Notes on This Issue 1988

Notes on This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII          January, 1988               No. 1
New Church Life
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE TEACHINGS REVEALED THROUGH EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

     PUBLISHED BY THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM
Rev. Donald L. Rose, Editor               Mr. Neil M. Buss, Business Manager

     PRINTED BY THE GENERAL CHURCH PRESS
BRYN ATHYN, PA 19009
SUBSCRIPTION: $12.00 TO ANY ADDRESS. SINGLE COPY $1.25      We call attention in this issue to the publication by the Swedenborg Society of Dr. John Chadwick's new translation of True Christian Religion. It will be some time before we publish a review, but we can at least now applaud the very handsome and pleasing binding, and we can give a small sample of the contents.
     For the "favorite passage" this month we specifically asked a minister to choose a passage relating to Swedenborg's mission (see p. 24).
     On a single page in this issue we list all the Scripture texts that have been used in the sermons that have appeared in this magazine over the past five years. For lists of texts of earlier years see the January issues of 1983 and 1959.
     The outstanding article by Walter Orthwein on seeing God at once as our Creator and also as personal Savior was delivered as a paper to the Council of the Clergy.
     In Rev. Bjorn Boyesen's sermon on the image of God he says man needs more than willingness to do a given work. "He needs enthusiasm and zeal! The men and women who do all they do with a living interest are they who are an inspiration to others."
     Thirty baptisms is a goodly number to report in an issue. The reports came to us from fifteen different places in four countries. (Eight of them came from Tucson, Arizona.)
     In this issue we begin a series of editorials relating to Swedenborg, as we celebrate this month the 300th anniversary of his birth.

     APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH COLLEGE

     Completed application forms and accompanying transcripts should be received by March 1st, 1988, if the applicant is to avoid a $50 late fee. See page 547, December 1987 issue.

     APPLICATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO THE ACADEMY BOYS SCHOOL AND GIRLS SCHOOL

     Requests for application forms for admission of new students should be made by March 14, 1988. See page 580, December 1987 issue.

IMAGE OF GOD 1988

IMAGE OF GOD Rev. BJORN A. H. BOYESEN 1988

"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him"(Gen. 1:27).

     Such is the clear teaching of the Sacred Scripture. Many people may indeed have thought that it is not a true teaching. But in the New Church we simply take for granted that the Word is right. It seems quite natural to us to believe that God has created everything that is created, and has in addition put His mark on His creation. We expect that something of the human form should characterize all created things. And this is surely what the Writings mean when they say that all creation is like a stage or theater which reflects God-Man, that is, the Divine Human.
     Everything is consequently more or less in the image of God. Some things may indeed resemble the Lord very slightly, while others are very much like Him-and man most of all. But we might legitimately wonder if also man might not be more or less like Him, and might thus in greater or lesser degree fulfill the Lord's purpose with him. And, if so, the first question must be, "What is God like?" And only when we have found some answer to this question are we able to form a reasonably correct concept of the Lord's image-that is, of ourselves.
     It is obvious that we can never form any completely correct idea of God. We can only see certain self-evident truths concerning Him, and afterwards try to grasp something about Him as He reveals Himself in the Word in accommodation to our limited comprehension. Still it is important to realize that such an accommodated idea of God can be, and often is, correct, so far as it goes. It can give us a true picture of God-reveal a true image.
     We learn from the Writings that God is infinite, eternal, omnipresent and omnipotent. These are axiomatic concepts; that is, they are self-evident truths which are the postulates for all further reasoning. Closely associated are such concepts as that God is love itself, wisdom itself and life itself. We also assume that He alone has life in Himself, and consequently lives from His own power. He alone is therefore infinitely, completely, absolutely free. We might say that He alone is, and was, and will forever be of Himself. He loves, thinks and acts of Himself-that is, lives of Himself. It is this that characterizes God.
     And man, thus says the Word, is created in God's image! What then is meant by this?
     Infinite and eternal man can obviously not be.

But his ability to develop is indefinite, which is an image of infinity; and his soul is immortal, which is an image of eternity. Other creatures may indeed also develop, but within comparatively narrow limits. They may also be almost as it were immortal, not as individuals but only as regards the species or the race. Man alone can develop without any definite limit as an individual, and is immortal as a person. And in this he is the nearest image of God!
     Man is not omnipresent, nor is he omnipotent. But his influence may spread far and wide, and he may exert considerable power. There is no definite limit to his influence and power. So, in these respects too man is an image of God.
     Man is also able to be good and wise and useful. He has been gifted with the freedom to determine for himself to what degree he shall develop these traits. Thus he both lives and determines how he lives as of himself. He loves, thinks and acts as of himself. He makes decisions as of himself. And in all of this he resembles God. He is the Lord's most complete image. And if he develops this ability to live as of himself so far as this is possible, he may even become a likeness of God.
     There is something marvelous in this expression, "as of oneself." It is also highly explanatory. The Lord does everything of Himself, but man acts as of himself from God. It is this which constitutes the image, and possibly also the likeness. The image is a spiritual thing, but the likeness is celestial. The image is to act according to the truth. It is largely a matter of the intellect. But man is created after the Lord's likeness first when he does the truth from love to the truth and the Lord. Then his life is also a matter of will. But in either case man's acting as of himself is a matter of response to the Lord's action. In the first case man responds primarily to what the truth requires of him-to what Divine law and order require. But in the second case he responds to what love demands. Yet always this acting as of oneself involves a sense of responsibility. It is the same as when the Writings declare that man is a vessel receiving life from the Lord, but at the same time such a vessel which, when the life inflows, seems to possess the life as something inherent in itself. The life can be used as its own. The vessel is responsible for how it uses it. And in the fulfillment of its responsibility the vessel finds its joy, its happiness and delight in life.
     Thus life always inflows according to the form of the receiving vessel! And please note that it is not only the external form that matters, but especially the internal form. It is not man's external figure or shape that is important, but the form of his mind, the form of his thoughts and affections, of his understanding and will. And it is especially the character of this form that man is called upon to develop-whether or not it shall become an image of God!

For the fact that man has the ability to become in some measure like unto God does not necessarily mean that he is like Him. If he really is to be like unto God, he must also actually learn the truth which the Lord has revealed to him in the Word, and he must also actually live according to this truth, and do this continually as of himself. The willingness, the driving force, must come as it were from inside himself, as it were out of his own free will, without any compulsion from other people.
     But let us be very careful lest we misinterpret this doctrine. The concept of compulsion and freedom can be interpreted in so many different ways. We should realize, for example, that what we call freedom of choice is not the same as real freedom. It is merely an ability to choose between various alternatives, as between good and evil; and this is a faculty or capacity given to every man by God. It is, in other words, only a prerequisite for freedom. On the other hand, if by freedom we mean the ability to do whatever we wish without regard to right, law, truth or order, then freedom with man does not exist except as an illusion or fantasy. The truth is that real freedom is not reached until man lives according to revealed truth from love. In other words, man's freedom is always relative-relative to the laws of order. Man is free and feels free only in the same degree as he lives according to revealed truth as of himself. That is why man must attain to freedom; that is, a state of genuine freedom must be reached, and, strange as it may seem, it must be reached through self-compulsion. It is exactly as the Lord said: "If you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31, 32).
     From this it should be evident that man can never attain to a happy life without any compulsion. The very fact that there is such a thing as truth, order or law involves in itself the need for compulsion. What is essential in order that man may feel spiritually free is therefore in reality not the absence of all compulsion, but simply that he must not be subjected-if adult-to compulsion from without in spiritual matters; that is, he must not be compelled by others than himself. But self-compulsion must exist. Man must learn as of himself. And ever since evil and falsity arose, he must even compel himself to live according to the truth. The Writings therefore even declare that ever since the fall, self-compulsion is the only possible beginning of freedom. The only thing of decisive importance is that the compulsion must be as of oneself. It is this that makes it the beginning of freedom.
     All of this is only to say in doctrinal terms what some psychologists and experts on education have said in a different way, namely, that "motivation is a very powerful ingredient in all performance.

Talent without motivation," they observed, "is inert and of little use to the world." They have noted that "geniuses are characterized not only by high intelligence, but by the desire to excel, by perseverance in the face of obstacles, by zeal in the exercise of their gifts." This would imply that truly useful people are constantly striving for greater perfection. It means that man needs more than competence in order to achieve high standards of performance. He needs to do more than either consent to or be willing to do a given work. He needs more than the willingness to cooperate. He needs enthusiasm and zeal! The men and women who do all they do with a living interest are they who are an inspiration to others. But he who only half-heartedly does what he cannot avoid gives rise to distrust and failing courage both in himself and in his neighbor. No human organization can ever attain to any strength, and still less any greatness, unless its members accept high standards of personal responsibility. In other words, character is, in the final analysis, of greater importance than competence. Where there is character, the competence can be improved!
     To have character means to work and strive for that which one believes to be right and true, and to do this to the utmost of one's ability. Anything less is in reality to be faithless both to oneself and to God. The high ideal involved in the teaching that God strives to create man into His own image can never be achieved if man accepts mediocrity. For that is a travesty on God's image. But nor can it be achieved if man, in his own personal conceit, tries to fashion himself without Divine guidance. For that is a caricature of God. But at the same time, let us never forget that God is merciful, and mercy is part of His image in us.
     Much of man's creation in the image and likeness of God is therefore a question of how we form our purposes and ideals. From where do they come? Whence are our principles and intentions? By what are we motivated? What do we desire to achieve either individually or collectively, either personally or as a church? And can we really separate the church from the individual? Is it the Lord or ourselves that shall rule? Is it our own personal and selfish cares and anxieties, or is it the Lord's teachings-His principles and ideals, His truths from the Word, His immense love to create and save us? The former leads to fear. Under its influence we are driven by impatient ambitions, but often dare little or nothing. We are too concerned with self. We clutch at our possessions and try to hang onto security, but sink into idleness and despair. We become incompetent and frustrated, and die in spirit.
     The alternative is to let our minds be formed by the Word of God, and, in the New Church, by the Writings. And this is to be truly free-to be trustful and active in the Lord's service, both individually in our private lives and collectively in the life of the church.

It is to realize that regeneration is achieved slowly through patient struggle against the native self. It requires both study of and obedience to the Word. It is to suffer oneself to be constantly taught and led thereby. It is to examine oneself both as to the will and the understanding, and to reject all ideas and desires which are opposed to the Word, to forsake one's personal prejudices and emotions. It is to do our work and also all other duties as the Word commands, and to support the church organization in the hope and trust that the Lord, through it, can lead us. It is to be helpful, creative, eager to do the Lord's work, and to do all this as of oneself and yet from the Lord, and thus to claim no merit for oneself, nor, therefore, to be worried about self. It is, quite simply, to obey the Word and trust in the Lord. For in the last analysis it is not man that regenerates himself. Regeneration is not really achieved, although it seems so and should so seem, but it is a Divine gift. For it is God that creates man. And God creates him in His own image. In the image of God He creates him. Amen.

Lessons: Gen. 1:26-31, John 8:12-36, AC 51, 52 NEW LIGHT: TEN ARTISTS INSPIRED BY SWEDENBORG 1988

NEW LIGHT: TEN ARTISTS INSPIRED BY SWEDENBORG Editor 1988

     ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH

     In conjunction with the Swedenborg Tricentennial celebration, the Glencairn Museum presents the exhibition:

     NEW LIGHT: TEN ARTISTS INSPIRED BY SWEDENBORG

Thomas Anshutz      William Blake           John Flaxman
Winfred Hyatt           George Inness           William Page
Hiram Powers           Howard Pyle           Philippe Smit
Nishan Yardumian

January 29, 1988 - March 13, 1988
9-5 weekdays 2-5 weekends
By appointment during the Ministers' Meetings March 7 - 11

     This exhibition will show the impact the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church have had on the visual arts over the last two hundred years.

SEEING GOD AS CREATOR AND AS PERSONAL SAVIOR 1988

SEEING GOD AS CREATOR AND AS PERSONAL SAVIOR Rev. WALTER E. ORTHWEIN 1988

     Question: How can we reconcile our idea of God the Creator with our idea of God as a Personal Savior?
     On the one hand, God is infinite and incomprehensible. He is Being Itself, Love, Truth, Substance, Order. These are abstractions. In this regard, God is a philosophical necessity. But how can we believe that this same infinite Divine Being is also a Divine Man who takes an active interest in the details of our little lives?
     How can it be that the God who made a billion suns cares about our little problems, our happiness?
     Anyone who thinks about God probably ponders this question. It has been a real problem for many people-even some in the New Church, whose central doctrine is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one God of heaven and earth.
     Note that one solution to the problem is simply to divide God into more than one person, which is what the Christian Church did with the doctrine of the trinity: God the Father and God the Son, the invisible Creator and the Personal Redeemer. But this doesn't solve the problem; rather, it tends to reduce God the Father to a philosophical abstraction ("Ground of Being," "Force," or whatever), and Jesus to a mere man. And then we are back where we started.
     This is the state of belief in which many people are today. They believe in God-the riddle of creation seems to demand some kind of Creator or Supreme Intelligence-but they have no very clear idea of God. And they believe in Jesus as a great and good man, a reformer, a prophet, a master teacher, but not as God. Others, of course, have a simple belief in Jesus as God incarnate, and feel no philosophical need to reconcile this God with the Creator God. That is left up to the theologians, who "explain" it with the "mystery" of the trinity.
     But for those who seek understanding, the New Church doctrine of the Lord-that is, the doctrine of the Divine Human-solves the problem. It gives us a God who is both fully Divine and fully Human, and shows how this is.
     There is no end to the meaning that can be found in the doctrine of the Divine Human, but in this paper I want to approach the doctrine in a personal or affectional way, or as it applies to a person's actual spiritual Life, which is essentially a matter of love. Theology is not just a matter of how well we understand the doctrine of the Lord philosophically, but of actually being affected by an awareness of the Lord's presence with us.

     Such an approach seems consistent with the rule that the purpose of all doctrine is to affect our lives. The purpose of the doctrine of the Divine Human is to enable us to know the Lord, not just know about Him.
     To begin with, consider the teaching that while He was in the world, the Lord was Divine Truth, or made His Human Divine Truth; while after His resurrection, when fully glorified, He became Divine Good (see AC 4577, 4973:5). I think this teaching has application to our own personal vision of the Lord, and thus our relationship with Him.
     And note that it parallels the teaching that in the course of regeneration we are led first by truth, later by good. ". . . while man is being regenerated, truth is apparently in the first place, or as it were the lord; but. . . good is manifestly in the first place and lord when he has been regenerated" (AC 4977e).
     Our first view of the Lord after becoming rational adults is intellectual. We see Him as Divine truth. We see the truth that everything must have a cause, and that the First Cause is what we call "God." We see the necessity for law and order in life; we perceive that there must be intelligence behind the created universe. God is a fact.
     But then, as the Lord is glorified, or made Divine, in us, this fact grows into a living truth, and finally affects us with good. We come more and more to see the Lord as Good. We experience, or relate to Him not just as Truth, but as Good-as Love.
     By Divine truth the Lord united the Human to the Divine; by Divine good He united the Divine to the Human (see AC 2665). This statement seems filled with significance for the development of our own vision of the Lord. I would put it this way: From truth we can see that Jesus is Divine; but only from good can we see that God is Human.
     To see that Jesus is Divine must come first; for we can see Him. In Him God became visible. Divine Being, Divine Love, manifested itself as truth incarnate, the Word made flesh. And we can come to see the truth that this Man is Divine. But can we also see that the infinite Creator God is Human, and in fact is this very Man? This involves a new way of seeing-seeing from good.
     Of course, the union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord was reciprocal, and a similar dynamic must exist in regard to our own vision of the Lord. Some love must be active for us even to acknowledge the truth that God exists. Therefore, the Lord preserves "remains" of innocence and love with us from infancy. But in the beginning this love is not felt, and we are led by truth. The understanding is reformed first, and our vision of the Lord is more a matter of truth.

     Isn't this the crux of the matter when we speak of how we can know the Lord? How we know Him depends not just upon knowing a doctrine, but upon how we receive the doctrine, how it affects us, how we respond to it. Whether or not God is abstract or personal to us depends upon our state of receptivity. And surely this varies even with an individual.
     To those who demanded proof the Lord said that the only sign of His Divinity would be "the sign of the prophet Jonah," meaning His resurrection, thus His glorification (see Matt. 12:39, 16:4; Luke 11:29; AE 706:6). This is the sign which is given for people today also-the glorification of the Lord in their own minds. It is this that enables us to see from good.
     But how is the Lord "glorified in our minds"?
     In answer, I think we must consider how the Lord was glorified while He lived on earth. It was through temptation combats, even unto death. The path of our regeneration-which is the glorification of the Lord in us-is similar. We are to take up our cross and follow Him.
     Just as the Lord is crucified anew when we choose evil, so He is glorified anew, to us, when we choose good; that is, when we lead a regenerate life.
     Adhering to the truth of the Word involves temptation and finally the death of the lower self. We come to see that there is no good or truth in us, that of ourselves we have no life. The appearance of self-life is shattered. But then there can be a resurrection as a new will for what is good is raised up. Then for the first time we truly see that the Lord is God, the source of all life. No longer are we at the center, judging the evidence, but the Lord is in the center, as a sun, and from His light we see.
     Consider also what it was that the Lord glorified or made Divine. It was the Human. Here again we can apply this to our growing knowledge of the Lord. One meaning of this, I think, is that intellectual humility is needed to see the Lord. We do not attain this vision of ourselves, but He deigns to reveal Himself. One in the pride of self-intelligence may believe in God as Creator, but only one in a state of humility can see the Lord as Savior.
     We must start with a human idea of God, an idea of the Lord as a Man. That idea is never to be abandoned. It is not childish. It may be childish in its first conception, but it should grow, just as the Lord was born as an infant and then grew.
     The Human was made Divine. I would say to people: do not abandon the human idea and then try to bring the Divine down into personal reality-the Divine apart from the human is just a "concept," an abstraction. But start with the human, even if your idea of it seems simple and childish, and then let that human idea be glorified.

     It can only be uplifted and glorified through a regenerate life. The vision we have of God will be more and more infilled with Divine love and wisdom as the obstacles to Divine influx are removed by a life of shunning evils.
     Therefore, our view of the Lord is tied to our state of life. We don't start out with a clear idea of the Lord and as a result live a good life. Rather, we must live a good life and then our idea of the Lord will become ever clearer, and not just clearer, but more living and human. It might seem that you can have a very clear idea of the Lord regardless of how you live, and in a sense this is true-our minds can be elevated even into the light of heaven by true doctrine. But there is a difference between a clear idea and knowing a living, human, personal God.
     To say this is not to belittle the importance of developing a clear understanding based upon true doctrine, for it is by means of such understanding that a new will is formed (or, as it says in DP 282, that the will is "healed"). "The natural does not become new, or receive life corresponding to the rational, that is, is not regenerated, except by means of doctrinal things. . ." (AC 3502:2). Doctrine is thus a fundamental necessity. But a clear understanding alone is insufficient for a living knowledge of the Lord. This living knowledge grows as regeneration progresses.
     The use of truths from without (doctrinal knowledge) is to open the way and prepare the mind for the reception of truth from the Lord from within; and this influx from within is received according to the individual's state of mind (see TCR 8, 11).

     Faith in God enters into man through a prior way, which is from the soul into the higher parts of the understanding; while knowledges about God enter through a posterior way, because they are drawn from the revealed Word by the understanding through the bodily senses. These inflowings meet midway in the understanding, and there natural faith, which is merely persuasion, becomes spiritual, which is real acknowledgment. Thus the human understanding is like a refining vessel, in which this transmutation is effected (TCR 11e).

     Seeing the Lord as the Creator of the universe is a matter of doctrinal knowledge and correct reasoning. But knowing the Lord as a human, personal God is a matter of life, of experience, of consciousness, of perception. It is a different kind of seeing altogether-seeing from the heart. "The pure in heart shall see God." This purer vision of the Lord results from the "transmutation" that takes place in the "refining vessel" of the mind, where the influxes meet. We should seek both kinds of vision, and not imagine, when the first has been attained, that it is all there is.

     The primary thing that is transmuted is the human will. This takes place by means of truth, learned from without; but that truth is only the agent of the transmutation-the catalyst, or the receptive vessel, or the seed. That truth is given by the Lord in His Word, and it is implanted in the good of infancy, which is also a gift from the Lord. There it takes root and grows and bears fruit. Thus,

     the good of infancy becomes spiritual good through the implanting of truth, thus through regeneration; hence comes the correspondence between rational and natural things, consequently the adjunction of the natural man to the life of the rational . . . (AC 3504; see also 3493).

     When this correspondence has been accomplished, the natural will be able to see what the rational sees and be affected by it. The natural is where the feeling is, it would seem. In any case, it is the natural that must be regenerated and receive new life; and life is a matter of warmth as well as light. There must be delight for rational truth to be communicated to the natural mind (see AC 3502:2).
     When one says that he can conceive of God but not a personal God, there would seem to be a discrepancy between the rational and the natural degrees of the mind. He sees rationally that there is a God, but does not feel the warmth of this truth on the natural plane of the mind. The natural good of infancy is not rational, so it appears as nothing to him; and the rational is not yet good, so it does not feel like anything to him.
     As an illustration, consider that when you go high in the air or into space it is cold, even though you are closer to the sun. The sun's warmth is released on earth. Similarly, when we see God as Human we can feel His warmth. The Lard brought God down to earth, so to speak, so that we might feel His love.
     The natural is regenerated after the rational, and with more difficulty (AC 3855); so it is not surprising that a person will sometimes have a clearer understanding of God than he has a feeling of God's presence. This is because the natural contains the fullness of life; it is where we live. To see that there is a Creator of the universe is only rational; but to know that He is a personal God is a matter of life.
     All through the Writings we are taught that God is a Man. In DLW 18, for instance, this is made very concrete: He has a body, He has a face, He has eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and tongue. There is no way we can believe this and still-think of God in a purely abstract way.
     But what does this mean? What does it mean, for instance, that God has ears? Our problem is that we don't know what an ear really is. We think of form, not essence. To know the essence of a thing, we have to think of its use and the love embodied in that use.

God is Human because in Him all the uses of humanity originate. This may sound abstract, but consider: What is it that makes any of us human? It isn't the body, but the uses which the body represents and serves. The uses embody the thoughts and affections that make us human. And our humanity is derived from the Lord, who is Use Itself.
     God's ears, I believe, are an aspect of His Divine perception. They are the love that causes Him to hear and respond to our prayers. (In AC 3869 His ears are said to be infinite will, that is, providence; while His eyes are infinite understanding, that is, foresight.) But the Lord does not just have Divine perception; He has ears! Similarly, He has the other organs of humanity because He has the faculties to which those organs correspond. The organs don't make Him human, but the faculties. Yet He is said to have the organs too.
     Perhaps faculty" is an inadequate word when speaking of God. We might say that we mortals have the faculty, while God is the faculty. Our abilities to think and feel, to speak and act, and to sense things are derived from Him. In fact, it is actually the Lord who sees and hears in us (see AC 5779, DP 314).
     God has a human face, with eyes, ears, etc. The Writings say this, I think, because we cannot conceive of the Human apart from a form. Nor should we, for there is no substance apart from form. Of course, the Lord's body should not be thought of in spatial terms, as large or small (DLW 285); yet He has a body, and it is a human body, and is not formless.
     The created universe mirrors not just God but God as a Man. For the uses visible in all creation are essentially human. They are the same uses that make each of us human. So I think we could say that really to see the universe is to see the human form of God. Thus the Creator God and the Human God are seen to be one.

     Man. . . is a form of all uses, and all uses in the created universe correspond to those uses in him. . . . God as a Man is the form itself of all uses, from which form all uses in the created universe derive their origin. Thus the created universe, viewed as to uses, is an image of Him (DLW 298).

     "Use" may be an abstraction, but there is a very real delight associated with every use. There is a delight associated with all our natural senses-sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch-and those natural delights correspond to spiritual delights. The delights of conjugial love are so great because its use is so great. And as the uses are from the Lord, so are the delights. To see and understand the nature of a use is not the same as being in that use and experiencing its delights.

A full vision of the Lord is not just to see the uses in creation, but to experience the delights of those uses. If it is the Lord who sees and hears, etc., in us, is not the very fact of our seeing and hearing "proof of the Lord's presence?-and not just the fact of it, but the delight of it? If we could be in this perception, every sensation would be an, experience of the Lord's presence. "O taste and see that the Lord is good." Perhaps part of what the Writings mean when they say God has ears is that we are God's ears. When we hear or see, it is the Lord hearing and seeing. How much more personal could God be? To see is to see God-not to see Him out there, but in the sense that He is the one doing the seeing. "One thing I know; whereas I was blind, now I see."
     The philosophical teaching of the Writings that love is substantial has profound meaning for our lives. The essence of the human, the true substance from which all humanity is derived (and indeed even inanimate matter), is Divine love. This teaching brings us back from something abstract ("substance") to a human quality, or feeling, with which we are familiar-love.
     To say "God is substance" sounds very philosophical. A scientist might be comfortable with that idea of God. But then, what is "substance? The primary substance of all is love. And this definition-"God is love"-brings us into a very human realm, and we see that the philosophical and the personal God are one and the same. It is similar in regard to all the other names or attributes of the Lord, such as Order, Power, etc. These are all just other names for love.
     A personal, loving, caring God who acts in our individual little lives may seem incredible. But reflect: What else is love except this willingness to bend down, to accommodate, to help, to forgive, and mercifully lead and save? If the nature of God is love, then these attributes of love also describe His nature.
     Even the phrase "God is love" may be understood only as an abstract philosophical formula if one does not reflect that love is personal and substantial. There is a tendency to think of love as just an attribute of human beings (and one that is hard to define) rather than as the very essence and origin of humanity, and of everything else. To say "God is love" is not just a poetic metaphor, or a reduction of God to a vaguely defined feeling, but is actually a most solid and precise and full expression of what God is (and actually who He is). Nothing is more substantial, or more human, than love.
     Love is not an abstraction, but a human quality-the human quality. It cannot exist apart from a man-in fact, the Man. It is the same with wisdom, which is just the face of love. Love is the substance, wisdom the form, the substance and the form of humanity.

     Love has purpose, and a true understanding of the universe also requires that we know the Divine purpose in all creation, which is a heaven from the human race. If we can see that the end of creation is human, this will help us see that its beginning must be human also; for the beginning is in the end, just as love is present in the uses that come from it and in which it is embodied.
     To one who has trouble seeing God as Human, I would say: Reflect upon your own human nature, which is essentially nothing other than a vessel created to receive the Divine. How then could God be unconcerned with our lives when to receive Him is the very essence and purpose of our lives? Yes, the universe that God created is most impressive, but your own mind, which can contemplate that universe and know its Creator, is more wonderful than any material object.
     Oddly enough, one common idea of God held by those who do not believe in a personal God is that of a "Supreme Intelligence." But from the viewpoint of the New Church, this is self-contradictory, for we cannot conceive of intelligence apart from person. To see and revere the intelligence in the universe, and yet deny the One whose intelligence it is, seems terribly incomplete, at least; but perhaps it is better than nothing.
     A clear idea of what love and intelligence are makes possible a clear idea of who God is; and it makes completely impossible any thought of God being Love or Intelligence apart from Person. To see God is to see Him not just as a Supreme Intelligence, but as Divine Wisdom, wisdom being the intelligence of love.
     The Writings make it all so clear! God did not create the universe out of nothing, but out of His own Divine love. He is the substance, as well as the form and order, of all creation. The sun and the stars, the billion swirling galaxies are all made from, and subsist every moment from, Divine love-the very Divine love that takes such an interest in an individual's life. The two Gods-one a Creator, the other Personal-are one and the same.
     We speak of the Lord bending down and accommodating His love to us. But really, I think that is just a way of speaking too. The Lord is everywhere. He doesn't have to bend down. And accommodation is built into love. It isn't something the Lord has to do; it is what He is.
     I would compare this with gravity. Gravity is a pervasive force. It keeps the planets in their courses around the sun. Yet that same gravity is just as "concerned," so to speak, with any little object on a table. The same gravity that holds the milky way together (100,000 light years across!) is not in the least troubled or embarrassed or humiliated or otherwise put out to take the pencil that falls from my hand and escort it to the floor.

     This is how it is with Divine love. It is everywhere and all-powerful, the very substance of all the universe, and yet intimately involved or "concerned" with the life of each individual human being.
     Of course, gravity is impersonal, while love is personal. The Lord's love is accommodated to each individual's needs with infinite wisdom and sensitivity. But maybe this is a good analogy in that it helps us realize that our definition of "personal" and "human" may be too limited. The Infinite Creator God and the Personal Loving God are one and the same, for the Lord made the Divine Human and the Human Divine in Himself.
     He is not Human in the finite way we are, as when we speak of being "only human." But then, our humanity does not come from our finiteness; it comes from the Lord, who is infinite, and in whom the Human is Divine. Our humanity is derived and is finite, but the fact of being derived and finite is not what makes us human; it is the humanity we receive from the Lord which infills this finite form that makes us human. As an illustration, compare God to the ocean, and finite human beings to bottles floating in the ocean. Call the water of the ocean and in those bottles, insofar as they receive it in place of the emptiness of self, "true humanity." One might say that he can conceive of God as the ocean-limitless-but not as having anything to do with those little containers. Yet the substance in that finite human being-the substance that gives life and humanity to mortal men-is the same as in the Lord Himself. In fact, it is the Lord Himself. It is humanity, which is essentially love.
     This illustration is flawed if it suggests that we have any Divinity in us. But life itself is Divine and indivisible, and our life (as we think of it) is really the Lord's, and is received every moment from Him. Of ourselves, in fact, we cannot even receive it; we are able to receive it only because the Lord took our human nature upon Himself and glorified it. Only the Divine can receive the Divine.

     That which is from the Divine Itself cannot flow in immediately with any angel, because it is infinite, but only mediately through the Lord's Divine Human. . . . Neither could the Lord's Human Itself have received any influx from the Divine Being unless in Him the Human had been made Divine; for that which receives the Divine Being must also be Divine (AC 4724:2,3; see also 3938:2; cf. 2531).

     I think this teaching also implies that for us to see the Divine as Human, the Human of the Lord must be "glorified" in us. "For that which receives the Divine Being must also be Divine." The humanity of Jesus is easy enough to see, but to perceive that the Divine is Human (that God the Creator is a Man) requires that we receive the Divine, which can be received "only mediately through the Lord's Divine Human."

Thus with us, as with the Lord Himself, the conjunction is reciprocal. The one kind of seeing-that in Jesus the Human is Divine-should lead to the corresponding perception that the Divine is Human, also in Him.
     People ask, "How can that Man, that Human Being, Jesus, be God? I can think of Him in a personal and loving way, but not as God." Yet the Soul of the Lord is the Divine Itself, and the soul of any person is the person. So when we say a personal, loving, human God, we must remember that the thing that makes that Person loving and human is His soul, which is infinite and Divine, and in fact is the infinite Creator God. We may sometimes have trouble putting these two ideas of God together, but in the Lord they are as close as body and soul.
     In thinking about the Divine Human, I am reminded of an often quoted statement concerning the progression of enlightenment: "Before I was enlightened, a mountain was a mountain. When I first began to be enlightened, a mountain was not a mountain any more. But then, when attained enlightenment, a mountain was a mountain again." This is how it is with us, I think, in the course of our enlightenment concerning the Lord. Our first idea of Him is as a loving Father in heaven-Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who watches over us-very human. Then, as we become more philosophical, God becomes more impersonal, more of a force, an abstraction-not so human, not so clearly seen, not so close. And at the same time the Divinity of Jesus may become less evident. But then, when we think about what really constitutes humanity, we begin to see God as a Man again, only now we have a much fuller idea of what the Human is. We now think from essence to person.
     The Writings make it possible for us to reflect upon the true nature of humanity, and upon the unity of the Divine and the Human in the Lord. As we do this, our minds are elevated or opened to heaven, and we more and more see the essence of the Lord's Human. This is like ascending Jacob's ladder. Then, when we perceive the Divine within the Human, and that they are one, the Divine comes down and infills that Human idea of the Lord with which we started. And He becomes not just a Person as at first, not just the Infinite Creator God, as He became to us later on, but both together, perfectly united in our minds, the Divine Human.
     Not only is the idea of God as a Man not opposed to the idea of God as the Creator of the universe, but "unless God were a Man the universe could not have been created. . . . He created the universe out of Himself . . . [and therefore] the Human is the inmost in every created thing, though apart from space" (DLW 285).

The love and wisdom from which the universe was created are human qualities and cannot exist abstractly from man (see DLW 286). The uses embodied in all nature reflect human nature, for man is a form of all uses; and, since man is made in the image and likeness of God, the uses visible in the natural universe actually mirror the Lord as a Man, as a Personal God.
     So one who perceives the intelligence and order manifest in the created universe, and who therefore acknowledges that there must be some kind of Supreme Being, really is acknowledging a "Personal God," even if he doesn't realize it, because those qualities of intelligence and order are human qualities. If they exist at all, they exist in and from a God who is Man. All that remains is for that person to get to know the Lord on a personal level, and not just as a subject for analysis. Any lack of such a personal relationship is not because the Lord is drawing away or remaining aloof, but because the man is holding back and distancing himself from the Lord, for the Lord is always knocking at the door, waiting to be let in.
     To one who feels such a distance between God and himself, I would say: It is up to you to respond. Respond to the Divinity you see in the universe, which so far seems only impersonal to you; respond in a personal way, a human way, with your heart and not just your mind; and behind that apparently impersonal intelligence you will find a warm, loving, Human God. You will find Him in the Lord as you come to see that the human love manifested by Him during His life in the world is in essence Divine.
     To respond to God in this way requires that we find Him not just "out there" in the universe, but within-where He can be found when His image and likeness is formed in our hearts and minds. The angels are said to be "in" the Lord because they are in the sphere of the Divine truth proceeding from Him (AC 5316). We too must come into the sphere of this truth. The truth must come into our minds first, and then, as we reflect upon it and live by it, it will grow and encompass us with its sphere. And what is this sphere except love? Then we will be able to see from within-from within the truth, from within the Lord, from within the spirit of all creation.
     The New Church is an internal church, not just because it teaches interior truths, but because its teachings lead us to see the truth (and all creation) interiorly, to see it from within, to see the soul of it instead of just the body from without. The Lord has come again as the Spirit of truth that leads into all truth. To be in "all truth" is to be in the sphere of the Lord's love, for all truth represents one Divine love, and that love contains all truth.
     People often speak of their "concept" of God.

A "concept" is usually a dry, philosophical idea, and yet a real concept of God is a most vital thing; then it is not just a concept but a conception. I would use these related words to distinguish between an abstract, general idea (concept), and living, growing truth (conception). The word "conception" links thought with pregnancy and birth.
     The New Church doctrine of the Lord is not just a concept, but a conception. It has life in it, and can grow in the mind. It grows into a Man. This is regeneration-it is not just a person's spiritual rebirth, but is the Lord's birth in that person. And again, humility is essential. We do not conceive of God; the conception is His. It is a virgin birth. No human activity of thought brings it about.
     A regenerate person is a true microcosm, for in him the Divine is mirrored, as it is mirrored in the universe without (see TCR 11:3). He is an image and likeness of God. Then, I think, any doubt about who created the universe is removed, for it is known who created the cosmos within. The regenerate person sees that the Lord Jesus Christ saved him, and that the Lord did this by creating him anew. And that is the creation that matters.
     To conclude, I will reiterate that the necessary progression in a person's thought that leads to a vision of the Lord in His Divine Human is not just a matter of learning and thinking, but is tied to the course of regeneration. Belief in the Lord as a personal, caring, loving God is a different kind of belief from believing that there is a Supreme Being who created the universe. Seeing the Lord is not, finally, a matter of understanding, but of life. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
TOUR OF SWEDENBORG'S SWEDEN 1988

TOUR OF SWEDENBORG'S SWEDEN Editor 1988

     Gothenburg, Skara, Falun, Uppsala, Stockholm

     July 15-26, 1988

     Study tour includes: Swedenborg's family estate, Bishop Swedberg's home, Swedenborg's summer house, locks in use that Swedenborg designed, old Stockholm, lectures on Swedenborgiana.

     For a detailed itinerary and further information write: Martha Gyllenhaal, or Durban or Carroll Odhner, Academy of the New Church, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

WORDS OF SPIRIT AND LIFE 1988

WORDS OF SPIRIT AND LIFE Rev. Grant H. ODHNER 1988

     Fifth in a Series on How to Read the Word

     Do It for Others

     One important answer to the question "How should I read the Word?" is, "Unselfishly."
     Instinctively we tend to do things for ourselves, for what we hope to get out of them. Reading the Word is no different. If we don't think we're going to benefit, or if we don't see the benefit immediately, we tend not to want to do it.
     Yes, it is very "human" to approach things this way. But this is something to work on and overcome. "A human being is born not for his own sake but for others' sake; that is, he is born not to live for himself alone but for others; otherwise there would be no cohesive society" (TCR 406).
     Reading the Word selfishly may gain us knowledge, but it doesn't bring light. "When people read the Word with themselves and the world as ends in view, their minds cleave to themselves and the world. And this causes them to be constantly thinking from their proprium, which is in thick darkness in respect to all things of heaven. In this state a person cannot be withdrawn by the Lord from his proprium and so be raised into the light of heaven, and as a result, cannot receive any influx from the Lord through heaven" (SS 61:2).
     Reading the Word is good for us as individuals. And what is good for us is good for those whom we touch. It is also good for those who must deal with us. It reminds us of what is eternal; it reminds us of our own tendencies; it inspires and helps us to be better people. In short, the society we live in is strengthened by it. As we read the Word, we can reflect that it is the least we can do for others!
     More specifically, we can read the Word in order to see truth that serves others and not just ourself. We are all keepers of the common good. The common good depends on each individual. We can be ready to influence others with our ideals and insights, as well as with our good will and service. We can protect the common good by applying the truth with courage in our sphere of responsibility. One of the affections given to a person in heavenly good, we are taught, is "the affection for combating with zeal against falsities and evils and dispersing them, both with himself and with others" (AE 803:2(7) Emphasis added).
     But there is another level of unselfish awareness that we can have when we read the Word.

     The Writings reveal this amazing truth: the Word "has been written not only for man's benefit but at the same time for heaven's as well. Indeed, it has been written in such a way that when a person reads it, angels at the same time gain heavenly ideas from it" (AC 2176e). Angels' spiritual ideas need to be "grounded" in our natural ones. Their ideas can't "take form" unless the "stuff" that our thoughts are made of provides a "body" for them. And we only provide this "body" by reading and thinking from the Word (see SE 5607-5617).
     Reading the Word unites heaven to earth, through the Word's correspondences. It enables a bond of common affection and thought to exist between angels and people here. Without this bond both would lose their light, warmth, and true sense of purpose.
     (It may seem strange that the Lord has made the angels' wisdom dependent on us, but so it is. The Lord created all life to be interdependent, because without interdependence there would be no real uses. And it is in being of mutual use to each other--on many different levels--that we discover His joy. Through uses human love is "realized.")
     Here, then, is a vital service! And relatively few are in a position to fill it (see De V. 39). We can think about this when we sit down to read for three minutes of our day. Here is an opportunity to wish well to all of humanity, not just the handful that we see face to face each day! This simple act can foster in us the highest awareness that human beings are capable of: the awareness of the whole of which we are a part. To see and serve this whole unselfishly is to see and love the Lord Himself (see TCR 416).
     Reading the Word is a small, usually private, act. It is easy to do it selfishly ("This is good for my regeneration. It will bring me happiness"). But it can be done unselfishly. And when it is done in this way-from a love for the Lord and a love for the neighbor, great and small-the Lord gives light. (See AE 177:2f; AC 10638:2f, 3773, 7233e, 9086e, 9405e; De V. 24e; AE 817:8e.)
     In short:

     Try reading the Word with a thought, or a prayer, for others near and far. Think of it as a service to them as well as to yourself.

     "You are the light of the world. . . . Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:14, 16-emphasis added).

TO BE OR. . . . 1988

TO BE OR. . . . S. PELLE ROSENQUIST 1988

     That which is in good and also in truth is something; but that which is in evil and also in falsity is not any thing (DP 19).

     We should be concerned about our failure to be. If we are concerned about changing, we should be more concerned about becoming. The difference is that when concentrating on change we may mistakenly assume we are something, something that needs to be changed into something else, while what we need to recognize is that we are not yet "any thing" and must strive to become something. We must struggle to be.
     In order to become, we must acknowledge that we are not yet "any thing." We must seek to discover what we were intended to be, and we must learn what needs to be done to be transformed from "not any thing" to something.
     If we are not any thing, what is it that is able to recognize this fact, set our goal, and seek the means of its attainment?
     It is the as-of-self, the form of our God-given freedom which makes it possible for "not any thing" to strive to become something. The as-of-self: such a potent but necessary distraction in the beginning, and so real a "reward" in the aftermath-after we have, as it were, "made something of ourselves."
     Why is it more important to focus on becoming than on changing? Because it adds urgency to our efforts to regenerate. For while it may be tempting to put off change, we cannot, after the realization that we are "not any thing," dare delay striving to become. For if we do not begin to become something before death, we will remain "not any thing" forever, which is hell.
     In a very real sense, death occurs when our potential for heaven ceases. The whole purpose of an individual life is preparation for heaven, and if that goal has been thwarted and rendered impossible by a life confirmed in things contrary to heaven, the purpose of that individual life ceases and death occurs, though not necessarily physically. Once the last flicker of human potential for heaven dies, that is death, regardless of what may have happened, or has yet to happen, to the physical body of the individual.
     Reflect on the phrase "not any thing" which we have used to describe our state. It is taken directly from the quotation from Divine Providence which preceded these reflections.

Note particularly the space between the word "any" and the word "thing." The space is significant. Had the two words been joined into the one word "anything" it would describe an emptiness, a total absence, while separating the words "any" and "thing" seems to mean more indeterminate than nothing, more ill-defined than void. This is because the "emptiness and void" were infilled by the Lord's initial creative processes, thus bringing into existence, but not being, what has potential for heaven but, failing that, can and must remain to endure hell.
     Since everything comes to each of us from without but "occurs" within, that which flows in and affects us is what ultimately defines us. It causes a change in the very substance of our internal. This is where real change begins. It begins at the very roots of our developing nature, and occurs along with the process of becoming. Of all the things that inflow from without, only a few occur to us and thus can affect us. The things that occur to us exist for us either fleetingly, temporarily or permanently. But they not only occur to us; they are us. It is the fleeting or temporary nature of most occurrences which keeps us in the "not any thing" state under discussion. This is the reason for the ever-changing "us." At first this is as it should be as we test the quality of each inner occurrence in light of our faith. But soon we must begin to invite, entertain, choose, expand and enthrone those occurrences which will serve to illumine that unique image of God that each of us is, leading to the likeness of God that each of us is created to be. It is the uniqueness of each individually created image that serves to select and order the occurrences, the building blocks of being.
     But other forces can intervene, can wrest the selective process from its proper place and stifle or distort development. Chief among these destructive forces are HABIT and INVERTED PRIORITIES. Habitual responses lead to distorted realities. Inverted priorities lead to the creation of a monster instead of a man. Habits do not permit fresh or objective experience. Confused priorities make important what is trivial, make a goal of what should be shunned.
     As is obvious, these intervening forces cloud and confuse. They are the subtle obstacles to our becoming. It is a powerful example of the subtlety of evil that habits and wrong priorities are not generally regarded as significant evils, certainly not ranked with evils of seemingly darker and more sinister intent. The fact is, as we often discover, evil can be, and usually is, just that insidious. It is anything which stands between ourselves and God, between ourselves and our opportunity to become, our chance to be.
     This brings us to the point. The difference between our effort to change and to become can be crucial.

If we view ourselves as that encrusted cluster of habits, attitudes and tendencies which we appear to be, change may seem almost impossible. But if we view the process as one of becoming, of building ourselves, as-of-self, from our present position of not being any thing," unencumbered by all the claptrap which seems so real but isn't, we can actually start afresh. We do not have to try to maneuver a monolith of confirmed preconceptions into a new direction. Rather, we need to strive to assure that the minute changes taking place in our inmosts are the result of letting the proper influences affect us.
We do not begin as nothing, but as "not any thing." The Lord does not create something from nothing. But He can and does transform us from not being "any thing" into being-a being of permanence-at last, and in fact, a truly human being.
MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (19) 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (19) 1988

     When asked what my "favorite" passage or passages from the Writings are, I find myself at a loss. Because the Writings meet all states of human life my "favorite" passage depends on where I am. The Lord stands ready in whatever state we are to answer our questions and give us guidance and comfort. For me the question would be better worded, "What do you think are 'key' passages on particular subjects?" For example, if I were considering key passages on the subject of Divine Providence I would single out Divine Providence 210. If I were considering key passages on the subject of mediate goods I would single out Arcana Coelestia 3135, 4145, and True Christian Religion 537. On the subject of conjugial love I would single out Conjugial Love 186. On the subject of the differences between men and women I would choose Heaven and Hell 369. On the subject of early man I would select Arcana Coelestia 310, 313, 1001. On the subject of developmental states, Arcana Coelestia 10225, 2280, and True Christian Religion 42 and 443, and so forth. (I have purposely omitted the key doctrines on this list.)
     You ask specifically, as we look ahead to the celebration of the tricentenary of Swedenborg's birth, what I think are "key" passages concerning the revelator. I would give two. The first is from Invitation 52: "The manifestation of the Lord and intromission into the spiritual world surpasses all miracles. This has not been granted to anyone in the same way as to me since the creation" (cf. 43, 39).
     The second and more important one is from True Christian Religion 779. It concerns the nature of the revelation given by means of Swedenborg.

"Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, as was shown just above, and nevertheless has foretold that He was to come and establish a new church which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man who is able not only to receive these doctrines in his understanding, but also to publish them by the press. That the Lord manifested Himself before me, His servant, and sent me to this office; that He afterward opened the eyes of my spirit and thus introduced me into the spiritual world, granted me to see the heavens and the hells, to talk with angels and spirits and this now continuously for several years, I affirm in truth. As also that from the first day of that call I have not received anything whatever pertaining to the doctrines of that church from any angel but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word."
Rev. Alfred Acton

[Photo of Rev. Alfred Acton]

REPORT ON THE MUSIC OF THE NEW LITURGY 1988

REPORT ON THE MUSIC OF THE NEW LITURGY Rev. Donald E. Dillard & Alfred Acton 1988

     The following is a brief update on the work of the Liturgy Music Committee toward the completion of a new Liturgy. Music selection is progressing according to schedule, and a complete review of the 1939 and 1966 Liturgies has been made. It is estimated that some 70 to 80 percent of the music from the 1966 Liturgy will be retained, some with minor musical or textual revisions. Antiphons and chants will constitute the majority of the 20 to 30 percent to be omitted. Among the music to be added are the following:

     New doxologies, hymns and anthems
     A new Holy Supper musical setting
     Psalmody (both Whittington psalms and other psalm settings)
     Unisonal chants
     Folk hymns
     Children's hymns

     The committee is working to provide a sufficiently wide variety of musical settings reflecting the finest examples of music from the various styles and periods so that the entire collection will receive optimum use and meet the needs of the majority of our church family. The task of pleasing everyone with the result of our work, although one of our most important goals, must be viewed as idealistic if not highly elusive. The committee has made provision, however, in the type of binding chosen, to publish and distribute additional music for inclusion in the Liturgy at periodic intervals in an effort to keep in step with the church's changing musical needs.

     A target date of December 1988 has been set for completion of this project, with distribution of the new Liturgy to follow in January of 1989. The committee is grateful for your contributions and suggestions to the new Liturgy, and kindly solicits your patience and support. Updates will be available to those musicians, clergy and lay persons wishing to receive them, as will be copies of music approved for publication in the new Liturgy. Comments are welcome.
     Donald E. Dillard, Liturgy Committee,
     Rev. Alfred Acton, Chairman

SCRIPTURE TEXTS USED NEW CHURCH LIFE: 1983-1987 1988

SCRIPTURE TEXTS USED NEW CHURCH LIFE: 1983-1987 Editor 1988

     OLD TESTAMENT

     Genesis
Chap.      Verse      Year      Mo.           Page
2           21          1984      Aug.      359
12           1          1985      July      299
17-35               1984      Oct.      475
18           3-5          1983      Sept.      371
29           9-11          1985      Jan.      3

     Exodus
16           13-15     1983      Dec.      503
17           2          1986      June      240

     Leviticus
25           9-10          1986      July      295

     Numbers
14           8          1986      Sept.      387
24           5,6          1983      Nov.      455

     Deuteronomy
32           1-18          1987      Nov.      487

     Judges
16           21          1983      Feb.      43

     I Samuel
17                     1984      July      307

     II Kings
4           8          1983      Nov.      411

     Psalms
95           6,7          1983      Aug.      327
100                    1985      Nov.      475
119           30          1986      Aug.      339
139                     1987      Sept.      391

     Isaiah
6           8          1983      Jan.      3
64           8          1984      Jan.      3

     Jeremiah
5           31          1987      Aug.      343

     NEW TESTAMENT

     Matthew
1          23          1986      Dec.      527
2           13-23     1987      Nov.      487
5           16          1984      June      255
5           38,39     1984          Feb.      47
6           14,15     1986      May           195
7           24          1983      April      139
8           17          1986      Nov.      439
13           44-46     1985      Feb.      55
15           18          1984      Sept.      415
16           13-18     1985      May           200
17           7          1986      April      159
22           16          1987      Nov.      490
27           51          1987      April      143
28           19          1984      >Mar.      99

     Mark
3           6          1987      Nov.      490
8           15
12           13
6           21
7           15          1984      Sept.      415
9           38-41     1987      Mar.      103

     Luke
1           8-11          1987      April      143
2           10,11     1984      Nov.      531
2           11,12,16     1983      Dec.      503
2           14          1985      Dec.      527
5           23-26     1987      May           195
6           27          1987      Oct.      443
7          36          1987          June          244
7           36          1987      June      244
9           37-56     1985      Sept.      391
11           4          1987      Feb.      55
16           20,21     1987      July      295
18           9-17          1986      Nov.      483

     John
1           1-18          1987      Nov.      487
3           14,15     1983      Mar.      83
9           3          1986      Jan.      3
11           25,26     1986      Feb.      51
13           34          1985      Aug.      343

14           6          1987      Jan.      3
14           9          1983      June      227
15           10-17     1984      July      307
17           15-19     1984      April      151
17           15          1984      May           207
19           5          1985      June      251
20           15,16     1986      Mar.      107
20           17          1985      April      155
21           1-19          1985      May           199

     Revelation
4           1          1983      May           187
12           14          1985      Mar.      103
19           11-13     1983      July      279

      WRITINGS
Book      Number      Year      Mo.           Page
AC           904          1986      Nov.          483
AC           3993:8, 9     1986      Nov.      483
AC           6818          1984      July      307
TCR           69          1983      May           187
CL           70          1985      May           199
CL           457          1985      Feb.      55

Window to Eternity 1988

Window to Eternity Gloria Wetzel 1988

Window to Eternity by Bruce Henderson; Swedenborg Foundation, 1987, 92 pages, $6.95. Available at Academy Book Room and General Church Book Center.

     Rev. W. Cairns Henderson encouraged his son Bruce to pursue a book about life after death. He felt a layman might offer a simpler explanation of Swedenborg and his revelations than a clergyman. In this generation of the growth of the church, Window to Eternity does offer a well-written and understandable account of eternity for those in the church and out. An Academy senior who was researching Swedenborg found resource material for her paper in the book. A New Church family found it comforting to read to an elderly mother who was dying. Several New Church families have given it to friends and families outside the church as an introduction to Swedenborg.
     Written in the wake of near-death topics like Moody's Life After Life, Kubler-Ross's Death, and life-tragedies like Kushner's Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? Henderson's treatment is a refreshing change. It picks up where Moody and Kubler-Ross left off. Through Swedenborg's window we see the delights of heaven which defy the traditional ideas where angels "float around heaven all day." The heaven we see in the description is a continuation of our lives and choices on earth but painted with a more vivid palette. Bruce has managed to skillfully integrate sections from the Arcana Coelestia, Apocalypse Revealed, Conjugial Love, Heaven and Hell, and The Spiritual Diary in such a way that the reader's appetite to know more is whetted. How do we resuscitate? What happens to children who die in infancy or childhood? What is marriage like in heaven? At the same time, he gives only enough to sustain interest and not too much to lose his reader. It is a fitting sequel to both Moody and Kubler-Ross while turning Kushner's title inside out as it reflects the "good things that happen to good people."
     The book is only partially about eternity. It is also about everyday choices and motives. "The peace and happiness we associate with heaven often seem elusive on earth because justice, mercy, and humility are just as rare. We live between our best aspirations and worst instincts, with both turmoil and tranquility in our lives and in the world around us." The actions we choose from a "lifetime of free choices" determine whether we choose heaven or hell. People who apply their religious dictates despite occasional setbacks are reassured that they are part of a stream of life, a stream which includes both life and life after life.

     Window to Eternity is a concise introduction to Swedenborg and his revelations about eternity. It includes a readable and comprehensive biography. The book is balanced in form and content, yet the style is both sensitive and poetic. The clarity of the journalist is touched by the soul of the poet. There is a literary scholarship in the work which far exceeds the writers mentioned above. The scholarship doesn't, however, draw the reader's attention to itself, but lather places Swedenborg's theology within a framework of famous scientists, philosophers, and writers in the context of life. It is Bruce's way of showing that religion is of life, both now and hereafter.
     Gloria Wetzel

A Swedenborg Scrapbook by Brian Kingslake; Seminar Books, London, 86 pages, $5.00

     Rev. Brian Kingslake took a photograph of Rev. Ragnar Boyesen stretched out on a dissecting slab at an anatomical amphitheater in Uppsala in Sweden. While host Boyesen obligingly lay still, Mr. Kingslake snapped the picture "from one of the higher circles, where Swedenborg himself may have at one time stood to observe a dissection." This information comes from page 44 of this delightful booklet "published to mark the three hundredth anniversary in 1988 of the birth of Emanuel Swedenborg." The photograph itself does not appear, but many more very interesting ones do. The booklet is aptly called a scrapbook, but it is not to be underestimated, nor is the writer to be underestimated. His easy, breezy style might make it seem that he is not a scholarly man, but do not let that fool you. He knows his subject very well, and he has a way of bringing things to light which others overlook. On page 13 he cannot resist saying, "This fact is not generally realized," and he could be forgiven if he said this several times.
     Although this is going to be a favorable review I want to emphasize at the outset one of the mistakes, and even to urge readers to mark it in their copies. On page 34 Mr. Kingslake says he believes that the Nunc Licet vision described in TCR 508 dates back to the year 1747 before any of the Writings had been written. He says so again on page 35, and unfortunately when he comes to the chronological table at the end of the book he puts in the Nunc Licet vision at 1747, even specifying the month of February. I feel that there is a danger that this will be a piece of misinformation that will be taken up by others, who will say it is so because they are sure they "read it somewhere." It is most likely that Mr. Kingslake got this from Annals of the New Church, a gold mine of information which does mistakenly give this date.

There is no evidence at all that the Nunc Licet vision took place any earlier than the last published volume of the Writings. This is what we know, and in the context of this location we can make our speculations. To put it in a sequence before anything else in the Writings is unfortunate and unwarranted.
     The booklet begins by stating that it is not just another biography of Swedenborg (as there are more than a hundred of them listed in Hyde's bibliography). "In fact, much of what I have written here takes for granted that the reader is fairly familiar with the details of Swedenborg's life and work. If he isn't, I would refer him to The Swedenborg Epic by Cyriel Odhner Sigstedt. . .

     We hope that readers will take up Mr. Kingslake's suggestion and make this a year to read a biography of Swedenborg, and certainly to read this scrapbook. When we continue the review we hope that many of our readers will have had a chance to look at Mr. Kingslake's valuable and highly readable contribution to our knowledge of Swedenborg.
     D.L.R.
MUSIC FESTIVAL 1988 1988

MUSIC FESTIVAL 1988 Editor 1988

     June 11-June 15

     Plan now to attend the second New Church Music Festival-Festival '88-which is scheduled to begin Saturday evening of graduation, June 11, 1988, and end on Wednesday, June 15, 1988.
     If you wish to perform at this festival, or if you wish to present a workshop, please contact the Rev. Alfred Acton, P.O. Box 278, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 as soon as possible. Programs are now being planned and your input is needed.
     A special feature of Festival '88 will be presentation of material to be incorporated in the new Liturgy. Also, at that time, the winner(s) of our tricentennial celebration music competition will be announced, with some of their music performed.
     If you were not at the '86 festival and are in two minds about coming this time, be assured that it was a refreshing, exciting, inspiring series of days with nothing but very affirmative, if not rave, reports at the end. Come and add to the music enjoyment, music-making, and music-learning.
     Your festival committee is planning as much as possible according to your suggestions. Watch for further news in the next issue of Music Post.

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     HIGHLIGHTS FROM SWEDENBORG'S LETTERS

     Is the story of Swedenborg's own life significant? He thought so. At one point he wrote in an unpublished manuscript: "I could at last plainly see that the tenor of Divine Providence has ruled the acts of my life from my very youth, and has so governed them that I might finally come to the present end; that thus, by means of the knowledges of natural things, I might be able to understand those things which lie more interiorly within the Word of God Messiah, and so. . . might serve as an instrument for opening them" (Word Explained 2532).
     He actually wondered whether he himself would tell his life's story as a kind of testimony to the validity of his mission. He wrote around 1 746, "That it is no phantasy can . . . be evident from an historical account of my life, if opportunity be afforded for describing this" (WE 5292).
     The closest he came to writing an autobiography was many years later in a personal letter. What is the place of his letters? When you look at a set of the Writings you may also be looking at some letters, for in volume one of Posthumous Theological Works the last thirty-five pages are devoted to "theological extracts from Swedenborg's correspondence." In your copy of the Four Doctrines you may find tucked in after Doctrine of the Lord six pages under the title Nine Questions. This is actually from a letter Swedenborg wrote to Thomas Hartley.
     In 1975 the Swedenborg Society published a volume entitled Small Theological Works and Letters. In the preface we read, "Not every small work or letter in this book is strictly speaking theological in its content, yet where else is one to place those that deal with such matters as the nature of marriage, Swedenborg's intromission into the spiritual world, or man's communicating with spirits?"
     It is partly because so many of Swedenborg's personal letters were preserved that we are able to piece together a full story of his life. A great use was performed by the late Dr. Alfred Acton who produced Letters and Memorials of Emanuel Swedenborg. The first of the two volumes was published in 1948 for the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Swedenborg Scientific Association. The second volume was published in 1955, the year before Dr. Acton died at the age of eighty-eight. In that work which he translated and edited there are more than fifty letters from Swedenborg to Eric Benzelius. The first one (which is the earliest extant letter of Swedenborg) was written when Swedenborg was twenty-one years old.

These letters to his brother-in-law cover a period of seventeen years coming from different locations. In 1718 we see him signing himself Eman. Swedberg, and in 1719, the family being ennobled, he signs himself Eman. Swedenborg.
     We will in future issues bring out some highlights from letters written throughout Swedenborg's life.

     Note: When one mentions reference works on Swedenborg one must, of course, mention the giant work of R. L. Tafel published in 1875 entitled Documents Concerning the Life and Character of Emanuel Swedenborg.

     SWEDENBORG IN THE PAGES OF THE WRITINGS

     Most of the books of the Writings were published anonymously. Although Swedenborg's name appears on the title page of the last works his name never occurs within the pages of the books. The pronoun "I" or "me" does occur frequently in those pages. The experience and testimony of the writer makes a part of the revelation. The books of Scripture do not usually contain the pronouns of the first person, but among the exceptions to this are the Gospel of Luke, which begins with this kind of reference, and the Gospel of John which ends in this way.
     Let us look this month at the first book of the Writings to be printed, the first volume of Arcana Coelestia. By the time the reader has turned one page he is aware of the writer, for it is said in the fifth paragraph:

In the Lord's Divine mercy I have been allowed constantly and without interruption for several years now to share the experiences of spirits and angels, to listen to them speaking and to speak to them myself. I have been allowed therefore to hear and see astounding things in the next life which have never come to any man's knowledge, nor even entered his imagination.

     That type of passage comes up occasionally throughout the work, and by the time the reader completes the first volume he has pictures of someone allowed by the Lord to pass through the process of death (AC 168), to experience the attacks of the hells (699, 968), to observe the efficacy of the Word in heaven (65), and to feel the joy of heaven.

To enable me to know what heaven and heavenly joy are, and the nature of them, the Lord has allowed me frequently and for long periods to perceive the delights that accompany heavenly joys (AC 545).

     Among the most striking examples in this volume is number 68 which reads as follows:

I am well aware of the fact that many people will say that nobody can possibly speak to spirits or angels as long as he is living in the body, and that many will call it delusion.

Some will say that I have spread these ideas around so as to win people's trust, while others will say something different again. But none of this deters me; for I have seen, I have heard, I have felt.

     REINCARNATION (3)

     In our last editorial we mentioned those who have seen heavenly homes and would never exchange them for all the palaces of this world (AC 1628). But is it possible for someone who has left this world to wish to return to it? Yes, it is possible, and the notion of reincarnation is sometimes alleged to be confirmed by the spirit contacts of those involved in spiritism. (To assume that because a person has left this world he therefore becomes a source of sure information is a mistake.)
     In the Spiritual Diary we read of people who when they come into the other world are obsessed with the thought of returning into the natural world. "They are such as in the life of the body loved worldly and corporeal things, and feared death out of regard to their life in the world and in the body, which they held most dear" (SD 4225).
     Swedenborg met some spirits newly arrived who did not yet realize that they had left the natural world. Swedenborg therefore informed them about their new situation, but they soon forgot! (AC 2748). There are some who have mistaken or strange ideas and who stick stubbornly to them; for example, the idea that the spirit of one person can pass into the body of another (SD 1581, 1582). Some are under the illusion that they can return to the natural world (see SD 207, 296, AC 5865), and some imagined that they had actually made a return having been associated with Swedenborg (SD 3963).
     One can see heavenly things and hardly pay attention to them. In one classic example a man forgot the beautiful things that he saw after death and went back to his old pattern of thinking. When recollection was later given to him he was ashamed and said, "I saw heaven above . . . but that was when I first came here." After this interval of clarity he again returned to his attitude of denial and forgetfulness (TCR 80).
     This much has been said to suggest why someone could contemplate a return to the natural world after seeing the glories of heaven. There are also passages that indicate that some are so disposed that they do not even see those glories. A passage in Divine Providence says: "When such persons after death have become spirits, and when they are raised into the angelic heaven where all things are in forms representative of love and wisdom, they see none of these things, and do not even see that they exist" (DP 189).

PITTSBURGH STATISTICS 1988

PITTSBURGH STATISTICS Ned Uber 1988

     Communications
Dear Editor,
     The point of your first editorial on page 470 in the October New Church Life was "right on." Young people, retiring people, and everyone else should consider moving to a small society for the reasons you and Rev. Goodenough state. However, your statistics are only partially accurate and thus do a disservice to Pittsburgh as we work to raise an endowment fund for our school and fulfill our uses in a growing General Church.
     The statistics of fourteen people moving from Pittsburgh and six dying are correct. However, this has occurred since the summer of 1985, approximately two years,- not a few months" as you stated.
     Also the number leaving only gives part of the picture. In that same time fifteen new people have become active in our society and two babies hate been added. Included in the fifteen are eight whose first contact with the General Church was through members of the Pittsburgh Society.
     The stories of the individuals who have moved away are more indicative of the vitality of Pittsburgh than any statistics can convey. One fellow's first contact with our church was through one of our members who was a classmate of his in graduate school. He subsequently met and married another society member. When he finished graduate work, he accepted a faculty position at a university in New Hampshire.
     One woman was a college classmate of one of our members. When a group of people started a young adult discussion group two years ago, she participated. She had become very active in our society. Last spring she decided to pursue graduate studies at IUP in Indiana, Pennsylvania, about 90 miles away. She has "left" the Pittsburgh Society, but she is still with us.
     A second woman came to Pittsburgh as a teacher. She was instrumental in starting the young adult group. This fall she took a job with the Swedenborg Foundation in their book room. One of the possibilities is that she will return in two years to help us establish a book store.
     Each person's story is unique. We feel the loss of each individual deeply because everyone here is important to our society. But, the people who have moved on to new places will find new uses there, and new people are being found or moving here.

This constant flow of people has been a fact of life in Pittsburgh for the past 100+ years, and will be for the next 100. It is normal and healthy, but it is noticed more in a small society because individuals are noticed more. Come, join us and be noticed.
Ned Uber, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
INTERNAL SENSE 1988

INTERNAL SENSE Rex D. Ridgway 1988

Dear Editor:
     In the August 1987 issue of New Church Life there appears an article under the heading "A Minister's Favorite Passage" in which he suggests that some members of the New Church (presumably the General Church) believe "that the Writings have an as yet to be explained internal sense of their own" (my italics).
     It is very doubtful indeed that anyone has tried to project such an idea, as everyone who studies the New Revelation is aware that the Lord revealed for His New Christian Church the internal Divine truths for mankind in the only possible way that they can be revealed, that is, clothed or accommodated to the understanding of mankind in his natural state. Surely this is not in doubt with anyone within the New Christian Church, so we do not even need to consider an internal sense "as yet to be explained."
     However, it is extremely important for the whole church to be fully aware that for those who live a life according to the Lord's teachings, He, the Lord, descends into the mind of the natural man and raises him into discrete degrees above his natural state, that is, into spiritual and celestial states from which he has a new, interior perception. This, I believe, is the question which should be thoroughly considered in the church, for the church's sake. The fact that regeneration involves the raising of the mind to spiritual and celestial states in no way implies "a yet to be explained internal sense.
     We know from the Word that, in its essence, it is made up purely of Divine internal truths. We also know that the mind is regenerated by the Lord and raised into higher states of internal truth, namely into spiritual and celestial states. TCR 603 tells us:

The human mind is divided into three regions; the lowest is called the natural, the middle the spiritual, and the highest the celestial. By regeneration man is raised from the lowest region, which is natural, into the higher, which is the spiritual, and through this into the celestial. . . .

That is why the unregenerate man is called natural and the regenerate man spiritual. This makes clear that the mind of the regenerate man is raised into the spiritual region. . . .

     It is the understanding from these spiritual and celestial states that constitutes the perception of the internal truths of the Word. If this were denied, it would be to deny the clear teachings of the Word on the regeneration of the mind of man. What is the new understanding into which man comes but an understanding of truths more interior? This opening of the degrees of the mind into higher states of internal truth is the order of regeneration. This is the new understanding which comes with the new will, of which the Word teaches. Regeneration, therefore, involves the seeing of spiritual truth from spiritual light, and celestial truth from heavenly light, which is far more interior than truth seen from natural light. Thus, the "Writings" are not the end for the New Christian Church, but only the beginning and basis from which we can enter into spiritual and even celestial states-into new planes of life.
     Rex D. Ridgway,
          Canberra, Australia
INTERNAL SENSE 1988

INTERNAL SENSE Heulwen M. Ridgway 1988

Dear Editor:
     In an article entitled "A Minister's Favorite Passage" in the August issue of New Church Life it is stated that there is a belief in the New Church that "the Writings have an as yet to be explained 'internal sense' of their own." Also, that "the Writings have no internal sense" and "the angels see the same things we see in the Writings."
     It is as well that the matter of an internal sense to the Writings has been raised once again, as clarification of this issue should be given priority in the church.
     As to an "as yet to be explained 'internal sense,'" it would surely be extraordinary to anticipate what would amount to a revelation which would supersede the crown of revelations already given by the Lord through Emanuel Swedenborg. I have never heard this belief expressed in the General Church. However, a number of people in this church, while not believing in "an as yet to be explained" internal sense, nevertheless believe in an internal sense to all Divine Revelation.
     There are many teachings that point to the belief that the Writings are not naked truths, available to all, regardless of one's state of life. The truths of the Writings can indeed be seen by all, in the sense that every person can raise his understanding into the light of heaven, but unless his affection is in the heat of heaven, the truths are not truths of life, but are merely knowledges (see DLW 242-244).

The truths are then clothed or veiled; not that the words are different, but that the relevance to life, that is, the understanding, is different. The unveiling that raises the words from knowledges to truths of life is the difference of the discrete degree of the natural to the spiritual, and occurs only through the shunning of evils as sins. This raising of the natural to the spiritual can be understood as the revealing of an internal sense to the Writings. Not that another "story" is then available within the letter of the Writings, but that there is an interior understanding for the sake of one's life. The letter of the Writings, in the context just described, is then the basis, containant and support of the spiritual that is within it.
     We know that with regeneration, the mind is raised from the natural to the spiritual and even to the celestial degree (see DLW 248). This elevation is not some occurrence remote from practical life; it is the life itself of the person, as it is the opening of the will and understanding to new states of affection and perception from which he or she then lives. These new states for the sake of the life of regeneration involve the perception of ever more internal truths, or what is the same, of the perception of the internal sense.
     That this perception of internal truths is given only to those who are regenerating can be seen in several places in the Writings, for example AC 2701:1. See especially: "This influx is his state of enlightenment, in which the truths which he hears or reads are confirmed to him by a certain perception that is inwardly in his intellectual. . . but those only who are spiritual are blessed with enlightenment in the spiritual things of faith."
     AE 948:2 states that "At this day also, for similar reasons, the interior Word is opened, and Divine truths still more interior are revealed therefrom for the use of the New Church, which will be called the New Jerusalem." What is this New Church? Not, I think, the organized church, although we should be in the hope that it will be the organized church, but the mind of the regenerating person of the church to whom "the interior of the Word is opened, and Divine truths still more interior are revealed therefrom." Is not this opening of the Word into Divine truths still more interior the raising of the mind from the letter of all revelation to the spiritual within?
     If, then, we progress into interior truths through regeneration, do we see the same things that the angels see in the Writings? Let us consider the statement that "Hence it may be evident in what wisdom the angels are in comparison with man, the angels of the third heaven being even in the fourth degree above man, concerning which wisdom, therefore, when described to man, nothing can be predicated but that it is incomprehensible, yea, ineffable" (AC 3405).

The Writings teach us that the angels are in a discretely higher degree than we are (see DLW 295), and that there is no communication between their world and ours except by correspondence (AC 4525, 6943, DLW 295 and elsewhere). Thus, they do not see what we see, because they are on a discretely higher plane, but the correspondence between their plane and ours effects communication between them and us (see DLW 295).
It is interesting to note that the angels of the higher and lower heavens do not see the same things because "the love and wisdom of the higher angels is of a higher degree, transcending the perception of the lower angels" (DLW 179), and that with the higher and lower angels "communication takes place only through correspondences" (DLW 202). Also, "After death. . .man then enters into that degree which corresponds to his love and wisdom, for he then becomes an angel, and thinks and speaks things ineffable to his natural man, for there is then an elevation of all things of his mind, not in a single but in a threefold ratio" (DLW 203-my italics).
Miss Heulwen M. Ridgway, Canberra, Australia
NCL 50 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 50 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

The January issue of 1938 publishes a Charter Day address by Willard D. Pendleton. In it he says, "As individuals, or as a group, we may fail in our trust, but the work of the Church will go forward. We do sadly err if we think that the future of the Lord's New Church depends upon us; for no man, or group of men, is essential to the fulfillment of the Divine will. On the other hand, let us not forget that it is our privilege to enter into this use, and become, if we will, the humble instruments of the Divine Providence" (p. 16).
An editorial in the same issue begins as follows: "This year the New Church throughout the world is to commemorate in a signal manner the 250th anniversary of the birth of Emanuel Swedenborg-January 29, 1688."

SAMPLING FROM THE NEW TRANSLATION OF TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 1988

SAMPLING FROM THE NEW TRANSLATION OF TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION Editor 1988

The two-volume translation by Dr. John Chadwick will be published this month by the Swedenborg Society.

508 The sixth experience.

One day a magnificent church building appeared to me; it was square in plan with a roof like a crown, with arches above and a raised parapet running around. Its walls were all windows made of crystal, its door of a pearly substance. Inside on the south side towards the west there was a platform, on which the open Word lay at the right surrounded by a blaze of light, so bright as to spread round and light up the whole platform. In the middle of the church was a shrine with a curtain in front of it; but this was now raised and there stood a golden cherub with a sword which he brandished in all directions in his hand.

2 When I caught sight of all this, as I meditated, the meaning of each of the details came flooding into my mind. The church meant the new church; the door of a pearly substance, entry into it; the windows of crystal the truths which enlighten it; the platform the priesthood and their preaching; the Word on it, open and lighting up the top of the platform, the revelation of its internal, or spiritual, sense; the shrine in the middle of the church the link of that church with the heaven of angels; the golden cherub there the Word in its literal sense; the sword brandished in his hand meant that this sense can be twisted in different ways, so long as it is made to refer to some truth. The lifting of the curtain in front of the cherub meant that now the Word was laid open.

3 Later, when I got closer, I saw there was an inscription over the door: NOW IT IS PERMITTED. This meant that now it is permitted to enter with the understanding into the mysteries of faith.

Seeing this inscription led me to think that it is extremely dangerous to enter with the understanding into the dogmas of faith which have been put together out of one's own intelligence and the falsities it produces, and even more so to seek to support them by quoting the Word.

This has the effect of shutting off the understanding at the top and little by little also at the bottom, to such an extent that theology is not only disliked but actually wiped out, like the writing on a paper being destroyed by book-worms, or the wool of a piece of cloth by grubs. His understanding then concerns itself only with political affairs which affect his life in the country where he lives, and with civil affairs relating to his official duties, and with domestic affairs of his household; and in all of these he constantly embraces nature, being led by the enticement of its pleasures to love it, as an idolater does the golden image in his lap.

4 Now since the dogmas of present-day Christian churches are put together not from the Word, but from people's own intelligence and the false ideas that come from that, and also by means of some ideas supported from the Word, for this reason the Lord's Divine providence has seen to it that among Roman Catholics the Word has been taken away from laymen, while among Protestants it remains open, though shut off by their frequent saying that the understanding must be kept in obedience to their faith.

5 But in the new church the opposite happens; here it is permitted with the understanding to approach and penetrate all its secrets, and also to support them from the Word. The reason is that its doctrines are a series of truths revealed by the Lord through the Word; and proving them by rational argument causes the understanding to be opened up above more and more. This lifts it into the light enjoyed by the angels of heaven; and that light is in essence truth, and it makes the acknowledgment of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth shine out in all its glory. This is what the inscription 'NOW IT IS PERMITTED' over the door means; and the removal of the curtain of the shrine in front of the cherub has the same meaning. It is a rule in the new church that falsities shut off the understanding, and truths open it up.

6 After this I saw what looked like a child overhead, holding a paper in his hand. As he approached me, he grew in size until he was a man of average height. He was an angel from the third heaven; all there look at a distance like children. When he reached me, he held the paper out to me. But since it was written in the rounded script customary in that heaven, I gave it back and asked them to expound the meaning of what was written on it in words I could comprehend in my thinking.

'What is written here,' he replied, 'is: FROM NOW ON ENTER INTO THE MYSTERIES OF THE WORD WHICH HAVE SO FAR BEEN HIDDEN: FOR EACH ONE OF ITS TRUTHS IS A MIRROR IN WHICH WE SEE THE LORD.

XVIII

The linking of love to God and love towards the neighbour.

456 It is well known that the law delivered from Mount Sinai was written on two tablets, one of them relating to God, the other to men; and that these were in Moses' hand a single tablet, with the writing about God on the right side and that about men on the left.l Thus when it was presented to human eyes, the writing on both sides would be seen together; so one part would be visible to the other, like Jehovah talking with Moses, and Moses with Jehovah face to face, as we read. This was done so that the tablets thus joined should represent the linking of God with men, and reciprocally that of men with God. This was the reason why the law so written was called a covenant and a witness; a covenant means linking, and witness means living in accordance with agreements.

2 These two tablets so joined allow us to see the linking of love to God and love towards the neighbour. The first tablet is concerned with everything to do with love to God, and these occupy the leading position: we should acknowledge one God, the divinity of His Human, and the holiness of the Word, and God is to be worshipped by means of the holy things coming from Him. It is clear that this is the subject of this tablet from the remarks made in Chapter about the Ten Commandments. The second tablet is concerned with everything to do with love towards the neighbour; its first five commandments deal with actions and are called deeds, and the last two with matters of the will, so what is to do with charity in its origin. In these last it says, 'You are not to covet', and when a person does not covet what is his neighbour's, then he wishes him well. The Ten Commandments contain everything to do with love to God and everything to do with love towards the neighbour; see 329-331 above. It was also shown there that the linking of the two tablets takes place with those who possess charity.
NEW CANDIDATE FOR THE MINISTRY 1988

NEW CANDIDATE FOR THE MINISTRY Editor 1988

Mr. Jacob Maseko of Pimville, Transvaal, South Africa, has been recognized by the bishop as a candidate for the ministry of the New Church, effective January 1, 1988.

NCL 100 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 100 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

"The General Church of Pennsylvania has published the Calendar for the year 1888 . . . the 'Plan for Reading the Word in the Sacred Scripture and in the Writings of the New Church" (NCL 1888, p. 10).
We learn that the Academy started publishing such a reading plan ten years earlier than this! As noted last month a plan for the year 1988 is now available.
ACADEMY EMPLOYMENT 1988

ACADEMY EMPLOYMENT Editor 1988

The Academy of the New Church maintains a list of individuals interested in being considered for employment in the college or secondary schools. If you are interested in applying for a position at the Academy, or know of someone whom you would like to recommend, please write to: The Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs, President, The Academy of the New Church, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
YOUNG ADULTS CONVOCATION IN BRYN ATHYN 1988

YOUNG ADULTS CONVOCATION IN BRYN ATHYN Editor 1988

The convocation in February will begin with an open house on Friday the 19th. On Saturday morning Feb. 20th there will be two sessions with as many as four interest groups going on simultaneously. There will be two more sessions in the afternoon, a buffet and band party in the evening, and probably one more session on Sunday morning before the church service.
For information write to YAC, Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
BRITISH ASSEMBLY 1988

BRITISH ASSEMBLY Editor 1988

The 63rd British Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held in Colchester, England on Friday, July 8th through Sunday, July 10th, 1988, the Right Reverend Louis B. King presiding. All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. For further information contact Mr. and Mrs. Raymond F. Waters, 22 Drury Road, Colchester, Essex CO2 7UX, England. Telephone 0206-561402.

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1988

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES Editor 1988

     Announcements

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     THE RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING. BISHOP

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U. S. A.

     PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES

     USA addresses only

     Information on public worship and doctrinal classes provided either regularly or occasionally may be obtained at the locations listed below. For details use the local phone number of the contact person mentioned or communicate with the Secretary of the General Church, Rev. L. R. Soneson. Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn. PA 19009. Phone (215) 947-4660.

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     ALABAMA:

     Birmingham
Dr. R. Shepard, 4537 Dolly Ridge Road, Birmingham, AL 35243. Phone: (205) 967-3442.

     ARIZONA:

     Phoenix
Mr. Hubert Rydstrom, 3640 E. Piccadilly Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85018. Phone: (602) 955-2290.

     Tucson
Rev. Frank S. Rose, 9233 E. Helen, Tucson, AZ 85715. Phone: (602) 721-1091.

     ARKANSAS:

     Little Rock
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, Rt. 6, Box 447, Batesville, AR 72501. (501) 251-2383

     CALIFORNIA:

     Los Angeles
Rev. Donald Rogers, 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Phone: (818) 249-5031.

     Sacramento
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ripley, 2310 N. Cirby Way, Roseville, CA 95678. Phone: (916) 782-7837.

     San Diego
Rev. Nathan Gladish, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (619) 268-0379. Office: (619) 571-8599.

     San Francisco
Rev. Mark Carlson, 4638 Royal Garden Place, San Jose, CA 95136. Phone: (408) 224-8521.

     COLORADO:

     Colorado Springs
Mr. and Mrs. William Rienstra, 708 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs, CO 80829. Phone: (303) 685-9519.

     Denver
Rev. Clark Echols, 3371 W. 94th Ave., Westminster, CO 80030. Phone: (303) 429-1239 or 428-6019.

     CONNECTICUT:

     Hartford

     Shelton
Mr. and Mrs. James Tucker, 45 Honey Bee Lane, Shelton, CT 06484. Phone: (203) 929-6455.

     DELAWARE:

     Wilmington
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 2008 Eden Rd., N. Graylyn, Wilmington, DE 19810. Phone: (302) 475-3694.

     DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA-See Mitchellville, Maryland.

     FLORIDA:

     Miami
Rev. Daniel Heinrichs, 15101 NW 5th Ave., Miami, FL 33169. Phone: (305) 688-6762.

     GEORGIA:

     Americus
Mr. W. H. Eubanks, Rt. #2, S. Lee St. . Americus, GA 31709. Phone: (912) 924-9221.

     Atlanta
Rev. Christopher Bown, 3795 Montford Drive, Chamblee, GA 30341. Phone: (Home) (404) 457-4726. (Office) (404) 452-0518.

     IDAHO:

     Fruitland
(Idaho-Oregon border) Mr. Harold Rand, 1705 Whitley Dr., Fruitland, ID 83619. Phone: (208) 452-3181.

     ILLINOIS:

     Chicago
Rev. Grant Schnarr, 73A Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 729-0130 (home). (312) 729-6130 (office).

     Decatur
Mr. John Aymer, 380 Oak Lane, Decatur, IL 62562. Phone: (217) 875-3215.

     Glenview
Rev. Brian Keith, 73 Park Dr., IL 60025. Phone: (312) 724-0120.

     INDIANA:
Mr. James Wood, R.R. 1, Lapel, IN 46051. Phone: (317) 534-3546.

     LOUISIANA:

     Baton Rouge
Mr. Henry Bruser, Jr., 6050 Esplanade A Baton Rouge, LA 70806. Phone: (504) 924-3089.

     MAINE:

     Bath
Rev. Gene Barry, Middle and Winter Station, Bath, ME 04530.

     MARYLAND:

     Baltimore
Rev. Frederick Chapin, 37 Guinevere Court, Baltimore, MD 21237. Home phone: (301) 682-3397; Office. (301) 435-5418.

     Mitchellville
Rev. Lawson Smith, 3805 Enterprise Rd., Mitchellville, MD 20716. Phone: (301) 262-2349.

     MASSACHUSETTS:

     Boston
Rev. Grant Odhner, 53 School St., Ext., Natick, MA 01760. Phone: (617) 651-1127.

     MICHIGAN:

     Detroit
Rev. Walter Orthwein, 395 Olivewood Rochester, MI 48064. Phone: (313) 656-1267.

     East Lansing
Mr. Christopher Clark, 5853 Smithfield, East Lansing, MI 48823. Phone: (517) 351-2880.

     MINNESOTA:

     St. Paul-Minneapolis
Rev. Michael Cowley, 201-5th Ave. S., South St. Paul, MN 55075. Phone: (612) 455-3066.

     MISSOURI:

     Columbia
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 103 S. Greenwood, Columbia, MO 65201. Phone: (314) 442-3475

     Kansas City
Mr. Glen Klippenstein, Glenkirk Farms, Maysville, MO 64469. Phone: (816) 449-2167.

     NEW JERSEY-NEW YORK:

     Ridgewood, NJ
Mrs. Fred E. Munich, 474 S. Maple Ave., Glen Rock, NJ 07452. Phone: (201) 445-1141.

     NEW MEXICO:

     Albuquerque
Rev. John Odhner, 4009 Montgomery NE, Apt. L4, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Phone: (505) 881-4930.

     NORTH CAROLINA:

     Charlotte
Mr. John deMaine, 3509 Highridge Rd., Matthews, NC 28105. Phone: (704) 846-4058.

     OHIO:

     Cincinnati
Rev. Patrick Rose, 785 Ashcroft Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45240. Phone: (513) 825-7473.

     Cleveland
Mr. Alan Childs, 19680 Beachcliff Blvd., Rocky River. OH 44116. Phone: (216) 333-4413.

     Columbus
Mr. Hubert Heinrichs, 8372 Todd Street Rd., Sunbury, OH 43074. Phone:(614) 524-2738.

     OKLAHOMA:

     Oklahoma City
Mr. Robert Campbell, 3108 Eagle Pass Rd., Edmond, OK 73013. Phone:(405)478-4729.

     OREGON-IDAHO BORDER.-See Idaho, Fruitland.

     PENNSYLVANIA:

     Bryn Athyn
Rev. Kurt Asplundh, Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. Phone: (215) 947-3665.

     Erie
Mrs. Paul Murlay, 5648 Zuck Rd., Erie, PA 16506. Phone: (814) 833-0962.

     Freeport
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 126 Iron Bridge Rd., Sarver, PA 16055. Phone: Office (412) 353-2220 or Home 295-9855

     Kempton
Rev. Jeremy Simons, RD 2, Box 217-A, Kempton, PA 19529. Phone: (Home) (215) 756-431; (Office) (215) 756-6140

     Paupack
Mr. Richard Kintner, Box 172, Paupack, PA 18451. Phone: (717) 857-0688.

     Pittsburgh
Rev. Ray Silverman, 299 Le Roi Rd., Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731-7421.

     SOUTH CAROLINA:- see North Carolina.

     SOUTH DAKOTA:

     Hot Springs
Linda Klippenstein, 537 Albany, Hot Springs, SD 57747 Phone: (605) 745-6629

     TEXAS:

     Austin
Mrs. Charles Grubb, 604 Highland Ave., Austin, TX 78703. Phone: (512) 472-3575.

     Dallas-Fort Worth
Mr. Fred Dunlap, 3887 Antigua Circle, Dallas, TX 75244. Phone:(214) 247-7775.

     Houston
Dr. James Carter. 30 Williamsburg Ln., Houston, TX 77024. Phone: (713) 465-4057.

     WASHINGTON:

     Seattle
Rev. Kent Junge, 14812 N.E. 75th Street, Redmond, WA 98052. Phone: (206) 881-1955.

     WISCONSIN:

     Madison
Mrs. Charles Howell, 3912 Plymouth Circle, Madison. WI 53705. Phone: (608) 233-0209.

IN THE KINGS SERVICE 1988

IN THE KINGS SERVICE Editor 1988

A Fable by
GERTRUDE NELSON DIEM
Illustrated by Ken Hultgren
Paperback $4.50 Postage 70

     General Church Book Center          Hours: Mon-Fri. 9-12
Box 278, Cairncrest               or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009          Phone: (215) 947-3920

In This Issue 1988

In This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII February, 1988 No. 2
NEW CHURCH LIFE

     In This Issue

     On January 29, 1988 the new translation of True Christian Religion was published in London by the Swedenborg Society. In this issue we continue to give some samples of the new rendering (p. 82). The first translation of this work into English was published in London in 1781, a mere ten years after its first publication in Latin in Amsterdam. In the preface to the first English translation is a long letter from Thomas Hartley to the translator, John Clowes. Hartley was personally acquainted with Swedenborg, but Clowes discovered the Writings a year after Swedenborg died. The letter begins, "The great Swedenborg was a man of uncommon humility. . . ."
     Is self-esteem a problem with many people nowadays? Do some people feel that they must not love themselves? The sermon in this issue has some "amazing teachings" about the love of self (p. 52). An article on self-esteem appeared in the February issue of 1986. In 1984 we published a doctrinal class relating to the subject (p. 275) and in 1982 we published a series of articles under the heading, "Which Self?"
     A man only twenty-six years old learns that he has cancer. He does not want to die, as he wants to touch people's lives. As it becomes evident that he will die he even gives thought to a message that might be incorporated into the address at his memorial service. Perhaps the publication of this address (p. 60) will play a part in furthering that aspiration to touch lives.
     In this issue we publish the last of a series on how to read the Word. Grant Odhner suggests that sometimes we can find it hard to summon any concentration to read the Word, and when we do, it seems "of no moment," even "a cheerless inanimate affair." He suggests that there are causes for this and that we can plan to avoid this circumstance. This useful series ends with an eminently applicable installment.

     ANNUAL COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY MEETINGS

     March 7-12, 1988

     The meetings will begin on Monday afternoon, March 7th, with a service of worship in Pendleton Hall.
     The sessions from Tuesday morning on will be held at Glencairn. An open meeting will be held on Friday evening, March 11th, at the Bryn Athyn Society Building.
     The Joint Council will meet on Saturday, March 12th in Pendleton Hall.

CAN WE LOVE OURSELVES? 1988

CAN WE LOVE OURSELVES? Rev. BRIAN W. KEITH 1988

"There are three universal loves-the love of heaven, the love of the world, and the love of self: [And] these three loves, when rightly subordinated, perfect a person. . ." (TCR 394, 403).

     Selfishness does not have a good reputation. Associated with vanity, egotism, and self-indulgence, no one would like to stand up and proclaim how much he or she loves himself.
     The Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church assert that self-love is the source of all evils, and it agrees least of all with a heavenly life (see AC 1307). Selfishness always has within it a conceit, a sense that "I am superior to you." It seeks dominance over others, controlling their actions and thoughts. For it wants to bring all into submission to itself, having all bow down before it as a god.
     Such self-centeredness is incredibly destructive. It disregards the wishes of others, and seeks only its own delight. In fact, it usually feeds off others, taking joy from them for itself alone.
     Because selfishness is really a hatred, not a love, it produces an existence devoid of happiness. It creates a little hell for the person, eventually resulting in an isolation and loneliness that can hardly be imagined.
     The angels, on the other hand, are pictured as selfless beings-people who are always thinking of others and never of themselves. Indeed, they appear to reject credit for anything they do, and are insulted if someone attributes qualities of good to them. They care for others, seeking the lower places at the table so that others might receive praise.
     These are very strong and important teachings for they describe two opposite approaches to life. The self-centered approach leads to hell, and the others-centered approach leads to heaven.
     Unfortunately, many people have so focused upon the idea of self-love being evil that all they see when they look at themselves is a miniature hell. If asked if they are going to heaven, they will most probably deny it. If asked if they like themselves, they will probably say no (or at least think that is what they should say). If given praise, they will be embarrassed. If given criticism, they will be confirmed in how bad they really are, feeling the crushing weight of the accumulated guilt of a lifetime. They have been taught how dangerous self-love is, and they have clearly seen its destructive power in their own motives and actions.

     But life becomes very depressing, even intolerable, with such a totally dark and negative view of self. What is so sad about such an attitude is that it is counterproductive. Hating ourselves does not produce any good. It only weakens and immobilizes us, leading us to give up hope that any good can happen in our Lives.
     What is more, hating ourselves is contrary to the teachings of the Word. The Lord quoted the ancient Levitical law when He gave the second great commandment: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18, Mark 12:31). Obviously we are not meant to hate ourselves and our neighbors. This command assumes that a person loves himself, or else loving neighbors equally would be meaningless.
     The Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church are even stronger. They declare that "the person who is in the good of charity and faith loves also himself and the world. . ." (AC 7819). Further, "a person was created to love self and the world. . ." (AE 1144:2). And "the love of self and the love of the world by creation are heavenly loves" (DLW 396). They even assert that self-love has the ability to perfect a person (TCR 403).
     Amazing teachings! Especially if we have been thinking all self-love hellish. The fact is we need to love ourselves. If we did not, we would not have the capacity to care for others. Now, this is not obsessive self-love-it is not the conceit or self-centeredness that draws us away from loving others. It is a form of self-respect that gives us a firm base from which we can be of use to others.
     Caring for ourselves is a foundation upon which the house of love for others and the Lord can be built (see DLW 396). Our self-preservation instinct has been given us for a reason. Obviously we are meant to take care of our bodies-the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the place we live. For if we are physically run-down or we carelessly dress, we limit our ability to influence and help others. Also, we are to care for our families. For who can be useful to others if he or she is preoccupied with problems at home? What the doctrines indicate is that we should strive for a balance in our natural lives (see AC 7377; DLW 396). We should make time for work and play, for family and for self, for worship and use.
     Not only is this common sense, but we can see in the growth of a person the importance of caring for, of liking, oneself. Children need to develop a respect, a love, for themselves. We want them to feel good about what they can do, and so we shower affection upon them, praising them for the smallest achievements. The joy of a child who has mastered taking a few steps or drawn a chaotic picture elicits applause. Although we know some hellish self-love is present ("Look at what I have done!"), it is more important at that time to encourage confidence than to shun a potential evil (see AC 1667:2).

We also have found through terrible experiences that when young children are deprived of love and denied a sense of security, as adults they have a greater difficulty in showing love to others since they are still seeking approval for themselves. But where there is warmth, trust, and love in a family, a foundation of affection is laid that enables them to then love others as they grow.
     The focus upon self in a child is healthy, necessary. It is a starting point. As the doctrines note, "when a person is born he first loves himself and the world, and afterwards, so far as he becomes wise, he loves the neighbor and heaven, and as he becomes still wiser he loves the Lord" (AE 1144:2).
     Regeneration is the process of learning to love others. However, it does not mean that we must stop caring for ourselves. In a sense, our basic relationship with God requires us to love and think of ourselves (see AC 1712e, 5664a). He has created us to feel life as our own. Although He is the Vine and we are but the branches, we have no awareness of living from Him. We are to feel our own life-to relish it, to delight in it. This is why when we are appreciated by others, or when we have done a job well, we do not have to shrink from accepting praise. In itself it is not hellish to accept a compliment, or money, or honor, if it is deserved.
     Perhaps a model for our attitude can be found in some angelic spirits Swedenborg encountered. They labored to make an artistic lampstand for the Lord. "At last after several hours they said that they had made a very beautiful representative lampstand to the honor of the Lord, which delighted them from the depths of their being" (AC 552). Swedenborg challenged them, saying it was the Lord who really made it. After their initial disbelief, they accepted it. Their delight was not evil, especially as they acknowledged the Lord's role in their work.
     Receiving praise and liking or loving ourselves have their place-as long as they are in relationship to the Lord. He who has given us self-love would not have us lose it. Rather, He would have us recognize where it belongs. For we shall never be rid of self-love. Repentance and regeneration do not exterminate it. What they do is subordinate it-put it in its proper place. For hell is not self-love; it is self-love out of control; it is self-love which is more important to a person than concern for others and the Lord.
     The process of regeneration is the process of limiting self-love, not destroying it. The goal is not self-hatred, but the diminishing of the importance of self so that it can be forgotten. The Writings teach that "the spiritual man does not have regard for himself and the world except insofar as is conducive to the promotion of uses" (AC 3913:3), and he loves himself "no otherwise than as the means to an end" (AC 7819).

It is as a carpenter loves his hammer and saws. He takes pride in them, cares for them, perhaps admiring their texture and shape. But he does not simply admire them and set them aside. His greater delight is in using them to construct homes. And when that is going on, be is hardly conscious of them, except as tools serving a higher goal.
     It is in this sense that the angels have no use for themselves. They are so concerned that the Lord's will be done that they wish to remove anything of themselves which might stand in the way. This ability to forget about self and focus upon others brings them heavenly joy which is indescribable. It is what the Lord meant when He said, "whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matt. 16:25). Losing one's life does not remove self-love, but removes its dominance in our lives.
     This is the sense in which self-love has the ability to perfect a person. It will always be present, so the only question is whether it will rule or serve (see TCR 403). If it forms the head, it will distort the rest of one's spiritual body. But if it forms the feet, and a love for the Lord the head, then a healthy respect for self will enable uses to be performed for others, forgetting about oneself.
     This is the ideal. But it does not come into being quickly. Self-love, like a hidden current in our lives, is always there drawing us away from others (see AC 9348). It seeks dominion, to become the head. It is subtle, trying to convince us that first and foremost we must take care of ourselves (AC 3701:4, 4368:4).
     Fortunately, the Lord is constantly working to restrain such self-love. He transforms blind ambition into constructive success. He refocuses a drive for wealth into a love of performing uses. Throughout the course of a lifetime the Lord gradually shifts the emphasis away from self to others (see AC 3993:9). As we go about our lives (earning a living, forcing ourselves to think about and care for others, shunning evils as sins), the Lord eventually leads us further and further away from an unhealthy preoccupation with self. For through regeneration we can lose our life for His sake, and find the perfection of the Lord's own love. Amen.

     LESSONS: Mark 12:28-34; AC 552; DLW 396

WORDS OF SPIRIT AND LIFE 1988

WORDS OF SPIRIT AND LIFE Rev. Grant H. ODHNER 1988

     Sixth in a Series on How to Read the Word

The Right Conditions

     There are many states of mind in which reading the Word is a real struggle-for example, when worldly goals, interests, and concerns are too active.

When [a person] is in worldly cares, in company where external interests flourish, and in pleasures, he is in sensory life. In this state he shuns and is also averse to speaking and thinking about God, and about matters of faith (AC 6315; cf. 5221e).

     Our interests and moods are fed by the spheres of spirits around us. For example, Swedenborg found that when spirits were around him whose end in view was friendship and socializing (for personal gratification), they affected him with a spiritual dullness, obscurity, and loss of affection (see AC 4054). He writes that

When these [spirits] came above me, as soon as I began to read something about what is contained in the book of Genesis, all delight and its life was taken from me, and what was left had scarcely any vitality, but was, as it were, a merely cheerless inanimate affair. . . .[These spirits] deformed a multitude of the things that occurred in my reading, and left them not only devoid of delight but sadly marred, so that it displeased me as something of no moment and of no coherency, causing me to conceive disgust toward it (SE 4243, cf. 4348).

     On another occasion, the sphere of spirits whose "sole end in view had been to live sumptuously, to be dressed splendidly, and to grow rich" took away from Swedenborg his "whole concentration, and made it extremely troublesome for [him] to carry out and to think about serious things, true and good" (AC 1509). Again, the presence of others who had held him in low esteem caused "all the good and true things that [he had] written" to seem to him "so trivial as to be esteemed as nothing at all, and almost rejected" (SE 2936).
     The Word can seem "a cheerless inanimate affair" at times, "marred" and lacking "coherence." Things in it can strike us as "trivial" and of "no moment." We can find it hard to summon any concentration to read it. The cause of these things is the sphere that's around us. Sometimes we've invited these spirits; sometimes we have not. In either case, we can help change our states, by prayer and determination.

     The natural company we keep, as well as the spiritual, is a factor. Being "in company where external interests flourish" dampens our interest in spiritual things. So does being with people who are negative toward religion, or people who are critical and contemptuous of others. Those around us affect our attitude and therefore the sphere about us. We must avoid befriending people who infect us with doubt and negativity. We need to seek out those who will support us, or at least not hinder us, in our desire to read the Word and to live in its light.
     We can become sensitive to the effect that certain people and conditions in our environment have on us. For instance, children arguing, music playing, or a television droning in the corner of the room-what effect do these have on you when you are trying to read the Word? What spirits do they bring around you? Perhaps you are accustomed to reading under such conditions. Can the right affections be there when you try to read the Word this way?
     When worldly spirits are around us (when we're in a worldly frame of mind), it is difficult to find delight in spiritual things. The prospect of enjoying the Word pales next to the easy satisfactions of T.V., a cheap novel, a game of tennis, or whatever. If we do sit down, Word in hand, our mind gravitates to our plans for the garden or yard, to our clothes, furniture, to remodeling the house, to the great party we are going to throw.
     Concerns about worldly possessions and finances can especially drag the mind down (see AC 6210; SE 1166, 3624:2). Swedenborg found that to the extent that he was immersed in such thoughts, he was removed from the company of angels.
     The pressures of our work can have a similar effect. Being taken up with one's worldly business is one of the chief reasons why people fail to gain real light from the Word (see AC 1295; SS 59; F 30; TCR 254, 354:3, 803; AE 714:9, 787:4; cf. AC 4096:2,3; 9993:3). Our job can and should be the chief arena of our spiritual usefulness (cf. TCR 422f; Life 114; D. Love XIII). But it can also take up too much of our time and concern, to the detriment of other uses, including spiritual enrichment. It is easy to be consumed with our work for the wrong reasons-selfish desire for money, possessions, security, recognition, achievement. The Word holds no interest for the person who is engrossed on this level.
     The answer to finding joy in reading the Word is clearly not to reject the world with its necessary and legitimate pleasures and pursuits. Rather, we need to work on our priorities. This may mean giving up some things. (Honest reflection and effort to make room for reading the Word will show us what these are.) But in general, all that is required to begin with is a bit of restructuring of our habits.

So,

     1.      Try setting aside a time and place that is as conducive as possible to your reading the Word and enjoying it. Associate reading with something special to you-a "good cup of tea," a peaceful time of day, a pleasant chair or window seat.
     2.      Avoid environments that are distracting (though with practice, I am told by readers of some years, you will find that nothing can distract you from this habit!).
     3.      Avoid people and influences that kill your interest and delight in spiritual things. Become sensitive to what spheres are around you and why; this is much of the battle.
     4.      Read with regularity. You will be able to command your attention much better once your "natural man" is resigned to this fact, and once the interest of your "spiritual man" has been engaged.
     5.      Keep reading the Word a priority. We cannot change our interests and loves; only the Lord can. Still, by adopting the Lord's priorities in a self-conscious way, we give Him permission to change our inner life. Action precedes; genuine feeling follows (see AC 4353e).

     "Those who are in spiritual affection are interested in the Word, and desire nothing more earnestly than to understand it" (Apocalypse Explained 112:4).

     [Note: References above to "SE" (Spiritual Experiences) are to what is usually called the Spiritual Diary.]
NCL 100 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 100 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

On the first page of the February issue of 1888 is an item about the Memorabilia or Experiences in the Writings. With "great force, power, and beauty" these may be called "works of art whose very simplicity betokens their strength. Bringing down to us the color, the fragrance, the melody, the softness, and yet the power of heaven, where affection and thought spontaneously present themselves representatively in marvelous detail and perfection--contrasting with this the horrors of hell, which are presented in their deformity no less accurately and fully-the Memorabilia give invaluable instruction. . . ."

Note: Our selections this month from the new translation of TCR are from the Memorabilia or "Experiences."

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (20) 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (20) Rev. David Simons 1988

     Wonderful things regarding the Word arising from its spiritual sense. In the natural world no wonderful things arise from the Word, because the spiritual sense is not apparent, and such as it is in itself is not inwardly received by man. But in the spiritual world wonderful things from the Word appear, because all there are spiritual beings, and a spiritual man is affected by spiritual things as a natural man is by natural things. The wonderful things arising from the Word in the spiritual world are many, a few of which I will mention here.
     In the shrines of the temples there, the Word itself shines before the eyes of angels like a great star, sometimes like a sun, and also from the bright radiance round about it there are seen, as it were, most beautiful rainbows. This happens as soon as the shrine is opened. That each truth and all truths of the Word shine has been made evident to me by the fact that when any least sentence from it is written out on paper, and this is thrown into the air, the very paper shines in the form in which it has been cut. Thus by means of the Word, spirits can produce a variety of shining forms; also the forms of birds and fish. Again, what is still more wonderful, when anyone rubs his face, his hands, or the clothing which he has on, with the open Word touching them with the writing, the face itself, the hands, or the clothing shine as though he were standing in a star encompassed by its light.
     Besides this there are many other wonderful things which are from the Word; for instance, if anyone who is in falsities looks toward the Word as it lies in its holy place, a darkness comes over his eyes, and in consequence the Word appears to him to be black, sometimes as if covered with soot; and if he likewise touches the Word, an explosion follows with a crash and he is thrown into a corner of the room and lies there for a brief hour as if dead. . . .
     The angels themselves, when they descend from heaven to discharge any duty below, appear surrounded with little stars, especially about the head, which is a sign that Divine truths from the Word are in them (TCR 209).

     The Writings teach by contrasts which challenge us to look more deeply, reflect carefully, so that we may "enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith" (TCR 508). They are to be thought about rationally, not just learned literally by rote.
     Things shine in heaven with meaning; that's what heavenly light is. The more one understands, the brighter and clearer the light. The Word shines like a "great star" since stars correspond to knowledges, and as a "sun" in that it is "Immanuel, God with us" (Matt. 1:23), the Sun of heaven "shining in His strength"(Rev. 1:16). To some there is no shine; it is black and meaningless and covered with the soot of burnt-out ideas.

     People explode when they hear that others believe in Divine Revelation, and as they reject a First Cause in God, they throw themselves into a corner, since one cannot explain the origin of anything without going back to a First Cause, the Lord.
     The former Christian Church was established by the Lord by means of parables and miracles. The New Christian Church will also be established by parables and miracles, but on an interior plane of life. The parable is the Word with its correspondential spiritual sense now unfolded. The miracles are invisible miracles "which are such as do not take away human freedom" (AC 4031), such as are found in descriptions of the spiritual world. These "wonderful things" demonstrate the Lord's love, wisdom and power for all "who have ears to hear what the Spirit [spiritual truth] says to the church" (Rev. 2:7).
     While the externals of this passage are startling and astonishing, the internals are clear: we must all, like the angels, reflect on specific parts of the Word to form ideals (birds), and practical applications (fish). We must all, like the angels, rub our faces and hands and clothing with the "open Word"; that is, we must apply its truths to our affections, our deeds and our ideas. When we do this, we may be seen "surrounded with little stars, especially about the head, which is a sign that Divine truths are with us."

     [Photo of Rev. David Simons and his wife Zoe]

RESURRECTION ADDRESS 1988

RESURRECTION ADDRESS Rev. RAY SILVERMAN 1988

     Daric Wade Blair

     December 5, 1987

     The text for today's resurrection service is taken from the gospel according to John, chapter 15: "This is my commandment, that you love one another, that your joy may be full."
     Daric Wade Blair was born April 19, 1958. He was the great grandson of Homer Synnestvedt, one of the great New Church ministers of all time. In the resurrection address for Homer Synnestvedt in 1945, Bishop George de Charms said these words: "To him the supreme message of the Divine truth revealed to the New Church lay not so much in the surpassing beauty of its abstract theology as in its practical human implications. . . . His greatest delight was in personal contact. Many well remember him, above all else, for his broad sympathy and kindly understanding. . . . His deep love for children and of young people inspired their affection and their confidence, enabling him to impart wise counsel and to implant treasures of lasting value."
     These words were spoken of Daric Blair's great grandfather. Daric Blair grew up with his great grandfather's love of people. He is remembered as one of the "street kids." The "Meade Street Gang" remembers him well. His friends, Lee Sheedy, Sam Canastro, David Lennox, Fred Hanks, Gordy Acton, and others, remember him as a complete neighborhood guy. His family even concedes that the street was his family. He loved to play; he loved to be with his friends. Touch football, or frisbee, or whatever it would be-he would be out there playing with his friends. Later on, the street kids formed a rock group and Daric was the drummer. They took all the drums over to Mrs. Sheedy's house, I heard; and played over there.
     Homer Synnestvedt was also a drummer. He was a drummer in the Civil War. After the war he was industrious, peddling milk and coal to work his way through school. When Homer Synnestvedt applied to the Academy of the New Church to start Theological School, Bishop Benade said, "I like the boy's energy and pluck."
     Daric loved to have a good time, but in his early years he hadn't quite inherited his grandfather's industrious characteristic. Daric did have a paper route. He peddled papers, and yet the big thing was to try to get Daric up out of bed. Sometimes the customers would call, complaining that their morning paper was an hour late.
     Daric also had a hard time getting really serious about his education. As was noted, Daric loved to have a good time. He went after the joy in life.

He went to the Academy of the New Church for three years, and is remembered for playing hockey there. He went to the University of Arizona, and he is remembered for playing hockey there also. Six foot four; 220 pounds; a great defenseman-sports and good times were everything for Daric. He laughed so easily, and loved a good story.
     But his family began to worry about Daric taking responsibility for his life. They wondered what would become of him. Would Daric ever get focused on any particular profession?
     He came back to Pittsburgh at the age of 23. He did not graduate from the University of Arizona, and he wondered what he would do with his life. He began a course of study at a computer tech school. He thought that he would get involved with computers like his brother. He thought that he might sell computers. But he reasoned that if he were to sell computers, he would need to polish up some of his weak areas. And he recognized that one of his weak areas was communication. To be a salesman he would have to learn how to speak. At this time a person came into Daric's life who influenced him a great deal. He was a man who is described as having a "coach's instinct." He was able to get next to Daric, to help him see that there was a goal for him, and that he could strive for something. Randall Gebhardt encouraged Daric to pursue studies in communication at the University of Pittsburgh.
     So Daric enrolled at the university. He studied speech and rhetoric, working toward a degree in communication. It was at this point in his life that Daric was beginning to form values about what he would do with his life. On August 13, 1985, at the age of 25, Daric graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in communication.
     His father said, "By the time he graduated from Pitt, he had really become a student. He began to enjoy his studies." His brother adds that "it wasn't a jail sentence anymore. School was no longer something that prevented him from the joy of life." Daric began to find joy in the life of the mind. There was something in this field of communication that appealed to him. Then, at the age of 26 Daric found out that he had developed cancer.
     It was a blow to him. He had begun to form high hopes, great aspirations. Daric, as many of you remember, was a fighter. There were things that he now wanted to do, to achieve, and he was not about to give up. And so he said in my office one day, "God can't let me die now. I have too much to offer. I really want to touch people's lives."
     It was not God's will that Daric die of cancer. But God did permit it. God did let Daric die, and yet He also helped Daric to realize his deepest wish-to touch other people's lives. You who are here today know how Daric touched your lives.
     He touched the lives of twenty nurses and office workers on the 3S wing of West Penn Hospital, and perhaps many more there.

     He touched the lives of Shareen Blair and Gordon Acton and Sarah Sheer and David Littman and Lee Sheedy and Fred Hanks and Jane Ryder.
     He touched the lives of his brothers, Brian and Jeffrey, and his uncles and aunts.
     He touched the life of his grandmother, Lucille Blair, and perhaps, most of all, he touched the life of his father, Robert Homer Blair.
     Daric touched the lives of 24 young children from the Pittsburgh New Church School, who, in the last year, in our classroom prayer time spontaneously, without pressure, included Daric, almost every single time, in their prayers.

     He touched the lives of a small circle of people who gathered together and prayed shortly after Daric's departure. Gathered together by his bedside in the hospital, they held hands in a circle, holding Daric's hands as well-people of different faiths, people from different world views touching one another's lives. In a rare and special moment, Daric succeeded in bringing us into touch with one another's lives.
     He opened our eyes to the fine qualities within each other. He spoke, for example, of Gordon Acton. He said to me, "Kids listen to Gordon because Gordon listens to kids; and Gordon taught me how to listen to people." He speaks of Randall Gebhardt. He said: "He's been there. He's been through it. He doesn't back down from anything." He spoke of Zarah Blair, saying, "She really, really understands." And he spoke of many of you others.
     More and more Daric began to see that the joy of life lies in deep and sincere human relationships, and in a personal relationship with God. On November 21st I received a phone call from Daric's father. Daric, from his hospital bed that he would never leave again, had asked to be confirmed into the New Church. He was confirmed that evening.
     A few days later, since we knew that Daric's entrance into the spiritual world was not far off, we talked about the resurrection service that would take place, and I asked him if there was any particular message that he would like to give. He said, "Yes." This is his message, in his words.

     "Add to your daily schedule a time to reflect, a time to write down your characteristics, to find the good ones and the bad ones." He said that "there are all kinds of meditation tapes available to help you do this." He said that "if you are not getting along with someone, write it down. Try to understand what is going on between you. Give that person the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the way you are saying something is turning that person off. Find a better way to say it, or say it in another way."

He said that "we all find a way to avoid this most important work, or we try to do it in our heads. We fool ourselves. saying, 'I'll do it, I'll do it,' and we just don't do it. We don't get around to working on the relationships in our life. Relations are what it is all about." Then he added, "First you must be honest with yourself. Reflect on your characteristics. Meditate. Then you can really give to other people. Even the time you spend in reflection is not really for yourself. Even that is really for others."

     What Daric was saying is reflected so well in the words of Sacred Scripture: "O how good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity" (Psalm 133).
     Today Daric is among the angels. The Writings of the New Church teach that three days after the death of the body the spirit awakens to a new life in the other world. And the newly awakened spirit is surrounded by the highest angels. After Daric's confirmation he said to me, "Am I all set now"' And I said, "You're all set, Daric. You are with the highest angels." And he is. Everyone who has ever lived and striven to live according to the Lord's commandments has become an angel of heaven, for that is what an angel is-nothing more and nothing less. It may well be that today Daric Blair is in the arms of his great grand- father, Homer Synnestvedt. Or perhaps embraced by his mother, Anne-his mother who loved him so well; his mother who gave him this copy of the Word and inscribed in it:

Daric,
The Lord bless thee and keep thee,
The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee,
The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Amen.
Mother and Father,
June 19, 1965

     Now, Daric is in the other world, and he promised a few things to us just before he left. One of the things he promised was that he would send us dreams (for the angels do send us dreams). And perhaps we who are left behind can help Daric to realize his greatest dream. Do you remember what he said? "God can't let me die now. . . . I want to touch others." He has touched us. He has touched us with his hope and his dream, the dream of human brotherhood. For he learned, although he learned through bitter strife, that there is a deep, spiritual joy that can't be touched by anything in natural life. It's the true joy of human relationships when we are united in the Lord.
     And so the Lord spoke to every one of us when he said these words, "Little children, love one another that your joy may be full." Amen.

PRAYER 1988

PRAYER ERIN C. MARTZ 1988

     What is the purpose of prayer? Should we pray for others? How often? How long? Such questions are frequently on the minds of Christians. and there are diverse views among New Church people as to the power and the place of prayer.
     Although in the Christian world there is also a large variance in the use of prayer, one characteristic is notable-prayer is more prevalent in the services and interactions of the church members. For instance, the born-again Christians regularly hold prayer meetings for special purposes, e.g., for government leaders, for the cripples of the world, or for people in eastern bloc countries. It would seem that these are the kinds of prayers which the Writings say are seldom heard in heaven, because "the confessions. adorations, and prayers which are from man are not
[those] which are heard and received by the Lord, but they must be from the Lord Himself with the man" (AC 10299). To such people the length and intensity of prayers reflects the "holiness of a person."
     Often the born-again Christians pray for changes of state in other people-that they may physically recover, or that they may overcome some mental obstacle, or that they may be "saved" from their anti-Christian secular life. But the danger in these types of prayers, innocent and well-intentioned as they may be, is that man begins to believe that he has great power over others, over the devil-that he is "fighting for the souls of others." Thinking himself commissioned to pray for others, he ignores his own weaknesses and evils and oversteps his limits.
     Roman Catholic prayer, though it may be misguided, is less flattering to individuals since it forces them to humble themselves before the various saints to beg for intercession on behalf of others. Though this too may cause man to believe he has more power than he does, he is less likely to take credit if the prayer is answered.
     No. 325 of Apocalypse Explained discusses prayer at length, telling us that prayer is only the external of worship. The first step is a life of charity, and then its proceeding will be prayer. The saying in Luke 21:36 that they should "pray always" means that they should prepare themselves (AE 187).
     There is a saying in the Spiritual Diary that "prayers effect nothing when they are such that we merely intend to deprecate our evils. . . . Sins are not remitted except from the heart with a certain. . . internal pain;. . . otherwise, prayers, etc., rather confirm man" (SD 3677). So we must beware of claiming to "talk to the Lord all day," playing the part of the humble sinner-"See, Lord, how bad I am?" "What is the praying of the mouth if the mind is not in it, except babbling?" (AC 1094).

Our life should be a player, and we should always have the Lord in our thoughts and choices. We are not sinners because an evil thought crawls into our mind and lingers there, but we become evil when we start to feed and gloat over the little animal. In prayer, content is more important than form. It is well to set aside quality time for prayer and to associate the prayer with reading rather than just throw up any prayer to heaven to "see if it works." The Lord "will not act in favor of prayers against the end, which is salvation" (AC 8179). And should we pray for others? On the one hand this can help us to keep thinking of others. On the other hand, in not praying for them we may be trusting even more in the Lord. In any case the important principle is that Divine worship consists primarily in a life of charity, and secondarily in prayers (see AE 325:6).
ATTENTION SINGLES 1988

ATTENTION SINGLES Editor 1988

     This spring when you need it bad, Atlanta's got it good-good weather, good times, good friends. All this takes place at Easter, April 1-3, in Atlanta: a weekend for discovery, an exciting city, meeting new people, seeing old friends, sampling some Hotlanta night life, and maybe even for learning something new.
     So make your plans early. The Atlanta Society is waiting to welcome ya'll.
     For more information contact Judith Johns, 864 Charles Allen Drive, No. 6, Atlanta, GA 30308.
ADVERTISEMENT IN CANADA 1988

ADVERTISEMENT IN CANADA Editor 1988

In January a full-page advertisement appeared in Macleans magazine. The name "Swedenborg" was at the top of the page in large bold letters. A free book relating to Swedenborg was offered. When last we heard almost two thousand people had responded.
NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO 1988

NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO Editor 1988

In the February issue of 1938 it was noted that "in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Emanuel Swedenborg" the work New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine was published by the Swedenborg Society simultaneously in nineteen languages. These included Chinese, Hungarian, Polish, Russian and Tamil (spoken in India).

In Our Contemporaries 1988

In Our Contemporaries Editor 1988

     The July-September issue of The New Philosophy has an article entitled "Some Observations on the Style of Swedenborg." The thesis is that Swedenborg's writing style changed when he turned to theology. The writer concludes: "It is as though Swedenborg, when communicating the elementary truths of his doctrine, strives to express himself as plainly as possible. In this way he created a language that is remarkably regular; it obeys its own rules."
     The main article in this issue is by Linda Simonetti Odhner. It is entitled: "Gene Dominance in Evolution as It Models Regeneration."
     Dr. Erland Brock is the editor of New Philosophy. The address is Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
     The January issue of The New Age (Australian) has a message from the president of the New Church in Australia, Rev. Ian Arnold, who says:

     The question arises in some people's minds whether we should in fact be celebrating the event (tricentenary) and honoring the man, Emanuel Swedenborg. . . .
     It is, I believe, true to say of all the organizations of the New Church around the world that Swedenborg is seen as an instrument through whom revelation from the Lord has been given to the world. . . .
     Swedenborg was not himself the source of Revelation or enlightenment, and from all that we know of him he would loathe being looked upon in that light. In the New Church we look beyond him to the Lord who revealed what is characterized as being "The Heavenly Doctrine" through him. And yet his credentials to serve as an instrument of Revelation are justifiably enquired about; his earlier searchings for the soul; his place in the history of human thought; his integrity and years of preparation are all usefully and necessarily known and thought about. Otherwise we face the difficulties which are inevitably there of a person seemingly plucked from obscurity and thrust into a role for which there was no preparation and whose claims and statements carry no more weight than others claiming revelatory experiences. I perhaps best speak for myself here in that as I have come to know more of Swedenborg's activities . . . his studies . . . his pursuits. . . his probings and questionings. . . so the more his whole life has fallen together. And so has my appreciation of his unique suitability to serve the Lord in the role he did deepened.

As yet the revelation given through Swedenborg, and in which God has revealed Himself more clearly than ever before, remains on the remote fringes of Christian thinking, if it is to be found there at all. As a rule, theologians and Biblical commentators pass it by. But it is with the Lord in this His Second Advent precisely as it was when He made His First Advent. So few people recognized Him for who He was. The great majority had no time for Him and passed Him by.
In time this will change. In the meantime you and I share the privilege-and also the responsibility-of being called. . .to an awareness of the Lord newly-revealed, again, come among us.
Swedenborg Scrapbook 1988

Swedenborg Scrapbook D.L.R 1988

A Swedenborg Scrapbook by Brian Kingslake, Seminar Books, London, 86 pages, $5.00

     (continued from the January issue).

     One of the reasons this booklet is such a pleasure to read is that it is addressed to people who are familiar with Swedenborg. There are (and should be) so many accounts of Swedenborg's life, which New Church people read patiently accepting the fact that what is being said is addressed to others. Well, Mr. Kingslake is talking to us, and he is enjoying it. What does he do when he gets to the city of Gothenburg? Not only doe's he get for us a fine photograph of the building Swedenborg was in when he announced the outbreak of a fire in Stockholm 300 miles away, but combining a sense of drama with a sense of fun our author dialed Stockholm from Gothenburg on the telephone. He writes: "No, there was no major fire raging in Stockholm just then! Nevertheless, if there had been a fire, I could have reported it by telephone just as easily as Swedenborg did. . ." (p. 49).
     On the page opposite this bit of whimsy is a photograph of the mausoleum in which Swedenborg's father is buried. We see Mr. Kingslake standing in front of the mausoleum smiling, and we can almost discern from his face that the idea of this "scrapbook" is taking form in his mind.
     Mr. Kingslake regards this scrapbook "as a companion to my own small volume: Swedenborg Explores the Spiritual Dimension." (See the review of that small volume in the March, 1986 issue of the Life.) Kingslake finishes his introductory page by saying, "I believe that the points I have touched on here will enable the student of Swedenborg to get a clearer view of the mind and achievements of that remarkable servant of the Lord. I hope so, anyway."

He provides three dozen pictures and illustrations and also a useful chronological table. He includes a translation of the poem in Swedish outside Swedenborg's summer house. The tourist reads the following (as if it were being spoken by the house itself):

I am a pavillion which men pass by.
I stood in Stockholm in my master's garden.
His angels filled me with their harmonies,
And spiritual values flourished in my care.
A mighty man of research, prophet, sage,
He used my simple shelter as a home.
Here he beheld the glory of the heavens,
And here was built a New Jerusalem.
For the Spirit now Bed I was a shell,
Now I stand forsaken in my grief.
But harp and cymbal filled me, when
God came to visit with our Swedenborg.

     The author provides a list on p. 57 of thirty languages into which books of the Writings have been translated. It should be pointed out that the translation picture is by no means as bright as it seems. The Russian translations (even the one published by the Swedenborg Society only fifty-years ago) date back to a time before that language was substantially changed. The translations done in Dutch and Swedish so long ago are not adequate for today's readers. We should not be pointing proudly to the number of languages into which the Writings have been translated but rather looking to the translating work that needs to be done in the years ahead.
     Mr. Kingslake offers some speculations. One new one has to do with why the work Apocalypse Explained was not published in Swedenborg's lifetime. He imagines that the printer, John Lewis, told Swedenborg that it would cost too much! One at first surprising assertion on page 43 is that whereas Swedenborg himself was inspired "his Writings were definitely NOT inspired. . . ." The word "definitely" and the capital letters in NOT" seem out of place in such a speculation. Upon closer reading one is pleased to find that the point being made is that the words of the Writings were not verbally dictated to Swedenborg. But, surely, no student of Swedenborg asserts that they were. The point seems superfluous.
     In a two-page treatment of "Wesley and Swedenborg" we are disappointed to see a quotation ascribed to John Wesley to which historians give little credence. It is highly unlikely that Wesley ever did say "in a solemn manner" (or in any other manner for that matter) that we can burn our old books of theology because "God has sent us a teacher from heaven, and in the works of Swedenborg we might learn all that is necessary for us to know."

And who can say whether Kingslake's speculations are valid about what Wesley is now doing in the spiritual world to help make "all things new."
The author reflects on "the two almost opposite directions in which the New Church was destined to develop."

One way was towards an exclusive Swedenborgianism, such as one finds supported in the T. C. R. in the section on the Consummation of the Age. ("The Second Coming of the Lord takes place by means of a man before whom He has manifested Himself in Person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit, to teach from Him the Doctrines of the New Church by means of the Word.") The other way was towards a broad and non-distinctive ecumenism, the Doctrines being injected almost unconsciously into the teachings of the contemporary old-church establishments. Historically in England these two approaches were called "Separatism" and "Non-Separatism," and were associated in the first place with Hindmarsh (Separatism) and Clowes (Non-Separatism). In America they became, roughly, the Academy and the Convention. For another hundred years or so, our theologians will probably be experimenting on how to blend or synthesize these two opposite approaches.
Here is support for an exclusive attitude, taken from "An Ecclesiastical History of the New Church" (my copy of the Coronis, p. 144): "When the Brief Exposition was published (in 1769) the angelic heaven, from east to west and from south to north, appeared of a deep crimson colour, with most beautiful flowers. This took place before myself and others. At another time it appeared flamy, beautifully so. On all the copies of the book in the Spiritual World was written 'The Advent of the Lord.' I also wrote the same, by command, on two copies in Holland: HIC LIBER EST ADVENTUS DOMINI. ('This book is the Advent of the Lord.')"
And here is Swedenborg's basis for Erumenicity, taken from "Invitation to the New Church" (my copy of the Coronis, p. 85):

"Hereafter men are not to be styled Evangelicals, Reformed, and still less Lutherans and Calvinists, but CHRISTIANS. (Presumably this would include Swedenborgians.)
People who favor this inclusive, non-sectarian view of the New Church, remember Swedenborg's own modest disclaimer in "Summaries of the Internal Sense of the Prophets and Psalms": "A New Church is now being instituted" (he wrote in 1763) "which is called in the Apocalypse the NEW JERUSALEM, to which the things that are being published by me at the present day will be of service. It is also being instituted elsewhere" (p. 64).

     One of the appealing chapters of this appealing booklet is entitled "The Dawn of Spiritual Consciousness." From it we quote the following:

Just as the Lord made His original incarnation in Palestine to redeem mankind from bondage to Hell, so, by coming again in His New Church. he would once again liberate the human mind, which was losing its freedom again. . . .
On August 7th 1747, a month after his arrival in Amsterdam, Swedenborg noted in his diary: "There is a change of state in me, into the Celestial Kingdom." This is taken to be the final step in his full illumination. He was also being led to perceive that the Lord was making His Second Advent into the world, through Swedenborg's instrumentality in unveiling the Spiritual Sense of the Word. In all humility, he recorded in his diary for September 1st 1748: "Very many good spirits are glorifying the Lord on account of His Advent; and there is so much joy that some are saying they can hardly bear it! Next morning, everything was in a state of tranquility, so that I perceived nothing but a tranquil silence around me, which still continues." (Sp. D. 3029)
Two months later, Swedenborg left Amsterdam for London, where he booked lodgings for six months. He abandoned the Word Explained (which had been largely of an exploratory nature) and now, with calm assurance and full authority, he began his great work on the Spiritual Sense of Genesis and Exodus, the Arcana Coelestia. The Writings of the New Church were launched.

     In his final chapter Mr. Kingslake closes his scrapbook of the man Swedenborg

picturing him as he undoubtedly is how-blissfully happy and content in a high heaven with his beautiful angel wife (whoever she may be)-he and she seeming from a distance to be one complete individual, radiant with light reflected from the Sun of heaven.

     In the chapter on Swedenborg's death and funeral we read about material things which the old man left behind. Mr. Kingslake adds something to this that typifies the heartwarming aspects of this informing and satisfying booklet.

But his main legacy, of course, was spiritual. He bequeathed it, free of tax, to all mankind! You and I are among the legatees. But we must claim our inheritance before we can receive it; and we do this by studying the Doctrines outlined in his writings; and, in the Lord's strength, by living according to them. If we do this, we shall become spiritual millionaires.
     D.L.R.

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     SWEDENBORG IN THE PAGES OF THE WRITINGS DIVINE PROVIDENCE

     There seem to be about a dozen places in the book Divine Providence in which Swedenborg speaks in the first person. Among them are striking statements which clarify the man Swedenborg's relationship to what the Lord has revealed. Consider the following:

I have had conversation with spirits and angels for many years now, and no spirit has dared, nor has any angel wished, to tell me anything, still less to instruct me, about what is in the Word, or about any matter of doctrine from the Word. I have been taught by the Lord alone, who was revealed to me. . .(No. 135).

     In two Passages Swedenborg speaks of previous opinions he has held. (See no. 279 and the editorial on this subject in March of 1987.) He speaks of reaching a state in which evil spirits could not infuse anything into his thought. "In this state I have remained now for many years, and I continue in it still" (no. 290). In a later number he speaks of subtle spirits who would have bent his affections without his knowledge "had not the Lord prevented this" (310:4). No. 312 speaks of the unconscious: infusing of thoughts and affections, and then we read:

To this I will add my own daily experience. Evil spirits have often introduced into my thoughts evils and falsities which seemed to me as if they were in myself and originating from myself, or as if I myself thought them. But knowing them to be evils and falsities, I endeavored to find out who had introduced them, and when these spirits were detected, they were driven away.

     No. 324 confirms the truth that everyone is created that he may live forever in a state of happiness. Into this discussion the following is interjected:

As it has been granted me to speak with angels I will also say something from my own experience. I have talked with some who lived many ages ago, . . . with some who lived in the time of the Lord, with one of His apostles, and with many who lived in later times. They all appeared like people of medium age, and they said they do not know what death is, but only that there is condemnation.

Moreover, all who have lived well, when they enter heaven, come into a state of early manhood. . . . Women too, although they had been shrunken and aged, return to the flower of their age and beauty.

(Swedenborg does not say in this passage which of the apostles he spoke to, but he does mention it in a personal letter.)

     As a final example from Divine Providence we have Swedenborg's experience interviewing many, many people after they have died.

I have asked more than a thousand newcomers from the world whether they knew that to shun evils as sins is religion itself. . . . I asked them whether they knew that a man must examine himself, see his sins, repent, and then enter upon a new life. . . . I asked, Why did you teach your children the Decalogue? Was it not that they might know what evils are sins to be shunned?. . . When I mentioned many things from the doctrines of the churches and from the Word confirming the teaching that to shun and to turn away from evils as sins is the Christian religion itself, and that everyone has faith only in proportion as he does so, they were silent. They were convinced, however, that this is true when they saw that all were examined as to their life, and were judged according to their deeds, and that no one was judged according to faith separated from life, because the faith of everyone is commensurate with his life.
     Divine Providence 265

     SWEDENBORG AT AGE 22

     Highlights from Swedenborg's Letters (2)

     Among all the letters we have that were written by Swedenborg, surely among the most significant is the one he wrote in August of 1769 telling in less than three pages the story of his life. This is the letter in which, after mentioning his worldly achievements, he says, "But the things recounted above I regard as of comparatively little moment; for what towers above them is the fact that I have been called to a sacred office by the Lord Himself, who, in the year 1743, most graciously manifested Himself in Person before me, His servant, and then opened my sight into the spiritual world and granted me to speak with spirits and angels, and this has continued even to the present day. From that time I began to publish in print the various arcana seen by me and revealed, such as arcana concerning heaven and hell, man's state after death, true Divine worship, the spiritual sense of the Word, besides much else of the utmost value, conducive to salvation and wisdom."
     It is not surprising that when R. L. Tafel put together his more than 2,000 pages of documents, he made that autobiographical letter the number one item.

One reason we mention the letter here is that when Swedenborg recounted the actual events of his life he began the story at age twenty-two saying, "In the year 1710 I went abroad. I proceeded first to England. . . ."
     Another striking reference to the year 1710 occurs in a letter which Swedenborg wrote in November of 1766. He makes the remarkable statement: "I was first introduced by the Lord into the natural sciences and was thus prepared; and this from the year 1710 to 1744, when heaven was opened to me."
     The first letters we have of Swedenborg he sent when he was around twenty-two years old. It was then that he became accomplished enough in music that he often substituted for a church organist. He tells about this in a letter to his brother-in-law, and also mentions he has become good at the art of bookbinding. At this time he wrote in a letter, "I read Newton daily." He wrote that from London in October of 1710 and commented, "This island fosters men of the greatest skill in this science, but I have not yet consulted them because I am still poor in the language." Six and a half months late r he wrote: "I visit daily the best mathematicians in the city here. I have been at Flamsteed's, who is held to be the best astronomer in England."
     At the age of twenty-two Swedenborg (known then of course as Swedberg) had some exciting close calls. Although he does not mention those dangerous incidents in letters written at the time, he did several years later write a statement about his travels, which begins as follows:

     "1710. I traveled to Gothenburg, and thence by ship to London. On the way to London I was four times in danger of my life." The four incidents as described by Swedenborg are in Tafel's Document no. 204. They are recounted in the first chapter of Trobridge's biography, as in most biographies of Swedenborg.
     As he writes in retrospect of those early journeys, Swedenborg alludes to the guidance of Providence. As a young man he was only following his keen interests and ambitions, and he did not realize what he came to realize later in life: that he was being introduced by the Lord into the natural sciences "and thus prepared."
YAC '88, THE YOUNG ADULTS CONVOCATION 1988

YAC '88, THE YOUNG ADULTS CONVOCATION Editor 1988

The first event will be an open house at the College Social Center from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. Friday, February 19th. Registration will be Saturday morning, February 20th at Pendleton Hall at 8:30, with opening worship and sessions throughout the day offering a wide choice of subjects and groups. There will be a potluck dinner at 7:00 p.m., and a session before church on Sunday morning. The cost is $5.00 at the door for registration, but advance bookings only cost $3.00. Write to YAC '88, Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 (phone 215-938-7062).

LOVING AND LIKING 1988

LOVING AND LIKING Rev. Horand K. Gutfeldt 1988

Dear Editor,
     I congratulate Rev. D. Taylor for the fresh approach in his sermon in the October issue of New Church Life, which is titled "How to Love the Neighbor Even When We Do Not Like Him." It has the merit of picking a relevant topic that is puzzling in many a person's mind, dealing with it in a number of aspects to make it practical. The whole approach is provocative, and there are many excellent thoughts well expressed where I can agree wholeheartedly.
     However, I have to object strongly to certain points, while still acknowledging the undoubted merits of the author's work. Having given a lot of thought to the subject and having cooperated at the Harvard Center for the stud y of creative altruism of the great sociologist P. Sorokin,1 I feel obliged to the truth to question and expand a number of things on scriptural and doctrinal grounds, involving also a philosophy and psychology of love. To this belongs first a need to underline the limitations of human words in general.

     The Limits of Language

     It is claimed repeatedly in the sermon that the "essence of love" is "to wish well to" (pages 443, 444, 446). I cannot, forgive me, but object to a claim that the essence of love is exhaustible, that it must in its fullness remain beyond human definitions and expressions. Not only that, the Divine love is incomprehensible (AC 5042) "of no other things can be predicated 'I am' or 'Is' than of love. From this love . . . or of love itself is the Esse of all life, that is, life itself" (AC 1735). We have to have the humility to acknowledge that beyond all terms there is a unity in the concept as well as in the experience of love that we can see in different aspects, but never as a whole, as we cannot see all sides of a globe at once.
     In the Swedenborg Concordance there are 73 pages of references to "love" in the Writings, and always new aspects are shown, which we have to have the humility never to try to compress in a nutshell, or we reduce it to "nothing but. . ." by implication. What the poets of thousands of years have not been able to exhaust we cannot reduce to "wishing well." (Although this catches an essential aspect, yet it is dangerously insufficient.)

We owe to the awesomeness of the moral and ethical implications of the greatest commandments of the Lord not to whittle it down in any way. "Well-wishing" or altruism is so much abused in our culture and reminds one almost of sending "get well" cards. Quite specifically the Writings declare that the essence of love is conjunction, or the energy Producing oneness or union. "The essence of love and charity is that from two . . .it makes one. When one loves the other as himself, then the one sees the other in himself, and himself in the other. . .love to the Lord makes a man one with the Lord. . . "(AC 1013:2). Further, "The essence of celestial love consists in this. . .not to want to be its own, but of all, so it wants to give all things which are its own to others. . ."(AC 1437). This obviously is more than a determination, but also a consistent motivation and thus an emotion or feeling, thus an affection of liking, to say the least. It is true that this is an ideal, but it means that only certain levels of liking must be connected with the self or Proprium while others are not. This will have to be analyzed later. Here again we have to point to the limitation of our understanding and thus our language that we have to focus upon one, often minuscule, aspect at a time. But woe to us if we try to reduce the whole to a single concept and claim to have everything condensed into it! With these precautions, we may now try to approach the topic which we will never exhaust in one lifetime, and not even if we had a million lifetimes.

What Is Then the Essence of Love?

In deepest humility, we can look up to the words of the Lord: "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"(John 15:13). Thus at least a readiness for sacrifice of one's own, of goods and time, must be the ideal from which other aspects can receive degree and measure, as this was demonstrated beyond our comprehension in the life of the Lord on earth. This is contained in the sublime Greek term agape, to which no translation or interpretation does full justice. Too much abuse is being done to "love"; Swedenborg uses charitas to render it in Latin, which is light years removed from a translation that sounds temptingly similar in English: "charity"! If we look up the significance of this in a modern dictionary for our language of today, we will find it contaminated and confused with charitable donations and many other things. I commend Rev. Taylor for clarifying this by contrasting it with hate, and for the strong emphasis that love is strictly and exclusively a gift of the Lord. "All love is of the Lord, and not a whit. . . of man" (AC 352). Yet, in order to bring this closer to life, it has to be broken down into components that can be looked at individually without losing the concept that there is a unity that is greater than any idea.

No one has ever given a more sublime picture of the essential aspects of love than the inspired pen of Swedenborg, especially if we contrast this with modern philosophies of love.2 In religious circles love is often interpreted in terms of I Cor. 13, which is certainly impressive by its beauty, probably an early Christian hymn. But we have to emphasize that true love can never ". . . believe all things. . ." (v. 8), for the Lord commands us to love with all the Powers of our intelligence [dianoia] as well, adding this to the quotation from the Old Testament, which does not contain this reference, Lev. 19:18, Deut. 6:5. The summary of the teaching of the Lord is in Luke 6:36, "Become merciful [not "be," ginesthe oiktirmones] as your father is merciful" (one could also translate: compassionate); this is paralleled in Matt. 5:48, "You will be perfect [not "be perfect," but esesthe teleio] . . . as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Perfection is thus in love and compassion in the sense of the Sermon on the Mount (note the future instead of an imperative). Love is then perfection, as also expressed in the Golden Rule, "Do for others what you want them to do for you" (Matt. 7:12, Living Bible). Such a permanent disposition includes motivation as well as a feeling perception of all that leads in such a direction or away from it, as Swedenborg comments in DLW 47: ". . . to feel the joy of another as joy in oneself. . . ." I am sorry to observe that a sharp distinction between loving and liking is neither scriptural nor in the teachings of our church. Here we find the priorities quite different from any patterns of our present culture-"There are three kinds of loves which constitute the celestial things of the Lord's kingdom: . . . conjugial love, love toward infants, and the love of society or mutual love" (AC 2039). It follows from this that the married partner, sometimes called the "intimate enemy," is the most frequent opponent with whom we are called upon to search oneness and reconciliation, in momentary situations as well as over long-term developments. The second temptation is to regard children as enemies in disciplining, and in third place then comes personal enmity in human relations, and probably may come ultimately only an enemy of the state. How easily is indirect enmity expressed in gossip in a church group! In the deeply moving last prayer of the Lord on earth (John 17) the exhortation toward oneness is repeated four times, ". . . that they be one, as we are one. . . ." This conjunction is the first essential of love, and wishing well is a consequence, not the essence of a loving disposition. All love for enemies has to be derived from the great ideals of the Sermon on the Mount, and it will have a number of different shades and aspects. If we limit it to ". . . look to their amendment. . . to resist and thwart their plans. . . calmly and deliberately, with a view to the instruction and amendment of our enemies. This is meant by loving them. . . . ," I ask myself: does this not sound somewhat self-righteous?

While it is certainly better than open fight, and while such actions may lead in the right direction at certain times, there is a danger to limit ourselves to the few examples given in the Writings while neglecting the full implications of their great concepts. A readiness to be reconciled and to forgive has to come before, and we are called upon to implore the Lord to give this to us, even though our feelings may militate against this at the moment, as Rev. Taylor rightly observes. An opposition of love and hate, as shown in the ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles, is of some merit, but such a black-and-white picture obscures shades that are the colors and realities of our everyday life where the alternative is seldom between love and hate, but between different attitudes in defense, as in the case of a soldier.
     This leads to the final point of an analysis of love in general and love for enemies in specific: No love can exist unless it is based upon a foundation of humility, which is in its essence almost identical to innocence. AC 430: ". . . there is no true innocence without charity, and no true charity without innocence." AC 3994: "Innocence is the essential itself of love and charity. . . .[T]he proprium of innocence consists in knowing, acknowledging and believing that. . .there is nothing but evil from self, and that all good is from the Lord." The definition of humility in AC 1153:3 is almost identical, and "Innocence and humility are the characteristics of the highest heaven. . ." (AC 5524). It follows from this strictly that humility, an acknowledgment of our own deficiencies, and sincere repentance are the preconditions before we can even dream of amending anyone else, or even have an inkling of love that is from the Lord. This leads further to an analysis of the relation of intention and emotion, or feeling and liking.

     Love and Affection

     Is it really, in relation to at least some enemies, ". . .impossible. . . We are not required to be a friend of them and be fond of them" (p. 443)? Should we be content with "well-wishing" and ". . . looking for amendment. . . ."? We often cannot produce good feelings at a moment's notice, we have to admit, but we have to admit also that we cannot produce any love ever at will. And yet, we know that without affection, love is nothing! AC 1016: "Nothing grows. . . in man, unless there is some affection." AC 3186: "Goods and truths are only genuine if they affect. . . ." It is not correct to claim that all liking is from the self, for all good affections are from the Lord. AC 1904: ". . . good and truth are of no life, but they derive their life from love or from affection."

The Lord wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41).
     If we look shortsightedly at a present condition, we forget that love is meant to grow within us when we cooperate with the Lord in our regeneration or spiritual growth. Why should we not have fondness and liking, or even be friends with, someone who has, in some moment or period, been our opponent? Between the two world wars it was the veterans' societies that worked strongly toward international understanding and peace. Even soldiers in the trenches on opposite sides have on occasion celebrated Christmas together, finding at least moments of earthly peace. All fraternization signaled the end of the state of war, and in some instances we can deliberately aim toward making enemies our friends! I have served in the German air force, and I could not hold my tears when I took communion with an American air force officer after the war. As much as I could, I have striven in the war, when it was my duty to fight, at least not to hate, and not to tune in with official propaganda trying to push in this direction. True chivalry can lead to respect the enemy, to search for reconciliation, and even very small steps can bring us closer to the goal that seems almost unreal and unobtainable: to love our enemies (not only to wish them well)! The Japanese admiral Togo, who annihilated the Russian Baltic Fleet at Tsushima in 1905, visited his severely wounded opponent, the Russian admiral Rozhestvensky in the hospital in Tokyo, and pressed his hand with warmth.3
     Especially to learn to forgive is the test of love, to forgive also in situations where we have to fight, and to pray for those who offend us, for those who are the hardest to love. How many teachers pray for the child in a disciplinary situation? It is the unforgiven elements that cause psychosomatic diseases, all grudges and rankling anger-something in us punishes ourselves, in which are the evil spirits who do this job.
     The more we can understand, the more we can love, and at times it takes a lot to understand the motivational complex of somebody in an antagonistic position. Some people make a specific effort in this direction, and it often is of great help. However, understanding alone is not enough. True love is looking toward oneness, toward an overcoming of tension, for "blessed are the peacemakers." To work toward peace, to "let peace begin with me," to long for the moment of the handshake of reconciliation, to pray for it, to picture and to anticipate it-in this is the Lord.
     True, we cannot command love, especially not the component of feeling, or the emotion of the affection. But we can make small steps in this direction. With the help of the Lord we can search for fairness, for compassion and mercy, longing to forgive and to understand.

     May we all pray together that obstacles may be overcome, and that the oneness may prevail, which was the last plea of our Lord for the church that was to carry His name into the world!

     1 Pitrim A. Sorokin, former president of the World Organization of Sociology, in his book The Ways and Power of Love, Boston, Beacon Press 1954.
     2 David L. Norton and M. Kille, Philosophies of Love, Chandler publ. San Francisco, London 1971; Sadler, William, Existence and Love, N. Y., Scribner, 1969.
     3 Frank Thiess, Tsushima, Berlin-Wien Zsolnay publ. 1936, p. 505. Cf. also the article of Prof. George Boas on "love" in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy V, p. 89 f. (Ed. by P. Edwards, Macmillan, N.Y., London 1967).

     Rev. Horand K. Gutfeldt,
          Berkeley, California
RELIGION LESSONS 1988

RELIGION LESSONS Rev. Clark Echols 1988

     During my nine years of work with families living far from societies of the General Church, the best teaching aid available to me was the Religion Lessons program run now by Rev. Alfred Acton. The fact is that I could walk into a home and all the school-aged children could show me their lessons, the pictures they colored and the projects they made. This immediately opened a line of communication between the visiting minister (this stranger taking their bedroom for a night) and the children of the house.
     I have seen the lessons themselves improve dramatically over the last few years. The teachers for the program are also wonderful, as I am discovering with my own children! You may ask why am I a minister, and why is my wife, a former New Church elementary school teacher, letting someone else correspond with our children and grade their lessons? Because she does such a wonderful job; because it is a chance for my children to interact with another person; because it is fun for them! All these reasons and more.
     When all is said and done, however, the most important benefit of using the lessons is the chance it gives the parents to sit with their child and form a bond on the deepest level possible-love for the Lord and His Word. Parents doing the lessons with their child is a time of real contact between them. What better way to interact with your child than in worship or reading the Word!

     I would like to recommend that all readers of New Church Life who have school-age children to the age of senior high school (there is also a program for preschoolers!) contact the Religion Lessons Program, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, and enroll their children. Try them out. They work!
     Rev. Clark Echols,
          Westminster, Colorado
LOCAL CLERGY MEETINGS 1988

LOCAL CLERGY MEETINGS Rev. Brian W. Keith 1988

     Dear Editor,
     There is a tremendous joy and sphere of support when people in similar uses join together. Ministers especially appreciate opportunities to gather with each other, for often there are no other New Church priests in their area.
     The annual Council of the Clergy meetings serve numerous uses by drawing together clergy from the world over. Informal meetings also occur at summer camps and education meetings.
     Recently, local clergy meetings have been organized in Canada and in the western United States. For the first time Glenview hosted such meetings for ministers of the Midwest.
     Present at the meetings were Rev. Messrs. Eric Carswell, Stephen Cole, Brian Keith, Walter Orthwein, Grant Schnarr, and Ray Silverman. Rev. Robert Junge attended as a representative of the Theological School. Kathy Orthwein and Star Silverman were also able to visit with the wives here.
     These meetings provided the opportunity to discuss doctrine and its. practical applications in a small group setting. A wide range of topics were considered, including: how to deal with discouragement, growth in marriage, science in relation to the Joseph story, comprehensive plans for missionary work, translation, Aesthetic Realism, and interrelationships among priests in a multiple-staff congregation.
     Those who participated in these two-day meetings found them enlightening and encouraging. (And the social evening with the wives was quite delightful.) The Glenview Society was privileged to host the meetings and become more acquainted with other New Church priests.
     I hope that these and other small group gatherings will become a regular supplement to the Council of the Clergy meetings.
     Rev. Brian W. Keith,
          Glenview, Illinois

VISITORS TO CHURCH SOCIETIES 1988

VISITORS TO CHURCH SOCIETIES Editor 1988

     Visitors to the following societies who are in need of hospitality accommodations are invited to contact in advance the appropriate Hospitality Committee head listed below:

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
Mrs. Edward Cranch
Box 465
Bryn Athyn, PA. 19009
Phone: (215) 947-1211

Mrs. Anne T. Synnestvedt
Phone: (215) 947-3725

     Transvaal, South Africa

Mrs. Marlene Sharpe
52 Keyes Ave., Rosebank
TVL 2196, Rep. of South Africa
Phone (0011) 4472743

     Atlanta, Georgia
Mrs. Harold Sellner
1805 Roswell Road, Apt. 24F
Marietta, GA 30062
Phone: (404) 971-6899

     Detroit, Michigan
Mrs. Harvey Caldwell
410 Crane Avenue
Royal Oak, M1 48067
Phone: (313) 399-9243
Glenview, Illinois

Mrs. Donald Edmonds
2740 Park Lane
Glenview, IL 60025
Phone: (312) 724-2834

     Toronto, Ont., Canada
Mrs. John Wyncoll
19 Hampshire Heights
Islington, Ont. M9B 2J9
Phone: (416) 622-5260

     Kitchener, Ont., Canada
Mrs. Maurice Schnarr
98 Evenstone Ave., R.R. 2
Kitchener, Ont. N2G 3W5

     Cincinnati, Ohio
Mrs. Donald P. Gladish
1950 Balzhiser Lane
Batavia, OH 45103

     Colchester, England
Mrs. Donald A. Bowyer
26 Allanbrooke Road
Colchester, Essex, C02 8EG
Phone:020643712

     London, England
Mrs. Geoffrey P. Dawson
28 Parklands Road
Streatham, London, SW 16 6TE
Phone: 01-769-7922

     Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Rev. Ray Silverman
299 Le Roi Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15208
Phone (home): (412) 731-3202
(office): (412) 731-7421

     San Diego, California
Mrs. Helen L. Brown
2810 Wilbee Court
San Diego, CA 92123

     San Jose, California
Mrs. T. L. Aye
385 Chateau
La Salle Drive
San Jose, CA 95111

     Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Frank Mitchell
1708 Grace Church Rd.
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: (301) 589-4157

     Louisville, Kentucky
Mr. John Frazier
800 S. 4th St., Apt. 2201
Louisville, Ky 40203
Phone: (502) 583-1329

     Tucson, Arizona
Greta Lyman
1085 West Schafer Drive
Tucson, AZ 85705
Phone: (602) 887-8367

     Kindly call at least two weeks in advance if possible.

SELECTIONS FROM DR. JOHN CHADWICK'S NEW TRANSLATION OF TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 1988

SELECTIONS FROM DR. JOHN CHADWICK'S NEW TRANSLATION OF TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION Editor 1988

281. The Lord has permitted me to be simultaneously in the spiritual and the natural worlds, so that I have been able to talk with angels just as I do with men, and thus to discover the states of those who after death arrive in that hitherto unknown world. For I have talked with all my relations and friends, as well as with kings and dukes, not to mention scholars, who have met their fates; I have been doing this now constantly for twenty-seven years. I can therefore describe from direct experience the nature of the states people undergo after death, both those who have lived good as well as those who have lived wicked lives.

387. I saw a garden on the right containing olives, figs, laurels and palm trees, planted in order in accordance with their correspondences. As I looked in that direction I saw angels and spirits walking among the trees in conversation. One of the angelic spirits then looked back and saw me. (Angelic spirits is what those in the world of spirits are called who are being prepared for heaven.) He came out of the garden to me and said: 'Would you like to come with me into our park? You will hear and see wonders.'
So I went with him, and then he said to me: 'These whom you see' (for there were many of them) 'are all in possession of the love of truth, and thus in the light of wisdom. There is also here a palace, which we call the Temple of Wisdom; but no one can see it who thinks himself very wise, much less one who thinks he is wise enough, even less one who thinks he is wise on his own account. The reason is that these people do not have a love of genuine wisdom to enable them to receive the light of heaven. Genuine wisdom is when a person sees by the light of heaven that what his knowledge, intelligence and wisdom embrace compared with what they do not are as a drop of water is to the ocean, consequently virtually nothing. Everyone in this parkland garden, who by perception and sight acknowledges within himself that his wisdom is comparatively so small, can see the Temple of Wisdom. For it is the internal light in a person's mind, not the external light without the internal, which allows him to see it.'
Now because I had often thought this, and knowledge, then perception and finally internal light led me to acknowledge that man's wisdom is so scanty, I was suddenly allowed to see the temple. Its form was remarkable. It stood up high above the ground, four-square, with walls of crystal, a roof of translucent jasper elegantly arched, the substructure of various precious stones.

There were steps leading up to it of polished alabaster, and at the sides of the steps figures of lions with cubs. Then I asked whether I might go inside, and I was told I might. So I went up, and when I got inside I saw what looked like cherubs flying beneath the roof, but they quickly vanished. The floor on which I was walking was made of cedar planks, and the whole temple with its translucent roof and walls was built as a form for light to play upon.

850. I saw some people coming up from the underworld, from where this discussion had taken place. They addressed me in a serious tone of voice and said: 'Why did your Lord reveal to you, who are a layman, the long list of secrets you have quoted, and not to one of the clergy?' I answered to this that this was the Lord's good pleasure, and that He had prepared me for this task from early manhood. 'However, let me ask you a question in return: why did the Lord, when He was in the world, choose fishermen as His disciples and not some of the lawyers, scribes, priests or rabbis? Discuss this question among yourselves, and if you come to a judicious conclusion, you will discover the reason.' When they heard this there was some murmuring, and afterwards silence.

851. I foresee that many readers of the accounts of experiences which come at the end of the chapters will think that they are fictions of the imagination. But I declare in truth that they are no fictions, but things I have truly seen and heard; and not things seen and heard in some state of mental somnolence, but in full wakefulness. For it has pleased the Lord to show Himself to me, and to send me to teach the doctrines of His new church, which is meant by the New Jerusalem in Revelation. For this purpose He opened the interiors of my mind or spirit, thus allowing me to be with angels in the spiritual world and at the same time with people in the natural world; and this has continued now for twenty-seven years.
Would anyone in the Christian world have known anything about heaven and hell if it had not been the Lord's pleasure to open the sight of someone's spirit, and show and teach him?
It is quite plain that things of the kind described in the accounts of experiences are to be seen in the heavens from the similar things seen and described by John in Revelation, as well as those seen and described by the prophets in the Old Testament Word.
NORTHEAST DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1988

NORTHEAST DISTRICT ASSEMBLY Editor 1988

The Boston Circle will be hosting a district assembly April 29th through May 1st, 1988. The Rt. Rev. Louis B. King will preside.
For further information contact Rev. Grant Odhner, 53 School Street Ext., Natick, MA 01760 (phone 616-651-1558).

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1988

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES Editor 1988

     Announcements

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     THE RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 19009, U. S. A.

     Information on public worship and doctrinal classes provided either regularly or occasionally may be obtained at the locations listed below. For details use the local phone number of the contact person mentioned or communicate with the Secretary of the General Church, Rev. L. R. Soneson, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, Phone (215) 947-4660.

     (U. S. A. addresses next month)

     AUSTRALIA

     CANBERRA
Mr. and Mrs. Barrie Ridgway, 68 Hilder St., Weston, Canberra, A. C. T. 2611. Phone: (062) 881-777.

     SYDNEY, N.S.W.
Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom, 22 Dudley Street, Penshurst, N.S.W. 2222. Phone: 57-1589.

     BRAZIL

     RIO DE JANEIRO
Rev. Cristovao Rabelo Nobre, Rua Lina Teixeira, 109, ap. 101, Rocha, CEP 20.970., Rio de Janeiro. Phone: (021) 201-8455.

     CANADA

     Alberta:

     CALGARY
Mr. Thomas R. Fountain, 1115 Southglen Drive S. W., Calgary 13, Alberta T2W 0X2. Phone: 403-255-7283.

     EDMONTON
Mr. Daniel L. Horigan, 10524 82nd St., Edmonton, Alberta T6A 3M8. Phone: 403-469-0078.

     British Columbia:

     DAWSON CREEK
Rev. Glenn G. Alden, Dawson Creek Church, 9013 8th St., Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada V1G 3N3.

     Ontario:

     KITCHENER
Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt, 58 Chapel Hill Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

     OTTAWA
Mr. and Mrs. Donald McMaster, 726 Edison Avenue, Apt. 33, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3P8. Phone: (613) 729-6452.

     TORONTO
Rev. Michael Gladish, 279 Burnhampthorpe Rd., Islington, Ontario M9B 4Z4. Phone: (416) 239-3054.

     Quebec:

     MONTREAL
Mr. Denis de Chazal, 17 Baliantyne Ave. So., Montreal West, Quebec H4X 281. Phone: (514) 489-9861.

     DENMARK

     COPENHAGEN
Mr. Jorgen Hauptmann, Strandvejen 22, Jyllinge, 4000 Roskilde. Phone: 03-389968.

     ENGLAND

     COLCHESTER
Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh, 2 Christchurch Court, Colchester, Essex C03 3AU Phone: 0206-43712

     LETCHWORTH
Mr. and Mrs. R. Evans, 24 Berkeley, Letchworth, Herts. SG6 2HA. Phone: 0462-684751.

     LONDON
Rev. Frederick Elphick, 21B Hayne Rd., Beckenham, Kent BR3 4JA. Phone: 01-658-6320.

     MANCHESTER
Mrs. Neil Rowcliffe, 135 Bury Old Road, Heywood, Lanes. Phone: Heywood 68189.

     FRANCE

     BOURGUINON-MEURSANGES
Rev. Alain Nicolier, 21200 Beaune, France. Phone: (80) 22.47.88.

     HOLLAND

     THE HAGUE
Mr. Ed Verschoor, Olmenlaan 17, 3862 VG Nijkerk

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Rev. Robin Childs, 132 Edmunton Rd., Henderson, Auckland 81, New Zealand.

     NORWAY

     OSLO
Mr. and Mrs. Klaus Bierman, Axel Flindersvei 3, Oslo 11. Phone: 28-3783.

     SCOTLAND

     EDINBURGH
Mr. and Mrs. N. Laidlaw, 35 Swanspring Ave., Edinburgh EH 10-6NA. Phone: 0 31-445- 2377.

     GLASGOW
Mrs. J. Clarkson, Hillview, Balmore, Nr. Torrance, Glasgow. Phone: Balmore 262.

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal:

     DURBAN
Rev. Geoffrey Howard, 30 Perth Rd., Westville, Natal. 3630. Phone: 031-821 136.

     Transvaal:

     TRANSVAAL SOCIETY
Rev. Norman E. Riley, 8 Iris Lane, Irene, 1675 R. S. A., Phone: 012-632679.

Zululand:

     KENT MANOR
Rev. James Cooper, visiting pastor
Mrs. D. G. Liversage, Box 7088, Empangeni Rail, 3910, Natal, South Africa. Phone: 0351-23241.

     Mission in South Africa:
Superintendent-The Rev. Norman E. Riley (Address as above)

     SWEDEN

     Jonkoping
Contact Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, Bruksater, Furusjo, S-566 00, Habo. Phone : 0392-203 95.

     Stockholm
Contact Rev. Daniel Fitzpatrick, Aladdinsvagen 27, S-161 38 Bromma. Phone: (08) 26 79 85.
ACADEMY SUMMER CAMP 1988

ACADEMY SUMMER CAMP Editor 1988

The date for this on-campus summer camp is July 10-16, 1988. The camp is open to boys and girls who will have completed eighth or ninth grades this year. Information and registration forms are available from Camp Director William Fehon, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 (phone 215-947-622).

GOLDEN HEART AND OTHER STORIES 1988

GOLDEN HEART AND OTHER STORIES Editor 1988

THE GOLDEN HEART AND OTHER STORIES
BY
AMENA PENDLETON

     Illustrated by
EUDORA SELLNER

     Published by
Swedenborg Scientific Association
1986

     Reprinted in Paperback     $4.30 Postage 70

     General Church Book Center      Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Box 278                               or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                    Phone: (215) 947-3920

Notes on This Issue 1988

Notes on This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII March, 1988 No. 3
NEW CHURCH LIFE

     Notes on This Issue

     As we hear and read the many passages of the Gospels surrounding the Lord's final temptations we regard them from the perspective of the Lord's love toward the human race. This is to regard them as if from the summit of a certain mountain (p. 118). As the sermon on earthquakes puts it, those events that occurred so near the slopes of Olivet "went much further than the narrow streets of Jerusalem."
     In this issue we have a presentation concerning Judas Iscariot, and in this we have the benefit of a thorough study which uses an Old Testament parallel and its internal sense to throw light on the enigma of Judas.
     We are particularly grateful to have in this issue the personal story of the birth and death of Amanda, as we are sure that this will strike a responsive chord and provide valuable insights. "Our hope and our prayer in publishing this article is that others may see what good the Heavenly Doctrine is, and that they may strengthen their resolve to make its truths part of the fabric of their lives" (p. 109).
     Of the twenty-nine baptisms reported in this issue, eleven are adult baptisms.
     The January issue of Emerging Trends (published by the Princeton Religion Research Center) reports that in the United States 4 in 10 adults attended church in a typical week of 1987. "Churchgoing has remained remarkably constant since 1969. . . . Nationally, 52% of Catholics and 38% of Protestants attended." These results came from "300 scientifically selected localities across the nation." A total of 5,447 adults were interviewed. In our editorial on p. 118 we refer to a less representative sample but a group exceeding eighty thousand people. The Emerging Trends study indicates that 53% of Americans consider religion to be "very important in their lives."
     We are glad to have news from Miami and Los Angeles, as the news section of this magazine needs more input. Correspondents from church centers, please note.
SWEDENBORG SYMPOSIUM '88 1988

SWEDENBORG SYMPOSIUM '88 Editor 1988

More than 400 people attended the symposium, put on by the Academy in February to commemorate Swedenborg's 300th birthday.

EARTHQUAKES 1988

EARTHQUAKES Rev. FRANK S. ROSE 1988

     "And behold there was a great earthquake for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it" (Matt. 28:2).

     Of all the forces of nature, none are more feared than earthquakes. Wind and storm may do great damage, but when the earth itself heaves, mountains disappear, valleys are lifted up, rivers change their courses, and the proudest works of men are brought to dust. Earthquakes have a profound effect on people's feelings, sometimes creating deep psychological problems. People build their homes and cities on the assumption that the land masses of the earth do not change. When the earth moves, the hearts of men and women also move. They are frightened and feel totally helpless.
     Earthquakes are mentioned in the Word to describe drastic changes in the spiritual world and in the church on earth. Those that occurred during the crucifixion and on Easter morning indicated that the state of the church had changed. By His last temptation in Gethsemane and on the cross the Lord conquered the hells and put in order all things there and in the heavens, and also glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine.
     Earthquakes happen in the natural world when pressures that may have been building up for centuries reach a critical point, and some adjustment in the earth's crust is demanded. The earth just prior to the quake is not nearly as stable as it appears to be on the surface.
     So it is with the church. After years of turmoil in its early formation, the Jewish Church eventually settled into a fairly stable life: its status enhanced by an ancient and respected priesthood; its worship according to practices laid down centuries before, held in a temple of impressive design and magnificent proportions; its interpretation of Scripture settled into accepted grooves of thought; and its life heavy with tradition. The Jews must have felt that this was what was expected of them, and that their Messiah would come to reward them for their faithfulness, to save them from their enemies, and return to them the magnificence known in the days of David and Solomon.
     And then Jesus Christ was born in humble surroundings, raised in an insignificant village, and began His public ministry in Galilee, not in Jerusalem. The ordinary people delighted to hear Him, but did not appreciate how much His doctrines conflicted with the traditions of their own leaders.

They may have noticed that He paid no allegiance to the temple hierarchy, and was often attacked in debate by the legalistic Pharisees who ever suspected Him of dishonoring their traditions and breaking the law of Moses, but few realized that this conflict was absolutely fundamental, and would lead to the ultimate test of strength.
     When the Lord warned the disciples that He would be crucified, they scarcely heard Him because this did not seem to them to be a logical consequence of the attitude of the chief priests and Pharisees toward Him. Perhaps the Lord's followers looked upon His doctrines as enriching and perfecting the traditions of the past. They were inclined to respect and fear the power of the church, and thought the burning of incense and the ritual slaughtering of animals were necessary for the salvation of men.
     When it became obvious to the disciples that leaders of the church in Jerusalem sought the Lord's life, they thought it would be a simple matter for the Lord to continue His ministry in Galilee indefinitely, thus avoiding any crisis. But the Lord was intent on going to Jerusalem, and they followed with heavy hearts. It was easy to believe in Galilee. Every word spoken by the Lord had revealed more of His infinite wisdom, and they were increasingly delighted and amazed. Every deed showed forth His love, and their hearts were moved with wonder. Some had even confessed Him to be the Son of God, scarcely realizing the immensity of the truth they had uttered. But how would the Lord's teachings stand up against the most brilliant and learned minds in Jerusalem? And what power could He have to match that of the Sanhedrin, or of Rome?
     The triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday gave the disciples new courage, but this was soon dispelled by the events in Gethsemane. Everything seemed to be going wrong. The Lord did not fight, did not answer false witness, did not do miracles to confound His enemies, but went as a lamb to slaughter. "And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).
     In the end the conflict which they so much feared seemed completely one-sided, as if the Lord were quite helpless before them. But as is so often the case, an apparently easy victory conceals total defeat, for the issue went much farther than the narrow streets of Jerusalem. And even there, impartial observers must have been shocked at the disorderly methods used by the leaders of the church in their haste to destroy the Lord. All of the events of that night showed how they violated their own legal methods, rejected all pretense of fairness, because of the sole intent of destroying Him whose doctrines, at least in the eyes of the disciples, posed no threat. It was written they "hated Him without a cause.

     The effect of all this was to destroy any allegiance the disciples might have had for the church of their birth. It could no longer claim their affections. Its rulers were discredited, its traditions overthrown. Through the crucifixion, and all that it implied, the people could see that the Lord's teachings were different. Their idea of the meaning of the law was completely altered as they began to see how all things in Moses and the Prophets were written concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Their idea of the church and its use became something quite fresh and new. But most importantly their idea of God had gone through a complete upheaval. They now saw Him not as someone remote and terrible, a God to be feared, but as a Divine Person, compassionate, near, a God to be loved, the Divine love itself in human form.
     When the Lord was on the cross, an earthquake shook the Jewish Church to its very foundations, and with it its temple, so that the veil that kept the holy of holies in darkness was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Through His final combat, the Lord brought the hells under subjection, purified His Human of the last traces of hereditary evil from the mother, and so brought about a change in the state of the church. The deepest hells had inspired the leaders of the church to rise up against the Lord to destroy Him. But they could only destroy the temple of His body. The death of that body could not possibly mean the death of the Divine life within it. He rose to glory with a Divine body.
     On Easter morning, when the women went to the sepulcher expecting to anoint a corpse, there was another earthquake. The angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it, to represent the fact that now all falsities were removed, all doctrines that came between God and man were put aside. First they saw the empty tomb as the unexpected token of victory. The earthquake testified to a basic change in the religious life of the human race. Later they saw the Lord in His glorified Human-they saw God and lived! Now they could not die. The very foundations of their former belief had been overturned, but now a surer foundation was laid in the sight of the living God.
     The early days of the Christian Church were therefore full of promise. Their conviction of the Lord's presence with them led to a spirit of internal charity and mutual love. They became as brothers and sisters to each other in the discovery of the near presence of their heavenly Father. They came to understand prayer as a speech of the heart and spirit, not just of the lips. They came to see the Word not merely as some ancient record of the past, but as everywhere speaking of their Lord and God. They experienced a quality of religious life that had been unknown since the demise of the Ancient Church.

     Unhappily this state was relatively short-lived, and as Christianity became more organized and powerful, new hierarchies were built up, and new traditions adopted. The crust of the earth formed again but with the same basic instability of the former church because certain leaders put themselves between the Lord and His people. Pressures began to build up that would produce a more violent earthquake than any known before-the earthquake that shook the spiritual world at the time of the Last Judgment in the year 1757.
     This judgment shook the Christian Church on earth as well, allowing people new freedom, and offering them the hope of a rational vision of the Lord Jesus Christ so that the true quality of Christianity could be restored.
     These cosmic judgments, at the time of the crucifixion and in 1757, with their powerful earthquakes, have their counterpart in the regeneration of individual men and women who progress in stability and confidence in their religious upbringing, thinking all the while that they are on a direct if not easy path to heaven. But they do not reach that goal until temptations shake them up and cause deep reexamination of their life.
     It is when people are in times of spiritual struggle and despair of being saved that the Lord can make certain basic changes in their affections, moving the mountains of self-love, raising the valleys of humility, altering the river beds of thought, and giving them an unexpected and profoundly moving conviction of the Lord's reality and His presence with them. These struggles, like that of the Lord on the cross, might seem at the time to be a defeat, dragging the spirit down and causing it to doubt even the most sacred truths. In the spiritual conflict the Lord seems to be silent, removed, even helpless. But the agony involved serves to break the dominion of a person's self-love, and so make way for the Lord to rule him.

     The Lord then comes more nearly present, and this presence brings a heavenly warmth, as of springtime after the bitterness of winter, making things open from their interiors and burst forth in the gladness of life restored and strengthened. This is the promise of Easter, a promise that is so much in keeping with the season in which it occurs that we naturally identify Easter with spring. We see spring as a recurring testimony to the power that brought life from an empty tomb, and brings meaning and warmth where selfishness had been. The Lord is risen indeed, and the earth has moved from its very foundations. Amen.

     LESSONS: Joel 2:1-11; Matt. 28:1-10; True Christian Religion 109

JUDAS ISCARIOT 1988

JUDAS ISCARIOT Rev. ERIK E. SANDSTORM 1988

     A Summary of a Paper to the Council of the Clergy

Judah and Judas

     My interest in Judas. Iscariot started with the discovery of AC 4751, where it is stated: "By Judas also, in that he sold the Lord, the like is represented as here by Judah, who said, 'Come let us sell Joseph.'"
     This immediately set me on the track of seeing the Old and New Testaments as parallel: thus to apply the internal sense of Joseph's sale also to the Lord's betrayal by Judas.
     As expected, the internal sense tells quite a different story! Judas, on the one hand, represents the perverted Jewish Church (see AC 4751, 4760:4, 9320:9, AE 740:9), and more specifically, mere scientific learning, faith separate from charity, resulting in "thoughts which are in contradiction and opposition to itself" (AC 4766:4, cf. 4760:4, DP 114). Judas also represents avarice (AC 4751).
     On the other hand, Judah's saying, "Come let us sell Joseph" involves the representation of simple good states being preserved and rescued from the depraved quality of the church (see AC 4746-4754). This rescue involves the instauration of the Christian Church, since the tunic dipped in blood brought as evidence of Joseph's death means "a comparison with the good and truth of the Ancient and the Primitive Churches" (AC 4772). "When the external of the Ancient and Jewish Churches are unfolded or unwrapped, the Christian Church is disclosed. This is meant by the veil of the temple being rent asunder" (Ibid.).
     With this connection between Joseph's sale and the Lord's betrayal in mind, we can see a fascinating clue as to why Judas betrayed the Lord, and how this works into the Lord's Providence regarding His own glorification while He was on earth. For example: "The Lord said [This is your hour and the power of darkness (Luke 22:531] to the chief priests, the captains of the temple and the elders, who seized Him by the aid of Judas" (AE 526:12). "For a multitude went out with Judas Iscariot against Jesus with swords and staves. . . by the command of the chief priests" (AE 1145:9). The power of darkness here means the falsity of evil (see AE 526:12).

The Lord Governed Himself

     We may be on the right track to think of Judas only in the role of an agent provocateur. The Lord permits evils only for the sake of the greater good.

He permitted His crucifixion for the sake of His glorification. We can see this thought supported by many teachings, both from Scripture and doctrine: "I lay down My life that I might take it again. No man takes it from Me, for I lay it down Myself. I have power to lay it down. . . and to take it again. This commandment I have received of My Father" (John 10:17, 18). This means that the "Lord fought from His own freedom, and finally laid down His soul that He might do all things from His own power" (AE 900:3).
     The same teaching is given in several instances: "The Divine Essence introduced the Human Essence in order that it might overcome from its own power" (AC 1661). "The Divine led the Human into most grievous temptations"; the Lord "admitted temptations into Himself in order to expel the mere human until nothing but the Divine remained" (AC 2816).
     In one sense the Lord was led by the Divine Itself; but still, He admitted that leading into Himself from His own power and control. The Lord governed His own states. And so: "With the Lord Himself, when He lived -in the world, these things were directed by Himself [i.e., putting on various states]" (AC 2796). "He introduced Himself [into a supereminence of wisdom and intelligence] by His own power" (AC 2500:3).
     He could govern Himself and His glorification because He could reveal to Himself. He had revelations from Himself, and revealed and answered to Himself, and spoke: with Jehovah, His soul (see AC 1999, 2519, 1791). It was thus made known to Him how to save the human race (see AC 2171).
     This inmost view of Himself from the Divine is meant by Joseph interpreting dreams! (AC 5121). Joseph's sale to Egypt and the Lord's betrayal by Judas are thus two strands of the same internal tale, here focusing on the Lord's inmost Providence of His own glorification.
     For that inmost view, the Lord saw everything in the whole spiritual world, including the world of spirits and the earth (see AC 1806, 1807, 1786, 1919). "He perceived all things that were taking place, and saw very clearly the quality and source of all that took place in connection with Himself' (AC 1701).
     Perhaps we can now see how Judas was an agent of Divine Providence-in acting on the Lord's instruction; and of Divine permission-in following the command of the chief priests, etc. And yet Judas also acted according to his function as representative of the Jewish Church and of the celestial heaven, and of his own personal character. For Judah represents the celestial heaven, the scepter of Judah. And Judas' individual character was such that he was like the thing he represented (cf. SD 1217).

     We have further insights in how the Lord governed His own glorification: 'The Lord from His Divine could induce upon Himself whatever states He pleased" (AC 2786). "He summoned societies of angels and spirits to Himself such as might be of service, and changed them at His good pleasure" (AC 4075).
     When about to undergo temptations, "He adjoined to Himself the prior human. . . and afterwards separated Himself from these [the rational and natural of it], nevertheless retaining something by means of which He could be tempted" again (AC 2795).
     It seems that the Lord was in systematic control over His own temptations.

The Butler and Baker

     By pursuing the parallel of Judah and Judas, we find the soul-satisfying depth of doctrine contained in the story of Joseph's interpretation of the butler's and baker's dreams. We already saw that this means the Lord's inmost and Divine view into Himself (AC 5121). This is where we have described the states which the Lord actually saw in Himself; specifically, what was to be glorified, and what was to be separated and rejected, or expelled, or dissipated.
     We may regard AC 6872 as a key number here: "With the Lord, the prior maternal forms were completely destroyed and extirpated, and Divine forms were received in their place" (op. cit.-emphasis added).
     I use this number to propose what in my mind is the most satisfying explanation of what happened to the body in the tomb: i.e., the glorification of what with man rots in the grave. (I dare say it is a "derived doctrine.")
     Judah, as we know, represents the celestial heavens, and Judas represents the Jewish Church (the Church of Judah). Both of these representations were "in" the Lord. The Lord was of the tribe of Judah, from which the sceptre should not depart until Shiloh come-i.e., the Lord Himselfas the Prince of Peace. He was also a pure Jew, like Judas. Since the Divine Celestial was Jehovah in the Lord, constituting His soul, this soul had to have its recipient forms-erstwhile recipient, but later actual sources of life-in the glorified body. The Divine soul, according to AC 6872, replaced the maternal forms with Divine counterparts, even as these were dissipated, or extirpated (the strongest term I know of in the Writings) through temptations.
     The butler represents these Divine "counterparts"; the baker represents the maternal forms that were extirpated. The butler represents, specifically, the "external sensual of the body subject to the intellectual part of the internal man," while the baker represents the "external sensual subject to the will part of the internal man."

Both of these sensuous levels have continuous derivations down to the ultimates of the body" (AC 5114:2, 3).
     By the connection of Judas' betrayal with Judah's sale of Joseph into Egypt the story of the butler and baker provides us with a subtle distinction, seen by the Lord in Himself, between which sensuous to glorify and which to allow to be extirpated. The butler was raised to serve Pharaoh, or the Divine Natural in general. Thus the Lord's body was raised as Divinely Human, as we read on the butler: "The Lord made the very bodily in Himself Divine, both its sensuous things and their recipient organs (recipientibus); and He therefore rose again from the sepulcher with His body" (AC 5078). If we see the baker as the prior maternal form that was extirpated, and the butler as the sensuous which was glorified, by Divine counterparts taking their place, we have a fairly simple framework in which to develop further thought on the subject.

The Human Divine: Celestial Sovereignty

     Before we return to what happened in the sepulchre, I wish to take up what is involved with the sceptre of Judah. It was Judah who proposed that Joseph be sold to Egypt.
     The Lord, when He was born, "put on just that which was with the angels of the celestial kingdom" (AC 6371). This angelic degree, which was the Divine Human from eternity passing through the heavens, is called the "Human Divine." Of this we read: "This Human Divine ceased when the Lord Himself made the Human in Himself Divine"
     In order to discover when exactly the Human Divine ceased, together with the maternal forms being extirpated, we presume to be replaced by the Divine Human, we start with this: "The Lord in His essence is nothing else than Divine Good, both as to the Divine Itself and the Divine Human. . . . Only for the sake of man's apprehension is the Lord's Divine distinguished into Divine Good and Divine Truth, called. . . Father and Son in the Word"(AC 3704). "The Lord is nothing but Divine Good, for Divine Truth proceeds from Divine Good" (AC 3969:16).
     We see that the Lord is only Divine Good. Divine Truth is an accommodation to human states. When the celestial kingdom receives this proceeding, i.e., Divine Good proceeding and thus becoming Divine Truth from the Divine Good (AC 3704), then: ". . .before the advent, intranquility resulted because of the impurity of the angels" (AC 6373). In consequence of this impurity and impotence of the angels, infernals raised themselves out of hell and began to "rule over the souls arriving from the world" (Ibid.).

     This celestial sovereignty, which became powerless against hell, is what the Lord put on. "He put on just that which was with the angels of the celestial kingdom" (AC 6371). Previously the "Divine transflux through that heaven had been the Human Divine. . .but this Human Divine ceased when the Lord Himself made the Human in Himself Divine" (Ibid.). This celestial sovereignty was the Lord's by birth. Celestial Divine things were adjoined to His internal man "from birth" (AC 1707). The purpose was: "in order that He might make Divine His Human according to order, from the lowest degree to the highest. For the spiritual celestial is intermediate between the natural man and the rational or internal man" (AC 4594). Thus the Lord alone was born "a spiritual celestial man" (AC 4592:3).

Two Divine Unions

     What physical effects did this mental order have on the Lord from birth? We may understand what happened to the Lord's body in the tomb by seeing how the Lord was born to begin with.
     We read: In the Lord alone "there was a correspondence of all things of the body with the Divine, a most perfect correspondence, infinitely perfect, giving rise (inde) to a union of the corporeal things with the Divine celestial things, and of the sensuous things with the Divine spiritual; thus He was perfect Man, the Only Man" (AC 1414). It is not clear whether this number refers to the Lord after glorification or from birth. AC 1428 (fourteen numbers later) says this union came "afterwards."
     But in any case, we note that the corporeal, which is the physical body, was in the Lord conjoined with the Divine Celestial, which is the highest, or Jehovah; and the sensuous, which is above and within the corporeal, was conjoined with the Divine Spiritual, which is "below" or "proceeds from" the celestial. The two conjunctions are thus inversely related: the highest-with-the lowest union (celestial-corporeal) brackets or outflanks the higher-with-lower union (spiritual-sensuous):

     Divine Celestial          )
     Divine Spiritual     )     )      Two unions of Divine and
     Sensuous               )     )          Human, AC 1414
     Corporeal                    )

     Now the whole life of the Lord was "a continual progression of the Human to the Divine, even to absolute union" (AC 2523:2).

100

Thus, although He was born as any other child, educated as other men, etc. (Ibid. TCR 89), because of His soul being Jehovah He was in His inward connections totally different (cf. AC 2523e). Because of this unique connection, the progression led in the end to this: "Just as Jehovah is Life, His Human Essence was also made Life; and between Life and Life there is a union" (AC 2021).

First Truth, Then Good

     In order to attain this union between Life and Life, the Lord "advanced according to Divine order." He made "His Human, when He was in the world, Divine Truth; but afterwards, when He was fully glorified, He made it Divine Good, thus one with Jehovah" (AC 6716).
     When did He make His Human Divine Truth, and when Divine Good? "When He departed out of the world, He made His Human Divine Good, from which the Divine Truth now proceeds"(AC 9670:4). "That the veil of the temple was rent in twain" (Joseph's tunic dipped in blood, the Christian Church "rescued" from the Ancient and Jewish) "when the Lord suffered the cross means His glorification; for when the Lord was in the world, He made His Human Divine Truth; but when He departed the world, He made His Human Divine Good" (Ibid.; cf. AC 2721:6, 3194, 3210, 4577, 6864, 7014, 7495, 8724, 9199, 10076).
     The point is thus made: the Lord was first glorified as to Divine Truth, and secondly as to Divine Good.
     When did the Lord "depart out of the world? On the cross? Not unless the soldier who speared His side had a spiritual spear! True, the veil being rent means the Human made Divine "to the full," and the Christian Church emerging out of the Jewish Church (AC 4772). But the glorification as to Divine Good did not take place on the cross, since "the full union was accomplished after the last temptation, which was that of the cross" (AC 2921-my emphasis).
     It is therefore likely that the Human Divine ceased on the cross; that I is, the transflux of Divine Truth from Divine Good, which was just what the Lord had taken from the celestial heaven, came to an end on the cross. The Lord was glorified fully as to truth on the cross; but fully as to Divine good only when He departed out of the world-at His ascension.
     If we now return to AC 1414: the Divine Celestial is the Lord as to Divine Good conjoined with the corporeal, and the Divine Spiritual is the Divine Truth conjoined with the sensuous. Divine Truth was fully glorified before Divine Good, thus the sensuous was glorified before the corporeal. The corporeal could not have been fully glorified on the cross since there was a physical body to bury, with nail marks, spear wounds, etc.

101

Therefore the corporeal could only begin to be glorified in the tomb.
     This is where the Lord fulfilled His earlier Divine vision of the two levels of the sensuous, with their derivations down into the ultimate of the body. The "butler" had to be raised, the "baker" extirpated. The Lord "made the very bodily [corporeal] things in Himself Divine, both its sensuous things and their recipient organs" (AC 5078, on the butler and baker). How did He do this? By "receiving Divine forms in the place of the maternal forms which were completely destroyed or extirpated" (AC 6872-my emphasis).
     Since this was the glorification as to Divine Good, it took place at the Lord's departure out of the world, completed at last by the ascension. There could therefore be a distinction between the Lord's post-resurrection body-the Divine Human seen while He was still present in this world-and the Human that passed above the heavens. One passage clarifies this: "When He glorified Himself, He passed above [His truth and good from the Divine Human] and became Divine Good Itself. . . even as to the Human" (AC 5307:2). And since "the Lord glorified His body while He was in the world" (AC 5078), this glorification clearly must have been completed before His ascension and departure out of the world. Perhaps this accounts for the Lord's words, "Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father" (John 20:17). This means the "human from the mother being fully rejected" (AE 899:14).
     The Divine Human that Thomas saw may thus not be the one now seen in heaven.

The Resurrection Body

     What happened to the "dissipated" body?
     Whatever was dissipated is involved in the "baker," i.e., the sensuous things of the Lord's body subject to the maternal will part of the internal man, and the derivations of this down into the body itself. This representation of the baker follows the fact that a baker refers to food or what is eaten, such as bread and food in general" (AC 5078). Since eating is mentioned in connection with the Lord's glorification, and since we know that the Lord "had food to eat that you do not know of (John 4:32), we can surmise that the dissipation of the maternal human took place by a process similar to metabolism. Worn-out cells are discarded and eliminated, and new cells either built or their contents renewed by new particles supplied by the blood from food ingested. That would at least account for Divine forms replacing maternal forms.
     And the maternal forms that were eliminated could have been released as energy without breaking scientific laws.

102

Atoms consist of energy in a highly compact order. The Lord has made matter by removing all that is Divine from His proceeding through the spiritual sun (see DLW 305). The Lord, as the Creator, could easily release this matter from its compact order. But whatever happened, it certainly had a tremendous effect, for there was an earthquake and the keepers shook and became as dead men (Matt. 28).
     The Divine forms received in the place of the maternal forms can also find an analogy in the formation of a fossil. That which putrefies is slowly replaced with solvents, which harden into a complete replica of the original organism, while every trace of the organism itself is dispersed.

God As Before

     With the Lord's return above the heavens, He as it were had to "retrace" the steps whereby He made His advent. He had taken on just that which was with the celestial angels." But when He glorified Himself as to Divine Good, "He passed above [the truth of good from the Divine Human] and became the Divine Good Itself, or Jehovah in the Human" (AC 5307:2). Therefore, the Lord "cannot be thought of as human, but as Divine Love in Human form, and this so much the more than the angels" (AC 4735:2). The perfect union was achieved: "The Lord is perfect Man, the Only Man" (AC 1414).
     We can thus return to the point: The Lord in His essence is nothing else than Divine Good (AC 3704). The Lord, after the advent, glorification and ascension, thus became the same as before: "The Divine Itself passed through the heavens; this was the Divine Human before the advent. The Lord's Human when made Divine is the same, for the Lord is Jehovah Himself in the Divine Human" (AC 6831). He became the "same infinite coming forth. . . and Being. . . as had been before" (AC 4687:2).

Summary

     The whole process of glorification is seen to include the role of Judas: The Lord as to Truth Divine took on celestial sovereignty, and by conception, took on human heredity. The Lord overcame the human heredity by means of, or from, the celestial sovereignty. This was Truth Divine in the Human Divine, or the Son of man which ceased on the cross, when the Lord was fully glorified as to Divine Truth and the sensuous.

103

     The Lord then overcame the angels whose sovereignty He had taken, and He was fully glorified as to Divine Good and the corporeal. He then returned above the heavens and above the truth from good of the Divine Human He had on earth. He is now the Divine Love Itself in Human form. The Human Essence was something added to the Divine Essence from eternity (see AC 1461). The Divine Truth which now proceeds from the Divine Good is an "essence by itself which fills the universal heaven" (AC 3061).
     This entire sequence takes us from the first advent prophecy in Genesis, sustained by Judah's scepter, up to Judas' kiss: from the loss of the celestial, through the sovereignty of the celestial, to the conquest of the celestial, and the return above the celestial.

Conclusion

     Although Judas represents the church as it was with the Jews (AE 433:32), by the parallel of Judah's selling Joseph there is something celestial also represented by him. The celestial is conjoined with the corporeal, the highest with the lowest. This seems typical of Judas. He obeyed the Lord's words: "What you do, do quickly."
     Was Judas motivated by his love for the Lord? Or was there also a feeling that the Lord was not living up to his (Judas') and the rest of the disciples' expectations of a worldly kingdom?
     When Joseph had been sold, and Reuben returned to find the pit empty, he exclaimed, "And I, where am I come?" This means, "Where is now the church?" It means seeing the depravity of the church. We may surmise that Judas himself ended up by seeing the depravity of the church. If Judas himself betrayed the Lord for the sake of the Lord's kingdom, under the false impression that it was to be of this world, then Judas himself was betrayed by the Jewish Church, for which he acted in part (AE 1145:9, John 18:3). When Judas' betrayal was betrayed by the Jewish Church arresting the Lord instead of crowning Him, Judas hanged himself. His representation came to an end: out of the depraved Jewish Church came forth the Christian; and the celestial sovereignty was re-transferred to the spiritual world, where the Last Judgment was performed, perhaps with Judas himself being a witness of it. Evil, when judged, destroys itself.
     The church is sometimes in a state which "turns quickly aside" (AC 4672). This quick turning aside is meant by casting Joseph into a pit. Judas turned quickly aside. The church in him was weak, and he could thus be used by the chief priests, who were the real culprits (see AE 526:12).

104

     When therefore the Lord told Judas, "What you do, do quickly" it could mean:

     That the Lord governed His own states of glorification.
     The celestial angels were eager for the Last Judgment to be performed.
     Judas wanted to see the Lord crowned as an earthly King.
     The Jewish Church, being depraved, sought the Lord's destruction.
     The Christian Church had to come out of the Jewish Church.
     Judas loved money and had quickly turned aside.
     Judas was of such a character that he could represent the Jewish Church, etc.
     Or, finally, the Lord had to be glorified as to Divine Good, and the celestial angels conquered, and the body made to become Life.
AMANDA DANIELLE-A PERSONAL ACCOUNT 1988

AMANDA DANIELLE-A PERSONAL ACCOUNT Rev. KENNETH J. ALDEN 1988

     Witnessing to the Good and Truth of the Heavenly Doctrine in the Face of Birth Defects and Death

     "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud. . . so shall My Word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please. . ." (Isaiah 55:10-11).

     The midwife and the birth assistant returned to my wife Kim and me after their second hushed conference. The midwife gently asked, "Do you notice anything different about your daughter?"
     I had not.
     "Does she seem like your other children?"
     I wondered what she was getting at.
     "I think she may have Down's Syndrome."
     How could we feel anything but shock? We had waited nine months for this birth. We had secretly hoped for a daughter to be a playmate with our only other girl. We now had a girl, but how much of a playmate would she be? How drastically our lives might be changed!
     Within hours, the midwife's diagnosis was confirmed by our pediatrician. Within days it was discovered that Amanda had serious heart defects and an esophagus which needed to be surgically connected to her stomach.

105

The doctors held out hope that she would survive immediate surgery and grow strong enough to have major heart surgery a year later. By the time Amanda was a week old she had already undergone several major surgeries. We spent as much time by Amanda's bed as was practical, giving the love that is so necessary for a speedy recovery. We brought the other three children to the hospital each visiting day so that we could be a family together. It wasn't until three weeks of commuting to the hospital had gone by that we had Amanda back home again. During those weeks we read many pages on Down's Syndrome. We learned of the tragic responses that so many parents have to the birth of a child with Amanda's condition. We were extremely grateful that the Heavenly Doctrine had given us the ability to feel the Lord's blessing throughout our whole experience.
From the moment we were first told of Amanda's condition, the Lord stirred good affections and memories from the past. Among Kim's and my first conversations when we were just getting acquainted were the experiences we had had working with handicapped children. I have always treasured the feelings I had while working with the retarded: that these are people with far greater potential than most realize. What they need is patient guidance and training, respect and love. I had even wondered if some day Kim and I would adopt such a child. When Amanda entered our home, it was easy to see that the Lord had prepared us for this event.
It was all too plain that Down's Syndrome was not from the Lord, nor were the deformities Amanda suffered. It became equally clear that the purposes to which we had looked when Amanda was conceived were not thwarted in the least by her Down's Syndrome: we had wanted to have a family in order to share in the Lord's creation of new human beings who could become angels some day; this end was not lost; we had looked forward to being useful parents who could love, nurture, teach and guide children in the Lord's path; this purpose had not failed; we had hoped to have a family of children who could learn to exercise charity toward one another and contribute to each other's welfare; the Lord had kept this intact. There was not one essential purpose for this birth that had perished in what so many people might have called a tragedy. In looking back we can see that knowing that the Lord gives good alone, and permits evil only that good may come of it, made possible the choice of looking for that good and embracing it. The feelings that grew in us because of the powerful truths of the Heavenly Doctrine are best expressed in the words of Joshua: ". . . You know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you.

106

All have come to pass for you, and not one word of them has failed" (Joshua 23:14). Our greatest hope was that others would be able to join with us in rejoicing that a human being was born into the world.
     During the weeks following that first knowledge that Amanda had Down's Syndrome there were countless opportunities for thanks to the Lord. We were touched by the love and care of the people at Children's Hospital. We were moved by all the phone calls and letters from all over the church, and by the support and help offered by people in our own society in Washington. We were showered with wonderful thoughts from the spiritual world and about the spiritual world. The "tragedy" only served as counterpoint to the good to be had from the Lord for the taking.

Worthy of love

     At Amanda's baptism, which took place after she returned from the hospital, there was probably as much water shed upon the cheeks of those who loved her as was placed upon her forehead and breast by the priest. It was a fitting occasion for speaking of the blessing the Lord had given us. Amanda's imperfect body gave us all the more opportunity to be blessed with reflections on what was spiritual about her and of eternal value. Never before had we chosen our children's names primarily for their meaning. One of the goods that came of having a handicapped daughter was that we were drawn to names that would call attention to the Lord's qualities about her.
     The name books said "Amanda" meant such things as "worthy of love," "one who ought to be loved," "one who is going to be loved." We knew this was true of our little daughter, for her spirit was created just as perfect as anyone else's. In many periods in history, such a daughter would not have been seen as lovable. From other doctrinal viewpoints, she may have been viewed as a curse or a punishment, given for our sins. We were grateful that we lived in the time we did, surrounded by people of the New Christian faith, for she was already loved by many people who had heard of her and by all the people who had showed their love through tangible support.
     Amanda's second name, "Danielle," means "God is my Judge." This was a hope that we had for her-that others would not judge her by the features of her Down's Syndrome, but that they would see her through the Lord's eyes-see that spiritually she is our equal. If you put her and ourselves on a continuum from animal life to the Divine life, she would be next to us on the scale. Although she would mature at half speed, and far slower than an animal, she has a human soul and the faculties which enable her to learn of and love God, be conjoined with Him, and become an angel of heaven.

107

If you look at her handicaps and at the handicaps of each one of us, and compare them to the Lord's perfection, she is also right next to ourselves on the scale. If you compare the way in which her body with its extra chromosome slowed down her mental functioning to the way that our handicap-free natural bodies slow down the mental functioning which our spirits will enjoy in the next life, once again, she is much closer to ourselves in ability than we are to the angels-to what she and we hope to become.
     It was our prayer that people would see Amanda through the Lord's eyes, with God as her Judge. We hoped that the Lord would lead us to treat her according to her ability, neither being too hard on her when she was not capable of doing something, nor too indulgent when she was capable of it. We hoped that she, too, would see that God is her Judge, so that she would not fall into patterns of self-pity, but would act according to the best of her freedom, rationality, and ability. At the baptism we expressed our delight that baptism signifies entrance into the church and that Amanda had been baptized into a church that can know and appreciate the spiritual side of a person, and not just view her as to her body.

Called to the Spiritual World

     About three weeks after her baptism, Amanda was suddenly called to the spiritual world by means of pneumonia that developed rapidly because of her heart condition. Physically, there was a sense of relief because of the extra care that she had required. Mentally we were happy that she was no longer held in a body that was scarcely suitable for life in this world. Her spirit had been strong enough to carry on with a poorly functioning body for an amazingly long time. Now it would be free to develop without any handicaps and deformities. Emotionally, on the other hand, we were very sad because we had grown to love her so much through all the care we had given and the hopes we had developed. The empty bassinet and car seat, the clothes and baby gifts to put away, all reminded us of the moments we would miss as she slowly grew and triumphed over aspects of her handicap. In a sense we felt robbed of a special opportunity to nurture and educate, and to communicate to the world the truth about the spiritual kinship we have with mentally handicapped people. At the same time we felt we could have, perhaps should have, loved her more-that we had not felt the delight in Amanda that we had with our other children.
     Once again, the Lord filled our lives by means of the Heavenly Doctrine. The truth is that love goes deeper than what we feel outwardly. Just because we did not sparkle with love for Amanda as we recalled doing with the others did not mean love was not there.

108

Amanda had a body that did not look normal. Surgery and her retarded condition meant that she did not respond and smile the way a normal baby would at her age. It was understandable that our natural emotions would not have been as full under those circumstances. But such feelings were not reasonable cause for guilt. Love, after all, is deepest when we do not seek our own ends, but put others first, guided by the Lord. If that was our motivation, we could be at peace, knowing that the Lord had given a deep love.
     The Heavenly Doctrine brought peace in Amanda's death as it had in her handicapped life. As before, the doctrine encouraged us to look for the good the Lord brings. It opened our eyes to the intimate communication the Lord had stirred between us as a married couple during our two months with Amanda, and now through her death. It opened our awareness to how close our thought had been to the spiritual world through all this time. What a blessing it is to think of the spiritual world and appreciate spiritual qualities on such a regular basis! We marveled at the helpful perceptions that the Lord had given us.
     Think, for example, of how many people had been affected by the life and death of this one tiny girl who was so far from ever communicating to anyone. Think of how her circumstances led so many people to think of heaven and the teachings of the Lord's Word. Think of all the good that had been brought into our lives and those of so many other people by her sojourn among us. If such a tiny person in an imperfect body can serve so many people according to the Lord's ends, what must we who are healthy adults be able to do? What must the bedridden adult, worn out with age, be able to do? How great must be the uses of all of us if hers was so large!
     As another example, we learned how important expressions of love and sympathy are, even to people who feel blessed by the Lord in the midst of their valley of shadow. We learned, too, that life can look much more tragic to someone looking in on a situation than it is for those who are in it. If we had been on the outside, we would have been certain we could never have lived through what we had been through, except that, being on the inside, with the Lord as our Shepherd, there was no evil to fear. When the Lord is taking care of someone, He and the heavens are so close that it is impossible for others to imagine how much He is doing for them, and how much good He is showering upon them. We learned at the same time that there is no need or purpose in fearing some chance tragedy in the future. The Lord is as close as our willingness to accept His love, guidance and support.

109

If the Heavenly Doctrine is so good, it must be true.

     The list of goods to which the Heavenly Doctrine opened our minds at times seemed endless. To give just one more example of what the doctrine did for us: at the hour of Amanda's death we were able to appreciate who she was to the point that we could almost see through her lifeless body to the girl who was waking up in heaven and walking and talking without practice. Having read about how so many people react to Down's Syndrome in their family, or to death, and having seen what the Lord had done for us by means of the Heavenly Doctrine, it was easy to see how good it is. And if the Heavenly Doctrine is so good, it must be true. The Father does bear witness to the Son (John 5:31, 36-37).
     Amanda's resurrection service gathering was another opportunity to express the precious thoughts we had been given. The two months we had shared with her were like a fine piece of literature that captures the whole range of life from its depths to its height, and condenses it into a brief time. Never before had we felt life so intensely, and felt such a powerful presence of heaven, than we had in those two months. Only the Word itself can summarize the feelings that we have about all that the Lord has done for us: "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever" (Psalm 30:11-12).
     The Heavenly Doctrine does not take away natural emotions and make man into a machine. Rather does it give mortals a depth of life that can come only from Him whose Human qualities are Divine. Kim and I find moments when our sadness returns like ripples from a gust of wind, but that underneath is an ocean of peace. Our hope and our prayer in publishing this article is that others may see what good the Heavenly Doctrine is, and that they may strengthen their resolve to make its truths part of the fabric of their lives. The Heavenly Doctrine was not given for mere intellectual satisfaction, nor does it have power when it enters the mind no further. The Heavenly Doctrine turned what could have been tragedy for us into one of the most precious periods of our lives. What we have enjoyed is too powerful and wonderful for the Lord to give to only a few. We are certain that the Lord is good to all.

110

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CORPORATION SECRETARY'S REPORT 1988

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CORPORATION SECRETARY'S REPORT Stephen Pitcairn 1988

     for the year ending December 31, 1987

     MEMBERSHIP

     During the year 1987 the number of persons comprising the membership of the Corporation increased to 802. There were 45 new members, of which 22 were men and 23 were women. There were seven deaths of members and one member resigned.

     DIRECTORS

     The bylaws 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 1987 annual meeting, ten directors were elected for terms expiring in 1990. The present directors, with the dates their terms expire, are as follows:

1990      Asplundh, E. Boyd           1988      Heldon, Murray F.
1988      Blair, Kenneth B.           1990      Henderson, Albert D.
1990      Brickman, Theodore W., Jr.      1988      Hyatt, Garry
1989      Buick, William W.           1990      Junge, James F.
1990      Buss, Neil M.               1989      Klippenstein, Glen O.
1988      Coffin, Philip D.           1989      Kuhl, Denis M.
1988      Cooper, Thomas R.           1989      Merrell, Robert D.
1990      Dunlap, Henry P.           1989      Orchard, Basil C. L.
1989      Evans, Roy B.               1989      Pitcairn, Lachlan
1990      Frost, John A.               1989      Pitcairn, Stephen
1988      Genzlinger, Dale B.      1990      Schnarr, Brian L.
1988      Gladish, Donald P.           1988      Schrock, W. Roger M.
1988      Glenn, Terry K.               1989      Simons, S. Brian
1990      Gomes, Geraldo C.           1990      Smith, Robert A.
1989      Heilman, J. Daniel           1988      Wyncoll, John H.

     Ex Officio members of the board:
Asplundh, Kurt H.
King, Louis B.

     Lifetime Honorary Members of the Board:
de Charms, George
Pendleton, Willard D.

111

     OFFICERS

     The Corporation has six officers, each of whom is elected yearly for a term of one year. Those elected at the board meeting of April 11, 1987, were:

Vice President                Kurt H. Asplundh
Secretary                    Stephen Pitcairn
Treasurer                    Neil M. Buss
Assistant Treasurer      Bruce A. Fuller
Controller                    Ian K. Henderson
Assistant Secretary      E. Boyd Asplundh

     CORPORATION MEETINGS

     The 1987 annual Corporation meeting was held at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, on April 11, 1987, this being the only Corporation meeting held during the year. The President, Bishop King, presided, and there were 58 members in attendance. Reports were received from the nominating committee, treasurer, and secretary, and the election for directors was held.
     Mr. Neil Buss presented an informative report on the activities of the treasurer's office during the past year. He commented that 1986 had been a very successful year with the budget being met after providing funding to bring ministers' wives to the 1987 General Assembly. Mr. Buss reviewed the changes in salaries and benefits for teachers and ministers and the plans to initially modify Cairncrest to provide an office for the Assistant Bishop and his staff and later renovate Cairncrest to make it into an attractive and functional office and headquarters for the General Church. He reported that King Wille had accepted the position as overall office manager of Cairncrest.
     Bishop King introduced the concept of the Leonard E. Gyllenhaal Endowment Fund, and expressed the importance of the need for funding evangelization, education and translation of the Writings into a more readable English and the publication thereof.
     Mr. Walter Childs explained how an $8 million endowment fund for evangelization, education and translation would be met through matching funds from the Glencairn and Cairncrest Foundations.
     The membership expressed their appreciation to the two foundations for their generosity in making the Leonard E. Gyllenhaal Endowment Fund possible.

112

     BOARD MEETINGS

     During the year there were four regular meetings of the Board of Directors. At the organizational meeting following the annual meeting, the incumbent officers were re-elected, and standard resolutions pertaining to corporate business were approved.
     The feasibility of continuing to use Cairncrest as the General Church headquarters office building was studied in depth by a special committee appointed by Bishop King. The committee, after study, recommended that the General Church headquarters continue at Cairncrest, and the Board of Directors approved the recommendation, asking the Bishop to appoint a special committee to review all General Church uses in depth and develop a program for the renovation of Cairncrest.
     The committee was also asked to retain architects and engineers to appraise the Cairncrest buildings, grounds, access roads, parking, heating, plumbing, license and inspection compliance, and to provide recommendations and costs for optimum efficient operation and maintenance.
     During the April board meeting, Rev. Alfred Acton, who was appointed chairman of a Committee to Study the General Church Organizational Structure, presented a proposal in regard to what the General Church relation should be with the General Church in Ghana. The proposal was very detailed and covered all aspects for the gradual development of the General Church in Ghana.
     Early in the year, Mr. Walter Childs presented the Leonard E. Gyllenhaal Endowment Fund Comprehensive Proposal. The purpose of the fund is to promote more vigorously, and on a continuing basis, the following uses: primary school education, evangelization, more readable translations of the Writings and publication of these translations. The plan involves a matching gift program with the Cairncrest and Glencairn Foundations providing four dollars in matching funds for every dollar contributed by an individual. The board enthusiastically approved the plan for the Leonard E. Gyllenhaal Endowment Fund. In a board meeting held later in October, Mr. Childs reported on the success of the fund and said it appeared that the fund would be fully subscribed in the 4-1/2 years remaining in the program.
     Mr. John H. Wyncoll, chairman of the Salary Committee, made several reports during the year which covered salary increases and the work of the Salary Committee in the areas of employee benefits and the General Church Teacher Career and Incentive Salary Plan. The committee's recommendation for salary increases for ministers and teachers was approved, along with the establishment of a new long-term disability benefit and improvements in the life insurance coverage.

113

     The new Teacher Career Plan has been under development for two years and the plan has undergone revision. Rev. Fred Schnarr presented the plan at the January meeting. He said the goal of the plan is to have the following objectives:

     1.      A distinctive religious purpose
     2.      Academic excellence
     3.      A teaching force professional in their ability and standards
     4.      A sense of belonging to a system having:
          a.      Creative curriculum
          b.      Orientation for new teachers
          c.      Support and evaluation
          d.      Sharing of experience
          e.      Caring concern for long-term careers of all teachers
     5.      A four-level incentive system.

     The Board of Directors approved in principle revision 4 of the Teacher Career Plan. The Salary Committee will continue to review and refine the plan with Rev. Fred Schnarr, and it hopes to present for discussion a final draft to the board in January, 1988. It is expected that the plan will receive final approval in the May, 1988 board meeting. Mr. Hyland Johns, chairman of the Personnel Advisory Committee, committee in the areas of minister development reviews, communications, training, assistance during minister career changes, and many reported at each of the board meetings on the continuing work of his other areas which are of great assistance to the Bishop.
     Bishop King regularly sent comprehensive reports to the board members in advance of each board meeting and elaborated on the reports at the meetings. He specifically reported on his five-week trip to England, Sweden and South Africa with his wife and Neil and Carol Buss.
     Regular reports were received from the treasurer, the Budget Committee, the Board Evangelization Committee, the Real Estate Finance Committee, the Joint Benefits Committee, the Development Office, the New Church Press Committee, the Investment Committee, and the Joint Housing Committee, with the required action being taken.
     Respectfully submitted,
          Stephen Pitcairn, Secretary

114

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (21) 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (21) Rev. Prescott A. Rogers 1988

     There are two principles, one of which leads to all folly and insanity, and the other to all intelligence and wisdom. The former principle is to deny all things, or to say in the heart that we cannot believe them until we are convinced by what we can apprehend, or perceive by the senses; this is the principle that leads to all folly and insanity, and is to be called the negative principle. The other principle is to affirm the things which are of doctrine from the Word, or to think and believe within ourselves that they are true because the Lord has said them; this is the principle that leads to all intelligence and wisdom, and is to be called the affirmative principle.
     The more they who think from the negative principle consult things rational, the more they consult memory-knowledges, and the more they consult things philosophical, the more do they cast and precipitate themselves into darkness, until at last they deny all things. The causes of this are that no one can apprehend higher things from lower ones, that is, spiritual and celestial things, still less Divine things, from lower ones, because they transcend all understanding, and moreover everything is then involved in negatives from that principle. On the other hand, they who think from an affirmative principle can confirm themselves by whatever things rational, by whatever memory-knowledges, and whatever things philosophic they have at command; for all these are to them things confirmatory, and give them a fuller idea of the matter.
     Moreover, there are some who are in doubt before they deny, and there are some who are in doubt before they affirm. They who are in doubt before they deny are they who incline to a life of evil; and when this life carries them away, then insofar as they think of the matters in question they deny them. But they who are in doubt before they affirm are they who incline to a life of good; and when they suffer themselves to be bent to this by the Lord, then insofar as they think about those things so far they affirm. As this subject is further treated of in the verses which follow, it is permitted of the Lord's Divine mercy to illustrate them more fully there (AC 2568:4-6).

     This passage has been my favorite since I was a young man in college. I don't remember who first brought it to my attention, but it seemed to be used in several of my courses at the Academy College. This led me to see the universal nature of this passage's application. No matter what area of life we enter into, and no matter what period of life we are in, this passage gives us wisdom with which we can make the most of that new area or any period of life.
     We are told in the passage that there are two (and only two) principles or foundational attitudes from which we all think and act, the affirmative and the negative. The affirmative principle leads to wisdom, and therefore happiness, because it engenders the desire to affirm the truth when it becomes apparent to a person.

115

The negative principle leads to foolishness, and therefore misery, because it engenders the desire to deny the truth when it becomes known.

     [Photo of Rev. Prescott A. Rogers]

     In this idea there is something philosophical and practical at the same time. It deals with our very natures, and it tells us how we can become wise and happy individuals.
     It also does something more. This passage tells us that it is fine for us to have doubts as long as the doubts arise from the affirmative principle. If this is the case, those doubts will eventually lead to wisdom. This type of doubt is only a form of wonder, a form of self-questioning when we ask ourselves, "How can these things be?" If we really want to know, the Lord will teach us in such a way that we will become enlightened. The Lord knows that we will have doubts at times, and I believe that He wants us to doubt, for this is one way that we will pay attention and strive to find out the truth. He reaches out to us in these affirmative doubts and beckons to us as Philip did to Nathanael: "Come and see" (John 1:46). Psalm 34:8 encourages us to "taste and see." The only doubts the Lord ever condemned were from a negative attitude, such as when the Pharisees doubted the divinity of Jesus, and when even one of the disciples, Thomas, doubted the testimony of his comrades (John 20:24-29).

116

     The affirmative attitude and doubts from it are so important in our lives on all its levels: the civil, the moral and the spiritual or religious levels. It applies to the sciences, the social sciences, philosophy and every other area of thought. How are we ever going to find the answers to any question unless we are affirmative to the prospect of finding the answers, and unless we open our minds to see the answers when they are presented to us?
     Since I have become an instructor at the Academy College I have continued the tradition of emphasizing this passage and its companion, AC 2588. There is no better way to appeal to the mind of a college student, and to prepare that mind for a lifetime in this world and in the spiritual world simultaneously.
     Rev. Prescott A. Rogers
BIOGRAPHY OF RICHARD DE CHARMS 1988

BIOGRAPHY OF RICHARD DE CHARMS Editor 1988

     A biography of the Rev. Richard De Charms, Sr. (1796-1864), spiritual progenitor of the Academy and General Church movement, will be published and available this spring.
     This new book was written by Richard R. Gladish, whose biography of Benade has been enjoyed by so many and whose biography of John Pitcairn is being prepared for publication. It was read in manuscript form by Bishop George de Charms, grandson, who wrote, ". . . it will be a valuable contribution to the historic records of the New Church. . . . Richard De Charms was undoubtedly a martyr to the cause he had espoused, namely, the proclamation of the Heavenly Doctrine as the Second Coming of the Lord to establish a New Heaven and a New Church whereby to effect the eternal salvation of the human race. To this cause he gave his whole life, and doing so, suffered many things. Without his preparation of the soil the accomplishment of William H. Benade would not have been possible."
     The biography "treats human weaknesses with kindly understanding and mercy while focusing attention upon the remarkable patience and redoubtable courage and steadfast devotion to his use." Bishop Willard D. Pendleton has been active in promoting this book, stating, "This book is a must for anyone who is interested in the origin of the Academy and the General Church. If Benade was the father of the Academy, Richard De Charms was its prophet."

117

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     SWEDENBORG IN THE PAGES OF THE WRITINGS

     The "Command" of the Lord

     A certain passage is repeated three times in the Writings. The very last number of Apocalypse Revealed begins with this sentence: "Since it has been given me by the Lord to see the wonderful things which are in the heavens and below the heavens, I must, from command, relate what has been seen" (ex mandate me oportet memorare quod visum est). See also BE 120 and TCR 188.
     In the preface to the first of the Four Doctrines, the first of the Writings to be published in the city of Amsterdam, Swedenborg (still at that time anonymous) states that Heaven and Hell and other works have been published. And he adds: "In these works many things were set forth that have hitherto been unknown. Now, by command of the Lord, who has been revealed to me, the following are to be published. . . ." (Nunc ex mandate Domini, qui mihi revelatus est. . . .)
     In handwriting on a copy of the Brief Exposition (which is now in the British Museum) is the phrase: "This book is the coming of the Lord, written by command." (Hic liber est adventus Domini, scriptum ex mandato. See page 306 of Posthumous Theological Works vol. I.)
     In a formal letter to the king of Sweden in May of 1770 Swedenborg declared "that our Savior revealed Himself before me in a visible way, and commanded me to do what I have done and what further is to be done. . ." (Letters and Memorials, p. 723).
     To the above we might add the testimony of John Cuno of Holland. When the book True Christian Religion was published, Cuno wrote to a friend in Germany about it. He says that he spoke to Swedenborg about what he saw on the title page. "I could not, in my open manner, conceal my astonishment that he should declare himself on the title-page the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he replied, 'I have asked, and have received not only permission, but also an express command'" (Documents II, p. 483).
     These passages use the word "command," but students have rightly shown that there was the "as-of-self' in what Swedenborg did. He was "allowed" to do what he did, and this shows us that his affections were involved in the Divine command.

118

An example of an article addressing the question of why Swedenborg did what he did is "Swedenborg's Affections," June New Church Life, 1975.

     STANDING ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES

     In the 14th chapter of Zechariah the prophecy is given: "His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before the faces of Jerusalem on the east" (AE 638:16).
     Quite literally when the Lord came, His feet were upon that particular mountain, and spiritually He beheld the church from the love that it signifies.
     On Palm Sunday Jesus looked down upon Jerusalem from that mountain, and it was because of His love that He then wept. Since the mountain is in the east, when the morning sun's rays first strike Jerusalem they seem to come from the Mount of Olives.
     Number 638:16 of Apocalypse Explained tells us that the Mount of Olives means the Divine love, and emphasizes the significance of this mountain being to the east of that city which signified the church. "Because that mountain, as has been said, signified the Lord's Divine love, the Lord was accustomed to stay on it, as in the Gospels: Jesus every day was teaching in the temple, and every night He went out and lodged in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives."
     The passage goes on to show that it was on the mountain that the Lord spoke to the disciples of things to come. From that mountain He went to Jerusalem and suffered "besides many other things." As we read and hear the several things relating to the Easter story, let us put each event into the context of the Lord's love, a love meant by the east and by the mount that is called the Mount of Olives.

     READERS OF A HOME AND GARDEN MAGAZINE TELL THEIR BELIEFS

     The January issue of Better Homes and Gardens has a highly interesting and encouraging feature. Under the heading "Spirituality Report" the magazine gives the results of responses from readers to questions relating to religion. The readers of that magazine are not typical of the population as a whole, but the number is by no means insignificant. More than eighty thousand people sent in responses.
     There are many questions with the percent responses, and they are worth attention. Here is a little sample:

119

     Do You Believe
In eternal life?                                   Yes     89%
In a heaven?                                    Yes     87%
That you will be reunited with your loved ones after death?               Yes      81%
In a hell?                                        Yes      76%
In reincarnation?                                   Yes      11%

     The considerable percentage who believe in a hell is interesting when one considers the results of a kind of survey reported in no. 160 of True Christian Religion. One of the responses there was: "Believe in a heaven if you will, but I do not believe in any hell." Actually the concept of "hell" in the minds of many makes one wonder what to say if asked, "Do you believe in hell?" One might want to say, "Not the concept of hell that is generally held." But if obliged to say Yes or No, we would say Yes.
     The high percentage of those who believe they will be reunited with their loved ones makes us think of certain passages in the Writings, particularly no. 274 of Divine Providence, which shows that people have an implanted conception about the reality of life after death and expectation of seeing loved ones. There is also the conclusion of no. 28: of Conjugial Love. If his beloved have died does he not, if he elevates his mind, say within himself "that they are in God's hand and that he will see them again after his own death, and will be conjoined with them in a life of love and joy!"
INTERNAL SENSE 1988

INTERNAL SENSE Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom 1988

     Communications
Dear Editor,
     I wish to thank Mr. Rex Ridgway and Miss Heulwen Ridgway (letters, January issue) for embellishing on my theme in the August issue, "A Minister's Favorite Passage," and for clarifying my main point: namely, that angelic wisdom is incomprehensible to men.
     That the Lord has now revealed that wisdom, without using angels, and that we can now be raised into the light that the angels have-with or without being regenerated, since seeing the truth has never depended on regeneration-nothing can be added to them, except an ever clearer understanding. I am relieved that there is agreement on that point.

120

     Of course, regeneration will eventually allow for greater insight into the truths.
     There should be no confusion about my reference to the idea of "an internal sense as yet to be explained." People are well aware of the controversy starting in the 1930s on this subject. I would pass over the implications of the remarks about my using that phrase and merely again extend my thanks.
     Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom,
          Hurstville, Australia
PREDESTINATION VERSUS FREE WILL: NO CONFLICT 1988

PREDESTINATION VERSUS FREE WILL: NO CONFLICT W. Roger Lansbury 1988

Dear Editor,
     Recently I attended a talk given by Dr. Raymond Moody on near-death experiences. With him were several people who spoke of their own personal near-death episodes. All those who spoke mentioned events that seemed common to each other's experiences. One woman in particular, who absolutely radiated a quiet, peaceful, loving and confident demeanor, spoke of her experience as leaving her without the slightest doubt that the universe and mankind are under the direction of a master plan orchestrated by a Supreme Being.
     I have been thinking about the idea of a master plan, which by definition suggests predestination, and about the philosophies which indicate that man, even by definition, is born on this earth with free will. That which makes man human is his freedom to choose his own path in life.
     These two apparently divergent ideas seem to be in conflict. It suddenly occurred to me, however, that there is a relatively simple solution to this dilemma of understanding, and that there is in fact no conflict between these ideas and that both are true and they do coexist.
     Mankind, and especially the western mind, perceives of itself in relationship to the universe from a finite viewpoint. This is a limiting view and creates a false concept of a sense of time. It is impossible to envision infinity from a finite perspective. On our physical plane we are aware of an apparent beginning (birth) and ending (death) and thus view everything as having a beginning and ending. Our senses also limit us to a three-dimensional perception of our surroundings. These views dictate a perceived direction from one point to another in time and space.

121

     The problem of predestination versus free will arises, I suspect, from this finite viewpoint. We tend to view the concept of a master plan in terms of a road map or blueprint. If our journey is already marked on this map and the route from point "A" to point "B" is already drawn for us, then we wonder how free will and choice can have meaning or substance.
     I suggest that the solution to this simply entails recognizing the master plan on a different scale or from a different viewpoint. If, instead of envisioning a two-dimensional map, we recognize the master plan as a multi-dimensional, living force, then free will and choice will fit comfortably. Rather than think of the idea of predestination as a fixed, precast concept, we might better envision it as an evolving state that is flowing freely in an ever-changing, yet intact, master plan.
     I envision the master plan as a living and constantly changing reality that is in continual flux. I picture it as a living entity, maybe like an amoeba, only extending beyond three dimensions. It is not static, but rather a vibrant, pulsing force that is ever-changing in response to our choices.
     As one choice from free will starts us on a particular path from "A" to "B," a change or different choice along this route would create an overlay on the original path with a new direction or route plan. Each choice adds an additional overlay and creates a flux of change in the create additional overlays, we begin to see an extremely complex and overall dimensions of the master plan. As each individual's choices ever-changing map. Free will can change this living plan, but choice and change still remain within and as part of the overall plan. The master plan remains intact.
     The infinitude of the Lord suggests a master plan of infinite proportions, dimensions, and possibilities. I believe that even beyond the confines of this multi-dimensional map there is in fact a predestined place or goal to which all paths ultimately lead. Our paths lead to a final reunification with God. While the idea of such a oneness may sound like an ending to our paths or journeys, it may in fact be only a new beginning. The love and infinitude that is the Lord can only mean a continuation of new directions and experiences.
     W. Roger Lansbury,
          Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

122

Church News 1988

Church News Various 1988

     MIAMI

     Greetings from sunny south Florida. Exciting things are happening here which we feel everyone should know about.
     First, the New Christian Church property located in North Miami has been sold. The new location is Boynton Beach, 50 miles north of the old site, but still within the magical warm weather of south Florida. Why was this site chosen? For one thing, it is more centrally located for present parishioners. Second, the potential for growth in this area far outweighs a chance for future growth in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale. Boynton Beach, in the middle of Palm Beach County, is one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S.A. Many large businesses such as Motorola are there. Acres of land close to our church is zoned residential. Next, the three acres now owned by the church has easy access, being located between 1-95 and the Florida Turnpike. So if you are traveling either north or south on the east coast of Florida you will be not mote than two miles from the church. The Miami Society will have to have a new name. Any suggestions?
     At present there is a house on the property which is being renovated. It has a sizable living room where services are held until a church, which is on the drawing board, is built.
     Don't pass up an opportunity to visit us. It's a wonderful place for the elderly, or for young visionary folk who look to the future.
     For further information write or phone the pastor: Rev. Daniel Heinrichs, 10687 Fl Clair Ranch Road, Boynton Beach, FL 33437; phone (305) 736-9235.
     For housing information contact Mr. Robert G. Lawson, 4400 N. Federal Highway, Suite 210-3, Boca Raton, FL 33431; phone (305) 338-7766. (Mr. Lawson is a church member well acquainted with the area.)
     Sylvia Mellman, Editor of News Notes for the Florida Missive (10th child of Rev. Homer Synnestvedt)

     LOS ANGELES

     Perhaps it is the rattling and rolling of the earth these past few weeks that jarred the brain and loosened the pen, for it's been quite a long while since Los Angeles has reported on its happenings; we are indeed "shakers and doers" and have lots to share.
     Last June 1987 marked the end of nearly six years with Michael Gladish as our pastor. It was a full month for us, including a lovely June 19 celebration, a farewell luncheon and program for the Gladishes, and a moving final service on June 30 when three special people, Fred and Ruth Schneider and Barbara Delnick, were baptized into our wonderful church. In reflection of those six years, the L.A. Society has been busy. We have begun and finished many projects from planting and redesigning and maintaining our huge back property to a major interior design change for our sanctuary. Under the inspiration and: guidance and hard work of Harold Cranch (who gives a new meaning to the word "retired") we have a new look to our chancel, a more appealing arrangement to the pews and new red carpet throughout. Michael did much of the wood work on the chancel; and many hours of time were donated by caring and dedicated members and friends of the Gabriel Church. It's well to note here that the pastor's family and John and Greta Davidson live within a mile or so of the church, whereas our most distant regular families travel as much as 70 miles one way to worship, teach Sunday School, attend board meetings, pastor's council, Women's Guild, and the work parties that accomplish the spectacular changes to our property.

123

     Speaking of changes, it would indeed be remiss not to mention the apartment we now have off our church hall, designed and built by our folks. Thank you's go to Virgil Kaufman for his expertise in reconstruction of the old Sunday School rooms into the new apartment, and to the many people who gave time and talent to our project; and to our very own plumber and carpenter, Howard Brewer and John Davidson, and, of course, to Michael, our "persistent pastor" who got us going and who found our still reliable tenant whose rent helps to pay our bills!
     Each spring the Women's Guild conducts a search and seizure for items to sell at our annual rummage sale. Under the organizational skill of Greta Davidson, the Guild replenishes its treasury and so continues its many uses for the church.
     Nothing ever remains the same, and so last June we gave a fond farewell and thank you to Michael and Ginny Gladish and family, and wished them Godspeed as they began their new life in Toronto, and welcomed our new pastor, Don Rogers, his wife Karen and their four young children: Aaron, Nova, Sean and Matthew. They arrived several days ahead of their belongings and so began life in La Crescenta by camping out in their own home and car-less as theirs ceased operating in New Mexico on their way here! Such a beginning!
     Now they are settled into their home and have a car and are busy getting to know our society and the large Los Angeles area. And, lest they would ever feel unsure as to all that southern California has to offer, on a very hot October 1st morning the earth beneath us all shook and lurched and rolled-a humbling experience for one and all. Welcome for sure, Rogerses, to the "shake and bake" state. We do indeed look forward to the years ahead with Don-years of mental and spiritual stimulation and hopefully of earthly calm.
     The Gabriel Church remains securely anchored in the San Gabriel Mountains, and so with confidence we listen to excellent sermons and thought-filled doctrinal classes. We work hard at our work parties and have superior potlucks and beautiful festival services and have celebrated the winter holiday season with the beauty and renewed joy expressed by tableaux-a time to share with friends and community our precious church.
     We love to have visitors and so in January we will welcome and host the Western Ministers' Meetings and we welcome all of you to visit with us. Can't promise what the earth will do, but we in Los Angeles can promise good conversation and fellowship. Meanwhile we wish you peace and happiness in 1988.
     Susan A. Matchett
NATURE OF THE MIND 1988

NATURE OF THE MIND Editor 1988

He who does not know the nature of heaven and hell cannot at all know the nature of man's mind.
Divine Providence 299

124

FREDERICK EMANUEL DOERING TRUST 1988

FREDERICK EMANUEL DOERING TRUST Editor 1988

     Announcements

     Applications for assistance from the above fund to enable Canadian, students to attend The Academy of the New Church at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., for the school year 1988-89, should be received by one of the pastors listed below by June 30, 1988. The deadline is important in order to apportion the grants evenly, and to meet the deadline for immigration forms regarding student financing.
     Before filing their applications, students should obtain their acceptance by the Academy. However, it is important to ask for your application forms now, so that you can review the conditions that apply to the Doering Fund grants and be sure you qualify.
     Any of the pastors listed below will be happy to give any further, information or help that may be necessary.

Rev. Michael D. Gladish     Rev. Louis Synnestvedt
2 Lorraine Gardens           58 Chapel Hill Drive, R.R. 2
Islington, Ont. M9B 424     Kitchener, Ont. N2G 3W5

Rev. Glenn Alden
9013 - 8th Street
Dawson Creek, B.C. V1G 1H1

127

NCL 50 & 100 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 50 & 100 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

     NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO

     The March issue of 1938 has a challenging article which suggests that the smallness of the influence of the New Church in the world is really not related to the smallness of the number of members of New Church organizations (see especially page 125).
     Another especially interesting article is about the Academy, which is subtitled "Retrospect, Introspect, and Prospect." The article shows that from the earliest days of the New Church there were Swedenborgians who really did not look upon the Writings as revelation. Statements from some notable Swedenborgians show the attitude they held toward the Writings. Then we read of what Richard De Charms thought about such a situation. (A biography of Richard De Charms is soon to be published.)
     One item is headed "A General Church Broadcast." A radio broadcast relating to Swedenborg's 250th birthday was aired on January 29th "through the enterprise of members of the Bryn Athyn Society, and the courtesy of Westinghouse Station KYW, Philadelphia." The Bryn Athyn choir sang the 48th Psalm, and messages were read by Dr. H. L. Odhner and Dr. William Whitehead (see p. 127).

     NCL A HUNDRED YEARS AGO

     Some of the March issue is devoted to reports of celebrations of Swedenborg's 200th birthday. "On Sunday, the 29th of January, in the evening, the Academy of the New Church held a public meeting in its old building on Cherry Street, below Twenty-first, Philadelphia, to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of Swedenborg's birth.
     Among those who spoke were W. F. Pendleton, E. J. Schreck, L. H. Tafel, and Enoch S. Price. C. T. Odhner (who was to become editor of this magazine) spoke of those "assembled to commemorate the bicentennial of the birth of that servant of the Lord, whom He found fit to use as the means of His Second Coming, and thus to perform the greatest use ever rendered by means of a man."

128

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS 1988 SUMMER CAMP 1988

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH SECONDARY SCHOOLS 1988 SUMMER CAMP Editor 1988

The 1988 ANC Summer Camp will be held on the campus of the Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania from Sunday, July 10 until Saturday, July 16, 1988.
The camp is open to boys and girls who will have completed eighth or ninth grades in May or June of 1988. Students will receive registration details during the first week in March. If you want more information or have not received a registration form please contact the Camp Director, William C. Fehon. Call him at (215) 9474200 or write: Box 278, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
MIDWEST WOMEN'S RENEWAL WEEKEND 1988

MIDWEST WOMEN'S RENEWAL WEEKEND Editor 1988

You are invited to the second annual Midwest Women's Renewal Weekend November 4-6, 1988 at the St. Joseph Retreat Center ten minutes west of Glenview, Illinois. The topic for the weekend is "Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself." Applications will be accepted between August 1 and October 15. For further information please write to Marie Odhner, 8 Park Drive, Glenview, IL 60025, or call her at (312) 7294528.
PASTORAL APPOINTMENT 1988

PASTORAL APPOINTMENT Editor 1988

The Rev. Geoffrey Howard has been appointed as an Assistant to the Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society. This is to fill the vacancy resulting" from the resignation of the Rev. Frederick Schnarr, who will be taking up wider uses for the General Church. Mr. Howard's appointment is effective February 1, 1988.
In addition to his Bryn Athyn assignment Mr. Howard will serve the Connecticut Circle on a twice-monthly basis. His previous pastorates was of the Durban Society in South Africa.

129

1988 WOMENS RENEWAL WEEKEND 1988

1988 WOMENS RENEWAL WEEKEND Editor 1988

     When:          April 15-17, 1988

     Where:     Camp Lutherlyn, Prospect, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh)

     Theme:     How Our Childhood Impacts Our Spiritual Life Today

     Cost:          $50.00

     Join us as we meet to create a place where we allow our lives to touch, a place for our spirits to heal and grow.

     For information, registration and reading materials contact:

Shareen Blair
341 Central Drive
Mars, PA 16046
412-776-6643

     Do you have a presentation, talent or skill to offer? Contact:

Trish Lindsay          or          Tryn Clark
186 Iron Bridge Road               3835 Smithfield
Sarver, PA 16055               E. Lansing, MI 48823
412-295-2316                    517-351-2880
PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1988

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES Editor 1988

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 19009, U. S. A.

     PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES

     Only USA Addresses

     Information on public worship and doctrinal classes provided either regularly or occasionally may be obtained at the locations listed below. For details use the local phone number of the contact person mentioned or communicate with the Secretary of the General Church, Rev. L. R. Soneson, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, Phone (215) 947-4660.

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     Alabama:

     BIRMINGHAM
Dr. R. Shepard, 4537 Dolly Ridge Road, Birmingham, AL 35243. Phone:(205) 967-3442.

     Arizona:

     PHOENIX
Mr. Hubert Rydstrom, 3640 E. Piccadilly Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85018. Phone: (602) 955-2290.

     TUCSON
Rev. Frank S. Rose, 2536 N. Stewart Ave., Tucson, AZ 85716. Phone: (602) 327-2612.

130

     Arkansas:

     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, Rt. 6, Box 447, Batesville, AR 72501. (501) 251-2383

     California:

     LOS ANGELES
Rev. Donald Rogers, 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Phone: (818) 249-5031.

     SACRAMENTO
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ripley, 2310 N. Cirby Way, Roseville, CA 95678. Phone: (916) 782-7837

     SAN DIEGO
Rev. Nathan Gladish, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (619) 268-0379. Office: (619) 571-8599.

     SAN FRANCISCO
Rev. Mark Carlson, 4638 Royal Garden Place, San Jose, CA 95136. Phone: (408) 224-8521.

     Colorado:

     COLORADO SPRINGS
Mr. and Mrs. William Reinstra, 708 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs, CO 80829. Phone: (303) 685-9519.

     DENVER
Rev. Clark Echols, 3371 W. 94th Ave., Westminster, CO 80030. Phone (303) 429-1239

     Connecticut:

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Mr. and Mrs. James Tucker, 45 Honey Bee Lane, Shelton, CT 06484. Phone: (203)-929-6455.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 2008 Eden Rd., N. Graylyn, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 475-3694.

     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     MIAMI
Rev. Daniel Heinrichs, 15101 N. W. Fifth Ave., Miami, FL 33169. Phone: (305) 687-1337.

     LAKE HELEN
Mr. and Mrs. Brant Morris, 264 Kicklighter Rd., Lake Helen, FL 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2276.

     Georgia:

     AMERICUS
Mr. W. H. Eubanks, Rt. #2, S. Lee St., Americus, GA 31709. Phone: (912) 924-9221.

     ATLANTA
Rev. Christopher Bown, 3795 Montford Drive, Chamblee, GA 30341. Phone: (Home) (404) 457-4726. (Office) (404) 452-0518.

     Idaho:

     FRUITLAND
(Idaho-Oregon border) Mr. Harold Rand, 1705 Whitley Dr., Fruitland, ID 83619. Phone: (208) 452-3181.

     Illinois:

     CHICAGO
Rev. Grant Schnarr, 73A Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312 729-0130 (home) (312) 724-6130 (office).

     DECATUR
Mr. John Aymer, 380 Oak Lane, Decatur, IL 62562. Phone: (217) 875-3215.

     GLENVIEW
Rev. Brian Keith, 73 Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 724-0120.

     Indiana:

     Contact Mr. James Wood, R. R. 1, Lapel, IN 46051. Phone (317) 534-3546

     Louisiana:

     BATON ROUGE
Mr. Henry Bruser, Jr., 1652 Ormandy Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70808. Phone: (504) 921-3089.

     Maine

     BATH
Rev. Gene Barry, Middle and Winter Station, Bath, ME 04530.

     Maryland:

     BALTIMORE
Rev. Frederick Chapin, #12 Pawleys Ct., S. Belmont, Baltimore, MD 21236. Phone: (301) 682-3397.

     MITCHELLVILLE
Rev. Lawson Smith, 3805 Enterprise Rd., Mtichellville, MD 20716. Phone: (301) 262-2349.

     Massachusetts:

     BOSTON
Rev. Grant Odhner, 4 Park Ave., Natick, MA 01760. Phone: (617) 651-1127.

131

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Walter Orthwein, 395 Olivewood Court, Rochester, MI 48064. Phone: (313) 656-1267.

     EAST LANSING
Mr. Christopher Clark, 5853 Smithfield, East Lansing, MI 48823. Phone: (517) 351-2880.

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Rev. Michael Cowley, 3153 McKight Road #340, White Bear Lake, MN 55110. (612) 770-9242

     Missouri:

     COLUMBIA
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 103 S. Greenwood, Columbia, MO 65201. Phone: (314) 442-3475.

     KANSAS CITY
Mr. Glen Klippenstein, Glenkirk Farms, Maysville, MO 64469. Phone: (816) 449-2167.

     New Jersey-New York:

     RIDGEWOOD. N.J.
Mrs. Fred E. Munich, 474 S. Maple Ave., Glen Rock, NJ 07452. Phone: (201) 445-1141.

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Rev. John Odhner, 4009 Montgomery NE, Apt. L4, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Phone: (505) 881-4930.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Mr. John deMaine, 3509 Highridge Rd., Matthews, NC 28105. Phone: (704) 845-4058.

     Ohio:

     CINCINNATI
Rev. Patrick Rose, 785 Ashcroft Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45240. Phone: (513) 825-7473.

     CLEVELAND
Mr. Alan Childs, 19680 Beachcliff Blvd., Rocky River, OH 44116. Phone: (216) 333-4413.

     COLUMBUS
Mr. Hubert Heinrichs, 8372 Todd Street Rd., Sunbury. OH 43074. Phone: (614) 524-2738.

     Oklahoma:

     OKLAHOMA CITY
Mr. Robert Campbell, 3108 Eagle Pass Rd., Edmond, OK 73013. Phone: (404) 478-4729.

     Oregon-Idaho Border. See Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

     BRYN ATHYN
Rev. Kurt Asplundh, Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. Phone: (215) 947-3665.

     ERIE
Mrs. Paul Murray, 5648 Zuck Rd., Erie, PA 16506. Phone: (814) 833-0962.

     FREEPORT
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 126 Iron Bridge Rd., Sarver, PA 16055. Phone: Office (412) 353-2220 or Home 295-9855

     KEMPTON
Rev. Jeremy Simons, RD 2, Box 217-A, Kempton, PA 19529. Phone: (Home) (215) 756-4301; (Office) (215) 756-6140.

     PAUPACK
Mr. Richard Kintner, Box 172, Paupack, PA 18451. Phone: (717) 857-0688.

     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Ray Silverman, 299 Le Roi Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731-1061.

     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.

     South Dakota:

     HOT SPRINGS
Linda Klippenstein, 537 Albany, Hot Springs, SD 57745 Phone: (605) 745-6629

     Texas:

     AUSTIN
Mrs. Charles Grubb, 604 Highland Ave., Austin, TX 78703. Phone: (512) 472-3575.

     DALLAS-FORT WORTH
Mr. Fred Dunlap, 3887 Antigua Circle, Dallas, TX 75244. Phone: (214) 247-7775.

     HOUSTON
Dr. James Carter, 30 Williamsburg Ln., Houston, TX 77024. Phone: (713) 456-4057.

     Washington:

     SEATTLE
Rev. Kent Junge, 14812 N. E. 75th Street, Redmond, WA 98033. Phone: (206) 881-1955.

     Wisconsin:

     MADISON
Mrs. Charles Howell, 3912 Plymouth Circle, Madison, WI 53705. Phone: (608) 233-0209.

132

ARCANA COELESTIA 1988

ARCANA COELESTIA Editor 1988

     By Emanuel Swedenborg
VOLUME FIVE
of John Elliotts new English translation

     Hardcover     postage paid $13.95
Softcover     postage paid 9.95

General Church Book Center           Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Box 278                              or by appointment
Bryn Athyn. PA 19009               Phone: (215) 947-3920

133

Notes on This Issue 1988

Notes on This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII April, 1988 No. 4

NEW CHURCH LIFE

134

     Notes on This Issue

     Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden is expected to visit Bryn Athyn on the 13th of this month (see p. 157). The purpose of her visit is to introduce and publicly open the Swedenborg Library.
     We thank Rev. Kurt Nemitz for his letter about the symposium that took place in Bryn Athyn in February. Both those who attended and those who did not will find this a particularly interesting letter. We have heard over and over again high tributes to this event. (Do not forget the Swedenborg Foundation symposium coming up in August.)
     "Shall we live like Jacob? Yes!" But Jacob was a deceiver, and so what could this mean? The article by Rev. Kurt Asplundh explores this question.
     We have chosen two more quotations from the new translation of True Christian Religion. One is only seven lines long, but it has a particularly touching quality. The other has such a breath of springtime in it. If we are already uplifted by signs of spring, this passage lifts us even higher (p. 149). The "early morning and late evening showers" seem apt for an April issue, as perhaps does also the "golden shower" that we read of on page 152.
     The Church News this month is from Colchester, England. The writer hopes to see us at the British Assembly in July. For particulars relating to that assembly see the January issue on p. 42. At the end of this month the Boston Circle will host the Northeast District Assembly (February issue, p. 83). While speaking of future events we must remind you of the Music Festival that will take place in Bryn Athyn from June 11 to June 15th. For information on this, please contact Rev. Alfred Acton, P.O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 (and see January issue, p. 30).

     THE SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION SYMPOSIUM

     We have learned that outstanding and highly respected scholars will participate in this event. Sir John Eccles will lead the program on the New Biology, and Dr. Raymond Moody will be a participant in another program. This takes place at the end of August in Tarrytown, New York.

     Write to the editor or to the Foundation for information: Swedenborg Foundation, 139 E. 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010.

135

BECOMING FISHERS OF MEN 1988

BECOMING FISHERS OF MEN Rev. DONALD K. ROGERS 1988

     "Come after Me, and I will make you become fishers of men" (Mark 1:17)

     According to the gospels, some of the Lord's disciples were fishermen by trade. In fact, when He called these disciples they were busy washing their nets after having fished all night. The Lord came to them and got into Simon's boat and asked him to put out a little from the land. He sat down and from the boat taught the multitudes that followed Him. "Now when He had stopped speaking He said to Simon, 'Launch out into the deep and let down your net for a catch.' But Simon answered and said to Him, 'Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net.' And when they had done this they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink" (Luke 5:3-7). Simon and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you shall catch men" (Luke 5:9, 10).
     Interestingly enough, a very similar incident occurred three years later. This incident happened after the Lord's resurrection when He appeared to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. Apparently the disciples had returned to their occupation of fishing. Once again as in the first story they had fished all night and caught nothing. The Lord appeared to them on the shore and asked them if they had any food. "They answered Him 'no.' And He said to them, 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.' So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish" (John 21:5, 6).
     Because of the similarity between these two incidents, we might think they are talking about exactly the same thing in the spiritual sense. But the Writings say that "there is not any repetition [in the Word] unless it is used to mean something different than before" (AC 734; cf. AC 435, 107). When we find out what these two incidents represent in the spiritual sense, we do indeed find that they are talking about different things. Nevertheless, they are related, for both refer to the catching of men, or evangelization.
     The difference between the two is one of time, or of what comes first and what comes second in the work of evangelization.

136

For the first incident represents what the disciples could and would become if they followed the Lord. They could become fishers of men. The story of their call is a representative picture of things that were needed in their preparation for the work of spreading the good news. The second incident, therefore, represents their actual efforts at evangelization. It is their carrying out of the Lord's command to make disciples of all nations. And, as we shall see, there is a right way and a wrong way to do this.
     The disciples' preparation to become fishers of men, which is represented by the first incident, is of course their education. Before these men (or anyone, for that matter) can teach others, they must first be taught and trained. They must learn truths of all kinds-scientific, philosophical, and theological. Only in this way can one hope to accommodate the many different kinds of people in the world. The broader the background, the easier it is to talk to people and to tell them about the doctrine of the New Church.

     This learning of truths of many different kinds is what is represented by the disciples letting down their nets into the deep. For the Sea of Gennesaret means spiritually "the knowledges of goods and truths in the whole complex" (AE 514:20). So their letting down their nets into the deep of that sea represents the learning of those goods and truths which they would later teach men (see AE 513:5).
     It is for this reason that Swedenborg said that he "from early youth had been a spiritual fisherman" because "a fisherman in the spiritual sense of the Word signifies a man who investigates and teaches natural truths, and afterwards spiritual truths rationally" (ISB 20).
     We are all called by the Lord in some degree to become spiritual fishermen. And certainly we should try to instill the love of "catching men" into our children as well. For the love of teaching others the truths of the Lord's Word is the same love the Lord has. His love is the love of saving souls and of making people eternally happy. One of the main ways He does this is to teach people truths. This is evident from the fact that His whole life on earth was one of teaching people. Even in our first lesson from Luke 5 we saw how He got into Simon's boat and taught the multitudes who sat listening on the shore.
     If we strive to cultivate this same love within ourselves and our children we will be astonished at the results, just as the disciples were overwhelmingly astonished at the results of having the Lord with them in their boat. Remember that without Him they fished in the dark and caught nothing. With Him they caught a great multitude of fish so that their nets were breaking and the boats began to sink.

137

     The fish represent truths, natural and spiritual. The net represents the senses, especially sight and hearing by which we draw in truths from outside of ourselves into our minds. Therefore, if we have the Lord's love of teaching others within us, just as the disciples had the Lord in their boat as they let down their nets for a catch, we will find that we want to learn more and will retain more of what we learn than we ever could without this love. The Writings say, "what a man loves he freely learns, retains, and cherishes. . . such as the affection is, such is the multiplication" (AC 1017e).
     And is that not what we want for our children as well? How often have we seen our children, even though they went to New Church schools, grow up and become uncommitted adults? On the other hand, new people in the church always seem to want to learn more-to do what they can for the church. They have a high degree of commitment to the church.
     The difference between the two is the love in each. Newcomers have found something that means a lot to them and they are then in a love of sharing with others what they have found. They have the Lord's love of teaching within themselves. As a result they want to learn all they can so they can in turn tell their friends the good news.
     There is no reason why our children cannot also feel a love to share the good news they learn. But they can only acquire that love if we instill it into them by giving them a sense of mission. We must say to them, "Come, and the Lord will make you fishers of men." We must let them know, and remind them as they get older, that the purpose of their learning is not just for their own sakes. It is not just for the sake of their own regeneration or edification. Their learning of truths is also for the sake of helping in the Lord's work of making people happy to eternity. They must see that the truths of the New Church are desperately needed by people outside the church. They must see that the truths they possess are the only lasting answers to many of the world's problems. If we are successful in instilling a sense of mission into our children, they will grow up to be committed adults.
     Moreover, if we leave the Lord's love of teaching out of our children's lives and out of our own lives, are we not leaving something of the Lord out of our lives as well? The disciples fished without the Lord in their boat and at night and what was the result? They caught nothing.
     Toiling at night without the Lord represents trying to learn truths without an outward-looking use in mind. It is aimless, lacking any real sense of purpose or direction. It is fishing blind in the dark (see AC 4844:4). It tends to produce people who learn by rote and who recite parrot style.

138

But if we and our children have a love of sharing the good news with others, we have a sense of direction-a guide and purpose. It is a love which looks outside of self and has the Lord in it. If we and our children have this love, then we, like the disciples, will, be overwhelmingly astonished at the results in our lives.
One final note: New Church education may be seen by some in the church as being at odds with evangelization. But perhaps this would not be so if education were seen for what it should be and was meant to be, the training ground for future fishers of men. Obviously not everyone will answer the call because "The Lord alone knows who is adapted to perceive and to teach those things which are of His New Church, whether someone among the primates, or someone among their servants" (ISB 20). Nevertheless, we should be aware and make our children aware that the Lord has made the call to all of us: "Come, and I will make you become fishers of men." Amen.

LESSONS: Luke 5:1-11; Influx (ISB) 20 NCL 50 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 50 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

[Drawing of stamp of Swedenborg]

The April issue of 1938 provides a facsimile of a postage stamp issued by the Swedish government in commemoration of Swedenborg's 250th birthday. An article in the same issue refers to the great publicity given to Swedenborg through newspapers and magazines, but wonders whether it will soon be forgotten. "The thought arises as to whether we might not devise a more permanent way of turning the interest thus momentarily aroused into a tangible increase of membership. It is then proposed that Swedenborg's experiences in the spiritual world be published in an attractive form. The writer quotes no. 4123 of the Spiritual Diary to make the point that without those spiritual experiences "men would not know the character of the book [Arcana Coelestia], nor would they buy it, or read it, or understand it, or be affected by it, or believe it."

139

UNDERSTANDING JACOB'S DECEPTION 1988

UNDERSTANDING JACOB'S DECEPTION Rev. KURT H. ASPLUNDH 1988

     The 27th chapter of Genesis contains the account of Jacob deceiving his father Isaac and stealing the blessing intended for Esau. What a remarkable story to find in the Word of the Lord. What are we to think of it?
     Here Jacob, the man who eventually becomes the patriarch of the twelve tribes, uses outright deception and lies to gain the best blessing; the blessing was rightly his older brother Esau's. And Rebekah, Isaac's wife, actually conspires with Jacob in his lie.
     This was not the first time Jacob cheated his twin, the ruddy Esau. He had already obtained the precious birthright of the firstborn by inducing Esau to sell it for a simple meal of lentil stew.
We think of Jacob then as a sharp trader, a man quick to see advantage for himself, willing to use deception, looking out for himself. Is this man a hero for us? Are we to do the same? Shall we live like Jacob?
     Actually, Jacob paid for his deeds. He fled from home after this deception. He was twenty years in exile for fear of Esau's revenge. When he returned from the house of Laban with wives, maidservants and children, rich with flocks and herds, he bowed before Esau asking forgiveness. He was a changed man. And the Lord had blessed him according to the words of the very blessing he had stolen: "God give you of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you and nations bow down to you" (Gen. 27:28f).
     Shall we live like Jacob? Yes!
     Do not misunderstand this answer. No, we may not purposely lie or steal to get what we want in life. We may not deal unjustly or take advantage of others. "You shall not steal." "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." "You shall not covet. . . ." These precepts are clear.
     In what way then should we be like this Jacob?
     Jacob represents the regenerating man. Jacob is every man, a man of the world and wise to its ways. We are like Jacob, and like Jacob we too must be changed.
     In contrast, Esau seems stupid. The firstborn, loved by his father but not favored by his mother, was a hunter, unrefined and undisciplined. It was Jacob who had the potential.

140

     These twin sons bear a remarkable representation in the Word. Together they embody or picture what doctrine calls "the natural man." This is human life in the world. This is the life of our loves and our intelligence as we know it. It is twofold when we reflect on it. We are born with certain natural loves, even as animals have instinctive loves; but unlike instinct in animals, which is quickly developed, human loves emerge slowly. They require knowledge and intelligence to provide them with structure and form.
     The natural man begins with rudimentary loves and later develops intelligence. These "firstborn" loves are represented in the Word by Esau; and the life of intelligence or truth, which we acquire later, by Jacob. Concerning this we read the following teaching: "That the " affection of good, and the derivative good of life, is the 'elder son,' that is, the firstborn, is evident from the fact that infants are first of all in good, for they are in a state of innocence, and in a state of love toward their parents and nurse, and in a state of mutual charity toward their infant companions; so that good is the firstborn with every man. . . . From this it may be seen that good is the 'elder son,' that is, the firstborn, and consequently that truth is the 'younger son,' or is born afterwards; for truth is not learned till the infant becomes a child, a youth, and an adult" (AC 3494).
     These "firstborn" goods in a man are not really our own. They are from the Lord and they are the gifts we call "remains." They are the "birthright" which we so lightly esteem. Like Esau, we sell out our precious heritage from the Lord, those genuine goods which should be the loves of our life.
     It was not the Lord's intention that we sell these. The doctrine states that "all infants who are born are His sons, and afterwards when they become wise, insofar as they are still infants, that is, in the innocence of infancy, in the love of infancy toward their parent, now the Lord, and in the mutual charity of infancy toward their infant companions, now their neighbor, so far they are adopted by the Lord as sons" (AC 3494e).
     These genuine goods of life are loved by the Lord just as Esau was loved by his father.
     But Rebekah loved Jacob.
     There is a parallel here to the advent account. The Lord was born with dual heredity too-a pure inheritance from the Father, an impure inheritance from Mary, the mother. Rebekah's relationship to Jacob bears resemblance to Mary's relationship to the Lord. The Lord was on earth to do His Father's business. And in the course of His life He put off everything from the mother. What did the Lord receive from Mary?

141

A body and a natural heredity which was the means of His advent. But when He had made Himself Divine He rejected that Mary human.
     What did Jacob receive from his mother Rebekah?
     Literally, two choice kids of the she-goats, flesh to prepare for Isaac. Not the flesh of a wild deer such as Esau sought but flesh of a domestic animal. The difference is important to our understanding of this text. What Esau brought from his hunting was different from what Jacob brought from the flock. The meat of the deer signifies the kind of natural good we have described as firstborn" with man, the good of infancy and the good of remains. The meat of the domestic goats signifies a different kind of natural good, something the Writings call "natural domestic good." This is a good which a man derives from his parents, or into which he is born, "quite distinct," we are told, "from the good of the natural which flows in from the Lord" (AC 3518). This is what Jacob received from Rebekah; it is what we receive from our parents as well. The passage which describes these two "goods" also tells us how they were received in the Lord's case, for He too was born a man: "In the Lord these goods were most distinct," we are told, "for the good which He had from the Father was Divine, but that which He had from the mother was contaminated with hereditary evil. . .the natural good which the Lord derived from the mother, being contaminated with hereditary evil, was in itself evil, and this is what is meant by 'domestic good.' Although of such a character, this good was yet of service for the reformation of the natural. . ." (AC 3518, emphasis added).
     Rebekah loved Jacob. The mother provided her son with "domestic" Goods; not pure ones, but goods of natural life that were contaminated with hereditary evil. Jacob was motivated by Rebekah to seek his father's blessing. She put him up to it. This signifies how our native "hereditary affection promotes us.
     We too are motivated to seek the best blessing. We want heaven for ourselves-selfishly, at first. Such also was the intention of another woman for her sons, the mother of Zebedee's children, who came to the Lord, worshiping Him and desiring that her sons James and John be granted the privilege of sitting on His right hand and on His left (see Matt. 20:20f).
     We seek good for the wrong reasons. It is part of our heredity.
     And how do we get the blessing? Through a pretense.
     Rebekah had Jacob put on Esau's clothes and had him cover his hands and neck with the goatskins to carry the savory food to Isaac. Isaac was suspicious. "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son? And the voice was different.

142

Isaac called his son to come nearer so that he could feel him. "The voice is Jacob's voice," he said, "but the hands are the hands of Esau" (Gen. 27:20, 22). It was only by deception that Jacob got his father's blessing.
     Can we deceive the Lord? Can we find the happiness of heaven by lying and pretending as Jacob did? Certainly not. How then can we obtain the Lord's blessing? How can we apply some meaning of this account of Jacob's deception to further our own spiritual development?
     The literal story gives us a very simple answer. To get to heaven we have to pretend to be someone that we are not!
     We are not born angels. The loves of angelic life are not natural to us. We do not naturally incline to put our neighbor first and ourselves second. We do not naturally feel a sense of humility before the Lord. We do not naturally resist the inclination to seek revenge against those who offend us.
     These things are not natural to us, but they can be acquired. Like Esau's clothing and the skins of the goats, we can put these goods on.
     We have the ability to pretend to be the heavenly person we are not. That is the means of our reformation and regeneration. This is what is shown by the account of Jacob's deception and his later return. It took him twenty years, but Jacob came back a changed man from Haran-a man rich in the Lord's blessings. This is the promise for us.
     The Heavenly Doctrine supports this concept in the following teaching: "A man is. . .able to apprehend in his understanding, even should his will dissent or go contrary thereto, that the happiest life is from love to the Lord and from charity toward the neighbor. . . . This faculty of man of being able to understand what is good and true although he does not will it has been given to man in order that he may have the capacity of being reformed and regenerated; on which account this faculty exists with the evil as well as with the good. . ." (AC 3539:4, 6).
     The story of Jacob is an appeal to us to put on a new way of life. At first we put it on like a costume. It is not a true representation of our inner character. We are pretending to be what we are not-a good person-and we are seeking reward, the blessings of our Heavenly Father.
     The Lord knows. The words of our text show exactly what the Lord knows: "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau" (Gen. 27:22).
     Remember that Esau represents good, and Jacob truth. The "hands" of Esau signify the power of doing good, for the hands are the means by which a man works in the world. But it was not really Esau who came to Isaac. It was Jacob disguised like Esau, Jacob with hands like Esau.

143

     How often we present ourselves like Esau. We do things that are outwardly good. We pretend love of the neighbor. We emulate charity. But it is not us. It is a pretence-and it can be a most useful one.
     The Writings say that Jacob's deed pictures "inverted order" (AC 3563). "It is according to order for good, which is of the will, to be within," we are told, "and for truth, which is of the understanding, to be without" (Ibid.). But it can be otherwise, as it is here. So, we are told, "When man is affected with truth not for the sake of ends of life but for the sake of other ends [which are selfish]. . .then are the good of the natural and the truth of the natural in such an order as is here represented by Jacob. . ." (AC 3563:4).
     This is the order of our life before regeneration, and Jacob represents, at first, the unregenerate man. But this order leads to genuine order, serving as a means to it.
     After twenty years Jacob returned and was reunited with the brother whom he had cheated of his rightful inheritance and blessing. When they met it is said that Jacob "bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him. . ." (Gen. 33:3f).
     This touching scene of reunion signifies how the Lord restores man's order of life. We spend years in the process of regeneration, struggling to live the life of religion that is not really a part of us. The best we can do is compel ourselves to live it because we know we should. And, at last, we embrace it.
     It is in exposition of this very reunion of the brothers that we find the following principle of life in the Heavenly Doctrine that is so simple yet so important: "Act precedes, man's willing follows." This is a spiritual summary of the whole story of Jacob's deception. "Act precedes, man's willing follows: for that which a man does from the understanding he at last does from the will, and finally puts it on as a habit; and it is then insinuated into his rational or internal man. And when it has been insinuated into this, the man no longer does good from truth but from good; for he then begins to perceive therein somewhat of blessedness, and as it were somewhat of heaven. This remains with him after death, and by means of it he is uplifted into heaven by the Lord" (AC 4353e).
     So it was that the Lord allowed Jacob's deception to succeed. For the Lord wills that every man should be blessed with the blessings of heaven, and this is the way of it.

144

NATURAL LOVE FOR OTHERS 1988

NATURAL LOVE FOR OTHERS Rev. ALAIN NICOLIER 1988

     First of Three Articles

     "As I have loved you, so shall you love one another" (John 13:34).

     As we deepen our knowledge of the Word and its implications, we continuously perceive, even after years of study and experience, that love is always at the heart of the message.
     Should we become weary after such repetition? No, for the Lord is Love Itself, the very cause of creation is this love relationship, and it is the substance from which our souls are made. It may seem as though everything returns to this reference of love, and logically so, for it is infinite and eternal and is felt differently by everyone. This love that created us, nourishes us and keeps us alive is sought after by everyone in his own way. Because of the fall of humanity, we must relearn how to love. Our soul, the essential of the human, can no longer manifest itself easily nor instinctively as during the time of Eden, and today we have to learn what this is, how to have it and how to live it. We will now examine love in a new light, looking at an aspect which is of concern to all-our relationships with others.
     In a comparing of several texts such as Leviticus 19 in the Old Testament with Matthew 5, Mark 12, and John 13 in the New Testament, we can see that there are several different kinds of love and that each contains within itself several levels. The Writings separate these loves into three distinct degrees, celestial, spiritual and natural. Learning to love, something which we all desire but often possess neither the knowledge nor the means, requires understanding the implications of these three degrees in our own personal life so that during the process of regeneration we may see more clearly.
     To begin, we will look at the natural degree of love, for it is what most of us know and live even before reformation and regeneration. Natural love that we have for others exists through our blood ties. In fact, in the majority of families it is this external and superficial love, developed through living together, habits and the need for affection which reigns and is shared. Of course, if the relationship between parents and children is sufficiently good and allows the individual to grow, then the love can become spiritual and even celestial. Unfortunately, because of hereditary evil, this potential is often destroyed.
     Selfish love is also included as a natural love. It is loving another person for self, for the pleasure experienced and other advantages derived. In short, it is loving in order to receive something in return.

145

     There also exists a love from obligation. Even in love we often feel that it is out of obligation, as though we are obliged to love the other. This is not a love out of true affection but out of need, dependence on the other or out of "I have to."
     We find also friendships which are based on physical attraction of the flesh and thus superficial, being spurred by external aspects. If the affections stay on this level the relationship is short-lived.
     We may find that if we have an activity in common with others, one with a common goal, then a comradeship evolves and a type of friendship is founded based on the qualities of the activity. Once the activity is terminated or if there is some kind of separation then the friendship does not deepen but comes to an end.
     What about intellectual types of friendship-ones where a person is attracted to another by intellect, ideas and the possibility of having discussions which are mutually enriching? It is true that this friendship goes further than a purely superficial one, but it is not yet spiritual. These natural and external loves or friendships carry the risk of not lasting due to shallow bonds.
     There are dependency friendships as well, ones where one person looks up to another. This type leads to a denial or erasing, as it were, of one's own personality. This is either because the person is totally dominated, thus losing his own free will, or because one searches to be completely a part of the other, losing his own identity. There is a fear in being different from the other, what we call peer pressure. By not wanting to displease, the one conforms to the other's expectations. The dependency involved is proportional to the fear of being rejected.
     When a separation of friends does occur, an explanation can often be found in the difference in their goals. One person may be attracted by such qualities as depth of character or richness of heart, while the other is attracted by externals, a brilliant mind or a prestigious social position. If one loves the other for who he is unconditionally, while the other expects to get something in return, the relation is fragile unless changes are made. This purely natural love is dominant today and is represented by the Lord's words when He said, "If you love those which love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the publicans do the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so?" This friendship is, in fact, within everyone's reach since it is superficial and is part of our daily contact with those we meet every day or with those who are able to give us something in return. It only becomes useful when it can be conjoined to spiritual love. If it remains separated from spiritual love then it is out of selfishness. Two reasons are given for selfishness, one coming from the heredity and the other being confirmed out of choice.

146

(The first is more easily eliminated than the second.)
People raised in a parental environment where love of self is predominant must conform to powerful expectations which are stronger than themselves and so are not able to follow their own goals. When a person has been deprived of love and has not been given all that was needed, an emotional void is created. This void or emptiness often conjoins itself to a lack of interior and spiritual stability. If the individual has been raised in a rigorous environment with a misunderstood idea of what life is, then an emotional barrier may develop. Yet a child has a strong will to survive even if he may lack love and the feeling of being recognized and accepted as a person. On becoming an adult, he may learn to compensate for his wounded heart by other means. This act of compensation must be seen as a way of trying to create a balance for survival, because if Divine influx cannot enter in and be expressed through the person's will and love, then it will flow in through other channels and at times appear to be over-exaggerated. Some people compensate for their emotional failures through intellectual achievement. They hope to overcome the suffering they feel but become unable to express love for those around and may seem cold and distant. Others bury their emotional wounds through work or other activity. The pace of the activity is more or less according to the importance of their feeling of emptiness and the emotional frustration involved. They drown themselves in activity so far as to become so alienated and hardened that they no longer feel their open wounds still remaining. Deep feelings which have been buried and repressed emotions lead to difficulty in relationships, such as deterioration of friends and family relations. Over-sensitivity and susceptibility are indications of this. It is difficult to love, and they often feel inadequately loved themselves. It can reach the point of feeling completely unloved by all others, leading to a life of quiet loneliness, closing out the rest of the world and becoming bitter. They may beg for love, becoming aggressive to the people who cannot respond to their demands. Their emptiness can never be filled, and they find themselves alone. We sometimes find that this kind of person appears to be selfish, "me first," talking too often about self, bragging and showing off his personal achievements.
Another type of emotional compensation can be found in today's sexual liberty. The physical and sensual seem to present themselves as a solution, but it soon becomes clear that this activity does not solve anything in itself. Moreover, it complicates relationships because whether it is conscious or not, it is a pursuit of self instead of being an unconditional love.

147

     Those who are unsatisfied exhibit several different behavioral reactions. They become carried away in their own imagination, are self-centered and thus interpret everything from their own point of reference. They go so far as to lose a sense of reality and falsely perceive the intentions of others.
     People who try to impose their own views on others exhibit an emotional immaturity as well. Although their intentions may be good, they are sure that they are right. They try to help by teaching what they think are good habits, saying what they, would do: "If I were you. . . ." They impose on others what they believe to be the best path to take.
     While considering these different descriptions of love in a natural light, we can easily recognize ourselves in one or another situation. We all have a fallen heredity and numerous imperfections which translate into behaviors which stifle our happiness, causing us to cut ourselves off from others, and create a negative self-image. As the Lord said, to come to know true love one has to be reborn, discard the old man and replace it with a new one-the true human giving form to our souls. The Writings tell us that in order to regenerate, one must pass through several states. The first is becoming conscious of our present state, the way our ego functions. Life's "hard knocks" often force us to become aware of emotional problems by discovering the dependence we have on certain people and things. Two types of reaction may subsequently result after entering such a state of consciousness: either we start out on the way to regeneration, engaging ourselves in a long and difficult path toward liberation and toward the Lord, or we may instead build upon the existing barriers from fear of suffering even more. This attitude is dangerous because it leads to confirming oneself in a destructive state.
     So, how can we heal these wounds and change our outlook? How can the Lord regenerate us through our relationships with others with whom we want to share love? Several traps are to be avoided, and we will here look at some of them. One is thinking that we share a friendship with others when in fact it is not reciprocal; only one person has high expectations in the relationship. These expectations can be so strong that it becomes limiting. Only respect for another's freedom, which comes from true love, can free the relationship and bring it into balance and thus avoid frustration and rejection.
     Another danger is in making someone else responsible for one's own happiness. It is essential that each one continue working on his own regeneration, being responsible for the quality of his own life. Some married partners become so dependent on each other that each one loses his identity. Their desire to please the other is so excessive that their own needs often go unnoticed, confining the relationship to need/response instead of pleasure.

148

Hiding behind the desire to please at all costs could be the fear of eventually losing the other's love. Through conjugial love each one becomes more and more himself and this leads to a true union.
     The third trap is a lack of respect for the different pace at which the other evolves and develops; in short, a difference in pace of reformation and regeneration. There is the desire to speed up the other's development, to hurry the regeneration process. Similarly, if we were to pull on a stem of a plant in hopes that it would grow faster, we might break or uproot it. Rather than accelerate its growth, this would slow it down. It is important to respect the other person's freedom.
     When coming in contact with people who are love-starved, a typical response is to turn away and reject them. People who cling can be oppressive, and there can be a desire to escape from their entangling webs. We find ways to avoid those who waste our time, and try to keep at a distance from others who seem to monopolize our attention and affection. It is true that we have our free will, but it should not be exercised to reject people who are starving for love, who already have all their demands for love and attention nor give in to all their desires. It such low self-esteem! On the other hand, we do not have to try to meet is up to us, however, to help lead these people to themselves, to look for their good qualities above and beyond what bothers and repels us. Christ in His healing would say, "Your faith has healed you; your faith has made you whole." He concentrated on the positive found in others, the qualities of the heart and soul.
     In the next session we will take a more in-depth view of spiritual love. As a preparation try to begin with those who are close to you.

     - Develop a positive approach toward others so as to discover the good above and beyond the negative aspects and what annoys you.
     - Love can grow if we have faith in the other and in his willingness to be regenerated.
     - Sustain an unconditional love apart from the other's mistakes, apparent slowness in growth, and awkwardness.
     - Put all your trust in the Lord so that you can love others more and in a better way.

     As a final note, we must learn to be conscious and recognize the type of relationship we have with our friends, neighbors and those whom we love and those with whom we would like to develop a deeper relationship. In times of dissatisfaction we need to analyze our own attitude so that we can modify it and be reborn, and then be able to know the blossoming of our relationships.

149

EXCERPTS FROM THE NEW TRANSLATION OF TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 1988

EXCERPTS FROM THE NEW TRANSLATION OF TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION Dr. JOHN CHADWICK 1988

     The Lord Will Love You

     Ah, my friend, shun evil and do good, and believe in the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul, and the Lord will love you, and give you love so that you can act, and faith so that you can believe. Then you will be impelled by love to do good, and by faith, which is trust, to believe. And if you persevere in this, you will be linked with Him and He with you, and this for ever; and this is the essence of salvation and everlasting life (TCR 484).

     Regeneration Dramatized in Nature

     In the world there are various representations of regeneration, such as the way all the earth's products flower in springtime, and then stage by stage develop until they bear fruit; and likewise by the way any tree, shrub or flower grows from the first month of warm weather until the last. Another representation is the stages by which all fruits gradually ripen from the first rudiments to the full development. Then again it is represented by early morning and late evening showers, and by dew, which when it falls makes flowers open, and the shades of night make them close again; or again by the fragrant smells from gardens and fields. Another representation is by the rainbow in the cloud (Gen. 9:14-17), as well as by the glorious colors of sunrise. In general it is represented by the way everything in the body is continually renewed by means of the chyle and animal spirit, and so by the blood, which perpetually undergoes purification from exhausted matter, and is so renewed and, so to speak, regenerated.
     If we turn our attention to the humblest creatures on earth, there is a wonderful picture of regeneration presented by the way silk-worms and many caterpillars are transformed into nymphs and butterflies, and other insects which as time goes on are adorned with wings. To these examples even more trivial ones can be added, such as the fondness of certain birds for plunging in water in order to wash and cleanse themselves, after which they revert to their role as song-birds. In short, the whole world from first to last is full of representations and models of regeneration (TCR 687).

150

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (22) 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (22) Rev. James P. Cooper 1988

     My favorite passage in the Word is the one I am reading when an application to some situation or answer to some problem I am thinking about leaps out at me. Recently, I have been thinking about the view, all too common in the New Church, that the doctrines are too difficult, the ideas too intellectual, and the sermons and classes too long. But the Old Testament, New Testament, and Writings were written by God Himself to guide men in the world to heaven! How can it be that the Word is too difficult for men when it was written for them by the God who created them? Then I came across this passage from the Arcana:

     [Photo of Rev. James P. Cooper]

     "That every man in the world who is of sound reason has the capacity of understanding truth Divine, and consequently the capacity of receiving it, insofar as he desists from evils, has been given me to know by much experience. For all in the other life, without exception, both the evil and the good, can understand what is true and what is false, and also what is good and what is evil; but although the evil understand what is true and good, they nevertheless do not desire to understand, because their will and the evil therein make resistance.

151

And therefore when they are left to themselves, they nevertheless sink back into the falsities of their evil, and hold in aversion the truth and good which they had understood. The case had been the same with such persons in the world, where they had rejected truths, although they could understand them. From this experience it has become evident that the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord is continually flowing into human minds and adapting them to receive it, and that it is received in the proportion that the evils of the loves of self and of the world are desisted from (AC 9399:3-emphasis added).

     The idea that the Word is difficult to understand is from hell. It is the product of self-justification and the desire to continue in our favorite evils. The passage says, in essence, that everyone who shuns evils as sins will be led by the Lord to understand even the deepest heavenly arcana.
     The problem is not that the truths are too difficult, but that our lives are too evil.
     If we truly wish to understand the Word, all we need do is shun evils as sins against the Lord, and He will flow in with the Divine truth and will adapt our minds to receive it.
     Rev. James P. Cooper
HEAVENLY DRAMA 1988

HEAVENLY DRAMA 1988

The translation on the following page was first published in New Church Home and may eventually become part of a booklet of such translations. Mrs. Cooper has aimed at a sixth grade reading level. (See the remarks on targeting reading levels on p. 159.) Here is the place in the Writings in which angel women speak of a "sixth sense." Perhaps as you read it you may wish to have soft music playing, or perhaps you might save it to read first thing at the beginning of your day, for the story begins as Swedenborg is awakened in the morning by the sweetest of songs.

152

SIXTH SENSE 1988

SIXTH SENSE TRANSLATEDLISA HYATT COOPER 1988

     (Conjugial Love 155b)

     One morning the sweetest song woke me up. I heard it coming from quite far above me. The first moments after waking are deeper, more peaceful, and sweeter than any later time of day. So in these first moments I could be kept in the spirit for a while, almost outside my body. And I could pay close attention to the feeling of love expressed in the song.
     Song in heaven is just a particular feeling of love in the mind coming out of the mouth in different pitches. For when a person talks, there is a sound separate from the speech, which comes from a feeling of love. The feeling of love gives life to the speech.
     In this state of being just awake I could identify what I was listening to. It was love for the delights of marriage love, made musical by some wives in heaven. I realized this from the sound of the song. In it the delights of marriage love could be heard in wonderful changing forms.
     After this I got up and looked out into the spiritual world. And there in the east was a wonderful sight. A sort of golden shower appeared under the sun there. It was the morning dew, falling so densely that it looked to me like golden rain when the sun's rays hit it.
     Wakened still more fully by the sight of the rain, I walked out in the spirit and happened to meet an angel. I asked him whether he had seen the golden rain falling from the sun. He replied that he saw it every time he thought deeply about marriage love. Then he looked in that direction, and said, "The rain is falling on a palace where three husbands live with their wives, in the middle of a park in the east. The reason this kind of rain seems to fall from the sun on that palace is that the wisdom of marriage love and its delights has a home with those people. The husbands are wise about marriage love, and the wives are wise about its delights.
     "But I see you're thinking deeply about the delights of marriage love. So I'll lead you to the building and introduce you."
     He led me through parks and gardens to some houses built of olive wood, with two cedar columns in front of the door. Introducing me to the husbands, he asked them to let me talk with their wives in front of them. They agreed and called their wives.
     The wives searched my eyes carefully, and I asked, "Why are you doing that?"
     They said, "We can see there in detail what your attitude and feeling is about love of the opposite sex, and from this what your thinking is.

153

We can see you are thinking about it intently but still cleanly." So they asked, "What do you want us to tell you about it?"
     I answered, "Please tell me something about the delights of marriage love."
     The husbands approved, saying, "Please do. Both of them have chaste ears."
     The wives asked, "Who told you to question us about the delights of that love? Why not our husbands?"
     I answered, "This angel with me whispered to me that wives are the ones who receive and feel them. He said the reason is that wives are born to love, and all delights belong to love."
     Smiling they responded, "Be more guarded! Don't say such things unless you hide your meaning. We women store that piece of wisdom deep in our hearts. No husband finds out about it unless he has true marriage love. There are many reasons for this, but we hide them deep inside."
     Then the husbands said, "Our wives know all our moods. Nothing is hidden from them. They observe, sense, and feel everything that comes from our will. We, on the other hand, know nothing of what goes on in them.
     "Wives are the perceptive ones because they are the tenderest forms of love. It's as if they are one burning passion to protect the friendship and trust of marriage. By doing so, they seek to keep life happy for their husbands and themselves. They provide for this from the wisdom rooted in their love.
     "Their wisdom is so full of caution that they don't want to say they love, and so they can't say it. Instead they say they are loved."
     I asked, "Why is that?"
     They answered, "If the smallest hint of love were to fall from a wife's lips, it would chill her husband and drive him away from bed and bedroom, out of her sight. But this happens with men who don't consider marriage holy. Such men don't love their wives with a spiritual love.
     "It's different with men who do. They have spiritual love in their minds, and it produces a natural love in their bodies."
     "We in this palace enjoy a natural love which comes from spiritual love. And so," said the wives, "we trust our husbands with secrets about the delights we have from marriage love."
     Then I politely asked them to tell me some of those secrets too. At once they looked toward a window that faced south.
     Wonderful to see, a brilliant white dove appeared! Her wings shone as if they were made of silver, and her head was adorned with a crown that seemed to be made of gold.

154

She was standing on a branch which had an olive growing from it.
     While the dove was busy stretching her wings, the wives said, "We will open up some secrets. When this dove appears, it's a sign that we're allowed to."
     They said, "Every man has five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. But we women also have a sixth sense. It's a sense of all the delights that come from our husbands' love for us.
     "We sense these delights in our palms when we touch our husbands' chests, forearms, hands, or cheeks-specially the chest. We also sense them when our husbands touch us. All the happy and pleasant things they think, all the joy and gladness they feel, and the fun and laughter they have in their hearts-all these things cross over from them into us and take form. They turn into something that can be sensed, felt, even touched. And we can tell one feeling from another, clearly and distinctly. It's like the ear, which can distinguish the notes of song, or the tongue, which can sort out the flavors of a rich dish.
     "In other words, our husbands' spiritual pleasures take on a sort of natural body in us. That's why our husbands call us the sense organs of chaste marriage love and its delights.
     "But this sense of ours only comes to be, exists, lasts, and develops to the extent that our husbands love us from wisdom and good judgment and we in turn love them for the same things in them.
     "In the heavens this sense women have is called wisdom playing with its love and love playing with its wisdom."
     What they said inspired me with a desire to know more. For instance, I wanted to know about the different kinds of delights.
     They said, "There's an infinite number of them. But we don't want to say any more, because the dove in our window with the olive branch under her feet has flown away. And since we don't want to, we can't."
     I waited for the dove to come back, but in vain. Meanwhile, 1 asked the husbands, "Can't you sense marriage love in a similar way?
     They answered, "We can in general, but not in detail. We have general feelings of being blessed, happy, and cheerful. These come from our wives' more particular feelings. Our general feeling from their particular ones is like the calm of peace."
     After they said this another bird appeared outside the window! It was a swan, standing on a fig branch. He spread his wings and flew away. When they saw this, the husbands said, "This is a sign to us to be silent about marriage love. Come back from time to time and perhaps more will be revealed."
They withdrew and we left.           Conjugial Love 155b

155

Title Unspecified 1988

Title Unspecified Editor 1988

[Photo of Karen Swedenborg who came from Sweden for the Symposium 88 in Bryn Athyn. The photo shows her visiting the Swedenborg Foundation in New York.]

[Photo of Dr. Jane K. Williams-Hogan, Chairman of Symposium '88.]

156

GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS 1988

GENERAL CHURCH RELIGION LESSONS Peter M. Buss 1988

     1987

     This is my first and last report in this capacity. I took on the job on an interim basis because of the Reverend Alfred Acton's movement into Academy work. Next year it will be under the very capable leadership of the Reverend Fred Schnarr, who comes full-time into the General Church as Bishop's Representative for education.
     I am very impressed indeed with the organization of religion lessons. Under Alfred, and the Reverend Don Rose before him, the program has made new strides, and become even better. At present we have 322 students (from 225 families) enrolled in the preschool program, 188 students (from 90 families) enrolled in the grade-by-grade lessons, and 81 families in the family lessons. The festival lessons are received by 73 families.
     Most people who receive this report know what these different programs are, but a few words of reminder will be useful.
     Preschool: Lessons are developed and sent regularly to preschool children not in settled societies. Peggy Mergen is in charge of this work. Our many thanks go to Elizabeth Childs, who relinquished this responsibility after serving for several years.
     Grade-by-grade Lessons, already prepared, are sent to students from kindergarten through grade 8. We are beginning revision of some of these lessons. Kindergarten was completed by Kit Rogers. Carol Buss is beginning work on the first grade lessons. The hope is to make the lessons parallel as closely as possible our developing elementary school religion program.
     Festival: Nancy Ebert prepares lessons for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Swedenborg's birthday, Easter and New Church Day. They are: targeted at younger students, but the talks may be used for the whole family on these special occasions.
     Family: A group consisting of Barbara Childs, Doris Halterman, Nina Kline and Julie Pendleton meet weekly (or when the director is in town) to devise family projects aimed at five age levels. The idea is that each child in the family has a project suited to his or her age. The lessons follow the Dole Notes series. We are finished Series I in the Old Testament, Series II in the New Testament, and are starting OT Series II. We hope to prepare these for more permanent duplication.
     My warm thanks go to Bonnie Frazier, the chairman of Religion Lessons, and her committee for their many hours of dedicated work on these lessons, and to Bobbie Welch, the Religion Lessons secretary. She does a great job of seeing everything through the press, mailing it, storing it, and keeping records, both statistical and financial.
     Peter M. Buss, Director

157

Title Unspecified 1988

Title Unspecified Editor 1988

[Photo of Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden]

158

DR. KINTNER'S BOOK 1988

DR. KINTNER'S BOOK Editor 1988

     Dr. William R. Kintner has been working for months on a book of tremendous importance. We have mentioned it before (1987, p. 122) and will be doing so again. Some who aspire to write books are painfully aware, and some may be blissfully unaware, of how insignificant the publishing efforts of our church organizations are. When we produce something for ourselves, that is one thing, but when we publish something for the world the word "publish" means very little. The New Church person who writes a book can expect relatives and neighbors to buy copies, and can expect many of the copies to sit on a shelf with a paltry trickle of sales occurring intermittently over the years. This observation is not meant to criticize anyone but to point to a realm of need in publishing expertise.
     Dr. Kintner is in an entirely different category, being a known and respected author. That is one of the reasons this book, which still has years of work to be done on it, is so significant. What is the book about? A lengthy presentation in our January, 1985, issue answers that question amply. The title is Written with the Finger of God, and the subtitle is A Swedenborgian Perspective on the History of the Israelites from Abraham to Jesus. There are fourteen chapters, the headings of which are as follows:


Chapter I           A Distinctive Approach
Chapter II           A Spectrum of Israelite History
Chapter III           Before the Patriarchs-the Earlier Churches
Chapter IV           Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Chapter V           Egypt: the House of Bondage, Exodus and Sinai
Chapter VI           The Conquest of Canaan--Regeneration
Chapter VII           The Tribal Period-Temptation and Faith Alone
Chapter VIII           Saul, David and Solomon
Chapter IX           Division and Spiritual Decline
Chapter X           The Fall of Jerusalem and Exile
Chapter XI           Restoration and the End of the Prophecy
Chapter XII           Judaism and a Saving Remnant
Chapter XIII           Christianity and the Jews
Chapter XIV           A Look Toward the Future

159

TARGETING READING LEVELS IN TRANSLATIONS 1988

TARGETING READING LEVELS IN TRANSLATIONS Editor 1988

     Did you know that there is a computer program for determining the degree of difficulty in reading a given piece of writing? Did you know that an Academy professor is making use of this right now in preparing a translation of a book of the Writings? How does the computer do this?
     It can tabulate certain factors such as the average sentence length or the number of long words. You could find out about this from Rev. Bruce Rogers, and you can consult an article we published in April of 1982, especially the table on page 164 in which two translations of the same book of the Writings are compared, as well as two translations of the Bible.
     At the risk of saying what is obvious to some readers we would note that one can make two equally valid translations from one language into another, one of which is targeted toward elementary reading level and the other toward college graduate level.
     A striking achievement in translation was recently published by the General Church Press entitled Heaven's Happiness. Rev. John Odhner here translates several passages from the Writings with very young children in mind. Whereas Dr. Alfred Acton rendered a phrase: "Every delight gradually grows feeble and torpid, and wearies the animus more than labor," John Odhner renders it: "Every good feeling. . . gets tired and numb after a while. It wears out your mind more than work does" (CL 8:4).
     Material for reading to children is much to be desired, and something else greatly needed is translation that is very easy to read. New Church Home has been publishing for some time now a series of translations by Mrs. Kent Cooper (nee Lisa Hyatt). We are glad to present in this issue her translation of no. 155 of Conjugial Love, and at the same time to publish yet another excerpt from the new translation of True Christian Religion (see p. 149).
     D.L.R.
FREE WORSHIP 1988

FREE WORSHIP Editor 1988

Worship that is not forced, when it is genuine, is spiritual, living, clear and joyful.
Divine Providence 137

160

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     HIGHLIGHTS FROM SWEDENBORG'S LETTERS (3)

     Swedenborg in His Mid-Twenties 2

     Swedenborg was aware of the saying: "Man proposes; God disposes."* He had certain hopes and ambitions as a young man which were thwarted by circumstances. Because of his inclinations and abilities he pursued certain goals, but at a later date he found that other goals appealed to him more. We noted in the February issue that he once wrote in a letter that he was "introduced by the Lord into the natural sciences" between 1710 and 1744 (that is, between the ages of 22 and 56).
     * "Man proposes, God disposes." See NCL 1984. p. 59.
     From reading over the letters he wrote in his mid-twenties we conclude that he really did want to be a university professor and was hoping for an opening. When he reached the age of 36 a professorship was offered to him, but by that time he didn't want it! His reasons for not wanting it we will take up later. For the present let us look at the ambition of his mid-twenties.
     In February of 1716 he wrote to Benzelius, "I beg to get a proposition as to the means for a professorship in mechanics." Dr. Alfred Acton's comment on this is, "Emanuel was eager in this matter, foreseeing in a professorship the opportunity which he so longed for, of introducing into the university life, and into Sweden in general, the cultivation of practical science. . . ." The following month he tried again, and Acton comments that "his mind turned more and more to the thought of securing a professorship in Uppsala." In June of the same year he writes of his hopes for "an opening." In October when an opening seemed possible he wrote to the rector and asked to be favorably remembered.
     Besides that hope in his twenties, Emanuel had his projects. He was editing a scientific journal. He was writing poems for publication. In a letter he wrote on September 8, 1714 he spoke of his thoughts on "a flying carriage, or the possibility of staying in the air and of being carried through it." We notice that he sharpened his abilities by writing some letters in English and at least one in French, but usually wrote in Swedish sprinkled with Latin phrases.
     We note that in 1713 he experienced the one significant sickness of his life.

161

He wrote in a letter of "an illness which continued for six weeks, and took me from studies and all else that is useful; but still I am now at last restored, and am beginning to make myself known to the most learned men in this place." A sense of humor is evident in his twenties. He composed some fables of satire on the things going on in Europe so that he could "freely jest with serious matters, and sport with the heroes and the men of our country." Through native talent and also through remarkable perseverance he mastered various aspects of the sciences. In astronomy, as he remarks in a letter, he had "much brainracking" in the beginning. "Yet, long speculations do not come hard to me now." If he was not to be a professor, what use would come from these diligent studies? (To be continued)

     SWEDENBORG IN THE PAGES OF THE WRITINGS (4)

     Last month we mentioned those few places in the Writings in which Swedenborg says that he was "commanded." There are other passages in which the word "command" is not used but in which we see Swedenborg actually bidden to do something. When Swedenborg was meditating on the three universals of heaven, words came from heaven inviting him to certain things.
     After I reached home it was told me from heaven, "Examine these three universals, above and below, and afterward we shall see them in your hand" (CL 261).
     In this same sequence we find a telling phrase.
     While meditating on this, it was said to me by the Lord through an angel, "You shall now see the nature of that infernal love, and seeing, you will be confirmed" (CL 263).
     There are times when we sense that certain angels are participating in the process by which the Writings were written, and that phrase "by the Lord through an angel" may be applied to a number of instances.
     Swedenborg wanted to see the temple of wisdom, and angels said, "Follow the light, and you will find it" (CL 56). On one occasion Swedenborg was about to learn more profound things on a certain subject, but an angel said, "Enough for the present. Inquire first whether these things are above common understanding. If they are, why more? but if not, more will be disclosed" (CL 270).
     Once Swedenborg saw two angels who had come down from heaven, and he asked them why they had come down. They replied, "We have been sent here from heaven by command of the Lord to speak with you about the blessed lot of those who desire to rule from the love of uses" (CL 266).

162

     Occasionally angels are obviously aware that what is taking place will result in the writing and publishing of certain things. The most striking examples of this are the first of the interchapter memorabilia in the work Conjugial Love. In one a married pair is sent down to Swedenborg from the highest heaven specifically for him to see. They say to him, "Receive rationally what you are about to hear, and in the same way present it to the understanding" (no. 43). Then in the next paragraph we have arcana from the highest heaven deposited on a table in a locked room. "Then handing me the key, he said, 'Write'" (Ibid.).
     As a final example we note that Swedenborg was about to proceed to new discoveries in the other world.

     . . . but it was told me, "Rest a while; angel companions will be given you from the society next above them. Through these, light will be given you by the Lord, and you will see marvels" (CL 231).
LOVING AND LIKING 1988

LOVING AND LIKING Rev. Douglas Taylor 1988

     Communications
Dear Editor:
     My thanks to the Reverend Horand K. Gutfeldt for his kind remarks in the first paragraph of his review of the sermon entitled "How to Love the Neighbor Even When You Do Not Like Him."
     It seems to me that Dr. Gutfeldt has overlooked the fact that it was indeed a sermon. It was not intended to be a doctrinal class, an assembly address, an address to the Council of the Clergy, or an exhaustive treatment of the subject of love. As a sermon, it was simply a development of the text, "Love Your Enemies," looking to practical applications in our life. That, it seems to me, is what a sermon ought to do.
     It also seems that Dr. Gutfeldt has taken a very narrow view of "wishing well to others." He seems to limit it to some kind of vague wishing such as in the often mindless expression, "Have a nice day!" I infer this from his rather disparaging reference to "get-well" cards, which invariably are limited to physical well-being.
     To my mind "to wish well to others" means the same as "to will well to others." That thought pervades the whole sermon. It was derived from such teachings as these:

163

     Love in its essence is to will, and in its coming forth is to do; for what a man loves, he wills; and what he wills from love, he does (AE 797:4).

     The internal of man, and heaven in man, is charity-that is, willing well to another. . . . No one can be saved unless he has lived in the good of charity and so has become imbued with its affections, which are to will well to others, and from willing well to do well to them (AC 4776:1, 2).

     Charity and good works are distinct, as are willing well and doing well. . . (TCR 420 heading).

     Charity is to will well to the neighbor, and from that to act well with him (TCR 444).

     When we consider the implications and applications of these teachings, we see that they are indeed limitless. They are too numerous to consider in one sermon. Recognizing this, we can hardly think that there is any suggestion in the sermon that the whole subject had been reduced to a nutshell. That inference is Dr. Gutfeldt's. Likewise, I have searched the sermon in vain for any claim that the essence of love is exhaustible." The sermon makes no such claim. This has been read into it by Dr. Gutfeldt.
     He is surely mistaken in saying "that a sharp distinction between loving and liking is neither scriptural nor in the teachings of our church." The fact that there are two distinct verbs used in New Testament Greek would seem in itself to put the matter beyond doubt. Why have two words unless they mean two different things, or, at least, two different aspects? Consider, for example, the Lord's conversation with Simon Peter in John 21:15-17. Twice the Lord asks Peter if he loves Him. The verb translated "love" is agapao, which means "to love" in the sense of "being concerned for" or "considering the welfare of." This is the verb used whenever love is commanded. When Simon Peter replies, he always uses the other verb, phileo, which means "to love" in the sense of "being fond of' or "to be a friend of." It is obviously something personal. This verb is used very often in a negative sense in the Scriptures, as, for example, in: "For [the Pharisees] love to pray standing in the synagogue" (Matt. 6:5). And "they love the uppermost rooms at feasts" (23:6). And "they love greetings in the markets" (Luke 20:46). The verb agapao is never used in a negative sense. It is clearly a different kind of love from phileo, which could well be translated "to like."
     This adds great point to the fact that the Lord, when asking Simon Peter a third time if he loved Him, used Peter's word phileo. "Do you like me?

164

For the third time, Simon Peter uses the same word, saying, "You know I like you."
     To obliterate the distinction would be to obliterate something important. True, the Writings do not expound that particular aspect of the incident, but there are many passages elsewhere throughout that preserve the distinction. Consider the section in True Christian Religion treating of "the friendship of love" (TCR 446-449). Then there are the many teachings contrasting genuine charity, which looks to the good from the Lord in the person, and merely personal love, which always has a negative connotation.
     Perhaps Dr. Gutfeldt means that there are no passages explicitly making the distinction in either the Scriptures or the Heavenly Doctrine. But the conclusion that such a distinction exists is inescapable.
     There is no need to comment on the remainder of Dr. Gutfeldt's letter, as it speaks for itself.
     Rev. Douglas Taylor
SWEDENBORG SYMPOSIUM '88-EVENT OF THE CENTURY? 1988

SWEDENBORG SYMPOSIUM '88-EVENT OF THE CENTURY? Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz 1988

Dear Editor:
Could an occasion be the "event of the century" and also be a humbling experience? John Ruskin, the English writer and critic, has observed, "To know a thing well involves a profound sensation of ignorance." Such a sensation was indeed mine after attending the Swedenborg Symposium '88 sponsored by the Academy. It was something like the quiet smallness one feels on stepping back from a telescopic view of the starry heavens' Divine immensity. There was so much to behold at the symposium, such a multitude of interest in Swedenborg and the ideas published through him, that for me it felt as if I had attended the event of the century.
It was manifest that this intellectual gathering celebrating the 300th anniversary of Swedenborg's birth was thoroughly advertised. Such a sparkling variety of speakers, from one side of the globe to the other! From far Australia, for example. came Dr. Gabay, discussing the influence of Swedenborg on his countryman, Alfred Deakin, a late nineteenth century legislator and then prime minister of that vast nation.

165

From Sweden not one but three learned scholar-speakers. One of these was Lars Bergquist, the Swedish Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, who has just published a new edition of Swedenborg's Journal of Dreams and who is now working on a biography of him.
     The publicity given the symposium attracted a remarkable variety of participants as well, more than three hundred. In addition to the many members of the General Church laity and clergy came many others not only from other bodies of the church but also from the general populace. Among such latter types that I had the pleasure of meeting was, for example, a psychiatrist from western New York state. Still just becoming acquainted with Swedenborg, he had learned of the symposium from an announcement in a journal published by Bryn Mawr College.
     How good and how pleasant it was, among the representatives of so many viewpoints on Swedenborg and the content of all his writing, to breathe such a genial spirit of mutual respect-and cooperation. It was-as if all the twenty-plus scholars and their large, diverse audience were united by that bond of reverent admiration men feel when standing together at the feet of a giant of intellect and integrity.
     But although this admiration was thoroughly genuine, the symposium was clearly an academic, not a religious, convocation. It was a pooling of scholars' research and reflections on the significance of Swedenborg and the ideas in his works. (But this is not to say that there were not any contributions of an explicitly theological nature. A case in point was the Rev. Dr. Michael Stanley's lucid discussion of the concept of the proprium or ego in the Writings as compared to the concept of the self in Hindu philosophy.)
     Even new facets of Swedenborg's personal life flashed out. Was the youthful Swedenborg possibly a secret diplomatic courier to his nation's embassy in London? Yes, suggested Dr. Marsha Schuchard, who has researched Swedenborg's possible involvement in the then politically powerful Freemasonry movement. In fact, that political mission in his student days may have been the impetus to his risking imprisonment by breaking a British quarantine regulation to get into London.
     Considering the broad field over which Swedenborg's thought ranged, it is scarcely noteworthy that not all of his significant ideas were treated of. Radically significant concepts, like that of the mind-body relationship and the nature and function of language, did not chance to be dealt with. But on the whole there was a pleasing balance of presentations: a balance between discussions of Swedenborg's theological and pre-theological productions; between the influence of the ideas he published and the meaning of these ideas in themselves.

166

     "Glimpses of Heaven," the life to come as conceived of in Protestant and Catholic theology just prior to Swedenborg's day, was the subject of Dr. Bernhard Lang (a Catholic priest, incidentally) from the University of Paderhorn, Germany. He explained that the idea of heaven as a physically tangible place had been put forward by a few of Swedenborg's European theological predecessors, but what was totally new in Swedenborg's writing was the teaching that in the life to come good men and women will enjoy the fullness of marriage. The Rev. Dr. George Dole, the outstanding Convention scholar and translator, demonstrated that Swedenborg's penultimate work, The True Christian Religion, was quite probably written in part as an apologetic tract, i.e., that it was a defense of the Heavenly Doctrine against the attacks then being made on them in Sweden as a result of two teachers at the University of Gothenburg having lectured in favor of them.
     No fewer than six speakers took up the influence of Swedenborg on literary figures in Sweden and America; two spoke of his effect on American artists; another of his influence on city planning.
     Such generally secular and dispassionate considerations of what we in the New Church regard as Divine in its origin and holy in its content can be disconcerting. Considerations like these can give the impression that Swedenborg was simply a "product of his time" rather than the specifically inspired prophet of the Lord at His Second Coming. Yet the net potential result cannot but be enormously positive. Instead of a denial of the Divine presence and operation in Swedenborg's Writings-a denial of their status as Divine Revelation-a deeper insight and perception of the Divine Truth should well result. How marvelous was the opening of Swedenborg's mind, and the preparation of the minds of mankind to receive new, Divine light on their situation as children of the Divinely human, almighty God!
     It seems unlikely that there was a single participant in this symposium that did not have his or her eyes opened to a new awareness of the breadth and depth of Swedenborg's significance. One could not help feeling humbled, realizing that one knew, and still knows, so very little of the operation of the Lord's omniscient Providence in making His healing truth known. Yes, the Swedenborg Symposium was a humbling but "opening" experience.
     I venture to say that in a sense the Academy and our church will never now be quite the same. For among the new thoughts and ideas that entered our thoughts, new relationships have been seen and new insights have taken shape. A new form and quality of mind, individually and collectively, cannot but have resulted. Now we cannot help seeing ourselves as part of a larger world.

167

     A corresponding process led to productive results on a lower, broader scale as well. New acquaintances were made among scholars and professionals, both within the church at large and with those outside the church. In the spontaneous little groups of two, three or four that clustered at mealtimes one could see networks forming. Indeed, because one of the participants, Dr. Harald Sandstrom, invited all interested in Swedenborg and his influence in the field of psychological study and practice to sit together at the Tuesday luncheon, a conference on Swedenborg and psychology is now coming into being. It is planned for some time in 1989 or 1990.
     In all these effects this symposium exemplified (if I correctly understand the Lord's teaching in the Writings about the church) another aspect of the function of the New Church in the grand schema: the New Church is to function, as it is put in Arcana Coelestia 2853, as the "heart and lungs of the human race." Of the human race! The church's Divine use goes out thus far beyond her own particular members. Through such "breaths" as were taken at this symposium, and of course only by a ceaseless number of them, the Divine truth enters the "blood" of human society at large, again and again purifying and vivifying the thought-life of mankind.
     The Swedenborg Foundation's seminar in August, "The Continuing Vision," which also will celebrate the 300th anniversary of Swedenborg's birth, promises to be another of these life-sustaining "breaths."
     Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz,
          Bath, Maine
GENERAL CHURCH SCHOOLS EDUCATION COUNCIL 1988

GENERAL CHURCH SCHOOLS EDUCATION COUNCIL Editor 1988

     Glenview, Illinois

     August 7-11, 1988

     Speakers and Workshops on New Church Education

     Topic: "The Learner"

Open to the public Monday, 9:00 a.m. for keynote address and Monday - Wednesday, 8:00 p.m. to hear presentations on the future of Church education. You are also invited to the closing banquet Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m.

     For more information please call or write:

Rev. Fred Schnarr
Box 277
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009
(215) 947-1182

168

Church News 1988

Church News Ruth Motum Greenwold 1988

     COLCHESTER

     A dull January day was enlightened by a wedding in Colchester. Over 100 members and friends witnessed the marriage of our pastor, Rev. Kenneth Stroh, and Miss Janina Szymbra on January 9th, 1988.
     After the lovely Christmas services, Christmas sing and including the Christmas tableaux produced by Wendy Stroh, this was a wonderful way to welcome the new year.
     The chancel was adorned with 32 incurving yellow chrysanthemums glowing in dark greenery, cascading down either side of the altar. The bride and groom walked up the aisle together, Janina in a lovely white Victorian-style gown. Officiating was Rev. Frederick Elphick from Michael Church, London.
     Following the marriage service, a delicious buffet reception, including a wedding cake made by the bride's cousin, was held in the social room adjoining the church. Speeches and toasts were followed by the presentation of a cheque from Colchester Society members and friends to the happy couple.
     Although we have not reported lately to New Church Life, Colchester has its good share of church life. There are young people's weekends in spring or autumn, young adults' weekends in early spring and at Furze Hills, Mistley, in late May, society picnics.
     There is a thriving Theta Alpha chapter which runs five meetings a year, including in 1987, one given by Elizabeth Sharp on religion in China, and slides of her work there as a teacher.
     We had a games night in March, 1987 in aid of our local St. Helena Hospice (for the terminally ill), and our Harvest Festival produce goes to a home for mentally retarded men at Great Bromley, Essex.
     Our annual Autumn Fair in 1987 was combined with supper and a firework display.
     Our young people attend the British Academy Summer School at Purley Chase, near Birmingham, and members and friends enjoy the Hengrave Hall, Suffolk weekends in September.
     We are planning a British Assembly in July 1988 so we hope to see you there.
     Ruth Motum Greenwold
NEW TAPE OF RELIGIOUS SONGS 1988

NEW TAPE OF RELIGIOUS SONGS Editor 1988

The title of the new tape by Lori Soneson Odhner is "Arise." The songs include "Trust in the Lord," "I Was Hungry," "Here Am I" and others. A list of words and Scriptural references comes with the tape for $5.00. Write to the editor of this magazine or your New Church book outlet.
SYMPOSIUM '88 1988

SYMPOSIUM '88 Editor 1988

Recordings of the addresses given at Symposium '88 are now available from the Sound Recording Committee, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 (phone 215-947-1889).

169

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1988

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES Editor 1988

     Announcements

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     THE RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 19009, U. S. A.

     PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES

     Information on public worship and doctrinal classes provided either regularly or occasionally may be obtained at the locations listed below. For details use the local phone number of the contact person mentioned or communicate with the Secretary of the General Church, Rev. L. R. Soneson, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, Phone (215) 947-4660.

     (U. S. A. addresses next month)

     AUSTRALIA

     CANBERRA
Mr. and Mrs. Barrie Ridgway, 68 Hilder St., Weston, Canberra, A. C. T. 2611. Phone: (062) 881-777.

     SYDNEY, N.S.W.
Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom, 22 Dudley Street, Penshurst, N.S.W. 2222. Phone: 57-1589.

     BRAZIL

     RIO DE JANEIRO
Rev. Cristovao Rabelo Nobre, Rua Lina Teixeira, 109, ap. 101, Rocha, CEP 20.970., Rio de Janeiro. Phone: (021) 201-8455.

     CANADA

     Alberta:

     CALGARY
Mr. Thomas R. Fountain, 1115 Southglen Drive S. W., Calgary 13, Alberta T2W 0X2. Phone: 403-255-7283.

     EDMONTON
Mr. Daniel L. Horigan, 10524 82nd St., Edmonton, Alberta T6A 3M8. Phone: 403-469-0078.

171

     British Columbia:

     DAWSON CREEK
Rev. Glenn G. Alden, Dawson Creek Church, 9013 8th St., Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada V1G 3N3.

     Ontario:

     KITCHENER
Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt, 58 Chapel Hill Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

     OTTAWA
Mr. and Mrs. Donald McMaster, 726 Edison Avenue, Apt. 33, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3P8. Phone: (613) 729-6452.

     TORONTO
Rev. Michael Gladish, 279 Burnhampthorpe Rd., Islington, Ontario M9B 4Z4. Phone: (416) 239-3054.

     Quebec:

     MONTREAL
Mr. Denis de Chazal, 17 Baliantyne Ave. So., Montreal West, Quebec H4X 281. Phone: (514) 489-9861.

     DENMARK

     COPENHAGEN
Mr. Jorgen Hauptmann, Strandvejen 22, Jyllinge, 4000 Roskilde. Phone: 03-389968.

     ENGLAND

     COLCHESTER
Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh, 2 Christchurch Court, Colchester, Essex C03 3AU Phone: 0206-43712

     LETCHWORTH
Mr. and Mrs. R. Evans, 24 Berkeley, Letchworth, Herts. SG6 2HA. Phone: 0462-684751.

     LONDON
Rev. Frederick Elphick, 21B Hayne Rd., Beckenham, Kent BR3 4JA. Phone: 01-658-6320.

     MANCHESTER
Mrs. Neil Rowcliffe, 135 Bury Old Road, Heywood, Lanes. Phone: Heywood 68189.

     FRANCE

     BOURGUINON-MEURSANGES
Rev. Alain Nicolier, 21200 Beaune, France. Phone: (80) 22.47.88.

     HOLLAND

     THE HAGUE
Mr. Ed Verschoor, Olmenlaan 17, 3862 VG Nijkerk

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Rev. Robin Childs, 132 Edmunton Rd., Henderson, Auckland 81, New Zealand.

     NORWAY
OSLO
Mr. and Mrs. Klaus Bierman, Bakketoppen 10 A. 1165 Oslo 11. Phone: /(0) 2/ 28783.

     SCOTLAND

     EDINBURGH
Mr. and Mrs. N. Laidlaw, 35 Swanspring Ave., Edinburgh EH 10-6NA. Phone: 0 31-445- 2377.

     GLASGOW
Mrs. J. Clarkson, Hillview, Balmore, Nr. Torrance, Glasgow. Phone: Balmore 262.

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal:

     DURBAN
Rev. Geoffrey Howard, 30 Perth Rd., Westville, Natal. 3630. Phone: 031-821 136.

     Transvaal:

     TRANSVAAL SOCIETY
Rev. Norman E. Riley, 44 Queen Street, Irene, TVL., 1675, R.S.A. Phone: 012-632363.

Zululand:

     KENT MANOR
Rev. James Cooper, visiting pastor
Mrs. D. G. Liversage, Box 7088, Empangeni Rail, 3910, Natal, South Africa. Phone: 0351-23241.

     Mission in South Africa:
Rev. Geoffrey Howard (address above)

     SWEDEN

     Jonkoping
Contact Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, Bruksater, Furusjo, S-566 00, Habo. Phone: 0392-203 95.

     Stockholm
Contact Rev. Daniel Fitzpatrick, Aladdinsvagen 27, S-161 38 Bromma. Phone: (08) 26 79 85.

172

Now is the time to order 1988

Now is the time to order Editor 1988

     Graduation Gifts

Arcana Caelestia, New Translation, Vols. 1-5          each $13.00
Golden Thread, G. Childs                         7.95
Providence and Free Will, D. Goodenough               5.95
Education for Use, W. D. Pendleton                    12.00
Window to Eternity, B. Henderson                    6.95
You and the Opposite Sex, M. Pryke                    3.80

     Reprints:
Invisible Police                              5.80
Wedding Garment                              5.20
In the Kings Service                              4.50
Golden Heart                                   4.30
Life of the Lord                              8.00
Glorification                                   7.00
Selected Papers and Addresses                    7.00
Tabernacle of Israel                              9.00

     Available on any book:
Gold letter imprinting, average price                    6.00
Gift Wrapping                              No charge
Postage per book                              .70

General Church Book Center      Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Box 278, Cairncrest                    or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                    Phone: (215) 947-3920

173

Notes on This Issue 1988

Notes on This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII May, 1988 No. 5
NEW CHURCH LIFE

174

     Notes on This Issue

     They say, "You can't take it with you." Well, that is not all-inclusive. See Mr. Pelle Rosenquist's short article, "Expectations."
     Because of the number of our ministers, we have made it a custom in recent years not to publish a sermon by the same minister in two consecutive years. When we decided to publish sermons by Rev. Don Rogers in two consecutive issues (because they go together) he commented that perhaps this would be his quota until the turn of the century.
     Some ministers have been hesitant about the "favorite passage" series, because they do not wish to single out just one passage. We are encouraging them to use this series even if they do not have one favorite passage. This is producing some very interesting reading, as witness the piece by Michael Cowley in this issue.
     The material that has been coming in for this magazine sometimes has fascinating postage stamps. We have an article this month from France and one from Australia, with letters from Japan and England. As we prepare this issue the winter does seem to be giving way to something warmer, and Richard Linquist's timing is perfect (p. 213).
     A hundred years ago there was considerable attention to Swedenborg's bicentennial (see p. 204). None of our readers can remember those times, but most will be aware of some of the tricentennial events. And now, thanks to Leon Rhodes (also Norman Heldon), one can get an idea of most of the tricentennial events that have taken place so far this year. On p. 195 Mr. Rhodes speaks of 3700 books being sent out in Canada. As we go to print the figure is close to four thousand. Mr. Rhodes's article was accompanied by a number of newspaper clippings, a few of which we have reproduced in part with the text. Below is a note that appeared in an Arizona newspaper.

     Sunrise Chapel

     As part of the Tricentennial Celebration of the Birth of Emanuel Swedenborg, the Rev. Frank Rose will be donning an eighteenth Century costume and answering questions about the famous scientist, 7 p.m., Feb. 21, Sunrise Chapel, 8421 E. Wrightstown Road.
     Please tell your artistic and creative friends about the prize being offered (p. 179) for a pastor's "business card.

175

CASTING OUR NETS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BOAT 1988

CASTING OUR NETS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BOAT Rev. DONALD K. ROGERS 1988

     The Most Effective Way to Catch Men

     "He said to them, 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish" (John 21:6).

     Last month we saw how the story of the Lord's call of fishermen to be His disciples represented the education and preparation of people to teach others about the New Church. We also saw how important it is to strive to cultivate the love of teaching others within ourselves and our children. This month we will look at the second story of the disciples' fishing which represents our actual efforts at evangelization. Once our preparation to evangelize is complete by means of New Church education, we must then share what we have learned with others outside the church. Not to do so is said in the Word to be spiritual avarice (see ISB 16, Luke 16:19-31, 12:13-20).
     In the story, the disciples fished all night and caught nothing. Presumably they had been fishing only on the left side of the boat. The Lord now appeared to them early in the morning and asked them if they had any food. They answered Him, "No." And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find." So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish" (John 21:6).
     Here in the underlying spiritual sense of this verse is the key to bringing multitudes of people into the New Church. For the least effective and least satisfying way of catching people is represented by fishing on the left side of the boat. For it was after they had fished on the left side of the boat that the Lord asked them if they had any food, i.e., whether they were getting any satisfaction out of their evangelization efforts. They answered Him, no, just as many of us have probably answered no to this question. This is because we only derive delight and satisfaction out of something when we do it in the right way, for the right reasons, and then get tangible results from our efforts.
     The right way and the right reasons which will bring results and satisfaction are represented by the disciples doing as the Lord said and fishing on the right side of the boat. The left side of the boat means truths alone. So to fish on the left side of the boat represents to teach truths of faith as mere doctrinal matters which are to be believed.

176

But to cast the net on the right side of the boat represents three important things: 1) to teach the goods of charity (see CL 316); 2) to live a life of charity at the same time (see AC 10061:3); and 3) to teach from a spirit of charity (see AE 513:16). If all these things are done, then we are casting our net on the right side of the boat and will catch multitudes of men for the New Church.
     The very first thing we need to do if our evangelization efforts are to be truly effective is to shift our focus away from presenting our doctrine as a system of beliefs-"We believe this; we believe that"-to one of how these doctrines affect our lives and make them better. That is the definition of the good of charity. We should be able to answer the questions, "What does the New Church do for us as people? What good is it? What can it do for others? How can it change the world and make it a better place to live in? What lasting effects does it producer"
     The amazing thing is that when we begin to think in this way, the answers multiply rapidly in our minds. We can think of all kinds of wonderful, exciting, and helpful things to tell people about our religion. The answers multiply like the fishes that the disciples caught, so that they could not draw in their nets.
     For example, we could say the New Church helps us to love the Lord and our neighbor. It helps us to find eternal happiness in our marriages. It helps us to weather the storms and colds that arise in most marriages. It helps us to find the right person to marry in the first place. It causes us to want to do a good job no matter what our job is. It causes us to be honest, just and merciful. It tells us we should place others above ourselves; not to do anything that harms others; to love our country and community; to have pity on those less fortunate than ourselves. Best of all, it teaches that these things make us happy forever.
     In summation, the doctrine of the New Church teaches the good of charity (see AR 14), and the list of good things it teaches could go on forever when we change our focus from teaching beliefs to teaching the good of life. "For so far as knowledges are derived from good, so far they live and are multiplied" (AE 513:16; cf. AC 10061:3, 4715, 4844:4).
     Furthermore, by teaching the good of life, we can reach people on the natural level of their lives. Today, as in the days of the disciples, people are more natural than spiritual (see AE 513:16). But even natural people can be reached when taught that the doctrine of the New Church can make a difference in their lives. The Writings say, "Everyone from mere natural light can know that everything of doctrine has regard to life" (AC 4715).
     Moreover, when we focus on the teachings of charity, we can often avoid heated arguments over matters of belief.

177

This is good, because arguing doctrine with people will not get us anywhere. It only makes people more confirmed in their own faith.
     However, if we emphasize the life of charity, we may actually find we have many common concerns with the person we are talking to. The Writings say, "When with each and all, love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, that is, the good of life, is the essential thing, then churches, however numerous they may be, make one church, all then being one in the Lord's kingdom"(AC 6269), and that "all hatreds of one against another would be dissipated in a moment" (AC 1799).
     So if we emphasize the New Church's doctrine of charity, we will draw closer to people and have fewer arguments. Thus we will be much more effective in sharing the good of life which the doctrine of the New Church teaches. We will share common concerns. We will be able to develop a feeling of brotherhood with other Christians. "If charity is considered the essential thing of the church, then would each person say, in whatsoever worship he might be, 'This is my brother; I see that he worships the Lord and is a good man'" (AC 2385).
     However, for someone to see that we are Christians, we must live the life of charity which our doctrine teaches. People are not going to join a hypocritical church that teaches the good of charity but whose members do not practice it.
     If people come to church and see bickering gossiping, backstabbing, etc., they are not going to stick around long. If our marriages are falling apart, if we are drunken and dishonest, people will think that the doctrine of the New Church is useless and certainly false.
     For example the Writings tell us that "there were gentiles [in the next life] . . . who had known from social intercourse and reports that Christians lead the very worst lives-in adulteries, in hatreds and quarrels, in drunkenness, and the like things-at which they are affected with horror, because such things are contrary to their laws, their morals, and their religion: In the other life these are more timid than others in receiving the truths of faith" (AC 2567). These have to be told that Christian doctrine teaches charity, but that Christians simply do not live by it.
     We do not want to have to do that. We do not want to have to make excuses for the way people of the church live, in order to defend the doctrine. Instead, we want our light to so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify God in heaven. We want people to see that the doctrine of the New Church is good and teaches what is good.
     People have come into the church because they have seen the difference that the New Church makes in the way people live their lives.

178

If we live exemplary lives, others also will want to know and to have what we've got. Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you will find the people.

     The final thing we need to do in order to cast our net on the right side of the boat is to do our evangelization from charity. What this means is that our motives must be to help people live better lives, to find greater happiness, and especially to be their friends, rather than to get numbers, students, or money for the church. For if our motives are for the latter reasons, they are selfish and from the proprium. This selfish motive is one of the things represented in the story by the disciples fishing at night and catching nothing (see AE 513:16).
     But if our motives are to help people live better, happier lives, and to be their friends, we are casting our net on the right side of the boat add will bring people into the church.
     Being their friends is extremely important. The Writings say that the people we are to evangelize "are to be regarded as friends, and are to be instructed and amended" (AC 9255:2-emphasis added). The word "friend" here is very important and can easily be overlooked. But experience has shown and confirmed that friendship is very important in bringing people into the church, for the largest percentage of people who came into the church came in through friends. And those who stayed were those who made more friends at church within the first few months of their coming to church. If they don't, they usually leave.
     So regard newcomers to the church not as curiosities, added numbers, customers, potential students, or more money, but as friends. After all, would you like to go to church in a building full of strangers? Would you accept instruction and advice from total strangers on how to amend your life? So make friends and you will be casting your net on the right side of the boat.
     If we are to be really effective in the work of evangelization, our focus must change from teaching doctrine as something to think to something which teaches us how to live as good Christians.
     There is a real use in being in a truth-oriented phase when we are, learning truths in order to become teachers of others, just as the apostle Peter was in a truth-oriented phase when he was first called to become a fisher of men. At that stage of his life he was called Simon or Peter. Simon means hearing, and Peter means truth. He, above all the disciples, represents those who learn truths so that they can teach others. Therefore he is the disciple whom the Lord most often directly instructed (see AE 820:5).
     He taught Peter about charity and that a brother was to be forgiven as often as he sinned (see Matt. 18:22, 21).

179

He taught Peter about regeneration and how one having washed his internal man then only had to cleanse his external man (see John 13:11). He taught Peter that only spiritual men are truly free (see Matt. 17:24-27).
     But when Peter was to go out and actually teach others himself, he had to learn that he needed to be more than just delighted in learning truths and discussing matters of doctrine. He had to live the good of life that doctrine teaches and teach others that good of life. Therefore, when the Lord told him to cast on the right side of the boat, he was called Simon Peter and Simon, son of Jonah. Simon here means actual obedience or hearkening to the truth and teaching charity from charity, Jonah meaning love (see AE 448:4).
     Similarly, when we go out to teach people, we must also change from bring truth-oriented to being charity-oriented, in our teaching, in our lives, and in our motives. We must be "Simon, son of Jonah."
     This takes a conscious effort on our part. This is what is represented by the Lord's questioning Peter three times concerning his love for Him. Note: it was only after Peter said he loved the Lord that the Lord told Peter, now called Simon, son of Jonah, to feed His lambs and sheep. To feed" means to instruct those who will become part of the New Church.
     Likewise, we should often question ourselves to make sure that we have the good of life as our focus when we evangelize. If we do, the Lord assures us that we will bring people into the church to overflowing. "Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some" (John 21:6). Amen.

     LESSONS: John 21:1-19, AE 600:7 PRIZE FOR DESIGNING A PASTOR'S "BUSINESS CARD" 1988

PRIZE FOR DESIGNING A PASTOR'S "BUSINESS CARD" Editor 1988

Some New Church pastors would like to have distinctive business cards, and now a prize of $100 has been offered for the best design of such a card. Please send your design to the editor before the 19th of June.

180

NEW VISION 1988

NEW VISION Rev. PATRICK ROSE 1988

     It is sometimes argued that what the Writings say about the Old Christian Church-all the many harsh things that are said-are no longer really applicable today. After all, the Christian churches of the 1980s are not the same as the Christian Church which was judged in 1757.
     There is a lot of evidence which can be pointed to as support for such a viewpoint. As far as beliefs are concerned, it would certainly appear that orthodox Christian doctrines have taken a terrible beating, and have undergone major revisions in recent times. Besides, even where those "old-fashioned" creeds are still "on the books," these creeds are not what most people actually believe. Then there is the way people live. All of us, I am sure, know people-Christians-who seem full of love, full of charity-wonderful people indeed!
     There is strong evidence indeed to support the viewpoint that Christianity is not as bad as it used to be, and even the view that other churches are not really all that different from our own. Certainly the difference does not seem to be as great as was held to be the case in the General Church a number of decades ago.
     There is reason, though, to be extremely cautious when it comes to embracing the trends of contemporary Christianity. Certainly there have been changes since the Last Judgment. Indeed, the Lord executed the Last Judgment precisely so that there might be changes. In the spiritual world these changes were drastic; indeed, for the evil in that world they were catastrophic. The changes in this world were less obvious: the Writings say that the events in the spiritual world would not "induce any change in the natural world as to the external form" (LJ 73). The various churches, and their doctrines, would continue as before. There would, though, be a change as to freedom of thought: ". . . henceforth the man of the church will be in a more free state of thinking on matters of faith, thus on the spiritual things which relate to heaven, because spiritual freedom has been restored to him" (Ibid.).
     There have, as a consequence, been changes-obvious changes-when it comes to the freedom with which people question the teachings of their churches. Contemporary American Catholicism's widespread rejection of papal authority is perhaps the most obvious example.
     At the same time, though, some things which are pointed to as evidence of change are not really changes at all.

181

Take the argument that people no longer really believe the creeds of their churches, and don't even know what these creeds are. This is really no different from the way it was when the Writings were written. Even though people were then less free to question these things in their minds, and were even more restrained when it came to what they could question openly, they still didn't really know what their churches actually taught. Many Protestants didn't know, for example, that their churches taught that they had no spiritual freedom of choice. (A careful reading of TCR 463 makes this quite plain.)
     Then there is the argument that the Christian world must have changed because there are now so many good Christians in the world. This, though, does not constitute a fundamental change in Christianity. There were also good Christians both before and up to the time of the Last Judgment. Those who were good were, in the other world, raised into the New Heaven. The Writings state, and state emphatically (see F 72), that those who, despite a belief in faith alone, have lived good lives are not condemned.
     What was wrong with Christianity was that Divine truths were in a state of obscurity (see LJ 38). Where people cannot see Divine truth clearly, they can be only in natural good. They can, of course, still be saved, for when they receive Divine truths after death, they then come into spiritual good. But in this world, where there is no clear sight of Divine truth the spiritual development of people cannot progress. There cannot be a truly Christian Church where there is a confused vision of Divine truth, and thus no true image of the Lord Himself.
     This is why the Lord made His second coming. The Lord didn't merely arrange to establish another branch of Christianity. He has actually come again, by providing a clear vision of Himself-a wonderful vision so desperately needed by those whose minds were clouded in obscurity. And as to the need for this vision of the Lord, nothing has changed. There is still deep obscurity in the world. There is no clear vision of the Lord Jesus Christ.
     It is in conveying the good news of this vision that the New Church finds its most urgent mission. We are not here to provide just one more alternative type of local neighborhood church. We are not here simply to expand our own particular organization. We are most certainly not here to prove to others that in some mysterious way we are better than they. We are here to cherish, uphold and propagate a gospel, a wonderful new gospel-the gospel of the Lord in His second advent.

182

EXPECTATIONS 1988

EXPECTATIONS S. PELLE ROSENQUIST 1988

     We make ourselves miserable by our expectations. What is worse, we may even be letting them condemn us. For we can spiritually cripple ourselves by creating an imaginary world based on our expectations and then make that world "real" by confirming our reactions to it.
     There are both positive and negative expectations, each of which can be harmful. An expected positive event which does not occur depresses us in the end, while an expected negative event which does not happen depresses us from the beginning. Therefore, since our life is filled with both positive and negative expectations, there is the potential for being depressed all the time-from beginning to end. Even expectations which are eventually realized can affect us unfavorably. The actual occurrence of a dreaded event may, for instance, only confirm the apparent validity of our negative expectations and make us more negative.
     The fact is, we are forever setting standards against which we measure the events of life, and as these so-called standards are necessarily subjective, we tend to evaluate virtually everything in terms of what we expect rather than in terms of what is. And what is-at any moment in which we are willing to see it-is the opportunity to regenerate. Unfortunately, our expectations blur our awareness of this elevating fact and thus serve to retard our development.
     Since what occurs in the natural is but a reflection of a spiritual cause, much of the muddle made by our expectations on the surface of our natural life reflects certain subjective-and therefore dangerous-expectations that may be present in, and making a muddle of, our spiritual life.
     If we are serious about the progress of our spiritual growth, as most readers of this publication are, we have all shared the feeling that our progress was not up to expectations. Perhaps the expectation was that progress would be made as long as evils were shunned. In a sense that is all that is necessary, but it is possible that our expectations have blurred our vision of what shunning really means and where we must be, spiritually, to facilitate genuine progress. For effective shunning can only be done by an individual acting out of a certain state and accompanied by certain actions of a positive nature.

183

     The Writings make it clear that we cannot actually understand or act from anything spiritual without (1) raising our minds above thoughts of space and time, and (2) raising and keeping our thoughts in spiritual light for a sustained period. One must be, to some degree, in compliance with these two admonitions when shunning in order for that act to be truly a shunning of an evil as a sin against God. For only apart from space and time and in the light of the spirit are we able to do that in any meaningful way, in a way that can begin to transform us. For the way to heaven is not formed by simply establishing a consistent record of not having done something considered evil. Rather, it is the result of having done something in a way that is becoming ever more angelic. The Lord then responds to vivify what appears to be the result of our as-of-self effort, thus making it truly an act performed as if by an angel (". . . no one becomes an angel, that is, comes into heaven, unless he carries with him from the world what is angelic"-DP 60).
     Carries with him from the world! So, contrary to the time-worn popular saying, you can-you do, in fact-"take it with you." What "it" is is either what is angelic or something imaginary, something created by our expectations and perpetuated by our ill-conceived intellectual or emotional habits based upon them. We "infirm" our spirit with these habits, and instead of coming to the other world with what is angelic, we arrive with our infirmities-crippled by our expectations.
     What is the difference between an actual physical infirmity, like a crippled or missing limb, and an imaginary one-perhaps as common as expecting to be and therefore habitually feeling tired after even routine mental or physical activity? The actual infirmity which one has learned to "live with" will disappear at death (we will be made whole), while the imaginary one, because we created it (and love it) will then become actual after death. This is a very tangible example of what is meant by confirming an evil. We come to really believe in its existence and thus give it permanence in our life, or more accurately, in our death. There are no tired angels.
     During our efforts to raise and keep our minds in spiritual things, we will begin to glimpse the real obstacles to our regeneration: those things we do not want to give up, those things we cannot imagine our life without. Inevitably, as we reflect, in the light of the spirit, on what must change in our life to permit transformation, each of us will come face to face with those expectations, those habits of our life that stand in the way. Once they have been recognized, acknowledged and identified as evil, we will cease expecting to become an angel and then, for the first time, have the hope of becoming one.

184

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (23) 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (23) Rev. Michael K. Cowley 1988

     Imagine wisdom as a magnificent and finely decorated palace. One climbs up to enter this palace by twelve steps. One can arrive at the first step only by means of the Lord's power. As a person climbs these steps he perceives that no one is wise from himself but from the Lord. The twelve steps into the Palace of Wisdom mean love in union with faith.
     Like others who have written for this monthly feature I have many "favorite" passages, and I am going to suggest now no. 36 of Divine Providence, which I will quote in a moment. I am using this opportunity to express something of the way I invite people to a twelve-step program.
     Most people have heard of the "Twelve-Step Program" used in Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, Over Eaters Anonymous, and a variety of other "Anonymous" recovery and self-help groups, but not many know of the relationship between the principles behind these twelve steps and the Writings of Swedenborg used in the New Church. Yet the Writings of Swedenborg and the faith of the New Church were major influences in the formation of the Twelve-Step Program.
     Bill Wilson was one of the co-founders of AA, and the author of the Twelve Steps as they originally appeared in the book Alcoholics Anonymous. He was a man of fierce ambition, keen insight, and an undying spiritual thirst for close personal contact with the Lord.
     Bill first came in contact with Swedenborg's Writings during the summer of 1915 while falling in love with Lois Burnham, the oldest daughter in a strong New Church family. The spirituality of their Swedenborgian faith and the sphere of their home fascinated and delighted him. He found out that Lois was the granddaughter of Rev. N. C. Burnham, a Swedenborgian scholar and one of the founders of the Swedenborgian Academy of the New Church. The family was very active in the Brooklyn Swedenborgian church, and Lois was quite involved in the church's "Young People's League."
     In her autobiography, Lois Remembers, she recounts fond memories of her New Church home life, including her delight in Sunday dinner discussions with the visiting minister and her other friends from the church. She tells of the strength and guidance she received from Swedenborg's teachings, especially as a young woman dealing with the difficult pressures of dating and courtship. In January of 1918 Bill and Lois were married in the Swedenborgian church in Brooklyn, New York.

185

     [Photo of Rev. Michael K. Cowley]

     As with most, the story of Bill's alcoholism is a sad one. A brilliant man when it came to the stock market, he nonetheless deteriorated to the point of being committed several times to hospitals as a result of his disease. He continuously received strong support and love from his wife and her family, but fifteen years after marrying Lois, his life was in ruins and his faith was gone. No one really understood his disease. No one could really help him. He hit rock bottom.
     In his helplessness and desperation Bill cried out, "I'll do anything, anything at all!" He reached a point of total, utter deflation, a state of complete, absolute surrender. With neither faith nor hope he cried, "If there be a God, let Him show Himself!"
     That state of surrender was the opportunity his God had been waiting for. What followed was a spiritual experience akin to those reported by people with near-death experiences. "Suddenly my room blazed with an indescribably white light. I was seized with an ecstasy beyond description. Every joy I had known was pale by comparison. Seen in the mind's eye there was a mountain. I stood upon its summit, where a great wind blew-a wind not of air but of spirit. In great, clean strength it blew right through me. Then came the blazing thought, 'You are a free man.' A great peace stole over me, and this was accompanied by a sensation difficult to describe. I became acutely conscious of a presence which seemed like a veritable sea of living spirit. I lay on the shores of a new world. 'This,' I thought, 'must be the great reality, the God of the preachers.'"

186

     Bill, the alcoholic, as anyone might guess, began to wonder and to doubt the reality of his spiritual experience-his "hot flash" as he often called it later. Was it an hallucination? Was he going insane?
     Here we see the hand of Providence at work, and again the influence of Swedenborg's Writings in Bill Wilson's life. Bill was assured by his doctor that he was quite sane, and this was confirmed through the pages of William James's book, The Varieties of Religious Experience. From James he learned that his religious experience, his spiritual conversion, had validity and value.
     William James, similar to Lois Burnham, was from a Swedenborgian family. His father, Henry James, was a famous Swedenborgian theologian, and the author of several books and articles on Swedenborg His work on Swedenborg and Swedenborgian teachings influenced many of the great literary minds of the time, both in and out of the New Church.
     Though Bill did not find Swedenborg directly quoted in his reading of The Varieties of Religious Experience, what he did clearly observe were the principles of religious conversion and spiritual growth so well explained in Swedenborg's Writings. He found the same spiritual principles so well accepted in his wife's family now clearly presented by this son of a Swedenborgian scholar. Here they were explained in terms directly related to his own spiritual experience and disease.
     Bill Wilson began his recovery from alcoholism as a result of his religious experience. He would later say that William James had been a founder of Alcoholics Anonymous-the insights in James's book were that vital in Bill's thinking about the spiritual, emotional and physical disease of alcoholism. James, through his research and Swedenborgian background, helped Bill Wilson clearly see the alcoholic's need for the kind of spiritual help delivered in the Twelve Steps.
     When we look at Bill Wilson's Twelve Steps and Swedenborg's teachings on spiritual development and growth, we see complete harmony. There is no suggestion that Bill sat down with Swedenborg's Writings and rose up with the twelve steps. What we do clearly see are the Swedenborgian principles and the Swedenborgian spiritual lifestyle (being major influences in Bill's intellectual and emotional life) reflected in every one of the twelve steps.
     With such strong Swedenborgian influences as his wife, Lois Burnham, and his spiritual mentor, William James, it is clear why there is such unity between Swedenborgian spirituality and Bill Wilson's Twelve Steps. The Higher Power revealing Himself in Swedenborg's Writings and showing us the steps to rational spiritual life is the same Power operating in Bill's twelve steps to save a "12 Stepper" from his disorder and disease.

187

Divine Providence 36 says: "I have sometimes conversed with angels about wisdom." It then goes on to say,

They said that they picture to themselves wisdom as a palace, magnificent and highly adorned, the ascent to which is by twelve steps, and that no one reaches the first step unless from the Lord through conjunction with Him. Further they said that everyone ascends according to the measure of the conjunction; and as he ascends he perceives that no one is wise from himself but only from the Lord, and that the things in which he is wise, compared with those in which he is not wise, are as a few drops of water to a great lake. By the twelve steps leading to the palace of wisdom are signified principles of good conjoined to those of truth, and principles of truth conjoined to those of good.
SPIRITUAL LOVE FOR OTHERS 1988

SPIRITUAL LOVE FOR OTHERS Rev. ALAIN NICOLIER 1988

     Second of Three Articles

     "But I say unto you who hear Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you. . . " (Luke 6:27, 28).

     In John 21 Christ asks Peter if he loves Him. It takes asking the question three times before Peter finally is made to understand that there are three different degrees of love, the first degree being external and natural. Because this love is based on the advantages which can be drawn from the relationship, it is a superficial and self-centered love. We shall now look at spiritual love, the love expressed by Christ's words in our opening reading.
     For love to go from natural to spiritual, or from externals to internals, self-examination is necessary in order to look at one's intentions in his/her relationships. It is in learning to recognize the source of one's thoughts, affections, words and deeds, and letting the Lord be the Guide, that a reorganization happens in the intentions and priorities. This new awakening must lead to a deep reformation or rebirth. The Writings tell us that there is a discrete degree between the natural and the spiritual, and that communication exists through correspondence. This correspondence is established when a person is freed of his masks, his persuasions and diverse illusions, and is purified from false reasonings and self-centered loves.

188

Then only can the spiritual flow in and regenerate.
     It follows that relationships with others transform and become spiritual and more authentic. The love no longer remains on the physical, intellectual or emotional level of attraction, but is based on a deeper attraction, one born out of the perception of the richness of the other's inner being. Plato said: "He who loves you is he who loves your soul." In fact, in loving another, what is really loved is the image and likeness of the Lord found within the other. To arrive at this, communication must take place not only from intelligence to intelligence or from action to action or from sensitivity to sensitivity, but also at a deeper level, from being to being; otherwise, there is a risk of stagnation in the relationship. When we look at the different kinds of friendships, we notice that they do not all have the same intensity nor the same internal quality.
     True spiritual friendship is founded on each other's qualities, the talent that the Lord has given which we are to foster through love. To spiritually love someone is to be attentive to him and to have respect for him and his autonomy. It is also the ability to express this affection coming from a closeness of souls, warmth, tenderness and respect.
     Marriage love is spiritual if it is built on a deep friendship, on a mutual will of wanting what is good for the other. This is, of course, a special relationship since it is an eternal commitment.
     The parent-child relationship is filled with tenderness and respect during the first few months and at times during the first couple of years. Because of hereditary evil the relationship may quickly degenerate and mutual respect is lost, as well as communication. Today this breakdown of love is the reason for many conflicts between generations where, even though there are strong blood ties, there is an absence of dialogue. To reestablish a satisfying relationship between parent and child, the love must pass from the natural to the spiritual. They must change their approach and their attitudes, and learn to respect each other's free will. This is most important when the two generations are adults. For a parent-child relationship to evolve into a spiritual friendship, it is imperative that they listen attentively to each other, without prejudices, so that they can discover each other through their various personality traits. Each can encourage the other to go into more depth by asking questions without going so far as pulling out secrets. For in all spiritual friendships, whether between generations or with new friends, we find that not everything can be said right from the beginning. Some things cannot be brought out until confidence has been established.

189

The more secret things cannot be expressed until the love has developed to a certain point. Rather than judgment or mutual evaluation, there can be a reciprocal acceptance of the other person.
     Christ, through His words and actions, demonstrated that to truly love, one has to be patient and not force anyone. He always spoke from His soul, from the Father within, as an open book. Through His wisdom He perceived the right moment to unveil different aspects of Himself. He was not concealing anything, but knew how to wait for the person to be mature enough before broaching certain subjects. Jesus was, of course, perfect and thus so was His love perfect and is to be our example. This is why He is called the Way, the Truth and the Life. He loves the whole human race, and His desire to create ties with each person is constant and eternal. And so are we called to love those with whom we come in contact. At times when we are disappointed by our relationship with another it is because it is not yet spiritual.
     "To love one's enemies" is to approach and see others as the Lord does. It is a person's depth which attracts the sincere regard; it is the child of light nestled within the soul desiring to emerge, exist and be useful.
     When considering our attitude toward others, it is important to be aware of our own personal limitations as well as those of others, remembering not to judge or blame another for weakness encountered. In all friendships there are bound to be fluctuations as a result of misunderstandings, clumsiness and disagreement, but true love goes beyond these things. It is astonishing and marvelous to observe that internal harmony and harmony with others evolves simultaneously through a kind of interdependence.
     Spiritual love wants the other's well-being, and desires to help in living more fully. Spiritual friendships teach us to know ourselves better, providing we are attentive in our reflection of others. People are often bothered by the positive reflections returned to them, and have a difficult time in believing their own internal wealth. It is most beneficial to patiently reflect as much of their good as possible, going step by step with their internal evolution without pushing.
     In examining our own regeneration and our relationships with others, we see that each one of us goes through periods of crisis. When a friend comes to us with a problem, we can support him or her not by giving advice, even though at times it might be helpful, but by guiding the person to discover the reason for his suffering and then find a way to face up to it. The as-of-self must be respected. Through spiritual friendship we not only reflect the positive but also the negative.

190

We are able to help the other see harmful attitudes which can hinder his development. Of course, this should be done without harshness, bitterness or aggressiveness. We can stimulate the person to question his acts and find the root of the problem. In an environment of love, many things can be said, although it is very important to choose the right moment and to pray to the Lord for help to see clearly. Is this not what is meant when Jesus said that we should wash one another's feet? (See John 13:14.)
     Spiritual love or friendship is a strong support, and if you have a friend, you have a treasure. The love shared helps in building self-confidence and confidence in life. It gives us the feeling of being even so enables us to share it (see Doctrine of Faith 21). In true and deep more ourselves, and gives us faith in the talent that the Lord gives us and friendship we do not try to keep the other person only for ourselves. The friendship is not exclusive, and we even rejoice when other people recognize the value and benefits that emanate from it. Contrarily, if one person should like to limit the other, a self-examination is needed in order to find the cause. In a couple's intimate relationship this is natural because a sensitive exclusiveness protects its healthy development, but this is not normal in other kinds of friendship.
     A truly spiritual love can be enjoyed with many at the same time. At times anxiety, which may be interpreted as jealousy when in fact it is not, is experienced by those wanting to live an exclusive relationship with another. One wants to be the all and center of the other's life. Believing that spiritual love may be lived with only one person at a time is to cut oneself off from the rest of the world, lacking in realism by closing one's eyes to the opportunities God has given to love and be loved. Each friendship brings with it its very own color, degree and volume. Here again marriage friendship has a total and physical intensity specific to itself since it is eternal if it is true. Spiritual love may be lived even more fully in a couple, because it helps each person to progress toward fulfillment of being and a celestial blossoming.
     When the Lord created humanity, He foresaw and provided for spiritual love, knowing the pleasure it could provide and the universal harmony that could result. True mutual love is essential to growth and to accomplishments in each one of us. Spiritual love is vital to our spiritual nourishment; it allows us to discover the best in ourselves and causes our emotional and rational maturity to grow.
     In the endeavor of spiritual love, a love which is part of regeneration, there are several traps to be avoided. They come from heredity, education, bad personal choices, conditioning and social pressure. It is through self-examination and searching to know what it is that we live in our relationships with others that we learn to discern whether our love is natural or spiritual, whether it is a love in order to get something in return or comes from a deeper or internal level.

191

During this internal analysis we should confide in the Lord, not being afraid to see the truth and then peacefully admit that we are capable of being selfish, and that we have made some mistakes. Self-examination also leads us to look at our clumsiness, the suffering caused by our lack of confidence, our failures to take responsibility, bringing on a sense of humility. True humility, which does not come from false modesty, allows a person to become attentive and to understand another through fraternal love, and to be clear in terms of one's self.
     When we love the good in another, or the Lord's image within him, we no longer love our reflection in the other as in natural love, but we love the other for the complementary differences, the individuality and for the unique gift that the Lord has given him.
     It is important to note that in order for a community to exist and to grow, each person must have a solid personality and sufficient emotional maturity to be able to experience friendships with others without losing freedom or interfering with the freedom of others. This strength is attained by looking above and beyond human goodness to see that there is an absolute goodness and beauty which is omnipresent and eternal.
     We wonder: Why do we separate ourselves to live in communities? Have not the numerous religions and church communities failed to unify humans? We see this today in the various religions which have become competitive and over the years have lost their true reason for existence. In order for a community based on spiritual love to fully develop, it must turn itself outward, toward the world, so that its love streams forth and surrounds it. It must set out to serve others to avoid being self-centered.
NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO 1988

NCL FIFTY YEARS AGO Editor 1988

The heading "Swedenborg's Letters" is the first in the editorial notes and reviews in the May issue of 1938. Dr. Alfred Acton had begun to print in The New Philosophy the material now published in the two-volume work Letters and Memorials. In the same issue is an extensive address on the life of Swedenborg by Dr. Acton which was delivered at the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Swedenborg's birth. The first page of this address is devoted to the question of the rightness of celebrating a Swedenborg anniversary.

192

TRICENTENARY-A SUMMARY OF EVENTS 1988

TRICENTENARY-A SUMMARY OF EVENTS LEON S. RHODES 1988

     It would not be possible to estimate how many people, New Church people or non-New Church, scattered far and wide, experienced the celebration of the three hundredth birthday of Emanuel Swedenborg. It is also true that the observance will extend through the year 1988, including some major events, and that the effects of some features of the celebration will continue to call attention to the remarkable scientist, philosopher, theologian, whose accomplishments deserve the sort of recognition given prominence in the Tricentenary.
     Most of the countless people whose hard work helped make the tricentennial celebration so highly successful were conscious of the two main purposes: the appreciation and edification of those who already recognized Swedenborg's role, and the opportunity to attract the attention of many thousands, or even millions, of people who could be " introduced to the ideas associated with Swedenborg's unique genius. Many of the workers involved in the celebration are quite willing to say that millions of people have become aware of the name Swedenborg in an affirmative context, and in future years we may be able to look back upon tangible results of the effort.
     Though a complete accounting would be neither possible nor useful, an overview of the worldwide celebration can increase our appreciation of the great variety of activities and useful results. As a sort of preliminary observation, we note the enjoyment we found in reading the accounts of celebrations fifty years or a century ago. Hopefully our descendants will find similar reactions to this and other reports of the festivities.
     There were major events, of course, but we might start this report by noting that many modest celebrations were organized and enjoyed wherever a cluster of Swedenborgians could be brought together. Some events called attention to a particular aspect of the subject, such as Swedenborg's design of a "machine to fly," the association with Bishop Jesper Swedberg and the first Swedish settlement in America, the tiny but significant chest of books aboard the "First Fleet" sailing to Australia, or attention to Swedenborg's place among the followers of the "New Age," and those studying the "Near-death Experience."

193

     In this report we will not include details about some of the most significant celebrations which are being or have been reported elsewhere, notably the Academy of the New Church Swedenborg Symposium '88 in Bryn Athyn (February 7th to 9th) which was one of the most significant events, and the Australian celebration so capably summarized in The New Age, which is chock-full of fascinating information. Other reports have and will be published in this journal.
     The newsletters of widely scattered "Swedenborgian" churches give evidence of delightful gatherings, usually scheduled as close to January 29th as convenient: "A delightful banquet" in the Oak Arbor (Michigan) church and a luncheon for the school children, a lecture by the Rev. Kent Junge in the Pittsburgh church, a Swedish menu and the Rev. Harold Cranch's talk, "Why Believe Swedenborg? in San Diego, together with one of several film festivals, a slide program and a children's play in Toronto, lectures and an impersonation of Swedenborg in Arizona, together with the presentation of a model of the flying machine to the Pima Air Museum. In the Kempton, Pennsylvania, school the students released helium balloons with messages, as was done by students of the Bryn Athyn Elementary School, who also prepared an impressive exhibit about Swedenborg which augmented the special banquets and programs between January 29th and February 9th. And so it goes.
     Many such celebrations proved to be opportunities for publicity in the local newspapers and most of them were able to report visitors attracted to their celebrations. The stories in the media and special posters or pamphlets also made neighbors more aware of these New Church groups. Some of them also used the occasion for special efforts such as the distribution of books to libraries in the area or giving prominence to related literature in bookstores.
     The Academy's Symposium '88 was mentioned in the April issue. Its papers are available on tape. Its two dozen subjects represented an impressive array of highly qualified scholars, the large majority of them gathered from prestigious institutions outside of the Swedenborgian field. The subjects represented a broad spectrum of thought, and the speakers had gathered from Sweden, England, Germany, and more than a dozen institutions of higher learning.
     The symposium included the Glencairn Museum's "New Light" exhibit of ten artists influenced by Swedenborg, a highly memorable banquet, and numerous social gatherings, as well as tours of the architecturally famous Bryn Athyn Cathedral and the new Swedenborg Library. Several newspapers gave prominent coverage of the symposium activities, and philatelists had their moments when a special postal cancellation and cachet honored Swedenborg in the mailings of thousands of messages about the Tricentenary.

194

As was true in many of the other celebrations, published materials have lasting value, such as the excellent little biography of Swedenborg, "Man Beyond Measure" by Bruce Henderson from his book Window to Eternity published by the
Swedenborg Foundation.

[Rendition of postal cancellation honoring Swedenborg]

The Glencairn Museum and the Swedenborg Library were featured in another notable Tricentenary event that had come about rather unexpectedly-the lectures and newly published book by Henry Soderberg, Swedenborgs 1714 Airplane. Mr. Soderberg, retired vice president of Scandinavian Airlines, had been researching the Scandinavian influence in the history of aviation when he came upon young Emanuel Swedenborg's "first rational design." The comprehensive study was published by the Swedenborg Foundation and SAS, and the first copy was presented by the author to the King and Queen of Sweden during the January 29 celebration in the House of Nobles (but that subject will be taken up later). Mr. Soderberg, too, is lecturing widely (and expertly) on the Swedenborg flying machine, including a tour through Australia (but that also is a subject to be taken up later in this article). Mr. Soderberg's illustrated lecture in Glencairn attracted wide attention, including the press, and was precipitously associated with another notable event. In his research, Mr. Soderberg was attracted to a painting by Otto Nielson of Sweden, showing young Swedenborg at work on his project. SAS Airlines and the artist have donated the original of the painting to the Swedenborg Museum, where it was prominently displayed in time for the arrival of Her Majesty, Queen Silvia of Sweden (another topic to be taken up later in this baedeker of the Tricentenary.)

195

     ONE OF EUROPE'S MOST RESPECTED PHILOSOPHERS AND THEOLOGIANS, EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, WAS NOT INCLINED TO FLIGHTS OF FANCY. HE WAS, HOWEVER, FASCINATED BY THE NOTION OF FLIGHT ITSELF, LEAVING AMPLE EVIDENCE IN THE FORM OF DOCUMENTS AND DRAWINGS.

     Subheading of Henry Soderberg's article in Griffin magazine

     Before considering the events in Sweden, Australia, England and other places, we'll take a shorter jaunt to neighboring Canada where the Rev. Terry Schnarr's "information Swedenborg" took a strikingly different tack. In addition to some more conventional anniversary activities, the Ontario committee took a full-page advertisement in Canada's foremost magazine, Macleans Weekly, offering a book to those who responded to the straightforward and brief message, "Who is Swedenborg?" Backed by the Swedenborg Foundation, they were able to send out more than 3700 books-far beyond their expectation-with the enormous wrapping/mailing job performed by volunteers.
     Information Swedenborg in Canada has other projects in the works, but the most ambitious may be its "Swedenborg Tricentennial Display" package, with twenty-eight subjects represented in texts and illustrations suitable for exhibition in libraries and schools. Their stated objective is to reach five million Canadians (some 20% of the population) with introductory material about Swedenborg and his influence on modern thought.
     The Tricentenary celebration in Sweden may have the most profound effects. It includes dramatic activities in the very places in which Swedenborg was born, lived, worked and now lies enshrined. But Swedish interest, aroused by the anniversary, has extended to other places. Just as a starter, the Swedish Council of America's Sweden and America Magazine, 1988 edition, included a feature article under the heading, Happy Birthday, Mr. Swedenborg!" This article honored "one of Sweden's most brilliant and original citizens." The author, Eugene Taylor of the Harvard Medical School, condensed his vast subject skillfully, leaving enough room to include a note telling the reader that further information is available from the Swedenborg Foundation. Mr. Taylor, incidentally, presented four lectures in celebration of the Swedenborg anniversary at the Swedenborg Chapel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, "The Psychology of Inner Experience."
     The Swedish-flavored activities in the tricentenary smorgasbord included the celebration of the 350th anniversary of the establishment of the first colonies in the New World, the New Sweden colonies in New Jersey and Delaware.

196

The New Sweden '88 celebration has provided a setting for material about Swedenborg in the handsome Swedish American Historical Society building in South Philadelphia. The anticipated visits of the royal family in the Delaware Valley resulted in an invitation being extended by the Rev. Durban Odhner for Queen Silvia to visit Bryn Athyn on April 13th.
     A royal visit requires meticulous planning, and Queen Silvia's very tight schedule made it a whirlwind visit in more ways than one, since she was flown by helicopter from South Philadelphia to land on the Academy campus, where she officiated at the royal introduction and public opening of the Swedenborg Library with its notable Swedenborgiana collection (and the painting mentioned earlier), then walked to the beautiful gothic Bryn Athyn Cathedral, thence a quick look at the Glencairn Art Center before being whisked again to Wilmington.
     But this was not Queen Silvia's only view of Bryn Athyn, since we can now direct our attention to the numerous festivities in Swedenborg's native land. Closely associated with the royalty of his day and a member of the House of Nobles, Swedenborg has been recognized in past years, but the 300th birthday observance featured a special television documentary produced by Maja Hagerman. The excellent one-hour film included views of Bryn Athyn and its architectural attractions. We have heard that the King and Queen were a little late for the honoring ceremonies in the House of Nobles because they were watching the Swedenborg program.
     The Swedish TV documentary, entitled "Angelarnus Ombudsman," is an impressive and informative introduction of Swedenborg to his countrymen. The viewer hears the actual playing of Swedenborg's organ in his summer house and sees models of his inventions and close-ups of his manuscripts. There are scenes from a service in the Swedenborg Memorial Church. Much of the film consists of interviews with distinguished people. Unfortunately these are in Swedish except for a charming section by the Rev. Obed Mooki, so it will be necessary to provide a translation for most audiences. Permission is being sought to release this program in other countries.
     Because of the Tricentenary celebration, leading Swedish newspapers carried prominent articles; for example, the spread in Idagsidan, 18 September, 1987, "I Swedenborgs kyrka har Yttersta domen redan agt rum." We have heard that a significant number of Swedes have consequently shown up at the Swedenborgian church in Stockholm. Public reaction may have been significant, for the producer now says that a major motion picture about Swedenborg is in the script stage in Sweden!

197

     In the United States the activities of the Swedenborg Foundation in New York City for the 300th anniversary have been particularly significant. Some of its major undertakings will be completed later in the tricentennial year, but preparations in New York began more than two years ago and have added a whole new dimension to its regular programs of publication since 1849. The production of a series of prize-winning films formed the basis for film festivals made available to Swedenborgian groups around the world. "The Man Who Had to Know," "Images of Knowing," "Blake and Swedenborg," and the recent production, "The Other Side of Life," have been shown to numerous groups. But work on a new film to be premiered next summer may be the most significant.
     The Foundation's symposium to be held in the attractive suburb of Tarrytown during August is entitled "The Vision Continues." Its theme, "Science and Spirituality-a Search for Unity," is to be explored by a panel of distinguished speakers from varied disciplines. Dr. Renee Weber, Symposiarch, will direct the consideration of subjects such as the New Physics, the New Biology, the New Psychology, Philosophy and Metaphysics, Medicine and Healing and Mystical Experiences, in addition to a series of workshops and discussion periods. The new film "Swedenborg, Scientist" will be premiered, and literature and exhibits will be on hand. As this report is written it is still possible to sign up for the symposium through the Foundation, 139 East 23rd Street, New York City, 10010.
     A major undertaking by the Foundation is the special "Pictorial Anthology," a highly illustrated volume presenting a wide variety of articles on subjects related to Swedenborg.
     The British companion organization, the Swedenborg Society of London, is another of the major centers for the tricentennial celebration, with Mr. G. Roland Smith playing a key role in the development of material for use not only in England but also in other centers. His designs of A Swedenborg Scrapbook, a paper cutout model of the airplane, tea towels, the 1988 calendar, and other printed matter have been distributed in Australia, America and Africa.
     Mr. Smith was also responsible for the traveling exhibit which is currently touring most of the church centers of the United Kingdom. Events are being held in Swedenborg House on Bloomsbury Way in London where several important new books are available. A Swedenborg Scrapbook by the Rev. Brian Kingslake, published by Seminar Books, is distributed by New Church House in Manchester, and the same author and publisher now offer a reprint of the paperback, Aqueduct Papers-Twenty Interviews with an Angel Concerning Life After Death.

198

[Commemorative tea towel in four colors designed by G. Poland Smith]

As we write, the British celebrants are looking forward to a major event on Saturday, April 16th, an all-day symposium of lectures, work-shops, films and social gatherings under the theme "The Journey Within." Programme Director for the tricentenary celebration, to be held at the Barbican Center, is Dr. Michael Stanley, M.Sc., Ph.D., Principal of the New Church College. (Dr. Stanley's address at the Academy's Symposium '88 was outstanding.)

199

The program will include musical presentations in the Guild Hall and a message from His Excellency, Mr. Lars Bergquist, the Swedish Ambassador to China, whose new book about Swedenborg's Journal of Dreams was published in honor of the Tricentenary. Ambassador Bergquist was an honored participant in the House of Nobles celebration in Stockholm where his book and the new translation of True Christian Religion by the Rev. Bjorn Boyesen were presented to the King.
     In the West African nation of Ghana, numerous tricentenary programs were undertaken in spite of severe political and economic obstacles. Pastor Benjamin Garna of the Independent Africa Conference of the New Church, with headquarters in Tema, has been working with readers and committees in many different areas. He has distributed handbills promoting the celebration, with the phrase "A Religion That Makes Sense." Pastor Garna delivered the address at the Chemu School in Tema, and the Rev. William Ankra-Badu held services attended by: increased congregations. In Sekondi, Matthew Arkhurst reported on his program held at the Takoradi Polytechnic with a panel of speakers and "a lively discussion." Ghanaian newspapers noted the "Special Services," and included brief biographies of Swedenborg.
     Pastor Garna has worked with the Swedish consulate in Accra. Material for his efforts has been provided by the Swedenborg Foundation in New York.
     From Africa to Australia is quite a trip, but if we go westward to cross the Pacific we can briefly pause in Hawaii to note that Professor Leon Jakobovitz of the University of Hawaii gave a presentation, "Mental Health or the Marriage of Good and Truth," as a salute to Swedenborg on January 2nd. From thence we can swing to Japan where Tatsuya Nagashima continues translation and publications in Tokyo, and to Seoul, Korea, where the Rev. Chung, Young-Sik's "Swedenborg Institute" has honored Swedenborg by the translation and publication of at least four handsome books including Helen Keller's A Soul Tree, Person to Person by Paul Vickers, and a study of Biblical symbols as revealed by Swedenborg.
     The final stop on our global tour is in Australia where the most ambitious and imaginative celebration was organized by Mr. Neville C. Jarvis, manager of the Swedenborg Lending Library and Enquiry Center in Roseville, N.S.W. The excellent report of the "down under" festivities is available in an attractive booklet. Principal activities, such as their gala banquet, are described elsewhere, but this summary could not be complete without including some of the memorable events.
     Australians saw the reprint of the chart of Swedenborg's works, an attractive biography pamphlet and a traveling exhibit.

200

The theme at the banquet held at Macquarie University was "Emanuel Swedenborg, Herald of a New Era." It included fear notable addresses and a film festival for a large gathering with an impressive array of distinguished officials. Of importance, too, was the keynote address by Professor Eric Sharpe, whose radio talk about Swedenborg was broadcast throughout Australia. At the banquet Mr. Gerald Weingarth of the "First Fleet Re-enactment" reported on what was probably the most spectacular tricentenary undertaking. The fleet of sailing ships from England which brought the first settlers (including convicts) to Botany Bay in Sydney
(see Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes, published by Knopf) transported a chest of books arranged by Robert Hindmarsh and his New Church companions. This year's Fleet Re-enactment involved "the largest fleet of square-rigged ships in 100 years," with vessels from seven countries following the same route and schedule as the 1787-88 voyage. A chest made of 200-year-old oak was put aboard the flagship at Portsmouth on May 13th, and debarked in Sydney harbor with Mr. Jarvis among the delighted team which carried it into the banquet where it was opened to thunderous applause.
     The Australian effort included the publication of The Welfare of the Soul and The Bread of Life, as well as manuscripts submitted in a special competition. The Rev. Ian Arnold ceremonially presented the new 1988 English translation of The True Christian Religion by Dr. John Chadwick as the highlight of the evening.
     For many years the Australian celebration will be remembered for its bold undertaking of the creation of a Tricentenary Commemorative Wedgwood plate. This is a beautiful collector's item (in a limited edition) superbly executed by the British company of which John Flaxman was a member.
     Beginning in May of 1986 with Bishop King's go-ahead, Leon Rhodes edited and distributed the bi-monthly Tricentenary Newsletter which kept a running account of plans, hopes and accomplishments until the tenth edition in January '88. Free from this activity, he is currently preparing a tricentenary edition of the New Church World Map and Directory.
Title Unspecified 1988

Title Unspecified Editor 1988

     His motivation was to always learn more about subjects not fully known.
     Leon S. Rhodes
on Swedenborg

     EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
     1688-1772

201

SWEDENBORG TRICENTENARY BANQUET IN AUSTRALIA 1988

SWEDENBORG TRICENTENARY BANQUET IN AUSTRALIA NORMAN HELDON 1988

     Three hundred years to the day, the birth of Emanuel Swedenborg was celebrated at a banquet in Sydney. This first major function in Australia of the Tricentenary year was held at Macquarie University, and was attended by 135 people. On a wall in large letters were the words

     Celebrating Emanuel Swedenborg Tricentenary 1688-1988

     There were Swedish and Australian flags, and the table decorations were appropriately beautiful in blue and yellow.

     Distinguished guests included Dr. R. E. Klugman, representing the Prime Minister of Australia; Mr. Soren Freij, the Swedish Consul General, and Mrs. Ingeborg Freij; Mr. G. McIlwaine, State Member for Ryde, representing the Premier of New South Wales; Professor Eric Sharpe, Head of Religious Studies, Sydney University, and Mrs. Birgitta Sharpe; Alderman Richard Lennon, Mayor of Ku-ring-gai, and the Mayoress, Miss Prudence Bowen; Mr. Tim Moore, State Member for Gordon; Miss Anne Parry, National Sales Manager for Waterford/Wedgwood; Mr. Gerald Weingarth, Chief of Protocol, Australian Bicentennial Fleet; Professor Stephen Prickett, Head of English Department, Australian National University, and Mrs. Prickett; Dr. Philip Groves and Mrs. Shirley Groves.
     Firstly, all guests were asked to sign each of four "scrolls of greetings," admirably designed and drawn by Mrs. Barbara Willmott. These scrolls will be sent to Swedenborg Tricentenary celebrations in other parts of the world.
     The evening began with the singing of the Australian national anthem, followed by a Swedish choir singing their national anthem in Swedish.
     Before the meal Rev. Bernard Willmott paid tribute briefly to Emanuel Swedenborg, "humble servant of the Lord," whose work has enriched many lives. He then said grace, the words of the Psalmist beginning, "Bless the Lord, O my soul."
     The meal began with an appetizer, being a selection of delicacies in the Swedish tradition (aptly named Swedenborg Platter). Also in Scandinavian style was the main course, and an excellent meal too.

202

     During this part of the evening we were entertained with music played by a quartet from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
     The master of ceremonies, Mr. Neville Jarvis, announced the arrival of a sea chest containing some of Swedenborg's Theological Writings. This had been loaded in England on board the Soren Larsen, flagship of the Re-enactment Fleet, and was of a similar kind to the one dispatched to the colony on a ship of the First Fleet 200 years ago, also containing books of the Theological Writings. The chest we now admired had been made in England by a timber craftsman, Mr. David Brooks, the wood being from an oak tree planted about the same time as the First Fleet sailed to Australia.
     A pleasant diversion was the playing of the flute by Professor Eric Sharpe. First looking for his instrument and being told it was at the other end of the room, he quipped, "A fool and his flute are soon parted." His playing of a piece from Bach and some folk music was very well received.
     Dr. R. E. Klugman, Federal Member for Prospect, read a greeting from the Prime Minister, Mr. Robert Hawke, who said that the chest of books was probably the earliest link between Australia and Sweden. He also referred to the influence of Swedenborg in many countries.
     Mr. Wilfred Burl, Chairman of the Swedenborg Centre, proposed a toast to Sweden. He said we admire Sweden for its industrial achievements, and those of its men and women in sport, commenting wryly that it was Sweden's Mats Willander who had just defeated our Pat Cash in the Australian Open. His father, Mr. William Burl, had been in Sweden, and with Mr. Alfred Stroh had attended the Swedish Parliament when the decision was made to have Swedenborg's remains returned from London. They now lie in a marble sarcophagus in Uppsala Cathedral. Finally, with a smile he mentioned the number 7777, which, he said, only a true Swede can pronounce.
     Mr. Soren Freij (pronounced Serren Frey), responding, obliged by pronouncing the number. Mr. Freijs toast was "To Australia and the memory of Emanuel Swedenborg."
     Mr. Garry McIlwaine said he noted with interest the many activities associated with the tricentenary celebrations. He commended the work now beginning, such as the traveling exhibition, and the distribution of Swedenborg's works to libraries.
     Alderman Richard Lennon spoke, humourously begrudging the Upstaging of Australia's bicentenary by the Swedenborg tricentenary. He said he had learned over dinner from Rev. Ian Arnold some interesting things about Swedenborg and hoped to visit Swedenborg Centre at Roseville.

203

     At this stage the Swedish choir, conducted by Professor Eric Sharpe, entertained with Swedish folk songs. They sang them vivaciously and with evident delight. Our pleasure matched theirs and they were warmly applauded.
     Dessert was served-"Emanuel's Delight"-its name, Bombe Alaska. Swedenborg, we are sure, would not have given such an order, to "Bomb Alaska." However, if he liked that sweet, he showed good taste.
     Mr. Gerald Weingarth, of the First Fleet Re-enactment, was asked to tell us something of the voyage. He had been present at the handover of the chest of precious books at Portsmouth on the 13th May, 1987. The fleet left Southampton on April 27, 1987, after a service at St. Nicholas' Church. He said it was the largest fleet of square-rigged ships in the last 100 years to sail from the northern to the southern hemisphere. The ships were from seven countries and the crews were of forty nationalities. His resume of the trip was brief but most interesting.
     Mr. Weingarth was presented with the book The Swedenborg Epic, and he responded with a gift of his own, a medal struck in Australia before the voyage in honor of the Re-enactment Fleet.
     Mrs. Birgitta Sharpe gave an address entitled "Sweden Then and Now. In it she referred to Swedenborg's valuable contribution to his country's development. She noted parallels between Australia and Sweden-they are multi cultural, for instance-mentioning the number of people from many countries now living in the suburbs of Stockholm.
     Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom, in proposing the toast "In Honour of Swedenborg" spoke of Swedenborg's achievements in many fields, his inventions, for instance, including an aircraft, "something between a flying saucer and a hovercraft. "Adherents of the New Church, he said, were not disciples of Swedenborg the man, and referred to Swedenborg's own advice to people to "read the books and see for yourselves." Swedenborg's primary principles of life were love to God, obeying the commandments and caring for the neighbor.
     Miss Anne Parry, of Wedgwood, informed us that in the early days of Australia's settlement, clay from workings near Botany Bay had been shipped to England for the making of pottery, some of which had been brought back. She then displayed the beautiful plate commemorating the Swedenborg Tricentenary and commissioned by the Swedenborg Centre. Plates were presented to the Australian government, the Swedish government, the King and Queen of Sweden, and to Professor and Mrs. Sharpe.
     Rev. Ian Arnold spoke to launch the new English edition of True Christian Religion. It was Swedenborg's last work, he said, and he lived to see it through the press.

204

After that he was willing to "let go," that is, to go into the spiritual world. In that book, said Rev. Ian Arnold, Swedenborg showed more than ever before an awareness of his readers, urging, entreating-even at times pleading-with them to heed these main tenets, namely, worship of one God and living the life of religion.
     Mr. Arnold showed his own copy of the first Latin edition, and also named the various English editions that have appeared till now. He quoted from Miss Helen Keller's glowing introduction to the Everyman edition. Copies of the new edition were presented to the Australian government, the N.S.W. state government and to the Ku-ring-gai Council. At this time books were presented to those who hadjudged entries to the tricentenary book competition-Rev. Messrs. Ian Arnold, Trevor Moffat and Erik E. Sandstrom, Mrs. Cheryl Hall, Mrs. Sylvia Hicks and, in absentia, Mrs. Judith Booth and Mrs. Lori Heldon, both in Perth.
     The evening closed with a farewell song by the Swedish choir.
     What would Swedenborg himself have thought of the banquet and celebration? It is probably safe to say that he would certainly have enjoyed the food and musical entertainment, and while not reveling in the limelight, he would have felt in tune with the frequent references to himself as being "the humble servant of the Lord."
NCL 100 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 100 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

There is a news note from Australia in the May issue of 1888. "Special discourses were delivered in the place of worship of the Adelaide Society in commemoration of Swedenborg's birth two hundred years ago."
There is a historical sketch under the heading, "The Desire for a New Translation of the Word." It is surprising how much had been said and done a hundred years ago toward getting a translation more suitable than the King James Version. We learn that in 1845 there was a "New Church Bible Society" devoted to this purpose. Considerable tribute is paid to the remarkable translator Le Boys des Guays. (See a more recent tribute by Frank Rose in the November issue of 1981.)

205

GENERAL CHURCH TRANSLATION COMMITTEE 1988

GENERAL CHURCH TRANSLATION COMMITTEE Alfred Acton 1988

     Annual Report 1987

     With this, my first report as chairman of the General Church Translation Committee, I wish to express my deep thanks and appreciation to Rev. N. Bruce Rogers, who has served as chairman of this committee from its inception. The leadership of Mr. Rogers in establishing this committee according to high professional standards will be appreciated by future generations of the church as the work of translation increases. His own professional expertise is not being lost to this committee in that Mr. Rogers now is assuming work as a nearly full-time translator for the General Church. (He continues to teach one course per term at the Academy.) It was because of his new assignment that Mr. Rogers felt the possibility of a conflict of interest and so relinquished his position as chairman. This very fact testifies to his professional integrity which is reflected throughout the past work of the committee.
     We all owe Mr. Rogers a very great debt for which I wish to express public thanks.
     As to the work of the committee, it continues apace. As already noted, this year Rev. N. Bruce Rogers has changed his status, now devoting the majority of his time to the work of translation. This means that his translation of Conjugial Love will proceed at a much more rapid pace than earlier projected. In addition, our committee has been able to employ consulting assistants for Mr. Rogers in this work. We look forward to publication of this translation within the next two to three years.
     Already in progress, the work done by Dr. J. Durban Odhner on Experientia Spirituales has continued over the past year with volume two now typeset and volume three in process of being typeset. Again we hope to complete this work in the next several years and at that time see Dr. Odhner go on to an English translation of the newly edited Latin text.
     Mr. B. Erikson Odhner has nearly completed the English translation of Last Judgment Posthumous, which will be published with the new Latin text prepared by Rev. Prescott A. Rogers as soon as it is completed, along with other material found in Codex 12. We are happy to see that this work is nearly ready for the press.
     This work in progress is essential to the life of the New Church in that without translations of merit, the spreading of the Lord's New Word is tremendously hampered. In recognition of the importance of translation, the General Church has established an endowment for the work, which endowment is being raised as a part of the Leonard E. Gyllenhaal Fund.

206

The establishment of this fund marks a most important step in the development of this use as a use of the General Church.
     Another important work in progress is the preparation for employment as translator of Rev. Jonathan Rose. Mr. Rose is presently working toward a doctorate in Latin, which will give him the ability to continue the work well established by our two other distinguished near-full-time translators, Mr. Rogers and Dr. Odhner.
     In summary, I am delighted to assume chairmanship of this committee at a time when the promise for future translations is so rich and the productions currently underway so valuable.
     Alfred Acton, Chairman
In Our Contemporaries 1988

In Our Contemporaries Editor 1988

The following appears in a recent issue of The Precursor, edited in Cincinnati by Rev. Patrick Rose.

     I don't want to make a practice in these pages of commenting on what I happen to see on TV. Last night, though, I saw something which made me feel so sad, something which underlines so clearly the confused ideas people have concerning the Lord.
     Another TV evangelist is surrounded by scandal. I tuned in to the PTL channel to see how they were reacting to this. The speaker was preaching the need for forgiveness.
     Now I make a point of watching PTL quite often, for I think a minister needs to be aware of what is happening in other churches. My observation is that it is very easy, when listening to PTL, to find oneself agreeing with a lot of what is said. One can even get the impression at times that there is very little substantial difference between Evangelicals and us. But then, all of a sudden the difference becomes crystal clear.
     The speaker was preaching the need for forgiveness. He was bewailing the fact that many Christians could well condemn "Brother Swaggart," and so he talked of what Jesus teaches in
Matthew 18. We must forgive not once, not seven times, but "until Seventy times seven" (Matt. 18:22). And of course one must agree at this point with what the speaker was preaching. We cannot spiritually condemn Swaggart, whatever he might have done. It does not follow from this, as this speaker then argued, that Jimmy Swaggart should be restored, after a time, to his pulpit.

207

But still, in our hearts we can, and indeed should, feel sorry for Swaggart and for the necessary consequences of his (alleged) improprieties.
     Then, all of a sudden the PTL speaker moved to the latter part of Matthew 18, to the parable of the servant who was forgiven a massive debt by his king, but who subsequently refused to forgive a minor debt owed by a fellow servant. When the king found out, he was angry at the lack of mercy on the part of this servant and delivered him to be punished. To the speaker the conclusion was clear: if we who have ourselves been forgiven by the Lord don't forgive, then we must face the Lord's anger. The Lord gets "mad at us." "Nothing makes Him angrier" than our refusing to forgive others.
     So proclaimed this particular speaker. He actually believed that God would be angry at those who didn't forgive Swaggart. The idea that God can be angry, an idea drawn from the appearance of the literal sense, is alien, foreign, to everything we know to be true about the Lord. The idea that God actually gets angry is abhorrent to the angels (see BE 62e). It is to attribute merely human characteristics to Him (see BE 61e). In essence it is a denial of the Divinity of His love.
     It is so sad to think of people having such an idea, people who, despite all that they might say about forgive ness, still think that God is capable of anger. Imagine how awful and how fundamentally disturbing it must be to have such an idea. And it is because people still have such obscure ideas about God, because they still do not have a clear vision of the Lord, that we must do whatever we can, however little that might be, to make known the wonderful and happy gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in His second advent.
     To see the Lord in His second advent is not to see an angry and obscure God. It is to see a God of love and wisdom "spreading forth His hands and inviting to His arms" (TCR 787).
GOD IS NEVER ANGRY 1988

GOD IS NEVER ANGRY Editor 1988

How deluded those are who think, and still more those who believe, and still more those who teach, that God can damn anyone, curse anyone . . . be angry . . . . These things are contrary to His essence.
True Christian Religion 56

208

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     SWEDENBORG IN THE PAGES OF THE WRITINGS

     Swedenborg's "Home"

     Sometimes in narrative parts of the Writings we read of Swedenborg going home. For example: in the drama of Apocalypse Revealed 875 in which he beheld the temple of wisdom, and after he had seen a book of the Writings upon a cedar table, it is said, "I went home" (abivi domum). After he had witnessed sad scenes in the world of spirits among those who preferred the life of hell he "went home" (reversus sum domum) (CL 522). Once Swedenborg interviewed at length two people in the other world, one of whom loved what is right and true, and one who loved what is wrong and false. After the conversations the good spirit accompanied Swedenborg to his home (TCR 504).
     There are instances in which Swedenborg first sees something from a window, and one presumes that it is a window of his home. "Once when looking through a window . . . I saw seven women sitting on a bed of roses by a fountain" (CL 293). In Wunsch's translation this is "my window," as he also does when Swedenborg looks out the window first thing in the morning and sees a flash of lightning (see CL 415, TCR 77). In a memorable conversation with a spirit from hell we note that Swedenborg closed the window but carried on the interview through it (TCR 80). Are we talking about Swedenborg's home (or house) in the natural world or in the spiritual world? In general we conclude that it is his "home" in the spiritual world, but sometimes his home in the natural world comes into the picture.
     A key passage in considering this question is no. 81 of Conjugial Love, in which after saying that he went home, he adds, "There, from the state of the spirit I returned into that of the body, in which state I wrote down what had been seen and heard." When spirits accompanied Swedenborg "home" we think of them joining him in a house in the spiritual world, but they might also still be with him when he returned to the state of the body, and might even be allowed to see through his natural eyes in such an instance. Some young men from the spiritual world once accompanied him home and apparently saw the page of the book Swedenborg was working on, and a moth (blatta) on the page. Swedenborg spoke to them about that tiny creature, saying that, small as it was, it had heart, brain, stomach, muscles, "and many other things" (CL 329).

209

     Swedenborg begins a drama by saying that after hearing an unusual sound he "left the house in spirit and saw. . ." (TCR 332). We may think of the house here as in the spiritual world, but there are times when the story seems to start in the natural world. "Awaking once just after dawn, I went into the garden in front of the house, and saw the sun rising in its splendor." This was his natural house, for he says, "While I was enjoying these fancies, I found myself in the spirit, and heard some persons in conversation." In other passages when Swedenborg awakens and looks abroad into the spiritual world, we may picture him in a house in the spiritual world. Seeing a golden shower in the early morning he says, "More fully awakened by this sight, I walked forth in the spirit and asked an angel whom I then chanced to meet whether he had seen it" (CL 156e).

     We assume that none of these instances has to do with the "home" in heaven which the Lord prepares for the individual (see AR 611), the home of which He said, "I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14).

[Note: A word meaning "a lodging" or an "inn" is used in a drama which is relevant to this matter (see CL 326). There is an unusual passage in the Spiritual Diary in which Swedenborg walks the streets of a city "not in a dream, but in spirit amongst spirits-and there I saw many houses, into one of which I entered, and spoke with two persons, and so returned into the world" (SD 4576).]

     HIGHLIGHTS FROM SWEDENBORG'S LETTERS (4)

     Swedenborg at Age 30

     Just before Swedenborg turned thirty an opening became available to him. He had the chance to become Professor of Astronomy, an honorable and permanent positiona position secure for life. Evidently a few years earlier this is just what he wanted, for he thought he could make a real contribution in this work. Why was he disinclined to it at the age of thirty? In a letter he wrote on January 21, 1718 we see that he wished he could get a year or so of quiet in order "to get my thoughts on paper." It was a productive time for him. He had finished his work on algebra. The work that we refer to as Tremulation was largely on paper in his magazine. He had resolved to become Proficient in chemistry. In that letter of January 21st he pointed out that he could be of more use to his country if he did not take the professorship. Nine days later he wrote again that he could be more useful both to himself and to others this way. "I shall with all diligence make myself at home in mechanics, physics, and chemistry; at least I shall seek to obtain a good foundation in all these."

210

He had a navigational scheme, a method of determining the longitude, which he expected would be of "great use to the public.
     The interest in being useful brings us to what have been called Swedenborg's Rules of Life. We do not know who wrote these rules (possibly Swedenborg himself). We do know that he regarded them highly enough to write them down. At what point in his life did he have these rules? I do not know. In Tafel's Documents we find the testimony that they were round among Mr. Swedenborg's manuscripts in more than one place, and which he wrote down for his own use. The rules include diligently reading and meditating upon the Word of God, being content under the dispensations of God's Providence, faithfully attending to one's occupation and duties." The final line speaks of making oneself "useful to society in general" (Documents Vol. I, p. 18).
     Swedenborg at age thirty was involved in the construction of a most useful canal or waterway. He was in personal contact with the young king of Sweden and may have expected that he would be used by the king in matters important to the country. (He did not know that a bullet would end the life of the king before Swedenborg turned thirty-one.)
     In a letter he wrote at the age of thirty Swedenborg did mention the daughter of Christopher Polhem, and he did comment that he thought she was pretty. The story that he was actually engaged to her was started seventeen years after Swedenborg's death, and it appears on page 50 of the first volume of Tafel's Documents. But the late Dr. Acton comments that the story was "without any supporting evidence" (Letters and Memorials, p. 193).
     His future activities were by no means clear to Swedenborg when he was around thirty years old. The concluding paragraph of a letter he wrote on December 1, 1719 contains some telling phrases.

     My mind is toying with the idea of going abroad and seeking my fortune in my craft, which consists in all that has to do with the advancement of mining.
     He is nothing short of a fool who is independent and at liberty to do as he pleases, and has his name in foreign lands and yet remains at home. . . .
     I am quite ready to acknowledge that long-laid plans are like long insurrections, which do not carry far, or without changes being produced by some circumstances of a general or of a private nature for man proposes. God disposes. Still, I have always been in favor of a man's knowing what he is doing, and of his forming for himself a fine plan of what it is most practicable for him to carry out in his life.

     [To be continued]

211

LOVING AND LIKING 1988

LOVING AND LIKING Tatsuya Nagashima 1988

     Communications
     Dear Editor:
     I have read with much interest Rev. Horand K. Gutfeldt's "Loving and Liking" in Your February edition. There are some reasons for my special concern with it:

     1. I translated into Japanese Rev. Douglas Taylor's sermon, "How to Love the Neighbor Even When You Do Not Like Him," which was sent me from the Evangelization Committee in 1985. I found the sermon excellent. That's true even after I read it again in the October 1987 edition of NCL. We used that sermon twice in our family worship service.
     2. In addition, I am presently translating the seventh chapter of True Christian Religion from the Latin text into Japanese. The heading is: Charity, or Love Towards the Neighbor, and Good Works." This is exactly one of the most important parts of the Writings, to know what is meant by "love for the neighbor" and also by bene velle (to wish well), which often appears in the above sermon.
     3. I thought I should make a response to Rev. Gutfeldt's letter. He quotes the Japanese Admiral Togo's story which happened early this century. (What a shame that many Japanese do not know it!) He also wrote about a heart-warming Christmas story which took place during World War II. Mr. Gutfeldt seems to be a heart-warming minister.

     Anyway, after I pondered a while about the sermon topic and Mr. Gutfeldt's comments, I want to suggest the following:

     Firstly, Mr. Taylor's sermon is a sermon which is to be preached in a worship service. He did not intend to analyze what is meant by "love" or "charity" for a treatise of psychology or philosophy. A sermon should be exhortative and practical by giving an impact upon the listening worshipers. So a one-word definition has a strong punch upon those who want to absorb something to be applied to their own lives.
     Secondly, a one-word definition is still incomprehensible and inexhaustible, even if it looks as if it were too simple and clear-cut. Swedenborg himself takes such an approach as follows in the seventh chapter, on charity, in True Christian Religion. Let me quote from J. C. Ager's English translation:

394.      Charity wishes to do good to the neighbor.

212

400-8.      [Charity] desires the good of all. . . .
               Serving others is doing good from good will.
407.      [Charity] is to wish well and do good to. . . .
408.      Charity in its origin is good will.
413.      Charity consists in right willing and right doing therefrom.
421.      Charity is good will. . . .
          Charity is willing well.

     So Mr. Taylor's "wish well" definition for love for the neighbor is a clear and most accurate translation for the Latin bene velle, although it might sound to many English-speaking people as if it were the lip service of a get-well greeting. Still, the English "to wish well," "to do good to others," "to desire the good of others," "to do good from good will," "to will well," "to have good will to others" are all inexhaustible.
     Thirdly, as long as we see our own human experiences as mental phenomena, the borderline between "loving" and "liking" is surely obscure. But a rational intellect analyzes something and makes it into commonly understandable forms. Then it cannot escape from the use of a sharp distinction or a summarizing simplification.
     In the Writings also, amor Dei/charitas are sharply distinguished from affectio/affectus. Generally, whereas the former are active, seemingly coming from a human will, actually from Divine good, the latter are passive (as the verbal form afficere shows), emotional, and flowing from the hereditary inclinations with attendant spirits. Loving, in general, has a rational sphere with centrifugal stretching out, while liking, in general, has a sensual/corporeal propensity. "Loving" can see what "liking" is like, while "liking" itself cannot see what "loving" is like.
     "Shun the evil" messages which are so often repeated in General Church preachers' sermons call us to fight against our evil inclinations from the proprium. We find many passages in the Writings, on the other hand, that the proprium is totally evil. And while being on the way of regeneration, our human liking and disliking come from this evil selfishness.
     Excuse me for taking an extraordinary example here. I found a written prayer recited by the Kirishitan (Catholic Christians) before their capital execution at the time of the Tokugawa persecution against Christianity in the 16th to 19th centuries. They used such a phrase as Deusu no go-taisetsu ni yori (for the sake of God's love), Deuru (phonetic of Dens in Latin) for "God," and go-taisetsu (which means importance) for "love." Although our ancestors had mederu for "liking" or "caressing," they had no equivalent in their vocabulary to amor, charitas, or love. So they used go-taisetsu (importance) instead. Kirishitan had to use then a totally different word for "love" in place of "like."

213

They were willing even to be killed by the Shogunate, whether they liked
it or not, just for the sake of God's "importance."
     The Japanese go-taisetsu may be one of the best equivalents of amor/charitas in Latin and of "love" in English. Genuine love is to think someone to be important, or to take someone for one's own important treasure. This often disregards one's own liking and disliking.
     In most cases, of course, modern Christians need no such crucial determination, but the Divine love of the Lord and the love for the neighbor may and must enclose both: a heart-warming good news and heart-challenging commandment.
     While we are on earth and during the time of our regeneration we have to fight against the evil proprium whether we like it or not. But we wholeheartedly look to a time when all temptations will cease and our human affections will immediately flow from the conjunction of truths and goods in heaven, the time when "loving" and "liking" go hand in hand.
     Tatsuya Nagashima,
          Tokyo, Japan
WARMER SEASON 1988

WARMER SEASON Richard Linquist 1988

     Dear Editor:
     As the days grow warmer a cold spot in my heart is slowly melting.
     Almost forty years ago my playmates and I had ascended a long, steep, snowy hill. I was about eight or nine years old and full of self-importance. As I recall, I said something like, "Hey, let's take Red's sled and throw it down the hill." So we wrestled it from her grasp and pushed it down the hill. Ah, what fun it was to be, because Red really deserved to be abused. She was so inferior with her skinny little face and weird red hair. In my delirium I laughed at her as I noticed her sad face, twisted in agony and dripping tears. (That's when I felt something freeze inside me.) Not having the energy to go down that long hill again, we went home, leaving her sled there, with my lost self-respect.
     I hated myself then, and that feeling has lingered. Yet, "The fact is we need to love ourselves. . . . It is a form of self-respect that gives us a firm base from which we can be of use to others" (Rev. Brian Keith, NCL Feb. 1988). If we are to be freed from a persistent disliking of self and attain a good love of self, perhaps we should consider the use of childhood experiences in the process of regeneration in our adult years. "That the spiritual mind may be opened and formed it must have a storehouse from which it may draw its supplies . . . . This storehouse is in the natural man and it is its memory, in which everything knowable can be stored up and can be drawn forth from it" (AE 790).

214

Goods and truths from the Word are the best spiritual nourishment to store up in our childhood, yet other states may have their use also. For I do believe on the surface of the river of my innocent, selfish life, ice formed long ago. Its cold and weight opposed the thought that I was king of the mountain, and good and a little god. Long ago emotional foundations were set inside me which predisposed me to worship the Lord and not myself. Now that ice is melting into a river of self-love which uses self to serve the Lord.
     In his diary Swedenborg observed, "Reflection is a sight proceeding from things past; hence it is self-knowledge" (SD 2107). If we do not examine ourselves; how can we know and love ourselves?
     It is spring and the ground is softening under the warm rays of the sun. It is time to go to work. "The human mind is like soil which is such as it is made by cultivation" (HH 356). Doing some work in the garden of our minds may help us to be aware of ourselves, whom we can understand and love.

     Have a thoughtful and happy spring.

          Richard Linquist,
               Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
WALK ABOUT JERUSALEM 1988

WALK ABOUT JERUSALEM Olive Sharp 1988

Dear Editor:
     Reading the Life a few weeks back I really enjoyed Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt's paper titled "Walk About Jerusalem." As I read it I could not stop putting Whittington's music to the quotes from Psalm 48. Here in England we still sing this beautiful music regularly. Some time ago we lost our regular organist but some of our congregation, including at; least three of our young people, are prepared to play some of the Psalms; and we sing them with great pleasure. In the January Life, on page 26, you ask for comments on the preparation of the new Liturgy. Please, please include some of the Whittington Psalms. Here is a list of those regularly sung at Michael Church: Psalm 1, 2, 4, 8,19, 20, 23 (this is a very nice setting of the well-loved 23rd), 28, 42, 46, 47 and 48. Beginning on page 355 of the Psalmody there are Scriptural selections set to music. We enjoy particularly Numbers 24, Isaiah 40, Jeremiah 17, Matthew 11, and Apocalypse 15. I remember in my youth we sang most of the others too, and our assemblies always finished with the singing of Psalm 45. Please do not leave out too many of these much-loved pieces.
     Olive Sharp,
          Surrey, England

215

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS CALENDAR 1988

ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS CALENDAR Editor 1988

     ONE HUNDRED and ELEVENTH SCHOOL YEAR 1988-1989

     1988

Sept. 6      Tues.      8:00 a.m.Academy Faculty opening service and address
               10:00 am.-Registration begins with Secondary Schools local students
                5:30 p.m.-Barbecue for dorm students and parents
               8:15 p.m.-Orientation for all new College students (Social Center)
                     Dorm students arrive (secondary students by 8:00 p.m.)
7      Wed.      8:00 a.m.-12:00 noon-Registration of all Theological School and College students
                10:45-2:00 p.m.-College orientation for all new students
                7:30 p.m.-Cathedral worship service for students, faculty, parents
8      Thurs.     8:00 a.m.-Opening exercises for secondary schools followed by classes
                8:05-College classes begin
                11:00 a.m.-College and Theological School Convocation
Oct. 14      Fri. Charter Day:
               8:00 a.m.-Ann. Meeting of ANC Corporation (Pitcairn Hall)
               10:30 a.m.-Charter Day service (Cathedral)
               9:00 p.m.-Charter Day dance (Field House)
15      Sat.      6:30 p.m.-Charter Day banquet (Society Building)
Nov. 9-11      Wed.-Fri.-College registration for Winter Term
22      Tues.      8:30 p.m.-Secondary Schools Fall Term ends and Thanksgiving recess begins
23      Wed.      Fall Term ends for College after exams and scheduled student work
28      Mon.      Secondary School dormitory students return by 8:00 p.m.
29      Tues.      Winter Term begins in Secondary Schools
Dec. 4      Sun. College dormitory students return by 8:00 p.m.
5           Mon. Winter Term begins in College
16           Fri. Christmas recess begins for all schools at noon

     1989
Jan. 2 Mon.      Dormitory students return (Secondary School by 8:00 p.m.)
3      Tues.      Classes resume in all schools
Feb. 20      Mon. Presidents' Birthday observance
22-24      Wed.-Fri. College registration for Spring Term
Mar. 1     Wed. Deadline for College applications
9      Thurs.     College Winter Term ends*
10                Secondary Schools Winter Term ends. Spring recess begins for
                Secondary Schools after scheduled exams and student work*
19      Sun.      Dormitory students return (Secondary Schools by 8:00 p.m.)
20      Mon.      Spring Term begins in all schools
24                Good Friday holiday for all schools
27      Mon.      Easter Monday holiday for Secondary Schools
May 12 Fri.      3:30 p.m.-Semi-annual Meeting of Academy Corporation (Pitcairn Hall)
               7:45 p.m.-Joint Meeting of Faculty and Corporation (Heilman Hall)
29      Mon.      Memorial Day holiday
June 8      Thurs.     Spring Term ends
9      Fri.      8:30 p.m.-Graduation dance (Field House)
10      Sat.      9:30 a.m.-Commencement (Field House)

     *See catalog or Handbook for holiday regulations.

216

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1988

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES Editor 1988

     Announcements

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 19009, U. S. A.

     PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES

     Only USA Addresses

     Information on public worship and doctrinal classes provided either regularly or occasionally may be obtained at the locations listed below. For details use the local phone number of the contact person mentioned or communicate with the Secretary of the General Church, Rev. L. R. Soneson, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, Phone (215) 947-4660.

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     Alabama:

     BIRMINGHAM
Dr. R. Shepard, 4537 Dolly Ridge Road, Birmingham, AL 35243. Phone:(205) 967-3442.

     Arizona:

     PHOENIX
Mr. Hubert Rydstrom, 3640 E. Piccadilly Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85018. Phone: (602) 955-2290.

     TUCSON
Rev. Frank S. Rose, 2536 N. Stewart Ave., Tucson, AZ 85716. Phone: (602) 327-2612.

218

     Arkansas:

     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, Rt. 6, Box 447, Batesville, AR 72501. (501) 251-2383

     California:

     LOS ANGELES
Rev. Donald Rogers, 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Phone: (818) 249-5031.

     SACRAMENTO
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ripley, 2310 N. Cirby Way, Roseville, CA 95678. Phone: (916) 782-7837

     SAN DIEGO
Rev. Nathan Gladish, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (619) 268-0379. Office: (619) 571-8599.

     SAN FRANCISCO
Rev. Mark Carlson, 4638 Royal Garden Place, San Jose, CA 95136. Phone: (408) 224-8521.

     Colorado:

     COLORADO SPRINGS
Mr. and Mrs. William Reinstra, 708 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs, CO 80829. Phone: (303) 685-9519.

     DENVER
Rev. Clark Echols, 3371 W. 94th Ave., Westminster, CO 80030. Phone (303) 429-1239

     Connecticut:

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Mr. and Mrs. James Tucker, 45 Honey Bee Lane, Shelton, CT 06484. Phone: (203)-929-6455.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 2008 Eden Rd., N. Graylyn, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 475-3694.

     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     MIAMI
Rev. Daniel Heinrichs, 15101 N. W. Fifth Ave., Miami, FL 33169. Phone: (305) 687-1337.

     LAKE HELEN
Mr. and Mrs. Brant Morris, 264 Kicklighter Rd., Lake Helen, FL 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2276.

     Georgia:

     AMERICUS
Mr. W. H. Eubanks, Rt. #2, S. Lee St., Americus, GA 31709. Phone: (912) 924-9221.

     ATLANTA
Rev. Christopher Bown, 3795 Montford Drive, Chamblee, GA 30341. Phone: (Home) (404) 457-4726. (Office) (404) 452-0518.

     Idaho:

     FRUITLAND
(Idaho-Oregon border) Mr. Harold Rand,1705 Whitley Dr., Fruitland, ID 83619. Phone: (208) 452-3181.

     Illinois:

     CHICAGO
Rev. Grant Schnarr, 73A Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 729-0130 (home) (312) 724-6130 (office).

     DECATUR
Mr. John Aymer, 380 Oak Lane, Decatur, IL 62562. Phone: (217) 875-3215.

     GLENVIEW
Rev. Brian Keith, 73 Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 724-0120.

     Indiana:
Contact Mr. James Wood, R. R. 1, Lapel, IN 46051. Phone (317) 534-3546

     Louisiana:

     BATON ROUGE
Mr. Henry Bruser, Jr., 1652 Ormandy Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70808. Phone: (504) 921-3089.

     Maine

     BATH
Rev. Gene Barry, Middle and Winter Station, Bath, ME 04530.

     Maryland:

     BALTIMORE
Rev. Frederick Chapin, #12 Pawleys Ct., S. Belmont, Baltimore, MD 21236. Phone: (301) 682-3397.

     MITCHELLVILLE
Rev. Lawson Smith, 3805 Enterprise Rd., Mtichellville, MD 20716. Phone: (301) 262-2349.

     Massachusetts:

     BOSTON
Rev. Grant Odhner, 4 Park Ave., Natick, MA 01760. Phone: (617) 651-1127.

219

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Walter Orthwein, 395 Olivewood Court, Rochester, MI 48064. Phone: (313) 656-1267.

     EAST LANSING
Mr. Christopher Clark, 5853 Smithfield, East Lansing, MI 48823. Phone: (517) 351-2880.

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Rev. Michael Cowley, 3153 McKnight Road #340, White Bear Lake, MN 55110. (612) 770-9242

     Missouri:

     COLUMBIA
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 103 S. Greenwood, Columbia, MO 65201. Phone: (314) 442-3475.

     KANSAS CITY
Mr. Glen Klippenstein, Glenkirk Farms, Maysville, MO 64469. Phone: (816) 449-2167.

     New Jersey-New York:

     RIDGEWOOD. N.J.
Mrs. Fred E. Munich, 474 S. Maple Ave., Glen Rock, NJ 07452. Phone: (201) 445-1141.

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Rev. John Odhner, 4009 Montgomery NE, Apt. L4, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Phone: (505) 881-4930.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Mr. John deMaine, 3509 Highridge Rd., Matthews, NC 28105. Phone: (704) 845-4058.

     Ohio:

     CINCINNATI
Rev. Patrick Rose, 785 Ashcroft Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45240. Phone: (513) 825-7473.

     CLEVELAND
Mr. Alan Childs, 19680 Beachcliff Blvd., Rocky River, OH 44116. Phone: (216) 333-4413.

     COLUMBUS
Mr. Hubert Heinrichs, 8372 Todd Street Rd., Sunbury. OH 43074. Phone: (614) 524-2738.

     Oklahoma:

     OKLAHOMA CITY
Mr. Robert Campbell, 3108 Eagle Pass Rd., Edmond, OK 73013. Phone: (404) 478-4729.

     Oregon-Idaho Border.See Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

     BRYN ATHYN
Rev. Kurt Asplundh, Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. Phone: (215) 947-3665.

     ERIE
Mrs. Paul Murray, 5648 Zuck Rd., Erie, PA 16506. Phone: (814) 833-0962.

     FREEPORT
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 126 Iron Bridge Rd., Sarver, PA 16055. Phone: Office (412) 353-2220 or Home 295-9855

     KEMPTON
Rev. Jeremy Simons, RD 2, Box 217-A, Kempton, PA 19529. Phone: (Home) (215) 756-4301; (Office) (215) 756-6140.

     PAUPACK
Mr. Richard Kintner, Box 172, Paupack, PA 18451. Phone: (717) 857-0688.

     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Ray Silverman, 299 Le Roi Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731-1061.

     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.

     South Dakota:

     HOT SPRINGS
Linda Klippenstein, 537 Albany, Hot Springs, SD 57745 Phone: (605) 745-6629

     Texas:

     AUSTIN
Mrs. Charles Grubb, 604 Highland Ave., Austin, TX 78703. Phone: (512) 472-3575.

     DALLAS-FORT WORTH
Mr. Fred Dunlap, 3887 Antigua Circle, Dallas, TX 75244. Phone: (214) 247-7775.

     HOUSTON
Dr. James Carter, 30 Williamsburg Ln., Houston, TX 77024. Phone: (713) 456-4057.

     Washington:

     SEATTLE
Rev. Kent Junge, 14812 N. E. 75th Street, Redmond, WA 98033. Phone: (206) 881-1955.

     Wisconsin:

     MADISON
Mrs. Charles Howell, 3912 Plymouth Circle, Madison, WI 53705. Phone: (608) 233-0209.

220

New Translation 1988

New Translation Editor 1988

TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
Translated by
John Chadwick
Published by
Swedenborg Society
2 Volumes

     Hardcover set           $29.50 plus postage $1.50
Softcover set               $22.70 plus postage $1.20

General Church Book Center      Hours: Mon-Fri. 9-12
Box 278, Cairncrest                     Or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                     Phone: (215) 947-3920

221

Notes on This Issue 1988

Notes on This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII June, 1988 No. 6
NEW CHURCH LIFE

222

     Notes on This Issue

     The very first time an English translation of Conjugial Love appeared in print it was hone in installments in a magazine. It would be dramatic to wait a year and a half to publish this new translation exactly two hundred years later, but we do not want to waste any time getting parts of this version before our readers. Indeed, one of our purposes is to seek reactions and comments. The translator, the Rev. Bruce Rogers, is willing to consider suggestions in preparing for printing in book form.
     Some of our readers were able to visit the "New Light" exhibition earlier this year. Herein we are publishing a description of it with a few photographs. Notice the postscript announcements by Director Stephen Morley on page 240.
     We have been asked if there are any good brief histories of the New Church. While still pursuing this question we are publishing an excerpt from a history written specially for the Academy of the New Church centenary (see page 250).
     What if you were to be asked to sit down and write a letter to Swedenborg this year? Some of our overseas friends were given just such an assignment. See "in Our Contemporaries."
     Particularly apt for our June issue is the brief and direct sermon on the opposite page about "glory" and "great glory."

(Note: On page 258 are a number of ministerial announcements.)

     A BOOK OF QUOTATIONS FROM THE WRITINGS

     After its highly successful book Window to Eternity by Bruce Henderson, the Swedenborg Foundation has published Poems from Swedenborg. The book does not actually contain poems but a series of striking quotations from the Writings. More information in our next issue.

223

"GLORY" AND "GREAT GLORY" 1988

"GLORY" AND "GREAT GLORY" Rev. ERIK SANDSTROM 1988

     (First Advent and Second Advent)

     "And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

     "And they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matt. 24:30).

     The Lord has twice come into the world in His Human. Each time He revealed Himself, in His first advent with His glory as it were veiled, but as He returned, allowing it to shine forth in effulgence. Two thousand years ago He came as the Word incarnate, the Word made flesh, and He spoke then in guarded language, in parables. But when after seventeen centuries He returned, He came as the Spirit of truth, for now He revealed the spiritual sense of His Word. This time He spoke no longer in parables, but showed them plainly of the Father (see John 16:25). This was the fulfillment of His promise long ago: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:12, 13).
     Each time the Lord came as the Word. John said: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). And in Matthew the Lord is called the Son of Man, for this, the Writings explain, is the title given Him when He acts and speaks as the Word, that is to say, when He is waging battle against the hells, or executing judgment, or working redemption, salvation, reformation, and regeneration (see Doctrine of the Lord 24-28). None of these things could be accomplished apart from the freedom of man; and truth alone makes men free-free in faith and life. So the Lord came as the Son of Man each time, first in glory and then in great glory.
     The Lord is called the Son of God as well. This is because He was born of God. His infinite Divine was His Soul. But although He was born from His Divine, He came each time by means of a human being. Mary said: Behold the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). She humbly gave her virgin body to the Divine that bowed the heavens and came down to her. And Swedenborg, struggling in temptations and being prepared to become "the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ" as the Lord returned, committed the following to his Journal of Dreams: "As I have my motto: 'Thy will be done; I am Thine and not my own'; and as I have given myself away from myself to our Lord, may He therefore do with me according to His good pleasure" (op. cit. no. 117).

224

And presently he added, awed by the wonder of being totally led, totally a servant, he prayed, "Forgive me if I have said that I am Thine and not mine own; this belongs not to me but to God. I pray for the grace of being permitted to be Thine, and that I may not be left to myself (n. 118). In this way his mind, untrammelled by worldly pride or anxiety-a virgin mind, one might say-was being made ready as a humble instrument for the Spirit of truth.
     So each time He came, the Lord made use of a human being. He could reach down that way, be with men that way. In this He was the Son of Man. But as in the case of the humble virgin, so in the case of the humble philosopher: He took nothing from the instrument as He gave the Word. It was He who taught and led. The truth that He spoke or caused to be written was from His Divine. What we saw in His teaching and His life, therefore, was the Divine Human, the Son of God, or God with us. The Word as such is the Son of Man, and the glorious Divine Being who stands forth to view in the Word is the Son of God; it is the "glory of God in the highest" revealed to men and among men.
     It was so when He was in the world, and it was so in the New Testament, which is the testament of His life in the world. He taught and led, and we saw something of the glory of God. And it is so in the Writings; only now we see our Lord and God in great glory.
     An essential idea in each of our two texts must not be overlooked. We have mentioned one: that the glory of the Lord is contained and presented to view in the Word of each advent-the New Testament and the Writings. The other essential idea is that of our seeing. "We beheld His glory." "They shall see the Son of Man coming with power and great glory" (emphasis added to the quotes). Our seeing depends on our will to see.
     There are two sides to each of the Lord's advents, as indeed is the case with all acts of God. The Lord presents, offers, teaches, urges; and man responds, man makes his choice, pro or con.
     Do we see the glory of our Lord in His Word? Are we touched by the inner message there?

     This statement in Apocalypse Explained tells us of the Lord's message in His first advent: "When the Lord was in the world He revealed interior Divine truths that were to be for the use of a new church about to be established by Him, and that did serve that church" (AE 948:2). And the statement goes on to set forth the parallel as He returned: "The Word has been opened interiorly at this day, and still more interior Divine truths have been revealed therefrom for the use of a new church, that will be called the New Jerusalem" (ibid.).

225

     Interior truths at His first advent-that is how He revealed His glory, but later we were given still more interior truths, and through them He showed Himself in even greater glory.
     But the Lord did not glorify His Human for His own sake; neither did He reveal it just for the sake of revealing. The final purpose in all that the Lord did by coming into the world, the first time and the second time, was the salvation of the human race. All that He did and said was for our sake.
     The following beautiful passage from the Arcana teaches this: "In the union of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence the Lord had in view the conjunction of Himself with the human race, and this was His end, and this His love, which was such that the salvation of the human race, as beheld in the union of Himself with His Father, was to Him the inmost joy" (AC 2034:3-emphasis added; see also AC 2034:2).
     But His glory, in order to mean something to the men and women of His church, must be set forth-must be made visible. Again we read: [The Lord God the Savior Himself] came into the world and made Himself visible, accessible, and capable of entering into conjunction with man solely for this end, that man might be saved" (TCR 538).
     There is therefore an inseparable trilogy: glorification, revelation, salvation. Or we might substitute "visibility" as the second link: glorification, visibility, salvation. If this chain is broken, nothing remains. If the Lord's coming, each time, had not led to salvation, there would have been no point in His waging battle with the hells or in His glorious victory; and again, there would have been no use in making known His mercy, His will, His truth, the good works and the joy of His kingdom if there had been no hope that some would meet their Lord and believe, and live, and be saved.
     It is an awesome thought that men and women have it in their hands to make an advent of the Lord of no avail. He came in the night of the Jewish Church, fought and conquered, set forth His glory, and said, "Follow Me." There were some who did. This was His first historical advent. Then, as He foresaw, there came an even deeper night. At that time He returned, and then fulfilled what He had begun as the Word in Person. He said what before they could not bear. He opened the heavens and His Word. He explained His infinite Divine, from which all was created that was ever made. He revealed the laws of order by which He governs the works of His hands.

226

And He called for cooperation, that is, He invited people of the church into conjunction with Himself. This was His second historical advent. But there will be no third historical advent. The Spirit of truth is already there, to guide into all truth.
     Hopefully, however, there will be innumerable individual advents, now and in future generations, whereby the third link in the trilogy will be forged. Man willing, the Lord will do it.
     If so, men and women will rise as images of the Divine Human-images of our Lord visible, after His likeness. That it be so is the purpose of His two historical advents.
     The Lord has come with power and great glory. It is for His people first to see His glory, and then to avail themselves of His power. Amen.

     Lessons: Exodus 33:18-23, John 1:14-18, Matt. 24:29-31, AE 948:2, 3 CONCURRENCE OF MANY THINGS OF PROVIDENCE 1988

CONCURRENCE OF MANY THINGS OF PROVIDENCE Editor 1988

With every man there is a concurrence every moment of more things of Providence than can be comprised by any number. This I know from heaven.
Arcana Coelestia 5894 MEANING OF THE GREAT FESTIVAL OF THE NEW CHURCH 1988

MEANING OF THE GREAT FESTIVAL OF THE NEW CHURCH Rev. LOUIS D. SYNNESTVEDT 1988

Two hundred and seventeen years ago, Emanuel Swedenborg had, completed the great work entitled The True Christian Religion. At this time a most significant event took place. The Lord Jesus Christ called together in the spiritual world the same twelve disciples who had been with Him in the world about seventeen hundred years earlier. On the following day, which was the 19th of June, 1770, the Lord sent them forth throughout the whole spiritual world to announce the Gospel of His second coming. This was in fulfillment of Matthew 24:31 where the Lord said, "And [the Son of Man] will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." The disciples were these angels sent on a mission to establish in heaven the Holy City New Jerusalem seen by John.

227

Then that city could descend into the minds and hearts of men on earth.
     We are gathered here to celebrate the second coming of the Lord with the descent of that Holy City which is a symbol of the crown of all the churches that have existed on this earth. June 19th is the anniversary of the New Church. What does that day mean to us? How is New Church Day different from the other major festivals that we celebrate in the church? By discussing the two other major festivals, it is my hope to begin to grasp the meaning of our affectional response to the 19th of June.
     The Christmas festival is half a year away from us, yet let us take a look there. At Christmas time we celebrate the advent of our Savior Jesus Christ into the world. The shepherds were told by an angel multitude that a Savior was born who is called Christ the Lord. They went to pay homage to the infant Jesus. Wise men from the East followed a star to Jerusalem to seek the one born King of the Jews. They also worshiped Him and presented Him with gifts.
     Christmas, then, is a great birthday celebration of the Lord Jesus Christ. In our day, we use birthdays to honor those we love. We express gratitude for their birth with the giving of gifts. Since we are to love the Lord above all things, it is not surprising that our celebration of His birth surpasses our observances of all other birthdays. We think of what we would be like today if the mighty God of wisdom and love had not made Himself known, or if we were without His example of truthfulness and compassion. So we respond with grateful hearts when we remember His humble birth. It is our custom to decorate our homes and our church for this special occasion, to sing special hymns and to exchange gifts with one another. Christmas is very widely observed around us, even to the point that we are disturbed by the way promoters and advertisers have taken advantage of the Christmas theme. It is as if they are unaware of the one who is the true Lord of that holiday. Nevertheless, having so many people observe the Lord's advent bolsters the celebrations we have in the New Church. Their decorations add to ours. Their music helps us feel that Christmas is a special time. We exchange gifts with one another as well as with friends not of the New Church.
     Now let's consider Easter. Easter is similar in that we share this with others around us. Coming when it does in the year, Easter is a festival that introduces the coming of spring (at least in our hemisphere). It is celebrated with flowers, sometimes with new clothing, and with gatherings of family and friends.

228

This appropriately reflects the spirit of Easter, which is a celebration of the Lord's resurrection. Only when a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies is it able to be raised from the earth to bear much fruit (see John 12:24). The Lord gave this teaching in reference to our own need to be reborn, as well as to His own death and resurrection.
     The Lord predicted that the Son of Man must suffer and be put to death, though His disciples did not comprehend what He was saying to them until after the resurrection. When the two women came to the sepulcher, angels spoke to them saying, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, for He is risen" (Luke 24:5). The crucifixion was the last of a life-long series of temptations that the Lord endured. Through temptations He overcame the hells by His own power. With each victory He gained more control over the hells, put off more of the infirmities of his maternal human, and put on more of the Divine in His Human. A voice was heard from heaven saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again" (John 12:28), referring to the Human that was approaching oneness with the Divine within, or the Father. This process of glorification was complete when the Lord rose from the tomb. The Divine and the Human were united in one Person, the Lord God Jesus Christ. The Lord now has all power, which He uses to save those who look to Him.
     Anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one can sense the power and the hope contained in the picture of the Lord's triumph over death. For nothing can seem more tragic than the loss of someone you love and depend upon. Nothing seems more final than the ceasing of the body's functions and the parting from this very real world we live in. Even when we grieve for those who have left us, nothing gives us more reassurance than those words: "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, for He is risen as the Lord has said." Nothing is more glorious than the reality of the other world where judgment is based upon one's life and heart, and where heaven is a believable kingdom of people serving people.
     Easter helps us to remember our own mortality, yet gives us the sure knowledge that death does not bring an end to life. It simply marks a profound transition from this world into the next. Jesus said, "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" (John 14:2).
     In the New Church, Easter is every bit as important as Christmas, Easter celebrates the Lord's redemption. The Lord accomplished redemption by gaining control over the hells, by opening heaven, and by glorifying His Human nature. This makes Him the Savior for all ages.

229

Yet we do not tend to celebrate Easter with the same degree of delight or enthusiasm as we do Christmas. This is partly because we are influenced by the customs of those around us. And the holiday not having a fixed place on the calendar, we perhaps fall short of making consistent plans for our festival observance. Reasons which perhaps go more deeply might be that people tend to recognize easily that a Savior was born, but they might not so easily recognize exactly what He accomplished by His death. The traditional doctrine of the atonement cannot be understood by anyone who thinks about it. It is meant to remain a mystery. Hidden behind this doctrine is a wrathful God who could only be appeased by the sight of the innocent blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. But He and the Father are one. Only when the clear doctrine of the Lord's redemption and glorification are known can people enter a truer meaning of Easter.
     Another reason why Christmas receives more attention is related to the fact that it is natural to enjoy a newborn infant and hope for his future happiness. As he grows up we can watch his progress which takes lace in this physical world. On the other hand, it is not so natural for us to rejoice at the time of one's resurrection. The shadow of death is long and dark. You must first cultivate an appreciation of the hereafter and a trust in a world we cannot see with our physical eyes. Easter's message requires a belief that "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (Psalm 23). This belief comes only with spiritual maturity, or else with the trusting heart of a little child. Still, Easter contains a message that stirs many who are searching for a deeper purpose to life and for a living hope that looks to the future.
     What about the festival for which we are gathering this day in June? I believe that our celebration of New Church Day has yet to enter its full potential with us. We enjoy Christmas with its weeks of preparation culminating with the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ. Easter also, though to a lesser degree, is celebrated with much feeling and rejoicing, aided by the preparation with services commemorating Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Yet I have heard the comment that we have yet to make June 19th as meaningful to our children and to us as these other festivals. How can we make it more meaningful?
     Both the stories of Christmas and Easter, recorded in the gospels, are clear and powerful. Little children can hear and understand them with delight. But the story of the New Church is contained in the apocalyptic visions of John.

230

There are letters to churches, a Lamb with a scroll, the opening of seven seals with great wonders and judgments taking place; there is a woman clothed with the sun whose child is rescued from a great dragon; there are other great beasts and there are bowls that pour out the wrath of God; the Son of Man appears on a white horse and then the Holy City appears to John as a bride, coming down from God out of heaven. Each aspect of this story is important and contains the hidden truths about the last judgment in the spiritual world upon the evil, and the Lord's preparation for a New Church to take the place of the former Christian churches.
     But what exactly is involved in the events that led up to, and that constitute, New Church Day? The book of Revelation contains so many images, yet we find it hard to focus on one image around which the others are centered. Another difficulty is that we are alone in celebrating this day. We do not receive the natural encouragement and support to honor this day when so few have yet learned what it is all about. A practical problem for us in our societies is that the 19th of June comes at the end of our school year. Even in our New Church schools our attention easily gets diverted to the other pressures and needs that the end of the school year brings.
     I believe that there is a key to the observance of the 19th of June that would give us a clearer focus and help us respond both affectionally and thoughtfully to the day that marks the start of the greatest epic of mankind-that of the New Church.
     Christmas is a celebration of the Lord's birth. Easter is a celebration of His resurrection. What is New Church Day? It is a celebration of the Lord's marriage with His New Church! Is not a wedding the central image for us to focus on for this great festival? John records in the book of Revelation,

     And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. . . ."
     Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'" And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God" (19:6-9).

     The Lord promised that a day was coming when He would dwell with men, and they would be His people and God Himself would be with them and be their God (see Rev. 21:3). This is the promise of the New Church described by the New Jerusalem in the last two chapters of Revelation.

231

     Just as the life of man has three great events, namely, his birth, his death and his marriage, so does the Lord's work have three great events His advent, His resurrection and His conjunction with the New Jerusalem.
     Tonight we are celebrating the greatest of anniversaries, the marriage supper of the Lamb!
     From times of old the Lord spoke of this marriage. We read in Isaiah the prophet:

For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace,
And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
And her salvation as a lamp that burns.
The Gentiles shall see your righteousness,
And all kings your glory.
You shall be called by a new name,
Which the mouth of the Lord will name.
You shall also be a crown of glory
In the hand of your God.
You shall no longer be termed Forsaken,
Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate;
But you shall be called Hephzibah (My Delight is in Her),
And your land Beulah (Married);
For the Lord delights in you,
And your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a virgin,
So shall your sons marry you;
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So shall your God rejoice over you (62:1-5).

     And in the prophecy given through Hosea, we read:

"And it shall be, in that day," says the Lord,
You [Jerusalem] will call Me 'my Husband,'
And no longer call Me 'my Master,'. . .
I will betroth you to Me forever" (2: 16, 19).

     These prophets were describing the New Jerusalem in its glory and magnificence such as John saw descending from God out of heaven when on the Isle of Patmos. It is the fulfillment of the petition in the Lord's prayer: Thy Kingdom come, as in heaven, so upon the earth. The Lord when in the world likened His kingdom to a wedding. "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servant to call those who were invited to the wedding" (Matt. 22:2, 3). Those who were first invited did not respond, so the servant had to go out into the highways and invite as many as he could find. On another occasion Jesus said, "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom" (Matt. 25:1).

232

Five virgins did not have their lamps ready; and while they were gone the Bridegroom came and the five who were ready went in to the wedding.
     It may seem that the theme of marriage is arbitrarily chosen among the images of the Apocalypse. Yet it is a theme present throughout the Scriptures from the beginning to the end. In the opening chapters of Genesis we read, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and! mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh" (2:24). The New Testament closes with the theme of marriage. John records in the book of Revelation: "Then I, John, saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev. 21:2). And the Writings teach that the love of marriage is the fundamental love of all the loves of heaven and the church (see CL 65, 143). The whole of the Word looks to their time when the Lord would be betrothed and married to His church to be His crown of glory.
     Anyone who has attended a wedding knows the joy that is felt when a man and a woman make a covenant before God to become husband and wife. You do not have to be married to know what a thrilling and inspiring occasion a wedding can be. Even little children can understand; in a simple yet profound way what is involved in making marriage vows. Weddings are celebrated with festivities. Special garments are worn. Flowers adorn those in the wedding party as well as the church and the reception hall. Friends are gathered from far and near to join in the celebration. Special meals are prepared which unite those present in the joy of the occasion. The Lord has revealed in the book on marriage entitled Conjugial Love that these festivities are appropriate for introducing the couple into the joys of this love (see CL 309). If we think about these outward celebrations that accompany weddings, we may think of a number of ways of making New Church Day a more special and festive occasion.
     The Lord has also revealed that there is a correspondence of the marriage of men and women with the marriage of the Lord and the church (CL 116-137). Marriage has the potential of uniting the minds; and hearts of a married pair into a one so that the one thinks and wills as the other. As we enter the spirit of June 19th, we are drawn closer to the; Lord. We learn to think and will from a state of oneness with Him.
     Perhaps weddings bring such joy because there is communicated from heaven the joy that the angels feel in the marriage of the Lord with His church. It is not uncommon for people to weep at weddings.

233

Sometimes the weeping comes from a sense of loss of a relationship which is changed by the marriage. But often weeping is an expression of unexplainable joy in what the Lord accomplishes through the marriages of the men and women whom we know and love. There is joy from the promise of happiness that the couple will experience in their life together. There is joy in the hope that children will be born to carry on uses of the church to future generations. And there is joy in the promise that the greatest delights are granted to marriages, from firsts to lasts. All these affections can have their parallel in our celebrations of New Church Day.
     Let's reflect now on the message declared by the disciples on June 19th, 1770. When Emanuel Swedenborg completed the crowning work of this new revelation, True Christian Religion, the Lord gathered together His twelve disciples. On the next day, He sent them forth throughout the whole spiritual world to proclaim the Gospel that. . . . What was that Gospel? "THE LORD GOD JESUS CHRIST reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ages and ages, according to the prediction in Daniel (7:13, 14) and in the Apocalypse (11:15)" (TCR 791).

     Let us read the text of Daniel's prediction.

I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!. . .
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom one
Which shall not be destroyed.

     And John wrote in the book of Revelation,

The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!

     When we refer to the gospel preached by those disciples, we often stop where we just did, with the phrase that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns. But there was more to that gospel preached on June 19th. What else did the disciples declare?* "Blessed are those who come to the marriage supper of the Lamb-a phrase quoted in TCR 791 from the 19th chapter of Revelation. The gospel of June 19th is clearly twofold, yet the second part is just as potent a message. And it provides an affectional basis for our celebrations of the Lord's second coming.

234

"Blessed are those who come to the marriage supper of the Lamb!" the disciples declared on the 19th of June.
     * When this question was posed to a large gathering of a General Church society, several guesses, one individual came up with the sought-after answer.
     The celebration of New Church day is to be filled with joy as of a wedding. Something of the sphere of happiness that we associate with bridegrooms and brides can be with us to lift up our hearts on this occasion. Especially we can rejoice when newcomers and our own young people discover the beauty of the Heavenly Doctrines and the life they direct us to. They become, with us, guests who have responded to the Lord's invitation to come to His great wedding feast. We all can be guess of the manage supper of the Lamb and come clothed and prepared for the celebration.
     And consider how appropriate it is that the 19th falls in the month of June-after all, June is the month for weddings!
     The Writings promise to marriages the following blessings:

The states of this love are innocence, peace, tranquillity, inmost friendship, full confidence, and a mutual desire of mind and heart to do to the other every good; and from all these, blessedness, happiness, delight, pleasure; and from the eternal fruition of these, heavenly joy (CL 180).

     These states of conjugial love, by analogy, are promises to all who, in some measure, enter into a marriage covenant with the Lord. May our prayer be that we become knowledgeable enough to understand our responsibility in this covenant, and worthy enough to be received into it.
     As the Lord's disciples on earth, our challenge is to make known the dual gospel of the New Church. The Lord God Jesus Christ does indeed reign and His kingdom will endure forever; and those are blessed who come to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
In closing, let us consider two verses from the last chapter of Revelation.

I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star."
And the Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come! And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:16, 17).

235

NEW LIGHT EXHIBITION 1988

NEW LIGHT EXHIBITION KAREN J. SCHNARR 1988

     A Glencairn Museum Exhibit of Ten Artists Influenced by the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

     Glencairn, the home of Raymond and Mildred Pitcairn in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, became a part of the Academy of the New Church several years ago. This most generous gift was given with the hope that Glencairn would become a center for the arts in the New Church.
     In January of 1988, to accompany the Swedenborg Symposium held in Bryn Athyn, the Glencairn Museum unveiled an exhibition of the works of ten artists inspired by the Heavenly Doctrines. Because of time constraints, only those artists were included "whose works were accessible and easily researched," in the words of museum director Stephen Morley (New Light catalogue, p. 2). Four of the artists represented were I researched by New Church college students, the others by Martha Gyllenhaal. Museum libraries in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., were contacted and visited as research progressed. Finally, art works were selected and borrowed from Delaware Valley museums and local private collections. The research and art commentaries were then compiled into a beautiful catalogue to accompany the six-week New Light exhibit, displayed in the upper level of Glencairn's Great Hall. Miss Gyllenhaal, the exhibit coordinator and designer, also wrote most of the articles and the notes in the New Light catalogue.
     The exhibit included more than seventy selections representative of the works of ten 19th and 20th century artists influenced by the Writings:

John Flaxman,      1755-1826               Thomas Anshutz,      1851-1912
William Blake, 1757-1827           Howard Pyle,           1853-1911
Hiram Powers,      1805-1873           Philippe Smit,      1886-1948
William Page,      1811-1885           Winfred Hyatt,      1891-1959
George Inness, 1825-1894           Nishan Yardumian,      1947-1986

     Our world is a world lived by contrast. At twilight and dawn we find shadows; day is preceded by night; smooth feels smooth in relation to roughness, or soft in relation to hard.
     So too is the life of our inner world lived by contrast. Good fights in us with evil; conscience and proprium war; peace comes at the end of conflict; we are happy not to be sad.

236

     If one idea could summarize the New Light exhibit, it would be this law of opposites, as found in Swedenborg's Writings:

. . . Good is not known as to its quality except . . . through the opposition of evil. . . . There must be variety in everything . . . and when there is variety in its opposite also . . . then there is relation. . . (Divine Providence 24-Emphasis added).

. . . for everything is known from its opposite (Divine Providence 38e).

     Some of the artists in the New Light exhibit chose to work in black and white, while others worked in color. Two are neoclassical, while several others used impressionistic styles. Some works are finely detailed, others vague and cloaked in shadow. Two men chose for their medium the hardness of stone, while others, the softness of charcoal. Themes ranged from the ancient to the modern, from the imaginary to. the real, from the world of nature to the world of man's spirit and the struggle between good and evil.
     When viewed chronologically, the paintings of George Inness, one of America's great 19th century landscape painters, reflect a change and progression in spiritual attitudes. His early paintings are realistic, finely detailed, serene and light; his later works are more impressionistic and suggestive, full of stronger colors and contrasting elements. Kurt Rosenquist, a college student and one of Glencairn's research team last summer, describes this general change in the following way in the New Light catalogue (p. 15):

     The colors he [Inness] used in the sixties and seventies were far more luscious and rich than those of his earlier years. . . . No effort was made to emulate natural foliage. The colors became undeniably luminescent, seemingly lit by an inner glow. . . .
     Not unlike descriptions of the spiritual world by Swedenborg, the landscape depicted in Inness' later works are blurry and soft. . . . Static, material definition gives way to the idea of the spiritual world being neither hard nor fixed, but based on the states of affections of the spirits there.

     A second, perhaps lesser known, artist (and writer) is Howard Pyle, possibly most familiar for his retellings of the King Arthur and Robin Hood legends. Pyle was of the Brandywine school of artists, instructor to N. C. Wyeth, and also a practicing New Churchman in the Wilmington, Delaware, society. At first Pyle questioned the Writings, but later he came to accept them as having Divine authority. Some letters from Pyle to fellow author William Dean Howells (compiled by C. D. Abbot, master's thesis, Columbia University, 1924) reflect his early skepticism and later full belief.

237

In 1890 he writes to Howells:

. . . I remember you were reading Heaven and Hell when I first met you. I think it is an awful book. . . . To my mind there is little choice in the eternity of discomfort between the heaven and hell Swedenborg pictures--and neither of them reads to me like fact. I hope not to go to either.

     In 1892 he writes:

. . . my talk with you . . . was positively wrong . . . . In fact, I believe that everything Swedenborg wrote--everything to the last jot and tittle--is the very Divine Truth itself.

     The illustration pictured here is one from Pyles story The Garden Behind the Moon, a story suggestive of the life after death described in Heaven and Hell. It is an oil painting using only black and white, and the light source in the drawing is the glowing pot of stars. The boy David is to polish the radiant stars with lambs-wool, for the Man-in-the-Moon, perhaps symbolizing the illustrators knowledge of correspondences: faith and knowledge, to shine brightly, must be touched by innocence.

     [Picture courtesy of the Delaware Art Museum, Howard Pyle Collection]

238

     [Picture of "Deliver Us from Evil"(c. 1810). John Flaxman, The Glencairn Museum, New Church Collection]

     Another more obvious depiction of man's equilibrium between good and evil is the plaster relief by John Flaxman shown here. Flaxman, a confirmed New Churchman, shows clearly in this work of art entitled "Deliver Us from Evil" the struggle for man's soul between heaven and hell described in the Writings. It is a violent, writhing struggle, a dramatic spiritual tug-of-war, and the contrast lies not in the use of color but in the treatment of the figures: in winged angels above wrestling for the man as devils to the side and below seem to drag the man downward. All the while the snake of sensual delights is trying to entwine itself around him. At first glance the struggle looks even, yet if we look more closely we see that the man is stepping on the neck of one of the evil spirits, and the face of the man is looking upward to heaven. Within the struggle seems to lie a subtle air of hope and promise.
     Nishan Yardumian's themes and subjects are many: a painting of Bethlehem lit from above by one bright star; a preliminary drawing of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers (Yardumian intended to paint this scene with each brother in a color corresponding to what he represents); a pastel portrait of his teacher, Alexander Abels; the landscape pictured here. This is one of Yardumian's later works, painted in 1984, where his use of light seems to have evolved into a style that researcher Dean Holmes describes from a taped interview with Tony Rosati:

239

. . . manipulation of light and shadow produced works which were both whimsical and spiritual in mood. . . . In his later works the viewer comes to the light, that is, the viewer is drawn in the painting toward the light source . . . (New Light catalogue, p. 25).

[Picture Courtesy of the Rt. Rev. and Mrs. Willard D. Pendleton]

Some viewers who look at this landscape will see only a tree, yet for others the little tree bathed in bright sunlight, surrounded on all sides by dusky forest, may evoke an uplifting sense of promise, and even of spiritual optimism. In this painting Yardumian draws the eye not to the brooding peripheral forest, but to the bright new growth. Perhaps his New Church convictions held this as a very real spiritual promise-the promise that in the midst of older growth could be born something wonderfully fresh, young and new.
It seems that this voice of spiritual optimism speaks most potently in both the philosophies and the artworks of the men in the New Light exhibit. The contrast between dark cloud and brilliant sky leaps out at us. The quiet repose of Hiram Powers' bust of Persephone lends startling contrast to the dynamic conflict of a Flaxman relief. Everywhere one looks in the exhibit one finds contrast, and perhaps therein lies the greatest truth of all-that we are indeed in the middle of the great struggle between good and evil, and that to express the mind and soul of man is to picture both heaven and hell.

240

     From the beginning it has always been so. Out of the darkness the Lord brought forth light. "And God saw the light, that it was good."
     Some of the artists in this exhibit at Glencairn suggest of themselves that they emerged from a spiritual darkness. The exhibit is indeed aptly titled "New Light."

     * * * *

     Notes from the Museum Director

     Although the exhibit is over, New Light catalogues are still available at the Glencairn Museum. Please send $4 (U.S.), which includes postage, to The Glencairn Museum, P.O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
     The Glencairn Museum has a growing "New Church Artists" file. If you have any information (letters, pamphlets, books or photographs) that you think might belong in this file, or information as to the whereabouts of works of art by New Church artists, please contact Stephen Morley, Museum Director, at the address above. Research into the lives and works of New Church artists will be ongoing.
MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (24) 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (24) Rev. Donald K. Rogers 1988

     My favorite passage is usually the one I am reading at the time, unless of course it makes me feel too guilty, as the Writings often do. Yet even these are my favorites because I know they are just what I need to hear. Some passages are my favorites because they are suitable for framing. Still others are my favorites because they are the answer to something that has been bothering me for a long time. The one I have picked now is in this last category.
     Ever since I started reading the Writings I have been interested in bringing people into the New Church. But like most people I have not felt very successful at it. I have often wondered why. Then one day while looking for another passage in the Writings, I ran across this one in Conjugial Love:

     He told His disciples to cast the net on the right side of the ship, and when they did this they took an immense multitude of fishes (John 21:6, 7), by which He meant that they should teach the good of charity and thus would gather men (Conjugial Love 316e).

     This little passage struck me immediately because I realized it contained the key to becoming more effective in bringing people into the New Church.

241

The apostles were doing something wrong, and it is possible that so are we. After researching what the Writings mean by "teaching the good of charity" I came to the conclusion that "teaching the good of charity" simply involves a change of focus when we teach others about the New Church.

     [Photo of Rev. Donald K. Rogers]

     Often when we present the teachings of the New Church to people, we present them as mere matters of belief. "You believe this but we believe this." The trouble with this approach is that it immediately puts people on the defensive. This is fishing on the left side of the boat. To be effective we have to fish on the right side of the boat, which means showing people how the teachings of the New Church are just, fair, good, and truly Christian. In this way people, if they are good, will be much more accepting of what we have to say.
     For example, most people respond favorably to the New Church teaching that non-Christians who believe in God and live a life of charity according to the tenets of their religion are saved. Why? Because people can see the justice behind that teaching. That is teaching the good of charity, or fishing on the right side of the boat.
     Fishing on the right side of the boat takes a conscious effort and lots of practice, but so far I have found that when I do it, I do indeed get better results.

242

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE 1988

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE Rev. N. BRUCE ROGERS 1988

     The State of Married Partners After Death

     FROM THE NEW TRANSLATION BEING PREPARED BY THE REV. N. BRUCE ROGERS

     45. We have just shown in the preceding chapter that marriages exist in heaven. In this chapter we will now show whether or not a marriage covenant contracted in the world will continue and remain in force after death.
     It is necessary that I make this known, because it is not a matter of judgment but of personal experience, and I have had this experience through association with angels and spirits. Nevertheless, I must make it known in such a way that reason may also assent.
     Among the prayers and yearnings of married partners, moreover, is a wish to know the state of married partners after death. For men who have loved their wives wish to know-if their wives have died-whether it is well with them. So, too, wives who have loved their husbands. And they want to know whether they will meet again.
     Many married couples also would like to know in advance whether partners separate after death or whether they stay together. Those who are discordant in spirit wish to know whether partners separate. And those who are concordant in spirit wish to know whether they stay together.
     Because these are some of the things people would like answers to, they will be made known, and this will be done in the following order:

1)      In every person after death, love for the opposite sex continues to be what it was like inwardly, that is, what it was like in the person's inner will and thought in the world.
2)      Likewise conjugial love.
3)      Most married couples meet after death, recognize each other, associate again, and live together for a time, which occurs in their first state, thus while they are still maintaining the outward aspects of their lives as they did in the world.
4)      Progressively, however, as married partners put off outward appearances and enter into their inward qualities, they gradually perceive what sort of love and mutual feeling they had had for each other, and consequently whether it is possible for them to live together or not.
5)      If it is possible for married partners to live together, they remain partners. But if it is not possible, they separate, the husband sometimes separating from the wife, the wife sometimes from the husband, and both of them sometimes from each other.

243

6)      A man is then given a suitable wife, and a woman, likewise, a suitable husband.
7)      Married couples enjoy the same intimate relations with each other as in the world, only more delightful and blessed, but without begetting children. Instead of or to take the place of begetting children, they experience a spiritual procreation, which is one of love and wisdom.
8)      This is what happens in the case of people who come into heaven. It is different, however, with those who go to hell.

     Development of this outline now follows, elucidating and supporting the various statements:

     46. (1) In every person after death, love for the opposite sex continues to be what it was like inwardly, that is, what it was like in the person's inner will and thought in the world. All a person's love goes with him after death, because love is the inner being of his life. And the dominant love, which heads the rest, remains in a person to eternity, along with other loves subordinate to it. These loves remain, because love is properly an affection of the spirit in a person and is felt in the body from the spirit. And since a person becomes a spirit after death, he consequently carries his love with him. Moreover, since love is the inner being of a person's life, it is apparent that a person's lot after death becomes such as his life was in the world.
     As regards love for the opposite sex, this is universal in all people, for it is implanted from the moment of creation in a person's very soul, from which comes the essential nature of the whole person, and it is implanted for the sake of propagating the human race. This love remains especially, because after death a man is still a man and a woman is still a woman, and there is nothing in the soul, mind, or body which is not masculine in the male and feminine in the female; and the two sexes have been so created as to strive for conjunction, indeed, for conjunction in order that they may become one. This impulse is the love for the opposite sex which precedes conjugial love.
     Now because an inclination to conjunction has been engraved on each and every element in the male and female, it follows that this inclination cannot be wiped out or die with the body.

     47. Love for the opposite sex continues to be what it was like in the world inwardly for the reason that in every person there is an inward aspect and an outward aspect.

244

These two are also called the inner person and the outer person, and so there is an inner and outer will and thought. A person leaves the outward aspect behind when he dies, and he keeps his inner self. For outward qualities are properly those of his body, while the inner qualities are properly those of his spirit.
     Now because a person is what his love is, and love has its seat in his spirit, it follows that love for the opposite sex remains in a person after death and continues to be what it was inwardly like in him. So, for example, if that love inwardly had been conjugial or chaste, it continues to be conjugial and chaste after death. But if it had been inwardly licentious, it continues to be also like that after death.
     It must be known, however, that love for the opposite sex is not the same in one person as in another. Its variations are limitless. But still, whatever it is like in each person's spirit, so it also remains.

     48. (2) Conjugial love likewise continues to be what it was like inwardly, that is, what it was like in the inner will and thought in the person in the world. Since a love for the opposite sex is one kind of love and conjugial love another, therefore we mention both and say that conjugial love also remains after death and continues to be what it was like in a person, in his inner self, when he lived in the world. But because few people know the difference between a love for the opposite sex and conjugial love, I must therefore say something about it at the outset of this discussion.
     A love for the opposite sex is love for several of the opposite sex and experienced with several, whereas conjugial love is love solely for one of the opposite sex and experienced with one. Love for several and experienced with several is moreover a natural love, being shared in common with animals and birds, which are natural, while conjugial love is a spiritual love, being particular and peculiar to human beings, because human beings were created and are thus born to become spiritual. The more spiritual a person becomes, therefore, the more he divests himself of a love for the opposite sex and clothes himself with conjugial love.
     It appears to begin with in marriage as though a love for the opposite sex were bound together with conjugial love. But as the marriage progresses, the two loves are separated, and then in the case of people who are spiritual, a love for the opposite sex is banished and conjugial love insinuated. In the case of those who are natural, however, the opposite occurs.
     From what we have now said, it is apparent that a love for the opposite sex is impure and unchaste, because it is experienced with several and is in itself natural, being, in fact, animal, and that it is licentious, because it is promiscuous and not restricted.

245

It is altogether different, on the other hand, with conjugial love.
     In the following chapters it will be clearly seen that conjugial love is spiritual and peculiarly human.

     47 [repeated]. (3) Most married couples meet after death, recognize each other, associate, and live together for a time, which occurs in their first state, thus while they are still maintaining the outward aspects of their lives as they did in the world. There are two states that a person goes through after death, an external state and an internal state. A person comes first into the external state, and afterwards into the internal one. It is during the external state-if both partners have died-that they meet, recognize each other, and, if they lived together in the world, associate and live together for a time. And when they are in this state, one partner does not know the other's feelings toward him, because these feelings keep themselves hidden inside.
     Later, however, when they come into their internal state, the feelings manifest themselves. And if these feelings are concordant and congenial, the partners continue their married life. But if these feelings are discordant and uncongenial, they end it.
     If a man has had several wives, he associates with them in turn, so long as he is in the external state. But when he comes into the internal state, and perceives what their feelings of love are like, he then either chooses one or leaves them all. For in the spiritual world, just as in the natural world, a Christian is never allowed to have several wives, because this attacks religion and profanes it.
     A similar thing happens with a wife who has had several husbands, although wives in this case do not attach themselves to their husbands. They only present themselves, and the husbands attach the wives to them.
     Let it be known that husbands rarely recognize their wives, but that wives readily recognize their husbands. The reason is that women have an interior perception of love, while men have only a more superficial perception.

     48 [repeated]. (4) Progressively, however, as married partners put off outward appearances and enter into their inward qualities, they gradually perceive what sort of love and mutual feeling they had had for each other, and consequently whether it is possible for them to live together or not. There is no need to explain this further, since it follows as a conclusion from what was explained under the preceding heading. We will only clarify here how it is that a person puts off outward appearances and takes on inward qualities.
     Everyone is first introduced after death into a world that is called the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell; and there he is prepared, for heaven if he is good, and for hell if he is evil.

246

     The purpose of the preparation in that world is to bring the inner reality and the outer appearance into harmony, so that the internal and external become one, instead of being at variance and divided in two. They are divided in two in the natural world, and only in the case of people who have an honest heart do they become one. (That they are divided in two is apparent from crafty and deceitful people, especially from hypocrites, flatterers, fakes and liars.)
     In the spiritual world, however, one is not permitted to have a mind divided like that, but a person who had been evil inwardly must also be evil outwardly. So, too, with a good person, who must be good in both ways.
     For every person after death becomes what he had been like inwardly, and not what he had been like outwardly.
     To achieve this end, the person is then brought by turns into his external character and alternately into his internal one. And everybody is wise so long as he is in his external character; that is, he tries to appear wise men one who is evil. But if he is evil, the same person is irrational in his internal character. By these alternations he can see his insanities and recover from them. However, if he had not come to his senses in the world, he cannot do so afterward, because he loves his insanities and wants to remain in them. Therefore he forces his external character into becoming similarly irrational as well. So his internal and external characters become one, and when this happens, he is ready for hell.
     It is quite different, on the other hand, if the person is good. Because he had looked to God and come to his senses in the world, in his internal character he was wiser than in his external life. In his external life he sometimes even acted irrationally owing to the enticements and vanities of the world. Therefore his external character is also reduced to harmony with his internal one, which, as we said, is wise. And when this happens, he is ready for heaven.
     This makes clear how it is that the outward character is put off and the internal character taken on after death.

     49. (5) If it is possible for married partners to live together, they remain partners. But if it is not possible, they separate, the husband sometimes separating from the wife, the wife sometimes from the husband, and both of them sometimes from each other. The reason separations occur after death is that unions formed on earth are seldom formed on the basis of any internal perception of love, but as the result of an external perception which conceals the internal one.

247

     An external perception of love takes its cause and origin from such things as have to do with love of the world and love of one's own person. Love of the world is concerned primarily with wealth and possessions, and love of one's own person with positions of rank and honor. In addition to these, there are also various other attractions that entice into marriage, such as good looks and a pretended elegance of manners. Sometimes even a lack of chastity attracts.
     Furthermore, marriages are also contracted in the area, city or town of one's birth or residence, where the only choice possible is confined and limited to the households one knows, and there only with people of a station matching one's own.
     As a result, marriages entered into in the world are for the most part external marriages, and not at the same time internal, even though it is the internal union or union of souls that makes a real marriage. And that internal union is not discernible until a person has put off his external character and taken on his internal character, which happens after death.
     That, now, is why separations then occur, followed by new unions formed with partners of a similar and compatible nature-unless unions like this were provided on earth, which happens in the case of people who from their youth had loved, desired and sought from the Lord a lawful and lovely partnership with one, and who spurn and reject roving lusts as an offense to the nostrils.

     50. (6) A man is then given a suitable wife, and a woman, likewise, a suitable husband. This is because the only married couples who can be accepted into heaven so as to remain there are those who have been inwardly united, or who can be united as though into one. For married couples in heaven are not called two but one angel. This is meant by the Lord's words, that they are no longer two but one flesh (see Matthew 19:6, Mark 10:8).
     The reason why these are the only married couples who can be accepted into heaven is that they are the only ones who can live together there, that is, who can be together in the same house and in the same bedroom and bed. For all those who are in heaven are associated according to the affinities and close similarities of their love, and their homes are determined accordingly. This is because there are no dimensional spaces in the spiritual world, but they have appearances of space, and these appearances are determined according to the states of their life, and their states of life are determined according to states of love.
     Consequently, no one in the spiritual world can stay anywhere but in his own house, which is provided and appointed for him according to the nature of his love.

248

If he stays anywhere else, his chest labors and he has difficulty breathing. By the same token, two people cannot live together in the same house unless they are likenesses of each other. And they cannot live together at all as married partners unless their feelings for each other are mutual. If these feelings of attraction are external and not at the same time internal, the very house or place separates them, repels them and drives them away.
     So it is that, in the case of people who after preparation are introduced into heaven, marriage is provided with a partner whose soul inclines to union with the soul of the other, to the point that they do not wish to lead two lives but one. This is the reason why, after separation, a man is given a suitable wife, and a woman, likewise, a suitable husband.

     51. (7) Married couples enjoy the same intimate relations with each other as in the world, only more delightful and blessed, but without begetting children. Instead of or to take the place of begetting children, they experience a spiritual procreation, which is one of love and wisdom. Married couples enjoy the same intimate relations as in the world for the reason that after death a male is still a male and a female is still a female, and an inclination to conjunction has been implanted in each of the sexes from creation. In the human being, moreover, this inclination is an inclination of the person's spirit, and of the body as a result of his spirit.
     After death, therefore, when a person becomes a spirit, the same mutual inclination continues, and this would not be possible without a continuation of the same relations. For people are people as they were before, and nothing is missing from the male, and nothing from the female. They are the same as they were before in form, likewise in their affections and thoughts.
     What other conclusion follows from this, then, but that they have the same intimate relations? And because conjugial love is chaste, pure and sacred, that their intimate relations are also full and complete? (But for more on this subject, see the narrative account in no. 44.)
     The reason these relations are then more delightful and blessed is that when a person becomes a spirit, this love then becomes more interior and pure and so more capable of being perceived, and every delight increases with a person's perception of it, increasing even to the point that the blessedness of the love is noticed in its delight.

     52. The reason marriages in heaven do not result in the begetting of children, but that instead they experience a spiritual procreation, which is one of love and wisdom-the reason is that in the case of people who are in the spiritual world, a third element is missing, which is the natural element; this element is the containing vessel of spiritual things, and spiritual things without their containing vessel do not assume fixed form like those that are produced in the natural world.

249

Also, regarded in themselves, spiritual things relate to love and wisdom. Consequently, it is spiritual things that are born of their marriages.
     We say that these are born, because conjugial love perfects an angel, since it unites him with his partner so that he becomes more and more human. For, as we said above, married couples in heaven are not two but one angel. Therefore by the conjugial union they fulfill themselves in respect to their humanity, which is to want to be wise and to love what has to do with wisdom.

     53. (8) This is what happens in the case of people who come into heaven. It is different, however, with those who go to hell. When we say that after death a man is given a suitable wife, and a woman, likewise, a suitable husband, and that they enjoy delightful and blessed relations, but without any procreation other than a spiritual procreation, it should be understood that we are referring to people who are received into heaven and become angels. That is because these people are spiritual, and marriages are in themselves spiritual, and therefore sacred.
     In contrast, however, those people who go to hell are all natural people, and merely natural marriages are not marriages but pairings that result from unchaste lust. What these pairings are like will be told later, in the chapter on chastity and its absence, and further in the chapters on licentious love.

     54. To what we have related so far about the state of married partners after death, we should add the following:
     (1) All those married partners who are merely natural separate after death. The reason is that the love of being married is cold in them, and a love for committing adultery warm. Nevertheless, following that separation they still sometimes form associations with others as married partners, although after a short time they part from each other. Quite often this happens repeatedly, with one person after another. And finally the man is handed over to some licentious woman, and the woman to some adulterer, which takes place in a prison in hell (as described in The Apocalypse Revealed, no. 153, paragraph 10). There, promiscuous licentiousness is forbidden to both under pain of punishment.
     (2) When one partner is spiritual and the other natural, they, too, separate after death, and a suitable husband or wife is given to the spiritual partner, while the natural one is consigned to his or her like in places of lasciviousness.

250

     (3) Moreover, in the case of people who lived a celibate life in the world and completely turned their minds away from marriage, if they are spiritual, they remain celibate. But if they are natural, they become licentious.
     It is different, however, if during their unmarried state they had wanted to marry, and still more if they had sought marriage without success. If these people are spiritual, they are provided blessed marriages, though not before they come into heaven.
     (4) In the case of people who in the world were shut away in convents and monasteries, both unmarried women and men, their cloistered life continues for some period of time after death. At the end of this time they are released and let go, and they gain the desired freedom they had prayed for, either to live married, if they wish, or not. If they wish to marry, they become married. If not, they are conveyed to other celibates at the side of heaven. Those who burned with forbidden lust, however, are cast down.
     (5) The reason celibates live at the side of heaven is because the atmosphere of permanent celibacy disturbs the atmosphere of conjugial love, which is the essential atmosphere of heaven. The atmosphere of conjugial love is the essential atmosphere of heaven because it descends from the heavenly marriage of the Lard and the church.
ACCOUNT OF NEW CHURCH HISTORY 1988

ACCOUNT OF NEW CHURCH HISTORY Editor 1988

     Excerpts from "A Centennial Album"

     In 1976 the Academy of the New Church published a "Centennial Album" entitled Toward a New Church University, the text and design being done by Sanfrid E. Odhner. With its handsome graphics and its eighty-one fascinating pages it was at $5 the best buy on campus. The review that appeared in the December issue of the Life that year was itself a sparkling piece of writing. The reviewer, Prof. Richard R. Gladish, called the album "attractive, instructive, artistic, courageous, and modest." He wrote: "Mr. Odhner does not claim to be an historian, but he has well absorbed the facts and ideas of those who have written and spoken about the first hundred years of the Academy, and better yet, he has woven reams of diverse data and thought into an illustrated account that tells the complex story remarkably well."
     The following are excerpts of the early historical part of this album. Mr. Odhner tells about the actual writing and publishing of the Writings and then turns to the subject al their acceptance in the world:

251

     "Early acceptance was gradual, scattered, and beset especially in Sweden by persecutions. His [Swedenborg's] own first evangelical foray, the distribution of five books 'to the bishops and Reformed Lords of Parliament,' drew an assault, then silence, in which he saw conspiracy.
     "His stature and his influential admirers helped shield him from vindictiveness. Not so his personal converts, clergymen Johan Rosen and Gabriel Beyer, who were brought to trial in Gothenburg, or cleric Sven Schmidt, tried by the consistory of Skara and hounded to his death for championing the Writings.
     "Despite slanders outside Sweden (Kant's Visions of a spirit seer; the slurs of John Wesley, founder of Methodism), the mainstream of church history shifted to the freer atmosphere of England. Here William Cookworthy was brought to the writings in 1760 by the first known English convert, Stephen Penney (1749), and in 1767 Cookworthy converted Thomas Hartley. These two made the acquaintance of Swedenborg in London, and began translation of the Writings into English.
     "John Clowes discovered the doctrines in 1773 through a friend of Hartley. None of these early converts felt the need for separation from the Old Church. Swedenborg himself had noted that 'the universities of Christendom are now first being instructed, whence will come new ministers.' Hartley told Clowes he felt constrained by duty to remain in the old cloth, and Clowes was to carry the banner of anti-separatism all his life.
     "Openly preaching the New Evangel from his Anglican pulpit, Clowes gained many followers. Some of these, despite Clowes' anti-separatism, formed the first New Church society on earth in 1778 near Manchester.
     " . . . Robert Hindmarsh, while Clowes held both hands to the lantern, kept one hand for the sword. His struggles to establish a separate New Church and his uncompromising support of the Divine authority of the Writings inspired loyalties and opposition equally intense. He was 25 when converted. Almost immediately he began, and led for 50 years, the separatist movement-for 30 of those years as a layman ('Printer Extraordinary to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales'). After a quarter-century he was finally recognized as having been ordained 'by Divine auspices' at the first New Church ordination service (of his father), which he, by fall of lot, had read.
     "Despite a life of contest, and unlike several of the heirs to his crusade, he died a contented and beloved pastor to his own flock. His personal contributions included translation, publication, writing; his epic Rise and Progress is the only record of many events and personalities of the early years.

252

And the permanent base he built gave lasting usefulness even to the accomplishments of those, like Clowes, who opposed its building.
     "Clowes wrote copiously, translated diligently (he spent 18 years on the Arcana), and published extensively. But it was a number of scattered converts who first spun the thread which leads to the Academy, when Robert Hindmarsha London printer converted in 1782-brought them together through public advertisements. The 'Theosophical Society' they formed for translating, printing, and publishing the Writings grew rapidly; what Clowes was to the hope of renewing the established church from within, Hindmarsh became to the forming of a distinct and separate New Church.
     "But the Theosophical Society, partly from Clowes' influence, lacked Hindmarsh's separatist zeal. With a small band of determined followers he withdrew from it in 1787 to found 'The New Church signified by the New Jerusalem in Revelation.' A temple was built in Great East Cheap, the first New Church sacraments and public services were held, and twelve lot-chosen men, by a laying-on of hands, ordained Robert's father, James, the first New Church priest.
     "This society's call for a 'First General Conference' just two years later attracted representatives from an awesome roll of centers throughout the British Isles and from Sweden, America, and France. An invitation to consider New Church education, appended to the call, anticipated the Academy by almost 100 years. . . .
     "In 1796 the indomitable Hindmarsh and his followers emerged again, to dedicate a new temple and inaugurate an extended period of progress based on his principles. But although that progress featured its own remarkable emphasis on education, it is not the story of the Academy but of Conference. The thread we follow had crossed over the Atlantic a dozen years before.

     America

     "Scots planter James Glen, en route from South America to London in 1781, was given Heaven and Hellby his ship's captain. In London, two years later, he responded to Hindmarsh's advertisement and joined in forming the Theosophical Society. He visited the United States, its revolution over, on his way back to South America the following year (1784), and in Philadelphia and Boston advertised and delivered the first known public lectures on the doctrines. He made six converts, and departed.

253

     "Books of the Writings, sent by Hindmarsh, arrived for him soon afterward. These were bought at auction by Francis Bailey, one of Glen's six converts, and several others, who began to meet in Bailey's Philadelphia home. More joined them. Interest spread to Maryland and Virginia. By 1789 Bailey-who, like Hindmarsh, was a printer-had begun the serial publication of True Christian Religion, his friend Benjamin Franklin one of his 50 subscribers.
     "Another of Glen's converts, John Young, moving westward in 1790, became principal agent of church growth in western Pennsylvania and Ohio. English evangelist Ralph Mather, from Liverpool, settled in Philadelphia in 1792 and preached to Bailey's group. Also from Liverpool came the Rev. William Hill, in 1794, to publish and evangelize in Boston.
     "Church nuclei existed now in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, but with no distinctive priesthood, no organization, and little vigor. Hill, moving to New York, found it unfavorable to the doctrines, and returned to England. A converted minister, leader of the Baltimore group, reverted in discouragement to his Protestant Episcopalian Church. Bailey, health and business failing, complained of persecutions; Philadelphia languished.
     "In Baltimore, in 1797, Methodist clergyman John Hargrove received the doctrines from Ralph Mather. The following year, by an ordination similar to that of James Hindmarsh in England, the two became the first New Church ministers in America. The Baltimore Society in 1799 built America's first New Church temple. Hargrove preached before the President and Congress, and made an evangelistic tour of Pennsylvania in 1806."
NCL 100 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 100 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

     "Current Literature"

     On the front page of the Life in June of 1888 we find the following:

So prevalent is the notion that a man must cultivate his "self-respect" and "self-confidence," so full of it is the current literature that it creeps unawares into the minds of New Churchmen and nestles there as if in its proper place.

     Perhaps when we think we see signs of the times (indicating that things are worse than they used to be) they are really very much the same as they used to be. In the same issue the president of Convention, Rev. Chauncey Giles, is quoted as saying, "As men of the new age we must take a new step."

254

LETTERS TO EMANUEL SWEDENBORG IN 1988! 1988

LETTERS TO EMANUEL SWEDENBORG IN 1988! Editor 1988

     In Our Contemporaries
     The editor of Lifeline, a New Church monthly published in England, came up with an intriguing feature for his tricentennial issue. He invited ministers and leaders of the British Conference of the New Church to imagine themselves writing letters directly to Swedenborg on this anniversary. These letters appear in the January issue together with the names of the writers. Here are some abbreviated excerpts:

Dear Emanuel,
     First of all, may I wish you a very happy three hundredth birthday, that is, if you still celebrate such things. I expect "birthdays" take on another meaning altogether for those who have left this earthbound plane of life. Do you perhaps have regular "rebirthdays" I wonder? You will be glad to know, though, that this year there are many people who are working hard here to bring your teachings to as wide an audience as possible. We are using your birth-year celebration to good effect, even though we do not know the results that will come from it.
     Things have certainly changed since you were here. We live in a very different world in which information can be communicated very rapidly across the globe in a matter of minutes. You would be fascinated with many things about which you may well have heard. But more to the point, there is definitely something happening in people here. Many of the old walls are falling down (although many are still there); people are increasingly concerned with the spiritual side of their lives because they have found that material things don't bring lasting happiness. What you wrote in days of dogma, orthodoxy and religious bigotry is now increasingly acceptable to many open-minded sincere people. . . .
     Are you aware that people here started a separate church organisation a few years after you left the scene? A church based on the truths you presented. Whether this was the right thing to have done is debatable but I can't honestly say we have done a very good job of it over the years. We were always a bit defensive about these new truths, and later we became rather introverted, keeping them too much to ourselves.

255

I think that we are learning the lessons at last and discovering that what you had to teach are truths that are universal to all people. I think we mainly had a language problem which held us back from the job we should have been doing, a problem I'm sure you recognise only too well, from my reading of your words.
     Finally, I must mention my own personal indebtedness to you. I have always marvelled in my heart to have been born and brought up in this "New Church" dedicated to your teachings, and never to have found any other philosophy or spiritual food that nourishes my soul as yours has. It is remarkable when I consider it, and I know it to be an eternal blessing. Thank you, Emanuel.
     Your brother in truth.

     * * * *

     Report to Emanuel Swedenborg, servant of the Lord, one time of Sweden, present location unknown from a minister in an organisation to use the Writings of the Second Coming to enlighten and care for people.

     The only sure report on the reception and effect of the Writings must be a personal one. In my teens when I was in a science laboratory, I found their value to be a sure defence against those who despised the Bible and thought science an all-sufficient explanation of life. I began my reading with The Divine Love and Wisdom, which many of my contemporaries regarded as eccentric, not to say foolhardy, but I think you will understand the help it was to me then. Perhaps it says something of more general effects in the world that such blinkered rejection of all but science is now much rarer.
     But the greatest effect on my life has been the revelation of the internal sense of the Word, which has given me the enormous joy of preaching and teaching, and at the same time has provided me with a marvelous "textbook" to understand people, their development, their difficulties and their possibilities, their salvation and myself! What began for me as just a row of books to study for meanings and correspondences has actually become a kind of light in which I can read and use with joy much of the Scriptures. . . . The world is a real battlefield of ideas and ideals locked in open encounter in the strong light of reason and liberty. I see no easy victories, but I rejoice in the future. Above all, I am grateful that I can look at people, young and old, and see the Lord's eternal purposes working in their difficulties and their honest strivings.

256

Nothing is without meaning to me now, and nothing without the joy of God's love working in human beings. Perhaps I have come to Chesterton's autumn "when all the leaves are gold." Certainly the world has the chance to come there.
     These effects I report so poorly and with such vagueness are not due to you, of course, as you well know, and I doubt if you ever think now that you had any part in it. You were allowed to serve the Lord in making His gift. This report is therefore only in the nature of the carbon copy for an inessential file. The real thanks to the Lord are despatched daily and directly, and probably better by others than myself.

     * * * *

Dear Emanuel,
     As foretold in The Word and confirmed in your Writings, the Holy City, New Jerusalem does appear to be continuing its descent from God out of heaven, though its manifestation is in ways and forms not always immediately obvious.
     The various man-made ecclesiastical organisations created to promote the heavenly doctrines and lead people to the Holy City all continue to labour manfully, without conspicuous success.
     High marks for effort and dedication would be appropriate, yet one would hazard the comment that perhaps the "heavenly secrets" revealed through your theological writings have yet to be fully appreciated by their receivers in terms of the dynamic changes required in each person's spiritual life. . . .

     * * * *

Dear Emanuel,
     The Heavenly Doctrines have never hit the headlines, but they have brought immense inspiration, comfort and delight to countless readers. Though they are known and loved by relatively few, their influence has quietly spread, through those few, to affect many others. . . .

     * * * *

     Happy birthday, Emanuel! and thanks for the wonderful present you left us. It's sad sometimes how the books sit neglected in public libraries-and in church libraries and homes-even with
pages uncut 150 years after publication. Surely our bright new editions will command better attention!

256

     Many ordinary people now are puzzled and uncomfortable about traditional Christian teaching. If they come to our churches for weddings, funerals, and so on, they are delighted to meet ideas
that are more sensible, compassionate, up-to-date. They will never read the books themselves, and in most cases won't become regular church-goers, but they are helped by the new teaching.
     Then there are the academics who learn that such-and-such a novelist or poet was inspired by you, and investigate. They too rarely join our church, but they learn something, and must sometimes pass it on.

     * * * *

Dear Emanuel,
     I wonder if you ever wonder "What news from earth?" of your writings. Like all good questions, not an easy one to answer. They are still being published in London and are now available in many languages, and read in countries around the world. If we try to measure the effect that your works have had by your readers, who number thousands rather than millions, there does not seem a great deal to show. Very sadly the old creeds are the official orthodoxy even today.
     The real story is harder to tell but much more exciting. . . . I feel you have every reason to rejoice in what the all-wise and unseen hand of Providence is doing with the writings that you were instrumental in giving to the world.
     The battle to build the New Jerusalem a place to rest on this earth has been joined, and the teachings the writings advocate are in the vanguard.
     Sincerely and gratefully yours,

     * * * *

     You want the news?
     Well, Emanuel, I'm surprised you should ask such a question about what we call the "Writings." As I read what you have written I sense you had a kind of certainty, a feeling of inevitability about the establishment of a "New Church," so there is a disappointment in me that you should inquire!
     However, I would say that in respect of what you wrote there is a very limited market of those who can digest it neat; in our current vogue, 18th century Latin tomes (even when translated into English) are not exactly popular reading.

258

Yet there are signs, in the fields of science and medicine in particular, that they recognise the truth of your pioneering study.
Socially it is also clear that the "Writings" have given light to show up man's inhumanity to man. . . .
In the religious context, there is no doubt whatsoever that the truths of the Lord's Second Advent are well and truly illuminating the minds of free thinkers the world over. If we regard what you wrote as the key to unlocking the Second Coming, then the key fits and turns the lock. As you know by now, a separate denomination was set up to worship and live according to these truths revealed through you, and this small but significant grouping worldwide is in good heart, and I believe growing in inner strength yearly. One great stride is in discussing the Word and Jesus Christ with orthodox Christians, when it becomes clear that many no longer hold to their archaic doctrinal stance, but embrace a truly "New Age" view of the Lord. It is also encouraging to see the proliferation of small groupings of spiritually minded people who quite obviously have been moved to worship in a new vital and living way. I look forward to having a longer opportunity of communicating with you.
MINISTERIAL NOTICES 1988

MINISTERIAL NOTICES Editor 1988

     On April 10th, 1988, Bishop King recognized the Tamworth Group in Australia as the Tamworth Circle of the General Church of the New Jerusalem. The Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom will be the visiting pastor.
     The Rev. Cedric King has been called to serve as visiting pastor to the Phoenix, Arizona, Circle of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, effective April 1st, 1988. Mr. King is also serving as resident pastor for the Orange County, California, Group.
     The Rev. Daniel Fitzpatrick has resigned his pastorate in Scandinavia, effective July 1st, 1988.
     The Rev. Douglas Taylor has accepted a call to serve as pastor of the Hurstville Society of the General Church in Australia effective January 1st, 1989. He will also be visiting pastor to the Tamworth Circle of the General Church in Australia.
     The Rev. Erik Sandstrom, Sr. has accepted a call by the Bishop to serve as acting pastor of the Stockholm Society of the General Church in Sweden from September 1st, 1988 to December 31st, 1988.
     The Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom will return to Bryn Athyn, and at the Bishop's request serve as acting pastor of the Stockholm Society of the General Church in Sweden effective January 1st, 1989.

259

STATEMENT AT AN ORDINATION 1988

STATEMENT AT AN ORDINATION Rev. Prescott Rogers 1988

     Rev. Prescott Rogers was ordained into the pastoral degree of the ministry on April 24th. During the service he made the following statement:

     I fully believe that the Lord is the Divine Governor of His Church and that He provides for its needs. With my whole heart and my whole mind accept His leadership over His Church and over my life. And I feel that by His operation and with my cooperation, my life is in His hands. I also feel that in this way He has led me to the ministry that I may minister to the spiritual needs of His people.
     I believe that the Lord has given me a ministry which calls for ever-increasing pastoral attention and care, and that in order to do this He has stirred within me a pastoral love-a love not just for teaching religion in the classroom, or in a doctrinal class, or in a worship service, but a love for the whole spiritual welfare for all of the Lord's children.
     I pray that the Lord our Savior Jesus Christ will breathe on me His Holy Spirit that I might better be able to see His truth and to use it to bring comfort to His people, as well as light. For religion has a dual purpose-to explain religious phenomena and to satisfy religious yearnings. And no religion can do these better than the New Church, for only it has the Heavenly Doctrines which are the healing of the nations as well as the lamp unto our footsteps.
     My hope, my intention, and my prayer are that I might serve the Lord all the days of my life in the second degree of His priesthood.
ACADEMY ANNOUNCEMENT 1988

ACADEMY ANNOUNCEMENT Editor 1988

A Search Committee is being formed to advise in the selection of new dean for the Academy College. Dr. Robert W. Gladish, who has served in the capacity of dean, will be finishing his twelve-year term at the end of the 1988/89 school year. Any candidate for Dean should send his or her vitae to the Rev. Geoffrey S. Childs, Chairman, P.O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

260

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     HIGHLIGHTS FROM SWEDENBORG'S LETTERS (5)

     Swedenborg in His Thirties

     We noted last time that Swedenborg was disinclined to take a university teaching position when he was thirty years old. Such a position was again opened up for him at age thirty-six, and what he wrote then is particularly interesting. But let us look at a few things he was saying in his early thirties. The first letter we can find signed "Swedenborg" (rather than Swedberg) was written when he was thirty-one. This letter shows that Swedenborg has reached a stage in life when he can make a contribution to human thought. He is busy producing things worthy of publication.
     At this point in his life we see him leaning more to the use of the Latin language (rather than Swedish) so that he may reach thinkers of the whole learned world. Swedenborg began to be noticed in the learned world around 1721. A letter he wrote at age 32 shows that he was reading everything that could be found on the subject of chemistry. He writes: "I am daily encouraged by new discoveries in all that concerns the nature of subtle substances." Dr. Acton comments that Swedenborg's mind "turned more and more to a foreign journey when he could publish his works in Latin, and thereby earn a European recognition which would enable him to be of use to the world of learning . . . ." He found himself referred to as an authority in a learned book, and he wrote a letter to the author in May of 1721 saying that "it is a delight to search into the causes of things, and to listen to men who, by their genius, penetrate into the arcana of nature." In December of that year he said in a short letter, "I am these days occupied in experimenting with and testing one thing and another." At age thirty-five he was a very active member of the House of Nobles, writing a number of memorials on mining and foreign trade. The following year Nils Celsius died, and Swedenborg had the opportunity to become professor of astronomy at Uppsala. Hence the letter he wrote to his brother-in-law in May of 1724 in which he says, "I have not the gift of teaching, as my brother knows, by reason of the natural difficulty of speech." It might come as a relief to know that there was something that Swedenborg was not good at!

261

Other evidence of a speech difficulty comes from a letter which Rev. F. Okely wrote to John Wesley a few months after Swedenborg died. Okely wrote, "We conversed in the High Dutch; and notwithstanding the impediment in his speech, I understood him well. He spoke with all the coolness and deliberation you might expect from any, the most sober and rational man." Swedenborg declined the teaching position because he sensed that he had a potential of being much more valuable outside the teaching world. He wrote, "To abandon that with which I think to perform a good use would be indefensible."

     [to be continued]

     Note: Two interesting things appear in a letter Swedenborg wrote at age thirty-six. He speaks of meeting with his brother Jesper who had just returned "from Pennsylvania" where he had stayed for ten years. He also speaks of his interest in corresponding with Dr. Hans Sloane of England. Three years later Dr. Sloane would succeed Sir Isaac Newton as president of the Royal Society. Little did Swedenborg know that he would have a fascinating discussion with Sloane in the spiritual world! (See Divine Love and Wisdom no. 344.)

     SWEDENBORG IN THE PAGES OF THE WRITINGS (6)

     Returning Home in Joy

     Last month we looked into the matter of Swedenborg's "home" as it is mentioned in narrative portions of the Writings. After one drama recorded in True Christian Religion we find the phrase: "After accompanying me home, the angels ascended into heaven" (159). How did Swedenborg feel in his homecomings? His feelings were evident to an angel who met him as he was returning from a heavenly adventure. The angel said, "I see that you have come from a sport of wisdom, and have been gladdened by what you heard there" (CL 156a). In another drama we read of some who were in confusion and obscurity but there was a new inflowing of light, and the final words of the number are, "And we went away delighted" (TCR 134).
     The most telling of Swedenborg's homecomings is described in no. 81 of Conjugial Love in which Swedenborg saw a great light and heard glorifications of the Lord.

Hearing and understanding these glorifications, my heart exulted, and I went home in joy. There, from the state of the spirit I returned into that of the body, in which state I wrote down what had been seen and heard."

262

IMPORTANCE OF NEW CHURCH EDUCATION 1988

IMPORTANCE OF NEW CHURCH EDUCATION V. C. Odhner 1988

     Communication
Dear Editor,
     So important is New Church education that with its failure the General Church will fail. In the last 25 years a sophism has arisen in the church which points to the decreasing number of Academy graduates joining the church. This sophism is supposed to show the ineffectiveness of New Church education. Allowed to gain ascendancy, this sophism could threaten the church. Many within the church not having had the benefit of New Church education can still see its value is essential. For the next twenty years or so we will be marking the 100th anniversary of much of the devotion to New Church education, laid in a divided church by men of keen vision and dedication.
     The so-called failure of New Church education is not a failure at all. All that has happened is a sign of the times; opposition has increased. Due to the nature of all New Church people, similar to the rest of the world, the hells can find an easy hereditary evil target. Influx is according to reception, or the form of the receiver, and that mind form is ever present for the hells. As all social restraints to evil are broken down in the world, much that has happened was expected. And then there are influences such as TV; consider its sway in the last 25 years.
     One hundred years ago the General Church (Academy) was breaking away from Convention on two major grounds, one being New Church education, the other the Divine authority of the Writings. One of our major responsibilities today and tomorrow is to assure we don't fall into the same mistakes Convention did. How dedicated we were! how right! but as time has passed, do we not see the General Church facing ironically, some of the very faults which led to Convention's present condition?
     Convention rejected New Church education and took up missionary work. Before long, they wanted to be like other churches, probably because the Writings are so different than what other churches have. After a while, some wanted to amalgamate with other churches. Today their survival is threatened.
     Convention rejected the Divine authority of the Writings. Before long, doctrine had little part of their church. Since they regarded these Writings only as inspired works and not the center and source of the truth needed for man's very existence, they soon lost interest, just as one might lose interest in Shakespeare's works, finding enjoyment in other great authors.

263

Conversely, one hundred years ago doctrinal development in the nascent General Church was beginning to flourish, but today that can't be said of the church (see AE 384:1). Some will say that we have enough doctrine; now all we have to do is live it. Others say they can't even understand what they read in the Writings. I say, doctrine is truth's body (see AC 4642:1e, 2517e), and that the better versed in doctrine, the more of truth's aspects will be seen, and the better well understand the way to live. Nevertheless, the hard part is the living or doing, not the understanding. Ministers can explain doctrine, but we and they have to live it. This is abundantly confirmed in the Writings.
     Every New Church person can find a depth of appreciation in Education for Use-Basic Concepts (The Academy of the New Church Press, 1985) by the Rt. Rev. W. D. Pendeton, a clear, concise, perspicacious and wise book, one of the few New Church doctrinal studies in recent times. This book should serve both as a manual for New Church parents and as a missionary aid for those newly introduced to the Writings.
     V. C. Odhner,
          Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
ANCIENT CHURCH-A CALL FOR ARTICLES 1988

ANCIENT CHURCH-A CALL FOR ARTICLES Editor 1988

This fall the Glencairn Museum Newsletter will publish the first of what we hope will be an annual literary issue. Each issue will concentrate on one phase of the spiritual history of the five churches, as revealed in the Writings. The first issue is limited to articles on the Most Ancient and Ancient Churches. All papers submitted will be considered for publication by Mr. C. Edward Gyllenhaal (editor) and the Rev. Prescott A. Rogers (consulting editor). Topics already submitted include Ancient Church chronology, the Ancient Word, and the Egyptian hieroglyphs. The deadline for material for the fall issue is August 1.
Church ministers and scholars are contributing to this publication, and we hope that interested "amateurs" will submit articles as well. Please call or write the editor at the following address:

C. Edward Gyllenhaal, Museum Curator
Box 278
The Glencairn Museum
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009

264

CONFESSION OF FAITH 1988

CONFESSION OF FAITH Editor 1988

     Announcements

     Bostock-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, March 20, 1988, Mr. Glenn Harris Bostock, Rev. Wendel R. Barnett officiating.

     Clark-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1988, Miss Tryn Rose Clark, Rev. Prescott A. Rogers officiating.

     Cooper-At Mitchellville, Maryland, March 5, 1988, Mr. Philip Andrew Cooper, Rev. James P. Cooper officiating.
Title Unspecified 1988

Title Unspecified Editor 1988

We have reported 130 baptisms so far this year. (Last year it was 98.) Thirty-four of these were adult baptisms (compared to 14 last year). We have reported 18 betrothals, 21 weddings and 14 confirmations this
ONES WHOLE FORM FROM HEAD TO HEEL 1988

ONES WHOLE FORM FROM HEAD TO HEEL Editor 1988

No. 5883 of Arcana Coelestia says that after death one's internal is "the very man himself who lived in the body." The passage goes on to say that this internal also

. . . appears to himself and to others in the other life like a man in this world, having his whole form, from the head to the heel. And he is also endowed with the same faculties with which a man in the world is endowed, namely, of feeling when he is touched, of smelling, of seeing and hearing, of speaking, and of thinking, insomuch that when he does not reflect upon the fact that he is in the other life, he supposes that he is in his body in the world, as I have sometimes heard said by spirits.

266

CAUSE HIS FACE TO SHINE 1988

CAUSE HIS FACE TO SHINE Editor 1988

When the temptation is over, the Lord shines on them with comfort.
Arcana Coelestia 5773.
NCL 50 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 50 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

In the Life fifty years ago this month is a report from the city of Atlanta that there is hope for growth of a small New Church group. On Palm Sunday they had a service attended by ten adults and three children. We are pleased to report that the figures for Palm Sunday in Atlanta in 1988 were 66, and 102 on Easter Sunday.
PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1988

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES Editor 1988

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     THE RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 19009, U. S. A.

     PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES

     Information on public worship and doctrinal classes provided either regularly or occasionally may be obtained at the locations listed below. For details use the local phone number of the contact person mentioned or communicate with the Secretary of the General Church, Rev. L. R. Soneson, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, Phone (215) 947-4660.

     (U. S. A. addresses next month)

     AUSTRALIA

     CANBERRA
Mr. and Mrs. Barrie Ridgway, 68 Hilder St., Weston, Canberra, A. C. T. 2611. Phone: (062) 881-777.

     SYDNEY, N.S.W.
Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom, 22 Dudley Street, Penshurst, N.S.W. 2222. Phone: 57-1589.

     BRAZIL

     RIO DE JANEIRO
Rev. Cristovao Rabelo Nobre, Rua Lina Teixeira, 109, ap. 101, Rocha, CEP 20.970., Rio de Janeiro. Phone: (021) 201-8455.

     CANADA

     Alberta:

     CALGARY
Mr. Thomas R. Fountain, 1115 Southglen Drive S. W., Calgary 13, Alberta T2W 0X2. Phone: 403-255-7283.

     EDMONTON
Mr. Daniel L. Horigan, 10524 82nd St., Edmonton, Alberta T6A 3M8. Phone: 403-469-0078.

267

     British Columbia:

     DAWSON CREEK
Rev. Glenn G. Alden, Dawson Creek Church, 9013 8th St., Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada V1G 3N3.

     Ontario:

     KITCHENER
Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt, 58 Chapel Hill Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

     OTTAWA
Mr. and Mrs. Donald McMaster, 726 Edison Avenue, Apt. 33, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3P8. Phone: (613) 729-6452.

     TORONTO
Rev. Michael Gladish, 279 Burnhampthorpe Rd., Islington, Ontario M9B 4Z4. Phone: (416) 239-3054.

     Quebec:

     MONTREAL
Mr. Denis de Chazal, 17 Baliantyne Ave. So., Montreal West, Quebec H4X 281. Phone: (514) 489-9861.

     DENMARK

     COPENHAGEN
Mr. Jorgen Hauptmann, Strandvejen 22, Jyllinge, 4000 Roskilde. Phone: 03-389968.

     ENGLAND

     COLCHESTER
Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh, 2 Christchurch Court, Colchester, Essex C03 3AU Phone: 0206-43712

     LETCHWORTH
Mr. and Mrs. R. Evans, 24 Berkeley, Letchworth, Herts. SG6 2HA. Phone: 0462-684751.

     LONDON
Rev. Frederick Elphick, 21B Hayne Rd., Beckenham, Kent BR3 4JA. Phone: 01-658-6320.

     MANCHESTER
Mrs. Neil Rowcliffe, 135 Bury Old Road, Heywood, Lanes. Phone: Heywood 68189.

     FRANCE

     BOURGUINON-MEURSANGES
Rev. Alain Nicolier, 21200 Beaune, France. Phone: (80) 22.47.88.

     HOLLAND

     THE HAGUE
Mr. Ed Verschoor, Olmenlaan 17, 3862 VG Nijkerk

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Rev. Robin Childs, 132 Edmunton Rd., Henderson, Auckland 81, New Zealand.

     NORWAY

     OSLO
Mr. and Mrs. Klaus Bierman, Bakketoppen 10 A. 1165 Oslo 11. Phone: /(0) 2/ 28783.

     SCOTLAND

     EDINBURGH
Mr. and Mrs. N. Laidlaw, 35 Swanspring Ave., Edinburgh EH 10-6NA. Phone: 0 31-445- 2377.

     GLASGOW
Mrs. J. Clarkson, Hillview, Balmore, Nr. Torrance, Glasgow. Phone: Balmore 262.

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal:

     DURBAN
Rev. Geoffrey Howard, 30 Perth Rd., Westville, Natal. 3630. Phone: 031-821 136.

     Transvaal:

     TRANSVAAL SOCIETY
Rev. Norman E. Riley, 44 Queen Street, Irene, TVL., 1675, R.S.A. Phone: 012-632363.

Zululand:

     KENT MANOR
Rev. James Cooper, visiting pastor
Mrs. D. G. Liversage, Box 7088, Empangeni Rail, 3910, Natal, South Africa. Phone: 0351-23241.

     Mission in South Africa:
Rev. Geoffrey Howard (address above)

     SWEDEN

     Jonkoping
Contact Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, Bruksater, Furusjo, S-566 00, Habo. Phone : 0392-203 95.

     Stockholm
Contact Rev. Daniel Fitzpatrick, Aladdinsvagen 27, S-161 38 Bromma. Phone: (08) 26 79 85.

268

Wedding Garment 1988

Wedding Garment Editor 1988

Louis Pendleton
A TALE OF THE LIFE TO COME
Reprinted 1987
General Church Publication Committee

     Paperback $5.20 Postage 70

     General Church Book Center      Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Box 278, Cairncrest                    or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                    Phone: (215) 947-3920

269

Notes on This Issue 1988

Notes on This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII July, 1988 No. 7
NEW CHURCH LIFE

270

     Notes on This Issue

     The first English translation of Conjugial Love was published by John Clowes in 1794. (The New Jerusalem Magazine had begun to serialize the translation in 1790.) For many years the standard translation in America was the one done by Samuel Warren in 1907. (This is the same man who put together the famous Warren Compendium.) In 1938 the translation by William Wunsch came out with the title Marital Love. In 1952 the Swedenborg Society published Dr. Alfred Acton's translation, which has been widely used in the General Church. Now we look forward to the publication of the translation by N. Bruce Rogers. Last month we published the chapter on the state of married partners after death, and this month we publish the beloved chapter on love truly conjugial.
     Do send in your comments or suggestions, either for publication in the Life or for the attention of the translator, who is still putting this translation into permanent form and is now interested in reactions.
     Please note the advertisement on our back page for Providence and Free Will in Human Actions. We have not as yet had a review of this fine book in our pages.
     With the memory of June graduation exercises fresh in our minds we are printing on p. 289 some remarks by the Rt. Rev. Willard Pendleton. "Think for a moment of the successive generations of students who have passed through these halls, and of the contribution they have made to the good of society . . . ; think of the many collateral works which have been produced by Academy scholars."

     RECEIVED FOR REVIEW

     Richard De Charms, Senior, New Church Champion, by Richard R. Gladish
     We are pleased to note that this book is now available. One of those looking forward to its publication predicted that it would be "a valuable contribution to the historic records of the New Church." He added, "Richard De Charms was undoubtedly a martyr to the cause he had espoused, namely, the proclamation of the Heavenly Doctrine as the Second Coming of the Lord to establish a New Heaven and a New Church whereby to effect the eternal salvation of the human race. To this cause he gave his whole life, and doing so, suffered many things. Without his preparation of the soil the accomplishment of William H. Benade would not have been possible." (See March issue, p. 116.)

271

POWER, GLORY AND HONOR 1988

POWER, GLORY AND HONOR Rev. LOUIS B. KING 1988

     "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory" (Matt. 6:13).

     There is no greater expression of confidence in the Lord nor more meaningful ascription to His Divine Human than these closing words of His prayer.
     Celestial angels who live in the highest heaven believe this with their whole heart. It is their faith and their love that all power and glory, yea, the very kingdom of the heavens and the church on earth are the Lord's alone. No angel would ever presume to suggest or feel responsible for quality control of heaven, just as no true man of the church should ever feel that his human prudence could care for the church. For the Lord is omnipotent; heaven and the church are His responsibility. Angels view the Lord's omnipotence as that Divine truth proceeding from His Divine Human within which is His love for the salvation of all men. When this enters their lives, it causes heaven to exist as a state in the human mind, and consequently as an environment outside of them. Omnipotence withholds them continually from evil and holds them in what is good and pleasant and delightful. They declare that if the Lord's influx should stop for one moment; if for one instant He should cease to withhold them from evils, they would immediately become the worst of human beings. So they have confidence that His Divine truth proceeding from His Divine Human makes their life and protects them in all things. It is because of this utmost humility that the angels of that highest heaven enjoy the greatest wisdom and the greatest delight.
     Remember that the Lord said after His resurrection, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." And when He taught men to pray He said, "When you pray you shall say, Our Father, who art in the heavens, . . . Thine is the kingdom, Thine is the power, and Thine the glory."
     This celestial confession is the living conviction of those who receive regeneration from the Lord. Yet over against this wonderful declaration is the most powerful and convincing of human appearances, namely, that man lives from himself. It is of the Lord's Providence, it is of His mercy and His love, that man should so feel this. Without the appearance that he lives from himself, no man would be individual. He would not come into the use of his freedom and rationality. He could not make judgments to accept or reject the Lord.

272

Unfortunately, however, from his birth this powerful appearance of self-life is bound up by evil hereditary nature. Man inherits this love of self and the world in disproportionate arrangement to the loves of heaven. His dominant love of self and the world into which he is born causes him to incline to evils of every kind. But we should note: This hereditary nature is an inclination; it is not a confirmation until he makes it so when he is responsible in later life. Man inclines toward evils of every kind at the beginning, and as he grows, the sheer weight of sensual pleasure, of a fantasy and fallacy, would crush him down into hell if it were not for the Lord's love and mercy continually uplifting him-the Lord's omnipotence.
     It happens! The Lord uplifts man so that from inclining to the lowest hell he can address and face the highest heaven. This is the Lord's doing. It is called regeneration or rebirth, and it is marvelous. While He was yet in the world He said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to Me, that where I am, there you may be also. Unless you are converted and become as little children you shall not enter the kingdom of God. . . . Marvel not that I have said to you, you must be born again." The Lord provides for this rebirth from His infinite love within His infinite truth. He provides for it in two ways: an inflow from within through the soul, and an inflow from without, out of His Word. While a child is entering into the first realization of his own selfish inclinations there are celestial angels near at hand, touching the inmost substance of his mind with gentle affections. These affections remain. They remain as a fertile soil, and as a seedbed into which, later on, truth or seeds from the Word may be planted. It is the Lord working from without who plants these seeds of truth-truths that will some day take root, spring up and grow into living principles of life. These principles of truths form a garden, which is known as conscience or a new will. The Lord's living Word from within gives Life, liberty and rationality. And it is ever present from love to organize that which enters from the Word so that He may establish heaven, His kingdom, first in the individual's heart.
     "This is the Lord's doing. . . . It is wonderful in our eyes." The Word the Lord is the source of this seed of truth. And the Lord Himself is the Sower. In the Old Testament we learn that God is one; we learn the commandments of the Decalogue and the evils that we must shun. And as we put away these evils and approach the Lord, the miracle of regeneration begins. The new birth of conscience-a new will-commences.
     In the New Testament we learn that this one God is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine love in human form, a God of love and wisdom. We learn that the evils enumerated in the Decalogue are to be shunned not just in outward deed and word, but in thought and affection.

273

"Whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her," He said, "commits adultery already with her in his heart." And as we look to the Lord in His Divine Humanity, and shun evils as sins against Him, He may come to us with power and glory. How can we know this? The Lord has given us His promise and the fulfillment of it. Remember He told His disciples to wait until the Spirit of Truth comes. "He will lead you into all truth." He told them they would know and see plainly of the Father, the Divine love.
     We now have the crown of revelations, the Word of the Lord given through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg, the spirit of truth which penetrates the clouds of literal Scripture, so that the Lord Jesus Christ can be seen as the one God, and that His kingdom is one in the heavens and on the earth.
     The Lord's prayer is a wonderful sequence of phrases, outlining in complete fashion the whole process of this rebirth. It begins, "Our Father, who art in the heavens." This is the Father whom we now see plainly, the Divine love in the heavens, that is, within the Divine truth proceeding from His humanity to each one of us. This truth is the Lord's Divine Human in the Word that makes all things new in both kingdoms.
     "Hallowed be Thy name." The name of the Lord is His quality. His quality is known from His truth. We hallow His Word when we defer to His teachings and set aside the conceit of our own self-intelligence and the ambitions of the proprium.
     "Thy kingdom come." This is a prayer that the Lord's kingdom of uses may exist by means of His Word. In the Lord Himself the kingdom of uses is infinitely one. The uses are in His Divine love. When they stand forth as the Word, they are indefinite potential uses to be established in the minds of individuals. But when that truth governs in each one of us, then His kingdom is established in heaven and on earth.
     So the prayer continues, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." His kingdom is to be established not just in interior thought, but in exterior thought; not just in man's heaven, but in his earth-in his words and his deeds, in his treatment of his fellow men. When this takes place, His kingdom as a whole is not only in heaven but on earth with man.
     "Give us this day our daily bread." Here is a petition for appropriate affections and delights to encourage us to look to the Lord in each state of our development. Again from His omnipotence He will provide.
     "Forgive us our debts"-the debts of love and the transgressions of the proprium.

274

When we are inspired by the Lord, and we perform a do we acknowledge that what has been accomplished is of the Lord good service to another, do we demand recompense, reward, merit? Or through us and that to Him belongs all glory? And when another offends us, do we feel that he has sinned against us personally or do we recognize that all sin is against the Lord, and that rather than thoughts of revenge, we should reach out with love and forgiveness, asking the Lord to help the one who has offended us, keenly aware of our constant need of the Lord's mercy in our own lives.
     "Lead us not into temptation." Here is a phrase acknowledging that temptation is from hell in man, not from the Lord; that the Lord permits temptation because it is the strengthening process without which we would never fight against what is evil and false, or fight to preserve what is good and true.
     "But deliver us from evil." Again, only the Lord can deliver from evil. If we will approach Him and shun evils as sins in both thought and affection, He will remove the evil love within, and He will enable us to put down the evil deed without.
     Now comes the final expression which culminates the whole of the prayer, which includes everything that goes before, and in this sense is most important of all. "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory." Why is it so difficult to acknowledge this? Why do we incessantly seek power and glory? Is it not because the final spiritual temptation which men must undergo has to do with the persuasive of self-life?-not the appearance that we live from ourselves but the way in which the love of self has twisted this appearance so that we have implicit confidence in self. We may have put aside the lusts of adultery, dominion and deceit. We may have learned to approach the Lord in worship, to read His Word and delight in His teachings. But there remains adhering to us the conviction that we can, after all, regenerate ourselves. Or perhaps the process has gone far enough. Given a little more time we will accomplish it. We have the formula; we have the incentive. But this most subtle dependence upon self must be humbled, even as the human nature in the Lord was humbled before the Divine Essence, as beautifully represented by the temptations in the wilderness.
     In summary, the kingdom of the Lord is His Divine truth proceeding from His Divine Human, in which is His tender love for our salvation. This is the Divine omnipotence that makes the heavens with angels and, the church with men. This is the Divine that must enter our lives and rule in us, not over us. To rule in us Divine truth must be received. If the Lord could simply rule over men from without, apart from their free cooperation, no man would be lost-but no man would have freedom or individual life. However, the Lord's tender love works within, within the framework of man's freedom.

275

We must receive His truth and then it will rule in us. When Divine truth is received and His kingdom is established, then is the kingdom of God within us; then there results the power of His truth, the power of Divine truth to withhold us from evil and to lead us and to hold us in what is good. And as the power is there, so is His glory. The glory is the heavenly light, the wonderful brilliance and splendor of the Lord's truth nashing in the intelligence and wisdom drawn from His Word. When we read the Word and take its truths into our memory, they are, at first, nothing but knowledges. But when the Divine truth inflowing from within, which is the Lord's love for us, strikes upon these knowledges in the mind (in proportion as we have shunned evils as sins) there is a bursting forth of light-heavenly light-which we see the Lord Jesus Christ, a visible God in His Divine Human. Then we see how truly to acknowledge His kingdom, His power and His glory.
Let us pray with all our hearts that the Lord will lead and guide each one of us to know, to understand and to become wise in this fact that His kingdom is His, and the resulting power and the glory are His. Then will these Divine gifts enter into us to be felt and used as if our own. We join with the celestial angels in praising God, "For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever." Amen.

LESSONS: Psalm 24, Mark 10:35-45 MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (25) 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (25) Rev. Glenn G. Alden 1988

My favorite (for favorite read "most often quoted") passage is actually a group of passages that say the same thing: AC 6206; AC 4151:5, 6; HH 302; DP 320. "Be it further known that all evil flows in from hell and all good through heaven from the Lord. But the reason why evil is appropriated to a man is that he believes and persuades himself that he thinks and does it from himself, and in this way makes it his own. If he believed as is really the case, then evil would not be appropriated to him, but good from the Lord would be appropriated to him; for the moment that evil flowed in, he would reflect that it was from the evil spirits with him, and as soon as he thought this the angels would avert and reject it" (AC 6206).
I find that this concept is very powerful when I am struggling against an evil that is long engrained in myself. The more I can "remember" to correctly identify some selfish love as flowing in from hell, the less power it has over me. The truth of this passage has been "proven" to me by experience so many times.

276

I have found relief from the influx of the hells by appropriating the evil thought or desire to them instead of to myself. An evil desire has less power when you have admitted that it was from hell. Also, whenever I am praised for some good that I have done, when a I think within myself, and especially if I say: "Give God the praise," the tendency to feel unduly proud is replaced by a sense of gratefulness to the Lord for His goodness.
I have found this passage very useful in understanding some of what goes on in temptations. Too often, I think, we ascribe feelings of guilt and self-condemnation to the Lord or the angels. We think that the heavens are making us aware of evils in ourselves, and making us feel guilty for those evils. In fact, most of this influx is from evil spirits who wish us to appropriate evil to ourselves. Instead of delivering us from evil these hellish feelings of guilt fill us with hopelessness. We acquire from them a sense of the inevitability of our evil. We also accept their feeling of guilt as "punishment." Absolved of our "guilt" we continue to commit the evil as often as there is opportunity. Thus we continue as miserable slaves to "our own evils."

[Photo of Rev. Glenn G. Alden]

277

     Sometimes we are afraid of this teaching. We think that if we believe this, and especially if we teach this, the floodgates to hell will be opened and we will make all evils allowable. This fear is addressed in AC 4151:6. Newly arrived spirits said that "if all evil and falsity flow in, nothing of evil and falsity can be attributed to them and they are not in fault because these come from another source. But they received for answer that they had appropriated evil and falsity by believing that they think and will of themselves; whereas if they had believed as the case really is, they would not then have appropriated the evil and falsity, for they would have believed all good and truth to be from the Lord; and if they had believed this, they would have suffered themselves to be led by the Lord and therefore would have been in a different state; and then the evil which entered into their thought and will would not have affected them, because not evil but good would have gone out of them. For it is not the things that enter in but those which go out that affect us, according to the Lord's words in Mark 7:15."
     So, if you want power over your "own" evil loves, just remember: "All evil and falsity flow in from hell, but all good and truth flow in from the Lord through heaven."
     Rev. Glenn G. Alden
REVIEW OF THIS HAPPY ISLES 50 YEARS AGO 1988

REVIEW OF THIS HAPPY ISLES 50 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

     The review of this book by Eric A. Sutton (published in London in 1938) is so favorable that we are inspired to look at it again. The reviewer, Hugo Lj. Odhner, said:

     "With joy we welcome this charming story of Swedenborg. . . . Mr. Sutton, a prominent minister of the Conference, has the gift of interesting children. He makes of Swedenborg's life a romance which converts the rich biographical material into high adventure, the scene of which is presently transferred to the spiritual world.
     The most charming and valuable part of the book is a fine selection of memorable relations which are woven together into a skillful account of the other life. It is Mr. Sutton's happy talent to be able to turn these relations into entrancing stories that convey to child and to adult a sense of the objective reality of the spiritual world, as well as a rich knowledge about the main doctrines of the New Church. There is a tenderness and a calm faith in the treatment. The words of the angels are paraphrased in simple and direct language, and the doctrine is summarized in a few essential words.
     This is a book for every New Church home."

278

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE 1988

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE Rev. N. BRUCE ROGERS 1988

     Love Truly Conjugial

     FROM THE NEW TRANSLATION BEING PREPARED BY THE REV. N. BRUCE ROGERS

     57. Conjugial love is unlimited in its variety. It is not the same in one person as it is in another. It appears, indeed, as if it were the same in many cases, but that is how it appears to a judgment of the body, and a person scarcely sees the diversities in such thing on the basis of such a judgment, because it is dense and obtuse. By a judgment of the body we mean a judgment of the mind on the basis of its external senses.
     People who see as a result of a judgment of the spirit, however, to them the differences appear, and they appear even more clearly to those who can raise the sight of this judgment still higher, by withdrawing this sight from the senses and elevating it into a higher light. These people are finally able to convince themselves with the understanding and thus see that conjugial love is not the same in one person as it is in another. But nevertheless, no one can see the endless varieties of this love in any light of the understanding, even if elevated, unless he first knows what that love is like in its true essence and perfect state, thus what it was like when, together with life, it was bestowed on mankind by God. Unless this state of it is known, which was most perfect, its diversities can by no means be discovered by any method of inquiry. For there is in that case no fixed point from which, as a point of origin, the diversities may be traced and to which, as a point of reference, they may be related so as to appear accurately and not deceptively.
     For this reason, we proceed in this chapter to describe that love in its true essence. And since that love existed in its true essence when, together with life, it was infused into mankind by God, we proceed to describe it as it was in its original state. Moreover, because in that state conjugial love was truly conjugial, we title this chapter, "Love Truly Conjugial."
     Description of this love, however, will be developed according to the following outline:

(1)      There is a truly conjugial love, which today is so rare that people a do not know what it is like, and scarcely that it exists.
(2)      This love originates from the marriage between good and truth.
(3)      There is a correspondence between this love and the marriage of the Lord and the church.

279

(4)      Regarded from its origin and correspondence, this love is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure and clean, more so than any other love which exists from the Lord in angels of heaven or people of the church.
(5)      It is also the fundamental love of all celestial and spiritual loves, and consequently of natural loves.
(6)      All joys and all delights, moreover, have been gathered into this love, from the first to the last of them.
(7)      But no others come into this love and no others can be in it but those who go to the Lord and love the truths of the church and do the good things it teaches.
(8)      This love was the predominant love among the ancients who lived in the golden, silver and copper ages, but after that it gradually disappeared.

     Development of these points now follows.

     58. (1) There is a truly conjugial love, which today is so rare that people do not know what it is like, and scarcely that it exists. The possibility of the kind of conjugial love described in the following pages may indeed be recognized from the first state of that love, when it is first stealing into and entering the heart of a young man and woman, as it does in the case of those who are beginning to love only one of the opposite sex and to want him or her as their betrothed. And still more during the time of engagement, as this stretches on and draws nearer the wedding. And finally at the time of the wedding, and in the first days after it.
     Who does not then acknowledge and give assent to the following thoughts, that this love is the fundamental love of all loves? Moreover, that all joys and all delights have been gathered into it, from the first to the last of them?
     But who does not also know that after this happy time, these glad feelings gradually wane and disappear, until at last they are hardly felt. If at that time one says to these same people the same thing as before, that this love is the fundamental love of all loves, and that all joys and delights have been gathered into it, they neither assent nor acknowledge this. Perhaps they will even say these are foolish notions, or that they are mysteries beyond comprehension.
     It is clear from this that the early love in marriage emulates love truly conjugial and presents a kind of visible image of it. This is the case because a love for the opposite sex, which is unchaste, is then renounced, and in its place love for one of the sex sits implanted, which is love truly conjugial and chaste.

280

What man at that time does not look upon other women with a loveless nod, and on his one and only with a loving one?

     59. Nevertheless, love truly conjugial is so rare that people do not know what it is like, and scarcely that it exists. This is because the state of happy feelings before the wedding afterwards turns into a state of indifference as these feelings become no longer felt. The reasons for this change in state are too many to be presented here, but they will be presented in a later chapter, where the reasons for states of coldness, separations and divorces are disclosed in turn. It will be seen from these reasons that in most people today, the image of conjugial love referred to above is so extinguished-and with it, knowledge of this love-that people do not even know what it is like, and scarcely that it exists.
     People know that every person is merely physical at birth, and that from being physical he becomes more and more deeply natural, and thus rational, and finally spiritual. The reason for such a progressive development is that the physical element is the soil, so to speak, in which natural, rational and spiritual qualities are planted in turn. A person thus becomes more and more human.
     Almost the same sort of thing happens when one enters marriage. A person then becomes a more complete human being, because he is united with a partner with whom he may act as one person. In the first state, however, this is reflected in a kind of image, as mentioned before. In similar fashion he then starts from the physical element and progresses into the natural, only this time in respect to married life and so union into one.
     People who in this state love the physical, natural aspects, and the rational aspects only on account of these, cannot be united with their partner as though into one, except in respect to these external aspects. When the external aspects then fade, the inward ones are invaded by coldness, which takes away the delights of this love, driving them first from the mind and so from the body, and afterwards from the body and so from the mind. And this finally reaches the point that nothing remains of their memory of the early state of their marriage, nor do they consequently retain any concept of it.
     Now because this is what happens in the case of most people today, it is plain that people do not know what love truly conjugial is like, and scarcely that it exists.
     It is different in the case of people who are spiritual. In their case, the first state of marriage is an introduction to continuing states of happiness, which advance as the spiritual rationality of the mind and consequently the natural sensuality of the body in one partner join and unite with these same qualities in the other. But people like this are rare.

281

60. (2) This love originates from the marriage between good and truth. Everything in the universe has some relation to good and truth, as every intelligent person recognizes, because it is a universal truth. One cannot help but recognize also that in each and every thing in the universe, good is united with truth and truth with good, because this, too, is a universal truth, which goes along with the other.
     The reason everything in the universe has some relation to good and truth, with good being united with truth and vice versa, is that both emanate from the Lord, and they emanate from Him as a unity.
     The two things that emanate from the Lord are love and wisdom, because these are what He is, thus they are what come from Him. And everything that has to do with love is called good, and everything that has to do with wisdom is called truth. Now because these two emanate from the Lord as the Creator, it follows that these two are present in the things He created.
     This can be illustrated by the example of heat and light which emanate from the sun. Everything produced by the earth depends on these two, for things sprout according to their presence and according to their presence together. Natural warmth corresponds to spiritual warmth, which is love; and natural light corresponds to spiritual light, which is wisdom.

     61. In the next chapter we will demonstrate that conjugial love comes from the marriage between good and truth. We only introduce the concept here to show that this love is celestial, spiritual and holy, because it comes from a celestial, spiritual and holy origin.
     In order to show that conjugial love originates from the marriage between good and truth, it is useful that something be said about it in brief summary here.
     We said just above that there is a union of good and truth in each and every created thing. And union does not come about without reciprocation, for union on one side and not on the other in return, of itself comes undone.
     Now because there is a union of good and truth, and this a reciprocal one, it follows that there is a truth of good, or truth from good, and also a good of truth, or good from truth. In the next chapter we will show that the truth of good or truth from good exists in the male and is the essence of masculinity, and that the good of truth or good from truth exists in the female and is the essence of femininity. We will also show that there is a conjugial union between the two.
     This much is mentioned here to give a preliminary idea of the concept.

282

62. (3) There is a correspondence between this love and the marriage of the Lord and the church. In other words, as the Lord loves the church and wants the church to love Him, so a husband and wife love each other.
     In the Christian world, people know there is a correspondence between these two relationships, but they do not yet know the nature of it. Therefore this correspondence will be explained in a separate chapter as well, in the chapter after next. It is mentioned here in order to show that conjugial love is celestial, spiritual and holy, because it corresponds to the celestial, spiritual and holy marriage of the Lord and the church.
     This correspondence also follows from the origin of conjugial love in the marriage between good and truth, referred to under the preceding heading, because the church in a person is a marriage of good and truth. For a marriage of good and truth is the same thing as a marriage of charity and faith, since good is a matter of charity and truth is a matter of faith. One cannot help but recognize that this marriage forms the church, because it is a universal truth, and every universal truth is acknowledged as soon as it is heard, which occurs as a result of the Lord's influx and, at the same time, the affirmation of heaven.
     Now, since the church is the Lord's, being from the Lord, and since conjugial love corresponds to the marriage of the Lord and the church, it follows that this love comes from the Lord.

     63. However, the way in which the church is formed by the Lord in two married partners, and through it conjugial love, this will be clarified in the chapter indicated above. Here we will say only that the church is formed by the Lord in the man, and through the man in his wife. And after it has been formed in the two together, the church is complete, for then a full conjunction of good and truth takes place, and the conjunction of good and truth is the church. It will be progressively established with demonstrative proofs in the following chapters that the inclination to conjunction, which conjugial love is, exists in the same degree as the conjunction of good and truth, which is the church.

     64. (4) From its origin and correspondence, this love is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure and clean, more so than any other love which exists from the Lord in angels of heaven or people of the church. With respect to conjugial love's being of such a character from its origin, which is the marriage between good and truth, this was briefly established just above, though it was only touched on there. So also with respect to that love's being of such a character from its correspondence with the marriage of the Lord and the church.
     These two marriages, from which conjugial love descends as an offshoot, are the essence of holiness.

283

Consequently, if conjugial love is received from its Author, who is the Lord, it is accompanied by holiness from Him, which continually purges and purifies the love. If, then, a person has a desire and striving for it in his will, that love daily becomes more clean and pure to eternity.
     Conjugial love is called celestial and spiritual because it exists among angels in heaven. It is celestial in the case of angels in the highest heaven, because these angels are called celestial. And it is spiritual in the case of angels below that heaven, because these angels are called spiritual. The angels are called by these names, because forms of love resulting in wisdom are celestial, while forms of wisdom resulting in love are spiritual. It is the same in their approach to marriage.
     Now, because conjugial love exists among angels in heaven, in both the higher and lower heavens, as was also shown in the earlier chapter on marriages in heaven, it follows that this love is holy and pure.
     As for the statement that regarded from its derivation, in its essence this love is holy and pure, more so than any other love in angels and men, this is because that love is, so to speak, the head of all the other loves. Something about its exalted character will now be said under the following heading.

     65. (5) It is also the fundamental love of all celestial, spiritual, and consequently natural loves. Regarded in its essence, conjugial love is the fundamental love of all loves in heaven and the church, because it originates from the marriage between good and truth, and from this marriage spring all the loves which form heaven and the church in a person. The good in this marriage produces love, and the truth in it produces wisdom. And when love is added to wisdom or united with it, then love becomes loving. And when wisdom conversely is added to love and united with it, then wisdom becomes wise.
     Love truly conjugial is nothing but a union of love and wisdom. Two married partners who have this love between them and in them at the same time are a reflection and image of it. In the heavens, too, where the looks of their faces are genuine representations of the affections of their love, they are all likenesses of it, for it is in them in general and in every part, as was previously shown.
     Now because two partners are a form of this love in image and effigy, it follows that every other love that springs from the form this love takes is a reflection of it. Consequently, if conjugial love is celestial and spiritual, the loves springing from it are also celestial and spiritual.
     Conjugial love, therefore, is like a parent, and the rest of the loves are like offspring. That is why the offspring born of the marriages of angels in heaven are spiritual offspring, which are procreations of love and wisdom, or of goodness and truth.

284

(Regarding this procreation, see above, no. 51.)

     66. The same idea clearly follows from the creation of human beings into this love, and from their formation as a result of it afterwards. The male was created to become a form of wisdom from a love of being wise, and the female was created to become a form of love for the male on account of his wisdom, thus in accordance with that wisdom. It is evident from this that two partners are real forms and reflections or the marriage between love and wisdom or between good and truth.

     It should be noted well that no good or truth exists which is not the attribute of some concrete thing in which it inheres as a quality in its subject. Abstract goods and truths have no real existence, because they are not grounded in anything, having no underlying foundation. Indeed, neither can they be seen as flitting about in the air. Consequently, as abstractions they are merely figments, which reason supposes it can think about abstractly, but which it really cannot except as attributes of concrete subjects. For every idea a person has, however extrapolated, is concrete, that is to say, it is attached to concrete things.
     It should further be noted that no concrete thing exists without having form. A thing unformed is not anything, because nothing can be predicated of it, and a subject without predicates is also the figment of a fanciful imagination.
     I have added these philosophical considerations in order to be able to show in this way as well that two married partners who are in a state of love truly conjugial actually are forms of the marriage between goodness and truth, or between love and wisdom.

     67. Since natural loves spring from spiritual loves, and spiritual loves from celestial ones, therefore we say that conjugial love is the fundamental love of all celestial and spiritual loves-and consequently of natural loves.
     Natural loves are connected with loves having to do with self and the world. In contrast, spiritual loves are connected with love for the neighbor, and celestial loves are connected with love toward the Lord. And because loves have these connections, it is apparent what sequence they follow and in what order they are present in a person. When they are present in this order, then natural loves draw their life from spiritual loves, and spiritual loves from celestial ones, and all of them, in this order, from the Lord, from whom they come.

     68. (6) All joys and all delights, moreover, have been gathered inter that love, from the first to the last of them.

285

All the delights a person feels of whatever kind, have to do with his love. Love reveals itself through delights; indeed, it exists and lives through them.
     People know that delights rise and deepen in the degree that love rises and deepens, and also as chance affections touch more closely the dominant love.
     Now because conjugial love is the fundamental love of all good loves, and because, as we showed above, it is engraved on even the smallest aspects of a person, it follows that its delights surpass the delights of all other loves, and also that it gives delight to these other loves according as it is present and at the same time united with them. For it swells the inmost feelings of the mind and at the same time the inmost feelings of the body, as the pleasurable stream of its fountain flows through and opens them.
     All delights have been gathered into this love, from the first to the last of them, because of the excellence of the use it serves, surpassing that of all other loves. The use it serves is the propagation of the human race and so of the angelic heaven. And because this use or purpose was the ultimate goal in creation, it follows that all blessings, felicities, delights, gratifications and pleasures, which could ever have been conferred on mankind by the Lord the Creator, have been gathered into this, its accompanying love.
     It is apparent from the delights of the five senses-sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch-that delights accompany the use they serve and are delightful to a person in accordance with the love he has for it. Each of these senses experiences delights, with variations, according to the particular uses these senses serve. Why not the sensation of conjugial love, whose use or purpose embraces those of all the other senses?

     69. I know that few will accept that all joys and all delights, from the first to the last of them, have been gathered into conjugial love, and this for the reason that love truly conjugial-the love into which these joys and delights have been gathered-today is so rare that people do not know what it is like, and scarcely that it exists (to repeat what was explained and established above, nos. 58, 59). For these joys and delights do not occur in any other conjugial love than genuine conjugial love. And because genuine conjugial love on earth is so rare, it is impossible to describe its supreme states of bliss on the basis of anything other than the testimony of angels, because angels experience it.
     Regarding its inmost delights-which are delights of the soul, where the conjugial union between love and wisdom, or goodness and truth, first flows in from the Lord-angels have said these delights are imperceptible and therefore indescribable, because they are at the same time delights of peace and innocence.

286

But they said, too, that these same delights, in their descent, become more and more perceptible-as states of bliss in the higher regions of their mind, as states of happiness in the lower regions of their mind, and as consequent states of delight in their heart, at which point they spread from the heart into each and every feeling of the body, finally coming together in the last of these as the delight of delights.
     In addition, angels have reported wonderful things about these delights, saying also in regard to the varieties of these delights in the souls of married partners and as they descend from their souls into their minds and from their minds into their hearts, that these varieties are infinite, and also eternal. They have said, too, that these delights rise and deepen according to the wisdom in the husbands, and this because angels live to eternity in the flower of their life, and nothing is more blessed to them than to grow ever more wise.
     But more about these delights from the testimony of angels may be found recounted in the appended narratives, especially in some of the accounts that come at the end of some chapters later on.*
     * See, for example, nos. 155[r], 183, 208, 293, 294.

     70. (7) But no others come into that love and no others can be in it but those who go to the Lord and love the truths of the church and do the good things it teaches. No others come into this love but those who go to the Lord, because monogamous marriages, which are marriages of one man with one wife, correspond to the marriage of the Lord and the church, and they have their origin from the marriage between goodness and truth (as discussed above, nos. 60-63).
     It follows from this origin and this correspondence that love truly conjugial comes from the Lord and is found in people who go to Him directly, but this cannot be established fully without discussing these two secrets in some detail. This will be done in the chapters that come right after this one, one of which will be on the origin of conjugial love from the marriage between good and truth, and the other on the marriage of the Lord and the church and what corresponds to it: In those chapters we shall also see that it follows from these considerations that the conjugial love in a person depends on the state of the church in him.

     71. No others can be in a state of love truly conjugial but those who receive it from the Lord-namely, those who go to Him directly and live the life of the church from Him-for the reason that this love, viewed in terms of its origin and correspondence, is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure and clean, more than any other love that is found in angels of heaven or people of the church (as said above. no. 64).

287

And these attributes of it cannot exist except in people who are joined to the Lord and brought by Him into association with angels of heaven.
     That is because people like this abstain from love affairs outside of marriage, which are liaisons with others than their rightful wife or husband, and they abstain from them as injuries to the soul and as cesspools of hell. And in the degree that a married person abstains from such liaisons, even as regards the lusts of his will and his consequent intentions, in the same degree conjugial love is purified in him and becomes progressively spiritual, first during his life on earth, and afterwards in heaven.
     No love can ever become pure in human beings, nor in angels. So neither can this love. But because the Lord primarily regards the intention that is in the will, therefore to the extent that a person has the intention and perseveres in it, to that extent he is introduced into the purity and holiness of this love, and gradually makes progress in it.
     No others can be in a state of spiritual conjugial love but those who are in it from the Lord, because heaven is in that love. And the natural man-for whom conjugial love takes its pleasure solely from the flesh-cannot draw near to heaven, nor to any angel. Indeed, neither can he draw near to any person who possesses that love, for that love is the fundamental love of all celestial and spiritual loves (see above, nos. 65-67). The fact of this was attested for me by an experience I had. I saw some spirits in the spiritual world who were being prepared for hell, going towards an angel who was enjoying the company of his wife. As they were approaching, while still at a distance, they began to act like frenzied madmen, and they sought caves and pits as places of refuge and threw themselves into them.
     (One may conclude from the incidents related in the introduction. no. 10, that evil spirits like whatever is of the same character as their affection, however unclean it is, and that they dislike spirits of heaven, because heaven is pure, which they avoid as something alien to them.)

     72. Only those people come into truly conjugial love and only those can be in it who love the truths of the church and do the good things it teaches, for the reason that no others are accepted by the Lord. That is because people who love the truths of the church and do the good things it teaches are in a state of conjunction with the Lord, and consequently they can be kept in that love by Him.
     There are two things which form the church and so heaven in a person: truth of faith and goodness of life.

288

Truth of faith brings the Lord's presence, and goodness of life in accordance with truths of faith brings conjunction with Him and thus forms the church and heaven. Truth of faith brings presence because it has to do with light, that being what spiritual light is. Goodness of life brings conjunction because it has to do with warmth, that being what spiritual warmth is; for spiritual warmth is love, and goodness of life has to do with love. We also know that all light-even wintry light-brings presence, and that warmth united with light brings conjunction; for gardens and flower-beds become visible in every kind of light, but they do not produce flowers and fruit until warmth is combined with the light.
     The evident conclusion from this is that people are not blessed with truly conjugial love if they only know the truths of the church, but if they know them and do the good things it teaches.

     73. (8) This love was the predominant love among the ancients who lived in the golden, silver and copper ages. It cannot be known from historical sources that conjugial love was the predominant love among the ancient and most ancient peoples who lived in those first ages referred to by these names. It cannot be known from historical sources because their written records do not remain, and the records that do a exist come from writers who lived after those times. It is, in fact, the later a writers who give the ages their names, and who also describe the purity and integrity of the life of those earlier peoples, likewise its gradual deterioration afterwards as being like the descent of gold to iron.
     The last or iron age, however, which began at the time of those writers, can be deduced to some extent from the records of the lives of some of the kings, judges and wise men, who were called sages, in Greece and elsewhere. But as it is foretold in Daniel, that age would not hold together, as iron holds together by itself, but it would become like iron mixed with clay, which does not stick together (Daniel 2:43).
     Now because the ages that were named after gold, silver, and copper passed away before the dates of our written records, and because knowledge of their marriages cannot, therefore, be gained on earth, it pleased the Lord to show them to me by a spiritual way, by conducting me to the heavens where they have their dwellings, so that I might learn from them personally there what marriages had been like among them when they lived in their ages. For all people whatever, who, since creation, have departed out of the natural world, are now in the spiritual world, and in respect to their loves they are all the same as they were and so remain to eternity.
     Since the things I learned are worth knowing and telling, and because they confirm the holiness of marriages, I would like to make them public as they were shown me in an awake state of the spirit and afterwards recalled to remembrance by an angel and so written down.

289

Moreover, because they are from the spiritual world, like the rest of the accounts at the ends of the expositional chapters, I have chosen to divide them into six narratives, presented according to the progressions of the ages.
FOREWORD TO THE ACADEMY CENTENNIAL ALBUM 1988

FOREWORD TO THE ACADEMY CENTENNIAL ALBUM Rev. WILLARD D. PENDLETON 1988

     Written in 1976 for the Academy's Anniversary

     One hundred years have now passed since the Academy of the New Church was organized in the city of Philadelphia on the nineteenth day of June, 1876. On that occasion the Right Reverend William Henry Benade said, in the original declaration of principles, "We who have hereunto subscribed our names . . . do hereby covenant together and constitute ourselves into a body of the Lord's New Church . . . to the end that by mutual counsel and assistance, and by united action, we may be the better prepared . . . to engage in those uses of spiritual charity which have respect primarily to the growth and development of the spiritual church."
     The uses to which Bishop Benade referred are the works of education. These works were later more fully described in the Academy's charter. After one hundred years of continuous New Church education, to what extent have we succeeded in the extension and development of these uses? This is a difficult question to which there are no ready answers, because the uses of the church, like the kingdom of heaven, "come not with observation." We cannot say, "Lo here! or, lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
     Nevertheless, there are certain criteria of success upon which we may reflect. Think for the moment of the successive generations of students who have passed through these halls, and of the contribution they have made to the good of society; think of the priests whom the Academy has prepared for the work of the ministry; think of the teachers whom the Academy has trained to carry on the work of New Church education; think of the many collateral works which have been produced by Academy scholars; think of the library which has been established to serve as a center of New Church learning.

290

Taken together, these and other accomplishments testify to that spirit of devotion which in essence is the Academy.
     In evaluating our response to these uses, bear in mind that the progress of the Academy cannot be judged by the usual standards, in terms of numbers, recognition by others, or physical assets. When compared with the great educational institutions of the world we are as yet insignificant, but a beginning has been made which contains within itself the promise of the future. As Bishop N. D. Pendleton said in his foreword to the Fiftieth Anniversary Publication of the Academy, "Measured by the world's standard of progress, we may not boast. Our small but steady gains are to us, however, indicative. We have been guarded from any grave disappointment by our Academy training, which forbids grandiose expectations. Besides, we believe that the thing we are engaged in building can best grow slowly, and under Providential guiding, rather than by our forcing. So we are content not to rest from our labors but to wait on Providence, with the steady conviction that success will be given in the degree that we have prepared an adequate and protective basis of reception, a fit containant without which spiritual influx cannot be held and natural growth will be in vain."
     In celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the Academy, we are mindful that fifty years have passed since Bishop Pendleton made this statement. Still, what he said at that time applies at this day. Although the New Church on earth is in its infancy and received by few, the Writings assure us that provision is being made for its growth among many. The growth of the New Church, however, is at all times dependent upon the progressive perception and acknowledgment of the Divine doctrine. This is a work of education, a work whereby the way is opened to the perception of Him who is speaking to us in the Writings. It is, therefore, the faith of the Academy that the Writings are the Word of the Lord and, as such, the sole authority in all matters of faith and practice.
     This commitment has been our source of strength in the past, and it is our hope for the future. While it is true that over the past one hundred years many changes have taken place in the Academy, in no way have we deviated from our primary purpose. In 1976 as in 1876, we are fully committed to our faith that the Writings of the New Church constitute the revelation of the Lord in His own Divine Human. "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him. . . . We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."

291

CELESTIAL LOVE 1988

CELESTIAL LOVE Rev. ALAIN NICOLIER 1988

     Final of Three Articles

     As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you . . . that you love one another as I have loved you (John 15:9-12).

     When Jesus Christ asked His disciples to love one another as He had loved them, He was speaking of celestial love, the love not only for the Lord but also for others more than oneself. This degree of love is more interior and requires a deeper regeneration in regards to the intentions and will. This is what is represented in the Word by the baptism of fire (see Matt. 3:11, Luke 3:16).
     We see that the Lord distinguishes love into three degrees by His triple question to Peter, and also by the three baptisms: baptism of water, spirit and fire. These three baptisms signify the three levels of purification with those whom the Lord is regenerating. This purification opens the body and mind to the influx of the soul, which in turn draws its source of vital and eternal energy from Divine love. This continuous opening from the body to the soul, or from externals to internals, is regulated by the states of one's will. It is important to realize that this is not a constant state, but instead goes through cycles of internalization. At the times when a person loves in order to get something in return, or is living in a hereditary cycle, he is in natural love. At other times, during self-realization and in states of deep happiness and compassion, the individual is in a spiritual or celestial state. In the process of regeneration one learns to master this opening-up process and have confidence in the Lord, and also discovers that good can be brought out of even the most difficult moments. This celestial state of trust and of total love is very rare, and we may experience it only on occasion. It should be noted that the Lord alone has totally accomplished that which will take us all of eternity. This is what is meant when He talks about the baptism of fire: "I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with and how distressed I am till it is accomplished!" (Luke 12:49, 50). Jesus is talking about His approaching temptation or purification-His crucifixion and the resulting glorification. For His baptism of fire represents the opening up and the celestial purification which was conjoined to the natural. The Lord healed the sick, multiplied the leaves, commanded the wind and the sea while in this state of glorification.

292

     We may have quick instances of celestial regeneration when our confidence in God produces miracles in our lives, giving us internal peace and allowing others to profit from this state. During this time we feel loved and protected by the Lord, having confidence in life and God-given talents. It is then possible to open up to others, this love being more significant than the love of self. Individuals who have in their soul reached this maturity of celestial love without fear can love all others and allow this love to be seen. Christ is an example of such a love; in Him it was constant, since He was perfect as to His reasoning and attitudes.
     The Lord's love contains softness, tenderness and respect for our freedom; at the same time it can be clear and firm when needed. He knows how to reveal the deep beauty in everyone in spite of the mask which seems austere and forbidding. As this beauty is revealed, we feel a childlike astonishment. We can also come to know this astonishment if we allow the Lord to touch us and guide us in this purification. It is, of course, over a long period of time that our perfection is built, because we sometimes succumb to temptation, differing greatly from Christ, who never succumbed! As we learn about celestial love, it is possible to start loving others without fear if we accept healing from our wounds, clear out our sufferings and allow ourselves to be transformed. There will be hesitation in our relationships with others even though the fear has been eliminated. In this effort to live a celestial love, tactfulness is needed. Mistakes are possible, even unavoidable, since the hereditary inclination must be purified. The Lord expresses this clearly as He says, "I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled."
     An important aspect of celestial love is that it is expressed in all forms of affectional relationships. The Lord touched in order to heal, touched so as to bless, and so must we dare to express our love. There are gestures that we do for others, manners which come from the soul borrowing the Lord's love. The regard is warmer, the smile comes deep from within; helping others will come even more from the heart, and a handshake friendlier. People who are in this celestial state desire that each one of their actions, their speech, their thoughts and intentions, may be used for the love and for the opening up of others. The Writings say, "It is celestial love not to desire to be one's own but to belong to all, so that we desire to give others all that is our own. In this consists the essence of celestial love. The Lord being Love Itself, or the Essence and life of the love of all in the heavens, wills to give to the human race all things that are His, which is signified by His saying that the Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many" (AC 1419).

293

Only the Lord is totally celestial, and only He has reached and accomplished the seventh day, although we too can from time to time have this experience, mostly in privileged soul-to-soul relationships with those who are being regenerated. There are angels in heaven who are familiar with this seventh day state; they are those who lived during the golden age and who are, because of their receptiveness, close to the Lord. The Arcana explains: "To save a soul from hell, the angels would regard death as nothing; nay, if it were possible they would undergo hell for that soul" (AC 2077).
     Through self-examination we may be able to identify what is meant by protecting those who are close to us, dear to us, near to our hearts. But would we do this for just anyone? We find that we are not able to unconditionally love just anyone.
     After a certain period of development, there is an opening to celestial love and an acquisition of this love's strength, helping us to become aware of our own soul's wealth, there implanted by the Lord. This gives us confidence to trust in these talents, allowing us to act spontaneously. Loving the neighbor as one's self means already loving one's own soul so as to then, in turn, love the soul of the neighbor.
     When we are in a celestial state we should make ourselves useful to others who are lacking in spiritual love. As good is reflected back to them, they then can rebuild their confidence in life.
     To really love, it is necessary to be close to others, being available, giving time, opening up to the good in others. Giving positive attention does not mean being blind to others' limitations, but realizing that it is the soul that is loved in its wholeness and in its immeasurable wealth. This love creates a mutual astonishment which is proportional to the perception and receptivity of the other person and to the intensity of love found within one's self.
     In order to break the evil chain made up of hate, pride and selfishness which is alienating our society, there is a need for strong, loving people who can help build on the foundations of deep sharing, love and mutual acceptance. They will have the joy of seeing those around them open up as timid flowers blossoming in the Divine sun. The Lord's kingdom, a kingdom of love, goodness and human warmth, can thus be spread.

     "At the same time," says the Lord, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."
     Thus says the Lord: "The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness--Israel, when I went to give him rest."
     The Lord has appeared of old to me saying, "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving kindness I have drawn you. Again I will rebuild you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel!

294

You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, and shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice.
     "You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and eat them as ordinary food. For there shall be a day when the watchman will cry in Mount Ephraim, 'Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.'
     For thus says the Lord: "Sing with gladness for Jacob and shout among the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, 'O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel!'
     "Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and the one who labors with child, together, a great thong shall return there. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way in which they shall not stumble (Jer. 31:1-9)
DEDICATION OF THE KEMPTON CHURCH 1988

DEDICATION OF THE KEMPTON CHURCH Rev. Jeremy F. Simons 1988

     On April 17th Kempton's new church was dedicated to the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word was put on the new altar, and the key to the building was presented to Bishop King. This occasion marked the fulfillment of many dreams, and it was a very happy time for this society.
     Kempton is only a one-and-a-half hour ride from Bryn Athyn, and it is located in the beautiful Pennsylvania Dutch farm country, tucked right up against the Blue Mountain ridge of the Appalachians Over the past decade or so the church group has been developing around a 55-acre farm donated by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cole. The farmhouse became a manse, one barn became a school, another a gym, and now a third is an open, bright house of worship. What began as a vacation place for a couple of Bryn Athyn families in the early 1970s became a small circle of two resident families or so by 1975, and now has grown to an average church attendance of 110 adults and children. The Kempton New Church School, begun in 1979 with ten students, under the leadership of Yorvar Synnestvedt, will have 60 students, K-9, in the fall of 1988.
     With all this growth Kempton is full of new, young families, inexperienced in the ways of operating a society, and ready to try new things. Building the church was a major accomplishment, for which the group was prepared by trial runs as they gradually carved a school out of the barns from 1980 to 1984.

295

[Photographs of the sign and entrance to the Kempton Church.]

296

[Photograph of the chancel.] But when the crowd of 320 people was seated in the new structure for the dedication ceremony it all seemed to have been done with amazing speed and smoothness. Bishop King placed the Word on the altar, which had been completed only the day before. The choir sang "Surely the Lord is in this place," and everyone present felt the Lord's blessing on this enterprise. Doug Robertson, who was in charge of the building project, presented the key to the Bishop. Many neighbors were there, along with visitors from Bryn Athyn and as far away as Detroit and Toronto.
     After the ceremony there were refreshments, tours of the buildings, and displays in various rooms, notably ten of the Kempton quilts made by the group. There were toasts and comments by Bishop King, Rev. Messrs. Martin Pryke and Arne Bau-Madsen, who are the former pastors of the society, and by Rev. Jeremy Simons, the current pastor. One of the comments was that few people ever expected that Kempton first requested a visiting minister, there was reluctance to send one since would develop the way that it has. In the mid seventies, when the group there was obviously no future in such a place. But in just a few years the society has become a healthy, contributing part of the General Church, with a strong emphasis on family life and a reputation for creativity and individuality.
     Now the group has a facility in which to carry on its uses, and it is hoping to make itself an asset to its community and a strong center of the New Church. The dedication ceremony marked a beginning of these efforts, and the society is thankful to the Lord, and prays that He will be with them and His presence felt in all their activities.
     Rev. Jeremy F. Simons

297

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     SWEDENBORG IN THE PAGES OF THE WRITINGS (7)

     Written in Joy

     Last month we quoted instances in which Swedenborg went home in joy, noting in particular the time when his heart exulted and he went joyfully home, returned to the state of the body and "wrote down what had been seen and heard" (CL 81). How much of Swedenborg's "work" as servant of the Lord Jesus Christ was done in a state of joy! Once, for his instruction (and ours) Swedenborg had an encounter with a couple from heaven. In the course of the conversation (recorded in CL 444) he learned that they had died as infants and were brought up under the Lord's care, met and married. The man expressed the viewpoint of those from the heaven of innocence, and we read,

When he had said this. I was glad at heart that it was granted to speak with angels of such innocence. . . .

     On another occasion it was granted to him to converse with seven wives sitting near a fountain. The pleasure he had in this conversation is indicated by his saying at one point: "This answer so delighted my mind that I seemed to myself to be in the spirit and hence in a perception more interior and clearer than ever before, whereupon I said to them, 'Permit me to ask a few questions about these delights'"(CL 293).
     He was allowed to offer good wishes to a couple who had just been married. "I saw the two partners holding each other by the hand and conversing together from love truly conjugial; and it was given me to see from their faces the effigy of conjugial love, and from their conversation its vitality. With many others I offered my congratulations and wished them happiness. . . ." If there was joy in their faces, what of the face of Swedenborg?
     The passage makes clear that Swedenborg was experiencing a "delightful peace of mind" and that the delight of meditating on conjugial love "shone forth from my eyes and thence entered the interiors of my face" (CL 316).
     Part of what greets us in such passages is Swedenborg's state of joy in relating these things, and this may add to our joy in reading them.

298

     HIGHLIGHTS FROM SWEDENBORG'S LETTERS (6)

     Swedenborg in His Forties

     In March of 1729 Swedenborg received a letter from his brother-in-law, Jonas Unge, telling him that he ought to think about getting married. He even suggested the girl, the daughter of the wealthy Sebastian Tham. We wish there were a letter from the forty-one-year-old Swedenborg replying to this. What we do find in his letters at this time is indication of a man much taken up with his enterprises. The same year he wrote to Anders Celsius (after whom the thermometer is named) and w, note in the letter the phrase, "as soon as I have some leisure. . . ." Through Celsius he communicates the following to a scientific society:

     I have now for ten years been collecting all the material that can serve for enlightenment in metals and the mineral kingdom; and I think now that in a few weeks I will put this. . .in order and have it printed abroad . . . . If life permits, I am thinking also of making use of such a collection . . . and hope to have hit upon one or two things which concern the working of the magnet. As soon as I have some leisure, I wish to write up what I have collected on native copper . . . together with one or two things concerning it which the learned world has no knowledge of as yet.

     When Swedenborg was forty-two years old he received a letter from his father with a few requests. The old man was having something printed and asked of his son, "As you are a good Latin poet, write some verses for it." He also asked for a copy of a book by Christian Scriver. Scriver, who died in 1693, was greatly admired by many Europeans, including Bishop Jesper Swedberg. What is fascinating is that Swedenborg eventually would meet the revered Scriver in the spiritual world. "During his life in the world he had been a very pathetic preacher and writer." He was "regarded as pre-eminently a Christian at heart, for in the world an idea is conceived and judgment is formed from the preaching and from the writings, and not from the life unless this is conspicuous" (AC 10735). "When he lived in the world he had been very pathetic so that he could deeply move his hearers to what is holy; but this pathetic style had been acquired by art. . .and not from heaven" (AC 10755).
     At the age of forty-five Swedenborg determined to spend some months in Germany proofreading a book. He wrote a letter to the king of Sweden asking for permission "to make a journey to Dresden to be present there on the occasion of a work which I have written, and which is now being printed there." He made the journey and eventually wrote in a letter from Leipzig, "for some months' prolongation, the matter of this time being most important to me, since I have at last come to the printing, and it is now in full swing."

299

Swedenborg's volumes on iron and copper were regarded as the most authoritative works on the subject theretofore published. The experience of going abroad and getting a book published would obviously be useful to Swedenborg in later life!
     At the age of forty-six Swedenborg wrote a man who was writing a biography of Charles XII (who had died fifteen years earlier). He supplied his own personal observation that the king had a way of pretending he did not understand. "Now and again, however, he let us observe that he was not so ignorant therein as he let on." Swedenborg was sure that Charles XLI "must have had a greater intelligence than he allowed to appear outwardly" (Letters and Memorials, p. 464). We note with interest what comes out in the Spiritual Diary about that king. Certain things about the character of Charles XII "were opened in the other life." Although he had an extraordinary ability to think inwardly, "he did not want anyone to know this; [and] pretended outwardly that he was not thinking inwardly" (SD 4748). He possessed "the quick faculty of perception above others" (SD 4751). "He thought within himself that no one in the world could observe him, and he did not want to be observed" (SD 4763).
     There was a sinister, even diabolical, side to the character of Charles XII, a consuming love of dominion. Did Swedenborg suspect this side when he was acquainted with the king? Probably not. He was shown later that it was of the Divine Providence that he was protected from the deadly influence of this man (see SD 4704). This seems an eminent example of the workings of Providence which may be compared to "a man in company with an enemy who intends to kill him, which at the time he does not know, and a friend leads him away by unknown paths, and afterwards discloses his enemy's intention" (DP 211).
     Also at the age of forty-six Swedenborg wrote an eight-page memorial on the subject of war with Russia. As he counseled his countrymen against any act of aggressive war he said, "Since all depends on the providence of the Most High, it may well be in some years a still better conjuncture of circumstances may arise." He suggested that Russia might experience its own civil disturbances, making it less of a threat to Sweden. He added that if there were an uprising the Russian leaders "can and are likely to crush it." (See Letters and Memorials, pp. 471, 474.)
     At the age of forty-eight Swedenborg attended the funeral of his father. It was on his birthday, January 29th. Did he think of the prospect of meeting his father again after his own death? Certainly he had no idea that he would see his father before his own death!

300

Swedenborg's hope at the age of forty-eight was to spend some months at the School of Dissection in Paris, for he realized that he needed a profound study of anatomy to ready himself in his literary efforts. He wrote again for royal permission for a trip abroad on a mission that "required long and profound reflection and also freedom of mind from other cares." He wanted to spend a few years on the continent "where I can have all necessary assistance from libraries, and where I can profit by counsel from learned men; and, when the work is brought to completion, to be able to have it printed" (May 26, 1736).

Receiving permission, Swedenborg left Sweden on July 10th and arrived in Paris on September 3rd. There he pursued anatomical studies until the spring of 1738, when, of course, he had passed his fiftieth year.
MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE Norman Heldon 1988

     Communications
     Rev. James P. Cooper considers the view, "all too common in the New Church, that the doctrines are too difficult, the ideas too intellectual, and the sermons and classes too long." He does not agree, and one cannot deny that his stance appears to be vindicated by the quote from the Arcana (9399:3).
     A few years ago I would have sided completely with Mr. Cooper. However, I suggest now that it may be unfair to the laity to infer from that passage that if people were shunning evils as sins they would not find "doctrines too difficult, ideas too intellectual and sermons and classes too long." Some translations of the Writings are in fact difficult to read, and the trend now happily is to put them into simpler, clearer English. I suggest that the rendering of AC 9399, as used by Mr. Cooper, could be improved.
     Some sermons are too long, but I believe it is the way truth is taught that is important. Many would probably agree that sermons should reach the affections, move people to wonder at the beauty and power of truth, and above all to stir them to let it refashion their lives. Some ministers do this very well, and I believe it is because they do not put too much into a sermon, overburdening it with too many aspects of a theme. They use personal pronouns frequently, and repetition. They avoid the more difficult words derived from Latin where a shorter word is as good or better.

301

There is something else too about a good sermon, but I can't quite pin it down, so let's call it "the secret ingredient." Is it something to do with the minister's personality? Is it the delivery of the sermon? Is it the way the minister's own affection for the truth is perceived by the congregation?
     Congregations are not made up of "intellectuals," but are a cross section of the community. Some may be new to the church. Dr. Thomas King, in his excellent little book Allegories of Genesis, while not disparaging those who make a deep study of the Writings, says, "The church is to prepare men for useful living, and her instruction must have the making of good lives as its end. The world has very little interest in and use for a doctrinal gymnast, and it has less for a church that resolves itself into a theological gymnasium."
     This is not meant as a criticism of Rev. James Cooper. Quite likely his sermons and classes are very good. It is an appeal from a layman to a ministers to try to make their sermons memorable, for many of us need all the help we can get if we are to be moved to respond to the truth that flows in from the Lord.
     Norman Heldon,
          New South Wales, Australia
INFRINGEMENT OF DIVINE COPYRIGHT 1988

INFRINGEMENT OF DIVINE COPYRIGHT Rev. Norman E. Riley 1988

Dear Editor,
     Most people are aware of the consequence arising from infringement of copyright as it relates to the things of the world. Yet how many people are aware of the spiritual consequence in relation to the infringement of Divine copyright? It would appear, from what takes place, that there are few.
     Let us consider the statement from Arcana Caelestia 10320, "What the Divine has revealed is with us the Word," a statement which clearly sets before us that the revelation of the Second Coming is the Word for this New Age. In every book a similar testimony is to be found.
     The Lord gave His Word, by means of Swedenborg, in the manner in which He wanted it to be presented, so that its descending order from Him could have within it the means whereby the mind of man can be raised from the natural into the spiritual and celestial spheres of life.
     In view of these things we are left wondering on what authority does finite, fallible man believe he has the right to: 1) paraphrase the teaching given, in the belief that it will be better understood and have a wider appeal;

302

2) publish abridged versions on the ground that the many repetitions become too tedious to the reader; and 3) leave out the Memorabilia, believing that people still have the text.
     Swedenborg was faithful to his Divine command. Has there been a further command given to publishers and translators?
     There has never been, nor will there ever be, anything that can equal or surpass what the Lord gave at His Second Coming.
     Rev. Norman E. Riley
          Rochdale, England
REPORT OF THE SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE 1988

REPORT OF THE SOUND RECORDING COMMITTEE Rev. Douglas M. Taylor 1988

     1987

     Once more we have to report that the circulation of borrowed tapes is down again this year: from 2576 in 1986 to 2198 in 1987. However, more people are buying tapes than previously. It looks as if this trend will continue.
     It is pleasing to report that as a result of the meticulous preventive maintenance program instituted by vice chairman John Keal, there has been a greatly improved performance of our equipment. We managed to put off the purchase of any new equipment this year, but probably will have to replace the Telex and our old reel-to-reel machines in 1988.
     Two ongoing projects are the updating of the catalogue and the re-recording of our old tapes so that they do not continue to deteriorate to the point of being lost.
     It was very gratifying to find that the arrangements for recording the assembly in June were much better than in 1984. The cooperation was exemplary, with the result that we got very good tapes.
     We had our annual general meeting in October. We learned that our income for 1987 was $27,471.95, up by $3,389.80 over 1986. Our total expenses were $19,199.01 (up from $15,806.65 in 1986), so we had a surplus of $8,272.94. This will be of some help toward the purchase of the new equipment mentioned above.
     The net worth of Sound Recording Committee now stands at $94,084.89. The equipment owned by the committee has been valued at $9,917.96.
     Our warmest thanks to everyone who has continued to help with our entire operation throughout the church during the past year, but especially to those who made our assembly recordings so much more successful.
     Rev. Douglas M. Taylor Chairman

303

Science and Spirituality 1988

Science and Spirituality George Dole 1988

     SWEDENBORG AT TARRYTOWN

     Advance registrations for the Tricentennial Conference at Tarrytown, New York, have exceeded expectations, and the publicity has just gone out to universities. We expect a full attendance, with many lifelong Swedenborgians and many who will be hearing about Swedenborg for the first time. The conference will take place August 24th through the 27th.
     To serve both groups the Swedenborg Foundation has scheduled two series of presentations, each dealing with matters of theology, Scripture, history, biography and ethics. There will be a "Swedenborg 100" series for newcomers, with presentations by Neville Jarvis of Australia, Prescott Rogers and Douglas Taylor of the General Church, and Convention's Jim Lawrence and Alice Skinner.
     Concurrently there will be a "Swedenborg 200" series that will presume some familiarity with our theology. This will include presentations by Don Rose of the General Church, Dr. Eric Sharpe of Australia, Convention's George Dole and Dorothea Harvey, and, we hope, Lars Bergquist of Sweden. Time has been provided after each presentation for interested individuals to continue conversation with the speaker.
     We presume that readers of New Church Life will be most interested in the 200 series. Each of the speakers brings a fresh approach to familiar material and a deep conviction of its value for our present age. Our intent is to provide experiences of discovery and a fresh supply of energy for the sharing of our message.
     George Dole,
          Swedenborg Foundation

304

ORDINATION 1988

ORDINATION Editor 1988

Announcements
Rogers-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, April 24, 1988, Rev. Prescott A. Rogers into the 2nd degree of the priesthood.
NCL 50 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 50 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

In the July issue of 1938 a relative newcomer to the church has an article entitled "New Church Ambassadors." He makes an observation about where our new members were coming from. "Taking records over a five-year period from the New Church Life, I find that over 80 percent of all adults baptized into the church lived, at the time, well outside the vicinities of Bryn Athyn and Glenview, or were, as nearly as I can determine, influenced by church members who did not belong to either of those groups."
PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1988

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES Editor 1988

306

     ORANGE COUNTY
Rev. Cedric King, visiting pastor. 21332 Forest Meadow, El Toro, CA 92630.

     SACRAMENTO
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ripley, 2310 N. Cirby Way, Roseville, CA 95678. Phone: (916) 782-7837

     SAN DIEGO
Rev. Nathan Gladish, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (619) 268-0379. Office: (619) 571-8599.

     SAN FRANCISCO
Rev. Mark Carlson, 4638 Royal Garden Place, San Jose, CA 95136. Phone: (408) 224-8521.

     Colorado:

     COLORADO SPRINGS
Mr. and Mrs. William Reinstra, 708 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs, CO 80829. Phone: (303) 685-9519.

     DENVER
Rev. Clark Echols, 3371 W. 94th Ave., Westminster, CO 80030. Phone (303) 429-1239

     Connecticut:

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Mr. and Mrs. James Tucker, 45 Honey Bee Lane, Shelton, CT 06484. Phone: (203)-929-6455.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 2008 Eden Rd., N. Graylyn, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 475-3694.

     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     MIAMI
Rev. Daniel Heinrichs, 15101 N. W. Fifth Ave., Miami, FL 33169. Phone: (305) 687-1337.

     LAKE HELEN
Mr. and Mrs. Brant Morris, 264 Kicklighter Rd., Lake Helen, FL 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2276.

     Georgia:

     AMERICUS
Mr. W. H. Eubanks, Rt. #2, S. Lee St., Americus, GA 31709. Phone: (912) 924-9221.

     ATLANTA
Rev. Christopher Bown, 3795 Montford Drive, Chamblee, GA 30341. Phone: (Home) (404) 457-4726. (Office) (404) 452-0518.

     Idaho:

     FRUITLAND
(Idaho-Oregon border) Mr. Harold Rand, 1705 Whitley Dr., Fruitland, ID 83619. Phone: (208) 452-3181.

     Illinois:

     CHICAGO
Rev. Grant Schnarr, 73A Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 729-0130 (home) (312) 724-6130 (office).

     DECATUR
Mr. John Aymer, 380 Oak Lane, Decatur, IL 62562. Phone: (217) 875-3215.

     GLENVIEW
Rev. Brian Keith, 73 Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 724-0120.

     Indiana:

     Mr. James Wood, R. R. 1, Lapel, IN 46051. Phone (317) 534-3546

     Louisiana:

     BATON ROUGE
Mr. Henry Bruser, Jr., 1652 Ormandy Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70808. Phone: (504) 921-3089.

     Maine

     BATH
Rev. Gene Barry, Middle and Winter Station, Bath, ME 04530.

     Maryland:

     BALTIMORE
Rev. Frederick Chapin, #12 Pawleys Ct., S. Belmont, Baltimore, MD 21236. Phone: (301) 682-3397.

     MITCHELLVILLE
Rev. Lawson Smith, 3805 Enterprise Rd., Mitchellville, MD 20716. Phone: (301) 262-2349.

     Massachusetts:

     BOSTON
Rev. Grant Odhner, 4 Park Ave., Natick, MA 01760. Phone: (617) 651-1127.

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Walter Orthwein, 395 Olivewood Court, Rochester, MI 48064. Phone: (313) 656-1267.

     EAST LANSING
Mr. Christopher Clark, 5853 Smithfield, East Lansing, MI 48823. Phone: (517) 351-2880.

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Rev. Michael Cowley, 201-5th Ave S., South St. Paul, MN 55075. (612) 455-3066.

307

     Missouri:

     COLUMBIA
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 103 S. Greenwood, Columbia, MO 65201. Phone: (314) 442-3475.

     KANSAS CITY
Mr. Glen Klippenstein, Glenkirk Farms, Maysville, MO 64469. Phone: (816) 449-2167.

     New Jersey-New York:

     RIDGEWOOD. N.J.
Mrs. Fred E. Munich, 474 S. Maple Ave., Glen Rock, NJ 07452. Phone: (201) 445-1141.

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Rev. John Odhner, 4009 Montgomery NE, Apt. L4, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Phone: (505) 881-4930.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Mr. John deMaine, 3509 Highridge Rd., Matthews, NC 28105. Phone: (704) 845-4058.

     Ohio:

     CINCINNATI
Rev. Patrick Rose, 785 Ashcroft Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45240. Phone: (513) 825-7473.

     CLEVELAND
Mr. Alan Childs, 19680 Beachcliff Blvd., Rocky River, OH 44116. Phone: (216) 333-4413.

     COLUMBUS
Mr. Hubert Heinrichs, 8372 Todd Street Rd., Sunbury. OH 43074. Phone: (614) 524-2738.

     Oklahoma:

     OKLAHOMA CITY
Mr. Robert Campbell, 3108 Eagle Pass Rd., Edmond, OK 73013. Phone: (404) 478-4729.

     Oregon-Idaho Border.See Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

     BRYN ATHYN
Rev. Kurt Asplundh, Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. Phone: (215) 947-3665.

     ERIE
Mrs. Paul Murray, 5648 Zuck Rd., Erie, PA 16506. Phone: (814) 833-0962.

     FREEPORT
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 126 Iron Bridge Rd., Sarver, PA 16055. Phone: Office (412) 353-2220 or Home 295-9855

     KEMPTON
Rev. Jeremy Simons, RD 2, Box 217-A, Kempton, PA 19529. Phone: (Home) (215) 756-4301; (Office) (215) 756-6140.

     PAUPACK
Mr. Richard Kintner, Box 172, Paupack, PA 18451. Phone: (717) 857-0688.

     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Ray Silverman, 299 Le Roi Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731-1061.

     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.

     South Dakota:

     HOT SPRINGS
Linda Klippenstein, 537 Albany, Hot Springs, SD 57745 Phone: (605) 745-6629

     Texas:

     AUSTIN
Mrs. Charles Grubb, 604 Highland Ave., Austin, TX 78703. Phone: (512) 472-3575.

     DALLAS-FORT WORTH
Mr. Fred Dunlap, 3887 Antigua Circle, Dallas, TX 75244. Phone: (214) 247-7775.

     HOUSTON
Dr. James Carter, 30 Williamsburg Ln., Houston, TX 77024. Phone: (713) 456-4057.

     Washington:

     SEATTLE
Rev. Kent Junge, 14812 N. E. 75th Street, Redmond, WA 98033. Phone: (206) 881-1955.

     Wisconsin:

     MADISON
Mrs. Charles Howell, 3912 Plymouth Circle, Madison, WI 53705. Phone: (608) 233-0209.

308

PROVIDENCE AND FREE WILL IN HUMAN ACTIONS 1988

PROVIDENCE AND FREE WILL IN HUMAN ACTIONS Editor 1988

     DANIEL W. GOODENOUGH

     The answers I have advanced lie within the context of the theology of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), whose rational, Christian answers to the essential questions of human life remain a treasury largely undiscovered by thoughtful modems. Where lies the responsibility for the actions and events of the past and of today? The present study attempts to search out whatever can be found in Swedenborg's works to shed light on this question, assuming an almighty God who loves all individuals, and recognizing human experiences as they are.

     $6.85 Postage Paid

General Church Book Center      Hours: Mon-Fri. 9-12
Box 278, Cairncrest                     or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                     Phone: (215) 947-3920

309

Notes on This Issue 1988

Notes on This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII August, 1988 No. 8
NEW CHURCH LIFE

310

     Notes on This Issue

     On page 335 at the end of the Evangelization Committee report you will find reference to a seminar on evangelization being planned for next March. More information on this will be appearing soon.
     In the report of the editor (p. 330) you will read of a seventeen-year index to this magazine. The index is expected to sell for $12.
     The photograph of the Swedenborg Library on page 344 was taken in April on the occasion of the visit by the Queen of Sweden. The dedication of the library was described in our October issue last year.
     The chapter from Conjugial Love we have this month tells of the change that marriage brings upon people. As no. 192 (p. 322) says, you can tell someone is married by looking at the person's face. Note some interesting changes in the way the Latin has been translated. For example, note the expression about becoming "human." A marriage of love truly conjugial causes each partner to become "more deeply human." "To become more human is, on the part of a wife, to become more a wife; and on the part of a husband, to become more a husband" (n. 200).
     We would like to share with you what seemed to us a remarkable coincidence. As we were putting this issue together we noted that the lesson from the sermon by Rev. R. S. Junge filled page 315 and consisted of no. 183 of Conjugial Love. We began the new translation of a chapter from that work on the following page and were struck to find that it began with no. 184, making the two pages consecutive. What are the chances that this would occur?
     "I think many of us who work to spread the good news of the Lord's second advent find ourselves longing for the Lord's coming to manifest itself more openly. I go through times of doubt about the spread of the New Church." See the "favorite passage" article by Grant R. Schnarr.
     In the September issue we will print a review by the Rt. Rev. Willard Pendleton of the new biography of Richard De Charms by Richard R. Gladish.

     WOMEN'S RETREAT

     A small women's retreat weekend will be held at the home of Dr. Sonia Werner, Port Jarvis, New York (near Lake Wallenpaupack) on October 7-10th. Subject: "Loving the Neighbor as Self-Learning to find spiritual strength so that we can nurture others."
     For information contact: Wendy Hoo, One Washburn Place, Brookline, MA 02146 (Phone 617-277-5988).

311

SWORD OF THE LORD 1988

SWORD OF THE LORD Rev. ROBERT S. JUNGE 1988

     ". . . that all flesh may know that the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath; it shall not return any more" (Ezekiel 21:5).

     The states of our lives cannot stand still. Just as motion and activity are essential to the normal life of the human body, so new loves must ever be formed in our hearts if we are to progress. Societies of men and nations become living only when the streams of progress flow free, unblocked by prejudice, unhindered by unfounded tradition. Thus true progress is indicated by new and genuine loves.
     True progress lies in a change of state-a change of our loves (see AC 3587). But each love must ever look to use. It must always find its ultimate in action. It can only become our own through the activity of use. Each new product which man develops satisfies some new need if it represents genuine development. New needs and new uses, therefore, indicate the avenues our progress should take.
     Love is the vital force behind use. It is represented by such things as a tongue of fire, by food which when consumed provides energy to the body, or by the life blood which sustains it. Love, we are taught, is the very life of man.
     Basically love is at the heart of all advancement. We must want to go ahead, must want to learn new things, before we can acquire them. Our loves are like the kindled fires of a forge. Good loves refine the mixed ore of our heart and draw out the pure metal.
     But genuine love must be rekindled again and again that our lives may be molded into a useful form. Love disposes man to be remolded. Just as the fire of the forge makes metal malleable, so the innocent love heaven makes us willing to be led. But only the weight of the hammer bend the metal into shape. Only the power of Divine truth in ultimates, represented by the hammer, can truly pattern our lives. The need kindles the love, the love makes pliable, but wisdom directs to new uses. Love must be molded and shaped by wisdom. If love is not directed by wisdom like molten metal it flows out in all directions until it becomes cold.
     In proportion as we see new truths in the Word, we are able to perform new uses. Truths are the means whereby uses are seen. Each new truth is like a tool in our hands; it extends our power; it enables us to do more for society and for our neighbor.

312

     Uses are sustained by love, but they receive their form from wisdom. The challenge of life is to see the application of spiritual principles to our daily lives-to see in the Word new truth which will lead us to new usefulness.
     The sword, formed and tempered in the fires of the forge, signifies; such truth, particularly that truth which protects the church. For truth or wisdom not only gives form to love; it protects it. If new uses are entered into without sufficient planning from wisdom, when the first, heat of love dies down and temptation comes, that use will fail. If we have not sufficient truth when we come to face temptation we will fail. We will lack weapons to defend ourselves.
     The first heat of battle, when the sword is first drawn, is necessary to bring the battle forward. Truths must be seen in first states, ideally, that we may have courage to go forward. And we may have such courage if the truths which we have are from the Lord's Word. But if those truths are not also founded in ultimates, if we have not tried to see how apply to life, we will also fail in battle. We have high ideals, many, swords, but they will break in battle because they have not been properly tempered in life.
     But love and wisdom, even the tools themselves, are all preparatory to the work to be done-that work which we call progress. The plough-share accomplishes nothing in the smith's shop. The sword defends no one unless it is unsheathed in battle. A man, a society, a nation, church, can have many resources and many tools, but if they do not use them they are worthless. Without new uses there is depression rather than progression. For that which was a new use to the parents descends to the children as hollow tradition unless it is made their own through application and development.
     Every man and every church is given gifts. If these gifts are turned to genuine usefulness from good will, generation after generation, that church will go forward. If these gifts are ignored by self-satisfaction, are abused by self-indulgence, the fate of that church or that man is sealed. What value is a tool unless sit is used? What value are the truths of Revelation unless they direct our lives?
     The sword in our text indicates a weapon drawn and tempered; it is the sword of the Lord. Our text is a prophecy of the Lord's coming and the judgment which that coming will bring. The prophet was instructed, "that all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath." The sword is drawn; the Divine truth is revealed to us no longer sheathed or covered. The sharp two-edged sword of the Word of God goes forth to battle. The Lord God has revealed Himself to us.

313

     The power of the Lord's arm and hand are extended. The Divine Human is revealed in ultimates as the Word of God. The sword is in the Lord's hand, unsheathed, ready for battle, and "it shall not return any more.
     Before the advent the Lord's Divine Humanity was as it were clothed, sheathed in a scabbard-revealed only representatively. But after the advent, the sword of Divine truth was drawn, revealed openly "that all flesh might know." This sword is restored with ever greater splendor to the New Church. It is for New Churchmen to hold it on high that the whole world may know that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, whose kingdom shall never end.
     As New Churchmen aspire to learn the truths of the New Revelation, they will ever see new uses to be done. And they will be given the tools, even the sword of Divine truth that they may accomplish them. They will see what the Lord wants them to do. Their light will so shine before men that mankind will see their good works and glorify the Lord. The church will grow as it develops new uses, or as each generation takes anew for itself the challenge of established uses. New truth and new uses give life to the church.
     But the sword of truth brings judgment. We cannot be reformed without the struggles of temptation. New uses cannot be established without labor and hardship. Struggles are necessary that evils may be seen and rooted out. The sight of Divine truth brings temptation. This is what is meant by the Lord's words, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace but a sword"(Matt 10:34). The Lord came and revealed the Divine truth to man that man might overcome evil and so find peace. But man can overcome evil only when revealed truth is wielded as a sword in the battles of temptation.
     Nevertheless, we are born for the victory in temptation, not temptation itself. When evils have been seen and overcome, then the satisfaction of accomplishment and victory is given to us. Peace is the ultimate goal of regeneration, not always peace of this world but heavenly peace. And heavenly peace is not idleness, but the happiness and satisfaction of growing usefulness in the Lord's kingdom. Thus new loves and new uses bring heavenly blessedness to us.
     Internal progress requires the same union of love, wisdom, and use as does external. Both require the desire, the knowledge, and application. If we learn to work for the progress of our church from good will, we will form a basis for the progress of the Lord's kingdom. The spiritual finds its basis and containant in the natural. As we learn to work for genuine advancement in new uses, the Lord can create the new heaven and the new earth prophesied in the book of Revelation.

314

     Since the fall, man has been in a tendency toward evils of every kind. His nature is to look backward, to set his heart on the fleshpots of Egypt rather than on the Promised Land across the Jordan. The wilderness tribes and the tribes of the land seem too much for him to conquer. Yet if we will we can have the power of the Lord God of Hosts to sustain us. The unsheathed sword of truth is available to us if we will go to the Lord in His Word. But our cooperation and effort are necessary. When we see clearly spiritual principles in the Word, and let them guide our lives, the power of the Lord is with us.
     The battle is the Lord's. Only the power of His Divine truth can sustain the attacks of the hells. Nevertheless, the change of state, which we call progress, the change of our loves, is not accomplished without our active effort.
     We are struck with humility when we consider that we are among the few who as yet have a knowledge of the Lord in His second coming. There is grave danger in arrogance, in the pride which comes of taking the doctrine as our own. They are the Lord's sword. But there is also danger in false humility-in so confessing our weaknesses that we fear to act and take up His sword. Every one of us is in the church because he has some particular task which he alone can perform for it. If we fail to take the challenge and go to the Word and seek the Lord's guidance, then we invite the attack of spiritual disease upon the whole body of the church. But if we succeed, He brings the power of the Lord's truth into our lives. Through us He becomes an active center sustaining the church in all its works, and the church progresses in love, in wisdom, and in usefulness.
     We see progress by looking back and observing past states. We see a church's progress by looking to its beginnings and tracing its history. But we make progress by actively seeking our place in society and doing our part in it. Progress is not made by looking back, not by speculating in the abstract ideals of the future. It is made in the task which lies before us in each new day.
     Each individual New Churchman must daily take up the sword of truth and do battle with the secret evils of his own heart. He must conquer new lands, develop new states of love to the Lord within himself and around himself. The progress of his church depends on these new states. And if he is loyal to the truth, the New Church will be built on earth, and all flesh will see the drawn sword of the Lord. Amen.

     LESSONS: Ezekiel 21, Numbers 26:1-11; CL 183:3-5

315

Conjugial Love 183

     Then some of that conjugial assembly said to the angels, "We have heard that the origin of conjugial love is Divine-celestial because it is from the influx from the Lord into the souls of men; and that because from the Lord, it is love wisdom and use, which are the three essentials that together make the one Divine essence; and that nothing but what is of the Divine essence can proceed from Him and flow into the inmost of man, which is called his soul; and that in their descent into the body these three are changed into what is analogous and correspondent.
     Now therefore we ask, 'First, what is meant by the third essential proceeding Divine, which is called use?'"
     The angels replied, "Love and wisdom without use are but ideas of abstract thought, which also after some tarrying pass away as the winds. But in use the two are brought together and there make a one which is called real. Love cannot rest unless it is doing, for love is the active itself of life; nor can wisdom exist and subsist except from love and with it, while it is doing; and doing is use. We therefore define use to be doing good from love and wisdom. Use is the good itself. Since these three, love, wisdom, and use flow in into the souls of men, it is evident why it is said that all good is from God; for everything done from love by wisdom is called good; and a use also is a thing done. What is love without wisdom but something illusory? And what is love with wisdom without use but a breath of mind? But love and wisdom with use not only make the man, but also are the man. Yea, which will perhaps surprise you, they propagate man; for in the seed of man is his soul, in perfect human form, covered over with substances from the purest things of nature, out of which a body is formed in the womb of the mother. This use is the supreme and the ultimate use of Divine love by Divine wisdom."
     Finally the angels said, "Let this be the conclusion: That all fructification, all propagation, and all prolification come originally of the influx of love, wisdom, and use from the Lord; of immediate influx from the Lord into the souls of men; of mediate influx into the souls of animals; and of influx yet more mediate into the inmosts of vegetables. And all these are effected in the ultimates from the firsts. It is plain that fructifications, propagations, and prolifications are continuations of creation; for creation cannot be from any other source than from Divine Love, by Divine wisdom, in Divine use. All things in the universe therefore are procreated and formed from use, in use, and for use."

316

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE 1988

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE Rev. N. BRUCE ROGERS 1988

     The Change of the State of Life in Men and Women Made by Marriage

     FROM THE NEW TRANSLATION BEING PREPARED BY REV. N. BRUCE ROGERS

     184. What is meant by states of life and their changes is well known to people who are educated and wise, but unknown to those who are uneducated and simple. Therefore we need to make some preliminary statement about the subject.
     The state of a person's life is its character. Further, because every person has in him two faculties which form his life, faculties which are called intellect and will, the state of a person's life is its character in relation to his intellect and will. It is apparent from this that changes in one's state of life mean changes in its character in respect to elements having to do with the intellect and elements having to do with the will.
     In this chapter we undertake to show that every person is continually changing in these two respects, but with a difference in the kinds of changes before marriage and those after marriage. We will do this in the following order:

(1)      From infancy to the end of life, and afterwards to eternity, a person's state of life is continually changing.
(2)      So, too, the internal form, which is the form of his spirit.
(3)      These changes are of one kind in men and of another kind in women, since from creation men are forms of knowledge, intelligence and wisdom, and women forms of love for these things in men.
(4)      In men the mind is elevated into a higher light, and in women the mind is elevated into a higher warmth; moreover, a woman feels the delights of her warmth in the light of a man.
(5)      In both men and women, their states of life before marriage and their states of life after marriage are different.
(6)      After marriage, the states of life in married partners change and progress according to the bonds formed between their minds by conjugial love.
(7)      Marriage even induces different forms on the souls and minds of the partners.
(8) A woman is actually transformed into a man's wife according to the description in the book of creation.

317

(9)      This transformation is accomplished by the wife in secret ways, which is what is meant by woman's having been created while the man slept.
(10) This transformation is accomplished by the wife by a union of her will with the inner will of her husband.
(11) This to the end that the will of the one and the will of the other may become one will, and the two partners thus one person.
(12) This transformation is accomplished by the wife by an adoption of her husband's affections.
(13) This transformation is accomplished by the wife by her reception of the propagations of her husband's soul with delight arising from her wanting to be the love of her husband's wisdom.
(14) A maiden is thus transformed into a wife, and a youth into a husband.
(15) In a marriage of one man with one wife, in which there is a truly conjugial love between them, the wife becomes more and more a wife, and the husband more and more a husband.
(16) Their forms are also thus progressively perfected and ennobled from within.
(17) The offspring born of couples who are in a state of truly conjugial love derive from their parents a conjugial connection between good and truth, from which they have an inclination and faculty, if a son, to perceive matters having do to with wisdom, if a daughter, to love the things that wisdom teaches.
(18) This occurs because the soul of the offspring comes from its father, and its clothing comes from its mother.

     Explanation of these statements now follows.

     185. (1) From infancy to the end of life, and afterwards to eternity, a person's state of life is continually changing. The general states of a person's life are called infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. As everyone knows, every person who continues to live in the world passes in turn from one age to the next, and so progresses from the first one to the last. A person's passing from one age to another is not apparent until a period of time has intervened; nevertheless, reason sees that the transitions are progressive from moment to moment, thus that they are advancing continually. For the case is similar with a person as with a tree, which from the time the seed is cast into the ground keeps on developing and growing every little instant, even the very briefest. These moment-to-moment progressions are also changes of state, for a later progression adds something to the preceding one, which perfects the state.

318

     Changes that take place in a person's inner qualities are more perfectly continuous than those that take place in his outward ones. The reason is that a person's inner qualities-by which we mean those that belong to his mind or spirit-are raised up on a higher level than the outward ones; and in things that are on a higher level, thousands of changes occur in the same moment that only one does in the outer elements. The changes that take place in the inner qualities are changes in the state of the will in respect to its affections, and changes in the state of the intellect in respect to its thoughts. Progressive changes in the state of these affections and thoughts are what are particularly meant under this heading.
     Changes in the state of these two life forces or faculties in a person are unceasing, continuing from infancy to the end of his life, and afterwards to eternity; and the reason is that there is no limit to knowledge, even less to intelligence, and still less to wisdom. For there is an infinity and eternity in the extent of these arising from the Infinite and Eternal who is their source. Hence the ancient philosophical tenet, that everything is capable of being divided to infinity; to which should be added that everything is similarly capable of being multiplied. The angels assert that they are perfected in wisdom by the Lord to eternity, which means also to infinity, since eternity is an infinity of time.

     186. (2) So, too, the internal form, which is the form of the person's spirit. This form is continually changing as the state of a person's life changes, and the reason is that nothing exists without being in some form, and its state is what induces the form. It amounts to the same thing, therefore, whether one says that the state of a person's life changes or that his form does. A person's affections and thoughts all exist in forms, and so depend on forms, for forms are their vessels. If they did not exist in vessels that have form, affections and thoughts might be found even in empty skulls from which the brain has been removed. It would be like having sight without an eye, hearing without an ear, or taste without a tongue. Everyone knows that the vessels of these senses exist and that the vessels are forms.
     We say that the state of life and therefore the form in a person is continually changing, because it is a truth-which the wise have taught and still teach-that no two things are ever the same or absolutely identical, still less a number of things. So, for example, no two human faces are ever identical, still less several of them.

319

It is the same in the case of successive states, that no later state of life is ever the same as one gone by. It follows from this that there is a perpetual change in the state of life in a person, consequently also a perpetual change in his form, especially in the form of his inner qualities.
     Since these observations, however, do not teach about marriage, but only prepare the way for concepts connected with it, and since they are no more than philosophical and intellectual analyses, which some people find difficult to grasp, having made these few comments we therefore pass on.

     187. (3) These changes are of one kind in men and of another kind in women, since from creation men are forms of knowledge, intelligence and wisdom, and women forms of love for these things in men. We have already shown that men were created to be forms of understanding and that women were created to be forms of love for the understanding of men, as may be seen above in nos. 90, 91. It follows that the changes of state which take place in order in him and in her from infancy to maturity are for the sake of perfecting their forms-an intellect-oriented form in men, and a will-oriented form in women. That is why we say that the changes are of one kind in men and of another kind in women.
     In both men and women, however, the outer form that has to do with the body is perfected according to the perfection of the inner form which has to do with the mind; for the mind acts upon the body, and not the reverse. This is the reason children in heaven grow up with a stature and beauty in accordance with the growth of intelligence in them-differently from children on earth, because children on earth are clothed in a material body, as animals are. Nevertheless children in heaven and children on earth are alike in this, that in their development they are attracted at first to such things as appeal to their physical senses, then little by little to such things as affect their inner contemplative sense, and by degrees to such things as infuse their will with affection. Then, when they reach an age midway between maturity and immaturity, they develop an attraction towards marriage, which in a young woman is an attraction towards a young man, and in a young man, towards a young woman. But because young women in heaven, just as on earth, from an innate discretion conceal their inclinations towards marriage, the young men there do not know otherwise than that they inspire feelings of love in the young women, and this also appears to them to be so because of their masculine urge. However, even this urge in them is caused by an influx of love emanating from the fair sex, an influx which we will take up expressly elsewhere.*
     * See no. 223. Cf. Also no. 161.

320

     From this appears the truth of the argument, that changes of state are of one kind in men and of another kind in women, since from creation men are forms of knowledge, intelligence and wisdom, and women forms of love for these things in men.

     188. (4) In men the mind is elevated into a higher light, and in women the mind is elevated into a higher warmth; moreover, a woman feels the delights of her warmth in the light of a man. By the light into which men are elevated we mean intelligence and wisdom, because spiritual light, which emanates from the sun of the spiritual world (a sun which in its essence is love), goes together with these two as one and the same thing. Moreover, by the warmth into which women are elevated we mean conjugial love, because spiritual warmth, which emanates from the sun of that world, in its essence is love, and in women Is love that unites itself with the intelligence and wisdom in men. Taken in its broadest terms, this is the definition of conjugial love, and when given a specific focus it becomes conjugial love.
     We call it an elevation into a higher light and warmth, because it is an elevation into the light and warmth in which angels of the higher heavens are. It is also an actual ascent, as though from fog into open air, and from a lower region of the air into a higher one, and from this into the upper atmosphere. Therefore the elevation into a higher light in men is an elevation into higher intelligence and from this into wisdom, in which there is possible a still higher and higher ascent. And on the other hand, the elevation into a higher warmth in women is an elevation into a more and more chaste and pure conjugial love, and this continually towards the conjugial ideal which from creation is innate in their inmost beings.
     Regarded in themselves, these elevations are openings of the mind; for the human mind is divided into regions, as the world is in respect to its atmospheres (the lowest of which is the aqueous one, the next higher the aerial one, the next higher still the ethereal one, above which there is also a highest one). A person's mind is elevated into similar regions as it is opened-as it is opened in men by wisdom, and in women by love truly conjugial.

     189. We say that a woman feels the delights of her warmth in the light of a man; but what we mean is that a woman feels the delights of her warmth in the wisdom of a man, because wisdom is what receives it, and love has its pleasures and delights when it finds this reception in something corresponding to itself. This does not mean, however, that warmth has pleasure with its light apart from forms, but in them; and all the more does spiritual warmth have pleasure with spiritual light in them, because owing to wisdom and love these forms are then alive and thus responsive.

321

     This can be illustrated to some extent by the so-called interplays of warmth with light in plants. Apart from these forms there is only a simple conjunction of warmth and light, but in them there is an interplay, so to speak, between the two, because there they are in forms or recipient vessels. For they penetrate the plant forms through marvelous little winding ways, and in the inmost parts work to produce fruits of use, and they also give off their pleasant exhalations into the surrounding air, which they fill with fragrance. Even more striking still is the delightful interplay of spiritual warmth with spiritual light in human forms, where the warmth is conjugial love and the light is wisdom.

     190. (5) In both men and women, their states of life before marriage and their states of life after marriage are different. Before marriage each sex goes through two states, one state preceding the inclination towards marriage, the other following it. Changes in these two states and the resulting transformations of their minds develop in a progressive sequence according to continual growths in these states. We do not have the space, however, to describe these changes here, for they are various and diverse in the people who undergo them. Essentially, inclinations towards marriage prior to marriage are only something that can be imagined in the mind, which then become more and more something that can be felt in the body. On the other hand, the states these inclinations lead to after marriage are states of union and also of procreation. Clearly, these latter states differ from the former ones as realizations do from intentions.

     191. (6) After marriage, the states of life in married partners change and progress according to the bonds formed between their minds by conjugial love. In each partner, man and wife, the changes of state and progressions of state after marriage depend on the kind of conjugial love they have, being thus changes and progressions that tend either to join or to estrange their minds; and the reason is that conjugial love not only varies but also swings back and forth in the partners. It varies in partners who inwardly love each other, for although it goes through cycles when it is interrupted in them, nevertheless it constantly retains its warmth within. This love swings back and forth, however, in partners who love each other only outwardly; in them this love goes through cycles in which it is interrupted, not owing to the same causes, but as a result of alternating states of warmth and coldness.

322

The reason for these differences is that in the latter case the body plays the leading part, and its state of heat wells up and forcibly carries off the lower parts of the mind into confederation with it. But in the case of people who love each other inwardly, the mind plays the leading part, and it brings the body into a confederation with it.
     It seems as though love ascends from the body into the soul, because as soon as the body lights on attractions, these enter through the doors of the eyes, so to speak, into the mind, thus through the entryway of the sight into the thoughts and there directly into the love. But nevertheless, love descends from the mind and acts on the lower parts according to the way they are directed. A lascivious mind acts lasciviously, therefore, and a chaste mind chastely; and in the latter case the mind directs and governs the body, whereas in the preceding case it is directed and governed by the body.

     192. (7) Marriage even induces different forms on their souls and minds. In the natural world one cannot observe that marriage induces different forms on their souls and minds, because souls and minds are there enveloped in a material body, and the mind is rarely visible through this. In today's world, moreover, more than in ancient times, people also learn from infancy to assume expressions on their faces which completely conceal the affections of their minds.
     For this reason, one cannot see the difference between what the forms of their minds are like before marriage and what they are like afterwards. Nevertheless, it is clearly apparent from souls and minds in the spiritual world that the forms of these after marriage are different from what they had been before; for people are then spirits and angels, who are nothing else than minds and souls in human form, divested of the shells they had had which were composed of elements found in waters and earths and of exhalations from these diffused in the air. When these coverings have been cast off, the forms of their minds, and what these forms had been like within their bodies, become visible; and it is clearly seen then that the forms in people who are married and the forms in those who are not are different.
     In general, the faces of married partners possess an inner beauty, the husband receiving from his wife the lovely blush of her love, and the wife receiving from her husband the shining splendor of his wisdom. For a married couple there is united in respect to their souls; and one also sees in the two a full expression of what it is to be human. This is the case in heaven, because marriages do not exist elsewhere. Beneath heaven one finds instead only temporary ailiances which are formed and broken.

323

193. (8) A woman is actually transformed into a wife according to the description in the book of creation. It says in this book that woman was created from the rib of a man, and that when she was brought to him, the man said,

She . . . is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Ishshah (Woman) because she was taken from Ish (Man) (Genesis 2:22-24).

     In the Word, a rib from the breast symbolically means, in its spiritual sense, not a rib but natural truth. This is the symbolic meaning of the ribs which the bear carried between its teeth in Daniel 7:5; for bears symbolize people who read the Word in its natural sense and see truths there without understanding. The breast of a man symbolizes that essential and distinctive quality which makes it different in character from the breast of a woman. This quality is wisdom, as may be seen above in no. 187; for truth supports wisdom, as a rib supports the breast. These distinctive qualities are symbolized, because the breast is the seat where all the qualities of a person are, so to speak, at their center.
     It follows from this that woman was created from man by a transmission and replication of his distinctive wisdom, which is formed from natural truth, and that man's love for this wisdom was transferred to woman so as to become conjugial love; moreover, that the purpose of this was to replace love of self in man with love for his wife, who, from a nature innate in her, cannot help but redirect the love of self in man to his love for her. I have further been told that this comes about as a result of the wife's love, without either the man or the wife being conscious of it. This is the reason why no one is ever able to love his partner with a truly conjugial love so long as he is possessed of a conceit in his own intelligence from a love of self.
     Once this question of the creation of woman from man has been understood, it can be seen that in marriage a woman is similarly created or formed, so to speak, from her husband, and that this transformation is brought about by the wife-or rather, through the wife by the Lord, who infuses the inclination into women to achieve it. For a wife receives into herself an image of her husband by assimilating his affections into her (see above, no. 173), by uniting the internal will of her husband with hers (concerning which below), and also by incorporating into her the propagations of his soul (of which also below).
     It is apparent from this that a woman is transformed into a wife according to the description in the book of creation understood in respect to its inner meaning, and that she is transformed through the qualities she takes from her husband and his "breast" and implants in herself.

324

194. (9) This transformation is accomplished by the wife in secret ways, which is what is meant by woman's having been created while the man slept. We read in the book of creation that Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam so that he slept, and that He then took one of his ribs and fashioned it into a woman (Genesis 2:21,22). This sleep and the man's sleeping symbolize a man's complete ignorance that his wife is transformed and, so to speak, created from him. This is apparent from observations made in the preceding chapter, and also in this one, respecting wives' innate discretion and prudence not to divulge anything of their love, not even of their adopting their husband's life's affections and of their thus transfusing his wisdom into them.
     It is clear from what was explained before in nos. 166-168ff that this is done by the wife without her husband's knowing and while he is, so to speak, asleep, thus that it is done in secret ways. We also showed in the same numbers that the prudence needed to accomplish it is instinctive in women from creation, thus from birth, for reasons that are necessary in building conjugial love, friendship and trust, so that the two may have bliss in living together and happiness of life.
     In order that this may come about as it should, the man was therefore enjoined to leave father and mother and cling to his wife (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:4, 5). The father and mother a man is to leave mean, in a spiritual sense, his native instinct of will and native instinct of intellect, the native instinct of a person's will being to love itself, and the native instinct of his intellect being to love its own wisdom. And to cling means to commit himself to love for his wife.
     These two native instincts are evil and fatal to a man if they remain in him, but the love arising from the two is turned into conjugial love as a man clings to his wife, that is, as he acquires a love for her, as may be seen just above in no. 193, and elsewhere.
     (It can be amply demonstrated from passages in the Word in other places that to be asleep symbolically means to be unaware or oblivious, that father and mother symbolically mean the two instinctive natures of a person, one of the will and one of the intellect, and that to cling symbolically means to commit oneself to love for something; but to do so would be out of place here.)

     195. (10) This transformation is accomplished by the wife by a union of her will with the inner will of her husband. It may be seen above in nos. 163-165 that a man has an intellectual wisdom and a moral wisdom, and that a wife unites herself with those qualities in her husband that have to do with his moral wisdom.

325

Qualities that are matters of intellectual wisdom form a man's understanding, and qualities that are matters of moral wisdom form his will. A wife unites herself with those qualities which form her husband's will. (Whether one says that a wife unites herself or that she unites her will with the will of her husband, it amounts to the same thing, because a wife is born will-oriented and she does what she does therefore in accord with her will.)
     We say that it is a union with her husband's inner will, because a man's will has its seat in his intellect, and the intellectual quality of man is the inmost quality in woman, in accordance with observations we have made before, in no. 32 and several times since, regarding the formation of woman from man. Men also have an outward will, but this very frequently comes of pretense or concealment. A wife sees it, but she does not unite herself with it, except perhaps in a feigned or playful way.

     196. (11) This to the end that the will of the one and the will of the other may become one will, and the two partners thus one person. This is the goal, for anyone who joins the will of another to himself also joins to himself the other's intellect. Indeed, regarded in itself, the intellect is only a servant and agent of the will. The fact of this is clearly apparent from any affection arising from love and how it impels the intellect to think as it bids. Every affection arising from love is an attribute of the will, for what a person loves, this he also wills. It follows from this that anyone who joins the will of another person to himself, joins to himself the whole person. That is why it is instinctive in a wife's love to unite her husband's will to her own, for in this way the wife becomes one who belongs to her husband, and the husband one who belongs to his wife. Thus the two become one person.

     197. (12) This transformation is accomplished by an adoption of the husband's affections. This point goes along with the two preceding discussions, since affections are matters of the will. For affections are simply the offspring of love, and they form the will, molding it and composing it. In men, however, these affections reside in the intellect, whereas in women they reside in the will.

     198. (13) This transformation is accomplished by the wife's reception of the propagations of her husband's soul with delight arising from her wanting to be the love of her husband's wisdom. Since this accords with points already explained before in nos. 172, 173, further explanation is omitted here.

326

     In wives, conjugial delights take their rise from no other source than their wanting to be united with their husbands, as good is united with truth in a marriage of these in the spirit. We separately showed in its own chapter that conjugial love descends from this marriage. In consequence, it can be seen, as though in a mirror, that a wife joins her husband to her as good joins truth to it, and that a husband joins himself to his wife in return according to his reception of her love in him, as truth joins itself to good in return according to its reception of good in it. Thus it can be seen that a wife's love takes form through the wisdom of her husband, as good takes form through truth, for truth is what gives form to good.
     It is apparent from this, also, that conjugial delights in a wife come principally from her wanting to be united with her husband, consequently from her wanting to be the love of her husband's wisdom. For she then feels the delights of her warmth in the light of her husband, as explained under heading (4), nos. 188, 189.

     199. (14) A maiden is thus transformed into a wife, and a youth into a husband. This follows as a consequence from what we have already said in this and the previous chapter respecting the union of married partners into one flesh. A maiden turns or is turned into a wife because a wife has in her elements taken from her husband, thus elements acquired which did not exist in her before as an unmarried woman. A youth turns or is turned into a husband because a husband has in him elements taken from his wife, which heighten the capacity in him for receiving love and wisdom, elements which did not exist in him before as an unmarried man. However, this is the case with people who are in a state of truly conjugial love. Among them are some who feel as though they are a united person and virtually one flesh (as may be seen in the preceding chapter, no. 178). It is apparent from this that a maidenly state is transformed into a wifely one in women, and a youthful state into a husbandly one in men.
     I was convinced of the fact of this from this experience in the spiritual world: Some men said that the relationship a man has with a woman before marriage and the relationship he has with his wife after marriage are similar. When they heard this, their wives became very offended and said, "They are not at all alike! The difference is as the difference between fantasy and reality."
     To this the men retorted, "Are you not women as before? To which their wives responded with rising voice, "We are not 'women' but wives! The love you feel is a fantasy love and not a real one; therefore you speak in fantasy terms."

327

     The men then said, "If you are not 'women still you are married women." But they replied, "in the early days of marriage we were married women; now, however, we are wives.

     200. (15) In a marriage of one man with one wife, in which there is a truly conjugial love between them, the wife becomes more and more a wife, and the husband more and more a husband. It may be seen above in nos. 177, 178, that truly conjugial love joins two partners more and more into one person. Now because a wife becomes a wife by union with her husband and according to that union, likewise a husband a husband by union with his wife and according to it, and because truly conjugial love lasts to eternity, it follows that a wife becomes more and more a wife, and a husband more and more a husband. The actual cause is that in a marriage of love truly conjugial, each partner becomes more and more deeply human, for that love opens the deeper aspects of their minds, and as these are opened, a person becomes more and more human. To become more human is, on the part of a wife, to become more a wife; and on the part of a husband, to become more a husband.
     I have heard from angels that a wife becomes more and more a wife as her husband becomes more and more a husband; however, not so much the reverse. The reason, they said, is that a chaste wife rarely if ever fails to love her husband, but what fails is her being loved by her husband in return. They also said that this failure is attributable to a lack of elevation in his wisdom, which alone receives the love of a wife. (Respecting this wisdom, see nos. 130, 163-165.) But this they said in reference to marriages on earth.

     201. (16) Their forms are also thus progressively perfected and ennobled from within. The human form is most perfect and most noble when by marriage two forms become one form, thus when the flesh of two becomes one flesh, in accordance with the story of their creation. The husband's mind is then elevated into a higher light, and the wife's mind into a higher warmth, and they then burgeon, blossom and bear fruit, like trees in springtime (as may be seen above in nos. 188, 189). We will see in the discussion that follows next that the ennobling of this form results in the birth of noble fruits-spiritual fruits in heaven, natural fruits on earth.

     202. (17) The offspring born of couples who are in a state of truly conjugial love derive from their parents a conjugial connection between good and truth, from which they have an inclination and faculty, if a son, to perceive matters having to do with wisdom, if a daughter, to love the things that wisdom teaches.

328

Everyone knows from historical accounts in general and their own observations in particular that children inherit from their parents tendencies to the same kinds of things as those which had been connected with their parents' love and mode of life. However, they do not inherit or have transmitted to them the parents' actual affections or resulting modes of life, but only tendencies to these and also capacities for them (a point convincingly shown by some of the wise in the spiritual world, as reported in two narrative accounts presented above).*
     * See nos. 132ff (esp. 133-134), and nos. 151[r]ff).
     Evidence that descendants are drawn by hereditary inclinations into affections, thoughts, ways of speaking, and modes of life very similar to those of their parents-if they do not break themselves of these inclinations-is clearly apparent from the Jewish nation today and its close similarity to that nation's ancestors in Egypt, in the desert, in the land of Canaan, and at the time of the Lord. It is apparent, moreover, not only from the close similarity in their minds, but also in their faces.
Who does not recognize a Jew by his looks?
     It is the same with other lines of descent. From this one may legitimately conclude that people are born with inclinations to similar things as their parents and that these inclinations are hereditary.
     However, to keep actual thoughts and deeds from ensuing, it is Divinely provided that corrupt inclinations may be rectified, and that a capacity for this is also implanted. Resulting from this capacity are an ability and power in people to mend their habits, under the direction of parents and teachers, and afterwards by themselves when they come into their own right and judgment.

     203. We say that offspring derive from their parents a conjugial connection between good and truth, because from creation a union of these two has been introduced into the soul of everyone; for this is the ingredient which flows into a human being from the Lord and causes his life to be human. However, this conjugial union passes from the soul into subsequent elements until it reaches the outmost constituents of the body, and as it passes, on one level or another it is changed by the person himself in many ways, and sometimes into the opposite, which we call the conjugal or nuptial connection between evil and falsity. When this occurs, the mind is closed up from below, and sometimes is twisted around like a spiral coil into the opposite direction.

329

     Nevertheless, in some people the union is not closed up but remains partly open above, and in some cases all the way open. In either circumstance, this conjugial union is something from which offspring derive inclinations from their parents, a son in one way and a daughter in another. The conjugial union has this effect, because conjugial love is the fundamental love of all loves (as was shown above in no. 65).

     204. As said, the offspring born of people who are in a state of truly conjugial love inherit inclinations and faculties, if a son, to perceive matters having do to with wisdom, if a daughter, to love the things that wisdom teaches; and the reason is that from creation a conjugial union between good and truth has been implanted in the soul of everyone, and also from the soul in subsequent elements. Indeed, as we have shown before,* this conjugial relationship fills the universe from the firsts to the lasts of it, from human beings all the way down to worms. Moreover, as we have also indicated previously,** every person from creation has implanted in him a capacity to open the lower regions of his mind to the point of union with its higher ones which are in the light and warmth of heaven. It is clear from this that offspring who are born of a marriage in which this has been the case, from birth inherit a greater ability and readiness to join good to truth and truth to good, thus to become wise, than is hereditarily transmitted to others. Consequently they also inherit a greater ability and readiness to absorb matters that have to do with the church and heaven. That conjugial love is tied together with these concerns we have already demonstrated many times. This makes plainly evident to the sight of reason the purpose for which the Lord the Creator has provided and continues to provide marriages of love truly conjugial.
     * See no. 92
     ** See no. 188205. I have heard from angels that people who used to live in very ancient times, today in heaven continue to live household by household, family by family, and nation by nation, similarly to the way they had lived on earth, and that scarcely anyone is missing from any household. The reason, they said, is that truly conjugial love existed among them, and their children consequently inherited inclinations toward the conjugial connection between good and truth, into which they were easily introduced more and more deeply by their parents through their upbringing and education, and into which they were afterwards led by the Lord as though on their own when they came into their own right and judgment.

330

206. (18) This occurs because the soul of the offspring comes from its father, and its clothing comes from its mother. No one who is wise calls into question the idea that the soul comes from the father. Moreover, it is clearly visible in later generations which descend from fathers of families in a true line of descent, from their qualities of mind, and, in addition, from their facial features (these being images of the qualities of mind). Indeed, the father reappears, as though in effigy, if not in his children, nevertheless in his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And the reason is that the soul forms the inmost element in a person, and though this may be covered over in the immediate offspring, still it emerges and displays itself in generations after that.
The fact that the soul comes from the father and the clothing from the mother may be illustrated by analogous parallels in the vegetable kingdom. Here the earth or ground is the common mother. It admits seeds into it as though in a womb, and clothes them; indeed, in a way it conceives, carries, gives birth to and rears the seedlings, as a mother does her offspring from a father.
REPORT OF THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE 1988

REPORT OF THE EDITOR OF NEW CHURCH LIFE Donald L. Rose 1988

1987

     An eighteen-year index to the Life will be published this summer. It is very gratifying to be able to report this. It will cover the years 1971 through 1987, the previous index having covered 1951 through 1970.
     As I consider 1987 I would comment on the international character of this magazine. Our June issue's cover mentioned input from Brazil, Japan, England, Australia, Canada and France. Thirty-five letters were published during the year. They came from such places as Japan, Ghana, Germany, Australia, France and the Canary Islands, and of course from the United States and Canada. Our "Church News" department included reports from Brazil, New Zealand and Australia. I should mention that although the number of pages devoted to news was well up from the previous year, this is a part of our magazine that needs more input.
     In providing some facts here on where the Life is sent, I do not wish to create the impression that we have vast numbers of readers. We do list twenty-six countries, but in some cases a country gets only two or three copies. I mentioned to a colleague that one copy goes each month to China.

331

He said, "Only one to China!" Then he reflected a moment and said, "Well, I guess they could pass it around."
     As of the end of 1987 179 copies go each month to Canada, 113 to England and 43 to Australia. Only 40 go to the European continent, 86 to the African continent, nine to the Orient and five to South America.
     Eleven copies go to New Zealand, ten to Sweden, seven to France, six to Korea. The following receive fewer than six: Ghana, Norway, Brazil, Holland, Switzerland, Spain, Japan, Argentina, China, Italy, Nigeria, UAR and Zimbabwe.
     The total circulation was one thousand eight hundred and forty-two (1,842).
     Figures for the use of our pages for 1987 and the previous year are as follows:

                    1987     1986
                    pages pages
Articles               223     224
Sermons               54     58
Reports               54     40
Communications          60     56
Announcements          30     36
Church News          30     13
Editorials          22     31
Reviews               24     37
Directories          40     21 (+12-page supplement)
Memorials               0     5
Miscellaneous          59     59
Total pages          596     570

Number of Contributors:
Priests               42     42
Laity     38     30
Women     14     19
Total Laity          52     49
Total Contributors     94     91

     Donald L. Rose, Editor

332

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (26) 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (26) Rev. Grant R. Schnarr 1988

     The One who testifies these things says, Indeed I am coming quickly, Amen. Come indeed, Lord Jesus' signifies the Lord who has revealed the Apocalypse, and has now opened it, testifying the glad tidings that in His Own Divine Human, which He took upon Himself in the world and glorified, He is coming as the Bridegroom and Husband, and that the Church as the Bride and Wife will long for Him . . . . The reason why this coming is to a spiritual marriage with the church is that this New Church is called the Bride and the Wife, and the Lord her Bridegroom and Husband . . . . The Lord speaks these words, 'Indeed I am coming quickly, Amen'; and the Church speaks these, 'Come indeed, Lord Jesus,' which are the words of betrothal for a spiritual marriage (Apocalypse Revealed 960).

     This is one of my favorite passages from the Writings because it points out so simply and yet so profoundly what the church in general is all about. It is about the conjunction of God and man.
     So many other teachings take on new meaning when I read this passage. For instance, that the end of creation is a heaven from the human race. I guess I grew up hearing this and simply pictured a beautiful paradise where people go to become angels and that was the whole purpose of creation. In reality, it has so much more to do with being one with the Lord, allowing His love and wisdom, thus He Himself, to dwell within us. That is why there is a heaven. So He can be with us and we with Him.
     Another beautiful teaching which comes to life in the light of this passage is the one about consent being the essence of marriage (see CL 21). How true this is, not only of earthly marriages but of the courtship, betrothal, and marriage of the Lord and His church, between the Lord and each one of us as a church. Sometimes, as the passage above says, we long for Him, even as a bride may long for her future husband. The Lord so gently assures us that He is coming quickly, that is, He is surely coming to us. Our response as individuals is clearly a declaration of consent for Him to come and dwell with us: "Come indeed, Lord Jesus."
     Finally, what this means to the church in general. Sometimes we can feel so small and insignificant when we look out at the large and sometimes confused and confusing world around us. We read in the Writings about the importance of the New Church, namely, that she is the crown of all churches, that she will worship God with true love and sincerity, that she will be established upon the earth for ages upon ages.

333

     [Photo of Rev. Grant R. Schnarr]

But then we try to tell other people about it and hardly anyone seems to notice or care. Sometimes it seems that people count the church as insignificant, so insignificant that it has been around for two hundred years and still hardly anyone has ever heard of it. I think many of us who work to spread the good news of the Lord's second advent find ourselves at times longing for the Lord's coming to manifest itself more openly. I go through times of doubt about the spread of the New Church. Doubts emerge which say, "Perhaps the church will never take hold in this world. Perhaps we as a church will fail, or the human race is too far gone to see or to care."
     It is at times like these that the Lord gently taps me on the shoulder and points to the passage above. He reminds me through the words on this and other pages of the Writings that He told us that we would be among a few for a time, that we would feel as if we are in the wilderness, that we would indeed long for His coming. Then He points out that what He says always comes true, even though humans-and at times even the angels-have doubted His power for years. He shows me these words and I hear Him speak them firmly in my ears. "Indeed, I am coming quickly." And then I know that this is true. I sit back and smile, and give out a sigh of relief and read the final words of this passage with somewhat more of a heartfelt understanding, "Come indeed, Lord Jesus.
     Rev. Grant R. Schnarr

334

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF EVANGELIZATION 1988

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF EVANGELIZATION Rev. Peter M. Buss 1988

     1987

     Rev. Douglas Taylor has held this position for the last ten years, and during that time has contributed in many, many ways to the cause of evangelization in the General Church. Himself a dedicated worker in "the trenches" for all of his ministry, Doug has brought hands-on experience, doctrinal research and a true love of this use to the work he has done.
     During his tenure he has developed a training course in evangelization which he has given in many societies and in the schools of the Academy. He has taught other ministers how to offer the course, and has now completed a video tape of it so that it can be available throughout the church. He has offered courses on evangelization in the secondary schools, the college and the theological school, helping many of our young people to know how to speak with confidence and enthusiasm about the teachings of the church. He has worked to increase support for evangelization in the priesthood and the laity and seen the blossoming of a church-wide excitement for this use.
     Doug has researched many areas of evangelization. His doctrinal studies have led him to demonstrate how the Old and New Testaments teach what the Writings reveal, and to explore direct teachings, not only about the need to spread the doctrines but also about how to do so. He has investigated the current church growth studies in the Christian world and attempted to analyze how they apply to growth in the New Church. He is never too busy to do some special study to help someone whose friend is inquiring into the church and has asked a challenging question. He is the author of numerous introductory pamphlets on specific subjects. Together with Ed Cranch he has produced the Missionary Memo for many years now, cataloging the growth efforts throughout the church and providing leadership through his own articles and suggestions.
     He has been an active evangelist, answering questions about the church which are directed to the central body, giving inquirers' classes in Bryn Athyn and New Jersey, helping individual students in the Academy, carrying on a varied correspondence throughout the church, and helping people to accept baptism into the church and enter fully into the uses of the General Church.
     For these and the many other things he has done as Director of Evangelization, we thank you, Doug, and rejoice that your work in this field will continue unabated.

335

     Looking to the future, we cannot help but be excited when we see how affirmative is the attitude toward evangelization in the church. Society after society has examined its commitment to this use and entered into it more fully. At the center of the church the Evangelization Committee of the board, under the chairmanship of Garth Pitcairn, has adopted a well-structured system for providing help and support for efforts and for studying their effect so that we can learn by our mistakes and our successes. More and more ministers are studying the Word itself for guidance in this work.
     We need this kind of concentrated effort. Our church grows slowly-far too slowly, it seems. It is not that numbers are important by themselves. One of our most vital responsibilities as a church is to share the gift the Lord has given us, and we have to be concerned if our efforts to do so are meeting with a most modest success. We need to examine our approaches if this is the case, and I believe we have been doing so.
     Yet evangelization is a slow, steady process. It requires faith-the conviction that it is the right thing for us to do. It requires planning, consistent effort, reevaluation and a willingness to think creatively about a work in which no one is an expert. It demands patience and a trust that the Lord will build His church in His good time, and that our job is to serve Him diligently in this use, and pray that our prudence is exercised in harmony with His Providence. We must not be content with small results, but we must not be discouraged if a sincere effort meets with poor success at first. Discouragement is understandable, but it is better by far to feel sure the Lord is guiding us, and to try ever harder to find ways of doing His work.
     This is not the place to catalog the many exciting efforts taking place in the church. Doug Taylor and Ed Cranch have done a fine job of this in the Missionary Memo. What I would like to do, however, is announce tentative plans for a seminar on evangelization for next March, just before the ministers' meetings. I hope that it will be attended by both priests and lay leaders and that expertise from a wide variety of fields will be brought to it. The ministers can provide both doctrinal understanding and hands-on experiences. Lay people in the church can draw on their knowledge in such fields as communication, leadership or planning to help us develop an ever more rational set of approaches to this subject.
     I will be writing to you as plans for this seminar develop. For the moment, let me extend a warm invitation to you all to attend it. The greater the number of active minds we have, the better will be the result.
     Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss

336

GENERAL CHURCH PUBLICATION COMMITTEE REPORT 1988

GENERAL CHURCH PUBLICATION COMMITTEE REPORT Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson 1988

     January 1, 1987 to December 31, 1987

     Three publications, mentioned last year, have been reprinted: The Wedding Garment by Louis Pendleton, In the King's Service by Gertrude Diem, and The Golden Heart Stories by Amena Pendleton. Other works that required reprinting for our book center were Life Is Forever by Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss, and Heaven's Happiness by Rev. John Odhner. A reprint of A Light Burden by Mr. Odhner has also been made available to the public. This was a series of articles originally in New Church Life and now in booklet form. Rev. Karl Alden's book, The City of God, will be reproduced with a few minor revisions in one of the chapters.
     Future publications anticipated in 1988 include: the new Liturgy from the Worship and Ritual Committee, a large size Word with the Old Testament in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek, and a portion of the Writings in Latin. It is bound in red leather and will be available for chancels by the time this appears in print. Also, a manuscript has been submitted on the subject of preparation for marriage, and will be reviewed this year by the Publication Committee. Finally, it is hoped that our committee can print the Introduction to the Word Explained, a description of Swedenborg's call, hopefully during this tercentenary year.
     Manuscripts are always welcomed by the Publication Committee. Just forward them to the chairman at Cairncrest, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.
     Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson,
          Chairman
LOOKING FOR NOTHING IN RETURN 1988

LOOKING FOR NOTHING IN RETURN Editor 1988

In doing goods without reward there is happiness so great as to be heavenly happiness itself.
Arcana Coelestia 6391

337

Shunning Evils as Sins 1988

Shunning Evils as Sins D. L. R 1988

     Shunning Evils as Sins, by Basil Lazer

     If the Christian religion itself could be summed up in one phrase, an apt phrase would be "shunning evils as sins"(DP 239). This is the phrase selected as a title for an excellent booklet which makes real life its focus. Mr. Basil Lazer had written and published no fewer than eight New Church pamphlets before he composed this one. He has done a masterful job of it, bringing into focus the clear teachings of the Writings.

     Anyone who wonders if the Writings are easy to read will find a pleasant answer in this booklet of forty-seven pages. Most of what he reads there is directly quoted from the Writings, and it is always clear and vivid.
     The table of contents shown here gives a very good picture of the nature of the booklet itself.

     Contents
Introduction                                         5
1.      The General Teaching                          10
     Quotations from The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
2.      The Teaching As It Relates to Life           13
           Quotations from Doctrine of Life
3.      The Teaching As It Relates to Genuine Charity      20
           Quotations from Charity
4.      The Teaching As It Relates to the Divine Providence      25
           Quotations from Divine Providence
5.          The Teaching Confirmed and Illustrated in      31
           Quotations from True Christian Religion
6.      How Man Co-operates with the Lord                35
           Quotations from Apocalypse Explained
7.      The Vital Importance of Co-operation                39
          Additional Quotations from Divine Providence
Conclusion                                              43
List of the "Writings"                                    47

     In commending this selection of passages to the reader, Mr. Lazer says, "if you read them with a sincere desire for reformation and regeneration, the Lord will show you how you can apply them to your own life, and give you the strength, willingness and power to overcome your evils through Him."
      D. L. R.

338

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     HIGHLIGHTS FROM SWEDENBORG'S LETTERS (7)

     In the year 1740 Swedenborg returned to his homeland after an absence of four and a half years. He had just finished the publication in Amsterdam of two volumes of The Economy of the Souls Kingdom, and he was on the verge of one of the big decisions of his life, a decision which can be seen in a letter we will quote in a moment. He reached Stockholm in October. He was soon elected to the newly formed Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the man who proposed his name being Linnaeus. (The year 1740 seems to be the only year in which Swedenborg and Linnaeus lived in the same city.)
     Swedenborg's letter of acceptance, written not long before his 53rd birthday, promised that he would work "with all diligence and care" pursuing "that end which is the true object of the sciences, namely, the furthering of the public good and the honor of the Most High."
     What should he do next toward this end? One of the things he wanted to do was to add to his works on the mineral kingdom. He had in draft form further material which he could without difficulty prepare for publication. But the work that he had done thus far on the Soul's Kingdom (often called Animal Kingdom) stirred in him the feeling that if he really labored extremely hard and concentrated his mental powers and accumulated learning, he could really break new ground for the human race in this area. To achieve his purpose he would have to travel yet again. Couldn't he just take it a little easier for a while? But with his accumulated learning and his genius did he not have an obligation to do something significant, something real "for the public good and the honor of the Most High"?
     The answer comes in a significant letter he wrote at the age of fifty-five. He had handwritten yet another volume on the soul's kingdom. It was the month of June, 1743. He was gathering strength to go abroad with the intention of producing something really valuable for the human race. Having already published 700 pages on this subject, he had in mind a further work which would exceed four thousand pages! Here is what he wrote in a letter at that time.

. . . Were I to follow my uttermost desire and pleasure, I can give the assurance that I would a thousandfold wish to remain at home in the Fatherland where I have the opportunity to serve with pleasure in so illustrious a college, and, so far as my small part is concerned, to contribute to the general welfare, and, at the same time, to look after my own fortunes during coming events, and to nurse the little property I have acquired, and so to live at home in happy days, which, with God's permission, so long as there be health and means, are not likely to fail me, rather than to journey abroad, to subject myself to dangers and discomforts, especially in these unquiet times, to put myself to considerable expense, and to undergo a headache and indescribable labor, and yet, in the end, to expect therefrom harsh criticism by many men, rather than mild.

339

Yet, despite all this, inwardly driving me is the desire and longing to bring to the light of day, during my lifetime, something real which, in accordance with my wish and my ability, can be of use to the learned world in general, and also to posterity, and which in this way can presumably contribute to the uses, the enjoyment, and, if I attain my desire, the honor of the Fatherland. . . .

     A month after writing the above letter he set off on a journey from which he would not return for two years. We might say he set off on this journey as a man with a mission, ready to do his best. But he would return as a man with a mission of incomparably greater magnitude. Yes, he would publish two volumes on the kingdom of the soul, but he would learn of the high use for which his life thus far had been a preparation. And the letters we read after this are letters written by a man who knew what he would do in the service of mankind and of the Most High.

     POEMS FROM SWEDENBORG

     At the end of 1985 we published eight short quotations from the Writings. The first one looked like this:

     Everpresent

     God is present
     In space without space
     And in time without time
     Because He is always
     The same
     From eternity to eternity.
     Thus He is the same
     Since the world was created
     As before.
          TCR 30

     We mentioned the idea of publishing a book of quotations in this form and asked for reaction from readers.

340

In the following issue (January 1986) we published several more. We had three letters for the March issue. One said that these "filled me with delight. It amazed me how powerful the words of the Writings became when arranged in free verse." Another wrote: "I loved the poems from Swedenborg. What a wonderful way to see gems from the Writings! It is much easier for my mind to receive the words in this form. The ideas flow in with increased beauty. They invite re-reading. Please do put them in a booklet form."
     Another reader wrote: "I think they are beautiful. . . . I wish very much to read a booklet of many such poems. . . .
     A letter in April also called them "beautiful." "They present the unencumbered essence of our doctrines in a form that is visually attractive . . . . My husband and I have been wondering why nobody thought to do this before." Other affirmative responses followed. But then in October of 1986 under the heading "Not Poetry" a writer presented a thoughtful "contrary view." (This needs to be read in its entirety and we will not attempt to summarize it. See p. 476 of that issue.)
     Again under the title "Not Poetry" we had in the November issue some observations from Lyris Hyatt, who was a real connoisseur of poetry and had reason to question this mode of presentation. But in the same issue Linda S. Odhner offered thoughts under the heading "Yes Poetry.
     In January of 1987 Warren F. David wrote of "Poetry and Typography" and defended the enterprise. "If the resultant clarified text appears to be poetic, that is because of the ideas contained in it, not because it has been freed from justified margins." Finally, in May of 1987 under the heading "Are the Writings Poetry?" Sylvia Shaw wrapped the subject up very nicely (one might even say "poetically").
     The lively response was sure indication that the book of quotations ought to be done. As we write these words we are glad to say that it is selling well: Poems from Swedenborg by Leon C. Le Van, Swedenborg Foundation, $5.95, 165 pages.
     And now, readers, what about this question: Are the Writings wisdom? Or are they love and wisdom, or what? One of our correspondents wrote: "For the most part, the New Revelation is a logical and analytical presentation-as one might expect of absolute truth. Poetry, on the other hand, is affectional in its thrust, utilizing imagery to appeal to the imagination. Poetry is found in the Psalms, in Isaiah, and in the book of John, just to mention a few examples of poetry in revelation."
     We are taught that there are two things that go forth from the Lord, love and wisdom, and then we are taught, "In its essence the Word is both of these" (TCR 191). With this in mind, what do you think of the question, Are the Writings wisdom or love and wisdom?

341

TRICENTENARY-"ONE IMPORTANT ASPECT 1988

TRICENTENARY-"ONE IMPORTANT ASPECT Neville C. Jarvis 1988

     Communications
Dear Editor,
     I have just received the May 1988 issue and greatly enjoyed reading the most interesting article by Leon Rhodes, "The Tricentenary-A Summary of Events" (pages 192-200). I feel compelled, though, to sit and write this letter to you in order to amplify one important aspect of the Tricentenary which, for obvious reasons, the article neglects to do.
     Brief mention is made at the end of the article to the bimonthly Tricentenary Newsletter edited by Leon Rhodes. The vital role played by Leon in the worldwide planning, coordinating and exchange of ideas, both through the newsletter and his voluminous correspondence, cannot be underestimated. Those of us around the world who have been involved in the detail of the Tricentenary activities certainly appreciate just what an outstanding contribution Leon has made. His dedication to the task at hand has been an inspiration when the difficulties encountered in arrangements at a local level have loomed large. His ideas and suggestions over the past several years have been invaluable. He has also forged links across the organizational boundaries which we must all trust will remain there for all time.
     Much more could be said about the contribution made so timely and generously by Leon to the total 1988 effort, but I trust these few words will help to complete the record, and that your readers will also realize the importance of Leon Rhodes' involvement.
     Neville C. Jarvis,
          Swedenborg Centre,
          Roseville, Sydney, Australia
"LOVE, HONOR, AND COMFORT. . . ." 1988

"LOVE, HONOR, AND COMFORT. . . ." Richard R. Gladish 1988

Many of us, I am sure, have wondered faintly at the verb 'comfort" in the New Church wedding pledge. For "comfort" today chiefly means (according to the Random House Unabridged Dictionary of 1966) "1. To soothe or console; cheer, as someone grieved." And the Oxford Dictionary (of England) agrees that "the current sense" is "to soothe in grief or trouble; to Console."

342

     Actually, the older, now obsolete, meaning of "comfort" was to aid, encourage, from the Latin con-with, and for(tis)-strong, to make strong, support, or fortify. And this, no doubt, was the intended and original meaning in the wedding service.
     But we may wonder at "bringing a note of sadness" into the modern wedding service, as if looking ahead to sorrows yet to come. Would not "cherish"-"to hold or treat as dear, . . .to care for tenderly. . . ." (cher, dear, from the Latin carus)-be more fitting and appropriate in our present-day wedding service?
     "Love, honor and cherish" has a lovely sound and meaning.
     What do readers of the Life think?
          Richard R. Gladish,
               Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
NCL 100 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 100 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

     A news note in the August issue of 1888 reads as follows: "The Society in this town, Colchester, made on Tuesday evening, June 19th, what is, as far as we are aware, an entirely new departure in the matter of New Church celebrations. The fact that on that day, in the year 1770, the Lord sent His disciples throughout the spiritual world to preach the glad tidings of the Second Advent was considered by our committee to be especially worthy of remembrance by those who accept the truths of the New Dispensation. It was, therefore, arranged to hold a Thanksgiving service on what was announced as New Church Day no. 119 [counting from 1770]. There was a full attendance of members, and altogether a very enjoyable time was spent in prayer and praise. Worship was commenced by a short responsive service, bearing upon the Second Coming of the Lord, which service had been copied from the Liturgy of the General Church of Pennsylvania."
     A little history might be in order here.
     In the very early days of the New Church its presence in Colchester was sufficient to stir up open opposition from clergymen in that city. The redoubtable Robert Hindmarsh himself heard about this opposition and made a journey to Colchester in the year 1816 to meet it head on. Following his brave lecture there (not without outbursts from clergymen in the audience) the interest in the New Church increased. (See Rise and Progress, p. 258, 259.) In the year 1884 Mr. George McQueen began to teach in Colchester in the direct manner that later characterized the General Church. In 1900 we have the event mentioned above, and in the year 1902 the New Church movement in Colchester was organized as a society of the General Church.

343

LOVES SHINES FORTH 1988

LOVES SHINES FORTH Editor 1988

     Announcements

     That man is altogether as is his love is a constant truth, as is plain from the angels in the other life, who, when seen, appear as forms of love, the love itself not only shining forth but also exhaling from them, so that you would say that they are wholly nothing but loves.
     Arcana Coelestia 6872:3

345

Title Unspecified 1988

Title Unspecified Editor 1988

[Photo of Swedenborg Library, Academy of the New Church]

346

NCL 50 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 50 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

On page 374 of this magazine fifty years ago we see evidence that the editor, William B. Caldwell, liked to fill in the gaps with bits of humor. One of the things that amused him was a review of one of the Writings when it was firs published in English translation by Thomas Hartley. The magazine, The London Magazine or Gentlemans Intelligencer, published the review (if one can call it that) in its August issue in 1770.

The honoruable and learned Emanuel Swedenborg is a nobleman of Stockholm who stands very well in his own opinion, but appears to be a most contemptible enthusiast: he boasts of an immediate fellowship with angels, and tells us that the Deity Himself appeared personally to him in the year 1743 . . . . After such an account of himself, we fancy a criticism on his theosophic lucubration will be wholly unnecessary.
PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1988

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES Editor 1988

347

     British Columbia:

     DAWSON CREEK
Rev. Glenn G. Alden, Dawson Creek Church, 9013 8th St., Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada V1G 3N3.

     Ontario:

     KITCHENER
Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt, 58 Chapel Hill Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

     OTTAWA
Mr. and Mrs. Donald McMaster, 726 Edison Avenue, Apt. 33, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3P8. Phone: (613) 729-6452.

     TORONTO
Rev. Michael Gladish, 279 Burnhampthorpe Rd., Islington, Ontario M9B 4Z4. Phone: (416) 239-3054.

     Quebec:

     MONTREAL
Mr. Denis de Chazal, 17 Baliantyne Ave. So., Montreal West, Quebec H4X 281. Phone: (514) 489-9861.

     DENMARK

     COPENHAGEN
Mr. Jorgen Hauptmann, Strandvejen 22, Jyllinge, 4000 Roskilde. Phone: 03-389968.

     ENGLAND

     COLCHESTER
Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh, 2 Christchurch Court, Colchester, Essex C03 3AU Phone: 0206-43712

     LETCHWORTH
Mr. and Mrs. R. Evans, 24 Berkeley, Letchworth, Herts. SG6 2HA. Phone: 0462-684751.

     LONDON
Rev. Frederick Elphick, 21B Hayne Rd., Beckenham, Kent BR3 4JA. Phone: 01-658-6320.

     MANCHESTER
Mrs. Neil Rowcliffe, 135 Bury Old Road, Heywood, Lanes. Phone: Heywood 68189.

     FRANCE

     BOURGUINON-MEURSANGES
Rev. Alain Nicolier, 21200 Beaune, France. Phone: (80) 22.47.88.

     HOLLAND

     THE HAGUE
Mr. Ed Verschoor, Olmenlaan 17, 3862 VG Nijkerk

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Rev. Robin Childs, 132 Edmunton Rd., Henderson, Auckland 81, New Zealand.

     NORWAY

     OSLO
Mr. and Mrs. Klaus Bierman, Bakketoppen 10 A. 1165 Oslo 11. Phone: /(0) 2/ 28783.

     SCOTLAND

     EDINBURGH
Mr. and Mrs. N. Laidlaw, 35 Swanspring Ave., Edinburgh EH 10-6NA. Phone: 0 31-445- 2377.

     GLASGOW
Mrs. J. Clarkson, Hillview, Balmore, Nr. Torrance, Glasgow. Phone: Balmore 262.

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal:

     DURBAN
Rev. James P. Cooper, 7 Sydney Drive, Westville, Natal, 3630. Phone: 031-821612.

     Transvaal:

     TRANSVAAL SOCIETY
Rev. Andrew Dibb, P. O. Box 816, Kelvin 2054, South Africa. Phone: (011) 804-2567.

Zululand:

     KENT MANOR
Rev. James Cooper, visiting pastor
Mrs. D. G. Liversage, Box 7088, Empangeni Rail, 3910, Natal, South Africa. Phone: 0351-23241.

     Mission in South Africa:
Rev. Andrew Dibb (address above)

     SWEDEN

     Jonkoping
Contact Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, Bruksater, Furusjo, S-566 00, Habo. Phone : 0392-203 95.

     Stockholm
Contact Rev. Daniel Fitzpatrick, Aladdinsvagen 27, S-161 38 Bromma. Phone: (08) 26 79 85.

348

Golden Thread 1988

Golden Thread Editor 1988

Spiritual and Mental Health
Geoffrey S. Childs
Who am I?
What is the purpose of life?
Where do my feelings and thoughts come from?
What is mental health and how can I sustain it?

     The Golden Thread: Spiritual and Mental Health
explores such questions in the light of revelation.

     Softcover postage paid $8.65

     General Church Book Center      Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Box 278, Cairncrest                    or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                    Phone: (215) 947-3920

349

Notes on This Issue 1988

Notes on This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII September, 1988 No. 9
NEW CHURCH LIFE

350

     Notes on This Issue

     Dr. Sig Synnestvedt visited Ghana in 1974. Rev. Jeremy Simons made visits there between 1976 and 1978 while he was working in neighboring Togo. He has made subsequent visits, the last one being together with Robin Childs in July of 1985. Rev. Geoffrey Howard made visits in May of 1980 and February of 1985. Last year Rev. Willard Heinrichs was in Ghana from December 4th to the 16th. The reports from these gentlemen were all positive about the potential for the New Church in that country. And so this June, Bishop Louis King visited Ghana. While he was there he kept a kind of diary by speaking regularly into a tape recorder. We have taken segments from those tapes without attempting to put them in any finished literary form. We hope that readers will enjoy the immediacy of these on-the-spot observations.
     This month the attention of many nations will be on Korea. We have particular reason to be thinking of Korea, for after five years in Bryn Athyn, Dzin Kwak (now the Rev. Dzin Kwak) has returned to Korea to undertake the work for which he has been preparing (see p. 366).
     "Let us be very clear in our own minds" why the wedding ceremony is called in the Writings an "essential" ceremony. See the timely sermon on the opposite page.
     The chapter from Conjugial Love in this issue is only half a chapter, which will be continued next month.
     The excellent booklet What the Writings Testify Concerning Themselves (see p. 387) is available from the General Church Book Center for, 60 cents. (See the address on p. 404.)
     Notice on page 395 that the Toronto New Church school is looking to an enrollment of 34 this month. Depending on how you calculate it, the neighboring school in Kitchener is beginning its 100th year.
     Some announcements in this issue include notices about the Assembly (p. 355), a Women's Weekend in Glenview (p. 377), and ministerial changes (p. 383). The publication of The Researcher's Manual (see p. 381) is an achievement that merits congratulation for the Swedenborg Scientific Association and the co-publishers, including the Swedenborg Foundation. We congratulate especially Dr. William Woofenden. Next month we expect to report on a major publication by the Swedenborg Foundation.

351

IMPORTANCE OF THE WEDDING CEREMONY 1988

IMPORTANCE OF THE WEDDING CEREMONY Rev. GEOFFREY H. HOWARD 1988

     John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegrooms voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled (John 3:27-29).

     John the Baptist spoke these words to clarify a most important issue that was lingering in the minds of some of his followers. Some entertained the notion that John was the promised Messiah. His words were spoken to dispel that erroneous thought. In truth he was the forerunner, the one who was sent to prepare the way of the Lord.
     His discourse, quoted in our text, directs the thought of his followers away from himself and leads them to the expectation of the real Messiah. In order to make this vital point clear, he spoke in parable. "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice." In this parable John spoke of the Lord as the "bridegroom" and of those who receive Him as the "bride." This very same imagery is frequently used in the Word.
     The Lord often spoke of Himself as the "Bridegroom," and referred to the church, His indwelling in the human heart, as the "bride." This is an interesting relationship to consider. Frequently the Lord speaks of His unceasing endeavor to find a dwelling place in the heart of man. This comes about when we, His people, respond to His call with willing hearts, when we are moved to receive Him in spirit. He then likens His conjunction with such people to a marriage, in which He is the Bridegroom, while referring to those who sincerely love Him as the bride. Thus it is that those who feel committed to the Lord-those who choose to live by His commandments, and thus keep His precepts-interiorly enter into a covenant with the Lord which is likened to a marriage. The Writings call this the heavenly marriage. It is like a marriage conjunction between the Lord as the Bridegroom, and the church, in the heart of man, as the bride.
     Now it is the fervent hope and desire of the Lord that all people will embrace His truth and follow it so that they may enter into this heavenly marriage union with Him. Inasmuch as they do so their lives will become stable and secure.

352

They will find happiness and an abiding sense of peace within themselves. If we each become committed to the Lord in this way, we will find that we are at peace with ourselves, and that we can live in harmony with others.
     These teachings also bear a close relationship to the marriage of a husband and a wife. In this marriage union between one man and one woman each may come to perceive an ever-growing sense of love for the other only to the degree that the Lord's covenant between Himself and each partner individually becomes established and fulfilled. He is the source of all love, and is preeminently the source of conjugial love in marriage.
     It has been revealed by the Lord in the Writings of the New Church that there is an inmost quality of love which is called conjugial love. The qualities of this love are described. It is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, above every love which is with the angels of heaven and with the men of the church. The perception of its inmost delicacies is truly sacred. No one can perceive anything of the blessedness of conjugial love except those whose minds conform to the spiritual laws of the Lord's order. We can thus rightly say that conjugial love is bounded by its own laws, and those laws protect it. This is also true of every love from heaven. Conjugial love descends from the Lord, but it can be received, and in some measure perceived, only within a mind that has been ordered in accordance with the terms of the Lord's stated truths--His laws of order. Essentially these laws are stated in the ten commandments. When a person abides by these sincerely, from within his heart, the Lord's love may descend freely.
     If we are therefore to be affected by conjugial love within our marriage relationship, then the laws which govern its reception must not only be known but they must also be acknowledged, and each partner must strive to live according to them from obedience and love.
     What, then, are these laws of marriage which govern the reception of conjugial love? The first stated law is that "conjugial love can never be divided" (AC 1907). None of its interior delights can ever be savored except in the monogamous union, the marriage between "one man and one wife" (Ibid.)
     It was for the sake of protecting conjugial love from defilement that the Lord, from the beginning, established and ordained the marriage covenant. Its establishment is stated in His words in Genesis: "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." This fundamental law of marriage was inscribed on the hearts of all men in the beginning, before the fall, before the advent of evil.

353

It was a law which they perceived to be right in a very immediate way.
However, when the human race fell from that noble state of celestial integrity, the perceptive powers of those Most Ancient people, which were originally so keen, declined until eventually they became virtually nonexistent. It was for this reason that the Divine law of marriage had to be formulated and stated in the written form, in the Word of God. Thus, when the Lord came to earth and was questioned about the just laws of marriage, He spoke to the point succinctly. He reiterated those very words which had been revealed in the beginning, centuries before. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife." Therefore, for the Christian Church He resurrected the long-forgotten law of monogamy, which had formerly stood in ancient times, in the beginning, and reestablished it as the spiritual law of the church. It is from these very roots of Divine law that the law of monogamy exists with all nations and peoples who have embraced Christianity.
Yet today, in our free-thinking western society, the validity of this covenant is being widely questioned and challenged. Those who do not clearly understand God's order, or who do not feel a commitment to it, have come to believe the marriage covenant to be a custom established and instituted by human society. Some therefore regard it as an outmoded custom which can be cast aside and thus discarded. In our western society today there is an increasing following of adherents who subscribe to this view. With this attitude which is so prevalent today there is a cogent need for the necessity of the marriage covenant to be reaffirmed. Let us be very clear in our own minds why the Writings teach us that a wedding ceremony, which marks the commencement of the marriage covenant, is said to be an "essential" ceremony (CL 306). Why is it necessary to take the vows of marriage? Why do the Writings say that they should be proclaimed to the Lord, and be "heard, accepted, confirmed, and thus established" by His ministers as chief witnesses? (see CL 308). Let us remember that these statements are from the Writings and are therefore pronouncements of the Lord and not of man. Let us also remember that this sacred covenant was established and ordained by Him and not by man. His reason for so doing was that He well knew the frailty and the fickleness of mankind. He knew that with the advent of evil, man could easily succumb to the tempting spheres of hell, and would otherwise yield to the weakness of the flesh. The hells freely breathe forth their wanton spheres of lust and adultery. All of us are subject to the influence of these alluring spheres. If they are entertained and courted within the mind, the fountain of conjugial love becomes parched and dry.

354

The mind becomes imprisoned by the relentless grip of evil spheres. Conjugial love instantly withdraws its delicate sphere whenever such allurements are entertained, for man cannot serve two masters.
     The wedding ceremony marks the commencement of marriage. In itself it is simply an external representative ceremony, but it is not simply a social custom. It is a solemn covenant, a vow, freely made with full consent from the bridegroom and bride. It is spoken before the Lord, spoken before a priest as the chief witness, and also before friends. Its purpose is to establish the confines of the inmost thoughts and affections of each freely to the other. It establishes and confirms their consent to become husband and wife. It marks their first determination to strive to become one in the actual issues of their life together. When these vows are solemnly taken, they have the effect of confining the minds of each within bounds, within the bounds of the rightful laws of marriage. They form, as it were, a protecting guard against enticements to things unchaste, because, as we have already said, unclean loves can wholly obliterate conjugial love. For the sake of averting these transgressions and of keeping the focus of the mind upon the married partner only, the Lord established the protection of this covenant.
     In this connection it is interesting to reflect on the fact that conjugial love breathes of freedom. In fact, freedom and love go hand in hand. They are inseparable. When a young man and a young woman desire and freely consent to enter into marriage, the very first love which enters into their hearts fills them with longing and desire for the other only. In that state the heart yearns for the unity to continue to eternity. But these first states are borrowed states. They simply mirror the potential blessedness that the Lord seeks to bestow. When each becomes affected by the sphere of these first states, they both find themselves immersed in the spiritual desire to share their love with the other. In this state the manage covenant poses no threat. It is not felt as a forced contract. Instead, it is felt to be the fulfillment of the heart's desire.
     What is it then that causes some to feel that the marriage covenant is binding and restricting? What is it that causes them to feel that they are not free? The answer may lie in several avenues. Sometimes it is because the license, or so-called freedom, to cohabit with partners other than one's spouse seems denied. If that is the case, then clearly it is a wrongful desire which breathes the feeling of compulsion, causing life with the partner to seem forced and not free. In addition to this it should be remembered that in marriage we actually pledge our life to the other. In practical terms this means that we must try to think of the welfare of our partner and of his/her happiness before that of our own.

355

The desire to be united to one only is felt deeply during the time of courtship, for then a young man who seeks to draw the hand of a potential bride to his favor is led to court and to woo her. And the young woman, if she feels so disposed, eventually responds by bestowing her favor of consent. The blissful states that are then perceived owe their intensity of delight to the fact that each looks to the other, and then they become affected by the sphere of conjugial love. How important it is that this same spirit which is so prominent in courtship should also continue and be fostered within marriage itself. If favors continue to be extended; if simple but sincere statements of heartfelt gratitude for the presence of the other be offered, the union becomes rejuvenated by love. Under these conditions the covenant in no way seems forced or restrictive. Instead, the marriage covenant will be viewed as the very structure within which the Lord works to bring to our perception the bounties of an ineffable love, conjugial love. It is to protect that love, to protect the delicacies of its most treasured states, that the Lord has established that covenant. He wants us to see and understand His Divine reasons for His laws of order which He has established. He wants us to follow them freely from our own determination to do so. He wants to lead us to partake of His most treasured gift freely. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely" (Rev. 22:17). Amen.

LESSONS: John 3:22-31; Matt. 25:1-13; AC 10167-10173 ASSEMBLY ANNOUNCEMENT 1988

ASSEMBLY ANNOUNCEMENT Louis B. King 1988

     The Immanuel Church of the New Jerusalem has issued an invitation to the General Church to hold its 31st Assembly, scheduled for June of 1991, in Glenview.
     I have accepted this invitation and have encouraged the Glenview Society to begin planning for the event. Acceptance of this invitation must be ratified by the Council of the Clergy and the Joint Council in March of 1989. The Primary business at the 1991 Assembly will be consideration of the Council of the Clergy's nomination of the next Executive Bishop of the General Church.
     Louis B. King, Bishop

356

BISHOP'S VISIT TO GHANA SOME SELECTED NOTES FROM COMMENTS SPOKEN ON TAPE 1988

BISHOP'S VISIT TO GHANA SOME SELECTED NOTES FROM COMMENTS SPOKEN ON TAPE Louis B. King 1988

     On a very hot day in Bryn Athyn, Tuesday, June 14th, I took a limousine to JFK Airport in New York and checked in for a 9:30 p.m. flight to Holland, the first stopping place on a trip to Ghana. We finally arrived in Accra on time, and Ankra-Badu, Pastor Garna, Rev. and Mrs. Annang, Florence Darkwah, and about five other men met me at the airport. The first meal served to me at my lodging included sweet-tasting bread with the most peculiar butter I have ever tasted. I had a few bites with rice and tea. By now I order Ghanaian food quite freely. Tonight I had fried plantain, yams (like cassava) in fried slices, two cold pieces of chicken, some salad with mayonnaise, onions and tomatoes. I have now decided to drink the water, as Pastor Garna assures me that it will be safe.
     The trucks and buses are painted in bright colors with religious mottos. It is absolutely astounding what an impression the Christian Church has made on the Ghanaian culture. Scripture quotations are interlaced with their daily life in every visible way. A huge green truck carrying garbage passed us with gold lettering, "Sons of God." I could not help but think of the load of false doctrine which the Christian Church carries to its people.
     Trucks and buses carried the names "Holy Mother," "God's good mercy," "Jehovah has power," "No more hunger."

A Service

     This service was held in a school auditorium where at least a couple hundred chairs could be set up. We went about 45 minutes early, and the people were already assembling, singing revival tunes and clapping their hands with great excitement. We put on our robes and then came out, Pastor Garna conducting the service. They sing beautifully and with much spirit. When the Twi songs (the local language) are sung, there is usually clapping of hands and much jovial spirits. The women will stand up and begin marching in file around in the front before the chancel waving their handkerchiefs and more or less bouncing to the rhythm. Bongo drums and tambourines join in with many decibels, and so the people sing more loudly in order to have the music heard.

357

     Pastor Garna opened with a prayer and then read from the book of Exodus the ten commandments, the people repeating in unison each phrase after him. It was really very touching. Then there was a special prayer and the Lord's prayer. Songs in English and in Ti followed, and then I gave a sermon entitled "The Importance of the New Church." Ankra-Badu summarized what I had to say at ten-minute intervals. After the sermon the ordination of Pastor Garna took place. It was not until the service was over that the newspaper men arrived. They came in somewhat reluctantly since they have a Christian radio station and the only Christian newspaper in town covering all church services pretty much from orthodox Christian doctrine. I felt they were not too pleased with my Profession of the Second Coming having taken place, etc.
     One of Ankra-Badu's ministers in his association reads the Writings but is an ardent Christian doctrine specialist. He wears a Moslem outfit showing that he came from the Moslem religion into Christianity, and now on top of all that he is being converted to the New Church. He held out valiantly for the statements that the Lord made regarding His Father and being the Son. He was so intense that he offered to drive me to the hotel so that he could listen to the interview with the newspaper people. After going over many, many questions of doctrine and coming back each time to the trinity, our friend became touchingly excited and grateful as he began to see that the Second Coming has in fact taken place. You could see certain difficulties he has had opening up as the teachings of the Writings were reiterated and applied to life. The biggest triumph, however, was the newspaper man himself who at first was somewhat skeptical. He stayed asking questions and recording for almost an hour and a half in my room, and then asked me just before he left, "Could you arrange a set of seminars on the New Church especially for news media and radio people? I said that if such seminars were requested by the people I would he very happy to send some ministers to Ghana for this purpose.
     It is absolutely astonishing how much real interest in doctrine there is in this country. There are no TV's, no pool halls or places of entertainment. The people are on the streets around the shops, and many are unemployed. They will walk literally miles to join in a religious discussion, and they will show real interest, especially the men. Somehow we have got to take advantage of this.
     As we drove the 110 miles from Tema to Takoradi on Saturday, I kept thinking of a New Church bus with loudspeakers playing music part of the time and giving messages of doctrine and downright pitches for the New Church.

358

If we had a place to refer them to for lectures and worship, such service and advertising would be quite inexpensive compared to what we have done in the past. I thought also of a print shop business that would employ local members of the church. We could run off portions of the Writings in paperback and distribute them at a very low cost. The people are absolutely dying for more instruction.
     One young man came 125 miles to hear me but primarily to implore, which he did with tears in his eyes, that I provide instruction for his people. The chief of his tribe, in one of the more remote areas of Ghana, reads the Writings, and they long for someone to teach them and instruct them. They have only bits and pieces of the Writings, but they know of the rest. "Could we not please have the Apocalypse Revealed and the Arcana Coelestia? It would be such a joy and source of life for us. Can you not get us these books?"
     At Takoradi we visited Pastor Garna's star group at the Ghana Poletechnek Institution. We met in one of the university halls, primitive but adequate. About twenty-two men and one woman were present and each one was unbelievably intelligent in the doctrines. They do not have a full set of the Writings, but they will continue to study and get into the finer points of the relationship between the church universal and the church specific, the genius of the Most Ancient people, and perception versus revelation.
     I do believe, as several young men have pointed out, that now is the time to bring these heavenly doctrines to the people who so hunger for direction in their lives. They are not reaching out for automobiles and college educations, etc.; they are looking for spiritual principles to build their consciences and their lives. My own assessment is that the country was very quickly Christianized and deeply affected by the letter of the New Testament and the love of Jesus. There is now frustration because of the mysteries of faith which accompany Christianity. The people want to understand clearly-deeply-who God is and what He really says in the Scriptures and why He says it. Even those who are steeped in born-again arguments, supported by copious quotations from Scripture, honestly admit their areas of doubt, and appear to be open-minded to the truth. There seems to be a genuine humility from which we might learn a great deal.
     Tomorrow we conduct religious services in Asane, and afterwards meet the chief of the local tribe. We then travel another distance to Akim Manso where we will have services and then meet their local chief. We were planning the meetings with these tribal leaders, both of whom have been reading the Writings; I asked about the overall chief in Ghana. It appears that the chief of the Ashanti is the leader of all the chiefs of all the tribes.

359

[Photograph of Bishop King greeting an African leader and a group photograph.]

360

[Photographs of Bishop King with various African.]

361

I suggested that we make an appointment to meet with him. Everyone present was overjoyed, so tomorrow, while I am meeting two of the lesser chiefs, our friend Mr. I. K. Obeng, who is an official of the Ashanti tribe, will drive 180 miles to see if he can arrange a meeting with the chief prior to my leaving Ghana. We will see.
     As the days grow busier, I find that I am falling behind in making notes of the things that seem important to record. Since this will be my seventh night here, the midway point in my stay, I would like to summarize the meetings that have taken place and mention something of the significance of each one.
     Wednesday, June 15th-arrival and meeting with Tema group; prayer and inspirational discussion of our hopes for the coming week; discussion concerning the essential doctrines of the church was part of the evening, Doctrine of the Lord, Doctrine of the Word, and Doctrine of Life (faith and charity).
     Friday, June 17th-important lengthy meeting with Pastor Garna and Pastor Annang regarding ordination into the New Church priesthood and how it differs from other inaugurations and ordinations; meeting and class with Florence Darkwah and children; trip to Madina and doctrinal class with people there. Thirteen adults and four children comprised a disappointing attendance so far as Pastor Garna was concerned. I gave a talk, "In the Beginning/Heaven and Earth." At 7:00 that same evening five men asked me to give them a class on the doctrines of the New Church after supper. We discussed the trinity, life after death, and the Second coming, until the mosquitoes drove us in. These five were people whose interest had been raised by one of the gentlemen in the medical team I spoke with the night before. Some of them had read the Writings but had no idea there were any other New Churchmen in the world.
     Saturday, June 18th-6:00 a.m. breakfast meeting with a young man who knows Martin Gyamfi. He traveled 150 or so miles because of his question about the trinity. His gratitude and excitement over hearing the truth was very touching. I had to break up the class and leave with Pastor Garna for Takoradi. We traveled 142 miles, arriving in time for a class at 10:30. These are definitely Pastor Garna's key doctrinal students. There were 25 adults. The class was forcibly terminated by Pastor Garna at 12:30 instead of 11:30. We continued to talk going out the door and as we climbed into the vehicles, so it was about an hour later that we finally pulled away. One member of the class asked for a ride two miles down the road. I assumed that he lived there, or perhaps he simply wanted to continue the discussion.
     Sunday, the 19th of June-service at Chemu, with sermon and ordination.

362

The subject was "Ordination/Trinity/Threefold Word/Second Coming." This was followed by the press interview in my office and statements regarding the future goals of the New Church in Ghana. Following the press interview, I had doctrinal class in my office with I. K. Obeng. This was quite an emotional exchange as he poured out one question after another that had bothered him about the trinity. He was deeply moved by the experience the Lord had given him to see clearly, for the first time, how so many truths he loves fit together, building on what he had always perceived as a member of the Ashanti tribe, but what he had been taught to disbelieve and insert Christian doctrines requiring faith in mysteries."
     Innocence and its protection keeps coming back to my mind as I observe what I almost said was "my people." I find an ever deepening affection for the friends I have made here, and the thousands of cheerful faces whom I will never know but who have responded enthusiastically to my recognition and greetings to them. Does not the overwhelming presence of religious mottos, religious expressions, and Bible bookstores on every block provide some kind of intermittent basis for remains-even with the rowdiest of the unemployed masses sitting on running boards, old barrels, and just about any convenient place for loitering and watching the world go by?
     I know that when I get on the plane and fly out of Accra, knowing that I am headed for home, I will feel a deep sense of loss at separating from these people. Really to have lived in their environment, eating their food, working with increasing effectiveness each day in communicating ideas with these people will undoubtedly be some of the best training I have ever had.
     We went into the center of town to visit the chief of Ashanti. The palace was comparatively quite grand. In the welcoming courtyard the clothesline displayed a variety of European clothes, and that constituted all of the courtyard furnishings. Chairs were brought out for us to sit on, and then the chief sent a messenger to say that he and his court were ready to receive us. We went into an inner court where a row of chairs faced another row of chairs, about twenty-five feet across the floor. We sat on one side and then the chief and his lieutenants came in and took their places. We made the rounds and shook hands and then received an official greeting by the chief.
     Pastor Garna introduced me, and so I thanked the chief for inviting us, told him how new the New Church is in Ghana, but how well established and old it is in South Africa. I spoke of the conditions of the church in South Africa, and stressed the fact that our mission is not to deal with civil government but to focus on spiritual truths, building a conscience that is responsible to the Lord alone as He reveals Himself in His Word.

363

     I briefly described our concept of one God in one Person, and suggested that this is a unique Christian approach, but much needed, as I felt it is closer to the primitive and original African concepts of the Deity and the life of religion. Without exception they all nodded and smiled.
     I then expressed our hope that we could build a New Church in Ghana that would be Ghanaian in order and organization. The acknowledgment of the Lord in His second coming in the Writings given through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg is what unifies us. I spoke of the Assembly of the New Church in Ghana which Pastor Garna leads, Ankra-Badu's work as a General Church priest in looking to the establishment of a training program for Ghanaian priests, and then spoke of the relationship of the General Church of the New Jerusalem to the Lord's spiritual church. They seemed to follow what I had to say and clapped graciously when I had finished.
     The chief then read a prepared statement in which he welcomed me and the Assembly of the New Church. He said that he realized that Swedenborg's Writings were new in Ghana, but that he felt the New Church would grow, and that he wanted us to have a piece of land for the building of our church when we are able to do so. The members of the local New Church congregation clapped ecstatically on hearing of this gift, and so there is hope for further growth locally. The chief also implored the General Church of the New Jerusalem to support this small church movement and to look toward building schools and a medical clinic so that the people might be healthy and educated naturally as well as spiritually.

Another Visit

     The chief came out dressed in a magnificent piece of material with heavy gold lame embroidery in swirling patterns. Around his neck-he was a large man-hung a very large and very heavy chain of gold with a bunch of cocoa pods of solid gold at the bottom. I would judge that he was my age or a bit older. His retinue of sub chiefs and lieutenants and ambassadors flanked him and were all dressed in far more lavish costumes than the previous chief and his party.
     We followed the same procedure of greeting and introduction, and this time I took a chance and gave a bit of a sermon covering the subject of the Lord and His Divine Human, the vision of Him in His Word in the beginning, man's turning away and the loss of this vision, then the Lord coming into the world and putting on our human nature so that He might be physically visible and once again become the Word before their very eyes-the Word made flesh.

364

He promised to come again as the Spirit of Truth, and so this has taken place through the Writings which He has given us directly through His servant, Emanuel Swedenborg. I was not quite sure how they were taking all this, but two interpreters were intermittently firing the message in Ashanti language and, I believe, in Ti.
     The chief was very gracious in his response to my sermon, saying that he knew that the Writings of Swedenborg were being circulated in his village, and that he welcomed the growth of the New Church. He also told our local minister that he had decreed that our church should have a piece of land for its church, and if we would develop further and open a school and a medical clinic, there would be further land.
     When Pastor Garna asked his permission for me to pray, the chief smiled and said, "I thought God was the one who gives prayers and permission to do so in His name." There was much laughter at this, and it became quite evident that the chief speaks very good English, but he was not about to let me know this nor transgress his protocol of using official interpreters. He then became quite friendly and said that the seat I was occupying was not a chair but a throne since he had decreed that I should be a chief in his village while I was there. The local congregation clapped uproariously and all but broke into a revival song. My comeback was that when next he visited Philadelphia, I would ordain him for a day into the priesthood of the New Church and he could walk about the Cathedral as if he owned it. I also suggested that he could bring his sons to visit and communicate with my sons, which pleased him so much that he displayed all of the gold in the remaining teeth he has.
     After final goodbyes and a prayer and benediction by me, he got up with his crew and walked with us through the courtyard and out to our bus. This apparently is above and beyond the call of protocol. He asked for another picture of us shaking hands, and then waved goodbye as our bus bounced over the stones and mud ditches between us and the main road. He's quite an unforgettable character.
     It is quite touching to see how excited the Ghanaian people are that I suggested that I meet the Ashanti chief and that arrangements had been made to do so on such short notice. Mr. Obeng declares that the Lord wanted it and touched my heart to ask for it and provided him (Mr. Obeng) to take up the idea and spend the whole day arranging it. There is no question in the minds of any of them but that this is the direct working of the Lord's Providence. Who am I to be the doubter?

365

     Thursday, the 23rd-After our final visit to the consulate and the receiving of the visas, I met with Ankra-Badu's class at his house. It was a very good evening with fifteen devout students present.
     Sunday morning, June 26th, Ankra-Badu picked me up at 8:30, and we proceeded to his house for a service with his Tema and Accra group, numbering twenty-three. The sermon was entitled "The New Vineyard"-very long but quite appreciated. After the service we had a class on the Pentecostal movement, its history and origin in the Bible. This was a lively class, as two avid Pentecostals were present. We all parted friends, and I believe it was very good for our group. Some hearty folks stayed on for a class on predestination, which terminated early Sunday afternoon at about 2:30.
     The people of Ghana are healthy, happy, quite friendly, and peaceful. In over two weeks I have not heard a siren sound, seen a police car, heard an ambulance, or seen fighting in the market place. I must admit that I was worried about being mugged, robbed, roughed up, etc., when I first came to Ghana, but I have never seen a friendlier, less aggressive people in my life. I walked through the market places literally turning sideways in order to keep from pushing somebody into his pot of boiling oil or knocking over somebody's tray of fresh pineapple, and I never had anyone so much as press me for money, reach into my pocket, or even look threateningly at me. On the contrary, if a person makes half an effort, he is more than rewarded with smiles and cordial greetings.
     How would I summarize this journey? I must conclude from my short exposure so far that of any country that I know of, Ghana appears perhaps to hold out the greatest potential for establishing the church specific on earth. The people are bright and interested in doctrinal matters. The unemployment and lack of any kind of entertainment provide all kinds of opportunity and incentive for getting together and discussing spiritual subjects. The people love to sing and to worship. I have yet to discuss doctrine with any Ghanaian, whether on street corners, in the hotels, in the market place, etc., and not have a keen response to the Writings of the New Church-and continued interest in discussing them.
     In retrospect I am even more impressed with the tremendous level of interest in the Writings in Ghana. If it is the Lord's will that there be a specific church on earth where the Word is understood in its true meaning with innocence and joy, then I know of no other more fruitful place for this to happen than in Ghana.
     Bishop Louis B. King

366

DECLARATIONS OF FAITH AND PURPOSE 1988

DECLARATIONS OF FAITH AND PURPOSE Various 1988

     I believe in the Lord as the one only God, who is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself and Life Itself. I believe the Lord as Creator created heaven and earth in the beginning through His Word "to love others outside Himself, to desire to be one with them, and to make them happy" (TCR 43).
     I believe in the Lord as the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us as Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, our Savior, the King of Kings.
     I believe God whom "no one has seen at any time" manifested Himself by means of Jesus Christ, and provided the way to be conjoined with Him through His glorified Human and the fulfillment of His Word.
     I believe His Second Advent, which is His coming "on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matt. 24:30), has been fulfilled by manifesting the power and the great glory of the internal sense in the literal sense of the Word in His church, prophesied as New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God" (Rev. 21:2).
     I believe the internal sense shows the glory of the Lord's glorified Human, and along with it guides man "into all truth" (John 16:13), and is the way to receive the Lord's power for man's repentance and regeneration.
     I believe through this way man is conjoined to the Lord and receives an eternal and happy life in His bosom.
     I believe I have been called as a laborer in His harvest to serve His sheep that the Lord may provide His influx through the internal sense of the Word.
     In presenting myself for inauguration into the priestly office of the church, New Jerusalem, it is my prayer that I will be a useful and humble servant in His work in my lifetime: "Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in Thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Show me Thy ways, O Lord: teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth, and teach me, for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day" (Psalm 25:15).
     Dzin Pyung Kwak

367

     I believe that there is one God, the Infinite, Supreme Being, who alone lives, or has life in Himself. I believe that the only way finite human minds can in any way comprehend the infinite Lord is by forming ideas of His Divine qualities, such as Humanity, Love, Wisdom, Mercy and Power. For this reason the Lord has given His Word to the human race, so that He might be understood and a life of good might be attained. A life of good is the life of heaven, and a heaven from the human race is the end and purpose of creation.
     I also believe that in the process of time, for the salvation of the human race, it became necessary for Jehovah God to come into the world and manifest Himself as Human. This was accomplished in the Person of Jesus Christ our Lord, whose name forever reminds us of His Divine qualities of Savior and Redeemer of mankind. This is the essential of Christian faith, to acknowledge and worship Jesus Christ as the one God, the Divine Person.
     I believe that the Lord has given a new revelation into the world. This is because the human mind is now able to receive truths about the Lord rationally. to understand higher levels of meaning, to know correspondences, and to develop true doctrine for a life of use. The revelation of these truths, and of the spiritual sense of the Word, is the Second Coming of the Lord.
     The role of the priesthood is to study the Word of the Lord and teach its truths, and lead others to the Word so that they can develop a rational understanding of truth in freedom. All of this is for the sake of a life of good, and hence salvation.
     I feel drawn and called to the office of the priesthood of the New Church. I have a great love for trying to understand truth and accommodate it to human states. I feel particularly compelled to bring the Word to the people of the church, to teach and lead people to go to the Word themselves, question it, study it and confirm it from their own thoughts and affections. If this is done, then a life of good from conscience may result, and this is the life of heaven. My hope and trust is that the Lord will always lead me in the understanding and teaching of His Word.
     Thomas H. Rose

368

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (27) 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (27) Rev. Cedric King 1988

     As Don Rose knows, I have resisted contributing to this series because of my extreme shyness about having my photograph in print. Case in point: Recently, a newcomer looked at my picture on an ad for a near-death lecture I was giving entitled "Back from the Dead," and she said, "I see what you mean!"
     Seriously, I have had a favorite passage in mind for some time but couldn't locate it. The phrase "all things appear to be smiling and joyful" stuck in my mind, so I went to the Concordance and spent the next hour and a half looking up every conceivable variation on that phrase, without success. I was frowning and felt irritated. I should have picked up the phone and called Magill Echols in San Diego (he's the one who brought the passage to my attention ten years ago), but I was embarrassed to admit that I couldn't remember a passage the two of us had spent hours discussing. So I dropped it!
     One week later, when I was in a much better frame of mind, what should arrive in the mail but a paper from a colleague which quoted the very passage, AC 920:2

Everyone may know that a general idea governs all the particular aspects, and this applies to all objects apprehended by the senses, both those which people see and those they hear. Indeed they pay no attention to such objects except insofar as they enter into the general idea a person has. Take the person who has a cheerful disposition; everything he hears and sees seems to him to contain joy and laughter [new translation!]. But for one who has a sad disposition everything he sees and hears seems to be sad and dismal. The same applies to every other kind of person, for their general affection is present within each individual part and causes each individual part to be seen and heard in the general affection. Other features do not even show themselves but are, so to speak, absent or insignificant (emphasis added).

     From the moment I encountered this passage I took it as a personal challenge. You see, I'm the overly serious, critical type by nature, and I didn't want to stay that way forever. This passage offers hope for us "gloom and doomers!" "Everyone may know . . . !" He's talking about any member of the species, Home Sapiens. That's you and I!
     I won't bore you with specifics of how I apply this passage, except to affirm that it is a full-time job. After ten years of using it as a ruling principle in my life, I still have to struggle every day to stay cheerful-which brings me to another favorite passage: "in the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

369

[Photo of Rev. Cedric King]
MEN'S RETREAT '88 1988

MEN'S RETREAT '88 Editor 1988

     A group of men in Bryn Athyn have been studying the topic of male friendships. Do we need them? What are male friendships? Why do women seem to be so successful with their female friendships? This study has developed into a weekend growth workshop in which the topic of male friendship is closely reviewed.
     If this topic interests you, you might be interested in this year's retreat to be held at Glen Tonche in the Catskill Mountains in New York during the weekend of October 28-30.
     It is our goal to attract up to 60 men, college age and up, to study this important topic in a small discussion group format. To make your reservation or for more information contact Malcolm Walter at (215) 947-0825, or contact any of the planning committee members listed below. Don't miss this unique growth opportunity.
     Planning committee: Garth Cooper, Alan Gladish, Dean Holmes, Kim Junge, Alan King, Tom Kline, Jay Lermitte, Peter Rhodes, Carey Smith, Gary Tennis.

370

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE 1988

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE Rev. N. BRUCE ROGERS 1988

     Universal Matters Relating to Marriages

     FROM THE NEW TRANSLATION BEING PREPARED BY REV. N. BRUCE ROGERS

     209. There are very many points in regard to marriage which, if presented in detail, would swell this book into an immense volume. For we could present a detailed treatment of various particulars relating to similarities and dissimilarities between partners; to the elevation of natural conjugial love into spiritual conjugial love and the conjunction of the two; to the gradual growth of the one and the gradual decline of the other; to the varieties and diversities in each; to the intelligence in wives; to the universal conjugial atmosphere emanating from heaven, and the one opposite to it from hell; to the way these flow in and are received; and many other topics besides, which, if they were set out point by point, would expand this work into so large a tome it would weary the reader. For this reason, and to avoid useless prolixities, we consolidate these items into this chapter on "Universal Matters Relating to Marriages." As in previous chapters, however, we will divide them into discussions under their own headings, as follows:

(1)      The special sense of conjugial love is the sense of touch.
(2)      In the case of people who are in a state of truly conjugial love, their capacity for growing wise increases, but with those who are not in a state of conjugial love, it decreases.
(3)      In the case of people who are in a state of truly conjugial love, their happiness in living together increases, but with those who are not in a state of conjugial love, it decreases.
(4)      In the case of people who are in a state of truly conjugial love, their union of minds increases, and with it, their friendship, but with those who are not in a state of conjugial love, these both decrease.
(5)      People who are in a state of truly conjugial love continually wish to be one person, but those who are not in a state of conjugial love want to be two separate individuals.
(6)      People who are in a state of truly conjugial love look to eternity in their marriage, while the opposite is the case with those who are not in a state of conjugial love.
(7)      Conjugial love resides in chaste wives, but still their love depends on their husbands.

371

(8)      Wives love the bonds of marriage provided their husbands love them.
(9)      The intelligence of women is by nature modest, gracious, peaceable, compliant, soft and gentle, whereas the intelligence of men is by nature critical, rough, resistant, argumentative, and given to intemperance.
(10) Wives do not experience a state of arousal as their husbands do, but theirs is a state of readiness to receive.
(11) The sexual abundance men have is according to their love of propagating the truths of their wisdom and according to their love of performing useful services.
(12) Determinations to intercourse are at the good pleasure of the husband.
(13) There is a conjugial atmosphere which flows in from the Lord through heaven into each and every thing of the universe, extending even to its lowest forms.
(14) This atmosphere is received by the female sex and communicated through it to the male sex, and not the other way around.
(15) Where a truly conjugial love exists, this atmosphere is received by the wife, and by the husband solely through his wife.
(16) Where the love is not conjugial, this atmosphere is indeed received by the wife, but not by the husband through her.
(17) Truly conjugial love can be present in one of the partners and not at the same time in the other.
(18) Married partners bring with them [various similarities and] various dissimilarities, both internal and external.
(19) Various similar qualities can be joined together, but not with dissimilar ones.
(20) For partners who desire love truly conjugial, the Lord provides a likeness between them, and if not on earth. He provides it in heaven.
(21) To the degree that one's conjugial love wanes and is lost, a person's character approaches that of an animal.

     Explanation of these statements now follows:

     210. (1) The special sense of conjugial love is the sense of touch. Every love has its own special sense. The love of seeing arising from a love of understanding has the sense of sight; and the things that give it pleasure are symmetries and qualities of beauty. The love of hearing arising from a love of listening and complying has the sense of hearing; and the things that give it pleasure are harmonies. The love of identifying odors floating about in the air arising from a love of perceiving has the sense of smell; and the things that give it pleasure are fragrances.

372

The love of nourishing oneself arising from a love of filling oneself with good qualities and truths has the sense of taste; and the things that give it pleasure are fine foods. The love of identifying objects arising from a love of looking out and protecting oneself has the sense of touch; and the things that give it pleasure are sensations that tickle and tingle.
     The love of joining oneself with one's partner arising from a love of uniting goodness and truth also has the sense of touch, and that is because this sense is the common one of all the senses and so draws contributions from the rest. People know that this love brings all the aforementioned senses into confederation with it and appropriates to itself the things that give them pleasure.
     The fact that the sense of touch is dedicated to conjugial love and is special to it is apparent from its every sport, and from the exaltation of its subtle sensations to the most highly exquisite. But to extend this discussion further is left to lovers.

     211. (2) In the case of people who are in a state of truly conjugial love, their capacity for growing wise increases, but with those who are not in a state of conjugial love, it decreases. A capacity for growing wise increases with those who are in a state of truly conjugial love because this love exists in married couples as a result of wisdom and in accordance with it, as we have shown and fully demonstrated in preceding chapters. It also increases because the special sense of this love is the sense of touch, and since this sense has something in common with all the senses, and is moreover full of delights, it therefore opens the inner perceptions of their minds as it opens the inner perceptions of their senses and together with these the organs of the whole body. It follows from this that people who are possessed of this love nothing better than to become wise. For a person becomes wise as the inner perceptions of his mind are opened, because by their opening the thoughts of his understanding are raised into a higher light and the affections of his will into a higher warmth; and the higher light is wisdom, while the higher warmth is a love for wisdom. Spiritual delights joined to natural delights-as is the case in people in a state of truly conjugial love-bring about a capability for loving and therefore a capacity for becoming wise.
     Because of this, angels possess conjugial love in accordance with their wisdom, and growths in that love and its accompanying delights come about as a result of growths in their wisdom. Because of this, too, the spiritual offspring which are born of their marriages are, from the father, such things as have to with wisdom, and, from the mother, such things as have to do with love; and they love these offspring with a spiritual storge2 (the natural affection of parents for their offspring).

373

[The number 2 appears after storge in the sentence above. The scanner finds no reason why it was there.] This latter love attaches itself to their conjugial love and continually elevates it, and at the same time unites the partners.

     212. The opposite happens in the case of people who are not in any state of conjugial love owing to a lack of any love of wisdom in them. People like this do not enter into marriages except with the purpose of indulging their lascivious lusts, and this purpose has in it a love of thinking insanely. For every purpose regarded in its essence is love, and lasciviousness in its spiritual origin is a form of insanity. By insanity we mean a derangement of the mind resulting from falsities, and the derangement is pronounced when it is a derangement of mind resulting from falsifications of truths, even to the point that the falsifications are believed to be matters of wisdom. Clear confirmation and proof that people like this are opposed to conjugial love appears in the spiritual world. There, at the first whiff of conjugial love, they flee into underground chambers and shut the doors; and if these are opened, they go insane like madmen in the world.

     213. (3) In the case of people who are in a state of truly conjugial love, their happiness in living together increases, but with those who are not in a state of conjugial love, it decreases. Their happiness in living together increases in the case of those who are in a state of truly conjugial love because they love each other with their every power of sensation. The wife views nothing more lovable than her husband, and the husband nothing more lovable than she. Indeed, neither do they hear, smell or touch anything more lovable than each other. From this comes their happiness in living together and sharing house, bedroom and bed. That this is so, you married men can confirm for yourselves from the first delights of marriage, which are then felt in their fullness, because at that time, of all the opposite sex, a husband loves his wife alone. Everyone knows that the reverse is the case with those who do not possess any conjugial love.

     214. (4) In the case of people who are in a state of truly conjugial love, their union of minds increases, and with it, their friendship, but with those who are not in a state of conjugial love, these both decrease. We have already shown, in the chapter in which we took up "The Conjunction of Souls and Minds by Marriage, Meant by the Lord's Saying That They Are No Longer Two But One Flesh," that a union of minds increases in the case of those who are in a state of truly conjugial love (see nos. 156-181).

374

This union grows, moreover, as friendship is joined to love, because friendship is, so to speak, the face of that love, and also its garment; for friendship both attaches itself to love like a garment and combines itself with it like a face. Love prior to friendship is similar to love for any of the opposite sex, and after the wedding it gradually fades. But love combined with friendship continues on after the wedding and afterwards becomes permanent. It also enters more deeply into the breast. Friendship introduces the love and causes it to be truly conjugial; and then the love in turn causes this its friendship to become also conjugial, which differs greatly from the friendship in any other love, because it is such a full one.
     Everyone is aware that the opposite happens in the case of people who do not have conjugial love. In their case the first friendship that was inspired in them at the time of their betrothal and later during the first days after their wedding, more and more recedes from the inner recesses of their minds and gradually subsides from there until it finally descends to the fingertips. And in the case of those who contemplate separation, it entirely disappears. With those who do' not contemplate separation, however, love remains in outward appearances, but inwardly it is cold.

     215. (5) People who are in a state of truly conjugial love continually wish to be one person, but those who are not in a state of conjugial love want to be two separate individuals. Conjugial love in its essence is nothing else but the wish of two to be one, or in other words, a will on their part that their two lives become one life. To carry out that will is the constant endeavor of this love, and all that it does flows from it. We have it established from the studies of philosophers, and it is also evident to people of educated reason who reflect, that effort is the very essence of motion, and that will in the human being is a living effort. It follows from this that people who are in a state of truly conjugial love continually have within them an effort, or will, to be one person.
     That the opposite is the case with those who are not in a state of conjugial love, they themselves very well know. For they constantly think of themselves as two separate individuals, owing to a lack of union between their souls and minds, and they therefore do not see what is meant by the Lord's words, that "they are no longer two but one flesh" (Matthew 19:6).

     216. (6) People who are in a state of truly conjugial love look to eternity in their marriage, while the opposite is the case with those who are not in a state of conjugial love. People who are in a state of truly conjugial love look to eternity in their marriage because eternity is inherent in this love.

375

Its eternity owes itself to the fact that this love in the wife and wisdomin the husband grow to eternity, and as these grow or progress, the partners enter more and more deeply into the blessings of heaven-blessings which their wisdom and love of wisdom at the same time carry concealed within them. If one were to snatch away an idea of eternity, therefore, or if for some reason it should slip from their minds, it would be as though they were cast down from heaven.
     What the state of married partners in heaven is like when thought of eternity leaves their minds and an idea of marriage as something temporary occurs instead, for me came to light from the following experience:
     A married couple from heaven was once granted permission to be with me, and some clever-talking scoundrel then managed to take away their thought of eternity in regard to marriage. Being deprived of this thought they began to lament, saying that they could not go on living and that they felt a sense of misery as never before. When their fellow angels in heaven perceived this, the scoundrel was sent away and cast down. As soon as this happened, immediately their thought of eternity returned to them, and rejoicing with a heartfelt-joy on account of it, they tenderly embraced each other.
     On another occasion I listened to two partners who one moment entertained a thought of eternity in respect to their marriage, and the next moment a thought of it as something temporary. The reason was that an internal dissimilarity existed between them. As long as they had the thought of eternity, they were happy together; but when they began to think of their marriage as something temporary, they said it was no longer a marriage-the wife declaring that she was no longer a wife but a concubine, and the husband that he was no longer a husband but a fornicator. When their internal dissimilarity was revealed to them, therefore, the man left the woman and the woman left the man. Afterwards, however, because they each had an idea of eternity in respect to marriage, they were matched with partners of a character similar to their own.
     From these observations it can be clearly seen that partners who are in a state of truly conjugial love look to eternity, and that if this idea slips from the inmost recesses of their thought, they are estranged from each other in respect to conjugial love, however much they may not be estranged at the same time in respect to friendship; for friendship has its abode in outward ties, while conjugial love has its abode in inward ones.
     It is the same in the case of marriages on earth. When married partners there love each other tenderly, they think of eternity in regard to the marriage covenant, and not at all of its being terminated by death. Or if they do think about this, they grieve, until strengthened again with hope by the thought of its continuing in the life to come.

376

216 [repeated]. (7) Conjugial love resides in chaste wives, but still their love depends on their husbands. The reason is that wives are born forms of love, and it is therefore innate in them to wish to be one with their husbands. They also continue to feed their love with this thought of their will. Consequently to turn away from their effort to unite themselves with their husbands would be to turn away from their very natures. It is different with husbands. Because they are not born forms of love, but are receivers of that love from their wives, therefore to the degree that they receive it, to that degree their wives enter into them with their love. But to the degree they do not receive it, their wives stand outside with their love and wait. This is so, however, in the case of chaste wives, it is otherwise in the case of unchaste ones.
     It follows from this that conjugial love resides in chaste wives, but that still their love depends on their husbands.

     217. (8) Wives love the bonds of marriage provided their husbands love them. This follows from what was said under the preceding heading. We add here the further observation that from their inborn nature wives wish to be wives and to be called wives. To them it is a title of respectability and honor. Consequently they love the bonds of marriage. Moreover, since chaste wives wish to be wives not just in name but in fact, and because this is achieved by a closer and closer tie with their husbands, they therefore love the bonds of marriage from the time its covenant is established, and this the more as they are loved in return by their husbands, or in other words, the more their husbands love these bonds.

     218. (9) The intelligence of women is by nature modest, gracious, peaceable, compliant, soft and gentle, while the intelligence of men is by nature critical, rough, resistant, argumentative, and given to intemperance. Evidence that this is what women are like and what men are like is clearly apparent from each sex's body, face, tone of voice, speech, bearing and behavior. With respect to the body. men are firm in skin and flesh, while women are soft. With respect to the face, men's are harder, more defiant, rougher, darker in color, also whiskered, thus less beautiful; whereas women's are softer, more compliant, gentler, lighter in color, and so pictures of beauty. With respect to tone of voice, men have a stern one, while women have a gentle one. With respect to their speech, men's is given to intemperance and argumentativeness, while women's is modest and peaceable. With respect to their bearing, men's is bolder and more forceful, whereas women's is meeker and more delicate. With respect to their behavior, men's is more unruly, while women's is more civilized.

377

The nature of men and the nature of women are different even from the time they are born, and how much they differ became clearly apparent to me from seeing boys and girls together in groups. Several times in a great city I looked through my window and saw gatherings of them on the street, where over twenty of them would congregate every day. There the boys would play together in accordance with the temperament inborn in them-raising a commotion, shouting, fighting, striking blows, throwing stones at each other. In contrast, the girls would sit peacefully at the doors of the houses, some playing with little children, some dressing dolls, some sewing on bits of linen, some giving each other kisses. And yet I was surprised to see that they regarded the boys the way they were with friendly eyes.
From this I could clearly see that a man is born a form of the intellect, and a woman a form of love. I could also see what the intellect is like and what love is like in their beginnings, and thus what a man's intellect would be like in its development without conjunction with feminine love and eventually conjugial love.
SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION MANAGER 1988

SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION MANAGER Editor 1988

     Mr. John R. Seekamp has announced the appointment of Kerry S. Clements as new manager of the Swedenborg Foundation.
     A former Presbyterian pastor, for the last five years Mr. Clements has been Director of Resource Development for InterServ, a social service agency in St. Joseph, Missouri, with programs on aging, housing, youth, and family services. He holds a master's degree from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and an undergraduate degree from King College, Bristol, Tennessee. Mr. Clements is a member of the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives and the Greater Kansas City Council on Philanthropy.
     Besides administering publishing operations for the foundation, Mr. Clements' responsibilities will include national constituency development, fund-raising, public relations, and financial management.
MIDWEST WOMEN'S RENEWAL WEEKEND 1988

MIDWEST WOMEN'S RENEWAL WEEKEND Editor 1988

378

CHAPEL DEDICATION IN HOT SPRINGS, SOUTH DAKOTA 1988

CHAPEL DEDICATION IN HOT SPRINGS, SOUTH DAKOTA Multiple Authors 1988

     Hot Springs is a little, charming town of 5000 souls in the southwest corner of South Dakota. My wife and I lived there in retirement from 1978 to 1986. I used to say to friends, "No, we didn't move to South Dakota; we moved to the Black Hills, which happen to be just inside the border of South Dakota." The Black Hills is a pine-covered mountain range, about 5000 feet high on average, running more or less parallel with the Wyoming line. The pines look black from a distance, hence the name. Rocks protrude frequently, and a majestic granite assembly provided the mountain bed for that most impressive Rushmore monument.
     In the Hot Springs area there is a group of twelve local adult members, plus six who live fifty to a few hundred miles away. And there are eight delightful children, three of whom get regular Sunday School. Though for regular purposes the group doesn't look like twenty-six strong but rather about half that size, the above lot can nevertheless be said to constitute the Oral-Hot Springs Group. (Oral is only twenty miles away.) The group has grown since our time, because of the isolated families. Also, the chapel did not exist when we were there, though started then. So to get instant development and expansion, all that is needed is for the resident pastor to move away.
     We used to have one full-scale service and one short service, followed by class per month. Early in the game there was also Sunday School for then teenagers, now young adults. A monthly letter, The Ponderosa, now extinct, endeavored to feed the flame between meeting days. For the first few years we met in each other's homes and had potluck dinners after service or class. Later we decided to open up to the public by renting a centrally located hall and putting ourselves on the list of churches in the local weekly newspaper. We also placed our name and telephone in both the white and yellow pages. About the same time I gave a series of 15-minute radio talks each Sunday morning for four months. Apart from friendly comments it was perhaps through one or other of the above means that one family about 50 miles away found us. But no uncontrollable invasion!
     How about a chapel of our own? Over the years, dreams were not lacking. This place? That place? At the heart of the ideas were our friends A. M. and Vee Nickel. And now they have provided the chapel.

379

On Sunday, June 5, 1988, Bishop King, assisted by Rev. Erik Sandstrom, dedicated it in a solemn worship service.
     The chapel is situated on the Nickel property next to their newly built "dream house" on a hillside in southern Black Hills just three miles north of the town of Hot Springs. A retired industrialist with business in Los Angeles, Mr. Nickel, better known as Nick, has power tools with sundry capacities on his mind, and so he built a large metal shed next to the Nick and Vee new home. It is the far end of it, up the hillside, that has been transformed into a most attractive little chapel, measuring about 14 x 30 feet. It has an entrance of its own, capped by a plaque with carved wooden letters spelling "Chapel." Once inside, you are in church. The room is completely set off, winterized and panelled with ponderosa boards from the Nickel forests. The altar is (was) an antique sideboard, whose shelves hold a set of the Writings and on whose top rests a handmade stand for a copy of the Sacred Scriptures, flanked by candles.
     Work parties led up to the finished product, and everyone local contributed in one way or another: W. B. and Linda Klippenstein (the senior "Klips"), Kent and Marcia, Forrest and Mary, Darryl and Sharon (all Klippensteins), Don and Melani Greer, and of course our host and hostess themselves. What, among other things, came out of this "cooperative" were the altar, the stand for the Word, the cover for the Word, the pulpit, handwrought iron altar rail and dedication key, a walnut offertory bowl, and kneeling pads, Chairs and a stereo tape player came from the group treasury.

     [Photo of the Chapel dedicated in Hot Springs, South Dakota]

380

     During the dedication ceremony senior member W. B. Klippenstein rose to present the dedication key to the Bishop, and said: "Bishop King, on behalf of the congregation of the Oral-Hot Springs Group of the General Church of the New Jerusalem I present to you this day a key as a sign and token of our desire that this house of worship be dedicated to the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ as He is now revealed in His Second Advent." Having accepted the key in the name of the Lord and expressing thanks on behalf of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, the Bishop turned to the open Word and said: "And now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the presence of this congregation who have diligently labored in preparing this place for Him, I do dedicate this chapel to the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrine and the ritual of the New Jerusalem Church, as it is contained in the Order and Organization of the General Church. May the Lord's blessing be upon all those who worship here, and may they find in the uses to which this building is dedicated their exceeding great reward."
     The service proceeded with singing, a sermon by the Bishop on the text from John 3:14, and prayer and benediction. A congregation of 37 attended, consisting of the local twelve and fortified by 16 visitors and nine children. A banquet with toasts followed in another area of the shed, neatly partitioned off for the purpose. And later in the afternoon most of the congregation filed back into the chapel for the baptism of the youngest Nickel grandchild, the daughter of Peter and Renee Nickel, Lesley Eden, administered by Rev. Erik Sandstrom.
     The festive weekend program, however, had begun on Saturday, the day before. In an outdoor ceremony at the home of Darryl and Sharon Klippenstein in Oral the Bishop baptized their firstborn baby son, Laird. Proud Gorandpa and Gorandma Charles and Fay Lindrooth were there, and so was Gorandma Rachel Klippenstein and many other relatives and friends from far and near. Only Gorandpa Mark, held back by duties 1300 miles away, could not attend visibly. And in the evening-a beautiful summer evening it was-the Nickel shed housed a potluck dinner, followed by an outdoor class by the Bishop entitled "Uses."
     This episcopal visit, enhanced also by the presence of the two clergy wives, Freya King and Bernice Sandstrom, will stand as a milestone in the life and history of our small but strong and faithful group in the southern Black Hills.
     Rev. Erik Sandstrom, Sr.

381

     A NEWS NOTE FROM SOUTH DAKOTA WRITTEN TWO YEARS AGO

     Some thirteen years have passed since we in this part of the world met to greet Rev. Kurt Nemitz. We continued under his guidance until his departure for Maine. Then for a period of time an assortment of ministers resident in Glenview saw to our needs on a quarterly basis.
     Somewhat over eight years ago things changed. Rev. and Mrs. Erik Sandstrom decided to join us on a permanent basis. Rev. Erik had us organized in short order. Church services and classes followed on a fairly regular schedule. Then of course we did all the happy thingsweddings, births, baptisms, potlucks, picnics, etc.
     While in our midst, Rev. Erik helped the Denver Society into a church building of its own. In fact, he traveled to Denver on a regular basis until the society called Rev. Clark Echols for its leader. He was also instrumental in the formation of the Albuquerque Group.
     To avoid boredom the Sandstroms would head north to visit isolated in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The itinerary was somewhat more hectic than we had expected for one who had retired, however apparently, from the deanship of the Academy Theological School.
     As for our dear friend Bernice, year by year she created Biblical figures to enhance and beautify the Christmas creche. Shortly before her departure Bernice unveiled her masterpiece, a collection of Biblical figures to be used in school instruction. You residents of Bryn Athyn, treat yourself. See these works of art and feel joy.
     We of Hot Springs/Oral will miss our friends, but hopefully will make new ones. Rev. Clark Echols will be our first target.
     A. M. Nickel
RECEIVED FOR REVIEW 1988

RECEIVED FOR REVIEW Editor 1988

Swedenborg Researcher's Manual, a research reference manual for writers of academic dissertations and for other scholars, by William Ross Woofenden, published by the Swedenborg Scientific Association, 1988, 366 pages.

382

Richard De Charms Senior 1988

Richard De Charms Senior Rev. Willard D. Pendleton 1988

Richard De Charms Senior, New Church Champion, by Richard Gladish, Bryn Athyn, Penna.; price $10.00

     Once again Professor Richard Gladish has come through with a significant contribution to the history of the New Church. His relatively recent opus (1984) on William Henry Benade was received with enthusiasm, and now he has ventured into the more difficult assignment of presenting to the public the story of the Reverend Richard De Charms. I say it is more difficult because the life and times of Benade are well documented, but the record of De Charms had to be gathered from widely scattered sources which testify to his stormy and erratic career.
     I am well aware of the problems which Professor Gladish faced. I am also aware of the discouragements which he encountered in his efforts to publish the work. But the author, like the subject of his book, is a strong man who, having put his hand to the plough, does not look back. Both as an educator and a writer he has demonstrated a determination that not many possess. It is, then, with a sense of deep appreciation that I and others who in one way or another were involved in the undertaking are grateful for the final result.
     Unlike the book on Benade this work is not always easy reading. One reason for this is that De Charms frequently digressed into theological speculations and social considerations that no longer seem relevant. What is more, this is not a biography in which the charisma of the central figure captures the imagination of the reader. It is a sad story of a strong and lonely man who refused to compromise his beliefs in order to gain the acceptance that is usually regarded as the measure of success.
     In this regard it is to be observed that Richard De Charms held only three pastorates, and each of these was of relatively short duration. The reason is obvious. Living at a time when the New Church in America was dominated by the opinions of robust laymen, De Charms refused to "go with the flow." It may accurately be said that he was no diplomat. It may also be said that while he was firm in internals, he was also unyielding in externals. But, whatever may be said, the fact remains that had it not been for Richard De Charms, the formation and the development of the Academy would have been long delayed.
     It was Richard De Charms who sowed the seed that fell upon good ground after he left this world. Note well his statement which is quoted on page eighty of the work under review: "I do not write for the present day, and I do not expect that any truth which I am the instrument of advocating will have any force . . . until it shall have pleased the Lord to take me from the natural world."

383

De Charms wrote for the future; he was a prophet, not an organizer.
     Turn now to page one of the book, where Professor Gladish lists those principles which De Charms believed should serve as proper guidelines in the establishment of the New Church. Do they sound familiar? It was Bishop W. F. Pendleton who in 1899 formulated the "Principles of the Academy." Most of these principles were not original; they were revised statements which fifty years earlier had been fearlessly proclaimed by De Charms. The difference was that Bishop W. F. Pendleton, like Benade before him, had an enthusiastic following, whereas Richard De Charms did not.
     Not only would I recommend this book to the reading public of the General Church but I would remind you that it treats of an almost forgotten chapter in the history of the New Church in America. Bear in mind that what we know as the General Church and the Academy today did not begin with Benade and the founders of the Academy. As any other movement in history, the Academy had its roots in earlier visions, and if Benade is known as the Father of the Academy, Richard De Charms was its Prophet.
     It is said in Scripture that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country. In another frame of reference it may be said that a prophet is not accepted by his contemporaries. Yet the time came when De Charms' successors began to build upon the foundations he had laid. It is with this in mind that we are grateful that Professor Gladish had the perseverance to present to this generation the story of a forgotten champion of the New Church.
     Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton
MINISTERIAL CHANGES 1988

MINISTERIAL CHANGES Editor 1988

     Rev. Eugene Barry has resigned as pastor of the Bath, Maine, Society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, effective June 30, 1988.
     Rev. Allison Nicholson has been called and accepted the pastorate of the Bath Society effective July 1, 1988.
     Rev. Mark Carlson will become assistant to the pastor of the Glenview Society effective September 1, 1988.
     Rev. Michael Cowley has accepted a call from the Toronto Society to serve as resident assistant pastor effective September 1, 1988.

384

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     HIGHLIGHTS FROM SWEDENBORG'S LETTERS (8)

     Swedenborg published the first books of the Writings anonymously. He was certainly alluding to the Writings in the final phrase of a letter to the king of Sweden dated June 2, 1747. The phrase was "the important work which I have now in hand." The king had no idea that the work would be of a totally different nature from anything Swedenborg had done before, and so we take whimsical pleasure in the king's then saying, "We are fully assured that the aforesaid work which he has in hand will in time benefit the public. . . .
     Aside from the printers, who was the first person to be told by Swedenborg that he was the anonymous writer of those books published in London? An educated guess is that it was Count Gustaf Bonde, and we will quote a letter to him in a moment. The first actual letter we can find alluding to his calling is a very short letter written in April of 1760 to Count von Hopken, Sweden's Prime Minister. Swedenborg gave von Hopken his copy of a splendid book called Biblia Naturae by Jan Swammerdam. The letter mentions this gift and says, "This book will be of no use to me hereafter. for I have turned my thoughts from natural things to spiritual. I remain with respect . . . Em. Swedenborg." To our knowledge this Book of Nature by Swammerdam is the only book mentioned in the Writings (see TCR 585, DLW 351). It was filled with marvelous sketches made from microscope observations. (A reproduction of one of its illustrations appears in New Church Life 1983, p. 299.)
     Several of Swedenborg's acquaintances were aware early in 1760 that he was the writer of the Writings. On August 7th of that year Count Bonde wrote to Swedenborg that he had a letter from a foreigner who "had opportunity to read some of Herr Assessor's rare writings, and came to learn that their author was here in Sweden . . . . He sends the accompanying letter, with request that I forward it.
     Swedenborg's reply to Bonde is dated August 11th. He notes that the letter "concerns the Writings which last came out in London, on which my name is not printed." He tells Bonde not to disclose his name but to write to this gentleman and "assure him that it was a great pleasure to me that he found enjoyment and light in the reading of the Writings, this being a sign that he had enlightenment from heaven, for without enlightenment no one can understand the things written therein since they pertain not to the outer understanding but to the inner."

385

     Notice two references to "the Writings." The letter is written in Swedish, and the word there used is Skriffter. This letter, written in 1760, contains a warning about trying to contact spirits: "This I know, that the Word of God throughout is so written that when man reads it with affection and attention, spirits and angels have a part in the reading, and adjoin themselves to man; for the Word of God is so written as to make a bond between heaven and earth (as can be seen from what is to be found on this subject in the treatise concerning Heaven and Hell, nn. 303-310). Still the Lord provides that spirits and men should rarely come close enough together to speak to each other reciprocally,* for by so close a commerce with spirits man might soon come into a peril of soul and danger to his life.** I would therefore warn against any desire for this. The Lord Himself has been pleased to introduce me into conversation and life together with spirits and angels on account of the matters which are mentioned in the Writings, and for this reason the Lord Himself protects me against the many crafty attempts and threats of wicked spirits.
     * In the draft Swedenborg adds: "for this is more dangerous than man can imagine.
     ** In the draft Swedenborg adds: "Unless the Lord Himself bring them into this condition and take them under His care and protect them specially, as is the case with me.
     "Spirits and men are kept apart by the spirits being kept in spiritual thought and speech, and man in natural thought and speech. This separates them, and they make one only by means of correspondences, the nature of which has also been treated of. Therefore, so long as the spirits are in a spiritual state, and man in a natural state, they do not get so close to each other as to converse; still they are together in the affections. But when spirits speak with man they are out of the spiritual state, and in a like natural state with man, and they are then able to bring man into danger of his soul and his life, as has been said above. For this reason they are kept apart so that the spirits do not know of man, and man does not know of them, although they are always together; for man cannot live without spirits with him. Through them he has connection with heaven and hell, and through that connection he has life." (See Small Theological Works and Letters, published by the Swedenborg Society in 1975, pages 203-205.)
     The above letter is the first example of Swedenborg's making a specific reference to a book of the Writings giving the paragraph numbers in which to see some doctrinal point. And while we are talking of first examples, we might note that the first use of the word "Swedenborgian" seems to be in a letter or memorial from Anders Nordencrantz dated February 10, 1761. It is not a very complimentary reference. Nordencrantz, who was at odds with Swedenborg on a political matter, referred to talk in Europe about "Swedenborgian dreams" (Letters and Memorials, p. 572).

386

Swedenborg definitely saw this reference, and he himself talked about the term "Swedenborgian" in a letter written years later.

     * * * *

     Swedenborg was quite enterprising in sending copies of the Writings to libraries and to individuals who seemed likely to read them (see "Swedenborg's Missionary Work," NCL 1964, p. 367). For example, he sent books of the Writings to Bishop Carl F. Menander. He sent him a full set of the Arcana, explaining in a short note dated August 25, 1762 that he had just received some copies from England. When Swedenborg returned from Amsterdam in 1764 where he had published such books as Divine Love and Wisdom and Divine Providence and the Four Doctrines, he wrote to Menander: "it is a pleasure to me that I can present the work which is now published in Holland, and I assure myself of the Bishop's approval in all that is truth . . . . I have brought with me only a few copies, four for the . . . [Academy] Library, and five for Bishops, among whom the Herr Bishop together with the Archbishop [Beronius] are the foremost to whom I entrust the truths which the Lord has now revealed (Apoc. 21:5, 9)."
     How striking it is that Swedenborg, after using the phrase "the truths which the Lord has revealed," gave a reference from the book of Revelation which includes the words, "Behold I make all things new. And He said to me, Write, for these words are faithful and true."

     SWEDENBORG IN THE PAGES OF THE WRITINGS (8)

     Something has come up which warrants a little interruption of this series. In the February issue on page 68 we stated that surely no student of Swedenborg asserts that the Writings were verbally dictated. When this issue reached an overseas reader (not a member of the General Church) he was astonished. He had for many years assumed that General Church people believe that the Writings were dictated to Swedenborg word for word. He describes himself as "astounded" and says, "Honestly, I would like to hear from you what the General Church believes on this matter," adding that this seems to be "one of the most important questions in the New Church today."

387

     The General Church has tried to teach what the Writings themselves say about the process of inspiration. This 1988 series of editorials is intended to bring out a few of the many places in the Writings in which Swedenborg himself is specifically alluded to. There are a number of important passages in the Writings that deal directly with the matter of inspiration. This is a good time to remind our readers of a booklet published in 1961 entitled What the Writings Testify Concerning Themselves. Dr. Hugo Odhner writes: "The object in the present compilation is to present, simply and clearly, those teachings which most directly describe the nature of the revelations given through Swedenborg." One of the sections has the following heading: "The inspiration of Swedenborg differed widely from that of the prophets." From the passages there quoted it seems highly unlikely that a serious student could take the position that the words of the Writings were "dictated" to Swedenborg. Dictation is spoken of; for example, in Heaven and Hell 254 we read of the manner in which words were "dictated" to the Old Testament prophets.
     At the end of his booklet Dr. Odhner added some notes, including material on "States Experienced for the Sake of Instruction." He gives examples of Swedenborg's experiencing what it would be like to write from oral dictation.
     Although the booklet we commend to readers undertakes to present "simply and clearly" the nature of revelations, it is acknowledged that this is a subject into which one can delve quite deeply. There are fascinating questions. In what way did the inspiration of New Testament writers differ from that of Old Testament writers, and how did the inspiration of the prophets differ from the inspiration of Moses and other writers of historical parts of the Word? What are some of the implications of the information we do have on Swedenborg's inspiration? This is something to ponder, and to stimulate our pondering we have in the present issue a letter from Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom that is quite apropos.
     Over the years this magazine has had studies relating to the nature of Swedenborg's inspiration. So far, to our knowledge. it has not been asserted that the words were dictated to Swedenborg verbally. We will confine ourselves here to two recommended articles. One is by another Erik Sandstrom, who gave an address entitled, "Swedenborg's Preparation as to the Will" (January issue 1971). Then there was a remarkable two-part study by the late Rev. Ormond Odhner entitled "The Divine Inspiration of Emanuel Swedenborg." In the May issue of 1980 he begins by discussing the nature of Biblical inspiration.

388

In the June issue he concentrates on Swedenborg's inspiration, one heading being "His Method of Learning," another "His Method of Writing," another "His Choice of Words." Mr. Odhner died in February of 1980, but it had been his intention to publish those two articles. We encourage any interested in this question to look them up.
ORDINATION IN GHANA 1988

ORDINATION IN GHANA Rev. Benjamin Garna 1988

     Communications
Dear Editor:
     I am writing to express my innermost feelings of gratefulness to the Bishop, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King, the Assistant Bishop, Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss, and the Bishop's consistory for arranging for my inauguration into the priesthood of the New Church and ordination into the first degree thereof, which the Bishop officiated at in Tema, Ghana, on Sunday, 19th June, 1988.
     I pray the Lord to help me in the discharge of my functions to justify the trust reposed in me.
     Rev. Benjamin Garna,
          Ghana, West Africa
CONJUGIAL LOVE TRANSLATIONS 1988

CONJUGIAL LOVE TRANSLATIONS 1988

Dear Editor:
     Rev. Bruce Rogers' translation of Swedenborg's De Amore Conjugiali promises to be a splendid addition to New Church literature, judging by the chapters that have appeared in Life. It is much easier to read than the standard translation and the Acton translation, and it is clearly the result of careful research and study.
     By coincidence, I myself have done a translation of the same book, which the Swedenborg Foundation expects to publish soon.
     Your readers might be interested in knowing, first, how two different translations can be coming out more or less concurrently, and, secondly, how the two translations will differ.

389

     Chronology answers the first question. In March 1981 I was commissioned to do a rewrite of two chapters from Conjugial Love for New Church Life, at their request. One of the chapters appeared in the Life in March 1982. This started out to be a rewrite of the standard translation, but I very soon discovered that it was faster to work from Swedenborg's Latin and check my work against other translations. So the chapter in Life, March 1982, was in fact a translation from Latin.
     Once underway with these two chapters, I was so much interested in the work that I started at the beginning and translated the whole book. A draft of the full translation was very nearly complete in June 1984 when 1 heard by the grapevine that Rev. Bruce Rogers was also interested in translating Conjugial Love. That didn't seem a problem because I felt certain that our translations would address different audiences. In the fall of 1984 my translation was finished, and I had begun to seek a publisher among academic and religious presses, and foundations not associated with any church organizations. A query went to the Swedenborg Foundation, and in October 1984, and again in May 1985, they expressed interest. The manuscript is now in the hands of the Foundation's Latin consultant and should be press-ready in less than a year.
     Now, then, how are these two translations different?
     Translations differ according to the audiences they anticipate and the backgrounds of the translators. Now that I have seen samples of Mr. Rogers' excellent translation, I'm reassured that my original hunch was right and that his translation will appeal particularly to readers who are used to Swedenborgian organizations and who do not fear academic rhetoric. My translation, I hope, will appeal more to the uninitiated reader, and to the reader who reads to "hear" and "see."
     As to our backgrounds as translators, mine is different from Mr. Rogers'-not better or worse, just different. Linguistically, I've studied Latin in high school, college and graduate school, but as a Latin fan rather than a Latinist (I think of a Latinist as one who knows the whole corpus of classical Latin literature, some medieval Latin and some post-Renaissance Latin). Other foreign languages I've studied are French, German, Spanish, Gothic and Old English. I just happen to like languages, but I'm a specialist in the English language, having taught college English for eighteen years, and having studied it and used it professionally for twice that long.
     In publication my work has been two-pronged-for the general academic world and for the general reader, rather than the specifically "New Church" reader. It ranges from scholarly publication (at Oxford's Clarendon Press) to technical writing, newspaper columns, magazine articles and poetry.

390

     So my point is, not to worry! These two translations are put together to address two different kinds of people and two different sides of any one person. I don't see them as meeting head to head. I see them as going forward shoulder to shoulder.
     David F. Gladish,
          St. James, Michigan
APOLOGY 1988

APOLOGY Charis P. Cole 1988

Dear Editor,
     Thank you for informing me that one of your readers was upset about something I said on page 169 of the Life last year. In the March and April issues I was summarizing three books, one of which was Men and Marriage by George Gilder. He seems to believe that many of the intelligentsia and feminist organizations are against marriage and the family. I apologize for overstating the case, particularly for characterizing "the media" the way I did, for this is such a broad generalization. I acknowledge that we cannot judge the motives of individuals. I am concerned at things that come out of feminist organizations. One of the concepts is that marriage was invented by men to force the compliance of women, that the family is an institution that stands in the way of a woman developing her full potential, and that caring for children is nothing but an unpleasant burden.
     One book, Sex, Gender and Society, argues that women need devote only 3% of their lives to raising children and the rest can be devoted to a career. Some of the things said about marriage are too vulgar to be quoted.
     Many of these women are unaware of the harm that can come from what they are doing. Some have had little or no religious background and have had unhappy relationships with their fathers and other men. But it is important that we recognize that there are people doing and saying things which undermine human society.
     If we aren't willing to fight these things, our freedom will be diminished and our nation will suffer. I would recommend the reading of Feminism and Freedom by Michael Lavin that was published last year.
     There are passages in the Writings which suggest that the most learned people are atheists. "They who are atheists and naturalists, as they are called, are they who are learned" (AC 8783). This is what is meant in the gospels by the rich being sent away empty and by things hidden from the wise and revealed unto babes. Learning itself is not the cause of atheism, but the learned are often affected by pride.

391

We read in the Spiritual Diary: "Hence it is evident of what quality are the learned of the world, and that the most learned are atheists, and that they confirm themselves more than the rest, according to the greater knowledge which they possess, greater self-confidence and greater abundance of confirmations of the false; so that learning is, to them, a means of becoming insane" (SD 4727).
Charis P. Cole,
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
PROCESS IN DIVINE REVELATION 1988

PROCESS IN DIVINE REVELATION Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom 1988

Dear Editor:
     Yes, thank you for the space. I don't wish to badger the readers, but the missing line in my letter (March issue, p. 119) was: "That the Lord has now revealed that wisdom without using angels, and that we can now be raised into the light that angels have-with or without being regenerated, since seeing the truth has never depended on regeneration-is the marvel of this passage, De Verbo 6. The Writings are the Word, and nothing can be added to them except an ever clearer understanding."
     I wonder whether some New Church people believe Swedenborg wrote the Writings while seeing and speaking to angels. Swedenborg verifies that "it is impossible" to write down what an angel saps (De Verbo 4; see Concordance under "ineffable" and "incomprehensible"). Paul concurs: "Such a one was caught up to the third heaven . . . up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter" (2 Corinthians 12:2, 4; CL 328).
     Apocalypse Revealed 36 makes it clear enough that those who wrote the Word experienced two quite distinct phases, which are "to be carefully distinguished" (cf. AR 945, Lord 52). Phase one is when ". . . they were in spirit or in vision, when they were not in the body but in their spirit, in which they saw the things as are in heaven." The second phase is when "the Word came to them; they were in the body and heard Jehovah speaking" (AR 36).
     In phase one "the eyes of the spirit were opened, and the eyes of the body shut; and then they heard what the angels spake, or Jehovah through the angels, and also saw things represented to them in heaven [examples from Ezekiel, etc.]" (op. cit.). Swedenborg also agrees: "I can testify that it is so from the experience of many years" (Ibid.).

392

     But in phase one, "The Word . . . was not revealed in a state of spirit or in vision, but was dictated to the prophets by the Lord by a living voice" (Ibid.), i.e., in phase two. Thus, no matter how intimate the truth spoken by any angel during phase one, that truth was inspired into the angel by the Lord for the set purpose of being revealed later, in phase two. What Swedenborg, for example, heard and saw in phase one was forgotten upon his return into earth's light. (See De Verbo 4.) Perhaps a vague memory persisted that something had happened, but the contents of what had just been experienced or witnessed could only be revealed by the Lord Himself. When this happened with the Writings, it is clear that no angels were involved in the revelatory process: "No angels wished, no spirits dared, to tell me anything, still less to instruct me about what is in the Word or about any matter of doctrine from the Word. I have been taught by the Lord alone" (DP 135), "while reading the Word" (TCR 779), and in a state of the body, "as I can testify" (AR 36). And as Swedenborg states: "After the state of the spirit I returned into that of the body, in which state I wrote down the things that were seen and heard" (CL 81e).
     But when he wrote down what he had just seen and heard, it was from the Lord alone, in phase two, and not from angels which he saw in phase one. If angels and spirits are used by the Lord to dictate the Word, as in the two testaments, then the Word passes through the heavens, and what is revealed or dictated is the literal sense (sense of the letter) containing an internal sense. (See AR 959, HH 254, et al.) The Lord did not use angels or spirits for the Writings.
     Once we correct any incorrect idea we might have, such as that angels were sitting there before Swedenborg, telling him wonderful things which he then instantly committed into writing, we can then see, first, how completely the Writings are the "Word of the Lord"; and secondly, see the total and unequivocal difference between the Old and New Testaments on the one hand and the Writings on the other. The former were dictated to the prophets and evangelists, using angels and spirits, so that the spiritual sense was for angels, and was contained within the literal sense for men, by correspondences: "The Lord inspired the words which [the spirits] were dictating to the prophets . . . . Since the words came directly from the Lord, the details . . . contain an inner meaning that angels grasp, while men grasp them in a natural meaning. In this way the Lord has used the Word to bond heaven and earth together. (See AC 9818:14 concerning the New Testament.)
     But the Writings were inspired by the Lord not by using angels to dictate, even though angels were choreographed through countless episodes and Remarkable Events in phase one just for the sake of being revealed later by the Lord in phase two.

393

The Writings, moreover, were inspired "while [Swedenborg] was reading the Word," i.e., the Old and New Testaments. Just because we call also the Writings "the Word" does not allow anyone to conclude that Swedenborg was reading his "own" Writings while the Lord was inspiring more of the same! How then did he start the Arcana? He must have been reading Genesis. And so the Writings are on the level of the internal sense of the two testaments.
     The angelic wisdom, which is impossible to express and unutterable to men if angels try it or men try to report it, has now been revealed as Heavenly Doctrine, by the Lord. That is why titles of the Writings contain words such as "Angelic Wisdom Concerning . . ."(DLW and DP); "The Delights of Wisdom . . ." (CL); "From things seen and heard" (HH); and even just "Arcana Coelestia" or Heavenly Secrets. Only the Lord could reveal these things.
     But when the Lord, who was here on earth and glorified what in us had failed and will always fail, reveals His Divine wisdom, both as it is and as it is received in all the heavens, it is nor impossible to express. All can be expressed rationally, in natural language (see De Verbo 6). It has been done. The New Jerusalem, identified as Heavenly Doctrine in the title The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine (1758, emphasis added) has already descended, and is sitting on your shelf and mine! This Heavenly Doctrine comprises all of the Writings, since the "Doctrine of the New Jerusalem" has been revealed concerning "the Lord, the Sacred Scripture, Life and Faith"-doctrines repeated through all the Writings.
     The Lord in His Glorified Human, who is "our Father who art in the heavens," is now present throughout the universal heaven: His Divine Human is "an essence by itself filling the universal heaven" (AC 3061). "This Divine Human which is in heaven is the Divine truth which proceeds from Him, which is the light from Him as a sun" (AC 6280:3). "The Lord came into the world in order that as to His Divine Human He might become the Divine Light, and thus illuminate the universal heaven and the universal world and the human race" (AC 4180:5, all emphases added).
     As I see it (!), the Lord has done and is doing so in and by means of the Writings. That is, I believe, why the method by which the Writings were revealed is called ". . . a miracle surpassing any. . .since the creation of the world" (Invitation 39, 43, 55).
     Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom,
          Hurstville, Australia

394

Church News 1988

Church News Doris McDonald 1988

     TORONTO

     This past year the Toronto Society has seen many changes. We had a lovely banquet in June of 1987 in honor of Geoffrey and Helga Childs who after ten years here moved to Bryn Athyn to Geoffrey's new post as President of the Academy. Following many skits, songs and toasts we said our fond farewells with the presentation of mementos of their stay. These included a painting by our own Richard Cook, and a beautiful quilt done by the ladies depicting the Childs' many years in Canada, both in Toronto and Kitchener. They were also given two lovely bedside tables which we hope will fit into their new home, Glenhurst, in Bryn Athyn.
     At this same time Barbara Horigan left the full-time post of teacher to become a full-time mother. While we will miss her in her previous duties, we look forward to her adding this new dimension to our society.
     Although we are always sad to say goodbye to our pastors and teachers, we are always happy to welcome those who come to replace them. In July 1987 Michael Gladish, his wife Ginny, and their five children joined us as Michael took up the uses as our pastor. In this very short time they have become "one" of us. We also welcomed Alison Pryke as the new teacher who is involved in the lower grades.
     In order to accommodate our new pastor and his family it was decided to put an addition on our church manse, which has been accomplished under the watchful eye of Gordon Anderson with the gratitude of all our church members.
     This past spring we were faced with the decision of renting or buying a second manse. After much discussion it was decided it would be a good investment to purchase one. Arthur Schnarr, our missionary minister, and his family look forward to moving into their new home in September 1988.
     Being a busy, active society, in addition to carrying on our regular weekly Sunday worship services and Wednesday doctrinal classes, we offer many other classes from which to choose-something for everyone from newborn to seniors. Offered are Morns and Tots, Playschool, high school and college classes, Men's Life Enrichment, a women's discussion group, an Arcana class, Marriage Enrichment, Sunday Study Hour, and Enquirers' Classes.
     In addition to these was a series of four sessions of "Celebration 88," which were informal, joyful celebrations of the New Church in heart, thought and life. The emphasis of these sessions was on group participation and sharing;
     In commemoration of Swedenborg's 300th birthday, Information Swedenborg placed two advertisements in Macleans, a Canadian national news magazine which has a readership of 2.5 million people.

395

The ads generated 4,200 replies, and each respondent received a book entitled Introduction to Swedenborg's Religious Thought. From these replies many have asked for further information-a very exciting and productive endeavor. We owe many thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for its generous donation of the books, to the many people who contributed financially to this Tricentenary project, and last but not least, the many volunteers who gave of their time to package the books. On March 26,1988 the Olivet Society hosted a slide lecture at the University of Toronto Victoria College given by Dr. Stephen Larsen, a member of the Board of Directors of the Swedenborg Foundation. His talk, entitled "Swedenborg and the Visionary Tradition," examined the life and work of Swedenborg, describing his preparation for entering the spiritual world. This was well received by 123 people consisting of 20 from the church, 35 from the sermon mailing list and Enquirer's Class and the remainder made up of professors and students.
     It is always with pleasure that we look forward to an episcopal visit, and this past April we were delighted to have Rt. Rev. Peter Buss and his charming wife Lisa stay with us for a few days. Since he was here anyway, the Sons decided to take advantage of the opportunity and have Peter as the guest speaker for our annual Sons Ladies Night, which is always a highlight of our society social calendar. Peter spoke on using our imagination when reading the Word.
     On May 25, 1988 the society, looking to the future, made the decision to call an assistant pastor to help carry on the many uses here in Toronto, and in June it was decided to ask Rev. Michael Cowley to fill that use. We look forward to welcoming Michael, his wife Gwenda (our own Gwenda Parker), and their three little girls as soon as immigration can be arranged one more student for our school, now looking at a number of 34 students for the 1988/89 school year.
     The school will see another change in staff this September as we say goodbye to Sara Morley, who has served this use these past few years with much love and affection. We look forward to having Larry Posey join our team along with his son John, another pupil for our school.
     It is always a great sadness when some of our loved ones pass away. Four of our members left us this past year to enter their new uses in the other world.
     It is always a beautiful occasion to witness baptisms and weddings. This past year there were eleven children baptized and eight adults. Three of our young couples were married, but, sad to say, only one couple has remained here in Toronto.
     As you can see, there is growth here but we always welcome more. Come join our busy, active society!
     Doris McDonald

396

ORDINATIONS 1988

ORDINATIONS Editor 1988

     Announcements
     Garna-At Ghana, West Africa, June 19, 1988, Benjamin Garna into the 1st degree of the New Church, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Kwak-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 12, 1988, Dzin Pyung Kwak into the 1st degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.

     Rose-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, June 12, 1988, Thomas Hartley Rose into the 1st degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.
1988 CHARTER DAY 1988

Editor 1988

     All ex-students, members and friends of the General Church, and friends of the Academy are invited to attend the 72nd Charter Day exercises to be held in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, Friday and Saturday, October 14th and 15th. A complete program of events can be found in the fall issue of News from the Academy. Highlights: Friday, 10:30 a.m.-cathedral service; Friday, 9:00 p.m.-dance; Saturday, 6:30 p.m.-banquet.

     Banquet Tickets

     Tickets can be purchased by contacting Mrs. Donald L. Rose at the Academy switchboard, Academy of the New Church, P.O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 (215-947-4200). Please order by Friday, October 7th. They can either be mailed (please send a self-addressed, stamped envelope) or held at the switchboard for pickup by 10:00 a.m. Friday.
     Tickets can also be purchased in Bryn Athyn at the Development Office in Pitcairn Hall, and the College Office in Pendleton Hall. Tickets will also be on sale in the society building before and after Friday Suppers in late September.
     Tickets are not sold at the door because of advance arrangements with the caterer. The banquet is Saturday, October 15th at 6:30 p.m. Ticket prices are: Adults $8.00 and Students $4.00.
     Checks should be made payable to the Academy of the New Church.

     Theta Alpha Luncheon Tickets

     Tickets for the Theta Alpha luncheon, preceding the annual meeting on Saturday, October 15th, must be purchased in advance no later than Monday, October 10th. This is to assure that no one will have to be turned away at the door. Tickets will be sold in the same fashion as the banquet tickets. Price is $3.00 for adults and students.

     If you are ordering tickets for both the Charter Day banquet and the Theta Alpha luncheon, please make one check, made payable to the Academy of the New Church, to the attention of Mrs. Donald L. Rose.
     The deadline for picking up tickets is 10:00 a.m. at the Academy switchboard, Benade Hall, on Friday, October 14th.

399

SWEDENBORG SOCIETY 1988

SWEDENBORG SOCIETY Editor 1988

     Report of the 178th Annual General Meeting

     The 178th annual general meeting of The Swedenborg Society was held on Wednesday, 11th May, 1988, at 7:00 p.m. in Swedenborg Hall. The president of the society, Dr. John Chadwick, was in the chair and welcomed the 25 members attending, mentioning in particular Dr. Richard Brock from Adelaide.
     The minutes of the 177th annual meeting were read and approved, and Mr. A. T. Chadwick, chairman of the council, then presented the report for the year ended 31st December 1987. From one point of view, said Mr. Chadwick, it had been a year of preparation for 1988 and the celebrations of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Swedenborg. Heartfelt gratitude was owed to the society's president who had worked so hard, and in so many ways beyond actual translation, to meet the timetable set for the publication of his new version of The True Christian Religion. With the aid of his consultant, proofreaders and Mr. Poland Smith, our design consultant, printed copies had been received before the end of the calendar year. Publication day had been on the anniversary of Swedenborg's birth on 29th January, 1988.
     A further achievement had been the publication of the Rev. John Elliott's translation of volume five of the Arcana Caelestia, in October 1987. Volume six is expected to appear in October 1988 but volume seven may not appear until 1990. It is proposed to type this volume on the society's word processor, and time would be needed to inaugurate this method.
     The council extended its thanks to all those who had contributed to these productions. It is a continuing task to bring them to the notice of members and the general public.
     Dr. Chadwick, for health reasons, had had to resign from the chairmanship of the Advisory and Revision Board, but happily was able to continue as a member. Mr. N. H. Pettersen had kindly consented to take over the chairmanship.
     Mr. Chadwick referred to the ongoing and invaluable work of the librarian, Mrs. G. P. Dawson, and noted some interesting additions to the society's archives, detailed in the report.
     The visit of the Swedish Ambassador and members of his Cultural Department to Swedenborg House in February 1987 had been a happy occasion, and had been helpful in establishing closer relations between the society and the Swedish embassy.
     Mr. Chadwick then referred to the work of the secretary and manager, noting that the knowledge, background and general expertise of Miss Madeline Waters and Mr. Kenneth Campbell were beyond price, and their loyal service to the society could not be measured. The council was greatly indebted to them.
     The year 1988 had at last arrived and already two major events to mark the three hundredth anniversary of Swedenborg's birth had taken place: the birthday meeting on 29th January 1988 and the Barbican project-the Journey Within-on 16th April 1988, comprising a daytime symposium organised by the New Church College, and an evening reception and celebration organized by the Swedenborg Society. Further events involving the society would take place later in the year
     In conclusion, Mr. Chadwick said that, having been personally involved with Mr. Norman Turner and Mr. Roland Smith in the dispatch of a chest containing old and new editions of some of Swedenborg's writings on board one of the Tall Ships of the First Fleet Reenactment Company, it had given him great pleasure to receive from the Rev. Ian Arnold a scroll bearing the signatures of those who attended the birthday celebration at the MacQuarrie University in Sydney, at which the chest of books had been received and opened.

400

He was happy to record the successful conclusion of this unique project which had brought the society's Australian friends much valuable publicity, and strengthened the links between the society and the New Church in Australia.
     Mr. Norman Turner, honorary treasurer, noted that there had been a useful increase in income from subscriptions and donations, though sales of books had been down compared with the previous year's record figure. Investment income had been marginally up on the 1986 figure despite the crash in the stock market in October. It spoke well for the soundness of the investment portfolio built up by the previous treasurer that the society had suffered as little as it had. Total income for the year had been approximately L113,000, and expenditure about L110,000, resulting in a surplus of some L2,800, considerably less than last year's surplus of L17,000. The drop was due partly to the stock market crash but not wholly. More than half the expenditure had been on publishing and distribution, which, the treasurer said, he thought was right. This had included volume five of the new Arcana Caelestia and most of the cost of the new True Christian Religion. And the society now had a much increased stock of books which is not quantified in the accounts.
     Dr. Chadwick referred to his illness and said that he much regretted that this had prevented, him from doing as much as he had hoped during his presidency.
     Mr. A. T. Chadwick, chairman of the council, stated that, as many members would know, the council's nominee for president, the Rev. C. H. Presland, had recently been in hospital and although he was now home, he did not feel able at this time to confirm his acceptance of the appointment. The council therefore proposed that the appointment of president for the ensuing year be referred to the council to take appropriate action.
     This proposal was approved and it was resolved to send a message of greeting and good wishes from the meeting to Mr. Presland.
     Mr. John Cunningham then moved that Mr. A. T. Chadwick be elected vice-president of the society for the ensuing year, noting that we were indebted to him for his work as chairman of the council, particularly in this 300th anniversary year. This motion, and the following, that Mr. Norman Turner be re-elected honorary treasurer for the ensuing year, were carried unanimously.
     Elected to the council for the forthcoming year: Mr. John Cunningham, Mrs. G. P. Dawson, the Rev. Dennis Duckworth, the Rev. F. C. Elphick and Mr. P. L. Johnson.
     Dr. Chadwick, on behalf of the society, presented a specially bound copy of Arcana Coelestia, volume five, to the Rev. J. E. Elliott, and said that it had been hoped to present a similar copy to Dr. Freda Griffith, but unfortunately she had not been able to attend the meeting and her copy would be delivered at a later date.
     Dr. Chadwick then gave his address, "Swedenborg and His Readers."
     The retiring vice-president, the Rev. Dennis Duckworth, expressed the society's thanks to the president for his address for his conduct of the meeting, and for his services during his year of office. On behalf of the society he presented to Dr. Chadwick a specially bound set of his new translation of The True Christian Religion.
     The meeting closed with the benediction.

401

     A NOTE FROM THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY

     At its first meeting following the annual meeting, the council of the Swedenborg Society was very sorry to learn that the Rev. C. H. Presland had, with great regret, decided that he could not accept the office of president, for reasons of health.
     On 1st July, 1988, the council unanimously resolved that Mr. F. B. Nicholls be appointed president of the Swedenborg Society for the ensuing year.
PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1988

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES Editor 1988

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 19009, U. S. A.

     PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES

     USA addresses only

     Information on public worship and doctrinal classes provided either regularly or occasionally may be obtained at the locations listed below. For details use the local phone number of the contact person mentioned or communicate with the Secretary of the General Church, Rev. L. R. Soneson, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, Phone (215) 947-4660.

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     Alabama:

     BIRMINGHAM
Dr. R. Shepard, 4537 Dolly Ridge Road, Birmingham, AL 35243. Phone:(205) 967-3442.

     Arizona:

     PHOENIX
Mr. Hubert Rydstrom, 3640 E. Piccadilly Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85018. Phone: (602) 955-2290.

     Rev. Cedric King, visiting pastor, 21332 Forest Meadow, El Toto, CA 92630.

     TUCSON
Rev. Frank S. Rose, 2536 N. Stewart Ave., Tucson, AZ 85716. Phone: (602) 327-2612.

     Arkansas:

     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, Rt. 6, Box 447, Batesville, AR 72501. (501) 251-2383

     California:

     LOS ANGELES
Rev. Donald Rogers, 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Phone: (818) 249-5031.

     ORANGE COUNTY
Rev. Cedric King, visiting pastor. 21332 Forest Meadow, El Toro, CA 92630.

     SACRAMENTO
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ripley, 2310 N. Cirby Way, Roseville, CA 95678. Phone: (916) 782-7837

     SAN DIEGO
Rev. Nathan Gladish, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (619) 268-0379. Office: (619) 571-8599.

     SAN FRANCISCO
Rev. Mark Carlson, 4638 Royal Garden Place, San Jose, CA 95136. Phone: (408) 224-8521.

     Colorado:

     COLORADO SPRINGS
Mr. and Mrs. William Reinstra, 708 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs, CO 80829. Phone: (303) 685-9519.

     DENVER
Rev. Clark Echols, 3371 W. 94th Ave., Westminster, CO 80030. Phone (303) 429-1239

402

     Connecticut:

     BRIDGEPORT
Rev. Geoffrey Howard, visiting pastor, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Mr. and Mrs. James Tucker, 45 Honey Bee Lane, Shelton, CT 06484. Phone: (203)-929-6455.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 2008 Eden Rd., N. Graylyn, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 475-3694.

     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     BOYNTON BEACH
Rev. Daniel Heinrichs, 15101 N. W. Fifth Ave., Miami, FL 33169. Phone: (305) 687-1337.

     LAKE HELEN
Mr. and Mrs. Brant Morris, 264 Kicklighter Rd., Lake Helen, FL 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2276.

     Georgia:

     AMERICUS
Mr. W. H. Eubanks, Rt. #2, S. Lee St., Americus, GA 31709. Phone: (912) 924-9221.

     ATLANTA
Rev. Christopher Bown, 3795 Montford Drive, Chamblee, GA 30341. Phone: (Home) (404) 457-4726. (Office) (404) 452-0518.

     Idaho:

     FRUITLAND
(Idaho-Oregon border) Mr. Harold Rand, 1705 Whitley Dr., Fruitland, ID 83619. Phone: (208) 452-3181.

     Illinois:

     CHICAGO
Rev. Grant Schnarr, 73A Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 729-0130 (home) (312) 724-6130 (office).

     DECATUR
Mr. John Aymer, 380 Oak Lane, Decatur, IL 62562. Phone: (217) 875-3215.

     GLENVIEW
Rev. Brian Keith, 73 Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 724-0120.

     Indiana:
Mr. James Wood, R. R. 1, Lapel, IN 46051. Phone (317) 534-3546

     Louisiana:

     BATON ROUGE
Mr. Henry Bruser, Jr., 1652 Ormandy Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70808. Phone: (504) 921-3089.

     Maine

     BATH
Rev. Allison L. Nicholson, 6050 Esplanade Ave., Baton Rouge, LA 70806. Phone: (504) 924-397.

     Maryland:

     BALTIMORE
Rev. Frederick Chapin, 37 Guinevere Court, Baltimore, MD 21237. Hone Phone: (301) 682-3397; Office: (301) 435-5418.

     MITCHELLVILLE
Rev. Lawson Smith, 3805 Enterprise Rd., Mtichellville, MD 20716. Phone: (301) 262-2349.

     Massachusetts:

     BOSTON
Rev. Grant Odhner, 4 Park Ave., Natick, MA 01760. Phone: (617) 651-1127.

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Walter Orthwein, 395 Olivewood Court, Rochester, MI 48064. Phone: (313) 656-1267.

     EAST LANSING
Mr. Christopher Clark, 5853 Smithfield, East Lansing, MI 48823. Phone: (517) 351-2880.

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Rev. Brian W. Keith, visiting pastor, Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 724-0120.

     Missouri:

     COLUMBIA
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 103 S. Greenwood, Columbia, MO 65201. Phone: (314) 442-3475.

     KANSAS CITY
Mr. Glen Klippenstein, Glenkirk Farms, Maysville, MO 64469. Phone: (816) 449-2167.

     New Jersey-New York:

     RIDGEWOOD. N.J.
Mrs. Fred E. Munich, 474 S. Maple Ave., Glen Rock, NJ 07452. Phone: (201) 445-1141.

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Rev. John Odhner, 4009 Montgomery NE, Apt. L4, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Phone: (505) 881-4930.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Mr. John deMaine, 3509 Highridge Rd., Matthews, NC 28105. Phone: (704) 845-4058.

403

     Ohio:

     CINCINNATI
Rev. Patrick Rose, 785 Ashcroft Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45240. Phone: (513) 825-7473.

     CLEVELAND
Mr. Alan Childs, 19680 Beachcliff Blvd., Rocky River, OH 44116. Phone: (216) 333-4413.

     COLUMBUS
Mr. Hubert Heinrichs, 8372 Todd Street Rd., Sunbury. OH 43074. Phone: (614) 524-2738.

     Oklahoma:

     OKLAHOMA CITY
Mr. Robert Campbell, 3108 Eagle Pass Rd., Edmond, OK 73013. Phone: (404) 478-4729.

     Oregon-Idaho Border.See Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

     BRYN ATHYN
Rev. Kurt Asplundh, Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. Phone: (215) 947-3665.

     ERIE
Mrs. Paul Murray, 5648 Zuck Rd., Erie, PA 16506. Phone: (814) 833-0962.

     FREEPORT
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 126 Iron Bridge Rd., Sarver, PA 16055. Phone: Office (412) 353-2220 or Home 295-9855

     KEMPTON
Rev. Jeremy Simons, RD 2, Box 217-A, Kempton, PA 19529. Phone: (Home) (215) 756-4301; (Office) (215) 756-6140.

     PAUPACK
Mr. Richard Kintner, Box 172, Paupack, PA 18451. Phone: (717) 857-0688.

     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Ray Silverman, 299 Le Roi Road., Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731-1061.

     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.

     South Dakota:

     HOT SPRINGS
Linda Klippenstein, 537 Albany, Hot Springs, SD 57745 Phone: (605) 745-6629

     Texas:

     AUSTIN
Mrs. Charles Grubb, 604 Highland Ave., Austin, TX 78703. Phone: (512) 472-3575.

     DALLAS-FORT WORTH
Mr. Fred Dunlap, 3887 Antigua Circle, Dallas, TX 75244. Phone: (214) 247-7775.

     HOUSTON
Dr. James Carter, 30 Williamsburg Ln., Houston, TX 77024. Phone: (713) 456-4057.

     Washington:

     SEATTLE
Rev. Kent Junge, 14812 N. E. 75th Street, Redmond, WA 98033. Phone: (206) 881-1955.

     Wisconsin:

     MADISON
Mrs. Charles Howell, 3912 Plymouth Circle, Madison, WI 53705. Phone: (608) 233-0209.
CALL FOR PAPERS 1988

CALL FOR PAPERS Editor 1988

     The tricentenary year of Swedenborg's birth has witnessed a number of significant new events, such as the Swedenborg Symposium, the opening of the Swedenborg Library, and the queen of Sweden's visit to Bryn Athyn. In this spirit one is delighted to announce the creation of a new publication which will focus on the New Church male.
     The publication is called The Bulletin in acknowledgment of the tradition of the Son's Bulletin. However, the publication is conceived of as neither a mouthpiece for the Sons nor as an alumni magazine, but more generally as a forum for men's thoughts and for thoughts about men.
     The editorial committee is searching for articles which emphasize ideas, perspectives, and needs which concern the New Church male. It is our hope, indeed a major part of the conception of the publication, that articles be submitted by females as well as males.
     Articles should be short, approximately 500 to 600 words, and relatively informal. For example, documentation is only necessary where the author feels further information might be of interest. It is our intent that the publication will raise questions, present solutions, take risks, and more importantly, act as a catalyst for thought and discussion.
     We intend to publish our first issue this autumn. Therefore, we would greatly appreciate articles received by the second week of October. Articles should be sent to the Editorial Committee, The Bulletin, BOX 578, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

404

RICHARD DE CHARMS, SENIOR NEW CHURCH CHAMPION 1988

RICHARD DE CHARMS, SENIOR NEW CHURCH CHAMPION Editor 1988

     RICHARD DE CHARMS, SENIOR
     NEW CHURCH CHAMPION

     By

     Richard R. Gladish

     1988

     Here is a life of Richard De Charms, Sr., first champion of New Church distinctiveness and order in the United States, and spiritual forebear and founder of the Academy Movement.
     It is a sad story, this one. Richard De Charms was a man of remarkable spiritual vision and unexcelled grasp of the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. But he was also a man of impulse, and afflicted with a sharp tongue and pen. He gave his life without stint or hesitation to the cause of the New Church, but contemporaries judged him short in common sense. Hence the last decade or so of his life was spent in wretched poverty and distress of mind and body.

     Hardcover 142 pages               Postage paid $10.90

General Church Book Center          Hours: Mon-Fri. 9-12

Box 278, Cairncrest                         or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                         Phone: (215) 947-3920

405

Notes on This Issue 1988

Notes on This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII October, 1988 No. 10
NEW CHURCH LIFE

406

     Notes on This Issue

     We wish we were able to say more than we do on page 446 about the publication of True Christian Religion in Japanese. This is a development in which all lovers of the Writings should take great satisfaction.
     Pittsburghers are not the only people who will take satisfaction in the good things that are happening in western Pennsylvania. Of the sixteen baptisms reported in this issue, half took place in Pittsburgh (see p. 449).
     Whether or not we call it a "favorite passage" a number particularly well-known and loved by many in the church is C.L. 229 with those familiar phrases-the boy saying "She is mine."-the girl saying "He is mine." A special test of a new translation is the reading of such a particularly familiar passage (see p. 417).
     "How can we as individuals inspire ourselves to read the Word regularly?" (p. 409). The imagery in the sermon in this issue provides help in such inspiration.
     We are pleased to have so many letters coming in, and we hope that the trend will continue.
     Both our editorials have to do with the Memorable Relations. We are including one such Memorable Relation beginning on p. 452.

     VIDEO ANNOUNCEMENT

     Already available on video to play on your VCR are church services from Bryn Athyn. We expect this use to bring new activity to the already vital Sound Recording Committee. Write to the Recording Committee, The Field House, Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009 or phone (215) 947-1889.
NCL 50 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 50 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

In the October issue of 1938 is a sermon by George de Charms entitled "The Worship of the Divine Human." On page 440 it is pointed out that many people in Christendom "have clung to a simple faith-believing although they did not understand. All such, we are told, 'adore the Lord as their God and Savior; and when in adoration, they think of the Lord's Divine without separating it from the Human, and thus at heart they acknowledge all in the Lord to be Divine' (AC 4731)."

407

MARRED GIRDLE 1988

MARRED GIRDLE Rev. GEORGE D. MCCURDY 1988

     ". . . and I took the girdle from the place where I had hid it, and, behold, the girdle was marred; it was profitable for nothing" (Jer. 13:7).

     The Lord is all-powerful and He cares for every one of His children. Those who trust in His providential care know that hell, has no power and can do no harm to their spiritual life. The Lord is all-loving, and He never sleeps. He never turns His attention away from us, so He knows what we need before we ask. The Lord knows what eternal ends we will choose, and because He loves us He allows us the freedom to choose or reject His Divine goal of heaven. He opens and imparts unseen benefits each day to enrich our spiritual life. The Writings express it this way: . . . every single thing of life has been guided by the Lord . . . ." He operates silently, invisibly to prevent us from feeling in danger of being overwhelmed by Him. The Lord is not unimaginative. We never have to remind Him of things to be cared for. In fact, it is He that opens ways to overcome difficulties we feel are impossible or unsolvable. In summary, the Lord is constantly in touch or communication with our lives.
     The most direct means open to us to talk or to communicate with the Lord is through His Word. Wonderfully, His Word, written many centuries ago, will speak to all ages. Angels read the same Word ". . . manifested by means of Moses, the prophets, and the evangelists . . ." (Lord 2). The depth of the Word can never be exhausted by man or angels. Angels are constantly discovering new truths, and excitedly seek to share them with their neighbors and mankind.
     For some, or maybe many, in the world the Word is not seen in that light. Instead there is an impatience with the Word because it seems not to help them with their immediate needs. The literal sense may appear to be lacking an order easy to follow. Human authors, for them, are more interesting to read, more stimulating with plot and suspense or entertainment.
     The Writings urge us to persist in the study of the Word. When the Word is read with love, the Lord has the means to lift-set aside-the veil of the literal sense and bring forth the beauty of the spiritual sense by degrees in its ascent and at last bring us before the Lord (see AC 1871). The Word is the rational language that brings the finite into relationship with the Infinite.
     If some feel unsure of their ability to read the Word by themselves, the Lord has seen to it that there has been a church and a priesthood to be the voice, the messenger, the custodian of the Word.

408

The church that loves the Word can be a center from which the spiritual light of heaven may shine forth, mediately, to enlighten the minds of all who come to learn about spiritual good. Man, of himself, may have a degree of natural good or common sense, but natural good is not enough to hold us together: "It is one thing to be rational and another to be spiritual; every spiritual man is also rational, but the rational man is not always spiritual" (AE 569:7).
     The Word sadly tells us of churches that forgot, ignored, or twisted the Word, "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, laying aside the commandments of God, . . . making the Word of God of none effect . . ."(Mark 7:7-13).
     When that occurred the Lord often called a prophet forward to speak His Word to awaken the conscience of the people. In many instances the words of the prophets fell on deaf ears. Take the life of Jeremiah as an example. He was called as a young man to represent the Lord, the Word. As we read what they did to him, we see it as representative of what they did to the Word.
     Jeremiah tried to reach the hearts of his people. He told them how the Lord grieved over their neglect of the Word. For his efforts his life was in constant danger; he was rejected by all; he was imprisoned in a foul cistern and branded a traitor. As he spoke of the importance of returning to the Word they made him a laughing stock and mimicked his message.
     At one point Jeremiah, the human, felt like giving up his mission and message. He said: "I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But His Word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary holding it in. I could not be still" (Jer. 20:9).
     Nor would the Lord be silenced. He spoke to Jeremiah and told him to get a linen girdle and to wear it around his loins. Later the Lord told him to take off the girdle and go to the Euphrates and hide (bury) it in a hole of the rock. Many days later the Lord commanded him to go back and dig up the girdle. The girdle was marred and worth nothing.
     What did this symbolic act represent? A girdle was an important article of clothing to the people of that time. It served as a means of binding or connecting the garments they wore. The girdle helped them to keep from tripping over the hem of their garments while walking or working. Spiritually the Lord was showing them that the Word is like a girdle that could bind and draw them together with Him, and that the Word could aid them in their walk of life. The Word, or the Lord, wanted to bind the world and heaven together.

409

     But they wouldn't let the Word do this. So hiding or burying the girdle represented how the Divine truths were being lost buried-losing vitality in the practical events of life. Picking the Euphrates River was no accident, for the Euphrates in this parable represents an unenlightened reason that damaged their spiritual life. ". . . those who are in falsities from evil are full of insanity" (AR 444).
     When Jeremiah dug up the girdle, it was filthy, marred and of no use. The dampness, the decay, the ruined linen was not only a strong visual symbol; it was intended to be illustrative of the way they had allowed the Word to sink into a marred condition of their minds.
     What can we learn from all of this? It allows us to think about our treatment of the Word. How can we as individuals inspire ourselves to read the Word regularly? The Word is our connection to heaven and the Lord. Heaven (the Word) holds all things together, while hell sunders all things. The Word is our linen girdle. If we ignore it-bury it-and put it in the dark, damp recesses of our lives, we are the poorer for it. We lose communication and miss the opportunity to come into His very presence to talk with Him.
     The Writings urge us to do more than know the Word. Those who stop here merely have memory knowledges. The second step is to acknowledge the Word-that is, to give the Word our rational consent. And finally, we must take the Word and have it form our faith-become living and part of our everyday life.
     How did the Writings sum this point up? "Those who only know are many . . . in hell. Those who acknowledge are also many there . . . . But those who have had faith are all in heaven" (AC 896).
     What would inspire us to read the Word more often? What would make us feel as though our day was not complete without some passage of Divine truth? How can we get our hearts to break forth with adoration saying, "O how I love Thy law. . . . How sweet are Thy words to my taste, more than honey to my mouth. . . . I love Thy commandments above gold, yes above fine gold. . ." (Psalm 119).
     Certainly guilt will not make us read the Word. Only if we truly see that the Word is the means by which we can be connected and lifted up to come face to face with our loving, caring Heavenly Father will we want to read it.
     This church has been dedicated to the worship of the Lord God Jesus Christ. His Word is in the center of our sanctuary. We the members of this congregation need to willingly and lovingly study His Word, or else we fall under the same admonition spoken to the Children of Israel by Jeremiah: "But if ye will not hear, . . . my soul shall weep . . . for your pride, and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive" (Jer. 13:17).

410

May our response be in the affirmative, and help His Word to shine forth with the beauty of His holy light. "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). Amen.

Lessons: Jeremiah 13:1-17, Mark 7:7-13, AC 896 Swedenborg Researcher's Manual 1988

Swedenborg Researcher's Manual Alice Fritz 1988

Swedenborg Researcher's Manual by Dr. William Ross Woofenden; Swedenborg Scientific Association, Bryn Athyn, PA, 1988; 366 pp., price $19.95

     Dr. Woofenden in his preface and Dr. Wilson van Dusen in his foreword assure us that researchers in the "Swedenborg forest and thicket" have badly needed a guide for a long time, and they know from personal experience. This one not only meets that need but it exceeds all reasonable demands. Here we have an admirably organized compilation of information on Swedenborg's own literary output and on books, periodicals, pamphlets about it. The day is gone when doctrinal dissertations and masters' theses could get away with inadequate documentation because New Church scholars had failed to chart the way to their research treasures. This one is compact yet comprehensive.
     This whole concept was quite a surprise to me. I had thought we were documented to the hilt-a bibliography here, a compendium there-but of course I live in Bryn Athyn, with the library within a mile, or facts often available with a phone call. The troubles of the world away from the great collections of Swedenborgiana hadn't occurred to me. Or, in fact, how a stranger could find where the collections are.
     But to get to the book. This handsome volume contains, in only 366 pages, an amazing amount of information. The first part is a chronological list of all available titles written by Swedenborg, from his poetical efforts written in 1700 when he was twelve, to the Coronis and the Consummation of the Age in 1771 when he was eighty-three. We have here the date and place of publication, or composition if unpublished, the location of the autograph manuscript or copies (as when there are photolithographs), the translator(s), and a succinct description of the work, often with comments.
     The second part lists about 200 examples of collateral literature which the editor chose to include because he considers them important or because he wants to warn that they are "hostile, untrustworthy, or essentially worthless (in my opinion)."

411

And this is what makes the two sections of part 2, particularly, such fun to read. There is never any doubt that this is Dr. Woofenden speaking. Whether he is discussing familiar major works under "Basic Collateral Literature" or historical or doctrinal studies under "Other Collateral Literature," his forthright opinions, his scholarship and his wit are with us on every page.
     The third part is a glossary of Swedenborgian terms, a concise, clear listing of words and definitions we use that are unfamiliar to the general public, and also very familiar words (charity, end, merit, neighbor, use) with their New Church meanings.
     Part 4 should be an enormous help to strangers. This gives, again succinctly and clearly, key concepts found in Swedenborg's writings, scientific, philosophical and theological. Its usefulness is by no means limited to strangers though. Familiar teachings are presented in a refreshing light, valuable to New Church people too. Dr. Woofenden is a minister and Professor of Theology and Philosophy at the Swedenborg School of Religion at Newton, Massachusetts, and they must have missed him sorely while he was on sabbatical leave to work on this book.
     The last section is a catalog of the major documentary collections of Swedenborgiana worldwide. Those included are in Sweden, England, United States, Switzerland and Australia, with descriptions of many of their unique possessions. This too should be of special interest to researchers, as well as to us, the not so learned.
     The book closes with an astonishingly comprehensive index which will ensure the gratitude of students through the years. The only thing to complain about in a really efficient index is that it points the exact way to find the reference you want, and inhibits browsing. This book is a continuous invitation to browse, which is why it belongs on our own bookshelves as well as those of all respectable reference libraries. We don't have to be scholars to enjoy wandering in its halls, and we can learn, painlessly, from the exposure. Real students will use it as a splendidly efficient tool for their research. The rest of us will just have a good time, over and over, and be the better for it.
     Alice Fritz
16mm SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION FILMS 1988

16mm SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION FILMS Editor 1988

The offer made for the 1988 Film Festival is good for the rest of the year. You can get these films now for little or no cost. Contact the editor of New Church Life.

412

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE 1988

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE Rev. N. BRUCE ROGERS 1988

     Universal Matters Relating to Marriages (cont.)

     FROM THE NEW TRANSLATION BEING PREPARED BY REV. N. BRUCE ROGERS

     219. (10) Wives do not experience a state of arousal as their husbands do, but theirs is a state of readiness to receive. It is apparent that men have the power of insemination and because of it experience a state of arousal, and that women do not experience this arousal because they do not have that power. Nevertheless, I can relate from what I have been told that women experience a state of readiness to receive and thus to conceive. I am not permitted to describe what this state in women is like, and it is also something known only to them. Nor have they divulged whether their love feels its delight when they are in that state or whether they find it something distasteful, as some of them say. This only is commonly known, that a husband may not say to his wife that he has the ability but does not want to, for this injures considerably her state of reception, which becomes ready in the measure that her husband is able.

     220. (11) The sexual abundance men have is according to their love of propagating the truths of their wisdom and according to their love of performing useful services. That this is the case is one of the secrets known to people of ancient times which today have been lost. In ancient times people knew that each and every activity that takes place in the body does so from a spiritual origin. They knew, for example, that actions flow from the will, which in itself is spiritual; that speech flows from thought, which likewise is spiritual; also that natural vision results from spiritual sight, which is one of the intellect; that natural hearing results from spiritual listening, which is an attention of the intellect and at the same time a conformity of the will; and that the natural sense of smell results from a spiritual one, which is perception; and so on.
     In similar manner the ancients saw that a man's power of insemination likewise stems from a spiritual origin; and from many evidences of both reason and experience they concluded that it results from the truths of which the intellect consists. Moreover they said that from the spiritual marriage that exists between goodness and truth, which flows into each and every thing in the universe, nothing else is received by members of the male sex but truth and what relates to truth; and that this in its descent into the body is formed into seed or sperm (which is why seeds, spiritually interpreted, mean truths).
     Regarding the process, they said that the male soul, being intellectual in nature, is therefore truth; for anything intellectual in nature is nothing else.

413

Consequently as the soul descends, truth also descends. This is so, they said, because the soul is the inmost element in man and in every animal, and in its essence is spiritual; and from an inherent effort towards its propagation, in its descent it aspires after and seeks to reproduce itself. Then, when this happens, the whole soul fashions itself and clothes itself and becomes seed or sperm. Moreover, this can take place thousands and thousands of times, they said, because the soul is a spiritual essence, which does not extend itself but infills, and from which there is no taking away a part, but instead a reproducing of the whole without any loss to it. As a result, the soul is as fully present in its tiniest vessels, which are the seeds or sperm, as it is in its largest one, which is the body.
     So then, since truth in the soul is the origin of the seed or sperm, it follows that the sexual abundance men have is according to their love of propagating the truths of their wisdom. It is also according to their love of performing useful services, because useful services are the good effects which truths produce. Some people know in the world as well that the diligent have an abundance, and not the lazy.
     I once asked how something female can be generated from the soul of a man. The answer I received was that it originates from good in the intellect, because this in its essence is truth; for the intellect can think of something as good, thus thinking as true that this something is good. It is different with the will. This does not think about goodness and truth but loves them and does them. Therefore, in the Word, sons symbolize truths, and daughters, qualities of goodness (as may be seen above in no. 120); and when seed is mentioned in the Word, it symbolizes truth (as may be seen in 771e Apocalypse Revealed, no. 565).

     221. (12) Determinations to intercourse are at the good pleasure of the husband. The reason is that the sexual abundance referred to above is something that lies with men, and this varies in them in accordance with both their state of mind and the condition of their body. For the intellect is not as constant in its thoughts as the will is in its affections. Indeed, it is carried upward one moment and downward the next, being sometimes in a state of serenity and clarity, sometimes in a state of turmoil and confusion, at times engaged in pleasant subjects, at other times caught up in unpleasant ones. And because the mind in its workings is at the same time in the body, it follows that the body undergoes similar states. As a result, the husband sometimes draws away from conjugial love, sometimes toward it, and in the one state the abundance he has is withdrawn and in the other state restored.

414

For these reasons determinations to intercourse must be left to the good pleasure of the husband. That is why wives, from the wisdom innate in them, never admonish their husbands in regard to these matters.

     222. (13) There is a conjugial atmosphere which flows in from the Lord through heaven into each and every thing of the universe, extending even to its lowest forms. It was shown above in its own chapter* that from the Lord emanate love and wisdom, or to say the same thing, good and truth. These two elements continually emanate from the Lord in a marriage, because they are Him, and from Him come all things. Moreover, whatever emanates from Him fills the universe; for without this, nothing that came into existence would continue to exist.
     * i.e., "The Origin of Conjugial Love from the Marriage of Good and Truth, nos. 83ff. See also no. 60.
     There are several atmospheric fields which emanate from the Lord. For example, an atmosphere of conservation for conserving the created universe. An atmosphere of protection for protecting good and truth against evil and falsity. An atmosphere of reformation and regeneration. An atmosphere of innocence and peace. An atmosphere of mercy and grace. Besides others. But the universal atmosphere of all is a conjugial atmosphere, because it is at the same time an atmosphere of propagation and is thus the supreme atmosphere in conserving the created universe by successive generations.
     This conjugial atmosphere fills the universe and pervades it from the firsts to the lasts of it. That this is so is apparent from observations made above,* where we showed that there are marriages in heaven, and most perfect marriages in the third or highest heaven; moreover, that in addition to being in human beings, this atmosphere exists in all members of the animal kingdom on earth, even down to worms, and furthermore in all members of the vegetable kingdom, from olive trees and palms down to the smallest grasses.
     * See, for example, the chapter, "Marriages in Heaven," nos. 27ff, including no. 42; also nos. 92, 183, 204.
     This atmosphere is more universal than that of the heat and light which emanate from the sun of our world; and reason can be convinced of this from the fact that the conjugial atmosphere operates even in circumstances when the sun's warmth is absent, such as in winter, and when the sun's light is absent, such as at night. Especially is this so in the case of human beings. It continues to operate because it originates from the sun of the angelic heaven, and that sun produces a constant balance of heat and light, that is, a constant union of good and truth. For heaven is in a state of perpetual spring. Variations in goodness and truth in heaven or in its warmth and light do not result from changes of the sun, as do changes on earth from variations in the heat and light coming from the sun there, but they occur as a result of the way recipient vessels receive them.

415

223. (14) This atmosphere is communicated through it to the male sex. The male sex does not have any received by the female sex and conjugial love inherent in it, but it is inherent only in the female sex and is transmitted to the male sex from it. This is something I have seen attested from an experience I had, related above in no. 161. It is also supported by the following argument, that the masculine form is an intellect-oriented one and the feminine form a will-oriented one; and an intellect-oriented form does not have the capacity to develop a conjugial warmth on its own, but can do so only from the associated warmth of another in whom this has been implanted by creation. Consequently the masculine form cannot receive conjugial love except by having adjoined to it the will-oriented form of a woman, because this is at the same time a form of love.
     The same point could be further confirmed from the marriage between good and truth, and to the natural man, from the marriage between the heart and the lungs, because the heart corresponds to love and the lungs to the intellect. However, because most people are without knowledge of these, any confirmation on the basis of them would do more to obscure than enlighten.
     The communication of this atmosphere from the female sex to the male sex is what causes the masculine mind to be set on fire even at just the thought of the opposite sex. It follows that it is also what causes the formation of the procreative powers in him and thus his state of arousal. For unless warmth is added to light on earth, nothing flourishes or is aroused to produce any fruit there.

     224. (15) Where a truly conjugial love exists, this atmosphere is received by the wife, and by the husband solely through his wife. It is a secret unknown today that in the case of people who are in a state of truly conjugial love, this atmosphere is received by the husband solely through his wife. And yet it is not really a secret, because it is possible for a man about to be married or just recently married to be aware of it. Does he not then respond with a conjugial warmth to whatever emanates from his fiancee or new bride, and not at that time to anything emanating from others of her sex? It is the same with people who live together in a state of truly conjugial love. Moreover, because everyone has an atmosphere of life surrounding him, both man and woman, heavily around the breast and lightly around the back, it is apparent why husbands who really love their wives turn towards them and daily look upon them with kindly countenance, and conversely, why those who do not love their wives turn away from them and daily regard them with averted gaze.
     A husband's receiving the conjugial atmosphere solely through his wife is the mark by which truly conjugial love is recognized and differentiated from conjugial love that is illusory, feigned, or cold.

416

225. (16) Where the love is not conjugial, this atmosphere is indeed received by the wife, but not by the husband through her. This conjugial atmosphere that flows into the universe is, in its origin, Divine. As it descends, it becomes, with angels in heaven, celestial and spiritual; with people, natural; with beasts and birds, animal; with worms, merely carnal; and in the case of plant forms, mechanical. In addition, in individual recipients it is also modified according to their particular forms.
     Now because this atmosphere is received directly by the female sex and indirectly by the male sex, and because it is received in accordance with particular forms, it follows that although in its origin this atmosphere is holy, in its recipients it can be turned into an atmosphere that is not holy, even indeed into one that is opposite in character. The atmosphere opposite to it in such recipients is called wanton in the case of women and licentious in the case of men; and since men and women like that are in hell, that is the atmosphere that emanates from there. The latter atmosphere also exhibits at the same time considerable diversity, and there are consequently many varieties of it. However, a man attracts and admits the type that is adapted to him and which is compatible with and matches the kind of person he is.
     It can be seen in consequence that a man who does not love his wife receives this atmosphere from some other source than his wife. Still, it is possible for it to be inspired by the wife as well, but without his knowledge, and at times when he feels warmer towards her.

     226. (17) Conjugial love can be present in one of the partners and not at the same time in the other. Conjugial love can exist in one and not in the other, for one may fervently vow for himself a chaste marriage, while the other does not know what chastity is. One may love matters that have to do with the church, while the other loves only matters that have to do with the world. One may be with his mind in a state of heaven, while the other is with his mind in a state of hell. As a result, conjugial love may exist on the part of one and not on the part of the other. . . Because their minds aim in opposite directions, they inwardly collide; and if this is not the case outwardly, still the one who is not in a state of conjugial love regards his companion by covenant as an insufferable old nuisance, and other similar epithets.

     227. (18) Married partners bring with them various similarities and various dissimilarities, both internal and external.

417

People know that there are similarities between married partners and dissimilarities; also that the outward ones are discernible, whereas the inner ones do not appear except to the partners themselves after living together for some time, and to others through certain indications. It is not worth the effort to enumerate these in order to gain a conception of them, however, inasmuch as one can fill many pages with recounting and describing their various types. Some instances of similarity may be inferred and deduced in part from the dissimilarities considered in the next chapter, on whose account conjugial love passes away into coldness.
     Similarities and dissimilarities arise in general from people's native inclinations, varied by their upbringing, associations, and acquired persuasions.

     228. (19) Various similar qualities can be joined together, but not with dissimilar ones. Instances of similarities are many and various, and some of them are further apart, some less so. Yet even those that are further apart can in time be joined by various means, especially by a couple's accommodations to one another's wishes, by their performance of mutual duties, by their courteous treatment of each other, by their refraining from things unchaste, by their joint love of little children and care for their children; but above all, by their conformity in matters connected with the church. For through matters connected with the church a joining of distant similarities is achieved inwardly, and only outwardly through other means.
     No conjunction, however, can be achieved with dissimilar qualities, because they are incompatible.

     229. (20) For partners who desire love truly conjugial, the Lord provides similarities between them, and if not on earth, He provides them in heaven. This results from the fact that marriages of love truly conjugial are all provided by the Lord. They come from Him, as may be seen above in nos. 130, 131. But how they are provided in heaven, this I once heard described by angels as follows.*
     * This statement appears also in no. 316:3 below.

     The Lord's Divine providence is most specific and most universal in connection with marriages and in its operation in marriages, because all delights of heaven flow from the delights of conjugial love, like sweet waters from a gushing fountain. It is therefore provided that conjugial pairs be born, and they are raised and continually prepared for their marriages under the Lord's guidance, neither the boy nor the girl being aware of it. Then, after a period of time, as though by fate, the girl-now a marriageable young woman-and the boy-now a young man ready to marry-meet somewhere and notice each other.

418

And they immediately recognize, as if by a kind of instinct, that they are a match, thinking to themselves as from a kind of inner dictate, the young man, "she is mine," and the young woman, "he is mine." Later, after this thought has for some time become settled in the minds of each, they deliberately talk about it together and pledge themselves to each other in marriage. We say as though by fate, by instinct and as from a kind of dictate when we mean by Divine providence, because when one is unaware that it is Divine providence, that is how it appears; for the Lord unveils their inner similarities so that they notice each other.

     230. (21) To the degree that one's conjugial love wanes and is lost, a person's character approaches that of an animal. The reason is that the more a person is in a state of conjugial love, the more spiritual he is, and the more spiritual he is, the more human he is. For human beings are born for life after death, and they attain it because of their having in them a spiritual soul, to which they can be elevated through the faculty of their intellect. If by the power likewise granted to it a person's will is then elevated at the same time, after death the person lives the life of heaven.
     The reverse is the case if one is in a state of love contrary to conjugial love. For the more a person is in a state like that, the more natural in character he is; and a person who is merely natural is like an animal in his lusts, appetites and resulting delights, the only difference being that he still has the power to elevate his intellect into the light of wisdom and also the power to elevate his will into the warmth of heavenly love. No one loses these faculties. As a consequence, even though a merely natural person is like an animal in his lusts, appetites and resulting delights, still he lives after death, though in a state corresponding to the kind of life he led before.
     It can be seen from this that to the degree one's conjugial love wanes, a person's character approaches that of an animal. This seems to be something that could be disputed, since it is possible for conjugial love to wane and be lost in people whose character is nevertheless still human. But we are referring to people in the grip of licentious love, who do not care about conjugial love therefore and for that reason experience its failure and loss.

419

REPORT OF THE BISHOP OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1988

REPORT OF THE BISHOP OF THE GENERAL CHURCH Louis B. King 1988

     July 1, 1987 to June 30, 1988

     During this year of church activities we have enjoyed the ministrations of the Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss, Assistant Bishop of the General Church. He and his wife Lisa have traveled extensively, becoming acquainted with some of the centers of the General Church and focusing on the development of our General Church schools and the work of evangelization.
     Worldwide attention has been given to the New Church because of the celebration of Swedenborg's 300th birthday. Sweden's Queen Silvia visited Bryn Athyn to publicly introduce the Academy's Swedenborg Library to the world. Swedenborg symposia at the Academy, in Australia, in South Africa, in Ghana, and elsewhere in the world did much to call attention to the important contributions which the Lord has made to civilization through the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
     As the church and its educational systems grow numerically and develop their distinctiveness, the Lord's kingdom will continue to descend from the New Christian Heaven and establish His kingdom on earth. The church of the New Jerusalem is the Lord's church. He will cause it to grow and bring joy and peace to those who are willing to love Him and keep His commandments. Let us be strong in our conviction that the Lord has made His Second Coming in the theological writings which He has given through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg. Let us keep these doctrines pure and relevant and alive in our thoughts and affections, our words and deeds, and the Lord will prosper His church.

     Statistical Activities

As Bishop of the General Church:
     Western clergy meetings
     Australian National and District Assembly
     Northeast District Assembly
     General Church Evening
     Episcopal visits-17
     Church dedications-2
     Board and Corporation meetings-5
     Joint Council meeting
     Bishop's Consistory-weekly
     Bishop's Council-3

420

     Bishop's Representatives-4
     Annual Council of Clergy meetings
     Worship and Ritual meetings-biweekly
     Treasurers' meetings
     Inaugurations into priesthood-3
     Ordinations into second degree-2
     Total services conducted (other than Bryn Athyn-festival, public and private)-56

General Church in Canada:
     Total services conducted-9 (festival, public and private)
     Episcopal visits-4
     Annual GCIC meetings

As Chancellor of the Academy:
     Faculty worship
     Opening church service for students and faculty
     Commencement service
     General Faculty meeting
     Theological Faculty meetings-monthly
     College chapel-8
     Secondary School chapel-2
     Joint meeting of the Corporation and Faculty
     Teaching assignment: Theol 1A(one term)-Government
     Board and Corporation meetings-5
     Theological School Council1
     Royal introduction and public opening of the Swedenborg Library

Ministrations in Bryn Athyn:
     Total services conducted-39 (festival, public and private)
     Society doctrinal classes-3
     Arcana classes-Tuesday evenings
     Cairnwood Village classes-Wednesday mornings
     Bryn Athyn Church School worship-5

     Louis B. King,
          Executive Bishop

421

MASCULINE AND FEMININE 1988

MASCULINE AND FEMININE GEORGE H. WOODARD 1988

     During the past year both the General Church Corporation and the Bryn Athyn Society have formally accepted the eligibility of women to serve on their respective boards. In the course of extended discussions leading up to these decisions, various passages of Conjugial Love that deal with the spiritual and functional relationships of men and women were frequently quoted. By the time the debates had been completed and the organizational issue resolved, this writer had become convinced that many of the excerpts thus employed had been viewed too narrowly, separated from the full context of those sections of Conjugial Love in which they appear. This study was prompted by a belief that a full understanding of these oft-quoted numbers is more important to the church in the long term than the organizational decisions.
     It seems that many sincere New Churchmen have found themselves in a distressing bind between traditional interpretations of statements in Conjugial Love concerning the relative functions of men and women, and their own natural perceptions--perceptions based upon life in today's world and their desire to live that life usefully. Too many of us, probably, are following our own perceptions and shrugging off the apparent conflict, uncomfortably and with a feeling of guilt. We should make a real effort to find an honest reconciliation, for surely there must be one.
     Conjugial Love (excepting the portion on scortatory love) is directed to a unique state of human life. The true marriage state is unique, first because it is the seminary of the human race, and also because it is gifted with a depth, a constancy and an intimacy of communication found nowhere else in society. This is not to suggest that the truths expounded in this book lack application in other human relationships or walks of life. It does, however, indicate that in trying to apply these precepts effectively in realms outside of marriage, we should be especially careful to understand the particular context within which they are given. It is also essential, when making such applications, to relate passages taken from Conjugial Love to doctrinal concepts developed in other books of the Writings, which frequently will be found to enlarge upon or modify the primary reference.
     With this in mind I have read the complete texts (including chapter headings and series) of twenty-eight selections from Conjugial Love that had been briefly excerpted or referenced in two compilations distributed during the above-mentioned public discussions.

422

Wherever pertinent, the sense of adjacent numbers was also observed. Excerpts from these passages were then selected, with a strong effort to assure that they fairly represent the overall sense. Insofar as was possible, the true context was thus preserved. Two examples (chapter headings included) will serve to illustrate. (Copies of the entire compilation are available upon request.)

     CL 125 On the Marriage of the Lord and the Church and its Correspondence [This number is the sixth proposition in a series introduced by a statement which enlarges upon the above title.]

     6. That the husband does not represent the Lord and the wife the church because both together, the husband and the wife, make the church. It is a common saying in the church that, as the Lord is the head of the church, so is the husband the head of the wife; from which it would follow that the husband represents the Lord and the wife the church. But the Lord is head of the church, and man (homo)-the man and the woman-are the church; and still more husband and wife together. The church with them is first implanted in the man, and through the man in the wife, because the man receives the truth in his understanding, and the wife from the man.

     CL 174-176 On the Conjunction of Souls and Minds by Marriage [These numbers are propositions in a series introduced by a statement explaining the union of two souls and minds into one flesh.]

     16. That there are duties proper to the man and duties proper to the wife; and that the wife cannot enter into the duties proper to the man, nor the man into the duties proper to the wife, and rightly perform them . . . . In the duties proper to men, understanding, thought, and wisdom act the leading part; but in duties proper to wives, will, affection and love act the leading part . . . [emphasis mine]. Their duties are therefore of their own nature different and yet are conjunctive . . . . "The garment of a man shall not be upon a woman, neither shall the garment of a woman be upon a man" . . . (Deut. 22:5). The reason was that in the spiritual world all are clothed according to their affections, and the two affections, of the woman and of the man, cannot be united except between two, and never in one.

     17. That these duties also, according to mutual aid, conjoin the two into one; and at the same time make one house.
     It is also known that, regarded as to their distinctness and their conjunction these duties make one house.

423

     Of the twenty-eight Conjugial Love numbers studied, twenty-two in one way or another make emphatic reference to conjunction, union, together(ness), mutual aid, and other expressions of cooperation between the sexes.* In several numbers conjunction, or union of good and truth, will and understanding, female and male natures, seem to constitute the primary thrust, which is hardly surprising when one remembers that the title word "Conjugial" denotes essential and universal conjunction. In the many passages where the true differences between men and women are detailed with emphasis, these differences are never shown as a basis for separation of the sexes (except in evil states) but rather presented as a prerequisite of true union.
     * CL 21, 32, 33, 37, 46, 61, 63, 66, 75, 88, 90-92, 100, 125, 137, 159, 161, 163-165, 174-176, 193, 218
     Another characteristic of Conjugial Love that merits consideration is the fact that this book brings doctrine down into applications in the natural plane with a frequency and directness seldom found in other volumes of the Writings. Many times these applications seem to be presented as illustrations of the basic doctrine rather than as general ordinances of human conduct. Two examples are given below.

     CL 90, 91 The Origin of Conjugial Love

     (4) That in the subjects of the animal kingdom the truth of good or truth from good, is the masculine, and that the good of truth from that, or good from that truth, is the feminine.

     . . . the female . . . is to be the love of man's wisdom, because she was formed through his wisdom . . . . From her application in that it is to such works as are done with the hands, called netting, embroidery, and by other names, which are of service for ornament, and for the adornment of her person and the enhancement of her beauty. . . .

     CL 163-165 Conjunction of Souls and Minds

     (7) That the conjunction of the wife with the rational wisdom of the husband is effected from within, but with his moral wisdom from without . . . . The conjunction of the wife with the rational
wisdom of the man is from within because this wisdom is peculiar to the understanding of men, and ascends into a light in which women are not, which is the reason why women do not speak from this wisdom, but in the company of men when such matters are discussed are silent and only listen.

     To the extent that portions of such passages are seen as illustrations, they would be couched in terms of the accepted social order of Swedenborg's day, because in no other way could they be understood by readers of that era.

424

This consideration, again, suggests the importance of consulting teachings broadly developed throughout the Writings in deriving applications to life.
     In what way do teachings in other volumes of the Writings appear to enlarge upon or modify the teachings found in Conjugial Love? Here are two examples:

     HH 369 Marriages in Heaven

     Everyone, whether man or woman, possesses understanding and will, but with the man the understanding predominates, and with the woman the will predominates, and the character is determined by which predominates [emphasis mine]. Yet in heavenly marriages there is no predominance, for the will of the wife is also the husband's will, and the understanding of the husband is also the wife's understanding, since each loves to will and think like the other, that is, mutually and reciprocally. Thus they are conjoined into one.

     DP 4 Divine Providence is Government by the Lord's Divine Love and Wisdom

     (4) A form makes a one the more perfectly as the elements entering into it are distinctly different and yet united. This hardly falls into a comprehension not elevated, for the appearance is that a form cannot make a one except as its elements are quite alike. I have spoken with angels often on the subject. They said that this is a secret perceived clearly by their wiser men, obscurely by the less wise. They said it is the truth that a form is the more perfect as its constituents are distinctly different and yet severally united . . . . They also illustrated the fact from the marriage of good and truth in that the more distinguishably two these are, the more perfectly do they make a one; similarly, of love and wisdom. The indistinguishable is confusion, they said, whence comes imperfection of form.

     In arriving at applications to life from Conjugial Love, or from any other book of the Writings, it is essential to start from the all-encompassing doctrine concerning the union of good and truth-the union of the will and understanding-without which no works of true charity are possible. This doctrine of universal conjunction is also known to us as the doctrine of use. Note that throughout the exposition of these doctrines a common word predominates. That word is union.

425

If we turn to examples of uses-civic, church, and educational, with which we are all familiar-we find in most of them the union of masculine and feminine accomplishing the end-men and women functioning together in all walks of life. This is our experience and that of our friends working in the enlightenment of their uses. In relating the doctrinal truths we have absorbed with the living experience we have perceived, we may see that the essential uniting of the understanding and the will-of unique masculine and feminine contributions-is in no way limited to the realm of marriage.
Thus we strongly affirm the essential differences between men and women on both the spiritual and natural planes; we can also agree that some occupations require a predominance of the masculine while others need more of the feminine. At the same time we must recognize that most uses call for a vital union of both. Our essential concern in the life of the church must be the bringing of these two into effective harmony.
MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (28) 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (28) Rev. Daniel W. Goodenough 1988

     I prefer not to think of having "favorite" passages in the Writings. Although several stand out strongly in my memory and come up frequently in my teaching, I do not want to label any of these as "favorite" and submit it as such.
     All passages in the Writings reveal the Divine Human, and if you focus on one or several numbers as somehow more basic or important to you (or to the church), then you may tend to see other teachings in the light of your "favorites." AC 362 suggests that this is how heresies begin: "Whenever a church exists, heresies arise in it as a consequence of people basing their thinking on one particular article of faith to which they attach supreme importance. For man's thought process is such that when he focuses his whole attention on any one matter, he makes that more important than any other, especially so when delusion claims it as a discovery of his own, and when self-love and love of the world inflate his ego. In that case everything seemingly agrees with it and supports
     Though the danger may be small, I do not like to feel I have a favorite passage any more than I have a favorite part of the human body. All are necessary; all have their use; all are favorites when applied to the proper subject.

426

All should be seen in the light of all others, not just in the light of our "favorites."

     [Photo of Rev. Daniel W. Goodenough]

     A favorite" passage I listed would tell you something about me and my own states, but I think it would not tell you something about the Heavenly Doctrines. Moreover, the many passages I would not list as favorites might be omitted merely because I don't understand them: many important passages teach beautiful truths that I am trying to understand, and I feel I have no more business excluding hard-to-understand passages from a list of "favorites" than I have in choosing what in the Lord's Word appeals to me most.
     Finally, I feel that I personally would tend to attach to a "favorite" passage my own present understanding of it, and so limit the passage to what it now means to me. But we should read the Heavenly Doctrines seeking to receive deeper, fuller, more perfect understanding and inspiration from the passages we study, and not be limited by our traditional interpretations of them.

427

Poems from Swedenborg 1988

Poems from Swedenborg Linda S. Odhner 1988

Poems from Swedenborg by Leon C. Le Van, Swedenborg Foundation, New York, 1987; paperback, 165 pp., $5.95

     Le Van has brought us a rich harvest from the field of spiritual grain which is the Writings. He has given it a preliminary sifting, and some of us may be inspired to grind some flour from it and see what sort of bread it makes.
     These treasures are simply short quotes from the Writings arranged in free verse. They appeal both to the eye and to the inner ear, and by physically reflecting the forms inherent in the ideas, they bring out the affections within them.
     This book strikes me as a seminal piece of work, the first step in a process of which I can hardly imagine the results. Because these poems elicit an affectional response, each person will bring something different to them. For me, they trigger visual images-in a few cases very vivid ones (in fact I've already painted a picture based on "Free Worship" [p. 74]). Others may be inspired to set them to music, or write their own poems, stories or plays; those seeking material for needlework or calligraphy projects will find it here. Poems from Swedenborg may become a source book for people looking for artistic inspiration from the Writings.
     The debate about whether these verses are "real poems" reminds me of Walnut Acres peanut butter, which had to be labeled "imitation peanut butter" because it didn't contain enough artificial ingredients to conform to the government's definition of peanut butter. (The law has since been changed.) Should we call these "imitation poems" because they aren't artificial enough-because they are too close to the source of truth?
     What they are, perhaps, is an art form for which we don't have a name. They relate to traditional poetry as the art of photography relates to drawing and painting. When taking a photograph we choose a subject and composition from what surrounds us; we decide how to expose and (sometimes) how to develop and print the photograph; and there are many processes and techniques (multiple exposure is just one) by which we can create unusual effects. Likewise, Le Van chooses from among the words given in the Writings; he decides how to frame his vignettes (where to start and stop) and how to arrange the words on paper; he selects appropriate titles. We may not consider this a legitimate way to generate poetry, but these gems have convinced me that they are a true art form.

428

No, the Writings themselves are not poetry. They are not art, nor artifice, nor nature, nor are they absolute truth, but Divine Revelation of truth. I believe that, like nature, they can serve as raw material of which art can be made. It is precisely because they are not art, yet contain the components of art--affection and thought--that they can be transformed into art by Le Van's disarmingly simple treatment.
     Let me give a few examples. The poem "Down Through Heaven" (p. 23) leads the reader's eye down by degrees as it speaks of descent by degrees:

     Inasmuch
     As the Divine Truth
     Passed down
     Through the Heavens
     Even to the world
     It became adapted
     To angels in Heaven
     And also to men
     In the world.

The same is true of "Descending Influx" (p. 26) and "Through Angelic Heavens" (p. 30). If I were assembling a pamphlet of selected poems from this book, I would group these three together.
     "Profane Mixture" benefits from the slowing down of the eye and the mind which the shortness of the lines encourages. One can appreciate the weight and significance of each word:

     Great care
     Is taken by the Lord
     Lest truth be conjoined
     To evil
     And the false of evil
     To good.
     Profanation arises
     From such a mixture.

     "Great care" seems especially careful when set off by itself, and the form of the poem itself keeps truth separate from evil, and good from falsity. This poem truly embodies the form of the idea. Something similar occurs in "Last State Worse"(p. 74), where the words "profanes" and "profanation" appear isolated in their own lines, as if to protect the rest of the poem from being contaminated by them.
     Le Van highlights Swedenborg's use of parallel structure in many places, one of which is the poem "Divine Human"(p. 23), whose latter half runs thus:

429

     . . . He put off the human
     From the mother
     And put on a Human
     From the Father
     And this is why
     The Human of the Lord
     Is Divine
     And in Him
     God is Man and Man is God.

     This poem also emphasizes Swedenborg's use of capitals. Le Van mentions his own use of capitals as a poetic device; in this case I checked the green-bound translation of TCR and found all the capitals (other than those that begin lines) already there. [Note to editor: are these translational artifacts?]
     Comparisons abound in these poems; Swedenborg makes generous use of analogy to aid our understanding. I believe this book may help in countering the idea that the Writings are primarily logical, by giving us a sampling of many descriptive and metaphorical passages in the Writings. Here is one of my favorite poems-"The Shining Word":

     In the shrines
     Of the temples of Heaven
     The Word shines
     Before the eyes of the angels
     Like a great star,
     Sometimes like a sun;
     And also from the bright
     Radiance round about it
     There are seen as it were
     Most beautiful rainbows.

     This poem fascinates me because it illustrates the severe constraint that Le Van imposes on his creation when he follows the exact wording of the Writings (in translation). The words themselves, unconscious of the artistic use to which they are being put, make absolutely no concession to poetic necessity. Sometimes their stubbornness in this respect is almost comical-in the above poem the sixth line, "Sometimes like a sun," always makes me smile a little. And yet when the words do conform to the demands of poetry, as the first five lines show, their power, coming from the truth within, makes them soar.

430

That little incongruity in the sixth line can be seen merely as a blemish, but to me it evokes a quality of innocence that I have never seen so vividly in the Writings. Many of these poems display childlike freshness which derives from their simplicity and directness, their lack of straining for poetic effect, and the absence of any attempt to manipulate the reader's response. By this quality they bring out Swedenborg's innocence in following the Lord's lead and bringing us the New Revelation, and his childlike wonder at witnessing the marvels of the spiritual world. In their purity of vision they make me think of Miracles, Richard Lewis's international anthology of children's poetry.
     Sticking exactly to the words of the Writings in making poetry can't be easy or foolproof-and, in fact, it doesn't always work.
     Many of these verses (in my judgment) do not work as poetry, and some of them succeed only partially. Some clarify ideas without achieving the status of art. A few begin well and then fizzle out; others limp their way to a strong ending. The intermittent flashes of brilliance can't always be sustained through a whole poem-particularly the longer ones. Uniform line length often leads to monotony. Yet considering that Le Van is making a bold foray into unknown territory, his success rate is impressively high. To search through Poems from Swedenborg is to be rewarded with double handfuls of jewels.
     I hope that people will see the shortcomings of some of these poems not as an excuse to condemn them or dismiss them as being of no value, but as signposts showing what needs to be further refined or transformed-dare I say "regenerated" or "glorified"? Le Van offers them to us in a humble and experimental spirit, and we need to look at them not only in terms of how they first appear, but also in terms of where they can lead. They are "not designed to be a tool for study," Le Van points out in his preface. I think of them as a tool for inspiration. Future printings of this book would do well to cut down on typographical errors, which are especially jarring in poetry. I eagerly scanned one poem, intriguingly titled "Radiant Bells," only to find, as I suspected, that it was really about radiant belts, which are fine, but still I was a bit disappointed.
     Linda S. Odhner

431

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     HIGHLIGHTS FROM SWEDENBORG'S LETTERS (9)

     In the summer of 1765 Swedenborg was hoping to take a ship from Gothenburg to Holland, but "unfavorable winds" kept him waiting there for a week. Those were most favorable winds for people interested in Swedenborg's letters, because during that week of delay he met Dr. Gabriel Beyer. Any collection of Swedenborg's letters must include some of the nineteen letters to Beyer written between the autumn of 1765 and the summer of 1771. (Note, for example, that the section at the end of the first volume of Posthumous Theological Works entitled "Theological Extracts from Swedenborg's Correspondence" consists for the most part of selections from letters to Beyer.)
     Dr. Beyer's first letter to Swedenborg is dated March 18, 1766. Beyer possessed and had read most of the Writings that had thus far been published. Among the questions and requests in this letter was an appeal for "something in detail on marriage," a subject on which, Beyer felt, the world needed more light. This remark by Beyer has led some scholars in the past to conclude that the book Conjugial Love was written as a direct result of Beyer's suggestion. Among the reasons I think this an unwarranted conclusion is that the book Doctrine of Life had been published well before Beyer's letter, and it promises that there will be a work on the subject of marriage (see Life 74). There is a factor in Beyer's letter which has perhaps not been noted before. Beyer lists in this very letter the few parts of the Writings he has not as yet read. This includes the first two volumes of the Arcana. He says he has missed "everything before no. 2760." The section just before no. 2760 is a section devoted specifically to "marriages, how they are regarded in the heavens'' (see AC 2727-2759). How ironic that Beyer just missed that particular section.

     Swedenborg on the Memorabilia

     Although the Apocalypse Revealed is not the first work to have what we call Memorable Relations in it, it is the first to designate them at the end of each chapter.

432

Swedenborg comments on these as he mails the first printed copies of this work to Beyer and to the Swedish Ambassador in Paris. To Beyer in April of 1766 he wrote: "At the end of every chapter are Memorabilia separated from the text by asterisks. The Herr Doctor will be so good as to read these first. From them one gets a fundamental knowledge of the miserable state into which faith alone has brought the churches of the Reformed.
     "From here I am now going to England, where some noise is likely to be made, because in the Memorabilia the Bishops in England are referred to in somewhat strong terms-but necessity demanded this."
     About the same time, Swedenborg wrote to the French Ambassador that he had published Apocalypse Revealed "containing secrets hitherto unrevealed."

In this work are inserted various Memorable Relations of my intercourse with the spiritual world; they are separated from the text of the work by asterisks, and are to be found at the end of the explication of each chapter; as they contain several remarkable particulars, they may probably excite the reader to their first perusal.

     Swedenborg's enterprise in sending out copies of this work is exemplified in his letter at this time to the Secretary of State in Sweden.

I have circulated them around to all the universities in Holland, Germany, France and England, and am going to send seventy copies to Stockholm. [He then specified senators to whom copies should be given, including Senator von Hopken.] . . . I desire the remaining 60 to be kept safe until I return home, meaning to distribute them amongst academies and libraries in Sweden, and to clergymen qualified for a more than ordinary station.

     Count von Hopken was one of the first people in Sweden to receive a copy of Apocalypse Revealed, and his reaction to the Memorabilia has long been considered significant, because Swedenborg was aware of it and responded to it; In a letter to a friend von Hiipken wrote:

There are two circumstances in the doctrine and writings of Swedenborg: the first is his Memorable Relations; of these I cannot judge, not having had any spiritual intercourse myself by which to judge of his assertions either approvingly or disapprovingly, but they cannot appear more extraordinary than the Apocalypse of John and other similar relations contained in the Bible; the second is his Tenets of Doctrine; of these I can judge: they are excellent, irrefutable, and the best that ever were taught, promoting the happiest social life.

433

I know that Swedenborg has related his memorabilia bonafide. I asked him once why he wrote and published those memorable relations, which seemed to throw so much ridicule on his doctrine, otherwise so rational, and whether it would not be best for him to keep them to himself, and not to publish them to the world. But he answered that he had orders from the Lord to publish them; and that those who might ridicule him on that account would do him injustice; for, said he, why should I, who am a man in years, render my self ridiculous for fantasies and falsehoods?

     There is no date on the above letter as it appears in Documents II, p. 415, but von Hopken spoke similarly in a letter to General Tuxen of Denmark written in 1781, nine years after Swedenborg's death. He tells Tuxen of a clergyman who knew something of the Writings:

He was by no means a Swedenborgian, for he did not understand his memorable relations; and I could wish the happy deceased had left them out, as they may prevent infidelity from approaching his doctrines. I represented to him these inconveniences, but he said that he was commanded to declare what he had seen in the other world, and he related it as proof that he did not reveal his own thoughts, but that they came from above.

     Instead of Miracles

     The Swedenborg Epic has a chapter headed "Instead of Miracles." The phrase comes from an entry in the Spiritual Diary which reports that some spirits were averse to the spiritual experiences being included in the Arcana Caelestia. "But it was replied that they are instead of miracles, and that without them men would not know the character of the book, nor would they buy it or read it or understand it, or be affected by it, or believe it-in a word they would remain in ignorance . . ." (SD 4123).

     SWEDENBORG IN THE PAGES OF THE WRITINGS (9)

     The Memorable Relations in Conjugial Love

     Among the places in the Writings which allude to Swedenborg himself are many of the Memorable Relations. How important those Memorable Relations are was not easily determined by studies which depended on the Swedenborg Concordance. The STAIRS project,* which enables a student to use a computer to look up a subject in the Writings, has brought to light some things not previously appreciated.

434

There are, for example, many more references to the Memorable Relations than one could have ascertained by using the Concordance. Some of these references show how vital the Memorabilia are to our seeing the truth.
     *STAIRS stands for "Swedenborgian Theological Automated Information Retrieval System." The project is explained briefly in a letter from Eva Lexie in our April issue of 1987. Mrs. Lexie there says, "The first and most immediate goal is to provide an electronic concordance."
     In CL 166 we are told that there are four Memorable Relations in which arcana are disclosed by wives in heaven, "two by the three wives dwelling in the hall . . . and two by the seven wives sitting in a rose garden. If these are read, this arcanum will be seen unveiled."
     Notice that saying that if these are read, this arcanum will be seen unveiled. It would be impossible for the things of conjugial love to be made clear without the Memorabilia. "It is impossible to describe its supereminent felicities from any other source than the mouth of angels, for they are in it . . . . But more concerning these delights as told by the mouth of angels may be seen in the Memorable Relations, especially in those which follow after some of the later chapters" (CL 69).
     After a point is made in no. 433 we read, "This is according to the utterances of their own lips as given in the Memorable Relation, nos. 355, 356. I have heard from their own mouth that the most ancient peoples in the golden and silver ages were in enduring efficacy because they loved the caresses of their wives and shuddered at the caresses of harlots. See the Memorable Relations nos. 75, 76." What love was like in very ancient times "cannot be learned from history because their writings are not extant . . . . It has pleased the Lord to reveal these marriages to me in a spiritual way by leading me to the heavens where are the dwellings of the people of those ages, that there, from their own lips, I might learn concerning the nature of marriages with them" (CL 73).
     Early in Conjugial Love is a statement about the character of the book called "the present work." Some things "I have thus far sought to confirm by considerations such as belong to the understanding and are called rational." But it has become necessary "to confirm them by the testimony of experience." The paragraph ends by saying that "as specifically regards marriages, they will be given in the present work, in the Memorable Relations which follow the paragraphs or chapters" (CL 39).
     These are but a few examples of the references of this nature. Although you might not take the time to put the following references in the margin of your Swedenborg Concordance, you might write in next to the entry "Memorable": "See New Church Life, October 1988, 'Swedenborg in the Pages of the Writings.'" References in Conjugial Love are nos. 1, 39, 42, 44, 51, 69, 74, 99, 103, 127, 131, 132, 144, 145, 156, 166, 173, 202, 239, 240, 244, 258, 276, 314, 334, 335, 350, 433, 481, 498, 528.

435

"These relations are adduced to the end that everything pertaining to conjugial love may be disclosed, this being the subject here treated of, both in general and in detail" (CL 258).
PRAYER 1988

PRAYER Donald C. Schmucker 1988

     Communications
Dear Editor,
     While re-reading Erin C. Martz's article entitled "Prayer" (NCL Feb. '88), I was struck by the dispassionate view taken by the author of man's desperate longing to communicate with the Lord.
     "I entreat thy favor with my whole heart. Be merciful unto me according to Thy Word" (Psalm 119). The internal sense notwithstanding, the essence of that phrase reaches to the very core of man's desire to be, each in his own way, a part of that grand design which he feels but cannot understand.
     No matter what the reason for prayer, "since the Lord will not act in favor of prayers against the end, which is salvation" (AC 8179), any attempt on man's part to communicate with the Lord is far better than none at all. And it is most certainly better than reasonings which question the Divine attributes of the Lord--e.g., what prayers are and are not acceptable. Quoting from the article, "On the other hand, in not praying for them [other people] we may be trusting more in the Lord." Taking that reasoning to its ultimate conclusion, let's not pray at all about anything.
     No, the Lord accommodates Himself to man, not vice versa. Man needs to pray, and pray constantly. It keeps the Lord in his thoughts and it makes him feel good, and hopefully, helps him to act that way.
     Donald C. Schmucker,
          Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

436

LETTING THE WRITINGS BE THE WRITINGS 1988

LETTING THE WRITINGS BE THE WRITINGS Richard L. Goerwitz 1988

Dear Editor,
     Lately I have been hearing a lot of discussion about the Latin word domesticus. What people are saying is 1) that we are misunderstanding Swedenborg's use of this term, and 2) that if we define it correctly, in light of eighteenth century estate management practices, the problem of women's "domestic" roles vanishes. Although I can't claim to be a professional Latin translator, there seem to me to be some decisive problems with this argument. Rather than tire people with a list of petty objections, however, I will confine my remarks to one of these problems: the misapplication of contemporary literature and historical information toward defining Swedenborg's usage. Historical investigation of the Writings has become a major interest of mine over the last five or six years. I've published on it in New Philosophy on more than one occasion, and I'll shortly be publishing in Studia Swedenborgiana. Even though this is a hobby horse of mine, I promise not to let my letter become an academic dissertation-or worse yet a sermon! Really, I only want to voice a few basic concerns about how we go about defining words in the Writings.
     Let me begin with an apparent digression on an article written about fifty years ago. This article deals with the Egyptian hieroglyphs-a topic which, on the face of things, might seem unrelated to the one being addressed here. Trust me, though; its relevance will become clear in a moment.
     As most people today are aware, the Egyptian hieroglyphs were a syllabic alphabet. You could write things in them just as you'd write things in any other language, though there were a lot more letters and the letters had more possible pronunciations. Unfortunately for Swedenborgians, this was apparently not how Swedenborg conceived of the hieroglyphs. It was with an eye toward solving this dilemma that in 1939 Alfred Acton I published an article on the Egyptian writing system in New Church Life.1 His argument was, in essence, quite simple: Encyclopedias from Swedenborg's time used the term "hieroglyphic" in a broad sense, almost like our modern English "symbolic." Hence, when Swedenborg offered to explain the inner meaning of the hieroglyphs, he was really only offering to explain the general principles of Egyptian iconography and symbolism. In other words, he was not even talking about the same thing as we when he used the term "hieroglyphics." The supposed problem of the Egyptian writing system was thus no problem at all. We simply had to redefine the term "hieroglyphic" in light of Swedenborg's historical context and it would vanish!

437

     Unfortunately, Acton, in this case, was uncharacteristically lax in his philological standards. Although he correctly surmised that in Swedenborg's day the term "hieroglyphic" usually meant "symbolic," he failed to deal with the specific usage we find in the Writings. He should have asked, "What does this word mean in contexts like 'Egyptian hieroglyphics,' or when called simply 'the hieroglyphs'?" As it turns out, people in Swedenborg's day would have understood these phrases in pretty much the same sense as we do today.2 The only difference between them and us is that they did not know precisely how the Egyptian writing system worked, and had to rely on extremely misleading treatments of them written by ancient Hellenistic and Roman scholars. They had the same physical objects in mind, however, as we.3
     The point here for our present controversy over "domestic uses" is that if we want to define Swedenborg's usage of the Latin word domesticus, we cannot simply work up a new definition based on some aspect of his historical context, as Acton did with encyclopedia definitions of the term "hieroglyphic." Before getting caught up in this sort of speculation, we have to ask ourselves a more pertinent question: How did other neo-Latin writers from Swedenborg's time typically use this term when speaking of women, or of women's proper roles in society?
     The other afternoon, out of curiosity, I pulled a few dictionaries down off the shelves of my library, and peered through them to see if any clear standard of usage emerged with terms like oeconomicus and domesticus.4 Both, it turns out, refer etymologically to the home. Oeconomicus, obviously a Greek word, comes from the roots oik-"house" and nom-"usage, custom, law." It applies to things having to do with the structure and management of one's household or, in the case of the rich, the estate (cf. Xenophon's Oekonomika). Sometimes it is used of a country in general, specifically its financial affairs (the most common usage in the Writings). In still other cases it is used broadly of things well-structured or ordered (an "economical" use of resources). When used of women, however, it usually has its ground meaning, "pertaining to household management."5 Like oeconomicus, domesticus can be used of matters pertaining to the country at large. However, especially when contrasted with words like forensis and publicus, or when used of women, children, and servants, it too has the restricted sense, "pertaining to the home."6
     What this all says to me is that subtle historical arguments about how certain women behaved in the seventeen hundreds may not be relevant. Swedenborg was a man of the world who wrote for the world in the international language of his day.

438

Barring explicit evidence to the contrary, we can usually assume that when Swedenborg used a word, he used it in accord with common usage, and did not use it in accord with some special sense peculiar to him. It follows, therefore, that when Swedenborg used the terms "domestic" and "economic" of women and women's uses, or contrasted "domestic uses" with forensic ones, he used these words, by and large, in the same sense that everyone else did, namely, "pertaining to the [management of the] home." The emphasis, in other words, was on the private, sheltered world of the family. If Swedenborg had meant us to understand this word differently-say of general administration and estate management among the wealthy-he most surely would have told us, since these things would not have automatically come to mind in the contexts spoken of above.7
     My conclusion, then, is that we must let the Writings be the Writings. If they speak of women as doing "domestic" things such as taking care of the home, knitting, sewing, cooking, watching babies, then so be it. We must avoid reinterpreting them in what we see as a more "modern" light. Just as with the hieroglyphics, we must be willing to face a difficult issue head on, without trying to blunt or evade Swedenborg's statements about it. It is equally important, however, that we avoid the trap of fundamentalism. All revelation must be accommodated to the state of its recipients. Hence it cannot be expected to stand up under the pressure of a theology which demands unchanging, literal inerrancy-one in which time-bound explanations or illustrations are mistaken For timeless; prescriptive commands.8 If we can simply avoid these two extremes, and can maintain a healthy tolerance for varieties of opinion, the issue will probably become a little less divisive, and we have a better opportunity of coming to valid interpretations of our new revelation.
     Richard L. Goerwitz III,
          Chicago, Illinois

     NOTES

     1 "Swedenborg and the Egyptian Hieroglyphs." New Church Life, Sep. 1939, pp. 396-408.
     2 See M. Johann Adam Weber's Lexicon Encyclicon (3rd ed; Dresden, 1770). There the editor offers us two separate entries, hieroglyphicus, -a, -um and hieroglyphicum, -i. The former he defines in a general manner, somewhat reminiscent of what Acton tells us: "Mit Sinnbildern etwas zu verstehen gebend. The latter--hieroglyphicum ('a hieroglyphic')-he defines as: "En geheimnes Sinnbild, von Thieren hergenommen, eine Bildnibschrift." Thomas Thomasius (op. cit. below. note 6) defines hieroglyphica as "Mysticall and enygmaticall letters or cyphers among the Egyptians, by images signifying holy sentences." This does not seem to me to refer to general symbolism. It in fact reflects quite accurately what Europeans then thought of the Egyptian writing system.

439

     3 The hieroglyphics, as a writing system, were much discussed in Christian circles from the Renaissance on. In Swedenborg's day, transcriptions of hieroglyphic inscriptions were available, though they were not always terribly accurate or complete. A few people even took a crack at deciphering them, offering preposterous interpretations of the various signs. See Erik Iverson, The Myth of Egypt and Its Hieroglyphs (Copenhagen, 1861), chapters 2 and 3. The hieroglyphics were not deciphered until 1822.
     4 Two good preliminary sources of aid in finding lexical aids for Swedenborg's time period are Giorgia Tonelli. A Short-Title List of Subject Dictionaries of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries (London, 1971), and DeWitt T. Starnes, Renaissance Dictionaries (Austin, 1954). Since many neo-Latin terms are also part of an international repertoire of Greek and Latin-based words, one should also consult cognates in the Oxford English Dictionary, and (for French), the Tresor de la langue francaise (Paris, 1971ff., for usage after 1789), and Le Gorand Robert (2nd ed.; Paris, 1985). For German, the situation is somewhat more difficult, since there Latinate words are avoided, calques or native words with extended meanings being used in their place. Encyclopedias can also be useful. Readily available to most English speakers are copies of the Encyclopedia Britanica and the Chambers Encyclopedia. The best one is in German-Johann Heinrich Zedler's mid-seventeenth century Grosses Vollstandiges Universal Lexicon.
     5 Quoted from an abridgement of Ainsworth's Latin-English/ English-Latin Thesaurus by Thomas Morell (Philadelphia, 1829). Ainsworth's Thesaurus (1st ed., 1736) was the major Latin/English bilingual dictionary of the eighteenth century. The Oxford English Dictionary entry "economic" is highly instructive in this instance.
     6 See Ainsworth's dictionary (op. cit., note 5) under "domestic." Thomas Thomasius's Dictionarium (1st ed., 1588; my ed. Cambridge, 1606) describes domesticus as meaning "pertaining to the householde, tame, familiar, private." The first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (Edinburgh, 1771) tells us that the English word "domestic" refers to "any man who acts under another, serving to compose his family." It furthermore states that "domestic is sometimes applied to the wife and children, but very seldom to servants, such as footmen, lacquies, porters, etc." The OED entry "domestic" is also helpful here, showing again the contrast between domestic and public affairs as conceived of in Swedenborg's era.
     7 Alfred Acton II, in the May 5, 1988 issue of the Bryn Athyn Post, argued that Swedenborg's statement about women excelling men in "economic" affairs implied "the kind of estate management which women of the eighteenth century were very good at." I see no such implication in Swedenborg's use here of the term "economic." In fact, a more homebound definition would work equally well. I am also quite unable to understand why he draws a parallel with Swedenborg's memorandum on the state of Swedish currency where the term is used in a completely different context!
     8 I often hear the statement made that "revelation is prescriptive not descriptive." This is more true for the Old Testament than the New, and more true for the New Testament than the Writings. Probably a more accurate way of looking at things would be to say that when God reveals Himself, He does not waste words. Everything is there for a purpose. That purpose, however, may be to illustrate an idea. and not to prescribe what is stated in the illustration as a direct, literal statement of how things must be!

440

SPIRITUAL CONTENTMENT 1988

SPIRITUAL CONTENTMENT Jr. Edward B. Lee 1988

Dear Editor,
It was a stimulating experience to participate in the recent symposium in Tarrytown, New York, organized by the Swedenborg Foundation to honor the 300th anniversary of Swedenborg's birth. The theme was "Search for Unity," and brought together scholars in such diverse fields as medicine, physics, biology, philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, and business administration. These well known experts mostly admitted that "they knew beans" about Swedenborg, but were being exposed to him as a giant in all these fields. I went to the plenary sessions and many workshops, and was duly impressed with such vocabulary as dualism, transpersonal interaction, comparative mythology, spirit-matter transformation, etc. It was not until the discussion of Robert McDermott's Thinking As a Spiritual Discipline that I screwed up enough courage to ask this philosopher a question. He had quoted Emerson, Kant, and Aristotle on rising to a plane above materialism to a better perspective of our imperfect world. He had made the point that most of this audience were white Americans, affluent, educated, and intellectual, and as a class mostly ignored the fact that most of the rest of the world lived in poverty, ignorance, and were struggling with the problem of sheer existence. I enjoyed his references to various poets and philosophers I had studied long ago, but was concerned about whether he accepted the concept of being content with the dispensation of Providence. I wondered if he thought it was sort of a "cop-out" to justify not struggling some way to alleviate evils. Hence I resolved to ask a question which involved the doctrine of uses and the idea of regeneration. I carefully worded my question as follows: We Swedenborgians use the term "regeneration" as the process of trying to perfect ourselves, shun evils ourselves, and attempt to develop our own best talents given us by the Lord. In so doing we cultivate love of being useful, and in this way build our spiritual being for a permanent place in heaven. Since all good and truth come from the Lord, we try to reduce ego and learn to be content with the dispensations of Providence. As Emily Dickenson said, if we have helped one robin into her nest again, we shall not have lived in vain. My question to you therefore is, Do philosophers teach discontent as a way of life?
Then my unique experience began as he answered with a resounding Yes! Nobody should ever be content as long as there is work to be done to help improve this imperfect world!

441

I talked to him afterward and won an admission that he "had been a little hard" on me and that he himself was content with his role of teacher-philosopher. This ended with his admonition, "By all means continue your efforts along the road less traveled." I'm still not sure we understood each other, but at least we were both searching for unity.
Edward B. Lee, Jr.
WHITTINGTON'S PSALMS 1988

WHITTINGTON'S PSALMS Muriel Best 1988

Dear Editor:
     Browsing through back numbers of NCL I am amazed at the items I seem to have missed on my first reading!
     I hope it is not too late to warmly back Olive Sharp's plea (May 1988) that those editing the new Liturgy will think long and hard before cutting out any of the Word set to Whittington music.
     In 1913 I was privileged to attend the church school of which the Rev. Andrew Czerny was headmaster and Miss May Waters his assistant in London.
     Every morning, following opening worship, we stood around the piano and learned the Psalms, starting with "Blessed is the man" and "Why are the nations tumultuous;" through to the 17th. We were permitted to skip 18 as very long, and continued with 19, "The heavens are telling," which was a great favorite.
     Seventy-five years later a snatch of music will bring back the words, or a few words, to the music I used to love singing, but now if the sound coming from my throat bears any relation to the affection I feel in my heart, I shall know I have got to the right place!
     It must be said, however, that I have no practical or theoretical knowledge of music, and when I have discussed Whittington compositions with those who have, it is not rated very highly.
     So the question facing me is, "Is affection alone enough to justify its retention?" I think yes-at least until something definitely better is produced.
     Muriel Best,
          Taunton, England

442

MOVIE "THE LAST TEMPTATION" 1988

MOVIE "THE LAST TEMPTATION" Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz 1988

Dear Editor:
     The movie "The Last Temptation," dare one follow the crowd and see it?
     All indications are that it is memorable film, but memorable in a most adverse and damaging sense.

     The nationally syndicated religion writer Michael J. McManus, in his column "Ethics and Religion," described this film's profoundly unpleasant effect in these notable words: "I saw the film on its opening day in Washington, but wish I did not feel it professionally necessary to do so. Ghastly images from the film keep reappearing in the mind--ghosts that do not recede, even as I re-read the Gospels for a clear view of Jesus as man and God's Son."
     He calls this film blasphemous, because it presents Jesus as participating in sinful acts. And even when a form of the Biblical story is told, he says, it is twisted unnecessarily.
     To present the Lord and His teaching in this awful way is to deny the Divinity of His Human Nature and of His Word.
     "Blasphemy" is such a condemnatory old word that it seems to have gone the way of the witch-hunt and the stocks. But in the case of this film, not to use it would be as derelict as not to put a barbed wire fence and a red "Warning" sign around a radioactive dump site.
     "Blaspheming takes place," we are taught in the Arcana, "when things of the Word or the doctrine of faith, thus which are holy, are held in derision, and are dragged down to unclean earthly things, and so defiled" (AC 8882:4).
     And further, "Blasphemy is to deny the Divine of the Lord in His Human . . . and to deny the Word . . . . And he who denies the Word denies all things of religion" (AR 571).
     Blasphemy is a form of profanation.
     McManus has characterized the inwardly damaging effect of such profanation when he regretfully writes, "Ghastly images from the film keep reappearing in the mind-ghosts that do not recede.
     Unfortunately, what we have once seen we can never totally blot out of our memory. Consequently, when one has been through a profane experience, "in every idea of his thought . . . holy things are attached to profane ones. Not a single idea of what is holy can be brought forth without the adherent profane idea being clearly seen" (AC 1008).

443

     Jesus' Divine Humanity, when lifted up before the mind's eye, as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent before the smitten Israelites in the wilderness, has the power to heal and save the human soul-eternally.
     So great is the significance of a clear and pure concept of Jesus as Divine Man among us that one would do well, in my estimation, to avoid all contact with the film before us, and with everything else that would distort and pervert this beautiful Divine image.
     Newspaperman McManus urges even more definite action. "Virtually everyone," he says, "should boycott this blasphemous film, boycott the theaters that show it for a year, and sell any stock you might own in MCA, which owns Universal Pictures, the company that produced it."
     Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz,
          Bath, Maine
FORM OF THE HEAVENLY DOCTRINES 1988

FORM OF THE HEAVENLY DOCTRINES E. Bruce Glenn 1988

Dear Editor:
Surely you had tongue in cheek when you asked editorially (NCL August, p.340), "Are the Writings wisdom or love and wisdom?" We are taught that all of the Lord's creation, most immediately His Word, exists through the uniting of His love and wisdom. "Good and truth can no more be separated than will and understanding, or what is the same thing, than love's affection and the thought therefrom" (TCR 753). Love without wisdom would be helpless; wisdom without love is nothing. Good and truth, substance and form are inseparable. "By substance is also meant form, for substance is not possible apart from form" (DLW 209).
But love finds different forms in which to embody itself and thus become effective. The Divine love, accommodating itself to the states of men in successive ages, has been expressed in three distinct revelations-the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Heavenly Doctrines. Their forms are quite different: the first commanding obedience and strict action in the stories of the Children of Israel (and still compelling to all children); the next appealing to the moral idealism of the early Christian Church through the Lord's personal example and teaching in His parables (and calling forth the imaginative idealism of all youth); and the last addressing the rational mind in doctrine essentially abstracted from story and symbol(and addressing the adult mind prepared by the development of science and philosophy). This last-the Lord's revelation of Himself in the Heavenly Doctrines-I cannot see as poetry, though it most certainly is love and wisdom united.

444

     Your August editorial reviewed various points on this subject raised by readers of the passages rearranged as "poems." I shall not try to respond serially to these points, but rather to address the concepts and affections that have been expressed. It is not my purpose to try to dampen anyone's delight in reading the Writings, nor merely to assert that they are not poetry. My concern is that the rearranging of passages in this way not be seen as a substitute for the doctrines as they were given to and presented by Swedenborg.
     What does the last phrase mean? Let us look at the original of the "poem" reprinted in the August issue (p. 339), there titled "Everpresent":

Quod Deus praesens sit in spatio absque spatio, et in tempore absque tempore, est causa, quia Deus est semper idem, ab aeterno in aeternum, ita qualis ante mundum cretum talis post illum;. . .

     In the standard translation:

God is present in space without space, and in time without time, because He is always the same, from eternity to eternity; thus He is the same since the world was created as before; . . . (TCR 30:2).

     The rearrangement published in NCL breaks this into separate lines by phrase patterns. (Incidentally, one could compose a number of variations along these lines and presumably thereby create quite different poems.)
     Both of the above quotations end with a semicolon, clearly indicating that the statement is part of a longer development of the idea. One of your correspondents suggested that the "prose" form of the Writings as published in English, with upper and lower case lettering, justified margins, etc., is a "straitjacket" into which someone's "whim" pushed the words. If so, it was Swedenborg's, both in his manuscripts and in the volumes he saw through the press. Swedenborg wrote a few poems early in his career; he did not, evidently, view the Heavenly Doctrines as poetry.
     What is poetry? Perhaps, as one correspondent suggested, it cannot be precisely defined. As a form of art, however, it can be classified as a formal product of the imagination. Bishop George de Charms has described its function succinctly: "It is the specific function of the imagination to clothe the affections, to embody them in specific forms received through the senses, stored in the memory, selected and organized to express them. The purpose of art is to create similar forms in some tangible material. . ." ("Imagination and Rationality," New Philosophy, 1972).

445

     Poetry, then, as an artistic form in language, serves to bring the spiritual world to realization in the mind by means of sensory experience. This implies the presence of three ingredients of form: composition, imagery, and rhythm. (I believe these are essentials in any work of art, in whatever medium.)
     Rhythm may be seen as a specific aspect of composition by which motion in time or space affects emotion. Composition as a whole involves a structure or form put together in such a way as to become a complete, integral thing in and for itself. Composition in poetry may take the form of stanzas or a sonnet; it may include-but not necessarily-rhyme and meter. It may be free verse.
     A poem must have imagery, the sensuous representation of affections and ideas in tangible forms. It is by means of imagery that the imagination fuses the spiritual and physical worlds into one for the moment--embodying, as de Charms notes, the one in the other as a means of expressing affections otherwise unrealized. (See AC 4009.)
     Probably the world's most loved poem is the Twenty-third Psalm, so familiar to us all that it need not be reprinted here. Its pastoral imagery is at the heart of its appeal, for the Lord is our Shepherd. I cannot speak of its rhythm or compositional form in the original Hebrew; the King James translation (Old or New), with its rhythmic sequence and balance of structure, fuses the beautiful images into an unforgettable whole. For the New Church reader this beauty holds new depth: "green pastures" correspond to the nourishing substance of the Divine love, and "still waters" to the Divine truth that calms the mind and quenches its spiritual thirst. This is a poem no matter how its lines are divided.
     This is, I believe, simply not true of the Heavenly Doctrines. They contain imagery in such passages as the Memorable Relations and lists of comparisons frequently given in TCR. But most of the passages recently printed as poems express a very different kind of developed form. The wording is abstract, not concrete. Any rhythm is apparently incidental; and their composition is that of expositional prose-rational, ideational discourse employing analysis, comparison, and such relationships as cause and effect. They were given, through and by Swedenborg, to an intellectual understanding whose focus is the love of truth for its own sake-an understanding that, while its ideas must be built from sense experience, must also rise above it. No longer is it true that "without a parable spake He not to them."
     To conclude, my concern is that the doctrines be seen as they are, and responded to accordingly. It is not easy; it was not easy for the Israelites or the disciples to understand or to desire the Lord's words to them. One of your correspondents spoke of "gems from the Writings!"

446

Others noted "the unencumbered essence of our doctrines" and "how powerful the words of the Writings became when arranged in free verse." But the removal from context implied by all these is a departure from the nature of the revelation to the New Church, a disruption of its fabric; and it
could become an imposition of our own finite patterns upon that given by the Divine Mind.
     In October 1848 the American essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote this in his journal: "A book very much wanted is a Beauties of Swedenborg, or a judicious collection of sentences and symbols and pictures from his diffuse and wearisomely repetitious pages." How many of us have not shared that feeling? How important is it for us, as receivers of the Heavenly Doctrines, not to yield to it?
     E. Bruce Glenn,
          Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN JAPANESE 1988

TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN JAPANESE Editor 1988

Because we cannot read a line of it, we have hesitated to comment on the first volume of True Christian Religion translated into Japanese by Mr. Tatsuya Nagashima. But this volume is in its way far more significant than the several English translations to which we often give attention. As it is with several languages, such as Dutch and Swedish, the old translations of the Writings are very difficult for modern readers in Japanese. Mr. Nagashima has by his translating achievement made it possible for people to read what was previously really unavailable to them. This is something that we salute with great satisfaction.
TRANSLATION SEMINAR 1988

TRANSLATION SEMINAR Editor 1988

From August 29th-31st the Swedenborg Library hosted a translation seminar attended by more than thirty people. Prime movers in making this possible were Dr. George Dole, Rev. Alfred Acton and Mrs. Kent Cooper. Among the speakers other than Dr. Dole were Richard Goerwitz III, Rev. Jonathan Rose, Dr. Charles Ebert, Dr. Durban Odhner, Rev. John Elliott. We hope to publish an outstanding address given to this gathering by Rev. Bruce Rogers.

447

MAJOR PUBLICATION OF THE SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION 1988

MAJOR PUBLICATION OF THE SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION Editor 1988

     What a pleasure it was actually to see this volume in print: Emanuel Swedenborg-A Continuing Vision. It is impressive-576 pages of text and handsome photographs. It seems destined to be called "The Big Book" for short or more properly, "A Pictorial Biography and Anthology of Essays and Poetry." There have been attempts before to do an illustrated biography of Swedenborg, but nothing has come near this in completeness and quality. As the advertising brochure (of which copies are available) says, "We see faces and places Swedenborg encountered in Sweden and during his seven trips abroad depicted in a glorious multitude of full-color and black-and-white images. The illustrations lend a vivid, pictorial beauty to the detailed, informative, chronological biography, and place the man accurately and intimately in his own period of history."
     Readers of New Church Life will be interested to know that the dust jacket has a series of photographs including two of the Bryn Athyn cathedral, and for readers of the Life here is a highly selective sampling of the essays.

Mining and Engineering in Swedenborg's Time by Erland Brock
Science in Swedenborgs Time by Gregory Baker
Swedenborg and the Egyptian Hieroglyphs by Horand Gutfeldt
Swedenborg and the Near-Death Experience by Leon Rhodes
Servant of the Lord by Ray Silverman
The Influence of Swedenborg on the Music of Richard Yardumian by Ethelwyn Worden
Swedenborg's Journal of Dreams and Divine Knowledge by Lars Bergquist
Swedenborgs London by Dennis Duckworth
New Jerusalem in the World by Inge Jonsson
Swedenborg in Stockholm by Olle Hjern
Toleration and Doctrinal Unity: A Study in Swedish Swedenborgianism, 1765-1795 by Harry Lenhammar

The Pivotal Change in Swedenborgs Life by Donald Rose
Some will particularly enjoy the Poets with Swedenborgian Connections compiled by Alice Skinner.

     Note: The price goes up to $75.00 (plus $5.00 for postage and handling) after October 31. Now it is $59.95 plus $5.00.

448

JULY AT CHRISTMASTIME IN AUSTRALIA 1988

JULY AT CHRISTMASTIME IN AUSTRALIA Editor 1988

     Yes, every year "down under" summertime is at Christmas. This year you are invited to experience it for yourself. Join the Aussies in Perth, Western Australia, at their Conference: December 31, 1988 to January 3, 1989, and summer school: January 3-11, 1989.
     The Conference will be held at the city church. Reports will be given of the work of the national church, and plans will be made for the future. You can be a vital part of this too because enrolled visitors may speak at the Conference.
     The summer school will be more relaxed. It will be held at a Y.M.C.A. camp in the wooded hills just outside Perth. The international speakers will be Bishop Louis King from the U.S.A, and Rev. John Sutton from New Zealand. In addition, all the active ministers of The New Church in Australia will take part: Rev. Messrs. Ian Arnold, Dick Keyworth, Trevor Moffat and John Teed.
     The Perth Society has hired a bus, so transport to and from the summer school will not be a problem for you. Also, there will be outings to Perth and suburbs, the harbour city of Fremantle, water playgrounds, and a lake for swimming and canoeing.
     Topics for the elective programme will be appropriate to the specialist speakers at the summer school. The topics planned include church growth, the Branch scheme, small group teaching, experience of grieving, what the Academy has to offer young people, and conduct of worship. These are in addition to classes for each age group.
     What do you bring? Bible, casual clothes, suncream, sheets, pillow slips, and a sleeping bag or blanket.
     The fees range from $AUD130 for adults to $AUD45 for age two to five years. For more details contact the Secretary:

     Mrs. Mary Uren
     Post Office Box 6260
     East Perth 6004
     Western Australia
     Telephone (09) 271 9200.

449

NEWS ABOUT PITTSBURGH 1988

NEWS ABOUT PITTSBURGH Editor 1988

     The following is from a summer issue of the Pittsburgh Society's monthly Reporter.

     In Transition

     The Pittsburgh New Church is a society in transition. While many of our older members are moving to retirement communities, or making the transition to the other life, younger members are beginning to take over society responsibilities. At the same time, we are experiencing a large influx of young New Church people coming to the Pittsburgh area for college studies. In a recent survey we discovered that when school begins this fall there will be 36 college age New Church people in or near Pittsburgh!
     Along with the influx of college age people, we have also been experiencing another kind of influx-of newcomers into the church. Since January there have been 10 baptisms of adults and children, all of whom had no previous family or marital connection to the New Church. These adults, each in his or her own way, discovered the church on their own and felt as though they had found their spiritual home. Their baptism into the church marked an important time of transition not only in their lives but in our lives as well.
     We are an old society. We are a new society. We are a society in transition. Each of us, in one way or another is also in transition . . . from childhood to youth; from being children to becoming parents; from school to the world of work; from the world of work to retirement; from natural to spiritual life. So many changes; so many transitions. We can't know what the future holds; but we know Who holds the future.

     On September 11th a special open house was held in the Pittsburgh Society for the several people who have recently joined that society. Dr. Ray Silverman has told us of the special inspiration these newcomers bring.
     Isn't it amazing? Exactly a year ago we did an editorial speaking of the trauma in the smaller centers of the church. We gave some "stark facts" about the number of people who have moved away from Pittsburgh. And now just twelve months later we are looking to happenings in Pittsburgh as an encouragement and a morale-booster for the rest of the church. We do not mean to suggest that our church societies are societies of heaven when we invite reflection on no. 157 of Heaven and Hell about the changes of state which are experienced by each society. In the heavens while some are experiencing a state of relative cold, others are experiencing a new state of warmth. We can't help wondering how things are going among our friends in Australia and New Zealand.

450

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE 1988

CHAPTER FROM CONJUGIAL LOVE Rev. N. BRUCE ROGERS 1988

     Announcements

     FROM THE NEW TRANSLATION BEING PREPARED BY REV. N. BRUCE ROGERS

     56. The second story:

     One time, while speaking with angels in the spiritual world, I was filled with a pleasant wish to see the Temple of Wisdom, which I had seen once before. So I asked the angels about the way to it.
     They said, "Follow the light, and you will find it."
     And I said, "What do you mean, follow the light?"
     They said, "Our light grows brighter the closer we get to that temple. Follow the light, therefore, in the direction it grows brighter. For our light emanates from the Lord as the sun of this world, and so, regarded in itself, that light is wisdom."
     In the company of two angels I then went in the direction that the light grew brighter, and I ascended by a steep path to the top of a certain hill which was in the southern zone, where I found a magnificent gate. When the guard saw the angels with me, he opened it, and behold, I saw an avenue of palm trees and laurels, which we followed. The avenue curved around and ended up at a garden, in the middle of which stood the Temple of Wisdom.
     As I looked around in the garden, I saw some smaller buildings, replicas of the temple, with wise men in them. We went over to one of the buildings, and we spoke at the entrance with the receptionist there, telling him the reason for our coming and the way we had arrived. And the receptionist said, "Welcome! Come in, have a seat, and let us spend some time together in conversations of wisdom."
     I saw inside that the building was divided into two sections, and yet the two were still one. It was divided into two sections by a transparent partition, but it looked like one room because of the partition's transparency, which was like the transparency of the purest crystal. I asked why it was arranged like that.
     The receptionist said, "I am not alone. My wife is with me, and though we are two, yet we are not two but one flesh."
     To which I replied, "I know you are wise, but what does a wise man or wisdom have to do with a woman?"
     At this, with some feeling of annoyance, the receptionist's expression changed; and he stretched out his hand, and suddenly, then, other wise men were present from the neighboring buildings. To them he said with amusement, "Our visitor here says he wants to know what a wise man or wisdom has to do with a woman!"

453

     They all laughed at this and said, "What is a wise man or wisdom apart from a woman or apart from love? A wife is the love of a wise man's wisdom."
     But the receptionist said, "Let us join together now in some conversation of wisdom. Let the conversation be about causes, today the reason for the beauty in the female sex."
     So they then spoke in turn. And the first speaker gave this reason, that women were created by the Lord to be forms of affection for the wisdom in men, and affection for wisdom is beauty itself.
     The second speaker gave this reason, that woman was created by the Lord through the wisdom in man, because she was created from man, and that she is therefore a form of wisdom inspired by the affection of love. And because the affection of love is life itself, a woman is a form of the life in wisdom, while the male is a form of wisdom, and the life in wisdom is beauty itself.
     The third speaker presented this reason, that women have been given a perception of the delights in conjugial love. And because their whole body is an instrument of that perception, the abode where the delights of conjugial love dwell with their perception cannot help but be a form of beauty.
     The fourth speaker gave this reason, that the Lord took beauty and grace of life from man and transferred them into woman, and that is why a man not reunited with his beauty and grace in woman is stern, severe, dry and unattractive, and also not wise except for his own sake alone, in which case he is a dunce. On the other hand, when a man is united with his beauty and grace of life in a wife, he becomes agreeable, pleasant, full of life and lovable, and therefore wise.
     The fifth speaker gave this reason, that women were created to be beauties, not for their own sake, but for the sake of men, so that men's natural hardness might become softer, the natural solemnness of their dispositions more amiable, and the natural coldness of their hearts warmer. And this is what happens to them when they become one flesh with their wives.
     The sixth speaker offered this reason, that the universe created by the Lord is a most perfect work, but nothing is created in it more perfect than a woman attractive in appearance and becoming in behavior, in order that a man may thank the Lord for such a gift and repay it by receiving wisdom from Him.
     After these and several other similar views were expressed, one of the wives appeared through the crystal-like partition, and she said to her husband, "Speak, if you wish."

454

And when he spoke, the life in his wisdom from his wife was perceived in his speech, for her love was in the tone of his voice. Thus did experience bear witness to the truth expressed.
After this we looked at the Temple of Wisdom, and also at the things in the paradise surrounding it. And being filled with feelings of joy on account of them, we departed and went along the avenue to the gate, and so descended by the way we had come.
DIVINE HUMAN IS IN THEIR HEARTS 1988

DIVINE HUMAN IS IN THEIR HEARTS Editor 1988

"Those who live a life of faith, on bended knees and with humble hearts, adore the Lord as God the Savior . . . . It is plain that with them the Lord's Divine Human is in their hearts."
Arcana Coelestia 4724 PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1988

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES Editor 1988

455

     ENGLAND

     COLCHESTER
Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh, 2 Christchurch Court, Colchester, Essex C03 3AU Phone: 0206-43712

     LETCHWORTH
Mr. and Mrs. R. Evans, 24 Berkeley, Letchworth, Herts. SG6 2HA. Phone: 0462-684751.

     LONDON
Rev. Frederick Elphick, 21B Hayne Rd., Beckenham, Kent BR3 4JA. Phone: 01-658-6320.

     MANCHESTER
Mrs. Neil Rowcliffe, 135 Bury Old Road, Heywood, Lanes. Phone: Heywood 68189.

     CANADA

     Alberta:

     CALGARY
Mr. Thomas R. Fountain, 1115 Southglen Drive S. W., Calgary 13, Alberta T2W 0X2. Phone: 403-255-7283.

     EDMONTON
Mr. Daniel L. Horigan, 10524 82nd St., Edmonton, Alberta T6A 3M8. Phone: 403-469-0078.

     British Columbia:

     DAWSON CREEK
Rev. Glenn G. Alden, Dawson Creek Church, 9013 8th St., Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada V1G 3N3.

     Ontario:

     KITCHENER
Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt, 58 Chapel Hill Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

     OTTAWA
Mr. and Mrs. Donald McMaster, 726 Edison Avenue, Apt. 33, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3P8. Phone: (613) 729-6452.

     TORONTO
Rev. Michael Gladish, 279 Burnhampthorpe Rd., Islington, Ontario M9B 4Z4. Phone: (416) 239-3054.

     Quebec:

     MONTREAL
Mr. Denis de Chazal, 17 Baliantyne Ave. So., Montreal West, Quebec H4X 281. Phone: (514) 489-9861.

     DENMARK

     COPENHAGEN
Mr. Jorgen Hauptmann, Strandvejen 22, Jyllinge, 4000 Roskilde. Phone: 03-389968.

     FRANCE

     BOURGUINON-MEURSANGES
Rev. Alain Nicolier, 21200 Beaune, France. Phone: (80) 22.47.88.

     HOLLAND

     THE HAGUE
Mr. Ed Verschoor, Olmenlaan 17, 3862 VG Nijkerk

     NEW ZEALAND

     AUCKLAND
Rev. Robin Childs, 132 Edmunton Rd., Henderson, Auckland 81, New Zealand.

     NORWAY

     OSLO
Mr. and Mrs. Klaus Bierman, Bakketoppen 10 A. 1165 Oslo 11. Phone: /(0) 2/ 28783.

     SCOTLAND

     EDINBURGH
Mr. and Mrs. N. Laidlaw, 35 Swanspring Ave., Edinburgh EH 10-6NA. Phone: 0 31-445- 2377.

     GLASGOW
Mrs. J. Clarkson, Hillview, Balmore, Nr. Torrance, Glasgow. Phone: Balmore 262.

     SOUTH AFRICA

     Natal:

     DURBAN
Rev. James P. Cooper, 7 Sydney Drive, Westville, Natal, 3630. Phone: 031-821612.

     Transvaal:

     TRANSVAAL SOCIETY
Rev. Andrew Dibb, P. O. Box 816, Kelvin 2054, South Africa. Phone: (011) 804-2567.

     Zululand:

     KENT MANOR
Rev. James Cooper, visiting pastor
Mrs. D. G. Liversage, Box 7088, Empangeni Rail, 3910, Natal, South Africa. Phone: 0351-23241.

     Mission in South Africa:
Rev. Andrew Dibb (address above)

     SWEDEN

     Jonkoping
Contact Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, Bruksater, Furusjo, S-566 00, Habo. Phone : 0392-203 95.

     Stockholm
Contact Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen at the above address.

456

Poems from Swedenborg 1988

Poems from Swedenborg Editor 1988

     Poems from
Swedenborg
by Loon C. Le Van
Swedenborg Foundation
1987

     This book is a collection of favorite passages from the Writings, written in poetic form by Leon C. Le Van of St. Petersburg, Florida.
     All the prose passages from which these poems are structured are taken verbatim from the works by Emanuel Swedenborg.
     It cannot be stated too clearly that Swedenborg did not compose any of these poems. Swedenborg did not write poetry. But at many points in his monumental writings there is rhythm and cadence.
     This little book is not designed to be a tool for study, it is for enjoyment; for light of truth; for aid to perception; for better understanding of heaven, hell, and angels; for fuller reception of influx from the Lord God the Savior. It testifies everywhere to the existence of the kingdom of God and the spiritual world.

Softcover           165 pages Postage Paid $6.95

General Church Book Center      Hours: Mon-Fri 9-12
Box 278, Cairncrest                    or by appointment
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009                    Phone: (215) 947-3920

457

Notes on This Issue 1988

Notes on This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII November 1988 No. 11
NEW CHURCH LIFE

458

     Notes on This Issue

     "Changed forever" says an experienced kindergarten teacher about her previous ideas of proper education for the handicapped. Sometimes an article that you can read in a fraction of an hour is the result of months of reflection. Sometimes a writer is trying to take you in a few moments through evolutions and changes of thought experienced over a considerable period of time. We thank Dr. Silverman and Mrs. Rogers for the classic examples in this issue. (We have not included the fine comprehensive bibliography which Mrs. Rogers supplied.)
     "You shouldn't feel that way," says the young husband to his wife (p. 462). Sixteen weddings are reported in this issue, and perhaps some of those recently married will be reading the sermon in this issue. Is a translator a kind of a "traitor"? Dr. Chadwick offers some insights and some amusing comments on the work (the treason?) of translating from one language into another (p. 475).
     How many students are enrolled this year in the College of the Academy of the New Church? See the numerical editorial on page 498. We have managed to squeeze in a photograph on page 507 of the inside of the new Swedenborg Library where college students may often be observed engaged in their studies.

     CARMEL CHURCH SCHOOL CENTENNIAL

     Although it was not always known by that name, and although it was not always under the direct government of the General Church's forerunner, the Academy, the Carmel Church School traces its roots directly to the New Church school of the first New Jerusalem Society of Berlin which opened September 3rd, 1888. It is thus the oldest school of the General Church in Canada, and perhaps the first New Church day school in Canada. The early founders of the school felt strongly that its establishment was of the Divine Providence, and that its continuance depended upon their doing their duty according to the Lord's Word. When they overcame the many obstacles standing in the way of their school, they gave credit to the Lord, and thanked Him for strengthening them by the experience. "So will it ever be. Inch by inch must we contest the ground over which we are to progress" (Bishop Tuerk, NCL 1890).
     Looking back over 100 years of New Church schooling in Canada, we see nothing else than the Lord leading and sustaining men, women, and children whose one desire of the Lord is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of their life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.

     (See the notice on page 494.)

459

WILL AND UNDERSTANDING WORK TOGETHER LIKE THE HEART AND LUNGS 1988

WILL AND UNDERSTANDING WORK TOGETHER LIKE THE HEART AND LUNGS Rev. JAMES COOPER 1988

"Desiring in my thought to learn about the marriages of the most ancients, I looked now at the husband, now at his wife, and in their faces I observed the unity, as it were, of their souls. So I said, 'You two are one.' The man replied: 'We are one; her life is in me and mine in her. We are two bodies but one soul. The union between us is like the union of the two tents in the breast which are called heart and lungs, she being my heart and I her lungs. But here, by heart we mean love and by lungs wisdom. Thus she is the love of my wisdom and I am the wisdom of her love. Therefore, her love veils my wisdom from without, and my wisdom is in her love from within. Hence, as you said, the appearance in our faces of the unity of our souls'" (CL 75:5).

One of the great pleasures of life is to witness or take part in a wedding ceremony, to share in the special delight that comes when a couple begins their new life together according to the beautiful ideals of marriage that are presented in the doctrines of the New Church. As each young couple bravely steps forward to begin their exploration of the interior love between husband and wife that we call "conjugial," we are reminded of how different men and women are, and yet how well they can come together, each complementing the other's strengths and capabilities; how each longs for the other because of those things that are missing in each. We say that a married couple are actually one, one angel, because neither is truly complete without the other. The wife represents the will, and the husband represents the understanding, the two elements that together make up the human mind. We often use this relationship of will and understanding to describe how a husband and wife should share their strengths and responsibilities in an ideal marriage. And yet, "will" and "understanding" are as abstract concepts as are "husband" and "wife." As it is a principle of the Heavenly Doctrines to illustrate abstract and spiritual concepts with things that are tangible and familiar, we will examine what the doctrines have to say about the heart and lungs to illustrate the relationship between the will and understanding. This in turn should shed some light on the ideal relationship between husband and wife, and perhaps give us some guidance on how we should act while in this world to strengthen conjugial love within our own marriages, or, for those who are not as yet married, to prepare themselves for the conjugial relationship yet to come.

460

     We are told that the whole of the mind relates to the will and understanding, and that the whole of the body relates to the heart and lungs in a similar way. If we reflect on the workings of our own minds, we will quickly agree that everything that happens in our minds has to do with either our thought processes or our emotional processes: we either think, or feel, or both, but there is no other, third, possibility. For the purposes of our discussion today, all those things that have to do with the process of thinking will be grouped under the heading understanding" and everything from the emotional or affectional side of our being will be called "will."

     In relation to our body, we know that we are made up of billions of individual cells, and while we live, each of those cells, whether they be part of the brain, the heart itself, or merely a bone in a toe, must be bathed in blood continuously, for the blood carries food and oxygen to each cell, and carries away the waste products after the work is done. When the flow of blood to any part of the body is interrupted, that part of the body dies. The lungs are essential in this cycle for they provide the oxygen that the blood carries to every cell, and this is demonstrated by the fact that the heart has two cycles of flow-one to the lungs alone, and one to the rest of the body. Without the oxygen provided by the lungs, unconsciousness is but moments away, and death but a little longer.
     Now since there is a correspondence between the will and understanding and the heart and the lungs, it therefore follows that there is a correspondence between all the things of the mind with all the things of the body. This also makes sense when we think of the way that the soul builds for itself a home in the natural world by using the substances and nourishment provided by the body of the mother to build a containant that perfectly corresponds to its own unique characteristics and needs. Just as the Creator Himself created the universe from firsts (Himself) to lasts (the stars and planets themselves) and then into intermediates (the eternal human mind), so the soul builds from firsts (itself) into lasts (the infant's body) and then into intermediates (the mind and personality that eventually develop through education and experience). In presenting this teaching, the doctrines add a sad note that these things have not been seen and known widely in the world because "everything of religion, that is, everything called spiritual, has been banished from the sight of man by the dogma of the whole Christian world"(DLW 372:2).
     Another way to perceive and understand the relationship between the will and understanding and heart and lungs is to think about the effect that different kinds of thought and speech have on our breathing, and vice versa.

461

For example, we find that when we think silently, we breathe silently. If we think deeply, we breathe deeply. In general we breathe slowly or quickly, eagerly, gently, or intently, all according to how we are thinking, and also according to how strongly our affections are moved by our thoughts. Perhaps the dearest and most extreme example of the inter-relationship of thought and breath is the observation that if we stop breathing we very quickly also stop thinking as we become unconscious.
     When we consider how much we think about "love," and what we "like," and how we "feel," and how important our feelings are to us, it is difficult for us to believe the truth that our loves and affections are entirely in the Lord's hands; we are not able, by ourselves, to love (see DLW 385:5), although we can think entirely on our own.
     This can be illustrated very simply: can any of us change our moods or our feelings just by thinking about them? Can we become happy or sad in an instant? Can any of us change our pulse by thinking about it? The beauty of this illustration is that it demonstrates the power of illustrating spiritual ideas through their correspondences to the natural world at the same time it demonstrates the point about the Lord's control of our will, while the understanding remains our own. In a typical group of people, most people are happy to agree that we cannot change our moods by thinking about them, but there would be several in the same group who would challenge the assertion that we cannot change our pulse by thinking about it. The reason for this is that we have a deeper, more intuitive understanding of our own body, and we have observed many times that certain activities, such as heavy work or high excitement, cause our hearts to beat faster. So, when challenged to change our pulse by thought, some of us thought of things we could do that would change our pulse. We acknowledged that we could not do it directly by thought alone, and immediately thought of a way to get around that and achieve the same result.
     So, by thinking about the relationship of the heart and lungs, we have learned something about the way to change our moods and our loves. We love evils, but we cannot change that by thinking about it, no matter how hard we try, because we do not have direct control over our loves. However, we do have indirect control. We know truths from the Word. We can choose to live them even if we don't want to. We can choose to do what we know is right even though we don't want to; and when we do, the Lord then acts in secret ways to change our loves for us, to replace the love of evil with the love of the opposite good. When we are in a bad mood, we cannot change it by force of will. The only way to change our mood is to get up and do something useful for someone, and that makes us feel better.

462

     By comparison we can see from the operation of the lungs how easily we control our thoughts, for our breathing is under both voluntary and involuntary control, voluntary for things like speech, singing, and swimming, and involuntary for continued life while we sleep, or at other times when we do not need to control the lungs for other purposes. Our thoughts are constant during our waking hours, but at any time we like we can direct them to any subject we can imagine. Our understanding is under our total control. In marriage, two individuals, each with his own will and understanding, begin the process of becoming one angel. While on earth, we begin the difficult process of letting the thoughts or feelings of another person have precedence over our own. We begin to put away our selfishness as we learn to be flexible, to give and take and find new solutions to problems. Gradually, through trial and error, through study of the Word and lucky guesses, a middle ground is found.
     It is difficult for the husband to let go of some of his desires and to be led by his wife's affection and intuition, but as he does decide to let her lead in these areas, even though he may not like it, he will find it becomes easier with time. It is also very difficult for a wife to love her husband's wisdom. In the first place, particularly with a young couple, the man may not have very much wisdom to love because he has not had the opportunity to put theories he has learned to the test of life. If the wife sees this, and therefore decides that the teachings of doctrine that tell her to love her husband's wisdom do not apply to her marriage, she will have made a tragic decision that will cause great harm to her marriage. A wife is not so much to love a young husband's wisdom but to love his desire to become wise in study and application of the Lord's own truth. A wife has the ability to sense this affection for truth and the desire to live it in her husband, and it is this that she is to love, respect, and encourage, even when there are as yet few truths within it.
     This is difficult at first, because a marriage is first in time a relationship between two individual human beings, both of whom are deeply attached to their own thoughts and feelings. So often they make the mistake of trying to force the partner to change his loves through force of will. The husband tells the wife, "You shouldn't feel that way," and tries to convince her through rational argument that she should change her mood to suit him, without reflecting for a moment that he is as incapable of changing his moods and feelings as she is. The wife accuses her husband of being "unfeeling" because he is unable to sense her moods and adapt to them as she does to his, because he is unable to tell when he is supposed to know that she means "no" when she said "yes." These are just a few of the normal day-to-day problems that arise as a man and woman struggle to adapt to each other's different way of looking at the world.

463

     The appearance is that men and women can't work together because they are too different, but remember the heart and lungs. They too are totally different in their physical structure, their appearance, the type of tissue they are made of, and in every other way imaginable, and yet we cannot imagine a whole, healthy body without both, and without them both working in perfect harmony. Remember too that the Lord is in charge of the loves of both men and women, and that there is nothing we can do to change them directly-in ourselves or in others. But we can have an effect on them; we can change how and what we think and do, and when we change those things, when we choose to change our life, then the Lord will change our loves to match. So, if we deliberately choose to act with courtesy and respect toward our partner, even when we do not feel like it, the Lord will note our intention and work in secret ways to reform and regenerate our will so that in time we will feel like acting in that way. We change our loves and feelings by changing our thoughts and actions; we become good by pretending to be good long enough that the pretense becomes the reality.
     Perhaps some day, if we take the time to study the Word with our partner; if we make the right decisions and try very hard to be as courteous to our spouse as we are to our business associates or other friends, we will be like the couple that Swedenborg spoke to in heaven, and of whom he said, "And if you were to ask them what love truly conjugial is, I know they would answer that it is not love of the sex but love of one of the sex. This exists only when a young man sees the virgin provided by the Lord, and the virgin the young man, and both feel the conjugial to be enkindled in their hearts, and perceive, he that she is his, and she that he is hers; for when love meets love, it meets itself and causes it to recognize itself, and at once conjoins their souls and then their minds; and from there it enters into their bosoms, and after the nuptials still farther, and so becomes complete love; and from day to day this grows into conjunction until they are no more two but as though one" (CL 44:6). Amen.

     Lessons: John 13:1-17 (portions), Genesis 6:1-8, DLW 381 MANY ARCANA 1988

MANY ARCANA Editor 1988

These and many other arcana may be both disclosed and illustrated by the conjunction of the heart and lungs.
Divine Love and Wisdom 385

464

CONSTANCY AND CHANGE IN THE NEW CHURCH 1988

CONSTANCY AND CHANGE IN THE NEW CHURCH Rev. RAY SILVERMAN 1988

     The "Newness" of the New Church

     Once, while Swedenborg was in the spiritual world, he saw a magnificent temple. Inscribed above the entrance to that temple were the words Nunc licet, signifying that "Now it is permitted to enter with the understanding into the mysteries of faith." Inside the temple Swedenborg saw the Word, "which lay open and was surrounded by a blaze of light" (TCR 508).
     Nunc licet. Now it is permitted. It is significant that the first word of the inscription is "Now." At this very moment we are permitted to enter with understanding into the mysteries of faith. In order to do so we must strive to think spiritually, beyond the bounds of time and space, peoples and places. "To think spiritually is to think of the things of the Lord's kingdom" and not of names and nations and kings (see AC 2015). As long as our thoughts are bound by time and space, "nothing can be understood about the Divine life, which is love and wisdom" (DLW 10). To understand spiritual subjects we must rise above notions of time and space, nation, and person, and strive to think spiritually. Hear the note of urgency in Swedenborg's plea: "Do not, I entreat you, confuse your ideas with time and with space, for so far as time and space enter into your ideas when you read what follows, you will not understand it, for the Divine is not in time and space" (DLW 51). The Writings of the New Church urge us to go beyond bur habitual modes of thought. They beckon us to come up into the purer, holier realms of spirit and spiritual thought; to abstract our thinking from persons and focus on essential qualities; to rise above time and space and enter into the eternal now.
     "Now" was the first word Swedenborg saw inscribed over the gate of that temple in the spiritual world. It reminds me of the Lord's perpetual presence: now, at this moment, inviting us to come to Him, to enter into that magnificent temple. Now is the moment; the Word is open to us, and we are permitted to enter with understanding into the mysteries of faith. The temple represents the New Church. To "enter in" is to enter into a new and deeper understanding of truth. This happens whenever the Word is read with a sense of its holiness and with the uses of life in mind. When does this happen? Now! The New Church is a very "now" church. "Whereas I was blind, now I see" (John 9:19).

465

     Now and Then

     It would be a mistake, however, to overemphasize "now" and disregard "then." It is true, for example, that Swedenborg saw the words Nunc licet over that temple gate two hundred and sixteen years ago. In a certain sense we can say that the second coming happened "back then," when the Lord caused the Heavenly Doctrine to be written through Swedenborg.
     We can also say that the second coming happens now, at this moment. We can see it as a spiritual experience that takes place within an individual whenever that person sees beneath the letter and glimpses the glory of the spiritual sense.
     The Writings are very matter-of-fact about the second coming of the Lord as something that took place at a certain point in historical time. Yet we also read that "the coming of the Lord is not according to the letter, [which states] that He is to appear again in the world; but it is His presence in everyone, and this exists whenever the gospel is preached and what is holy is thought of (AC 300:9, emphasis mine).
     Such viewpoints are not mutually exclusive. Things happen now, and then. Sometimes we find ourselves focusing on the importance of the past. We find ourselves speaking about what happened "back then." Constancy and stability become important to us. We see our New Churchmanship as based on adherence to a set of firm beliefs. We find ourselves saying things like, "I have always believed."
     On the other hand, there are times when our focus is more on the present. While we acknowledge the past, we are not so much concerned with what we have always believed, but rather with how much more there is to know. In this state we delight in deepening our former understanding, and in being open to new ideas. Growth and change become important to us. We see our New Churchmanship as an attitude of openness to new ways of looking at things. We find ourselves saying, "I now see this in a new way."
     There are beautiful Scriptural passages to support either emphasis. When we find ourselves saying, "I have always believed," we tend to be like the wise man "who built his house upon the rock" (Matt. 7:24). When we find ourselves saying "I now see this in a new way," we are supported by passages such as, "Behold, I make all things new" (Rev. 21:5). Whichever way we feel ourselves leaning-then or now-it is vital to keep in mind that they are not mutually exclusive. I learned this back in 1965.

466

     Something I Learned Back "Then" Is Still True "Now"

     Back in the summer of 1965 I had just completed my junior year of college. I was working as a summer intern at the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company. The thought was that summer interns might decide to join the company after completing their senior year of college. I never did join the company, but I will always remember the words that Henry Dawes, the head of Personnel, spoke to me in our last interview. He said, "Believe strongly in what you believe. But subject your beliefs often to careful scrutiny, and be willing to alter them when better evidence is offered." The first part of that statement I liken to "the rock": "believe strongly in what you believe." The second part calls to mind the Lord's promise, "Behold, I make all things new": "Subject those beliefs to careful scrutiny and be willing to alter them when better evidence is offered."
     What I learned back then I still try to apply to my life now. I do believe strongly in what I believe; at the same time I often subject these beliefs to careful scrutiny, and I try to alter them when better evidence is offered.
     In many ways I consider myself to be a staunch New Churchman, rock solid about certain foundation beliefs: the oneness of God, the spiritual sense of the Word, the eternity of marriage, the life of charity. At the same time I remain open to seeing new truth flowing from the threefold Word. I realize that my initial understanding of truth must deepen with time, and that I must be willing to see things in new and deeper ways. In regard to the Divine truths of the Word, I liken this to the difference between John the Baptist (our first, most literal understanding of truth) and the coming of the Christ (our deeper, more spiritual understanding of the truth). In referring to the coming of the Christ, John the Baptist said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). In commenting on this verse Bishop George de Charms has said: "The letter [John the Baptist] speaks of earthly things, of people and places and historic events; but the Spirit [Jesus Christ] speaks of heavenly things, of faith and charity, of eternal truths . . . " (Harmony of the Four Gospels, p. 117).

     Truth Solid as a Rock, Clear as a Stream

     It was ten years ago (March 1978) that I first discovered the Writings. In some cases certain foundation beliefs have become even more rock solid, while other beliefs have undergone a great deal of alteration and re-vision.

467

     My belief in the Lord and His loving presence seems now, more than ever, immovable, unshakable, rock solid. In regard to the Word, I have seen, again and again, confirmation of the truth that it contains an internal sense which at times shines forth in great glory. The blessings of conjugial love become more real to me every day. I believe with all my heart that a life according to the commandments, with no thought of reward, is what heaven is all about. I am convinced that genuine truths from the sense of the letter of the Word shield me in times of temptation. These beliefs constitute the rock of my New Churchmanship-areas where I believe myself to be staunch and unshakable, "though the rain descends, the floods come, and the winds blow and beat" upon my house. Though these beliefs have been subjected to careful scrutiny, they have not changed, only deepened.
     There are other areas of my New Churchmanship, however, that have undergone careful scrutiny, and have been found to be in need of re-vision. At first, as might be expected, I did not see beyond the literal truth of the Writings, in much the same way that I once did not see beyond the literal truth of the New Testament (e.g., "Sell what you have and give to the poor"-Matt. 19:21). I believed that the letter of the Writings would be a permanent guide containing all the answers to my daily concerns. If I just studied them diligently enough, I would be able to find a plain and direct answer to every problem, from population control to proper diet. What I found was that heavenly secrets are truly secrets. The Lord allows us to enter in only to the degree that we are ready. When the Lord says, "Now it is permitted to enter with understanding into the mysteries of faith," it isn't like a reward for good performance; rather, it is an inevitable part of the charitable life. Use brings with it its own light (see AC 8912, 9086). And along with that new light come new ways of seeing things, new perceptions of the good within the truth. The rock (what we have always believed) is struck, and it issues forth streams of living water, clear as crystal and translucent with sparkling light (new perceptions of truth).

     "Then" and "Now"--Three Points of Doctrine

     The Writings assure us that as we strive to live according to the truths that we know, our understanding will deepen (see AC 3982:2). I would like to offer examples of how my own understanding has grown in regard to three points of doctrine. It may help illustrate what I mean when I say an individual's understanding of doctrine may "deepen" and "change" over the years. It is my own story of what I believed "then" and what I believe "now."

468

     1. "All evils are contagious" (TCR 120).

     At first I took this quite literally and understood it to mean that I should be extremely wary of the people I associated with. The passage is quite strong, stating that "whoever associates with robbers or pirates at length becomes like them, . . . for all evils are contagious and they might be compared to the plague, which is communicated merely by the breath of emanation from the infected." To me this passage clearly said that I should avoid contact with evil people and all evil influences. I was careful not to expose myself or my family to anything indecent on TV, in the movies or even on billboards.
     Gradually I came to see how very useful this teaching is, especially for young people and for all who are just beginning to develop in their spiritual lives. It is a fragile time, and a period of separation from the influences of the world is necessary. However, I also saw that these words had deeper and broader implications. This happened when I began to see them beyond the confines of physical time and space. I began to see them as words that did not so much dictate who my acquaintances in this world should be, but rather what thoughts I should entertain. These words began to speak to me not so much about my physical surroundings and associates, but about my spiritual environment-the thoughts and feelings I invited into my mind, associated with, and embraced. I began to understand at a new level. I began to see that I must not dwell on negative things, that I must not harbor evil grudges and resentments, that I must shun these tendencies in myself. If I didn't, they would just get worse and worse for me, and my evil tendencies would grow and spread like a contagious disease, making me more negative than ever. This was the "new light" in which I now saw those words, "All evils are contagious.
     I also realized, from other teachings in the Writings, that it is indeed possible to associate with all kinds of people without danger of "spiritual contagion" as long as a person is in the Lord (see AC 968, 2379, 6370, 8273, 9049:6). I take this to mean that I must be free of contempt, full of compassion, and firmly rooted in genuine truths from the letter of the Word. This is to be "in the Lord." It provides a sort of protection which might be called "spiritual immunity." It is noteworthy that this passage about "association with the evil" occurs in the chapter entitled "The Lord as Redeemer." And the passage begins with the words, "Had it not been for the redemption effected by the Lord, iniquity and wickedness would now be widespread." The passage ends with another mention of the Lord's redemption: "Hence, then, it may appear evident that without redemption by the Lord, no man could be saved . . . . the only refuge from destruction for anyone is in the Lord, for He says: 'Abide in Me and I in you. . .'" (John 15:4).

469

It calls to mind the words of David: "Because you have made the Lord your refuge, even the Most High your habitation, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways" (Psalm 91:9-11).
     The warning that "all evils are contagious" is not to be taken lightly. If we choose to associate with natural robbers, thieves, and adulterers, we had better be sure that the Lord is with us, protecting us by means of truths from His Word. At another level this passage speaks powerfully
about the dangers that lurk within us, the evil inclinations and impulses that flow in from the other world, even while we are in the midst of the most decent fellowship. These are especially the evil associations that we are to avoid like the plague!

     2. "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" (BE 102).

     At first I understood this to mean that I had better not read any theology or philosophy that was not strictly New Church. I was to become a complete and total New Churchman and not allow my mind to be cluttered with the confusion of any false ideas from the former churches. To me this passage meant that all my thinking should be based on the Writings and the Writings alone. Consequently, I steeped myself in an exclusive study of the Writings, making room for collateral works by New Church greats such as Chauncey Giles, John Clowes, Samuel Noble, and William Bruce. I made sure that my mind was filled with New Church truths and New Church truths alone, and it was a truly beautiful experience. I found myself "thinking from the Writings.
     Gradually I began to realize that the "New Church" and the "former church" referred to in this passage were not primarily speaking about theological camps in the world. Once again I came into a state where this passage seemed to transcend the world of time and space and speak directly to my soul. It said that I must be willing to put away preconceived notions ("the former church") so that I could enter into a newer and deeper perception of Divine truth ("the New Church"). The process was simple. To the extent that I lived according to the truth that I believed, I found myself entering into the good of that truth. From "good" I was granted a deeper perception of the truth; I was able to see how shallow my "truth alone" understanding was, and was able to infill it with good.

470

     An example might be helpful here. When I first began to study the Writings, I was very impressed with the teachings about earth being a "place of preparation for heaven." The focus on "the ruling love" being established here and then continuing to eternity seemed very powerful. It seemed as though my only reason for being on earth was to prepare for heaven. That was the faith of the former church" in me. The "New Church" in me sees this apart from space and time; it sees the kingdom of heaven as available to us right now, in this very moment. "Now it is permitted to enter" that kingdom to the degree that we practice true Christian love. Helen Keller says it so beautifully: "The old thought tells us we are given earth to prepare for heaven; but there is a truth in the other way round. We are given a knowledge of heaven to fit us better for earth. The Vision of Beauty must come into the workshop of Nazareth" (My Religion, New York: Swedenborg Foundation, 1974, p. 85). And George Dole puts it like this: "Eternal life is not something we should be getting ready for, but something we are currently involved in" ("Just in Time: Linear Living in a Holographic Cosmos," Chrysalis, Vol. II, issue 3, Autumn 1987, p. 297).
     If we are spiritually developing, new feelings and new ideas are continually evolving out of former ones. It is a continual, deepening process, not a battle between the new faith and the former faith. Gradually we become kinder, more forgiving, less prone to anger and contempt. The New Church is growing in us. But there will be times when we are on the verge of reverting to earlier (i.e., less forgiving, less kind) ways of thinking; times when we are tempted to deny the new growth that has taken place within us. Then a battle might ensue that would leave us so confused and torn that we wouldn't know what to believe: "everything of the church would perish."
     In this deeper, more spiritual understanding, my focus is more on the life of regeneration and less upon ecclesiastical organizations. The letter speaks of earthly things, people, places, organizations; the spirit speaks of heavenly things, charity, faith, the process of regeneration.

     3. "The Jews are more unaware than others that they are in the spiritual world, but believe that they are still in the natural world. The reason is that they are completely external men, and do not think anything concerning their religion from within" (CLJ 82).

     You can probably imagine that this was a tough passage for me when I first came into the church.

471

I had to swallow hard and accept the fact that these words of the Lord were speaking about me, my mother and father, brother and sister, and all the Jewish people I had ever known and loved. Nevertheless, I took these words at face value, along with the assurance that all people could be saved as long as they sought truth from the Lord and lived according to it. I swallowed hard, examined myself, and strove to put away all tendencies toward being "external."
     Gradually I came to see that the Lord Himself would never defame anyone or provide a revelation that would increase the prejudice and sectarian bitterness that already exist in the world. I came to see that these words are "spirit and they are life." They transcend time and space, and speak to the soul of every person who has ears to hear. They speak of the tendency in each of us toward externalism-the tendency to think in terms of this world and its concerns as most important to us now, forgetting that we are already in the spiritual world. The Writings teach us that "The spiritual world is where man is, and is by no means remote from him. In a word, every man, as to the interiors of his mind, is in that world, in the midst of the spirits and angels there; and he thinks from the light of it, and loves from the heat of it" (DLW 92).
     These words speak of the tendency toward externalism in each of us, whether we are Baptists, Jews, Mormons, or Holy Rollers! They speak of the tendency to place so much emphasis on the externals of worship, the forms, the order of service, the length of the minister's hair, the type of music that is played, the clothing that our neighbor decides to wear, rather than upon the internals of worship-the sense of God's presence; the delight in the hearing of His Word; the communion of brethren in unisonal and private prayer; the joy at hearing new truth; the resolve to go forth renewed and rekindled in a life of Christian service.
     I began to realize that whenever the Writings speak about the Jewish people they are not primarily speaking about a particular nation but rather about a universal human quality-the tendency in each of us to see religion and the life of religion as so many external rituals. Whenever we find ourselves "going through the motions," whether it be preparing a meal for our children or doing our job just "to get it over," we are partaking of this sort of externalism. It boils down to this: If love to the Lord and love to the neighbor are not our inner motivation, then whatever we do becomes external. We are just "putting in time." On the other hand, whenever our motivation is spiritual (love to the Lord and love to the neighbor, with no thought of reward), we come into the beautiful present-the "here and newness" of our religion. We come to see that the kingdom of heaven is not some distant place at all, not a distant reward for so many good deeds done or truths acquired.

472

Rather, it is very present, available now to all who humbly acknowledge that without the Lord they can do nothing, and who strive as best they can to serve the neighbor. "Lo, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). Now it is permitted to enter the joy of spiritual life, even while on earth.

     Now It Is Permitted to Enter . . . And the Door Is Perpetually Open

     In this paper I have tried to illustrate how constancy and change are essential aspects of New Churchmanship. They are not mutually exclusive. It is our same Lord who not only tells us to build our house upon the rock, but also says, "Behold, I make all things new." The spiritual sense of the Word depends upon and rests in the literal sense, just as the soul depends upon the body (see SS 54). The truth we learn tomorrow is dependent on everything we have learned yesterday and today. The new understanding is built upon a rock-solid foundation: "The wise man built his house upon the Rock."
     Constancy and change: firm beliefs and openness to new ways of seeing things. Though apparently opposite, both perspectives are vital to our personal spiritual growth. The roots of the tree grow more deeply year by year. The tree grows stronger, more constant, secure, steadfast. And every year there are new branches, new flowers, new fruit bearing seed. Why do the changeless truths of the New Church seem to keep on changing? The fact is that the truths themselves never change; rather, we change, seeing them more and more clearly, more and more deeply, and this to eternity. As human beings we are intended to grow, change, see things in new ways, and deepen our faith in God. The Word of God, like God Himself, does not change. The Word of God shall stand forever.
     Hopefully we all incorporate something of constancy and something of change into our New Churchmanship. Along with maturity comes a deepening of faith as well as an acknowledgment that a current understanding of the Word will gradually give way to a still deeper perception of the Divine truth. It's important that we believe strongly in what we believe. It's also important that we take a new look at what we have always believed when better evidence is offered. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. "The grass withers; the flower fades; but the Word of God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8).
     The Lord is continually inviting us to come into the heavenly kingdom, to experience deeper and richer perceptions of truth, finer and nobler affections of good.
     He is continually inviting us to reach beyond the literal truths, to rise above the world of time and space, to enjoy the purer, holier realms of spiritual thought and life.

473

     "The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life," says the Lord (John 6:63). "I will not leave you comfortless; I will send you another Comforter . . . even the Spirit of truth" (John 14:16, 17).
     He has come again. He has opened His arms to us through the opening of His Word. He invites us all to come to Him, to enter the temple. Now it is permitted to enter, again and again, more deeply, into the truths of the Word. We need not even knock, for the door is perpetually open: "Behold, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it" (Rev. 3:8).
     Constancy and change; permanence and growth-these are essential aspects of life. They are not mutually exclusive. We need to believe firmly in what we believe; we need to be rock solid in our convictions. We need also to be open to seeing things in new ways, to continually look beneath the letter of our convictions into the spirit that gives them life. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words will by no means pass away" (Matt. 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33). The Word of God, constant in its essence, changing in our understanding of it, endures forever.
MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (29) 1988

MINISTER'S FAVORITE PASSAGE (29) Rev. Frank Rose 1988

     My mind and heart keep returning to Divine Providence 27. Here is a passage that points out very clearly the unselfish nature of the love that brought the universe into existence. It shows that the Lord's love finds fulfillment in giving to others, and also tells me that I will find fulfillment and inner peace in doing the same.
     This passage is also remarkable for the way in which it shows that although we think of the Lord as being above and beyond us, the reality is that He is in us. When we experience joy and heavenly peace, He is communicating these things to us from His dwelling place within us!
     Our ability to be wise and so reflect the wisdom of God makes us His image, and our ability to love others is what makes us like God, and so His likeness. It is wonderful to think that whenever love and wisdom are united in us, the Lord is there. As He said, "Where two [love and wisdom] or three [love, wisdom and use] are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20), or as in this passage: "The Lord in them is love united to wisdom and wisdom united to love."

474

[Photo of Rev. Frank Rose]

The Lord did not create the universe for His own sake, but for the sake of those with whom He is to be in heaven, since spiritual love is such that it wishes to give its own to another; and so far as it can do this, it is in its being (esse), in its peace, and in its blessedness. Spiritual love derives this from the Lord's Divine love, which is such infinitely. From this it follows that the Divine love and the Divine Providence therefrom have as their goal a heaven consisting of people who have become or are becoming angels, upon whom the Lord is able to bestow all the blessings and felicities that belong to love and wisdom, and to communicate these from Himself in them. Nor can He do this in any other way; for there is in them from creation an image and likeness of Himself; the image in them is wisdom, and the likeness in them is love; and the Lord in them is love united to wisdom and wisdom united to love (Divine Providence 27).

475

ON TRANSLATING THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 1988

ON TRANSLATING THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION JOHN CHADWICK 1988

     The Italians have a succinct proverb which can be rendered into English as "Translator: traitor." The words are even closer in Italian. I mention this at the outset in order to bring home to you that there is no such thing as a perfect translation. The merit of any version of a book in one language turned into another is relative. Thus I do not expect my version of TCR will meet with universal approval, or that it will not in due course be replaced by a more up-to-date version, suitable for the 22nd century.
     But why, someone will ask, do we need a new translation at all? If there were mistakes in the older versions (and there are), could not these be corrected and nothing else changed? My predecessors have done a great deal of revision and retouching, and the late Herbert Mongredien had before his death started on another revision of this book, but most of us who read the Latin find the results of this patching still unsatisfactory. Let me try to explain why.
     It used to be thought that translation was, in the main, a matter of replacing a word of the original by a word of the language of translation. If, for instance, Swedenborg employs the Latin word homo, this must be replaced by the English word "man." But both Latin homo and English "man" have a range of meanings, only some of which overlap. "Man" can mean a person of the male sex, as opposed to female, but home does not have this meaning, which is expressed in Latin by another word, vir. In fact, the English words which come nearest to homo are rather "person," or in some senses "human being." In the plural, "people" is often the best term. In other words, the translator must choose sometimes one, sometimes another, term to translate the same Latin word.
     But the same thing happens not only with words but with the phrases. If we translate literally from a foreign language, we may perhaps be able to grasp the sense intended, but we say: "That is not how we put it in English." There is an old story about a hotel-keeper in the French Alps who put up a notice for his English guests which read: "It is defended to circulate in the boots of ascension." If you know some French you will be able to reconstruct what was in the Frenchman's mind when he wrote that; he just looked up each French word in a French-English dictionary and put down the first English word he found. In case you don't see what has happened, let me tell you that the correct English should have been: "You must not walk round in climbing boots."

476

Likewise I was delighted when I was taught elementary Japanese to discover that in Japan they had notices saying literally: "Useless person must not go in." It takes a little imagination to grasp that this is the Japanese for "No admittance except on business."
Now I don't want to suggest that my predecessors belonged to the "boots of ascension" school, though some of them sometimes get pretty near it. At TCR 446 Swedenborg talks about the dangers of contracting with any other person what one translator calls "the friendship of love," and this is an exact rendering of the Latin words. But what does the phrase mean? After long study I came to the conclusion that it meant the sort of friendship which makes you support your friend even when you know he's wrong. One translator put "intimate friendship," but this too might be misunderstood unless of course you think Swedenborg is referring to homosexual associations. I eventually decided to use the English expression "bosom friendship," which is, I think, free from sexual overtones, and comes near to what the author wished to convey. But it is not an exact translation, and even if you know what it means, will your children and grandchildren know?
This brings us to another problem. In the course of time words become obsolete and go out of use; we need to find replacements. But what is worse, sometimes the word remains in use but with a new meaning. There is a very famous example which must be familiar to you. The Gospels talk of Jesus associating with what in the original Greek are telonai kai hamartoloi. The second group are easily translated "sinners"-we needn't go into all the implications of that word. The first group is the class of people who under the system used for collecting taxes in the Roman empire entered into a contract with the state to pay a specified sum, in return for which they had the right to collect as much of the tax as they could. Naturally the harsher they were in their exactions, the more profit they could make. The Latin name for these tax-gatherers was publicani, and the authors of the Authorised Version decided to make an English word out of this to translate telonai; hence the familiar "publicans and sinners." But as early as the 17th century a tavern was known as a "public house," and it occurred to someone to call tavern keepers "publicans," no doubt as a joke because of the association with sinners. Now in modern English "publican" is used in no other sense, and modern Bibles have recourse to "tax-collectors," a word which to us suggests a class of honest, if unpopular, civil servants. So too, some of the words Swedenborg used could be simply turned into 18th century English, but the same word is now, if not obsolete, at least dated.

477

I even heard a sermon recently in which the preacher remarked in passing that we can't use the word "charity" nowadays because it has changed its meaning. I don't think we have reached the point where we can't use it to translate Swedenborg's charitas, but that time may come.
     I have used a number of modern English expressions which may surprise you, and even seem to be anachronisms. Let me quote one on which I differed from my advisers. Swedenborg refers in one passage (120:2) to the bad influence that bad company exerts even on good people, and to illustrate this he says that if you spend your time among rebelles, you will end up by thinking nothing of using violence on anyone. The Latin word is the origin of English "rebels," and this is the obvious choice to use as a translation. But in these days the state is no longer considered as ruling by divine right, so that a rebel is necessarily wicked. As you all know, rebels against unjust governments are nowadays called "freedom fighters," and rebels against just or at least democratic governments are called "terrorists." So I have chosen to say: "If he mixes with terrorists. . . ." I feel sure that this is what Swedenborg would have said had he been writing today.
     There is another trap which I am reluctant to mention. Sometimes the Latin words seem to be capable of having more than one meaning; there is therefore a temptation for the translator to reproduce literally what the Latin says, and transfer the ambiguity in the Latin to the English. In my opinion this is dishonest. If the translator cannot make up his mind what the Latin means he should say so, and at one point I have done precisely that. But in almost all cases he should be able to make up his mind, at least When he has discussed the difficulty with his consultant, and then he should choose an English translation which represents what he believes to be the sense. You will find sentences in my version which do not agree with earlier versions, not, I hope, on major matters, but over details, often on where the emphasis lies. I do not claim to be always right; I may in cases be wrong. But where my version differs, this is usually intentional.
     Another problem concerns the technical terms of Swedenborgian theology. We have become so accustomed to hearing the word "conjunction" that it may not occur to you that it is now hardly acceptable English, except as a term of grammar or astrology. I have decided to banish it, and it is usually replaced by "link." I know some of you will protest, but "link" is familiar from telecommunications and similar contexts, and I think it does the job Swedenborg intended by his use of conjunctio.

478

What I wish to convey is that this is not a technical term, a special sort of link between man and God, but the normal Latin word which can be, and is, used in other contexts. Similarly I have rejected the word "influx" for Latin influxus, because "influx" in modern English connotes the addition of a large quantity. It is translated in several ways in different contexts, but there is a passage specifically on the various sorts of influxus (695), where a single English word is needed to show why these are grouped together. Here I have used "inflow" with a note explaining that in some sentences other translations would be more natural in English. Fortunately there are very few references to the term "conjugial love" and only one to its opposite. This is a thorny subject, because it does appear that although "conjugial" is simply the adjective corresponding to the substantive "marriage," its opposite lacks any accepted name, and "scortatory" is thus a technical term which needs to be explained if it is used.

(To be continued)
MOUNTAIN LAKE-THE ARCANA CAELESTIA 1988

MOUNTAIN LAKE-THE ARCANA CAELESTIA Rev. ROBIN CHILDS 1988

I would like to offer some food for thought about how to appreciate the Arcana Caelestia. The first thing I would suggest is to buy the first volume which the Swedenborg Society has published in a modern translation. The modern language removes the barriers of unnecessary frustration and lack of clarity.
When you have the clear translation in hand, I would then suggest a way of approaching the Arcana Caelestia in order to gain the most benefit. Look upon it as a way the Lord may guide you spiritually through life. The first use of this work is to give us a full understanding of the spiritual sense of the letter of the Word, one passage at a time. As each passage is understood, a prayer to the Lord may allow Him to show each of us a second use, that is, how that passage applies to our personal spiritual life. I would say that the Arcana may be likened to a crystal clear mountain lake. If we peer into this lake from the shoreline, or row out to look into the depths, we will see through to appreciate what lies at the bottom. This peering into the depths is like understanding the meaning of the internal sense of each phrase in the letter of the Word. Then we are to focus our attention on the surface of the water, on that particular part of the lake, to see our reflection.

479

This is the second use, an act of praying to the Lord to show us a new view of ourselves; it is the seeking of perception from the Lord as to how the content of this particular passage may help to improve our relationship with Him and our neighbor.
     For example, we read in AC 39:2-"When the Lord is revitalizing a person, or regenerating him, He does allow him, to begin with, to imagine that good and truth originate in himself, for at that point a person cannot grasp anything else . . . . His goods and truths were then comparable to 'a tender plant'; then 'a plant bearing seed'; and after that, 'a fruit tree,' which are inanimate. But once he has been brought to life by love and faith, and believes that the Lord is at work in every good deed he does, and in every truth he utters, he is compared to . . . 'living creatures.'"
     We should pause after reading such a passage like this to make sure we understand it. Then we should pray to the Lord to help us see how this reflects on our spiritual life. After a little reflection we may inwardly pray and ask: "Lord, in my relationships and uses do I take the credit for good deeds and true words that really belong to You?" An honest question like this, laid before the Lord in prayer, may allow Him to give us a perception that will truly help us in our spiritual growth.
     We may see that when we are working we too often berate ourselves for failures even though we used our talents to the best of our ability. Or we may realize that we too often take bows for our successes. Our work has become an emotional roller coaster of taking bows or berating ourselves, all because we are claiming too much of the authorship of our talents, deeds, and words. We may be given to see a related flaw when it comes to giving helpful advice to our friends. We will applaud ourselves if they act on our advice and things work out well, and berate ourselves if things work out poorly. Yet, if we give advice from a sincere heart and mind, credit for success will go to the Lord', and failures we will trust to be successes in the long run, given the beautiful workings of the Lord's Providence. We see then that with prayer the inner message about remembering the Lord as the Author of all of our good deeds and words can be brought home to challenge us in our daily living. We may then work on internalizing this message as we continue to read on and pray for kindred helps to our spiritual progress.
     This mountain lake of spiritual life awaits our prayers and reflections as a means for our Lord to guide our spiritual progress each day of our lives.

480

FALL AND DECLINE OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR 1988

FALL AND DECLINE OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR GEOFFREY COOPER 1988

     Where, Oh Where, Have Virtue and Decency Gone?

     As a rule my summer reading runs to the light side. This year it didn't run true to form.
     Recently someone handed me a copy of The Power of Ethical Management. I paged through it for a few seconds, primarily as a kindness to my host. In short order I realized I wanted to go through it thoroughly. I was hooked!
     The authors are Kenneth Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale. (The latter observed his 90th birthday May 19th!) The publisher (soft-cover) is William Morrow.
     This quick-reading book just may be the best thing that has happened to business ethics in a long, long time. In a nutshell, the authors disagree that we have to cheat to win, and that nice guys finish last. For them, ethical behavior is related to self-esteem.
     I think they are right on target, without question. It has been my experience that people who feel good about themselves have what it takes to do what is right, rather than do what is merely expedient, popular, or lucrative. Morality is the first step toward success. Blanchard and Peale make a strong case!

     Is Corporate Virtue "Old Hat"?

     While this book focuses on the corporate scene, the authors are well aware that signs of ethical deterioration are everywhere, in government, on Capitol Hill, in education and college athletics. It seems that ethics are out of date-certainly not with every business or individual, of course. But WRONG is becoming more and more in evidence every year.
     Does it make me proud? Would I feel good if my decision were published in a newspaper? Would I feel good if my family knew about it?
     The book underscores a familiar saying: God did not make junk. I believe that. The Almighty gave people the freedom to choose. Unfortunately, some people choose to junk up their lives.
     I was impressed by the section dealing with "The Five P's of Ethical Power." Here they are: Purpose, Pride, Patience, Persistence, Perspective. The headings really are self-explanatory.

481

     What About Customers?

     The book stresses self-esteem among employees. "It's hard to praise others and build up their self-esteem if you don't feel good about yourself. And how does this impact on customers? They are affected-directly-by how people working in an organization are treated. If employees don't feel cared for, how can they be expected to care about customers? Those thoughts are hard to refute!
     I realize that dealing with such a topic as ethics is like untangling a fishing line. The more you get into it, the more complicated it becomes. Furthermore, I found ethics to be a delicate subject for my message on this page.

     "Who Does He Think He Is?"

     As I write these words, I become somewhat uncomfortable. Will I be accused of preaching? Hopefully not. I am not being condescending nor "casting the first stone."
     The authors-Dr. Blanchard and Dr. Peale-acknowledge their imperfections. And in reading their book I see my flaws more clearly. None of us performs ideally all the time. But each of us can exert real effort to do better. And that applies to both our personal and business relationships.
     A section of True Christian Religion has the following heading: CHARITY ITSELF IS ACTING JUSTLY AND FAITHFULLY IN THE OFFICE, BUSINESS, AND EMPLOYMENT IN WHICH A MAN IS ENGAGED, AND WITH THOSE WITH WHOM HE HAS ANY DEALINGS. We are told that charity may actually be defined as "doing good to the neighbor daily and continually," and that this is done "through what is good and just in the office, business, and employment in which a man is engaged, and with those with whom he has any dealings" (TCR 423).
NCL 50 YEARS AGO 1988

NCL 50 YEARS AGO Editor 1988

There is one letter in the November issue of 1938. The writer from Australia asks which is the first book of the Writings to give to a person, and after that what book would you give next? He writes: "The dissemination of the Writings themselves is indubitably the highest form of missionary work in which we can engage, and it seems to be clear that a few well-considered principles imparting order and purpose to that work would be of great value to us as a church, both in our individual contacts and in the selection of works for publication in cheap editions." The letter came from Rev. Cairns Henderson in Australia, who had no idea then that he would eventually become editor of this magazine.

482

In Our Contemporaries 1988

In Our Contemporaries Editor 1988

     The April-June issue of The New Philosophy has a classic study that deserves wide attention, Rev. Stephen D. Cole gave a speech to the Swedenborg Scientific Association entitled "Swedenborg, Psychology, and the Cerebellum." The audience was delighted, and the usual phrases about the importance of something appearing in print were being used in a most emphatic manner. Well, now it is in print, and this magazine is one of the best buys available. Subscriptions are only $4.00 annually. Here are some selections from Stephen Cole's outstanding article.
     Seeing Swedenborg as a precursor of modern psychology can both increase our appreciation of the work of psychology and give us insights that may go beyond even the present scope of psychology. . . .

     The understanding of the unconscious is a cornerstone of the healing power of psychology, for one would not necessarily need to turn to psychology to deal with problems that were entirely within the conscious realm. . . .
     The tremendous breakthrough for modern psychology was the recognition that to heal the conscious mind often requires going below the surface to deal with causes of which one is not directly aware. . . .
     [In the Writings] we have a very definite and comprehensive picture painted of the role of the cerebellum, and this in a day when supposedly nothing was known about its function! One might be tempted to say that Swedenborg received simply by direct revelation, but as with many things in the Writings, the evidence is clear that he underwent a process of seemingly discovering these things for himself before the Divine endorsement was given to them by revelation. . . .
     The placing of will or affection in the unconscious part of the mind is not just a passing reference in the Writings. The doctrines are full of implications bearing on unconscious loves. . . .
     The idea that the cerebellum can have anything to do with emotion, feeling, or the causes of voluntary behavior is a big surprise to modern physiologists. . . .
     Nobody would have expected, it would seem, on the basis of the 20th century model of the cerebellum, that putting electrodes in the cerebellum would somehow control violent, emotional behavior. But there are pathways which have been traced from the cerebellum into the lower parts of the cerebrum.
     I think you can see a fairly close connection between some of the most recent developments and Swedenborg's observations of 200 years ago. . . . I think there is a great storehouse of things hidden away in the Writings which have just begun to be tapped as far as understanding the psychology of the human mind in terms of the unconscious and what is in the unconscious.

483

NEW CHURCH EDUCATION AND THE HANDICAPPED 1988

NEW CHURCH EDUCATION AND THE HANDICAPPED KIRSTEN R. ROGERS 1988

     Introduction

     Eight years ago, a little girl named Katie visited my kindergarten and changed forever my previously stereotyped ideas of proper education for the handicapped. Katie is a "little person," but despite her diminutive stature and her need to use a walker, she came with big ideas about learning and playing along with everyone else in our class of "normal" children. And so she did, enriching our days and broadening our horizons at the same time.
     Five years passed, and in the spring of 1985 Liza's mother called me. She said that her daughter had been born with spina bifida and needed braces and crutches or a wheelchair for mobility. Then she asked a question that simply stunned me. Would Liza be allowed to come to our school? The first thought that rushed to mind was that New Church parents should never have to ask whether their children might attend New Church schools.
     Effervescent, red-haired Liza brought her sunshine to our kindergarten that fall. Like Katie, she learned and played along with everyone else. In the meantime, her mother's question led me to begin considering what attitudes and practices prevalent in the educational world today might, despite the good intentions of their proponents, actually be inhibiting handicapped children. Gradually I realized that two aspects in particular disturbed me.
     The first of these involves an almost subliminal yet real mentality that has caused many educators to react as though schools exist to produce a product. Fostered in various ways by the fierce competition of the business world and by federal, state, and local government regulations, this mentality threatens the essential purposes of education. It subtly shifts the focus of attention away from the individual child and his needs. Seemingly endless hours are spent instead on paperwork, justification reports, and the evaluation of test results. But schools do not exist to produce a product. They exist to provide a service-to serve human society by assisting its children in the process of learning.
     The second area of concern involves "special education." Lest my point of view be misunderstood, I must begin by stating that children today are fortunate to have any mandatory special education at all. Not too long ago, most mentally handicapped and many physically handicapped children were simply institutionalized. For them, life in this world offered little. That is not the case today.

484

Still, I began to question the structure inherent in many special education programs-a structure that often segregates the handicapped into separate classrooms, sometimes even separate schools, along with other handicapped students. How then do they learn age-appropriate behavior? How do they learn to interact with others their age who are not handicapped? How, in other words, do they learn to "live, work, and play in the real world."1
     Understandably, the mentally and physically impaired children of New Church parents were the focus of my particular concern. Should not all our children be welcomed into our schools? Should not all New Church teachers be willing to develop programs to help handicapped children grow up with their friends, in their communities, and with the Lord and His church at the center of their lives?
     A particular Arcana passage beautifully describes the attitude of angels. "Angels perceive nothing more blessed and happy," we are told, "than to teach novitiate brethren. . . ."2
     As a result of my concerns and questions, I decided to research the Heavenly Doctrines and the history of educational efforts in the New Church. What do the Writings have to say about the human mind and children that may apply to New Church education for the handicapped? How have various bodies of the church viewed their educational responsibilities? What have been the essential purposes of New Church education during the past 150 years?
     This paper is the result of that research, including investigation of modern educational literature on the subject of appropriate education for the handicapped.

     Doctrine

     The Heavenly Doctrines tell us that everything a person does contains his whole mental being-his essential humanity. A person's mind is his "love's affection" and the thoughts he forms from that affection. The affection and thoughts together are what he is.3 The doctrines also tell us that the human mind can be enriched and perfected to eternity, "especially when the person is led by the Lord,"4 because, unlike an animal, a person has a spiritual mind that exists simultaneously in both the natural and spiritual worlds.5 And the spiritual mind lives on after the death of the body.
     This description applies just as fully to mentally and physically handicapped people as it does to the rest of us. As one passage in the Arcana says of certain newcomers to heaven:

Some who have been of childlike mind and simple faith then appear to themselves in white and shining garments, some with crowns.

485

Some are taken around to various angelic societies and are everywhere charitably received as comrades.6

     To illustrate the communication of intelligence and wisdom from one to another in heaven, in Heaven and Hell Swedenborg records the following experience:

Certain simple spirits were once taken up into heaven, and on arriving there they too came into angelic wisdom, so that they then understood things they were never able to comprehend before, and uttered things they were unable to express in their former state.7

     A similar experience appears in True Christian Religion, emphasizing the intuitive power to be gained through worship of the Lord:

I saw a spirit who in the company of others appeared simple, because he acknowledged the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth, and had established this faith of his by several truths taken from the Word. This spirit was then taken up into heaven among some of the wiser angels; and I was told that there he was just as wise as they, indeed that altogether as though on his own he spoke a great number of truths of which he had before known nothing.8

     It is clear from these reports that a person's spiritual intelligence may far exceed his natural intelligence. We cannot determine spiritual capacities on the basis of natural aptitude.
     In considering a child's development, we learn from the doctrines that every human being is born with a spiritual mind, but it is not open or actively functioning at birth.9 It is opened gradually during his life, as he refuses to participate in evil because it is contrary to the Lord's commandments in His Word.10 In addition, and of particular importance to New Church educators, we note that the formation of this spiritual mind is based on everything from the Word that exists in the memory.11 And a person captures things in his memory because of the delight he feels in knowing them.12
     The first things a child learns, of course, involve only sensory experiences. He tastes his food, holds his bunny, and watches his mother's face. After a while he begins to crawl, explores his world, and tries to talk. He has no conscious awareness of the Lord during infancy. But as the Arcana tells us,

[Children] learn many things at first, even useless ones, such as games and the like, not that these things may make them wise, but that the way may be prepared for their acquiring useful things that are matters of wisdom. . . .13

     Throughout childhood, in fact, sensory experience is the only means by which knowledge can enter a person's mind, because the higher levels of his mind are not yet open.14

486

But as the Heavenly Doctrines clearly state, some of the sensory truths a child learns become the basis for his later rationality and regeneration: the humanity of the Lord; the life of heaven; the literal sense of the Old and New Testaments; the wonder and usefulness of objects in the Lord's universe. When a child learns about these matters of religion and life, a vital link with heaven is formed; and as the Arcana says, the angels then think about Divine things and communicate their affections to the child. This in turn gives him delight and prepares his mind to receive genuine truth and good.15
     One of our fundamental responsibilities as New Church teachers, then, is to structure and present sensory knowledge from the Word in such a way that it fosters this vital heavenly communication. To do this, we must also make it the goal in all our subject areas. Handicapped children of the church can learn from teachers in other schools many useful and interesting things, but little or nothing about the Lord. They can learn about Him from their parents, of course, but most of a child's integrated instruction takes place in school. He needs to see the Lord in everything he learns. As one Arcana passage says quite plainly:

The innocence of childhood is of no use unless by means of concepts it becomes the innocence of wisdom.16

     And in another equally straightforward passage:

Little children cannot know a particle of truth until they have been provided with concepts. On the other hand, . . . the better and more perfectly equipped with concepts they are, the better and more perfectly can intellectual truth . . . be communicated.17

     We must not underestimate the extreme importance of early and continuous instruction from the literal sense of the Word and the plain statements of the Writings. No child can discriminate between truth and falsity from his own enlightenment. Whatever sight of truth he achieves, whatever useful conclusions he reaches are based on things he has learned from parents and teachers.18 Yet even though what a person learns during childhood does not make him genuinely wise and loving, the Heavenly Doctrines tell us that it does form "a plane for the things of the understanding; and the understanding is what receives the truth of faith . . . , and the truth of faith is what receives the good of charity."19 In other words, the development of a person's rational faculty and the opening of his spiritual mind depend on knowledge he learns about the Lord and the church during childhood and youth. A passage in The Apocalypse Explained says:

487

. . . if he lives according to these concepts from the Word, the interior degree is opened in him and he becomes spiritual, but only so far as he is affected by truths, understands them, wills them, and does them.20

     A mentally handicapped person may not have the higher planes of his mind opened in this world because of something that blocks his deeper understanding of truth. Yet even if the knowledge he gains does not go beyond the sensory plane, it is invaluable to his eternal life, because interior things are implanted in his mind at the same time. Divine Providence describes it this way:

All who are taught by the Lord in the Word learn few truths in the world, but many when they become angels. For interior truths of the Word are simultaneously implanted, which are Divine-spiritual and Divine-celestial ones, though they are not disclosed in the person until after his death. . . .21

     Every child loves to learn things, especially things about the Lord, and we have seen how vital this early learning is. But love of knowledge by itself is not enough.22 As the Arcana tells us, the things we know are spiritual riches, and we possess them in order to render useful service to ourselves, the neighbor, and the country.23 Children, even handicapped children, can be guided in using what they know to help each other and to contribute to the life of their home, school, and community.24

     The Development of New Church Education

     Educational efforts in the history of the New Church have met with varied success. Some attempts to establish schools have been quite successful, others dismal failures. What we want to examine, however, is why these efforts were made in the first place. What motives have led New Church men and women to try to establish separate schools?
     We begin in England during the educational reform movement of the 1800s. Many schools were being opened then for the express purpose of educating poor children. Certain members of the General Conference opened schools as well. In terms of evangelization, these schools were largely not successful, because most parents developed no interest in the religion. What we notice, however, is the motivation of their founders. In his work History of New Church Education Richard Gladish says,

To the prevailing sentiment for educating children of the poor, New Churchmen added the concept of education for heaven.25

     Education for heaven was also one of the purposes expressed during the 1800s by some members of the General Convention in the United States. Mile Williams, an educator and scientist, compared a child's mind to a vessel with two compartments, one for affectional things and the other for natural truths.

488

He said that the important purpose of education was to fill the vessels properly, in connection with the literal sense of the Word. Then, when a child's rational mind began to develop, it would have a plane on which its energy could be properly exercised.26
     Williams strongly supported separate New Church schools. Soon after, in 1838, ". . . Samuel Worcester, chairman of the Convention's Committee on Moral and Religious Instruction, urged immediate action, declaring that children of the New Church must be educated differently from 'children of the world.'"27 Convention was not willing to accept responsibility for setting general principles for a Church-wide system. And though a number of schools were established independently, most of them failed because of a lack of commitment in the face of public school reforms.28
     In a later report to the Convention in 1855, Edmund A. Beaman tried to rekindle interest in New Church schools. He envisioned them, in their most essential features, as a kind of "mental nurse." He said in his report:

Knowledge is useful chiefly as it, like nourishing food, helps to form the mind; and the child of the New Church needs a school separate from those of the world, that the means of its mental growth may be, as far as possible, of a New Church quality . . . . it needs a school where the life and sphere of the Church are felt. . .29

     The Convention did not heed Beaman's urging. Nevertheless, in their elucidation of doctrines relating to the instruction of the human mind, he, Williams and Worcester had made important contributions to the future of New Church education.
     In the late 19th century, in order to train their own priests, proponents of the Academy movement within General Convention established the Academy of the New church. This action rapidly led to the formation of several schools within the Academy aegis, providing education for the young people of the church from the secondary level to theological school. When the General Church of Pennsylvania under the same leadership broke away from Convention to reorganize as the General Church of the Advent, it too adopted education as one of its central purposes, and our present elementary schools had their beginning. The guiding tenet was expressed by W. H. Benade, one of the founders of the movement and its first bishop. He wrote:

. . . the primary principle of all instruction [is] that the . . . very first word . . . shall have respect to the Lord . . . .30

     In another important statement he said:

If things be taught and learnt as bare sciences, without any leading to what lies beyond them as ends, they will enter the memory indeed but not into the life, and the disposition toward good will not be insinuated into them from the Lord.31

489

     By the early 20th century, the General Church of the New Jerusalem had been formed. As we see from the description of the 1915 curriculum of the Bryn Athyn Elementary School, education for the children of New Church parents was no longer a new venture but had become a matter of permanent importance. In the introduction we find this statement:

It is well-known that the prime purpose in the establishment of New Church elementary schools is that distinctive religious instruction may be given to New Church children. . . .32

     The 1926 curriculum was described in a more comprehensive report, and its statement of purpose was somewhat expanded. Nevertheless, the essential reason for the school's existence remained the same:

The primary purpose of the school is the instruction of children of New Church parents in the Word of God and the faith of the New Church.33

     Since 1926, many people have written about the continuing need for New Church education. I will quote here only the Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton. He has written two books on education, both filled with clear and important statements. He describes New Church education as

. . . a ladder set upon the earth, . . . by which the human mind may ascend to the acknowledgment of the Lord . . . . We regard the educational process, therefore, as a humanizing process.34

     And in another place he reminds us that it is

. . . not merely a process of formal instruction. In its more interior implications it is an effort to direct the thought and affections of the child from self to use.35

     Finally, and of particular importance to our purposes here, Bishop Pendleton provides a comprehensive statement of the objectives in New Church education, which he lists as follows:

The first . . . is to introduce the child into a true idea of God.
The second . . . is the formation of a conscience in the understanding.
The third . . . is respect for law and order.
The fourth . . . is moral integrity. [This includes honesty and insistence on refraining from things which ought not to be done.]
The fifth . . . may be defined as a sense of social responsibility. [This involves things which ought to be done.]36

     Conclusions Emerging from This Background

     Throughout my investigation of the history of the development of New Church education, I was struck most forcibly by the remarkable consistency of purpose found in the various statements regarding education.

490

Some were more fully delineated than others, and each had its own particular wording, but the essential message was always the same: New Church education exists to lead children to the Lord through a growing awareness of the nature of His Humanity. It exists to introduce children into a heavenly life through obedience to His laws. It exists to help children see the Lord's order and power in everything they learn. And finally, in all of these, it exists to lead through the development of good affections, for nothing is truly learned without them. As my husband Bruce said in an address prepared for the 1980 General Assembly,

The point of New Church education is to aid parents in minimizing harmful influences and providing beneficial ones. This involves much more than simply instruction in knowledge, though this too is important; it involves the development of attitudes, in acknowledgment of the primacy of love, that the affections may be as good as the knowledges are true.37

     At this point some people may be wondering why no mention has been made of academic standards. The explanation is that the schools of the church were never established for purely academic reasons. Certainly, all students, whatever schools they attend, must be willing to work hard and to submit themselves to the discipline involved in learning. And preservation of academic standards helps the majority of New Church students to maintain this commitment to their education. But there are also other children of the church who are not as fortunately endowed. Some, whether from physical or mental incapacity, simply are not able to meet normal standards no matter how hard they work. In such cases, the students cannot adapt to fit the school. If New Church education is to serve these children of New Church parents, the school must adapt to fit the students.
     It is clear, both from doctrine and from our history, that all the children of the New Church deserve our best efforts within our own schools. Our elementary and high schools do not exist to compete with local prep schools. The Academy College does not exist to compete with Harvard and Yale. In many cases our schools do in fact provide an academic education competitive with or superior to that found elsewhere. This speaks well for the dedication and excellence of our teachers, but it is not the reason for the existence of New Church schools.
     Admittedly, it takes additional time and effort to adapt our schools and programs to meet the needs of handicapped students.

491

This can be unsettling, especially when the necessary adaptations differ from year to year. And we teachers and administrators are just like everyone else. We find life easier if it is comfortable and at least somewhat predictable. But these students need us. We must be willing to reassess our priorities in order to give them in their education the extra time and effort they require.
     Special funding, too, is often needed, which requires the understanding and cooperation of our financial boards and contributors. But as long as we can build buildings, plant trees, and blacktop parking lots, we can take care of the children and young people who depend on us. To quote my husband again:

When the day comes that things are more important to us than people, in that day we will have to say, we are not a church.

     Current Trends in the Educational World

     About a year ago, when I finally determined to write this paper, one of the areas I wanted to explore was the current thought among educators elsewhere regarding appropriate placement for the handicapped. Setting aside all religious considerations for the moment, was I alone in believing that handicapped children would grow better and more fully if they were mainstreamed with their "normal" peers in their neighborhood schools? Or do they, in fact, learn better in special classrooms and in segregated schools?
     As might have been predicted, what I discovered was that there is no universal consensus on this subject. I am delighted to report, however, that during the same period in which my thoughts on mainstream education were percolating, hundreds of leading educators in the United States and Canada were thinking along similar lines. In fact, the preponderance of research during the past ten years favors main streaming almost all handicapped students. Many integrated programs have been put in place during the last seven years or so-far too many for me even to begin describing here. But I would like to share with you a few of the forceful statements I read during the course of my research. Douglas Biklen writes:

. . . integration is not an experiment or a curricular innovation but is rather a constant aspect of quality schooling . . . . all students have gifts and can contribute to the life of a school and community.38

     In segregated schools and special education classrooms, handicapped students are often taught together with others of the same mental ability but not the same chronological age. Jean Zadig describes this as a problem and says:

492

. . . there is no evidence that keeping a mentally retarded young person with much younger pupils has a maturing effect on him; common sense suggests that the opposite effect can be expected . . . . Clearly, parents and teachers cannot wait until the child . . . becomes the adult . . . before training for adulthood is begun.39

     Norman Kunc puts it another way:

If we are to assess a child's "needs," then it is essential to examine all of [his] needs . . . . A segregated setting, though it may have an excellent academic program, can fulfill only one quarter of [them]. The child has no hope of learning appropriate social behavior because he is never even given the opportunity to witness age-appropriate behavior.40

     Dr. Kunc also challenges society's typical assessment of a handicapped person's ability when he asks,

. . . how many times have we prevented a handicapped person from figuring out a way of overcoming a problem simply by saying, "It is not realistic.41

     A mother expresses the sight she has come to while working with her own handicapped daughter:

The purpose of schooling for anyone is a preparation for adulthood in the community, a training of people to be able to contribute to society. . . .42

     And finally, a group of physicians and educators from Boston explain why the handicapped should attend regular schools throughout their education:

The opportunities to experience risks, to make decisions, and to assume responsibility are essential to the development of internal control, self-confidence, and independence . . . . One factor hindering the [handicapped] adolescent . . . in becoming more independent is the often observed tendency of parents and society to look upon this individual as an eternal child.43

     I return therefore to my two original questions. Should not all our children be welcomed into our schools? Should not all New Church teachers be willing to develop programs to help handicapped children grow up with their friends, in their communities, and with the Lord and His church at the center of their lives?
     Doctrine, the historical purposes of New Church education, and current educational trends all seem to invite-indeed, to urge-an affirmative response. All the children of the church are our children. New Church education exists to serve them all. In other words, to Cain's question, "Am I my brother's keeper," the answer is, "Yes!"

493

     In conclusion, I would like to allow a young woman, mentally impaired with Down Syndrome, to speak for herself. She was 21 when she told a Wisconsin legislative subcommittee:

There are a lot of things I can do. I can swim. I can read. I can make friends. I can listen to my records. I can watch television. I can make my own lunch. I can go to see a movie. I can take the bus by myself to Chicago and to work. I can count money. I can sing like a bird. I can brush my teeth. I can do latch hook rugs. I can cook dinner. I can think. I can pray. I can square dance. I can play drums. I know what is right. I know what is wrong.44

     1 Lou Brown, "Preparing People with Intellectual Disabilities to Love, Work, and Play in Integrated Environments and Activities," an address to the National Down Syndrome Congress (November 14-15.1987).
     2 AC 2704
     3 TCR 373. See also TCR 403.
     4 LJ 12:3.
     5 Life 86.
     6 AC 2699:2.
     7 HH 268.
     8 TCR 354:3.
     9 DLW 270. See also Coronis 29:2.
     10 AE 790:6.
     11 AE 790:8. See also AC 3020 and 6141; TCR 186; AE 739:3.
          12 AC 3502:2. See also AC 1563, 2204, 3512, 6812.
     13 AC 3470:2. See also AC 1900.
     14 AC 1460 and 1893.
          15 AC 3665:5. See also AC 371:2. 1434, 1453:2, 3161:2, 1555:2, 6333:3.
     16 AC 1616:5. See also AC 2292.
     17 AC 1901.
     18 AC 10225.
          19 AC 6750.
          20 AE 739:3.
     21 DP 172:5.
     22 AC 6815. See also DP 96:3.
          23 AC 8628:3. See also TCR 403.
          24 Char. 129.
     25 Richard Gladish, History of New Church Education, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania: General Church Religion Lessons (1968), Section I, p. 50.
     26 Gladish, Section II, p. 20.
     27 Ibid., p. 23.
          28 Ibid., pp. 38-51.

494

     29 Edmund A. Beaman, "Report of the Committee on Education," Journal of the Thirty-Seventh General Convention of the New Church in the United States, Boston: Otis Clapp (1955), p. 54.
     30 William H. Benade, Conversations on Education. Bryn Athyn. Pennsylvania: Academy of the New Church Press (1976, reissued from 1888-1889), p. 150.
     31 Ibid., p. 225.
     32 "Curriculum of the Bryn Athyn Elementary School" (1915), p. iii.
     33 Curriculum of the Bryn Athyn Elementary School, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania: Academy of the New Church (1926), p. 9.
     34 Willard D. Pendleton, Education for Use, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania: General Church Press (1985), pp. 158-160.
     35 Willard D. Pendleton, Foundations of New Church Education, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania: Academy Book Room (1957), p. 109.
     36 Pendleton, Education for Use, pp. 84-113.
     37 N. Bruce Rogers, "Education: The Importance of Affection," New Church Life, September 1981, p. 462.
     38 Douglas Biklen, "Introduction," More Education/Integration, Marsha Forest, Ed.D. (ed.), Downsview, Ontario: The G. Allan Roeher Institute (1987), p. i.
     39 Jean M. Zadig, "Elementary Education for Children with Down Syndrome," New Perspectives on Down Syndrome, Siegfried M. Pueschel et al. (eds.), Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company (1987), p. 199.
     40 Norman Kunc, "Being Realistic Isn't Realistic," More Education/Integration, p. 48.
     41 Ibid., p. 43.
     42 Carla Baudot, "Rationale for Erica's Integration," More Education/Integration, p. 151.
     43 Pueschel, S. M., C. D. Canning, A. Murphy, E. Zausmer, Down Syndrome: Growing and Learning, Kansas City: Andrews and McNeil, Inc. (1978), p. 157.
     44 Carol Turkington, "Special Talents," Psychology Today, September, 1987, p. 46.
CARMEL CHURCH SCHOOL CENTENNIAL 1988

CARMEL CHURCH SCHOOL CENTENNIAL Editor 1988

Please join us in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Carmel Church School.

Our celebration will focus on a banquet to be held in Kitchener, Ontario, on Saturday, November 26th at 7:00 p.m. All alumni, friends, well-wishers, and supporters of New Church education are invited to attend. Please contact Mrs. Mario Maciaczyk (Edith) at the Carmel Church, 40 Chapel Hill Drive, Kitchener, Ontario, N2G 3W5, or phone (519) 893-7460. The regular price is $10.00 for adults, and $7.50 for people who must hire baby sitters, and for students, eighth grade and older.

495

ACADEMY COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS 1988

ACADEMY COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS CHARLES H. EBERT 1988

     It is a real delight to be able to address the graduates of the Academy schools today. I must confess to a conflict of interest. As an Academy teacher, I am quite naturally an advocate or salesman for the Academy. On the other hand, as a parent I am a customer of the Academy. However, there is no conflict. My wife and I are thrilled with the education, both secondary and collegiate, that our children have received here.
     It is both exciting and a little frightening to be stepping out into the "real world." The poet Yeats captures the negative side in declaring that "things fall apart. The center cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world . . . . [T]he best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." These words have, of course, both an individual and a collective meaning. Sometimes it appears that the world at large has gone quite mad and that there is little chance for a restoration of order. At other times things seem to improve, at least a little. I was quite moved recently by a speech that President Reagan gave summarizing the progress at the recent summit meetings in Moscow. I was moved not so much by the announcement of some progress in arms reduction treaties, but because the president clearly pointed out that we can't have anything in the way of civilization or progress in human rights without acknowledgment of God.
     Graduates of secondary schools and colleges all over the world are asking themselves, How can I change the world? How can I have an impact for good? The answer depends, of course, on your definition of what is good. As graduates of the Academy schools, you may have something of a sense of, or even a deep commitment to, the idea that your impact on the world should be of a special character. You have formed ideas and definitions of good from the Word and from your observation of life around you and the needs of others.
     In the lessons today the distinction between the Lord's universal and special churches was indicated. All those who believe in God and try to live rightly are of the Lord's universal church. Their ideas are often articulated by church and national leaders. Some are called to be in the Lord's special church. Those are in the Lord's special church who have the Word and who live by it. They are the heart and lungs which serve the universal church. Can we observe who is in each church?

496

Is there a census or membership list that will indicate who are "special" and who are "universal"? Of course not; for these activities are internal and deal, at the center, with a person's relationship to the Lord. However, I am convinced that all those who receive the New Word are called upon to participate in the Lord's special church.
     As graduates of the Academy schools, you have received enough knowledge and understanding from the New Word for you to make the choice to participate in the Lord's special church. Let me suggest that there are some obvious and not so obvious ways to do this.
     Probably many of us in this room have dreamed of the day when the New Church fills the earth. However, that seems less than likely to occur in our lifetimes. What we have seen in the last 20 years is an increasing realization among Academy graduates and other members of the General Church that it is both our duty and our delight to share these new truths with the universal church. In a recent college convocation, we viewed a beautifully prepared videotape of interviews with adult converts to the New Church. One of these converts told us of the enormous importance of making the New Word available to seekers. Those of us who were blessed by being raised in the New Church may find it hard to imagine what it is like to be starved for truth.
     What must be done to participate in the Lord's special church? If the role of the special church is to be the heart and lungs of the universal church and thereby to revitalize the universal church, then your most crucial role is to learn from the Word and live according to it. The most complete form this takes is learning from the entire threefold Word. Thus those who are receivers of the New Church have the greatest opportunity and responsibility to become receptacles of the special church. Our work as conduits of spiritual influence must begin on the inside and then work to the outside. We must never underestimate the importance of being part of those lines of communication between heaven and earth.
     We are all sometimes frustrated that the New Church does not grow more quickly. We sometimes feel that if we have not personally brought anyone into the church what good are we doing? If we are trying to be part of the Lord's special church we may be doing an enormous amount of good for the universal church and for all people on this earth. You can be part of the means whereby the Lord influences this world through the spiritual world. If you are truly part of that internal means, then you will want to spread the New Church in this world and will actively seek ways to do so.
     To the graduates of the Girls School and the Boys School: You are experiencing, perhaps, a greater transition in state of life than other graduates today.

497

You have been instructed in the fundamentals of the doctrines of the church. Your task is to continue that study and reflection and make those doctrines your own. Often graduates at all levels are told that now they can start being useful. However, as high school students you have already made yourselves quite useful. You have provided a great deal of mutual stimulation and support for each other and even for your teachers. You have shown your love for the Academy in many ways. I was particularly impressed with your beautiful yearbook and its lovely and fitting dedication. Whether you plan to go on to the Academy College (a fine choice I might add), another college, or other advanced training or into the working world, your participation in the Lord's special church will be up to you. We welcome you to that work.
     To the graduates of the Academy College: You have already been living with at least one foot firmly planted in the adult world. Picture the seal in the college chapel which has Adventus Domini above it. I often reflect that it is particularly the role of the Academy to study the coming of the Lord. This study or intellectual leadership benefits the students, the church as a whole, and the entire world. Although mere learning is not the goal of life or of the church, it is a crucial element in the formation of the Lord's special church at this time. In your studies you have been called on to learn and reflect on the New Word in a very thorough and systematic way. You have been given some idea of how all learning is tied together and shown how New Church doctrine can inform a variety of fields. This use of doctrine to inform other fields becomes particularly fruitful at the senior college level. Our graduates in education have the best of both secular and religious instruction, and a real sense of how to approach learners with all that the Word teaches and all that has been discovered in this world about human learning. Our interdisciplinary graduates have been called upon to write a thesis which illustrates the interaction between two fields, often religious and a secular. These are impressive pieces of work.
     To the graduates of the Theological School: Good luck. You have our best training and the church needs you.
     As parents and teachers we hope that all Academy graduates will become full participants in the Lord's special church, and that the friendships that you have made here will enable you to support each other in that role throughout your lives.
     Thank You.

498

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     FOUR THOUSAND MEMBERS

     The Secretary of the General Church has reported that our membership now exceeds 4,000. Swedenborg's contemporary, General Christian Tuxen, once asked Swedenborg how many people believed in the Writings. Swedenborg's response, according to Tuxen, was: "Not many yet, that he knew of, yet he might compute their number at perhaps fifty or thereabouts; and in proportion the same number in the world of spirits" (Documents II, p. 440). We will say something below about the number of our members who have departed to the other world, but let us look at some of the numerical milestones.
     Rounding out the figures, we observe that the General Church seems to have passed the 2,000 mark in 1940, the 2,500 mark in 1949, and the 3,000 mark in 1963.
     It should be pointed out that these figures only include those who upon reaching adult age have taken the steps of formal membership. There are many people active in the church who are not formally members. (And some of them do not even realize that they are not members.)
     We should say something about the Academy College. There are this year 133 full-time students in our college, and seven in theological school. There are 177 students enrolled in the high school. (We note that the November issue of this magazine 100 years ago spoke of Academy enrollments, saying that "forty students and pupils attend in the various departments." We look forward to the day when 1,000 students are enrolled in all our New Church schools. The figure is now 938 (up only 16 from last year). This includes nine local schools, most of which have increased enrollments.*
     * The enrollment of the New Church school in Washington has risen from 14 last year to 27 this year. That school opened in the year 1970, and the society has shown growth since that time. The adult membership has doubled since 1973. Ten years ago that membership was 67. This year it is 108.
     The secretary reports that for the year ending June 30, 1988, 43 members have entered the spiritual world. This brings us to our total membership. Every membership card has a number on it, and we have now passed no. 7,600. Thus 3,600 of our members are in the other world. We are told that the early Christians rejoiced in the "increase" of the church (TCR 434). Numerical increase is a very external measurement, but it is at least a measurement that can be made.

499

     SWEDENBORG IN THE PAGES OF THE WRITINGS (10)

     Why Swedenborg Did Not Write Certain Letters

     Imagine a letter something like this:

Dear Mrs. Olson,
     Your husband who died so suddenly early last month has asked me to write to you mainly to assure you that he is most certainly alive. He wants you to know that there is no need to doubt or to worry about him. His life is bright and full, and he looks forward to meeting you when in God's Providence you too enter the spiritual world.
     I am able to write this because for some years now I have been allowed by the Lord to see what is in the spiritual world and to converse with those who have gone there. Do feel free to write to me or to visit me when you are in Stockholm.
     Yours Sincerely,
     Emanuel Swedenborg

     P.S. Would you tell your cousin Anna that her daughter who died last year has been well cared for and is thriving in the new life that she has found.

     That is the kind of letter Swedenborg could have written, and, in fact, was asked to write! Why didn't he do so? Think what the results would have been, and then consider this passage from the Arcana:

I have conversed with many who had been known to me in this life . . . . They have desired me to tell their friends that they are alive, and to write and tell them what their condition is, even as I had related to themselves many things about that of their friends here. But I replied that were I to tell their friends such things, or to write to them about them, they would not believe, but would call them delusions, would scoff at them, and would ask for signs or miracles before they would believe, and I should merely expose myself to their derision (AC 448).

     This was a reality that Swedenborg lived with year after year, and it sometimes comes out in the Writings in an affecting way. There were people in the spiritual world who actually saw through Swedenborg's eyes their friends and relatives in the natural world! Some even watched their families mourning at their graves. "They have desired me to tell these things to their relatives who were mourning; but it was given me to reply that if I should do so they would scoff, because that which they could not see with their own eyes they would believe to be nothing, and would set down as delusive visions" (AC 4527). A wife in the other world actually watched her husband through Swedenborg's eyes! The drama of it is unparalleled. Couldn't he say something?

500

"Some have also seen their married partners and their children, and have desired me to tell them that they were close by and saw them, and to give an account of their state in the other life, but I had been forbidden to tell them or to reveal to them that they were seen in this way, and this partly for the reason that they would have called me insane, or would have thought such things to be delirious fancies of the mind" (AC 1880:2).

     HIGHLIGHTS FROM SWEDENBORGS LETTERS (10)

     If Swedenborg had written the story of the New Church in his lifetime, he would have included a little chapter about Frederich C. Oetinger. This is evident from the outline he sketched called An Ecclesiastical History of the New Church. Last month we said a little about Beyer, who would certainly have been included in that story (or history). Swedenborg's letters to Oetinger began not long after his series of letters to Beyer had commenced. There were considerable differences in these two sets of letters.
     Beyer was Swedenborg's compatriot, and the letters to him are in Swedish, whereas those to Oetinger were in Latin. Swedenborg was personally acquainted with Beyer, but in the case of Oetinger he was responding to the inquiries of a stranger. The letters to Beyer were, so to speak, letters to the converted, for Beyer completely accepted the Writings and read them with affirmation. Oetinger was altogether different. In certain respects we might call him a credulous man, for he tended to believe mystical writers and claims of spiritual vision. But he was very reluctant to accept some things, particularly the concept of a spiritual sense in the Word, and although he accepted Swedenborg's reports of the spiritual world and even translated and promoted them, he was one of those people who always seem to need some sort of new proof or confirmation. He wanted Swedenborg to come up with some miracle or sign.
     One of the striking aspects of Swedenborg's few letters to Beyer is the very direct appeal and argument Swedenborg put forward. It was as if Swedenborg were saying, "Here are answers to fundamental questions. Are Christians going to have to wait forever for such answers?"

     In his letter of September 1766 he speaks of the newly published Apocalypse Revealed:

. . . from which book one can see clearly that I do speak with angels since not even the smallest verse in the Apocalypse can be understood without revelation. Surely anyone can see that by the New Jerusalem a new church is to be understood, and that its teachings can be disclosed only by the Lord alone . . . nor that they can ever be published in the world except by someone to whom a revelation has been granted.

501

I can solemnly testify that the Lord Himself has appeared to me and sent me to do what I am doing, and that to this end He has opened the interiors of my mind, which are the interiors of my spirit, for me to see those things that are in the spiritual world and for me to listen to those people who are there; and this has now lasted for 22 years. But to make this credible, an attestation does not today carry sufficient weight. Yet anyone who is intelligent enough can find some confirmation from the witness of my writings, especially the Apocalypse Revealed. Who has previously known anything about the spiritual sense of the Word? And who has known anything about the spiritual world, that is, about heaven and hell? Who has known about man's life after death? Are these and yet other matters going to be concealed from Christians for ever?

     Two months later Swedenborg responded to some questions from Oetinger, including his appeal for a "sign."

Question: Whether a sign is necessary that I have been sent by the Lord to do what I am doing.

Reply: Nowadays there are no signs and miracles, because they compel outwardly but do not persuade inwardly.

Question: Why I, from being a man of learning, was chosen?

Reply: It was in order that men may be taught and understand naturally and rationally the spiritual things that are being revealed at this day . . . . I was introduced by the Lord first of all to the natural sciences; and in this way I was prepared, from 1710 to 1744, in which year heaven was opened to me. . . .
     "I am sorry you have suffered on account of your translation . . . yet what suffers more nowadays than truth itself! How many are they who see it, or indeed wish to see it? Do not therefore become weary; you are a defender of the truth.

     I am etc.
     Yours Sincerely
     Eman Swedenborg

     The above translation is from Small Theological Works and Letters (p. 287), published in 1975 by the Swedenborg Society. The final line is translated a little differently in Tafel's Documents. It there reads: "Do not allow yourself to be discouraged thereby, but be a defender of the truth."

502

CHERISH AND COMFORT 1988

CHERISH AND COMFORT Gladys H. Betz 1988

     Communications
Dear Editor:
     In response to your request for readers' views on the word "comfort" in the marriage vows, I suggest "Love, honor, cherish and comfort," because it seems to me unwise to pretend that all marriages go on to "live happily ever after." We do not need to emphasize, only to recognize, that life does not exist without trials and troubles, and that there will be times when either husband or wife will need to support and comfort the partner. It is difficult enough for those in the betrothal state to get their feet on the ground; it behooves those with more experience to help them realize the responsibilities ahead.
     Gladys H. Betz,
          Santee, California
GREATER FREEDOM IN RUSSIA 1988

GREATER FREEDOM IN RUSSIA Lyle G. Birchman 1988

Dear Editor:
     While reflecting upon the current changes granting greater freedoms to the people in the Soviet Union, the theory occurred to me that perhaps the years of spiritual repression in that land were permitted so a nation once steeped in orthodox Christian beliefs could be purged of those prevailing false doctrines to allow the reception of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem to take place.
     Scriptural history records occurrences of vastations of goods and truths prior to each new Divine dispensation. The Writings inform us that this took place so that all the knowledges of the internal things would be lost to prevent the profanation of the soon-to-be-revealed Divine truth. "For the holy things (internal goods and truths) can be profaned by those who know and acknowledge them, and still more by those who are affected by them, but not by those who do not acknowledge them" (AC 4289).
     The Scriptures warn us against profanation as in the case of the seven worst demons which befell the man who profaned in Matthew 12:4345. The Writings warn us of the grievous consequences which await those who profane what is holy.

503

The graphic depiction of those spirits who no longer can even be considered men due to the mixing of good and evil must cause us all to be wary lest a similar fate await us. We are taught that the Lord's Providence guards against profanation of what is holy to prevent such tragedies from occurring.
     Although they were to represent a church without actually being one, the Lord permitted the Jews to undergo the 400 years of captivity in Egypt, which brought about a vastation so total that they knew not His name, as with Moses at the burning bush. This state of total ignorance was required lest the holy things of the coming Divine dispensation be profaned. The external representatives were only given for it was foreseen that they would "make the Word of God of no effect through their traditions." This state of utter darkness prevailed when the Lord made His advent into the world, as recorded in the gospel of John: "He came unto His own and His own received Him not." Again we can see how Providence protected against profanation.
     The "abomination of desolation," consisting of the doctrines of three gods, faith alone and papal dominion, brought darkness upon the Christian Church. A vastation of the goods and truths of that dispensation set the stage for the "coming of the Son of Man in clouds and glory," the Writings.
     With the understanding of end, cause and effect comes the realization that this world is the realm of effects from spiritual causes. It is due to this spiritual influx that throughout history each new Divine dispensation is better received by the gentiles than those of the old church, which has fallen into darkness due to association with, and reception of, infernal influx.
     With this fact in mind, one can easily see how the Lord's Providence may have permitted the advent of communism and its restrictive religious policies to stifle the effects of the spiritual causes which inhibit and obstruct the reception of the Heavenly Doctrines. If this theory is correct, we all should take hope in the implications of the developments of granting greater religious freedom to those in the Soviet Union and China. It is my hope that the appropriate translations of the Writings will be made available to these and other nations. For this is the realm of effects, and if the Heavenly Doctrines are received over there, the progress toward world peace and global cooperation would be astounding!
     Lyle G. Birchman,
          Eagle, Michigan

504

Providence and Free Will in Human Actions 1988

Providence and Free Will in Human Actions Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz 1988

Providence and Free Will in Human Actions, Daniel W. Goodenough; Swedenborg Scientific Association, Bryn Athyn, 1986; paperback, pp. 132; price $6.65

     Since God rules all, and since man's freedom is primarily the spiritual freedom to choose, how much does what we actually do really matter? Are we truly responsible for what happens-responsible for the good and bad that happens even on the globe, as well as for what happens in the area of our immediate family, acquaintances and job? This recent book by a New Church theologian-historian at the Academy asks, and answers, basic questions regarding the role of human freedom: the interaction between God's ever-beneficent provision and man's free response, positive or negative.
     These fundamental questions are taken up first by a discussion of the traditional Christian concept of the role of God's providence and man's free will in history's events. Then the Writings' teaching about these problems-which center around the ever-present reality of evil and the role people play in human events-is methodically laid out. The central point of the Writings that is expounded is that freedom is not simply a matter of choosing what is right; it is equally a matter of doing. What we do blesses-and curses-the lives of others. As Mr. Goodenough so tellingly phrases it, "If all our decisions relating to other people have no effect on them because everything is determined by Providence, then an enormous part of our lives seems to become meaningless, and the effect of seeing the truth is to turn us into ourselves."
     But the author's presentation is not pedantic. On the contrary, one cannot but enjoy the contemplative, knowledgeable manner in which his discussion proceeds. Sometimes a point is made with a well-asked question, as when in the beginning of the chapter "How the Lord Governs the Evil" the difficulties of this subject are summed up in the query, "Would not the Lord's governing presence with evil men torment and destroy their life? And at times a Divine teaching is illustrated with a fascinating historical fact. For example, speaking of the role of "acts of God" in human events, Mr. Goodenough observes that a disease on the rye crop in France in 1789 was a major factor contributing to the mass delusion known as the "Great Fear," which in turn helped precipitate the French Revolution.

     One cannot finish this book without having gained a more detailed appreciation of our Creator's redeeming role in life's major events.

505

But one still longs for a clearer insight of the role of the Divine Providence on the intimately personal level. In this regard, it strikes this reviewer that since the Writings declare that the "end of the Divine Providence is that every created thing, in general and in particular, shall be such as one [as the Divine love and wisdom in the Lord are a one]" (DP 7), it would seem that a yet fuller appreciation of the role of Providence in our lives and of our freedom's beneficial potential for both ourselves and for others would result from relating the role of freedom also to this primary Divine end.
     The aforementioned desire for insight, nevertheless, is admittedly a yearning for reassurance about what the Divine Providence is doing for "me." Perhaps we in the General Church, however, are just a bit too concerned with "me myself." Perhaps we tend to regard our faith and worship too exclusively as a purely private, inner matter. A great value of this study is that it directs our attention not to the Lord's Providence in regard to ourselves alone but especially to His Providence in our relation to others. It opens our mind to grasp the reality that we are truly free to act, and that our actions do vitally affect others-in some instances eternally.
     Mr. Goodenough sums up with a new definition of trust in Providence. "Trust in Providence," he writes, "depends less on whether he accepts this or that deed as a Providential work than on whether in his daily decisions he acts from genuine good and truth." If we endeavor to express this kind of trust, can we both individually and in the community of the General Church at large be anything but better and more helpful to mankind?
     Considering the great value of the content of Providence and Free Will in Human Actions, we would venture to make one suggestion for its improvement. While the book is addressed "to those who long for more than a blind faith," the present form of Mr. Goodenough's discussion is accommodated to those who already are of the New Church, at least to those who are already familiar with the language and concepts of the Writings. The distinctive word "permission," for example, is introduced in the first chapter with the obvious assumption that the reader is already familiar with it and the doctrine it represents. References to Scriptural material also (e.g., the reference to what is "torn" in the citation from Arcana Coelestia 4171) would be more understandable to many readers if they were briefly explained. We would welcome, therefore, a modestly expanded second edition of his book, an edition that would define such terms when they are first introduced. Then this most thoughtful study could-and should-be distributed to the reading public at large, and thus become of even greater significance in influencing men and women to use their God-given freedom for the welfare of all.
     Rev. Kurt P. Nemitz

506

Church News 1988

Church News Steve David 1988

     THE 63RD BRITISH ASSEMBLY

     Britain, home of the first New Church group, was pleased to welcome Bishop and Mrs. King to London and Colchester during the 63rd British Assembly in July. The Colchester Society hosted the weekend gathering, which attracted people from most of the United Kingdom.
     Rev. Kenneth Stroh gave an address entitled "The Wedding Feast" on Friday night in response to the Bishop's chosen text in the opening worship service. Mr. Stroh also asked, "Why do we assemble?"-an excellent way to get people thinking about the uses of the weekend.
     On Saturday morning Bishop King gave a clear and powerful presentation based on the text "What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" I think that Freda Griffiths spoke for us all when, after the end of the address, she thanked the Bishop for the best explanation she had ever heard of the central doctrine of use. (It is available on tape from John Burt.)
     A business meeting followed, at which the discussion focused largely on appropriate methods for coordinating church development activities. Although no formal decision was made, the apparent consensus was that the London and Colchester societies should consider the matter, and if in agreement, ask the General Church Council, Ltd., to expand its role in future.
     Brief meetings of the British Academy Summer School and the General Church Council, Ltd., were held in the early afternoon.
     Rev. Fred Elphick then addressed the group, delivering a thoughtful presentation on the masculine and feminine, and how those qualities relate to the soul. This was followed by lively discussion, an afternoon break, and a banquet at a Colchester hotel.
     Speaking after dinner, Rev. Norman Riley, now resident in England again in the Manchester area after many years abroad, spoke about his experiences in spreading the Lord's Word in South Africa.
     On Sunday Bishop King took the morning service, following which people gathered on the lawn for the traditional Assembly photo. Visitors were then given dinner in Colchester homes, and finished the weekend with a holy supper service at 3:00.
     (Three men minister to the General Church people in the United Kingdom and Holland: Kenneth Stroh is Bishop's Representative and pastor in Colchester; Fred Elphick is pastor of Michael Church in London, and regularly visits active groups in Letchworth, Woking and Holland; and Norman Riley is recently returned to Manchester and is serving the group there.)
     Steve David

507

[Photo of College Students in the Swedenborg Library]
CONFESSION OF FAITH 1988

CONFESSION OF FAITH Editor 1988

Announcements

Buss-At Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, August 7, 1988, Miss Pamela Elisabeth Buss, Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss officiating.
PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES 1988

PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES Editor 1988

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     RIGHT REV. LOUIS B. KING, BISHOP

     Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, 19009, U. S. A.

     PUBLIC WORSHIP AND DOCTRINAL CLASSES

     USA addresses only

     Information on public worship and doctrinal classes provided either regularly or occasionally may be obtained at the locations listed below. For details use the local phone number of the contact person mentioned or communicate with the Secretary of the General Church, Rev. L. R. Soneson, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009, Phone (215) 947-4660.

     UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

     Alabama:

     BIRMINGHAM
Dr. R. Shepard, 4537 Dolly Ridge Road, Birmingham, AL 35243. Phone:(205) 967-3442.

     Arizona:

     Mr. Hubert Rydstrom, 3640 E. Piccadilly Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85018. Phone: (602) 955-2290.

     Rev. Cedric King, visiting pastor, 21332 Forest Meadow, El Toto, CA 92630.

     TUCSON
Rev. Frank S. Rose, 2536 N. Stewart Ave., Tucson, AZ 85716. Phone: (602) 327-2612.

     Arkansas:

     LITTLE ROCK
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Holmes, Rt. 6, Box 447, Batesville, AR 72501. (501) 251-2383

     California:

     LOS ANGELES
Rev. Donald Rogers, 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Phone: (818) 249-5031.

     ORANGE COUNTY
Rev. Cedric King, visiting pastor. 21332 Forest Meadow, El Toro, CA 92630.

     SACRAMENTO
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Ripley, 2310 N. Cirby Way, Roseville, CA 95678. Phone: (916) 782-7837

     SAN DIEGO
Rev. Nathan Gladish, 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123. Phone: (619) 268-0379. Office: (619) 571-8599.

510

     SAN FRANCISCO
Mr. Jonathan Cranch, 2520 Emerson St., Palo Alto, CA 94301. Phone: (415) 327-2788.

     Colorado:

     COLORADO SPRINGS
Mr. and Mrs. William Reinstra, 708 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs, CO 80829. Phone: (303) 685-9519.

     DENVER
Rev. Clark Echols, 3371 W. 94th Ave., Westminster, CO 80030. Phone (303) 429-1239 or 428-6019.

     Connecticut:

     BRIDGEPORT
Rev. Geoffrey Howard, visiting pastor, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

     HARTFORD

     SHELTON
Mr. and Mrs. James Tucker, 45 Honey Bee Lane, Shelton, CT 06484. Phone: (203)-929-6455.

     Delaware:

     WILMINGTON
Mrs. Justin Hyatt, 2008 Eden Rd., N. Graylyn, Wilmington, DE 19803. Phone: (302) 475-3694.

     District of Columbia see Mitchellville. Maryland.

     Florida:

     BOYNTON BEACH
Rev. Daniel Heinrichs, 15101 N. W. Fifth Ave., Miami, FL 33169. Phone: (305) 687-1337.

     LAKE HELEN
Mr. and Mrs. Brent Morris, 264 Kicklighter Rd., Lake Helen, FL 32744. Phone: (904) 228-2276.

     Georgia:

     AMERICUS
Mr. W. H. Eubanks, Rt. #2, S. Lee St., Americus, GA 31709. Phone: (912) 924-9221.

     ATLANTA
Rev. Christopher Bown, 3795 Montford Drive, Chamblee, GA 30341. Phone: (Home) (404) 457-4726. (Office) (404) 452-0518.

     Idaho:

     FRUITLAND
(Idaho-Oregon border) Mr. Harold Rand, 1705 Whitley Dr., Fruitland, ID 83619. Phone: (208) 452-3181.

     Illinois:

     CHICAGO
Rev. Grant Schnarr, 73A Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 729-0130 (home) (312) 724-6130 (office).

     DECATUR
Mr. John Aymer, 380 Oak Lane, Decatur, IL 62562. Phone: (217) 875-3215.

     GLENVIEW
Rev. Brian Keith, 73 Park Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 724-0120.

     Indiana:

     Mr. James Wood, R. R. 1, Lapel, IN 46051. Phone (317) 534-3546

     Louisiana:

     BATON ROUGE
Mr. Henry Bruser, Jr., 1652 Ormandy Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70808. Phone: (504) 921-3089.

     Maine

     BATH
Rev. Allison L. Nicholson, 6050 Esplanade Ave., Baton Rouge, LA 70806. Phone: (504) 924-397.

     Maryland:

     BALTIMORE
Rev. Frederick Chapin, 37 Guinevere Court, Baltimore, MD 21237. Hone Phone: (301) 682-3397; Office: (301) 435-5418.

     MITCHELLVILLE
Rev. Lawson Smith, 3805 Enterprise Rd., Mitchellville, MD 20716. Phone: (301) 262-2349.

     Massachusetts:

     BOSTON
Rev. Grant Odhner, 138 Maynard Rd., Sudbury, MA 01776. Phone: (617) 651-1127.

     Michigan:

     DETROIT
Rev. Walter Orthwein, 395 Olivewood Court, Rochester, MI 48064. Phone: (313) 656-1267.

     EAST LANSING
Mr. Christopher Clark, 5853 Smithfield, East Lansing, MI 48823. Phone: (517) 351-2880.

     Minnesota:

     ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS
Rev. Brian W. Keith, visiting pastor, Glenview, IL 60025. Phone: (312) 724-0120.

     Missouri:

     COLUMBIA
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Johnson, 103 S. Greenwood, Columbia, MO 65201. Phone: (314) 442-3475.

511

     KANSAS CITY
Mr. Glen Klippenstein, Glenkirk Farms, Maysville, MO 64469. Phone: (816) 449-2167.

     New Jersey-New York:

     RIDGEWOOD. N.J.
Mrs. Fred E. Munich, 474 S. Maple Ave., Glen Rock, NJ 07452. Phone: (201) 445-1141.

     New Mexico:

     ALBUQUERQUE
Mr. Howard Leach, 4215 12th Street, Albuquerque, NM 87107. Phone: (505) 892-0936.

     North Carolina:

     CHARLOTTE
Mr. John deMaine, 3509 Highridge Rd., Matthews, NC 28105. Phone: (704) 845-4058.

     Ohio:

     CINCINNATI
Rev. Patrick Rose, 785 Ashcroft Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45240. Phone: (513) 825-7473.

     CLEVELAND
Mr. Alan Childs, 19680 Beachcliff Blvd., Rocky River, OH 44116. Phone: (216) 333-4413.

     COLUMBUS
Mr. Hubert Heinrichs, 8372 Todd Street Rd., Sunbury. OH 43074. Phone: (614) 524-2738.

     Oklahoma:

     OKLAHOMA CITY
Mr. Robert Campbell, 3108 Eagle Pass Rd., Edmond, OK 73013. Phone: (404) 478-4729.

     Oregon-Idaho Border.See Idaho, Fruitland.

     Pennsylvania:

     BRYN ATHYN
Rev. Kurt Asplundh, Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. Phone: (215) 947-3665.

     ERIE
Mrs. Paul Murray, 5648 Zuck Rd., Erie, PA 16506. Phone: (814) 833-0962.

     FREEPORT
Rev. Ragnar Boyesen, 126 Iron Bridge Rd., Sarver, PA 16055. Phone: Office (412) 353-2220 or Home 295-9855

     KEMPTON
Rev. Jeremy Simons, RD 2, Box 217-A, Kempton, PA 19529. Phone: (Home) (215) 756-4301; (Office) (215) 756-6140.

     PAUPACK
Mr. Richard Kintner, Box 172, Paupack, PA 18451. Phone: (717) 857-0688.

     PITTSBURGH
Rev. Ray Silverman, 299 Le Roi Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15208. Phone: (Church) (412) 731-1061.

     South Carolina:- see North Carolina.

     South Dakota:

     HOT SPRINGS
Linda Klippenstein, 537 Albany, Hot Springs, SD 57745 Phone: (605) 745-6629

     Texas:

     AUSTIN
Mrs. Charles Grubb, 604 Highland Ave., Austin, TX 78703. Phone: (512) 472-3575.

     DALLAS-FORT WORTH
Mr. Fred Dunlap, 3887 Antigua Circle, Dallas, TX 75244. Phone: (214) 247-7775.

     HOUSTON
Dr. James Carter, 30 Williamsburg Ln., Houston, TX 77024. Phone: (713) 456-4057.

     Washington:

     SEATTLE
Rev. Kent Junge, 14812 N. E. 75th Street, Redmond, WA 98033. Phone: (206) 881-1955.

     Wisconsin:

     MADISON
Mrs. Charles Howell, 3912 Plymouth Circle, Madison, WI 53705. Phone: (608) 233-0209.
EVANGELIZATION SEMINAR 1988

EVANGELIZATION SEMINAR Rev. Peter M. Buss 1988

     Ministers and lay people are invited to attend an evangelization seminar in Bryn Athyn, Friday and Saturday, March 3rd and 4th, 1989.
     Further details will be announced. For information contact Mr. King Wille, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009. This is an opportunity for those who love the use of spreading the Lord's Word to come together.
     Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss

512

Now is the time to order Christmas Gifts 1988

Now is the time to order Christmas Gifts Editor 1988

Arcana Caelestia, New Translation, Vols. 1-5           each $13.00
Golden Thread, G. Childs                          7.95
Providence and Free Will, D. Goodenough                5.95
Education for Use, W. D. Pendleton                     12.00
Window to Eternity, B. Henderson                     6.95
You and the Opposite Sex, M. Pryke                3.80
Richard De Charms, Senior, R. Gladish                10.00
Poems from Swedenborg, L. Le Van                5.95

     Reprints.
Invisible Police                               5.80
Wedding Garment                               5.20
In the King's Service                          4.50
Golden Heart                                   4.30
Life of the Lord                               8.00
Glorification                                    7.00
Selected Papers and Addresses                     7.00
Tabernacle of Israel                              9.00

     Box 278, Cairncrest                         or by appointment
General Church Book Center               Hours: Mon-Fri. 9-12
Bryn Athyn. PA 19009                         Phone: (215) 947-3920

513

Notes on This Issue 1988

Notes on This Issue Editor 1988

Vol. CVIII December, 1988 No. 12
NEW CHURCH LIFE

514

     Notes on This Issue
Do you wish to follow the daily reading plan in 1989? See page 544.
     The book Heaven and Hell is just coming out in yet another language. See page 556.
     "Not only was Egypt a storehouse of grain for the ancient world; it was the repository of knowledges of an ancient church which had widespread existence in the ancient world . . . . Like the fabulous treasures stored in kings' tombs, resting in hushed attendance to lifeless monarchs, these knowledges were the real treasures of the land, overshadowing even the splendor of Pharaoh's gold." (See the sermon on the opposite page.)
     A letter in this issue says, "Our well established schools grew from very small beginnings." In 1980 the New Church school in Kempton, Pennsylvania, had an enrollment of 17. In 1981 it was down to 13. In 1982 it was 20. By 1985 it was 32. See page 520 for the current enrollment picture. Will Kempton in 1989 be second to Bryn Athyn in school attendance?

     According to the directory published herein there are 23 societies in the General Church, 31 circles and 38 groups. There were thirteen ministerial changes during the year (p. 535).
     "The challenge before us is to try to build on these and broaden support for the church and the uses it is performing." (See the treasurer's report.)
     We invite you to ponder on the "Christmas Thought" which in less than two pages considers "the great paradox of the story of the Lord's birth into the world."
     We wanted to publish this month another editorial and some especially interesting items, but the December issue tends to get crowded with important things to be included before year's end. We particularly regret the delay in publishing the conclusion of Dr. Chadwick's article which was begun in the November issue.

515

BEING CALLED OUT OF EGYPT 1988

BEING CALLED OUT OF EGYPT Rev. KURT H. ASPLUNDH 1988

     "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son (Hosea 11:1).

     As we approach our Christmas celebration we are reminded of the different parts of the Christmas story: the angel appearing to Mary, the shepherds in the field, the quiet wonder at the manger, wise men following the star, the gold, frankincense and myrrh. These stir our minds with a sense of joy about the real meaning of Christmas. They are a record of those good tidings which were to be shared with all people: that Jesus Christ, our Savior, was born on earth.
     There is another part of the story that is not so joyful yet equally important to our understanding of the Lord's birth: the escape into Egypt. The wise men had departed, having been warned by God not to return to Herod. Then Joseph was instructed by an angel in a dream that he should take the Child and His mother and flee from Herod into Egypt. There they remained until they were called up again to the land of Israel after Herod's death.
     This incident is recorded in Matthew's gospel. As is often the case with Matthew, he connects the incident with an Old Testament prophecy concerning the Lord. He shows that the event fulfills the prophecy and is evidence of the claim that Jesus is the promised Christ. So it is written that Joseph "took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 'Out of Egypt I called My son'"(Matt. 2:14f).
     The reference is to the prophet Hosea. Hosea wrote 750 years before the Lord's birth. He lived in the final years before the kingdom of Israel fell to Assyrian conquerors. His prophecy looks back to an earlier and brighter day in the history of Israel: "When Israel was a child I loved him," he writes, "and out of Egypt I called My son"(Hosea 11:1). This is a direct reference to the exodus and the leading of Israel to the promised land.
     The Lord's sojourn in Egypt not only fulfilled the prophecy but also paralleled the history of Israel. Israel had gone into Egypt from Canaan, not once but twice. First, Abram journeyed there with Sarai his wife when there was famine in Canaan. And he was greatly enriched there. Generations later the whole house of Jacob came from Canaan to Egypt where Joseph had become ruler with Pharaoh. Once again it was famine that brought Israel to Egypt.

516

And only after 400 years' sojourn and the enslavement by the Egyptians was Israel finally "called up" out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
     What is the meaning of this prophecy and of these remarkable historical parallels? The study of the Word shows that these accounts are inwardly one! Their subject is the Lord's state at birth and His development in childhood. Almost nothing is said of this in the gospels. We are told only that "the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him" (Luke 2:40). In testimony of His remarkable mental development, the Lord was found in the temple at age 12, astonishing the rabbis with His understanding and answers.
     It must be known that when He was born, the Lord was like other men in His need for instruction. The mind He had put on by birth into the world had to grow in knowledge just as our minds must grow. This is revealed in the Heavenly Doctrine: "He was born as are other men and was instructed as are other men" (AC 1460). Yet He was unlike other men in that His soul was Divine. As a consequence of this He had the power of learning "above every other man," we are told (AC 1464). Again, it is said, "the Lord possessed all truth previous to His instruction" (AC 1469).
     How could this be denied? If He was, indeed, the Son of God, and "God with us," would not all wisdom, all knowledge, and all intelligence be with Him from birth? In what sense could God "learn"?
     The answer to this shows the very purpose of His advent and birth. The Divine wisdom existing in God from eternity was to be made known to man. It was to be revealed in and by the Lord Himself. Yes, it was within Him from birth. "He possessed all truth . . . ." Now it was to shine forth into the world. This is what was meant by John's words when he said, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men . . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His
glory . . ." (John 1:4, 5, 14).
     The glory of God is seen by means of objects. This may be illustrated by the light of the natural sun. Light is invisible to the eye. We see it when it reflects from objects and illumines them. The "glory" of sunlight is in the clouds of a sunset, in the shimmer of reflection from a pond, in the dash of color from a rose blossom. The light brings life and brilliance to the objects.
     How much more perfectly this is the case with Divine wisdom. It can be described as a higher form of light that emits from God Himself.

517

It is infinitely brighter and more penetrating than the sun's light, but the same principle applies. We cannot see Divine light any more than the sun's light except as it reflects from objects. What objects?
     The objects needed for spiritual sight, for seeing the Lord's wisdom, are objects of thought, objects of the mind, knowledges.
     Let us consider for a moment what this means by the illustration of our own mental ability. Human wisdom also pertains to knowledges. When we say that a man is "brilliant" we do not mean that there is a light that shines from him that illuminates natural objects. He doesn't light up the sky or the earth. We see his brilliance in how he deals with things of the mind. We have to observe his brilliance in his use of knowledges. If he is a physician, his wisdom is reflected in his diagnosis or his treatment; if a lawyer, in his marshaling of facts and knowledge of the law to prove the case; if a mechanic or craftsman, by a knowledge and skill that effects production. It is incomplete simply to say these people are good; they are good at something. We see their wisdom and skill only in relation to what they think and do.
     Let us return now to the Divine light that the Lord was born on earth to reveal. Where do we see the wisdom of God? Some would say in nature. There is a beauty and order in nature that reflects the wisdom of the Creator. It is there, but not always seen. Some would say the wisdom of God is seen in intelligent life. There seems to be something "god-like" in man's ability to manipulate ideas; in the creative flashes of the human mind. Yes, all creativity in man is from God, but man has freedom to claim wisdom as his own. Nature and human intelligence are unreliable sources for detecting Divine wisdom. The human mind has obscured and darkened the light. This is why the Lord came on earth, to "shine in the darkness" (John 1:5).
     Where, then, do we see the wisdom of God? The New Church teaches that God is seen in the Word. In saying this the Heavenly Doctrine does not simply mean that the testimony of Scripture presents Divine wisdom.
     Many who read Scripture fail to see light in it. The Lord Himself called the most learned doctors of Israel "blind Pharisees," "blind guides" (Matt. 23:24, 26). Their darkness, however, does not extinguish the light. Others have declared: "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path!" (Psalm 119:105). The Word provides the objects of thought by which the glory of God may be seen.
     Divine wisdom can be seen reflected in knowledges from the Word. These are said to be so many "mirrors" of God (TCR 6:2, 11:3).
     The mind of the Lord was to be furnished with knowledges, just as our mind must be so furnished, that the objects would be provided on which the Divine light could shine.

518

As the Lord learned from the Word, the way was opened for the Divine light to pass from His soul into the very details of Scriptural knowledge which He acquired, illuminating them and revealing Divine wisdom in them. We are taught that "knowledges are the things that open the way for seeing celestial and spiritual things; by means of knowledges the way is opened for the internal man to advance toward the external" (AC 1458).
     Knowledges "open the way." In fact, they are essential, we are told. We cannot receive anything into the mind that will elevate our thought above the natural world and its pleasures and make us something more than animal-like unless we furnish our mind with knowledges from the Word. These, like mirrors or recipient vessels, catch the Divine light and open our spiritual sight.
     Since the Lord was born to reveal Divine wisdom, He first brought that wisdom into His own mind by means of knowledges, that He might then share it with us. So it is said that "in His childhood the Lord did not will to imbue Himself with any other knowledges than those of the Word, which was open to Him . . . from Jehovah Himself" (AC 1461).
     The remarkable thing is that this process and its necessity is pictured in the prophecy of Hosea which Matthew cites: "Out of Egypt I called My Son," and in the actual sojourn of the Lord in Egypt in His childhood.
     Why Egypt? Here was the land of the Pharaohs and their incredible wealth. An ancient land, its tombs housed the secrets of antiquity and the mysteries of hieroglyphics, the sacred symbol writing. Not only was Egypt a storehouse of grain for the ancient world, it was the repository of the knowledges of an ancient church which had widespread existence in the ancient world. The science of sciences in this Ancient Church had been the knowledge of correspondential symbolism. Initially these symbols had inspired a way of life, and provided truths to guide them spiritually. Not so in Egypt now. Here the interest was in forms not substance, in knowledge for its own sake rather than for the sake of life. The secrets of religion were studied and treasured by a learned priesthood. In time they turned these things into a kind of magic which looked only to their own advancement and power. Like the land itself the religious life of Egypt became barren and dry. However, its religious knowledges remained preserved. Like the fabulous treasures stored in kings' tombs, resting in hushed attendance to lifeless monarchs, these knowledges were the real treasures of the land, overshadowing even the splendor of a Pharaoh's gold.

519

     Because Egypt was a storehouse, it symbolizes religious knowledge, especially the knowledge of things in the Word. The Lord's stay in Egypt signifies His instruction as a child in knowledges. This does not mean the Lord studied ancient religions in Egypt, but that His stay there shows that He had to acquire knowledges from the Word as a part of His advancement to Divinity. Even as Abram came out of Egypt "rich in cattle, in silver and in gold," and even as Israel later came out of Egypt enriched with jewels of silver and jewels of gold, which they later used to build a tabernacle of worship, so the Lord was enriched in childhood with those knowledges which could be fashioned in His mind into a spiritual tabernacle.
     Having seen what is signified by "Egypt" and the reason the Lord was taken to that land, let us return to our consideration of the text from Hosea's prophecy and from Matthew. Notice that it reads: "Out of Egypt I called My Son" (Matt. 2:15). It does not say "I have sent My Son to Egypt," or "brought Him to Egypt." It says, "I have called Him out of Egypt."
     We cannot remain in knowledges alone. Knowledges are essential for providing the objects of wisdom; they are not wisdom itself. Remaining in knowledge only, or allowing the mind to rest satisfied in the mere knowledge of spiritual things, results in a spiritual slavery such as is pictured by the slavery of Israel in Egypt. It was said of Israel after their sojourn in Egypt that they were to be delivered "out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
     So the Lord too was called out of Egypt. The knowledges He acquired were a means, not an end. Is not this a message for our application? We should-nay, must-learn from the Word. We should go down to that "Egypt" for the knowledges of truth such as they are given in revelation. But why? For the sake of life. We should store up and treasure these objects of thought because they are open to the Lord Himself and are the objects on which the light of heaven may shine. We learn not simply to become intelligent, but to become spiritually wise, to become forms of charity.
     When a love of knowledges themselves, even knowledges of the Word, becomes a passion with us, we are then, like Egyptian priests, turning to the worship of what is purely natural and seeking, by the supposed magic of our own intellect, to create a heaven on earth. We must come out of this Egyptian state, be called by the Lord to raise our minds above what is natural to see instead the wisdom and eternal uses concealed within.
     The Lord Himself has given the example which we are to follow.

520

     Why, after all, has the Lord given us the ability to learn? It is for the sake of acquiring spiritual life.
     This, then, is the fulfillment of Hosea's prophecy. It is more than what Matthew realized it to be. That the Lord was taken to Egypt by Joseph and Mary, and returned to Israel after the death of Herod, was a literal fulfillment, and a testimony to the truth of Matthew's claim that the Lord was the Christ. Beyond this, the calling of the Lord out of Egypt is positive proof to every New Churchman that the Lord has come indeed, and has opened the spiritual sense of the Word. By this there has been an opening of the way for the conjunction of His Divine and His Human. By this His Human has been made Divine. By this it has been provided that every man can see Him, know Him, and adore Him. For "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
     Amen.

     Lessons: Jeremiah 31:10-17, 31-34; Matt. 2:7-21; AE 790:4, 5, 8 SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS 1988

SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS Editor 1988

     1988-1989

     The Academy

Theological School (Full Time)     7
College (Full Time)                    133
Girls School                         90
Boys School                         87
Total Academy                         317

     Midwestern Academy
Grades 9 and 10                         7

     Local Schools
Bryn Athyn                         339
Detroit                              18
Durban                              21
Glenview                              60
Kempton                              60
Kitchener                              47
Pittsburgh                         21
Toronto                              28
Washington                         27
Total Local Schools                    621
Total Reported Enrollment in All Schools     945

521

     LOCAL SCHOOLS DIRECTORY

     1988-1989

BRYN ATHYN:
     Rev. Wendel Barnett                    Principal
     Mr. Karl Parker                    Vice Principal
     Mrs. Peter Gyllenhaal                Supervisor of Remedial and Support Uses
     Mrs. Jonathan Brock                    Kindergarten
     Mrs. Steven Lindrooth               Kindergarten
     Mrs. Bruce Rogers                    Kindergarten
     Mrs. Willard Heinrichs               Grade 1
     Mrs. Charles Lindrooth                Grade 1
     Mrs. Charles Quintero               Grade 1
     Mrs. Grant Doering                     Grade 2
     Mrs. Hugh Gyllenhaal                Grade 2
     Mrs. Claire Bostock                    Grade 3
     Mrs. Sigfried Soneson               Grade 3
     Mrs. Brian Gunther                    Primary Assistant
     Mrs. Robert Zecher                    Primary Assistant
     Miss Charis Lindrooth               Grade 4
     Miss Rosemary Wyncoll                Grade 4
     Mrs. Prescott Rogers               Grade 5
     Mrs. Eric Smith                     Grade 5
     Miss Sheila Parker                    Grade 6
     Mrs. Christopher Simons               Grade 6
     Mrs. Gordon Rogers                    Intermediate Assistant
     Mrs. David Doering                    Girls-Grade 7
     Mr. Reed Asplundh                    Boys-Grade 7
     Mrs. Peter Stevens                     Girls-Grade 8
     Mr. Robert Beiswenger               Boys-Grade 8
     Rev. Kurt Asplundh                    Religion
     Rev. Frederick Schnarr               Religion
     Mrs. Richard Synnestvedt               Art
     Mr. Richard Show                     Music
     Mrs. Dan Synnestvedt               Assistant - Music
     Mrs. Glenn Walsh                    Accompanist
     Mr. Robert Eidse                     Physical Education
     Mrs. Harry Risley                     Physical Education
     Rev. Kurt Asplundh                    Science
     Mr. Karl Parker                    Director Library
     Mrs. Robert Alden                    Librarian
     Mrs. Geoffrey Cooper               Assistant - Library
     Miss Amin Zacharia                    Tutor

     Head Teachers     Mrs. Bruce Rogers - Primary
                    Miss Rosemary Wyncoll - Intermediate
                    Mr. Robert Beiswenger Upper

522

DETROIT:
     Rev. Walter E. Orthwein           Principal, Religion
     Rev. Stephen D. Cole                Assistant, Hebrew, Greek, Religion
     Miss Aven Pendleton                Grades 1-3
     Miss Kris Heinrichs                    Grades 4-6
     Miss Karen Schnarr                    Head Teacher and Consultant

DURBAN:
     Rev. James P. Cooper                Headmaster, Religion
     Miss Marian Homber                     Grades 1-4
     Mrs. Oonagh M. Pienaar                Grades 5-7, Afrikaans
     Mrs. Elizabeth Andrew               Math, Science

GLENVIEW:
     Rev. Brian Keith                    Pastor, Religion
     Mr. R. Gordon McClarren                Principal, Math, Science
     Miss Laura Barger                    Kindergarten
     Miss Wystan Gladish                    Grade 1
     Miss Marie Odhner                    Grade 2
     Mrs. Benjamin McQueen                Grades 3, 4
     Mrs. Daniel Wright                     Head Teacher, Grades 5, 6
     Mrs. Kent Fuller                     Grades 7, 8
     Mrs. John Donnelly                Music, Physical Education
     Mrs. William Hugo                     Librarian
     Miss Yvonne Alan                    Computer Keyboard
     Mr. Kurt Umberger                    Boys, 5-8, Physical Education
     Mrs. Robert Kees                    Art

KEMPTON:
     Rev. Jeremy Simons                    Principal, Religion
     Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen               Religion
     Mrs. Dale Glenn                    Kindergarten
     Miss Bryn Junge                    Grades 1, 2
     Miss Angela Rose                    Grades 3, 4
     Mr. Curtis McQueen                    Grades 5, 6
     Miss Gay Hodgell                    Grades 7, 8, 9
     Mr. Mark Wyncoll                    Grades 7, 8, 9
     Miss Kate Pitcairn                    Latin

KITCHENER:
     Rev. Kenneth Alden                    Principal, Religion Grades 3-8
     Rev. Louis Synnestvedt                Religion, Grades 3-8
     Mrs. Edward Friesen                    Kindergarten
     Mrs. Ernest Watts                     Grades 1, 2
     Mrs. David Hill                     Grades 3, 4, Art 3-8
     Mrs. Roger Kuhl                    Grades 5, 6, Music 3-8
     Mrs. Harry Currie                     French, Grades 6, 7, 8

PITTSBURGH:
     Rev. Ray Silverman                    Pastor, Headmaster, Religion
     Mrs. Mark Gruber                    Kindergarten
     Mrs. James Uber                     Head Teacher, Grades 1-2
     Miss Judith Elphick                    Grades 3, 4
     Mrs. Dale Luce                          Grades 5-6
     Mr. Glade Odhner                    Administrator, Secretary, Religious History

523

TORONTO:
     Rev. Michael D. Gladish                Pastor, Religion
     Rev. Michael K. Cowley               Asst. Pastor, Religion
     Mrs. Richard Parker                    Kindergarten
     Miss Alison Pryke                    Grades 1, 2
     Mr. Larry Posey                     Grades 3-5
     Mr. Philip Schnarr                Principal, Grades 6 and 8
     Mrs. Doris Ferr                    Music
     Mrs. Rachelle Nater                    Music
     Mrs. Barbara Horigan               English, Grades 6 and 8

WASHINGTON:
     Rev. Lawson M. Smith               Principal, Religion, Music
     Rev. Thomas H. Rose                    Assistant Principal, Religion
     Mrs. David Cowley, Mrs. Christopher Smith
                                        Kindergarten
     Miss Erin Junge                     Grades 1-3
     Mr. T. James Gese                     Grades 4-6
     Mrs. Bradley Johns                    Language Arts, P.E.
     Miss Vera Kluss                    Phonics, Reading
     Mrs. George Cooper                    Art, Primary Help

MIDWESTERN ACADEMY:
     Rev. Eric Carswell                    Principal, Religion, History
     Rev. Brian Keith                     Religion, Technical Drawing
     Mr. R. Gordon McClarren               Math, Science, Computer, Photography, Administrative Assistant
     Mrs. Kent Fuller                     Math, History
     Miss Yvonne Alan                    French, Latin, English, Word Process, Broadcasting
     Mr. Kurt Umberger                     English, Physical Education
     Mrs. John Donnelly                    Music, Yearbook, Physical Education
     Mrs. William Hugo                    Librarian
     Mrs. Grant Schnarr                     Drawing, Painting
     Mrs. Willard Smith                    Stained Glass
MINISTERS FAVORITE PASSAGE (30) 1988

MINISTERS FAVORITE PASSAGE (30) Rev. Frederick Chapin 1988

Ever since I became a New Churchman the Writings have dramatically altered my belief in the doctrine of salvation. There have been several passages which have caused me to reflect on what salvation is and how we can obtain it. One such passage is this one that I recently read in True Christian Religion:

As the end for which the universe was created was an angelic heaven from the human race, and at the same time a church on earth (for man enters heaven through the church); and as the salvation of men (which is to be effected in men who are to be born in the world), is thus the continuation of creation. . . (TCR 773).

This is intriguing because it defines salvation as "the continuation of creation." The essence of salvation is the Lord unceasingly perfecting us. Salvation is much more than escaping from the miseries of hell and enjoying the wonders of heaven.

524

There is more to salvation than being able to live in a beautiful home, having perpetual youth, and not being afflicted with crime, disease, or death. These are delightful, and we can look forward to our place in such a world. But what makes heaven eternally enjoyable is the continual perfection that every angel goes through.
     When we enter heaven, we can anticipate that we will constantly gain new and deeper insights into truths. We will continually have a clearer understanding of how we can better serve the Lord. The more truths we know, the better we are able to love the Lord. As we love the Lord and receive Him more deeply into our lives, our life of good will become more precious. The delight in the good that is from the Lord is what makes man truly human. And this delight will perpetually grow and become more passionate.
     Therefore, creation is an ongoing effort. Creation is not just a one-time event, but a dynamic process which never comes to a complete stop. As the Lord enters more deeply into our lives, the more we are created anew. The greater enjoyment of the Lord and the life in His kingdom that constantly grows is what makes salvation worth rejoicing about.

     [Photo of Rev. Frederick Chapin]

525

DIRECTORY 1988

DIRECTORY Editor 1988

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     1988-1989

     Officials and Councils
Bishop:                Rt. Rev. Louis B. King
Assistant Bishop:     Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss
Bishops Emeriti:      Rt. Rev. George de Charms
                    Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton
Secretary:           Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson

     Consistory
Bishop Louis B. King
Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss; Rev. Messrs. Alfred Acton, Kurt H. Asplundh, Geoffrey S. Childs, Daniel W. Heinrichs, Geoffrey H. Howard, Robert S. Junge, Brian W. Keith, Thomas L. Kline, Donald L. Rose, Frank S. Rose, Erik Sandstrom, Frederick L. Schnarr, Lorentz R. Soneson, and Kenneth O. Stroh

     "General Church of the New Jerusalem"
(A Corporation of Pennsylvania)
Officers of the Corporation
President:           Rt. Rev. Louis B. King
Vice President:      Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss
Secretary:           Mr. E. Boyd Asplundh
Treasurer:           Mr. Neil M. Buss
Assistant Treasurer:      Mr. Bruce A. Fuller
Controller:           Mr. Ian K. Henderson

     Board of Directors of the Corporation
Rt. Rev. Louis B. King, Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss; Messrs. E. Boyd Asplundh, Peter H. Boericke, Theodore W. Brickman, Jr., William W. Buick, Neil M. Buss, Dr. James B. de Maine, Henry R. Dunlap, Roy B. Evans, John A. Frost, B. Reade Genzlinger, Dale B. Genzlinger, Terry K. Glenn, Geraldo C. Gomes, J. Daniel Heilman, Murray F. Heldon, Albert D. Henderson, James F. Junge, Glen O. Klippenstein, Denis M. Kuhl, Robert D. Merrell, H. Keith Morley, Basil C. L. Orchard, Lachlan Pitcairn, Stephen Pitcairn, Brian L. Schnarr, W. Roger M. Schrock, S. Brian Smith, Garold E. Tennis, Philip R. Zuber

     Honorary Life Members: Rt. Rev. George de Charms and Rt. Rev. Willard D. Pendleton.
Ex officio Members: Rt. Rev. Louis B. King, Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss

526

     Bishops

     KING, LOUIS BLAIR. Ordained June 19, 1951; 2nd degree, April 19, 1953; 3rd degree, November 5, 1972. Continued to serve as Bishop of the General Church and General Pastor of the General Church, Chancellor of the Academy of the New Church, President of the General Church in Canada, President of the General Church International, Incorporated. Address: P.O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     BUSS, PETER MARTIN. Ordained June 19, 1964; 2nd degree, May 16, 1965; 3rd degree, June 1, 1986. Continued to serve as Assistant Bishop of the General Church, Head of Evangelization, Vice President of General Church Corporation and Director of General Church Religion Lessons. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 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 of the Academy of the New Church. Retired. Address: Box 247, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     PENDLETON, WILLARD DANDRIDGE. Ordained June 18, 1933; 2nd degree, September 12, 1934; 3rd degree, June 19, 1946. Bishop Emeritus of the General Church, Chancellor Emeritus of the Academy of the New Church. Retired. Continues to serve, conducting various rites and sacraments. Address: Box 338, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     Pastors

     ACTON, ALFRED. Ordained June 19, 1961; 2nd degree, October 30, 1966. Continued teaching at the Academy College and Theological School, serving as Chairman of the Liturgy Revision Committee, Secretary of the Council of the Clergy, Chairman of the General Church Translation Committee, and pursuing a graduate degree program. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     ALDEN, GLENN GRAHAM. Ordained June 19, 1974; 2nd degree, June 6, 1976. Continued to serve as resident pastor of the Northwestern District of Canada, resident in Dawson Creek and Visiting Pastor to Crooked Creek, Calgary, Oyen, Red Deer and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Address: 9013 8th Street, Dawson Creek, B. C., Canada V1G 3N3.

     ALDEN, KENNETH JAMES. Ordained June 6, 1980; 2nd degree, May 16, 1982. Continued to serve as Assistant to Pastor of the Washington Society and Principal of the Washington New Church School. Effective July 1st he serves as principal of the Carmel Church School and Assistant to the Pastor of the Carmel Church in Canada. Address: 107 Evenstone Road, RR 2, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

     ALDEN, MARK EDWARD. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree, May 17, 1981. Currently unassigned. Has received medical degree and is doing internship. Address: 2959 Sycamore Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006.

     ASPLUNDH, KURT HORIGAN. Ordained June 19, 1960; 2nd degree, June 19, 1962. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church and Bishops Representative for the Northeast United States. Address: Box 277, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     BARNETT, WENDEL RYAN. Ordained June 7, 1981; 2nd degree, June 20, 1982. Continued to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church and to the Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church School. As of July 1, 1988, he serves as Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church School as well as Assistant to the Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Address: P. O. Box 277, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, PA 19009.

527

     BAU-MADSEN, ARNE. Ordained June 6, 1976; 2nd degree, June 11, 1978. Continued to serve as Associate Pastor to Kempton and Visiting Pastor to the Wallenpaupack Circle and the Penn State Group, and as a translator. Address: Box 527, Rt. 1, Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania 19534.

     BOWN, CHRISTOPHER DUNCAN. Ordained June 18, 1978 2nd degree, December 23, 1979. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Atlanta society. Address: 3795 Montford Drive, Chamblee, GA 30341.

     BOYESEN, BJORN ADOLPH HILDEMAR. Ordained June 19, 1939; 2nd degree, March 30, 1941. Retired; on active assignment. Continued serving as translator of the Writings from Latin to modern Swedish. He also continued to serve as Acting Pastor of the Stockholm Society and Pastor of the Jonkoping Circle. Address: 1 Bruksater, Furusjo, S-566 00, Habo, Sweden.

     BOYESEN, RAGNAR. Ordained June 19, 1972; 2nd degree, June 17, 1973. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Freeport Society. Address: 122 McKean Road, Freeport, PA 16229.

     BURKE, WILLIAM HANSON. Ordained June 7, 1981; 2nd degree August 13, 1983. Continued to serve as visiting minister in the Southeast District. Address: 4672 E. Conway Drive, N. W., Atlanta, GA 30327.

     CARLSON, MARK ROBERT. Ordained June 10, 1973; 2nd degree, March 6, 1977. Continued to serve as pastor to the San Francisco Bay Area Circle, the Sacramento Circle, the Ashland and Days Creek, Oregon, Groups. As of September 1st will serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Glenview Society. Address: 807 Clover, Glenview, IL 60025.

     CARSWELL, ERIC HUGH. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree, February 22, 1981. Continued to serve as Assistant Pastor of the Immanuel Church Society, and Principal of the Midwestern Academy. Address: 2700 Park Lane, Glenview, Illinois 60025.

     CHILDS, GEOFFREY STAFFORD. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd degree, June 19, 1954. Continued to serve as Bishop's Representative and President of the Academy of the New Church. Address: P. O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

     CHILDS, ROBIN WAELCHLI. Ordained June 6, 1984; 2nd degree, June 8, 1986. Continued to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Hurstville Society in Australia, resident in Auckland, and Minister to the New Zealand Circle. Address: 132 Edmunton Road, Henderson, Auckland 8, New Zealand.

     CLIFFORD, WILLIAM HARRISON. Ordained June 6, 1976; 2nd degree, October 8, 1978. Resigned. Address: 509 Scarlett Lane #819, Lansing, MI 48917.

     COLE, ROBERT HUDSON PENDLETON. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd degree, October 30, 1966. Unassigned. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     COLE, STEPHEN DANDRIDGE. Ordained June 19, 1977; 2nd degree, October 15, 1978. Continued to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Oak Arbor Society. Address: 5789 Orion Road, Rochester, MI 48064.

     COOPER, JAMES PENDLETON. Ordained June 13, 1982; 2nd degree, March 4, 1984. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Durban Society. Address: 30 Perth Road, Westville, Natal, 3630, Natal, Rep. S. Africa

     COWLEY, MICHAEL KEITH. Ordained June 13, 1983; 2nd degree, May 13, 1984. Continued to serve as resident pastor to Twin Cities, and visiting pastor to the Midwest District. As of September 1st will serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Toronto Society. Address: 11 N. Heights Road, Etobicoke, Ont., M9R 2T2 Canada.

528

     CRANCH, HAROLD COVERT. Ordained June 19, 1941; 2nd degree, October 25, 1942. Retired. Address: 501 Porter Street, Glendale, California 91205.

     DIBB, ANDREW MALCOLM. Ordained June 6, 1984; 2nd degree, May 18, 1986. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Transvaal Society and Director of Education in the General Church Mission of South Africa. Address: P. O. Box 816, Kelvin 2054, Rep. S. Africa.

     ECHOLS, JOHN CLARK, JR. Ordained August 20, 1978; 2nd degree, March 30, 1980. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Central Western District, resident in Denver, Colorado, Address: Box 1065, Westminster, Colorado 80030.

     ELPHICK, FREDERICK CHARLES. Ordained June 6, 1984; 2nd degree, September 23, 1984. Continued to serve as Pastor to the Michael Church, London, England. Address: 21B Hayne Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4JA, England.

     GLADISH, MICHAEL DAVID. Ordained June 10, 1973; 2nd degree, June 30, 1974. Continued to serve as Pastor of Olivet Church, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Address: 2 Lorraine Gardens, Toronto, Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada M9B 4Z4.

     GLADISH, NATHAN DONALD. Ordained June 13, 1982; 2nd degree November 6, 1983. Continued serve as Pastor of the San Diego Society. Address: 7911 Canary Way, San Diego, CA 92123.

     GLADISH, VICTOR JEREMIAH. Ordained June 17, 1928; 2nd degree, August 5, 1928. Retired. Address: 1015 Gladish Lane, Glenview, Illinois 60025.

     GOODENOUGH, DANIEL WEBSTER. Ordained June 19, 1965; 2nd degree, December 10, 1967. Continued to serve as associate professor of religion and history in the Academy of the New College and Theological School. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     HEILMAN, ANDREW JAMES. Ordained June 18, 1978; 2nd degree, March 8, 1981. Continued to serve on the faculty of the Academy of the New Church. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     HEINRICHS, DANIEL WINTHROP. Ordained June 19, 1957; 2nd degree, April 6, 1958. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Miami Circle and visiting pastor in the Florida District. Served as Chairman of the Traveling Ministers Committee. Address: 10687 El Claire Ranch Road, Boynton Beach, FL 33437.

     HEINRICHS, WILLARD LEWIS DAVENPORT. Ordained June 19, 1965; 2nd degree, January 26, 1969. Continued to serve as instructor in theology and religion in the Academy of the New Church College and Theological School. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     HOWARD, GEOFFREY HORACE. Ordained June 18, 1961; 2nd degree, June 2, 1963. Continued to serve as pastor of the Durban Society in South Africa to become Assistant to the Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society and Visiting Minister to the Connecticut Circle. Address: P. O. Box 277, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

     JUNGE, KENT. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree, June 24, 1981. Continued to serve as pastor to the circle in Seattle, Washington, and Visiting Pastor to the Northwest District of the General Church and Vancouver and Cranbrook, B. C., Canada. Address: 14812 N.E. 75th Street, Redmond, Washington 98052.

     JUNGE, ROBERT SCHILL. Ordained June 19, 1955; 2nd degree, August 11, 1957. Continued to serve as Dean of the Academy of the New Church Theological School, and Pastor of the Hatboro-Horsham Group. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     KEITH, BRIAN WALTER. Ordained June 6, 1976; 2nd degree, June 4, 1978. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Immanuel Church Society in Glenview, President of the Midwestern Academy and Bishops Representative for the Midwest United States. Address: 73 Park Glenview, Illinois 60025.

529

     KING, CEDRIC. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree, November 27, 1980. Served as head of a special evangelization project in Orange County, California. As of April 1, 1988 Visiting Pastor to the Phoenix Circle and Resident Pastor of Orange County. Address: 21332 Forest Meadow, El Toro, CA 92630.

     KLINE, THOMAS LEROY. Ordained June 10, 1973; 2nd degree, June 15, 1975. Continued to serve as Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Address: Box 277, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     LARSEN, OTTAR TROSVIK. Ordained June 19, 1974; 2nd degree, February 2, 1977. Resigned. Address: Box 311, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

     McCURDY, GEORGE DANIEL. Ordained June 15, 1967; recognized as a priest of the New Church in the 2nd degree, July 5, 1979; received into the priesthood of the General Church June 9, 1980. Continued to serve as instructor of religion in the Academy of the New Church secondary schools, chaplain for the secondary schools and head of the religion department. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     MCMASTER, ROBERT DAVID. Ordained June 18, 1978; 2nd degree, February 15, 1981. Unassigned. Address: 53 Redberry St. #1, Las Vegas, NE 89108.

     NEMITZ, KURT PAUL. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd degree, March 27, 1966. Unassigned. Address: 887 Middle Street, Bath, Maine 04530.

     NICHOLSON, ALLISON LA MARR. Ordained September 9, 1979; 2nd degree, February 15, 1981. As of July 1, 1988 will serve as Pastor of the Bath, Maine Society. Address: HC33Box 61N, Arrowsic, ME 04530.

     NOBRE, CRISTOVAO RABELO. Ordained June 6, 1984; 2nd degree August 25, 1985. Resident minister of the Rio de Janeiro Society in Brazil. Address: Rua Lino Teixeira 109, Apt. 101, Rocha, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 20970, Brazil.

     ODHNER. Grant HUGO. Ordained June 7, 1981; 2nd degree, May 9, 1982. Continued to Pastor of the Massachusetts Circle. Traveling pastor to Cape Cod and New Hampshire. Address: 53 School Street, Natick, Massachusetts 01760.

     ODHNER, JOHN LLEWELLYN. Ordained June 6, 1980; 2nd degree, November 22, 1981. Independent evangelization effort in Albuquerque, New Mexico; serves the Albuquerque Circle. Address: 4009 Montgomery N. E., Apt. L4, Albuquerque, NM 87109.

     ORTHWEIN, WALTER EDWARD III. Ordained July 22, 1973; 2nd degree, June 12, 1978. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Detroit Society and Principal of the Detroit Society Day School. Address: 395 Olivewood Court, Rochester, MI 48064.

     PENDLETON, DANDRIDGE. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd degree, June 19, 1954. Continued to serve as instructor of theology and religion in the Academy of the New Church College and Theological School. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     PRYKE, MARTIN. Ordained June 19, 1940; 2nd degree, March 1, 1942. Retired. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     REUTER, NORMAN HAROLD. Ordained June 17, 1928; 2nd degree, October 13, 1930. Retired. Address: 566 Anne Street, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania 19006.

     RICH, MORLEY DYCKMAN. Ordained June 19, 1938; 2nd degree, October 13, 1940. Retired. Address: 2604 Inverness Lane, Birmingham, AL 35243.

530

     RILEY, NORMAN EDWARD. Recognized as a priest of the General Church January, 1978. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Open Road, Great Britain. Address: 69 Harewood Road, Norden, Rochdale, OL11 5TH, England

     ROGERS, DONALD KENNETH, JR. Ordained June 6, 1984; 2nd degree, May 25, 1986. Continued to serve as Acting Pastor of the Los Angeles Society. Address: 5022 Carolyn Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214.

     ROGERS, NORBERT HENRY. Ordained June 19, 1938; 2nd degree, October 13, 1940. Retired. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     ROGERS, PRESCOTT ANDREW. Ordained January 26, 1986; 2nd degree, April 24, 1988. Continued to serve as a teacher in the Academy of the New Church College and Visiting Minister to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.     Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     ROSE, DONALD LESLIE. Ordained June 16, 1957; 2nd degree June 23, 1963. Continued to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society and Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE. Address: Box 277, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     ROSE, FRANK SHIRLEY. Ordained June 19, 1952; 2nd degree, August 2, 1953. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Tucson Society and Bishops Representative in the west. Address: 9233 E. Helen Street, Tucson, Arizona 85715.

     ROSE, PATRICK ALAN. Ordained June 19, 1975; 2nd degree, September 5, 1977. Continued to serve as visiting minister of the North Ohio Circle and resident minister in Cincinnati, Ohio. Address: 785 Ashcroft Ct., Cincinnati, OH 45240.

     SANDSTROM, ERIK. Ordained June 10, 1934; 2nd degree, August 4, 1935. Retired. From September to December, 1988, Acting Pastor in Stockholm, Sweden.     Address: 3566 Post Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006.

     SANDSTROM, ERIK EMANUEL. Ordained May 23, 1971; 2nd degree, May 21, 1972. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Hurstville Society, visiting pastor to the New Zealand Group, and groups in Canberra, Tamworth, Brisbane, and the rest of Australia. Effective September 1, 1988 Visiting Pastor to the New York-New Jersey Circle (resident in Bryn Athyn). Effective January 1, 1989, Visiting Pastor to Scandinavia. Address: P. O. Box 213, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

     SCHNARR, ARTHUR WILLARD, JR. Ordained June 7, 1981; 2nd degree, June 19, 1983. Continued to serve as Assistant to the Pastor of the Olivet Church of the Olivet Church, Toronto, responsible for the evangelization program in Toronto. Address: 119 Martin Grove Road, Islington, Ontario, Canada M9B 4K7.

     SCHNARR. FREDERICK LAURIER. Ordained June 19, 1955; 2nd degree, May 12, 1957. Served as principal of the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School, Assistant Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Society, permanent chairman of the Education Council, Chairman of the Headmasters Committee of the General Church Schools, and Bishop's Representative for General Church schools. As of June 30th he resigned as Principal of the Bryn Athyn Church Elementary School, and will serve as Bishops Representative for Education, Director of General Church Religion Lessons, Director of Adult Education, Permanent Chairman of the Education Council and Chairman of the Headmasters Committee. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     SCHNARR, Grant RONALD. Ordained June 12, 1983; 2nd degree October 7, 1984. Assistant Pastor, Glenview, Illinois, visiting pastor to the Chicago Circle. As of September serves as Pastor of the Chicago Circle and Visiting Minister to the Midwest District. Address: 73A Park Drive, Glenview, Illinois 60025.

531

     SILVERMAN, RAYMOND JOEL. Ordained June 6, 1984; 2nd degree June 19, 1985. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society and Headmaster of the Pittsburgh Church School. Address: 299 Le Roi Road, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208.

     SIMONS, DAVID RESTYN. Ordained June 19, 1948, 2nd degree, June 19, 1950. Retired. Address: P. O. Box 277, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     SIMONS, JEREMY FREDERICK. Ordained June 13, 1982; 2nd degree, July 31, 1983. Continued to serve as pastor of the Kempton Society and Principal of the Kempton Society school. Address: R. D. 2, Box 217A, Kempton, Pennsylvania 19529.

     SMITH, CHRISTOPHER RONALD JACK. Ordained June 19, 1969; 2nd degree, May 9, 1971. Continued to serve as instructor at the Academy of the New Church, and visiting pastor to New York/New Jersey Circle. As of September will serve as Instructor of Religion in the Academy of the New Church Secondary Schools. Address: P. O. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

     SMITH, LAWSON MERRELL. Ordained June 10, 1979; 2nd degree, February 1, 1981. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Washington Society, Assistant Principal of the Washington New Church School. Address: 3805 Enterprise Road, Mitchellville, Maryland 20716.

     SONESON, LORENTZ RAY. Ordained June 16, 1963; 2nd degree, May 16, 1965. Served as Secretary of the General Church, Co-editor of New Church Home, Chairman of the General Church Publication Committee, and Secretary of Consistory. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     STROH, KENNETH OLIVER. Ordained June 19, 1948; 2nd degree, June 19, 1950. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Colchester Society and Bishops Representative in Europe. Address: 2 Christ Church Court, Colchester, England CO2 3AU.

     SYNNESTVEDT, LOUIS DANIEL. Ordained June 6, 1980. Continued to serve as Pastor of the Carmel Church Society, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Address: 58 Chapel Hill Drive, RR #2, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5.

     TAYLOR, DOUGLAS MCLEOD. Ordained June 19, 1960; 2nd degree, June 19, 1962. Continued to serve as Director of Information and part-time faculty member of the Academy of the New Church. As January 1st, 1989 will be Pastor of the Hurstville Society, Australia, and Visiting Pastor to Tamworth Circle of the General Church and the Brisbane and Canberra groups. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     WEISS, JAN HUGO. Ordained June 19, 1955; 2nd degree, May 12, 1957. Unassigned; has done volunteer missionary work, producing published material and serving as President of New Church Outreach. Address: 2650 Del Vista Drive, Hacienda Heights, California 91745.

     Ministers

     ANKRA-BADU, WILLIAM OFEI, Ordained June 15, 1986. Continued to serve as minister of the New Church, resident in Ghana, West Africa. Address: P. O. Box 1743, Accra, West Africa, Ghana.

     BARRY, EUGENE. Ordained June 15, 1986. Continued to serve as minister of Bath, Maine, Society, visiting minister to the Montreal Circle in Quebec and visiting minister to the Ottawa Group in Ontario. Resigned fro ministry June 30, 1988. Address: P. O. Box 4957, Manchester, NH 03108.

     CHAPIN, FREDERICK MERLE. Ordained June 15, 1986. Served as Acting Minister to the Baltimore Society, visiting minister to the Wilmington, Delaware Group and visiting minister to the Virginia District. Address: 37 Guinevere Ct., Baltimore, Maryland 21227.

532

     DE FIGUEIREDO, JOSE LOPES. Ordained October 24, 1965. Retired. Continued to give assistance to the Pastor and Vice President of the Rio de Janeiro Society in Brazil. He has been engaged in translating. Address: Rua Des Isidro 155, Apt. 202, Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro 20521 RJ Brazil.

     FITZPATRICK, DANIEL. Ordained June 6, 1984. Continued to serve as assistant pastor of the Stockholm Society in Sweden. Resigned from Ministry June 30, 1988. Address: 10687 El Claire Ranch Road, Boynton Beach, FL 33437.

     KWAK, DZIN PYUNG. Ordained June 12, 1988. Will serve as Minister of the General Church in Korea (on special assignment). Address: 920-31 Saechi-dong, Kangnam-Ku, Seoul, Korea.

     ROGERS, N. BRUCE. Ordained January 12, 1969. Continued to serve as associate professor of religion and Latin in the ANC College, chairman of the General Church Word Committee and Secretary of the ANC Publication committee, Head of the Committee for the Revision of the King James Version of the Word. Address: Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     ROSE, JONATHAN SEARLE. Ordained May 31, 1987. Served as visiting minister to the Newtown, Pennsylvania Group, and full-time Latin graduate student. Box 278, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009.

     ROSE, THOMAS HARTLEY. Ordained June 12, 1988. Will serve as assistant to the pastor of the Washington Society. Address: 3809 Enterprise Road, Mitchellville, MD 20716.

     SCHORRAN, PAUL EDWARD. Ordained June 12, 1983. Unassigned. Address: 6531 N. Avenida de Pasada, Tucson, AZ 85718.

     Authorized Candidates

     None

     Associate Minister

     GARNA, BENJAMIN. Ordained June 19, 1988. Serving as minister of the New Church in Ghana. Address: P. O. Box 450, Tema, Ghana, West Africa.

     NICOLIER, ALAIN. Ordained May 31, 1979; 2nd degree, September 16, 1984. Pastor to the New Church in France. Address: Bourguignon-Meursanges, 21200 Beaune, France.

     Evangelist

     EUBANKS, W. HAROLD. Rt. #2, S. Lee Street, Americus, Georgia 31709.

     South African Mission

     Pastors

     BUTELEZI, ISHBORN. Ordained August 18, 1985. Resident minister of Impaphala Society and visiting minister of the Umlazi Group. Address: P. O. Box 281, Ntumeni 3830, R. S. A.

     MBATHA, BHEKUYISE ALFRED. Ordained June 27, 1971; 2nd degree, June 23, 1974. District pastor in Natal, visiting pastor to the Kwa Mashu Group and resident of the Dondotha Group. Address: P.O. Box 27011, Kwa Mashu, Natal 4360, R. S. A.

     MBEDZI, PAULUS M. Ordained March 23, 1958; 2nd degree, March 14, 1965. Resident pastor to Alexandra, and visiting pastor to the Balfour Society, the Greylingstad Society, the Hambrook Society and the Rietfontain Group. Address: Alexandra Township, R. S. A.

533

     NKABINDE, PETER PIET. Ordained June 23, 1974; 2nd degree, November 13, 1977. District pastor of the Transvaal, resident pastor of the Diepkloof Society, visiting pastor of the Quthing Society and the Tembsia Group. Address: 2375 Diepkloof, Zone 2, Soweto, Johannesburg 2100, South Africa.

     NZIMANDE, BENJAMIN ISHMAEL. Ordained August 2 1, 1938; 2nd degree, October 3, 1948. Resident pastor of the Clermont Society, visiting pastor of the Enkumba Society. Address: 1701-31st Avenue, Clermont Township, P.O. Clernaville, Natal 3620, South Africa.

     ZUNGU, AARON. Ordained August 21, 1938; 2nd degree, October 3, 1948. Mission translator. Address: c/o Kent Manor Farm, P-B Ntumeni, Kwa-Zulu 3830, South Africa.

     SOCIETIES, CIRCLES, AND GROUPS

Society                               Pastor
ATLANTA, GEORGIA               Rev. Christopher D. Bown
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND           Rev. Frederick M. Chapin
BATH, MAINE                    Rev. Allison L. Nicholson
BRYN ATHYN CHURCH               Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh
                               Rev. Thomas L. Kline, assistant pastor
                              Rev. Wendel R. Barnett, assistant to the pastor
                              Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard, assistant to pastor
                              Rev. Donald L. Rose, assistant to the pastor
CINCINNATI, OHIO               Rev. Patrick A. Rose
COLCHESTER. ENGLAND           Rev. Kenneth O. Stroh
DETROIT, MICHIGAN               Rev. Walter E. Orthwein
     (Oak Arbor)               Rev. Stephen D. Cole, assistant to the pastor
DURBAN, NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA      Rev. James P. Cooper
FREEPORT, PENNSYLVANIA          Rev. Ragnar Boyesen
GLENVIEW, ILLINOIS
(IMMANUEL CHURCH)               Rev. Brian W. Keith
                              Rev. Eric H. Carswell, assistant pastor
                               Rev. Mark R. Carlson, assistant to pastor
HURSTVILLE, N.S.W., AUSTRALIA Rev. Douglas M. Taylor
                              Rev. Robin W. Childs, assistant to pastor
KEMPTON, PENNSYLVANIA          Rev. Jeremy F. Simons
                              Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen, associate pastor
KITCHENER, ONTARIO, CANADA
     (CARMEL CHURCH)           Rev. Louis D. Synnestvedt
                               Rev. Kenneth J. Alden, assistant to pastor
LONDON, ENGLAND (MICHAEL CHURCH)     Rev. Frederick C. Elphick
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA      Rev. Donald K. Rogers
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA      Rev. Raymond Silverman
RIO DE JANEIRO. BRAZIL      Rev. Cristovao R. Nobre
                              Rev. Jose L. de Figueiredo, retired; assistant minister
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA           Rev. Nathan Gladish
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN               Rev. Erik Sandstrom Acting Pastor until 12/31/88

534

Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom, Visiting Pastor after 1/1/89
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA          Rev. Michael D. Gladish
     (OLIVET CHURCH)          Rev. Michael K. Cowley, assistant to pastor
                              Rev. Arthur W. Schnarr, assistant to pastor
TRANSVAAL, REP. OF SOUTH AFRICA     Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb
TUCSON, ARIZONA               Rev. Frank S. Rose
WASHINGTON, DC                    Rev. Lawson M. Smith
                              Rev. Thomas H. Rose, assistant to pastor

     Circle                                        Visiting Pastor or Minister
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO          Rev. John L. Odhner (Resident)
AMERICUS, GEORGIA               Rev. Christopher D. Bown
                              Mr. W. Harold Eubanks, evangelist
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND           Rev. Robin W. Childs
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS          Rev. Grant H. Odhner (resident)
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA     Rev. William H. Burke
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (Sharon Church)     Rev. Arthur W. Schnarr
CONNECTICUT                     Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK           Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen, Visiting Pastor
DALLAS/FORT WORTH, TEXAS          Rev. J. Clark Echols, Jr.
DAWSON CREEK, B.C., CANADA      Rev. Glenn Alden (resident)
DENVER, COLORADO               Rev. J. Clark Echols, Jr. (resident)
ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA               Rev. Stephen D. Cole
THE HAGUE, HOLLAND               Rev. Frederick C. Elphick
JONKOPING, SWEDEN               Rev. Erik Sandstrom
LAKE HELEN, FLORIDA               Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
LANSING, MICHIGAN               Rev. Stephen D. Cole
LETCHWORTH, ENGLAND           Rev. Norman E. Riley
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND           Rev. Norman E. Riley
MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA          Rev. Arthur W. Schnarr
N. C. AT BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA     Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
NORTH NEW JERSEY-NEW YORK      Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom
NORTH OHIO                     Rev. Patrick A. Rose
OSLO, NORWAY                    Rev. Bjorn A. H. Boyesen
PHOENIX, ARIZONA               Rev. Cedric King
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA          Rev. Kent Junge
ST. PAUL-MINNEAPOLIS. MINNESOTA      Rev. Mark Carlson
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA     Rev. Kent Junge
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON               Rev. Kent Junge (resident)
SOUTH OHIO                     Rev. Patrick A. Rose
TAMWORTH, AUSTRALIA           Rev. Douglas M. Taylor
WALLENPAUPACK, PENNSYLVANIA     Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen

     Group                         Visiting Pastor or Minister
ASHLAND, OREGON
BATESVILLE, ARKANSAS          Rev. J. Clark Echols, Jr.
BEXHILL, ENGLAND               Rev. Norman E. Riley
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA           Rev. William Burke
BLACKSBURG, VIRGINIA          Rev. Frederick M. Chapin
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA           Rev. Douglas M. Taylor

535

CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA          Rev. Glenn Alden
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA               Rev. Douglas M. Taylor
CAPE COD, MASSACHUSETTS          Rev. Grant H. Odhner
CARLETONVILLE, AFRICA           Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA     Rev. William H. Burke
CROOKED CREEK, ALBERTA, CANADA      Rev. Glenn Alden
DAYS CREEK, OREGON
DECATUR-WILMINGTON, ILLINOIS     Rev. Brian W. Keith
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA     Rev. Glenn Alden
ERWINNA, PENNSYLVANIA          Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen
FRANCE                         Rev. Alain Nicolier
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND               Rev. Norman E. Riley
HATBORO, PENNSYLVANIA          Rev. Robert S. Junge
KANSAS CITY, KANSAS               Rev. J. Clark Echols, Jr.
KENT MANOR, AFRICA               Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb
LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA          Rev. Prescott A. Rogers
LANGHORNE/NEWTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA     Rev. Jonathan Rose
LAUNCESTON, CORNWALL, ENGLAND     Rev. Norman E. Riley
NEW HAMPSHIRE                    Rev. Grant H. Odhner
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA               Rev. Frederick M. Chapin
ORAL-HOT SPRINGS, SOUTH DAKOTA      Rev. J. Clark Echols, Jr.
OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA
OYEN, ALBERTA, CANADA           Rev. Glenn Alden
PENN STATE, PENNSYLVANIA     Rev. Arne Bau-Madsen
PETERSTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA     Rev. Frederick M. Chapin
RED DEER, ALBERTA, CANADA      Rev. Glenn Alden
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA               Rev. Frederick M. Chapin
STAUNTON, VIRGINIA               Rev. Frederick M. Chapin
VANCOUVER, BC., CANADA           Rev. Kent Junge
WEST COUNTRY, ENGLAND           Rev. Norman E. Riley
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE           Rev. Frederick M. Chapin

     New Assignments for Ministers

     1988-1989

Rev. Kenneth J. Alden          Principal of the Carmel Church School; Assistant to the Pastor of the Carmel Church, Canada
Rev. Mark R. Carlson          Assistant to Pastor of the Glenview Society
Rev. Michael K. Cowley           Assistant Pastor to Toronto Society
Rev. Andrew M. T. Dibb          Pastor of Transvaal Society, Director of Education in the General Church Mission of South
Rev. Geoffrey H. Howard          Assistant to Pastor of Bryn Athyn Church; Visiting Pastor to Connecticut Circle
Rev. Dzin P. Kwak               Minister of General Church in Korean (on special assignment)
Rev. Allison L. Nicholson     Pastor of the Bath Society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, Bath, Maine
Rev. Thomas H. Rose               Assistant to the Pastor of the Washington Society of the General Church of the New Jerusalem

536

Rev. Erik Sandstrom               From September to December, 1988, Acting Pastor in Stockholm, Sweden
Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom          Visiting Pastor to New York/New Jersey Circle (resident in Bryn Athyn), Effective January 1, 1989, Visiting Pastor to Scandinavia
Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr     Bishops Representative for General Church Schools
Rev. Grant R. Schnarr          Pastor of Chicago, Illinois, and Visiting Minister to Midwest District
Rev. Douglas M. Taylor          January 1, 1989, Pastor of Hurstville Society, Australia; Visiting Pastor to Tamworth Circle and the Brisbane and Canberra groups of the General Church in Australia
CHRISTMAS THOUGHT 1988

CHRISTMAS THOUGHT Rev. MARK CARLSON 1988

     "In the union of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence the Lord had in view the conjunction of all people with Himself. This was His end, and this was His love, which was such that the salvation of the human race, as beheld in the union of Himself with His Father, was to Him the inmost joy" (AC 2034).
     This passage from the Writings given through the Lord's servant, Emanuel Swedenborg, is a simple and direct summary of the purpose, the process, and the personal feelings which were involved in the Lord's life in the world.
     The Child born in Bethlehem was the Human Essence which the Almighty God, or the Divine Essence, took on by a virgin birth through a natural woman. This was a virgin birth because no natural man could have fathered such a child. This Child's Father was quite literally the Almighty God, the Father of us all. But the Child formed in the womb of Mary was created even more directly by our Heavenly Father, since He Himself was the very soul of the child Jesus. This whole process was completely prophesied in the Old Testament.
     Through this process a totally new thing under the sun was created something that had never existed before, and something that would never exist again-the infant Jesus, God in the flesh. This tiny Baby, born of woman, knew nothing about how it had come to be, or what it was to do in the world, and so our loving Father God Almighty accomplished a most amazing and mind-boggling thing. In creating the infant Jesus, God Almighty projected an aspect of Himself right into our level of existence where He would have to deal with all of the ignorance, the uncertainty, and the perversity of human life just as we do. He was God become man.

537

     How often people love to say of their government leaders that if only they knew what it was really like for the common man on the street, then things would be different. And in our secret, unspoken prayers, do we not at times say the same thing about our Heavenly Father: if only He knew what it is like to be me, then He would. . . . It is hard enough to imagine how a pampered and long-spoiled politician could know what it is like to be a common man, much less the Infinite Creator of the universe!
     But that is just the point of the great paradox of the story of the Lord's birth into the world. He does know what it is like to be you, even though He is infinite, because He has done what no politician would ever do: He has walked in your shoes for thirty-three years. He knew from the beginning of creation what the process of human spiritual development would be, and now from His life in the world He also knows from experience what it is like to be limited by mortal flesh and blood, and what it is like to be burdened with massive tendencies toward evil. And so He knows very well what it is like to be you, and more importantly, He knows how to accommodate Himself to you in a way you can comprehend. This is the greatest paradox of them all, for while the Infinite by definition can never change, yet there was a change in the Infinite in the way He accommodates Himself to all mankind.
     Like us He was born not knowing where He came from or where He was going. Like us He had to learn about Himself, which He did, like us, from the Word. Like us He had to do battle with these tendencies. Like us He often felt alone and defeated, totally engulfed with a sense of failure and worthlessness. Like us He occasionally came to a state of utter despair and hopelessness. And like us, when these times of despair would end, He would come into incredible states of peace and bliss as He again experienced the close presence of His Heavenly Father. And Like us He often experienced states of great joy and happiness.
     Unlike us, His greatest joy came from understanding and perceiving that what He was doing with His life was making possible the salvation of all humanity. As He progressed toward a complete union with the Divine soul within Him, He felt intense joy, not because He was becoming one with His Father within, but because through that process He was making it possible for all of mankind to be conjoined with God.
     The Lord our Father, the Infinite Creator of the universe, always was Human, always was Man; it was just that mortal men had lost sight of His Humanness. Through His birth and life in the world He taught us a lesson about His Humanity that is not likely to be forgotten again. I am sure He wishes you a very happy Christmas.

538

COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY MEMBERSHIP 1988

COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY MEMBERSHIP Lorentz R. Soneson 1988

     During the year June 30, 1988, two men were inaugurated into the first degree of the priesthood.
     At the end of the twelve-month period the Council of the Clergy consisted of four priests of the episcopal degree, seventy-one in the pastoral degree, and ten in the ministerial degree, for a total of eighty-five. Of these, five were essentially employed by the General Church, eleven by the Academy of the New Church, forty-eight were engaged in pastoral work, ten were retired, and eleven were unassigned.
     In addition to the above figures the General Church has six priests of the pastoral degree in the South African Mission, besides the superintendent.

     STATISTICS
                              1987-88      1982-83      1977-78
Baptisms
     Children               175           200           146
          Adults                    55           51           46
          Total               230           251           192

Holy Supper Administrations
     Public                    212           238           236
     Private               27           47           49
          Communicants          5,207      6,215      5,670

Confessions of Faith          30           40           46

Betrothals                    40           43           47

Marriages                         58           71           71
     Blessings on Marriages     1           6           3

Ordinations                    5          5          8

Dedications
     Churches                    2          1          1
     Homes                    11          13          10
     Other                    0           5          0
Funerals and Memorial Services     54           60           46

     Rev. Lorentz R. Soneson

539

     ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     During July 1, 1987, through June 30, 1988, one hundred seventy-six new members were received into the General Church. Three members resigned, and two were dropped from the roll. Forty-three deaths were reported. On July 1, 1988, the roll contained four thousand and seventy members.

                                        Other
                                   U.S.A.      Countries      Total
Membership, September 1, 1987      2,767      1,175           3,942
New Members (Certs. 7360 to 7427)      102          74           176
Losses: Deaths                     29          14                43
     Resignations                     3           0               3
     Dropped from Roll                2           0                2
Membership, July 1, 1988               2,835     1,235          4,070
Net Gain during the period September 1,
     1987, through June 30, 1988      68          60           128

     NEW MEMBERS

     UNITED STATES

     Arizona: Tucson
Peters, Miss Marilyn Louise

     Arizona: Tucson
deWeese, Mrs. Sabrina (Fenimore)
Petras, Mr. Michael Joseph
Schulze, Mr. Douglas Winfield
Schulze, Mrs. Mitzi Carol (Isetts)
Smith, Mr. Ronald Allen
Spahr, Ms. Beverly Elizabeth (Tripp)
Wille, Mr. James Matthew
Wille, Mrs. James Matthew (Paula Marie Burke)

     California: Chula Vista
Howell, Mrs. Timothy S. (Elise A. Sanchez)

     California: Covina
Parker, Mrs. Robert Lynn (Rhea Lynne Smith)

     California: La Canada
Schneider, Mr. Frederick H.
Schneider, Mrs. Frederick H. (Ruth Oswald)

     California: La Jolla
Goodfellow, Miss Leslie Gaye

     California: Los Angeles
Choe, Mr. Chol

     California: San Diego
Betz, Mr. Eugene William

     California: San Jose
Righetti, Mr. Dennis William
Saba, Ms. Kris (Kuhlman)

     California: Temple City
Delnick, Mrs. Barbara (Ford)

     Colorado: Arvada
Kruse, Mrs. Thomas G. (Janice Dee Norton)

     Colorado: Fort Collins
Miller, Ms. Glen White

     Connecticut: Enfield
Asplund, Mr. Gregg Griffith

     Florida: Boynton Beach
Heinrichs, Mr. Bradley Daniel
Schultz, Mrs. Thomas Wayne (Mary Ellen List)

540

     Florida: Clearwater
Bostock, Mr. Craig Wade

     Georgia: Chamblee
White, Mrs. Emily P. (Trevett)

     Illinois: Chicago
Eckardt, Mr. Thomas Allan
Juarez, Miss Rosemary Ann
Patton, Mr. Harold Lloyd
Synnestvedt, Miss Susan
Weston, Miss Maureen Elizabeth

     Illinois: Forest Park
Pacyga, Mr. Thomas Andrew

     Illinois: Glenview
Day, Mr. Elvin Kingsley
Holmes, Miss Rachel
Lehne, Miss Deborah

     Illinois: Itasca
Hauck, Mr. James R.

     Illinois: Warrensburg
Fuller, Mr. Scott Duane
Fuller, Mrs. Scott Duane (Cynthia Denise Aymer)

     Illinois: Wheeling
Penkaua, Mr. Glenn Martin

     Kentucky: Fort Knox
Dickinson, Mrs. Mare T. (Valerie Anne Carbury)

     Maryland: Beltsville
Cooper, Miss Sharon

     Maryland: Brooks
Jolliffe, Miss Cecilia Louise

     Maryland: Bowie
Haworth, Mrs. Donald Robert (Rose Mary Tucker)
Van Kesteren, Miss Kelly Jeanne

     Maryland: Glenn Dale
Trimble, Mr. Alan James
Trimble, Miss Belinda

     Maryland: Laurel
Hyatt, Mr. Brent Hamilton
Hyatt, Mrs. Brent Hamilton (Amanda Goerwitz)

     Maryland: Mitchellville
Harris, Miss Pamela Kay
Kluss, Miss Vera Maria
Mitchell, Mr. Andrew Colin

     Maryland: Salisbury
Miller, Miss Linda Anne

     Maryland: Seabrook
Cowley, Mr. David Loyal
Rabino, Miss Elizabeth

     Maryland: White Hall
Good, Mr. Donald S. Jr.

     Massachusetts: Natick
Kloc, Mr. David Michael
Kloc, Mrs. David Michael (Karla Marie Odhner)

     Michigan: Birmingham
Cook, Miss Janice Muriel

     Michigan: Eaton Rapids
Caproon, Mr. Kevin Michael

     Michigan: Lapeer
Forfar, Mr. James Douglas

     Minnesota: Minneapolis
Spano, Mr. Duane E. Chick

     New Jersey: Piscataway
Glenn, Mr. Christopher

     New Mexico: Albuquerque
Elliott, Miss Cynthia Joyce

     North Carolina: Charlotte
Coffin, Miss Jennifer Glenn
Collins, Mr. Stephen William

     Ohio: Glendale
Latta, Mr. Donald Stewart
Latta, Mrs. Donald Stewart (Patricia Clark)

     Pennsylvania: Bryn Athyn
Darkwah, Mr. Simpson Kwabeng
David, Mr. Michael Vincent
Goodenough, Miss Vera
Grubb, Mr. J. Alan
Hart, Miss Rosalyn Dawn
Howard, Miss Wendy
King, Miss Tamar
Kuhl, Mrs. Matthew D. Kuhl (Corinne J. Maddock)
Lindrooth, Miss Charis
McQueen, Mr. Dudley Todd
Ferry, Mr. Charles Mark
Smith, Mrs. Carey N. (Dolores Carberry)
Smith, Miss Shelley Lynne

541

van Zyverden, Mrs. Clinton James (Mary Grove)

     Pennsylvania: Holland
Pennink, Miss Maia

     Pennsylvania: Horsham
Dotzman, Mrs. Leslie Ann (Schmucker)

     Pennsylvania: Huntingdon Valley
Baker, Mr. Wilfred Grant
Laufer, Miss Lisa Ann
Mergen, Mr. Phillip Lawrence
Norbeck, Mrs. Andrew J. (Margaret Charles)
Packer, Miss Wendalyn Jo
Simons, Mr. Hilary Alfred
Woods, Mrs. Cheryl Anne (Packer)

     Pennsylvania: Kempton
Henriques, Mrs. Kevin A.
Muth, Miss Lara Lynn

     Pennsylvania: Lower Burrell
Leezer, Miss Lisa Lynne

     Pennsylvania: Masontown
Havanas, Mr. Edward Steve, Jr.

     Pennsylvania: Meadowbrook
Heinrichs, Mr. Reid Christopher

     Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh
Griffiths, Mr. David Matthew
Ryder, Mrs. Jane (Weed)

     Pennsylvania: Sarver
Blair, Mrs. Charles E. (Keene Alice Smith)

     Tennessee: Hendersonville
Bouillet, Mr. Edward Eugene Sosthene
Texas: San Antonio
Davis, Mr. Kevin Erik

     Virginia: McLean
Good, Mrs. Donald S. Jr. (Shannon Smith)

     Wyoming: Casper
Kirby, Mrs. William Richard (Robin Annette Scalbom)

     AUSTRALIA

     New South Wales: Padstow
Walsh, Mr. Garry Brian

     CANADA

     Alberta: Gorande Prairie
Friesen, Mr. Lance Alexander

     Alberta: Silver Valley
Eggleston, Mrs. Grant Donald (Cindy Lee Friesen)
Friesen, Mr. Berton Lee
Friesen, Mrs. Berton Lee (Wendy Beryl Fox)

     British Columbia: Dawson Creek
Dube, Mr. Danny Ross

     Nova Scatia: Halifax
Deaton, Mr. David Brooks

     Ontario: Etobicoke
Dawson, Miss Denise Anne
Lockwood, Mr. David Richard
Lockwood, Mrs. David Richard (Beverly Ann Young)

     Ontario: Islington
Morton, Mrs. Ursula Maray (Whitehouse)

     Ontario: Kitchener
Hill, Mrs. Paul George (Janice Sharon Schweitzer)
Leite, Mrs. Eldar Soarses (Sheila Anne Carolin Ims)
Wiebe, Miss Kerry Joan
Woodley, Mr. Fred
Woodley, Mrs. Fred (Maria Papadopoullou)

     Ontario: Toronto
Horigan, Mr. Patrick Shawn

     ENGLAND

     Essex: Chelmsford
Bruell, Mr. Andrew Richard

     Essex: Colchester
Glover, Mr. David

     London
Frost, Miss Deborah Jane

     Oxon: Wheatley
Burniston, Mr. Mark

     Surrey: Lightwater
David, Mrs. Stephen Llewellyn (Caroline Elizabeth Turner)

542

     FRANCE

     Le Peep
Hussenet, Miss Isabelle

     JAPAN

     Kanagawa Pref.: Fujisawa City
Nagashima, Mrs. Tatsuya (Sumie Tsukahara)

     AFRICA

     Ghana: Accra
Dei, Mr. Michael Kwadwo Kye
Dickens, Mr. Charles Nana Adu

     Ghana: Tema
Adzi, Mr. Benjamin Kodjo
Dadzie, Mr. John Gonfred Francis
Nwanwa-Ekyi, Mr. Kenneth
Paha, Mr. John Jnr.

     R.S.A.: Clermont Twsp.
Butelezi, Mrs. Stephen (Idah Mdunge)
Butelezi, Mr. Realm Sonke
Butelezi, Mrs. Realm Sonke (Beauty Kungne)
Dlamini, Mr. Mandlakayise Aaron
Dlamini, Miss Nonhlanhla Debourah Annie
Dlamini, Mr. Percy Themba
Dlamini, Mrs. Percy Themba (Jane Busie Lenono)
Mandlala, Mr. Robert
Msani, Mr. Ian
Msomi, Miss Angeline
Msomi, Mrs. Allan (Florence Skozi)
Mthunywa, Mrs. Nicholas (Beauty Sikuja)
Mthunywa, Mrs. Linah Delisile (Mbonami)
Mthunywa, Octavia Nelisiwe
Nkabinde, Miss Thembi
Nzimande, Miss Edith Eunice
Nzimande; Mr. Edward Elmo
Nzimande, Mrs. Edward Elmo (Sybil Thembi Shezi)
Nzimande, Miss Esther Pearl Nomusa
Nzimande, Miss Pretty Primrose
Nzimande, Miss Olivia Vera
Nzimande, Mr. Richard Edmund Emanuel
Sabela, Mrs. Sonny (Gloria Mthembu)
Sibiya, Mrs. Florence Laura (Khumalo)
Sibiya, Mrs. Sipho J. (Mildred Nokuthula Dlamini)
Zungu, Miss Bella Lungile

     R.S.A.: Durban
Elphick, Miss Sarah Elizabeth Anne
Foord, Mrs. Michael John (Carey Serene de Chazal)
Vilakazi, Miss Mildred

     R.S.A.: Hammarsdale
Chamane, Mrs. Gilbert (Fikile Eddie Mthunywa)
Chamane, Mr. Mduduzi Fortune Wellingn
Chamane, Miss Nokuthula Nonhlanhla Mavis

     R.S.A.: Hill-Crest
Stole, Miss Bosisiwe
Stole, Miss Thula Alice
Stole, Miss Victoria

     R.S.A.: Lamontville
Mkhize, Miss Ivy

     R.S.A.: Pretoria
Brown, Miss Helen Jean

     R.S.A.: Soweto
Sibiyal, Mr. Lawrence Nziwakhe

     R.S.A.: Wandsbcck
Guthrie, Mr. Hamish Christopher
Guthrie, Mrs. Hamish Christopher (Judith Jane Palmer)
R.S.A.: Westville
Cockerell, Mr. Christopher Gordon
Cockerell, Mr. Clinton Malcolm
Rodda, Mr. Keith Michael

543

DEATHS
Alden, Mrs. William H., Jr. (Doris Byrd), July 27, 1987, Hatboro, Pennsylvania. 96.
Anderson, Mrs. Herbert Reginald (Sylvia Frances Lowe), April 1, 1988, Pietermaritzburg, Natal, Rep. S. Africa. 64.
Arraes, Miss Elsa Sarmanho, October 9, 1987, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 74.
Arrington, Mr. George Austin, October 9, 1987, Abington, Pennsylvania. 86.
Barnitz, Mrs. Rudolph McLean (Gretel Isabel Brackney Hanna), November 21, 1987, San Simeon, California. 77.
Boyesen, Mrs. Bjorn A. H. (Lois Helen Nelson), March 13, 1988, Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania. 76.
Burnham, Mrs. Ernest Justice (Elsie Elmonah Ashley Barnes), November 26, 1987, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 83.
Buta, Mr. Maximillian Jan, February 13, 1988, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. 64.
Charles, Mrs. Aaron F. (Margrethe Nilsina Kofod), January 21, 1988, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. 96.
Coffin, Mr. Roscoe L., February 24, 1988. Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. 78
Cole, Miss Dorothy, November 24, 1987, Glenview, Illinois. 84.
Cole, Mrs. David Andrew (Sylvia Serena Scalbom), October 31, 1987, Park Ridge, Illinois. 78.
Cooper, Mr. Douglas J., May 21, 1988, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. 56.
Cooper, Mr. Garth Daniel, April 23, 1988, Colchester, England. 63.
Doering, Miss Anita Linda, December 20, 1987, Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania. 89.
Doering, Mr. Roger William, November 7, 1987. Santee. California. 76.
Ellis, Mr. John Bruce, September 27, 1987, Johannesburg, South Africa. 71.
Eyler, Mrs. Louis W. (Beatrice Lorraine Lantz), November 18, 1987, Baltimore, Maryland. 73.
Hill, Mr. Arthur John William, December 12, 1987, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. 68.
Hill, Mrs. John Edward (Yadah Roschman), October 16, 1987, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. 93.
Hill, Miss Madeline, April 29, 1987, London, Ontario, Canada. 59.
Hyatt, Mrs. Hubert (Carina Glenn), January 22, 1988, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. 97.
Johns, Mrs. Hyland Righter (Edith Hughes), June 5, 1988, Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania. 88.
Johnston, Mr. Alexander William, September 1987, East London, Transvaal, Rep. S. Africa. 69.
Kern, Mr. Theophilus J., August 22, 1987, Abington, Pennsylvania. 82.
Lodge, Mr. William Thomas, December 11, 1987, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 55.
Lubitz, Mrs. Ralph George (Meredith Glody), August 26, 1987, North Branch, Michigan. 43.
McQueen, Mrs. Harold P, (Maude Virginia Reuter), October 29, 1987, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. 86.
Meisel, Mr. Francis Adams, September 27, 1987, Wayne, Pennsylvania. 83.

544

Pritchett, Mrs. Joseph William (Ceridwen Daniel), March 27, 1988, Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada. 95.
Pryke, Mrs. Kenneth (Louisa Phoebe Wheaten), June 20, 1988, Chelmsford, Essex, England. 79.
Richter, Mr. Robert Allen, June 3, 1988, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 54.
Schmucker, Mr. Charles Edwin, January 31, 1988, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. 82.
Schnarr, Miss Korene, July 27, 1987, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. 79.
Simons, Mrs. Elmer E. (Jacquine Fountain), October 1, 1986 (DELAYED REPORT), Trumbull, Connecticut. 80.
Smith, Mr. Arnold Mather, December 20, 1987, Glenview, Illinois. 71.
Smith, Miss Dorothea, April 8, 1988, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 88.
Streich, Mr. Paul Bernhart, 1987, Bloomingdale, Illinois. 94.
Tolipan, Mr. Oswaldo, October 5, 1987, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 72.
Unruh, Miss Annie, 1987, Mira Loma, California. 86.
Ward, Mr. Herbert F., August 20, 1987, Loughton, Essex, England. 89.
Wathen, Mr. Lawrence Samuel, February 6, 1988, Glenview, Illinois. 68.
White, Mrs. France Marcelle Vinet, June 23, 1988, San Diego, California. 84.

     RESIGNED
Mueller, Mr. Kenneth C., Pennsylvania
Nash, Mr. Michael Albert, Arkansas
Stewart, Mrs. James C. (Margaret Jean Jeffery), Pennsylvania

     DROPPED FROM ROLL
Croll, Miss Diane, Illinois
Lau, Werner Karl, Illinois

     Lorentz R. Soneson,
          Secretary
DAILY CALENDAR READINGS 1988

DAILY CALENDAR READINGS Editor 1988

Those who follow the daily reading plan should note that the reading for January 1st will be the middle of the 5th chapter of John and AC 9207. On January 15th, the first half of the 11th chapter of John and AC 9231-9145. On January 31st, the first half of John 18 and AC 9276.
If you would like a copy of this daily plan, please write to the Secretary of the General Church, Cairncrest, Bryn Athyn, PA 19009.

545

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM TREASURER'S REPORT 1988

GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM TREASURER'S REPORT Neil M. Buss 1988

     For Year Ending December 31, 1987

     The year 1987 was, overall, another good one for the General Church from a financial point of view. Much took place. It was the first full year in which we had a New Church minister in Ghana, and plans were made to provide support for a minister to be assigned to Korea in mid-1988.
     Investments at book value increased by $6,600,000, mainly because of the gift of the Cairncrest Foundation ($4,000,000) and the investment of Leonard E. Gyllenhaal Fund contributions ($2,450,000) during the year. The church endowment has increased significantly because of these two happenings plus the Carswell stock sale which is reflected as a gain on sale of investments.
     I would like to take time to outline the history of this last event as it is an outstanding example of how a deferred gift can benefit the church and a loved one of the donor.
     On his death in 1956 Bishop Alfred Acton left to the Church (and an equal gift to the Academy) 50 shares in Carswell Company, with his daughter as beneficiary for her lifetime. We booked the gift as an asset at the then estimated market value of the stock, $15,000 in each institution.
     By the time his daughter died last year the stock had been split and we held 500 shares, which were yielding approximately $39,000 (plus $39,000 from the Academy) annually in income to her. This income then started coming to the General Church and Academy.
     In December, 1987, the company purchased back from us all our stock and paid the Church and the Academy each $2,051,581 for their shares. We received a truly significant gift, and his daughter was looked after for her lifetime! I must say Carswell was simply an outstanding company, but this does provide a dramatic illustration of the potential of deferred gifts. Our Development Office has many ways of helping members provide for both their loved ones and the church, the societies and the Academy. I encourage all members to talk to Walter Childs or me to learn of the many possibilities to help provide for our church in the future while enjoying income for oneself now and possibly for a loved one for his/her life also.

546

     The L. E. Gyllenhaal Fund contribution of $2,450,000, including the matching gifts, significantly advanced the Church toward the goal for the overall fund of $8 million. At the time of writing this report, slightly over $7 million has been raised. This fund is providing much-needed income for societies as well as for evangelization, education, and translation.
     The gift by the Cairncrest Foundation of $4 million to our endowment funds was extremely generous. The members of the foundation have supported the church wholeheartedly over many years, and this gift of capital, made upon dissolution of the foundation in December, 1987, will ensure continued income for church uses into the future. We are most grateful for this generosity. Not only did the General Church benefit from this, but substantial capital gifts were also made to the Academy and the Bryn Athyn Society.
     Unfortunately, 1987 was also the year of the market crash and, despite these positive developments, the market value of the church endowment funds only increased by $1,075,000 to $48,695,000 but, without the positive impact of the events mentioned above, the market value of our endowment funds would have declined rather substantially.
     The church did see a decline in contributions to our regular current funds, and we attribute this largely to some significant changes in the tax laws which now, in certain instances, make it far costlier to support charities. This is a most unfortunate effect of the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Despite this, we were able to fund all our current operations and close the year with a modest surplus.
     In summary, 1987 was an eventful year for the church, and several exciting things took place. The challenge before us is to try to build on these and broaden support for the church and the uses it is performing. Please will every one of you consider supporting the General Church this year? The amount is not nearly as significant as the importance of your participation.
     The audited financial statements which follow form part of this overall report.

     Neil M. Buss,
          Treasurer

547

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     Statement of Changes in Financial Position

Year ended December 31, 1987 with comparative totals for 1986

                         Expendable     Nonexpend-     Total
                         Funds          able Funds     1987     1986
Cash and cash equivalents were provided by:
Excess of support and revenue over
     expenses before capital additions and
     other changes          $1,222,107     $6,645,737     $7,867,844     $3,883,697
Capital additions:
     Contributions and bequests                         3,921,206     3,921,206     120,000
     Investment income                              52,228          52,228          46,516
Excess of support and revenue over
     expenses after capital additions and
     before other changes                    1,222,107     10,619,171     11,841,278     4,050,213
Items that do not (provide) use cash and cash
equivalents:
     Gain on sale of investments                         (1,954,175)     (1,954,175)     (2,820,384)
     Pension plan income                    (791,966)               (791,966)
     Loss of disposal of fixed assets          746                    746
     Depreciation                         20,116                    20,116               15,710
     Contribution of investments               (34,031)     (3,766,180)     (3,800,211)     (1,202,061)
     Forgiveness of loan payable               (400,000)               (400,000)

     Decrease in loan to Cairnwood Village          100,000               100,000
Proceeds from sales of investments               418,489     2,162,469     2,580,958     3,589,303
Increase in agency funds                                                   1,014,505
Increase in accounts payable                    25,219                    25,219
Increase in deferred capital support                         71,744          71,744          35,595
Pension plan funding                         209,179               209,179
Investment savings plan funding               233,015               233,015     213,817
Decrease in prepaid expenses               6,419                    6,419
Increase in annuity payable                    245,000               245,000
Decrease in interfund receivable                                             100,000
Total cash and cash equivalents provided          1,254,293     7,133,029     8,387,322     5,352,049

     Cash and cash equivalents were used for:

     Purchase of investments               526,399     2,933,393     3,459,792     3,996,622
     Purchase of land, building and
          equipment                    153,035               153,035     19,298
     Increase in inventory                    24,210                    24,210          570
     Increase in pledges receivable
          from Glencairn Foundation                    573,145     573,145     152,349

548

     Increase in loans to related societies and
          employees, net               544,144               544,144
     Increase in accounts receivable          329,293               329,293     170,689
     Increase in prepaid expenses                                             17,754
     Decrease in annuity payable                         38,971          38,971          21,062
     Reduction of mortgages payable          83,088                    83,088          1,733
     Decrease in interfund payable                    245,000     245,000
     Decrease in interfund payable                                        100,000
Total cash and cash equivalents               2,489,910     3,790,509     6,280,49     4,480,077

     Increase in cash and cash equivalents               (1,235,617)     3,342,520     2,106,903     871,972

     Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of year     1,565,140     905,191     2,470,331     1,598,359

     Cash and cash equivalents, end of year          $329,523     $4,247,711     $4,577,234     $2,470,331

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     Balance Sheet

     December 31, 1987, with comparative totals for 1986

                                   Expendable     Nonexpend-          Total
                                   Funds          able Funds     1987          1986
ASSETS
Cash and cash equivalents                    $329,523     $4,247,711     $4,577,234     $2,470,331
Accounts receivable, principally from
     related entities                    987,167               987,167     657,874
Pledges receivable from Glencairn Foundation               573,145     573,145
Inventory                               95,067                    95,067          70,857
Prepaid expenses                         27,280                    27,280          33,699
Loans to related societies and employees net          1,995,844               1,995,844     1,451,700
Loan to Cairnwood Village, Inc.               800,000               800,000     900,000
Investments                              11,094,274     21,231,237     32,325,511     25,692,291
Land, buildings and equipment, net of
     accumulated depreciation               608,787               608,787     476,614
Due from Expendable Funds                              245,000     245,000
                                   15,937,942     26,297,093     42,235,035     31,753,366

     LIABILITIES AND FUND BALANCES
Accounts payable                         177,162               177,162     151,943
Agency funds                              504,422               504,422     1,334,163
Loans payable                              400,000               400,000     400,000

549

Mortgages payable                                                       83,088
Due to nonexpendable funds                    245,000               245,000
Deferred capital support                              452,318     452,318     380,574
Annuity payable                                   92,604          92,604          131,575
Total Liabilities                         1,326,584     544,922     1,871,506     2,881,343

     Fund balances:
     Unrestricted
          available for current operations     1,032,206               1,032,206     987,200
     Restricted
          available for current operations     329,062               329,062     311,643
          designated for specific purposes     13,250,090               13,250,090     12,440,180
Endowment                                        25,752,171     25,752,171     15,133,000
Total fund balances                         14,611,358     25,752,171     40,363,529     28,872,023
                                   $15,937,942     $26,297,093     $42,235,035     $31,753,366

     GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM

     Statement of Support, Revenue, Expenses, Capital Additions and Changes in Fund Balances

     Year ended December 31, 1987 with comparative totals for 1986

                                        Expendable     Nonexpend-          Total
                                   Funds          able Funds     1985          1984
Support and revenue:
     Contributions and bequests               $835,694     $4,518,303     $5,353,997     $1,295,241
     Investment income                    1,992,901     245,999     2,238,900     1,853,144
     Printing and publishing               257,521               257,521     247,456
     Gain on sale of investments                         1,954,175     1,954,175     2,820,384
     Pension plan income                    791,966               791,966
     Other Revenue                    125,499               125,499     192,834
Total support and revenue                    4,003,581     6,718,477     10,722,058     6,409,059

     Expenses:
     Program services:
          Pastoral and educational          329,799               329,799     336,371
          South African Mission          15,300                    15,300          13,060
          Information and other services     243,108               243,108     252,439
          Employee benefits               425,384               425,384     487,425
          Development grants to societies                                   19,000
          Pensions paid                    395,970               395,970     346,223

550

          Investment Savings Plan
               Withdrawals               270,746               270,746     94,769
          Other services                    431,117     72,740          503,857     399,245
Total program services                    2,111,424     72,740          2,854,214     2,52,362

Supporting services:
     Administration                    670,050               670,050     576,830

     Total expenses                         2,781,474     72,470          2,854,214     2,525,362

     Excess of support and revenue over expenses
     before capital additions and other
     changes                         1,222,107     6,645,737     7,867,844     3,883,697

     Capital additions:
     Contributions and bequests                         3,921,206     3,921,206     120,000
     Investment income                              52,228          52,228          46,516

     Total capital additions                              3,973,434     3,973,434     166,516

     Excess of support and revenue over expenses
     after capital additions and before other
     changes                         1,222,107     10,619,171     11,841,278     4,054,213

     Other changes:
     Pension Plan funding                    (582,787)               (582,787)     295,308
     Investment Savings Plan funding          233,015               233,015     213,817

     Total other changes                         (349,772)               (349,772)     509,125

     Excess of support and revenue over expenses
     after capital additions and other changes
     and other changes                    872,335     10,619,171     11,491,506     4,559,338

     Fund balances at beginning of year               13,739,023     15,133,000     28,872,023     24,312,685

     Fund balances at end of year                    $4,611,358     $25,752,171     $40,363,529     $28,872,023
EDUCATIONAL INVITATION 1988

EDUCATIONAL INVITATION Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr 1988

Among the many uses being established at Cairncrest is a General Church Curriculum Center. This center will not only be a home for General Church educational material of a historic nature, but it will be a center for curriculum study and research.
One of the new and exciting uses that is presently expanding from this center is that of videotapes. With the assistance of the General Church Video Committee, we plan to provide videos of educational addresses, lectures. seminars and workshops. The first set of these tapes is from the Education Council meetings held last summer in Glenview, Illinois. These videos are now being prepared. They include such topics as:

551

1.      The Learner and the Lord-Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss
2.      The Learner and Himself-Rev. Geoffrey Childs
3.      The Learner and the Curriculum: Working Toward a Distinctive Curriculum-Mrs. George Woodard
4.      The Learner and the Curriculum: Enlightenment Leading to and Resulting from Such a Curriculum-Rev. Andrew Heilman
5.      The Learner and the Teacher: Handling the Present with a Sense of Hope for the Future-Rev. Eric H. Carswell
6.      The Learner and the Teacher--Miss Josephine Turner
7.      To See As in a Mirror-Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr
8.      We Are the Future of New Church Education (or "Linkage, Linkage, Linkage")-Rev. Wendel R. Barnett
9.      Secondary New Church Education: Do We Need It?-Mrs. Sanfrid Odhner
10.      A Theory of Attitude Change-Rev. Eric H. Carswell
11.      Of Omens, Portents, Auguries, Oracles and Haruspices-Dr. Robert W. Gladish
12.      Our Next Step: A Scholar's Vision for the Academy College-Dr. Jane Williams-Hogan
13.      Banquet Program, including messages and addresses from our four bishops. This is a historic moment to be treasured.

     This is only a sampling of the video material now available. If you would like a complete list of our present offerings and information about rental and mailing costs, please drop a line to:

The General Church Curriculum Center
P.O. Box 278, Cairncrest
Bryn Athyn, PA 19009

     We believe you will find these videos stimulating and inspiring. We believe this will be real nourishment to all those who are interested in the growth and fulfillment of a truly distinctive form of New Church education.

     Rev. Frederick L. Schnarr,
          Bishop's Representative for General Church Education
COPIES OF INDEX SOUGHT 1988

COPIES OF INDEX SOUGHT Editor 1988

Theological students in Bryn Athyn are seeking extra copies of Rich's Index to the Arcana Coelestia.

552

REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER 1988

REPORT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICER Walter Childs 1988

     During 1987 the General Church entered into a fund-raising program that will dramatically assist the church in carrying on its uses in the future.
     It was developed because the membership of the General Church had demonstrated a desire to promote more vigorously, and on a continuing basis, the activities of:

1.      New Church elementary school education
2.      Evangelization
3.      More readable translations of the Writings and publication of these translations
4.      Financial autonomy of its districts, societies and circles.

     In response to this desire the Leonard Gyllenhaal Memorial Endowment Fund was created to assist the General Church in meeting these challenges by providing a permanent source of income for these uses.
     During 1987, over $2,450,000 was given in support of this fund toward the overall goal of $8,000,000 of endowment. It is hoped that the following can be raised:

$2,000,000 for districts, societies and circles
$1,000,000 to support translation and publication
$2,000,000 to enhance and develop evangelization programs
$3,000,000 to assist societies in carrying on the uses of New Church education

     The fund's concept looks to individuals who are able to contribute over and above what they give to other areas of the church to support the building of endowment in these areas. In total it is hoped that $1,600,000 will be given by individuals. The remaining sum, $6,400,000, will be raised from matching gifts of two dollars pledged by each of the Glencairn and Cairncrest Foundations for every dollar donated by an individual.
     The enthusiastic response to the Gyllenhaal Fund was encouraging in 1987. Thanks to members and friends of the General Church these important uses are being supported and expanded.

     Walter Childs
          Development Officer

553

Editorial Pages 1988

Editorial Pages Editor 1988

     SWEDENBORG IN THE PAGES OF THE WRITINGS (11)

     We are concluding this month the series begun in January of this year, and as we do so in December let us say something about those "two inmost things," innocence and peace. A sphere of innocence and peace is especially noticed at Christmastime. But peace by its very nature is something we do not naturally perceive. The chapter on this subject in Heaven and Hell says that to perceive peace one must be uplifted in thought and be in the presence of angels.

In this way has the peace of heaven been perceived by me, and therefore I am able to describe it. Yet because human words are inadequate, I cannot describe in words that peace in itself but only as it is in comparison with that rest of mind experienced by those who are content in God.

     Innocence is something we see in human faces, especially those of little children. It is "that in which heaven is stored up in man"(HH 276). Just as Swedenborg reports having spoken to angels on the subject of peace, he also says, "I have talked much with angels about innocence." He reports not only what angels say about it but also the experience he was granted. "This I say from having perceived it." What was it like to feel or perceive it?
     Innocence has a way of banishing all the meanness of life. It takes away enmity and the willfulness of self.

It so affects minds that when it is felt by anyone-as when an angel of the inmost heaven approaches-he seems to himself to be no longer his own master and is moved and, as it were, carried away by such delight that no delight of the world seems to be anything in comparison with it. This I say from having perceived it (HH 282).

     We have scratched the surface on this subject of Swedenborg in the pages of the Writings. Spend a little time looking at the entry under "Swedenborg" in the Concordance and you will see that this is not a subject one could exhaust. If anyone wonders whether it is appropriate for a church to pay attention to Swedenborg's birth, or if anyone wonders what to speak about in January at some celebration relating to Swedenborg, there is no need to become a student of Swedenborg's life. Just look into the Writings themselves for a wealth of fascinating and often inspiring material.

554

BISHOP'S GHANA VISIT 1988

BISHOP'S GHANA VISIT Tatsuya Nagashima 1988

     Communications
Dear Editor:
     I read Bishop King's report of his visit to Ghana. I read those eight pages twice. My mind was so deeply absorbed that I unwittingly passed the train station where I had to get off.
     "It is absolutely astonishing how much real interest in doctrine there is in this country" (p. 357). So he wrote, "The people are absolutely dying for more instruction" (P. 358). From an exciting joy, however, I turned my thoughts to my people. They are absolutely dying with a loss of appetite for religious instruction.
     When the bishop continues, saying, "There seems to be a genuine humility from which we might learn a great deal" (p. 358), I am reminded of the alleged arrogance of our nation toward our Asian friends. In a materialistically affluent society we are poverty-stricken with a loss of spiritual nourishment.
     The bishop writes, "Of any country that I know of, Ghana appears perhaps to hold out the greatest potential for establishing the church specific on earth. The people are bright and interested in doctrinal matters" (p. 365). I am again reminded of the first Christian Jesuit missionary to Japan, Francis Xavier, who wrote in the mid-sixteenth century to Rome that of any Asian country that he had known of, Japan appeared to hold out the greatest potential for establishing the Catholic Church. The people are bright and interested in catechism. Sadly however, Christian religion was exterminated from this country by national seclusion with religious persecutions which lasted almost three hundred years.
     Ghana is different. Christianity has already been warmly accepted. "Now they have tremendous interest in the Writings," and our bishop says, "I know of no other more fruitful place for this to happen than in Ghana" (p. 365). The winds are blowing now!
     I earnestly hope and pray that New Church expansion will speedily and effectively be realized in Ghana, which I love and respect. One of our national heroes, Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, died in 1928 of malaria in Accra while making his research into a vaccination.

     Tatsuya Nagashima
          Tokyo, Japan

555

IMPORTANCE OF NEW CHURCH EDUCATION 1988

IMPORTANCE OF NEW CHURCH EDUCATION Chris Horner 1988

Dear Editor:
     May I support the views on "The Importance of New Church Education" put forward by V. C. Odhner in the June issue. There is much evidence that this sophism exists. There seems to be a fear among some members that too much emphasis is being laid upon doctrine and that the laity is not being properly instructed in how to apply doctrine to life, and that the church is tending into a faith-alone approach. This is not so, for it must be remembered that the New Christian Church is an internal church as distinct from the previous Christian Church, which is in externals only, and it is essential that the internal nature of the church be preserved. This can be done only by the upholding of doctrine, and where better than in the schools where the young mind is readily imbued with the affection of truth?
     The early fathers of the Academy and the General Church recognized this and they spoke of the education of children within the church as internal evangelization and dedicated their lives to setting up a distinctive New Church educational system. They realized that the education of the young is the prerogative of the church and should never drift into the hands of secular authorities, and that this is an essential principle to maintain the integrity of the church. This was the vision that motivated the founders of the General Church, so long ago, to endeavor to set up New Church communities in order to implement such a policy, and it was this militant policy on education that was the basic reason for my joining the General Church a generation ago.
     Is this vision fading? Is our church in danger of leaving its first love as is depicted of the church of Ephesus in the Apocalypse? I fear there are some indications that it is. Many among the up and coming generations appear to be reluctant to make any real sacrifice to contribute to the perpetuation of the community system within the church, contending with the fallacy that distinctiveness leads to exclusiveness, and that the only way to spread the doctrines is to live and work amongst the general public.
     Your correspondent ably pointed out the dangers of unreserved liberalism within the church, and drew attention to the pitfalls created by the materialistic atmosphere flowing from TV and the general media. Are we sufficiently conscious of this creeping menace, and is the church sufficiently aware of the necessity to endeavor to establish schools even in our smaller groups and societies?

556

     I suggest that there is another sophism that is gaining ground in the church and this is that in order to establish church schools we must wait patiently for many years and gather adult members externally until we have a sufficient body to be certain that the venture cannot fail; in other words, that schools grow from increased membership. But I believe that increased membership grows from schools! Our well established schools grew from very small beginnings, in some cases as few as only six or seven pupils. Let us be guided by the old adage, "Nothing venture, nothing win." There are ways and means, and we don't have to wait for a legacy to drop from heaven!
     Chris Horner
          Tamworth, Australia
NEW CHURCH IN ICELAND 1988

NEW CHURCH IN ICELAND Editor 1988

When the first Van Cliburn piano competition was held in the United States, a distinguished musician from Iceland was called in to be one of the judges. This was Mr. Ami Kristjannson. At that time this gentleman said that he and his wife Ani were the only New Church people in Iceland. (See page 74 of the great Swedenborg anthology published this year by the Swedenborg Foundation.) In October of this year Mr. Sveinn Olafsson and his wife visited Bryn Athyn and stayed at the home of Bishop King. He had good news. After years of work his translation of Heaven and Hell into Icelandic was ready for publication. We understand that the publication is just now taking place.

557

ORDINATION 1988

ORDINATION Editor 1988

Announcements
Chapin-At Baltimore, Maryland, October 23, 1988, Rev. Frederick Merle Chapin into the 2nd degree of the priesthood, Rt. Rev. Louis B. King officiating.
NCL 50 YEARS AGO ON FAMILY LIFE 1988

NCL 50 YEARS AGO ON FAMILY LIFE Editor 1988

In December of 1938 this magazine published a classic article by the late Hugo Lj. Odhner entitled "Religion in the Home." It is nine pages long, and copies may be obtained from the Life. Lest you think it is overly pious and unrealistic, consider the following paragraph about family life in those days:

There come periods in every family when there is nervous tension and a tendency of each to ignore the rights of the others-times when there is so much worry over little things, a decrease of mutual understanding, an undue sensitiveness, and a desire to dominate. It is easily recognized. It begins with the voices being raised, and a general lack of courtesy and forbearance. Mutual accusations follow, and angry words may lead to retaliations. And when the parents cannot stand it any more, one of them sometimes flares up and metes out punishments which, even if just, miss their mark because they do not convince the wrongdoer of his guilt.