J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, A/P A. N.,
Hammond, Cadet Harry B.,
Hammond, Pvt. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, P/N Miss S. F.,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, S/Sgt. A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, A/M C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,
Ridgway, Pvt. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A.,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, Pvt. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, Cpl. Ralph E.,
Behlert, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Carpenter, Lt. (jg) Philip S. P.,
Cole, Pvt. Dandridge M.,
Cole, Lt. William P.,
Cooper, Pvt. Denis,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, A/C Rey W.,
Cooper, Cpl. Theodore F.,
Cowley, Pvt. William J.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. (jg) Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davies, Pvt. Philip T.,
Davis, Joan, S 2/c,
Davis, Pvt. Justin H.,
Davis, Sgt. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
Deigendesch, Paul H., A.S.,
De Maine, Cand. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine, Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A.,
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, Cand. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Finkeldey, Cand. Philip,
Gansert, Pvt. Otto G.,
Glenn, A/C Ernest Bruce,
Gyllenhaal, S/Sgt. Charles P.,
Gyllenhaal, Ensign Leonard E.,
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, Cpl. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., H.A. 1/c,
Hilldale, Pvt. Thomas A.,
Homiller, Cand. William,
Hyatt, Cpl. Edward D.,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Nilson, Lt. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, Pvt. David,
Odhner, Cpl. Ray S.,
Odhner, Lt. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, S 2/c R.T.,
Pitcairn, John P.,
Pitcairn, A/C Lachlan,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Nathan,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Capt. Oliver I.,
Price, Donal, A.S.,
Price, Pvt. Kenneth,
Rose, P.F.C. Stanley,
Rosenquist, Pvt. Henry,
Schnarr, Pvt. A. W.,
Schnarr, Donald, S 2/c,
Schnarr, Pvt. Eugene C.,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, A/C David R.,
Synnestvedt, A/C Huard I.,
Walter, Elizabeth, S.K. 3/c,
Walter, A/C Robert E.,
White, Cand. Harry J.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Asplundh, Cadet O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., Fireman 3/c,
Brown, Pvt. Robert E.,
Burnham, Edwin, C. Sp., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, Pvt. Roy M.,
Carlson, Pvt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,

189




Cole, Pvt. Louis S.,
Elkins, Lois, U.S.N.R.,
Fuller, George, P. O. 2/c,
Gunsteens, Pvt. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,
Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, Pvt. Kenneth,
Holmes, Pvt. Leslie B.,
Junge, Lt. Carl F.,
King, Pvt. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Lt. Raymond T.,
Lee, Cedric,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
Melzer, Pvt. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Philip,
Melzer, Pvt. Roger,
Nelson, Sgt. Gerald F.,
Reuter, Lieut. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Ensign Hubert O.,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, A/C Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C.,
     Michigan.
Childs, Pvt. Walter C.,
French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, Pvt. John F.,
Peterson, Sgt. Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., E.M. 2/c.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Ensign Alexander,
Packer, E. W. Jr., A.S. U.S.C.G.
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,
Westacott, Ensign Ethel B.

     Pittsburgh.
Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Blair, Pvt. James E.,
Brown, Cpl. George P., Jr.,
Brown, Cpl. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,
Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Iungerich, Sgt. Stevan,
Lechner, Lt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Lt. Alexander H.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Pendleton, Lt. Philip C.,
Schoenberger, Lt. Ulrich,
Schoenberger, Av/C Walter S.,
Stein, Cpl. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Cpl. Elmer G., Texas.
Caldwell, Cpl. Neil V., New York,
Davis, Tech. Sgt. Charles F., Calif.
Davis, Cpl. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Lt. Philip B., Ohio,
Fine, P.F.C. Raymond F., Oregon.
Glenn, Pvt. Alfred M., New York.
Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Griffin, William T., E.M. 2/c, S.C.,
Hilldale, Pvt. Richard M., New York.
Joy, Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Cpl. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Merrell, P.F.C. Frederick, Calif.
Merrell, Pvt. Stanley, Calif.
Posey, Pvt. John A.,
Rott, Sgt. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Snyder, Donald, U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Major Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Tarr, Joseph, S.K. 3/c, Maryland.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.
Title Unspecified 1943

Title Unspecified              1943

     Missing.-F/O Laurence T. Izzard, of Toronto, Canada, who has been on active service in England, was officially reported "missing" from flying operations on the night of December 8,1942. We quote from the Olivet Society "Chatter-Box" of February 28, 1943: "Vera and Percy Izzard have not yet received word from our very dear friend, Laurence. The official statement is that he is missing over the Baltic. One thing we are very sure of, he is missed very much by each one of us. We are all hoping, and hoping, that good word will come, and soon."

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Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS.

     Obituary.

     Norris Eugene Fuller, the son of the late Herbert and of Mary Norris Fuller, passed into the spiritual world on February 27, 1943, at a hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, after a brief illness which was the result of an accident. He was thirty-six years of age. Funeral services were held on March 2d at Richland Center, Wisconsin, where Norris lived. The interment was in Bloom, Wisconsin. He is survived by his wife, Carmen, and two children, Richard and Mary.
     Norris attended the Boys Academy at Bryn Athyn (1923-1925), and was affiliated with the Immanuel Church in Glenview, a young man of excellent character and charming, genial disposition. His friends, both in Glenview and elsewhere, will greatly miss him. His sudden illness and death, due to a peculiar form of paralysis which mystified the physicians, came as a great shock. But there is consolation in the Heavenly Doctrine.
     GILBERT H. SMITH.

     DURBAN, NATAL.

     Obituary.

     Mrs. Emma Rushforth Foster, widow of the late Charles Rylott Foster, passed into the spiritual world on Wednesday morning. December 9, 1942, at the age of eighty years. Our friend had lived a quiet and retiring life for some years in Durban. She had been associated with the Durban Society for over twenty years, coming to this country from England in the year 1920. Before her marriage in 1925. Miss Rushforth was a nursery governess, and it was in this capacity that she came in contact with the circle of the New Church people in this city, living for some time with the Rev. and Mrs. Hugo Lj. Odhner and family. With them she visited Alpha, Ladybrand, Orange Free State, in 1924.
     Mrs. Foster had association with our Conference friends in England, and was baptized into the New Church by the late Rev. James F. Buss. She had a firm belief in the Doctrines of the New Church, and always enjoyed our services and ladies' classes whenever she was able to attend. For the last two years of her life she had been living with Sister Tatham, and was always grateful for her loving care. The passing was peaceful. The interment took place at Stellawood in the presence of a small but representative gathering of relatives and friends.
     F. W. ELPHICK.

     ANNUAL COUNCILS.

     The Annual Meetings of the Councils of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., from Monday, June 21, to Sunday, June 27, 1943. The program will include public sessions, and all members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. Further details will be announced later.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS, Bishop.


     NEW BOOKS.

     The Word Explained.

     Volume VI of the English Version, treating the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, is now on sale at the Academy Book Room, the price being $4.00.

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DURBAN, NATAL 1943

DURBAN, NATAL       P. D. C       1943

     Society News.

     January 1, 1943.-On reviewing the work of the past year in the Durban Society, we realize that we have nothing whatever to grumble about. It is true that for 6 1/2 months of 1942 we had the blackout, and our activities perforce were confined to the daylight hours, but what of that? Although enemy submarines have operated off our coast and some ships have been sunk with consequent loss of life, yet we have had no blitz, and our homes and church are still intact. So who can be disappointed because of the absence of social functions? We have held two big bazaars during the year, and Kainon School has hens able to continue its educational use, though under only one teacher. Nevertheless we are now able to look forward to our little school continuing in 1943, in the 21st year of its existence.
     To conclude its 1942 year, Kainon School held its closing service and entertainment on the afternoon of December 10th in the Hall. This was a great success, being obviously enjoyed by young and old. After the service, which included an Address on "Loyalty" by the Rev. F. W. Elphick, Miss Pemberton gave a short report of the year's work and presented the prizes. The five pupils then gave a programme of songs and recitations, and, after the Interval and Tea, the quintette presented a short play, entitled "Hansel and Gretel" (adapted). The children were cast as follows: Mother, Naomi Schuurman; Father, Errol Edley; Hansel, James Forfar, Jr.; Gretel, Serene Schuurman; Witch, Gillian Edley; Fairies, Naomi Schuurman and Gillian Edley. The scenery was made by Mrs. A. J. Prins (Yveline Rogers) and Miss Pemberton. Our young actors and actresses carried the audience with them, and the whole production reflected great credit upon the little quintette and their teacher, Miss Pemberton. The collection for school funds taken during the afternoon amounted to L3. 15 7-.
     Christmas was celebrated as joyfully as possible in these abnormal times, and Theta Alpha worked hard so that the children might have their entertainment as usual. On December 18th a children's Christmas Party was held in the Hall, children of school age attending. Games were played, gifts wore handed out from the small tree in the center of the Hall, and a sit-down supper was given at the conclusion of the festivities.
     On Thursday, December 24, in the early evening, a good gathering of parents and children met in the church for the children's Christmas Service, which was followed by the presenting of four Tableaux in the adjoining Hall. As one hour's Daylight Saving is in force in South Africa, the whole proceedings were completed by the time darkness fell. So everybody was satisfied. We had our celebration, and the authorities were not offended. We are again indebted to Miss Pemberton for the Tableaux, and also to Miss Attersoll, who had this year reset the Representation in the vestibule of the church.
     A record attendance of children and grownups celebrated Christmas Day, December 25th, with a beautiful morning service conducted by our Acting Pastor, who spoke on the text of Matthew 2: 2, "We have seen His star in the east." On Sunday, December 27, a Service of Praise was held followed by a celebration of the Holy Communion. Then, finally, on the morning of January 1, 1943, we concluded our year's work at the New Year's Day Service.
     During January, no Sunday Services will be held, and there will be no classes or meetings, not even an issue of "The Adviser." But with the coming of February our uses will be resumed, we hope with renewed vigor and enthusiasm after a month on holiday.
     P. D. C.

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SIGN OF THE SECOND COMING 1943

SIGN OF THE SECOND COMING       Rev. F. E. GYLLENHAAL       1943




     Announcements





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NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXIII
MAY, 1943
No. 5
     "And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saving, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" (Matthew 24: 3.)

     When thought about from the spiritual meaning of the Word. Baptism and the Holy Supper are perceived to be the two most holy things of worship. They are done as worship of the Lord, with the acknowledgment that He is the One God of heaven and earth, the Creator, Redeemer, and Savior, the Fountain of life, love, and wisdom.
     We are baptized, and we have our children baptized, to proclaim openly our complete acknowledgment of the Lord, and our determination to be taught and led by Him. We take the Holy Supper for the same reason, and also in rational acknowledgment of the Lord's perpetual and real presence with us, and of His merciful Providence. The renewal of our vows made when baptized strengthens us spiritually, and holds us to the strait and narrow way that leads to the Lord's kingdom. The repeated taking of the Holy Supper also strengthens us spiritually, and opens the way into the inner provinces of the Lord's kingdom.
     Yet the holiness of both sacraments is not from what we do, but it is from the Lord; and therefore the holiness is present with us only in the degree that our acknowledgments of the Lord are sincere, and are purified by our own sustained efforts to remove the evils and falsities that prevent His presence and conjunction with us.

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And because both sacraments require bodily contact with the natural elements corresponding to the Divine Proceeding which is to be received, and representing those elements, these two sacraments are "the most holy things of worship" when their spiritual meaning is known and believed, and when the worshipper is of a humble and contrite heart.
     The Lord Himself, while in the flesh upon earth, instituted Baptism and the Holy Supper. He then made known their general purpose, but not their spiritual meaning. Baptism was to be in His name, or into His name; that is, it was to be the door into His kingdom, the peculiar sign of His followers, and a promise of purification from evils and sins after repentance. The Holy Supper was for remembrance of Him, as also for a witness of personal conviction that from Him comes all spiritual food,-the bread of heaven and of eternal life.
     But the Lord promised His disciples that He would come again, and that He would then explain fully and plainly the meaning of what He was teaching and doing, also the meaning of the whole of His Word, even the meaning of all things of heaven and earth, and of His Providence over both. He has kept this promise, and the Divine doctrine given mankind in fulfilment of it declares: "That without knowledge concerning the spiritual sense of the Word no one can know what the two sacraments, Baptism and the Holy Supper, involve and effect." (T. C. R. 667.) As He has now revealed the spiritual sense of the Word, we can know what Baptism and the Holy Supper involve and effect; and when we know this, more of their holiness can be received by us, or they can have more meaning to us than they have ever had before. This ability, now granted us, also imparts responsibilities, which we honor by learning the spiritual meaning of the two sacraments, and by living the lessons they teach.
     The disciples, after hearing the Lords promise of His second coming, or of His return to the world, and of the completion then of the work He had been doing, but which was then to cease, asked Him when He would come again, and what would be the sign of His second coming. His reply was in words which, like all His parables, had a natural meaning and a spiritual meaning. The natural meaning was such as to keep alive the expectation of His coming, yet not disclose it; it was such as to keep His faithful followers watching for the fulfilment of the prophecy.

195



The spiritual meaning had to be Divinely revealed, and the revelation of it was the fulfilment of the prophecy. In this manner there was preserved with the Lord's followers their spiritual freedom, and the necessary preparation was made for the giving of a Divine Revelation of Heavenly Doctrine adequate to all the requirements of the human race forever. Our wisdom may be unable to realize the necessity for this way of teaching and leading men in respect to the essential matters of human life, but we must humbly bow to the supremacy of Divine wisdom.
     We believe that the Lord has made His second coming, and so we know the answers to the disciples' questions. We know that the events prophesied in the natural meaning of the Lord's reply were to take place in the spiritual world, not on earth, and that they have already taken place there. They were the events of the Last Judgment in the year 1757. And we know that the sign of His second coming is the Divine revelation of the spiritual sense of the Old and New Testaments. The literal sense of these books is the "clouds of heaven," and the spiritual sense is the "Son of Man coming with power and great glory." And we know that the "end of the age" is the end of the first Christian Church as the Lord's kingdom on earth.
     We know these things, not through discovery by means of worldly knowledge, but out of Divine Revelation, out of books that we perceive to be Divine Revelation and the Word of God. But what use do we make of this knowledge, or to what purpose do we put our belief? Or what does the Second Coming of the Lord mean to us, what influence has it on our daily lives?
     The Second Coming is not merely an historical event, not merely something that happened in the past. Like the First Advent, it has taken place; it belongs to the past. Both advents, however, are also eternally of the present, because they are the presence of God with man. Their whole significance is ever in the present, as well as in the past, because they are accommodations to man on the part of God for the sake of teaching and leading man to his predestined eternal home.

196




     Both advents are the Divine means of giving to man the truth by which he can live well on earth, and by which he can prepare for an eternal continuation of a good life in heaven. They are the Divine means of redeeming man from his merely selfish and worldly, and thus infernal, states, of restoring order among men who are very much in disorder and chaos, of imparting to man the Divine blessings of usefulness, charity, contentment, peace, and happiness. They are the Divine means of lifting up the thoughts of man out of the sordid things of human life to the contemplation and enjoyment of all that is truly beautiful, and of the Divine life within nature and human life. Unless both advents had been made, no man could have been saved, and the human race on this earth would have perished.
     Therefore, unless the Divine works of both advents continue to be done, and unless some men receive those works by co-operation with them, thus with the Lord, by making them as it were their own works, no man can be saved, and the human race on this earth will perish. Unless we receive the Lord in both His advents, and submit to His works in us, and co-operate with Him, we cannot be saved. For those advents established something with mankind of infinitely greater importance than such outstanding human works as the Great Charter; and that which those advents established we have to preserve and extend for the sake of our very existence.
     It is hard for us to realize the power for good which the Lord has with us by means of His revealed Divine Truth, and it is hard for us to submit to that power constantly, willingly, and gladly. It is also hard for us to realize that the Lords good and truth are desirable above the seeming good and truth offered by the world. But here on earth we have to make the choice, even though the rewards of choosing what the Lord offers may come, at least in overflowing measure, only after death and in the life of heaven. But we have His assurance of the building up of His kingdom upon earth: and if only we love Him and His kingdom above all things, and our fellow men as much as, or more than, ourselves, we will give even life itself for the privilege of helping in its building, in defence of it, in the preservation of it for posterity: just as we are ready to give life itself for the defence of our country.
     Baptism and the Holy Supper not only keep the Lords promises before us, but they are also the doors into His kingdom, and His own means by which He removes our evils from us and feeds us with the bread of eternal life.

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And they are the means by which He comes to us; for the acknowledgments we make in celebrating those sacraments are the ground of our reception of Him. And by means of the spiritual sense of the Word we can perceive His presence with us. For the spiritual sense is the sign of His coming. Amen.

LESSONS:     Daniel 7: 1-14; Matthew 24: 1-14, 29-31; T. C. R. 779, 780.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy, pages 425, 478, 479.
PRAYERS:     Nos. 84, 126.
MAKING THINGS NEW 1943

MAKING THINGS NEW       Rev. B. ISHMAEL NZIMANDE       1943

     "Behold, I make all things new." (Apocalypse 21: 5.)

     We read that the Lord commanded Moses to build a tabernacle in which all things of heaven and the church were represented. It was so holy that it was not lawful for anyone to go into it except Moses, Aaron, and his sons. If anyone of the people entered, he would die.
     Moses was on Mount Sinai when the Lord showed him how he was to build the tabernacle. He gave him the full description of it. In the inmost part of it was the ark, in which were the two tables of the decalogue, over which was the mercy seat and the cherubims. And without the vail were the table of the shewbread, the altar of incense, and the candlestick with seven lamps. All these things were representative of the things of heaven and the church.
     The Most Ancient Church performed Divine worship in the tabernacle because this was representative of the things of heaven and the church with them. The tabernacle was built of wood, and represented the good of love from the Lord to the Lord. It represented the doctrine from the Lord with them. The things of the tabernacle had their holiness from this origin they had no holiness proper to them, but only from this representation. The Ancient Church, which succeeded that one, was a spiritual church, and performed Divine worship in temples built of stone, which signified Divine Truth. Thus the doctrine of the Ancient Church was represented by temples.

198




     John, like Moses, was shown by the Lord the holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from heaven, with the description thereof. This was representative of the doctrine which the Lord would give to the last dispensation. John "heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." After that, the voice said to him "Behold, I make all things new. Write: for these words are true and faithful."
     The holy city, New Jerusalem, which John saw, was nothing but a representative of the celestial doctrine that would be given to the New Church by the Lord. As Moses saw the celestial doctrine of the Most Ancient Church represented by a tabernacle, so John saw the doctrine of the New Church represented by a city. There is no city that will ever descend through the visible sky, but there is a city which is descending, and will gradually descend, into the minds of men. It will descend there as doctrine. Those who will receive it will "drink freely of the fountain of the water of life."
     Concerning our text, we are told that Divine things in the heavens are also presented to view in a form. These visible things are representatives. The "New Jerusalem" means a new church that is to be established by the Lord. By the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven a new church is meant, for the reason that Jerusalem was the metropolis in the Land of Canaan, and the temple and altar were there, and the sacrifices were offered there; thus the Divine worship itself, to which every male of the whole land was commanded to go three times a year, was celebrated there; and also for the reason that the Lord was in Jerusalem, and taught in its temple, and afterward glorified His Human there.
     The rational mind itself is in the middle, and to it two ways tend, from above and below. That mind, from the goods and truths which are in it, is compared in the Word to a city, and is called "a city." And because it is compared to a city, it is called "a city," and gates are attributed to it. By "Him who sat upon the throne" is meant the Lord. The reason why the Lord spoke "upon a throne" is because it is said, "Behold, I make all things new," by which is signified that He was about to execute the Last Judgment, and then to create a New Heaven and a New Earth, and a New Church, with all and everything in them. (A. C. 9481; T. C. R. 197, 782; A. C. 2851:3; A. R. 886.)

199




     The New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, is called a "tabernacle of God" from the celestial good in it, and is called a "city built of precious stones" from the Divine Truth in it. The New Church is represented by both the tabernacle and the city, from which we see that the innocence in the New Church is the innocence of wisdom. It is a different kind of innocence to that which was in the Most Ancient Church. The innocence of that church was the innocence of infancy.
     The Lord has made all things new in the New Church. Its doctrine is quite new, and it has a different innocence. It acknowledges One God in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that God is the Lord Jesus Christ. It acknowledges His Human to be Divine. It teaches us about a life after death, about the eternity of marriage, and many other things which are altogether quite new. The power of doctrine it has is compared to a "rod of iron." (Apoc. 12: 5.) The internal sense of the Word has now been revealed. Many wonderful things of heaven have been revealed. Everything is perfectly quite new.
     That all things in the Apocalypse would be revealed afterwards is quite clear from what was said to John. He was told, "Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand." (Apoc. 22: 10.) The internal meaning of this prophecy has now been revealed. That sense does not treat of worldly things as the external sense does, but it treats of the Lord, heaven, and the church only. In that sense, by the New Jerusalem" is not meant a literal city, but an internal city which is doctrine descending out of heaven into our minds.
     The Last Judgment was accomplished in the spiritual world from the year 1757. All the people who had died since the time of the Lord on earth were allowed to make for themselves as-it-were heavens in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell. The Last Judgment was upon these people. The dissipation of these heavens, which were merely imaginary, is meant by the heaven" which passed away; their false doctrine is what is meant by the "earth" which passed away. After this the Lord made all things new. A "new heaven and a new earth" were established.

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The holy city, New Jerusalem, is descending, and will descend, but not as a city proper, but as doctrine descending into our minds. This is the "marriage supper of the Lamb," to which we are all invited. (Apoc. 19: 9.)
     "All the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven should come and gather themselves unto the supper of the great God." (Apoc. 19: 17.) By "fowls" are meant all those who are in the affection of truth from good. The church of the Lord is really a supper for our souls, for it feeds and nourishes our souls. But those cannot come into this church, and enjoy themselves in its supper, who are "uncircumcised and unclean." (Isaiah 52: 1.)
     By the "uncircumcised" are meant all those who are not purified from the loves of self and the world. The "uncircumcised" cannot come into the Lords church, because heaven and hell cannot be mixed together, as they are opposites. Consequently, the Lord cannot dwell with the "uncircumcised and the unclean." He has no dwelling place with such a person. The Lord dwells in man in what is His Own. We must perform repentance, if we are to be in the Lord's Church. We must perform repentance daily in our life, and love the Lord and our neighbor. In this way will the city New Jerusalem descend into our minds, and there will the tabernacle of the Lord be formed. In this way will the Lord dwell with us, and we shall be His people, and God Himself will be with us, as our God.
     The Lord has made everything new in His Church. We must also make ourselves new by the truths of His Church. A new garment cannot be sewn on an old one. Our old life must die, and we must receive a new life from the Lord. From all this we can see that the Lord has come again in His Divine Human, and the New Heaven and the New Earth have been formed. We can also see that the Divine things of heaven are presented to view in a form. The visible things are representatives. "And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful." Amen.

LESSON:     Isaiah 52. Apocalypse 21. A. R. 882.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy, pages 452, 471, 438.
PRAYERS:     Nos. 93, 100.

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BETROTHAL 1943

BETROTHAL       Rev. ELMO C. ACTON       1943

     It was not until the year 1877, or about a hundred years after the establishment of the New Church, that a betrothal service was established, the form having been provided in our earliest Liturgy. Before that time the true distinctiveness of the teaching of the Writings about marriage was not fully understood. With the institution of betrothal as a rite of the church came a new understanding of the doctrine of marriage. And this service now stands as the most significant external representative of the whole doctrine of conjugial love. It is the only rite that is distinctive to the New Church; all the others we have in common with the sects of the former Church.
     The word "betrothal" means a solemn and sacred promise before the Lord. It is a rite in which an engaged couple appear before the Lord as represented by a priest, and solemnly pledge their mutual love and express their wish for an eternal and holy union in marriage. And they ask a Divine blessing upon their union.
     Betrothal, as a ritual, expresses the essential difference between the doctrine of the New Church concerning marriage and that of the Old Church. From the words of the Apostle Paul, "It is better to marry than to burn," and from his general teaching that marriage is an accommodation to man's bestial nature, the ideal life being one of celibacy, the Christian Church developed the doctrine that marriage is only for life in the world-a union for time-to provide an orderly ultimate for man s sensual nature, and for the use of natural procreation:-a union that is of the body, and therefore dissolved with the death of the body. This is a denial of the spiritual part of marriage, and removes from the thought all that is really and essentially holy in the most sacred of all unions.
     The New Church, on the other hand, teaches that marriage is an eternal union, and therefore one that is essentially of the spirit, and only from the spirit in the body. Betrothal is the ultimate acknowledgment of this truth.

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The New Church teaches that there are marriages in heaven, and that those who have come into a pure and holy union while they live on earth will continue in that union to eternity in the other world. The New Church teaches that marriage is holy in all its degrees when its holiness arises from the spirit; that when there is a true union in the spirit, then, from the spirit, even the externals of marriage are holy; that these externals are not an accommodation to man's bestial nature, but that they are the most holy ultimates of all with those who are in a spiritual union; also that since they are the most holy, they can also become the most degraded.
     Because a genuine marriage is a conjunction of the spirit, and from the spirit in the body, the New Church also teaches that the two who are entering into marriage in an orderly state must be of the same religion, that is to say, must have the same internal aims and purposes in life. For it is a common love of the truths of the church, and a common striving after the good of these truths, that unites them more and more as to their spirits, and therefore continually purifies their union in ultimates.
     Now a word as to how all of this is represented in the rite of betrothal. The Writings say that marriage should he preceded by a solemn betrothal, in which a man and a woman plight their love and faith to each other in the presence of a priest as representing the Lord. It is, therefore, not the same as an engagement, which is a promise made privately by the two parties. In the rite of betrothal the engagement is renewed, as it were, in the presence of the Lord, and their mutual consent is confirmed and established. (C. L. 301.) It is a recognition that marriage is a Divine, not a human, institution; that its holiness comes from the presence of the Lord in the marriage. The betrothal ceremony therefore represents a union in the eternal or spiritual world, and is a prayer to the Lord that they may come into such a marriage. It is this spiritual marriage that we mean by conjugial love.
     "Betrothal is chiefly a state of the spirit, and the beginning of the following state, to be inaugurated by marriage." (C. L. 306.) The rite, therefore, is a preparation for marriage, which is a union in the body as well as in the spirit, or rather, of the body from the spirit, which spiritual union cleanses, purifies, and makes holy the marriage in the body.

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For this reason, betrothal is to take place when marriage is actually in view, when the date of the wedding has been set. When possible, betrothal should take place about a month before the wedding; but when this is not possible, it is still useful to have the ceremony, even on the day before the wedding or on the same day, as an ultimate recognition of the spiritual origin of the institution of marriage.
     Betrothal being and representing the heavenly marriage-the marriage of the Lord and the Church, the marriage of good and truth in the individual man-it is of the spirit, and therefore is not to introduce into a more ultimate union, but to a more interior union of the spirits of the two, in which the inmost affections and thoughts are mutually made known, and the two come into a closer spiritual conjunction of souls and minds as a preparation for the full union that is to follow the marriage. The ultimate union is thus made pure and holy, and even this becomes a spiritual thing.
     From all of this it may be seen that in the ritual of the betrothal service we express our belief that conjugial love is from the Lord alone, that it is the most holy of all loves with angels and men. The service, therefore, is a private one, to which only the very close friends of the couple are invited,-only those who can enter with the couple into the spiritual idea that is involved and represented in the ceremony.
     As we have seen, betrothal is in preparation for marriage; it is an elevation of the whole idea of marriage as a spiritual union, an elevation of the spirits of the two in their love for one another, and this as a preparation for its orderly descent after marriage. And here is an interesting teaching that is given in the Writings-that conjugial love is such in its descent as it is in the height to which it ascends, that the higher it ascends in the spirit, the more holy it is in its descent; that is to say, the more holy and pure it is in the spirit, the more holy and pure it is in the body also. (C. L. 302.)
     The holiness and purity of conjugial love in the spirit is dependent upon the shunning of all violations against it as sins against God. The genuine marriage love-conjugial love-is from the Lord, and can be given to those only who shun all turning of the thought to others than the loved one. Betrothal is a solemn promise before the Lord that this will be done.

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It is a determining of the love of the sex to one of the sex, and a promise from conviction of heart that one will do all in his power to acquire the heavenly marriage with the partner.
     And therefore the betrothal ceremony should bring about a change of state; it should introduce to a state in which the two are no longer an engaged couple, but are bridegroom and bride. The true meaning of these two words has been lost, and is now to be restored. Bride and bridegroom mean a betrothed couple-a couple who have appeared before the Lord and acknowledged that they wish their marriage to be blest by Him as the only source of conjugial love. The words mean two who have promised to strive for the spiritual marriage, and to enter into it in an orderly manner. After the fulfilment of this state, that is, after the marriage proper, they are no longer bride and bridegroom, but husband and wife.
     To the New Church, in the Writings, has been revealed the heavenly truth concerning marriage; and to desire the betrothal service is to acknowledge this truth from the heart. And so the service should not be entered into as a mere matter of form, but from a deep conviction of the Divine origin of marriage as a union in a most holy and pure love which is not to be violated in any manner. When a young man and a young woman, who have plighted their faith and love privately to each other, appear before a priest of the church to receive the Divine blessing upon their union, they represent in ultimate act the belief of their hearts that conjugial love is from the Lord. Betrothal is the full ultimation of this belief, and therefore it should not be neglected.
GLORIFICATION 1943

GLORIFICATION              1943

     The Lord, by means of the most grievous combats of temptations, reduced all things in Himself into Divine order, insomuch that nothing whatever remained of the human which He derived from the mother; so that He was not made new as another man is, but altogether Divine. For the man who is made new by regeneration still retains in himself an inclination to evil, yea, evil itself, but is withheld from evil by an influx of the life of the Lords love, and this with a force exceeding great. But the Lord utterly cast out all the evil which He had by heredity from the mother, and made Himself Divine, even as to the vessels, that is, as to truths. It is this that is called "glorification" in the Word. (A. C. 3318e.)

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PLACE OF THE HUMANITIES IN OUR EDUCATION 1943

PLACE OF THE HUMANITIES IN OUR EDUCATION        GEORGE DE CHARMS       1943

     (Delivered before the General Faculty of the Academy Schools, March 2, 1943.)

     There are powerful forces at work in the educational world seeking to dislodge the cultural studies from their traditional place of dignity and importance in the curriculum, in order to make room for an expansion of the technical subjects. This movement has been given tremendous impetus by the pressing demands of the war emergency; but its objectives go far beyond the necessity to meet immediate and temporary requirements. The controversy as to the relative values of these two essential branches of training has been raging for many years. The adherents of the view that cultural studies have been greatly overrated, and that the rapidly changing conditions of our modern world render a far greater emphasis on technical knowledge and skill imperative, have been steadily gaining in strength for a long time. Their real purpose is not merely to increase the efficiency of the war effort, but to adjust education fundamentally and permanently to the needs of a mechanical age, the demands of which they foresee will be increasingly urgent in the post-war world. The older form of classical education they are convinced will no longer suffice to prepare our youth for the kind of life that will be necessary if our civilization is to advance along the path of scientific and mechanical conquest which is regarded as its manifest destiny. That those who maintain this conviction will prevail seems now a foregone conclusion, since the opposition is definitely on the defensive, with its strategic positions already deeply undermined; and it is rapidly losing ground.
     This is something that should give us pause. It has a direct bearing on the future of the Academy. For from the beginning it has been our exalted purpose to establish within the Church, not merely a new religious faith, but a new civilization and a new culture as well.

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     Nor can we choose the kind of world in which we would prefer to labor. If we would succeed, we must be prepared to face a changing situation that is beyond our control, and to gauge the obstacles that such a situation may erect in our chosen path, in order to overcome them. It is important, therefore, that we should analyze the educational thought of the day. We must measure it against the standard of Revealed Truth, seeking to discover in it what is good and useful to our cause, as well as what is hurtful and to be avoided. We must know exactly what we ourselves think about this question of the proper relation that should exist between cultural and technical studies; and where our conclusions differ from those of our contemporaries in the field of education we must search for practical means to protect and maintain our objectives.
     This is a large undertaking. It is something we cannot accomplish within the limits of a Faculty address. Our purpose in presenting the subject is but to stimulate thought and rouse discussion, with a view to the gradual formulation of principles that may guide us. We would ask, therefore, "What are the grounds of the attack upon the cultural subjects? How far are they valid? What is the fundamental reason for the attack; and, so far as it succeeds, where will it lead? How best may we deflect it, so that it may not injure the Academy and its work?"
     The contention is, that the unprecedented demands of modern warfare for technical training, both in the armed services and in industry, has brought into clear light a serious weakness that has long been suspected in our present educational system. It has placed in sharp relief deficiencies that not only render us woefully unprepared for war, but that will, if not remedied, leave our young men and women of the future without the necessary educational equipment to cope with the stringent demands of the peace that is to follow. Mechanization, mass production, the exploration of new scientific frontiers-on which the future progress of our civilization depends-call for more and more knowledge and skill which only a technical training can give. To prepare efficiently for life in this modern world, our education, like our trains, our ships, our motor cars, and our airplanes, must be streamlined. Everything nonessential to this objective must be pared down, so that we may achieve greater speed, accuracy, and skill in highly specialized work.

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     Cultural studies, so far as they are retained, must be relegated to a position of secondary importance. They must be made to contribute directly to this imperative need. In order to conserve time and energy for the main task, we must see to it that the minds of our children are not cluttered up with useless knowledge. The supreme task of education is to prepare for a life of practical use to society. That life will produce its own culture to replace the false standards of culture that have grown up in the past.
     Stephen A. Freeman, in an article appearing in EDUCATION MAGAZINE for February, 1942, presents the position in these words: "Emphasizing the social aspect of education, psychologists and educators have come forward with the statement that education for our twentieth century pupils should be functional and contemporary. They claim that culture is nothing but life; that our schools should teach pupils how to live and to be useful cooperative members of the social order. The functions or activities of individual and group life should be taught, but all abstract reasoning, all knowledge, separated from a useful activity, should be avoided, they say. . . . In another direction, the argument denies any body of knowledge necessary for a really cultured person, and throws out any attempt at intellectual discipline."
     This last is perhaps an extreme statement. It would be fairer to say that those who believe in functional education contend that intellectual discipline can be acquired more effectively through scientific and technical studies than by means of the humanities. They have in mind, of course, quite a different kind of discipline,-the kind that looks to the solution of practical problems rather than to the cultivation of accurate and discriminating abstract thought. Certain it is that the end in view is to make technical training paramount, to introduce it much earlier and in greater variety into the educational program, and to retain the humanities only so far as they can be made to serve the actual needs of business, professional, and social life.
     Abstract learning, apart from any obvious or immediate application, such as the study of ancient languages for those who are not to be linguistic scholars-history, literature, art, or other intellectual studies taught as a means to culture-this is regarded not merely as useless, but as positively harmful.

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It is contended that such studies cater to personal enjoyment and self-gratification without regard to use; that they impart nothing more than a superficial veneer of refined manners, a facile use of language that gives the appearance of intellectual brilliance, and a supposedly discriminating taste in all things that breeds a sense of superiority and a contempt for others. Such an education encourages class distinction and snobbery. It leads to a dissatisfaction with the hard grind of productive labor, and tends to produce a class of social parasites, living on the bounty of others.
     In this connection, our attention is called to the landed aristocracy of Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The education of the day was not designed to prepare for productive enterprise. It merely sought to provide training appropriate to a gentleman, who had no need to work. It was not intended for the mass of the people, but only for the wealthy; and the technical education for efficiency in productive enterprise-such as was open to the less privileged classes-was looked down upon as purely utilitarian. It is pointed out that the upper crust of society, though it enjoyed the greatest educational advantages, became weak, self-indulgent, and morally corrupt. The true strength of society lay with those who were actually doing the world's work-facing adversity, toughening the sinews of both the body and the mind against the hard surface of reality. This is taken as sufficient proof that civilization dies at the top, the implication being that culture is what kills it.
     The circumstantial evidence supporting this conclusion is undeniable, and there is much in the teaching of the Writings that would seem to sanction it. The end of education is not knowledge but use; it is not thought but will in action that builds character and determines the quality of the man. It is not personal enjoyment but service to the neighbor on which the welfare of society depends; not skill in finding the easiest road, or success in avoiding the heavier burdens, but the will to pull one's own weight-to face the responsibilities of ones own life with the determination to do one's duty faithfully, whatever it may demand in apparent labor and sacrifice-this is far more vital than acquiring a large vocabulary, or a discriminating taste in literature.

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     All this is true, but our use to the neighbor is not merely our business, our profession, or our trade. It is not merely the work of our hands, trained to the precision of a delicate machine. It is above all a human service,-a service performed by a mind and a heart. It is a sharing with others of gifts we receive from the Lord,-gifts of love and charity qualified by wisdom and intelligence. These are the special attributes of man. He alone can receive them and impart them to others. To do so is his real, his special use.
     How are these gifts received? And how are they transmitted in the performance of a use truly human? These are questions, the answer to which is vital to any real concept of education and the aims it should seek to achieve.
     They are received in the first instance from the Word, from Divine Revelation. But here they are theoretical, in the form of maxims, broad general principles, spiritual laws of life. As such they are eternal and immutable. But that they may be understood in practical and varied application to the complex conditions of individual and society life, they must be seen as reflected in nature, and in human experience. Their reflection in nature can be discovered only in the degree that the mind is equipped with an accurate knowledge of the physical sciences. Only so far as this vision is given can these sciences be used wisely, intelligently, and in a human way for the benefit of others. Without it they can just as easily be used to the detriment of society and the destruction of the race, in spite of the fact that skill and efficiency have been developed to the highest degree. The purpose of scientific education should be to impart not merely technical knowledge and skill, but the vision and the will to use these tools wisely. It is of course true that this cannot be done by theoretical instruction alone, but only by theoretical instruction plus practice and actual use, thus by experience as well. Yet it is equally true that no amount of practice or skill, no amount of undirected thinking or discussion will lead to a vision of the Divine purpose,-the inner use for which the forces of nature are intended,-apart from Revelation and adequate spiritual and moral instruction.
     Nor is this enough by itself. For the uses are to be performed by men, and to men. The Divine laws of life as revealed in the Word must be seen in practical relation to human beings.

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They must be seen reflected in the lives of men, in the experience of the race. They must be seen in the progress of human thought and philosophy, in the interplay of human feelings, emotions, and aspirations, for in these man's reaction to Divine influx stands revealed. They must be seen in the development of social laws and customs, as these took various forms with different races, nations, and peoples in different parts of the world and at different stages of racial growth. To bring this human reflection of spiritual truth into focus, we need a discriminating knowledge of history, of literature, of language, and of the arts. The real values that lie within these studies are indeed imponderable, but they are also in the highest degree essential to the welfare of mankind. They are vital to the preservation of society and the future of civilization. They have a deeper import than the physical studies, because it is of greater concern that men should use aright the things they have, or the things they invent-use them for the general benefit of society-than it is that they should multiply these things, only to use them wrongly.
     The things of which we are speaking are, we say, imponderable. They are, however, spiritual realities, the only real things, because the only permanent and eternal things in the universe. They are the things for the possession, enjoyment, and use of which man was created. They do not lie on the surface of nature, nor on the surface of human experience, but are contained within them, concealed from view, brought to light only by the penetrating rays of spiritual truth. Man at first, in infancy and childhood, is entirely oblivious to them. He perceives only what is obvious to the physical senses. But he is endowed with the faculty of perceiving them; and this faculty can be cultivated by education. Indeed, such cultivation is the supreme end of all education. And to render the mind, both as to affection and understanding, sensitive and responsive to these deeper realities, is what is meant by "culture' in the true sense.
     We submit that it is not culture, but the abuse of culture, that has caused our modern civilization apparently to die at the top. The humanities, the social sciences in the broadest sense, the knowledge of man, past and present, can be acquired without true culture. It can be wrongly used, just as can the sciences of nature. This is what has taken place, and it indicates the true answer to the question as to what is wrong with our world.

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To banish the humanities from our education, or to subject them to a strict subservience to a utilitarian philosophy of life, will not cure the evils from which we are suffering. Indeed, it will greatly aggravate those evils, for it will further remove man from the possibility of understanding and appreciating the Divine Truth of Revelation. It will render men less understanding of one another, less perceptive of the inalienable laws of human society, less able to grasp the real meaning of use to the neighbor.
     There are, however, in this whole discussion, questions to which it is essential that we should seek the answers. How can we best equip our youth to meet the practical requirements of this world of inverted values, and at the same time prepare them for the life of New Church men and women? What is the true place of the humanities, and how should they be related to the physical sciences and to technical training, in our Academy education? Have we been doing all that needs to be done to make the studies of both these branches of learning cultural in the full sense of the word, and at the same time functional?
     The great outstanding need of the day is not for more and more technical knowledge or skill. It is for a deeper insight into the causes of things,-an insight into the purpose behind them, and the use for which they were intended by the Creator. It is for an intelligent grasp of the end for the sake of which man exists, and his eternal destiny. It is for a knowledge of how the things of the world and the instrumentalities of human society may be used for the furtherance of that end. The real source of the worlds present difficulty is vaguely seen by Walter Lippman, who says in Education Versus Western Civilization: "Modern education is based on a denial that it is necessary, or useful, or desirable for schools and colleges to continue to transmit from generation to generation the religious and classical culture of the western world. There is now no common faith, no common body of principle, no common body of knowledge, no common moral and intellectual discipline. Yet the graduates of our modern schools are expected to form a civilized community. They are expected to arrive by discussion at common purposes. When one realizes that they have no common culture, is it astounding that they have no common purpose? We have established a system of education in which we insist that, while everyone must be educated, yet there is nothing in particular that an educated man must know. . . .

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We have abolished the old curriculum because we are afraid of it, afraid to face any longer the severe discipline and the deep, disconcerting issues of the nature of the universe, and of man's place in it, and of his destiny."
     More important still, men have lost any perception of the fact that there are eternal truths which should not only be known, but should be loved supremely-any perception that these truths are made available to us solely by means of a Divine Revelation, and that they can be understood in relation to human life only as reflected in the best thoughts and the highest aspirations of mankind through all the history of the race. They do not realize that man, guided by Revelation, can discover these truths through a discriminating study of history, language, literature, and art; and this in a way that he cannot discover them in the physical sciences. They do not know that man cannot discover them, either in the humanities or in the sciences, without the help of Revelation; and that conclusions based on human thinking alone, on self-intelligence alone, can lead only to greater and greater confusion of thought and purpose.
     Our task in the Academy is to restore this truth, and to use all the sciences of nature, and all the arts and sciences of man to illustrate it, confirm it, and give it practical significance. With us there should be no conflict between the humanities and the physical sciences, no conflict between intellectual culture and the culture of applied knowledge in the ultimate uses of society. The importance of each should be recognized. Its special contribution to the education of man should be clearly seen. And for that contribution each should be used with a full recognition of the conditions our young people will be called upon to meet when their formal education has been completed. And it is possible, with this end held firmly in view, that we may find it wise to introduce certain changes in our own curricula and modes of teaching. What these should be is worthy of study and thought. But such changes must be motivated by the end we propose to accomplish, and not by the vain imagination that the humanities must be sacrificed on the altar of a materialistic philosophy-sacrificed for the sake of the questionable advantage of a purely mechanized civilization.

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WORD EXPLAINED-VOLUME VI 1943

WORD EXPLAINED-VOLUME VI       Editor       1943


NEW CHURCH LIFE
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THE WORD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT EXPLAINED. By Emanuel Swedenborg. English Version. Translated by Alfred Acton, M. A., D.Th., from the Latin text of a phototyped copy of the original manuscript preserved in the Royal Academy of Sciences. Sweden. Volume VI: Nos. 5873-6339 [Latin: 4451-5409], explaining the Books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings; also the Book of Ruth and a few chapters of the Books of the Chronicles. Bryn Athyn, Pa.: Academy of the New Church, 1942. Cloth, 8vo, pp. 280, $4.00.

     At the beginning of the first volume of the English Version of this work (page v), the reader will find Swedenborg's own Table of Contents, and he will observe that, in explaining the books of the Old Testament, the work passes from Genesis and Exodus to the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, now published in the volume before us. There is then a return to the books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, the work concluding with explanations of the prophetical books of Isaiah and Jeremiah. These concluding five books, like those of Genesis and Exodus, are explained in considerable detail, and we believe it will require two volumes for the English Version, which we shall hope to see published before very long.

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     Contents.-In comparison with the detailed explanations of Genesis and Exodus, verse by verse, the explanations of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings are rather fragmentary, except in the case of the prophetic songs of Deborah and Barak and of Hannah, the Lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan, David's Song in II Samuel 22, and the prophetic utterances of Isaiah in II Kings 19,-all of which are treated more in detail. (See nos. 6032, 6081, 6170, 6187, 6310.)
     The Book of Ruth, which is not a book of the canonical Word, is only briefly treated, as illustrating the law of the levirate, and as showing the ancestry of David, nos. 6077, 6078. As we are told in the Writings, the law of the levirate was observed in the Ancient Church. As it required a husband's brother to marry his widow, to the end that the family name and inheritance might be perpetuated, it represented "the conservation and continuation of the church." (A. C. 4835; Deuteronomy 25: 5-10.) The law was abolished by the Lord when He came. (See Matthew 22: 24-29.) The comments upon a few chapters of the Chronicles are also very brief, and the author remarks, "It can be justly doubted whether these books are Divinely inspired." (Nos. 6330, 6331.)
     In the Writings, as we know, the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, are not expounded seriatim, as are Genesis. Exodus, and the Apocalypse; yet the spiritual sense of many passages in these four books is revealed in the Writings. And it is of great interest to compare the explanations given in The Word Explained with the later expositions in the Writings; also to note what is said about the internal character of certain Biblical personages in the earlier and later works. We shall do this in the case of King Solomon, who is described in The Word Explained, nos. 3117 and 6257-6259, and later in the Diary. [See June issue.]
     The contents of Volume VI will be of special use to ministers and teachers, to be consulted for ideas when teaching the stories in this part of the Old Testament, or in preparing sermons. The whole work is especially rich in delineations of the internal historical sense of the Word, but also affords many glimpses of the spiritual sense itself, as well as furnishing experiences among angels and spirits. For the student, therefore, it is an invaluable work of reference.

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     The general New Church reader will find interest in noting. in Volume VI as in the preceding five, the written evidence of the way in which the Lord was preparing Swedenborg to expound the internal sense of the Scriptures in the later Theological Works. After the revelator's call by the Lord in April, 1745, it was not until 1749 that the first volume of the Arcana Celestia was published; meanwhile, during the four years' interval, the preparation of the revelator went forward, and the outstanding feature of that preparation was his gradual introduction by the Lord into the interiors of the Word,-into an understanding of spiritual truth and a knowledge of correspondences, and also into the company of those angels and spirits who were associated with the text of the Word.
     For in an earlier part of The Word Explained he declares: `I could at last plainly see that the tenor of Divine Providence has ruled the acts of my life from my very youth, and has so governed them that I might finally come to the present end: that thus, by means of the knowledge of natural things, I might be able to understand those things which lie more interiorly within the Word of God Messiah, and so, of the Divine mercy of God Messiah, might serve as an instrument for opening them." (III: 2532.)
     Order of the Books.-We are tempted to seek for the underlying reason why Swedenborg, in writing this work, was led by the Lord to pass from Exodus to Joshua, deferring until later an explanation of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In course of time a careful study will undoubtedly bring to light the reason for this. Passing from Exodus to Joshua is indeed a passing from Moses to his successor (Joshua 1: 1), but it omits the incidents of the journey from Sinai to the Jordan, as recorded in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, closing with the death of Moses. These three books are largely occupied with the statutes of the Mosaic Law: the historical events are incidental.
     We offer this thought on the subject: At the close of the Book of Exodus, the tabernacle had been set the near Mount Sinai about one year after the departure from Egypt; the worship had been inaugurated, and the tribes were encamped in their order round about the tent of assembly. Thus a representation of the Lord and heaven had been established with the Children of Israel.

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But this representation was to be more complete after the tribes had occupied their correspondential places in the Land of Canaan and the tabernacle had been set up at Shiloh, and when finally the temple was built by Solomon. In this we may perhaps see one reason for passing from Exodus to Joshua in The Word Explained, wherein so much is said about the "representation of the kingdom of God Messiah." So we read: "Hence the reason for the existence of the temple, as, previously, of the tent of assembly, can now be evident. For the tent of assembly signifies the life of man while he is journeying. Therefore, it is said that hitherto He had dwelt in a tent. But the temple signifies the kingdom of God Messiah. The two coincide, like things successive with things simultaneous." (W. E. VI: 6247.)
     Conquest of the Land of Canaan.-A perusal of Volume VI turns the thought to that period in Old Testament history when the Israelites took possession of the Land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, driving out, destroying, or enslaving the inhabitants, and beginning an occupation which was to last (with varying fortunes) for over 1,500 years, or until the Jews, in turn, were subjugated by the Romans shortly before the Advent of the Lord. This seizure of lands belonging to other nations and peoples is very much in our minds these days,-a form of aggrandizement which often violates the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal."
     But the seizure of Canaan by the Sons of Israel took place under Divine auspices, and for the purposes of Divine Providence, especially for the sake of its representation in the written Word. The dispossessed nations were idolaters, and Israel was to worship the true God, albeit in outward form only; and some of the peoples of the Land were better morally and spiritually than the Hebrews, being good remnants of the Ancient Churches; for example, the Hittites, Hivites, and Jebusites. (Nos.5910, 5914; see A. C. 2913, 44292, 44472, 6860.) So we view in this apparently unjustified seizure of territory a Divine permission for the sake of Divine ends, as it were by right of "eminent domain." For this Land had been formed at creation to be the home of the Lord's Church on earth, its geographical contours being correspondential and representative of the Lord and His kingdom. He Himself was to be born and to glorify His Human there. So its possession had been promised to Abraham and his posterity, with whom a merely representative church was there to be established, and to be maintained until the Advent of the Lord and the institution of a genuine church.

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     At the time of the conquest the inhabitants of Canaan were, for the most part, corrupt remnants of the Ancient Church, being in idolatrous worship, false beliefs and evils of life. Thus they represented the state in the spiritual world at the end of a church, when regions of heaven are occupied by the evil,-a condition that is tolerated until the Lord comes to judgment, when those regions are taken from the evil and given to the good. So we read: "The enemies are not driven out of heaven, or out of the lower region of heaven, until the kingdom of God Messiah comes." (W. E. VI: 6012.)
     The conquest of Canaan under Joshua represents a last judgment at the coming of the Lord, and that is why such a conquest was permitted. For the same reason, at the Exodus from Egypt, the Israelites, who were to represent a spiritual church, were permitted to spoil the Egyptians, who were a corrupt remnant of the Ancient Church. "Everyone can see that, unless such things had been represented, it would never have been commanded by the Divine that they should use such cunning against the Egyptians; for everything of the kind is very remote indeed from the Divine. But because the Israelitish people were wholly representative, it was permitted by the Divine that they should so do, because it is so done with the evil in the other life." (A. C. 6914e.)
     That the conquest of the Land under Joshua represented a last judgment, Swedenborg was given to see during that preparatory period of which The Word Explained is the record. He was being introduced by the Lord into the general subject or the general doctrine of the internal sense of the Book of Joshua, as we read: "The whole book of Joshua involves the things that will come to pass at the last time." (5883) "The book of Joshua involves the things that will come to pass on the last day, when the judgment will take place. Here God Messiah is represented by Joshua, the true Israel by this people, and their enemies by the Canaanites who were wiped out; just as they were previously represented by Moses, by this same people when they went forth out of Egypt, and by the Egyptians there; as also at the time of the flood, when the enemies of God Messiah perished, the house of Noah alone remaining.

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The last day of judgment is what is represented." (5886) The entrance into the Land also represents the day of resurrection and judgment with individual men. "This people represents those on the third day who will come into the heavenly Canaan." (5883)
     Representation of Joshua.-In this work, as cited above, it is said that "God Messiah is represented by Joshua." We also read: "Joshua represents Him as the King who would introduce Israel into the holy land, that is, into His heavenly kingdom." (5949) "Joshua represented the royal dignity of God Messiah." (5994) As a king and his royalty represent the Lord as to His Divine Truth, we are told in the Writings that Joshua represents the Divine Truth combating: "The Divine Truth Itself, which proceeds immediately from the Lord (which Truth is represented by Moses) is not combative, but pacific, for it is peace itself, since it proceeds from the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love. That it may become combative, it inflows with such angels as are in an ardent zeal for truth and good, and who, being excited by that zeal, enter into combat. Thence is the combating truth which is represented by Joshua. Therefore he was made leader over the Sons of Israel after Moses, and introduced them into the Land of Canaan, and fought with the nations there; on this account also, when he came into the Land of Canaan, there appeared to him the Angel of Jehovah with a drawn sword in his hand, who called himself Prince of the army of Jehovah; for the drawn sword signifies Truth Divine fighting in its power." (A. C. 8595; see 8657e.) And it is by means of the Divine Truth that the Lord conquers the hells at the time of a last judgment.
     Let us recall some teachings of the Writings on the subject before us.
     That the Word Might Be Written.-To be Introduced by Jehovah into the Land of Canaan meant to become a church. The reason is, that the church had been there from most ancient times, and that the Word could not have been written elsewhere, nor among any people but the nation which possessed that land; and where the Word is, there is the church. The Word could not have been written anywhere else, because all the places in that land, and round about it, had become representative of celestial and spiritual things. And it was necessary that the sense of the letter of the Word, both in the historical and the prophetical parts, should consist of such things, since the interiors of the Word, being celestial and spiritual, terminate in such representatives, and stand upon them as it were, like a house upon its foundation." (A. C. 10559.)

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     Occupied Regions of Heaven.-As the Land of Canaan represented the kingdom of God Messiah, or heaven, the idolatrous nations possessing that land are likened in The Word Explained to the "enemies of God Messiah" who have invaded heaven, and who "are not driven out of heaven, or out of the lower region of heaven, until the kingdom of God Messiah comes." (6012) This spiritual counterpart of the Joshua story is more specifically and graphically described in the Writings, and it will be useful to present it here. It is particularly interesting to note that such an invasion of heaven by the evil comes about as the church declines on earth, as evil increases and good diminishes among men, the consequence being that the lower heavens are insufficiently protected, the influx from the higher heavens becoming invalid-a condition that is only rectified by the advent of the Lord to perform judgment by the omnipotent power of His Divine Truth in combat against the hells. This, as represented by the conquest of the Land under Joshua, is thus described in the Arcana Celestia:
     "By the nations in the Land of Canaan are signified all kinds of evil and falsity. . . . Before the advent of the Lord into the world, evil genii and spirits occupied all that region to which the spiritual were afterwards elevated; for before the Lord's coming a great part of such spirits roamed about freely, and infested the good, especially the spiritual who were in the lower earth. But after the Lord's advent they were all thrust down into their own hells, and that region was liberated, and given for an inheritance to those who were of the spiritual church. It has often been observed that, as soon as any place is relinquished by good spirits, it is occupied by evil ones; that the evil are expelled thence, and on their expulsion it is again ceded to those who are in good. The reason is, that the internals are continually ardent to destroy the things which are of heaven, particularly those things of which they themselves are the opposite. Wherefore, when a place anywhere is relinquished, because it is then without protection, it is immediately occupied by the evil. This is specifically meant by the region that is occupied by evils and falsities, which is signified by the Land occupied by the nations that were to be expelled." (A. C. 6858.)
     "It is to be known that, before the advent of the Lord, heaven was not distinguished into three heavens, namely, into the inmost or third, the middle or second, and the ultimate or first, as after the advent of the Lord, but it was one. There was not yet a spiritual heaven; the region where the spiritual heaven was to be formed was occupied by those who were in falsity and evil, but who could be held in some truth and good by external means, especially by ideas of eminence and dignity, just as is the case in the world, where those who are in evil and falsity are still obliged as it were to think and speak truths, and as it were to will and do goods, and this by external means, which are honors and gains.

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     "The reason why that region of heaven was then occupied by such, was because the good were lacking, and those of the spiritual church were not yet prepared; and yet it was necessary that every part should be filled by spirits, in order that there might be a continuity from the Lord even to man; for if there had been no continuity, man would have perished. There are also at this day some regions of heaven occupied by such; but they who are there are withheld by a strong force from doing evil. Immediately above the head are those who deceive and seduce by means of innocence; but above them are the celestial from the Most Ancient Church, who hold them in bonds with such a force that they cannot possibly bring evil upon anyone. Behind the back part of the head there is also at this day a region which had been a part of heaven, but which is now occupied by the evil; and likewise in front toward the left.
     "There is also a continual endeavor of the evil to invade the places where the good are; and they actually do invade them as soon as they are not filled by the good. That endeavor it has often been granted me to apperceive. Those regions are occupied when the evil are increased in the world, and the good are diminished; for then evil spirits approach man, and good spirits recede from him, and so far as the latter recede, so far the regions nearest to man are occupied by the evil. When this condition becomes general, the inhabitants of those regions are changed. This happens when the church is near its end, for then evil and falsity reign; but about the end of the church they are cast down, and the occupied regions are given to the good, who in the meantime have been prepared for heaven. This is meant by these words of John. 'There was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, but did not prevail, neither was their place found any more in heaven.' (Rev. 12: 7, 8.) And this state of heaven was represented by the Land of Canaan occupied by the nations, and by their being cast out by the Sons of Israel; for the Land of Canaan signifies the Lord's kingdom, thus heaven and the church." (A. C. 8054; see 8294e.)

     Such invasions of heaven are greatly restricted since the Second Advent, the Last Judgment, and the establishment of the New Heaven, the lower plane of which is protected by the omnipotent power of the Divine Human of the Lord, operating immediately and also by influx through the higher heavens. The evil cannot now invade and occupy for long periods as before, not for more than twenty years. (A. R. 866.) Unjust invasions will continue upon earth until a true love of the neighbor reigns, and meanwhile aggressions must be restrained by force of arms, and by the dominance of peace-loving and law-abiding nations.

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NOTES AND REVIEWS 1943

NOTES AND REVIEWS       Various       1943

     INFLUENCE OF THE SWEDISH IDIOM.

     There are several places in the Writings where the language shows the influence of the Swedish idiom. Two such cases come now to mind, both of which are of particular interest, in that a lack of knowledge of Swedish idiomatic expressions has led to some obscurity as to Swedenborg's meaning.
     The first is True Christian Religion, n. 840. There Augustine is spoken of as having been "Bishop of Hippo in Africa in the third century" (in tertio saeculo). Now Augustine became Bishop of Hippo in 395 A.D., and thus, according to English idiom, in the fourth century. But in the Swedish language, what we would call "the fourth century" is most frequently expressed as tre hundra talet, that is, "the three hundreds." It was without doubt this Swedish idiom that influenced Swedenborg's statement that Augustine was Bishop of Hippo in the third century, his meaning being "in the three hundreds." The English translation, therefore, should be in the fourth century."
     The other case occurs in True Christian Religion, n. 209. It is there said that, in the spiritual world, if one who is in falses touches the Word, "there is an explosion, and he is thrown to the corner of the room, and lies there per horulam as though dead." The word horulam means literally "a little or short hour" and since there is no such thing as a "short hour," the translators have had difficulty in translating this word. One has solved the difficulty by the translation "a short time," and another by the translation "about the space of an hour"; still another ignores the "hour" and has "a short time," while a fourth ignores the diminutive, and has "an hour"-as is done also by the French and Italian translators. The German translation has gegen eine Stunde (about an hour).
     Here again a knowledge of Swedish idiom would have been of use in interpreting the meaning intended by Swedenborg. In Swedish, an hour is timme and also stund. But timme means an hour, and never has any other meaning; stund also means "a moment," "a short while," and the expression en kort stund or en liten stund, meaning "a few moments," "a short time," is quite common in Swedish. Thus Gjorwell, after interviewing Swedenborg in 1764, returned to the Royal Library, and en kort stund (i.e., a few moments) later wrote down his account of the interview.

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There is no doubt in my mind but that this use of the word stund influenced Swedenborg when he wrote the word horula, i.e., en kort stund; and that the true translation of the words in True Christian Religion, n. 209 is "he was thrown to the corner of the room and remained there for some little time as though dead."
     ALFRED ACTON.
PRESUMPTION. 1943

PRESUMPTION.       E. E. IUNGERICH       1943

     Our attention has been called to a statement prominently displayed upon the first page of a copy of THE SOUTHERN CROSS, a weekly newspaper which is the official organ of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, California. The statement is printed in the issue for February 26, 1943. It opens with a reference to the claim of a Lutheran Chaplain in the Navy that he had been "special permission" to administer the Sacrament of the Church to some Catholic boys, and concludes with these words:

     "A Protestant Chaplain is completely useless to a Catholic boy. He does not have, never did have, and probably never will have the one thing which a Catholic boy needs-the power of Sacramental ministration. Before going into battle, Catholic sailors and marines want to receive the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist. A Protestant Chaplain, no matter how excellent his natural virtues, cannot absolve from sin, cannot confect the Blessed Sacrament. So the Catholic fighter is without a Chaplain.
     "Nor is this a monopolistic distinction arbitrarily made by the Catholic Church. Jesus Christ conferred those sacramental powers upon the Apostles, beneficently ordained that they hand them down to future generations through the unbroken stream of Sacred Orders.
     "This is not a question of rights, or privileges, or dogmatic differences, or permissions, or authorization, or feasibility. It is a question of 'CAN' or 'CANNOT.' Even though a Protestant Chaplain be a man of outstanding personal virtue, a man whose education and intellectual qualifications are in excess of those of the Catholic Chaplain, unless he has received from Christ-via the unbroken apostolic stream of Sacred Orders-the power to forgive sin and to change bread and wine into the Sacred Body and Blood, he is utterly and eternally impotent and helpless as an administrator of Sacramental Life."

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     In offering some brief comments upon this claim, we need not go deeply into the well-known Catholic beliefs concerning the apostolic succession, transubstantiation, and the power to open or shut heaven. They are based upon literalistic interpretations of the sayings of the Lord in the Gospels, such as these words addressed to the twelve apostles: "I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you." (John 15: 16.) And these words to Peter: "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16: 19.)
     If the Lord had meant His words to be taken in such a literal manner, and had conferred upon any group of men, regardless of their personal character, the "power to absolve from sin" and to "change bread and wine into the Sacred Body and Blood," the priority in such a matter was not given to the Church of Rome, but to the priesthood of the Jews at Jerusalem. For it was said of the high priest Eliakim, "The key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." (Isaiah 22: 22.) But that the Lord never surrendered such a key, or the power signified by it, either to Jews or Christians, is evident from His own declaration in the Apocalypse: "These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth." (Rev. 3: 7.) And again: "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." (Rev. 1: 18.)
     It is true that spiritual order requires that, whenever a new church specific is raised up to replace a former one that has lost its spiritual soul, this new church alone conjoins men on earth to angels in heaven in a direct way, however few the numbers in this new church may be. (S. S. 104.) This, of course, will be regarded as an arrogant presumption by the members of the former church. It is also true that those who belong to a fallen church, and who are not aware of the fall of their church, may still be connected by their ritual to spirits in the world of spirits who have not yet been adjudged to their final lot; they are connected with the kind of religion that is within and around them. (T. C. R. 680e.)

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And the same is true of gentiles of various groups, to which have more recently been added Jewish and Christian gentiles.
     But this indirect tie is very much weakened with Christians, if the sacraments are not administered in the way prescribed in the Word. As is well known, the Catholics do not administer the Eucharist in both kinds; the laity receive only the bread, not the wine. Why this was permitted, as an ultimation of their spiritual state, is revealed to us. (D. P. 257; A. E. 1054e; S. D. 6059.) And many Protestants do not administer wine, but substitute unfermented grape juice; and some do not break the bread, as the Lord Himself did, but either give wafers or cut the bread into cubes with a knife; and these things invalidate the efficacy of the sacrament.
     There is, however, this point of truth in the Catholic claim, namely, that what efficacy to conjoin one to heaven is possessed by the sacrament is invalidated with the individual communicant if the celebrant is not regarded as authorized to administer it. And if the Catholics feel that way about Protestant chaplains, how much more will New Churchmen feel the same about the administrations of the Christian Church. For a new Word of Revelation has been given to the New Church, and the spiritual sense has been disclosed, in the light of which we can now dissipate the various superficial and superstitious ideas of the sacrament of the Holy Supper which have been fostered in the former Church.
     "Such ideas concerning this most holy sacrament are cherished at this day in the whole Christian world, and this only because they coincide with the sense of the letter of the Word, and because the spiritual sense has hitherto been concealed, and has not been disclosed until now, in which sense alone the use and fruit of the Holy Supper is seen in its verity. That this sense is now disclosed for the first time, is because there was before no Christianity except in name, and with some a kind of shadow of it. For hitherto they have not approached and worshipped the Savior Himself immediately, as the one only God in whom is a Divine Trinity. . . .

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But because Christianity itself is now first beginning to dawn, and a New Church which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse is now being established by the Lord, in which God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are acknowledged as one, because in one Person, it has pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word, that this Church may come into the very use and fruit of the sacraments, which is done when men see, with the eyes of their spirit, that is, with the understanding, the holiness which is concealed therein, and apply it to themselves by the means which the Lord has taught in the Word." (T. C. R. 699, 700.)
     It is in the light of this New Doctrine that the New Church may lay claim to a new and distinctive power in its sacraments; and it is in the same light that it is able to evaluate the claims of the former Church as to the power and validity of its sacramental administrations. Where the Lord Jesus Christ is not approached as the only God, and where there is no knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word, and of correspondences, the use and fruit of the Holy Supper cannot be fulfilled. The Lord opens heaven to those who worthily approach the Holy Supper. He alone has the keys to the kingdom of heaven. And we are further told:
     "Hereafter no one can come into heaven unless he is in the doctrine of the New Church as to faith and life. The reason is that the New Heaven which has now been established by the Lord is in a faith and life according to that doctrine." (Canons, Divine Trinity, X: 7.)
     "Hereafter no one from among Christians can come into heaven unless he believes in the Lord God the Savior, and approaches Him alone." (T. C. R. 107.)
     Such declarations as these, which are accepted in full conviction of faith and understanding by New Churchmen, cannot but be regarded as presumptuous by the former Church, which derives its sacramental powers, not from the New Heaven, with which the New Church is in conjunction, but at best from societies of Christians in the world of spirits, among which only those can be admitted to heaven who are able to embrace the doctrine of the New Church in faith and life, because they have looked to the Lord alone, and have performed genuine repentance during their life in the world.
     E. E. IUNGERICH.

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MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943

General Church of the New Jerusalem.

THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)


     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa. United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942.
     SEARGANT PILOT RALPH ROSCHMAN HILL, Kitchener, Ontario. Royal Canadian Air Force. Killed on active service in Wales, February 9, 1943.


     OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, Sgt. Norman,
Heldon, Cpl. Sydney,
Kirsten, Sgt. Theodore,
Taylor, A.C. 1 Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bond, L.A.C. J. W.,
Bond, Cpl. Lillian D.,
Bond, L.A.C. Thomas A.,
Evens, Tpr. John,
Evens, Pvt. Robert A.,
Evens, A.C. 2 Reuben J.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Hill, Fr/Sgt. Leonard F.,
James, Pvt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Schnarr, Sgt. Joffre G.,
Schnarr, L/Cpl. John G.,
Scott, Pvt. Herbert G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, Sgt. Pilot A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.

     Toronto.
Bellinger, Sgt./Pilot John H.,
Campbell, Stella, W.R.N.S.,
Carter, F/Sgt. Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Tpr. Thomas J.,
Izzard, F/O Laurence T.,
Jesseman, Cpl. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn,
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Richardson, A.C. 2 David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, L.A.C. Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Bellinger, P/O William G., Ontario,
Evens, A.C. 2 A. Leslie, Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 Norman W., Alberta,
Frazee, Keith I., British Columbia,
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.


     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Eric D.,
Appleton, L.A.C. Roy,
Boozer, Dvr. A. E.,
Boozer, Donald,
Briscoe, Miss Irene G.,
Caldwell, Lieut. William T.,
Clennell, A.C. 2 Gordon,
Cohen, Eng. Comdr. Maurice L.,
Dale, Tpr. Keith B.,
Dawson, L.A.C. Geoffrey P.,
Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Halliday, Lieut. Keith C.,
Jones, Harold C.,

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Lewin, Ronald,
Morris, Lieut. David,
Motum, O/Cadet John,Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,
Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Beatrice A.,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Gnr. Michael T.,
Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,
Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Sylvia M.

     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, Pilot Air Officer J. S.,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Cockerell, John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, A/P Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Gnr. D. B.,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, Pvt. J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, A/P A. N.,
Hammond, Cadet Harry B.,
Hammond, Pvt. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, P/N Miss S. F.,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, S/Sgt. A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, A/M C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,
Ridgway, Pvt. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A.,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, Pvt. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, Cpl. Ralph E.,
Behlert, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Bostock, Pvt. Robert M.,
Carpenter, Lt. (jg) Philip S. P.,
Cole, Pvt. Dandridge M.,
Cole, Lt. William P.,
Cooper, Pvt. Denis,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, A/C Rey W.,
Cooper, Cpl. Theodore F.,
Cowley, Pvt. William J.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davies, Pvt. Philip T.,
Davis, Joan, S 2/c,
Davis, Pvt. Justin H.,
Davis, Sgt. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
Deigendesch, Paul H., A.S.,
De Maine, Cand. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine, Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A.,
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, Cand. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Finkeldey, Cand. Philip,
Gansert, Pvt. Otto G.,
Glenn, Lt. Ernest Bruce,
Gyllenhaal, S/Sgt. Charles P.,
Gyllenhaal, Ensign Leonard E.,
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, Cpl. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., Ph.M. 3/c,
Hilldale, Pvt. Thomas A.,
Homiller, Lt. William,
Hyatt, Cpl. Edward D.,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Nilson, Lt. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, Pvt. David,
Odhner, Cpl. Ray S.,
Odhner, Lt. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, S 2/c R.T.,
Pitcairn, Pvt. Joel,
Pitcairn, John P.,
Pitcairn, A/C Lachlan,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, Lt. Nathan,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Capt. Oliver I.,
Price, Donal, A.S.,
Price, Pvt. Kenneth,
Rose, P.F.C. Stanley,
Rosenquist, Pvt. Henry,
Schnarr, A/C A. W.,
Schnarr, Donald, S 2/c,
Schnarr, Pvt. Eugene C.,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, A/C David R.,
Synnestvedt, Pvt. Fred H.,
Synnestvedt, A/C/C Huard I.,
Walter, Elizabeth, S.K. 2/c,

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Walter, A/C Robert E.,
White, Lt. Harry J.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Asplundh, Cadet O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., Fireman 3/c,
Brown, Pvt. Robert E.,
Burnham, Edwin, C. Sp., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, Pvt. Roy M.,
Carlson, Pvt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,
Cole, Pvt. Louis S.,
Elkins, Lois, U.S.N.R.,
Fuller, George, P. O. 2/c,
Gunsteens, Pvt. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,
Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, Pvt. Kenneth,
Holmes, Pvt. Leslie B.,
Junge, Lt. Carl F.,
King, Pvt. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Lt. Raymond T.,
Lee, Cedric,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
Melzer, Pvt. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Philip,
Melzer, Sgt. Roger,
Nelson, Lt. Gerald F.,
Reuter, Lieut. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Ensign Hubert O.,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, A/C Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C.,
Wille, Pvt. Gerhardt King

     Michigan.
Childs, Pvt. Walter C.,
French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, Pvt. John F.,
Peterson, Pvt. Philip H.,
Peterson,Warrant Officer Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., E.M. 2/c.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Ensign Alexander,
Packer, E. W. Jr., A.S. U.S.C.G.
Packer, Pvt. Robert E.,
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,
Westacott, Ensign Ethel B.

     Pittsburgh.
Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Blair, Pvt. James E.,
Brown, Cpl. George P., Jr.,
Brown, Cpl. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,
Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Iungerich, Tech. Sgt. Stevan,
Lechner, Lt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Lt. Alexander H.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Pendleton, Lt. Philip C.,
Schoenberger, Lt. Ulrich,
Schoenberger, Av/C Walter S.,
Stein, Cpl. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Cpl. Elmer G., Texas.
Caldwell, Cpl. Neil V., New York,
Davis, Tech. Sgt. Charles F., Calif.
Davis, Cpl. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Lt. Philip B., Ohio,
Doering, A/C Edward Wayne, Iowa.
Fine, Sgt. Raymond F., Oregon.
Glenn, Pvt. Alfred M., New York.
Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Griffin, William T., E.M. 2/c, S.C.,
Hilldale, Pvt. Richard M., New York.
Joy, Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Cpl. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Merrell, P.F.C. Frederick, Calif.
Merrell, Pvt. Stanley, Calif.
Posey, Pvt. John A.,
Rott, Sgt. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Snyder, Donald, U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Major Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Tarr, Joseph, S.K. 3/c, Maryland.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.

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Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     HURSTVILLE, AUSTRALIA.

     February 9, 1943.-September was the most recent month on which we reported; so another installment seems to be due. Although October is now a long way behind, three events are still clear in our memories. The first monthly tea, although not well attended, held a promise of future success which seems to have been fulfilled in the two following months. After tea, the pastor answers any questions that have been handed in, and then introduces a topic for discussion. A few social songs are sung, and one or two of the fables of Dr. Anshutz are read, to send everyone home in a good humor! The program at the first tea was very general, but in November and December the Principles of the Academy were discussed and the General Church was reviewed.
     On October 30, the Sunday School children held a function, organized by Mrs. Fletcher, to raise funds for the South African Mission. Various aspects of Bantu life were depicted in a series of tableaux, and brackets of Zulu songs were sung by the children. Refreshments and stalls were patronized so generously that a sum of over L5 was collected. It is a pleasure to record also that on the second Sunday in this month Fred Kirsten, one of our most active young men, made his Confession of Faith.
     The main event in November was the fourth annual banquet of the Australian Chapter of the Sons of the Academy, held on Sunday the 22d. Toastmaster Sydney Heldon was in fine form, and the twenty guests present thoroughly enjoyed the program he had prepared for their entertainment. The theme was, "New Church Education, the Hope of the Future"; and this was developed in short addresses given by Mr. Alfred Kirsten, the pastor, and Mr. Ossian Heldon, who dealt, respectively, with the need for the influence of the Academy's educational work in the realms of religion, morality, and business life. Toasts and songs were woven skilfully into the program; and in addition to impromptu toasts, set toasts were proposed to "The Church," "The Sons," "The Academy," and "Daughters of the Academy," by Messrs. Lindthman Heldon, Fred Kirsten, Ossian Heldon, and the pastor. Ex-President Lindthman Heldon, unexpectedly home on leave, was practically guest of honor, and messages received from Norman Heldon and Tom Taylor were much appreciated. Possibly the highest tribute to this function is the fact that the ladies keep on attending each year, and even ask when the next banquet is to be held!
     Christmas.-December had all the features characteristic of other Christmas months in Hurstville. A succession of hot and humid days ensured seasonable weather. Philosophy class, young people's class, and doctrinal class came, one by one, to a close, and Christmas parties were well in the foreground. The ladies, whose monthly lunch is proving to be a successful and happy event, got in first with a most enjoyable little function, and the festive aspect of the Christmas spirit was quite evident at the society's party held later in the month. The Christmas party for the Sunday School was arranged by Mrs. Henderson and the pastor; and, despite trying weather conditions, the afternoon-with tableaux, Christmas tree, ice cream, and games-was enjoyed thoroughly by the children.

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     In the tableaux, an effort was made to follow out one line of prophecy, and the scenes shown were: (1) The Eden prophecy concerning the "seed of the woman"; (2) the prophecy of the virgin birth made before Ahaz; (3) the annunciation to Mary; and (4) Joseph, Mary, and the Babe in the stable at Bethlehem.
     Pre-advent sermons on "The First Prophecy of the Advent" and "The Lord's Divine Generation were preached on the 13th and the 20th, and on the afternoon of the 20th the children's Christmas Service was held. The usual service was held on Christmas morning, and at its close the congregation had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Ray Odhner of Bryn Athyn, who arrived in Sydney on Christmas Eve.
     By contrast, January was a quiet month. A Holy Supper Service was held on Sunday the 3d, but the church was closed on the following Sunday while the pastor was on a much needed vacation. The Sunday School, which closes after the Christmas Service, reopened on the 17th with a delightful surprise for the children. In connection with the October function, the pastor had written to the Rev. F. W. Elphick, asking if he would write to the children and tell them about the Mission. Wartime delays prevented the reply reaching us in time, but Mr. Elphick sent a most interesting letter illustrated with photographs, and this was read and shown to the children on the 17th, after a short talk about the Gentiles, with special reference to the Africans.
     Seventeen guests found the banquet in celebration of Swedenborg's Birthday one of the most delightful on record. Mr. Alfred Kirsten, as toastmaster, arranged and handled the evening well; and Mr. Ossian Heldon selected and read from Hite's Swedenborg's Historical Position" a number of contemporary testimonials, which proved to be an admirable substitute for the usual papers. Toasts to "The Church" and to "Emanuel Swedenborg" were proposed by the pastor and Mr. Fred Kirsten. A fine message from Lindthman Heldon, songs, and several impromptu toasts, added to the success of the banquet, for which Mrs. Henderson, assisted by Mrs. Kirsten and Miss Ruth Fletcher, catered in fine style. The star guests were our Bryn Athyn friends-Mr. Ray Odhner and Mr. Michael Pitcairn, whose presence and contributions to the entertainment added a great deal to our enjoyment of the evening. We are delighted to have with us these two friends from across the seas. It is evidently far more than coincidence that they arrived in Sydney, one just in time for Christmas, the other just in time for Swedenborg's Birthday. We hope that their expectation of remaining in Sydney for some time will be realized, and we are now waiting with pardonable curiosity to see what Easter and the Nineteenth of June may bring
     W. C. H.

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND.

     February 9, 1943.-The annual meeting of the Colchester Society was held on January 24, and it was a very satisfactory meeting. Business was completed promptly, tea was served, and singing followed.
     We celebrated Swedenborg's Birthday on Saturday evening, January 30. Mr. Owen Pryke was toastmaster, and he had arranged a very interesting program. After toasts to "The Church" and "The Priesthood" had been honored with appropriate songs, Mr. Alvin Motum read a paper on the subject of "Swedenborg's Early Life and Training." which was followed by a toast to "Evangelization" and the singing of "The Church Militant." A paper by Mr. Denis Pryke on "Swedenborg the Scientist and Philosopher" was then read by Mr. Alwyne Appleton, and a toast to "Education" was honored by the singing of "V've lAcadimie." Mr. Stanley Wainscot then read a paper on "Swedenborg: his Spiritual Preparation and his Introduction to his Life's Work." This was followed by a toast to "Swedenborg, the Revelator of the Second Advent," the reading of a paper on that subject by the Rev. Martin Pryke, and the singing of "Thou Prophet and Seer."

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     When this prepared program had been completed, remarks and comments were made by Messrs. Colley Pryke. John Cooper and Stanley Wainscot. And there were impromptu toasts, including one to "Absent Friends," with the singing of "Friends Across the Sea." We closed by singing "God Save the King" and "Vivat Nova Ecclesia."
     A very useful and enjoyable time was spent by the thirty-six persons who were present, including John Motum and Donald Boozer, who had a few hours' leave from their duties in the Services. We were pleased to welcome Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Wainscot, who came from London for the occasion. The children of the society had their celebration of Swedenborg Birthday on January 29.
     Our friend, Mr. Henry Wallace Glover, was baptized into the New Church during the service on Sunday, February 7, and we all welcome him. Doctrinal classes have been resumed, continuing the study of Bishop de Charms' work on The Growth of the Mind.
     E. B.

     KITCHENER, ONTARIO.

     January 29, 1943.-Swedenborg's Birthday was celebrated by the children of the society on the morning of the 29th. After playing games together, they were served a delicious luncheon by a committee of which Mrs. Jessie Bond was the head. At the table some of the children read papers, and each of the younger ones gave a little recitation about Swedenborg. This occasion is always a very interesting and most useful one for them. They learn to address an audience with dignity and self-assurance, and at the same time they familiarize themselves with the doctrines of the church.
     In the evening a delectable banquet for adults was sponsored by the Clarence and Rud Schnarrs, with the capable aid of Miss Elsie Evens. Our toastmaster. Mr. Gill, introduced the subject of the evening, which consisted of letters written by Swedenborg in his youth, as published in The New Philosophy. A most interesting and fascinating evening ensued, as the papers brought to light new thoughts of Swedenborg's early life and his journeyings to different countries. The speakers were Messrs. Fred Stroh, Norbert Rogers, and Harold Kuhl.
     February.-The Men's Reading Group has changed its name to "The Kitchener Philosophy Club." Any male member of the society may join this Club, which meets every other week at the different homes.
     On February 9th, Sergeant Joffre Schnarr arrived home from England, where he has spent two years. We were all delighted to see him, and to hear him tell about conditions over there, His account of the people, and of historical places in the British Isles, was interesting indeed. After his leave he proceeded to St. Eugene, Quebec, where he is taking a special course.
     Fred Hasen made a brief trip home from Bryn Athyn to take his medical examination for the Air Force. He obtained a deferment in order to complete his schooling. Paul Bellinger is now in Clinton, Ontario, servicing airplanes for the Government. Miss Elaine Bellinger has left us to join the WRENS, and will be stationed near Kitchener.
     On Friday evening. February 26, we enjoyed a monthly supper and social, the fine supper being sponsored by the Roschman sisters-Yadah, Carita, and Alena. At the table, Mr. Gill read entertaining letters from the Colchester and London societies, thanking us for the packages we sent at Christmas time. The host and hostess for the evening were Mr. and Mrs. Harold Kuhl, who provided Court Whist to complete the program.
     We have received letters from all of our boys overseas, thanking us for their parcels, and especially for the smokes.

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     Under the able leadership of Mr. Nathaniel Stroh, a fine New Church orchestra has been started, with some twenty-five members. Those of any age may join. So far, Mr. Stroh has supplied the various instruments, and each one may learn to play the instrument he or she desires. It is a great use, and it is our hope that some day our players will be able to join with the Bryn Athyn orchestra at a General Assembly.
     Your readers have been informed of the death of one of our dear boys, Sgt/Pilot Ralph Hill. He crashed in a Spitfire in Wales. His mother has received pictures of the full military funeral and of the cemetery in which he was interred. Those straight rows of white crosses symbolize the unity of ideals for which we are fighting. These boys gave their lives that others may live. Mrs. Yadah Hill is to us the noblest example of the New Church motherhood for which our Church stands. Ralph will be greatly missed by all his friends for his lovable character. His brother Leonard cabled from Scotland to his mother, as a final word on Ralph's death: "It is the Lord's will fulfilled!"
     Leigh Bellinger has just returned home on leave. His Corvette has been in the Mediterranean-just a small canoe ride!
     Good luck to your Victory Gardens!
     H. H. S.

     GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS.

     February 8 to April 7, 1943.-Glenview used to be a quiet place in which to live, and one would never have guessed that this little village, with its half dozen stores, its dirt roads and wooden sidewalks, was within twenty miles of the great city of Chicago. People used to come out from town to visit us "in the country." But now most of this is changed. Within the last twelve months a giant air-station has been built along the northern limits of our little town, and day and night the planes are flying, piloted by men who are learning to handle the bombers and flying fortresses which come and go in ever increasing numbers. Thousands of men are stationed here-in this new town which has been made necessary because we are at war.
     Yes, the war is very close to us these days. Within ten minutes walking distance from our homes in "The Park" is the war plant of the Swain Nelson Manufacturing Company, where the lights burn and the machines run twenty-four hours of every day, and where 185 people are working full time and overtime. During the last year this plant has taken on more and more space. In one section of the Swain Nelson Nurseries greenhouses you may see a man tending and cultivating thousands of small shoots and tiny flowers-future trees and shrubs for the beautifying of our homes-while in the next section a dozen people are inspecting thousands of "parts" which go into the building of airplanes and guns! A startling contrast of peace and war! In the main part of the plant the continuous drone of heavy lathes drowns out the singing of the birds in the hundreds of beautiful trees which surround our "place of business.
     During these days, no meeting of our society takes place but someone is there in uniform-either one of our own boys or some lad from a distance. Yes, we are really in it! The war is bearing down on us-and we're glad of it-glad because it makes us of the home-front realize that we, too, are being asked to sacrifice (even though it he in small measure) to the end that our young men and women who are scattering to the four corners of the earth may be fit in body and mind to carry on their part of the work in defense of our country. Also, we are keeping the home fires burning-in our hearths and our hearts-looking forward to the day when we shall welcome back our sons and our daughters. While we work strenuously, we wait patiently for that day.
     Winter is having a terribly hard time moving on this year. During the red line in the thermometer would climb up to 60 or 65, and the birds would sing, and the children would want to go around in summer clothing, and the furnace was allowed to "go out."

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Then back again comes cold weather and rain-and a little snow.
     In spite of it all, however, the work of our society goes on-week in and week out. On Friday evening, February 19, was the wedding of Ensign Hubert Rydstrom and Natalie Henderson. This was a very happy occasion. Both of these young people were born and raised in Glenview, went through the Immanuel Church School, and have since then rated high in the work of their choice. The wedding ceremony was followed by a reception in the assembly hall.
     Sons' Meeting.-It is not often that a meeting turns out to be a great success when four expected visitors fail to show up, but exactly this happened on Saturday night March 20th! The president of the Sons of the Academy, Mr. Carl Asplundh, and the Rev. Elmo Acton, (both of Bryn Athyn); also Ted Glenn and Daric Acton (both of Pittsburgh)-at the last minute were unable to come to Glenview. But the buffalo meat had already been ordered, and so we had our meeting anyway. It was a regular feast. Our local chapter president, Dr. Donald Gladish, was very much onto his job, and arranged for three of our members to speak on the subject of "Our Outlook After the War." Mr. Theodore Brickman, Dr. Farrington, and Mr. Sydney E. Lee presented this subject in an excellent manner, and the discussion, too, was most interesting. So we had a swell meeting anyway. But we still want our visitors to come "as soon as possible." We may not be able to promise you buffalo meat, but we shall try to have something special.
     With but few interruptions, our Friday suppers and lectures continue their weekly usefulness, and Sunday services are again being held in our church building instead of the assembly hall. Especially during these times is it gratifying to be able to hear things said in a sermon which help in our daily work; for instance, this from the sermon of April 4:
     "Whatever we may think of, whether it he a plan, or a tool, or a machine, or a seed planted in the earth, or a scientific theory, we take delight in it only when it works, and does successfully what it was intended to do. A use is a function. Therefore we are told that all created things in the universe are uses. Each of them is a use, because it has a function, is designed to perform some service. . . . These are some of the truths which the Lord has given us to know, that His joy may remain in us, and our joy may be full. May we each find the use for which we are best fitted, and may we grow in that use to more interior wisdom and joy! May we all succeed in the doing of good!"
     HAROLD P. MCQUEEN.

     NEW YORK, N. Y.

     Since our last report, in the March, 1942, issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE, one of our members has passed into the other world. Mr. Frank Wilde was called on November 7, 1942, to continue his uses in the other life where no material limits constrain our abilities to serve our fellow men. We miss him, but keep him in grateful memory for his services to the church in the past.
     The New York Society has carried on its program of two Divine Services monthly, and an occasional discussion meeting, but has increased its number of doctrinal classes from one to two in each month. When we consider that war conditions have put additional obligations upon our membership, we feel gratified that we have been able to maintain our schedule and even slightly to enlarge it.
     In the largest city in the world we are still a very small group, but our services can always be attended by the visitor or stranger who is sometimes in our midst.

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Members of our Armed Forces on leave in New York, citizens of the United Nations and neutral nations temporarily in New York, as well as occasional visitors from Bryn Athyn and elsewhere, are always welcome. This year we have advertised a few of our services in the NEW YORK TIMES. A few people responded, but at this writing we have not seen any lasting results from this effort. It would undoubtedly be too much to expect from a couple of notices. For readers of the LIFE, who may be in New York, please remember that Sunday services are held at the Capitol Hotel, 51st Street and 8th Avenue, at 11 am. Dates may be obtained from the Pastor, whose telephone number is given on the 2d cover-page of the LIFE, or from Miss Jane Kintner, 130 East 24th Street, whose telephone number is recorded in the Manhattan phone book.
     New Church Day, 1942, was celebrated in June at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Reichenbach. A Christmas Party after the regular Christmas doctrinal class was held at Miss Cornelia Stroh's home. A very special Christmas gift to the society was the birth of Olivia Childs Rose so December 19, 1942, daughter of Leon and Muriel Rose. The baptism, to which the members of the society were invited, was held in the Rose some on January 7th last. In doctrinal classes, conducted by the pastor, the society had been studying the subject of Church Ritual. Both the uses of Baptism and the Holy Supper were emphasized. It was a real privilege for the members of our society when, in person, they could again witness the baptism of a New Church child, born in New York City proper. It was quite some time ago that we had that pleasure.
     The Swedenborg Birthday celebration this year was held at the home of Miss Jane Kintner, and was attended by 21 members of the combined New York and New Jersey Societies. We were honored to have as our guest speaker the Right Rev. Alfred Acton, who gave us a most interesting and illuminating speech on the Life of Swedenborg." Bishop Acton vividly brought to life the past, pointing out the struggles and problems that Swedenborg met during his life. Previous to the celebration, Bishop Acton preached a beautiful sermon at church on "The Word."
     To date, Pastor Boyesen has undertaken three trips in his capacity as Visiting Pastor to the Southern States. During his absence, services of Divine Worship and a doctrinal class have been conducted by the following visiting ministers: Revs. William Whitehead, Elmo C. Acton, Karl R. Alden, and Morley D. Rich. We wish to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of their visits. We feel that we are privileged, because we are able in this manner to learn to know more directly the ministry of our church.
     We should like to take this opportunity, too, of commenting on the District Assembly held in Bryn Athyn in May, 1942. Five members from New York were there. Later this group met to clarify some of our impressions of the Assembly Meetings, to discuss further group participation in the District Assemblies to come, and to encourage greater attendance. While there was some question as to the method of handling group discussions at the Assembly, the group nevertheless felt that they had received much valuable education on the particular problem of the South African Mission.
     Discussion Meetings-As a Society project, we all feel we have derived much benefit from our discussion meetings, which are held Sunday afternoons after service, and preceded by a luncheon. The subjects under discussion have been suggested by the members, including "Government," "What should be our attitude toward the enemy?", and others. They served as a clearing house and open forum for the problems troubling New Churchmen today. The Pastoral Extension pamphlets have been found particularly useful in our preparatory work for these meetings.

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     We have followed two methods of approach, On some occasions the pastor prepared a list of reading material from the Writings and from the Pastoral Extension Service, and this was sent to us before the meetings. Much of the preparatory work then fell upon the pastor. On other occasions, each member looked up and read references selected by himself, wrote a short paper on the subject (not to exceed five minutes reading time), and then we engaged in a general exchange of views on the basis of the papers. We all commended the latter method, as it gave us more individual responsibility to go to the Writings for ourselves, and to work out our own plan of approach to the subject under discussion.
     After all, it is the sincere and honest study of the Writings, to the best of our own ability, but in cooperation with and under the guidance of our ministry, that will build this New Church. I wonder sometimes if Swedenborg's statement that "the New Church will grow from the universities" cannot be realized gradually by small groups of New Churchmen all over the world, who recognize that their responsibility and privilege is not only to worship and read, but also to study.
     LOUISE K. KRAUSE.

     THE SOUTHERN STATES.

     Reports of my first two trips as Visiting Pastor to the Southern States have already appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE. (August, 1942, and February, 1943.) My third trip was undertaken between February 2t and March 30. It was similar to previous journeys, and therefore I shall not give a detailed report, but only mention a few differences.
     This time, besides visiting the same places and people as on former occasions, I enlarged my itinerary to include New Orleans, La. Mr. and Mrs. Herbert N. Schoenberger and family have lived here for years, but have never before been visited by a minister of the General Church. Comparatively recent residents are Mr. and Mrs. Durwood Crockett and their two small children. And Mr. Patrick H. Kennedy, whom I baptized into the Faith of the New Church in Columbia, S. C., last June, has just moved here. I met all of these friends at New Orleans, except Mrs. Crockett and her two children, who had to visit Atlanta, Ga., at the time.
     The Schoenberger children-Elizabeth Augusta, whose married name is Mrs. Henry Bernard Bruser, Jr., Herbert Nathaniel, Jr., and Nancy Lee,-have received practically all their religious instruction from their father. Their knowledge of the things of the New Church, and their affection for them, testify that home worship and instruction are the most valuable of all influences. That New Church schools are helpful and important in the attempt to raise our children in the church, is self-evident but here is an illustration of the fact that the home can do without the school what the school could hardly hope to do without the home. Comparatively speaking, the home is far more important; and only on the basis of home education can the school perform its uses well. Herbert, Jr., who is now a young man, would like to spend some time at the Academy, but the armed forces of our country may have the first call. Nancy Lee would have to wait a few years before she could attend the Girls' Seminary.
     While I was in New Orleans I received Mrs. Bruser's Confession of Faith, baptized her infant son, Henry Bernard, III, held one doctrinal class, and conducted one service of Divine Worship, with the administration of the Holy Supper. All functions were held at the Schoenberger's beautiful home, where I was also hospitably entertained during my two days' visit. It was a great pleasure to me to bring the ministrations of the church to our friends in New Orleans, and I intend, whenever possible, to visit them again. I am eager to go back. Next time I hope to make the acquaintance also of Mrs. Crockett and her two children; and I hope, too, that it will not he long before I meet Mr. Bruser, who is now serving in the armed forces of our country.

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     In Dunedin, Florida, our regular little group was joined by Sgt. Theodore Alden, who came over to Mr. and Mrs. Merrell's home from nearby Tampa, and also by Mr. and Mrs. Merrell's son-in-law, daughter, and granddaughter, the Hobert Smith family, of Bryn Athyn, who were staying here for a time. In order that Sgt. Alden, who had only a short time, might be able to attend a service with the Holy Supper, services were held both in Dunedin and St. Petersburg.
     In Miami, Fla., Lieut. Karl W. Doering and A/C Huard I. Synnestvedt attended a service at Mrs. David P. Lindsay's home. We had hoped that Private A. W. Schnarr would also attend, but unfortunately he missed the service. However, we met him later downtown for luncheon, at the invitation of Lieut. Doering. In Miami I also met Mrs. Lindsay's mother and sister, who have been visiting her since her husband's death. David, Jr., had also come down from Harvard, and I spent some pleasant times in his company. On this visit to Miami I enjoyed the hospitality of Mr. Louis and Miss Caroline Fritz. Miss Fritz also took me to meet her other brothers, the family of her sister. Mrs. Fred Metz, and an elderly couple who were members of the Convention.
     In Louisville, Ky., I again visited Captain and Mrs. Oliver Powell and their family. Present at a service in their home were also Lieut. Warren A. Reuter and Miss Mary Howard. Thus, on this trip, I was a little more successful than formerly in the attempt to contact some of our men in the armed services of our country. It is very difficult.
     I should also like to mention that in Atlanta, Ga., I met Mr. and Mrs. Chester Crockett for the first time, but since they were only there for a short visit, they were not able to attend any functions. I also spent a short time in the company of Mr. Augustus Chester Frost at his home at his own request. He suffers from paralysis of the legs, and cannot leave his home without much difficulty. I therefore hope, on some future occasion, to hold some functions at his home. There are also a few interested newcomers in Atlanta, whom I hope to meet again.
     Altogether I made sixteen stops during this trip, twice in Jacksonville, Fla., where I baptized Mr. Dewey F. Burnett into the Faith of the New Church. His wife's maiden name was Miss Alma Johnson. I ministered to approximately fifty members of the General Church and a few other adults, two young people, and about thirty children, including infants. I conducted 15 services of Divine Worship, 16 doctrinal classes for adults, 6 services and 18 classes for children, and family worship 6 times. There were also innumerable informal classes or conversation with both adults and children. The Holy Supper was administered at 15 services to a total of 42 communicants. I officiated at one Confession of Faith, one adult and one infant Baptism.
     On my way home I visited my friends, the Rev. and Mrs. Morley D. Rich, in Philadelphia, Pa., and conducted one doctrinal class there on Mr. Rich's invitation.
     BJORN A. H. BOYESEN.

     TORONTO, CANADA.

     March 10, 1943.-Over the radio and in the press the war is getting mixed up with hymns and prayers. It is good to "praise the Lord" and necessary to "pass the ammunition," but can you do the former by undertaking the latter? This is a problem for the individual, but applications may be drawn from a recent sermon by our pastor, in which it was shown that the purpose of life is the love of serving the Lord and the neighbor by means of our daily tasks. We are compelled to give much time and energy to natural things, but if we recognize a spiritual purpose in all we do, the problem of accomplishing the Divine end through the often dull routine of work on the natural plane becomes a matter for serious consideration.

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     We are sorry to report that Mr. Gyllenhaal has not been well this winter, on which account the regularity of our weekly doctrinal class has been interrupted. Mr. Alan Gill has preached for us on several Sundays, and his ministrations have been much appreciated.
     A very lovely wedding was celebrated on the evening of February 13, when Gladys Carter became the bride of L. A. C. Robert Scott. The chancel was decorated with white candles, lilies and palms which made a chaste and lovely setting for a beautiful service, conducted by Mr. Gyllenhaal. A reception was held in the assembly hall immediately after the ceremony, and toasts were honored by a large number of guests.
     C. S.


     DURBAN, NATAL.

     Our Boys on Active Service.-Mrs. Bamford has sent word that she has now been officially informed by the South African Red Cross Society that her husband, Private Frank Bamford, is a prisoner of war in Italian hands. This means that the capture of all our six prisoners at Tobruk has now been officially confirmed. Moreover, Mrs. Melville Ridgway, mother of Sig. Glenn M. Ridgway (Ginty), has recently received a letter from Glenn saying that he had seen Lieutenants Brian and Colin-Owen Ridgway, who are in the Camp "next door," and that he has met Corporal Colin-Bernard Ridgway and Private Frank Bamford. "All are well!" This is good news indeed, and we look forward to the time when our six prisoners-the first casualties in the General Church-are back home with us once again. General Smuts has announced that he is going to form a Force to bring back all of our South African prisoners from Italy; so we hope that we may see our boys back again before the conclusion of hostilities.
     Of the remainder of our boys, there is a variety of news. Cpl. Keith Venton, grandson of Mrs. Chas. Ridgway, has now returned from Madagascar with our troops, whose presence is no longer required there. S/Scrgt. F. H. D. Lumsden and his brother, Private John Lumsden, also 2nd Lt. Bill Browne (Diana Cowley's husband), have returned this week from the North for a month's leave in the Union, arriving with the First South African Division, for whom General Smuts recently arranged a well-earned rest, as they have seen service for 2 1/2 years without a break.
     During November, we were much perturbed about the news of L/Corpl.
W. S. (Jo) Cowley. He had first been reported as seriously wounded; then news arrived that he was off the danger list, and would be returning by the first available hospital ship. Accordingly, on December 10, we were all very glad to hear that he had actually arrived in Durban, and was to be a patient in one of the military hospitals here. Now, I understand, Jo is making a good recovery, visiting the hospital as an out-patient only. All the best to him l He has earned a good rest, serving right through the Abyssinian Campaign with the Natal Mounted Rifles, before being sent to Egypt and Libya, where, I hear, his platoon was in the very front of the spearhead of the 8th Army in its victorious push against Rommel.
     L/Corpl. John O. Gardiner writes, saying that he also hopes to have leave in the Union very soon, after 15 months spent in or near the front line. As far as I can ascertain, there are proportionately few of our men remaining up North, most of them having been recalled to serve somewhere in the Union. Numerically they are:-Union of South Africa 23; Northern Rhodesia 1; At Sea 1; Up North 7; Prisoners of War 6.
     P. D. C.
January 1, 1943.

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     DURBAN, NATAL.

     January 25, 1943.-Several more of the boys have arrived home from the North. Only about four are left there now, as our troops are returning for duties in the Union. General Smuts is asking Parliament for powers for a new oath that will make it possible to send our boys out of Africa, now that the enemy is being cleared away from "up there." But we still have our blackout in Durban, as a precautionary measure against an enemy at sea.-
     P. D. C.

     OBITUARY.

     Mr. Arthur O. Lechner.

     A devoted member of the Pittsburgh Society, and one who had been a familiar figure at the Assemblies of the General Church for forty years, passed from among us with the death of Mr. Arthur Otto Lechner at Pittsburgh on March 9, 1943, in his sixty-fifth year.
     He was born at Allegheny, Pa., on July 7, 1878, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Lechner, whose hospitable home was long a center of New Church light and warmth in the Pittsburgh Society. Arthur was a pupil in the local New Church school, and later attended the College of the Academy in Philadelphia (1894-1895). For many years he was with the firm of Lechner & Schoenberger, dealers in music and musical instruments. His ample talents as a musician he gave to the use of organist of the Pittsburgh Society for a long period of years, a service that is gratefully remembered by the Society.
     In 1905, at Middleport, Ohio, Arthur married Esther Boggess (A. N. C. 1902-1905), who preceded him to the spiritual world on March 25, 1941. Of their four children, three survive them: Lieutenant Frederic Boggess, U. S. Army; Fanny Boggess (Mrs. Stevan Iungerich); and Lucy Elizabeth (Mrs. Daniel Laughlin Conn).
     "This tall, powerful man, with the huge, deft hands, was a rare blend of candor and kindness, of insight and action. He was bluntly honest in his opinions, but forbore to state them at the cost of another's hurt. He sought understanding in all things, patiently searching for the heart of truth, especially in his earnest study of the Writings. And men knew, somehow, that he was what he seemed to be, and gave him their trust and respect." (Bryn Athyn Post, March 18, 1943.)
     W. B. C.

     THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     The Annual Joint Meeting of the Corporation and Faculty of the Academy of the New Church will be held in the Chapel of Benade Hall, Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Saturday, June 5, 1943, at 8.00 p.m. The public is cordially invited to attend.
     After opportunity has been given for the presentation and discussion of a summary of the Annual Reports of the Officers of the Academy, an Address will be delivered by the Rev. Dr. Hugo Lj. Odhner.
     E. S. KLEIN,
          Secretary.

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM.

     Annual Councils.

     The Annual Meetings of the Councils of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., from Monday, June 21, to Sunday, June 27, 1943. The program will include public sessions, and all members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. A Preliminary Program appears on page 240, and its final form will be published in the June issue.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS, Bishop.

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ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS 1943

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS              1943




     Announcements




     BRYN ATHYN, PA., JUNE 21-27, 1943.

     Preliminary Program.

Monday, Jane 21.
     8.00     p.m.      Consistory.

Tuesday, June 22.
     10.00 a.m.     Council of the Clergy.
     3.30     p.m.     Educational Council: General Session.
               Address: Dr. Charles E. Doering.
               Subject: "Principles of New Church Education."

Wednesday, Jane 23.
     10.00 a.m.     Council of the Clergy.
     10.30 a.m.     Conference of Teachers.
     3.30     p.m.     Council of the Clergy.
     3.30     p.m.     Conference of Teachers.

Thursday, June 24.
     10.00 a.m.     Council of the Clergy.
     10.30 a.m.     Conference of Teachers.
     3.30     p.m.     Council of the Clergy.
     3.30     p.m.     Conference of Teachers.

Friday, June 25.

     10.00 a.m.     Council of the Clergy.
     10.30 a.m.     Conference of Teachers.
     3.30     p.m.     Executive Committee.
     3.30     p.m.     Conference of Teachers.
     8.00     p.m.     Open Session of the Council of the Clergy.
               Address:     Rev. Gilbert H. Smith.
               Subject:     "Streamlining Instruction."

Saturday, June 26.
     10.00 a.m.     Joint Council.
     3.30     p.m.     Joint Council.
     8.00     p.m.     Open Session of the Council of the Clergy.
               Address: Right Rev. Alfred Acton.
               Subject: To be announced later.

Sunday, Jane 27.

     11.00 a.m. Divine Worship.
BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR 1943

BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR       Rev. WILLARD D. PENDLETON       1943



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NEW CHURCH LIFE

VOL. LXIII
JUNE, 1943
No. 6
     "I Jesus haze sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." (Revelation 22: 16.)

     In the apocalyptic vision of John strange events are foretold. In words designed to strike terror into the hearts of even the most callous sinners he describes the destruction of the world. He speaks of death and hell, of pestilence, famine, and earthquakes. "And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood: and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondsman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Rev. 6: 12-17.) It was a fearful vision-a terrifying pronouncement of the fate that awaited those souls who had transgressed the Word of God.
     For generations Christian thinkers have labored to interpret this esoteric revelation. Some have accepted it literally; others have confessed their confusion; only one has offered a reasonable explanation. It is recorded in the work called The Apocalypse Explained-a portion of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.

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Of all men, Swedenborg was the sole witness of this great event. In the year 1757, his spiritual eyes being open, he beheld the fulfilment of the prophecy as it was enacted in the spiritual world. The actuality was no less terrifying than the prophecy. A whole civilization was torn up by its roots; one imaginary heaven after another was annihilated; and a violent separation of the good from the evil was effected. In the space of a few months it was completed. The first Christian Church had been "weighed in the balances, and was found wanting." It was the end.
     In the Lord's Divine Providence every end involves a new beginning. It has been so since the foundation of the world. Each successive church has made way for a new dispensation. Thus there was "silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." It was a period of formation-a gathering together of those souls who were to be organized into the New Christian Heaven, in the center of which was established the holy city, the New Jerusalem. Until the year 1770, this work was in progress. Then it was that the "root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star," the Lord Himself, proclaimed the dawn of the new day.
     In this connection the Writings merely note, "After this work was finished (True Christian Religion), the Lord called together His twelve disciples who followed Him in the world; and the next day He sent them forth throughout the whole spiritual world to preach the Gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ages of ages, according to the prediction in Daniel and in the Apocalypse." Then it is added, "This took place on the nineteenth day of June, 1770." (T. C. R. 791.) The new beginning had been made, both on earth and in the spiritual world;-in the spiritual world by the sending forth of the Apostles, on earth by the completion of the work on the True Christian Religion.
     As at the time of the First Advent, the heavens rejoiced. From one end of the spiritual world to the other the glad tidings were received. The souls who for generations had been caught under the altar thanked God for their release: the angels of the highest heavens fell down and worshipped; and the sun of that world shone with increased brilliance. Yet on earth no visible change was produced. Even as in the days of Herod the king, only a few knew that high and holy things had transpired As in every beginning since creation, "darkness was upon the face of the deep."

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Nevertheless a sign was given,-a sign seen by those whose spiritual eyes were open. A star was seen in the east. It was that same star which was seen by Balaam when he blessed Israel from the top of Peor. It was that star which the wise men followed even unto Bethlehem of Judea. It was that star to which the angel of the Lord referred when he spake unto John, saying, "I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star."
     This was no ordinary astral body. Its radiance was as the sun in its strength. Indeed, it was a sun,-the sun of the spiritual world. Although the ancient wise men knew it not, it was the Divine Truth Itself as reflected through the medium of some angelic society. This they beheld in vision, and were profoundly affected thereby. By virtue of its power, Balaam was moved to bless those whom he had been called upon to curse. The wise men were moved to leave their distant homes in the east, and follow wherever it might lead. And John fell down to worship at the angel's feet. To Swedenborg, however, full knowledge was given. He knew that the sign and the reality were one and the same,-our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
     From time immemorial a star has signified truth. Thus it was the sign of the Advent. Strictly speaking, the Lord is the sun of heaven, and appears as such before the angels; but in both His First and Second Advents, spiritual darkness prevailed on earth so He was seen as a star before men-as a light which shineth in darkness. Yet we note an interesting distinction between this star, as seen by the wise men who followed its light unto Bethlehem, and this star as seen by John on the Isle of Patmos. The wise men saw it at night, but John beheld its glory at the dawn of the day. The star of Bethlehem was a temporary revealing, given to fill the need of the human race until all was fulfilled, even as it is recorded in John, "The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1: 5.) For a few hundred years the Church was led by the light in the simple acknowledgment of the Lord's Divinity. But "the darkness comprehended it not"-the clouds of falsity gathered and obscured the light; once again mankind groped in spiritual ignorance. On the other hand, the star of which the angel spake to John was the bright and morning star-the herald of the day. Here was the last and final revealing-the spiritual sense of the Word-the Divine Rational now forthstanding in all its glory.

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The long night is passed, and the day of our Lord breaks in the east.
     This star is now in the ascendancy, and its light cannot be clouded over. At this day, only a few have beheld His glory, but He shall not be denied. Despite all appearances to the contrary, the truth will prevail. It may take generations, even ages upon ages, but in His sight a thousand years is as a watch in the night. It is not a matter of time; it is a question of state. In ways unknown to man, the human race must be prepared to receive the new revelation. Old faiths must fail, ancient temples must fall into ruins, the judgment effected in the spiritual world must be completed on earth. Not until every vestige of a dead Christianity has been removed can the New Church take its place among the nations of the earth. In the meantime it must dwell in obscurity-with those few who have been touched by the perception of the Divinity of the Writings.
     These few are, for the time being, sufficient to the Divine purpose. Like Mary, who "kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart," we can preserve the knowledge of the Most High until the day of His showing unto Israel. As long as there are some who believe,-some who see in this Child the fulfilment of the ancient prophecy recorded by John on the Isle of Patmos-we need not fear. They will preserve the faith,-the faith that "there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. . . . And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God, and to his throne." (Rev. 12: 1, 2, and 5.) It was He who was promised of old-He who was, in the fulness of time, born in Bethlehem of Judea-He who is now revealed in the full glory of His Word.
     All of Scripture, from the first verse of the book of Genesis to the last verse of the book of Revelation, testifies to this fact. Every teaching of the Writings bears upon this miracle. No other interpretation of the Holy Writ has any claim to meaning. Yet men refuse to confess Him. Some have directly denied His Divinity; others have divided the Godhead. The Word of the Lord is, indeed, "the voice of one crying in the wilderness." In this wilderness of doubt and denial the woman clothed with the sun has brought forth her child.

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In pain and travail, that is to say, in a state of violent resistance, the nascent doctrine of truth from celestial love is born into the world. Were it possible, the dragon, "that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan" would devour the Child, but the Child has been "caught up to God." For the time being His identity is concealed. Even as it was in the days of Herod, no man knows of His presence save those few whose eyes have been open-those first disciples of the Second Advent, who believe, although there is much that they do not comprehend.
     This, then, is the wilderness state of the church-a state in which goods and truths are few-a state surrounded on all sides by the desolation of a vastated world. Yet the woman clothed with the sun is protected by her obscurity. The church, by virtue of its insignificance, is shielded from temptations too great to be sustained. The world at large is not interested. It is indifferent to the claims of what it deems to be a curious sect. In this stage of our development, the hells attack from within rather than from without. They gain access through those states of life which are described in the message to the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans as being "neither cold nor hot." They are the products of a traditional faith,-a faith which we accept simply because we find ourselves therein. Such states lack root in themselves; they are devoid of spiritual conviction. Like the seed cast upon shallow ground, they endure for a time, but when the sun cometh up, they cannot withstand the heat of temptation, and they wither away. Beware, therefore, of the sphere of the world! Not that the world will seek us out in order to destroy us. Not yet a while. For the present we are of no concern to the world. But we seek the world, and in so doing we are affected thereby. The sphere of spiritual indifference is devastating; it is the consuming breath of the dragon.
     Of this we are forewarned in the Apocalypse. For "there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, that old serpent which deceiveth the whole world." This serpent is the pride of self-intelligence-the consummate conceit of humanity, which is nourished in states of spiritual apathy. It is the sphere of the world, the sphere of faith alone-that pernicious persuasion which consumes men s souls, leaving them utterly indifferent to spiritual things. It has been the failure of every church since the beginning, and it casts its dark shadow across the horizon of the Lord's New Church.

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Even as it is said in the Gospels, "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. . . Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." (Matt. 24: 6, 7.) The New Church is not to be spared-not as long as any remnant of evil exists upon earth. In its development, it must undergo all the vicissitudes of temptation; it will be tried at every stage of its growth. Hence it is to be a militant Church,-The Church of Michael. By nature, therefore, it is to be the spiritual heritage of the strong in spirit,- the heritage of those who are able to sustain the vision of the Lord's Divine Humanity.
     For the time being this heritage is ours. In the Lords Divine Providence it has been committed to our care. We cannot say why it is that we as individuals have been selected. Nor does it matter. Even as the Lord said to His disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." (John 13: 16.) It is enough that we should know this. It is important that we bear it in mind. This knowledge will sustain us in temptation, and serve as a shield against those miserable states of futility which confuse the real issue of life. It is the Lord who builds the house; we are but the instruments of His will. "We have not chosen Him: He has chosen us."
     In His choice there is a wisdom far beyond our mortal comprehension. He knows the needs of each successive moment. It is He who provides for the states of the Church. His ways are not our ways, but His ways are best, for His ways are sure. Despite every appearance to the contrary, regardless of every subtle influence which the hells can exert, the Divine will shall be done. This Church will not fail. Whether or not it remains with us is of our own determination; we are free to confirm or reject the Lord's choice. Yet one thing is sure, namely, that this Church is the heritage of those, whoever or wherever they may be, who subscribe to the faith that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one only God of heaven and earth, and that the Writings are His Word. In this faith is our only hope of survival in a world which is utterly indifferent to spiritual things.
     We refer, however, to a living faith, not to a dead tradition. Each successive generation of New Churchmen must be convinced of the truth of the new revelation. Each in turn must be moved by the self-evidencing of love.

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At no time will we he judged by the institutions we erect, nor by our knowledge of doctrine, but by the quality of the love with which we are inspired in our performance of our part in this Divine work. Individually and collectively we are responsible. In the degree that we accept our responsibilities, in that measure will we advance the day of our showing unto Israel. As previously noted, the day of our spiritual supremacy is not predetermined by time, but by state. It is not merely that the world is unprepared for the reception of the Heavenly Doctrines, but also that we as a Church are not prepared to go forth into the world. We have not yet acquired that strength of purpose which would prove equal to the temptations involved. When the Church is prepared, the world also will be made ready. It is the way of Providence.
     In this regard it is well to bear in mind that although we, as human beings, can in no wise affect the ultimate destiny of the Lord's New Church, it lies within our province at this day to advance or retard the state of the Church. If we fail, a new beginning most be made. If we succeed in our efforts, another generation can enter into our labors, and the day when the Church is to emerge from the wilderness will be nearer at hand. It is a heavy responsibility-far more urgent than it appears in our usual states of life. It is only in our more reflective moments that we enjoy some appreciation of the significance of the use which we have been called upon to perform. In such states there is a restoral of vision-a renewal of faith. Were it not for this recurrent miracle, we could not persist.
     Of the Lord's Divine mercy, however, these states are given. They come as a Divine promise of "the things which belong to our peace." Perhaps, in these days of marching armies and falling empires, these states of spiritual enlightenment have added significance. All about is destruction; yet in our hearts we can know that profound sense of assurance which arises from our faith that the Lord God Jesus Christ doth reign. Whatever the signs of the time may be, therefore, let us hold fast to that which we have. In Him, and in Him alone, is our trust. John saw Him in vision "clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and His hairs were white like wool, and His eyes were as a flame of fire." (Rev. 1: 13, 14.) But the men of the Lord's New Church have seen Him face to face. There is nothing hidden which has not been revealed.

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Now and forever the Lord Jesus Christ is openly manifested in His Word. There we may find Him, for "we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him." It is the "bright and morning star,"-"a light to lighten the gentiles, and the glory of my people Israel." Blessed are they whose eyes are open, for they shall see great wonders. Amen.

LESSONS:     Daniel 7: 13-28. Revelation 22. A. R. 953, 954.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy, pages 474, 476, 529.
PRAYERS:     nos. 82, 91.
LIBRARY IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD 1943

LIBRARY IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD              1943

     Three newcomers from the Christian world were taken into a large auditorium that they might tell their news from the earth. After they had done so, one of the elders said to them, "Because you have only recently arrived in this world, if it be your good pleasure, follow me into our city, and we will show you everything."
     As they went Out of the auditorium, some of the elders accompanied them; and first they went into a great library, which was divided into lesser libraries according to the different branches of knowledge. On seeing so many books, the three newcomers were astonished, and said, "Are there books in this world also? Whence are the parchment and paper, the pens and ink?" To this the elders replied, We perceive that in the former world you believed that this world is empty, because it is spiritual, and that you believed this because you cherished an idea of the spiritual abstracted from the material; and what is abstracted from the material appeared to you as nothing, thus as a vacuum, when yet there is here an abundance of everything. All things here are substantial, and not material, and material things derive their origin from things substantial. We who are here are spiritual men, because we are substantial, and not material. Hence it is that all the things that are in the natural world are here in their perfection, even books and writings, and many other things."
     When the three newcomers heard mention made of things substantial, they thought it must be so, both because they saw the written books, and because they heard it said that matters have originated from substances. That they might be still more confirmed, they were taken to the abodes of the writers who were transcribing copies of what had been written by the wise men of the city; and they examined the writing, and wondered that it should be so bright and clear. And after this they were conducted to the museums, gymnasiums, and colleges. . . . (T. C. R. 694:5; C. L. 207:5.)

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ARCANA CELESTIA 1943

ARCANA CELESTIA       Rev. A. WYNNE ACTON       1943

     Plans for a New Latin Edition.

     (Reprinted from the NEWS LETTER, March 15, 1943.)

     All the members of the Church will be glad to know that the Swedenborg Society (London) has made definite arrangements looking to the republication of the Latin Edition of the Arcana Celestia. The last edition was published a hundred years ago (1833-1842), and for many years has been out of print and almost unobtainable. The Society is in correspondence with the Swedenborg Foundation of New York and the Academy of the New Church at Bryn Athyn concerning joint co-operation in accomplishing this immense work.
     The immediate step taken by the Swedenborg Society has been to employ the Rev. P. H. Johnson, B.A., B.Sc., to devote all his time for the next three years to preparing the text for publication. We are confident that the Society and the Church are fortunate in having obtained Mr. Johnson's interest and willingness to do this work. Besides being a minister of the Church and Editor of THE NEW-CHURCH MAGAZINE, Conference quarterly, he is a competent Latin scholar, and has the qualities and the zeal which eminently fit him for this important and exacting work.
     This undertaking may appear somewhat remote from the average member of the Church who reads the Writings in translation, but we would point out that without the printing of the Latin editions we could have no English translations. Furthermore, it is essential that editions of the Writings in the original language should be available to our ministers and students, and it is well that the Swedenborg Society assumes this responsibility, which involves heavy financial outlay with little return because of the limited sale.
     But the present edition is of particular interest to the Church, because the text to be published will be somewhat different from the former one.

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This, we may suppose, will directly affect all future English editions, and those printed in other languages, for the next hundred years or more.
     The occasion for the difference is that, since the last edition of the Latin was published a hundred years ago, a manuscript written by Swedenborg of all save the first 1885 paragraphs has been discovered. There seems little doubt that this manuscript, which has since been phototyped and made more accessible, is the first draft which Swedenborg wrote of the Arcana Celestia. There is reason to suppose that Swedenborg copied this and sent the clean copy to the printers, and that this latter copy was destroyed by the printers when the work had been published. The first 1885 paragraphs, comprising the first volume as originally published (1749), was seen through the press by Swedenborg himself in London, which would account for these numbers having been destroyed when printed. The manuscript of the rest of the work was sent to the London printers from Stockholm, and naturally Swedenborg would retain his first draft.
     It may not be generally realized that it was Swedenborg's custom fully to write out all of his works, and later to make a clean copy for the printer. The latter has seldom been preserved, as it would be destroyed by the printers when they were finished with it. Only in the case of the Apocalypse Explained have we the whole of the first draft and the clean copy, as this was never sent to the printers, although prepared for them.
     In addition to the manuscript of the Arcana Celestia there is the original quarto edition, printed in London in the years 1749-1756. This contains many grammatical and other minor errors. Although this was published at Swedenborg's own direction, there is reason to suppose that he himself did not examine the proof sheets.
     A second edition (octavo) was prepared by Dr. Immanuel Tafel, and published from 1833 to 1842 at Tübingen, Wurtemberg. He had nothing other than the original edition to work with, but on the basis of internal evidence alone he made some 6000 changes in preparing this edition. It is of interest to note that in many cases the changes which Dr. Tafel made from the original edition are found to be correct according to the manuscript since discovered. From this we conclude that at any rate some of the mistakes in the original edition were introduced by the printer, and this confirms the belief that greater reliance can be placed upon the manuscript than upon the original published edition.

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     For this and other reasons the Swedenborg Society, on the recommendation of its Advisory and Revision Board, which has been considering the question for some time, has decided to base the new edition upon the manuscript, rather than upon the former printed works. It will be Mr. Johnson's task to transcribe the manuscript, and at the same time to collate it with both published editions, and note all changes. Any important changes will be noted in the published new edition. It is true that this will only make comparatively slight changes from the former editions, mostly by way of repairing the omission of words and phrases here and there, occasionally whole sentences and in a few cases paragraphs. But the slightest change is of inestimable importance, as this is a work of the Heavenly Doctrine, and no care can be too great to insure the publication of the most accurate text that is obtainable.
     Many interesting problems are presented by an examination of the manuscripts. It is a work which needs to be done carefully to insure the greatest accuracy of our Latin texts. As was the case with the manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments we cannot but suppose that the manuscripts of the Writings have been preserved, in the Divine Providence, for our use and for our careful scrutiny.
     To one who even casually looks at the manuscripts of the Writings there is forced upon his attention the degree to which Swedenborg wrote "as of himself," although he was an instrument in the Lord's hands for the giving of the Revelation. In innumerable cases we find words and phrases, sometimes whole paragraphs, scored out, and others put in their place. One interesting case in point is where he wrote alternately "a" and "e" (the two Latin words with different connotations, usually rendered "from" and "out of") and crossed them out four times before he decided on "a." (Thus,- [a with a line through it] [e with a line through it] [a with a line through it] [e with a line through it].) This illustrates the importance he placed upon each word which was to be the means of giving the Heavenly Doctrine to men. Our translators must learn to follow this same spirit. These changes made by Swedenborg in no way do away with the Divine Authority of the form through which the Heavenly Doctrine is revealed to us, for the Divine Providence was operative through his mind, determining the final form which should be written.

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The Lord equally led Swedenborg as a medium of Revelation as He did the Prophets of old, though in the one case it was an inward, in the other an outward leading. The result is the same,-the giving of the Lord's Own chosen Words to mankind.
     Another interesting point is the use of capital letters. In all the original editions they are used very profusely, and there seems little cause to doubt that the printers inserted them according to the custom of the times when many proper nouns were capitalized. They are not used so freely in the manuscripts, although in many cases it is impossible to say with certainty whether a given letter is a capital or not.
     We have said that the changes brought to light by an examination of the manuscript of the Arcana Celestia will likely be very small, and, indeed, hardly worthy of note, were we not dealing with Divine Revelation. There is, however, at least one remarkable exception. After the explanation of the 22nd Chapter of Genesis, there is a section of 18 paragraphs on Miracles which until recently has never been published. For an article by the Right Rev. Alfred Acton, explaining this circumstance, and also giving his translation of the section, see NEW CHURCH LIFE, September, 1942.
     These omitted numbers have now been published by the Swedenborg Society as a 32-page booklet, with the Latin on one side, and an English translation by the Rev. P. H. Johnson, on the opposite side. The title, Miracles and Signs, has been adopted in order to differentiate it from another small work already published under the title On Miracles. Copies of this can be purchased from the Swedenborg Society, 20 Bloomsbury Way, W.C.1., London. It is most satisfactory that this small work, which forms part of the Heavenly Doctrine, should now have come to light and been made available to all the members of the Church.

     [EDITORIAL NOTE: From the April-June issue of THE NEW-CHURCH MAGAZINE we learn that Mr. Johnson has given up the editorship of that periodical, and also his pastorate of the Snodland Society, in order to devote himself to the preparation of the new Latin edition of the Arcana Celestia, a work which he expects will claim his whole-time attention for about three years.]

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ACADEMY LIBRARY 1943

ACADEMY LIBRARY       FREDA PENDLETON       1943

     A Brief History.

     (Read to the General Faculty, April 6,1943.)

     When attempting to write a history of the Academy Library, one is met with defeat at the outset because of the scarcity of printed or other material of the earliest years. I began my search by going through NEW CHURCH LIFE from cover to cover, year by year. These old numbers make fascinating reading. The news notes are full of church history, humor-shall I say Victorian humor?-quaint descriptions. Three young ladies were graduated, but the young ladies are not named; in those days it was not done. But no mention of a library!
     Was there a library in the first school at Cherry Street? There must have been. Most people had books, and the first teachers we had were scholars; indeed, some of their books are now on our shelves, inscribed with the valuable autographs of the owners. Farther along I find mention of a rare or valuable accession, the donor's name not given. Yes, there was a library in the school. For in the Charter a Library is listed as one of the essential aims of the Academy, and in early letters we find brief allusions to the desirability of establishing one. But in the contemporary publications there is hardly anything from which we can draw an adequate picture of so important an arm of our education.

     Early Days in Philadelphia.

     In 1877, the school was in the Cherry Street Church, and in 1882 the Theological School moved from there into a small house nearby on Friedlander Street. I have learned from the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt, who came to the school in 1883 at the age of sixteen, that "the Library occupied the parlor downstairs, and was in charge of Charlie Stuart [one of the young teachers], who even then was trying to get it into order and partly cataloged.

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It was made up mainly of the Writings in English and Latin, many of the classics, ecclesiastical histories, but especially of educational works, chiefly from Father Benade and Rev. J. P. Stuart. There were also well-bound encyclopedias, medical charts from the library of Dr. Starkey, and also some books from Pastor L. H. Tafel, on Egypt, I believe."
     Prior to this, even before 1880, Mr. John Whitehead, then a theological student, had written in notebooks a list of the books in the Library, a kind of catalog. He, therefore, might be called the first Librarian of the Academy, and Mr. Charles Stuart the second.
     As far as I can discover, the Library and Book Room were always in the same room, or connected, down to the time when our present building was erected. There were also the beginnings of a museum in those days, from which has grown through the years an extremely valuable collection.
     When the schools moved from Cherry Street to Summer Street in 1885, young Mr. C. Th. Odhner took over the duties of librarian in his spare time. The girls' school was in the same building, and in describing the new house for the schools a susceptible young man wrote: "The growing library and museum were put into order, the rooms were decorated, and the beautifying effects of feminine influences were beginning to be felt." (C. T. O. in JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, 1901, p. 63.) Perhaps this was the beginning of the time-honored tradition that the Library is the ideal meeting place.
     In 1887, when the schools were moved to much larger quarters in Wallace Street, we note that, in the renovation of the building, "two rooms were made into one for the Library." The Book Room was in the same room, and Mr. Carl Hjalmar Asplundh had charge of both, with various students, I believe, to assist him. At that time the books were rearranged, classified and cataloged, and their many treasures made more accessible.
     We find books of the Library steadily increasing in 1890, particular attention being paid to the preservation of original editions of Swedenborg, the collecting of the photolithographs of the manuscripts, of New Church collateral literature, and of "such works as would prove helpful in the studies pursued in the school." (N. C. LIFE, 1890, p. 17.) Later, notably from 1890-1893, there is frequent mention of additions to the rare books collection.

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Indeed, the Academy was most fortunate in having as Chancellor so great a scholar as Bishop Benade, who donated many books which he had collected in Europe. The most precious of these, of course, is the copy of True Christian Religion that was owned by Swedenborg, which Bishop Benade obtained in Sweden.
     When, in 1896-1897, the Church was in upheaval over the separation from Bishop Benade, part of the school was still in the city, and part in the country. During the first year in the country there was no Academy school building as such, the school and society using what was known as the "Club House" for church, school and social gatherings. In these small quarters there was, of course, no room for a library, and so for a year the Library and Book Room remained at Wallace Street in charge of Mr. Asplundh.

     Move to the Country.

     In the Spring of 1897, after the organization of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, the schools were all moved to the country and the Academy was reorganized. There is a seeming discrepancy in the published dates of that time, but it can be explained by careful study. In 1897 the schools were moved to Huntingdon Valley (now Bryn Athyn), and classes were carried on, but we note in NEW CHURCH LIFE for June, 1898, a brief announcement: "The Academy of the New Church has removed its Schools, Book Room and Library to Huntingdon Valley." (p. 81.) This means that they were physically moved then, because at that time (1898) the new building was ready to house the Schools, the Book Room and the Library.
     This new building,-later the Dormitory, afterwards The Inn, and still later, alas, a hole in the ground,-was dedicated in April, 1898. Bishop W. F. Pendleton, in his address on that occasion, said that "it was the first realization of a long-cherished desire to have the schools established in the country in their own building." (N. C. L., April, 1898, p. 79.)
     At the time of the reorganization of the Academy in 1897, there was formed a Library Board, consisting of Bishop W. F. Pendleton, Revs. Enoch S. Price and C. Th. Odhner, and Messrs. Robert M. Glenn and Carl Hj. Asplundh. The last named was in charge of the Library and the Book Room, as he had been in Wallace Street, and he was assisted by Mr. William Farrington. In the new building the Library consisted of a Reading Room, later the Dining Room, and a brick fireproof extension housing the stacks.

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Many newcomers have wondered why the kitchen of the Inn was fireproof,-a seemingly unnecessary precaution. Those who went to school there, and have sentimental memories of the time spent in the Library, felt it was a desecration-a descent from the sublime to the purely gustatory; but there is a connection between food for the mind and for the body, and so perhaps the baser use to which the Library was later put was not so great a descent.
     During the years in which the schools were in the Inn building the Library grew apace. The Swedenborg Collection was arranged, after years of experience, according to the system now used, though in simpler form. The works are placed on the shelves in the order in which they were written, the various translations in alphabetical order. It is not necessary to give a description of the system, as most people acquainted with the Library know something about it.
     Once more, and for the fifth time, the Academy Schools were to be moved to another building. In the Summer of 1901 the Library was installed in the more commodious room in Benade Hall-the grand new building then just finished. One description of the new school notes that "it certainly tempts the poet's fancy, and is so fine in every way that our stock of superlatives seems exhausted for the present." (N. C. L., 1901, p. 623.)
     This Faculty Room of today is a part of that Library of the past: it extended to what is now the business office, and that room was the Book Room. The entrance to the Library was through the swishing green doors at the south end of the room. The stacks were arranged on both sides between the windows, extending into the room, with an aisle down the middle; tables were between the stacks. This was a happy arrangement, for it entailed quiet for study and at the same time privacy for more non-scholastic activities. There was really a sphere of study here, and there seemed to be no necessity for what is now termed "police duty." To the students it seemed a palatial and adequate library. This is understandable when we realize, to quote a news note about the schools, that "the total attendance mounts up to thirty, or seven more than last year. From Bryn Athyn alone eight more pupils have entered." (N. C. L., 1901, p. 623.) Year by year the number of students increased, and the Library expanded with the growing attendance. There was need for larger quarters.

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In Providence, the Academy's great benefactor, Mr. John Pitcairn, saw the needs and responded with his usual generosity. A new fireproof library building was planned.
     Before this, in 1903, Mr. Asplundh had died, and the Rev. C. E. Doering had taken over the duties of Book Room Manager and Librarian. He had as his assistant Mr. Emil F. Stroh, who took an especial interest in the Library and its growing needs. A new system of cataloging and accessioning was undertaken and efficiently carried out by Mr. Stroh, and in 1908 he was appointed Librarian.

     A Library Building.

     The present Library building was begun in 1909, but was not ready for occupancy until April, 1911. The dedication took place on April 9, 1911. To quote one account: "The impressive ceremonies took place in the beautiful Reading Room, which possessed a wonderful expansiveness, absorbing without evidence of crowding a seemingly endless stream of people. Bishop W. F. Pendleton gave an inspiring address on the use for which books and libraries had been created, and their especial use to us, enlarging particularly upon the thought that all books center around the Word of God, being written either to confirm or to attack some truth contained therein." (N. C. L., 1911, p. 353.)
     Within the next two years, over nine thousand books were added to the Library, mostly through the generosity of Mr. John Pitcairn. They represented all subjects, and included an unusually valuable and extensive collection of bound magazines. Mr. Emil F. Stroh was assisted in making the selections by Bishop W. F. Pendleton and Miss Amena Pendleton, who was a trained librarian. It must have been a delightful experience to have piles and piles of new books waiting to be cataloged and put into circulation.
     In several of the annual reports of the teachers of that time we find mention of the benefits of the new Library to the work of the students. One notes: "Its use is developing rapidly, and is one of our strongest departments. Books placed there in the past year have been like an infusion of new blood into a weakened body. It has been one of the means by which the work has been broadened and strengthened." (Alice E. Grant, JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, 1912, p. 67.)

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     We note in the Bulletin of Information and Catalogues, several times repeated, that "one of the most cherished objects of the Academy from its foundation has been the collection of the literature of the New Church. To this end many rare works and editions have been secured; and the Academy collection of Swedenborgiana may fairly be described as unique."
     About the year 1911, the collecting of works mentioned by Swedenborg or owned by him was more systematically undertaken, the Rev. Alfred Acton being in charge of the selection of titles. What is now known as Room 17 was set aside for this collection, which has since grown steadily. The Academy, the Library, indeed the whole Church owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Acton for his unceasing efforts to complete this remarkable collection. He travelled over Europe for a year (1920) seeking them; in this he was financed by Mr. Harold Pitcairn, to whom we must always be grateful. Dr. Acton now reads catalogs by the dozens, and, last but not least, he has given money toward the purchase of these books. He is still doing all these things, and I trust will continue for years.
     Mr. Stroh showed great energy and efficiency in the work that he did as Librarian, and helped greatly in building the foundation for the unique Library that we have today. One of his outstanding contributions is the system of classifying Swedenborg's works and the New Church collateral literature. He enlarged and thoroughly organized the system for Swedenborg's works that was begun in former years, and devised a scheme for New Church collateral literature whereby all these works are together in sections by themselves. As our collection of these subjects is unique in the world, it was necessary to devise a special system for them.
     Another fine work he accomplished was in organizing the putting in order of the collection of manuscripts, letters, etc., in the Archives, and in carrying on the use of the Museum. This move into the new building was a tremendous undertaking, and one which Mr. Stroh did faithfully and well.
     At the time of Mr. Stroh resignation in January, 1914, no Librarian was appointed until April. In the interim a committee of three,-Rev. C. E. Doering, Rev. R. W. Brown, and Mr. Edward C. Bostock,-was in charge, but on April 1st of that year Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal was appointed Librarian.

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As he was also teaching, he could not give his undivided attention to the Library, but he showed energy and initiative in the work. His most lasting contribution was the beginning of the Children's Room. Before that, the books for children had been placed in the teachers' rooms in De Charms Hall,-an arrangement that was inadequate and did not work well. The setting aside of a room for the exclusive use of the children was an important step in advance, and one that has proved most useful and necessary in increasing the scope of the work in the Library.
     When, in 1917-1918, the school departments were reorganized, Mr. Gyllenhaal was taken from the Library and made Treasurer, and in January, 1918, the Rev. Reginald W. Brown was appointed Librarian. He also was doing some teaching in the schools. His scholarly abilities well fitted him for many of the duties now undertaken. He had a special interest in the Swedenborgiana collection, and under him the Museum was put into better order, and many valuable objects were acquired. He was preeminently fitted for this work. He could decipher inscriptions in cuneiform and hieroglyphics, and could read Chinese; and he had a knowledge of most of the priceless objects in the Museum. He was instrumental in obtaining a fine collection of Assyrian and Babylonian tablets and other important and varied collections of ancient art. This was made possible through the generosity of Messrs. Raymond, Theodore and Harold Pitcairn. These purchases, as well as the unusual loan exhibits of Messrs. Raymond and Theodore Pitcairn, coupled with Mr. Brown's keen enthusiasm and knowledge, have greatly enhanced the value and importance of the Museum.
     At this time (1918) there were over thirty thousand volumes on our shelves, and the accessions were steadily increasing, as well as the circulation and attendance. Sixteen thousand volumes were circulated in a year,-an increase of two thousand over the previous year. This does not include the number of books used in the Library but not taken out.
     When, in 1919, Mr. Brown was given leave of absence to go to South Africa as a missionary, the Library was left in charge of Miss Amena Pendleton, who had just been appointed Assistant Librarian. Miss Pendleton was a trained and experienced librarian, and under her stimulating administration the Library was organized under more up-to-date methods, and thus made to run more smoothly in every way.

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To quote from her first report: "This year the staff is entirely new. We have had to find things out for ourselves while in rapid motion; this with no liaison or continuity to bridge us over. The Faculty is to be congratulated on the patience, good nature and appreciative kindness with which they received our efforts." (JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, 1920, p. 29.)

     Before Mr. Brown had left for Africa, he had planned to bring up to date the Star Collection, which is an attempt to bring together Swedenborg's works in every available edition and in every language. This was now carried out and finished. Mr. Ernest Pfeiffer, then a theological student, did this work in a most scholarly manner, with the help of Dr. Acton and under the supervision of Miss Pendleton. She collected many of the Writings needed by canvassing practically the whole Church through personal letters, notices in NEW CHURCH LIFE, and in other ways. Mr. Pfeiffer also did a fine piece of work in compiling a Swedenborg bibliography. The plan was to publish this bibliography, but it was never carried out. Both of these undertakings are of permanent value to New Church scholars.
     An interesting and unusual event during Miss Pendleton's second year was a meeting of the librarians of Philadelphia and environs held here. The guests were served a delightful luncheon by Miss Jean Horigan in the old Auditorium, and the whole affair was pronounced a great success. In the two years that Miss Pendleton was in charge of the Library, one of her, shall we say, accomplishments was that of persuading miss Dorothy Davis and Miss Elsa Synnestvedt that they wanted to be librarians, and obtaining their services. As you all know, they have been two of our greatly valued librarians. Miss Pendleton resigned in the Spring of 1921, and Mr. Brown returned from South Africa in the Fall, after an absence of nearly two years.

     Recent Times.

     As the years went by, the Library had many ups and downs, and several changes in the personnel of the staff. I should like to pay tribute to the many devoted people who have worked in this department of the Academy, but who of necessity must remain anonymous in a paper of this length.

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It is impossible to mention by name all the assistants, the catalogers, the reference librarians, or to go into much detail of the work of the librarians, although I am moved to mention Miss Clara Davis, Miss Roena Acton, and later Miss Doris Klein, who all did such excellent work. Miss Klein was succeeded by Miss Lois Stebbing, whose point of view and initiative are much appreciated. There has also been a long succession of faithful scholarship students whose deeds must here remain unsung. Perhaps a real history of the Library will be written some day, and I am sure it will make a large volume. Librarians may come and go, but the work goes on forever, and is never done. There has been a good deal printed about the Library since 1901, when the publication of the JOURNAL OF EDUCATION was begun. Regular reports by the Librarian were published along with the other reports, the Library thus comma into its own as a department of the school. These reports give an accurate and detailed account of the work done-and the work done is no idle phrase.
     The catastrophe of the De Charms Hall fire in 1935 dropped a few extra burdens upon the Library staff. The basement rooms were turned over to the three upper grades, in all sixty pupils, and for over a year the comparative peace and quiet of the Library was lost. Needless to say, however, we were happy to extend this hospitality to the Elementary School, and sympathized sincerely with the teachers in their difficulties in this trying situation.
     In 1936 and 1937 two blows fell upon the Library from which it is difficult to recover. The first of these was the resignation of Miss Dorothy Davis, to become Principal of the Seminary. For years she had been an active and stimulating member of the staff, having started when Miss Amena Pendleton was in charge. It did not seem possible that she was leaving: she belonged there, and the Library was not the same place without her cheerful presence. The loss to the Library, while a gain to the Seminary, is an irreparable one.
     We need not go into the details of the illness and sudden death of Mr. Brown in September, 1937, as it is still fresh in our memories, and affected the whole school. His special qualifications did much to develop the effectiveness of the Library as an educational arm of the Academy.
     In recent years we have endeavored to carry on the policies of the past, and hope that a few things have been accomplished.

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There have been many problems to meet, due partly to the war and to a need for books and more books. But, with a smaller appropriation than in the past, it is impossible to meet the demands, though we try to keep up the standard which has made ours a unique library. During the war we have considered it necessary to buy books needed for boys who will eventually be in the armed forces, and their interest is insatiable. The matter of book selection is not an easy one under the circumstances, as it is necessary to meet demands of all ages and conditions, from pre-school age to adults, not to mention the teachers, who must have books. We must decide whether to buy a learned magazine of the 17th century, the latest novel, or a new book about Mickey Mouse.
     Within the past year we undertook the tremendous task of packing over three thousand of our rare books and manuscripts in ninety-one boxes and sending them to the Cathedral Crypt for safety from bombing. It was also decided by the Board to insure against fire the contents of the Library. As this had never been done before, it proved to be a large order, in making lists of over fifty-three thousand volumes and placing a price upon them. In connection with the rare books, Dr. Acton came nobly to the rescue and was a great help.
     In the course of many years, since the beginning in fact, the place of the Library has been one of dignity and importance. Its resources continue to multiply gradually, the attendance and circulation have grown larger, but inevitably it has become more of a study hall than a quiet place for study. Now we are told in the Spiritual Diary (5999) about the libraries seen in heaven, "where there were great numbers of books, and a vast number who studied the books, some of whom became learned, many intelligent, and others wise. . . . There were also those who reflect from the things which they imbibed through outward sciences and objects, and therefore do not care to read books."
     The early fathers were men of vision. Perhaps they dreamed of a time when there would be a Library something like those in heaven, where the learned of the Church would study and become more wise in the Doctrines. We should keep faith with our forefathers, and in our education, in which the Library plays an essential part, we should endeavor to raise up children who will carry on the scholarly tradition of the old Academy.

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LIBRARIES IN HEAVEN 1943

LIBRARIES IN HEAVEN              1943

     "I was admitted into a library where there was a great number of books. They who were there were not visible to me, but still they talked with me, and said that books from the ancients were there, written by correspondences. In the interior of other libraries there were books written by those who were from the Ancient Churches, and still more interiorly were books for the Most Ancients, from whom the society called Enoch collected correspondences which afterwards served for those who were in the subsequent churches, which are to be called the Ancient Churches.
     "There was an immense number who were studying the books, and some of them become learned, many intelligent, and others wise. There appeared places or repositories for the more interior libraries, better and better lighted, but to me and to others they appeared in dimmer light, because we were not capable of entering into the things of wisdom which were there. Moreover, those who are in the outer parts of the library are not given permission to enter into the interior parts, for various reasons. The apartments there are divided into many, according to the faculties of those who are studying.
     "And elsewhere in the heavens there are also libraries, but not public ones as in that place. In the heavens, they who study have communication with those who are in those public libraries, and from thence are instructed in doubtful matters.
     "On the left at a distance there are also libraries which likewise are divided into repositories, which are in great numbers, according to all the varieties of studies and the learning thence derived. In the field of theology there are those who study their own doctrinals, but who still are thus led to perceive their doctrinals differently; for they are bent by degrees to truer conceptions. For the most part, those who are there do not come to intelligence, but to learning, which they themselves also confessed.
     "At the sides there are those who do not study in order to become intelligent and wise by their studies, but who think from those things which they have imbibed by means of objects and sciences, and who therefore do not want to read books, as do those who choose out those books which are merely of service to the memory, such as lexicons and compilations which are for the memory only. To the former it is given to think, and by the Lord it is given them to apperceive what things signify, and to form conclusions as to many things which are of intelligence; the reason being that they have not a memory such as others have, but thought instead.
     "Those who are from the moderns were explored, as to whether they were able to grasp and thence believe that there are books and libraries in the spiritual world; and scarcely any from the learned could do so. It was said that they have there from the ancients very many things concerning correspondences, and explications of the Word by the internal sense; and that the most ancient wise ones there are in the inmost chambers." (Spiritual Diary 5999.)

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SWEDENBORG AND THE APOSTLES 1943

SWEDENBORG AND THE APOSTLES       Editor       1943


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Editor      Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager      Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Business Manager.


TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     Preparation for their Mission at the Second Coming.

     New Churchmen are familiar with the fact that when Swedenborg, in the True Christian Religion, was treating of faith in the Lord as the visible God, he states that "these things were written in the presence of the Twelve Apostles of the Lord, who were sent to me by the Lord while I was writing them" (339e) also, that when this last work of the Writings was finished, the Lord called together the Twelve who had followed Him in the world, but who are now angels, and sent them forth to teach the Gospel anew, which took place on the 19th of June in the year 1770. (T. C. R. 4, 108, 791). It may not be so well known to readers of the Writings that in the year 1748, twenty-two years before the Apostles were sent forth to evangelize the Second Advent, Swedenborg was instrumental in preparing them for this important mission by bringing them to see the contrast between their heavenly states and those in which they had been in the world. This was necessary, if they were to teach the Gospel anew, or in the light of its spiritual sense.

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     The Twelve, like all angels, could be let back into the world of spirits by an opening of the natural memory, which is quiescent with the inhabitants of heaven. When this is granted by the Lord for certain purposes, it is almost as though they were again living in the natural world; and unless reflection is then given them, they do not think of being away from their heavenly society, so distinct are the two states. But it was just that kind of reflection which could he given by Swedenborg, who, because of the miracle of his own condition, could reflect upon the relation of the different degrees and states in the spiritual world, as well as upon the relation of the two worlds, one to the other. And so it was through him that an angel of heaven was able to bring about such a reflection with the Twelve Apostles, whereby they could contrast their spiritual states in heaven with their former life on earth.

     Their States in the World.

     We know from the Gospels the many personal weaknesses exhibited by the Disciples, notably in the case of Peter and Judas, but also in other cases, as when they objected to the bringing of little children unto Jesus, and when James and John asked that they might sit on the right and left hand of their Lord in His glory. On one occasion, Peter said: "Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee; what shall we have therefore?" And it was because of this expectation of reward that "Jesus said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." They could not at that time elevate their thoughts to the spiritual significance of His promise, and in the other life still looked for its literal fulfilment. (A. C. 2353, 8705.) And when they afterwards suffered martyrdom for the faith, there was undoubtedly a sense of merit in their sacrifice.
     Yet the Disciples had "followed the Lord in the regeneration," and found a place in heaven after death. But that they might be made ready to evangelize anew at the Second Coming, it was necessary that they should realize the difference between the natural and spiritual senses of the Gospel, which was brought about in a manner that is set forth in the Spiritual Diary, nos. 1321-1332, an outline of which we shall now give:

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     Swedenborg describes a tumult in the world of spirits, and a conflict of opinions as to whether the Apostles were to sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, as promised in the literal sense of the Word. Some of the Apostles themselves, being let into the state of their life while in the world by descending from the heaven of angels into the world of spirits, spoke in defense of the literal fulfilment of that Scripture promise; for they had not believed otherwise during their life in the world. And they now showed a repugnance to the true meaning of the promise-namely, that the Lord alone judges all after death, and this according to the goods and truths acquired by regeneration, which goods and truths are signified by the Twelve Apostles sitting on thrones, each Apostle representing some cardinal truth and good of the church. But it was now manifestly shown them, both by word of mouth and by a spiritual idea, that they are unable to judge a single spirit. This impossibility was so clearly shown them that they were indignant at having cherished such a notion, and confessed that they had erred in their opinions.
     It was further shown them, however, that the whole heaven seems to exercise a judgment like that of the various provinces of the human body, by being willing or unwilling to admit spirits into the angelic company; thus that a new spirit is either favorable or averse to this or that society, and so judges concerning it when he is either admitted or rejected. In like manner, the angels of the three heavens love to admit into their societies, or to reject, those who are of the faith, and in this way to pass judgment, when yet it is not they who judge, but the Lord alone, who so disposes all things in the Gorand Man. The Apostles perceived this truth, and unanimously confessed it.
     Next the question arose as to whether any could be admitted into heaven but those who had suffered persecutions and miseries during their life in the world. And this idea also was defended quite vehemently by the Apostles as long as they were in the state of their former life, or that of the body. And they were unwilling to admit any but martyrs and those who had suffered persecution miseries, understanding the words of the Lord literally when He said. "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you." Therefor they wished to merit heaven, and to inherit it as a reward, at the same time wishing to exclude others until they had undergone punishments. In this manner, the Apostles, while in their earthly state, wished to pass judgments upon others, thinking that they themselves were to have preference, because they had borne such persecutions and had promulgated the Gospel in the world.
     But now again the Apostles were clearly shown that this is not the meaning of the Lord's words; for if it were, no one at this day could be admitted into heaven, since there are no such persecutions and martyrdoms at this day. And it was said to them that as long as they were in that state they had not suffered for the faith, thus for the Lord, but for themselves, to the end that they might sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes; thus it was not done for the kingdom of the Lord, but for their own kingdom, their own glory and salvation. This they could not deny.

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     "Moreover, it was said to them that there are myriads in heaven who are more worthy than the Apostles, even though they have not suffered persecutions and like things. Nor could the Apostles deny this, because heaven is filled with angels, and the Apostles are only in the natural heaven." (S. D. 1330. See 1827, 1828, 680, and H. H. 526:4.)
     And now the Apostles were afforded a still more enlightening experience, by which they were enabled to contrast their former earthly states with the blessedness of their life in heaven, this being accomplished by an angel speaking through Swedenborg. As long as the Apostles were in the world of spirits, they could not make such a comparison; for when an angel is let back into the state in which he was during his life on earth, and thus becomes a spirit, he does not know what he had done in heaven, because he does not remember it, and so doubts that he is really in heaven, and that he is blest with heavenly life and joy.
     "That the Apostles might know that they are in heaven," Swedenborg states, "an angel in me spoke with them when they had been restored to their heavenly life, so that they might at the same time apperceive it as spirits, and thence might know, not only that they are in heaven, but also how much happier that angelic life is, in comparison with the life of the spirit and the body. And while the angel was speaking with them, and they were affected with heavenly joy, they also said that they were so happy that there is no comparison with their former life in the world, as I also now perceive from them." (S. D. 1331.)

     The account given above is dated March 13, 1748, which was twenty-two years before the Twelve Apostles were commissioned anew by the Lord on the 19th of June, 1770. It would seem that we may rightly regard that experience of the Apostles, with its humbling and purifying effect, as a necessary part of their preparation to serve the Lord at His Second Coming. Realizing that affections of the natural man had entered largely into the zeal with which they had promulgated the Gospel in the world, they could now enter upon a similar labor in the spiritual world from the zeal of a heavenly love. "For each was assigned a region of the spiritual world, and fulfilled the Lord's command with all zeal and effort." (T. C. R. 108.)

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KING SOLOMON 1943

KING SOLOMON              1943

     From 'The Word Explained,' Volume VI.

     6257. [And the word of Jehovah came to Solomon], vs. 11. With respect to Solomon, his life is described later, and how he wandered from the way of truth, in that he had so many wives, having as many wives as he had gods, as will be seen later.
     Moreover, by the angels, who were around me, Solomon was represented as he is at this day among those who live after death, to wit, that he had no knowledge of spiritual things, and still less of celestial, but was so stupid that he does not know the least thing as to what this house signifies, save only that it was built in this way for pomp. Thus he is now among the stupid, who yet formerly was counted among the wise. It was also represented that his wisdom had been natural, that is, that it lay in things natural and civil which regard the life of society, and not in things heavenly. This is the reason why it is compared to the wisdom of the magicians in Egypt, and to others who were learned only in natural things; for such knowledge also is frequently called wisdom.
     6258. As touching the enigmatical sayings which he spoke, and which he could explain, this had been represented to me on a former occasion, when I spoke with him several times. He did not wish to speak at all save by enigmatical utterances, but utterances of such sort that he would give forth half the speech, and wished it to be repeated, and the rest to be got at by conjectures. Thus his discourse was a broken one. Besides this, there were other sayings, which also were enigmatical. I learned that he could guess at the part that was lacking, being at once instructed by the spirit with which he was endowed as to what was needed wherewith to supply it. But our dialogues, although repeated, soon ceased; for he was proud, and there was nothing that he did not despise, as though he alone Mere wise, when yet he is anything but wise-wise, namely, in things spiritual and celestial. He loved nought but what was obvious to the external sense, pursuing after this alone.

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It was for this reason, moreover, that he so greatly lauded that delicate life of the body which he preferred, as can be evident from his wisdom. As to whether this contains any wisdom, of this I cannot as yet be persuaded.
     6259. He is one among those natural lives or minds which know nothing save what comes from a disposition which has been induced by natural affections. Such minds as he think themselves to be men in external form. Otherwise they know not that they are men, and yet they are spirits. But when asked about the senses, whether they have eyes, or ears or nose or mouth, seeing that they think they enjoy a human face, they answer that they have. And when it is said to them that they have no external sight or smell or taste, for if they had, those organs would be of no use to them, they do not comprehend. When further asked as to whether they know what corresponds to these organs in spiritual essences; whether the forms for which they long can be enjoyed for the receiving of the things which correspond to them, these natural minds, of whom Solomon is one, can give no answer. They are ignorant as to what the correspondence of spiritual things with natural is.
     Not so spiritual minds, who are the spirits of God Messiah. These well perceive this correspondence; nay, the more interior of them see and perceive spiritual things in natural, etc., etc.

     From 'The Word Explained,' Volume III.

     3117. It has also been granted me at times to speak with Solomon, who still retains his manner of speaking as in proverbs. Still he was admitted into heaven, and persisted in his old dominion. Thus he is proud. But his wisdom was then of a poor sort, being such that it might he compared with the shade of intelligence; for he put forth half-sayings, in order that a guess might be made as to the rest; though when I spoke in the same way, he himself could guess nothing. But it was told me that those who are admitted now are not those who are to be admitted into the kingdom of God Messiah in the future; for as yet they have no joy.
     Different is it with those who are worshippers of God Messiah. With these, when it is pleasing to God Messiah, there is an image or appearance of the joy to come; and therefore they live in perpetual desire for the kingdom of God Messiah.

270





     From The Spiritual Diary.

     As The Word Explained was written between October, 1745, and February, 1747, the above testimony concerning Solomon was recorded during that time. Over a year later, under dates in July, 1748, we find further information in regard to his state in the other life, as recorded in the Spiritual Diary. The passages quoted below are listed in Swedenborg's Index to the Memorabilia under "Solomon," some of which describe his state, but do not mention his name. This Index, not yet translated from the Latin, includes references to both The Word Explained and The Spiritual Diary, and often furnishes a key to the meaning of passages in these works. It is therefore of special value to the New Church student.

     Concerning those who live in security, without fearing any God, but they fear and adore him who does natural good to them.

     2678. There are many of this kind in the other life, and they dwell near the sole of the left foot, occupying the region of the sole of the left foot. I spoke with them, and I sensed their striving upwards of themselves from the sole through the foot. I also felt their great effort, and their ascent thereby even to the knees. But still they relapsed into their place, or into their region. They act like a wave of the sea. And those who spoke with me did not appear to be evil; for when I supplicated the Lord's prayer, they also followed the thoughts even to the Lord. But it was said that they are of such a character
     2679. that they adore those who benefit them, thus not caring who is acknowledged as God. This was also given me to know from another experience. When the eternal was represented as a bottomless abyss, then those of them who looked into the depths were seized with the exceeding great fear which is called hissna (dizziness). They then said that they did not care for such phantasies, but that whenever one is presented to them, they are smitten with such a great fear. When, at another time, I supplicated the Lord's prayer, it was given me to perceive that they were more ardent than others.

271





     Concerning the sphere of those who esteem others as of no account.

     2681. A certain one who during his life had seemed to himself to be great, and wiser than others, was raised up from the sole of the foot, where he was, into the sphere above the head, near the head, and toward many spirits who were in front. Because he had been of such a character during his life, and among his associates, that he esteemed others as of no account, but himself as greater and wiser than all mortals, he had contracted such a natural disposition and its consequent sphere. The effect of this sphere was, that first it was cast around others like a white veil in the atmosphere; then it became like a heavy rain-cloud, as it were a sea of clouds which covered them with a veil, so that they cried out, saying that they were immersed, and could not struggle out, because the cloud veiled them over. They said afterwards that they had been in such trouble that they could not live, being aware that a sphere having such an effect exhaled from him. Thus he caused grievous trouble among those who wished to live in freedom, being like this in their everyday life, unless they be [in the presence of] kings, with whom there can be no familiarity, but only adoration. He also spoke with them,-instructive things pertaining to life,-with characteristic gravity. It was said to me that it was Solomon. 1748, 25 July.

     Concerning those who constitute the region of the sole of the foot.

     2683. See above, where these are treated of. They are such as have been upright, but who in the life of the body lived for the world and their own inclination, finding their delight in the things of the world, loving to live splendidly, but only from an external or bodily cupidity, delighting in a splendid table and like things. Nevertheless, they are upright, and not of a proud mind preferring themselves to others, although they are in dignity, and might be kings. For they act from the body alone, not from the interior mind. Such do not reject the doctrinals of faith in the Lord, still less deny them; only they do not care so much for them, because the life of the world attracts them. They say in their hearts that t the doctrine] may be so, as it is said to be; yea, also, free from the darkness they have induced upon themselves, they can pray and supplicate. The way to heaven is open in men of this kind, in a word, inwardly in them the Lord inseminates mercy, charity, probity, piety, justice, although others who trust in themselves, and suppose they are most acutely prudent, regard them as simple and of no value as to their interiors. 1748, 25 July.

272




     2684. They who occupy the region of the sole of the foot because they despise others in comparison with themselves, although they are not evil, continually seem to themselves to want to emerge through the foot to the thigh, and even above the head as also to the sides. But because they are of such a character that in a certain kind of dulness they despise others in comparison with themselves, they have such a sphere, and it surrounds them like a sort of gross covering round about them, so that they cannot possibly struggle out beyond it, although they labor to do so with great exertion. This is the sphere which was diffused among spirits like a raincloud [no. 2681], when the opportunity was given them to surge up or struggle out, on which account there was a resistance, as it were spontaneous, on the part of other spirits. That sphere appears round about them like a gross covering, which distinguishes their sphere from the spheres of others,

     Concerning the sphere of supereminence, and of authority over others.

     2699. There are those who in their own minds repute themselves supereminent to others, either in knowledge, in public authority, or something else. They do not indeed despise others in comparison with themselves, but still they hold others in slight esteem, as, for example, those whom they instruct, or over whom they have dominion. Men of this character can also be humble, and perform many offices for others, while yet this sphere of their mind and thoughts reigns, and involuntarily shines forth in everything they do-their gestures, looks, and speech-without their knowing it. Such can also be humble before the Lord, and cherish good sentiments in their hearts. Thus they have a haughtiness or a form of pride that is distinct from the haughtiness or pride commonly known, Such have been with me (Solomon), and when he was present, all the spirits were compelled to go far away,
     2700. lest they be veiled over by such a cloudy sphere as before described, [No. 2681.] As long as such a one was present, . . . the spirits were greatly distressed, as they several times said, They could not endure anything he said; it disturbed their state of freedom, and brought them into a kind of servitude which they could not possibly endure. . . .

273



It is similar among men. They who wish to be free cannot endure the society of those who are of that character, but they tear themselves away, because they are tormented in their society. 1748, 28 July.

     Comment.

     It is evident from these statements that Solomon found his place in the lowest plane of the Gorand Man-the sole of the foot; also that his nature fitted him for the part he was to play in the drama of the Scriptures, his love of earthly splendor being realized in the regal grandeur of his court, and his piety in the sumptuous temple worship. Apart from his personal character and state, however, his royalty and his worship have high representation in the Word, as revealed in the later Writings, from which we may quote one passage in Divine Providence:

     "That Solomon was permitted to establish idolatrous worships, was in order that he might represent the kingdom of the Lord, or the church, with all the religiosities in the whole world. For the church instituted with the Israelitish and Jewish nation was a representative church, on which account all the judgments and statutes of that church represented the spiritual things of the church, which are its internals; the people itself represented the church, the king represented the Lord; David the Lord who was to come into the world, and Solomon the Lord after His Advent. And because the Lord, after the glorification of His Human, had all power over heaven and earth, therefore His Representor, Solomon, appeared in glory and magnificence, and was in wisdom above all the kings of the earth, and also he built the temple. And besides, he permitted and instituted the worships of many nations, by which were represented the various religiosities in the world. Similar was the signification of his wives, who were 700 in number, and his concubines, who numbered 300; for a wife in the Word signifies the church, and a concubine a religiosity. From this it may be evident why it was given to Solomon to build the temple, by which was signified the Divine Human of the Lord, and also the Church and why he was permitted to establish idolatrous worships, and to marry so many wives." (D. P. 245.)
     And he represented the Lord as to the celestial and spiritual kingdoms. (A. E. 654:29, 33.) The Song of Solomon, we are told, "is not among the books which are called Moses and the Prophets, because it has not an internal sense; but it is written in the ancient style, and is full of significatives collected from the books of the Ancient Church." (A. C. 3942; see 5223:2.)

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MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943

     General Church of the New Jerusalem.

THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)

     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa, United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942,
     SERGEANT PILOT RALPH ROSCHMAN HILL, Kitchener, Ontario. Royal Canadian Air Force. Killed on active service in Wales, February 9, 1943.


     OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, Sgt. Norman,
Heldon, Cpl. Sydney,
Kirsten, Sgt. Theodore,
Taylor, AC. 1 Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bond, L.A.C. J. W.,
Bond, Sgt. Lillian D.,
Bond, L.A.C. Thomas A.,
Evens, Pvt. John,
Evens, Pvt. Robert A.,
Evens, A.C. 2 Reuben J.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Hill, Fr/Sgt. Leonard F.,
James, Pvt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Schnarr, Sgt. Joffre G.,
Schnarr, Cadet John G.,
Scott, Pvt. Herbert G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, Sgt. Pilot A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.

     Toronto.
Bellinger, Sgt./Pilot John H.,
Campbell, Stella, W.R.C.N S
Carter, F/Sgt. Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Cpl. Thomas J.,
Izzard, F/O Laurence T.,
Jesseman, Cpl. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn,
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Richardson, A.C. 2 David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, L.A.C. Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Bellinger, P/O William G., Ontario,
Evens, A.C. 2 A. Leslie, Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 Norman W., Alberta,
Frazee, Keith I., British Columbia,
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.


     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Eric D.,
Appleton, L.A.C. Roy,
Boozer, Dvr. A. E.,
Boozer, Donald,
Briscoe, Miss Irene G.,

275




Caldwell, Lieut. William T.,
Clennell, A.C. 2 Gordon,
Cohen, Eng. Comdr. Maurice L.,
Dale, Tpr. Keith B.,
Dawson, L.A.C. Geoffrey P.,
Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Halliday, Lieut. Keith C.,
Jones, Harold C.,
Lewin, Ronald,
Morris, Lieut. David,
Motum, O/Cadet John,
Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,
Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Beatrice A.,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Gnr. Michael T.,
Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,
Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Sylvia M.

     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, Pilot Air Officer J. S.,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Cockerell, Sig. John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, A/P Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Gnr. D. B.,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, Pvt. J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, A/P A. N.,
Hammond, Cadet Harry B.,
Hammond, Pvt. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, P/N Miss S. F.,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, S/Sgt. A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, A/M C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,
Ridgway, Pvt. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A.,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, Pvt. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, Cpl. Ralph E.,
Behlert, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Bostock, Pvt. Robert M.,
Carpenter, Lt. (jg) Philip S. P.,
Cole, Pvt. Dandridge M.,
Cole, Lt. William P.,
Conner, Pvt. Wilson Bennett,
Cooper, Pvt. Denis,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, A/C Rey W.,
Cooper, Cpl. Theodore F.,
Cowley, Cpl. William J.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davies, Pvt. Philip T.,
Davis, Joan, S 2/c,
Davis, Cpl. Justin H.,
Davis, Sgt. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
Deigendesch, Paul H., A.S.,
De Maine, Cand. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine, Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A..
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, Cand. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Finkeldey, Lt. Philip,
Gansert, Pvt. Otto G.,
Glenn, Lt. Ernest Bruce,
Gyllenhaal, S/Sgt. Charles P.,
Gyllenhaal, Ensign Leonard E.
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, Sgt. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., Ph.M. 3/c,
Hilldale, Pvt. Thomas A.,
Homiller, Lt. William,
Hyatt, Cpl. Edward D.,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Nilson, Lt. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, Pvt. David S.,
Odhner, Cpl. Ray S.,
Odhner, Lt. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, S 2/c R.T.,
Pitcairn, Pvt. Joel,
Pitcairn, John P.,
Pitcairn, A/C Lachlan,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, Lt. Nathan,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Capt. Oliver I.,

276




Price, Donal, A.S.,
Price, Cpl. Kenneth,
Rose, P.F.C. Stanley,
Rosenquist, Pvt. Henry,
Schnarr, A/C A. W.,
Schnarr, Donald, S 2/c,
Schnarr, Pvt. Eugene C.,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, A/C David R.,
Synnestvedt, Pvt. Fred H.,
Synnestvedt, A/C/C Pvt. Huard I.,
Walter, Elizabeth, S.K. 2/c,
Walter, Lt. Robert E.,
White, Lt. Harry J.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Asplundh, Cadet O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., M.M. 2/c,
Brown, Pvt. Robert E.,
Burnham, Edwin, C. Sp., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, Pvt. Roy M.,
Carlson, Pvt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,
Cole, Pvt. Louis S.,
Elkins, Lois, U.S.N.R.,
Fuller, George, P.O. 2/c,
Gladish, Lt. Donald G.,
Gunsteens, Pvt. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,
Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, Pvt. Kenneth,
Holmes, Cpl. Leslie B.,
Junge, Lt. Carl F.,
King, P.F.C. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Lt. Raymond T.,
Lee, Cedric,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
Melzer, Pvt. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Philip,
Melzer, Sgt. Roger,
Nelson, Lt. Gerald F.,
Pollock, A/C/C Robert T.,
Reuter, Lieut. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Ensign Hubert O.,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, Lt. Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C.,
Wille, Pvt. Gerhardt King.

     Michigan.
Childs, Pvt. Walter C.,
French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, Pvt. John F.,
Peterson, Pvt. Philip H.,
Peterson, Warrant Officer Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., C.P.O.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Ensign Alexander,
Packer, E. W. Jr., S. 1/c.
Packer, Pvt. Robert F.,
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,
Westacott, Ensign Ethel B.

     Pittsburgh,
Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Blair, Pvt. James F.,
Brown, Lt. George P., Jr.,
Brown, Sgt. Tech. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,
Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Iungerich, Tech. Sgt. Stevan,
Lechner, Lt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Lt. Alexander H.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Pendleton, Lt. Philip C.,
Schoenberger, Lt. Ulrich,
Schoenberger, Av/C Walter S.,
Stein, Cpl. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Cpl. Elmer G., Texas.
Caldwell, Cpl. Neil V., New York,
Davis, Tech. Sgt. Charles F., Calif.
Davis, Cpl. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Lt. Philip B., Ohio,
Doering, A/C Edward, Wayne, Iowa.
Fine, Sgt. Raymond F., Oregon.
Glenn, Pvt. Alfred M., New York,
Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Griffin, William T., E.M. 2/c, S.C.,
Joy, Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Cpl. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Merrell, P.F.C. Frederick, Calif.
Merrell, Pvt. Stanley, Calif.
Posey, Pvt. John A., Alabama.
Rott, Sgt. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Snyder, Donald, A.M.M. 2/c, Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Major Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Tarr, Joseph, S.K. 3/c, Maryland.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.

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EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 1943

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.       Various       1943

     Owing to the war, the New Church is now represented in more of the far-flung corners of the earth than has ever before been the case. Many of the boys who have written to the Military Service Committee have said that they discuss religion with their confreres, and some pass among their friends the pamphlets which the General Church is sending them. It will be interesting to see what may be the ultimate results of these contacts under war conditions.
     Recently a letter was received from L. A. C. Geoffrey Dawson, of Cumberland, England, in which he expressed an interesting perspective on unity in the General Church. He is not yet old enough to be a member of the General Church, and classes himself as still an "outsider. Parts of his letter follow:

     From England.

     "You write in your letter as if I were already a member of the General Church family. In reality, however, I can be better described an outsider, inasmuch as I am little acquainted with members of the family. I have, it is true, met many members, but this was before the war. For me the war has been carrying on for a very long while. I was just sixteen years and two days old when the war started, so you may well understand that people whom I have not seen since before September 3, 1939, are now quite strangers to me. Nevertheless, though I cannot permit the opinion that I am a member of the family, I can at least enjoy the privilege of looking at it.
     "Indeed, it presents a magnificent spectacle. How you who are inside see it I cannot of course imagine-it must be very pleasant-but from the outside I have some remarkable pictures. For an organization of less than 3,000, to have members in India, South Africa, the Mediterranean basin, England and Scotland, Australia and the East Indies, and in almost every camp in the U. S. A. and Canada, is something to wonder at in itself. But what is most wonderful of all is that these people should be knit together like true brothers, knowing one another and talking to one another through the various organs of the General Church, and feeling inevitably the existence of their large family, flung so rudely across half the world. For the 'family' must exist in reality, and not in mere metaphor, if what I read in your communique is true. I defy anyone to find a better and more close spiritual family than exists with the people of the General Church.
     "It is only since I received these regular bulletins that I had the least notion of the true greatness of this material organization. I cannot think of any other society of people who feel towards one another the way you appear to. I have never been a constant attendant at any New Church society, as I have never lived close enough to one.

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My world has always been that of a hermit in this respect, but this fact does not blind me to the pictures of the most moving quality which are represented by your communiques.
     "I had hoped to be able to come to your country sometime during my training, but I was found to be too small to be a pilot, and later was made into a 'potential' bomb aimer. I read with interest the opinion held of the pilots by a fellow bomber, Faithful to my trade, I endorse all his opinions. Pilots are annoying animals sometimes. They wont fly straight and level for you at all times. Sometimes you can shout, 'Left! Left!' till your throat aches, and still they wont respond. However, they have their uses, and we always forgive them for bringing us back sale after a flight in a trainer that is almost, but not quite, falling to pieces.
     "But as I was going to say, my hopes of meeting some of the American part of the 'family' in the U, S. A. have been smashed. Still, the war wont last forever, and I might even find myself in your part of the world before it is over. In the meantime, I look to you to provide me with regular editions of the communique, and if possible let me know at any time I am in a part of the country where any of the others of the 'family' might be. I should be only too pleased to meet them, I am also sure that my people in Manchester would be pleased to welcome any of your boys who might find time to visit them,
     "Let me close by once again expressing to you how much I appreciate the work of the Committee, I value it far more highly than my poor composition could ever describe, and I hope that I shall always be able to receive its effects as easily as I can now, I should consider it a great loss to be unable to hear from you.
     "Yours sincerely,
          "GEOFFREY DAWSON."

     Another thoughtful and interesting letter was received recently by Mrs. E. R. Carpenter from Mr. Harold C. Jones of Northampton, England. Mr. Jones is a newcomer in the Church, and has been in the Royal Aviation since 1941. He writes:

     "It was indeed a most pleasant surprise to receive your most interesting letter, and I can well imagine that in different circumstances such a letter to a perfect stranger might be quite a strained and formal affair, but as you say, the Church overcomes any such conventional barrier, and one gets some idea of the states wherein those of similar ideas and interests can always meet and converse on a common basis, to the mutual delight of all.
     "I'm glad you have had the opportunity of visiting this country, and that you retain pleasant memories of it. Being very much interested in architecture myself, I find the study of old buildings a source of constant pleasure. As you know, there are some wonderful examples of art here in our Cathedrals; but since being led to see the truth in the Doctrines of the New Church, the thought comes to me every time I visit these lovely places, to what an exalted use they could be put, if only they were used for the worship of the one true Lord!

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I am afraid that more interest is shown by the general public in the buildings than the purpose for which they were nominally consecrated. But this is what one would expect from a knowledge of the Writings. My one and only acquaintance with the service in a New Church building was the occasion on which we went to Colchester with Mr. J. S. Pryke for the Baptism of myself and family.
     "Mr. James Pryke is our nextdoor neighbor, and was the means of bringing the Doctrines before us. We cannot thank him enough for his patience in discussing these matters and answering numberless questions and objections over a period of nearly two years before finally accepting and acknowledging these truths for ourselves. He has a service in his home every Sunday which, up to the time of my joining the RAF., my wife and I attended. My wife still does, and of course when I go home on leave I join them. We have also had visits from the Rev. Martin Pryke and the Rev. Wynne Acton, when we have had the Holy Supper.
     "Mr. James Pryke has a wide and deep acquaintance with the Writings, extending over a period of many years, and I count myself very fortunate in claiming friendship with him. A rare treat these days is a day's walk in the country together when I am home on leave. We have had some delightful walks and conversations on the Doctrines lasting the whole period of our day's outing. There is so much in the countryside which gives scope to a discussion on various manifestations of life that, with the understanding opened by the Creator of nature Himself, we see so much, and more than the materialistic lover of nature.
     "I am enclosing a photograph of my wife and the children, taken the day war was declared. It was in November, 1941, when I had to leave them, just when I felt I could have been so much use to them, having then only recently accepted the Doctrines of the New Church. However, trusting Providence, we know that, however contrary to our natural thoughts and inclinations, these things are all governed for our spiritual welfare. But I am going to confess to being a very 'natural' person at times, and I shall, of course, be very glad when the external manifestations of our evils, in the form of war, ceases (for a time).
     "We in this country, for all our faults and shortcomings, have no much to be thankful for; and I do sincerely hope that we, in common with all nations and races, will soon see the light, and make the internal effort to follow it, so that the externals of this life may conform more in keeping with what it might be like.
     "Once again, may I express my sincere thanks to you for writing to me, and to the Military Service Committee for sending the literature.
     "Very sincerely,
          "HAROLD C. JONES."

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     From Lieutenant Gerald Nelson comes an interesting description of Marine landings in the Pacific. He is with a camouflage unit, and writes:

     From the Pacific Area.

     "Here I am, safe and sound! We had quite a boat ride-six to eight hundred miles-and although we passed through waters known as torpedo junction, we were not torpedoed, shot at or bombed.
     "I took a heavy pack, and much to my dismay we did not go up the gangplank but had to board the ship up a heavy rope net. We left the same way, one day at dawn while it was still dark. We played follow-the-leader through the passage ways of the ship to the deck for debarkation. We all had our helmets, rifles, etc., and it gave one the feeling that we were sneaking up to attack the Japs, lit was still dark as we scrambled down the nets into the lifeboats, As each boat was filled, it circled around until twenty-five were ready; then we streaked for the shore in the formation of an attacking landing party. We weren't nervous, as we knew that the beach was already taken; but we heard later that the shore batteries hadn't 'got the word' to expect us, and many guns were following us ashore,
     "We are located in the jungle, and cannot be seen from the air; so camouflage is relatively simple. Each person in camp has to have a 'fox hole' to crawl into during air raids, which are numerous at night, No bombs have come anywhere near us; and although they will when our real work starts, it would take a direct hit to hurt us, So don't worry! I could live to be an old man under these conditions.
     "The island is beautiful, Near our camp we can pick cocoanuts, bananas, pineapples, oranges, and wild grapefruit, There is much jungle, but few wild animals, except monkeys and Japs."

     A letter from Mrs. Cairns Henderson says in part:

     "You just can't imagine how absolutely marvelous it is to have Michael Pit- cairn and Ray Odhner with us. It was certainly exciting on Christmas! The phone rang, and Cairns, who answered, could hardly believe he was hearing correctly when the voice on the other end of the line said. 'This is Ray Odhner!' He spent Christmas Day with us, and what a grand day it was! Michael rang up two days before Swedenborg's Birthday-more excitement! It seems strange they should both be in Sydney after being separated before-one far north and the other far south,
     "I understand that Theo Kirsten has visited Bryn Athyn. We are as eager as his family to hear about his visit there. [Sgt. Theodore Kirsten, of the Hurstville Society, has now completed his aviation training in Canada.-COMMITTEE.]

     "I think the war, in spite of its causing so many terrible things, is also doing much good. One good thing is the bringing together of church members from various societies and countries. I hope these contacts will not end with the war."

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Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     BRYN ATHYN.

     While we have experienced a backward season in these parts, the coming of Easter so late in April found an abundance of flowers in field and garden to herald the arrival of Spring and to adorn our festival observance. Services in the cathedral were provided for both children and adults,-on Palm Sunday in commemoration of the Lord's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, and on Easter Sunday in remembrance of His Resurrection and Glorification,-with suitable singing and instruction on each of these special occasions.
     This year, the customary service in the evening of Good Friday was devoted to the quarterly administration of the Holy Supper, with an appropriate and impressive address by Bishop de Charms, his text being the Lord's words on the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23: 34.) With the Bishop as celebrant, assisted by four ministers, the sacrament was administered to 224 communicants. The worship was enriched by the fine music of an ensemble of wind and stringed instruments.

     Doctrinal Classes.

     During the active season, from October to May, Friday Suppers have been held regularly in the Assembly Hall. These were followed by a brief singing practice, and this by a doctrinal class conducted by one of the pastors of the Church.
     Bishop de Charms gave a series of classes on "The Doctrine of Government," leading up to a consideration of democracy as a form of civil government, and its relation to ecclesiastical government as taught in the Writings.
     The Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner conducted several series of doctrinal classes during the season. Two talks described the "Symbolism of the Bryn Athyn Cathedral." Three classes were devoted to various "Spiritual Paradoxes," touching the questions: Do the angels have the sense of taste? Has a spirit "an individual basis"? Is a knowledge of the future orderly? What kind of memory does an angel have? Are there three, or six, spiritual atmospheres? Is evil necessary for maintaining a spiritual equilibrium?
     This Spring, four classes were used by him to discuss the connection and specific purpose of the various books of the Writings, which were distinguished into four general and somewhat overlapping periods or subject-groups: 1749-1756-The Arcana Celestia, which opened the spiritual sense of the Word in preparation for the Judgment; 1757-1766-The Last Judgment and the general doctrine of the New Jerusalem; 1759-1769-The revelation of the "Angelic Wisdom"; The "universal theology" and the future Church.
     The Rev. Elmo C. Acton conducted the first doctrinal classes of the season. He took up different subjects, treating of Conscience, Anxiety and Merit. The purpose of these classes was to show how the doctrines of the church give entirely new meanings to these and other words that are in everyday use, because it is important that the members of the church should form a clear and distinct idea of the meanings of the terms of the Writings.

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     Later in the year, Mr. Acton conducted a series of four classes on the subject of Appearances. The series was divided into four parts. First, he treated of the nature of the appearance that life is our own. In the second class a distinction was made between appearances and falsities, and it was shown that appearances are truths with man and angel, and that they are called "truths" because they are the forms in which the Divine appears; falsities, on the other hand, were shown to be perverted forms in which nothing of the Divine appears; that the "appearance," therefore, refers not so much to the form as to the appearing of the Divine in the form. In this class the teaching concerning the real and fallacious appearances of the other world was also presented. In the third class of the series, the subject of appearances in relation to man's regeneration was the central subject, and it was shown how man is led by the Lord away from gross sensual appearances of truth and good through a long series to goods and truths "truly angelic and human." In the final class of the series the appearances of the letter of the Word were examined, and the conclusion was drawn that every appearance of the letter must be carefully guarded and preserved as a holy vessel in which alone the Lord can appear to children and the simple. It was also brought out that such appearances must never be destroyed, even with adults. They must be entered into; that is to say, the truth within the appearance must be seen. So to enter into the appearances of the letter is to infill and fulfill them with the spiritual sense.
     Mr. Acton also conducted a weekly young people's class, in which the series during the first half of the year was devoted to a study of the spiritual sense of a portion of the Book of Genesis, and the series of the second part of the year to the doctrine of Conjugial Love.
     This latter subject was also presented at a private doctrinal class for twenty young married couples, meeting every other week.
     Another private class, composed of about twenty married persons, many of whom are "war widows" was held by him every other week during the season. In this class many subjects were considered, some of which were: Morals; The Glorification; Dreams; and the Training of Children.


     CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

     In spite of sickness and transportation difficulties, the attendance at meetings in Sharon Church has kept up. For the Palm Sunday and Easter Services it was not easy to find vacant seats.
     On Sunday, March 28, we had our monthly dinner, and it was followed by our annual meeting. The pastor's report was encouraging. One of the outstanding statements of his report was his mention of the fact that he had made two hundred pastoral calls within the past year. To those in the Church who have been denied this very useful service, such a record is inspiring. A society is more than fortunate when it has a pastor who realizes what pastoral calls mean to a congregation. Making so many calls in a city as widely spread as Chicago is not a simple matter.
     For the Palm Sunday service we had the pleasure of seeing the new repository completed. It is a beautiful piece of work that Mr. Cranch has done. Back of the Word there is yellow silk arranged in folds that give an effect of sun's rays, and the lines of the woodwork are very simple and lovely.
     On Easter Sunday we had another pleasant surprise. A generous member, Mr. Rudolph Barnitz, had had a composition floor laid. He had also contributed new drapes on the chancel, as well as drapes on the windows. These are a beautiful shade of crimson. The other windows had new tan drapes. There was an abundance of flowers on the chancel, these being from the Palm Sunday service, and it was a lovely sight.
     The Palm Sunday service was adapted to the children, and on Easter Sunday there was the administration of the Holy Supper.

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The spiritual guidance that we receive is so thoroughly satisfactory that it is pleasant to have our church surroundings reaching a higher level also.
     For our Easter Service we used the new music of the Holy Supper Office for the first time. This was made possible by the practical and inspirational help given us by Miss Creda Glenn. At the two society dinners preceding Easter we listened to the records which she had left with us along with the recording instrument. Then we tried singing with the records. With a small group this is the best solution there is for becoming familiar with the new music. A musician may have found flaws with our first use of the music in this service, but it was a beginning that would not have been possible without the help of the records; and our use of the music will improve each time, until just hearing it will bring the sphere of the Holy Supper.
     We now have an arrangement whereby copies of schedules for family worship are sent every Sunday to the nine families with children. The schedule includes one or two chapters from the Word divided into seven sections. Suggested questions to ask the children are furnished with each division. At the end there is general information on the subjects of the natural sense of the Word, and as to the spiritual meaning, with quotations from the Writings. Then, at the Friday evening doctrinal classes, Mr. Cranch gives instruction on the same subjects.
     V. W

     DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

     We returned from the Southland just in time to enjoy a fine Easter Sunday service, conducted by our pastor. This was really a memorable event, because heretofore we have always been obliged to defer to some other society or group in the matter of special services. This time, however, we drew the Easter assignment, and Mr. Reuter was rewarded with the best attendance of the year thus far-a total of 32.
     In addition to a beautiful sermon on the subject of the Lord's Resurrection. Mr. Reuter gave an appropriate talk to the children, after having them rise and recite the first six verses of Matthew 28, in which the angel announces that the Lord has risen. Familiar Easter hymns were used throughout the service, so that young and old alike could enter fully into the sphere of this most significant of our church celebrations. The service closed with the Sacrament of the Holy Supper, administered to twenty-two communicants.
     Once again it is our pleasure to announce additions to our rapidly growing cradle roll. Since our last report (in the March issue), a daughter, Barbara Ann, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Walter C. Childs (Beatrice Cook), and a son, Robert William, to Mr. and Mrs. Leo Bradin (Freda Cook). The baptism of little Barbara Ann Childs was an added feature of our Easter service, Gorandpa Geoffrey proudly taking the place of his son, Walter, who is a soldier thousands of miles away from his home at the present time.
     We consider it worthy of special mention that four daughters of our esteemed members, Mr. and Mrs. William F. Cook, namely, Winifred, Edith, Beatrice and Freda, have presented their parents with grandchildren during the past twelve months. Yes, we do things in a big way in Michigan!
     W. W. W.

     Additional.

     Another Detroit correspondent reports as follows:
     At our "in-between" meetings, held in-between Mr. Reuter's visits, we have been using the series on "The Seven Churches" furnished by the Pastoral Extension Service. These form the basis of our service, the Lessons being taken from the text.
     When Mr. Reuter comes, we hold a class on Thursday night and another on Saturday night; and then on Sunday, after our church service, we have a basket lunch followed by a class.

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Three classes are held, because some of the group can only attend one of them, and also because Mr. Reuter is not with us all the time, and we like to make the most of his visits when he does come.
     At one meeting recently, instead of the usual Sunday class, several of the members read articles from some of the society papers while we were still seated around the tables. An impromptu discussion of the contents followed the reading. This discussion was well-liked by all present, and there will undoubtedly be similar ones from time to time.
     At one of the evening classes, Mr. Reuter has been giving us a very thought-provoking series of talks on the doctrine of Discrete Degrees. He uses a small blackboard to illustrate the subject, and it helps a great deal in getting the ideas and their connection pictured in one's mind. The other evening class is used for a somewhat "lighter" subject matter, and has not been devoted to a regular series of topics, but rather to a variety of subjects which are both timely and useful.
     Mr. and Mrs. Walker have returned from their stay in the South, and find it rather hard not wishing they were back in warmer climes.
     D. L. H.

     LONDON, ENGLAND.

     Michael Church.

     April 16, 1943.-The period covered by this review marks about five months or more of church activities. For one item, however, not included in the last report (December issue), we must go back as far as October 4th, when, at a touching little ceremony, Mrs. Tilson unveiled a plaque in remembrance of the late Bishop R. J. Tilson. This tribute to his memory, simply inscribed, was presented by the members of his family and now gleams from the wall opposite the centre aisle. It was an informal ceremony, the singing of selections on pages 358 and 378 of the Psalmody, and a few appropriate words by Mr. Victor Tilson in offering the plaque, and by the Pastor in receiving it, being the whole of this simple dedication.
     Christmas and New Years were celebrated quietly enough, as is inevitable in a country in its fourth year of war. But, not to be quite overpowered by the multiplicity of restrictions and rationings, the Women's Guild bethought themselves there could yet be a little festive spirit displayed. So the Executive Committee, taking their courage in their hands, determined on giving a tea party This was to be on the Sunday before Christmas-December 20th. A service, which included the singing of old-time Christmas hymns, a sermon leading the mind to the contemplation of the spiritual aspects of the Advent, and the partaking of the Holy Sacrament by 30 communicants,-all contributed to a sphere of peace wherein the ever-pressing cares of a wartime world could be laid aside.
     Then, following a happy little sandwich lunch, Mr. Acton gave a short talk on the subject of the Lord's birth, with particular reference to His hereditary nature, derived from Mary. Carols preceded the talk, and were sung during an interval and at the close of the meeting.-a very pleasant variation in the conduct of a doctrinal meeting. On its conclusion, all members were invited downstairs to the aforementioned tea party. Miss Lilian Spalding, as President of the Guild, acted as hostess, backed up by the willing members of the Executive Committee. It is no small test of courage to provide tea for some 50 guests in these days. but somehow enough cakes and sandwiches were mustered to satisfy appetites, whilst Miss Spalding miraculously achieved 50 REAL MINCE errs out of-well, that is a secret between her and the Ministry of Food. Candles and evergreens gave a Christmas touch; and a miniature yule log, flung by Miss Spalding in a ceremonious gesture on the fire, introduced her programme of yuletide celebrations.

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In a delightful little introductory talk, she dwelt on some ancient customs brought over from times when England was still struggling to reconcile pagan festivals with Christian beliefs. An impromptu choir, rehearsed at the last minute by Miss Spalding, and with the assistance of Mr. Wainscot's violin and not a little merriment, rendered some of the lesser known and curious carols, and the audience joined in the chorus.
     The service on Christmas Day was a quiet celebration. Mr. Cooper managed to do wonders with a very little evergreen. There were smaller numbers, but the readings and sermon gave to the day a quality that neither the war nor the gaps in family gatherings could destroy.
     January 15th was kept as a celebration of Swedenborg's Birthday. Tables decorated with the national colors of Sweden lent a festive air to a luncheon, which, one must regretfully write, was the last from the overseas hampers. A somewhat original turn was given the event by assigning to two speakers: a) The social and historical background of England and Sweden in Swedenborg's day; and b) The scientific thought preceding and contemporary with Swedenborg. We were happy indeed in having two experts in their own field. Miss Ethel Spalding's more or less extemporaneous talk gave a vivid picture of the 17th century social scene, and Lt. Philip Wareing's address conveyed scientific ideas in a manner intelligible and interesting even to the unscientific minded. This paper has since appeared in the "News Letter" of March 1, 1943.
     Social Problems.-A topic much debated in the press these days is social reconstruction, and the part the church should or should not play in it. Naturally New Church minds have followed the arguments with interest. On several luncheon Sundays, the afternoon usually devoted to a class has taken this theme as a basis for discussions. 10-minute addresses being allotted three or four speakers and a discussion following. Although the Old Church's relation to these problems was dealt with, primary interest of course was focused on the attitude New Church men and organizations should take toward these pressing social problems. Reference numbers from the Writings had been publicized previous to the meetings, and this was a valuable help in following the discussion, to speakers and listeners alike. Lively speeches from many showed sometimes divergent views which our pastor dealt with subsequently and wisely in his winding up of the afternoon.
     We are still fortunate in the visits of one or other of our Canadian friends in the forces. At most of the above-mentioned meetings one and sometimes more were present, greatly adding to the sphere of enjoyment.
     E. E.

     OBITUARY.

     Miss Florence Smeal.

     In the passing into the spiritual life of Miss Florence Little Smeal, the sister of William Smeal and of Mrs. Harry Blackman, the Immanuel Church in Glenview loses one more of its pioneer members to those in the other life who are inspired by the same love of the Church. Released in her seventy-second year from an illness that was distressing to herself and her friends, we know that "Miss Florence" is now enjoying the bright prospect of a new life of happiness.
     The older members of the Immanuel Church recall the early days of the settlement of The Park when, with her close friend. Amanda Falk Goerwitz, she provided much social activity for the young people, especially in dancing classes. From the early days of our community she was a leader in activities beneficial to the growth of the society. A lover of children, she was always promoting the interests of the young people; and she devoted all her life to her family circle, a woman of tender heart and unselfish service to others. She has lived a good life, and a very useful one.
     GILBERT H. SMITH.

286



General Church of the New Jerusalem 1943

General Church of the New Jerusalem              1943




     Announcements
     ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA., JUNE 21-27, 1943.


     Program.

Monday, June 21.
     8.00     p.m. Consistory.

Tuesday, June 22.
     10.00 a.m.     Council of the Clergy.
     10.30 a.m.     Educational Council: Recapitulation Meeting.
               Presiding: Prof. E. S. Klein.
               1. Report on Better Behavior Program.
                    Miss Phillis Cooper, Kitchener.
               2. Arithmetic Panel Meeting.
                    Led by Miss Florence Potts, Bryn Athyn.
     3.30     p.m. Educational Council: General Meeting.
               Presiding:     Bishop George de Charms.
               Address:     Dr. C. E. Doering.
               Subject:     "Principles of New Church Education.
     8.00     p.m. Educational Council: Poetry and Literature Meeting.
               Presiding:     Mr. Richard R. Gladish.
               Poetry-Miss June Macauley and Rev. K. R. Alden.
               Literature-Miss Morna Hyatt.

Wednesday, June 23.
     10.00 a.m.     Council of the Clergy.
     10.30 a.m.     Educational Council: English Meeting.
               Presiding: Prof. Frances M. Buell.
               Reading-Miss Nancy C. Horigan, Bryn Athyn.
               Spelling and Composition Mr. Stanley F. Ebert.
     3.30 p.m. Educational Council: General Meeting.
               Presiding:     Rev. K. R. Alden.
               Address:     Rev. Willard D. Pendleton.
               Subject:     "Education for Use."
     8.00 p.m. Educational Council: General Meeting.
               Presiding:     Mr. Wilfred H. Howard.
               Address:     Prof. E. S. Klein.
               Subject:     "Science and the Humanities."

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Thursday, June 24.
     10.00 a.m. Council of the Clergy.
     10.30 a.m. Educational Council: Geography Meeting.
               Presiding:     Miss Celia Bellinger.
               Report on The Parent-Teacher Journal.
               Geography-Miss Venita Roschman, Glenview.
     3.30     p.m.     Council of the Clergy.
     4-5.30 p.m.          Bryn Athyn Elementary School Tea and Exhibit,
     8.00     p.m.     Educational Council: General Meeting.
               Presiding:     Prof. Otho W. Heilman.
               Address:     Mr. Richard R. Gladish.
               Subject:     "Aptitude Tests."

Friday, June 23.
     10.00 a.m.     Council of the Clergy.
     3.30     p.m.     Executive Committee of the General Church.
     7.00     p.m.     Society Supper (Fifty cents per plate).
     8.00     p.m.     Open Session of the Council of the Clergy.
               Address:     Rev. Gilbert H. Smith.
               Subject:     "Streamlining Instruction.

Saturday, June 26.
     10:00 a.m.     Joint Council.
     3.30     p.m.     Joint Council.
     8.00 p.m.     Open Session of the Council of the Clergy.
               Address:     Right Rev. Alfred Acton.
               Subject:     To be Announced.

Sunday, Jane 27.
     11.00 a.m.     Divine Worship.
RATION BOOKS 1943

RATION BOOKS              1943

     Owing to wartime restrictions, visitors are requested to bring their ration points.
     Arrangements will be made to obtain United States Ration Books for visitors from Canada.

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ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 1943

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH       E. S. KLEIN       1943

     The Annual Joint Meeting of the Corporation and Faculty of the Academy of the New Church will be held in the Chapel of Benade Hall, Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Saturday, June 5, 1943, at 8.00 p.m. The public is cordially invited to attend.
     After opportunity has been given for the presentation and discussion of a summary of the Annual Reports of the Officers of the Academy, an Address will be delivered by the Rev. Dr. Hugo Lj. Odhner.
     E. S. KLEIN,
          Secretary,
GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1943

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1943

     Annual Councils.

     The Annual Meetings of the Councils of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., from Monday. June 21, to Sunday, June 27, 1943. The program will include public sessions, and all members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS,
          Bishop.
NEW FREEDOM 1943

NEW FREEDOM       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1943



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No. 7

NEW CHURCH LIFE

VOL. LXIII
JULY, 1943
     The Lord was teaching in the Temple at Jerusalem. He had confuted certain Pharisees who had brought an accused woman before Him. He had taught the need of forgiveness. He had spoken of the evil of judging only after the appearance. He told the Jews that He was not of this world, and of His relation to the Father. Much of this they did not understand. Yet some believed on Him, and to them He said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed: and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8: 31, 32.)
     This saying was more than His hearers could bear. It was an implication that they were in bondage Their racial pride was touched to the quick. What did this teacher mean? Din He taunt them because they paid tribute to Caesar? Caesar-whose legions were present in Palestine ostensibly only as allies to protect the autonomous kingdoms of the Jews? Or did Jesus imply that they, personally, were in servitude?-they, the seed of Abraham, who had so carefully legislated against involuntary or perpetual slavery on the part of their race? and in whose social system no slavery existed at that time, though it was universal elsewhere?
     These Jews were affronted at the suggestion that they were not free. What was this new freedom which the Lord thought to offer them, saving, "The truth shall make you free"? What truth was this? Were they not already in "the truth"?
     There is nothing which rouses a man's vanity more than to question his independence.

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Man treasures his freedom as a condition for self-respect. Many are even reconciled to give up their real freedom and serve as mere puppets, if they can but preserve the pretense or appearance that they are free. To this appearance men cling as to life itself. With its help they feel like masters; without it they feel like slaves.
     Yet the truth is that no man is independent. No man lives from himself; none can think from himself. Every man's life is an influx from the Lord which is strained through untold unperceived media-through the spheres of heaven and of hell, by means of spirits in the intermediate world, and through his physical surroundings,-through all the men with whom he has contact or of which he has any knowledge. No man is more than a responsive organ-a vessel receptive of life from the Lord, and dependent upon others for all the least things of his mental and bodily life.
     This is the truth: that all finite affections, thoughts, and uses are mutually interdependent in unending chains, and that life is not lodged as a power in any finite things or in any man, but is continually given by influx from the Divine itself. This is the truth which shall make us free, so far as we come to know and acknowledge it. And by the same law, so far as man confirms the appearance that he is independent, and denies the truth of his relation to the Lord and to others, so far he becomes bond,-a servant to the necessity of constant pretense, of denying his dependence upon others, and thus his obligations to them, of compelling or persuading others to concede to the illusion that his power is his own.
     There are many kinds of freedom. But no true freedom is ever won except through a perception of the truth that mankind is an interdependent whole in which all have a part; that life does not belong to any individual man, nor to men in a collective group; and that the reception of life is various in each individual, and is in every case beyond the actual control of anyone else, since it contains depths within depths-the mysterious qualities of personality-which cannot be measured. This perception takes many forms, is sometimes clear, sometimes vague. Yet it brings with it a respect for the diversities of human life, and a willingness on the part of society to grant to each man a measure of that freedom which he craves.

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     For freedom-among men-is a gift granted by others. It can then be received and used by each man, as his own; and as he uses it, it becomes more full and ample just so far as he recognizes it as a gift,-a privilege. There are those who do not so regard it, but who demand freedom as a right vested in them-the right to act out their will merely because it is their will. They want freedom for their particular love or lust; freedom from labor, if work interferes with pleasure. While they enjoy the dignity and the recompense of some office, they want to be free of its responsibilities; they enjoy the advantages of a home, but want to be free of the responsibility of having children; they ask freedom from the ties of marriage. Some desire freedom from disease or from want, though their lives are void of prudence. They claim the rights of citizens, but would be free of civil obligations.
     Yes, in every man, his impulses and affections, lusts and desires, cry out against everything which restricts the free expression of his proprium. His proprium would indeed sweep away all barriers-without consideration or self-restraint, with no care or desire to know what ruin it might leave in its wake, or what disasters it might be heading for. It spurns the truth, yet would he free!
     What crimes have not been committed in the name of freedom! The fair name of Liberty has been so sullied, so abused, that many insist that it has disproved its right to be called a key to human happiness. But the license claimed by the natural man,-the freedom of the human passions, of the hereditary love of self, dominion, and gain-is not the freedom which brings happiness. The Writings call it instead "the freedom of hell"-merely "natural" freedom. As long as passion rules, there is no true freedom. The Lord therefore answered the Jews, and said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever. .
     Truth only can give freedom. And the first form of truth with a man, as he advances from infancy towards adult life, is rational truth. Such as the truth is, such is the freedom: rational truth introduces rational freedom. When man grows to a rational appreciation of his relation to society, he begins to exercise prudence and self-restraint-mostly for the sake of honor and gain and friendship, and because he wants to appear as a moral man.

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This rational or moral behavior is human good, as opposed to merely animal good. It leads mankind towards a moral and civil order. It creates, among men, a mutual concession of freedom, which increases so far as education in moral truth becomes general, and so far as uses are multiplied in society and its varieties are appreciated and properly valued as to their importance and degree. We can recognize the fruits of such rational, human good in a community by the freedom from slavery, by the absence of racial suppression or invidious discriminations, by a freedom from the sense of social inferiority, by the liberty of speech and press and religious worship, as well as by the absence of tyrannical government.
     Yet the Lord was not concerned with political or even social liberties when He gave the promise, "The truth shall make you free." His concern was for the freedom of the souls of men. For this cause He had assumed a human among men, and was performing His work of redemption-by which the hold of the hells upon the world of spirits was loosened. For this He suffered temptations, even to the passion of the cross. If that freedom of the soul had perished among men, no flesh could have been saved. Therefore He-as it were-hastened His Advent, coming at a time when He knew that few would receive His real message or understand His teachings.
     He knew that, even among those who inclined to believe Him, few could understand or appreciate what kind of new freedom it was that He came to offer to the men of all future ages. For this new freedom was founded on the perception of a new truth-the truth concerning the Divine Human, which begins with the acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
     This truth-as we see from the eighth chapter of John's Gospel-the Jews rejected-even threatening to stone Jesus when He said, "Before Abraham was, I am!" Yet only this truth can establish spiritual freedom, and make men free to receive the influx of life as spiritual love, and thus free to think and will and act from charity and love to the Lord, rather than merely from self-love.
     Rational truth concerning the relations of man to other men can indeed make men free in a social, economic, and political sense. This is an important basis of progress, for the maintenance of which social action is necessary.

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But only spiritual truth, which reveals the Lord's essence and man's relations to his Creator, Savior, and Preserver, can uncover and judge the evils which hide behind the surface of prudent self-restraint and civilized customs. For the spirit of man is a part of that vast realm of the spiritual world which the Lord governs according to spiritual laws and maintains in an equilibrium for the sake of man's freedom. These laws-as actual as the laws of nature-are His laws, and without them there could be no freedom of any kind or degree among men. But only those who "know the truth" concerning these laws, concerning the relation of spirits to each other, can "be made free" as to spiritual progress, or spiritual love; free from servitude to sin.
     The laws of spiritual life are spiritual truths. They are known as laws of the Divine Providence, or of the Divine Government; as laws of influx and reception; as laws of love and charity. But in the Writings they also appear as doctrines-doctrines of Repentance, of Regeneration, of Worship, of Free Agency, of Imputation, of Charity and Good Works. For doctrine is merely the statements of the law of the Lord, which show the interrelation of all spirits, and of all spiritual states, to each other, their mutual dependence upon the Lord, and their place in His eternal economy.
     Adjustment of one's spirit to these laws of truth is what makes man free, or what gives freedom and scope for that charity with which the Lord seeks to endow him. This is the new freedom-which few understand because they cannot know the delight of it or the joy that it can bring. For freedom to man means a state of doing what delights him. And in the first states of reformation the delight, and sense of freedom in acting and thinking from spiritual truth, is hidden and obscure-hidden deeply in the interiors of man's mind. He acts according to doctrine from self-compulsion, not from delight.
     Yet in states of self-compulsion there lies the seed of a new freedom. In such states man discovers that he can act freely against his own evils-or rather, that the evils which his understanding has recognized in himself, and which he has imagined to be his permanent own, have not predestined him, and need not he the motives of either his thoughts or his actions.
     It is common to say that a man is a slave to his habits, and this is particularly true before regeneration of a man's habitual motives; for these spring from some evil love in him that obsesses all his thoughts interiorly-a ruling love which urges to express itself either in crude impulsive ways or by rationalization and prudent and friendly disguises.

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It is thought in the world that this kind of selfish, brutal impulse (which we call hereditary evil) can be sublimated and ennobled simply by adopting the civilized forms of prudence and social behavior, and be turned into charity or benevolence without the assistance of any religious faith. But this is an error. The new freedom-of thinking and willing from a love of others, and not from self-can come only along with the truth concerning the Lord and His laws.
     And it can come only through temptations, in which man's will and God's will are placed in complete contrast. It is then that man-if he wills-discovers the new freedom which hitherto he had not known, nor cared to know: the freedom of self-compulsion,-the first state of real freedom, real choice that man had ever tasted! And though he may not, at the time, call it "freedom," yet he feels it as an exquisite, subtle delight, a rapture of victory in the midst of apparent defeat.
     For although this freedom is not from man, but from the Lord alone, who is thus present with man in temptations more strongly, yet there is no compulsion from the Lord, but only an offering by the Lord of His own love, which He insinuates into the conscience in order that man may feel its power, its glory, its beauty and delight as if it were his own, thus as a new proprium from which he can overcome the evils which have held him bound.
     It is the Lord who, through His redemption and His constant balancing of the forces of the spiritual world, makes possible the new freedom. And as the life of regeneration progresses, man finds increasing delight in thinking and willing good and truth. It becomes a cause of distress and sadness and humiliation when man, thereafter, finds himself bound to evils. It becomes the deepest joy when at times he feels a certain aversion to selfishness, and finds it easy to resist deceit or revenge or contempt for others. And his happiness grows to fulness so far as there comes a spontaneity in the doing of his duties even when they are not always pleasant to his natural man. The compensations for his having sacrificed some of his old freedom, that of his proprium, are so many and so precious that he can never consider returning to the insanities and illusions which the truth has put to flight.

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     In the other life, all spirits and angels are distinguished according to the freedoms which they possess and have made their own-the freedom of their loves; which is given them according as truth has opened new ways of progress to them, or according as confirmed falsities keep them in thraldom. And it is so, also, that men are marked in the sight of heaven, by the kind of freedom for which they have striven.
DIVINE JUDGMENT 1943

DIVINE JUDGMENT       Rev. NORBERT H. ROGERS       1943

     "Ye judge alter the flesh; I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." (John 8: 15, 16.)
     These words are a stimulus to thought, for they seem to teach what is instinctively recognized as a fallacious appearance, namely, that the Divine judgment, which is described, is only a supposition. There is difficulty in accepting this apparent teaching, even though it seems to be corroborated with absolute finality and unmistakable clarity by the Lord's declaration: "I judge no man." This the evil wish to believe, but they cannot; for whenever they think of God, they think of Him as an unmerciful Judge, whose judgments are to be avoided at all costs. On the other hand, the good, because they are in the affection of truth, perceive that without Divine judgments there could be no order and no life.
     That the teaching of our text is not what it seems to imply, as we instinctively feel, becomes the more manifest the more it is considered. For if Divine judgment were merely a supposition, as is indicated, why should it be described? There is little use in describing what does not exist-in inviting man to ponder over purely imaginary theories, or to become needlessly involved in a maze of abstractions. This line of thought leads to the conclusion that a deeper meaning is to be derived from the text, or else that the Lord's teachings are not always applicable to use and to life-an alternative that has little appeal to reason.

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     A similar conclusion is reached by considering why the supposition follows so closely after the factual statement that the Lord judges no man. For in no way does the supposition clarify or confirm the statement, but instead casts doubt upon it, raising questions in the mind as to whether the Lord had a reason for saving what He did, and as to what His reasons might be. That the Lord had a reason for every word He spoke is not merely a sound assumption and a manifest one, but it is also an absolute necessity for Christian thought and life-for the understanding of every truth of revelation. And the reason the Lord cast doubt upon His own teachings was either because He did not wish to be understood, or because He thought to lead men to a better understanding of His meaning,-to an understanding which could not be derived from plain statements alone. And this is the only conclusion the human mind can accept.
     Our text presents a contradiction of ideas. On the one hand, the Lord says, "I judge no man." On the other hand, He says, "My judgment is true." Each of these ideas can be both confirmed and refuted by other passages in the Word. For the contradiction in the teachings concerning judgment is not confined to our text; it is general, being found throughout the Word. The Lord gives warning to men: "Judge not, that ye be not judged." (Matthew 7: 1.) Yet elsewhere He exhorts them to "judge righteous judgment." (John 7: 24.) Of Himself He says: "If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." (John 12: 47.) Yet He also says:
"The Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son." (John 5: 22.) Also, "For judgment I am come into this world." (John 9: 39.) The Lord not only claimed to have the power of judgment; He frequently exercised it; as, for example when He accused the scribes and Pharisees of hypocrisy and all manner of evil; when He healed the sick, telling them, "Thy faith hath made thee whole"; when He cursed the unfruitful fig-tree, causing it to wither; and in many other instances. Countless passages may be found in the Old Testament, as well as in the New, which establish beyond doubt the existence of Divine judgment, and that it concerns man; and this even though the Lord says, "I judge no man."

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     We cannot arrive at an understanding of the Divine teaching by ascribing all truth to one series of passages, while disregarding or explaining away contradictory series. The conflicting ideas must be taken into account, brought together, and compared, with a view to eliciting the truths they contain. Thus is the contradiction resolved, so that its various parts support each other mutually in presenting the Divine Truth more completely to the understanding of man.
     Light is thrown upon the meaning of our text when the Lord's teaching, "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world" (John 12: 47) 15 compared with the similar teaching that "God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3: 17.) The difference between these two passage lies in the difference between the idea of judging and that of condemning. These are not conflicting ideas, separated by insurmountable barriers. For condemnation is a part of judgment. That is to say, judgment involves condemning the guilty as well as exonerating the innocent. And though both phases or parts are involved, either one may be specifically meant when the more general term "judgment" is used.
     That the two parts of judgment are to be distinguished, is made clear in the passage which speaks of the reason for the Lord's Advent as being not to condemn the world, but to save or exonerate it. In brief, it is to be understood that the Divine judgment is not condemnatory, but saving. Thus, where it says in the Word that the Lord does not judge, condemnation is meant; and where it says that He does judge, salvation is meant. This is in line with the teachings of the Heavenly Doctrines that the Lord does not judge the evil, but the good only-that He raises the good into the light and life of heaven, but that the evil condemn themselves and cast themselves into hell. And it is confirmed by the fact that when the Lord says that He does not judge, He is either referring to evil men-"If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not" (John 12: 47)-or He is addressing them as He did in our text, "And yet if I judge, my judgment is true."
     The Pharisees, motivated by their hatred of good, constantly sought to destroy the Lord. They had brought to Him for judgment a woman taken in adultery, in the hope that He would give them cause to accuse Him. But He avoided their plot, inducing them to leave the woman uncondemned.

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And He said to her, "Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more." (John 8: 11.) Soon afterwards the Pharisees accused Him of bearing false witness. And it was in connection with this that the Lord said. "Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me."
     Human judgment is ever limited, and therefore fallacious. For it is judgment "after the flesh." It is dependent upon and influenced by impressions received through the senses. And the senses can take cognizance only of the external form and appearance of things. They cannot penetrate beyond externals to perceive the internals which form the essential and determining qualities of all things. The senses give an appreciation of what things seem to be; but what they really are, they leave to conjecture. How accurate the conjecture is depends upon how free man's mind is from the senses. In so far as man's mind is closely bound to the senses, and dominated by them, his judgment is superficial and false. But in so far as the mind is separated from the senses, and freed from their influence, so that it views what they present at a distance, as it were, so far is the judgment profound and true. For the mind is separated from the senses according as it receives goods and truths, and, by making them its own, becomes enlightened and is given the ability to perceive beyond the mere externals. Thus, as his mental faculties are developed, man departs from judging according to appearances, and approaches true judgment.
     Nevertheless, man can only approach to true judgment; he can never attain it; for he can never free himself completely from the senses; he can never cease from placing undue weight upon externals, and from being confused by the reality of their appearance. However enlightened his state, and however keen his perception, his sight cannot penetrate very deeply beyond externals-never deeply enough to have knowledge of the spirit within the flesh, and to evaluate its quality. The point, in brief, is that it is impossible for man to judge the internal or spiritual states of others, even though he is able to determine something of their moral and civil quality.
     Divine judgment is wholly different. None of the limitations and fallacies of human judgment can be attributed to it; for the Lord looks upon the heart of man.

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Divine judgment does not pass from externals to internals, but flows in first into the internals, with which it is primarily concerned; and, having determined their quality, it proceeds to externals, which it judges according to the internals which they contain and ultimate. Thus the judgments of the Lord are perfect and true. There is no comparison between them and human judgments. Divine judgment may be contrasted with human judgment, but it cannot be measured by the same standards. `I he endeavor to do so merely destroys whatever true concept of it man may have attained. For this reason, too, it is said: "Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true."
     All judgment is by truth. And as Divine Truth is the Divine Human and also the Holy proceeding from the Human, the Doctrines teach that judgment pertains to them. So also it is said in the Word that judgment is "given to the Son," and that it is exercised by the Holy Spirit.
     But Divine Truth, by itself, does not execute righteous judgment. For Divine Truth, by itself, is harsh and unrelenting, condemning all that is not perfect, thus all that is not Divine. That man may be saved-that he may have the possibility of salvation-Divine Truth must be modified and tempered by Divine Good. This the Lord has provided, and established as a Law of Order. And it is from this that the Mosaic Law was derived, namely, that two witnesses were required before a judgment could be made,-the one witness zealously condemning all, and the other mercifully forgiving all. Together they effect a true judgment. "And yet if I judge, my judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me."
     That the combination of truth and good is necessary for sound judgment, can be seen in men. For he who is only in good, having no understanding of truth, is a simple, ingenuous man who is unable to evaluate the qualities of things, or to give reasons for his opinions and actions; and he readily accepts what he hears. His judgment, therefore, cannot be relied upon. Nor can that of the man who knows truth only, and who has no good or affection for good. For he is inconsiderate of others, having no regard for their good; he is intolerant, and harshly condemnatory.

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Therefore his judgments or decisions are shortsighted and harmful, causing unhappiness, producing confusion, and arousing opposition. That there may be order and progress towards good, the scope of truth must be extended by the presence of good, and the blurred vision of good must be focused by the presence of truth.
     The object or end of good is to excuse and forgive rather than to judge and condemn. Thus they who are in the good of charity seek to avoid passing judgments upon others; whereas "they who are in no charity want to judge everyone." (A. C. 1079.) In other words, they who are in charity respect the opinions and the way of life of others. They not only admit freely the possibility of error in their own opinions and life, but also seek to discover these errors and to rectify them. But they who lack charity neither respect others nor admit willingly that they themselves may be at fault. It is very common for them, when they "have taken up an opinion respecting any truth of faith, to judge of others that they cannot be saved unless they believe as they do." (A. C. 2284.)
     That the good are judged differently from the evil, the Writings make plain in many passages. For we are told that the faithful are judged from good, by which is meant the judgment of Truth and Good together, but that the unfaithful are judged from truth, by which is meant the judgment of truth alone. We are also told that the judgment of good saves, and that the Lord never judges except from good (A. C. 2335), thus that He judges the good, and not the evil. This is also contained in the teaching that "the Lord imputes good to every man, and evil to none; consequently that He does not condemn anyone to hell, but, so far as man follows, He raises all to heaven." (T. C. R. 652.) The evil do not follow the Lord, but separate themselves from Him, and thus from the good.
     This separation is effected by the Divine Truth, that is, by the Holy itself proceeding from the Lord's Divine Human. "For the evil are afraid and horrified at the Holy of the Lord, insomuch that they cannot approach it, but flee far from it, each into his own hell." (A. C. 2321.) Their self-condemnation is not recognized as such by the evil. They blame the Lord for their plight. The reason is, that in their distorted view they see only that the Lord's approach caused their downfall. They do not take into account the fact that it was of their own free will that they fled from Him and from His Divine protection.

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     The self-condemnation of the evil is accompanied by punishments. For they do not find the Divine Sphere intolerable until their evil has destroyed all the good that was in them, and begins to break forth to destroy the good of others. It is then that they flee from the Lord, putting themselves at the mercy of their fellows, who inflict punishments upon them. For "all evil has its limits to which it is permitted to go; but when it is carried beyond those limits, it runs into the penalty of evil" (A. C. 1311), which is imposed by evil spirits.
     The Holy Spirit approaches everyone; that is, the influx of Divine Truth from the Lord flows in with everyone. And while the evil reject it, and are judged accordingly, the good receive it, and permit it to dispose them for the reception of good. It is according to this good that the Lord judges them, and prepares a place for them in His heavenly kingdom, to which, in His Mercy He brings them in due time. This is the judgment of good which is the resurrection into life eternal. Amen.

LESSONS:     Psalm 94. John 8: 1-20. T. C. R. 650-652.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy, pages 442, 467, 497.
PRAYERS:     Nos. 66, 111.
REVELATION TO PERCEPTION 1943

REVELATION TO PERCEPTION       Rev. GILBERT H. SMITH       1943

     There is a kind of individual revelation or enlightenment from our Lord when the Word is read. That is to say, such a revelation is possible. It is possible for all those who are in good, and who long to know truth. These are able to be enlightened, to be taught in this way from the Word. But those who are in evils, or rather who are not in good, cannot be so taught and enlightened. The Divine and holy things which the angels perceive are communicated to the man who is in good, when he reads the Word. The intellectual part of his mind is opened into heaven, and the soul of such a man is in fellowship with angels. Therefore the internal sense of the Word, which the angels perceive clearly, and all of which has to do with the Lord and His kingdom, is communicated to the man. This is the cause of his enlightenment.

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     The nature of this enlightenment is not altogether hidden from us, although it can scarcely be described. It is a certain consent and favoring from within which one feels toward an idea that enters his thought. It is a feeling that it is true, a disposition to believe it if it is true, and not to believe it if it is false. The cause of this is from the influx of light from the Lord through angelic minds. The things which a man sees in that light are true. The things seen in the Word when a man longs to know truth from the Word are truths seen in the light of heaven.
     It is impossible for a man reading the Word not to have many ideas of thought brought into his mind. Among these ideas that arise from the reading, some will be false and some true. But the Lord gives to the man who is in good to favor or consent to the true ones and to repel the false ones. Such is the nature of that internal enlightenment or revelation to the individual when he is reading the Word. And thus is a man to be taught from the Lord through the Word. He will be taught and led into true ideas of thought if he is in a state of good, but otherwise if he is in an evil state. It is not possible for a man who really wants to know what is true, in order that he may make use of it in his life, to be led into ideas that are utterly false. For his mind, through association with angelic minds, is led to favor what is true, and to reject what is not true. This is what is meant by individual revelation from the Lord. And it is the meaning of the Lord's injunction. "Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." (Matthew 5: 37.)
     Therefore it is said in our Doctrine that there is with every man a capacity of perceiving whether a thing is so or not. But this capacity would be utterly impossible unless there were an influx from the spiritual world into his mind. This capacity of perceiving whether a thing is so or not is very highly developed in man in regard to things of the natural and civil life; but it is not much developed today in regard to the things of the spiritual life. Yet it might be highly developed, even in regard to those spiritual things, if it were not for the prevalence of the delights of the love of self and the love of the world. These delights are what cause obscurity of thought in spiritual matters, and take away from men their interest and insight in spiritual things.

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     There must be illustration or revelation from the Lord in the mind of the individual man, if he is to understand and receive the internal sense of the Word, and even before he can receive the Doctrine of the New Church. That Doctrine is clear enough in its plain statement; nevertheless it does not mean much to the individual until he receives this special enlightenment directly from the Lord.
     The teaching is, that the genuine truth which must be of doctrine appears in the sense of the letter of the Word to none but him who is in illustration from the Lord. This illustration, or revelation, or enlightenment is from Him alone, and exists with those who love truths because they are truths, and who make them uses of life. With others there is no illustration in the Word. (S. S. 57.) We are also taught that not only the spiritual sense, but even the genuine truths which are in the letter of the Word, cannot appear to anyone so as to be interiorly seen and acknowledged, unless there is a state of illustration from the Lord. There is no interior light in his mind, and no thought from perception.
     A person may be informed thoroughly in genuine doctrine, therefore, and yet may not be in a state of illustration. This state of illustration exists only with those who live the life of repentance, or who shun what is evil as sin against God. In these a spiritual fire is kindled in the interiors of the mind, so that, when the doctrine of genuine truth is given or heard, the fire smouldering there begins to burn, and in the light of it they are able to see truths; and then they can be led more deeply into the spiritual sense of the Word. So that it may be said that illustration from the Lord is given to those only who are in the active warfare of repentance, who want to know truth for the sake of life, and who apply truth to the business of purification from evils of life.
     Truth is not truth to any man until he has a perception of it. And therefore the Writings speak of that "inmost revelation which is to perception." (A. C. 1786.) And we read also: "By revelation is meant illustration when the Word is being read, and perception then: for in this manner they who are in good and desire truth are taught from the Word. But they who are not in good cannot be taught from the Word, but only confirmed in such things as they have learned from infancy, whether they be true or false.

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The reason why those who are in good have revelation, and that those who are in evil have no revelation, is because everything in the Word in its internal sense treats of the Lord and His kingdom, and the angels who are with man perceive the Word according to that sense, and this is communicated to the man who is in good when he is reading the Word and desires truth from affection. Hence he has illustration and perception." (A. C. 8694, 8780.)
     By this is meant that the revelation which the Lord makes directly to the heart and mind of the individual is his ability to perceive the truth of the doctrine in which he has already been informed from written Revelation. And this individual revelation, or this illustration of the individual, is dependent upon one thing, and one thing only-his shunning of evils because they are sins against the Lord.
     Thus it may be seen that what we call the "Revelation of the Doctrine of the New Church" is not really a revelation to any but those to whom the Lord grants the illumination to perceive it. For perception is revelation to the individual. But all those people see it interiorly who are able to perceive the truth of it. Outwardly it was written by a man; inwardly it is revealed by the Lord,-to those who can receive it. Outwardly it may be only so much information about spiritual things; but inwardly, when the Lord gives a man to perceive its Divine Truth, it is revelation indeed.

     The Involuntary and the Voluntary.

     It is a thing of very great interest, and will appear as something rather new, to learn that there is a certain involuntary within a man's voluntary. Things involuntary we may regard as being in our nature. We have a definite freedom of choice because there is within and behind our will something that belongs to our nature. This is called a "certain involuntary." It is subconscious. And it is also twofold. The one part of it is our hereditary from our parents and ancestors; the other part flows in through heaven from the Lord. This double thing is within our will; and because it is double, it furnishes the basis of our freedom of choice.
     Of this twofold involuntary it is said that, as one grows to maturity, the one part or the other manifests itself more and more. If one is such as not to stiffer himself to be regenerated, then that which he inherits from his parents is more and more plainly manifested; for he takes evils from it, and makes them his own.

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But with those who are being regenerated, the involuntary which is from the Lord through heaven manifests itself more and more in adult age. Then at the same time vain and empty things, such as self- glory and worldly glory, recede and are removed more and more to the circumferences. And the good which has lain concealed with man comes forth from its place of confinement and flows into truths and makes them its own. This is represented in the Old Testament story by Esau's at length throwing off the yoke of Jacob. (Genesis 27: 40.)
     There are two things within and behind our human will which make up our involuntary nature. These involuntary things are from the Lord through the spiritual world; for we have no nature but what flows into us from that world. One strain of this nature which is involuntary with us comes to us through the hells, and is made up of hereditary evils or a tendency to them. But the other strain is from the Lord through heaven, and this is an impulse of equal power, perfectly balancing the strain of hereditary tendencies from our parents, and thus placing our voluntary in freedom of choice, either to favor the things which are of the Lord and His Word, or to favor the things which are against them.
     This teaching throws great light upon a very old question: How is it that man can will what is good, when yet we are told that his will is evil? How can one whose will is evil by nature begin to will what is good? But this question is answered when we are told that there is an "involuntary something" within us which is entirely from the Lord through heaven, and that this flows into our voluntary will the moment we begin to shun and fight against the evil tendencies we see in ourselves, which are derived from those who gave us birth.
     There is an involuntary something within our voluntary; and this is twofold. We may call them a good and an evil nature, although neither one of them belongs to us. They flow into us from the spiritual world,-flow into our conscious mind; and because they are of equal power, they leave our conscious minds free to choose between them, in all that we think and do.

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     This remarkable teaching, answering the question as to whence it is that we have will, and freedom of will, is stated in the following quotation: "Man knows not that he has this involuntary within his voluntary, because he perceives nothing else in himself than that which is his own, that is, the voluntary. This involuntary is twofold, the one part being his heredity from father and mother, while the other flows in through heaven from the Lord." (A. C. 3603:5.)
     It is the involuntary from the Lord through heaven that flows in and forms the new will in a regenerating man, so far as a man subdues and repels the involuntary strain that is his parental heredity. And it is from the new will, so received by putting away evils, that the intellect of a man then has illustration, or is enlightened to perceive the truths of heaven.
     With such an individual revelation or illustration from the Lord, one can put together the truths of doctrine in thousands of new combinations. He can draw a great variety of conclusions from the written Revelation to the New Church. This is demonstrated by comparison with the alphabet. Out of twenty-three or twenty-four letters, a multitude of languages are formed to express ideas without end. And just so it is that, from the knowledge of the few truths of genuine doctrine, an indefinite number of other truths may be deduced by man, when he is enlightened from the Lord. These new truths are all deductions, and are interpretative of the former ones. Thus the truths of Divine Doctrine may be expanded indefinitely, so that those things which have been written in the books of the New Church Doctrine form the basis of an inexhaustible variety of angelic thought, just as the few letters of the alphabet are able to combine to express all varieties of human thoughts.
     So do we see in what way the Writings of the Doctrine of the Church are as it were infinite. And we have spoken especially of the manner in which the Lord sends an individual enlightenment or revelation to everyone who will seek for it by going to Him in the Word. We have spoken of that twofold nature which is in man,-the twofold involuntary which is behind and unconsciously within all the things which we consciously will. This makes it possible for anyone to will what is good, what is true, although he is accustomed by heredity, and largely by the influence of the customs of others, to will what is not good and not true from the Divine.

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     There is nothing to prevent one from removing the obstacles that prevent the Lord's flowing in from heaven and leading all his thought and action. The obstacles are chiefly false ideas. And perhaps the greatest of these false ideas is that men do not think they would be happy if they were to give up some of the delights of human heredity. There are many false ideas which are like weeds in the garden of our minds; as, for instance, too great a delight in the mere external pleasures of this life. It does not seem to us that it would be desirable to sacrifice some of these pleasures in favor of making a deep study of Divine Truth, and taking a serious share in the promotion of the Church of the Lord on earth. We are not sure that we would be happier, and better off, if we would do this, and try to let the Lord lead us in all things.
     Yet, if we could remove the falsities that prevent our doing so, and could see the truth that nothing else is more worth our while and our effort than to choose the life which conforms strictly to the things the Lord teaches us in written Revelation, then there would be clear and strong individual revelation from Him which would lead us always to things fortunate and happy. The involuntary which is from the Lord through heaven would flow into our will, and the involuntary which is from hell would become more and more removed.
     The Lord is able and ready to enter in and lead us, and to give us a perception of Divine Truth. And may the Lord grant that this may be so with us, in some degree,-that we may consider nothing to be more desirable in life, and that, as we grow older, it may become more and more the case with us that the hereditary nature will cease to manifest itself, and the new will from Him will come more and more into its exercise and power.

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ERNEST J. STEBBING 1943

ERNEST J. STEBBING       Rev. ALFRED ACTON       1943

     A Memorial Address.

      (Delivered at a Service in the Cathedral, May 15, 1943, 11.00 a.m.)

     We are met this morning to commemorate the entrance into the spiritual world of our friend in the Church. Ernest James Stebbing. He was born in the New Church nearly three-quarters of a century ago, and has remained associated all his life with the General Church. In his early years, he desired to enter the ministry of the Church, and this desire took form in 1890, when he became a student in the Theological School of the Academy of the New Church, then situated in Philadelphia. He graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Theology in 1897, and in June, 1898, was ordained into the ministry of the New Church. But previous to his ordination, while he was still a candidate, he was appointed, in 1897, as Assistant to the Pastor of the New Church in Berlin, Canada, now Kitchener, to serve as the Headmaster of the New Church school there, a post which he filled with the utmost efficiency for nine years.
     In 1906, however, he was obliged to leave that post, not because there was any desire that he should do so, for quite the contrary was the case. His work was extremely efficient, and he was loved by both pupils and parents. Indeed it was with universal regret that the Berlin Society saw him leave a post which he had filled so efficiently, and for which his talents seemed peculiarly to adapt him. But the financial condition of the Society was such that they could no longer afford to have both a pastor and a headmaster, and so the duties of the headmaster were taken up by the pastor in addition to his pastoral duties.
     Mr. Stebbing then went into secular work in the City of Washington. There, in addition to this work, he entered upon the study of law, and was duly graduated, though his other work made it impossible for him to enter into the practice of law save in sundry minor cases.

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When it became clear to him that there were no prospects of his again entering the ministry, his very modesty led him to resign his membership in the Council of the Clergy, and this he did in the year 1915. When his work in Washington came to an end, he was employed in the Offices of the Academy of the New Church, and he has been in Bryn Athyn in such employment for the past fifteen years.
     I have known Mr. Stebbing for over half a century, and if I were to sum up his character, I would do so in two words,-modesty and faithfulness. He was, above all, a modest man. Although I knew that his work in the school in Berlin had been eminently satisfactory, yet I never heard him refer to it, still less boast about his success there. He was modest, and he was faithful. What work he did, he did faithfully and sincerely, and while his work was not, in the end, that which he had set before his mind as a young man, yet he lived a life of usefulness.
     And now he has entered into the spiritual world. He has left us-and yet not left us. The spirit is the same; the love, the thought, the affection is the same. That the spirit leaves us, is but the appearance; the truth is that it remains in the same place, that is, in the same state. If it has been conjoined to us, it is still conjoined, or if separated, it is still separated. It is not the spirit that departs; it is the body that drops away. The spirit continues in the same place, that is to say, in the same state, with the same loves, the same desires, the same uses. But the scene of those uses seems changed. Their nature and scope is the same. They are, as before, uses which the Lord designs for the salvation and the happiness and the blessedness of the human race. But the scene of those uses is no longer before our eyes.
     It is for uses we were born into the world, and for no other purpose. It is of Divine order that the Lord will not do anything for man from without except by means of men; and this law of Divine order has its origin in Divine Love, that man may have the delight of use. We see this in natural things. The Lord has given us food and clothing without stint,-freely, without price. Nevertheless, it is the duty of man to collect that food, and to make that clothing, and to distribute it.

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And in these various uses men find their delight,-a delight which, interiorly considered, is the delight of serving the Lord in the performance of uses to men. It is not we who perform the uses; it is the Lord. It is the Lord who feeds us, the Lord who clothes us and gives us recreation, who heals us when we are in ill health. But the Lord acts by means of men, that men, in their human way, may have something of the Divine delight which Divine Love has in giving of Itself to men.
     Therefore, when a child is born into the world, the first duty of parents is to teach it to perform uses-first, natural uses, that it may become a worthy citizen of the world. Later, if the parents and guardians are wise, they will initiate it into spiritual uses. Spiritual uses are the real and substantial uses that are within all natural uses; and compared with them, natural uses are but transitory. Our food, our clothing, our recreation-the time comes when these are no longer needed. But the spiritual uses performed by man,-the spiritual clothes, the spiritual food, the spiritual habitation, the spiritual recreation, which the Lord freely bestows-but by means of men-these endure and continue to eternity, long after the body has ceased to need food and clothing and habitation and recreation.
     That this is the case, is clear from our experience in the world. Who does not know, who has not experienced the pleasure, the delight, the spiritual profit and health, that comes from the sphere of a holy man, of a man who shows, in his life, sincerity, love to the neighbor, love of the church and wisdom in spiritual things? Who has not felt the force of the sphere of such a man? Who has not felt that in that sphere there is, as it were, spiritual nourishment? And who has not also experienced the deleterious effect of the spheres of evil men?-how, like poisons, they seek to sap our spiritual life and deprive us of heavenly loves. Those uses which the spirit of man performs-the uses that are within his natural uses, and that inspire to their performance-those uses are the real things of life, and the natural uses are but transitory, though they are necessary as the embodiment of the real and eternal uses.
     In this world we think of our spiritual uses as mental phenomena, as something that takes place in the mind alone. But when we awake in the spiritual world we shall realize that the uses carried on by the spirit while on earth are actual uses.

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They will then appear to us in the form and appearance of natural uses, but actually they are uses by means of which the Lord supplies the spiritual food and clothing and habitation of angels and spirits. We are familiar with the teaching that all things in the spiritual world are given gratis; but the truth underlying this teaching is, that they are given freely only in the same way that the Lord gives all natural uses freely. They still require the cooperation of man, and this because Divine Love wills to give man the delight of use. So with spiritual uses. These also require the cooperation of men, and this to the end that men may have the spiritual delight of performing uses. It is for the performance of these spiritual uses that we are born on earth-the spiritual uses which are inspired by love to the neighbor from love to God, by the desire to be of use to the neighbor and the fear to injure him in word or thought or deed. It is only as spirits-and the spirits of men while on earth perform these spiritual uses-that the Lord gives the riches of heaven freely and without price-the food, the clothing, the habitations, and the recreations of the spirit.
     While on earth, bodily appetites and the allurements of the world, made more overpowering by inherited cravings and sometimes even irresistible, obscure at times the intent of the spirit, and the man seems to strive in vain against the allurements of the world. After death, man is freed of these temptations, so far as they have their origin in the body and the world. He is free to pursue his own life,-the life which he has made for himself-and to be the love which he actually is. Natural falses may remain; evils indulged in may remain. After the first delight of entrance into the spiritual world, the first delight of realization that he is still living-the man comes into his old life; and then, for the most part, the work of preparation commenced in this world must be continued.
     Hence the teaching that in the world of spirits, into which men first come after death, there are three states through which, for the most part, men must pass. First, the state in which they live a life almost the same as on this earth,-a state in which they cling to their familiar ideas, and live in all appearance the same life as on earth-the same work and recreation, the same mingled aspirations and failings. But this state is alternated by periods of interior reflection, in which that good which they have confirmed by their life on earth assumes the upper hand; and from this good they look upon their external life, with its mingled truths and falses, good affections and evil.

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The second states alternate, but at every alternation the internal state becomes more enduring, until at last it alone remains. This alternation, we are taught, continues for some time, but never more than a year. The man then comes fully into the second state of the world of spirits, which is followed by the third state,-the state of instruction, which may last for a longer or a shorter time. Finally, he comes into the state of introduction into the joys of heaven.
     These three states must be passed through by all men without exception, but it is not necessary that men shall pass through them after death. We are now in the world of spirits, and it is of the Lord's Providence that we shall pass through these three states even while on earth. At this day, this is done by few indeed, and those few are, for the most part, the simple and the lowly, who have no idea of the falses of their church, but have looked to the Lord and lived a life of utter sincerity. But now, for the most part, men, even the good, are so obscured by appearances, fallacies and falses, and their loves, even when inspired by good intentions, are so mingled with evil failings, that there are few who are not under the necessity of undergoing those three states in the world of spirits after death.
     But now, with the Second Coming of the Lord, "there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hidden that shall not be known." The truths of heaven are now revealed: and on earth, man can now reflect upon the hidden things of the heart. There is nothing covered therein that cannot be uncovered, nor hidden that cannot be known, if man examines himself in the light of the truth now revealed. It is for this reason that we have New Church schools, that our children may be trained in early years to reflect, not only upon their states as citizens of the world, but upon their states as members of the New Church. It is for this reason that the Church is established on earth, that, even while we are in this world, we may pass through the states of the world of spirits; that internals and externals may become one; that, even as in intention, so in word and deed, we may abhor to do injury to the name or the fame or the use of the neighbor. This is the end for which the Church is established on earth, that the concealed deceits of the heart may be revealed, and the hidden thoughts of the mind may be made known; that, even while on earth, we may pass through the states of the world of spirits; that the Church on earth may be truly the threshold of heaven. Amen.

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WOMEN'S GUILD OF THE BRYN ATHYN CHURCH 1943

WOMEN'S GUILD OF THE BRYN ATHYN CHURCH       BEATRICE C. PENDLETON       1943

     Article I of the Constitution states: "The name of this organization shall be the Women's Guild of the Bryn Athyn Church. Its object shall be to perform for the Church the uses that the wife and mother performs in the home."

     Like its prototype-the individual wife and mother-the Guild is a free agent. There is no supervision, no coercion. We do as good-or as poor-a job as our ability and our conscience permit. No one takes us to task, no one praises our work or particularly notices us one way or the other. Again, like our prototype, we are taken for granted. Ours is a supplementary use-entirely voluntary-to carry on the more or less domestic concerns of the Bryn Athyn Church. It is our aim to hold ourselves in readiness at all times to serve the Bishop and assistant Pastors in providing a means through which their plans and policies may be presented and freely discussed. Understanding and co-operation result, which make for efficiency and good will.
     According to our Constitution: "All adult women who are members of the Bryn Athyn Church are eligible for membership. Women of the congregation who are not members of the General Church may become members of the Guild by invitation of the Executive Committee, but are not eligible to vote or hold office." (Art. II., Sec. 2.) The membership now numbers 192, and the average attendance at meetings in the last two years has been 54.
     Our active season runs from October to June, when meetings are held the second Tuesday evening of every month, occasionally in private homes, but mostly in the Choir Hall of the Cathedral, owing to war conditions and the size of the attendance.

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During the summer months business and emergencies are handled by the officers, consisting of the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.
     THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE consists of the elected officers, who serve terms of two years each and may not serve more than two consecutive terms- (except under special dispensation) -and the heads of committees who are appointed each year by the President. The personnel of each committee is entirely the responsibility of its head. She chooses those to work with her who are in her opinion interested and co-operative. Some committees are necessarily large, some are small, and some consist only of the head herself. In every instance it is she who makes the decision and carries the responsibility.

     Various Committees.

     Perhaps the simplest way to present the scope of our work is briefly to outline the existing committees and their duties.
     First and foremost is the FRIDAY SUPPER COMMITTEE, which handles all the problems of the weekly suppers; organizing the individual committees in charge of each supper; buying and storing staples; checking on dishes, silver and laundry; selling tickets and collecting and banking all monies turned in supervising table setting and dishwashing, and being responsible to the Guild and the Academy for all equipment. It is ably handled by a group of five women,-a dual head, a treasurer, a custodian, and a fifth member who oversees supplies and table setting. Without the skill and energy of this committee, the ancient custom of weekly church suppers, handed down from the early days, could not go on. If you realize that the average attendance in 1942 and 1943 was 196, and that a maximum of variety for a minimum of cost is the goal of every Friday supper head, it is obvious why this committee leads all the rest in importance. Indeed, this is no small undertaking in these days of food and gasoline rationing, rising prices and diminishing supplies.
     The next in importance is the MOTHERS' COMMITTEE,-an active, useful link between the Guild, the school, and the younger generation.

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Composed of women particularly interested in the problems of children in relation to the home, the school and the borough, it supplies a sympathetic understanding, and allows us the opportunity of lending a helping hand, as well as an open forum for airing our grievances, when we find ourselves bewildered by the psychology of the modern, uninhibited young person.
     The PROGRAM COMMITTEE handles the entertainment at each meeting. This varies. We owe much to our ministers and speakers. Busy men all, but never too busy, apparently, to respond to our need. Also, there are lighter programs of current interest. The programs are carefully worked out in an effort to combine business, pleasure and inspiration. For the old saving, "Many men, many minds," applies to women too.
     The MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE keeps in touch with newcomers. Also with the younger women as they reach an age and responsibilities which bring the realization of the use the Women's Guild serves in the adjustment to New Church community life and intelligent understanding of its many complexities.
     The HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE, whose responsibility is for the stranger in our midst, especially at the time of assemblies, ministers' meetings, school closings, etc.; also to meet the constant need of neighborliness, which is apt to suffer in large communities, such as visiting the sick, the aged and the bereaved.
     The CIVIC COMMITTEE, which is the go-between for the helpless householder with bright ideas and frustrations and the Borough Council whose main mission seems to be safeguarding the taxpayers' money, and which, therefore, is not too sympathetic toward suggestions, though they sometimes accept ours and always very politely acknowledge our communications.
     The LIBRARY COMMITTEE functions principally around Christmas and has been instrumental in selecting many delightful children s books, for harrassed relatives to present to the younger generation. Also in adding, through the percentage discount allowed to the Academy for wholesale buying, to the new books constantly needed by the Library, especially in the children's department. Hours of work go into this labor of love, spent in selection, ordering and delivering, but the committee is enthusiastic and the returns add appreciably from year to year.

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     The EXCHANGE COMMITTEE consists of one member with a vision. The ultimate object is to work toward paying off the mortgage on the Assembly Hall, which has already reached adolescent years. With the war, and all that is involved in extra calls on time and money, it is impossible to hold fairs and benefits. Still, we are keeping the fund alive. Last year we turned over the sum of $200.00 to the Bryn Athyn Church treasury. This year the amount is only $22.10. But when peace comes we hope to go ahead in earnest and make substantial contributions from year to year.
     RED CROSS COMMITTEE.-So many of us are working for the war-making bandages, sewing, knitting, processing cans, saving kitchen fats, planting victory gardens, donating clothing-that we wonder how we shall be able to occupy ourselves when the war is over. The Undercroft is really the social center, and is occupied practically every day and several evenings a week. Therefore the report of this committee is always of special interest.
     THE DEFENSE COMMITTEE.-During the strenuous days when America was new in the war, and the national and state Defense Councils were bombarding the local set-ups with conflicting orders and regulations every other week; when we were all tabulated as home guard, air raid wardens, disaster committees, Red Cross workers, etc., and were buying blackout curtains, and collecting sand buckets and long handled shovels in our spare time, to deal with any calling cards left by Herr Hitler's emissaries, there was always a new list of regulations to be turned in. Now that things have quieted down over here-the dreaded Luftwaffe apparently fully occupied protecting the Greater Reich from Allied invasion-there is seldom a report. We can only hope we are not allowing ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security.
     One further committee handles what might be called the courtesies, sending flowers to the sick and bereaved.

     Other Undertakings.

     And now for a brief summary of some of our activities in the last two years not listed above.
     In June and November of 1941 we sent gift packages, containing foods strictly rationed in England, to the Colchester and Burton Road Societies, as well as to a number of the isolated.

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All arrived safely.
     In October and November, 1942, we purchased, gift-wrapped and mailed the Christmas packages from the Bryn Athyn Church to Brynathynites in the services-40 men and 2 women.
     In February, 1942, we inaugurated the Bryn Athyn Supply Chest, which collects on the first Friday of every month between supper and class, and by various other means during the Summer. The original idea was to divide the collection between the Bryn Athyn Defense Council, the Bryn Athyn Red Cross and the General Church Military Service Committee, according to need. With the passing of time, the Service Committee has become the chief beneficiary, the local Red Cross taking only what is needed for running expenses. To date we have collected $758.22, including a monthly contribution of $3.00 from the Guild.
     Financing and furnishing the morning coffee and tea during the Ministers' Meetings is an old established Guild custom, and seems to be enjoyed equally by our guests, the resident clergy, and the presiding hostesses.
     Our treasury is supported by dues of $1.80 a year, of which 20 per cent goes to the Beneficiary Fund. This fund is also supported by voluntary contributions. In spite of the fact that we contribute to church, school and civic uses, such as the Elementary School, the Boys' Club, toward providing a life guard at the swimming pond, the upkeep of the cemetery, the Bryn Athyn Supply Chest, and, through the Beneficiary Fund, to private uses, we have kept solvent through depression, inflation and war, which would seem to disprove the theory that women are financially incompetent and irresponsible.
     These are strenuous times, calling on all we have of loyalty, strength and resources. Over the radio, and through the press, we are exhorted in clarion tones to give of ourselves to every cause without let or reservation.
     But we are primarily women of the New Church, and it is our duty, and our concern, to carry on the work of our homes and community in the tradition handed down to us, that something, even more precious than human liberty, may not perish from the earth.

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IMPERSONATIONS IN THE OTHER LIFE. 1943

IMPERSONATIONS IN THE OTHER LIFE.              1943


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Editor     Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager      Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Business Manager.

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     In our April issue, pages 166-167, we quoted a passage from The Word Explained concerning "The Witch at Endor," and we would here offer some comments upon the teaching there given-that the evil spirit brought up by the "woman of the Python" represented Samuel by personating him, and then spoke from God Messiah in denouncing Saul for his disobedience and predicting his defeat by the Philistines and his death. (I Samuel 28: 15-19.) We quote from the passage:

     "It must be observed that it was by no means Samuel that was raised from the dead by the Python. . . . It was another who was raised up, who represented Samuel; for when it is permitted evil spirits or their leader, they can then represent any person they desire, provided only that the person has been seen by the man, and known to him; and this so cleverly and with such skill that not the least inflection of the voice or anything that was natural to that person is lacking. This, also, I was twice or thrice made experimentally aware of by certain spirits who presented before me certain persons known to me during their life, and I spoke with them for some time.

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They were of the same character as during their life. Yet each time I doubted whether they were the same persons, and this I also said to the spirits. Thus they can bring in whatsoever person is allowed them, provided only that the person has been known to the man. . . . It is also permitted evil spirits to tell things that are to come; but this is from God Messiah by means of good spirits, to whom, in a like case, it is permitted to rule the speeches of evil spirits entirely at their nod. This also it was given me to know, and so frequently that I am unable to number the times- namely, that evil spirits speak entirely as those [good spirits] dictate. . . ." (W. E. VI: 6155-6157.)
     It is well known to us from the Writings that wizards, witches, and modern spirit-mediums can "bring up" or communicate with evil spirits only, as was the case with the woman of the Python at Endor. Yet the evil spirit in this case was made the vehicle for the conveyance of a Divine message to Saul, whose spiritual faculties were undoubtedly opened to see and hear the one who impersonated and represented Samuel, who was well-known to Saul. "Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the Lord hath done as He spake by my hand: for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbor, to David; because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord . . . ; therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day." (I Samuel 28: 16-18.)

     Swedenborg's Experience.

     During this early period when Swedenborg was writing The Word Explained, he had already learned by experience, as he states, that spirits are able to impersonate others so perfectly that the difference could only be detected by one who was endowed with his critical faculty; for he "doubted whether they were the same persons." As we shall note later, he found that there are spirits, not necessarily evil, who find delight in impersonating others. Perhaps they had been of the histrionic profession when they lived in the world.
     The Word Explained was written from November, 1745, to February, 1747, and shortly after this, on November 30, 1747, Swedenborg wrote on this subject in the Spiritual Diary, as follows:

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     My Conversation with Abraham, Jacob, with the Apostles, and with Many Others of Ancient Time.

     281. In the course of many weeks I was in conversation with the Apostles, with Abraham, with Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Sarah the wife of Abraham, Leah and Rachel, and at the time I could not believe otherwise than that I spoke with these persons; but afterwards, having learned by experience, I could deduce that it was those who took their place in the interior heaven [the natural heaven] ,* and who also believed that they were those individuals. For angels in the more interior heaven [the spiritual heaven] can speak with men through spirits of the interior [natural] heaven, thus mediately, but those spirits take their place, and at the same time show what they were like immediately after the death of the body. It is otherwise when the same persons appear to man in the more interior [spiritual] heaven, which is effected by a sublime representation. 1747, November 30. These things came into my thought today, but whether the matter be so with them as stated, I am not yet able to know for certain.
     * In the early part of the Spiritual Diary the degrees of the heavens in an ascending series are commonly designated by the terms exterior, interior, more interior, and inmost-meaning the heaven or world of spirits (exterior), the natural heaven (interior), the spiritual heaven (more interior) the celestial heaven (inmost). See nos. 156, 717, 1200, 1610, 1619, 1797, 2191.

     Swedenborg often sounds a note of caution as to the exact nature of a spiritual phenomenon which he has described,-a characteristic of his which begets a confidence in him as an accurate reporter of what he saw and heard in the other life. Later we find that he has been confirmed in the factual truth of his description, as in the present instance. For on March 13, 1748, a few months after he had written no. 281, cited above, he records in the Diary his experience with the Twelve Apostles themselves, when they were not impersonated by other spirits, but were shown by him the contrast between their state in heaven and their previous state in the world of spirits, which was akin to their natural state in the world; this experience being the means of preparing them for their mission in preaching the Gospel anew at the Second Coming. (S. D. 1321-1331. See our June issue, p. 264.)

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     Throughout the Writings we find records of Swedenborg's meeting and conversing with Scripture personages and other historical characters, and it is clear that in many instances he met the persons themselves, either in heaven, in the world of spirits, or in hell; in other cases he met them in the form of spirits who impersonated them. There can be no doubt that he actually met those of his contemporaries who had passed into the other life and were still in the world of spirits. In the case of persons who lived in ancient times, if Swedenborg did not meet them in their heavenly or infernal abodes, he met them in the world of spirits, and for this purpose they were either brought back into their first state after death, or were impersonated by other spirits, the impersonation being so perfect that it was the same as if he had met the persons themselves. Swedenborg, however, could detect the fact of impersonation, since he enjoyed a faculty of reflection not ordinarily possessed by spirits. And this faculty was granted him to the end that he might make known to men this very phenomenon of the spiritual world.

     The Uses of Impersonation.-According to the dictionary definition, to impersonate is to assume or act the person or character of another, to personate; as, for example, to impersonate Macbeth. Latin: per sona-to sound through, a mask used by actors to speak through; this being the origin of the word person.
     In the world today, how great is the effort to reproduce the personalities of the past! They are brought to the present generation by means of biographies, photographs, paintings, phonographic records, and by the art of the stage and the screen. And the purpose is not only to provide a knowledge of history, delightful in itself, but rather to inspire with the ideals exemplified in the lives of God-fearing men, as contrasted with the lives of evil men. History and biography, also, are important means of developing the rational and its exercise in the present.
     But in the other world, where all who have lived on earth now reside, the past life of the race and its personalities can be reproduced in all perfection-when a use can be performed thereby. Any person, good or evil, can be summoned in a moment, or he can be impersonated in the world of spirits. It was of the Lord's Providence that the revelation of the Second Coming should open the portals of the past in the spiritual realm to the contemplation of New Churchmen; and to this end Swedenborg, as revelator, was given to meet the personalities of former times as typical of the ages in which they lived.

322




     Among the uses thus served, he was able to testify to the survival of the individual unchanged as to his ruling love and general characteristics. We read: "It has been granted me to converse with all whom I have ever known in the life of the body, after their decease; with some for days, with some for months, and with some for a year: and with others also-so many that it would be too few if I should say a hundred thousand, of whom many were in the heavens and many in the hells." (H. H. 312.) "It has been granted me to converse with some who lived seventeen centuries ago, and whose lives are known from the writings of that time, and it was found that everyone is still governed by his own love." (H. H. 363.) "It has been given me to speak with some who lived two thousand years ago, whose lives are known because described in histories, and I found that they were still the same, and just as they had been described, as to the love from which and according to which was their life. I was also permitted to speak with those who lived seventeen centuries ago, also four centuries, and three, all of whom are known from histories, and it was found that a like affection reigned with them, without any difference, except that the delights of their love were turned into such things as correspond to them." (H. H. 480.)
     It was of special importance, however, that Swedenborg should be given to know by living experience the states of the Churches of the past, as typified by the Biblical characters, for the unfolding of the internal historical sense of the Word. In part he met the very persons, and in part they were impersonated; in both cases their states were fully manifested to him. He met the Preadamites and the people of the Golden, Silver and later Ages. Of the family of Terah, residing in Ur of the Chaldees, he says that he was "instructed by themselves" as to the quality of their idolatrous worship. (A. C. 1368.) That he met Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, both in person and as represented by others, he declares in The Word Explained and elsewhere. (See W. E. I: 1511, 1526-1527; V: 5558.)

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He describes his meeting with Moses (S. D. 6107) and with David on many occasions, sometimes in the form of "one who presents his person." (S. D. 2621, 3656, 3674, etc.) An account of his colloquy with Solomon, and of his personal state, is recorded in The Word Explained and the Diary, as set forth in our last issue. Not that these persons themselves are important, but what they represent in the Word,-some spiritual principle or state, or a Divine attribute. For "no person who is mentioned in the Word is perceived in heaven, but in place of him the thing which is represented by the person." (A. C. 5225.)
     Among the many personalities of the Christian era who were met by Swedenborg in the other life, we would cite here only the case of Mohammed, since it brings to view another use performed by impersonations in the spiritual world. "As soon as Mohammedans enter the other life," we are told, "they at once seek for Mohammed; yet he does not appear to them, but in his place two others who call themselves Mohammeds, the reason being that people of every religion, after death, are first led to those whom they have worshipped in the world." (L. J. 50.) In like manner the Jews commonly seek Abraham and Moses and others of their patriarchs whom they have venerated in the world. And they do not seek in vain; for they are welcomed by one who impersonates the person they seek. And Swedenborg not only met and talked with Mohammed himself, but also with his "substitute" Mohammeds. (See S. D. 339; 1. post. 71-82; S. D. 5666a, and many other passages.) By such experiences our revelator was abundantly confirmed in the fact and use of impersonations in the other life.
     Incidentally, we may mention another use that is thus performed for those who seek after death to meet the persons "whom they have worshipped in the world," as do the Jews who look for Abraham and Moses, and also Christians who have adored the "saints." They hope to gain admission to heaven by their intercession. But they are soon disillusioned. For "when they perceive that such can be of no help to them, they recede from them." (L. J. 50.) Then, if they are in good, they can be led to look to the Lord alone. For "so far as worship is paid to any man, so far it is withheld from the Lord." (C. L. J. 64.)

324




     Another Form of Impersonation.-Although Swedenborg was not yet certain of the fact and nature of impersonation in the other life when, on November 30, 1747, he wrote no. 281 of the Spiritual Diary, cited above, he later describes certain spirits who found delight in forms of impersonation, which he did in July and August, 1748. These spirits so completely impersonated individuals who were known to Swedenborg, and who were still living in the natural world, that they fully believed that they were those individuals, and tried to persuade Swedenborg that they actually were. His account of them is given in the Diary as follows:

     That spirits who are of the same genus and species [as others] may be induced to believe that they are those others, although they are not.

     2686. It has sometimes been shown me by experience that spirits may be induced to believe that they are the persons of whose life and manners I could have some knowledge; and from that knowledge [in my mind] they induced other spirits to believe that they were those same persons. They talked like them, and they had similar souls and many other similarities, so that from the knowledge that was with me they could not believe otherwise than that they were those same persons; although the persons whom they were induced to believe themselves to be were alive [on earth]. Indeed, they acted the person with such a resemblance that, as respects the knowledge of him in my mind, they differed not at all. For they are the images of the persons, because they are of a like genus and species, as to the image of the person in the idea of man.
     Such spirits were with me and spoke with me, and they wanted to persuade me that they were those same persons because they themselves were persuaded that they were. But because I had learned that other persons can be so effigied in such a similitude, I was not induced to believe them.
     2687. Wherefore, let those to whom it is granted to speak with spirits beware lest they be induced to believe that they are the ones whom they say themselves to be, and thus persuade that the persons are dead, as they are wont to say, when yet they are alive. For spirits who are similar in genus and in species, as to mind and manners, conduct themselves in like manner, and with complete similarity, which is derived from the knowledge of the man with whom they are.

325



This may be still more evident from the fact that, in general, such spirits are associated with those who are like him, and when they are with him they do not know otherwise than that they are the same, 1748, 26 July. (See also nos. 2860, 2861.)

     The warning given in no. 2687 explains the modern stance, in which the spirit-medium brings a message from some deceased person. The spirits who speak through the medium are able to personate the one from whom the message is desired, obtaining the knowledge of that person from the memories of those present at the seance who knew him.
     And the teaching in the two numbers quoted above may also furnish an explanation of the curious instance given in Cuno's Testimony, recorded in Tafel's Documents, as follows:

     "Cuno, in a second letter addressed to a prominent merchant of Hamburg, dated March 5,1771, says:
     "I cannot forbear to tell you something quite new about Swedenborg. Last Thursday I paid him a visit, and as usual found him writing. He told me that the same morning he had been in conversation with the late King of Sweden for three hours in the spiritual world. He had met him there already on Wednesday, thus the day before; but as he had seen that he was deeply engaged in conversation with the Queen, who is still living, I would not disturb him then. I let him [Swedenborg] talk on, but at last asked him, how it was possible to meet in the spiritual world with a person who is still in the land of the living? He answered me, 'It was not the Queen herself, but her familiar spirit (spiritus familiaris).' 'What sort of thing is that?' I continued: for of this new kind of appearances I had never heard from him before, nor had I read about them. He then informed me that every man has his good or bad spirit, who is not only constantly near him, but sometimes also withdraws from him, and appears in the spiritual world. But of this the man still living knows nothing; the spirit, however, knows everything. Such a familiar spirit has everything perfectly in common with his human companion; he has in the spiritual world visibly the same figure, the same countenance, the same tone of voice; wears also the same garments as the man on earth; in short, Swedenborg said, the familiar spirit of the Queen appeared exactly as he had so often seen the Queen herself in Stockholm and had heard her speak." (Documents, Vol. II, p. 484.)

326





     Familiar Spirits.-The term "familiar spirit" does not occur in the Writings, so far as we are aware. In place of that term as used by Cuno, we speak of a man's "associate spirits" or "attendant spirits," according to the teaching: "Such spirits are adjoined to a man as are like him as to affection or as to love; but good spirits are adjoined to him by the Lord, while evil spirits are invited by the man himself." (H. H. 295.) "That spirits are associated with a man according to his loves, has been made known to me by manifold experience. As soon as I have begun to love anything intensely, spirits were present who were in such a love, nor were they removed until the love ceased." (A. C. 6196.)
     Such an association, however, is in the way of order. But the term "familiar spirit," as used in the English Bible, means the kind of spirit that lends himself to that disorderly association and communication which, in the decline of the Ancient Church, was entered into by wizards and witches. This form of communication was forbidden the Israelites in the Mosaic Law. To them the Lord was to speak only through the high priests and prophets. In the Writings such "familiar spirits" are called "pythons," as we have noted above in speaking of the "woman of the Python at Endor."
     Yet the term "familiar spirit" may have had an orderly origin in the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches, in which the father of each family was instructed by a spirit who might be called a "family spirit," being one of the same family who had gone to the other world. A survival of this in the later Hebrew Church is seen in the case of the family of Terah, whose spirit was known as Shaddai. (A. C. 1992.) The abuse of this relationship came about when the families of the Ancient Church degenerated and became idolatrous, and when they no longer cared for spiritual instruction, but sought a knowledge of the future by betaking themselves to "those who had familiar spirits," as men do today when they turn away from the instruction of the Word and the Church, and betake themselves to spirit-mediums,-a practice condemned in the Old and New Testaments and in the Writings. "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead."

327




     Since writing in the LIFE on the subject of the influence of the Swedish idiom upon the language of the Writings (see NEW CHURCH LIFE, May, p. 221), my attention has been called to another case in point which is of particular interest to the translator. It concerns the several passages where the "reading" of the Lord's Prayer is spoken of. Thus it is said that in heaven the angels "read this Prayer daily, as do men on earth" (A. R. 839:6); that "infants read the Lord's Prayer, and learn the Prayer from their nurses" (S. D. 5668); that in the spiritual world some of the common people were heard "reading the Lord's Prayer" with great simplicity (S. D. 3531*); and Swedenborg speaks of himself as having a certain perception whenever he "read the Lord's Prayer" (A. C. 6476).
     Now a little reflection will call to mind that to Christians the Lord's Prayer is so familiar that, while frequently said, it is rarely read; and one may well wonder why the word "read" is used, particularly in the statement that angels "read" this Prayer daily, as do men on earth. The matter is easily explained by reference to the Swedish use of the word lasa (to read). This word means not only "to read" but also "to recall or repeat from memory"; and the regular Swedish expression for "to say the Lord's Prayer" is lasa Herrans bon (to read the Lord's Prayer). It would seem, therefore, that in the above passages the translation should be, not "read the Lord's Prayer," but "say (or repeat) the Lord's Prayer."
     Still another case is the word clenodium, which occurs three times, both in Conjugial Love and in True Christian Religion. (669, 763.) The word is rightly translated jewel, but, so far as I know, it does not occur in any Latin dictionary, except du Ganges Lexicon of Medieval Latin, where it is shown that the word was first used in the beginning of the thirteenth century. It is a Latinized form of the Swedish word Klenod, which, in turn, is a form of the German Kleinod. From its derivation, this word means "a little thing that is very precious, such as jewels, noble stones, etc. It is also said of things of the highest value, e.g., Gothland is one of Sweden's Klenoder" (precious jewels). (Dalin, Sv. Ordbok.) Clen (klein, little) being here a term of endearment, clenodium signifies that which is held to be peculiarly precious.
     ALFRED ACTON.

328



MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943

     THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)

     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa, United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942,
     SERGEANT PILOT RALPH ROSCHMAN HILL, Kitchener, Ontario. Royal Canadian Air Force. Killed on active service in Wales, February 9, 1943.


     OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, Sgt. Norman,
Heldon, Cpl. Sydney,
Kirsten, Sgt. Theodore,
Taylor, A.C. 1 Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bellinger, Wren Elaine,
Bond, L.A.C. J. W.,
Bond, Sgt. Lillian D.,
Bond, L.A.C. Thomas A.,
Evens, Tpr. John,
Evens, Gnr. Robert A.,
Evens, A.C. 2 Reuben J.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Hill, Ft/Sgt. Leonard F.,
James, Pvt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Schnarr, Sgt. Joffre G.,
Schnarr, Cadet John G.,
Scott, Pvt. Herbert G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, Sgt. Pilot A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.

     Toronto.
Bellinger, Sgt./Pilot John H.,
Campbell, Stella, W.R.C.N S
Carter, F/Sgt. Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Cpl. Thomas J.,
Izzard, F/O Laurence T., Missing in Action,
Jesseman, Cpl. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn,
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Richardson, A.C. 2 David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, P/O Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Bellinger, P/O William G., Ontario,
Evens, A.C. 2 A. Leslie, Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 Norman W., Alberta,
Frazee, A.C. 2 Keith I., British Columbia,
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.


     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Eric D.,
Appleton, L.A.C. Roy,
Boozer, Dvr. A. E.,
Boozer, Donald,
Briscoe, Miss Irene G.,
Caldwell, Lieut. William T.,
Clennell, A.C. 2 Gordon,
Cohen, Eng. Comdr. Maurice L.,
Dale, Tpr. Keith B.,
Dawson, L.A.C. Geoffrey P.,

329




Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Halliday, Lieut. Keith C.,
Jones, Harold C.,
Lewin, Ronald,
Morley, P/O H. K.,
Morris, Lieut. David,
Motum, O/Cadet John,
Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,
Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Beatrice A.,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Lt. Michael T.,
Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,
Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Sylvia M.

     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, 2nd Lieut. J. S.,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Cockerell, Sig. John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, A/P Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Gnr. D. B.,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, Pvt. J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, Lieut. A. N.,
Hammond, 2nd Lieut. Harry B.,
Hammond, Cpl. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, P/N Miss S. F.,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, S/Sgt. A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Pemberton, A/P G. Guy,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, A/M C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,
Ridgway, Pvt. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A., Honorably discharged,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, P.F.C. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, Cpl. Ralph E.,
Behlert, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Bostock, Pvt. Robert M.,
Carpenter, Lt. (jg) Philip S. P.,
Cole, Pvt. Dandridge M.,
Cole, Lt. William P.,
Conner, Pvt. Wilson Bennett,
Cooper, Pre. A/C Denis,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, Lt. Rey W.,
Cooper, Cpl. Theodore F.,
Cowley, Cpl. William J.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
David, A/C Warren,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davies, Pvt. Philip T.,
Davis, Joan, S 2/c,
Davis, Cpl. Justin H.,
Davis, Sgt. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
Deigendesch, Paul H., A.S.,
De Maine, Cand. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine, Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A..
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, Lt. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Fine, Sgt. Raymond F.,
Finkeldey, Lt. Philip,
Gansert, Pvt. Otto G.,
Glenn, Lt. Ernest Bruce,
Gyllenhaal, S/Sgt. Charles P.,
Gyllenhaal, Ensign Leonard E.
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, Sgt. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., Ph.M. 3/c,
Hilldale, Pvt. Thomas A.,
Homiller, Lt. William,
Hyatt, Cpl. Edward D.,
Hyatt, Pvt. Kent,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Nilson, Lt. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, Pvt. David S.,
Odhner, Cpl. Ray S.,
Odhner, Lt. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, R.T. 1/c,
Pitcairn, Pvt. Joel,
Pitcairn, A/C John P.,
Pitcairn, A/C Lachlan,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, Lt. Nathan,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Capt. Oliver I.,
Price, Donal, A.S.,

330




Price, Cpl. Kenneth,
Rose, P.F.C. Stanley,
Rosenquist, P.F.C. Henry,
Schnarr, A/C/C Arthur W.,
Schnarr, Donald, S 2/c,
Schnarr, Pvt. Eugene C.,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, A/C David R.,
Synnestvedt, Pvt. Fred H.,
Synnestvedt, A/C/C Pvt. Huard I.,
Walter, Elizabeth, S.K. 2/c,
Walter, Lt. Robert E.,
White, Lt. Harry J.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Asplundh, Cadet O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., M.M. 2/c,
Barry, Pvt. John,
Brown, Pvt. Robert E.,
Burnham, Edwin, C. Sp., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, P.F.C. Roy M.,
Carlson, S/Sgt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,
Cole, Pvt. Louis S.,
Elkins, Lois, U.S.N.R.,
Fuller, George, P.O. 2/c,
Gladish, Lt. Donald G.,
Gunsteens, Pvt. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,
Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, P.F.C. Kenneth,
Holmes, Cpl. Leslie B.,
Junge, Lt. Carl F.,
King, Cpl. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Lt. Raymond T.,
Lee, Cedric,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
Melzer, Pvt. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Philip,
Melzer, Sgt. Roger,
Nelson, Lt. Gerald F.,
Pollock, A/C/C Robert T.,
Reuter, Lieut. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Ensign Hubert O.,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, Lt. Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C., Honorably discharged,
Wille, Pvt. Gerhardt King.

     Michigan.
Childs, Pvt. Walter C.,
French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, Pvt. John F.,
Peterson, Pvt. Philip H.,
Peterson, Warrant Officer Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., C.P.O.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Lt. (j.g.) Alexander,
Packer, E. W. Jr., S. 1/c.
Packer, Pvt. Robert F.,
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,
Westacott, Ensign Ethel B.

     Pittsburgh,
Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Blair, Pvt. James F.,
Brown, Lt. George P., Jr.,
Brown, Sgt. Tech. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,
Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Iungerich, Tech. Sgt. Stevan,
Lechner, Lt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Lt. Alexander H.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Pendleton, Lt. Philip C.,
Schoenberger, Lt. Ulrich,
Schoenberger, Av/C Walter S.,
Stein, Cpl. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Cpl. Elmer G., Texas.
Caldwell, Cpl. Neil V., New York.
Coffin, Capt. Roscoe T., Maryland.
Davis, A/C Charles F., Calif.
Davis, Sgt. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Lt. Philip B., Ohio,
Doering, A/C Edward, Wayne, Iowa.
Glenn, Pvt. Alfred M., New York,
Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Griffin, William T., E.M. 2/c, S.C.,
Joy, Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Cpl. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Merrell, Cpl. Frederick, Calif.
Merrell, Pvt. Stanley, Calif.
Moorhead, Pvt. Donald, Washington, D. C.
Posey, Pvt. John A., Alabama.
Rott, Sgt. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Smith, Sterling R., A.M.M. 1/c, Georgia.
Snyder, Donald, A.M.M. 2/c, Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Major Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Tarr, Joseph, S.K. 3/c, Maryland.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.
Wilson, Joaquin C., Jr., E.M. 2/c, Missouri.

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Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     BRYN ATHYN.

     Civic and Social Club.

     Organized as the promoter and custodian of the social life of the Bryn Athyn Church, the Civic and Social Club fulfills its destiny in a zealous and ample manner. The annual meeting of the Club was held on May 25th, and the President, Mr. Griffith Asplundh, gave a brief summary of what has been accomplished during the past year from which we glean the following account:

     The activities during the year have been centered upon the promotion of entertainment for both young and old. Community suppers have been held at the Club House practically every month of the year, and these have been exceptionally well attended. Managed by the women's committee, the suppers have provided appetizing menus. And these occasions have not only furnished the pleasure of social contacts, but also entertainment at the suppers in the form of lectures, movies and music.
     The Club has sponsored Town Meetings, with quite a number in the community taking an active part, both in preparing their subjects and in the general discussions, which have dealt with current topics, pro and con, in the same manner as programs of this kind on the radio. There have also been several fine lectures on European conditions, Victory Gardens, and other subjects of a current nature, as well as movies for both children and grown-ups. From time to time, also, card parties have been given, being well patronized.
     In addition to these undertakings, the Club has taken over the Pond, which it policed and managed during the Summer months, when it is a very popular gathering place for old and young, and an ideal place for children learning to swim. Many picnics have been held there in the evenings.
     It has been a function of the Club to organize the Fourth of July parade, with young and old joining in the march, which ends on the Academy grounds where a patriotic address is delivered under the Stars and Stripes on the flag pole.
     As to dances, owing to the fact that so many of the boys are in the Service, it has not been deemed advisable to hold as many as usual, but the New Year's Dance was well attended and enjoyed by the society.
     In order to provide entertainment for the club members, and also for the young folk during the Summer months, the grounds around the Club House have been arranged for ping-pong, quoits, and shuffleboard. And children can use the grounds during the afternoons and early evenings. Ice cream and soft drinks are served on the lawn. And not only has the Club House been remodeled, to make it more comfortable for the members and their friends, but the Club has also been able to purchase new furniture.
     In concluding his review of the work of the Club during the past year, the President said: "I wish to thank the Board of Directors for the splendid cooperation they have given me in the past year. Our monthly meetings have been very conscientiously attended, with an average of 14 members present out of 15. This is a splendid record, and I wish to express my appreciation of the cooperation they have given me in carrying on the Civic and Social Club uses for the society."

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     Shortly after the annual meeting of the Club, a supper and social entertainment at the Club House on Saturday evening, May 29, proved to be a notable event that deserves special mention. To quote the Bryn Athyn Post, the largest gathering ever to meet on the Club property was entertained on this occasion. It was well entertained. Nearly three hundred persons came, and each added somewhat to the holiday atmosphere of the group. The cumulative effect was a revelation. Most of Bryn Athyn hadn't fully realized how much fun the rest of Bryn Athyn can be. Now that the dust of the celebration has had the chance to settle a bit, the Committee takes time to say that warm thanks are extended to the many who took part in the work of this affair, and to the others who, by their presence, contributed so much."
     Mr. and Mrs. Harold Sellner were particularly zealous in promoting this highly successful undertaking.
     W. B. C.

     SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION.

     Obituary.

     Rev. Philip J. Stole.

     Early on Monday morning, March 8, 1943, the Rev. Philip Johannes Stole, Pastor of the Turner's Avenue Society of the General Church Mission, passed into the spiritual world at the age of sixty-one years.
     This passing was indeed a sudden shock to all who knew him. He had not been suffering from any known illness, and had no occasion to be under medical treatment. Hence the case was handled by the Civil Authorities, who eventually reported that death was due to pneumonia.
     And so a well-known figure in our Mission has passed from us to a world of higher use. The interment took place at Cato Manor Cemetery on Wednesday morning the 10th of March. A short service, conducted by the Superintendent and the Rev. M. B. Mcanyana, was held at the School Room of 19 Turner's Avenue, attended by about sixty people. The service was concluded at the graveside, when several speakers-as is customary with the Bantu people-testified to the work and character of their departed brother.
     The Rev. Philip Stole came to a knowledge of the New Church Doctrines in 1922, through meeting the Rev. M. B. Mcanyana. Afterward he received instruction therein from the Revs. Hugo Lj. Odhner, Theodore Pitcairn and Elmo C. Acton. For a number of years he was Leader at Turner's Avenue and conducted the "Night School," which he continued to do until his death. He was ordained into the First Degree of the Priesthood by the late Bishop N. D. Pendleton at the First General Assembly of the Mission, held at Alpha, Ladybrand, O. F. S., on September 29, 1929. The Second Degree was conferred by Bishop de Charms at Mayville on August 7, 1938.
     Rev. Stole was a quiet and unassuming student, steady in debate, and he possessed a thorough conviction of the distinctive truth given in the Doctrines of the New Church. All his coworkers esteemed his balanced opinion. As one of them-a Zulu-has written: "None that knew him can fail to have been impressed by his sphere of good. We shall miss him, but in the Lord's sight the time had come for the elevation of his use, and for his entering into its fulness."
     F. W. ELPHICK.

     SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION.

     The Forty-sixth Annual Meeting of the Swedenborg Scientific Association was held in Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Wednesday, May 26, 1943, at 8.00 p.m., Dr. Leonard I. Tafel presiding. The meeting was well attended, 89 members and friends being present.
     The officers elected for the ensuing year were as follows: President: Dr. Leonard I. Tafel. Board of Directors: Messrs. Alfred Acton, Edward F. Allen, Gideon Boericke, C. F. Doering, Harold F. Pitcairn, W. D. Pendleton, E. E. Iungerich, Wilfred Howard, and Miss Beryl Briscoe.

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At a subsequent meeting of the Board, Miss Briscoe was elected Treasurer of the Association to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Edward F. Allen. The other officers of the Association were reelected.
     The Treasurer's report for the year showed a balance on hand of 5426.34. The number of books sold during the year was 63,-an increase over last year. Twenty-three new members were received, and the total membership is 219.
     The report of the Board of Directors noted the resignation of Mr. Ezra Hyde Alden, together with an expression of appreciation for his valuable services as a member of the Board since 1935, and of our keen regret that ill health made this step necessary.
     In the report of the Literary Editor, Dr. Acton mentioned the formation of an unofficial Chapter of the Association in Pittsburgh under the leadership of the Rev. Willard D. Pendleton. The meeting adopted a Resolution expressing pleasure in the formation of this Chapter.
     The Secretary read a letter from the Rev. Norbert H. Rogers stating that the Carmel Church Society, Kitchener, Canada, had organized a Kitchener Philosophy Club for the purpose of reading the Scientific and Philosophical Works, and that they desired to be connected as a Chapter group with the Swedenborg Scientific Association. The meeting expressed its appreciation of this desire, and adopted the following Resolution: "The Swedenborg Scientific Association, in its annual meeting, welcomes heartily the Kitchener Philosophical Club as an affiliated chapter to itself."
     The Rev. Theodore Pitcairn, whose name had been placed in nomination as a member of the Board by the nominating committee, read a somewhat lengthy statement in which he expressed the fear that conflicting and divergent viewpoints in regard to the principles of Swedenborg's Philosophical Works and his particular interpretation of the value and meaning of these Works, would render useless his membership on the Board. He had always appreciated the work of translating that the Association is doing, but questioned the value of articles published in THE NEW PHILOSOPHY.
     Dr. Acton agreed with Mr. Pitcairn as to difference of viewpoint, but stated that this should not prevent Mr. Pitcairn from becoming a useful member of the Board.
     The Annual Address was delivered by Dr. William Whitehead on the subject of "Swedenborg's Contribution to Political Philosophy."
     The speaker discussed, in part. Swedenborg's philosophical views on polities and morals under the following four heads: 1) His concept of natural liberty in the private and public order 2) His revelation of a new Christian standard of political morality; 31 His doctrine of a working relation between the governments of Church and State; 4) His description of the uses of the modern nation-states and the psychology of their peoples.
     Mr. Raymond Cranch expressed his appreciation of the Address, and said that he looked forward to a study of it when published. Unfortunately the lateness of the hour prevented any discussion of the Address.
     WILFRED HOWARD.
          Secretary.

     GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS.

     At our Sunday service on April 11, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Croll were baptized-a particularly happy event, as this couple are newcomers in The Park. Herbert is associated with the Swain Nelson Manufacturing Company, and those of us who know him intimately are appreciative of his sound reasoning in matters of religion.
     During April, from the 18th to the 25th. Palm Sunday. Good Friday and Easter Sunday were observed in much the usual manner-if possible with more effectiveness than usual, reflected as they were again this year against the background of a world engrossed in war.

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     The Glenview Chapter of the Sons of the Academy held its regular monthly meeting on Sunday evening, April 18, with President Donald Gladish in the chair. Don was wearing the uniform of a Lieutenant of the Navy Medical Corps, and has since left for duty on the West Coast. At this meeting we elected officers for the coming year: Russell Stevens, President; Harold P. McQueen, Secretary; and Winfred Farrington, Treasurer.

     An Anniversary.-At our Friday supper meeting on May 7th the laymen of our society broke all precedents by deliberately "taking over" for the better part of an hour. It was the occasion of the 25th anniversary of our pastor's leadership of the Immanuel Church Society. Mr. David Gladish, as master of ceremonies, read numerous letters of congratulation from societies and individuals of the church. Speeches, toasts and songs followed in quick succession, and the celebration ended with the presentation to Mr. and Mrs. Smith of a handsome photograph album containing many pictures of people and homes in The Park, taken during the past quarter of a century. This was followed by the presenting of a bouquet of roses to Mrs. Smith-and a travel certificate, should our pastor and his wife like to take a trip. Afterwards, Mr. Smith presided at the Annual Meeting of our society.
     The Glenview Sons held their annual Installation Banquet on Friday. May 21, and we were mighty fortunate in having three distinguished guests, namely, our President, Mr. Carl Asplundh, from Bryn Athyn, and the Rev. Willard Pendleton and Mr. Daric Acton from Pittsburgh. Willard gave a most timely talk on the subject of "Use," and subjected us to a full dose of good Academy doctrine. Of course, Carl and Daric also addressed us, and the 125 people present enjoyed one of the finest social events we have ever had. The following evening, the Sons held their regular monthly meeting, where our guests helped tremendously in handing out a rare entertainment of stuff and nonsense.
     On Sunday, May 23, the Rev. Willard Pendleton delivered the sermon at our regular service.
     HAROLD P. MCQUEEN.


     ACADEMY SCHOOLS.

     Joint Meeting.-A plea for instruction in Swedenborg's Philosophy more generally among the students attending the Academy Schools was made by the Rev. Dr. Hugo Lj. Odhner in his address to the Joint Meeting of the Corporations and Faculty on June 5. An account of this meeting is to be given in THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, together with the Annual Reports, a summary of which was presented at the meeting by the Secretary, Mr. Eldric S. Klein.
     Elementary School.-Certificates of Graduation were received by 18 pupils at the closing exercises of the Bryn Athyn Elementary School on June 15. Mr. Dominique Berninger addressed the school in affectionate terms, as he described the kind of life that should be lived in the world if it is to lead to the eternal happiness of heaven.
     Commencement.-In the presence of an audience that filled every seat in the Assembly Hall, and which included many visitors from other centers of the General Church, the largest Seminary graduating class in the history of the Academy-25 girls-received diplomas from Bishop de Charms. And a large class of 15 graduated from the Boys Academy, and will soon enter military service, which fact led the valedictorian to remark that "for the first time a class is leaving the school with its immediate future already decided." Three young men received College diplomas.
     Commander Richard de Charms, in a practical and timely address, pictured for the graduating students the kind of world they are entering, and spoke of three opportunities that lie before them: 1) for the exercise of patriotism in these war times; 2) for the cultivation of the love of use in the works of the peace that is to follow; and 3) for the cherishing of a desire for the development of the Church.

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     ACADEMY AWARDS.

     Degrees.

     BACHELOR OF ARTS: Kenneth Oliver Stroh.

     Diplomas.

     JUNIOR COLLEGE:     Richard Barrie Roschman, Leon Frederick Stroh.
     BOYS ACADEMY:     Owen Rayner Birchman, Conrad Bostock, Louis Duncan Carswell, William Norris Fuller, Murray Emanuel Hill, Walter Lee Horigan, Jr., Hyland Righter Johns, Jr., Ralph Doering Junge, John Graham Lindsay, John Durban Odhner, Stephen Pitcairn, John Wells Rose, Hilary Quentin Simons, Lorentz Ray Soneson, Sigfried Tafel Synnestvedt.
     Certificates of Graduation: Geoffrey Cooper, Philip Owen Heinrichs, Ivan Keith Smith.
     GIRLS SEMINARY: Claire Bellinger, Jocelyn Bostock, Gloria Nancy Caldwell, Beatrice Winifred Childs, Aubrey Pendleton Cole, Frances Marion Cook, Rachel Josephine David, Diantha Davis, Dorothy Jane Day, Joan Desirie de Charms, Dorothy Fine, Frances Jean Headsten, Patricia Ann Horigan, Aven Hyatt, Joan Borland Kendig, Barbara Louise Lee, Joyce Lenore McQueen, Glenn Pendleton, Judith Pitcairn, Phyllis Anne Schoenberger, Nancy Marjorie Stein, Ann Synnestvedt, Miriam Ruth Synnestvedt, Catherine Van Zyverden, Charlotte Ray Weber.

     Honors.

     Deka Gold Medal: Rachel David.
     Alpha Kappa Mu Merit Bar: Joyce McQueen.
     Theta Alpha Honor Tuition Scholarahip: Diantha Davis.
     Sons of the Academy Gold Medal: John Wells Rose.
     Sons of the Academy Silver Medal: John Durban Odhner.
     Oratorical Prize Silver Cup: John Tafel Synnestvedt.


     OBITUARY.

     Miss Janet Richey.

     On the 7th of June, 1943, Janet Curry Richey, a lifelong member of the Pittsburgh Society, passed into the spiritual world at the age of seventy-eight years. At the time of her death she was under medical observation at the Shady Side Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa.
     Miss Richey will be remembered by those who knew her as a devoted member of the General Church. For the past twenty years her Winter home in St. Petersburg. Florida, was the center of worship for that small group of vacationists who were drawn from various societies of the Church. Funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Willard D. Pendleton at Miss Richey's old homestead in Blairsville, Pa.
     W. D. P.


     WESTERN CANADA.

     During the Summer the Rev. Elmo C. Acton will undertake a tour of pastoral visits among the members of the General Church residing in the Canadian Northwest, as he did last year. He left Bryn Athyn on June 17, and expects to return in the early part of September.


     A BOUND VOLUME.

     "The Life of the Lord."

     The editors of THE PARENT-TEACHER JOURNAL have prepared bound volumes of the mimeographed text of "The Life of the Lord," by Bishop George de Charms, which has been appearing serially in that periodical.
     Copies are on sale in the Academy Book Room at $1.10 per volume, or $1.00 to Ministers and Members of the Faculty. Mailing, 15 cents extra.

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ACADEMY AND THE GENERAL CHURCH 1943

ACADEMY AND THE GENERAL CHURCH       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1943




     Announcements





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No. 8

NEW CHURCH LIFE

VOL. LXIII
AUGUST, 1943
     At the last Annual Meeting of the Corporation of the Academy, the following Resolution was unanimously adopted:

     "WHEREAS it is desirable, without in any way binding the future, to make clear and unequivocal our view of the relation that at present exists between the Academy of the New Church and the ecclesiastical body known as the General Church of the New Jerusalem, therefore
     "BE IT RESOLVED that the Academy, as an independent Corporation, freely acknowledges the spiritual faith and the ecclesiastical principles set forth by the said General Church of the New Jerusalem in its 'Statement of Order and Organization' published at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 1935, as being in accord and agreement with the teaching of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, for the promulgation of which the Academy was founded.
     "In view of this acknowledgment, the Academy proclaims as its primary objective to labor for the establishment of that faith, and the promotion of those principles, through the medium of its educational uses. That this end may be accomplished, it has, since the inception of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, looked to the priesthood of that body for the supervision of its ecclesiastical affairs, and for the ordination of its graduates in Theology.
     "While, therefore, the Academy of the New Church and the General Church of the New Jerusalem are, and in the future should remain, legally and financially distinct, they are united by the spiritual bond of a common faith, and by mutual need and use."

     It was further resolved that this Resolution should he published, in order that the entire Church may be accurately informed.

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     To many unfamiliar with the history of our body, the reason for such a Resolution may not be clear. It should be known that the Academy received its Charter from the State of Pennsylvania in 1877, twenty years before the General Church, as we now know it was organized. By this Charter the Academy was authorized to perform ecclesiastical as well as educational uses, as is evident from Article II, which reads as follows:

"The Academy of the New Church shall be for the purpose of propagating the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and establishing the New Church signified in the Apocalypse by the New Jerusalem, promoting education in all its forms, educating young men for the ministry, publishing books, pamphlets, and other printed matter, and establishing a Library."

     The members of the Academy, however, including its priests, were also members of the "General Church of Pennsylvania," an integral part of the "General Convention of the New Church in America." Thus the priests of the Academy held office within the jurisdiction of the General Convention, and performed their ministerial duties in accordance with the established order of that body. In the formation of the Academy there was neither the intention nor the desire to supplant the existing organization of the Church. But there arose increasing opposition in the General Convention to the principles of doctrine which the Academy was seeking to establish. Doctrinal differences of a fundamental nature, especially in regard to the status of the Writings and their Divine Authority, led to difficulties that seriously interfered with the free action of the priests of the Academy in the performance of their uses. The result was a growing tension which culminated in 1890 in the withdrawal of the General Church of Pennsylvania from its association with the General Convention. A full account of the reasons which combined to bring about this separation may be found in NEW CHURCH LIFE for January, 1891, pages 6-30.
     The members of the General Church of Pennsylvania then reorganized to form the "General Church of the Advent of the Lord." This new body was designed to function as an "external Church" engaged in evangelization and pastoral work; while the Academy continued as an "internal Church" devoted to education and the interior development of doctrine.

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According to this arrangement, all the schools, including those situated in various societies of the Church, were under the management of the Academy. a fact which resulted in overlapping jurisdiction between the Pastor of a society and the Headmaster of its school. Out of this situation there arose problems of government so serious that in 1897 a reorganization became imperative. At that time the General Church of the Advent of the Lord was dissolved, and under the leadership of Bishop W. F. Pendleton the "General Church of the New Jerusalem" was established. This was not now an "external Church," but a general body organized to perform all ecclesiastical uses, both internal and external. The Academy, under its Charter, continued to function as an educational institution; but it now recognized its dependence upon the newly formed General Church for the ordination of its graduates in Theology, and it voluntarily placed all religious instruction under the supervision of the Bishop of the General Church. In turn, the work of secondary and higher education was entrusted to the Academy by the General Church, while the latter body undertook to establish and maintain Elementary Schools, with the Pastor of each society acting as Headmaster.
     Since that time the two bodies, while remaining legally and financially distinct, have worked together in complete harmony. That they should do so is vitally important, because their uses are so intimately intertwined. Both are striving for the same end,-namely, the true growth of the New Church among men and each is making its own indispensable contribution to the attainment of that end. The General Church was founded upon the same doctrinal principles for which the Academy has always stood. The Academy, however, specializes in the application of these principles to the work of higher education, and of publication. It undertakes to train ministers and teachers, not only to carry on its own work, but also to meet the needs of the societies and schools of the General Church. And furthermore, it devotes itself to preparing the youth of the Church for a life of regeneration in adult age, even while it seeks to equip them with knowledge and training necessary to meet the practical requirements of life in our modern world. It is apparent at once that, for the successful achievement of these objectives, the intimate cooperation of the Academy and the General Church is essential.

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     The value of the Resolution now adopted is that it tends to strengthen the spiritual bond of unity between the two bodies. This it does chiefly through its unequivocal recognition of the principle that with us education itself is by its very nature an ecclesiastical use, since its highest purpose is to establish with children and young people a firm foundation for spiritual life. For this reason it is essential that educational policy should be under the supervision of the Church.
     While this principle has frequently been expressed by individuals both in the Academy and in the General Church, and while its truth is generally recognized among us, yet it has never before been officially formulated. Its acknowledgment has indeed been tacitly implied in the fact that since 1902 the Bishop of the General Church has annually been elected by the Academy Corporation as its President. This at present meets every practical need.
     There seem to be sound reasons why an educational institution such as the Academy requires a functional and financial organization quite different from that of a Church. Distinctions dictated by use are important and should be retained. But they should not obscure the real unity of purpose, nor the need for cooperative effort that must exist between such an institution and the Church it is intended to serve. The important thing is to recognize the principle involved in the cooperation of educational and ecclesiastical bodies within the Church, so that as institutions increase in number, and their uses become more complex, a proper relationship shall be maintained between them. The Resolution of the Academy, together with the action taken by the General Church in entrusting to the Academy the use of higher education, establishes this principle on the basis of mutual agreement.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS

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LIFE AFTER DEATH 1943

LIFE AFTER DEATH       Rev. B. ISHMAEL NZIMANDE       1943

     Minister in the South African Mission.

     "And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence." (Luke 16: 26.)
     Many people do not believe that there is a life after death. Even with those who are within the church the clouds of falsities at times try to obscure that belief, and this obscurity brings consequent denial. The sensuous part of the mind of man brings this obscurity. The sensuous part of man's mind views death as nothing but the extinction of man's life; for in no other way can death seem if it be viewed sensuously.
     But the spiritual mind of man views things otherwise, because it views them from causes, and not merely from effects, as the natural mind does in which is the sensuous. Thus, if the spiritual mind be opened, death is not seen as the extinction of man's life, but as the continuation of it. That there is a life after death, is quite plain from the following passages:
     The Lord Himself rose from the dead in His Divine Human: "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself!" (Luke 24: 39.)
     The Lord's words on the cross to one of the malefactors: "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke 23: 43.)
     The rich man died and went to hell, and poor Lazarus died and went to Abraham's bosom (heaven). The rich man in hell talked to Abraham who was in heaven, between whom was the great gulf fixed. (Luke 16: 22-26.)
     Moses at the bush called the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; for "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto Him." (Luke 20: 37, 38.)

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     "Jesus said, I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." (John 11: 25, 26.)
     From all these passages it is quite clear that man lives after death; the Lord Himself taught it very plainly. This also agrees with reason, because the mind of man, which is his spirit, is made up of spiritual substances, and being such, can never die; for what is made up of spiritual substances is above the reach of death.
     It is also evident that those who go to heaven remain there to eternity, and likewise those who go to hell. The reason is, that there is a great gulf fixed between." The rich man wished Lazarus to come down and help him from the pains he was tolerating, but the great gulf made it impossible.
     Concerning our text we read in the Heavenly Doctrine:
     "'The great gulf' denotes the opposition and contrariety of the states of life." (A. C. 9346.)
     `Hence it is evident that all who come into hell remain there to eternity; and they who come into heaven remain there to eternity." (H. D. 230.)
     "Between heaven and hell there is a great interspace, which to those who are there appears like a complete orb. Into this interspace evil exhales from hell in all abundance; while from heaven, on the other hand, good flows into it, also in all abundance. It was of this interspace that Abraham spoke to the rich man in hell." (Luke 16: 26; T. C. R. 475.)
     "By the 'rich man' is meant the Jewish nation, who are called rich because they were in possession of the Word, in which are spiritual riches. By the 'purple and fine linen,' with which the rich man was clothed, are signified the good and truth of the Word, by 'purple' its good, and by 'fine linen' its truth. By 'faring sumptuously every day' is signified the delight which the Jewish people took in possessing the Word and hearing it often read in their temples and synagogues. By `the poor Lazarus' are meant the gentiles, because they were not in possession of the Word; and by 'lying at the rich man's gate' is meant that the gentiles were despised and rejected by the Jews. By his being 'full of sores' is signified that the gentiles, by reason of their ignorance of truth, were under the influence of many falses." (T. C. R. 215.)

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     The great gulf, which is the world of spirits, is midway between heaven and hell, and it is where all spirits, both good and evil, first come into immediately after death, before they either go to heaven or are cast into hell. This great gulf makes it clear that hell is as far as possible from heaven, not in respect to distance, because in the other life there is no distance, but in respect to state. Wherefore they who are in the state of hell cannot be transferred into the state of heaven, for evils in the former reject the goods in the latter.
     Therefore, those are much mistaken who suppose that to be in hell is merely of a temporary nature, and that, after some period of punishment, one goes to heaven. The spirit of man is nothing but his love. His love, therefore, remains unchanged to eternity in the other life. If it were to be changed, man would instantly perish. It is therefore better for man in the other life to remain in his ruling love to eternity. Those who, being in evil loves, try to go to heaven in the other life, writhe like serpents brought near the fire until they cast themselves headlong into hell, where their breath returns again because their lives are of that life.
     "Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed." Between good and evil there is a great gulf fixed. No state of evil can by continuity be brought to that of good. A total rejection of the former is required before the latter is attained. We must prepare ourselves in this world to be on Abraham's side of the gulf after death. The kinds of life we live in this world bring us after death on either side of the gulf-and there we remain to eternity.
     The Lord wishes us all after death to go to Abraham's side of the gulf. The Word He has given us is for nothing but this end. There have been four dispensations, beginning and ending. At the end of each one the Lord has provided some revelations, to the end that we may come to Abraham's side of the gulf. He has now given us a final or crowning revelation-the Writings of the New Church. We can realize how great the Lord loves us. He tries in many ways to divert our lives to the end that we may come to Abraham's side of the gulf after death.
     But the Lord cannot succeed to bring us into heaven unless we cooperate with Him, that is, do our part. In everyday life we must try to have His truths lead our thoughts, affections and acts.

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His law must be written on our hearts. Then shall we go to Abraham's side of the gulf after death. The Lord's Word with us must not be a mere possession, as it was with the Jewish nation, but it must be something really entering our hearts and change our states of life. While we are here, our states of life can be so changed, but not in the other life. For it is said, "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near." (Isaiah 55: 6.) To no man will the Lord shut His ears, if he calls upon Him in truth.
     From all this it is quite obvious that there is a great gulf between good and evil, or, what is the same, between heaven and hell; and that those who go to heaven remain there to eternity, and likewise those who go to hell. It is also quite obvious that there is a life after death. "And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence." Amen.

LESSONS:     Psalm 103. Luke 16: 19-31. T. C. R. 215.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy, pages 455, 464, 500.
PRAYERS:     Nos. 41, 52.
MECHANICIANS. POLHEM 1943

MECHANICIANS. POLHEM              1943

     In the life of the body, this mechanician continually meditated upon the construction of mobile machines, and succeeded therein above others. Because he was of such a genius, he had confirmed himself in the belief that there is no God, that everything is from nature, and that what is living in man and beast is something mechanical. . . . He did not want to know what the life after death is, what the internal man, what heaven and hell, what the Divine beyond dead nature, or what Providence beyond the blind fate of nature. He had confirmed himself against these. . . . He was seen in a dark room sitting upon the dead bones in a coffin, because he was of such a character that he did not acknowledge what is alive, but what is dead. (S. D. 4722.)
     Polhem and Wolff, because they had not lived the life of religion, cannot but think in what is material. In the other life they speak the spiritual language mixed with their vernacular tongue, so that the nation from which they are can be readily distinguished, which is not the case with those who think spiritually. (S. D. 6049; see 6071.)

345



SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION 1943

SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION       W. H. JUNGE       1943

DEAR EDITOR:

     The report by our Bishop as to the South African Mission has just reached me. It is a kindly document, but discloses that there has not been an adequate response to the urgent appeals which have been made.
     I am not in the least surprised. I know from my own experience that I would have failed the project utterly, except that I made a special arrangement to compel myself to give.
     I first advised the Treasurer that I could not make a pledge; and then I agreed with myself to give the Mission a few moments thought every Sunday, and then at once lay aside some small amount from my pocket money.
     I did this. Twice I gave one cent, and twice $1.00, but every week something. I believe I have now remitted three times, and I have never put aside more than I could spare as well as not.
     To any possible reader let me say: Benefactions have no particular bearing upon salvation, but I think a kindly thought once a week for the South African Mission will do you no hurt and might help the Mission.
     W. H. JUNGE.

Glenview, Illinois,
     May 31, 1943.

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HUMAN ESSENCE 1943

HUMAN ESSENCE        GEORGE DE CHARMS       1943

     (An Address to the Council of the Clergy June 22, 1943.)

     What was it that the Lord put on by birth into the world and retained, uniting it with the Divine in Himself? We are all familiar with the teaching of the Writings that the "Mary human" was by the process of glorification entirely put off, and thus that nothing whatever from the mother was retained by the risen Lord. Yet those who came to the sepulchre on Easter morning found it empty. And later, when the Lord appeared to His Disciples in His resurrection body, He was recognized and unmistakably identified as the One whom they had known on earth. "They were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Luke 24: 37-39.) The Letter of the Word, therefore, testifies to the truth that the Lord, after He had risen, retained something more ultimate than that with which man, at death, enters the spiritual world. This must have been put on by birth, and thus through the medium of Mary, His mother. Yet it is said of the Divine Human, that it "was not only conceived, but also born of Jehovah" (A. 2628), since "the Lord gradually and continually, even to the last of His life, when He was glorified, separated from Himself and put off that which was merely human, namely, that which He derived from the mother, until at length He was no longer her son, but the Son of God, not only as to conception, but also as to birth, and thus was one with the Father, and was Jehovah Himself." (A. 2649.)
     These apparent contradictions are reconciled if we postulate that the Lord put on something by birth, not from Mary, but through or by means of her, this latter being retained, while everything that was from Mary was put off.

347



This must have been the case. For otherwise the Lord would merely have descended, as it were for a brief moment, only to return where He was before, without accomplishing any permanent result by His Advent. The Writings distinctly state, however, that when the Lord rose, "He returned into the Divine in which He was from eternity, together with and in the glorified Human." (Can. Red. viii.) It is clear, therefore, that something was retained, and made Divine. That this "something" was put on by birth, is evident from number 92 of the True Christian Religion, where we read: "In regard to the Lord, the Divine that He had was from Jehovah the Father, and the human from the mother. These two united are the Son of God." The appearance here is that what was united to the Divine was the human "from the mother." But since this was entirely put off, it must have been a human assumed "through" the mother that was united to the Divine. Elsewhere it is called the "Human Essence," and our present purpose is to inquire as to just what that term really implies.
     First we must see clearly what is meant by "Essence." A distinction must be made between "Esse" and "Essence," although it is a distinction without a difference. The relation between the two is said to be "like that between the prior and the posterior, the prior being more universal than the posterior." (T. 21.) And in number 36 of the same work we read: "A distinction has been made between the Esse of God and the Essence of God, because there is a distinction between the Infinity of God and the Love of God, Infinity being applicable to the Esse of God, and Love to the Essence of God, since the Esse of God, as has just been said, is more universal than His Essence, just as the Infinity of God is more universal than His Love. For this reason, the word 'Infinite' is an adjective that is applicable to the essentials and attributes of God, which are all called 'Infinite.' Thus we say of the Divine Love that it is infinite, of the Divine Wisdom that it is infinite, also of the Divine Power; not because of any pre-existence of the Esse of God, but because it enters into the Essence as adjoined to it, cohering with it, determining and forming it, and also exalting it. . . . God is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself, and these two constitute His Essence." (T. 36.)

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     As we understand this teaching, it means that the Esse of God is the Infinite as it is in Itself, before creation, and above the universe; while the Essence of God is the Infinite as it exists, or stands forth, "in and with the finite." The Essence is said to be "posterior" because it could not exist before the universe was created. And it is said to be less universal because it can exist only within the bounds of creation. Yet, although it is in and with the finite, this "Essence' is still infinite, manifesting itself as infinite love, wisdom and power.
     Since there are three distinct or discrete degrees of creation, and the Divine Essence is the infinite in and with each of them, therefore there are apparently three successive Essences, called, respectively, the Divine Celestial, the Divine Spiritual, and the Divine Natural. All of these must have come into being concurrently with creation. Yet before His Advent the Lord is said to have possessed the two prior degrees "in actuality," and the third degree only "in potency." (W. 233.) Why is this?
     In number 3023 of the Arcana we are told that "the Lord is called 'Jehovah the God of heaven' from His Divine that is in the heavens; and He is called the 'God of the earth' from His Divine that is on earth." Evidently, by "Jehovah the God of heaven" is here meant the Divine of the Lord that makes heaven. This is the heat and light of the spiritual sun, moderated by the spiritual atmospheres, and thus accommodated to angelic reception. It is the infinite love of God made perceptible, and the infinite wisdom of God made visible, to the angels. In the same number we are told that "The Divine in the heavens is also that which is with man in his internals . . . for the internals of man are his heaven." Thus, by "Jehovah the God of heaven" is meant the Lord as He is seen and worshipped by the angels, and by men on earth whose spiritual minds are opened and formed. From most ancient times, the Divine Love and Wisdom of the Lord were actually accommodated to reception by the angels, and by men in their internal mind; and both in heaven and on earth they were actually received. This is why the Lord is said to have possessed these two prior degrees "in actuality."
     By the "God of the earth," however, is meant, not only the Divine of the Lord operating through the heat and light of the natural sun, modified by the natural atmospheres, creating and preserving all things in the material universe, but especially the Divine Love and Wisdom accommodated to reception by man in the natural degree of his mind. For again we read that 'The Divine on earth is that which is with man in his externals; . . . for his externals are his earth." (Ibid.)

349



While the Lord was actually omnipresent in the material universe, and His presence there was the Divine Natural, yet, before He was born into the world, He was not seen by men on earth except in types and correspondences. Nor could He be seen in any other way. For the Divine of the Lord had not yet been accommodated to man's natural mind. It was the Divine purpose to reveal the presence and operation of the Lord's Love and Wisdom, not only in the spiritual world, but also in the world of nature, and thus to bring the Lord actually and visibly present, even to the natural mind of man.
     But this purpose had not yet been accomplished. It was as yet only a potentiality. And for this reason it is said that the Lord possessed this third degree, this Divine Natural, only in potency, not because the Lord was not actually present in the natural, but because His presence there was not yet revealed, or made known to man. Nor could it be made known until the Lord by birth came into the world. This is clear again from the same number which teaches further that "'Jehovah the God of heaven,' being said of the Lord, denotes Jehovah Himself who is called the Father, from whom He was conceived, thus who was His Divine Essence; for the conception itself gave the veriest Essence from which He was. 'Jehovah the God of the earth' in this case means Jehovah who is called the Son, thus His Human Essence: this also came forth from the Divine Essence when the Lord made it also Divine." (Ibid.)
     We conclude, therefore, that when the Writings speak of the Lord before His Advent as possessing the two prior degrees in actuality, but the lowest degree only in potency, the reference is not to the macrocosm. For the Divine was of necessity omnipresent in the created universe from the beginning, on earth as well as in heaven, in nature as well as in the spiritual world. But the reference is to the microcosm,-that is, to the answering degrees of the human mind, and to the manifest presence of the Divine thereto.
     Now that whereby the Lord made Himself visible to man in the natural, where He was not seen, and could not be seen before, except through types and images, is what is called the "additamentum" or "something added," and this, in number 1461 of the Arcana, is identified with the "Human Essence."

350



It cannot be that anything was added to the Infinite, for this is an impossibility. Yet this "Human Essence" was actually put on by birth, and was "glorified" or made Divine, and thus united to the Divine from eternity. This is specifically stated, and the reason for it is given in number 1990 of the Arcana, as follows: "The infinite Esse, which is Jehovah, could not possibly be manifested to man except through the Human Essence, thus except through the Lord; and therefore it has been manifested to no one save the Lord alone. That He might also be present and be conjoined with man, after man had completely removed himself from the Divine, and had immersed himself in foul cupidities, and thereby in merely bodily and earthly things, He assumed in actuality the Human Essence Itself by birth, that so He might still adjoin the Infinite Divine to man now so far removed; otherwise men would have perished to eternity in the death of the damned."
     From these teachings we gather that the "Human Essence" was something actually put on by birth and retained. When thus put on, it was not Divine, but human; yet such that it was capable of becoming Divine, and indeed of complete unition with the Infinite Itself. It was the very essence of the human, that which makes man to be man, or the essential human quality. This essential is the fact that he is capable of receiving the Divine Love and Wisdom, and thus the Divine Life, so fully that he perceives no otherwise than as if it were his own. Concerning this we read: "Man's esse is nothing else than a recipient of the eternal which proceeds from the Lord; for men, spirits and angels are nothing but recipients or forms recipient of life from the Lord. The reception of life is that of which exist ere is predicated. Man believes that he is, and this of himself, when yet it is not true that he is of himself, but that, as before said, he exists. Esse is solely in the Lord, and is called Jehovah. From Esse, which is Jehovah, are all things which appear to be. But the Lord's Esse or Jehovah can never be communicated to anyone, but solely to the Lord's Human. This was made the Divine Esse, that is, Jehovah." (A. 3938.)

351




     Man is a man because he receives life from the Lord in such a way that he appears to live from himself. We take it that this appearance of self-life is the human essence. Is not this what the Lord put on by birth into the world, not from Mary, but through her? While He was on earth, the mind, formed within His finite body and brain according to the order of all human growth, appeared to have its own life. This appearance constituted a human proprium, distinct from the Divine Proprium. By "human proprium" we do not here mean the hereditary nature, the tendency to evil derived from Mary. We mean, rather, that by means of which the Lord fought against this hereditary tendency. We mean that from which He fought when, in states of humiliation, He appeared to be alone. Then He appeared to Himself as an ordinary man, and Jehovah appeared as One separate and apart from Him. In that state He fought against the hells and conquered them. Thus it is said "He did all things, both in general and in particular, from Himself; yea, His Human was left to itself, in order that He might fight of Himself against all the hells, and overcome them; and as He had life in Himself which was His own-as already said-He overcame them by His own power and by His own forces, as is also clearly stated in the Prophets." (A. 2025.)
     We take this to mean that, in states of humiliation, the appearance of self-life was with the Lord just as it is with all men. With man, however, it is a false appearance, because he has a finite soul, which is a mere vessel receptive of life. Because of this, man cannot become infinite, nor can he ever be united with the Divine. Only in the measure that the appearance of self-life is penetrated by the perception and acknowledgment that he has no life in himself, but that all life is perpetually inflowing into him from God, can he be regenerated, and thus brought into conjunction with the Lord. But in the case of the Lord while on earth, the appearance of self-life was the inmost truth, because His Soul was Infinite. Yet it was an appearance as if Life were inherent in what is finite, that is, as if the life of the mind were separate and distinct from the life of the soul. Indeed, in a sense this was true, because the life of the mind was bounded and limited by the finite vessel,-the body and the brain. It was the life of affections and thoughts similar to those of men and angels, which affections and thoughts cannot be predicated of God, because He is Infinite.

352



Because, however, this Infinite God was the very Soul of the Lord, the distinct life of the mind with Him was capable of being united to the Divine. The affections were capable of infinite extension, and the thoughts also, until they became indistinguishably One with the Infinite Mind of God.
     This unition, however, could only be effected by a gradual and ordered process. It could be brought about only through the medium of temptation combats, in which the Human was left to itself,-that is, in which the Lord appeared to be separate from Jehovah, and to fight from a human proprium. Thus we read in the Arcana, number 256: "The Lord Himself is called the 'seed of the woman' because He was pleased to be born, and indeed into such a church as had fallen into an infernal and diabolical proprium through the love of self and the world, in order that, by His Divine Power, He might unite the Divine Celestial Proprium with the human proprium in His Human Essence, so that in Him they might be one; and unless this union had been effected, the whole world must have utterly perished." Note here two propria, the "Divine Celestial Proprium," and "the human proprium in His Human Essence." This latter could not possibly be interpreted as meaning the evil proprium derived from the maternal heredity, for it was not put off, but was made one with the Divine Proprium.
     What was this "human proprium" with the Lord, and whence was it derived?
     In this Council we need do no more than recall to your minds the well-known teaching that, in the process of incarnation, the Lord, descending through the heavens, took on the Divine from eternity, or the Human Divine in heaven. (A. 5110, 5663.) We are aware of no statement to the effect that by birth He took on also the "Human Divine" with men. Yet it would appear that He must have done so. Reflecting upon this circumstance, we have come to see that there was as yet no "Human Divine" with men comparable to that which was with the angels. This was the very thing which was as yet only "in potency." It was the very thing that was to be brought into being by the Lord's Advent and Glorification.
     In the sense implied, the Divine was "with man" only in his internals, which are his "heaven,"-only in the celestial and the spiritual degrees of his mind. To the natural degree of man's mind the Lord was as yet invisible and unknown.

353



Yet, although invisible, the Lord was nonetheless immediately present with man in the natural, ordering there the affections, sensations, imaginative ideas, in such a way that the Divine could be seen in correspondences, types, and images. This Divine presence manifested itself as innocence or a willingness to be led. It manifested itself as a spontaneous longing for truth, secretly insinuated by remains. Without this Divine presence, the mind of an infant could never be opened to a spiritual understanding, or to a celestial perception of the Lord. Indeed, it was the loss of this innocence, and this thirst for spiritual truth, that had brought about the alienation of man from God, and had made necessary the act of Redemption. Because of their loss the Church was dead, and the way to eternal life was closed. Yet a remnant remained among the Gentiles, and among the simple, even in the Jewish Church. If it had not been so, there would have been nothing salvable to which the Lord might appeal, and upon which He might lay hold to lift man up from his fallen state.
     This invisible Divine with men in whom the spiritual and celestial degrees were not yet opened,-this innocence and thirst for truth,-the Lord must have taken on by birth into the world. They must have been present with Mary, His mother. She, who was in Providence raised up to perform the necessary use of giving material embodiment to the Divine Soul, must herself have embodied the remnant of simple love and faith that formed the only gateway of approach from God to man. This love and faith were not her own but were the Lord's with her. They are not to be confused with the maternal heredity which was wholly evil. Her innocence was represented and manifested in her willing acceptance of the Divine commission at the annunciation. And her thirst for spiritual truth was represented in her betrothal to Joseph, and was manifested in the fact that she believed the announcing angel, and silently "kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." (Luke 2: 19.)
     Here we visualize a "Divine with men," unknown and unrecognized, but nonetheless actually present, which the Lord could put on, not from Mary, but through her. It was a Divine from which, in states of humiliation when the human was left to itself, He could fight against the hells attacking by way of the maternal heredity. It was a Divine whereby there could be established a reciprocal relation between the Human and the Divine in the Lord, without which union would have been impossible.

354



Concerning this we read: "That the union was effected reciprocally, is an arcanum which has not yet been disclosed, and it is such an arcanum as can scarcely be explained to the apprehension. . . . As regards the union of the Lord's Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence, this infinitely transcends the reciprocal conjunction between man and the Lord; for the Lord's internal was Jehovah Himself, and therefore was Life Itself, whereas man's internal is not the Lord, and therefore is not life, but a recipient of life. Between the Lord and Jehovah there was union, but between man and the Lord there is not union, but conjunction. The Lord united Himself to Jehovah by His own power; whereas man by no means conjoins himself by his own power, but by the power of the Lord; so that the Lord conjoins man with Himself." (A. 2004.)
     In Mary, as in the simple everywhere, innocence, and a thirst for truth, though present, were confused by ignorance. The simple are willing to be led by the Lord, but they know not who He is. They long for truth, but they know not where to seek it. Their minds are misled by appearances and fallacies, and their infantile affections are bound up with traditional ideas and customs that may be far from heavenly. This ignorance, these appearances, these human traditions, the Lord also took upon Himself by His birth as an infant in Bethlehem. Only by successive degrees, and through continual combats of temptation, could they be removed. And as long as they were present, the Human Essence could not be united to the Divine Essence. Wherefore it is said in number 1477 of the Arcana "that celestial or Divine things were not so adjoined to the Lord that they made one essence until He endured temptations, and thus expelled the evil hereditary from the mother." And also, in number 1785, that "after the combats in childhood there was revelation to the Lord. 'The Word of Jehovah to Abram' is nothing else than the Lord's Word with Himself; but in childhood, and in the combats of temptations, when the Essences were not yet united as a one, it could not appear otherwise than as a revelation. What is internal, when it acts into what is external, in a state and at moments when this is far away, is presented in no other manner. This is the state which is called the state of the Lord's humiliation."

355




     We put forth, therefore, for your considered judgment, the suggestion that by the "Human Essence" is meant that invisible presence of the Divine with men which was put on by the Lord through Mary, even as He put on the Divine from Eternity with the angels in His descent through the heavens. In doing so, He took nothing from Mary, even as He took nothing from the angels. And having put it on, He made the Divine visible therein, by removing, through successive stages, the limitations and the impure appearances which theretofore had concealed it from view, that it might become visible, first in His own mind and then by Divine Revelation, through His teachings while on earth, and later, far more fully, by the teaching of the Writings, that it might be made visible to men.
     Direct confirmation from the Heavenly Doctrine seems to be lacking. Yet this idea, which seems to be implied in the series of passages quoted, gives us some conception of how the Lord could fight and overcome the hells as if from Himself, in states when the Father seemed to be far from Him. And we derive from it some vision of what is meant by the teaching that "Jehovah, who is the Lord as to the Divine Essence, descended and took upon Himself a Human, by conception Divine, and by birth from a virgin, such as is that of another man: but this He expelled, and by Divine means made Divine the Human that was born, from which proceeds all the holy. Thus the Divine Human became an Essence by Itself which fills the universal heaven, and which also makes it possible for those to be saved who could not be saved before. This then is the Lord, who as to the Divine Human, is alone Man, and from Whom man has it that he is man." And also this: "Man had removed himself so far from the Supreme Divine by the cupidities in which he had immersed himself, and by the falsities with which he had blinded himself, that there could not possibly be any influx of the Divine into the rational part of his mind except through the Human which the Lord united in Himself to the Divine. Through His Human communication has [now] been effected; for thereby the Supreme Divine has been able to come to man." (A. 3061, 2016, 2034.)

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ANNUAL REPORTS 1943

ANNUAL REPORTS       HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1943

     SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH.

     During the calendar-year of 1942, the net membership of the General Church of the New Jerusalem increased by thirty-six. Sixty-five new members were received, and twenty-six deaths and three resignations were noted. On January 1, 1943, the membership stood at 2319, of whom 1352 live in the United States and 967 abroad.
     Membership, Jan. 1, 1942                         2283
          U. S. A               1321
          Abroad               962
     New Members (Certificates nos. 3331-3395)     65
          U. S. A.               48
          Abroad               17
     Deaths reported in 1942               26
          U. S. A.               17
          Abroad               9
     Resignations in 1942 (all abroad)          3
          Losses                              29
          Net Increase                         36
     Membership on Jan. 1, 1943                         2319

     The Roll of the General Church has not been revised for a number of years. We have therefore compiled a list of members of uncertain status, whose whereabouts are not known to us. (See below.) Some of these have probably died. Some may have shifted their allegiance to other church-bodies, without giving us any notice. Others may have become isolated, and may desire to be retained on our Roll. Pastors and older members are urged to give us their aid in determining the status of these persons.

     GENERAL CHURCH MISSION IN SOUTH AFRICA.

     The Rev. Fred. W. Elphick. Superintendent, reports that the total membership of the Mission on January 1, 1943, stood at 472 baptized adults, 16 adherents, 120 young people, and 289 children. The day school at Greylingstad, Transvaal, continues to function under the Rev. Jonas Motsi and his wife, the attendance being 30 pupils. Eleven societies reported.

357






     NEW MEMBERS.

     January 1 to December 31, 1942.

     A. THE UNITED STATES.

     Washington, D. C.
Mr. Robert Edward Lee De Maine.

     Dover, Delaware.
Mrs. Edmund G. (Virginia Stone) Smith.

     Miami, Florida.
Mr. William Pendleton Cole.

     Brunswick, Georgia.
Mrs. Euphrosyne (Cain) Posey.

     Burlington, Iowa.
Mr. Edward Wayne Doering.

     Chicago, Illinois.
Mr. Otho Frederick Brickman.
Mrs. Otho F. (Eden Kitzelman) Brickman.
Mrs. Helen Riefstahl Eck.
Mr. William Francis Junge
Mr. Stuart Menzies Murdock, Jr.
Mrs. Stuart M. (Olive Elizabeth Kitzelman) Murdock, Jr.
Mr. Percival Elias Staddon.

     Glenview, Illinois.
Mr. Theodore William Brickman.
Mrs. Theodore W. (Amy Edith Kitzelman) Brickman.
Miss Natalie Henderson (now Mrs. Hubert O. Rydstrom).
Miss Phyllis Patricia Holm.
Miss Muriel Natalie McQueen.
Miss Gloria June Smith.
Miss Nancy Synnestvedt.

     Hazel Park, Michigan.
Mr. Willard Burton McCardell.

     Nutley, New Jersey.
Mr. Arne Gustav Larsson.

     Rutherford, New Jersey.
Mr. Walter Irwin Anderson.
Wyoming, Ohio.
Miss Gwynneth Merrell.

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Karl Richardson Alden, Jr.
Mr. Robert Alden.
Mr. Robert Morris Bostock.
Miss Elaine Carswell.
Lt. Jean Daly.
Mrs. Jean (Phyllis Cooper) Daly.
Mr. Kent Hyatt.
Miss Karin Desideria Nilson.
Miss Beatrice Hildegarde Odhner.
Miss Eleora Serene Odhner (now Mrs. George A. Field).
Mr. Jean Paul Richter, Jr.
Miss Sylvia Rose.
Mrs. John E. (Margaret Fine) Saranto.
Miss Beth Anne Synnestvedt.
Mr. Robert Emanuel Walter.

     Manoa, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Edward Albert Carroll.

     Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Alexander (Dorothy Martins Smith) Iungerich.

     Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Miss Doris Bellinger.
Mr. George Percy Brown, Jr.
Mr. Charles Carley Leeds.
Mr. Walter Smith Schoenberger.

     Rockledge, Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Albert R. (Mary Antoinette Arrington) Blickle.

     Columbia, South Carolina.
Mr. Patrick Henry Kennedy.

     Quantico, Virginia.
Mr. Stevan Iungerich.

     B. CANADA.

     Blair, Ontario.
Mr. John Evens.

     Toronto, Ontario.
Mr. Raymond Charles Orr.
Mr. Joseph William Pritchett.

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     Waterloo, Ontario.
Miss Lillian Dorothy Bond.

C. EUROPE.

     Chadwell Heath, Essex, England.
Mr. James Thomas Clennell.
Mrs. James T. (Ella Maud Sandwell) Clennell.
Mr. Reginald John Law.
Mrs. Reginald J. (Ella Muriel Clennell) Law.

     Colchester, England.
Mr. Donald Arthur Boozer.
Mr. John Arthur Everett Motum.

     London, England.
Mrs. Charles William (Ada Nicholson) Hall.
Miss Yolande Valerie Briscoe.
Mr. Maurice Leonard.
Mrs. Maurice (Cyrilla Ragnfrid Briscoe) Leonard.

     Stockholm, Sweden.
Mr. Jan Edvard Liden.
Mr. Bengt Thor Johan Molinder.

     D. AUSTRALIA.

     Penshurst, New South Wales.
Mr. Frederick Alfred Kirsten.


     DEATHS.

     Reported in 1942.

Austin, Mr. Bertrand Ash, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., Oct. 15, 1942.
Boyesen, Mr. Einar Fritjof, Stockholm, Sweden, August, 1942.
Crunch. Mr. Randolph Greenleaf, Clinton Corners, N. Y., Aug. 21, 1942.
Deppisch, Mrs. George J. (Isabella Schierholtz), Kitchener, Ont., Aug. 9, 1942.
Godfrey, Mr. Alfred, Portsmouth, England, Oct. 19, 1942.
Heath, Mr. George Arthur, Bryn Athyn, Pa., July 29, 1942.
Homiller, Mr. William Foster, Abington, Pa., Jan. 31, 1942.
Izzard, Miss Eliza Ann, Guelph, Ont., Oct. 28, 1942.
Kendig, Mr. Joseph Robert, Renovo, Pa., Nov. 4, 1942.
Lindsay, Mr. David Pitcairn, Miami Shores, Fla., Jan. 5, 1942.
Lindsay, Mr. George Edgar, Philadelphia, Pa., May 27, 1942.
Marshall, Miss Katherine Hogan, Pittsburgh, Pa., Jan. 25, 1942.
Moir, Mr. Alexander James, Ocean City, N. J., July 2, 1942.
Pitcairn, Mr. David A., Pittsburgh, Pa., Aug. 8, 1942.
Powell, Mr. Arthur Hallium, Bryn Athyn, Pa., Oct. 4, 1942.
Richardson, Mrs. Elizabeth G., Pittsburgh, Pa., Nov. 9, 1942.
Ridgway, Mr. Robert Melville, Durban, Natal, May 23, 1942.
Roschman, Mr. Frederick Julius, Regina, Sask., Oct. 10, 1942.
Shepherd, Mrs. Frederick G. (Emily Hannah Pryke), Enfield, Mddsx., England, Nov. 14, 1942.
Stone, Mr. Philip James Lungley, Upper Swan, West Australia. (Information incomplete.)
Tilson, Rt. Rev. Robert James, London, England, May 14, 1942.
Uptegraff, Mrs. Walter Denny (Annie G. Marshall), Niagara Falls, N. Y., March 15, 1942.
Van Zyverdsn, Mr. Charles, Bryn Athyn, Pa., Dec. 23, 1942.
Waelchli, Rev. Fred Edwin, Abington, Pa., Aug. 22, 1942.

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Walter, Lt. Richard Alvin, of Bryn Athyn, Pa., Oct. 18, 1942, somewhere on Asiatic Front.
Wilde, Mr. Frank, Port Chester, N. Y., Nov. 7,1942.

     RESIGNATIONS.

Hamm, Mr. Benjamin, Garson, Manitoba.
Clark, Mr. Arthur Herbert, London, England (1938).
Clark, Mrs. Arthur H. (Bessie Edith Ball), London, England (1938).

     UNCERTAIN STATUS.

     Under this heading we list a number of names of members of the General Church whose addresses are unknown, and with whom no contact has been made for many years. Since the General Church desires to claim as members only those who wish to profit by its ministrations and partake in its uses, any information about the following names would be appreciated. If no such information can be obtained within a reasonable time, the names will be reclassified as dropped from the Roll.

Borer, Mrs. Clement W., Victoria, Australia.
Burr, Mrs. Marion, Boston, Mass.
Ferran, Mr. and Mrs. Michel, Sydney, N. S. W.
Guthrie, Mr. G. W., Sydney, N. S. W.
McKerrow, Miss Helen M., Croydon, England.
Orme, Miss Agnes J. A. (married name unknown).
Schott, Mrs. Catherine, Cincinnati, O.
Tyler, Mr. Harry L., Denver, Colo.
White, Miss Francis, London, England.

Anderson, Mrs. (Dorothea M. Saeger).
Anderson, Miss Ida H., Mason, Wis.
Anderson, Mr. and Mrs. John, Mason, Wis.
Balcean, Mr. Prosper, Belgium.
Baldinger, Mrs. Fred. D. (Bundsen), Denver, Colo.
Ball, Mr. and Mrs. Harold J., London, England.
Beal, Mrs. Lucien, Isleton, Calif.
Beaton, Mr. and Mrs. (Annie) William.
Beckman, Mrs. Samuel G. (Emma S.), Erie, Pa.
Behlert, Miss Dorothea J., Baltimore, Md.
Bellinger, Mr. and Mrs. Homer G., Toronto, Ont.
Bergman, Mrs. Lena M., Mason, Wis.
Bromberg, Mr. Erie, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Bromberg, Mr. Ivar, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Bromberg, Mr. Sten F., Gothenburg, Sweden.
Bromberg, Mr. Sven Olaf, Malmo, Sweden.

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Brown, Mr. Edgar T., Meadowvale, Ont.
Burns, Mrs. Robert S., Erie, Pa.
Bush, Mrs. Harvey (Margaret Burkhardt), Calif.
Catford, Mr. Darnlcy, Bermuda.
Claes, Mr. Raymond F. M., Malines, Belgium.
Creamer, Mr. Warren E., Williamsport, Pa.
Cresap, Mr. James M., California.
Cresap, Miss Elizabeth R. J. (since married).
Daniels, Mrs. Hattie C.
Dean, Miss Ida (married name unknown).
De Chazal, Mme. Pierre (Marcelle), Switzerland.
Delieutraz-Bourquin, Mme. Helene, Switzerland.
De San, Mr. Joseph, Belgium.
Do Prado, Snr. and Snra. Theomnesto, Brazil.
Dwight, Miss Grace.
Emile, Mr. Louis Leon E., Mauritius.
Emile, Mr. Samueal B. E., Mauritius.
Erickson, Mr. Emil Theodore, Stockholm, Sweden.
Ferdinand, Mrs. Adolph, Kitchener, Ont.
Flon, Mr. K. R., Paris, France.
Fraga, Mr. and Mrs. George G., Belvedere, Ill.
Gianoli, Mr. Louis, Geneva, Switzerland.
Gould, Mrs. Walter (Annette Northgraves), Toronto, Ont.
Haglind, Miss Anna, Omaha, Nebraska,
Hansen, Mr. N. Christopher, Denmark.
Herau, Miss Augusta, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Herbeck, Mr. and Mrs. Charles, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Hunt, Miss Marie L., Washington, D. C.
Kaufman, Mr. Benjamin, Jacksonville, Fla.
Keeling, Mrs. Thomas, Tara, Ont.
Kirk, Mr. James B.
Knudsen, Mr. Thomas, Llanelly, Wales.
Lechner, Mr. Frederick George, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Lechner (Mrs. Joseph H. Craig), Elsa, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Levitt, Mrs. Alice, Abington, Mass.
Lindsay, Mrs. Laura E.
Manoedi, Mr. Martain, New York, N. V.
Marvin, Mrs. William, Cleveland, Ohio.
McMullen, Mrs. Leo W. (Marian E. Tilton), Lowell, Mass.
Miller, Mrs. Harold E. (Blanche), Middleport, Ohio.
Miller, Mrs. Park (Blanche Wonderlin), Columbiana, Ohio.
Mokoena, Mr. George, Basutoland.
Montayne (or Montanye), Mr. Amos T., Glenview, Ill.
Munkel, Mr. Lewis C., Philadelphia, Pa.
Myers, Miss Ida.

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Naseby, Mrs. Rebecca, Sydney, Australia.
Nicolet, Mr. Jean A., Lausanne, Switzerland.
Northgraves, Mr. Walter W., Walkerville, Ont.
Nussbaum, Mrs. C. A., Vacoas, Mauritius.
Olsen, Mrs. Hall O., Lindsborg, Kansas.
Petterson, Mr. Anders Pontus, Rockford, Ill.
Pierson, Mrs. J. V. L. (Stankowitch), Philadelphia, Pa.
Rouillard, Miss Edmee, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Shattuck, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver P., Chicago, Ill.
Shriver, Mr. Thomas B., 3rd, Philadelphia, Pa.
Smith, Miss Edith G., Philadelphia, Pa.
Snow, Miss Zella Marie, Tampa, Fla.
Soderberg, Miss Dorith Beata, Philadelphia, Pa.
Stewart, Mr. and Mrs. Lebbeus A., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Stone, Mr. William T. B., London, England.
Strebelle, Mr. and Mrs. Nestor, France.
Strohbach, Dr. George, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Svensson, Rev. John Mauritz, Smogen, Sweden.
Trautman, Mr. and Mrs. August J., Baltimore(?), Md.
Weaver, Mrs. Elmer C. (Florence Grace Burns), Erie, Pa.
Wells, Mrs. A. S., Toronto, Ont.
Whittemore, Mr. Byron H., North Chelmsford, Mass.
Williams, Mr. Hollis V., Cartersville, Montana.
Wilson, Mr. Alan Armstrong.
Witham, Mrs. M. A., Michigan
     Respectfully submitted,
          HUGO LJ. ODHNER.
               Secretary,
COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY 1943

COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY       Various       1943

     January 1, 1942, to January 1, 1943.

     The Council of the Clergy, on January 1, 1943, includes two priests of the Episcopal degree, thirty-five of the Pastoral degree, and two of the Ministerial degree. This year, like last, there are no candidates for the ministry. In addition there are three pastors and eight ministers for the South African Mission. Two of the clergy have died-one in England and one in the United States. Thus the total at this time is fifty.
     During the year the Rev. Messrs. Harold Covert Cranch, Ormond de Charms Odhner and Martin Pryke have been ordained into the Second Degree of the Priesthood.
     For the list of the Clergy of the General Church and its missions, see NEW CHURCH LIFE for December, 1942, pp. 564-568.

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     The RITES AND SACRAMENTS of the Church, as gathered from reports received up to June 7, 1943, have been administered as follows:

                    General Church     South African Mission
     Baptisms               103               42
     Confessions of Faith     32               10
     Betrothals               19
     Marriages               27               8
     Funeral Services          30               9
     Holy Supper               148               16
     Ordinations               3
     Dedication of Church     1
     Dedication of Home     1


     REPORTS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE CLERGY.

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

Ordinations: On October 11, 1942, the Rev. Ormond de Charms Odhner was ordained into the second degree of the Priesthood; and on October 25, the Rev. Harold Covert Cranch was ordained, also into the second degree.

Pastoral Changes: Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen accepted appointment as Visiting Pastor for the Southern States, on February 3, 1942.
     The Rev. Homer Synnestvedt was compelled by advancing age and failing health to retire from active employment on December 31. His services as a Pastor and an Educator, covering a period of more than half a century, are deeply appreciated by the General Church and the Academy. The necessity for his retirement is a cause for profound regret, not only to his fellow workers, but to all throughout the Church who have benefited by his devoted ministrations. We look forward, however, to a continuance of his valued counsel as a member of the Bishop's Consistory, and to the proposed publication of his Memoirs, which should crystalize in permanent form, for the use of future generations, the best fruits of his lifelong experience. I speak for all in expressing to Mr. Synnestvedt our gratitude, affection, and esteem.

     Meetings and Assemblies: I presided at the Annual Council Meetings, held in Bryn Athyn, April 6-12; also at District Assemblies, held in Bryn Athyn, May 16-17, and in Glenview, October 23-25.
     I presided at Local Assemblies in Philadelphia, June 10: in Pittsburgh, October 9-11; in Chicago, October 26; and in Baltimore, November 20-22.
     I made Episcopal visits to Washington, D. C., September 26-27; Detroit, Michigan, October 23; Rockford, Illinois, October 27; Chicago (South Side Group), October 28; Wyoming, Ohio, October 29; Youngstown, Ohio, October
30; and Akron, Ohio, October 31-November 1.

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     Assistance rendered in connection with the Episcopal Office by Bishop Acton in presiding at other Assemblies, making further Episcopal visits, and giving friendly counsel on numerous occasions, is hereby acknowledged with keen appreciation.

     PASTOR OF THE BRYN ATHYN CHURCH.

     I preached in Bryn Athyn eight times during the year, and delivered ten addresses at the Children's Services, and eight Doctrinal Lectures, in addition to presiding at Society Meetings and performing the other duties pertaining to the Pastoral office.
     I wish to make grateful acknowledgment of the able and regular assistance in this work rendered by the Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner and the Rev. Elmo C. Acton, and of the valued help of other ministers in preaching and conducting classes from time to time.

     PRESIDENT OF THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     During the year I presided at the meetings of the Board of Directors, the Corporation, and the Faculties of the Academy. I taught two periods a week in the College from January to June, and conducted an extension course one evening a week during the Fall Term. For a detailed account of my official acts as President, see my reports to the Joint Meeting of the Corporation and Faculty.
     (Signed) GEORGE DE CHARMS.


Rt. Rev. Alfred Acton, Dean of the Theological School of the Academy, a member of the Bishop's Consistory, and Visiting Pastor of the Washington (D. C.) Society. During the past year, at the request of the Bishop, he presided over local Assemblies at Saint Paul, Minnesota, Kitchener and Toronto, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec. At Saint Paul he stayed two weeks, and at each of the other places a week; and he gave a number of addresses at each place.

     BRYN ATHYN, PENNSYLVANIA.

Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner: During the year 1942, he has been engaged as an Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church, and as a Professor of Theology in the Academy of the New Church. Besides assisting whenever called upon, he has preached 17 times. He conducted 5 general Doctrinal Classes and gave 3 other addresses. He has served as Secretary of the General Church.
     In the Academy schools he taught courses in Religion to College and High School classes.

Rev. Elmo C. Acton: As an Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church, he preached at 11 Morning Services, one Evening Service, and gave 30 addresses to Children's Services.

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He conducted Young People's Classes weekly, and two private classes fortnightly.
     In the Bryn Athyn Elementary School he taught Religion to grades 4, 6, 7 and 8; and Hebrew in grades 7 and 8.

Rev. Karl R. Alden: In addition to his regular duties as Principal of the Boys' Academy, he preached in the Bryn Athyn Church 4 times and addressed one Children's Service. He conducted a weekly doctrinal class designed for newcomers in the Church, this year using the work on Divine Providence. He is giving short talks on the Life of the Lord at the Stuart Hall evening worship. In the Fall he began a series of six talks on the fundamental doctrines of the Church, given to the students in Glenn Hall and Stuart Hall together. Sunday services were held in the Summer at Lake Wallenpaupack.

Rev. William B. Caldwell: He has been engaged as Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE and as a Professor of Theology in the Academy of the New Church. He has regularly assisted at the Quarterly Administrations of the Holy Supper at Bryn Athyn.

Rev. Raymond G. Cranch: During the year 1942, he preached once in Toronto and once in Kitchener. He is regularly in secular work.

Rev. Emil R. Cronlund: Is in secular work. He preached three times at Bryn Athyn during the Summer.

Rev. L. W. T. David: In the first part of the year, he taught a class in the Greek New Testament in the College of the Academy.

Rev. C. E. Doering: Has been engaged as Dean of Faculties. Professor of Mathematics, and a teacher of Religion in the Academy schools. He has regularly conducted morning worship for the Academy, and has assisted in the Quarterly Administration of the Holy Supper in the Bryn Athyn Church.

Rev. Eldred E. Iungerich: Has been teaching languages in the Academy of the New Church. He mentions completion of a typescript on the Book of Revelation, entitled "The Drama of the Apocalypse."

Rev. Homer Synnestvedt: Has been a Professor of Education in the Academy Schools until December 31, 1942, when an arrangement for retirement took effect. From his love of pastoral contacts he has visited extensively in Philadelphia. Baltimore, Youngstown, Pittsburgh. He gave addresses to the school at Glenview, to the Chicago Society, the South Chicago group, and twice at Detroit with sermon and classes. Services were held at Lake Wallenpaupack in the Summer.

Rev. William Whitehead: Is active as Professor of History and Political Science in the Academy of the New Church. He has preached twice in New York, twice in Bryn Athyn, and once in Pittsburgh, and conducted two memorial services.

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He gave several addresses: one at the Open Session of the Council of the Clergy, two others in Bryn Athyn, one in New York, three in Pittsburgh, one in Philadelphia, and one at a meeting of General Church teachers.

     PHILADELPHIA, PA. AND ARBUTUS, MARYLAND.

Rev. Morley D. Rich, Pastor of the Advent Church and Visiting Pastor to the Arbutus Circle. In addition to his regular duties, he preached several times in Bryn Athyn and assisted in the Philadelphia District Assembly.

     NEW YORK AND NORTHERN NEW JERSEY.

Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen: Has officiated as Pastor of the New York Society and the Northern New Jersey Circle, conducting, in New York City, 15 Services, 10 Doctrinal Classes and 3 celebrations of the Holy Supper; in New Jersey, 14 services, 7 Doctrinal Classes, 3 celebrations of the Holy Supper, 3 Children's Services, and 5 classes; in addition, 3 services of the two groups combined. He preached once in Philadelphia.

     WASHINGTON, D. C.

Rt. Rev. Alfred Acton: As Visiting Pastor of the Washington Society, he reports that they have decided to increase the number of services from once a month to once every three weeks, with occasional extra services as before.

     PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

Rev. Willard D. Pendleton: Besides his regular duties as Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society, he has served as a member of the Committee on NEW CHURCH LIFE. On occasion he has preached in other societies and circles of the Church.

Rev. Ormond de C. Odhner, Assistant to the Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society of the General Church. In addition to his regular duties, he conducted two special classes for young people, one for those of high-school age, and one for those a little older. He also taught in the day school.

     SOUTHERN STATES.

Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen: As Visiting Pastor, he reports 21 Church Services, 27 Doctrinal Classes. 3 classes for young people, 13 services for children and 20 classes, 21 administrations of the Holy Supper, and other activities. Points visited include Atlanta. Birmingham, Miami, St. Petersburg, and Quantico. A descriptive account may be found in New CHURCH LIFE, February, 1943, pp. 85-87.

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     OHIO, ETC.

Rev. Norman H. Reuter, Pastor of the North Ohio groups and Visiting Pastor of the General Church. He conducted Sunday Services-in Ohio: Akron 19, Wyoming 8, Youngstown 5, Cleveland 2; in Michigan: Detroit 9, Saginaw 1, Walled Lake I in Erie, Pennsylvania, 2; special services: near Akron 3, at Middleport 1 and London, Ohio, 1, and Fullerton, Kentucky, 1. He conducted 13 Children's Services, 109 Doctrinal Classes, and 64 children's religion classes in the various places. He also visited Windsor, Ontario. His mileage in 1942 was 14000.

     ILLINOIS.

Rev. Gilbert H. Smith: Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, and Headmaster of the Immanuel Church School, Visiting Pastor of the North Saint Paul Circle.

Rev. Harold C. Cranch: During the year 1942 he has served as Minister, and since October 25, as Pastor, to Sharon Church, Chicago, and to the Rockford Circle. Up to October he was also Assistant to the Pastor at Glenview. He preached in Glenview those Sundays when Mr. Smith visited St. Paul, and bald services the same day at Sharon Church, evening or morning as might be arranged. A Sunday School or Children's Service has been inaugurated at Sharon Church, but the manner of the work is still experimental.
     The South Side group has been holding regular Doctrinal Classes, average attendance over 12. Recently it has been 19 to 26, of whom 7 are non-members and 8 New Churchmen not of our organization.
     Mr. Cranch has visited Rockford once a month for an evening service, class, and social. He has made calls there on the following Monday, and held another class. With permission of the Rev. Dirk Diephuis, General Pastor of the Illinois Association, and as that organization is not now able to minister to Rockford, he has been canvassing the Convention members in Rockford, but so far results are inconclusive.
     Active work has been done in distributing literature to inquirers and members. Besides what was done gratis, sales of the Writings and collateral works came to about $60.00.
     Both Mr. Smith and Mr. Cranch have been cooperating with the Western New Church Union in a radio broadcast program of New Church addresses. These are given each Sunday morning over station WJJD, Chicago, for 15 minutes. Mr. Smith prepares most of the talks, and presents them on the air. Mr. Cranch is chairman of the follow-up committee. The talks are printed and are sent to all who request, and cards are sent listing the places of worship and book rooms of the Convention and General Church. Work under this plan began November 29, and is regarded as a tentative arrangement so far. Mr. Cranch has found it of special value in Rockford as giving an ultimate contact with the Church between the monthly pastoral visits.

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     MINNESOTA.

Rev. Gilbert H. Smith: Has visited the North Saint Paul Circle once a month, giving a Sunday service, children's address, and doctrinal class, The Holy Supper was administered quarterly. Between visits, services are conducted by a layman. A Sunday School is held each week, with 2 teachers and 9 pupils.
     Bishop Acton visited the group for two weeks in September.

Rev. Victor I. Gladish: Had to give up ministerial work as of February 14, 1942, and since then has been in secular work.

Rev. Walter E. Brickman: On invitation, preached once in Pittsburgh, once in Glenview, and twice in Sharon Church, Chicago.

     CANADA.

Rev. Frederick E. Gyllenhaal, Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, and Headmaster of the Olivet Day School. He preached there 41 times, gave 31 Doctrinal Classes, 20 Young Peoples Classes, 20 Sunday School classes and 14 special talks to children in the Sunday services, conducted Day School worship every morning, and taught classes from 9 to 12. He served as chairman of the Committee on NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     The long visit of Bishop Acton was very greatly appreciated, and the hope is expressed that Bishop de Charms will be able in the future to extend his visits for a longer time.
     In Montreal he preached 4 times, and conducted 4 doctrinal classes and 8 Sunday School classes. In October, Bishop Acton made an extended visit to the Montreal Circle which was very much enjoyed.

Rev. Alan Gill, Pastor of Carmel Church, besides preaching or conducting Children's Service on Sundays, and weekly doctrinal classes and Young People's classes, taught in the day school-Religion to five grades, Anatomy to two grades, and Civics to one grade.

Rev. Norbert H. Rogers: As Assistant to the Pastor of the Carmel Church, Kitchener, Ontario, and Acting Principal of the Carmel Church Day School, he preached 25 times, conducted 16 Children's Services and one Doctrinal Class. On request he also preached in Toronto twice. Since September he has given additional time to the work of the local day school.

     NORTHWEST CANADA.

     Mention should be made here of the trip made in the Summer of 1942 to many groups of New Church people in Western Canada. Rev. Elmo C. Acton did this work under appointment by the Bishop. For a full account, see NEW CHURCH LIFE, February, 1943, pp. 80-84.

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     ENGLAND.

Rev. A. Wynne Acton: As Pastor of Michael Church. London, he says that, in the third full year of war, difficulties have somewhat increased in regard to continuing the usual church activities. Women engaged in war-work find regular attendance impossible, and yet this seems to increase the determination to carry on essential uses. Attendance at Sunday morning services has increased, and five new members have been received. Next in importance to Sunday Worship has been the Sunday Luncheon, held about once a month, followed by a Doctrinal Meeting. A Women's Guild has been formed, and adds much to the society life. Heartily welcomed and enjoyed are the frequent visits of men from the United States and Canada who are serving in the armed forces.
     Mr. Acton has continued to publish the "News Letter" twice a-month. This is sent to all General Church members in Great Britain and to those there in service from overseas.
     Isolated members and friends have been visited.
     He has continued to act as chairman of the British Finance Committee. Also, he has continued as a member of the Council of the Swedenborg Society and as Secretary of its Advisory and Revision Board, and in occasional other uses.

Rev. Martin Pryke: By episcopal appointment, he was Minister to the Colchester Society until March 1, 1942. On that date he was ordained into the Second Degree of the Priesthood by the Rt. Rev. R. J. Tilson. He was formally accepted by the Colchester Society as its Pastor on May 17, 1942. The regular work has gone on, though the pressure of war is felt increasingly. Attendance is hampered by wartime duties, poor traveling facilities, and the blackout.
     Among the isolated he has conducted services or classes, or both, at Manchester, Warrington, Birmingham, Bath, Bristol, Adsborough, Northampton and Wallasey.
     He has been appointed a member of the British Finance Committee, and has accepted an invitation of the Swedenborg Society to serve on its Advisory and Revision Board.

     AUSTRALIA.

Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Pastor of the Hurstville Society (Sydney. N. S. W.) of the General Church, has preached at 62 services, conducted 31 Doctrinal Classes, 24 Young People's classes. 22 classes in Swedenborg's Philosophy, 45 sessions of the Sunday School, 3 Children's Services, and 10 teachers meetings. He has addressed 6 other meetings, and edits a monthly news-letter since July. A monthly social supper was inaugurated in October.

     SWEDEN.

Rev. Gustaf Baeckstrom, Pastor of the Nya Kyrkans Forsamling. Stockholm, has had to take over some of the work of the Rev. Erik Sandstrom during his absence (probably in military service). He has visited Malmkoping and Strangnas.

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     SOUTH AFRICA.

Rev. Frederick W. Elphick: At the request of the Bishop, and of the Durban Society, he has continued as Acting Pastor for the year 1942. Attendance at Sunday Morning service has been good, considering war conditions, and Mr. Elphick has been giving sermons in series, and often on practical subjects, as a partial substitute for doctrinal classes. Such classes were discontinued in March because of the blackout.
     Also in March, because of calls for evacuation, the higher classes of the Kainon School were closed; but Some remained in town, and Miss Pemberton continued school with 5 pupils-in kindergarten and standards I and II. This was the condition up to the end of the school-year in December. Miss Champion was given a long leave of absence. An older children's class was held on Friday afternoons.

     SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION.

     As Superintendent of the General Church Mission in South Africa, Mr. Elphick states that, due to various restrictions, travel is very limited. He visited Kent Manor in Zululand in July, and the groups at Mayville and Turner's Avenue twice each.

Rev. Moffat Mcanyana, Pastor of the Mayville Society, has visited the group at Verulam twice.

Rev. Philip I. Stole, Pastor to the Turner's Avenue Society, continues his work as Head Teacher at the Night School there. He has also visited at Deepdale in the Maritzburg District, and at Clermont near Pinetown.

Rev. Benjamin I. Nzimande, Minister to the Macabazini Society, Polela District, Natal, conducted services every Sunday morning and evening, 16 doctrinal classes, and 12 children's classes.

Rev. Jonas Motsi, Pastor of the Greylingstad Society, holds services Sunday mornings and weekday evenings, and a doctrinal class Sunday afternoons. He has visited Brakpan, Grootvlei, Heidelberg, Rood Bank, and Alexandria Township, Johannesburg, also isolated members at Quthing, Basutoland.

Rev. Peter Sabela is in charge of the work at Kent Manor, Zululand.

Rev. Aaron B. ZUNGU is assisting at Kent Manor, alternating with Peter Sabela in Sunday service and sermon. In addition, he has a Sunday afternoon doctrinal class, and has visited isolated members in Zululand.


     Reports have also been received from the Rev. Messrs. Willis L. Gladish, George G. Starkey, Henry Algernon, Johnson Kandisa, Timothy Matshinini, and Solomon Mkise.

     Reports have not been received from the Rev. Messrs. Henry Heinrichs, Henry Leonardos, Joao de Mendonca Lima, Richard Morse, Vincent C. Odhner, Erik Sandstrom, Stephen Buthelezi, and Johannes Lunga. (Up to June 19, 1943.)

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     Some of these may have been delayed or lost in transit.
     Last July a duplicate report for the year 1941 was received from the Rev. Erik Sandstrom in which he mentioned his removal from Jonkoping to Stockholm to assist Mr. Baeckstrom, especially with the young people, and his call into military service for Sweden. This last was understood to be for part time service.
     L. W. T. DAVID,
Secretary of the Council of the Clergy.
REPORT OF THE EDITOR OF 'NEW CHURCH LIFE.' 1943

REPORT OF THE EDITOR OF 'NEW CHURCH LIFE.'       Various       1943

     During the year 1942 a thousand copies of each monthly issue were printed. Of these, 803 were mailed as follows:

To paid subscribers                              503
Free to our Ministers, to Public Libraries and New Church Book-
rooms, and in Exchange for other Periodicals          95
Free to Men and Women in Military Service               205
     Total Circulation                              803

     The Military Service Committee has received letters expressing an appreciation of NEW CHURCH LIFE by those in many parts of the world who have been receiving it, and who also speak of lending their copies to their comrades in arms with whom they discuss matters of religion. In this way the magazine is being placed before those who have not hitherto known about the New Church, and in course of time there may be tangible results of this missionary work. It must be remembered, also, that a considerable number of copies go to families, public libraries, and New Church bookrooms, and are thus made available to many besides the 803 to whom they are mailed each month.
     The writers who contribute to its pages are thus afforded an opportunity to address quite a large audience, much larger than is present at any of our church meetings. To the ministers especially, as priests and evangelists of the Second Coming of the Lord, the printed page thus accords the privilege of presenting the teachings of the New Church to a large congregation that includes both our own members and many beyond our borders.
     It has always been the aim to make the journal representative of the life of the General Church-its thought and affection, and the sphere of its uses,-carried to the readers in the sermons of our ministers, in the articles by both ministers and laymen, in the discussions of doctrinal and practical subjects, and in the news records of the local and general activities of the Church. In these days it is important, also, that the light of revealed truth should be brought to bear upon the present world-conditions, and that spiritual support should be given to those who are bearing the brunt of the times.

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     Most of our ministers are represented in our pages in the course of a year, as may be seen by reference to the annual Index. A few do not contribute of their writing, and our two ministers in Sweden, unfortunately, are unable to send manuscript by mail under present conditions. The idea that the magazine should be representative of the thought of the General Church can be the more completely realized as a liberal supply of material is made available for publication, providing a variety of subjects and authors from which a selection can be made. The secular magazines of the day are so abundantly supplied that they print only a small part of what is offered them-a healthy condition which makes it possible to place the best before the readers. New Church periodicals are largely dependent upon voluntary contributions by the writers of the Church, who indeed regard it as one way in which they can make some return for the manifold things which the Church has done and is doing for them.
     Our ministers necessarily do most of their writing in the form of sermons, and of these there is a plentiful supply-good, wholesome spiritual nourishment for the mind and soul, instructive and inspiring in the most essential things of life. Several of our ministers place at our disposal from ten to twenty-five of their manuscripts at a time, thus furnishing a wide variety of topics. As we can print only about twelve sermons in the course of a year, there is need for articles of various types. To meet this need, a sermon may sometimes be converted into a doctrinal article, and this is occasionally done in cooperation with the writer.
     New Churchmen are whole-heartedly interested in promoting the growth of the New Church by every means in their power. They regard it as a blessing and a privilege to do so. The printed page of a church periodical affords an opportunity to address a considerable audience, and thus to be of use to many more than attend a local church meeting-to men and women all over the world, many of them in homes isolated from church centers. This wide audience is entitled to the best, both in substance and variety, that the General Church can lay before it. Thinking of it in this way should encourage our regular contributors to continue their support of this valuable use; and it should also encourage others to submit their offerings.
     Paper Shortage.-As many magazines and newspapers in the United States have been reduced in the number of pages printed by the shortage of paper, there is a possibility that we may be affected in like manner before the war is over. The New Church periodicals in England have been seriously affected, and THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD has met the situation by changing from a weekly to a fortnightly issue, which is a good way to meet such an emergency, as a double number maintains a better balanced issue. If we should be obliged to curtail, then, instead of reducing our monthly issue from the present 48 to 32 pages, it would be better to bring out our numbers every two months, with from 64 to 80 pages each, which would also save the cost of six covers in the year. Let us hope that conditions will not bring about such restrictions.
     Respectfully submitted,
          W. B. CALDWELL.

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     MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.

     June, 1943

     The General Church Military Service Committee h-as completed its second fiscal year. In general, the work has followed the course outlined in a report submitted to the Council of the Clergy in April, 1942.
     The present active members of the committee are: Doris G. Pendleton, chairman; Lyris Hyatt, secretary; Olena Fine, treasurer; Virginia Smith, news; Ruth D. Gyllenhaal; Geneva Crockett, Gwen Cooper is now Mrs. R. E. L. de Maine, and has been living in Oregon. Joan Davis has joined the WAVES.
     The interest in and support of the use, on the part of the church as a whole, are splendid. This is not surprising. The work has a human appeal. The contributions received are adequate at present to meet the needs, but of course the list is lengthening daily. Many individuals and groups are helping in one way or another, and we wish to express our appreciation to all of them on behalf of the General Church.

     Two hundred and eighty names appear on our roll-exactly twice the number reported last year. Two of our friends, Lt. Richard A. Walter, of Bryn Athyn, and Sgt. Pilot Ralph R. Hill, of Kitchener, have been "killed on active service." Flying Officer Laurence T. Izzard has been "missing in action" since December 8, 1942. He was mine laying over the Baltic Sea.

     Our policy with regard to the names published in NEW CHURCH LIFE each month requires some explanation. It has seemed wise to place on the mailing list persons not yet baptized who have definitely expressed a desire to be included; or who have been specifically recommended by a minister.

     It is our endeavor to provide a balanced spiritual diet for our men and women in the armed forces. During the past year we have published twelve issues of The Communique, eighteen sermons, three addresses, and one doctrinal class. In mentioning balance, I cannot stress too strongly the importance of The Communique, edited by the Rev. Willard D. Pendleton and the Rev. Ormond de C. Odhner. Certainly it serves a great use, and is the most popular of our publications
     The committee desires the benefit of the counsel of the ministers on the following specific points:

     1. Should the third lesson be printed with the sermon?
     2. Would it be useful to make the pamphlets available to the church at large? If so, what is the practicable means of accomplishing this end?
     3. If the third lesson is printed, would it be possible for the writer of the sermon to revise his material so that the printed whole will be not more than eight pages?

     In one sense the entire clergy of the General Church is the military service committee. You provide the spiritual food. We only select from the material at our disposal that which we believe will be of use to our men and women in the armed forces at this time.

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We hope that there will be discussion of the work of the committee, and that suggestions for its improvement will be forthcoming. Our hearts are in the work-increasingly so-and we shall continue our efforts until that happy day when victory is won, and normal life can be resumed.
     Respectfully submitted,
          DORIS G. PENDLETON,
               Chairman.
REPORT TO THE JOINT COUNCIL 1943

REPORT TO THE JOINT COUNCIL       EDWARD H. DAVIS       1943

     CORPORATION OF THE GENERAL CHURCH.

     Since my report to the Joint Council dated April 16, 1941, the following members of the Corporation have died:

Mr. George A. Heath,
Mr. Joseph R. Kendig,
Mr. Alexander J. Moir,
Mr. Arthur H. Powell,
Mr. Ernest J. Stebbing,
Rt. Rev. Robert J. Tilson,
Rev. Fred E. Waelchli.

     There have been no new members. The total membership is now 131.
     The Executive Committee has held six meetings. As usual, the financial affairs of the Church occupied the attention of the Committee to a large extent, and the Report of the Treasurer covers in detail the various subjects under consideration.
     Among the subjects which were considered were: The question of the practicability of holding a General Assembly in 1943; trips of the Visiting Pastor; pastoral trips through Western Canada; support of the South African Mission; pensions for General Church Ministers; bequests to the General Church; and the New Church Life.
     A Committee on Pensions was appointed by Bishop de Charms, and this Committee has submitted a preliminary report.
     A joint meeting of the Consistory and Executive Committee was held on December 11, 1942, for the purpose of considering the question of holding an Assembly in 1943.
     Respectfully submitted,
          EDWARD H. DAVIS.
               Secretary.
June 1, 1943.

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MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943

     THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)

     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa, United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942,
     SERGEANT PILOT RALPH ROSCHMAN HILL, Kitchener, Ontario. Royal Canadian Air Force. Killed on active service in Wales, February 9, 1943.


     OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, L.A.C. Norman,
Heldon, Cpl. Sydney,
Kirsten, Sgt. Theodore,
Taylor, Sgt. Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bellinger, Wren Elaine,
Bond, L.A.C. J. W.,
Bond, Sgt. Lillian D.,
Bond, L.A.C. Thomas A.,
Evens, Tpr. John,
Evens, Gnr. Robert A.,
Evens, A.C. 2 Reuben J.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Hill, Ft/Sgt. Leonard F.,
James, Pvt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Schnarr, Sgt. Joffre G.,
Schnarr, Cadet John G.,
Scott, Pvt. Herbert G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, Sgt. Pilot A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.

     Toronto.
Bellinger, Sgt./Pilot John H.,
Campbell, Sub-Lt. Stella, W.R.C.N S
Carter, F/Sgt. Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Cpl. Thomas J.,
Izzard, F/O Laurence T., Missing in Action,
Jesseman, Dvr. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn,
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Richardson, A.C. 2 David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, P/O Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Bellinger, P/O William G., Ontario,
Evens, L.A.C. A. Leslie, Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 Norman W., Alberta,
Frazee, A.C. 2 Keith I., British Columbia,
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.


     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Eric D.,
Appleton, L.A.C. Roy,
Boozer, Dvr. A. E.,
Boozer, Donald,
Briscoe, Miss Irene G.,
Caldwell, Lieut. William T.,
Clennell, A.C. 2 Gordon,
Cohen, Eng. Comdr. Maurice L.,
Dale, Tpr. Keith B.,

375




Dawson, Sgt. Geoffrey P.,
Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Halliday, Lieut. Keith C.,
Jones, Harold C.,
Lewin, Ronald,
Morley, P/O H. K.,
Morris, Lieut. David,
Motum, O/Cadet John,
Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,
Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Beatrice A.,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Lt. Michael T.,
Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,
Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Sylvia M.

     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, 2nd Lieut. J. S.,
Buss, Pvt. Brian,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Buss, Pvt. Ronald,
Cockerell, Sig. John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, A/P Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Gnr. D. B., Honorably Discharged,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, Pvt. J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, Lieut. A. N.,
Hammond, 2nd Lieut. Harry B.,
Hammond, Cpl. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, P/N Miss S. F.,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, S/Sgt. A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Pemberton, A/P G. Guy,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, A/M C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,
Ridgway, Pvt. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A., Honorably discharged,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, P.F.C. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Pvt. Robert,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, Cpl. Ralph E.,
Behlert, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Bostock, Pvt. Robert M.,
Carpenter, Lt. (jg) Philip S. P.,
Cole, Pvt. Dandridge M.,
Cole, Lt. William P.,
Conner, Pvt. Wilson Bennett,
Cooper, Pre. A/C Denis,
Cooper, Pvt. Geoffrey,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, Lt. Rey W.,
Cooper, Cpl. Theodore F.,
Cowley, Cpl. William J.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
David, A/C Warren,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davies, Pvt. Philip T.,
Davis, Joan, S 2/c,
Davis, Cpl. Justin H.,
Davis, Sgt. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
Deigendesch, Paul H., A.S.,
De Maine, Cand. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine, Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A..
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, Lt. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Fine, Sgt. Raymond F.,
Finkeldey, Lt. Philip,
Gansert, Pvt. Otto G.,
Glenn, Lt. Ernest Bruce,
Gyllenhaal, S/Sgt. Charles P.,
Gyllenhaal, Pvt. Hugh A.,
Gyllenhaal, Ensign Leonard E.
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, Sgt. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., Ph.M. 3/c,
Hilldale, Pvt. Thomas A.,
Homiller, Lt. William,
Hyatt, Sgt. Edward D.,
Hyatt, Pvt. Kent,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Nilson, Lt. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, Pvt. David S.,
Odhner, Ray S., T/5,
Odhner, Lt. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, R.T. 1/c,
Pitcairn, Pvt. Joel,

376




Pitcairn, A/C John P.,
Pitcairn, A/C Lachlan,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, Lt. Nathan,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Capt. Oliver I.,
Price, Donal, A.S.,
Price, Cpl. Kenneth,
Rose, Pvt. John W.,
Rose, P.F.C. Stanley,Rosenquist, P.F.C. Henry,
Schnarr, A/C/C Arthur W.,
Schnarr, Donald, S 2/c,
Schnarr, Pvt. Eugene C.,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, Lt. David R.,
Simons, Pvt. Hilary Q.,
Smith, Pvt. Ivan I.,
Synnestvedt, Pvt. Fred H.,
Synnestvedt, A/C Pvt. Huard I.,
Umberger, Grant, A.S.,
Walter, Elizabeth, S.K. 2/c,
Walter, Lt. Robert E.,
White, Lt. Harry J.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Asplundh, Cadet O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., M.M. 2/c,
Barry, Pvt. John,
Brown, Pvt. Robert E.,
Burnham, Edwin, C. Sp., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, P.F.C. Roy M.,
Carlson, S/Sgt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,
Cole, Pvt. Louis S.,
Elkins, Lois, Y 3/c,
Fuller, George, P.O. 2/c,
Gladish, Lt. Donald G.,
Gunsteens, P.F.C. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,
Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, P.F.C. Kenneth,
Holmes, Cpl. Leslie B.,
Junge, Lt. Carl F.,
King, Cpl. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Lt. Raymond T.,
Lee, Pvt. Cedric F.,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
Melzer, P.F.C. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Philip,
Melzer, Sgt. Roger,
Nelson, Lt. Gerald F.,
Pollock, A/C Robert T.,
Reuter, Lieut. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Ensign Hubert O.,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, Lt. Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C., Honorably discharged,
Wille, Pvt. Gerhardt King.

     Michigan.
Childs, Pvt. Walter C.,
French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, Pvt. John F.,
Peterson, Pvt. Philip H.,
Peterson, Warrant Officer Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., C.P.O.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Lt. (j.g.) Alexander,
Packer, E. W. Jr., S. 1/c.
Packer, Pvt. Robert F.,
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,
Westacott, Ensign Ethel B.

     Pittsburgh,
Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Blair, Pvt. James F.,
Brown, Lt. George P., Jr.,
Brown, Sgt. Tech. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,
Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Iungerich, Tech. Sgt. Stevan,
Lechner, Lt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Capt. Alexander H.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Pendleton, Lt. Philip C.,
Schoenberger, Lt. Ulrich,
Schoenberger, Av/C Walter S.,
Stein, Cpl. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Cpl. Elmer G., Texas.
Caldwell, Cpl. Neil V., New York.
Coffin, Capt. Roscoe T., Maryland.
Davis, A/C Charles F., Calif.
Davis, Sgt. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Lt. Philip B., Ohio,
Doering, A/C Edward, Wayne, Iowa.
Glenn, Pvt. Alfred M., New York,
Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Griffin, William T., E.M. 2/c, S.C.,
Joy, Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Cpl. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Merrell, Cpl. Frederick, Calif.
Merrell, Pvt. Stanley, Calif.
Moorhead, Pvt. Donald, Washington, D. C.
Posey, Pvt. John A., Alabama.

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Rott, Sgt. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Smith, Sterling R., A.M.M. 1/c, Georgia.
Snyder, Donald, A.M.M. 2/c, Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Major Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Tarr, Joseph, S.K. 3/c, Maryland.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.
Wilson, Joaquin C., Jr., E.M. 2/c, Missouri.
EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 1943

EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS.       Various       1943

     TROOPER LINDTHMAN HELDON, a member of the Hurstville, Australia, Society, has been on active service in New Guinea for a number of months. In a letter to the Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, he has submitted the following short poem. Written in the environment of jungle warfare, these verses seem to us to express the essence of New Church patriotism.

     Preserving Freedom.

New Churchmen in the forces fight,
Preserving Truth, defending Right,
So that in freedom we may be-
Not fettered or in slavery.

Full justified by faith and creed.
We fight to banish power and greed;
We fight to win at any cost;
Freedom of speech must not be lost.

We must be upright, brave and strong,
Although the fight be hard and long;
We know, it is well understood,
That out of evil cometh good.

And when it's over, still we'll fight
Against the world's oppressing might-Fight for our Church and Doctrine pure,
Which shall from age to age endure.

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Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     DURBAN, NATAL.

     April 10, 1943.-Life in the Durban Society in 1943 looks as if it is going to be much the same as in 1942. Kainon School enrollment has now increased to seven, continuing with Miss Pemberton in charge as before, while Miss Champion's leave of absence has now been extended indefinitely.
     The Rev. F. W. Elphick, our Acting Pastor, is caring for our spiritual needs very thoroughly by continuing the Children's Classes on Friday afternoons, as well as devoting one Sunday afternoon a month to the little community in the suburb of Pinetown. Then the Ladies' Class resumed on Wednesday morning March 3d, and now that we have completed the first volume of The True Christian Religion, it has been decided to take up the study of the Arcana Celestia at these Classes.
     During February and March, Mr. Elphick delivered a series of six sermons on the Four Doctrines at Sunday morning worship. Last, but by no means least, it has been unanimously resolved, in spite of the blackout (which, however, has been modified to a certain extent), that Evening Doctrinal Classes shall be recommended this month. For a beginning. Mr. Elphick will give a series of four or five classes on "The Three Essentials of the Church" (D. P. 259) and The Three Sources of Falsity." (A. C. 4729:1.)
     Monday, March 8th, was a lucky day for Mrs. E. J. W. Browne (Diana Cowley) as the Society held a surprise Shower" in the evening for her and her husband (on leave from Up North) at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Schuurman. Diana and Bill Browne were married only a few days before he sailed with the troops for Egypt 2 1/2 years ago, and the Society had then no opportunity to honor the happy couple. About twenty friends were present, and a jolly evening was spent in opening the mysterious parcels brought by the guests, and in reading and enjoying the amusing rhymes and jokes which accompanied them.
     Our newest married couple is, of course, Sep. Braby and his bride, who was Miss Maureen Chidell. A Second Lieutenant in the South African Air Force, Jonathan Septimus Braby is the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Braby, and Miss Chidell the youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Chidell, of Durban. On Saturday, April 3, at 2.30 p.m., our little church was literally overflowing with a congregation of relatives and friends who had gathered together to witness their marriage. The Rev. F. W. Elphick officiated at the ceremony, and during the signing of the Register in the vestry, a friend of the bride's family, Mr. Erie Buzzard, rendered a solo,- the air, "Where e'er you walk." by Handel. The chancel had been most tastefully ornamented with blue and pink hydrangeas, and pink antignon creeper gracefully draped the windows throughout.
     The bride, looking very happy and pretty, entered the church on the arm of her father. She wore a gown of pearl-white slipper satin, and her filmy veil was fastened with a Russian headdress of stiffened lace. She carried a spray of white roses and lilies. Attending her were Miss Patsy Shotton as bridesmaid; and Mrs. Pat Burgess, sister of the bride, acted as maid of honor. They were dressed alike in jacaranda blue, and carried crimson roses which matched the roses in their hair. The bridegroom had as his best man 2nd Lieut. Frank Jex, S.A.A.F., while another fellow officer, 2nd Lieut. Dudley Edmonds, S.A.A.F., acted as groomsman.

379




     After the ceremony, a reception was held in the garden of the bride's home, and all agreed it was an exceedingly pretty wedding and a happy afternoon. Maureen had been given a "Shower" at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Schuurman on March 25th, and it is with pleasure that we welcome her into the society. She became a member of the New Church shortly before her marriage, and we hope she will find many friends amongst us in the Durban Society.
     Men on Active Service-The Durban Society now has 41 names on its list of men on Service, the latest recruit being Guy Pemberton, son of Mr. and Mrs. L. Garth Pemberton. The news from the Prisoners of War is cheerful; and I am glad to be able to say at long last that Mrs. Bainford has received a letter from her husband, Pvt. Frank Bamford, saving that the days in his camp in Italy are simply flying, as he is fortunately able to fill in his time with various studies.
     May 11, 1943.-After all, we are not going to have Evening Doctrinal Classes. Attempts were made on three consecutive weeks, but, what with the bad weather, the newly enforced blackout rules, etc., it was found that the members simply could not get to the Hall. It is not prudent to go out at night. So, after three valiant attempts, the classes have been abandoned.
     P. D. C.

     STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN.

     In a letter to Bishop de Charms, dated March 17, 1943, the Rev. Gustaf Baeckstrom writes:
     "It is very interesting to learn from you about the church activities in Bryn Athyn at present, and we are surprised to hear that the food rationing interferes seriously even with your weekly society suppers. Here we are accustomed to bring bread and sugar and tea with us to our suppers, and divide them among us, and it works well enough.
     "We celebrated Swedenborg's Birthday with a simple banquet in a restaurant where we could get bread and tea. We were about fifty persons, and among them Lieutenant-colonel Emanuel Swedenborg, with his wife, a son and daughter, and her husband.
     "Mr. Sandstrom spoke on the reality of the spiritual world, and I on the subject: Why we can believe in the Doctrines of the New Church. Lieutenant-colonel Swedenborg said that even when he was a child he had been urged to honor the great name that he bears, and that he had always tried to do so. A happy, good sphere prevailed."
     GUSTAF BACEKSTROM.

     A BOUND VOLUME.

     "The Life of the Lord."

     The editors of The Parent-Teacher Journal have prepared bound volumes of the mimeographed text of "The Life of the Lord," by Bishop George de Charms, which has been appearing serially in that periodical.
     Copies are on sale in the Academy Book Room at $1.10 per volume, or $1.00 to Ministers and Members of the Faculty. Mailing, 15 cents extra.

     HURSTVILLE, AUSTRALIA.

     May 24, 1943.-February in Sydney can be the hottest month in the year, and if the day of our Sunday School picnic this year was not the hottest in February, it was near P. D. C. enough to make little difference. The spot chosen, however, was a beautiful bay with a fine swimming pool, and the children's enjoyment of their outing was in no way marred by the scorching heat. The presence of only ten children made this picnic the smallest since the early days of the society. For some years now the membership of the school has been steadily decreasing, but this is compensated for by the fact that, of the twelve children now in the school, eight are baptized and from our own homes. There have been times in the past when our own children were heavily outnumbered by others, some of whose parents took little or no real interest in the Church.

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     Our Program.-With fully active membership sadly depleted, the society took up in March what must apparently be accepted as our full program under present conditions:- Sunday service and doctrinal class, Sunday School, and our Monthly Tea. There is no young people's class this year, the two remaining members having graduated into the general doctrinal class. And the philosophy class, after the first two lectures on Swedenborg's cosmology, was suspended indefinitely, as there was not enough support to justify its continuance. The Arcana class did not go into recess during the Summer, and in the first series of general doctrinal classes the pastor has been presenting the doctrine concerning the permissions of Providence. In the instruction given from the pulpit, sermons have been both expository and doctrinal, the latter being both abstract and practical. The Sunday School is being given a series of talks on the spiritual world. In an informal address at the Monthly Tea, the pastor offered some suggestions on how to read the Writings.
     We record with pleasure as an outstanding event in March the birth, on the 19th, of Christopher Ronald Heldon, the third child and third son of Mr. and Mrs. Ossian Heldon. The addition of Mr. Fred Kirsten's name to the membership roll of the society in this month gave us one actual as well as one potential new member, and brought our nominal membership up to twenty-seven.
     Easter was celebrated very quietly this year. There was the usual evening service on Good Friday. A Holy Supper Service was held on Easter Sunday morning, the sermon being on "The Glorification of the Human," and the children's service was held in the afternoon. Just before this service, the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Ossian Heldon was baptized by the pastor.
     The Monthly Tea was held in the evening instead of on the customary second Sunday. The topic for the evening was, "The Difficulties of Maintaining an Isolated Society." After this subject had been introduced by the pastor, a long and useful discussion followed, in which several practical suggestions were made as to how some of those difficulties could be minimized, if not overcome, in this most isolated society of the General Church. The leading thoughts seemed to be: That every member of a society has a responsibility to support and develop its uses; and that while the Church will increase mainly from within, the possibility of increase also from without should he kept firmly in mind, and every possibility followed up in any way that may be opened by Providence.
     Sons' Meetings.-The Hurstville Chapter of the Sons of the Academy was in recess throughout the Summer, but two fine meetings were held in March and April. At the annual meeting in March, the pastor and Mr. Fred Kirsten were re-elected President and Secretary-Treasurer, respectively; and Cpl. Ray Odhner and Pvt. Michael Pitcairn, both of whom were present, were elected honorary members of the Chapter with great enthusiasm. The pastor's address on "The Disputed Sections in Conjugial Love" led to a very good discussion in which our two "honoraries" proved their worth as additions to the Chapter. The April meeting took the form of a discussion of the vital topic of marriage within the church, in which everyone present took part. And the ideas expressed showed a clear understanding of the need for and uses of such marriages, as well as an affection of those uses.
     Several of the ladies of the society continue meeting once a month for luncheon, and their April meeting was particularly well attended.
     In the Services-Pet. Michael Pitcairn has been a regular and most welcome visitor at our Sunday services, and at as many classes and meetings as he could manage to attend. Cpl. Ray Odhner's schedule most unfortunately kept him at work on Sundays, but both of these visitors have been entertained in our homes. Cpl. Odhner has now moved on elsewhere, but we hope he will return.

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There have been several changes among our own members in the fighting services. Theodore Kirsten is now a Sergeant-Navigator, and Norman Heldon, transferred to the R.A.A.F., is doing basic air crew training near Sydney. Sydney Heldon, also transferred to air crew, is doing the same training, but in a later course; and Trooper Lindthman Heldon is expected home on leave shortly. Mrs. Hubbard is doing a strenuous year of training in preparation for becoming a teacher in the Women's League of Health, an organization which has several enthusiastic members in the society.
     A Periodical-Mention might be made here of a modest news sheet which has been issued monthly since last July. There is a quotation from the Writings, a calendar for the month, notices and announcements, society and personal news, and, when space permits, a brief editorial. The sheet is edited and typed by the pastor, who knows every issue by heart by the time he gets through.
     W. C. H.

     NORTHERN OHIO.

     On the whole we feel very pleased with the extent of our activities this past season, considering the obstacles we had to surmount.
     First, there was the problem of gasoline, because we are so scattered. It was out of the question for the Youngstown and Cleveland people to come to Akron for worship, as they have the past years since Mr. Reuter has been here. We understand that our pastor was given the largest allowance of gas that was assigned in Akron. Once a month he held church in the Akron area, and once a month he drove to Cleveland and Youngstown alternately. Doctrinal class was given in Akron twice a month, and once a month in Cleveland and Youngstown. The pastor also made regular trips to Detroit, Erie and Cincinnati.
     The second problem for the Akron group was a place of worship. The majority of this group lives in Norton Center. Church has been held in different homes in this district. In December the Quentin Eberts moved to Norton Center from Port Arthur, Texas, adding three to our group. The Edmund Glenn's son, born December 31st, made a fourth addition.
     Our Youngstown and Cleveland friends saved enough coupons to join us for our Easter celebration. There were nearly forty present, counting the children. After church we served a dinner which was our first church dinner since the Bishop's visit in the Fall.
     Our next celebration was a lovely outdoor service for the children on June Nineteenth, followed by, a Birthday Party for the Church. The adults journeyed to Youngstown on Sunday for the traditional service and picnic in their famous park.
     During the Summer we expect to have church regularly, augmented by many picnics, despite the masculine objections to bugs with their food.
     A. B.

     TORONTO, CANADA.

     July 1, 1943.-Several months have elapsed since the Olivet Society sent a news report to the LIFE. The period now to be covered will date back to April, when, on Palm Sunday, the Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem was commemorated by a procession of children bearing flowers to the altar, and when, on Easter Sunday, the Resurrection and Glorification of the Lord was celebrated by the service of the Holy Supper.
     The Ladies' Circle has had a quiet but effective and useful season, ministering to uses which must be carried on by the women in the progress of every society, and in all possible ways supporting the work of the pastor. Two bridal showers were arranged by the ladies this Spring, the first for Marguerite Izzard, who, on June 12th, became the wife of Mr. George Webb, and the second for Zoe Gyllenhaal, who has since departed for the United States, where she will be married to Mr. David Simons.

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The many lovely and useful gifts presented on these occasions were an expression of good will to the two young couples for their spiritual prosperity in the establishment of two more New Church homes.
     Day School.-On Friday evening, June 18, the closing exercises of the Olivet Day School were held. Representative work by the children in all subjects and grades was displayed in the two schoolrooms, and presided over by the pupils themselves. The parents and visitors, after viewing the varied and interesting examples of the year's activities, assembled in the chapel for a brief service which included recitations from the Word, the singing of Hebrew Anthems, and an address by the Rev. Elmo Acton, who had arrived in Toronto that morning en route to the Canadian Northwest, and who talked to the children about the uses of New Church schools.
     After the service a playlet, adapted from Ibsen's story of Peer Gynt, was presented by the school in the assembly hall. Costumes and scenery, together with the spontaneous and intelligent portrayal of Peer's final victory in temptation, reflected the excellent work of the teacher, Miss Zoe Gyllenhaal, not only in training so young a group in commendable stage work, but also in the splendid results of her two years' teaching in our day school. During the past year Miss Zoe was assisted by Mrs. Sydney Parker, who has conducted a kindergarten class for one hour each day. This work will be continued next year with a new group of three children. The good results of such an introductory course have in the past been manifested in many ways when the children enter the more formal stages of school life.
     A Study Course.-The local chapter of Theta Alpha sponsored this year a very useful course of study in The Growth of the Mind, which was conducted by Miss Zoo Gyllenhaal. The large attendance at these semimonthly meetings throughout the inclement Winter season bore witness to the keen interest aroused among the women of the Society in a subject so vital to the progress and future quality of the church after the war. Our pastor never misses an opportunity to present subjects of timely interest or special usefulness, and to this end is planning to take up this subject with a larger group during the coming year.
     It is not always easy for a pastor to carry out his purpose of adapting the teachings of the Writings to all planes of interest and specific use, partly because of the accession of new members who naturally find it difficult to travel with ease with those who have studied the doctrines for many years, and partly owing to the diversified interests and applications in a small society. But the habit of free questioning does much to clarify obscure points for all, and we look forward to a further study of The Growth of the Mind under the direction of our pastor with an interest stimulated by the last year's survey of the subject.
     New Church Day.-On Saturday, June 19th, the society made special recognition of New Church Day by a Feast of Charity. Mr. John White had charge of ceremonies, and carried the programme through an interesting series of toasts and responses to the final address by the pastor.
     Mr. Gyllenhaal contrasted our small numbers with the many peoples outside of the Church, and said that a clearer vision of our mission as the organized New Church was necessary among its members, and that more thought should be given, individually and collectively, as to how this work can best he fulfilled. He also emphasized the point that the world, despite external appearances, must be getting better, because the Divine Truth has been brought down to the ultimates of this earth in the New Revelation, and that it is our responsibility to nurture it. New Churchmen are not overwhelmed by the catastrophe of a world war, but have been prepared by the Writings for a breakdown in established order as a manifestation on earth of the Last Judgment. Although the manner of the present chaos could not be foretold by anyone, those in the Church who perceived the real nature of the events which took place in the spiritual world in the year 1757 have boa realized that only a mighty upheaval of humanity could bridge the past ignorance and evil into the spirit of a New Age on earth.

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     In the sermon on Sunday morning in commemoration of the Lord's Second Coming this theme was further developed on the plane of man's conjunction with the Lord. There is always conjunction of God with man. Without it man could not exist. But man's reciprocal conjunction with the Lord is the measure of his spiritual life, and our present concern for the world is begotten of this common need, upon which the continued existence of the race depends. That need is an all-sufficient faith in the Doctrines of the New Church and a life according to them.
     Two events worthy of note must not be omitted from this report. The first was the public Confession of Faith by two young men of the society,-Pvt. Edward Jessiman and Mr. Gordon Anderson. For the second, we quote from Chatterbox of May 23d: "Heartiest congratulations to Pilot Officer Robert Scott, who received his wings at Centralia, Ontario, on May 14th, where, at an impressive ceremony, he also received a silver cup for diligence, proficiency, and highest class standing. Such a record is to be highly commended." Robert is now taking a special navigator's course at Summerside, Prince Edward Island, where he has been joined by his wife, Gladys.
     Community Project.-We have not mentioned our community project for some time, owing to the various difficulties which have been engendered by the war. External difficulties, however, will not prevent us from accomplishing what the society really needs; and when the practicability of the proposition is once clearly defined our zeal for the establishment of a new home for our society will be undiminished. This not so much for a change of place as for the use to be gained by such a move.
     C. S.
ANNUAL COUNCILS REPORT 1943

ANNUAL COUNCILS REPORT              1943

     In our present issue we begin publication of the record of the Annual Council Meetings, held at Bryn Athyn during the week of June 21-27, and attended by a representative gathering of the members of the various Councils.
     The official Report of the Proceedings of the Council of the Clergy, Educational Council, and Joint Council will appear in succeeding issues, together with the text of the papers presented, so far as these are available for publication.
     In spite of the very warm weather which prevailed throughout the week, the program as printed in the June issue was fully carried out, and the sessions were marked by stimulating discussions of many phases of the doctrine and uses of the Church, and of our theory and practice in the field of education.

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STREAMLINING INSTRUCTION 1943

STREAMLINING INSTRUCTION       Rev. GILBERT H. SMITH       1943




     Announcements





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No. 9

NEW CHURCH LIFE

VOL. LXIII
SEPTEMBER, 1943
     (At an Open Session of the Council of the Clergy, June 25, 1943.)

     A guess is only a guess, until you are able to prove it; but my guess is, that in order to keep up with rapid and changing times, all instruction will have to be streamlined. Especially will it be so in regard to teaching the doctrine of the New Church. This doctrine is voluminous, and must be dug out by extensive reading to get the whole vein of silver. The time people have for reading becomes less and less; and a large percentage of people do not read anyway. I am referring to religious literature.
     Yet it is said that the Writings have been given to the world today because men will not read and study the former Word. At least that is one of the reasons. If we look out into the world about us, we can see how true this is. Not many people really study the Old and New Testaments, although, strangely enough, the Bible is the best seller of all books. This only points to the fact that the proportion of people who do serious reading of any sort is relatively small. If, therefore, the New Church doctrine is to reach any considerable numbers, either the people of the present type must die off, and be succeeded by others who will read, or else the voluminous doctrines must be condensed, simplified, or streamlined to meet a non-reading and non-church-going public. We want to get our Doctrine, our whole Doctrine, and nothing but the doctrine, into circulation, so that it may be more generally known. How are we going to do it? We know that we are not going to do it very rapidly in any case, but what is the best method?

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     Let us consider what has been done before. The Lord Himself condensed and simplified the interior truth contained in the Old Testament, and brought it forth in the form of the New Testament. This was for a new public-the Gentiles. But it was a simplification, such as even the simple could cover easily and comprehend. But the Writings are not a simplification of the Divine Truth in the former Word; they are a vast elaboration instead. Divine Truth in them is indefinitely expanded. Yet Swedenborg was led by the Lord to make certain summaries and outlines. A number of them could be mentioned. The Four Doctrines and the New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine are not much longer than the New Testament. The Brief Exposition is notably a case in point. In the Arcana Celestia and the works on the Apocalypse the exposition of the chapters is preceded by summaries. And Swedenborg was led to discontinue the writing of the Apocalypse Explained, and to write another and shorter work-the Apocalypse Revealed. Thus, even in the Writings, the principle of outline, simplification, and summary seems to be approved. Many New Church scholars have followed the same idea in writing outlines and compendiums.
     In the eighteenth century, several men of note were filled with the idea of compiling pansophias or encyclopedias, bringing together all valuable human knowledge in a few volumes. But in these later years anyone can see how impossible that would be, as the whole field has become so stupendously greater. Yet the whole field of instruction in our times seems to call for outlines and summaries. And as to teaching the doctrine of the New Church, the problem of systematizing this knowledge, and presenting it in simplified form, is a very real one. It seems to me very important that it should be done.
     The invitation to the New Church, extended to those who are outside of it, is chiefly an invitation to read and meditate upon the Writings of the New Church, though secondarily it is an invitation to attend the services of worship with those who believe in them. But if the tendency of our age is such that people will read less and less, and go to church less and less, as it seems to be, then the Doctrine must be presented to the general public in a clear and much simplified form by those who love to do the reading. And the services of worship must be adapted to the willingness of people to take part in them.

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It becomes more and more the problem of the priesthood to accommodate the teaching of the New Church to the states in which people are. The teaching ministers of the New Church will have to take people as they find them, and accommodate their teaching to them.
     There is one book of the Writings which proclaims itself to be the Universal Theology of the New Church. It is The True Christian Religion. This is a relatively short book, representing the systematic religion of the New Church. But in accommodation to the few who read, and to the many more who do not read much, it would be interesting to write such a book as would simplify and summarize this book even more. What a useful thing it would be, also, to outline in simple and clear language the teaching and explanation of the internal sense of the Apocalypse. We have been much impressed with the number of excellent sermons, articles, and treatises that have been produced in the New Church, large sections of which are buried in libraries and filed away beyond the reach of students. But whether this material is ever collected and made use of or not, what a great service it would seem to be if someone would produce a reliable outline and summary of all the important teachings of the New Church.
     Our Liturgy, in its section on Doctrine, is in a sense a worthy effort to do this. So was that earlier Book of Doctrine. But both are incomplete, and not in a language that in itself needs no explanation to the ordinary reader. It would require a special group of researchers, and would be a large task; but I think I see the need of a new and perhaps graded book of instruction, covering every important point of the Doctrine of the New Church.
     What I have in mind as a practical necessity is the summarizing and streamlining of all the Doctrine and of all the Philosophy of the New Church, not only for our classes in school, but also for the use of those already well indoctrinated in our teachings, and for the general public as well. I think we need digested presentations put into language that is easily understood.
     "The Principles of the Academy," written by Bishop W. F. Pendleton in 1909, is a notable effort to put into simple form for New Church people the basic Articles of Religion in 12 theses, characteristic of the Academy. They are a kind of creed.

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They are doctrine, in a sense, although doctrine derived from the Writings. You remember, perhaps, the shock it gave us to have them cited as an example of the "Doctrine of the Church" by one of the leaders of the De Hemelsche Leer group, with the implication that they were "Divine from celestial origin," so far as they would stand the test of time, and were not disproven by further enlightenment. It was, however, a document stating clearly what the Academy stood for and believed at the time it was written. And we need more of such efforts today. It would be of tremendous value, I believe, if there were a summary of the Principia teaching, of the Economy of the Animal Kingdom, and of the various works on the Brain.
     As to the Doctrine of the Church, we seem to need this kind of presentations, in sufficient production to be possessed and distributed by all members of the Church. If they were not perfect at first, or if they needed revision, that revision could be made from time to time.
     So with all the subjects in Religion and Philosophy in the curriculum of our High Schools, so that subjects may be grasped more thoroughly and in less time.
     Luther started the Reformation by his few propositions nailed to his cathedral door. With the same number of propositions we might today start a revolution (though Heaven forbid!); but certainly we could easily make known what the New Church stands for, so that everyone might know it, even though they may not agree with it.
     It seems that the right kind of brief literature is needled. For it seems that people as a whole do not really like to go to church, and do not read very extensively. My reason for saying that people do not like to go to church is that they do not go. In the world, it seems probable that they will go to church less and less. And even in the New Church the attendance is about fifty per cent of what it could and ought to be. In this opinion I would like to be corrected: but I fear it is true.
     Our services of worship certainly do not need shortening, but it must be that, according to the record, they lack something that would make them, in the common estimation, more satisfying to present-day needs. But it is not my intention here to speak particularly of worship, but more especially of instruction. Can we summarize, and yet present in full outline, all the essential teachings of our religion and philosophy?

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In tune with our modern age, it would seem that the less time it takes for instruction, the better. We fear that cultural and humanistic subjects in schools and colleges will be crowded into less time, whether we wish it or not. The right kind of digests of history, for example, and of economics, with the spiritual-moral interpretations we may be able to put upon them, would be more effective, in a given time, than extensive reading without definite direction. I believe it is a good pedagogical principle that every subject should be summarized first of all, then expanded as much as possible, and then summarized again at the end.
     Various men have endeavored to make comprehensive digests of all the Writings: and these have been valuable, too. But they do not meet the brevity required in our times. The Writings themselves contain several summaries, as in the work on the Prophets and Psalms, and in brief presentations of the general doctrine of the New Church. Of these, the New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine is one to be much delighted in, and it ought to be of great value in teaching the Doctrine to others. I think this would be a great book to put forth attractively in mass production.
     To streamline, now my own thesis, it seems to me that we need in the General Church some literature that will present the Doctrine of the New Church definitely in three progressive steps:
     First, a very brief statement, so simple and clear and brief that people might learn in a very short reading just what the New Church is. This would be something like a Creed, such as we already have in several forms, though none of them is quite suitable to convey a clear comprehension to the uninitiated without further explanation. Such a brief presentation might have to run through many revisions before something was arrived at that would meet the requirement perfectly. But such revisions could be made, and something produced in quantity, for general distribution at least, which all educated people could understand.
     Then, secondly, it seems to me that we need a fuller presentation,-a booklet of fuller outlines-an introduction to the Writings from our own point of view, but not too long in itself, that would cover every essential teaching briefly.
     And, finally, a larger book, similar to the old Book of Doctrine that was used earlier in the General Church. but with still further accommodation to the intellectual status of our times.

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In such a book the outlines of New Church Philosophy might be included, for the sake of those who, by temperament and education, are able to profit by reading. It might also include certain Homilies in which general applications to life are made, similar to the "Principles of the Academy" to which we have referred, but preserving for posterity many more of those traditions and ideals which need to be repeated from generation to generation, if they are not to be lost.
     So I recommend, if it be possible to produce them, a series of publications in three degrees of fulness, but each complete in its outline; and the making of such publications available in quantity sufficient to make it no longer necessary for our members to say, "What shall I give to my children or my friends to read?" And so we would make sure that everyone may know just what the New Church believes, and what its principles are.
     Perhaps I may restate the idea in this way: The plea is for digesting and summarizing the important, although scattered, teachings of our Religion and our Religious Philosophy, for use in schools and for the general public. It is based upon the fact that, unless something happens to change the present tendency, people will go to church for worship and instruction less and less, and that more and more people will not read much for the sake of instruction. The theory is that Providence may possibly change this situation, or else the Church will have to make the most of it.
     Since it seems likely that time is to be increasingly devoted to war and technology, and that humanistic studies and religious education may be pushed more and more into the background, these things of doctrine and of eternal value must be put into more quickly and more easily assimilable form.
     I know from experience that, in the effort to evangelize by radio, the work cannot progress very far without a suitable literature to supplement the human voice. And I know that, while it would be possible to spread a very wide knowledge of the teachings of the New Church by means of radio, making a kind of church of the air, yet in the end people must be brought to participation in the corporate uses of education and a meeting together for worship, and brought to the appreciation and use of Baptism and the Holy Supper, and thus become actual members of the Church, personally and socially.

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     In radio work, about which I have so far refrained from speaking, although it is a thing in which I have great interest, one comes face to face with the necessity of treating the greatest subjects simply and briefly. And when this is done, a certain number of people will listen to it, and a certain response will come. These are people who have not much interest in church-going, and who perhaps do very little reading, but who, with effective teaching, might he brought back to a realization of the value of both.
     We do not know where those few are who may be interested in the New Church, but we do know that there are many people who have never heard of the New Church at all, and countless others who have not the least idea of what it teaches. To me this seems a reflection upon our Church's ability to publicize its teachings, And the only means we have, so far, is our public worship and our publications of the Writings. But people outside our Church will not come in any great numbers to our public worship, and fewer still will read the Writings.
     The voice seems still to be the primary means of arousing an interest in the religion and philosophy of the Church. But when you have the Writings, and also the centers of worship to which you may invite people, why not tell them about both? When it comes to the project of interesting outsiders, give me such an opportunity to speak as the radio affords; and then give me the suitable literature to send to those who ask for it. And if I also have a society of New Church people for whom no apologies need he made, and to which I may invite the stranger, then the set-up is perfect.
     But in any case it seems to me that we need books of instruction, produced by our teachers and priests-simplified, summarized, digested, illustrated, comprehensive, and attractive in form.

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ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS 1943

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS       L. W. T. DAVID       1943

     BRYN ATHYN PA JUNE 21-26, 1943.

     COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY.

     The Forty-sixth Annual Meeting of the Council of the Clergy was held in Bryn Athyn, Pa., June 22-26, 1943, with an attendance of two bishops, sixteen pastors and one minister. There were four morning sessions, beginning at 10 am., and one on Thursday afternoon from 3.30; also, there were public sessions Friday and Saturday evenings, the Friday meeting being preceded by a supper given by the Bryn Athyn Church. The afternoons of these days were filled with educational meetings which most of the clergy attended.
     On Tuesday morning, Bishop de Charms presented a paper on "The Human Essence" (see NEW CHURCH LIFE. August, 1943, p. 346) which drew forth an extended discussion. Wednesday morning, Dr. Iungerich read a paper on "Swedenborg's Preliminary Works-Their Use." This also was discussed fully. The Rev. Gilbert H. Smith gave a paper at the Friday evening session on "Streamlining Instruction." (Page 385.) On Saturday evening, Dr. Acton read a paper on the subject of "Divine Revelation, How Effected." (See October issue.)
     At the first session, the Bishop announced that the Rev. Elmo C. Acton would be absent, as he had already set out on a trip to Western Canada; also, that the Rev. William Whitehead would be absent part of the time, as he had been appointed by the Bishop to represent the General Church at a Convocation of the various bodies of the New Church being held in Cambridge, Mass., this same week. An invitation to participate had been received from the Rev. Mr. Bray, President of the Convention, and Dr. Whitehead had accepted the appointment as representative of the General Church. He returned to Bryn Athyn later in the week, and on Friday gave the Council an exceedingly interesting account of his visit to Cambridge, of the work of the Convocation, and of many new contacts with some of the leading people of the Convention.

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     On Thursday, several matters were considered, as, the work of the Committee on Adult Education, the condition of the South African Mission, the subject of joining the General Church, and the present shortage of ministers for the work of the Church.
     At the Friday session, three MEMORIAL RESOLUTIONS were offered, and each was adopted by a rising vote.
     Rt. Rev. Alfred Acton presented the following:

     "We, the Clergy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem in Annual Council assembled, wish, by this Memorial Resolution, to record our affection and deep respect for our brother, Robert James Tilson, who passed into the spiritual world in May, 1942, shortly after our last Council Meeting; and to record our deep appreciation of the outstanding work which has characterized his ministry of well-nigh sixty-five years. In Liverpool, England, where he had his first charge, his affection was early aroused in support of the doctrine proclaimed by the Academy of the New Church; and it was owing to his influence that, in 1885, Edward S. Hyatt and William H. Acton, and, in 1886, John R. Stephenson and Alfred Acton, became students in the Academy's Theological School. During the whole of his long ministerial career, Bishop Tilson has been distinguished, in an eminent degree, for his zeal in upholding the banner which proclaimed the Divine Authority of the Writings. In the face of persecution and hardship, he never faltered; and when, in the years that followed, he was externally separated from us, he still held this banner aloft in England. Later, when happily the clouds between us had passed away, the fruit of his work was made manifest in an enlarged and strengthened body of our Church."

     The Rev. Norman H. Reuter presented the following:

     "Resolved, that this Council desires to express its sense of loss in the absence of the Rev. Fred Edwin Waelchli from its deliberations, and from the work of the Church on earth, wherein he labored for over half a century. We know not only that he is continuing with delight his use in the Lord's Kingdom, but also that the affectionate regard for spiritual things, which he was instrumental in establishing in many hearts and minds, will continue to sustain the Church through endless multiplications from the days of small beginnings to the future of future uses and increasing perceptions of genuine truth."

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     The Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner presented the following:

     "Inasmuch as, on March 8th in the year of our Lord 1943, the Rev. Philip Johannes Stole. Pastor of the Turner's Avenue Society at Durban, Natal, was called to higher uses in the spiritual world, Be It Resolved, that the Council of the Clergy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, now assembled at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, record its affectionate appreciation of the loyalty and work of this, their fellow minister in the Lord's Vineyard. Philip Stole was ordained into the First Degree of the Priesthood on September 29th, 1929, and into the Pastoral Degree on August 7th, 1938. His faithful labors within the South African Mission, which ended in the sixty-second year of his earthly life, will long be remembered by very large numbers of Zulu youths who passed through the Turner's Avenue School, and by his fellow members of the New Church.
     "Be it also Resolved, that this Resolution be spread upon the minutes of this body, and that a copy be sent, with expressions of sympathy, to the family of Mr. Stole, and as well to the Superintendent of the South African Mission."

     On this Friday it was also voted, that a letter of appreciation he sent to the Women's Guild of the Bryn Athyn Church because of their contribution of refreshment and social stimulation during the recess each morning of these meetings.
     L. W. T. DAVID,
Secretary of the Council of the Clergy.

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JOINT COUNCIL 1943

JOINT COUNCIL       HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1943

     JUNE 26, 1943.

     The forty-ninth regular joint meeting of the Council of the Clergy and the Executive Committee of the General Church of the New Jerusalem was held in Bryn Athyn, Pa., on June 26, 1943.
     The following members attended:

     OF THE CLERGY: The Rt. Rev. George de Charms, the Rt. Rev. Alfred Acton; the Rev. Messrs. K. R. Alden, B. A. H. Boyesen, W. B. Caldwell, H. C. Cranch, C. E. Doering, Alan Gill, F. E. Gyllenhaal, E. F. Iungerich, H. L. Odhner (Secretary), W. D. Pendleton, N. H. Reuter, M. D. Rich, G. H. Smith, Homer Synnestvedt, William Whitehead, L. W. T. David, and R. G. Cranch.
     OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: Messrs. K. C. Acton, E. C. Bostock, G. S. Childs, E. H. Davis, Hubert Hyatt, W. L. Horigan, A. P. Lindsay, Hubert Nelson, P. C. Pendleton, H. F. Pitcairn, and Raymond Pitcairn.

     1. Following prayer and a reading from the Word, Bishop George de Charms (presiding) opened the meeting shortly after 10 a.m.
     2. The MINUTES of the forty-eighth regular meeting were adopted as published in NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1942. pp. 256-261.
     3. The Rev. L. W. T. David, Secretary of the COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY, submitted that body's Report as distributed in galley-proof printed form. After corrections were offered, the Report was adopted. (See NEW CHURCH LIFE, August, 1943, p. 361.)
     4. The Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner submitted the Report of the SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH which was adopted as printed. (See NEW CHURCH LIFE. August, 1943, p. 356.)
     5. The TREASURER OF THE GENERAL CHURCH, Mr. Hubert Hyatt, submitted his report as already distributed to the members of the Church. It was adopted.
     6. The Report of the EDITOR OF THE NEW CHURCH LIFE was submitted by the Rev. W. B. Caldwell in the form of galley-proof. (See NEW CHURCH LIFE. August, 1943, p. 370.)
     Dr. Caldwell explained that the Report had been written in the interests of the next editor. At the urgency of the Bishop he had, however, withdrawn his request to retire from the office, which had of late years proved an increasing strain.

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He described some of the responsibilities of an editor, who was appointed to sift the material offered for the official organ, and he indicated why it was impossible for him to ask for articles promising beforehand that they would be published. Very few unpublished contributions (with the exception of sermons) remained in the editorial files. He did not feel that all the ministers were giving full cooperation. He would like to be relieved as soon as possible, and would leave the work with much gratitude for the opportunities of the twenty-five years spent in the office.
     The Bishop expressed appreciation of Dr. Caldwell's cooperation, and stated that he had hesitated before persuading him to carry on during the present emergency. Other speakers concurred in the hope that he would be encouraged to go on, and would find fuller support from his fellow ministers.
     7. On motion, the Report of the Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE was accepted.
     8. The Report of the Secretary of the CORPORATION OF THE GENERAL CHURCH was submitted by Mr. Edward H. Davis, and was duly accepted. (See August issue, p. 373.)
     9. The Bishop, in reporting verbally on behalf of the SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION COMMITTEE, stated that two pamphlets had been sent out to the members of the Church, with the view of placing the present situation of the Mission before them. After a brief consideration, it was resolved that the printed statement be accepted as the Report of the Mission Committee.
     10. After a short recess, the meeting reconvened.
     11. It was pointed out that since our last meeting the Right Reverend Robert James Tilson, the Reverend Fred Edwin Waelchli, and the Reverend Philip J. Stole, had been called to the spiritual world. By a rising vote, it was resolved, That this Council associates itself with the sentiments of the MEMORIAL RESOLUTIONS already drawn up by the Council of the Clergy. (See pages 393-394.)
     12. The Report of the MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE was read. (See NEW CHURCH LIFE, August, 1943, p. 372.)
     Various speakers voiced appreciation of the excellent work of the Committee. Mr. P. C. Pendleton was impressed with the letters of the soldiers who, although they had not all shown much interest in the church before, were now keenly aware of the contrasts of the "old church" with the New.

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He commented on the missionary value of the material sent out. The question as to whether this material might be used also to amplify the Pastoral Extension Service was broached, with the suggestion that, if so, a substantial payment be required from those outside the armed services who benefit by it. It was suggested that the sermons sent to the soldiers should, if possible, be furnished with a lesson from the Writings. The Treasurer reported that he had received contributions to the General Church from a number of those who are on the mailing list of the Committee, and regarded this as an encouraging sign.
     It was resolved and unanimously carried, That the Report of the Military Service Committee be accepted by the Joint Council with an expression of its special appreciation.
     13.     Bishop de Charms gave the following:

     REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ADULT EDUCATION.

     The Pastoral ENten4on Service has now been in operation for four years. In 6 separate issues, 91 pamphlets have been published; and out of a total of 9100 copies. 4733 have been distributed, including 14 complete sets, and 500 copies sent out by the War Service Committee. The majority of orders received are from isolated members, and pamphlets have been sent to many countries, including China, Australia, South America, Palestine, Africa, Sweden, and England. The value of a library of material from which groups and individuals may select whatever may be applicable to their needs has been amply demonstrated. It is a use that supplements that of NEW CHURCH LIFE and other church magazines, giving to our Ministers a wider circle of readers, and bringing to our scattered members a larger volume and greater variety of spiritual instruction.
     The effort has been to provide this material at the lowest possible cost, and make it self-supporting. The work was originally financed by a contribution of $1000.00, of which about $300.00 remains in cash, in addition to the stock in hand. This would seem to indicate that the fund will need to be replenished over a period of years. But the greater the number of sales, the longer this time may be delayed.
     There is need for wider publicity, that the members of the Church may become more generally aware of what the Service is, and of how it may be utilized. In this task the Committee asks the cooperation of all our Pastors who are in a position to explain the Service, and to call attention to the articles, sermons, children's talks, and doctrinal papers made available by means of it.

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     A complete list of all publications will shortly be is sued, together with a brief statement of the various uses they are intended to perform. This should facilitate the selection of material New pamphlets will be published in the Fall, and we especially urge our Ministers to send us Talks to Children, for which the demand is far greater than we can supply. Perhaps the most pressing need is to help the parents of isolated families in their efforts to instruct their children in the truths of the New Church. We hope to extend and perfect ibis use, and the Committee welcomes suggestions as to the practical means of meeting the actual needs of the Church.
     The membership of the Committee now consists of the following: Rt. Rev. George de Charms, Rev. W. Whitehead, Rev. E. C. Acton. Rev. N. H. Reuter, Mr. G. S. Childs, Mr. Ralph Klein, Rev. B. Boyesen, Mr. Kenneth Synnestvedt.

     The means of informing the General Church about this work was then discussed. It was shown that 1200 letters, with attached lists, had twice been sent out, and that reviews of some of the material had been printed in the LIFE. These reviews should point out the various needs which the pamphlets could meet. A teacher pointed out that the College could use many of these published papers as references.
     Mr. C. S. Childs, who made constant use of this service, felt that these pamphlets had added considerably to the literature of the church. No professional publicity was needed, but the priesthood might to tell us how to use the material. He doubted whether the clergy as a whole had as yet any real conviction as to its usefulness by groups as well as by individuals. Rev. H. C. Cranch suggested that a sample service might accompany the new list. Rev. W. Whitehead explained that the Committee had no funds for publicity, but had procured space in the Sons of the Academy BULLETIN for a new informative list. What is needed is the active thought on the part of the ministers as to how to use the material more widely. The Adult Education work has many possibilities. It saves printing costs. It provides opportunities for articles on applied Theology. Dr. Whitehead advocated that our students at the universities should be followed up by the pastoral ministrations of the church, and related that, in one Episcopal church in Cambridge, Mass., one minister had been especially entrusted with maintaining contact with their students at Harvard. Mr. P. C. Pendleton hailed this suggestion as a constructive idea, and wished to see a method developed by which our youth in the colleges were aided by the kind of material they needed and called for, through our Extension Services.

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     14. The Report was unanimously accepted.
     15. The Report of the COMMITTEE ON NEW CHURCH LIFE came before the meeting. In view of the facts that the Report was made with the view of aiding any new Editor, and that Dr. Caldwell had consented to continue in the office, it was resolved, That the reading of the Report be dispensed with, and that the Report be made available for study by any member of the Council.
     One member of the Committee stressed that the Report was the product of much investigation and labor, and was of perennial value. Questionnaires had been sent out to all members of this Council, and to a large number of young people. It was, therefore, a significant expression of the opinion of the General Church as to the value, use, policy, and organization of its official journal.

     Afternoon Session.

     16. At 3.30 p.m., the subject of the RELATION OF THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH TO THE GENERAL CHURCH was taken up. The Bishop read a Resolution on this subject which had been unanimously adopted at the 1942 annual meeting of the Corporation of the Academy. The Resolution was incorporated in an explanatory Statement by the Bishop. (See NEW CHURCH LIFE, August, 1943.) He now invited the Joint Council to discuss this Statement, with a view to ascertaining how far we concur in the understanding there expressed.

     Rev. H. L. Odhner: This Resolution means, in effect, that the Academy as at present constituted, has renounced, in favor of the General Church, those ecclesiastical uses which it once carried under the name of "the Church of the Academy."
     The Bishop explained that the Statement had been considered at a recent meeting of the Directors of the Academy with the Bishops Consistory. This first meeting of these two bodies gave occasion to consider how a closer relationship between the laymen and the ministers, and an opportunity for both to discuss together the principles underlying our educational uses, might be encouraged without trespassing upon the freedom of either group.
     Bishop Acton regarded the Resolution and the adjoined account as a useful and satisfactory statement of the relation of the Academy to the General Church. At the founding of the Academy, the main need of the Church was the training of competent ministers. A theological school was established.

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Bishop Benade regarded the Academy as a Church; but conditions were then different, the Academy people being members of the General Church of Pennsylvania, which was part of the Convention, and thus was not free in carrying out its ecclesiastical uses. After the separation from Convention, the need for the Academy to carry on its own ecclesiastical uses really no longer existed, since the General Church of the Advent was not hampered by restraints from Convention. "We tried to swallow the idea of an Internal Church and an External Church" out of loyalty to Bishop Benade, but soon most of the members of the Academy resigned.
     Since 1897, the Academy has acted only as a corporation, and by implication and in practice the General Church of the New Jerusalem became the custodian of the ecclesiastical uses of the Academy. The question now is, What mode may be found to provide for closer counsel between the Academy and the General Church? A General Council functioned for a time under Bishop W. F. Pendleton to discuss all matters of moment apart from any executive authority. But it is not well to go back to the forms of the past; conditions have changed.
     The speaker therefore now favored regular meetings of the Board and the Consistory-say two or three times a year-to amplify the present close consultation between the Board and the Bishop. The Consistory is the Bishop's ecclesiastical council. He doubted the necessity of the Bishop presiding at such meetings of the Board as were devoted exclusively to financial matters.
     Mr. Raymond Pitcairn also believed that such regular joint meetings would strengthen our bonds of unity and give a greater understanding of our uses, thus bringing back the spirit which made the old Academy Council such a wonderful body. But he did not concur with the suggestion that the Board should meet without the Bishop, who is not only the president of the Academy, but also the executive head of the various uses of the schools. In the past, as in the case of the General Church Incorporated when the president was a layman, as also in the case of the old Extension Committee, such a plan had proved inadequate. The laymen had come to the conclusion that the Bishops leadership is required in the Executive Committee. And the same applies to the Academy Board.
     Mr. G. S. Childs pointed out that increasingly the Academy will have to depend upon the General Church as a whole for financial support. He questioned whether the membership of the Board should not be more widely representative than it is at the present time, when the Directors are selected from the immediate vicinity for the sake of a working quorum; and especially so if meetings were to cover a wider scope of interest, as was now proposed. The time was past when the Academy could operate on the basis of its endowment alone, and while he had no criticism of the Board in the past or in the present, he felt that the principle of "no taxation without representation" might be applicable.
     Mr. Edward C. Bostock stressed that the Academy Board had been chosen from members of the Corporation living near to the institution, primarily for working purposes.

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He pointed out, however, that the membership of the Corporation was being widened, and should be drawn from the General Church at large so long as membership is properly qualified. The Bishop should preside at meetings of the Board, in order to keep members in contact with educational problems.
     Mr. Bostock agreed fundamentally with the plan of having consultations with the Consistory whenever occasion arose, but felt that it was not wise to multiply meetings, and that it would he inconsistent to have the Academy Board meeting with the Consistory and excluding the Executive Committee of the General Church.
     Rev N. H. Reuter felt sympathetic with Mr. Childs' views. Our Church had grown "like Topsy" without the aid of any organizational expert. He instanced the confusing multiplicity of our organizations, and believed that the whole question of our "Order and Organization" should be discussed by our Councils. In the Resolution it was apparently implied that the Academy and the General Church were coordinate and independent bodies, while Bishop N. D. Pendleton had given him the impression that the Academy should be regarded as subordinate to the General Church, being an arm of the Church. He inquired whether the Academy was separate from the Church because of legal requirements, or whether the two bodies would bear a different relation to each other if we started today.
     Rev. W. D. Pendleton noted that, after the Academy began to appeal to the General Church for funds, the question of their relations took on a different complexion. He believed that such changes must he met as they come, and should be the subject of calm deliberation. None of us can see clearly what is ahead. Meanwhile, the Resolution is the best and most suitable step for the present, and should be approved as expressing our present attitude.
     The Bishop reiterated that the statement should represent the real understanding and feeling of both the General Church and the Academy as to their relations.
     Rev. K. R. Alden reverted to Mr. Childs' point as pertinent to the discussion. The Board's efficiency is beyond criticism, but many in the Church want to understand why the Corporation is a self-perpetuating body, and why the Board is not more widely representative.
     Rev. Bjorn Boyesen felt that the underlying question was the government of the church, and that this should be considered and discussed, first in the Council of the Clergy, and then by the Joint Council.

     17. It was moved by Mr. A. P. Lindsay, duly seconded, and unanimously resolved,
     That the Council endorse the Resolution of the Corporation of the Academy of the New Church, and approve the Statement made by the Bishop in explanation of the same, as representing the present status of the relationship of the Academy and the General Church; and further recommend that this Resolution and Statement be published in the NEW CHURCH LIFE.

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     Mr. P. C. Pendleton commented on the sense of fatigue caused by many meetings. He knew this as a common complaint on the part of the business men, but had noticed that they did not refuse to attend the parties which followed the meetings. The proposed joint meetings with the Consistory were an opportunity too precious to be lost, and were likely to result in mutual benefit and in a great deal of good for the church.
     As to the Academy being a self-perpetuating body, this was a great protection. A four-million dollar corporation necessarily must have men of special skills; and while a purposeful effort is now being made to enlarge the Corporation membership to include representative men from all over the church, it would be impossible to open the elections to the church as a whole. He favored the election to the Board of some members from points outside of Bryn Athyn, but the change can only be made by degrees. Another reason why the General Church should not control the Academy is that the time will come when the Academy is only one among many similar institutions for New Church education.
     Mr. Hubert Hyatt, speaking to the question of why the Academy is legally and financially independent, pointed out that the Academy's charter could not be amended without the risk of our losing the valuable privileges which it confers. The Academy, like most corporations, is a self-perpetuating body. When all goes well, the Corporation has a relatively unimportant role; but if things go wrong, the Corporation, which elects the Board of Directors, emerges as the governing body of the Academy. To make the membership of the Board and Corporation more representative is a normal development which will go forward in due course.
     Ret. homer Synnestvedt spoke at some length on the history of universities, and traced how such bodies, when once secured by a charter, had weathered the storms of social and political upheavals. He said that the State, as well as the Church, had rights with which we must conform. Pointing to certain cities wherein denominational religious instruction was subsidized by the taxpayers, he noted that education was a joust responsibility of Church and State, and referred to T. C. R. 430.
     Mr. Raymond Pitcairn related that, due to the efforts of the President of the Academy, the Board had been working in the direction of enlarging the importance of the Corporation. He noted in passing that, not only is the Academy a self-perpetuating body, but the priesthood itself was most notably so.
     The Bishop felt that the relation of the Academy to the Church was of extreme import to our future development. The question had been asked, If the Academy is an arm of the Church, why should not the Church have something to say about its organization? This calls for an answer which makes clear the relation between the two bodies. But the loss of our present Academy charter would be irretrievable, and could not be risked. If, however, the Corporation could he sufficiently enlarged from members of the General Church, the election of the Board, conducted near Charter Day, when a large attendance was possible, would become a vital function in which the Church had a decisive voice.

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Other uses of the Corporation might gradually develop. But all this must be determined by the Academy, not by the Joint Council or by the General Church.
     Bishop Acton recalled that Bishop N. D. Pendleton had said of him, "The Doctor and I often agree, but usually for different reasons." So now, he saw no force in the argument that the General Church should have a greater representation in the Academy because it has been appealed to for subscriptions. We all contribute to many a good cause in whose management we have no voice; this is in no sense taxation without representation. The Academy simply presents its use, and we, appreciating that use, freely support it; and it is wholesome and important that this use should have a broad basis in the General Church as a whole.

     18. The meeting adjourned at 5.30 p.m.
          HUGO LJ. ODHNER
               Secretary.
HOW TO TEACH 1943

HOW TO TEACH       Rev. C. E. DOERING       1943

      (At a Session of the Educational Council, June 22, 1943.)

     When Swedenborg was writing his Introduction to the Rational Psychology in the Economy of the Animal Kingdom, he found it necessary to formulate certain doctrines or rules which would enable him to ascend into the interiors of nature, in order to see the connection between interiors and exteriors, or between cause and effect. These he called the Doctrine of Order, the Doctrine of Series, and the Doctrine of Degrees, and later he added the Doctrine of Forms and the Doctrines of Correspondences and Representations. For he saw that nature was created in order, in series, and in degrees, and that the ultimate was formed from the inmost, and presented that inmost to view, and so corresponded to it.
     So he makes the statement that "the science of natural things depends on a distinct notion of series and degrees, and of their subordination and coordination; and the better a person knows how to arrange into order things which are to be determined into action, so that there may exist a series of effects flowing from their genuine causes, the more perfect is his genius.

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And inasmuch as an arrangement of this kind is prevalent throughout nature, so the faculty of arranging is perfected by observation and reflection on the objects of nature, by natural abilities, and by the assistance of those instructors whose minds are not too artificially moulded, or under the influence of prepossessions, but who claim to themselves a freedom in contemplating the objects of nature with a view to become instructed by things themselves, as they flow forth in their order." (Vol. II, no. 587.)
     By these doctrines, which he used as a ladder or steps by which to enter into the causes of things, by observation of the objects of nature, by reflection-and, we must add, by a sincere and devout study of the Sacred Scriptures, which he tells us he read daily, and which undoubtedly opened his mind to the influence of heaven,-Swedenborg was enabled to present to the world a philosophy of the Creation, and of the human organic, as if he actually saw the Divine in its operation, creating these, each for its appointed use and service. For this reason his philosophical works are living with the verbal pictures of the Love and Wisdom of God in His operation.
     Nature to him was a theatre representative of the kingdom of God, and he saw man, the crowning work of the Creator, so formed that he can receive and, through uses, return to the Creator the gifts of love and wisdom received from Him. And so he says in the Principia, "The greater lovers of nature we are, the greater worshippers of God we may become." If we see this in his philosophy, we can appreciate the reply made to Oetinger's inquiry as to why he, being a philosopher, was chosen to be the Revelator. Swedenborg's answer was: "The cause is this, that the spiritual things which are being revealed at the present day may be taught and understood naturally and rationally; for spiritual truths have correspondence with natural truths, because in these they terminate." (Docu. 232.) In the Intercourse between Soul and Body (no. 20), he makes a similar statement, and describes himself as a spiritual fisherman which he explained to mean "one who investigates and teaches natural truths, and afterwards spiritual truths in a rational manner."
     Note that he investigated natural truths, and then taught these truths naturally and rationally, that in Providence they might serve as a containant of spiritual truths, which he taught by means of the press, and thus make it possible to comprehend spiritual truths rationally.

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     I mention Swedenborg's methods of approach, and his attitude of mind in his investigation of the truths of nature, not only because I believe that every New Church educator needs to have something of his spirit, if New Church education is to effect with our pupils that which we all so sincerely hope for, but also because we can learn much that is valuable to us in our work by a study of his methods of investigation, as well as the doctrines which enabled him to ascend into the interiors of nature and to see the causes of things, their connection and uses, and to present to the world the natural truths which he saw. In fact, we have here at hand, given for our use, a body of natural truths which are correspondent to the spiritual truths of the Writings. I should like to see more use made of them in our work.
     As Swedenborg formulated doctrines, that he might better analyze the objects he was investigating, so must we study the Writings and formulate doctrines that will enable us to have a grasp of the growing mind, the purposes of the Divine Providence in creating it, its needs, and what will supply those needs.
     As Swedenborg took the facts of his day, and from his love of truth, and under the Divine Providence, moulded those facts into a system of natural truths which correspond to and embody the spiritual truths of Revelation, so must the educator use the facts of science -all the facts about the child which the psychologists and others have put at our disposal-and, from a love of the spiritual welfare of the child, and from principles derived from Revelation, organize that material so that we can the better supply the food which the growing mind requires-organize it so that the growing understanding sees truth, and the growing voluntary is stimulated with a delight in truth, in which delight is its good. This is the truth and good by which the Lord builds the mind. In the Arcana 5576, it is called the "food of the mind," which "food consists in understanding what is true and in tasting what is good."
     As Swedenborg studied nature and man, and reflected thereon, so a study of the pupils at their work and play, their surroundings, what they do, and how they react, and reflection thereon, will be a guide to us, that we may wisely meet and direct the varying states of those entrusted to us, and allure their minds from lower things to higher.

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The teaching is, that the mind cannot be forced, but that `delights allure the internal to give its consent, and also its love." (D. P. 137.) Swedenborg was and is an educator in a broad sense. The world is his audience, and he teaches them through the press. His method of research and his statement of truth may serve as an example to us.
     From the beginning of the New Church, some New Churchmen have earnestly desired New Church education. They saw in it the only hope for the permanent establishment of the Church. They noticed that the children of receivers did not remain in the Church. To call attention to this, many articles were written and published in the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY and other magazines, advocating the establishment of New Church schools for New Church children. Several articles also pointed out what such education should accomplish. Thus "W. M.," in 1817, states: Unless our minds are cultivated, we are merely animal (except as to our latent faculty of becoming rational), and unless our wills are submitted to proper discipline, we are like wild beasts." In the same article he says: "Education consists of the formation of good dispositions in the will, and right conceptions in the understanding." In 1828, William Malins began a New Church school at Woodford, Essex, England, for New Church children, but it lasted only a few years, and I have no doubt that one of the reasons for its failure was that at that time there had not been formulated a body of principles of New Church education which was accepted by New Churchmen, in spite of the articles which had been published in the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY. Certainly few New Churchmen sent their children to his school.
     Mr. Hindmarsh had published his work on the correspondences of the numbers, weights and measures mentioned in the Scriptures, and some thought that if they taught correspondences they were giving a New Church education. Hindmarsh's work is very valuable to anyone teaching the Word and introducing the young mind to the study of number and form. But it is my opinion that, outside of the study of the Word, the science of correspondences is not to be taught in a didactic way, but by the way that was adopted by Swedenborg, viz., by seeing the relation of one thing to another in their order, connection, series, and use, thus the relation of cause and effect: for if we see that relation, we see correspondences, because the relation between cause and effect is one of correspondence.

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     This seems to be implied in the Arcana, when describing the formation of the understanding. The statement is made that "the understanding consists in seeing truths, the causes of things, and their connections and consequences in regular order, from those things which are of experience and science." (A. C. 6125.) A. C. 1434 tells us what truth is: "Truth sensual exists when all the objects of the earth and the world are seen as created by God, and all and each for some end, and when in all and each is seen some resemblance of the kingdom of God."
     In the light of these numbers we can see the force of Bishop Benade's statement that "goods and truths are the objects of education." Truths are to be drawn out of, and shown to be contained in, the facts of science by their order, connection, series and use, so formed by God. These must be in the mind of the teacher, whose function it is to present them to the student so that he also sees them. And the delight in seeing them, and in seeing their use, is to be insinuated, for that delight is their good. Because it is an affection directed to something outside of the pupil, thus away from self, the Lord can use it to store up remains of good which He can later use in the process of regenerating him. This is the universal mode by which the Lord regenerates man. He regenerates him by the delight in use. When the mind is directed to the doing of something useful outside of self, and is intent therein, then the Lord has an opportunity to do His work from within. For "good is the delight of the affection of acting and thinking according to Divine Order." (D. P. 279:3.) "It universally comprehends and involves all things which are of Love." (D. P. 11.)
     An illustration of the application of the Doctrines of order, series, and degrees to the work of the educator is given in D. P. no. 3:
     "Take a tree, or its seed, its fruit, or flower, or its leaf, and, collecting all your wisdom, view it with a good microscope, and you will see in it wonderful things; and the interiors which you do not see are still more wonderful. Observe the order in which the parts succeed each other during the growth of a tree from the seed until it produces new seed; and consider whether there is not in every successive stage a continual endeavor to propagate itself still further; for the ultimate to which it tends is seed, in which its prolific exists anew.

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If, then, you reflect spiritually, will not you see wisdom displayed? This you will do, especially if you so far think spiritually as to perceive that the prolific is not from the seed, nor from the sun of this world, . . . but from God the Creator, who possesses infinite wisdom. . . Examine also any other object; view it, first naturally, afterwards rationally, and lastly spiritually. Then, if you can think elevatedly, you will be astonished at everything; and if you permit wisdom to speak in you, you will say with astonishment 'Who does not see the Divine in these things? They are all effects of the Divine Wisdom.' This will be the case still more if you regard the uses of all things which are created, perceiving how they proceed in regular order, even unto man, and from man to the Creator from whom they are." (D. P. 3.)
     Here we have, given in the Writings, the mode by which the educator should proceed from generals to particulars. There is first the general view, then the entering into particulars, showing the connection of the parts to each other, their use and why each is formed as it is, and at the same time a raising of the mind to the Author of it all. Undoubtedly this could not have been revealed through Swedenborg unless he had trained his mind to do just that kind of investigating and reflecting, to show not only the science, but the truth within the science. Is not the principle given in this illustration applicable to everything that we teach?
     But I should like to say a word more as to the cause of the failure of Mr. Malin's school.
     To understand the implications of New Church education, and what it should be, certain general doctrines for the use of the Church like the Principles of the Academy, had to be developed from the Writings, and be seen and accepted by the Church, or by a group in the Church, before the necessity of New Church education could be seen. For if it is not seen that the Old Church is spiritually dead, if it is thought that it is being revived by the influx of good, the need for distinctive New Church education cannot be seen.
     Distinctive New Church doctrines had been formulated here and there by different men from the beginning of the New Church, but their proclamation was as a voice in the wilderness to the great majority of New Churchmen. Preconceived ideas stood in the way of their accepting the Writings as Divine Authority; and therefore what the Writings said of the vastated state of the Christian world was not accepted.

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The Rev. Richard de Charms formulated in general the Doctrines later developed by the Academy. Mr. Benade took up the banner for Divine Authority and distinctiveness raised by the Rev. de Charms, and around him were gradually associated a group of ministers and laymen who believed in the Divine Authority of the Writings, the distinctiveness of the New Church, and the vastated state of the Old Christian Church.
     Having accepted these principles whole-heartedly, Mr. Benade believed that the prophecy, "Behold I make all things new," was literally true, not only as applied to the life of the Church and its government and worship, but also as applied to education; for he was primarily interested in education. And so, when the Rev. J. P. Stuart, in 1854, wrote from Urbana and asked him what textbooks he should use, he said: "There are none: we will have to make our own texts"
     That was nearly ninety years ago, and yet we are still using Old Church texts, with their skepticism, atheism, denial of Divine Authority, and the exalting of the authority of human reason. Mr. Benade had a conviction that there could be no compromise between the New and the Old on any plane, that New Church education had to be developed anew from the Writings. To the end that a beginning might be made in this direction, after the establishment of the Academy in 1876, he gave a series of classes on Education, first to the Rev. E. C. Bostock in 1881-2 as a post-graduate course; and later he gave lectures, running for a number of years, to all theological students of the Academy and to members of the Philadelphia Society. The notes of these latter lectures, made by a student, were published in NEW CHURCH LIFE under the title. "Conversations on Education."
     In this work, after introducing the subject with the statement that the subjects of education are men, and the objects of instruction and education are good and truth, we have the statement that "the end for which both subjects and objects exist, and for which man is to be educated, is not this world, but an angelic heaven." That is, the end of education is to prepare man for heaven. Education is to play a part in preparing man so that he may cooperate with the end of the Divine Providence, which is a heaven from the human race which operation of Providence, we are told, begins at birth and continues to the end of life, and afterwards to eternity.

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     It has sometimes been said that, while heaven is the end of creation, to claim that it is the end of education places it rather remote, as something afar off, too abstract to be practical. For it is said that education does not prepare youth for heaven, but for the church, that they may regenerate. It is true that education does not even regenerate. Nevertheless, the operations of Providence with man begin at birth; that is, the Lord's operation for man's salvation begins then, and so includes all stages of preparation, and thus education. Because that is the end of Providence, it must be the end of education. It is therefore different from that of the world around us. Preparation for the world, and for the enjoyment of the delights of this world and practical things, are what are stressed in educational literature for the past fifty years. There is no thought of spiritual life, no acknowledgment of Divine Authority. This is so because (If the ignorance of spiritual things and the denial of God, and that He has given a revelation which contains the laws of life. The human mind is held to be the creator of all truth, and it is believed that the acceptance and acknowledgment of Divine Truth which is absolute limits the mental faculties and retards the human race. This is found in their literature, even in their works on mathematics.
     But having heaven as the primary end does not mean that secondary ends or practical things may be neglected. In fact, the primary end will not be fulfilled if the secondary ends are not properly provided for in their proper time and place; no more than one can live in a house until it is built. The end is not the building of the house, but the dwelling in it. Mr. Benade did not overlook the secondary ends. He says in an article addressed to parents: "The end of instruction is that, by the insemination of truths and facts, the understanding of man be well established and developed. And his understanding is well developed when by it he is enabled to discharge all his duties honestly and faithfully, and when he under all circumstances knows how to act wisely and with discretion." (Dew Drop, page 69.) Who would say that this is not practical? And yet it is a secondary end, embodying the first and primary end, which is within, reigning throughout as a living soul.

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     But to bring this about, the teacher must have at his disposal all those truths which are necessary to the uniform development of the understanding, as well as the ability to arouse in the minds of the pupils the necessary affections to receive and hold those truths. The educator's work, therefore, is twofold-presenting truths, and arousing affections which shall receive those truths. The former are in the mind of the instructor; the latter are in the minds of those whom he instructs. The teacher should have a clear perception of both, and they should be open before his mind during instruction, in order that from the store of truths in his mind he may bring forward and present those truths which are required by the pupil, and arouse in him such affections as will most readily seize upon and take hold of those truths. The greater the store of truths available for use in the mind of the teacher, the better he can select those needed by the pupil.
     The work is not easy, and requires much preparation, much study, reflection, and thought. How much is needed, the Rev. F. C. Bostock, in 1882, speaking of the qualifications of a New Church educator, states in these words: "He requires a thorough knowledge and a clear understanding of the human soul; its relation with the Lord, with angels and spirits, and with its fellow men; a knowledge and understanding of its conditions at birth, its mode of formation and growth, its varied states in infancy, childhood, youth, and adult age. It requires a knowledge of the affections to be cultivated and the things to be taught; a knowledge of sensuals, scientifics, and rationals. In a word, it requires a thorough knowledge and understanding of the Writings of the Church, of the Letter of the Word, and of the natural arts and sciences. To this must he added the love of teaching-a regenerated love." (NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1882, page 180.)
     Mr. Benade, in the outline of his lectures, after stating that heaven is the end for which man is to be educated, adds: The means for attaining this end are provided in:
     1.     The constitution of man, in that he is organized of spiritual and natural substances;
     2.     The relation of man to the spiritual world and to the natural world;

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     3. The influx of the Divine Life, which is both a mediate and an immediate influx;
     4. Divine Revelation and human science;
     5.     Human receptibility and reciprocation.
     The universals of method for accomplishing this end are:
     1.     Accommodation,
     2.     Application
     3.     Conjunction.
     Any one of the above could be the subject of a lecture, but at this time I will not comment upon any but that of the method of accommodation, and this very briefly.
     The educator, in his study of the Word and Writings, must not only search for the truth therein, but must also learn the Lord's method of accommodating His Truth and Good, and the laws by which He leads and governs all mankind. For His methods of accommodation, and His laws of Divine government, are what we must learn and apply, if we would cooperate with Him.
     As the Lord puts on the finite states of man in order to accommodate His Divine Truth to finite reception, so the educator has to accommodate the truth to the capacity of his pupil, and not hold himself above his pupil, and talk down to him or at him. For the pupil is not a passive vessel into which something is to be poured; nor is the cultivation of only the memory the end of education. What is needed are clear, concise statements that are adapted to the mind of his hearer. Moreover, as the Lord operates from within to vivify the truths that are received into the memory of man, so the teacher with a thorough knowledge of what he is teaching and with a deep love of his pupil-quietly, not ostentatiously, manifesting an interest in his welfare-will, as it were, get underneath or within, and arouse the interest of the pupil.
     The sphere of concentrated affection, interest, and thought of the teacher will affect much with children. Young people are affected by spheres, without knowing what it is that affects them. As the Writings are full of illustrations to clarify the meaning of what is taught, so the teacher, by using illustrations that are within the pupil's experience, helps much to clarify the instruction. Also, by judicious questioning, and encouraging questions by the pupil, the teacher can often find out wherein the pupil has difficulty and can stimulate his mind into activity.

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An inactive mind on the part of the pupil is deleterious to his mental growth, and lays it open to assaults by evil spirits; but by questioning, the mind is stimulated, and the teacher enters into it, and is able to protect it from those assaults. Moreover, the pupil needs to learn what questions to ask, and how to ask them.
     By getting underneath or within I do not mean that the teacher should put himself on the plane of the pupil, and act from his animus when the pupil is refractory and is displaying his animus. On the contrary, if the teacher should do this, he places himself under the same evil influences, under the same evil spirits, that have gotten hold of the pupil, and he has lost his power to help. I have seen this happen when teachers have lost their tempers. No, what is needed then is usually a quiet, calm, yet firm treatment that has no animus and leaves no sting or resentment, and may furnish the opportunity to give the instruction that all good is from God and all evil is from evil spirits, and that we have the power of selecting which we will entertain and welcome.
     This is important, because so long as we claim evil to be our own, we cannot get rid of it, according to the teaching in the Divine Providence: `If man would believe, as is the truth, that all good and truth is from God, and all evil and falsity is from hell, he would not ascribe good to himself, and make it meritorious; neither would he appropriate evil to himself, and make himself guilty of it." (D. P. 320.) A living realization of this truth is vitally important, not only for our own spiritual development, but also in the work of education, in leading the young to a recognition of its importance to their development and growth, and in being able rationally to make the choice between good and evil. To this end the whole process of developing the understanding is to be directed, that he may know how to choose wisely; and all subtle influences should be brought to hear upon the growing voluntary, to the end that he may choose that which the understanding sees to be for the best.
     If we can accomplish something of this, and continue developing along these lines, then by study and application our work will develop, and eventually we shall be able to write those texts for use in our school which Mr. Benade said we would have to write.

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EDUCATIONAL COUNCIL 1943

EDUCATIONAL COUNCIL       Various       1943

     First General Session-June 22, 3.30 P.M.

     Bishop de Charms, presiding, opened the session by reading from the Word and leading in the Lord's Prayer. The meeting, held in the Council Hall, was well attended by ministers, teachers, and members of the Executive Committee.
     It was voted, That the record of the 1942 meetings of this Council, as printed in NEW CHURCH LIFE, June, 1942, pp. 250-255, be accepted.
     The Bishop gave an outline of the program for this year's meetings, and explained that the Group Meetings are only for those teachers who are engaged in or connected with the teaching of the topic to be discussed, to the end that progress may be made along specific lines.
     An Address was then delivered by the Rev. Dr. Charles E. Doering on the subject of "How To Teach." (See page 403.)

     Discussion.

     Professor Otho Heilman: This paper should be made available to all teachers, and especially those entering the work of teaching.
     Rev. F. E. Iungerich: The philosophy of discipline, as set forth in the address, differs much from that of Bernard Shaw, who holds that there is nothing more unnatural than cold discipline, and that punishment administered with violent indignation, even if the child is injured, is more human. There is a shred of truth in this-that the child would then be impressed with the attitude of the parent toward evil. Yet the child will feel this any way, because anything that is opposed to its will is regarded as evil.
     Swedenborg's method of approach and his early training, not only shows us how he was prepared to a certain level, but we must there pick up his ideas and develop ourselves similarly to that level, in order that we may more fully understand him.
     Mr. Wilfred Howard: In regard to textbooks, very little has been done by us in that field. I wonder whether Bishop Benade went into the question as to what texts are needed. We may question, for example, the value of our own textbooks us Chemistry and like subjects. They would merely be a rearrangement of the material. Can we do much in a really New Church way writing such texts?

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If something should be done, why have we not done it? This question is worthy of our study.
     Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner: There is an inevitable tendency to turn our teaching into routine. We are not conscious of it, and in teaching we say what is most illuminating to us. But we may lose contact with the students, and therefore, as Dr. Doering says, we should turn back to the subject matter, that we may continuously accommodate to the students.
     On the subject of textbook; I have been wishing for a selection of complete reviews of statements in the Writings on specific subjects. In History, for example, there is no available List of passages on historical characters. Such a list could be made and mimeographed, and thus be made available to the students as collateral reading. Both teachers and pupils would then feel that the Writings have much to say on vital subjects. Such lists might in the future be worked up into texts.
     Miss Nancy Horigan: Something like this has been done in the College for those who have been preparing to be teachers. It has been done in Dr. Doering's course on Mathematics. And Dr. Whitehead furnished a list in his History course which showed how to apply it in teaching. Such things are at least a beginning of textbooks.
     Rev. Harold Cranch: In the matter of textbooks, the picture is not as dark as has been painted. In the Theological School we had texts on the Doctrine of the Lord, the Spiritual World, Liturgies, and other subjects. And there is Bishop W. F. Pendleton's work on The Science of Exposition. I agree with Dr. Odhner's suggestion, and it would he a good thing for ministers of societies where there is no school. The trouble with textbooks of the Old Church is not so much with the material as with the philosophy behind it. We should have textbooks that give the New Church ideas on their specific subjects. If such were available to ministers, it would he of help to them in answering questions as to what New Church education is.
     Bishop de Charms: Dr. Doering has pointed to the ideal. Yet it is fortunate that we are not obliged to wait until we have acquired all the virtues prescribed by Mr. Bostock in his catalogue of the necessary qualifications for teaching. We can only approach the ideal by actual work.
     In regard to the need for textbooks, many attempts have been made to produce them, and with considerable success. Few have been published, because the cost of printing is out of proportion to the small demand. Mimeographing is a more practical way to meet our present need, and by this means the basis may he laid for future textbooks, A beginning has been made in those fields where the relation of the subject to the teachings of the Writings has become clear.
     Referring to Mr. Howard's question as to a textbook in Chemistry, fear has been expressed lest in emphasizing principles and philosophy we neglect to teach facts. On the other hand, we are convinced that even scientific education does not consist in a mere memory of facts or the acquirement of specific skills. These are important. But they need to be understood. If, together with them, we impart a true philosophy, we can implant both the knowledge and the skill more easily.

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For we can give meaning to these facts. We can show their use, their purpose, and their relation to one another. We can impart some vision of the wonderful harmony and unity impressed upon them by the Divine Creator. All this will greatly assist the memory.
     It is a common idea that New Church teaching requires us to do just what is done in the schools of the world, and then add to this the philosophy of the New Church. This would indeed be an impossible task. But we believe that a rearranging of the facts into their true pattern will cause them to illustrate the philosophy of the New Church, imparting a vision of the Lord's purpose in creation, the beauty and harmony of use, which gives living human interest to a subject otherwise dead. This idea is not new, but we here suggest that it is applicable to all subjects of instruction.
     Rev. Gilbert H. Smith: Is Hindmarsh's book on the Correspondences of Numbers, Weights and Measures available? (Answer: "It is out of print.") I have run across a book by the Rev. Joseph Deans which gives valuable information on many subjects; as, for example, flax. It first tells about the plant, how it is cultivated, etc. and then the references to it in the Bible, and finally its correspondence and the New Church teaching in regard to it. Words for the New Church is a valuable textbook. Others I might mention are Dr. Acton's book On Hebrew, New Church Stories in NEW CHURCH LIFE, many studies of the Heavenly Doctrine and of the Letter of the Word, and Bishop de Charms' "Life of the Lord."
     All teachers write their own texts, collecting material as they repeat the course year after year. Children write their own texts in making their notebooks, drawing their owls pictures, thus connecting the child's interest with the subject. Even when it is off the subject, the teacher should insinuate some related idea. Unless we can connect any subject with the New Church or with spiritual ideas, it is a waste of time. We should not teach a language just for the sake of the language, but rather for the ideas it expresses. Textbooks change from one generation to another; they must be adapted to our own times and circumstances.
     Dr. Doering: I had in mind the urge in the world to rearrange, and our tendency to fall in step with the world. I wanted to refresh our minds as to the principle of examining what they have produced, that we may see whether we can use it to illustrate or accomplish what we want. For example, take the Commando Course. Are we doing right to arouse in 13- and 14-year olds the incitation to fight and kill? I have noticed the effect of this with freshmen and sophomores, and I think it is bad. It has stirred up in them what should not he stirred up. It is an age when most delicate and tender care is needed, and is not a time for training in the art of war.
     We must get our principles clear, and then look at each child and pay attention to what we know we ought to do.
     I did not intend to emphasize texts. What Mr. Benade and the others had us mind was that the world's work is based upon falsity,-the belief in no God, etc.

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We need to reorganize in the light of the Truth. Let us have a clear idea of our end and purpose, and as clear an idea of the child as possible.

     It was voted, That Mr. Stanley F. Ebert be requested to arrange the program for next year.

     Second General Session-June 23, 3.30 P.M.

     With the Rev. Karl R. Alden in the chair, the Rev. Willard D. Pendleton delivered an Address on the subject of "Education for Use in which he dwelt upon the development of the human mind in childhood, and its analogy with the same period in the Lord's glorification, as represented in the Word by Abram's sojourn in Egypt, when he called his wife "sister." (Genesis 12: 13-20. A. C. 1461-1502.)

     Discussion.

     Rev. Norman H. Reuter: Our education must he guided, not by what develops the intellect but what develops the new will. All measurements of modern education are to test the intellect. I do not know how we can measure this development of the will, but if it is in the mind of the teacher our education will be distinctive, and will subtly change the imparting of knowledge. This is an answer to the question, How can we teach things distinctively?-namely, by keeping them open, not closed, to the Lord. It therefore brings about new methods of teaching, of marking and awards, because it has another purpose-not just to make smart students.
     Rev. K. R. Alden: I was pleased with the idea, mentioned in the address, that we cannot see truth except through love. "Unto the upright light ariseth in darkness." The three Marys in the Gospel are three phases of the church. The Lord appeared to the one out of whom He had cast seven devils; that is, the first to see the Lord are those who shun evil as sins. The paper we have heard was a challenge in regard to deceit-one of the most difficult things to eradicate in our work of education. I have felt encouraged when we have had no combined or class deceit, but we must he ever more vigilant in regard to this evil.
     Rev. Gilbert H. Smith: Use is the ability to insinuate in children the good affections, and therefore all men are born particular kinds of affection or use. In regard to deceit, as mentioned in the Writings, it is more deep than mere deception. It is connected with the "goody goody" feeling in a child. In adults it is the feeling of one's own good and thus a turning of the thoughts to self A child in school may feel that he is better than others; he has the "best daddy," the "best house," and so on. This is the deceit of the serpent. We must try to destroy in the child the idea that be is "good. There is danger in overpraise, and we should gently guide him to see his faults.

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     We must teach responsibility towards the work the pupils are doing in school. They must be educated to fit their environment. I do not mean civil education, as when a boy is allowed to be mayor of the town for a day. The child must do well the job he has to do and not give up until a good job has been done. There is however a delicate line of choice-when to make a child finish, and when it is not useful to force completion. We must inculcate the idea of doing a good job, and this will be getting the child to take responsibility.
     Mr. Stanley F. Ebert: In connection with the danger of allowing a child to be in "faith alone" it is a difficult thing to keep a child to a job, and to insist upon his finishing it. It is well to keep what we insist upon simple and then we will be more apt to accomplish it. I commend the Kitchener school's approach in taking the rules of conduct one at a time. If we want to be sound, we will take up one thing at a time. In the subject of English, for example, but of the many rules for the use of commas, let us take one, and see that it is carried out. If it is thoroughly understood by the student, and yet he does not apply it, that is "faith alone."
     Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner: A few words on behalf of Sarai the sister not the wife. In certain states in childhood it is profitable that the child's love of things and its delight therein should cause the mind to learn a process rather than the ultimate use. The temptation is to love the knowledge thus acquired. That slate is a normal one, though it must not endure. It is a stepping stone in education. The future use must be in the teacher's mind, but there is no seed for the child to see pragmatical use at the time. There are many things the churl must learn and take pride in before seeing their use-the manners of society, for example.
     Deceit can never be overstressed. As a church, if we have progressed in nothing else, we know that the Heavenly Doctrines speak of three evils which those of the New Church will abhor-namely, deceit, the love of adultery, and the love of commanding from the love of self. I feel that we have accomplished something in making our children abhor these evils. We hate deceit, hypocrisy, and what is not genuine; and we also hate the other evils mentioned.
     Miss Celia Bellinger: I was impressed with the definition of innocence given in the paper. Our young people are so afraid of being considered innocent-fraid to be thought old-fashioned. Yet innocence is not ignorance, but a willingness to be led by the Lord.
     Bishop de Charms: The paper strikes at the center of our education-preparation for use, and what is meant by it. It seems that the chief thing is to broaden our view as to what is meant by use, and to see that the preparation for use is not identified (as it is so universally in the world around us) as preparation for external employment or business in the world. The two are not identical. What impresses me with the teaching of the Writings about it is, that use in its essence is that for which every man is created-to receive gifts of love and wisdom from the Lord, gifts peculiar to him, which no one else can quite receive; gifts which he receives for the sake of giving them to others, for the sake of the perfection of heaven and the Gorand Man.

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The Gorand Man increases in its perfection in the measure that the variety of use is increased, so that every angel who enters into a society brings something which the society did not possess before, something for which each individual in that society is profoundly grateful. For each individual to receive certain gifts which nobody else can receive, and to give them for the sake of the Gorand Man gives a concept of use which goes much deeper than a business or occupation.
     The world is created as an association of men dependent upon one another naturally and spiritually and because they are dependent upon one another, we are called upon to give of our personal gifts for the perfection of that society; and all the uses which go to make a community are the uses which ran be shared with one another.
     It is a mistaken idea that children are to be prepared for a use way off in the distance somewhere. It is true, but only in this sense, that they are to get ready by fulfilling the uses which belong to the state through which they are passing; and the degree to which they successfully perform those uses will be the degree in which the Lord can prepare them for future uses. The enrichment of the use of the person at any age determines the enrichment of the use which will come later. So the question is, What are the uses for which that age is provided by the Lord, and how can we infill that age, by inspiring them with the greatest delight and enthusiasm, so that they may receive the most from the Lord at that age, and that this may infill and perfect their minds for the full enjoyment of what is to follow?
     That leads to another point, in regard to Sarai, the sister. There are statements in the Writings indicating that the recognition of truth as intellectual truth, and the search for truth for intellectual delight is not in itself an evil or wrong thing. It can be abused or perverted, but I am convinced that it was put into the life of every man because it is necessary to the life of every man. We must find what the use of truth for its own sake is, in regeneration.
     The use of childhood is to learn, and that use must precede. It is true of all uses. The first in time, of all uses is to learn what the use is, to learn the knowledges that pertain to it, before we can begin to put that knowledge to the use for which it is ultimately intended. The perversion is to regard the delight of use as the end, and not to proceed to the eventual end of that use. One of the great uses of childhood is to learn, and one of the most important things is that they should learn at each age as they go along-not merely that they shall learn a certain way-because there are many things they must do with that knowledge at the time.
     They must also receive many things, the real content of which they cannot understand until there is further development; and the development comes by the learning itself. So we must teach them things that cannot be used at the time, but that will mould the mind for the full ultimation to come in the future.
     I have enjoyed the address very much, and I believe it is a very useful thing for us to realize the importance of going back to the Word, as Mr. Pendleton has shown us, to study what the Writings have said about the life of the Lord, and about man's regeneration, as the basis for building up the whole idea of education.

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We find a store of untold riches there.
     I do not think we can analyze what was the state of the Lord as compared with man. The Lord's Soul was infinite and while He was born into ignorance. His development out of ignorance was not like that of another little child. It followed the same order but it was different because the Soul was infinite. That involves much that we cannot fathom, but I believe that what the Writings tell us with reference to that is the means whereby we can understand human development, and see that there is a Divine order in it which the Lord Himself followed-that whatever is told of the Lord is applicable, if the distinction is kept in mind that the Lord was infinite, and man is finite.
     With regard to the statement that there is a tendency on the part of man to look upward, as distinguished from every "other animal," I would like to see him leave out the word "other" because I think it would be stronger if he said it was the thing that distinguishes the human from the animal, or from every animal. That is merely a suggestion arising out of my thinking on the subject of the difference between men and animals.
     LOIS NELSON,
          Secretary.

     Third General Session-June 23, 8.00 P.M.

     Mr. Wilfred H. Howard presided, and an Address was delivered by Professor Eldric S. Klein on the subject of "Science and the Humanities." being discussed by a number of speakers.

     Fourth General Session-June 24, 8.00 P.M.

     With Professor Otho W. Heilman presiding, Mr. Richard R. Gladish delivered an Address on the subject of "Aptitude Tests," which was followed by a discussion.

     Group Meetings.

     The various Group or Panel Meetings of our teachers, held according to program on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, June 22-24, proved to be of great interest and value as a means of an intensive approach to the consideration of special subjects in the curriculum, and as a "get-together" of the teachers of our schools in Bryn Athyn and other centers of the General Church.
     THE PARENT-TEACHER JOURNAL is undertaking to publish a number of the papers and discussions which form the record of these important meetings, and will thus assist us in making this instructive material available to the members of the Church.
     EDITOR.

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BROUGHT TO THE LIGHT. 1943

BROUGHT TO THE LIGHT.       Rev. PHILIP J. STOLE       1943

     How I came to a Knowledge of the New Church Doctrines.

     (This amount was written in the year 1938, which marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the South African Mission, since it was in 1913 that the Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal visited Basutoland and sent a report of his impressions to Bishop N. D. Pendleton. To celebrate the "Silver Anniversary" of the Mission, the Superintendent invited the Native Ministers and Teachers to write accounts of their coming to a knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrines, which were to be published in a suitable booklet that would also give an outline of the rise and progress of the Mission. Mr. Elphick has sent us a number of these interesting papers for publication in NEW CHURCH LIFE, and three of them have already appeared in our pages-in December, 1942 and March, 1943. The Rev. Philip Stole passed into the spiritual world on March 5. 1943.-EDITOR.)

     As ministers of this New Church of the New Jerusalem, which has completed twenty-five years here in South Africa, the year 1938 marking the memorable year of its Silver Anniversary, it is a necessary thing that there must be kept a written account, so that the coming generation may always read and get to know of the rise and progress of this New Church in South Africa.
     To write such an account is not an easy thing, for it needs that there might have been a place where all things have been kept written as in a "Diary." But as this was not done, I shall forthwith try to write as much as possible what I have in clear remembrance.
     I came across to know of this New Church in the year 1922. It was after many years looking for it, as to whether it had been brought or established here in South Africa. Since I was born and brought up in the Lutheran Church, Berlin Mission, New Germany, in the district of Pinetown, and have never been a member of any other denomination, I had no knowledge of any doctrine beside that which is taught in the Lutheran Church.
     The reason for me to look and seek for this New Church sprang from reading many books and literature pertaining to religion from overseas. I became a member of the "Psycho Success Club," an organization in the United States of America.

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This was in the rear 1911, and from that time I entered into correspondence with the world overseas, and received some Lectures from the above-mentioned Club dealing with some useful instructions on success and improvement in this life; and also a faithful servant of God touched upon some of the moral principles of religion in such a forceful and clear war that it came to my mind that there must be a bible which is hidden somewhere in other countries. This made me more hungry for spiritual nourishment.
     Forthwith I used to look in second-hand bookstores for books on matters of religion, and I bought such books, but without success. But I obtained some circular literature from the agent of the Tower Bible Society in School Lane. Durban, and among these circulars there was one pamphlet written by a certain gentleman overseas, speaking about different teachings of many churches, some claiming to have healing power, etc., and he concluded by saying that there is a church overseas which is a church of the Second Coming, and its teachings differ much from those of other churches. Though this gentleman did not mention its particular organization and name, I sought for it, and I used to read the sign-boards of many local churches, but without success. Yet the church in Berea Road which I passed daily-was the very church, but this was then hidden from me.
     It happened during the year 1922 that I came in contact with the Rev. Moffat Mcanyana, then a candidate Leader stationed at Mayville. I met him at Cato Manor while in evangelization duty. On that occasion he was visiting a gentleman who occupied a room next door to me. They talked on great matters of religion, and I noted in their conversation something unusual, but still clear, as if there was truth in it by the way he put it. But Mr. Mcanyana left without my having any chance to speak or discuss with him: and the next time he visited the same place I had little chance to converse with him about some power of healing diseases. For at that time there was a Mr. Hickson, known as the great healer, famous in a healing mission, who visited Durban.
     So I decided to visit Mr. Mcanyana at his place. The day came that my friend next door and I visited him, and it was doctrinal class day.

423



The way he expounded the Scriptures was so convincing and clear that it was my first time to hear such an explanation of the Scriptures, and that in the Word there is a spiritual sense hitherto hidden in the literal sense of the Word. I was utterly convinced with all the teachings he gave in the doctrinal class that day, especially about the Doctrine of the Lord, that He is One, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is that God. It came to my mind that, if the Christian Churches or denominations do not possess this fundamental truth about the God whom they worship, what else can they know? Or what faith could be relied upon in these churches with their mysterious doctrines? I came to conclude that this is nothing but the truth which I have been seeking for so many years.
     The first book of the New Church which I read was Heaven and Hell. I read it over and over, and in its pages truths were seen here and there, opening the spiritual world in its reality, and so many wonderful things of which I had never heard before-all these testifying the Second Coming of the Lord.
     Some evidence came to me before I received the copy of Heaven and Hell from the Rev. Mcanyana. It was on the night before he brought it. It was shown me in a dream, but not in a book-form. A scroll or roll came through an opening in the roof above where I was sleeping, and unrolled down to the table, still coming from above through the opening in the roof, and resting upon the table with the other end, written in shining letters, and in the same color as that of the cover of Heaven and Hell. But before I could see what was written I awoke from my sleep. This also testified that the things revealed by the Lord are nothing but the eternal truths.
     In humility I give thanks to the Lord, who has revealed Himself to us in His Second Coming, and has made us to see Him in the glories of His Word through His New Revelation of the Heavenly Doctrine, not because we were better than others, but through the mercy of His Divine love for the salvation of His people; and that this truth or this gospel may be preached to all nations, and fill the earth as the waters cover the sea.

424



MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943

     THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)

     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa, United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942,
     SERGEANT PILOT RALPH ROSCHMAN HILL, Kitchener, Ontario. Royal Canadian Air Force. Killed on active service in Wales, February 9, 1943.


     OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, L.A.C. Norman,
Heldon, Cpl. Sydney,
Kirsten, Sgt. Theodore,
Taylor, Sgt. Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bellinger, Wren Elaine,
Bond, L.A.C. J. W.,
Bond, Sgt. Lillian D.,
Bond, L.A.C. Thomas A.,
Evens, Tpr. John,
Evens, Gnr. Robert A.,
Evens, A.C. 2 Reuben J.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Hill, Ft/Sgt. Leonard F.,
James, Pvt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Schnarr, Sgt. Joffre G.,
Schnarr, Cadet John G.,
Scott, Pvt. Herbert G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, Sgt. Pilot A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.

     Toronto.
Bellinger, Sgt./Pilot John H.,
Campbell, Sub-Lt. Stella, W.R.C.N S
Carter, F/Sgt. Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Cpl. Thomas J.,
Izzard, F/O Laurence T., Missing in Action,
Jessman, Dvr. Edward,
Jesseman, Cpl. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn,
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Richardson, A.C. 2 David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, Pvt. Ivan R.,
Scott, P/O Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Bellinger, P/O William G., Ontario,
Evens, L.A.C. A. Leslie, Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 Norman W., Alberta,
Frazee, A.C. 2 Keith I., British Columbia,
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.


     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Eric D.,
Appleton, L.A.C. Roy,
Boozer, Dvr. A. E.,
Boozer, Donald,
Briscoe, Miss Irene G.,
Caldwell, Lieut. William T.,
Clennell, A.C. 2 Gordon,

425




Cohen, Eng. Comdr. Maurice L.,
Dale, Tpr. Keith B.,
Dawson, Sgt. Geoffrey P.,
Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Halliday, Lieut. Keith C.,
Jones, Harold C.,
Lewin, Ronald,
Morley, P/O H. K.,
Morris, Lieut. David,
Motum, 2nd Lt. John,
Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,
Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Beatrice A.,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Lt. Michael T.,
Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,
Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Sylvia M.

     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, 2nd Lieut. J. S.,
Buss, Pvt. Brian,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Buss, Pvt. Ronald,
Cockerell, Sig. John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, A/P Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
Craig, Major Thomas,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Gnr. D. B., Honorably Discharged,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, Pvt. J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, Lieut. A. N.,
Hammond, 2nd Lieut. Harry B.,
Hammond, Cpl. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, P/N Miss S. F.,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, S/Sgt. A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Pemberton, A/P G. Guy,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, A/M C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,Ridgway, Pvt. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A., Honorably discharged,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, P.F.C. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Pvt. Robert,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, Cpl. Ralph E.,
Behlert, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Bostock, Pvt. Robert M.,
Carpenter, Lt. (jg) Philip S. P.,
Cole, Pvt. Dandridge M.,
Cole, Lt. William P.,
Conner, Pvt. Wilson Bennett,
Cooper, Pre. A/C Denis,
Cooper, Pvt. Geoffrey,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, Lt. Rey W.,
Cooper, Cpl. Theodore F.,
Cowley, Cpl. William J.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
David, A/C Warren,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davies, Pvt. Philip T.,
Davis, Joan, S 2/c,
Davis, Lt. Justin H.,
Davis, Sgt. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
Deigendesch, Paul H., A.S.,
De Maine, Lt. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine, Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A..
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, Lt. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Fine, Sgt. Raymond F.,
Finkeldey, Lt. Philip,
Gansert, Pvt. Otto G.,
Glenn, Lt. Ernest Bruce,
Gyllenhaal, Pvt. Charles P.,
Gyllenhaal, Pvt. Hugh A.,
Gyllenhaal, Ensign Leonard E.
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, Sgt. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., Ph.M. 3/c,
Hilldale, Pvt. Thomas A.,
Homiller, Lt. William,
Hyatt, Sgt. Edward D.,
Hyatt, Pvt. Kent,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Nilson, Lt. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, P.F.C. David S.,

426




Odhner, Ray S., T/5,
Odhner, Lt. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, R.T. 1/c,
Pitcairn, A/C Garthowen,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Joel,
Pitcairn, A/C John P.,
Pitcairn, A/C Lachlan,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, Lt. Nathan,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Capt. Oliver I.,
Price, Donal, A.S.,
Price, Cpl. Kenneth,
Redmile, Pvt. Thomas,
Rose, Pvt. John W.,
Rose, P.F.C. Stanley,
Rosenquist, P.F.C. Henry,
Schnarr, A/S Arthur W.,
Schnarr, Donald, S 1/c,
Schnarr, Pvt. Eugene C.,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, Lt. David R.,
Simons, Pvt. Hilary Q.,
Smith, Pvt. Ivan I.,
Synnestvedt, Pvt. Fred H.,
Synnestvedt, A/C Pvt. Huard I.,
Umberger, Grant, A.S.,
Walter, Elizabeth, S.K. 2/c,
Walter, Lt. Robert E.,
White, Lt. Harry J.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Asplundh, Ensign O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., M.M. 2/c,
Barry, Pvt. John,
Brown, Pvt. Robert E.,
Burnham, Edwin, C. Sp., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, P.F.C. Roy M.,
Carlson, S/Sgt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,
Cole, Pvt. Louis S.,
Elkins, Lois, Y 3/c,
Fuller, George, A.M.M. 1/c,
Fuller, Pvt. William,
Gladish, Lt. Donald G.,
Gunsteens, P.F.C. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,
Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, P.F.C. Kenneth,
Holmes, Cpl. Leslie B.,
Junge, Lt. Carl F.,
King, Cpl. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Lt. Raymond T.,
Lee, Pvt. Cedric F.,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
Melzer, P.F.C. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Philip,
Melzer, Sgt. Roger,
Nelson, Lt. Gerald F.,
Pollock, A/C Robert T.,
Reuter, Lieut. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Ensign Hubert O.,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, Lt. Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C., Honorably discharged,
Wille, Pvt. Gerhardt King.

     Michigan.
Birchman, Owen R., A.S.,
Childs, P.F.C. Walter C.,
French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, Pvt. John F.,
Peterson, Pvt. Philip H.,
Peterson, Warrant Officer Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., C.P.O.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Lt. (j.g.) Alexander,
Packer, E. W. Jr., S. 1/c.
Packer, Pvt. Robert F.,
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,
Westacott, Ensign Ethel B.

     Pittsburgh,
Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Blair, Pvt. James F.,
Brown, Lt. George P., Jr.,
Brown, Sgt. Tech. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,
Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Horigan, Pvt. Walter Lee,
Iungerich, Tech. Sgt. Stevan,
Lechner, Lt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Capt. Alexander H.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Pendleton, Lt. Philip C.,
Schoenberger, Lt. Ulrich,
Schoenberger, Av/C Walter S.,
Stein, Cpl. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Cpl. Elmer G., Texas.
Caldwell, Cpl. Neil V., New York.
Coffin, Capt. Roscoe T., Maryland.
Crockett, Lloyd, A.S., Georgia.
Davis, A/C Charles F., Calif.
Davis, Sgt. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Lt. Philip B., Ohio,
Doering, A/C Edward, Wayne, Iowa.
Glenn, A.S. Alfred M., New York,

427




Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Griffin, William T., E.M. 1/c, South Carolina.
Joy, Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Cpl. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Merrell, Cpl. Frederick, Calif.
Merrell, Pvt. Stanley, Calif.
Moorhead, Pvt. Donald, Washington, D. C.
Posey, Pvt. John A., Alabama.
Rott, Sgt. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Smith, Sterling R., A.M.M. 1/c, Georgia.
Snyder, Donald, A.M.M. 2/c, Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Major Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Tarr, Joseph, S.K. 3/c, Maryland.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.
Wilson, Joaquin C., Jr., E.M. 2/c, Missouri.
Wilson, John E., U.S.M.S., Missouri.
SOUTH AFRICA. 1943

SOUTH AFRICA.              1943

     Our Boys on Active Service.-Now that the enemy has been cleared right out of Africa, General Smuts, our Prime Minister, has obtained the permission of Parliament to send South African Troops "anywhere in the world where the enemy may he found." Our first contingent of the "Avengers of Tobruk" (the 6th Armored Division) has arrived in Egypt from here, and amongst them are three members of our Society:-Pvt. Fred Parker, Pvt. Ronald Buss (cousin to Martin), and Corporal Keith Venton (mentioned in the May issue of the LIFE, p. 237). The few remaining members who did not return home for a rest at the end of 1942 are in the South African Air Force, and they are A/C P. Graham Cockerell, Lieut. N. Hammond, and Capt. Maurice Howson, Signaller John Cockerell, of the South African Naval Forces, called at Durban last month. He is on a mine-sweeper and his destination was probably the Mediterranean. The remainder of our "boys"-24 men and 3 nurses-are at present serving or training in the southern part of Africa.
     It was certainly good to hear at first hand from a few Medical personnel who have been repatriated from Italy, who state that conditions in the prison camps there are really quite satisfactory; but as food is not too plentiful, our Prisoners are most grateful for their weekly Red Cross parcels, which they are receiving regularly.
     Before concluding. I should like to express the sympathy of the Durban Society with the relatives of the two men of the General Church who have given their lives, one on the Asiatic front, and the other in Wales. They died their duty nobly done.
     PHYLLIS D. COOKE.

428



Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     BRITISH GUIANA.

New Church Day, 1943.

     On Saturday, June 19th, at 4.00 p.m., the local New Church groups-General Convention and General Church-met in united assembly at the meeting-place of the General Convention group in Georgetown to celebrate New Church Day.
     The gathering numbered around 25, and the proceedings were opened with the singing of a hymn followed by prayer led by the Rev. Henry Algernon of Tabor (General Church) Mission, and the reading of a Scripture lesson (Revelation xxi) by one of the gathering. Another hymn was sung, and then the Rev. W. F. Fraser of the New Jerusalem (General Convention) Church extended greetings to all, making some introductory remarks inter alia on the meaning of the day, and introducing the Chairman of the subsequent discussion-Mr. Joseph Mogan of the General Convention group.
     The subject (interesting, but bristling with some difficulties) to be discussed that evening was: "How best can I advance the New Church as the Supreme Use in my Community?" The Rev. Algernon led off the discussion followed by the Rev. Fraser; then numbers of the united gathering spoke. Each in turn tried to lay his finger, so to speak, on the root of the difficulty experienced in spreading the Doctrines of the New Church and at the same time suggested some course that he thought would remedy the situation. The majority thought a more aggressive method of spreading the Doctrines should henceforward be adopted, while some still believed in the simpler less aggressive approach, attracting the people with whom one comes into contact chiefly by the example of a life lived in the light of these Doctrines.
     After the Chairman had summed up briefly and also made a few remarks of his own on the subject, Rev. Fraser spoke again. He reiterated his pleasure at having a united gathering, and expressed the hope that there would be similar opportunities for periodical united New Church discussions at meetings like the present one, which so auspiciously had taken place on the birthday anniversary of the NEW CHURCH. Rev. Algernon then rounded off the speaking part of the function by thanking all who had attended, and announced that plans were afoot for the formation of a United British Guiana New Church Men's Fellowship.
     The singing of a hymn, followed by the pronouncement of the Benediction by the Rev. Fraser, brought the meeting to a close.
     On Sunday afternoon, 20th June, the celebrations were continued and concluded with a Forum Service, beginning at 4.00 p.m. The subject treated was "How A New World Order Has Been Divinely Provided For."
     The Rev. Algernon dealt more exclusively with the Doctrinal aspect, the Rev. Fraser with the Scriptural. They showed how a new world order has long been foretold throughout the Word of the Old and New Testaments, and that the present world crisis is but one of the outcroppings of the Final Judgment, which we know from the Heavenly Doctrines has taken place in the spiritual world. On account of this latter, men have been recently giving utterance to pious expressions unlike any that have ever been made before; but, until there is true humility and a full acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ as the one and only God of heaven and earth, all the merely human plans and preparations for the much-talked-of and splendid World Order by the United Nations will surely fail.

429




     Other speakers took part in the discussion Mr. Edward Warner of Tabor Mission (General Church) making particular reference to historical events (e. g., the French Revolution and Russia's part in the present world conflict) in support and in illustration of the effects of the Last Judgment in paving the way for the true and just New Order in the world, provided for by the Lord.
     Rev. Algernon mentioned the receipt of greetings from the Bishop of the General Church to the local group, after which the service was ended with praise, benediction, and the Closing of the Word.
     ARTHUR O. S. ALGERNON.
21st June. 1943.


     GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS.

     Never since our Park was first laid out has it looked as spick-and-span as it does these days l Whoever asked Mr. O. E. Asplundh to be our park commissioner sure picked the right man. "O. E." has been supervising several real improvements. The beach at the north end of the lake is bigger and better than ever. More sand has been added-a swing-a slide-and new benches. The mosquito-breeding underbrush has been cut away all around the lake; so now we can enjoy ourselves there without being "eaten up." Furthermore, for several years each Spring, two of our good friends have been considerably inconvenienced by the overflow from the lake crossing the road and flooding their land. Mr. Asplundh has solved this problem (we hope) by adding several loads of fill at the low point-and many of us will be looking during our next flood season to see if "Asplundh's Dam" works. Last, but not least, the grounds around our church buildings have taken on quite a gardenlike appearance.
     New Church Day.-On Friday evening, June 18, we celebrated New Church Day with a banquet. Mr. Winfred Junge was toastmaster, and he had asked each of the boys just returned from Bryn Athyn to read a paper he had written during the past school-year. These papers were all good, and covered quite a variety of subjects. Mr. George Fiske spoke on the subject of the evening.
     On the following day the Immanuel Church School held its closing exercises, at which the 8th and 9th grade children were graduated. The 8th grade were: George Hamm. Louise Barry, and Donald Alan. The 9th grade were: Marion Fiske. Joan Price, Louise Asplundh, Ruth Barry, Beverly Blackman, Dolores Burnham, Ralph Synnestvedt, Horace Brewer, Arthur Wille, and David Gladish.
     On Sunday evening. June 20, the members of the society attended a Pageant of Tableaux." These portrayed the giving of the Word in various ages: The Golden Age; Moses and the Tables of Stone: the Good Samaritan; the Call of the Twelve Disciples. Reading from the Word, and singing by the choir and congregation brought to a close our observance of the 19th of June in a most impressive manner.
     The usual home-coming dance was held on Saturday, June 26.
     Independence Day-In the afternoon of Sunday, July 4, nearly everybody joined in the parade around the Park, which ended up in a large circle around the flagpole, where the flag was raised and a short patriotic speech was made by Mr. Charles Cole. Afterwards the children ran races-and so did some of the adults (the writer carrying off one of the prizes!). Mr. Asplundh had spent considerable time and effort to make our outside surroundings quite "holidaylike," and the whole afternoon of entertainment was thereby made that much more enjoyable. A fine supper followed, and shortly afterwards we dispersed to our various homes, having experienced what was probably the most delightful 4th of July celebration we have ever had.

430




     A Wedding.-I've said it before, and I'll say it again-an adequate description of a wedding is no job for a man! So when you read these few words recording the fact that on Saturday evening, July 24, Sylvia Stevens married Lieutenant Stanford Lehne, check with any of your friends who were present so that you may get the details. The day was one of those perfect days-sunshine-not too hot-just right, in fact. The church was beautifully decorated, and Mr. Jean Rydstrom (an accomplished musician) played the organ. Sylvia walked to the altar with her father. Mr. Jesse V. Stevens, and was met there by Stanford, who was attended by Russell, brother of the bride. At the reception which followed, our Pastor spoke of the significance of marriage and proposed a toast to the Church-and then to the bride and groom. Sylvia, sweet of countenance as well as of disposition, was charming in her lovely wedding dress-and Stanford, attired in the white dress uniform of the United States Navy, was the epitome of a good looking man with plenty of character. And that's nothing but the truth.
     HAROLD P. MCQUEEN.


     DURBAN, NATAL.

     June 30, 1943.-When I last wrote about the doings of the Durban Society (August issue) we were just about to begin our Wednesday evening Doctrinal Classes again, but unfortunately, after three valiant attempts by everyone to attend, it was found quite impracticable, and so these classes will now definitely be held in abeyance until the blackout has been lifted in Durban. As a slight compensation, it has been found that attendances at services are higher, and this is all to the good.
     Easter being so very late this year-April 25-the schools in the coastal areas of Natal where the blackout is in force were given nearly a fort-night's vacational leave. Owing to the restrictions on traveling these days, most people stayed at home. The result was that Easter services were exceptionally well attended in spite of the weather which was very unkind to us, and it was most gratifying to see so many of the Fighting Forces present. On Thursday, April 22, Theta Alpha gave an Easter Party for children of school-going age. This was held in the Hall, as all plans to take the children out to Mrs. Doris Mansfield's home, just outside Durban, were upset by the rain.
     On Good Friday, Worship was held at 9.30 am., at which service a solo, "Calvary," by Paul Rodney, was effectively rendered by Mrs. L. Garth Pemberton. Ultimately the weather cleared, and most appropriately Easter Sunday dawned a lovely day. The children's Easter Worship was early, at 9.30 a.m., when the Rev. Elphick told the story of the Resurrection morning. At the Adult's Service, at 11 a.m., Mr. Elphick, continuing the Easter theme, spoke on the text, "I am the resurrection and the life," John 11: 25. This "cry beautiful service concluded with the celebration of the Holy Communion.
     Church Bazaar.-As the Women's Guild had been debating whether to hold a Bazaar this June or not, it speaks well for their efforts that this time over ?43 was gathered in. This seemed to astonish everybody, especially the Guild's Treasurer, Mrs. W. G. Lowe, who was heard to remark that she simply did not know where all the money came from. There seemed to be so little to sell. However, this total was made up of takings of about L40 at "Austerity Bazaar," and donations of L3.10/- from members who were unable to attend.
     Confirmations-On Sunday, June 13, five young women made their declarations of faith. They were: Miss Ray Cockerell, the Misses Eleanor and Vida Elphick, Miss Joy Lowe, and Miss Shirley Cockerell. On Sunday. June 27, 2d Lieut. R. W. (Bob) Cowley (on embarkation leave in Durban) was able to make his declaration of faith.

431




     Tobruk.-Sunday, June 20, was Tobruk Sunday in South Africa, this day being observed as the Anniversary of that calamity (June 21, 1942) when the British Forces were overwhelmed by the enemy, and so many of our own South African soldiers were taken prisoner and removed to Italy. Commemoration Services were held by all denominations throughout this Country.
     Nineteenth of June.-We celebrated the Birthday of the New Church in exactly the same manner as last year, in order that the proceedings might be held in daylight hours.
     Children's Banquet.-On Saturday, June 19, at 1 p.m., sixteen children of school-going age sat down to a lovely spread suited to the times, prepared and arranged by members of Theta Alpha. The Rev. Elphick was toastmaster. When toasts to the New Church and to the King had been honored, the children recited in unison the Memorandum in T. C. R. 791. After that followed a programme of songs and recitations, then essays given by the four older children:-"Swedenborg's Preparation for the Second Coming," Brian Cooke; "The Planet Mars." Barbara Forfar; "The Planet Venus," David Levine; and "The Planet Saturn," Jane Forfar.
     Combined Service.-Sunday, June 20, was devoted to the celebrations of the grown-ups, although the children were present at Divine Worship,-a combined service held in the morning. This beautiful service included a simple, extemporaneous Address by our Acting Pastor on the text of Matt. 24: 31, "And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other," including also T. C. R. 791, on the sending forth of the Twelve Disciples into the spiritual world to preach the Gospel that The Lord God Jesus Christ Reigns. After the Address the children quietly filed out, leaving the adults to conclude the service with the celebration of the Holy Supper.
     Adult Banquet.-In the afternoon at 3 o'clock, an informal tea in the Hall was arranged by the Women's Guild. About 50 persons were present, including four members on active service-Bob Cowley, Peter Cockerell, Derick Lumsden, and Bobs Ridgway. The catering was in the capable hands of Mrs. Wm. Schuurman (Beatrice Forfar) and Mrs. Maurice Howson (Sheila Braby I. The Rev. Elphick again acted as toastmaster.
     After toasts to the New Church and to the King had been honored, the toastmaster made a few remarks to introduce the Programme of Songs and Addresses which comprised the entertainment for the afternoon. During the interval when tea was served, Mr. Elphick read the messages of affectionate greeting which had been received from members who were unable to be present:-Major W. G. Lowe and Pvt. W. Richards (Pretoria), Mr. William Schuurman (Johannesburg). Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Ball (Cape Town), Mrs. Bamford (Dundee), Mr. and Mrs. William N. Ridgway and Mrs. Martin Buss (Kent Manor, Zululand), Mr. Ted Waters (Alpha), and Sapper Brian H. Buss (S. W. Africa). We very much regret that the Message of Greeting from Bishop de Charms did not arrive in time to be read to the gathering. This Message arrived by surface mail on Wednesday, June 23, and has been published in the Durban Society "Adviser" of June 26. It is odd that the Greeting sent by airmail has not arrived at the time of writing this report.
     During the afternoon the meeting was addressed by four members who spoke on the following subjects: "Permissions and Providence." Mr. Alfred Cooke; "Appreciation." Mr. Scott Forfar; "Spiritual Laziness." Mr. L. Garth Pemberton; and "Hatred," Mr. James J. Forfar.
     There being a few minutes available before the conclusion of the Programme.

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Staff Sergt. F. H. D. Lumsden (Derick), on behalf of the Boys on Active Service, thanked the ladies of the Society for the parcels of Comforts they had sent them during their period of service Up North. He also thanked the ladies of the General Church Military Service Committee for all the General Church literature they had sent, which was very much valued and appreciated.
     After "Friends Across the Sea" and "Our Own Academy" had been toasted, Mr. L. I. Levine proposed a toast to "Our Prisoners in Italy-who had been taken exactly one year previously-and who will be with us one year hence!" The afternoon concluded with a toast proposed by Mr. Neville Edley to "Our Allies." A happy and useful meeting closed at 5 p.m.
     P. D. C.
CHARTER DAY 1943

              1943




     Announcements



     All ex-students of the Academy of the New Church are cordially invited to attend the Charter Day Exercises, to be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Friday and Saturday, October 15 and 16, 1943.
DIVINE REVELATION, HOW EFFECTED 1943

DIVINE REVELATION, HOW EFFECTED       Rev. ALFRED ACTON       1943



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NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. LXIII
OCTOBER, 1943
No. 10
     (At a Public Session of the Council of the Clergy, June 26, 1943.)

     Before speaking of the ways in which the Divine is revealed to man, I would first say a word as to the necessity of revelation. With the growth of scientific knowledges has come an increasing denial of revelation. It is held to be unnecessary, and that man can learn all things by the evolution of natural thought. A man dreams, and in his dreams he sees a friend who has died; hence he evolves the idea of a life after death. He dreams of some dead chief or king, and so evolves the idea of gods, and, finally, of one supreme God. So in regard to justice and love, he learns by experience that he must consider the rights of his neighbor, and so evolves the precepts of religion.
     Now it is quite conceivable that by dreams men may conceive the idea of a life after death, and that by experience they may evolve ideas of the rights of neighbors; but these are merely abstract forms of material ideas. This is seen in the learned, who indeed acknowledge a God, but their god is nature (A. 8944).
     In the light of nature, man can see only the things of nature, by whatsoever name he calls them. Spiritual things can be seen only in spiritual light. As to how this light is given, of this I shall speak presently. Meanwhile, let me bring forward a universal principle that governs all Divine Revelation,-the principle, namely, that the Lord never reveals Himself to man from within unless at the same time from without (P. 124). The truth of this is at once manifest, for man can have choice, and so freedom, only in respect to what comes to him from without.

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This is exemplified in the birth of man, for though the Divine Proceeding gives life to the soul from within this life cannot become the man's own life until that same Proceeding, in its ultimate which is the air of this world (Ath. Cr. 191), enters into his lungs and gives him the faculty of sensation.
     All revelation, therefore, must be in ultimates which appear before the external senses. The things revealed are indeed spiritual, and must be seen in spiritual light, but they cannot be seen save in the ultimate clothing of natural words and natural ideas. This is true of all revelation, whether to man as a spiritual being, or to the angels of heaven; for, as the spirit of man can receive no enlightenment save on the basis of the ultimate objects of the world, so angels can receive no enlightenment save on the basis of those same ultimates. Angels rest on these, however, not by means of their own senses, but by means of the senses of men still in the world. Therefore, as we read, Divine Wisdom is communicated to angels by means of the Word when this is read by man, and when there is thought from it (D. 5187); and again: "When the Word in the sense of the letter is read by man in a holy way, its interiors are unbound and drawn out, and each heaven then draws out what is its own, the spiritual angels drawing out their Divine Spiritual, and the celestial angels, their Divine Celestial; wherefrom they have wisdom" (De Verbo XI).
     The first and most ultimate presentation of the Divine Truth proceeding from God was nature as first created, and before perversions had been introduced by man; for nature was then a theatre purely representative of Divine Love and Wisdom. When the first men were born, their natural senses were opened to this theatre, and they saw it in the light of the world. It was possible also for them to see in spiritual light, that is, to see the spiritual things of Love and Wisdom which were set forth in the representations of nature. This was possible because in primitive man the communication between the internal mind and the external, which is now closed by evils, was open. Therefore, when men saw the things of nature, they perceived spontaneously the spiritual things within them.
     The first men were indeed born in ignorance, and in external appearance almost like animals. It was necessary that they should learn, and this gradually, and by experience. But by experience they learned not only things seen in the light of the world, but also things seen in the light of heaven, of which their interiors were sensible, and in the knowledge of which they, or certain families of them who were possessed of a peculiar genius, increased with successive generations.

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     In our day, when the increase of hereditary evils has so effectually shut the door between the internal man and the external, it is perhaps difficult to have any but a faint conception of this state of primitive man. Yet we can have some idea of it by comparison with the progress open to man by reason of the light of the natural world. We are born in ignorance; yet there is no limit to the knowledges we can acquire. With this as a basis, we can form some idea of the state of primitive men, and of that Most Ancient Church which was established among them, provided only we grant that they saw in spiritual light, at first dimly, and then ever more clearly.
     On this subject we are taught that "from the creation of the first man it was the Lord Himself who led the human race," and that while He now leads them by means of angels and spirits, He then led them immediately, without angels and spirits (D. 2591), that is, He taught them by inner perception the spiritual things contained within what they saw with their natural eyes. Thus, in increasing fulness, they saw the things of His Divine Love and Wisdom when their eyes rested upon the objects of nature, or upon the paradisiacal things which appeared to them in dreams and visions (A. 125, 1976). With them, therefore, there was no written Word, but immediate revelation (A. 10632). Nature was the ultimate Word, and it was in the reading of this Word that revelation was given. Hence revelations were then individual, being given to the wise, and by them imparted to others.
     In this connection, a distinction may be made between revelation and the Word in external form, whether it he the book of nature or the written Word. The Word is the medium of revelation, but revelation itself is inspiration from the Lord, giving the perception of the spiritual things contained in the Word (A. 5097).
     Though primitive man was in a state of innocence, without any closing of the way to the soul, yet he had a proprium, the love of self, appetite, desire. With most men in the Most Ancient Church, this proprium was held in subjection, but with some it prevailed and evil crept in, and threatened to close the way to the light of heaven.

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Then, in Providence, writing was invented, and what men had learned by perception was made permanent in written form. These writings, containing the science of correspondences and also doctrinal knowledges, were the heritage handed down by the Most Ancient Church to their degenerate descendants.
     It was this science and these doctrinal knowledges that formed the plane in the mind of men at the end of the Most Ancient Church, whereby, when revelation by perception was no longer possible, revelation of truths apart from perception was made possible. The theatre of nature could no longer serve as the revealed Word; but a Word was revealed, couched in correspondential language, and consisting of made-up histories and of prophecies of the Lord to come.
     The inspiration of this Word did not come immediately from the Lord through the men who actually wrote it, for, unlike their fathers, men were not then in interior perception; but it came from the Lord through angels of heaven. Indeed, prior to the coming of the Lord, there was no other means by which the Divine Truth could assume the clothing of human language than by open communication of spirits and angels with men. Hence, prior to the Lord's coming, it was necessary that open communication with the spiritual world should be maintained.
     But though the inspiration of the Word came from the Lord through heaven the writing was done by men, and by men prepared therefor by a knowledge of the science of correspondences, and also of doctrinal things handed down to them by their fathers. That the writers of the Ancient Word were not merely passive subjects for the conveyance of dictates from angels inspired by the Lord, but that they wrote in all appearance as if from themselves seems clear. Had they been merely passive subjects of spirits, as, at times, were the Jewish Prophets, their language would have been unintelligible. Yet the Ancient Word was clearly intelligible to the men to whom it was addressed, and from it they derived their wisdom.
     But, though the writers of the Ancient Word wrote as if of themselves, what they wrote was yet the Word of God, inspired as to each jot and tittle. The Writings teach us that this was effected by the writers being introduced by the Lord into angelic societies, or coming under the influence of angels who were filled with the Lord's presence; and that in this state, while appearing to write as if of themselves, they yet could use no other words than such as were inspired by the influence to which they were subject.

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Swedenborg himself had much experience of this state,-a state in which, though he wrote in freedom, and the words came, as it were, spontaneously, yet he could write no others. In The Word Explained he tells us that the angel who inspired the words of a prophet acted upon the mind of him who was inspired, and aroused his thought, and this fell into words in the usual way, the words being in accordance with his comprehension and according to the form implanted in him. Yet (the passage adds), "there is not even a jot which is not inspired, though there is some variation according to the native gift of him who puts forth the words" (W. E. 6884; 3 Ad. 6965). We can have some idea of this state, if we reflect upon certain states of our own, when, affections being aroused, we are led, as though of ourselves and yet by an irresistible force, to utter or write certain words and no others.
     The Ancient Word is now lost, but parts of it are preserved in the first chapters of Genesis, and in certain extracts made in the Old Testament from the Book of Jasher, the Wars of Jehovah, and the Prophetical Enunciations (5. 101, seq.). To us, these extracts appear obscure, and sometimes even meaningless; but this was not the case with the men to whom this Word was given. To them the language was clear, and it formed the basis whereby they could receive illustration from heaven.
     But the progress of evil was not thereby staved. On the contrary, interest in spiritual things so declined that with some nations the science of correspondences was lost, and the correspondential rituals of worship were turned into idolatry, while with others that science was used as a means for communication with spirits, with the object of performing works of magic, for the domination of human minds. This was permitted, however, because it was essential that open communication with spirits should be maintained, as being the only means whereby revelation could be made.
     And now arose the necessity of a new revelation. Idolatry was well-nigh universal, and it must needs be that somewhere on earth a church be raised up, which should proclaim the one God, and keep alive among men the expectation and hope of a coming Messiah. This was necessary, both for the preservation of the human race and for the preservation on earth of an ultimate upon which the heavens could rest, and whereby they could be enlightened.

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And, as in preparation for the Ancient Word, the knowledges of the Most Ancient Church were gathered together and preserved, that they might serve as a plane for the reception of a new revelation, so now the knowledges of the Ancient Church were preserved, to serve as the basis for the revelation of the Jewish Word. Moses, the first writer of that Word, was brought up as a prince in Egypt, where he had access to the books of the Ancient Word; and it is probable that from his father-in-law, Jethro, priest of Midian, he learned something concerning the Ancient Church, or at least concerning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; for in his day a knowledge concerning these patriarchs seems altogether to have disappeared from the memory of their descendants.
     That Moses knew the Ancient Word, was borne witness to by himself in the spiritual world; for he told Swedenborg that he had seen the Book Jasher, and that the Ancient Word was still preserved in his day, and was read (D. 6107). Moreover, it was from this Word that he copied the first chapters of Genesis (A. 66). None but a man thus educated could possibly have served as the medium for the writing of the first books of the new Word that was to be revealed. Moreover, none other could possibly have led the Israelites during their wanderings. `Moses (we read) was foreseen by the Lord, that he might be the head of the Israelitish people; this is evident from the fact that he was educated in the court of King Pharaoh. Moreover, his nature was such that he could receive speech from the Divine better than others of that nation, for he was not so much in an external separated from the internal" (A. 10563).
     But between the Ancient Word and the Church founded thereon and the Jewish Word and Jewish Church was this difference, that while the writers of the Ancient Word were prepared for their mission by interior knowledges derived from their fathers, and while the Ancient Church was a genuine church, the writers of the Jewish Word were entirely ignorant of spiritual truths, and the Jewish Church was merely the shell of a church, with little if any spiritual life within. Such was the spread of idolatry that no genuine church could then have been established. Yet the idea of one God and of His promised coming was still to be preserved.

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And that it might be surely preserved, the people appointed to receive the revelation were of a nature which clung obstinately to whatsoever they regarded as peculiarly their own. Such was the character of the Jewish people, as manifested in their history.
     There is another difference between the Ancient Word and the Jewish,-that while the former was couched in language which was understood spiritually by the men of the Church, the Jewish Word was couched in language which, in part, meant to its readers little more than worldly history and civil and ecclesiastical judgments and statutes, and, in part, was wholly unintelligible, both to the writers and the readers. It does not appear that the Ancient Word contained any parts that were unintelligible.
     The Jewish Word has four styles: the Ancient style, the Prophetical, the Historical, and the style of the Psalms. The Ancient style is seen in the extracts from the Ancient Word. As to the other styles, for the purpose I have in mind I would divide them into two classes, namely, a style that was clearly intelligible, and a style, the meaning of which was obscure or even wholly unintelligible. The Historical Books are clear narratives of the history and laws of the Israelitish people, with occasional passages, such as the Song of Deborah and Barak, the meanings of which are, for the most part, unintelligible. The Prophetical Books consist mainly of exhortations and denunciations, but with many passages which are wholly unintelligible. The Psalms partake of both styles.
     Now it seems evident that those portions of the Old Testament where the meaning is clearly intelligible were written by men who were not only prepared for the writing by previous education, but who wrote wholly as if of themselves. This seems evident, because a revelation that is in a form to be clearly understood must necessarily be given by means of a human mind that has a similar understanding; that is to say, the words must take their form according to the understanding of the man who writes them. Were they mere dictates from spirits, then nothing would be taken from the mind of the writers save mere words, but without coherence or intelligible sense. Moses did indeed see the pattern of the tabernacle with his spiritual eyes, and he heard the statutes and laws as uttered by spirits inspired by God, and whose speech appeared to him either as a voice without or as a dictate within himself.

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But this spiritual speech could not have clothed itself in the words of the laws and statutes, save with a man of education in whose mind that speech could take such form. Though inspired by God, he yet seemed to speak from himself. Moreover, his books, and the books of the Judges and Kings, were clearly written by men who knew the history whereof they wrote, and who, by their genius, were fitted to write such history. The Psalms clearly were written by a gifted poet, who knew the history of his people and was aware of its failings. And the exhortations and denunciations of the prophets were written by men fully aware of the evil states into which the Jewish people had fallen.
     Yet the words of all these writers were so inspired by the Lord that, as to the least jot and tittle, they were the containants of the Divine Truth. I have already spoken of this in connection with the Ancient Word, namely that men introduced into an angelic society were led to write only certain words and no others, when yet they wrote wholly as if of themselves. But there were various ways whereby this was effected, all of which were made known to Swedenborg by experience. Sometimes the writers heard a voice as though within themselves, dictating to them what they should say, and they wrote under the full persuasion that they were writing by inspired command. Sometimes there was dictation in the thought, whereby "the idea was held fixedly in each word as though held by an invisible force" (W. E. 7006; 3 Ad. 7167). There were also visions and dreams. But whatever the means of the inspiration, the inspiration itself was from the Lord by means of spirits or societies of spirits; and, in the case of the Jewish writers, the spirits under whose influence they came were necessarily natural spirits, for there was no plane open with them whereby they could he associated with interior angels.
     Here we have the reason why those parts of the Old Testament where the spiritual sense shines forth in the letter consist of moral teachings rather than of rational thought; for while the writers had no rational basis to serve as the medium of revelation, they did have moral truths and precepts such as have been preserved throughout all ages.
     Coming now to those portions of the Old Testament which, in the Hebrew, were wholly unintelligible, both to the writer and the reader-though our translators, by free interpolations, have endeavoured to make some of them intelligible-it is clear that these portions could not have been given for the instruction of the Church.

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Not only were they not understood, but there were few, if any, who even suspected that they contained an internal sense (A. 1756). It is true that men, hearing them, were struck with "the stupor of admiration' and so had a sensation as of something holy (ibid.); but their main use was to serve as ultimates which, when heard with awe by the ears of men, should serve as bases for the perception of angels.
     We come now to the New Testament. Here it is clear that the writers of the Gospels wrote as if of themselves, even though writing under the inspiration of the Lord. But between the writers of the Gospels and those of the Old Testament there is this fundamental difference, that while the writers of the Gospels were prepared by the Lord, who instructed them orally, and so initiated them into genuine truths (see A. 3900:4), the writers of the Old Testament had merely natural and material ideas, together with moral precepts.
     There is also the fundamental difference-and this applies not only to the Old Testament but also to the Ancient Word-that, with the Coming of the Lord, revelation by means of open communication with spirits was abolished. The Evangelists were not inspired, as were the Prophets of old, by means of spirits or angels filled with the Lord's Presence, but "by the Spirit of the Lord's mouth." When reflecting upon the Lord's words and works, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and in this state their words were inspired from within, even while they wrote them as of themselves and from their own memory.
     Contrasted with the Gospels is the Book of Revelation, which describes the visions seen by John. Of these we read that "An angel was sent by the Lord to John, that he might be held in the state of the spirit, and that in that state he might show him the things which he saw, but with the eves of his spirit" (R. 945). To the Christian Church, this book was a sealed book which could not then be opened. It was a book prophetical of the New Church, and its contents, though in large part unintelligible, served on earth as the basis for angelic thought, and for the hope of the simple, that the Lord would in time give light.

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     Finally has come the Revelation of the Writings, which is the Crowning Revelation. Here, in place of open communication between spirits and men, came a new revelation of the spiritual world, a revelation thitherto undreamed of. Swedenborg was in the unique position of being in both worlds at the same time, and this, that he might make the spiritual world known to men in rational light, and not merely as visual phenomena; and also that it might he made known that, as to their spirits, men also are in that world, that so the spiritual things of that world might be opened to men, enabling them to think with and as the angels, even while living on earth.
     Moreover, by means of the Word revealed by the Lord in His first coming, and by the freedom of thought which this Word gave to men. Swedenborg was prepared as to the scientific, the rational, and even the theological plane, to be inspired by the Lord immediately, and to perceive the interiors of the Word, even as did the men of the Most Ancient Church. "It has pleased the Lord (says the Revelator) to prepare me from early youth for the perceiving of the Word. He introduced me into the spiritual world, and more nearly enlightened me by the light of His Word" (Inv. 55).
     Swedenborg wrote as of himself, yet what he wrote is the inspired Word. But he was inspired, and thus instructed, not by the medium of angelic societies, or of angels and spirits infilled with the Lord's presence, but immediately by the Lord Himself; that is to say, by the dictate of that interior perception, for the attainment of which he had been prepared. "Whenever there was any representation, vision, or discourse (he declares), I was kept more and more interiorly in reflection upon it, as to what was useful and good, thus as to what I might learn therefrom. It is in this way that I have been instructed; consequently by no spirit, nor by any angel, but by the Lord alone" (D. 1647).
     The Revelation now given to the New Church is thus a revival, in fuller perfection, of that immediate revelation which was given in the Golden Age. But now it is clothed, not in the objective ultimates of nature as was the case with the Most Ancients, but in ultimate truths unknown to them, being the Divine Flesh and Bones, wherein the Lord now appears in lasts. And as in the Golden Age the Lord gave revelations by perception to the men who looked upon the theatre of nature, so now the Lord gives revelation by perception to those who approach Him in His crowning Revelation, from desire of the heart to love Him and obey His commandments.

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It is this Revelation, and not the mere intellectual comprehension of spiritual arcana, that is the fulfillment of all prophecy and the coming of the Kingdom of God.
SCIENCE AND THE HUMANITIES 1943

SCIENCE AND THE HUMANITIES       ELDRIC S. KLEIN, B.A., M.A       1943

     (At a Meeting of the Education Council, June 23, 1943.)

     Last Spring, when I agreed to speak to you on this subject, Bishop de Charms had not yet delivered his address to the General Faculty on the subject of "The Place of the Humanities in our Education," published in NEW CHURCH LIFE for May. That address dealt with general principles, and what I have to say tonight is concerned primarily with certain particulars. There are so many details which merit consideration in an investigation of the general subject that time devoted to a few of these details may be of value.
     My basic premise is, that the Sciences and the Humanities together constitute the Liberal Arts, and that the Liberal Arts are the means by which the presence of the Divine,-in nature, among men, and in the heavens-is best illustrated in New Church Education. As the Liberal Arts derive their title from the adjective liber, meaning free, and in the world for over two thousand years have been regarded as studies befitting free men, so in the New Church these studies provide the means whereby men can form a truly rational mind, and thus can be in spiritual freedom, because led by love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, thus by the Lord, and not be in spiritual slavery, because led by the loves of self and the world. These studies also prepare men to be free men in the natural world, to perform spiritual and also natural uses, and rationally to serve the Lord, His kingdom and the church, the country, human society, and the fellow citizen.
     Any theory of education for use which does not regard these objectives as primary, but seeks primarily to prepare man for some specific employment, does not prepare a man for spiritual use or freedom, or even for natural use or freedom.

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For if he is fitted for but one specific employment, he becomes a slave of that employment; and if, as so often happens nowadays, that specific employment ceases to be needed, he lacks that general intellectual background which provides adaptability of mind and makes possible a reasonably rapid adjustment to basically changed conditions. The present unprecedented emphasis upon vocational training, sponsored by government and industry if prolonged to the post-war period, will lay the foundations for an economic serfdom unparalleled since the Middle Ages.
     I do not mean that students should not receive vocational guidance and vocational courses; they should receive more guidance than they do now; but the vocational element should be kept subordinate. I also lament a tendency to vocationalize the Liberal Arts themselves. We are taught in the Writings that "false intelligence and wisdom is all intelligence and wisdom that is without acknowledgment of the Divine." (H. H. 353.) The primary function of the Liberal Arts is to illustrate the presence of the Divine in nature, among men, and in the heavens, thus to provide a basis for the formation of truly rational minds. In addition to this spiritual function, the Liberal Arts also serve to provide the student with scientifics which are of use, first in learning to think, and second as aids in doing. They provide means for self-discipline, enjoyment, and utility.
     The primary purpose of Geometry, for instance, is not its possible vocational use in building airplanes. Though that vocational use should be kept in mind, it should be seen in perspective in regard to other uses, such as the establishment of a precise and orderly mode of thinking, a comprehension of the basic forms in the created universe which may provide enjoyment throughout life in the contemplation of the natural environment, and a process of self-discipline by which the student strives to obtain a rational grasp of problems rather than a memory knowledge of their solutions.
     The primary purpose of Latin in High School or College is not the provision of scientifics which may ultimately be useful to a few ministers, or to research students in linguistics, though these uses have their place; but Latin is first a means of awakening the student to language consciousness by giving a basis for objective comparisons between a foreign language and the mother tongue.

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The fact that it is the language of our Revelation should lead the student to understand the primary function of language as the vehicle for imparting natural and spiritual truth. It should give enjoyment by enrichment of the mind from its literary treasures. It provides a constant challenge to self-discipline, and provides a basis for the rational comprehension of grammar, not only of the mother tongue, but of many foreign languages, and it is an important asset in the acquisition of a vocabulary.
     The primary purpose of the study of Physics is not its potential vocational use in engineering. Although that use is important, it must be seen in perspective with other uses. And so do I feel about all the Liberal Arts for High School and Junior College students.
     There is another function of the Liberal Arts, or of the Sciences and the Humanities, which needs emphasis, and that is the development of intellectual humility. Education should make a man conscious of his intellectual horizons, and of their capacity for almost limitless expansion. It should give him some comprehension of the vast intellectual world that lies beyond the field of his restricted vision. The point is illustrated by a passage from Plato's Apology, in which he has Socrates say, "I went to one of those who had a reputation for wisdom, . . . and examining this man-for I need not call him by name, but it was one of the public men with regard to whom I had this kind of experience, men of Athens and conversing with him, this man seemed to me to seem to be wise to many other people, and especially to himself, but not to be so; and then I tried to show him that he thought he was wise, but was not. And as a result I became hateful to him, and to many of those present. . . ." After examining many public men with the same result, Socrates went to the poets. "I perceived that they, on account of their poetry, though that they were the wisest of men in other things as well, in which they were not." Then the account continues, "Finally, then, I went to the handworkers. For I was conscious that T knew practically nothing, but I knew that I should find that they knew many fine things. And in this I was not deceived: they did know what I did not, and in this they were wiser than I. But, men of Athens, the good artisans also seemed to me to have the same failings as the poets: because of practicing his art well, each one thought that he was very wise in other most important matters and this folly of theirs obscured that wisdom."

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     In this connection, then, the study of science should teach the student a method of approach to his problems, should teach him to examine the pertinent evidence before reaching a conclusion, should teach him scrupulous accuracy in determining the facts which are the basis of that evidence; and this method of approach is an indispensable ingredient in the study of the Humanities. The Humanities should make the student aware of his dependence upon the past. It has been said that "primitive man found his subject matter in his personal experience. Civilization emerged only when man began to utilize and build upon the experience of his forbears." Subject matter in any of the Liberal Arts is "merely an organized record of the achievement and experience of former generations."
     As both the Humanities and the Sciences fulfill their primary function of instilling an acknowledgment of the Divine, so the student may achieve a genuine humility of spirit. But if the Liberal Arts are not the means of inculcating an acknowledgment of the Divine, of man's dependence upon the past, and of his need to search out pertinent evidence before reaching a conclusion, they may be the means of building a pride of self-intelligence as deadly as the serpent, and an intellectual arrogance which sheds light like a skull of ebony.
     The war, with its demands, has been the cause of a general reinvestigation of the use and function of the Liberal Arts, not only in our Academy, but throughout the country. In the May issue of the Bulletin of the Association of American Colleges is published a report, entitled `The Post-War Responsibilities of Liberal Education," adopted on April 18, 1943, by the Commission on Liberal Education of that Association. Here we read:

     "American Colleges and Universities can benefit greatly from the necessity, which they cannot escape, of having to meet the education and human needs of young men and women during the period of demobilization. Many of the reforms which will be required by this emergency are reforms long overdue in American education.
     "These reforms concern not only admission, teaching and graduation procedures; they concern even more vitally the basic skills, subjects, and emergent values of liberal education.

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We have been bedeviled by the multiplication of unrelated and isolated courses, by artificial departmental barriers, by a type of specialization that is hostile to cultural integration-and (with the swing of the pendulum) by a type of superficial survey that unduly sacrifices depth of comprehension to scope and breadth. A healthy revolt against discipline for its own sake has led to a disparagement of rigorous study and self-discipline. Justifiable concern for the immediate present and future has inadvertently encouraged a neglect of our historical heritage. Academic objectivity has been interpreted to mean the refusal to make responsible judgments, or to take sides on vital issue. In these and in other ways liberal education has lost its bearings, and requires to be examined anew." (Page 296.)

     This is a rather wholesome, even remarkable, evidence of self- examination, but it does not go far enough. President Alexander Grant Ruthven of Michigan, pointed last March to a path of reexamination of which the Commission might well avail itself. He said, "Present conditions have been in the making for many years, and regardless of the conflict now raging they will continue to exist in greater or less intensity until man learns to curb effectively his selfishness and greed, and to know his neighbors as friends rather than as customers to be exploited or competitors to be destroyed."
     But to return to the report of the Commission:

     "The practice of selling education by the piece must be absolutely repudiated as a threat to the inner integrity of liberal education. For the characteristic feature of such education has been that it is an organic and balanced whole, IN WHICH THE ARTS AND SCIENCES ARE UNITED and are made to serve the development of the whole man.
     "There have been times when the colleges lost their grip on this essential humanistic unity of the course of study, because liberal education seemed to mean laissez-faire education without benefit of the wisdom of the educator. They are now struggling to recover this fundamental principle of balance and unity in knowledge and experience. The present practice of accepting money and students for only parts of education may lead later to the notion, even in the institutions themselves, that the function of the college is primarily to serve the needs of industry or government, and not the needs of man and the whole order of a free life in a democracy." (Page 284.)

     From its inception, the Academy has recognized the acknowledgment of the Divine as the essential unifying element in the course of study. Moreover the Writings have provided guidance in the ordering and the arrangement of the scientifics in the course of study. Bishop Benade, for example, classified all the specific studies mentioned in the Writings on the basis of this statement in the Arcana:

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     "In the natural there are scientifics of various kinds. There are scientifics relating to earthly, corporeal, and worldly things, which are the lowest; for they are immediately from the external things of sense or of the body. There are scientifics relating to the civil state its government, statutes and laws; these are somewhat more interior. There are scientifics respecting the things of moral life, which are still more interior. But those which regard spiritual life are more interior than all the rest; these are the truths of the church, which, so far as, with man, they are grounded only in doctrine, are nothing more than scientifics; but when grounded in the good of love, they ascend above scientifics, for then they are in spiritual light, from which light they view scientifics in their order beneath them. Man by such degrees of scientifics ascends to intelligence." (A. C. 5934.)
     In NEW CHURCH LIFE, December, 1886, pp. 181-182, Bishop Benade gives his specific classification of all the studies mentioned in the Writings. And in NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1885, p. 177, he produced a chart displaying a classified arrangement of scientifics in three columns, under the general heads of Spirit, Man, and Nature. Each column is in coordinate divisions, the lowest a general classification of scientifics in each column, but adapted to the corporeal-sensual plane, age 1-7; the second, adapted to the sensual-scientific plane, age 7-14; and the third or highest division of each column gave scientifics adapted to the scientific-rational plane, age 14-21. Work along the broad general lines initiated by Bishop Benade has continued with varying emphasis to the present time. The efforts of Bishop de Charms in recent years are too well known to require comment. The point is, that in the Academy we do not face the same difficulties that confront the liberal arts' colleges in their efforts to "recover the fundamental principle of balance and unity in knowledge and in experience." We can and should continue in an already established tradition of research in this field.
     Some of our problems are:

     How can our specific art or science best illustrate the presence of the Lord, either in nature or among men or with both, so that it may lead to an acknowledgment of the Divine?
     What specific scientifics of that art or science are best adapted to what specific stages of the mental growth of the student?

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     What specific scientifics of that art or science will be of the greatest use to the student in learning to think and in learning to do, or to provide opportunity for self-discipline, enjoyment and utility?
     These are problems which lie in the already established tradition of distinctive research. There are many more, but we must be on our guard in the midst of the great changes which seem imminent in contemporary education, that we may not be swept loose from our moorings.
     [To illustrate how such problems should be solved, the speaker cited examples in the field of teaching Languages, and also treated briefly of the subject of Aptitude Tests, and continued:]

     So much, then, for suggestions which, if followed, would, I believe, make it possible for both the Sciences and the Humanities to serve more fully the cause of New Church Education.
     In conclusion, let me advert to the matter of humility, this time not in our students, but in ourselves. We are privileged to engage in the work of preparing the young of the church for a life of regeneration. We must do our utmost, but also remember that this work is really the Lord's work. And so let us take stock of our horizons. We read in the Arcana:

     "There are innumerable causes from which and for the sake of which a man loves to learn truth and will good. There are very many causes from the world, and there are also very many from the body, and sometimes these are not at the same time for the sake of heaven, still less for the Lord's sake. It is by means of affections that a man is introduced by the Lord into truth and good, and one man altogether differently from another, each according to his disposition connate and acquired. And inasmuch as he is introduced into truth and good continually by affections, thus continually by freedoms, and at length into the affections of spiritual truth and spiritual good, the Lord alone knows those times and those states, and He alone disposes and rules them in a way applicable to the genius and life of each individual. Hence it is evident why man has freedom." (A. C. 2878.)

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BROUGHT TO THE LIGHT. 1943

BROUGHT TO THE LIGHT.       Rev. GEORGE NTESO       1943

     How I came to a Knowledge of the New Church Doctrines.

     (Written in the year 1938. Translated from Sesuto by Rev. T. Mofokeng.)

     A knowledge of the doctrines of the New Church came to me in this way: I was a member of the French Protestant Church, and for a long time I was a teacher in that Church, and, during the absence of the evangelist, I was required to hold the church. In this way I tried all I could to get a clear understanding of the Word, especially such texts as speak of the "new earth and the new heaven," of the Son of God, the Last Judgment, and also of such men as Elijah and Abraham, and of the "land flowing with milk and honey." And I found that there were contradictions in these texts, also in this: "Ask, and it shall be given unto you," when yet we are told to "ask not, for he who begs mocks himself." And it is said that you will live `by the sweat of your brows," while another text says, "Give your riches unto the poor." Such teachings worried me, and I had neither light nor knowledge.
     One day I was in Thaba Bosigo in the month of March. 1931, and here I met a New Churchman by the name of Silas Mote. We had a long talk about the Word, and he asked me many questions from the Word, such as this: "Why did God create man?" I was alarmed by the story of Adam and Eve, which he explained to me. And at last he told me that there was a school of these doctrines at Alpha. I went there, and much was explained to me by the Revs. T. Mofokeng and Jonas Motsi. Then I began to see matters according to New Church light. I joined the Church, and was baptized therein by the Rev. Jonas Motsi on January 17, 1932.
     Then I applied to become a student in the Theological School, and I was told to wait the whole of 1932, in order that I might read more of the doctrines and understand. This I did hopefully, but it looked to me as though this time was a thousand years.

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The time came and I was accepted with love and gladness by the Superintendent of the School, the Rev. F. W. Elphick. I spent three years under him, 1933-1935, and finished my course.
     What I like most in the doctrines of the New Church is the spiritual sense of the Word, which is heavenly.
WORKING HYPOTHESIS OF THE SOUL 1943

WORKING HYPOTHESIS OF THE SOUL       DONALD F. ROSE       1943

     (Address at a Discussion Club in Philadelphia.)

     A word of apology may be appropriate. My subject is a little out of step with the ordinary deliberations of this company. We have mainly concerned ourselves, in the past, with differences of opinion in sociological and historical scholarship. We have engaged in argument without personal implications.
     Quite often we have fought a good fight to no conclusion on the rather dreary battlefield of terminology. We have labored over definitions, as though wisdom might be justified of its vocabulary. In rather disquieting degree, perhaps, we have avoided topics touching us too closely, or have halted our discussions considerably short of any personal significance.
     This may be because this is an association of experts, each ploughing his own thin furrow in a vast field. It may be because we are singularly blessed with a large member percentage of sociologists, who are very likely to be specialists in scholarship. It sometimes appears, indeed, there are exactly as many specialists as sociologists. And sociology, in its present conditions, appears to be a science which has taken all knowledge for its province, but has dissected it into innumerable pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and mislaid a lot of the pieces. Consequently, to the uninformed layman its studies fail to present any recognizable picture.
     Even the sociologist himself is sure of little except the outlines of his own small piece of the puzzle, and may, for that matter, be holding it upside down, or wrong side foremost. Thereby it becomes difficult for the ignorant bystander to know what he is talking about, or why he is talking at all.

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Outside the sociological circle, there seems to be need for some integrating principle, or coordinating certainty or assumption, which would relate one group of studies to another in a reasonable pattern. It is as though we should attempt to put a jigsaw puzzle together without any idea what we are trying to make of it. But if the puzzle is infinitely complicated, it is quite unlikely we shall hit on its picture by fiddling with a few pieces. The puzzle becomes easier if we assume that it does form a picture, if properly assembled. And if we know definitely that the picture will be a picture of a cat, cow, or college professor, we may set about putting it together with patience and assurance of success.
     I mean no disrespect for present company, of course, in suggesting that many engaged in social, anthropological, and even historical studies resemble beachcombers on the shores of the sea of knowledge, who build a house with driftwood and regard it with the same satisfaction that the self-made man accords his handiwork. Some are merely scavengers in anthropological antheaps, their scholarship consisting mainly in quoting one another-in taking in each other's intellectual washing. To that degree the science of sociology threatens to become a mutual admiration society. It is certainly, to the bewildered layman, a confusion of tongues.
     We may assume, for the sake of argument, that these are the fair fruits of a posteriori reasoning in the modern manner, too faithfully applied to "the proper study of mankind." By the scientific method, trusting nothing but demonstrable evidence, we have attempted to synthesize a philosophy of human behavior and human destiny. It is generally agreed, even by sociologists, that we have not yet succeeded, but the fault is presumed to lie in a lack of sufficient evidence.
     In the realms of mathematics and physical science, admittedly, this method has yielded abundantly, though mainly of more and more knowledge which still awaits philosophical digestion. And it would be an irreverence, I suppose, to suggest that the proper picture of a posteriori reasoning is still a scholar sitting on an increasing pyramid of dictionaries and encyclopedias-a pyramid not entirely unlike the Tower of Babel, by which its builders hoped to raise a highway to heaven, but never got far beyond the collection of their raw materials.
     The thesis of this highly unscientific discourse is that some other method might work better.

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Perhaps it could not work any worse. For the social sciences have not yet much to brag about.
     Another method has been tried before and failed, which is no good reason for refusing to try it again. The alternative method is one which begins with a magnificent assumption-possibly Kant's "probable presumption,"-and rides it as far as it will go. Recognized danger of this kind of reasoning is that the attempt is almost invariably made to ride it farther than it will go. Well-meaning philosophers, past and present, have ridden their hobby-horses roughshod on the rocks, or into swamps of superstition. But this need not deny the validity of the method. The assumption, or hypothesis, can still serve in solving problems which seem to have no other key.
     As excuse for an argument, therefore, I wish to present a plea for the working hypothesis of a human soul. I am referring, of course, to a non-sectarian soul. For the moment, at least, I shall not attempt to define the soul-a task which has baffled the best brains of mankind since men first tried to think. It has baffled them because the human soul, if any, stubbornly refuses to submit to the laws of science and experience. It is probably safe to say that all efforts to make it submit have failed, sometimes in despair and even madness. In the literature of philosophy there is no more striking confessional than the paragraph in which Hume admits his inability to drive the soul into a tri-dimensional corner and put a label on it.
     "I am affrighted and confounded," he says, "with that forlorn solitude in which I am placed by my philosophy, and fancy myself some strange uncouth monster, who, not being able to mingle and unite in society, has been expelled all human converse, and left utterly abandoned and disconsolate. . . . The intense view of these manifold contradictions and imperfections in human reason has so wrought upon me, and heated my brain, that I am ready to reject all belief and reasoning, and can look upon no opinion even as more probable or likely than another. Where am I, or what? From what causes do I derive my existence, and to what condition shall I return? Whose favour shall I court, and whose anger must I dread? what beings surround me, and on whom have I any influence, or who have any influence on me? I am confounded with all these questions."

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     This is not an outmoded state of mind, by any means. You may find it in the writing of Jeans, who pulled the astronomical universe apart so thoroughly that he brought it crashing down on his head. There would be much more of it in modern scientific thinking, except that many scientists prefer to back up before they reach the desolation so vividly described by Hume.
     Others push ahead, perhaps to impale themselves at last upon an absurdity. The admirable Einstein has attempted to scale Olympus by a mathematical ladder, and when last heard from was sitting on an infinitesimal needle in a cosmic haystack. I quote from memory, but recall his definition of the leasts of creation as "two spaces, separated by a bridge of nothing," or words to that effect. At this point the average scientist who still respects common sense and the meanings of words throws up his hands and declares that somebody is talking nonsense.
     Both the despairing doubts of Hume and the variable certainties of Einstein derive from a determined effort to avoid assumptions, presumptions and hypotheses. And in particular respect to human behavior, the scientist is usually determined to deny the existence of an unknown quantity which obeys no known mechanical laws, and yet works freely among them. He will not hypothecate a human soul. Perhaps he dare not, because the certainty of the soul would be too upsetting, and even its possibility disturbing.
     The scientific prejudice, in fact, is not against the hypothesis, as such, but against the particular hypothesis of the soul. For it is easily demonstrated that we all live and move and have our intellectual being by permission of hypotheses. Every system of science or philosophy is built on them.
     Deliberately we may choose unimportant examples. The hypothetical cause of the common cold is an infiltrable and invisible virus, believed to exist only by circumstantial evidence. The government of these United States, for some of us, is a hypothesis, non-proven by income tax returns or the activities of WPA workers. The usefulness of popular education, Sunday schools and vitamin tablets is almost pure hypothesis. Democracy is a hypothesis. Most of us don't know what it is and don't know whether we have it, but feel obliged to behave as though we believe in it.

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     The physical sciences are thick with hypotheses. The alleged force of gravity is certainly a hypothesis entirely undemonstrated except by the fact that it seems to work. In no other fashion have we the slightest understanding of it. It disobeys many ordinary physical laws, yet it would be considered ridiculous to doubt its existence.
     The list of working hypotheses might be lengthened interminably. In the present field of inquiry we may quote Prof. William MacDougall, who once debated behaviorism with Dr. John B. Watson, and later made a book about it. "Consciousness," said he, "has never been seen, touched, smelled, tasted or moved. It is a plain assumption, just as unprovable as the old concept of the soul."
     Legitimately I might add that there are tremendous assumptions involved in every doctrine of evolution, and in every ingenious theory of the social scientist. And among the latter, certainly, must be mentioned an assumption antithetical to the title of this paper,- the working hypothesis that there is no such thing as a soul. I have heard that hypothesis, and so have we all. In almost every scientific debate the conception of a soul will be dismissed with a kind of impatience, and the debaters will use painstaking circumlocution to avoid the very mention of it.
     One is tempted, indeed, to believe that the modern scientist is more afraid of the soul than a disbeliever in its existence. It is, apparently, something that should not be mentioned in polite intellectual society. And as a substitute cause, or integrating force, behind the phenomena of human behavior, almost anything will do.
     If the non-existence of the soul is a legitimate working hypothesis, so is the hypothesis that there is a soul. In saying so I am compelled to offer some poor definition of what I mean by soul.
     It will save time to quote a familiar definition of Sir Oliver Lodge, that "life may be something not only ultraterrestrial, but even immaterial, something outside our present categories of matter and energy; as real as they are, but different, and utilizing them for its own purpose."
     It will also save time to dismiss the absurdity of an astral monad unhappily residing in a physical body until death do them part. The idea is not entirely outmoded, however, for it might be argued that behaviorism is essentially a scientific version of predestination and preestablished harmony, rolled into one and given a coat of varnish.

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     It also saves time to admit that ample experiment has been unable to locate the soul, if any, not even in the brain or any of its parts. Much was once expected of the pituitary gland, but it turned out that the soul was not there. The soul, apparently, is nowhere, unless it is everywhere.
     The soul we are talking about is a form of life, which is merely substituting one mystery for another. But it is specialized life, because human life, and it is individuated life. A working hypothesis of the soul assumes that every individual fragment of human life is thus individuated, infinitely and eternally various as no two leaves on a tree, no two snowflakes, are identical.
     This soul builds itself a body, as best it can, out of the available raw materials. Whatever perfection exists in the soul is modified from the moment of conception by the accidents of the physical world. The soul remains remote from these accidents and physical necessities, maintaining inviolate its integrity and identity. The soul is supremely wise, for it builds the body and all its powers and abilities. By no kind of ratiocination can these be convincingly credited to accident.
     Between this creative soul and its body, such as it is, comes into being the mind, a dual creature in that it is subject to both soul and body. The mind is not the soul, but may be considered the spiritual body of the soul. If we assume immortality, the mind may be body enough for the soul on another level of human existence. If the mind itself is of the earth, and earthly, yet its life is the soul, which Lodge said may he something "outside our known categories of matter and energy." It must be so, if it exists at all. The soul, as I have so feebly defined it, is not subject to the invariable laws of time and space. It is as complete in the microscopic seed as in the full body. It cannot be whittled away by physical accident to the body. Time touches it not at all, for it is equally valid in the unborn child as in the grown man even on his deathbed.
     It is absurd to attempt a definition in a few paragraphs. Yet I may safely refer, I think, to many profound thinkers of modern science who now concede the possibility of such an entity, call it what you like, which is not of this world, in that its behavior obeys no established laws of mathematics or geometry and yet works freely with them.

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     The usefulness of such a hypothesis is perhaps the most powerful argument in its favor. Human behavior becomes intelligible if man is regarded as a creature half way between heaven and earth, shaping his conduct, character and destiny between the perfect pattern of a soul and all the imperfections of his physical environment, including his body and all its inheritances, as well as the world about him. Free will is possible to a mind so created and conditioned, though not to the essential soul or the body.
     The hypothesis of the soul would clarify the purposes of the social sciences and of all education. The confidence of scientists and educators that they can remake man in any image they please is blurred by hopeless confusion as to what kind of man is desirable. If there is such a thing as an individuated human soul, it prescribes all possible futures of human evolution and development, which are probably adequate for all human effort toward the race's improvement to the end of time.
     A book by George A. Coe, "The Motives of Men," is shrewdly satirical on the subject of what science or education can accomplish, so long as they have no definite idea what they are trying to do. His fable is that the Sphinx of Egypt attended a meeting of scientists, including a Practicing Psychologist, a Biological Psychologist, an Analytical Psychologist, a Behaviorist a Gestalt-Psychologist and a Psychoanalyst. Having listened to them all, the Sphinx breaks her immemorial silence, and remarks: "When you find out what you want, I hope you'll one and all get what you want, provided you care to have that kind of want. As for me, the next steamer back to Egypt."
     If we care to add to the hypothesis of the soul the almost inevitable consequence of human immortality, the purposes of education, in particular, become quite specific. And it was Kant who described immortality as an undemonstrable proposition, but the "inseparable result of an unconditional a priori practical law." So it must be admitted that a working hypothesis of the soul gets us into still deeper waters, where certain reverend gentlemen of this club are more at home than the rest of us.

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     In conclusion, I have endeavored to argue that all sciences or philosophies, despite every watchful precaution of the most scrupulous advocate of the scientific method, are built on hypotheses, or guided by them. There are indefensible, but essential, assumptions in nearly every field of knowledge. They include many hypotheses which have achieved the dignity of accepted laws, but are still non-proven by direct experiment. They include, for that matter, the hypotheses of the reliability of sense observation, the infallibility of mathematics, and the final competency of human reason itself.
     Let the soul, then, be granted as a hypothesis, as good as many by which we live and think and argue. It is, by the testimony of much evidence, a sound working hypothesis. It explains much that is otherwise explicable only by beating around the hush and begging the question, as when a psychologist, for instance, stops short of investigating the simplest of all phenomena-the obvious fact of life itself-by saying it is none of his business. The hypothesis of the soul preserves the dignity of man, and justifies his own speculations concerning himself. It gives point and sense to education, and makes possible some standards of human conduct which are not accidents of culture or climate.
     It does not deny that men behave and misbehave, but it frees them from slavery to their endocrine glands, or their unconditioned embryological responses. It permits the picture of man as a free spirit, bounded on one side by the "probabilities' and necessities of his total environment and on the other by the infinite wisdom of life itself.
     Even in scientific company, I submit, a hypothesis that will so much clarify all evidence and experience as to human behavior, human hopes and purposes, human ideals and aspirations, deserves respectful consideration.

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CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD 1943

CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD       Rev. W. CAIRNS HENDERSON       1943

     Their Relation to Social and Economic Reform.

     (Reprinted from THE NEW AGE, July, 1943.)

     The many Churches of Christendom agree that their main function is to work for the establishment on earth of the Lord's kingdom. But there are many differences among them as to the nature of that kingdom, and as to the forms of activity by which it can best be developed and extended. Despite the clear teachings given to it in the plain statements of the Writings, the organized New Church has not entirely escaped the uncertainties and false ideas that have become characteristic of Christian thought about these matters. Even among us, what is meant by the kingdom of God has, from time to time, been the subject of loose thinking and irresponsible pronouncement. And we have seen much misguided zeal and misdirected energy go into efforts to prepare for the kingdom, and in these there was far more of good intention than of wisdom from the Writings. The purpose of this article is to inquire: In what way does the New Church co-operate with the Lord in the further establishment on earth of His everlasting kingdom?
     To see the answer to this question we must know what is meant by the kingdom of God and it will not be irrelevant to trace briefly the historical background of the conception which, more than any other, seems to possess modern thought and to be the mainspring of the Christian Church's activities at the present time. When the Lord spoke about His kingdom to the apostles, there was no doubt in their minds as to what He meant. By the kingdom of God they understood the reign of the Lord on earth, and they believed at first that its establishment would be the climax of His life and work. After His crucifixion and resurrection they saw that they had been mistaken, and began to look for the coming of the kingdom at the time of His Second Advent, which they supposed would take place shortly, or at least within the remainder of their earthly lives.

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This conception passed over from the apostles themselves to the Apostolic Church. The primitive Christians, like the apostles, conceived of the kingdom of God as a kingdom which would be established on earth when the Lord made His Second Advent, which they believed must be near at hand. And the result was that, for them, the Lord's kingdom was a living reality which might come at any time, and for which they must prepare themselves by loving and believing in His teachings and living according to them.
     As time went on, however, the Church was forced to revise its opinion. One by one the apostles passed through the gate of death into the spiritual world; and with the death of John, the last surviving apostle, it became evident to the Church that it had been mistaken in looking for the coming of the kingdom within the lifetime of those who had been the Lord's disciples. And in later years similar disappointments were met. Every crisis, every persecution, which was taken as a sign of the Lord's Advent, was eventually seen to have been only a sign of the times. The existence of the kingdom of God in heaven-by which the primitive Christians meant beyond the skies-was never in doubt. What was uncertain was its establishment on earth. And as uncertainty deepened, as faith in a near fulfilment of the promise decreased, the tendency was, more and more, to place that establishment in the indefinite future. Meanwhile, although the kingdom did not come to men on earth, it was believed that good men went to the kingdom by death; and there grew up gradually an idea of heaven as a place beyond the skies to which the faithful go after death, but which had not yet come down into the world.
     In this way the idea cherished by the apostles and their immediate followers was discarded. The kingdom of God was no longer thought of as the reign of the Lord on earth, but as a reign in heaven under which men could come only by death, And influences were at work in the Church which were to make this idea central in Christian theology and hynmology for several centuries. It has been revealed in the Writings that at the time when the Christian Church was finally recognized by the Roman Empire, and became virtually the ecclesiastical arm of the State, it had already lost its integrity.

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The unselfish love to the Lord and toward the neighbor which ruled in the Apostolic Church had been replaced by the selfish loves of self and the world. The lust of power and greed of gain which became increasingly characteristic of the secular State marked also a Church which was henceforth to be Christian only in name. And from that time onward the Church entered into an alliance with the State which had no other end than a mutual rendering of assistance and conferring of benefits.
     That it might obtain wealth and power for itself, the Church encouraged, in insidious ways, a concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a privileged class, over which its own domination was secure. It supported the cruelties through which this concentration was maintained; and it sanctioned the injustice and the social and economic slavery which resulted from it. This last could not, of course, be done openly; but it is not for nothing that subtlety has come to be regarded as the hallmark of the theologian. A formula was found. Did not most men, the leaders of the Church included, think of wealth and power and honors as very Divine blessings? And had not the Lord Himself said, "My kingdom is not of this world"? The course of the Church was clear to those who formulated its policies. Henceforward it maintained the status quo by preaching the new doctrine of Christian resignation: by teaching the poor that God had never promised that all men should have equal rights in this world, but that if they submitted meekly and unquestioningly to their poverty, hardships, and virtual slavery, they would receive their reward in the life to come.
     Although the Reformation brought about profound changes, social as well as religious, it brought no relief from this pernicious doctrine. The only difference was that, while in Catholic lands the Church exercised control over secular life, in Protestant countries the Church soon fell into the power of secular forces. Protestant doctrine, although unfavorable to feudalism and to aristocratic privilege, provided the incentive which led to the formation of a new privileged class,-a class in whose hands, through finance and commerce, wealth and power became concentrated as effectively as they had been in those of the class it superseded, and with exactly the same results for the mass of the people. Quite evidently all the interests of this class lay in the mass of the people being persuaded that the existing system-which gave it nearly everything and the people practically nothing-was at least well pleasing to God, if not actually ordained by Him.

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And as it was upon the financial support of this class that the Church depended for its very existence, self-interest soon led to a revival of the doctrine-calculated to curb revolt-that the Lord's kingdom is not of this world, that the existing social and economic order was to be accepted, and that those who suffered under it would receive their reward in heaven, if they bore their suffering with Christian patience and asked no embarrassing questions!
     No other travesty of the Lord's teaching has brought the Christian religion into such utter contempt in the systems of modern philosophers; and modern thought within the Christian Church itself has rebelled against what some American writers call the promise of "pie in the sky" as full satisfaction for grinding poverty, hardship, and insecurity in this world. Advanced thinkers in the Church now say, quite rightly, that when the Lord said, "My kingdom is not of this world," He did not mean that His kingdom was not to be established on earth, but that it did not consist in the cruelty and oppression, the greed of gain and the lust for power, upon which the world order is founded. But having made this discovery, modern thought has fallen into two errors. It contends that the Lord has done His part in showing the way, and that it is for men to build the kingdom. Indeed some thinkers discarding the idea of a personal Second Coming-hold that, as men build the kingdom, the Lord will come to reign in it as a new spirit among men, and will thus make His Second Advent. And in the thought of many the kingdom is conceived entirely in terms of social justice, and of social and economic security.
     It is not too much to say that, for many members of the Christian Church to-day, the kingdom of God on earth means nothing more or less than a state of society in which everyone is properly housed, fed, clothed, and remunerated; a state in which social and economic slavery have no place, and from which the spectres of unemployment, poverty, and uncared-for old age have been abolished; a state in which opportunities for cultural and physical development are open to all without distinction. Under this concept the fight to bring about social and economic reforms becomes the work of building the kingdom along the lines supposedly laid down by the Lord. To a Church which has been fully consummated, which realizes instinctively that it can hope to exert influence only in external things, and which is powerfully drawn to those things by its affections, such a program is very attractive.

463



So it is that we find the militant section of the Christian Church increasingly active in the sphere of social and economic reform. And if its conception of the kingdom of God on earth were true, we would have to admit that the Old Church is far more concerned with, and active in, the work of establishing that kingdom than is the New.
     But the Writings teach plainly that it is not. In terms so clear as to be unmistakable they teach that, while the kingdom of God is to be established on earth, it is not an earthly kingdom, but a spiritual one-a spiritual kingdom established in the minds of men on earth. Let us not, however, despise the conception held by the Christian Church today, but rather see in it the merciful Providence of the Lord. Just as there have always been good men in churches and privileged classes which are generally corrupt-men who have shunned and fought against the practices of their own orders,-so in the Christian Church to-day there are many men and women who are in simple good. They are undergoing a process of vastation, being reduced to a state of ignorance; and if their efforts to improve the earthly lot of their fellow men are inspired by a sincere if simple love to the Lord and toward the neighbor, their childlike conception of charity is yet a basis for their eventual salvation. But let us not seek, either, to make that basis our own. In so far as we are in external states, their external program makes a very strong appeal to us, for it seems to promise more immediate and practical results. But to us has been entrusted a Divine Revelation of spiritual truth. That must be our basis, and before us lies the longer and harder road of working for the establishing of what is internal.
     By the kingdom of God on earth, the Writings teach, is meant the reign of the Lord in the minds and lives of men here on earth,-the reign which is established when men acknowledge Him as the one God of heaven and earth, submit their affections and thoughts to His revealed will, and their future to His Providence, and receive spiritual faith and charity from Him by believing the truth of His Word and doing the good to which it leads. Thus the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church, is essentially individual and spiritual. For it is only by the individual that these things can be done, and they must exist in the mind if they are to have any real value in the body.

464



In this is the saving of the Lord true, that "the kingdom of heaven is within" man. In a strict sense, it is those only who have the Word-and by this is meant a true knowledge and understanding of the Word, not mere possession of the book- in whose minds the kingdom can be established while they live on earth. This does not mean that salvation is limited to the Church Specific. The Lord saves men and women out of every religion on the face of the earth who believe in one Divine, however conceived, obey His revealed will as the law of life, and so live together in natural charity. These constitute the Church Universal; and although the Lord cannot establish His kingdom in their minds while they live on earth, He can prepare them to receive it in the life after death. But He can do so only by means of the true Church-the Church Specific,-which now exists only in the New Church.
     And in this we may see the answer to the question: How can the organized New Church most effectively co-operate with the Lord in the further establishment on earth of His everlasting kingdom? No man can build the kingdom. The Lord alone can do so, as He alone can show the way. Men can only co-operate, and the way in which we should do so is shown plainly in the Writings. It is our supreme and inmost use as a Church to keep open a path for influx from the Lord out of heaven, for that influx which flows through the Church Specific to the Church Universal as the life of the body flows in through the heart and lungs, and by which the Lord establishes His kingdom in the minds of those who possess the Word, and prepares for its reception those who do not. We perform this use by doing three things:-by looking to the Lord, and shunning our personal evils as sins against Him; by supporting loyally the activities of our Society of the Church, and of the organized Church as a whole; and by reading, studying, and reflecting upon the Writings, that we may learn ever better to apply their truth to our lives. And it is in its faithful performance that we truly co-operate with the Lord in the work of establishing the kingdom that He alone can do, for thus do we make of the Church an ever more perfect instrument in His hand for the salvation of souls.
     This does not mean that the attitude of the New Church toward social and economic disorders and reforms is one of lofty unconcern and indifference.

465



These things are not indeed our concern as a Church. The use of the Church is to preserve a knowledge of the Divine among the people, and its vital concern must always be for the spiritual welfare of the present generation rather than the social and economic well-being of posterity. But the Church is made up of individuals who are citizens of their respective countries, and as such it is surely our duty to labor for the social and economic welfare of our fellow-citizens, and to bring to our labors the unique quality of New Churchmanship. But let us be clear in our thinking. Let us not suppose that in doing this we are establishing the kingdom of God, or even doing that which must be done before the kingdom can be established; and so imagining, neglect our real uses. Than this there could be no greater tragedy.
     There are many men and women in the world who can perform at least as effectively as we can the uses of moral, social, and economic reform. But the spiritual uses of the Church, which are indispensable for human salvation, can be performed by us alone; and to regard entering into those uses by following the Lord in the regeneration as our primary function is not selfish, if it is done from love to the neighbor. It is to desire from the heart that the Lord's kingdom may come, and to work for its coming in a way far more effective than any other. Than this there is no more important use we can perform, none that will bring to others and to ourselves more true and lasting happiness. Let us not turn away from it, but seek from the Lord, through enlightened study of the Writings, a spiritual concept of the uses of the Church, and a love from which we may resolve that they shall be maintained.

466



NOTES AND REVIEWS 1943

NOTES AND REVIEWS              1943


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Editor     Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager     Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Business Manager.


TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     FORTHCOMING BOOK ON "THE WORD."

     Mr. A. E. Friend, President of the New Church Missionary and Tract Society, London, has kindly sent us the advance notice of the publication of a work by an eminent New Churchman in Scotland, William C. Dick, M.A., F.E.I.S., Emeritus Head Master, Glasgow Education Authority. The title of the book is The Bible-Its Letter and Spirit, and the character of its form of treatment may be inferred from these statements in the advance notice:
     The author, whose chief interest is education, religious as well as secular, is deeply conscious of the difficulties that confront not only the ordinary reader, but also the student of the Bible. It is not too much to say that many people regard the Bible as a "thing of shreds and patches." They look forward to seeing a revised and rearranged Bible, that would retain those patches of matchless grandeur which add lustre to the world's literature, but would probably reject the "shreds." There could be nothing more disastrous. A proper appreciation of the Bible is based upon the certainty of coherence, sequence, and unity of the Divine Truth it embodies. A weakened and wavering faith in the fundamental character of the Bible means a faltering approach to the whole subject of religious education, upon which the complex fabric of economic, social, political, and religious life depends.
     Can we be assured that in the Bible we have the direct expression of Divine Truth, the actual Word of God, and not merely man's opinion concerning such Truth?

467



The author suggests how we can be so assured, by-briefly considering the intellectual and spiritual endowment of man (chapters I-II describing in outline how we got our Bible, and the form it has ultimately assumed (chapters III-VI) and indicating, on an episodic rather than on a continuous method, the spiritual nature of the Word, and how its spiritual content may be attained (chapters VIJ-XXII).

     Under the auspices of the Missionary and Tract Society, the book is to be published by J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., at 7sh. 6d. net, and we look forward with pleasant anticipations to a perusal and review of the work when it arrives.

     THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD.

     With the beginning of the present year, the Rev. Charles A. Hall after twenty-two years' service as editor of THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD, official journal of the General Conference retired from that office and was succeeded by the Rev. Arthur Clapham.
     Mr. Hall has given many good things to the Church in his lucid expositions of New Church doctrine and his treatments of many general topics. From these we have not infrequently quoted in our pages. Preferring a judicial approach and calm discussion to violent disputation, he once wrote: "We are not given to great argument, for generally speaking we have found it futile. Yet there are times when it may prove useful, especially when it proceeds from good will, and is concerned, not so much with establishing an opinion as with reaching the truth."
     Mr. Clapham brings to his new task the abilities of a good writer and a fidelity to the Heavenly Doctrines, as will be known to our readers from our occasional citations from his pen. His editorial platform is stated in the HERALD of January 2, as follows:
     "THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD, being the official journal of the General Conference of the New Church, is essentially a family paper for all members of the New Church in connection with the Conference. It is our hope that it may increasingly perform that use, and that its articles may prove a stimulus to thought and discussion in every New Church home. In a world wherein almost every aspect of our civilization has become 'fluid,' wherein few conventions either of thought or conduct are accepted as established and incontestable, and wherein the ideas of `reconstruction' are becoming more and more prominent, there is need that New Church people should think for themselves and discuss among themselves the many problems which are crowding upon us.
     "It would be platitudinous to say that New Church people should think from the Heavenly Doctrines revealed by the Lord in His Second Advent.

468



Every New Churchman believes that in those Doctrines are to be found the Divine principles upon which human life should be constructed or reconstructed, both in an individual and a social sense. If lye are to establish order in our own lives, or in our communities, large or small, we must begin with principles of order, and these we cannot derive from our disorderly selves, but only from the Lord.
     "We hope that the HERALD may serve a use in helping to discover and show the principles of order. We may not always be all agreed as to what those principles are. They are not laid down canonically for us, They have to be searched for and rationally sought out. Within a general agreement there will he room for many points of view, and by the presentation of a subject from many angles, the thought of all of us may be extended, enlightened and perfected.
     "The HEARLD will endeavor to include all such varieties of thought and standpoint. Our common agreement that the principles are to be sought in revealed truth, and not in our own prejudices or emotional thought, should guard us against mere disputation.

     SWEDENBORG HOUSE AT AXMAR.

     Emanuel Swedenborg was part owner of the Axmar Iron Works, situated on the Baltic coast of Sweden in the province of Gefleborg. The dwelling pictured in the accompanying photographs was on this property, a description of which was given in NEW CHURCH LIFE in 1915 (p. 806) by Cyriel Lj. Odhner, who visited the place in 1914. From this we quote:

     The most interesting relic from olden times is a house still called "Swedenborg's Hut." now occupied by the inspector of agriculture, who showed me the rooms in which Swedenborg is supposed to have "lived while at Axmar." The house is of pleasing proportions, and surrounded by very old and stately maples and birches. Examining the archives of the Works, I found a whole library of account books beautifully kept for 300 years.
     As Dr. Tafel says in the Documents (Vol. I, p. 378), the Works (for a time) were anything but a source of comfort to Swedenborg. He inherited one-fifth of the property through his mouser, Sarah Belm, while his aunt, Brita Behm, owned four-fifths. First, there was a lengthy lawsuit over the division of the inheritance; then the furnace was burned by the Russians when they invaded in 1721, and had to be rebuilt; finally, there was a long contest between Swedenborg and Brita Behm. Of this lawsuit we have the legal records from the College of Mines, including many documents by Swedenborg which have never been published.

     [The photographs of the House at Axmar are in the Academy Library collection. The originals are very much faded, but have been reproduced in New York through the kindness of Mrs. Marguerite Beck Block.-EDITOR.]

469





[Photographs of SWEDENBORG HOUSE AT AXMAR. Front and Rear Views.]



470



MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943

     THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)

     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa, United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942,
     SERGEANT PILOT RALPH ROSCHMAN HILL, Kitchener, Ontario. Royal Canadian Air Force. Killed on active service in Wales, February 9, 1943.


     OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, L.A.C. Norman,
Heldon, L.A.C. Sydney,
Kirsten, Sgt. Theodore,
Taylor, Sgt. Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bellinger, Wren Elaine,
Bond, L.A.C. J. W.,
Bond, Sgt. Lillian D.,
Bond, L.A.C. Thomas A.,
Evens, Tpr. John,
Evens, Gnr. Robert A.,
Evens, A.C. 2 Reuben J.,
Hasen, A.C. 2 Alfred H.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Heinrichs, A.C. 2 Philip O.,
Hill, Ft/Sgt. Leonard F.,
James, Pvt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Schnarr, Sgt. Joffre G.,
Schnarr, Cadet John G.,
Scott, Pvt. Herbert G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, Sgt. Pilot A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.

     Toronto.
Bellinger, A.C. 2 Donald F.,
Bellinger, Sgt./Pilot John H.,
Campbell, Sub-Lt. Stella, W.R.C.N S
Carter, F/Sgt. Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Cpl. Thomas J.,
Izzard, F/O Laurence T., Missing in Action,
Jessman, Dvr. Edward,
Jesseman, Cpl. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn,
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Richardson, A.C. 2 David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, Pvt. Ivan R.,
Scott, P/O Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Bellinger, P/O William G., Ontario,
Evens, L.A.C. A. Leslie, Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 Norman W., Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 W. E.,
Frazee, A.C. 2 Keith I., British Columbia,
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.


     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Eric D.,
Appleton, L.A.C. Roy,

471




Boozer, Dvr. A. E.,
Boozer, Donald,
Briscoe, Miss Irene G.,
Caldwell, Lieut. William T.,
Clennell, A.C. 2 Gordon,
Cohen, Eng. Comdr. Maurice L.,
Dale, Tpr. Keith B.,
Dawson, Sgt. Geoffrey P.,
Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Halliday, Lieut. Keith C.,
Jones, Harold C.,
Lewin, Ronald,
Morley, P/O H. K.,
Morris, Lieut. David,
Motum, 2nd Lt. John,
Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,
Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Beatrice A.,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Lt. Michael T.,
Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,
Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Sylvia M.

     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, 2nd Lieut. J. S.,
Buss, Pvt. Brian,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Buss, Pvt. Ronald,
Cockerell, Sig. John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, A/P Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
Craig, Major Thomas,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Gnr. D. B., Honorably Discharged,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, P/A/O J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, Lieut. A. N.,
Hammond, 2nd Lieut. Harry B.,
Hammond, Cpl. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, P/N Miss S. F.,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, S/Sgt. A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Pemberton, A/P G. Guy,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, Cpl. C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,
Ridgway, Pvt. H. A.,
Ridgway, Cpl. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A., Honorably discharged,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, S/Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, P.F.C. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Pvt. Robert,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, Cpl. Ralph E.,
Behlert, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Bostock, Pvt. Robert M.,
Caldwell, Jeannette P., A.R.C.,
Carpenter, Lt. (jg) Philip S. P.,
Carswell, Pvt. Louis D.,
Cole, Pvt. Dandridge M.,
Cole, Capt. William P.,
Conner, Pvt. Wilson Bennett,
Cooper, Pre. A/C Denis,
Cooper, Pvt. Geoffrey,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, Lt. Rey W.,
Cooper, Cpl. Theodore F.,
Cowley, Cpl. William J.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
David, A/C Warren,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davies, Cpl. Philip T.,
Davis, Joan, S 2/c,
Davis, Lt. Justin H.,
Davis, Sgt. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
Deigendesch, Paul H., A.S.,
De Maine, Lt. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine, Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A..
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, Lt. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Fine, Sgt. Raymond F.,
Finkeldey, Lt. Philip,
Gansert, Pvt. Otto G.,
Glenn, Lt. Ernest Bruce,
Gyllenhaal, Pvt. Charles P.,
Gyllenhaal, Pvt. Hugh A.,
Gyllenhaal, Ensign Leonard E.
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, Sgt. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., Ph.M. 2/c,

472




Hilldale, Pvt. Thomas A.,
Homiller, Lt. William,
Hyatt, Sgt. Edward D.,
Hyatt, Pvt. Kent,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Nilson, Lt. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, P.F.C. David S.,
Odhner, Sgt. Ray S.,
Odhner, Lt. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, R.T. 1/c,
Pitcairn, A/C Garthowen,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Joel,
Pitcairn, A/C John P.,
Pitcairn, A/C Lachlan,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, Lt. Nathan,
Pitcairn, Lt. Stephen, C.A. P.,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Capt. Oliver I.,
Price, Donal, A.S.,
Price, Sgt. Kenneth,
Redmile, Pvt. Thomas,
Rose, Pvt. John W.,
Rose, P.F.C. Stanley,
Rosenquist, P.F.C. Henry,
Schnarr, A/S Arthur W.,
Schnarr, Donald, S 1/c,
Schnarr, Pvt. Eugene C.,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, Lt. David R.,
Simons, A/S Hilary Q.,
Smith, Pvt. Ivan I.,
Synnestvedt, Pvt. Fred H.,
Synnestvedt, A/C Pvt. Huard I.,
Umberger, Grant, A.S.,
Walter, Elizabeth, S.K. 2/c,
Walter, Pvt. Wm. H. S.,
Walter, Lt. Robert E.,
White, Lt. Harry J.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Anderson, Pvt. Roland,
Asplundh, Ensign O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., M.M. 2/c,
Barry, Pvt. John,
Brown, Pvt. Robert E.,
Burnham, Edwin, C. Sp., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, P.F.C. Roy M.,
Carlson, S/Sgt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,
Cole, Pvt. Louis S.,
Elkins, Lois, Y 3/c,
Fuller, George, A.M.M. 1/c,
Fuller, Pvt. William,
Gladish, Lt. Donald G.,
Gunsteens, P.F.C. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,
Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, P.F.C. Kenneth,
Holmes, Cpl. Leslie B.,
Junge, Lt. Carl F.,
King, Cpl. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Lt. Raymond T.,
Lee, Pvt. Cedric F.,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
McQueen, Pvt. Kenneth,
Melzer, P.F.C. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Philip,
Melzer, Sgt. Roger,
Nelson, Lt. Gerald F.,
Pollock, A/C Robert T.,
Reuter, Lieut. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Ensign Hubert O.,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, Lt. Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C., Honorably discharged,
Wille, Pvt. Gerhardt King.

     Michigan.
Birchman, Owen R., A.S.,
Childs, P.F.C. Walter C.,
French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, Pvt. John F.,
Peterson, Pvt. Philip H.,
Peterson, Warrant Officer Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., C.P.O.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Lt. (j.g.) Alexander,
Packer, E. W. Jr., S. 1/c.
Packer, Pvt. Robert F.,
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,
Westacott, Ensign Ethel B.

     Pittsburgh,
Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Blair, P.F.C. James E. Jr.,
Brown, Lt. George P., Jr.,
Brown, Sgt. Tech. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,
Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Horigan, A/S Walter Lee,
Iungerich, Tech. Sgt. Stevan,
Lechner, Lt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Capt. Alexander H.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Pendleton, Lt. Philip C.,
Schoenberger, Lt. Ulrich,
Schoenberger, Av/C Walter S.,
Stein, Cpl. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Sgt. Elmer G., Texas.

473




Caldwell, Cpl. Neil V., New York.
Coffin, Capt. Roscoe T., Maryland.
Cranch, T/Sgt. W. E., Penna.
Crockett, Lloyd, A.S., Georgia.
Davis, A/C Charles F., Calif.
Davis, Sgt. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Capt. Philip B., Ohio,
Denys, T/5 Raymond, Georgia.
Doering, A/C Edward, Wayne, Iowa.
Glenn, A.S. Alfred M., New York,
Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Griffin, William T., E.M. 1/c, South Carolina.
Joy, Lt. Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Cpl. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Merrell, Sgt. Frederick, Calif.
Merrell, Pvt. Stanley, Calif.
Moorhead, Pvt. Donald, Washington, D. C.
Posey, Pvt. John A., Alabama.
Rott, Sgt. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Smith, Sterling R., A.M.M. 1/c, Georgia.
Snyder, Donald, A.M.M. 2/c, Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Major Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Tarr, Joseph, S.K. 3/c, Maryland.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.
Wilson, Joaquin C., Jr., E.M. 2/c, Missouri.
Wilson, John E., U.S.M.S., Missouri.
PARENT-TEACHER JOURNAL 1943

PARENT-TEACHER JOURNAL              1943

     Purposes:     To keep the Church Schools in closer touch with the Academy and with one another. To provide material for the instruction of children in the home.
     Contents, 1943-1944: Continuation of the serial publication of "The Life of the Lord." by Bishop George de Charms. Part II.

Reports from Teachers on Various Subjects.
Book Reviews and Report of Library Activities.
Sermons and Talks to Children. Stories.
News of the Church Schools.
Educational Council Papers and Discussions.

EDITOR: Miss Celia Bellinger.
ASSISTANT EDITORS: Mrs. Besse E. Smith.
Miss Lois Stebbing.

Published Monthly, October to May, $1.00.
Address: Mrs. Phyllis S. Cranch, Business Manager,
Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

     We received from the Rev. Harold C. Cranch, Pastor, a formal invitation to attend the opening service of the South Side New Church (Swedenborgian), to be held on Sunday, August 29, 1943, at the South Side Masonic Temple, 64th and Green Streets, Chicago.

     SWEDEN AND NORWAY.

     June 25, 1943. In a letter of this date to Bishop de Charms, the Rev. Gustaf Baeckstrom writes:

     "Your Message of Greeting for the 19th of June was received on that day, and was read in translation to those who were assembled here in the garden of my home to celebrate the Day, about 50 persons, and was much appreciated. Truly we are together, united in spirit, especially on that Day of days, and it is a great comfort to us. And yet we all long to meet you again in person.
     "I sent a copy of my translation of your letter to Erik Sandstrom, who, with his family, was in Jonkoping to celebrate the Day with the group there and some from Gothenburg.
     "A message has also been sent to our people in Oslo, where Miss Anna Boyesen has just celebrated her 80th birthday. They seem to be having a very bard time there, and feel very badly not to be able to receive any administration of the sacraments, as I am still unable to make any visit there. I am glad, at least, to be aisle to send them letters and a sermon for each Sunday. It is good to have the light from the Writings to enable us to trust in the Divine Providence, especially so for our people in Oslo. I am sorry to say that one of our lady members there has been in a concentration camp since the beginning of the year, for what reason I do not know, but likely because she has been too outspoken. And she has said that she did not know how she would have been able to endure it, if she had not had the Church."
     In the same mail came the following.

     A Message of Greeting.-Dear Bishop: On behalf of all the members and friends of the societies here and in Oslo, I beg to express our most hearty wishes on the 19th of June. Our hearts and thoughts will be with you on that Day. And we believe that the peace for which we strive, and for which we all of us are longing, will bring with it a greater increase in the growth of the Church throughout the world.
     "May the celebration of the Day bring with it a strengthening and renewal of our faith and our love for all that the New Church stands for. And we ask you kindly to convey our warmest greetings to all our friends in the Church in Bryn Athyn.
     "Very sincerely yours,
          "GUSTAF BAECKSTROM."
Appelviken, May 15, 1943.


     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND.

     April-June. Our service on Palm Sunday was for the children, who brought offerings of flowers to the altar. On Easter Sunday the Holy Supper was administered by the Rev. Martin Pryke, our Pastor.
     On May 27 a very successful Social was held, during Colchester's "Wings for Victory Week."

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The evening opened with a short trumpet fanfare by Garth Cooper. Various competitions had been arranged, a very attractive one by Brian Appleton-to release darts by means of a switch from a moving plane to kill the "squander hug." Money back if you were lucky. Miniature planes were suspended from the ceiling. Miss Olive Cooper sang Purcell's "Fairest Isle," and Garth Cooper rendered "The Yeomen of England," by Edward German. Community singing closed the program of the evening. The sum of L30 was realized from all our efforts.
     New Church Day was celebrated on Saturday and Sunday, June 12 and 13. The program opened with a Banquet on Saturday evening, 43 being present, with 11 visitors. Mr. Alan Waters, as toastmaster, gave us a good program. His choice for the theme of the evening was, "The New in the New Church," which he illustrated by quotations from the True Christian Religion and the following papers: "Revelation of the Spiritual Sense of the Word," Mr. Colley Pryke; "Revelation concerning the Spiritual World and the Life of Man After Death," Mr. Brian Appleton; and "The New Doctrines," Rev. A. Wynne Acton. Toasts were honored to "The Church," "June 19th." and to several impromoto subjects. A much appreciated Message of Greeting from Bishop de Charms was read by the Rev. Martin Pryke, and received with hearty applause. A very happy and useful time was spent.
     At Divine Worship on Sunday morning, June 13, the Rev. A. Wynne Acton delivered the sermon, and was Celebrant in administering Holy Communion.
     A Tea in the afternoon was well attended, and was the occasion for another session of the Brain Trust, with Mr. John Cooper as Question Master. The roll of "experts" was made up of the Revs. Wynne Acton and Martin Pryke, Mrs. Alan Waters, Mrs. Colley Pryke, and Mr. John Posthuma, who answered many interesting questions. The program closed with the singing of Psalm 45. The children had a celebration of New Church Day on June 17th.
     At the Sunday morning service on July 4th, the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Denis Pryke was baptized Geoffrey Denis.
     Not many weekdays pass without one or other of our boys and girls in the services getting home for a few hours. Roll on the day when they come to stay!
     E. B.


     KITCHENER, Ont.

     Double Wedding-On May 1st the Rev. Alan Gill officiated at the weddings of the Misses Joyce and Shirley Day to Messrs. Erwin Brueckman and John Dickin, respectively. The bridesmaids were: The Misses Brueckman and Dickin, sisters of the grooms. Gloria Stroh, Enid Gill and Nancy Kuhl. Little Margaret Kuhl was the flower girl.
     The chapel was illuminated by candlelight, adding charm to the white and green setting of the chancel. A Stroh quartet of violin, flute, viola and piano provided special music for the service. The reception was held in the social hall, which was transformed into a colorful spring garden. The bridal party and their parents formed the reception line. Best wishes were extended by all, and the Revs. Norbert Rogers and Alan Gill made appropriate remarks.
     On May 24 our regular program of races, etc., was postponed until July 1st-Dominion Day. However, on May 24 we had a children's ball game in the afternoon, followed by a picnic supper served by a committee, the expense being met from the society supper fund.
     Closing Exercises of our day school were held in the chapel on June 18, when the Rev. Norbert Rogers delivered a very fine address, after which diplomas were presented to four graduating boys-John Stroh, Gilbert Niall, Daniel Heinrichs, and Fred Schnarr. The program was continued in the social room, where the children entertained their parents and friends with singing, recitations and plays.

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     June 19.-The children celebrated New Church Day with a morning party. A luncheon was served by a committee of ladies headed by Mrs. Sam Roschman and interesting papers were read by the children,
     In the evening the adults enjoyed a banquet prepared by a committee of ladies headed by Mrs. Gustave Woelfle (Uarda Doering). On behalf of the Society. Mr. Gill presented a copy of the work on Conjugial Love to each of the following pupils: John Stroh, Fred Schnarr, Gilbert Niall, Daniel Heinrichs, Donald Schnarr, Theodore Scott, and Marion Downs (from Fergus, Ont.). In brief but appropriate remarks Mr. Gill invited them to join in the social life of the society. With the acceptance of the gift books they passed from the state of childhood into that of young manhood and young womanhood, and assumed the responsibilities that accompany this privilege.
     "Evangelization" was the theme of the evening, and with Mr. Rogers as toastmaster the speakers were Mr. John Kuhl and Mr. R. Robert Schnarr, whose papers were welt received. Mr. Gill, in summing up the subject of the evening, emphasized that the truth that "the Lord God Jesus Christ reigneth" must be retold again and again.
     After the banquet we had the unusual pleasure of dancing. You see we have gotten our boys back again. The hostess, Miss Dorothy Kuhl, was assisted by Mr. Ray Evans and a committee of young ladies.
     Another Wedding.-At the home of Mrs. Ed Hill (nee Yadah Roschman), a surprise shower was given for Miss Mary Steen, whose marriage to Lieut. Robert Knechtel was solemnized on August 7, the Rev. Alan Gill officiating. Lieut. Albert R. Harding was best man, and the bride's attendants were Miss Jean Knechtel, maid of honor, and Miss Betty Steen as junior bridesmaid. The ushers were Clarence Schnarr and Lient. John Schnarr. The beautiful music was once more supplied by the Stroh family. Immediately after the ceremony a reception was held in the social ball where congratulations were offered. After the cutting of the cake there were songs and toasts, with responses by Mr. Rogers, the groom, and Mr. Archie Scott, the Rev. Alan Gill being toastmaster. Lieut. Knechtel has been in England, but is now home for extended training.
     In the Services-WREN Elaine Bellinger is stationed in Vancouver, B. C., where she will continue her training.
     W/T Leigh Bellinger was borne on leave after an exciting trip to the Mediterranean. While here he became quite a public speaker, telling very interesting and thrilling stories of his sea voyage. Since he left here his Corvette was inspected by the King. His home port is somewhere on the East Coast.
     Sgt. Joffre Schnarr, having completed his course at St. Eugene, Ont., was home on leave before entraining for Vulcan, Alberta, where he is taking an advanced course.
     Mrs. De Los Facey (Ruth Niall) has gone to be with her husband, who is in the Air Force and is stationed near Halifax.
     We have added four more boys to our Honor Roll: Keith Niall, Fred Hasen, Leon Stroh and Philip Henrichs. All have joined the Air Force.
     Our school grounds are in beautiful condition, owing to the undivided attention given them by our grounds manager Mr. George Schnarr. The Victory Gardens behind the school are producing a wonderful crop.
     Pastoral Visits.-The Rev. Alan Gill has enjoyed two visits so isolated members of Carmel Church residing in Ottawa, and also to the Montreal Circle. He gives the following account of these Journeys:

     "In March, and again in May, I spent from Friday morning until Saturday afternoon in Ottawa, staying at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Schnarr, who were joined by Mr. Randolph Stroh for a doctrinal class on Friday evening. In March this happened to be Randolph's twenty-first birthday, and at his request I officiated at his Confirmation that evening before the class.

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     "On both trips I arrived in Montreal from Ottawa on Saturday evening, and held Divine Worship on Sunday morning, the first time at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Izzard, and the other time at the home of Mrs. Timmins, where I also held classes for children on the Monday afternoons. On the Monday evenings I conducted doctrinal classes at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Du Quesne.
     "For my part I found these visits most interesting and enjoyable. It was my first visit to Ottawa. And it was the first time I had met all but a few of those in the Montreal Circle, which I was visiting for Mr. Gyllenhaal who was not well enough to go; and while I certainly do not wish him to be prevented again. I hope I may have the opportunity of making the trip again in the not-too-distant future."
     H. H. S.


     DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

     Our group is rounding out a full year during which we have not missed a single monthly visit of our pastor, with the usual service and doctrinal classes. The weather was unusually mild in Michigan this Summer, and most of our members were too busy to take extended vacations. Therefore we decided to continue right on through the Summer, and, to judge from the large attendances, these additional service really filled a need and were appreciated.
     At the service on Sunday, August 29, we were happy to have with us the following visitors: Mrs. Walter Horigan, of Pittsburgh who was on her way home from Palisades Park, Mich., and dropped off here for a few days' visit at the home of her brother and sister-in-law, Norman and Eloise Synnestvedt; Miss June Macauley of Bryn Athyn and her sister, Mrs. Bertil Larssen of Nutley, N. J., who were visiting their mother, Mrs. Coombs. Also the following young ladies: Barbara Macauley and Joyce Robinson, students at Bryn Athyn, and Miss Betty Macauley.
     We are justifiably proud of the fact that at least seven actual or potential members of our group are attending the Bryn Athyn halls of learning this Fall. They are, in addition to the two above mentioned, Joyce Bellinger, Elaine Steen, Geoffrey Childs II, Duane Cook and Vance Birchman. With such a fine representation at Bryn Athyn we no longer feel like an isolated group, but like a real, vital part of the Church, united to the parent body with the strongest of ties, our children.
     What a large and active society we expect to have when these, and other of our young people, have completed their education at the Academy Schools and our absent boys return home from the war. Then some of the dreams of our more enthusiastic members may actually come true. At any rate, keep your eye on the Detroit group; for, filled with the spirit of this dynamic arsenal of democracy, we feel that we are destined to go places.
     W. W. W.

     GENERAL CONVENTION.

     A Convocation.

     Meeting at Cambridge, Mass., June 22-23, 1943, at the call of the Rev. Everett K. Bray, President of the General Convention, a notable Convocation brought together "representatives from every Convention Board and Committee and every body affiliated with Convention, to discuss ways and means of infusing life into the Church they loved."
     The General Church was also invited to participate, and was represented by the Rev. Dr. William Whitehead, who attended and took part in the deliberations, returning to Bryn Athyn on June 24th, when he gave a very interesting account of his visit to Cambridge to our Council of the Clergy, then in session. (See our September issue, p. 392.)
     A Report of the Convocation, written by the Rev. William H. Beales, appears in THE NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER of July 21 and August 4, where an outline of the accomplishment of the meeting is given in these Highlights of the Convocation":

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     "Nearly ninety representatives and others spent two full days discussing ways and means for strengthening the life of the Church itself, and for sending forth the New-Church message to the world. During this time the Convocation:
     "Stressed the immediate need for an abundant supply of new literature, setting forth the teachings of the Church in simple, easily-understood language for use in radio follow-up and other missionary work.
     "Recommended to the General Council the engagement of a full-time business manager, who shall be responsible to the Council and work in close co-operation with the President of Convention.
     "Endorsed nearly a score of recommendations and suggestions, presented by seven Seminars, covering every phase of Church activity. These are now in the hands of the General Council, for putting into effect as soon as practicable.
     "Took part in the Ordination Service, at which Julian H. Kendig was ordained into the ministry of the New Church, at the request of the Portland Society.
     "Extended a warm welcome to Dr. William Whitehead, who was present as the official representative of the General Church, bearing credentials from Bishop George de Charms.
     "Received the encouraging news that the sum of $5,000.00 had been placed at the disposal of Convention to further any use which the Convocation might decide upon, and which had the approval of the General Council."

     GENERAL CONFERENCE.

     An abbreviated wartime meeting of the Conference was held at Swedenborg Hall, London. June 22-23, with an attendance of 38 Ministers, 8 Trustees, and 42 Representatives-88 in all. An account of the Proceedings appears in THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD, July 17 to August 14, and records a great deal of business compressed into the two days, the sessions being marked by good humor and wit, in spite of the irritating lack of time for full discussions.
     The Rev. F. A. Sutton, MA., B.D., was asked to continue in the office of President for another year, as the Rev. P. H. Johnson. BA., B.Sc., who was nominated for the office last year, is devoting his entire time to the new Latin edition of the Arcana Celestia. Rev. F. J. Pulsford was also reappointed Vice President. In the reelection of Mr. A. F. Friend as Treasurer, a member remarked: "He is the most energetic Treasurer I know, and if he hadn't been brought up in the Church he would have been a pickpocket.
     Translation Committees.-Preparing a New Church Version of the Word, the Old Testament Committee (Rev. A. Clapham, Secretary) held two sessions during the past year, but the New Testament Committee (Rev. J. O. Dufty, Secretary) had not met at all. When asked why this Committee was taking so many years over its work, Mr. Dufty attributed the difficulty to "lack of agreement between the members." These Committees, we assume, were originally supported by the Marchant Fund, which was afterwards withdrawn.
     A Proposed Letter.-The Rev. N. E. Mayer, M.A., of Paris, now residing in England, had made the suggestion that "a letter should be sent to the Councils of all the Protestant denominations, and published in newspapers, pointing out that the failure of Christendom was due to the falsification of the Doctrines of the Lord and the Sacred Scriptures." In addressing the Conference. Mr. Mayer said he "thought that the Anglicans and Free Churches alike had fallen into disrepute. The public perceived that their teachings were 'all bunk.' He believed there was much natural goodness in the world, and the time was ripe for the spreading of the Doctrines of the New Church."
     The discussion of Mr. Mayer's proposal follows:

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     The Rev. C. Newall, B.A., said we must be very careful about criticising other churches. Their teachings were not "all bunk," as anyone could see who read their publications. Different minds had different needs; and whereas we found it easy to accept the New-Church teachings, other people, with different heredity and upbringing, found it extremely difficult; and it might be under Providence that they were kept in association with the old denominations. By attacking the other churches we should succeed only in alienating sympathy from ourselves and helping them. A system of religion was judged by the attitude which its supporters adopted towards other people. We were not here to criticize, but to teach.
     The Rev. J. G. Dufty agreed with Mr. Newall that it was sheer arrogance to say, "We know, and all the rest are wrong." It was like trying to win someone's friendship by slapping his face. Rather, we should show how our beliefs transfigure our lives. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
     The Rev. F. F. Coulson said that he thought Mr. Mayer's suggestion was a very good one, and that it did not necessarily involve any lack of charity. The general public was impatient with the orthodox churches, and there was a great questioning even among the clergy themselves. It was our duty to help them, by firm but friendly criticism, telling them where their doctrines were false, as the Lord had told us.
     Mr. T. Chadwick, C.V.O., C.B.E., earnestly hoped the scheme would not be taken up. Were we so successful that we could write to other churches and point out their failures? The Rev. J. V. Ayre agreed with Mr. Chadwick, saying he had met ministers of the other churches who had made sarcastic references to our "propaganda," and had asked what success we ourselves had achieved.
     The Rev. H. Heap challenged the logic of the argument that, because we were not flourishing, we should refrain from criticising others. He though our failure was due to their failure, because the public classed us all together! He had lectured to 300 soldiers on the Athanasian Creed, attacking it, sentence by sentence; and they had come and thanked him afterwards for clearing up the confusion. To correct someone who was wrong was often the best way of showing your love for him.
     Mr. E. Lomax said we ought not to isolate ourselves from the other denominations, but that we should join with them as allies in the battle for the Kingdom of God. In the present war we did not agree with Russia's politics, but we were uniting with her for the sake of common victory.
     Mr. W. E. Vickers said he thought one letter alone would achieve nothing. We needed a well-thought- out and sequential advertizing campaign, costing if necessary up to L20,000, so that by the end of the year everybody in the country should have heard or read something of our teachings.
     The Rev. E. C. Mongredien moved as an amendment that the matter should be handed over to the Ministers' and Leaders' Committee for full consideration. This was ultimately derided upon, after a long and interesting debate.

     CHARTER DAY.

     All ex-students of the Academy of the New Church are cordially invited to attend the Charter Day Exercises to be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Friday and Saturday, October 15 and 16, 1943. The Program:
Friday, 11 a.m.-Cathedral Service, with an Address by the Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen.
Friday Afternoon.-Football Game.
Friday Evening.-Dance.
Saturday, 7 p.m.-A Banquet in the Assembly Hall. Mr. Randolph W. Childs, Toastmaster.
     Arrangements will gladly be made for the entertainment of guests, if they will write to Mrs. V. W. Rennels, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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EPISCOPAL VISITS 1943

EPISCOPAL VISITS              1943



     Announcements



     During October, Bishop de Charms will preside at Local and District Assemblies while visiting Societies and Circles of the General Church as follows:

Oct. 1-3 -Kitchener, Ont.
5-Ottawa, Ont.
6-7-Montreal, P. Q.
8-11-Toronto, Ont.
22-24-Glenview, Ill.
25-27-Chicago and Rockford.
29-31-N. St. Paul, Minn.

     Bishop Acton will similarly visit:

Sept.     23 Youngstown, Otho.
23-Akron, Ohio.
28-Cleveland, Ohio.
Oct. 1-2-Detroit, Mich.
4-10-Pittsburgh, Pa.
PRACTICAL SUBJECTS AND THE APPLICATION OF DOCTRINE 1943

PRACTICAL SUBJECTS AND THE APPLICATION OF DOCTRINE       Rev. F. E. GYLLENHAAL       1943



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No. 11

NEW CHURCH LIFE


VOL. LXIII
NOVEMBER, 1943
     People often say that the Church should teach practical subjects, and should apply the Divine doctrine to the personal, national, and international problems of the day. Such people mean that the Ministers of the Church should teach those subjects. They consider that the Ministers should be leaders of thought on such natural subjects, as well as on spiritual subjects. Sometimes they quote the statement of the Writings, "that all religion has relation to the life," in support of their contention. Also, they refer to the appeal, often made by the Ministers, "to think from the Writings," as showing the need for instruction in what the Writings teach about natural and human problems before the thought about them can be from the Writings. From many viewpoints those who hold such opinions seem to have a good case.
     Patience and tolerance, an open mind, and clear, honest thought, are needed in considering this subject. It is not one that can be satisfactorily settled with a direct "yes" or "no," because it has many ramifications, and different circumstances may justify modifications of certain constant principles. Then, because it is rather personal to the Ministers, and is critical of their work, consideration of the subject calls for a tolerance and charity that gives no offense and takes none. Further, if any one's mind is made up on the subject, and his conclusions do not happen to be true and just, he is likely to hold stubbornly to his opinions and to be deaf to both Divine Revelation and rational arguments; but true and just convictions keep the mind open and ever ready to receive more truth, even that which breaks up previous convictions.

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Without an increasing knowledge and an exact knowledge there will be no clear thought; nor will the thought remain honest, if there is no mental growth and progress in regeneration.
     The Church is the Lord's, and the priesthood or ministry of the Church is the Lord's office by which His Divine proceeding may be established, maintained, and extended among men. The Church is from the Word of the Lord, and is such with man as is his understanding of the Word. The whole duty of the priest is to teach the truth of the Word, and by means of the truth to lead the people to the good of life, but in such a manner that it is the truth which leads the people, and the Lord by means of the truth. These simple statements may seem to make the Church and the priesthood rather narrow and other-world institutions, but the fact that the Word is the repository of infinite truth should give ample assurance of their universal character. The further fact, that the Word is a large collection of Divine stories relating and explaining human experiences throughout two thousand years, all of which have internal meanings instructing in the true purposes of human life, the nature of man, the means of his reformation and regeneration, and innumerable other subjects relating to man and his destiny, should make clear that the work of the Church and of the priesthood is of such breadth and application to life in this world as to require all the Church's agencies and time.
     Because the Church is the Lord's, even the human institutions designed to promote its ends, or the Divine purposes in establishing it, have the scope of their work prescribed in Divine doctrine. Recognition of this fact has led our institution of the Church to have no constitution other than the whole of Divine Revelation, in which the proper work of the Church, as distinguished from all other human institutions, is clearly defined to be of a spiritual character relating supremely to the worship of the Lord, in which the instruction builds up an ever widening and deepening knowledge of the Lord, of His love and wisdom, of His attributes, of His providence, of His reformation and regeneration of man, so that man can attain the purpose of his creation, which is eternal life in heaven.

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     This is the work of the Church within the individual man, and within a congregation of men associated for a common purpose. The Church has this double aspect. In each aspect the work is essentially the same, and for each the same means are provided: and these are all provided through the Word. The Word is the Divinely provided medium by which the Lord comes down to man and by which man ascends to the Lord and has eternal consociation with his fellow men, who are inspired, led, and taught by the same medium.
     Doubtless we all acknowledge these general truths. Yet we may not always realize the importance of the work which they outline. Because we are confronted with so many problems of this world, and we earnestly want to think truly and justly about them, it is natural that we should want the guidance of Divine wisdom, and that we should look to the Church and its priesthood for that guidance. Certainly we should have it; we should seek it constantly; we should earnestly pray for it. The point is, how shall we get it? Is it the duty of the priesthood to apply the doctrine of Divine Revelation to such subjects?
     In seeking a true answer to these questions, we should reflect upon the spiritual meaning of the Israelites' complaints about the manna with which they were fed, also the spiritual meaning of their demand for a king like those of the nations round about them. We need to recall, too, the general doctrine that the individual man is to apply the truth to his own life. The truth of the Word is to form his conscience, and he is to act from that conscience. Moreover, every man must learn to think as from himself.
     Why are the internal sense and the doctrine from the internal sense for the most part abstract? The Writings answer this by stating that abstract things are usually better comprehended than applied ones. (D. L. W. 228.) They are better comprehended because they are removed from persons, space, and time; for these tend to limit the comprehension and to confirm preconceived ideas. Abstract ideas also leave the mind in greater freedom, and so lead to more truly rational thought. Because it is the truth of the Word that is preached and taught, the application of it to natural world conditions, especially in sermons, but also in doctrinal classes, comes with something of Divine authority; and unless the application itself is from Divine Revelation, it is likely to infringe the freedom of those who hear it.

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Whenever the application itself is not from Divine Revelation, it is the conclusion of the priest, or it is a derived doctrine, or an application of such doctrine in circumstances that may give it an authority to which it is not entitled. Further, such applications of doctrine may gradually develop a leadership of men that supplants the leadership of the truth itself and thus of the Lord.
     But has the Church, then, no responsibility and duty in respect to the application of doctrine to personal, national, and international problems?-as, for example, to personal conduct, political economy, social economy, the relations of capital and labor, systems of finance, forms of government, and innumerable other similar subjects? It certainly has responsibility in respect to some of the evils of all such movements, as, for example, to the evils of the love of ruling, the evils of theft, and in the teaching of spiritual principles which can be applied to them. And it should have within itself an agency that rightfully can do what is needed. We firmly believe that the education of the children and of the youth of the Church is the greatest natural use of the Church, and that such an education should be given in New Church schools, from the kindergarten to the university. It is in the university that the application of the doctrine of Divine Revelation to the problems and subjects we are considering can be made. This can be done in the university, because there it is presented academically, and not as a religious obligation. Our own Academy has done some of this work and will do more as it grows and obtains professors able to devote their abilities and time to such studies. And as the Church becomes able to establish similar universities in different countries, the formulation of true philosophies in respect to all such subjects as are before us will multiply, and thus provide the people of the Church with that guidance in their thinking which many now anxiously want. In the meantime, the laity, according to their needs and interests, should pursue such studies themselves.
     In conclusion, consider the fact that the ministrations of the Church are primarily concerned with teaching the truth of the Word, and that in these ministrations we seek an uplifting of our thoughts and affections above the things of the world and of self to the spiritual world and to what is Divine.

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This is true of our Sunday worship especially, but also of our doctrinal classes and of our assemblies. The contemplation of spiritual subjects, when our delight in them is awakened, refreshes and enlightens us as the contemplation of no natural subject can. And in the spiritual enlightenment that comes then, we see some of the broad principles that should guide all our thought about natural subjects.
     "The sign given at this day," the Writings declare, "will be enlightenment, and thence an acknowledgment and a reception of the truths of the New Church; with some also there will be an illustration which speaks, which is more than a sign." (Docu., II: 232.) And they further teach us that "the delight of love and wisdom elevates the thought, and enables it to see as in the light that a thing is so, although it had never before been heard. This light which enlightens the mind flows in from no other source than out of heaven from the Lord; and as they who will he of the New Jerusalem will directly approach the Lord, that light will flow in, in the way of order, which is through the love of the will into the perception of the understanding." (A. R. 914.)
READING THE WORD IN THE OTHER LIFE 1943

READING THE WORD IN THE OTHER LIFE              1943

     "There were certain maidens who read the Word daily. One of them was of the celestial genius, two others intermediate between the celestial and the spiritual. These three had the Word. When two of them did not read it for ten days, then their copy of the Word did not appear. But they pondered whence this arose, and it was perceived that it was because they did not read it. Then they took a copy of the Word out of a rock, and, when they read it, the characters of the words were similar, but they did not understand. They were in the celestial style. They afterwards received the Word and read it daily. Their Word was according to the interior sense, which is midway between the natural and the spiritual. It was historical and prophetical, but, instead of the names of persons and places, and instead of numbers, there were things. In place of Moses, of Aaron, of David, there was the Lord." (S. D. 5618; See 5666.)

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COMFORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT 1943

COMFORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT       Rev. GILBERT H. SMITH       1943

     The Broad and Narrow Ways.

     "Enter ye in at the strait gate!" (Matt. 5: 13.)

     Besides worship of the Lord, and the training of one's self in the habit of self-examination and humility of spirit, another good reason for going to church and listening to a sermon is the hope of hearing something that is comforting and encouraging. For in the ordinary round of daily experience there is a good deal of perplexity and distress, and many things are depressing to the spirit. Perhaps we may find something of comfort in the Doctrine. Certainly that comfort is always there, if we can find it. The prophet Isaiah was happy to proclaim it in one of his messages, saying, "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people!"
     Yet, looking out upon the world in its present state, it is hard to find the comforting signs. In the midst of war we may have a certain hope and optimism; and in the multitude of evil tendencies we see breaking out in public life, and in the necessary effort to combat them, we may be upheld by a certain courage. Yet it is hard to find the assurances that the Lord's Providence is still leading to a happy and fortunate end. How is it possible to find comfort and encouragement when the world is so evidently in a state of disorder?
     In the first place, we must learn not to make judgments from our own thought and experience alone, but to make them from the Divine Truth that is revealed to us in the Writings of the New Church. We should try to comprehend these Writings truly, because they are the Lord's own Judgments. In the Writings we find a great deal that is condemnatory of the state of the world in which we live, and of the ideas and ways of men. On the other hand, there is much in our Doctrine that looks in the other direction.

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Among the prophets, who speak to us in the spirit of the Lord, there are passages that condemn and admonish and call for repentance, but there are other passages of prophecy which are full of hope and encouragement. If our Writings condemn, they also exalt and offer a bright promise. All Divine Revelation faces two ways. It considers things that are dark and foreboding, but also things that are hopeful and promising. If, in the Book of Revelation, we are told that every man should "know the number of the beast," we are also told that it is wisdom to "know the number of the man and of the angel."
     There are two ways of thought and of life that are fully described in the internal sense of the Word, and both of them are open to men at all times, whichever one may choose. There are two gates we may enter, each at the head of its own way. The one gate is strait, and the other is wide. The strait gate leads into the way of eternal life and the wide gate leads into the way of destruction. The way of life is said to be "narrow'; the way of destruction is said to be "broad," and there are many who go along that way, because the other way is narrow. (Matthew 7: 13.)
     Of these two ways Swedenborg gives us the following account in the Writings: There were presented before certain spirits, and I myself saw it, a broad way and a narrow way such as are described in the Word. There was a broad way leading to hell, and a narrow way leading to heaven. The broad way was planted with trees and flowers, beautiful and delightful in outward appearance, but there were snakes and serpents hidden among them. The narrow way did not seem to be so much adorned with trees and flowers, but appeared sad and (lark. And yet along it there were angel infants most beautifully adorned, in delightful paradises and flower gardens, which, however, the spirits did not see.
     When asked in which way they would like to go, the spirits said they wanted to follow the broad way, whereupon their eyes were opened, and they saw the serpents which were there, and they also saw the infant angels that were in the narrow way. They were then asked again which way they would choose, but they remained silent. And so far as their eyes were opened, they said they wished to pursue the narrow way, but so far as their eyes were closed, they wished to go in the broad way. (A. C. 3477; S. D. 4216.)

488




     In another account of the same incident, these spirits who had recently entered the spiritual world had all been traveling a common road until they came to the end of it, where there was a large stone and the parting of the ways. The narrow way was seen to the left and the broad way to the right. The good among them turned to the left, and entered the narrow way that led to heaven; but the evil did not see the stone at the parting of the ways, and therefore fell upon it and were hurt. But then they arose and ran along the broad way which led to hell.
     It was explained that this stone signified the Divine Truth which is denied by those who tend toward hell; and in the highest sense it signified the Divine Human of the Lord; and that those who acknowledge Divine Truth, and at the same time the Divine Human of the Lord, were conducted along the way that leads to heaven. From this experience it was made evident what was meant by the Lord's words, "Enter ye in through the strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction." And also the meaning of the words, "The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner. Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken." Here the builders are the members of the church. The "head of the corner" means that place in the spiritual world where the two ways part; and to "fall and be broken" means to deny the Divine Human of the Lord and perish spiritually. (H. H. 534.)
     Here again we have an example of how the Divine Truth of Revelation must caution and condemn, on the one hand, and on the other encourage and hold up to us the heavenly ideal and promise.
     In regard to the significance of a gate, we are told in our Doctrine that there are in general two gates with every man. The one opens toward hell, and thus admits the evils and falsities which come from there. In this gate are evil spirits. But the other gate opens toward heaven, and affords entrance for good and truth from heaven. In this gate there are angels. There is thus a gate which leads to heaven, and another that leads to hell. The reason there are these two gates is because there are two ways which give entrance to man's rational mind. The one gate is above the rational mind, through which good and truth from the Lord may enter. And the lower gate is on the lower side of the rational mind, this mind being in the middle. Therefore the rational mind of man is compared to a city, and is called a city.

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And the entrance to this city is through the two gates, the higher and the lower.
     The city, which is the rational mind, is often described in the Word as being besieged and stormed by enemies at the lower gate, and as being defended by angels, or by the Lord through them. And these two gates are like the other two gates which represented them in what Swedenborg says about the two ways that were seen in the spiritual world. For a man, from his rational mind, may choose to open the upper or the lower gate, which means either to give himself over to the delights of the merely natural life, and think from them, or to open his mind to the truth and good of the Lord's Divine Revelation, and think and act from them. (H. H. 430.)
     In this connection there is a most valuable truth to be seen in regard to the uses of Baptism and the Holy Supper. For we are taught that these two sacraments are the two universal gates to the Lord's church and kingdom. And we want to know how and why this is so. Especially is it important to understand how it is that Baptism, which is but once performed-either in infancy or when one enters the church on earth-can have a power that is continuous throughout life after it has been once performed. We are acquainted with the truth that the repeated observance of the Holy Supper conditions the mind for conjunction with the angels of heaven. It is like the upper gate of which we have been speaking, through which good and truth from the Lord may enter into the rational mind, condemning and rejecting what is evil and false. And the spiritual use of Baptism may be seen to have much to do with the closing of the lower gate against the attacks of evil spirits.
     And this we believe is a truth which we should add to what we already know of the effects of Baptism-that Baptism into the New Church has this unsuspected effect throughout life, that it brings the one baptized into the environment of good spirits in the world of spirits who are being prepared for heaven. And these good spirits are appointed as watchers at the lower gate of his mind, to turn away from him those evil spirits who hate him and would destroy his spiritual life. This is a great truth which we should fully believe. By the watchfulness and care of these good spirits, the influence of those evil spirits who are opposed to the teachings of the New Church is turned away.

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The good spirits labor to defeat the enemies at the lower gate. And it may be seen that, if these enemies are not driven away, it would he dangerous to open the upper gate through which the good and truth of heaven flows into the rational mind. For the evil spirits would defile it and snatch it away. And all this is part of what is meant when we read in our Doctrine that by Baptism one is kept in a state favorable to receiving the faith into which he has been baptized.
     In all of this we see something of that kind of truth which comforts and encourages.
     The evil spirits at the lower gate of the mind are not able to take away the power of understanding the Divine Truth of heaven, for they are never allowed actually to get into the city. The rational mind of a man is always clear, and cannot be destroyed. But evil spirits can take away from man the power of doing,-the power of applying to life the things which heavenly wisdom teaches. They can invade the natural mind below the rational, and prevent it from coming into agreement with the rational thought. Therefore the parable of the two houses, the one founded upon a rock, and the other founded upon the sand, is a continuation of the subject of the wide and narrow ways. (Matthew 7: 24.)
     Against both houses the rain descended and the floods came, and by the rain and the floods are meant temptations or spiritual trials. In the one case they signify the trials in which one comes out victorious, and in the other the trials in which he yields. For the waters descending as rain and rising as a flood signify false ideas injected into the mind. The house signifies the mind, and especially the rational mind, consisting of understanding and will. And they who receive Divine Truth only with one part of the mind, that is, with the understanding, and not with the other, which is the will, these fall in temptations, and the fall is said to be "great." They fall a prey to great falsities. But they who receive the truth, not only with the understanding, but also with the will, are victorious, and are confirmed in the truth. The rock on which the house is founded is Divine Truth received in the heart and will. But the sand signifies Divine Truth received only into the memory, and perhaps to some extent in the thought, but it is scattered and disconnected because it is mixed with falsity, and cannot stand against the impact of counter-arguments and doubts, which are temptations.

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Since all spiritual temptation is caused by false ideas breaking into the thoughts, and by reasonings from them, this is what is meant in the Word by the inundation of a flood.
     One of the most severe of spiritual trials which the New Church has to endure is the charge and the accusation that its Doctrine is narrow, and that those who try to live according to it are narrow. We must be prepared at all times to withstand this false accusation. That seems to be one of the hardest things to bear-being called narrow. But it is no reason to be led away to other teachings of men, and into another way of life which seems broader and freer. It is better to endure the accusation, and turn it aside as of no consequence. For the Lord has told us plainly in all the forms of Divine Revelation that the gate and the way to eternal life is strait and narrow. "Enter ye in at the strait gate into the narrow way, because the broad way leads to destruction." The way of life that seems at first to be broad and delightful has serpents concealed in it, when the eyes are opened to see them. And the way of life which at first seems narrow will always remain so; but it will be discovered that there are angels along it by whom those who enter it will be led. And by the angels are meant something from the Lord,-innocence and real charity, and the light of heaven to comfort and encourage, when the pressure of worldly thought and living makes the way seem harder.
     The Holy City New Jerusalem is a body of rational truth and doctrine revealed from the Lord which is consistent and can withstand any arguments that can be brought against it. The gates to this city are the various truths that belong to that doctrine. Yet it is common for people to say that this doctrine is narrow, for so it seems. Men have discovered so much from science, and formulated so many ideas of what is good from their natural reasonings, that life without the limitation of any Divine Revelation or authority seems far more attractive and free. Why should anyone be hampered by the limitations of thought and desire by any doctrine that is said to be the gate to eternal life? And so men cast doubt upon the Lord's words, and especially upon the idea that He is God Himself, whose Human is Divine. And many do not believe in the reality or even the existence of the spiritual world.

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This is what is meant by the rain and floods that beat upon the house, and by the general tendency of men to walk in the broad way. And it is this in our Writings that is so strongly condemned.
     But to those who believe in the Lord and the spiritual world, and in Divine Truth, who see that the good way is narrow, and are yet willing to enter it, there are many compensations. There is comfort and encouragement. They see the serpents lurking in the one way, and the angels waiting to conduct them along the other. They are willing to walk within the narrow way of Divine Doctrine, and as they go they gain strength to meet the trials of life; for the actual presence of the Lord becomes real to them. They gain a firm trust in the Lord's Divine Providence, and this is the greatest of all human blessings. They are delivered from many fears. Because of the evils of men they may suffer hardships and privations, but they are not afraid of them. They have an inner confidence, which is not self-confidence; and they are filled with a greater delight in truth and sincerity, and in the use which it is given them to perform. They do not think of the future with anxiety, for they know that the Lord will provide for them well. They do not stumble over the great truth of the Lord's Divinity, but receive it into their will, and therefore have an actual perception of His presence and power. We can think of nothing more happy than this. And this happiness comes to all those who open the upper gate of their minds to the teachings of the Lord from heaven, and do not turn away from them because they seem narrow. Amen.

LESSONS:     Isaiah 40: 1-17. Matthew 7: 13-29. H. H. 533.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy, pages 442, 462, 498.
PRAYERS:     Nos. 93, 95.

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THANKSGIVING 1943

THANKSGIVING        GEORGE DE CHARMS       1943

     A Talk to Children

     You all know what the harvest is. In springtime the farmer sows the seed, and all through the summer he carefully cultivates the ground, keeping it free from weeds and broken up so that it can soak in the moisture which gives food and drink to the growing plants. At last the ear of corn is formed, and the full corn in the ear. Then is the time of the harvest,-the gathering in of those fruits for which the farmer has long been laboring and waiting.
     But there are many kinds of harvests. Everything that comes as a result of labor and striving, everything for which we work hard and faithfully, and at last attain as the reward of patient effort, may be called a harvest.
     You are having harvests all the time. In school you study a given subject for a few weeks, and when the end of the month comes you have a quiz or an examination, when you gather together all the things you have learned, review them, and store them up in your memory in order. Every such examination is a harvest. And the amount of knowledge that you succeed in storing up, the amount of fruit you are able to reap into your memory, depends upon how well you have worked, how closely you have paid attention, how faithfully you have kept your mind open to receive the seeds of truth that are being planted in it.
     At the end of the year you have another and greater harvest. Then come your final tests and examinations, when you are asked to give account of the things you have learned during the year. Here again the amount of fruit you gather will depend upon the work and labor you have expended upon your studies during the year. If you have worked faithfully and well, you will have no difficulty with your harvest; you will be able to gather in a large store of knowledge, and this will enable you to go up next year into a higher class, or even into a higher school.

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But if you have not worked faithfully, the harvest will fail, and you will have to go through the whole process again,-planting the seed, tending it, weeding it, and caring for it, until there is sufficient fruit to enable you to go ahead.
     Again, when you have finished your education, there is another harvest. Then you pass from the classroom into the world of greater work, where your success or your failure will depend in large measure upon the harvests you have gathered while you were in school. But you will not be able to depend upon these harvests very long. You will have to continue working, studying, planting new seed, that you may continue to reap a harvest,-that from a small beginning you may be promoted in your work from time to time, and so press forward, ever doing more that is useful and that helps to bring happiness to others.
     You have heard it said that the greatest harvest is reaped by the greatest men. All of you would like to become great men. You would like to do things that would go down in history, that would make your name remembered long after you had passed into the other world. All of you would like to become famous for some great work that you have done for your country, or for the church, or for the world. But greatness is nothing but a harvest, a final gathering in of the fruits of long and patient labor. Really great men are men who have worked, and worked hard, at many little things that were not at all great, but who at the same time felt a great love in their hearts, and expressed that love in the things they did, sacrificing themselves, thinking only of what they could do for others. Men like these reap a great harvest. And the harvest they reap in this world is the love, the respect, the fond remembrance of their fellow men. Such a great man was George Washington; such also was Abraham Lincoln; such has been every really great man that ever lived.
     But the reward of greatness in this world is not the only harvest, and to some men this is not given. The real harvest comes at death. When we pass out of this world, and come into the spiritual world, then we gather the whole harvest of our life. Everything that we have gained in the world is then gathered as a harvest to determine how greatly we can be blest by the Lord afterward.

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For the man who has labored faithfully here, who has gathered every little harvest as it comes from day to day, and thus has reaped the big harvests that are made up of these little ones, whether he is known in the world as a great man or not, becomes great in the other world. And what is it that makes him great there?-He is able to do a great work, a wonderful work, for angels and for men forever.
     It is this doing of a great work that is the real harvest, the real joy, the real blessing. For in heaven work does not involve toil and labored striving as it does here on earth. Everything the angels do is full of delight for them. It is to them as your play is to you, only a thousand times more delightful. You think now of work as something hard, as something to be avoided, as something that cannot be enjoyed. Your one idea is to get away from work, that you may enjoy your play. Yet it is only by work that the harvest can be reaped in this world. Work is that by which the ground is furrowed, the weeds are cleared, the seeds are tended, that they may grow. And when the work is ended, that is, when you come into the other world, you will find that the work itself has turned into play, that it yields you a delight and a joy which no childish play can possibly give you-that it becomes a great harvest of use and joy and blessing from the Lord, bestowed upon those who labor faithfully in His service.

LESSON:     Mark 4: 26-32.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy, pages 560-570.
PRAYERS:     C 10, C 18-pages 269, 271.
FAMILY PRAYER 1943

FAMILY PRAYER              1943

     We pray Thee, our Father in the heavens, to protect and bless our dear ones, be they far or near. Let Thy face shine upon them, and keep them safe from every harm. Hold them, and all Thy children, in the honor of Thy name, and in the remembrance of Thy commandments. Inspire us all with Thy heavenly doctrine, that in peace or in peril, and in all our work and play, Thy mercy may be visited upon us, from generation to generation. Amen.
     H. L. O.

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NATURE AND ART 1943

NATURE AND ART       Rev. E. E. IUNGERICH       1943

     The Word and Derived Doctrine.

     Nature in its vastness appalls the unperceptive onlooker, and yet it is pulsating interiorly with a life that comes from the Source of all. The Word also, which is an epitome of nature, overwhelms the uninformed reader, and yet it contains interior senses all the way up to Him who is its essential Life.
     That nature may have more meaning to men, great artists arise from time to time and produce canvases or statues that open portals to see in nature things that had lain concealed. If a true penetration has been made, nature is more and more seen to be the handiwork of God. That the Word may be understood, it is necessary that doctrines be derived from it by those in illustration. When such doctrines are true, and receive universal confirmation from the Word, those who drew them forth are the great theological artists. They have been enlightened to open portals whereby men see more fully in the Word the great fundamental verities of God and the preparation of men to perform uses in His kingdom.
     Before pressing this analogy further, let us turn for a moment to the Index of the Spiritual Diary, and then to two passages to which reference is there made.
     Under the words Arbor, Fructus, Semen (Tree, Fruit, Seed), we read: "A comparison of the spiritual and celestial things of man with trees, their fruit and their seeds," no. 251. Under the word Spiritualia: "A comparison of the spiritual and celestial things of man with trees and their fruit, in which similar things are represented," no. 251.
     Again, under the words Artificiale, Proprium, we read: "The artificial and proprial things of man are like paintings which interiorly are like mud; but those which are from the Lord are the more beautiful and delightful the more one goes towards the interiors," no. 252.

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     Before making final comments, it would be well to have before us the two passages from the Spiritual Diary:

     That universal nature, in general and in particular, represents the states of things celestial and spiritual, and that things artificial are of no value in comparison with those of nature.

     251.     I was in conversation today with spirits and angels in regard to the things which exist in visible nature, and how nobody reflects on the fact that they are quasi images of celestial and spiritual things; as, for example, a plant or tree which is born from its seed and grows, or the sap which is the life of the plant and the tree, and is drawn up through the bark and the inner rind and thence distributed in all marrows and centers, and that spiritual things must similarly refer themselves to celestial ones, and that all and each look to the fruit as their end, that is, to renewal and the perpetuation of life. Likewise in every fruit, even in those girdled by hard shells, whose kernels are hidden within; for there are crusts on divers surfaces, one within another, by which the sap is borne to the interiors and their inmosts until it has become ripe. These things represent the like in the man to be regenerated, namely, the crusts, the natural, scientific, rational, and intellectual, which are spiritual things, so that from a general plane divided into many diverse channels they may betake and distribute themselves to every receptacle within the inmost bosoms. Hence it follows that in such things there is a perpetuity which corresponds to eternity in the man's life. The case is similar in all and single things in the animal kingdom, in the human body, and in their lesser and least parts.
     252.     It is strange that man has not yet marked correctly that all things which exist artificially from man, whatever they may be, such as images, paintings, and numberless other things, appear beautiful in outmosts, yea, are even esteemed as of great value, when yet as to their inward arrangement they are only like mire and mud, and it is only the surface which the ocular sight admires; whereas those which grow from seeds begin from the internal, and on developing advance to externals, and are not only beautiful to the sight, but also are the more beautiful the more interiorly they are examined.

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It is similar in the life of man. The things which begin from externals, thus which proceed from the man, are compared to artificialities whose outward face is esteemed and admired, but whose internals are worth absolutely nothing; whereas those which have been formed from internals by God Messiah should be likened to those in nature which are beautiful from their inmosts. This now is what God Messiah says, that all the magnificence of Solomon cannot be compared to the smallest lily, which yet is despised. [Matt. 6: 28. 29.] November 15, 1747, old style.

     Nature was originally the Word to men, and was then perceived to be a theatre representative of the Divine. But men fell, and then, out of the doctrines which men had formulated to explain to one another what they had seen in nature, the Divine breath raised up a Word that was the epitome of nature, as to which the men of the church then formulated doctrines to exhibit to one another what they saw in the Word. The fate that befell nature also befell this Word and several others that followed it. Finally, by the instrumentality of Emanuel Swedenborg, the Lord has given mankind a final Revelation upon which to establish the Crown of Churches. (T. C. R. 786.) Nor is this all, for associated with it is an equally voluminous series of philosophical works under the same authorship, and in these the interior degrees of the universe and of the human body are successively unfolded to their inmost origins in God.
     One of these great monuments of the Lord's graciousness to the human race proclaims its Divinity throughout, declaring that it came from the mouth of the Lord alone, and that as written it is the Advent of the Lord. The other makes no claim for itself beyond being the humble effort of a searcher for truth to penetrate to the inmosts of nature. Between these monuments there is a series of intermediate works for which Divinity has indeed been claimed, but which are in a form that holds the mind in suspense as to the validity of this assertion. Nevertheless, both monuments, together with their connecting links, are the palladium whereby the Crown of Churches may penetrate the secrets of nature, while at the same time it enters intellectually into the mysteries of faith.
     Many men will arise in the course of ages who will formulate and record in words and other works what they have discovered to be the teachings in both these gigantic labors of the Swedish Seer.

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Some of these men will undoubtedly be great artists, and their masterpieces, whether in theological, pictorial, or scientific art, will deserve grateful tribute from the men of all ages. For they have enabled men to see more deeply and more clearly into the treasures which the Lord has given as a guerdon to the Crown of Churches. Yet, inwardly within such masterpieces is the clay of the human proprium. What Divinity an appreciative enthusiasm may momentarily desire to ascribe to them is only a glitter of the outward surface. For the Sole Divinity is in the Lord's own creations, whether in the Word from His mouth or in the work of His hands. Only in these are there series of degrees opening, each into the next higher, until inmostly is found the Lord Alone, the Sole Object of a devout man's adoration.
RECEPTION OF GOOD WHILE READING THE WORD 1943

RECEPTION OF GOOD WHILE READING THE WORD              1943

     "The Word is the perfect marriage of good and truth; and because it is from the Lord, and what is from Him is also Himself, it follows that when man reads the Word, and takes truths from it, the Lord adjoins good. For the man does not see the goods affecting him, because he reads the Word from the understanding, and the understanding draws thence nothing but its own, which are truths. That good is adjoined to these by the Lord, the understanding feels from the delight that inflows when it is enlightened. Yet this only takes place interiorly with those who read the Word with the end of becoming wise; and the end of becoming wise is with those who wish to acquire the genuine truths therein, and by means of these to form the church with themselves. But there are those who read the Word solely for the glory of erudition, and others who are of the opinion that the mere reading or hearing inspires faith and is conducive to salvation. These latter do not receive any good from the Lord, because their purpose is to save themselves by mere words within which there is nothing of truth; and the former have an end of becoming eminent for their erudition, with which no spiritual good is conjoined, but only a natural delight which is from the glory of the world." (C. L. 128.)

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REV. L. W. T. DAVID 1943

REV. L. W. T. DAVID       Rev. HUGO LJ. ODHNER       1943

     A Memorial Address.

     (Bryn Athyn Cathedral, September 24, 1943.)

     Among the psalms of the ancient Hebrews there is a song of deliverance, a thanksgiving for salvation from death and for the loosing of the bonds of captivity and fear. Yet, as seen from the spiritual world, when a risen soul-on the third day after death-finds himself freed from the pains and shackles of the mortal body, it is the earthly life which appears as the death from which the soul is delivered. The liberated spirit, on its discovery that it is in the other life, is wont to rejoice and to breathe out its thankfulness to the Lord. He might indeed well echo, with a new understanding, the words of the ancient psalm:

     "I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications; because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him in my days.
     "The sorrows of death encompassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
     "Then I called upon the name of the Lord: O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul!
     "Gracious is the Lord, and just; yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and He helped me.
     "Return unto thy rest, 0 my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. . . . I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. . .
     "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. O Lord, truly I am Thy servant and the son of Thy handmaid: Thou hast loosed my bonds. . . ." (Psalm 116.)

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     And we, here on earth, can do no less-despite our grief and loss-than rejoice in the liberation of a spirit that has for long been held captive and inactive by bodily disease. In the passing of the Reverend Llewellyn Warren Towne David, the church on earth loses one of her loyal servants, a "servant of the Lord." And than this there is no higher title for any of the sons of men. For this service does not cease with death. It but renews its strength and depth and widens its range, becomes more individual and unique and specialized, and at the same time more available wherever the need is, when man enters the kingdom of the heavens.
     The Writings assure us that "man has eternal life according to his affection of uses." (Div. Love wii.) Not according to his worldly accomplishments or the greatness of his name; but according to his love of uses. In this world, men are judged (and often estimate themselves) by the offices they hold, rather than by their love of uses. Each man accepts a calling, a position, an office, with a routine which is already prescribed by custom or external requirements. He may perform this office according to his best ability. Yet his love of uses invariably transcends the outward forms of his calling, goes beyond his abilities, is thwarted by external circumstances. For this love is composed of innumerable affections known to the Lord alone: affections which man himself only vaguely senses and can scarce analyze or even less express through the inadequate medium of speech or action; but which still seek to formulate themselves as flickering perceptions which man lacks the knowledge to capture into sequences of thought. And this often leads-not only to moments of inner delight and unaccountable enlightenment-but also to states of mental distress and discouragement, to a sense that our uses and accomplishments are futile and unfruitful because they can never express all the affections from which they spring.
     Perhaps this is most true with such a use as that of the Priesthood, which looks to eternal results that are not patent in this world. But the same is the case in every use: we plant trees that posterity may pluck the fruit. Nor do we see the real inward quality of the work that other men do. We see the outward results, the civil and moral effects. We feel the sphere of their external affections, the power of their personality, which is largely the result of their heredity and their environment.

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With those who are simple in heart, single-minded and sincere, we also discern recurring signs and indications of what lies beyond, in the depths of the mind, in the realm of final motives and interior ideals. But seldom are these affections divulged in clearness nor ever in their fulness of meaning until man comes into the other life.
     It is only in the spiritual world that the mind can come into self- realization-when all those natural affections which on earth had confused our perceptions of use are separated and lulled to sleep. It is only then that the treasures of the kingdom of heaven, deeply stored in the unconscious depths of the mind, can be brought to light. It is only then that the untold different, cooperant Spiritual affections which may be within our love of uses can become focussed into distinctness.
     The general doctrine is that man is a man only so far as he is in the love of uses; and that the heavens compose a grand human form in respect to the uses which are there performed from the Lord and for His sake-uses to the neighbor and to society. And it is even said that, "speaking spiritually, use is a man-angel," and that "in a spiritual idea, a man is not a person, but a use": an angel is seen as a man, but is thought of as a use. For the spiritual idea is devoid of the notion of person, just as it is devoid of the notion of matter, of space, and of time. (Div. Love xii, xiii.)
     Yet let us not imagine that man, by death, is resolved into some sort of an abstraction! For the meaning is rather that the many accidental things which we now associate with a person will be removed in the after-life, to display the real affections, the real yearnings, the real perceptions which make up his individuality, seen as it strives toward that end, that conception of use and of cooperation in the kingdom of the heavens, which he uniquely represents.
     It is so that the secret of personality-far from dissolving into abstractions-becomes unfolded in the spiritual world, and the inner wealth of its affections becomes embodied openly as an angelic man, to find a unique and stable place in the Gorand Man, in the society of his love; with contacts extending into other societies according to all his various bents and interests; and with blessedness and delight according to his affection of uses.
     Our friend and brother, Llewellyn David, had dedicated his life to the service of spiritual uses.

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The only son of one of the ministers of the General Convention, he turned to the Academy for his theological training, and was (at about thirty years of age) ordained together with the Rev. George de Charms and the present speaker. His mind was open, calm, and profound; his doctrinal grasp was remarkably clear, and his convictions were imperturbable. He was moved by deep personal affections, deep loyalties. His friendship was dependable, his sincerity unchallengeable. He was persistent in his work, patient and tolerant under difficulties. A scholar by nature, he was a man of wide information; but his modesty made him cautious in making decisions, and his love of truth and exactness prevented him from putting forth the results of his studies in any permanent form. Especially was this the case in the field of his avocation, which was Egyptology.
     Mr. David held pastorates in Denver, and later in Kitchener until 1929, when he moved to Bryn Athyn. Here he preached frequently-and his sermons often reflected his intimate acquaintance with the history of biblical times, as well as his theological mastery. He also assisted on the secretarial staff of the Academy, and as a teacher of ancient languages. Indeed, he was always willing to do whatever work for the church that he was called upon to do; and many are the tasks on which he labored unrecognized.
     He enjoyed a full life-not devoid of anxieties and cares, but full of the deep things which make it worth while, and centered in a home where love dwelt.
     Yet earth can never be more than a beginning-a place of prophecy and of preparation. The noisy clamors of the world and the numbing barriers of the flesh silence and restrain so many of the subtler voices of the spirit's affection, and frighten them back into hiding and inaction. The circumstances of earth call only for a few types of uses, and not often for those which require the special gifts which constitute the inner contents of a man's love of use-endowments which in multiplicity exceed this world's simple demands, but which are of need in the heavens.
     For in the eternal world the myriad affections within a man's love of use are made clear and distinct, and are seen in their relation to the whole Gorand Man with all its marvelous variety. And there, whatever one part requires for its work is conveyed to it from the whole, and from each part a contribution is given for the perfection of the whole.

504



All the interiors come into use and delight and fruition, for the building of new uses which only angelic minds can foresee.
     It is that world into which our friend has gone-full knowing and in peace. He still dwells in the affections of those on earth. There is his abode still. And there is a part of the new field of his work, a field which he could not any more approach from without. It is our faith that his spirit-sentient now and henceforward of the eternal realities which do not pass away-will labor with the angels of heaven to awaken in men the myriad affections which may lead us (despite the humdrum things of worldly routine and the din of battles) to perceive new values in our common lives, new conceptions of charity, new uses; to the end that his beloved New Jerusalem may be planted in human hearts.


     BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

     LLEWELLYN WARREN TOWNE DAVID was born at Kingston, Massachusetts, on August 24, 1884, and passed into the spiritual world at Bryn Athyn, Pa., on September 22, 1943, at the age of 59 years and 29 days. He was the son of the Rev. Joseph Stevens David and Mrs. Luella Medora Thompson David. His father was active in the ministry of the General Convention for many years, but in 1916 he and Mrs. David became members of the General Church.
     Llewellyn entered the Theological School of the Academy of the New Church in 1911, and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Theology in 1914. He was ordained on June 28, 1914, and went to Denver, Colorado, as Minister of the Society there, becoming Pastor on June 19, 1916, when he was ordained into the second degree of the priesthood. In 1920 he accepted a call to become Pastor of Carmel Church, Kitchener, Ontario, entering upon his duties there on October 1, 1920. After a service of eight years in this pastorate, he resigned on September 1, 1928, but remained as Acting Pastor until the end of the year.
     Mr. David then came to Bryn Athyn as private secretary of the Rev. Theodore Pitcairn, and to assist in the uses of the Bryn Athyn Society, which he did for a number of years. He also paid occasional pastoral visits to other centers of the General Church in the Eastern States.

505



He assisted in the editing of NEW CHURCH SERMONS and carried forward the compilation of the Fifty-year card-index of NEW CHURCH LIFE. To this journal, in the course of thirty years, he contributed many sermons, articles, and other material.
     In recent years, although failing in health, Mr. David continued to serve the Academy in a secretarial capacity, and from 1938 to 1942 he was Instructor in Hebrew, Greek and Latin in the Theological School and the College. From time to time, also, he gave lectures in Archeology, illustrated by the objects of antiquity in the Academy Museum, as he was a scholar in this field, familiar with the Hieroglyphics and other ancient inscriptions. For two years, 1942 and 1943 he was Secretary of the Council of the Clergy.
     At Kitchener, on August 2,1922, Llewellyn David married Gladys Theora Kuhl, who survives him, together with six children: Warren, Rachel, Dandridge, Raymond, and twin son and daughter, Joseph and Ladice.

[Photograph]

A Candid Camera Portrait.
Sixteenth General Assembly, 1937.

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PATRIOTISM AND EVANGELIZATION 1943

PATRIOTISM AND EVANGELIZATION       Editor       1943


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Editor      Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager      Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.


All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Business Manager.

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     There is a belief among us that the present war is in some way to prepare for the spread of the New Church. The same idea was current among those of our faith a century ago, at the close of the Napoleonic wars, and was to some extent justified by the event, for a stimulus was then given to the growth of the Church. As a purifying agency, war results in a natural reformation, and the minds of many are rendered receptive of instruction in the things of religion. A Last Judgment always includes the giving of new light to the race in the form of Divine Revelation. The Lord then opens wide the gates of heaven and the church, that the righteous may enter in. It is logical that lesser judgments among men should be attended with something similar. Times of great calamity and affliction are commonly regarded as favorable to spiritual instruction. At this day the old religious bodies are laboring among the armies with missionary effort. The Bible has been distributed at the front in unprecedented quantities. The civilian populations also, in many countries, are flocking to the churches. It seems as though the patriotic sacrifice quickened also the religious spirit, ripening the harvest of souls for the reaper.

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     No prophecy can be ventured as to the outcome of this condition among Christians, but it is reasonable to assume that the times will "make ready a people prepared for the Lord," and that the New Church will gain converts. The possibility at least is actively in our thoughts, which perhaps is a forecast of Providence. Certainly our soldiers, the men of the New Church who have gone forth to fight in the armies of liberty, are imbued with a mingling of patriotic and religious fervor. They have gone readily, and even enthusiastically, because moved by an ardent desire to set men free, not only from earthly tyranny, but also from infernal tyranny, that they may enjoy the blessings of natural and spiritual freedom.

     Patriotism.

     In times of peace, the love of country, or patriotism, is expressed in obedience to law, in the paying of taxes, in loyalty to rulers, in many forms of service to the common weal, thus in self-sacrifice for the sake of the larger man. In times of war against a common enemy, it is further expressed in the readiness to give all one's earthly possessions, to lay down one's life, in defense of one's country, in defense of its people, its land, its rights, its freedom. "That one s country is to be loved, not as a man loves himself, but more than himself, is a law inscribed upon human hearts, from which has been promulgated this sentence, which is enunciated by every just person, that if the destruction of one's country at the hands of an enemy is imminent, it is illustrious to die for it, and for a soldier to pour out his blood gloriously for it. This is said because one s country is to be loved to that extent." (T. C. R. 414.)
     Yet this, in itself, is only a natural love-the love of the land in which we were born, the love of the people of our own nation, in whose defense we will fight from the instinct of self-preservation, an instinct we share with the brute creation, who likewise will die in defense of their own. It is only when patriotism, as a natural love, is inspired by something of religion and spiritual love, that it becomes more truly human,-the love of humanity, of the human race, the love of all men as brothers, as children of the one Heavenly Father. From such a love there springs the desire for the natural and spiritual welfare of all nations. In the light of it we regard our own country as but one in the family of nations, between which there might be mutual respect, friendship, and service, as between individual men, if Christian charity reigned in the hearts of all.

508




     Such an order prevailed in the earliest times, when earthly society was an image of heaven, and men thought not less of their neighbor's good than of their own, but provided for themselves only to the end that they might be of use to others. International charity of this type is now exceedingly rare; yet there is a seeming revival of it in our time, as expressed, for example, in the declaration that we are fighting an unselfish war, willing to dedicate our all that others may be free, and with the hope that peace may bring a cooperation among the nations, bound together by ties of international good will and amity.
     The fact is that free nations desire the same for others. Where civil and religious freedom are enjoyed, there grows up a voluntary good citizenship, which is a form of true freedom, breeding a spirit of "live and let live." It is a remarkable thing that the enjoyment of this true freedom has in it the desire that others also may have freedom, has in it the willingness to sacrifice one's life and possessions that others may be free. We are not claiming for this a regenerate, spiritual origin among those who have given expression to it in modern times. It is at least the Christian ideal, and an image of that genuine charity which loves the freedom of the neighbor as well or better than one's own. We conceive it to be a form of higher patriotism to regard one's own country as an instrument in the hands of Providence for the benefiting of other nations and peoples, to think of this from the love of humanity, and to feel an unselfish desire for the welfare of all men, for the deliverance of the down-trodden and their elevation to higher conditions of natural and spiritual good.

     Evangelization.

     We are told that the genuine love of country corresponds to the love of heaven. "They who love their country, and do well to it from good will, after death love the kingdom of the Lord, for this is their country there; and they who love the Lord's kingdom love the Lord, because the Lord is the All in all of His kingdom." (T. C. R. 414.) And this love of the Lord's kingdom as a spiritual love is the origin of a true evangelistic spirit, of the desire for the salvation of souls, with its longing to impart spiritual blessings to others, to lead them into the Lord's kingdom,-a longing that is only from the Lord's own love toward the whole human race.

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It will be seen that the love of country and the love of heaven are companion loves, a fact that links together the zeal of the patriot and the zeal of the evangelist,-a phenomenon that is exhibited in times of war.
     Tracing this parallel further, we note that as the love of country is expressed in obedience to its laws, in loyalty and self-sacrifice, so the love of heaven is manifested in obedience to the Divine law, in loyalty to the Divine teachings, and in the self-sacrifice of repentance,-a laying down of the selfish and worldly life in spiritual temptation, as a result of which there is deliverance from enslavement to hell, and a state of spiritual freedom, which has in it the longing to do goods of charity and use to others, the desire also that others may be set free from hell to enjoy heavenly freedom. Inspired by such a desire, man is elevated to an image of Divine Love, which is supremely free, yet purely unselfish, and wills to give its all to others. This Divine Love the Lord manifested in the world, when He came to minister unto men not to be ministered unto, and "to give His life a ransom for many." For we read that "the Lord's affection or love was Divine, namely, toward the universal human race, which He willed to save to eternity. Love such as the Lord had transcends all human understanding, and it is incredible especially to those who do not know what the celestial love is in which are the angels. Those angels, to save a soul from hell, think nothing of death; yea, if they could, they would undergo hell for that soul. And hence it is the inmost of their joy to transfer into heaven anyone rising from the dead. But they confess that this love is not at all from themselves, but each and everything of it from the Lord alone; yea, they are indignant if anyone thinks otherwise." (A. C. 2077.)
     Here is pictured the origin and spirit of martyrdom, a spirit that animated the early Christians in their willingness to die for the faith, thus to bear witness that others might believe and be saved,-to die as their Lord had done, that others might believe on Him and have everlasting life. And the Christian martyrdom was a powerful means of converting men to Christianity,-to the truth of the Gospel. In the same spirit the missionaries carried the crucifix to every quarter of the globe-the image of Him who died as the Martyr of all martyrs that others might live, that others might be free, that the whole human race might be saved from spiritual death.

510



For this fact of the Divine sacrifice and victory was to be the burden of the Christian message to all nations. "Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." (John 11: 51.) "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." (John 12: 32.) "Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations." (Luke 24: 46, 47.)
     Who, then, are the martyrs of the Lord's Second Coming, willing to die for their faith, willing to die that others may believe, that others may be free, may be saved, may be led into the Lord's kingdom? In the modern world of religious toleration the evangelists of the Second Advent will not be in danger of the inquisition. Yet, in devoting their lives to the proclaiming of the Lord's New Gospel, they will be ready to go "before governors and kings for His sake," and He will "give them a mouth and wisdom which all their adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist." They will go forth inspired by intense love for the Lord's new kingdom, to preach and teach with the zeal and self-sacrifice of the ancient martyrs. But it is rather to a spiritual martyrdom that they will call men, by their precept and their example. They will exhort men to regenerate in the light and life of the New Church, and this regeneration is spiritual martyrdom. He that is regenerating is laying down the life of the natural man, the life of self-love and the love of the world, that the spiritual man may live. He is doing this as an auto-da-fe,-an act of faith and obedience to the Lord in the Heavenly Doctrine, "forsaking all to follow Him." And such a one "loves not his life even unto death." "He hateth his life in this world, that he may keep it unto life eternal."
     And, like the martyrs of old, those who are genuinely doing this for its own sake are unconsciously a powerful evangelical influence, confirming others in the faith. Their lives speak the power of the Doctrines to make men spiritual, intelligent, to reform men spiritually and naturally. Their "light shines before men," who "see their good works, and glorify the Father in heaven."

511



And the sons of the Church, fighting in battle from faith in their country's cause,-the cause of human liberation-will not die in vain, if their sacrifice give birth to a new day of freedom, a day of spiritual enlightenment, of new gifts of charity from on high,-if they have thus "prepared the way of the Lord" among the oppressed peoples of the earth, and hastened the time when "the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, who shall reign forever and ever."
ROMANCE OF THE OTHER LIFE 1943

ROMANCE OF THE OTHER LIFE       F. F. C       1943

     A Review.

     Reprinted from THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD, July 3, 1943.

STRAIT IS THE GATE. By Sigrid Odhner Sigstedt.

     Any story describing experiences in the spiritual world is of interest to men and women of the New Church, especially if the author is a member of the New Church, and has been guided by the Writings of Swedenborg. In Strait is the Gate we have a "Romance of the Other Life" by Sigrid Odhner Sigstedt, of Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, published by the Swedenborg Association, Los Angeles, California. The work has been mimeographed (with a few errors, some of which are listed at the end) in a pleasing manner, and has been bound in a semi-stiff buff cover. It contains some 100 pages of text (8 inches by 6 inches) and 12 black-and-white illustrations (by Claire E. Berninger) which are strikingly original and add much to its attractiveness. It can be obtained through New-Church Book Rooms, and the price in Britain is 4s. 8d. [Academy Book Room $1.50.]
     Unlike Stories from the Word and Wonder Footprints, by the same author, this is not a book for children, although some older children would delight in it. It recounts the adventures of a certain Count Magnus, a Swede who died, aged 23, of wounds received in battle during Swedenborg's lifetime. The eighteenth century setting of the narrative gets over the difficulty of picturing modern conditions in the spiritual world, and enables the author to follow the descriptive details of the Memorabilia in the Writings without much modification; but it lacks appeal to the modern reader.

512



Indeed, the curious old-fashioned style is liable to prove irritating, and adds to a certain sense of unreality particularly noticeable in the conversational parts. The descriptions, however, are more pleasing, and here and there passages of some beauty occur.
     The story commences with young Magnus's first conscious experience of the other world, where he is for a time surrounded by familiar things. Gradually he discovers that he is in a Midway World full of journeying souls, both good and bad, as his deceased sister informs him. Soon he visits the spiritual Holland, where, outside a printer's shop, he encounters a certain brown-coated gentleman, the distinguished Doctor Emanuel, a fellow countryman of his who had written many learned books in Latin, and who was then arranging for the printing of a large work of great importance which he was not permitted to publish in his own country, since it contained things contrary to the established religion." After this he visits the spiritual Germany, where he learns something of the cloudy illusions which befog those in the false love of authority which destroys freedom.
     Early in his journeyings he meets a maiden who is destined to become his wife in the heaven to which he finally attains. She appears at times, to comfort and encourage him when he despairs of ever fitting himself for a life of real use; but most of the time Magnus is on his own, discovering, in strange company, and through a succession of unusual experiences, how many of his desires and ideas are false. His success in ridding himself of these, not without meeting bitter trials and grave dangers, is the main theme of the story. A general impression is given in the titles of the book's seven parts: I-The Midway Valley; II-The Outer Land; III-The Inner Realm; IV-The Lower Earth; V-The Narrow Path; VI-The Place of Eight Gates; VII-Heaven.
     At the end of the book a useful page of "Notes" indicates the sources (mainly in the Writings) on which the particular incidents in the story are based. It seems strange, however, to find among them, albeit distinguished by brackets, the statements that "The hymn on page 70 was written by the late Bishop W. F. Pendleton," and "The verse at the end is taken from the song, 'To Conjugial Love,' by Bishop Alfred Acton."

513



We find it difficult to believe that the verses in question, in spite of their undoubted worth, would be used respectively by Africans on the outskirts of heaven and by a group of youths and maidens welcoming new-comers to their home in a heavenly city-in the eighteenth century!
     In spite of the few defects to which we have drawn attention, this book contains a wealth of instructive information about the judgment process and about the spiritual world in general, which will reward the reader with fresh insight into the implications of teaching with which he may (or may not) be familiar from the Writings. The writer has a vivid imagination-a rare gift in these prosaic times-and has used it with perception and discretion.
     F. F. C.
NOTES AND REVIEWS 1943

NOTES AND REVIEWS       Editor       1943

     RADIO TALKS.

THE VOICE OF THE NEW CHURCH. Five Radio Talks by the Rev. Gilbert Haven Smith. Given in 1942 and 1943 in a series sponsored by the Western New Church Union, 17 N. State St., Chicago, Ill., through the facilities of Station WJJD, Chicago. Octavo. pp. 20 and cover.

     These radio talks, here brought together in printed form for follow-up purposes in connection with the broadcasting, make an excellent missionary booklet, presenting a knowledge of the general teaching of the New Church in a manner calculated to appeal to minds that may be prepared to receive it. The mode of treatment is tactful, but direct and distinctive, without any hiding of the light under a bushel. On the cover we read: "Great confidence has the writer of these Talks that there are many people somewhere to be found who, if they knew about them, would be delighted with the teachings of the New Church. These teachings are to be found only in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. . .

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In presenting the program, "The Voice of the New Church," the Western New Church Union is interested only in making known and making available the work of this man who served the Lord as Servant and Revelator. It is hoped this booklet may strike a responsive chord," The Five Talks are entitled:

     I. An Introduction to the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. The Spiritual World Seen and Described. The Divine Nature of Christ.
     II. A Description of Life in the Heavens,
     III. Swedenborg's Teaching about Influx,
     IV. Interpretations of Scripture. The Ancient Word, Adam and Eve. Cain and Abel. The Flood,
     V. The Lord's Government. Providence Controls All Things. The Divine Purpose a Heaven From the Human Race. The Lord Looks to Man's Eternal Welfare.

     Christians who are seeking for something new will not be deterred, but rather attracted, by distinctive New Church terms. This is the way in which Mr. Smith opens to them the subject of "Influx":

     "'There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.' You recognize this passage from the 46th Psalm: and we have chosen it as a suitable introduction to the unusual subject of Influx. By this is meant the influx of life from the spiritual world, which is like the streams of a river, flowing into the minds of men. According to the philosophical explanations of Swedenborg, by which he accounts for the source of human life, our existence on earth is altogether dependent upon a perpetual inflowing or influx of life from the spiritual world and upon an influx which in the last analysis is from the Lord our Saviour Himself. It is a very unusual idea,-this idea of the influx of life to men through the spiritual world, and quite new to the usual modes of thought."

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MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943

     THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)

     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa, United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942,
     SERGEANT PILOT RALPH ROSCHMAN HILL, Kitchener, Ontario. Royal Canadian Air Force. Killed on active service in Wales, February 9, 1943.


     OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, L.A.C. Norman,
Heldon, L.A.C. Sydney,
Kirsten, Sgt. Theodore,
Taylor, Sgt. Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bellinger, Wren Elaine,
Bond, Sgt. J. W.,
Bond, Sgt. Lillian D.,
Bond, L.A.C. Thomas A.,
Evens, Tpr. John,
Evens, Gnr. Robert A.,
Evens, A.C. 2 Reuben J.,
Hasen, A.C. 2 Alfred H.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Heinrichs, A.C. 2 Philip O.,
Hill, Ft/Sgt. Leonard F.,
James, Pvt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Schnarr, Sgt. Joffre G.,
Schnarr, Lt. John G.,
Scott, Pvt. Herbert G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, Sgt. P/O A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.
Stroh, A.C. 2 Leon F.,

     Toronto.
Bellinger, A.C. 2 Donald F.,
Bellinger, P/O John H.,
Campbell, Sub-Lt. Stella, W.R.C.N S
Carter, F/Sgt. Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Cpl. Thomas J.,
Izzard, F/O Laurence T., Missing in Action,
Jessman, Dvr. Edward,
Jesseman, Cpl. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn,
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Raymond, L.A.C. D Hayden,
Richardson, A.C. 2 David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, Pvt. Ivan R.,
Scott, P/O Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.
White, Pte. Charles B.,

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Bellinger, F/O William G., Ontario,
Evens, L.A.C. A. Leslie, Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 Norman W., Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 W. E.,
Frazee, A.C. 2 Keith I., British Columbia,
Funk, A.C. 2 Henry,
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.

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     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Eric D.,
Appleton, L.A.C. Roy,
Boozer, Dvr. A. E.,
Boozer, Donald,
Briscoe, Miss Irene G.,
Caldwell, Lieut. William T.,
Clennell, A.C. 2 Gordon,
Cohen, Eng. Comdr. Maurice L.,
Dale, Tpr. Keith B.,
Dawson, Sgt. Geoffrey P.,
Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Halliday, Lieut. Keith C.,
Jones, Harold C.,
Lewin, Ronald,
Morley, P/O H. K.,
Morris, Lieut. David,
Motom, Alvin,
Motum, 2nd Lt. John,
Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,
Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Beatrice A.,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Lt. Michael T.,
Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,
Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Sylvia M.

     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, 2nd Lieut. J. S.,
Buss, Pvt. Brian,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Buss, Pvt. Ronald,
Cockerell, Sig. John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, A/P Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
Craig, Major Thomas,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Gnr. D. B., Honorably Discharged,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, P/A/O J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, Lieut. A. N.,
Hammond, 2nd Lieut. Harry B.,
Hammond, Cpl. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, P/N Miss S. F.,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, S/Sgt. A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Pemberton, A/P G. Guy,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, Cpl. C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,
Ridgway, Cpl. H. A.,
Ridgway, Cpl. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A., Honorably discharged,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, S/Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, P.F.C. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Pvt. Robert,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, Cpl. Ralph E.,
Behlert, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Bostock, Pvt. Robert M.,
Caldwell, Jeannette P., A.R.C.,
Carpenter, Lt. (jg) Philip S. P.,
Carswell, Elaine, A.S.,
Carswell, Pvt. Louis D.,
Cole, Pvt. Dandridge M.,
Cole, Capt. William P.,
Conner, P.F.C. Wilson Bennett,
Cooper, A/C Denis,
Cooper, Pvt. Geoffrey,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, Lt. Rey W.,
Cooper, Q.A.C. Theodore F.,
Cowley, Cpl. William J.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
David, A/C Warren,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davies, Cpl. Philip T.,
Davis, Joan, S 2/c,
Davis, Lt. Justin H.,
Davis, Sgt. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
Deigendesch, Paul H., A.S.,
De Maine, Lt. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine, Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A.,
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, Lt. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Fine, Sgt. Raymond F.,
Finkeldey, Lt. Philip,
Gansert, T/5 Otto G.,
Glenn, Lt. Ernest Bruce,

517




Gyllenhaal, Pvt. Charles P.,
Gyllenhaal, Pvt. Hugh A.,
Gyllenhaal, Ensign Leonard E.
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, Sgt. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., Ph.M. 2/c,
Hilldale, Pvt. Thomas A.,
Homiller, Lt. William,
Hyatt, Sgt. Edward D.,
Hyatt, Pvt. Kent,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Nilson, Lt. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, P.F.C. David S.,
Odhner, Sgt. Ray S.,
Odhner, Lt. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, R.T. 1/c,
Pitcairn, Pvt. Garthowen,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Joel,
Pitcairn, A/C John P.,
Pitcairn, A/C Lachlan,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, Lt. Nathan,
Pitcairn, Lt. Stephen, C.A. P.,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Capt. Oliver I.,
Price, Donal, A.S.,
Price, Sgt. Kenneth,
Redmile, Pvt. Thomas,
Rose, A/S John W.,
Rose, P.F.C. Stanley,
Rosenquist, P.F.C. Henry,
Schnarr, A/S Arthur W.,
Schnarr, Donald, S 1/c,
Schnarr, Pvt. Eugene C.,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, Lt. David R.,
Simons, A/S Hilary Q.,
Smith, Pvt. Gordon,
Smith, Pvt. Ivan I.,
Synnestvedt, Pvt. Fred H.,
Synnestvedt, A/C Pvt. Huard I.,
Umberger, Grant, A.S.,
Walter, Elizabeth, S.K. 2/c,
Walter, Lt. Robert E.,
Walter, Pvt. Wm. H. S.,
White, Lt. Harry J.
Yerkes, P.F.C. Earle.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Anderson, Pvt. Roland,
Asplundh, Ensign O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., M.M. 2/c,
Barry, P.F.C. John,
Brown, Pvt. Robert E.,
Burnham, Edwin, C. Sp., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, P.F.C. Roy M.,
Carlson, S/Sgt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,
Cole, Pvt. Louis S.,
Elkins, Lois, Y 3/c,
Fuller, George, A.M.M. 1/c,
Fuller, Pvt. William,
Gladish, Lt. Donald G.,
Gunsteens, P.F.C. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,
Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, P.F.C. Kenneth,
Holmes, Cpl. Leslie B.,
Junge, Lt. Carl F.,
King, Cpl. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Lt. Raymond T.,
Lee, P.F.C. Cedric F.,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
McQueen, Pvt. Kenneth,
Melzer, P.F.C. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Philip,
Melzer, Sgt. Roger,
Nelson, Lt. Gerald F.,
Pollock, A/C Robert T.,
Reuter, Lieut. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Ensign Hubert O.,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, Lt. Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Smith, Gloria J., A.S.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C., Honorably discharged,
Wille, Pvt. Gerhardt King.

     Michigan.
Birchman, Owen R., A.S.,
Childs, P.F.C. Walter C.,
French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, T/Sgt. John F.,
Peterson, Pvt. Philip H.,
Peterson, Warrant Officer Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., C.P.O.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Lt. (j.g.) Alexander,
King, Lt. Cedric S.,
Packer, E. W. Jr., S. 1/c.
Packer, P.F.C. Robert E.,
Packer, Pvt. Robert F.,
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,
Westacott, Ensign Ethel B.

     Pittsburgh,
Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Blair, P.F.C. James E. Jr.,
Brown, Lt. George P., Jr.,
Brown, Sgt. Tech. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,
Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Horigan, A/S Walter Lee,

518




Iungerich, Tech. Sgt. Stevan,
Iungerich, Zoe,
Lechner, Lt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Capt. Alexander H.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Pendleton, Lt. Philip C.,
Schoenberger, Lt. Ulrich,
Schoenberger, Av/C Walter S.,
Stein, Cpl. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Sgt. Elmer G., Texas.
Caldwell, Cpl. Neil V., New York.
Coffin, Capt. Roscoe T., Maryland.
Cranch, T/Sgt. W. E., Penna.
Crockett, Lloyd, A.S., Georgia.
Davis, A/C Charles F., Calif.
Davis, Sgt. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Capt. Philip B., Ohio,
Denys, Sgt. Raymond, Georgia.
Doering, A/C Edward, Wayne, Iowa.
Glenn, A.S. Alfred M., New York,
Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Griffin, William T., E.M. 1/c, South Carolina.
Joy, Lt. Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Pvt. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Merrell, Sgt. Frederick, Calif.
Merrell, Pvt. Stanley, Calif.
Moorhead, Pvt. Donald, Washington, D. C.
Needer, Pvt. John H., Baltimore, Md.
Posey, A/S John A., Alabama.
Rott, Sgt. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Smith, Sterling R., A.M.M. 1/c, Georgia.
Snyder, Donald, A.M.M. 2/c, Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Soneson, L. R., Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Major Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Tarr, Joseph, S.K. 3/c, Maryland.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.
Wilson, Joaquin C., Jr., E.M. 2/c, Missouri.
Wilson, John E., U.S.M.S., Missouri.
PARENT-TEACHER JOURNAL 1943

PARENT-TEACHER JOURNAL              1943

     Purposes:     To keep the Church Schools in closer touch with the Academy and with one another. To provide material for the instruction of children in the home.
     Contents, 1943-1944: Continuation of the serial publication of "The Life of the Lord," by Bishop George de Charms. Part II,

Reports from Teachers on Various Subjects.
Book Reviews and Report on Library Activities.
Sermons and Talks to Children. Stories.
News of the Church Schools.
Educational Council Papers and Discussions.

EDITOR: Miss Celia Bellinger.
ASSISTANT EDITORS: Mrs. Besse E. Smith.

Miss Lois Stebbing.

Published Monthly, October to May, $1.00.
Address: Mrs. Phyllis S. Cranch, Business Manager,
Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     Enrollment for 1943-1944.

College                    12
Boys Academy               68
Girls Seminary               83
Elementary School               152

     Total                    315

     LONDON, ENGLAND.

     Michael Church.

     August 27, 1943.-Summer, and the lengthening of time between Blackout hours, has brought a fresh stimulus to Michael Church. Several events mark a period of quite creditable activity for a wartime society- the most ambitious among them being the Young People's Party held in July. But of that, later-for it was always a firmly held maxim of youthful days that one should proceed by bread and butter stages to the jam, and even though in this case it be only austerity jam, we will leave the party to its proper place in time.
     On both Good Friday and Easter Sunday special services were held. At the latter, Holy Communion was administered to 36 communicants, the Pastor's theme on this occasion being the Appearing of the Divine, based in particular on the appearing to Mary, and to the disciples at Emmaus.
     As Sunday, May 2, was fixed for the Annual Meeting of the Women's Guild, a sandwich lunch was held after morning service-and the business of the day being dispatched very speedily, a short programme of music, song and poetry applicable to Spring preceded a hand-round tea.
     The National Day of Prayer was observed on Sunday, May 11th, when the Pastor gave a very beautiful sermon on Divine Providence.
     June 19th, celebrated on Sunday, June 20th, brought quite a large gathering of people together. It was a pity that more of the Colchester folk could not turn up, the Rev. Martin Pryke who preached at the morning service being their only representative, except for Cpl. Donald Boozer, a Colchester member now stationed on the South Coast.
     After lunch the members repaired upstairs to hear two papers appropriate to the day. Preceding the addresses, however, Mr. Acton read the inspiring Message of Greeting from Bishop de Charms, and also a greeting from Mr. Orme, an absent member. The paper by the Rev. A. W. Acton dwelt upon the formation of the New Heaven and of the New Jerusalem-a theme too comprehensive to be summarized in these short notes. That of the Rev. Martin Pryke was a short survey of the Church Specific, with considerable emphasis upon the principles and organization of the General Church. Intensely interesting papers-the two subjects stressing as it were different aspects of the same picture.
     Following tea downstairs-once again an achievement of several ladies (it is wonderful what can be done with one's rations when they are pooled! -we trooped upstairs again for further mental exercise. This time it was the Brain's Trust-our own particular and local brains, though, having no connection with that shining galaxy of wisdom at the B. B. C. Ours consisted of three laymen and two ministers (Rev. Martin Pryke and Rev. Henry Heinrichs) introduced and interpreted by the Question Master, Rev. A. W. Acton.

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No doubt it provided entertainment to the rest of the party to see some of its erstwhile modest members aspiring to solve the problems of the Universe A variety of questions, ranging from music, politics and palmistry, gave some headaches and provided fun, even if they did not always solve the difficulties of the questioner. We may not meet very often, but we cram in plenty during the time!
     Young People's Party.-And now for the party in July. This was primarily a young people's affair, but as no age limit was set, all who felt themselves to be young (in heart at least) turned up at the appointed hour of 4 o'clock. Mr. John Boozer, by rights a Colchester member, but since his war-work in London seeming to belong quite naturally to Burton Road, acted as M. C. The programme, under the auspices of the Women's Guild, was devised by two youthful members, Misses Olive Lewin and Brenda Dale, who contrived to keep us all hard worked at competitive games and other relaxations. This is the first attempt at a social since the war began, and being undertaken with some misgivings (wartime days are so full for everyone) it really did seem encouraging to look round on the gathering of 41 persons singing lustily, if not tunefully, nursery rhymes and other ditties. Community singing came at the end of a jolly evening, and with the singing of Auld Lang Syne and the National Anthem the party broke up at the early hour of 5, having in mind the eternal transport problem.
     As quite a few of the young people, being visitors, stayed the night with friends, we had the pleasure of their presence at Sunday Service next day. The Misses Christine Waters and Marion Appleton, Messrs. Brian and Fred Appleton, were our Colchester guests; the Misses Beryl, Gabrielle and Helene Howard came from St. Albans; and the Army provided three stalwarts in Cpl. Donald Boozer, Keith Dale and Cecil James.
     The sermon, taken from the text, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"-on heavenly and infernal freedom-seemed, whether designedly or no, singularly appropriate to the spirit of youth amongst us.
     Rather warily, having in mind our perverse English climate, a picnic lunch had been arranged at a nearby park. The grey sky lifted even as we left church, and by the time the 25 or so members sorted themselves out on the pleasant turf, we found ourselves in for a hot and sunny day. It was a Do-as-you-like affair; some played games, some rowed on the lake, and some-just sat! Tea ordered at the neighboring pavilion rounded off a very happy day.
     At the back of all these little social gatherings, unambitious though they are, there is inevitably, and especially in wartime, considerable organization entailed. For much of this quiet, unobtrusive arranging we have to thank Mrs. Acton, who, in her dual role as Pastor's wife and Secretary of the Women's Guild, does a great deal of work which may apparently go unnoticed.
     And so ends this review of the Summer's activities, with the hope that there will be still more manifestations of energy before the Blackout comes upon us to dim our social brightness.
     Death of Mrs. Tilson-The society has lost an old and valued member in the passing of Mrs. Tilson, widow of the late Bishop R. J. Tilson, on June 10th in her eighty-second year. For so many years Mrs. Tilson has been an unfailing worker in church activities, regular in attendance even in old age and in spite of infirmities, that it is difficult to realize she is no longer dispensing hospitality at Templar Street. She held the affection of all, and our admiration and esteem for the immense courage she brought to her afflictions. She will be sorely missed, even though in our knowledge of her passing from a frail physical body to the vigor of spiritual life we rejoice in her new-found happiness.

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The Memorial Service was held on June 27th, the sermon given by the pastor, entitled "Spiritual Rest from Labors," was a beautiful epitome of that earthly life we knew as Mrs. Tilson, and of the heavenly life into which she is entering.


     HURSTVILLE, AUSTRALIA.

     August 4, 1943.-New Church Day has been celebrated here since our last news notes were written. At an evening service of praise on the 19th of June the pastor preached on "The Crown of Churches and the Jewel of Life," showing that the New Church will be the crown of all the churches, and will endure to eternity, because conjugial love will be restored in it, and developing some of the implications of this truth. The subject of the sermon delivered on the 20th was "The New Church and the Lord's Prayer," and an attempt was made in it to show how all things contained in this Prayer will be fulfilled in the future New Church. The Sacrament of the Supper was administered at this service and the usual children's service was held in the afternoon.
     Attendances at these services were small, but the social side of the celebrations was fairly successful. The children had a very happy party during the afternoon of the 19th. Games were played, and refreshments served, and the story of the first "Nineteenth" was shown in a series of pictures drawn by Mrs. Henderson. Seventeen guests attended the society banquet on Sunday, the 20th, which was handled by Mr. Ossian Heldon in his usual vigorous and thorough manner. Greetings were received from: Bishop de Charms; Rev. R. H. Teed, of Melbourne; Rev. C. D. Brock, of Adelaide; Mr. W. Burl, President of the Australian Conference and Leader of the Sydney Society; Mrs. White, of South Australia; Mrs. Brown, of Springwood; and Trooper L. Heldon, A.C. 2. N. Heldon, A.C. 2. S. Heldon, and Sgt. T. Taylor. We were particularly pleased to hear from our Conference friends; and the successful efforts of our own members absent with the forces to send some worthwhile thoughts, as well as a greeting, were much appreciated.
     Toasts to "The Church," "The Day we Celebrate," "Friends Across the Seas and Other Absent Friends," and "Our Society," were proposed by P. F. C. Michael Pitcairn, Mr. Fred Kirsten, the Pastor, and Mr. Alfred Kirsten. Impromptu toasts were also proposed. In his address, "The Lord God Jesus Christ Reigns.' the pastor showed that this gospel, true of the New Heaven when the apostles were sent forth to proclaim it, is fulfilled on earth when the Heavenly Doctrine rules, traced the way in which this concept has determined the order and organization of the General Church, and stated that in it is the reason for the stress we lay upon doctrinal instruction and individual study of the Writings.
     At the end of May the pastor finished a series of seven doctrinal classes on the subject of "The Permissions of Providence." Two classes on the uses of the Sacraments were given in June, and in July a series on the doctrine of regeneration was begun. The Arcana class, which entered its third year in July, finished the second volume of the work in that month. This class has met monthly without a break since its inception.
     Monthly teas were held in May and July. At the first of these gatherings the pastor, instead of giving an address, read a correspondence on "The Writings in the Church" which appeared some years ago in THE NEW-CHURCH HERALD and was reprinted in New CHURCH LIFE; explaining that while they might not still be held by those who then expressed them, the views put forth on that occasion still existed. At the second tea a talk was given on the life, works, and claims of Thomas Lake Harris, and a few selections from his writings were read.
     Mr. Ossian Heldon and P.F.C. Michael Pitcairn gave excellent addresses at the May and July meetings of the local Sons, respectively; the former on "War and Regeneration," the latter on "Photography."

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The June meeting was devoted to a discussion, in which all took part, on the uses of various kinds of recreations.
     We are happy to announce that Miss Ruth Fletcher made her Confession of Faith during public worship on Sunday, May 9, and that on June 12th another son was born to Trooper Lindthman and Mrs. Heldon. Such events are always cause for rejoicing in the Church.
     Trooper Heldon, AC. 2., Norman Heldon, and Sgt. T. Taylor have all been home on leave at different times during the last three months-the last named for the first time in two years,-and we have been very glad to see them. With the posting of A.C. 2. Heldon to a flying training school, all our members in the forces are scattered at various distances from Sydney-between 300 and 16,000 miles, to be exact. These absences involve no removal from the society in spirit, but we look forward to the time when these young men will have returned to the place their hearts have never left.
     W. C. H.

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     The opening of the day school here, as in most small societies, initiates us each Autumn into the year's new activities, and so on September 15 we settled down to the making of plans for a program that will carry us through the next nine months until soother Summer rolls around.
     Our educational program is not confined to the elementary school, but includes classes for all ages. In the doctrinal classes, Mr. Pendleton is going to devote the first series to the study of the Tabernacle. We are privileged to have the model of the Tabernacle from Bryn Athyn for use in illustrating these classes.
     Mr. Odhner will continue his young people's class, which will consist only of young ladies this year, but we have quite a number of young women of college age who are eager to meet together for study under Mr. Odhner's guidance. He will also conduct a high-school class for the boys and girls who are going to our city high schools. This, by arrangement with the schools, which now give credit for religious training, will be held at nine o'clock on Wednesday mornings.
     Mr. Pendleton and Mr. Odhner share the classes in Religion in the school, except for the first grade
     The day school has only fourteen pupils this year, in spite of the fact that we have an entrance class of three; but the number of pre-school children gives us the hope for a larger school in the future.
     Society Meeting.-On October 1 we had our Autumn society meeting, and reports showed that the work of the House Committee had gone on all through the Summer while some of us were vacationing. This year the work consisted of painting and landscaping, and we returned to find that the schoolrooms had been painted and attractively decorated. Mr. Daric Acton, as head of that committee, has proved to be most efficient, and it was by a unanimous vote that he was once more put on that committee for the coming year.
     Our treasurer gave a very encouraging report. Last Spring the Pittsburgh Society was able, with the added support of some of our enterprising members, to speed up the payment of the mortgage on our church buildings. At our Spring Society meeting the committee in charge was able to report that at last we are free of this debt, and with great rejoicing the mortgage was burned at that meeting. Now the funds formerly devoted to that use are being used for what is called a "building fund," and some of it is being used for the upkeep of the buildings. We hope in this way, by a little expenditure each year, to be able to keep the church and school in good condition.
     Social Events.-The Social Committee for the coming year is headed by Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Lindsay, and they have outlined what appears to be a very interesting program of social events.

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If the first social of the season is any indication of what is in store for us, we can predict some most enjoyable times to come. On Friday evening, September 24, this committee sponsored a dance at which most of the society was present. In spite of the shortage of "man power," everybody joined in the dancing and contests and had a good time.
     Local Assembly.-During the week end of October 8, 9, and 10, we will celebrate our Local Assembly, with Bishop Acton in charge. The first session will be held on Friday evening, at which Bishop Acton will preside, but the Rev. Ormond Odhner will give the address. This is to be followed by a social "get-together." On Saturday evening, there is to be a banquet at which Bishop Acton will give the address, and he will also preach on Sunday morning.
     Since Bishop Acton was able to come to Pittsburgh a few days ahead of schedule we were privileged to have him come and talk to the boys and girls at school. He gave them a very simple explanation of how we live in two worlds at the same time, and told them that our real life is even now in the spiritual world, where real progress takes place. He said he hoped to return to the school in a couple of years, and expected that in the meantime the school would progress, not only in the natural world, but also in the world of our minds and spirits.
     This is the hope of all of us. We seem, in spite of the unhappy conditions surrounding us, to be specially blessed with many material benefits, but if we keep in mind the thought that these things are merely ephemeral, and of the natural world only, perhaps we shall make real progress in the more important work of maintaining spiritual uses.
     J. M. G.

     GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS.

     August was an eventful month for the Immanuel Church. First a meeting of the society on the 4th to consider the proposition of an assistant to the pastor. Then another meeting on the 30th, to consider a successor to Mr. Smith, who had recently resigned as pastor of our society. At this meeting the Rev. Elmo Acton was chosen to be our next pastor, and he has accepted the call.
     On two Sundays during August the Rev. Harold Cranch preached in Glenview, as our pastor was away on his vacation. On August 22 we had no Sunday service-which gave many of us a chance to catch up on some of the numerous jobs around home which have a habit of piling up-especially every Autumn and Spring.
     In the afternoon and evening of this same day we held a Beach Carnival at the north end of our beautiful lake. Entertainment and refreshments for young and old were there in abundance-and incidentally we raised a considerable sum of money to help defray the cost of some of the outdoor improvements which Mr. 0. E. Asplundh has been making in our Park.
     On September 14, twenty-three of our young people left for school in Bryn Athyn. Six days later our own school opened-to begin its 50th year of New Church education. Forty-one pupils, spread over eight grades and kindergarten, are being taught by the following teaching staff: Eighth and seventh grades, Miss Gladys Blackman; sixth and fifth grades, Miss Helen Maynard; fourth and part of third grades, Miss Lois Nelson; part of third, second and first grades, Miss Venita Roschman; kindergarten, Miss Susan Scalbom.
     HAROLD P. MCQUEEN.


     CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

     Sharon Church.

     We have especially interesting news this time, but first a review of events since our last report.

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     In June, before our pastor went to Bryn Athyn to attend the Council Meetings, we had a church dinner at which he gave a talk on the meaning of June Nineteenth. Then, on the 19th, those of our members who were able to do so joined the Glenview Society in their celebration of that day.
     Since our last report, Sharon Church has received three lovely gifts from the Misses Cora and Gerta Malstrom and Mr. Storto. These gifts are: Our Country's Flag, a General Church Flag, very beautiful, and a Service Flag with a star for each member in service, with his name embroidered beneath it, The flags of our Church and our Country stand on either side of the chancel as effective and inspiring symbols, while the Service Flag hangs on the wall at the back of the room-a tribute to the absent.
     South Side Services.-Our interesting news is, that a new place of worship has been opened in the southern part of Chicago where an active group of our members reside. Their zeal, together with the tireless energy of our pastor, has brought this about. The new place of meeting is on the fourth floor of a Masonic Hall near 63d and Halstead streets-at 64th and Green streets, to be exact. Suitable furniture was obtained for the uses of worship, and, with a beautiful new copy of the Word, a candlestick, and lovely new covers for the altar and the lecterns, the effect is very impressive. These covers were made by the same friends who donated the flags. Go the first cover the seraphims are embroidered to represent the Old Testament, on the altar cloth Alpha and Omega is embroidered, and on the cover of the second lectern "Nune Licet" to represent the Writings. There are two rooms in which Sunday school classes are held, and also provision for church dinners when desired.
     The first service of worship was held on Sunday, August 29, with an attendance of seventy-six persons. Sunday school classes for twelve children were held before the service, which was conducted by our pastor, the Rev. Harold C. Crunch, who delivered an appropriate sermon on the texts, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8: 321, and "Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come. He will guide you into all truth." (John 16: 13.) The whole service was very impressive, being conducted with the reverence and calm dignity that is characteristic of our pastor in the chancel.
     The idea at first was to hold a service in this hall once a month, but the first one was so successful that plans have now been made to hold them nearly every Sunday. This is made possible by the recent appointment of the Rev. Gilbert H. Smith as Missionary Pastor, who will assist in filling the pulpit. He and Mr. Cranch will preach on alternate Sundays at the services of Sharon Church on the North and South Sides. Then, once a month, there will be a joint service, one month on the South Side, and the next month on the North Side. The average attendance on the South Side, including one Sunday evening service, has been a little over fifty.
     V. W.

     THE SOUTHERN STATES.

     My fourth trip as Visiting Pastor to the Southern States was undertaken between June 30 and August 28. Places visited were: Quantico, Va., Wadesboro, N. C., Atlanta, Ga., Birmingham, Ala., New Orleans, La., Dunedin, West Palm Beach, and Oak Hill, Fla., Brunswick, Ga., Columbia, S. C., and Charleston, W. Va., Jacksonville, Fla., is no longer on my itinerary, since Mr. and Mrs. Dewey F. Burnett, who formerly lived there, have moved to Erie, Pa. A couple of days had also been reserved for a visit to Miami, if, upon my arrival in Florida, I should find that a visit would be convenient for our members there. Unfortunately, however, I happened to contract a cold which restricted my travel at that time, and since train reservations further ahead could not easily be changed, I could not fulfill my intention to visit Miami on this trip.

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     Notwithstanding the fact that the number of places visited was thus reduced by two, the duration of this trip exceeded any previous journey. It permitted a longer stay at each place, and, especially where there were several children, I often remained a whole week, or nearly so, holding classes for the children every day, and often two or three times in a single day. I also conducted family worship in many homes. It is very gratifying to see how much our isolated children long for and can absorb religious instruction. It is almost a little surprising, too.
     In addition to these more or less informal functions. I officiated at the following formal administrations: Services of Divine Worship, 11; doctrinal classes for adults, 24; services for children, 6. The Holy Supper was administered 11 times to a total of 33 communicants. There were also 3 infant Baptisms. More than 40 adults, over 30 children (including infants), and two young people, were contacted in the course of this trip.
     In New Orleans it was a special pleasure to welcome Mrs. Durwood Crockett and her two children, and Dr. and Mrs. John Steam and their three children, to our functions. And in Atlanta four new persons were welcomed at our meetings.
     At the conclusion of my Southern itinerary, on August 28, I visited the Morley Farms at Benton Harbor, Michigan, on the invitation of the Rev. and Mrs. Morley D. Rich. Here part of the time was spent in harvesting the peach crop, and part in other activities of a more regular vacation nature. Here, too, however, I conducted a service of Divine Worship, which was attended by 5 adults (excluding myself), one young man, and four children. I was back in New York on September 10, where the first service of the new season was held on Sunday, September 12.
     BJORN A. H. BOYESEN.


     MINISTERIAL CHANGES.

     Effective October 1, 1943.

     The Rev. Gilbert H. Smith, who has resigned as Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Illinois, has been appointed a Missionary Pastor of the General Church. He will have pastoral charge of the Circles in Rockford, Illinois, St. Paul, Minnesota, and the groups in St. Louis, Mo., and Clinton. Ill., and will cooperate with the Rev. Harold C. Cranch in supplying the pulpit for both branches of Sharon Church in Chicago. He will also continue his radio talks on "The Voice of the New Church."
     The Rev. Elmo C. Acton has accepted a call to become Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview. Illinois, and has resigned as Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church.
     The Rev. Norbert H. Rogers has resigned as Assistant to the Pastor of Carmel Church, Kitchener. Ontario, Canada, to accept a call to become an Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church.


     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND.

     Young People's Assembly.

     From the "News Letter" of September, 1943, we reprint the following account by Miss Rachel Howard:
     The second of our Young People's Assemblies was held in Colchester, August 6th to 8th, and, like the one held last year, it proved a great success. Unfortunately the attendance was not so high, but this was due chiefly to the fact that so many of our young people are now serving in the Forces and were unable to arrange their leave to be present.
     The proceedings opened on Friday evening with a Doctrinal Class held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. N. Waters. The class was given by the Rev. Martin Pryke, who chose the subject of "New Church Distinctiveness." A brief survey of our last year's class recalled the subject to our minds, namely, that of the Five Ages of the Churches, reminding us that the Writings of the New Church are the final and crowning Revelation.

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The keynote of our class was thus introduced. I think all of us found the evening intensely interesting, the instruction being very applicable to our everyday lives. Although no immediate discussion ensued, probably owing to shyness, it was obvious during the refreshment interval which followed that we had not been left unmoved by what we had heard.
     The next morning we set off on cycles (many of which had been borrowed from various kind friends) for an outing to Stratford St.-Maz. The weather was not at its best, but we were fortunate in having no rain. When we arrived at our destination, we took over four boats in which we rowed up the River Stow and found a suitable mooring place, where we ate our picnic lunch. Later we were joined by the rest of the party, and for the remainder of the afternoon we amused ourselves by swimming paddling and rowing. We had tea together at a quaint and beautiful old house by the river, after which we returned to Colchester to prepare for the evening.
     The Social was well arranged by Brian Appleton, who presided over the ceremony. After a delicious supper, the formal part of the program was introduced. Short papers were read on the following subjects: "The New Church and Business and Employment," Christine Waters; "The Growth of the New Church," Alvin Motum; "The New Church and the War," Garth Cooper. These were very interesting, all being relevant to our main theme, namely, that of Distinctiveness. In summing up, we were reminded of the importance of applying the truths which had been brought forward and discussed during the week-end. These should be recalled in the future, and introduced practically into our lives.
     The evening was concluded by several very entertaining games, in which we all took part and had a very jolly time.
     The Service on Sunday morning brought the week-end to a particularly fitting close. The sermon was on "The Kingdom of Heaven," and it was treated in a simple but Very impressive manner. I am sure that the truth explained therein will long be cherished and held before us, as the means by which we ourselves, through applying these ideals to our lives on earth, may finally become part of the Lord's kingdom in heaven. After the service we reluctantly bade farewell to all our friends with whom we had spent so enjoyable a time.
     On behalf of the young people I should like to express thanks to all those friends in the Colchester Society who made the Assembly possible. We should especially like to thank our hosts and hostesses for opening their homes to us, and the Rev. Martin Pryke for the preparation and organization of the week-end.


     DEATH OF MR. SEXTON.

     From The New-Church Herald of July 3, 1943, we learn that the Rev. G. A. Sexton, Minister of the New Church in the Isle of Jersey, passed into the spiritual world on October 9, 1942. It will he recalled that in the year 1928 he was present at our General Assembly in London, and took part in the discussions. When the Channel Islands were occupied by German forces in 1939, Mr. and Mrs. Sexton remained in Jersey when most of their members were evacuated to England.

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DISTRIBUTING THE WRITINGS 1943

DISTRIBUTING THE WRITINGS              1943

SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION, INCORPORATED, 41 East 42d Street, New York. Ninety-Fourth Annual Report, March 31, 1943.

     From the pages of this always interesting Report, we gather the following items of special interest:

     A radiogram was received from Mr. James Wang Sum stating in effect that he had arrived in Macao in distress, but that, by the Lord's Providence, books and manuscripts of his translation of Heaven and Hell in Chinese had been saved, that he was proceeding with a translation of the Arcana Celestia, and asking that funds he sent him. 5175.00 was cabled, and it is believed that Mr. Sum received the money. No further word, however, has come through from him. Because of the war, no communications have been received from Dr. P. A. Koskenhovi of Finland, or from the Rev. J. E. Janecek, of Prague, Czechoslovakia.
     During the past year the Foundation has sold or donated 17,348 copies of the Missionary Edition, consisting of 8,068 Heaven and Hell, 3,381 Divine Love and Wisdom, 2,872 Divine Providence, 2,420 The Four Doctrines, and 607 Arcana Celestia, Genesis I-VII.
     The Foundation now has two Talking Books for the Blind, respectively of six talks "Why God Created Man," etc., and of twelve talks based on the True Christian Religion. The latter book was distributed during the year to libraries for the Blind. Of the Talking Books in most demand at the libraries, the True Christian Religion was one.
     In addition, twelve talks on Heaven and Hell were undertaken and completed during the year and are now ready for publication. Furthermore, two additional books of twelve talks each are selected for the next two years, one on the antediluvian period in the early chapters of Genesis, and the other on the Divine Providence and the Divine Love and Wisdom. All of the above Talking Books have been or will be prepared by the Rev. Arthur Wilde.
     The follow-up and extension work of the Foundation included the mailing of 2,617 letters to those answering newspaper advertisements of the Missionary Edition, and there were 259 direct replies. Of this total, 62 percent manifested serious interest, and many of these readers purchased more books. A further 26 percent expressed a general interest, and this group is being followed up with appropriate literature.

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WHAT SHALL WE TEACH ABOUT NATIONALISM? 1943

WHAT SHALL WE TEACH ABOUT NATIONALISM?       PRESIDENT GEORGE DE CHARMS       1943




     Announcements




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NEW CHURCH LIFE

VOL. LXIII
DECEMBER, 1943
No. 12
     (Delivered to the General Faculty of the Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa., September 28, 1943.)

     Recently we took part in an informal discussion of the question. "What constitutes a nation?' No one present could suggest a satisfactory answer. We had been so accustomed to accept the word "nation" without analysis that it was something of a shock to discover how indefinite our idea of its meaning really was. Intrigued by the subject, we investigated further, and were Surprised to find that even students of sociology and political writers-eagerly searching for some formula that might solve the pressing problem of a new world-order-seemed to have no adequate definition to offer. Turning to the Writings, we could find no direct statements that could possibly be interpreted as applying to modern nations, although the teaching is clear with reference to those that existed in ancient times.
     Yet surely this is a most important question. The nation is, and has been, through all historic ages, an essential unit in the organization of human society. The feeling of patriotism it has always inspired is noted deep in the hearts of men everywhere. No conceivable system that ignored this feeling could possibly succeed in establishing a sense of freedom, or anything like a permanent state of peace and cooperation among the peoples of the earth. What is the basis for this solidarity, this sense of common ownership, this deep affection for one's country, with all its distinctive characteristics?

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What is the secret of a love so spontaneous, so universal, and so ardent that it has ever been a major force shaping the natural destinies of the race? To any clear thinking in regard to world affairs, some adequate answer to these questions is obviously fundamental. If this is so, then it is vital also to any education that seeks to raise up a generation of citizens intelligently patriotic. This is preeminently true of New Church education, because the Writings teach that the love of country is the foundation whereon the spiritual love of the Lord's Kingdom must be based.
     Such reflections as these have led us to ask this Faculty what constitutes a nation? What is the real place and function of nationality in the social structure of mankind? Just what is that, after all, to which men owe patriotic allegiance, and in defense of which they may rightly be expected to risk the sacrifice of life itself? There is much here involved that is worthy of consideration. In introducing the subject we shall merely present a few thoughts aroused by our reading of the Writings.

     Definitions-Webster's Dictionary gives a threefold definition of the word "nation" as follows:
     1. A people connected by ties of blood, and generally having a common language and religion, and common customs.
     2. Any body of people having like institutions and customs, and a sense of social likeness and mutual interest.
     3. The body of inhabitants of a country united under a single government.

     The first of these definitions, basing nationality on blood relationship, is now virtually obsolete; and this fact is noted by the dictionary. But it is in accord with what the Writings indicate as having been the characteristic of all nations in ancient times. Originally, we read, "mankind were distinguished into houses, families, and nations: a house consisting of the husband and wife, with their children, together with some of their family who served; a family of a greater or lesser number of houses that lived not far apart, and yet not together; and a nation of a larger or smaller number of families." (A. C. 470.) "Each nation acknowledged one father, from whom it was named." (A. C. 1238.) This was true both in the Most Ancient and in the Ancient Church, but in the latter only so long as it retained its representative character.

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In the Most Ancient Church it was permitted to contract marriage only within the house and family. But in the Ancient Church it would appear that intermarriage between families or tribes was sanctioned, though not between nations. The reason for such restriction is said to be "in order that genera and species of perception might exist, and he derived from the parents precisely as are the propagations of native character." (A. C. 483.) And also in order that "by this means the church might be preserved entire, and thereby remain in love and true worship. It is to be remarked also that each house was of a peculiar genius, distinct from every other; for it is well known that children and remote descendants derive from their parents a particular genius, and such marked characteristics that they can be distinguished by the face, and by many other peculiarities. Therefore, in order that there might not be a confounding, but an exact distinction. it pleased the Lord that they should dwell in this manner." (A. C. 471.)
     Here we have a nation conceived under a spiritual idea. It was the largest unit of the church. At its core was a distinct perception of truth and good. This perception, in its simplest, most fundamental form, originated with the man who founded the nation. It arose from his individual form of mind. This form of mind, with continual variation and extension was transmitted to his children and his descendants by heredity, and the principles that followed from it were passed on from father to son by instruction. On these principles were based doctrines, rituals, customs, and modes of life, varied and elaborated as the nation grew. Thus was the original perception expanded and perfected, in thought and in life, with every generation. Because religion consists in just such a perception of truth, and in a life according to it, therefore the nation and the church were identical. There were as many such churches-each having its own special doctrine and ritual-as there were nations. They were diverse in many respects, but still united by a universal acknowledgment of the One God, and by a common doctrine and spirit of charity. But the varieties of perception each represented were of the greatest importance. Each had a special place and use in perfecting the Gorand Man of heaven-being comparable to the several organs and viscera of the human body. This use was based primarily upon a form of mind hereditarily derived.

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And for this reason, in order "that there might not be a confounding, but an exact distinction" of each organ and each use, intermarriage between nations was prohibited.
     The angelic idea of a nation was derived from its distinctive use and function. Thus we are told that "when nations are viewed by the angels, they have no idea of a nation, but only of the worship in it; for they regard all from the quality itself, that is, from what they are. The quality or character of a man, from which he is regarded in heaven, is his charity and faith. . . . Hence it is that in the internal sense nothing else is signified by 'nations' than the worship of the church, and this in respect to its quality, which is the good of charity and the derivative truth of faith." (A. C. 1258.)
     We must face the fact, however, that there are no such nations now in existence, unless it be among primitive peoples. In all modern nations of the civilized world we find a blending of many diverse ancestral origins. In part they have been fused, by long association and repeated intermarriage, into a new homogeneous type. And in part they remain a conglomerate mixture of types, retaining many of their individual characteristics, yet bound together in varying degree by common traditions, and by mutual need and use. Their sense of unity seems to depend less on heredity than on education and environment. But where the bonds that unite them are free and voluntary, their loyalty is deep, and their patriotism remains a very real and powerful force. It creates a community of purpose, of thought, and of ideals. It produces traditions and customs to which all become deeply attached. It forms a distinct national character, based not so much on similarity of religious faith as on a certain natural philosophy, and on uses they have in common. Such are the nations described in the second dictionary definition.
     The final definition applies to what we might call synthetic nations. These are peoples who have been brought together under a common government, not from choice, but through the force of circumstances, and because of pressure from without. Such we find especially in Europe, where the stronger nations, in ceaseless conflict, have created them artificially in their efforts to preserve what is called the "balance of power." Here we are apt to find internal tensions due to divided loyalties.

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For heterogeneous peoples are harnessed together against their will, without internal bonds of mutual interest and affection. They are under perpetual restraint, and lack any fundamental basis for unity. They are nations in form but not in substance.
     With the separation of Church and State, religion was divorced from nationality. Even in countries where a state church is still recognized, those of other faiths are welcomed to citizenship. And during the past two centuries there has been an increasing trend toward religious liberty, although varying degrees of restrictions are still imposed wherever a church retains political dominance. Certainly in Western civilization it would be difficult to trace any definite relation between nationality and religion, though we still speak of Catholic and Protestant countries, and we rightly refer to Christian lands as distinguished from non-Christian.
     Yet, although neither blood relationship nor community of religious faith can any longer be regarded as the unifying essentials of national solidarity, it seems clear that the vital force that produces a nation in the true sense is now, as it has always been, a universal binding affection. It is a common love shared by all within the nation, and distinguishing them from others. Just how such a common affection comes into being is not entirely clear. It is a love strengthened by hereditary transmission, but not directly dependent thereon. It would appear rather to be based on that mutuality of interest which arises from propinquity, and which is nurtured by education. For under a common bond of loyalty and patriotism, it can cement peoples of very divergent national or even racial origin.
     That such a bond is essential to internal unity and a sense of freedom with any people, was recognized by the late President Wilson when he adopted the principle of the "self-determination of nations," and sought to establish on it a condition of permanent world peace. The insuperable difficulties he encountered are well described by Lewis Browne in his book, Something Went Wrong. He says:

     "All went well so long as he continued to make speeches, for the 'self-determination of nations' was a fine mouth-filling phrase. Once he had to get down to business, however, he discovered that the phrase was hard to digest. The more he chewed it, the more it kept regurgitating. For just what was a nation? Moreover, just how was it to determine itself?

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     "Many answers were forthcoming, but no two of them quite jibed. Whole throngs of theatrical-looking personages, some in rented frock coats, some in turbans and robes, queued up in front of his office to tell him the 'facts.' They piled his desk high with books, maps, and handsomely embossed resolutions, proving that the Armenians were a nation, and also the Croatians, the Assyrians, the Moldavians, and the Bessarahians. Apparently the Wends, too, were a nation, and the Livs, the Letts, the Kurds, the Esths, the Jews, the Basques, and of course the Irish. One delegate arrived from Pontus on the Euxine Sea, with a documented plea for the restoration of the kingdom of Mithradates the Great, which had been destroyed in 47 B.C.
     "To have accepted all these claims would have meant carving the map of the Old World into a jig-saw puzzle. The claims were too numerous, and also too conflicting. The various nationalities did not merely crowd each other; they overlapped. Ruthenians lived in the midst of Poles, Poles in the midst of Czechs, Czechs in the midst of Hungarians, Hungarians in the midst of Rumanians, and Jews in the midst of all. It was obvious that complete self-determination could be achieved only through international extermination." (Pp. 258-9.)
     Nationality, in Europe and elsewhere, was found to be a badly jumbled pi. To sort it our, and order its letters to spell "stable peace" was a Herculean task too great for the statesmen of the day. The "Treaty of Versailles" was a hopeless compromise that satisfied no one. "And so," the author continues, "there was trouble. The new plots of political sovereignty began to seethe and boil over with nationalistic rivalries." (Pp. 260-1.) The heart of the difficulty-according to Mr. Browne-lay in the fact that nationalism had "swelled up poisonously and turned into rank chauvinism. (P. 265.) The inevitable outcome, plunging the world within two decades into another and more terrible war, he blames on the people who "completely failed to realize that the progression from family to tribe to province to nation must go on till the scope of man's loyalty encompassed all the earth." (Ibid.) His solution would he to substitute for the love of one's own nation the indiscriminate love of the whole human race. He would consider the nation as having so completely outgrown its usefulness that it should be discarded as the central object of patriotic sentiment.

     This idea is directly contrary to the teaching of the Writings. Yet it contains a certain truth, to which reference is made in the Doctrine of Charity, where we read: "The human race is the neighbor in the widest sense; but as it is divided into empires, kingdoms, and republics, any one of them is neighbor according to the good of its religion and morals, and according to the good that it performs to the country and makes to be one with its own good." (No. 87.) And further, Swedenborg says, "I can love all in the universe according to their religion, not more those in my own country than in other kingdoms, nor those in Europe than in Africa." (No. 89.)

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Yet it is also said that "it is a duty to benefit one's country, which is done by promoting its use, because one thus promotes the good of all. It is not so much a duty to other kingdoms, outside of one's country, because one country does not will another's good, but wills to destroy it as to its wealth and its power, and thus also as to its means of defense. To love another kingdom more, therefore, by doing more to promote its use, makes against the good of the kingdom in which one dwells. For this reason one's own country is to be loved in higher degree." (No. 85.) Again we read:

     "Our country is more the neighbor than a society, because it is like a parent; for there the man has been born; it nourishes him and protects him from harm. Our country is to be benefited from love according to its necessities, which chiefly regard its sustenance, its civil life, and its spiritual life. He who loves his country, and from good-will benefits it, in the other life loves the Lord's kingdom; for there the Lord's kingdom is his country." (A. C. 6821.)
     Further, we are told that modern nations-different as they are from those of ancient times-are still distinguished in the world of spirits because each has a characteristic faculty of receiving Divine Truths. "The following was seen to be the arrangement in the spiritual world of all the nations and peoples to be judged. Collected in the middle appeared those who are called the Reformed, where they were also distinct according to their countries; the Germans were toward the north; the Swedes were toward the west; the Dutch toward the east and south; the English in the center. . . . This arrangement of the nations in the various quarters was an arrangement according to each nation's common faculty of receiving Divine Truth." (L. J. 48.)
     In the Arcana we read: "He who loves his country, and has such an affection toward it as to find a pleasure in promoting its good from good-will, would lament if this should be denied him, and would entreat that there might be granted the opportunity to do it good; for this is the object of his affection, consequently the source of his pleasure and bliss. Such a one is also honored, and is exalted to posts of dignity; for to him these are the means of serving his country, although they are called rewards. . . They who are such in the life of the body with regard to their country, or to the public good, are such also in the other life with regard to the Lord's kingdom, for every ones affection or love follows him, because affection or love is the life of everyone." (A. C. 3816.)
     That the love of one's country has its true basis in a love of the Lord's kingdom, and is the ultimate foundation for it, is made clear in the Diary, where Swedenborg describes the exploration in the spiritual world of genuine patriotism. "There are those," he says, "who say they are for their country, and likewise speak and act as if they were for it, and yet are not; for those who are for the good of their country have charity toward the neighbor; for the good of their country is the neighbor, and more neighbor than a fellow-citizen is.

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These were explored by the following criterion, namely, as to whether they wished well to the Lord's kingdom, thus to heaven; for they who wish well to their country also wish well to the kingdom of the Lord; for after death this is their country; in the other life no other country is recognized." (S. D. 5399.)

     From this teaching we would conclude that, while the human race is the neighbor in the widest sense, and although we can and should love individuals in other countries even more than those dwelling in our own land, if they manifest nobler virtues and a more admirable state in regard to religion and morals, yet we should love our own country above all others. The reason would seem to be that a genuine love of the human race, and true charity toward all peoples, cannot be attained except through the love of our own country, and a promotion of its national uses. If this is so, then it is clear that the prior love of one's nation is not a thing that can become obsolete. It is a necessary link in the chain of human bonds, without which a broader charity cannot become effective.
     Also, we would conclude that the real power that unites a nation and distinguishes it, being a common love, is in essence spiritual. Indeed, it is inseparable from religion, being the natural basis whereon the love of the Lord's kingdom rests. And, as we are told, with each nation it imparts a certain distinct quality to the reception of Divine Truths. This must be the case even when, as at the present day, a nation embraces within its borders those of divergent doctrinal beliefs. Such a thing is possible because with many religion has become merely traditional. Patriotism, looking to temporal goods, has superseded the love of religion, which looks to the future life as the dominant affection. Thus, in effect, the love of country has become a religion, although a purely natural one. This explains how modern nations-although in the religious and racial sense a conglomerate mixture-can still be united by a common bond, and how this bond can still be used as the foundation for a love of the Lord's kingdom after death.
     While a truly spiritual faith has ceased to exist, patriotism can be utilized by the Lord as a means for the preservation of gentile charity, with those who are simple in heart. It is true that the evil can make it a powerful tool for the acquisition of dominion and worldly gain.

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In their hands, it has become a source of perpetual dissension and international strife. But the cure for this does not lie in the direction of eliminating the nation as an essential element in the organization of human society. It lies in restoring the concept of patriotism as a love of one's own country, not for the sake of dominion and wealth, but for the sake of its special use to all mankind. When it is regarded as the necessary means of acquiring a true and efficient charity toward all men, then is it the ground wherein the spiritual love of the Lord's kingdom can grow. Indeed, to the cultivation of this spiritual love it is indispensable. Herein lies its permanent value and importance.
     This is what is not understood outside of the New Church. How the complex and exceedingly difficult problems of world-order may be solved by statesmen who have no clear idea as to what is the essential element in nationality, or what is the true function of the nation, we do not know. Whatever they do will be overruled and guided by the Divine Providence of the Lord. But we have a special responsibility to teach the truth concerning the vital importance of patriotism, its fundamental use to man's spiritual life, as well as to the natural welfare of mankind, and therefore the absolute necessity for its preservation. This, of course, the Academy has been doing from the beginning, and with a degree of success to which the response of our ex-students to the call of their country in every time of need bears testimony.
     But the demand for precise definition, for clear rational analysis, for basic principles and universal concepts in regard to nationalism, was never greater than it is today. We need to make vivid to our young people the real difference between true nationalism, on the one hand, and that selfish, unprincipled, and chauvinistic variety which has caused so much havoc in the world, on the other. We need to explain convincingly the difference between a genuine charity toward the entire human race and the brand of internationalism now being offered as a substitute for patriotism.
     The love of country is not a man-made thing. It is not a purely natural love. In essence it is not a love of persons, or places, or material things. It is a love of freedom, of order, of justice, and of honor; it is a particular concept of these, shared by all citizens of one country. And because these are but the outward manifestations of Divine Law, it is a love of the Lord as the Author and Arbiter of that Law.

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Thus it is an ordained ultimate of the Lord's Government, having a spiritual and an eternal use. If the hopes that underlie all the struggles of men toward a greater freedom are ever to be realized, this truth must at last be acknowledged. For as the Writings tell us, "That one's country should he loved, not as one loves himself, but more than himself, is a law inscribed on the human heart; from which has come the well-known principle which every true man endorses, that if the country is threatened with ruin from an enemy or any other source, it is noble to die for it, and glorious for a soldier to shed his blood for it. This is said because so great should be one's love for it." (T. C. R. 414.)
     We have not attempted to answer the innumerable questions that at once arise in our minds when we contemplate the chaotic state of present-day nationalism. There is much here to challenge the interest of our political and economic specialists, who are engaged in the development of distinctive New Church education in this field. Our purpose has been merely to present a few reflections on a subject which we feel to be of timely interest and of great importance to our Academy, if we are to guide our young people safely through the maze of irrational ideas in regard to the nature and function of the nation as a vital unit in the social structure,-ideas that are being poured in upon their minds every day by the press and the radio. We hope to stimulate a discussion whence we may derive greater illustration, unity of thought, and practical suggestions as to how we may meet the powerful current of modern thought that would belittle the importance of patriotism, and how we may instill a love of country that will truly be a foundation for the love of the Lord's kingdom after death.

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MARRIAGE WITHIN THE CHURCH 1943

MARRIAGE WITHIN THE CHURCH       SYDNEY B. CHILDS       1943

     Notwithstanding the splendor of spiritual light revealed by the Lord through the Divinely inspired work on Conjugial Love, the subject of marriage involves arcana of wisdom which can hardly be comprehended except by the angels. Yet these arcana have been adapted in the Heavenly Doctrine to the finite rationality of men on earth. And we of the present generation of the New Church may well meditate upon the precepts originating within the Academy and the early priesthood of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, as to the sanctity of true marriages within the church. We furthermore conclude that each new generation within the church must reaffirm and strengthen those precepts, or the spirit that prompted them will perish.
     From a literal standpoint we may define marriage within the church as a marriage where the prospective bride and groom are both members of the New Church as a legally organized denomination. Yet we readily perceive that much more than mere membership is required on the part of both of the contracting parties. As an extreme supposition, one or both of the parties to such a marriage may be totally indifferent to the teachings of the church. If the membership be one entered into for purely external or selfish reasons one or both of the married partners may be quietly preparing for an eternal abode in hell. Surely far more than nominal membership is required to sanctify a marriage within the church.
     It is a fact which must be faced that not a few among the successive generations of young people brought up within the New Church have sought marriage with little or no regard to the precepts of the founding fathers. It is not for us to judge, but rather to recognize their complete freedom of choice in what, after all, is the most highly personal relationship of life. Happily, in some instances one or both parties to such a mixed marriage have subsequently returned into the sphere of the church, and have become among its most loyal members.

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In other instances, where a marriage outside of the church has appeared to nullify an original interest in our faith, we can only trust that the Lord's Divine Providence knows no final barrier to those who genuinely seek salvation. While we may grieve over the loss of members, still we respect the freedom of others to decide for themselves as to whom they shall marry or not marry, and as to the denominational faith in which they shall choose to rear their children.
     We know from the book of our revelation concerning marriage that instances of love truly conjugial, although rare, occur in the Christian Church, thus are given in the world through marriages of those who have no knowledge of the Second Coming of the Lord. (C. L. 59.) Observation tends to confirm this truth, as well as the rarity of its occurrence in marriages among those of various Christian denominations. As to the occurrence of marriages within the New Church that partake of the sanctity of love truly conjugial, we may hope that instances of such eternal marriages are not so rare. The Lord alone can provide such marriages; and we can agree in the acknowledgment that His provision of a marriage on earth which is to endure unto eternity is the most sublime gift that the Creator can bestow. Such a union connotes the blessing of God upon a nuptial rite contracted on earth. Above all, it connotes that the young man and the young woman have truly pledged their troth under the auspices of heaven. Heaven has entered their lives from above, and after a brief sojourn here below they will together enter into an eternal bliss of life in an angelic society. (C. L. 68, 335.)
     And now a word that may lend solace to those who have cherished the hope of an ideal marriage within the church, but who for reasons known only to God have failed in the realization of their ideal. Judged by standards of human prudence, they may have voluntarily sacrificed the earthly happiness of a Christian marriage, through their persistence in an ideal difficult of achievement under present-day conditions within the New Church. Our Church began with a few, and is still with only a few. Even with the remarkable growth in the membership of the General Church, distinctive New Church social life is restricted, except in the case of a few of our larger societies. With the isolated there is practically no opportunity for a social environment with those of our own faith.

541



Even for those who are fortunate enough to share in the social activities of our few larger societies, the sphere of the world is powerfully present interiorly, and this situation can hardly change until such a time as all shall find regeneration easy. Such a happy state of affairs is, alas, quite distant. There are manifold reasons given in Conjugial Love which explain the obstacles and errors of human frailty that stand in the way of a selection of marriage partnership on earth where a genuine spiritual similitude is at the same time given. It appears inevitable that such obscurity must on occasion lead to a mistaken choice in marriage, productive of tragedy later on in their lives. (C. L. 273, 274.)
     Yet to those who have desired marriage, and have not obtained it, or to those who in marriage have found only disillusion, and yet persist in their determination to live a life of true religion, the Lord speaks in the words of the Psalm: "Thou turnest man to destruction' and sayest, Return, ye children of men! For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." (Ps. 90: 3, 4.) And the world being what it is, and all of us a part of that world, it is doubtful if any, even among the most fortunate in their choice of a marriage partner, have wholly escaped the sphere of the hells, which continually breathe out poison in their deadly hatred of all things spiritual, seeking to destroy all promise of happiness in marriage, perhaps more particularly where such marriages have been within the church, in every sense of the words.
     The poet rightly depicts the age of romance as that of youth, and there is earthly sadness enough in the fragile frame of a mutual love that dawns and flowers in early manhood and womanhood, but must mature in the crucible of suffering and sacrifice, if a true marriage within the church is to endure through the hazards of earthly life, to renew itself in paradise. We, as members of the New Church, and as desirous of its welfare above all things, have a Divine assurance of God's benediction in our stand to remain loyal to our faith. Acceptance of the responsibilities of parenthood in marriage,-the love of infants, their education within the church, and their preparation for a life of genuine use in society-these are among the obvious steps leading toward the supreme goal of every true marriage.

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     And such a marriage leads toward a supreme goal, because, through the union of two whose minds have thus been dedicated to a way of life whereby heaven becomes interiorly present, the numerical growth of the New Church and of the New Heaven is provided by the Lord. Such unions must be under a unique guidance of Divine protection and providence. For it is our profound belief that the whole future destiny of mankind is at stake. We need hardly be reminded of the reasons why the genuine growth of the New Church is to determine the whole future of mankind. The "state of the Christian world" alarmed our forefathers. It likewise alarms us.
     Let our thoughts revert to September 1, 1939. For over four years the Moloch of war, originating unprovoked and for the self-avowed purpose of world domination on the part of a so-called Christian and civilized nation, has flaunted his harvest of hate, destruction and death. Yet it is significant that in an era of wholesale murder by the monstrous evil of those who have initiated an unprovoked war of aggression, the Lord not only provides a way whereby men loving freedom can defend that liberty, but that the sphere of genuine marriage is manifestly heightened at such a time. This is doubtless to provide a balance of mutual love as against hate, and the creation of new souls as an offset to the wanton cruelty unleashed by war. For those who wish to see, there are countless confirmations as to the interior manifestations of the sphere of conjugial love, operating to protect and defend, and to instill innocence, at a time w-hen all of the higher aspirations of salvable men are in jeopardy.
     Lifting our thoughts to the dawn of a new era of peace, we of the New Church know of a certainty that there is only one way whereby mankind can be delivered, not only from the scourge of war, but also from the endless manifestations of evil that have plagued mankind since the dawn of recorded history. When the New Church becomes the acknowledged faith of all mankind, then, and then only, will charity replace hatred in the hearts of all men. The sphere of conjugial love will then bestow its protecting warmth, and forever heal the scars of a fallen civilization.
     Yet, in the interval which must pave the way for the restoration of such a golden age, the New Church is the integral link. In what better way can that return to a happier era for mankind be promoted than by the growth of the New Church through a long succession of genuine marriages within the church?

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That such a growth can be one of ever-increasing enlightenment, and not purely superficial, is plainly taught in our Writings. "The offspring born of two who are in truly conjugial love derive from their parents the conjugial of good and truth whence they have the inclination and faculty, if a son, for perceiving the things which belong to wisdom, and if a daughter, for loving the things which wisdom teaches." (C. L. 202.)
     Meanwhile, let us not be discouraged if doubts ensue as to the wisdom of our determined course. We know from our Revelation that men can hardly enter even the earlier stages of the cycle of regeneration without sorrow, misfortune, temptation and trial. The vicissitudes and calamities of mortal life have their inevitable repercussions in respect to the deprivation of marital happiness. The serene spirit of genuine conjugial love would seek to find rest in the spiritual peace and confidence of men and women whose lives have been dedicated to the upbuilding of the Lord's kingdom on earth. Yet how often do we, like Peter, acknowledge the Lord, only shortly thereafter to be tempted into denial?
     As to those who fail to realize on earth more than a glimpse of the realization of the Lord's promise of the gift of conjugial love, let it be recalled that, in the masterpieces of literature and music it is the depiction of lives culminating in tragedy that arouse the deepest longings of the heart, not the recitation of the happy-ending type of story or opera. Perhaps this is so with respect to art, because sooner or later all true men must become inured to grief and sacrifice, if they are to be born again into spiritual life through regeneration.
     We conclude that the founding fathers were wise in their belief as to the supreme importance of promoting the growth of the New Church through inculcating the ideal of marriage within the church. We, as their song, inculcate a like precept. If our sons, in turn, follow this light, the Lord will gift our posterity with an inheritance beyond all price.-the gift of love truly conjugial.
     Of that gift, and its promise of fulfilment to all who in sincerity accept and remain faithful to the teachings of the New Church, we read: "There are given marriages in which conjugial love does not appear, and yet is, and there are given marriages in which conjugial love appears, and yet is not.

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But appearances in externals conclude nothing concerning imputation. The only thing which concludes is the conjugial, in that it resides in the will of anyone, and is guarded, in whatsoever state of marriage man may be. That conjugial love is as a balance, in which that love is weighed; for the conjugial of one man with one wife is the precious pearl of human life, and the repository of the Christian religion. . . . Wherefore, conjugial love is imputed to every one after death according to his spiritual rational life; and for him to whom that love is imputed, marriage is provided in heaven after his decease, of whatsoever quality his marriage may have been in the world." (C. L. 531.)
SECOND ADVENT OF THE LORD 1943

SECOND ADVENT OF THE LORD       Rev. HAROLD C. CRANCH       1943

     Truth and Freedom.

     (At the Opening Service, South Side Church, Chicago, August 29, 1943.)

     "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8: 32.) "And when He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth." (John 16: 13.)

     Today we look to the Lord to ask His blessing upon the task we have now begun. We gather here as a new church-conscious of the purpose for which we strive-to learn the truth which must rule men, and to seek strength and inspiration to live that truth in our daily lives.
     There can be no better time than this to restate that essential truth which moulds us into a separate and distinct church. For, above all things, we must realize that no church can live-can effect the betterment of the lives of men-if it is not firmly founded upon the truth. It is not enough to say that it is established upon the Word of the Lord. We must understand the truth of that Word, and follow it wherever it leads. For the truth, when rightly understood, can but lead to its one Divine Source,-the Lord, our Creator and Redeemer.

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     But how little do men love truth! We follow it devotedly as long as it pleases us and feeds our vanity, or as long as it appeals to us as a novelty. But when it reveals our evils, or troubles our conscience, how quickly do we find a substitute for the truth! Nor is this a new thing. Multitudes followed the Lord when He was in the world. His teachings were new and beautiful. They proclaimed a new doctrine of love and the brotherhood of all mankind. But when He revealed that these teachings should rule man's life that they were Divine Truths,-then His followers rebelled. They called His teachings "hard sayings," and they ceased to follow Him. Only the Twelve remained: and when the Lord asked them if they also would leave, Simon Peter answered for all: "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."
     Peter expressed that which must rule in every genuine church. We must acknowledge that the truth is the way to eternal life: we must abide in it, even though this may be difficult at times. If difficulties in understanding of the Scriptures are encountered-and they are sure to be met-we have but two courses that we may pursue. We may cease to follow the Word, denying its inspiration and becoming self-centered agnostics, or we can acknowledge our difficulty, and try even more diligently to understand the meaning of the Word, putting away the temptation to abandon it, and saying as did the Apostles: "Lord, to whom shall we go?"-"Where can we find truth more clearly taught than in Divine Revelation?" And so we add: "Thou alone hast the words of eternal life."
     The reward for thus seeking to learn the way of truth is taught by our text. "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Spiritual freedom is possible only by means of truth. This is quickly seen. It applies to every plane of life. Knowledge of the truth frees men from superstition and ignorance. The truth dispels error in all our thoughts and works. By the results of scientific study men are being freed from pain and suffering. This may also be illustrated on the plane of civil good. We know that the average citizen who lives an orderly life may carry on his business in freedom. To him an enforcement officer represents the law and the protection of the civil rights of all men. Thus an officer becomes an emblem of freedom. But the criminal must slink through the streets.

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He fears the police. He cannot exercise his will of harming others without dread of discovery, and he is constantly afraid of betrayal by his unprincipled associates. His love of evil drives him ever more deeply into its practice until he destroys both body and soul.
     Truth, therefore, is that spiritual law which establishes and maintains man's freedom. Truth is a Divine gift to men. It is the means supplied by the Lord's love and mercy by which men can live happy and useful lives in this world, and it is the way by which we are prepared for eternal life in heaven.
     Yet men generally must revise their opinions of religious truth. Men think that the Ten Commandments restrict their happiness. They feel that law and order take away individual freedom. But such is not the case. As we have shown, a man who abides by the law has spiritual freedom within himself, and also natural freedom in an orderly world. Not so those who indulge their desires for individual license. "He who commits sin is the servant of sin." The truth, law and order, and higher spiritual principles, establish mental freedom; and then reason-our own rationality-rules our lives. We are the masters of our souls when we accept the truth Divinely offered.
     Thus to obey the truth is to find real freedom, but to serve evil is to find slavery. As an example, one who permits himself to develop a craving for a narcotic drug becomes a slave to its awful influence. He will do anything to gain that drug. The craving of his bodily appetite destroys the rule of rationality in his life. His mind-that which makes him human-is bound in slavery to the appetites of his body. This is the bondage of evil. Every disorderly love and desire we cherish in our hearts builds up a habit which enslaves us. Some develop a lust for hurting others, or killing, some for the lust of stealing or lying, yet others are ruled by the lusts of sex. Truth alone can establish a sane and orderly life,-a life of balance, of order, and of happiness.
     We may illustrate this by the training of a child, for we are to the Lord as children are to their parents. His Word is given to us from love, that we, by learning from it and by obeying it, may form true lives of happiness, order and usefulness. Just so a parent speaks to his children from love, to train them that they may learn order and usefulness, and be happy. If the child obeys, his education proceeds in simple, easy steps; no punishments are necessary, and he is kept from harm.

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     But children, in many ways, are small images of ourselves. They have a will of their own. They know that their parents love them but they often feel that they know more than their parents. So they rebel. They follow their own desires, and are influenced by other children. They are urged on by pride or glory. Against orders, on a dare, they will touch the hot stove, and they get burned. Against orders they skate on thin ice, and fall through. Through such experiences children gradually learn that their parents are wise, that mother and father know more than they.
     And how much must mankind suffer to learn that the Lord God in His infinite love and wisdom, has given the Word-Divine Truth-to lead men to real spiritual freedom and life! The troubles of this world do not arise from obedience to the truth, but from ignorance or from a deliberate flaunting of it.
     The states of the world today-its wars, its individual selfishness and greed, the love of dominating and ruling others, the almost universal hypocrisy, and the indulgence of sensual appetites--these give abundant evidence that the world is not practising Christianity. The doctrines taught by many churches; such as the damnation of all the unbaptized, or immediate and unreasoning salvation by Divine mercy alone, despite the life and loves of the one saved; the vicarious atonement by which all sin is removed; the reason-warping doctrine of three Divine Persons in the Godhead; and, above all, the sacrifice of reason to blind faith:-all these give evidence of the confusion which rules within the organized church.
     Is it not reasonable to suppose that a God of love who truly cares for His children will provide a remedy for such spiritual confusion and malpractices?
     When the Lord was in the world He said that He would come again. He described the state of the world preceding His coming. He told the nature of His coming. Yet, with all the predictions, men have misunderstood. They had also misunderstood the prophecies of His coming into the world in a body of flesh and blood. They looked for a king of earthly majesty. He came as the Word,-as the Divine Truth, which was and is King and Ruler over men's minds and loves.

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And now men look for His return in a body of flesh and blood.
     And He has again fulfilled all prophecy, and come anew as the Word. For He taught that He would come, saying: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now: but when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." He has come quietly, with little stir, as before He came humbly-born in a manger. He came as was prophesied-as a "thief in the night." But by His coming the Word is renewed. Divine Truth can again reach men to change their lives. The Spirit of truth has been revealed to guide men into all truth, to lead them to the way in which to build a new spiritual civilization-a new heaven and a new earth.
     The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ has taken place, and He now reigns on earth over all men who will learn of Him. His Coming is the revelation of spiritual truth-the internal sense within the letter of the Word. This sense is His presence, which Paul said giveth life to the Word: "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." (II Cor. 3: 6.) And the Lord Himself taught: "It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6: 63.)
     The Word which was in the beginning, the Word which created the Word which became incarnate to save men from their evils, has again become manifest. He comes as the living Spirit of truth, reaching out to save men from their dead materialism, from their literal misreading of the Bible, from growing doubts and denial, to make the truth a living force, to give man an understanding of life, that he may find happiness in preparation here, and a life of heavenly fulfilment hereafter.
     That Emanuel Swedenborg was called to this office of revealing the inner nature of the Word, he frequently affirms. And that his testimony is true, is demonstrated by his character, for until the day of his death he held positions of highest trust in the Government of his native land. It is confirmed by the testimony of a host of reliable witnesses. It is suggested by the deep humility in which he writes, and also by the fact that, through this call to the Lord's service, he gave up his fame as a scientist and philosopher; nor did he seek a personal following, nor a financial gain from his theological works.

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He signed himself "Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ." He says: "The Second Coming of the Lord is effected by means of a man, before whom He has manifested Himself in Person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit to teach the Doctrines of the New Church by the Word from Him." (T. C. R. 779.)
     But the surest proof that the Lord has come again, as the Spirit of truth revealed in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, rests in three things: These Writings agree with the Word fully, establishing a rational understanding of the Bible, removing its difficulties, revealing the Lord Himself as its inmost. They agree with themselves; they are consistent throughout, each part supporting every other part, although they were written over a period of about thirty years. They agree with experience. They teach that truth is a one, and this is manifest in the fact that all truths, scientific and theological, support the rational teachings revealed in the Writings.
     The Jews of old rejected the Lord when He came upon earth, for He did not come as they had expected. When they rejected Him, He bade them: "Search the Scriptures, for they are they which testify of me." (John 5: 39.) Will men reject Him in His Second Advent because He did not come as they expected? To them we can but say what He taught: "Search the Scriptures!" If we will but follow the truth, we will come to Him who is its Source. If we strive to know, then can He give us an understanding of the truth to free us from doubt and denial.
     "If ye continue in my Word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know' the truth, and the truth shall make you free." And "when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." And to this we may well add the words spoken by Moses in the book of Deuteronomy: "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil. . . . Therefore choose life, that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice; . . . for He is thy life, and the length of thy days." Amen.

LESSONS:     Isaiah 25. John 8: 21-36. L. J. 73, 74, or H. H. 598.
MUSIC:     Revised Liturgy pages 426, 430, 448.
PRAYERS:     Nos. 93, 100.

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SWEDENBORG'S MOTHERS 1943

SWEDENBORG'S MOTHERS       Rev. ORMOND ODHNER       1943

     Two Corrections.

     In a sermon of mine, "Baptism," published in NEW CHURCH LIFE, January, 1943, the following sentences appeared on page 10: "Swedenborg writes that every time he saw or thought about a certain knife in his possession, he was filled with a desire to do himself physical harm. And when his spiritual eyes were opened, he discovered that his stepmother, who hated him with intense hatred, was responsible for the distorted craving connected with that knife. She had attached herself to the mental images connected with it in his mind."
     The word "stepcousin" should be substituted for "stepmother" in the second sentence.
     The passage from the Spiritual Diary out of which the above information was drawn reads: "There was a certain female who inwardly cherished such a hatred toward her parents at home that she thought of taking them off by poison; and as she imagined that I was willing to marry her, and deceived herself with the phantasy of being married to the man (of her choice), she was at length, (upon finding herself disappointed), seized with such a hatred that she thought of murdering me, had it been possible (:Sara Hesselia:). She having died not long after, and before the faculty of speaking with spirits was opened with me, it happened that I was impelled to put an end to my life with a knife, and this impulse so grew upon me that I was forced to hide the knife in my desk, and thus to remove it out of my sight. I have now discovered that that woman was the spirit who prompted the impulse, she having become excited as often as I saw the knife, and, from the enmity she had conceived against me, having held the object fixedly in my mind. From this it may appear that men may be unconsciously infested by the dead who have cherished hatred toward them." (D. 4530.)

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     The woman mentioned here, Sara Hesselia, was not Swedenborg's stepmother. She was his stepcousin.

     * * * *

     Bishop Jesper Swedberg, Emanuel Swedenborg's father, married three times. His first wife was Sara Behm, a widow, whom he married in 1683. In 1697 he married another widow, Sara Bergia. His third wife, yet another widow, Christina Arrhusia, (var. Arethusa), he married in 1720.
     Sara Behm brought Jesper Swedberg much wealth, hers by inheritance from her father, an Assessor in the College (or Department) of Mines, and from her first husband, a Dean at Upsala. She was the mother of all nine of Bishop Swedberg's children, of whom Emanuel was the third. She died on June 17, 1696.
     Sara Bergia also brought Bishop Swedberg much wealth, and became a loving "second mother" to his seven living children. It was her niece, however, who is the Sara Hesselia mentioned in the passage quoted above from the Diary.
     Sara Bergia died in March, 1720. Late in that same year, Bishop Swedberg married this third wife, Christina Arrhusia. Little seems to be known of her today, except irrelevant details connected with her first marriage.

     * * *

     Concerning his second marriage, Jesper Swedberg has left the following amusing account:
     "On St. Andrew's day, 1697, I celebrated in a blessed hour my wedding with my second dearest wife, Sara Bergia. I had not been acquainted with her before, and to my knowledge had never before seen or been near her. All at once I heard of her devotion her piety, and her liberality towards the poor; I also heard that she was well off in a worldly point of view, that she was goodlooking, a good housekeeper, and had no children. In short, such a one as would suit me very well. I wrote to her, and made her acquainted with my intentions. She agreed to my wishes. Two days before the wedding I came to Stockholm, whither she had also come, according to our agreement, three days before. I was led into a room, where she was sitting alone; but I did not know, nor could I have known that it was she, for no one had informed me of it.

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I sat down near her. We talked together a long time; I conversed with her on a great many subjects as with a totally different person, or with some one of her acquaintance. At last she asked me: Professor, what do you think of our bargain? I answered: What bargain do you mean? That about which you wrote to me. What did I write to you about? I do not know anything about it. She said, Shall we not be bride and bridegroom tomorrow? Is it you? I asked. And thus we confirmed our friendship by shaking hands, and with a loving embrace." (Tafel's Documents, Vol. 1, p. 151.)
     In spite of its inauspicious beginnings, how-ever, this marriage apparently was a great success. As indicated, Sara Bergia became a true mother toward her stepchildren, and of them Emanuel seems to have been her favorite. Between the two of them. Sara Bergia and her stepson Emanuel, existed nothing but pleasant relations.
     When he married the third time, Jesper Swedberg, then Bishop of Skara, lived in the city of Brunsho, about 150 miles from Stockholm. Emanuel Swedenborg, ennobled the year before, and now thirty-two years of age, lived in Sweden's capital city, studying science and philosophy, and attending the sessions of the House of Nobles. There is no indication extant, however, that his relations with his second stepmother. Christina Arrhusia, ever were anything but cordial.

     * * *

     Bishop Swedberg died in the year 1735. It would be interesting to know whether Christina Arrhusia survived him, and if so, for how long. Especially would it be interesting to know if she still lived on earth in 1749; for on March 26th of that year, in the Spiritual Diary, Swedenborg gives an account of "my mothers." Very probably his second stepmother is included in this phrase, since she would have been eighty-eight years old if still living on earth at that time.
     What Swedenborg writes in the Diary concerning his mothers reads thus: "Certain acquaintances of mine, my mothers, related to me that they had neat domiciles or habitations where they abode, but which could not be shown to me lest other spirits should get an idea of them. They said that they were given to them, and that they were changed (from time to time), and that they continued there in various employments.

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They wished to describe them to me, but could not for the reason above mentioned, save that they were such, that they were given to them continually, and that they dwelt there with delight. . . My mothers said that my father during the life of the body often absented himself, and they knew not where, but that he always returned with a certain delight, from whence it was perceived that he was sent forth by the Lord to the performance of various uses among men, now here and now there, because his delight consisted in an active life. It was remarked also that without an active life one cannot be in delight: wherefore after such a mission one returns in a state of delight. March 25. 1749. It hence appears that spirits are sent abroad with a view to various uses." (D. 4181-4182.)

     In the English translation of the Diary, (London, 1883-1902), the first of these numbers begins, "Certain acquaintances of mine, maternal ancestors, related to me that. . ." Again, in the second number we find the words, "These mothers said that . . ." (Italics mine.) Evidently, the translator of these sentences was not acquainted with Swedenborg's family history. In the Latin he found the words, matres meae,-"my mothers." Now, of course, no one has more than one mother, so the translator did the best he could: matres meac was translated "maternal ancestors," though no Latin lexicon allows such a meaning. Had the translator known of Swedenborg's mothers, the correct rendition, "my mothers," would have appeared sensible. Apparently Swedenborg, as does many a stepson, called his stepmother simply "mother"; and in speaking of either or both of his stepmothers together with his real mother, he said and wrote, "my mothers."
     May I humbly suggest here, to those few' persons fortunate enough to possess a set of the Diary in English, that these corrections be inserted now, before this brief article is forever forgotten?

     * * *

     In closing, a few words about the teachings of Diary 4182. There it is said that Swedenborg's father, during the life of the body, often absented himself, but returned with a certain delight, etc. The last sentence of the number reads, however, "It hence appears that spirits are sent abroad with a view to various uses."

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     How to reconcile these two statements, I am not quite sure. Perhaps an examination of the original manuscript would show that the transcriber of the Latin erred in writing corporis,-"of the body." Or, perhaps, Swedenborg himself wrote corporis by a slip of the pen. In any case, it seems clear to me that it is not Jesper Swedberg's life in the body, but his life as a spirit, that is here treated of. Not only does the passage end by saying, "It hence appears that spirits are sent abroad with a view to various uses," but earlier it is said that Swedenborg's mothers perceived from his father's joyous return that he had been sent forth by the Lord to the performance of various uses among men.
     (Incidentally, it seems here as though the translator had made an unwarranted interpolation. In his translation we read, "Whence It was perceived that he was sent forth by the Lord to the performance of various uses among his fellow men. . . ." "Among his fellow men." For this, the Latin has merely apud homines,- "among men." It is true that a man during his bodily life is sent forth to perform uses among his fellow men; a spirit, however, is sent forth to perform uses among men.)
     Now, if my conclusion that this reference treats of Jesper Swedberg's life as a spirit is correct, another problem arises immediately. If his life as a spirit is here treated of, how would both or all three of his wives know of and be interested in his comings and goings? The reference, to be sure, does not say that they were then in heaven; but certainly it places them among the blessed. And among the blessed there is not even thought of any other kind of marriage than that between one husband and one wife.
     This problem, however, I cannot yet solve. Leave it, I must, to other minds.

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MR. JAMES PRYKE 1943

MR. JAMES PRYKE       FREDERICK DANIEL BALLS       1943

     An Appreciation.

     On Wednesday, September 15th, after a short illness, Mr. James Samuel Pryke passed into the spiritual world in Chelmsford at the age of seventy years. As one who had worked, played and studied with him, and had a friendship with him extending over fifty-six years, it is perhaps fitting that I should say a few words as to his life in this world.
     To me the three most outstanding features of our brother's life were: his great love and affection for the Church and its Doctrines, his deep and penetrating mind, and his great command over his native tongue, in both the written and spoken word. The latter is exemplified in the many papers which he read before Assemblies, the New Church Club, the Theological and Philosophical Society, and other bodies, also in the many contributions he made to NEW CHURCH LIFE and other publications. It is but a few months ago that he contributed a few words to this journal (January, 1943) on the passing of his old friend, Mr. Alfred Godfrey. The words that he then used, depicting the life of his departed brother, are equally applicable to his own career. He spared no effort and traveled far and wide to visit anyone who showed the least glimmer of a desire to know the Truth as he understood it.
     About fifty years ago, Mr. Pryke was introduced to the Doctrines by Mr. Alfred Godfrey. The latter had the foresight to introduce him to the Rev. Carl Odhner and Dr. Olds, who were then on a visit to this country. After long discussion and much questioning, he was brought to see the Truth, and was baptized into the Church at Colchester by the Rev. T. F. Robinson. From then onwards all his energies were bent to the study of the Writings and their teachings concerning life in this and in the spiritual world.
     In 1901, Mr. Pryke married a New Church lady, Mrs. Evans of Bristol.

556



They became acquainted when she came on a visit to friends in the East of England and made a tour of the various New Church societies. She was much attracted and interested by the teachings of the Academy and the Society at Colchester. The ceremony was performed by Bishop Benade, assisted by the Rev. W. H. Acton. To the writer this service was made memorable by the fine address given by the Bishop. Amongst other things, he said that the two had met "at the well." as Rebecca and Isaac of old had Islet-the well of truth.

     Soon after their marriage, owing to the exigencies of business, Mr. and Mrs. Pryke took up their residence in Ipswich. Though isolated by distance, and not able to attend a New Church service regularly, they always had a little service of their own, and they had a room specially set apart as a little chapel. It was my privilege, with my wife and family, to attend this little gathering, and a peaceful sphere of worship prevailed. Often the Rev. W. H. Acton used to travel down and conduct the service, and I believe he always provided the sermons which Mr. Pryke read. Mr. Acton usually spent the week-end with us when he did come, and many delightful walks and talks we had together.
     About the year 1906, Mr. Pryke secured an appointment in the Administrative Offices of the Northamptonshire Education Committee. This was much more congenial to his temperament and nature than the commercial life in which he had previously been engaged. This position he filled with distinction until he retired just before the present war.
     Mr. Pryke was a staunch believer and upholder of the Divine Authority of the Writings. "Thus saith the Lord" was always his standpoint. Any departure from this standard in the nature of accommodation or expediency was highly distasteful to him.
     At the time of his passing, Mr. Pryke was President of the British Chapter of the Sons of the Academy.
     Mrs. Pryke has outlived her husband, but from the latest reports her health is in a most precarious condition, and she is bedridden. [Since this was written, she, too, has passed into the spiritual world-on October 4, 1943.]

557



DIRECTORY 1943

DIRECTORY              1943

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM.

Officials and Councils.

Bishop:     Right Rev. George de Charms.
Secretary:     Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner.
Treasurer:     Mr. Hubert Hyatt.


     CONSISTORY.

     Bishop George de Charms.
Right Rev. Alfred Acton,     Rev. F. W. Elphick,
Rev. Elmo C. Acton,          Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal,
Rev. Karl R. Alden,          Rev. E. E. Iungerich.
Rev. Gustaf Baeckstrom.          Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner,
Rev. W. B. Caldwell,          Rev. Willard D. Pendleton.
Rev. C. E. Doering, Secretary,     Rev. Gilbert H. Smith.
     Rev. Homer Synnestvedt.


     EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

     Bishop George de Charms, President.
     Mr. Edward H. Davis, Secretary.
     Mr. Hubert Hyatt, Treasurer.
Mr. Kesniel C. Acton,     Mr. Charles G. Merrell,
Mr. Edward C. Bostock,     Mr. Hubert Nelson,
Mr. C. Raynor Brown,     Mr. Philip C. Pendleton,
Mr. Geoffrey S. Childs,     Mr. Harold F. Pitcairn,
Mr. Randolph W Childs,     Mr. Raymond Pitcairn,
Mr. David F. Gladish,     Mr. Colley Pryke,
Dr. Marlin W. Heilman,     Mr. Rudolph Roschman,
Mr. Walter L. Horigan,     Mr. Paul Synnestvedt,
Mr. Alexander P. Lindsay,     Mr. Victor Tilson.
Mr. Nile F. Loven,          Mr. Frank Wilson.

558






     The Clergy.

     Bishops.

DE CHARMS, GEORGE. Ordained June 28, 1914; 2d Degree, June 19, 1916; 3d Degree, March 11, 1928. Bishop of the General Church. Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. President, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

ACTON, ALFRED. Ordained June 4, 1893; 2d Degree, January 10, 1897; 3d Degree, April 5, 1936. Pastor of the Society in Washington, D. C. Dean of the Theological School, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.


     Pastors.

ACTON, A. WYNNE. Ordained June 19, 1932; 2d Degree, March 25, 1934. Pastor of Michael Church, London. Address: Altona Lodge, 45a Groveway Brixton, S. W. 9, London, England.
ACTON, ELMO CARMAN. Ordained June 14, 1925; 2d Degree, August 5, 1928. Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Illinois. Address: 12 Park Drive, Glenview, Illinois.
ALDEN, KARL RICHARDSON. Ordained June 19, 1917; 2d Degree, October 12, 1919. Principal of the Boys' Academy, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
BAECKSTROM, GUSTAF. Ordained June 6, 1915; 2d Degree, June 27, 1920. Pastor of the Society in Stockholm, Sweden. Address: Svedjeviagen 20, Appelviken, Stockholm, Sweden.
BOYESEN, BJORN ADOLPH HILDEMAR. Ordained June 19, 1939; 2d Degree, March 30, 1941. Pastor of the New York Society and of the North Jersey Circle. Visiting Pastor of the Southern States. Address: 118 West 78th Street, New York, 24, N. V.
BRICKMAN, WALTER EDWARD. Ordained 1st and 2d Degrees, January 7, 1900. Address: 822 South Nebraska Ave., Weslaco, Texas.
CALDWELL, WILLIAM BEEBE. Ordained October 19, 1902; 2d Degree, October 23, 1904. Editor of New Church Life. Professor of Theology, Academy of the New Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
CRANCH, HAROLD COVERT. Ordained June 19, 1941; 2d Degree, October 25, 1942. Pastor of Sharon Church, Chicago, Ill. Address: 5220 Wayne Avenue, Chicago, Ill.
CRONLUND, EMIL ROBERT. Ordained December 31, 1899; 2d Degree, May 18, 1902. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
DOERING, CHARLES EMIL. Ordained June 7, 1896; 2d Degree, January 29, 1899. Dean of Faculties, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
ELPHICK, FREDERICK WILLIAM. Ordained February 7, 1926; 2d Degree, June 19, 1926. Acting Pastor of the Durban Society. Superintendent of the South African Mission. Address: 135 Musgrave Road, Durban, Natal. South Africa.

559




GILL, ALAN. Ordained June 14, 1925; 2d Degree, June 19, 1926. Pastor of Carmel Church, Kitchener, Ontario. Address: 37 John Street East, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
GLADISH, VICTOR JEREMIAH. Ordained June 17, 1928; 2d Degree, August 5, 1928. Address: River Drive, Box 29, Route 2, Wilmington, Illinois.
GLADISH, WILLIS LENDSAY. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, June 3, 1894. Address: 50 Park Drive, Glenview, Illinois.
GYLLENHAAL, FREDERICK EDMUND. Ordained June 23, 1907; 2d Degree, June 19, 1910. Pastor of Olivet Church, Toronto, Ontario. Visiting Pastor of the Montreal Circle. Address: 2 Elm Grove Ave., Toronto, Canada.
HEINRICHS, HENRY. Ordained June 24, 1923; 2d Degree, February 8, 1925. Address: R. R. 3, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.
HENDERSON, WILLIAM CAIRNS. Ordained June 10, 1934; 2d Degree, April 14, 1935. Pastor of the Hurstville Society. Address: 107 Laycock Road, Penshurst, N. S. W., Australia.
IUNGERICH, ELDRED EDWARD. Ordained June 13, 1909; 2d Degree, May 26, 1912. Pastor of the Society in Paris, France. Professor of Languages, Academy of the New Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
LEONARDOS, HENRY. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, August 5, 1928. Pastor of the Rio de Janeiro Society. Address: 42 Prc Eugenio Jardim, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
LIMA, JOAO DE MENDONCA. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, August 5, 1928. Pastor of the Rio de Janeiro Society. Address: 123 Rua Dezembargador Tsidro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
MORSE, RICHARD. Ordained, 1st and 2d Degrees, October 12, 1919. Address: Dudley Street, Hurstville, Australia.
ODHNER, HUGO LJUNDBERG. Ordained June 28, 1914; 2d Degree, June 24, 1917. Secretary of the General Church. Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Professor, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
ODHNER, ORMOND DE CHARMS. Ordained June 19, 1940; 2d Degree, October 11, 1942. Assistant to the Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society. Address: 299 Le Roi Road, Pittsburgh, Pa.
PENDLETON, WILLARD DANDRIDGE. Ordained June 18, 1933; 2d Degree, September 12, 1934. Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society. Address: 299 Le Roi Road, Pittsburgh, Pa.
PRYKE, MARTIN. Ordained June 19, 1940; 2d Degree, March 1, 1942. Pastor of the Colchester Society. Address: Shaftesbury House, Culver Street, Colchester, England.
REUTER, NORMAN HAROLD. Ordained June 17, 1928; 2d Degree, June 15, 1930. Pastor of the Akron Circle. Visiting Pastor of the General Church. Address: 920 Peerless Ave., Akron, Ohio.
RICH, MORLEY DYCEMAN. Ordained June 19, 1938; 2d Degree, October 13, 1940. Pastor of the Advent Church, Philadelphia, Pa., and Visiting Pastor of the Arbutus, Maryland, Circle. Address: 306 Huntingdon Pike, Rockledge, Pa.

560




ROGERS, NORBERT HENRY. Ordained June 19, 1938; 2d Degree, October 13, 1940. Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
SANDSTROM, ERIK. Ordained June 10, 1934; 2d Degree, August 4, 1935. Assistant to the Pastor of the Stockholm Society, and Visiting Pastor of the Jonkoping Circle. Address: Levertinsgatan 5, Stockholm, Sweden.
SMITH, GILBERT HAVEN. Ordained June 25, 1911; 2d Degree, June 19, 1913. Missionary Pastor in the Chicago District, in charge of Circles in North St. Paul, Minn., and Rockford, Ill., and other groups in the District. Address: 534 So. East Ave., Oak Park, Illinois.
STARKEY, GEORGE GOODARD. Ordained June 3, 1894; 2d Degree, October 19, 1902. Address: Glenview, Illinois.
SYNNESTVEDT, HOMER. Ordained June 19, 1891; 2d Degree, January 13, 1895. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM. Ordained June 19, 1922; 2d Degree, June 19, 1926. Professor, Academy of the New Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.


     Ministers.

CRANCH, RAYMOND GREENLEAF. Ordained June 19, 1922 Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.
ODHNER, VINCENT CARMOND. Ordained June 17, 1928. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.


     British Guiana Mission.

     Pastor.

ALGERNON, HENRY. Ordained, let and 2d Degrees, September 1, 1940. Pastor of the General Church Missions in Georgetown, British Guiana. Address: 273 Lamaha Street, Georgetown 4, Demerara, British Guiana, South America.

     South African Mission.

     Xosa.

KANDISA, JOHNSON. Ordained September 11, 1938. Minister of the Sterkstroom Society, Cape Province. Address: P. O. Sterkstroom, C. P., South Africa.

     Mosuto.

MOTSI, JONAS. Ordained September 29, 1929; 2d Degree, September 30, 1929. Pastor of the Greylingstad Society. Address: Box 38, Greylingstad, Transvaal, South Africa.

561





     Zulu.

BUTHELEZI, STEPHEN EPHRAIM. Ordained September 11, 1938. Minister of Hambrook District. Address: Hambrook, P. O. Acton Homes, Ladysmith, Natal, South Africa.
LUNDA, JOHANNES. Ordained September 11. 1938. Minister of the Esididini Society. Address: Esididini, P. O. Kalabasi, Dannhauser, Natal, South Africa.
MATSHININI, TIMTHY. Ordained August 28, 1938. Minister of the Society at Alexandra Township, Johannesburg. Address: 165 11 Avenue, Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, South Africa.
MCANYANA, MOFFAT B. Ordained August 12, 1928; 2d Degree, September 30, 1929. Pastor of the Mayville Society, Durban. Address: 104 Oakleigh Drive, Durban, Natal, South Africa.
MKIZE, SOLOMON. Ordained August 21, 1938. Address: Pangode Halt, P. O. Melmoth, Zululand.
NZIMANDE, BENJAMIN ISHMAEL. Ordained August 21, 1938. Minister in the Deepdale and Bulwer Districts, Natal. Address: c/o Inkumba Government School, P. O. Deepdale, Natal, South Africa.
SABELLA, PETER. Ordained August 21, 1938. Missionary Minister to "Kent Manor." Address: "Kent Manor," P. O. Entumeni. Zululand, South Africa.
ZUNGO, AARON B. Ordained August 21, 1938. Assistant Minister to Kent Manor Society, Headmaster of the School. Address: "Kent Manor," P. O. Entumeni, Zululand, South Africa.
SOCIETIES AND CIRCLES 1943

SOCIETIES AND CIRCLES       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1943

     In order to avoid confusion, it seems well to observe, in the Official Records and the Official Journal of the General Church, the recognized distinction between a "Society" and a "Circle."
     In general, a "Society" may be defined as a congregation under the leadership of a resident Minister or Pastor; while a "Circle" is an organized group receiving regular visits from a non-resident Minister or Pastor.
     GEORGE DE CHARMS,
          Bishop.

562



MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE. 1943

MILITARY SERVICE COMMITTEE.              1943

     THE ROLL OF HONOR.

Who does not remember and love him who fights even unto death that his country may be free. (T. C. R. 710.)

     LIEUTENANT RICHARD ALVIN WALTER, Bryn Athyn, Pa, United States Army Air Corps. Killed on the Asiatic Front, October 18, 1942,
     FLYING OFFICER LAURENCE THEODORE IZZARD, Toronto, Ontario. Royal Canadian Air Force. Missing in Action, December 8, 1942.
     SERGEANT PILOT RALPH ROSCHMAN HILL, Kitchener, Ontario. Royal Canadian Air Force. Killed on active service in Wales, February 9, 1943.
     FLYING OFFICER WILLIAM GEORGE BELLINGER, Windsor, Ontario. Royal Canadian Air Force. Missing in Action.
     LIEUTENANT JUSTIN HUGH DAVIS, Bryn Athyn, Pa. United States Army. Killed in line of duty at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, October 27, 1943.


     OUR MEN AND WOMEN IN THE SERVICES.

     AUSTRALIA.

     Hurstville.
Heldon, Tpr. Lindthman,
Heldon, L.A.C. Norman,
Heldon, L.A.C. Sydney,
Kirsten, Sgt. Theodore,
Taylor, Sgt. Thomas D.

     CANADA.
     Kitchener.
Bellinger, F/O Alfred G.,
Bellinger, Leigh R., O.S.,
Bellinger, Wren Elaine,
Bond, Sgt. J. W.,
Bond, Sgt. Lillian D.,
Bond, Sgt. WAG Thomas A.,
Evens, Tpr. John,
Evens, Gnr. Robert A.,
Evens, A.C. 2 Reuben J.,
Hasen, A.C. 2 Alfred H.,
Heinrichs, Sgt. Henry,
Heinrichs, A.C. 2 Philip O.,
Hill, Ft/Sgt. Leonard F.,
James, Pvt. Cecil J.,
Kuhl, Sgt. A. William,
Nail, A.C. 2 Keith E.,
Schnarr, P/O Joffre G.,
Schnarr, Lt. John G.,
Scott, Pvt. Herbert G.,
Scott, L/Cpl. Joseph P.,
Steen, P/O A. Howard,
Steen, Sgt. George K.
Stroh, A.C. 2 Leon F.,

     Toronto.
Bellinger, A.C. 2 Donald F.,
Bellinger, P/O John H.,
Campbell, Sub-Lt. Stella, W.R.C.N S
Carter, F/Sgt. Orville A.,
Charles, Pvt. William A.,
Fountain, Sgt. Arthur A.,
Fountain, Cpl. Thomas J.,
Jessman, Dvr. Edward,
Jesseman, Cpl. Leonard,
John, L.A.C. D. Haydn,
Parker, F/Lt. Sydney R.,
Raymond, L.A.C. D Hayden,
Richardson, A.C. 2 David K.,
Scott, Gnr, Bruce H.,
Scott, Pvt. Ivan R.,
Scott, P/O Robert G.,
Strowger, Mrs. Arthur R.
White, Pte. Charles B.,

     Elsewhere in Canada.
Evens, L.A.C. A. Leslie, Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 Norman W., Alberta,
Evens, A.C. 2 W. E.,
Frazee, A.C. 2 Keith I., British Columbia,
Funk, A.C. 2 Henry,

563




Hamm, Harold E., O.S.,
Hamm, Sgt. Major John E.,
Starkey, Sig. Healdon R., British Columbia.


     ENGLAND.
Appleton, Eric D.,
Appleton, L.A.C. Roy,
Boozer, Dvr. A. E.,
Boozer, Cpl. Donald,
Briscoe, Miss Irene G.,
Caldwell, Lieut. William T.,
Clennell, A.C. 2 Gordon,
Cohen, Eng. Comdr. Maurice L.,
Dale, Tpr. Keith B.,
Dawson, Sgt. Geoffrey P.,
Finley, L.A.C. H. Michael,
Greenhalgh, L/Cpl. Colin M.,
Halliday, Lieut. Keith C.,
Jones, Harold C.,
Lewin, Ronald,
Morley, P/O H. K.,
Morris, Lieut. David,
Motom, Alvin,
Motum, 2nd Lt. John,
Tilson, Cpl. B. V.,
Tilson, Gnr. R. J.,
Tinker, Harry,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Beatrice A.,
Waters, Lt. Comdr. Gilbert O.,
Waters, Lt. Michael T.,
Waters, Tpr. Philip A.,
Waters, A.C. 2 Ronald D.,
Waters, A.C.W. 2 Sylvia M.

     SOUTH AFRICA.

Braby, Capt. Horace C.,
Braby, 2nd Lieut. J. S.,
Buss, Tpr. Brian,
Buss, Sgt. J. M.,
Buss, Pvt. Ronald,
Cockerell, Sig. John,
Cockerell, A/M Neville,
Cockerell, A/Cpl. Peter,
Cockerell, A/M P. Graham,
Cowley, 2nd Lieut. Robert W.,
Cowley, Cpl. W. S.,
Craig, Major Thomas,
De Chazal, P/N Miss D. S.,
De Villiers, Gnr. D. B., Honorably Discharged,
Fraser, Cpl. R. F.,
Gardiner, P/A/O J. O.,
Gibb, Air Sgt. J. E., Wounded and honorably discharged,
Hammond, Lieut. A. N.,
Hammond, 2nd Lieut. Harry B.,
Hammond, A/Sgt. V. R.,
Howson, Capt. Maurice,
Lowe, P/N Miss S. F.,
Lowe, Major Walter G.,
Lumsden, P/N Miss B. Penelope,
Lumsden, S/Sgt. F. H. D.,
Lumsden, Pvt. J. M.,
McClean, Sgt. Major A. P. D.,
Parker, Pvt. S. F.,
Pemberton, P/P G. Guy,
Richards, Pvt. Walter,
Ridgway, Cpl. A. E.,
Ridgway, Cpl. C. R.,
Ridgway, Pvt. Durham,
Ridgway, Cpl. H. A.,
Ridgway, A/M. L. A., Honorably discharged,
Schulz, Pvt. C. D.,
Venton, L/Cpl. Keith G.

     Prisoners of War.
Bamford, Pvt. Frank D.,
Ridgway, Lt. Brian M.,
Ridgway, Cpl. Colin B.,
Ridgway, Lt. Colin O.,
Ridgway, Sig. G. M.


     UNITED STATES.

     Bryn Athyn.

Alden, S/Sgt. Guy S.,
Alden, P.F.C. Karl R., Jr.,
Alden, Robert,
Alden, Sgt. Theodore S.,
Allen, Cpl. Ralph E.,
Behlert, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Pvt. Thomas L.,
Bostock, Cpl. Edward C., Jr.,
Bostock, Pvt. Robert M.,
Caldwell, Jeannette P., A.R.C.,
Carpenter, Lt. Philip S. P.,
Carswell, Elaine, S 2/c,
Carswell, Pvt. Louis D.,
Cole, Pvt. Dandridge M.,
Cole, Capt. William P.,
Conner, P.F.C. Wilson Bennett,
Cooper, A/C Denis,
Cooper, Pvt. Geoffrey,
Cooper, Major Philip G.,
Cooper, Lt. Rey W.,
Cooper, A/S Theodore F.,
Cowley, Cpl. William J.,
Cronlund, Lt. Elizabeth G.,
Cronlund, Lt. Philip R.,
Daly, Lt. Jean,
David, A/C Warren,
Davies, Sgt. John G.,
Davies, Cpl. Philip T.,
Davis, Joan, A.M.M. 3/c,
Davis, Sgt. Richard L.,
De Charms, Commander Richard,
Deigendesch, Paul H., S 2/c,
De Maine, Lt. Henry M., Jr.,
De Maine, Sgt. Robert E. L.,
Doering, Lt. Andrew A.,
Doering, Lt. (jg) Karl W.,
Echols, Lt. John C.,
Field, Lt. George A.,
Fine, Sgt. Raymond F.,

564




Finkeldey, Lt. Philip,
Gansert, T/5 Otto G.,
Glenn, Lt. Ernest Bruce,
Gyllenhaal, Pvt. Charles P.,
Gyllenhaal, P.F.C. Hugh A.,
Gyllenhaal, Pvt. Hugh A.,
Gyllenhaal, Ensign Leonard E.
Hamm, Lt. Linda,
Heaton, S/Sgt. George B., Jr.,
Heilman, Anthony W., Ph.M. 2/c,
Hilldale, P.F.C. Thomas A.,
Homiller, Lt. William,
Hyatt, Sgt. Edward D.,
Hyatt, P.F.C. Kent,
Johns, Lt. Col. Hyland R.,
Johns, Hyland R., Jr., S 2/c,
Kintner, Capt. William R.,
Mansfield, Pvt. Robert R.,
Nilson, Lt. Gunnar N.,
Odhner, P.F.C. David S.,
Odhner, John Durban, A.S.,
Odhner, Sgt. Ray S.,
Odhner, Lt. Sanfrid E.,
Olds, Jonathan, R.T. 1/c,
Pitcairn, Pvt. Garthowen,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Joel,
Pitcairn, C/M John P.,
Pitcairn, A/C Lachlan,
Pitcairn, P.F.C. Michael,
Pitcairn, Lt. Nathan,
Pitcairn, Lt. Stephen, C.A. P.,
Potts, Lt. John W.,
Powell, Capt. Oliver I.,
Price, Donal, A.S.,
Price, Sgt. Kenneth,
Redmile, Pvt. Thomas, Honorably discharged,
Rose, A/S John W.,
Rose, P.F.C. Stanley,
Rosenquist, P.F.C. Henry,
Schiffer, Cpl. Charles, M.,
Schnarr, A/C Arthur W.,
Schnarr, Donald, S 1/c,
Schnarr, Pvt. Eugene C.,
Schnarr, Ronald, S 2/c,
Simons, Lt. David R.,
Simons, A/S Hilary Q.,
Smith, Pvt. Gordon,
Smith, Pvt. Ivan I.,
Smith, Pvt. Oliver Minard,
Synnestvedt, Pvt. Fred H.,
Synnestvedt, A/C Pvt. Huard I.,
Synnestvedt, Sigfried, A.S.,
Umberger, Grant, A.S.,
Walter, Elizabeth, S.K. 2/c,
Walter, Lt. Robert E.,
Walter, Pvt. Wm. H. S.,
White, Lt. Harry J.
Yerkes, P.F.C. Earle.

     Chicago and Glenview.
Anderson, Cpl. Edward C.,
Anderson, P.F.C. Irving,
Anderson, Pvt. Roland,
Asplundh, Ensign O. E., Jr.,
Barry, James F., M.M. 2/c,
Barry, P.F.C. John,
Brown, Pvt. Robert E.,
Burnham, Edwin, C. Sp., U.S.N.R.,
Burnham, P.F.C. Roy M.,
Carlson, S/Sgt. Robert F.,
Cole, S/Sgt. Harold F.,
Cole, Pvt. Louis S.,
Elkins, Lois, Y 3/c,
Fuller, George, A.M.M. 1/c,
Fuller, Pvt. William,
Gladish, Lt. Donald G.,
Gunsteens, S/Sgt. Edmund Y.,
Hager, Pvt. Werner,
Holmes, Harvey J., S.F. 3/c,
Holmes, P.F.C. Kenneth,
Holmes, Cpl. Leslie B.,
Junge, Lt. Carl F.,
King, Cpl. John B. S.,
Kuhn, Capt. Raymond T.,
Lee, P.F.C. Cedric F.,
Lee, Tech. Sgt. Harold,
Lee, Pvt. Raymond F.,
Lehne, Lt. (j.g.) Stanford,
McQueen, A/S Kenneth,
Melzer, P.F.C. James,
Melzer, Pvt. Philip,
Melzer, Sgt. Roger,
Nelson, Lt. Gerald F.,
Pollock, A/C Robert T.,
Reuter, Lieut. Warren A.,
Rydstrom, Ensign Hubert O.,
Rydstrom, Capt. J. F.,
Smith, Lt. Arnold M.,
Smith, Lt. Edmund G.,
Smith, Gloria J., A.S.,
Starkey, Pvt. George C., Honorably discharged,
Wille, Pvt. Gerhardt King.

     Michigan.
Birchman, Owen R., A.S., Honorably discharged,
Childs, P.F.C. Walter C.,
French, Arthur W., B.M. 2/c,
French, Gerald M., G.K. 2/c,
French, Robert H., A.S.,
Lindrooth, T/Sgt. John F.,
Peterson, Pvt. Philip H.,
Peterson, Warrant Officer Wm. F.,
Walker, Marvin J., C.P.O.

     Philadelphia,
Cranch, Eliot, R.T, 2/c,
Glenn, Cpl. Curtis R.,
Heinrichs, Lt. Clara,
Iungerich, Lt. (j.g.) Alexander,
King, Lt. Cedric S.,
Packer, E. W. Jr., S. 1/c.
Packer, P.F.C. Robert E.,
Von Moschzisker, Lt. Michael,
Westacott, Ensign Ethel B.

565





     Pittsburgh,
Alden, Lt. Gideon T.,
Blair, Sgt. James E. Jr.,
Brown, Lt. George P., Jr.,
Brown, Sgt. Tech. William E.,
Doering, Capt. John A.,
Ebert, Ensign Charles H., Jr.,
Horigan, A/S Walter Lee,
Iungerich, M.T./Sgt. Stevan,
Iungerich, Zoe,
Lechner, Lt. Frederic B.,
Lindsay, Capt. Alexander H.,
Lindsay, David P., A.S.,
McGaffic, A/C H. R.,
Pendleton, Lt. Philip C.,
Schoenberger, Lt. Ulrich,
Schoenberger, Av/C Walter S.,
Stein, Cpl. Frank.

     Elsewhere in the United States,
Anderson, Pvt. Walter I., New Jersey.
Brickman, Sgt. Elmer G., Texas.
Caldwell, Cpl. Neil V., New York.
Coffin, Capt. Roscoe T., Maryland.
Cranch, T/Sgt. W. E., Penna.
Crockett, Lloyd, A.S., Georgia.
Davis, A/C Charles F., Calif.
Davis, Sgt. Edward A., Calif.
De Maine, Lt. Philip B., Ohio,
Denys, Sgt. Raymond, Georgia.
Doering, A/C Edward, Wayne, Iowa.
Glenn, A/C Alfred M., New York,
Grant, Major Fred M., Washington, D. C.,
Griffin, William T., E.M. 1/c, South Carolina.
Joy, Lt. Fergus M., Calif.
Leonard, Pvt. Jeremy, New Jersey.
Merrell, Sgt. Frederick, Calif.
Merrell, Pvt. Stanley, Calif.
Moorhead, Pvt. Donald, Washington, D. C.
Needer, Pvt. John H., Baltimore, Md.
Posey, A/S John A., Alabama.
Rott, Sgt. T. F., New York.
Smith, Cadet Robert P., Allentown, Pa.
Smith, Sterling R., A.M.M. 1/c, Georgia.
Snyder, Donald, A.M.M. 2/c, Ohio.
Snyder, James F., U.S.N.R., Ohio.
Soneson, Cpl. Carl, Erie, Pa.
Soneson, L. R., Erie, Pa.
Stebbing, Major Philip, Washington, D. C.
Storey, P.F.C. Ferrell A., Alabama.
Tarr, Joseph, S.K. 3/c, Maryland.
Wilde, Lt. Comdr, John, New York.
Wilson, Joaquin C., Jr., E.M. 2/c, Missouri.
Wilson, John E., U.S.M.S., Missouri.
SOUTH APRICA. 1943

SOUTH APRICA.              1943

     Honors and Awards.

     Before he was taken prisoner at the fall of Tobruk on June 20, 1942, Lieutenant Brian M. Ridgway, eldest son of the late R. Melville Ridgwav, distinguished himself on service, and was mentioned in a dispatch. Below is the official notification to Mrs. Brian M. Ridgway, received a few days ago:

     Communication from "A. A. G. Honors and Awards," Department of Defense, Pretoria, July 27th, 1943.

     To Mrs. Brian M. Ridgway.
     "In an extract from the supplement to the London Gazette, No. 35821, dated Dec. 15th, 1942, appears the following:-
"'The KING has been graciously pleased to approve that the
"'following be mentioned in recognition of gallant and distinguished
"'services in the Middle East during the period, November, 1941, to
"'April, 1942:-
"'South African Forces:-
     "'Lieut. B. M. Ridgway, 251535.'"
     PHYLLIS D. COOKE.
Durban, Natal, August 5, 1943.

566



OBITUARY 1943

OBITUARY              1943

[Photograph]

     JUSTIN HUGH DAVIS, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Davis (Margaretha Lechner), was born at Bryn Athyn. Pa., on August 6, 1923. He attended our Elementary School and the Boys' Academy, from which he graduated in June, 1942, when he was also the recipient of the Boys Academy Silver Medal. He then entered the University of Pennsylvania to study engineering, but in December, 1942, Justin enlisted in the United States Army, being sent first to Cumberland, Md., and afterwards to Fort Bragg, N. C. He then entered the Officers' Cadet School, was trained at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and received his commission as Lieutenant in the U. S. Field Artillery.
     The following warm and faithful appreciation has been written by his teacher, football coach, and friend:
     Lt. Justin Davis was fatally injured, October 26, 1943, in an accident at Camp Shelby, Miss., when a car in which he was riding out to the range ran into a culvert. He died the following day. Justin's death has been a severe shock, and brings back many memories of only a few years ago when he was an outstanding scholar and athlete at the Academy.
     Highly popular with his fellow students, long, lanky Justin gave unsparingly of his time and energy in all activities, as Forum President, co- captain of football basketball center, student-teacher, and others. His evident delight in sports and social life was apparent in his enthusiasm in preparing for games and social events. He was always one to conic early and stay late that his fellows might enjoy the more the final outcome of their mutual endeavors.
     Equally brilliant were the results of his work in the curricular side of school life. The Boys' Academy Faculty appreciated and enjoyed his keen intelligence, his manly principles, and his willing spirit of cooperation in furthering the aims and uses of the school. Justin was an honor student and medal winner. But above this, he demonstrated by discussion and questions a true interest in the teachings of the Writings. In the eternal providence of the Lord he has gone to the other world-there to fight in the greater battle that truth may some day prevail.-STANLEY F. EBERT.

     MISSING IN ACTION.

     FLYING OFFICER WILLIAM GEORGE BELLINGER has recently been reported "missing after operations." His many friends are hopefully awaiting good news from him.
     The son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold D. Bellinger (Elvera Deppisch), of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, he was born at Davidson. Saskatchewan, on July 15, 1922. He attended our school in Bryn Athyn for two years, receiving his Boys' Academy diploma in June, 1941. He then enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and went overseas in August, 1942.
     Attached to the Royal Air Force, he recently finished a course in England as a bombing leader, and thereafter was an instructor in charge of all the bombardiers in his squadron.

567



He continued, however, to fill his position as navigator in the RCAF, and participated in bombing raids over the continent. In one of these he is reported missing.

[Photograph.]

     A good correspondent, Bills letters to the Committee have been optimistic in regard to the Church, the war, and the future. He has been a frequent visitor in the Colchester and London Societies. In a recent letter he expressed delight at the prospect of meeting his New Church friends in London.
     LT. DAVID SIMONS, of Bryn Athyn, tells of such an occasion in a letter of September 27, from which we quote:
     "Having a little time, I took off for the Actons in London-a thirty-mile trip, with a three-mile walk along one of the many canals in this country.
I arrived in the city at 8:30 p.m., and telephoned Wynne to get directions where to meet him. We met perfectly, and as we walked through the blacked out streets we talked of friends and B. A. I got a warm reception from Mrs. Acton, and we had a swell chat.
     "They got me up early enough in the morning for a grand breakfast; and when we had finished the dishes, we packed sandwiches for lunch at Michael Church, and walked over. And whom should I meet there but Bill Bellinger, Leonard Hill, and Cecil James. We were all very much surprised and pleased to see one another.
     "The Sunday service was their Harvest Festival, including the Holy Supper. The sermon was on `Uses-the true fruits of the harvest, and the basis of spiritual and rational character.
     "After church we soldiers went to a restaurant, as there were so many of us. Bill is a bombardier-navigator and co-pilot of a Halifax four- motored bomber. He is over halfway through his tour of thirty operations, after which he will get a chance to go home. Leonard is rigger on a Sunderland flying boat, and has seen quite a bit more of the world than any of us.
     "Back at the church, we heard a paper by Wynne on The Word Explained, giving a very clear picture of Swedenborg's transition from philosopher to revelator.
     "After the meeting we went to the Actons for tea, had our pictures taken for the Military Service Committee, and played some darts. I have obtained the addresses of Crary Bostock, Bill Kintner, Phil Cooper, and those I met at the church. If I can get near any of them, I will give them a buzz.-DAVID SIMONS.

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Church News 1943

Church News       Various       1943

     CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY.

     A very enjoyable Banquet, attended by 175 persons, opened the 38th Chicago District Assembly in the parish hall of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Ill,, on Friday, October 22, at 7 p.m. The Rev. Elmo C. Acton, new pastor of the society, presided as toastmaster. Hearty applause followed his words of welcome to Bishop George de Charms, who spoke briefly in response. "Our Glorious Church" was sung; other familiar songs came later between the speeches.
     Mr. Acton opened the program of speeches by remarks on the subject of "What Is the New Church?" The Rev. Harold Cranch followed with a paper on "How Is the New Church to Grow?" and the Rev. Gilbert Smith spoke to the question of "What Is a New Churchman?" Bishop de Charms highlighted the program, speaking of some features of missionary work in the past deserving special mention, and announcing, incidentally, that the Academy Book Room will soon publish a missionary booklet by the Rev. Gilbert Smith, and bringing out the special point in regard to New Churchmanship, that a New Churchman, in addition to all that had been said, was a man who is able to undergo spiritual temptations. This is a thing which others, not indoctrinated, cannot experience. Spiritual temptation or trial is most commonly tinted with hardships and troubles of a natural or external nature. As the overcoming of these outward trials of the Church and Country is intended to lead to some greater good, so the overcoming of our spiritual trials results in the making of some spiritual gain otherwise impossible to us.
     Ladies.-At a meeting with the ladies of the Assembly on Saturday afternoon. October 23, the Bishop spoke at length upon the subject of the Organization of the General Church, and of the problems involved when pastoral or other changes are made in our organization. He answered several questions, and in general defended our present methods of making ecclesiastical changes as being as satisfactory as any under the peculiar and various circumstances which surround us.
     Evening Meeting.-At eight o'clock a session of the Assembly was opened with the reading of the Word and prayer by the Rev. Elmo Acton, who introduced the Bishop for the presentation of his Assembly Address, which dealt with the "philosophies behind the world situation, and the bearing that our Writings have upon them." He contrasted two prevailing systems of thought-Realism, from the love of self, and Idealism, which with many derives from simple good, and hopes for a spontaneous evolution of the good in human nature. These latter are as the "Shepherds of Haran." the most hopeful seed-ground for the eventual building of a spiritual faith, because of the remnants of innocence with them; but they are incompetent to stem the title of evils that invade human society, because of the lack of genuine spiritual truth. The New Churchman must evaluate both tendencies in the light of what the Writings teach us. We may believe that there is some basic truth in each system, yet realize that the proprium of man is evil, and that the highest good, called charity, is to learn and to will the truth which the Lord reveals.

569



By loving the Writings, and acknowledging them as Divine, and shunning the evils opposed to them, spiritual charity is implanted; and this is the Lord's gift entirely.
     Serious and interesting discussion of the address began with a question from Mr. Crebert Burnham as to modern Gentilism. The idea was expressed by the Bishop, who answered questions singly as they were presented, that we ought to favor the Idealists, and go with them as far as possible, and condemn the false Realism which reduces all virtues among men to enlightened self-interest. After several others had spoken, in the vein of our attitude in regard to the state after the war, Mr. Alec McQueen introduced the subject of appreciation of the work and office of the Priesthood, and gave it point by referring to the long service of a former pastor, the Rev. Dr. William B. Caldwell, who has also served the Church in a notable manner as Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE and teacher in the Academy Schools. He moved that, on the date of Dr. Caldwells approaching (70th) Birthday, the Secretary of the Assembly send appreciative congratulations on behalf of the whole Assembly. It was voted and roundly applauded.
     Mr. Oscar Scalbom brought out the point that we must be realistic enough in dealing with our enemies to prevent them from continuing to perpetrate crime against the good of society. And after an extremely interesting speech by the Rev. Elmo Acton, our Bishop arose to an extemporaneous climax, in which he emphasized the tremendous hidden power for the good of the world that is exercised on an interior plane, and through the spiritual world, by those who really love interior spiritual things, although the effect of their influence upon civil and political affairs may be negligible.
     The Sunday Service of Worship on October 24 was attended by 172 persons. Bishop de Charms preached and administered the Holy Supper, the Revs. Elmo Acton and Harold Cranch assisting. There were 127 communicants. The subject of the sermon was "The Intercession of the Lord for the Human Race." On Sunday afternoon there was a meeting of the Bishop with the Council of the Immanuel Church.
     Chicago.-On Sunday evening at 8 o'clock a Service was held at the new "South Side New Church" congregation of Sharon Church, the Rev. Harold Cranch officiating and Bishop de Charms preaching. About 90 were present, most of them, by supreme endeavor, from Glenview. This is a nicely furnished hall at 64th and Green Sts. on Chicago's South Side, where regular services of the South Side New Church are held.
     This service and the Bishop's appropriate sermon served as a stimulus to the South Side group, bringing the Glenview people in touch with it. The sermon explained what is meant by the words, "If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light," and showed the inner grounds of that perception in man by which he may know that the revealed truth of the church is true. There was good singing, good instrumental music by Mr. Alec McQueen, and a very pleasant sphere of sociability afterward. About twenty friends, en route to Glenview, stopped at the apartment of the undersigned Secretary in what seemed to be a kind of house-warming for the Smiths at 534 So. East Ave., Oak Park, Ill.
     On Monday morning the Bishop met the pupils of the Immanuel Church School at a Children's Service. This was the children's part in the Assembly. In the evening, a Men's Meeting was held in Glenview, arranged and executed by the Glenview Chapter of the Sons of the Academy, Mr. Theodore Brickman, President. The subject introduced by the Bishop was "Nationalities, and What It Is That Makes a Nation." The discussion was rapid and furious when it took a turn toward the question of what is to be done with our enemies. The idea of a "Nation," however, as indicated in the Writings, and as based upon spiritual genius, use, or love, was well discussed.

570




     Rockford.-On Tuesday, October 26, we may add, two or three cars of visitors accompanied the Bishop to a special meeting and banquet held in the new home of Mr. and Mrs. Axel Eklund,-"New Sweden"-at Rockford, Ill. Mr. Frank Longstaff presided as toastmaster, and the Bishop made a most effective and intimate speech comparing life on earth with life in the spiritual world, and showing why man must be regenerated by means of external necessities and by contact with others.
     Wednesday evening was devoted to Sharon Church at 5220 Wayne Ave., Chicago-an episcopal visit. The discussion was on the general subject of Evangelization and the fundamentals of the Academy position.
     After an enjoyable supper on the following evening, Thursday, at the home of the Rev. and Mrs. Harold Cranch, for the clergy and their wives, Bishop de Charms was conducted to the station to depart for St. Paul, for a week-end of meetings with the North St. Paul Circle.
     GILBERT H. SMITH,
          Secretary.


     DURBAN, NATAL.

     September 9, 1943.-After a good deal of activity in the months of May and June, the holiday month of July passed off quietly in Durban Society. We very much regret the departure during July of the Levine family, on transfer to the school at Creighton, a little Natal village 170 miles from Durban by rail, and almost on the borders of Natal and East Griqualand. Here, we sincerely hope, in spite of the absence of all modern amenities, this little New Church family will be able to settle down and continue their usefulness, to which in Durban Society there seemed to be no end. A very pleasant ceremony took place at the Ladies' Class, held at the home of Mrs. Schuurman, on Wednesday morning, July 21, when a farewell "shower" was given to Mrs. Levine (Enid Cockerell) from all her New Church friends in Durban. We shall certainly miss Enid in every sphere of church, school and social activity, and we wish her and her husband and family the best of health and happiness in this new venture.
     Returning at the end of July to live in Durban, Mrs. Viola Ridgway and Mrs. Frank Bamford, and families, are now with us once more. Mrs. Bamford has now received several very cheery letters from her husband, who was taken at Tobruk. Yesterday the radio proclaimed the unconditional surrender of Italy, so you can imagine the excitement here at the present moment When will our prisoners return to us? And what will they look like when they return, etc., etc.? But, on a word of caution from Field Marshal Smuts and the Red Cross Society we restrain our emotion and resolve to be patient, awaiting the time when "this extremely delicate situation" has been clarified.
     Kainon School.-After the holidays, Kainon School reopened on August 3 with ten children, in Kindergarten and Primary Grades, in charge of Miss Pemberton.
     An Empire at Prayer.-Sunday, September 5, having been selected by His Majesty the King to be set aside as a Day of Prayer, and in celebration of the fourth anniversary of the war, throughout the United Kingdom and Dominions, Durban Society also made provision to hold a combined adult and children's Service of Prayer at morning worship. In a very simple extemporaneous address, our acting pastor told the children that our thoughts should be with those who had left their homes and gone away to stop the enemy from coming here, and how thankful we should be that we in South Africa had on that account been spared the horrors of war, and that none of our little ones had had to suffer.
     The Rev. Elphick's main discourse was based on the text from Joel 3: 10, "Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears; let the weak say, 'I am strong!'" In contrasting this admonition with the one in Isaiah 2: 4, ". . . they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks," the themes of peace to war and war to peace were dwelt upon-a condition which held true both naturally and spiritually.

571



It was shown how freedom-loving nations, a t the end of the fourth year of the greatest war of all time, unprovoked and unwanted by them, were now transformed into a state of total war, in order that harsh military despotism shall be crushed. But in all this "destruction" and "depredation" (D. P. 251: 3), in which men stand aghast, one could see the effects of the Last Judgment of 1757 and the preparation being made for the True Christian Religion in the dispersal of false ideas of religion and the resulting materialism in this our age. It was emphasized how justice had to be enacted without the evil of hatred, and that everyone had to shun the "dictator-spirit" in their uses in life.
     P. D. C.


     DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

     The high spot of our year's activities is the official visit of the Bishop, to which we always look forward with the greatest of pleasure. This year it was Bishop Alfred Acton's turn to honor us, and be arrived on Friday, October 1, remaining with us through Sunday. On Friday evening we gave bun an informal welcome at the home of Leo and Freda Bradin. No program had been arranged, but we spent the evening getting better acquainted with the Bishop, and listening to a most interesting talk he gave us by way of introduction to his lecture scheduled for the following evening.
     The Saturday evening meeting was held at the home of Norman and Eloise Synnestvedt. Two large anatomical charts greeted us as we entered the living room. These were used by Bishop Acton to illustrate his lecture on the "Bronchial Artery." This subject, quite new to some of us, proved intensely interesting, and the discussion afterwards kept the Bishop busy answering questions for quite some time.
     At the Sunday service our pastor, Rev. Norman Reuter, assisted Bishop Acton in a most inspiring and impressive service. The Bishop's sermon was an interpretation of Matthew 7: 7, 8, commencing. "Ask, and it shall be given you." He brought out particularly the meaning involved in the admonitions "Ask," "Seek," and "Knock." The service closed with a most beautiful administration of the Holy Supper, in which the Bishop was assisted by Mr. Reuter. Twenty-five of our members went forward to partake of the bread and wine, and to receive the Bishops's blessing.
     Following the luncheon, Bishop Acton again addressed us this time on the "Mechanism of Immortality." This very profound and thought-provoking lecture brought to a close a three-day feast of doctrinal teachings and discussion of the utmost value to our group.
     Our annual business meeting was held on Sunday afternoon, October 31, on the occasion of our pastor's tenth visit of the year. In his review of our activities during the year, Mr. Reuter took occasion to commend the officers for their excellent work, and they were rewarded by being reelected to serve for another year. They are: Recording Secretary, Norman P. Synnestvedt; Treasurer, William F. Cook; Corresponding Secretary, Miss Murial Cook. These three, together with Mr. Reuter as chairman, form our group's executive committee, and are entitled to much credit for the effective and smooth-running way in which our affairs are conducted.
     The question of financial support for the General Church was discussed at length. In order that we might be better informed on this subject, Mr. Reuter had, on the previous evening, addressed a gathering of twenty-three of our members, giving a very clear explanation of the relationship between the General Church, the Academy, and other organizations of the Church.

572



He pointed out that contributions toward the uses of the General Church actually benefit all societies, all groups, and all isolated members, who are kept in touch with the Church through pastoral visits, or through the dissemination of the Doctrines in printed form.
     It was shown that while our group more than provides for the expenses of the pastor, and for our own activities, we do not adequately meet our proportion of the pastor's salary, as based upon the time he devotes to us. This situation had not previously been so thoroughly explained to us, and it was unanimously decided that something should be done about it. The first step was taken by the appointment of a committee to investigate the possibilities.
     Plans were also made to improve the appearance of our chancel. A rug is to be purchased by the group; and a gift of hangings for the back of the chancel was announced by Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey S. Childs, who have already generously provided so many articles for our use in the services. The meeting closed with the appointment of a committee to arrange for the children's Christmas service and party, which will be held on Sunday. December 19, when our pastor will be with us for his twelfth and final visit of the year.
     W. W. W.


     CHARTER DAY.

     In spite of wartime restrictions on travel and the absence of so many in war activities, the number of students and ex-students seemed not less than usual in the long procession from the Academy to the Cathedral which opened the celebration of Charter Day on Friday, October 15. The service was conducted by Bishop Acton in the absence of Bishop de Charms, who was slightly indisposed, and Dean Doering read the Lessons-Revelation 21 and Last Judgment 73, 74.
     In an able and spirited Address, the Rev. Bjorn Boyesen spoke on the subject of "The Academy, Authority and Freedom." dealing first with the altered relation that has gradually come about between the Academy and the General Church, from the early idea of the Academy as a "Church" to the present concept as defined in a recent Resolution of the Corporation recognizing the faith and principles of the General Church as the heart of its educational life. For the purpose of the Academy, as stated in the Charter, made it the very first "church" that was "unmistakably a part of the New Dispensation which originates with the Writings." The New Church is not a sect of the Christian Church, though many sects may arise within the New Church. This in itself, the speaker believed, is not to be deplored, so long as human reason is not set up as authority. True freedom lies in a willing acknowledgment of Divine Authority-for New Churchmen the Divine Authority of the Writings.
     At the close of the service the threatening skies poured rain, and the recessional march to Benade Hall broke into a rush for cover to save the precious banners from ruin. So the customary singing was abandoned, and the banner bearers, with lances lowered, dashed across the campus like knights of old "charging the dragon"-a bit of unintentional symbolism.
     Recreational features of the program filled the rest of the day. The football game, played on a rain-soaked field, brought our Academy team a victory, 33-0, over our longtime rivals from George School, and raised the spirits of all for a very delightful dance in the evening.
     Another heavy downpour came at the time for the Banquet on Saturday evening, but while it kept some away, a record attendance of 320 made extra tables necessary. And all present were rewarded with a very interesting and stimulating series of speeches and songs, under the able direction of Mr. Randolph W. Childs as toastmaster.
     Meeting in the midst of the war, with so many of the sons and daughters of the Academy serving in the field, it was especially fitting that we should hear from them in the "letters from the front" which were read to us by Mrs. Philip C. Pendleton, Chairman of the Military Service Committee, at the opening of the speaking program.

573




     "The Preservation of the General Church" was the theme chosen for the evening by the toastmaster.
     Mr. Carl Asplundh, speaking on "Post-School Statistics," illustrated his remarks with charts setting forth the results of his study as to the numbers of our graduates who become members of the General Church.
     He was followed by the Rev. Willard Pendleton, whose address gave serious consideration to the future maintenance of the Academy as an essential means of preserving the General Church, since it has long been our belief that "the true field of evangelization is with the children of New Church parents." The trends in the world are likely to have adverse effects upon such educational institutions, but "in facing the future we depend upon that spirit of determination which is born of a spiritual affection for truth and devotion to use."
     Mr. Harold Pitcairn, in a short speech, made it clear that individual reading of the Word is an essential means of preserving the church, and confirmed his view by quoting significant passages from the Writings.
     In conclusion, Bishop Acton and Bishop de Charms spoke briefly, and thus brought to a close a useful and enjoyable observance of Charter Day.


     TORONTO, CANADA.

     The Olivet Society has commenced a new season of activities which give promise of universal interest and development. The recent visit of the Bishop engendered a feeling among us that the church, having thus far largely kept to its tents on defensive ground, must now pull up stakes and go forward. There is a stir in the air which suggests that aggressive and challenging work lies ahead for the men and women of this society.
     In speaking to the subject of the Olivet Community Project, Bishop de Charms stressed the point that the best field for progressive work in church or state centred in the education of our children. As several of our young married couples have had to move to a distance from the church because of congested housing conditions in Parkdale, the problem of maintaining a school for all the children of the society has become acute. The subject which is at present receiving much thought and consideration is the advisability of removing to the Olivet Estates property, purchased by a corporation formed within the society during the past five years, or to some other suitable location, for the purpose of establishing a New Church centre.
     At a banquet held on the evening of October 9, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Parkdale School was commemorated, and the keynote of the various papers read on that occasion was gratitude to the Lord for the glorious vision which gives eternal purpose to the work of New Church education.
     On Sunday evening the Bishop gave an address on "Realism versus Idealism," in which he contrasted the extremes in both views, and pointed out that the real truth for a New Churchman rests in the ultimation of the Doctrines in a life of charity, and that our loyalty in carrying out the essential uses within the church has important implications for a more Just relationship between men and nations, and for a better world after the war.
     The various meetings of the society are being held regularly as in former years, the subjects under consideration having been reported in our July news notes. Fourteen pupils are attending the Day School this year, with Miss Edith Carter as teacher. We are looking forward to a happy and progressive year in the Olivet Society.
     C. S.

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MISSIONARY BOOKLET. 1943

MISSIONARY BOOKLET.              1943


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Editor      Rev. W. B. Caldwell, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager      Mr. H. Hyatt, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

All literary contributions should be sent to the Editor. Subscriptions, change of address, and business communications, should be sent to the Business Manager.


TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$3.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 30 cents.
     To answer the question, "What shall I give to the stranger who asks about the New Church?" the Rev. Gilbert Haven Smith has prepared a booklet of about 50 pages and it will soon be published by the Academy Book Room. The volume is entitled "The New Jerusalem," and the topics presented are shown in the list of chapters:

CONTENTS:

Introduction:     "The New Jerusalem."
I.     Nebuchadnezzar's Dream Image; The Four Epochs Most Ancient Church.
II.     The Ancient Church.
III.     The Israelitish Church.
IV.     The Christian Church.
V.     The Consummation of the Age; The Second Coming New Church.
VI.     The New Church and the Old; One God or Three?
VII.     Absurdities of Modern Belief.
VIII.     The Second Advent of the Lord.
IX.     Why Miracles Are No Longer Performed.
X.     Why the New Church Was Not Sooner Established.
XI.     The Invitation of the New Church to the World.
XII.     Christian Creeds and the Books of the New Church.
XIII.     Conclusion.

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     TWO NEW PAMPHLETS.

     The New-Church Press, Ltd., 20 Bloomsbury Way, London, W.C. 1, has recently published two pamphlets for the New-Church College, and has sent us copies. The Titles:

     An Examination of THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT MOVEMENT. By the Rev. Arthur Clapham. 16mo, 20 pages and cover. Price, 6d.

     An Examination of THE GROUP MOVEMENT. By the Rev. G. F. Colborne Kitching. 16mo, 16 pages and cover. Price, 6d.

     Each was a Lecture delivered at the New-Church College Summer School in August, 1942.
WARTIME STORY 1943

WARTIME STORY              1943

     Donald F. Rose, our esteemed fellow member and occasional contributor to the pages of NEW CHURCH LIFE, has recently produced another book, and the publishers have been so kind as to send us a copy accompanied by this photograph of the author.
     Mr. Wicker's War is the entertaining story of an average citizen upon whom the war impinges more and more until he finally realizes that it is "his war." The jacket states that it is "a book for all of those who love their country, but who are not afraid to smile at the foibles of their countrymen."
     250 pages, $2.00, at bookstores or the Academy Book Room.



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BRYN ATHYN ACCOMMODATIONS 1943

BRYN ATHYN ACCOMMODATIONS              1943




     Announcements



     For the information of those who may wish to visit Bryn Athyn from time to time, and prefer to come as paying guests, we would state that a few rooms are available at moderate rates. Breakfast if desired.
     Address: Mrs. V. W. Rennels, Bryn Athyn, Pa. (Chairman of the Hospitality Committee).
PARENT-TEACHER JOURNAL 1943

PARENT-TEACHER JOURNAL              1943

     Purposes: To keep the Church Schools in closer touch with the Academy and with one another. To provide material for the instruction of children in the home.
     Contents, 1943-1944: Continuation of the serial publication of "The Life of the Lord," by Bishop George de Charms. Part II.
     Reports from Teachers on Various Subjects.
     Book Reviews and Report on Library Activities.
     Sermons and Talks to Children. Stories,
     News of the Church Schools.
     Educational Council Papers and Discussions.
     Editor: Miss Celia Bellinger. Assistant Editors: Mrs. Besse E. Smith, Miss Lois Stebbing.
     Published Monthly, October to May, $1.00. Address: Mrs. Phyllis S. Cranch, Business Manager. Bryn Athyn, Pa.