WHEN IN DISTRESS, GO FORWARD! 1972

WHEN IN DISTRESS, GO FORWARD! Rev. ERIK SANDSTROM 1972

Table of Contents
Vol. XCII     January 1972     No. 1

New Church Life

When in Distress, Go Forward
     A Sermon on Exodus 14: 15
          Erik Sandstrom     1

The Church of the Lord on Earth
     1. The Church of the Lord is Twofold
          George de Charms     6

The Proprium of Man
     Address to the South African Ministers
          Aaron B. Zungu     13

What It Means To Be Rational
     Willard L. D. Heinrichs     22

Laurel Leaf Academy
     A Heavy Schedule, But a Happy, Healthy One
          Donna Zeitz     27
     An Impression
          Peter Knechtel     28

Review
     Arcana Caelestia
          Norbert H. Rogers     30

The Swedenborg Society Summer School on
     Translating the Writings
          N. Bruce Rogers     33

The Hidden Word
     Geoffrey S. Childs      36

Editorial Department
     A Prayer for the New Year     41
     Friends of the Writings          42
     How Beautiful Upon the Mountains     42

Communications
     The Last Page of Divine Providence
          Ian A. Arnold     44
     South African Mission: An Appeal
          Clarence Hotson
          Cornelia H. Hotson     44

Church News     45

Announcements
     Baptisms, Confirmation, Betrothal, Marriages, Deaths     47

Vol. XCII     February 1972     No. 2

Church of the Stockholm Society
     Frontispiece

"Can God Dwell on the Earth?"
     A Sermon on I Kings 8: 27
          Bjorn A. H. Boyesen 49

The Doctrine of Immortality
     Willard D. Pendleton 56

In our Contemporaries      63

The Church of the Lord on Earth
     2. The Church Universal
          George de Charms 64

The New Church in a New Age
     Address to British Assembly
          N. Bruce Rogers 70

Search for the Ancient Word Through Myth and Correspondence
     Address to the General Faculty
          Aubrey Cole Odhner 78

Am I My Brother's Keeper?
     Edward B. Lee, Jr. 84

Review
     Emanuel Swedenborg
          Norbert H. Rogers 88

Editorial Department
     The Need for Repentance          90
     Membership in the Church     91
     A Matter of Terms               92

Communication
     The Truly Liberated Woman
          Rachel D. Odhner 93

Church News 94

Announcements
     Baptisms, Confirmations, Betrothals, Marriages, Deaths     95

Vol. XCII     March 1972     No. 3

The Episcopal Visit to South Africa of the Right Rev. W. D. Pendleton
     Peter M. Buss               97

The Power of Use
     A Sermon on AE 1194e; CL 183: 5
          Christopher R. J. Smith           102

The Church of the Lord on Earth
     3. The Church Specific
          George de Charms           107

Search for the Ancient Word
     Through Myth and Correspondence
          Aubrey Cole Odhner          114

The New Church in a New Age
     N. Bruce Rogers               121

A Little Action Goes a Long Way
     Donald L. Rose           127

Editorial Department
     "He That Is Not Against Us"     130
     Idolatry                    131
     The Life of the Church          132
     A Bicentennial               133

Church News          134

Announcements
     Baptisms, Confirmations, Betrothals, Marriages, Deaths     138
     Annual Council Meetings-March 6-11, 1972-Program     139
     Academy of the New Church: Calendar 1972-1973          140

Vol. XCII     April 1972     No. 4

"If I Be Lifted Up From the Earth"
     A Sermon on John 12: 32
          Willard D. Pendleton 141

In Our Contemporaries     146

New Beginnings
     An Easter Talk to Children
          Lorentz R. Soneson 147

The Church of the Lord on Earth
     4. The New Church
          George de Charms 150

Providence and Contemporary Life
     Address to British Assembly
          Alfred Acton II 157

Emanuel Swedenborg and the Holiness of Marriage
     A European's Contribution to the Progress of Morality
          Kurt P. Nemitz 168

Review
     Bryn Athyn Cathedral: The Building of a Church
          Frank S. Rose 179

Editorial Department

     A Rare Love               182
     Judas, the Betrayer     183
     The Face of Jehovah      184

Church News          185

Announcements
     Baptisms, Confirmations, Marriages, Death      191
     Academy of the New Church: Calendar 1972-1973.     192

Vol. XCII     May 1972     No. 5

To Build a Wall of Cohesion
     A Sermon on Ezekiel 13: 10-12.
          Daniel Goodenough     193

The Temporal and the Eternal
     Frederick L. Schnarr      199

The Interior and the Exterior Memory
     Victor J. Gladish       205

Children and Television
     Kurt Simons       211

Rising Above Appearance
     Alfred Bekuyise Mbatha       218

The Holy Spirit and the Laity
     Ormond Odhner       228

Editorial Department
     "See Here; See There          234
     Christian Agnosticism          235
     Conjunction With the Lord     235

Church News      237

Announcements

     Calendar Correction-Charter Day     239
     56th British Assembly-July 15, 16, 1972-Notice     240
     Swedenborg Scientific Association Annual Meeting, May 3, 1972.     240
     Baptisms, Betrothals, Marriages, Deaths      240

Vol. XCII     June 1972     No. 6

SWEDENBORG

The Kingdom of Jesus Christ
     A Sermon on Revelation 11: 15
          George de Charms     241

The Golden Street
     A New Church Day Talk to Children
          Kenneth O. Stroh      247

Children and Television
     Kurt Simons      249

The Priesthood
     Elmo C. Acton     256

The Presence of the Lord in the Holy Supper
     Robert H. P. Cole      261

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS

Council of the Clergy Sessions
     Norbert H. Rogers      264
Joint Council Session
     Norbert H. Rogers      268

Annual Reports
     Secretary of the General Church
          Norbert H. Rogers      282
     Treasurer of the General Church
          Leonard E. Gyllenhaal      285
     Corporation of the General Church
          Stephen Pitcairn      290
     Editor of New Church Life
          W. Cairns Henderson     292
     Educational Assistant to the Bishop
          David R. Simons      293
     Publication Committee
          Norbert H. Rogers      296
     Sound Recording Committee
          W. Cairns Henderson      297
     Translation Committee
          Norbert H. Rogers      298

Editorial Department
     New Beginnings               299
     "And Not As the Scribes          300
     The Heavenly City           300

Announcements
     Baptisms, Confirmations, Betrothals, Marriages, Deaths      302

Vol. XCII     July 1972     No. 7

Marriage Within the Church
     A Sermon on Deuteronomy 7: 3
          Douglas Taylor     305

Protecting the Conjugial
     Willard L. D. Heinrichs     313

Exposition of the Writings
     Address to the Council of the Clergy
          Alfred Acton II     320

The Conjunction of Beauty With Morality
     N. Bruce Rogers     326

Use and Abuse in Television
     Leon Rhodes     333

In Our Contemporaries          336

Review
     The New Church World Assembly          338

Editorial Department
     The Growth of the Church          339
     Hypocrisy                         340
     An Infernal Trilogy               340

Communications
     The Last Page of Divine Providence
          Rex D. Ridgway     342
     Egyptology and the New Church
          Horand K. Gutfeldt     343

Church News               346

Announcements
     Educational Council-August 14-18, 1972-Notice      350
     Ordination, Baptisms, Confirmations, Betrothals, Marriages, Deaths     350

Vol. XCII     August 1972          No. 8

"Take It, and Eat It Up"
     A Sermon on Revelation 10: 9
          Bjorn Boyesen     353

Exposition of the Writings
     Address to the Council of the Clergy
          Alfred Acton II     357

Opposites
     Geoffrey Childs     364

Acting From the Lord, As of Self
     Ormond Odhner     369

5th Southeast District Gathering
     Report of Proceedings
          Millicent Holmes Runion     377

Ordination
     Declaration of Faith and Purpose
          Ragnar Boyesen     380

Review
     The Word and Its Holiness          381

Editorial Department
     The Authenticity of the Memorabilia          382
     Home Dedication                         383
     Guarding the Conjugial                    384

Communication
     Reincarnation
          Donald L. Rose     385

Church News     387

Announcements
     2nd Canadian National Assembly-October 7, 8, 1972-Notice     395
     Ordination, Baptisms, Confirmations, Betrothals, Marriages, Deaths     395

Vol. XCII     September 1972     No. 9

Beauty
     A Sermon on Isaiah 53: 2
          Robert S. Junge 397

The Doctrine of Permissions
     1. When His Will Is Not Done
          Peter M. Buss 403

Commencement Address
     H. Keith Morley 409

Forward Into Retreat
     The Male Role
          Steve Gladish 413

Review
     The Apocalypse Revealed
          N. Bruce Rogers 423

Editorial Department
     A Priestly Use                    428
     The Earth Is the Lord's               429
     "The Maker of Heaven and Earth"     429

Directory of the General Church      431

Church News          437

Announcements
     Charter Day-October 26-28, 1972-Notice and Program          440
     Baptisms, Confirmations, Betrothals, Marriages, Death          440

Vol. XCII     October 1972     No. 10

Entering Into the Lord's Work
     A Sermon on Luke 6: 35
          Erik E. Sandstrom     441

The Doctrine of Permissions
     2. Why Did the Lord Let It Happen?
          Peter M. Buss     446

The Understanding of Parables
     David R. Simons     455

Five Warnings
     Donald L. Rose     461

Self-Examination: By Individuals and By the Church
     Patricia Rose     465

Fifty-Sixth British Assembly
     Report of Proceedings
          Donald L. Rose     469

Editorial Department
     Self-Compulsion               471
     Letting the Writings Speak     472
     Distinctiveness               472

Communication
     Protecting the Conjugial
          James S. Brush     474

Church News          475

Announcements
     Charter Day-October 26-28, 1972-Notice and Program     478
     Baptisms, Confirmations, Betrothals, Marriages, Deaths     478

Vol. XCII     November 1972     No. 11

The Thanksgiving of a King
     A Sermon on II Samuel 22: 2, 3
          Robert H. P. Cole 481

The Importance of Thanksgiving
     A Talk to Children
          Kurt H. Asplundh 486

The Challenge of the New Testament
     Address to British Assembly
          David R. Simons 489

The Doctrine of Permissions
     3. The Lord Still Governs
          Peter M. Buss 499

Educational Council
     Report of Proceedings
          David R. Simons 503

Laughter
     Victor J. Gladish     506

Review
     Pentateuch
          N. Bruce Rogers 512

In Our Contemporaries     517

Editorial Department
     Fact and Fancy About Enlightenment          518
     "And We Are Not Saved"                    519
     No Personal Devil                         520

Communication
     Commencement Address Response
          Stephen G. and Elizabeth B. Gladish 521

Local Schools Directory          523

Church News               525

Announcements
     26th General Assembly-June 12-15, 1973-Notice     527
     Baptisms, Confirmations, Betrothals, Marriages, Deaths     527

Vol. XCII     December 1972     No. 12

A Priest After the Order of Melchizedek
     A Sermon on Psalm 110: 4
          Geoffrey H. Howard 529

To See the Lord's Star in the East
     A Christmas Talk to Children
          Ragnar Boyesen 535

The Doctrine of Permissions
     4. Disease and Accidents
          Peter M. Buss 538

Swaddling Clothes
     Elmo C. Acton 546

The Incarnation of Divine Love
     Norman H. Reuter 549

Education for the Church
     Charter Day Address
          Ormond Odhner 554

Clergy Reports
     The Bishop of the General Church
          Willard D. Pendleton 559
     Council of the Clergy
          Norbert H. Rogers 561

Ordination
     Declaration of Faith and Purpose
          Louis B. King 567

Editorial Department
     Founded Upon a Rock     570
     Even Unto Bethlehem     571
     The Unity of God          572

Communication
     The Recitation of the Creed
          Nancy H. Woodard 573

Church News     574

Announcements
     26th General Assembly-June 12-15, 1973-Notice     575
     Ordination, Baptisms, Confirmations, Betrothals, Marriages, Death     575

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII                                         JANUARY, 1972                                    No. 1
     "And Jehovah said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto Me? speak unto the sons of Israel, that they go forward." (Exodus 14: 15)

     This text is for any person or any group of persons in states of distress. The tendency in times of trouble is to wail, to think of what might have been, and to find fault with others. But the Divine Providence is forward looking. In the sight of the Lord difficulties in one form or another are permitted to arise, in order that man may exert himself to clear up and overcome the causes of the difficulties, and in the process grow in spiritual stature, so that he becomes greater than the difficulties. The Lord never allows temptations of any kind, not even natural temptations, unless they can serve to promote spiritual maturity.
     This is the universal lesson that comes out of the dramatic incident at the Red Sea. The sons of Israel had been four hundred years in bondage under the Egyptians. Then Moses was sent to bring them all together, and to compel the Pharaoh to let them go. That in itself was a seemingly impossible task, and success came only because of a series of great Divine miracles which were at the same time great punishments upon the former tormentors. Now the unorganized hordes-men, women and children, old and young-stood at the western shores of the sea, on the other side of which was the mainland they were to traverse in a forty-year march.
     Even before the Egyptians came thundering behind them, anxious thoughts of how to get across must have come to the minds of many. But now! The impassable sea in front of them, and a well trained army, full of revenge, behind them. Therefore they cried out to Moses: "Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?" They thought of what might have been, too, for they added: "Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness." *
     * Exodus 14: 11, 12. AC 8172.

     At this point two commands were given them, the first in great contrast to the second. There was, and ever is, a twofold lesson to be learned, too. Significantly, the first order was issued directly by Moses to the people; the second by Jehovah to Moses, and through him to the people. Moses-whom Jehovah had called, through whom He did all the miracles, and to whom He gave the Ten Words on top of Mount Sinai is the symbol and representative of the Word. When he issues his first order it is as when the Word first speaks to the man in distress. Faith is what then sustains the man, faith with its remembrance of helpful stories, powerful utterances, or explaining doctrines in the written covenant of God with men. The man is not then in any mood for hope and courage. But he remembers that the Lord has helped persons and nations in the Word in the past, and himself, too, and out of this springs a ray of hope that this may happen again. It is this state of reflection from the Word that is meant by "standing still": "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you today."* The essence of this command is that man must not believe that he can work his way out of his internal problems, his trust and faith problems, by his own ingenuity, but that he must fearlessly wait for the saving hand of the Lord to lead him through. To take up this view, and to cling to it in self-compelled trust, the Writings tell us, is "the main thing of faith in temptations."** "Jehovah shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace."***
     * Exodus 14: 13.
     ** AC 8172
     *** Exodus 14: 14.
     But then it is that Jehovah speaks to Moses, and the second command is given: "Wherefore criest thou unto Me? speak unto the sons of Israel, that they go forward." This, being the speech of Jehovah to Moses, is the influx of the Lord through the heavens into the various teachings of the Word stored up in the conscience of man. That influx, that voice, is not always heard. It is the influx of love, or the voice of affection. By it, if it is heeded, the will of man is moved. The will is awakened, and is warmed for action. We sometimes forget that the Word is not only truth but also love and good. The truth, of course, speaks to the understanding, but love and good silently whisper to the will; and, amazingly, it is only when the will is moved that man really sees the truth, for it is only then that he sees it from within, or on the inside, as well as registering its commanding and rocklike outer structure.

Therefore the Writings tell us that "the will must see in the understanding,"* even as the Gospel of John declares that "in the Word is life, and the life is the light of men.**
     * DP 259: 2.
     ** John 1: 4.
     It is when the will is moved in temptation that real courage for the first time is born. It takes courage to go forward without any definite knowledge of where the action will lead. Yet this is not at all the courage that is blind and foolhardy. For while there is no foreknowledge of the actual result of the action, there is nevertheless the knowledge of love that when the Lord is present and walks with man, then the way is good; or, to put it differently, when the action is in the spirit of heaven, then it is certain to bear good fruit.
     The sons of Israel did not know that the waves of the sea would be parted before them, nor that the enemy would be destroyed as the sea fell back. They knew only that they were commanded to be ready for the seemingly impossible: to go forward! And as they assembled at the edge of the water, the impossible began to unfold. A strong east wind blew up all that night and pushed the sea back, so that there was dry land, and they could set forward. Thus was the power of the Lord established in their midst.

     And what is it to "set forward"? This is first an attitude of mind which is looking forward. In states of personal depression-which, if the issue is spiritual, are spiritual temptations in their essence-this forward look takes the form of willingness to bear the suffering and to go through with the inner conflict until the day of the Lord, when the purpose will have been served and the sun shines brightly again.*
     * Cf. AC 8181.
     But clearly there must be more than an attitude of mind. There must be an ultimate, too, for without the actual deed or the spoken or written word for the mind to fall into the attitude itself vanishes as a dream without substance, or collapses as a house the foundation of which gives way. The ultimate needed to sustain the innocent trust and humble submission is the kind and wise service rendered to the neighbor. In distress, do something good! Look for the needs of your neighbor! Try to say or write the helpful word! Act as though you were not depressed, as though you did not feel a desperate loneliness within you! Did not the Lord say: "But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret"?*

This is what the Lord did. He ever went forward, even through the ordeal of the cross, when His course had become clear to Him. But just as resurrection and life followed the cross, so, on a lesser scale, victory and revival return to the man who endures. "And thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."**
     * Matthew 6: 17, 18.
     ** Matthew 6:18.

     At this day we turn into a new year with anxiety for the world in our hearts. Will lawlessness continue in our streets? Will home life and home security fall further apart? Will selfish bargaining between those who lead and those who serve still go unchecked, with its threat of chaos to the economy? Will the rivalry between nations expand still more, inhibiting constructive policies that might otherwise develop? Will the new morality continue to defy the Word of God?
     We are anxious about many things. Yet the Word comes through to the listening ear: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." Are we, as men and women of the church, prepared to believe these words, to trust in them? But let our faith be strengthened by remembrance. We have learned from the Word that the former church has fallen away from the Lord. We know, therefore, that living and spiritual principles have ceased to influence the thoughts and projects of men. But we know, too, that a nucleus of a new Christian Church is being gathered together around a new statement of Divine truth in various parts of the world. And we know further, for we have read it, that this nucleus, small though it is, is being prepared for a mission in the world by which the saving truth shall gradually spread among the many.
     Is not the breaking down that we see around us a necessary aspect of the work of the Divine Providence in preparing for things to come? And what of the remnant from former churches-the thousands upon thousands everywhere in the world who wait, perhaps despairingly, for salvation, without any knowledge of where it will come from, and therefore without any sure hope; is not the Lord preparing these?
     So we may remember and reflect: "stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord."
     But sooner or later the men and women of the church, and in the end the church as such, must also rise up at the second command. For again the Lord will not be satisfied with cries sent up to Him, but will again speak unto the sons of Israel, that they set forward.
     That is when faith is infilled with love, and when love gives the courage of action. And that is when the good of the Word is established. "But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the sons of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten Me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen."* Amen.
     * Exodus 14:16, 18.

     LESSONS: Exodus 14: 1-3, 10-18. Arcana Coelestia 8172-8176.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 437, 462, 464, 591.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 78, 80.
FREDERICK EMANUEL DOERING TRUST 1972

FREDERICK EMANUEL DOERING TRUST Various 1972

     Applications for assistance from the above Fund to enable male Canadian students to attend "The Academy of the New Church" at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., for the school year 1972-73 should be received by one of the Pastors listed below before March 15, 1972.
     Before filing their applications, students should first obtain their acceptance by the Academy, which should be done immediately as dormitory space is limited.
     Any of the Pastors listed below will be happy to give any further information or help that may be necessary.

The Rev. Harold C. Cranch                    The Rev. Frank Rose
Two Lorraine Gardens                         R. R. # 3
Islington, Ontario                         Preston, Ontario

The Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith
1536-94th Avenue
Dawson Creek, B. C.
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

Visitors to Bryn Athyn on any occasion who need assistance in finding accommodation please communicate with the Guest Committee, c/o Mrs. Leo Synnestvedt, 611 Waverly Lane, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009. Phone (215) WI 7-3725.

CHURCH OF THE LORD ON EARTH 1972

CHURCH OF THE LORD ON EARTH Rev. GEORGE DE CHARMS 1972

     (The first in a series of four doctrinal classes)

     1. The Church of the Lord is Twofold

     In this series of classes we propose to inquire as to what is really meant by the church of the Lord on earth. This is a question concerning which there has been widespread confusion of thought, and, indeed, bitter controversy for many centuries. In recent years the ideas of men concerning the nature of the church have been undergoing radical change; but the confusion, still persists.
     Traditionally, Christians have contended that the true church of the Lord can exist only with those who profess orthodox beliefs. By orthodox beliefs are meant doctrines, tenets or dogmas which have been given Divine sanction by the decisions of recognized church councils, or by outstanding theologians whose interpretations of the Bible are regarded as authoritative. Catholic councils and Protestant councils have come to divergent and opposite conclusions, each being proclaimed the law of God according to which alone men can be saved. Countless sects have been founded by religious leaders, each claiming to possess the genuine truth which is the only key to man's salvation. On this assumption has been based the commonly accepted view that where these orthodox teachings are unknown, or where they are openly denied, there can be no salvation. From medieval times those who were ignorant of these doctrines have been called gentiles, and those who knew but denied them have been called heretics.
     The idea of what constitutes the true church of the Lord placed a great responsibility upon the shoulders of those who possessed the truth which was the only means of salvation. It became their imperative duty to carry the Gospel to the gentiles, who would otherwise be doomed to perdition. Because of this belief, Christian missionaries set out with great zeal and devotion to spread the knowledge of the Lord's advent, and to impart the teaching of the New Testament to those who dwelt in the far corners of the earth. For the same reason, when intrepid explorers braved the unknown to discover the New World, they were accompanied by missionaries intent upon converting the gentiles to the true faith. The explorers, of course, were primarily interested in acquiring wealth and power by means of conquest; but the missionaries were interested, above all else, in saving souls.

So it came to pass that while primitive people ere enslaved, plundered and exploited by the explorers, they were offered in exchange by the missionaries the priceless gift of salvation.
     But it was not only the duty of those who belonged to the true church to convert the gentiles; it was also their responsibility to protect the faithful from the spiritual dangers of subversion by stamping out all forms of heresy. This led to the establishment of ecclesiastical courts; to the imprisonment, torture and burning of heretics; to all the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, and to religious wars; with all the suffering and devastation which these entailed.
     This medieval point of view is now steadily disappearing, although remnants of it still survive. It is being replaced by a spirit of broad religious tolerance, and by a search among those of differing religions for mutual understanding and sympathy. The prevailing temper of our day is one of impatience with sectarian bickering. In increasing numbers, men have come to realize that mutual rivalries, enmities and jealous contentions among sects greatly weaken the church and detract from its influence throughout the world. It is generally recognized, therefore, that there is a great need to cultivate a spirit of co-operation and friendship whereby the divided church may again be united in a common effort to promote the Christian faith.

     How Christian unity may be achieved, however, is by no means clear. Many still believe that there is such a thing as a true church the doctrines of which are essential to man's salvation. If this be so, how can one who belongs to the true church compromise his conscience by admitting the validity of opposing doctrines? It is possible, of course, for divergent sects, in spite of their differences, to co-operate on the basis of beliefs which they hold in common. It is also possible to compromise in regard to religious practices which are not regarded as vital. But organic unity would seem to demand the repudiation of long-established beliefs and modes of life which one or the other considers to be essential. Up to the present time this difficulty has placed strict limits on the degree of co-operation in matters of faith and ritual to which men are willing to agree.
     Nevertheless, there is a growing tendency to question the existence of any church that is true for everybody. Men, have found no objective proof of religious truth such as that which prevails in the realm of scientific knowledge. For the most part, men's faith is instilled during childhood and early youth, before the mind is prepared to judge impartially of its truth. Most people cling to the faith in which they have been brought up, and do so on the basis of emotional acceptance rather than on unbiased reason.

Because of this, religions are perpetuated from generation to generation, and gain strength from long tradition. Some cults, it is true, spring up over night in response to the appeal of an impassioned leader, only to wither and die in two or three generations. To all appearances each of these served for a time the religious needs of certain people in a way that the traditional churches had failed to do.
     All this would seem to suggest that different kinds of people require different forms of religious belief, and that a faith which is efficacious for some may be quite unacceptable to others. If so, then it would seem to follow that there is no doctrine that could be called orthodox for everyone. There is no church that can claim to possess the only saving truth; but all religions are but different paths leading to the same goal of salvation. This, then, must be true not only of Christian sects but of non-Christian religions as well. But if non-Christian religions are just as true and vital to the salvation of the gentiles as the Christian religion is for Christians, why should any effort be made to proselytize the gentiles? Would it not be doing them a disservice to insist that they accept in exchange for their own proper faith a religion that is alien to their form of mind, and to accept it only because it is best for us because more suited to our particular temperament? That the answer to such questions as these is by no means clear appears from the fact that Christians still seek to propagate their faith among the gentiles, even while they decry any claim that one's own religion is superior to that of others, and are quick to censure all those who would presume to criticize the doctrines of other churches.

     According to the teaching of the Writings, the traditional concept of what constitutes the true church of the Lord, and the modern view which denies that any such church exists, are both mistaken. They proclaim the existence of a Divine truth concerning the things of religion and spiritual life, a truth that is eternal and unchanging, one that is valid for all men in every clime and in every age. But this, they say, is not given through the decision of any ecclesiastical council; nor can it be identified with the opinion of any individual leader of religious thought. It is given solely by the Lord, and derives its sole authority from His Word. It is therefore a great mistake to conclude that because there is no scientific proof of religious truth, all religions are relative, and divergent beliefs are equally valid, each merely being adapted to the needs of various kinds of human beings.
     What, then, do the Writings teach concerning the nature of the Lord's church, or the Lord's kingdom on the earth? They teach that the church of the Lord is twofold.

It is divided into two distinct parts which are mutually interdependent. One part is called the "Church Universal," and this embraces all nations, all races, all religions in the entire world. Every human being is created for heaven and is provided the means of attaining to the life of heaven, if he wills. The opportunity to do so is not inhibited by one's heredity or by one's environment. The circumstances of one's birth or of one's education cannot deprive him of this possibility. One raised under the most primitive conditions, and one brought up in the midst of the most highly cultured society, are both under the immediate leading of the Lord, who watches over them with the same infinite mercy and with the same infinite power provides for their salvation. As the Scripture states: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither [is] His ear heavy, that it cannot hear."*
     * Isaiah 59:1.
     In this respect the modern view of the Lord's church is correct; namely, that He is present with power to uplift and save in every religion on the face of the earth. This, however, does not imply, as has been supposed, that the religious beliefs and practices of all religions are equally true. The gentiles are saved, not by means of mistaken beliefs, but solely by means of innocence; that is, of humility and willingness to be taught and led by the Lord. To quote directly from the Writings on this subject:

     "There is a general opinion that those born outside of the church, who are . . . the . . . [gentiles] or [the] heathen, cannot be saved, because not having the Word they know nothing about the Lord, and apart from the Lord there is no salvation. But that these also are saved this alone makes certain, that the mercy of the Lord is universal; that is, [it] extends to every individual. . . . [The gentiles] equally with those [who are] within the church, who are few in comparison, are born men, and . . . their ignorance of the Lord is not their fault. Anyone who thinks from any enlightened reason can see that no man is born for hell, for the Lord is love itself, and His love is to will the salvation of all. Therefore He has provided a religion for everyone, and by it [the] acknowledgment of the Divine and interior life; for to live in accordance with one's religion is to live interiorly, since one then looks to the Divine, and as far as he looks to the Divine he does not look to the world . . . that is . . . to the life of the world, which is exterior life."*
     * HH 318

     The second part of the Lord's church is called the "Church Specific." This exists only where the Word is, and where by means of the Word the Lord is known and worshiped. It does not exist where the Word is if its teachings have been so misinterpreted that the Lord is no longer seen in it, and His law is no longer truly understood by means of it.

This falsification of the Word comes to pass at the end of every church specific, and then it ceases to be the specific church of the Lord. A new church must then arise, based on a new revelation from the Lord, whereby the true knowledge of the Lord and of His law is restored.
     The Church Specific is founded on the acknowledgment of the Word as the only source of Divine and authoritative religious truth. This is the "rock" to which the Lord referred, when He said to Peter: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."* To found a church on the decision of any council or on the pronouncement of any man is to found it upon the sand. The truth of the Word must come to each individual directly from the pages of Divine revelation, and thus immediately from the Lord. This is what is meant by the Lord when He says: "I am the door of the sheep . . . I am the door; by Me if any man shall enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and [shall] find pasture."** He is the "door," not only for those who belong to the Church Specific, but also for those who belong to the Church Universal, as is clear from the Lord's words: "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, one Shepherd."***
     * Matthew 16: 18.
     ** John 10: 7, 9.
     *** John 10:16.
     There is one Divine truth by which alone man can be saved; and the Lord has power to bring all men to see that truth, and to acknowledge it from the heart, as far as they are willing to be led and taught by Him.

     Now, of course, the Word is always subject to human interpretation. Without interpretation it cannot be understood. But it must be constantly borne in mind that all human interpretations are subject to error. They possess no authority whatsoever in themselves. Whatever authority they exercise must be derived from the Word; that is, from the fact that they are found, on examination, to be in accord with the plain teaching of the Word. Even then it must be recognized that they are only a partial and imperfect presentation of the infinite truth which resides in the Word itself. For this reason they must be continually corrected, broadened, and gradually perfected by further study of the Word, and by a deeper insight into the true meaning of what the Lord says. They are never to be regarded as a final authority, even though meantime we must live according to them because they are the best we are capable of understanding at the present time.

     From this it is clear that the medieval concept of the church was correct in this, that there are such things as orthodox beliefs and that these are to be sought and discovered in the Word perpetually. By these beliefs the Specific Church of the Lord is distinguished from all other religious bodies. The error of the medieval view lay, not in proclaiming the necessity for a Divine and Unalterable truth, but only in supposing that this Divine truth was identical with human interpretations - either those of ecclesiastical councils or those of outstanding leaders of religious thought.
     Furthermore, the Writings teach that these two parts of the Lord's church, the Church Universal and the Church Specific, are mutually interdependent. Neither can exist without the other. This is because the entire church, inclusive of both these parts, is one in the sight of the Lord and is compared to a greater man. In this man the Church Specific is compared to the heart and lungs, while the Church Universal is compared to the body, the life of which depends upon the heart and lungs. Of course, it is equally true that without the protection of the body the heart and lungs could not exist; still less could they perform their vital functions. Concerning this we read:

     "The case with the church is the same as with man himself, in that there are in him two fountains of life, namely, the heart and the lungs. It is known that the first of . . . [man's] life is the heart, and that the second of his life is the lungs, and that from these two fountains . . . [are] all things . . . [of man's life], both in general and in particular. The heart of the Gorand Man (that is, of heaven and the church) is constituted of those who are in love to the Lord and in love toward the neighbor, thus abstractedly from persons [it consists] of charity and love of the Lord. And the lungs in the Gorand Man (that is, in heaven and the church) are constituted of those who from the Lord are in charity toward the neighbor and from this in faith, and thus, abstractedly from persons, [it consists] of charity and faith from the Lord. But all the other viscera and members in this Gorand Man are constituted of those who are in external goods and truths, thus, abstractedly from persons, [they consist] of the external goods and truths through which internal goods and truths can be brought in. As then the heart first flows into the lungs and through these into the members and viscera of the body, so likewise the Lord flows through the good of love into internal truths, and through these into external truths and goods. From all this it can be seen that there must by all means be a church on earth; and that without it the human race would perish, because it would be like a dying man, when the heart and lungs ceased to be moved. Wherefore it is provided by the Lord that there shall always be a church on earth in which the Lord has been revealed by the Divine truth which is from Him; and on our earth this Divine truth is the Word."*
     * AC 9276: 6, 7.

     It is our purpose, therefore, to examine in future classes, first the nature of the Church Universal-how it arose, how it serves the Lord in the work of human salvation, and how it contributes what is essential to the life of the Church Specific.

Later we intend to consider the nature of the Church Specific-how it comes into being, how it grows, and how it serves as the heart and lungs of the Church Universal. Finally, we would consider the distinctive nature and quality of the New Church-how it differs from all the specific churches that have preceded it, and why it has been called the "crown of all the churches that have hitherto existed on the earth."
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1972

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES Editor 1972

The April-June 1971 issue of THE NEW PHILOSOPHY, published last month, is devoted entirely to "An Inquiry into Aesthetics" by Professor E. Bruce Glenn. Originating as a series of six lectures presented to the Educational Council of the General Church in 1965, the material is now offered "hopefully [as] the kernel from which a full-scale study will be made for the use of the New Church and its fledgling culture, in the form of a book." The resulting discussions affirm the need for a New Church aesthetic as a branch of its distinctive philosophy and attempt an outline of what its features may be. Professor Glenn believes that the arts-by which he means those activities and objects which have for their end the awakening of a responsive delight in the imagination through the ordering of sensory images of various kinds-have a unique place in the mind and in society, in that they play a significant role in the development of the spirit which is the real man. The development of this idea makes for fascinating reading, and we recommend these discussions as we look forward to the book to which they are leading.

A recent issue of the NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER contains a statement. "Urbana College and the Swedenborgian Church," which will repay a careful reading with a view to seeing how far there may be agreement with what the Academy understands by New Church education. "The church," we are told, "has no desire to proselytize students" or "control details of the academic process"; and "the college seeks to provide an educational setting which encourages each student to examine values, to search for meaning" - with "an emphasis on independent thought." Rightly understood, these are worthy objectives: but we find here no hint of the unity that binds all truth into one; that might be expected to be reflected in the affirmations of a church and a related school; and that should guide the independent search for values and meaning.

PROPRIUM OF MAN 1972

PROPRIUM OF MAN Rev. AARON B. ZUNGU 1972

     (Delivered at the Ministers' Meetings of the South African Mission, Winter 1971.)

     The proprium of man is what is proper to him. It means what is his own. But strictly speaking, the Lord alone has proprium, and this proprium of the Lord is life, which He gives to man who either receives or rejects it. This proprium the Lord gave to the man of the Most Ancient Church, together with the appearance that it was his own. On this we read in Arcana 149: 2: " . . . The Lord alone has proprium. . . . The Lord's proprium is life . . . . " In the Writings the proprium which the Lord gives to man is called the heavenly proprium, and Swedenborg describes it in these words: "Someone wanted to give me his all, so that he would have nothing left for himself, and thus I should have his proprium. Hence it was insinuated how the case is with the heavenly proprium from the Lord, namely, that from the Divine love He continually wills to give what is His to man, and does give it in so far as man can receive."*
     * SD min. 4681
     The Lord gives His proprium to man with the appearance that it is man's own, for it would be intolerable for man to live continually with the knowledge that he had no life of his own; he could not be said to be truly happy. Still, he must acknowledge that he has no proprium of himself, no life of himself, and that all life flows in from the Lord. This the men of the Most Ancient Church did. For this reason they called the Lord alone "Man."* This, then, was the heavenly proprium which the Lord gave to man and which is said to belong to the Lord alone.
     * AC 49.
     Nevertheless there are things which can be said to be proper to man, to distinguish them from those which are of the Lord's proprium. For in Arcana 8 we read: "The second state is when a distinction is made between those things which are of the Lord, and those things which are proper to man. The things which are of the Lord are called in the Word 'remains,' and here are especially knowledges of faith . . . ." Here we would first consider man's first proprium, received from the Lord by the celestial man.

     "The Most Ancient Church had the knowledge of true faith by means of revelations, for they conversed with the Lord and with angels, and were also instructed by visions and dreams which were most delightful and paradisal to them. They had from the Lord continual perception, so that when they reflected on what was treasured up in the memory they instantly perceived whether it was true and good, in so much that when anything false presented itself they not only avoided it but even regarded it with horror; such also is the state of the angels."*
     * AC 125

     This perception of the true and the good inflowed from the Lord. Only such things inflow from the Lord who is the source of all good and truth. But it must flow into something, and this something can only be from the world-the natural of his will and of the understanding. There this life from the Lord vivified and gave life to the things of the natural man when the natural man received it, and although the natural of man was in itself dead, and had no life in itself, it became the external of that which flowed in from the Lord, and was therefore good from that internal. What was from the Lord became the internal, and what was from the body and the world the external. For this reason the proprium of the natural man can be said to have been good for the reason that it was the containant of what was the Lord's. Indeed: "the heavenly marriage is . . . in the proprium; and the proprium vivified by the Lord is called His bride and wife. The proprium thus vivified by the Lord has a perception of all the good of love and the truth of faith; and thus has all wisdom and intelligence conjoined with ineffable happiness."*
     * AC 155
     Such was the proprium with the celestial man; and "the quality of this vivified proprium . . . is that the angels [and the same can be said of the celestial man] perceive that they live from the Lord although when they do not reflect they know no otherwise than that they live from themselves . . . . [This proprium is meant by] a woman shall compass a man for the proprium is such that it encompasses, as a rib made flesh encompasses the heart."* This woman is what has been referred to above as the bride and wife of the Lord in the marriage that takes place in the vivified proprium. The rib is the proprium of man in which there is little vitality, which proprium is dear to him. Things that are, are only loves, and when the things of the body and of the world are spoken of it is the loves that are spoken of. If this is the case, this man's proprium which is said to be vivified by the Lord's proprium with those who receive it, is none other than the love of self. This love, when in its own proper place, that is, when it is the external of the spiritual loves, is not evil, for in that case it is the servant of these spiritual loves; but when it is made the head of all the loves of heaven then life becomes perverted.
     * Ibid.

     In the third state of the Most Ancient Church this is what happened. For we read in Arcana 190: "The third state of the Most Ancient Church so desired its proprium as to love it." And, "because from the love of self they began to believe nothing that they did not apprehend by the senses, the sensuous part is represented by the 'serpent'; the love of self, or their own love, by the 'woman'; and the rational by the 'man.'"* There could be only one consequence of this state of affairs: the withdrawal of the Lord's proprium from the natural or man's proprium, leaving the latter in a state of evil; for in itself and of itself this has no good except from the Lord when it is open to heaven.
     * AC 191

     In place of the perception of the Most Ancient Church there has now succeeded the knowledge of what is good and true from what has been previously revealed, and afterwards from what was revealed in the Word. In this we note a downward trend in man's perception of the true and the good. First, a full capacity to "see" the truth; followed by a dim perception of seeing by recalling from previous revelation; and finally a dimmer one still from "seeing" from the Word. The tree in the garden of creation is this perception of the true and the good. These degrees of perception were allowable because they all came from the Lord. But why this lapse in perception from the ability to "see" the truth to perception through reading the Word?
     The celestial had a different proprium from that of later generations, beginning from the fourth posterity. This proprium was an image of the Maker; the celestial man received all for his material and spiritual body, for the Lord from His Divine love continually wills to give what is His own to man, and does give it in so far as man can receive.* But the condition for reception is that man must be willing to receive. The Lord, although He wills that all of His should be man's, does not compel man to receive it. He leaves man in freedom to receive or not to receive. This is of fundamental importance in trying to understand the causes of the changes that overtook the celestial church for the worse. For "the Lord never compels anyone . . . to think truth and do good, for everyone longs to get from non-freedom into freedom, because the latter belongs to his life."** "Thus nothing can ever be grateful to the Lord which is not from freedom, that is, which is not from what is spontaneous or voluntary; for when anyone worships the Lord from non-freedom he worships Him from nothing of his own but is moved by what is external, that is, by what is of compulsion, while what is internal is either absent altogether, or is repugnant, or is even contradictory."***
     * See SD min. 4681
     ** AC 1947.
     *** AC 1947

     Heaven is marriage. This marriage is that of love and wisdom, of good and truth, of will and understanding, and the marriage of these cannot take place except in freedom. Therefore the worship of the Lord, which is the life of these, cannot exist unless there is freedom. The Most Ancient Church was in this freedom. Throughout all the ages the burden of the Lord has been to restore this freedom whenever it has been threatened among the human race. Man cannot love anything without freedom to choose, and choosing is of freedom; and he cannot choose anything unless he is free to choose one thing from another. So we can see that man's life has its seat in freedom. On account of this man was permitted the act of taking with his hands the fruit of the tree of the garden, after the Lord had provided him with all. Taking with the hands is the "earnest" of the will. What we will we love, and love is ultimated in the action of the hand. At a certain point in the life of the Most Ancient Church, man abused this freedom; this was unfortunate although foreseen.
     We read in Arcana 633:

     "With no man is there any understanding of truth and will of good, not even with those who were of the Most Ancient Church. But when men became celestial it appears as if they had a will of good and an understanding of truth, and yet this is of the Lord alone, as they also know, acknowledge and perceive. So it is with the angels also. So true is this that whoever does not know, acknowledge and perceive that it is so, has no understanding of truth or will of good whatever. But as far as a man or an angel is capable of being perfected, so far of the Lord's Divine mercy he is perfected, and receives as it were an understanding and a will of good; but his having these is an appearance."

     In description of the perceptive state of mind of the celestial man we read in Genesis 2: 9: "And out of the ground made Jehovah God to grow every tree desirable to behold, and good for food; the tree of lives in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." These trees are the kinds of perception: "desirable to behold" is the perception of truth; "good for food" is the perception of good; and "in the midst the tree, of lives," love and faith which result from the conjunction of good and truth, and therefore is said to be in the midst. But there was another tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree is the faith derived from what is sensuous, or from mere memory knowledge.

     The celestial man discerns that the Lord is the life of all and gives power to think and act, for he perceives that it is really so. He never desires his proprium. Nevertheless a proprium is given him by the Lord which is conjoined with all perception of what is good and true, and with all happiness. In the proprium of the angels are those things which are the Lord's who governs them by means of their proprium.*
     * AC 141
     Such was the perfect state of the celestial man-seeing the truth, seeing the good, and able to distinguish between what was true and what was false; for "when anything presented itself that was false they not only avoided it, but even regarded it with horror." This means that they loved the things of life which inflowed from the Lord, and turned toward them. For it is a law of life that we turn toward the things we love, and turn away from what we do not love. What we turn away from must be the opposite of what we turn to, either diametrically or to some degree. This is on account of the freedom given man by the Lord, which is all from the love of good."*
     * AC 891.

     This means that when the Lord gave man the love of good He at the same time gave him freedom, for love cannot exist without freedom, as freedom is being free to choose between more than one thing. This choice is between turning to the Lord to receive of Him, and so turning from the things of sense which are of the world and the body, and turning to the things of sense to receive of them and so turning away from the Lord. And there came a time when the men of the Most Ancient Church chose the latter, and the senses and the memory became the only source whence man could receive the life of his spirit. It is said "of the spirit," because this excludes the life of his soul, which resides in his inmost. But the correct order was that the things of the senses in him should enclose within them the things from the Lord, and that the two should remain in correspondential relationship in him, and not be separated. However, the man of the Most Ancient Church separated the two by loving the things of sense more than those from the Lord, and thus, by means of such loving, turned to the things of sense and the world, and away from those of the Lord.
     He did this from free choice, as has been said. This process of inverting the order of these loves continued from the fourth posterity of the Most Ancient Church to the seventh, when the inversion reached its fullest. In the original state of the celestial the Lord's proprium was encased in man's proprium, which it vivified and made one with it, by passing through that which was of man, illuminating it, governing it, being the all in it, and giving it the appearance of being man's own, in his understanding and will.*

This is also called a "deep sleep," and on this we read:
     * AC 633

     "With no man is there any understanding of truth and will of good, not even with those who were of the Most Ancient Church. But when men became celestial it appears as if they had a will of good and understanding of truth, and yet this is of the Lord alone, as they also know and acknowledge and perceive."*
     * Ibid.

     We should distinguish between the faculty of the will and the will of good and the faculty of understanding and the understanding of truth. For the faculties were created by the Lord and given to man as free gifts. These faculties extend throughout his spiritual body and make the man himself-his mind, apart from the corporeal. Of this the Writings have this to say: "Thus will and understanding constitute the mind."* "For the willing is the man himself . . . . From his willing he derives nature and disposition."** So while man is in no knowledge otherwise than in that he has a heavenly proprium that is his, he is said to be in a deep sleep; for then he "knows not but that he lives, thinks, speaks and acts from himself."***
     *AC 116
     **AC 379:2.
     *** AC 147.
     It is a truth that nothing that man has is really his own. It is the sensuous in this case which man turned to look at as though it were his own, and then was let down into the appearance that it was his own. This sensuous he had before he turned it into his own, as we have seen; for in the description of the celestial man above we are told that he had perception of good and truth from the Lord, then faith derived from what is sensuous. All this was the state of the celestial man in which there was nothing of the proprium as we understand it today. But this faith derived from the sensuous man made his own,, and the Lord permitted him the appearance that it was his own. For "the worldly and corporeal man says in his heart, if I am not instructed concerning the faith and everything relating to it by means of the things of sense, so that I may see, or by means of those of the memory, so that I may understand, I will not believe."*
     We read also:
     * AC 128.

     "As man, as to his proprium, is such, therefore the Lord from His Divine mercy has provided the means by which he may be withdrawn from his proprium; these means are furnished in the Word, and when man acts in accordance with them, that is, when he thinks and speaks, wills and acts, from the Divine Word, then he is kept by the Lord in things Divine, and is thus withdrawn from his proprium. And as he perseveres in this course, as it were, a new proprium as well voluntary as intellectual, which is altogether separated from his old proprium, is formed in him by the Lord."*
     * AE 583:3.

     We read further: "Those in the loves of self and the world love nothing except their proprium. But those in love to the Lord and towards the neighbor are held in the Lord's proprium."*
     * AE 758:2.
     We are now dealing with a new proprium with the regenerating man. This proprium is different from the original one given to the man of the celestial church. It is different from what is called the proprium of the Lord alone which shone through the things of the world and the body with the Most Ancient Church. This proprium is acquired by the regenerating man by means of a life according to the truths of faith, a life in which the Lord speaks to man in his conscience by means of His Word. It is the nature of his will acquired by a life according to the truths of faith.
     This became necessary because man had separated the will and the understanding. This separation took place, not because the Lord had so desired, but because the Lord had to permit it in order that man might not perish eternally. For this separation was the result of man's loving the things of self and the world more than the Lord, and eventually turning himself to them of his own free will. It was said that we either turn what is our own to the Lord or to the world. So when man had turned completely to the world and self he turned away from the Lord, and so lived a life of having turned away from Him, a life of not receiving from Him, which cut off the Lord's life that had been flowing into him. This was the separating of the will and the understanding. For the Lord had been flowing into man by way of his will and the understanding of good and truth was of that will. But when the willing of good no longer took place, still, the faculty of the understanding was left intact. It was like changing the essence of man while retaining his human form, although that form in the course of time became perverted, although it could still be reformed.
     The efficacy of the doctrine of the "as-if-of-oneself" found in the doctrine of regeneration throughout the Writings when they are referring to the fight against evils is, of the Lord's mercy, of the utmost importance. Man must fight evils as if of himself, because it is not true that he himself is doing the fighting, but he cannot begin to fight unless he does so as if of himself, which is an appearance and, as has been said, the "earnest" of the will to be saved. Yet he must believe that it is the Lord who fights for him.

In so doing he restores the true internal of his proprium, the proprium of the Lord, within that which seemingly is his own, and thus rectifies the inversion which was a consequence of his removal of the Lord's proprium from that which was apparently his. But this restoration is as it were forced, for it must now be operated from the outside by command of the Lord, which is that he must believe that it is of the Lord alone. This "earnest" of the will, this "as-of-oneself," is necessary, because in order that man's actions may be ascribed to him what he does he must do in freedom, because it is what he does from freedom that is of love, and the life of love is in his deeds. His sins, if he has not shunned evils as-of-himself, will be imputed to him, likewise the good deeds which he has similarly done, believing that they are done by the Lord in himself, will bring him salvation.

     In the eighteenth to the twenty-third verses of the second chapter of Genesis the Most Ancient Church, which was now inclined to lead itself, is first given to know the affections of good and knowledges of truth with which it was endowed by the Lord, but still it inclines to its proprium, wherefore it is let into a state of its proprium.* But the Lord, from His unrelenting mercy, still adjoins celestial and spiritual things to this proprium, so that they appear as a one;** and innocence from the Lord is insinuated into this proprium so that it still might not be unacceptable.*** The posterity of the Most Ancient Church was not disposed to dwell alone, that is, to be a celestial man, for the celestial man is led by the Lord and is not infested by evil spirits.**** They desired "a help as with him (Genesis 2: 18)," by which is signified man's proprium.***** It would have to be "as with him" because it would have the appearance that it was his own. Finally, we are told that at last Jehovah God "took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in the place thereof," by which rib is meant man's proprium in which there was little vitality, a proprium dear to him. This proprium had little vitality because a bone signifies the viler things of the body because they have the minimum of vitality, but by flesh is signified that which has vitality.
     * See AC 132-134.
     ** See AC 135.
     *** See AC 136.
     **** See AC 139.
     ***** See AC 140.
     Of this proprium of man we read in the Writings:

     "The proprium of man when viewed from heaven appears like a something that is wholly bony, inanimate, and very ugly, consequently as being in itself dead, but when vivified by the Lord it looks like flesh. For man's proprium is a mere dead thing, although to him it appears as something, indeed as everything.

Whatever lives in him is from the Lord's life, and if this were withdrawn he would fall down as dead as a stone; for man is only an organ of life, and such as is the organ, such is the life's affection. The Lord alone has proprium; by this proprium He redeemed man, and by this proprium He saves him. The Lord's proprium is life, and from His proprium man's proprium, which in itself is dead, is made alive . . . ."*
      * AC 149:2

     On the subject of the woman, it is not said that she was "created," "formed" or "made," but "built," because to build in the Word here means to raise up that which is fallen, and in this sense it is used in the Word where to build is predicated of evils.* We read in the Arcana:
      * See AC 153.

     "Nothing evil and false is ever possible which is not man's own and from man's proprium, for the proprium of man is evil itself, consequently man is nothing but evil and falsity. This has been evident to me from the fact that when the things of man's proprium are presented to view in the world of spirits, they appear so deformed that it is impossible to depict anything more ugly . . . so that he to whom the things of the proprium are visibly exhibited is struck with horror, and desires to flee from himself as from a devil. But truly the things of man's proprium that have been vivified by the Lord appear beautiful and lovely, with variety to the life to which the celestial of the Lord can be applied. . . ."*
      * AC 154

     All the means of man's salvation by the Lord are for the purpose of preserving the marriage of the Lord with man. For there can be nothing without marriage, for heaven is a marriage of good and truth. Man had need to have his proprium vivified by the Lord. When his proprium has been so vivified he then has perception of all the good of love and the truth of faith. The heavenly marriage is such that heaven and the church are united in the Lord through the proprium in so much that it is in the proprium; for without proprium there is no union, and when the Lord insinuates innocence, peace and good into the proprium it then still appears as proprium, but heavenly and most happy. The difference between the heavenly and angelic proprium which is from the Lord and the infernal and diabolical proprium which is from self is like that between heaven and hell.* In the heavenly and angelic proprium the proprium encompasses the Lord's as in marriage.**
     * See AC 252.
     ** See AC 268.
     Man had now acquired a proprium which gradually declined in its nature, and which continued to decline by means of a life of evil; for in thinking from the sensuous he induced on himself a nature which grew by practice.* This change was passed on to his posterity. With the proprium completely turned away from heaven, a separation of the will and the understanding was complete, because the inflowing celestial from the Lord could no longer bridge man's proprium and the Lord's proprium.

So this way was closed not only in man, but particular intercourse by influx between man and the spiritual world through the spirits in whom this separation had taken place was cut off.** There remained only this channel opened to the world-the channel of the external man who must be instructed in the understanding that it may be reformed and regenerated, and this as of self in the most external operation. That the perverted man is able to reason is because of the spiritual substance by which he receives influx of life from the Lord, which is, however, perverted in such a man. This substance must be the substance of which the faculty of the understanding is made, and is in his inmost. Man's proprium is evil when, being inverted, it receives its life from hell, as happened at the fall of the Most Ancient Church; and man's proprium in the celestial man was good when it received its life from the Lord through heaven without being turned. In itself what was turned up or down was the natural, neither evil without its evil content nor good without its heavenly content.
* See AC 313.
** See AC 3399.
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE RATIONAL 1972

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE RATIONAL Rev. WILLARD L. D. HEINRICHS 1972

     Almost everyone who has attained adulthood likes to think of himself as rational. Indeed, to be called irrational is an insult that is often more difficult to accept than to be called evil. There seems to be a common perception that somehow rationality is intimately bound up with being a man rather than a beast. And, from the Heavenly Doctrine, we know that this is true. Everyone has been created with the capacity to receive spiritual light, which is what is meant by rationality. The Lord teaches that "by influx of spiritual light into all three degrees of the mind, mail is distinguished from beasts; and as contrasted with beasts he can think analytically, and see both natural and spiritual truth; and when he sees them he can acknowledge them, and thus be reformed and regenerated."*
      * DLW 247
     But while it is true that all are gifted with the capacity of becoming rational, it is equally true that not all use this capacity. For there is another capacity that all men may enjoy-freedom, and with freedom, we know that men are able, if they will, to turn away from the spiritual light that inflows, are able to block it out so that only a little comes through, as light through chinks in a wall.

Men can, if they wish, abuse the rational faculty. Through the use of the ability to reason that it gives them, they can draw together fallacious appearances arising out of sensory experience, and can argue contrary to what is good and true. Thus they can reject what inflowing spiritual light reveals.* Men can ratiocinate.
     * See AE 569:15
     It is immediately apparent that having the rational faculty and being rational are two different things, and should not be confused. It is also apparent that not everyone truly deserves to be called rational. Then what does it mean to be rational? What is the rational mind as distinct from the faculty of rationality? In numberless passages the Writings define what is meant by the rational mind and describe its uses. In so doing they tell us how we may qualify as rational men and women.

     In the human soul there is inmostly what the Writings call the internal. This internal man is composed of a will which receives and is animated by the Lord's love, and an understanding which receives the Lord's wisdom. It is forever above man's consciousness, yet the love and wisdom which it receives immediately from the Lord forever seek to inflow and find expression in man's conscious affection and thought, especially in the acts and speech of his natural or external man.
     The external or natural man, however, which is below, while it receives its animating life from within, tends to look to or respond to things which affect it from without. It, too, has a will and thought, but this will and thought tend to be wholly absorbed with worldly knowledge and with selfish and worldly affections and delights. This is the case especially since the decline of the Most Ancient Church among men when the external became progressively perverted. And we should note that until adulthood the external man is the only plane in which we have consciousness.

     Between the internal and the external man, the Lord has provided for an intermediate, called the interior or rational man. This rational man, or rational mind, is said to be the medium between the internal and external man. It is the means whereby the unconscious celestial and spiritual things in man's internal can be communicated to the external and there be perceived with delight. The rational, the doctrine teaches, is in the same relation to the internal and external man at this day, as is the world of spirits to heaven above, and hell below. Thus the rational can look upward and act with the internal, and from thence think about, reflect upon, and understand spiritual and celestial things, truths and goods, and thereby become spiritual or celestial, unlike beasts, or it can think about, reflect upon, and comprehend worldly and bodily things only, looking downward, and leave man in an animal-like state.

The rational mind can direct itself either way, because it is in freedom. It is held in equilibrium by the Lord between the sphere of heaven and the sphere of hell. If the rational, however, turns toward the natural only, becoming a servant of the latter's irrational lusts, it remains in fallacies and falsities and does not properly serve its use as the means of communicating the things of the internal man to the external. It does not relate internal things to external. Thus it can not be truly said to be rational.
It becomes very clear that if our rational mind is to deserve the title of "rational," it must not be either a servant to, or totally preoccupied with, merely worldly, external affections and thoughts. If it does it will reason only from fallacies and falsities, of which only ratiocination can be predicated. No, our rational mind must look upward and enter into its appointed use as a servant of the internal-the Lord with us. It must be especially concerned with what is spiritually good and true. It is then that our rational can begin its appointed use in the reformation and regeneration of the external man-can begin to become wise.
At this point we might pause and ask ourselves, "What is the key concept in being rational? Is it not to see the ratio between one thing and another, perceive the relationship between them, relate the two." If this be true, then the first thing of rational wisdom is for us as men to perceive correctly the ratio between the Lord and ourselves. When we reflect upon the truths that the Lord has revealed concerning Himself in the Word, we discover that there is no real ratio except that of the infinite or unlimited author of life itself, to the finite or limited receptacle of life. It is perceived that the Lord is the all in all things and we are nothing in comparison. We discover that we are related as Creator and created, as the source of all good and truth and blessedness therefrom and the receiver of good and truth and blessedness therefrom. It is here that we might pause and again employ the rational to see if with us the relationship just described is as it should be. Yes, the Lord is the source of all good and truth. And, yes, we are created to receive this good and truth and thence blessedness. But are we receiving these things in our internal and external man? Especially should we examine the external man to see if our everyday conscious loves and thoughts are in accord with what is good and true from God, so that according to His Divine will He can bless our life with heavenly peace and delight from Himself. Here is another cardinal use of the rational-seeing whether our relationship to the Lord is as it should be on all planes of life. Are the good of the Lord's love and the truth of the Lord's wisdom that are imparted to the internal man, inflowing unobstructed into the rational and thence into the external, ordering all things according to Divine order?

The honest man who employs his rational will see that this is not the case. He will see that much in his external, rather than being properly related to the internal and thus to the Lord, is actually related to them only by opposition-that his external is in evil and falsity rather than in good and truth. It is separated from the internal. The honest man will then see that to a great degree he has failed to use his rational as the means of communication between the internal and external. He will see that the further work of the rational, which is not only to communicate but to conjoin or unite the two, has been barely undertaken.
     The Heavenly Doctrine makes it very clear that this latter use of conjoining the internal and the external must be undertaken by our rational mind if there is to be any regeneration, thus any hope of entering heaven. Our rational mind must not just be content to view the truth, understand it, and acknowledge that it is so. We must be affected by the truth so as to will that it be done. Since the external is opposed to this as being contrary to its selfish and worldly pleasures, the rational must also be used to discipline and subjugate the external. And the Writings assure us that we can use our rational in this manner, because the rational is in freedom by reason of the equilibrium in which the Lord has placed it. Further, being on a plane above the external or natural man, it can look down into the natural mind and see what is taking place therein. Moreover, the Writings say; "they who have conscience do this and are accustomed to do it, for when anything contrary to the truths of conscience flows into the thought, or into the endeavor of the will', they not only perceive it, but they also find fault with it; and it grieves them to be of such a character."* A later passage in the same work confirms the above and further enlarges the use of the rational. There it is said that
     * AC 1914

.

     "it is to be known concerning the rational in general that it is said to receive life, to be in the womb, and to be born, when the man begins to think that the evil and falsity in himself is that which contradicts and is opposed to the truth and good, and still more is this the case when he wills to remove and subjugate this evil and falsity. Unless he can perceive and become sensible of this, he has no rational, however much he may imagine that he has. For the rational is the medium that unites the internal man with the external, and thereby perceives from the Lord what is going on in the external man, and reduces the external man to obedience, nay, elevates it from corporeal and earthly things in which it immerses itself, and causes the man to be a man, and to look to heaven to which be belongs by birth; and not as do brute animals, solely to the earth in which he is merely a sojourner, still less to hell. These are the offices of the rational, and therefore a man cannot be said to have any rational unless be is such that he can think in this manner; and whether the rational is coming into existence is known from his life in his use and function."*
      * AC 1944. [Italics added]

     The closing statement of the above passage reminds us of the ultimate purpose of the rational mind. While we are using our rational mind to see what the proper relationship is between truths and life, and then instituting this relationship for the sake of our own regeneration, we should not forget the final end for which the rational was formed -the willing well and doing well to others for the upbuilding of the Lord's kingdom. This means that we must seek to perceive in the light of spiritual truth what our proper relationship should be to our fellow man, and then set about establishing this relationship. It will mean that we will reflect upon and develop that kind of life in our use or function which best serves the spiritual welfare of the neighbor. It will mean that we seek to relate civil and moral precepts properly in all our dealings with other people.
     In short, we may say that he who is truly rational, is he who sees in the light of revealed truth how he is presently related to his Lord and to his fellow man, who sees wherein this relationship, from evil and falsity in himself, departs from what is a good and true relationship, and who then, from his internal man, from the Lord, sets about improving and perfecting the relationship.
     In order to do this a man must first, through study of the Word, through preachings, and so forth, instruct his rational in the knowledge of what is true and good and thence moral and civil. He must seek to see things in their proper series and order, that is, from first things or from ends, through mediates or causes, to ultimate things or to effects. And the Lord, we are assured, has endowed the rational of each man in his own measure with the ability to dispose analytically, discuss, separate, and conjoin, and at last conclude things, even to the ulterior end; and at last to the ultimate, which is the use which he loves.*
     * See AE 569:6.
     But still, in the last analysis, as we know, it is not the knowledge of the truth and the acuteness of our thought in accordance with it which determine the quality of our rational mind. We become rational only to the degree in which we are internally affected by the truths and goods of the Lord's Word-to the degree that we humbly submit to them, thus will and do them, or relate them to our life. When our rational is formed in this manner it becomes as the good earth in the parable of the sower on which the seed of the Divine Sower fell and yielded fruit, some a hundred, and some sixty, and some thirty fold.*
     * Matthew 13:8.

LAUREL LEAF ACADEMY 1972

LAUREL LEAF ACADEMY Various 1972

     A Heavy Schedule, But a Happy, Healthy One

     To appreciate what has happened at Laurel Leaf Academy 1971, take a risk: Try to communicate in one word "where your head is"- share a precious part of yourself with someone you have reservations about. Be gratified that that person is interested and interesting. Be caught up by the charitable and open sphere generated by the response to Mr. Soneson's communications course.
     Then, think about it. Were those first three days for real? Or was it artificial, a phony structure breeding phony reactions? Each of us had to decide, and there were still five days left for making discoveries.
     Imagine yourself in a beautiful campground in western Pennsylvania: a green grass carpet spread on rolling hills with rough wood cabins scattered about, and tall, protecting trees growing singly or in colony. What better place to spend hours on end reading, talking, discovering people, religion yourself? Not all your time would be spent in contemplation and conversation, though. There is a time and place for everything, and that includes work.
     After an early "jog in the fog" (elective for the physically fit and those who wish to become so), you would be involved in three consecutive classes, very interesting and with lots of discussion: Divine Providence (Rev. Frank S. Rose); Communications (Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson); Natural and Spiritual Worlds (Rev. Daniel W. Goodenough); and Rites and Sacraments (Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh). After a delicious lunch, everyone could head for his favorite location for a period of resting, reading, and reflecting. Would you believe volleyball, hikes, swimming, horseshoes, frisbee, football, and you-name-it during recreation time (thank you, Ceddy Cranch) might overlap? Dorothy Rhodes might even gather her heavenly choir for a practice. A late afternoon class would be one way to stimulate conversation at dinner, but it wouldn't really be necessary: excellent cuisine provides topic enough, and talk might stretch all the way up to evening worship which could be held around a campfire outside.
     If you think the routine might get monotonous, never fear. Later in the week some changes might occur, such as Bishop Acton's arrival in time to present a stimulating class on the Glorification of the Lord; or Rev. Robert S. Junge might drop by to discuss his compilation of passages from the Writings, "Human Prudence and the Love of Offspring"; or maybe Dr. James Pendleton could come to talk about "Psychiatry and the New Church."

On the lighter side, you may be lucky enough to see the Chief Leaf's imitation of a golf ball, a demonstration of banjo technique by Ed Lee III, or to hear some children of Laurel reveal their feelings and impressions to their assembled peers. Then again, if you'd like to gain more appreciation of nature, take a hike to the hemlock grove for an afternoon worship service, partake of the Holy Supper before a natural stone altar, or wake before dawn for a sunrise confirmation service on the brow of a hill, with strong mountains off in the distance; in few other surroundings could so many people feel so close to the Lord and to each other.
     And when you've traveled the path of the week, examine what you have: newly acquired knowledges, just-formed friendships, better understanding of yourself, a stronger love for the Lord. . . .
     Is that enough to make you come to Laurel '72?                                                                                                    DONNA ZEITZ

     An Impression

     Having been part of the 1st Laurel Leaf Academy, I find it hard to capsulize my feelings. Nothing quite like this has ever happened to the church or myself before. This was a new and wonderful event! If there can be such a forum for the New Church minds annually there need be no concern for the solidarity of our church.
     To me, the posture of our church is changing and improving-youth can and must acquire its traditions from its "parents" or peers and make them their own. I would say there existed a sphere in which we were beginning to understand rationally and perceive the truths of the Writings.
     Times change. Many wondrous new areas and ideas are now ours to discover and use.
     "Laurel Leaf" was conceived as a forum where young minds of the church could meet in a friendly camp atmosphere and consider matters of their religion and church. The roster was very well prepared. There was an avenue of formal thought and ideas from the "Laurel Leaf" faculty. Bishop Acton gave a series of four thorough addresses on the Glorification. It was an optional series which nearly everyone attended. There were several useful addresses by capable speakers on current topics of interest to anyone who is a part of the 70's - or perhaps wanting to understand his part of the seventies so that he may be of real use.
     Whether by design or providence, there seemed to exist a rather unusual atmosphere for a "New Church" experience.

Each person came to feel the strengthening experience of being together and sharing oneself with others freely. Our ages ranged from 8 weeks to 8 decades! It strikes me as no mere coincidence that the age span was so great. Something historically significant has happened to the General Church here! Next time someone begins to talk to you about Laurel Leaf, listen very closely, maybe you, too, would like to be part of something like this. Then we could do it as a 1000 rather than a 100 people!
     The Revs. Frank Rose, Larry Soneson, Kurt Asplundh and Dan Goodenough offered informal classes on different matters of religion. Mr. Rose chose topics from Divine Providence. Mr. Soneson conducted a most interesting series of experiments in Communication as understood in the light of the Writings. Mr. Asplundh spoke concerning the two sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper. Mr. Goodenough gave us his thoughts on matters relating to the Spiritual World and the many phenomena that may affect natural events in our lives. More than the classes, either generally or specifically, there was a tremendous existential unity - a oneness of being together to consider, compare and contest each others ideas on many matters. It was a very special way of feeling for all of us.

     Another important aspect of the camp's success was the leisure-recreation area of the week. There was much leisure time so we had the necessary hours we needed to be alone to deal with matters inside ourselves. Being together in the area of recreation was most rewarding; done properly dining can and should be a social experience. There was enough good food! We shared many fine meals. In charge of catering, Mr. Gilbert Smith was untiring in his efforts to please one and all. Mr. Smith's ability was not confined to the kitchen - he was in fine form on "Talent Night" and delighted all of us with his antics.
     Those of us who arrived early for breakfast had the privilege of eating in the kitchen, where we thoroughly enjoyed the company of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and their cheerful assistants John and Joan Alden.
     Always there are many who are not in the limelight but do their work behind the scenes quietly and unobtrusively. Many connected with Laurel Leaf fell into this category. Here we would credit Messrs. Tom Andrews and Jan Junge who were in charge of Publicity. Terry Horigan and Wellesley Rose did a good job in their versatile capacity.
     Much preparatory work is required long before the actual "opening day" and Mr. John Rose excelled in this capacity with the aid of the computer. During the week Mr. Rose also gave a visual lecture on the uncanny workings of this electronic brain.

     The unique experience of Laurel Leaf was the outdoor worship; in the eight days together we worshipped in no fewer than four different locations. Dress was completely casual. The act of worship was a most unifying and profound experience. This is, I feel, a vast new and exciting area open to us in the church.
     Turning to a more personal note, my wife Margo and I were confirmed on the last Sunday, at a beautiful sunrise ceremony on a misty and magical morning. I "came through" that week-for the first time reacting emotionally to my religion. I also feel that our act of faith symbolized what many of us present had come to feel.
     My week at Laurel Leaf marked what for me will, I know, be one of the highlights of my religious life. It served to make religion more of my life. A sense of religion had been communicated.
     There was thought given on the last day as to what should happen to the Laurel Leaf Academy. We unanimously decided the camp should be repeated-perhaps annually. I submit this article in the hope that many will plan to attend in 1972.
     PETER KNECHTEL
REVIEW 1972

REVIEW NORBERT H. ROGERS 1972

ARCANA CAELESTIA. By Emanuel Swedenborg. Third Latin Edition, Volume VII (nos. 8387-9442). Edited by the Rev. John E. Elliott, B.A., B.D. The Swedenborg Society (Inc.), London, 1971. Cloth. pp. 768.

     It is the source of considerable pleasure to see in print the seventh volume of the third Latin edition of the Arcana Caelestia, and to learn that the work of editing the text of the eighth and last volume is well in hand.
     Information about the third Latin edition is contained in an article by the Rev. A. Wynne Acton and in his review of Volume II in NEW CHURCH LIFE,* and also in my review of Volume V in the NEW PHILOSOPHY.** Further description of the third Latin edition at this time would be redundant. The following historical note, however, appearing on the reverse of the title page of the volume under review, deserves quoting here.
     * NEW CHURCH LIFE, June 1943, p. 249; NEW CHURCH LIFE, February 1953, p. 79.
     ** NEW PHILOSOPHY, 1962 No. 1, p. 25.

     "Volumes I-IV of the third Latin edition of 'Arcana Caelestia' were edited by the late Rev. P. H. Johnson, B.A., B.Sc., assisted by the late Rev. E. C. Mongredien. Volume V was edited by the Rev. E. C. Mongredien, assisted by the Rev. Erik Sandstrom, B.Th. Volume VI was edited by the Rev. John E. Elliott, B.A., B.D., assisted by the Rev. Norman Ryder and the Rev. Erik Sandstrom, and Volume VII has been edited by the Rev. John E. Elliott, assisted by the Rev. Norman Ryder.

The Rev. P. H. Johnson had also examined and made notes on the whole of Volumes V-VIII, and the Rev. E. C. Mongredien was preparing Volume VI when ill-health compelled him to retire from the work."

     Volume VII, like its predecessors, displays the high standard of careful scholarship that has become the hallmark of the Swedenborg Society's work. It is a standard of excellence that is gratifying to students of the Writings and reassuring to all in the New Church.
     In preparing the text the editor compared the texts of the first Latin edition, the second Latin or Tafel edition, and a manuscript draft or autograph not previously available, the objective being to arrive at the most complete and reliable text possible. All variants in any of the texts, mostly in the autograph, even the slightest, are indicated in foot notes. These footnotes make the third Latin edition of particular value, although the annoying practice is continued of occasionally having a footnote referring the reader back to a footnoted comment made in an earlier part of the work instead of repeating the comment each time it is appropriate. However, it must be said, in my survey of this volume I did not find a reference to a footnote in some other volume, a thing I have found particularly annoying in Volume V, for instance.
     All the variants indicated in Volume VII that I noted are minor, being such things as transpositions of words and phrases or the use of accepted alternate spellings of words.
     On occasion the editor makes changes in the text, all those examined being of minor import and having been made with good reason. For example (the significant words have been italicized in this review to highlight them): in n. 8573 in the quotation from Exodus 17: 4, "Et clamavit Moscheh ad Jehovam, dicendo" - And Moses cried to Jehovah, saying - the dicendo has been added by the editor to bring the quotation in line with the same one given just before in n. 8572. In n. 8532 there is the clause, "quod sit in praesentia Divini" - that it may be in the presence of the Divine; in the other two Latin editions and in the autograph the phrase is "in praesentia Divina" - in the Divine presence; the editor has changed the feminine ablative Divina to the neuter genitive Divini to make it agree with the phrase as given in n. 8532, where the same clause is found.

     There is quite a number of other examples of editing changes made for the like reason. No such change, however, has been made in n. 8450 where, in quoting Exodus 16: 14, which has to do with the giving of manna, there is the clause "Et desiit posito roris" - And the deposit of dew ceased; whereas later in the number, when the summary phrase by phrase exposition is given, and at the beginning of the chapter, where the whole of Exodus 16 is given, we read in v. 14 "Et ascendit posito roris" - And the deposit of dew went up.

The same wording is found in n. 8456, where the clause is again given. All this is in keeping with what is written in both the first Latin and the Tafel editions. A footnote in the third edition tells us that in the autograph, when first writing out Exodus 16: 14, Swedenborg originally wrote descendit. This he deleted and inserted ascendit and deleted it, then inserted and deleted desiit, and finally reinserted desiit. In the autograph, when he came to n. 8450, he simply indicated that Exodus 16: 14 should be entered there; but in the body of the number in 8456 he first wrote desiit, which he then changed to ascendit.
     I have dwelt on the point at some length and detail because Schmidius' Latin version of the Old Testament which we know Swedenborg used extensively, has "And the dew ceased (desiit)"; while "And the dew went up (ascendit)" is in keeping with the Hebrew wording itself of Exodus 16: 14, which Swedenborg must have consulted. It appears that when he first wrote out Exodus 16: 14, after several changes of mind, he decided to follow the Schmidius wording. This he then copied when repeating the verse at the beginning of n. 8450. But when he wrote the explication of the verse he decided to use a Latin word in keeping with the Hebrew. I surmise that in writing the clean copy for the printer Swedenborg changed desiit to ascendit when verse 14 was first written, but neglected to make a similar change in n. 8450 when the verse again is given in full.
     Another example of a footnote of more than a little interest has to do with n. 8812: 4, in connection with the phrase "qui per statas vices secundum vitam." Statas is a participle which according to Latin syntax here qualifies vices, causing the phrase to mean either "who by stated (set, regular) alternations according to their lives," or "who by alternations determined according to their lives." In his footnote the editor suggests that statas should possibly be status, the genitive singular of a noun. If so, the phrase would mean "who by alternations of state according to their lives." "Alternation of state" is certainly a familiar phrase in the Writings, and the possibility of its occurring in the number cited is worth being brought to the reader's attention.
     Many other examples could be given, but enough has been written to show with what care and detail the editor has prepared the text, how cautious he was in making changes, and that when he did so it was never of a substantive nature and never without good cause.
     Mr. John E. Elliott and his assistant, Mr. Norman Ryder, have certainly earned a "Well done!" for their work on Volume VII.
     NORBERT H. ROGERS

SWEDENBORG SOCIETY SUMMER SCHOOL ON TRANSLATING THE WRITINGS 1972

     In July of this past summer the Swedenborg Society sponsored a series of meetings between the representatives of the various organizations of the New Church who have been involved in editing or translating the Writings or who have a special interest in that work. The primary purpose of these meetings was to provide an opportunity for the Swedenborg Society to share its considerable knowledge and experience in this area of New Church scholarship. A second purpose was to provide a forum for an interchange of views and information in regard to this work looking to an improved communication and co-operation between the different branches of the Church that may be of benefit to us all.
     The idea for this School-which was held in London, at Swedenborg House, the headquarters of the Swedenborg Society - was first suggested at "The Translators' Meeting" during the World Assembly in 1970 by the Rev. Pehr H. Odhner (Nova Hierosolyma), and although Mr. Odhner was unable to attend the School himself, his idea met with immediate interest and support and was subsequently acted upon. In a very real sense, therefore, the Translators School held this year grew out of the World Assembly, and the spirit of that Assembly remained very much present throughout the sessions of the School. It was also very fitting that the School should be held at Swedenborg House under the auspices of the Swedenborg Society, for the Society has been active in producing translations of the Writings since the year 1810, and has been responsible not only for many of our English translations but also for initiating and supporting translations into many other languages throughout the world, in most of the European as well as some Asiatic and African languages.*
     * Information about the Society is available from the Society, 20 Bloomsbury Way, London W.C.1, England, in two booklets: The Swedenborg Society 1810-1960, and The Swedenborg Society: Past and Present.
     The Directors of the School were Dr. John Chadwick, F.B.A. (of European if not world-wide renown, for his work in Classical Greek and Classical Latin)*, and the Rev. John E. Elliot (General Conference).**

Also in attendance were, for the General Conference, the Rev. Dennis Duckworth, the Rev. Alan Gorange, the Rev. George T. Hill, the Rev. Ian Johnson, the Rev. Herbert G. Mongredien and the Rev. Norman Ryder; for the General Church, the Rev. Alfred Acton II, the Rev. Gudmund U. Boolsen, the Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, the Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz, the Rev. Donald L. Rose, and the Rev. N. Bruce Rogers; for the General Convention, the Rev. Edwin G. Capon and the Rev. William R. Woofenden; for the Nova Hierosolyma, the Rev. Olle Hjern; and, occasionally, for the Swedenborg Society, Dr. Freda G. Griffith, Honorary Secretary of the Society.
     * Among other things, Dr. Chadwick is known for his assistance in deciphering "Linear B," and he has also contributed to the production of the New Oxford Latin Dictionary, which is now in process of being published.
     ** Mr. Elliott has been very active in the work of the Swedenborg Society, principally as the primary editor of vols. VI and VII of the 3rd Latin Edition of Arcana Coelestia, and is expected to give full time to producing the eighth and last volume of that work.
     Most of the formal addresses were provided by the two Directors: but also addressing the sessions were the Rev. Messrs. Gorange, Hjern, Johnson, Nemitz, Ryder and Rogers, and Dr. Griffith.

     The School opened on July 13, with brief remarks from Mr. Roy H. Griffith, President of the Society, and continued for eight days during the next two weeks, with two formal sessions daily, each lasting an hour and a half and often longer. Topics taken up were in order: "General Theory of Translation" (Dr. Chadwick); "Our Tools - MSS, Editions, etc." (Mr. Elliott); "Swedenborg's Latin" (Dr. Chadwick); "Learning to Read the Manuscripts" (Mr. Elliott); "Translations of Old and New Testament Passages in the Writings" (Mr. Ryder); "The Society's Procedure in Producing a New Translation" (Dr. Chadwick); "Translating Arcana Coelestia" (Mr. Elliott); "Theological and Philosophical Language of the Eighteenth Century" (Mr. Gorange); "Semantics and Lexicon" (Dr. Chadwick); "Excerpting, Abridging and Re-arranging" (no speaker, open discussion); "The Swedenborg Society Code" (Dr. Chadwick); "Problems of Publishing the Posthumous Works" (Mr. Elliott); "Translating into Other European Languages" (Messrs. Hjern and Nemitz); "Preparing to Print" (Dr. Griffith); "Report From the General Church Translation Committee" (Mr. Rogers); and "The Use of Footnotes and Commentary" (Mr. Johnson). At each session opportunity was given for open discussion, of which there was a good deal, ranging from remarks on the topic at hand to suggestions for the future.
     Space does not permit a detailed description of the addresses or our discussions, but they may be summarized as directed primarily to the nature of the Latin of the Writings, as a language and as a vehicle of Divine revelation; to the problems involved in translating the Latin, linguistically and stylistically; to the sources and tools available to the translator or editor and their reliability and relative worth; to a definition of our objectives and their relative priority; to procedures and rules developed by the Swedenborg Society; and to ways and means of developing future communication and co-operation.

     It was the last which drew perhaps the most universal and continuing interest throughout our sessions. The spirit of the World Assembly remained, as said, very much present, and there seemed to be a genuine desire for improved co-operation and mutual service in maintaining and advancing the ever-present work of translating the Writings. There were bridges built in this regard-of affection, of understanding and of mutual respect-which holds good promise for the future.
     One feature of the School which no doubt contributed to its success was the arrangement by which we took most of our meals together, and most of us were living in the same residence. This made possible an informal exchange which quickly overcame whatever barriers might have stood between us. It may be wondered that so many different people, a fair number of them meeting for the first time, could in two weeks come to a useful and meaningful exchange; but it was apparent that we could, and did.
     As a result, new friendships have been established between language students of the different organizations of the New Church, promising a future communication and consultation, privately and through the Swedenborg Society, which might not otherwise be so probable, and together with this friendship, a new mutual respect, which may make possible an interchange that will be actual and not merely token, of mutual aid in building a community of scholarship that will be of use to all of us. Finally, there was, of course, an immediate gain of knowledge on the part of all who participated which will, I think, serve to advance us in our present, individual efforts.
     I would concur, therefore, in what seemed the universal opinion of those participating-that the School turned out to be a very worthwhile and extremely successful venture; worth the time, effort and money that went into it, which ought to continue to bear fruit in the years to come. It may even have been an historic encounter; if not historic, certainly personally memorable, as a valuable experience that was at once useful and delightful.
     N. BRUCE ROGERS

HIDDEN WORD 1972

HIDDEN WORD Rev. GEOFFREY S. CHILDS 1972

In one sense, profanation is the worst of all evils: its consequences are the most terrifying. For profanation leads to an unbearable inner torture: something other evils do not. In the agony it causes, profanation is worse than deceit, than love of dominion, or adultery. Since these three - deceit, love of dominion, and adultery-are the evils of the genii or lowest hell, it is difficult to see how any evil can be worse than they are. To understand how this can be - how profaning can be so frightening - it is necessary to explore what is meant by profanation in its deepest sense. To profane, in this sense, is to have loved what is from the Lord, and then later to turn against it.
That is, it is to love-truly to love-what is good; and then afterwards in one's life to turn towards evil, and embrace evil knowingly. Once good has been loved, and confirmed, it stays with man forever. To turn later towards an evil love, and confirm it, too, is to have both heaven and hell in one's heart at the same time. The good cannot be removed, for it has been confirmed. So has the evil. But these are opposites-evil hates good with an unbelievable fury and intensity: evil longs to kill, to exterminate the good. But it cannot do this, if the good in man has been confirmed. And this good feels zeal against the evil, and strives with all its power to remove it. But the evil cannot be removed-it has been confirmed. Thus there are two opposing forces in the human heart, deeply wounding each other-constantly attacking to destroy or remove. This is the effect of interior profanation. It is consciously felt by the profaner as pain and unhappiness. The analogy to it would be the schizophrenics in mental illness-who apparently are torn by two opposing natural emotions, until they live in fear and a near-comatose state. Spiritual profanation is such a terrible experience, that the Lord works with all His Providence to avoid its happening. It is far better for man that he be good or evil. This is spoken of in the message to Laodicea in the book of Revelation: "Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou are neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

So then because thou are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue these out of My mouth."*
     * Revelation 3: 14-16 sel.
     In the work The Divine Providence, the most severe type of profanation is treated of. Those are spoken of who have come to love spiritual 2 things, but afterwards recede from them, and pass over into opposites.* There are several kinds of profanation, but this kind is the most grievous.
      * DP 221.

     "Profaners of this kind after death come to be no longer men; they live, indeed, but are continually in . . . hallucinations . . . . When they are presented to view in the light of heaven, they look like skeletons of the color of bone, some as fiery skeletons, and others as charred. It is unknown that profaners of this kind become such after death because the cause is unknown. The essential cause is that when a man has first acknowledged Divine things and believed in them, and afterwards withdraws from and denies them, he mixes together what is holy and what is profane; and when these have been mixed together, they cannot be separated without destroying the whole."*
     * DP 226

     Profaning, the mixing of good and evil, produces such emotional agony that non-life is better than feeling this agony. A skeleton-life, one of bare fantasy and hallucination, is better than an awakefulness to the grating of evil against good, good against evil. Such non-life with the profaner is represented by Lot's wife, after the family had left Sodom. The angel who led Lot and his family out of Sodom, said, "escape for thy life; look not back behind thee, and stay not in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.* After they had fled from the plain, "Jehovah caused it to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire . . . out of heaven. And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the growth of the ground. And Lot's wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt."**
     * Genesis 19: 17.
     ** Genesis 19: 24-26.
     Because profanation is such a grievous spiritual state, the Lord works with fullness of care to keep man from it. Therefore also, the second commandment warns against profaning: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." The Lord's name corresponds to His qualities: to all goods and truths in Him and from Him. So also, in the history of the churches on earth, the Divine Providence has worked to protect goods and truths-to hide them if necessary, so that they would not be profaned. In the Most Ancient Church-once Adam and Eve had eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil-the first guarding against profanation took place. They were expelled from the garden of Eden, and cherubim with a flaming sword barred the way to the tree of life.

That is, the later posterity of the Most Ancient Church was barred from inmost goods it would have profaned.
     Later in the decline of this first church, the perception of correspondences was beginning to be lost. Direct communication with the angels, which many of the patriarchs had enjoyed in earlier times, was now limited to very few. Lest the perceptions of correspondences be lost, lest the messages of the angels be erased from the memory of mankind, a group of scholars was raised up to write down these things. This was probably the first writing upon earth, a writing revealed to these scholars from heaven. It was a writing that preceded Hebrew, and was superior to it."* These scholars are represented by the name "Enoch" in the Word, of whom it is said: "Enoch walked with God, and was no more; because God took him."** Enoch, it is revealed, meant "those of the men of the Most Ancient Church who collected together the representatives and correspondences of natural things with spiritual" . . . known to the Most Ancients. " . . . The Lord provided that some of those who lived with the most ancient people should collect together the correspondences [of the Most Ancient Church], and gather them into a manuscript."*** This precious document, the first of any written Word on earth, was stored away and guarded by the Lord, so that the last posterity of the Most Ancient Church (the Nephilim) could not destroy it. In some secret way, this Word was preserved through the flood. And it became the first book of the Ancient Word. Wonderfully, it tied the Ancient Church to the Most Ancient Church. And note how carefully, and in a secret way, the Lord hid this manuscript of Enoch-so that it could not be profaned. This hiding of it is signified by the words: "and Enoch was no more; because God took him." It was hidden somewhere on earth, perhaps in some monastery.
     * SD 5580-1a.
     ** Genesis 5: 24.
     *** AE 728: 2.
     And in an amazing way, a very similar thing happened at the end of the Ancient Church. For the Ancient Church not only had the correspondences from Enoch-it had other books in its own Word, such books as "The Wars of Jehovah . . . . the Book of Jasher," "the Enunciations," and the first 11 chapters of Genesis. These were parts of the Ancient Word - a Word that spread widely throughout the earth. But when the silver age began to come to its end, once again the Lord, in His Providence, protected revealed truth from profanation. Copies of the Ancient Word were destroyed, lost, or so changed as to be completely different-except for a few genuine copies, manuscripts faithful to the original Ancient Word.

These were kept with a group of people who would not profane them; everywhere else on earth the Ancient Word was lost. As is known, it has been revealed that the Ancient Word still exists somewhere on earth; it is spoken of as being perhaps in Tartary. But wherever it is today-the reason it is hidden, is so that it will not be profaned. Those who guard it now either do not know its true nature, and therefore cannot profane it; or are in good and therefore will not profane it. This Ancient Word will be re-discovered when it can be used to confirm Divine truth, without profaning it.
     The history of guarding goods and truths from profanation applies to the Christian Church as well. An example of this is the Old Church stressing of the letters of Paul as a part of revelation. Of these works it is said:

     They "have not an internal sense . . . ; but it is permitted that they may be in the Church, lest those who are of the Church should work evil to the Word of the Lord, in which is the internal sense. For if man lives ill, and yet believes in the holy Word, then he works evil to heaven; therefore the Epistles of Paul are permitted, and therefore Paul was not permitted to take one parable, not even a doctrine, from the Lord, and to expound and unfold it; but he took all things from himself."*
     * SD 4824.

     Thus the history of the churches testifies that whenever Divine truth is in danger of profanation, it is protected-often hidden away-so that it cannot be harmed. This is true of the Writings, the final Word. This crown of revelations will be hidden away, to avoid profanation. At the same time the Lord will work, with tender omniscience, to help remove those evil qualities in man that profane, so that the hidden Word can be found.
     How can it be said the Writings are a hidden Word? Because, although they are the crown of revelations, so few people know about them. The nature of the New Church and its Word is either unknown, or misunderstood. And this protects the Writings from profanation. What is unknown cannot be profaned; neither can what is misunderstood -for misunderstanding of the Writings means that their essential quality is not known, and thus cannot be profaned.
     But-and this is vital-the Lord does not reveal Divine truth in order to hide it. He reveals it, so that it may be more and more widely known, more and more loved, and shared. For this to happen, those qualities which profane the truth must be exposed, vastated, and rejected. This is what is happening in the world today: the world seems torn apart by dissension, wars, and hate; yet an irresistible fermentation is taking place. Evils and illusions long hidden are surfacing, revealing their true qualities - so that those who wish to, may shun them.

When this progresses to a point known to the Lord, then the hidden Word, the Writings, will begin to be discovered by the world.*
      * See AR 546, 547.
     In the meantime, the church-the woman clothed with the sun-is hidden by the Lord in the wilderness, known but to a few. And a number who have passing contact with the Writings never discover their essential nature, thinking rather of the New Church as a quaint or strange religious sect. Even the very idea that a man (Swedenborg) could talk to spirits and angels is met with instant derision and rejection in this sophisticated and disbelieving age; and thus the inner core of the Writings, their beautiful teachings on the glorification and conjugial love, is never discovered. The Divine doctrine, which is the Divine child of the woman crowned with the sun-this is taken up to God and His throne. That is, it is hidden from belief except belief from good.
     This is true of us as individual New Church men. Much of the Writings is hidden from our perception, taken up to God and His throne in heaven. We perceive only a small part of the Word-that part which we will not profane. The hope is that what is of God and His throne may descend into our natural lives, so that our belief may grow. So that the Man Child may grow, within us, until the Lord in His Divine Human stands fully before us; until the good from the Lord grows in us so that we will not profane-and thus can see the Lord fully. So that much of the Word is no longer hidden.
     We have the same deep hope for the human race as a whole. That the Lord and His heaven, will descend upon earth. That the Man Child, the Divine doctrine, will be received by more and more who are in good. That profanation will end, because what profanes is rejected. Then the promise of the book of Revelation will be fulfilled, not just for a few, but far more universally: "the tabernacle of God . . . [will be] with men, and He will dwell with them . . . . And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."*
     * Revelation 21: 3, 4.
MINISTERIAL CHANGES 1972

MINISTERIAL CHANGES Editor 1972

The Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh, Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society, has accepted an invitation from the Board of Trustees of the Bryn Athyn Church to become Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School, the appointment to take effect in September 1972.

PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR 1972

PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR Editor 1972

     NEW CHURCH LIFE

     Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

     Published Monthly By

     THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Editor               Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

     TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION

$5.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 50 cents.
     Although the beginning of the new year is not a festival of the church, it is an occasion into which the church should enter. We know that we are not magically changed by a new calendar; that the person who steps into the new year is the same person who stepped out of the old. But the very fact that we are not changed implies that the capacity for change is still with us; and it is not by chance that the desire for change, for improvement, and indeed for a new beginning of our life, should be stronger at this time, perhaps, than at any other.
     What better can we do than express that desire to the Lord in prayer? The world in which we live has many problems, as have our country, our city or our community; and if we are to sustain the trials which these may bring we need faith as well as endurance, trust in the Lord's Word, and confidence in the wise leading of His Providence. In our personal lives we have continual need of the Lord's guidance, need to learn and understand better the truth of the Word that we may serve Him truly in all the uses we are called upon to perform, and this means that we need to be upheld in spiritual temptation.
     Yet our prayer should not be for ourselves alone. For the sake of mankind it should be for all who form the Lord's church; that they may be blessed by the Lord and given courage and enlightenment, and that the new gospel may enter into the hearts and minds of many. Through this wisdom will multiply and mutual love increase, and many be brought to acknowledge and worship the Lord. If it is for these things that we pray, then, this new year may indeed mark a new beginning.

     FRIENDS OF THE WRITINGS

     In nine separate passages, eight of them in True Christian Religion, the Writings address the reader as, "My friend"! We may not dismiss this as merely part of the literary style of the day; for the Writings are the Word and every expression found in them was therefore used for a purpose and has significance. When we examine the statements, we are reminded of certain words of the Lord recorded in the Gospel of John: "Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you."
     For in them the reader is urged to go to the Word, approach the Lord, shun evils as sins and reject faith alone and tripersonalism, do good, and believe on the Lord with his whole heart and soul; and is assured that if he does these things, his understanding will be opened, he will be enlightened to see wonderful things by which he will be affected, and the Lord will then love him and give him the love and faith to believe in the Word. He is also advised not to put his faith in any councils, but in the Word of the Lord, which is above all councils; and to form his judgment of men not from their lips but from their hearts. Surely in all this we can bear the voice of the Lord saying: "Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you"?
     But can we not also hear in this the voice of Swedenborg? To those familiar with his life his zeal for the truth is unquestionable, and there appears to be no doubt that he himself followed the advice of the Writings to be a friend most of all to good. May we not, then, see him as consenting freely and warmly to the Divine inspiration to address the unknown reader as "My friend"; and realizing that these qualities could come only from the Lord, find that which we can admire in him, while we heed it to our own spiritual welfare?

     HOW BEAUTIFUL UPON THE MOUNTAINS

     It is a universal law, the Writings say, that influx is according to efflux, and that if the efflux is impeded or prevented from going forth so is the influx. Good and truth flow in from the Lord through the internal man, and there ought to be an efflux through the external man into life-the exercise of charity. When there is this efflux the influx is continuous; if it does not exist, neither does the influx.
     As this is a universal law it applies to evangelization as to everything else. A church which knows of the Lord's second advent and of the kingdom which He has come to establish, a church which by influx from the Lord and His Word is in love and charity and truths of doctrine, and in worship from these, will want to be an evangelist.

It will want to preach the Lord, and to announce His advent and the things from Him which belong to salvation and eternal life. It will want to give to others what it has received from the Lord; and it may be said that the desire to give will be in proportion to the genuineness of the reception.
     Since the General Church arose out of the Academy movement in an attempt to preserve its spirit, it is understandable that it has tended to think first of the work of evangelization in terms of New Church education; that it has seen its first use of charity as a church is to proclaim the Lord, His kingdom and the truth of His Word, and to teach the good life to which that truth leads, to its own children and young people. If this work of education is indeed an efflux into life of good and truth received from the Lord, then it is sufficient to insure a continuance of that influx.
     However, there are signs that for some years now the General Church has become increasingly aware of its responsibility to evangelize in the world in which it is placed, that it has come to see that New Church education and evangelization are two complementary phases of the same great work, that of bringing receptive minds to the Lord. This is what is crucial. A church which sought to indoctrinate its children simply to perpetuate its organization and system, and to bring in adults that these might increase, would not be expressing in life a love received from the Lord, and under the law we have cited it could not long continue to receive influx from Him.

     If we would evangelize successfully, then the work must be done from the Lord. This means that the love and zeal from which the work is done must be from Him, not from ourselves; and it means also that the means and the modes by which it is done must also be from Him-must be gathered from His Word. It is sometimes said that we need a philosophy of missionary work; perhaps it would be more correct to say that we need a theology of evangelization, that we need to draw from the Writings the principles, the doctrine and the methods to be used. They are there, and by whatever name they may be called much work has already been done in collecting and trying to see and understand their application.
     Under the law noted, there awaits the New Church a great future, a continual increase of influx from the Lord as the church gives to others outside itself what it has received from Him, and does so under His guidance in the Word. As others are thus brought into the sphere of the church it will be seen increasingly how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.

LAST PAGE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE 1972

LAST PAGE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE Rev. (REV.) IAN A. ARNOLD 1972

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:

     Re the article, "The Last Page of Divine Providence," by Theodore Pitcairn in NEW CHURCH LIFE, August 1971.
     I appreciate the attempt that has been made to throw light on the matter, but entirely reject the reasoning which lies behind Mr. Pitcairn's approach. What troubles me more is that as I understand it, such reasoning is not consistent with what I would understand to be General Church thinking on the matter, and I think confusion is bound to arise in the minds of people as a result of printing such material in the official journal of your Church.
     (REV.) IAN A. ARNOLD

Adelaide
South Australia
SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION: AN APPEAL 1972

SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION: AN APPEAL Various 1972

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:

     I read in NEW CHURCH LIFE for October, 1971, an appeal for copies of the Writings of Swedenborg in Latin for help in the translation of them into Zulu.
     We have packed up the following books for mailing to South Africa as soon as the dock strike in New York makes that possible by being somehow settled:
     One copy of Sapientia Angelica de Divino Amore et de Divina Sapientia, edited by Dr. Jo. Fr. Im. Tafel, Stuttgart, 1843; one copy of Delitiae Sapientia de Amore Conjugiali, Ludovico Hofaker, Germano, 1841; and one copy each of two volumes of Vera Christiana Religio, Dr. Jo. Fr. Im. Tafel, 1857; and one copy of De Caelo et de Inferno, New York, MDCCCXC.
     We trust that these books will prove useful to the Mission and that duplication will be avoided.
     CLARENCE HOTSON
     CORNELIA H. HOTSON

Romulus
New York

Church News 1972

Church News MELINDA NEMITZ 1972

     STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

     It has been a long time since you heard anything from the Church in Scandinavia. Much has been happening here, the most exciting thing being the building and completion of the church. It is a lovely little wooden church, rather modern, but retaining much of the old-fashioned Swedish design. It is here that most of our activities take place. The first was the dedication and related events. It was a wonderful weekend, already described in NEW CHURCH LIFE. Then there is church, except on one Sunday every other month when Pastor Nemitz pays a visit to Jonkoping and Copenhagen. We alternate family services with adult services, and about once a month we have a "church coffee" after the service. This gives people a chance to chat and to catch up on the news. Also once a month we have a society supper and class at the church. The other classes are held in different homes. This gives an opportunity for a more personal atmosphere, for the host and hostess serve coffee, cookies and cakes.
     With the addition of a church building to the Stockholm Society we have also acquired many extra responsibilities. Mr. Tore Loven has done a virtually superhuman job in getting the church up and going. It has been wonderful for the Society to have his help. Now many of the jobs have been divided up. For example, we found that it was too expensive to have professionals come to clean the church, so there have been indoor working teams organized by Mr. Rolf Boley to come once a week. During the fall there was also an outside crew who picked up hundreds of stones so that we could have a nice garden. A collection was taken up, and we received enough money to plant over 100 rose bushes in the gardens in front of the church.
     With the coming of our first Christmas in the new building, 1970, we had a tableaux service. The young people put it all on themselves and did a wonderful job. The service took place in the church itself, with the tableaux acted out in front of the chancel. After the service the ladies had prepared a lively Christmas party for the children, complete with Christmas tree, presents, and things to eat and drink. After it was all over the young people had a well deserved dinner at the Manse.
     In January Pastor Nemitz went to America to take part in the Council of the Clergy meetings.
     With spring came missionary work. Once a month from March until June the pastor gave a missionary lecture in the church library. These were announced in the newspapers, and one of the topics was "Reincarnation" -a much discussed subject here in Sweden. In connection with this program a special sermon was preached the last Sunday in every month. The church has had many visitors. We also worked in teams and put brochures in mail boxes in the area around the church to tell people what this little church is.
     Our last celebration of the year was the Nineteenth of June. We were blessed with beautiful weather. First a service of worship was held. Then we had a picnic for all, with the Society inviting everyone to coffee and ice-cream!
     Now another church year has begun. This year we lose our ever faithful treasurer, Mr. Harry Baeckstrom, who has served the Society for fifteen years. But we are happy to say that Miss Ann-Margret Hoel is taking over this difficult but necessary job.

We are preparing for Christmas again; and, looking toward the future, we hope to put on a bazaar next spring. In closing, I would just say how truly thankful we are that the Lord has given this society a new home where its many uses can be carried out.
MELINDA NEMITZ
APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH COLLEGE 1972

APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH COLLEGE Editor 1972

All Students:
     Requests for application forms for admission to The Academy College for the 1972-1973 school year should be made before January 15, 1972. Letters should be addressed to Dean E. Bruce Glenn, The Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, and should include the student's full name and address, the name and address of the school he or she is now attending, and whether the student will be a day or dormitory student. Please see the Academy catalog for information about dormitory requirements.
     Completed application forms and accompanying material must be received by Dean Glenn's office by March 15, 1972.

     BOYS' SCHOOL AND GIRLS' SCHOOL

New Students:
     Requests for application forms for admission to the Academy Secondary Schools should be made for new students before January 15, 1972. Letters should be addressed to Miss Sally Smith, Principal of the Girls' School, or The Reverend Dandridge Pendleton, Principal of the Boys' School, at The Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009. Letters should include the student's name, parents' address, the class the student will be entering, the name and address of the school he or she is now attending, and whether the student will be day or dormitory. Please see the Academy catalog for dormitory requirements.
     Completed application forms and accompanying material must be received by The Academy by March 15, 1972.

Old Students:
     Parents of students attending the Girls' School or Boys' School during the 1971-1972 school year should apply for their children's re-admission for the 1972-1973 school year before March 15, 1972. Letters should be addressed to the Principal of the school the student is now attending.

FAITH AND THE AFFECTION OF TRUTH 1972

"There are many who have not an internal acknowledgment of truth, and yet have the faith of charity. They are such as have had respect to the Lord in their life, and from a principle of religion have avoided evils, but who have been kept from thinking of truths by cares and business in the world, and also from a want of truth in their teachers. Yet interiorly, or in their spirit, these are in the acknowledgment of truth because they are in the affection of it; and therefore after death, when they become spirits, they acknowledge truths and receive them with joy. But it is otherwise with those who in their life have not looked to the Lord and have not avoided evils from a principle of religion. These inwardly or in their spirit are not in any affection of truth, and consequently are not in any acknowledgment of it; after death, therefore, when they become spirits and are instructed by the angels, they are unwilling to acknowledge truths, and of course do not receive them" (Faith 30).

"CAN GOD DWELL ON THE EARTH?" 1972

"CAN GOD DWELL ON THE EARTH?" Rev. BJORN A. H. BOYESEN 1972

[Photographs of the exterior and interior of the Stockholm Church.]

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII                                   FEBRUARY, 1972                                             No. 2
     (Preached at the dedication of the Stockholm Society's church, September 6, 1970.)

     When king Solomon stood ready to dedicate the house which he had built for the Lord, he asked: "But can God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built!" (I Kings 8: 27)

     We can with equal cause ask the same question as we today dedicate this building. Certainly the Creator of the universe does not live in a mere house, but in all that exists between heaven and earth. He is present not only in nature and all its products,, but also in the human mind; and yet He is never limited thereby. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."* "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!**
     * Psalm 24: 1.
     ** Psalm 139: 7. 8.
     Thus the Lord is present also in this building, and yet it does not limit His infinity; and the same is also true of all else, which serves as His dwelling. It is equally true of the life of man's thoughts and feelings. This house-as every other material temple for the Lord's worship, inclusive of the human body-is in reality only a symbol of the Lord's presence in the feelings and thoughts, the purposes and strivings, of the people who have built this house. It is a symbol of their worship - of the way in which they mean to serve the Lord now and in the future, night and day, in moments of sorrow and rejoicing. In short, it is a picture of their life-of the church within them and the church which finds expression in their living.

     The external form of the church is the manner of their life on earth. It is a question of how they fulfill their calling-their daily work, their worldly occupations in the service of the human community; and it is also a question of how they serve the organized church-their church organization. And all of this means more than formal services of worship. It is a matter of their energy and conduct in the external life. This is the outer building - the dwelling-place of the Lord on earth.
     But the internal form of the church is more than this. It is a question if the members of the church love the Lord, their God, in the inner regions of the mind; for the essence of the church is a question of love, because love alone is living. "Love is the life of man," is the teaching of the Writings.* Hence the church is not in reality a building, nor really a church organization, but a state of life - a question of the presence of genuine love in the ways of life, and especially in the life of the feelings and thoughts. And all genuine love comes from God alone, while all spurious love is from man himself-from his selfishness. The latter creates a hell in man; but if the Lord's love is received it creates a heaven. And yet is man's love never as the Lord's; for the Lord's love is infinite, while man's is greatly limited. "Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him."
     * DLW 1

     Nevertheless it is the purpose of the church to serve as a receptacle for the Lord's love. But we must clearly realize that the Lord's love cannot inflow except through His own accommodation to our needs. It is for this cause that the Lord reveals Himself in His Word as a Divine Man, and comes to us in such concepts and events as we can apprehend. In this way the infinite God is manifested in the Word in finite forms which correspond to and represent His infinity. This is the purpose of the Word-to reveal the Divine love, to give meaning and form to its life and essence, to declare its ends and purposes, so that men can learn to understand and embrace the aims of Divine love as their own-in the form of their own feelings, and thoughts, and deeds. Thus the Word is the only possible means to conjunction between God and the church. Indeed, it is the very covenant. It was for this reason Solomon took the ark of the covenant with the Ten Commandments and "let the priests bring in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place. . . ."*
     * I King 8: 6.
     The Ten Commandments are still the Lord's Word and are, moreover, a summary of the entire Old Testament for our use. But herein the Lord's love is revealed largely in the form of ordinances and decrees which regard our external life; and men's responsibilities are mainly explained in the terms of blind obedience.

God dwells in darkness and His glory shines only occasionally through the obscuring clouds.
     But today we have also been given the New Testament and the Writings of the New Church. In the former the Lord's love is revealed in His life as Man on earth, and we see Him fight, and suffer, and conquer our weaknesses and faults from the love of our salvation. He appeals to our affections, to our higher feelings and emotions, and pleads with us to try to erect a society of brotherly love and reasoned morality in response to His sacrifice. But in the Writings of the New Church the Lord's love is revealed in heavenly doctrines, which explain His Divine Essence, His infinite mercy and wisdom, and appeal to us to try to understand His love with our own reason, and to respond to it from an answering love to Him for His own sake and for the sake of our neighbor's spiritual welfare.

     So the Lord has finally completed His Divine revelation, and stands understandable and glorified before us as never formerly. His love-His essence and substance-can be perceived as never before. In His own Divine person He "stands at the door" of the church and knocks. And the question is, if we are willing to "hear His voice, and open the door, so that He can come in to us and sup with us, and we with Him"?* Are we willing to receive Him, as He wants us to receive Him, in love and trust? Can God indeed still live on the earth? Is there truly an inmost heaven in the human heart where the Lord may dwell in His Divine perfection-in perfect love-without being greatly limited by our faults and evils?
     * Revelation 3: 20.
     It is in the hope and trust that this is possible that today we take the Lord's Word and place it open on the altar in the inmost sanctuary of this church. But let us then at the same time realize that the Word on the altar is only a book. It is only a copy of the Word. In itself the Word is in the Lord, and in His infinite love and wisdom. It is His own living essence. But the Word on the altar is only a symbol- a representation of this essence, in the same way as the church building is only a picture of the church and the people who constitute it. The Word in its letter is only a collection of stories and exhortations, of literal presentations of the Divine truth, which provide an outward expression of His love. But if the Lord's love were not conveyed thereby, the literal sense would be meaningless and dead. And it is the same with all truth. The only purpose of truth is to reveal the love-that is, to give meaning to life.

If it does not do this, it becomes a dead thing - a lifeless object, which is like a closed book on a false altar. It is therefore not the literal stories in themselves, nor the historical facts or any other facts, nor even the literal statements of the doctrine, which constitute the truths of the Word. In themselves, as mere knowledges, they are simply dead facts; and they become living truths only when the Divine love shines through and is received in the human mind.
The copy of the Word, which we place on the altar in this building, is therefore not as yet the Word of God with us. It is not the real covenant, but only a means to it. It is only a promise of the conjunction which can take place, if we receive the Lord's love and wisdom in our own minds and lives. The living covenant requires that the Word of God be received in ourselves, through a proper use of our own will and reason, because only the will and the reason are living in man. They are his only life and the only living substance, which can be affected by the Lord's love and wisdom and express them in life, so that the Word becomes living on earth. And it is the same in the heavens. The Word is written in the life.

But if this is to be done, we must also realize that man's will and reason have not their origin in himself, but are a gift from God. They have no authority of their own. It is not the purpose of reason to contribute anything, from itself to the Divine truth, nor is it the purpose of man's will to produce either Divine or human goodness. Man can create neither wisdom, nor love. It is not the function of reason to 'prove God's existence through its own intelligence and external evidence, but to listen to His Word, and to receive truth and wisdom therefrom, and also to confirm them by honest thinking and living according to its teachings. In other words, the Word must be regarded and judged in its own light. Genuine rationality is therefore not to argue about the statements of the Word, as to whether they are true or not, nor is it genuine wisdom to reason back and forth regarding the meaning of the truth; but it is simply to have an open, affirmative attitude to the Divine teachings from an inner desire to understand them and live according to them. That is, revelation takes place through the love of truth, and the love of doing it. A true enlightenment does not have its origin in man's worldly learning and prudence, but is a revelation from the Lord alone in the spiritual knowledge which man has drawn from the Word through the proper use of his own will and understanding. Knowledge comes consequently from without through studies or instruction, but revelation and enlightenment are a Divine inspiration-an influx of the Holy Spirit-on the basis of and in proportion to man's knowledge and love. It is a light from the Lord, which illuminates the knowledge.

This means, of course, that without knowledge from the Word, there is no revelation, but neither is there any revelation without a genuine love, for knowledge alone reveals nothing. It is the love, which transmits the light from God, just as all light emanates from a burning flame. That is why we understand only what we wish to understand, and a true spiritual understanding is characterized more by good will than great learning. A true enlightenment which is a revealing to us - is therefore always more dependent on the regeneration of the will than the intelligence of reason; and yet no man can claim it. Even a very simple man can be good and wise in very few knowledges from the Word, although surely more and greater knowledge would enhance his wisdom. Inmostly we believe in God because we wish to believe, because we need Him and our love requires it; and the function of reason is not to prove His existence, but to find Him and confirm the wisdom of love. That is what the Lord meant, when He said: "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babes.*
* Matthew 11: 25

But what is then the nature of the will through which the Lord is revealed and makes a covenant with us? Its function is surely not to create God or other human beings in one's own image, but to be touched by the love which the living Word reveals, and to love God and our fellow-men without self-worship. We do not love God by insisting on our own interpretations of the Word, and we do not love our neighbor by forcing upon him another love than he himself is prepared to receive from God. A true and genuine love gives every other human being full freedom to make his own response to God as he himself understands the need. We are not able to regenerate him, nor is this our duty. But neither should we withdraw our love and service from the neighbor simply because his ideas and actions are different than our own. We must not be "like unto children, sitting in the market-place, and calling unto their fellows: We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have wailed unto you, and ye have not lamented."* We have not been given free will and reason to sit in judgment over God's Word -over the Lord and the neighbor-but in order to love them and trust them. And such love involves a great deal of forbearance and mercy with our fellow-men as well as ourselves, and also a great deal of patience; for they may after all be as right in their ways and opinions as we are. Perhaps it is a lack of love which causes lack of understanding.

The greatest need is a sincere trust in the Lord's Providence - a genuine belief that the Lord has love, and wisdom, and power enough to lead every man to His kingdom, even as He leads ourselves. And it means also to be willing to co-operate with and serve our neighbor in his spiritual efforts, without pressure or selfish conditions. For it is only in love to the neighbor that love to the Lord is revealed.
     * Matthew 11: 16-17.

     So it is in reality the Lord alone who builds the church and dedicates the house. Unless He does it, they labor in vain who built it. It is His Word-His love and wisdom-which gives the living church the right form. If our self-love and our own prudence attempt to do it, it does not become the Lord's church, but a house of selfishness and a den of thieves. And the love of self is an isolating, limiting love. It draws to itself only such fellows as it believes can contribute to the dominance and success of oneself. Its only purpose is to subjugate others, to claim whatever they may have of love and knowledge for one's own advantage. Therefore it deprives them of freedom, perverts their feelings and falsifies their ideals, and creates only suspicion and division. So does also every church which labors only to gain members for its external organization. The heavens it creates are false heavens and the god it worships is itself; and the only true God cannot dwell where each man is his own god. There is then "no room for the Lord in the inn,"* nor is there in reality any room for the neighbor.
     * Luke 2: 7.
     It is altogether different when the church in the human heart regards it as its function to receive from the Lord and to convey to other men His life-giving love and wisdom. Such a church does not primarily strive for external growth. It is content to leave this matter with full confidence in the Lord's hand. Its only purpose is to bear witness to the Lord's Word, so that the understanding and love of the Word may spread more light and warmth in the life of men, whoever they are - a little more hope and trust, a little more harmony and happiness in men's relation to each other and to God. And such a church bears witness first of all in the life, for all true religion is a matter of life, a dedication to the service of God and the neighbor, a decision of the will, rather than an intellectual judgment from a cold heart. And so we ask again: "Can God, indeed, dwell on the earth?"
     It looks, then, as if it is really we who must make the choice. And in every external respect, it must so be. For without a choice as of ourselves there is no reciprocity, and therefore no real conjunction between God and us. The external response is actually ours.

But let us carefully guard so that it does not become a cold and harsh response of reason alone, based on our own prudence and hereditary selfishness - but a response of the will replying in love to the Word of God. For if our choice does not agree with the Lord's choice, it is not genuine. In the internal sense the true choice is therefore really the Lord's. It is not we who have chosen Him, but it is He who has chosen us. As He said to His twelve apostles: "Ye have not chosen Me, but 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. These things I command you, that ye love one another."*
     * John 15: 16-17.
     The church is consequently an obligation - an obligation of the will and love, a decision and dedication to the Lord's work of salvation. If we acknowledge this in our lives, we need not fear for the development and future of the church, for it will be in the Lord's hands; and it does not matter that we ourselves are few and weak, for "Behold, the tabernacle of God will then be 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. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."* Therefore, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."**
     * Revelation 21: 3-4.
     ** Luke 12: 32.
REFORMATION AND REGENERATION 1972

REFORMATION AND REGENERATION 1972

"There are two states into and through which man must pass while from natural he is becoming spiritual. The first state is called reformation; and the second regeneration. In the first state man looks from his natural condition to a spiritual, and desires it; in the second state he becomes spiritual-natural. The first state is formed by means of truths-which must become truths of faith-through which he looks to charity; the second is formed by means of the goods of charity, and by these he enters into the truths of faith. Or, what is the same, the first is a state of thought from the understanding; and the second a state of love from the will. When this latter state begins, and while it is progressing, a change takes place in the mind . . . now the love of the will flows into the understanding and actuates it" (TCR 571).

DOCTRINE OF IMMORTALITY 1972

DOCTRINE OF IMMORTALITY Rev. WILLARD D. PENDLETON 1972

     Nowhere in the five books of Moses do we find any direct teaching concerning the life after death. Israel believed in gods and in lesser deities, called angels; but unlike the other nations of the ancient east, they had no positive doctrine of personal immortality. The reason for this was that Jehovah was conceived to be a national God whose influence was confined to His own people and land; and it was assumed that as a national Deity He had neither interest nor jurisdiction in the abode of the dead. This accounts for the later day doctrine of the Sadducees who, in refuting the Lord's teaching concerning the resurrection, insisted that there were neither angels nor spirits, that is, angels and spirits who had lived as men upon earth, but only the grave.*
      * The Acts 23: 8.
     But the fact that the five books of Moses do not contain any direct teaching concerning the immortality of man did not preclude the possibility of the survival of the human soul after the death of the body. As a matter of fact, it opened the way to all manner of speculation which in time led to the many seemingly contradictory concepts of the state of the deceased that are found in the subsequent books of the Old Testament. It cannot be said, therefore, that the early Israelites rejected the hope of immortality and accepted the inevitability of extinction at death. The fact that Moses, in the law, prescribed the death penalty for those who served as mediums of communication with the dead, is evidence of an underlying belief among this people in the reality of the spiritual world, and also of the generally accepted belief that the dead were gifted with the ability to reveal the future to men on earth. Hence we read: "A man . . . or woman that hath a familiar spirit . . . shall surely be put to death."*
     * Leviticus 20: 27. See also Leviticus 20: 6.
     It is evident that the primary purpose of this stern law was to protect the purity of the prophetic function. Only the prophets of Jehovah were permitted by law to speak of those things which were to come to pass. This was essential to the preservation of the Word and the fulfillment of Israel's ultimate destiny. But it seems that in the days of the judges this forbidden practice of divination flourished to the extent that when Saul became king he found it necessary to rid the land of those who dealt with familiar spirits.

That he did not entirely succeed in doing so is evident from the fact that when he sought guidance of the Lord, and the Lord would not answer him, he resorted to the witch of Endor, who was purported to have the ability to communicate with the spirit of Samuel. In doing this, Saul not only perverted the law which was vested in his person, but also gave ample evidence of a deeply rooted faith in the survival of the spirit after the death of the body.

     It was not until the days of the later prophets, however, that a positive doctrine of individual immortality began to emerge among the Jews. Prior to the Babylonian captivity, the Jews had conceived of the afterlife in terms of Sheol, which was a land of darkness in the lower parts of the earth. While opinions varied, it was generally regarded as a land of sleep; but it seemed that the spirit could be addressed, and when aroused to consciousness was capable of prophetic utterance. This view seems to be confirmed by Samuel's words to Saul: "Why hast thou disquieted me?"* But with the fall of the empire and the gradual dissipation of Israel's hopes as a nation, a new note was struck in prophecy which tended to transfer the hope of the Messianic kingdom from the nation to the individual. Heretofore, the individual had been related to Jehovah only as a member of the nation, whose common fate was to be shared by all; but now we are told that the sins of the father would no longer be visited upon the sons** and that in the future, everyone shall die for his own sins.***
     * I Samuel 28: 15.
     ** Ezekiel 18: 20.
     *** Jeremiah 31: 30.
     It was this emancipation of the individual from the sins of the group that opened the way to a new concept of God and the reward that He had in store for the righteous. If, as it now appeared, Jehovah's real concern was for the faithful, did it not follow that He would bring the faithful into His kingdom? This faith is implied in both the forty-ninth and seventy-third Psalms. The teaching is that all shall die, but whereas the wicked will remain in Sheol, God will redeem the soul of the wise. To this should be added the teaching of Daniel, that the wise shall have everlasting life."*
     * Daniel 12: 2, 3.
     It is evident from this that the Old Testament does provide a positive doctrine concerning the kingdom of heaven; but the thought of eternal existence in a world of the spirit had little appeal to the earthbound minds of this people. With characteristic emphasis upon the delights of this world, they interpreted the teaching in terms of a bodily resurrection to take place when the kingdom of God was established on earth.

Then would the souls of the faithful be released from Sheol, and through reincarnation would enjoy everlasting life in the flesh. This, as distinguished from the doctrine of the Sadducees, was the doctrine of the Pharisees, the largest and most influential sect in New Testament times.

     We can understand, therefore, why it was that when the Lord came teaching the doctrine of the kingdom of heaven, His words were not understood. Not only did He insist that His kingdom was not of this world, but that the resurrection involved a spiritual rebirth whereby the spirit of man was elevated into a new and different life.* According to His doctrine, it is in the life of the spirit, as differentiated from the life of the flesh, that the kingdom of God is to be found. As the Lord said to Nicodemus: "Except a man be born of . . . the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. [For] that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."**
     * John 3: 3, 5.
     ** John 3: 5-7.
     In identifying the kingdom of God with the life of the spirit, the New Testament differs from the Old Testament, and the faith of the Christian Church from Jewish eschatology. Here was a new doctrine based on the thesis that man is essentially a spiritual being, and that the life of the flesh is but a transitory state in the process of human development. Yet at that day, as at this, the spirit of skepticism prevailed; and while many in Israel heard the words which He spoke, few believed on Him. It was to these few, however, that the Lord said: "Ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again, and receive You unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." *
     * John 14: 1-3.
     To believe in God is to believe that there is a purpose in creation. To believe in the Lord is to believe in the Word which He spoke. At this day, however, the Word is discredited as an authoritative statement of truth. While many adhere to the social teachings of Jesus, relatively few subscribe to the teachings of Scripture concerning the life after death. One reason for this is that they are presented in the form of parables and cryptic references to the kingdom of heaven which lack meaning to the modern mind. We can understand, therefore, why it was that in his introduction to the work, Heaven and Hell, Swedenborg said:

     "The arcana revealed in the following pages relate to heaven and hell, and also to the life of man after death. The man of the church at this date knows scarcely anything about heaven and hell or about his life after death, although . . . these matters are set forth and described in the Word; and yet many of those born within the church refuse to believe in them, saying in their hearts, 'Who has come from that world and told us?' Lest, therefore, such a spirit of denial, which especially prevails with those who have much worldly wisdom, should also infect and corrupt the simple in heart and the simple in faith, it has been granted me to associate with angels and to talk with them as man with man, also to see what is in the heavens and what is in the hells, and this for thirteen years; so now from what I have seen and heard it has been granted me to describe these, in the hope that ignorance may thus be enlightened and unbelief dissipated. Such immediate revelation is granted at this day because this is what is meant by the [second] coming of the Lord." * [Italics added]
     * HH 1

     What the Writings offer us, therefore, is a new concept of the spiritual world. It differs from that which is presented in the New Testament as that which is addressed to reason differs from that which is expressed by means of parables. Whereas the Writings deal directly with the nature and phenomena of the spiritual world, in the New Testament these things are only implied. It is the teaching of all Divine revelation, however, that man is a spirit, and that the spirit of man, being what it is, survives the death of the body, and thus enters with perception into the life of the spirit; that is, into the conscious awareness of life. For although it is true that the doctrine of individual immortality does not emerge in the Old Testament until the days of the later prophets, when understood in its spiritual sense it is everywhere implied. For wherever death is mentioned in the Scriptures, the reference is not to the death of man, but to the separation of the spirit from the body. Hence the statement in the Writings:

     "When the body is no longer able to perform [its] . . . functions . . . man is said to die . . . . But the man does not die; he is merely separated from the body which had been of use to him in the world, while the man himself continues to live. It is said, the man himself continues to live, since man is not a man because of his body but because of his spirit; for it is the spirit that thinks in man, and thought with affection is what constitutes man. Evidently, then, the death of man is . . . [but] his passing from one world to another. And this is why in the Word in its internal sense 'death' signifies resurrection and continuation of life."*
     * HH 445.

     Now it should be observed that the Writings rest the case for the immortality of the human spirit upon the doctrine of man, that is, upon the doctrine of what man is.

As any other living form which perceives life in terms of sensation, man enjoys conscious existence. He sees, he hears, he smells, he tastes, and he feels the physical forces of nature which impinge upon the body. In this, however, he does not differ from other living forms except to the degree that he is more or less sensitive to the stimuli which give rise to sensation. Man is not man, therefore, because he is a creature of sensation, but because he possesses an ability which the beast does not possess, which is the ability to abstract rational ideas out of experience. Hence man is said to be man because he can think rationally; that is, because he can form an idea of a thing which is not directly derived from sense experience. In other words, man can reflect upon the nature, causes and principles of things, and upon the relationship which exists between one thing and another. Thus he can form meaningful concepts of what he experiences in a way that is not possible with animals. It is this which accounts for the knowledges which man has acquired. It is also this which accounts for the fact that man can, if he will, perceive that there is a meaning and purpose in life other than that of self-preservation.
     Surely there must be more to life than a brief moment of conscious existence in which man temporarily enjoys the experiences which come with mental awareness. If man is but dust, what properties does the dust possess that would account for the miracle of life? For life is a miracle, in that it is not inherent within nature but is universally present as the Divine operation within nature. Hence it is said in the Writings:

     "Those who believe in a Divine operation in all . . . [things] of nature, are able by many things they see in nature to confirm themselves in favor of the Divine. . . . For those who confirm themselves in favor of the Divine give attention to the wonders . . . [of nature]". They observe, for example, "how out of a little seed cast into the ground there goes forth a root, and by means of the root a stem, and branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits in succession. . . . Can any reasonable person think that the sun, which is pure fire, has this knowledge . . . or is able to fashion these wonderful things . . . and to contemplate use? Any man of elevated reason . . . must conclude that . . . [these things] come from Him who has infinite wisdom, that is, from God . . . . But those who do not acknowledge the Divine . . . sink their rational into the sensual . . . which confirms their illusions . . . [and say], Do you not see the sun effecting these things by its heat and light? What is a thing that you do not see? Is it anything?" *
      * DLW 351.

     This question, which was pertinent in Swedenborg's time, is far more pertinent today. With the development and the accomplishments of the scientific method, men in increasing numbers are ascribing all things to nature. Like the primitive skeptic, of whom the Psalmist spoke, many are saying, "Where is thy God?"*

In repudiating the reality of that which cannot be substantiated by direct experience they "sink their rational into the sensual," and deny the existence of God and the spiritual nature of man.
     * Psalm 42: 3.
     We return, however, to the teaching of the Writings that man is not man because he possesses a human body, but because he possesses a human mind. It is as to his mind, which is a spiritual creation, that man differs from the beast; and the difference is found in the fact that man can, if he will, elevate his thought above sensual appearances and think rationally concerning those things which are presented to the mind in the form of knowledge. Thus man, as distinguished from the beast, can form some idea of ultimate reality; that is, of a God who in essence is good and truth. It is because man can see God, that is, because he can see what is good and true, that the spirit, or mind of man, can be conjoined with God. For all conjunction is effected through love; and where there is love, or the potential of love, the way is opened whereby conjunction may be effected.
     As to the interiors of the mind, all men possess this potential. For man is born a form of love and wisdom; that is, a form capable of loving what is good and perceiving what is true. Were this not so he would not be man, but a beast. That is the reason why the spirit or mind of man is immortal, for as the Writings state:

     "Man has what beasts have not, [namely], an inmost into which the Divine flows, raising man up to itself, and thereby conjoining man to itself. Because of this, man, in contrast with beasts, has the ability to think about God . . . and to love God . . . and thus [to] be conjoined to Him; and whatever can be conjoined to the Divine cannot be dissipated, but whatever cannot be conjoined is dissipated." *
     * HH 435.

     This is the key number in the Writings concerning the immortality of man. It constitutes the Writings' answer to the spirit of denial that pervades modern thought. Unlike the New Testament, in which the doctrine of immortality is proclaimed but not expounded, the Writings develop the thesis by way of rational considerations based upon the essential nature of man. For what is man but a unique form of life who is endowed by his Creator with the ability to perceive what is true and therefore with the ability to do what is good. It is because man has this ability, that is, the ability to think about God and to love God, that he can be conjoined to Him. And as the Writings state: "Whatever can be conjoined to the Divine cannot be dissipated, but whatever cannot be conjoined is dissipated." *
     * HH 435.

     But immediately the question arises, What if man rejects what is true and perverts what is good? Note, however, that the Writings are not speaking here of the nature of man's response. This may be either affirmative or negative, as the man wills. Were this not so man would not be in freedom, and therefore would not be man. What the Writings are speaking of in this passage is man's ability to perceive what is true and to do what is good; and this ability, regardless of how it is exercised, is the perpetual gift of God to man. Was it not to this that the Lord referred, when in speaking of His death and resurrection, He said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me"? *
     * John 12: 32.

     We must distinguish, therefore, between two sets of passages in the Writings which speak of the conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord. The first set of passages has reference to the conjunction of the Lord with man, which is effected on the plane of the soul or human internal. Hence the passage just quoted, where it is said that "man has what beasts have not, namely, an inmost into which the Divine flows, raising man up to itself, and thereby conjoining man to itself."* It is by virtue of this conjunction that every man, regardless of the quality of his life, is immortal. For what the Lord gives, He does not take away. The second series of passages, however, has reference to reciprocal conjunction; that is, to the conjunction of man with the Lord. The reference here, therefore, is to the man who wills to be led by the Lord. For he who wills to be led by the Lord is conjoined to Him, not only as to his soul, which is above the plane of conscious existence, but also as to his affections and thoughts. It is in this that the regenerate man differs from the unregenerate, and the angel of heaven from those who of their own free will choose to live in bondage to self, that is, in the hells.
     * HH 435.
     Let us have no illusions, therefore, regarding the purpose of life. The purpose in life is that man may have life. But of what value is a gift that is given only to be taken away? Thus in speaking to the Jews, the Lord said, "I am come that . . . men might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."* But if man is to have life more abundantly, the spirit of man must in time be released from its dependency upon the physical body which serves as an instrument whereby man is temporarily granted conscious existence in the world of nature. Thus when the body dies, the spirit or mind of man enters with evident sensation into the perception of those spiritual forces and realities which underlie, and are the origin of, the world of nature.

Hence the following statement from the Spiritual Diary:
     * John 10: 10.

     "Everything which exists in the other life is not, as some suppose, empty and void, but is the substantial itself, because it is the origin of all that is substantial in nature. There is a living substantial there, or purest ethereal; and this is formed by the Lord into things so wonderful that they can scarcely be described." *
     * SD 2392

     In this connection, bear in mind that it is not the eye which sees, but the mind, and this whether man is living in this world or in the world of the spirit. The difference, however, is that as long as man lives in the world the mental images which take form in his mind derive their qualities from the objects of nature. Thus we associate what is real with that which is bound by time and space. But beyond the appearances of time and space there are deeper realities which are spiritual substances. In the life after death it is these substances which serve as an objective plane of sight, and this in accordance with the affection and thought of the spirit. Thus it is that the things which are seen in the spiritual world are "so wonderful that they can scarcely be described."* As the Lord said to Thomas, the doubting disciple, therefore "be not faithless, but believing." ** "In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you."*** For, "I am the resurrection, and the life.****
     * SD 2392.
     ** John 20: 27.
     *** John 14: 2.
     *** John 11: 25.
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1972

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES Editor 1972

A recent issue of the NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER contains a letter to the Editor from an adult discussion group in the Boston Church of the New Jerusalem. The subject is the case study used by the Convention ministers during their institute on future planning for the Church, and the group feels that "the study was molded to accommodate the point of view that the Church must inevitably surrender to contemporary innovations or perish; putting traditional worship and Church structure in a bad light, or as obsolete or irrelevant." The group feels that although the present deficiencies in the Church can neither be denied or ignored, group therapy and special counseling do not begin, to replace "Scripture and sermon." Greater emphasis, it is felt, should be placed on proclaiming to the world the Word, "God's inestimable gift to man, and its internal sense as revealed in the great Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg."

CHURCH OF THE LORD ON EARTH 1972

CHURCH OF THE LORD ON EARTH Rev. GEORGE DE CHARMS 1972

     2. The Church Universal

     The church of the Lord exists in all parts of the world wherever there are human beings. This must be so because all men are created for heaven, and are endowed with the means whereby they may, if they will, come into heaven after death. "The Lord is mindful of His own": He is present with every individual who is born into the world, present with power to protect, to teach and to lead.
     Now since the Lord can be present solely by means of His Word, it follows that He must provide for all men some access to Divine revelation. Without this no one can know anything whatever about God, about heaven, or about anything spiritual, as taught in De Verbo VI. Thus apart from the Word there can be no religion because there can be no acknowledgment of God, no worship of Him, and no idea of a Divine law that is to be obeyed.
     Therefore, when it is said that the specific church of the Lord exists only where the Word is, and where by means of the Word the Lord is known and worshiped, it is not meant to imply that the Word does not exist also among the gentiles. These also must have at least some remnant of the Word from which to derive an idea of God and an idea of a Divine law, according to which a conscience may be formed. Without these two things nothing that can rightly be called a religion can exist.
     The difference, then, between the Church Specific and the Church Universal is not that the one has the Word and the other has not, but rather that the one has the Word in fullness, and by means of it receives a true idea of the Lord and of His Divine law, while the other has only a meager remnant of the Word from which is derived a mistaken idea as to the nature of God, and as to what it is that God requires of man. The Lord is present with both of these churches. With those who belong to the Church Specific He is present openly, because they know Him and are aware of His Divine leading. But with those who belong to the Church Universal the Lord can be present only in secret, because He is not seen. Nevertheless, He can operate without man's knowledge to give spiritual protection, to preserve a state of innocence, and thus to keep the mind teachable, so that in the other life if not on earth mistaken ideas may be corrected gradually, and a true idea of God and of religion may be implanted by instruction.

     But from what source, we may ask, do the gentiles receive the knowledge of God on which their religion is founded? We are taught that before the time of Moses, when first the Old Testament began to be written, there was an earlier Divine revelation which is called the Ancient Word. In the beginning there was no written Scripture. The most ancient people were in open communication with heaven and were taught by the Lord immediately. He appeared to them in visions and in dreams, as the Angel of Jehovah, not, as in later times, only to prophets specially prepared, but to everyone. Especially did He appear to the father of each family, who taught the children and others not yet capable of receiving immediately from Jehovah.

     As the Most Ancient Church declined, however, open communication with heaven was gradually withdrawn lest it be perverted and applied to selfish and worldly purposes. As this came to pass, the need arose for writing to preserve perceptions of truth which could no longer be received directly. Thus we are told that the people called "Cain" preserved and collected the doctrinal things which had been passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. That he did so is represented in the story of Genesis by the fact that it is said that a mark was set upon Cain "lest anyone finding him should kill him."* Later, it is said that Enoch made doctrine from things revealed to and perceived by the most ancients. To make doctrine from them, and to preserve it by means of writing, was of no use to the most ancient people because their perceptions involved thousands of things which could not be set down by means of writing; wherefore the doctrinals collected by Enoch were of no use to the men of that time, but were to be preserved for the use of posterity.** Therefore it is said of Enoch that "he was not, for God took him.*** It was foreseen that heavenly perception would completely perish and that only by means of a written Word could the knowledge of God be preserved.
     * Genesis 4: 15.
     ** AC 464.
     ***Genesis 5: 24.
     The doctrinals collected by Cain and reduced to writing by Enoch were cherished and kept as holy by the people called Noah, and by them were preserved for the establishment of a new church after the Flood. They were carried by missionaries to the gentile nations, represented in Genesis by the sons of Noah Shem, Ham and Japheth.

     Among those nations prophets were raised up who spoke the Word from the mouth of the Angel of Jehovah. What they wrote was in the form of "pure correspondence"; that is, in the form of parables and dark savings which had no factual basis but contained heavenly truths. Such prophets arose in many different countries and over the span of many centuries. Some of them must have lived but a short time before the birth of Moses, who included in his books scattered quotations from this Ancient Word. One of these prophetic writings was called "The Wars of Jehovah"; another is spoken of as "They That Speak in Proverbs" or "The Annunciators"; and still another as "The Book of Jasher." The fact that some of these books were of relatively recent origin is indicated by their mentioning the country of Moab, who was a descendant of Lot, and speaking of Heshbon, a city on the banks of the Arnon river in the land of Moab. Also, we are told that Moses copied from more ancient books the first eleven chapters of Genesis.
     This Ancient Word was lost; that is, its text was gradually adulterated by later interpolations. This is quite understandable if we reflect that the mode of writing was very primitive, and the manuscripts had to be copied by hand. Furthermore, as the church declined and the spiritual meaning of the Word was no longer understood, errors would inevitably creep in and change the very form of the letter. Nevertheless, some remnants of that Ancient Word were preserved intact, and with these Moses became acquainted, probably while residing in the land of Midian, and in the home of Jethro the priest of Midian.

     For many years scholars have been trying to discover the origin of all the different races and nationalities that go to make up the world as we know it today; but the historical data so far available is not sufficient to produce a theory concerning which all scholars will agree. Nevertheless, there is undeniable evidence that the Ancient Word became known to people in all the far corners of the world: this because legends concerning creation, concerning a golden age, concerning a flood, and concerning the promise of a Divine Savior who was to come, are found in all religions. We find them among the ancient civilizations of the East-in India, China, Persia, Egypt, Phoenecia, and many other countries. We find them in Scandinavia and among the Germanic peoples of northern Europe. We find them in Greece and Italy, and in the islands of the Mediterranean. We find them among primitive peoples, in North and South America, in Japan, and the islands of the South Pacific. These myths appear in different parts of the world under widely different forms, yet they are all basically the same and bear undeniable testimony to a common origin.

All of them are definitely related to accounts preserved in the early chapters of Genesis from the Ancient Word.
     This, then, was the way in which the Lord provided that He might be present with all men by means of His Word. Although in course of time the true meaning of the Word was lost, and only distorted remnants remained, although in the place of true religion men everywhere fell into various forms of idolatry, still they retained some idea of God and some idea of a Divine law, the keeping of which was to them the life of religion. Concerning this we read:

     "Man lives a moral life from a spiritual origin when he lives it from religion; that is, when he thinks, when anything evil, insincere or unjust presents itself, that this must not be done because it is contrary to . . . Divine laws. When one abstains from doing such things in deference to Divine laws he acquires for himself a spiritual life, and his moral life is then from the spiritual; for by such thoughts and faith man communicates with the angels of heaven, and by communication with heaven his internal spiritual man is opened . . . and he is thereby imbued with heavenly intelligence and wisdom. From this it can be seen that to live a moral life from a spiritual origin is to live from religion and, within the church, to live from the Word; for those who live a moral life from religion and from the Word are elevated above their natural man, and thus above . . . their [proprium], and are led by the Lord through heaven; consequently they have faith, they fear God, and have conscience, and also [they have] the spiritual affection of truth, which is the affection of the knowledges of truth and good from the Word. . . . Many of the heathen live such a moral life, for they think that evil must not be done because it is contrary to their religion; this is why so many of them are saved."*
     * AE 195: 2.

     From this it appears that the gentiles are not saved by means of their false doctrines or their mistaken idea of religion, but solely by this, that they acknowledge a Divine law and sincerely strive to live according to it because they believe it to be of God. This acknowledgment and endeavor elevates them out of themselves and lifts their minds into something of the light of heaven. From this they derive a common perception of what is just and equitable, honest and fair, what is of charity toward the neighbor. It is by this simple faith, and this spirit of charity that the Lord is able to protect and lead them, keeping their minds open to instruction and in a state of innocence.
     This, of course, is not true of all those who are called gentiles. Among them are evil men who use religion merely as a means to their own advancement, who do not really acknowledge God, and who do not recognize any Divine law. There are those who disguise their self-centered ambitions by assuming the outward forms of politeness, consideration for others and charity.

Only when their inner spirit of jealousy, of enmity, of hatred against society, breaks out in the open can they be distinguished from the good, for in outward form both appear alike. In the sight of the Lord and of the angels they are known and judged according to their true character. But when the Writings speak of the gentiles, they refer to those who are in a gentile state of innocence, of simple faith and external charity.
     There must be many such, for the very preservation of society depends upon them. Their presence in any society holds the evil in restraint, and prevents them from rushing headlong into deeds of violence: this because the evil need the help, the approval, the support of the good, in order to accomplish their purposes. Indeed, it is because there is a large number of simple good people in any society that when evils become too obvious there is a reaction, a reformation, a rising up of a large majority of people in defense of what is right and just. This perception of what is just is a remnant of perception which is called "common sense," and it has its origin in the acknowledgment of God, in the desire to keep His law, and in the consequent foundation of conscience that protects the whole structure of human society.
     That gentiles are saved by a moral life from a spiritual origin is directly taught in the Writings, for we read:

     "Everyone knows that the heathen as well as Christians live a moral life, and many of them a better life than Christians. Moral life may be lived either out of regard to the Divine or out of regard to men in the world; and a moral life that is lived out of regard to the Divine is a spiritual life. In the outward form the two appear alike, but in the inward form they are wholly different; the one saves man, the other does not. For he who lives a moral life out of regard to the Divine is led by the Divine while he who leads a moral life out of regard to men in the world is led by himself."*
     * HH 319: 1.

     Why, then, should we be concerned about those who belong to the Church Universal, since they can be saved just as well as can those who belong to the Church Specific? Every man is born into the tendency to evils of every kind. His mind, from birth, is distorted in such a way that from heredity he loves himself above all things, and has regard to the welfare of others only as far as this promotes his personal ambitions. Such is the natural mind. If, however, man acknowledges a God, and recognizes a Divine law which takes precedence over his own will, he can be withheld from the dominion of self love and can be imbued with a spirit of charity toward the neighbor. As far as this is done his spiritual mind is opened. Nevertheless, he can live only according to what he knows.

If he has been taught mistaken ideas about God, and mistaken ideas of what it is that God requires of him, his conscience will be formed from these, and according to them he will live. If these are idolatrous and natural opinions as to what constitutes the life of religion, then his mind and his life will be formed according to these. His spiritual mind will be open because he wishes to do God's will, and sincerely resists his self-will in order to obey what he believes to be the Lord's will. But while his spiritual mind is open it cannot be formed because he is ignorant of spiritual truth, and only the knowledge of spiritual truth and a life according to it can form or build the spiritual mind. Although in desire and intention the life of such a man will be in accord with the will of God, it cannot be actually in accord with that will because he does not know what the will of God truly is. The spiritual mind of such a man is open because he is willing to be taught; but only as he receives instruction, only as his mistaken ideas are corrected and replaced by true ideas, can his inner mind and character be formed in accord with the life of heaven.

     In this sense it may be said that the Church Universal is the Lord's church in potency, but not yet in actuality. In it the Lord can lead only according to what man knows. He can lead only in secret, and in such a way as to protect the seeds of innocence and willingness to obey the Divine will. But no man can actually obey the Lord's will except in so far as he knows what it is.
     The gentiles, in regard to the true life of religion, are in a situation similar to that of so-called backward nations and primitive peoples in relation to the life of a modern civilization. No matter how good such nations are, they are subject to famines, to pestilences, to the ravages of many natural calamities from which civilized people have learned how to protect themselves. Primitive people are condemned to poverty and hardship because they are ignorant of the laws of nature. They are subject to various forms of enslavement because they are incapable of governing themselves, being unaware of the laws of civil freedom. They are held bound by age-old traditions and customs, and by modes of life that prevent them from accepting the scientific inventions which have brought such liberation to our western civilization. There is no escape from these conditions except by means of instruction, education, and a gradual introduction into a new productive form of life.
     What is true of man's natural life is equally true of spiritual life. Both of these depend upon knowledge, and upon the intelligent application of knowledge to the solution of human problems.

The gentiles, who are ignorant of spiritual truth, but who have an idolatrous religion and sincerely strive to live according to what they believe to be the law of God, can be brought into heaven after death because they are willing to be taught, and because it is possible to teach them there in a way that is impossible on earth. But if they are to be delivered from the inevitable consequences of their mistaken ideas as to what the life of religion truly is, the inner truth of the Word must at last be brought to them during their life on earth. Only as they receive the truth which is revealed to the Church Specific can they be set free from spiritual bondage. Only as they receive this truth, and live according to it, can the kingdom of God be established on earth as it is in heaven.
This will never come to pass if men confirm the opinion that there is no such thing as a Divine truth which is universal and which applies to all men. It will never come to pass if they discourage the search for such a truth, and confirm the idea that one religion is just as good and just as true as another. It will come only as men learn to look to Divine revelation for the truth of religion and allow the Lord Himself to teach them and correct their mistaken ideas, and to mold their minds, their hearts and their lives in accord with His own Divine truth. For this reason there would be no hope for the redemption of the race unless there were, somewhere on earth, a true church, a specific church of the Lord, where the Word is present in fullness, and where by it the Lord is known and His law is intelligently understood. But of this further.
NEW CHURCH IN A NEW AGE 1972

NEW CHURCH IN A NEW AGE Rev. N. BRUCE ROGERS 1972

     (Delivered at the 55th British Assembly, July 1971.)

     In the closing chapters of the book of Revelation, we find a prophecy of the New Church described under the figure of a city; and this prophecy begins with the words that are probably among the best known and most beloved to us for the hope and the promise they give: "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, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men . . . . "**
     * Revelation 21: 1-3.
     ** Rev. 21: 1-3.

     Here we find two dominant themes: the idea of newness - a new heaven, a new earth, and a new city; and the idea of descent, the descent of this new city from the new heaven on to the earth. We note the latter, for in the developing series of the scriptural prophecies of the New Jerusalem, it is in itself something new. In Isaiah we find the promise of a new heaven and a new earth, and also a restored Jerusalem;* in Ezekiel, an ideal description of the city and the temple within it measured by a man obviously an angel,** a theme repeated in the opening chapters of Zechariah;*** and in Daniel, a vision of "one like the Son of Man" to whom was given an everlasting dominion and kingdom over all peoples and nations.**** Similarly in other places, where a new Jerusalem is spoken of, a Jerusalem restored to new greatness at some time in the future, to which all nations and peoples should be brought in worship of the one true God. Always it is an ideal vision of a new order, of a new state in the world, marked by worship of the Lord and blessedness of life such as never existed on earth before.
     * Isaiah 65: 17, 18ff., 66: 22.
     ** Ezekiel 40ff
     *** Zechariah 1, 2.
     **** Daniel 7: 13, 14.
     The idea of the descent of this city from God out of heaven, however, is only implicit; and it does not become explicit until the end of these scriptural prophecies, in the book of Revelation, first in the third chapter as an almost fleeting statement in reference to "the name of the city of my God . . . which cometh down out of heaven from my God,"* and then in the closing chapters, as noted, where it becomes a dominant theme.** Taken literally we can see this stress as a correction of former interpretations of the prophecies, which pictured the New Jerusalem either as a symbolic ideal, existing only in vision, or as the physical city of the old Jerusalem rebuilt, to become the center of a very natural kingdom formed and established on earth much like any other. It was the latter, in fact, that many of the Jews looked for at the time of the Lord's first advent. Taken literally, the idea of the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven makes plain that it is more than a symbolic ideal, one that is to find actual realization on earth; and at the same time, that it is not to be the earthly Jerusalem rebuilt; but an entirely new kingdom with a heavenly and not a worldly origin.
     * Revelation 3: 12.
     ** Revelation 21: 2, 10.

     So we see a literal significance to the statement in its historical context; and taking it representatively, we can apply it with little change also to our own ideas of the New Jerusalem-that the New Church is to be more than a symbolic ideal existing merely as a spiritual vision, but is to find actual realization on earth, and also that, unlike any other worldly organization, it is to have a heavenly origin, whose state is derived from heaven, even so as to be a state of heaven.

The essential significance we see in the description of the Holy Jerusalem descending, therefore, is that the New Church in its final end is to be heaven on earth. And with this, we think, all in the church would, at least intuitively, agree. Certainly, when considered as to state, it seems to be a governing idea throughout the scriptural prophecies of the New Jerusalem and the state of life to be inaugurated with its establishment; and though it may not be a commonly articulated thought among us, the identification of the church with heaven on earth, it is nevertheless a plain statement of the Writings, repeated a sufficient number of times to give confidence to our own expression of it.

The more familiar statement, perhaps, is that the Lord's church is His kingdom on earth. This we do seem to hear actually articulated from time to time, and a number of references can be given to support it,* even in specific application to the New Church.** From this and similar teachings, without any plainer statements, we could derive the idea that the Lord's church is to be heaven on earth, for what is the Lord's kingdom essentially but heaven? However, as said, we do have these plainer statements, among which are the following, by which the doctrine may be established: namely, in the Arcana Coelestia; "As 'Israel' denotes the church, it also denotes heaven, for heaven and the church make one, and the church is the Lord's heaven on earth";*** conversely, "when heaven is spoken of, the church is also meant, for the Lord's heaven on earth is the church, and in whomever the church is, in him also is heaven, for the Lord is in him, and where the Lord is, there is heaven; moreover the church makes one with heaven, for the one depends on the other by an indissoluble connection";**** therefore "the church is the Lord's heaven on earth . . . moreover after their life in the world the men of the church ... become angels of heaven";***** for "that which makes heaven with man also makes the church, for the church is the Lord's heaven on earth";****** and in Heaven and Hell: "What has been said of heaven may be said also of the church, for the church is the Lord's heaven on earth";******* and finally, in Divine Providence: "The Lord's heaven in the natural world is called the church; and an angel of that heaven is a man of the church who is conjoined with the Lord, and who becomes an angel of the spiritual heaven after he leaves this world.

From this it is clear that what has been said of the angelic heaven applies equally to the human heaven that is called the church."********
     * AC 768: 3, 2162: 3, 2177, 2425: 3, 6637, 7396, 10357; TCR 416.
     ** AC 3858: 4.
     *** AC 9808.
     **** AC 10131.
     ***** AC 10151: 3.
     ****** AC 10760.
     ******* HH 57; cf. AC 10760.
     ******** DP 30.
     We cite these specific statements to convince that the doctrine is genuine-that if the church is truly a church, from a life in accordance with doctrine from the Word, it is also heaven on earth - a term applying in its widest sense to the church universal, and particularly to the church specific (which today is the New Church).* For, to cite one other passage speaking to this very point, "whether you say 'the church with man,' or 'heaven with him,' or 'the kingdom of God with him,' or 'the Lord with him,' it is the same. For the church is the Lord's heaven on earth, and the kingdom of God is heaven and the church together, and the Lord is He from whom these are."**
     * AC 10760, 10765; cf. 7396; TCR 416; also AC 3858: 4, cf. 2048; SS 104, 105.
     ** AC 10357.
     Reflection on this idea in relation to the description of Revelation of the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, is what has caused us to focus on the theme of its descent as heaven on earth. And the very placement of this description at the close of the New Testament seems to indicate that in it is involved a prophecy of the final fulfillment of the whole end of creation, namely, the establishment of the New Church, first in the heavens and then on the earth. We note that the scriptural Word opens in Genesis with the story of creation. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep."* This was indeed the beginning-an empty universe, in which a heaven from the human race was but a potential, in human terms, a hope, which would find only gradual fulfillment. It was, in a word, a beginning, but a beginning which looked forward to an end. And this end is what we seem to find particularly described in the descent of the New Jerusalem at the close of the scriptural Word in the final chapters of the Apocalypse, as the fulfillment of that to which creation looked forward from the beginning. To put it briefly, as in the opening chapters of the Word we find a story of beginnings, of first states, so in the closing chapters of the Word we find a story of endings, of last states, in which the first states find their desired fulfillment and completion.
     * Genesis 1: 1, 2.

     Confirmation of this idea is found in the well-known teaching in the work, Divine Providence, that the Lord's Providence has as its end a heaven from the human race because this was the Lord's end in creation.*

The appearance is that we generally respond to this statement with thought of heaven in the life hereafter, as if this were the whole burden of the teaching. But in point of fact it is explained in this way, "that the Divine love and the Divine Providence therefrom have as their end a heaven consisting of men who have become or who are becoming angels."** And it is also in this very series, three numbers later, that we find one of the statements quoted above, "that the Lord's heaven in the natural world is called the church," and that "what has been said of the angelic heaven applies equally to the human heaven that is called the church.*** In short, the teaching that the Divine Providence has as its end a heaven from the human race refers to heaven in its most general sense, comprising not only heaven in the other world, but heaven here, in this world, tool which is the church, when genuine as to doctrine and life.
     * DP 27.
     ** DP 27: 2.
     *** DP 30.

     By this, moreover, we may presume to be meant a state of heaven not only in interiors, but a state of heaven in exteriors as well; that is, a state of heaven not only as an internal, spiritual response of the thought and affection, but also as an external, natural response of the outward life expressive of that internal descending into the external. For we read in the Coronis that "the church cannot exist in man unless its internal is spiritual and its external, natural. A church purely spiritual does not exist, nor a church merely natural."* Similarly, in the Apocalypse Explained, that "in the Lord's church there is both an internal and an external. The internal of the church is charity and from this, faith; while the external of the church is the good of life. The works of charity and faith, which are the good of life, belong to the natural man, while charity itself and faith therefrom belong to the spiritual man."** Also, in the Arcana: "With those with whom is the internal church," we read, "the external must be also, for the internal 'of the church cannot be separated from its external."*** "If there are not both, there is no spiritual life, for the internal is like the soul and the external like the body of the soul. . . . All those are in both who are in the good of life according to the teachings of their church."**** And again, from the Coronis we learn that when a new church is implanted among those who are being regenerated, its internal is heaven, and "the external from the internal, consequently both together, with man, are called the church."*****
     * Coro. 19.
     ** AE 403: 20.
     *** AC 6587: 2.
     **** AC 8762: 2.
     ***** Coro. 21. viii.

     From all this we take it that the full descent of the New Jerusalem as heaven on earth implies its descent not only as a state of heaven within us, but a state of heaven emanating from us, or a state of heaven about us, as well. And this leads directly to another teaching of the doctrines (quoting from True Christian Religion): that "conjunction [with God] is effected by charity, because God loves every man; and as He cannot do good to man immediately, but only mediately through men, He inspires men with His love . . . and the man who receives that love has conjunction with God, and from God's love, loves his neighbor; and in him God's love is within man's love towards the neighbor, and produces in him the will and the ability."*
     * TCR 457: 3.

     The primary implication for our thesis here is that the descent of the New Jerusalem as heaven on earth, about us as well as within us, will not take place apart from our co-operation. As God cannot do good to man immediately but only mediately through men, so He cannot create a heaven on earth as a state about us as well as within us immediately, but only mediately through men. As an internal, spiritual state, perhaps a heaven on earth can be established immediately, so to speak, through our own inward response. But a church purely spiritual does not exist, as said; and as an external, natural state, it is clear that a heaven on earth cannot be established except by what we do in co-operation with the Lord, in the exercise of charity as an expression imaging the Lord's love for mankind, of which we are the agents.
     In the descent of the New Jerusalem from God out of heaven, therefore, our co-operation is required, if the descent is to be complete. And it may be stressed that we cannot wait for this to happen of its own accord nor can we expect it as some magical thing that the Lord will accomplish apart from our own active and intentional efforts. It is true that it is the Lord who builds His church, by providing revelations of Himself and of His laws, and by inspiring men with His love "to produce in them the will and the ability" to live accordingly.* But in the establishment of heaven on earth, as an external state as well as an internal state-as an external state, indeed, which mirrors the internal state and brings it forth into ultimate reality- (quoting again from the Arcana): "it is still according to order for man to do good as of himself; and therefore he ought not to slacken his hand, with the thought, 'If I can do nothing of good from myself, I ought to wait for immediate influx,' and thus remain in a passive state . . . . If he slackens his effort, thinking as said, he is then not a subject into which the Lord can operate."**

For "it is a universal law that influx accommodates itself to efflux, and if efflux is checked, influx is checked. Through the internal man there is an influx of good and truth from the Lord, [and] through the external there must be efflux, namely, an efflux into life, that is, into the exercise of charity. When there is that efflux, then there is a continual influx from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord."**
     * Ibid. (TCR 457: 3).
     ** AC 1712: 2, 3.
     *** AC 5828: 3.

     And in this connection we note also, in Apocalypse Revealed, in the explanation of the seventh chapter of the book of Revelation, a list of states prophesied to be "with those who will be of the Lord's New Heaven and New Church," among which we find the following, namely, "mutual love, which is the love of doing good uses to the community or society . . . because the Lord's love is to do uses to the community and to each society in the community, and He does these by means of men who are in love to Him;" * also, "the perception of use and what use is;"** and lastly, "the will of serving and of action."*** Of these three, the love of doing good uses, the perception of use, and the will of serving, it is said that they make one, "so that if one of them is missing, the other two are not anything; the will of serving with the action is the effect, thus the ultimate, in which the first two are and coexist."****
     * AR 353.
     ** AR 354.
     *** AR 355.
     **** Ibid.
     It is this will to action and the action itself from a love of doing uses and a perception of use, that we have been thinking of in speaking of the descent of the New Jerusalem and our part in the establishment of the New Church as heaven on earth. If there is a specific point to be made, it is this: that the church, or any organization of the church, needs to think in terms of use, not as an abstract term (which it is not), but as actual activity, emanating from a love of the neighbor and the good of society, and directed to meet perceived needs as we can be conscious of them and according to our ability to serve them.

     Only then will the New Church descend into ultimate reality; and the importance of this is not only to the good of society, or to the church as it exists in our individual lives; but its importance is also to ourselves as a whole, as an organization of the church. For there comes to mind also the teaching that all conjunction is effected by a mutual affection of love directed to a common end. It is the end that conjoins.* "When each and all things look to one end," we are told, "they are then kept in an unbroken connection, and make a one"; and in the Lord's kingdom, the ends are uses, which are goods and truths in ultimates, which gather up and enclose interior things in order that everything may be kept in connection.**

"Every society [in heaven] has its peculiar function," and "the societies are distinct in accordance with uses," *** for "those there are conjoined according to uses in like form."**** And in regard to the church, we are told, "there are two things which conjoin [those who are of it], namely, life and doctrine. . . ." "If the doctrine alone conjoins them . . . they then separate from one another. . . ." But "when the life conjoins them, the doctrine does not separate them."*****
     * AC 3679: 7.
     ** AC 9828: 1-3; AC 904: 2, 3; See also conjunction with the Lord, TCR 457: 3, 4; 458, CL 341; with heaven, HH 112; in society, CL 18; in marriage, CL 176.
     *** HH 387.
     ****     HH 64: 2.
     ***** AC 4468.
     Conjunction, in short, is effected by a mutual affection of love, which is the first end, directed to a common use, which is the last end; and "for there to be conjunction, the first end and the last must be conjoined. The first must be the good from which they come, and the last must be the good to which they tend."*
     * AC 5440.
     Again we see the need for the church as heaven on earth in externals as well as in internals, that is, in actual uses of life, in order that those of the church may be held together in a spiritual consociation by mutual purposes directed to common ends. As it is true of any human association, so it is true of the organized church, that it cannot long endure without them. For as the doctrine teaches, and as experience confirms, it is only by such ends that men are conjoined; and where those common ends do not exist, or where they are not seen, that conjunction does not exist.

     (To be concluded.)
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

SEARCH FOR THE ANCIENT WORD, THROUGH MYTH AND CORRESPONDENCE 1972

SEARCH FOR THE ANCIENT WORD, THROUGH MYTH AND CORRESPONDENCE AUBREY COLE ODHNER 1972

     (An Address given to the General Faculty of the Academy of the New Church, November 11, 1971.)

     Myth, magic, allegory and symbolism have intrigued mankind through the ages. Their dynamic powers have broken forth into wild shrieks and ritual chants in at least three dramatic periods of history.
     The first and greatest was somewhere during the decline and fall of the Ancient Church: the night was very dark when that church fell. Perhaps it was because the contrast was so great, and the night so black, that the true remnants, the wise men from that church, were able to see the Star in the East.
     It is during the Middle Ages that we next see the witches heating up their cauldrons and the alchemists stirring their brews; chiromancy, cartomancy, astrology and homo-signorum were their ever-so-serious sports right up to the burning of the witches at Salem and the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment. By no mere coincidence this was the darkness which came before the giving of the New Revelation which told of the science of sciences, known to the ancients and yet lost till that day.
     The third period in history where we see the perversions of correspondences appearing in much of their ancient and medieval horror is at this very day. The witches are dancing again on Salisbury Plain; the horoscopes are seriously watched by more people than would care to admit it; astrology is said to be the most popular science in America; many ancient amulets, like the crux anchata, are being worn by hippies. The signs of the zodiac are being sold in every form imaginable in the shops where incense and candles burn. There is nothing new in the drug cult, it's as old as the ancient hells.
     And yet it is not just from fear that I feel we must hasten to give out the news about the true nature of correspondences, but because I think the receptive field is there, ready, waiting. The idea of correspondence is even more vital and appealing to the young people of today than it has been for several centuries.
     Why are these ideas so appealing? I think it is because deep within every man is the instinctive knowledge that there is a God, that He is one, and that He will communicate with His people.

     The spiritual world is real to our young people and they are trying to throw off our heavy yoke of materialism. Are we going to let them follow false witch doctors to the spirit world or are we going, to show them the orderly way through discrete degrees and the science of correspondences to the true knowledge of good and evil?
     How did Swedenborg feel about this? I have a letter from him:

     "It is well known that in Egypt there were Hieroglyphics, and that these were inscribed on the pillars and walls of the temples, etc. and it is known, likewise, that no one at the present day knows what things were signified by them. But they are nothing else than the correspondences of natural and spiritual things, which were cultivated by the Egyptians in their times more than by any of the people in Asia. The earliest inhabitants of Greece composed their fables according to these correspondences, and the most ancient style was none other than this.
     "I shall add here this new information, that all the things which appear before angels and spirits in the spiritual world, are nothing else than correspondences. For this reason also the whole of the Sacred Scripture was written by correspondences in order that by means of it, and because it is such, there may be a conjunction of the men of the church with the angels of heaven. But because the Egyptians-and with them others in the kingdoms of Asia-began to turn these correspondences into idolatries, to which the children of Israel were prone, therefore the latter were forbidden to recall these for any use among themselves, as appears clearly from the first precept of the Decalogue.
     "'Thou shalt not make unto thee the sculpture of any figure which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I am Jehovah thy God' (Deut. 5: 8, 9) besides many other things elsewhere.
     "From that time the Science of Correspondences fell into oblivion and, indeed, gradually to such an extent that scarcely anyone at the present day knows that there ever was such a science, or that it is of any importance. But as the Lord is now about to establish a New Church., which is to be founded on the Word, and which is meant by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, it has pleased the Lord to reveal that science, and thus to open the Word such as it is interiorly in its bosom, i.e., in its internal sense. This was done through me in the Arcana Coelestia, published at London, and afterwards in the Apocalypse Revealed, published at Amsterdam.
     "Inasmuch as this Science of Correspondences was the Science of Sciences among the ancients, whence their wisdom was derived, it is of importance that someone of your Academy should devote labor upon this science, which may be done especially from the correspondences disclosed in the Apocalypse Revealed and there demonstrated from the Word.

If it should be so desired, I am willing to explain the Egyptian Hieroglyphics which are nothing else than correspondences, and to publish the explanation.
          (Signed) Em. SWEDENBORG 1769"

     II

     Modern scholars say the tradition of thinking allegorically, incanting spirits of another world, belief in magic, all began in Ancient Egypt. This should be no surprise to us, for the Writings teach that the Ancient Church was in Canaan, Syria, Assyria and Egypt and that the people of that church thought and wrote in correspondences.
     Erik Iversen, a Dane, who recently wrote a comprehensive book on the allegorical tradition in Western thought, says the history of the study of hieroglyphics through the ages has been a kind of barometer of the interest in magic, myth, and allegory. Although his whole thesis is that the allegorical interpretation of the hieroglyphics has been a fake and a fraud through the ages, and has only served to postpone the translation of the hieroglyphics, which he says have been purely phonetic from the start, still much of what he says, because he is scientific and objective, seems to give more evidence to support our thesis. He complains about how the Egyptians and then the Greeks and later Renaissance man persisted in their allegorical interpretations when anyone can plainly see from the outcome that the hieroglyphics have always been merely phonetic! Listen to his description of the Egyptian mind and thought:
     "It is obvious that the Egyptians had exactly the same means, and the same abilities, for empirical observations of the objects and the phenomena of their world as we have in ours, and fundamentally seen their mental faculties were neither inferior nor different from those of the Greeks or our own, but they had, due to their all-pervading belief in the magical nature of things and in magic as a basic and ever active force of nature, an entirely different conception of the dynamic processes of the cosmos.
     "They were perfectly able to follow empirically, and to account for, any ordinary sequence of cause and effect, but the ultima ratio, the dynamic force which originated any process, was in their conception, always magical in its nature, and this basic belief influenced the very chain of their reasoning and made it dependent on laws of logic which are incompatible with ours and those of the post-Platonic Greeks from whom we have inherited them.

     "The difficulties arising from these fundamental divergencies are accentuated by another peculiarity of Egyptian thought: its reluctance to form and use abstract concepts, and its characteristic use of concretions, that is tangible concrete words and pictures, to express what we should consider abstract notions and ideas, which again resulted in its dependence on concrete mythical representations in all efforts to form and express a theoretical conception of the nature of things.
     "Every object and creation had to the Egyptian mind beside its ordinary existence in the material world a mythical existence of its own, dependent on the object or being with which it was identified and the explanation of it expressed in the appropriate legends, and only as mythical manifestations did the material things to the Egyptian mind reveal their true nature."

     It is thrilling to me how often we find in recent studies of the religion of the ancient Egyptians, traditionally viewed as gross, external, death-preoccupied, a sudden insight into the true nature of the Egyptian religion.
     One scholar, describing the various gods, comes to Maat, the goddess who wears a single feather as her crown. We can picture the frown on his face as he states in a wondering sort of way "This Maat, she's not a goddess at all, she's a pure abstraction, simply the personification of truth!"
     The myriad weird animal deities, cat cults, strange combinations of animal parts are a nightmare until we read the description of Swedenborg's visit to the Heaven of the Silver Age:
     "We descended the hill to cross the valley, and we saw here and there on either side images of wood and stone carved in the likeness of men, and of various beasts, birds, and fishes. I asked the angel What are these? Are they idols?
     "He replied, 'Certainly not! They are figures representative of various moral virtues and spiritual truths. With the people of that age there was a knowledge of correspondences; and as every man, beast, bird, and fish corresponds to some quality, therefore each sculptured form represents some aspect of virtue or truth, and a number of them together represent the virtue or the truth itself in a general comprehensive form. These in Egypt, were called hieroglyphics!
     Real scholars, like Prof. Layard when he uncovered the great winged sphinx at Nimrud, seem to see the truth when their search is sincere. "I used to contemplate for hours those mysterious emblems, and muse over their intent and history. What more noble forms could have ushered the people into the temple of their gods?

What more sublime images could have been borrowed from nature by men who sought, unaided by the light of the revealed religion, to embody their conception of the wisdom, power, and ubiquity of a Supreme Being? They could find no better type of intellect and knowledge than the head of a man; of strength than the body of a lion; of rapidity of motion than the winged bird. These winged, human-headed lions were not idle creatures, the offspring of mere fancy; their meaning was written upon them."
     And the horrors of 7000 different deities become beautiful when you see them through a New Church student's eyes: "the ancient Egyptians in all their meticulous, scientific care recording and categorizing 7000 different aspects of the One God, 7000 different ways He appears to men!"
     Just as the ancient Hebrew scholars were meticulous about copying every jot and tittle of the Hebrew Word, so were the ancient Egyptians meticulous and faithful for millenia to the copying of symbols like the anch, symbol of eternal life, always the same. Later the same serpent, uraeus, becomes the symbol of Egypt. And think how consistently the Writings speak of Egypt as representing the sensual, the ultimate scientific. Think again how consistently the Writings mention the serpent as representing the sensual. As far as I know the Writings don't directly connect the serpent with Egypt, but miraculously, after Swedenborg's time, when most of the Egyptian treasures were uncovered, most male divinities and pharaohs were found to have Uraeus, the serpent, uppermost in their crown. One New Church lady suggests that perhaps we could date the decline and fall of the Ancient Church by discovering when the serpent was raised to the highest point in the crown, for the decline of a church occurs when the sensual dominates. Egyptians, meticulous and faithful to the accuracies of their symbols, were probably faithful even to the very death of their church.

     III

     "And in Greece they turned correspondences into fables."

     Isolated in the pristine purity of their sun drenched, wave-washed islands, the Greeks were able to watch the horrible fall of the Ancient Church in Asia. Separated from the active perversions, they were able to watch objectively as Ishtar of Babylon descended into hell and the snake goddess of Crete writhed and danced for the last time. They turned the correspondences into myths and the allegorical thinking of the Egyptians into philosophy.
     Those who write about the history of philosophy today say that the concepts of dualism and the ideal world started with Plato.

Swedenborg would therefore be called a Platonist or, because Christianity was mystically intertwined with his system, a neo-Platonist. But we know that Plato was a johnny-come-lately on the scene of systematic, allegorical thinking.
     How great was the purity of thought of the Ancient Greeks and how complete has been its perversion, I think is dramatically characterized by the complete reversal of meaning of the word myth. In Homer's time mythos and logos meant the same thing, what Word means to us, Truth itself. Later Logos grew to mean the inward constitution, as well as the outward form of thought, and consequently became the expression of exact thought-which is exact because it corresponds to universal and unchanging principles. Later in Greek history mythos, from meaning Truth itself, came to mean the telling of truth. Now in our modern world, where the existence of Truth itself or Absolute Truth is usually denied, logos means merely an exact science, a far cry from Truth in its Essence, and mythos has suffered a far worse fate. From meaning Truth itself, it became the telling of truth; now it means falsity, false belief. Please don't let me hear anyone say "it's only a myth."
     So to the very ancient Greeks the myths were not only true they were the highest truth. This was their idea of correspondences. Let's see what Iversen says about it:
     "The tenacity with which the classical authors stick to their erroneous interpretations and as it were deliberately disregard all evidence which could conflict with their preconceived allegorical ideas is indeed astonishing."
     Although Iversen asserts that there was continued and lively intercourse between Hellas and Egypt in the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. and that the Greeks claimed complete dependence on Egyptian thinking; still he says "the Greeks did not understand Egyptian writings and refused to acknowledge that they were phonetic."
     In fact, the Greeks were certain that it was allegorical. Diodorus -1st century B.C.- says:
     "The Egyptian writing does not express the intended concept by means of syllables joined one to another but by means of the signification of the objects which have been copied and by its figurative meaning which has been impressed upon the memory by practice. For instance they draw a picture of a hawk and that signifies everything swift and a crocodile signifies everything evil."
     According to Plutarch the hieroglyphics were not ordinary writing at all but "pictorial, rebus-like expressions of divine ideas and sacred knowledge."

     According to Plotinus, 3rd century A.D., "these pictures were not merely ordinary images of the things they represented but were endowed with certain symbolic qualities which revealed the ideal world of the soul."
     An Alexandrian scholar named Claireiron wrote a treatise on hieroglyphics in which he says the allegorical method used in writing the hieroglyphics was the same as the method used by Homer.

     (To be continued.)
AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER? 1972

AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER? Jr. EDWARD B. LEE 1972

     Who is my brother? Everybody in the world? Most Americans? Should we accept a broad definition of relatives like the advertisement of the product which is "good for spacemen and their families on earth"? We are taught otherwise:

     "It is a common opinion that every man is equally the neighbor, and that benefits are to be conferred on everyone who needs assistance; but it is in the interest of Christian prudence to examine well the quality of a man's life and to exercise charity to him accordingly. The man of the internal church exercises his charity with discrimination, consequently with intelligence; but the man of the external church because he is unable thus to discern things, does it indiscriminately."* [Italics added]
     * HD 85.

     Hence we are to choose whom we are to assist with our limited store of arrows of charity, and choose on the assumption that we and our families have reasonably full quivers, since:

     "Everyone should provide for himself the necessaries of life, and many other things . . . which he necessarily requires, and this not only for himself, but also for his own, and not only for the present time, but for the future . . . [otherwise] he cannot be in a state to exercise charity, for he is in want of all things."*
     * HD 98.

     Ignoring the fact that some families, by their definition of "necessaries," never have enough, this would seem to indicate that we have an obligation to choose who is to be our brother. Once chosen, however, what are we going to give him? Are we responsible for feeding and clothing him and his family, providing him with the standard of living to which he would like to become accustomed (i.e. ours), sharing spiritual wealth with him on the assumption that we have some and that he wants it, developing with him a rapport of mutual interests or community of thought and action?

The answer is not simple, but the Writings make clear that the essence of charity is use; hence what we do for the neighbor (whom we choose to be our brother) is more spiritual than natural, and is therefore less likely to involve paying his bills than showing him or reminding him of the large sums in the Bank of Beauty that the Lord has already provided for us both. In order to communicate such data, he and I must have knowledge of the proper accounting language or an appreciation of what is good. This brings up again the need for discrimination., but does not go so far as to imply that charity is only for fellow New Church men. "Our brother is loved be he Greek or Gentile."*
     * Char 75.
     Is the keeping of my brother being accomplished indirectly through the payment of taxes which go to provide a reasonable standard of health, education and welfare for all? Since nobody can tell whether his tax dollars are paying for diplomats, doodles or dinners, tax charity is indeed indiscriminate; it would be a strain on even the temporal intellect to ignore the needy widow on the basis that your taxes had taken care of her and thus exonerated you from further duty to be useful. Further, by not insisting on administrative efficiency in tax distribution by our public servants when we have knowledge, intelligence, power of the vote, and good channels of communication, are we not like the slothful third servant, burying our talent? Paying taxes may not be keeping our brother.

     Having chosen who is to be our brother with some degree of prudence, and having resolved to share with him our spiritual food such as it is, and be of what use we can to him, then the consideration becomes how we shall perform the act of charity. Shall we deal with him man to man, as a friend, or through the office of our employment, or through the church, or by the many other manifold ways open to us? In short, do we scatter our goods among all worthy brothers with whom we may come in contact during each day, or do we concentrate on those we most enjoy. "Aye, there's the rub." We should not worry about our own sense of pleasure, or whether or not we are a good keeper, for that is to substitute reward for love.
     In fact, there is danger of choosing our brother from our own circle or those who would return our proffered gifts with recompential interest, lest we ignore the teaching, "when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, because they have not wherewith to recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just."*

It is evident that the method of being neighborly must be universal in its application to family, friends, fellow employees, fellow New Church men, casual acquaintances or strangers, as long as our prudence tells us that their spiritual crystals may be soluble in our particular cup of tea. True, we will remember a few of our actions with more pleasure than others, just as a teacher will forget the indifference of dozens in the remembrance of one face lightened with the smile of understanding. I think God gives this to us not as a pat on the back, but as a reminder that there is more to be done.
     * Luke 14: 11-14.
     If use is the staff we are to give our brother to lean on, perhaps it needs a better definition. For example, as society treasurer for many years, I am convinced that every one who cries "Use, Use," should not have instant access to the church bank account, for does not the Word state that everyone who cries "Lord, Lord," does not enter into the kingdom of heaven? Should a treasurer refuse to accept a gift for the installation of a carillon from G to F sharp on the organ just because he knows that there is not enough in the treasury to pay the minister? Should such an officer of the church criticize the person who talks loudest about usefulness at church meetings on the basis of his knowledge that the same person contributes very little money? The answer is that the brother who wants to hear the new dimension of music from the organ is being his brother's keeper, and the other who loves the church enough to talk well of it, is giving the work of his heart and his time instead of cash. Who can deny that these might be greater gifts to their brother,, who might be me?* In the choice of various uses therefore, we must also be prudent. In the days before the salary plans came into full effect, many a minister or teacher struggled in want. As Emerson has said of the artist and poet, "and who has not seen the tragedy of genius, struggling with paltry pecuniary difficulties, and at last sinking, chilled and fruitless, like a giant slaughtered with pins." But the use of church funds is not unlimited. Who among our ministers would not, like Rousseau's Emile, give his entire time for the salvation of a single soul; yet the ratio of one minister for every layman is not very good odds for Society solvency, and is not solvency a potent use? Hence it is our duty to weigh the various alternatives so that our charity dollar can perform as well as our wishes for it.
     * This does not relieve the New Church man of his obligation to give money for the support of the church. I have been in office too long to believe that.

     Although there is a considerable problem in differentiating between greater and smaller goods, there is no real problem in determining when we are to perform the act of being our brother's keeper. All the time. We never retire from this work. Who does not admire the octogenarians who continue to be "givers" in a world of "takers."
     Realistically facing our own limitations, how can we decide on the proper definition or priority of acts which help our brother? There seem to be three degrees of prudence in this regard:

     1. On the level of the natural man-common sense
     2. On the level of the spiritual man -"distinction"
     3. On the level of the celestial man -"perception"

     There are few mortals who have the ability to have all three; to see and enjoy the knowledge of the world, to have a clear eye for the beauty of creation, and to have a reverence for the "splendor of God which he sees bursting through each chink and cranny." Without these attributes however, we can all use the authority of the Writings to help us choose the degree of use, as in climbing a ladder, starting with the rungs of common sense, and muddling upward, stopping now and then to reflect that we might be moving in the wrong direction if our prudence is used to "refine luxury instead of using it for the good of the beauty in it."
     My brother therefore is my neighbor - "every man, but specifically him who is in the good of charity and thence in faith from the Lord, whoever he may be."* I conclude that I am indeed my brother's keeper. My job is qualified by my own limitations in being able to discriminate wisely in recognizing him and choosing wisely among the many ways to serve him. I must recognize him in many forms, with affection and without favoritism, and determine as best I can that he needs and wants those of my talents or services which I am able to offer freely for his particular benefit.
     * AE 746: 15.
REFORMATION MUST BEGIN HERE! 1972

REFORMATION MUST BEGIN HERE! 1972

"A man who in the world has entered the first state [reformation] after death can be introduced into the second [regeneration]; but he who in the world has not entered into the first state cannot be introduced into the second after death, and thus cannot be regenerated." (TCR 571)

REVIEW 1972

REVIEW NORBERT H. ROGERS 1972

     EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. By Inge Jonsson. Translated into English by Catherine Djurklou. Twayne Publishers, Inc., New York, 1971. One in Twayne's World Authors Series, A Survey of the World's Literature. Cloth, pp. 19S.

     Though not of the faith of the New Church, Mr. Jonsson is evidently very familiar with Swedenborg's writings and regards them with respect. Though he chides Swedenborg for relying on handbooks rather than on original sources for the descriptions, conclusions and thoughts of scientists and philosophers, for frequently misquoting them, and for not finishing so many projects undertaken during his scientific and philosophical phases, Mr. Jonsson generally treats his subject fairly and sympathetically. For example, on the question of whether Swedenborg was insane or not, he does not commit himself but admits that "most specialists tend to agree that Swedenborg was mentally ill after 1744, even though the diagnoses vary" (p. 126). Then, in giving examples of some of these different diagnoses, he cites the conclusion of one who was most sure of Swedenborg's insanity. This man, after describing Swedenborg's psychosis, adds, "the psychosis did not prevent Swedenborg from developing his religious views until he was well into his eighties." Mr. Jonsson then notes that: "This fact is . . . embarrassing to the advocates of the insanity theory" (p. 127). In his Notes and References section, in connection with citing the pro and con evidence of Swedenborg's contemporaries, he notes that in those days the custom was to ascribe all unorthodox religious teachings either to insanity or to fraud.
     Though it is probably not meant in a pejorative way, most New Church men would not appreciate such statements as "Swedenborg's scientific lack of prejudice allowed him to present undaunted the most absurd information about lunar spirits" (p. 148); and in reference to June 19th, that the twelve were sent forth "to preach the gospel according to Emanuel Swedenborg" (p. 150). But except for occasional light twitting of this sort, Mr. Jonsson, as already said, is generally fair and sympathetic to Swedenborg.
     For the most part the book compares Swedenborg's thinking and systems with those of Descartes, Leibnitz, Wolff, Malebranche, St. Augustine, Aristotle and others, pointing out similarities and differences and suggesting influences. Even in treating of the Theological Writings, which the author refers to as theosophic writings, the influences of and comparisons with other religious thinkers are frequently discussed.

Though it is brought out that Swedenborg believed himself to have been called by the Lord to reveal His truths, that claim is evidently not admitted by the author. Rather, Swedenborg's theological teachings are traced to St. Augustine and other religious writers or ascribed to himself, many of the teachings being said to be refinements and simplifications of theories developed in his philosophical works. There is no doubt that Swedenborg's application to scientific and philosophical pursuits was in Providence a preparation for his use as a servant of the Lord and that a number of the theories he tentatively had developed were later clarified and confirmed by revelation. So to this extent Mr. Jonsson's statement is correct.
     The weakest and most disappointing part of the book is the last chapter, entitled "New Jerusalem in the World," where the effects of Swedenborg's works since their being written are discussed. Strangely the religious bodies founded on the Writings are scarcely mentioned, much less described, except to point out that they are small with a total enrollment never exceeding 20,000. Most of the chapter deals with Swedenborg's influence on a number of well-known personalities such as Kant, Blake, Goethe, Strindberg, Balzac, Beaudelaire, Henry James and Emerson, who-except for Kant, who was antagonisticwere influenced by certain aspects of his works but never really understood their import, except, perhaps, for Henry James. At least no mention is made of the spiritists' claim of Swedenborg as one of their founders, nor of his influence on Mrs. Eddy.
     As Mr. Jonsson says in his closing paragraph: "The main purpose of my presentation has been to try to sketch the natural -philosophical background of Swedenborg's development and to indicate its roots in ancient and Christian tradition and its relative agreement with contemporary science." For this reason the book does not enlighten the reader about the New Church, nor will it lead directly to it. But it should appeal to the learned-to those in the universities-influencing some to read Swedenborg's writings for themselves. Because of this Mr. Jonsson's book is of importance to the New Church.
     It should be noted in concluding that there is an erratum on page 145, in the English edition, where lines 5, 6 and 7 are mixed up and therefore incomprehensible. They should read: [ . . . and its won-] "ders; it is here that they find their greatest happiness in which respect they are in agreement with their chronicler. Some of these functions, distorted in the cracked glass of evil, are performed by the inhabitants of hell."
     NORBERT H. ROGERS

NEED FOR REPENTANCE 1972

NEED FOR REPENTANCE Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE

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     After explaining that Jehovah never repents, since He foresees and provides all things from eternity, the Writings add that repentance is applicable only to him who does not know the future, and who, when the thing comes to pass, finds that he has erred. The need for repentance is therefore part of the human condition, for man does not know the future and is always prone to error. It is of his nature not to reflect on the delights of evil while he is in them: and even when his intentions are good he cannot foresee all the consequences of his actions. So there is much of which man may and should repent.
     While the need for repentance is part of the human condition, however, it was never essential for humanness. It is part of the condition which man wrought when he made the origin of evil in himself; and that he can repent is of the mercy of the Lord, who foresaw his need and provides for its being met. Alan repents when he reflects on the past in the light of the Word, and in that light acknowledges that he has erred; and he may repent also by reflecting in the same light that certain things which he is contemplating are evil and therefore resolving not to do them. Thus it is from the Lord in the Word that man can acknowledge that he has erred, or that he will err if he does not change his intentions.
     In the teaching with which we began there can be seen man's weakness and the Lords mercy toward him in it. If man is prone to error, the Lord foresees his need and provides for it, not only in giving the Word, but in allowing the events that bring man's error to his attention and giving him the ability to do something decisive about it.

MEMBERSHIP IN THE CHURCH 1972

MEMBERSHIP IN THE CHURCH Editor 1972

     It has been suggested that something might be written again about membership in the General Church. In 1897, Bishop W. F. Pendleton proposed a general body of the New Church, the units of which should not be state associations or local churches-which would impose racial, national and geographical restrictions-but individual men and women who subscribed to certain principles and practices, each of whom should be recognized as a church in least form.
     This was in acceptance of the principle taught in the Writings that the church is within man, and the communion recognized as the church by the Lord is the church with men and women in whom the church is. Spiritually, the church is individual; and, when we reflect that it consists essentially in a regenerating state of love, mode of thought and way of life produced by free acceptance of the Lord's teaching and leading in the Word, we may see that it cannot be otherwise. Men and women can be regenerated only as individuals, not in groups; and there is no such thing as a regenerate state of the church apart from the individual states of its members as to regeneration.
     That is why membership in the General Church is primarily individual. We do not first become members of a society, and then enter into membership of the General Church. Application is made first, to the Bishop, for membership in the general body. All who are accepted are given a certificate, and only when this has been received may they sign the roll of a society or circle. Membership is therefore not attained automatically through Confirmation or adult Baptism-an often recurring mistaken idea; but the only requirements for membership are that the applicant shall have received New Church baptism by a duly ordained New Church minister, and shall be at least twenty-one, in the case of a man, and eighteen, in that of a woman. It is assumed that applicants subscribe to the principles and practices of the General Church, but they are not required to say so.
     Most societies have also adherents known as members of the congregation, who take part regularly in the uses of the society, but are not members and may not even belong to the General Church, and are therefore not entitled to vote or to hold office. Apart from this, they enter fully into the worship, instruction and social life of the society, and they are as warmly welcomed as its enrolled members. Their freedom to remain outside membership and their reasons for doing so are respected, and no pressure will be brought to bear upon them. Entrance into the organized church should never be a matter of form. It should follow the dictate of individual conscience, as we hope it eventually will.

MATTER OF TERMS 1972

MATTER OF TERMS Editor 1972

     The Writings frequently urge the importance of using terms accurately. A case in point is their use of the terms, the finite, the indefinite and the infinite. These terms are in common use; but the Writings give them a depth of meaning hitherto unknown, and so distinguish them that there is no overlapping or interchangeability as in dictionary definitions. According to their usage the finite has limits which can be seen by the eye or grasped by the imagination. The indefinite also has limitations, but these are such as transcend the scope of the mind. The infinite is entirely beyond the grasp of man's thought and imagination. As the Writings say, man can know that it is, but not what it is. The finite and the indefinite are both created; the Infinite is uncreate and, indeed, prior to creation. It is God in Himself.
     Several examples of these distinctions are given in the Writings. We are told that that is called indefinite which cannot be defined and comprehended by number; but that still the indefinite is finite relatively to the Infinite and so finite that there is no ratio between them. Heaven is finite and images the infinity of the Lord; but it is indefinite, for its extent is immeasurable by human or angelic thought, which cannot perceive its boundary. The material universe is finite but indefinite, in that human thought can never arrive at its boundary or encompass its extent. Men and angels will always remain finite, but the possibilities before them are indefinite.
     Except in mathematics, where the term has a proper meaning, we should not say, infinite, when what we really mean is, indefinite. When we consider the distinctions involved, we may see that the indefinite stands between the finite and the infinite to remind us how far we finite beings are from comprehending the Infinite.

     Another term we may usefully think about is, create. There have always been those in the church who would reserve it strictly for the Lord; and there can be no doubt that in the absolute sense He is the only Creator. In certain fields it may be true to say that man is only a discoverer of what the Lord has created; that he evolves what the Lord has involved in His creation's ultimates. In other fields it may be said that the materials out of which man fashions his works are themselves the Lord's creations, and that is true. But man was created in the image and likeness of God, and it would seem that that image and likeness in man may properly be called creativity. The term has been misused, sometimes ludicrously so; but in painting and sculpture, letters and music, it would seem to have a legitimate use. The artist is more than an artificer.

TRULY LIBERATED WOMAN 1972

TRULY LIBERATED WOMAN RACHEL D. ODHNER 1972

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:

     May I comment upon your editorial, "The Truly Liberated Woman"? There is much description in the Writings of the spiritual man and the spiritual woman and relatively little about the celestial pair and their marriage. We are familiar with many passages about the conjunction of the husband's wisdom with the love of the wife. And there is much offhand reference in our church to woman as "affectional" and man as "rational." Truly this is a discretely higher view than that of worldly equality. Yet, must we not delve deeper?
     The Writings describe an angel wife as "wisdom clothed with love" or "good from truth," and a husband as "love clothed with wisdom" or "truth from good." I would like to quote from Arcana Coelestia 8994: 4: ". . . they who are in spiritual perception love women who are affected with truths, but do not love women who are in knowledges: for it is according to Divine order that men should be in knowledges, but women solely in affections; and this that women should not love themselves from knowledges, but should love men; whence comes the conjugial. From this also it was said by the ancients that women should be silent in the church. This being the case, knowledges are represented by men, but affections by women . . . . But be it known that the case is so with those who are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom; but the other way about with those who are of His celestial kingdom. In the latter kingdom husbands are in affection, but wives in the knowledges of good and truth. From this comes the conjugial with these." (See also nos. 4823, 4824, et al.)
     I envision the truly liberated woman as one in whom the celestial degree is opened to the Lord; the wisdom that is inwardly within her love is one with the love that is inwardly within her husband's wisdom; and together with her husband she strives in the use that unites them                                   RACHEL D. ODHNER

Schwenksville
Pennsylvania
BASIS FOR JUDGMENT 1972

BASIS FOR JUDGMENT 1972

"Therefore one who is praised on account of his acumen is not for that reason to be praised on account of his life. From the degree of his acumen no one can hope for anything as a reward in the other life." (Spiritual Diary 956)

Church News 1972

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Convention. The NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER reports that the Pittsburgh (Convention) Society recently celebrated its 130th anniversary with a Saturday evening banquet and on Sunday a service which included the administration of the Holy Supper and was followed by a buffet luncheon. The Rev. Leon C. Le Van, who was the pastor of the Society for eighteen years before moving to Florida, was the main speaker at the banquet and conducted the Sunday services. Seven members of the General Church in Pittsburgh were among the guests at the banquet, and greetings were sent by the Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh.

     Europe. The same journal reports a meeting of the Council of New Church ministers on the European Continent. The Council which consists of Convention ministers, was holding its 18th session in Lausanne, Switzerland. A short service and address by the General Pastor, the Rev. Alfred G. Regamey opened the proceedings, and papers on the following subjects were read and discussed: "Anguish," "Modern Views on Liturgical and Ritual Acts and What Should Be Our Reaction to Them," "Order in the New Church and the Problem of Lay Leaders," "Is the End of a First Christian Era the End of Transcendentalism?" and "How to Adapt the Teachings of Our Church to the Education of Young People." In addition, there were two public lectures, one entitled "Monotheism Centered on the Christ Versus Traditional Threeism," the other, "Towards a New Christian Era." The meetings, which were attended by the President of Conference, the Rev. James Ayre, were followed by the second session of the Continental Association of the New Church. Problems of general interest and plans for united action were discussed. One of the proposals was that the New Church organizations the world over be invited to gather in Uppsala, Sweden, at the end of March, 1972, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Swedenborg's death.

     General Conference. According to the NEW-CHURCH HERALD, which devoted an issue to the occasion, the Missionary Society of the New Church, formerly the Missionary and Tract Society, celebrated its 150th anniversary last fall. The Society pursues a vigorous policy of publishing books and pamphlets and advertising and is to be commended warmly on its efforts and on the thought that goes into them.
SIGN OF REFORMATION AND NON-REFORMATION 1972

SIGN OF REFORMATION AND NON-REFORMATION 1972

"When therefore a man betakes himself to evils, as is the case with most in youth, if any anxiety is felt when he reflects upon the wrong he has done, it is a sign that he will still receive influx through the angels from heaven, and also a sign that he will afterwards suffer himself to be reformed; but if nothing of anxiety is felt when he reflects upon the wrong he has done, it is a sign that he is no longer willing to receive influx through the angels from heaven, and a sign also that he will not afterwards suffer himself to be reformed." (Arcana Coelestia 5470)

EPISCOPAL VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA OF THE RIGHT REV. W. D. PENDLETON 1972

EPISCOPAL VISIT TO SOUTH AFRICA OF THE RIGHT REV. W. D. PENDLETON PETER M. BUSS 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII                               MARCH, 1972                                                  No. 3
     More than a hundred people gathered at Louis Botha Airport in Durban on Wednesday afternoon, June 16, 1971, to welcome Bishop and Mrs. Pendleton to South Africa. The deputation included the thirty children of Kainon School, properly arrayed in their uniforms; and appropriately, while the plane was circling the airport, this group, representing the only New Church school in South Africa, was the first to catch Mrs. Pendleton's eye. The excitement of the children and adults in experiencing this long-awaited moment must have caused the other visitors to the little airport to wonder who this visitor was. One wishes they could Appreciate that he holds the highest use on earth.
     This was the first of three meetings to welcome our Bishop and his lady. The following evening at the children's New Church Day banquet, he met with all the children of the Society (and with many from afar who were fortunate enough to arrive early for the dedication weekend). Then on Friday evening there was the official reception, which has already been reported in these pages.
     The Bishop and Mrs. Pendleton's visit can be divided into four sections. The dedication weekend is one; their other work in the Durban Society is another; then there was his work in the Mission; and finally a visit to the Transvaal Circle. The dedication weekend has already been covered, so we will continue with the other three activities.

     The Durban Society

Once the excitement of the dedication was over, the Society had the opportunity, for nearly three weeks, to appreciate the other benefits of an episcopal visit. It all started with a combined Sons' and Women's Guild meeting, at which Mr. and Mrs. Robert Asplundh spoke about the uses of the international bodies of the Sons and Theta Alpha.

Needless to say, since the Asplundhs were leaving us the following day, the discussion continued far beyond the time at which Cinderella was turned into a pumpkin.
     Twice during his visit the Bishop met with the men of the Society to discuss doctrine on an informal basis, while Mrs. Pendleton spent evenings with the ladies, telling them about the Church in other parts of the world. He also conducted two doctrinal classes: one was scheduled, and the other was not, but it was enthusiastically requested by the Society at the close of the Society business meeting, of which more anon. On the official side, he met to discuss New Church education with the Kainon School Board, and he presided over a meeting of the joint Council of the Executive Board and the Pastor's Council at which many and varied uses were discussed. Finally, he chaired a Special General Meeting of the Durban Society which had been called to discuss and decide upon the future of the pastorate of the Society.
     Naturally, the Pendletons visited Kainon School. They saw the classes in progress, attended the annual Kainon Festival of Speech and Drama, and Bishop Pendleton led his side to victory in a game of baseball.
     The social uses were not overlooked. Bishop and Mrs. Pendleton graced many homes, and themselves entertained members at their hotel. There was an open house to say farewell to them, at the home of the pastor, and a Ball of no mean proportions towards the end of their stay. There were also tennis matches-including a scheduled competition between Dan Heinrichs and Peter Buss on the one side, and Bishop Pendleton and Malcolm Cockerell on the other-conducted in the nature of a scientific experiment: Dan Heinrichs wanted to know if two pastors were better than a bishop and a layman. They weren't!
     All too soon the three weeks were over, and the Society added with its farewells the fervent wish that it won't be long till next time!

     The South African Mission

     During his stay in Durban, the Bishop spent the best part of a week involved in meetings with the Mission. The following account of this work is an extract from the Mission magazine, Umchazi, and was written by the Rev. Aaron B. Zungu.

     "The Bishop's Visit

     "Once more the Mission had one of those rare occasions which happen once in, at most, five years-the Bishop's visit. Most of the Mission members will remember Bishop Pendleton from his previous visits to the Mission. To be sure this was his third visit to this country, having last been here in 1965.

During that visit one of the things he did was to authorise the church buildings at KwaMashu-the manse and the church. I remember when, one day, he visited KwaMashu with the Rev. D. W. Heinrichs, the then Mission Superintendent, to see the site which the Durban City Corporation had granted the Mission. It was a thrilling moment when he stood there surveying the site, and to hear him announce the decision to build, first the manse and then the church-the first church house proper in the Mission. It is this church that the Bishop, among other things, had come to dedicate.
     "After his arrival in South Africa, the Bishop presided over the Ministers' Meetings held at the Durban Society's buildings at Westville. It was a memorable occasion when once more the ministers had the great pleasure to meet the Bishop. The African ministers enjoy asking visitors from overseas questions, and, you may be sure, quite some time was spent by the Bishop answering their questions about various things in America. The Bishop, we are happy to say, enjoyed answering those questions. The Bishop's meeting with the ministers lasted from Thursday, June 24, to June 25, the Superintendent, the Rev. P. M. Buss, attending all the sessions.
     "On the 24th of June at 10:00 a.m., the Bishop opened the meeting with prayer and reading from the Word followed by opening remarks. This was followed by a paper on the subject of The Proprium by the Rev. A. B. Zungu which he read in two sessions. During the break we all enjoyed delicious cakes and tea which, as the Bishop remarked, seemed to appear from nowhere as happens in heaven, finding their way to us by means of Mrs. D. Bongers' hands. After the Rev. Zungu completed reading his paper there was a long discussion on it in which all present showed interest and took part. The Bishop helped to clear certain questions. In the afternoon of the same day the Assistant Superintendent, the Rev. B. I. Nzimande, gave his address and report which was followed by a discussion on particular society situations.
     "On Friday June 25, after opening with prayer and reading from the Word at 10:00 a.m., Candidate B. A. Mbatha read a paper on Appearances. This was a very interesting paper which led to a variety of comments. In the afternoon the Bishop wound up the meeting with a talk on the Mission generally, while the Rev. P. M. Buss made concluding remarks on 'The Last Sixty Years.' There was a Benediction by the Bishop.
     "On the following morning, Saturday, the Bishop and the Superintendent met delegates in one of the school-rooms at Clermont, the Bishop presiding. The delegates from the different societies were introduced to the Bishop by the Superintendent.

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They were then given a chance by the Bishop to say what they liked, to tell the Bishop about their societies. There were discussions on problems in some of the societies, the commonest being that of lack of a pastor.
     "In the afternoon of the Saturday at 2:00 p.m., in an open meeting Mr. Nzimande welcomed the Bishop on behalf of all the members and thanked him cordially for the gift of a beast. (The Bishop has never forgotten to make a similar gift every time he visits the Mission.) This was followed by a class conducted by Bishop Pendleton on the Holy Supper.
     "June 27th. As was said at the beginning of these remarks one of the things the Bishop came to do was to dedicate the church buildings at Westville and KwaMashu. The 27th of June is one of those days that will linger long in the minds of the Mission members. For the most of them it was the first time they had seen a dedication of a church by the Bishop. You can therefore imagine the excitement. Members had come from the four corners of the Republic of South Africa. Every Society and Circle was represented. Those from Johannesburg, about 80 in number, had hired a bus. Unfortunately the bus had given them much trouble on the way, and so they arrived late in Durban. The little church at KwaMashu was filled to capacity, and some of the many visitors had to stand outside during the service on account of lack of room. The church is built to seat 100 people, and over 300 had gathered there.
     "The Bishop conducted the dedication service, followed by the ordination of Candidate B. A. Mbatha into the first degree of the priesthood. This was followed by the administration of the Holy Supper celebrated by the Bishop, and assisted by the Revds. P. M. Buss, B. I. Nzimande and the resident pastor, the Rev. S. E. Butelezi. There were over 200 communicants. The whole wonderful service, full of the beauty found only in a New Church service, the Bishop closed with prayer and a benediction.

     "The service was then followed by a programme of other items. The Superintendent welcomed Bishop and Mrs. Pendleton, and also the visitors. Then there was a presentation to Mr. Klaas Bierman, who did so much to make the building a success. This was followed by a presentation to Mr. John Frost, the architect responsible for the designing and supervision of the building, which was designed to take twice as many people as it looked; this was again followed by another presentation, one to the Rev. P. P. Sibeko, the builder of the church, who laboured so faithfully to accomplish his task. Finally, and most interesting, was the last presentation by Mr. John Elphick of the Holy Supper vessels to the KwaMashu church.

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These are part of the F. W. Elphick Memorial Fund. Mr. Elphick is the only son of the late Rev. F. W. Elphick, whom most older members know, and who was the first Superintendent of the Mission in South Africa. This brought back old memories in the Mission. In this connection we would like to mention how delighted most of us were to see Miss Vida Elphick in addition to Mr. Elphick, her brother, among us, and we asked ourselves what the late Rev. F. W. Elphick would have said if he had risen to see the fruits of his long-cherished labours of many, many years.
     "The Rev. Nzimande rose to bid Bishop and Mrs. Pendleton farewell, and also the Rev. and Mrs. D. W. Heinrichs who were leaving South Africa after accomplishing their task in South Africa. The Bishop, in his reply, drew the attention of the gathering to the splendid work done in the Mission by a young man, and that was the Rev. Peter M. Buss who was now leaving the Mission work to take up some other appointment in the work of the church.
     "After the programme came to an end it was time for feasting and talking with friends about the wonderful events. We thank the Bishop for his visit."

     The Transvaal Circle

     The visit to the Transvaal Circle took place of necessity in midweek, and instead of a service, we spent two enjoyable evenings asking questions and receiving doctrinal instruction from the Bishop. There was a very full complement at each meeting, and it is interesting that with virtually no exceptions, it was a renewing of acquaintance, since all members of the Circle but three had managed to make the 400-mile journey to Durban for the dedication weekend.
     The first evening was the more formal of the two, with specific points being discussed and the discussion lasting about one and a half hours. On the second evening, we had thought we would be merely social, but the opportunity was too good to miss and most of the evening was spent in a general question-and-answer session.
     On Friday, July 9, Bishop and Mrs. Pendleton left South Africa for Europe. They left the Church in South Africa with many happy memories to treasure, and richer than before through the uses they performed so well.
     PETER M. BUSS

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POWER OF USE 1972

POWER OF USE Rev. CHRISTOPHER R. J. SMITH 1972

     "It has been granted me to see many things in heaven, many things in the world, and many things in the human body, and to consider at the same time their uses; and it has been revealed that every particular thing in them, both great and small, was created from use, in use, and for use." (Apocalypse Explained 1194e; Conjugial Love 183: 5)

     Throughout the Writings we may read of the fact that the Lord has created us and put us on this earth for the sake of use: we are here to be of use to each other. If we do this willingly, with delight in the use itself and not primarily in the recompense for the use, then after life here we shall continue the same kind of life in heaven, which is often described in the Writings as the kingdom of uses.
     The clear teaching is: "Man is born for no other end than that he may perform use to the society in which he is and to the neighbor while he lives in the world, and in the other life according to the good pleasure of the Lord." * The reflection of this doctrine may be seen in the human body, "every part of which must perform some use, even things which are of no value," but are of service to the body itself.**
     * AC 1103.
     ** Ibid.
     We find that even those in hell are not an exception to this law. For we are taught: "No one exists except for the sake of use, even evil spirits; and indeed to perform uses to . . . those whom they hate." * The difference is, however, that in hell "everyone is compelled to do good work"** under the direction of a judge or guard in some workhouse.
     * SD 2922.
     ** Char. 157.
     If a devil should refuse to work, then clothing and food are withheld from him and he is banished into a desert place until he finally submits to work, for we are told that no "idle person is tolerated even in hell."* Thus another difference between heaven and hell is that "in hell uses are done from fear, but in heaven uses are done from love." **
     * AE 1194: 2.
     ** Ibid.
"It is a law [we read] that there is nothing without a use."* "From creation nothing exists upon earth which is not for a use."** The reason that all things created, especially man, are intended for use is the origin of all creation being the Lord.

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It is here, considering the Lord's purpose in creation, that we should begin our thinking when trying to define use itself.
     * SD 3144.
     ** Love VIII.

     Let us recall that the Lord's love is such that He constantly desires to create and to give of Himself, to be conjoined with what He has created, namely, man, and then to bless him with happiness. This final end in the Lord's purpose in creation answers the question: What is the use of creation? Divine love is the desire to bless man. Divine wisdom is the means by which the Lord accomplishes the desire of His love, and when that is accomplished the use of His love is fulfilled. This, then, is the trine of love, wisdom and use that is to be seen in all of nature.
     Love, or the will, by means of wisdom, or the understanding, fulfills itself in use; and it is this use which is called good. The Lord created, and, "behold, it was very good."*
     * Genesis 1: 3 1.

     In relation to love and wisdom, use is given a very clear definition in the work Conjugial Love: "Love cannot rest unless it is doing something, for love is the very activity of life. Neither can wisdom exist and subsist except when it is doing something from love, and with love, and doing is use. Wherefore we define use to be doing good from love by means of wisdom. Use is good itself." Reading further we are asked to reflect: "What is love without wisdom but something fatuous?, and, without use, what is love together with wisdom but a mere state of mind?" *
     * CL 183: 3, 4.
     Only when love and wisdom are ultimated in some act do they have any real use, for only then is there something good achieved and the Lord's purpose in creation is served, which is to bless man. Thus we are told: "Uses are goods. By doing uses or goods is meant serving others and ministering to them." * Herein consist the delights and joys of heaven.**
     * DP 215.
     ** CL 5: 3.

     It is important that we see and are convinced that "every man has been created and born for use,"* or as said elsewhere in the Writings: "A man is born to the end that he may become a charity,"** which is being of use to the neighbor. In this state alone can the Lord be present to give the blessing of delight in one's use. It is as if the Lord waits for us to allow Him to unveil a love that He has implanted in us from birth. For it is said that the Lord "provides that everyone should love the uses that are suited to his native character."***
     * AE 1226: 6.
     ** Char. 154.
     ***HH 517.

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     The doctrine of use is indeed a guiding light of truth. It may beckon and rescue anyone caught in the false web that has entangled so many people in the world whose philosophy is to get as much as possible in return for as little as possible. To such people work is grinding labor, and they see heaven as a place of eternal rest from any work;* a place where one may bask in idleness, enjoying the pleasures of one's own appetites.
     * See CL 207: 7.
     This philosophy is completely contrary to order, and he who insists on pursuing it cannot find fulfillment or be truly happy. For the order of creation is such that the uses we may serve to others are provided by the Lord for the sake of our happiness, that is, our own spiritual health.
     We are taught that uses provide first of all for the very sustenance of our bodies, then for the perfecting of our rational mind, and finally for the receiving of what is spiritual from the Lord.* But who believes this? We may believe it if we see that it is true. And once we believe it we have as it were a magic formula by which to bring ourselves back into order, back into spiritual sunshine and the joy of its warmth, whenever we realize that we are in the state of a man lost in the wilderness.
     * DLW 330e.
     This wandering in the wilderness is not something that happens once or twice in a lifetime, as a momentous experience. These states are constantly being thrown at us by the hells. They are states of depression, feeling sorry for oneself, boredom, lack of enthusiasm to do one's duties; even anger when one's proprial pride has been pricked, or anger when we do not get our own way, and so on. The result is that we mope or sulk, refuse to be reasoned with or to be encouraged to try again when we have failed in some endeavor, or become ill-tempered and unpleasant company for others; or, whatever it is, we become in one way or another idle, serving no real use, and trying, knowingly or not, to be useless. And whenever we are in this kind of state the hells gather round to feed their lusts.
     But the Lord does not abandon us. He may draw us out of such states in different ways. The passing of time is one way. Time in this world is constantly the bearer of new and different situations which virtually force us to change or break a prolonged state of uselessness such as just described. Then our spiritual equilibrium is restored until it is threatened again. Another way is when the Lord as it were calls us by name to come out of the spiritual wilderness, if we will hear Him call.
     Any lasting efforts to rid ourselves of states which in effect say that we reject the life of uses must come from our own ability to recognize such states in ourselves and to fight our way out of them.

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And the ability to meet this struggle will always be given us whenever we try to listen to the Lord.

     Consider the case of Elijah on Mount Horeb after he had tried to run away from the fury of Jezebel, and was feeling so sorry for himself that he had asked the Lord to take his life. The Lord spoke gently to Elijah, in the quiet assurance of a "still, small voice." He told Elijah to return to Canaan to complete certain tasks. Elijah was told to return to a life of active uses.*
     * 1 Kings 19.

     Hagar also, fleeing from the hand of Sarai, was found in the wilderness by the Lord and told to return and submit herself to her mistress. She was not serving any use by running away. Neither do we serve any use when we give up in the face of a challenging task, or run away from something that may have wounded our egos, causing us to find refuge in what is nothing else but the selfishness of false pride.
     Never can we justify such a retreat because of possible fault on the other side. The Lord did not condone Elijah's flight because of Jezebel's desire to kill him; nor did the Lord condone Hagar's flight because Sarai had indeed dealt hardly with her.
     It is true that we may often find ourselves frustrated by circumstances which are lacking in mutual charity. But if we care only about the final end, which means asking ourselves how we can promote the Lord's will -establish His kingdom-then we shall be looking to use, and only then can the Lord guide us out of the blinding fog of selfishness that the hells are awaiting and anxious to cast around us.
     To the extent that we keep in mind the use of any matter, thus looking for the Lord's will to be done, we are protected from disorderly states. For the Lord is present with us only according to our uses* and to that extent is able to shield us from our own proprial loves.
     * Love XIII; Wis. XI: 3.
     The powerful teaching in Conjugial Love reads: "When a man is in any study and business, that is, in use, his mind is limited and circumscribed as in a circle, from which as from a house he sees various concupiscences, outside of himself, and from the soundness of reason within he banishes them, and consequently also the wild insanities of scortatory love. "*
     * CL 249.
     Again in the work Conjugial Love we read: "Use is to perform faithfully, sincerely and justly the work of one's function. The love of use and the consequent devotion to use holds the mind together lest it melt away and, wandering about, absorb all the cupidities which flow in from the body and the world through the senses and their allurements, whereby the truths of religion and the truths of morality with their goods are scattered to all the winds.

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But devotion of the mind to use retains these truths, and, binding them together, disposes the mind into a form capable of receiving wisdom from them; and then at the sides it banishes the mockeries and stage plays of both falsities and vanities.*
     * CL 16: 3. See also Love IV.

     The same teaching is given in the little work, Charity, where it speaks of the need to be constantly performing uses in order to guard against any break in the continuity of work. For such a break provides an interval in which one may be drawn away from uses by other loves.* It is said that "man has been born in order that he may become charity, which is impossible unless he is perpetually doing the good of use to the neighbor from affection and delight."**
     * Char. 156.
     ** Char. 126.
     We may, for instance, interrupt our uses and provide unhappy pitfalls if we should suddenly withhold our uses to demand some kind of reckoning from others. It is when we are in this spirit that we as it were demand that others serve us with favors, as if to say that we have merited or deserved better than we have received. Then gone is the love of use, leaving us in the pathetic image of a man pounding on the doors of heaven.
     Let us remember that our conjunction with the Lord is by means of the uses we do.* Therefore, let us be on guard against any interruption or break in our uses in order that we may put the kingdom of heaven constantly in the first place. Thus the Lord is in the first place in our hearts, and He then gives whatever contributes to our eternal life and happiness.** Or as we read in other words: "To the man who is led by the Lord there are given an affection and longing to do good, and then nothing is more happy to him than to perform uses."*** Amen.
     * Wis. XI: 3.
     ** AE 1194: 3.
     *** AC 6325: 2.

     LESSONS: Genesis 16: 1-9.     1 Kings 19: 9-16.     Divine Love XIII.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 440, 464, 595.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 5, 79.

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CHURCH OF THE LORD ON EARTH 1972

CHURCH OF THE LORD ON EARTH Rev. GEORGE DE CHARMS 1972

     3. The Church Specific

     Last time we spoke of the "Church Universal" which is found among all the nations and all the religions of the world. But it is of the Divine Providence that there should always be, somewhere in the world, a church where the Word is preserved in its integrity, and where by means of the Word the Lord is worshipped as the God of heaven and earth. In the Apocalypse Explained, no. 252, this is called the "church in special" or the "church specific." The reason there must be such a church is given in the Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, no. 104, where we read:

     "There can be no conjunction with heaven unless somewhere on earth there is a church where the Word is, and where by it the Lord is known; for the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and apart from Him there is no salvation. It is sufficient that there be a church where the Word is, even if it consists of comparatively few, for even in that case the Lord is present by its means in the whole world, for by its means heaven is conjoined with the human race."

     In no. 2955 of the Arcana Coelestia it is added: "There is always some Church on the earth; and when the old expires, and night comes on, then a new church arises elsewhere, and there comes morning!"
     From the first creation of man, therefore, there has been an unbroken series of specific churches on this earth. The first of these was the church of Adam, or the Most Ancient Church, which existed in and around the land of Canaan in pre-historic times. It flourished for an untold number of centuries, but it underwent a gradual decline, referred to in the story of Genesis as a succession of generations from Adam to Lamech. It came to its end at the time of what is symbolically described as "the Flood." By this was meant, not a literal flood of waters, but an inundation of falsities and evils that took possession of men's minds and threatened the total destruction of the human race. When there is no longer any faith in God, or any Divine law that must be obeyed, men rush into evils of every kind. Each one seeks his own will, delights in dominating others and in possessing the goods of others, and this without regard to any principle of justice or of mercy.

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We may well understand how such a situation may arise, because we are confronted with the threat of a similar "flood" in our own day. Only because so many have lost their faith in God, have rejected the bonds of religion and have proclaimed man's will to be the only law, has the world been brought to the brink of utter atomic disaster. In desperation men turn to morality, appealing to men, for their own self-protection, to refrain from pressing the button that will loose atomic power and bring utter ruin upon our entire civilization.

Although they had no atomic energy, the most ancients had the insane hatred, the utter disregard for all conscience, that threatened to reduce human society to utter chaos unless the minds of men could be turned back to an acknowledgment of a Divine law to be obeyed. Such was the "flood" from which the Lord rescued mankind by means of a new Divine revelation whereby to restore faith in God, and on which to establish a new church with all who retained a willingness to be taught and led. This new church is meant by Noah and his sons, among whom the Ancient Church arose, which as we have seen, was spread to all parts 'of the world, and which continued through many centuries even down to the time of the Lord's first advent. This church flourished for a long time, but gradually it also declined, and finally came to an end. It continued to live just as long as men were willing to accept the teachings of the prophets who spoke the Word, and wrote it down by Divine command for the guidance and instruction of others. This state of innocence was preserved as long as possible by means of revivals or reformations, of which there were two of special note.
The first was associated with Eber and was called the Hebrew Church. When the understanding of correspondences was in danger of being lost, worship by means of animal sacrifices was established as an outward expression of man's dependence upon the Lord, and in acknowledgment of His immanent presence and protection. When this became adulterated, and was turned into magic and superstition, and thus into a means of exercising political power over the minds and lives of men, the Lord called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, and established with his descendants a church in which the laws of worship and of religious life were meticulously ordered by Divine command through Moses and the prophets, the outward representative of a church being preserved in this way. The Hebrew Church and the Jewish Church were not new dispensations. They were not established by a new advent of the Lord and a universal judgment in the spiritual world. They were reformations, serving as a means of continuing the same mode of Divine revelation through the prophets until the time of the Lord's birth into the world.

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For this reason they are called, respectively, the Second and the Third Ancient Church. Only when one mode of Divine revelation is so misunderstood that it no longer serves to impart to men a true idea of God and of His Divine law does the Lord come, to perform a last judgment and to give a new revelation by means of which to raise up a new spiritual church. This has taken place only three times in the history of the race: at the time of the Flood, at the time of the Lord's advent by birth into the world, and at the time of His second coming.

When men refused any longer to be instructed through the prophets to whom Jehovah appeared in visions and dreams, the Lord Himself came into the world to be seen of men in the flesh, and to teach and lead them immediately from Himself. From a remnant of simple faith among both Jews and gentiles the Lord raised up the Christian Church, which also grew until it had been spread to many parts of the world. But the faith of this church also declined. When the Bible had been taken away from the people and reserved to the clergy alone, making their human interpretations the sole source of authority, many at last rose up in revolt against this abuse of priestly power. They insisted that all men should have access to the Bible, and should be free to form their conscience according to the direct teaching of the Lord as given therein. Such was the Reformation, which gave rise to the Protestant churches; and by this means the Lord prolonged for a time His immediate presence with the men of the church, to teach and to lead. But many of the manmade doctrines established in earlier times were carried over, and distorted in the minds of men the meaning of the Gospels. Because Divine authority had been ascribed to these doctrines, men were in danger of losing the true idea of God which the Lord had sought to impart while He was on earth. In addition, doubt was being thrown increasingly upon the authenticity of the Bible by a materialistic philosophy, and this became so widespread as to weaken man's faith in any Divine revelation. Then it became necessary for the Lord to come again in fulfillment of the promise given to His disciples, to restore the true meaning of His Word, and thereby to raise up a new church in which there would be true spiritual faith and charity.
But how, we may ask, does such a specific church serve as the heart and lungs of the Church Universal? As far as men truly see the Lord in His Word and learn from Him the Divinely ordained path of life, their minds are spiritually enlightened. They come into association with the angels, who are in genuine spiritual intelligence and wisdom. Thus they bring about a communication between heaven and earth which could not otherwise exist; and by means of this communication, spiritual light radiates from the Church Specific in both worlds to the gentiles who are in innocence and a simple faith in God.

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     This light is communicated to the gentiles both from without and from within. It is conveyed to them from without by means of a new Divine revelation which is published abroad, translated into many languages, and thus made available to people in many parts of the world. So, as we have seen, the Ancient Word was spread by the people called Noah to the gentile nations round about. So also the Gospels were spread by Christian missionaries to gentile nations and primitive peoples; and so are the Writings of the Lord's second advent being made known to people in many different countries today.
     This distribution of the Word exerts a profound effect upon many who come in contact with it, even though they do not become members of the Specific Church of the Lord. The Gospels brought new ideas to the gentiles, which are having a notable effect upon present day efforts to bring about greater mutual understanding and sympathy among those of widely divergent religious faiths. The Lord's teachings called attention to principles of charity, of respect for individual freedom, and for civil justice which were quite new, and which had their origin in the teachings of the New Testament. In a similar way, the knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrine is today influencing the religious thinking of many in the Christian world. The conflict between the traditional doctrines of the church and the findings of modern science has stimulated many thinkers to reinterpret the findings of the church and to state them in a more acceptable form.
     We frequently come into contact with people who have read parts of the Writings, who have been deeply impressed with their logic, and who have borrowed from them new ideas concerning religion. A number of preaching ministers and writers on philosophical subjects openly admit their debt to Swedenborg, and there is unquestioned evidence that the Writings have exerted an influence upon present-day thought to an extent greater than is generally supposed. Becoming aware of this, some New Church men have wishfully drawn the conclusion that the spiritual truth of the Heavenly Doctrine is subtly permeating the entire Christian Church. That this is not the case we shall demonstrate presently.

     There is another and more important way in which the gentile world is being prepared by the Lord for the reception of the revelation of His second advent. This revelation is written in heaven at the same time as it is written on earth. In the spiritual world it has already produced the Last judgment. It has brought about the separation of the good from the evil in the imaginary heavens, which had interposed dark clouds of falsity and evil between the heavens and the minds of men on earth.

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As these clouds were dispersed, a new path of communication between heaven and earth was opened, and this has brought about a state of intellectual freedom not possible before. The minds of men have been liberated from the weight of traditional ideas, and especially from the dominance of the religious dogmas and superstitions that characterized the Middle Ages. In this lies the secret of the remarkable development of modern scientific discovery and invention. This has been made possible because men have been free to examine the laws of nature, and to probe her secrets impartially, without any sense of obligation to interpret them in accord with the traditional pronouncements of the church.
     This new influx of light from heaven, however, does not convey to the minds of men any knowledge of spiritual things. The light falls merely upon whatever knowledges are present in the minds of men, and it is focused upon whatever men love, whatever ambitions they seek. In the minds of the gentiles, that is, of those who sincerely seek to learn and to live the law of God, this influx from heaven will protect their innocence and preserve with them a simple faith in the Bible, and especially in the authority of the New Testament. It can do no more than illuminate such knowledges from the letter of the Word as may be present in the mind. It cannot overcome false ideas that have been accepted from childhood, which confuse the mind in its attempt to penetrate the letter and to discover the inner meaning of the Word.
     On the other hand, the effect of the new influx from heaven upon the minds of those who are intent solely upon scientific discoveries is merely to give them insight into the laws of nature and into the application of those laws to the promotion of the external welfare of human society. It cannot reveal any spiritual truth.

     It is a mistake, therefore, to assume that because men have been liberated from the bonds of religious tradition they have for that reason been imbued with the faith of the New Church. That faith can be acquired only from a knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrine. Only as the truths of the Writings become known, and only as they are acknowledged to be Divinely inspired, and to be the teaching of the Lord Himself, can their spiritual implications be rightly understood. If men read the Writings without realizing their Divine source and their spiritual purpose, they will not see the Lord in them. They will not know that He has come. They will not learn by means of them to worship Him as the God of heaven and earth.
     Still it is true that with all those who have a simple faith this new influx from heaven does preserve a state of innocence which keeps the minds of men open to instruction, so that they may be taught in the other world, if not on earth: this because they are under the gentle care and protection of the angels.

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Concerning this we read:

     "All in the whole earth who constitute the Church Universal live from the church where the Word is; for the Lord flows in therefrom with love and with light, and vivifies and enlightens all who are in any spiritual affection for truth, wherever they are. The light of heaven, or the light in which are the angels of heaven who are from this earth, is from the Lord by means of the Word; from this as a center light is diffused into the circumference in every direction, thus to those who are there, who, as was said, are the gentiles that are outside of . . . [the] church. But this diffusion . . . is effected in heaven by the Lord; and what is done in heaven flows also into the minds of men, for the minds of men make one with the minds of spirits and angels."*
     * AE 351
     As a result of the Last judgment, which took place in the spiritual world in the year 1757, the Lord formed a new Christian heaven. It consisted of all those who had passed into the spiritual world from this earth from the time of the Lord's first advent; that is, all who were willing to receive Divine instruction and accept the truth of the Heavenly Doctrine. It is from this new Christian heaven that the church on earth is to descend; that is, by influx from this new heaven the minds of men on earth are to be gradually prepared to receive the Lord in His second advent. That heaven is daily increasing in numbers and in power because of all those who come from the earth, receive instruction, and are introduced into its societies. This means that in spite of the very slow progress of the church on earth, which at times seems most discouraging, the Lord is secretly increasing the influences from the spiritual world whereby the minds of men on earth may be prepared to receive the Heavenly Doctrine even during the life of the body.
     This secret operation from within must be supplemented by a conscious operation from without by means of the actual knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrine here on earth, as that knowledge is spread by the translation, publication and dissemination of the Writings, which work must be carried on by those who belong to the New Church. In addition, there must be organized efforts to accommodate the Writings to the understanding of those outside of the church through collateral literature, through missionary effort, and through personal conversations with a friend. By all these means the Lord will cause the Church Specific to infuse new spiritual life into those outside the church who are seeking spiritual truth and are eager to learn the true meaning of the Lord's Word.

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As they are gradually prepared, He will lead men to the "fountain of the water of life," that they may discover the Lord in His second advent, discover the New Church, and enter with joy into its life while they are still on earth, that the kingdom of the Lord may be established eventually among all nations and peoples.
     This is the kingdom of the Lord that was the goal toward which the Divine Providence was leading mankind through all the ages of the past. It is the church that is promised in both the Old and the New Testament. It is the church that is meant by the holy city, New Jerusalem, described in the twenty-first chapter of the Apocalypse, concerning which it is said:

     "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life."*
     * Revelation 21: 24-27.

     In our final class we shall endeavor to show why this church has been called the "crown of all the churches which have hitherto existed on the earth," and why it will endure forever.
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1972

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES Editor 1972

The October-December issue of the NEW-CHURCH MAGAZINE contains "The Church and Permissive Society: An Essay on Principles and Policy" submitted by the Conference Committee on the Permissive Society. The Essay notes that nowhere do the Writings seem to "envisage a society quite like ours, in which so many people seem to question or reject all religious and moral ideas. They tell us plenty about hypocrites, but little if anything about the unashamedly non-moral and non-religious. The Writings seem to assume that everyone will grow up in a stable community, that their parents and teachers will instruct them in the established religion of their community, and that each person will develop his individual character by his reaction to that religion. Can we at all easily apply such teachings to a society in which religious and moral ideas and values are so various, uncertain, changing, or even simply missing?" The Essay believes that it is within our power to do so, and states some principles and policies, recognizing that there is room for disagreement. A bibliography of books, pamphlets and articles by writers in Conference, Convention and the General Church is appended.

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SEARCH FOR THE ANCIENT WORD, THROUGH MYTH AND CORRESPONDENCE 1972

SEARCH FOR THE ANCIENT WORD, THROUGH MYTH AND CORRESPONDENCE AUBREY COLE ODHNER 1972

     (Continued from the February issue.)

     IV

     During the first few centuries A.D., really the height of the Christian Church, ancient Egypt became just a dark memory. But one wonders if the ancient truth of one God, which surfaced in Egypt at the time of Achnaten, again surfaced to help the people of the early Christian Coptic Church, centered in Alexandria, to build the Monophysite doctrine which tried to explain the nature of Christ, that He was the supreme manifestation of the Logos and essentially God.
     The next scene in the history of correspondences opened in Florence, 1439, where Cosimo de Medici founded the Platonic Academy in order to encourage the historical approach to scientific and philosophical problems. Here, according to Iversen, "the Egyptian wisdom, Neo-Platonic philosophy and the humanistic studies become in this way consecutive links in an unbroken chain of tradition joined together and united with Christianity by their common aim, the knowledge and revelation of God."
     Latent interest in Egyptian matters was kept alive in French humanist circles by the strong wave of Neo-Platonism, which spread from Italy to France during the 15th century. The French revived Coptic studies. Francis Quarles, in the early 17th century, said "before letters God was known by Hieroglyphics and indeed what are the Heavens, the Earth, nay even creation, but Hieroglyphics and Emblems of His Glory!" This reminds us of Baudelaire who said much more recently, "Everything is hieroglyphics."
     Discussions on the original race and language of mankind caused several Swedes to claim the existence of a system of symbolic and hieroglyphic writing with the ancient Scandinavians. One interesting title, by Michael Maier, in 1622 was Arcana Arcanissima Hoc Est Hieroglyphica. Olaus Rudbeck wrote a treatise on the subject, called Atlantica published at Upsala 1698.
     Perhaps the most interesting writings, to us, would be those of Athanasius Kircher, German scholar of the 17th century, whose system, Iversen says, represents one of the last deliberate efforts to combine the total religious, philosophic, and scientific knowledge of a whole period into a grandiose vision of a living cosmology, still governed by the doctrines of Christianity.

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     Leibnitz, Wolff, Locke, Newton, most of the enlightened philosophers, were deeply involved with allegorical systems for interpreting the universe. Certain metals, signs of the zodiac, mythological characters tied in with their systems. And then:
     "If God died in the 18th century" Iversen says, "one of the greatest symptoms was the demise of neoPlatonism. In abolishing the influence of Neoplatonic thought, which until then had permeated its religion, its philosophy, and its science as an often hidden and disguised but always inspiring and dynamic force, European culture severed one of its strongest traditions and one of the most immediate bonds connecting it with its own origin and classical past. A new world was born, revealed truth was replaced by scientific truth. As hitherto the hieroglyphic studies reflected the change."
     The Rosetta Stone was found, the hieroglyphics were deciphered in 1822 and found to be a phonetic language. An all-time low for the idea of correspondences!

     V

     But we have news, God didn't die in the 18th century. He was born again, and the story of the science of correspondences was retold, sparking an endless chain of inspiration of poets, artists, psychologists, philologists, and a small group of men and women who were forming the nucleus of the New Church.
     In preparation for this retelling a lonely Swedish nobleman pondered hard and long about how to break through to gain knowledge of the soul; perhaps he could develop a mathematical philosophy of universal concepts. It would not be enough, he said, unless we could achieve such a high level of understanding that all branches of science could be combined in a universal science, with the help of which all particulars could be restored to their universals. Again he says:
     "Nature mounts through degrees to the highest region of the body where the soul resides. There is no mortal language to describe the essence of the soul, therefore one should evolve a universal mathematical philosophy to express what words cannot-such a philosophy, correctly interpreted, could become the science of sciences." Later he hints that this universal philosophy would be identical with the language of the angels.
     He shifts, in his search for this language, from a mathematical system to a verbal system and talks of using the sort of images we see in our dreams, the parables and fables "like those of the period immediately after the Golden Age."

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And, he says, "it will then be the task of the mind to interpret obscure sayings of the oracle, communicated by the Pythian priestess from the Delphic tripod."
     He believes that ancient Egyptian wisdom embraced a similar theory of correspondences and that these correspondences designated hieroglyphics which could express not only natural phenomena but at the same time spiritual things.
     He outlines four kinds of correspondences: harmonica, allegorica, typica, and fabulosa. The harmonic correspondences are those which have a relationship between their functions, like light, intelligence, and wisdom; the allegorical correspondences are like the Biblical parables; typical correspondences are, as I understand them, like the archetypes of Jung-prototypes or prophetic parables: as the story of the near sacrifice of Isaac is prophetic of the crucifixion of the Lord; fabulous correspondences would be like those involving myths and poetry.

     It is very likely from Swedenborg's third kind of correspondence, correspondentia typica, that several modern psychiatrists and mythologists have received their inspiration. The archetype of the priest-king, the lost child, the maiden goddess, the hero who slays the dragon; these, they say, are in our nighttime dreams and our unconscious minds, as well as in our legends. They say the modern child, whenever he wants to touch home base for security, to find out where he came from, goes through a process of "grounding," best described by the German word "begrunden." The process he goes through, the pictures he draws, are the same processes and pictures described by the ancients when they grounded or founded cities.
     The distinguished Hungarian scholar, Karoly Kerenji sounds as if steeped in correspondences when he talks of the symbology of the founding of ancient cities, which were originally the dwelling places of the gods. They were little universes, microcosms, drawn in a circle first, then quartered within. The circle, he says, represents infinity, the quartering represents the finiting of that infinity. Cities were laid out this way, ancient amulets are found inscribed with this design, and modern children draw this picture when they are searching for their origins.
     What food for the New Church man's thoughts when coupled with the latest theories about the Stonehenge and Avebury megoliths. Now it is theorized that those great stones were carefully placed at exact intervals, pillars of great astronomical observatories, giant computers, which could tell countless things about the positions of the sun, moon and stars, built by people long predating the Druids and of inestimable scientific ability.

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Perhaps these were not just for learning natural science, perhaps they were some sort of symbolic microcosms built by the ancients for much more interior purposes than we can imagine.
     Out there, in the Church Universal, scholars are thinking deep, deep thoughts about these things. Are we equipped in any scholarly way to join hands with them and share what we know?

     VI

     The final revelation concerning the science of correspondences has within it the potential for endless scholarship and inspiration. Many stalwarts in the early days of the New Church were set afire with this knowledge that a new key had been given for higher understanding than had heretofore been possible. And many, only inspired through permeation have put us to shame.
     The early magazines of the Convention and Conference, from 1812 on, were filled with articles on correspondences in nature, in myth; why we should study them, how we should study them, the imperative need to do research in these areas.
     One of our early giants, William H. Benade, made some amazing studies of Egypt, Palestine, and Assyria. Right at about the time he became acquainted with the Writings he gave a series of talks to the American Philosophical Society meeting in Philadelphia in 1842 and 1843. One talk was on Egyptian Ethnography. Some of us may think we are scientific, but just hear this: Bishop Benade wanted to know who these Ancient Egyptians really were before he started studying their culture. Having a warm friendship with the United States Consul to Cairo, he persuaded the Consul, a Mr. Gliddon to commence a search to Nubia as far as the second cataract. Mr. Gliddon procured 137 human crania, of which 100 belonged to ancient inhabitants of Egypt.
     At the instance of Mr. Gliddon, 17 of these crania were sent to William H. Benade by the distinguished surgeon in chief to the Viceroy of Egypt. "Some were sent in original wrappings first opened by me." (W.H.B.). There follow careful charts in Bishop Benade's beautiful handwriting: "55 from the catacombs of Thebes, 4 from Abydos, 2 heads of lunatics; so many Semitic, so many Negroid, so many Caucasoid."
     Much later, on a trip to Turin in 1878, where the latest Egyptian finds were being catalogued and organized, Bishop Benade made arrangements to buy the famous Lanzone collection of Egyptian mythological artifacts. He mentioned, in a letter to Mr. John Pitcairn that if Mr. Pitcairn didn't think we could buy it, he was sure his friend Mr. Drexel of Philadelphia would buy it and we could use it. At the time it was considered to be the finest mythological collection in America.

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The collection is in our museum; Bishop Benade's lectures are in the Archives; but I haven't been able to locate the 17 crania anywhere!
     Some of the most exciting work done in the General Church on the mythological implications of correspondences was done by the Rev. Carl Theophilus Odhner. As a writer to the NEW CHURCH HERALD wrote: "I am impressed indeed with the almost uncanny ability with which Mr. Odhner conjures the latest idea out of figures and fables seemingly too grotesque to contain any: he is an alchemist and transmutes dross into gold."
     The ancients told profound truths in story form. Most of us today pride ourselves in our ability to think abstractly, but sometime try the correspondence key to an ancient myth and see what abstract doctrine comes to life like Athena out of the head of Zeus. But always, as C.T.O. advises, use the correspondences as your key and the rational doctrine as your guide. There are so many beautiful examples of decodings done by C.T.O.; and since this paper has been about the traditions handed down through the Egyptians from the Ancient Word, I would like to give you some confirmation, including more recent data, of his interpretation of what scholars call the Hermetic Tradition.
     C. T. Odhner says the ancient Egyptian God Thoth represents the Ancient Word.
     Plato tells in Philebus that Theuth was the first to observe that the "infinity of sound" could be divided into distinctive categories, vowels, consonants; he became the discoverer of the concept of letters. The Phaedra says the same thing, Thoth was an ancient Egyptian god, the one whose sacred bird is called the Ibis. He is also called the Egyptian Hermes. Remember him with his writing tablet and pen and described in a recent Encyclopedia of Mythology-"Lord of Holy words, endowed with complete knowledge and wisdom, rules 3,226 years, sails in the boat of 10,000 years; invented all arts and sciences, arithmetic, surveying, geometry, astronomy, soothsaying, magic, medicine, surgery, music with wind instruments and strings, drawing, and above all writing, without which humanity would have run the risk of forgetting his doctrines and of losing the benefit of his discoveries." His disciples boasted that they had access to the crypt where he had locked up his books of magic and they undertook to decipher and learn these formulas which commanded all the forces of nature and subdued the very gods themselves. It is because of this infinite power that he is called, Thoth, Three Times Very, Very Greatwhich the Greeks called Hermes Trismegistos. He was the keeper of the divine archives and at the same time the patron of history. He was the clerk or scribe of the gods. "Ra has spoken, Thoth has written."

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The texts often couple him with, guess which goddess out of many thousands: Maat, the goddess of truth and justice.
     Marcilio Ficinio, who lived and wrote at the Florentine court of Cosimo de Medici, said Hermes Trismegistos was a sage in Egypt at the time, or a little before the time, of Moses and that his knowledge even surpassed that which was revealed by the Hebrew prophets. (Recall that it was Moses, undoubtedly in Egypt, who copied the first eleven chapters of Genesis from the Ancient Word.) Pythagoras had become acquainted with his teachings while in Egypt and through his intermission they had been transmitted to Plato who had based his own philosophy on the doctrine of Hermes Trismegistos!
     The Greeks said Thoth was their Hermes.
     Hermes. Remember Thoth's pen, Maat's feather, now consider Hermes, sometimes called Hermes Logos, feather wings on his cap, wings on his sandals, messenger from God to man, the Word. Recall his caduceus symbol of medicine and healing. "The Son of Man comes with healing in his wings."

     We depart from C.T.O.'s ideas now and embark on our own speculation: The Greek Hermes becomes Mercury to the Romans. Caesar describes the chief god of the Celtic Gauls as being like the Roman Mercury. Tacitus equated the Teutonic god of spiritual life with their
     Odin. Mercury: Woden was the magician-god of the other world. In the far North Woden was called Odin, god of intelligence, who spoke with such ease and eloquence that all he said seemed true to those who heard him. He liked to express himself in verse; he ordained the laws which ruled human society. God of wisdom, poetry, and rules of conduct which he taught men. He knew the magic formulas which cured illness; he was lord of the runes which he invented. He got his wisdom from Mimer's fountain. He had to give up one eye in exchange for wisdom. (One of my students suggested that it was probably the right eye he gave up and the left eye he retained.) There are wings on his cap, his birds were thought and memory. Remember Pegasus, the winged horse, breaking open the fountain with his hoof? Think of the meanings of intelligence, wisdom, eyes, wings, fountains, words, horses.
     The last of C. T. Odhner's books, the Mythology of the Greeks and Romans was published after his death. The several reviews of that book in NEW CHURCH LIFE, now look like obituaries of a once great study in the New Church.
     Our General Church theologians have made magnificent studies using the science of correspondences to draw doctrine from the Old and New Testaments and those parts of the Ancient Word which are in Genesis.

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But since CTO the search has stopped there. They have done an unparalleled job of shouldering an essential responsibility of the Church Specific, keeping doctrine pure. But let's not forget the profound power of that earliest Word, the Ancient Word. Surely it would have the same effect on the human race as those earliest remains of good and truth have on the individual. What is the Ancient Word? Where is the Ancient Word? Let's find it and read it.
     I think we're afraid to because we think it is vague and unscientific; and yet how can we ignore the clear teaching of the Writings that it is not only science, but the science of sciences. When I think of the magnitude of the challenge we are not accepting, I can only weep with Asclepius at this prophecy of Hermes Trismegistos, translated in 1924.
     "There will come a time when it will be seen that in vain have the Egyptians honored the deity with heartfelt piety and assiduous service, and all our holy worship will be found bootless and ineffectual. For the gods will return from earth to heaven. Egypt will be forsaken, and the land which was once the home of religion will be left desolate, bereft of the presence of the deities. Do you weep at this Asclepius? There is worse to come. Egypt herself will have yet more to suffer-O Egypt, Egypt, of thy religion nothing will remain but an empty tale, which thine own children in time to come will not believe; nothing will be left but graven words, and only the stones will tell of thy piety. And so the gods will depart from mankind."
     Quoting Swedenborg's letter about hieroglyphics again:
     "It is of importance that someone of your Academy should devote labor upon this science."

     [AUTHOR'S NOTE: Much of the material for this paper was taken from: The Myth of Egypt and its Hieroglyphs in European Tradition, by Erik Iversen, Gad Publishers, Copenhagen, 1961.
     Emanuel Swedenborg, by Inge Jonsson, Twayne Publishers, Inc., N. Y. 1971.
     Essays on the Science of Mythology, by Jung and Kerenji, Princeton University Press, 1949, Paperback 1969.]

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NEW CHURCH IN A NEW AGE 1972

NEW CHURCH IN A NEW AGE Rev. N. BRUCE ROGERS 1972

     (Continued from the February issue.)

     To bring together all that we have been saying, therefore, what we are suggesting is that our cooperation in the establishment of the New Church on earth requires first a sight of what our purposes are: that our grand purpose must be to establish a heaven on earth, in externals as well as in internals; and that directed toward this end, we must have specific uses in mind, actual activities and programs by which we may be conjoined in a common effort towards realizing this goal. As every society in heaven has its peculiar function, and is distinguished according to the uses it performs in the Gorand Man of heaven, so we may expect every society of the church and every constituent part to have its own function and its own special uses. But in order for the church as a whole, or every general organization of the church, to be a united body, it, too, must have its function and its uses which we may hold in common as expressions of our will to action, spoken of in the Apocalypse Revealed,* in the establishment and preservation of the New Church, the New Heaven on earth.
     * AR 355. See above, page 76.
     Historically we may look back on the beginnings of the church and see evidence that where there has been common purpose directed to the accomplishment of some specific end, there has been vigor and growth. We can look back, for instance, to the very beginning, when the New Church first came into existence as a visible body separate from the former Christian churches. Begun in 1787 among a few dedicated New Church men right here in this country, for the very purpose of establishing a distinctive worship of the Lord according to the new doctrines, it met with difficulties from the outset, initially from the resistance of the "non-separatists," so-called, and then from internal dissensions which threatened the success of that which had been begun. And yet, after a fitful start, with a quickly fluctuating membership and activity, by 1815, with the Eighth General Conference, the church was established, followed by rapid growth, to continue with unbroken life from that time even to the present. In the face of the difficulties encountered, it is easy to conclude that this would not in probability have occurred, except for the common purpose shared and preserved by those through whom the church was established, by which they could be conjoined by the Lord in a mutual effort and inspired to overcome their difficulties, to co-operate with Him and with each other in accomplishing His Divine end.

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     So, too, with the beginnings of our own General Church. It found its start in the "Academy movement," as it is called, and it gained its strength from the common purposes of those with whom it began: to establish a trinal priesthood as the governing body of the church, to acknowledge formally the Divine authority of the Writings, and to provide a regular means for educating young men for the ministry, which quickly grew into a system of education on all levels for the children and young people of the church. New Church education, in fact, whether in the Academy itself or in our society schools, or, more recently, in our international summer schools, has probably provided over the years our greatest single source of strength-not simply in the evangelization of our young, but in giving us a common purpose outside of ourselves as individuals, requiring a mutual effort on the part of many to accomplish a specific use in establishing the Lord's kingdom on earth. It has given us purpose, and it has given us unity, by a mutual affection of love directed to a common end. Nor has a realization of this work been brought about without difficulties. From the beginning, difficulties have been encountered, both external and internal, more numerous than would be useful to recount here. But the work has survived and grown, and we have survived and grown; and we submit that this has been in large part due to the common purposes we have shared, directed to specific ends and focused on actual uses of life, by which the Lord has been able to conjoin us and inspire us to overcome our difficulties and co-operate with Him and with each other in furthering His Divine end of a New Church that may be heaven on earth.

     But the world today is not what it was, and the church is not what it was; and new purposes and new directions may be required. This is not a new observation, but it may be new in application to our own young people, in looking to hold them within the organized church as a part of it. For we seem to be seeing a new generation coming and already with us, for whom the old purposes have become-in their eyes-already largely realized, challenges that belonged to the past but not challenges that belong to the future. Now we can react against this, as a lack of vision or commitment on their part. But we do not think that this is really at the heart of the issue; and we read in True Christian Religion, of the progressing cycles and seasons of things, illustrated by the ages of a man in his growth from infancy, and by successive periods and states in the kingdoms of nature, that "this is like what takes place in the church, because man is the church and in general constitutes the church, and one generation follows another with a constant variation of disposition."*
     * TCR 756.

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     The church, in other words, must constantly be renewed with every generation, if we are to see a continual descent of the New Jerusalem, and the "constant variation of disposition" we may expect to call in time for new activities and uses, in which we can unite from common purpose in preserving the work that has already been done and in moving forward to the work that is still to come. The final end, as always, must be heaven on earth, established within the church and by means of the church, the descent of the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven; and this is the universal end by which we may all be conjoined in all times and in all places, whatever differences we may have, with those who have gone before and with those who shall come hereafter, in this world and in the next. But in approaching the final and universal end, more immediate goals are always needed, as tangible steps toward that end-specific ends and uses by which we may be actively conjoined in present service, and in which we can find constantly new life from an apparent need for the mutual effort of all in moving toward the future-a future that cannot be simply a repetition of the past, but an advancement made possible by the past, with a vision of the final end that is forever made new.

     Out of all these considerations, there has been gradually evolving the personal opinion that the time may well have come to begin thinking of the future, as to what goals we shall set for ourselves now that may find a response in the "variation of disposition" in the generation that shall inherit the church. The church has been established. New Church education has been established. Though much more work needs to be done here, the foundation has been laid, and the impression is one of security, not one that stands in pressing need of all hands to preserve it and maintain its advance. Whether this impression is correct or not, it is there. It may be said, the trouble with success is that it tends to breed complacency; and the trouble with growth is that it reduces the apparent need for the individual; unless, that is, new goals are set, which can point to new horizons and offer new opportunity and need for individual contribution.
     What we have come to, therefore, if we can interpret the disposition of the new age, is the view that the time has come in the descent of the New Jerusalem, to speak of evangelization.

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In the first place, it is a work commanded by the Lord Himself to His disciples, His last command before ascending to the Divine, that they should "go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;"* and the gospel that they should preach is identified in the Writings as the doctrine given plainly to the New Church that the Lord is God, who came into the world to redeem angels and men, and who thus took to Himself the power of saving thereafter all who believe in Him and do His precepts."**
     * Mark 16: 15; cf. Matthew 28: 19; Luke 24: 47.
     ** Can. Redempt. VI.
     In the second place, evangelization in idea is not with us essentially new, but an eventual need foreseen from the beginning, and one that we are already, in one way, actively engaged in meeting. We can think of the missionary work for many years now carried on in South Africa, or other missionary attempts such as that being presently made by the Rev. Douglas Taylor in Australia. More to the point, however, is the work of New Church education, of which we have already spoken as probably the principal use by which we have been conjoined in our efforts; for this, too, is a form of evangelization, and has often been spoken of as such, as an internal evangelization of those born within the church. All we are really suggesting, therefore, is that the same common affection we have had in the past be given a new and conscious direction toward external evangelization, of those outside the church, as an extension of our original purpose, now that the internal form seems a secure and viable operation.

     But the principal reason for speaking of evangelization now arises out of our assessment of the disposition of the new generation in the church, as already indicated, which seems to be toward more active contact with the world and concern for its reform; and at the same time out of a reflection on the doctrine that "it is of the Lord's Divine Providence that the church should at first be among a few. . . because the falsities of the former church must first be removed."* Are we not now seeing this very thing happen? How many people today even know the teachings of their church?
      * AR 547
     Other reasons given for the slow growth of the church include the necessity of the New Heaven's first being formed,* and the dependence of the growth of the church on earth on its increase in the world of spirits;** also that the doctrine of the church cannot be received except by those who are interiorly affected by truths teaching love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, and who have not confirmed themselves in life against these loves."

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But the New Heaven, we know, has been formed; and may we not hope that the New Church is increasing in the world of spirits? And as for the rest, it may be that love to the Lord is not much in evidence in the world today, but it would seem that there may be a new movement toward a simple charity, in which love to the Lord may be a hidden potential, and in which the new doctrines might find root.
     * Ibid.
     ** AE 732: 3.
     *** AE 732: 2.
     Certainly the general prediction seems to have come true, and that is, that following the Last judgment, as a consequence of it, "the man of the church would be in a freer state of thinking on matters of faith, thus on the spiritual things which relate to heaven, because spiritual freedom has been restored to him."* When, in the Christian era, has this freedom ever been more in evidence-perhaps abused, but still in evidence? The churches no longer have the hold they used to, still less their doctrines; and the death of Christianity, as it has been known, is already being spoken of by others around us as imminent, if not an accomplished fact.
     * LJ 73; cf. 74.
     The time, therefore, seems ripe, or near ripe, in the descent of the New Jerusalem, for our consideration of a new effort in co-operating with the Lord to build His church, in the direction of evangelization; and this both for the sake of the world, and for our own sake-for the sake of the world, "because no man gets his religion from himself, but through another, who has either learned it directly from the Word or by transmission from others who have learned it;"* and for our own sake, that in the challenge of a new, specific use towards promoting the Lord's heaven on earth, we may find new vitality and strength from a renewed conjunction with the Lord and with each other.
     * DP 254.

     By none of this do we mean to suggest hasty or precipitous action that might involve a wasteful expenditure of funds and energies. Disappointment would be the reward; and besides, none of the great developments in the history of the New Church in its various organizations has ever come about in haste, but has been the fruit of years of thought and consideration. What we do suggest is that this thought and consideration towards eventual programs and activities aimed at evangelization ought now to become an open and active topic among us; and when the time comes to act, we will have light. Even at the time that the Lord commanded evangelization to His disciples, He also commanded, "But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high."*

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So in the wisdom of those through whom the church has been founded and preserved, have we tarried, to build a strong and secure church as our first commitment; and so ought we to continue still to wait, until we be "endued with power from on high." But we must also make ourselves ready to receive it, by actively searching for principles in the doctrines by which we may be guided, and in the continual assessment of the state of the world, weighing the ways and means, with a ready will to action, that we may act intelligently and well when the time comes. And when the time comes, we think, we shall know it.
     * Luke 24: 49.
     The important thing is to make ourselves willing agents of the Lord, remembering His words to His disciples: "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit . . . ."* So have we been chosen; and the end in view must always be that for which we have been taught to pray: "Thy kingdom come," O Lord, "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
     * John 15: 16.
STATE OF HUMILIATION 1972

STATE OF HUMILIATION 1972

"As the Lord had from the beginning a human from the mother, and put this off successively, therefore, while He was in the world, He had two states, which are called the state of humiliation, or exinanition, and the state of glorification, or of union with the Divine which is called the Father. He was in the state of humiliation as far as, and when He was in the human from the mother; and He was in the state of glorification as far as, and when, He was in the Human from the Father. In the state of humiliation He prayed to the Father as to a being distinct from Himself; but in the state of glorification He spoke with the Father as with Himself. In this latter state He said that the Father was in Him, and He in the Father, and that the Father and He were one; but in the state of humiliation He underwent temptations, and suffered the cross, and prayed to the Father not to forsake Him; for the Divine could not be tempted, still less could it suffer the cross. From these considerations it is now evident that by temptations, and by continual victories in them, and by the passion of the cross, which was the last of the temptations, He fully conquered the hells, and fully glorified the Human." (Lord 35: 3.)
EDITORIAL NOTE 1972

EDITORIAL NOTE Editor 1972

The article, "Am I My Brother's Keeper?" by Edward B. Lee, Jr., in the February issue was coauthored by Mrs. James (Anne Lindsay) York.

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LITTLE ACTION GOES A LONG WAY 1972

LITTLE ACTION GOES A LONG WAY Rev. DONALD L. ROSE 1972

     An action is only an external thing. The inheritance of the tribe of Gad, symbolizing good acts or deeds, was not even within the land of Canaan. It was on the other side of the River Jordan.* Yet in Gad is the promise of a multitude of results. Love is more interior than action, and thought is far more intricate than action, but it is action-even a little action-that deserves the name of a multitude.**
     * AE 534.
     ** AE 435: 9.
     The Hebrew word, gad, means a "troop." Modern translators tend to render it "good fortune," as it carries the idea of abundance or plenty. But it seems that when Zilpah was giving birth an approaching company was seen on the horizon, and Leah therefore named the baby Gad.* There is the idea of an advancing succession of things, a troop coming. Leah said: "A troop cometh."

          * Genesis 30: 11.
     The idea of a multitude coming gives rise to reflections on the series of consequences resulting from an action, even a little one. There are, of course, other ways in which we can see the concept of a multitude in works. Uses are infinite in number.* Functions, services and occupations in heaven are so many they are beyond numbering.** Deeds deserve the name of a multitude because of the numerous different qualities that can be in them. As the Writings say, a thousand men may do apparently the same deed, and yet each regarded in itself is different.*** But what of the far-reaching consequences of deeds? Occasionally we can see how a simple deed has a long chain of results. A kind deed, or even a kind word, can have enduring consequences far beyond our observation. In this respect good deeds excel good intentions, good thoughts, or even good loves.
     * CL 18.
     ** HH 393, 387.
     *** HH 472.
     The works signified by Gad may be compared to fruits;* and the amazing characteristic of this fruit is that within it are many seeds "from which new trees, even whole gardens, may be produced."** One of the best illustrations of this is the work of teaching the Lord's Word to little children. What a seemingly trivial act it is, but there are wondrous results when the living mind of a child is touched with the Word.

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There are even consequences in the angelic heaven, and within this lowly act the Lord may occasion the implantation of precious things that will endure forever. The things implanted will come into use with a real sustaining influence in later life.
     * AC 3934: 8.
     ** AE 974: 2.
     Let parents take it to heart, when their children are young, that a minute or two spent in reading the Word to them is of more consequence than "good intentions," no matter how grand those intentions may be. Let teachers know that the work they do, though it be merely external effort, is full of rich promise. Let not those who love the New Church professedly ever despise external forms of use.
     What of evangelization? We have not lacked in the New Church eloquent advocates of missionary work. We have had in each generation those who speak of grand schemes to come. We have had angry young men, adept at castigating the church for hiding its light under a bushel. We may well be thankful that along with the grand schemers, the well-intentioned and the speech-makers, we have had a few doers. The things done in the way of evangelization have had little glamour; yet what consequences have followed from small efforts.
     Frequently people ascribe their coming into the New Church to conversation with a friend, and frequently they say that something the friend did or said led them to a most important step in their lives which brought profound changes. Yet the friend usually observes, without false modesty, that what he did was very little. The point is that he did something. (In some cases it has been the placement of an advertisement in a newspaper.) One never knows at the time what a troop of consequences is coming.

     But perhaps the best example of a little action that goes a long way is in repentance. Repentance is not a mere word-not something to talk about or speculate about. It is an action. Nor is it a grand action, but a series of little ones. Those who talk repentance talk in grand terms,* but the actions of repentance are small ones. "The means whereby the church is established in man are acts of repentance."**
     * TCR 518, 529.
     **TCR 510
     If the question is, "How ought man to repent?," the answer is, "Actually." By action.* Look at yourself. Take some one evil that you see. Pray to the Lord about that one evil, and then shun it in the Lord's name. If a man does this, "it is sufficient to initiate him into the actuality,"** and he is then "on the way to heaven."***

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The Writings say that a little resistance to evil, even "once in a week or twice in a month" leads to meaningful change in our lives.****
     * TCR 530.
     ** TCR 530.
     *** Ibid.
     **** Life 97.
     Part of repentance is self-examination. Have we in the New Church sometimes made out that self-examination is some arduous and deep thing, almost a mysterious thing? The Writings say it is easy. It is easy if you just do it.* It is so simple that it may be compared to physical exercise which gets easier with practice and is difficult when not practiced."**
     * TCR 561.
     ** TCR 563.
     After the description of a particularly easy kind of repentance, we read: "I know that all pious men, and also men of sound reason, will assent to this when they read it, and will see it as genuine truth; but still, that few will act accordingly."* Few will act. The way that leads to life is called a narrow gate, not because it is difficult, but because few people act on it.** The work of regeneration is a great work, a Divine work. But what we are asked to do is very little indeed. If we act; if we do it and ask the Lord to help us; He will do all the rest.***
     * TCR 535.
     ** HH 534.
     *** DP 296e.
MINISTERIAL CHANGES 1972

MINISTERIAL CHANGES Editor 1972

The Rev. Donald L. Rose, Pastor of Michael Church, London, England, has accepted a call to the pastorate of the Pittsburgh Society, effective September 1, 1972.
The Rev. Robert S. Junge, Acting Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School, has accepted appointment to the Faculty of the Academy of the New Church, effective in September, 1972.
ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH 1972

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH Editor 1972

Mrs. William R. Zeitz (Mollie Glebe) has accepted appointment as Housemother of Alice Grant Hall, commencing next September. She will replace Mrs. W. Allen (Eunice) Smith, who had expressed a desire to retire two years ago, but stayed on until a successor could be found.

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"HE THAT IS NOT AGAINST US" 1972

"HE THAT IS NOT AGAINST US" Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE

Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Editor Business Manager

Published Monthly By THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM BRYN ATHYN, PA.

Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$5.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 50 cents.
     We live in a changing world, and there are many who suspect that what is changing the world goes far deeper than the political, economic, military and social problems that fill the news media. Some thinking men are aware that what we are facing is nothing less than a cultural crisis which is reshaping the ethical and religious values that underlie society. There are few, however, who can go further and recognize the spiritual crisis within what is happening, can see that what we are really facing is the working out in the world of the consequences of the Last judgment which was effected over two hundred years ago.
     The New Church man is privileged to know this, but should be careful not to take a one-sided view. It is easy to assume that everything which alarms us represents the attack of the hells on the Lord's church, but this is not necessarily so. Of those who know, the Lord said: "He that is not for us is against us"; but of those who do not know He said: "He that is not against us is on our part." There are men and women who are not for the truth which the Lord has revealed, but neither are they against it. They simply do not as yet know the truth.
     While some abuse the new freedom given to men after the judgment, there are others who are deeply concerned about the problems of others, but who may be led into unwise courses, even excesses, only because they do not as yet have access to the truth which would enable them to use freedom rationally. But in so far as their concern is sincere the Lord is with them in it; they are not against Him; and even through their mistakes they will eventually be led to the truth.

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IDOLATRY 1972

IDOLATRY Editor 1972

     As the Lord is the one God of heaven and earth He alone should be worshiped, and the worship and love which rightly belong to Him alone should not be given to anyone else or to any thing. To do that is what is called in the Word idolatry. We might say, then, that to worship the Lord is not to worship idols; or, since we must "cease to do evil, learn to do well," that not to worship idols is to worship the Lord.
     Much is said in the Word of the Old Testament against idolatry. The first commandment is: "Thou shalt have no other gods before My face"; and from Exodus through Isaiah and Jeremiah, war against idolatry, and later the hope that all nations will renounce it, are two of the principal themes running through the Old Testament.
     If we consider what is the real difference between the Lord and an idol, we can see readily why the Word is so insistent that idolatry is to be rooted out. It is true that the Lord is one and that there are many false gods whose images idols are, but that is not the real difference. The essential difference is that the Lord is living, yea, is life itself, whereas the idol is a thing and is lifeless. To worship idols, therefore, is to worship what is dead as though it were living.
     An idol is a thing made by men, the work of their hands which they then worship and to which they bow down; and it must amaze us that man in biblical times could commission an idol, or buy one in the shop of an image maker, and then make it an object of worship. As the Word so graphically says, such an image is a god that cannot move, but must be carried from place to place; that cannot answer; that cannot save from his troubles the man who cries to it; in short, a god that is dead. He has eyes, but he does not see; ears, but he hears not; a mouth, but he speaks not; and if he does speak, it is the voice of a man that answers.

     With these things in mind we may see that we are not necessarily as safe from idolatry as might be supposed. Whatever we love and serve more than anything else becomes our god; and if what we so love and serve are finite qualities or things-power, possessions, fame, and the things that lead to them; then self and the world are our gods, not the Lord. Furthermore, whatever man loves most he is conjoined with, and if that is self and the world the conjunction is with spirits of hell. That is why the Word speaks so consistently and sternly against idolatry. The Lord wills to bestow upon man the eternal life and happiness which are received by those who love and worship Him alone. His warnings therefore do not come from majesty outraged by the very suggestion of idolatry, but from His infinite love for men and women.

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LIFE OF THE CHURCH 1972

LIFE OF THE CHURCH Editor 1972

     New Church men are aware that the unity of God is a unity in trinity and trinity in unity-that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Triune God. They know also that He is approached and worshiped in the Triune Word; that the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Writings are not three Words, but the three forms taken by the one Word. To this may be added that the life of the church, considered as to its origin and as to that in which it consists, is also, under the same law, a triune. This is implicit in the teaching that the Lord, faith and charity make one.
     Many in the former church have supposed that they worship the Lord by faith when they believe intellectually what the doctrine of the church teaches, and that they worship by love when they love the Lord as to His person. But, the Writings teach, that is not the case. The Lord is not worshiped by merely believing and by merely loving. He can be worshiped only by that which is from Himself with men, and the Lord is not present with man to give him that from which he may worship unless and until he keeps the Lord's commandments. As the Writings put it, the Lord is not in the understanding of truth without the willing of it, but is in the understanding of truth together with the willing of it.

     Truth does not enter into a man, and become his, until he wills it, and from willing does it; for the will is the man himself, whereas the understanding is the man only in so far as it partakes of the will. Moreover, the Lord is present with a man in truths which are from good, and these are those which a man wills, and from willing does; not those which he merely understands, or does without willing them.
     Furthermore, if the Lord does not dwell with a man who does not do His truths, neither is He present with one who does not know them. The Lord's presence with a man is in the truths which are from good, that is, which a man wills and does. These are the truths that make the church with a man and make heaven with him. In a word, they make the Lord Himself to be with him.
     That is why we say that-like the Lord from whom it is, and the Word by which it is-the church and its life is triune. The Lord, charity and faith make one; no one of these can exist in human minds without the other two, and together the three make a complete one. So if we would enter into the life of the church, we must imbue the understanding with the truths of faith and the will with the goods of love; and this cannot be done without learning truths from the Word and then willing and doing them. Without the Lord there is no church; neither is there apart from the Word in the understanding, will and life of man.

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BICENTENNIAL 1972

BICENTENNIAL Editor 1972

     This month the New Church will mark an important bicentennial. It was on Sunday, March 29, 1772, that Emanuel Swedenborg entered permanently through the gate of death the spiritual world in which he had been a constant visitor for nearly twenty-seven years. Shortly before Christmas, 1771, Swedenborg had suffered a stroke which for three weeks confined him to his bed in a state of unconsciousness. During this illness he was paralyzed in one arm and for a time left speechless; but far worse, as he told his friend Springer, his spiritual sight was temporarily withdrawn, and this was the greatest tribulation he had ever been called upon to bear. It was like an intolerable blindness, and he felt a dreadful depression. But after several days his spiritual sight was restored; he was happy and was again comforted.
     Swedenborg had endured the last of his trials. Two days before his death he greeted one of the ministers of the Swedish Church in London, Pastor Ferelius, from whom he received the Holy Supper, with a cheerful smile, saying: "God has now delivered me from the evil spirits with whom I have had to struggle for several days. Now the good spirits have come back again." Then on Sunday afternoon, after asking what hour the clock had struck, Swedenborg said: "That is good. I thank you. God bless you!" Thereupon he sighed, and peacefully died, on the day he had predicted.

     His mission completed, the servant of the Lord left this world and entered the spiritual world forever. It is idle to speculate on what his lot may be, though there would seem to be no doubt that he was a regenerated man; and it is far more fruitful to pray that we may be spiritually enlightened to see the Writings as that Divine truth which Swedenborg declared them to be, again just before his death. But we may think that we hear in the moment of his death the well-known words of Scripture: "Well done good and faithful servant . . . enter into the joy of thy lord."
     On significant anniversaries of a man's death it is customary to recall his works and attempt to estimate his influence on the human spirit. For the life and work of Emanuel Swedenborg humanity owes a debt that will never be paid; one that is as yet realized by only a few. While it is true that all good uses are from the Lord and those who perform them are His servants, Emanuel Swedenborg was uniquely the servant of the Lord. Through him the Lord made His second and final advent into the world of human minds and brought to men everything of true worth and lasting value. We may again give thanks to the Lord for raising up such an instrument, and express gratitude for the instrument himself.

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Church News 1972

Church News Various 1972

     SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

     One of the highlights of 1971 for the San Francisco Circle was also an historic occasion for the Church. For the first time here a minister was brought to a new pastorate as a result of the use of a selection panel. Six representatives of the Los Angeles Society and three from the San Francisco Circle met in March under the able leadership of the Rev. Norman H. Reuter and chose the Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard as our new pastor. This was accomplished in a confidential closed meeting so that there would be no chance of the details being divulged. Our three representatives were chosen by vote in our Circle and were Dr. Lawson Pendleton, Jonathan Cranch and Ray Wyland.
     At the Annual Business Meeting in January we voted to retain Jonathan Cranch as secretary and as editor of the Bulletin, Philip "Red" Pendleton as treasurer, and Tom Aye as vice president, New officers for the Women's Guild were announced to be Hannah Cranch, president; Ruth Wyland, secretary-treasurer; and Christa Bedford, Sunday school director.
     Another highly successful Men's Weekend was held in February at Pajaro Dunes on Monterey Bay. Fifteen men gathered for discussion and consideration of questions posed by Mr. Reuter concerning conjugial love. Seven of these men were from Los Angeles.
     In the spring an Open House at the Cranches welcomed the Executive Vice President of the Academy, the Rev. Martin Pryke. He preached in our chapel, met with the children of all ages, and conducted an open meeting for adults to be informed and to ask questions concerning the Academy.
     Mr. Reuter brought the Howards to us in May to introduce them to our Circle. There was an Open House at Wylands to get acquainted informally, and the next day Mr. Howard gave the children's and adults' classes.
     Dr. Lawson Pendleton acted as toastmaster for our New Church Day banquet, which followed a cocktail party at Miss Dolly Ashley's. A delicious dinner was followed by a slate of thought-provoking speeches by Chris Clark, Tom Aye, Ray Wyland and Sally Jo Headsten. The theme of the evening was how to approach people concerning the doctrines. Mr. Reuter responded not only to the speeches but also as our pastor of a year who would be moving on to Tucson. A beautiful book of California scenes was presented to the Reuters to remind them of their stay here. Following this, General Church pins were presented to the graduating eighth graders who were attending their first banquet: Kevin Davis and Nathaniel Pendleton. Traditionally our Circle presents luggage to students who will attend the Academy, and a lovely red suitcase was presented to Judy Wyland.
     San Francisco is well used to change in its highly mobile membership. We welcomed the Vic Griffins and their baby, Christie, when Vic was stationed at Alameda. A frequent visitor became a permanent member: Susie Coffin, a TWA hostess, is now headquartered here, but is always flying out. Sadly we said goodbye to two families during the summer. LCDR Chris Clark was transferred to Groton, Connecticut, so he, Tryn, and their three children moved east. Job opportunities and the Academy schools drew the Bob Bedfords and their three children to Bryn Athyn. On the other side of the coin, we are rewelcoming Paul and Nora (Cranch) Cooper, who left in 1969 and who now plan to settle in our area.

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     Mr. Howard arrived for his first visit in September, having purchased a house and greeted a new son during the summer. He began a series of classes on what a church is, and the fact that the spiritual is more real than the natural. He continued with three classes on "The Doctrine of Genuine Truth," "Correspondences" and "Enlightenment." He is teaching the children from the True Christian Religion.
     Our Christmas festival service was most memorable. Mr. Howard chose selected passages from the Nativity story and they were reverently read by the children, teenagers, and some of the men in the Circle. At the suggestion of Dolly Ashley the children decorated the chapel for this special occasion under the direction of Christine Pendleton, who also took charge of rehearsing the children for their readings. After the service Theta Alpha awards were presented to those children who had completed Religion Lessons, and Christmas gifts were presented to all the children. Back from the Academy for Christmas were Mike Pendleton and Judy Wyland. Those of our Circle spending Christmas in Bryn Athyn were the Don Kistners, Elaine Pitcairn, Wenda Junge and Susie Coffin.
     So begins 1972, and we always hope to welcome visitors or find new members. If you are ever in our area on the first or third Sunday of the month, give Jonathan Cranch a call and join us!
     RUTH C. WYLAND

     LONDON, ENGLAND

     Perhaps 1971 could be said to have been the year of innovations at Michael Church. Last January a monthly Project was started, with subjects for study being sent to teenagers and newcomers, the studies being augmented with further comments and references in our monthly News Letter. A stamped addressed envelope and questionnaire accompanied the project sheets, and this appears to be the best method yet devised for keeping regular contact with this group. Again, with the commencement of our winter fogs, and the consequent cancellation of a doctrinal class, our pastor, the Rev. Donald L. Rose, decided to take the unusual step of typing out the notes on the subject that would have been given (Genesis, chapters 17 and 21) together with references, and sent these through the mail for home study. The reaction of our next Swedenborg House doctrinal class will decide whether or not to repeat this experiment.
     Last November the pastor inaugurated what was happily called "A Welcome Weekend." The idea behind this was to extend hospitality for a weekend to all out-of-town members and friends of Michael Church to enable them to join us in our homes and enjoy the pleasure of mixing in the Society's activities for these two or three days. Invitations were sent out and the response was very gratifying, considering the time of year; guests came from as far apart as Warwickshire, Somerset and Southampton, Worthing, Guildford and Bristol. We were fortunate to have chosen a weekend when Mrs. Frank Coulson was addressing the Conference Women's Guild on Friday afternoon at Swedenborg House on "Natural History," so naturally many of our guests made their way there. After the address tea was provided and was followed by a panel program on the subject of "Law and Liberty." Saturday morning was "go as you please"; but at 3:30 p.m., a goodly gathering met at Michael Church to chat and exchange views. At 4:30 a doctrinal class on Genesis 16 was given by the Rev. Donald L. Rose in the schoolroom and it was very stimulating for the "regulars" to see so many animated faces lining the walls. The class was interesting and some lively discussion followed. At 6:00 p.m., tea was furnished by each hostess, and, judging by the noise and merriment, it was much enjoyed. The Sunday service was followed by a B. Y. O. luncheon which taxed the capacity of both schoolrooms but provided much hilarity and good fellowship. At 2:30 the pastor continued with the doctrinal subject of the previous day, and the formal part of the program was concluded around 4 o'clock.

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To quote one appreciative guest: " . . . if, at some future date, Michael Church is brave enough to repeat their open invitation, I hope many more will make a big effort to avail themselves-perhaps making up parties to share expenses on long journeys."
     This leads me to a further and exciting experiment, which will take place in February 1972, although the decision was taken in 1971. Because of an accident of circumstances it was decided to take up an option for a young people's weekend at The Rock, Frinton, which could not be used for the young people, and use it for an adult weekend instead. To undertake this experiment we must find at least 30 persons willing to come, and I understand that this condition will be met "with a few in their twenties, but most people at least twice as old." Papers will be presented by Mr. G. P. Dawson and Dr. N. Berridge as well as by two ministers, the Rev. D. L. Rose and the Rev. Bjorn Boyesen. The cost, we hope, will be less than L3 for full board from the Friday evening meal to Sunday afternoon tea.
     During the summer a booklet was issued by our Planning Committee entitled "The Plan for South London." This makes interesting reading and clearly defines the will of the Society in this matter. Briefly, the resolution passed at the Annual General Meeting in 1967, with one abstention, to remain a London Society and not to move elsewhere in the country now or in the future, is still the resolve of the Society. Any future development will be in the general area in which the church is now situated with our present building as the focal point. The hope of the Committee is to get families and members to move closer together over a number of years, so that the establishment of a school might become a reality and so that people living alone can be better looked after and feel less isolated. To this end the booklet sets out several reasons, from both a residential and an employment point of view, why this should freely be aimed at by all members of Michael Church. Since the Planning Committee was first set up in 1965 two important new factors now obtain: a) The Minet Estate, subject of a trust from whom the lease of Michael Church was originally purchased, has now been sold to the local Council, and our Committee is endeavoring to confirm our position under the trust; b) we have been left a bequest of L6,196 which, presumably, has been profitably invested by the treasurer. In a situation such as ours any new movement from the static can be very encouraging.
     Our efforts to bring the appointments of Michael Church up to date are meeting with some success and it is with great pleasure that I report the disposal of the old boiler which gave us faithful, if somewhat smelly, heating service over so many years. After much probing and discussion electric heaters have now been installed throughout the building. Further, the old blue screens used for screening off the chancel during socials and other activities have now been replaced with smart new wooden ones.
     It is with regret that I report the passing of Mr. John Posthuma into the spiritual world on October 30, 1971. He was well known throughout the General Church and had been particularly associated with Michael Church for well over half a century. We will miss his outspoken and stimulating comments on many church matters.
     On October 10, Mr. David Conaron was baptized into the New Church, the Rev. Donald L. Rose officiating. This event gave all of us a great deal of pleasure, but, I am sure, to none more so than his wife Julie (nee Law). Perhaps to celebrate the occasion, he and Julie organized a concert outing for the Society on October 29th at the Royal Albert Hall with Sir Adrian Bould conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Twelve young people and twenty-four adults enjoyed the program of Brahms and Beethoven works; equally they enjoyed the fact that they had admission at half price.
     To hear of a burglary nowadays is not usually a matter of great concern, such incidents being too numerous to impinge overmuch on our senses. But when it happens at our pastor's home at Mantilla Road, as it did last September, that is a different matter altogether, and the unpleasantness of such an occurrence is forcibly brought home to us.

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Fortunately for Donald and Noelene, the burglars must have been disturbed before they could remove all the articles they had lined up in the hall, but as it was they made off with a television set, a considerable amount of cash and various other items. As if that were not enough, the pastor's home was subject to a small explosion on New Year's night, when the metal thermostat door of the central heating system blew off and struck the refrigerator door with sufficient force to dent it. Only a very short time before the kitchen had been full of New Year guests milling around, any one of whom could have been badly injured by the flying metal. Let us hope that, on the law of averages, they will have no more trouble at Mantilla Road in 1972.
     ISABEL ROBERTSON

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Convention. The Massachusetts Association will be host to the 1972 Convention to be held on the campus of Radcliffe College in Cambridge from June 19 to 25.

     General Conference. The NEW-CHURCH HERALD has announced the retirement of the Rev. Alan Gorange from the active full-time ministry of the New Church. Mr. Gorange has been in indifferent health. His ministry, starting in 1939, began at Kearsley, Lancashire, from which he moved to Brightlingsea, Essex, and then to Glasgow, Scotland. His final pastorate was Kensington, London. For many years Mr. Gorange has been a lecturer at the New Church College, and he has been on the teaching staff of the Ministers' annual school. He is well known in the church at large as the author of What the New Church Teaches and Psychology as Servant of Religion. His retirement took effect at the end of last year.
     The same journal reports the formation of a Swedenborg Study Group in East Anglia. The Group, which hopes for an attendance of twelve, is under the leadership of the Rev. J. M. Sutton of Brightlingsea.

     Australia. A recent issue of the NEW AGE contains a photograph of the new premises of the Adelaide Society, which were dedicated last September in the presence of a congregation numbering sixty. The dedication was performed by the President of the New Church in Australia, the Rev. E. B. Williams, assisted by the pastor.
     In the same issue of the NEW AGE it is reported that the church of the Sydney Society on Clarence Street has been razed to the ground. Until such time as a new building takes its place, the Society is comfortably housed in a building not far from the manse.
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

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CORRECTION 1972

CORRECTION Editor 1972

The name of Mr. David Robert Conaron, whose baptism was reported in the December 1971 issue, page 579, was incorrectly given as Robert Louis Conaron.
ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS MARCH 6-11, 1972 1972

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETINGS MARCH 6-11, 1972 Editor 1972

Monday, March 6

11:00 a.m. Headmasters' Meeting
2:30 p.m. Worship
3:00 p.m. Opening Session, Council of the Clergy
8:00 p.m. Consistory

Tuesday, March 7

10:30 a.m. Second Session, Council of the Clergy
12:45 p.m. Pastors' Luncheon Meeting and small group luncheons
3:30 p.m. Third Session, Council of the Clergy
8:30 p.m. Informal Open House for ministers and wives

Wednesday, March 8

8:30 a.m. Publication Committee Meeting
10:30 a.m. Fourth Session, Council of the Clergy
12:45 p.m. Small group luncheons
3:30 p.m. Fifth Session, Council of the Clergy
6:30 p.m. Social Supper for Ministers
8:00 p.m. Evening Discussion (Report of Seminars)

Thursday, March 9

9:00 a.m. New Program Committee Meeting
10:30 a.m. Sixth Session, Council of the Clergy
12:45 p.m. Luncheon Meeting of Extension Committee

Friday, March 10

8:30 a.m. Executive Vice President meets with Heads of Schools
10:30 a.m. Seventh Session, Council of the Clergy
3:00 p.m. Board of Directors of the General Church
5:00 p.m. Annual Meeting of the General Church Corporation
7:00 p.m. Friday Supper
7:45 p.m. General Church Evening

Saturday, March 11

10:00 a.m. Joint Council of the General Church
3:00 p.m. Corporation of the Academy of the New Church
3:00 p.m. General Church Translation Committee

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ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH SCHOOL CALENDAR: 1972-1973 1972

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH SCHOOL CALENDAR: 1972-1973 Editor 1972

     Ninety-sixth School Year

     1972

Sept. 6 Wed.     Faculty Meetings
      7 Thur.     Dormitory students must arrive before 8:00 p.m.
                    College registration: local students
                    Secondary schools registration: local students
      8 Fri.      College registration: dormitory students
                    Secondary schools registration: dormitory students
      9 Sat.      8:00 a.m. All student workers report to supervisors
                8:30 p.m. President's Reception
     11 Mon.      Classes commence in all schools following Opening Exercises
Oct. 22 Fri.      Charter Day
                    11:00 a.m. Charter Day Service (Cathedral)
                    9:00 p.m. President's Reception
     23 Sat.      2:30 p.m. Annual Meeting of the Academy of the New Church Corporation
               7:00 p.m. Charter Day Banquet
Nov. 22 Wed.      Thanksgiving Recess. Recess begins after morning classes
     26 Sun.      Dormitory students must return by 8:00 p.m.
     27 Mon.      All schools resume classes
Dec.     1 Fri.      End of Fall Term
      4 Mon.      Winter Term commences in all schools
     15 Fri.      Christmas Recess begins for all schools

     1973

Jan.     2 Tue.      Dormitory students must return by 8:00 p.m.
      3 Wed.     All schools resume classes
     15 Mon.     Deadline for applications for 1973-1974 school year
Feb. 19 Fri.     Washington's Birthday holiday
Mar.     9 Fri.     End of Winter Term
                    Spring Recess commences after morning classes
     18 Sun.      Dormitory students must return by 8:00 p.m.
     19 Mon.     Spring Term commences in all schools
Apr. 20 Fri.      Good Friday. School holiday after special chapel service
May     18 Fri.      7:45 p.m. joint Meeting of Faculty and Corporation
     28 Mon.      Memorial Day holiday
June 11 Mon.      8:30 p.m. President's Reception
     12 Tues.      10:30 a.m. Commencement Exercises

     NOTE:     At the beginning of the Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring recesses student workers remain after classes for four hours of student work.

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"IF I BE LIFTED UP FROM THE EARTH" 1972

"IF I BE LIFTED UP FROM THE EARTH" Rev. WILLARD D. PENDLETON 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII APRIL, 1972
No. 4
     "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." (John 12: 32)

     Our text is taken from the Authorized Version of the English Bible. As stated, it seems to imply a doubt. Unlike modern translations (Standard Revised Version and the New English Bible), which carry the Greek subjunctive over into the English as an indicative statement of fact, the Authorized Version preserves the integrity of the Greek text. What is said is; "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." This differs from the more recent translations, which read; "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself" (Standard Revised).
     We cannot account for this shift in the meaning of the text unless, as may have been the case, the translators were influenced in their decision by earlier statements which the Lord had made concerning His death and resurrection. In each previous instance He had spoken with certainty, that is, with full assurance that having been put to death, He would arise again on the third day.*
     * Matthew 17: 23, 20: 19; John 2: 19.
     What modern scholars have failed to perceive is that there is a sound doctrinal basis for the doubt that is expressed in our text. This, however, is understandable in that apart from the spiritual sense the Word in its letter cannot be understood. When viewed in the light of the Writings, we find that the use of the subjunctive is not only justified but that it opens the way to the understanding of what is involved in our text. The reason for this is that it is the teaching of the Writings that the Lord glorified the Human by means of temptations which He admitted into Himself,* and, as defined in the Writings, temptations are doubts concerning the end in view.**

142

Hence it is said, "If the end which is loved were not put in doubt, and indeed in despair, there would be no temptation."***
     * AC 2816.
     ** AC 1820, 2334, 2338.
     ***AC 1820

     What is reflected in our text, therefore, is the Lord's doubt, even to despair, in regard to the salvation of the human race. So great was the evil into which man had fallen that the appearance was that none could be saved. Herein lies the peculiar power of evil-the power to induce upon the infirm human doubt concerning the end in view. In this the Lord was afflicted-afflicted to a degree that is incomprehensible to any man. Hence it is said in the Writings in regard to the Scriptural account of the Lord's temptations in the wilderness that although, "in the sense of the letter [they seem] slight . . . yet His temptation was more grievous than can ever be comprehended or believed by any human mind." * All temptations are an assault upon the love in which one is, and the temptation is in the same degree as the love.** What, then, can be said in regard to those fearful temptations which the Lord sustained in the infirm human from the mother. On this subject even the Writings are silent. It is said, however, that, "[Because] the Lord's life was love toward the whole human race . . . and because this love was not human but Divine, and because such as is the greatness of the love, such is that of the temptation, it may be seen how grievous the combats were, and how great the ferocity on the part of the hells."*** To this it is added; "That all this was so, I know of a certainty."****
     * AC 1690.
     ** Ibid.
     *** Ibid.
     **** Ibid.
     There were, then, two primary states which marked the progression of the Human toward union with the Divine: the one was a state of humiliation, and the other, a state of glorification.* In states of humiliation His perception was obscured by those appearances which not only gave rise to doubts concerning the salvation of man but also, as implied in our text, incurred doubts concerning the uplifting power of the Divine love. In such states He spoke of the Father as if of another, as in the garden of Gethsemane, when He prayed, saying: "Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done."** In states of glorification, however, the Lord entered into communion with the Father, that is, with the Divine love. In such states the fearful persuasions by which He was afflicted passed from Him, and He assured His disciples, saying; "I and My Father are one."***
     * AC 2098.
     ** Luke 22: 42. See also Matthew 26: 39; Mark 14: 36.
     *** John 10: 30.

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     These two states, the one of humiliation and the other of glorification, are everywhere present in the Scriptures; for in the inmost sense the Word treats solely of the Lord: of His birth, of the formative states of the Human, of the progressive conjunction of the Human with the Divine, of His death and resurrection."* In the Old Testament these states are deeply hidden in the prophetical utterances and historical accounts in which that Testament is written, but in the New Testament, as is evident from our text, they lie close to the surface of the sense of the letter. In the Writings, however, they are set forth to the sight of the understanding, that is, to the sight of him who wills to believe in the Word.
     * AC 8943, 9389; AE 435.

     It is, then, by means of the spiritual sense of the Word that the Lord has disclosed those hitherto hidden truths which testify to His Divinity. These truths, however, because they pertain to Him, cannot be understood except by way of analogy; but the analogy is close at hand, for as the Writings say, "In regeneration, as in an ... image, it appears how the Lord glorified His Human, or what is the same, made it Divine."* That this is so is evident from the fact that the Lord willed to be born as a man, to be instructed as other men, and to be reborn as man.** So it is that in reflecting on the regeneration of man, we may see, as in an image, that process whereby the Lord glorified His Human and made it Divine. There is, however, a difference; the difference being that whereas the Lord fought alone against the hells, it is the Lord who sustains man."***
     * AC 3296. See also AC 3043, 3138, 3157.
     ** AC 3138.
     *** AC 3043.
     In the life of regeneration man is upheld by his faith in the Lord. Were it not for the confidence we place in His Word, there would be no temptation. All temptations, therefore, are trials of faith, and the greater the love, the more grievous is the temptation. What is implied here involves far more than those intellectual doubts by which some are afflicted. What we are speaking of are those states of despair to which the regenerating man is reduced when the meaning and purpose of life is obscured by those illusions which give rise to a sense of futility. Of all life's experiences there is none as devastating as that feeling of hopelessness which is induced upon the mind when love is deprived of its assurance. In such states the appearance is that there is no significant purpose in life, and man despairs of salvation.
     In states of despair, however, the Lord is more intimately present with man than in any other state; the reason for this being that in his need man draws near to the Lord. Like Mary, who apparently without hope sought the Lord among the dead, man's need is great. By Mary is represented the affection of truth, that is, the love of the Lord's Word.

144

While it is true that in states of despair the appearance is that this affection is without hope, yet the truth is that the hope that is embodied within this affection is preserved by the Lord among the remains of spiritual life which He protects with tender care. Despite the appearance of abandonment, therefore, the Lord is intimately present; it is He who provides, He who sustains, and it is He who opens the way for a renewal of spiritual life."* Hence the teaching of the Writings that it is not man who fights in temptation; it is the Lord who fights for Him, for He alone possesses the power to deliver man from the illusions induced by the hells."** Is not this what is meant by the words of our text: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me"?
     * AC 8567.
     ** HD 200.

     We are living, however, in an age in which few credit the testimony of Scripture concerning the immortality of man. The reason for this is that in examining the evidence, men think and reason from sensual appearances. The appearance is that when the body dies, the man dies and that like the beast of the field, man returns to the dust from whence he came. But, as the Writings say: "Man has what beasts have not, that is,, an inmost, into which the Divine inflows, raising man up to itself, and thereby conjoining man to itself."* This inmost is the human soul, through which man is endowed with the capacity to perceive what is true and, if he will, to do what is good. It is, then, because man can perceive what is true, that is, because he can see God, that man, unlike the beast, can be conjoined with God; and, as the Writings say, "Whatever can be conjoined to the Divine cannot be dissipated, but whatever cannot be conjoined is dissipated."**
     * HH 435.
     **Ibid.
     To all after generations, therefore, the Lord's resurrection from the dead is the sign of His covenant with the man whom He created. The basis of this covenant is the assurance that with the death of the body, the spirit of man is lifted up from the earth. In testification of this the Lord came into the world and having laid down His life upon the cross, took it up again on the third day. Thus it was that He said to those who plotted against Him: ". . . I lay down My life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
     * John 10: 17, 18.
     The power of which He spake is the uplifting power of the Divine love. This is the one constant reality of life. Although in states of temptation the Lord's love seems remote, yet He is present; for the Divine love, despite the appearance, is never withdrawn.

145

In no state of life does the Lord withdraw from man; it is man who withdraws from the Lord. So it was that on that fearful evening which preceded the crucifixion, when all seemed lost, the Lord comforted His disciples, saying: "Let not your heart be troubled . . . . I go to prepare a place for you . . . that where I am, there ye may be also;"* for, "Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more, but ye [shall] see Me: Because I live, ye shall live also."**
     * John 14: 1, 2, 3.
     ** John 14: 19.
     It is the teaching of all Divine revelation that the Lord alone lives. Man is but a vessel, receptive of life. Yet of all living forms, man is unique for although he lives from God, he is created into the appearance that life is his own. Were this not so, man would not be free, that is, he would not be free to accept God, or reject God, as he wills. But if from this appearance man confirms in himself the belief that he actually does live from himself, he inverts and subverts in himself the true order of life. Yet such is the nature of the Divine love that the Lord unceasingly wills that all men should come unto Him. Thus it is that although man may reject God, God does not reject man. While it is true that a reciprocal conjunction cannot be effected except with those who respond to His love, the Lord has provided for the continuation of life for all men. The gift of life, once given, is never taken away.
     The appearance is that death is the end of life. But man does not die, for man is not a being who is bound to the earth, although he is dependent upon it during his life in the world. Man is a spirit who, when released from the body, is lifted up by the Lord into that life which was ordained for him from the beginning. For this cause the Lord created the heavens and the earth; for this cause He came into the world; and for this cause, that is, in order that man might believe, He has come again and presented Himself in the spiritual sense of the Word to the sight of man's understanding.
     It is, then, as the Word made flesh, that is, as the living Word, that the Lord is revealed at this day. It is called the living Word because it is the spiritual sense which gives life and meaning to the letter. Like the disciples, therefore, who bore witness to the Lord's resurrection from the tomb, the Writings bear witness to the resurrection of the Divine doctrine out of the sense of the letter. He it is, that is, the Spirit of truth, who testifies to the integrity of the Scriptural account of the resurrection, and He it is who attests to the miracle of eternal life. As the Writings say; "It is the Divine which bears witness concerning the Divine, and not man from himself."*          Amen.
     * AE 635.

146

     LESSONS: John 12: 20-36. John 20: 1-31. True Christian Religion 43.
     Music: Liturgy, pages 560, 562, 565, 466, 568.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 35, C18.
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1972

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES Editor 1972

Three articles in the February issue of the NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER focus on our physical environment, the world, and the problems involved with the way in which it is being polluted. The writers view this as a religious matter, and treat it from the standpoint of the Writings; and although one writer concedes that it is not easy to find passages which recommend to man that he take proper care of his world home, he suggests that it is not hard to infer reasons for so doing. Certainly the brief and transient nature of our life here does not sanction indifference to the quality of physical life in this world, and we may find much that is of interest in these articles.
In a letter to the Editor of the NEW-CHURCH HERALD the Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz defends two statements in his sermon "Lampstands for the Son of Man," the validity of which had been questioned. The statement that "the doctrines of the New Church in Swedenborg's theological works are the Word of the Lord for they are from His very mouth," is shown to be a quotation from the Writings, not a theory, and is explained as referring to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The statement that the teachings of the Writings are the very "clouds of heaven" in which the Son of Man is to come is explained as referring to the need to accommodate infinite Divine truth to man's apprehension.
ON BEING THE LEAST 1972

ON BEING THE LEAST 1972

"It can be evident from many things how the case is with regard to this, for one ought not to desire to be least in order to become the greatest, for then he aspires and desires to become the greatest. But what is meant can appear from this, namely, that from the heart one wills better to others than to oneself, so that he wills to yield the better things to others, and to serve them for the sake of their happiness, from no end of self, but from love" (Spiritual Diary 1234).

147

NEW BEGINNINGS 1972

NEW BEGINNINGS Rev. LORENTZ R. SONESON 1972

     An Easter Talk to Children

     When we think of that holy day, Easter, many lovely pictures come into our minds: the dawn of a new day with a bright sunrise; the beginning of a new week, the Sabbath, Sunday morning; the beginning of a new season, spring and all that it promises-flowers, new life in the animal kingdom with young ones being born. Easter assures us of hope and life for another year.
     Even though the Jewish religion does not celebrate Easter as we do, the Jews have their Passover at this time. The event is a reminder of the angel of death who passed over the Egyptians, killing their firstborn. This tenth plague, announced through Moses, was what finally freed the children of Israel from bondage. So this season is one in which the Jews celebrate a new-found freedom, a new beginning, given them by Jehovah.
     It is a happy custom, then, for us to celebrate this most holy day, recalling the Lord's rising from the tomb by filling His temple with the early flowers of spring. It not only reminds us of His resurrection; it also gives us a feeling of joy and gladness to see these beautiful flowers.
     It is interesting, too, that we think of eggs at this time of year. We color Easter eggs, decorate them, hide them, eat them; and strangely enough, the Writings of our church speak of eggs in connection with new beginnings. We read in our lesson that eggs, the potential of a new life, give us a way to imagine our journey to heaven: even our life in heaven! Each day, each new state, is a beginning of another new and brighter life as an angel.
     When we study an egg, we begin to see a picture of what the Lord there says is happening to us. An egg must be kept warm and well protected before it is hatched. It needs the constant attention of the mother hen. At first it is very fragile. It can easily be broken and thus destroyed. But after the proper amount of patient care it finally breaks open, and within is a young chick. It is like a miracle! What was at first only some egg white and yolk is now a young chick, with legs, eyes, wings, and even feathers! This young chick must also then be protected from harm. It is watched by the mother until it is able to survive on its own.

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Then, with the passing of time, the young chick becomes fully grown! and is able to produce its own eggs. The cycle of life is repeated.
     We see the same cycle pictured for us in the vegetable kingdom. The flowers we love were once tiny seeds. You have all seen flower seeds. They are very small, hard and round, certainly not resembling flowers in any way. Yet we know that if one is placed in the ground, in the fertile soil of mother nature, and is watered and kept warm, it will break through the ground as short green sprouts. These, like the chick breaking forth from the egg, are entirely different from the hard seed planted in the soil. With more warmth from the sun, water from the air, and food from the soil the tiny sprouts can grow into stately and beautiful flowers; and the flowers have within them more seeds in their very center which will fall to the ground and produce more of their kind. This is the cycle of life in the vegetable kingdom.
     Sometimes the seeds of the vegetable kingdom are found within a fruit like an apple or an orange. The fruits from a tree give us nourishment just as do the eggs in the animal kingdom; and they feed the seeds of life within them until they can survive on their own.
     Now, we also know that each one of us was once as tiny as a seed in the ground. But that tiny seed of human life was nourished and kept warm and protected. Then, even after the miracle of birth, we still needed a great deal of care. Our mothers fed us and kept us warm until we were able to feed ourselves and survive on our own. You children can look back into your past and remember what you were once like. You were smaller, weaker and less able to take care of yourselves. You can also look at the adults around you and see what you will someday become. This cycle of life with people is the same as the animal kingdom, and similar to the vegetable kingdom, from which the Easter flowers come.

     But, as we read, there is another person inside of our bodies that cannot be seen. We know it is there because it is the part of us that feels sad or glad. We see with it when we understand or "see" something we have learned. Along with our body the person inside is growing too, and our body serves as the shell. The inner self needs protection and nourishment. Parents help by keeping you from harm and evil influences. They forbid you to be with evil and hurtful people. They feed the person inside your skin with knowledges about this world and, more important, knowledges about heaven. They want you to know about the Lord by teaching you things from His Word. Can you see how this person grows inside you, just as the baby chick grows inside an egg?
     Some day you will reach adulthood. The body will stop growing. Your mind will be able to think for itself. You will leave the protection
of parents and home.

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And now comes the important lesson of Easter morning.
     The cycle does not stop! The Lord tells us that by obeying His commandments and keeping the rules of spiritual health we can make our minds and hearts the seedbed of another birth! Unseen within us there can be the birth of another person, if we heed His laws. This new birth does not happen with everyone. If we choose to stay just the person we are, and do not obey the laws the Lord has set down for this new birth, the cycle of life stops. We stay as we are, which means as in this world before a rebirth. But if we follow the teachings of the Lord, the cycle goes on. The seed of another life is planted which is the beginning of an angel!
     Yes, an angel begins as a tiny egg, a tiny seed within the mind. We may not see it grow any more than we may follow the growth of a young chick inside his shell. But the promise is that at the end of our earthly life, which is like life within an egg, another person, an angel, can break forth into new life in the spiritual world. All the while we are nourishing this angel inside of us we cannot see its growth. It never really appears until after we leave the earthly body. But when we pass through the gateway of death, leaving our mortal body in the tomb or sepulchre, we awaken in the angelic form. We are like a butterfly escaping from the cocoon.
     This is what the Lord told us by rising from the sepulchre on that first Easter morn. It was His way of telling all mankind that there is a life after death. The cycle of life does not cease, if only we believe and do God's will. That is the message which runs through the whole of His Word. That is what your parents and ministers wish to teach you. The cycle of life can go on to eternity, which means, without end, if we follow the rules of protection and nourishment set before us in the Word.
     On Easter morning, when you see beautiful flowers and marvelous eggs, may they remind you of the promise of another birth called regeneration, the birth of an angel. Do not be fooled or deceived by your body, or even the world around you. This is not heaven, nor can we see heaven with these eyes. But just as surely as a chick can form within the white shell of an egg, so an angel can be formed and can grow within your body.
     This is the great message of Easter! It is for this that we come before the Lord with songs of joy and praise. And we ask the Lord to perform the miracle of creating an angel within us, so that we may someday awaken to a new beginning in heaven. Amen.

     LESSONS: Luke 24: 1-12. Arcana Coelestia 4379.
     Music: Liturgy, pages 562, 560, 564, 568.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. C 17, C 18.

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CHURCH OF THE LORD ON EARTH 1972

CHURCH OF THE LORD ON EARTH Rev. GEORGE DE CHARMS 1972

     4. The New Church

     We come now to speak of the New Church as a specific church of the Lord on earth. We do not refer to any particular organization or ecclesiastical body. We mean the acknowledgment and worship of the Lord as He is now revealed in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. This alone makes the church. Acknowledgment and worship can exist only in the minds and hearts of men. As the Scripture states: "The kingdom of heaven is within you." The church as an organization, when seen from within, consists of those who have the church within them-its love, its faith and its life.
     In what way, we ask, does this new church differ from those specific churches of the Lord which have preceded it in the history of mankind? Why is it called in the Writings the "crown of all the churches which have hitherto existed on earth"? Why is it said concerning this church that, unlike those which have gone before it, it will not pass away, but will continue for ages of ages? And why is it indicated that the Heavenly Doctrine is the last of the long series of Divine revelations by which the Lord has been present to teach and lead, to regenerate and save, through all the ages of human history?
     The answer to these questions is to be found in the stage of development to which the human race on this earth has attained; also it is to be found in the nature of the Divine revelation by which the Lord comes to this church; that is, makes Himself known in the only way that men of our time can receive Him. These two things determine the distinctive quality of the New Church and set it apart from all the churches of the past.
     Now first of all, it must be realized that in the sight of the Lord the entire human race is like a man. At first creation this man was like an infant; in process of time it grew to be like a child; later it became like a youth; and finally it became like an adult. In the time of the Most Ancient Church, although everyone was born an infant and grew to adult age, yet even as adults they retained the innocence of infancy. Although they became spiritually intelligent and wise to a degree unknown at the present day, yet they were in profound ignorance of scientific knowledge.

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Their ideas were based on the superficial appearances of the objects in their environment, just as is the case with all infants. Yet they perceived the presence of the Divine in all things of nature, acknowledged His universal presence, and gladly submitted their minds to the instruction and guidance of the Angel of Jehovah.
     But the time came when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; that is, they felt an irresistible urge to act from their own will, perceiving in this a new kind of freedom and a release from external restraint. So it is with every growing infant. Innocence recedes and self-will increases, producing a struggle to achieve a greater sense of freedom. So the infant becomes a child, who must be taught and led in a different way. He must be allowed a greater opportunity to exercise his own faculties, to do things for himself, and thus to assume a greater degree of responsibility.

     It was similar with the race at the end of the Most Ancient Church. Men could no longer be led by the constant and obvious presence of the Lord as the Angel of Jehovah; wherefore the Lord gave them a written Word, spoken through the prophets and permanently recorded, to be read, studied and interpreted by men, as if by themselves. Yet the men of this church were in a childlike state. They were still largely ignorant of scientific knowledges. They lived in the world of imagination, even as children do. But through the stories of the Word, through parables and dark sayings, they acquired a knowledge of spiritual and heavenly truths. To this they attained by means of correspondences between natural objects and spiritual truths. The study of this relationship as a science became their chief source of wisdom. From these correspondences they fashioned rituals of worship and modes of life expressive of the truths of their faith. Beyond this they did not go, relying on perceptions of truth attained in this way. As the church declined, the knowledge of correspondences became perverted, worship became idolatrous, and religion was turned to promote selfish and worldly ambitions. The number of gods was multiplied, and men looked to them for worldly blessings, for wealth of every kind, and for victory in wars of conquest.
     Finally, the Lord raised up with the sons of Israel a nation willing to accept the laws and the rituals laid down with meticulous care through Moses. These rituals were Divinely ordered to preserve the only genuine representation of spiritual things in the entire world. Although the Jews themselves did not understand what these rituals meant they observed them with great care, believing that in this way Jehovah would bless them above all other people on the face of the earth. Yet as we have seen, their faith in Jehovah waned, and their insistence upon directing their own destiny caused them to reject the word of the prophets, and at last it was no longer possible for the Lord to lead them by that means.

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     Here again we find a remarkable parallel with what happens when one passes from childhood to youth. The world of imagination no longer satisfies. The mind reaches out eagerly, not only to know, but also to understand. There is an irresistible urge to think for oneself, rather than merely depend upon the teaching of others. Yet learning how to think is a long and painful process. It can be acquired only through trial and error, through many disappointments and failures. Nevertheless, this struggle is indispensable if one is to be prepared at last to assume adult responsibilities, and to find a place and a use in human society.

     When Divine leadership by means of the prophets failed, the Lord came into the world to walk with men and to teach them immediately. By His teaching and by His miracles He restored to His disciples a perception of truth. He imparted an entirely new idea as to the nature of God, as to the nature and purpose of religion, as to the eternal destiny of man. However, the first disciples were very simple men. They were the product of the Jewish Church and of other nations that had descended from the Ancient Church. They accepted the teachings of Jesus Christ with child-like faith, without question and without logical analysis. We are reminded of the teaching that as to internals the first Christian Church differed not at all from the Ancient Church, although it was very different in external form. So also the first religious ideas of young people on the threshold of youth are deeply affectional, uncritical and naive. But in the normal course of further growth they do not remain so, for, as we have seen, there arises a determination to understand. The mind reaches out to grasp some logical relationship, some inner unifying meaning, that will explain the mystery of life.
     So it was that the early Christians were brought face to face with the necessity of analyzing the teachings of the Gospels. Controversies arose with regard to variant interpretations of the Scripture; and these led to the series of Ecumenical Councils, convened in an endeavor to resolve these difficulties, and to discover a satisfactory solution of theological problems.
     If men had followed the doctrine of genuine truth, that is, the indications of those passages in the Word where the true inner meaning openly appears, the faith of the church might have been preserved as to its essentials. This could have been done even though men were not yet prepared for a rational understanding such as is made possible by the Heavenly Doctrine. But, unfortunately, other motives entered in to blind the eyes of men and distort their vision-motives of worldly power and wealth, of intellectual conceit and pride of superiority over others.

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The result was a fatal misinterpretation of the meaning of the Lord's teaching in the New Testament. Doctrines were developed which were contrary to the laws of nature and to common sense. This led at last to an increasing spirit of doubt and denial, to a reliance upon the evidence of the senses as the only criterion of truth, and an increasing tendency to reject the authority of Divine revelation. That is what made necessary the second coming of the Lord.

From what has been said it is clear that the Most Ancient Church, the Ancient Church and the Christian Church were necessarily temporary. They were never intended by the Divine Creator to be permanent: this because from the beginning it was the purpose of the Divine Providence that the race should grow up. This was just as true of the race as it is of every individual human being. The reason is that by means of physical and mental growth, and the development of man's higher mental faculties, the Lord can impart to him a greater measure of freedom, together with delights and blessings impossible without it.
It is true that the decline of each church was brought about by man's falling into evil, by his yielding to the loves of self and the world, which led at last to his denial of God. But it need not have been so. There is no inherent reason why the race could not have grown up without falling into evil. This is clear from the fact that at the beginning of the Ancient Church men received the Lord's Word with gladness, with innocence and with simplicity. They were introduced into a state of greater freedom and responsibility, yet retained a spirit of love to the Lord and charity. Only later did they fall into evils of various kinds. The same was true of the primitive Christian Church. Those who received the Lord's teaching with gladness entered upon a life of charity and mutual love. Only later did dissension and strife enter to divide them. If there had been no fall, the human race would still have grown up, because this was its appointed destiny, and for this the Lord had provided from the beginning. Indeed, He has provided for it in spite of man's fall. It was with the race even as it is with the individual. Although in advancing from infancy to childhood, and from childhood to youth, there is a steady recession from innocence, yet there is a continual approach toward adulthood and a development of those faculties by which man may, if he will, enjoy freedom and responsibility of rational judgment. Because they are but preparatory to this attainment, infancy, childhood and youth are necessarily temporary, as were the churches that existed during the infancy, childhood and youth of the race. But what of the New Church? What happens when one reaches adult age? He goes on developing to the end of life on earth, and after death he continues to be perfected to eternity; but he does so as an adult.

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He attains to ever greater intelligence and wisdom, but always by a perfection of the rational faculty. There is no higher faculty into which he may enter. There is no such thing as a superman. The most perfect conjunction between man and the Lord is that which is effected by means of the rational faculty.
To say that the race has attained maturity, or that it has come of age, does not mean that all men now living have attained this goal. This is by no means the case. It is only too obvious that a large majority of the inhabitants of this earth are still in a very childlike state. There are primitive races and people that remain in a state of mental development which was characteristic of ancient cultures. The nations that belong to Western civilization, however, include many individuals who have made great strides in the development of the rational faculty. Through the instrumentality of education the number of these has been increasing from generation to generation. But what has been developed is not the spiritual but the natural-rational. The goal of learning has been to unveil the secrets of nature, and to bring the forces of nature under man's control for the improvement of the conditions of human society on earth. Yet by this very process men have made necessary the second coming of the Lord. Only if, on the basis of natural rationality, there can be implanted the seeds of spiritual rationality, can the true worship of God and the true life of religion be saved from total extinction. The time has come, not only when men are capable of becoming spiritually rational, but when unless they do so the church of the Lord on earth will come to an end. Men in our day can become spiritually rational only if they will receive the Lord as He now appears in the Heavenly Doctrine; if they will learn of Him the way of life; if they will search out the laws of spiritual life which He has revealed, and apply those laws intelligently to the solution of the awesome problems which confront the whole modern world.

Because it will be founded upon a rational Divine revelation-a revelation to the rational degree of the human mind-the New Church will not come to an end as former churches did: this because it will have within it the means of its own purification, its own ability to correct and amend its errors, just as the adult has within himself the means of individual judgment, the ability to exercise self-discipline, that from free choice he may perceive and acknowledge his evils and repent of them. This is the outstanding characteristic of adulthood. This is the appearance; but it would be more accurate to say that by means of the Heavenly Doctrine the Lord can be present in a way never before possible to remove evils and falsities from man, if he will but think and will in accord with the truth revealed.

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For the same reason the Lord can be present as never before to break up the imaginary heavens which are continually being formed in the world of spirits from those who enter that world by death. He can separate the good from the evil by repeated judgments. This was not possible in earlier times; and as a result a judgment had to await an advent of the Lord, the giving of a new revelation and the establishment of a new church. The imaginary heavens therefore continued to be built up, from one advent of the Lord to the next. This is what is represented in the parable of the tares, which had to be allowed to grow together with the wheat until the time of the harvest, lest in rooting up the tares, the wheat also should be destroyed. In order that the spiritual freedom of men might be protected their liberation had to wait until the Lord Himself could prepare them to receive a higher form of Divine revelation.
     The fact that the Heavenly Doctrine is a revelation to the rational mind of man implies that it must, of necessity, be the last in the series of revelations, each of which in the past has been directed to a new state of mental growth, the opening of a new degree of the human mind: first the sensual, which is characteristic of infancy; then the imaginative, which is characteristic of childhood; then the reasoning faculty which is characteristic of youth; and finally, the mature rational which is the distinguishing mark of adult age. There is no higher degree to which a revelation could be addressed.

     The Writings are a revelation of the Lord's glorified Divine Human. They set forth the perfect union of the Divine and the Human in one person. There is no more perfect revelation of God that human beings are capable of receiving. This revelation brings the Lord present to men, that He may be seen and known and worshiped in His own infinite qualities of love and wisdom. And it opens to man's understanding the laws of the Divine operation in the universe that man, in some measure, may understand these laws, and can co-operate with them freely, gladly on his own initiative, and thus be blessed with the joy of accomplishment, the delight of use, to a degree not possible before. Since the Lord is present in this way there is no need for Him to come again. His kingdom, both in heaven and on earth, can be eternal because it can be perpetually renewed.
     That the establishment of such an eternal kingdom was the ultimate goal of the Divine Providence is clear from the Sacred Scripture. It was foretold in Daniel that there would be a perpetual kingdom of the Lord among men.

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In interpreting the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel wrote: "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and shall stand forever."* He wrote later: "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like [unto] the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."**
     * Daniel 2: 44.
     ** Daniel 7: 13, 14.
     That this would come to pass as a result of the Lord's second coming is evident from the prophecy of John in the Apocalypse, where we read: "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever."* Referring to the holy city, New Jerusalem, by which the New Church is meant, it is written: "There shall be no night there; and they need no lamp, neither [the] light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever."**
     * Revelation 11: 15.
     ** Revelation 22: 5.
     Because the New Church is to fulfill these prophecies, it is evident why it has been called the "crown of all the churches which have hitherto existed on the earth."
MISERY IS NOT NECESSARY! 1972

MISERY IS NOT NECESSARY! 1972

"One of those spirits said that during his life in the body he supposed that those who professed piety were not to be pitied if they were afflicted with adversities, for the reason that they were of such a nature as to delight in misfortunes, miseries and adversities. Thus he supposed that it was necessary for a Christian to suffer such things. It was given me to tell him, however, that this is not so, but that they who are truly Christian can live as well as others without misery, they can eat and drink well, but not indulge in luxury, they can be dressed like others, and in like manner enjoy the pleasures of society, and also they can be honored and wealthy. But all these things are corporeal and worldly and they esteem them as nothing compared with heavenly things, wherefore when persecution threatens they esteem all these things as nothing" (Spiritual Diary 1286, 1287).

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PROVIDENCE AND CONTEMPORARY LIFE 1972

PROVIDENCE AND CONTEMPORARY LIFE Rev. ALFRED ACTON 1972

     (Delivered to the 55th British Assembly, July 24, 1971.)

     The subject before us this morning is Divine Providence and contemporary life. It is a vast subject, the scope of which is amply illustrated by the questions which arise when we consider the ruling of Providence and its force in the complicated world in which we live.
     For example: If Providence dictates that man is free to act in accordance with his reason, why are some men born with no reason? Why does insanity arise after birth? Why also has God allowed men to provide artificial methods of removing sanity? Why drug abuse? Why alcoholism? Why brainwashing? Wherein is freedom in such insanity? Further if God is order itself and the Creator of all things, how is it possible that Providence has within it disorder? Why disease? Why tragic death? Why evil in all its forms, including sham goods that use the name of mercy to mock order, such as pacifism at any price, civil disobedience, and the general philosophy which justifies evil means for the sake of a "good" end?
     Again, if we are to follow in the stream of Providence, how are we to use our prudence in relating to our world? Are we to plant seed in the spring, prudently expecting the harvest of the fall? Should we, perhaps, wait for God to provide good? Or are we to invest in life insurance and the stock market, acts which again call upon prudence in planning for future happiness? Or are we to use still more "advanced" aspects of scientific investigation such as the biological wonders of organ transplant and birth control in the prudent desire to protect against the future? Again, if it is a law of Providence that only self-compulsion will avail man spiritually what are we as parents to do in terms of compelling or disciplining our children?, or, what are we to do in our penal system if we recognize that imposed compulsion has no eternal value? What of capital punishment viewed in this light? Again, as we view the laws of Providence we learn that God will not use miracles, which are external, to compel men to belief; indeed, the teaching is that no external means to compelled belief are permitted, yet it is added that perhaps a sign will be given in confirmation of the New Word. Is not the fall of the Christian Church around us a most profound sign of the truth of this new revelation? Will this fall convince or rather compel belief?

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Or, what if life is scientifically demonstrated on other planets, will this fact compel belief? Is such a discovery the sign Swedenborg hints at? What are the implications to the secret leading of Providence in both these areas? Or again, turning inward, how can we evaluate the leading of Providence? How can God give us freedom, and at the same time know all our future acts? What kind of "knowing" can such a paradox describe? What is meant when we read that Providence predestines all men to heaven?

     The scope of Providence as it applies to our daily life is indeed vast! But before we can possibly discuss any of these topics we must know what Divine Providence is; how human prudence relates to it; and something of the four faces of Providence, that is, of things of the Lord's will, things of His good pleasure, things of His leave, and things of His permission. It is to these three general areas that I will address myself, leaving application to the particulars outlined in the above questions for your own reflection.

     First, what is Divine Providence?
     We recognize that God is infinite, limitless, unchanging, eternal, and everlasting. Yet the magnitude of such words can cause bewilderment rather than awe, doubt instead of devotion. God in His infinite majesty may become invisible, unknowable, inconceivable. We may well fail to see His Divine Humanity as we pause to ponder His immensity. How can man love that which is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present? Truly, unless we realize that God is uniquely present with each and every one of us; that He is guiding all the threads of our lives, providing for us the possibility of free reciprocation of His inflowing love; unless we realize that He does, in fact, love each of us as individuals and that He cares particularly for our spiritual happiness; unless we behold Him in His merciful leading; we can never love Him, we can never see Him, we can never enjoy the warmth of His omniscient care. We read: "One who does not acknowledge the Divine Providence at all does not in his heart acknowledge God, but acknowledges nature in place of God, and human prudence in place of Divine Providence."*
     * DP 235.
     What, then, is the Divine Providence? What is the right hand of God that shall lead us whithersoever we travel? What is it that will guide us even through the valley of the shadow of death, and will call us from the depths of spiritual despair imposed by the devils of the lowest hells?
     In the New Word many different answers to this question are offered, for Providence presents itself in many faces, but the most general of all definitions of Providence is simply that Divine Providence is the Lord God Jesus Christ.

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We read:

     "It may be said . . . that the Lord is Providence, as it is said that God is order, for the Divine Providence is Divine order with primary regard to the salvation of men, and as there is no order possible without laws, for laws are what constitute order and every law derives from order that it is order, it follows that as God is order so is He the law of His order. The same is to be said of the Divine Providence, that as the Lord is His Providence He is also the law of His Providence. From this it is evident that the Lord cannot act contrary to the laws of His Providence, for to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to Himself."*
     * DP 331.

     The Divine Providence is also described in terms of its end and operation. Since creation is for the end that man might dwell in the happiness of heaven, Divine Providence is the operation and progress of this end per media, or by means of means, which means are both the workings of nature and the free acts of mortals.*
     * Cf. DP 331.
     Still further definitions of the Divine Providence are offered: "The Divine Providence is the disposal of all things [which include the free violent acts of men] for good.* Again: The Divine Providence is the conjunction of temporal things and eternal things in man. So it is that "by means of His Divine Providence the Lord conjoins Himself with natural things by means of spiritual things, and with temporal things by means of eternal things, according to uses."** And again: The Divine Providence "is the Divine operation in man that takes away the love of self"; that is, the operation of God in removing evils from man. We read:
     * AC 10452e.
          * DP 220.

     "When [the love of self] has been taken away the Lord enters with affections of love of the neighbor, and opens the roof-window, and then the side-windows, and enables man to see that there is a heaven, a life after death, and eternal happiness; and by means of the spiritual light together with the spiritual love then flowing in He enables man to acknowledge that God governs all things by His Divine Providence."*
     * DP 207.

     The Divine Providence is that which provides the constant whereby human freedom is possible. Without this constant, chaos would result. We can see the need for orderly natural laws to make life on earth possible. The constant operation of nature-the regular rising and setting of the sun, the normal course of the seasons-makes possible the planting of crops and the production of food. If we could not count on summer following spring we could not be free naturally. Similarly, God's spiritual laws, which are the laws of Providence, provide the necessary constant for our spiritual freedom, and, since the first of these laws is that man must be spiritually free to act as his reason dictates, the heartache and anguish of evil and disease become somewhat understandable.

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Yet since Providence seeks to dispose all such calamity toward good, and in fact will not permit that which cannot be so disposed, we can understand what is meant by the stream of Providence, the force which seeks such disposition, and so can seek to place ourselves in this stream by avoiding that which is contrary to Divine order. We read:

     "Be it known that the Divine Providence is universal, that is, in things the most minute; and that they who are in the stream of Providence are all the time carried along toward everything that is happy, whatever may be the appearance of the means; and that those are in the stream of Providence who put their trust in the Divine and attribute all things to Him; and that those are not in the stream of Providence who trust in themselves alone and attribute all things to themselves . . . ." Those who trust in the Divine, notwithstanding that "they have care for the morrow, still have it not, because they do not think of the morrow with solicitude, still less with anxiety. Unruffled is their spirit whether they obtain the objects of their desire, or not, and they do not grieve over the loss of them, being content with their lot."*
     * AC 8478: 4, 3.

     We can come to know of the Divine Providence by seeing the things to which it looks-that is, by knowing the ends of Providence. These ends are all eternal. They all look to our spiritual well-being. "For with the Lord things following and future are together in the present, because everything which the Lord ordains, that is, provides with man and angel, is eternal."* The chief end of the Divine Providence is "that man should be in good and also in truth." It is for this goal that all Providence works: "for thereby man is his own good and his own love, and also his own truth and his own wisdom; for thereby man is man, since he is then an image of the Lord."** It is important that we realize that this chief end of Providence is something of the present-some thing of life here on earth. Providence is fulfilled with each man who accepts the life of good. We should never think of Providence as something caring for the future. It enters into every minute of our lives. It is both present and personal.
     * AC 9787.
     ** DP 16.
     From this chief end follows a second, namely, that there should be a heaven from the human race, since heaven is the state of good and truth conjoined in man.* There are also subordinate ends following from this end. We read:
     * DP 27.

     "As the end of the Lord's Divine Providence is a heaven from the human race, it follows that its end is the conjunction of the human race with Himself; also that its end is for man to be more and more nearly conjoined with Him, for thus man possesses heaven more interiorly; also that its end is for man by that conjunction to become wiser; also to become happier, because it is from wisdom and according to it that man has heaven, and by means of it also has happiness; and finally, that its end is for man to appear to himself more distinctly to be his own, and yet to recognize more clearly that he is the Lord's."*
     * DP 45

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     Also listed as a subordinate end of the Divine Providence is the desire that man may come into the bliss of love truly conjugial since this love makes heaven in man.*
     * Cf. CL 316, 229.
     All these ends of Providence can be summed up in that which is the inmost of the Divine Providence, which is looking to what is infinite and eternal in the formation of the angelic heaven, that it may be before the Lord as one man which is an image of Himself.*
     * Cf. DP 64.
     But lest we think of the Divine Providence as something passive, that is, as something changeless which merely reacts to the quirks of human prudence, let us note the many teachings which show that Providence is a very active thing. Indeed the Divine Providence is the operation of God-His Divine activity-His Holy Spirit. We read: "Everything that God does can be expressed by no other word than Providence."* Providence is the Divine proceeding since "everything the Lord provides proceeds from Him."** More specifically, this proceeding is the proceeding of truth Divine from the Divine good."*** So the Divine Providence is the infinite going forth, that is "the Lord in others created from Himself, thus in men and angels."**** Such proceeding and operation is, in fact, the Holy Spirit in man, yet because it is Divine truth in operation Providence is also the Son of God or the Word, which in turn is full of His essence, Divine love, or the Father. So Divine Providence is God in all aspects, God who by His Providence guides and cares for all His creation.
     * AC 5504. Cf. AC 5264, 4101.
     ** AC 4091.
     *** Cf. AC 8813: 3.
     **** DP 55.
     The Divine Providence, then, is the presence of God with man; and even as truth repels falsity, and good rejects evil, so does the Divine presence ever protect man from anguish and suffering. Providence is Divine protection, which in turn is the government of God.
     What are the means of Providence? Or rather, how does Providence relate to prudence? We are taught that "Divine Providence is the Divine operation in man that takes away the love of self."* Since the first of Providence is human freedom it is impossible for the Divine to operate apart from means. If the Divine operated directly upon the lives of men, men would become aware of its operation, and so would realize that they were in no way free. They would realize that the things of their puny prudence were all carefully controlled by God who turns even their worst acts towards His Divine ends.

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Such realization would be far more than mere intellectual or emotional recognition of a fact. It would completely stifle freedom-men, knowing they were as automatons in God's hands, would lose their very lives. For this reason it is a law of the Divine Providence that God shall operate on men, even in the least particulars of their lives, only by means which enable men to consider themselves free. For this consideration by men is the essence of their freedom.
     * DP 207.

     Now there are but two means whereby Providence may operate. These are: men and nature. We call the operation of Providence in nature, chance, or, fortune, while we call the operation of Providence in men, prudence. It is essential that we realize that both chance and prudence are the means whereby Providence can operate. It is essential that we recognize that both these means can be perverted. Disease, we are taught, is the result of evil, that is, its cause is found in the spiritual world and there in hell. Yet we call the question of who catches a disease a matter of chance. We know from revelation that the spiritual is the cause of all natural things which in their turn are called effects. To put it another way, the spiritual world is a world of causes while the natural world is a world of effects. When men from freedom chose to do evil their choice was necessarily eternal. It would not have been a truly free choice if this were not the case. So it happened that men by their free choice of selfishness turned themselves into evil rather than good causes. Hell was established. In process of time these evil causes in the spiritual world brought about a perversion of forms in the natural world-germs became disease germs. Nature became perverted. So it is that nature today can cause misfortunes as well as fortunate occurrences, but still the operations of the things of nature are essentially of Providence. The Lord will not allow the perverted forms of nature to thwart His Providence. He may indeed allow disease to strike the innocent, but He will never allow such disease to destroy the spiritual freedom of such innocent sufferers. As we learn from His Word, the Lord purposely allows His rain to fall on the just and the unjust, and the reason for this fact is that otherwise spiritual freedom would be destroyed. So also with disease, it strikes the good and the evil, apparently according to mere chance, yet chance is the means of Providence, a means which disguises Providence for the sake of human freedom.
     The case is similar with prudence as it is with chance. Prudence originally enhanced the workings of Providence. We learn of a prudence from God-prudence which seeks to bring about the Divine ends of creation-prudence which works with Providence as a faithful servant fulfilling its master's wishes.

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We learn of this prudence existing in the highest of the heavens where wives prudently avoid disclosing to their husbands certain knowledges which they have in order to preserve conjugial love with them. Such prudence, although it involves secrecy, which also implies some simulation or at least private thought as well as thought not just for the morrow, but for eternal happiness, will not be detrimental to the workings of Providence. But hear these teachings from the Word itself as to what prudence is: "Unless man, as if from his own prudence, directs all things belonging to his employment and life, he cannot be led and directed by the Divine Providence; for he would be like one standing with relaxed hands, opened mouth, closed eyes, and breath indrawn, awaiting influx . . . ." Again: "If, therefore, you wish to be led by the Divine Providence use prudence as a servant and minister who faithfully dispenses the goods of his master. . . ." And again: "Prudence itself appears to man to be his own; and he believes it to be his own as long as -he keeps shut up within him the deadliest enemy of God and of Divine Providence the love of self . . . . This is the prudence with which the Divine Providence acts as one."* From these teachings the real truth is clear: "The Divine Providence is in the minutest particulars of human prudence, and it is from these that it is universal."**
     * All above quotes from DP 210.
     ** DP 201.

     We have acknowledged that prudence can be perverted. But what is it that perverts prudence? How are we to judge whether our own prudent acts, as for example in the realm of planting seed, investing for the future, and birth control, are perverted or in concert with Providence? The answer to these questions is simple, though its application to our own motives may well prove perplexing. The loves of self and the world pervert. According to Divine order love to the Lord should be supreme, next below it should be love to the neighbor, and below these should come love of the world and love of self. When this order of love exists man is angelic. All his loves find proper expression. He is completely happy. Since love of self is lowest in his heart he cares for self solely to the extent that it enables him to do good. He will eat and find raiment, but this will not be first in his thought. He will do this solely to avoid becoming an object of charity, and so unable to perform the works of charity. Likewise he will exercise prudence in performing the works of charity lest he inadvertently aid the wicked and so do evil, and also lest he destroy his ability to continue in his works of charity by squandering the means available to him for his acts. Such a man will love riches and eminence-but solely for the good he is able to do thereby. Again, his prudence will protect his position lest his ability to do good be destroyed.

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Further, such a man will do good to the neighbor in all its degrees, that is, his society, his country, the human race, his church, and the angelic heavens, because he knows that such good acts are pleasing to the Lord whom he loves above all else.
     In such a man prudence is indeed a blessing. For prudence in him is the working of Providence. His labors are the Lord's labors. His cares in protecting others are the Lord's cares. He delights in the knowledge that the Lord can use him to bring good into the world.
     Now, what of the workings of Providence? We have seen that Providence governs every least particular of our lives. In His mercy the Lord ever leads all men toward Him and the blessedness of eternal happiness. We read:

     "The operation of the Divine Providence for the salvation of man is said to begin at his birth and to continue unto the end of his life. To understand this it must be known that the Lord sees what man is, and foresees what he wills to be, thus what he will be; and that he may be a man and therefore immortal, the freedom of his will must not be taken away, as has been frequently shown before. Consequently the Lord foresees man's state after death, and provides for it from his birth until the end of his life. With the evil the Lord provides by permitting evils and continually withdrawing them from evils; while with the good He provides by leading to good. Thus the Divine Providence is unceasingly in the work of saving men. But no more can be saved than are willing to be saved, and those are unwilling who do not acknowledge God and who lead themselves; for such do not think about eternal life or about salvation, while others do. This the Lord sees and still He leads them, and leads them in accordance with the laws of His Divine Providence, contrary to which laws He cannot act, since to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to His Divine love and contrary to His Divine wisdom, which is to act contrary to Himself."*
          *DP 333

     Yet although the Lord ever acts according to His laws of order, still because the primary of those laws is to preserve man's spiritual freedom, the Lord's laws of order include the permission of things which He does not directly will for mankind, but permits because of His all encompassing love for mankind. Also between these two extremes of permission and provision the Lord's Providence acts in an intermediate realm. This realm includes things which are of the Lord's good pleasure and of His leave. Therefore we find a fourfold series when we study the workings of Divine Providence ' namely, the series of provision or things of the Lord's will and good pleasure, and the series of permission or things of the Lord's leave and permission. This fourfold series must ever be kept in mind when we consider the subject of Providence, else we will immediately become confused and tend to blame God for things which in reality mankind in its freedom has brought upon itself.

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     We can illustrate this fourfold series by the four basic loves which seek control of a man's life. These loves are love to the Lord, love towards the neighbor, love of the world and love of self. Note from the prepositions expressing these loves that the first two are outgoing and unselfish, love to (In the Latin to is in with the acc., or into. Cf. HD 59.) and love towards, while the second two are subjective and selfish love of self and love of the world. So the first two are opposed to the second two. Love to the Lord and love of self are diametrically opposite. The Lord wills that all men should love Him, not for any selfish reason, but because He knows from His infinite wisdom that men can find their greatest freedom and happiness as they enter into the full expression of the life or love which they receive from Him, that is, as they return the inflowing love from the Lord to the Lord. In this state complete happiness prevails, for in this state genuine love rules, and as we know, love is the very life of man.* Love of self, on the other hand, is in effect the complete denial of the return of Divine love. In this love man thinks himself to be the sole arbiter of his fate, and the sole source of the life and love which he feels as his own. From such insanity man can have naught but frustration. He will never share in the delights of love, but instead will burn with his own self-love in the never satisfied, ever searing, fire of hell. The Lord obviously does not will for man to make such a love master, for He can see the pitiful consequences of such love. Yet, because man could not freely return love to Him unless the possibility existed for man to deny that return, the Lord in His infinite wisdom has permitted men individually to select self instead of sanity. He has permitted the possibility for man in freedom to pervert order itself and in so doing to bring evil into existence. But let us quickly add that the Lord will never permit man to mar the over-all ends of His Providence. He will permit one man to seduce himself into hell, and the consequences of such seduction will be eternal, affecting all other men in some measure; but He will not permit one man to destroy the soul of another. Man cannot commit spiritual murder. The purpose in creation is a heaven from the human race. No man may thwart the fulfillment and perfection of this end, though, of course, by both heredity and environment one man may well affect the nature of the heaven another may freely choose.
     * Cf. DLW 1.
     Now as we have observed, between these two poles of love to the Lord and love of self there are two intermediate loves, love towards the neighbor and love of the world. Neither of these loves is as extreme as the first two. Love towards the neighbor is, however, an outpouring of love, and so brings delight to man; while love of the world is an inversion of love upon oneself, and so brings unhappiness.

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The Lord, if He sees that man in freedom cannot come into the most delightful state of love to Him, in His good pleasure desires that man should at least enter into the delights of love towards the neighbor. Also the Lord, if He sees that man would rush into the insanity of self love, seeks by His leave to turn him from this most wretched state towards the lesser evil of love of the world.
     But let us remember that there is a wide gulf between love towards the neighbor and love of the world: a gulf as wide as that between heaven and hell, between happiness and unhappiness, between selflessness and selfishness. So also there is a wide gulf between things which are of the Lord's good pleasure and things which are of the Lord's leave.

     This fourfold series of will, good pleasure, leave and permission will apply to every least particular of our lives. For this fourfold series involves all of Providence, and Providence is all prevailing.
     For example, if we consider the time of man's departure into the other world we will see this series illustrated. Accordingly our attitude to death will differ with which of these aspects of Providence holds sway. For example, tragic death in infancy or childhood is not of the Lord's will, at least in relation to earthly circumstances, though considering the circumstances that would prevail if such tragedy did not occur it may well be the best alternative available to Providence. Such tragedy comes because of the existence of evil in the world. Because of this fact we would rightfully sorrow in the knowledge that mankind through accepting evil has brought about such tragedy. But because we know that the Lord will not allow man to thwart His Providence by destroying the soul of another, we can also find comfort in such infant tragedies. We know that the Lord would not allow an infant who, had he lived, would in freedom have chosen evil, to be deprived of the freedom to make this choice. So we may conclude that the Lord will only allow such tragedy to befall those who can be brought up in heaven and there make their choice for good, eventually entering into the bliss of life, the joy of heaven.
     Ideally the Lord wills for all men to be born upon earth, to mature there, forming a mind which will receive His inflowing love, then perfecting this love and at length having attained true wisdom, to pass from this earthly human life peacefully without pain or disease into the delights of angelic life. So when we see a man in old age pass peacefully into the other world we should delight in what at least appears to be the fulfillment of the Lord's will. Of course we will not judge the departed spiritually, but we will acknowledge that his passing was in accord with Divine order.
     We have a two-fold consideration at the time of death.

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One concerning the state of the individual who is departed from us, and the other concerning the workings of Divine Providence in earthly affairs. The first consideration is obviously the most important. For this is an eternal consideration. But the second should give us pause to reflect. It should not be ignored, and if death is not fully in accord with the Lord's will that second consideration should stimulate us with just sorrow at man's embrace of evil-causing us, at least, to do our own small part in rectifying this terrible embrace, by shunning evils as sins against God.
There are many individual cases which we could consider in the light of the fourfold progression of will, good pleasure, leave, and permission. But since our purpose has been to outline the generals of the doctrine so that application to particulars is possible, and since these generals have been outlined, I shall leave such individual cases for your reflection and discussion.
REDEMPTION AND THE PASSION 1972

REDEMPTION AND THE PASSION 1972

"The Passion of the cross was not redemption, but the last temptation which the Lord endured as the supreme Prophet; and it was the means of the glorification of His Human, that is, of union with the Divine of the Father. These two things, redemption and the passion of the cross, must be considered as distinct; otherwise the human mind is like a ship which strikes upon quicksands or rocks and is lost with pilot, captain and crew; that is, it falls into error in all things which relate to salvation by the Lord. For without an idea of these two things as distinct from each other a man is, as it were, in a dream, seeing imaginary things which he believes to be real, but which nevertheless are only absurd; or he is like one walking by night who takes hold of the leaves of some tree, supposing them to be the hairs of a man, and who, coming nearer, entangles his own hair in the branches. Although redemption and the passion of the cross are two distinct things, yet they make one with respect to salvation; since the Lord, by union with His Father, which was completed by the passion of the cross, became the Redeemer to eternity." (True Christian Religion 126-127)

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EMANUEL SWEDENBORG AND THE HOLINESS OF MARRIAGE 1972

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG AND THE HOLINESS OF MARRIAGE Rev. KURT P. NEMITZ 1972

     A European's Contribution to the Progress of Morality

     (An address to the International Congress of the Union International d'Action Morale et Sociale in Bonn, West Germany, November 2, 1971.)

     Because truth has power with men, we have every reason to hope. Man's future is not inevitably determined by his past, but is always open to modification and improvement. For man is neither a machine nor an animal. Man and his society are living, human organisms; and one of the distinguishing characteristics of the human being is that he has an inborn affection for truth, that is to say, man from birth is inclined to love the truth and thus be affected and moved by it. This characteristic, among others, sets him apart from the animals, which are unknowingly servants of their instinctual appetites and whose nature cannot basically be changed one whit by rational instruction. Because of his inborn affection for truth, man, not the animal, has acquired learning and developed science. But most important, because truth has power with man, he can be, and has been, led by it from a lower state or condition to a higher one, from a merely natural and carnal life to a more spiritual one, indeed, from what is evil to what is good.
     The history of the human race is rich with examples that clearly demonstrate the power which truth has to effect an improvement in man's thinking and behavior and to transform even his society. A most striking and significant case in point is the change in the life of the, individual and in the very structure of society in virtually every nation of the world that was effected by the truth in the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ concerning marriage. When the Lord was born in Bethlehem of Judea,' monogamy was not in that land, or in most other parts of the world, a principle or a practice. It would seem that in those days marriages were chiefly practical arrangements made to suit the economic needs and the physical desires of the male. The lot of the wife, or wives, and children in a marriage was not therefore what it should be. The wife was a possession, indeed, often almost a sort of slave to her husband, not a partner who was to be loved and respected. She could, what is more, be dispensed with at the whim of the husband.

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To such an age, when men could ask, "Is it not lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?," Jesus said: "Have you not read that He who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and the two shall become one'? What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."*
     * Matthew 19: 6.
     As this new statement of an ancient but long-forgotten Divine truth was carried by Christ's disciples westward and up into Europe and received by men and women there, it reformed society. Monogamous marriage was established as the basic element of society, as an institution so sacred and valuable that all that opposed and damaged it was condemned and sometimes even punished. The contribution to the status of marriage, and thus of woman and the family, that Europe has made to the world is clearly the result of man's free response to the moving power of truth in the Lord's teachings about the origin and nature of marriage. This truth has affected even those who do not acknowledge the Divinity of Him who uttered it. There is today scarcely a non-Christian person or land in the civilized world that has not come to see that from both moral and social viewpoints monogamy is preferable to polygamy. Such is the power of truth to modify and improve the life of man and his society!
     But now, in our culture, this concept of marriage as a Divinely established and prescribed institution is in a crisis, and the moral and civil restraints that seek to protect marriage are being relaxed and even repealed. In many countries the divorce rate is almost twenty-five percent, adultery is frequently no longer condemned by law, pornography has been legalized in Denmark and Sweden and is about to be fully legalized in Germany and possibly yet other Western nations. The concept of marriage has at the present day degenerated so far in Sweden that the Ministry of justice has even recently deemed it acceptable to propose that civil marriage as it has been traditionally practiced and administered in the Christian world be abolished in Sweden.
     This degeneration of marriage and increase-and growing acceptance of -perversions, such as pornography, whoredom, abortion and other evil practices, is, needless to say, of great concern to every man and woman who cherishes a love for the welfare and happiness of mankind. For there can be no doubt that the aforementioned evils ultimately bring injury and misery to the human spirit.

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     We may ask ourselves: What has happened to this ideal of marriage? Why is what was once clearly seen to be perverse, to be evil to the welfare of both the individual and society, now become accepted and condoned by many? Has truth changed, or lost its power?
     The answer to both of these questions is a definite, No! If there is such a thing as truth-and indeed there must be, if life is to have any meaning and purpose whatever-then it can never change, but must always and forever remain the same. For truth is the form of good, the form in which and through which the power of good is active in creation; and there is, as is written, "none good, save one, that is, God."* Because God is infinite and eternal so also is His truth changeless and timeless. So also is the power of truth unceasing, for the Divine good or love which it embodies is forever infinitely capable of re-creating those who will let themselves be affected by it.
     * Luke 18: 19.
     (We have here, needless to say, entered into the realm of theology. But if moral issues are not ultimately related to that which is absolute, to that eternal standard of authority which is the Divine, can they ever be more than mere matters of personal opinion and inclination?)

     Truth's seeming loss of power with man in the case at hand is, we would suggest, the result of two causes. The first is that materialistic man, generally speaking, has more and more denied the existence of God, who is that transcendent and spiritual Divine good from which truth derives its authority and power. This, however, is a theological question which it is not the purpose of this paper to discuss. The second cause is that due to the developments in man's manner of thinking and in his language the traditional statements of truth regarding marriage and the sexual relationship no longer reach and affect him as they did when they were first made. Let us illustrate what we mean by this. When we are children the simple but authoritative commands and rules for right behavior our parents lay down are adequate. It is enough for us then that those whom we love and respect have said so. But as we grow older and our rational faculty develops, we are no longer satisfied by such simple statements of truth. We want to see and understand for ourselves why it is true and right that we should behave in such and such a way. It was, for example, just as true when we became sixteen as when we were six that we should not steal; but when we became sixteen it was often no longer enough simply to say to us that stealing was wrong; that principle then had to be presented to us in terms that explained for us why we should not steal.

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     Just as the individual matures and develops, so also does mankind. It is scarcely necessary to point out that the nature of thinking in the twentieth century is different from what it was two thousand years ago. With the seventeenth century the Age of Reason dawned for mankind. Science leaped forward-and the church, alas, sometimes faltered-as men and women in Europe and across the Atlantic were filled with a new spirit of inquiry after rational explanations about all things on earth, and even in heaven. We find ourselves yet today in this age which is characterized by the predominance of reason. The man of today demands to know why he should think and act in a particular way. And although he may sometimes be moved temporarily by a merely emotional appeal, he cannot in the long run be won over to a particular idea or course of action unless he can be rationally convinced that it is right. This development is chiefly a European contribution to the freedom of mankind. But it has been a mixed blessing.
     The demand for convincing rational explanations, or rather the general deficiency of such explanations, is very probably one of the chief factors contributing to the moral malaise with which our culture is now plagued, especially in matters of sexual morality. Modern men, especially those of the younger generation, have difficulty in seeing why there should be restrictions on the satisfaction of sexual desire, why pornography, premarital intercourse, adultery, group marriage, and other matters are evil and undesirable. Evil always comes to man as a wolf in sheep's clothing: if evil did not seem harmless and pleasing, man would never open the door of his heart to it. So the man of today is frequently heard to ask: "What can ever be wrong with something that feels so good as the satisfaction of sexual desire? Why should something that can be so intensely pleasant not be freely permitted?" And he sometimes righteously adds: "If it is indulged in voluntarily."
     Those who are concerned for the social, moral and spiritual welfare of man and society are not unaware of the necessity and importance of clearly showing why pornography and other related perversions are damaging to the individual and the nation. (This is, in fact, one of the prime purposes of this very conference.) Powerful factual arguments against, for example, the distribution of pornography, have been put forth from many viewpoints. Physicians and psychiatrists have presented clinical proofs of the injury worked on the human system by pornography. Social workers have explained the undesirable behavioral consequences of pornography, especially on the young; and law officers have given statistical evidence to civil problems caused, at least in part, by pornography.

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     Such arguments are immensely valuable and those who make the effort to gather and present them deserve our, and society's, heartfelt gratitude and encouragement. Yet, if we are to judge from the results to date in the effort to stop the legalization of pornography and other sexual disorders, such arguments are not in themselves enough; there is still something lacking. Have we not seen that, all too often, the evidence against pornography has been explained away, or disregarded? This is indeed discouraging. We should realize, however, that as long as the argument against pornography is concerned with the temporal aspects of the issue alone, there are many who will be unmoved. For on the temporal or merely natural plane of existence it is indeed true that all things are relative, and that there is no "right" or "wrong." Consider, for example, sexual intercourse. Regarded exclusively as a biological phenomenon, there is no difference between the sexual act between husband and wife and between a husband and another woman. It is when non-temporal factors, i.e., spiritual values, are considered that the adulterous act is first seen to be damaging and evil. Does not this principle have application to almost all other sexual perversions and even to moral issues in general? When a particular rule or law for human action is considered from the spiritual values or factors involved, then it is seen in relation to the eternal good itself, from which all truth originally derives its power over the mind and life of man. Thus it is that a wise lawgiver has observed that "true justice must be based upon the acknowledgment of God." The Lord's moral teaching regarding marriage to which we have explicitly referred was derived from God, and it is an historical fact that it had power with man as long as it was acknowledged and believed to be God's command.

     The thesis to which we have been leading is, therefore, that until more of the people of this and other nations of the earth can see and understand the spiritual, yes, the eternal values, that are involved in and affected by pornography and related perversions, all our efforts to oppose such immorality can, at best, probably be only partially successful. Present day man needs to be shown that such things are evil because they oppose the very order and meaning inscribed upon creation and human life by the infinite God from whom all that is finite derives its existence. If man can be led to understand the problem in this way, we do not mean that he will automatically become opposed to pornography, etc., for the truth never takes away man's freedom to reject its influence; but we are certain that with time many who heretofore have been indifferent to other arguments will in this way be reached and affected positively by the truth.
     This should not be taken to imply that no progress has been made in this direction.

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Not a few conscientious and diligent scholars have prayerfully devoted themselves to consideration of the spiritual aspects of the problem at hand. Of these, one of the most significant will be seen to be the man, philosopher-theologian, Emanuel Swedenborg. The rationale of marriage and sex in his writings constitutes one of Europe's major contributions to the progress of morality, and freedom.
     Emanuel Swedenborg, who was born in Sweden in the year 1688 and died in 1772, was a polymath, one of those remarkable geniuses whose knowledge embraces almost every science of his day. The Encyclopedia Britannica calls him the "Leonardo da Vinci of the North"; but he is best known for his theological works, commonly called the Writings, and we shall refer to them by this term in what follows. Among some of the thinkers who have been in some degree affected by the ideas in these Writings might be mentioned Kant, Goethe, Balzac, Emerson, Carlyle, the Brownings and Karl Jung.

     The Writings present an all-embracing but tightly structured account of the nature of the Divine, heaven, hell and the spirit and life of man. Our special interest at this time, however, is in the concepts of the masculine and the feminine, marriage and sex presented in their pages, primarily in the work entitled Conjugial Love. We are convinced that they provide the rational explanation modern man needs in order to see why pornography is evil and should be prohibited. But let each one make his own evaluation of the validity and import of this new doctrine of true marriage love which Swedenborg has termed, conjugial love.
     Concerning true marriage and that heavenly love which is its soul Swedenborg writes: "The conjugial of one man with one wife is the precious jewel of human life."* It is the fundamental of all loves.** Conjugial love is such that the love existing between the partners is so intense that they desire to be one, and each to impart to the other what is his own.*** The conjunction of two minds into one is the spiritual marriage which descends from conjugial love. For when two minds are conjoined so as to be one mind there is love between them, and this love, which is the love of spiritual marriage, when it descends into the body becomes the love of natural marriage.**** The most perfect and the noblest human form is when two forms become one by marriage, thus when the flesh of two becomes one flesh according to creation.***** All delights from their first to their last are gathered into this love, because its use is above all other uses.

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Its use is the propagation of the human race, and thence of the angelic heavens; and because this use was the end of ends of creation, it follows that all the states of blessedness, happiness, delight, pleasantness and pleasure which could ever be conferred on men by the Lord the Creator are gathered into this love.****** Conjugial love considered in its essence is by virtue of its derivation holy, pure and clean above every other love which is from the Lord with angels and men."*******
     * CL. 457.
     ** AC 4280.
     *** SD 4076.
     **** AE 983.
     ***** CL 201.
     ****** CL 68.
     ******* CL 64.
     Is not the concept of such a love and relationship beautiful and appealing? Even a cynical heart has been-heard to respond to it with the wish: "Would that it could be so!" What the heart spontaneously embraces, furthermore, may also satisfy the demands of reason and thus find full acceptance with man if he is but willing to accept the existence of the infinite Creator as postulated in Swedenborg's Writings, and then to follow the logical implications of this postulate.

     Upon the nature of the Infinite depends the nature of all of creation. For creation, which is finite, can have no other cause and origin than the Infinite. So, because there is a marriage of Divine essentials in the infinite God, there is an image of this marriage in all that He has created, and a most perfect one in the human kingdom.
     The Writings teach that the infinite God, from whom all things are, is constituted of two essentials. The first of these is Divine love. For love alone can create. God has created and cares for man because the very nature of the Divine love is to love others outside of itself, to desire to be one with them and to render them blessed. This His Divine love accomplishes through the second essential of His infinite Being, the Divine wisdom. What the good of His infinite love desires, the truth of His infinite wisdom effects.
     Thus love and wisdom in the infinite God are as it were married to one another and constitute an inseparable one, like substance and form, and the infinite God is Divine Man, because such love and wisdom are the essential qualities of humanity. Because the effect cannot but resemble its cause, and creation is an effect, this Divine marriage of love and wisdom, or of good and truth, is to be seen in all things. We find everywhere, for example, the marriage of substance and form, of the active and the passive (or re-active), indeed of the masculine and the feminine.
     What is masculine and what is feminine have their origin, in other words, in the Creator Himself, and are not the mere results of a blind and random evolution. The human male is from creation a soul, or vessel of life, that primarily (but not exclusively) is receptive of wisdom from the Divine. The female is, on the other hand, primarily receptive of love, the love of that good which masculine wisdom envisions.

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Thus Swedenborg writes:

     "The male is born intellectual, the female volitional. . . . The male is born into an affection for knowing, understanding and being wise, and the female into the love of conjoining herself with that affection in the male. Since the interiors form the exteriors to their likeness, and the masculine form is a form of intellect . . . the male has a different face, a different voice, and a different body from the female. The male has a harder face, a harsher voice and a stronger body, and, moreover, a bearded chin, in general, a form less beautiful than the female. They differ also in bearing and manners. In a word, nothing whatever is alike in them, and yet in the least things there is what is conjunctive."*
     * CL 32, 33.

     Such, according to the Writings, is the essential and unalterable difference between men and women. The soul of each sex is primarily receptive of a particular aspect of the Divine life. (Both man and woman possess, nevertheless, the ability to love and become wise, respectively.)
     Therefore-and this is a reality of life that every one of us has no doubt felt and experienced-neither man nor woman in himself or herself is complete alone. Alone, in the unmarried state, man or woman is but half a person. In true marriage, as the intellect of the husband and the will of the wife are united, they become as one human being. This timeless truth is, Swedenborg explains, the inner, spiritual import of the ancient words of Divine wisdom regarding the creation of man and woman in the first chapter of Genesis, where it is written: "God said, Let us make man [the Hebrew here means man, a human being] in our image after our likeness. . . . So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him [i.e., the human being]; male and female created He them." A man and woman whose minds are truly united in marriage constitute the image of God, for then the love and wisdom they receive from Him make a one, in like manner as these are one in God.

     The Writings explain, furthermore, that it is from the inherent longing of love and wisdom to be reunited and become one as they were in the Divine from whom they proceeded, that the inclination to marriage, and thus even sexual desire, has its origin. "The love of the sex," we read, "is the universal of all loves; for it is implanted by creation in the very soul of man, from which is the essence of the whole man, and this for the sake of the propagation of the human race."*
     * CL 46.
     But, the Writings emphasize, the love of the sex and conjugial love are not identical:

     "The love of the sex with man is not the origin of conjugial love but is its first. It is as the external natural [of man] in which the internal spiritual is implanted. . . . Love truly conjugial is with those who desire wisdom, and therefore progress in wisdom more and more.

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The Lord foresees them and provides conjugial love for them. This love begins with them, it is true, from the love of the sex, or rather through that love, but yet it does not originate from that."*
     * CL 98.

     It is a well known principle that the deed is qualified by the intention. Applying this principle to the love of sex and all that pertains to and arises from it, the Writings teach that insofar as a husband and wife are conjoined by conjugial love, that is, by a common love for what is Divinely good and true, for that which concerns each other's eternal welfare and happiness, their sexual life and love is pure, clean, chaste, and, indeed, the fitting and perfect expression of such a heavenly love.
     Such a marriage is described with words of poetic beauty:

     "Conjugial love of one man with one wife is called the precious treasure of human life . . . . In and from this union are the heavenly beatitudes, the spiritual satisfactions, and from these the natural delights, which have been provided from the beginning for all those who are in love truly conjugial. It is the fundamental of all heavenly, spiritual and natural loves. Into this love are brought together all joys and all gladnesses from the first to the last."*
     * CL 457.

     This, in a very brief and far from adequate summary, is the ideal of marriage that is presented in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. Were all mankind to dedicate themselves to this love and attempt to make it a reality in their lives here on earth, society would certainly undergo a transformation, much for the better. For if one can conceive of and believe in this ideal, then it becomes quite clear what is destructive of the state of true marriage, upon which human life is based and from which it primarily derives its happiness.
     True marriages are formed and their happiness arises as one man and one woman devote themselves to each other, as they love and respect each other as "husband" and "wife." Consequently, whatever interferes with or violates such devotion destroys marriage and is evil. Adultery-and all that pertains and contributes to it-is therefore one of the most grievous evils that can be imagined. When a member of the opposite sex is not regarded as a human being, as a person created with the Divine intent of becoming a partner in a true marriage, but is regarded merely as an object for one's own sexual satisfaction, then all that is genuinely human is destroyed in man. The immense suffering and frightful unhappiness that are occasioned by adulteries bear witness to their terrible inhumanity. When the love of the sex is not infilled with and ennobled by the conjugial love of true marriage, it is merely animal, and the man or woman who practices it is often worse than an animal. The literature of pornography testifies vividly to this. Because the evil lust which produces and feeds upon pornography seeks exclusively the pleasure of self, and inmostly regards those of the opposite sex with contempt, pornography very often develops overtly into sadism.

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     Viewed in the light of this doctrine of life's meaning and marriage's purpose, pornography is seen to be not only a social and moral evil, but even a spiritual one, for it is destructive of what is truly human. It is harmful to those who are married, for it awakens adulterous thoughts and feelings in its customers, and it is harmful to those who are not yet married, especially the young.
     It is the young, in truth, who are especially victimized. As the Writings explain and personal experience testifies, the love of the sex, or sexual desire, is inborn with everyone. It is the Divine purpose that by means of this love a higher and truly human marriage love may be implanted, as a seed in fertile ground. But for this to be accomplished the love of the sex must be disciplined and guided. (The Writings imply, moreover, that one of the prime parental concerns in the education of children should be to prepare them to enter into a lasting marriage of a spiritual quality.) Because pornography inflames this inborn love of the sex with lust for sexual contact with another person merely as an object which gives satisfaction, and because it arouses a desire for sexual pleasure with many, pornography violently disturbs the proper development of the love of true marriage. Nor is the damage which pornography can effect merely of a temporary nature. Swedenborg explained two centuries ago, and psychologists have confirmed today, that all that man experiences becomes an ineradicable part of his memory. And although not all of one's experiences may be distinctly recalled they can often have an unconscious but nonetheless powerful effect on an individual's attitude and thinking even many years later. Selfish and unnatural fantasies inspired by pornography in adolescence may thus infest the mind even when a young person has married, disturbing the fulfillment of a wholesome and satisfying relationship.

     With these thoughts in mind one may well ask: What society that understood sex and marriage in this way would want to injure the well-being and happiness of its members of all ages by condoning the publication and distribution of pornography? And, just as the self-evidencing reason of love can see and acknowledge that marriage and the sexual relationship within marriage is beautiful and sacred, and that pornography and other perversions of marriage are therefore ugly and detestable, so also can the same higher reason see that society has the right, yea, the duty, to prevent the publication of such filth. For although society never has the right to dictate what its members privately think and desire, it most certainly does have the right to govern the actions that may arise from an individual's thoughts and desires, and when necessary even to forbid such actions as are harmful to life and the happiness of its members, especially those that are harmful to the young and innocent.

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We feel, consequently, that there is reason to hope. Every person possesses the faculty of reason, and the unchanging truth is now, as ever, present with its power to enlighten the mind and move the heart. Will men and women but make it known, the Almighty, who is the source of all good and truth, will accomplish His work for His mankind.
RECEIVED FOR REVIEW 1972

RECEIVED FOR REVIEW Editor 1972

APOCALYPSE REVEALED. By Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated by Frank F. Coulson. The Swedenborg Society, London, England, 1970. Cloth, 2 volumes, pp. 995. Price L2.50.
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH SUMMER CAMPS Editor 1972

     The Maple Leaf Academy-a New Church camp for young people, 15 years old and older, June 20-30, 1972, somewhere in Ontario, Canada.
     The Laurel Leaf Academy-a New Church camp for people 18 years and older, August 26-September 3, 1972, Laurel Hill Park, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U. S. A.
     Application forms and information regarding each of these are obtainable from Mr. John Rose, 7420 Ben Hur Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15208, U. S. A.

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REVIEW 1972

REVIEW FRANK S. ROSE 1972

     BRYN ATHYN CATHEDRAL: The Building of a Church. Text by E. Bruce Glenn. Color Photography by Michael Pitcairn. Published by the Bryn Athyn Church of the New Jerusalem, 1971. Cloth, pp. 190.

     The Bryn Athyn Cathedral is a house of worship for the New Church, a symbol of its hopes and aspirations, and an attraction to sightseers from all over the world. Visitors attracted to it, members of the General Church in distant lands, and those who worship regularly there will all welcome the publication of this exquisite book about the Cathedral. It is a delightful book, lavishly illustrated with more than a hundred photographs, over half of them in color, and some architectural drawings. Michael Pitcairn's color photographs give some striking and sensitive views of the building, revealing details that might otherwise be missed. A set of photographs of the stained glass is included, complete with an explanation of each one, making this book an important reference work for those who want to study the windows and understand their meaning. And the text gives the history of construction together with a description of the Cathedral that gives insight into the significance of this building that even those long familiar with it will find of great interest. It is a book worthy of its subject.
     In the preface we are reminded that the cathedrals of old were, to a degree, anonymous works of art, involving a number of men skilled in various crafts working together for a single end. As a result, the famous cathedrals of Europe for all their complexity and size are convincing works of art as if the works of one man, when yet so many independent craftsmen gave in their separate ways their own contributions to the variety and complexity of the whole. It is similar with the Bryn Athyn Cathedral. We come to understand from this book how much was done to recreate the spirit of the medieval guilds and to inspire the individual workmen to do original and artistic work without detracting from the unity and integrity of the building as a whole. Foremost among the men responsible for this, and responsible also for the over-all vision and direction of the work, was Mr. Raymond Pitcairn.
     Here, then, we have the story of the building of a Church, told with conviction and grace, a story of "high purpose and long perseverance, and of the joyous beauty that is their result" (page 14).

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     It is a pleasure to see how well the author introduces the reader to the doctrines of the New Church. There is very good reason for people to see the Cathedral in relation to the Church whose worship it serves. The doctrines are explained with dignity and taste, so the reader may understand what the Church is all about without feeling pressured or being preached to in the process. If he wants to learn more there is enough to direct his thought and arouse his interest. He may find himself a little baffled by the doctrinal explanations of the stained glass windows, but since the explanation is obviously for the sake of reference and not propaganda, he will take from the explanation as much or as little as his interest demands.
     The text of the book is mainly a story, tracing the building's development from its original conception to its present state, and drawing attention to the features of construction and design that are so important to its success. Some readers will remember the sheds that used to cluster around it, and will be interested to learn more about some of the challenges and triumphs of design and craftsmanship that took place in them in stone, timber, metal-work and stained glass. Those who know the community of Bryn Athyn will come to appreciate how much its development was affected by the work 'going on at the top of that hill. All will appreciate being able to read the words of the dedication service, and to learn of the growth of the building since that time.

     What a remarkable building! It may strike a person first of all because it seems to have been translated in time and space. Yet it is much more than a 20th century Gothic building in the New World. If placed in Europe and constructed in the time of the great cathedrals, it would still be counted as a little gem, small enough to fit on the chancels of the larger cathedrals, but having qualities of workmanship and beauty that few medieval buildings can match. How was this achieved? This book draws attention to a number of factors.
     1) It was constructed patiently and without haste. There was a willingness to study details carefully and in context, and to discard work that did not seem appropriate. To this end models were used extensively, some of them full-scale.
     2) There was an attempt to see each part in relation to the whole so that every detail makes sense in its own setting and contributes to the total effect.
     3) There was a deliberate use of curves and refinements of line to give a more natural, organic feeling to the building and to heighten its artistic impact. This is seen, for example, in the curves of certain walls, and in the tapering of the main tower.

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     4) Perfection was sought through variety. From the march of pillars in the nave, to details of scroll work in the monel metal screens and patterns in the grisaille windows, there is a progression and rhythm of design.
     5) The men who worked on the Cathedral were allowed a sense of personal involvement and were inspired to contribute their own artistic vision to the work as a whole, even at times making suggestions regarding work not directly under their own care. This helps to account for the feeling of reverence for detail and harmony that pervades the whole building.
     6) There is a deliberate blending of styles. The Gothic of the nave and main tower is balanced with the stronger forms of the Romanesque Ezekiel Tower, and the simple beauty of the Michael Tower. In a remarkable way this contributes to the unity of the whole. The different towers and structures of the Cathedral belong to each other because they are different from each other.
     7) Great care was taken in the selection of materials. A good deal is told in this book about the patient search for different types of stone, metals, glass and wood. In particular the use of many different types and textures of stone explains the warmth and harmony of the surfaces in the building.
     8) The whole structure, though involving many different people, expresses a unified vision of artistic integrity and sensibility, so that for all its complexity it is a single work of art.

     The Cathedral is rich in detail, each one illustrative of some principle of construction or design. Even for those who know the building well, there may be some frustration in reading the text of this book and in trying to relate what is said to the building itself. There are so many things to see and explain that I suppose it would have been impossible to have appropriate pictures near portions of the text to illustrate the points being made. Some will find themselves paging back and forth in search of pictures as they read. Others may find it best to go through the whole book first, studying the pictures before they read the text, then returning to the pictures afterward in the light of what they have read.
     In any case, it is the sort of book that people will enjoy referring to again and again. It is a publication of rare beauty, with text, photographs, drawings and general format that make it a rare pleasure to look at and read.
     FRANK S. ROSE

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RARE LOVE 1972

RARE LOVE Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE

Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

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

Editor                Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

Business Manager      Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION $5.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 50 cents.
     Some readers of the Writings have been faintly puzzled by the teaching that "there exists a love truly conjugial which at the present day is so rare that it is not known what its quality is, and scarcely that it exists" (CL 58). Granted that in mid-eighteenth century conjugial love appeared infrequently, and was therefore scarce and seldom met with, surely a thing must be known for its excellence to be appreciated and its exceptional character to be valued, uncommon though it be?
     However, the English word, rare, and the Latin word which it expresses, can also mean that which is thin, as the rare atmosphere of higher elevations as contrasted with the dense atmosphere found at lower levels. That this meaning of the word carries our thought in the right direction is suggested by the further statement that "the reason for this ignorance [of conjugial love] is that the state of pleasantnesses before the wedding is afterwards changed into a state of indifference, owing to an insensibility to these pleasantnesses" (CL 59).
     This is not intended to convey that love truly conjugial is continuous with conjugal love, that it is only a rarified conjugal love. There the analogy with the atmosphere breaks down. Truly conjugial love is discretely separate from conjugal love and is therefore in another dimension. What makes it rare is that the minds of most men and women are closed to that dimension by an indifference fed by lower loves that perceives only grosser things, and that blots out the memory of pre-nuptial states in which there is a foretaste of conjugial love. Indifference blunts the sensibilities and makes conjugial love rare.

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JUDAS, THE BETRAYER 1972

JUDAS, THE BETRAYER Editor 1972

     In the pages of history Judas Iscariot appears as a figure of unspeakable horror. Because his crime was unique, no place can be found for him even among the criminals of the world. Dante, in his Inferno, places Judas at the icy heart of hell; Browning pictures him as the outcast of heaven and the rejected of hell, treading forever the shadowy borderland between what just is and absolute nothingness. The case against Judas is, briefly, that he betrayed the Lord, that the only possible punishment of that crime is eternal damnation, and that he is, therefore, eternally damned. But there is no logic in this. The guilt of Judas is not in question; but the very thing to be proved, that it carries the penalty of eternal damnation, is tacitly assumed.
     New Church men are guarded against such a judgment. They know that spiritual judgment is forbidden to man and that just moral judgment rests on discernment of motives. We do not know why Judas betrayed the Lord. Did he realize that he was betraying his God? Was his purpose, not to send the Lord to the cross, but to provoke a crisis that would compel Him to show His power, and force men to accept Him as the Lord of an earthly kingdom? We do not know, and therefore have no right to judge.

     Nevertheless, we may wonder whether there is any evidence in the Writings that Judas was saved. While there is no definite statement to that effect, it may be taken as implied that he was saved. Judas is referred to in the Gospels as "one of the twelve"; and it may be inferred that he is included in the Writings among the "twelve apostles. now angels," who "had followed the Lord in the world," and were called together in the spiritual world. Matthias, who was chosen to replace Judas, had indeed followed the Lord from the beginning, but was not regarded as among the apostles until chosen, and then numbered "with the eleven apostles."
     We do not know whether Judas is in heaven, and it would not help our regeneration one whit to know. Our interest should not be in Judas, the man, but in that which he represents; and here we are on firm ground, for we know that he has the same representation as Judah, or the Jewish nation which betrayed the Lord. It is in the light of this teaching that we are to read what is said about Judas, and in that light all suppositions of Judas being predestined to betray the Lord fall away. In the individual, Judas represents that faculty of the mind which is called by the Lord to discipleship, but which is most likely to betray Him; the sensual with its lusts and appetites; and the betrayal is quick, swift as the kiss of Judas. The tragedy implicit in the story of this disciple is that in the spiritual Judas the promise of heaven becomes the realization of hell.

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FACE OF JEHOVAH 1972

FACE OF JEHOVAH Editor 1972

     The inmost joy of Easter is that into which the Lord entered when He rose with His Human fully glorified. For the conjunction of the Supreme Divine with men is effected in and through the Lord's Human made Divine, and this conjunction was the cause of His coming into the world and glorifying His Human. It resulted from the union in Him of the Divine and the Human. In the completion of that union on the first Easter morning the Lord therefore came into the fullness of His joy; and we enter into the true joy of Easter as far as we are affected inwardly by that joy.
     Salvation is achieved in conjunction with the Supreme Divine; yet conjunction is possible only with the visible God, and the Supreme Divine is invisible. As the Writings teach, the Divine cannot be seen as it is in itself, but as it is manifested through the Lord in heaven. Scripture testifies that no one has ever seen Jehovah 'the Father, that when He has been seen it is the Lord who has been seen; thus that the Lord as to the Divine Human is Jehovah who was seen, and that He is therefore the very "face" of Jehovah.
     When Jehovah appeared before the Advent He assumed the form of an angel, which is the human, in passing through heaven. From the Divine in it the universal heaven is as one man, and from this at that time was the Divine Human. As Jehovah appeared in the form of an angel, it was therefore Jehovah Himself who was seen, and that form was His because it was the Divine in heaven. This was the Divine from eternity. But as the salvation of the race made it necessary for the Lord to be Man really and essentially, it pleased Him to be born and thereby actually to assume the human form in which was Jehovah-the Divine love in human form.
     Therefore the Lord is Jehovah even as to His Human, which means that His Human is Divine, and it is through the Lord in heaven that the Divine is seen. In Himself the Lord is above the heavens as the sun thereof, but He is in heaven as the Divine truth there; and that truth, proceeding from the Lord as a sun, is the Lord in heaven and His "face."
     By the "face" of Jehovah is meant the Divine and whatever belongs to it-mercy, peace and all good; but in the universal sense, the Divine truth, because all good is in that. With men and angels, the Divine good-and with it mercy and peace-is in Divine truth, which receives it. So where Divine good is not in Divine truth, the face of Jehovah is not present; and where there is evil in falsity the Divine does not appear. The Lord glorified His Human that His face might be seen-that His good, mercy and peace might be given to men in Divine truth; and in preparing so to receive them we seek to see Him "face to face."

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Church News 1972

Church News Various 1972

     HURSTVILLE, AUSTRALIA

     In August, 1971, Brian and Margaret Horner left Hurstville to attend the College of the Academy in Bryn Athyn. They were farewelled at a social in which the gaiety was tinged with a little sadness at losing them even for a year or two. Much of the program of songs and sketches had a slant on travel, and some were guaranteed to produce regular feelings of nostalgia in them while they are away.
     The ladies of Theta Alpha presented an "Education Evening" in November and it was very instructive. They had collected and collated material about the history of New Church schools in various parts of the world. Some schools, we found, had become established after beginning with three or four pupils.
     There was an evening in December when Christmas tableaux were shown, after which there was a carol sing-song. The tableaux were beautifully presented and were very moving. They serve as a wonderful preparation for Christmas worship.
     Preparations are under way to restore the tennis court in the church grounds. A club has been formed and a fund opened. Tennis muscles will also need restoring!
     A Most interesting project well under way also is the restoration of Baringa, the home of the late Rev. Richard and Mrs. Morse. The Horner family live there now, and they are carrying out the work themselves. Baringa had lost a lot of its dignity in recent years of neglect but is beginning to look proud of itself again. It is worth mentioning that Steve Carle, ex-Pennsylvania and Vietnam, stayed with the Horners on leave and was an enthusiastic helper on the tennis court and Baringa work.
     The Rev. Douglas Taylor says that he will arrange a public meeting in the country town of Tamworth, and probably also in the town of Gosford.
     NORMAN HELDON

     KITCHENER, ONTARIO

     Do you remember those happy, hectic days in the 'fifties when the Detroit Society built its church and this correspondent girlishly reported it all to NEW CHURCH LIFE readers? Well, the girl married, had three children, traveled the world a little, and finally settled in the vital and kinetic Kitchener Society, smiling still at what a pearl of a neighborhood the Church is! Society work, and especially community living, provide many challenges, privileges and advantages to those participating in the life and activities of the Society. For the opportunity to attempt to "measure up" we can all be extraordinarily grateful.
     Last September the Society resumed a full calendar of activities after the summer lull. Now in progress is a new round of men's Arcana classes, Women's Guild meetings, Theta Alpha pot-luck suppers, Sons' meetings, introductory classes, and all the other meetings-executive, instructional and social-so essentially part of a living Society. This year, following Friday classes, we have been given the opportunity to view Sir Kenneth Clark's magnificent color-film series interpreting the development of Western culture through mankind's creativity in painting, music, architecture, literature and ideas.
     Caryndale children are also being given the chance to assimilate a little culture. Due chiefly to the efforts and interest of Mrs. Rose, seventeen children ranging from grade three to ten take individual half-hour weekly piano lessons from two much respected and highly qualified piano teachers.

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Picked up and brought to Caryndale by volunteer drivers three afternoons a week, the teachers see a succession of pupils from 3:30 until after dinner, using the Rose and Hotson homes as studios. Chalk that up as another advantage of community living! The piano teachers hope to arrange a concert for us in May. Sir Kenneth Clark should see this!
     Events of interest in October were a Men's Retreat at Lake Conestoga for study and discussion. It has been said-not by Women's Lib, perhaps-that the more they retreat the more they advance! A joint Olivet-Carmel Schools day was held in Caryndale, with a morning program of classes and an afternoon trip to the nearby Lion Safari.
     In November the Rev. and Mrs. Frank Rose, and the Rev. and Mrs. Paul Zacharias of the Convention "Church of the Good Shepherd" in Kitchener, went with a few others to Almont, Michigan, to attend a Convention-General Church Retreat, to explore and discuss methods of promoting a closer unity in love, help and understanding between the two organizations. Happily, the importance of an outwardlooking approach appears to be receiving a new recognition among the clergy and laity of the churches. As a part of this forward movement our pastor is giving definitive missionary-type sermons, usually on the first Sunday of the month. A clear statement of our beliefs concerning the Trinity was the subject of the first of these sermons; the second, on Micah, was a plea for understanding and tolerance of the gentile state.
     Young people's weekends are always stimulating and great fun for those involved. In late November our goodly crew of young people met with friends more distant for a weekend of instruction and socializing that included classes, feasts of charity, an afternoon bus outing to Elora Gorge and an evening social. They joined the Caryndale congregation for a Sunday sermon on "Preserving Our Ideals" by the youthful Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom, and a climactic afternoon church service in the cold, frosty Caryndale woods around an altar of stones facing east, with Mr. Rose making his robed entrance and recession through the cathedral of trees. Those who attended were cold only on the outside.
     Our pastor is a dynamo of ceaseless energy, good nature and inventiveness, capped by a penetrating talent for making the best of everybody and everything. When the Society resumed its many activities in September, Mr. Rose said that "a healthy Society needs worship, instruction, social life and evangelization." He stressed the importance of a "commitment to the Lord's command to preach the gospel to every creature." This, he said, was a "command," not a "convenience"; and we should not even wonder whether missionary efforts work, but should choose the "methods that seem to us to be most appropriate."
     Last Christmas, therefore, the pastor thought it most appropriate to invite the public to a special "living representation" of the events of the Lord's birth as given in Luke. Months of careful planning went into this production to achieve a unity of color, music, costume, design and motion. A special structure was built fore-stage right to accommodate the bill country of Judea; fore-stage left a spiral staircase gave a three dimensional aspect to a stunning array of the heavenly host. Many of the five main scenes were subdivided and shown in more than one aspect. Thus unit three showed, in flowing sequence: the shepherds on the hill top, the appearance of the heavenly host, the departure of the shepherds, and the Adoration-a scene of enormous visual power. These living tableaux were presented twice: on Saturday for the Society, and to the public on Sunday. It is estimated that over one hundred visitors attended, most of them at the special invitation of Society members and the pastor. Comments were varied and interesting. Some were impressed by the quality of the performances, others by the total sensory impact. Many remarked on the reverent and worshipful sphere surrounding the entire event. For this dedicated offering our thanks to the pastor, Miss Korene Schnarr, and the other dozens of talents freely devoted to the success of the production. Greatly encouraged by the high attendance, the pastor hopes that this "method" might become a Christmas tradition.

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     The entire Christmas season in Caryndale was exceptionally calm and beautiful, an internal state enhanced by the warmest pre-Christmas weather in recent memory. One December day the temperature rose to sixty degrees! On December 12, we were entertained at a Society Christmas party-an exquisitely decorated ball, pretty party clothes, colorful crackers, and gay children in party hats. Imaginative, often hilarious, entertainment put on by the adults for the children, sparkling Christmas cookies, and a dance around the tree, added up to an entertaining afternoon enjoyed by everybody.
     Becoming another Christmas "event" is an Open House at the Manse, held one evening the week before Christmas. Gathering together in a spirit of love in the beautifully decorated Rose home with carols and sweet conversation is a treasure of an experience. With Christmas Day falling on Saturday we were given the rare opportunity of attending Christmas services three days in a row. Many did, and came away brimfull.
     Now winter has settled upon us. Subfreezing weather has at last rewarded the efforts of the youngsters responsible for freezing and maintaining our natural ice-rink. Skates, bruises, piles of warm clothing, pucks, hockey sticks and happiness abound.
     A greeting of love from the Kitchener Society!
          BARBARA WIEBE

     DETROIT, MICHIGAN

     The New Year began with an old friend making a visit to Detroit, one which he had not made for seventeen years. The Rev. David R. Simons stopped here on his way back from Glenview and gave us all a very enjoyable weekend. He presented a spiritually stimulating class on Saturday night, on correspondences and the importance of reading the letter of the Word along with its spiritual sense. Afterwards, an open house at the Robert Bradins provided some people with the opportunity to discuss the subject more thoroughly, and for others who delighted in catching up on old times with Mr. Simons. As is usual with visiting pastors, he gave the Sunday morning service; later he met in the afternoon with the Theta Alpha Religion Lessons teachers before departing for home. Although his visit was short, it was a meaningful one, and we only hope be doesn't stay away for another seventeen years.
     In June of last year it was our great loss to have the Walter Childs family leave us after having been pillars of our Society for over twenty-five years, A surprise party was given for them and more than fifty friends came to say their good-byes. There were speeches given, laughter was to be heard, toasts were made, and, yes, a few tears were shed. The evening was concluded with the presentation to them of a gift representing all the years spent here, the friends they made, and the many uses they performed for our Society. We wish the Childs many happy and useful years in Bryn Athyn, where they now reside.
     It was coincidence that at this time, Wally Childs was called into the army, and that he and his wife Liz had to depart from Detroit also. We hope that when Wally's duty has been fulfilled they will come back to settle here,
     The Lord had foreseen our loss and in His Providence filled the gaps with new members for our Society. Jeff Gurney and his new wife, Mary, moved here from Miami, Florida, last May, and in October the Bob Merrell family came here from Bryn Athyn, Already their enthusiasm and energy are assets to our group and we are so happy to have them here.
     Last summer the men organized a softball team, the first in recent years, called the "White Horsemen." They played against other church and industrial teams once a week through the summer. Many women and youngsters came out to give the men support and cheer them on, which must have helped because the White Horsemen wound up in the playoffs.
     At doctrinal classes we have been studying the doctrines of the New Church since October. The size of the classes has been truly gratifying and has made for interesting discussions.

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The large turnouts are due partly to having classes in the homes as well as at the church; but most of the credit goes to the Rev. Geoffrey Childs and how well he presents the material and conducts the classes.
     From time to time we say, "Thanks," to different people who contribute time and energy in helping our Society to run smoothly, and I feel it is time to express our gratitude to all of the religion class and Sunday school teachers who help instruct our children about the Lord and the New Church. The religion class teachers are as follows: Barb Buick, first grade; Sue Elder, second grade; Helga Childs, third and fourth grades. Mr. Childs teaches fifth grade and up. The Sunday school teachers are Serene Field, Nancy Kloc, Sue Elder, Susan Kendig and Rita Steen. These women instruct the kindergarten through third grade children. Then there is the reading group, consisting of grades four through six, which has been studying Mythology under the direction of Eunice Howard, Freda Bradin, Jean Genzlinger, Edith McCardell and Helga Childs. To all of these women we say, "Thank you,"
     Someone else who deserves recognition for a lot of fine work is Marian Galligan. Week after week she keeps the chancel looking lovely, bringing flowers from her own garden during the spring and summer. Last fall, with funds from the Women's Guild, Marian put much effort into making Mr. Childs a new inner robe, which he very much appreciated, and at this date she has an outer robe well under "construction."
     Two changes have taken place within the Women's Guild since September, the first being in the size of attendance at the meetings. In the past, the meetings have been held at night, and this just didn't seem a good time for the ladies to get away from home; but this year the meetings have taken place in the mornings, which seems to be a better time and to account for the attendance multiplying thrice. There have also been babysitters, Lisa Galligan and a friend, to watch the preschool children who come with some of the mothers, and make it possible for those mothers to be present, The second change has been the sponsoring of a Girls Club, the first in our Society. There are fifteen girls eligible this year from grades one through ten. Since this is the first year and the Club has been operating for only a few months, the girls have not had the opportunity to do much as yet, but they had lots of fun in January learning how to make bread and ended up with fourteen small loaves.
     Two years ago the Detroit Sons made an impressive comeback in getting members interested in the organization, and at that time they began a campaign of selling Academy stamps. It has been a tremendous success, selling in excess of a thousand stamps in 1971.
     The Boys Club, sponsored by the Sons, has taken a couple of interesting trips since October. One of these was to Kalamazoo, to visit a metalcraft class taught by Paul Mergen. The other was to Wurtsmith A. F. B., where Lt. Col. Wayne Doering took them on a tour inside a B-52 and a KC-135. They also saw a demonstration of the patrol and sentry dogs.
     In October we played host to the upper grades of the Pittsburgh Society's school. Accompanying the children were the Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh, Mr. Dirk van Zyverden, and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert H. Smith. They arrived on a Thursday afternoon and stayed in various Society homes through Sunday. Friday included a trip to Greenfield Village and a tour of the Ford assembly line. The day ended with a hot dog supper followed by a square dance at the church. On Saturday night after the Society supper, which was furnished by Pittsburgh and prepared by Mr. Smith, Mr. Asplundh gave a talk on the school's uses. Later on we saw a movie made by the students depicting a typical school day, followed by songs sung by the Pittsburgh children. Sunday service concluded the weekend's activities: a weekend that will remain in the thoughts of many of us for a long time.
     In November the Justin Reuters put much effort and a lot of imagination into giving the Society a treasure hunt that will long be remembered by all. After three hours of searching for clues, finding them, and looking for more, we wound up back at their home with an enormous buffet awaiting us, It certainly proved to be a lot of fun for all involved, so much fun, in fact, that people were talking about it for weeks after.

189

     Many of you may remember about the "Building Fund" started by the Detroit Society two years ago. For those not familiar with it I will recapitulate the essence of the program. The Fund consists of two parts: an adult fund and a family fund. The money being saved in these funds will go to a new church building and towards a New Church school that we hope to have some day. The family fund, to which the children contribute, reached its goal at the summer's end. So with some of that money a new copy of the Word was purchased: a copy brilliant in red color, extra large in size, and containing a part of the Writings along with the Old and New Testament. The highlight of the entire year was when this new copy of the Word was presented to the church on Thanksgiving Day as a symbol of hope that someday we will have a new building in which to house it.
     In concluding the Detroit Society wishes all Societies a very good and prosperous year.
     SHERRY MCCARDELL

     DAWSON CREEK, B. C.

     Looking back through NEW CHURCH LIFE, we find that our Society has been very neglectful in submitting news notes these many years. It would be next to impossible to recall all past activities, so we will proceed with our 1971 events.
     January and February are generally too cold for much social life,, so activities are kept at a minimum.
     The Nineteenth of June was celebrated with a delicious Chinese supper in one of our downtown banquet rooms to which the entire group came out to enjoy the lovely meal and good fellowship after a very inspiring talk by the Rev. Willard Heinrichs. The evening concluded with the singing of "Our Glorious Church."
     The Church picnic was held at a nearby lake on July 4th and was well attended. An outdoor morning service started off a day of the usual picnic activities. The dinner hampers brought by the ladies were enjoyed by all. Best wishes were extended to Dan and Carol Friesen who were that day celebrating their eighteenth wedding anniversary.
     A corn roast hosted by Juste and Bev Hendricks out at their farm was a farewell party for three of our boys who were leaving for Bryn Athyn to attend the Academy: Stephen Hendricks, Alvin Friesen and Randy Friesen. A flight bag was presented to each of them.
     With mixed feelings, preparations were being made to say a fond farewell to the Rev. and Mrs. Willard Heinrichs. Willard and Vanessa, as they are known to all of us, arrived here in 1965 as a young, newly-wed couple, when he took over the pastoral duties in the Society. A surprise supper was held in their honor. Entertainment in the form of a skit of the couple's arrival and stay in Dawson Creek brought many chuckles. A duet, "There Are Places," was then sung by Patsy and Joan Friesen, accompanied by Darlene Friesen on the guitar. With happy tears, Mr. and Mrs. Heinrichs accepted the gift of a money tree as well as a photo album complete with pictures of all our Society families and members. Their new posting, South Africa, takes Vanessa home where she was born and raised.
     Arriving in August, and welcomed, were the Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith, his wife, Diana, and their son Justin. After a new manse had been purchased and settled into, a home dedication was held, with many of the Society attending.
     A lovely wedding which was held in September united in marriage Loretta Friesen and Doug Moller, the Rev. Christopher Smith officiating. The reception was held at the home of the bride's sister and brother-in-law, Jim and Adina Watson, with some 150 guests present. A surprise shower for Loretta was held by the church ladies at the home of Carol Friesen.
     Thanksgiving was celebrated on a beautiful harvest day with a dinner in the church basement hosted by the ladies. Turkey with all the trimmings as well as pumpkin pie satisfied everyone.
     The combined Sunday family services each week seem to be working out satisfactorily. After the lesson the pastor gives a short talk to the children which is followed by a benediction.

190

The children then file quietly downstairs, and during the remainder of the service are given their Sunday school lessons in the basement by various members of the Society who are teaching on a rotating monthly basis. I might add here that attendance at church services to the end of December averaged 33 adults and 24 children. At the present day our congregation consists of 42 adults, 6 young people, and 45 children up to 14 years of age.
     Mr. and Mrs. Harry Friesen and four children have left to make their home in Fort St. James. They are greatly missed as, for one thing, we are once again left without an organist, Isobel having served in that capacity for many years. Coming to our rescue once again is Mrs. Cousins. It is nice to have her back. On occasion we have used taped music, which has worked out very well.
     Two wee girls were welcomed into the Society. Congratulations to the proud parents, the Rev. and Mrs. Christopher Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Juste Hendricks. Gillian Smith was baptized on November 14, and on December 21, Karen Elizabeth Anne Hendricks was baptized along with her sister Lorraine and her brother Michael.
     The Christmas tableaux were again beautifully presented, on the eve of December 19, in the church basement, with 90 in attendance, 11 of whom were visitors. A family Christmas party was held on December 22, the children enjoying games and treats, while the adults settled for coffee and lunch.                                                                                                                    TINA WILKINSON

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Conference. Although the premises at Sydney Road, Woodford Green, have been vacated, the New Church College has announced that it is still able to fulfill its function of educating students for the New Church ministry. The essential parts of the library are now cased in a special room set aside by the Finchley Society, and the tutorial staff is still available for any work it may be called upon to do for the College. The appointment of a new Principal is still to be announced.
ANNOUNCEMENT 1972

ANNOUNCEMENT Editor 1972

At its recent Annual Meetings the Council of the Clergy nominated the Reverend Louis B. King for the office of Assistant Bishop of the General Church, which is now vacant. This nomination was affirmed by the Board of Directors. Mr. King's name will therefore be presented to the next General Assembly for consideration and action. The joint Council has resolved that the Assembly be held in June 1973, and recommends that it be held in Bryn Athyn.

191

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH SCHOOL CALENDAR: 1972-1973 1972

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH SCHOOL CALENDAR: 1972-1973 Editor 1972

     Ninety-sixth School Year

     1972

Sept.     6      Wed.          Faculty Meetings
     7     Thur.      Dormitory students must arrive before 8:00 p.m.
                    College registration: local students
                    Secondary schools registration: local students
     8      Fri.          College registration: dormitory students
                    Secondary schools registration: dormitory students
     9      Sat.          8:00 a.m. All student workers report to supervisors
                    8:30 p.m. President's Reception
     11      Mon.          Classes commence in all schools following Opening Exercises
Oct.     22      Fri.          Charter Day
                    11:00 a.m. Charter Day Service (Cathedral)
                    9:00 p.m. President's Reception
     23      Sat.          2:30 p.m. Annual Meeting of the Academy of the New Church Corporation
                    7:00 p.m. Charter Day Banquet
Nov.     22      Wed.          Thanksgiving Recess begins after morning classes
     26      Sun.          Dormitory students must return by 8:00 p.m.
     27      Mon.          All schools resume classes
Dec.     1      Fri.          End of Fall Term
     4      Mon.          Winter Term commences in all schools
     15      Fri.          Christmas Recess begins for all schools

     1973

Jan.     2      Tues.          Dormitory students must return by 8:00 p.m.
     3      Wed.          All schools resume classes
     15      Mon.           Deadline for applications for 1973-1974 school year
Feb.     19      Mon.           Washington's Birthday holiday
Mar.     9      Fri.          End of Winter Term
                    Spring Recess begins after morning classes
     18      Sun.          Dormitory students must return by 8:00 p.m.
     19      Mon.           Spring Term commences in all schools
Apr.     20      Fri.          Good Friday. School holiday after special chapel service
May     18      Fri.          7:45 p.m. joint Meeting of Faculty and Corporation
     28      Mon.          Memorial Day holiday
June     11     Mon.           8:30 p.m. President's Reception
     12      Tue.           10:30 a.m. Commencement Exercises

     NOTE: At the beginning of the Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring recesses student workers remain after classes for four hours of student work.

193

TO BUILD A WALL OF COHESION 1972

TO BUILD A WALL OF COHESION Rev. DANIEL GOODENOUGH 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII MAY, 1972
No. 5
     "They have seduced My people, saying, Peace; when there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar: Say unto them who daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?" (Ezekiel 13: 10-12)

     As the New Church man looks at the state of religion beyond the organized New Church, he is soon confronted with a paradox. On the one hand he is aware of the plain teaching of the Writings concerning the state of the Christian Church-as, for example, that "the faith of the New Church cannot by any means be together with the faith of the former church, and if they are together, such a collision and conflict will take place that everything of the church with man will perish. The faith of the former church is a faith of the night, for human reason has no perception to it; wherefore it is also said, that the understanding must be kept in obedience thereto; yea, it is not known whether it be within man or without him, because nothing of man's will and reason enters into it, no, nor charity, good works, repentance, the Law of the Decalogue. . . . "* And from his own reading and experience the New Church man finds many confirmations that today as two hundred years ago the faith of the vastated former church is without spiritual light.**
     *BE 102, 103.
     **Cf. BE 79
     But the former church continues to function, and to the external appearance with some success. We know that in condemning as heresies the fundamental doctrines of the former church, the Writings are not thereby condemning all people who appear to accept these doctrines, nor even necessarily those who have concocted them in the first place.

194

Yet the paradox remains. In spite of a faith of darkness, the former church seemingly thrives, to some extent at least. Many of our friends attend its various services of worship, and we know individual members of that church who appear to be trying sincerely to lead good and upright lives. Indeed, we may find ourselves questioning whether all people really need what the Heavenly Doctrine offers. If the paradox is a reality, it casts doubt upon the importance of the New Church mission to the world.

     To find the answer we ought not to place our trust in our own perceptions and feelings, since they can only be partially reliable. Rather we should look to Divine revelation, and in this case the internal sense of the thirteenth chapter of Ezekiel holds some unsuspected solutions. In the literal sense this chapter is a diatribe against the false prophets and prophetesses of Israel. Though they see nothing, they prophesy out of their own hearts and claim, Thus saith the Lord, when He has not sent them.* Thus they lead the Lord's people astray and render them defenseless against their enemies. As we might expect, in the internal sense the subject treated is the doctrine of the church falsified, and thus also the church's gradual vastation. The false prophets refer specifically to those who hatch out false doctrines from their own intelligence; who say that their doctrines are the Word of the Lord, when they are not; and who falsely interpret the Word of the Lord. Such, we are taught, do not stand in the day of judgment; they cannot avoid spiritual destruction; they will have no protection against the hells.** This is the general internal sense of our First Lesson; for false prophecy, or claiming as Divine truth what is invented by man's own intelligence, is to make man into his own god; it is self-worship.
     * Ezekiel 13: 2, 3, 6.
     ** PP.
     Interiorly a false prophet despises the Lord. He leads away from the Divine wisdom and Divine love and leads to his own intelligence. Yet the false prophet's effect on true religion need not be as devastating as we might expect. Swedenborg learned this when the internal sense of our text was vividly represented to him by an encounter with spirits who were false prophets in the spiritual sense. He was shown how they ('pervert holy things, namely, that they apply those things that are holy just as if they were their own. . . ."* That is, they apply holy things to their own person, "and in this way bring them to man's perception, so that those who are innocent can easily be persuaded that the holy things . . . flow from them. . . . "**

195

Now this is what is meant by the daubing of the wall with untempered mortar, of which our text accuses the false prophets. A wall built with faulty cement cannot last, and so the Lord said to Ezekiel: "Say unto them who daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?" Such walls, meaning holy things, are doomed because they have been plastered over with untempered mortar, even as false prophets plaster holy things over by making them appear to come from themselves, and cover them over with personal example and experience.
     * SD 245.
     ** Ibid.

     Holy things are perverted by being applied to the person of a false prophet so that attention is drawn, not to the holy or good thing as an ideal, but to the person of the teacher. Teaching about holy and good things through personal example easily distracts the mind from virtue itself and concentrates rather on a teacher's personal experiences, which obscure and cover the good and holy things, as faulty mortar does not strengthen a wall, but merely covers it over. It is true also that through such teaching people will frequently believe that a false prophet is as pious and as good as he professes to be, by the implication of his words. But no evil is permitted which cannot serve a use, and false prophecy, or claiming false doctrines to be Divine truth, can serve the important use that something of holiness does come to man's perception. Holy things plastered over as if they belonged to false prophets, are nevertheless brought to man's perception. And if the innocent can be easily persuaded that holy things are from false prophets themselves (which is, of course, false), still it is clear that something of holiness has been perceived by the innocent. Thus false prophecy can be used to communicate holiness to man.
     Swedenborg, like most who hear false prophets at first supposed that the influx of holy things was from the prophets-that the sphere of holiness was from them. "But after I had been better instructed," he writes, "it was given me to expose their deceits to them. . . ." Evidently Swedenborg also showed them the spiritual use that their false teaching served, for the passage continues: "This made them angry, namely, that in this way a perception of good can be produced from evil, and of truth from falsity. Thus also was the 'plastered wall' explained [to me]."* In other words, the false prophets resented genuine good, which looks to God coming from their own brand of holiness.

196

So it is that in a devastated church the Lord provides for His people by permitting false doctrine to be taught. As paradoxical as it sounds, those who are in good can derive benefit from falsity in which holiness appears. Though there may be no holiness in the teachers of falsity, good people can still learn by means of them something about holiness, about love and charity. Though the false prophet leads to false doctrine, by the very fact that he speaks of holy things, the importance of the life of religion can in some measure be sensed by his listeners. This is the use of the wall plastered over with untempered mortar.
      * SD 245.

     Yet such a wall cannot cohere, and its inevitable disintegration leaves the people of a vastated church in a great dilemma-a dilemma from which they can be freed only by means of true doctrine. For those who make uncemented wall "think incoherently concerning the things of the church."* Although they are unaware of it, we read that "all they know and think concerning the truths and goods of the church, do not at all cohere, and are uncemented walls. . . . The reason is, because they of whom this is said, at one time deny God, heaven, and eternal life, and the sanctity of the Word, and at another time acknowledge them; therefore what they build with one hand they destroy with another. Thus they are like those that build a house, and presently pull it down. . . . Such also is the signification of 'uncemented walls'. . . ."**
     * AR 208.
     ** AR 208.
     That the wall of a devastated church is in this way uncemented, does not imply that all its preachers are themselves false prophets. The Writings direct our attention towards the spiritual question of the doctrine itself, rather than to a consideration of persons who are instruments of doctrine. Regardless of the widely varying motives of preachers today, the vastated church's wall of doctrine itself must collapse: despite the vague perception of good and truth for which it serves, it does not cohere together. Though people may in general sense the good and truth of religion, yet instead of coherence and consistency in doctrine, they find confusion about what is to be believed, because the wall is at once built up with one hand and torn down with the other.
     Doctrines taught today clearly illustrate this. For on the one hand there is taught the importance of God, religion, the Bible, love, spiritual values, morality, and unselfishness. From this emphasis, this building up, as we have already seen, something of holiness is brought to man's perception. The lack of cohesion, the confusion, results from how these things are explained.

197

More and more today God as a Man is denied, or even God as any Being that exists in Himself, an Absolute outside, transcendent and independent of man; rather God is defined incomprehensibly as the amorphous ground of all being, as an abstract extension of human experience. Try to think of your God as the ground of all being and see where it gets you. Jesus is Savior, but only in the sense that His teachings were good, not in the sense that He was Divine or even the Son of God. Religion is affirmed as good, but it is denied to have a Divine origin and is considered to be altogether the product of the human mind; religion is merely man's attempt to understand himself and his existence. Similarly the Bible is regarded as altogether man-made, without more inspiration than moving art; a great deal, perhaps the majority, of its literal authenticity is rejected-a denial which for people ignorant of the internal sense destroys any sense of the authority of written revelation. Love of the neighbor also is affirmed, yet the love meant is seen as an end in itself, and not as looking ultimately to conjunction with the Divine; man is its end, not God. For some, love is utterly without substance because it is formless. But the love mostly taught in the churches seeks primarily material and worldly benefits for the neighbor rather than his spiritual welfare, even as dismayed, lost and forgotten laymen cry out for guidance for the spirit. The teaching of spiritual values today is often so vague as to mean nothing, and ends up being more natural than spiritual. So also moral values and virtues are seen as social conveniences rather than as essential components of the life of religion taught by God. And perhaps most significant, the unselfishness we hear of today means mostly the sacrifice of externals, rather than the more difficult giving up of the loves of self and the world, and the conceit that man from his own intelligence can effectively direct his life. Genuine unselfishness comes only from our determined struggle and effort through temptation to submit ourselves in act, thought, and love, to the eternal standards of revealed truth. This does involve willingness to part with externals, but the essence of unselfishness is so very much deeper-discretely so.

And so the wall does not cohere. Truths are at one moment apparently acknowledged, but at another they are undermined or denied. The wall is built up by one hand and destroyed by the other. The doctrine as a whole does not cohere because within itself it is not consistent, and the resulting dilemma for the sincere church-goer is very real indeed. The majority simply know nothing to which to turn. Even if the teaching of a man's church involves the worst kind of false prophecy, a perception of holiness can be given him which at least in some measure turns his mind towards eternal values. In many cases the falsity in doctrine is simply not understood.

198

Moreover, when a good man applies falsity to good, by trying to use it for a good purpose, the falsity becomes mild and almost puts off the quality of being a falsity; this allows such a man to be instructed and saved in the other life.* For such uses, it would seem, the vastated church is permitted a continued existence and a somewhat precarious popularity.
     * AC 8311
     Yet the opposite horn of the dilemma is heavy, because the wall simply will not cohere. Inconsistency and confusion of doctrine result in confusion as to the real purpose of the church today and of life itself. Churchmen themselves are their own strongest critics as they testify amply to the lack of direction within a church which does not have sound walls of doctrine. Some turn to ecumenism or various social, political, and revolutionary movements in an effort to give the church a purpose. Yet one suspects these are rather forlorn, disillusioned gestures born of very deep frustration, and for multitudes of lay people, spiritual emptiness remains. As it is written in the Brief Exposition, "The dogmas of the present church are founded upon a faith, in which it is unknown whether there be any essential of the church, or not."* The same lack of an essential of the church remains the tragedy today in a church whose walls do not cohere.
     * 96

     While one horn of the dilemma of the modern church-goer explains his church's continued existence and even some apparent accomplishments two hundred years after the Last judgment, the other horn makes desperately clear the need for walls that do cohere-for doctrines that hold together because they contain real substance, are consistent with themselves, and do not continually fudge. Vast numbers today have despaired of finding a religion which is rational and sensible, both consistent and beautiful. Are we aware of the power of the heavenly treasures in the books on our shelves? Do we abuse them by not making them known to any and all who might be helped thereby, not to mention ourselves? We ought not to seek growth only for our own sakes, yet today we sit in a world confused with half-answers, increasingly overwhelmed with serious questions about the nature of human life, and losing hope that real answers exist. Many try to build their own walls but a wall of cohesion, a philosophy of life which holds together and is everywhere consistent, is the only possible solution to the dilemma. Not until men realize that the old wall plastered with untempered mortar must be replaced by an entirely new wall, can they be freed from the hellish confusion, purposelessness and despair that rack so much of modern society. There is no human tragedy greater than the lack of genuine ideals.

199

     Progress must be slow because of the nature of the wall of cohesion-a spiritual structure which is built up only gradually in any man. A cohesive wall is not a flimsy hut or a mound of earth, and must be firmed in the conscience as well as in the memory. But our work is not our own. It is the Lord's work, because of His love for millions and millions of directionless human beings who just do not know the true laws of human happiness. If we hesitate in the work of evangelization, let us remember the Lord's longing to render every least human being happy to eternity If we doubt our abilities, let us remember we are asked not to be great teachers, but only instruments of truth, to lead not to ourselves but to the truth. Would we turn away from the purposes of the Divine love? Only receivers of the Heavenly Doctrine can serve as the Lord's instruments in making known to the world His strong wall of cohesion. Amen.

     LESSONS: Ezekiel 13: 1-16: Matthew 24: 3-13, 23-27: AC 845, 8311
(parts).
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 429, 406A, 428, 506.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 128, 152.
TEMPORAL AND THE ETERNAL 1972

TEMPORAL AND THE ETERNAL Rev. FREDERICK L. SCHNARR 1972

     In the work, Divine Providence, the teaching is given that "the Divine Providence looks to eternal things and to temporal things only as far as they agree with eternal things."* In the Apocalypse Explained, we find this teaching given in a somewhat different form and entitled, "The tenth law of the Divine Providence":
     * DP 214.

     "Man has led himself to eminence and riches by his own prudence, when yet these lead astray, for by the Divine Providence man is led only to such things as do not lead astray and as are serviceable to eternal life; for all things of the Divine Providence with man look to what is eternal, since the life which is God, from which man is man, is eternal."*
     * AE 1185: 2.

     These two teachings present the same general truth, but note that in the tenth law of Providence, instead of the phrase, temporal things, the words, eminence and riches, are employed. Thus, by comparing the two teachings, we see that the essential definition of temporal things is eminence and riches.

200

     Temporal things refer to such things as either perish with time or are terminated with the death of the body. They include, therefore, both those things that are proper to nature and those that are proper to man. The things that are proper to nature are especially spaces and time, because both have termination. These

"are the extremes and outmosts into which man first enters; and this he does at birth to the end that he may be able afterwards to be introduced into things more internal and higher. For extremes and outmosts are containants; and these are in the natural world. And this is why no angel or spirit was created such immediately, but were all born first as men, and were thus led into higher things. From this they have extremes and outmosts which in themselves are fixed and established, within which and by which interiors can be held together in connection . . . . But inasmuch as the extremes or outmosts of nature are not receptive of the spiritual and eternal things in conformity to which the human mind was formed, as these are in themselves, and yet man was born to become spiritual and to live forever, therefore these are put off by man, and he retains only the interior natural things that agree and harmonize with the spiritual and celestial, and serve them as containants. This is accomplished by the rejection of temporal and natural outmosts, which is the death of the body."*
     *DP 220: 2, 3; 215, 217, 218.

     Now besides the temporal things of nature, there are temporal things which relate to the nature and quality of man. These are the temporal things that are particularly involved in the understanding of the teaching we are considering. As we have noted, these temporal things are all said to relate to eminence and riches-eminence referring to the love of glory and honor, and riches referring to the love of money and possessions.* The Writings tell us that these two loves as they now exist from hereditary inclination in the natural man are like blood relations in that he who wishes to rule over all things wishes to possess all things.** Or, it could be put in another way, namely, that he who is in the love of self is also in the love of the world. For the natural love of glory and honor is from the love of self, and the natural love of money and possessions is from the love of the world. The love of self and the love of the world are blood relations also, and when by themselves they are the life of hell.
     * AE 1185.
     ** DP 215: 5.
     But that we may understand exactly how we are to regard dignities and riches and how the Divine Providence operates in them, we must examine the history of them, and thereby see their intended Divine use.
     That man's life on earth should serve its essential use of forming a mind that could exist eternally in the spiritual world, two things were necessary. One had to be provided from within and flow into man from the spiritual world, this was the influx of life and the delights of heavenly beings.

201

The other had to be provided from without from the images and sensations received from the world of nature, the world of space and time fixity. From the life from within, the most ancient man received the inclination to love the Lord and the neighbor. From the life from without, he received the love of the world and the love of self. These loves of the world and of self the Lord had to provide as part of man's nature for they were necessary for the formation of his mind on earth; and without such a formation, the human character and quality could not have existed. From these loves the Lord gave man the instinct and desire to preserve his life, to feed and clothe his body, to protect his offspring, to build a shelter for his family, wherein the natural life of his possessions could be used and maintained.
     With the most ancient men, these things were not gathered and used for selfish ends, but only as the means of supporting and making possible the existence of eternal heavenly loves. This was the order because the love of the Lord was in the first place in their minds, the love of the neighbor in second place, the love of the world in third place, and the love of self last. And from this order, how did they then regard dignity and riches? We read:

     "Dignities and riches in the most ancient times were wholly different from what they afterwards gradually became. Dignities in the earliest times were such only as were accorded by children to parents; they were dignities of love, full of respect and veneration, not on account of their birth from them but because of the instruction and wisdom received from them, which was a second birth, in itself spiritual, because it was the birth of their spirit. This was the only dignity in the earliest times; for tribes, families, and households then dwelt apart, and not under general governments as at this day. It was the father of the family to whom this dignity was accorded.
     "In the earliest times, when tribes and families dwelt apart from one another, there was no other love of riches than a desire to possess the necessaries of life, which they acquired by means of their flocks and herds, and their lands, fields, and gardens, which furnished them with food. Among their necessaries of life were also suitable houses, furnished with useful things of every kind, and also clothing. The parents, children, servants, and maids in a house, were engaged in the care and labor connected with all these things."*
     * DP 215: 2, 4.

     In thinking of the life of these ancient people, we of a different age find it difficult to imagine wherein lay their delight and happiness. But we forget that they saw clearly the things of heaven in all things of earth, and only delighted in the things of earth because they saw heaven therein. Because of their humble and rustic life, we must not think of them as being in any sense crude or lowly. They were a beautiful people; and they loved the beautiful things of natural life; but because they saw the beautiful things of heaven represented therein.

202

Something of their delight and skill in natural things may be seen in the description of their dwellings, their eating habits, and their singing.
     What happened to this concept of dignities, this attitude concerning riches? Again we read;

     "After those times the love of rule from the mere delight of that love gradually came in; and because enmity and hostility against those who were unwilling to submit entered at the same time, tribes, families, and households necessarily gathered themselves together into general communities, and appointed over themselves one whom they at first called judge, and afterwards prince, and finally king and emperor. At the same time they began to protect themselves by towers, earthworks, and walls. From judge, prince, king, or emperor, as from the head into the body, the lust of ruling spread like a contagion to others; and from this arose degrees of dignity, and also honors according to them; and with these the love of self and the pride of one's own prudence. When the love of rule had entered and destroyed this commonwealth, the love of possessing wealth beyond their necessities also entered, and grew to such a height that it desired to possess the wealth of all others."*
     * DP 215: 3, 5.

     As men fell from the Divinely created order, so did the love that formed that order change place and become completely reversed. Where loves of the Lord and the neighbor ruled, the loves of the world and self now took their place. The inclinations which flowed forth from each love with the most ancients were all ruled and directed by the love of the Lord; this is how the love of self and its inclinations, and the love of the world and its inclinations were kept in their proper place and use. When the love of self came to stand at the head, and the love of the world next, the inclinations from these loves had nothing higher to guide them. They, therefore, could only serve self and the world. And this became, and now is, the inherited form of man.
     Herein then we see the reason why man inclines from his birth to the love of dignities, fame, glory, honor and the like, and the love of riches, wealth, and possessions of all kinds-and his inclination to such things is utterly evil and perverted, because it springs forth in him from the love of self and the world.
     As the young adult mind plunges into the activities of worldly life, dignities and riches in their many forms are close to the desire of the heart. In the thought of the imagination how often does one see himself arrayed in the robes of kings or conquering heroes, his name whispered in awe from lip to lip? How often does he accomplish feats of daring and his cunning brain or great strength perform the impossible? How much does he dream of the pleasure of life in terms of great wealth and treasure. Of use, of responsibility-of these he is aware only when they are brutally forced upon him, and more pointedly from the instruction of Divine revelation.

203

But, as the young man progresses and matures, other loves and thoughts steal in to raise questions. He has at first seen only the outer symbol of dignity, only the gaudy pleasure of wealth; he has lived in that which is neither good nor evil in itself. And yet contained in these, he gradually awakens to note the lurking of other forms, which he had not associated with dignity and honor, with riches and possessions -the love of dominion, the selfish grasping of all things to self, the desire to possess and hoard, and to crush and destroy that which would prevent. Love of self and love of the world in their disordered forms begin to manifest and identify themselves.

     Because the desire to have eminence and riches is so much a part of man's unregenerate life, it therefore is also a part of his prayer to the Lord. It is there in the background of each prayer even though he never forms it into distinct requests from the Divine. This being so, how can the Lord in His Providence give ear to the desires of man's heart? For the Lord sees what each man can become, and He knows exactly wherein the greatest happiness for each man can be provided; and these are the Lord's concern for they involve the eternal state of the man. What will benefit man's eternal state Providence will strive to bring to pass; what will not benefit his eternal state Providence will strive to lead away from. The Lord's purpose is that man should become an angel of the highest heaven; and if man will not permit this, then a lower angel, and if not this, then Providence will lead to as mild a hell as man will permit. In providing those things which are temporal, Providence cannot work against its primary purpose, and therefore temporal things are only provided or permitted when they can at the same time serve, or at least not harm, eternal things. "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"*
     * Mark 8: 36.
     Now let us be clear, that dignities and riches in themselves are not evil. They were created by the Lord to serve specific good uses both in heaven and on earth. In heaven, because man there has come to love the Lord first, he regards dignities and riches with delight, but only because of the uses that he sees are served through them. The thought of the use is what is uppermost; and the thought of use is the thought of the neighbor above self. When, through regeneration, the love of self and the love of the world are re-ordered, so that the love of the Lord and the neighbor rule over them, then is when the Lord can provide for the angel-man dignities and riches beyond measure, and these will never in the least turn his thought away from the Lord to self.

204

So it is the will of Providence to provide dignities and riches for man, but only at a time when this will not interfere with this eternal state.* That we may be assured that such is the Lord's will, we are presented with many descriptions concerning the eminence and wealth of angelic life in the Writings; (we would here quote a portion of but one such passage).
     * AE 1190.

     "In the societies of heaven there are higher and lower governors, all arranged by the Lord and subordinated according to their wisdom and intelligence. Their chief, who excels the rest in wisdom, dwells in the midst in a palace so magnificent that nothing in the whole world can be compared with it. Its architecture is so wonderful that I can truthfully assert that not a hundredth part of it can be described by natural language, for art itself is there in its art. Within the palace are rooms and bedchambers, in which all the furniture and decorations are resplendent with gold and various precious stones in such forms as no artist in the world can imitate either in painting or sculpture. And what is wonderful, the particulars, even to the minutest particulars, are for use; and every one who enters sees their use, perceiving it by a breathing forth, as it were, of the uses through their images. But no wise person who enters keeps his eyes fixed very long on the images, but his mind attends to the uses, since these delight his wisdom. Round about the palace are colonnades, pleasure gardens, and smaller palaces, each in the form of its own beauty a heavenly delight. Besides these magnificent objects there are attendant guards, all clad in shining garments, and many other things. The subordinate governors enjoy similar luxuries, which are magnificent and splendid according to the degrees of their wisdom, and their wisdom is according to the degrees of their love of uses. And not only do the rulers have such things, but also the inhabitants, all of whom love uses and perform them by various employments."*
     *AE 1191; DP 217.

     There are many reasons why some men on earth achieve dignities and riches, and others remain poor; as far as their own states are concerned, Providence knows what will be either a blessing or a curse to a man. Providence strives to give dignities and riches to men who are sincerely looking to the Lord and placing use above mere delight, when this will not harm the eternal state of the man, or his family, or associates. Certainly it will be through such men that the Lord provides the means of establishing the uses of His church on earth.
     Providence sometimes permits evil men to come temporarily into fame and fortune, either to keep them from worse things, or to cause them to perform certain needed uses which Providence brings forth even though the man intends nothing but evil. In any given case there can be no sure sight of how Providence is operating, except to know the general laws by which it does operate.
     What is clear in all of this, is that we are not to set our eyes on dignities and riches, we are not to let our thought dwell in the achieving of them.

205

This does not mean that we are not to desire them, and to obtain them through business transaction and works when these are done justly and honestly.* It does not mean that we are not to seek them as the means of bringing into being a needed use. But it means that our thought should be focused on use and the performance of use, and on dignities and riches only as far as we can see some use therein that looks to the order of the Lord's kingdom. This is the meaning of the instruction in Matthew: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth or rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; for where your treasure is, your heart will be also."**
     * DP 220.
     ** Matthew 6: 19-21.
     If a man understands how Providence operates, and if he applies himself to the uses of life with sincerity and justice, he will not become angry when he is not raised to dignities and honors-for he will know that there is a very good reason in the eyes of the Lord. He will know that Providence will bring him these things when they will best serve his eternal happiness. When man looks to use and learns of the Lord, the Lord can bring a great patience and sense of peace, which comes from the fact that man in his freedom, desires that his life should be led and guided by the love and wisdom of the Lord.
INTERIOR AND THE EXTERIOR MEMORY 1972

INTERIOR AND THE EXTERIOR MEMORY Rev. VICTOR J. GLADISH 1972

What is memory? One dictionary definition is: the mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving impressions, or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences. Another definition: the power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained . . . . A philosopher has written: "Memory is just the intersection of mind and matter," and this he says in a book which affirms the reality of spirit and the reality of matter, and tries to determine the relation of the one to the other. He also says, "Memory actualized in an image differs, then, profoundly from pure memory."*

206

"Pure memory"-what is retained, the mere record on the mind, is something we know only theoretically; recollection, reproduction, the record put to use, the play of imagination on the sense impression retained, these things we know because summoned from the unconscious to the conscious.
     * Matter and Memory, Henri Bergson, pp. XII, 181.
     But the essential thing in which we are interested in this presentation is the following from the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem; "Scarcely anyone has yet known that every man has two memories, one exterior and the other interior; and that the exterior memory is proper to his body, but the interior memory to his spirit.* This is the beginning of a chapter under the heading, "Concerning Man's Memory Which Remains After Death and the Recollection of What He Had Done In The Body."
     * AC 2469.
     In passing let us note that it is not said that there has been no knowledge of two memories, but "scarcely anyone has yet known . . ." It has been pointed out that the German language has two words which are translated as "remember," but from the structure and derivation of the words one refers to a memory built on sense impressions, while the other refers to a kind of inner memory.* It appears that something from the time of the Ancient Church, when men had a greater knowledge of man's spirit and of the spiritual world, must have been handed down and made use of by the perception of makers of words.
     * Man's Two Memories, Adolph Roeder, p. 39.

     We have cited definitions of memory from the learning of the world. Here is a definition of the twofold memory from Divine revelation:

     "I have been instructed that, regarded in itself, the exterior memory is simply something organic formed from the objects of senses-especially those of sight and hearing-in the substances which are the beginnings of the fibres; and that according to the impressions from these objects are effected variations of form, which are reproduced; and that these forms are varied and changed according to the changes of the state of the affections and persuasions. Also that the interior memory is in like manner organic, but purer and more perfect, being formed from the objects of the interior sight, which objects are disposed into regular series, in an incomprehensible order."*
     * AC 2487.

     If we are inclined to think that this definition sounds merely mechanical, let us remember that love itself is a substance, and if a substance, it must be organic, that is, organized.* A definition in very briefest form may be drawn from Arcana 4038: 2 and 3: "the receptacle of the natural mind is the [natural] memory, and the receptacle of the rational mind is the interior memory." It is also said that the forthstanding and permanence of the affections and thoughts which the mind has experienced is memory, while their reproduction is recollection.**

207

As suggested before, we could have no perception of memory considered purely as a receptacle; it is only as the things stored in the receptacle are vivified and reproduced by an influx into them that we come into recollection, or remembrance, and are conscious of memory.
     * DLW 40.
     ** Wis. Ve.
     And now, in order to set forth an outline of the teaching concerning the interior and exterior memory which the Lord has revealed in the Word of the Second Coming, I feel that I cannot do better than to quote a large proportion of the section devoted to that subject which occurs in the Arcana Coelestia between nos. 2469 and 2494.
     We have already heard the opening words, telling that scarcely anyone has known of the two memories. The explanation follows:

     "Man, while living in the body, can scarcely be aware that he has an interior exterior memory, because the interior memory then acts almost as one with his memory; for the ideas of thought of the interior memory flow into the things in the exterior memory as into their vessels, and the two are there conjoined together. It is as when angels and spirits are speaking to a man; for then the ideas of the former, by which they converse with each other, flow into the words of the man's language, and so conjoin themselves with them that the spirits know no otherwise than that they are speaking the man's own language;, when yet the ideas are theirs, and the words into which they flow are the man's; on which subject I have often spoken with spirits.*
     * 2470.
     "These two memories are entirely distinct from each other. To the exterior memory, which is proper to man while he is living in the world, pertain all the words of languages, also the objects of the outer senses, and also the knowledges that belong to the world. To the interior memory pertain the ideas of the speech of spirits, which are of the inner sight, and all rational things, from the ideas of which thought itself comes into existence. That these two classes of things are distinct from each other, man does not know, both because he does not reflect upon it, and because he is in corporeal things, from which he cannot so far withdraw his mind.*
     * 2471.
     "Hence it is that men while living in the body cannot speak with each other except by means of languages distinguished into articulate sounds, that is, into words, and are unable to understand each other unless they are acquainted with these languages, for the reason that their speech is from the exterior memory. Whereas spirits speak with each other by means of a universal language distinguished into ideas such as are of thought itself, and thus they can have converse with any spirit whatever, of whatever language and nation he had been while in the world, for the reason that their speech is from the interior memory. Into this language comes every man immediately after death, because he comes into this memory, which, as before said, is proper to his spirit.*
     * 2472.
     "The interior memory immeasurably surpasses the exterior, and is relatively as are some myriads to one, or as light is to darkness; for myriads of the ideas of the interior memory flow into a single thing of the exterior memory, and there present a general obscure something.

208

Hence all the faculties of spirits, and still more those of angels, are in a more perfect state, that is, both their sensations and their thoughts and perceptions. In what way the interior memory excels the exterior, may be seen from examples. When a man calls to remembrance any other man whose quality is known to him from the intercourse of many years, whether a friend or an enemy, that which he then thinks about him is presented as one obscure thing; and this because he is then thinking from the exterior memory. But when the same man has become a spirit and calls the other to remembrance, that which he then thinks about him is presented as to all the ideas which he had ever conceived concerning him; and this because he is then thinking from the interior memory. And so it is with everything: the thing itself about which anyone has known many things presents itself in the exterior memory as a single general thing; but in the interior memory it presents itself as to all the particulars about which he has ever acquired for himself an idea in respect to that thing; and this in a wonderful form.*
     * 2473.
     "All things whatever that a man hears and sees, and by which he is affected, are, unknown to the man, insinuated as to ideas and ends into his interior memory; and they remain in it, so that not anything perishes; although the same things are obliterated in the exterior memory. Such therefore is the interior memory that there are inscribed on it all the single, nay the most singular things that the man has ever thought, spoken and done; nay, even those which have appeared to him as but a shade, with minutest particulars, from his earliest infancy to the last of old age. The memory of all these things the man has with him when he comes into the other life, and he is successively brought into full recollection of them. This is his Book of Life, which is opened in the other life, and according to which he is judged. Man can scarcely believe this, but yet it is most true. All the ends, which to him have been in obscurity, and all the things he has thought; together with everything that from these he has spoken and done, down to the smallest point, are in that Book, that is, in the interior memory, and whenever the Lord grants, are made manifest before the angels as in clear day . . . . "*
     * 2474.

     The succeeding paragraph goes on to tell that after death man loses nothing whatever of what has been in his interior memory or his exterior memory; so that he leaves nothing behind him but his bones and flesh, which gross materials had lived only from the life of his spirit. However, it is then revealed that, although the exterior memory is retained, man in the spiritual world is not allowed to use it, but only the interior memory. It is said that the reasons for this are many; the first being that from the interior memory one can speak and hold intercourse in the other life with all in the universe. "The second is that this memory is proper to the spirit and adapted to the state in which he then is; for exterior things-that is, those of scientifics, of the world, and of the body-are adapted to man and correspond to his state while he is in the world and the body; but interior things-that is, things rational, spiritual and celestial-are adapted and correspond to his spirit."
     Then we are told of the fact, manifest in the spiritual world, that in general men can be more easily persuaded of a falsity than of a truth.

209

In illustration of this, worldly and corporeally minded spirits were permitted to maintain, with various specious reasonings, that they would be better off if they could think and speak from their exterior memory. They were then answered by spirits who perceived and accepted the Divine order in regard to this matter. They said, to quote;

     "That if spirits were permitted to use the exterior memory they would then be in similar imperfection as before, when they were men; that by so doing they would be in gross and obscure ideas, in comparison with those who are in the interior memory; and thus would not only become more and more foolish, but would also descend, and not ascend; thus they would not live eternally; for to immerse themselves again in worldly and corporeal things would be to give themselves again into a state of death. They said also that if spirits were permitted to use the exterior memory the human race would perish; for every man is directed by the Lord through angels and spirits; and that if spirits were to flow into man from the exterior memory, he could not think from his own memory, but only from that of the spirit; thus man would come to be no longer in the enjoyment of his own life and his own freedom, but would be obsessed (the obsessions of former times being nothing else); besides other reasons."*
     * 2477.

     The following paragraph in the chapter gives a vivid case of the uninstructed view.

     "A certain newly arrived spirit was indignant that he did not remember many things which he knew in the life of the body, grieving on account of the delight which he had lost, and with which he had been greatly pleased. But he was told that he had lost nothing at all, and that he knew everything he had known; but that in the other life it is not permitted to draw forth such things; and that it is sufficient that he is now able to think and speak much better and more perfectly, without immersing his rational as before in dense, obscure, material and corporeal things which are of no use in the kingdom into which he has now come; and that the things which were in the kingdom of the world had been left behind; and that he now has whatever conduces to the use of eternal life; and thus and not otherwise can he become blessed and happy . . . ."*
     * 2479.

     Summing up these lessons from experience in the world of spirits, it is said, "Seeing that men after death are in the interior memory (which has belonged to their rational) therefore those who in the world have been pre-eminently skilled in languages cannot call forth even one syllable of them; and they who have been pre-eminently versed in the sciences cannot call up anything of their knowledges, and are sometimes more stupid than others. But whatever they have imbibed by means of the languages, or of the sciences, this they bring forth into use, because it has formed their rational . . . .

210

It is the affection itself which gives life-the affection of evil which gives life to falsities, and the affection of good which gives life to truths. Everyone thinks from affection, and no one without affection."*
     * 2480.
     In what follows it is shown that nothing of the external or corporeal memory is actually lost, but that ordinarily it is not permitted to recall it- When a newly arrived spirit wishes to deny evil deeds that he has done, or that he has plotted, the exact circumstances are brought forth to convict him. Several instances of this are recounted, including the reproduction of the whole of a letter, in which the character of a man had been assailed.

     Swedenborg tells how he learned by living experience that the spirits with man know the smallest things of his memory and thoughts, while the angels know the ends or purposes that lie behind the memory and thoughts, and how they waver between good and evil. Also that the things of the interior memory manifest themselves by a certain sphere, so that the quality of spirits is known at a distance.
     Note this passage: "There are retained in the interior memory not only all and each of the things the man from his infancy has ever seen and heard, and those he has thought, spoken and done; but also those which he sees and hears, and which he thinks, speaks and does in the other life."* However, the evil imbibe and retain only what is evil and false, while the good imbibe only what is true and good.
     * 2490.
     In a later part of the Arcana than this chapter devoted to the memory we are told that the things inscribed on the interior memory are those which have been made of the will, that is, of the life; and the passage adds, "this memory is man's Book of Life."* And in a following passage it is said, "Scientifics, that is, things of the memory, when they become of man's life, vanish from the exterior memory, as do gestures . . . etc., when by continual use they become as it were spontaneous or natural, but no other things become of man's life than those which enter into the delights of his loves, and form them; thus those that enter into his will."**
     * AC 9386.
     ** AC 9394: 4.
     From these and other things brought forward we draw the conclusion that the interior memory consists essentially of the interior affections of the will based on the forms of the exterior memory. This impressed on the finest things of nature constitutes man's interior memory. Thus the "limbus" or "border" between the natural and the spiritual is essential to the interior memory, as it is to eternal life.
     In conclusion, let me quote the final paragraph of the chapter which we have been considering.

211

"But although the angels do not care for past things, and are not solicitous about things to come, they nevertheless have a most perfect recollection of past things, and the most perfect mental view of things to come; because in all their present there are both the past and the future. Thus they have a more perfect memory than can ever be thought of or expressed. When men who are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor are living in the world, they have with themselves and in themselves angelic intelligence and wisdom, but stored up in the inmosts of their interior memory; which intelligence and wisdom cannot possibly appear to them until they put off corporeal things. Then the memory of particular things is put to sleep; and they are awakened into the interior memory, and successively afterwards into the angelic memory itself."*
* AC 2494.
CHILDREN AND TELEVISION 1972

CHILDREN AND TELEVISION KURT SIMONS 1972

     No one argues but that television exerts a profound influence on our civilization. Yet whether that influence is good or bad is the subject of endless debate. The purpose of this article will be to suggest that, viewed from doctrine, nearly all contemporary television - "commercial" or "educational"-is not simply bad but, especially for children, spiritually dangerous. The danger appears to lie not only in the content of most programs but in the nature of the medium itself. While, like all other created things, television has a use, the disorders and abuses now associated with it make it a prime candidate for the voice of the dragon of Revelation, when, "by the dragon are meant those who will endeavor to destroy the Lord's church after it has been established."*
     * AC 10,249.

     1. Program Content

The excesses of commercial television programming are sufficiently extreme that even secular authorities are alarmed about them. A famous example was an informal survey made a few years ago by a magazine writer:

     "We reported that we encountered in that single [Saturday's] viewing (during TV hours available to children) seven different kinds of pistols and revolvers, three varieties of rifle, three distinct brands of shotgun, half a dozen assorted daggers and stilettos, two types of machete, one butcher's cleaver, a broadaxe, rapiers galore, a posse of sabers, an electric prodder, and a guillotine. Men (and women and even children) were shot by gunpowder, burned at the stake, tortured over live coals, trussed and beaten in relays, dropped into molten sugar, cut to ribbons (in color), and repeatedly kneed in the groin, beaten by hoodlums while being held defenseless, forcibly drowned, whipped with a leather belt, and dealt with in many other ways before our very eyes-and the eyes of the hundreds of thousands of children who must have been watching some part of what we saw."*

212

     * R. L. Tobin. "This Program May Be Harmful to Your Child." Saturday Review, Oct. 9, 1971, p. 63.

     And, the writer adds, "A few weekends ago we sat once again for eight hours in front of a TV set (again at times when children would be apt to tune in) and discovered that little if anything had changed."*
     * Ibid., p. 64.
     As bad as this may sound, from a New Church point of view it is but the barest tip of the iceberg. As in the case of the iceberg tip, many feel that if some distance is kept from such programming, (spiritual) safety is assured. Any such feeling, we are here proposing, is profoundly unjustified.
     We begin with commercial television. The money of commerce, by the millions of dollars, supports it. And that money is not a contribution but a purchase; a purchase of not simply advertising but of, in fact, the entire program content, for an ad appearing on a program few people watch defeats the whole purpose of advertising and so is not "bought." As a result, the endless search in commercial television is for programs (as well as ads) that will attract the largest numbers of viewers. And in an age so dominated by the proprium in all men's minds that a new revelation was required to combat its tendencies, the results of such a search are grimly predictable: what is popular is proprial. In their slavish striving to achieve the most seductive proprial appeals, not only advertising but the television programs themselves have thus become permeated with layer upon layer of propaganda for evil. Reflection from doctrine on virtually any program picked at random will graphically demonstrate this. For instance, a classic study of television made fifteen years ago in relatively conservative Great Britain could already conclude that:

     "Television plays teach that self confidence and toughness are needed to achieve success-goodness of character is not enough; that life is difficult, especially for women; that marriages are frequently unhappy, and parent-child relationships are often strained. Events rarely turn out satisfactorily and virtue seldom brings happiness in its train."*
     * H. T. Himmelweis; A. N. Oppenheim; P. Vince. Television and the Child. London, Oxford University Press (1958). p. 17.

213

     In short, love of self, not good, succeeds (in the world, of course); the Lord (i.e., fate or "life") is malicious, particularly to women; marriage leads to states of cold; parents are not to be honored; the Lord's Providence (events) does not eternally work for man's welfare, and there is no point in regenerating. Now tune in to an American program of the 70's.
     Many have argued that while all this may be true, it does not matter because television does not affect them (or their children) since it is not "real." Even on logical grounds it is difficult to see how something which the average child spends as much time with in his first sixteen years as he does in school,* and which the average adult spends nearly half as much time with per week as at his job,** cannot be said to be part of the reality of their life. The Writings go a long step further in teaching that our sensory experience, of which television is thus certainly a significant part, is in fact the basis of our very individual soul. In Dr. Odhner's words:
     * W. Schramm; J. Lyle; E. B. Parker. Television in the Lives of Our Children. Stanford, Calif., Stanford University Press (1961). p. 170.
     ** "Why Do We Like What We Watch? A Major Poll by Louis Harris Reveals Surprising Discontent." Life Magazine, Sept. 10, 1971, p. 43.

     "Why individuality cannot commence except in the world of nature is worth some reflection. For what is the basis of our individuality? Is it not memory of sensory experience-a memory built up from defined beginnings in time and space? I am "I" because born at a definite time, in a particular place; and all my experiences, gathered up into a vast complex of memories, were basic to every reaction of my will, marked the external limitations of my thoughts, the field in which my personality gradually formed itself."*
     * H. Lj. Odhner. The Spiritual World. Essays on the After-life and on the Last judgment. Bryn Athyn, Pa., Academy Publication Committee (1968), p. 29.

     This is done not only by means of our natural memory, which records everything we consciously "notice" or think about,* but also in the far more complete interior memory,
     * AC 4301.

"which absorbs everything that ever reaches sight or sense of the body or even the internal sensories, whether a man has noticed it and reflected on it, or not (SD 2594). In this interior memory all things which have-unknown to man-affected him, are recorded 'as to their ideas and ends' and this in the greatest detail, even to things which were abstruse and obscure, including all things of his past thought, speech or action, to the smallest point. And this memory is therefore called man's 'book of life'. . . ."*
     * H. Lj. Odhner. The Human Mind. Its Faculties and Degrees. A Study of Swedenborg's Psychology. Bryn Athyn, Pa., Swedenborg Scientific Association (1969), p. 94.

214

     The implications of such an absorption of television are somber enough for adults, who may to some extent, but only some, modify it with their rational mind-if they exercise that rationality while viewing. But this absorption is only an introduction to the chamber of spiritual horrors that viewing holds for the child.
     "[T]he success of New Church education depends, above all else, upon the preservation of innocence. This, indeed, in the sight of the Lord, is the supreme goal of all mental growth."* Innocence involves both trust and obedience. The effect of television on that innocence is so catastrophic that the results can even be detected by external observers. A recent study of the effect of television advertising on children, for instance, indicated that although they apparently start out believing (i.e., innocently trusting) the statements made in commercials, they become distrustful and even cynical about them with experience. Furthermore, children begin by being "obedient" to the commercials to the extent of trying to influence their parents to buy the advertised products.** These influencing attempts decline with age as the distrust of the commercials increases.
     * G. de Charms. "The Preservation of Innocence." An address (mimeo), March 28, 1966, p. 1.
     ** S. Ward (Proj. Dir.). "Effects of Television Advertising on Children and Adolescents" (Report of research conducted under NIHM contract HSM 42-70-74). Marketing Science Institute, Cambridge, Mass., June 1971.
     Yet that is hardly reason for rejoicing since the child has thus already -in the cosmos of television, of the commercials-learned disobedience which, along with the distrust, comprises the "eating of the tree of good and evil" that destroyed the Most Ancient Church* and just as surely will destroy the childish states of innocence to which that church corresponds. And if that were not sufficient, the child is also here introduced into the terrible disorder of attempting to tell his parents what to do, which is correspondentially equivalent to an adult attempting to tell the Lord what to do, a sin for which any man will go to hell. All these things are only in the microcosm of television advertising. Yet, as in the case of avoiding violence on television, avoiding the commercials is no solution either. For the entire spiritually and morally confused and degenerate picture of life presented on television ravages the innocent states of childhood, and in so doing corrupts the child's very idea of the Lord.
     * AC 198ff.

     "The child can form no concept of the Lord for himself, but it is formed in his imagination from teaching and from observation. This makes it a matter of paramount importance that there should be no conflicting teachings given, nor should contradictory ideas of religion be insinuated into the child's mind by older people.

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A child cannot judge for himself as to the truth or falsity of such ideas, and his mind is thrown into confusion if he is not given a single foundation for his faith."*
     * G. de Charms. The Growth of the Mind. A New Church Interpretation, Bryn Athyn, Pa., The Academy Book Room (1953), p. 199.

     Conflicts arising between what the television teaches and what the parents teach are a serious matter, since it is quite possible that they will be resolved by the child in favor of the television. Television is certainly more consistent in its appeals than most parents can manage to be! Furthermore, as fantastic as it may sound to a "rational" adult, there is some reason to think that the television may become in some important respects as "real" to the child as his parents are. We know from experience and worldly psychology as well as doctrine that, unlike animals, the human infant does not even recognize his parents until well into his first year of life. How he regards them after he knows of them is a complex matter. But it is never a matter of objective judgment, for, again, especially at an early age but extending to some degree till near the age of reason, "the child indeed has no reflection of his own. He cannot think or judge apart from the influence of others."* The parents, of course, say: "Listen to me." But, then, so does the television. Parents assume that children love them. Research has demonstrated that children have a very real affection, and respect, for television.** How, indeed, could it be otherwise when, as far as the children can see, there is the example of respect and affection that the parents themselves accord the television? (Are even family readings from the Word, for instance, greeted with the same extended shushed reverence as the "NFL Game of the Week" or the "Thursday Night Movie"?)
     * Ibid., p. 161.
     ** Schramm, et al., p. 48ff.

     This conflict situation goes beyond "simple" destruction of innocence and places the child in a spiritually horrible dilemma with which he is in no way prepared to cope. On the one hand, he is presented with his parents appealing to him on the basis of the obedience of a (crumbling) innocence, as representative of a life of love to the neighbor. On the other hand is the television, appealing powerfully to the sensual degree that, as we shall see, characterizes his life, as representative of the evil associated with the child's budding proprium. And the child, lacking not only reasoned judgment but in fact to a large extent the ability to differentiate between the "reality" of his imagination and that of the external world, must decide between them. Nor does the hellish cruelty of this situation simply get marked off as one of childhood's passing tribulations. For "it is here [in early childhood] that the twig is bent in the general direction in which it will grow.

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Distinctions of feeling deeply rooted here will continue to influence the mind for ever afterwards, and can hardly be uprooted later, though they may be greatly modified."*
     * De Charms (1953), p. 160.
     While commercial television is the most obvious offender, it is certainly not alone. So-called "educational" television is also a danger. (Indeed, the distinction seems pointless. In the words of one observer: "All television is educational television. The only question is, what is it teaching?"*) To begin with, the two classic studies of children's viewing habits-one conducted in Great Britain,** and one in the U. S.***-both demonstrated that children were not only not interested in "educational" type television, they were not even interested in "good" children's entertainment shows. They overwhelmingly preferred-and watched, if possible-adult shows, particularly fast-paced action shows such as "crime thrillers."
     * Life Magazine, Sept. 10, 1971, p. 66.
     ** Himmelweit et al., op. cit.
     *** Schramm et al., op. cit.
     The response to this fact of many of the people responsible for noncommercial children's or "educational" television (such as "Sesame Street") seems well represented by a recent comment by the head of BBC's Children's Programmes:

     "Our first aim in making programmes for children must be to provide programmes they will really enjoy; we want to give them a chance to unwind-to laugh or be carried away by an exciting adventure. This may not be all they need, but it is an essential need, and even a serious information programme must be done in such a way that children find it entertaining and fun. Nearly all children love cartoons which are full of fast action, loud noise, and either slapstick comedy or exciting adventure."*
     * M. Sims. "Mass Media and the Child." Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 64:363 (1971).

     "We naturally take notice [she continues] of people who don't want children to be frightened or disturbed, but I think we must not ignore the desire many children have to be a little frightened. . . . We clearly have a great responsibility to children who may be viewing alone, but I think that responsibility includes not being overprotective. Children have to learn about life and to face it, and even in the programmes we do for very young children we try to look at life realistically."*
     * Ibid., pp. 363, 365.

     The monumental errors in this approach are nowhere better seen than in comparison with a passage from The Growth of the Mind:

     "We believe that the very earliest stories to be told to children, as soon as they are able to understand at all, are the stories of the Word, which, however, must be greatly simplified and adapted in expression to the child's capacity. Next to these come the folklore and fables that have come down from very ancient times, containing remnants of spiritual truth that because of their long tradition are the basis of a powerful influx from the other world.

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And next to these come simple fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and songs which the child can learn, and through which he can know the delight of telling and singing them himself. The power of all these is increased if the word pictures are accompanied by actual pictures, simple in design, positive in color, without too great a mass of detail to distract and confuse."*
     * De Charms (1953), p. 159.

     Can a greater contrast be imagined? Thinking from worldly appearances the broadcaster apparently proposes to combat the proprial appeals of commercial television by offering even stronger appeals of the same kind, not to mention frightening the child and introducing him to innocence-destroying "realities"! What effect, indeed, will it (in common with the commercial programs) have on the children's view of the Christmas tableaux, or printed pictures or their own drawings of stories from the Word? Will not these latter seem by contrast dull and lifeless? Will not "real" education itself all seem dull and lifeless?
     The child's imagination does not need the help of television or "animated" cartoons. With a profound insight into the realities behind creation, he intuitively sees what the adult cannot. For children "no distinction is as yet drawn between what is natural and what is spiritual. Everything is imbued with life. Inanimate toys take on the attributes of human beings, and speak, and will, and act as truly for the child as do the persons who enter into his world."*
     * Ibid., p. 159.
     The simplest pictures and scenes are thus, from Providence, injected by the child's imagination with life of the richest (and spiritually truest) kind. To expose him to the false appearances of "liveness" (not life) of television not only betrays this innocent imagination but replaces it with a sensual appeal to the proprium that constitutes television's grimmest threat of all.

     [EDITORIAL NOTE: The writer of this article is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Keneth A. Simons (Rita Isabel Evens) of Bryn Athyn. His early graduate training was in educational television, and he is now finishing a Ph.D. in developmental psychology. His aim in the article is to stimulate New Church men to look for solutions of the problems dealt with for themselves, not to propose specific answers.]

     (To be continued.)

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RISING ABOVE THE APPEARANCE 1972

RISING ABOVE THE APPEARANCE Rev. ALFRED BEKUYISE MBATHA 1972

     (Delivered at the Ministers' Meetings of the Mission in South Africa, June 25, 1971.)

     "But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him; for the Lord seeth not as a man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."*
     * Samuel 16: 7.
     "Then Jesus said unto them, take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, and they reasoned among themselves, saying, it is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, He said unto them, O, ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."*
     * Matthew 16: 6-12.
     "From this [i.e. from thinking of nature as a principal cause and living force rather than an instrument of cause and dead force] spring the fallacies, which are innumerable, in all reasonings about spiritual, moral and civil matters; for a fallacy is an inversion of order; it is the judgment of the eye, not of the mind; it is a conclusion from the appearance of a thing, not from its essence. Consequently to reason from fallacies respecting the world and existence of things in it is like confirming by reasonings that thick darkness is light."*
     * AE 1215: 4.
     The first quotation teaches us that the Lord does not regard the external from its appearance, and thus determine the internal from the external. But what the Lord does is to look into the internal and thus regard the external from the internal. This is plain from the incident wherein the Lord appointed David as the king of the Israelites. The Lord looked into David's interior characteristics, that is, the quality of his mind rather than his outward appearance. This teaching points out that the Lord deals with the externals from on high.

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And whatever pertains to the Lord should be judged from the level of internals. It is true, however, that man cannot see things from on high as the Lord, for man acts from below. But man ought to rise above the appearance and judge appearances from the level of spiritual things.
     The second quotation demonstrates how misleading the literal sense can be if the understanding of the scriptural events be not derived from the internal sense. We see this from what the Lord said and what His disciples thought. Such a teaching can also be found in the fourth chapter of John where the Lord spoke to the Samaritan woman, and the woman did not understand what the Lord was speaking of when He said that the woman should have asked for water from Him; also when He went further to say that He (the Lord) would give her living water which, when she would drink, she would never thirst again. It is impossible for the Lord to speak from the external without the internal, since He is the internal. Once He speaks, that which comes from Him is the internal.

     The last quotation (from AE 1215: 4) teaches us that there is a difference between the judgment of the eye and that of the mind. The judgment of the eye being the conclusion from the appearance of a thing, while the judgment of the mind is a conclusion from the essence of a thing. And it goes on to say that reasoning from the appearance is like confirming that darkness is light. From this teaching we can see that when man thinks of what is written in the Word he ought to rise above the appearance if he has the intention of thinking from truth.
     From the second quotation (Matthew 16: 6-12; cf. John 4: 4-15) we find interesting points about how natural things cover spiritual things. The essential point is that spiritual things, before clothed with natural, are from the Lord complete, and only clothe themselves with (natural) coverings for the sake of accommodation to the lower states of angels and men. That the spiritual as they descend from the Lord are complete means that there is nothing natural in spiritual things. When the spiritual are clothed with natural things there is no commingling of the two natures or essences. The two are together distinctly.
     Now in this case the Lord spoke to His disciples, and when He spoke, from Him proceeded such truths as would clothe themselves with the external ideas of the states of the disciples' minds who, in fact, represented the people of those days as to their ruling ideas. These truths which proceed from the Lord are truths that were not newly created in the Lord, but were truths which have been in Him, that have been Him ever since. The same truths when sent forth by the Lord from Himself to the people of the Ancient Church would clothe themselves differently.

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From the literal sense we can see that, according to the state of the minds of the disciples, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were people who mixed the false ideas of their own minds and the truths of the Lord's Word. As they were known to be such to the disciples, they could becomingly represent perverters. But to the people of the Most Ancient Church, where such perversions did not exist, the truths would not clothe themselves with the external ideas of "the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees." This is why the style of the writing of the Old Testament differs from that of the New Testament. Therefore in order not to be misled by different kinds of coverings man should rise above the coverings or appearances.

The Writings are the only doctrine of the Lord that teaches us what the Lord really meant in what is covered by the literal sense of His Word. This is called the revealing of the spiritual sense. And in giving the spiritual sense the Writings do use a natural language, but that language, though natural, is more interior than the language used in the Old and the New Testament. For example, in the True Christian Religion (nos. 670-673), where baptism is treated of, it is stated clearly that the washing which was done by means of water represented the removal of sins by means of truth which is spiritual water. From the literal sense of the Writings one gets something higher than what one gets from the literal sense of the Old and New Testament. For it is known in this world that water is something visible to our external eyes-the eyes of the corporeal body-whereas truth is something visible only to the mind. This shows that the Writings give us something above the appearance of the sensuous vision, though this is not always the case apparently. For an instance, the Memorable Relations give both. They give rational truth and also truth representatively.
The Writings, in explaining the internal sense of the Word, use a natural language whose words have connotations of worldly ideas. Where the Writings give the internal sense they use a natural language whose words are capable of conveying rational ideas. But where they give the internal meaning representatively, that is, where they give the truth through the medium of representing objects and figures, or through the medium of the names of the representing objects and figures, the language appears to bear only the meaning of the representing objects, forms and figures. These connotations are aroused in our minds whenever the literal sense of the Word is read, or is thought of. Especially when the Old and New Testament are read, these connotations are aroused in our minds as forms and figures of certain worldly objects; this depending on what natural objects, forms, and figures with which the Word is naturally associated.

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These are aroused because they have been committed to one's memory since birth, from the time one could, by means of any of one's senses, receive an impression. It is these impressions and their association with words that are projected from one's memory when the literal sense of the Word is read. It is these projections of the memory-knowledge that will always cast a shadow upon the truth of the literal sense and make man think that the literal sense is telling him of worldly things when it is speaking of spiritual things representatively. At this point man thinks naturally of spiritual things.* Yet the truth is that the Word is written in such a way that the natural language should by means of the natural ideas inherent in it convey spiritual ideas to man on earth.
     * AC 5110.
     A most important fact to bear in mind is that the Writings explain what is contained in the literal sense of the Word through the medium of the natural language and not through the medium of a spiritual language. The natural language used by the Writings in explaining the spiritual sense is in itself capable of containing abstract ideas, ideas remote from the sensual ideas of material things. For this reason the language used in the Writings forms a path leading to the rational mind of man. But where the Writings speak of representations seen in the spiritual world, our minds are tilted away from abstract truth and begin to think from the forms of natural objects.* This is to think from appearances rather than from truth of the rational.
     * See AC 6047: 2, 9294, 2516 et al.

     The explanation of our theme shall here be illustrated by Judas Iscariot. It is known from the Word of our Lord that Judas was one of the Lord's disciples. Probably we all believe that as the Lord once assumed a corporeal body and lived on this earth externally or naturally, so His disciples must have lived. And likewise they later left the natural world for the spiritual world.
     Now let us read from the Writings about these people.
     In the True Christian Religion (see Nos. 4, 109, 791) we read of the Lord calling together His disciples who had followed Him on earth, and we read of the Lord sending these disciples to go through the spiritual world to teach that He reigns. We are taught that this event took place in the spiritual world on the 19th day of June, 1770. In True Christian Religion 4 it is even stated that the Lord's disciples were then angels.
     Now let us pose a question of this nature: Was Judas Iscariot among them then? Since others were then angels, would it mean that Judas after death also went to heaven? Had he been forgiven his sin of betraying the Lord?

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     Only members of the New Church can be worried about such questions. Members of the Old Church never worry about such questions since to their knowledge Judas is lying deep underground awaiting the Last Judgment, which judgment, according to the Word of the Lord, was accomplished in 1757. When we think of Judas as an individual person, or an individual figure, we cannot say with certainty what became of him in the other world. We cannot say whether the twelfth disciple was Judas or was the disciple who was chosen to replace him after his departure from the natural world. Some may be inclined to think that it was Judas, and suppose that he committed suicide from a repentant heart.

     To think of what is written in the Word in the way we think of natural things and events is not to think from the truth of the Word. To think of Judas as an individual figure is not to think of Judas of whom it is written in the Word, because so to think is to think of the literal sense as being solely natural without anything spiritual in it. The Word of our Lord can never be external without being internal since what proceeds from Him is Divine, and what covers forms the external. So it is contrary to the Word to think anything from it as being divorced from its internal. So to think of the Judas of the Word it is proper for us to think from the truth of what is written in the Word, and be directed by the Writings as to what is really meant.
     In the Lord's Word we are told nothing of Judas's lot after his departure from this world. Yet there is a lot taught in the Word about Judas. In fact all we know about Judas is what is written in the Word. And we should remember that "the Word is written according to appearances," some of which are not true correspondent appearances but representative appearances. (For example, mountains, horses, are true correspondences, but Moses, Elias, etc. are representatives.)* It may be well to note here that true correspondences are external forms of things that were and are created by the Lord to represent spiritual things permanently. For example, we are taught that in this world mountains represent a state of love to the Lord, and even in the spiritual world those who are in love to the Lord appear to dwell on mountains.** But representations are not from creation permanently correspondent to spiritual things. Moses, for example, represented the Word of the "Old Testament, which was also called 'Moses and the Prophets"'. But would he in the other world, as a person, appear associated with the Word? The answer is: only to those in whose ideas he was associated with the Word, as in Luke 9: 2834, where Moses and Elias appeared to the Lord's disciples.

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In fact the disciples had in their minds that Moses and Elias were men of God who wrote the Old Testament. They also had in their memory-knowledge the idea that these were God's leaders. So the state of their minds was such that the appearances of Moses and Elias represented the Word which Moses and Elias were led to write. But to the people of the Most Ancient Church the appearance of Moses and Elias could not be associated with the Word, because with them the truths from the Lord were not covered that way. We are told that with those people perception was the Lord's gateway. The truths through perception from the Lord were sensed from natural objects, which natural objects were correspondences of certain spiritual truths and goods. In other words, if on this occasion instead of Peter, James and John (Luke 9: 28) the Lord had called three men of the time of the Adamites, Moses and Elias would not have appeared. But the truths which proceeded from the Lord which caused the appearance of Moses and Elias would have proceeded and caused an appearance of certain forms, such as were proper to the state of their minds. Perhaps forms such as the sun of heaven or something else would have appeared to represent what was represented by Moses and Elias to the three disciples.
     * AC 1838, 3207: 3.
     ** AE 405; AC 10580: 2; HH 188.
     It is clear from this that the truth and the truthfulness of the sense of the letter of the Word lie in the internal sense. The truthfulness of the Word should not be searched for from the external sense, but should be searched for from the spiritual sense. For when we think spiritually of what is said in the Word we will always find the meaning above what projects from our sensual degree of the mind. And this meaning which rests above the appearance forms the medium of communication between the Lord and man's rational mind. That this is so is because the rational mind is instructed by the Lord by means of rational truths which are above the appearance of the sensuous degree of man. So if man is to be instructed he has to be present in the region where instruction takes place. And since instruction by the Lord takes place above the appearances of the natural man, man has to rise above the appearance.
     Continuing with Judas as our illustration, here we shall now read Apocalypse Explained 434: 7:

     "Although these are historical facts, they nevertheless contain a spiritual sense; for each and everything that is in the Word is from the spiritual world, because it is from the Lord; when these spiritual things are let down out of heaven into the natural world, they are clothed with a correspondent natural sense such as the sense of the letter of the Word is . . . ."

     This quotation discloses an important point when it says that the spiritual descends complete from the Lord.

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So the natural clothing does not in any way form a part of the spiritual, though they are together as body and soul.
     Thus when we read of Judas in the Word, we should not confirm the early projections of our minds which stand forth as a figure or image of a male man of a certain stature and certain imaginable features such as the projections may display in the imaginative degree of the mind. As we have been told that the Word of the Lord comes from Him through heaven we also learn in Sacred Scripture 71 that "the Word in the heavens has no literal meaning."

     This can be demonstrated as follows: Say we send a man from this world (were it possible) and when he comes there, let him read from the Word where the name Judas appears. After reading that to the angels, let him ask the angels to show him the person meant by the name Judas. In the first place the angels would not have heard him speak of a person. They would have heard him speak of "the reception of the Lord's truth by the Jews."* This would also differ according to the different heavens. This subject would be clearer if we treat of the Lord's disciples as a whole.
     * AE 433.
     In the Apocalypse Explained 433 we read thus: "The Lord's disciples represented the church of the Lord in general, and each of them some universal essential of it, and Judas such as it was with the Jews." And concerning the generals of the church we read in No. 100: 2 that the apostles signify "those who teach the truths of the church, and in a sense abstracted from persons, the truths themselves."
     The above doctrinal truths do not belong to the imaginative appearances of the lower mind where natural forms or figures are seen. They do not belong to such appearances as where Judas is imagined as a person. They belong to the region which is above appearances of the sensual degree where Judas is seen as taught above.*
     * See AE 433.
     Of Judas we are told that he, as a disciple, represented the Lord's truth such as it was received by the Jews who, in fact, received it pervertedly.* So, whatever is written about Judas in the Word is proper to the treatment of truth by the Jews. The betrayal of the Lord by Judas represents to us what the Jews did to the Divine truth. Yet the true and absolute meaning in the Jews' betrayal of the Lord is what the evils and falsities, which are represented by the Jews, did to the Divine truth. Those evils and falsities were then in the Jews, but they can be in us now. If such evils prevail with us, we are the Jews that betray the Lord.
     * AC 4751; L 16: 6; AE 433.
     Nowhere does the Word treat of Judas's personal life as an individual being. Judas covered the truth that had descended from the Lord, and formed the external embodiment but added nothing of his essence to the truth that rested upon him.

225

     In True Christian Religion 4 we are told that the disciples were then angels. Yet of angels we read in Apocalypse Explained 735: 2 thus:

     "By those angels that are mentioned in the Word, as Michael and Raphael, administrations and functions are meant, and in general, limited and certain departments of administration and function of all the angels; so here Michael means that department of angelic function that has been referred to above, namely, the defense of that part of the doctrine from the Word that teaches that the Human of the Lord is Divine, and that man must live a life of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor that he may receive salvation from the Lord; consequently that department of function is meant that is for fighting against those who separate the Divine from the Human of the Lord, and who separate faith from the life of love and charity . . . . Moreover, in the Word angels do not mean angels in the spiritual sense, but Divine truths from the Lord, for the reason that angels are not angels from what is their own. . . . Angels, moreover, in the heavens do not have such names as men on earth have, but they have names expressive of their functions, and in general, to every angel a name is given according to his quality . . . ."

     And an angel's quality is determined by the quality of the truth of which he is a receptacle.
     So if we would think of Judas in this aspect, that is, as to what is meant by him in Apocalypse Explained 433, we find it difficult to think that he as an angel would still represent the state of the truth as it was received by the Jews who perverted the truth and adulterated its goods. In heaven there is no such state. Yet the deeper explanation that Judas, like the Jews, represented the Lord's celestial kingdom, is readily acceptable."*
     * AE 433e.
     In fact the Jews did not create evil and falsity but they perverted the Lord's truth and adulterated His good. Hence in a good sense they represented the Lord's celestial kingdom. That evil or falsity have life of their own is an appearance above which the church has to rise.
     When we read therefore that the Lord in 1770 called together His disciples, we should not allow our minds to adhere to the persons called Peter, James, John, Philip, Thomas, Judas etc., who once lived in the world. But we should rise above that and think of the angelic administrations and functions they represented, just as we have been told above that "Michael" represented a certain department of angelic administration and function. But to us when the name of Michael is read, we first think of an angelic person. Yet it is true that an angelic society sends an angel to represent it. When one represents, what is his own in the appearance is not involved. This can be seen if we think above the appearance and not from the appearance as we are told in the third quotation at the beginning of this paper.

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To judge from the appearance is to judge from what one sees with his external eyes, but not only the external eyes of the corporeal body. The spirit of a man has external eyes, but the internal eyes of the spirit are the understanding. The understanding is the spiritual sight we ought to use to rise above the appearance.
     By the year 1770, the Lord's disciples could be in heaven, all of them, since we are told in Heaven and Hell 426 that man does not stay longer than thirty years in the world of spirits. This, again, however, is true representatively. This is a truth of appearance since it speaks of time, something that does not exist in the spiritual world. That this is true representatively is seen in Arcana 7984: 2-4 where it says that by thirty years beyond which a man does not stay in the world of spirits is meant that man stays there until he reaches a full state and that state is signified by "thirty".
     So, they would be in heaven after completing their individual full state and not thirty years of time. States are not measured in lengths of hours, days and years, but are measured in states of affections.*
     * AC 7984.
     When things descend from the Lord down to the natural world, they change according to correspondences. But this changing is only in the appearance and not in the internal quality of the spiritual truth. The covering is added and it makes a difference to the appearance. Concerning this, let us now read:

     "These two classes, animals and plants, have the same origin and thus the same soul, the difference being only in the forms into which the influx flows . . . . The only difference is that affections appear formed into animals by the spiritual in its intermediate parts, while they appear formed into plants in ultimates, which are the lands there . . . . The agreement with the affections of the angels and spirits is so complete that an animal can be changed into a corresponding plant, and a plant into a corresponding animal."*
     * AE 1212.

     From the above quotation we learn many things about appearances. We learn that what may appear as a plant in a lower region may appear as an animal in a higher region. But anyone who dares to think from the appearance can easily be misled concerning spiritual things and their truthfulness. But in both regions, if one thought from the spiritual, above that appearance, he would have found that the truth to which the plant corresponded is from a certain good to which the animal corresponds. Moreover the science of correspondences is based on uses of those particular correspondent things.

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That is: if we are told that a stone corresponds to natural truth, in actual fact it is the use of the stone that corresponds to natural truth and not the form or appearance of the stone. As the stone is used for building a house, so is the use of that truth to the interior man.*
     * Doctrine of Uses.
     This shows that the doctrine of correspondences and representatives is based on something above the appearance. In this connection, therefore, we might therefore note that all memorable relations found in the Writings are not of themselves true teachings but are true representations of truths.* Finally, to rise above the appearance is to be in the good of the truth that we understand, since all truth is originally from good.
     * AR 839.
REPENTANCE AND THE HOLY SUPPER 1972

REPENTANCE AND THE HOLY SUPPER 1972

"Actual repentance is to examine oneself, to know and acknowledge one's sins, to make supplication to the Lord, and to begin a new life. If this be done at stated times, for instance as often as a man prepares himself for the communion of the Holy Supper, and if he afterwards abstains from one or more sins which he has then discovered in himself, it is sufficient to initiate him into actual repentance" (TCR 528, 530).
MINISTERIAL CHANGES 1972

MINISTERIAL CHANGES Editor 1972

The Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom, Assistant to the Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, Canada, has accepted a call to the pastorate of Michael Church, London, England, effective September 1, 1972.
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

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HOLY SPIRIT AND THE LAITY 1972

HOLY SPIRIT AND THE LAITY Rev. ORMOND ODHNER 1972

     The Holy Spirit, the third essential of the Trinity, is the Divine proceeding, the Divine as it goes forth from itself, the Divine in the act of going forth. In particular, it is the Divine truth proceeding from the glorified Human of the Lord; that is, the Word, or, rather, the holiness and truth that are in the Word. And since it is by means of these that man is saved, the Holy Spirit is usually and correctly spoken of as the Lord's work or operation or influence upon men to regenerate and save them and lead them into heaven.
     However, in order that men and angels may have something to do, uses to perform and happiness therefrom,* the Lord does this work, not immediately from and by Himself, but through the medium of angels and men. Hence these teachings concerning the Holy Spirit:
          *AC 8719.

     "The Divine which is called the Holy Spirit, passing from God through His Human, passes through the angelic heaven into the world, thus through angels into men . . . . Thence it passes through men to men, and in the church chiefly through the clergy into the laity."*
     * Canons HS III and IV.

     The Lord effects His work of salvation, then, (His work of inspiring men with a genuine understanding of revealed truth and with an unselfish love of doing its teachings) through angels and men. He does so in order that we may have uses to perform and life and happiness in and from those uses. But although men and angels perform such uses, although they are the media through whom the Lord effects His work of salvation, it is still His work that they do. It is still the Holy Spirit, the third essential of the Trinity.
     "The Holy Spirit passes through men to men, and in the church chiefly through the clergy into the laity." Usually in our Church, and with good reason, the emphasis has been on the role of the clergy as the medium of the Holy Spirit. Here, however, I would speak especially of the role of the laity as the medium for the Holy Spirit, for the laity also has a definite part in this, a part not specifically defined in the Writings, perhaps, but discernable if we study the exact role which the Writings assign to the clergy.

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What is not thus exclusively specified-and it is a good deal-surely is properly the role of the laity, or of the laity and the clergy together.
     The first reason that we emphasize the role of the clergy as the special medium of the Holy Spirit is simply that it is true that it should be emphasized! We need not dwell here on the necessity of having a church on earth, nor on the need in it for a trained and ordained clergy, duly inaugurated into the priesthood through the laying on of hands, to represent its role as the special medium for the transfer of the Holy Spirit to the laity.
     The Holy Spirit, remember, is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, for it is the Divine truth that saves; and in the church it is the trained and ordained ministry which is to teach the truth. Thus the Writings say: priests are to "teach truths, and thereby lead to the good of life, and so to the Lord."*
     * HD 315 et al.
     They emphasize the role of the priesthood even more strongly in the following: "Good can be insinuated into another by anyone in his country, but not truth, except by those who are teaching ministers; if others do this, heresies arise, and the church is disturbed and rent asunder."*
     * AC 6822.

     A second reason, also important, for stressing the role of the clergy as the special medium for the transflux of the Holy Spirit is historical. The New Church went through a long and often bitter struggle before it finally granted its clergy independence from actual control by the laity in the teaching of the truths of religion. Early laymen in the Church, probably because of their heritage from those Protestant churches which teach that the priesthood is universal and common to all men, either wanted to tell the clergy what to preach and how to preach, or else wanted to be on an equal footing with the clergy in the formulation of doctrine for the church.
     Both things are disorderly. For a layman to tell a minister what to preach and how to preach is, in the last analysis, for the layman to do the preaching. And for the layman (or woman, for we have had them, too,) to put himself on equal footing with the clergy in the formulation of doctrine is for him to ignore all that is meant by ordination and by the enlightenment of use.
     Ordination is not the ceremonial rite of inauguration into the priesthood. Ordination is the ordering, the training of the mind which comes with specialized schooling and with experience.

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Among the obvious things it effects is to teach the minister how to make a thorough study of a subject in the books of Divine revelation. This is not an easy job, and the average layman simply does not have the ability and the time to do it.
     More important is the enlightenment of the use. There is an enlightenment peculiar to every use, arising in part from the daily demands of the use itself. The use of the priesthood is to teach truth, and to lead thereby to the good of life, and thus to the Lord; in other words, openly to work for the salvation or the health of souls. This is the daily concern of the minister; it is not the daily concern of the layman, and therefore in that work he has not the enlightenment of the use.
     Yet again, part of the concern of the priest is to preserve the church -the organized church; to preserve it, not as an end in itself, but as the best possible means of promoting the teaching of spiritual truths and leading thereby to the good of life. Everyone's first loyalty, of course, must be to the Lord's own true church; and this is a purely spiritual thing, beyond exact identification. But he also has a most important loyalty to the organized church as the best possible embodiment of that spiritual church. It is his resultant privilege and duty to work to preserve it and to perfect it as an ever more fitting embodiment of the Lord's New Church; and, once again, this is the daily concern of the priest, and it is not the daily concern of any layman.
     This is why we are told that good can be insinuated into another by anyone in his country, but not truth, except by those who are teaching ministers, and that if others do this, heresies will arise and the church will be disturbed and rent asunder. Heresy is truth taken out of context and over-emphasized at the expense of other truths surrounding that modify it; it is not falsity. This process the priest especially can avoid, both because of his training and because of his enlightenment in and from the use.
     Contrary to the beliefs of the Lutheran Church, in which Swedenborg was raised, the Writings teach that the priesthood is not universal, and that those who believe it is, if by stealth they seek to subvert the doctrine of the church, are cast out of heaven.*
     * SD 4904.

     If, then, it is the special work of the clergy to teach the truth of the Word and to lead thereby to the good of life and thus to the Lord, and to do this with concern for the organized church as the embodiment of the Lord's true church on earth; if the Holy Spirit in its essence is the Divine truth proceeding from the glorified Human of the Lord; and if there is no possible operation of the Holy Spirit apart from such truth; we would ask: Is there anything left for the laity, that it, too, may serve as the medium for the transflux of the Holy Spirit from the Lord to other men?

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     The answer, of course, is, yes. Good, remember, can be insinuated into another by anyone in his country; and if this be done in connection with the Divine truth now proceeding from the Lord's glorified Human, this insinuation of good is also the Holy Spirit.
     It is not the clergyman himself who moves another's heart to a living acceptance of truth. He himself is not the Holy Spirit. Preachers, we read, "can, indeed . . . bring [truth] to the understanding of many, but not to the heart of anyone, and that which is not in the heart perishes in the understanding."*
     * DP 172e.
     Preachers can, of course, and they should, accommodate truth to the age in and to which they are preaching; but in so doing they must ever strive to educate the age up to the truth, rather than merely adapt or modify or even evade the truth for the sake of the age. And they must preach truth in such a way as to stir the affections of their hearers, for nothing is implanted even in the memory except through affections, but they must ever be careful not to appeal to the proprial affections, the evil affections, of their hearers. When truths are implanted in a man through such affections, we are told, he cannot thereafter be regenerated until those affections themselves are extirpated.*
     * AC 5280.
     Even so, however, the preacher can merely bring truth to the understanding of his hearers. Only the Lord can move the heart to the acceptance of truth, and always He does this in accord with the free and rational state of each individual. Moving the heart to a living acceptance of truth is, I repeat, the work of the Lord. It is, in fact, the Holy Spirit.
     Yet even this work the Lord usually effects through men. Oh, occasionally some sight of nature will move an individual's heart to a living reception of truth; but usually the heart is moved through the medium of some other person: the example of his wisdom in putting a truth into act; his homely, unsophisticated way of re-stating a truth in application to a problem of life. And the laity, equally with the clergy, can serve the Lord in this use.
     It was a layman, for example, not a minister, who first phrased a certain truth in the following way: "The Lord can forgive you. That's all He wants to do. Why can't you forgive yourself?" Yet such a way of stating a truth may, at a given moment, do more to pull a person up out of the depths of self-condemnation and despondency than can a clergyman's learned dissertation on the infinite mercy of God.

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This is not the kind of teaching of truth that the Writings withhold from the laity; but if that simple, homely way of phrasing a truth is what moves a heart to personal acceptance of truth, then that is the work of the Lord. It is the Holy Spirit.
     Indeed, every male, layman or clergyman, relies on laymen-lay women, rather-for reception of the Holy Spirit in one certain regard. No male can receive love truly conjugial directly from the Lord. He can receive it only through women, and in a marriage of conjugial love, only through his wife. Yet the reception of love truly conjugial, which is possible only in the truths of the Lord's glorified Human, is also the operation of the Holy Spirit.
     The laity as well as the clergy can serve such uses for the transflux of the Holy Spirit from the Lord. They can, and indeed they should. It is not in the least disorderly that they should strive to do so. Rather it is the will of the Lord, who allows us all to partake in such uses so that in them we may find life and happiness.
     Yet if the layman is to serve successfully as such a medium for the Holy Spirit, he must assume certain duties and responsibilities. We cannot here dwell on the chief and most obvious of these; the responsibility, shared equally by priest and layman, of suffering himself to be regenerated. The effectiveness of the Lord's work to save is most definitely conditioned by the spiritual state of the man through whom He works; even if its effectiveness is not totally negated by his unregenerate state unless his evils be such as to cause open scandal against him or such as to render him obtuse to the spiritual welfare of others.
     Note that last point: he must be sincerely interested in the spiritual welfare of others. That is not the daily, full-time work of the layman, it is true; nor is it his concern, as it is the priest's, to become involved in the spiritual needs of all other men in the church. But he is to be interested in the spiritual needs of all those with whom he has intimate contacts. And that he may become sincerely interested in others, let him pray to the Lord for the same thing that Solomon prayed for: an understanding heart to judge among his people-not just understanding, but an understanding heart.
     If the layman adopts such a frame of mind, it may well be that the Lord will inspire him to do or say just the right thing at just the right moment to move another person to a living acceptance of the truth. (Conversely, he must be willing to listen to others, be they great or small, learned or unlearned, wise or simple, with an understanding heart. It may be through them that the Lord is leading to a regenerative acceptance of truth.)

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     Truth! In its essence the Holy Spirit is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord's glorified Human, and the Lord cannot effect that saving work which is the Holy Spirit apart from such truth. The layman must therefore know the truth for himself, as well as he is able, for any apparent inspiration of good that he effects apart from Divine truth is merely the inspiration of natural good, not spiritual good, not the good of the church. It is not the Holy Spirit.
     But let no one set himself up as the Divinely appointed means of saving someone else. Let no one assume that he can know with certainty what to say or do at any given moment to move another's heart to the living acceptance of a truth. That is to identify oneself with the Holy Spirit; and the more anyone does this, we are told, the more he loses of his intellectual endowment, for his love of himself destroys it.* The salvation of no one else at all is utterly dependent upon any one other individual, be he priest or be he layman. You can never be totally sure that exactly what you are doing or exactly what you are saying is exactly what is needed at the moment to further another man's regeneration. You can hope and pray that it is. You can prepare yourself to be a fit medium for the transflux of the Holy Spirit. You can do your best. But you are not the Holy Spirit. You cannot move another's heart to the acceptance of truth. The Lord alone does that; and He will do it just exactly when that other person is rationally and freely ready to accept it.
     * SD 4537.
     Yet looking back at our lives, we can see times when other people have spiritually benefited from our conscious efforts. On such occasions we must acknowledge that the work then effected was not our own work, but the Lord's-that it was indeed the Holy Spirit then proceeding from the Lord through us to other men; and then, with humility of heart, we can give thanks to the Lord for allowing us to share with Him in that use.

     Not everyone in the church can be a minister. Not everyone wants to be! The priest must be zealous to do his work properly, so that in the church it may indeed be chiefly through the clergy that the Holy Spirit shall pass to the laity. But the laity also serve as media for the transflux of the Holy Spirit to others; and in that sense, which fulfills his hope, we may pray as did Moses: "Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put His spirit upon them."

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"SEE HERE; SEE THERE" 1972

"SEE HERE; SEE THERE" Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE

Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Editor Business Manager

Published Monthly By

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

Editor               Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION

$5.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy. 50 cents.
     Leaderless men crave leadership, once they have realized their predicament; and bewildered men in a world too complex for them long to find simple answers and discover immediate solutions for longstanding problems. When human leadership fails and its answers and solutions are found wanting, men may turn to the Divine, only to be misled. This may be hinted at in the Lord's warning to those who should desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man: "And they shall say unto you, See here; or, see there: go not after, nor follow." It may be manifested also in the "Jesus Movement" which has spread among young people. For whatever reason, the movement expresses a need for Divine leadership and for simple yet final answers. In a time of mounting tension its adherents want to show love; in states of despair they want hope to be reaffirmed; and in our swift-moving life they cry for instant salvation.
     Before we dismiss this contemptuously, let us realize its appeal to something that lies deep in the human heart. Man longs to be led by something other than self. Love is the life of man; he lives in loving, and if he were not loved he would die. The desire to be saved also lies deep, and it is only the impatience of the natural that wants instant salvation. It is true that youth may be turning to the Lord because other leadership in which it trusted has failed; but those who turn to Him because they see nowhere else to go may be better off than those who have an alternative. The movement may be emotional rather than rational, and will therefore not result in the establishment of the Lord's church; but in His hands it may yet be used for good.

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CHRISTIAN AGNOSTICISM 1972

CHRISTIAN AGNOSTICISM Editor 1972

     A remarkable phenomenon of our times has been the rise of what is called Christian agnosticism. By an agnostic was meant originally one who professes ignorance of the existence or of the nature of God, an unseen world, and so on. Now, more of ten, the term refers to one who asserts the impossibility of any knowledge of God or of ultimate things. In either instance the agnostic does not deny God; he simply claims that he does not, or cannot, know Him. Similarly, by a Christian agnostic is not meant one who denies the Christian faith, but the decent, honorable high-minded man who cannot honestly accept much of the language that is heard in the churches or the ideas which it expresses.
     Among the reasons given in the Writings for the slow growth of the New Church is that the falsities of the former church must first be removed, and that the Heavenly Doctrine cannot be acknowledged and thence received except by those who have not confirmed themselves in doctrine and life in faith alone. Some will reject these falsities, and thence avoid confirmation in them, under the direct influence of the Writings themselves, and thus be led to accept the Heavenly Doctrine. Others who do not as yet have access to the Writings, and who cannot replace them with the truth, will discard these falsities; refusing to acknowledge or believe them, and dismissing them as useless and no longer of service.
     Christian agnosticism may be playing a significant role in this process. Christian agnostics may be interiorly affected by truth, even though they do not yet see it; and although they cannot yet exercise the faculty they may not have destroyed the intellectual in themselves by the loves of self and the world. In other words, Christian agnosticism may not be part of the breakdown of religion but a separation from orthodox and contemporary Christianity as intellectually untenable, and therefore within the Lord's providential preparation for the eventual spread of His New Church. So regarded, it may be viewed as a positive rather than a negative factor in our culture.
CONJUNCTION WITH THE LORD 1972

CONJUNCTION WITH THE LORD Editor 1972

Easter directs our minds to what the Lord became by His glorification and resurrection: to the love that brought Him into the world and to its end and purpose, and to the means to that end which He willingly used. The Lord's life, we are taught, was one of continual combat and victory. Usually a victor seeks a prize; yet the Lord, we are assured, never looked for a prize of victory for Himself.

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His prize was the salvation of the human race, and it was from love toward the entire human race that He fought. And He who fights from this love demands no prize for himself, because this love is such that it wills to give and transfer everything of its own to others and to have nothing for itself.
     In the weeks that follow Easter, therefore, we may well consider the result of what the Lord became by glorification. One way of doing so is through the teaching that by His resurrection and ascension the Lord entered into the sabbath of His rest. By this is not meant a state of cessation of activity, one of passivity, but a state of pure and intense activity made possible by the ceasing of all that was opposed to the Divine. It means that the Lord had completed in Himself the union of the Divine and the Human and had entered into conjunction with heaven, and through heaven with the church; and this is an active state in which angels and men have peace because they are in the Lord, and nothing of self-will or self-leading mars.

     This seems to be the meaning of the teaching that when the glorification had been effected, the result was an influx of the Supreme Divine with man that otherwise could not possibly have existed. Prior to the glorification, the spirit of the Lord could operate on man only imperceptibly, but the Holy Spirit which proceeds from the Divine Human operates perceptibly, and enables man to understand spiritual truths in a natural manner. Here is an influx and operation, and the effect on man thereof, that did not exist previously, that was made possible by the Lord's victory; and this is meant by the sabbath of His rest.

     It is this that is referred to in the Writings as conjunction-a term applicable to the relation between the Lord and man. In the Lord there was union; among angels and men there is consociation; but between the Lord and man there is conjunction. The Lord is in man as the source of the good he loves and wills, of the truth he loves and understands, and of the uses he loves and does; and man is in the Lord as the ultimate through which the Divine love and wisdom perform uses to other men. It may be said that the Lord's love is the end; His Divine Human is the means; and the reciprocal conjunction of the Lord and man, in which is salvation, is the effect. And this effect or result is achieved through the influx and operation achieved by the glorification. This is what the Lord sought, and this is what He now extends to men as the result of His glorification-conjunction; and it should be thought of, not as a state of inertia, but as a state of free and unhampered action and reaction-one in which, from the Divine Human, man achieves the humanity for which he was created in the beginning.

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Church News 1972

Church News Various 1972

     GENERAL CHURCH

     Messrs. Mark Robert Carlson, Michael David Gladish and Thomas Leroy Kline, second-year students in the Academy of the New Church Theological School, have been authorized by the Bishop as candidates for the priesthood. They will assist and gain experience of pastoral work this summer: Mr. Carlson in the Pittsburgh society, Mr. Gladish in the Washington society, and Mr. Kline in the Kitchener and Detroit societies.

     DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA

     I'm going to start my fresh contributions to NEW CHURCH LIFE by trying to advise all General Church members over the world how the Durban Society is settling down into its lovely church complex.
     In October, Kainon School produced two lovely plays, The Tales of Beatrix Potter and a Chinese traditional play entitled The Land of the Dragon. Both these plays were well received, and they were produced by Mrs. de Chazal and Miss Belinda Wilkinson. The children loved doing them, and the talent that showed itself in our little school of 27 pupils was remarkable. Everyone in the school participated, which was very good for them, and the talent shown was lovely, to see. This was a culmination of Mrs. Pam van Rij's hard work in the speech classes and Mrs. Schuurman's hard work in the singing classes. (Beatrix Potter was an operetta.) Without our lovely new hall and stage these productions could never have taken place, and we are hoping to make such productions a yearly occasion.
     More news on Kainon School. The Sports Day was held toward the end of last year and the day dawned cold and drab, but the program finished just in time, with Spartans winning the day. Trojans were unlucky as two of their star performers were down with chicken pox. The Kainon School cricket nets have at last been completed due to the generosity of a number of male members of the Society. A number of Kainon School fathers helped to erect them, and to those fathers a mighty cheer! Here again, our new complex is certainly proving to be a great improvement on our old Musgrave Road property.
     Christmas celebrations this year took on a slightly different "feel" in that the tableaux were different, taking the form of a continual-movement spectacle. After the usual Christmas Eve service, held in the new church for the first time, Mr. Buss closed the service with the words "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass." He then led a procession of children first down the church aisle and then into the darkened hall, where the tableaux were witnessed. Once again we were able to appreciate our lovely new hall and stage. Each scene was enacted against a background of readings taken directly from the Word, superimposed on beautiful music. Certainly the most powerful effect was caused at the end, when the audience rose to the music of the Hallelujah Chorus and gazed at the Word shining with the most incredible light through the darkness around it.
     The Social Committee provided the Society with a lovely New Year's Eve Dance in the hall. Colored lights were erected in the courtyard outside the hall, and the hall was dimmed, with a large roundabout of negro singers, and gay red and green tables with candles were dotted round the outside.

238

During the evening Brian Lester and Tessa Palmer put on a mimed cabaret act of two colored people from down South which rocked the hall and deserved the applause and encores they received.
     Now that the summer holidays have come to an end, it's back to school and back to some spiritual food. Mr. Buss has instituted a number of new classes. The study group is still in progress, and as soon as this is finished he intends to start a class on New Church education in the home. The introductory classes for newcomers and oldies who would like to start at the bottom again are still in progress, and we are at present having classes on "Permission and the Divine Providence" at doctrinal class. All very stimulating! And as Mr. Buss so aptly stated, we have achieved our natural ambitions, we had had a very external few months preparing for the dedication and opening of our complex, and it is now time that we turned our minds and thoughts to interior things and to spiritual food.
     We have a further four families about to start building operations in Westville, and we hope that they will be in residence in June or July.
     To all those Societies which are contemplating such a move as ours: Go ahead and do it, it is well worth the strain and effort.
          SERENE DE CHAZAL

     TUCSON, ARIZONA

     The length of time covered in this report (1966-1971) may allow the trends of our Circle to stand out-and give an over-all view of progress made. The Rev. Geoffrey Howard has just ended his eight-year pastorate. The Tucson Circle owes Mr. Howard a large thanks for his dedicated and resourceful leadership. We wish him well in his new pastorate in Los Angeles, and look forward to the arrival of the Rev. Norman Reuter, who will be our Acting Pastor for one year.
     Let us review past events. In 1966 a District Assembly was held in Los Angeles. Bishop Pendleton imparted his feeling of concern for Westerners who are far removed from each other and the centers of the Church, and gave them an incentive to further development. Two years later the Bishop made an episcopal visit to Tucson. Friends from Phoenix attended this weekend of meaningful discussion and social gatherings. The Bishop addressed us on the slow growth of the church and the challenge it presents, a subject of great concern to those in small centers. His sermon dealt with the importance of personal freedom, which the Lord guards as "the apple of His eye."
     Los Angeles and Tucson combined to put on three young people's weekends in the summers of 1966, 1967 and 1969. These have been important forums for thought and discussion of doctrine, and for strengthening social ties between young people who are separated geographically from one another. We look forward to future gatherings and to inviting a wider attendance when it becomes possible. The beautiful Tucson area offers a most attractive meeting place.
     Though there have been no rapid or startling changes in the Circle in the past five and a half years, steady progress has been made. The church building itself has been improved with extensive refurbishing by Mr. Howard and Jim Cooper. The work included electrical repairs, insulating, bricklaying, roof repair and complete repainting. In the future we hope to improve the grounds. These things are important to our own self-esteem as well as to visitors. The Women's Group has taken on many responsibilities in the way of practical uses. They organize Friday suppers, banquets and other events like the Easter picnics, when visitors often come to Tucson. In 1967 they put on a very successful bazaar, the profits from which made up a large portion of the cost of a new organ. Their funds also go to purchase Christmas presents for the children and furnishings for the church, like the new chancel curtain.
     Turning to instructional uses, we see also changes for the better. The Sunday school has become well established over the years. Those helping in this work are doing a great service for the future. We might wish only for more children to teach. Friday supper and class is held twice a month, the ladies bringing delicious dishes.

239

(We think that Tucson suppers rival any in the church.) Recently Mr. Howard initiated a new approach to doctrinal classes. He published an outline of questions and leading passages to stimulate personal reading and reflection prior to class. The resultant gatherings are notable for their stimulating discussion. Attendance is excellent.
     A most encouraging trend of the last few years is the growing spirit of initiative and concern among the young adults. They are taking on some of the down-to-earth uses of the church. The college young-marrieds' discussion group is largely self-organized, with discussions moderated by the pastor. Its open-spirited meetings are directed to a variety of problems discussed in relation to the Writings.
     One exception to the general feeling of improvement in Circle endeavors is the missionary effort carried on at intervals between 1967 and 1969. The program was funded by the General Church and sought to attract new members. Advertisements were placed in a local paper posing a philosophical question and presenting a short answer. An invitation to attend a class on the subject followed. In one three-month period 22 people responded. Unfortunately, 95% were out-of-towners, and the number of our own people able to attend was small. While the program undoubtedly spread useful ideas, its expense outweighed results. Being few in number, the Circle needs new members vitally.
     Statistics may be useful and interesting. Nine marriages have taken place during the span of this report; four have been of young couples settling here. Baptism has been administered to eight adults and ten infants. Adult membership has increased by eight. We especially welcomed the new families who have moved here: the Malcolm Gyllenhaals, the Harmons, the Pletchers, and Janet Lindrooth. It is wonderful also to have Mrs. Bonser and Mrs. Fuhrman, Pam Clemens and the Harmons now baptized into the church.
     What trends in the community as well as the Circle might attract others? Tucson is a growing city with native attractions which draw people from all over the nation. The climate is sunny and dry in a land "where the sun spends the winter." Visitors quickly appreciate looking off eighty to one hundred miles across the desert. Within an hour's drive is a 10,000 feet peak, or the solitude of unspoiled wilderness. Industry is being controlled to preserve natural beauties, but job opportunities are expanding. Schools are excellent, and the University of Arizona is one of the leading state universities. New Church students from elsewhere frequently settle here. Sometimes smallness is favorable. Newcomers from large Societies often remark on the feeling of attachment for a group where everyone is needed and appreciated. Surely a good footing for church growth exists here.
     Hopes for the future are high, for progress cannot come without such a feeling. However, a good deal of hard work and dedication are needed to carry on the functions of a small circle. Our group will grow only if each person is willing to do his part, and thus show that he takes pride in what he believes in. Such a spirit will of itself draw others to us.
     NADINE HOWARD AND KEN LEE
CALENDAR CORRECTION 1972

CALENDAR CORRECTION Editor 1972

     Charter Day dates were given incorrectly in the School Calendar published in the March and April issues. Correct dates are as follows:

Oct. 27 Fri. Charter Day
               11:00 a.m. Charter Day Service (Cathedral)
               9:00 p.m. President's Reception

28 Sat. 2:30 p.m. Annual Meeting of the Academy of the New Church Corporation
               7:00 p.m. Charter Day Banquet

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56TH BRITISH ASSEMBLY 1972

56TH BRITISH ASSEMBLY WILLARD D. PENDLETON 1972

     The 56th British Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in Colchester, England, on Saturday, July 15, and Sunday, July 16, 1972, the Rev. David R. Simons presiding by episcopal appointment. All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend.
     WILLARD D. PENDLETON
          Bishop
SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION 1972

SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION MORNA HYATT 1972

     The seventy-fifth Annual Meeting of the Swedenborg Scientific Association will be held in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, at Pendleton Hall, on Wednesday, May 3, 1972, at 8:15 p.m.

     There will be reports and election of president and members of the Board of Directors, after which Professor Edward F. Allen will give an address on the question "What Is Man?"
     All who are interested are cordially invited.
          MORNA HYATT
               Secretary
KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST 1972

KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST Rev. GEORGE DE CHARMS 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII                                        JUNE, 1972                                        No. 6
     "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11: 15)

     The Apocalypse was not written, as many have supposed, to foretell the rise and fall of civil governments. Its sole purpose was to reveal the state of the Christian Church at its end, and how then a new church was to be raised up by the Lord at His second advent. When therefore a "kingdom" is mentioned in that book, the reference is to the conscience by which every man governs his religious life. Everyone's conscience is formed by the principles of whatever faith he has accepted as his own. In the course of many centuries the original church of Jesus Christ had been divided into innumerable warring sects, each claiming that its particular interpretation of the Bible was the one Divine and saving faith. Each sect has formulated its own set of doctrines to which its members are required to subscribe, and according to which they agree to live. Such is every religious "kingdom"; and all such religious organizations are meant in the eleventh chapter of Revelation by the "kingdoms of this world."
     At the present day these "kingdoms" are a far cry from that simple faith with which Jesus Christ imbued His disciples during His life on earth. The essence of that faith was twofold: it was the acknowledgment from the heart that Jesus Christ was to be loved above all things, and worshiped as the living God of heaven and earth; and it was the acknowledgment that the Word of the Lord is the only source of spiritual truth, that is, of that truth which teaches man how to love his neighbor as himself, and how, therefore, to live a life of charity and mutual love.

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These two-love to the Lord, and a life of charity as taught in the Word-are meant in the Apocalypse by the "two witnesses" of whom it is said that they were standing "before the God of the whole earth."* It was foretold that they would "prophesy a thousand and two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth "** by which is meant that these two primary principles of religion would be perpetuated in the church only with increasing difficulty. Later it is said that the "beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and shall kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified."*** This means that these principles were secretly denied, and even ridiculed at heart, although by many they were outwardly professed with the lips. Nevertheless, "after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them that saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them."**** By this is meant that these principles were not totally destroyed. A simple faith in them was preserved by the Lord with some, in order that there might be a remnant to receive the Lord at His second coming.
     * Revelation 11: 3, 4.
     * v. 3.
     *** vv. 7, 8.
     **** vv. 11, 12.
     Then it was, as John testifies, that "the seventh angel sounded his trumpet; and there were great voices in heaven, saying The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever."* Obviously the meaning is that although the former church would pass away, a new Christian church would be established by the Lord to take its place, for it is said that all the angels "fell upon their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give Thee thanks, 0 Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come, because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned."*
     * v. 15.
     ** vv. 16, 17.

     Is not this prophecy even now being fulfilled? That the Christian Church as it has been known in the past is approaching its end is being recognized by an increasing number of religious scholars. Indeed, it has been proclaimed by some that we are already living in a "post-Christian era." Few can doubt that a kind of spiritual lethargy has invaded the minds of men. Everyone has grown weary of fruitless disputations concerning abstract theology.

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They say, Let us have an end to bickering. Let us search for a common ground of faith in order that we may cooperate with one another in the vitally important task of ministering to the obvious and pressing needs of our modern society. Let us ignore the differences that have divided us, and join in friendship and brotherhood to promote peace, prosperity, freedom and happiness among men everywhere. After all, is not the purpose of religion to cultivate a spirit of charity and mutual love? Does such a spirit really depend upon the profession of any particular theological belief? Cannot charity be practiced with equal zeal and success by a Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew or a Gentile of any religious faith? If so, why waste time and energy in a hopeless attempt to solve the inscrutable mysteries of theology that have always in the past bred mutual hatred and bitterness, when we are confronted with the common and imperative need to seek the solution for enormous problems of immediate concern to human welfare?

Such is the prevailing thought of our day. The deep concern for spiritual truth that was felt by those who became disciples of the Lord, and who founded the primitive Christian Church after His resurrection, no longer touches the hearts of men. This truth has no appeal to the Christians of our age. They feel no need to inquire as to the nature of God, or even as to His existence. Yet the importance of knowing and of worshiping the true God was plainly taught by Jesus Christ, as when He answered the temptation of the Devil in the wilderness by saving: "It is written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."* Can this be interpreted to mean that it is a matter of no great importance how one thinks of God, as long as he leads what he considers to be a moral life? Elsewhere the Lord said to His disciples, who were concerned about the things of this world: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."** Can this be construed to mean that if men seek first to establish an earthly paradise of their own making, they may rest assured that all the blessings of heaven will be added unto them? Remember how, at His trial before Pilate, Jesus Christ plainly said: "My kingdom is not of this world"? Pilate therefore said unto Him, "Art Thou king, then?" Jesus answered: "Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice. But Pilate saith unto Him, What is truth?"***

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This is the very question that is now being asked by modern Christians. Like Pilate, their minds can grasp nothing beyond the testimony of the bodily senses; nothing beyond a morality that is based solely on human experience and on a great variety of human interpretation. They know nothing of a truth that is universal and unchanging. Therefore they no longer have any interest in that heavenly kingdom of which Jesus Christ claimed to be the King. The reason is that in their hearts "the two witnesses that stand before the God of the whole earth," proclaiming His existence and revealing His Divine qualities, these witnesses have been killed, and their bodies "lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified."
     * Matthew 4: 10.
     ** Matthew 6: 33.
     *** John 18: 36-38.
     But note that when this tragic end of Christian faith was foretold it was immediately prophesied that "the spirit of life from God entered into [the two witnesses], and they stood upon their feet; and a great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up Into heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them." Then it was, as John testifies, that "the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever."

     But what is the "kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ"? It is the government of the Divine truth, the Heavenly Doctrine now revealed by the Lord Himself at His second advent. This truth can be taught only by the Lord. It can be learned only from His Word. It is the truth concerning the nature of God, and concerning His infinite qualities of love, wisdom and use. It is the truth concerning the immutable laws whereby God governs the entire universe of His creation. It also is the truth concerning man, of whom it is said: "In the image of God created He him,"* and concerning the true relation of man to God, and of man to man. It is the truth concerning the human qualities of love and wisdom and use which men have been created to receive from the Lord. Man is indeed "formed from the dust of the ground," but as far as he receives these human qualities, the Lord "breathes into his nostrils the breath of life, and man becomes a living soul."**
     * Genesis 1: 27.
     ** Gen. 2:7.
     How man may receive these spiritual qualities into his mind. into his heart, and into his life, this is the subject of the Word from beginning to end. To impart to man this heavenly love, this heavenly wisdom, and the joy of use to others without thought of self, this is the sole purpose for the sake of which the Word was given.

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This law of Divine truth is universal. It applies equally to all men in all countries, and in all the ages of racial history. Because God is infinite and unchanging, so also is the inner truth of His Word. Man has been created to see this truth, to acknowledge it from the heart, and to learn by progressive stages to understand it ever more perfectly. The Word was not given merely to propound a mystery beyond all human understanding. It was given to reveal a truth, a law, according to which the Lord Himself might form man's conscience, and through which He might govern man's life according to His own Divine will.

     The government of this truth is the "kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ."' Of this kingdom the Lord said to His disciples: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."* All the natural blessings that men are vainly seeking to achieve for themselves, without the Lord's guidance or instruction - all these will follow if only man willingly submits his mind and his heart to the Divine laws revealed in the Word. By no other means can the loves of self and the world, so deeply embedded in man's hereditary nature, be overcome. Unless they are overcome, all the measures taken to bring peace and harmony to the nations and the peoples of the world will prove to bring no permanent solution for the ills that plague mankind. Only the Lord can form the hearts of men together. He alone can "lay the ax at the root of the trees"** which yield the evil fruit of jealousy, hatred and war. And this the Lord can do only if men acknowledge the inner truth of His Word, and search the Scriptures with humble prayer for spiritual understanding and enlightenment, that they may truly know and keep the Lord's will.
     * Matthew 6: 33.
     ** Matthew 3: 10.
     This Divine truth has been the inmost content of the Word from the beginning of time. It is indeed the truth "which was in the beginning with God, and which was God."* But repeatedly men have either ignored this truth or have openly rejected it. They have focussed attention solely upon the literal sense of the Word, and this they have distorted by human reasoning in order that it might seem to promote and excuse their selfish and worldly ambitions. To this end they have concocted man-made doctrines which they have declared to be the very Word of God. By these they have sought to mold the consciences of men In order to gain power over them and bend them to their will. Thus have arisen all the "kingdoms of this world."

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By this means the kingdom of the Lord has been progressively weakened, undermined, and at last betrayed into the hands of sinful men.
     * John 1: 1.
     That this would come to pass was the burden of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, as recorded in the second chapter of Daniel. He saw, "and behold a great image . . . his head was of fine gold, his breast and arms of silver, his belly and thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out not with hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; 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: 31-35.
     Here, in representative imagery, was described the entire spiritual history of the human race. The successive stages were pictured by which heavenly love and faith were gradually debased until at last they became sensual and worldly, and were deprived of the spiritual qualities with which they had originally been endowed by the Divine Creator. By "the stone cut out not with hands" is meant the Divine truth of the Word revealed anew by the Lord at His second advent. By this truth alone can the "kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ" be re-established in the hearts of men. This is the truth that was first proclaimed throughout the whole spiritual world on the nineteenth day of June in the year 1770. It is the truth which at the same time was made available to men on earth by means of the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. On this truth a new Christian Church is to be founded by the Lord. As the knowledge of this truth is spread to all the lands and peoples of the world, and as the minds of men are opened by the Lord to receive it, the promised "kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ" will indeed come. Then will the "holy city, New Jerusalem," come "down from God out of heaven," and "the tabernacle of God will be 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." "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."*     Amen.
     * Revelation 21: 2, 3; 22: 14.

     LESSONS: Daniel 2: 25-36. Revelation 11: 1-17. AE 641:2, 3.
     Music: Liturgy, pages 457, 518, 506.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 89, 147.

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GOLDEN STREET 1972

GOLDEN STREET Rev. KENNETH O. STROH 1972

     A New Church Day Talk to Children

     You children all know what a street is, don't you? A street is a way in which people can go through a town or city. Often it is paved. Automobiles can drive on it, and people walk along the sides of it, usually on sidewalks. Most of you have seen streets in a city. You have seen the stores or houses along the sides of the streets, cars driving, old men and women walking, or perhaps just standing and talking, and children playing. Yes, there are many things you can see on the streets of a city.
     Think of all the wonderful things that the disciple John must have seen along the street of that city which the Lord showed him in the other world. This beautiful city was called the New Jerusalem, and John saw it coming down from God out of heaven. Because it was from the Lord, and was very special, it was called the holy city. And John saw that it had a great, high wall around it, made of precious stones. There were twelve gates in the wall. Each gate was made of one great pearl; and the gates were always open.
     As he walked inside the city, John saw that it was always light there. The light was very bright because it was the light of heaven, which is the glory of God. The whole city was made of gold, and the street of the city was made of pure gold. There was a pure river with clear water, called the water of life; and as John looked down the street, he saw a magnificent tree which was called the tree of life. Many years earlier the tree of life had been in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve lived there; and now John saw the tree of life along the golden street of the holy city, New Jerusalem.
     Wouldn't you like to see that city? Perhaps you would like to live in it. You can live in it if you wish. For John saw the city in the spiritual world. What he saw was the Lord's own picture of what His New Church was going to be like. And the Lord told John who would be able to come into His New Church, and into this new city, and who would not.
     John wrote that "there shall in no wise enter into it any thing, that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie."

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This means that no one can come into the city who likes what is dirty, who loves to do what is evil, and who does not want to hear the truth or do what it teaches. Then it is said that the people who can come into the city are those who are "written in the Lamb's book of life." This book of life is the Lord's Word. And the people who live in that city are those who believe in the Lord and love to do what His Word teaches.
     No one else really wants to live in that city. You would not want to go to live in a house with people you did not like. You would not want to live in a home belonging to a person you felt you could not stand to be near. But the New Jerusalem is the Lord's city, and the New Church is the Lord's church. So only those who want to be near Him can truly come into His church and into the heavenly city. Only those can come in who learn to love the Lord, who believe in His power to help them, who go to His Word to find out what He wants them to do, and who live according to His commandments.
     The Lord invites all people to come into His New Church, and into the golden city, New Jerusalem. This is why the city was seen to have twelve gates, always open, so that anyone who wishes may go in, walk down that street of gold, see the clear crystal water of the river, and the tree of life. And today we celebrate the birthday of this New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, and which is now over two hundred years old.
     The celebration should be a happy one. Because the Lord has told us that the greatest happiness will come to those who want to be close to Him, who want to be in His church and live according to His commandments. That is why it is written in the Word "Blessed are they" - and "Blessed" means happy "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Amen.

     LESSONS: Revelation 22: 1-7, 14. Apocalypse Explained 652: 2.
     Music: Hymnal 181, 183, 186.
     PRAYERS: Hymnal 112, 113.
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

Visitors to Bryn Athyn for Commencement or any other occasion who need assistance in finding accommodation please communicate with the Guest Committee, c/o Mrs. Leo Synnestvedt, 611 Waverly Lane, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009. Phone: (215) WIlson 7-3725.

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CHILDREN AND TELEVISION 1972

CHILDREN AND TELEVISION KURT SIMONS 1972

     (Continued from the May issue.)

     2. Television and Sensuality

     The experience of television is more than simply a matter of exposure to its idea content, disorderly or otherwise. It is also a unique sensory or "sensual" (in the doctrinal sense) experience that is not available in normal visual (or auditory) life.
     Perhaps the most emotionally powerful aspect of the television experience is its ability apparently to modify space and time. Drama and literature draw part of their power from the ability to speed up life, to cover years, a lifetime or longer, all within the confines of a single evening or volume. That this should be capable of affecting us so strongly comes as no surprise to a New Church man, for we know that internally, and in the other world, experience is, in fact, a matter of changing states. A play or book thus derives part of its power from the ability to change states more strongly and frequently than is (usually) the case in normal life.
     Motion pictures and their electronic offspring, television, have introduced new factors into this process. These "media" are able not only to change states of time and space more rapidly and extremely than "live" actors or prose could but, in fact, to go beyond "real" experience and present forms of experience that are entirely new. The time-lapse photography of a plant growing or the slow-motion pictures of a balloon bursting are sights no man ever saw before; and these are but an introduction. The incredible "impossible" things occurring in cartoons, the indescribable effect of presenting a series of short scenes in rapid succession that is known as "montage," the optical and electronic distortions of "real" scenes or outright creation of "unreal" scenes (such as in the motion picture 2001), all go beyond the bounds of simply drama or entertainment and justify recognition as an outright new experience, a new sensual experience; and the continued march of technology suggests that there is much more to come (such as 3D movies or television without glasses or screen required). In this developing new experience-format can be heard more loudly than even in the current program content the terrible roar of the dragon.

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     Even secular observers are apprehensive about the impact of the television experience on children:

     "Serious questions have to be raised . . . about the possible effect of the high and still heightening level of excitement in television. What is the effect of this excitement on children's perceptions of reality? Does it take the edge off actual experience and lead children to demand of real life something it cannot give them? There are some signs of this, but the answer cannot really be given without long-term research."*
     * Schramm et al., p. 173.

     This concern is more than faintly reminiscent of the problem with drug or alcohol addiction in which, too, the experience of reality loses out in competition against the seductive sensual distortions or outright "unreal hallucinations" resulting from taking the chemical. Furthermore, the glassy-eyed near hypnotic concentration on television even by adults is a frighteningly familiar copy of at least the external signs of the addict on a "high." And the regular extended viewing of both adults and children found in virtually all studies (including those cited here) certainly constitutes television as a habit.
     How far the analogy, or outright relation, between drug addiction and a possible television "addiction" can be carried is too complex and unresearched a question to be considered here.* But it does seem safe to conclude that to whatever degree the television experience may be drug-like, it will be most strongly so for children. The spiritual danger in this, as in actual drug-taking, is seen if we recall a fundamental characteristic of man's life.
     * There is evidence, however, that what has been termed "sensory overload," which television may constitute for children, at least, produces drug analogous perceptual effects. See, for instance, J. L. Haer, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 33: 192-194 (1971). Furthermore, motion and change, which television is packed with, are strong sensory stimulants, also particularly for children.

     "Doctrine and experience alike tell us that man is born sensual and corporeal. But doctrine also reveals that the sensual degree of man is by inheritance so perverted that his only hope of salvation lies in an elevation from the sensual-an escape from the dark jungle of merely animal impulses and corporeal appetites which rule him as long as his life is immersed in the flesh.
     "It is in order that man may be lifted out of the sensual that the Lord provides that the senses of the body shall be instrumental in the building up of a memory, through the accumulation of knowledge. Through the memory, man is introduced into a new world, which is not physical but mental; a world through which man may roam freely without being bound by the chains of natural time and space, and where he may live in something of independence from the pressures of external sensation; a spiritual world in which the Lord can perfect the most marvelous spiritual creations, limited only by man's attitude and consent; a world in which the ends of creation, may indeed be fulfilled."*
     * Odhner (1969), p. 36.

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     Clearly any force capable of slowing (for children), let alone reversing (for adults), man's ascent from the sensual degree is a threat to his eternal spiritual welfare. That television does so slow or reverse this ascent is evident not only from the content it provides for the memory that we have discussed but for three additional sensual-related factors:

     1) Research has shown-as common observation would suggest-that watching television reduces the amount of time children spend on active play.* Furthermore, television has been found not to stimulate their creative or intellectual activity.** This induced physical and mental passivity in the viewer (especially, but by no means only, the young viewer) is a basic part of the way in which television holds man in the grip of the sensual, for climbing out of the sensual degree simply does not occur without active effort. In the adult this activity takes the form of as-of-self rational judgment. But in the child, who as yet has only the simplest form of rationality, this exercise takes place mainly in the imagination, for imagination is the first stop on the road from the sensual to the rational. ". . . [T]he child begins to perceive-within the symbolic things of his imagination-some concept of [abstract] rational values, like that of honesty, virtue, moderation, fairness, mercy."*** The child's active imagination is thus not some cute trick or trivial novelty. It is fundamental to his eternal salvation. To the degree that television hinders its activity, television works against his salvation.
     * Schramm et al., p. 169.
     ** Himmelweit et al., p. 27; Schramm et al., p. 173.
     *** Odhner (1969), p. 64.
     2) And what of the rationality (or developing rationality) itself in the midst of the television experience? Anyone who has ever attempted to remain rational and objective about everything he is viewing so as to judge its moral and spiritual worth knows that this is not simply an exhausting but, in fact, an impossible task. The ideas, the sensations themselves, simply come too thick and fast. You must either give yourself over to them (passively) or turn them off. What then of the child, who cannot judge more than simple things, and slowly? Can there be any question but that the television experience for him, part and parcel, is nothing more than a riot of sensation which his developing rationality literally lacks the capacity to analyze, even if he wished to?
     3) "The idea that the Lord is the cause of all things, so often repeated in the Old Testament narrative, is a primary concept suited to the state of childhood . . . . The Lord is to be known by children as the Creator and doer, and they should be impressed with His constant near presence as the cause of everything that happens.

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Because the Lord is with us, there is no chance, no accident, no causation apart from Him."* This is a fundamental truth of creation, and, of course, "the rational is formed by means of knowledges of truth."** Yet where does this truth appear to children in television? The images and sounds there appear to him as mysteriously as the miracles did to the children of Israel, white he is told, repeatedly, loudly and insistently, that this miracle is brought to him by a sponsor or television network. Worse still, the child may come to feel that in turning the set on and changing channels he himself is responsible for "creating" the apparent life he sees occurring there. Indeed, in our "pushbutton" civilization, this deadliest of sins, in which man conceives himself a creating and controlling god, is a continuing and seductive temptation for all of us. And nowhere is this temptation better exemplified than in television where, as to sensual appearances, man-in lieu of Providence-can control his very experience of "reality" itself. If adults can so fool themselves, what of children, for whom the dividing line between television and reality is so blurred to begin with?
     * D. R. Simons. "General Truth for Childhood." A sermon (mimeo) Dec. 12, 1965, p. 6.
     ** AC 2072.

     3. Conclusion

     "Children do not belong to parents; they are only loaned to them. They belong to the Lord, their eternal Heavenly Father."* In the baptismal service, every parent is told:
     * De Charms (1953), p. 190.

     "By this act [of baptism] you do enter into a solemn covenant with the Lord to renounce for [this child] the ways of the world, and to keep for him the commandments of God, until he become of age, when he shall take upon himself of his own free will to follow the Lord in keeping the precepts of His Word."*
     * Liturgy and Hymnal for the Use of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. (4th edit.) Bryn Athyn, Pa. Academy Book Room (1939), p. 59.

     The Lord Himself spoke more bluntly on the matter, not only to parents but to all men: "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."*
     * Matthew 18: 6.Cf. Mark 9: 42 and Luke 17: 2.
     And we can see why this responsibility is such a serious one. For in affecting children we are not simply freely exercising our own free will, which is, of course, the prerogative of every man; we are, in addition, influencing the development of another's free will.

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While we cannot predestine any child to hell (or heaven) by our acts or words, the influence of adults on children obviously affects a large part of the contents of children's exterior and interior memory that, as we have seen, define the very outlines of their eternal character. The grim cumulative results of this influence on the race have been demonstrated by the fact that the Lord has had to reveal Himself only to earth, of all the planets in the starry heavens, not once, but two times within the relatively brief period-in terms of the universe-of 2,000 years; and even at that most men have yet to believe in Him.
     Our responsibility need not be viewed so grimly, however, Men of good will have sought since antiquity for ways to improve or reform the world, and never was the search more desperate than in our own day. Yet here is the simple solution, the diamond, the jewel of innocence in our own backyard, in our children. To the degree that we can preserve that innocence in them, to that degree can we not only improve the world but can, in fact, return it to the promised new Golden Age.

     But what practical things can be done toward this end with regard to television?
     1) Clearly, television must be almost or completely removed, not only from the lives of our children, especially the younger ones, but from our own lives as well, since we can hardly deny our children what we use ourselves and then expect them to respect or follow us. And what little carefully chosen television is viewed should be viewed as a family, as a shared experience.
     2) To answer those who say it is perfectly "normal" for children to watch television (or even our children's pleas of "but everybody else does") we need only keep in mind that in the world there is a fundamental confusion between what is "normal" and what is right. The world, influenced by worldly science, equates what is "normal" with what is typical of the largest number of people. To make thus what is typical the ideal is to raise the voice of man's proprium- which is indeed the most obviously "typical" part of man's character-to the status of revelation. ". . . . [T]he will of the majority does not, cannot, determine what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil. Only the Lord can do that. Indeed, as for the majority, the Writings indicate that the majority of people from the Christian world now go to hell."*
     * O. Odhner. "Following the Crowd." A sermon. (Mimeo) Feb. 14, 1965, p. 2.
     3) But how are we going to fill up all the time in the child's life that television now occupies? The fact that the Word is revealed in written form gives us a strong first hint of something else for children to do (or grown-ups even).

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The importance of actually reading, or being read to, from the Word is clearly stated in the Writings.* Indeed, written language was created on this earth specifically to allow every man so to read or hear."** All that which contributes in an orderly way to both learning to read (which is, in fact, a life-long study, as ever more subtle nuances of language are learned) and to developing the love of reading would thus seem to work toward this ultimate goal. Furthermore, reading not only stimulates, but in fact fundamentally involves that active exercise of imagination, and ultimately rationality, that is necessary to rising out of the sensual degree. And for young children (at least!) the old family custom of being read to aloud seems an excellent form for reading to take, since this practice speaks to states of "hearkening" and obedience,*** fundamental to the preservation of innocence that we are concerned with here.
     * AE 1216.
     ** AC 9353; SD 739.
     *** AC 9397.
     Some will object that children often just want to hear the same story over and over. Here again, however, the child in his innocence sees more interiorly than the adult. More fundamentally, "the reason why there is so much apparent repetition in the Word, the reason why Divine revelation seems to say the same thing over and over again, is because truth is one. It comes from one Divine source. It expresses one Divine mind." *
     * D. R. Simons. "Repetition." A sermon. (Mimeo) Jan. 1, 1970, p. 3.
     This is true of the Lord's creation as well as His Word.

     ". . . [I]n the world repetition is the cause of space-time reality [itself]. It is because instant is added to instant that the sequential reference of time comes into being, and it is when particle is joined to particle that the continuum we call space takes form. By the constancy of repetition, by the perpetual giving which is universal nature, the repeated second becomes a minute, an hour, a month, a year, a lifetime, and the recurrent motion of energy is compounded into atoms, molecules, and all the substances of the earth."*
     * Ibid., p. 1.

     Who, then, are we, thinking from the worldly appearances of a quantity of truths, to question the child's love of the unified "repetitious" quality of truth? The same argument may be applied to those who discourage their children's interest in reading due to their (the parents') disappointment or chagrin over the child's being a "slow" reader. What is the rush in reading? More truths per minute do not add up to more truth when there is but one truth to begin with.
     Encouraging reading is only one New Church answer to television and its effect on children.

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Our belief in the fundamental place of the uses of the family in the very reason for man's creation indicates a whole range of answers. Indeed, as enlightenment is according to use, the more we are truly oriented toward these family uses, the more practically "enlightened" we will become in thinking them up. We can discover again, for instance, that we are never too old to "play" with children. (Indeed, there is reason to believe that the well-spring of creativity in grownups themselves begins as a play-like process.) And children, if we take them seriously, unembarrassedly and uncondescendingly, are fascinating to talk to. Most of all, though, we can educate them. "It is in the home that the foundations of New Church education are laid, and this responsibility cannot be transferred to others."* For this education is not simply needed by the children, it is crucial as well as to the building of conjugial love between man and wife.** And parents are the best teachers of the art of living from doctrine. The obsession of our civilization with formal academics should not intimidate us on this point (especially considering how little that civilization knows of true education and how often it changes its mind about what it does "know." Parents can teach as no professional could since they teach from an affectional insight into their children that no one else possesses.
     * W. D. Pendleton. Foundations of New Church Education. Bryn Athyn Pa. Academy Book Room (1960), p. 12.
     ** CL 176; TCR 431.
     If they are not as polished or articulate as they think a teacher needs to be, the parents need only remember that their children in turn view them not only through the eyes of affection but of that unquestioning innocence which it is our duty to preserve. Whatever their faults, Daddy and Mommy begin as the sun and moon to any child; and in so teaching our children we may learn more than we teach, for the sphere surrounding children is quite literally, the only glimpse we have of heaven this side of death and there is that much food for our grown-up thought and feeling.

     Is all this too idealistic to be practical? What is more practical, from a spiritual point of view, than the ideals set forth in the Lord's teachings? Holding always in mind these teachings is, from an eternal point of view, the most truly "realistic" course we can follow; even if we do not, to all appearances, succeed.
     ". . . [A]ll parents are limited. They suffer from ignorance, from lack of opportunity to read and study, and reflect. But after all, they are imperfect instruments in the hand of the Lord, who over-rules many of their mistakes and secretly leads and protects the children in the infinite ways of His providence. He asks no more of us than that we do our very best."*
     * De Charms (1966) p. 11.

256

PRIESTHOOD 1972

PRIESTHOOD Rev. ELMO C. ACTON 1972

     In True Christian Religion, no. 670, we are taught that of all the representatives in the Israelitish Church, the Lord "retained but two which were to contain in one complex all things of the internal church." "These two," the number continues, "are baptism, in place of washings, and the Holy Supper, in place of the lamb which was sacrificed every day, and particularly at the feast of Passover." From this some in the church have concluded that all the representative forms of worship in the Israelitish Church were abrogated, and that therefore the New Church is not to draw any of its representative forms of worship and life from the Old Testament. But from other numbers it is clear that it was principally the washings and sacrifices that were abrogated and that many of the rituals of the Jewish Church are still most useful. In Arcana Coelestia 3478 we read:

     "The rituals and representatives of the Jewish Church contained in them all the arcana of the Christian Church, and likewise that they to whom the representatives and significatives of the Word of the Old Testament were opened, may know and perceive the arcana of the Lord's church on earth, while they live in the world, and the arcana of arcana which are in the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, when they come into another life."

     The great change that took place with the Advent was not in the external forms of the rituals, but in the law governing the power and use of external rituals. The Jewish Church was a representative of a church in which the worshipers were regarded in heaven from their external state of holiness in the performance of those rituals, apart from their internal will and understanding. Hence as long as they performed those rituals reverently, and were in a state of external holiness, the communication with heaven was effected by them. This type of communication with heaven was abrogated after the Advent, when men were no longer regarded in heaven from their external apart from their internal state. In the New Church there is to be no external without its corresponding internal. Any external that is not enacted from an internal state in the worshiper, corresponding to the representation of the form of the ritual, has no power to effect communication with heaven.
     Many of the rituals of worship and life in the Jewish Church were drawn from the Ancient Church and in external form were truly representative of spiritual and heavenly life.

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Others were adopted in accommodation to the lives of the people and in their merely external form were not representative of spiritual life but rather of the disorderly states of the men of the church at that time. However, they also were ordered by the Divine so as to correspond to heavenly things. The spiritual sense of the Word now given reveals rituals which are truly representative, and rituals that are representative by adoption. And those that are truly representative, and thus effective of communication with heaven, are of use to the New Church.

The order and organization of the priesthood of the church is based upon this interpretation. All the priests in the Jewish Church were Levites. Levi represents charity-the charity which is defined as the "spiritual affection of truth." Charity in essence is the love of the good and truth of the Word; it is the ardent desire to see the truth of the Word brought forth into the external life of the church. This is the love of the salvation of human souls, for man's salvation is from a life according to Divine truth. Aaron, also a Levite, was the brother of Moses, and through Moses the priesthood was established in Israel. Moses represents the Divine truth of the Word in all its degrees, that is, the Lord as the Divine truth in itself and as present in heaven and the church. Aaron is good and as a brother of Moses represents the good of the Divine truth of the Word. This is important, for the good represented by Aaron as high priest is the good that is brought forth by a life according to the Word. There is no other good which can effect the salvation of souls. Therefore it is enjoined upon the priesthood to teach the truth and to lead thereby to the good of life.
Levi was given no inheritance in the land of Canaan. The Lord was their inheritance. As priests they were present throughout the land. This represents that charity, or the spiritual affection of truth, is to be present with all members of the church. From this some have drawn the false conclusion that the priesthood is common to all the people, and that there should be no persons set aside as priests by the rite of inauguration. We say this is a false conclusion, for the priesthood represents the presence of the Lord in the church; and while this presence is to be with all the people, yet the "Lord is in them [the priests] but not among them as one and distinct."* In other words, since the Lord is not in the church or in heaven as "one and distinct," therefore, so that order may be preserved in the external of the church, He has appointed those who may represent His presence and His work of salvation with them.

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If those representing His presence were not "one and distinct" among the members of the church there would be no order and what is man's would become confused with what is the Lord's. In a representative priesthood the Lord's work of salvation stands forth with power to effect His end in creation. For example, it is taught in Arcana 6822 that good can be insinuated by anyone, yet "not truth, except by those who are teaching ministers." This law is given not only to preserve external order in the church, but also so that the man of the church may know and acknowledge that all truth is the Lord's, for the "teaching minister" represents the Lord's presence in the church leading and guiding it through the truth of the Word to the good of life. This is effected not by the person of the priest but through the office he represents and which always remains the Lord's office with him. This teaching does not mean that laymen are not to study the Word and draw doctrine from it, or to speak publicly of it, but that they are not to set themselves up as teachers of doctrine, for thereby order is distorted and the tendency is to regard man as to his person as the source of truth and not the Lord. The layman may be more perceptive of truth than the "teaching minister" and the "teaching minister" may even be enlightened by his studies; but still the layman is not to set himself up as a teacher of truth, for thereby he draws attention to himself and draws the thought of the people away from the Lord. The spiritual affection of truth in the lay body of the church is to respond, to react, to the spiritual affection of truth which is represented by the office of the priest. Thereby all things are kept in order and all in the church may look to the Lord as the sole source of truth leading to the good of life.
* AC 9809: 7.

In order that the priest in his office may represent the Lord's work of salvation he is to be solemnly introduced into that office by the promise of the Holy Spirit and the representation of its transfer by the laying on of hands. The laying on of the hands upon the head in blessing and in inauguration into the priesthood is an ancient and powerful ritual. It represents the power and transfer of what is being dealt with and its communication. In regard to the priest, it is the communication of the power to represent the Lord in his office, that is, in the whole work of the Lord's salvation, and through this to communicate to the people of the church the means by which they may receive that salvation; namely, to communicate to them the truth of the Word and lead them thereby to the good of life. By the laying on of hands the one inaugurated is set apart in heaven and in the church, and is endowed with the sacred power to represent the Lord in the church-in government, in worship, and in instruction.

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This is the trine in the priesthood. It is the duty of the church to honor and respect this holy office, for it is the means in the church by which the Divine is among men. This presence of the Divine is not effected by the person of the one inaugurated but by the office and order into which he is introduced. And while the representation is apart from the spiritual character of the person, yet the priest who believes that he in his office is holy is an evil priest and destroys in himself his representation. Or again, the priest who separates himself from his office no longer represents the Lord's work in the church.
     Inauguration into the priesthood by the laying on of hands vivifies or makes alive the priest's office in the one inaugurated. Therefore a "wave-offering" was part of the inauguration of the Levites into the priesthood. The laying on of hands sets the priest apart in heaven and the church, and the office in him is made alive, so that the Lord through it can effect His work of man's salvation, which is what is represented by the wave-offering. When the priest's office is thus made living in the church, then the Holy Spirit can inflow through the clergy to the laity, and the Lord Himself can be present in the church and raise it into conjunction with Himself.
     The priesthood, the Writings say, represents the Divine good of the Divine love of the Lord, thus every office which the Lord performs as Savior. And the Divine good is present in the church through the threefold ministry represented by Aaron, his sons and the Levites. They represent the ministry of government, the ministry of worship, the ministry of instruction. All of these are provided through charity, through that charity which is the spiritual affection of truth-the love of the application of the truth of the Word to life.

     The government of the church by the priesthood is not a government of command, an external government by law, although at times this may become necessary in states of evil and disorder; it is the government of the good of truth, which in order to build the church must find its response in the spiritual affection of truth as existing in the lay body of the church. It is a government which orders the external and internal uses of the church according to their spiritual values, and sees that all things are done according to that order. But spiritual order cannot be imposed upon the church from without; to bring about the Divine presence it must be freely received by the spiritual affection of truth in the laymen of the church.
     The priesthood is also to officiate at and order the worship of the church, for man cannot worship the Lord from himself but only from that which is of the Lord with him.

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Worship is not to be ordered so as to arouse the natural and external emotions and affections of the people, but it is to be ordered from the Word and arranged so as to stir the spiritual affection of truth, the genuine good of life. Therefore the laity should not view the forms of worship from their personal likes and dislikes, but strive to bring themselves into the states represented by the rituals, so that they can cause them to live from spiritual affections. The form as well as the spirit of worship must be from the Lord, that is, from the word, and not from what man prefers or from what arouses man's external emotion.
The priesthood is further charged with the instruction of the church in the truths of the Word. It is to instruct the church so that all may look to the Lord in His Word and that from it each may draw for himself the living water of life. The priest is not a mediator between the Lord and the men of the church. It is not only through him that they can draw near to the Lord. He is a servant to his office and a minister to his people. To minister is to bring help, to aid. He is to help each man of the church to approach the Lord immediately and through his office to lead to the Lord in His Word. The office he fills holds before the minds of the people the truth that the Lord alone can lead and build His church. For his office is the Lord's adjoined to him.
The golden thread running through all the duties of the office of the priesthood is the Lord's work of man's salvation. Every function or use of the priesthood is to provide for the Lord's presence in the church; to preserve order that He may govern the church, that He may be present in its worship, and that He alone may immediately teach each man and lead him in the path to heaven.
MINISTERIAL CHANGES 1972

MINISTERIAL CHANGES Editor 1972

     The Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs has accepted appointment by the Bishop as Pastor of the Ohio District, effective September 1, 1972.
     The Rev. B. David Holm has accepted appointment to teach in the Academy schools and in the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School.
     The Rev. Norman H. Reuter has accepted re-appointment for another year as, Acting Pastor of the Southwestern District.
     The Rev. Erik Sandstrom has accepted appointment by the Bishop as Visiting Pastor of the Erie (Pennsylvania) Circle.
     Candidate Ragnar Boyesen has accepted appointment by the Bishop as Assistant to the Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, Canada, and as Visiting Minister to the Montreal Circle, effective September 1, 1972.

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PRESENCE OF THE LORD IN THE HOLY SUPPER 1972

PRESENCE OF THE LORD IN THE HOLY SUPPER Rev. ROBERT H. P. COLE 1972

     Because the "bread" is the Lord in the Holy Supper, it belongs to the celestial things of love, which are the Lord's; for the Lord is the celestial itself, since He is love itself and mercy itself. "Bread," then, means all that is celestial, all the love and charity with us from the Lord. They who are not in love and charity do not have the Lord with them, and thus they are not gifted with the good and happy things that in the internal sense are meant by "bread."
     This outward symbol, the Holy Supper, was commanded because the greatest part of the human race is in external worship, as it was at the time of the Lord's advent. Since men are so external, there would be scarcely anything holy with them if they did not have some outward symbol of celestial things. When we live in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor we have with us what is internal, although there are many who do not know that this love and charity is the most internal thing of worship. Thus in our external worship, during the Holy Supper, we can be confirmed in the good qualities meant by the "bread."*
     * AC 2165: 5.
     The Holy Supper was instituted by the Lord in order that by it there might be a conjunction of all things of the Lord with the man of the church; because in this Supper the bread means the Lord's love toward the whole human race, and man's returning of this love to the Lord. The wine means the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord's love, and received by man. In heaven, to eat and drink these things stands for appropriation and conjunction.*
     * AC 9393: 5.
     Receiving the Divine from the Lord has the same meaning as being sanctified. This is because to sanctify means to make holy, and the Lord alone is holy. Consequently everything holy is from Him, and Divine truth proceeding from Him is what is meant in the Word by the holy. With the Israelites, all things of their ritual were representative of the interior things of the church, which belong to faith and love to the Lord. But those who are in external things without internal believe that after consecration such things as bread and wine are holy, not representatively, but in themselves.

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However, they are quite mistaken. If they worship these things as essentially holy they worship earthly things, nor are they very far from those who worship wood and stones, as idolaters do.
     But those who worship the things that are represented, which are holy in the Communion and are Divine, are in genuine worship; for to them the external things are merely a means by which they are led to think and will such things as are the essentials of the church. These are the things that belong to faith and love from the Lord to the Lord.
     Those who, when they attend the Holy Supper, do not think from faith about the Lord, His love toward the human race, and renewal of life according to His precepts, worship only the bread and wine there, not the Lord, and believe those external things to be holy, although they are not so in themselves, but only from that for which they stand. The "bread" in the Holy Supper means the Lord as to the good of love, and the "wine" the Lord as to the truth of faith, and at the same time their reception by man. These two are the essentials of the church and of worship.*
     * AC 10,149: 1, 3, 4.

     What are called the holy things of the church are not holy unless they are solemnly received; for unless they are so received the Divine does not flow into them, and all the holy things with man are holy only from the Divine influx. For instance, take holy buildings, the altars there, and the bread and wine for the Holy Supper: they become holy solely through the presence of the Lord; therefore if the Lord cannot be present because of the sins of the people, what is holy is absent because the Divine is absent. Moreover, the holy things of the church are profaned by sins, because these remove one from what is Divine. Men in such a state can be led to doubt the power of the Lord's Human; and at this day there are many who consider the Human of the Lord to be much like that of other men.*
     * AC 10,208: 3.
     Those who make the Human of the Lord like that of any other man do not think about His conception from the Divine itself, nor about His resurrection with the whole body, nor about Him as seen when He was transfigured, in that His face shone as the sun. Neither do they know and apprehend that the body of everyone is a likeness or image of his soul, nor do they know that the Lord is everywhere present even in respect to the Human, for from this is the belief in His omnipresence in the Holy Supper. Omnipresence is, in fact, Divine. His Divine presence is there even in the consecrated food and drink.*
     * AC 10,826.

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     Food corresponds to the affection for all good. It is on this account that the Lord calls Himself the "bread of life"; and that loaves of bread had a holy use in the Israelitish Church, being placed on the table in the Tabernacle and called the "bread of faces." Also, the Divine worship performed by sacrifices and burnt-offerings was called "bread"; and because of this correspondence the most holy act of worship in the Christian Church is the Holy Supper, in which bread and wine are given.* Indeed, in this giving there is an association of men with angels.
     * HH 111.
     For the sake of affiliation with angels, and at the same time conjunction with the Lord, the Holy Supper was instituted, the bread of which in heaven becomes Divine good, and the wine Divine truth, each from the Lord. Such correspondence exists by creation, so that the angelic heaven may make one with the church on earth, and in general the spiritual world with the natural, and that the Lord may conjoin Himself with both.*
     * TCR 238.

     Those come to the Holy Supper worthily who have faith in the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, that is, who are regenerate; and the regenerate are those who are "capable of repentance," and who perform repentance. Repentance is the "actual acknowledgment of one's own sins and the firm determination to begin a new life."* After the acknowledgment of God and of one's sins against Him, charity is the second means which enables man to come to the Holy Supper worthily. Faith is the third means of enjoying the Holy Supper worthily, because charity and faith make one, like heat and light in spring, from which two conjoined every tree is born anew. So from spiritual heat, which is charity, and from spiritual light, which is faith, everyone has life. Faith in the Lord causes this to be so.**
     * Right Rev. W. D. Pendleton, NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1969, p. 336.
     ** TCR 722: 1, 2, 4; AC 9548: 5.
     To those who come to it worthily the Holy Supper is like a signature and seal that they are the sons of God. The Lord is then present, and admits into heaven those who are born of Him, that is, the regenerate. The Holy Supper brings this about because the Lord is then present even as to His Human. The Lord is indeed present when a man is becoming regenerate, and through His Divine operation prepares him for heaven. But so that man may actually enter a heaven, he must present himself to the Lord; and as the Lord actually presents Himself to man, man must actually receive Him.* This, then, is how the Lord is present in the Holy Supper.
     * TCR 728.

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ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETING 1972

ANNUAL COUNCIL MEETING NORBERT H. ROGERS 1972

     COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY

     The 74th Annual Meetings of the Council of the Clergy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem were held in the Council Hall of the Bryn Athyn Cathedral, March 6-10, 1972, following an opening service conducted by Bishop W. D. Pendleton in the Cathedral chapel.
     The meetings were attended by three priests of the episcopal degree, thirty-three of the pastoral degree, two in the ministerial degree and two guests. They were the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, presiding; the Rt. Rev. Elmo C. Acton, the Rt. Rev. George de Charms; the Rev. Messrs. Alfred Acton, Kurt H. Asplundh, Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, Peter M. Buss, Geoffrey S. Childs, Robert H. P. Cole, Harold C. Cranch, Roy Franson, Daniel W. Goodenough, Victor J. Gladish, Daniel W. Heinrichs, Willard L. D. Heinrichs, W. Cairns Henderson, B. David Holm, Geoffrey H. Howard, Robert S. Junge, Louis B. King, Kurt P. Nemitz, Ormond de C. Odhner, Dandridge Pendleton, Martin Pryke, Norman H. Reuter, Morley D. Rich, Norbert H. Rogers, Donald L. Rose, Frank S. Rose, Erik Sandstrom, Frederick L. Schnarr, David R. Simons, Lorentz R. Soneson, Kenneth O. Stroh, Douglas M. Taylor; N. Bruce Rogers, Erik E. Sandstrom; and, by invitation, Candidates Arne Bau-Madsen and Ragnar Boyesen.
     At the first session on Monday afternoon, March 6, after the Minutes of the 1971 Meetings had been accepted as published in NEW CHURCH LIFE (April 1971, pp. 168 and 169), Bishop Pendleton spoke of a letter he had sent to all members of the Council in which he had suggested that the first order of business at the 1972 Meetings be to decide on the procedure to be used in nominating a priest to be ordained into the third degree of the priesthood to give episcopal assistance to the Bishop of the General Church. Adding that all had had time to reflect on the content of that letter, he made the following statement:
     "The question before this Council today is: Are you prepared to proceed to the selection of a priest whose name would be presented to the next General Assembly for the office of Assistant Bishop of the General Church? If you are not prepared to do so, we must then consider the advisability of the appointment of an Assistant to the Bishop, in which case the responsibility reverts to me."

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     After active discussion in which various aspects and implications of the question were explored, Council agreed to proceed to nominate a priest for the office of Assistant Bishop.
     Other procedural measures agreed upon in succession, each after active discussion, were: a) That thirty votes of the thirty-eight members in attendance would be required for nomination; b) that, if a candidate received the required number of votes for nomination, a final ballot be cast to give Council an opportunity to express in complete freedom its support of the candidate it had just nominated; c) that nominations should be by ballot; d) that, if more than two were nominated, a progressive ballot would be used, that is, after each ballot, the candidate receiving the fewest votes would be eliminated; and e) that nominations and voting be scheduled for the Sixth Session on Thursday morning, March 9.
     Consideration was then given to what qualifications were needed in a Bishop and what needs of the General Church were most pressing. Among the things brought out in this discussion was that the responsibility of the Bishop is to provide for the freedom of the General Church and for the administration of its uses. This requires a great deal of patience and correspondence, as well as administrative ability. The Bishop should also give pastoral leadership to the Church and should be keenly and affectionately involved in meeting the needs of the Church in today's world. At this point in the history of the Church its Bishop needs to have a clear vision of the distinctiveness of the New Church, and the ability to communicate that vision to the members of the General Church.

     At the beginning of the Sixth Session on Thursday, March 9, Bishop Pendleton said, in answer to a question, that he did not propose to have the Assistant-Bishop-nominate take up his office until after the General Assembly had acted. This was to preserve the freedom of the Church, but there were also practical reasons involved. However, he proposed to ordain the nominee into the third degree before the General Assembly. After some discussion of this, the Bishop appointed the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson as judge of Elections, and the Rev. Messrs. Daniel W. Goodenough and N. Bruce Rogers as Tellers. After the nomination ballots had been examined, Mr. Henderson announced that the Rev. Messrs. Robert S. Junge, Louis B. King, Frank S. Rose, Frederick L. Schnarr and Douglas M. Taylor had been nominated.
     Mr. Taylor withdrew his name, and the remaining four candidates withdrew from the Council Hall. Members of Council then spoke on behalf of their respective candidates, some at some length.

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When all had spoken who wished to, the first voting ballots were cast. While these were being tallied, Council engaged in an inconclusive discussion of what would happen when only two candidates were left and neither received the required thirty votes for final selection. It was eventually decided to leave the question until a decision on it was required.
     After two voting ballots had been cast and tallied, the time for the adjournment of the morning session had come. It was decided to adjourn the Sixth Session to 3: 00 o'clock in the afternoon to vote on the two remaining candidates.

     On the third ballot, the first cast in the afternoon, Mr. Henderson reported that the Rev. Louis B. King had received the thirty votes required for nomination. A final "Yea" or "nay" ballot was then cast which resulted in a unanimous "Yea" vote. The Bishop then asked Mr. Henderson to escort Mr. King into the Council Hall where he was received with a standing ovation. When there was silence, Bishop Pendleton welcomed Mr. King and invited him to come forward to say a few words. Mr. King, obviously deeply moved by his selection, spoke of how deeply he had been affected the first time he had participated in a service of worship as a Candidate, and of his wish to serve the Church with the Lord's help. He also expressed confidence that the Divine Providence would continue to guide our Church. His words were applauded, and members of the Council sang "Here's to Our Friend" as he returned to his seat.
     It was then agreed to recommend to the joint Council that a General Assembly be held in 1973.
     Papers and subjects presented for consideration at other sessions were Purity of Doctrine in the Church by the Rev. D. L. Rose, Alcohol and Drug Dependence and Interior Possession by Spirits by the Rev. Daniel W. Goodenough, and a Report on the Theological School by Rev. E. Sandstrom. Two sessions were given over to hearing presentations by the Rev. Messrs. F. S. Rose, A. Acton and B. D. Holm who constituted the Program Committee. The theme of their program was The Human Form of the Writings. Mr. Rose dealt with historical aspects of the subject and by means of transparency projections illustrated a possible relationship between Swedenborg's published and unpublished theological works. Mr. Acton's paper dealt with The Exposition of the Writings, and Mr. Holm spoke on What is Meant by the Writings Being the Divine Human of the Lord. For the Wednesday afternoon session, the Rev. R. S. Junge organized five small group-seminars on various aspects of the subject of Human Prudence and the Love of Offspring. In preparation for these seminars, Mr. Junge had distributed an extensive compilation of doctrinal passages relating to the subject.

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That same evening, after a delightful and satisfying social dinner at Mr. and Mrs. Junge's home, reports from the several seminars were heard and discussed.
     Interspersed between the sessions were meetings of a number of General Church Committees involving members of the clergy. These meetings included three working luncheons. Ministers not involved in these working luncheons on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 7 and 8, met together in small group luncheons at the homes of colleagues resident in Bryn Athyn and environs.
     Among the pleasant social occasions which add much to the enjoyment of the week of Council meetings were an Open House for ministers and their wives at Dean and Mrs. E. C. Acton's home, luncheons with members of the General Church and Academy Boards at Glencairn, the refreshments graciously served every morning during the week of the meetings by ladies of the Bryn Athyn Women's Guild, the Open House at the Civic and Social Club following the General Church program on Friday evening, and various other opportunities individual ministers had to meet informally with lay members of the Bryn Athyn Society.
     Respectfully submitted,
          NORBERT H. ROGERS,
               Secretary
GENERAL CHURCH EVENING 1972

GENERAL CHURCH EVENING NORBERT H. ROGERS 1972

     After the Social Supper on Friday evening, March 10, 1972, Bishop Pendleton noted that what had originally been an open session of the Council of the Clergy had taken various forms. In recent years it had been an open meeting of the Corporation of the General Church, but this evening it was to be a General Church Evening designed to present one, or more, of the important uses of the General Church. The subject selected for the evening was the work of translation.
     The Rev. Messrs. Alfred Acton and N. Bruce Rogers gave addresses on their experiences at a Summer School for Translators sponsored by the Swedenborg Society in London in the summer of 1971. They spoke of the value of such contacts with other actual and potential translators, various problems of translating the Writings, and suggested further colloquiums, with the next held in Bryn Athyn.
     Following the addresses there was a lively question and answer period.

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     General impressions, including those of people not normally concerned with translating and language, were that it had been a useful and interesting evening.
     Respectfully submitted,
          NORBERT H. ROGERS,
               Secretary
General Church of the New Jerusalem
JOINT COUNCIL 1972

JOINT COUNCIL NORBERT H. ROGERS 1972

     March 11, 1972

     1. The 78th Regular joint Meeting of the Council of the Clergy and the Directors of the Corporation of the General Church of the New Jerusalem was opened by the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, at 10 a.m., on March 11th, 1972, in the Council Hall with the Lord's Prayer and reading from Revelation 21: 1-7.

     2. Attendance:

Of the Clergy: Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, presiding; Rt. Rev. Elmo C. Acton and Rt. Rev. George de Charms; Rev. Messrs. A. Acton, K. H. Asplundh, B. A. H. Boyesen, P. M. Buss, G. S. Childs, R. H. P. Cole, H. C. Cranch, V. J. Gladish, D. W. Goodenough, D. W. Heinrichs, W. L. D. Heinrichs, W. C. Henderson, B. D. Holm, G. H. Howard, R. S. Junge, L. B. King, K. P. Nemitz, O. deC. Odhner, D. Pendleton, M. Pryke, N. H. Reuter, M. D. Rich, N. B. Rogers, N. H. Rogers, D. L. Rose, F. S. Rose, E. Sandstrom, F. L. Schnarr, D. R. Simons, C. R. J. Smith, L. R. Soneson, K. O. Stroh, D. M. Taylor. (36)

Of the Laity: Messrs. W. B. Alden, G. G. Anderson, L. Asplundh, R. H. Asplundh, T. W. Brickman, Jr., G. M. Cooper, G. R. Doering, B. E. Elder, A. B. Fuller, B. A. Fuller, C. P. Gyllenhaal, L. E. Gyllenhaal, J. F. Junge, R. D. Junge, W. R. Kintner, J. E. Kuhl, L. Nelson, L. Pitcairn, J. W. Rose, B. D. Smith, M. F. Smith, A. C. Umberger, R. E. Walter, J. H. Wyncoll (24)

Guests: Mr. G. D. Cockerell; Candidates A. Bau-Madsen, R. Boyesen. (3)

     3. Memorial Resolution:

Memorial Resolution for F. G. Colley Pryke presented by the Rt. Rev. George de Charms:

     Whereas the Lord in His good Providence has called our brother Colley Pryke into the spiritual world, be it resolved that our affection and esteem for him as a man, and our deep appreciation of his many services to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, be recorded upon the minutes of this joint Council.
     Mr. Pryke was born on February 8, 1881, in Colchester England, the son of Elijah and Emma (Cracknell) Pryke. Early in his life, around the turn of the century, Colley Pryke was introduced to the Heavenly Doctrines by Mr. Alfred Godfrey, an enthusiastic member of the New Church. In 1906, when he was 25 years old, Colley was baptized into the Church by the Rev. William H. Acton, and on the 29th of July that same year he was married to Elizabeth Nora Gill.

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The couple established a home in Chelmsford, where Colley was employed with the Hoffmann Manufacturing Company. There they raised a family of four boys and one girl.
     Mr. Pryke took an active part in the life of the Colchester Society, and in 1920 he became a member of the General Church. Eight years later he was elected to its Board of Directors, and served in that capacity for forty-three years. In 1930 he was elected to the Corporation of the Academy, and was associated with that body for many years. In 1936 the British Finance Committee was organized to administer a fund bequeathed by Mr. R. S. Anderson, for the purpose of promoting the Annual British Assemblies, and for extending priestly ministrations to isolated families of the General Church throughout Great Britain. Colley Pryke was chosen as Treasurer of that body, in which office he continued until his retirement in 1958.
     Mr. Pryke was deeply interested in the work of the Swedenborg Society, serving for many years on the Advisory and Revision Board of that body. In the midst of the Second World War, when his country was fighting for political survival, Mr. Pryke delivered an address later published in NEW CHURCH LIFE, pleading for renewed devotion to the work of promulgating the Heavenly Doctrines throughout the world. He wrote, "I do not hesitate to say that there is no greater use at the hands of laymen in this world today, than to print, to publish, and to distribute the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg."
     We knew Colley Pryke, as a genial friend, a gentleman of culture and refinement, actively interested in art and literature, and in the economic and political life of his native country. He was a man of sound judgment, whose counsel and leadership were highly esteemed throughout the Church. He was a constant reader and student of the Writings, looking to them for Divine guidance in all things of his life. He will be long remembered by all who knew him as a true servant of the Lord in the work of establishing the New Church among men.
     Be it further resolved that the above resolution be published in the pages of NEW CHURCH LIFE, and that a copy be sent to the members of Mr. Pryke's family.

     The above resolution was accepted in silence by a standing vote.

     4. The Minutes of the previous annual meeting were accepted as published in the April, 1971, issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE, pp. 170-179.

     5. Bishop Pendleton read the following communication to the members of the Board of Directors of the General Church from the Rev. Norbert H. Rogers, Secretary of the Council of the Clergy:

     Since July, 1970, the Council of the Clergy has been giving serious consideration to the need for executive assistance in the episcopal office. At our meetings this week, we agreed that ample time had been given for consideration, and we further agreed that we should proceed directly to the nomination of a man to fill the vacant office of Assistant Bishop of the General Church.
     As the choice of any bishop who is to serve in an executive capacity must be confirmed by the General Assembly, it is of order that his name should first be submitted to the Board of Directors for "counsel and response." (See Order and Organization of the General Church, p. 12; Revised Statement, 1970.)
     It is with this in mind that the Council of the Clergy now submits to you, the members of the Board of Directors, the name of the Reverend Louis B. King.

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If, as we hope, you are affirmative to this nomination, we will proceed in joint Council to the question of when and where the next General Assembly will be held for the purpose set forth in this communication.

     Bishop Pendleton then read the following communication from Mr. Stephen Pitcairn, Secretary of the Board of Directors:

     Your communication in regard to the choice of the Council of the Clergy for the office of Assistant Bishop of the General Church has been received, and I report that the Board of Directors wholeheartedly supports the nomination of the Reverend Louis B. King.

When the above communications were read joint Council stood in applause. Mr. King expressed his appreciation of the support and affection of the priesthood and of Bishop Pendleton's leadership in preserving the freedom of the Church. He further praised Bishop Pendleton's leadership in leading to unity in the use of the Church. Mr. King said if his nomination is confirmed by the General Assembly he will look to the Lord for humility and wisdom so that he may serve to sustain the hand of Bishop Pendleton. He has tremendous confidence and gratitude for the priesthood, and for the leadership they have taken in the Church. He further expressed his confidence in the laity to support the uses of the Church so that the Lord's work may truly go forward.
     Bishop Pendleton said that he was sure that Mr. King's nomination had been the Lord's leading, because the Lord will lead His Church as long as His Church is in freedom. He was equally confident that the Church will receive with rejoicing the nomination of Louis B. King to the office of Assistant Bishop of the General Church. He was sure that Mr. King knows he has his complete confidence and that he looked forward to working closely with him.

     6. Bishop Pendleton raised the question of the next General Assembly. The Bishop assumed that it should be held in June, 1973, because he did not see how it would be possible to hold such an Assembly sooner. He felt there were several reasons why it should be held in Bryn Athyn. Asked about his reasons, Bishop Pendleton said that he didn't see how it would be possible to hold it any sooner than June, 1973. Assemblies have become a large problem due to the size of the Church. His two reasons for holding the Assembly in Bryn Athyn were: 1) This is the episcopal center of the Church and the election of an Assistant Bishop is an action looking to the government of the Church; and 2) Bishop Pendleton felt it was necessary to present the Church to the young people and more young people can be reached in Bryn Athyn than elsewhere. He would like to gear certain phases and aspects of the Assembly to young people. All churches, including the General Church, are having problems helping young people to see the need of church organization.

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     The Rev. Martin Pryke said he assumed there would be a General Assembly in 1976, which will be the 100th anniversary of the Academy, and he had no doubt it too would be held in Bryn Athyn. This would make three Assemblies in a row in Bryn Athyn. He suggested this was a reason to consider another location for the 1973 Assembly or the possibility of its being a one day Assembly over a weekend. Mr. Lester Asplundh thought three Assemblies in a row in Bryn Athyn would be wonderful. The Rev. Ormond Odhner mentioned that the college closed later in June than most colleges and if an Assembly were added on to the school year this would make chances of summer employment, which is necessary to many students, much more difficult than it is now. The Rev. K. P. Nemitz inquired as to the percentage of young people attending the last Assembly. Bishop Pendleton said that there was a high percentage of young people in the secondary schools who remained for the Assembly. The Rev. B. A. H. Boyesen felt 1973 was the earliest possible time people from overseas could arrange to attend an Assembly. The Rev. David R. Simons suggested the possibility of having an Assembly just prior to school opening. Bishop Pendleton said at one time there had been an Assembly just before school opening but it had created a great many problems for the school. Mr. James Junge said he was in favor of an earlier date than June, 1973, if possible, and favors trying for September or October. The Rev. Peter M. Buss mentioned the difficulties of pastors who have just been moved attending an Assembly in October. The Rev. W. L. D. Heinrichs mentioned that an Assembly held during the school year would discourage parents from outlying areas from attending.
     The Rt. Rev. Elmo C. Acton moved that the Assembly be held in June, 1973, in Bryn Athyn. Motion seconded and carried.
     The Rt. Rev. George de Charms asked if an invitation shouldn't come from the Bryn Athyn Church. Bishop Pendleton advised that in the past they had indicated their choice to the Bryn Athyn Church and they had then acted affirmatively. If they do not extend the invitation other plans will have to be made.

     7. Bishop Pendleton asked the Rev. Norbert H. Rogers if he wished to report as Secretary of the General Church. Mr. Rogers advised that he had circulated his report and would be glad to answer any questions.

     8. At Bishop Pendleton's request, the Rev. Harold C. Cranch reported on the incorporation of the General Church in Canada.

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Mr. Cranch said the incorporation was the result of many years work in striving to make the General Church more effective in Canada. They had started incorporation proceedings by appointing a committee to make recommendations, draw up by-laws and start the legal processes of incorporation. They had had to demonstrate that the title, the General Church of the New Jerusalem, had been used since the 1800's before the application was granted. The General Church is now incorporated in Canada. They elected fifteen members of the Board of Directors and patterned the corporation very much after the General Church International. Thirteen of the directors must be residents of Canada, and the Bishop will by tradition be President of the Corporation. An Executive Vice-President will be elected to handle matters when the President is not there, this office also by tradition will be filled by a minister residing in Canada. Presently, only ministers have contact with all the isolated as well as with the Societies and Groups served. The Treasurer or the representative of the Treasurer is also eligible to be a member of the Board of Directors.
     There have been several meetings of the Board of Directors, work is progressing, uses are being explored and a firm effort is being made to take care of isolated members in Manitoba and Saskatchewan who have not received official visits since the time of Mr. Karl Alden; and also trying to maintain good relations with Convention who are extremely friendly to the General Church position.

     9. The Rev. B. A. H. Boyesen reported on the incorporation in England, at Bishop Pendleton's request. Mr. Griffith had carried most of the work prosecuting the matter. The corporate name is The General Church Council and this was necessary due to legal requirements, which were finished in December of 1971. The first meeting as a corporate body was held in January. Membership invitations were sent to all members of the General Church in Great Britain who have been members for three years or more. To date some seventy people have been accepted as members. Both men and women are eligible for membership.
     The directors met for the first time in January and the first meeting of the corporation is scheduled for July during the British Assembly. The present directors will all resign at that time and the election of new directors will take place.
     Bishop Pendleton expressed the thought that both these incorporations were significant for the future. They have opened the way for the people in these countries to take the full responsibility for the development of their external uses. He felt this will dispel the thoughts that have so long existed that this is an "American" Church.

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It gives the people in Canada and England a feeling of responsibility for their own external development. Mr. Sandstrom inquired if there was any official connection of the Bishop's office to the Corporation in England. There is none.

     10. Bishop Pendleton introduced Mr. Gordon Cockerell as a very special guest. Mr. Cockerell served for many years as a member of the Board of Directors of the General Church and the Bishop felt that since so few can go to Durban Mr. Cockerell could bring Durban closer to Bryn Athyn by speaking of the recent developments in the Durban Society.
     Mr. Cockerell felt the growth of the Durban Society had been steady and in keeping with the average of most societies. When Bishop N. D. Pendleton visited South Africa in 1918 or 1919, during the pastorate of the Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, the membership consisted mainly of the old Ridgway and Cockerell families.
     In 1923/4 a new church and hall were built in Musgrave Road and these together with an old residence, which has been used on and off as a manse, have been the home of the Church in Durban for forty-five years. The membership in this time changed from a two-family group to a society where new names are more the rule than the exception. This is a healthy sign and together with the large number of younger couples with growing families is a happy omen for the growth of the Church in Durban.
     Kainon School this year has about thirty pupils and five of last year's boys have moved to High School after seven years of New Church education. They have all fitted well into their new environment.
     The Durban Society has been generously aided by the General Church since being accepted as a Society. During that time the following pastors have been sent to minister to the Society's needs: The Rev. Frederick Gyllenhaal, the Rev. Theodore Pitcairn, the Rev. Hugo Odhner, the Rev. Elmo Acton, the Rev. Philip Odhner, the Rev. F. W. Elphick, the Rev. Norbert Rogers, the Rev. Martin Pryke, the Rev. David Holm, the Rev. Wynne Acton, the Rev. Daniel Heinrichs, the Rev. Peter Buss and at present with the Mission the Rev. Willard Heinrichs. A number of episcopal visits have been made; two by Bishop N. D. Pendleton, two by Bishop George de Charms and three by Bishop Willard D. Pendleton.
     During the last five years the Musgrave Road property was sold and the new complex planned. The result is the beautiful Church, Hall, School Buildings and offices at Westville. Room has been allowed for expansion. Mr. Cockerell noted that the Kainon School classrooms and facilities had been built by the Durban Chapter of the Sons of the Academy. A very fine job was done at a considerable saving.

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     The sites sold to members are ready for building and within a couple of years there should be twenty-five families living in the vicinity of the complex. At present fifteen homes are owned and occupied and there is enough land to accommodate a further fifty to sixty families, which should be adequate for fifty years or so.
     Mr. Cockerell stated the Durban Society is a story of natural growth, which is encouraging, but reminded the Council that the Church is from the Lord and not from man. "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it."
     Bishop Pendleton thanked Mr. Cockerell and expressed the desire to be able to convey the spirit present at the dedication weekend in Westville. it was a feeling of great promise for the development of the Church in South Africa. The Bishop called on Mr. Robert Asplundh who together with Mrs. Asplundh was present at the dedication. Mr. Asplundh reported how much the had enjoyed being there, the large number of young families and the sure growth of Kainon School, and how he felt this jet plane age would benefit the essential communication between the two continents. Bishop Pendleton expressed heartfelt tribute to the Rev. D. W. Heinrichs for his leadership in this whole movement, a leadership not only of bricks and mortar but a truly doctrinal leadership.

     11. The Rev. David R. Simons presented two matters to the Council. He wanted the ministers to know he had completely revised the General Church Religion Lessons "E" lessons (Joshua and Judges) and was anxious for criticisms. He suggested the ministers tear the lessons out and return them to him with their comments so that he would have their thoughts as he was revising the remainder of the lessons. He had eliminated about one-third of the material but kept the basic content. He felt children from fourth grade on could now do the lessons more independently.
     As Educational Assistant to the Bishop Mr. Simons wanted to call attention to the money allotted in the Comprehensive Salary Plan for professional development for teachers. The plan provided for $350.00 grants to teachers for furthering their education. This year so far he has received grant applications totalling $1,700.00 whereas the plan's budget allowed only $1,100.00 for disbursements. He also mentioned that the Academy and the Bryn Athyn Elementary School do not make requests from this fund. Mr. Alfred Acton and Mr. Frank Rose spoke of the value of this fund. Mr. Pryke suggested the possibility of the amount of grants for professional development be deducted from the "invested reserves" of those teachers who leave our educational system. Mr. Acton felt that even if they leave the system the schools do receive benefit while they are attending classes, and they stimulate other teachers to continue their education.

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     12. The Council recessed for refreshments served by the Women's Guild in the Choir Hall.

     13. The Rev. B. A. H. Boyesen asked if the Rev. Louis B. King's nomination was now public knowledge. The Bishop said it was.

     14. Bishop Pendleton asked the Rev. Peter M. Buss if he had anything to add to what had already been said about Durban. Mr. Buss said that Mr. Cockerell has been Treasurer of the Society for thirty-three years and also has been a leading man in many ways. He said that the laity of the Church has done much of the work on the complex. He feels that the Durban Society has a very unique pattern for growth. They are the only church in Westville and there is a real interest in the suburb concerning the Church and they hope for growth to come from the community. They are putting out pamphlets among the members and community to make the Church known. He would be grateful for any suggestions as to how to make use of these favorable circumstances.

     15. The Rev. W. L. D. Heinrichs, Superintendent of the Mission in South Africa, spoke of his work. He has been in the Mission for about seven months and is still learning about it. He is deeply indebted to the Rev. Peter M. Buss for his assistance. The Mission is in a good state of order and he hopes to carry on the work. There are a considerable number of problems-the primary one of a social character. Due to government action there is the possibility of congregations being moved and/or dispersed. However, he is not fearful for the Mission. There are approximately four hundred-fifty persons active and interested in the Mission and possibly another couple of hundred who might be called semi-active. There is a good nucleus for development of the Church among the Africans. He mentioned that they have an older man now studying for the ministry under a special program.
     Bishop Pendleton wished to give special acknowledgment to the Rev. Peter M. Buss before this Council, for the work he had done in his six years as Superintendent of the Mission. The Bishop remarked that Mr. Buss had two great advantages-the Mission was his primary work and also he knew the language; having grown up among the people he understood them in a way that would be impossible for others. The people had much respect for Mr. Buss and were very sorry at his leaving. Bishop Pendleton wanted to acknowledge the work Mr. Buss had done in "sorting out" the Mission.

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Previously there had been confusion and now he feels there is an entirely new start with the Mission. When he was in Africa he felt, for the first time, really at home with the Mission and he felt the Mission Ministers' Meetings this year were very useful and productive because the ministers for the first time had prepared themselves. He felt he now really understands the work of the Mission.

     16. Mr. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal mentioning his written Treasurer's Report (see NEW CHURCH LIFE p. 285) spoke of the financial policies of the General Church. From the beginning the General Church has had the vision of growth through the establishment of autonomous Societies. The principal function of the central body should be to provide headquarters for the Executive Bishop and to supply information and services of common interest and value to the Church as a whole.
     Prior to the late 1940's each area was largely responsible, under the guidance of its pastor, for developing its own financial arrangements, within the limits of voluntary contributions from the area. By 1946 the financial plight of many ministers and teachers was critical, and it was necessary for the General Church to take a more active part in the finances of the Church.
     New programs were initiated by the Board of Directors such as the Pension Plan which was established in June, 1947. In 1948 the Ministers' Minimum Salary plan was established, followed a few years later by a minimum plan for teachers. These plans guaranteed a minimum salary as adequate as the Church as a whole could pay, regardless of the district served. With the inflation in the 50's regular improvements were necessary. Also it was necessary to extend the salary plans to cover ministers outside of the United States and Canada. By the late 1950's many ministers were receiving payments from the General Church and the local bodies, and the result was growing confusion as to the true financial picture. By the 1960's the salary scales were seriously inadequate and a new approach was necessary. In 1965 a General Operating Policy was adopted. Basically this shifted the responsibility of payment of salaries back to the local Society or area, with the General Church negotiating grants and establishing certain guidelines. The purpose of the grants was to make regular improvements in salaries without causing undue financial hardship locally. However, there was reluctance to accept the increases for fear of losing autonomy and discouraging local incentive. To lessen these fears new concepts were developed. The General Church assumed financial responsibility for payments into the Pension Fund.

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This helped for a time. Using this same approach, additional fringe benefits were financed by the General Church.
     In 1968 the spiraling inflation and lack of payroll information necessary for administering fringe benefits created new problems and resulted in the adoption on January 1, 1969, of a centralized payroll system in the United States. Salaries increased to the point where few Societies had any hope of remaining self-supporting and at the same time resistance to accepting subsidy was gradually overcome. It was hoped subsidies would gradually be reduced and until recently it appeared to be a workable system, though not ideal, that would benefit both the Church, its ministers and teachers. Inadvertently, however, a situation has been created that gives evidence of some difficult problems in the future. First, the impression has grown that the General Church has unlimited resources, and a growing number of local Church Boards are budgeting their own resources for uses they could not previously afford and accepting increased subsidies. Also, local churches are building substantial surplus and not paying their share of the pastor's salary. There was a feeling expressed that because the funds budgeted for the professional development of teachers were at present inadequate, the Church reneged on its contract with teachers. An increasing number of individuals appear to feel the General Church is seeking control of finances, and that all local contributions, somehow, get to Bryn Athyn. A number of local reports show contributions that should be used for pastoral support are being designated for building funds, endowment funds, and even special trusts.
     Subsidy payments have doubled in three years. The rate of acceleration in 1971 and the absence of any sign of reversing the trend is cause for concern about the future. The Salary Committee has recognized this problem and appointed a subcommittee to develop new guidelines and operating procedures for the consideration of the Board. Mr. Gyllenhaal advised they needed guidance from the pastors and Bishop Pendleton had given him the opportunity to seek advice.

     The Rev. Norman H. Reuter felt there is a continuing danger of Societies letting the General Church do everything. The pastor has the responsibility of pointing out the detrimental spiritual effects of looking for something for nothing from somebody else in the General Church. Pastors must give leadership in saying that you are not building a Church when you are looking for a handout-you are building a Church when you undertake uses and sacrifice for the support of these uses.
     The Rev. Erik Sandstrom spoke of the psychological phenomenon of the bigger the organization, the less the sense of responsibility of individuals. The financial responsibility should be returned to the local groups.

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The pastor should notify the General Church of local needs and what the local group can do.
     The Rev. D. W. Heinrichs mentioned that Societies tend to grow like individuals-that as individuals are coming to maturity the costs of education and other things increase, but the individual is preparing to assume full responsibility and to be no longer dependent on parents. He felt that Societies that grow can be brought to support themselves and the larger they grow the greater the responsibility they can accept.
     The Rev. Robert S. Junge mentioned the important relationship that exists in the local Society between the pastor and his laymen and laywomen. The priest's responsibility at the local level is leading the laymen to see on the basis of spiritual needs the uses of the Church and fostering them to act of themselves in making decisions. The laymen must have a clear picture of the General Church, its needs and its Societies in order to decide the support they are able to give. In view of the fact that the Committee has asked the counsel of the Joint Council, Mr. Junge wondered if it would be better to gather an advisory group of pastors who could counsel with the Committee in their re-evaluation. He didn't think it is wise for pastors to be too involved in financial responsibilities, but they are sensitive to the need and response among their people, and possibly in a smaller body could give useful and valuable counsel.
     The Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard supported Mr. Junge's suggestion. There are many attitudes on this subject and he would welcome the opportunity to formulate them and communicate them to the Treasurer. Mr. Howard felt it might be a good idea for a committee to formulate a definite policy regarding isolated and small groups, to set goals and to encourage the people to meet these goals, with the possibility of the General Church support being withdrawn, if the people do not make an attempt to reach the goal within a period of time.

     The Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr mentioned the fact that Washington was a self-supporting Society until they opened their school and had to apply to the General Church for salary for teachers. Mr. Schnarr felt the question of General Church subsidy should be made by the people, the pastor and the General Church after careful consideration of all angles. Perhaps a committee should go to the local Societies to get to know their potentials, etc.
     Mr. Schnarr mentioned that one question that had come up had been "When the General Church receives an inheritance, is this for General Church uses, or is it to be used for the various Societies in the Church?"
     The Rev. Harold C. Cranch felt the subject was being approached with too much emphasis on the needs and not enough on spiritual uses, namely, that giving to the Church ultimates love for the goods and truths of the Church.

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The principle of the tithe is very clear that we give to the Lord's work not simply according to need, but according to conscience, not just to support the need but to increase the possibility of doing the Lord's work. The uses of the Church are for all people and the clergy needs to give the message of love of the Church in ultimating it in supporting the Church.
     Bishop Pendleton said that many years ago he was deeply concerned when the Church adopted the minimum salary plan. He still didn't like it, but it was necessary to relieve the hardship cases of pastors. He felt the central payroll plan, which means that everyone in the Church knows the pastors and the teachers will be provided for on time, is an accommodation or a permission that had to be made. It completely removed the responsibility from the Society. He mentioned that some treasurers don't even report to Mr. Gyllenhaal, who tries to solicit information, but often doesn't hear for months. Bishop Pendleton believed in grants but thought each society should estimate what it will need.
     The Rev. Martin Pryke asked Mr. Gyllenhaal if he communicated with the pastors for this information. He does, by letter and telephone, and it may correct a particular situation but not the general one that is developing. This year, due to the change in the date of the meetings, some treasurers thought the fiscal year had changed and did not get reports in on time.
     The Rev. B. A. H. Boyesen stated he was in favor of the suggestion Mr. Junge had made. He expressed appreciation for the courtesy and help he had received from Mr. Gyllenhaal. He felt a committee of members of the Board of Directors and of pastors would be most useful-it would help the pastors to know the problems.

     Mr. Robert Asplundh mentioned that some can help the General Church more than others, but they should be careful how they do it, and not attempt to influence the General Church. There sometimes is disappointment if contributions are not used in areas in which the Board is interested. However, it must be remembered that the Church is fortunate to be in a position where they have money to use wisely and to invest wisely in areas approved by the Board and the Council.
     Mr. William Alden said it is not so much the pastors who will suffer from lack of self-support of Societies, but the people who stand to suffer most from the lack of communication and ever-increasing subsidies. He felt possibly the strongest way to bring this back to the people would be to withhold salaries, etc. so that the Society would recognize the need to choose a treasurer who will communicate.

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     The Rev. Donald L. Rose felt it was proper for the pastor at the annual meeting of the Society to speak about the uses of the treasurer they are about to elect and to impress upon the people the importance of this job, especially the use of communication.
     Mr. James Junge said that as a layman he is very much in favor of Mr. Junge's idea of having some of the pastors act in an advisory capacity to the committee.
     Mr. William Kintner said several people had made the comment that the General Church seems to have unlimited funds and this has a bad effect. However, to a certain extent the Board itself is responsible for this feeling because it has never turned down a request that he can think of in the last three or four years.
     The Rev. Peter Buss was a little confused about the pastors advising the Board. He thought Mr. Gyllenhaal wanted the pastors to return to their areas and urge the treasurers to communicate and to guard against wrong application of funds.
     The Rev. Robert H. P. Cole expressed appreciation for the work of Mr. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal, the new central payroll system and the number of large contributors. He wholeheartedly approved of a committee of the Board of Directors and the clergy.
     Mr. Gyllenhaal was asked if he had a solution and replied, "Yes, dissolve the Salary Committee." He stressed how important communication with local treasurers is, and said that he had just recently received from one treasurer the first report in eight years.

     Mr. R. E. Walter reported for the Salary Committee. He said you cannot say how much an organization needs, because it needs all it can get. There are many uses the Church is unable to finance, but even if they had twice the amount of money, there would still be uses that could not be undertaken. He also remarked on the lack of communication with Society treasurers. Last August they mailed a comprehensive questionnaire to all treasurers and arranged for a meeting. The replies to the questionnaire were slim. Due to the wage freeze the meeting was postponed and a second questionnaire was sent out-all the replies are still not in.
     Last April there had been a meeting in Detroit where it had been agreed to add a 6% cost of living increase to the salary scale and this was approved by Board and details worked out by the Salary Committee, and then there was the wage freeze. However, approval was received for the retroactive pay until September 1st. They have been unable to keep up with the cost of living, inasmuch as the increases have been wiped out by inflation.

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     The salaries Of Overseas teachers and ministers are quite a problem. They have consulted with pastors, laymen and government schedules to determine the proper rate and none of the sources agree. Especially overseas, cost of living and standard of living are entirely different. Overseas salaries have been increased substantially, but they are still being paid at the 1968 rates. There has been a great deal of time and professional judgment spent by Mr. Gyllenhaal. The Committee is not expecting the well to run dry, but needs to be prepared for a drought, and this is difficult with the subsidy rate increasing alarmingly.
     It is obvious the Church is approaching a financial crisis and it means going forward carefully and trying to educate all on the fiscal responsibilities for the fiscal conscience of every member of the Church.

     17. Meeting adjourned.

          Respectfully submitted,
               NORBERT H. ROGERS
                    Secretary
INVITATION 1972

INVITATION DANIEL B. MCQUEEN 1972

     The Bryn Athyn Boys Club is holding its summer camp July 22 to August 5, 1972. Any New Church boy who has not had an opportunity to join the Club is welcome to attend if he has completed the fifth grade; the oldest boys at camp are those who have just completed the eighth grade. Boys may attend either one of the two weeks of camp. The charges will be $40.00 per boy for a one week stay, including insurance.
     As you probably know, we use our own campsite, a 200-acre tract we call Camp Lamoka, near Towanda, Pa. It is a beautiful place, with woods, streams, mountains, and many other attractions. Camp will be directed by myself, with the able assistance of other experienced counselors.
     If you are interested, please contact me, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009. (Those in the Detroit area should contact Mr. Vance Genzlinger.) Due to the amount of planning necessary we cannot guarantee to accommodate inquiries received after July 1st.
     DANIEL B. MCQUEEN
          Director

282

ANNUAL REPORTS 1972

ANNUAL REPORTS NORBERT H. ROGERS 1972

     SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH

     During September 1970 through August 1971, seventy-eight members were received into the General Church. Two were dropped from the roll. Three resigned from the Church. Thirty-three deaths were reported. On September 1st, 1971, the roll contained three thousand two hundred and seventy-eight names.

     Membership, September 1, 1970                     3238
          (U.S.A.-2112, Other Countries-1126)
     New Members (Cert. 5730-5807)                         78
           (U.S.A.-55, Other Countries-23)
Deaths reported                              33
           (U.S.A.-21, Other Countries-12)
Resignations                              3
           (U.S.A.-2, Other Countries-1)
     Dropped from Roll                          2
           (U.S.A.-1, Other Countries-1)
     Losses (U.S.A.-24, Other Countries-14)               38
     Net gain during September 1970 through August 1971     40
     Membership, September 1, 1971                         3278
           (U.S.A.-2143, Other Countries-1135)

     NEW MEMBERS

     September 1, 1970, to August 31, 1971

     THE UNITED STATES

     Arizona: Tucson
Mrs. Emma Amelia (Carbaugh) Bonser
Miss Pamela Jo Clemans
Mr. Richard George Field
Mrs. Richard George Field
     (Elizabeth Dickens Waddell)
Mrs. Addie Belle (Carbaugh) Fuhrman
Mr. John Perry Harmon
Mrs. John Perry Harmon
     (Sarah Elizabeth Wilhite)

     California: Livingston
Miss Martha Alden

     California: Orinda
Mr. Donald Owen Kistner

     California: Point Mugu

Mr. Julien Hughes Odhner, II

     Connecticut: Milford

Miss Sonia Beth Soneson

     Florida: Miami

Mrs. Hans Goran Franson
     (Jonnie Jean Smith)

     Illinois: Chicago

Mr. Ronald Hugh Coffin
Mr. Ronald Birger Holmes
Mrs. Ronald Birger Holmes
     (Jean Lillian Kober)
Mrs. Noel Pendleton McQueen
     (Mildred Edrie Hark)
Mr. Maurice Jacob Baha Novak

283

     Illinois: Glenview

Mr. Justin Davis Edmonds
Mr. Alan Cedric King
Mr. Steven King
Mr. Bruce Alan Reuter
Mrs. Bruce Alan Reuter
     (Valerie Stevens)

     Illinois: Palatine

Mrs. Donald Francis Dimon
     (Jeanne Ann Oggier)

     Louisiana: Baton Rouge

Mr. Herbert Brent Bruser

     Michigan: Royal Oak

Mrs. Ralph P. Curtis (Carol Ruth McCardell)

     Pennsylvania: Bryn Athyn

Miss Clarinda Anne Alden
Miss Ersa Alden
Mr. Minard Wayne Allen
Miss Marcia Kaye Birchman
Mr. Richard Allen Brooks
Mr. Mark Robert Carlson
Mr. William H. Clifford
Miss Dale Cooper
Miss Jo Anne Cooper
Miss Carla Glebe
Miss Kathy B. Grant
Miss Annette Margaret Henderson
Mr. Dirk Junge
Mr. Thomas Leroy Kline
Miss Dinah Suzanne Lee
Mr. Dennis John Reddekopp
Miss Marcia Rose
Mr. Patrick Alan Rose
Miss Claudia Jill Smith

     Pennsylvania: Huntingdon Valley

Miss Judith Ellen Abele
Miss Charis Dunlap
Mr. Thomas Richard Frazier
Mrs. William V. Griffin (Galendee Hall)
Miss Hilary Pitcairn

     Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh

Mr. David Thompson Alden
Miss Brenda Naill

     Pennsylvania: Willow Grove

Mr. Charles Steward Spangenberg, Jr.

     Texas: Arlington

Mrs. Douglas Jean Carlisle
     (Robin Lee Yerxa)
Mr. Wendell Hazen Yerxa
Mrs. Wendell Hazen Yerxa
     (Martha Ellen McBrayer)

     CANADA

     British Columbia: Dawson Creek

Mr. Wallace Sigmar Einarson
Mrs. Wallace Sigmar Einarson
     (Shirley Ann Baer)

     Ontario: Islington

Mr. Frank John Raymond
Mrs. Frank John Raymond
          (Paulette Bond)

     Ontario: Kitchener

Mr. Gary Robert Schnarr
Mr. Maurice George Schnarr

     Ontario: Peterborough

Mrs. Allen DeLos Facey
     (Ruth Elaine Niall)

     Ontario: Preston

Mr. Michael Dean Glenn

     Quebec: Montreal

Mrs. W. Whitney Timmins
     (Dorothy Gretchen Becker)

     EUROPE

     Denmark: Valby

Miss Mellia Jorgine Jorgensen

     Sweden: Stockholm

Miss Ann-Margret Kristina Hoel

     AUSTRALIA

     New South Wales: Pennant Hills

Mrs. John Rutherford Hall
     (Rhonda Rica Stephenson)

     NEW ZEALAND

     Auckland: Epsom

Mr. Fairley Harold Vincent

284

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal: Durban

Mr. Douglas Justin Anderson
Mr. Trevor Joseph Colling
Mrs. Trevor Joseph Colling
     (Alicia Frowen)

     Natal: Westville

Mrs. Malcolm Gordon Cockerell
     (Prudence Anne Jack)
Mr. Edward Reginald Palmer
Mrs. Edward Reginald Palmer
     (Tessa Lorraine Gradwell)

     Transvaal: Irene

Miss Lyndell Jane Ball

     Transvaal: Sandton

Mr. John Noble Sharpe
Mrs. John Noble Sharpe
     (Marlene Cynthia Marie Holdmann)

     SOUTH AMERICA

     Brazil: Rio de Janeiro

Mrs. Roberto de Roure Paes
     (Vania Lucia Conceicao)

     DEATHS

     Reported September 1, 1970, to August 31, 1971

Ashley, Miss Beatrice Eleanor, August 9, 1971, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (81)
Davis, Mrs. Royal Samuel (Ruth Armstrong), November 3, 1970, Los Alamitos, California (80)
de Maine, Henry M., Jr., date unknown, Miami, Florida (57)
Diegendesch, Mrs. Paul (Clara Boekel), March 3, 1971, Richboro, Pennsylvania (83)
Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Donald Coffin (Provida Gunther), December 28, 1970, Fox Chase, Pennsylvania (61)
Ford, Mrs. Albert (Genevieve Madeline Vinet), October 26, 1970, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (59)
Glebe, Egbert Gustav, December 16, 1970, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (76)
Glebe, Mrs. Egbert Gustav (Bella Campbell), March 1, 1971, Abington, Pennsylvania (79)
Glover, Henry Wallace, October 2, 1970, Colchester, England (62)
Gunther, Mrs. Ariel (Agnes Florence Tyler), September 13, 1970, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, (68)
Hamm, Miss Anna, June 30, 1971, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania (77)
Hedman, Axel Theodore, March 31, 1971, Santee, California (91)
Hergeir, Johan Axel Nordberg, July 23, 1971, Quebec, Canada (80)
Iungerich, Stevan, June 8, 1971, Hinsdale, Illinois (59)
Johansson, Abel, 1962, Sweden (73)-Delayed Report.
Jorgensen, Miss Mellia Jorgine, August 29, 1971, Copenhagen, Denmark (82)
Kofod, Otto, December 3, 1970, Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania (76)
Kuhl, Mrs. Raymond F. (Eva Campbell), February 3, 1971, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (73)
Latta, Kenneth Igler, February 24, 1971, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (49)
Lohmann, Miss Edel Valborg, Sigorny, date unknown, Denmark-Delayed Report
Long, Wilmer Earl, June 18, 1971, Ivyland, Pennsylvania (78)
Mullen, Mrs. John (Elizabeth Marion Mantle), September 9, 1970, Darby, Pennsylvania, (91)
Nicolet, Jean Adolphe, 1971, Switzerland (74)

285

Potts, Miss Lucy Emma, July 11, 1971, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (93)
Raymond, Miss Frances Beatrice, January 29, 1971, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (61)
Richardson, Mrs. Edwin Kendall (Norma Florence Johnston), June 20, 1971, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Rothaermel, Theodore Alisa, September 7, 1970, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (86)
Schnarr, Gerald Nelson, January 1, 1971, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada (70)
Stoler, Elmer Giles, June 2, 1971, Lansdale, Pennsylvania (82)
Stroh, Mrs. Kenneth Oliver (Virginia Blair), April 4, 1971, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (50)
Tyler, George Theodore, October 26, 1970, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (64)
Tyrrell, Mrs. Clarence (Helen C.), November 18, 1970, South Bend, Indiana (85)
Venton, Mrs. George R. (Alice Elizabeth Ridgway), Durban, South Africa

     RESIGNATIONS

Bond, Thomas Arthur, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Edmondson, Frank William, Boston, Massachusetts
Von Moschzisker, Miss Bertha, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

     DROPPED FROM THE ROLL

Allen, Mrs. George W. (Helen Riefstahl), San Diego, California
Madsen, Niels Kristian Vilhelm, Stockholm, Sweden

     Respectfully submitted,
          NORBERT H. ROGERS
               Secretary
TREASURER OF THE GENERAL CHURCH REPORT FOR 1971 1972

TREASURER OF THE GENERAL CHURCH REPORT FOR 1971 LEONARD E. GYLLENHAAL 1972

     Viewed in terms of a single year, 1971 was financially satisfactory for the General Church. In the single 12-month period, substantially greater services were performed than ever before. At the same time contributions were received from a much larger number of donors and in record amounts.
     Operating expenditures were approximately $52,000 or 13% higher than the previous year and $33,000 above our best estimates. The unexpected increase was due largely to two circumstances. The cost of moving seven pastors, two of them halfway around the world, exceeded the reserve that had been accumulated for the purpose and required an expenditure of $15,000 from operating funds. Secondly, the growing cost of subsidizing salaries added $31,000 to last year's budget. This figure was in excess of the actual total increase in salaries under the Salary Plans, indicating a growing and unfavorable trend in the wrong direction.
     Fortunately, operating income made comparable gains for the year, increasing by an even greater amount of $61,000. Over one half of this came from improved contributions to income, and this included large and small donors alike. The following is an analysis of the sources of general contributions:

286

                              1971                    1970

     Category                    No.     Amount          No.     Amount

$1-$99                         469     $11, 553          472     $ 14,438
$100-$499                         138     24,031          108     18,730
$500-$999                         20     13,716          19     13,419
$1,000-$4,999                    15     29,444          11     20,048
$5,000-Over                         6     60,574          4     39,100

     Totals                    648     $139,318          614     $ 105,735

     As a result, we were able to finish the year with a small surplus.

     In terms of the past and looking forward to the next few years, however, last year's performance gives reason for some concern. In the four years since 1967, total General Church operating expenses have doubled to nearly half a million dollars. The biggest cause of this increase is the Support of the Salary and Benefits Plans. To keep our salary scales in line with comparable professions, there have been yearly increases. To make this possible, the General Church has had to increase its support in most areas of the Church and has taken over all contributions to the Pension Fund except for the Bryn Athyn Church. This year, for the first time, there are indications that this process has caused discouragement, since only a few areas have any hope of remaining self-supporting and there is a trend to accept help more readily while using local funds for uses previously considered unattainable.
     In the next few years we anticipate further substantial increases in expense. We must provide for an assistant to the episcopal office, and there are increasing demands for General Church expenditures to help developing areas and schools to become established-a vital use if the Church is to grow. At the same time our salary scales, particularly for teachers, are falling behind. If we are to continue, therefore, to enjoy satisfactory results, we will have to expect a greater effort to reduce the requirements for General Church support in established areas throughout the Church.
     Viewed in terms of even a single year, 1971 was unsatisfactory for the Pension Fund. Starting in 1968, the new Health Insurance and Investment Savings Plan was initiated as a function of the Pension Fund. With increasing salary scales, the investment savings have gone up, and in the last two years health insurance premiums have nearly doubled to $62,000. For the first time in its long history, the Pension Fund spent more than it took in, showing a $1,500 deficit. To help re-establish solvency, the 1972 contribution from the General Fund has been budgeted at 10%, up from 8%. In addition, it is obvious that our biggest expense, the Health Plan, will have to be restudied.
     We are indeed a very small organization doing a very big job, and we will need all the financial help we can get.
     Respectfully submitted,
          LEONARD E. GYLLENHAAL
               Treasurer

287

     OPERATING INCOME

Where it came from                         December 31

Contributions                         1971          1970          1969
General Purposes                         $139,318     $105,735     $102,886 Religion Lessons                         4,199          2,255          6,067           South African Mission                    5,541          5,230          5,466

     TOTAL                              $149,058     $113,220     $114,419

Investment Income
General Fund                         $ 57,453     $ 55,082     $ 53,839           Endowment Funds                         210,992     198,404     159,249

     TOTAL                              $268,445     $253,486      $213,088

Subscription and Sales
New Church Life                         $ 6,110     $ 5,509     $ 5,598
New Church Education                    1,013      1,363          1,414
Printing and Publishing                    12,134     10,681     7,432

Transfer from Moving and Travel Funds     11,552     9,692          6,089
Miscellaneous                         7,686          5,350          4,122
Real Estate                              4,534          -          -

     TOTAL INCOME                    $460,502     $399,301     $352,162

          What it was spent for

Administration
Episcopal Office                         $ 26,212     $ 27,159     $ 22,619
Secretary's Office                    15,915     15,441     14,562
Financial and Corporate Affairs          31,013     27 925     24,207

     TOTAL ADMINISTRATION               $ 73,140     $ 70,525     $ 61,388 Services and Information               80,640     77,201     67,800

     TOTAL ADMINISTRATIVE AND SERVICES     $153,780     $147,726     $129,188

Education
Support of Schools                    $ 56,913     $ 42,694     $ 37,917           Religion Lessons and Other               18,004     15,151     16,794

     TOTAL EDUCATION                    $ 74,917     $ 57,845     $ 54,711

Pastoral Support
Societies                              $ 30,790     $ 17,713     $ 20,748
Resident Areas                         45,081     36,367     35,723
Nonresident Areas                         26,547     24,624     25,826
Special Services                         2,607          8,042          12,764

     TOTAL PASTORAL                    $105,025     $ 86,746     $ 95,061

Clergy                              $ 28,930     18,674     8,209
South African Mission                    30,146     29,673     26,637 Missionary                              -          2,294          2,516
Pension Fund Contributions               34,625     32,090     28,752
Other                                   15,541     15,559     6,924

     TOTAL EXPENSE                    $442,964     $390,607     $351,998

Appropriated from Surplus
Reserve for Moving                    10,000     6,000          -

Unappropriated Balance                    $ 7,538     $ 2,694     $ 164

288

     COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL CONDITION

     Assets


December 31
                                   1971               1970
GENERAL FUNDS

Cash                                   $     6,364          $     3,650
Accounts Receivable                    52,379          46,777
Loans Outstanding                         55,947          56,947
Investments N.C.I.F.                    876,775          341,761
U.S.A. Bonds                         1,038               1,038
Other Securities                         152,048          92,104
Buildings and Grounds                    114,000          114,000
Real Estate                              128,196          104,334
Inventory-Publications                    22,806          25,092
Prepaid Expense                         11,797          8,778
Due from Other Funds                    3,173               3,173

     TOTAL GENERAL FUNDS               $1,424,523          $1,297,657

LOAN FUNDS
Cash                                   $ 1,435          $ (32,533)
Loans Outstanding                         72,631          63,085
Investinents-N.C.I.F.                    45,649          87,178

     TOTAL LOAN FUNDS                    $119,715          $117,730

ENDOWMENT AND TRUST FUNDS
Cash                                   $ 306,897          $ 275,020
Investments-N.C.I.F.                    5,991,360          5,177,521
Due from Other Funds                    120,000          65,000
Other Securities                         287,757          722,403

     TOTAL ENDOWMENT AND TRUSTS           $6,706,014          $6,239,944

SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION FUNDS
Cash                                   $ 16,549          $ 1,176
Loans and Accounts Receivable               5,302               4,263
Investments-Building Society                51,682          67,112
Real Estate and Office                    22,623          19,921

     TOTAL SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION           $96,156          $92,472

TOTAL ALL FUNDS                         $8,346,408          $7,747,803

289

     Accountability

                                        December 31
                                   1971               1970

GENERAL FUNDS

Accounts Payable                         $ 27,331          $ 24,042
Contributions for Future Expenditures     24,157          18,564
Due to Other Funds                    120,000          66,237       Unexpended Funds
Restricted                              43,894          28,651       Appropriated                         8,503               9,280       Reserved for:
Investment Savings                    113,198          80,143          Pastoral Moving                         10,000          7,972
Other                                   10,526          5,532
Unappropriated Income Surplus               203,709          196,171
Principal of Book Center               24,080          21,940
Net Worth                              839,125          839,125

     TOTAL GENERAL FUNDS               $1,424,523          $1,297,657

LOAN FUNDS
Building Revolving Fund                    $ 119,715          $ 117,730
TOTAL LOAN FUNDS                         $ 119,715          $ 117,730

ENDOWMENT AND TRUST FUNDS

Funds Functioning as Endowment          $1,187,238          $ 977,185
Endowment Nonexpendable
Income Restricted                         1,318,886          1,292,896
Income Unrestricted                    1,742,963          1,537,663
Special Endowment                         2,305,309          2,301,976
Trust Funds                              151,618          130,224

     TOTAL ENDOWMENT AND TRUSTS          $ 6,706,014          $ 6,239,944

SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION FUNDS

Accounts Payable                         $ 640               $ 840
Mission Reserve Fund                    93,524          90,782
Trust Funds                              592               570
Special Funds                         1,400               280

     TOTAL SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION          $96,156          $92,472

TOTAL ALL FUNDS                         $8,346,408          $7,747,803

290

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM (A Pennsylvania Corporation) REPORT OF THE SECRETARY FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1971 1972

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM (A Pennsylvania Corporation) REPORT OF THE SECRETARY FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1971 Various 1972

     MEMBERSHIP

     During the year 1971 the number of persons comprising the membership of the Corporation increased from 340 to 357. The changes in membership consisted of:

17 New Members:

Asplundh, Paul Scott
Coffin, Philip D.
Cooper, Denis
de Chazal, Jean L.
Dellyea, Robert A.
Doering, Karl W.
Dunlap, Henry R.
Frazee, Keith
Fuller, Bruce Alan
Lee, Edward B., III
Leeper, Thomas N.
Raymond, Douglas H.
Rogers, N. Bruce
Roscoe, David J.
Schnarr, Roger W.
Smith, Carey N.
Zecher, Robert F.

     DIRECTORS

     The By-Laws of the Corporation provide for election of thirty Directors, ten of whom are elected each year for terms of three years. The Board presently consists of thirty Directors. At the 1971 Annual Meeting ten Directors were elected for terms expiring in 1974, and one Director was elected for a term of two years, expiring in 1973, to fill the unexpired term of Willard B. McCardell, Sr.
     The present Directors, with the dates their terms expire are as follows:

1974 Acton, Elmo C.
1972 Alden, William B.
1973 Anderson, Gordon G.
1972 Asplundh, Lester
1974 Asplundh, Robert R.
1972 Brewer, Horace H.
1973 Brickman, Theodore,
1972 Campbell, David H.
1973 Cooper, George M.
1973 Doering, Grant R.
1973 Elder, Bruce
1974 Fuller, Alan B.
1973 Gyllenhaal, Charles P.
1973 Gyllenhaal, Leonard F.
1973 Junge, James F.
1974 Junge, Ralph D.
1974 Kintner, William R.
1974 Kuhl, John E.
1972 Nelson, Lewis
1972 Pendleton, Willard D.
1972 Pitcairn, Lachlan
1974 Pitcairn, Stephen
1972 Pryke, Owen
1974 Rose, John W.
1973 Schoenberger, John J.
1972 Smith, Marlyn F.
1972 Synnestvedt, J. Ralph, Jr.
1973 Synnestvedt, Leo
1974 Walter, Robert E.
1974 Wyncoll, John H.

Lifetime honorary member of the Board:

de Charms, George

291

     OFFICERS

     The Corporation has five Officers, each of whom is elected yearly for a term of one year. Those elected at the Board Meeting of January 29, 1971 were:

     President               Pendleton, Willard D.
     Vice President          Acton, Elmo C.
     Secretary               Pitcairn, Stephen
     Treasurer               Gyllenhaal, Leonard E.
     Controller               Fuller, Bruce

     CORPORATION MEETINGS

     The 1971 Annual Corporation Meeting was held at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, on January 29, The Bryn Athyn Society was invited to attend the meeting. The President, Bishop Pendleton, presided, and there were 104 members and 248 guests in attendance. Reports were received from the Nominating Committee, the Treasurer, the Secretary, and the election for Directors was held.
     The Reverend David Simons gave an interesting talk on the work he was doing as Director of the Religion Lessons. He presented slides with his talk in which he emphasized the new use of both slides and tapes to reach the isolated children.
     A special meeting of the members of the Corporation was held on May 14, 1971, to amend the By-Laws to permit the Annual Meeting of the members to be held during the month of January, February, or March of each year. Formerly, only January and February were stipulated in the By-Laws.

     BOARD MEETINGS

     The Board of Directors held four meetings during 1971, the President presiding at all of them. The average attendance of Directors was 19 with a maximum of 26 and a minimum of 13.
     In January a regular meeting and an organizational meeting of the Board were held. The requests from the Washington and Toronto Societies for the extension of the financial support of a teacher for one additional year were approved. Mr. Feodor Pitcairn, who is Pitcairn Incorporated's officer responsible for the New Church Investment Fund, gave an informative report on the Fund. He reviewed, in particular, the new dividend policy in which income distributions are being increased by 4-1/2%, compounded annually.
     A report on the South African Mission was received from the Reverend Peter Buss outlining the events of the past fiscal year and the proposed budget for 1971. The budget was approved with additional sums being allotted for completion of the church building at Clermont, and the purchase of a car for the use of the Assistant Superintendent, the Reverend Benjamin I. Nzimande.
     Bishop Pendleton suggested that the Annual Meeting of the Corporation be changed to March to coincide with the trimester school break and the Council of the Clergy meeting. He said a change in the By-Laws should be made to permit the March meeting.
     At the May Board meeting, the 1971 budget was studied and approved. The Treasurer reported on the receipt of an application from the Toronto Society for a loan of up to $60,000 to expand their school facilities. This loan was approved to be made from the Building Revolving Loan Fund.

292

     The radio missionary work of the Reverend Douglas Taylor in Australia was reviewed and it was agreed that the results warranted an additional year of financial support.
     Bishop Pendleton gave an interesting report on his visit to the First National Canadian General Church Assembly in Caryndale, Preston, Ontario. The By-Laws and the Articles of Incorporation of the General Church in Canada were approved by the Assembly.
     A discussion was held on housing for ministers in the various Societies. The question arose on whether the manses should be owned by the General Church or the pastor. Other questions of financing and rentals were discussed and a committee was asked to recommend to the Board a policy in regard to ownership and financing of manses.
     In October the Board approved the purchase of a new manse in Dawson Creek, Canada, for the Reverend Christopher Smith.
     Mr. Robert Walter, Chairman of the Salary Committee, reported that a special payment to ministers and teachers, approved by the Board to be made in September, did not meet unanimous approval of the Societies and that it has been withdrawn. The Committee decided to adopt a 6% flat scale increase until a more permanent arrangement could be worked out. The price-wage freeze has delayed any action.
     A letter was received from Dr. Andrew Doering outlining the need for a home for the elderly located in the Bryn Athyn area. He asked that a committee be appointed to investigate if this should be a use of the General Church. The Board approved appointing such a committee.
     Other matters to come before the meetings were: approval of small loans from the Revolving Building Loan Fund; a report on the Beatrice E. Ashley estate; approval of bank resolutions; reports on the Pension Fund and the Book Room; adjustment of pensions; a report on the new automated payroll; and consideration and action on normal routine matters.
     Respectfully submitted,
          STEPHEN PITCAIRN
               Secretary

     EDITOR OF "NEW CHURCH LIFE"

     During the absence of the Editor because of illness the January issue was seen through the press, the February issue was prepared entirely, and copy for the March issue was made ready for the printer by the Rev. Norbert H. Rogers. Warm appreciation is here expressed to Mr. Rogers for assuming this heavy load in addition to his regular duties.
     Four additional pages were used in 1971. In order of space used, the total of 580 pages was made up as follows:

                                   Pages
     Articles                         302
     Reports                         68
     Sermons                         63
     Editorials                         40
     Church News                         38
     Announcements                    23
     Communications                    12

293

     Miscellaneous                    12
     Talks to Children                    9
     Directories                         8
     Reviews                         5
                                   580

     Excluding editorials, news notes and reports, the contents of NEW CHURCH LIFE in 1971 came from 50 contributors, a slight increase. Of these 33 were ministerial and 17 lay, the latter including one lady. As was hoped, there has been some improvement in the Church News department, and a number of new writers have been welcomed.

     CIRCULATION

     Figures as of December 31, 1971, supplied by the Business Manager show that paid subscriptions decreased by four and gratis subscriptions by four. Total circulation is shown in the following tabulation:

                                   1971               1970

Paid Subscriptions
     By Subscriber     863
     Gift               357               1220               1224
Free to our Clergy, Libraries, etc.          211               215
                                   1431               1439

     Respectfully submitted,
          W. CAIRNS HENDERSON
               Editor

     EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANT TO THE BISHOP

     January 1972

     It is vital to the growth and development of the church that all of her children have the opportunity for systematic instruction in the WORD-the Old and New Testament-and in the Heavenly Doctrine; for the WORD is "God with us" and opens the way for communication and conjunction with the angelic heavens.
     Our General Church Religion Lessons program offers a range of courses in the WORD from preschool to adult education. It covers much of the Old Testament in a series of lessons for kindergarten through grade seven; the New Testament in a two-year study of The Life of the Lord; it introduces the mind to the thought of the Writings in The City of God, a course by the Rev. K. R. Alden, and in the book of Revelation* and The Uses of the Moral Virtues* by the Rev. F. L. Schnarr. Students are now ready to study the Writings directly in two courses by the Rev. B. D. Holm: Heaven and Hell and New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine.* Beginning in September 1972, we will be moving the course in The Life of the Lord down to 7th and 8th grades to fit better the needs of our students.
     * These 9th grade and up courses have been added this year.
     With the help of volunteers, we are continuing our revision of the Old Testament lessons to make them more adapted to the abilities and affections of elementary school children.

294

Lessons on Joshua and judges ("E"-fourth grade) will be presented to the ministers at the Annual Council Meetings for criticism before we continue in similar fashion on the remaining Old Testament lessons.
     Financial support of our lessons rose by more than $400,00, due to a request for a specific amount per family. We feel this is a healthy sign, but would stress that the most important support comes from those parents who use these materials to introduce their children to the Lord's WORD. This is our reason for existence!
     New Church Education has been sent to all families enrolled in our Religion Lessons program. We feel it helps to introduce parents who live away from church centers to the full extent of education in the light of the Writings and how these new truths not only shed light on the teaching of religion, but on all other fields of learning as well. The covers of the magazine have, for the most part, been designed as learning aids (flash-cards) to augment the lessons. Such basic knowledges, as the books of the Old and New Testament, the books of the Writings, the sons of Israel, the Apostles, the days of creation, an introduction to Memorable Relations, the Ten Commandments, the Ten Blessings, have been pictured on the covers this year. Next year we plan to review the general characters of the Old Testament, giving their Hebrew names and what they mean-vital to an understanding of the spiritual sense later on-so that this information may be related to the stories from the Religion Lessons. Parents are encouraged to offer rewards to their children for learning these important knowledges.
     We will be sending a questionnaire to our readers for comment and suggestions related to such questions as:

     What do you think of the kind of articles we are printing?
     Do you use the flash cards with your children?
     What do you think of the Explorer?
     Do you prefer the larger size magazine or the present size?

And so on. From a questionnaire we can work to perfect this use better to meet the needs of people away from church centers, for whom it primarily exists.
     We are working to satisfy the great demand for children's talks by publishing talks from former issues of NEW CHURCH LIFE. A series of twelve talks by Bishop de Charms on The Earths in the Universe, given in 1952, will soon be available. Bishop de Charms has generously offered his collection of unpublished talks as well. When we get these and others from NEW CHURCH LIFE published, this need in the church ought to be substantially cared for.
     For parents and teachers, we are publishing "Children and the Young" (Chapter XXIII, Science of Exposition, by Bishop W. F. Pendleton-now out of print). This will be done in a series in New Church Education, also collected into a pamphlet, so that this classic on the education of children in the letter of the Word may become known throughout the church.
     Our A/V program (audio/visual, slides and cassettes) is progressing slowly. We have sent slides at Christmas, Easter and June 19th. We also sent a limited number of Christmas tapes to those who purchased cassette recorders, and advised them that all the Sound Recording offerings are being reproduced on cassette tapes. Send to the Sound Recording Library, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009, for a catalog of offerings. Three full A/V offerings, the Bryn Athyn Christmas Tableaux (1971), the Tabernacle explained by Bishop de Charms, and one on Swedenborg, are currently in the works and should be available soon.

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     We are still experimenting with cassettes in our correspondence courses. One group of three older boys-"The Three Philosophers"-are sending me discussions on Unity in the Universe for comment and pastoral leadership. This has been stimulating and fun, and has sustained their interest in the church.
     As Chairman of the Religion Committee of the Educational Council of the General Church, I can report that we are working to bring basic unity to the Religion Curriculum. This will mean all our schools and our Religion Lessons program will work in closer harmony than in the past. This program leads up to Academy education and is, therefore, to be co-ordinated with its uses as well.
     We would comment on several aspects of our statistical report, which is appended. The excellent work of the "children under school age" program has shown growth and a need for more volunteers. Parents of children under school age are cordially invited to enroll their children in this program. They will receive materials in the mail which prepare their children for the Religion Lessons program later on. Please make all applications to the Director of General Church Religion Lessons, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009.
     We would close by thanking all those who do volunteer work for us, especially the Religion Lessons Committee and the Counselors and Teachers. We have announced in several meetings our new and progressive policy, namely, anyone who now works for us is not allowed to resign unless they replace themselves - which means, if carefully followed, that our uses will achieve virtual immortality!
     Respectfully submitted,
          DAVID R. SIMONS
          Educational Assistant to the Bishop

     GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS ENROLLMENT (tentative)

                                                  1971-1972

Pre-school     1967 Group 4     39
          1968 Group 3     29
          1969 Group 2     19
          1970 Group 1     25
          1971 Infants     6                         118
Kindergarten     (A)                                   23
First Grade          (B)                                   35
Second Grade     (C)           A-18, B-13                    31
Third Grade          (D)          A-19, B-22                     41
Fourth Grade     (E)          A-16, B-13                    29
Fifth Grade          (F)          A-15, B-10                    25
Sixth Grade          (G)          A-12, B-10                     22
Seventh Grade     (H)                                   23
Eighth Grade          LIFE OF THE LORD     Section I          19
Ninth Grade Section     LIFE OF THE LORD     "      II          28
Tenth Grade               CITY OF GOD                         18
                    UNITY IN THE UNIVERSE               5
                    HEAVEN AND HELL                    4

296

Given by New Church Ministers and others to the isolated
North Ohio, Rev. Dan Heinrichs                         22
South Ohio, Rev. B. D. Holm
Washington, D.C., Rev. Fred Schnarr
Western Canada, Rev. C. R. J. Smith                         4
California, Mrs. Ray Wyland
Australia, Mrs. L. Brettell
South Africa, Miss Laura Lumsden
England, Miss E. R. Acton                              30

Festival Lessons sent from this office     245
                    England          10
     New Zealand and Australia          10
               San Francisco          4
                                   269

Circulation-NEW CHURCH EDUCATION          735

Individual Contributions:

     1970-approximately     $1,055.00
     1971-approximately     $1,400.00

     PUBLICATION COMMITTEE

     During 1971 the Publication Committee reprinted the following pamphlets:

     Come and See by Donald L. Rose
     The Visible God by Erik Sandstrom
     The Uses of the Moral Virtues by Frederick L. Schnarr (referred to in my previous report as The Spirit of Morality.)

     A further reprinting of The Uses of the Moral Virtues was commissioned by the General Church Book Center, which also commissioned reprinting Swedenborg's Claim, by Frank S. Rose.
     The order for the Word according to the New Church canon was placed with the Oxford University Press, but at the time of writing the expected delivery date is still an unknown factor.
     Reprinting five hundred copies of The Golden Heart and Other Stories by Amena Pendleton in hard cover was approved subject to funds being available. Approval was also given to bind sufficient copies of In the King's Service by Gertrude Diem to meet the present and future needs of the church.
     Approved and being prepared for publication are essays on The Ten Commandments and on The Lord's Prayer by Hugo Lj. Odhner, and Dean Acton has agreed to prepare his series of doctrinal classes on conjugial love for publication.
     Much thought has been given to the question of how to get the books and pamphlets we publish into the hands of readers more effectively than has been the case until now. The best answer would be to have a real live-wire book agent in every church center. But the responsibility for this rests with the respective centers. Among the things the Committee itself can attend to is getting price lists prepared and distributed through book agents, placing notice of titles in local news-sheets and including "teasers" about various books and pamphlets in every package shipped out from the Book Center.

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     Except for bigger works and those requiring hard-cover binding, the majority of the Committee's publications is in the form of booklets and pamphlets printed in our print shop. This was started with used machines to reproduce Religion Lessons material. As its equipment was gradually upgraded, not only was the quality of its product improved, but its capabilities were also increased and it became increasingly able to do work for the General Church, the Academy, the Bryn Athyn Society and various organizations of the church. When it was realized that because of the small size of our market and the dearth of suitable storage space most of the church's printing needs were best met with short runs of from one hundred to one thousand copies, which were not nearly big enough to secure a price break from commercial presses, it was decided to increase the capability of the print shop with the addition of a photographic master-making machine and an offset press. Ever since the volume of work for the church and the Academy has increased rapidly and steadily, practically doubling itself each year, until as of December 1971, it is estimated the work load has come to average four hundred thousand print impressions a month, most of which is not connected with Religion Lessons! The print shop in a real sense now serves as a general church press. The rapid increase of the work load made it necessary to get machines to take over tasks previously done by hand. The latest of these ancillary machines is a twelve-stage power collator being acquired through a grant from the Cairncrest Foundation. This machine can be linked with a powered wire-stitcher and folder, limiting manual operations to transferring the stacks of printed pages from the press to the collator and the stitched and folded booklets from the folder to containers for delivery. Even with these aids, to keep up with the volume of work and to meet deadlines requires the services of one full time and three part-time workers.
     Respectfully submitted,
          NORBERT H. ROGERS
               Chairman

     SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE

     The Sound Recording Committee had a useful and busy but otherwise uneventful year. A Catalogue Supplement issued in 1971 added 324 new titles to the Committee's listings. These accessions came from Australia, Bryn Athyn, Connecticut, Glenview, Kitchener, Pittsburgh and Washington, D. C. Three new sections were opened with this Supplement: World Assemblies, Religious Education for Children, Material for and by Young People.
     In the twelve months ending September 30, 1971, circulation increased from 1,354 to 2,077. This represented service to 19 groups and 52 families. Requests for cassette copies are increasing, and several music tapes were asked for during the year. A total of 1,018 of the Visual Education Committee's slides was mailed to borrowers before the slide library was moved in May to Cairncrest, where it is now handled by the General Church Religion Lessons.
     As of September 30, 1971, the treasurer reported, Committee net worth stood at $14,411.39, a decrease of $2,784.66. Total income for the year was $5,864.57, a decrease of $814.38, while total expenses were $8,308.69, an increase of $875.57. While special contributions decreased, there was a substantial increase in contributions from users.
     Respectfully submitted,
          W. CAIRNS HENDERSON
               Chairman

298

     TRANSLATION COMMITTEE

     The Translation Committee has continued to be relatively inactive. The main reason is that potential translators are few in number and are among the busiest persons in the Church. Although this fact recommends Latin as a field of study, so far it has prevented doing any translation work under the auspices of the Translation Committee; and until some work is done the Committee cannot be very active. Another reason is that since World War II new translations of most of the Writings have been published, and now that the Swedenborg Society has undertaken to translate the Arcana Caelestia anew, it leaves only the Spiritual Diary as really needing to be translated again. This would be too ambitious a project for us to consider seriously in our present circumstances. The main task of the Committee for now is to prepare for the next round of translating the Writings in about ten or twenty years time. A most important part of that preparation requires increasing the number of our potential translators and to work out ways to free one or more of them sufficiently to have time for translating.
     Some translating work, however, is being done by General Church members. The Rev. Gudmund Boolsen recently revised a Danish translation of Heaven and Hell and translated Earths in the Universe into Danish. The Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz translated Intercourse Between the Soul and Body into Swedish and has been working on a Swedish translation of Divine Providence. And I am continuing with the translation of the end of chapter sections in the Arcana Caelestia which treat of "The Gorand Man." None of these projects, however, are connected with the General Church Translation Committee.
     The sub-committee investigating the feasibility of computerizing the Writings concluded, from the results of its pilot project, that key-punching data on to cards was a too error-prone method for our circumstances and, unless done by volunteers, would be too expensive. Various other methods of data-input were considered but were rejected for some cause or other, mainly the lack of a large volunteer pool or because no one proficient in Latin was in a position to devote to the project enough time at sufficiently regular intervals. It was finally concluded that only the use of optical scanners could serve our needs. Researching where scanners were sufficiently developed led us to the Aeronautical Department of Cornell University which specialized in devising and using optical scanners and applying computer techniques to particular problems. After they had considered our needs, they advised us that a special scanner would have to be devised for us and estimated that the costs of computerizing all the Writings would come to a prohibitive four or five hundred thousand dollars!! Further research led us to two small companies who seemed to have the capabilities we needed, one in Pennsylvania and the other in California. After consultation, they gave us estimates for computerizing the Arcana Caelestia. The figures ranged from $10,000.00 to $20,000.00. While these amounts approach the range of reason and, perhaps, even the possible, they are still high - too high to warrant even trying to raise them unless there was a present need for the product. When it was found that the Swedenborg Society did not feel the need of computerized data for translating the Arcana, the sub-committee went on a standby status, its object having been attained: computerizing the Writings is feasible, it would be of lasting value to the scholarship of the Church, but it is expensive, and, while reducing many mechanical operations, the use of computers makes a lot more work possible and necessary.
     Respectfully submitted,
          NORBERT H. ROGERS
               Chairman

299

NEW BEGINNINGS 1972

NEW BEGINNINGS Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE

Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

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

Editor                Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

Business Manager      Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION

$5.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 50 cents.
     "All effects, which are called last ends, become anew first ends in uninterrupted succession." This abstract, philosophical statement of the Writings may seem far removed from what will happen this month in the Academy and the schools of the General Church, yet there is a direct relationship. The successful completion of formal education, or a segment of it, is the happy end of a process, but the process itself was designed to lead to a new beginning; one that could not be entered into unless it had been followed faithfully.
     This is something that every student realizes to some extent. He can look fondly on his certificate, diploma or degree, and take satisfaction in the thought that he has finished the work for which it stands, for just so long. Then his mind begins to look forward to the next step, for which it has prepared him: to secondary school or college, to graduate work or to his chosen career. Together with his rejoicing-and that of his family and friends-in work well done is the promise of new beginnings, and that is, perhaps, the stronger.
     However, there is something unique about our graduations because our hopes go further than most-to the church and to spiritual life. We know that regeneration is not the immediate purpose or the product of education, yet education is concerned with preparation for it. It looks to the development of a rational in which the spiritual rational can be implanted. When that mind has been formed, no man can say: but when it has been there is a new beginning, or rather a series of new beginnings, that will continue and bear fruit to eternity.

300

"AND NOT AS THE SCRIBES" 1972

"AND NOT AS THE SCRIBES" Editor 1972

     The unique characteristic of the General Church is that particular acknowledgment of the authority of the Writings which is embodied in the declaration that they are the Word. Furthermore, the General Church believes that the future of the New Church lies in the discovery of the authority of the Writings where it has not been seen, and in a deeper acknowledgment where it has. But what is the authority of the Writings? It is not the testimony of Swedenborg as to the Divine authorship of the Writings, for that would be the authority of Swedenborg. Nor is it any declaration made by the General Church, or the Academy in the past, for that would be the authority of the church: barren, authoritarian and external. The authority of the Writings is the authority of the Lord speaking in and through them.
     As the authority of the Writings is the Lord's, recognition and acceptance of it come under certain laws of His Providence-that man shall act in freedom according to reason, and that he shall not be compelled by external means to believe and love the things of religion. Acknowledgment of the authority of the Writings does not come from without but from within. It is based on internal sight in which the Writings become self -authenticating: a sight not merely intellectual, because it is what is called the self-evidencing reason of love.
     We are brought up to believe in or are introduced into the idea of the authority of the Writings, and that is the orderly approach; but because it is the Lord's authority it is exercised in changing our lives; and until the church, the experience of the individual New Church man, and his rational search for religious truth and faith are brought under the Lord's authority in the Writings, that authority is not truly seen and. acknowledged. Divine truth has authority for us when it persuades the mind and life internally and therefore in freedom; and it does so when we perceive it as the form of Divine good. The authority of the Writings becomes real for us when in them we hear the Lord speaking Divine truth from Divine love, and gladly yield ourselves to it. For then He speaks as one "having authority, and not as the scribes."
HEAVENLY CITY 1972

HEAVENLY CITY Editor 1972

Cities have long been regarded as repositories and centers of culture, and their founding and advancement as important parts of the civilizing process. Yet the Writings present a different idea of the origin of the city.

301

They say that when the love of dominion from the love of self came in, and with it enmity and hostility against those who were unwilling to submit, tribes and families and households of necessity gathered themselves together into general communities and appointed, first a judge, then a prince, and finally a king or emperor. They then began to protect themselves with towers, earthworks and walls. Today, in an age which has coined such terms as "urban blight" and given new meanings to words such as "ghetto," the city has become for many a symbol of spiritual death rather than of life.
     Yet the Word speaks of the coming of a heavenly city, the New Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. By this city, it is now taught, is meant the Heavenly Doctrine-the doctrine of Divine truth revealed by the Lord; therefore the New Church as to doctrine, and as to faith in the Lord which is formed from doctrine. The contrast here is between life and death. How does it come about?
     Angels, of course, do not know what a city is, or the name of any city. Indeed they have no idea of a city. Therefore a city stands in the Word for a mode of life. This we may see if we reflect that a city is built to support and promote the life and values desired and prized by its inhabitants. In thinking about a city we know, we do not think about the buildings in it, but the functions for which they are designed and that are performed in them. And as a city is planned and shaped to support a certain life it is modified by that life.

     Spiritually, life is good or evil, and it is supported and lived by means of truths or falsities. These are as cities, and the goods and evils done in them are as the lives of the inhabitants; and as in a city there are buildings designated for certain functions, so in the system that is human life there are aggregations of truth or falsity set up for the service of good and evil uses, and ideas which connect them with one another: doctrines which relate to worship, to government, to business and industry, and to the rendering of services.
     When men made the origin of evil in themselves, and the loves of self and the world became evil because dominant, they raised structures of falsity to justify these evil loves. In the Heavenly Doctrine the Lord has given, as it were, a counter structure; one in which the life and faith of heaven can be lived by men and women on earth and children be reared in them. This last is important. The New Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven, and the New Church which it represents is to be consociated with the New Heaven both as to doctrine and as to life. Therefore it is no dream, but a live city; and as the secular city offers only death, in this is the hope of life.

302

NEW CHURCH 1972

NEW CHURCH Editor 1972

"When the end of a church is at hand, the interior things of the Word, of the church and of worship are revealed and taught. This is done that the good may be separated from the evil; there is a separation because the interior things of the Word, of the church and of worship, which are celestial and spiritual, are received by the good, but are rejected by the evil. Moreover, the interior things of the Word, which are revealed at the end of a church, are serviceable for doctrine and life to the new church that is then established. That this is so is evident from this, that when the end of the Jewish Church was at hand the Lord Himself opened and taught the interior things of the Word, and especially revealed those things in the Word that had been prophesied of Himself; and when these had been opened and revealed, the externals of the church were abrogated, which consisted chiefly of sacrifices and rituals and statutes which shadowed forth the Lord, and represented and thus signified the interior things of the church which He was revealing" (Apocalypse Explained 641: 2).

305

MARRIAGE WITHIN THE CHURCH 1972

MARRIAGE WITHIN THE CHURCH Rev. DOUGLAS TAYLOR 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII JULY, 1972
No. 7
     "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son." (Deuteronomy 7: 3)

     Moses, the Divinely appointed leader and governor of the Hebrew nation, was speaking in the name of the Lord when he relayed this Divine command to the assembled congregation just prior to its entry into the promised land. In the name of the Lord he was warning the people of the grave danger to which they would expose themselves if they were to intermarry with the idolatrous nations round about them in the land: "the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites." These nations worshiped various idols, so we can readily understand the reason given for not intermarrying with them, namely: "for they will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly."*
     * Verse 4
     There was no hope of these nations coming to the worship of the one God, Jehovah. They were utterly and irrevocably devoted to the worship of strange gods and idols. Therefore the Lord commanded through Moses that there was to be absolutely no intermarriage with them. If once marriages with the idolatrous nations that would surround them on all sides when they entered into the land were allowed to begin, grave national and spiritual consequences would surely ensue, and, worst of all, would grow.
     The national consequence of intermarriage was quite obvious.

306

If it became the general rule, the nation would soon disappear. It would lose its independent identity; it would be swallowed up by the surrounding nations. In a later period in the history of the nation this is exactly what did happen. What are now known as the lost ten tribes of Israel were apparently swallowed up by intermarriage with the surrounding nations when carried into captivity by the Assyrians. This is also what happened to those left behind in Israel at the time of the captivity in Babylon. They intermarried with neighboring peoples and produced the very confused people known as the Samaritans, who were universally despised by the pure Jews. The pure Jews were those who, in marked contrast, refused to intermarry with their Babylonian captors, who in the face of considerable hardship and external pressure remained loyal to the Lord and His commandments, including the one set forth in our text. They obeyed, and they survived.
     And the church survived with them. The spiritual consequences followed inevitably from the national consequences. For, as the Lord said repeatedly to the Hebrews through Moses: "Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth."* It would never have done for the Israelitish or Jewish nation to have disappeared before the Christian Church could be set up, because the representative of a church would have vanished, causing the vital link between heaven and earth to be sundered.
     * Verse 6. See also 14: 2; Exodus 19: 6.

     But despite the very definite prohibition of marriages between the people of the representative of a church and those who were in idolatrous and heathen worship, they were by no means forbidden to intermarry with the nations who accepted their worship, and who after being initiated into it acknowledged Jehovah. This truth is vitally important to know and understand if we are to achieve a balanced view of this matter of marriage within the church. The Jews were never forbidden to intermarry with those who, after instruction, could receive their worship. Dedicated idolaters could never do that; but strangers who sojourned or dwelt with them could. They were called "strangers" or "sojourners." The law concerning them reads: "And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land . . . . One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth with thee. "*
     * Exodus 12: 48, 49.

307

     The acid test, you see, was whether or not they could come into their doctrine and worship wholeheartedly. If they could, marriage with them was not forbidden; if they could not, it was forbidden in the clearest and strongest terms.
     It was only to be expected that the Christian Church in its early integrity observed this law. Some of the stronger denominations still remain faithful to it. Their authority for this stand lies in the passages in the Old Testament referred to, to which they have added this very forthright utterance of Paul in his second letter to the members of the Church in Corinth: "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?"*
     *II Corinthians 6: 14-16.

     The same Divine law is given in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, but it is there amplified and explained, so that we may understand why it is forbidden to marry those who are devoted to other gods than the one only God, the Lord Jesus Christ in His glorified Human.
     Before considering these teachings, let us recall something we already know and believe so that it will be in the forefront of our minds; that is, that this is in very truth a Divine law. It is the voice of the Lord that says: "Neither shalt thou make marriages with them." It was not Moses who thought it up, though he spoke it; it was not the Levites, who served the use of the priesthood in that church, who decided on and decreed and promulgated this law from themselves, though many generations of them have since upheld it; it was not the congregation of the church as a whole that decided to impose this law upon itself like some kind of regulation. It was the Lord in His love and wisdom who commanded this: not merely recommended it, commanded it from His eternal wish to give the human race, in general and individually, the greatest happiness possible.
     So with the New Church. It was not Swedenborg who thought up the deeper explanation of this law, though he delivered it from the Lord; it was not any individual priest or bishop who thought this a useful requirement to introduce into the church organization; it was not even the united voice of the Council of the Clergy that decreed this law, though every member of the priesthood worthy of his sacred trust and use proclaims it from the Lord as clearly and as conscientiously as he can; nor was it the voice of the whole Assembly of the Church that said it from itself. It is the Lord alone who, from His love and wisdom says it.

308

He says it for the sake of establishing the New Church meant by the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation; establishing it in the individual and in the world at large. He says it for the sake of our greater and more lasting happiness.
     Our obedience to this concept of marriage within the church is, therefore, obedience to the voice of the Lord; it is a willingness to be led by Him. It is innocence, which is the essence of heavenly joy and heavenly peace.*
     * HH 288.

     Because the Lord has said these things it is the duty of the priesthood to teach them. In general, it is the sacred duty, use and function of the priesthood to teach the truth and so lead to the good of life.* This means all the truth that the Lord has revealed; there can be no willful withholding of the Lord's Word, no hiding His Divine light under a bushel. The Word must be preached with a view to the goodness of life.
     * HD 314, 315.
     Still, priests must not compel anyone.* There must be a free and rational acceptance of what the Lord says should be done. In the Word the priest is compared to a watchman: "So, thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the Word at My mouth, and warn them from Me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, the wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way, to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul."**
     * HD 318.
     ** Ezekiel 33: 7-9.
     Those who are priests, then, have a sacred duty to teach the Word with all its warnings; those who are laymen of the church likewise have a sacred duty-to hearken to the Word of the Lord. In this spirit of willingness to be led by the Lord, let us look further into the explanation that the Lord has provided for the New Church.
     In the explanation of the internal sense of our text we find this teaching. "That the Israelites were not to contract marriages with the daughters of the Canaanites had regard to the spiritual laws that good and falsity, and evil and truth, are not to be conjoined together, for from that comes profanation."*
     * AC 3024: 7.
     Whatever refers in the sense of the letter to marriage and conjugial love refers, in the internal sense, to the heavenly marriage of truth and good, and good and truth. The reason is that conjugial love derives its origin from this marriage of truth and good, and good and truth.*

309

So it is further explained: "If good were conjoined with any other truth than its own, it would not subsist at all, but would be rent asunder and so would perish. In the spiritual church the wife represents good and the man represents truth . . . and ... they not only represent, but also in all their activities correspond to them."** In other words: the state of the marriage depends on the good that is with the wife, and the truth [the moral wisdom, the truth in act] with the husband. But if they are discordant-if the good and truth do not agree-there will be an interior coldness in the marriage.
     * AC 4434.
     ** AC 4434: 9.

     In the work, Conjugial Love, which satisfies the human longing for a spiritual kind of marriage by setting forth the truths, the Divine doctrine, concerning love truly conjugial, there is a whole chapter on the causes of coldness and consequent separations in marriage. We learn that there are external causes and internal causes of this coldness. The external causes, which need not concern us here, are various natural differences, such as differences in education, upbringing, and so on. But the internal causes are all from religion. This is because conjugial love is according to the state of the church."* Four different causes of an interior coldness between married partners are enumerated."**
     * CL 130.
     **CL 238-244.
     These are: 1) the rejection of religion by both partners; 2) that one has religion and the other has not; 3) that one is of one religion and the other of another; 4) that there is falsity of religion. The first and the last of these causes do not seem to apply as directly as the second and third; that is, an absence of religion in one of the partners, and a difference of religion between them. Let us see, then, what is said about these two.
     As to an absence of religion in one of the partners, this causes an interior coldness because their souls do not agree. In the case of the one who has no religion, it is closed against the reception of conjugial love, while in the case of the other the soul is open. "Hence in the soul there can be no cohabitation," we read.* "This coldness is not dissipated except by the reception of a religion that agrees with that of the other, if this be true."**
     * CL 241
     ** Ibid.
     In the case where one is of one religion and the other of another, the interior coldness arises from the fact that "with them good cannot be conjoined with its correspondent truth. For a wife is the good of the husband's truth and he is the truth of the wife's good . . . .

310

Hence from the two souls there cannot come to be one soul, consequently the fountain of that love is closed."* The same passage goes on to give an experience of Swedenborg that shows, perhaps more clearly than any passage from the Heavenly Doctrine so far brought forward, why the Lord in His mercy has forbidden marriage outside the church. "I was once wandering through the streets of a great city seeking a place of lodging: and I entered a house where dwelt married partners who were of different religions. While I was ignorant of the fact, the angels spoke to me and said, 'We cannot stay with you in this house, because the married partners are in discordant religion.' They perceived this from the internal disunion of their souls."
     * CL 242.
     From all this we can appreciate that the statement in our lesson from the Arcana is no exaggeration: "Marriages on earth between those who are of different religion are accounted in heaven as heinous, and still more so marriages between those who are of the church and those who are outside the church."*
     * AC 8998

     The Lord's wise and loving reasons for making this prohibition ought now to be manifest. He wants to give us the greatest happiness-not just a partial, incomplete happiness. He wants each individual to enjoy a marriage of love truly conjugial. He wants to give us complete happiness. In love truly conjugial there is the greatest happiness. It is the good from which all other goods are derived.
     This applies to individual marriages within the church. But it also has a most profound bearing on the future growth of the church, the Lord's kingdom, on earth. The church as an organization for the sake of extending the Lord's kingdom, existing to extend both widely and deeply the realm where the Lord is King, encourages the reception of the good and truth that make His kingdom. In the light of that, let us consider this most heartening and inspiring teaching, again from the work Conjugial Love. "The offspring born of two who are in love truly conjugial derive from their parents the conjugial of good and truth, from which they have an inclination and a faculty, if a son for perceiving the things that are of wisdom, and if a daughter for loving what wisdom teaches."* What a wonderful prospect this opens up for the real growth of the Lord's kingdom, for a deepening reception of those qualities that make heaven and the church! What a hope this raises for the deeper reception of the Heavenly Doctrine in heart and life as well as in mind!

311

Can we not see here the great use performed by marriage within the church, in that it increases the possibility of marriages of love truly conjugial, with the consequent improvement in the hereditary inclinations of the offspring of those marriages? Can we not see here the surest way to rectify the perverse and twisted inclinations that have been handed down through the ages in a great accumulation of tendencies to evil? Can we not see what a boon the Heavenly Doctrine is to the whole human race-if only it is accepted and practised, beginning with ourselves?
     * CL 202.
     Obviously, marriages outside the church to those who are completely devoted to some other god, or some other end that they love above all else, destroys or at least delays the fulfillment of that beautiful hope. Such marriages may indeed enjoy conjunctions of the lower minds, but they do not conjoin souls. Consequently, those in them, we read, "know nothing of the loveliness and joyousness, still less of the felicity and blessedness, of love truly conjugial."*
     * CL 244.
     Besides this, they create practical problems for the individual marriage and for the church organization. In the individual marriage, at best there is a lack of sharing in the inmost things, the most precious of all, and this can make the heart ache. At the worst, there are disagreements, resentments and even a striving for dominion. Moreover, the risk that the children will be lost to the church and the Lord's kingdom is increased.

     What, then, shall we do about this Divine teaching? One thing is certain: we cannot ignore it, or neglect it, or try to get around it. We cannot do these things without grave spiritual danger and harm to the church, in ourselves and in the world.
     In the first place, we must continue to instruct the people of the church, especially our young people, in what is involved in marriage in the New Church. We must continue to hold out the ideal presented by the Lord in the Writings as something that is not just desirable but actually attainable, in the Lord's strength. We must make it possible to see how neglect of this commandment is not a little matter.
     Second, we must encourage those of marriageable age to seek their partners within the church; or, if this is not possible, to choose only those who are "sojourners" not idolaters, that is, those who can be instructed and can come to accept the New Church doctrine and worship and so acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ. In their efforts to interest their future partner in the doctrine, let them remember that the New Church partner has far more strength than he or she realizes, for the Lord is in the true things of faith.

312

     Thirdly, let us strive to find in the community those who are "sojourners," those who are willing to be instructed so that we may enlarge the choice available to our young people.
     Fourthly, let us continue our efforts to have as many of our young people as possible attend the Academy of the New Church through college age where, in addition to becoming educated under the auspices of the church, they will also find themselves in the company of many who are the offspring of parents who have been striving after love truly conjugial, young people who are most likely to have inherited an inclination to perceive and love the things of religion.
     Fifthly, we must help and encourage those who married before they knew about what the Lord wishes in the matter, and who have found that their partner does not share their religion. We must encourage them to interest their partner in the Heavenly Doctrine, so that their souls may be conjoined. The more clearly we visualize the ideal that the Lord places before us for our greatest happiness, the more willing we will be to try, and the more persistent will our efforts become.
     In summary, then: the Lord teaches that marriage within the church is not only the ideal that we must all strive to make real; it is also the greatest blessing, and the surest way of having the Lord's kingdom come on earth. Consequently, marriage to one who is quite unwilling to be instructed, one who is devoted absolutely to some other god, necessarily an imaginary god, is forbidden by the Lord for the sake of our happiness, both temporal and eternal. But marriage with one who is willing to receive the teaching and worship of the church is not forbidden. Amen.

     LESSONS: Deuteronomy 7: 1-6. Revelation 22: 12-17. Arcana Coelestia 8998.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 510, 480, 481.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 91, 145.
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

313

PROTECTING THE CONJUGIAL 1972

PROTECTING THE CONJUGIAL Rev. WILLARD L. D. HEINRICHS 1972

From the very beginning, the New Church has had to defend itself against attacks arising out of the old Christian community surrounding it. For over a hundred years these attacks were primarily of a doctrinal nature, but the New Church has proved itself equal to the doctrinal challenge and its numbers have slowly and surely increased. Irrational, man-made dogmas are no match for rational, Divinely revealed doctrines. Indeed, in the final analysis, the former tend to destroy themselves, and in the world of today the expression of these dogmas is fast disappearing. It would seem that the New Church should now be entering into an era relatively free from assault.
Unfortunately this is not the case. The dragon of the Apocalypse still burns to destroy the man-child born to the woman. The hells burn to annihilate the New Church, which, like the heart and lungs carrying out their uses concealed in a body, quietly distributes the knowledge of spiritual goods and truths to the rest of mankind. Although they have been unable to destroy the church by irrational attacks on its doctrine the devils of hell have, in our era, been able to mount a new and for more insidious attack. They have found the Achilles heel of New Church men, the sensual man. Through the sensual man they seek in every way to destroy that love which makes the very church with man, conjugial love. The hells have always sought to lead men to destruction through the abuse of their external senses, but as long as the external, Victorian type of morality prevailed in the Christian world their appeal from without was limited. The sale or distribution of suggestive literature was publicly banned. Immodest and obscene speech and songs were ordinarily not tolerated in public places. All this has changed with the passing of the Victorian era. Now sensual men, puffed up with the pride of their own intelligence, some of them even in the garb of clergymen, openly espouse such things as premarital and extramarital relations between the sexes. Their apparently learned arguments appear in journals and magazines which have enjoyed great respect among the people. Their clever, seemingly thoughtful discourses echo through the halls of universities and churches, and penetrate through radio and television into the living-rooms of millions of families. The power of their appeal must not be under estimated.

314

The Writings say that the sensual man may often reason more cleverly and convincingly than the rational, spiritual man. Having no perception in spiritual things, the things of eternal life, and their eminent delights, the sensual man argues from sensual experience and its delights. These latter, be they good or evil, are apprehended much more easily by a mind which is not yet regenerate.
     The power of the sensual learned to sway the minds of people stems from another source also-from their peculiar self-confidence. Of this matter the Writings relate that

     "the sensual man is in self-confidence, and in the belief that he is wiser than all others, for he is unable to weigh and explore himself, because he does not think interiorly; and when he has persuaded himself of (this) [his wisdom], then such confidence and belief are in all things that he speaks. And because his speech takes its tone from these, it fascinates and infatuates the minds of others, for the tone of confidence and belief produces such an effect . . . ."
     * AE 556:1.

     As evidence we need only recall the sexual aberrations that many of the young have fallen into as the result of the preaching of the sensually learned concerning what they call "love."
     The hells have used many besides the sensually learned as their willing instruments. Some so-called artists in the motion picture industry have had a most baleful effect far and wide. No sordid aspect of human behavior is left under cover. Every effort is made to capture the sensual man in each one of us. The same may be said of a growing number of comedians and singers. The words which accompany the "beat" in not a few modern songs can raise a blush on the face of even the most hardened among us. More recently we have seen the advent of sensitivity training programs which in too many cases prove to be nothing but an excuse for unrestricted sensual self-indulgence. Finally, we need hardly mention the horde of magazines, pocketbooks, and newspapers which display their obscene and filthy wares before the eyes of young and old on almost every newsstand in the nation.
     By all these, and many related means, the hells are seeking to obliterate any love truly conjugial from the face of the earth. Since conjugial love is the precious jewel of human life, and is the very image of the church in man, we may say that they are bent on utterly overthrowing the New Church.
     The attacks on the conjugial that we have dealt with are those which seek to enter and destroy the mind primarily through the senses of sight and hearing. Now the Writings teach that there are three external senses in man which either serve or destroy conjugial love.

315

They are sight, hearing, and touch. The first two, sight and hearing, are primarily under the direction of the understanding. The third, the sense of touch, is almost exclusively under the influence of the will. Thus it is that the attacks that are made on conjugial love through sight and hearing are much more readily dealt with than those which come through the sense of touch. Therefore, if one is well instructed in regard to conjugial love, and the orderly preparation for it, those disorderly and obscene things which enter the mind by sight and hearing can be analyzed, evaluated, and judged in the light of one's understanding of the truth from the Word. They subject themselves readily to thought, and can be rejected before they enter further and capture the desires of the will. In the case of young people this is accomplished through the affectionate guidance of parents and teachers who assist them to elevate their minds into the light of rational truth and its heavenly and eternal values. To stave off the attacks made on true, chaste marriage love through the senses of sight and hearing, then, is not so difficult a task. But this is not the case with those assaults made by the hells through the sense of touch. The sense of touch as it regards the romantic relationship between the sexes, is, the Writings teach, dedicated to the conjugial and is the sense proper thereto.* It is the primary means by which chaste husbands and wives communicate their love for each other, their love for the good and truth that they perceive in each other. It is the instrument by which regenerating or regenerate states are transferred from one into the other. It is the means of reciprocal communication of heavenly states. When these states are in harmony, the souls and minds of husband and wife are united into an ever more intimate oneness, and new and more beautiful states of life are born and are entered into together. And on earth the sense of touch also serves as the means of propagating new human beings, new potential angels of heaven. Because the sense of touch serves this highest of all uses, it has been endowed by the Lord with the deepest and most exquisite delights. The loves of the regenerate will can thus find their finest expression, and their greatest satisfaction, in the sense of touch. Into this sense are gathered all delights from first to last. The Writings further teach that because this sense serves the highest of all uses in a chaste marriage between one man and one wife, it is not to be violated in any manner.
* See CL 210.
Yet the hells in every possible manner, under every conceivable disguise, seek to enter into the mind of man and cause him to abuse the sense of touch, and destroy its legitimate use and delight, and this especially with young people.

316

In today's permissive setting, where young people and parents are not exceedingly watchful, this diabolical end is easily accomplished. We should recall here that the sense of touch is almost totally under the influence of a person's will. Therefore before a young man or woman reaches the age of freedom and true rationality and begins a regenerate life according to the goods and truths of the Word, or before they bend their minds to developing a chaste and spiritual union with one particular individual of the opposite sex, the will that is especially active is the native will inclined to evils of every kind. The sense of touch is then primarily under the direction of a will which seeks mainly selfish and worldly ends. In this condition the sense of touch is used as a tool to convey states, or affections that arise directly or indirectly from hell. This of course is not how it appears to the young person. For the sense of touch, when abused between the sexes prior to consent and marriage, does yield delights that counterfeit to a degree the delights of conjugial love. To the young these delights appear good. They see nothing wrong with them. They feel that their behavior is quite innocent. And let us admit that there may always be some innocence remaining as long as evil is not confirmed by an adult mind. But it is through these counterfeit delights that the young may be ensnared by the promiscuous sphere of hell. For the devils with man are able to insinuate delights into a disorderly relationship for a time. And in this way, the Writings teach, the mind of the person is dragged down out of the rational light it may have enjoyed, into the spiritual darkness of the unregenerate sensual. In this state scandalous thoughts and negative reactions are excited which are utterly opposed to marriage and religion. The mind that is seduced by the delights of the sense of touch, when it is abused, at length becomes totally disinterested in spiritual goods and truths, it shrinks away from thought of eternal life and the conduct necessary to enter heaven. Unless there is repentance, followed by improvement of life, the love of the sex becomes progressively more adulterous. And just as there is no love that labors harder, and opens heaven more easily, than conjugial love, there is no love which labors harder and opens hell more easily than the love of the sex turned adulterous. And what is sad, the latter love in a disorderly relationship, while it burns brightly for a while and yields certain delights, shortly burns out leaving only coldness and bitterness in its wake. On the other hand, conjugial love in a chaste marriage steadily grows in warmth and its delights become ever deeper and more exquisite to eternity.

317

To speak by illustration, we may say that to abuse the power in the sense of touch before consent and marriage, or extra-conjugially after marriage, is like abusing electricity to blind and burn, while to use this power after consent and in fullness in marriage, is like using electricity to provide unceasing light and heat for one's dwelling.
     But when we speak of the abuse of the sense of touch before marriage it is important that we recognize that the Writings are not only referring to ultimate bodily conjunction. Both by open teaching, and by inference, it is obvious that they refer to far more than this. Holding hands, kissing and embracing, also can constitute an abuse of one degree or another. They can constitute such an abuse when they are employed in a romantic situation between a man and a woman or a boy and a girl prior to consent to marriage. We are not concerned here with these manifestations of affection as they are employed merely as forms to express common courtesy and friendship.

     The Writings teach that into the hands of man are gathered all his interior things, which are of his love and from this of his thought and they "put themselves forth by touch, and thus communicate themselves to another, and transfer themselves into the other; and in so far as the other loves the person, or the things which the person speaks or asks, so far they are received."* We read further that "by the hands everything of the life is communicated because, by the hands, from [their] correspondence, is signified power which is the active of the life; thus whatever pertains to one."** The Heavenly Doctrine relates that this is particularly true in relations between the sexes. Since, before the commencement of regeneration, or before the love of the sex in man is turned to a chaste and eternal union with one of the other sex, the will of man is inclined to evil, it follows that what then is primarily communicated and transferred by means of holding hands in a romantic situation is the outpourings of the native will and the love of the sex. This communication is particularly detrimental to young women who incline from birth to a love of one of the sex. Their conjugial can begin to be subtly perverted to a wandering love of the sex in general. And with this development there generally follows a graduation to further intimacies.
     * AC 10130.
     ** AC 10023.
     The teaching is equally clear concerning kissing and embracing. We read that "'kissing' which is an outward thing, signifies nothing else than the affection of conjunction which is an inward thing; they also correspond."* Elsewhere we read that "kissing" signifies initiation into conjunction.** "From all this it is evident that because such external acts correspond, they are signs of things internal, and that in them as signs there is an internal from which they take their quality.

318

But with those who desire to counterfeit internal things by means of external, such externals are also signs, but signs of simulation, hypocrisy and deceit. Such is the case with [that] kissing, by which everyone wishes to signify that he loves another from the heart";*** when in reality he has a selfish or worldly end in view. Again we are taught that "'kissing upon the mouth' signifies to acknowledge and do what [another] bids, thus to obey."**** And in relation to embracing, it is said to signify conjunction from the affection of truth, while embracing, which is closer and more interior, means conjunction from the affection of good.***** Regarding the latter specifically we are given the following instruction: "That 'embracing' denotes this affection is very evident from the testifying of love by an embrace, which is an act that flows from this; for every spiritual affection has a gesture in man's body that corresponds to it, and this gesture is representative of the affection."******
     * AC 3573.
     ** See AC 3808.
     *** AC 4215
     **** AC 5312.
     ***** See AC 6260e.
     ****** AC 6261.
     From these teachings it seems clear that prior to consent looking towards marriage kissing and embracing are not of order. They then constitute an abuse in the social relations between the sexes. For these things are signs of initiation to a conjunction that as yet in no way corresponds to a heavenly marriage. Further, before regeneration they do not spring from affection for truth or good, but more probably from their opposites, although this may in no way be apparent to a person except upon rational reflection. The Writings are unequivocal in their indication that romantic kissing and embracing are properly acts of love truly conjugial.* They belong only to those states that follow the freely given consent to marry, and to marriage itself.
     * De Conj. 107.

     Such teachings of the Writings are apt to be hard sayings to young people of the New Church, especially when the social life of young people all around them so often includes these things, and even ultimate conjunction. Such teachings, however, should not be ignored if the promise of conjugial love is one day to be theirs. For we read that conjugial partners are provided by the Lord with "those who from youth have loved, chosen, and asked of the Lord a legitimate and lovely partnership with one, and who spurn and reject wandering lusts as offense to the nostrils."* If this promise is to come true, young men must treat young women with courtesy and respect, fearing lest they be injured by any evil, or disgrace.

319

Young women must be modest and must resist the endeavors of thoughtless young men to employ the sense of touch. While a young woman may gain through the senses of sight and hearing something of use from the budding rational of a young man, nothing of real value is as yet to be gained from his will through the sense of touch. The Writings also indicate that parents have an important part in preserving the conjugial in their children from the ruthless attacks of the hells. The moral virtues mentioned in the Writings must be affectionately inculcated into the young. Proper chaperonage at young people's social functions, and other firm but reasonable rules must be employed. For until the rational has ripened and the young have the strength to rule their passions freely, there is great danger that without proper guidance, the senses, the sensual man, may carry away the beginning rational and commence to banish the possibility of future conjugial delights; and this through the abuse of the sense of touch in one degree or another.
     * CL 49.
     As was mentioned earlier, the war that the hells are now waging against the New Church is far more insidious than that which was waged in the last century. They could not directly overcome the rational, thus they are seeking to subvert the church through the sensual, and this most ruthlessly through the sense of touch. At stake is the very church itself. For if conjugial love as it exists only in the chaste marriage of one man and one wife is destroyed, the very life of the church is dead.
     Still, there is no need to fear for the New Church if young men and women, and parents, will commence to strengthen themselves with the powerful truths of the Word-if they will take up the weapons Divinely provided for them in the Writings and will protect the conjugial in themselves and with their children. Then, as the Lord has promised, conjugial love will be restored to mankind.* The New Church will grow and flourish and one day will fill the earth as the bride and wife of the Lord.
     * CL 293.
MINISTERIAL CHANGES 1972

MINISTERIAL CHANGES Editor 1972

The Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh, who had accepted an invitation from the Board of Trustees of the Bryn Athyn Church to become Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School, has accepted a call to become also Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church.

320

EXPOSITION OF THE WRITINGS 1972

EXPOSITION OF THE WRITINGS Rev. ALFRED ACTON 1972

     (Delivered to the Council of the Clergy, March 7, 1972.)

     This morning I wish to raise the question of exposition of the Writings. Are there legitimate limits beyond which we will not go in our formal exposition of the New Word? I am sure that most of us have at times used a text from the Writings for a sermon, but usually, I imagine, this text has been a doctrinal statement which we have then expounded. How many of us have used one of the historicals of the New Word: say, a statement concerning the Last judgment; or how many of us have taken a series of representatives from the Writings, say, for example, one of Swedenborg's journeys to some heaven, and expounded this, using principles of exposition; so, in effect, developing the spiritual sense of that text?
     Is it legitimate even to consider a spiritual sense to the New Word? Isn't this the Dutch Position? Aren't they the ones who have traditionally derided those who dwell in the scientifics of Divine revelation and in consequence miss the spirit? Obviously they are. But has the General Church perhaps shied off too far from sensible or rational exposition of this new revelation because of the unfortunate controversy of the thirties? Isn't it perhaps time for us to reconsider some of the statements made at that time by both sides, not from the heat of controversy, but from the light of another age? I realize that many members of this Council were directly involved in the bitter issues of that era. In fact, I grew up in the direct tradition of that period. But I was born in 1934, when the intellectual battle that resulted in the separation had already reached its peak, and I was but three years old when the split became a reality. I think we need to look again at the question of a spiritual sense to the New Word, and it is my sincere hope that in doing this we will not simply awaken old battles but instead may see something new, some legitimate reasons for differentiation among the three Words, as well as some sound expository principles. I know, of course, as I raise this issue that most of us already have our pet theories in this matter; but I trust that in the spirit of charity we will be able to hear those theories criticized, and will perhaps even be open-minded enough to do the hard work of reconsidering what we have taken as fact, in the vein that it is perhaps merely our own understanding of a subject, which we know can change.

321

     We are speaking here of a part of the doctrine of the Word the teachings of which are quite familiar but which, as far as I can see, have been somewhat differently interpreted in this Council. I hope that if my thoughts on this subject do nothing else, they will help to make this variety among us manifest, so that our essential unity concerning the authority of Divine revelation will be more apparent. For whether there is a spiritual sense to the New Word or not, I am sure we are agreed that doctrine finds its authority in the rational manner in which it is both drawn from and confirmed by the letter. Nor do I think there is much question among us that at least in this context the letter of the New Word is equally if not more serviceable for the drawing of doctrine.*
     * See Lord 65e.
     I would like at this point to make a distinction between two terms of revelation, which distinction, I realize, is not always maintained but is consistent enough, as I read the terms in their varied contexts, to serve as a general working definition for the purposes of this discussion. The terms are "the spiritual sense" and "the internal sense."' For "spiritual sense" I see this general definition:

     "The spiritual sense is not apparent in the sense of the letter; it is interiorly within it as the soul is in the body, as the thought of the understanding is in the eyes, or the love's affection in the face. It is that sense chiefly that makes the Word spiritual, not only for men but for angels also; and therefore by means of that sense the Word has communication with the heavens."*
     * TCR 194. Cf. SS 5.

     For "internal sense" I think this definition applies:

     "The internal sense is thus circumstanced that each and all things are to be understood abstractedly from the letter as if there were no letter; for in the internal sense is the soul and life of the Word, which does not appear unless the sense of the letter as it were vanishes."*
     * AC 1405, 1408.

     Recognizing the danger of argument by analogy as opposed to argument by correspondence-and I am not sure which this is-note that the spiritual sense is said to be within the sense of the letter as the soul is in the body, while the internal sense is said to have in it the soul. In other words, these two passages indicate that the spiritual sense is within the internal sense, which in its turn is in the letter. I understand this relationship to be as that between love and truth, or of that between the thing itself and the description of the thing, or as the relationship between the mind and the brain, or as the relationship between the spiritual body and the limbus.

322

The description which presents the genuine spiritual to man is the internal sense, while that spiritual in itself, as seen by our spiritual eyes in states of enlightenment, is the spiritual sense.
     Also, for this discussion we need to describe the terms, sense of the letter, and, the letter itself. I think the meaning of these terms is rather straightforward, namely, the sense of the letter is that sense or understanding which one derives from reading the words of the text, that is, the sense which a nonchurch man might be able to explain from the text and the words themselves. In this context we might observe that the sense of the letter of the Writings and the internal sense of the Old and New Testament are one and the same thing, since the Writings openly present that sense.

     The letter has many components. There are in it in one place or another the various styles of Divine revelation: historicals and made-up historicals, propheticals, psalms and doctrinals which present the doctrine of genuine truth. Also there are representatives, significatives and correspondents which serve as veils for revelation as well as the doctrine of genuine truth which makes one with the internal and spiritual sense-and I believe we may use these terms interchangeably, as does the New Word in places, since one is merely the description of the other.* The doctrine of genuine truth in this context, that is, the doctrinals of revelation in their Divinely ordered sequence, are a part of the letter. The letter also contains sensuals as well as things of the imaginative degree, and things open to rational investigation, all of which can be called scientifics. It is my personal belief that with the possible exception of made-up historicals, all forms of Divine revelation contain some balance of all these ingredients of the letter. For example, in the Writings there are many historicals, particularly those pertaining to the Last judgment and the five churches, as well as the spiritual journeys of Swedenborg, which might be more like made-up historicals in that they are spiritual representatives illustrating spiritual realities.** There are only a few propheticals in the New Word, as, for example, the predictions concerning the New Church on earth, it first being with the few and then spreading to the many, and so forth; and perhaps still fewer poeticals, such as the songs sung by heavenly choirs in certain Memorabilia, while the greater part of the New Word is composed of doctrinals. There are also sensuals and scientifics, such as the many illustrations of Swedenborg, even as there are things for the imaginative and rational degrees of the mind.
     * Cf. HD 7; SS 25.
     ** Cf. HH 175.

323

     Now, if we accept the existence of these many varied ingredients in the letter of the New Word, what principles of exposition should apply to that letter? Should we, in fact, seek by applying principles of exposition to draw the internal or rather the spiritual sense from that letter?
     Listen to another teaching concerning the relation between the internal sense and the sense of the letter:

     "The internal sense is not only that sense which lies concealed in the external sense . . . but it is also that which results from a number of passages of the sense of the letter rightly collated, and which is discerned by those who are enlightened by the Lord as to their intellectual. For the enlightened intellectual discriminates between apparent truths and real truths, especially between falsities and truths, although it does not judge about real truths in themselves."*
     * AC 7233: 3.

     This same teaching points out that only when doctrine is formulated from this internal sense will it be free from what is false.
     Are we not, when we take a text from the Writings and rightly support it with a collection of other teachings, in point of fact applying a principle of exposition that leads to drawing the internal sense from the letter? Is not such study and collating of passages one of our most time-consuming and important applications of the principles of exposition, no matter what the text? But are there other kinds of expositionary techniques which are proper to the developing of texts from the New Word? I think so.
     In my work I have done several studies of series given in the Writings with certain expositionary techniques in mind. I wish to mention these studies by way of illustrating the kind of techniques of which I am speaking, not for the scholastic merit, or lack thereof, in my study. First: on reading the account of Swedenborg's visit to the Silver Age and his eventual attainment of the bunch of white grapes whose leaves turned silver, I was impressed by the symbolism used. Upon looking up the various correspondences of the things seen, I saw in that visit a series which tells us how we might spiritually travel to the attainment of white grapes, or the life of spiritual charity, whose leaves will become silver in our hands, that is, whose spiritual truths emanating therefrom will become truly spiritual when put to use by man.* The whole journey to this heaven seems to be a description of the necessary changes of state which Swedenborg underwent as he was prepared to visit it. As such it should and does tell us how we can or should vary our state if we seek such a life or such knowledge.

324

The sensual imagery of descending a hill, crossing a valley, where idols were seen, climbing a mountain which had horses and chariots, and so on, and at last entering the city of blue and silver, all contribute to this representation in a graphic manner.
     * Cf. AC 1069, 2048 et al.
     It seems to me that this journey is a valid series for a sermon, as valid as any series of ultimates we might find in either the Old Testament or the New. Accepting the fact that all descriptions of spiritual things given by Swedenborg are, in fact, descriptions of spiritual representatives in natural language, are time and space representatives of spiritual realities, we may not find it hard to accept such exposition.* But I would suggest that the sensuals of the Writings are placed in the New Word where they are for very specific reasons, and that proper understanding of these reasons will make our sight of the spiritual sense of the Writings more clear. I use the term, spiritual sense, here as that sense of the Word which angels, as well as enlightened men, can understand, which is a sense removed from corporeal ideas.**
     * Cf. AC 1808: 2; HH 175; 5 Mem, 20; AE 513: 2; AC 1869.
     ** Cf. AC 8443, 168, 1887, 4264: 2; SD 2609, 4146; AC 9457: 5.

     The special point I am making with this illustration is this: the Writings have their own sensuals even as does the Old Testament, although they are actual representatives ordered by the Lord by means of Swedenborg rather than natural representatives ordered by the Lord through the selection of ideas by the writers of the Old Testament. The difference is not one of degree, and proper exposition of those parts of the New Word will necessarily be quite like exposition of an unexplained text in the Old or New Testament.
     We might ask: "Are these representatives of the spiritual world Swedenborg describes, and which are thus a part of the Word of God, are they filled with both a regenerative sense such as I have outlined in the series on the Silver Age and a celestial sense, in addition to the teaching concerning the church of that time?" I have already said that I believe the first part of this question to be true, but can we see a celestial sense applying to the glorification in this series, and if we do, is an application legitimate or coincidental, or merely forced? In other words, does this part of the Word present a picture of the Lord which is the celestial sense? I shall discuss this point in more detail when looking at differences between the three Words, but for now let me say that I think it does. But remember that the Writings as a whole are presenting a picture of the Lord as He is in His glorified Human, not only as to the process of glorification. just as the celestial sense of the book of Revelation is not telling us how the Lord was born on earth and underwent temptation even to the passion of the cross, so is the New Word devoted to presenting the Lord in His glorified Human: the Lord in the heavens whom angels see as the sun of heaven.

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In the series of the journey to the heaven of the Silver Age the Lord is seen by man as he sees His love and wisdom made manifest; which, in fact, can be seen, not by expounding the representatives beyond their spiritual quality, that is, their regenerative application, but by seeing in this application the manifest power of Divine truth in the heavens. So we should not think of a series within this journey relating to some time in the Lord's life when He had to acquire that which is represented by the bunch of white grapes.

So far I have considered a series which is based on spiritual representatives. Now consider a second series, also based on spiritual representatives, but from a different point of view; a series that will illustrate a different technique of exposition, the principle of the first thing said. The first thing said in Conjugial Love, that is, the first full series, deals with six imaginary heavens. Can we apply the principle of the first thing said to this series? I think we can. I see this series as a summary of the doctrine that is to follow, of the things involved in that doctrine. If by heaven we think of the life of love truly conjugial which makes heaven, we can see six states or ideas about conjugial love developed here in an upbuilding series which goes on to be infilled in a different order as those who described their concepts of heaven were let into their joys. In the upbuilding series, which begins simply with the idea that the attainment of heaven will be its joy, I see developed six states that man must go through in an educational way as he receives instruction preparatory to marriage. The little child begins with the idea that marriage itself is wonderful. They will live happily ever after." I do not wish to develop this series here in detail; but note that the feasting with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-the first concept of the sensual pleasure of heaven, and this with a famous person-which seems to parallel the first awakening of sexual happiness that is sensual in the developing youth, is the third of these heavens in the upbuilding series, following the idea of sweet conversation as an intermediate state.
The question I wish to raise by this illustration is: are we, when we look at the first thing said in a book of the Writings, within the proper framework of exposition if we see it as a summary of the entire work? Obviously the summary of the faith of the New Church in True Christian Religion is a very clear example of the principle of the first thing said in a book of the New Word, but in this case an example not presented in spiritual representatives. Note, however, that in the same work the last thing said is a series of spiritual representatives that seems properly to complete all of Divine revelation.

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Even as Genesis chapter one outlines the path to heaven, so the end of True Christian Religion gives us a picture in summary form of the New Heaven.
This illustration raises the further question as to the nature of the continuous internal sense. To this I shall address myself later.

(To be continued.)
CONJUNCTION OF BEAUTY WITH MORALITY 1972

CONJUNCTION OF BEAUTY WITH MORALITY Rev. N. BRUCE ROGERS 1972

One of the things promised to the New Church is the return of love truly conjugial. It was a love known to the ancients in the infancy and childhood of the race, and it was with them a love of loves. But since that time, in the succeeding ages of spiritual darkness, it has been forgotten; and this even to the point that at the time of the writing of the work Conjugial Love it could be declared to be so rare as to be almost completely unknown. How this could have happened may seem incredible: that a love like this, once known, could be lost, that men and women together could both have become so insensitive and unperceptive as no longer truly to love their partners, or so shallow and self-centered as to become no longer capable of receiving that love even when offered; and the mind recoils from it as if from an untruth, as even from the point of view of good, all option for evil seems incredible and something impossible of belief. Yet the fact remains that some people do choose evil, and we are presented with the sure knowledge that it did happen, that marriage through the ages became either an empty imitation or an outright travesty of the genuine conjunction of souls and minds which marriage was Divinely intended to be, that love truly conjugial has been not only for the most part forgotten but even rejected; and it is not for us to bewail the past, but to set our sights on the ideal and strive for its attainment, that the future may not be a hopeless repetition of what has been and our own homes be doomed to internal failure.
It was for this very reason that the doctrine of conjugial love was revealed by the Lord in His new advent and the work by that name was caused to be written,* that the New Church might be led back in its marriages to a state of love truly conjugial.

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For the state of heaven and the church and the state of love truly conjugial are not apart, as things unrelated, but they are integrally bound up in each other because they are from the same origin, namely, a marriage of good and truth from the Lord in the interiors of the mind. In fact, they are so bound up together that they are in essence identical, and love truly conjugial is even described as the fundamental love of all the loves of heaven and the church. From this may be derived the clear message that if with us conjugial love fails, so will also the church; and conversely, if the church fails, so also will conjugial love.** It is, therefore, a subject of no small importance, and one that deserves constant reflection, that we may not waste what has been given us but may enter into the life of the church, and at the same time strengthen the church, by striving for the ideal of love truly conjugial both in preparing for marriage and in entering into it, and then indeed in preserving it.
     * CL 534.
     ** See CL 130.

     Certainly of all people we are now in a position to know both that there is such a thing as conjugial love and also what it is and how it can be attained. We may question whether we are capable of coming into such a state, and even Swedenborg once expressed his doubt to some angels as to whether men would be willing to receive the doctrine.* But as all men have been redeemed by the Lord, so all men may be regenerated,** and if they can be regenerated they can be brought to love truly conjugial, if they will but make the effort by shunning the evils that stand opposed and suffering themselves to be led by the Lord's teaching in His Word. It is not a question of whether we are capable of conjugial love, but whether we are willing to follow the doctrine. And this we can do if we will but take the trouble to understand it and then guide our judgments by it in the life we make for ourselves.
     * CL 534.
     ** TCR 579.
     Naturally there may be obstacles. Entrance into an actual state of conjugial love takes the cooperation of a partner, and without that cooperation, or without a partner at all, efforts to a genuine marriage or a welding of two hearts and minds into one must admittedly be frustrated. So also with those too young yet to enter into marriage. But in the long run, from the point of view of eternity, those obstacles are not permanent and so not of essential concern, despite the pain and frustration they may cause for the time. With effort, co-operation may be secured where co-operation is now withheld. A partner may be found where as yet there is none-certainly one will be found in the other world, if not here, for all who desire one and who have prepared themselves for it.

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And those as yet too young will grow up.
     What is of essential concern is the obstacles that lie within ourselves, those things in us that make conjugial love difficult or even impossible; for these we carry with us, and if they are not overcome they are permanent, regardless of whom we are married to, whether there is cooperation or not, regardless of whether we are even married at all. Like so many things in the life of regeneration, the essential problems come to us from within, and not from without, except as we respond to them. This is not to belittle those real problems that do exist in our external lives, situations into which we are thrust and unhappinesses that are foisted upon us that come not of our own choosing or expectation, whether in marriage or out of it. These are deserving of honest sympathy, and must be borne with the hope that it will not always be so. But it is to say that prerequisite to any entrance into an actual state of love truly conjugial is preparation of ourselves for it, and that state can advance with us only to the degree of our continual preparation and development. Men, in short, must prepare themselves to be husbands in the genuine sense of the word, and women must prepare themselves to be wives; and their reception of conjugial love, whether potential or in actuality, will be only according to their preparation to receive it.

     How one prepares himself is, of course, always the question; and though we are presented in the Heavenly Doctrine with an entire work on the subject, written specifically as a remedy for our fallen state in regard to marriage, the essentials are not always clear. One thing, however, is sure, and this we dare not forget; and that is that we have nowhere else to turn. We cannot turn to the world for instruction; not to its scientists, nor its philosophers, nor to its artists and counselors. Though they may have help to offer in working out the external problems and ideas of life, unless the doctrines have penetrated human thinking further than we have believed, they do not know at all what genuine conjugial love is, and scarcely even that there is such a thing.*
     * CL 58.
     Neither can we turn to the promptings of our own natural inclinations and the prudence we have formed from ourselves in accommodation to them; for neither do we of ourselves know what conjugial love is, but only what pleases us at the time, which is hardly the basis for an enduring marriage. Conjugial love rightly considered is a spiritual love, a love of the spirit, which has its origin from the Lord. This means that conjugial love is not instinctive with us, so that we cannot rely on natural inclinations to show the way.

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There is indeed a native inclination in each sex to conjoin itself with the other, and this conjunctive inclination, as it is called in the Writings, can even be so urgent as to exalt itself in the mind as something special and unique; but it is not genuine conjugial love, but a natural love of the sex common to all and in itself indiscriminate, and though implanted by creation in the very soul, it is nevertheless distinguished from love truly conjugial as what is animal is distinguished from what is human-for the very reason that it is common and so capable of being shared among many, and for the very reason that it is of itself indiscriminate.*
     * CL 46, 48.
     Besides, our natural inclinations find their origin in the native proprium, and conjugial love can never be a conjunction of native propriums, nor can the native proprium ever enter into it. For the native proprium is the seat of the love of self that desires to rule over others for the sake of self, and it is the seat of the love of the world that desires to possess the goods of others. Neither of these loves is capable of conjunction with another. The love of self desires only to dominate and to seek what pleases self; and in marriage it looks only to make the partner a subordinate, and then a servant, and, if it had its way, in the end a slave, totally submissive to its will. And this is not a conjunction of two hearts and minds into one, whatever appearance it may take, but a domineering of the one in which there is hidden contempt, and a submission of the other in which there is hidden fear and eventual loathing.* So also with the love of the world, which seeks only to acquire possessions; in marriage this love looks on the partner only as another possession, as an ornament perhaps, or as a means by which to acquire still further possessions, and whose service to this end is the estimate of its value. This, too, is not a conjunction of two hearts and minds into one, again whatever the appearance, but a merely external relationship for the sake of the world, in which one is as an owner and the other titled property, or in which one is as an employer and the other but an agent or hired hand.
     * Cf. CL 248.

     Conjugial love is none of these things, neither an instinctive inclination to conjunction from a natural love of the sex nor a conjunction of proprium, and the latter not even in a partnership where one is able to make use of the other so as to form a kind of alliance in mutual self-serving and cooperative effort to evil. This is the kind of marriage that exists in hell! Nor is conjugial love, therefore, merely just a restriction of self to a monogamous relationship.

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Monogamy, though absolutely essential to conjugial love, does not of itself generate that love, since it can be entered into for a variety of external reasons, none of which look to a genuine conjunction of hearts and minds-as for social, economic or legal reasons, or from temporary preference and infatuation, or even, as already indicated, for the sake of mutual alliance in evil and so on. No external or merely natural cause can of itself generate love truly conjugial, because love truly conjugial in origin is neither external or natural, nor is it ever even in the least way external or merely natural.
     What conjugial love is in essence is a conjunction of love and wisdom-love in the wife, with wisdom in the husband-and its origin is in the marriage of good and truth which proceed from the Lord as spiritual heat and light conjoined, but which are received differently by the masculine mind and the feminine mind.* By the conjunction of love and wisdom, therefore, is meant not a conjunction of just any love with just any wisdom, but a conjunction of love from the Lord with wisdom from the Lord. In other words, conjugial love is from religion, formed in accordance with the truths of the Word, and apart from genuine religion the state of love truly conjugial is unattainable. These concepts may sound abstract, but we are assured that they are actual states both of angels and of husbands and wives on earth who have looked to the Lord in their marriages and lived according to His Word.**
     * CL 92.
     ** CL 70.

     In woman, the marriage of good and truth proceeding from the Lord is received in the will.* From this she has a more interior perception of love than men do,** and also a natural inclination to marriage and offspring which looks to more than simple enjoyment of the natural love of the sex.*** It is even said on this account that "conjugial love is implanted in every woman."**** It would be a mistake, however, to conclude from this that every woman automatically comes into conjugial love. Apart from religion, it is as true of her as it is of man that her love must remain merely natural, and without qualification and direction by the understanding of truth, it is also subject to perversion and even destruction. There are, to put it bluntly, women in hell!
     * CL 92.
     ** CL 47b.
     *** CL 91, 393, 409.
     **** CL 393
     What it does mean is that woman from creation has a peculiar gift to offer, and that is the gift of love. Not that she is incapable of wisdom. In fact, she is said to have a wisdom such as cannot exist with man,* and it is plain from experience that women can be intellectual as well as affectional.

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But in regard to marriage it is her love that enters into the conjunction and not her wisdom, except in so far as this partakes of her love. It is in this that her beauty lies, in the affection of her love for what is good and for what is true; and it is this which makes her lovely in the eyes of chaste men, regardless even of her outward appearance, except in so far as this presents to the eye, in manners and dress, a testimony of the inner beauty which lies within.*
     * CL 168.
     ** CL 330.
     In man, on the other hand, the marriage of good and truth proceeding from the Lord is received in the understanding.* From this he has a natural inclination not only to know but to understand, to explore concepts abstracted from experience, to weigh matters of justice and judgment and form conclusions about them, to probe the secrets of the universe; and because of this he is able to elevate his understanding into a light in which women are not.** Where with women there is the love of wisdom, with him there is also the love of becoming himself wise.*** Whether he achieves this wisdom or not, of course, again depends on religion, for there is no wisdom which rejects the Lord from whom all genuine wisdom comes, nor is there wisdom which refuses to subject itself to the correction and amendment of truth, still less wisdom which is unconcerned with the good of life. There are, in short, also men in hell, with whom wisdom is foolishness-games of intellectual nonsense and conceit.
     * CL 92.
     ** CL 165.
     *** CL 88.
     But if he does not allow himself to be led astray, man from creation also has a peculiar gift to offer, and that is the gift of wisdom. Not that he is incapable of love. His inmost, in fact, is said to be love, and there is no wisdom which does not proceed from love.* Besides, it is also a matter of experience that men can be affectional as well as intellectual. But in regard to marriage it is man's wisdom that enters into the conjunction and not his love, except in so far as this partakes of his wisdom. It is in this that his virtue lies, in the moral and rational wisdom of his understanding by which he orders the affections of his will and directs his life; and it is this which makes him virile and comely in the eyes of chaste women, and, indeed, truly useful to society as a whole.
     * CL 32, 87.

     So the two sexes differ from one another and yet complement each other. Each has its own special gift to make: woman, the gift of love; man, the gift of wisdom. And each prepares for marriage by developing his own gift and shunning whatever would destroy it.

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A woman prepares to become a wife by the development of her love for what is good and true, in which there is a yearning for wisdom that her love may be elevated into light; and a man prepares to become a husband by the development of his wisdom in what is good and true, in which there is a yearning for love that his wisdom may be given life. And in a marriage of love truly conjugial these yearnings find final fulfillment in the actual transcription of the husband's wisdom into the wife, by which she becomes an image of his understanding, and in the inspiration of her love received into his wisdom, by which he becomes an image of her affection.*
     * See CL 190ff.
     Thus the one qualifies the other, in a mutual effort to give the other his best gift; and according as each receives the other's gift, in accordance with his ability to give it, they become no longer two but one from the conjunction of her love and his wisdom in each, so that it is no longer possible to say what is from him and what is from her, but only what is from them both. For by her he is brought also into a state of love, and by him she is brought also into a state of wisdom; and this is a mutual development by which they introduce each other into a state of heaven and the church, which is nothing else than a state of love and wisdom conjoined in the embodiment of service and use.
     The return of this state in marriage is what is promised to the New Church, if its doctrines are received, by the restoration of the inner beauty of love to its women, and the virtues of truly moral and rational wisdom to its men, which correspond to each other as reciprocal and mutually adaptable forms. Otherwise there can be no truly conjugial love; and without that beauty, and without those virtues, there cannot even be a genuine church.
BAPTISM 1972

BAPTISM 1972

Baptism is holy and a sacrament, because it is a sign and a memorial that man can be regenerated by the Lord by means of truths from the Word. It is a sign for heaven, and a memorial for man; and by it man is introduced into the church, even as the sons of Israel, by the passage of the Jordan, were introduced into the land of Canaan, and as the inhabitants of Jerusalem were prepared for the reception of the Lord by the baptism of John; for without that sign in heaven before the angels, the Jews could not have subsisted and lived at the coming of the Lord in the flesh (Apocalypse Revealed 776).

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USE AND ABUSE IN TELEVISION 1972

USE AND ABUSE IN TELEVISION LEON RHODES 1972

     In responding to "Children and Television" by Kurt Simons in the May 1972 issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE, it is not my purpose to disagree with many good and valid points in a well-done article. But there are other aspects of this complex and important subject.
     To begin with, television is obviously not an isolated medium but one highly significant portion of a spectrum that includes books, magazines, newspapers, plays, movies and television, each, in turn, with several aspects. That television has an enormous effect is obvious, and for many-both young and old-it exerts the greatest influence of all.
     But this is not to say that "nearly all contemporary television, commercial or educational" is bad for children and spiritually dangerous in itself any more than that we should seek to eliminate movies, magazines, plays and books because of the evident and appalling abuses of our times. (We may remind ourselves that the Lord was born on this earth because of the art of printing and that the Writings were given in a way to be published.)
     Mr. Simons, in his own words and quoting R. L. Tobin, makes a main point of "violence" on television, listing types of violence and statistics which certainly represent a dreadful and dangerous abuse of the medium. Such outcries against the violence on television-especially in children's programs-is currently very much in fashion, so perhaps it is in order to scrutinize the protest a bit.
     The frequent lists and statistical records of amount and types of violence within an eight-hour period quite often turn out to be quite specious. In some studies the totals included the "violence" experienced by the persistent coyote pursuing the road-runner, and were also distorted by failing to differentiate between killings and violence. This is of importance. Let's ponder why this must be included in the tally.
     As the TV set warms up we are suddenly in the midst of action where one man punches another and knocks him off a cliff. Violence, indeed, but is that all? Have we not noted that much of the protest against violence is to be grouped under the term "pacifistic"? And is pacifism unquestionably good? Has it not been used and abused in the politics of our day, not so much in love of peace as in a calculated program to reduce the willingness to stand up for what is right?

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     Let's go back to the story in which one man punched another. As this story unfolds is this a bully in unprovoked attack on an innocent and weaker victim, or is the sheriff apprehending the outlaw? It does make a difference. We well know the arguments that violence is wrong without distinction, that the police are brutal and sadistic, or that soldiers are cruel and ruthless: but these attitudes are the products of recent years in which conscious effort has been made to change the image of the policeman and the soldier.
     In Mr. Simons' article he contrasts the attitude of M. Sims in advocating ". . . not being over protective . . . learn about life" and ". . . provide programmes which children will enjoy," with that of Bishop De Charms, who urges that we teach children first the stories from the Word, next folklore and mythology, and then fairy stories and nursery rhymes.* But it is a superficial comparison to claim that this is a choice between violence and non-violence. The examples are too numerous, but -
     * Growth of the Mind, p. 159.

     Are we to consider the Word lacking in violence? Should we shield the child from the greatest human disaster of all-the Flood? Or from the destruction of Pharaoh's pursuing armies in the Red Sea? Is the story of Jericho one of violence? Do we delete David's decapitation of Goliath? What of the beloved stories of Daniel, and of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, whose enemies were consumed by the lions and the fiery furnace? The list, as we well know, is endless and includes not only violence and the imagery of the book of Revelation but also perfidy, perversion, deception and every imaginable crime.
     And does not the same hold true of the legends and mythology, the fairy tales and the nursery rhymes? Is it necessary to list even a few to show clearly that all the "stories" of childhood, as well as the history of mankind, deal with conflicts between forces of good and evil? Be it the dragon, the giant, the ogre, or Mercury, Hercules, Jupiter or Wotan, or Pinochio, Snow White or "The Wild Ones," we must avoid the generalities or statistical studies which do not look into the moral messages conveyed to the child.
     Would it be wise to ban D-Day or Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo as bad because their subject is violence? What of the G-Man and FBI shows clearly dealing with the struggle of law enforcement officers against the enemies of society? Would you draw the same statistics in a show about early Christian martyrs, the Nazi gas chambers, the slaves in Siberia or the Western cowboys? And what do we say about the news broadcasts, or even professional football, hockey and wrestling?

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     The truth is that we fail to face the problem if we merely enumerate "violence" and denounce the medium. The thoughtful parent, both New Church and agnostic, might have grave doubts as to which was more damaging-the John Wayne movie or the stand-up comedian's wisecracks about his wife. Which is the problem - Gunsmoke or The Dating Game? The answer was given in Matthew 10: 28, in which we are adjured not to fear them that kill the body, but him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
     What, then, does one do? We can agree with Mr. Simons' warning that television is pernicious and probably the most influential evidence of the state of the world now evidencing the Last judgment, and we may agree that it is television's "sponsorship" which must be challenged. But the viewer is ultimately the one who determines what is acceptable or intolerable. As is true of books, magazines, movies and plays as well as television, the customer will decree what is wanted. Until the public courageously protests the depravity in television and its sister media, there will be little let-up in violence and only a steady increase in immorality, perversion and lewdness.
     It is this which is the challenge for the New Church man-not simply to forbid television to his children-and while the Church is too small to have significant impact, to make that extra effort to point out to his children the harm in their programs which ridicule the Word, degrade marriage, and condone disorder as well as cruelty or violence; and to show by his own example that adult programs from quiz shows and soap operas to Laugh-in and panel shows discussing the Pill are an enemy devoutly to be feared. "Yeah, Fear him"!
CORRECTION 1972

CORRECTION Editor 1972

The name of the Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith was inadvertently omitted from the report of the Council of the Clergy Sessions, p. 264.
FIRST USE OF BAPTISM 1972

FIRST USE OF BAPTISM 1972

The first use of Baptism is introduction into the Christian Church, and at the same time insertion among Christians in the spiritual world (True Christian Religion 677).

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IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1972

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES Editor 1972

     The English edition of Umchazi for September 1971 contains a "Farewell to the Rev. P. M. Buss," by the Rev. Benjamin I. Nzimande, which we quote in full.
     "It is with deep regret and a feeling of a sense of loss that, on behalf of the South African Mission, I have to say farewell to Mfundisi Buss. Never have so many owed so much to a single man in so short a time.
     "He started to work with us early in 1965. We first wondered why the Bishop had sent us a young man as we had been accustomed to this post being held in the past by older men like the late Revs. Acton and Elphick; surely, we thought, he was not the right man for it. But the young man soon proved his possibilities, and soon earned our deep admiration and respect. He tackled his job in a very scholarly manner. With amazing, painstaking effort he put the work of the Mission on a sound footing, so that we began to say: The Bishop has sent the right man at the right time. People overseas were no longer sure of what the Mission work was here, but by his scholastic nature he worked hard to produce figures that presented a vivid picture to people overseas about the work, and also pleaded our cause. By so doing he became our first-class ambassador and revived in the people overseas more enthusiasm to support the church here, and the result was a very generous increase in the salaries of ministers, so that for the first time they did their work cheerfully without worries about bread-and-butter matters.
     "Among other reforms he brought about in the work of the Mission were the religion lessons which were translated into our language, the circuit sermons, and talks for children during Sunday services. He injected a new spirit into the Winter School, and for the first time we had a Superintendent who could speak Zulu. He read for himself the liturgy in church services, and people were very interested in this. Now, just when he is beginning to be fluent in Zulu, he leaves us. He also secured transport for the Assistant Superintendent. I have mentioned but just a few things.
     "In saying farewell to Mr. Buss, we are not forgetting to pay tribute to Mrs. Buss, whose cheerful disposition kept the spirits of her husband high, so that he was able to face the problems of his work with strength and determination.
     "In saying farewell to you, Mr. Buss, I repeat that we have a feeling of a deep sense of loss, and were it within our power, we would have prevented your departure from among us.

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However, we feel sure that You will continue to have an interest in the work among us Africans. Thank you."

     The same issue contains an account written by the Rev. Aaron B. Zungu of the visit paid to the Mission by Bishop Willard D. Pendleton and his wife. This account was quoted fully by the Rev. Peter M. Buss in his report of the episcopal visit, published in the March 1972 issue.
     In the 162nd Report of the Swedenborg Society the Council notes that in the sphere of innovation and achievement, 1971 must rank as an outstanding year in the history of the Society. Two important events made it so: an international school for translators of the Writings, and the five-year appointment of the Rev. J. E. Elliott as a full-time translator of Arcana Coelestia.
     Mr. Elliott's appointment, made possible by the grant from Bryn Athyn of a Paul Carpenter Fellowship, has enabled the Council to take the first steps toward a new English translation of the Arcana. Volume VII of the Third Latin Edition of the Arcana Coelestia has been issued. Good progress has been made with Volume VIII, and Mr. Elliott has also worked on the material for the Appendix volume and the Indices. He has also begun to translate the first volume into English.
     The new translation of Apocalypse Revealed was published in December, 1971, and the Rev. F. F. Coulson, the translator, is congratulated on the completion of this enormous task. A little progress has been made on the new translation of The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, and some on the collection of minor works and fragments. However, the completion of this latter will have to wait until Volume VIII of the Latin Arcana is finished. Progress on several booklets is reported, and mention is made also of the Rev. Gudmund Boolsen's revision of the Danish translation of Heaven and Hell, which was issued last fall.
     Sales of books were somewhat lower than in 1970. Total distribution, sales and grants, was: books, 5,635; booklets, 1,938.
     The Swedenborg Birthday Meeting was addressed by the Rev. J. E. Elliott, who spoke of his work on the Arcana and of his recent visit to Sweden to see the Swedenborg manuscripts and other Swedenborgiana. The Autumn Meeting took the form of a Brains Trust on the subject of Law and Liberty, a panel dealing with questions which had been submitted beforehand. Thirty-two members were enrolled during the year, but with deaths and resignations there was a net loss.

     (Continued on Page 345.)

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REVIEW 1972

     THE NEW CHURCH WORLD ASSEMBLY. Published by the London Committee, 1971. Cloth, pp. 79. Price $2.75.

     This handsomely designed little book has been issued to commemorate a noteworthy event in New Church history. The Assembly was held in London in July, 1970, to mark the two hundredth anniversary of the sending of the twelve disciples to preach throughout the spiritual world the gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, and it was attended by men and women belonging to all the organized bodies of the New Church throughout the world.
     The Foreword mentions that "the sphere of the meetings and of the discussions and social activities cannot be captured in print"; and the Committee wisely, perhaps, has recorded here only the major addresses and the sermons delivered at the Assembly. There are two sets of addresses: one on Our Hopes, Our Problems and Our Policies, given by the Rev. Ernest Martin, President of Convention, the Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, Bishop of the General Church, and the Rev. Paul W. Vickers, President of Conference; the other on The Lord God Jesus Christ Reigns, by the Right Rev. Elmo C. Acton of the General Church, the Rev. Andre Diaconoff of Convention, and the Rev. John E. Elliott of Conference. The sermons, preached at three Holy Supper services which followed, respectively, the ritual of the three general bodies, are by the Rev. Friedemann Horn of Convention, the Rev. Martin Pryke of the General Church, and the Rev. John O. Booth of Conference.
     An address given by the Rev. Obed S. D. Mooki, of the New Church in South Africa, as he opened the World Assembly in a service of worship begins this commemorative volume, and it closes with extemporaneous remarks by the Rev. Othmar Tobisch of the General Convention who first conceived the idea of a World Assembly, and passed into the spiritual world within a week of its conclusion.
     For those who had the privilege of attending, this book should bring back memories of a happy and useful occasion. For those who could not, but are interested in comparing the thought of the General Conference, the General Convention and the General Church, it may hold particular interest, and its historical value will be lasting. The General Church Book Center, Bryn Athyn, Pa., has two hundred copies for sale.

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GROWTH OF THE CHURCH 1972

GROWTH OF THE CHURCH Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE

Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Editor                Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

Published Monthly By

THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 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. Notifications of address changes should be received by the 15th of the month.

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION

$5.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 50 cents.
     Now that we have again celebrated the birth of the New Church we may ask what will be the effect on the minds that receive it of the Heavenly Doctrine which has descended from the Lord through heaven, and what will be the effect of its extension through them to others. The answer may be found in a scriptural prophecy: "I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." (Joel 2: 28)
     This is a promise that by His proceeding Divine the Lord will fill the regenerate mind with living truth, so that all the best powers of good and truth may live; and that by the free co-operation of man with the Lord a new basis of spiritual activity will be formed, from whence the Lord will work to sanctify and bless mankind. "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" means that those in truth and the desire for good will, by reception of Divine truth in life, teach the true doctrine of the Word. "Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions," means that the wise will receive revelations of the future obscurely, and the intelligent who are in the affection of truth will by faith perceive intelligently the truth revealed.
     More concretely, however, may we not see here how old and young may work together as instruments in the Lord's hands for the growth of His church? Dreams have a basis in the past, as does the wisdom associated with old age; visions, by contrast, may stand for the idealism of youth. Both are needed for the growth of the church: wisdom to give stability and guidance, idealism to give new life and hope.

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HYPOCRISY 1972

HYPOCRISY Editor 1972

     In the exchange across the generation gap it is sometimes said that the older generation does not live by what it professes and is therefore hypocritical. This charge has been made against the church also; and there have even been those who say that the organized church must of necessity be hypocritical. In either case, a strong reaction is evoked, which takes the form of claiming that the only way to avoid hypocrisy is to express exactly what one feels and say what one thinks in every situation. But are the charge and the reaction justifiable from the standpoint of the Writings, on whose definitions we should surely take our stand?
     It would seem that there is an oversimplification here and a judgment difficult to justify. The Writings attribute hypocrisy to those who simulate good but are without it and those who speak truth but believe nothing; those who speak and do well but regard themselves in everything, preferring themselves to others, and who inwardly ridicule the things of spiritual and civil life which they speak of so highly and affectionately. Thus, while the Word censures those who "say and do not," when a man's performance does not match his professions, we would have to know his spiritual state to be certain that he is a hypocrite. Time and effort are needed to remove evils, and the man whose life disturbs us may himself be distressed by it, and deserving of help rather than censure.
     Hypocrisy is evil outwardly appearing as good. On the other hand, all that we feel is not good, and all that we think is not true; so we do not necessarily avoid hypocrisy by expressing and saying all that we feel and think. Charity would require that much of it be suppressed, and if that is done from good will, there is nothing hypocritical in the act. We are taught that every man who is not interiorly led by the Lord is a hypocrite. In this sense we may see that all unregenerating men are hypocrites, whatever their generation, and all are needful of the Lord's mercy.
INFERNAL TRILOGY 1972

INFERNAL TRILOGY Editor 1972

We are taught in the Writings that these three evils-adultery, the love of dominion and deceit-will be especially shunned by those who will be of the New Jerusalem. Why these three especially? A little reflection will show that they are interrelated.

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Adultery is an evil to which those in the love of dominion are particularly prone; because they see others as outside of themselves, the considerations that might withhold others from adultery have no validity for them. Except in a society which has no moral standards, or whose standards are not based on the Judeo-Christian ethic, adultery nearly always involves deceit; perhaps as a way of entering into an adulterous relationship, certainly as a way of concealing it from those offended against and from society. Indeed, the adulterer may find a peculiar relish in the secret knowledge that wife or husband, the community and society, are being deceived and are quite unaware of what is really happening.
     Internally, however, these three evils have in common that which should make them particularly abhorrent to the New Church. They destroy the human: that human which begins in the inmost of the rational and is to achieve its highest development in the New Church that is based on the acknowledgment and reception of the Divine Human. Heaven is marriage and hell is adultery. Conjugial love descends from the marriage of good and truth, adultery from the connection of evil and falsity. In heaven adultery is abhorred, therefore heaven is closed and hell opened by adultery. By conjugial love man receives into himself the form of heaven, by adultery the form of hell. So heavenly love is implanted through conjugial love. Where adultery prevails-is confirmed and not believed to be evil-the spiritual mind is closed and with it the rational.
     Like adultery, the love of dominion has hell within it and closes the spiritual mind. Those who are in this love are in evils and falsities from it, and their love sinks the mind into the proprium so that it cannot be raised up by the Lord, and makes impossible that conjunction of minds which is the conjugial union. Indeed, it is possible that inmostly in adultery is the desire to dominate or to be dominated. Premeditated deceit from self-love enters into the interiors of the mind and prevents man's ever becoming rational. It enters intimately into his thoughts and affections, infects remains and destroys everything human in man; and it is possible that it enters also into the love of dominion. There are some who find their keenest and most subtle delight, not in openly ruling others, or even in being the power behind the throne, but in being the secret but irresistible influence behind that power.
     Adultery closes the spiritual mind because it is opposed to heaven; love of dominion because it is opposite to love to the Lord; deceit because it destroys the interior things that would form the spiritual mind. We may readily see, then, why these three loves especially will be shunned by those who will be of the New Jerusalem.

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When man has entered into the holy city, he is beyond their reach, for it is written that without "are sorcerers, and whoremongers . . . and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." But until then we must shun these evils and all the things in our culture that make them seem desirable; knowing that the attacks of the hells upon the church have especially in view the destruction of the human and the loves that make it possible and support it: the conjugial, the love of use, and sincerity.
LAST PAGE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE 1972

LAST PAGE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE REX D. RIDGWAY 1972

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     In NEW CHURCH LIFE, January 1972, a correspondent, the Rev. Ian Arnold, suggests that the Rev. Theodore Pitcairn's most interesting article on the words of the last page of Divine Providence should not have been published in the official organ of the General Church, because, in his opinion, it is not consistent with General Church thinking on the matter and would cause confusion in the minds of many people. At the same time he states that Mr. Pitcairn's conclusions are an attempt to throw light on the subject.
     May I say that it would be a sad day for the Church if people who look to the Writings as their very source of light and life should get themselves into such watertight compartments that they would close their minds to what may well be the truth for fear of examining new thinking or because the work originated in another New Church organization.
     Mr. Pitcairn has certainly opened up a new line of thinking on a matter which has been something of a puzzle to many of us, especially to those who believe that everything written on all the pages of the Writings is not of Swedenborg but of the Lord. Arcana Coelestia 1143 teaches clearly that the very greatest importance must be attached to every least word in His revealed truth: "There is not so much as one little word therein that does not, in the internal sense, contain within it deep arcana."
     It is for us to see in this last page of Divine Providence a page of the written Word of the Lord, and to study it in that light and not in the context of an exercise by Emanuel Swedenborg. In drawing our attention to this fact, and in having given the subject so much careful study in that light, Mr. Pitcairn has performed a real service to the Church and has opened up for us a most interesting and exciting avenue for study.

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In giving any new thinking our consideration we can rest assured that there can be no danger or confusion if we follow the order given in the Writings, and that is to go to the Lord in His Word to see what is true for ourselves. The real danger and confusion lie with those who keep themselves in watertight compartments, looking only to the established thinking of their own organization. It is hoped that in time the Church will be seen to be one, and that in this oneness each will benefit from the variety of "thinking" of the others. We are taught in Arcana 1285 that "mutual love and charity cause them all to be one although they are diverse, for they make one out of the varieties. All men, how many so ever they be, even myriads of myriads, if they are in charity or mutual love, have one end, namely, the common good, the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord Himself. Varieties in matters of doctrine and of worship are like the varieties of the senses and of the viscera in man . . . which contribute to the whole. For then the Lord, through charity, inflows and works in diverse ways in accordance with the genius of each one."
REX D. RIDGWAY
393 Jessop Road
Stevenage
Herts., England
EGYPTOLOGY AND THE NEW CHURCH 1972

EGYPTOLOGY AND THE NEW CHURCH HORAND K. GUTFELDT 1972

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
I have read with interest the article by Aubrey Cole Odhner, "Search for the Ancient Word Through Myth and Correspondence," an address given to the General Faculty of the Academy of the New Church, November 11, 1971, which appeared in the February and March issues. It contains an interesting collection of ideas, findings and conjectures in the light of the science of correspondences of the New Church. There are a number of fascinating avenues of research in the field of Egyptology that have been started in the General Church which I have read with interest, partially while I was a student at the University of Vienna.
The requirements of the University called for a historical field of study for the Ph.D., where my main interest was in Psychology. So I enrolled at the Institute of Egyptology in order to find contact with modern research in this area. In the almost three years of my study there I acquired a reading knowledge of Hieroglyphic Egyptian and Coptic in addition to my Hebrew and Greek training for the study of Theology.

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     The Vienna Institute of Egyptology, I found, is among the leading institutions in the world in the study of Egyptian religion and mythology, and they have experts in cryptography of the Hieroglyphic realm.
     It appeared that the Egyptologists have found up to seven different levels of meaning in Ancient Hieroglyphic texts, especially in the Book of the Dead and in some parts of the most ancient Pyramid texts. Professor Wilhelm Czermak, the leading Egyptologist in Vienna from 1931 to 1953, wrote an article in the Zeitschrift fur die Agyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde, Leipzig, Vol. 76, 1940, pp. 924, entitled "The Structure of the First Chapter of the Egyptian 'Book of the Dead.'" He speaks there of a "spiritual sense" (p. 10) which was available in its esoteric content only to the initiate, and which was opened gradually to the enlightened, who had advanced toward the sphere of the Divine (p. 11).
     These insights have been expanded at the present day by a comparison of the Egyptian ancient texts with other old traditions of humanity, mainly with the Tibetan Book of the Dead (see ed. by Oxford University Press, compiled by W. Y. Evans-Wentz 3rd., ed. 1957) which also, from a New Church viewpoint, is full of deep correspondences and many incorporate elements from the Ancient Word.

     Aubrey C. Odhner calls the deciphering of the hieroglyphics as a phonetic language through Champollion in 1822 "an all time low for the idea of correspondences." From my study of Hieroglyphics I am inclined to doubt this statement. Champollion discovered that Egyptian is written as a combination of phonetic and ideographic elements; and it is recognized that the ideograms or sense-signs have a symbolic character, which is not always recognizable, and the science of correspondences will shed much more light upon these signs, which also appear as "determinatives" (See the leading Egyptian Grammar, by Sir Alan Gardiner, Oxford University Press, 3rd ed., 1964, pp. 30-31); especially the Anthropomorphic deities (list of Hieroglyphic signs, op. cit. pp. 448-449) and the Crowns, Dress and Staves (Scepters) pp. 504-510. These have definitely a symbolic or correspondential implementation.
     It appears that the rather literalistic interpretation of the late Egyptian traditions appears corrupted in Horapollo (the only traditional explanation of the Hieroglyphics) and even more distorted in Athanasius Kircher. From a New Church viewpoint, one finds only fragmentary elements of correspondential knowledge in these authors.
     It appears from these observations that the correspondences of the Hieroglyphics are to be found less in the individual hieroglyphics themselves, although traces are recognizable, but that at the time when they were written there was sometimes an awareness of combinations that appeared in the meaning of the whole text.

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This was recognized by Czermak and by Prof. Drioton in Paris. (See Prof. E. Winter in his article "Die Rolle der Kryptographie in Ag Inschr" Graz, Acad. Verl. 1966 p. 9.) Prof. Thausing (Vienna) has just published a new book on the Egyptian civilization, which contains numerous references to the Egyptian monotheism and the multiple senses of Egyptian Hieroglyphic inscriptions (Sein und Werden, Versuch einer Ganzheitsdeutung der Religion des Pharaononreiches, Vienna, 1971). I am working on a translation of this work into English.
I have written a summary of my findings in a pamphlet (unpublished) "The Spirit of Egypt" which contains many other references and proofs that Swedenborg's rather general statements about the Egyptian writing and civilization have been vindicated in an unexpected way through certain discoveries of modern Egyptological research.
HORAND K. GUTFELDT
507 North Main Street
Urbana, Ohio 43078
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1972

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES Editor 1972

     (Continued from Page 337.)

     The Western Canada Conference Magazine, a quarterly publication, has been edited and published by the Rev. Henry W. Reddekopp. In the June 1972 Number it was announced that this was the final issue with Mr. Reddekopp as editor. In addition to the official transactions of the Western Canada Conference and news, Mr. Reddekopp has presented his readers with material taken from various New Church periodicals and collateral literature. All of the main bodies of the Church are represented in this issue. Mr. Reddekopp has rendered good service as editor and publisher. We would thank him for what he has done, and express the hope that a worthy successor will be found.
     The Newsletter of the Swedenborg Foundation mentions several new publications. The Rev. Paul Zacharias is the author of There Was A Man, which contains articles, letters and poems by Dr. Howard Spoerl, a psychologist and philosopher who was a member of the Convention church in Boston. Dr. Sig Synnestvedt's second book, The White Response to Black Emancipation, is mentioned as a synthesis which may prove of some value in separating historic reality from ignorance and myth.

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Church News 1972

Church News Various 1972

     JONKOPING, SWEDEN

     Every Sunday we go with our children to Sunday school. As we do not have a resident pastor here we have to manage the instruction ourselves; but we are very fortunate because we have some capable and helpful men in our Circle. For many years Rune Fornander has worked hard preparing the lessons we have every Sunday after our service of worship. He has really been a wonderful teacher.
     For a long time we all took part in these lessons together, but since some of our children grew up, and others were too little to understand, we found it better to separate them in order to give them instruction more suited to their ages. So now we listen to readings from the Word and the Writings, either from a tape or read by Mr. Lennart Fornander, and after the reading Mrs. Waijny Fornander takes the little children out of the church room into one of our other two rooms and teaches them. Then the grown-ups and the older children sometimes stay in church and listen to a sermon which has been sent to Mr. Fornander or to a tape; but sometimes we all go out to the study hall, and Mr. Lennart Fornander has very interesting lessons for us. We all appreciate what he and his son Rune have done for us.
     This lay instruction is supplemented by our visiting pastor, the Rev. Kurt Nemitz, who comes to us every other month from Stockholm. When he comes he has a class with the teenagers and the small children, and, of course, a doctrinal class with the adults. His visit concludes with a service of worship for all the members of the families.
          HELENA JONSSON

     GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS

     Greetings from Glenview to the readers of NEW CHURCH LIFE. We want to recognize the honor paid to the Rev. Louis King in his nomination as Assistant Bishop of the General Church. Although we don't want to lose our pastor, we wish him and his family much happiness.
     The organized uses of this Society seem to be, from this point of view, in good working order. There are church services, Friday classes, the schools, the many supporting uses, and at least half a dozen special classes. The Tuesday morning Arcana class-piloted by Mr. King and including about twenty senior citizens as passengers-has traveled at high speed (and altitude) through a selection of most interesting numbers in the Arcana. After two seasons we are in volume six (Genesis 33). We hope to continue toward our destination in due time. Many thanks to our host and hostess at the Manse.
     The school basketball season reached an exciting high when our team, coached by Mr. Woodard, beat Lake Forest Academy. Victory was due to good individual play and good team work.
     Dramatics in the school brought us a jolly bit of fun in The Unwicked Witch. Earlier in the year some of the adults, led by Miss Kathy Hugo, exercised their talents for staging, costume and music in the production, Little Merry Sunshine.
     The school's new upright spinet piano displays a plaque which reads: "1971. Given in Affectionate Memory by the Friends of Katherine B. Synnestvedt, who Loved Teaching Music to Children." The names of many of her pupils, and the programs in which they played, have been assembled into a Memorial Book.

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     The Art Show for this year displayed well chosen work from all ages, kindergarten to high school. The program included a puppet show, a dance by two tiny girls, and a chance for all to "do it yourself," experimenting and being taught in the use of paper and of clay. The high school's "Black Light" show transformed the miniature city and mobiles on the darkened stage into a fairyland. No prizes were awarded and all was enjoyed. Thanks go to Mrs. Richard Acton, Mrs. Kenneth Holmes and Mrs. Conrad Iungerich.
     Theta Alpha sponsored a contest in the upper grades on the history of old houses in the Park. Sons' stamp rewarded the winners. Papers were read after school opening on the Junge house, the Synnestvedt house and the Price house. The series on old houses in Bryn Athyn by Viola Ridgway in the Bryn Athyn Post could just have set the ball rolling here.
     The many Church publications bring us such interesting and useful ideas it is hard to resist mentioning several recent articles, but there are too many. Thanks to the people who have produced them.
     Among the speakers heard in Glenview is our assistant Pastor, the Rev. Alfred Acton. He reported on work being done toward a new translation of the Writings, gave a lively view of the British Summer School, and told us about the Teachers' Meetings in Bryn Athyn. The Rev. David Simons' annual visit allowed many groups to hear about and discuss New Church education. Mr. Dan McQueen showed and told us about the Bryn Athyn Boys Club. The Rev. Lorentz Soneson, at the Swedenborg's birthday smorgasbord, spoke on how Swedenborg's inquiring mind had developed as he wrote the works preparatory to receiving the Writings. Before Mr. Ariel Gunther came to tell us about the Cathedral and the making of stained glass, a number of people here enjoyed reading his autobiography, which circulated in manuscript form.
     A warm welcome awaited Bishop Elmo Acton and Mrs. Acton on their recent visit. The fine address on "The Visible God" was followed by a banquet. We remembered the many years of Mr. Acton's ministry here, and wish good health to both him and Mrs. Acton.
     Mr. King has spoken, on invitation, to a number of local church and club groups. The response to these talks shows an interest in our community and in the doctrines. In the world these days there are many people who are looking for absolute truth and are surprised to find those who believe they have found it and are willing to build their lives around this truth. In this contact with the public Mr. King feels there is great hope for the growth of the Church.
     Guests are always welcome and will be provided for by Mrs. Arvid Tessing, 2645 Park Line, Glenview, Illinois 60025. PA 4-5638.
          SUSAN S. HOLM

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Conference. The Rev. I. P. Johnson, B.A., has been appointed by the College Council to be the Director of the New-Church College. The title has been changed from Principal to indicate a change in the nature of the appointment and the College Council is confident that under Mr. Johnson's leadership the College will serve the various educational needs of the Church in the ways best suited to the changing circumstances of the Conference's organization. The future location of any College building has not yet been decided, but the Council is investigating the possibilities of several areas. Mr. Johnson will continue with his pastoral duties and will for the present remain with the Birmingham Society.

     SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION

     The seventy-fifth Annual Meeting of the Swedenborg Scientific Association was held on Wednesday, May 3, 1972, in Pendleton Hall, Bryn Athyn, with an attendance of 25 members and 35 guests.
     After having served as president for nine years, Mr. Donald C. Fitzpatrick, Jr., had declined renomination, and Professor Edward F. Allen was unanimously elected to the office of president, which he had held prior to Mr. Fitzpatrick's term.

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The following were unanimously re-elected to the Board of Directors: Right Rev. Elmo C. Acton, Mr. Lennart O. Alfelt, Mr. Erland J. Brock, Mr. Charles S. Cole, Jr., Mr. Donald C. Fitzpatrick, Jr., Rev. Daniel W. Goodenough, Jr., Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Mr. Joel Pitcairn and Mr. Tomas H. Spiers. At a meeting of the Board later in the evening the following officers were re-elected: vice president, Mr. Charles S. Cole; secretary, Miss Morna Hyatt; treasurer, Mr. E. Boyd Asplundh; editor, Mr. Lennart O. Alfelt.
     The treasurer indicated that expenditures were large this year because of the support of summer research and translation projects.
     The editor recalled expressing last year what he thought was a realistic hope of catching up with the publication of the New Philosophy by the end of the year. He now believed he had a sounder basis for hope that this goal would be attained by June. He paid tribute to the members of the Editorial Board, Mr. Fitzpatrick and Mr. Kenneth Rose who have served for several years, and Mr. E. Boyd Asplundh, who joined recently. Mr. Alfelt expressed gratitude to those who have contributed to the New Philosophy during its seventy-five years of existence; and also a sense of responsibility to know and understand what the past has left us and to build further by re-examining and interpreting the works of Swedenborg in relation to our own time and lives.
     Mr. Fitzpatrick presented to Professor Allen two volumes representing a complete set of the New Philosophy in appreciation of his contributions to the Association as scholar, writer, editor and president. He has kept alive and fostered a spirit of inquiry and research and has devoted his life to the study of Swedenborg's works, the promotion of principles taught in them, and an understanding of their relation to the science and philosophy of the day-in a word, to the purposes of the Association.
     Mr. Cole then thanked the retiring president for steering the Association and enhancing its uses. Mr. Fitzpatrick, he said, is one of the unusual non-scientific men who is able to appreciate the real significance of science without exaggerating it. He is unusually conversant with the contribution of science to New Church thought, and can approach and apply truth in a variety of ways.
     Mr. Fitzpatrick responded by saying it had been a delight to serve the Association. He hoped that things have been moving in the right direction and appreciated the support he has received. He then called on Professor Allen, who spoke on the ancient question: "What Is Man?"
     Professor Allen explained that he could only introduce and hint at some of its possible aspects. He suggested the importance of the doctrine of series and degrees by a display of charts, originally prepared by Professor Hugo Lj. Odhner, each representing the way in which that doctrine is treated in one of Swedenborg's works. Thought, choice and action; end, cause and effect; also the doctrines of influx and correspondence; each relates to discrete degrees through order, and this is distinctive to our philosophy. Various answers to the question, "What is man?," were referred to; these ranging from ancient sources through Augustine, Aquinas and Kant to Buber, Sartre and B. F. Skinner.
     While Swedenborg considered man from various viewpoints in his works, the address focused on the section on the Human Soul in Volume II of the Economy of the Animal Kingdom. This treats of Swedenborg's search for the soul. Some ideas from the Economy and elsewhere in Swedenborg's works were referred to as important for an understanding of man, and many interesting and thought-provoking passages from the Economy were presented.
     Swedenborg's treatment and terminology change chronologically from one work to another, and these changes result in closer agreement with the Writings. Swedenborg was a scholar pursuing a course over untraveled ground; and if we grant him the privilege given to others and study this search as a search, we will understand the connection of the parts.

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If we study Swedenborg affirmatively in this way, we will see the dynamic development of his philosophy. One of the constants is that man has a soul, but the soul can be seen from many viewpoints and so has a variety of meanings. Swedenborg begins from anatomy and the organic and progresses to what is moral and finally to what is spiritual, acknowledging that "in higher and divine things the mind . . . must permit itself to be acted upon by the soul, and the soul by the spirit of God." While this is not the language of the Writings, it is amazing that Swedenborg could come to this conclusion from scientific study. There is a distinction and a relation between what science, philosophy and religion can give us. Man lives only because of three things: because of life itself which is from God, because he lives with his own thoughts, and because he lives in the world.
     As the discussion of the paper drew to a close, Mr. Allen commented that this is the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Swedenborg Scientific Association. A committee had recommended that the occasion be recognized only informally in the conduct of the meeting. The topic "What Is Man?" seemed an appropriate one. In Professor Cole's remarks commending the outgoing president and in Mr. Fitzpatrick's response there had been frequent mention of "function" and "use." Mr. Allen felt the need to emphasize the difference between man as a mere function and as a use.
     The SSA's gift to him of the bound volumes of the New Philosophy recalled the fiftieth anniversary, twenty five years ago, when Bishop Alfred Acton was presented with a handsomely bound set of the books translated by him and published by the SSA. Bishop Acton's use to the New Church is, of course, more widely known than from the point of view of the SSA; but from that point of view his use was to make Swedenborg the man known. This appears not only in the translations but also through publication of much that before was available only in manuscript. Beyond this, there are the several translator's prefaces in those works, forming a fair-sized volume of which most people are probably not aware.
     Turning to Professor Hugo Lj. Odhner, Mr. Allen observed that his use, from the viewpoint of the SSA, was also only a part of his contribution to the scholarly work of the New Church. From the viewpoint of the objectives of the SSA, his use seems to focus on relating the content of Swedenborg's philosophic works to a wide variety of interpretative studies from the Writings made by Dr. Odhner; though a comparison shows that the emphasis shifts more and more to the Writings in his later revisions.
     In looking at the works of these men, one is elevating his own outlook through recognizing use rather than function. The recognition of use in another person can be a spiritual experience in ourselves.
     The address and a complete account of the meeting will be published in the July issue of the New Philosophy. (Those wishing to subscribe to this journal or to become members of the Swedenborg Scientific Association are invited to write to Mr. E. Boyd Asplundh, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009.)
     MORNA HYATT
          Secretary

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EDUCATIONAL COUNCIL 1972

EDUCATIONAL COUNCIL DAVID R. SIMONS 1972

     The Educational Council of the General Church will hold its meetings from Monday morning, August 14, to Friday noon, August 18, 1972.
     All New Church men and women who are teachers, and teacher candidates who are in their fourth year of college, are encouraged to attend.
     The program will be publicized as soon as it is finalized. The development of New Church education is the responsibility, challenge and delight of all New Church teachers.
     DAVID R. SIMONS
          Secretary
ORDINATION 1972

ORDINATION Editor 1972

Sandstrom.-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, May 21, 1972, the Rev. Erik Emanuel Sandstrom into the second degree of the priesthood, the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton officiating.
BETROTHAL 1972

BETROTHAL Editor 1972

On love truly conjugial is inscribed this order, that it ascends and descends. It ascends from its first heat progressively upwards towards the souls, with an effort to effect conjunction there, and this by continually more interior openings of the minds; and there is no love which strives more intensely to effect these openings, or which is more powerful and skillful in opening the interiors of minds, than conjugial love, for the soul of each one intends this. But in the same moments in which that love ascends towards the souls, it also descends towards the body, and thereby clothes itself. It must, however, be known that conjugial love in its descent is such as it is in the height to which it ascends. If it ascends on high, it descends chaste; but if it does not ascend on high, it descends unchaste. The reason is that the lower Parts of the mind are unchaste, but its higher parts are chaste; for the lower parts of the mind cleave to the body, but the higher separate themselves from them. From these few considerations it may be manifest that by means of betrothal the mind of each one is prepared for conjugial love, although in a different manner according to the affections (Conjugial Love 302).

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"TAKE IT, AND EAT IT UP" 1972

"TAKE IT, AND EAT IT UP" Rev. BJORN BOYESEN 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII                                   AUGUST, 1972                                        No. 8
     "And I went unto the angel, saying unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up." (Revelation 10: 9)

     Probably all of us who are present here believe that the Writings of the New Church were revealed by the Lord Himself to His servant Emanuel Swedenborg and through him to the heavens and the earth. For this reason most of us also believe that they are the Lord's Word. We believe that they themselves bear abundant testimony to this truth, and that every sincere man who reads them and reflects on their teachings with an open mind can draw the doctrine of their Divine authority from their own pages and also confirm it thereby. We also believe that they open up the internal sense of the Word as no previous revelations have done. It should therefore not surprise anyone that we also hold that the "little book," which John saw in vision, "open in the band of a mighty angel" represents the Word not only in general but especially as it is opened, that is, revealed in its fullness, in the Writings.
     We should realize, however, that not only the Writings but also all previous revelations contain the internal sense of the Word, for it is always this sense which makes the Word the Lord's Word and holy on every plane. Indeed, the inmost of that sense is the Divine sense itself, which is above the comprehension of any angel or man, even as God in His own infinite glory is far above any human or angelic mind. On that plane He is understood only by His own glorified Divine Human - the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why it is written: "No man hath seen God at any time. The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him."*
     * John 1: 18.

354

     But this means also that the Lord from this inmost sense is present everywhere in the Word. It is literally true, as it is also written, that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."* To say that the world was created by God or by the Word is therefore to say the same thing. Therefore it is also written: "All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made."** It implies that the created universe is, in fact, an ultimate embodiment of the Lord. But here only a good man can see Him. Only the unspoiled human mind can read about Him in the pages of nature. But it is the same Lord who is present also in the written Word. It is the same God who is revealed in the Old and the New Testament and in the Writings. The only difference is that He is not revealed with equal clarity in all of them.
     * John 1: 1.
     ** John 1: 3.

     In the Old Testament He came to men in the form of prophecy. He was prefigured before the prophets of old as the Angel of Jehovah-a more or less mystical representation of the Divine. He spoke to them in dark sayings, which foretold the Lord's personal coming into the world; but these dark sayings were only very imperfectly understood. No one really knew from them who the promised Messiah would be or what He would do. "The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not."*
     * John 1:5.
     In the New Testament the Lord is more clearly seen, for there He is revealed as present in the flesh. It is the record of His actual physical presence on earth. It is, so to speak, a more perfect embodiment of the Lord. In its pages He is seen as Divine Man, and not merely as represented in the wonders of nature or in a human form borrowed from prophets and angels whom He filled with His Divine. We see Him truly walking among us in His own Divine person, performing miracles and teaching wonderful things. Therefore, in the New Testament the "Word indeed became flesh, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."* Yet not everyone saw in the Lord Jesus Christ the actual embodiment of God Himself in the world. Many were blinded by evils and falsities and others were not yet emotionally or intellectually read to understand the glory of His being and the surpassing wonder of His truth. They saw in Him no more than a man-a remarkable man, perhaps, but still no more than a human body possessing a mind without Divinity. The fullness of His Divine love and wisdom was still hidden from them.

355

They could not see it; and in, accommodation to their imperfect states the Lord still spoke to them in parables, lest they should see the truth of His Divinity and still not obey His teachings and so should profane. Therefore, in the New Testament, only they with a pure heart and a simple faith can see that the Lord is God, and can be inspired thereby to obey His relatively simple Word which is given for their salvation.
     * John 1: 14.
     But even while the Lord was still living as a Man on earth, He said to His disciples: "These things have I spoken unto you in parables; but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in parables, but I shall show you plainly of the Father."* "The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."** "When He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatsoever He will hear that shall He speak . . . He shall glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and shall declare it unto you."***
     * John 16: 25.
     ** John 14: 26.
     *** John 16: 13, 14.

     These words remind us strangely of Swedenborg's words in the Trite Christian Religion, where he says: "This Second Coming of the Lord is effected by means of a man, to whom He has manifested Himself in person, and. whom He has filled with His Spirit, to teach the Doctrines of the New Church through the Word from Him."* These words do not mean that Swedenborg himself was the Holy Spirit, but only, as he solemnly declares, that he "was filled" with the Lord's Spirit. This is why he says: "I testify in truth that the Lord has manifested Himself to me, His servant, and sent me on this duty: to receive the doctrines of His church in my understanding, and also to publish them by the press . . . I also testify that from the first day of my call I have not received anything pertaining to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while reading the Word."**
     * TCR 779.
     ** TCR 799.
     This, then, is the reason we believe that the Writings of the New Church are the Word of the Lord in its final and complete form. We believe that they are a full embodiment of the Lord in His own Divine Human-the Lord Jesus Christ Himself fully revealed in His second coming. They are the Lord Himself speaking to us, no longer in such proverbs or parables as were the dark sayings 'of old, but in such clear doctrines as can be understood by human reason and disperse the obscuring clouds which previously darkened the human mind.

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They reveal the Lord no longer as a mere man in bodily form, but as Divine Man, whose infinite love and wisdom shine through His glorified body. They reveal Him glorified and transfigured in spirit and in truth.
     Now, perhaps, too, we can understand why the "little book" which John saw open in the mighty angel's hand was specifically a prophecy of the Writings. It was the Word no longer "sealed up" as with seven heavy seals of ignorance and confusion, but with the seals of parable and darkness removed. The "mighty angel," with "his face shining as it were with the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire," is a symbol of the Lord Himself, even as He appeared to His disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration. And the "little book" in His hand is His own Word-the entire Word of God now fully revealing His Divine nature. It is the Ancient Word and the Old Testament and the New Testament, all together so to speak wrapped up and clearly explained in the Writings.
     It is not said why it is called a "little book." Perhaps it is because the Word that matters is written in the human mind and man's understanding and reception of the Lord's Divinity is always to begin with a little thing. Yet it is that small thing through which the Lord becomes the Ruler of man's life. It is significant also that John was told to "go and take the little book" out of the angel's hand and "eat it up"; for by this, the Writings declare, is meant "to read, perceive and explore the Word, of what quality it is within and without."* It should remind us of the time when the Lord instituted the Holy Supper, and took the bread, and broke it, and said: "Take, eat, this is My body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. Drink ye all from it."**
     * AC 617a.
     ** Matthew 26: 26. Luke 22: 19, 20. Matthew 26: 27.

     This indeed should give us a new understanding of the Holy Supper; for the bread represents the good of His love and the wine the truth of His wisdom; and these are today fully revealed only in the Writings. They are His glorified body, manifest before all the world; and the truth which proceeds from these Writings is the life-blood of the human mind. To receive the Holy Supper in the New Church is therefore to promise to read and explore the Writings, to study them and try to understand them and to apply their doctrines in daily life. It is to let the Divine good and the Divine truth, which proceed from their pages, nourish us spiritually. It is to "take the little book, and eat it up." And it is also to obey the Lord's words: "Take, eat, this is My body."

357

It is to take the cup of truth also, and drink it; and if, because of the hardness of our hearts, it should cause some bitterness of our souls-even as the little book was bitter in John's internal mind-it is well to remember that it is given for the remission of our sins. For "the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He hath given meat unto them that fear Him: He will ever be mindful of His covenant."* Amen.
     * Psalm 111:4, 5.

     LESSONS: Isaiah 62. Revelation 10. Apocalypse Revealed 469, 472.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 472, 457, 506.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 51, 120.
EXPOSITION OF THE WRITINGS 1972

EXPOSITION OF THE WRITINGS Rev. ALFRED ACTON 1972

     (Continued from the July issue.)

     There is another whole set of spiritual representatives given in the Writings. This is a set that actually is historical in its character, and in fact completes the historicals concerning the Christian Church which begin with the birth of the Lord. I am speaking, of course, about the many varied teachings on the Last judgment. Is it fair to consider these historicals as a natural historical sense, the series of the churches, and as such to apply principles of exposition to that series in an effort to see the regenerative and celestial senses therein? Can we take the organization of the heavens at the time of the judgment, and say that this organization corresponds to the organization of an individual's mind prior to his own regeneration? Can we say that the organization of the New Heaven is the pattern we ought to be seeking in our own lives?
     Again, I did a study of the Last judgment from this point of view. In a series of classes I tried to show that there is a detailed relationship between these historicals and man's regeneration. To me from that study the relationship is sound, although, of course-as with any unexplained text-many assumptions must be made. The fundamental ones in this series were that the Protestant heavens provided a presentation of the understanding of man, which is at the center of his conscious life and is continuous, while the three surrounding heavens-the Catholic, Mohammedan and Gentile heavens-illustrate three degrees of the will.
     So far I have pointed out ways which I think might be acceptable for exposition of the New Word. Underlying these illustrations has been the principle that the Writings of Swedenborg are, in fact, the Word in fullness and do, in fact, have a sense which angels can see that men can come to only by enlightenment.

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In this context I have also tried to point out what to me is a very plain fact, namely, that the Writings do have incorporated in their pages equally sensual imagery to that of the Old Testament and the New, and equally imaginative levels. I believe that the Writings are the Word, that they do have a letter, and that they do have all the ultimates of any other Divine revelation, though, of course, they have a great deal larger proportion of doctrinals than do either the Old or the New Testament. I see no way on reading the Writings to say that they are solely the spiritual sense of the Word. In many places they are the internal sense of the Old and New Testament, but they are also a great deal more than that. In many places they are the doctrine of genuine truth plainly visible, but they are also a great deal more than this. They are the Word in fullness, that is, in ultimates.
To my mind, many of the differentiations derived by ministers of the General Church to avoid the pitfalls of the Dutch Position, such as the statement that the Old Testament is aimed at the sensual mind, the New Testament at the imaginative degree, and the Writings at the rational, or that the Old and New Testament provide the body of God on earth while the Writings are the soul, just do not hold water. In my opinion we need to recognize the similarities of all revelations and from these similarities see only those differences which are specifically taught. I believe that the way we have traditionally viewed the concept of the continuous internal sense has led to confusion in this matter. For example, we have said that Swedenborg gave the spiritual sense of Genesis, Exodus and Revelation so that he would have given the first thing said and the last thing said proper weight, and that from this exposition everything else of the Word could be drawn. Do the Writings ever confirm this traditional belief? I do not know of any teaching which says that the book of Revelation was expounded because it is the last thing said. The fact is that the book of Revelation seems to be expounded for altogether different reasons which have relation to the Last Judgment and the formation of the New Heaven. Nor do I know of any teaching that Genesis and Exodus were chosen because they were the first thing said. If that were the case, why Exodus? Or maybe we should have had both John and Revelation as a joint last thing, said? I do not believe that the series from Genesis to Revelation is a series in the sense the above assumptions postulate.

The continuous internal sense of the Word must find its continuity in the Lord, not in the physical structure of Divine revelation, and since the Lord is seen reflected in His heavens the continuity of the heavens should be like the continuity of the Word.

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As each society in heaven is in the human form, so each particular series of the Word must be in the human form. We must see in each series of the Word some full picture of the Lord. It is proper exposition, for example, to see in one book of the prophets, say the book of Jonah, the whole process of man's regeneration. As a single series the continuous internal sense is organically complete in this book. So, if we should lose all of the Word but one of its series, that series would serve as a full picture of the Lord. It would not be missing some of its organic parts, though, to be sure, some of those parts might not be very well developed.

The exposition of Genesis and Exodus in the Arcana Coelestia seems to illustrate this fact. In fact, the reason why we have both Genesis and Exodus expounded seems to arise more from this source than any other. There we see developed the three accepted series of the Word, end to end, with both a beginning summary of the whole and a concluding picture derived from the Law and the Tabernacle of the state which the summary indicates will exist when the new understanding is an established reality. Another view of this exposition sees four series developing end to end the outline explained in the first two chapters of Genesis which are repentance, reformation, regeneration and the new understanding which flows from the reborn will, the heavenly state of Eden. In the larger work, of course, the series of the churches is developed in the series of made-up historicals instead of the series of repentance and the series of the glorification, with the patriarchs, instead of reformation, because without illustration of these senses the entire internal sense would be unexpounded. In point of fact, what is given in the Arcana is an outline of all the possible series which can be drawn from other isolated series of the Word. No further books were needed because the outline of all series is completed with the end of Exodus. In passing, note also how the principles of the first thing said and the last thing said will apply to the whole of the Arcana, even as they will apply to the first thing said in Genesis and the last thing said in the True Christian Religion. These are two different pictures of the same organic whole, not two different parts of that whole. All series of the Word equally give pictures of that whole. Each series can be developed according to any of the senses within, for each series is an organic whole.
I believe that if we accept the principle that the series of the Word are organic units, each like unto an angelic society, we can better see their interrelationship, which will be like the interrelationship of the societies to the Gorand Man. Together they will form a Maximus Homo; not by the placing of the series end to end, but rather by noting the uses of each series, both their similarities and their differences as they contribute to the whole.

360

There is a physical growth of revelation, but this is the physical growth of the letter. It is continuous and organic. Note that it is in three general stages-that of the Old Testament, that of the New Testament and that of the Writings; but remember that the growth of the Old Testament could have taken as long or longer than the growth of the other two parts. Today we see the historicals and propheticals of the Old Testament in a composite reorganized first by the Jews themselves, then by Christians, and to some further extent by the Writings. There was a long period of time in the history of the representative church when only the first few books existed. Surely the Divine was not just partly present in the Word at that time? Surely the whole of the Divine was and is present in each part of the Word? Surely the principle that the soul is in the body by impletion not extension applies to the presence of the Lord in the Word as well? Surely this consideration alone must make us pause when we speculate that some part of the Word is analogous, or, worse still, correspondential to, some physical part of a grand man, say the brains or the heart and so forth? Should not we rather view the physical growth of the Word as we view the physical growth of an individual? Each pound added to the growing body is distributed to many parts of the whole. We do not first build a heart and then a brain, although it is quite true that in such a distribution certain organs at certain times do draw far more of substance than others.

In viewing the development of revelation from this position we might perhaps speculate that the Old Testament provides that development of the Lord on earth which is analogous to the development of the embryo and fetus, with perhaps the Ancient Word answering to the first stage of the development of the human mind and the rest of the Old Testament to the later stages; that the New Testament gives life to this body and increases the stature of the now-born body somewhat; while the Writings supply the great growth of the physical structure which takes place after birth. In this speculation we would see Conjugial Love, which comes near the end of the development, as perhaps presenting a picture of that organic whole at the time of puberty. To me this speculation is more attractive than those which divide up by organs the Word since it seems to relate better to organic growth, which seems to be what has really happened to the physical structure of revelation. But this speculation is not very important to the over-all question of the continuity of the spiritual sense which, on the other hand, does greatly affect how we will approach the Word in terms of its exposition.

361

     I have said that I believe the letter of the Writings to be as ultimate as any other form of revelation. But this fact does not deny the very real differences between these forms of revelation. These differences do not arise from the state of man's mind as to whether he was in sensuals, imaginatives, rationals or the like; instead they arise from the nature of the Lord at the time at which the revelation was given. So in the Old Testament the Lord is revealed representatively, the Old Testament itself being a representative Human of the Lord, while in the New Testament the person of Jesus Christ serves to signify the glorified God and in the Writings it is the Divine Human in the ultimates of doctrinal truth that presents God to us.* These differences are weighty, and will cause us to treat each form of revelation in a different manner. Now, of course, I am speaking here of how I see these differences in the three forms of revelation. There are, as far as I am aware, no direct teachings which spell out these distinctions in full, though I have given several references which at least imply parts of this pattern. There is, however, a series of passages in the Word Explained which does state these distinctions. There we read:
     * Q vi; AC 4904: 2; Coro. 51; Lord 15: 2; AC 7417e.

     "Things which are representative, such as the types of the Old Testament, ceased when God Messiah came; and things which are significative, such as the symbols [of the New Testament], will also cease when man is introduced into the kingdom of God Messiah. The types of the Old Testament were REPRESENTATIVE, while the symbols of the New Testament were SIGNIFICATIVE, these then being applied to man, that is, to the spiritual man, more interiorly and inmostly. Afterwards they also will cease, in consequence of the coming of the effigy whose image they are."*
     * WE 5060. Cf. 3956, 6519, 8229, 6049.

     In the Arcana Coelestia these same words concerning the effigy and the image recur to illustrate the distinction between the Old Testament and what appears to be all post-advent revelation but may be just the New Testament.*
     * AC 4904: 2.
     We all know, however, that there are both representatives and significatives in both the Old Testament and the New, although the term, represent, is used much more in relation to the Old Testament. We also know that there are spiritual representatives described in the Writings which are said to be significatives. (See above on spiritual representatives.) How, then, can we possibly say that the above passage from the Word Explained has any truth to it? How can it be a clue as to real distinctions among the three forms of revelation?
     In doing a study on representatives and significatives I often thought of this passage as again and again certain numbers seemed to confirm it, but again and again I rejected such confirmation because other numbers clearly showed that both representatives and significatives were in both Testaments.

362

I had also felt that the effigy whose image the former representatives and significatives were would be visible in the Word as pure correspondents, such as the correspondent of a word to the idea it describes. It has occurred to me that the truth of this statement from the Word Explained need not be rejected simply because of the existence of representatives and significatives in all forms of revelation. For the fact is that there are many kinds of representatives and significatives. What this teaching is speaking about is representatives and significatives of the Lord. With the Lord's glorification the last natural representative of Him, the temple in Jerusalem, was also destroyed, leaving only the elements of the Holy Supper and the rituals of Baptism as representatives of Him on earth.* He had opened the scriptures and taught His disciples all things therein concerning Himself. So the representative Human of the Old Testament had been abolished, or rather given a new life by being raised to the level of Jesus Christ the person, who was, in fact, not a representative of God but whose names, and whose disciples' names, were significatives of Him. So the terms, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are significatives. They are not actual representatives of God.
     * AC 4904: 2.

     These significatives in the Writings have also been abolished, or rather given new life or meaning and so raised to the level of open correspondents: plain words which directly infill the true spiritual reality of God. For example, the words Divinum Humanum now present God to man openly. Because there are no representatives and significatives of the Lord in the New Word the type of spiritual sense we should seek there is not the same as that of former revelations. Spiritual representatives can present the Lord in heaven, but the Lord is not present in power on earth in this manner. Rather He is here in the power of pure correspondents, that is, open doctrine. Spiritual representatives primarily reflect the states of heaven and so of men; they show the Lord only indirectly as He is in heaven. We must see the Lord in the New Word first by the correspondents of that Word which are the words themselves, the doctrines, and then look to Him in heaven as mirrored in spiritual representatives and significatives. The Writings as it were raise the significatives and representatives of the Lord found in past revelations to their own light, and no church can ever develop or confirm doctrine beyond the level of its own light, that is, the light of its letter.
     So the New Word in its letter becomes our primary source for doctrine, even as we find the freedom to illustrate this doctrine by the sensuals, and historicals of that letter understood in the same doctrinal light.

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In other words, that part of the New Word which is its organic brain is formed from correspondents, open doctrinals, and it is this brain which is the first seat of the soul or spiritual sense of the organic whole of the Word. Careful collation of these doctrinals will reveal the spirit within the letter, and is our open path to heaven; but this fact does not mean that we should not try to see the same spirit in other parts of the body of the New Word, for we know that the soul is in the body by impletion, not by extension. The spiritual sense of the Word gives it life. It can be seen in all parts of the letter of the Writings, and where things other than doctrinals exist in that Word principles of exposition used for the Old and New Testatment will aid us in seeing it.
We might also note that the internal sense is the sense of the letter of the New Word. It is this sense that can be drawn directly from the letter. So in a certain context the sense of the letter and the internal sense are one and the same, as in Arcana Coelestia 8443, which speaks of the degrees of truth Divine. Further, when one knows correspondences, the internal sense is also the sense of the letter of the Old and New Testament in the context in which we are here using those terms. The internal sense thus is as the brain in the body; on a continuous level with it, but the only means and the first seat of the mind in that body.
WHAT IT IS TO BE NOTHING 1972

WHAT IT IS TO BE NOTHING 1972

It was perceived that to be nothing signifies to be nothing but evil, for evil is in itself death; wherefore compared to life it is nothing. That the good and the true is everything is plain, wherefore the evil and the false is nothing. Hence humiliation goes, as it were, to the Point of self-annihilation (coupled) with an internal acknowledgment of the total want of the good and the true in oneself, and that all goodness and truth possessed is of the Lord. It signifies also that in respect to the Gorand Man everyone is merely a most diminutive particle - nothing, as it were - for every single thing in him flows in through the Gorand Man, so that he is but as a particle of air in comparison with the whole atmosphere, or as a particle of water in respect to the ocean. Since then he is, in comparison to the Gorand Man, almost nothing, he is in the truth of faith when he counts himself as nothing in respect to the common good, whatever it be, which is good and true. (Spiritual Diary 3939)

364

OPPOSITES 1972

OPPOSITES Rev. GEOFFREY CHILDS 1972

     The Lord reveals that "there is nothing in the universe which has not its opposite."* By, opposite, is meant what is contrary, or completely opposed in quality. Clear illustrations of this are given: "the opposite of light is thick darkness; the opposite of heat is cold . . . [other] opposites . . . are day and night, summer and winter; the opposites . . . [with] affections are joys and sorrows, and gladness and sadness; the opposites . . . of goods and truths . . . [are] evils and falses; and the opposites with . . . sensations are delightful and undelightful."** The opposite of conjugial love is adultery.***
     * CL 425.
     ** Ibid.
     *** Ibid.
     Since the statement of the Writings is universalized-" there is nothing in the universe which has not its opposite"-it is a most challenging principle, with applications as yet unseen. It is postulated, for instance, that there is an opposite to physical matter, which has been termed "antimatter"; and this postulate would seem to hold under the Writings' universal teaching. But the application of this would transcend physics: it would apply to all things, natural and spiritual. There is only one exception to it, and that is the Lord. He alone is infinite, life itself and love itself. Certainly the devils, particularly the genii in the lowest hell, are in opposition to the Lord, but they are not the exact contrary; for devils are all finite, and thus cannot be an equal counterforce to the Infinite. Nothing can be. And in this truth there is hope; for if the time will come when man in temptation will invite the Lord to fight for him, then the victory of the Lord will be assured. For there is not a force, not even all the hells united, that can equal the infinite power of Divine love and wisdom.
     The term "antichrist" is used in the Bible, in the first Epistle of John, but this is not a part of the inspired Word. In his Epistle John writes: ". . . children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time."* He defines what he means in two following verses: "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son . . . he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also."**

365

John was the only biblical writer to use this term. He derived it, apparently, from the Lord's teaching to His disciples, as recorded in Matthew: "And as Jesus sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many."*** The Lord spoke of the future Last judgment, and warned: "then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not; for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets."**** Yet the Lord never used the term "antichrist," for it would not be a true or correspondential word. Rather He uses the words: "false Christs": this because with the Lord there is no opposite. There is, however, an antichrist within man-that which opposes his love of the Lord; but there is no antichrist with God.
     * I John 2: 18.
     ** I John 2: 22, 23.
     *** Matthew 24: 3-5.
     **** Matthew 24: 23, 24.

     Man lives in a world of opposites, of opposing forces. For all mental awareness comes, not from the natural world, but from the spiritual; and the spiritual world is a world of oppositions. This becomes very clear from the two chapters in the work Heaven and Hell which treat of the equilibrium between heaven and hell and reveal that because of this equilibrium man is in freedom."* The highest heaven is in love of the Lord, and opposed to this is the lowest hell, which is in self-love. The middle heaven is in love of the neighbor and is opposed by the middle hell, which is in love of the world. The lowest heaven is in the love of obedience, the mildest hell in love of disobedience.
     * Chapters 62, 63.
     Not only is this opposition true of the heavens and hells in general, it extends to each individual society of heaven and hell. For every particular good which forms a society of angels there is an opposing evil which is formed into a society of devils; and the force or sphere from each is kept in an exact counter-balance by the Lord. The place or state where the forces of heaven and hell meet and are kept in precise equilibrium is the world of spirits. In the heavens, good rules; in the hells, evil: only in the world of spirits do they meet and balance out. And since all man's mental life comes from the world of spirits, a fact unknown to him but nevertheless true, man is in an equilibrium between good and evil. Thus within each human being on earth there are two opposite forces. Or, to put it another way, as to his affections and thoughts, man lives in a world of opposites.

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The only exceptions to this-and they are rare-are men who are entirely regenerate, or completely degenerate.
     Yet the object of the Lord is to end this split of forces within man; to bring unity to man's heart, and thus peace. All of Divine revelation, and the Divine Providence, are directed towards this end. By the very laws that govern human states and progression, man as he grows older must make choices between the Lord and self, and according to these choices he comes into unity: either the unity of heaven or that of hell. And according to the unity he chooses is his lot in the other world. This is the purport of the Lord's teaching: ". . . if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. . . . No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."*
     * Matthew 6: 22-24.
     The Lord has created man free, so that humanity is real. But it is the Divine hope that man, in freedom, choose the life of heaven. The Lord does not force this, but it is the whole wish of His Divine love; and it is in this sense that the Writings teach that every man is predestined to heaven and a use in the Gorand Man. Thus every man is predestined for the unity of heaven, if he will only choose it freely. Therefore it is revealed that "Divine love and Divine wisdom go forth from the Lord as a one,"* and that "the end of the Divine Providence is that every created thing . . . shall be such a one."**
     * DP 4.
     ** DP 7.

     These are philosophical teachings, but there is deep human comfort in them. For all the true agony in man's life, all anxiety and depression, come from the fact that he is divided. All unhappiness comes from good and evil opposing each other within his mind. The purpose of the Lord is to end this division and opposition. He is called the "Prince of Peace."
     What it would be like to live in a world undivided-in a mental world where only good ruled-is seen from first states. In the Most Ancient Church, during the spring-time world of the Garden of Eden, earth was another heaven. Angels and men talked to each other, and there was no fear of death. This was because celestial good ruled without opposition. Again, in infancy, every baby is protected and withheld from evil spirits; celestial angels are present and rule, and thus there is such innocence and peace. This same quality is present in other first states where the order of heaven is present. Thus when a young man and woman fall in love, being led to this love by the Lord, a complete trust in each other predominates.

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All the hope of conjugial love is present, and the Lord compels the hells to withdraw. So also, good predominates in the first states of a genuine church-and these are the states that promise so much, if only the church is faithful.
     The Lord gives first states so that man may know what heavenly unity is like; so that he may know what it is like to live in an undivided world - a world not torn by opposites. This helps man freely to cooperate with the Lord in His Divine end of bringing unity and its peace. In the meantime, in our minds we live in a world of opposites. From childhood remains, from every genuine adult state, we love the Lord; but from hereditary evil, and actual adult evil, we hate Him, and love only ourselves. This is the division. Thus there is with everyone, in a finite way, a Christ and an antichrist.

     Man may naively think, why does not the Lord just remove the evil, and end the opposition? If the Lord did this suddenly, we are told that man would fall down lifeless. For so much of man's life-his lower loves -comes from hereditary evil that if these lower loves were suddenly removed, personality would be destroyed. The change must rather be gradual, according to human responsiveness and freedom. The Lord does remove the opposing evil, step by step, but only according to man's ability to see that it is evil, and his choice freely to have it removed.
     Gradually, then, man may find unity. It is a strange and wonderful thing, that becoming deeply aware of the opposition within himself helps to lead him to final unity and peace. Thus, from remains, there is that in man which truly loves the Lord. There is also the opposite, from hereditary evil; hatred of the Lord and hatred of our lot. To know that this is so helps man in his self-examination; helps him to search out and expose his hatred of innocence, and thus shun it. Surely this is the only path to release from division, from that inmost hatred of the Lord and His innocence which divides the spirit.
     Further, as there is that in man which truly loves the neighbor, truly loves him, there is also, from hereditary evil, that opposite which hates the neighbor, which would reject the neighbor with contempt, except as he can serve us. This would apply also directly to our love of the church. From all that is good with him, man loves the church. This applies to the church as a whole and to its parts. Yet there is also that self-love in man, that self -motivation, which actually hates the concept of the church. It is not an exaggeration to say that as, finitely, there is the antichrist with each man, so there is that which hates the church. This is something that perhaps we do not think about, and therefore the harm to the church is done unconsciously.

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All coldness between people-in the church as a whole, and in a church society-comes from hatred in the individual mind. It exists. Its manifestations, consciously or unconsciously, are personality conflicts and malice; and even more subtle feelings of superiority which produce aloofness.
But honesty, a love of truth, can open our eyes. We can see our own faults, and with the Lord's assistance what opposes the church can be shunned. So it is with all that opposes the inmost loves of heaven; and the results bring their own deep reward. For there is no reward like heavenly loves unopposed. Think back to first states and everyone can know that this is true. Of ourselves we could never achieve such unity of good; but from the Lord we can, because He is the only one who has no opposite. His love, His infinite power, can be withstood by no force in creation.
TWELVE DISCIPLES 1972

TWELVE DISCIPLES 1972

For the purpose of instructing those who were from the planet Jupiter, inquiry was made among spirits why men of lowly condition, such as fishermen, were chosen as Disciples, and not some of the learned. Because I heard this it is allowable to relate that at that time most men were imbued with trifling things and the like, to the degree that they were unable to grasp those things which are of faith, as do the unlearned who grasp these things more readily and can believe them; therefore they were chosen in preference to the learned.
And the reason why there were twelve was that each one might represent that which was represented by a tribe of Israel, thus, Peter, intellectual faith; James, charity; and John, the fruit of charity; and so with the rest. For this reason those men were chosen who would be like the things which they represented (Spiritual Diary 1216, 1217).
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

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ACTING FROM THE LORD, AS OF SELF 1972

ACTING FROM THE LORD, AS OF SELF Rev. ORMOND ODHNER 1972

     Heaven is an abiding in, or conjunction with, the Lord; and heaven the very end and purpose of creation.
     God is love. It is of love's essence to give of itself to others in such a way that they may feel it to be their own. We see this illustrated in true parental love, for the true parent seeks to give his children not simply happiness, but a happiness they will feel to be absolutely their own. The Divine love is infinitely such.
     It is also of love's essence to desire conjunction with its object. Love can seek nothing less, and the Divine love, infinitely such, seeks, desires, and effects conjunction with the men it created-perfect and eternal conjunction, mutual and reciprocal, the Lord in man, and man in the Lord. Such conjunction is effected when man does good, when he acts from the Lord, but as if from himself.
     It is impossible for anyone to act from himself except He who has life in Himself, namely, the Lord alone. Life is a Divine attribute-life in itself, that is. The Lord could not make another Divine: there can be only one. He could not, therefore, create man with life in himself that was really his own. He could only give him life from Himself, nor could He do even this as you might give a gift to another, removing your hands from it once and for all and thus making it actually his forever. Life cannot be given that way, for life is indivisible. That would be to endow man with life that was actually his own, to give him life in himself, to make another Divine. Life can be given only in the sense that it is perpetually being given, perpetually inflowing into its recipient subjects, perpetually being adjoined to them. Literally it is true that man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven, that is, from the Lord.
     But because Divine love wills to give of itself to men in such a way that men will feel it to be absolutely theirs, life is constantly given to man in such a way that to all eternity he feels it as though it were his own. We are never conscious of the influx of life. It flows into our inmost souls, thus always above our consciousness, for neither lowly man nor highest angel is ever conscious on the plane of his soul. Furthermore, its influx is perpetual, and we do not sensate that which is perpetually with us.

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     This insensible influx of life gives rise to what the Writings call the as-of-itself. Man cannot live of or from himself; but he does live as if of himself. He cannot act, cannot do good, from himself; but he acts every moment as if from himself.
     It is a rather obvious philosophical truth that man cannot live from himself; it is the universal testimony of every moment that we feel life just exactly as though it were our own and act accordingly. Let me illustrate this with the tongue. It is clear that the tongue does not and cannot taste of and from itself; it is the brain that tastes through the tongue; or, rather, the soul through the brain; or, really, the Lord through the soul through the brain through the tongue. But it is the testimony of every bite we eat that the taste is in the tongue.

     The doctrine of the as-of-itself is one of the most important, distinctive doctrines of our church. On the one side, it does away with the Catholic doctrine of merited salvation; on the other side, with the Protestant doctrine of unmerited salvation through faith alone.
     Mainly through a sin of omission (because they did not develop a doctrine to counter the idea) Catholics came to believe that from himself, (stirred up to do so by Christ), man could obey Divine command and could thus do good works that earned him or merited him a place in heaven. Let me quote a decree of the Council of Trent: "If anyone shall say that the just ought not to expect and hope for an eternal recompense from God . . . for the good works which have been performed in God . . . let him be anathema."* In effect, the Catholic Church said that man had life in himself, with power to act from himself (though they added that always man had to be stirred up by Christ to do the kind of good works that would then merit him salvation).
     * Denzinger, p. 260.
     Searching his Bible to find some doctrinal ground for breaking from the Roman Church, Luther came upon these words of John the Baptist, "Man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven." The Catholics, Luther saw, were wrong. Man could not even obey the Lord's commandments, unless the Lord gave him the power and love to do so. If he did obey them, he did so by a Divine gift, for from himself man could do nothing. Obviously, therefore, he could not merit salvation by his own good works.
     All of which, so far, is correct. But then Luther, not knowing when to stop or where to turn, completely hurdled the truth into the falsity that since man could do nothing actually from himself, he therefore could do nothing at all. The Lord did everything; man was an automaton in His hands.

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Salvation was a gift purely Divine, and there was not the least thing man could do, or even co-operate in doing, that could cause the Lord to give him that gift of salvation. Nay (even worse) anything man even tried to do to get to heaven was done selfishly and for merit and so was evil. How, then, was man saved? Because God, acting entirely on His own decision and without regard for any man's spiritual state, "decided" to give him a gift of the faith that Christ had died for his sins. Man got that gift, I repeat, entirely at the decision of God; and in the instant that he received it, he was saved.
     The doctrine of the as-of-itself refutes both these false beliefs. Man cannot do good from himself; he can do nothing from himself. That counters the Catholic belief. But Luther's is equally wrong. It is true that man cannot do good from himself; but he nevertheless can and must do something: he must do good as if from himself. He is not an automaton in the hands of God. God gives man power to co-operate with Him in the attainment of salvation. Truly, man has no power really his own; but from God he has power that appears to be his own, and he must use it as though it actually were.
     The Lord seeks conjunction with man; and conjunction implies two distinct entities with reciprocal action on each part. You cannot be conjoined with nothing, nor yet with an inanimate object. Conjunction implies not only action on your part, but also re-action, affirmative reaction then on the part of the one with whom you would be conjoined.
     So it is with God and man. God cannot effect conjunction between Himself and a tree, or between Himself and an animal; for neither has the power, from God, to re-act affirmatively, of his own free will and according to his own rationality, to the action of God. Man has that power, not in and from himself, but in him from God; and he must use it as it is given him, as though it were his own, or he cannot enter into conjunction with the Lord. And conjunction with the Lord is heaven.

     And yet, absolutely essential to any lasting, eternal conjunction with the Lord is man's conscious acknowledgment that he lives only as of himself, not actually from himself-the acknowledgment that the good he Lord does (including the shunning of evils), he is really doing from the Lord in him, and only as if from himself. Without that acknowledgment there can be no conjunction, for man's conjunction with the Lord consists in this, that the Lord is in the good man does, and that the good man does is from the Lord. And the instant man ceases to acknowledge this, then, when he tries to do good, he acts from himself (and self is not good) rather than from the Lord (who alone is the source of all genuine good). Hence it follows that the goods he attempts to do are good only in outward form, but are without the living essence of genuine good, and therefore are not truly good at all.

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     Now, it has been known in the former churches that heaven is conjunction with the Lord. In some churches, however, it has been taught that this heavenly conjunction consists of perpetually beholding the Divine Trinity with the eyes. (This was supposed to fill man with such ecstatic delight as almost to cause him to swoon.) In other churches it was supposed that conjunction with the Lord would be as with a wonderful friend, a Big Brother, as it were, a "pal." (Strangely enough, the inactive conjunction of perpetually beholding the Trinity characterized Catholic thought, which granted man on earth the power of doing good; whereas the more active, Big Brother conjunction came with the Protestant belief that man could do nothing of good at all.)
     I have, at times, questioned the extent to which we, in heaven, will see the Lord as it were in Person. I even wonder if it would be desirable to do so. Of what, then, will heavenly conjunction with the Lord consist? Will it, perhaps, be a constant, conscious thought of Him, a conscious love toward Him? I think not, though admittedly such thought and love will be the essence of it, always at least "in the back of the mind," and with celestial angels it will be more of a conscious thing, and more frequently so, than with the spiritual. The real conjunction of men with the Lord, I believe, is and forever will be in the uses they perform.

     For me, the clearest differentiation the Writings make between the two loves of heaven (love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor), is in the teaching that love to the Lord is a love of performing good uses out of regard for their source (the Lord, that is), while love toward the neighbor is a love of performing good uses out of regard for their object (that is, out of regard for the neighbor who will benefit from the uses we perform).* Note that both loves result in the performance of good uses. Then, consider this: Is there a single act imaginable which is exclusively an act of love toward the Lord? Going to church, you might say. But could not that just as well be an act performed from love of the neighbor? Indeed, could it not also be from love of self or love of the world?
     * Love xiii. 2.
     We are told that we cannot love the Lord truly, if we love Him simply as a Person. It follows, therefore, that we cannot perform any good act from such a love. The Lord's own love, however, is a love of others, and He Himself said that He has given us an example, that we should do, even as He has done. We, of course, can also love others, and in doing so, we love Him. But truly to love another is to perform good uses for him.

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That, in fact, is the only true love of others there is. It is, then, in the performance of good uses that we love others and at the same time love the Lord, for such uses are from Him and are His will.
     Consider the following teaching: "Uses, which are goods, are from the Lord, and consequently are Divine; nay, they are the Lord Himself with man; and these are what the Lord can love (in man).* There is no true love of the Lord which does not at once ultimate itself in acts of love toward the neighbor, and there is no true love of the neighbor which does not have love to the Lord within it as its soul and life. As the Apostle John wrote: "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen? And this commandment we have from Him, That he who loveth God, love his brother also."** The first commandment, after all, is to love the Lord; the second, like unto it, is to love the neighbor. Both loves produce the same ultimate results, the performance of good uses. The difference between them is entirely a matter of motive-whether those uses are performed out of regard for the source, or out of regard for their object.
     * Love xiii.
     ** I John 4: 20-21.

     I would now return to the teaching that uses, which are goods, are from the Lord and consequently are Divine; that they are the Lord with man and are what the Lord can love in man. It continues, "[The Lord] cannot be conjoined in love with any man, except through His own Divine things." It is in good uses, then, that heavenly conjunction with the Lord consists-in doing good from Him, but as if from oneself-for then, as said, the Lord is in the good man does, and the good man does is from the Lord. Thus is mutual and reciprocal conjunction established: the Lord in man, and man in the Lord because in the love proceeding from Him. Man then acts as of himself, but acknowledges that he really acts from the Lord.
     This, then, is conjunction with the Lord, and this is heaven. Man does not effect it from himself, but does so as from himself. And, strangely enough, the more closely he enters into such conjunction as of himself, the more completely does his life appear to be his own, and his acknowledgment more complete that it is really the Lord's; whereas the less there is of this conjunction, the less there is of the acknowledgment that life is not his own, the less does it appear to be his own.
     The reason for this is clear. If man really acknowledges that he has no life of himself and can do no good from himself, he will gladly turn to the Lord for life and power and guidance. To do this, he will turn to the Word, and all he then gets from the Lord will be from the Word, from learning its teachings.

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And it has been Divinely provided that everything man learns shall immediately appear to be his own. Gradually heavenly life will be built up within such a man, and a love (as though it were his own) for the life thus given. All he has and does from the Lord will appear to be his. Eminently, the life he leads will appear to be his, for it is the life he has come to love. And since he desires to do only what is from the Lord, all the Lord's laws of order will conspire to his success in carrying out his desires. The life of hell, on the other hand, never appears to be man's own, though every devil in hell insists that he lives from himself and refuses to acknowledge that his life is really only as from himself. For the life that devils must lead in hell is a life of order forced on them from without. They hate it; they are not permitted their own desires; their life never really seems to be their own, yet insanely they insist that it is.

     We are then, commanded to act, to do good, from the Lord, but as if from ourselves. I would therefore, ask two questions. First, how can we act from the Lord? And second, can we know if and when we are doing so? To answer the first question is easy; to answer the second is not.
     The Lord is the Word, and the Word is the Lord. When we act from the Word, therefore, we are acting from the Lord. If we refrain from murder in all its forms (killing, injuring, defaming character, slandering, gossiping; destroying another's spiritual life; blotting out the name and love of the Lord); and if we refrain from all forms of murder because it is the Lord's command in His Word that we should, then we are acting from the Word, and then we are also acting from the Lord and entering into conjunction with Him, for He is in the life we lead, and the life we lead is from Him.
     But what if we obey Divine command from selfish loves and motives? Definitely, then we are not acting from the Lord, but from self or from hell, and the command is to do good from the Lord, though as of self. Selfish, hypocritical, meritorious good is not good, for it does not come from the one and only source of good. It is good only in outward form, a whited sepulchre. The Word commands us to do good for the sake of the Lord or the neighbor. That alone, therefore, is acting from the Lord from the Word.
     But can we ever tell when we are really acting from the Lord, when we are obeying the Word, that is, from truly spiritual motives? (A most difficult question, and one that has led to much irrational and heretical thought.) Can we ever tell when we are really acting from the Lord?

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     Of this much we can be sure, that we most certainly are acting from the Lord when we compel ourselves to follow the Lord's will rather than our own. Yet again, we are acting from the Lord when we shun our evils as sins (and this, of course, includes shunning them in spirit, as well as in body). And of this much more we can also be sure: That if, in either private thought or public speech, the accent is on the self that is doing the good, rather than on the good that is done, then we are acting from ourselves and not from the Lord. (In which case the order is reversed, and our actions are really from ourselves and only as if from the Lord.) Is it, "Look at the good I did", or is it, "Look at the good I did"? If the latter, then, perhaps, some progress is being made in regeneration, though with the fulness of regeneration, the sentence (if it had to be said at all) would probably stop at, "Look at the good."
     Too much thought of self, the Writings say, makes a man either hypocritical or evil. Forget self. Concentrate on the thought of the good. The chances are far more likely that then it will be from the Lord. Or, as the Writings put it, Cease from asking in thyself, What goods must I do; only shun evils as sins, and the Lord Himself will daily give you a perception of the goods that are to be done-not from yourself, but from Him.
     Thinking about the motives from which we may be obeying the Lord's commandments is, to say the least, frustrating. We can, of course, recognize evil motives in ourselves, and it is necessary that we do so; but we must ever remember that we ourselves cannot change them into good. Only the Lord can do that, for that is the process of regeneration, and no man can regenerate himself. All that we can do is to pray to the Lord to change our motives from evil to good, the while we push away from our consciousness-push them away as things from hell-the selfish thoughts that enter our minds from our evil motives. That is all that is required of us. The Lord, after all, does not seek to make regeneration hard for us; much less does He seek to do so from anger or from spite.

     Each day, then, we must strive to live from the Lord as if from ourselves. We can act from the Lord, for the Lord is the Word, and obviously we can act from the Word. And furthermore, it has been put into the power of every man to act as from himself from the Lord. This he can do through those things in him that the Writings call "remains," those states of the love of what is good and the understanding of what is true, and delight in them both, with which every man on earth is gifted by the Lord, primarily in infancy and childhood-those states which the Lord Himself stores up in man's inmosts, beyond the reach of any evil or perversion, there to remain forever as a force giving him power to act from the Lord, truly and unselfishly, as if from himself.

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     Let no man say, then, that he cannot act as of himself from the Lord. He can. Remains give him the as-of-himself for good, the power to act as of himself from the Lord. And since the Lord is the Word, and man can act from the Word as if he were acting from himself, he can also act from the Lord.

     In the fourth Gospel, John, are quoted the Lord's words; "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. . . . That they all may be one: as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee that they also may be one in us. . . . I in them, and Thou in Me." In this concluding section of my address I would emphasize the idea in these words that it is through truth that man is sanctified, and that it is when, and only when, man is sanctified through truth that the Lord can abide in him and he in the Lord, for truth is that alone in which the Lord can dwell in man's consciousness.
     It is, of course, only through truths that man can do good from the Lord as if from himself. The Lord is the Word, and the Word is the Lord. We can act from the Lord because we can act from the Word. Only by learning and living the truths of the Word, it follows, can we act from the Lord. There is no other way. No instinctive loves that may guide our actions will cause us to act from the Lord as if from ourselves. To act from the world's ideas of right and wrong is to act from the world, not the Lord. To act from our own thoughts and imaginations is to act from ourselves, not from the Lord. And even our remains simply give us the power to turn to the truths of the Word and obey them.
     Truths, you see, though they are the Lord's and though in themselves are Divine, yet are such that they can be adjoined to man's conscious mind as though they were man's own. And they are the only Divine things that can be so adjoined. Through truths, therefore, inspired to do so from his remains, man can enter into heavenly conjunction with the Lord as if from himself; and he does so when he commits those truths to life, ultimating them in uses that are goods, wherein is his conjunction with his God.
     And only through truths can this be done. There is no approach directly to God the Father. No man cometh to the Father, save through the Son; and the Son is Divine truth, the Divine made manifest to our view in visible, comprehensible form. Nor can the Father dwell in man directly, but only by means of the Son.

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It was, indeed, just for this that the Lord sanctified Himself (made His Human Divine), so that men might be sanctified through the truth, and so that there might be a conjunction between the Lord and man like unto the conjunction between the Father and the Son-an eternal conjunction, the Lord, the Divine truth, in man; and the Father, the Divine love, in the Lord. It is in such conjunction that man is in heaven; and it is also in it that the Lord's love of giving what is His to men, as though it were their own, is satisfied.
5TH SOUTHEAST DISTRICT GATHERING, MAY 12-14, 1972 1972

5TH SOUTHEAST DISTRICT GATHERING, MAY 12-14, 1972 MILLICENT HOLMES RUNION 1972

     The 5th District Gathering of the Southeast Area was held at Pawley's Island, South Carolina, the weekend of May 12-14. Our pastor, the Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr, Mrs. Schnarr and their family were present. Also we were honored to have as our guests the Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton and the Rev. Martin Pryke. There were 81 adults and children present from the Washington, D. C., and Bryn Athyn societies, the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia and Florida.
     People arriving on Friday evening were greeted with a tasty spaghetti supper and a beautiful sunset over the ocean. The Gathering officially opened on Friday night with a class by our pastor entitled "The Distinct Qualities of the Masculine and Feminine Forms and the Implications of This Teaching in Our Age." Mr. Schnarr pointed out that in this day it is important for New Church men to be aware of the distinctiveness of the masculine and the feminine. The world around us is changing so rapidly, women are entering heretofore male professions, morals are lax and the difference between the masculine and the feminine is becoming nearly non-existent. He read from Conjugial Love 187, that "men are by creation forms of knowledge, intelligence and wisdom; women are forms of the love of these with men." Mr. Schnarr stated that there are uses proper to the male because of his understanding, thought and wisdom, and uses proper to the female due to her will, affection and love. These duties are by nature different, yet conjunctive. We know that man perceives from understanding and woman from love, and the necessity for the conjunction of the will and the understanding. These knowledges must be protected in our church. A short discussion period followed, after which we adjourned for a social hour. This is a happy time, seeing old friends and meeting new ones.
     On Saturday morning Mr. Schnarr held three classes for the children, one for each group. After this the adults and older children met at the Pawley's Island chapel for an address by Mr. Pryke on "The Uses of the Academy."

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Mr. Pryke stated that the aim of New Church education is to prepare the students for eternal life, a life in heaven. The Academy tries to do this in three ways: instruction from the Word, implantation of remains, and relating the subjects being taught to the truths of Divine revelation. He went on to give us an interesting look at the curriculum, teachers, students, buildings and problems faced by the Academy and an over-all picture of what is being done in many areas. Mr. Pryke graciously received questions after his address and answered them all with patience and enthusiasm.
     A delicious luncheon was served and the afternoon was free for individual pursuits. The weather was beautiful, so swimming and fishing were the order of the day for most.
     Six o'clock on Saturday evening found all the children assembled, spanking clean and handsomely dressed for their banquet. When they were finished, Mr. Schnarr presented New Church Day gifts to the children of the area, their delight being both heard and seen!
     Bishop Pendleton flew in on Saturday evening, arriving in time for the adult banquet. Our teenagers were again the waiters and waitresses and, as in other years, they did a truly professional job. After a wonderful roast beef dinner, Mr. Schnarr welcomed Bishop Pendleton and Mr. Pryke, expressing for all our happiness in their presence. Both the Bishop and Mr. Pryke responded with warmth and humor.
     Bishop Pendleton then delivered his address for the evening, "The General Church: What Is It and Where Is It?" He began by telling us that the Lord first gave the Old Testament, secondly the New Testament, and then the Writings. They are all the Lord's Word, the Writings being given so that man may be introduced into the true idea of God. He spoke of the General Church, that it is not the New Church-the New Church is the Lord's-but its purpose is to spread the New Church. The General Church is an organization and its function is to serve uses. It is dedicated to two primary uses: worship and instruction. The Bishop then went on to say where the General Church is. Starting with our banquet room he worked his way delightfully and humorously around the world, telling a little about each circle and society, returning to Pawley's Island. He then said how happy he was to come this year, since when he came last time he was unable to give us much hope in our need for a visiting minister. He spoke of Mr. Schnarr's heavily burdened schedule, especially with the school now in Washington. After keeping us guessing a while longer the Bishop then said that in the very near future our pastor will have an assistant.

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For many years we've wondered how long Mr. Schnarr could carry the awesome load. We knew that the Washington Society must come first, yet dreaded the time when there might no longer be pastoral visits. The banquet ended on a note of high hope for the future of our Southeast District, yet with a trace of sadness for the day when Fred will no longer be "riding the circuit" through the South.
     Church on Sunday was held at 10:30 a.m., to enable people to leave for home earlier in the day. Mr. Pryke read the first lesson, from the sixth chapter of Joshua, and gave the children's talk. He told the children that the city of Jericho was taken only with the Lord's help and the Israelites knew they needed His help, which was why they carried the ark of the Lord around the city. So we, too, need the Lord's help. The Israelites knew that they must fight, and we, too, must fight our evils and read the Lord's Word. Mr. Schnarr read the second lesson, from the Gospel of Matthew, and the third lesson, from Arcana Coelestia. Bishop Pendleton preached the sermon, which was on the Lord's Prayer. He explained each part of the Prayer, and why we pray as we do. He spoke of the primary teaching that the Lord is all good and is known through His Word. Truth does not compel faith, and while God wills the salvation of all men, He leaves them in freedom. God is all forgiveness. So we, too, must learn to forgive. We know that the Lord does not lead us into temptation; man leads himself into it, and we are to perceive the evils within ourselves. Man is nothing in himself, but is created for use so that there may be a heaven from the human race. The Holy Supper was administered to forty people after the service, adding the very special sphere that this sacrament brings.
     A pick-up lunch was served immediately after church. Soon thereafter people began to depart for the far away places from whence they came.
     In closing, it is impossible to thank everyone individually for the success of the weekend. From the youngest to the oldest, all pitched in willingly and happily. However, a special thanks must go to Dr. Jack Fehon who again this year did so much to see that all ran smoothly; also to Bishop Pendleton and Mr. Pryke who both took time out from already over-burdened schedules to be with us; and to Mr. Schnarr, without whose initiative, dedication and gentle prodding these tremendously rewarding Gatherings would not have been started.
     MILLICENT HOLMES RUNION

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ORDINATION 1972

ORDINATION RAGNAR BOYESEN 1972

     Declaration of Faith and Purpose

     I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is love itself and wisdom itself, our Creator and Redeemer, infinitely one in soul, body and operation. I also believe in Him as the Word which was with God and which was God, who came down and assumed the Human for the purpose of restoring to order all things in heaven, in hell and in the church. I believe the Lord glorified His Human and thereby united Divine truth with Divine good, and that in His glorified Human He returned to the Divine in which He was from eternity. From this Human the Lord now governs the universe, and I believe no one is conjoined with heaven, and after death admitted into heaven, unless in the idea of his thought he sees God as Man, and at the same time believes God to be one both in essence and in person.
     That which the Divine has revealed, I believe, is with us the Word. This comprises the three Testimonies (AE 392: 8) which are Divine in general and in particular. I believe it is through the Word that the Lord is present with man, conjoining heaven and earth, but according to the individual's understanding of the Word. I believe the Lord presents Himself according to man's life from the Word; thus man does not see the Lord from himself, but from the Lord with himself. If man lives by truth in good, I believe, he will be regenerated by the Lord. As a form of use he serves the Lord and His heavenly kingdom.
     I believe that the priesthood of the Lord's New Church is called by the Lord to serve His eternal ends, and temporal ends as far as they lead to good. I believe that the General Church at present is the most adequate expression of the Lord's New Church coming down from heaven.
     In presenting myself for inauguration, I pray the Lord that I may be worthy to be called a laborer in His vineyard. To this end will I strive, and to the establishment of the Lord's church upon earth I dedicate myself. May the Lord grant me strength to shun the evils of dominion and covetousness, and the wisdom to perform rightly the functions of my office.
     Hear my supplication, O Lord, for enlightenment to guide me as a priest and teacher, that I may faithfully proclaim the genuine truth of the triune Word, and thereby lead men to the good of life.
          RAGNAR BOYESEN

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REVIEW 1972

     THE WORD AND ITS HOLINESS. A Translation of Extracts in a Continuous Series from Chapter Seventeen of the Apocalypse Explained by Emanuel Swedenborg. Translated by Frank F. Coulson. The Swedenborg Society, London, 1972. Paper, pp. 59. Price, 25p.

     Under the title Religion and Life the Swedenborg Society published in 1961 a translation by John Chadwick of the section on good works and the Ten Commandments included in nos. 932 through 1028 of the Apocalypse Explained. This further booklet is another and useful addition to the theological literature drawn from the Latin text of the Writings which the Swedenborg Society is making available, and the Society is to be commended on continuing this work of excerpting and translating important doctrinal series and making them more readily accessible.
     The extracts here presented fall into two series: one on "The Profanation of Good and Truth," the other on "The Word and its Senses." Subsection headings have been supplied, as far as possible in the wording of the text. The translation is based on the Latin text edited by S. H. Worcester, published in 1885, but reference has been made to the manuscripts and to some other translations. The text has been arranged in small paragraphs for ease of reading, and these have been numbered consecutively, though, of course, the original numbers are also given.
     Each series is of particular interest. The various kinds of profanation here discussed can all arise in the organized church and in the mind of the individual. The treatment of the Word may be recognized as an earlier presentation of what appeared later as Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, a method of development not uncommon in the Writings.
     Mr. Coulson appears to follow the original faithfully, and if a question might be raised about some of his word choices, there are instances in which he seems to be closer to the Latin than other translators; and both the style and the preference shown for the more modern rather than the older word where there is room for a choice make this a version which should appeal to the modern English reader. Indebtedness and gratitude to the Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen for his careful help and valued suggestions as Consultant are expressed. The cover, uniform though not in color with that of Religion and Life, is bright and pleasing, and the typography is clear and satisfactory.

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AUTHENTICITY OF THE MEMORABILIA 1972

AUTHENTICITY OF THE MEMORABILIA Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE

Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

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

Editor                Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION $5.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 50 cents.
     Nothing in the Writings has caused more problems, distress and embarrassment than the Memorabilia. Even those who accept do not always know how to take them and differ in their interpretations. One view which comes out now and again is that the Memorabilia are not descriptions of actual events at all; that in preparing them Swedenborg was writing allegories, fable-like stories carefully composed to express doctrinal truth in correspondential language as in early Genesis.
     However, this view is contrary to the evidence. At the beginning of Conjugial Love Swedenborg wrote: "I foresee that many who read the things that follow and the Memorabilia at the end of the chapters will believe that they are inventions of the imagination, but I asseverate in truth that they are not inventions, but have of a truth been done and seen." At the close of the series of Relations with which that work begins he says: "I again asseverate in truth that these things were done and said as they are related." Later in the same work he says: "These things were shown to me when my spirit was awake, and were afterwards recalled to my memory by an angel, and thus described." And in Invitation to the New Church he says that the Memorabilia are among the testimonies to his intercourse with spirits and angels as to sight, hearing and speech.
     Evidently, then, the Memorabilia were not made up to express doctrinal truth graphically. Because the events they relate occurred in the spiritual world they are correspondential, and some of them are representative. But this does not take away from their authenticity as things actually done and said and then seen and heard by Swedenborg.

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HOME DEDICATION 1972

HOME DEDICATION Editor 1972

     The dedication of homes, or the inauguration of their uses by a religious ceremony, has been practised from ancient times, but has more or less fallen into disuse. It is little observed by the Christian Church and, as far as is known, by other bodies of the New Church; but it has been revived in the General Church and all of our pastors are ready to perform it, though for several reasons a Rite of Home Dedication is not provided in our Liturgy.
     Yet the dedication of homes has never been observed by more than some in the General Church, perhaps by fewer now than in an earlier day. This may be due in part to the fact that relatively few couples now start married life in what they expect to be their permanent home. Families today have what may be called both horizontal and vertical mobility. They move freely from one location to another as work offers, and move upward as their situation in life improves. Consequently many live in rented houses or apartments, or in houses which they do not intend to keep for more than a few years; and it is easy to understand that they do not feel the same affection for these dwellings as for a house in which they expect to live out their earthly lives.
     Some have apparently decided that home dedication is not for them, or that it does not apply in their circumstances. Admittedly, the dedication of homes is not openly taught or suggested in the Sacred Scripture, but there is much in the Word which gives us reason to think that it is a useful and orderly act. When we consider what a vital instrument the home should be in the life of the church, we may hope that in time it will become a fully recognized rite of the church to be performed for all who desire it, and that it may initiate in the home that living religion which family worship is designed to nurture.

     It may be pointed out that while all families are not able to own a house, every family may possess a repository for the Word. The repository may be dedicated and be looked upon as the most sacred thing in the home; the center round which the family kneels for worship, and out of which it may hear the Lord speak as His Word is read. Then, if the family moves from one house to another, the repository will go with them as the ark accompanied the sons of Israel in their journeys, and it will become a testimony constantly to the Lord's abiding presence. In the teaching that "the good of a house is the living in it" the Writings distinguish between a house as a structure and the home established in it. It is the uses of the home that are dedicated, for they are what live, and they center in worship and thus in the Word.

384

GUARDING THE CONJUGIAL 1972

GUARDING THE CONJUGIAL Editor 1972

     In these days of social and cultural shock the institution of marriage comes under attack from many quarters, and it is undergoing changes which range from subtleties of attitude to radical experiment. There are many advocates of change and of superficial remedies for marriage, all claiming to be more enlightened than others. Some of the suggestions offered seriously are: trial marriages until the partners become parents, then a more permanent relationship; group marriage in which several couples may marry as pairs but live communally; group or communal relationships leading eventually to monogamous relationships; and sequential marriages. This last is offered on the plausible ground that since people change, they should be free to change partners!
     Another change-and one that is perhaps more subtle-is the wedding in which the service and the vows exchanged are prepared and written by the couple themselves. In addition to promising to be true to each other, they vow to work for peace and justice in the world. This has been hailed by some as showing an awareness of the social responsibility of marriage; but it seems to involve more than that-an unwillingness to look to any authority outside of self, whereas the only basis for true marriage is recognition that marriage is a Divine institution and acceptance of the Lord's authority in it.

     Behind all these suggestions seems to be the assumption that marriage as it has been practised goes counter to the nature of men and women. It is therefore felt to be a relationship which ties them down, inhibits and restricts them, holds back their ability and stifles their creativity; and it is argued that by changes in the institution men and women need to be freed and their minds released.
     This suggests that there may be need for us to re-examine the teachings of the Writings about conjugial love and marriage and that in the light of these teachings the church and its schools should offer all the help they can to insure as far as possible the safety and happiness of marriages, giving instruction in preparation for marriage and parenthood, and offering loving support to the family. The need is real, because the concept of marriage taught in the Writings and the ideas held in the world, and the consequent suggestions for making marriage viable, are worlds apart; and we and our children are influenced by what the world thinks and feels. The truth is that when husband and wife both look to the Lord and from Him love and support each other, there is no superiority or inferiority in their relationship, no mastery or servitude. Both are free and able to use all their powers to the full.

385

REINCARNATION 1972

REINCARNATION DONALD L. ROSE 1972

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     In the October-December 1971 issue of the New Philosophy an article on "Reincarnation" states that the subject has not been mentioned in New Church Life for forty-five years! This is surprising, since belief in reincarnation has for centuries been one of the most widely held beliefs on the face of the earth, and there are many passages in the Writings that give insight into it. I cannot recall ever seeing a doctrinal study of this subject in any New Church journal.
     It should be noted that in the February issue this year, page 58, Bishop W. D. Pendleton has mentioned the little-known fact that reincarnation had long been a belief held by the Jews.
     I would also like to call attention to a delightful little snippet that appeared in the Life twenty-six years ago, under the heading "The Dean Tells A Whopper." It reports that W. R. Inge, the late Dean of St. Paul's, London, a Professor of Divinity at Cambridge with phalanxes of letters after his name, had mentioned Swedenborg in a supposedly scholarly work. Says the Dean: "Swedenborg believed that men who lead bestial lives will be reincarnated in the forms of the animals which they resemble in character."*
     * NEW CHURCH LIFE, November 1946, p. 566.
     The fact that such a blunder could be made tends to support the suggestion in the New Philosophy article that one origin of a belief in reincarnation could be misunderstanding of the ancient knowledge that man is to become like a dove, like a lamb, etc.

     The teaching of the Writings is that man leaves the material body behind, "nor does he ever resume it."* But some people can only take this to mean that there is no life after death. If they do not resume the material body, they think, "it will be all over with man."** In some cases this is due to the dogged insistence of the learned that the soul after death is merely thought or is like a breath of wind.*** In some cases it is just a matter of being "devoted to the body" - a devotion which results in an excessive fear of death.****
     * HD 225.
     ** HD 226.
     *** AC 445.
     **** AC 447; SD 4225.
     The learned are surprised after death to find out how real life in the spiritual world is. (And, in a way, the learned Swedenborg shared this surprise! See Arcana 1553). One learned man who had thought that man after death could only be a disembodied spirit at last declared: "Now when I have seen all things, and touched everything with my hands, I am convinced . . . I have sometimes been ashamed of my former thoughts."*
     * CL 182. Cf. AC 322.

386

     However, some who have learned after death quickly forget what the angels have taught them, and conclude that since they have bodies they must surely still be in the natural world. Indeed they insist that there is no life after death. So they are patiently reminded: "You were in the natural world; but you died there, and are now in the spiritual world."* To one man it was said: "Recall to mind that you have lived in another world which you have forgotten, and that you are now living after death, and that you were even now talking just as you formerly did. . . . And recollection was given him, and he remembered and was ashamed."**
     * TCR 77: 3.
     ** TCR 80: 4.
     The Writings now address man directly to shake him out of his sleepy notions about the soul. "Put away from you the idea that the soul is like an exhalation, and then think of your own state, or of the state of your friends after death. . . . The truth is that you are a man after death as well as before it."*
     * CLJ 6.

     Mercifully, everyone without exception has been given common perception on this subject."* The common perception "is one with that influx from heaven into the interiors of his mind from which inwardly in himself he perceives truths and sees them, as it were; and especially this truth, that he lives as a man after death."**
     * DP 274; LJ 19.
     ** CL 28.
     The ignorance in the world, the outlandish doctrines, the queer ideas, should not cause us to doubt the Divine Providence of the Lord. In no. 274 of Divine Providence we are shown ten points to remind us that anyone with some religion and some humility-whether he be Mohammedan Gentile or orthodox Christian-has a kind of inner perception on this subject flowing into his mind. Even people who say they believe this and so about immortality manifest a kind of simple belief at times of bereavement or when they expect to die themselves.
     It is also of the Lord's merciful Providence that He has granted now a direct revelation on this subject. Yes, some do believe that "after a thousand years they will return to their bodies."* But "in order that the man of the New Church may not wander about in obscurity . . . in respect to man's life after death . . . it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit and thus introduce me into the spiritual world . . . and thus to learn that man does not . . . fly about blind or dumb in the air or in vacancy, but lives as a man in a substantial body." So writes the Lord's servant in no. 771 of True Christian Religion, and he there says that he has been commanded by the Lord to make these things known.
     * TCR 769.
          DONALD L. ROSE

387

Church News 1972

Church News Various 1972

     CARYNDALE, ONTARIO

     Because it promises renewal, April is always a distinguished month in Caryndale. As the snow mounds recede, crocuses and daffodils pop up in delightful places; a warm, swampy, nose-twitching smell floats on the air; underfoot the saturated sod squashes and squeaks; robins, Canada geese and mallards return to the woods and ponds; determined children, contemptuous of the real temperature, toss off winter coats at the drop of the vernal equinox; and vast quantities of dark, viscid, genuine Caryndale mud find their way indoors on the innocently indignant persons of children up to their eyebrows in it! April is like that-exciting; but this year was something else-quite extraordinary.
     April had been designated "Welcome Month" by the pastor. Especially significant talks, films and refreshments replaced our customary Friday evening suppers and classes. Invitational circulars were distributed, posters displayed in key downtown locations, and personal invitations extended to friends. "There is a God," "There is a Life After Death," and "What's the Use?" were the April sermon topics attractively advertised each Saturday in the newspaper under a line drawing of the Carmel Church with its auspicious tower. As an appetizer, the pastor had spoken on the "Let's Take a Moment" radio series in February. These quickie, thought-for-the-day type spot messages, are aired several times daily. In co-operation with the ministers of other churches, Mr. Rose prerecords these mini-talks and the station uses them whenever convenient.
     Then, the bombshell! Early in April, the City of Kitchener, having been offered it by the Province, unexpectedly up and annexed the five thousand acre southwest section of Waterloo Township, and Caryndale with it, without so much as an "if you please," or "by your leave." Canada, parenthetically, is a parliamentary democracy, and as every student of government knows, Parliament is terribly supreme, and according to the old saw "can do anything it likes but change man into woman." (Thank goodness for some mercies!) At any rate the Provincial Parliament, quite unsolicited we are told, magnanimously offered Kitchener this additional territory in a move which countermanded the recommendations of two earlier parliamentary studies designating a rural orientation for Caryndale, leaving us with the very strong impression that some provincial officer in a remote Toronto ivory tower, looking at the map of Kitchener, had simply taken a pencil and drawn lines along two major highways, thus neating-out Kitchener's boundaries. Expansion being an imperative of any city, Kitchener, of course, gleefully accepted the bonanza and, in one fell swoop, swallowed Caryndale, lock, stock and barrel-five hundred three acres, thirty-four houses, one church building, and one hundred sixty unanimously protesting individuals! Because the expansion offer originated with the Province rather than with the municipality, the residents of the area were faced with a fait accompli, and rather effectively denied the right to participate in the actual decision making at meetings with city officials, as would have been the procedure had the request for boundary extension originated with the city. The vote by Council for annexation was nine to one in favor, although when the gun they'd swallowed fired, most of the aldermen acknowledged they had never even heard of Caryndale!

388

But perhaps a digression here for an historical review of Caryndale's development might help to clarify the whole rather muddled business.
     For seventy years the Carmel Church and school stood on King Street in the heart of Kitchener's core area. When the flight to the suburbs by young people threatened school enrollment, the Carmel Church sold out and purchased one hundred twenty acres in Waterloo Township, a considerable distance from Kitchener city limits. (Later purchase of three adjacent farms brought the acreage to five hundred three; sufficient land, it was hoped, to assure the growth of the General Church in Canada for ages and ages.) Chalon Estates, Inc., a non-profit development corporation was set up to administer the holdings. They subdivided the land into half-acre lots, which is the minimum required for septic tank installation, provided a central water system with the approval of the Ontario Water Resources Commission, established roads, arranged for electric power installation, and looked after the myriad problems and details requiring solution and attention. During the past ten years Caryndale has grown at an average of three houses per year. In that same period, Kitchener, one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, has expanded so rapidly that, at the time of this current annexation threat, it shares a common boundary with Caryndale on our north side.
     Taking a look at province-wide city growth patterns, the provincial government, some years ago, decided to initiate studies in urban planning to control undesirable urban use of valuable agricultural land, (note the disappearing tenderfruit soil belt east of Hamilton, and the threatened Holland Marsh north of Toronto), to prevent unstructured urban sprawl, and to set up a unified three tier government-provincial, regional and local. The Kitchener-Waterloo metropolitan area and Waterloo County as a whole was the subject of two scholarly studies looking to regional government-the Fyfe and the Bales reports. Both of these studies recommended a continued rural designation for Caryndale. With the issuance of these papers, we were, with good reason, very optimistic that the status quo for Caryndale would be maintained. Then the surprising boundary extension offer to Kitchener; a governmental action which completely contradicted the recommendations of the government's own commissions. Apart from Caryndale, vast acreages of the lands to be annexed are held by speculators, who needless to say, would welcome annexation. This, incidentally, makes it incredibly difficult for Caryndale to convince a public raised on the profit motive that our lands are not held for mothy, rusty, purposes. There are simply no precedents for Caryndale in the public mind.
     Caryndale's self-determination is at stake. If annexed to Kitchener, questions in search of answers are: Can we hold high-value city lands vacant for x-times a hundred years? Will zoning regulations, appropriations for roads, easements and rights-of-way for utilities, disturb our pattern of growth? Will taxes tied to city lands soar beyond the financial resources of the young and the retired? Will the city overlook its ordinance forbidding septic tank installation and permit Caryndale to continue to develop on half-acre lots with septic tanks? (Environmentalists note that filtration here is so effective we contribute not at all to ground water pollution.) Will we be required to abandon what has been called by the Ontario Water Resources Commission, the second best private water system in Ontario and be required to accept city service, meters, chlorine and all?
     When the annexation issue broke, Caryndale reacted swiftly and with determination. On behalf of the Society, the secretary sent the authorities a petition for redress supported by every adult in Caryndale. A massive letter- writing campaign was initiated, with copies going to everyone from the local officials on up to our Federal Member of Parliament. As the drama caught the attention of the media, for a two-week period, the newspaper carried lead stories describing the "sect" seeking to avoid annexation. The pastor and a director of Chalon Estates appeared several times on television; mobile T.V. crews roved Caryndale photographing the church, school and homes, and many citizens voiced support for us on an open-line radio show, and in vis-a-vis conversations.

389

With the media so interested, Mr. Rose commented that the Carmel Church had received more publicity in these weeks, than in all its previous ten years in Caryndale. And, coincidentally, the publicity came at the very time that the Society was promoting "Welcome Month."
     Kitchener City Council responded to our appeals by inviting a spokesman to present our views to a meeting of the Council. In a heartening display of unanimity, forty-seven residents and supporters accompanied our spokesman to the meeting where our stand was given a very cordial hearing indeed. One gained the impression that Council was genuinely seeking to understand our position. The newspaper account of that meeting quoted Alderman Chapman as saying: "In spite of what people sometimes think, the Planning Board truly tries to plan for people. This is going to be an exciting study to see what kind of compromises we can come up with to see that your people can continue to develop as you are now." The Council voted unanimously to refer Caryndale to the Planning Board to seek for "compromises that would allow the Swedenborgians to continue building homes on half-acre lots serviced by septic tanks and a private water system." Further, "in referring the Swedenborgians' development question to the Planning Board, Council made it clear it was not changing its mind on boundary adjustments in that area."
     A highlight of the Caryndale presentation to City Council was the showing of Mr. Rose's magnus opus on Caryndale, a 180-degree cycloramic oil-painting of the church and the homes in Caryndale, in seasonal progression, 45 degrees for each season. Finished and mounted in the nick of time, the painting hopefully made Caryndale a concrete reality in the aldermanic mind-in view of their earlier ignorance, a considerable achievement!
     There is little more to report on our efforts to avoid annexation. The regional governments bill acting on boundary adjustments is shortly to be introduced in the Provincial Legislature. After a meeting in Toronto with provincial officials, Chalon Estates directors hope to attend a meeting with Kitchener municipal officials and provincial authorities. Caryndale still hopes that City Council will find happiness in a Kitchener minus Caryndale. Perhaps they may still convince themselves that our slow growth potential would render us more of a liability than an asset. In any event, no one here is disturbed to distraction. The Church will survive!
     As a result of "Welcome Month" the pastor reports that several people are reading the Writings. A number may be saying to themselves, "Should I visit the Carmel Church?" Twenty-eight people made thirty-five visits to the Carmel Church taking with them thirteen books of the Writings and thirteen collateral works. One visiting couple, working in television, much impressed by what they saw here, asked Mr. Rose to do a film with them on Swedenborg, the Church and Caryndale. This attractive, gentle, hour-long film was aired locally over an educational channel, in competition, alas, with the National Hockey League finals. Mr. and Mrs. Battle made Mr. Rose a gift of the film, which may become available through the Bryn Athyn film library. Hopefully it will have the wider audience it deserves.
     The grand finale to the amazing month of April was, another coincidence, the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the founding of Caryndale. Our dear friend and former pastor, the Rev. Geoffrey Childs, with Helga and several of their children, came to celebrate and review early memories. We had a ceremonial tree planting, a hike around the church property, a happy hot-dog roast in the forest, and a splendid banquet on Saturday evening, with delightful speeches, hilarious poems, skits and songs, climaxed by a characteristically beautiful speech by Mr. Childs cautioning us to eschew any creeping complacency and to continue to build on our early solid foundation. He says the things we all thrill to hear, so very well indeed.
     Vivat Caryndale!; and cheers to all whose trust is in the Lord.
          BARBARA WIEBE

390

     THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

     Joint Meeting

     The Annual joint Meeting of the Corporation and Faculty of the Academy of the New Church was held in the Assembly Hall at Bryn Athyn, Pa., on the evening of May 19, 1972. Attendance was estimated at a little over 300 persons, including a number of adult visitors and students.
     President Willard D. Pendleton opened the meeting with a short service of worship, followed by announcements of apologies for absence and the acceptance of the Minutes of last year's meeting.
     The Rev. Martin Pryke presented his annual report as Executive Vice President. Included were announcements of Miss Margaret Wilde's retirement as Head of the Foreign Language Department, Mrs. Eunice Smith's retirement as Housemother of Alice Grant Hall, and the departure from the Academy of Miss Mary Beth Cronlund, Miss Lauren Brown, Mrs. Brian Schnarr and Miss Nancy Stroh. Appreciation was expressed for their services to the Academy. Highlights of Mr. Pryke's report included also the Academy's preparation for renewal of its accreditation by the Middle States Association, its recent purchase of three small school buses, the gift by Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Cole of a 10,000 volume library, renewed interest in the Academy Museum and the appointment of a committee to organize and develop it, and the long-range planning being done by the Academy. Mr. Pryke concluded with an evaluation of the past school year as a good one, and with thanks to the faculty and staff.
     Received also was the annual report of the Secretary of the Corporation, Mr. Lachlan Pitcairn, which reviewed the Annual and Semi Annual Meetings of the Corporation and the meetings of the Board of Directors during the 1971-1972 year. This report and the one preceding it, together with other administrative reports for the year and the Minutes of this meeting, will be found in the Annual Number of The Academy Journal for the year 1971-1972.
     Following the reports and two brief questions from the floor concerning items raised by Mr. Pryke in his report, Mr. Eldric S. Klein, Archivist, presented an address on the Academy Archives.
     Mr. Klein began by citing early references in the literature of the New Church to the need for preserving documents and materials having to do with the history of the New Church. At the same time he recounted the beginnings and early growth of the Academy Archives. He then outlined the kinds of materials that are being preserved, and acknowledged the assistance he has received in his work of preserving them. Cited also were visits by scholars outside the church who have made use of the resources offered by the Archives.
     Though he could not possibly list and publicly acknowledge all the donations that have been made to the Archives, Mr. Klein did mention two-several boxes of letter and papers of the late Rev. Karl Alden received last Christmas, and the cornerstone of the temple of the First New Jerusalem Society of Philadelphia with its contents, received but "a little over two weeks ago," The last he called "our most recent and unusual accession." The cornerstone was preserved from destruction under most remarkable circumstances, and it contained a tin box placed in the stone when it was laid. Mr. Klein related in some detail the history surrounding this cornerstone and the tin box with its contents. It was a most interesting story, ending with Mr. Klein's comments on what he saw to be the importance of the events represented by the cornerstone.
     Following this most interesting and informative address, comments were received from a number of people remarking on Mr. Klein's long service to the Academy, his love for the Archives and the importance of the Archives, the present location of the cornerstone mentioned and its size, the hours during which the Archives are open to the public, and the cornerstone laid at Cherry Street, which has not yet been found. Bishop Pendleton concluded the meeting by again thanking Mr. Klein for his address.
     N. BRUCE ROGERS

391

     Commencement

     The ninety-fifth Commencement of the Academy of the New Church was held in the Asplundh Field House on the morning of June 15, 1972. It saw graduates receiving degrees, diplomas and certificates from all Academy schools: two from the Theological School, ten from the Senior College, twenty-four from the junior College, thirty-two from the Boys School and thirty-four from the Girls School, a total of one hundred and two.
     After the entrance in procession of the students of the various schools, followed by the Faculty and Corporation, Bishop Willard D. Pendleton opened the exercises with a service of worship, including readings by the Rev. Martin Pryke of Genesis 16 and Arcana Coelestia 8402, and the traditional singing of Anthems in Hebrew and Greek.
     After the Benediction and the closing of the Word, this year's exercises were marked by the singing of the "Hallelujah Chorus" from Handel's Messiah, performed by the students of the secondary schools under the direction of Mr. Mark Bostock.
     Mr. Pryke then introduced the speaker, Mr. H. Keith Morley, from the Olivet Society in Toronto. Mr. Morley is a fourth generation New Church man who came to Canada from England in 1966 and a member of the Corporation of the Academy. His thoughtful and challenging address will be published in NEW CHURCH LIFE shortly.
     Of the twenty-four graduates from the junior College, ten graduated with distinction; and of the sixty-six from the secondary schools, seventeen received honors. The Glencairn, Theta Alpha, and Sons of the Academy awards were announced and are listed below.
     The valedictorians were: for the Girls School, Miss Suzanne Synnestvedt; for the Boys School, Mr. Kent Junge; for the Junior College, Mr. Clark Echols; for the Senior College, Mr. Patrick Rose; and for the Theological School, Mr. Ragnar Boyesen. Miss Synnestvedt likened high school life to a mythical Atlantis, a utopia, which arose and now sinks in the memory; but this she said of the externals-the internals of instruction regarding the Lord's kingdom must not be allowed so to sink. Mr. Junge spoke of our view of the Lord, how a child's personal view yields as a necessary step to a doctrinal view, but one which in itself is still insufficient: time is needed to reflect again on the Lord as Divinely Human. He also expressed gratitude towards the teachers for their faith in his generation, despite its youthful errors, but pointed out that it is really faith in the Lord to guide them, from whom is our unity and common affection and to whom our thanks are ultimately due. Mr. Echols likened his graduating class to the members of an orchestra who, having "tuned up," now begin to face the question of how to remain New Church men and continue to contribute in the world: which conductor will they follow? Mr. Rose said that few can look back at the Academy even externally without a warm feeling. But the Academy is more than a place to meet people. It is a place in which to be grounded in doctrine regarding the Lord. Here Academy teachers try to give what they themselves have received from the Lord, so that what they give is really a gift from the Lord and real thanks will be expressed only when this gift is made an integral part of life. Mr. Boyesen concluded the valedictories by saying that despite the world's present emphasis on the individual, he likes to think of the Academy as a strong defender of the idea of spiritual community, for which its teachers have set an example by their efforts and co-operation. Expressing gratitude for this, he ended: "May the Lord continue to bless your work so that generations to come may stand united." In his response to the valedictories, Bishop Pendleton first expressed his thanks to Mr. Morley for his unusually thoughtful address and hoped that it would be cause for still more reflection when it is published in NEW CHURCH LIFE. Today's valedictories, he then observed, were cheerful, affirmative and appreciative. This was good, he said, for it is important to see what is right about an institution before tearing it down for what is wrong.

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He expressed appreciation for the valedictories, therefore, and said that they were much appreciated by the Faculty also. Their teachers had been their servants in the truest sense, he pointed out, serving them that they might carry on the important work of the Academy, which is the Lord's work. They had also been their friends, he said, and will be their friends, because the association is not now ending but beginning as that of friends united in common purpose.
     The exercises ended with the singing of Vivat Nova Ecclesia-the traditional conclusion expressing the hope that the New Church may live and remain always faithfully the Bride of the Lord.
     N. BRUCE ROGERS

     ACADEMY SCHOOLS

     Awards, 1972

     At the Commencement Exercises on June 15, the graduates received their diplomas and the honors were announced as follows:

     Theological School

     BACHELOR OF THEOLOGY: Arne Johannes Bau Madsen, Ragnar Boyesen.

     Senior College

     BACHELOR OF SCIENCE: Ragnar Boyesen, Malcolm Camlin Cowley, Stewart Thomas Eidse, Suzanne Cranch Fuller, Henry Bruce Heinrichs, Anne Louise Junge, Michael Posey, Bazett John Rabone, Patrick Alan Rose, Gail Morey Simons.

     Junior College

     DIPLOMA: With Distinction: Robin Bown, Jo Anne Cooper, John Walter Furry, Carla Glebe, Lynne Horigan, Brian Walter Keith, Stephen Howard Morley, Elizabeth Anne Pfanner, Hilary Pitcairn.

     DIPLOMA: Yvonne Alden, Mary Jane Bruser, John Clark Echols, Jr., Barry John Field, Karen Junge, Gretchen Lee, Deborah Kathleen Nelson, Marie Odhner, Michael Lowrie Pendleton, Lincoln Forrest Schoenberger, Claudia Jill Smith, Wendy Letitia Smith, Gretchen Louise Umberger, Barbara Anne Walker, Gail Walter.

     Girls School

     DIPLOMA: With Honors: Nina Glebe, Cara Glenn, Lisa Hyatt, Kara Johns, Nita Junge, Bronwin King, Linda Needle, Lori Jane Nelson, Linda Gay Schnarr, Patricia Genette Street, Brenna Synnestvedt, Suzanne Synnestvedt.

     DIPLOMA OR CERTIFICATE: Rebecca Alden, Lisa Jane Beebe, Karis Ione Brewer, Madeleine Cole, Donnette Cooper, Gwendolyn Cooper de Maine, Carole Anne Friesen, Patricia Emily Friesen, Sherry Dawn Friesen, Rebecca Rae Fuller, Carmelia Sue Furbee, Merry Jayne Haworth, Kerry Jane Heilman, Holly Herder, Patricia Lee, Lisa McQueen, Nellie Parker Norman, Lauren Delores Packer, Abigail Pitcairn, Wellesley Ruth Rose, Kathleen Elizabeth Smith, Nina Elvie Tessing.

     Boys School

     DIPLOMA: With Honors: Patrick Shawn Horigan, Christopher Paul Lermitte, Daryl John Odhner, Roy Delmar Odhner, Lawson Merrell Smith, Garold Edward Tennis.

     DIPLOMA: Majeed Khalil Abed, Garry Alan Childs, Luke Alan Cole, Geoffrey Brian Cooper, David Loyal Cowley, Steven McDaniel Echols, William Charles Fehon, Brian Burton Friesen, Marcus Dean Galligan, Garth Glenn, Donald Raymond Greer, Dennis Keith Gyllenhaal, Bennett Andrew Johns, Kent Junge, Robert Cronlund Kern, George Alexander McQueen, Ronald Kent McQueen, Lawrence Edward Packer, James von Waldeck Price, Stephen Kendall Rose, Douglas Arnold Ross, Stewart Dean Smith, Keith Synnestvedt, John Alan Walker, Kurt Smith Wille, Matthew Woodard.

     Glencairn Award

     The following were selected as recipients of the Glencairn Award Fund:
     Miss Sylvia A. Pemberton, in recognition of her outstanding services to New Church education and in recognition of her unselfish devotion to the Kainon School over a period of many years.

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     Dr. Freda Griffith, in recognition of her outstanding achievement in the field of New Church publications in which she has served for a period of twenty-six years as the Honorary Secretary of the Swedenborg Society of London.
     The Reverend Ormond de Charms Odhner, in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in the field of church history.
     Professor Edward F. Allen, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the understanding and development of New Church philosophy.
     Mr. Ralph H. McClarren, in recognition of his many years of able and devoted service to the community as chairman of the Bryn Athyn Welfare Committee.

     Theta Alpha Award

     The Theta Alpha "Alice Henderson Glenn Award" was given by the Faculty of the College to Lynne Horigan.

     Sons of the Academy Awards

     The Sons of the Academy Gold Medal was awarded to Garold Edward Tennis.

     The Sons of the Academy Silver Medal was awarded to Dennis Keith Gyllenhaal and Lawson Merrell Smith.

     THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY

     The 162nd Annual Meeting on May 17, 1972, was attended by 34 members, the numbers being smaller than usual because of the uncertain transport situation in London. The President, Mr. R. H. Griffith, was in the chair. Apologies for absence were received from a number of members. The Rev. Donald L. Rose led the meeting in the Lord's Prayer. The President then called on the Secretary to read the formal notice of meeting, and the Minutes of the 161st Annual Meeting, which were confirmed.
     In presenting the Report for 1971 the Honorary Secretary emphasized two major events of the year, the first Translators' School ever to be held and the appointment of the Rev. John E. Elliott as full-time translator of the Arcana Coelestia. The repercussions of the Translators' School were still becoming evident in increased interest and activity in this field. Mr. Elliott's appointment had had the immediate result of hastening the completion of the Third Latin Edition of the Arcana Coelestia, while a start had been made on the new translation. Two new editions were on the table, Apocalypse Revealed and The Word and its Holiness, both translated by the Rev. Frank F. Coulson.
     Sales unfortunately showed a small decrease and the Council would like to see much bigger sales in this country. The advertising on the London Underground would not be continued after this year, although there had been a small, steady response.
     Membership figures still showed the need for new, younger members. The inevitable loss due to the transition of our many older members was not being made good. This was the main theme of the Council's appeal: more members to provide more money for the great work ahead of the Society, and younger members to play their part in running the Society.
     The Honorary Treasurer, Mr. F. B. Nicholls, read the Auditor's Report and presented the accounts. He pointed out that although income was up on last year, so were all the expenses, and we had finished the year with a large deficit. The building, in spite of major repairs, just about paid for itself as we had been able to increase the office rents. But salaries and wages, heating, traveling, postage, all showed an upward trend. The Treasurer confirmed the Secretary's remarks about the need for new members.
     The President, in the absence of the Chairman of the Council, Mr. Norman Turner, then moved the adoption of the Report and Accounts. He, too, emphasized the need for more and younger members. He felt that the Translators' School had been a preparation for greater activities. It had opened up the possibilities of a wider sharing of the task which is the essential work of the Society, improving the translations of the Writings.

394

     The motion for adoption was seconded by Mr. Owen Pryke. In the discussion which followed, Mrs. Burt suggested that publicity for the Society might be given in Church News Letters. Miss Acton felt that the Church in general should be made aware of how heavy the Society's responsibilities are. The Rev. Claud H. Presland urged everyone to buy the new edition of Apocalypse Revealed. He also referred to the sense of loss we would all feel when the Rev. Donald L. Rose returned to the U.S.A., this summer. Mr. Laurence spoke of his delight in finding the Writings and his efforts to spread a knowledge of them among his fellow immigrants.
     The President referred to Mr. Rose's imminent departure to the U.S.A., expressing the Council's appreciation of his work for the Society as a member of the Council and the Advisory and Revision Board, and giving him the good wishes of all in his new pastorate in Pittsburgh. The Report and Accounts were unanimously adopted.
     Three Council nominations were then put forward: Mr. John Cunningham, seconded by Dr. Berridge, moved the reelection of Mr. Roy H. Griffith as President for the coming year; the President, seconded by Mr. G. P. Dawson, moved the re-election of Mr. Norman Turner as Vice-President; and Mr. P. L. Johnson, seconded by Mr. Owen Pryke, moved the re-appointment of Mr. F. B. Nicholls as Honorary Treasurer. All three were carried unanimously. The President thanked the meeting and said how much he appreciated the honor and how much he enjoyed the office.
     As there had been no nominations for the Council, the three retiring members were re-elected, namely, Mr. P. L. Johnson, the Rev. Claud H. Presland and Mr. Owen Pryke.

     The President then gave his address, "Swedenborg in the Realm of Finance," which is printed elsewhere. The Rev. Claud H. Presland proposed a vote of thanks to the President, saying that probably no other member of the Society, could have dealt with that subject and paving tribute to his services during the year. Dr. Berridge moved a vote of thanks to the Honorary Officers and Council for all their work, and both of these were carried with applause. The meeting was closed with the Benediction, pronounced by the Rev. Claud H. Presland.
     FREDA G. GRIFFITH

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Conference. The London and Southern Provincial Council's New Church Day Service was held at Michael Church on June 19. The Rev. Donald L. Rose conducted the service, and the Rev. Dennis Duckworth, Superintendent Minister, preached the sermon.
JESTING FROM THE WORD 1972

JESTING FROM THE WORD 1972

Some persons from habit, and some from contempt, make use in familiar conversation of the things contained in Holy Scripture as an aid or formula for joking or ridicule, thinking thus to give point thereto. But such things of Scripture when thus thought and spoken add themselves to their corporeal and filthy ideas, and in the other life bring upon them much harm; for they return together with the profane things. These persons also undergo the punishment of tearing asunder until they desist from such things (Arcana Coelestia 961).

395

CANADIAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY 1972

CANADIAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WILLARD D. PENDLETON 1972

     The Second Canadian National Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in Caryndale, Ontario, on Saturday and Sunday, October 7 and 8, 1972, the Right Reverend Willard D. Pendleton, Bishop of the General Church, presiding. All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend.
     WILLARD D. PENDLETON
          Bishop
ORDINATION 1972

ORDINATION Editor 1972

Boyesen.-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 19, 1972, Candidate Ragnar Boyesen into the first degree of the priesthood, the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton officiating.
CORRECTION 1972

CORRECTION Editor 1972

Gordon Brian Klein, whose baptism is reported in the February issue, was born October 7, 1971, not October 13, as reported to NEW CHURCH LIFE.

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BEAUTY 1972

BEAUTY Rev. ROBERT S. JUNGE 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII                                    SEPTEMBER, 1972                                        No. 9
     "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." (Isaiah 53: 2)

     The Writings tell us that "all beauty is from good in which there is innocence."* Beauty comes to a heart that is willing to be led by God. Beauty comes to the lamb who follows his shepherd. All human loveliness and grace are from that internal good of innocence which comes from the Lord alone.** The Lord's love, then, is the source of all human comeliness. Beauty is the very form of charity.*** So in contrast to the text which states, "there is no beauty that we should desire Him," we also read: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace."**** Our purpose today is to reconcile the apparently contradictory teachings.
     * AC 3080.
     ** AC 3080.
     *** AC 5133, 553.
     **** Isaiah 52: 7.
     In the other world, beyond the burden of space and time, the more a man is in good and truth, the more lovely is his form. The quality of the angels is known from the beauty of their faces. Their use is revealed by the glow of their face and the grace of their movement.* Even in this world the expression of our countenance may soften or light up with good affections. While our natural form will remain essentially unchanged, still our spiritual form will gradually be patterned to represent vibrantly the wonderful beauty of our love-our love for our fellow man.
     * AC 9297e.
     We glimpse this truth from time to time throughout life. We are touched by beauty and innocence as we watch a child sleep, or watch a new mother fondle her babe. There is a deep grace in old age, when it has learned to accept the order of Providence.

398

There can even be a deep beauty in the confident acceptance of death as a gate to life. But perhaps we see love as the origin of beauty most clearly when we behold the secret loveliness and inner radiance of a bride adorned for her husband, and realize that we are but privileged to observe a flame which glows essentially for him alone.
     We are taught that wives are born love, but men receive their marriage love from their wives.* From the origin of love it is small wonder that we associate beauty more with the feminine than with the masculine. "Genuine conjugial love is the image of heaven, and when it is represented in the other life this is done by the most beautiful things that can ever be seen by the eyes or conceived by the mind. It is represented by a virgin of inexpressible beauty, encompassed by a bright cloud, so that it may be said to be beauty itself in essence and form. . . . All beauty in the other life is from conjugial love.**
     * CL 216: 7.
     ** AC 2735.

     Love, then, is the inmost source or essence of beauty. But conjugial love descends from the marriage of good with truth. The essence, the inmost source of beauty, is love, but it receives the qualities of its form from wisdom.* But the supposed beauty that is contrived from faith alone is like that of a painted face.** Ezekiel draws this contrast clearly when he speaks of Judah in her true state and in her fall. " . . . I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thou wast decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty; for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was."***

     * DLW 358.
     ** AC 5199.
     *** Ezekiel 16: 12-16.
     The church represented by Judah ended in disgraceful ugliness and perversion. No beauty remained when they departed from Jehovah their God. Then the Lord Himself came that His love might be revealed in His laws, that beauty and mercy might be born where ugliness and hatred had come to reign. He came that we might learn to pray again with the Psalmist: "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us."*

399

As we think of our Savior walking in the mountains of Judea and Galilee, reaching out to heal and save, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace."**
     * Psalm 90: 17.
     ** Isaiah 52: 7.
     But if the Lord is beauty itself, and we pray to receive a measure of that beauty, how are we to understand the statement of our text, which is also a prophecy speaking directly of the Lord: "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him . . ."? And even in the original, perhaps a better translation would be, "He hath no [beauty] of form, or adornment."

     We are faced, then, with an apparent contradiction in the letter. From doctrine and from other passages we acknowledge that the Lord is beauty itself. Yet the passage before us says, He has no beauty when we see Him; He has no beauty that we should desire Him. The apparent contradiction is explained when we realize that the statement concerning no beauty in the Lord, is found in the midst of a prophecy concerning the Lord's inmost temptations. It lays bare some of the humiliation that His human suffered while He was in the world. Until His maternal human was rejected and His Divine Human formed, His Divine love could not shine through. "He appeared as if the Divine were not in Him."* But only if the Divine shone through was there any true beauty to behold.
     * PP Isaiah 53.
     In deep temptation, despised and rejected of men, He became a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The Human cried out to the Divine soul within as if it were forsaken. The maternal human saw no beauty, for the Divine was withdrawing from it. And in His maternal human alone, no man can see the beauty of the Lord that we should desire Him. If Christ is a mere man, there is no genuine beauty there.
     This is the harsh reality of the doctrine of humanism: no form nor comeliness that we should desire our God. In an effort to make religion relevant to his own desires, man fashions from human intelligence a sentimental view of a merely human Christ. He substitutes a weak, effeminate, and unreal figure for the beauty and strength of the Divinely-Human God. For the vibrant purpose and beauty of life which can come from the Divine alone, he substitutes an insipid and unthinking "do-goodism." There is no power in humanism which can wrestle with the self-will inherent and often rampant in every human heart.
     It is the Divinity in Christ that is beautiful and that we should desire. This Divinity of the Lord has form and comeliness when we glimpse it; but only when we truly see it in that Human form which the Lord our God made Divine, not in the mere human which man, however sincere, tries, and fails through human artificiality, somehow to idealize.

400

     Now the Writings tell us that beauty consists of the harmony of various congenial parts arranged in order.* These parts may be arranged so that they appear all at once, even as the voices of an orchestra resound together in mighty harmonies. Or they may appear one after another like the thread of a beautiful melody as it moves from one sound to another. But beauty always takes form and makes itself visible to man in the order of and through the arrangement of the various parts. The Lord came into the world, not as beauty itself, but in the form of truth which could present that beauty to man. During His whole glorification the Lord was reordering the parts of His natural mind and body that He had taken on by birth in the world. Step by step the chaos of the maternal heredity and all the human ugliness it personified were rejected. The beauty of the Lord God Himself descended, and transfigured the order and harmony of truth which the Human had gradually taken on, through doubt, temptation, even despair, when it seemed even to the Son of Man that He had no form or comeliness that man should desire Him.
     * HH 56; AC 3726: 3.
     Throughout His life, the Lord in His Human permitted one evil after another to be etched in a sharp contrast of ugliness to the Divine beauty which descended from within. The juxtaposition of good and evil within the Lord's human places the choice clearly before us. Thus the very contrasts and seeming contradictions between the Humanity and Divinity of God restore genuine freedom of choice to man. We see the beauty of the character of the Lord standing out in contrast to the ugly world of the scribe, Pharisee and hypocrite. In our fallen state, we could not grasp a clear picture of the Lord's Divine Human except in contrast to the evil which He overcame. This contrast was repeated over and over again. Each time it was repeated the circumstances were slightly different, so that a message was forged that could unfold the beauty of God to every human state, depraved or exalted.
     Each one of us knows states of discouragement when the Lord seems withdrawn. At such trying times every circumstance around us seems twisted and ugly. The Lord Himself seems to have no beauty. As we labor in doubt and temptation the truths of the church seem to have no beauty. They are abhorrent to our self-love. The evils seem so powerful, we wonder if ever again we will see the harmony of the Lord's Divine way. Yet in such times of discouragement and despair the Lord is very near. But we must do more than just reach out. As of ourselves we must labor to restore to order some small area of the stormy sea of our minds.

401

We must turn to the Lord, recognizing that no beauty can possibly enter where sin waits to destroy it. If we wish to see beauty we must be willing to shun evils as sins against the very nature of Him who is beauty itself.
     We live in a culture unwilling to recognize man's responsibilities for his own evils. No answer is to be found in indulging the ugliness of self and the world. On such a path man falls headlong into a blind whirlpool of his own making. Desperation becomes so great that many strive artificially to induce states upon the mind and body which will somehow shut out the hideousness of a seemingly meaningless existence. In response, the hells then provide a brief illusory beauty and allurement sufficient to arouse hope, but which time and again collapses into the distorted ugliness from which it began. In time distortion claims to be beauty, cruelty is seen as mercy, disorder is exalted in the name of freedom, and passion usurps the name of love. The restorative power of the wonder and beauty of nature is manipulated until even it can scarcely reflect the order of life. Yet the power of the Divine in ultimates cannot be overcome; despite man's deluded abuses the harmony of nature gradually returns. To the man of good will its ever-recurring presence of beauty kindles affection, arouses hope and restores the soul.

     Yes, the world is seen today as twisted and ugly, marred and trampled in every conceivable way by human abuse. The balance and beauty of nature seem to many to be at the point of destruction. This cruel illusion stands because man persists in an endless cycle in striving to alleviate those problems from human intelligence which human intelligence itself has created. To the beat of a cruel knell, the hells flatter man's conceit to pile abuse upon abuse. The watchword has become "to predict and control." Man still tries to stand upon the quicksand of the conviction that he can somehow grasp the scope of all natural law and so control the future of all mankind. This horrid conceit has even been distorted to be hailed as a beautiful challenge and the hope of the world.
     But the problem is in man, not nature. Here again man studies his own behavior and sees its sensual similarities to that of the beast. He points an accusing finger at society's failures. But the solution will not come in the blind and unreasoning overthrow of all previous human standards of behavior. Judgment there must be, and the Lord has pronounced a Divine yet merciful judgment upon the false beliefs and traditions of modern man's heritage. What a challenge the Lord's church faces. In the Writings He contrasts the new with the old, the living with the dead, the good with the evil, heaven with hell, beauty with ugliness.

402

This is the only way freedom can be restored to man, just as it was the only way freedom could be restored when He came at His first advent. We as individuals can respond to the beauty and holiness of these teachings with humility or conceit. But it is not our response which will determine their validity. Just as surely as the forest returns in ordered stages over the ashes of the fire; just as the lichen, mosses, scrub growth and softwoods prepare the way for rich new life, so the power of the Lord's Word will be restored in the human kingdom. The Writings are the Divine truth of the Lord given to renew beauty and holiness in an alien world. And it shall be renewed, with us if we are willing, or with others more worthy if we are not.
     What sincere man has not looked back and seen seeming disasters turned to use? There is no man on earth who cannot stand in the beauty of the Lord's presence if he wills; no man whose heart cannot be touched by that beauty and respond with deep affection and love.
     If we will we can gather the oil of love for our lamps to light the darkened streets of our minds, and "a cry will be made, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh." The Lord will come through the innermost sanctuary of our hearts, through His dwelling place with man. Then we will see that "the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary."* We will join the Psalmist and sing with our hearts: "Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due His name: bring an offering and come into His courts. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness."**     Amen.
     * Psalm 96: 5-6.
     ** Psalm 96: 7-9.

     LESSONS: Isaiah 53. Arcana Coelestia 3212: 3, 4.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 491, 508, 472B.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 70, 117.
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

Visitors to Bryn Athyn for Charter Day or any other occasion who need assistance in finding accommodation please communicate with the Guest Committee, c/o Mrs. Leo Synnestvedt, 611 Waverly Lane, Bryn Athyn, Pa., 19009. Phone: (215) WIlson 7-3725.

403

DOCTRINE OF PERMISSIONS 1972

DOCTRINE OF PERMISSIONS Rev. PETER M. BUSS 1972

     A SERIES

1. WHEN HIS WILL IS NOT DONE

     Introduction

     The Lord rules the universe, we are told. He is omnipotent. There is nothing He cannot do. If we trust in Him, we can be sure that He will save us and order all things in such a way that we will be happy to eternity, and, incidentally, happy on earth. This is our faith.
     Many people, however, deny the Lord's omnipotence, pointing to a large variety of circumstances which they feel prove that it is impossible to maintain that He governs all things and so can insure the protection of the faithful. Some of these arguments unquestionably affect members of the church; although they may not say in so many words, "I don't trust the Lord completely," their unconscious feeling tends that way, and many of their decisions are based on a reserve about His omnipotence.
     Now such a reserve can be of two kinds. It may be of the will-a man saying in his heart that he does not want to accept the consequences of total faith in the Lord. After all, if we fully accept that His leading is the best thing for us, not just in general but in the details of our lives, we no longer have our excuses for our favorite sins. No longer can we argue that we have to do evil because of circumstances.* The answer is that if the Lord does all things for our good, He can provide that we never have to do evil. The unwillingness to believe the totality of the Divine Providence may be a part of our personal interior combat against evil; or a measure of our rejection of the Lord from the heart.
     * See I Samuel 13: 5-15.
     There are also those, however, who feel obliged from their understanding to question the Lord's leading. Depending on their background, be it religious or pagan, philosophical or pragmatic, they advance a series of doubts. Each one of them basically asks the same question: How can the Lord be omnipotent if he allows certain things to exist, or to happen?
     There are objections from the Word.

404

Adam and Eve ruined things for everyone by eating the forbidden fruit, and God did not stop them; Cain killed Abel, and Jehovah stood by, helpless; the Israelites worshiped a golden calf; David numbered the people; Jezebel killed all the prophets of Jehovah; the Lord Himself was crucified!* Why did the Lord allow all these things, if He could have stopped them?
     * See DP 237.
     Then there are injustices in civic and social life. Those who are evil, and glory in it, are not punished on earth by God. The deceitful succeed, often against the innocent. The guilty are acquitted through bribery and chicanery. Irreligious and unscrupulous men get to the top, and men of integrity frequently are ruled.* In general, it seems that the bad guys hurt the good guys, and get away with it. "The best lack conviction, and the rest are filled with passionate intensity."
     * Ibid.
     Differences in religion may also cause one to wonder why the Lord allows such confusion to reign. There are thousands of religions, most of which profess to be the right one; many of them are not even true religions, and the vast majority do not worship Jesus Christ. Why has the Lord been so apparently unsuccessful in communicating His law to man?* Allied to this argument is the feeling expressed by those who are incredulous of the claims of the Writings; why has the Lord waited all this time before fully revealing Himself to mankind?**
     * See DP 238.
     ** See DP 239.

     The questions listed above are dealt with fairly exhaustively in nos. 241-274 of the work entitled Divine Providence. There are still others which are answered, or the answers are implicit, elsewhere in the Writings. Why does the Lord permit disease? Why does He let the innocent get sick, while the evil often live disgustingly healthy lives? Why does there have to be a hell, and punishment, here and hereafter? Why does the Lord let any evil prosper? Why do accidents occur, which sometimes bring incredible misery to a family that did not deserve it? Finally, and most difficult to answer, why are there natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, tricks of the creation itself, to spread chaos upon a helpless populace?
     One of the troubles with unregenerate man is that he expects everything around him to be perfect and without taint, despite the fact that he is close to the opposite. The ideal laws of the Divine Providence tell how the Lord works with that which is ideal; but since there is imperfection and evil in the world, the Lord has laws for dealing with evil also. They are called the laws of permission, and they embrace the entire operation of the Divine Providence where there is evil.

405

They provide an answer to all objections to the Lord's omnipotence, for "the doctrine of permissions is an entire doctrine; he who does not understand permissions, or conclude [rightly] concerning them, falls into doubtful and negative things respecting the power of God-Messiah over the universe."*
     * SD 398

     What are Permissions?

     Essentially, permission is the government of the Lord with regard to evil. This is called "permission" because the Lord does not will it, yet in leaving it to happen He is still exercising His government over it, for were it completely opposed to the Divine Providence He would not permit it. The word, permission, therefore implies control. It is not a leading, nor is it something which pleases the Lord; yet He does not stop it. "To leave man from his freedom to do evil also is called permission."*
     * AC 10,778. Cf. AC 10,777.
     The Lord does not stop something evil from happening. This causes the argument with many that since He could stop it if He willed and does not, then obviously He wills it to happen. Yet, the Word says, He does not will it. "That evil is permitted has the appearance as if it were from him who permits, seeing that he has the power to take it away."* This is man's natural idea of permission.** Evil is permitted by the Lord, not because He wills it, or because He does not care what happens on the natural plane. It is permitted because He has a greater end in view which requires that evil must be permitted.*** In that circumstance, for the Lord to prevent the evil would be for Him to do a greater evil."****
     * AC 7877.
     ** AC 2768, 8827: 2, 8700e.
     *** AC 7877, 8827.
     **** Ibid.
     This brings us to the essential concept of permissions: the laws of permission are not separate from the laws of the Divine Providence. They are the same laws.* They are extensions of the perfect mode which the Lord established and impressed upon His creation.
     * See DP 234-236.
     In brief summary, the basic laws of the Divine Providence are:

     1) Man must act from freedom according to reason.
     2) He should cleanse the external man as if from himself, so that the Lord can cleanse his internal man.
     3) He should not be compelled to good from without, but he should compel himself to good.
     4) He should be led by the Lord through heaven, but also through the Word, thus apparently by himself.
     5) He should not perceive and feel the operation of the Divine Providence, but should acknowledge that it exists.

406

     If we apply these principles to the assumption that man abuses law number one, we will find the whole range of the Divine Providence. Basically, that is the purpose of this treatment-to attempt to demonstrate how the laws of permission are these same laws, accommodated to encompass evil.
     In summary, when the Lord allows something to happen which is not good, it is for a good reason, not for a poor one; not because He improperly controls His creation; and not because He made a mistake in ordaining that man should be as he is. He does not stop the evil because to do so would be to stop also a good which is far more important, which He is providing. "Nothing can be permitted without a cause, and the cause is found only in some law of the Divine Providence, which law teaches why it is permitted."* "The causes of permission are the laws of the Divine Providence."**
     * DP 234.
     ** DP 249: 2.
     This is still, however, only half of the general picture. The Lord does not simply allow something to happen and so slip beyond His supervision. He still controls it, for a king cannot rule unless he controls the evil in his kingdom. The Lord does this by permitting only such evils as He can turn to some good.* Thus the Lord is working through the evil which He permits to effect something better, and so still rules; and He does not permit anything to happen out of which no good at all could come. We will return to this point later in more detail. The general concept, however, is contained in the following quotation:
     * AC 6663e, 1664: 8, 2447, 592; SD 418; DP 296: 7.

     "Now as all things which an evil man wills and thinks are of permission, the question is, what, then, is the Divine Providence therein, which is said to be in the most minute particulars severally in every man, evil as well as good? But it consists in this, that it continually permits on account of the end, and permits such things as pertain to the end and no others; and that the evils which go forth by permission it continually surveys, separates and purifies, sending away what are not in agreement, and discharging them in unknown ways."*
     * DP 296: 7.

     There Are Degrees of the Divine Providence

     A father who is wise does not punish a two-year old in the same way as he might a boy of twelve; he knows that their appreciation of their transgressions is quite different. Similarly, the Divine wisdom dictates that the Lord's provision for the leading of men takes account of the states in which they are. Some are spiritually children, others are approaching maturity. Some are in evil, some are in good, and most of us are in between.

407

     "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust . . . . The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His justice unto children's children; to such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them."*
     * Psalm 103: 13, 14, 17, 18.

     To have mercy is to lead man from the place where he is toward heaven, not to set an ideal far beyond man's present reach and then condemn him because he is not there. "He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." He accommodates His leading to us; never diminishing the ideal itself, never failing to present a perfect hope, but at the same time pointing out the first few steps on a path that will lead us away from our imperfect selves towards that heavenly goal. He does not say: "Find your own path, and when you are good enough then I will accept you." He leads us through weakness. "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, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me."*
     * Psalm 139: 8-10.
     The New Word describes, therefore, four general degrees of the Divine Providence: will, good pleasure, leave, permission.* One may say that the Divine will leads the celestial. The Divine good pleasure, on the other hand, is the grace of the Lord toward the spiritual who, relatively to the celestial, could be said to be in evil. Because of their willingness to love and serve the neighbor, however, the Lord is pleased to accept them and grant them His gifts. It was of the Divine good pleasure that the Lord was born on earth, for He came to save the spiritual. Therefore the phrase is used in the Writings: "It pleased Him to be born."**
     * See AC 2447, 9940; SD 892.
     ** See AC 10,579, 256.
     The Divine "leave" appears to encompass natural good, be it genuine or merely a cover for internal evil.* In other words, a man who performs charitable offices from a sense of external duty because it is his job does so from leave; so does a man who does the same thing from a purely selfish or evil motive. The first man comes under the Lord's laws as to good, for He is leading him slowly to a greater good; the second, unless he repents, does not.** Sometimes "leave" is divided into two - "leave" and "sufferance."*** The implication is that "sufferance" has reference to natural good covering a state of evil, and "leave" to a genuine but merely natural state.
     * See SD 2296, 3896. Cf. AC 2447.
     ** See AC 2447.
     *** See AC 1755.
     In summary, the Divine leave governs a merely natural state, whether of the lowest heaven or of hell. The Lord does not desire that men merely obey, still less that they obey with the lips but not with the heart; but He gives them leave so to be, that He may lead them further.

408

     Whereas leave compasses a state of external good, permission is the government where there is evil, usually both external and internal. Only a few things which are permitted fall under the Divine laws as to good, and we would assume that these are externally bad acts which are done with the utmost sincerity.* In general, permissions are evils, which the Lord does not will, which do not please Him, and which He does not even suffer to be so. He permits, as one not willing, for the sake of the greater good.
     * See AC 2447.
     These distinctions, which are discrete, are important.* We frequently find that people are tempted to assign and attribute everything to the Divine Providence, with a few exceptions which they acknowledge as of permission. They forget about the things in between. A man may act in temper, cause a great deal of misery, and then on looking back he will see that something useful came out of it, so he will say: "Maybe I was meant to behave that way; see how it turned out." The behavior was not meant. It was permitted and the good provided despite it. All too often people adopt a fatalistic attitude towards past faults, because it all "turned out for the best in the end." Thus they take credit for the wisdom with which the Lord improved on their errors!
     * See AC 1384:3.

     Let us take the example of a basically well-disposed young man in a promising position with a firm who develops a strong and unreasonable sense of grievance against his immediate superior, so much so that he eventually gives in to his anger, there is a nasty scene, and he resigns. He then finds another job and does very well there, too; and so, on looking back on his life he will say: "That change was for the best. Obviously I was meant to do that." In saying this he excuses his ill-tempered behavior, and even insinuates the thought that the Lord willed him to leave the first firm, thus that he acted according to the Lord's will. He did not. His action was wrong, but the Lord still led him and provided good for him, despite his wrong. Had he behaved well, he might have received greater benefits; he will never know, because that was not what happened.
     Let us consider also the example of marriage. A young couple ought to believe, if they have searched themselves and each other, that their love is of the Lord's will; but this does not mean that everything they are going to do from that time on in the name of their love will be of His will.

409

There is a dangerous tendency to think this, to feel that because we have felt the joy of an ideal love which the Lord wills us to have, the rest of our married life will proceed also according to His will. Then, when we are motivated by selfish urges and find that a lot of our emotions in marriage are not as pure and ideal as they ought to be, we are downcast, and tend to question whether we ever truly loved each other. How, we ask, can such a bright vision fade? The truth is that the first of marriage love, that recognition that we were created to live to eternity together, is an acknowledgment of the Lord's will. What follows, however, is a path in which two people walk together through things which partake of permission, leave and good pleasure toward that perfect goal. Many things we do in marriage may not be of the Divine will. We may be eternally thankful that He has other kinds of leading also, more accommodated to our state, which will enable us to reach in time the state in which we may be one flesh, which cannot be put asunder.
     When we appreciate the infinitely patient and accommodating nature of the Lord's Providence, we may understand better how things that we presently believe to be good are only partly good, and must fade in time, to make way for others which are more pleasing to our Maker.*
     * See AC 4063, 3701, 4145.

      (To be continued.)
COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS 1972

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS H. KEITH MORLEY 1972

     (Delivered at the Commencement Exercises of the Academy schools, June 15, 1972.)

     As I understand it, my job today is to talk to you and your job is to listen to me. If you finish before I do, I hope you will let me know.
     If there is one thing in life about which we can have no doubt it is that each one of us will be faced throughout the years with a continuing flow of personal problems. From the time when, as infants, we first discover that our desires differ from those of our parents, to the closing days of life, with the accompanying aggravations of diminishing capacity of mind and body, we are afflicted by an unrelenting series of frustrations and inhibitions.
     On the spiritual plane, man's experience is similar. "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked."* If man is intent upon spiritual progress he will encounter continuing conflict; for "without temptation no one is regenerated," we are told, "and many temptations follow on, one after another."*

410

The reason, of course, is that the life of the proprium must die, and this will not be achieved without a fight, because this life of the proprium is not willing to die. Many kinds of evil have been involved in the delights of man's former life, and they cling to him very firmly. They cannot be "suddenly and simultaneously mastered."*
     * Isaiah 48: 22.
     ** AC 8403.
     ***Ibid.
     So it is that every man has to face adversity in life, on both the natural and the spiritual planes. He may complain, and he may yearn for peace, but he will not immediately be given peace, with honor. For he will achieve no progress, make no conquests, without conflict; he will not attain maturity without being challenged at every step. This is the fate that awaits everyone who aspires to do better for himself and his fellow man.

     Now, if this is true for the individual, it is also true of the human race as a whole. If each man is destined to face a life full of challenges, so is the world at large. From the infancy of time up to the present day mankind has had to contend with an unceasing series of problems which have seriously challenged the resourcefulness of the human race and threatened to disturb the equanimity of the world. In some ages of history the fear of war has been the most serious preoccupation of man; at other times it has been pestilence and disease. But whatever form the tribulation has taken, the fact remains that the world has always been faced with challenges and problems appropriate to its state at the time. While these are invariably capable of solution or modification by the sciences and mental ingenuities of the day, they often appear to overwhelm mankind in a somewhat similar way to that in which temptations tend to overwhelm the regenerating man.
     When we take a look at the state of the world today, and consider the number and severity of the problems we are facing, it is as if the whole human race is being tried and tempted beyond its capacity to bear. The issues are extremely serious. Suddenly we have discovered that the very industrial system we have worked so hard to perfect and on which we depend to sustain life is in fact a threat to our existence. Our livelihood is increasingly threatened by a technology that is being used and developed in the name of progress.
     We are confronted on all sides by persistent manifestations of violence and crime, continuing wars and human suffering in first one country and then another. Poverty continues among affluence, and noble cities turn to decay. There has developed a serious lack of credibility in public life, and men are questioning the relevance, for this generation, of the democratic system.

411

There is a feeling of loss of liberty, and a sense of powerlessness on the part of the individual. The dilemmas of today's world are well known to all of you. They are many and complex.

     However, it is unlikely that these trials offer an appreciably greater challenge than those of former ages. Certainly the problems are different and probably more complex than ever before, but it is also true that the world is more mature, in a natural sense, than before. There is a useful parallel to this in the progression of man from infancy to adulthood. The problems he faced as a child, though less complex and subtle than those he faces as an adult, did not necessarily cause him any the less grief. At each stage in man's development the Lord permits him to be confronted with character-building difficulties appropriate to his needs and capacity. This is the way every man progresses, this is the way the human race progresses, on the natural plane.
     It is a considerable source of comfort to be able to acknowledge that Providence rules over every detail of life, and to believe that the disorders we experience are permitted by the Lord for the sake of some ultimate good. One of the privileges of the New Church man is that he may avoid the bewilderment that besets those who detect no Divine purpose in life. While being concerned with the human issues that confront his generation, and being committed to the urgent search for solutions, he need not question why they are permitted. He accepts the fact that no progress is possible without combat.
     The man of the church recognizes that a quick and easy remedy will never be discovered for the ills of the world. No new political system, for instance, is going to correct every social injustice, do away with war and violence, and provide personal freedom for all according to each man's definition. Certainly as society changes older systems of government become less appropriate and the need for modification arises. But such changes alone can never bring universal contentment and peace to mankind; no external reorganization can ever, of itself, correct the evils of man's proprium and prevent them from being expressed, in one way or another, on the ultimate plane of life.
     So we do well, therefore, to avoid falling into states of despair on account of the gravity of world issues. Nor should we allow ourselves to fall into the trap of blaming other persons or other generations for the existence of earthly tribulation. Rather should we look on these problems as opportunities for the human race to advance-permissions by which the Lord is patiently preparing mankind for the universal acceptance of the teachings of the Second Advent, far off though that day may be.

412

Instead of despairing or blaming others, we have to be patient, as the Lord is patient; we have to bend as He bends, but never to break.
     Any patience we develop in tackling the problems of the world will be needed in meeting the demands placed upon us as we work for the growth of the church. We are instructed that growth will be slow at first, and so indeed it appears. Not only is the church lacking in numbers, it also gives evidence of lacking in quality. Why should this be when the church is where the truth is known, and when we are supposed to be living according to it? Why are there divisions in the church, and why, in our New Church institutions, do we experience similar aggravations and unrest to other establishments? Can it be that we are not really making any progress in the application of doctrine? Should we review our aims and objectives, and reconsider our practice of distinctiveness in education? If we cannot see tangible signs of progress ought we not to question seriously our principles and practices?
     Careful periodic consideration of our method of operation is obviously in order; it would be foolish to proceed indefinitely without questioning its effectiveness and appropriateness. And the deliberations of the leaders of the Academy over the past few years give evidence that such consideration has indeed been given to the various aspects of its operation. It will undoubtedly continue. But to condemn New Church organizations on account of the failure of their members to exhibit more angelic qualities than those of other denominations and persuasions is to overlook one very important fact: that wherever the truth is known and lived, there the evil spirits launch their most vicious attacks. To the extent that we try to apply the doctrines in our institutions, to that extent the hells assail us and seek by all means to divert us from our set purpose.
     It is the same with the individual man. Until he tries to shun an evil he is left unnoticed by the evil spirits. But as soon as he changes his life he comes into conflict with them, and temptations begin. The more he succeeds the more serious the conflicts become, until eventually, as regeneration progresses, he may experience spiritual temptations of the most severe kind. These are, of course, always followed by states of tranquility and peace.

     If there is any one institution on earth which consistently threatens to frustrate the hells, it is one which sincerely attempts to teach the doctrines of the New Jerusalem. And since the Academy was indeed instituted for this express purpose, we can be quite certain that it will be subject to continuing attack from evil spirits whose urgent ambition must be to destroy it utterly. We can only wonder that it is able to survive at all, let alone display such remarkable zest for life as it does on a day such as this.

413

The reason, of course, is that the Lord will not allow the full force of the attacks to bear upon us. Without the Lord's protection, we are told, during every moment of man's life he would be destroyed. Without this same protection the Academy could not withstand the onslaughts of the hells. But it is frightening to contemplate the ferocity with which the evil spirits vent their hatred on this small institution as it struggles to fulfill its purpose, and it is humbling to realize how complete is its dependence on the Lord for protection from total devastation.
     The recognition that a spiritual threat of such enormity does exist should be sufficient to make us all more tolerant of the Academy's shortcomings and more understanding of its difficulties. When we fall into states of criticism and negativism we are supporting the hells in their efforts to destroy this unique and vital instrument of the Lord's, and we are attempting to thwart His purpose. It is important therefore that we avoid the mistake of interpreting the existence of disorders as evidence of failure, and instead adopt the affirmative attitude, that such disorders are permitted for the sake of a good end; and we should bear in mind that states of tranquility and peace always alternate with states of unrest.
     In all the problems that face us, then, whether of the world or of the church, we have grounds for hope, not despair, and we have reason to be thankful, not critical. For "it is well to remember," writes Dr. Odhner, "that what we witness in these days is the aftermath of the Last judgment. We are experiencing the convulsive, prolonged birth-pangs of a new world which Providence destines to be, in its turn, the womb in which the New Church will some day be nurtured. And over that world the Lord God Jesus Christ doth reign."*
     * Hugo Lj. Odhner, The Spiritual World, p. 468.
FORWARD INTO RETREAT 1972

FORWARD INTO RETREAT STEVE GLADISH 1972

(On the Male Role)

Fresh from teaching The Marx Brothers in a course on comedy, I left Flagstaff with Cedric Cranch to attend a men's retreat in Tucson for the Southwest societies. Up in the high country, I had my mind loping along lines of social satire.

414

The Marx Brothers often zeroed in on the absurdity and meaninglessness of American life; we in the men's retreat proposed to regain male purpose in life by examining the male role in the home, community and country. The Marx Brothers settled for none of society's hypocrisy, pomposity, pedantism and patronage. We struck for honest, humble straight answers, and got them. They derived their strength from contrasting with the monotonously sane, ostentatiously narrow, and petty-minded people society demanded respect for. We knew our contrasts too. Their antagonists mirrored a world narrow, pyramidal, authoritarian and unintelligent. We saw the same reflection in our world. The Marx Brothers had no permanent truck with the base world of menial considerations, dull routines and comfortable conformism. Their finest quality was purity and innocence. We knew the danger of going along with American society; we wanted to regain our purity and innocence, too. They were optimistic, resourceful, and enthusiastic. So were we. They wholeheartedly enjoyed life, making a game out of it, believing in natural wisdom and practical skills, rather than the so-called high education and culture, which they considered forms of poor regulation destroying natural life and man's innate dignity. We, too, looked toward an education that really worked, resulting in a true internalization of knowledge that led to wisdom natural for a New Church man. They remained zany individuals while putting each person they met through an identity crisis, due to each person's habit of grasping for their sense of identity through uncharitable, disorderly and improper means. Our whole mission that weekend was to search and find anew our sense of identity as New Church men. Thus my mind labored little on transitions. The Rev. Norman Reuter had already set up the questions and the numbers in Conjugial Love to be read. Dr. Waddell's ranch provided the quiet and natural setting. We got right down into things.

Our weekend group couldn't have been picked any better for our purposes. The Rev. Norman Reuter and Dr. Waddell as spiritual and natural host, both brought up in the church, presided over five questioning newcomers to the church and five questioning young members of the church. Nobody took anything for granted. Nobody had their trenches dug out for defense. Nobody, excepting perhaps Mr. Reuter, had all the answers.
The first rule of the meeting: go to the Lord and read what He says and reflect on it. Forget what we think; concentrate on the readings. The general topic: "The role of a male in distinction to that of a female, in all capacities." We began digging out evidence, with reflection and discussion:

415

     Firstly, man must exert spiritual and moral leadership, but he must do it with the confidence, trust and respect of his wife and children.
     Secondly, today's alleged male domination is due to at least two factors: a poor distinction between wisdom and mere knowledge, and a perversion of our role because we have more height, more weight, and more muscle. Christ and His leadership was cited as an example of a non-dominating male, who was indeed the greatest spiritual and moral leader the world has ever known.
     Thirdly, the male should be leading, and active in assuming church roles, due to his love of acquiring wisdom. Yet in the world's opinion, and too often in the New Church man's opinion, "Church is a woman's thing." Some sixty-five percent of our church functions are supported by women. It should be the other way around.
     Fourthly, a woman is born into conjugial love. Monogamy is inherent. With man, polygamy is inherent. Thus a man's role is to look to the Lord to receive truths.* For the church must be formed first in the male understanding.** And the conjugial love with a man is according to the state of wisdom with a man.*** Chances are more than likely that the problem, if there is one in the marriage, lies with the man. He'd better be working harder than his mate. It's usually just the opposite.****
     * CL 156.
     ** CL 130, 163-165.
     *** CL 130.
     **** CL 200.
     Fifthly, the wisdom of life, involving and formed by both cognitions and reason, occurs when man lives rationally according to the truths which are his cognitions-formed into his reason-formed into his life. The wisdom of life has within it spiritual things that pertain to the church, which are in man's interiors and conjoin themselves with heaven, and thence with the Lord. Only these spiritual things transmit truth and life from the Lord through heaven to man. And these spiritual things flow into the moral and the civil; with the light of heaven they enlighten all things that follow, and animate all things that follow by their heat or love. Thus the wisdom of life, because of its connection with heaven, shuns evils because they are hurtful to the soul, body, community and country, and does goods because they are beneficial to the soul, body, community and country. This wisdom is that to which conjugial love conjoins itself; it binds itself by both shunning adultery and man's natural tendency to polygamy. As far as man, then, becomes spiritual, he is in conjugial love. By means of the spiritual things of the church, man becomes spiritual. Such spiritual things might, in my opinion, be synonyms for the spiritual virtues of love of religion, charity, truth, faith, conscience and innocence.*

416

And in all these virtues, justice and judgment, the particularly male realms of leadership, are dominant, justice pertaining to moral wisdom, and judgment to rational wisdom.
     * CL 164.
     Our sixth finding heeled on the fifth. Man is love veiled over by wisdom, and a woman is (love of man's) wisdom inmost, veiled over by love. Now to first appearances, or to the unread New Church man, it's just the opposite. We think man is a form of the understanding, woman the form of the volition; therefore, man is wisdom, woman is love. Here, of course, we are mistaken, and here we need reminding. Although we often intellectually acknowledge the real truth of the matter, too often we forget to apply it to our everyday lives. We take the male superiority pose: woman is inferior intellectually, she is too emotional. The problem is made even worse by this being a highly intellectual religion. We realized two things from this: no wonder male retreats are necessary; and what great talkers of religion we are. We were scientifically and properly skeptical of ourselves as New Church men. We were no elitist group; we wanted to analyze ourselves, warts and all.

     From the sixth finding on, our discoveries became too numerous to itemize. We realized, from our readings, that a woman's love is dependent on the man-the church to be formed in his understanding, his love of acquiring wisdom, and his wisdom of life. Thus the woman is dependent on what the man receives from the Lord and puts to use, not on a man's intelligence, muscle and enterprising nature. The man's love for the woman depends on his relationship with the Lord. In fact, stated Mr. Reuter, unless man turns to the Lord, he is not a male human being. He is only a male human beast! This of course lifted the crust right off our complacency.
     We went back to basics. Men are fornicators by heart. They must admit this first. Then the search for wisdom can begin, only after man admits to this urge. We cannot handle wisdom's search until we admit it. The second basic: we cannot accept some of the Writings and ignore the rest. We must know, when we read them, that "This is God speaking to me." Thirdly, the whole theme of the Writings is change. And the first thing we knew we had to do: change from our self-derived notions, and listen to the Writings. We realized that only according to our reception of wisdom and our application of it to life, would the Lord give us the masculine love of growing wise. And the feminine love, the love of man's wisdom, is given to the wife by the Lord only through the wisdom of the husband!

417

So a man not working with wisdom can actually drive a woman to spiritual adultery-some thing that is not a one man-one wife relationship, in mind or intent: she may be driven elsewhere (to her minister for example) in her search to love wisdom.
     The Women's Liberation movement came, we agreed, from the male's abuse of leadership. A woman does not need to feel dominated if her husband is looking to the Lord and humbly receiving truth from Him. Implanted in each is a love of conjunction into one. A woman's role is to be a form of conjugial love, the man's to be a form of wisdom. Man wants conjunction with a woman; he is harsh, cold and theoretical without her. A woman helps him put things to use, to apply them, to be creative in all senses: a man is dependent on a woman for the fulfillment of all the drives within him. And a woman cannot conjoin herself spiritually to a man unless he has the love of knowing, understanding and growing wise from the Lord's Word. We concluded that our male church members' predilection for being theoretically good talkers of religion may stem from insufficient attention to the Word and to the wives. Man needs both to keep himself in line and in balance: he should go to the Word and then to his wife for consulting.
     A man's problem often centered around using his faculty of understanding and judgment for himself, for self-aggrandizement. The woman's problem was using her faculty for herself, destroying her usefulness as a wife and mother, slipping into neglect of understanding her man's wisdom, becoming domineering or masculine as to judgment, in even the most subtle ways. The important distinction in regeneration, I concluded, was this: a woman's regeneration centers around her role as wife and mother, primarily. A man's regeneration centers around shunning the more obvious evils more apt to appear in man-forms of greed, hostility and destructiveness, and becoming a man of religion, acquiring a love of wisdom through revelation; turning to God, bringing the relationship with God down to life and to use in his family and society. Women, we remembered, were often unsure of how to regenerate, due to their less visible ugly behavior. Perhaps now they might have something to think on, too. Men, on the other hand, must spend more time in their lives devoted to being spiritual not natural breadwinners. Nothing, Mr. Reuter assured us, nothing was more important than that.

     Midway in the meetings, we allowed for individual study and preparation time, so each one of us could report to the group that night, on a topic concerning the male role that we were personally interested in or troubled by. Mr. Reuter took time to work with the newcomers. Four of us beat a retreat to the nearby desert. We found, after a time, a gnarled old cottonwood tree slouching on the banks of a dry wash.

418

Its four limbs spread out in four directions almost parallel to the ground. Each person occupied a limb, settled back in the breeze, and opened up. We formed the Cottonwood Convocation. Questions were asked: What have we done right by the retreat? What is wrong with it? What do we want out of it? What does Mr. Reuter want? What do the newcomers want? Communication was not proceeding as freely as we'd hoped. We set up Mr. Soneson's rules on real communication with the neighbor. We made plans to involve the newcomers more, to get them into more discussions, to make them realize how important we believed their contribution and presence to be. We deplored the often typical New Church man's attitude toward newcomers: if they didn't convert immediately, if they didn't know their place as non-elitists, if they didn't contribute twice as much, then ignore them, and maybe ignore them anyway. Later in the meetings we found the newcomers unable to communicate as much on the male role, because they had too many other questions and grievances; they had been alienated, just as we thought. We learned a great deal from them, too. We couldn't answer many of their penetrating questions; but they certainly made us think, and re-examine our thoughts of the most important of all basics. The Cottonwood Convocation dwelt on other matters too, such as the importance of real (not in name only) New Church education; the necessity and purpose of continued retreats; the success of the Maple Leaf and Laurel Leaf gatherings and why; and the methods, attitudes and goals needed for them all. We weighed each other's personal experiences. Then we came down from our high-level conference, and went in to study on our own.
     Speaking of the desert, that afternoon I came across something akin to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Mr. Reuter had an unauthored sixty-page study on conjugial love lying around, along with some handwritten notes. The material was excellent. Mr. Reuter thought he detected the Rev. Morley Rich's style in it. We never knew. From this study, for the most part, and the resultant discussion, I made up a list of the duties involved in the male role, and then a list of the wifely duties. (We felt good knowing what we were getting while we were giving.)

     Duties in the Male Role:

     To develop and expand the love of acquiring wisdom.*
          * CL 199.
     To learn from the Lord what the virtues are that build moral and spiritual conscience.*
          * CL 164.
     To live by these virtues. To be unabashedly a New Church man, in theory and in life. To set examples as such.

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     To have integrity, honesty, sincerity in all human dealings and relationships.
     To practice concern and compassion for others. To be a real neighbor, friendly and open, without infringing on another's privacy, nor he yours.
     To believe every man is the neighbor. To believe that uses should be done to the neighbor according to his spiritual good, then his moral good, then his civil good, in order of importance, not action.
     To remember that the wider the good to be done, the better the claim. To reinstate the teaching that our first responsibility is to the human race, then to the country, then the church, then the community, then the family, then oneself. (In an all too political, and all too conservative church, this priority has important distinction.)
     To keep industry and application to the work before you in mind always.
     To discuss freely with one's wife, to see her as a checkpoint for his wisdom. To consider her opinions, concerns, and fears. To keep in mind that a wife knows the virtues of a man's wisdom more than the man knows himself. To realize that if one's wife is too emotional or irrational, it is his fault, and a reflection on his wisdom because she loves and reflects his wisdom!
     Not to shirk the responsibility he must take upon himself: to make the final judgment on his and his wife's thoughts. For a man can and should see something as true or false whether he likes it or not; a woman cannot always, because she thinks primarily from her affections.
     And finally to provide strength, love and guidance as a fulltime (not the American part-time) father to his children.

     The Duties in the Female Role:

     To develop in herself a love of the things of wisdom.
     To encourage, actively and subtly, her husband to seek wisdom outside himself.
     To emphasize and to encourage in herself the love of what is wise, especially in her husband.
     To be aware of and involved in her husband's states, so she can be of assistance. To encourage him, and provide the proper sphere, to talk things out with her.
     To make a pleasant, comfortable home atmosphere for her family. To provide peace and a refuge for her husband and children, so the home is a haven, a place of healing and restoral, away from the outer world turmoil. (This is no small thing; it is something to consider when you see one half the female working force consists of married women, and you hear about the rising crime rate among juveniles.)

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     To be discreet about married life to others. To be an admirable and admiring companion, fostering mutual trust. Not to shame her husband in any way unnecessary. (A wife can, more than anyone, make her husband look the fool, from private things only she would know, and thus harm his usefulness.)
     To be useful to society and community, without interfering with her wifely and motherly duties.
     To protect the conjugial relationship from attacks outside the home, and from attacks from the familial propriums.
     To have patience and a willingness to give at all times.
     To give trust, love and confidence wherever needed.
     To be aware constantly of the needs of all in her home.
     To unite herself with and love her man's intelligence in his employment and in his behavior, and thus unite herself with the man. Not to unite herself and love his face nor his strength nor his personal charm.*
     * CL 331.

     From the "Dead Saguaro Scrolls" come more interesting thoughts, which we placed in a third category of "Marriage Itself," above and yet a part of the male and female role. We examined the marriage team. First, we recognized that one's personal regeneration is according to one's idea of heaven. The primary idea squeezed out: heavenly joy and eternal happiness comes to those who place use before dominion, wealth, self and mutual indulgence, and entertainments. We were sobered by the teaching that state is apart from time, and that spending more time together does not necessarily mean you will grow closer. We saw the unhappy American extreme of not enough time together, and examined the teaching that, as far as partners devote themselves not merely to mutual functions of both but to individual functions of each, so far they will be cultivating in themselves those qualities which will draw them into unity, promote a legitimate and lovely companionship, and enable them to attain an eternal marriage.* However, from the same unauthored study, we noticed (and took some comfort from) the reference to a marriage in heaven: In the morning the man left the house to work; coming back at noon. Intimate marital companionship was enjoyed in the early afternoon, and lesser joys, of games, feasts and entertainment occurred in the late afternoon and evening! This appealed to some of us far more than the current and fulltime American obsession of beating every bush for a buck.
     * CL 49.
     The hardline application of the teaching went on: This devotion to functions involves the sacrifice of everything of our own life, thought and desire.

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It seemed like we must surrender our youthful ideas and pursuit of the things we think necessary and delightful for the companionship and love between us as married partners. Yet this is regeneration: the surrender of what is one's own for the sake of what is the Lord's. We must be doing God's work. How else can a man enter the unselfish life of heaven except by giving up his own, inborn desires and thoughts directed toward himself and his own power and glory? But replacing these things are more interior, mature ideas of the true nature of heavenly joy and conjugial love, and then a deepening and more interior affection blossoms between the married partners. For "He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it."

     Conjugial love itself deepens as we understand the differences between man and woman. All instincts a woman has of preserving and conserving a man's good, and ameliorating and changing a man's harsher instincts; all intelligence a woman has of these things, feeds on and progresses only from the active understanding and wisdom of her husband. A woman's intelligence in a flash knows the virtues of a man's wisdom better than he does; she must be consulted in all matters. He tries to make sense out of the world and keep it in order, she tries to make sense out of him and keep him in order. On the other hand, the man's simple logic can in a flash solve his wife's most complex problem. Thus love (the wife) influences wisdom by vivifying it, stirring it to action, and softening it. And wisdom (the husband) influences love by giving it the form of truth, exalting it and elevating it, and enabling it to proceed into acts of accordance with Divine order. Finally, a woman can most effectively and fully wield her spiritual influence with her husband through her domestic duties; and a man can most effectively and fully wield his spiritual influence with his wife through his forensic, judgmental or argumentative duties.*
     * CL 174.
     Restlessness in marriage stems from two basic causes: first, the lack of perception of high, distinctive spiritual uses of man and woman respectively to each other, and secondly, a general disinclination to perform faithfully, sincerely, and justly the external duties of life. Man must regenerate to change. He can only be regenerated as far as he comes to love use, done only by faithfully performing his duties. He must surrender self-love, self-life, and self-indulgence for the sake of use and function. Then he gains greater love, greater wisdom and greater delight from the Lord. Self-love in man is embodied in self-intelligence, which is inconstant and wanders. Then man is exposed to all kinds of wandering lusts.

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And the sole refuge from lusts is the performance of duty, and the fulfilling of mutual marital responsibilities (especially including consulting the Lord's Word). A marriage is to be held together at all costs, despite differences of disposition, temperament, manners, and habits (these are small compared to the five dissimilitudes, yet it is the little things, like Chinese water torture, that often founder a marriage). For it is by life together that a man and wife become one, as to souls, minds, duties, bodies and even bloods. And the wisdom a man should ever be striving for, lies in applying truths from delight, to life; this wisdom comes fully to man when the conflict of regeneration is over. We must expect conflict. We must look for it and face it. A marriage cannot succeed if we as men do not have any wisdom for our wives to love. A conjugial marriage cannot succeed without regeneration.
     Going from the marriage unit, charity ranked next in importance to our discussion. We all gave our definitions, such as, shunning evils, performing our uses honestly and faithfully, looking for and encouraging the good in others, co-operating in our own regeneration, and providing an atmosphere in which our fellow man can best regenerate. We went further. A man's conscience without charity is formed only from external bonds: fear of law, loss of honor, of gain, or of reputation for the sake of these. A man's conscience without charity can worship only in dead externals, for the internal man is charity. Note that one of man's primary duties is to learn from the Lord what the virtues are that build moral and spiritual conscience.*
     * AC 1077, 1078.
     Those in faith without charity see nothing but man's errors and perversions. And where there is no charity, there is the love of self, and therefore hatred against all who do not favor self. Such persons see in the neighbor only what is evil, and if they see anything good, they either perceive it as nothing, or put a bad interpretation on it. Those who are in no charity: the feeling of hatred shines forth from every single thing; they desire to examine every one, and even to judge him. They cherish the disposition to condemn, to punish, and to torment. Perhaps we seldom see such an extreme case. Yet even lesser degrees of such behavior are reprehensible. Those in charity scarcely see the evil of another, they observe all his goods and truths, and put a good interpretation on what is evil and false. When they see anything evil and false, they excuse it, and if they can, they try to amend it in him.* So in charity, or love to the neighbor, the Lord is present, and only then can He be adored from the heart, and only then does our external worship correspond with our internal worship.

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One of our main duties is to grow closer to the Lord, and worship Him; yet we cannot have the Lord within us unless we first love the neighbor. Therefore, such as is the charity in a man, such is his adoration and worship. For worship to be adoration, the Lord must be in it. Thus our study of the male role ended on The Two Great Commandments, which sum up everything God says to us in The Old Testament, the New Testament and the Writings. Let us, we thought, be as the sons of Japheth, who lived in mutual charity with each other, in friendship, in courtesy, and in simplicity-and there the Lord was present.
* AC 1150.
There were, in conclusion, twelve men at the retreat. This report is only the selections and reflections of one man's experiences and impressions of that retreat. For the sake of brevity, I could not go into many other topics we brought up. The selections of numbers from Conjugial Love came from Bishop E. C. Acton. The twelve questions given us to think on while we did the readings came from Mr. Reuter. We concluded that every man should try to ask his own "twelve questions" on the male role, which explains why ours are not listed. The attempt here to communicate this in an informal fashion grew out of the conviction that spiritual understanding and growth comes quickly among men gathered informally in mutual charity, friendship, courtesy and simplicity. Perhaps those reading this will feel what we felt. Rev. Erik Sandstrom, in a recent NEW CHURCH LIFE, penned a sermon entitled, "When in Distress, Go Forward!" We went forward into retreat. Now we are going forward out of retreat. Our final love note to our feminine counterparts: we found you to be our salvation, our chance to be useful in the realest sense, our hope for heaven on earth, and our prospect for eternal happiness. We left hoping to be worthy of it all.
REVIEW 1972

REVIEW N. BRUCE ROGERS 1972

     THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED. By Emanuel Swedenborg. A new translation by Frank F. Coulson. The Swedenborg Society, London, 1970.* Two volumes, 99S pages. Cloth, Price L2.5O.
     * Publication at an earlier date was originally planned, but various difficulties prevented earlier appearance of the work. In fact, though the title page gives the publication date as 1970, it did not actually appear until late in 1971, so this review is not as tardy as it might seem.

     The Apocalypse Revealed was first published in Latin by Emanuel Swedenborg in 1766. Since that time, as noted by Mr. Coulson in his Translator's Preface, "there have been only three previous translations into English, one in England and two in America, although there have been many revisions and reprints."

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The last of these translations, published by the Swedenborg Foundation in 1912, was made by the Rev. John Whitehead, and the most recent edition offered by the Swedenborg Society was a revision of the 1791 translation made by the Rev. William Bruce in 1876.
     This new translation, therefore, may be said to have been due.* Attractively bound in the blue binding with gold lettering customarily reserved by the Society for its publications of translations of the Writings, though this time in an apparently more secure binding with rough cover (with the usual dust jacket), it is a translation of a work that can claim several unique features. It was the last work published anonymously by Swedenborg; the first to include Memorabilia or Memorable Relations (called Memorable Occurrences by Mr. Coulson) at the ends of chapters; and it was the first work to announce as a major theme the coming establishment of the New Church as a new and necessary dispensation by the Lord.
     * A thoroughly revised and edited version of Whitehead's translation was published by the Swedenborg Foundation in 1968; but it was not a wholly new translation, and the manner in which it was edited makes it an abridgment rather than a full and complete work. (See the Review in NEW CHURCH LIFE, February 1969, pp. 94, 95.)

     Included with the text is a Translator's Preface, a list of abbreviations referring to various versions of the Bible and works of the Writings, a copy of the original title page of the work as published by Swedenborg, a brief index at the end to the "Memorable Occurrences and some other remarkable passages," an index of proper names, and an "index of significant words and phrases* illustrated by Scripture quotations." The Translator's Preface is of particular interest, for it presents a number of points of information about the work and the present translation with an admirable economy of language. The "Index to the Memorable Occurrences" also appears well done, presented with an economy of words that seems an improvement over such indices we have had in the past. It is not certain of how much use the index of proper names will be: confined to references "giving specific information only," it may be too incomplete to invite regular use. There is no general subject index, nor an index of Scripture references, but no doubt it was expected that the reader for whom these would have been useful would avail himself of Potts' Concordance and Searle's Index.

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To produce such indices here would have added materially to the cost, whereas the index of proper names and the index of significant words and phrases are relatively brief, occupying only eight pages.
     * That is, words and phrases that signify.
     Other points in the format deserving of comment are the quite readable type employed throughout, the indication of subsections of numbers according to those introduced by the Rev. J. F. Potts in The Swedenborg Concordance, the setting out of the "contents of each of the verses" in the beginning of each chapter phrase by phrase with the spiritual sense of each phrase indented for clarity and ease of recognition, and the placement of Scripture references (after quotations) toward the right margin to facilitate their identification. All of these add to the readability of the text. The text could, perhaps, have been made still more readable if some further distinction in type had been made between the phrases cited from the Apocalypse and their spiritual sense, both in the initial "contents" and in the exposition itself (the latter now given all in boldface type); but this is a minor point. Most commendable is the indication of subsections by numbers inserted in the margins, which, as noted by Mr. Coulson in his Preface, is done "for the first time in any edition of this work."

     The translation is generally good, faithful for the most part to the style and meaning of the original Latin. Large sections read quite easily, even if somewhat Latinized in style, and should present no problem to the average English reader. Particularly pleasing is Mr. Coulson's handling of the pronominal adjective qualis, which he correctly translates as "what . . . like." So he translates "qualis haec erit"* as "what this will be like," which is quite idiomatic, instead of the more dated, "of what quality this will be." So also Mr. Coulson quite regularly translates sicut, when used with a noun, as "like" instead of the less idiomatic "as," so that he has the spiritual sense of the Word in the natural sense "like the soul in the body"** instead of "as the soul in the body." Another example of his idiomatic usage is his willingness to render universus as "entire"-"entire heaven" for universus caelum, and "entire church" for universa ecclesia,***-instead of slavishly insisting on "universal" ("universal heaven," "universal church") which, though technically correct, is a word not so used in the common idiom of today. These and others we find felicitous renderings of the Latin into idiomatic English, which does no harm to the sense and in fact enhances it by making it more readily intelligible in more familiar language to the modern reader.
     * AR 2.
     ** AR 1. (sicut anima corpori.)
     *** E.g. In AR 2: 3.

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     Not all of Mr. Coulson's renderings, however, are equally felicitous, and there are words and phrases which are at least awkward and which detract from his translation. For example, Mr. Coulson's translation of ex as "out of," apparently whenever he can, may be an admirable attempt to distinguish this pronoun from the pronoun ab of similar meaning, but it is a distinction not rigidly observed by Swedenborg* nor is it one that we can rigidly observe in English. Mr. Coulson's attempt to make the distinction leads him to such awkward phrasing as "those . . . who believe out of themselves and out of the Word"**; "Divine confirmation out of the truth (veritas), thus out of His very Self"***; and so on,**** where "from" in almost every case would make more ready sense.
     * For example, Swedenborg uses the phrases sicut ex se and sicut a se apparently interchangeably, both meaning "as of self" or "as if of self."
     ** AR 198.
     *** AR 23, 199.
     **** See also AR 889, 5, 6, 6e, 11.
     Mr. Coulson also likes to translate in singulis as "in the details," where we would prefer "in every single thing." So he refers to "the heavenly marriage in the details of the Word" where we would have written "in every single thing of the Word."* Related is the phrase in omnibus et in singulis, which we would have rendered "in each and every thing," but which Mr. Coulson rather laboriously renders as "in all things and in each separate thing."** Sometimes he does render singula well-as in Contenta Singulorum, Versuum, "The Contents of Each of the Verses"; but this is the exception.
     * AR 193.
     ** AR 1, 5.
     Among other things we do not particularly care for are the placement of "(in terris)" after the phrase "on earth" where this is quite unnecessary and tends to imply a special significance when there is none (and there is no consistency in this, either); a tendency to wordiness when it is not at all necessary (e.g., "it is not possible for anyone to deny" rather than simply "no one can deny"*; the constant insertion of "derived" in such phrases as "faith derived from charity" where there is no corresponding word in the Latin; the translation of Solus Dominus as "the Only Lord" and never "the Lord alone," which leads to such phrases as "the Only Lord reigns" which does not imply the exclusivity of "the Lord alone reigns" as is the intention; the translation of terra as "land" in the phrase, "And I saw a new heaven and a new land," where "earth" is the more familiar rendering with no clear reason for change; the literal translation of participial phrases where English would prefer a relative clause**; the inconsistent translation of falsa sometimes as "untruths," sometimes as "things false"***; the novel translation of Verbum vetustum as "Olden Word" where "Ancient Word" is the familiar and acceptable translation; and the constant placement of "(veritas)" after its translation as "truth," as if there were a distinction between it and the substantive adjective verum, which Mr. Coulson believes, but which our researches indicate is only a Swedish interchange of abstract nouns and substantive adjectives appearing in Swedenborg's Latin****; and so on.

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We note also other translations of words and phrases here and there which seem actually incorrect;***** and even omissions of words and phrases, made, no doubt, through oversight.******
     * AR 1: 2.
     ** E.g., "to the thirsting one" rather than "to him who thirsts" (AR 889).
     *** E.g., "those who are in untruths [falsis], and abstractly things true or false [falsa]" (AR 20: 4); "when there are false prophets [falsi Prophetae] but untruths of doctrine [falsa doctrinae]" (AR 8: 2). What are "untruths of doctrine? What is wrong with "falsities" for falsa?
     **** In AR 14 we do have the phrase Ipsum Divinum Verum seu Ipsa Divina Veritas. This might suggest to some readers a distinction of meaning; seu, however, simply points to alternative synonyms; and here we would see no distinction between verum and veritas except that Swedenborg is pointing to there being two words for the same thing. AR 16 also makes clear that no distinction is to be drawn by its interchange of the two terms.
     ***** E.g., AR 194: 3 has "opportunities" for facultates (quite classical, but not how Swedenborg uses the word, nor what is intended here; AR 716: 3, "become apathetic" for occalescere, which means "to grow hardened"; AR 10, "accede to," which means to agree, assent to, for accedere ad, meaning "to approach," "come to"; AR 484: 6, "tinkling" for tinniens (salt scratched does not "tinkle").
     ****** E.g., in AR 878 alone we noted translations omitted of prius, etiam, and, in the phrase angeli spirituales naturales," spirituales. Omissions noted also in 193: 2 (et and ideo), and 4: 3 (in Verbo) et al.
     It is, however, easy to criticize, more difficult to execute. Admittedly we do have some criticisms of this translation, but the reader should not be left with the impression that the translation is a poor one. It is, as said, generally a good one, and whatever faults it may have are far outweighed by its merits. It is attractive in format and for the most part quite readable. Mr. Coulson is to be congratulated for entering into what can only be termed an uncrowded field when it comes to translators of the Writings, and we are sure that his efforts will have been worthwhile in leading as he hopes "to an interior reception of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Coming as the Bridegroom and Husband of His New Church, the New Jerusalem."
     N. BRUCE ROGERS
     June, 1972

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PRIESTLY USE 1972

PRIESTLY USE Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE

Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

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

Editor                Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager           Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION

$5.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 50 cents.
     It has long been held among us that New Church education is a priestly use. However, what this means must be rightly understood. The priestly use itself has to do with the eternal salvation of souls, and the love of that use is the love of saving souls. Now there is a sense in which this use is reserved to the ordained priesthood. But there is also a sense in which the priestly love and use must exist universally in the church: a truth signified in the Word by the fact that to the priestly tribe of Levi no inheritance was given in the Promised Land, its members being distributed among the other tribes for the discharge of their functions. This has a definite bearing upon the work of educators in New Church schools.
     So when we say that New Church education is a priestly use we are not making a distinction between two orders of teachers, clerical and lay, or suggesting that ideally all teachers would be ordained priests, but are stressing a bond of union; one which includes parents and indeed all in the church who love education. The true meaning of the phrase is that together, priests, lay teachers, parents and those who support them, are engaged in a priestly use; that the end of their work in school and in the home is to lead pupils and students to that knowledge and acknowledgment of the Lord in which alone is eternal salvation. In regard to its end the use is priestly, and in it we stand together. Whatever our, particular part in it may be, the aim is that the Lord shall be presented to the opening mind, and the common love of this end unites as nothing else can.

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EARTH IS THE LORD'S 1972

EARTH IS THE LORD'S Editor 1972

     September is the month in which our societies, except those in the southern hemisphere, take up their uses again. To give real direction to our resumption of those uses, so that it does not become a mere routine, we may well keep before us the internal sense of the 24th Psalm, which, in summary form, is: the church is from the Lord by the Word, and will be with those who repent and receive Him in His glorified Human.
     If our purpose is the Lord's, then, His Word will be at the center of our church activities: the reading of the Word privately and in family and public worship; and instruction in the Word through listening to preaching, attending doctrinal classes, reading in the literature of the church, and thinking about and discussing with others what has thus been learned. But that is not enough. There must also be entrance into the life of the Word-reading and learning with a view to understanding what is true in order that we may do what is good. This will lead to repentance; and it is those only who repent who receive the Lord in His glorified Human, and in whose minds and lives the New Church will be established, to make the organization more a part of the Lord's church.
     Our approach to the Word should always be an attempt to initiate a dialogue-we asking, questioning and seeking, the Lord answering, responding and providing. The appearance is that man is active in this in that he apparently initiates the process. But it is the Lord who inspires and empowers him to do so; who gives him what, and when, to ask; and who prepares him to receive, to reflect, and to react to the Lord's answers. The church which is formed in human minds through this action and reaction is the Lord's, and man could no more form it than he could create the universe. The earth is the Lord's!
"THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH" 1972

"THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH" Editor 1972

When we confess our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as "the Maker of heaven and earth" we are saying much more than that He created the universe-that it neither evolved nor just happened-and that He has provided the angelic heaven. The act of creation is not to be thought of as having taken place only once at the beginning of time, which would relegate it to the past. According to the Writings, the preservation and conservation of created things is perpetual creation; the regeneration of men is a spiritual creation, wherefore the salvation of men and the Divine Providence is the continuation of creation; and the constant purification of the angelic heavens is a new creation.

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When creation is so regarded, and is seen to be both natural and spiritual, we may see that it is not sufficient to think that the Lord was the Creator; He is the Creator, and the process of creation, with which time began, will go on to eternity.
Also, whether we are always aware of it or not, we are speaking about certain relationships: on the one hand, of the relation of the Lord to heaven and earth, and on the other, of the relation of heaven and earth to the Lord and to each other. The relation is that which exists between the Creator and His creation with all that this implies. The Lord is infinite, heaven and earth are finite; for while the heavens are spiritual and discretely within what is natural they are still finite. The Lord created out of His own Divine substance, yet created things that are not continuous with Himself but discrete. As the Writings say, their conjunction with Him is by contiguity, not by continuity. When this has been grasped we may begin without danger to see the full picture of creation-the Lord as the end, the spiritual world as the realm of causes, and the natural world as the plane of effects. We can also begin to understand the philosophic teaching that the Lord as the First creates ultimates, and then from the ultimates forms intermediates; creating men on earth as ultimates and then forming from men angelic heavens which stand between Him and the earth.

Furthermore, we are insisting-if the implications are grasped-that creation cannot be understood unless heaven as well as earth is in our thought. The teaching is that the earth was created for no other end than mankind, man being created last and therefore as the basis of all that preceded; and that the end of the creation of man is an angelic heaven from the human race. So the Lord did not create the universe for His own sake, but for that of those with whom He will be in heaven. This end-an angelic heaven from the human race-has been in God the Creator from eternity, and is so to eternity, and in the heavens there stands forth an image of the infinite and the eternal. This image stands forth in the indefinite enlargement and extension of the heavens and in the fact that the angels live to eternity, by perpetual renewal from the Lord. Thus do the Writings present us with an entirely new way of thinking about the universe in which we live: of the universe as created by the Lord for the sake of man, whatever the appearance, and man created to live to eternity in a blessed state in heaven. To those who can believe and love this, the idea offers hope, comfort and assurance in an otherwise dark and meaningless world.

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DIRECTORY 1972

DIRECTORY Editor 1972

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

Officials and Councils

Bishop: Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton
Bishop Emeritus: Right Rev. George de Charms
Secretary: Rev. Norbert H. Rogers

CONSISTORY

Bishop Willard D. Pendleton

Right Rev. Elmo C. Acton; Right Rev. George de Charms; Rev. Messrs. Geoffrey S. Childs; Harold C. Cranch; W. Cairns Henderson, Secretary; Louis B. King; Ormond de C. Odhner; Dandridge Pendleton; Martin Pryke; Norman H. Reuter; Norbert H. Rogers; Frank S. Rose; Erik Sandstrom; Frederick L. Schnarr; David R. Simons.

"General Church of the New Jerusalem"

(A corporation of Pennsylvania)

OFFICERS OF THE CORPORATION

Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton, President
Right Rev. Elmo C. Acton, Vice President
Mr. Stephen Pitcairn, Secretary
Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Treasurer

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CORPORATION

Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton; Right Rev. Elmo C. Acton; Mr. William B. Alden; Mr. Gordon Anderson; Mr. Lester Asplundh; Mr. Robert H. Asplundh; Mr. Theodore Brickman, Jr.; Mr. David H. Campbell; George M. Cooper, Esq.; Mr. Grant R. Doering; Mr. Bruce Elder; Mr. Alan B. Fuller; Mr. Charles P. Gyllenhaal; Mr. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal; Mr. James F. Junge; Mr. Ralph D. Junge; Mr. William R. Kintner; Mr. John E. Kuhl; Mr. Willard R. Mansfield; Mr. Lewis Nelson; Mr. Lachlan Pitcairn; Mr. Stephen Pitcairn; Mr. John W. Rose; John J. Schoenberger, Esq.; Lt. Col. B. Dean Smith; Mr. J. Ralph Synnestvedt, Jr.; Mr. Leo Synnestvedt; Mr. Alfred A. Umberger; Mr. Robert E. Walter; Mr. John H. Wyncoll.
Honorary Life Member: Right Rev. George de Charms.

Council of the Clergy

Bishops

PENDLETON, WILLARD DANDRIDGE. Ordained June 18, 1933; 2nd Degree, September 12, 1934; 3rd Degree, June 19, 1946. Bishop of the General Church. Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. President, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

432

ACTON, ELMO CARMAN. Ordained June 14, 1925; 2nd Degree, August 5, 1928; 3rd Degree, June 4, 1967. Dean of the Bryn Athyn Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

DE CHARMS, GEORGE. Ordained June 28, 1913; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1916; 3rd Degree, March 11, 1928. Bishop Emeritus of the General Church. President Emeritus, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

Pastors

ACTON, ALFRED. Ordained June 19, 1964; 2nd Degree, October 30, 1966. Assistant Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Illinois. Headmaster of the Secondary School. Address: 2700 Park Lane, Glenview, Illinois 60025

ASPLUNDH, KURT HORIGAN. Ordained June 19, 1960; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1962. Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

BOYESEN, BJORN ADOLPH HILDEMAR. Ordained June 19, 1939; 2nd Degree, March 30, 1941. Pastor of the Colchester Society. Address: 30 Inglis Road, Colchester C03-3HU, England.

BUSS, PETER MARTIN. Ordained June 19, 1964; 2nd Degree, May 16, 1965. Pastor of the Durban Society. Address: 42 Pitlochry Road, Westville, Natal, Republic of South Africa.

CHILDS, GEOFFREY STAFFORD. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1954. Pastor of the Detroit Society. Address: 280 East Long Lake Road, Troy, Michigan 48084

COLE, ROBERT HUDSON PENDLETON. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd Degree, October 30, 1966. Pastor of Sharon Church, Chicago. Visiting Pastor to the Madison, Wisconsin, Circle and the St. Louis Group. Address: 5220 North Wayne Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60604

CRANCH, HAROLD COVERT. Ordained June 19, 1941; 2nd Degree, October 25, 1942. Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Address: 2 Lorraine Gardens, Islington 677, Ontario, Canada.

FRANSON, Roy. Ordained June 19, 1953; 2nd Degree, January 29, 1956. Visiting Pastor to the Southeastern States, resident in Miami, Florida. Address: 6721 Arbor Drive, Miramar, Florida 33023

GILL, ALAN. Ordained June 14, 1925; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1926. Address: 9 Ireton Road, Colchester, England.

GLADISH, VICTOR JEREMIAH. Ordained June 17, 1928; 2nd Degree, August 5, 1928. Address: 3508 Linneman Street, Glenview, Illinois 60025

GOODENOUGH, DANIEL WEBSTER. Ordained June 19, 1965; 2nd Degree, December 10, 1967. Instructor in Religion and History, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

HEINRICHS, DANIEL WINTHROP. Ordained June 19, 1957; 2nd Degree, April 6, 1958. Pastor of the Ohio District. Address: 1194 Belle Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio 44107

HEINRICHS, HENRY. Ordained June 24, 1923; 2nd Degree, February 8, 1925. Address: R. R. 3, Preston, Ontario, Canada.

HEINRICHS, WILLARD LEWIS DAVENPORT. Ordained June 19, 1965; 2nd Degree, January 26, 1969. Superintendent of the South African Mission. Visiting Pastor to isolated members and groups in South Africa. Address: 30 Perth Road, Westville, Natal, Republic of South Africa.

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HENDERSON, WILLIAM CAIRNS. Ordained June 10, 1934; 2nd Degree, April 14, 1935. Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE. Professor of Homiletics, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

HOLM, BERNARD DAVID. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd Degree, January 27, 1957. Instructor in Religion, Academy of the New Church and the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

HOWARD, GEOFFREY HORACE. Ordained June 19, 1961; 2nd Degree, June 2, 1963. Pastor of the Los Angeles Society. Visiting Pastor to San Francisco. Address: 5114 Finehill Ave., La Crescenta, Calif. 91214

JUNGE, ROBERT SCHILL. Ordained June 19, 1955; 2nd Degree, August 11, 1957. Instructor in Religion and Education, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

KING, LOUIS BLAIR. Ordained June 19, 1951; 2nd Degree, April 19, 1953. Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Illinois. Address: 73 Park Drive, Glenview, Illinois 60025

NEMITZ, KURT PAUL. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd Degree, March 27, 1966. Pastor of the Stockholm Society. Visiting Pastor of the Copenhagen, Jonkoping and Oslo Circles. Editor of Nova Ecclesia. Address: Aladdinsvagen 27, 161 38 Bromma, Sweden.

ODHNER, HUGO LJUNGBERG. Ordained June 28, 1914; 2nd Degree, June 24, 1917. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

ODHNER, ORMOND DE CHARMS. Ordained June 19, 1940; 2nd Degree, October 11, 1942. Professor of Church History and Instructor in Religion, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

PENDLETON, DANDRIDGE. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1954. Principal of the Boys School, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

PRYKE, MARTIN. Ordained June 19, 1940; 2nd Degree, March 1, 1942. Executive Vice President, Academy of the New Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

REUTER, NORMAN HAROLD. Ordained June 17, 1928; 2nd Degree, June 15, 1930. Pastoral Assistant to the Bishop. Acting Pastor of the Tucson Circle. Acting Visiting Pastor to Phoenix, Arizona, San Diego, California. Address: 1,536 N. Stewart Avenue, Tucson, Arizona 85716

RICH, MORLEY DYCKMAN. Ordained June 19, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 1.3, 1940. Visiting Pastor of the Central Western District, resident in Denver, Colorado. Address: 562 Pennsylvania Street, Denver, Colorado 80203

ROGERS, NORBERT HENRY. Ordained June 19, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 13, 1940. Secretary of the General Church. Secretary of the Council of the Clergy. Chairman, General Church Translation Committee. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

ROSE, DONALD LESLIE. Ordained June 16, 1957; 2nd Degree, June 23, 1963. Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society. Address: 7420 Ben Hur Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15208

ROSE, FRANK SHIRLEY. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd Degree, August 2, 1953. Pastor of the Carmel Church, Caryndale, Ontario. Address: R. R. 3, Preston, Ontario, Canada.

SANDSTROM, ERIK. Ordained June 10, 1934; 2nd Degree, August 4, 1935. Visiting Pastor to the Erie (Pennsylvania) Circle. Dean of the Theological School, Professor of Theology and Religion, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

SANDSTROM, ERIK EMANUEL. Ordained May 23, 1971; 2nd Degree, May 21, 1972. Pastor of Michael Church, London, England. Visiting Pastor to the Circles in Paris and The Hague.

434

Address: 135 Mantilla Road, Tooting, London, S.W. 17. 8DX, England.

SCHNARR, FREDERICK LAURIER. Ordained June 19, 1955; 2nd Degree, May 12, 1957. Pastor of the Washington, D. C., Society. Visiting Pastor in North and South Carolina. Address: 3809 Enterprise Road, Mitchellville, Md. 20716

SIMONS, DAVID RESTYN. Ordained June 19, 1948; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1950. Educational Assistant to the Bishop. Secretary of the Educational Council. Director, General Church Religion Lessons. Educational Consultant to General Church schools. Visiting Pastor to the St. Paul -Minneapolis Circle. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

SMITH, CHRISTOPHER RONALD JACK. Ordained June 19, 1969; 2nd Degree, May 9, 1971. Visiting Pastor to the Pacific Northwest, resident in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada. Address: 1536 94th Ave., Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada.

SONESON, LORENTZ RAY. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd Degree, May 16, 1965. Pastor of the New England, New York and Northern New Jersey District, resident in Connecticut. Address: 145 Shadyside Lane, Milford, Connecticut 06460.

STROH, KENNETH OLIVER. Ordained June 19, 1948; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1950. Director of Music, Bryn Athyn Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

TAYLOR, DOUGLAS MCLEOD. Ordained June 19, 1960; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1962. Pastor of the Hurstville Society. Address: 22 Dudley Street, Penshurst, New South Wales, Australia.

WHITEHEAD, WILLIAM. Ordained June 19, 1922; 2nd Degree, June 19, 1926. Professor Emeritus of History, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

     Ministers

BOOLSEN, GUDMUND ULLRICH. Ordained June 19, 1961. Address: Turesensgade, 23, 5, 1368 Copenhagen K, Denmark.

BOYESEN, RAGNAR. Ordained June 19, 1972. Assistant to the Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, Canada. Visiting Minister to the Montreal Circle. Address: 530 West Mall, Apt. 217. Islington 677, Ontario.

FIGUEIREDO, JOSE LOPES DE. Ordained October 24, 1965. Minister to the Rio de Janeiro Society, Brazil. Address: Rua Desembargador Izidro 155, Apt, 202, Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

ROGERS, NORBERT BRUCE. Ordained January 12, 1969. Instructor in Religion and Latin, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 190O9

     Associate Member

WEISS, JAN HUGO. Ordained June 19, 1955; 2nd Degree, May 12, 1957. Address: 2650 Del Vista Drive, Hacienda Heights, California 91745.

     Authorized Candidates

CARLSON, MARK ROBERT. Authorized March 20, 1972. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

GLADISH, MICHAEL DAVID. Authorized March 20, 1972. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

KLINE, THOMAS LEROY. Authorized March 20, 1972. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009

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     Guyana Mission

     Pastor-in-Charge

ALGERNON, HENRY. Ordained, Ist and 2nd Degrees September 1, 1940. Pastor of the General Church Mission in Georgetown, Guyana. Address: 40 Robb Street, Bourda, Georgetown, Guyana.

     South African Mission

     Pastors

BUTELEZI, STEPHEN EPHRAIM. Ordained September 11, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 3, 1948. Pastor of the KwaMashu Society. Address: P. 0. Box 11, KwaMashu Township, Durban, Natal.

MBEDZI, PAULUS. Ordained March 23, 1958; 2nd Degree, March 14, 1965. Resident Pastor of the Hambrook Society, Visiting Pastor of the Enkumba Society. Address: Hambrook Bantu School, P. B. 9912, Ladysmith, Natal.

NZIMANDE, BENJAMIN ISHMAEL. Ordained August 21, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 3, 1948. Assistant Superintendent. Resident Pastor of the Clermont Society, Visiting Pastor of the Kent Manor Society and the Dondo Group. Address: 1701-31st Avenue, Clermont Township, P. 0. Clernaville, Natal.

SIBEKO, PAULUS PEFENUS. Ordained October 3, 1948; 2nd Degree, March 23, 1958. Resident Pastor of the Alexandra Society, Visiting Pastor of the Balfour Society and the Tembisa Group. Address: 15911th Avenue, Alexandra Township, Johannesburg, Transvaal.

ZUNGU, AARON. Ordained August 21, 1938; 2nd Degree, October 3, 1948. Mission Translator. Visiting Pastor of the Umlazi Group. Address: 2102 Main Avenue, Clermont Township, P. O. Clernaville, Natal.

     Minister

MBATHA, BHEKUYISE ALFRED. Ordained June 27, 1971. Assistant to the Rev. P. P. Sibeko, Resident Minister to the Greylingstad Society. Visiting Minister to the Mofolo Society and the Rietfontein Group. Address: P. O. Box 41, Greylingstad, Transvaal.

     Societies and Circles

     Societies                                   Pastor

BRYN ATHYN CHURCH                              Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton
CARMEL CHURCH OF KITCHENER, ONTARIO               Rev. Frank S. Rose
COLCHESTER SOCIETY, ENGLAND                    Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen
DETROIT SOCIETY, MICHIGAN                    Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs
DURBAN SOCIETY, NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA               Rev. Peter M. Buss
HURSTVILLE SOCIETY, N. S. W., AUSTRALIA          Rev. Douglas McL. Taylor
IMMANUEL CHURCH OF GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS          Rev. Louis B. King
LOS ANGELES SOCIETY, CALIFORNIA               Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard
MICHAEL CHURCH, LONDON, ENGLAND               Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom

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OLIVET CHURCH, TORONTO, ONTARIO               Rev. Harold C. Cranch
PITTSBURGH SOCIETY                         Rev. Donald L. Rose
RIO DE JANEIRO SOCIETY, BRAZIL               Rev. Jose Lopes de Figueiredo
SHARON CHURCH, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS               Rev. Robert H. P. Cole (Resident)
STOCKHOLM SOCIETY, SWEDEN                    Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz
WASHINGTON SOCIETY, D. C.                    Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr

     Circles                              Visiting Pastor or Minister

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK                         Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz
DAWSON CREEK, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA          Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith
DENVER, COLORADO                              Rev. Morley D. Rich
ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA                         Rev. Erik Sandstrom
FORT WORTH, TEXAS                              Rev. Morley D. Rich
THE HAGUE, HOLLAND                         Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
JONKOPING, SWEDEN                              Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz
MADISON, WISCONSIN                         Rev. Robert H. P. Cole
MIAMI, FLORIDA                              Rev. Roy Franson
MONTREAL, CANADA                              Rev. Ragnar Boyesen
NORTH JERSEY                              Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson
NORTH OHIO                                   Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
OSLO, NORWAY                              Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz
PARIS, FRANCE                              Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA               Rev. David R. Simons
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA                          Rev. Norman H. Reuter (Acting)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA                    Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard
SOUTH OHIO                                   Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
TRANSVAAL, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA               Rev. Willard L. D. Heinrichs
TUCSON, ARIZONA                              Rev. Norman H. Reuter (Acting)

     In order to avoid confusion, it seems well to observe, in the official records and the official journal of the General Church, the recognized distinctions between a "Society," a "Circle," and a "Group."
     A "Group" consists of all interested receivers of the Heavenly Doctrine in any locality who meet together for worship and instruction under the general supervision of pastors who visit them from time to time.
     A "Circle" consists of members of the General Church in any locality who are under the leadership of a regular visiting Pastor appointed by the Bishop, and who are organized by their Pastor to take responsibility for their local uses in the interim between his visits. A Group may become a Circle when, on the recommendation of the visiting Pastor, it is formally recognized as such by the Bishop.
     A "Society" or local "Church" consists of the members of the General Church in any locality who have been organized under the leadership of a resident Pastor to maintain the uses of regular worship, instruction and social life. A Circle may become a Society by application to the Bishop and formal recognition by him.
     WILLARD D. PENDLETON,
          Bishop

437

     Committees of the General Church

     Chairman

British Finance Committee                    Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen
General Church Publication Committee          Rev. Norbert H. Rogers

General Church Religion Lessons Committee          Rev. David R. Simons
Orphanage Committee                         Mr. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal
Pension Committee                              Mr. Garthowen Pitcairn
Revolving Building Fund Committee               Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal
Salary Committee                              Mr. Robert E. Walter
Sound Recording Committee                    Rev. W. Cairns Henderson
Translation Committee                         Rev. Norbert H. Rogers
Visual Education Committee                    Rev. David R. Simons

Address all Committees, Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009 except the following:

Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen     30 Inglis Road, Colchester C03-3HU, England 600
Mr. Garthowen Pitcairn          Woodward Drive, Huntingdon Valley, Pa. 19006
Church News 1972

Church News FREDA S. NEMITZ 1972

     PITTSBURGH, PA.

     Since the last report by Zarah Blair in September, 1971, the leading news from the Pittsburgh Society has been of change. Our pastor has decided, for the present, to make education his chief work. He leaves us to become principal of the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School.
     Mr. Asplundh has been with us for twelve years, the first three as assistant to the Rev. Louis B. King, and the last nine as pastor of our Society. He has been headmaster and teacher in our church school, writer of inspiring sermons, and friend and counselor. In addition, his schedule of classes for children and adults both in the city and the outlying districts has been staggering. We will all deeply miss our contacts with a fine leader and personal friend. We wish him all happiness in his new use.
     To Mrs. Asplundh, Cathie, Stuart, Elizabeth and Peter, our affectionate farewell. We know they will make many friends in Bryn Athyn, as they have here, where they have endeared themselves to all.
     Another change in this Society has been the resignation of the treasurer, Mr. Edward B. Lee, Jr. He served in this capacity for twenty-five years. At the Annual Meeting our gratitude for his untiring and faithful service was expressed by a standing ovation and an inscribed gift. Mr. Lee assured us that he was "going nowhere" and would be available to help the new treasurer, Mr. Walter L. Horigan, Jr. We know that we can continue to count on Mr. Lee for his famous Vermont jokes.
     A change in pastors is always filled with mixed emotions. Bishop Pendleton met with us in January to help in the selection of Mr. Asplundh's successor. After a series of meetings, the Rev. Donald L. Rose of London, England, accepted our invitation to become our next pastor. We welcome him, his wife, Noelene, and their children.
     Dear to the hearts of Pittsburghers is the school. We are justly proud of our kindergarten and nine grades.

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Thirty-one pupils are receiving a firm New Church foundation as well as fine academic training. We have been lucky to have retained our veteran faculty: Mr. Dirk van Zyverden, Mrs. Viola Omlor, Mrs. Marion Kendig and Mrs. Angela Schoenberger. The curriculum is supplemented by the voluntary services of dedicated women who give the children enrichment in the fields of art, music and literature. The school is also benefited by its fine little library, ably administered by other volunteers. Many new books are provided by a special library fund each year.
     Mr. Gilbert Smith, the "old Scout," continues to endear himself to our student body and all young people with field trips-to McConnels' Mills, Tionesta and Detroit. The first two outings gave the boys and girls a real taste of nature in the rough, which city youngsters long for. The Tionesta trip provided a close companionship between the city children and those of outlying districts. With the help of several other adults, Mr. Smith arranged to have the fifth through ninth grades get acquainted with their peers in Detroit. Here sightseeing at the Ford factory, the museum and Greenfield Village were augmented by lively social life. There was a square dance and a society supper, with Mr. Smith as chef. The warm hospitality of the Detroit Society sent the group home with a warm feeling for New Church friends in Detroit.
     Another form of education has been the bi-weekly Sunday school headed by Mr. Kenneth Blair. He has a dozen willing volunteers from the outlying district and the Pittsburgh group. This work helps to bring us together in a common use and gives valuable instruction to all children, especially the twenty-one who are unable to attend our day school.

     The Christmas activities are a focal point of the Society's life. They bring all together in a spirit of charity and good will. The Christmas Sing was hosted by the Alexander H. Lindsays. The country setting and cheery hospitality made this event one long to be cherished. Christmas Eve was highlighted by the tableaux, which again brought together church members from far and near. After a brief service and four tableaux, each preceded by a prophecy from the Old Testament, the children received gifts from the church. Christmas morning found a full congregation gathered in thankful worship.
     Other outstanding religious observances included the Easter and New Church Day services. The latter was followed by a pageant presented by the children on the church lawn. This is becoming a fond tradition in Pittsburgh. Portrayed with reverence and affection, it helps all to realize that New Church Day is of prime importance to all who receive the Lord in His second coming.
     Our social committee gave us a stimulating and varied program. In November we square-danced at a "Gorand Ole Oprey" party. On New Year's Eve there was a service, followed by a fun party to welcome in the New Year. Later in January Mr. Kenneth Blair emceed a lively Swedenborg's birthday banquet. Four of the laity presented provocative speeches. In February we were guests in the home of Dr. Rena H. Lindsay in celebration of her ninetieth birthday. She is our senior member and continues to set an example in devotion to the church and its uses, which so long have been dear to her.
     Spring brought more social pleasures. Theta Alpha presented a hilarious evening for all ages. It featured two old time silent movies complete with popcorn and lemonade. May brought two treats. The first was a smashing theatrical success by the Le Roi Road Players under the skillful direction of Mrs. Robert H. Blair. We wish we could put the troupe of fourteen talented amateurs on the New Church road circuit, so that all could enjoy this lighthearted comedy. The month wound up with the traditional Memorial Day weekend camp at Laurel Mountain State Park. Here we had a record turnout for Sunday's outdoor service followed by a delicious roast beef dinner. The young men are gradually taking over the planning and operating of this camping time, but the "Old Scout" is still "King in the Kitchen" and "top man" to all the young fry.

439

Babies to grandparents enjoyed a light and lively weekend in Pennsylvania's lush mountains.
     Speaking of Laurel, we can't fail to mention the Laurel Leaf Academy which has been well documented in various publications. What was of specific interest to Pittsburghers was the invitation to attend the Sunday events. A sphere of church fellowship prevailed with the large group of young people and ministers gathered there.
     Not to be forgotten were the regular Friday suppers and doctrinal classes conducted by our pastor, except when visiting ministers were here. This year we had the privilege of hearing classes and sermons by the Rev. Messrs. Kenneth Stroh, Martin Pryke, Erik Sandstrom, Ormond Odhner and Donald Rose. Mr. Arne Bau Madsen was here with his wife and small son as our summer candidate. Bishop and Mrs. Pendleton visited us in November. The Bishop conducted class, preached on Sunday, addressed the Sons and visited the school. It was an inspiring weekend.
     We are always happy to welcome new and potential members. This past year five children were baptized. Yvonne Alden joined the Church, following her Confession of Faith. We gained a new married couple when Paul Schoenberger brought his bride, Polly McQueen, from Bryn Athyn to the home grounds. The David A. Griffiths family has returned after five years in Rochester, New York, and we are looking forward to welcoming back the Dr. Dan Heilmans who have been in Cleveland this past year. So the tide rises and falls; but Pittsburgh goes on, a healthy and active group, staunchly supporting the church and distinctive New Church education.
     This report would not be complete without mention of the activities of the members living outside the city. Most of these live in close proximity to one another near Freeport. Their ranks have been augmented by two couples this year, the Matthew Riches and the A. K. Lindsay Jrs. Mr. Asplundh has served the group enthusiastically and faithfully by holding classes for both adults and children. These have provided a closer contact with the church, a feeling of belonging, and an intimate relation with the pastor. At the last class the members bade a fond farewell to Mr. Asplundh who, Zarah Blair says, has done so much to bind this community together. They presented him with equipment for his favorite sport-fishing.
     The Society said goodbye to the Asplundhs at the school graduation ceremonies. For June, the calendar read "School Closing Exercises at 7:30 p.m. All welcome." It turned out to be a dual graduation ceremony: the first for the three students from the eighth grade, and the second the graduation of the Asplundhs from Pittsburgh. All Pittsburgh talent was called in for nostalgic skits, music and poems. The affair concluded with the presentation of a gift to express our affection to the Asplundhs and appreciation of the years of their devoted service here. So, we look backward with regret at losing Mr. Asplundh, and at the same time look forward to welcoming Mr. Rose and a new year.
     FREDA S. NEMITZ
END OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE 1972

END OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE 1972

Since heaven is from the human race, and is an abiding with the Lord to eternity, it follows that this was the Lord's end in the creation; and as it was the end of creation it is the end of His Divine Providence. The Lord did not create the universe for His own sake, but for the sake of those with whom He will dwell in heaven, for spiritual love wills to give of its own to another (DP 27).

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CHARTER DAY 1972

Editor 1972

All ex-students, members of the General Church and friends of the Academy are invited to attend the 56th Charter Day Exercises, to be held in Bryn Athyn, Pa., Thursday through Saturday, October 2628, 1972. The program:

Thursday, 8:30 p.m. Science Department Open House and Program. Benade Hall, fourth floor.
Friday, 11 a.m., Cathedral Service with an address by the Rev. Ormond de C. Odhner.
Friday Afternoon-Football Game
Friday Evening-Dance
Saturday, 7 p.m., Banquet. Toastmaster. Mr. Walter C. Childs
ENTERING INTO THE LORD'S WORK 1972

ENTERING INTO THE LORD'S WORK Rev. ERIK E. SANDSTROM 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII                                    OCTOBER, 1972                                         No. 10
     "Love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest." (Luke 6: 35)

     The idea of doing good to others for absolutely no reward, for the love of the use, has an instinctive repulsion for us when first suggested. Only self-compulsion and habit can overcome our natural opposition. "What is in it for me?" is the question we put, consciously or unconsciously. It is such a natural question that no one can be blamed for asking it. But we can be blamed for our answer.
     Before we make our answer, let us just consider the main teachings of the Writings: "Good must not be done for the sake of reward."* "Good from the Lord is free from all purposes of receiving recompense. . . . The recompense is in the good itself."** "The angels are utterly averse to both the name and the idea of reward or recompense."***
     * AC 9981.
     ** AC 2371.
     *** AC 8002.
     Such teachings are at first mere words to us. Until they are seen in our own lives, as part of our experience, they will remain just words. Do they function?, we ask. Do these teachings apply to our lives? Have I experienced doing good, and have I received good as its own reward?
     Yes, we all have. We receive good as its own reward every time we have a family activity, or a Society function. And the function of the church on earth is to enter into the uses of the Gorand Man, and receive good as its own reward. That reward is happiness.
     The Lord would never teach anything that could not be done by everyone. Good always has its own reward attached to it, whether we like it or not.

442

It happens every time, whether we know it or not. If we do not feel rewarded, it was not genuine good that we did.
     But the doing of good, or charity, also consists of loving one's enemies, of benefitting the evil. Charity does not avoid others, just because they are of another group. Charity wills to give to all.
     However, charity to the enemies of the church is best served when such persons are instructed, or corrected by suitable means.* Thus the means of exercising charity to evil men, are the means for their improvement, be they threats, penalties, chastisement or privations.** In fact, genuine charity is to do good to others with discrimination according to the quality of those you benefit.*** Therefore, charity is prudent and wise.****
     * AC 9174.
     ** Char. 79.
     *** Ibid. 52.
     **** Ibid. 54.

     In short, charity is to will to give to all with prudence and discrimination. This obviously requires us to use all of our understanding, knowledge and wisdom.* This, too, we know from experience: for are not all of our willing, understanding, knowledge and wisdom caught up in the uses of our daily lives? We understand best what we love most.
     * AC 5393.
     The "good of the Divine love," is the salvation of the entire human race.* To this use, the Lord applies all of His will, which is omnipresent, all of His wisdom, which is omnipotent, and all of His knowledge, which is omniscient. We are made in the image and likeness of the Lord. Thus the quality of our life is according to the degree in which we enter into the use of the Lord. To that same degree, we then receive love from the Lord, and have love to the Lord.
     * AC 5576.
     How are we, then, to enter into the Lord's use? How can we add to what the Lord does? Can we add anything? The Writings state: "The Lord works all things, and man nothing from himself, yet the Lord wills that man should work as if from self in all that comes to his perception."*
     * AE 911: 17.
     This teaching is well known. But the implications of it are succinctly put in the same passage: "Without man's co-operation as if from self, there is no reception of truth and good, thus no implantation and regeneration." Or, to put it in plain language without man's co-operation, the Lord cannot do His work. Therefore, the Lord cannot save the entire human race apart from the actions of men who would carry out His will, We must therefore use our own prudence, and make it a servant to the Lord, if we wish to be guided by the Lord's Divine Providence."* And this prudence, we must use with humility, because man's prudence and will are themselves the Lord's gifts to him: "The Lord gives man to will as if from self."**
     * DP 210.
     ** AE 911.

443

     Thus, unless we act first, the Lord cannot help. We make the first move, and according to the direction of that move, the Lord will be with us, giving us strength; or we will move against the Lord causing guilt, unhappiness and fear. In other words, influx from the Lord is according to the efflux of man.
     That is the whole teaching of the laws in the Old Testament. The law of retaliation-an eye for an eye, a life for a life, etc. - is not the cruel law of tit for tat. But it is the merciful law, that according to our works, we have our rewards or punishments in the very work itself. And to do the Lord's work, is to do it from no hope of reward.

     The first area of doing the Lord's work, is to save ourselves. We should therefore enter into this area of His use first, in order that later we may be able to help others. In doing the Lord's work on ourselves, we are told, it is not hurtful to believe that we will be rewarded for our efforts. We read: "To think about getting into heaven, and that good ought to be done for that reason, is not to regard reward as an end, or to ascribe merit to works."* "For those who strive to do good of themselves, because the Lord has so commanded, are they who at length receive this good; and who, being afterwards instructed, acknowledge with faith that all good is from the Lord. Thus they are averse to self-merit."**
     * TCR 400.
     **AC 2371.
     The idea of receiving heaven as a reward for doing good, is not harmful. Sooner or later, however, we must admit that we do nothing good from ourselves, but the Lord works all things. Such an admission invariably comes in retrospect. We can look back on our lives and see that all our genuine happiness resulted from the Lord's work.
     But what reward have we from doing good only to ourselves?
     The second area of doing the Lord's work, is in establishing the Lord's church on earth. In reference to this work, we read: "It is the Lord who teaches, collects and gathers, and not man himself. The Lord . . . . prepared for reception those whom the disciples converted to the church."*
     * AE 911.
     We may strive and struggle to establish the church on earth; but it is the Lord who teaches, collects and gathers those whom we might convert to the church. He alone can touch the heart of any and all of His created beings, and lead them without once removing their freedom.

444

In this manner, He led the shepherds who were watching over their flocks by night to come to the stall where He had just been born on earth. Likewise He guided the wise men from the east, to come and worship Him. So also He guided men to praise Him when He rode in triumph into Jerusalem. And so also He allowed the evil of men to fulfill the prophecies, and to crucify Him.
     But all the instances of leading, guiding, or allowing to happen, recorded in the Old and New Testament, took place with those people who were ignorant of the ways of the Lord's Providence. Today, however, we are no longer ignorant. The Lord Himself has revealed in minutest detail the operations of His Providence. We know now how He works; we know His plans; we know the end for which He constantly works: namely, an angelic heaven from the human race.

     Suppose we have this knowledge and understanding: What do we do now? How will we be guided? How will the Lord lead us to do His work on earth? No angel of the Lord will appear to us with Divine message, as to the shepherds. No star will be seen by us to show us the way, as it did to the wise men. No rumor and expectation of Messiah will cause us to come together with songs of Hosannah.
     No, we have to be guided by that very knowledge which the Lord has revealed concerning Himself. The rational statements of Divine truth in the Writings are now our blueprints for building heaven on earth, or heaven in us.
     Should we go out into the world, and enter into the Lord's use of saving the human race, then the Lord would be preparing those who will receive our efforts. But there will no angel appear to us. No star will show us the way.. Only a silent conviction will impel us to do the Lord's work. And the Lord's Divine Providence operates in all things, and man does nothing from himself. But without man's cooperation, as if from self, there is no reception of truth and good, no implantation, and thus no regeneration. The Lord prepares those for reception whom His disciples can convert to the church. Thus we are sent to "reap that whereon we bestowed no labor."
     And even if there are no tangible results to our efforts, we are to do the Lord's work. For without our co-operation, there will none be regenerated and saved through our efforts. And if in the world there are none who co-operate with the Lord's use, the human race has an end.
     In doing the Lord's work, we are to apply all of our knowledge, understanding and wisdom; all of our willing, prudence and discrimination. Our knowledge, understanding and wisdom now come to us through the Writings, from the Lord. And our willing, prudence and discrimination come from the Lord's gift to us, namely, our ability to will as of ourselves.

445

     In entering into the Lord's work of saving the entire human race, the good done may be our only reward. If no tangible results come, we have at least improved ourselves in the effort-and that too is the Lord's work.

     This the Lord Himself taught, saying: "If ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? . . . And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? . . . And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? . . . But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest . . . . Be ye therefore merciful as your Father is merciful." Amen.

     LESSONS: Exodus 21: 12-17, 22-25. Luke 6: 27-35. Arcana Coelestia 9982-3.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 505, 475, 509.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 49, 79.
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1972

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES Editor 1972

In the June-July issue of the New Age, received recently, the Rev. E. B. Williams, writing under the title "Where We Stand," comments on an editorial in the February issue of that journal. Recognizing that the editor was not offering his article as a full answer but was pointing toward a useful field of inquiry, Mr. Williams feels that there was an oversimplification of the relationship between the literal and the spiritual sense of the Word. To say that the sense of the letter is to be the source of doctrine and the spiritual sense is to be for illustration is, he points out, to overlook such teachings of the Writings as that 'the doctrine which is to be for a lamp is that which the internal sense teaches. His object is to emphasize that the spirit which makes genuine the doctrine drawn from the letter is from the Lord through the heavens. Altogether a most useful article.
The Rev. Ian A. Arnold, writing in the same issue on "The Growth of Population," concedes readily that a problem does exist, but argues persuasively that, apart from there being another side to it, there is a higher and spiritual viewpoint from which the New Church can consider it. This is not to say that we are to "leave it all to the Lord to sort out," but that the means to cope with an enlarged population will be given to us as we face up rationally to the challenge.

446

DOCTRINE OF PERMISSIONS 1972

DOCTRINE OF PERMISSIONS Rev. PETER M. BUSS 1972

     A SERIES

     2. WHY DID THE LORD LET IT HAPPEN?

     Why Does the Lord Allow Temptations, Punishments, Hell?

     This is perhaps the easiest in our series of questions. One must realize that punishment is in itself a distasteful thing, especially in the world of spirits and in hell, about which we are primarily speaking. Condemnation to hell is harsh and final, out of accord with a casual concept of love. Even temptation is an evil, in that it is an assault by evil spirits who are trying to destroy the man. People ask why the Lord lets these things happen. Surely, in a universe under an omnipotent and loving God, they could be prevented?
     The appearance is that the Old Testament credits the Lord with these states. "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me."* We are told that "God did tempt Abraham."** Jehovah is often portrayed as being angry and vengeful, and on one occasion punished the Israelites so heavily that Moses had to chide with Him, saying: "Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people . . . . And Jehovah repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people."*** Even in the New Testament there is the appearance that the Lord Himself condemns men to hell: "Fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."****
     * Exodus 20: 5.
     ** Genesis 22: 11.
     *** Exodus 32: 12, 14.
     **** Matthew 10: 28. Cf. AC 6071: 2-5, 9033.
     Such statements are made for the simple, who need to believe that if they do evil the Lord will punish them. They are unable to perceive anything else. We can see this from our own attempts to punish our young children: no matter how much we may tell them that we do not wish to punish them, and that we love them and inwardly sorrow when we have to bring them pain or unhappiness, they cannot help but feel, when we punish them, that we are angry. In fact, if they felt we were not angry, they would probably feel that we were being cruel and enjoying the punishment.

447

Hence the letter of the Word abounds in this type of appearance which, we are told, "must not be extinguished, that is, denied; for if it is denied, faith in the Word perishes."* But in these truths deeper concepts may be sown later, which show a different idea of punishment, condemnation and temptation.
     * AC 9033.
     The deeper truth is from the laws of permission-that no evil is desired by the Lord, and therefore no evil is committed by Him. He does not do these things, but He permits them, not as one who is willing but as one who will not destroy a greater goal, which is the salvation and protection of the good.* Therefore it is said that the Lord "cannot bring a remedy" to the people whom He permits to suffer these things.**
     * See AC 1874, 2768, 6071.
     ** AC 7877.
     The Lord "cannot"? How can we use such a term in speaking of the omnipotent God? Is there anything He cannot do? Little children are permitted to think that there is nothing the Lord cannot do, for only in this way can they conceive His omnipotence.* But a mature mind is invited to see that the Lord is order. He ordained a certain law upon His creation, the law of love. This law is the Divine truth, and it is inconceivable that the Lord should operate outside of it, or contrary to it.
     * See AC 245.
     There are certain things, then, that the Lord will not do. He does not bring a remedy to punishment, because were He to do so He would be allowing the evil to harm the good beyond measure and to control them. He will not allow the evil to enter into heaven where the good are, and so He does not stop their being sent by their loves to a place of separation-hell. This is because the good have to be granted happiness and sanctuary eternally, which the evil would love to destroy. He allows temptation in man: He will not prevent it from coming. Only through temptations can the evils in a man, which he has previously loved or to which he has been inclined, be rejected, and only through temptations can a man come to believe in the Lord's sovereign power over evil. This general law applies to all the questions which follow: the Lord "cannot" prevent certain evils "in view of the urgency and resistance of the end, which is the salvation of the whole human race."*
     * AC 7877.
     The source of hell is in man, who wills evil. The origin of punishment is in man, the cause of temptation in him also.

     "Jehovah God or the Lord never curses anyone. He is never angry with anyone, never leads anyone into temptation, never punishes anyone, and still less does He curse anyone. All this is done by the infernal crew, for such things can never proceed from the Fountain of mercy, peace and goodness."*
     * AC 245. Cf. AC 7877, 8700e; SD 4276, et al.

448

     Man himself is the cause of these evils, as we have said. Strangely, it may appear, he causes them to come upon him by invoking laws of Divine order! The Lord has ordained that it is of order that whatever good a man intends will have the effect of bringing good and happiness to the doer; thus we have a perfect cycle of ever-increasing good, for finding happiness in bringing it to others augments the desire to do it again. When a man intends evil to another, then he invokes this law; but now, instead of good, evil returns to the doer and he finds himself in unhappiness and punishment, eventually if not immediately. Here we see how the Lord established that which would provide for increasing happiness, and the same law provides for the protection of those coming into happiness from others who wish them evil. "It is a law of Divine order that good should have its recompense-thus heaven-within itself; and it is from this that evil has in itself its punishment, thus hell."*
     * AC 9033.
     The law is good, and it operates against the evil for the protection of the good. Thus we find the negative expression of it: "It appears from the order in which all things are in heaven and in hell of which I have spoken elsewhere, that it is ordained that all evil shall punish itself, and thus evil itself shall tend to abolish itself."* This evil which returns becomes the evil of punishment.**
     * SD 4206. [Italics added.] Cf. AC 592, 8227.
     ** See AC 592.

     We can reflect on other aspects in which a man who rejects the laws of good finds that they force themselves upon him. A good man doesn't do evil to others, because he cares for their feelings and can imagine the harm that the evil will bring. He as it were senses their possible pain as pain in himself. An evil man in the other world has the same sensation; not because he is sensitive to the feelings of others, but because the evil he intends returns upon him! So the good are aware from conscience of the evil they might do to others, and refrain from charity. The evil are aware from punishment of the effect of evil on others, and they refrain from fear. With one, there is freedom, with the other not; and both are subjects of the Divine law.
     A man who does evil, then, steps outside of the provision for the protection of a good man, and comes under the provision for protection of others who are good against him!* Then, in the case of punishments in the other world, he is no longer protected from those evil spirits who love to punish and torment, and they torment him up to the measure of the evil which he himself tried to commit.

Then they are stopped; for the Lord wills no punishment at all, but permits just as much as is necessary to reduce the man to a state of external order.**
     * See AC 2447.
     ** See AC 592, 4493: 6, 6914e.
     We tend to think of punishments in the other world being carried out by angels, stern and sorrowful in their justice - perhaps from our concept of a just judge on earth who is the instrument, but not the cause, of punishment to criminals. This is not the case, for no angel could love to punish those whom he knew had destroyed in themselves all hope of true amendment. The evil are allowed to punish their own, not as much as they want, but as much as the Lord permits; for He still governs.
     The punishment of condemnation to hell is explained by another law of order. It is of order that the Lord should be present with man. His presence with those who love evil, however, causes them torment, for they hate good. They then willingly flee the sphere of heaven, which by His presence He is still offering! Thus the Divine laws of order for the protection of the good are intolerable to the evil.* Similarly, the cause of temptations is in a most positive law of order. The Lord draws near as a man orders his external life according to the way of peace; and in drawing near, He brings to man a new love with its joys. This the infernals who are with him cannot stand, so they rise up and fight to keep the man in his old state, and temptations result.** Through them the Lord works His greatest good-salvation-and His presence was merely for this good; but the evil was the cause of the temptation, and fulfilled its role of "abolishing itself."***
     * See AC 8227.
     ** See AC 4299.
     *** SD 4206.

     "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. Do they provoke Me to anger? saith the Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?"*
     * Jeremiah 7: 18, 19.

     Why Does the Lord Allow Man to Will, Intend, and Even Do Evil?

     In the prophet Isaiah we find the following declaration from the Eternal God:

     "I am Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am Jehovah, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I Jehovah do all these things."*
     * Isaiah 45: 5-7.

450

     From teachings given already it is evident that the Lord neither creates evil nor wills it to occur. The historical context of this passage indicates that the Jews of that time were coming under the influence of the Persian dualistic concept of God. This belief would have us admit to two gods, one who controlled good, and the other who controlled matter, which was intrinsically evil. Since this would have denied the omnipotence of God-an essential of religion-the Lord gave a revelation in accordance with the state of the people, which claimed for Him power over evil. Within that simple teaching one may see the rational truth. Such revelation is in accord with a universal purpose of the Word

"that men may believe that the Lord governs and disposes all and everything in the universe, even evil itself, punishments and temptations; and when they have received this most general idea, may afterwards learn how He governs and disposes all things by turning the evil of punishment and temptation into good. In teaching and learning from the Word, the most general truths must come first; and therefore the literal sense is full of such things."*
     * AC 245.

     Probably we all know of the most general law governing the Lord's permission of evil-the need for man's freedom. Although it seems that the Lord could have organized it so that we would all be good, that is not true. Freedom is life itself, and if man had not the power to choose, he would not be. That is his esse, that he is a power receptive of the Lord's influx.* Hence the teaching that "the Lord could lead man into good ends by omnipotent force, but this would be to take away his life, and therefore the Divine law is inviolable that man shall be in freedom."** Therefore also we are told that freedom is maintained "unimpaired and sacred" in man,*** "not at all to be violated"****: and three reasons are adduced. Without freedom and rationality man would not be a man, he could not be regenerated, and he could not have immortality and eternal life.*****
     * See AC 3938.
     ** AC 5854.
     *** DP 96ff.
     **** AE 1155.
     ***** See DP 96; SD 398; DP 16.
     It has been suggested that the Lord loves man's freedom more than He does man's salvation, since He will allow a man to have freedom and from it to refuse salvation. The above reasons show that such an idea is not only unjust, but is incorrect. Freedom and salvation are inseparable, so one cannot be loved without the other. The Lord cannot remove man's freedom in order to save him, because then the man would cease to be a man, and salvation would be impossible for him. In general we sense this, for we know that we, and mankind in general, have held freedom of thought and will as the sine qua non of a happy life.

451

When we are forced to do anything it loses most of its delight for us, unless we are forcing ourselves, in which case there is internal freedom.*
     * See AC 1937, 1947.
     Of course, there are some who argue that it is all very well for man to be allowed to will and intend evil, but why does the Lord then let him go ahead and do it? And why does the Lord allow that evil to succeed, without secretly controlling it so that it will always fail? Worst of all, why does it succeed against the innocent?
     The trouble is that evil must be permitted to come forth, often even into act. Man must be allowed not only to will it but to seek to do it, otherwise he is still not free. It is not that the Lord allows it to come forth without any control-He still permits only that which He can bend to some good-but it has to come forth to some extent. One may take the very simple analogy of offering a child his choice of cherry cake or apple pie, when you really want him to choose the apple pie. You give him the choice, and he says he wants the cherry cake, and you then say: "No, you can't have it; you must take the apple pie." Surely the choice is then a mockery. So it would be if the Lord allowed man freedom of choice, but when the man chose evil He forbade him the expression of it. Man must be able not only to will evil but also to meditate on it,, and to use his faculties to accomplish it to some extent.

     The main point is that man is permitted to will and do evil, and then the Lord strives to bend him to good. Through this permission some hope exists of the man's salvation; without it there would be no hope, for the man would not be a man.*
     * See AC 10,777, 8700: 3.
     For the man himself, also, it is very important that the evil which he thinks in his heart have some opportunity to express itself outside of him, for otherwise there is danger that he will never realize it for what it is. Often it has to appear before he will admit its quality and origin. Before that he has justified himself in it and excused it, driven on by the allure of the evil; but when it comes to being in all its nastiness, then he can look at it, perhaps somewhat objectively, and see that it is evil. Then, or later, he can be led to reject it. We have perhaps all had the experience of brooding over an imagined insult or slight, and feeling we were fully justified in our position, until finally we have done or said something to the object of our ire, only to find we then recognized our anger to have been petty and imagined rather than real. The act of expressing the angry spirit within ourselves showed it up for what it was, but before that, we were convinced that we were justified.

452

     "All evil that does not appear finds fuel for itself."* It is likened to fire in ashes, to matter in a wound, or to cancer or gangrene in a body which must be cut out or it will kill.** This is a problem which we tend not to see, because we do not realize that the enemy is within. We think of ourselves as being basically good, afflicted with evils from without. But man's old will from his birth is like a "little hell," and it is vital that "he sees that he is there."*** (Of course, from remains a part of him is like a little heaven, too.) The evil is within, and since it does come into our will, it should proceed from there into our intentions, so that it may be made manifest to us and we may fear for our internal state, and want to reject it. An external illustration is given in explaining why the Israelites were permitted to worship a golden calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai. They had become subject to idolatry during their stay in Egypt, yet were not aware of that tendency. If they were to represent the church of the Lord this had to come out and be shown to be a danger, and it had to be removed by means of severe punishments. Only then could they undertake the representation, for only then did they recognize the tendency within themselves.**** In the case of man, we would observe, the evil will come forth, and then be removed by repentance, not punishment.
     * DP 278.
     ** See DP 278, 281.
     *** DP 251.
     **** See DP 243.

     There is still another reason, involving the man himself, which makes it necessary that his evils appear. In bringing evil into act, a man rejects internal good and truth and becomes unable to profane it. If, however, he is forced by miraculous means to admit what is good and true, and to enter into it in some degree while he still loves evil, he will profane. Profanation is the worst of evils, destroying a man entirely, and the Lord's Providence is very special against this.* It is impossible, from Divine power, for the Lord to make anyone believe. Often, when we sorrow over the fact that a person for whom we care deeply is apparently leaving the church, we wish that something great and magnificent would happen which would "bring him to his senses." But it is possible that the Lord foresees that were this to happen at that particular point in the man's life, it would lead, not to eternal belief, but to a temporary faith followed by profanation! The reason would be that the man had not yet entered into a state receptive of faith because of some evil within. That evil has to come out first, and be seen.
     * See AE 375, 46; DP 264.
     Thus we find a universal law, which is that "man is not permitted to enter interiorly into the truths of wisdom, and into the goods of love, except in so far as he can be kept in them even to the end of life."*

453

"On the recognition of this law," we are told, "depends the recognition of the laws of permission."** A man is not led by too much power to see what he would not be able to maintain as his faith.
     * DP 233.
     ** DP 232.
     He is therefore allowed to stay in evils and the exercise of them without being struck down by God, or punished in some esoteric manner which convinces him that he is doing wrong. His evil is allowed the appearance of success. So, for example, the Israelites were allowed to lose all internals of worship before they took on their representation so that they would not plunge into those holy things and profane them.* Those in faith alone were allowed to falsify the externals of the Word for "if they knew them, so as to think of them interiorly, they would profane them."** Solomon and others were permitted to have many wives and concubines because they had no good and truth to see the need for monogamy, and it was better that they remain so.*** In the most drastic sense, the two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, were allowed to wipe out a whole village-that of Hamor and Shechem-so that these remnants of the Most Ancient Church could not profane their worship by acceding to the ritualistic externals of the Jewish religion.****
     * See AC 1327.
     ** AR 686.
     *** See AC 3246.
     **** See AC 4493: 6.
     The Word also puts this concept in another way by saying that the effort of the Divine Providence is to see that truth and good are not mixed with evil and falsity. It is possible for man to be in good and in falsity, or in truth and in evil, or even in good and evil together; but the effort of the Lord is to alter this situation, even to permitting that the man be in evil and falsity.* "Would that thou wert cold or hot!"**
     * See DP 16. Cf. AC 1159: 5.
     ** Revelation 3: 15.

     The argument still comes out, however: Why do the evil have the power to hurt the innocent? This is what seems so unfair. To my knowledge the Writings are not specific in answering this, apart from the general observations already made, and I think the reason is that the answer lies in common sense guided by these teachings. Consider the alternative, that the Lord allowed only evil men to be hurt by other evil men, and miraculously preserved the innocent from all harm. A thousand questions immediately come to mind. How innocent are the innocent? Are they, then, harmed to the degree in which they are not good? If such a situation did exist, could we not tell from the punishment of a man that the Lord had allowed it because he is interiorly evil, and could we not therefore judge him spiritually, and reject him?

454

If an evil man were to be punished the moment he did evil would he not then be removed from freedom, because fear of punishment, and the knowledge that the Lord had allowed it, would force him to reconsider his ways, but not from free will? The questions are myriad.
     What such a thought is really asking is that the situation in the spiritual world pertain here too, for there the evil are not allowed to hurt the good, and can hurt the evil only when they have transgressed. It is allowed there because the ruling love is already fixed, the choice made. If it were allowed here, it would destroy freedom. Evil has to be allowed to hurt the good or there would be no freedom.
     This makes us reflect on a point which is central to our concept of right and wrong. Evil is evil, not because God has autocratically ordained that it be so! It is evil because it brings harm and unhappiness that people do not deserve. It is inevitable that our choice of evil will harm someone in some manner, because that is the nature of the thing we have chosen. And the trouble is that because of the need to preserve freedom the Lord will not provide that its harm is limited to those only who deserve some punishment.

     When we realize that it is inevitable for evil to harm others, and appreciate that it is not the Lord's fault that it is so, then we can be more sensitive to the wrongs we do to others by our bad choices. "What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?"* The Lord asked these questions as if men would always do good to their loved ones; yet in our choice of evil we do these wrongs, and more. With every conscious evil we deprive those who love us most of the effect of that love which should flow in from the Lord, through us, to them. We take away from them the sphere that would have existed had we allowed the Lord to soften our hearts to others, instead of their becoming hardened to all but ourselves. We deprive them of the gentle and thoughtful concern for their welfare which would have characterized us in time, had we allowed the Lord to lead us into charity. Perhaps they will never know what we have done; but we will have done it, all the same. Evil men hurt those who love them much more than they do their enemies, for their loved ones need them and look to them, and will cling to them; and they have nothing to give. "I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink . . . . Then shall He answer them, saying, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me."**
     * Matthew 7: 9, 10.
     ** Matthew 25: 42, 45.

          (To be concluded.)

455

UNDERSTANDING OF PARABLES 1972

UNDERSTANDING OF PARABLES Rev. DAVID R. SIMONS 1972

     The selected books of the Bible which are the Word are the Lord God of the universe speaking to man.* The Old and New Testament, and now the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, are the infinite love and wisdom of God expressing Himself in finite terms for the sake of human reception. These sacred books are Divine revelation: the Divine revealing itself to be seen and heard and felt; to be known, understood and loved. It is because the Word contains infinite truth in finite forms, because it expresses infinite love in terms adapted to human comprehension, because it is given to be received, that throughout it contains parables: "dark sayings" in the Old Testament, allegorical stories in the New Testament, and descriptions of the spiritual world in the Heavenly Doctrine.
     * AC 10,325.
     The term, parable, comes from the Greek parabole, meaning "a placing beside, a comparison,"* and is defined as a "short allegorical story, designed to convey some truth or moral lesson; a discourse or saying conveying the intended meaning by a comparison or under the likeness of something comparable or analogous."**
     * American College Dictionary.
     ** Ibid.
     When faced with the universal presence of parables in the Word, the human mind asks: What is the use of this indirect method of conveying truth? Why did not the Lord "speak plainly of the Father"* from the first? Why did He not communicate in rational terms, as He does in the Writings, from the very beginning? And why are the descriptions of the spiritual world an essential part of the Writings?
     * John 16: 25.

     "And the disciples came, and said unto [Jesus], Why speakest Thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand."*
     * Matthew 13: 10-13.

456

     The Writings tell us that the Lord taught in parables in order to accommodate His truth to human reception. For in this way internal things are expressed in externals, spiritual things in natural forms, things of heaven by means of things of this world, and are thus made comprehensible to man. The Lord reveals Himself as the "Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last"*; and He does this so that man, who is in last things, may be led in the other direction, that is, from externals to internals, from natural things with which he is familiar to unknown mysterious spiritual things, from earth where he was born to heaven for which he must be reborn.
     * Revelation 22: 13.
     If we want to tell someone something he has never before experienced or of which he is wholly ignorant, we must do so in terms of his own experience. We must accommodate or step down knowledge so that it is comprehensible; we must reach out to him in terms of what he already knows. If a teacher wants to broaden the horizons of his students, if he wants to lead them to understand new ideas and develop new skills, he must work from the known to the unknown. He must use ideas, experience and affections already present and active in the minds of his students as a basis on which to build - a platform from which to extend, expand and uplift their thought.
     Similarly, the Lord, as Master Teacher, with supreme care reaches out through His Word to communicate ideas and affections which relate to spiritual life; and He does this by bending even to ultimates-to what can be seen, heard and felt, to what is known and familiar to man. Man is engrossed in the things of the external world, so the Lord expresses Himself in external terms. As we read: "The Lord spoke nearly everything [in the Word] by parables, [in order to accommodate] to the nature of those who are in the world. He likened heaven to feasts, because they placed heavenly joy in feasts: [and He used other analogies] for others."* "For truth in a form not accommodated, such as it is in heaven, transcends the apprehension [and] is not received."**
     * SD 3357.
     ** AC 8922.

     It needs to be understood, however, that the whole purpose of the Lord's reaching down in His Word through parables is that man may be raised up towards heaven. This is why, although He spoke in parables, He nevertheless challenged His disciples to work to understand them. "Know ye not this parable? and how will ye know all parables?"* And He wills that each one of us will ask, with Peter: "[Lord] declare unto us this parable."**
     * Mark 4: 13.
     ** Matthew 15: 15.

457

     That man may be elevated to heaven itself, that each one of us may come to think "as the angels," the Lord has revealed the key to the Scriptures: the key to unlock the mysteries of faith, the key which can help the man of the church not only to unravel "dark sayings" and parables of the former Scriptures but also to gain an insight into the spiritual world now revealed in the Heavenly Doctrine. This key is the doctrine of correspondences. From a knowledge of correspondence, guided by the doctrine of genuine truth, the man who would be of the New Church may enter intellectually into an understanding of the stories of the Old Testament, the parables of the New Testament, and the external phenomena of the spiritual world revealed in the Writings. For the teaching is that "as the Word is interiorly spiritual and celestial, it is written exclusively by correspondences. And what is thus written is in its ultimate sense written in a style such as is that of the Prophets and Evangelists, which, although it may appear common, yet conceals within it Divine and all angelic wisdom."* And of the descriptions of the spiritual world pictured in the Writings we are specifically told that "without a perception of what correspondence is there can be no clear knowledge of the spiritual world."**
     * SS 8.
     ** HH 88.
     The key to all parables is the knowledge of correspondences. The teaching is that "correspondence is the appearing of what is internal in what is external, and its representation there."* "When anything from the spiritual as an origin and cause becomes visible and perceptible before the senses, there is then a correspondence between them. . . . Thus the face acts as a one with the affections of the mind, the speech [corresponds to] the thoughts and the actions . . . [of the body correspond] to the Will."** Since there is a living, correspondential relation between the expressions of the face in a sincere man and his mind, we come to know something of his internal thoughts and feelings from the expressions of his face. His face corresponds to his mind and spirit. Similarly, once we know that there is a relationship, a correspondential relation, between the external and internal things of the Word, then we can enter more deeply into its true meaning and receive its life more fully.
     * AC 5423.
     ** Wis. ii: 3.

     The Old Testament is a Divine allegory which contains in correspondential imagery the internal history of the man of the spiritual church. Particular portions-such as the Seventy-eighth Psalm, which reviews the history of the sons of Israel-are filled with meaning relating to the man of the church and his spiritual life. When looked at from a knowledge of correspondence its historical factors are transformed.

458

It becomes meaningful to our own lives: the sons of Israel correspond to the man of the spiritual church. The Law, so vital to their religious life, is the truth of revelation; the "miracles in the desert . . . involve how the Lord teaches and leads those whom He calls to His church."* If the leading of the Lord is rejected, then men are delivered "over to their falsities and evils,"** their spiritual enemies, as were the Israelites. Yet always there is forgiveness and a new hope of redemption.
     * DP LXXVIII.
     ** Ibid.
     We read: "That the Lord when in the world spoke [in the New Testament] by correspondences, thus that He spoke spiritually when He spoke naturally, is evident from [the parable of the sower], in each and every word of which there is a spiritual sense."* From the things of this world-a sower, seed, and the various ways seed is received-the mind can be led to see things in the world of the human mind, and the various ways the truth of the Word is there received. That man might be introduced to the sense of the Word which angels understand, and see the Lord in a new light, the Lord very carefully explained the inner meaning of this parable to His disciples and paved the way for a deeper understanding of the entire Word.
     * SS 17.

     Even in the Writings there are those things which are the equivalent of parables, namely, things "seen and heard" in the spiritual world. The descriptions of heaven, hell and the world of spirits are expressed in visual and auditory forms every part of which is correspondential. Without such tangible forms - without diamond auras, rainbow flower beds, gorgeous birds and unique animals; without cities and palaces resplendent with precious stones; without choral recitations and harmonious songs which crescendo to fill entire heavens-our minds could never bridge the gap between the two worlds. Unless the Writings expressed themselves in visual imagery we could never be introduced to the essential qualities of spiritual life, to the living thoughts and affections of the angels which are their active states of receiving love and wisdom from the Lord. Throughout these descriptions there is a matching of externals with internals so that the man of the church may enter step by step, from a knowledge of correspondences, into the spiritual life of the new revelation.
     One unusual phenomenon discovered by Swedenborg in the spiritual world is that:

"the speech of angels and angelic spirits falls into parables [and] . . . into representations of gardens, fig-trees and other things . . . so likewise into feasts, as I saw them eating together . . . it should be known [he states] that the ideas of angels and angelic spirits are Lin this way] represented, and . . . [expressed] in parables, representations of gardens, and feasts, concerning which the Lord so often speaks, and to which He so significantly likens the things of heaven."*
     * SD 3916.

459

     "Angelic ideas are not only representatives which are thus indefinitely varied as they emanate [from the angels], but they even become parables . . . [and] from one parabolic idea . . . follow innumerable things which are analogous and applicable to it, as originating from one principle: just as so many varied things are afterwards produced from a [single] seed."*
     * SD 4006, 4007.

     That the spiritual phenomena revealed in the Writings-the things experienced and recorded by Swedenborg-are to be interpreted from a knowledge of correspondences is directly taught. "Without a perception of what correspondence is there can be no clear knowledge of the spiritual world."*
     * HH 88.
     We see an example of this in the detailed description of the "Nunc Licet" temple in no. 508 of the True Christian Religion, every part of which is spiritually significant:

     "While I looked at these things [Swedenborg notes] the significance of each one of them flowed into my meditation. The temple signified the New Church; the door of pearly substance, entrance into it . . . the Word lying open . . . signified the revelation of the internal sense of the Word, which is spiritual."*
     * TCR 508.

     Like the angels themselves, and like all who sincerely study the Heavenly Doctrine, Swedenborg was permitted to see internal things in externals-the spiritual realities behind the externals in which they appear.
     It is clearly shown in the work Heaven and Hell that although the angelic heavens are filled with objects of inexpressible beauty and wonder, although they contain things the eye hath never seen nor the ear has ever heard,* Still the external aspect is of minor importance to the angels. Their primary concern and inmost delight is with and in the things to which they correspond.
     * Isaiah 64: 4.

     Swedenborg confirms this where he writes:

     "I have seen palaces in heaven of such magnificence as cannot be described. Above they glittered as if made of pure gold, and below as if made of precious stones. . . . On the side . . . there were parks, where too, everything shone, in some places leaves glistening as if made of silver, and fruit as if made of gold; [and] the flowers in their beds formed rainbows with their colors . . . . The angels said that such things and innumerable others still more perfect are set before their eyes by the Lord; and yet these things are more pleasing to their minds than to their eyes because in every one of them they see a correspondence, and through the correspondence what is Divine."*
     * HH 185. [Italics added.]

460

     "These things are interiorly delightful because of their being correspondences of Divine and heavenly things. . . . [For] in every object they see what is Divine: the objects they see with their eyes; but the corresponding Divine things flow in immediately into their minds and fill them with a blessedness that affects all their sensations. Thus before their eyes all things seem to laugh, to play, and to live."*
     * HH 489.

     By showing the correspondential meanings of parables in the New Testament the Lord led men to see that everything He said and did had a spiritual meaning; that what He did then for men's bodies He now does for their minds and spirits. When the mind learns to think from correspondence, then the Old and New Testament cease to be history and come spiritually alive-living testifications of the Lord's will to save all men from spiritual enemies, spiritual diseases and spiritual death. Similarly, when New Church men learn to view the spiritual world from a knowledge of correspondence, it will come alive with purpose and meaning, and they will be more aware of the near presence of the Lord working in secret to elevate and perfect their lives.
     As readers of the Writings we can look at the spiritual phenomena there recorded with the same superficial detachment with which Christians regarded the Old and New Testament and never really see their inner implications. It was of such thinking that the Lord said: "because seeing they see not . . . neither do they understand." Or we can be real disciples, of whom He says: "It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven ['Now it is permitted to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith.'] but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath [the doctrine of correspondence, the spiritual sense of the Word, and the doctrine of genuine truth] to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance"*: an abundance of spiritual truths, the spiritual wealth of a new understanding of and insight into the parables of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem.
     * Matthew 13: 10-13.

461

FIVE WARNINGS 1972

FIVE WARNINGS Rev. DONALD L. ROSE 1972

     There are ten references in the Swedenborg Concordance of J. F. Potts to the word "beware" or "take care" (cavere). I have found thirty more in the Writings. Of course, one does not need the specific word, beware, to be admonished in the reading of the Word. As the Psalmist said of the Lord's truths: "by them is Thy servant warned: in keeping of them there is great reward."*
     * Psalm 19: 11.
     Here are five examples of warnings specifically worded as such. First let it be noted that the Swedenborg Society has produced a sixty-four page list of additions to the Concordance. These have been sent to New Church libraries and are available for individual students. If you have noted any additions in your set of the Concordance you are invited to send them to the Swedenborg Society or to the Rev. Donald L. Rose, 7420 Ben Hur Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15208.

     1. Beware of Thinking Spirits are Without Clear Sensation

     The first warning, in Arcana Coelestia, is against an idea of the other life which makes it so unreal that it amounts to no life at all. No. 322 begins by saying: "Beware of the false notion that spirits do not possess far more exquisite sensation than during the life of the body. I know the contrary by experience repeated thousands of times." The passage ends by pointing out that without sensation there is no life.
     Perhaps we are in danger in the New Church, by virtue of philosophic discussion on "substance," of thinking of the other life as unreal. Discussion of the material substances of the natural world might make this world seem less real to us were it not for the fact that we see and touch it constantly. Let it be remembered that "when what is spiritual touches and sees what is spiritual, it is just the same as when what is natural touches and sees what is natural."* To present the other life as one of real sensation is one of the purposes of the Writings, beginning as they do with the testimony: "Vidi, audivi, sensi"-"I have seen, I have heard, I have felt."** The objects of the spiritual world "are so distinctly and clearly seen that nothing could be more so."***
     * HH 461.
     ** AC 68.
     *** AC 1628.

462

     We may consider ourselves warned against the error of thinking that because something is representative it is not real.

     "They greatly err who do not believe that such things exist there. . . . They are indeed representative, like the things sometimes seen by the prophets; but yet are so real that they who are in the other life hold them to be real, and the things which are in the world to be relatively unreal."*
     * AC 1116

     2. Beware of Complaining

     When things disappoint us, or when we are feeling acute dissatisfaction with our lot, we all bemoan our condition. Perhaps we just curse ourselves or our "luck." This is not dangerous at first. A man "may be provoked or enraged against men and with himself, and also against fortune, but this does not destroy him."*
     * DP 211: 2.
     But during the course of a life that knows temptation we come to realize that inward murmurings and complaints are not against "fate," ourselves or men. Moses and Aaron said to a complaining people: "Your murmurings are not against us but against the Lord."* At this point the Writings say: "Hereafter they must beware . . . for it is repeated that their murmurings are against Jehovah, that is, against the Divine. Consequently by these words is now meant that hereafter they must beware of such complaints in temptations."**
     * Exodus 16: 8.
     ** AC 8435. Cf. 8429.
     We are well warned against the state of those who "grieve if they do not obtain the objects of their desires, and feel anguish at the loss of them; and have no consolation, because of the anger they feel against the Divine, which they reject together with everything of faith, and curse themselves."* We would become as those who "if their circumstances are mean they are not dejected." These trust in the Divine.**
     * AC 8478.
     ** Ibid.

     3. Beware of Actually Doing Some Evil

     In the actual doing of something evil there is a particular danger that is revealed in the Writings. In deliberate act we are making ourselves newly vulnerable to evil spirits who seize the temporary delight to get power over us and bring eventual misery. "Wherefore let man beware of actual evils."* "It was perceived that before any evil becomes actual with man he should be on his guard against doing it."** An evil thought can come to us without harming us at all.

463

But we can put ourselves in great danger if we respond to this thought, "especially by act and the consequent delight."***
     * SD 4479.
     ** SD 4080.
     *** AC 6204.
     The reason for the warning is clear from this description:

     "When a man first from consent, then from purpose, and at last from the delight of affection, casts himself into evil, then a hell is opened which is in such evil . . . and there takes place an influx from that hell. When a man comes into evil in this way, it clings to him, for the hell in the sphere of which he then is is in its very delight when in its evil; and therefore it does not desist, but obstinately presses in, and causes the man to think about that evil, at first occasionally, and afterwards as often as anything presents itself which is related to it."*
          * AC 6203.

     We are given protection through angels who

     "observe whether any hells are open that were not open before, and from which there is influx with the man, which takes place when the man brings himself into any new evil. These hells the angels close as far as the man allows, and remove any spirits who attempt to emerge therefrom."*
     * AC 5992.

     And we have been given a revelation of the things which take place on the spiritual plane. In this there is great protection, if we heed the warning.

     4. Beware of Disturbing the Church

     Those in the affection of truth are to search the Word for the sake of the truth itself, not to prove that others are wrong! Not depending on what others say, they ought to search the Word "with devout prayer to the Lord for enlightenment. Such do not disturb the church, nor do they ever condemn others."* These are real seekers. Very different from ((spies" intent on seeing the nakedness of the land.
     * AC 5432e.

     Just as Ham called attention to the nakedness of Noah, there are those who "desire nothing more than to find out what is evil, constantly cherishing the disposition to condemn." With them there is on "every occasion a publishing of errors."* But this, we are taught, "ought not to be done."** We should not be afraid to say that someone is mistaken, but there is a world of difference between the desire to show the truth and the irresponsible propensity to disturb.
     * AC 1079, 1080.
     ** AC 1088.
     The doctrinal things of the church

     "are not true because the heads of the church have said so and their followers confirm it. . . . The Word must be searched, and there it must be seen whether the doctrinal things are true.

464

When this is done from the affection of truth, then the man is enlightened by the Lord so as to perceive, without knowing whence what is true; and he is confirmed therein in accordance with the good in which he is. If these truths disagree with the doctrinal things, let him beware not to disturb the church."*
     * AC 6047: 2.

     He who disturbs does not bring new enlightenment, but provokes emotional states and controversies with all their obscurity. He who sees new truth should take heed to use it for good, so that new light may be conducive to new wisdom.

     5. Beware of the Love of Dominating

     We do not feel that the love of dominion is a great danger. But ever so subtly it tends to destroy the most precious things. It takes away mutuality in marriage,* and it turns human deliberations into veiled contests for supremacy. It actually turns us away from the Lord.**
     * HH 380.
     ** DLW 142.
     The love of dominion is like a snake that strikes from a hiding place.* It is the "serpent that deceived Eve and Adam."** "Who in the world at the present day is aware that this love in itself is of such a nature?"*** It "lurks in everyone who is in self-love," and what it would be if given full reign is demonstrated in the case of tyrants or men bent on world conquest.**** The warning could not be more explicit.
     * TCR 533.
     ** TCR 822.
     *** DLW 424e.
     **** HH 559.

     "Let all who are in the world and read these lines know that the love of ruling for the sake of self and not for the sake of uses is diabolical love itself and in it are all evils. Let them know this and be on their guard. All evil loves are in that love and with it, even those of which the man had been wholly ignorant while in the world. I have examples in all abundance, showing that those who in external form appear to be moral and Christian men, but interiorly in themselves have thought of nothing but themselves and the world, after death are consociated with devils."*
     * LJ post. 237.

     Speaking of the "serpent" of self-love, the Writings compare us to one walking with an enemy unaware that he intends to kill us. The Lord gives secret protection and also tells us of the intention of the enemy.* Such are the warnings now directed to "those who will be of the New Church on earth."**
     * DP 211e.
     ** AR 628.

465

SELF-EXAMINATION: BY INDIVIDUALS AND BY THE CHURCH 1972

SELF-EXAMINATION: BY INDIVIDUALS AND BY THE CHURCH PATRICIA ROSE 1972

     Some time ago, as the time for taking the Holy Supper approached, I decided to read the chapter on it in True Christian Religion. As I proceeded to do this, I became more and more aware that my concept of the Holy Supper was very different from what I was reading. From the instruction we receive in advance of taking Communion, I was under the impression that the whole purpose of the Holy Supper is repentance. Yet self-examination and repentance are discussed only briefly in the chapter, in no. 722, under the heading of charity being one of the three requisites for coming to the Holy Supper worthily. I was very surprised to find that in that chapter there is no direct exhortation to examine oneself before partaking of the Sacrament. There is a description of how, before Communion, those in the Christian Church are admonished to repent.
     The chapter tells us that the three requisites for partaking worthily are charity, faith and a true acknowledgment of God. Perhaps the absence of repentance as a specific requisite indicates that the attitude toward the Holy Supper of those of the New Church will be somewhat different from that of the past.
     We do know from the Writings that no one can be in charity toward the neighbor who does not first shun his evils as sins against God. Thus repentance-acknowledging our evils and resisting them-is prerequisite to charity. But charity is the requisite for coming worthily to the Holy Supper. Perhaps the difference between the states of repentance and charity can be compared with that between the Lord's crucifixion and His resurrection, or that between sorrow and joy. As True Christian Religion 728 says concerning the Holy Supper:

     "that man may actually enter [heaven] he must present himself to the Lord; and as the Lord actually presents Himself to man, man must actually receive Him, not, however, as He hung upon the cross, but as He is in His glorified Human . . . the body of which is the Divine good and the blood of which is the Divine truth."

466

Does this not indicate that the New Church man's attitude toward the Holy Supper should be one of joy, not sorrow?
     However, of necessity sorrow must precede. Before we can be in a state of charity, we must see our evil loves for what they are, be sorry on account of them, and strive to resist them.
     The Writings do refer to both Baptism and the Holy Supper as sacraments of repentance, explaining that the recognizing and shunning of one's evils is basic to introduction into both the church and heaven. But the teachings that advise self-examination in preparing for the Holy Supper are found in the discussions of repentance, not in those concerning the Holy Supper. The inference is that if one does not examine himself more frequently he should do so at least "once or twice" a year, for instance, as he prepares for the Holy Supper.* Yet the teaching is that "he who leads a life of charity and faith performs repentance daily."**
     * TCR 530. Cf. AR 531: 5.
     ** HD 163.
     Daily repentance takes place right at the time when our evil loves are active; it results from watching constantly for evil motives to appear. On the other hand, annual repentance is necessary if we have failed to watch for and fight evil loves in our everyday lives; then we must force ourselves to recognize one or two of the evils we have left unchecked throughout the year. The very times when we do such things as tell a lie about a person we dislike, cherish thoughts of adultery, or prefer worldly luxuries to contributing to the church are exactly the times when we can best reflect on the evils that give us pleasure. But if we have neglected to do this, we must recall one or more of our evils and repent if we are to be worthy to take Communion.

     In either case, our goal in order to approach the Holy Supper worthily is not just repentance but a state of charity. Should not repentance, then, lead up to a state of peace, fulfillment, and even joy, at the time of the Holy Supper? Perhaps our church's exhortation to examine oneself should be given two or three weeks before the Holy Supper to allow for the preparation and then a change of state?
     Nearer the time of Communion we could be encouraged to do special reading so that we will be reminded what the Holy Supper effects and how we are to think of the bread and wine as we partake of them. If we are, in fact, worthy partakers, then when we are conjoined with heaven and the Lord as we receive good and truth from Him-represented by the bread and wine-we will have good cause to feel both thankful and joyful.

467

     As individuals we set the pattern of our lives by our interpretation of the Writings. So how we view the Holy Supper affects not only our intellectual understanding of it but also our mood or attitude as we attend the service itself. As a church, too, our doctrinal interpretations determine to a great extent the kind of life that is led. A misinterpretation of the Writings may produce quite a substantial effect in the life of the church. One subject that affects everyday relationships and perhaps deserves to be reviewed is that of man's spiritual freedom.
     It is common knowledge in the church that spiritual freedom-man's equilibrium between good and evil-is most carefully guarded by the Lord. The Writings state in many places that the Lord gives man his spiritual freedom and sees to it that it is never taken away, in spite of the constant efforts of the hells to destroy that freedom. The Lord's first and second advents were necessary for the very purpose of preserving man's endangered freedom.
     Because we realize the importance of the freedom to think and will, New Church men take up the sword to protect the spiritual freedom of everyone. It is a common saying in the church that we must leave others in freedom, which is usually interpreted to mean that we must not try to influence their thinking in any way. This eagerness to maintain the spiritual freedom of others would be admirable except for what has been revealed to us:

     "There are laws of the Divine Providence which are unknown to men . . . now to be revealed, that what is the Lord's may be ascribed to Him, and that what is not man's may not be ascribed to any man . . . . It is a law of the Divine Providence that man should act from freedom according to reason . . . . The freedom here meant is therefore spiritual freedom."*
     * DP 70, 71.

     Although this teaching is gentle and subtle, it shows us that it is the responsibility of the Lord alone to maintain man's spiritual freedom. He is the only one who can see in which direction the balances are leaning and what correction needs to be made to restore equilibrium. Human prudence is certainly incapable of doing that.
     Our present blind, albeit well-meant concept, of leaving others in freedom results in a refusal to try to influence another's thinking. I submit that this is actually the opposite of insuring freedom. Does it not make each one of us freer to choose wisely if he hears viewpoints other than his own? As the Writings point out, we are still free to believe whatever we choose. This is spiritual freedom!

468

     As Divine Providence 71 says, the spiritual freedom that the Lord protects in everyone is his freedom to think and will as he pleases. As is obvious, not everyone is also free to do and say as he pleases, which is natural freedom. The "door" allowing spiritual freedom to descend into natural freedom is sometimes closed. With those who agree with the laws they live under, the door is open, since they can do and say what they will and think. But with those who think and will contrary to civil and moral laws the door stands shut. Two examples of the latter: though a man may love and intend evil, society's laws may pressure him not to ultimate this evil; on the other hand, a person living under communism who disagrees with its laws may not be able to express outwardly his thoughts and loves concerning religion. Nevertheless, in both these cases, although the door to natural freedom is shut, the Lord continues to gift such people with the spiritual freedom to think and will as they please. This same number shows how spiritual freedom does not depend on natural freedom, yet this truth is continually ignored in the church. It seems to be generally believed that when man is prevented from ultimating his loves he is not spiritually free. This belief puts on mankind's shoulders the burden of preserving, spiritual freedom by insuring everyone's natural freedom.
     Yet the Lord has kindly and gently instructed us concerning the laws of His Divine Providence so that "what is the Lord's may be ascribed to Him and that what is not man's may not be ascribed to any man." Does it not behoove us to heed the Lord's advice and leave what is properly in the realm of His Providence to His Divine Omniscience? Numbers 70 and 71 in the Divine Providence could be a starting place to re-evaluate the prevailing idea that human prudence is the guardian of spiritual freedom.
     Undoubtedly the New Church on earth will progress in purity through the years and centuries. But this will happen only as her members, individually and collectively, make a conscious effort to examine their interpretations of doctrine to see if they agree with the teachings given in the Writings.
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

469

FIFTY-SIXTH BRITISH ASSEMBLY, JULY 15-16, 1972 1972

FIFTY-SIXTH BRITISH ASSEMBLY, JULY 15-16, 1972 DONALD L. ROSE 1972

     The 1972 Assembly was compacted into two interesting days-July 15 and 16-with a social gathering the previous evening. The venue was the Colchester church building; the weather, splendid! Presiding as the Bishop's representative was the Rev. David R. Simons, who now has many friends in England, young and old.
     The Assembly began with a simple service of worship conducted by the home pastor, the Rev. Bjorn Boyesen, who used the words spoken to Elijah to focus our attention on the purpose of our Assembly: "What doest thou here . . .?" (I Kings 19: 9) Then Mr. Simons opened the first session and introduced the Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz, who addressed us on "The Lord and His Church." For this and another doctrinal address at the Assembly suggested reading had appeared in the News Letter. Mr. Nemitz emphasized the development of the church in each individual, pointing out that the Lord finds a dwelling in the "church" and a means of going forth to serve His uses.
     At the afternoon business session we were able to discuss the newly incorporated body known as The General Church of the New Jerusalem Council Ltd. The gathering expressed gratitude especially to Mr. R. H. Griffith for the work that has gone into the formation of this body. The first trustees are Messrs. J. Burniston, G. Cooper, J. Cooper, K. Glover, R. H. Griffith, S. Lehne, K. Pryke, N. Turner, P. Waters, H. Wyncoll. Appointed as auditors were Messrs. A. Atherton and T. Hugill.
     The second session of the Assembly was devoted to education. Mr. Simons opened up a wide range of illustrations in his address: "The New Testament Challenge in New Church Education." (This fitted in beautifully with the sermon the following day.) Mr. Simons showed that the Gospels can be used in a powerful and inspiring way in education. Mr. Geoffrey P. Dawson then gave us "An Historical Sketch of the British Academy" and offered opinions that sparked a lively discussion on the practicalities of New Church education.
     The formal sit-down banquet on Saturday evening was of high quality. Mr. Owen Pryke introduced a series of speakers on aspects of government. These included Messrs. N. Turner, R. Parker and R. Schnarr, and the Rev. Bjorn Boyesen. This inspiring program was followed by a complete change of pace with a dance organized by the young people.

470

     There were 183 people at the Sunday morning service for children and young people. The theme of the address by Mr. Simons was "Nunc Licet."
     The third session greeted with warm applause the friendly letter from the secretary of the General Conference. We are grateful for the spirit of happy co-operation in our contacts with the Conference. The address at this session, by the Rev. Donald L. Rose, was entitled "While He May Be Found." It related the words in Isaiah 55 to the teachings of the Writings on the gift of reflection and individual approach to the Lord.
     The Assembly concluded as it had begun with a service of worship. The text of the sermon by Mr. Simons included the saying of early believers, "When Christ cometh, will He do more miracles than these which this man hath done?" (John 7: 31). The final words of the sermon were: "When Christ cometh the second time, could He possibly reveal more than this?" The Lord continually does miracles which do not strike man as wonderful (SD 2434). But manifest miracles were a phenomenon necessary for the first Christians. "This was because it was entirely unknown anywhere that the Lord had come into the world, who would save souls; and because it would have never been received by anyone without miracles." (SD min. 4724)
     This afternoon service was followed by a musical interlude after which there was an administration of the Holy Supper. One sensed a happy feeling of gratitude at the end of the Assembly. There was gratitude for the hard work and smooth management (and here we think especially of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Waters), and there was the gratitude to the Lord awakened anew by our experience of this fine Assembly.
          DONALD L. ROSE
CHURCH SPECIFIC AND THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL 1972

CHURCH SPECIFIC AND THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL 1972

By means of the Word there is conjunction of heaven with those who are out of the church, where the Word is not; for the Lord's church is universal, and with all who acknowledge a Divine and live in charity. And furthermore, after death they are instructed by the angels and receive Divine truths. The universal church on earth is in the sight of the Lord as one man, just as heaven is; and the church where the Word is, and where by means of this the Lord is known, is as the heart and lungs in that man. (Heaven and Hell 308)

471

SELF-COMPULSION 1972

SELF-COMPULSION Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE

Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

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

Editor               Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
$5.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 50 cents.
     It is a teaching of the Writings that "act precedes, man's willing follows" (AC 4353e). This may at first sound surprising, for might it not seem that the will of good must precede and initiate the good act for it to be genuinely good? Yet the fact that man can apparently do good from himself evidently implies that the act precedes and provides an ultimate into and through which the good of the will flows, to make the act itself one that is really good.
     How, then, can man do good acts before he has the will of good? The answer lies partly in the same number, which continues: "for what a man does from the understanding he at last does from the will, no longer doing good from truth but from good." Man can see intellectually that the teaching of the Word is true, and can see also the good to which it leads and thus do it from the understanding; and this because of the power to compel himself to that which he sees but does not yet love which the Lord implants in the human mind.
     We are taught that man ought to compel himself to do what is good, to obey what has been commanded by the Lord, and to speak what is true. Yet the teaching continues that he is not to compel himself directly to these things, but against evil. It is as he does this that he compels himself to good. This is done from the understanding, and it is in the conatus of man's thought which produces self-compulsion that the heavenly proprium is formed. Thus, by means of self-compulsion, does man proceed from the doing of truth to the willing of good.

472

LETTING THE WRITINGS SPEAK 1972

LETTING THE WRITINGS SPEAK Editor 1972

     There are, in general, two ways of letting the Writings speak to us. One is to go to them with questions, and then reflect on their answers. However, there are potential dangers in that approach. The reader may not be asking what, in the light of the Writings themselves, are the right questions, and there is also the possibility that he will find only those answers for which he is looking, whether the Writings actually contain those answers or not.
     But another approach is possible-that of allowing the Writings to speak for themselves. It is our belief that they do contain the answers to all the questions that may be asked of them. Yet only when they are allowed to speak for themselves can we determine if we are asking the right questions, and where they are answered.
     To be able to make this approach we must be reasonably certain that we know what the Writings say on a given subject. In doing this we must guard against the feeling that the Writings do give us a clear answer, but we must read between the lines to see it. What -we read between the lines may be what we have put there to be read! Our need is for what the Writings themselves call the doctrine of genuine truth: the doctrine that stands forth clearly when a subject has been thoroughly researched in the Writings and all the relevant passages have been carefully compared. Only then can we be certain that the Writings are speaking, not our preconceived ideas. The doctrine of genuine truth is Divine; derived doctrine-our understanding of what the Writings teach and what they mean-is human and finite. It is subject to error, and should constantly be under review and revision in the light of what the Writings themselves say.
DISTINCTIVENESS 1972

DISTINCTIVENESS Editor 1972

From the very beginning there was within the Academy movement a conviction that the New Church is distinct and is to be distinctive: a conviction that led to a search for distinctive ultimates in worship and in social life. It may be said that much of the strength of the early Academy lay in the spirit which inspired that search, though later generations have come to question the wisdom of some of the social forms that were adopted and acclaimed. The conviction is still with us, but over the years the General Church has not been overly successful in discovering distinctive forms in which to ultimate its beliefs.
This may raise the question whether we have always been going about it in the right way.

473

It is a well known teaching of the Writings that in the New Church there will be no externals not having within them living internals; and that may warn us against searching for externals lest they be without internals and yet become binding on the conscience of the church. May we not feel that as we seek to develop the internals of the church, appropriate externals in which they may clothe themselves will suggest themselves to us? What we are suggesting here is that priority should be given to seeing the internals clearly and then the externals may appear. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you."
     Just where, we may ask, does distinctiveness lie-in the external forms or in that which is within them? We like to think that our worship is distinctive, and it is. Yet the only unique form we have added is the Third Lesson. All the other forms have been taken over from Christian ritual, but have been filled with a new spirit and are looked at in a new way that does make them distinctive. May it not be so with social forms also? The Writings tell us that spiritual life does not differ externally from a good moral and civil life, but is infilled with an entirely different spirit; and may we not say that social life in the New Church will not differ very much in externals from social life in well-ordered societies? Our social life will be designed to foster and to discourage the same things that concern good social life everywhere; but the motives from which we seek to encourage some practices and discourage others will be different. The values we seek to promote will be different because they will be spiritual.

     True, there are certain forms of observance which seem to be well established among us, and let us not depreciate them. But let us also realize that without a living internal they will be empty shells, as meaningless as a polished courtesy that is combined with utter disregard for the wellbeing of others. But with that internal, they will foster the spirit of charity and strengthen it in those who are weak; showing that the emphasis of the church is on spiritual values.
     What makes social life New Church is not a group of people all of whom belong to the organized New Church socializing according to customs and practices which are held to be New Church! What makes social life New Church is the expression in it of love toward the neighbor, through forms in which charity is ultimated and which give form to good intentions that are grounded in the truth of the Word. This is what is of paramount importance. If the external forms ultimate spiritual charity, they will be distinctive; if they do not, then no matter how unique they may be, they will signify nothing.

474

PROTECTING THE CONJUGIAL 1972

PROTECTING THE CONJUGIAL JAMES S. BRUSH 1972

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     In the July issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE appeared the highly commendable article by the Rev. Willard L. D. Heinrichs, "Protecting the Conjugial." In it is explored the infestation by the hells through the sensual degree of the heart of the church-the conjugial. Mr. Heinrichs has performed an excellent service in pointing out those sensual evils and falsities which can creep into the minds of the men and women of the New Church from the world.
     Yet the evils of the sensual degree which he described may be classified as the external evils endangering the church. There is yet an evil which is of equal weight infesting from within. We are told in the Writings that matrimonies in the world are to continue to the end of life (CL 276). Yet this conclusion is qualified by the doctrine that there exists one and only one cause which dissolves marriages upon earth. That is the commission of adultery from confirmed purpose, as the Lord teaches in Matthew 5: 32 and 19: 9. This principle is discussed in Conjugial Love, nos. 255 and 268.
     Number 276 of Conjugial Love refers to ". . . the great number of enormities and social destructions [that would result from] the dissolution of marriages before death, or the putting away of wives at the good pleasure of their husbands." Many sociological and psychological studies have confirmed this truth.
     It has been stated with some validity that there is the same divorce rate among members of the New Church as outside of it. It is doubtful that the reasons for most of these divorces are anything more than grounds for separation. As such, this practice can only lead to the destruction of conjugial love within the church and thus of the church itself. It is of paramount importance, therefore, that this doctrine be re-emphasized to members of the church as a whole, but especially and emphatically to those who contemplate marriage.
     JAMES S. BRUSH
4581 Craigmont Drive
Memphis, Tennessee 38128

475

Church News 1972

Church News Various 1972

     NORTHEAST DISTRICT

     On June 19, 1971, a gathering of people from New England, New York and New Jersey took place in Milford, Connecticut. The object of this meeting was to promote unity and see if district status could be granted. It was agreed that the various circles and groups could participate in and act more effectively for the uses of the church as a district. Accordingly, the pastor, the Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson, made application to the Bishop and the following announcement from the Bishop appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE for December, 1971: "In August I recognized the North Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts circles and groups as an official District of the General Church."
     An Assembly was called by the Bishop for the weekend of June 9-11, 1972. Larchmont, New York, became the headquarters. Committees set to work, and arrangements were discussed and made by the New York and Connecticut members. Finalized plans culminated in a warm invitation issued to members and friends of the General Church.
     Members of the District shared with friends from Bryn Athyn the special feelings that smaller Assemblies evoke: a sort of pioneer alertness and a necessity for all to participate to make the occasion a success. What an inspiring occasion it was! Even the business meeting had an air of excitement, unanimity and humor. On Friday evening, Brent and Dina Pendleton invited all members and friends to meet informally with Bishop and Mrs. Pendleton after the Pastor's Council meeting at their home, The next morning business started in earnest.
     The Bishop addressed the gathering on the uses of the organized church. He spoke movingly of the obligations of the church to provide for worship and instruction, and of the church's responsibility to carry forth the new idea of the essence of God and of the neighbor as the essential man to be loved. To carry this responsibility the General Church is organized as a means whereby the New Church can exist on earth. The episcopal address set the mood for an Assembly of New Church men and women eager to promote the uses of the church through their being organized into a district.
     A luncheon was served, and the social atmosphere was enhanced by a lovely view of the bay from the Mamaroneck Women's Club House. At the business meeting, which followed the luncheon, the pros and cons of the by-laws for the District were discussed.
     In the evening a social hour and a banquet were held in the stately old mansion of a local country club. The exquisite beauty of the bay at sunset lent to the festive air. An excellent dinner was followed by an evening of hearing from the female side of the District. The ladies spoke from the uses specifically belonging to womankind. In a world where women increasingly emulate and compete with men, the modesty of the presentations was refreshing indeed.
     On Sunday the sermon on the Lord's Prayer by the Bishop keynoted our hopeful beginnings. After church a social gathering for luncheon at Bob and Phyllis Schoenberger's home was the final event of the Assembly. The feeling of unanimity and purpose lingers with us as the Assembly takes its place in the historic perspective of the organized church on earth.
     MARY WAELCHLI GRIFFIN

476

     ATLANTA, GEORGIA

     Atlanta now!
     Atlanta then? Eighteen months ago, in our last news report, we were looking forward to the birth of two babies and hoping more newcomers would move down. The babies, Michael Carr and Gillian Leeper, healthy little darlings, came, and so did the newcomers. First to join us was Marianne Dunlap, who came in January 1971 to attend college. Another arrival was Mark Neuberger, who moved from Tampa. His fianc?e, Collette Daly, had returned to Atlanta after two and a half years at the Academy. Their beautiful, New Church wedding drew special attention from the Atlanta paper, which explained in a special article the symbolism of the ceremony performed by Mr. Franson. In the fall we were happy to welcome Jack and Cheryl Collins and their three children. Later the Andy Smith family from Florida moved to Atlanta,
     It has been a very eventful period for us. Up until last year we had met only every other month when Mr. Franson visited, and occasionally in between for taped children's services. But in May 1971, five of us attended the Carolina District Gathering with Mr. Schnarr's group at Pawley's Island. We realized that we had a comparatively large group in Atlanta (well, at least we were not isolated), and there were many more things we could be doing. The Rev. David Simons encouraged us to volunteer our group to the Sound Recording Committee, which wanted a group to experiment with cassette taped services on a weekly basis.
     We came home and enthusiastically began work on the first Atlanta Nineteenth of June banquet, which was held in the lakeside club house of Susie Gyllenhaal's apartment complex. Twenty people heard Mr. Franson survey the general doctrines of our church, and toasted as Conrad Bostock, the toastmaster, reminded us that all over the world New Church men were joining us in this celebration. Then, as the sun set over the lake, we went out to stand on the deck and reflect on the fact that our small group was taking part in a celebration shared by people from all quadrants of this world and the other world.
     The next week we started our experiment with cassette tapes. At first we had one or two problems with the tapes, and initially attendance was small (sometimes only three people came), but gradually as the summer progressed more people began to make the taped services a regular part of their Sundays, and We were grateful for the opportunity to hear so many excellent sermons by such a variety of ministers.
     Mr. Franson continued his visits, With the Thanksgiving visit being an especially memorable one. Our family church service at Dalys began with the seven little children offering, in some cases reluctantly, fruit to the Lord. Mr. Franson then gave the children a talk on the meaning of saying "Thanks," which was followed by an adult sermon on the same topic.
     We had realized that while the cassette services were fine for adults, our growing number of little children (all were seven and younger) got very little from them. So, supplied by the Religion Lessons Committee, we attempted to start a weekly Sunday school. Volunteer teachers took the children out for the sermon portion of the tapes and helped them with projects on the stories from the Old Testament. A start on the Sunday school has thus been made and the children's enthusiasm is encouraging, But we have a lot more work to do on this project.
     Our traditional Christmas celebration is Saturday evening dinner and class at Woodworths followed by an afternoon family service and party at Leepers on Sunday. This year's class on preparation for Christmas somehow ended up in a discussion of raising children in today's world. Atlanta's group is still small enough that almost every class sparks a lively discussion of one sort or another. Mr. Franson has to be prepared for everything from "birth control" to "Catholic confession v. psychiatry."
     One of the first events of the new year was a visit by David and Zoe Simons. Mr. Simons first gave a children's class, where the children suspected him of being an angel examiner sent by the Lord to see if they were learning their lessons!

477

The adults met that evening at the Daly home for dinner and a class on the truths in the Sermon on the Mount. Afterwards we toasted our friends Dick Farmer and Susie Gyllenhaal, who had become engaged on New Year's Eve.
     As the year progressed we began to think about getting a church building. When one taped service drew 24 people and the next week Mr. Franson's visit brought 30 to the Leeper living room for church, we knew it was time to plan for a church. Mr. Franson helped us to organize the group, with election of officers as the first step; and that is where we stand now-another big project for the coming years.
     Our Nineteenth of June celebrations this year were very special. Organized by Cheryl Collins, Judy Leeper and Kerry Woodworth, the program boasted six speakers-three women and three men, all under the age of eight! The banquet tables, set with fine silver, white cloths and fresh flowers, were placed outdoors in the Leepers' garden. The banquet itself started with a parade of children carrying special New Church Day banners and ended with a presentation by the children of illustrations they had done of the events surrounding the Nineteenth of June. The whole evening had a beautiful sphere of innocence and cooperation about it.
     We look forward to the future of the church in Atlanta. Another baby has just been born, Erica Leeper, and we are even more eager now to welcome you all as newcomers than we were eighteen months ago. Please come and join us.
     TERRY DUNLAP

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Convention. The 148th Session of the General Convention was held at Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts in June, the theme being "In Search of Oneness." A double issue of the New-Church Messenger, July-August, reports very fully the services of worship, the business sessions and social features, and the meetings of related bodies. The editor notes that the spirit of the business sessions was "irenic." Two of the principal matters discussed were reorganization of Convention and the possibility of admitting women to the ministry.
     Reorganization plans for a departmental set-up go back to the 1950's, but had been carried out only to a limited extent. However, the main interest of Convention was less in departmental organization and efficiency than in forms of representation, voting, electing and governing; and Convention called for changes in nominating procedures, with the aim of making voters better informed about candidates' positions and intentions. Also, the feeling had been expressed by some laymen that ministers have too large a voting block and that the number of lay delegates should be increased. Proposals were made for direct society representation instead of the present representation by State Associations, or even individual membership with a vote for every member attending the Convention. Neither the organizational or representational issues have been fully studied as yet, but a detailed report of progress is being prepared for publication.
     The possibility of women being ordained into the ministry of Convention took two major strides toward actuality. On a split vote, but with a two to one majority, the Council of Ministers voted in favor of a recommendation to Convention that women be considered eligible for ordination. The General Council expressed full support for the action but referred it for research into the question of whether concomitant amendments to the Constitution or By-Laws would be required. It is considered possible that the issue will reach the floor of Convention next year. A non-binding, opinion-testing show of hands found a significant majority generally favorable toward the general idea of women in the ministry. The matter was not debated, though several people, most of them women, spoke against it before the opinion-testing show of hands.

478

CHARTER DAY 1972

Editor 1972

CORRECTION Editor 1972

In the issue for July 1972 was published a notice of the death of Mrs. Francois Buche (Helen Berthe Nicolet). It has since been learned that Mrs. Buche did not die. The office of the Secretary of the General Church was misinformed by the Swiss Post Office. We apologize for the error that was made and publish this correction.
CHARTER DAY BANQUET TICKETS 1972

Editor 1972

     In order to avoid confusion and embarrassment, those who will be guests in Bryn Athyn homes for the Charter Day weekend should order their Banquet tickets in advance, by mail, unless they have made other specific arrangements with their hostesses.

     The date is October 28. The regular ticket price is $5.00. For all students, including those not presently attending the Academy, the price is $2.50 per ticket. Checks should be made payable to The Academy of the New Church.
     Orders should be sent to the attention of Mrs. R. Waelchli, The Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, before October 19th. Please mark clearly on envelopes "Banquet Tickets." Tickets will be carefully held at the switchboard in Benade Hall for pick-up either by you or your hosts. No tickets can be sold at the door because of the need for advance reservations with the caterer.

481

THANKSGIVING OF A KING 1972

THANKSGIVING OF A KING Rev. ROBERT H. P. COLE 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII                                    NOVEMBER, 1972                                        No. 11

     "And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; the God of my rock; in Him will I trust: He is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my Savior; Thou savest me from violence." (II Samuel 22: 2, 3)

     On this occasion of being delivered from the Philistines, David composed a song of thanksgiving. It is most beautiful and majestic in its ascription of praise and thanksgiving; in its humility; and in its symbolic representation of the power and grace of God. This "song" appears to be repeated almost word for word, and expounded, in the Eighteenth Psalm, which consists of two apparently independent hymns. The first seems to be the thanksgiving hymn of an individual delivered from enemies who had made false accusations against him; the second, the thanksgiving of a king who has triumphed over his foes on the field of battle.
     The Lord is a God upon whom men can lean, although they walk in darkness and can see no light. The account of the Psalmist's trouble forms a very important part of this Psalm. Since he was in imminent danger of death, he could not hide in his heart what God had done for him. The underworld, near to which he came, is thought of first as a violent, engulfing flood: an idea developed from the ancient mythology of the great deep. Then it is pictured as a monster setting traps and snares to capture men. In his distress the Psalmist cried to the Lord, and his voice reached to the heavenly temple.
     The horn of our salvation is the power of truth from good. Yet our tendency is, like the ram caught in the thicket by his horns, to become entangled in the knowledges of worldly cares, and to lose our power of perceiving truths.

482

The more anyone consults the grosser things of the memory and sticks fast in them in his mind in regard to faith, the more does he lose the light of truth.* But when the mind is raised to higher things, then a horn means all power and omnipotence. In the Apocalypse the Lamb is said to have had seven horns, and this means all that is holy. A prophetical statement about a horn in the Word gives its pause as to what we should be truly thankful for; not just this year, as we are for the harvest, but during our entire lifetime. The prophet says: "In that day I will make a horn to bud forth unto the house of Israel, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; that they may know that I am Jehovah."** To "make a horn to bud forth unto the house of Israel" means truth in abundance. "The 'house of Israel' is the church; because this is signified by 'horn,' and its 'budding forth,' it is also said, 'and I will give unto thee the opening of the mouth,' by which is meant the preaching of truth."***
     * See AC 2832.
     ** Ezekiel 29: 21.
     *** AE 316: 2.
     Another prophetical saying indicates the joy of Hannah upon having been given Samuel by the Lord. She said: "My horn hath exalted itself in Jehovah; my mouth is enlarged against mine enemies, because I am glad in Thy salvation. He shall give strength unto His king, and shall exalt the horn of His anointed."* If we will but receive it gratefully, the Divine truth will fill us and make us powerful against falsities. "Strength" in the Word has reference to the power of good, and "horn" to the power of truth; and the anointed of Jehovah is the Lord as to the Divine Human, which has omnipotence.
     * I Samuel 2: 1, 10.
     The budding forth of a horn, moreover, also means the multiplication of Divine truth in the heavens and on earth by the Lord. It is the power of this truth that saves, that makes men free, and the "house of David" is the Lord's church. The Lord saves those who receive Him in this way from violence.

     Everyone may know from experience that if another's mind will not be raised to higher things, he may say that he can believe nothing unless he comprehends that it is so by means of the things of sense or of scientific knowledge. If you explore the quality of such men you will find that many of them believe nothing to be Divine or spiritual, and that to them the greatest wisdom is to ascribe everything to nature.
     Take, for instance, those in the New Church or knowledgeable about its teachings concerning the earths in the universe. Some of them are rather discouraged because men have not been discovered on our moon and upon Mars, or that reasonably accurate scientific information does not indicate the probability of such discoveries in the future.

483

Such men might instead be grateful, and give thanks to God for causing astronauts to land safely and explore near areas of our solar system with a view to the fulfillment of the future needs of the human race and the spreading of the Lord's Word. We may be thankful that the way has now been opened to harvest new raw materials, to understand man's uses better, and to establish work stations, construction sites and even inns upon Earth's own satellite. And even this may be classed as merely pilgrim voyages by God-fearing men of the next millennium. Such beings may expand the boundaries of human existence, taking with them the Word and their own atmosphere, and ways of reproducing the atmosphere and spreading the Word, from which the human spirit can breathe and function.
     Even the discovery of fossil or archeological remains would probably do not much more than indicate the natural existence eons ago of men, long since in the spiritual world, whose descendants if any might not be adapted to the present conditions of the physical universe. It would seem to be clear, therefore, that upon modern man rests the responsibility to provide for the future of the human race, and that the New Church man ought not to fall into the snare of faith alone as regards the Writings. Rather, he might express his gratitude to the Lord that the Writings appeal to the thinking mind, the expanding mind, the kind of mind which he possesses, the type of mind which is at once curious and creative. They appeal to the type of mind that has helped to design and operate computer systems and space ships, the type of mind that has helped to influence governments and social affairs for the better and that can effect progress in human relations, the type of mind that is enabled to face the one God humbly and shun evils as sins against Him, and the type of mind that looks to the useful exploration of the universe by means of high towers silhouetted against the sky.

     For all of these things we ought to be profoundly grateful and give thanks. Yet there may be some also who say that they believe or might accept such an outlook although they do not comprehend New Church doctrine in this regard. Nevertheless, in secret within themselves, they may reason equally as others do from the things of sense and scientific knowledge concerning the truths of faith, as to whether a thing is so. They either have a kind of persuasion breathed in from the love of self and the world or they do not believe at all. Their quality may perhaps be evident in their life. These are indeed in the Lord's church, but they are not of it. They who are of the church are actually in a life of good and have faith in truths. Such men can be led by the Lord to comprehend the plain teachings of the Writings according to their own love for Him and their regard for the neighbor.*
     * See AC 2832.

484

     The grateful and enlightened New Church man ought not therefore to base any portion of the strength and courage of his faith upon the discovery of protective caves in imaginary lunar or Martian underworlds, or upon any meagre fossil evidences which may be found. His faith should be founded upon the leading of the Writings of man's understanding into fruitful, industrious pursuits, and also upon his love for the spread of their teachings to all in the universe who will receive. This, we may say, is the "God of my rock."

     With such a basis to guide us, we may turn our general spiritual thoughts toward an ever-expanding concept of the meaning and application of the universal precept, the Golden Rule, another gift from God to man. This Divine precept is the Law in the widest sense, in the universal form. The members of the whole human race, both the evil and the good, who dwell in the world and in the spirit; the angels in the heavens, the men of the church on earth, and the wicked who go far away from God and make their abode in regions of darkness: all are accountable to this law. It is formulated by the Lord according to His Divine wisdom, and therefore it exists in the nature of things. It is perfectly just and merciful, free of anything that is arbitrary or adverse to the infinite love of the Supreme Lawgiver. It is for this reason that this law is of universal application and that no human being anywhere can evade it in any way. "Thou savest me from violence." The consequences of violating the Golden Rule are certain and inevitable.
     All the precepts of the Word of God, which are according to the laws of Divine order, are expressed in summary form in the Ten Commandments, in the Ten Blessings, and in the Two Great Commandments, and in one sentence in the Golden Rule: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets."* This powerful admonition is further strengthened by the teaching of the Writings that the Lord alone is Man, that angels and men receive the gift of human life from Him, and that there is a Universal or Gorand Man, which is how the image of mankind appears to the Lord.
     * Matthew 7: 12.
     With the men of the church in ancient times, before the Fall, these commandments were observed spontaneously as they knew them. They were the very laws of human life, because these people were in love to the Lord from internal affection and in love toward man from heavenly desire for the happiness of others.

485

Thus the law of the Lord was inscribed in their hearts; and in childlike simplicity of life they delighted in observing that law, not being conscious of any other law than that of genuine love. This was mutual love, the love of others more than self.
     When the men of the Ancient Church held a feast of charity and thanksgiving, it was given them to represent the worship of the Lord from a glad mind. Men at this day worship the Lord from a glad mind as they give thanks; but they may only be giving thanks from the lower regions of the mind where they worship the glorious gifts of the natural sun and deliverance from the enemies of earthly life, disease, hunger and war, for which deliverance man ought to be very grateful; and the Lord receives such gratitude when it is offered in good faith.
     But the great glories of human existence come from that which also creates the natural sun. This is the spiritual sun, the first gift from the Lord, which is not Himself, but in which He is and from which all things are. The natural sun is but pure fire by comparison, while the spiritual sun is love. That which gives us health and harvest and substance for defense is warm light from the natural sun; while that which gives us spiritual life, nourishes and saves us, is flamy light from the spiritual sun, carrying with it the Lord's wisdom, which clothes His love for all men.*
     * See AC 5704, 8812; CLJ 38; DLW 86.

     In giving thanks to the Lord for all His blessings we note that kings of old, such as David and Solomon, also gave thanks; but it appears that the Lord was the only priest in the Word, in this regard, who gave thanks from inmost things. Man, we are told, is not capable of giving thanks from inmost things because he has none of his own. All good is from the Lord, and we make such good our own only by means of the truth of His Word, by reading it, by trying to understand it, by thinking about it and by applying it to our lives. This good that we make our own is a gift of the Lord's wisdom in which are His love and mercy. For this we are capable of being genuinely thankful and grateful, and a good man is.*
     * See AR 372; HH 9.
     This, then, is the "Thanksgiving of a King." It is our rock and our fortress. In this from Him do we trust, our shield and our horn of plenty and our salvation. In this is our high tower and our refuge. In this does our Savior deliver us. It leads to the real harvest and the gifts of the earth-herbs and the fruits of the fields and the trees, and the fruits of love, of labor, of peace, of freedom and discovery-are all the representatives of this, the everlasting harvest.

486

Yet as we look about us in the natural world at the bounteous glories of earth and sky, let us truly give thanks for deliverance according to our best capabilities, endeavoring to discern what is heavenly in all that we have, heeding these words of the Lord: "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you."*     Amen.
     * Luke 17: 20-21.

     LESSONS: II Samuel 22: 1-21. Luke 17: 1-21. AC 9356; Lord 34: 3.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 577, 509, 574.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 147, 159.
IMPORTANCE OF THANKSGIVING 1972

IMPORTANCE OF THANKSGIVING Rev. KURT H. ASPLUNDH 1972

     A Talk to Children

     Today is Thanksgiving, a day when we gather to worship the Lord and give thanks for the many riches and blessings which He has given us. But we read a parable from the Word about a man who did not give thanks to the Lord. Perhaps we can learn from this parable why Thanksgiving is so important to us.
     The parable tells us about a man who was very rich. He was a farmer. His lands were very good and his harvest was so large that he did not even have enough room to store it all in his barns. So he began to think what he would do, and he decided that he would build himself larger barns to store his grain and produce and that he would sit back and relax and enjoy his life, eating, drinking and making merry. Why not? He was rich enough that he did not have to worry about providing anything more for himself. At least he thought he was rich enough.
     But this man had forgotten one very important thing. Suppose he should die that very day! Would he be rich enough then? Not any more. All of the riches he had in his barns would be left behind and would be of no use to him at all in the other life. He would be very poor and wretched in the other world because he had not stored up any riches to be used in heaven. So the Lord said that a man is a fool if he stores up treasures or riches for himself on earth, but is not rich toward God.

487

     You see, there are two worlds in which we live; the natural world where we are now living, and the spiritual world which we will all enter afterward. The man in the parable knew about the things he needed in this world. He had stored up all that he needed. He had food, fine clothes, a place to live, and enough wealth that he need not do any more work. But he had no spiritual riches to help him to live in heaven.
     The man had no spiritual riches - no knowledge of God, no thankfulness to Him, no love of uses. He loved and thought only about himself. When he saw his grain growing tall and full he thought only about the amount it would bring him at the harvest. When he saw lambs being born he thought only of the wool they would give him. He had only one idea in mind when he thought of all the growing and living things that he possessed-how they would make him happy and rich so that he could eat, drink and be merry.
     If he had opened his mind a little further this man might have seen something more important than his own happiness in the wonderful growing processes of nature and of living things. He might have thought about the Lord, and how He provides His bountiful blessings for man's use. He might have marvelled at the Lord's unceasing love and His infinite wisdom in giving man earth's riches. And he might have seen opportunities to share his blessings with other men instead of storing them up in bigger barns all for himself.
     If he had done this the man would have begun storing up spiritual riches. For to grow rich toward God means to learn about Him, to love Him, and to worship Him. When we give thanks to the Lord for our natural blessings we raise our minds to heaven, and we may then learn of the spiritual blessings which He gives. We recognize these blessings or spiritual treasures when we think of the good uses that are in riches and possessions, but not when we think of them selfishly.
     The wonderful thing about spiritual riches is that they are available for everyone. The Lord will bless man with them just as far as man will receive: like a bushel filled, pressed down and shaken together, and running over the top, so man will be given. And we can store up such treasures in this world in everything that we do, and can find these treasures no matter what our earthly lot may be. And we can grow rich toward God whether we are rich or poor, wise or simple, or whether our circumstances are happy or sad. And this is the greatest blessing of all that the Lord offers us; much greater than any earthly treasure - a pearl of great price.

     One of the greatest opportunities we have in the New Church is that we may know the Lord and His love and wisdom in a way more perfect than has ever been possible to man before.

488

We have been given heavenly doctrine in the Writings which teaches us more than was ever known before about the Lord, about His Word, about uses, about our life after death, and many more things. From a study of the Writings we can learn to see the hidden spiritual treasures of the Word opened up before our eyes. And from a knowledge of the doctrine of the church we can learn to find spiritual riches in everything that we do and in everything that happens to us while we live here on earth. We can know why we are here, how our uses should be performed, how the Lord ought to be loved and worshiped.
     If we learn these things, and use our knowledge wisely, then we will not be like the foolish rich man who laid up treasure for himself. We can be rich toward God, even as the Lord taught: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal."
     If we set our hearts on the things of heaven that the Lord hides in the things of earth, we can become spiritually rich, and deeply thankful. "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Amen.

     LESSONS: Luke 12: 13-21. Divine Providence 220: 10.
     MUSIC: Hymnal, 142, 139, 140, 141.
     PRAYERS: Hymnal, 109, 116.
WHEAT AND THE TARES 1972

WHEAT AND THE TARES 1972

"Rather let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Collect first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn," signifies that the separation and casting out of falsities from evil cannot be effected until it is the last state of the church; since it is then that falsities of evil are separated from truths of good, and the falsities of evil are delivered up to hell, and the truths of good are conjoined with heaven, or what is the same, the men who are in them. This takes place in the spiritual world, where all who are of the church from its beginning to its end are in this way separated. The "harvest" signifies the end or the last state of the church; to "bind into bundles" signifies to conjoin together particular kinds of falsity from evil; to "burn" signifies to deliver up to hell; and to "gather into the barn" signifies to conjoin with heaven. (Apocalypse Explained 911: 5)

489

CHALLENGE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 1972

CHALLENGE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT Rev. DAVID R. SIMONS 1972

     (Delivered at the 56th British Assembly, July 15, 1972.)

     The quality of New Church education in our homes and in our schools comes from the presence and reception of the Word of the Lord. It is the understanding and use of the Word-of the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem-which makes our leading of our children distinctive and powerful. Only the Word can bring the light of genuine understanding to the human mind. Only the Word can quicken the human will to cause spiritual germination and growth. For the Word is "Immanuel," God-with-us. It is the Lord Himself calling the human mind to all intelligence and wisdom-to the world of human uses which is His kingdom. "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens [of the human mind] made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth."*
     * Psalm 33: 6.
     And it is not only the truths of the Word which should inspire us in New Church education, but it is also the very methods by which these truths are presented. The Lord comes in His Word as the Master Teacher, approaching the human mind from full knowledge of its potentialities and full power to awaken them to use. By analyzing His approach, by exploring the methods used by Him, and by working to discover how He accommodates His wisdom for reception, we can work to pattern our education after His and in this way approach the minds under our care as they were created to be approached and develop an education which is receptive to the creative forces of His life. For "in Him is life, and [this] life is the light of men."*
     * John 1: 4.
     The New Testament Word is of particular interest and power for us since it is the Lord Himself on earth introducing the minds of simple men to Himself and to His kingdom. The ways in which the Lord here leads are of special significance in our approach to the adolescent ages, when rationality is beginning to dawn, for these are the very states the Lord addresses. If we can understand how He meets the special needs of these states, then we are in a position to emulate Him-to teach as He teaches, to lead as He leads, to educate from Him. For "the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

490

It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his lord."*
     * Matthew 10: 24, 25.
     The universal means by which the Lord in the New Testament leads the mind is from externals to internals. By the use of comparison the mind is challenged to make a leap-a rational leap-from externals to internals, from the known and familiar to the unknown and mysterious, from the things of this world to the things of the spiritual world. By comparing His disciples to things in nature, by comparing the New Testament to the Old, by comparing external nature to heaven, by comparing external enemies of the body, physical diseases, to internal enemies of the mind and spirit, the hells, and by doing in the outside world what He wills to do in the inside world of the human mind, the Lord urges the mind to extend its thinking, to see the internal things in and by means of external, the things of His kingdom from the things of the world. New Testament truth throughout stimulates the mind to make the rational leap from natural things to spiritual and prepares it to see the relation between the two which is correspondence, and that there is a spiritual sense in the Word.

     The mind is first introduced to the truth that the Word has an internal sense, a celestial sense related to the Lord and a spiritual sense related to His kingdom, in the very first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. After a brief review of the Old Testament in the form of a genealogy proving Joseph a descendant of the royal house of David, Joseph is told in a dream of the birth of the Lord and that His name is to be Jesus, then it is said: "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the prophet, saying . . . ."* The reference is to the prophet Isaiah (7: 14). The mind is here sent back to look at the Old Testament in a new way, in a way not possible before the coming of the Lord. It is challenged to relate the Old and the New and ultimately to see the truth that the Old throughout tells of the Lord to be born into the world, that it has a celestial sense.
     * Matthew 1: 22.
     From the six direct references, "that it might be fulfilled," in Matthew thoughtful minds are stimulated to ask, "Are there other prophecies in Isaiah? If what Isaiah says in these particular passages is literally fulfilled by the Lord, are there prophetic implications in other things which he says? And further, if what this prophet says elsewhere relates to the Lord to come, does everything he says relate? And if all his words are prophetic, are the words of all the prophets fulfilled by the Lord?"

491

This kind of reason-centered thinking sends the mind to study the prophetic Word to discover everything it can about the Lord, a quest which leads to obeying the Lord's words to "Search the Scriptures . . . [for] they are they which testify of Me";* and to the discovery of an internal sense, at first a sense which is related to the external life of the Lord, and from there to a true internal sense. Such study prepares the mind to accept the next step-the teachings of the Writings that the Old Testament not only treats of the Lord's external life, but of His internal life as well, a truth that is amplified and filled full of meaning by the Heavenly Doctrine. "In the inmost or supreme sense, [we are taught, the Word] treats . . . especially of the glorification of [the Lord's] Human. . . ."**
     * John 5: 39.
     ** AC 8724.
     When we make this study of prophecy and its fulfillment, we come to understand what the Lord meant when after His resurrection He joined two of His disciples on the way to Emmaus and scolded them, saying: "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."*
     * Luke 24: 25-27. [Italics added.]

     The concept of the relation between the Old and New Testament is further amplified in the Sermon on the Mount where it is shown not only that the Old pre-figures the New, but that there is a ratio, a direct correspondence, between them. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time [in the Old Testament] Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment . . . ."* By this comparison, which is repeated in relation to other commandments, the mind is introduced to the idea of a mind-body ratio between the Old and New Testaments. The old commandment, thou shalt not kill, relates to the body; the new, not to be angry without a cause, to the mind and spirit, and reason is put in the position to conclude that the new law is the internal sense of the old.
     * Matthew 5: 21, 22.
     From the examples of the 5th and 6th commandments-not to kill and not to commit adultery-the mind is led to think: "If these two commandments have an internal meaning, then perhaps all the commandments have an internal sense," and to work to discover the truth of this. It may even be seen that this is exactly what is taught in the 9th and 10th commandments by "thou shalt not covet," which is a restating of former commands on an internal plane as they relate to the mind and spirit.

492

     And furthermore, logic demands, if the Ten Commandments-the heart of the law-have a spiritual meaning, then all the laws, statutes and judgments, all the seemingly unnecessarily detailed statements in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy (the repetition of the law), must have higher meanings, must be externals in which there are internals, a truth which is taught and thoroughly confirmed in the Writings, where we learn that the laws of the Ten Commandments "have been confirmed in both an internal and an external form; for the reason these two cannot be separated."* "The laws, judgments, and statutes, that were promulgated from Mount Sinai, contain an internal sense; [this is] how they are perceived in heaven. . . . [However] the outward rituals of the [Israelitish] Church . . . have indeed been for the most part abrogated. . . . [Yet] in every detail there is a holy internal which is its internal sense. . . . "*
     * AC 9211.
     ** AC 9349.
     This truth is confirmed by the Lord when He said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."*
     * Matthew 5: 17, 18.
     The Ten Blessings involve a series of challenges to move from the known and familiar to the unknown, to make a rational leap from things of experience in the outside world to things of the mind and spirit. Reason says: "I know what poverty is, but what is it to be 'poor in spirit'? What is spiritual poverty? What are spiritual riches? What is non-worldly wealth?" Such thinking leads the mind to consider external poverty, its causes and cures, and then to transpose these discoveries from the external world to the realm of the mind and spirit. It can even conclude that the better we understand the human condition-here poverty-the more clearly can we understand its spiritual counterpart.
     That the mind is to study external conditions, such as poverty, and that by such studies it is to be led to understand spiritual things more fully is clearly taught, as follows in the Arcana:

     "Some separate spiritual life from civil [life] so widely, that they would not dare to draw any idea of the one from the other. That the two correspond, and that spiritual life is represented in civil life they know not at all, and some do not even allow any comparison; when yet the case really is that no idea can be had of spiritual life [poverty of spirit] except from things that are in civil life; and therefore if [the things of civil life] are set aside, [spiritual things] fall to the ground, until at last [they are] no longer believed. . . . "*
     * 4366.

     As the Lord said, "If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?"*
     * John 3: 12.

493

     From the Sermon on the Mount reason is stimulated to think: "I know what hunger and thirst are, but what is it to hunger and thirst after righteousness? Does my mind have the same needs as my body? Is the mind a higher body, a spiritual body? Can I conclude from this teaching that everything true of my external body and its needs is true on a higher plane of my mind and spirit?" The Writings, of course, answer this with a strong affirmation and show that there is a fixed relation, a correspondential relation, between all things of the body with all things of the mind, so that the more we know about our physical nature, the more we can come to know of our spiritual nature. Anatomy and physiology are stepping stones to psychology and religion. As we read in the Arcana, "They who know the inward sense [of the Word] know that they will come into the other life with a body, but a purer one, for there are purer bodies there . . . the body which the spirit carries about . . . is for uses [in the spiritual world] and does not consist of bones and flesh, but of such things as correspond to them."*
     * AC 3813.

     Note the relation of external things to internal in these next quotations from the Divine Love and Wisdom: "From the correspondence of the [body with the mind], of the heart with the will and the lungs with the understanding, everything may be known that can be known about [the mind] the will and understanding, or about the love and wisdom, and therefore about the soul of man."* "To see from correspondence is to see the lungs from the understanding and the understanding from the lungs and thus from both together to perceive proof."**
     * DLW 394.
     ** DLW 413.

     The unique power of New Church education lies in its ability to see internal things in and from external and external things in the light of internal and thus from "both together to perceive proof".* In our concern for introducing the mind to spiritual things we are in no way to neglect natural knowledge and experience. For it is by means of what is natural that the mind is to be introduced to the spiritual. External things are tools and stepping-stones. The world, as the Lord Himself so abundantly illustrates, is to be used as a fulcrum by means of which the mind is catapulted to an understanding of things above and beyond the world. For there are two foundations of truth, "one from the Word, and the other from nature".** This knowledge brings a double challenge, a double responsibility, and a double delight in matching these two and in seeing harmony and unity between them. New Church education seeks in two directions to find the truth and in so doing opens the mind to a new kind of satisfaction and delight.

494

For the Lord is both "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end."***
     * Ibid.
     ** SD 5709.
     *** Revelation 21: 6.
     New Testament truth is open-ended. It is the Lord challenging the mind-as should all New Church educators-to extend its thinking from the known to the unknown, from the things of time and space to the world of human states. This becomes increasingly evident in the Sermon on the Mount where the Lord compares His disciples to material things:

     "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? . . . Ye are the light of the world . . . Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto an that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven."*
     * Matthew 5: 13-16.

     Generally the disciples could see that they should share what they had been taught by the Lord with others and that these truths would change the flavor of life for all who would believe. But the Lord did not intend this truth to be limited to generals. The mind is to "enter into . . . [such] mysteries" - into their very particulars. If we can discover the properties of salt and light, we can know more of what the Lord meant. The more we know about salt, the more we know about light, the more we can come to know about these words of the Lord. (See a sermon by the Rev. N. H. Rogers-NEW CHURCH LIFE, November 1970-in which he goes into the particulars about salt and its correspondential implications.)
     From comparing individual things in the world-salt and light-to internal things, the mind is readied to see the internal truth in worldly things given in a connected series-in parables. In the Parable of the Sower, which now follows, to which the Lord Himself gives the spiritual sense, all the elements of spiritual growth are enumerated. The "Sower" is the Lord, the source and origin of all growth in both worlds. The "seed" is the truth of His Word. The "ground" is the human mind which is to hear and "understand." The forces of the "wicked one," 'the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches", are the hells working to pervert and destroy growth, but some seeds are received into "good ground" and bear fruit; a celestial "hundredfold," a spiritual "sixtyfold," or a natural "thirtyfold."
     This parable leads the mind to the conclusion that all nature is a parable! The more we know about growing things in the outside world -the connected series of facts about plant growth, the step-by-step development from seed to fruit whose "seed is in itself" and the powerful chemical changes by which the raw materials of the earth are made palatable, the more we can come to know about our own mental and spiritual development to which these things correspond.

495

     Botany is a study which can lead to intelligence in spiritual things. For, as the Writings teach, "there is nothing in the vegetable kingdom on earth which does not in some way represent the kingdom of the Lord [in the mind] . . . All the beautiful . . . things of the plant kingdom derive their origin from the Lord through heaven . . . and the vegetative soul or life is from this."* For this reason "those skilled in botany . . . come after death into the knowledge of the spiritual uses of this knowledge, and find the greatest delight in it";** - a delight which is now open to the minds of the church which learn to "consider the lilies how they grow! If then God so clothe the grass which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will He clothe you . . . ."***
     * AC 1632.
     ** AE 1214; see also AC 4529.
     *** 23 Luke 12: 28.
     Parables are followed by miracles, those unusual and surprising external acts which attracted men's attention so they might listen to and follow the Lord. From an insight into parables, that they are externals which contain internals, the mind is ready to see that miracles are simply parables in act, which reveal the powers and purposes of the Lord. Miracles are the Lord doing in the outside world what He wills to do in the inside world. They are the Lord acting on earth as He acts all the time in heaven. They are like the phenomena of the spiritual world, Memorable Relations, taking place on earth. The Lord multiplied loaves and fishes to show His will to multiply good loves and true thoughts. He turned water to wine as He wills to turn man's natural life into spiritual, and He healed diseases and raised men from death to show that the essential purpose of His coming is to heal and save.
     In the light of the Heavenly Doctrine, miracles become facts and facts become miracles. Miracles become spiritual facts because they reveal on earth what the Lord does in heaven. And facts become miracles originating in an influx from the Lord through the spiritual world. For the teaching is that

     "all things which are viewed in nature . . . take place from the influx of the spiritual world into the natural; and in themselves, are miracles; which on account of their accustomed aspect and perennial recurrence, are not accounted as miracles. But know that the miracles which are related in the Word were done in like manner by means of influx from [the spiritual] world . . . and that they were done by means of the bringing in of such things as are in the spiritual world into corresponding things in the natural world . . . as bread and fishes into the baskets of the apostles . . . and also the wine from heaven into the waterpots at the wedding . . . .

496

Miracles are of the Divine omnipotence according to the order of the influx of the spiritual world into the natural. . . ."*
     * De Mir. 60.
     "At this day . . . [however] manifest miracles have ceased, and miracles have succeeded which are unknown to man, and do not appear [to be miracles] but to those to whom the Lord reveals them. [This would seem to refer to those who know about the laws of influx from the Writings]. For all contingencies . . . are miracles, but are invisible and continual [ones]."*
     * SD 2433.

     When we know that everything the Lord did for men's bodies then reveals what He wills to do now for our minds and spirits, then we can see why miracles of healing are to receive special emphasis. For we are directly taught that ". . . the miracles of the Lord consisted chiefly of the healing of diseases."* That the real healing the Lord came on earth to perform is spiritual is dramatically shown when men brought one sick of the palsy to be healed, the Lord, speaking spiritually, said, "Son . . . thy sins be forgiven thee."** And when the scribes thought to themselves, "This man blasphemeth," He said, ". . . Whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise and walk."*** For to walk spiritually is to have sins forgiven. Shunning evils is the only means of making spiritual progress.
     * AC 8364.
     ** Matthew 9: 2, 5.
     *** Ibid.
     The study of the human body is to have a special place in New Church education not only its order and health, but the forces of disorder as well. The study of pathology-the forces which attack the body (and by implication all negative forces in our environment)-should have a special place in our education for these negative forces are ultimates which prepare the mind to understand the qualities of the hells. The teaching is that

     "By all the diseases [recorded in the Word] are signified spiritual diseases which are evils destroying the life of the will of good, and falsities destroying the life of the understanding of truth; in a word, destroying the spiritual life which is of faith and charity. Moreover every disease corresponds to its own evil; the reason is that everything of man's life is from the spiritual world; and therefore if his spiritual life sickens, evil is derived therefrom into the natural life also, and becomes a disease there. . . . Therefore by the diseases which the Lord healed is signified liberation from various kinds of evil and falsity which infested the church and the human race, and which would have led to spiritual death . . . . Therefore the Lord's miracles consisted chiefly in the healing of diseases. This is [what is] meant by the Lord's words to the disciples sent by John: 'Tell John the things which ye hear and see: the blind see, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead rise again and the poor hear the gospel.' (Matt. 11: 4, 5)."*
     * AC 8364.

497

     The individual diseases spoken of in the New Testament are open to indefinite extension, as is evident from a consideration of miracles related to blindness. Students should not be left with the impression that each case of blindness cured by the Lord is the same. They should be challenged: "How many kinds of blindness are there?" and led to discover there are forms of blindness which are more serious than others: a growth that clouds the cornea is not nearly so serious as damage to the retina or the optic nerve. Transposed to spiritual terms this means that the blindness of ignorance, or that which comes from the fallacies of the senses, is not nearly so serious as the damage caused by false ideas or an agnosticism which is unwilling to acknowledge truth.
     By miracles the Lord introduces the mind to the realities of His kingdom and this in far greater detail than is generally realized. For example, in raising Lazarus from death the Lord reveals what He does for all men, in raising them into the spiritual world and in raising them from natural life to spiritual.
     The Lord cried "Lazarus come forth" and charged them to "loose him and let him go," to unwind the grave clothes so he might see and be free. From personal experience Swedenborg was permitted to be as it were resuscitated from death. He testifies that "there was a pulling and drawing forth, as it were, of the interiors of my mind, thus of my spirit, from the body; and I was told that this is from the Lord, [the Lord calling 'come forth']."* As Lazarus was freed by the rolling off of grave clothes, so the angels who introduce new comers to eternal life "appear to roll off, as it were, a coat from the [face] . . . which represents the spirit's passing from natural thought to spiritual thought . . . . When the coat thus seems to have been rolled off there is . . . light . . . ."**
     * HH 449.
     ** HH 449, 450.

     From the sight and knowledge of miracles of resurrection on earth and in the spiritual world the mind is prepared to understand what the Lord is working to accomplish internally every moment of our lives, namely: to elevate us from natural to spiritual life. The teaching is, "In proportion as the mind can be withdrawn from sensuous things . . . it is elevated to spiritual and celestial things."* "It is peculiar to man, as distinguished from beasts, that he can be elevated to heaven and to the Lord by the Lord, and thus be led; all those are thus elevated who love what is good and true for their own sake . . . ."** This elevation from the world to heaven, this introduction to internal life, fulfills both the miracles of the New Testament and the miracles of the Writings. It is the primary goal of New Church education.
     * HH 465e.
     ** AC 10284: 3.

498

     The New Testament is the Lord Himself addressing the mind that is becoming rational. It is the Lord Himself introducing the mind to rational thought concerning the Word, the world, His kingdom and Himself. For these reasons it is a model of how all minds should be challenged and led from externals to internals, from an understanding of the world in which we live to an understanding of the eternal world in which we are to live. By precept and example, by parable and miracle, which relate to all subjects on the curriculum the Lord uses external knowledge and experience as the rungs of a ladder by which the mind is to climb to internal knowledge and life-a Jacob's ladder-connecting the earth with heaven itself and reaching to the very feet of the Lord.
     When we follow the example of the New Testament, systematically comparing what can be discovered and known in the outside world with what is revealed about the inside world, we best prepare the minds under our care for the intellectual endeavor which lies at the heart of our movement "to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith";* - mysteries of the Word and mysteries of the world. And this free spirit of discovery, this as-of-self investigation, of the relation between external and internal things is most stimulating, most challenging, and most satisfying to the human mind. For the delight of relating both worlds, of seeing the spiritual in the natural, of seeing the mind and spirit in and by means of the body, and the body by means of the mind "and from both together perceiving proof,"** is the unique privilege and power of education in the light of the Heavenly Doctrine. It is because external and internal things can be brought together, because our minds can see internals from externals and externals in the light of internals, that it is said: "The Lord has loved our earth more than others . . . . Because some bring with them such knowledges [as those in the New Testament] from revelation; wherefore the Lord has loved our earth more than others; for, to the end the order may be perfect, celestial and spiritual truths ought to be enrooted in natural truths."***
     * TCR 508.
     ** DLW 413.
     *** SD 1531.
PRAISE THE LORD! 1972

PRAISE THE LORD! 1972

O praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise Him all ye people: for His merciful kindness is great toward us; and the truth of the Lord is forever. Praise ye the Lord! (Psalm 117)

499

DOCTRINE OF PERMISSIONS 1972

DOCTRINE OF PERMISSIONS Rev. PETER M. BUSS 1972

     A SERIES

3. THE LORD STILL GOVERNS

     So far, only one side of the picture has been shown. We have seen that the Lord does not provide evil situations and that He does not will them, but He must permit them for the sake of freedom. Having permitted them, how does He then control them?
     He does not provide them-that is, they are not His Providence. We note Parenthetically that the power of evil comes from the fact that the Lord gives to men power; but it is man's abuse, not the Lord's. The Writings say that evil "exists out of the Divine from others who are opposed to the Divine":* a rather powerful phrase which makes us realize that the things which are evil are done against the Lord, and so He could hardly be expected to have willed them. Thus also the Lord on earth could tell Pilate: "Thou couldst have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above."**
     * AC 5195.
     ** John 19: 11.
     The distinction is made that He does not provide evil, He foresees it:* therefore the Lord has providence as to good, and foresight as to evil. The simplest explanation of this is that the Lord is not doing the good, so He sees it as something outside of Himself, as it were. Of course, the Lord doesn't foresee, as we think of it. All is present to Him, and He continues to provide the good, but with infinite wisdom, so that the good will be provided whatever the state of the man. One may think of it as the Lord's having provided from eternity that His good can be received, whatever state the man has fallen into; and therefore He has foreseen from eternity any and all states that are opposed to good, and already adapted them to suit the workings of His Providence. This would appear to be the meaning of the statement that the Lord has foreseen all the states of the human race "from eternity."**
     * AC 3854: 2; 10781; 5195.
     ** AC 3854.
     Once the evil has been foreseen, then, the Lord's work is, as always, unchangeably, to provide good, within that state.* This consists of the directing of evil away from its own intention, which is a headlong plunge into the lowest hell; and of providing that at every moment there can be a turning to some good.

500

Thus we find a definition of "providence in respect of evil" as being "nothing else but the direction or determination of evil to what is less evil, and as much as possible to good."**
     * AC 5155; SD 1088.
     ** AC 5155.
     We can return to previous examples to illustrate this. The good within punishment is that the innocent are protected.* Worship by burnt offerings of lambs, and calves, and so on, which is offensive in itself, was permitted so that some worship might remain among sensuous people, and, hopefully, a deeper worship be introduced later.** Temptations, of course, are a fine example, since in the temptation, which has been initiated by the evil spirits, the Lord is able to turn all their attacks to the good end of confirming a man in his choice of heaven, and in his trust in the Lord.***
     * AC 592, 2447.
     ** AC 2180: 7.
     *** AC 6663.
     Note that none of the evils originated with the Lord. The punishment, the sacrifice, the temptation, had their origin in evil; but some good was the Divine effect within such a state.

     The vital point here is that the evil the devils intend never fully comes to pass! What they want is a complete destruction of a man, and what they also want is complete domination of him. These are their intentions, that is, the evil they then purpose. The Lord does not permit that. "For if the foreseen intentions of evil spirits were permitted it would lead to the destruction of men and of souls; wherefore the things intended by evil spirits are bent into such things as are permitted."* This is so also of what men on earth purpose. Often in anger they see an end, and although they may appear successful in compassing another man's ruin or unhappiness, it is a shallow victory, for the Lord is able to provide that the unhappiness is only temporary. We can see this most clearly in the case of murder from hatred. What the murderer intends is total destruction of the individual. But what has he accomplished? He has forced the removal of the outer garment of man's spirit, and the man himself enters the spiritual world completely unharmed, and beyond further harm.
     * SD 1088. Cf. SD 401, 418; DP 296: 7.
     Evil men can do only temporary harm. That we must come to see. The harm may be of a deep nature; it may be termed, and rightly so, a lasting harm, in the perspective of the world. In the eyes of God it is still temporary. Here we come to assessments of what the Lord will not permit, and what is the character of that which He does permit. The general teaching is found in the statement that the Divine Providence regards eternal things above merely temporal things.

501

In this case, we may understand this to mean that the Lord will allow a temporary unhappiness but He will not allow an eternal one; and we can also say that He will permit a temporary one, for the sake of freedom, and still preserve the man's eternal lot intact.
     Let us take some general ideas before going to examples. The appearance has easily arisen that the church says that the Lord does not care about temporal unhappiness, that we shrug off calamities with the observation that the Lord will look after the sufferer in the after-life. I recall vividly the comment of a doctor who said he had become an unbeliever, partly because of the terrible suffering he had seen in hospitals, but more because of the callous and sanctimonious attitude affected by priests, who made it appear that God did not care if these little things went on as long as His big plans were not harmed! We must not think that way. "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?"* The Lord is infinite love. Can we think of Him that He does not feel as sensitively as we do the sufferings of all people? That is what we are suggesting, if we question His particular care. The Lord, who has one aim only, the happiness of each soul, wills that no pain or anguish shall befall any one of His creatures: that is why He has provided a heaven, in which such things will never again happen. And-we tend to forget this-He made the world that way too, but we fouled things up! -or our ancestors did.
     * Matthew 7: 11.
     When there is evil, or unhappiness, or sickness or great pain, therefore, we ought to say to ourselves that the Lord desires this even less than we do; but that the laws for our salvation have to permit such things. Then we can appreciate the first point: that it would have been better had it not happened. From that point, we can proceed, since it had to happen, to see what good can come from it.

     It Would Have Been Better Had It Not Happened

     Let us remind ourselves of the point made earlier that most things are not of the Divine will: many come from lower degrees of the Divine Providence. Especially if something comes from permission, which the Lord does not will, we are able to say: It would have been better had it not happened. This is the same as saving, the Lord did not want it to happen. He permitted it, as one unwilling. With this as a background, we can see what the Lord then provides in the way of good.
     Temporal unhappiness the Lord permits: eternal harm, He does not permit. With this as a central concept, we can assume that the Lord will never allow an evil man to force a good man, through any ruses, to go to hell, when he would otherwise have gone to heaven.

502

He may make him unhappy. He may lead him to do some wrong things: but the Lord will not allow that the good man lose his freedom to go to the heaven to which he wills to go.
We may go further, and say that the Lord will not allow a good man to be forced to go to a lower heaven than he would have chosen without the influence of evil from outside. This also would be a thwarting of the Divine Providence to some degree, which is impossible. I would speculate, however, and it seems a fair speculation, that we may bruise a sensitivity to some of the loves in the same degree but always there is a compensation. In other words, a man who teaches his child to love fighting and violence cannot stop that child from learning the truth as an adult, and rejecting violence, and coming into, say, the spiritual heaven. What he will have robbed the child of will have been states of innocence, during his childhood, in which he could perceive certain qualities of gentleness-a matter of continuous degree. However, in compensation for this, the child (now an angel) will have learned at first hand a quality of evil which those raised more gently could not perceive, and would be more aware of many states, from a knowledge of their opposites, than would others. He has lost, certainly, and it was a great wickedness that his father should have deprived him of these things, and almost certainly through it given him many years of unhappiness. The Lord has caused him to gain something else in place of his losses; and who can count the value of each, and weigh them in the balance?

With these thoughts in mind, then, let us take an example of a man who died as the result of a motor accident, which was the fault of the other driver, and left a wife and several children. We must feel for those who are left behind, for we know that the Lord did not will that such a disorderly exit from this earth take place. Nor can we say that the Lord willed that the man leave this earth at that particular time, since it seems that the only death the Lord wills is that of old age."* It would have been better, much better, had it not taken place; but if the Lord disallowed certain things, then the freedom of all would be destroyed. It would have been better, in the short run. I believe that the burden of the Word's teachings on this subject is that husband and wife and children, will know temporary sorrow, not eternal loss; and therefore we may rightly conclude that, perhaps fifty years later, when the wife has lived out her life on earth, they will meet once more, and enter into the same degree of heaven into which they would have come had they remained together on earth-as the Lord willed them to remain!

503

During that fifty years, the wife especially would have known sorrow, and a sense of loss, which the Lord did not will upon her; but once it had to be permitted, He provided that through the separation other things could be provided which would make up for their loss. So they would enter heaven no poorer: a little different, but facing the same eternal joy.
     * AC 5726.
     It is hard to think, in times of loss, about eternal joy; hard to resign oneself to the fact that someone we love will come to us in forty years' time perhaps, and only then may we be sure that he or she will never leave us again. It is the tragedy of evil which the Lord must permit that these things come to be. But it is the wonder of the Lord's Providence that despite all evil, He provides through misfortune new values, new joys and loves to make up for what was lost, so that we may find contentment over those years in working towards, building towards, and looking towards that final reunion.
     If things were perfect, there would be no temporal unhappiness either. But since things are not perfect, the second best is that there be only some temporal unhappiness, and none that is eternal-unless the man himself insists on it.

     (To be concluded.)
EDUCATIONAL COUNCIL, AUGUST 14-18, 1972 1972

EDUCATIONAL COUNCIL, AUGUST 14-18, 1972 DAVID R. SIMONS 1972

     A grand turnout of teachers (110) enjoyed a most interesting, stimulating and useful set of meetings. These spanned the range from how to teach rhythm to children to understanding how Divine Providence works in human events.
     Each day began with one in a series of well-studied lectures on "Cause in Human Events" given by a priest-layman team of Academy teachers - the Rev. Daniel W. Goodenough, Jr., and Mr. David J. Roscoe. To have clear doctrine thoroughly illustrated by historical example-the combination of theory and practicality-made this an outstanding presentation. (Some of these lectures will be published in NEW CHURCH LIFE next year.)
     A series of classes by the Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr on "Sensual Scientifics in New Church Education" was given in four evening sessions and, as has become our custom, visitors from the Bryn Athyn Society were invited to attend. The response to this series was very full.

504

     The Rev. Alfred Acton II gave an unusual series of two lectures on "Education for Marriage" in which he showed a connection between the opening Memorable Relation in Conjugial Love (no. 2, et seq.) and the various ideas of marriage in the minds of youth. (At its business meeting the Council voted that a committee be formed to continue this study.)
     Mr. Richard Show's fascinating presentation of the place of rhythm in music, in which we all had to participate; Dr. Robert W. Gladish's careful, unique and humorous analysis of "Grading," which brought much discussion; and my own application of methods used in the New Testament "The Challenge of the New Testament," given to the British Assembly and published in this issue; helped to round out the program.

     For the first time there was a meeting of the headmasters with the Curriculum Committee heads for the purpose of setting up guidelines for the further development of curricula in the General Church. It was felt that priority should be given to clarifying and consolidating the Religion Curriculum since all other subjects should be qualified by this core-subject of our schools. It was also felt that the developmental work done in each of our schools should be shared and that it should be sent to the office of the Educational Assistant to the Bishop for circulation to our schools.
     On Tuesday, Mr. Erland J. Brock, head of the Science Committee, who had already reported to the entire Council on the work of the Committee, met with the headmasters. This opened up a useful dialogue on the problems involved in developing curricula and in having the things developed implemented in the various schools of the Church.
     To stimulate thought and discussion related to the informal classroom a movie, "Children Are People," was shown. Professor Richard R. Gladish introduced the film, saying that the "Open School" is being hailed over the traditional school because student response and interest have been so remarkable. A lively discussion of the pros and cons of these informal ways of doing things followed the showing of this film. Many felt that we should beware of adopting these innovations and sincerely questioned the fundamental philosophy behind such "child-centered" educational procedures. Others argued for the increased scope and development of human potentialities made possible by means of these methods. It is not a subject to be dismissed lightly, or a technique to be condemned without careful study on the part of school administrators as well as individual teachers.

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(At the business meeting it was voted that a committee be formed to study the "Open School" concept and its implications for New Church education. The committee is to report back to the Council, in two years time, as we do not hold meetings in Assembly years.)

     At our daily luncheons at the Civic and Social Club we were entertained with reports on serious matters embellished with the humor after-dinner speakers love to exhibit. The Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh gave a summary of a visitation of a committee of ministers to the Education Department of the Academy, a new experiment carried out last year which proved to be helpful and informative to the improvement of our teacher education program. The Rev. Donald Rose-in an act that would be impossible to follow-gave an account of the British Summer School, a most useful tool in building the Church with young people. The Rev. Alfred Acton II brought us up to date on the activities of the Glenview schools; and the Rev. Frank Rose, with similar Rose humor, spoke of his work with the school in Caryndale (see NEW CHURCH EDUCATION, September 1972). Mr. Garry Hyatt was the toastmaster at our final luncheon. He had a delightful program which wound up with the giving of gifts to our major program speakers and to the Rev. Alfred Acton II, the retiring chairman of the Program Committee.
     At our business meeting Bishop Willard D. Pendleton announced that the Rev. Louis B. King had accepted appointment as Chairman of the Program Committee of the Educational Council for its meetings in the summer of 1974. We then heard reports from the standing curriculum committees of the Council. We learned that a Handbook on Art, written by Mrs. Hyland Johns, Jr., Mrs. Pelle Rosenquist and Mr. Yorvar E. Synnestvedt-which is no doubt one of the most complete curricular presentations done for our schools in recent years-will soon be available. Appreciation for this work was expressed.
     DAVID R. SIMONS
          Secretary
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

506

LAUGHTER 1972

LAUGHTER Rev. VICTOR J. GLADISH 1972

     Who has not enjoyed laughter or been disturbed by it? But how much understanding is there of its nature or its causes? Professor Henri Bergson in an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic, has said: "What does laughter mean? What is the basal element in the laughable? . . . The greatest of thinkers, from Aristotle downwards, have tackled this little problem, which has a knack of baffling every effort, of slipping away and escaping, only to bob up again, a pert challenge flung at philosophic speculation."* The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines laughter as "the visible and audible expression of mirth, pleasure or the sense of the ridiculous by movements of the facial muscles and inarticulate sounds." Dictionaries say similar things, mentioning scorn as one of the things that can be expressed by laughter, and tracing the derivation of the word from older languages where the word used attempts to imitate the sound of one laughing.
     * Laughter. Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1921, p. 1.
     But in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem we are given Divine revelation as to the origin and causes of laughter. In connection with the words concerning Abraham in the 17th chapter of Genesis, "and laughed," it is written:

     "That this signifies the affection of truth may be seen from the origin and essence of laughter, for its origin is nothing but the affection of truth, or else the affection of falsity, from which come the cheerfulness and gladness that in laughter display themselves in the face, which shows that the essence of laughter is nothing else. Laughter is indeed an external thing that belongs to the body because to the face; but in the Word interior things are expressed and signified by exterior things; just as all the interior affections of the mind are expressed and signified by means of the face . . . . In man's rational mind there is truth, which is its chief characteristic, and there is also the affection of good, but this is in the very affection of truth as its soul. The affection of good which is in the rational does not display itself by means of laughter, but by means of a certain joy and consequent pleasurable delight which does not laugh; for in laughter there is commonly something that is not entirely good."*
     * AC 2072: 2.

     In a later number of the Arcana we are told: "It is . . . the affection of truth or of falsity in the rational that is the source of all laughter.

507

As long as there is in the rational such an affection as displays itself in laughter, there is in it something corporeal or worldly and thus merely human."* Before we quote further from this passage, let it be noted in regard to the phrase "there is something merely human" in the rational as long as there is such an affection as displays itself in laughter, that what is treated of is the Lord's putting off the human and putting on the Divine, and that the laughter of Abraham and Sarah-who represent certain qualities in this stage of the Lord's glorification-signified a state of the rational not yet in harmony with the Divine rational. This is the case with the incredulous laughter when the birth of Isaac in their old age was foretold. Nevertheless, Isaac, whose name means laughter, represents that Divine rational, product of the glorification, which was the goal of the Incarnation. With this setting of the teaching in mind, let us return and reflect on the remainder of the teaching.
     * AC 2216.

     "Celestial good and spiritual good do not laugh, but express their delight and cheerfulness in the face, the speech and the gesture in another way; for there are very many things in laughter, for the most part something of contempt, which, even if it does not appear, nevertheless lies underneath; and laughter is easily distinguished from cheerfulness of the mind [or joyousness of the animus, hilaritas animi] which also produces something like laughter."

     Laughter and articulate speech are companion signs of the human soul, the rational mind; laughter expressing the affection of the rational, and speech its intellectual part.

     "As articulate speech expresses in form every definite thought, so laughter expresses every phase of human emotion as it conjoins itself with thought. A laughing animal is the height of mockery; there is nothing so unnatural, unreasonable or shocking as the sound of laughter in which there is no soul, no definite thought, no human affection."*
     * N. D. Pendleton, NEW CHURCH LIFE 1924, p. 197.

     In Swedenborg's Spiritual Diary or Memorabilia, laughter is referred to in a passage on the speech and thought of angelic spirits. We read:

     "From whatever affection they think, as from a sigh, from a laugh, and so forth, in that thing there may be latent multitudes of other things simultaneously present and inhering; for each thing of the kind, as a laugh for instance, exists from many causes, and in these causes inhere also, as a formative power, the causes of causes, which are unknown to man, and can never be explored."*
     * SD 4140.

     We cannot know these causes of causes, but we can distinguish many things in laughter.

508

     "Consider the affections that may be unmistakably expressed by laughter. Sometimes the affection of joy, and then of sadness. Sometimes there is indignation, or maybe incredulity. Most often, perhaps, we laugh because of something which strikes the rational mind as ridiculous, which amusingly distorts its sense of proportion or relation-a play upon words or ideas that leads to an unexpected conclusion, a double meaning, one of which is as not intended, but in the end is clearly revealed as the real intent. It is always something which challenges a rational, if not always serious, interpretation."*
     * N. D. Pendleton, NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1924, p. 198.

     As indicated at the outset, philosophers have put forward many theories as to the causes of laughter. One would find the cause in the observation of any awkwardness or deformity in others that tends to heighten our self-esteem. Reflection, to say nothing of the teachings of the Writings, will show that this could not account for all forms of laughter. Professor Bergson, in a series of investigations into laughter the sense of the comic, wit, humor, etc., concluded that he had found the underlying cause for all of them in the person's perception of the substitution of mere mechanism for the adaptive pliancy that rightly belongs to man and to nature. To quote one of his statements of the case: "The rigid, the ready-made, the mechanical, in contrast with the supple, the everchanging and the living, absentmindedness in contrast with attention, in a word, automatism in contrast with free activity, such are the defects that laughter singles out and would fain correct."* It will be seen that Bergson sees the mechanical imposed on the living human not only as the cause of laughter but also as the instinctive response of society to repair defects. While the New Church man cannot concede that he has the whole story, he can see a kinship between the teaching that the affection of truth in the rational is one of the causes of laughter, and the perception of automatism in contrast with free activity as a cause.
     * Laughter, p. 130.
     My application of the teaching of the Heavenly Doctrine is as follows. There is a delight from any affection of truth or of falsity in the rational mind, and this does not necessarily have an impulse toward laughter; but when this perception that stirs the affection stands out in strong contrast to something opposite or incongruous, then there is a strong impulse to ultimation which tends inherently to some species of smile or laughter. To put the matter more briefly: whenever the delight from the exercise of the rational faculty is strong enough-by reason of the clearness of the rational distinction in the intellect, and the force of the love for rational distinctions in that individual-to stir all the successive emotions down to the ultimate ones of the animus, then laughter is produced. It should be borne in mind that either the affection of truth or the affection of falsity can be the origin of laughter, and that a man in an evil state does not love falsity because he believes it to be false but because it is that in which the affections of his will delight.

509

     There are interesting references to laughter in Swedenborg's philosophical work, The Economy of the Animal Kingdom. He says that "Hilarity, gladness and laughter promote the descent of the spirituous fluid [purest blood] from the brain into the red blood."* And in a later passage:
     * EAK 361.

     "Gladness itself, with its free expression in laughter, is the more perfect in proportion as it proceeds from a contented intellectual mind, and this again from a good conscience; and when a good conscience reigns in the various things that follow beneath it in succession, nothing in the whole world can be more full of a sense of enjoyment and delight. Thus it is that we attain to the supreme good."*
     * EAK 649.

     When New Church men discuss the subject of laughter the question often comes up, "Do angels laugh?" The question is less easily answered, because in Latin the same word is used for laugh as for smile; which is meant has to be determined by the context. There are several places in the Writings where angels are spoken of as smiling, or laughing, according to the interpretation, on which different translators do not always agree. There is an account in True Christian Religion concerning Swedenborg on which, I believe, the translators agree. A satan come up into the world of spirits was treating with scorn the idea of any life after death, or any other religious belief. Swedenborg writes: "I could no longer keep from laughing; and I said, 'Satan, you are raving mad. . . . Recall to mind that you have lived in another world which you have forgotten.'"* There is food for thought in the fact that we are told concerning celestial angels that all things before their eyes laugh, play and are alive.**
     * TCR 80.
     ** HH 489: 3.
     I will cite one spiritual world account in which the Latin word has been translated both ways - "laughed" and "smiled." You can see whether it makes much difference to the situation. In one of the Memorable Relations which introduce the work Conjugial Love we are told about one of the men in the world of spirits who had convinced themselves that once they were admitted into heaven by Divine grace they would breathe in pleasure, enjoyment and happiness with each breath. Because of his ardent desire, and for the instruction of others, he was permitted to ascend into heaven. He relates:

     "I saw angels in white raiment, and they came about me and examined me, and murmured, 'Lo, a new guest not clad in the garments of heaven.' . . . And I said, 'Give me such a garment.' And they laughed.

510

Then one came running from the court with the command, 'Strip him naked, cast him out, and throw his garments after him.' And so I was cast out."*
     * CL 10: 2.

     I have followed at least one translator in using the word, "laughed"; but whether the angels gave a kindly laugh or a commiserating smile, the man who was not at all prepared for heaven had to be cast out.
     In Swedenborg's Rational Psychology there is an interesting view of physiological aspects of laughter. We are told that by a state of gladness the cerebrum is rendered tranquil, refreshed and vivified. Then:

     "In addition to this subtle contremiscence, there springs up also a vibration that is more manifest, namely, laughter; for the cerebrum leaps and oscillates, not unlike as do the lungs, the trachea, articulate sounds, the face and joints of the body. This is called laughter. The gladness is an affection of the internal sensory or cerebrum, and it cannot exist without an inmost gladness of the internal sensory and the reflection of its intellect. Hence it cannot exist except in man, since, for its existence, the mind must perceive the cause of the gladness, and must see a present happiness or foresee a future. Then, from inmosts, it breaks out into a tremulous effect."*
     * Rat. Psych. 201.

     Another interesting sidelight on laughter and the things involved in it is presented by a Memorable Relation in Conjugial Love. It is told at the outset how Swedenborg heard a strange noise in the world of spirits in which there was something of laughter, and in the laughter something of indignation, and in the indignation something of sadness. Nevertheless the noise was not dissonant but consonant, because one tone was not together with the other, but within it. This sound was preliminary to a gathering of the wise in the world of spirits before whom were brought newcomers from earth who thought that heaven consisted of eternal idleness. They were instructed by the presiding officer of the assembly on the uses of heaven, and that life required activity, not idleness.*
     * CL 207.
     One encyclopedia, after outlining the theories of several philosophers as to the cause and origin of laughter, says that, "At first sight it seems unlikely that any uniform explanation will fit all the facts." The theories of Spenser, Hobbes, Freud, McDougall and Bergson have been cited. Of these men, only McDougall and Bergson attempt to make one explanation fit all forms of laughter. We have seen a summary of Bergson's theory. McDougall's is as to the uses of laughter rather than its causes. He says that laughter has the psychological effect of breaking up trains of thought and sustained activities, and the physiological effect of stimulating the respiration and circulation and raising the blood pressure.

511

As to whether one "uniform explanation can fit all the facts," it seems that it is a matter of whether the explanation goes deeply enough into cause and origin. If the origin is seen as an "affection of truth or an affection of what is false in the rational" of a man, there can be unlimited shadings of good affections and of evil affections that can come forth in the divergent forms of laughter.
     Although thought and the intellect play such an important part in laughter, it should be borne in mind that it is an affection which laughter expresses. This could be perceived merely from the way the face lights up in laughter, or in a smile which is related to it. Also, remember the statement in Arcana 2072 that in man's rational the affection of good is within the affection of truth as its very soul.
     To those who emphasize the evil origin of most laughter, it could be pointed out that there is such a thing as an affectionate laugh. Whether this occurs only when stirred by some sense of proprietorship, relationship, to the subject of the laugh, is an open question. Another phenomenon that could be considered is the gleeful laugh of babes.
     To make an investigation into all things connected with laughter, such as wit, humor, the sense of the comic and satire, is beyond the aim and scope of this treatment. Suffice it to point out that while various philosophers and investigators have examined all the phenomena mentioned, and offered theories as to the psychology involved, the Heavenly Doctrine goes more deeply and reveals the fundamental cause lying in the nature of the human mind.
HARVEST 1972

HARVEST 1972

The "harvest" signifies the last state of the church, when the old church has been laid waste, that is, when there is no longer any good or truth left in it that has not been falsified or cast aside. . . . That all things pertaining to natural nourishment signify such things as pertain to spiritual nourishment has been shown above in many places, namely, wheat, barley, oil, wine and the like; and the things that pertain to spiritual nourishment have reference in general to good and truth and knowledges of them, thus to doctrine and to a life according to these knowledges. (Apocalypse Explained 911: 8, 14)

512

REVIEW 1972

REVIEW N. BRUCE ROGERS 1972

     PENTATEUCH. A translation of the first five books of the Old Testament prepared by a Committee of the      General Conference of the New Church. Published by the General Conference, London, 1970. 355 pages. Cloth, L1.50, Paper, L1.00.

     Many years and the work of many hands have gone into producing this translation. As we learn from the Editors' Preface: "The General Conference of the New Church first elected a Committee to translate the Word in 1892." Its purpose was to produce a "Version in modern English which yet would be made in the light of the Church's knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word." Nevertheless the work progressed slowly, and although the General Conference published a version of Genesis in 1912, it was not until 1960 that a translation of the Pentateuch* was completed. This was then revised by a team of editors** as English style had changed since the work was first begun and the Hebrew texts on which the translation had been based had been supplanted by newer ones, apparently more representative of the authentic (Massoretic) text.
     * From the Greek, Pentateuchos, the "Five Books," also called the Torah (Heb., Law) and the (five) books of Moses. Comprises Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
     ** The Rev. Messrs. Dennis Duckworth, Herbert G. Mongredien and Norman Ryder.
     The result at long last is, to our knowledge, and with the exception of Genesis, the only published translation of the Word in any of its parts (apart from what is found in the Writings) made by New Church men suitable for general use in worship and study.* It is bound in a red-orange cloth cover with gold lettering (perhaps a little less elegant than we might have wished), and includes an Editors' Preface, a Note on the Divine Name (more on this later), a brief list of abbreviations used in footnotes, and a list of "variations between the traditional English and Hebrew numbering of chapters and verses." This last is of special interest as such variations do occur (for example, Exodus 8: 1-32 in the traditional English is Exodus 7: 26-8: 28 in the Hebrew), and this is the only place we have seen such a list.**

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The Editors' Preface provides background information on the undertaking of the work, the aims and principles which governed it, the texts on which it was based, the style of language used in the translation, and the debt owed to the many who served in producing it.
     * Interlinear versions of the Pentateuch, Daniel, Ezra and the New Testament were published some time ago by Dr. L. Tafel, Dr. R. L. Tafel and Prof. L. H. Tafel; but their extremely literal form, word for word with the Hebrew and Greek, make them of special use to scholars rather than to the general public, for whom they were never intended.
     ** The present translation follows the traditional English numbering.
     Regarding the style the Editors comment:

     "Of the many forms of expression that have become archaic since the publication of the King James Version, and have been replaced by modern forms, the most obvious ones are thou, thee, thy, and thine, and the associated verb endings, -est, -edst, -eth, and -th. Though still generally intelligible, these forms are not now commonly used, and in the present Version they are not used in speech between human beings or in narrative. After much thought, the Editors resolved to maintain this usage in speech by man to the Divine as a token of its special nature. Where the Lord speaks to man, however, modern forms have been used, in the belief that the Divine speaks to man in language readily understood by him, a point best shown by the use of modern style."

     We welcome this modern style, both in Divine speech and in the general narrative. There will no doubt be those, raised with the King James Version and accustomed to its style, who will find it strange and somehow "not really biblical"; but for ourselves we find it more readable and more intelligible. It does seem a little curious that "the Editors resolved to maintain [an archaic] usage in speech by man to the Divine": we doubt that we would have come to the same resolve; but in actual reading this is not something that arrests attention or otherwise distracts from the continuing sense.
     The Editors further comment:

     "Much of the Pentateuch is technical material relating to the institutions and ceremonies of the Hebrews. Inevitably, literary style is difficult to achieve with such material. The Editors have felt bound to strive first for clarity in such passages, and style has had to be relegated to second place. For the remainder of the Pentateuch, however, the Editors have not restricted themselves to transmutation from Hebrew to English. Translation of the Divine Word is as much a translation of ideas as it is a translation of words."

     We applaud the priority of clarity over style, but we are a little uneasy with the statements that follow. On the one hand we are tempted to agree that translation must be one of ideas; but we are mindful also of the statement in the Arcana that "in the Word one expression is never taken for another, but that expression is constantly used which properly expresses the thing being spoken of."*

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In translating the Word, therefore, we would have given high priority to the consistent translation of words-not at the expense of clarity, to be sure, lack of clarity is of little use to anyone-but as something more important than literary style. We wonder why, for instance, the Conference Committee chose to translate the same Hebrew word, ra'ah, in three different ways, as "feed" (Genesis 37: 2), "graze" (37: 12), and "pasture" (37: 13), all within the same twelve verses. Surely this kind of thing was not necessary?
     * AC 621.

     In general, however, the reader will find this translation for the most part faithful to the original, and, in fact, not remarkably different from the King James Version, other than in the elimination of archaisms. Verses are not set off individually as in the King James Version, but the text is arranged in paragraphs (though verses and chapters are indicated), and poetic sections are treated as such. Both of these we find improvements, adding to the readability of the Divine text. Personal and possessive pronouns referring to the Divine are not capitalized. This follows other Bible versions, but differs from the customary capitalizing in both Swedenborg Society and Swedenborg Foundation translations of the Writings, and for that matter in most New Church publications. Again, we wonder why the Committee chose the practice they did; we would have preferred the customary capitalization.
     One notable improvement in this translation-an improvement over just about all others-is the rendering of the Divine name as a name instead of the traditional rendering as LORD or GOD,* which, as the Editors say, is not a translation but a substitution. This translation renders it as "Yehowah" or "Yehowih"** ; and without commenting on our view of the vocalization and its history, these are, as the Editors also point out, faithful renderings in transliterated form of what appears in the Massoretic text. Moreover, in pronunciation they correspond closely to the "Jehovah" and "Jehovih" of the Writings,*** which Swedenborg always used in translating and referring to the Divine name in the Old Testament.

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The Committee's rendering, therefore, would seem a clear improvement over the traditional rendering, both from the standpoint of the Hebrew text and from the point of view of a reader of the Writings.
     * LORD for Y'HoWaH (English, Jehovah), and GOD for YeHoWiH (English, Jehovih), in the phrase LORD GOD. See the following note.
     ** Hebrew letters are consonants (with only few exceptions representing an initial attempt at vocalization by using certain consonantal letters to represent vowels). The Divine name is thus represented in Hebrew by the equivalent of YHWH (consonants only). The Massoretes, later developed in the 6th to 9th century A. D., a complete system of vocalization by the use of points and marks which they added to the text. YHWH they vocalized as Y'HoWaH, or, when used with Adonai (Lord), as YeHoWiH. Many scholars, however, think these vowels spurious, borrowed from Adonai (Lord) and Elohim (God), respectively, and would vocalize the tetragrammaton as YaHWeH.
     *** There is no "Y" in Latin. "J" was so pronounced classically, and would have been so pronounced by Swedenborg, who was a Swede. Likewise there is no "W" in Latin; "V" was so pronounced classically, and might also perhaps have been so pronounced by Swedenborg.

     Other improvements include updating of language to convey the sense better, at times more literal translation so as to avoid the imposition of modern conceptions, and adherence in places where the Hebrew is ambiguous to interpretations made in the Writings. Examples of updating: "I will make for him a helper suited to him," rather than "a help meet for him"*; "but Jacob was a man of integrity" rather than "a plain man"**; and "Jacob boiled soup" rather than "sod pottage."*** Examples of more literal (and more historically honest) translation: "Cush" rather than "Ethiopia."**** (The identification of Cush as Ethiopia is uncertain): and "I will go down to my son in Sheol," rather than "into the grave."***** Finally, and perhaps more interesting, examples of adherence to the Writings when the Hebrew is ambiguous: "And they heard Yehowah God's voice going to and fro in the garden," applying the participle to "voice" where most other translations apply it to "God."****** " I have gained a man, Yehowah," where others have "with the Lord" or "with the help of the Lord"*******; and the translation (usually) of 'adham as "man" rather than "Adam" and of 'ishsha as "woman" (in places) rather than "wife."
     * Genesis 2: 18.
     ** Genesis 25: 27. Correct rendering with respect to both the Hebrew and the Arcana.
     *** Genesis 25: 29. Though we would have preferred as better still, "and Jacob cooked a stew,"           which follows the Arcana rendering a little more closely and-we think-better suggests the                 internal sense. (Hebrew, literally, "and Jacob stewed a stew.")
     **** Genesis 2: 13.
     ***** Genesis 37: 35.
     ****** Genesis 3: 8. Cf. AC 218. The Hebrew is ambiguous.
     ******* Genesis 4: 1. Cf. AC 338. Although in this translation "Yehowah" could unfortunately be mistakenly construed as a vocative rather than an appositive to "a man," as it should be, it nevertheless follows, or attempts to follow, the Arcana rendering. Again, the Hebrew is ambiguous.

     Treatment of the last two, however, is inconsistent. "Man" for 'adham is the usual rendering, following the Arcana,* but in certain places we still find Adam.** Actually we are in sympathy with this, despite the insistence of the Arcana on always translating it as homo or "man" because there does seem to be something of a distinction made in the Hebrew.

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Usually the term 'adham is preceded by a definite article, indicating a proper translation as "the man"***; but sometimes the definite article is omitted, indicating a proper name. As for the rendering 'ishsha, this can mean "woman" or "wife," and the Arcana translates it sometimes one way, sometimes the other, according to context. So the Conference Committee translates: "And Sarai . . . took Hagar . . . and she gave her to be a woman for Abram her husband," where the King James Version has "to be his wife."**** Here the Committee's translation is obviously the correct one, and it also agrees with the translation specified by the Arcana.***** In other places, however, the Committee translates the word as "wife" where the Arcana has mulier or "woman,"****** and this even in one place, referring to Rebekah, where the Arcana makes a point of specifying a translation as "woman."*******
     * See specifically AC 478.
     ** See Genesis 4: 25, 5: 3, 4, 5.
     *** Once or twice we find simply l'adham, "to" 'adham; but this could be construed as a Massoretic error for la'adham, "to the man," as apparently supposed by the Conference Committee.
     **** Genesis 16: 3.
     ***** See AC 1907. Hagar was never Abram's "wife," with the relationship that term implies.
     ****** E.g., in Genesis 24: 3, 4, 7, 37, 38, 40, 51, 67; 25: 20, 21.
     ***** Genesis 24: 67. Cf. AC 3211.

     But on individual points we could perhaps comment almost without end. We are sorry, for example, to see the translation in Exodus of the Lord's answer to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," rather than "I AM I WHO AM,* which we are convinced is the correct translation (and an understandable one); to see in the Decalogue, "for Yehowah will not hold him guiltless," rather than "innocent,"** when Swedenborg purposely crossed out insontem in his autograph and substituted innocentem, which suggests a translation as "innocent"; to see the footnote to "God Shaddai" interpreting it as "God Almighty,"*** when the Arcana specifically rejects this interpretation****; to see Aaron called Moses' "prophet" rather than simply "spokesman," which is what the Word really means*****; to see the translation of yaladh (beget) as "to be the father of" rather than "become the father of," which makes a stative verb out of an active one******; and so on. On the other hand, we are very pleased to see such translations as "you shall not commit murder" instead of "thou shalt not kill"*******; "grain-offering" instead of "meat offering"********; "slave" (at times) for shiphchah instead of "handmaid"*********; and so on, in addition to the improvements already noted above.
     * Exodus 3: 14.
     ** Exodus 20: 7.
     *** Genesis 17: 1.
     **** AC 1992: 5.
     ***** Exodus 7: 1.
     ****** See Genesis 5, 10, 11, and elsewhere.
     ******* Exodus 20: 13.
     ******** E.g., Leviticus 2: 1. This was an offering of ground grain or some cereal, and not meat as we understand the term.
     ********* So in Genesis 29: 24, 29; 30: 43, 32: 5. But "maidservant" in Genesis 16: 1ff; 30: 4, 7, 9, 10, 12; and "handmaid" in Genesis 33: 1, 6; 35: 25, 26. Shiphchah is properly "slave girl." Cf. 'amah, properly a "maidservant"; translated here as "slave" in Genesis 21: 10, 12, 13, but "maidservant" in Genesis 30:3. Both are translated as ancilla in the Arcana.

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In sum, this is on the whole a reliable translation and a faithful one-faithful for the most part both to the Hebrew Old Testament and to the Writings-which is at the same time a quite readable one. It is, in fact, in our view, despite our occasional criticism, the best one available to use, and we recommend its adoption for use, in private reading, in study, and in public and private worship. The Editors express the hope that "this translation of the first five books of the Word of the Lord into the English of our age may prove acceptable to the New Church and may be of use to the Lord Himself in His achievement of the great ends of His creation." We share the hope that this translation may prove acceptable, and are confident that if used, it will be of use to the Lord and of service to us in advancing knowledge of the Divine Word by making it just that much more accessible to us.
N. BRUCE ROGERS
IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES 1972

IN OUR CONTEMPORARIES Editor 1972

The July-September issue of the New-Church Magazine contains an interesting group of articles ranging from Swedenborg in the Realm of Finance to the State of the Massoretic Text of the Former Prophets. Mr. R. H. Griffith discusses the first of these topics in a presidential address to the Swedenborg Society. He shows that Swedenborg's excursions into financial matters were of two kindsone, the question of commercial finance; and two, in the much wider range of national economic policy-and cites and discusses various memoranda and pamphlets written by Swedenborg. The Rev. Norman Ryder takes up the Massoretic Text, noting that it is the policy of the Old Testament Translation Committee, as explained in the Preface to the Pentateuch, to translate the Massoretic Text in preparing a New Church Version of the Old Testament Word. Only on five occasions was it felt necessary to depart from that Text in translating the Pentateuch, but Mr. Ryder feels that the application of the policy will not be so clear cut when work on the other books begins. He then discusses in a scholarly manner the variations in the quality of the Massoretic Text from book to book.

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FANCY AND FACT ABOUT ENLIGHTENMENT 1972

FANCY AND FACT ABOUT ENLIGHTENMENT Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE

Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By
THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM BRYN ATHYN.PA.

Editor                Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager           Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION

$5.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy. 50 cents.


     Some New Church men have been known to say: "Of course we believe what the Writings teach about the spiritual world, but how might we not be confirmed in our belief if we could only see into that world for a few moments!" Others, not unlike them, have speculated how much more they might be enlightened and how much wiser they might become if they could be instructed by angels, either directly by having speech with them or by reading angelic writings.
     But is this true? If the spiritual eyes were opened to see into the other world would not the basis of belief then be, not faith, which is internal spiritual sight, but external spiritual sight? Swedenborg himself saw writings done in heaven, and could read them, but could get from them only an idea here and there; because it is not in Divine order for man to be taught except from the Word, which is the only means of communication and conjunction of heaven and the world. Also, he learned that enlightenment by means of the Word is far superior to immediate revelation by speech with angels, because it is effected by an interior way, through the will into the understanding.
     Whenever he was to be taught through conversations with angels, Swedenborg testifies, he was held by the Lord in a certain reflection and was then instructed, not by what the angels said, but by that reflection and thus by the Lord. Not only does this distinguish the reality-that Swedenborg received from the Lord-from the appearance: it indicates most powerfully that we should dismiss all fancies and imaginings and look only to the Lord in the Word for enlightenment and wisdom.

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"AND WE ARE NOT SAVED" 1972

"AND WE ARE NOT SAVED" Editor 1972

     Many bitter laments, outpourings of grief over great calamities, are to be found in the prophecy of Jeremiah. One of the most poignant is expressed in the words: "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." In Palestine harvest and summer were quite distinct. Harvest, from April to June, was when the crops were reaped; summer was the season of vintage and the ingathering of fruits. When the harvest had been bad, or had failed, there were still hopes from the yield of grapes, figs and olives. But if these also failed, famine threatened. So the prophet's words are a cry of despair; the cry of those who had no crops, no summer fruits, and saw themselves given to famine, misery and death.
     In the sense of the letter the passage has no eschatological significance, but it does bring certain things to mind most vividly. All too soon men may become aware that the season of their harvest is passed and their summer is ending, without hope for their eternal welfare. While there is never any lack of sowing of seed to the Lord, much that should have been prepared for fruition has been neglected; many talents have been buried; and there may well be a feeling of despair. In the spiritual sense, however, the prophet's words refer to the last time of the church, in which there is grief because there is no longer any good and truth and lamentation tinged with despair that the time is so long drawn out before a new church can be established with others.

     Grief and despair may not seem to be appropriate to Thanksgiving, and perhaps they are not. But they may have a place in preparing us to enter into the spirit of Thanksgiving. Our appreciation of what the Lord wills to bestow upon us, and therefore our reception of it, will be in direct proportion to our desire for it, and this will be intensified by our heartfelt realization that we do not have it. This is what causes spiritual grief; and it is only when man comes into despair that the Lord lifts his temptation.
     If we would enter into the true spirit of Thanksgiving, then, we may well consider how little we have done with the gifts, the talents, the Lord has bestowed upon us; how scanty the crop and the ingathering have been. We may do this, not to call into question what the Lord has done for us, but to acknowledge humbly our own shortcomings in dealing effectively with what He has given us. In this way there may be prepared in us that humility without which the Lord cannot enter, that ardent desire to receive which makes it possible for Him to give. Man's humility is ever the Lord's invitation.

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NO PERSONAL DEVIL 1972

NO PERSONAL DEVIL Editor 1972

     Swedenborg testifies in the Spiritual Diary that when he had written in the Word Explained that before the world was made the Devil was created to be a connecting link between heavenly and corporeal things, it could not have been stated differently because the Christian world believes no otherwise. Orthodox Christians believe that angels were created before men as a distinct and superior order of beings, and that the Devil or Satan was an angel of light who rebelled against God and was cast down from heaven with his crew.
     New Church men have long known, because such is the teaching of the Writings, that there is no personal Devil who presides over hell in satanic majesty. The belief that there is can be traced back to several sources: certain passages in the letter of the Word which speak of the Devil and Satan, of Lucifer being cast down from heaven, and of the Prince of this world, taken literally and not illustrated and explained by genuine doctrine; the belief in the pre-existence of angels; and a desire to absolve God of responsibility for the creation of evil.
     The truth, well known to us, is that all who are in heaven and hell are from the human race. It is hell as a whole that is called the Devil and Satan: the Devil, the hell of genii; Satan, the hell of evil spirits. The Devil and Satan are collective names for all evil, especially the love of dominion from the love of self, and all falsity; and thoughts from falsity are the infernal crew.
     It is true that hell is in its form like a monstrous man whose soul is self-love and self-intelligence, thus the devil; and that as the entire heaven resembles one man, so the entire hell resembles one devil and might be so shown in an image. Yet even though there are evil spirits who desire to be the devil himself that they might infest heaven, there is no devil who has existed from creation, and there are no devils other than such men as have made evil in themselves.
     When the truth is that hell itself is the Devil, we might wonder why the belief in a personal Devil has persisted. Perhaps it is that men could even find a certain comfort in thinking of the Devil as a being to whom they might be subjected but who was yet distinct from themselves-a comfort that would be lost if they realized that their own hatreds and the evils from which they come are the devil; that while there is no personal Devil, every man who gives himself to evil is the personification of hell and the devil. Yet the identification of self with hell is the first step toward deliverance from it.

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COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS RESPONSE 1972

COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS RESPONSE STEPHEN G. AND ELIZABETH B. GLADISH 1972

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     The "Commencement Address" (June 15, 1972) in September's NEW CHURCH LIFE, by H. Keith Morley, highlights the adversities man, individually and collectively, must confront and overcome to achieve progress, to make conquests, to attain maturity spiritually and naturally. At one point he said: "At each stage in man's development the Lord permits him to be confronted with character-building difficulties appropriate to his needs and capacities." And that . . . "No progress is possible without combat." 1) Getting to his main message, a defense of the Academy, he brought up seven questions intimating faults of the Church and its institutions. His defense was then stated: "But to condemn New Church organizations on account of the failure of their members . . . is to overlook one very important fact-2) that wherever the Truth is known and lived, there the evil spirits launch their most vicious attacks." After seven additional statements enlarging on that theme, he goes on: 3) "The recognition that a spiritual threat of such enormity does exist should be sufficient to make us all more tolerant of the Academy's shortcomings . . . . 4) When we fall into states of criticism and negativism we are supporting the hells in their efforts to destroy this unique and vital instrument of the Lord's, and 5) we are attempting to thwart His purpose." Winding it up, he says 6), "It is important therefore that we avoid the mistake of interpreting the existence of disorder as failure: and instead adopt the affirmative attitude that such disorders are permitted for the sake of a good end . . ." In his conclusion, he states, 7) . . . "We have grounds for hope, not despair, and we have reason to be thankful, not critical."
     Interpretation of such an address might be explicated by considering the following questions:

     1) To what kind of "Friends of the Academy" is the address leveled? Who has been so harshly "condemning" the Academy? And would they be among the audience if they had? But does this make anybody conscious of failures or disorders on the Academy's part, anybody who voiced criticism, guilty or an extremist by wholesale association? (In "Dreams, Hope, and the Future," Alfred Acton's positive Commencement Address of 1970, he points out: "We know from the Word that freedom is integrally related to rationality. Without rationality we cannot be free . . . . But we are taught in the Word that we cannot be rational if we cannot dissent. If we cannot say, no, to a proposition, we have no freedom in regard to that issue . . . . Because dissent and freedom are so intertwined we must jealously guard the right to genuine dissent.

522

We must respect our own right, and the right of others to disagree with our views, to say, no." September 1970 NEW CHURCH LIFE, p. 440.)
     2) Shall we in reality then excuse the shortcomings solely-as is suggested-because the evil spirits, who "seek by all means to divert us from our set purpose," are the ones to blame? Might they not be diverting us by a refusal on our part to admit we can change or are wrong in the first place? Are we not also told that the Lord is not only closest to us in times of attack and temptation, but actually protects us according to the amount of good in us? Can we not apply Mr. Morley's statements that "No progress is possible without combat," and "The Lord permits [man] to be confronted with character-building difficulties," to the Academy as well as to the individual?
     3) Cannot the fearful recognition of a "spiritual threat of such enormity" be balanced with the recognition of the sizeable spiritual and natural gifts in each objective, and member of the Academy? If we truly know the Academicians are dedicated to improving their effectiveness and educational worth, mightn't we devote less time to the "shortcomings"?
     4) Can we only associate with criticism and negativism by derogatorily "falling into states" of such? Can no enlightened, mature and intellectual evaluations be made which might involve criticism or negative commentary?
     5) Must we be alarmed or alarmists by assuming our criticisms (which could easily be constructive and made from love and concern) do in fact "support the hells in their efforts to destroy" the Academy, and are in fact consciously "thwarting the Lord's purpose"? Is there indeed such offensive questioning and doubting going on, that the non-Bryn Athynites are unaware of?
     6) Who has been mistaking, or is about to mistake, the existence of disorders as evidence of something as final as "failure"? In short, is such a hard line stand so deserved? Might not another way of silencing opposition work better-such as undefensively listening to it and not assuming the worst of it? Might not the disorders be corrected and amended by forsaking hubris and adopting willingness to change for the better, rather than being "permitted for the sake of a good end"?
     7) Are there no alternative non-polarized antonyms: must we all be either full of hope or full of despair, either thankful or critical? Why must the listeners be all for or all against the Academy, except to gather the support of the "middle- of -the-roaders" by confronting them with an unmitigated "positive-negative choice"? But might not this black and white approach drive others in the middle into the so-called shady opposition, condemning them?

523

Criticism, of course, can be viewed in other ways. One of which might be that both love and correction of the Academy are as necessary and in Providence as the love and protection parents must give to a child. (And it is our Church, too: who is to say the Academy is not a concern of all of us?) The child, on the other hand, in meeting the challenges and frustrations that await him "who aspires to do better for himself and for his fellow man," hopefully will learn from his difficulties, know they are allowed for his more important spiritual growth, use them to change and to improve, and thence "go forward" (as in "When in Distress, Go Forward," Erik Sandstrom, January, 1972 NEW CHURCH LIFE). The Academy, with its ideals, and as a child in its development, is to us the most worthwhile, hopeful, and precious institution in and to the world. And in as much as its faculty, students, leaders and friends humbly, acceptingly, and openly (undefensively) work together with it to perfect it; in as much as the Lord is attracted to watch over it and is seen in it, the Academy will become even more worthwhile, hopeful, and precious.
STEPHEN G. AND ELIZABETH B. GLADISH

3419 N. Alta Vista Drive
Flagstaff, Arizona 86001
LOCAL SCHOOLS DIRECTORY 1972-1973 1972

LOCAL SCHOOLS DIRECTORY 1972-1973 Editor 1972

     Local schools report the following teaching staffs for 1972-1973:

BRYN ATHYN:     Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh                    Principal
          Mr. Carl R. Gunther                    Assistant to the Principal
          Miss Eleanor Cranch                    Kindergarten, Section I
          Mrs. Ottar Larsen                     Kindergarten, Section II
          Mrs. Edward Cranch                    Grade 1, Section I
          Mrs. Thomas Redmile                    Grade 1, Section II
          Mrs. Grant Doering                    Grade 2, Section I
          Miss Rudaina Abed                         Grade 2 Section II
          Mrs. Bryon Odhner                         Grade 3, Section I
          Miss Carol Smith                         Grade 3, Section II
          Mrs. Robert Johns                         Grade 4, Section I
          Miss Rosemary Wyncoll                     Grade 4, Section II
          Mrs. Barbara Synnestvedt               Grade 5, Section I
          Miss Heather Nelson                    Grade 5, Section II
          Mrs. Stanley Rose                         Grade 6, Section I
          Mrs. Chris Simons                         Grade 6, Section II

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          Miss Katherine Wille                    Grade 7, Girls
          Mr. Lawrence Posey                    Grade 7, Boys
          Mrs. Dan Echols                          Grade 8, Girls
          Mr. Yorvar Synnestvedt                    Grade 8, Boys

COLCHESTER:     Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen               Headmaster
          Miss Dale Cooper                         Grades 1-3, 5-7
          Miss Hilda Waters                         Grades 1-3, 5-7

DURBAN:     Rev. Peter M. Buss                    Headmaster
          Miss Ruona Karen Hendricks               Grades 1-3
          Miss Joan Kuhl                         Grades 4-7

GLENVIEW:     Rev. Louis B. King                    Headmaster
          Rev. Alfred Acton II                    Assistant Headmaster
          Mrs. John Barry                         Kindergarten
          Miss Judith Nash                         Grade 1
          Mrs. Donald Alan                         Grade 2
          Mrs. Kenneth Holmes                    Grade 3
          Mrs. Ben McQueen, Jr.                    Grade 4
          Mrs. Ralph Synnestvedt, Jr.               Grade 5
          Mr. Richard Acton                         Grade 6
          Miss Gertrude Hasen                    Grades 7 and 8
          Mr. Gordon McClarren                    Grade 9
          Mr. Dan Woodard                         Grade 10
          Mrs. William Hugo                         Librarian

KITCHENER:     Rev. Frank S. Rose                    Principal
          Miss Louise Junge                         Grades 1-3
          Miss Susan Parker                         Grades 4-6
          Mr. Stewart Eidse                         Grades 7-8
          Mrs. John H. Hotson                    Special Education

PITTSBURGH:     Rev. Donald L. Rose                    Principal
          Mrs. Paul Schoenberger                    Kindergarten
          Mrs. Robert Kendig                    Grades 1-3
          Mrs. Robert Omlor                         Grades 4-6
          Mrs. John Schoenberger                    Grades 5-6
          Mr. Dirk van Zyverden                    Grades 7-9

TORONTO:     Rev. Harold C. Cranch                    Principal
          Miss Sylvia Parker                    Grades 1-3
          Mrs. Selma Hiebert                    Grades 4-6
          Mrs. Leigh Bellinger                    Grades 7-8

WASHINGTON: Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr               Headmaster
          Mrs. Frank Mitchell                    Grades 1-3
          Mrs. Fred Waelchli                    Grades 4-6
          Mrs. Dean Smith                         Grades 4-6

     Part-time teachers are not included. The teaching staff of the Academy of the New Church is listed in the Catalog Number of The Academy Journal, pp. 3-5.

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Church News 1972

Church News Various 1972

     DURBAN, NATAL

     The month of June in Durban is crisp, warm and balmy. June is a lovely month. The hot, humid weather of the summer months is over and the cool evenings and mornings make one feel fresh and glad to be alive.
     In June we had been a whole year in our new complex at Westville. The complex had been proven; the buildings more than adequate. Had we, however, proved worthy of these fine buildings? Only our consciences can answer that. Activities prove to be just as numerous. There are, on an average, two to three meetings of some sort every week. Doctrinal classes and social suppers on Wednesdays; School Board, Women's Guild and Sons; parents' classes or Executive on Monday; doctrinal discussion on Tuesday; the poor pastor! Once a week, on a Friday evening, the Sons present a film show in the hall: a very busy week for us all.
     We have had the first of a few cheese and wine evenings put on by the newly formed Contributions Committee. The purpose of these evenings is to bring to the attention of all the pressing need for further financial contributions from church members. The Committee had produced a very constructive pamphlet, and to date has had a fair amount of success. The second of these evenings is due to take place on September 15. The Committee has devoted a lot of time and effort to this venture and deserves every success.
     One of the happiest evenings was presented in the church hall at the end of July. The Stage Committee presented a cabaret and dinner. Mrs. Renee Haygarth dished up the most delicious supper, which was served to 170 people. The acts were of the very highest standard, and there are hopes that this evening will be repeated next year. The evening netted the Stage Committee R130.00. This money was spent immediately on stage lights. Soon we will have the very best stage in Westville!
     Kainon School welcomed Miss Joan to its ranks at the beginning of the Michaelmas Term. She settled down very quickly and apparently easily. She has a lovely flat in Pinetown, has purchased a car, and has become one of us over night. We are very privileged to have her among us. All children, boys and girls from Standard 6 down to Standard 3, are to attend a camp in the Drakensburg during the first five days of the holidays.
     The unenviable task of cooking for and chaperoning this bunch has fallen on Peter and Lisa Buss and Malcolm and Prue Cockerell. Last year's camp proved such a success that the venture has been repeated and extended to include an extra year and the girls as well. Good luck, Cockerells and Busses. Twentythree to cook for is quite something!
     And so another year draws to its inevitable end: Christmas just around the corner, the end of another school year, adjustments and challenges. May we prove that we are able to take these challenges and adjustments.
     SERENE DE CHAZAL

     THE CHURCH AT LARGE

     General Conference. The NEW-CHURCH HERALD has reported in detail the 1972 Annual Meeting of the General Conference, which took place in the City of Chester during the weekend of July 7-10. This Conference was unique in several respects. It was held on the campus of Chester College, the Conference service being held in the church of the Chester Society, and its main business was to consider and discuss new statements formulated for revision of the Constitution under which Conference has operated since 1872.

526

     The opening service was conducted by the Rev. E. J. Jarmin, and a civic welcome was extended by the Mayor of Chester. In the report of the Conference Council it was noted that the Rev. C. H. Presland wishes to resign from the office of secretary, which he has held for 22 years, in order that he may take up the appointment as pastor of the newly constituted South London Society. It was felt that the work might be given to a secretariat of laymen. In a discussion of Missions, particularly in West Africa, it was noted that a new Mission has appeared in Uganda, and that in Nigeria a College has been formed to train students for the ministry.
     The Council of the New Church College, which has been without a home since the premises at Woodford Green were sold, has decided that the College should be in the Lancashire area; and that while the College has in mind a base and a house for the students, a residential College is not contemplated. This proposal led to a lively discussion. It was reported also that the College envisages work outside of the training of men for the work of the ministry.
     The Ministerial Advisory Council reported the formation of a joint pastorate by the Blackpool and Preston societies, to which the Rev. W. A. Grimshaw had been called, and that the Rev. R. A. Gill had been called to serve the societies in Heywood and Kearsley. The Council is compiling a list of ministers who would be willing to go to Mauritius on a short-term basis when the Rev. Michael Stanley returns from the island.
     Saturday was devoted to group discussions on the new Constitution. Groups of about two dozen met separately, under appointed leaders, each with a secretary. One or more members of the Constitution Committee and the ministry were at each group meeting; and the groups re-assembled from time to time to report their findings. We will report and comment on the new Constitution at a later date.
     At this Conference the Rev. J. V. Ayre retired from the presidency, and was succeeded by the Rev. R. A. Preston. The Conference sermon was preached by the Rev. C. V. A. Hasler.

     Australia. It has been announced that the Rev. Bernard Willmott will remain in Sydney for the present. He plans to return to England in 1974.

     THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

     Enrollment for 1972-1973

Theological School          8
College                    116
Boys School                    129
Girls School               137
                         390

     LOCAL SCHOOLS

     Enrollment for 1972-1973

Bryn Athyn                    358
Colchester                    13
Durban                    30
Glenview                    121
Kitchener                    39
Pittsburgh                    33
Toronto                    38
Washington, D. C.               14
                         646

Total enrollment reported in Academy and General
Church Schools               1,036

527

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1972

GENERAL ASSEMBLY WILLARD D. PENDLETON 1972

     The Twenty-sixth General Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, from Tuesday, June 12, to Friday, June 15, 1973.

     The program and other information will be given in later issues of New Church Life.
     WILLARD D. PENDLETON
          Bishop
PRIEST AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK 1972

PRIEST AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK Rev. GEOFFREY H. HOWARD 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XCII                         DECEMBER, 1972
No. 12

     "Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." (Psalm 110: 4)

     These words, taken from the 110th Psalm, are prophetic of the Lord and His coming. The things involved in this particular prophecy might at first seem obscure. Yet the whole purpose of the Lord's coming is contained in the internal sense of these words. They speak interiorly of the whole work of the Lord's redemption and salvation.
     To see the nature of these implications we must first reflect upon this seemingly obscure king of ancient times, Melchizedek. If the promised Messiah was to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, then it is important that we understand also something about the time, and the spiritual quality of the time, when he lived.
     Melchizedek is mentioned only twice, in the whole of the Old Testament. He is first mentioned in connection with Abram, and secondly he is mentioned in the Psalm under consideration. Melchizedek was a descendant of the Ancient Church, which was represented under the person of Noah. At the time when he lived the concept of a king, and of royalty in general, was in its infancy. Kings of nations were rarely spoken of at this time. Instead there were kings of cities, kings of ancient cities which long, ago fell into ruin and into oblivion. Yet people who lived within the confines of these cities needed a ruler to govern and to teach the code of behavior that was expected of their citizens. Many of the rulers of those ancient times were in charge of affairs pertaining to both church and state. Melchizedek was one such king who ruled over an ancient city by the name of Salem. On him were conferred both the regal and priestly offices.

530

For it is said that "Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine to Abram; and that he was the priest of the most high God."* In the Ancient Church these two offices were often joined together in one person. In the Jewish Church which was to follow, they were generally separated. Therefore, we find that there were priests and patriarchs, then priests and judges, and finally priests and kings. (In Eli and Samuel we find these offices conjoined in one person, but in each case their sons turned to evil and after that time the offices were entrusted to separate persons.) In the Jewish Church the priestly tribe was the tribe of Levi, and Aaron was its first high priest. But it is interesting to see that this prophecy declared that the Lord was to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, and not after the order of Aaron or any other person of the tribe of Levi. Melchizedek predates Levi, and was in fact a contemporary of Abram and is mentioned in connection with Abram before any sons were born to him; in fact, before the time of the Jewish Church.
     * Genesis 14: 18.

     The promised Messiah was to be after the order of Melchizedek, king of Salem, and priest unto the most high God. The conjunction of these two offices is most perfectly represented in the figure of this king. His name, Melchizedek, means "king of justice," and the city Salem, over which he reigned, means "peace." Now justice is of truth, and peace is of good. The Lord is love itself, and He is also wisdom itself, or what is the same, He is good itself and truth itself. In Him the Divine good and the Divine truth are infinitely one. In the Lord these are His very Divine substance and form, and in no wise can they be separated. In the Word, which is from God, and which is God, the office of the priesthood is representative of His Divine good, while the office of kingship is representative of His Divine truth. Thus in the beginning these offices were conjoined in one person, as was also the case of the father of a family in most ancient times. He was both priest and king in his own home. Thus in the declining days of the church Noah, the Ancient Church, this king, Melchizedek, continued in the faithful tradition of his forefathers, and was both king and priest of the city of Salem. Therefore we find this prophecy concerning the Lord who was to come. He was to come after the order of Melchizedek.
     Now the Ancient Church, of which Melchizedek was a priest, was a church whose internal nature differed from that of the Jewish Church which was to follow. The Ancient Church was a church in which the externals of the rituals of worship corresponded to an internal state within the mind that was of the state of heaven.

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The internals within the minds of these ancient people were opened unto the Lord, and were affected by His inflowing spirit of love and wisdom. When they were in worship, and felt moved by the power of His sphere, they performed reverent external acts of worship that most perfectly clothed and represented their internal state. There was no hypocrisy or pretense in their worship, their internal state corresponded to the external gestures of their worship. In this respect the Ancient Church differed from the Jewish Church.
     The Jewish Church was a church in which externals alone were important. The Jews were a people whose nature led them to delight in pagan customs, which in their essence were contrary to the will of the Lord. There was no eternal merit in their offering of animal and even of human sacrifices to Him. They happened to be a people who found delight in the externals of worship, but in their essence many of these externals were of pagan origin. Nevertheless, the Lord used these things to serve to represent internal things pertaining to heaven and the church, and the establishment of these things within the mind of the regenerating man. The internal states of heaven could not be established in the minds of the Jews of this time. They cared not for internals. Had they been permitted to enter into internals, they would have profaned the holy things of the Lord and of the church, and would have fallen more quickly and more deeply into the consuming darkness of evil.

     But although the internal state of the Jews was far from being good in spirit, nevertheless the Lord was able to use them. Out of the customs of the pagan world which they championed, He established and maintained an order which was able to serve the uses of His heavenly kingdom. A strict obedience to the laws given through Moses was required of this people. Appointed rulers, under the titles of patriarchs, judges and then kings, were the custodians of that external obedience. Severe punishments were meted out when the people turned from their Divinely required code. But they lived strictly according to the letter of the law. Mercy and clemency had little persuasion in their lives.

     From this we see that the Jewish Church was a church in which the regal or kingly function predominated. They were to be governed by the harsh rule of truth. Their rulers were not generally priests. This was a separate office. Thus, herein is represented the state of this people and of their church. In their whole thinking, truth was separated from good. They obeyed the law, the Lord's truth from personal fear. The goodness involved in so doing was immaterial to them. But a truly spiritual church, whether it be an organization or in an individual, must be formed on revealed truth, but always for the sake of that which is good.

532

A man can be absolutely just in his dispensing the letter of the law, and yet at the same time be absolutely merciless, with the result that he uses the law for destruction and not for salvation and amendment. So to act is evil and condemning.
     But the Lord saw the way of man, and made provision for his redemption and salvation, through His own birth into the world. He came therefore to supplement the long established regal or kingly function, with that represented by the priestly function. He came to add mercy and goodness to the truth of old. In God incarnate, in Jesus Christ, were conjoined the priestly and regal offices. He came to reveal a new code, a code of truth which was to lead to good. Truly, He was a priest and king after the order of Melchizedek.

     The Gospels make it very clear as to the state of the world into which the Messiah was born. It was a world almost bereft of the spirit of goodness and mercy. The Pharisees and the Sadducees adhered to the Mosaic law with blind tenacity. Yet the Lord exposed the utter hypocrisy of their internal state. Because they were unmoved by the goodness of the Lord's merciful acts toward faithful men, they called Him Beelzebub or the Devil. They condemned their own Savior and law-giver through their own unyielding administration of the Mosaic law. Thus the Writings reveal that truth apart from good or mercy condemns all to hell, whereas truth conjoined to mercy saves all and elevates all to heaven. The Messiah was to be the "Prince of Peace." But the world into which the Lord descended, was far from that state of peace which is born from truth and goodness. Of the state of this people, the Lord was later to reveal: "This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."*
     * Matthew 15: 8, 9
     In order to heal this prevalent state of spiritual sickness and disease, the Lord, the Prince of Peace, chose to be born on earth. He was Divinely conceived of the Holy Spirit, but born of the Virgin Mary. Thus did the Divine take upon Himself the fallen heredity of man. Within the mind of Jesus Christ, God incarnate, the most severe spiritual combats were to be waged. He was to receive into His mind, not the single temptations against which man has to fight, but the Lord suffered temptations induced by the whole host of the hells, and fought against them from the Divine power flowing in through His soul. In so doing He emerged victoriously as the sole ruler of heaven and earth, King of kings, and Lord of lords.

533

The evils which tempted Him constantly had to be dealt with in a ruthless manner, for the end of evil is the destruction of the human race to eternity. The Lord's love is opposite to this. His love longs for and strives for the salvation of the human race. For His love is in the constant endeavor to raise each single person into the eternal joy of His heavenly kingdom. But His acts of judgment on evil, both seen and unseen, were effected from the judgment of truth. The Lord was the ruler. He was the King, the supreme King exercising His Divine justice.

     But the Lord came on earth not for the sole purpose of visiting judgment. Judgment was employed to disband the confusion which was bred of evil and falsity. But, as had been prophesied, He was both King and Priest. He exercised His Divine priestly function when He gathered men unto Him, preached unto them and taught them the new covenant of truth which He came to deliver. Similarly, His priestly function was manifested when from infinite compassion He healed the sick, and restored these people to a normal state. Truly, therefore, the Savior was a king and a "priest after the order of Melchizedek." The universal necessity of these two functions was foreseen long before. They are implied in the very name of the Lord incarnate, Jesus Christ. "From His priestly office the Lord is called Jesus, and from His kingly office, Christ; also from His priestly office He is called in the Word, Jehovah and Lord, and from His kingly office He is called God and the Holy One of Israel, as well as Kin-,. These two offices are distinguished from each other, like love is from wisdom, or what is the same, like good and truth; consequently whatever the Lord did and effected from Divine love or Divine good was done and effected from His priestly office; but whatever He did and effected from Divine wisdom or Divine truth was done and effected from His kingly office."*
     * TCR 114.
     But whereas the Lord was born regenerate, even when He came into the world in Bethlehem, man is not. Thus in the Lord the priestly and kingly functions were one from birth. In Him the Divine truth and the Divine good were infinitely one. In man the situation is different. Whereas the Lord is life itself, man is but a finite receptacle of life. In him are two vessels capable of responding to the inflowing Divine life. These are called the will and the understanding. When man is born these are not conjoined, as they were with the Lord. With man they are separate. Through his parental heredity, man inclines to evils of every kind.

534

His will is depraved, but through the mercy of the Lord provision has been made for him to be able to elevate his understanding above this fallen will, so that by means of the Word he can see truths about the Lord, about heaven, and concerning the way to heaven. It is intended, in the Divine scheme, than man should see the truth of the Lord, from a curiosity that is innate with all. But beyond this, it is the Lord's supreme wish that man from having seen the truth, should then compel himself to act and live accordingly, for only in this way can the fruits of Divine blessing be conferred upon him. When man receives of the Divine truth, and commits this to his life, then the Lord's truth becomes the ruler and judge within. He has then entered into something of the kingly office within his own life. But truth is useful only to the degree that goodness and use are its fulfillment. The priestly office, which represents good, must needs be added if our lives are to proceed according to Divine will. This is to enter truly into an image of the Lord's path which He walked while on earth. This is to enter into the life of regeneration. And for all who will follow, the Lord has promised, that He will make "us kings and priests unto God and His Father."*
     * Revelation 1: 6.

     In our lives when we journey to find the Lord and His teachings, and honestly look at our fallen loves and affections in the light of His revealed truth, we cannot help but feel dismayed and unworthy. Yet the whole spirit of the advent story is one of hope and joy. "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, to men of good will," was the message of the angelic host. That same state is entered into every time man, in the forgetfulness of self, strives to make his neighbor more happy than himself. Every time an evil desire, a vain imagining or a malicious intent, is subdued neath the judgment of truth-then is deliverance from bondage the promised reward. Every time man conquers even one slight evil, then the Lord draws just a little more closely to man and establishes His covenant with him.
     That we should strive to become as kings and priests unto God and His Father is really the whole message of Christmas. It is the whole message of religion and of life. The Lord came on earth to give men the terms of His new covenant, but the Lord stands at the door and knocks, and seeks a humble and contrite heart in which He might once again find a lowly dwelling place. He came on earth to give of His truth, but this looked to one thing only-the establishment of good which is of life. But the promised peace of the Lord, which passeth all understanding, can be known only when truth rules as a king, and only when that truth looks to the good of life which the Lord taught when exercising His priestly office.

535

Thus does each prophecy of the Lord's coming also have its significance in the lives of each one of us. For if we regenerate then we, too, can become as a king and a priest after the order of Melchizedek, in which the true heavenly and eternal state of blessedness is born. Amen.

     LESSONS: Genesis 14: 8-20. Luke 1: 26-35. AC 6148: 3-6.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 540, 532, 538.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. 57, 114.
TO SEE THE LORD'S STAR IN THE EAST 1972

TO SEE THE LORD'S STAR IN THE EAST Rev. RAGNAR BOYESEN 1972

     A Christmas Talk to Children

     The wonderful tidings about the newborn babe in Bethlehem spread quickly. People spoke of them openly in towns and villages. When the wise men came from the east to ask where they might find the Lord, saying "We have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him," old, suspicious King Herod was afraid and wanted to destroy the Divine child. But we know that the wise men had a dream and were warned of God that they should take another way home.
     What a wonderful visit to Bethlehem the wise men had! They were among the first actually to come and worship the Lord. The shepherds came on the very night the Lord was born, and later, perhaps about two months later, the wise men came to Jerusalem. And what do you think brought them there? The star, of course! The wise men had been accustomed to watching for a certain sign that the Lord had come to this earth, because they knew the Divine stories from the Ancient Church. They loved to think about and wait for the sign that the Lord Himself had come to give mankind the beautiful gift of salvation. The wise men knew that they also would receive this gift if they continued to watch for the star, and go to the Lord when He came.
     So the wise men had followed the star from the east to the River Jordan, and had finally come to Jerusalem to ask if anyone knew where the Lord was. And, do you remember, the priests and scribes in Jerusalem did know. They knew from prophecy also, and could read from the Word; and they said, "In Bethlehem of Judea" Christ will be born, "for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule My people Israel."

536

When Herod found out why the wise men had come-that they had seen a star in the east-he sent them away to Bethlehem.
     Perhaps you have wondered why the star could not have led the wise men straight to Bethlehem in the first place. Now here the Word shows us something marvelous. All who want to receive the gift of salvation from the Lord can receive it, if they believe from love in what the Word teaches. You see, the priests and scribes in Jerusalem who had the books of the Word in their hands and read them with their eyes, did not have the Word in their minds and hearts. But the wise men from the east had learned to love the knowledge of the Lord's coming to this earth that had come to them from the Ancient Word. They studied it carefully and never doubted the prophecies as did the priests and scribes.
     The learned men in Jerusalem knew where the Lord was to be born, but the wise men knew something far more wonderful. They knew why the Lord would come, and how to read His message in the sky. What they saw was the truth of the Lord's wonderful coming to this earth celebrated in a heavenly society of angels. That society shone with the splendor of a great star in the other world. The wise men believed in the sign of the star. Therefore they followed wherever it led; and when it first stopped in Jerusalem, this was to show that the knowledge of the Lord's coming was in Jerusalem, but that no one among the learned there believed in the real truths of the Word. Only the shepherds and the wise men knew in their hearts and believed. Heaven could not have been opened to them if they had not loved the truths of the Word.

     We know from the Writings that the wise men came from Syria, a country east of the River Jordan. The east represents love to the Lord, and we see from the story that the wise men carried the love of the Lord in their hearts. So when they left Jerusalem to go to Bethlehem they were filled with great hope. Would they find the Lord? You may imagine -what wonder and delight they must have felt in actually seeing the star again, this time shining brilliantly over one of the houses in Bethlehem. "And, lo, the star which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."
     Then the wise men went in to see the baby Lord as He lay in Mary's arms. Taking their presents of gold, frankincense and myrrh, they knelt down to worship Him. Now they knew in heart and mind that He was the King of kings and that the star had guided them right. "And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshiped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh."

537

     Would it not be wonderful if we could all present gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Lord this Christmas? If you love the truth you have learned from the Word, you, too, can offer spiritual gifts to the Lord. Think of it this way: gold is true love to the Lord from a pure heart; frankincense is love to the neighbor from a pure mind; and myrrh is good deeds done because we know what is right.
     After the wonderful night in Bethlehem when the wise men saw the star again, men could lift their hands in prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord for His most glorious gift of salvation. The Lord alone can save us; the Lord alone can show us the bright and wonderful star of His Word which shines forever in the minds of those who want to be His children. Let us pray the Lord that we may be His children; that we may bring gifts from our hearts and minds and offer them to Him. Amen.

     LESSON: Matthew 2: 1-12.
     MUSIC: Liturgy, pages 532, 528, 529.
     PRAYERS: Liturgy, nos. C5, C7.
FREDERICK EMANUEL DOERING TRUST 1972

FREDERICK EMANUEL DOERING TRUST Various 1972

     Applications for assistance from the above Fund to enable male Canadian students to attend "The Academy of the New Church" at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., for the school year 1973-74 should be received by one of the Pastors listed below before March 15, 1973.
     Before filing their applications, students should first obtain their acceptance by the Academy, which should be done immediately as dormitory space is limited.
     Any of the Pastors listed below will be happy to give any further information or help that may be necessary.

The Rev. Harold C. Cranch
Two Lorraine Gardens
Islington, Ontario

The Rev. Frank Rose
R. R. #3
Preston, Ontario

The Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith
1536-94th Avenue
Dawson Creek, B. C.

538

DOCTRINE OF PERMISSIONS 1972

DOCTRINE OF PERMISSIONS Rev. PETER M. BUSS 1972

     A SERIES

     4. DISEASE AND ACCIDENTS

     Even in the church the feeling has been expressed that a man, say a young man, has died because it "was his time to go." One cannot escape the conclusion from this that the Lord, who willed him to go at that time, then, must also have chosen a sad way for him to leave, because a young man in the vigor of his life will not just drop dead! The Lord permits him to leave the earth, as one unwilling, and then provides for his uninterrupted, eternal welfare, as well as for that of his loved ones on earth. Thus the Lord is in no sense the origin of the evil which caused the death; His operation has been to provide only good, and to permit that evil wherein He can provide good, because evil must be permitted.
     Such a view seems the logical one from all the teachings which have been presented. The Lord provides good only, and so cannot be thought to have had a hand, even indirectly, in circumstances which are evil. He had no hand in causing an accident so that someone who is "needed in the other life" can be brought, perhaps in pain, to the end of earthly life. He in no way causes the very real loss to wife and family which results; and we, who see the exalted uses of the home, can hardly call this loss merely natural! He permits, and never ceases to provide good.
     A final point: perhaps we ought to see that evil consequences which men bring upon themselves through an evil love are sometimes permitted directly for a purpose. Of them it may correctly be said: That happened so that good could result. Again the Lord does not provide any but good things; but it is reasonable to assume that He permits a man to suffer the consequences of his own evils-to be caught out, or to bring ill-health upon himself-in order that he may recognize his state. This is in accord with the general teaching that the Lord permits evil to appear, for otherwise it would consume the man from within.* When the evil comes out, however, especially when it results in the loss of some earthly delight, then the man's mind is directed toward it, and he can see it for what it is and be moved by the Lord from within to repent. This is a use of natural temptations.**
     * See DP 251, et al.
     ** See AC 8, 268, 762, 2284, 3147, et al.

539

     Why Does the Lord Allow Diseases?

     We come now to three more questions for the answers to which the laws of how the Lord governs in permissions were necessary. There is no doubt that when a man falls ill, or when he suffers from some infirmity, perhaps from birth, he wonders why the Lord let it happen to him. This is in accord with the tendency of the natural man to seek the simplest of cause-effect relationships. Either the sickness is a punishment from the Lord, or else it has a direct and visible purpose of good which forced the Lord to visit it upon us. Such thought was certainly common among the Jews, for it is recorded that when the Lord and His disciples saw a man who had been blind from his birth, "His disciples asked Him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents."*
     * John 9: 2, 3.
     Disease is not from the Lord. It is not of His will but of His permission. For us to see, then, why it must be permitted, we must go right back to the beginning, to the time when there was no such thing as sickness, and see the origin of diseases in the abuse of man's freedom.
     Out of the story of the fall grew the belief that the first man would never have suffered death, but would have lived forever. This is from the Lord's warning to the man, when He said: "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."* When the man did eat of it, then he was first forbidden to eat of the tree of life, lest, having sinned, he should "live forever"**; and for this reason he was cast out of the Garden of Eden. The penalty of the original sin, then, was that man was doomed to suffer disease and death.
     * Genesis 2: 17.
     ** Genesis 3: 22.
     Strangely, the Writings seem at first to agree with this thought. "It is known in the church that the death of man is from evils, or on account of sins; and it is the same with diseases, for these belong to death."* Death is from no other source than sin."** The context, however, especially of the second passage cited, renders a different understanding.
     * AC 5712.
     ** AC 5726, 8364.
     Death from pain, disease and murder was unknown in the Most Ancient Church, before the fall of man. Of course a man died, and went into the other world, but his transition was such a natural one that it was not thought of as death.

540

Without evil, we are told,

"man would be without disease, and would merely decline to extreme old age, even until he became a little child, but a wise one; and when the body could no longer minister to his internal man or spirit, he would pass without disease out of his earthly body into such as the angels have, thus out of the world directly into heaven."*
     * AC 5726. Cf. SD 4592.

     A beautiful description depriving death of all its unpleasantness and horror and presenting the order which is of the Divine will. Even today, such a transition is general elsewhere in the universe: the people of Jupiter, who are as the men of the Most Ancient Church, do not die by disease.*
     * See AC 8850. Cf. SD 623.
     When men chose evil, however, death as we know it arose (and we would reflect that even death in old age today is not the painless, gentle passing from one world to another described above). The cause of disease lies in two things. First, there is a correspondence of all things in the spiritual world with things in the natural. The beginning of evil meant, therefore, that there was an influx of infernal life into the natural world and its phenomena which endeavored to bring about physical insanities representative of hell. The destructive force which had perverted Divine order in the mental realm sought to wreak its will on earth.
     Now the ills which beset the mind correspond to physical disorders, but it does not seem that correspondence is enough to produce an evil "creation" on earth without some ultimate invitation through man on earth. The second, and more lowly, cause was that man's choice of evil affected his body. His spirit closed itself to the influx from heaven, and so also the "very smallest and most invisible vessels"* of the body were closed, forming an obstruction to the general influx of the heavens, and a certain vitiation of the blood. Thus the body became susceptible to the influx of hell. Finally, an evil man lives a life that is disorderly and brings about irregular conditions in his body. This enabled the influx from hell to create perverted forms - germs - which could thrive in the physical states of disorder. Thus disease arose.**
     * AC 5726. Cf. SD 4592.
     ** See AC 5712, 5715; SD 2439; AC 8364.
     Once in the natural world, life forms thus perverted which carried disease were kept alive themselves by the influx of hell, and were able to inflow into the bodies of men apart from those men's spiritual states. This is important. Were we without hereditary evil, our entire beings would reject evil, and with it disease.* But we are in the tendency to certain evils, which obstruct the general influx of heaven; therefore we catch sicknesses from germs by natural causes.** We must not think, then, that because diseases correspond to spiritual evils it means that when a man gets chicken pox it is because he is in a certain spiritual evil!

541

His sickness is not the result of his state necessarily, but because of the general state of the world, which enables the hells to keep these germs alive.
     * See AC 5726.
     ** See AC 5713.
     In summary, then, diseases correspond to and originate from hell (a number of specific diseases and their spiritual correspondents are mentioned in Arcana Coelestia, nos. 5715-5725). The disorders in the body and in physical behavior enable them to ferment; and now they spread by natural means. The evil spirits with a man are not allowed to inflow into the "solid parts of the body, or into the parts of which man's viscera, organs and members consist,"* to cause disease as a direct cause of his evil. When he contracts a disease, however, evil spirits can inflow and aggravate the disorder, especially if he is in a love which corresponds to the disease!** Thus it is not unreasonable to suppose that such a disease as cancer flourishes because the form of hypocrisy to which it corresponds is rampant in the hearts of men.
     * AC 5713.
     ** See AC 5713, 5715.

     All this is a preamble to our main concern-the cause of the permission of disease. It makes clear that the hand of the Lord in such disorders is, once again, in accord with the laws of the Divine Providence. It is essential that there be freedom, and man's abuse of that freedom brings about disorder in the natural universe. Disease comes from man's attempt to destroy the order into which the Lord brings him, and whereas from omnipotence technically He could prevent it, to do so would be contrary to the Divine wisdom, which provides for man the path to heaven.
     The existence of disease and its train of misery underlines once again the point made earlier, that the evil which we do affects others who do not deserve the suffering which they thereby experience. That is why evil is evil: because it brings unnecessary, undeserved misery.
     Sickness today is so prevalent that no one is going to avoid its effects, at least to a degree. While we can believe that the Lord did not bring about disease, and know for a certainty that His Divine proceeding always works toward the elimination of all its forms, both natural and spiritual: while we accept these truths, we can know that He will make good use of even such disorderly states.
     There is, in truth a peculiarly important use of states of mind which result out of sickness, misfortune and accidents. As this use is unfolded, it may appear once again that the Lord brings on the sickness so that He can accomplish these aims. We should not think thus: in a world in which there was no disease the Lord could accomplish these aims far more effectively, with no pain at all.
     The use of disease comes from the fact that it halts a man's mental life, for a space of time.

542

The pull of this world is very strong, and men who fall into its gyre often have difficulty in breaking away from its apparent necessities and turning their minds to more eternal concerns. Also, a man who falls prey to a specific evil so comes under its spell that he cannot turn his mind from it; it becomes a habit to think of this thing whenever he has the opportunity and the strength. He is caught up in the evil, a slave to its satanic instigators.
     Then a man gets sick, and finds that he cannot enjoy the things of the world or practice his evil. His life is broken up, his delights temporarily suspended, productive for the moment of no joy.* Then the Divine Providence of the Lord goes to work once more; not that it has ever been inactive, but the man's conscious enjoyment of worldly or evil delights has rejected its overtures. The Lord has always been working from within, and has preserved even with the worst man the faculty of seeing that evils are bad for him, and goods potentially delightful**; it has been impossible for the man himself to see this while the lower passions have raged unchecked. Through the external order which sickness paradoxically brings about the remains within him can be stirred once more, and he can be brought to long for a good life again.***
     * See AC 8, 268, 762, 3147, 5127, 5353, 8651.
     ** See AC 5127.
     *** See AC 857, 2284.
     Without some hiatus in their enjoyment of natural things, we are told, few men would turn to self-examination and the repentance which such introspection makes necessary.* Their loves would run on unchecked, and they would never find the strength to change them.
     * See AC 8.

     Now we can see, of course, that this kind of interruption of a man's life is a tampering with freedom, or could be. While he is ill, a man is not free to follow what he loves, so it is not "fair" to turn him to good when he cannot stand up for his favorite evil! There is a truth in this, and so the teaching is clear that while sickness serves to break up a man's life, return him to a sane view of evil, and give him a new impetus to good, yet he is not reformed unless he confirms his repentance after the sickness has passed.* In His mercy, the Lord may touch a man's freedom, but He will do no more.
     * See DP 142; AC 4352: 3.
     Finally, there are those who through immoderate enjoyment of this world have become "earthbound" in their thoughts. They have become so interested in temporal things that they cannot have a spiritual love of good. Such, we are told, cannot be reformed in the normal manner, and have an affection for good only when in states of "disease, or misfortune or anxiety, consequently [of] . . . trouble and some combat."*

543

Such a man remains forever natural, and learns to discipline his natural affections from obedience to doctrine. In order that he might have his truths confirmed, however, and so come into a greater sense of obedience, he has to have his natural loves lulled by some external misfortune; and then some good affection can flow in and help him.** For these people, represented by the Hebrew manservant, sickness, although still not visited upon them by the Lord, is something of a blessing in disguise.
     * AC 8981.
     ** Ibid.
     It is certainly difficult to understand at times why disease should be allowed to have the degree of influence it has over the lives of people. When we see a particular example, in which a man or a child is deeply harmed through illness, we are very tempted to ask: "Why did the Lord let this specific one suffer?" We must realize at all times that He allowed it as one more unwilling than we; for that one who is suffering is His child! But to prevent it would be to do greater evil to all His children. Then we can trust that despite the suffering, He can work, and does provide all the blessings of infinite mercy. It is just the sadness of man's choice of evil that His work is often through tragedy. "O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy."*
     * Habakkuk 3: 2.

     Accidents and Natural Disasters

     So many of the general rules have already been given which also apply here that only further specifics need be added. The fact is that when an accident happens it is, perhaps, the least logical attitude to blame it on the Lord, for nearly every kind of mishap is the result of man's own intelligence. We often laud the brilliance with which man has fashioned for himself a civilization and a technology which provide untold comforts. We point to the ease of travel, the marvel of electricity, the economy of apartment dwellings, and feel that human ingenuity has done wonders. But when human ingenuity falls down, and there is an accident, we are tempted to blame the Lord!
     Nearly all the accidents which occur are the result of a weakness in human invention. We have motor cars which carry us quickly, but they also kill many because we cannot develop fool-proof cars, or totally intelligent drivers. Yet we continue to drive them. We fly in airplanes which are rigidly tested for safety, but there is no way in which we can guarantee 100% safety. And if a vehicle is 99% safe, this means that to 1% it is going to be harmful, or that in 1% of situations it will be dangerous. In our freedom we, the Western world or the earth, have chosen this way of life, with its inbuilt percentage of accidents.

544

     The Lord does not make the motor car. He cannot interfere to the point of insuring that no mechanic ever fails to tighten all the bolts in the steering assembly; that no engineer ever designs a road that is not perfect; or that the driver behind you will never become so impatient that he will try to overtake on a blind corner. He can lead and inspire and ameliorate. He will not dictate.
     We ought to reflect now and then that technology is indirectly a killer. Because human inventiveness is not perfect, and because human diligence is far from ideal, there will be an element of destruction in our mechanical creativeness. Disease from pollution and death from road accidents are only the most publicized aspects of this problem. The writer does not suggest that we condemn technology or censure human inventiveness; especially since many efforts today are towards improving on the defects of the past. At the same time, we should realize that accidents are not implicit in the Lord's creation. It is in the arena of man's endeavors that they have their cause.

     There is also a spiritual cause of accidents. The Divine will acts to prevent misfortune and to provide for an orderly life. When a sphere from hell invades, however, it opposes the Lord's will and, if a man allows it, can do so even in the ultimates of order. Thus a sphere out of hell can produce a proneness to accidents and misfortune in a recipient individual. Swedenborg was given to perceive how spirits tried to lead him into unhappy situations; and without such instruction he would have believed the events to have been dictated by chance, by accident.* This ideal leading, and the perversion which results if hell can have a say, is summed up in the following sentence: "All things, nay the least of all things, down to the leasts of the leasts, are directed by the Providence of the Lord, even as to the very steps; and when such a sphere prevails as is contrary thereto, misfortunes occur."**
     * AC 6493, 6494.
     ** AC 6493. [Italics added.] Cf. DP 212; AC 5179.
     Of all the misfortunes that befall man, whether through evils of sickness or accident, the hardest to understand are those which seem to arise out of a fault of the creation itself. When an earthquake kills thousands, or a volcano does the same, it seems that the Lord has created an imperfect world in which men must live; for volcanoes are not the result of human endeavor.
     To my knowledge the Writings do not speak directly to this subject, and it is difficult to see the inferences from which we may build an understanding of the problem.

545

There would seem to be something of an answer in the fact that animals are far more aware of impending natural disasters than we are, and take steps to protect themselves. Before a flood, for example, animals often move to high ground, for no apparent reason. We may conjecture that man, too, when in the order of his life had this sensitivity to the elements, and could avoid certain natural occurrences. This is far from a complete answer, however, and it is possible that the knowledge of the origin of the cosmos will have to progress further than it has before we can enter with understanding into this particular mystery.

     Conclusion

     "The doctrine of permissions is an entire doctrine; he who does not understand permissions, or conclude [rightly] concerning them, falls into doubtful and negative things respecting the power of God-Messiah over the universe."* To dispel doubt and negation the Lord has seen fit to give us a comprehensive picture of the disorders in His creation and His government of them, to strengthen our hands in the face of evil which may come to us from within and from without.
     * SD 398.
     And just as in all things of the New Word, the doctrine is new,* so also is this a new concept. We should not approach the Lord's government of evil from the childlike concepts of yester year. Instead we should draw from the fresh waters of life which are now presented. We should start from essential, unassailable truths: the Lord is good, He never does or wills or visits any evil; He permits for the sake of freedom; yet still He governs, and His government is that through all the evil which man can do He still works good. Man may suffer in time; but the Divine wisdom never ceases to work within, softening and finally dispelling the pain. To the willing soul He does this, no matter what the circumstance; and His good must triumph until the sands of evil have run out, and it will be as if it had never been. "For the former things are passed away."**
     * Lord 65.
     ** Revelation 21: 4.
VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN 1972

VISITORS TO BRYN ATHYN Editor 1972

546

SWADDLING CLOTHES 1972

SWADDLING CLOTHES Rev. ELMO C. ACTON 1972

     What a Divine and holy infant was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger! An infant formed by the Divine love itself, whose presence touched those who could receive with a sphere of Divine innocence and peace. The Divine innocence in the infant born in Bethlehem is what moved the shepherds, the wise men, Joseph and Mary, and caused their wonder and joy. As with Mary then, so now with the faithful. They keep all these things and ponder them in their hearts.
     But at this day the contemplation can be full and enlightened. For the infant form of Divine innocence has been revealed as Divine love in the Divine Human form of truth of the Word of the Second Advent.
     The infant born in Bethlehem was the Son of God, not as a second person, but as the Human wherein God sent Himself into the world, for an infinite soul cannot be divided as is the case with a human soul, so He who was born was Immanuel-God with us. The body of the infant Jesus was the body of the Divine love, and its state at birth was Divine innocence. All infants are forms of innocence, for the body of the soul is not yet contaminated and distorted by the evil heredity; but the Lord as an infant was a form of Divine innocence itself for His soul was the infinite Divine. This is the inmost and holy truth that we should keep and ponder in our hearts in the festival of the Advent.
     The Heavenly Doctrine says: "The Divine love itself, which was the esse of His life, formed the body to its likeness, thus to its reception, even to this, that all things were forms of Divine love."* When later, by glorification, all external covering and finite limitations were removed, the Father stood forth in the Son-the Human, as the Divine love in human form, as "our Father in the heavens," to whom we pray and from whom we receive every blessing.
     * SD 4845.
     The sign given the shepherds testified to the truth that the babe born in Bethlehem was the "Savior which is Christ the Lord." The sign was that they would find Him "wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger." A sign signifies a confirmation and a testification to the truth. Clothes represent truths, and the swaddling clothes in which Jesus was wrapped represent appearances of the truth in which Divine love was clothed and appeared as a sphere of Divine innocence.

547

The swaddling clothes especially represent the appearances of the letter of the Old Testament. The Lord while in the world took these on and revealed the Divine itself within them. From the beginning He was in them as an infant was wrapped in swaddling clothes; for the appearances of the letter of the Word can be opened even to the Lord.
     Bethlehem is the Word. The manger is the doctrine of truth from the Word; the swaddling clothes are the appearances of the letter. And inmostly within these is the Lord; in the beginning as Divine innocence, and after glorification as the Divine love itself.
     The spiritual sense of the Old Testament, as given in the Writings, reveals how the Lord clothed Himself with its literal sense, and by penetrating all its appearances even to the inmost rational, made the Human a form of Divine truth and so united it to the Divine good; reveals that it became in the end the Divine love in human form-the infinite God, standing forth to view, full of grace and truth. This Divine Human form is revealed in the Writings, yea, they are that Human form, and from them the church established according to their truths is the "crown of all the churches which have hitherto existed in the world," for it will worship the "one visible God, in whom is the invisible God, as the soul is in the body."*
     * TCR 787.

     This progressive unwrapping of the appearances of the letter is represented in the words, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit."* The clothes of glory in which the Lord appeared in the Transfiguration represent the truths of the Divine love itself, called the Divine love in human form. They are described in the Gospels as "white as light"**; "shining, white as snow, [as] no fuller on earth can white them"***; "white and glistening."**** The Writings describe these clothes as a "brightness appearing as raiment." The swaddling clothes were put on from without and thickly veiled the Divine within. But the clothes of the Transfiguration were put on from within and appeared white as light, "for they were the Divine love appearing as light" - the light of the spiritual sun - the Divine truth, the light of the fire of love in which is life.
     * John 12: 24.
     ** Matthew 17: 2.
     *** Mark 9: 3.
     **** Luke 9: 29.
     Man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification. The swaddling clothes of the infant spiritual man are the appearances of the letter of the Word. These are the literal stories of the Word as heard by infants and received in reverence and with delight.

548

The child's delight in these stories is as the infant Lord within, and these delights remain and return whenever the stories are heard again. They form the remains which are the beginning of the new will of the spiritual man.
     They are the innocence of infancy-the innocence of ignorance, the innocence which creates in the child a willingness to be led by his parents and later by the Lord. The manger in which these lie is formed of the innocent and holy ideas that arise from them in the child's mind. These are to the infant the doctrine of truth from the Word. As the infant grows through childhood, youth, manhood and old age, these ideas should be continually changing, becoming purer and more interior, so that the Divine of the Lord may appear more clearly within them, until finally they are seen as the form of the Divine love itself redeeming and saving man from damnation. Then they become a "brightness inducing the appearance of raiment."

     As long as man lives in this world, the appearances represented by the swaddling clothes are never cast off and rejected. They remain as the only forms in which the Divine can be approached and seen. The literal stories of the Word are the clothes in which the Divine love is wrapped in adults as well as infants. The doctrine of truth from them should be continually developing, becoming purer and more interior, until finally they become "a brightness appearing as raiment."
     Not until man enters the spiritual world are the appearances of the letter of the Word cast off. This is represented by the clothes of the Lord, left behind in the sepulchre. They are such things as the names of persons, places, and all ideas that arise from time and space.
     This unveiling of the appearances of the Word seems to be a mere intellectual process, but it is not. Man's ideas, or the doctrine of truth from the Word, arise essentially from his affections, and his worldly and selfish affections can be purified only through the shunning of evils as sins against God. In every case, John the Baptist, who represents repentance, must come before, to prepare the way for the birth of the Lord in man's heart. Therefore the revelation of the truth within the appearances of the letter essentially involves a purification of the will, and from this of the understanding.
     May we, child and man alike, enter each Christmas more interiorly into the story of the Lord's birth upon earth, until the swaddling clothes themselves become a brightness appearing as raiment: until the Lord shall be unto us an everlasting light, and our God and glory.

549

INCARNATION OF DIVINE LOVE 1972

INCARNATION OF DIVINE LOVE Rev. NORMAN H. REUTER 1972

     We usually think of the Lord's coming as the approach of Divine truth, as the Word being made flesh. The Heavenly Doctrine almost always speaks of it in this way. For it is truth that appears, that takes on form, and is seen by men. Yet love causes the appearance of truth, gives life and essence to any form. Hence every coming is also a descent of the Divine love-a reaching out of the Lord's infinite mercy to draw men unto Him. The teaching of Divine truth from the Lord's very mouth was indeed a purpose of His coming. As to time it came first. But the interior end of His advent, the purpose in view from eternity, was the salvation of all by means of that truth. So we think of the birth of Jesus Christ not only as a mode of presenting Divine truth to men, but also as the embodiment, in a supreme effort, of the Divine love of saving souls. The concept of this incarnation of the Divine love of saving souls is involved in the words: "And thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."*
     * Matthew 1: 21.
     The name "Jesus" in the original language means Savior.* A name always denotes the quality of a thing, because in heaven everything is named according to its quality. A name, therefore, signifies that by which anything is known, that which serves as a connecting link between the world of men's thoughts and the thing or person named. Thus, when referring to the Lord, "name" signifies the Divine Human, because the Divine Human not only shows forth and makes known the quality of God but is also the only connection between the Divine itself and the world of men and angels.** Hence the phrase, "thou shalt call His name Jesus," means that in order that the Divine love of saving souls might draw near and become effective among men, it had of necessity to put on a human form whereby it could be known and through which it could be approached, and which, like a name, would serve as a bond between the infinite God and "His people." In this way could the infinite Jehovah become the Savior of mankind. Thus alone could He effectively accommodate Himself so as to "save His people from their sins."
     * See AC 3005.
     ** See TCR 298, 299; AC 3441.

550

     Before considering the Divine end of salvation, before endeavoring to fathom some of the depths of Divine love in its desire to redeem and save the human race, let us see what effect this love had in the specific event of the Divine incarnation, its embodiment or human accommodation. It was the presence of the Divine love of saving souls that created the holy sphere which pervaded the holy child at birth. With every newborn child, in the inmost of the joy that comes with its birth, there is present the celestial angels' rejoicing that another potential angel has been born. On the threshold of each life the final end is seen; in creation, and thus at birth, salvation and eternal happiness are inmostly provisioned. This was pre-eminently true at the birth of the Lord, for then the inmost joy of the celestial angels was not merely because one potential angel was born but because Divine love itself had become incarnate among men to make possible the re-birth of the whole human race. It was the celestial angels' perception of this redemption and the possible consequent salvation of all mankind which created the wondrous sphere present at the first Christmas. And it is the same celestial perception that creates a similar sphere every time the humble and wise approach and celebrate the anniversary of that momentous event.

     To us of the spiritual genius there is something indescribably wonderful about the idea of a little child who should be the Savior of the world-the Lord God Himself born among men. It lifts our thoughts above the plane of spiritual reasoning, of doctrinal analysis, and gives us, perhaps, an image of that celestial perception which perceives to what lengths the Divine love will go in its desire to save men and bestow upon them heavenly blessedness. We are caught up as in a vision when we contemplate how the infinite God in His infinite love gradually clothed Himself throughout the ages with finite veilings, until He came down among men to touch them from below as well as from above with the fire of His love and the zeal of His eternal desire to give them everlasting peace and happiness. It was as though He wished to bound men with His love, to encircle them in its folds; and therefore from being the First He also became the Last, from being the Infinite He also became the Human. So does Providence operate from firsts into lasts, and God holds the universe as it were between His two hands-between the Divine in firsts and the Divine in lasts, gently leading men "through the valley of the shadow of death" by the "paths of justice" that they may "lie down in green pastures . . . beside the still waters."
     We are told that Jehovah God, the Father of Eternity, came down and became Jesus. He "bowed the heavens" that He might dwell among the children of men, and thus be enabled to touch their hearts and gently instruct and lead them.

551

Perhaps we can understand this teaching better by a consideration of its analogous operation with a human father in his endeavor to reach and guide his children.
A human father, in his parenthood, stands to his children as the creator, provider and preserver of the home. He is also the source of authority. His word is law, and the child respects and obeys him. But the plane of mutual contact and hence of reciprocal love is not here in this relation. The conjunctive medium between parent and child is provided when the father descends from those higher realms into the sphere and plane of the child's activities, into the child's world, and temporarily assumes the child's mode of thought, his limited knowledge and his conditioned circumstances. Then, as one among his children, insinuating truths and love in the world of his active affections and thoughts, the ties of human affection are formed between the father and child, because at such times the child's delights are stirred in response. Then the father whom the child can comprehend and love is born in the child's experience, in his world. In this accommodated sphere the parent can gently lead the child through his affections; he can guide the child's will through the power of love. And when he must return again to the sphere of law and authority, into the position of parent rather than that of companion, there yet remains in the child's mind the memory, molded into his affections, of the father who entered into his plane of life and whom he thus learned to love. In consequence, with the utterance of law and authority henceforth is bound up something of this affection, something of a conjunctive element. Without this human affectional element respect for authority cannot be implanted, contact cannot be maintained, and thus genuine guidance is impossible.

For this reason among others the infinite God assumed the Human and became Man among men. We can respect and obey the infinite God and Creator, the Preserver of mankind and the source of all authority, but we cannot love Him. Yet without love there can be no worship, eventually no respect, and finally no obedience. Therefore the Father of Eternity became the Son of Man. God descended and became the Man Jesus, suffering Himself to be born a child among men. He assumed the Human, and when He glorified it and rose above the heavens He showed men that the Jesus whom they had learned to love because of His works among them was also "our Father in the heavens." Because of this view which men gained of the Divine in the human form, the voice of His truth could thenceforth be not only respected and obeyed but also loved.

552

     Without this mental view of the Lord's Human, mankind could not have been saved, because without it they could not have approached God and thus known Him, and hence learned to love Him. Without the Divine incarnation God would have remained the awe-inspiring Jehovah of the Old Testament, the great promulgator of laws, the unapproachable. He would have remained in the minds of men the omnipotent and incomparable God as characterized by the prophet Isaiah, when he said:

     "To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto Him? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations are before Him as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding."*
     * Isaiah 40: 18, 15-17, 28.

     However, through the Lord's birth among men and thence through the Human which He assumed and made Divine, this same Jehovah, of whose understanding "there is no searching," made Himself known among men and thus could become their leader and Savior. He could be seen not only as the "Father of Eternity" but also as a Father of love and mercy, as "our Father who art in the heavens." Therefore when prophesying concerning the coming of the same unsearchable God as the Savior of men, Isaiah also says:

     "O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. 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."*
     * Isaiah 40: 9-11.

     Later, in speaking again of the coming of the Divine Human as the Savior of men, the same prophet says:

     "Behold My servant whom I uphold; Mine elect in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail or be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for His law."*
     * Isaiah 42: 1-4.

553

     In the light of these passages from the letter of the Word we can understand what is meant in the following from Arcana Coelestia:

     "The words, 'My servant,' when predicated of the Lord signify the Divine Human: not that the Divine Human is a servant, because this also is Jehovah, but because the Lord by this [Divine Human] serves the human race; for by it man is saved, inasmuch as unless the Lord had united the Human to the Divine so that man might be enabled with his mind to look upon and adore the Human of the Lord and thus have access to the Divine, he could not possibly have been saved. The conjunction of man with the Divine itself, which is called 'the Father,' is through the Divine Human which is called 'the Son'; thus through the Lord, by whom the spiritual man understands the Human. Hence it is evident why the Divine Human is called a 'servant,' namely, because it serves the Divine, in order that man may have access thereto, and because it serves mankind for their salvation."*
     * AC 3441.

     Perhaps from this consideration of the relation of Jehovah God as He is in Himself and as He appears in His Divine Human among men something of the wonder of the Divine incarnation will be seen. Perhaps we can catch a glimpse from it of the magnitude of the Lord's desire to save men and the miracle of its operation. When it is considered in its infinite aspect alone, the mind is bewildered by this great event, as if confronted with an unending expanse. But we can see this Divine love, though infinite in its whole scope, as it is focused in the human picture of a little child, whose mission was to "save His people." "Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."* Through His incarnation the Lord provided a plane on which we can see Him, on which we can be conjoined with Him and receive of His love.
     * Luke 2: 11.
     So omnipresent at the birth of the Lord was the sphere caused by His great love of the human race, His infinite love of saving men, that the angels, with whom there is no time or space, saw the end already accomplished. Therefore we read: "There was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."* From the same cause the shepherds were moved to go even unto Bethlehem, to see this thing which had come to pass which the Lord had made known unto them.**
     * Luke 2: 13, 14.
     ** See Luke 2: 15.
     May we, too, in the humble spirit and with the perfect faith of the shepherds, go even unto Bethlehem, which for us is the Lord's Word, and "see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." May we, like the wise men of old, follow the star of His guiding truth, even though it lead us through the desert of temptation, that we may fall down and worship Him, and give unto Him the treasure of our hearts: the gold of perfect love to Him and to our neighbor; the frankincense of complete faith in Him and His truth; the myrrh of a willing obedience to His Word as expressed in a life of love and use.

554

To those who do this the Lord comes again, and is born anew in each one's heart. Their lives are filled with the holy sphere of His presence, as He takes up His reign in them as the Prince of Peace.
EDUCATION FOR THE CHURCH 1972

EDUCATION FOR THE CHURCH Rev. ORMOND ODHNER 1972

     (Delivered at the Charter Day Service, October 27, 1972.)

     Seventy-five years ago this month the Academy re-opened its schools after a ten-months' suspension of their activities. (Actually, this hiatus in the Academy's operations was not as serious, scholastically, as it first may sound. 'Many Academy classes continued under several local New Church bodies; and the Academy itself that June, 1897, granted bachelors' degrees to three young men who had completed its curriculums. But the Academy schools themselves had been closed for almost ten full months.)

     The Academy really started out as an ideal, not as an institution. There was to be an association of learned men in the church (an "Academy" in that old sense of the word)-an association of men, ministers especially, thorough students of the Writings, openly proclaiming from them the twin doctrines of the Divine authority of the Writings and of the Lord's second advent in them to establish a new church to succeed the former Christian Church, now consummated and dead.
     Rather quickly this led to the establishment of a theological school based upon these doctrines, and shortly thereafter other lower departments of education were formed. But at that time the name "Academy" still primarily implied a doctrinal position, rather than an educational institution-the Academy position: that the Writings are a Divine revelation, and that in them the Lord has made His second coming and has established the New Church to supersede the first Christian Church, now consummated and dead.
     And then, in the last sad years of her beloved leader, the Academy, almost suddenly, became a church, an organized "celestial" church devoted to the celestial use of educating the young. (Two things should be noted here: one, there is doctrinal justification for calling the education of children a celestial use.

555

And, two, the Academy's charter gives it the right to perform the uses of a church.)
     An organized, celestial church, an "internal church," far overshadowing in importance the general church body under which the Academy had been operating and along side of which it now conducted its own services of worship and doctrinal classes. Confusion followed. To quote the words of a member of the Academy faculty at that time, "The devotion of the church to the uses of education was exaggerated so as to place [them] far above . . . ecclesiastical and pastoral uses, the former being supposed to be internal and celestial, while the latter were more or less regarded as merely spiritual and external."* The education of the young had become the use, the very reason for being of the church itself, as though the teacher of the child were ultimately responsible for his lot in the life hereafter.
     * NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1904, p. 414.
     Re-organization had to come, and come it did, with suffering and with pain. (It was during this time that the Academy temporarily closed its doors.) But in that re-organization the use of New Church education, and thus the use of the Academy itself, was put back into its proper place, subordinate to, but leading up to, the use of the church.
     What is that place? I quote from printed reports of two addresses by Bishop W. F. Pendleton, the man who so successfully and so calmly led our church to safety through this period of turmoil. "He discriminated between the end immediately in view in the work of the schools and of the church. [The work of the church] prepares men for heaven; [the work of the schools] prepares [them] for civil life and for the church-for the church, so that by the church . . . they may be prepared for heaven in adult life.* And again, a year later: "With the child education is natural and scientific and constitutes preparation for the church; with the adult it is rational and prepares for heaven."**
     * NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1897, p. 175.
     ** Ibid. 1898, p. 54.
     Let us ponder those words. Education, New Church education, is preparation for the church, the New Church, so that by that church its people may be prepared in adult life for heaven. This is the distinctive use of the Academy, its very reason for being, the reason that led us to concentrate our energies on the education of our children, rather than on adult missionary work, as the most fruitful field of evangelization to the church.
     But also, at this same time, there was much discussion as to whether the Academy should regard itself as "an arm of the General Church" (the newly formed General Church of the New Jerusalem which had succeeded the former General Church of the Advent), or should regard itself as an educational institution to "to serve all organizations of the New Church."

556

The issue was resolved in favor of the first proposition, and the Academy became what it is today, the educational arm of the General Church, with the Bishop of the General Church recognized as "ex officio head of the ecclesiastical uses of the Academy."*
     * Journal, 2nd General Assembly.
     Does this narrow the scope of the Academy's work in preparing its students for the church? Does the Academy prepare them only for one particular "establishment," one particular ecclesiastical body of the New Church? No-to both questions. The Academy still serves the New Church as a whole, and year by year students from other bodies of the church are welcomed to its schools. But to take formal action to make the Academy an institution to serve all organizations of the New Church would inevitably weaken the Academy's proclamation of its doctrinal position. And now that the General Church has been organized as the ecclesiastical embodiment of that position, the Academy can best serve the New Church as a whole, can best strengthen it by acting as the educational arm of that organization which carries on the spirit that gave the Academy its life.
     To prepare our students for the New Church, then, is the purpose of our distinctive New Church education. Nothing else is; and anything in our educational system which does not somehow contribute to that end is not distinctive Academy education. Oh, we teach our students reading, writing and arithmetic, the sciences and the humanities, too. But any school can do that. The Academy was founded for the sake of the church, to prepare its students for the New Church; and therefore it orders every subject it teaches, in so far as possible, so as to lead to the church. That was our first love. Let us not leave it, lest the lamp of the truth the Lord has given us be removed from us and transferred elsewhere.

     Education for the church. But the students we teach are not yet New Church, of course . . . Or should we say that quite so glibly? They are New Church students. If not, what are they? Catholic students, Jewish students, Protestant or atheist or nothing students? No; they are New Church students, and in their hearts they are glad to be just exactly that. Already, with most of them, life has been indelibly stamped with the mark of "Newchurchmanship," no matter what their later decisions may be.
     Admittedly, only some of the oldest of them have made their confessions of faith, confirmed their baptisms into the New Church.

557

Some of the others, therefore, are now reluctant to say that they are New Church, even hesitating to join in recitations of our creeds. They cannot honestly profess belief, they say, in that which they are not yet sure of.
     But there is more than one meaning to the word, "believe," and every person who recites the creed means that word in his own individual way. "I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the almighty and everlasting God . . . ." Yet in the Writings we read, "That which one loves above all things is his God."* Who, then, really believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as God? Who really loves Him above all else? The angels do, in their own limited, finite ways, for they would rather do His will than their own. The same is true of men who are being regenerated. So, too, with the man in a state of reformation. Intellectually he is convinced that the Lord Jesus Christ is God and should be his God, too, though he still finds it hard, at times, to subdue his own will before the Lord's.
     * AE 950.
     What, then, of the young person who has not yet attained his own intellectual conviction that the Lord is God, and perhaps not even the conviction that there is any god at all? His rational mind has been opened and is developing at tremendous speed. He has come to realize that his previous faith and belief have been founded mostly on a trust in his parents, ministers, teachers, friends. Now he has come to the point where he must decide things for himself. He doubts.
     Doubt he must, or his faith cannot truly become his own. Hence the Writings teach that even with good spirits in the other world, doubt is according to the laws of order,* lest their faith become brittle and weak. But doubt leads either to the negative or to the affirmative**: the negative, which will not believe until it has sensual proof (and the Lord has provided that all religion shall be beyond sensual proof); or the affirmative, which believes because the Lord has said so in His Word.***
     * AC 7298: 2.
     ** AC 5135: 2.
     *** AC 2568.
     Affirmative doubt is a real part of the faith of the New Church. Did we not just hear from The True Christian Religion that "the states of the faith of the New Church are infantile faith, adolescent faith, adult faith"?* Infantile faith: trusting, simple belief that what parents and ministers teach from the Lord's Word is true. That is the first state of the faith of the New Church. Adult faith: intellectual conviction, to begin with; then the attempt to live that conviction; and finally the faith which comes from charity. That is the final state of the faith of the New Church. But in between comes adolescent faith: states of doubt, so that faith may truly become one's own; but doubt that can lead to the affirmative principle that this is true because the Lord. has said so in His Word.

558

Adolescent faith: in the words of the Writings themselves, it is one of the states of the faith of the New Church.
     * TCR 344.

     As an institution the Academy started out with a theological school, and that is still its first and most important use. Its students are, of course, beyond the adolescent state of faith. Their doubt now is nought but an affirmative desire to see how a thing is true, what it really means and implies, how it can be applied to life, so that, by that truth, they may learn to lead the church to the good of life and thus to the Lord. The great majority of the Academy's students today, however, are still in the adolescent state of the faith of the New Church-that, or just beyond, in the very beginnings of adult faith.
     These are the students that the Academy is educating, preparing for the church, so that by the church they, as adults, may be prepared for heaven. It has been a remarkably successful work that the Academy has done so far, for very steadily, even if very slowly, the church has grown as a result of the Academy's work-increased in numbers year by year, and also in doctrinal understanding. "Remarkably successful," for every one of the Academy's students who has become an adult New Church man has done so, in the last analysis, entirely of his own free will-and most of the Academy's students have done just exactly that.

     Education for the church, the New Church, through and by means of the General Church: this is the Academy's use, the purpose in its existence. To educate - that is, to nurture, train, guide - the states of adolescent faith in the New Church, so that, in later years, it may become an adult state of the faith of the New Church, in preparation for eternal life in heaven. That was our first love, and it is still the love that motivates the Academy and every one of her teachers, as he seeks, in his own way and within his own field, directly or indirectly, to prepare his students for the church. That was our first love. Let us never leave it, lest the lamp of the truth that the Lord has entrusted to us be removed from us and transferred elsewhere.

559

CLERGY REPORTS 1972

CLERGY REPORTS Various 1972

     Report of the Bishop of the General Church

     September 1, 1971-August 31, 1972

     The outstanding and most far-reaching event of the new year was the nomination by the Council of the Clergy of the Reverend Louis B. King to fill the office of Assistant Bishop of the General Church. Mr. King is an experienced pastor with an outstanding record, and I am confident that he will bring to the episcopal office a capacity for leadership which will prove to be of great benefit to the church. In proceeding to the selection of Mr. King, the Council of the Clergy gave full evidence of its readiness to support him in the work of the office. Mr. King will be ordained into the third degree of the priesthood on November 5 in his home pastorate, and his name will be presented to the General Assembly when it convenes in Bryn Athyn in June (See NEW CHURCH LIFE, June, 1972, pp. 264-266).

     Episcopal Visits: During the year I made two episcopal visits. In September I paid a visit to the St. Paul Circle. Here I was warmly welcomed by the numerically small but loyal group of General Church men and women. I recall with delight the weekend we spent together. In November Mrs. Pendleton and I visited with the Pittsburgh Society. On this occasion we enjoyed the noted hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Lindsay at their farm in Freeport and also the equally delightful hospitality of the Reverend and Mrs. Kurt Asplundh. A return to Pittsburgh is always a nostalgic occasion for us, as we spent the first ten years of our married life in that city where so much of the history of the General Church has taken place. I should also note that following this visit, I returned twice to Pittsburgh in connection with the process of the selection of a new pastor (See below under Pastoral Changes).

     District Meetings: In the month of May I joined with our friends of the Virginia- Carolinas area at their established meeting place at Pawley's Island, S. C. Here I was warmly welcomed by old friends and newcomers. It was an encouraging gathering, carefully prepared by the Reverend Frederick Schnarr, who has done so much to forward the progress of this loyal group.

560

     District Assemblies: In June I presided at the first official Assembly of what is now known as the Northeast District of the General Church (North Jersey-New York-Connecticut-Massachusetts). I was particularly pleased with the obvious progress that this district has made since the Reverend Lorentz Soneson became their resident pastor two years ago. Mr. Soneson is to be congratulated in the outstanding work he has done in providing for the needs of the somewhat scattered membership of this District.

     Ordinations and Inaugurations: On May 21, 1972, I ordained the Reverend Erik E. Sandstrom into the second degree of the priesthood at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.

     On June 19 I inaugurated Candidate Ragnar Boyesen into the first degree of the priesthood at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.

     Pastoral Changes and Appointments: The Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh has resigned as Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society and has accepted an invitation from the Board of Trustees of the Bryn Athyn Church to become Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School, effective September, 1972. In this capacity Mr. Asplundh will also serve as an Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church.
     The Reverend Robert S. Junge, who has been serving as the Acting Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School, has accepted appointment to the Faculty of the Academy of the New Church, effective September, 1972.
     The Reverend Donald L. Rose has resigned as Pastor of Michael Church, London, England, and has accepted a call to the pastorate of the Pittsburgh Society, effective September 1, 1972.
     The Reverend Erik E. Sandstrom, Assistant to the Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto, Canada, has accepted a call to the pastorate of Michael Church, London, England, effective September 1, 1972.
     The Reverend B. David Holm has accepted appointment by the Bishop to serve as Chairman of the General Church Extension Committee and will also be teaching in the Academy schools and in the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School.
     The Reverend Daniel W. Heinrichs has accepted appointment by the Bishop to serve as Pastor of the Ohio District, effective September 1, 1972.
     The Reverend Erik Sandstrom, Dean of the Theological School, has accepted appointment by the Bishop to serve as Visiting Pastor of the Erie (Pennsylvania) Circle.
     The Reverend Norman H. Reuter has accepted re-appointment to serve for another year as Acting Pastor of the Southwestern District.

561

     Other Responsibilities: During the year I continued to serve as President of the Academy and as Pastor ex officio of the Bryn Athyn Church.
     WILLARD D. PENDLETON
          September, 1972

     COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY

     September 1, 1971, to August 31, 1972

     MEMBERSHIP

     During the year ending September 1, 1972, one young man was inaugurated into the first degree of the priesthood, and one minister was ordained into the second degree. There were no other changes in the membership of the Council of the Clergy, which at the year's end consisted of three priests in the episcopal degree, thirty-eight in the pastoral degree, four in the ministerial degree, and one associate member, a total of forty-six. Of these, twelve were wholly or essentially employed by the General Church and/or the Academy of the New Church, and seven were retired or in secular work.
     In addition, the General Church has one priest of the pastoral degree in the Guyana Mission, and in the South African Mission, besides the Superintendent, there are five priests in the pastoral degree and one in the ministerial degree. A directory of the General Church and its Missions is published in NEW CHURCH LIFE, September 1972, pp. 431-437.

     STATISTICS

     The statistics of the Sacraments and Rites of the Church administered during the Year, and compiled from forty-five reports received as of October 15, 1972, together with comparative figures for twelve-month periods five and ten years ago, are shown below:

                              1971-72     1967          1962
Baptisms
     Children                    125          130          133
     Adults                    31          30          33
     Total                         156          160          166

Holy Supper: Administrations
     Public                    168          169          166
     Private                    57          51          Not given
          Communicants          5,316          5,807          5,172

Confessions of Faith               44          24          38
Betrothals                         36          19          30
Marriages                         52          31          38
Blessing on a Marriage               2          Not given     Not given
Inaugurations                    1          Not given     Not given

562

Ordinations                         1          3          2
Dedications: Homes               12          5          6
     Churches                    1          0          1
     Other                         0          1          0
Funerals or Memorial Services          53          39          39

     REPORTS OF THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL

     The Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton continued to serve as Bishop of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church, and President of the Academy of the New Church. The full text of his report appears on page 559.

     The Rt. Rev. Elmo C. Acton, Dean of the Bryn Athyn Church, reports that two men's weekend gatherings were held during the year which proved to be very useful and delightful. He also gave a class in Hebrew to four students in the Senior College, taught an elective religion course for twelfth-grade students, and visited the Glenview and Washington societies.

     The Rt. Rev. George de Charms, Bishop Emeritus of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, President Emeritus of the Academy of the New Church, and Emeritus Professor of Theology, continued to serve as a member of the Corporation of the General Church, and as honorary member of the Boards of Directors of the General Church and the Academy, and also of the Board of Trustees of the Bryn Athyn Church. He taught one course in the College and two in the Theological School of the Academy. In addition he gave six chapel talks and one address to the College, preached twice in Bryn Athyn, and once at Lake Wallenpaupack, Pennsylvania. He also delivered one doctrinal class for the Bryn Athyn Society, conducted five resurrection services, gave a Christmas talk to the First Grade of the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School, and spoke at the Glencairn Christmas Sing.

     The Rev. Alfred Acton served as Assistant Pastor of the Immanuel Church Society, Glenview, and Assistant Headmaster of the Immanuel Church schools.

     The Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh continued to serve as Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society.

     The Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, Pastor of the Colchester Society and Headmaster of the Society's New Church Day School, made six pastoral visits to the Letchworth Group and five to the Manchester Group. He also continued to serve as Chairman of the British Finance Committee and of the British Academy, and was a member of the Advisory and Revision Board of the Swedenborg Society.

     The Rev. Peter M. Buss served as Pastor of the Durban Society and Principal of Kainon School.

     The Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs continued as Pastor of the Detroit Society.

     The Rev. Robert H. P. Cole, Pastor of Sharon Church, Chicago, and Visiting Pastor of the Madison Circle and to Groups in Rockford, Illinois, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Wilmington, Illinois, and Missouri, notes that six new members have signed the Sharon Church rolls during the past two years. In addition to his regular duties he conducted a children's service and preached at both the morning and evening services at the Bryn Athyn Cathedral.

563

He also continued to serve as a Director of the Midwestern Academy of the New Church, and participated in civic and religious associations in the Chicago area. He reports having cordial relations with the Rev. Thorn O. Smallwood, Pastor of the Woodlawn Avenue New Church Society (Convention).

     The Rev. Harold C. Cranch continued as Pastor of Olivet Church, Toronto, Headmaster of the Olivet Day School, and Visiting Pastor to the Muskoka area. He also served as Executive Vice President of the General Church Corporation in Canada and as a member of the Extension Committee and the General Church Publication Committee. In addition he made a pastoral visit to the Montreal Circle and preached in Caryndale and Bryn Athyn.

     The Rev. Roy Franson served as Pastor of the Miami Circle, and as Visiting Pastor to Groups in New Smyrna Beach and St. Petersburg, Florida, Atlanta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama, and to isolated members in those states and in Tennessee.

     The Rev. Alan Gill, retired, had no activities to report.

     The Rev. Victor J. Gladish, although retired, continued to conduct services at Sharon Church, Chicago, once a month. He preached once at Immanuel Church, Glenview, and gave two general doctrinal classes to that Society. He also participated in a Retreat at Linden Hills, Michigan, and while in England preached in Colchester and read a paper on The Gorand Man to a group in London.

     The Rev. Daniel W. Goodenough served as Instructor of Religion and History at the Academy of the New Church. In addition to his regular duties he conducted chapel services for the Secondary Schools during the Fall term, occasionally gave College Chapel talks, and once a week conducted evening worship at Glenn Hall. He also participated with Mr. David Roscoe in giving a series of lectures on Providence and Free Will at the Educational Council meetings, preached three times and gave one children's talk in Bryn Athyn, preached once in Toronto, and participated in the Laurel Leaf Summer School near Pittsburgh.

     The Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs served as Visiting Pastor to the North Ohio Circle, and part-time Instructor of Religion in the Academy Schools, and teacher of Religion in the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School. In addition to his regular duties, he preached twice in Bryn Athyn and once each in Caryndale, Glenview, Washington and Cincinnati. He gave a series of doctrinal classes in Bryn Athyn, one class in Washington, and delivered addresses in Glenview and Cincinnati. He also held bi-monthly young people's classes in Bryn Athyn.

     The Rev. Henry Heinrichs was retired and had nothing to report.

     The Rev. Willard L. D. Heinrichs served as Superintendent of the General Church of the New Jerusalem Mission in South Africa, and as Visiting Pastor to the Transvaal Circle, the Cape Town Group and the isolated in South Africa and Rhodesia. In addition to his regular duties, he preached fifteen times in Durban and once at Carmel Church, Caryndale. He also conducted a children's service and gave seven doctrinal classes in Durban.

     The Rev. W. Cairns Henderson continued as Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE and Professor of Homiletics at the Academy of the New Church Theological School. He also preached six times in Bryn Athyn, conducted one children's service, and at the Academy presided at a one-term seminar on the work Divine Providence.

564

     The Rev. B. David Holm served as Pastor of the South Ohio Circle, resident in Cincinnati, and Visiting Pastor of the Erie Circle.

     The Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard, Pastor of the Los Angeles Society and Visiting Pastor to the San Francisco Circle, reports that the Los Angeles Society recently took possession of its new premises, which meet its needs very adequately.

     The Rev. Robert S. Junge continued as Acting Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School.

     The Rev. Louis B. King served as Pastor of the Immanuel Church Society, Glenview, Illinois, and Headmaster of the Immanuel Church School and Immanuel Church High School.

     The Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz served as Resident Pastor of the Stockholm Society and Visiting Pastor to Circles in Oslo, Jonkoping and Copenhagen. In addition to his regular duties he was a teacher at the British Academy Summer School, and worked on a Swedish translation of Divine Providence.

     The Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner was retired and had nothing to report.

     The Rev. Ormond de C. Odhner served as Professor of Church History and as an Instructor of Religion in the Theological School, College and Boys School of the Academy of the New Church.

     The Rev. Dandridge Pendleton continued to serve as Principal of the Academy of the New Church Boys School.

     The Rev. Martin Pryke, Executive Vice President of the Academy of the New Church, notes that his official report is published in the Annual Number of the Academy Journal, pp. 8-10. Besides speaking to the Bryn Athyn Society about the proposed Middle School, and to the Pittsburgh Society and a gathering at Pawley's Island, South Carolina, about the Academy, he preached and/or gave children's talks at these places as well as at Toronto and Glen Tonche.

     The Rev. Norman H. Reuter, Pastoral Assistant to the Bishop, served as Acting Pastor of the Southwest District, including the Circles in Tucson, Arizona, and San Diego, California, the Group in Phoenix, Arizona, and all the isolated in Arizona and in El Paso, Texas.

     The Rev. Morley D. Rich continued as Resident Pastor of the Denver, Colorado, Circle, and Visiting Pastor to the Ft. Worth, Texas, Circle, the Oklahoma Group and the Central-Western District. He notes that there has been an increase in New Church connected persons and families in the Denver area, and that the Circle there has been trying to secure a suitable place for worship and other church activities. He also gave an interview on Swedenborg which was featured in the Denver Post, and addressed a local women's group on the same subject, as a result of which there have been a number of inquiries and Dew contacts.

     The Rev. Norbert H. Rogers served as Secretary of the General Church, ex officio member of the Bishop's Consistory and guest at the General Church Board of Directors meetings. He also served as Chairman of the General Church Publication Committee, of the Church Extension Committee and of the General Church Translation Committee, as Secretary of the Council of the Clergy and as a member of the Academy Publication Committee. He reports that one of the projects in his charge during the past year and more has been the preparation of a second, up-dated edition of the Readers' Guide, which is now ready for final typing and printing.

565

     The Rev. Donald L. Rose, Pastor of Michael Church, in addition to his regular pastoral duties in London, sent out monthly doctrinal sheets to young people and other interested people, served as headmaster of the one-week British Summer School, visited Holland three times and France once. He also gave three missionary talks to the National Adult School Union, delivered addresses at the Council of the Clergy, at the British Assembly and to the Swedenborg Society, served on the Council and on the Advisory and Revision Board of the Swedenborg Society, was Chairman of the New Church Club, had useful contacts with the General Conference, and contributed articles to several New Church journals.

     The Rev. Frank S. Rose served as Pastor of the Carmel Church, RR 3, Preston, Ontario. In addition to his regular duties he made a trip across Canada to Manitoba and Saskatchewan, ran the Maple Leaf Academy and the Laurel Leaf Academy summer schools, and participated in a joint Convention-General Church retreat and in a Convention summer school, both at Almont, Michigan.

     The Rev. Erik Sandstrom served as Dean of the Theological School of the Academy of the New Church. In addition to his regular duties, he conducted several services in Bryn Athyn, preached three times in Washington, one each in Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Toronto, and gave a doctrinal class in Pittsburgh and in Washington. He also addressed the Bryn Athyn Society at the Swedenborg's birthday and the June Nineteenth celebrations, held a series of Arcana Coelestia classes for a small group in Bryn Athyn, and made monthly pastoral visits to a small group in Philadelphia.

     The Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom served as Assistant to the Pastor of the Olivet Church, Toronto.

     The Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr continued as Resident Pastor of the Washington Society and Visiting Pastor to the Southeast District, including Southern Virginia and South Carolina.

     The Rev. David R. Simons continued as Educational Assistant to the Bishop, Director of General Church Religion Lessons, Editor of NEW CHURCH EDUCATION, and Visiting Pastor to the St. Paul Circle. Besides his regular duties, he preached eleven times, gave eleven children's services, presided for the Bishop over the British Assembly and taught at the British Summer School. He also taught two courses at the Academy of the New Church College, traveled through the Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr's southern territory, serving fifty-three adults and twenty children, taught a one-week course in Glenview, Ill., and visited the Detroit and Pittsburgh societies in each of which he preached and gave a class.

     The Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith served as District Pastor of Western Canada and Northwestern United States, resident in Dawson Creek, B. C.

     The Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson, Visiting Pastor to the Northeast District, resident in Milford, Connecticut, reports that the effects of the District's first Assembly have been most encouraging. Three weekend gatherings for couples helped develop a closer relationship among the scattered members and a thirst for doctrine. He also worked with young people at the Maple Leaf, Laurel Leaf and the "Pine Needle" summer schools, and is confident these projects contribute to the growth of the Church.

566

     The Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh continued to serve the Bryn Athyn Church Society; conducting the Children's Services, teaching Religion in the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School, conducting the Bryn Athyn Church Choir and the Society's singing practices. He also preached in Pittsburgh, Caryndale and London.

     The Rev. Douglas M. Taylor, Pastor of the Hurstville Society, Sydney, and Visiting Pastor to the Auckland, New Zealand, Group, and to the isolated in Australia and New Zealand, in addition to his usual duties, gave a weekly talk on a Sydney radio station, was interviewed twice on a radio program and once by a country newspaper, and spoke twice to an audience not of the New Church.

     The Rev. William Whitehead, retired, reports that volumes 2 and 3 of the Annal of the New Church are nearly complete.

     The Rev. Goodman U. Boolsen reports that from February through June he served as a Guest Preacher for the General Convention Group in Copenhagen, and continued his Latin studies at the Copenhagen University.

     The Rev. Ragnar Boyesen reports that since taking up his duties as Assistant to the Pastor of Olivet Church, Toronto, on the eleventh of August, he preached three times in Toronto and once at Carmel Church, and addressed both the Forward-Sons and the Ladies' Circle in Toronto.

     The Rev. Jose L. de Figueiredo continued as the Minister of the Rio de Janeiro Society.

     The Rev. N. Bruce Rogers served as Instructor of Religion, Latin and Hebrew at the Academy of the New Church.

     The Rev. Jan H. Weiss was engaged in secular work.

          Respectfully submitted,
               NORBERT H. ROGERS
                    Secretary

     BETHLEHEM

     That this signifies in place thereof the resurrection of a new spiritual of the celestial is evident from the signification of "Bethlehem" as being the spiritual of the celestial in a new state, for "Ephrath" is the spiritual of the celestial in a former state . . . . The reason the Lord was born there, and not anywhere else is that He alone was born a spiritual celestial man, but all others natural, with the capacity or ability to become either celestial or spiritual by regeneration from the Lord (Arcana Coelestia 4594).

567

ORDINATION 1972

ORDINATION LOUIS B. KING 1972

     Declaration of Faith and Purpose

     I believe that God is one in essence and in person; that His essence is Divine love and wisdom; and that He is the Lord Jesus Christ-Creator from eternity, Redeemer in time and Savior to eternity, in whom dwells the trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Born of the Virgin Mary, He put on a Human from the Father with which He conquered the hells and re-ordered the heavens, that through Him all men might be saved. Saving faith is, therefore, an acknowledgment of the Lord's Human, and a shunning of evils as sins against His Divine person.
     The Lord is Divine Man, a visible God who is to be worshiped in spirit and in truth, from essence to person. Since His law and order are revealed in the Old Testament, His person in the New Testament and His Human Essence in the Writings of the New Church, therefore the covenant of New Churchmanship is to be founded upon the threefold Word as established and represented in the sacrament of distinctive New Church baptism.
     I believe the inspired books of the Old and New Testament and the Writings of the New Church to be the very Word of God, the Divine truth itself, and the sole means of conjunction between God and man. The Writings are the spiritual sense of the Sacred Scriptures. They are the Lord in His second coming as the Spirit of truth and, as such, their plain teachings are the essential Word-the one and authoritative Divine doctrine for the New Church. The distinctiveness of the New Church resides in thought and affection, in word and deed, inspired and formed from the Writings.
     I believe that when the body dies the spirit or essential man lives on to eternity. If his life was one of charity and faith in the Lord and according to the teaching of Divine revelation, he enters heaven; but he who rejects the Lord's commands condemns himself to hell and spiritual death.
     I believe that the Writings prescribe the distinct organization of the New Church on earth to correspond with the New Church established by the Lord in heaven. I further believe that the Writings clearly indicate the necessity of New Church education and evangelization for the preservation and growth of the church.

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     I believe that the life of the church is founded upon love truly conjugial, and that the work entitled Conjugial Love is, in its entirety, the Word of the Lord directed and applied to living states in the church for the establishment and preservation of heavenly marriage.
     I believe that the priesthood is the Divinely appointed means for the establishment of the church among men and for communicating to them the Holy Spirit. It is the duty of the priest to conduct Divine worship, to serve as a governor in the spiritual affairs of the church, and to lead to the good life by teaching the spiritual truths of the Word. That there may be consistency and uniformity of policy in the varied organizations of the church, one spiritual leader must be acknowledged as its head.
     In response to my nomination by the Council of the Clergy for the office of Assistant Bishop of the General Church, and in acceptance of this call to the episcopal office, I declare my intention of serving the Lord faithfully, sincerely and justly, endeavoring to uphold at all times the hands of the Bishop in:

     1) Preserving order in the church through the principle and practice of ecclesiastical government.
     2) Promoting the distinctive life of the Church Specific, and
     3) Providing for the freedom and response of the church through council and assembly.

     Now, in the presence of this congregation, I ask the Lord to give me the courage and wisdom to shun the conceit of self-intelligence and the subtleties of dominion, that through His office now to be adjoined to me His will alone may be done.
     LOUIS B. KING
APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH COLLEGE 1972

APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH COLLEGE Editor 1972

All Students:
Requests for application forms for admission to The Academy College for the 1973-1974 school year should be made before January 15, 1973. Letters should be addressed to Dean E. Bruce Glenn, The Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, and should include the student's full name and address, the name and address of the school he or she is now attending, and whether the student will be a day or dormitory student. Please see the Academy catalog for information about dormitory requirements.

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     Completed application forms and accompanying material must be received by Dean Glenn's office by March 15, 1973.

     BOYS' SCHOOL AND GIRLS' SCHOOL

New Students:
     Requests for application forms for admission to the Academy Secondary Schools should be made for new students before January 15, 1973. Letters should be addressed to Miss Sally Smith, Principal of the Girls' School, or The Reverend Dandridge Pendleton, Principal of the Boys' School, at The Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009. Letters should include the student's name, parents' address, the class the student will be entering, the name and address of the school he or she is now attending, and whether the student will be day or dormitory. Please see the Academy catalog for dormitory requirements.
     Completed application forms and accompanying material must be received by The Academy by March 15, 1973.

Old Students:

     Parents of students attending the Girls' School or Boys' School during the 1972-1973 school year should apply for their children's re-admission for the 1973-1974 school year before March 15, 1973. Letters should be addressed to the Principal of the school the student is now attending.
BISHOPS IN THE GENERAL CHURCH 1972

BISHOPS IN THE GENERAL CHURCH Editor 1972

     The Executive Bishop of the General Church [also referred to as the Bishop] is the chief governor and general pastor thereof. He is elected by the General Assembly, but his selection is progressive.
     The Executive Bishop of the General Church is named in, and by, the Council of the Clergy, and the choice of that body is then referred to the Board of Directors for counsel and response. The joint Council determines the mode whereby the name is finally to be placed before the General Assembly.
     A priest of the second degree of the priesthood may be ordained into the third degree when the need exists; but the choice of the Executive Bishop, or of any executive assistant bishop, must be confirmed by the General Assembly (Order and Organization of the General Church).

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FOUNDED UPON A ROCK 1972

FOUNDED UPON A ROCK Editor 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE

Office of Publication, Lancaster, Pa.

Published Monthly By

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

Editor               Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Business Manager          Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION

$5.00 a year to any address, payable in advance. Single copy, 50 cents.
     The first things on which man's life as a civil, moral and spiritual being is founded and built are knowledges. It is by means of knowledges that he learns to think, to understand what is good and true, and finally to be wise. Knowledges open the way to the internal man, and the rational faculty has its birth by means of them. Therefore knowledges are indispensable for human development, and men should be as fully instructed in them as possible.
     Yet knowledges alone will not do any of these things, but knowledges which are sought for the sake of use as an end and which lead to the performance of uses. For it is use that gives understanding and that introduces into wisdom, that conjoins the internal man with the external; and it is the affection of use derived from knowledges that really serves as a means of bringing the rational to birth.
     As the end of the year draws near and we try to take stock of ourselves, we may usefully consider what importance we have attached to the acquisition of knowledge, what kind of knowledges we have regarded as of the greatest importance, and what end we have had in view in their acquisition-what values we have attached to them. The knowledges which look to use are those which look to the Lord, and these are the knowledges of the Word which, as truths, are ultimate forms of use. It is not knowledge that builds or destroys the mind, but the use to which it is put. Knowledge apart from use is like the sand, on which, if a man build his house, it will fall; but knowledge looking to use is as a rock, on which, if a man build his house, it will stand.

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EVEN UNTO BETHLEHEM 1972

EVEN UNTO BETHLEHEM Editor 1972

     When the angels had gone away into heaven, the shepherds said one to another: "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." We are taught that Bethlehem signifies the spiritual of the celestial in a new state; also that it represents the Word as to its spiritual sense, and that the Lord willed to be born there because He is the Word. By these words of the shepherds we are instructed, therefore, that if we would respond in spirit to the announcement of the Lord's birth we must look for and to Him in Bethlehem, which is the spiritual sense of the Word.
     But these words also describe the state that desires to find the Lord and speak of the origin of that state. It was an earlier shepherd, the Psalmist of Israel, who said: "Lo, we heard of Him at Ephratah: we found Him in the fields of the forest" (Psalm 132: 6). Ephratah is the ancient name by which Bethlehem was known earlier; and we are told that it signifies the spiritual of the celestial in a former state, and also the Word in its natural sense. When this is added to the words of the later shepherds we learn much more from them than that the Lord is to be found in the Word, and in the Word only.
     We may recall that we have heard of the Lord in Ephratah, in the letter of the Word. In our childhood we found Him in the fields of the forest-in the appearances in which the letter of the Word is written; and we may recall the affections that were stirred up in our hearts by the story of the Lord's birth. The remains of these affections, represented by the shepherds' flocks, are what open the way to a renewing of our faith, disposing our minds to seek out and receive the Divine doctrine, which is what is born, spiritually, in the city of David.

     It is from the affections of childhood states that the desire to see and be led by the Lord is derived-the desire expressed by the words: "Let us now go." But to find the Lord, to know Him, we must form a true idea of Him in the understanding. We must look for Him in Bethlehem, which is the spiritual sense of the Word. In doing this we are not changing our loyalty; for the Word is one, just as Ephratah and Bethlehem were one. The spiritual of the celestial in a new state is simply the truth of the Word as it is now revealed in the Writings, truth presented to the sight of the rational understanding. At a time when many men and women have lost faith in the Divinity of the Word, we are called on, like faithful shepherds, to say: "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this great thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us."

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UNITY OF GOD 1972

UNITY OF GOD Editor 1972

     What the Lord hath made known unto us is that He is the one God of heaven and earth. This is the faith of the New Church, and it is the inner meaning and message of Christmas. What could be seen obscurely in the Old Testament, and with less than clarity in the Gospels, has now been brought to the light. He who was at first found in the fields of the forest-the representative types and images of the Old and New Testament-has now been made visible to the sight of the understanding.
     God, we are told, is one and indivisible, and the Divine and the Human are one and in one person. Indeed, the idea of one God in His Human is said to be the first essential of religion and sound reason; and the true Christian faith is that God is one in essence and in person, and the Lord Jesus Christ is that God. Therefore the Sacred Scripture teaches that there is one God, and there is a universal influx into the souls of men that there is a God and that He is one; an influx that does not teach, but disposes man to believe the truth when he hears it from the Word. It is because God is one that the universe coheres from first to last, depending on Him as the body on the soul.

     While the unity of God is the central truth of the Christian faith, however, it is equally true that there is a Divine Trinity which is called in the Gospels the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Yet these are the three essentials of one God; and as soul, body and activity which correspond to them do not make three men but one man who would be incomplete without any one of them, so these Divine essentials make one God. Because they are one in essence, they make one God in one Divine person. And the Trinity of one God, the Triune God, is in the one Divine person of our Lord Jesus Christ because the three essentials of the one God are in Him; and thus in Him is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. This Trinity did not exist before the creation of the world-which would be in idea a trinity of gods-and was unknown in the early Christian Church, but was a product of the later creeds.
     Therefore the Lord our Savior Jesus Christ is to be worshiped, because He is Jehovah who came into the world and effected redemption. This is indeed the essential of the true Christian faith. It is therefore the central truth of the New Church and the inmost message of Christmas. It is the truth which sets the New Church apart. We are not alone in believing that God is one; we are alone in believing that Jesus Christ is that God. We are not alone in believing in a Divine Trinity; we are alone in worshiping Unity in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Therefore do we find the Lord in Bethlehem.

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RECITATION OF THE CREED 1972

RECITATION OF THE CREED NANCY H. WOODARD 1972

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:

     Over a period of many months I have been wondering increasingly about the use of the recitation of the Creed as part of the ritual of worship. I respect the Creed. I subscribe to it, and recited it many years ago at my own Confirmation. This questioning began during a church service when I happened to make a conscious effort to focus on the meaning of what I was saying. Phrase followed phrase so rapidly that in the time I focused on one, it had been necessary to continue saying several more without any application of thought. Some expressions especially, such as "the communion of angels and men," seem to me to take considerable effort to infill with any real substance.
     A little reflection on this led to the well-known precept that the church looks directly to revelation for authority rather than to manmade statements. From this it was only a short further step to a consideration of some of the wonderful teachings about the Word: that it is the Lord speaking directly to us; that every single word was Divinely inspired; and that there is communication with heaven through the Word. Surely we have all sensed the power of this, and, of course, much of our ritual is built directly on the Word.
     It so happens that during the past year there have been several occasions when I participated with a large group in the recitation of the complete form of the Ten Commandments. The sphere was remarkably moving. None of these occasions was an adult church service. Where do adults presently have a regular opportunity to join in recitations of Scripture? There is family worship and attendance at children's service, as long as there are children in the house. In adult service there are prayers, chants and psalters. But psalters, although they have their place, do not somehow carry the same power as does the full statement of a complete selection from the letter of the Word. Also, we listen to Scripture readings by the minister; but this, too, is not the same as saying it oneself.
     There are certainly many key passages from revelation that everyone is richer for saying aloud, in unison with fellow New Church men. A lifetime of doing this commits many of them to memory-a treasure beyond price. At the present time, it seems that we teach these to our children but then do not provide for their continuing use in our own lives.
     So my beginning question about the use of the Creed leads to the thought that we might add to the depth and richness of our worship by frequent recitation of those key passages of Scripture which form the Divinely given foundations of what "we believe."
     NANCY H. WOODARD
Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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Church News 1972

Church News GARRY HYATT 1972

     CHARTER DAY

     October 27, 1972

     Charter Day weekend, celebrating the ninety-fifth anniversary of the Academy, followed the format that must be familiar to most readers of NEW CHURCH LIFE. When a routine is repeated many times in. detail, there is always the possibility that it will become an empty ritual, but those attending this year's Charter Day will attest that the format remains a very effective receptacle for a still-powerful spirit.

     The schedule for the weekend included the following: the football rally, a series of science classes, the special church service, a luncheon at the Civic and Social Club, the football game, the dance, Sons and Theta Alpha meetings with luncheons, a rugby match, the banquet, and church. judging by the attendance at these events and the atmosphere of enthusiasm sustained throughout, this was not impossibly full nor even too much.
     The first "formal" event on Thursday evening, turned out to be enjoyably informal. An unusually large number of people attended the Academy's open house, this year hosted by the science department. The chairman of the department, Dr. Grant Doering welcomed the guests in the Benade Hall auditorium and introduced three teachers who gave five-minute talks on their respective college courses: Dr. Gregory Baker (Physics), Mr. Michael Brown (Psychology), and Mr. Erland Brock (Earth Science). The gathering then moved to the fourth floor where a series of demonstrations from the secondary-school science courses were given. Mr. Robert Johns showed a movie of his innovative and nationally acclaimed "gymnasium physics." Mr. Burton Friesen involved his audience in several spectacular experiments from his chemistry course. Miss Morna Hyatt gave interesting examples from the laboratory work of the Introductory Physical Science course. Everyone gave high grades to the refreshments provided by the home economics students and gained a feeling of excitement about the learning process at the Academy.

     The service at the Cathedral on Friday with its procession of banners, students, faculty and Corporation members was given unusual impact by the address of the Rev. Ormond Odhner. The address, printed elsewhere in this issue, combined a powerfully clear view of the historical and doctrinal basis for the existence of the Academy along with implications for its future.
     The banquet on Saturday night was a celebration of joy. The subject was "The Sound of Music." If the affectional side of man's life has been given less than its due at previous banquets, this program did much to even things up. The casual humor of the toastmaster, Mr. Walter Childs, was particularly effective against the formal, banquet atmosphere. Each speaker talked for about five minutes and then had ten minutes in which to give a musical demonstration.
     The first speaker, Mr. Lachlan Pitcairn, spoke on the subject of "Music and the Home." He told of his own personal experience involving music with the hope that others would be encouraged to bring music into the life of their families. The uses of music in family worship, as recreation, and as a deeply satisfying contribution to our church services were touched on. In the "performance" part of his presentation Mr. Pitcairn was joined by two of his children, Scot and Lark, as they played numbers for two cellos and a piano.

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The obvious delight they shared in playing together convincingly reinforced the ideas in the speech.
     The second speaker was Mr. Mark Bostock, whose subject was "Music and the School." As the Academy music teacher and head of the Academy Fine Arts Department, Mr. Bostock told how he views music education in our schools, its main focus being the attempt to engage the affections, particularly with regard to music used in worship. He led members of his Fine Arts class in singing four selections which they have been practicing for later performances and explained the musical qualities that led him to choose each piece. The most exciting was the first public singing of Mr. Bostock's own composition, a hymn: "Seek Ye The Lord."
     The third speaker, the Rev. Kenneth Stroh, spoke about "Music and the Church," describing our singing in church as an affectional effort to establish a relationship with God by letting influx flow in through angels who are glorifying the Lord. Mr. Stroh led the Bryn Athyn Church Choir in three numbers. This group has deeply moved many people on numerous occasions with its beautiful music; it seemed to be particularly inspired this night. A number by a New Church composer, Mr. Richard Show, was also included: "Lord, I See Thee in Every Thought." Mr. Stroh then led the entire audience in singing "Dona Nobis Pacem."
     Bishop Willard Pendleton's concluding remarks noted that music is a universal language of the affections, reflecting celestial, as contrasted with spiritual things. As soon as one attempts to explain the celestial it becomes doctrine and thence spiritual. The celestial must be put into something akin to the letter of the Word, exemplified by the poetry and music of the Psalms, so that we can experience it as something essentially affectional.
     This year Charter Day provided a very strong sense of participation and affectional involvement: from football rally to banquet music, from the songs in front of Benade Hall to Sons meeting discussion, from the science classroom to the dance. Our church engages the will as well as the intellect and the traditions of Charter Day are still very much alive.
     GARRY HYATT
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1972

GENERAL ASSEMBLY WILLARD D. PENDLETON 1972

     The Twenty-sixth General Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, from Tuesday, June 12, to Friday, June 15, 1973.
     The program and other information will be given in later issues of NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     WILLARD D. PENDLETON
          Bishop
ORDINATION 1972

ORDINATION Editor 1972

King.-At Glenview, Illinois, November 5, 1972, the Rev. Louis Blair King into the third degree of the priesthood, the Right Rev. Willard D. Pendleton officiating.
IN EPHRATHAH 1972

IN EPHRATHAH 1972

"Ephrathah" means Bethlehem where the Lord was born, and signifies the Word as to its natural sense, while "Bethlehem" signifies the Word as to its spiritual sense; and there He chose to be born because the Lord is the Word. The "fields of the forest" signify the things of the natural sense of the Word, thus of the sense of the letter; while His "habitations" signify the spiritual things of the Word, the spiritual sense, and also heaven, since heaven is in that sense. The "footstool" to which they shall bow themselves down signifies the natural sense of the Word, thus the church on earth (Apocalypse Explained 700: 9).
NEW CHURCH LIFE 1972

NEW CHURCH LIFE 1972

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS REVEALED BY THE LORD THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

VOLUME XCII

THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM BRYN ATHYN, PA. 1972
GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

RIGHT REV. WILLARD D. PENDLETON, BISHOP
RIGHT REV. GEORGE DE CHARMS, BISHOP EMERITUS
REV. NORBERT H. ROGERS, SECRETARY OF THE CHURCH [UNINCORPORATED]
MR. STEPHEN PITCAIRN, SECRETARY OF THE CORPORATION
MR. L. E. GYLLENHAAL, TREASURER
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U. S. A.

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES

Akron, Ohio (North Ohio Circle).*-Occasional Classes. Inquire of Dr. Philip de Maine, 1930 Wiltshire      Rd., Akron, Ohio 44313.

Atlanta, Georgia.* *-Every other month. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Roy Franson. Secretary: Mr. Robert E. Leeper, 5765 Mountain Creek Drive, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30328.

Auckland, New Zealand.* *-Visiting Pastor: Rev. Douglas McL. Taylor. Taped Service every other week. Secretary: Miss E. R. Tuckey, 34 Woodward Rd., Mt. Albert, Auckland. Phone: 83889.

Bryn Athyn, Pa. 19009.-Bryn Athyn Church. Pastor: Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton. Dean: Rt. Rev. Elmo C. Acton. Assistant Pastor: Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh. Friday Class.

Chicago, III.-Sharon Church. Pastor Rev. Robert H. P. Cole. 5220 North Wayne Ave 60640. Phone: SUnnyside 4-6398. Services 11 a.m. Monthly Class.

Cincinnati, Ohio (South Ohio Circle).* -Pastor: Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs. Secretary: Mr. D. Philip Gladish, 7354 Lane 76118, Sanderson Place, Cincinnati, Ohio 45243.

Cleveland, Ohio (North Ohio Circle).* -Monthly, next to last Sunday, at the Convention Church, Broadview Road. Resident Pastor: Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs, 1194 Belle Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio 44107. Secretary: Mr. Charles P. Gyllenhaal 474 Glen Park Drive, Bay Village, Ohio 44140. Phone: TR 13107.

Colchester, England-175-181 Maldon Rd. Pastor: Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, 30 Inglis Rd., Colchester      C03-3HU. Phone: 71526. Wednesday Class.

Connecticut.* -Friday class monthly; Saturday class monthly in Larchmont, N. Y., area. Divine Worship on 1st and 3rd Sunday, Plymouth Chapel, Plymouth Court, Milford, Conn. Pastor: Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson, 145 Shadyside Lane, Milford, Connecticut 06460. Phone: 203-877-1141. Secretary: Mr. Ralph Junge, 49 Hommocks Rd., Larchmont, N. Y. 10538. Phone: 914-834-1663.

Copenhagen, Denmark.*-Weekly service, Stellavej 14, Rodovre. Occasional visits by the Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz. Call Mr. Svend Strobaeck: Tel. 53 06 81.

Crooked Creek, Alberta.**-Monthly, Visiting Pastor: Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith. Contact Mr. Edward Lemky, Crooked Creek, Alberta. Phone 403-937-2507.

Dawson Creek, B. C.*-Pastor: Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith, 1536-94th Ave., Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada. Wednesday Class. Phone: 604-782-3849.

Denver, Colo.*-Resident Pastor: Rev. Morley D. Rich, 562 Pennsylvania St., Denver 80203. Phone: 303-744-2691.

Detroit, Mich.-205 West Long Lake Road, Troy, Mich. Pastor: Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs, 280 East Long Lake Rd., Troy, Mich. 48084. Friday Class.

Durban, Natal, South Africa.-36 Perth Road, Westville. Pastor: Rev. Peter M. Buss, 42 Pitlochry Road, Westville.

Erie, Pa.*-Occasional. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Erik Sandstrom. Secretary: Mrs. Paul Murray, 5648 Zuck Rd., Erie, Pa. 16506.

Florida East Central Group, Fla.**Visiting Pastor: Rev. Roy Franson. Contact Mr. Leonard A. Lattin 225 Daniels St., Lake Helen, Fla. 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2219.

Fort Worth, Texas.*-Regular recorded services. Pastor visits monthly. Pastor: Rev. Morley D. Rich. Secretary: Mrs. Charles E. Hogan, 7513 Evelyn

Glenview, Ill.-Immanuel Church. Pastor: Rt. Rev. Louis B. King, 73 Park Drive 60025. Assistant      Pastor: Rev. Alfred Acton, 2700 Park Lane 60025. Friday Class.

Hurstville, N. S. W., Australia.-Dudley St. Pastor: Rev. Douglas McL. Taylor, 22 Dudley St., Penshurst, N. S. W. Phone: 57-1589.

Indianapolis (Indiana Area).**-Monthly, third weekend. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs. Contact Mr. David F. Gladish, 845 East King Street, Franklin, Indiana 46131.

Jonkoping, Sweden.*-Weekly service, Rosenbergsgatan 9. Occasional visits by the Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz. Call Mr. Lennart Fornander. Phone: 79119.

Kalamazoo, Mich.**-Pastor visits Feb., May, Oct. Saturday class. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Robert H. P. Cole. Secretary: Miss Ingrid Andreasson, R. I. Box 450, Sawyer, Mich. 49125.

Kitchener, Ont.-Carmel Church, R.R. 3, Preston, Ontario. Pastor: Rev. Frank S. Rose, R.R. 3, Preston. Friday Class.

London, England.-Michael Church, 131 Burton Rd., Brixton. Pastor: Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom, 135 Mantilla Rd., Tooting, London, S.W. 17. 8DX. Phone: 672-6239.Wednesday Class.

Los Angeles, Calif.-5027 New York Ave., La Crescenta. Service: 11 a.m. Pastor: Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard, 5114 Finehill Ave., La Crescenta, Calif. 91214. Secretary: Mr. Robert Brown, 2329 Los Amigos, La Crescenta, Calif. 91214. Friday Class.

Madison, Wis.-Weekly service. Pastor visits every second Sunday except August. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Robert H. P. Cole. Call: Mrs. Charles M. Howell, 3912 Plymouth Circle, Madison 53705.

Massachusetts.* *-Divine Worship and class on 2nd Sunday, Convention Church, Newtonville, Massachusetts. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson. Seeretary: Mrs. Robert Genzlinger, R. D. 1, Box 104, Cape Elizabeth, Maine 04107. Phone: 207-799-4280.

Miami, Fla.-15101 N.W. 5th Ave. Pastor: Rev. Roy Franson, 6721 Arbor Dr., Miramar, Fla. 33023.

Montreal, Que.*-Service and classes five times a year. Visiting Minister: Rev. Ragnar Boyesen. Secretary: Mr. Denis de Chazal, 3655 Ridgwood, Apt. 300, Montreal 247, P.Q.

North Jersey. *-Saturday class monthly; Divine Worship on 4th Sunday, Women's Club, Morristown. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson. Secretary : Mrs. Edsall Elliott, Jr., 26 Fieldstone Drive, Whippany. Phone: 201-887-0478.

Oklahoma.* *-Pastor visits monthly, third Friday or Saturday. Pastor: Rev. Morley D. Rich. Secretary: Mrs. Arthur Smith, Rte. 1, Mannford, Okla. 74044.

Oslo, Norway.-Weekly service. Vetslandsveien 82A, Oppsal. Occasional visits by the Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz. Call: Mr. Eyvind Boyesen. Tel. 26 11 59.

Paris, France.*-Occasional. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom. Secretary: Mr. Elisee Hussenet, 50 Rue Caulaincourt, Paris 18, France.

Phoenix, Arizona.* *-Service 1st and 3rd Sundays. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Norman A. Reuter. Contact Mr. Hubert 0. Rydstrom 3640 E. Piccadilly Rd., Phoenix 85018. Phone: 95-2290.

Pittsburgh, Pa.-299 Le Roi Rd. Pastor: Rev. Donald L. Rose, 7420 Ben Hur St., Pittsburgh 15208. Phone:      Friday Class.

Portland, Ore.-Quarterly. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith. Contact Mrs. W. D. Andrews, P.O. Box 8839, Portland, Oregon 97208. Phone: 503-227-4144.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.-Minister: Rev. Jose Lopes de Figueiredo, Rua Desembargador Izidro 155, Apt. 202, Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro.

Rockford, Ill.**-First Tuesday of each month. Monthly class. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Robert H. P. Cole. Contact Mr. Axel Eklund, 4608 Manheim Rd., Rockland, Ill. 61108. Phone: EX 80381.

St. Paul-Minneapolis, Minn.*-Weekly Service. Pastor visits every third Sunday except in August. Visiting Pastor: Rev. David R. Simons. Secretary: Mrs. G. King Wille, 1106 North Second Avenue, Stillwater, Minneapolis 55082.

San Diego, Calif.*-2701 Meadowlark Dr. Service every Sunday. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Norman H. Reuter. Contact Mr. Robert Pollock, 4626 Bancroft St., Apt. 1, San Diego, Calif. 92116. Phone: 283     8712.

San Francisco, Calif. (Bay Area).*Service bi-weekly, 4:00 p.m. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard. Secretary: Mr. Jonathan P. Cranch, 2520 Emerson Street, Palo Alto, Calif. 94306. Phone: 325-7523.

Seattle, Wash.* -Quarterly. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith. Contact Mr. Harold W. Kunkle, 2625 106th Place S.E., Bellevue, Wash. 98004. Phone: 206-454-7787.

Spokane, Wash.**-Quarterly. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith. Contact Mr. Carith E. Hansen, West 1324-5th Avenue, Apt. 4B, Spokane, Washington 99204. Phone: 509-747-7048.

Stockholm, Sweden.-Sockenvagen och Bagerstavagen, Enskedegard. Pastor: Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz, Aladdinsvagen 27, 161 38 Bromma, Sweden. Phone: 48 99 22 and 26 79 85.

The Hague, Holland.*-Occasional. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom. Inquire of Mr. Daniel Lupker, Laan Van Meesdfvoort 1240, The Hague, Holland.

Toronto, Ont.-Olivet Church, 279 Burnhamthorpe Rd. Pastor: Rev. Harold C. Cranch, 2 Lorraine Gardens, Islington 677, Ontario. Assistant to the Pastor: Rev. Ragnar Boyesen. 530 East Mall, Apt. 217. Islington 677, Ontario. Wednesday Class.

Transvaal, South Africa.*-Occasional. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Willard L. D. Heinrichs. Secretary: Mr. Robert W. Cowley, 35 Craggs St., Rynfield, Benoni, Transvaal.

Tucson, Arizona.-3056 N. Country Club Road. Acting Resident Pastor: Rev. Norman H. Reuter, 2536 N. Stewart Ave., Tucson 85716. Phone: 793-0261.

Urbana, Ohio (South Ohio Circle).*Visiting Pastor: Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs. Call Mr. Robert G. Barnitz, 609 South Main St., Urbana 43078.

Vancouver, B. C.**-Quarterly. Visiting Pastor: Rev. Christopher R. J. Smith. Contact Mr. R. Douglas Crompton, 1030 Cecile Drive, #3, Port Moody. Phone: 936-6341.

Washington, D. C.-Washington Church of the New Jerusalem, 1191.4 Chantilly Lane, Mitchellville, Md. Pastor: Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr, 3809 Enterprise Rd., Mitchellville, Md. 20716. Phone: 390-6157. Friday Class.

     For services in England other than in Colchester and London communicate with the pastors of the Colchester and London societies

     * Recognized Circle ** Group