CONTRIBUTORS              1911

ACTON, A.,
ALDEN, K. R.,
ANSHULTZ, E. P.,
BARLER, O. L.,
BEEKMAN, MISS L. G.,
CALDWELL, W. B.,
COOPER, GEO. M.,
CRANCH, EDWARD,
CRONLUND, E. R.,
DE CHARMS, GEO.,
FALK, MISS SOPHIE,
GILLS, W. REY,
IUNGERICH, E. E.,
KEEP, R. H.,
LECHNER, H.,
ODHNER, H. L.,
ODHNER, M. A.,
OTTLEY, G. C.,
PENDLETON, D. N.,
PENDLETON, W. F.,
POTTS, J. F.,
SMITH, G. H.,
SULLIVAN, MISS R. E.,
SYNNESTVEDT, H.,
WAELCHLI, F. E.

CORRESPONDENTS.

ACTON, A.,
BARGER, G.,
BLAIR, E., (B. P. O. E.)
BOWERS, J. E.,
CALDWELL, W. B.,
CHILDS, G. S.,
CHILDS, S. B.,
COOPER, F. R.,
CRANCH, E.,
CZERNY, A.,
EDMONDS, MRS. G. H., (H.),
ELPHICK, R. W.,
GLADISH, W. L.,
GYLLENHAAL, F.,
IUNGERICH, E. E.,
KEEP, R. H.,
KING, J. B. S.,
LA FAYETTE, L. C. DE,
LEACH, MISS G. M.,
LUCAS, LOUIS,
MCQUEEN, ALEC, (M.; A. M.),
ODHNER, H. L.,
PENDLETON, MISS ORA, (B. P. O. E.),
PRICE, E. S.,
ROSE, D. F.,
SOMERVILE, MISS B.,
STROH, A. H.,
STROH, MRS. E., (R. E. S.),
WAELCHLI, F. E.,
WELLS, MISS VOLITA.
Title Unspecified 1911

Title Unspecified              1911

     NEW CHURCH LIFE
     Vol. XXXI      JANUARY, 1911          No. 1
EXTERNAL DECLINE OF THE OLD CHURCH 1911

EXTERNAL DECLINE OF THE OLD CHURCH       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1911

     A Church may continue in external form even after its consummation or end as a spiritual Church of the Lord. For when a Church is said to be vastated, consummated or destroyed, the meaning is that what is spiritual in it has ceased to exist, that its soul and life is gone though the body may remain and continue for a length of time.

     The continuance in existence of a Church in external form, after its spiritual life has departed, is determined under Providence by the possibility of its still being made of use. For it is with this as it is with any evil, it is allowed to survive or remain active so long as it can be bent to use, and so long as its opposite good is not yet ready to take its place; for a good and the evil which is opposed to it take on a like form in ultimates, and if the good be not yet ready to fill the ultimate, the opposite evil is allowed to do so, until the fullness of time or until the judgment comes. This is allowed in order that the uses involved in that good may still be performed, even though they be done by those who are in the opposite evil; in which case they are done only in the external form. Still they must be done, and if the good cannot be found to do them, the evil are led or permitted to undertake the work which is needed for the welfare of mankind. This accounts for the temporary or prolonged existence of the imaginary heavens and of a fallen Church on the earth; and these must continue until a true heaven and a true Church can come into actual existence. The uses of heaven and of the Church must, therefore, be performed, even though they be done by those in whom evil loves are dominant.

     The Jewish people were chosen or permitted to perform the uses of a representative Church, because no true or spiritual Church could be formed by the Lord on the earth at that time, for the forms and uses of a Church must always exist on earth, even if there be no soul or internal in them, or the human race could not continue to exist, being cut off from communication with heaven, which is effected only by a Church in organic form. Even when the main use of the Jewish Church ceased, which was when the Lord came into the world, when the Christian Church was established, and when the Jewish nation was cast out of the land of Canaan; nevertheless that Church continued and has continued until this day, and this because it has still had uses to perform for mankind. This is what is meant by the words of the Lord, "This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled." (Matthew xxiv. 34.) Concerning these words we read in the explanation given them in the ARCANA CAELESTIA, that they signify that "the Jewish nation will not be extirpated as other nations." (n. 4231.) We have also this teaching, "Inasmuch as the tribe of Judah was of this character more than the other tribes, and at this day as formerly account the rituals holy, which may be observed out of Jerusalem, and also have an holy veneration for their fathers and a particular reverence for the Word of the Old Testament, and inasmuch as it was foreseen that Christians would almost reject the Word, and would likewise defile its internal things with things profane, therefore that nation has been hitherto preserved, according to the Lord's words in Matthew, chap. xxiv. 34; it would have been otherwise if Christians, as they were acquainted with things internal, had also lived internal men; in this case that nation, like other nations, would before many ages have been cut off." (A. C. 3479.) In another place the same words are explained to mean that what is still left of the worship of the Jewish Church will come to an end with the end of the Church at this day in Europe, or the Christian Church. (n. 10497)

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The remnant of the worship of the Jewish Church, preserved after their expulsion from the land of Canaan, has no need of further existence since the second coming of the Lord and the establishment of the New Christian Church, for the uses performed by that Church and the worship will now be more efficiently performed by others, and will be transferred to them. The Jewish worship will now gradually disappear, and the Jewish nation will cease to exist as a distinct race among Christians.

     History repeats itself in all Churches. As it was in the Jewish Church so it was with the Ancient Church, and the Most Ancient. Those Churches continued for a long time in external form in the natural world after they had been judged in the spiritual world; and it is the same with the Old or former Christian Church. This Church was judged in the spiritual world in the year 1757, and its connection with heaven severed; but it has remained in external form in the natural world, and will doubtless continue so to remain for a long time to come, on account of uses which it still has to perform. (L. J. 73.)

     It will be interesting and instructive to consider what are the uses in general which the Old Church has yet to perform, and thus why it is to remain, perhaps for a long time, in the external form of a Church. The real essential use of a Church is, to be the depository of revelation, and by means of it to bring salvation to men. But when revelation is perverted, when false doctrine has taken the place of the true doctrine of the Word, and when the dominant life interiorly in it is evil, it gradually ceases to be a power for salvation, that is, it gradually ceases to be a Church,--although the forms of a Church still remain, and there still remains with some a spirit of love and obedience to the teachings of the Word. It may be said, therefore, that so long as a perverted Church can be led to foster this spirit of love and obedience with some, or with those who are called the simple, so long it will continue in the external form as a Church. This a perverted Church is led to do in spite of its false doctrine, and in spite of the evils of life which are internally dominant. For so long as the Word is read in public and in private, and there is delight in reading and hearing it read, the power of salvation is present from the Lord; and even where the Word is not read, or where it is not known, if there is still delight in obedience to the precepts of religion, which are from revelation, the Lord can thereby be present and hold men in a salvable state, that is, in a state in which they can receive instruction in the spiritual world after death.

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     The Old Church will, therefore, continue in external form so long as there is delight in reading the Word, (A. E. 619, 621, 624, 625), which involves a delight in publishing it, in keeping it in circulation, and in translating it into the various languages of the world. But when the Word is no longer read or heard with delight, when it is despised or treated as a mere specimen of ancient literature, the Old Church then comes to an end even in the external form, and its function as a Church ceases. The delight in reading the Word, of which we speak, is two-fold in character. With some it is a delight from a spiritual origin, which exists with those who are called the simple good; but with others the delight is from a natural origin, that is, from the love of fame, honor and gain, which exists with many of the clergy. The delight in the Word with these latter, however, is for the sake of the simple, that they may stand well with them and exercise power over them and by them. But when they can no longer exercise such power, even their natural delight in reading the Word ceases, and the Church is no longer with them even in its external form.

     The use and function of a Church is that it may be an instrumentality of the Lord in saving the souls of men. For the salvation of the human race, and thereby the formation of heaven, is the one end of creation and the one end of revelation. All created forms, all organic activities, are instrumental to this one universal end. But the chief instrumentality of all is the Church, and it is most essential that this chief instrumentality be efficient, worthy of the end for which it is instrumental; and if any Church ceases to be efficient, especially if it begins to mar, hinder or destroy the use for which it was originally formed, then another is provided to take its place. This is a work that is now being accomplished, of which we are living witnesses. The first Christian Church has failed in its mission as a Church. It is no longer an efficient instrumentality in saving the souls of men. It has become more and more an instrumentality for destroying human souls rather than one for saving them.

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But in spite of itself it is still made to serve in some measure the use for which it was originally formed, and this will continue until another has been prepared to take its place. For it is a law of Divine Providence that no instrumentality of use is removed until a more efficient one is provided. Inefficient work is better than none at all, and inefficient work must continue until that which is efficient is ready to take its place. This is what is meant by the words of the prophecy, "A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment into victory." (Matth. xii. 20; Isa. xlii. 3.) And by the words of John the Baptist, which he spake concerning the Lord, saying, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John iii. 30.) John was the last prophet of the old dispensation; in him the use and work of the representative Church terminated, and his words to the Jews and to his own disciples figured the passing away and removal of the function of the Jewish Church and its transfer to the Christian Church which was now to come, teaching of the immediate presence of the Lord by His Glorified Human in the Christian Church, that His presence was no longer to be mediate by representatives as in the Churches before His Advent. "He must increase, but I must decrease."

     So it is now. The old must decrease, and the new must increase that it may take the place of the old. But the decrease will be gradual, and also the increase; and the decrease will be according to the increase. The old must remain for a time in order to perform the work of a Church, even though with extreme inefficiency, until the new has increased and thus prepared to do a more efficient work in the salvation of souls than has even been done before. For the law must be fulfilled, of which we have spoken, that no instrumentality of use is removed until a more efficient one is ready to take its place. This decrease of the old and increase of the new has been going on since the Last Judgment, and will continue for very many years to come; it will continue until the efficiency of the aid as an instrumentality for salvation entirely ceases and a better one is provided, which is gradually being done as the years go by in the organic establishment of the New Church. For the use of a Church is spiritual, but when the time comes that the Old Church is not capable any longer of performing a spiritual use among men, its external decline as a power in the world will become manliest; for the body cannot long survive when the soul has departed.

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     A question arises here, Has a Church a natural use in the world as well as one that is spiritual? It is even so. For there is no created form in the spiritual world that has one use alone. Every form has indeed a prime use, but there is always one that is secondary. There are always the two witnesses. For, as is said in the Writings, one truth does not make a form, nor does one use. It is so with the Church. Its prime use is spiritual, but there is the other witness in a natural use in the world, a use subordinate to its prime or spiritual use. It is a use of restraint upon the actions of men, looking to the preservation of civil order and cultivating, inspiring obedience to the civil law. The Church is thus a conservative power in the state and a strong co-operative instrumentality in upholding the laws of the land and loyalty to the law. Many men of natural intelligence and education, having no spiritual faith or insight, see in this natural use of the Church its only use, and openly say that the Church has no reason to exist, except for keeping the common people under the restraints of law and order. This use the Church does indeed perform and ought to perform, since it is a legitimate and direct result of its spiritual use; for the effect of religion in the heart, mind and life is at once to bring about a condition of obedience to the moral and civil law. In fact, this also becomes a part of one's religion; and the office of the Church is to nourish and establish the life of religion in the world, even to its natural and ultimate effects.

     Now do we observe that this natural function of a Church is being taken away from the Old Christian Church and transferred to others? If this is so, if this be accomplished, if this secondary use of a Church--the preservation of civil order--be also taken away from the Old Church, to be operated more efficiently by others, then indeed is its time at hand, a time when with the ceasing of its two-fold function its external decline and disintegration will become apparent; for when the two witnesses have both departed, there is no longer in it or in any form a reason to be.

     Evidences are multiplying that this natural or civil use of a Church is being taken away from the Old Church and transferred elsewhere.

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In short, this use, performed in the past by the Old Church, is being taken away from it and is being performed by those who cultivate morality without religion, and obedience to the civil law on the mere ground of utility. This condition, brought about by modern education and culture, is rapidly increasing, and is taking the place of the Old Church as a natural conservator of law and order, and its general agent is the newspaper press, the latter taking the place of the priesthood of the Church. It may be said, therefore, that the preservation of public order and obedience to law is a matter that is now very largely in the hands of the newspapers, gradually superseding or taking the place of the Church in this important function. And in the place of religion a utilitarian philosophy is inculcated, a philosophy which teaches that no man acts except from self interest, and that it must be shown to men to be their own interest that the law be obeyed and civil order preserved.

     It may be remarked that the utilitarian philosophy is true so far as it respects the natural man. Self love is the ruling love, the ruling principle of the natural, and the man in whom the spiritual mind is not opened cannot do otherwise than think and act for his own self interest. But the utilitarian philosophers teach that there is an intelligent, an enlightened self interest, which will lead a man to yield to others what is their right, but which he does however for the sake of getting a return from him. This philosophy, called utilitarian, is rapidly taking the place of the religion of the Old Church as a conservator of order in the world. It dominates the newspaper press, it pervades the literature of the day, and it is the distinguishing principle of the business world the philosophy of self interest. You must do right because it is to your own interest to do so. You will gain more for yourself by doing right than by doing wrong. To do right is the best policy. It will keep you out of jail; by it you will gain the esteem of your fellow men; and by it you will acquire much of this world's goods. This is what is called an enlightened self interest--a purely materialistic philosophy indeed, but it is one that is capturing the world, and is taking the place of the old religion in restraining the actions of men, and forming the appearance of a moral and civil conscience.

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     The work of the Old Church is therefore approaching a termination. The New Church is to inherit its spiritual power for salvation, and perform it more efficiently than it has ever been done, before. A utilitarian philosophy is to take on its work of, upholding the state, civil order and obedience to law; and we may thus expect the external decline of the Old Church to be more rapid in its manifestation in the future than in the past; for the glory has departed from Israel, and a new Israel has come to take the place of the old to do more efficiently the spiritual work of a Church.

     We would make a final remark about the utilitarian philosophy, which is now rapidly spreading over the world, under one name or another. It seems to be what is meant by the earth which helps the woman (Rev. xii., 16). Being a purely material philosophy, it is supremely indifferent to everything spiritual, so much so that the New Church, a spiritual church, has very little to fear from it in the way of infestation or attack; for the infestation of the New Church comes directly from those who have perverted and falsified the Word, that is, from the Old Church itself. This state, therefore, as represented in the utilitarian philosophy, is a state that will be of assistance to the New Church, for there is in it far more of a recognition of human freedom, far more of a natural liberality than is possible to come from the Old Church itself. The utilitarian philosophy, therefore, takes on the natural function of the Old Church in the world, performing it more efficiently, and is at the same time to be of assistance to the New Church in its development and final establishment. Wonderful are the ways of Providence in fulfilling the Divine Will among men.

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CREATION AND REGENERATION 1911

CREATION AND REGENERATION       Rev. R. H. KEEP       1911

     In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gen. i:1.

     The Word is a Revelation of God. Every statement of Revelation is an image of God, i. e., it is an appearance of God, or, it is God appearing or unveiling Himself to man. God is indivisible, therefore He is within every appearance of Himself in the fulness of His Divinity. Man inclines to think of the various revelations of God as separate from each other; but when he abstracts his mind from time and space-when he elevates it above external appearances of truth, he sees the distinct manifestations of God as one manifestation, the different revelations as one revelation. This is because he sees and knows that God is one; and, therefore, when God appears, His unity always appears. In thinking of the Word we are not to think of the letters and words of language, nor of their style, as constituting the Word; but of the idea of God or the reflection of God which they give and transmit. Every revelation which God has made of Himself contains all His Divine Nature--not necessarily in the words and language of the revelation, but in the essence, the substance and the idea. For example, in the letter of the Word the Divine truth is in its holiness, its fulness, and its power because it is the most ultimate form of revelation and in it, therefore, all divine things terminate; but it is from the internal and inmost senses that these qualities are and exist there. Again, the internal sense is the very glory of the Word which enlightens the forms of the letter, so that they may be understood, and the Divine be seen in them, and thus the Lord be approached really and spiritually. What makes any Divine Revelation to be the Word is the Lord in it; and His very purpose in giving it is to cause Himself to be visible and approachable. The more externally and naturally man regards the various forms of Revelation the more they appear to be separate and diverse from each other.

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The more internally and spiritually they are seen and perceived, the more distinctly united and the same do they seem. It requires exercise of the natural faculties of the mind to acknowledge and receive the Divine Truth in the form of the letter. To illustrate by an example, let us take the commandments from the Old Testament. Common perception teaches that these precepts are right and are to be kept for the sake of order among men.

     From the New Testament let us take the very central doctrine of all, the Lord's teaching while He was on earth: This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. John xv:12. Again, from mere common perception man knows that if he shows love to another he follows the Lord.

     But it requires exercise of the spiritual faculties, i. e., spiritual rationality, to acknowledge and receive the Divine Truth of the Revelation of the internal sense of the Word in the Writings of Swedenborg. We can give, at this time, only a very brief illustration of this. Let us take for example the doctrine "that the Second Coming of the Lord is not in person, but in the Word which is from Him and is Himself." (T. C. R. 778.) It is only by rational intuition that this truth can be understood. The rational faculty as soon as it hears the statement will ask for a reasonable explanation drawn from the Sacred Scripture and confirmed by it. This general proposition is made in the Writings, and is there elucidated in a definite and logical manner. So again the exercise of the rational faculty is required to see and receive the explanation of the fundamental doctrine "that the Second Coming of the Lord is effected by means of a man, before whom He has manifested Himself, and whom He has filled with His spirit, to teach the Doctrines of the New Church through the Word from Him." (T. C. R. 779.) This proposition is so clearly demonstrated in the Writings that it not only perfectly satisfies the reason, but affords it ineffable delight and happiness. The relation of the internal sense of the Word appeals to a higher, i. e., to an interior and superior region or sphere of thought, than the revelation of the literal sense, because the latter is a natural form of the Word and the former is a spiritual form of it. But the understanding of the spirit involves the perception of it within the letter as the soul is seen to be in the body.

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To him, therefore, who is acquainted with the internal sense, the external sense is the very basis, containant and support of the Divine Truth and the very habitation of its holiness and power. Without the external sense the Word would be like soul without body, or substance without form, or essence without existence, which would perish by dispersion.

     With these few preliminary ideas in mind let us consider the words of the text. The first thought which they produce in the mind is the idea of God the Creator, and of the habitable universe which He has created. This idea is the idea which children have when they either read these words or hear them from another. It is also the idea which every man has when he comes into doubting or negative states of mind--when he is infested by evil spirits and cast into temptation. It is a haven of refuge, a bulwark of defense to which he flies for safety, and exclaims, This heaven which I see above me and this earth which I feel beneath my feet--these things God created in the beginning. So this ultimate manifestation of God, this sensual appearance of the Divine Truth, is the rock on which the church is built, the foundation-stone of faith from which the mind may arise after combat into purer love and clearer light concerning the internal truths of creation.

     The internal historical sense of the text refers to the formation of the Most Ancient Church on this earth, and, also, by analogy, to the beginnings of every human mind in infancy. This state corresponds to the first state in the development of the celestial age--the state of mind and life when all children receive from angels and parents celestial impressions of good and truth which remain with them forever. But the special sense which is of greatest interest and value for us to consider is that which treats not of creation and birth but of re-creation, regeneration and reformation.

     "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." "The beginning involves the first state when man is being regenerated." "Creation" signifies regeneration. The heaven and the earth, respectively, signify the internal and the external man.

     How creation signifies regeneration may be seen if we consider the doctrine of cause and effect.

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In the first place, the original proposition of this doctrine is involved in the idea of the Creator and the creation, since God is the supreme cause, and creation is the result of His operating forces and powers. But this general idea is not complete until we perceive the end in creation which is the salvation of man by conjunction with God; and this conjunction is effected solely by regeneration. But let us investigate our subject more interiorly. To do this, examine, if you please, the human mind which is an image and likeness of the Divine mind. Affection, which is love active, forms itself by means of thought in order to produce an effect which is the result. The end is in the affection, the cause is in the thought and the effect is in the word or act which results. In the effect the end and the cause conjoin themselves. That conjunction is in the end potentially, and it constitutes its character and quality. These things are true of the human mind because they are the created image or resemblance of the Divine mind or the Creator. In God the Creator, Divine Love is end, Divine Truth is cause, and the universe is the effect But the universe or the macrocosm is gathered into man; the microcosm, who is, therefore, the very center, purpose and complete fulfilment of creation. In the Divine end man is made an image or resemblance of God into which the Divine Love and Truth may flow in order to effect conjunction. Therefore, conjunction with man is also involved in the creation of man. But man has destroyed the image of God in himself by evils of life. Nevertheless, evil may be removed through the power of God, and this removal of evil from man is called regeneration. Regeneration, therefore, is involved in the creation of man, and is to be understood in the words: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

     As we have seen, creation means conjunction; i. e., the ultimate end of the Divine Love in creating man is to effect a mutual conjunction. The Divine cannot fail to fulfil His own purpose if man will co-operate with Him; but man may fail to do so, and this failure is called damnation. He who is damned is he who is separated from his own end, whose soul is lost in perdition.

     So it is; brethren, that in the very beginning of the Word we are brought face to face with its chiefest lesson, the way of conjunction with God, i. e., the way of regeneration or re-creation into the end of the Divine love which is salvation, and salvation is heaven.

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     It is the part of a wise man, therefore, to go to the Divine Word of the Lord God the Creator in order to see Him there; as also the Lord God the Regenerator and Savior. Let us then go to Him that we may hear His message which He hath sent unto us. As you perceive that God the Creator is also God the Regenerator and Savior, and that regeneration and salvation are not possible without revelation, you will also perceive that creation implies and involves Revelation. Revelation is the means of approach to God and conjunction with Him, thus the means of regeneration and salvation, the way to heaven and life eternal.

     All you know of the Divine and infinite nature of God, all you know of His end in creation, of His love in saving you, and making you happy, you have learned from His own revelation of Himself. All you know of your human and finite nature, of your reception of influx from the Divine Life, of your co-operation with that divine and eternal source of all life in order that you may live forever after death--all these things you have learned from revelation. Think of the Divine Revelation then as the creative end of the Divine Love manifesting itself in the forming cause of the Divine Truth to effect your soul's salvation by regenerating you, i. e., by recreating you into an image and likewise of God, into a resemblance ever more perfect of God the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, your Father everlasting in heaven. Think of these things when ye read, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," and apply them in your study and in your work, that you may be lifted up at last into the ineffable peace and happiness of eternal life. May the Lord lead us all to learn His will, to know His way, to follow His commandments, that we may see ever more and more the spirit of His Divine Truth and may fulfill the end of His Divine Love. Amen.

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PRIMORDIAL VORTEX POINTS, AND THE FIRST FINITES 1911

PRIMORDIAL VORTEX POINTS, AND THE FIRST FINITES       LILLIAN G. BEEKMAN       1911

     The simple or primordial vortex points of Swedenborg's PRINCIPIA and INFINITE Stand in supreme relation to the forth-going and returning circuit of the proceeding creative Divine and also to the fall of man, and to the Incarnation of the Deity to save and make secure the circle of creation imperiled by the fall. Swedenborg's argument is that the return of the creative circuit, and its nexus with the Father, can be accomplished only by the same primordial sphere which was the nexus between the Infinite and the firsts of the outgoing circuit: that God, foreseeing the fall of man, brought forth this nexus, or Only Begotten, in order that at any time there might take place the Incarnation of the Deity even to the assumption of a plane more ultimate than that on which the fall took place; and that through the same primordial nexus sphere the ultimate of the human body might be brought into nexus with the Infinite Father.

     An argument looks forth here, concerning this primal sphere of creative potency and outgo,--this sphere of the simples of a Divine Human and Natural, which from eternity were part of the mystery of the intimate circle of the life and impulse of the Infinite, the primordial plane of reflux, the body of the life of God, the Divine Existence, from the beginning hidden in God. It is an argument connecting this primal sphere of simples or primitives with the Incarnation of God upon earth.

     The argument is a great one dealing with matters fundamental to religious thought. It involves:--(1), the grounds of necessitated return of the outgoing stream of the proceeding Divine, which begins in the little reflex waves of the simples or natural points;--(2), the foreordained place and service in that great circle of the proceeding Divine, of the ultimate bodily life of man, the last outgo of the creative act and the sole microcosmic form,--(3), the organic basis of free will, or individual determination in the human or microcosmic form, and the organic possibilities of finite men failing to fulfill their appointed place and office to the returning circuit of the proceeding Divine,--an inclination to such a failure, once begun, being hereditarily transmitted, and by intermarriage spreading throughout the human race;--

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(4), the Divine foresight of this contingency as imperiling the end of creation and threatening the dissolution of the human race in that solar system where this mischance should occur; and not the dissolution of the human race only, but probably also the lapse and dying out and total disappearance of the other kingdoms of nature, as well as the solid planet and the salt sea, and the lower elementary planes within the region of the solar system affected. This widespread destruction and disappearance would at last have become so complete that the heaven of ancient generations of men from this earth would no longer have found reflexive foothold in the men of their own race of later generations. Thus the very heaven attached to this earth would thereby have become an alien and an exile among the heavens of the universe; and at the best but a courteously entreated stranger, dependent for its food and drink upon the grounds of foreign soil, of flavor and genius other than its childhood's own;--(5), the argument involves also, the Divine providence for such a contingency in the very nature of the primal simples of the universal creation, a nature involving potencies by which the primal creative word might, at any need and anywhere, Itself be made flesh upon the afflicted earth, and thus Itself carry the purpose and the stream of the work of creation to completeness for the race, by connecting the great circuit of the proceeding Divine to the Infinite Esse again, thus establishing the work of the hands of Jehovah upon that earth firm forever. For the individual, also, this was to produce such a personal and accommodated reinforcement of human will and effect as would introduce regeneration possibilities for the men upon the threatened earth; and even though they made their bed in hell, it would still keep them in nexus with the God of their life, the One God, the eternal source of all generations of the ages. "For He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him, and His righteousness it sustained Him" (ISAIAH 59:16).

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"Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first in the lower parts of the earth. He that descended is the same that also ascended up far above all the heavens, that He might fulfill all things" (EPH. 4:9, 10).

     The statement is made by Swedenborg in the work ON THE INFINITE, that the Divine foresaw that mankind would fail to fulfill the place and office in the creative circle, that is, to effect the return of the outgoing circuit to the creative Infinite again. And foreseeing this, the Creator provided, in the beginning of finition, that the first simples thereof should be of such a nature, and stand in such a relation to the visible and invisible creation, (as the primes both of the spiritual and the natural), and in such a relation to the Infinite Father, that it would be possible for the Divine Human to come upon earth, be made flesh and dwell among us; and, taking to Himself a more ultimate body, be enabled thereby Himself to sustain forever the failing human planes of the corporeal and the sensual, forming them and reforming them, and living them into their orderly fullness and service,--and to do this, moreover, by the same active and reactive reciprocity between the Infinite and the "Only Begotten" which in the first place formed and brought forth the intermediate planes of creation.

     The name of that nexus and medium between the Infinite Esse and the first finites, through which the Infinite Father created the universe, is, Swedenborg says, given to us in revelation as the only begotten Son, from eternity (INF. Ch. I. paragraph X:3). God foresaw, he says, "that the body would command the soul," and that by the fall the connection between the Infinite and the last effect would be broken, and the end of creation frustrated. "But God provided against this by His Infinite only begotten Son, who took upon Himself the ultimate effect of the world, or a manhood and human shape; and thereby was Infinite in and with the finite; and consequently restored the nexus in His own person, between the Infinite and the finite, so that the primary end was realized, and the Only Begotten Himself became the last effect, at once God and man." Thus the Deity "provided that on the part of the body itself there should be a connection of the finite with the Infinite; that there should be a nexus in the last effect equally as in the first. . . .

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For the present let us be content with the certainty that through the only begotten Son of God, the first finites are connected with the last, and both with God" (INF. paragraph IV: 5).

     Thus these simples or primitives of finition exist in the Infinite before the birth of finites, and are at once the primes of the Divine Human and the Divine Natural; they are the immediate seeds, also, and primitives of the two worlds, the invisible and the visible, when they are interiorly viewed; and they are characterized by Swedenborg not only as the Only Begotten of the Infinite Father, but also as that same Word or Logos, from the beginning in the bosom of the Father, by whom the world was made, and which in the fullness of time and uses was made flesh, presenting the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

     Thus the Word by which the universe was made, is the same as that Word incarnate by which was wrought out the redemption of its ultimate again to God; and by which the full return of that creative circle which was sent forth from the bosom of the Infinite Father is effectively assured forever. For "no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven."

     Moreover, it can be rationally seen that such an avatar of the Divine, such an assumption of an ultimate and non-ultimate body, according to the lines of creative law and order, was possible only by virtue of the fact that the simples of creation, the First Begotten of the Infinite Esse, were the primes of a Divine Natural, and constituted a certain reactive plane, a Last, primordially brought forth in and of the Infinite First. By infinite action and reaction between the two, all the created planes that were being formed and brought forth, could at any time and forever be re-formed and generated anew.

     The intrinsic activity of the vortex points, which are the primordial simples of the creative act of God, represents something fundamental both to correspondence and mechanics.

     The unending circuit of its outflow from the center to the periphery of the "point" or least and first "corpuscle," its reflex down over the periphery and its return to the center again, presents the very analogue and image, in motion and circulation of substance, of the law characterizing all the activities of love.

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For all love not only tends to flow forth and make a certain circumference in which it can behold itself as it were in reflux and mirror, but all love, Swedenborg says, also returns as in a circle to the source from which it comes (DIV. LOVE, X, 32). Therefore that pure motion which constitutes the primitive simples, springing continually from the "nod" of a Divine Will and Conatus towards the creation of a reflexive and recipient universe resident in the Infinite Substance-in-itself, stands as an obedient correspondent of that Will, and of right characterizes the very activity of those simples and firsts of creation. They are thus peculiarly adapted in substance, form, and motion, to serve the creative Love of God in every gyre of its outgo and return; they are at once the first production, the primal subjects and the embodying substances of a Divine Love of forming and bringing forth through the ages a universe of finite and successive creatures, to be as the fullness of the outgo of the Divine Human,--the theatre of the Divine actions and reactions,--the reflex marriage ground of reciprocative delight and endeavor of unition between the Divine Love and Wisdom, the Divine Human and the Father.

     Moreover the particular variety of the vortical motion,--that is, the vortico-spiral,-which Swedenborg predicates for these vortex points or "simples" of the creative act, is said by him to possess peculiar properties in the province of mechanism and dynamics, properties which involve powers of a spontaneous production of definite compounds, and the easy maintenance of such compounds in cohering integrity.

     If, in a purely continuous and frictionless medium, (such as is Substance-in-itself, or the Infinite), vortex whirlpools be produced, the current of which shall have the peculiar spiral flow indicated by Swedenborg, then such vortex points or rings, produced in such a medium, will never of themselves cease their flow; and thus the minimal vortex entity, as it were delineated by that flow, has permanence of existence, unless the First Cause, God, directly will to dissolve their little vortices. Moreover,--and here is a notable point,--the minimal vortex corpuscles, delineated by the vortex flow, continuously-spiral, will not remain motionless in such a pure frictionless medium.

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By the intrinsic impetus of the peculiar circulation characterizing them, they will be, as it were, driven onward, and will move spontaneously about in the medium, in fine flowing orbits of a like figure, as the inner parent flow.

     This latter property of spontaneous motion is the very corner-stone, in mechanics and physics, of the whole edifice of Swedenborg's system. Results are derived, of abiding import in the scheme of successive or finite creation and the production of distinct degrees of "substance" for distinct degrees of use.

     To begin with:--if such primal vortex-points, or simples, be not quiescent, but each "point" is empowered and driven by the mechanical potency of its interior circulation to move in a certain continuously-spiral orbit,--as we might figure little planets moving in their orbits,--then such vortex points are not only capable of being acted upon by the Infinite Medium, the "Substance-in-it-self," in which they move, but they are also able to act upon each other, if they come within range of each other's orbits. They can approach, recede, jostle, collide, oppose each other's motion, allow each other's motion, and arrange themselves side by side, pole to pole,--like rolls of coins,--in circling procession.

     It is, indeed, this orbital motion, this power of acting upon each other, to which Swedenborg looks as a sufficient mechanical cause to account for the spontaneous origin of concrete vortex corpuscles, in any field where the original simples are brought forth in such abundance that they are at first in perpetual jostle among each other. Under such circumstances, in the course of time, Swedenborg says, the crowd among these ever jostling points inevitably will relieve itself by the coalescence of large numbers of the points, pole to pole, in little vortex shaped masses; these little masses themselves, from the intrinsic power and effort of motion in the points themselves deriving a certain power of motion.

     Thus in and from the original volume of vortex points, something new will have been produced, namely, certain compound vortex corpuscles, formed by coalescence of masses of the simples; the dimension of these compound vortex corpuscles being the same as that of the orbits described by the primitive points; and the figure the same.

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     Moreover, in such compound vortex corpuscles formed by the coalescence of little masses of the active primitives into one form, the component primitives will be able to continue their native motions with scarcely less freedom than they possessed before.

     In addition, when the primitive points have once coalesced into such compound corpuscles, these corpuscles thereafter possess great permanence. This permanence is partly due to the peculiar way in which the vortex points are set together, with their incurring faces in apposition, and only their comparatively narrow equatorial periphery exposed, so that each vortex point is supported in its place in the line by the broad pressure of the neighboring points, whereby the whole both protects and drives on any threatened individual point, and the intrinsic force and drive of each individual point contributes its quota to the spring and driving of the whole.

     In such consociative massings of numbers of simples to form larger corpuscles, the concretion of the elementary world begins, and the substances of the first plane of the finite universe are brought to birth.

     Moreover, only those primitives or simples which coalesce into the first concrete corpuscles-"the first finites"---can be said to be part of the finited or "natural" universe. The primitive points which do not thus coalesce, do not constitute "the finite universe" (PRINCIPIA I. Ch. III. paragraph 14).

     These first concrete vortex-corpuscles are the first entities to which Swedenborg is willing to allow the name of finite, as they are the first entities which consist of parts. Swedenborg calls them "the first substantials," "the first finite corpuscles," and, oftenest, "the first finites."

     The continuously spiral or vortico-spiral motion which characterizes the activity of the first points of finiting is, therefore, affirmed by Swedenborg to be mathematically and mechanically sufficient, wherever there exists a great crowd of these primitive vortex points, to cause numbers of them to coalesce in such definite order as to form little compound corpuscles; to hold them steadily together when once they have coalesced; and to give to the concrete entities thus produced a vortex form, an interior circulation, and derivative powers of spontaneous locomotion, emulous of its own.

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     Be it noted, however, that only a moiety of the primitives or simples which exist within the expanse of the universe ever thus enter what may be termed "the finite plane" of natural substance, by "giving themselves" to form those first concreted substantials, from which alone all things comprising the finited universe are formed. By far the vaster number of them remain in their original separable form and activity. Indeed, non-coalescent finites exist in such volume that they are as it were omnipresent in the universe. Filling literally the interstices within and without the bullular forms of the atmospheric world, they exist thus in space without space, since their encircling activity preserves all concrete entities in that equilibrium of form and motion in and to which they were created. Thus they conserve that which is formed. (PRINC. I. Ch. V, last section; Ch. VI. paragraph 5.)

     Here again appears an analogue of the supreme arcanum involved in the Divine proceeding.

     The universal Divine Esse gives and accommodates of its own substance to bring into existence the less universal Divine Essence, the units of which constitute what is termed the Spiritual Sun within which the Lord is, and which are omnipresent throughout the universe, since wherever the Lord is they are. Or, to state the like series in other terms, the universal Infinite, the all Father, gives of His own substance, and determines the activities thereof, to bring into existence the simples or primitives of finition, which interiorly, on the side of their immediate connection with the Infinite, stand as "the only begotten Son," and "Logos." So, also, in its turn, the great and wonderful sphere of the primitives gives a portion of its own substance or "units" to form the first concrete substantials, less universal than the primitives themselves. Thus the primitives exist outside of all concrete forms; and they exist also in them, since they form them.

     There are also other analogues of this sequence of conatus and potency, by which we may confirm ourselves as to the actual truth of such a series in the more non-compounded planes of substance.

     For love, it is said, gives loan and accommodation of its own substance in order that wisdom may be formed; and the will in order that the understanding may be built and fitted and stand forth.

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And there is a period when there is no wisdom, only love forming; no understanding, only the organic substantial will "weaving a living organic mate." For love, the maker, is afterwards the husband to this objective mate. Moreover, while wisdom is absolutely nothing without love, nor understanding anything if there be no will, yet is love somewhat before wisdom be; and will has actuality and weaving power, though understanding be not yet inchoately formed; although indeed the love alone, and the will alone, work and weave and live as it were by touch, and touch by touch, in obscurity, with as yet unformed unopened eyes.

     One more illustrative analogy we have. Heart's blood gives of the very blood of its tides towards the construction of the twin bosoms of its mate, the lungs. Such is the constructive policy and endeavor which are bodied for action in the flowing substance, reaching beneath the determination of vital fluid subtler than itself, and more quick to the Divine. In this case there is also a formative period where as yet there are no lungs, but only the vital fluids weaving.

     And this period is the analogue and image of a like period in the bringing forth of the created organic universe. The production of the bloods is as the production of the successive series of the Divine proceeding. This relation, (at first creative, afterwards mated), to the manifest tissues and organs of the body, is as the relation of the series of the proceeding Divine to the manifest concrete forms of creation. And the series of the great planes of the elementary kingdom are the bloods of the universe, regarded as an organic body. They were formed before the manifest world was formed, and therefore forever they stand as intermediating media between the very Divine and the planes of this universe.

     These analogues coincide in certain central ideas, dominant in the universe of fact and law, substance and activity.

     In all concrete substance there exists a certain primal inclination and potency, conatus and power of endeavor, towards the construction of some second more compounded plane of structure, empowered to act as its coexistent plane,--at once the basis of its own reflexing circulation, and the ground of a specialized autonomic reciprocation with the Infinite One.

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This connate inclination toward the production of a less universal and more finited substance as a reflexing plane, descends into the substantia concreta from which all things in the universe are framed, through the high heredity of simples and primal finites, as the sole substance of which all substances are formed.

     This inclination, then, in the substantia concrete, images, emulates, and comes forth from, the sublime will of the Infinite One, the All Father, Substance in itself, to bring forth the sphere of the simples, the primordial firsts of a Divine Human, alone immediately begotten of the generative Power of God. And this inclination enters the sphere of finite substances and things and powers, through the conatus and movement of those begotten simples towards emulous generation of the first finites, the primal substantia concreta of creation.

     That, in every instance, this more ultimate reflexing plane or structure should possess autonomic reality of its own, nurtured and sustained by a continued perpetual connection with its parent, comes from the same high source.

     This autonomic, more finite, coexistent plane or structural province, is itself empowered for specialized reciprocation with the larger, more universal macrocosm, and inmostly, with the Divine Human Himself, and images forth the supreme reciprocative desire and motion of the Only Begotten towards the Father, from which it is derived, and also the unition of the lower more-compounded human planes of the body with the soul.

     These connate inclinations of substance;-masked, and as it were inhibited, in concreted forms and grosser conditions,--in finer planes and resolutions play in that liquid freedom which is at once obedience to its own intrinsic inclination and to the molding touch of the Ever Infinite.

     Meanwhile, the division of these least substances, the units of the substantia: concreta, their individuality, renders them helpless to produce any plane, any structure, and least compound thing, each of its own little self alone,--but only by consociative assistance of myriads of others of its kind; this self-helplessness of the myriad units to coincide in motion, save along simple spiring lines, keeps them ever in simplest relations of dependence upon that Infinite One, the All Father, to bring them together, along the lines of their inclinations, into compound forms emulous of integral oneness; and, brought together, to hold them compacted and associate.

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Only in such associate production of larger integral wholes, possessing an autonomous spring of circulation and action in its own boundary, and capable as a whole of reciprocation again with the Infinite Divine as if it was itself a little "circle of creation," does the innate inclination of the component
units, as substance, rest full satisfied.
SAVING POWER OF THE LORD 1911

SAVING POWER OF THE LORD              1911

     ". . . The Lord can lead man to heaven only by means of these laws [laws of order which are called the laws of Divine Providence], although He has Divine Love from which He wills, and Divine Wisdom from which He knows all things, and Divine Power, which is omnipotence, from which He can do what He wills. For these laws that are called laws of Providence are lows of order respecting reformation and regeneration, thus respecting the salvation of man, and against these the Lord cannot act. To act against them would be to act against His own wisdom and against His own love, thus against Himself." (A. E. 11382)

     "That man ought to purify himself from evils, and not wait that the Lord may do this immediately, is comparatively as if a servant, whose face and clothes are daubed with soot and dung, should come up to his master, and say, 'Wash me, sir.' Would not the master say to him, 'You foolish servant, what do you say? See, this is water, soap, and a towel. Have you not hands and power to use them? Wash yourself.' And the Lord God might say, 'The means of purification are from Me, and also your will and your power are from Me; therefore use these My gifts and talents as your own, and you will be purified.'" (T. C. R. 331.)

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SUCKLING IN THE WOMB 1911

SUCKLING IN THE WOMB       Rev. ALFRED ACTON       1911

     In the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, n. 48, we read: "An infant does not know from connate science the teat of the mother . . . it knows only how to suck, and it has drawn this from a continual suction in the mother's womb."

     This statement is given by Swedenborg as the report of certain spirits in the other world whose special love and function was to investigate facts, and who were called upon to deliver the facts respecting alleged connate knowledges.

     The statement has usually been accepted by Newchurchmen without question; but, as a result of an emphatic denial of it by a medical friend, some definite explanation has been asked for. The medical friend referred to denies that it is a fact that the infant in the womb sucks with the lips, and he seems to regard the establishment of this negation as sufficient proof of the incorrectness of Swedenborg's statement.

     Such reasoning is somewhat in the nature of that gymnastic feat ordinarily styled jumping to a conclusion. For Swedenborg does not say that the infant in the womb sucks with its lips. What he does say is that the post-natal suction of the lips has its origin in "continual suction in the mother's womb." Whether or not the foetus actually sucks with its lips during the latter days of gestation is in reality unessential to the point in question. But we may be permitted to add, that such suction seems not improbable, in view of the meconium present in the intestines of newborn infants,--as to the origin of which, whether from the stomach or the liver, science is in doubt.

     But, as we have observed, this is in reality an unessential point. What Swedenborg is evidently referring to in his use of the word "suction," is what he calls the law of the equation of the blood. By this law, the blood or nourishment supplied to any given organ of the body, is not supplied by virtue of any extraneous force or impulse of the blood or heart, but by virtue of an attraction or suction exerted by the organ to be supplied.

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Thus the kidneys suck out, attract or demand from the common stream of the aorta only that which they require and for the reception and use of which they are filled. So, likewise, with the intestines, the testes, the ovaries, etc. The aorta contains supplies for the whole body; but these supplies it merely presents to the different organs, leaving to the organs themselves to suck or draw out whatsoever they may need. (See GENERATION, n. 11 seq.)

     The same law applies to the infant in the womb. That is to say, the mother does not force her blood and its stores upon the infant; but she presents or offers her riches, and the infant itself chooses and sucks out whatsoever it needs and desires. This is proved by anatomical facts; for there is no vascular connection between the mother and the foetus. That is to say, there is no vessel which conveys blood direct from the mother to the child. The maternal blood containing the foetal food is poured into pools or lakes, and the ends of the foetal or placental veins are terminated in these lakes and draw from them whatsoever they need. Thus the commander and regulator of the supply is the foetus itself and not the mother.

     The matter is lucidly stated by Swedenborg himself in the following fine passage:

     "The placenta, with its common membrane, the chorion, applied as it is to the uterus, is of an epispastic [drawing, pulling, sucking] nature; that is to say, exercises a natural attraction, like blister-drawing and detersive substances in general; much in the same way as the mamma and nutrient papillae after birth which do not pour in the milky fluid, but proffer it to the infant to be sucked out. This is proved, not only by the fact that the vessels of the placenta do not communicate with the vessels of the womb, but also by other phenomena. Were the blood poured in, the embryo would receive whatever the mother brought to it, whether clean or unclean; and in this case it would have no action of its own, nor would merely emulge [draw or suck out] what would conduce to the formation of its delicate frame. And, moreover, under these circumstances, its growth would not be limited to the stated period of nine months, but would be according to the mother's lavish supplies; and thus inconstancy would preside over the several points in the career of formation.

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It is, however, the embryo itself that thirsts and hungers for this alimony or food; that is to say, for a precise quantity or quality of the maternal nutriment; and all proceeds according to this natural hunger and thirst, just, indeed, as, after the delivery, at the teats of the nursing mother, when the same instinct is active, constant, and repeated." (GENERATION, n. 221.)

     It is clear beyond question, on both anatomical and philosophical grounds, that the placenta is what draws or sucks in whatsoever it needs from the proffered maternal blood. It is equally manifest that the placenta does not do this from itself but from the soul and brain of the growing infant. It is the soul and brain alone that perceives what is needed for the growing body; and that continually inspires in the vessels of the placenta that suction and appetite and choice whereby it draws forth and delivers to the body its needed store of nourishment. And that wise soul which thus causes a "continual suction" in the placenta while the infant is still in the womb inspires a similar suction in the infant after birth. But now the uses of the placenta are ended; and the soul would show nought but folly were it to inspire in that dead organ the suction whereby it had formerly chosen and elected the supplies for its growing corporeal habitation. It nevertheless continues to will and desire the nourishment and growth of that frame, and hence to inspire in it a continual suction, drawing, and attraction, whereby it may receive its due quota of food. But the suction is now exercised not through the placenta but through the lips, for these are the means now ordained by the soul for the nourishment of its body,--means which it has providentially framed from the food received by the former suction inspired in the placenta. And, therefore, when born, the infant suckles with its lips,--and this, not from any science connate with it, or proper to its mind, but "from continual suction in the mother's womb."

     That there is a change in the direction or determination of the soul's will, such as is indicated, above, is abundantly manifest from many phenomena.

     Thus, to illustrate by the mother herself. The maternal soul, willing in wisdom the formation of an infant body, proffers the whole supply of its blood's rich freight to the womb where it can be submitted to the choice of the infant.

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But after birth, the same maternal soul, perceiving from its wisdom that these functions of the womb have now ceased, transfers its rich supplies to the breasts and there proffers them in liberal generosity to the eager lips of the newborn babe.

     The case is further illustrated in our own life. For the same soul that has inspired the continual suction of the placenta in the womb, and that, after birth, transfers that suction to the lips,--that same soul, acting from the wisdom of its Divine sustainer and inspirer, when it perceives that the suction of the lips will no longer suffice for the nourishment of that body which it designs and intends as its future habitation and palace, and the theater of its uses, inspires the suction no longer in the lips, but in the gross extremities,--the legs and arms--which walk to and embrace the food their body needs, and convey it to the lips which, by that internal and subtle suction which we call appetite and desire, eagerly draw it in and dispose it to the furtherance of the soul's ends.

     That the rational mind may abuse this most external, as-it-were suction, inspired by the soul; that it may direct the extremities to procure food which will not subserve the health of the body or the uses of the soul; this does not take away the truth that the ability to acquire, attract, and take in food, is but the effect of influx from the soul which continually inspires its body to, as of itself, desire and seek and draw in nourishment needed for the performance of its uses:

     Science and philosophy and theology join their voices in affirming the truth of the statement made by skillful investigators in the spiritual world, and confirmed by the investigators of earth, that an infant knows how to suckle, not from any connate knowledge of the mind but "from continual suction in the mother's womb."

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Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     It will be of interest to our readers to learn that the balance of the Kramph Bequest, amounting to forty thousand dollars, has now been received, and safely invested by the Academy of the New Church.



     Another recent bequest, to which is attached a peculiarly affectionate interest, is known as the "Vera Pitcairn Memorial Fund" for scholarships in the Girls' Seminary of the Academy Schools. This fund amounts to ten thousand dollars.



     Dr. Sewall's recent little book, entitled SWEDENBORG AND THE "SAPIENTIA ANGELICA," (New York, Dodge Publ. Co., pp. 128. Cloth, 50c.), is issued as one of a series of booklets on "Philosophies Ancient and Modern." It presents, in popular form, an outline of Swedenborg's life and the general principles of his philosophy and theology.



     From our energetic friend, Mr. Hjalmar Kylen, of Stockholm, we have received two interesting Swedish pamphlets recently published by him in Stockholm. The one is entitled "BOSTROM AND SWEDENBORG," and the other "A Swedenborgian Reformation in Sweden during the first decades of the 19th century." We hope to review in our next issue these important contributions to the history of the New Church.



     We cull the following notes from the October issue of our Australian contemporary, THE NEW AGE, which show that the editor, though an opponent of the Academy, is not an advocate of the "policy of silence:"

     "NEW CHURCH LIFE for July contains the full text of the final judgment in the Kramph case, by which the property, bequeathed by the testator fifty years ago, is awarded to the Academy of the New Church.

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The court decided that this is the only body in existence which answers to Mr. Kramph's intentions and directions in making the bequest. The judgment is a model of clearness, and leaves the impression that substantial justice has been done."

                    ****

     "The JOURNAL OF EDUCATION of the Academy of the New Church for the year 1910 has been courteously forwarded to us. It contains a very interesting and suggestive paper by Prof. Enoch S. Price, on 'The Study of Hebrew in New Church Schools,' which makes out a strong case in favor of imparting the rudiments, at any rate, of the 'sacred language' to children. A thoughtful paper on the 'Claims and Fallacies of Socialism' also deserves mention. Whatever we may think about some aspects of the Academy theology, there can be no doubt that it succeeds in cultivating the rational faculty to a high degree."

                    ****

     "In NEW CHURCH LIFE [for July] the editor rallies the NEW AGE for saying that the 'orthodoxy spoken of by Swedenborg as "vitiating matter" means right opinion "only." Mr. Odhner supposes, apparently, that we put the emphasis on 'right opinion,' and he proceeds: 'Beware, therefore, of right opinion.' But the emphasis was on the word 'only,' which makes all the difference. Orthodoxy, in the sense in which Swedenborg uses it in the passage referred to, plainly means doctrinal correctness only, which is obviously identical with 'faith alone.'"

     (We gladly apologize for our misunderstanding of Mr. Spencer's emphasis, but must plead that his use of the word "only" was certainly misleading.)



     The Rev. Arthur Mercer, in the MESSENGER for November 23d, continues his propaganda against the Divine authority of the Writings, and gives frank expression to the ideas which lie at the bottom of the whole negative attitude. "The Truth is the Lord. The doctrinal writings of the church are not this Truth. Nowhere does Swedenborg claim that they are." This simply betrays ignorance of Swedenborg's statements, but even if Mr. Mercer should find these statements, of what weight would they be to him, since he does not regard them as true?

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     It is, of course, useless to reason with a mind who thinks that "when identify the whole bulk of these writings with the Spiritual Authority, which belongs only to the Lord Himself, we practically convert Him into a set of books," but We cannot but commend the honesty of the following statement: "The second injurious consequence of the doctrine of the authority of the Writings is that it has committed the church to the defense of utterly untenable positions taken by Swedenborg, when it came to certain external and practical applications of his own doctrine. The fatal controversy which has been ravaging the church for many years, which is today spreading desolation and dismay through its membership, arises from this fact alone: not the alleged perversions of the doctrine as taught by a certain body of New Church people, but the necessity the Convention bas felt itself under to defend and sanction Swedenborg's mistaken teachings on extremely difficult and painful subject, a mistake which was entirely natural and excusable for a man in Swedenborg's day, but which is entirely inexcusable for a religious body in our own."

     An interesting reference to Swedenborg, Printed by MORNING LIGHT, to which journal we are also indebted for the preceding quotation, is contained in the following passage, taken from the HIBBERT JOURNAL, where it occurs in a review of Sir Oliver Lodge's Survival of Man:

     "Of clairvoyance, in the sense of the communication of facts not within the knowledge of any living person--that is, beyond the possible, or even probable, scope of telepathy--Sir Oliver Lodge is able to quote but a single instance, and the instance is respectable only from its antiquity--the story, related by Kant in his 'Dreams of a Ghost Seer,' of Swedenborg revealing to the widow of the Dutch Ambassador in Stockholm the whereabouts Of a missing receipt"



     "We may say at once, simply and directly, that evil is the character of hurtfulness. The impulse, intention, or act which is hurtful personally, morally, or spiritually, is evil, provided certain qualifications be kept in view.

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Many surgical operations, for instance, while hurtful are not evil because the hurt is merely an incident to a process of securing health and happiness. Here the end justifies the means, but this is not always the case. A citizen may lie or steal to prevent a serious public disaster. A lie may put the invading army on the wrong track and so save the life and freedom of a nation. Theft may stay the assassin's hand and deliver him to punishment."--(NEW CHURCH REVIEW, Oct., 1910.)

     It is encouraging to read words of rational discrimination such as the above. It leads to the hope that our brethren of the Convention may yet come into a clearer light in regard to the difference between evil and sin, in application to all the Commandments.



     The following reference to Swedenborg, in "The Prelude" to Wilkie Collins' novel, "The Two Destinies," may be of interest to our readers. The novelist is describing an old lady, Dame Dermody, who has been long a widow:

     "In her estimation, her husband's memory was a sacred memory; his spirit was a guardian spirit watching over her, waking or sleeping, morning or night. Holding this faith, she was in no respect influenced by those grossly material ideas of modern growth, which associate the presence of spiritual beings with clumsy conjuring tricks and monkey-antics performed on tables and chairs. Dame Dermody's nobler superstition formed an integral part of her religious convictions-convictions which had long since found their chosen resting place in the mystic doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg. The only books which she read were the works of the Swedish Seer. She mixed up Swedenborg's teaching on angels and departed spirits, on love to one's neighbors and purity of life, with wild fancies and kindred beliefs of her own, and preached the visionary religious doctrines thus derived--not only in the bailiff's household, but also on proselyting expeditions to the households of her humble neighbors, far and near."

     The contrast of "Swedenborg's teachings" with the widow's "wild fancies" would seem to indicate something of respect for the former.

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JAPANESE EDITION OF "HEAVEN AND HELL." 1911

JAPANESE EDITION OF "HEAVEN AND HELL."              1911

     Of the 2,000 copies constituting the first edition of HEAVEN AND HELL in Japanese, published in Tokyo last spring, 500 copies were disposed of in the first two months of sale, and over 1,200 copies have been sold to date. Before the work was published the publisher, Mr. Teijiro Abiko, was warned by a friend that he might be thankful if he sold five copies.

     To European eyes the work is naturally a curiosity with its, to us, unusual Japanese paper and its apparently meaningless characters. Of the merits of the translation we are unable to speak, but we are assured by Mr. Honda, the translator of the popular Japanese work, HUMAN BULLETS, that it has received much favorable notice from the Japanese press. The translator, Mr. Suzuki, is a former teacher of oriental philosophy in Chicago, and, we are further informed by Mr. Honda, as a student of Buddhist philosophy, he should be well equipped for the task he has accomplished. The Japanese language lends itself only with great difficulty to the expression of spiritual and abstract ideas, and even with the help of the philosophical terms introduced by Buddhistic thought, much periphrasis is necessary. The expression "the Divine of the Lord makes Heaven," is, for instance, almost impossible to translate, and can be expressed only by interpretative phrases. Even the title, "Heaven and Hell," presents formidable difficulties,--the Japanese translation, literally rendered, being "The Bright City--Firmament, and the Earth--Prison House (or Tomb)."

     The publisher, Mr. Abiko, is a man widely known in England as well as Japan. He is the manager of a large publishing concern in Tokyo, which issues, among other papers, the Japanese GRAPHIC, PUCK and FRIEND. At present he is in America on a tour of observation, and has visited several of the New Church centers. At the recent meeting of the Maryland Association, he gave a long and interesting address on the state of religion in Japan describing, among other things, his conversion to Christianity, and the deep interest in Swedenborg which the reading of HEAVEN AND HELL has brought him.

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He also spoke of the great care that had been used in the printing and of the "almost endless revision" of the proof. At a later date Mr. Abiko visited the Washington Society where he visited the class on HEAVEN AND HELL, which he entertained by reading a Passage from the work in Japanese. He has also visited the New Church People in Philadelphia, New York, Lakewood, O., Chicago, and other places.
TRANSMISSION OF SOUND THROUGH AN "EXHAUSTED" RECEIVER 1911

TRANSMISSION OF SOUND THROUGH AN "EXHAUSTED" RECEIVER       E. E. IUNGERICH       1911

     In the English translation of THE INFINITE, by Dr. J. J. G. Wilkinson, the following reference to the transmission of sound through glass is found: "Just as the air cannot be set in tremulous or vibratory motion by its own power, but requires the aid of the ether; for sound penetrates the glass of the exhausted receiver through which the air cannot enter, etc. p. 195.

     According to Dr. Wilkinson, Swedenborg states as a fact of experience something that runs counter to a simple laboratory experiment. If an alarm clock is placed within the receiver of an exhaust pump and the air be exhausted, it can be shown that the sound is diminished until it becomes imperceptible

     It has heretofore been supposed by those who did not wish to charge Swedenborg with error that the conditions under which his statement could be demonstrated must be much more complicated than those of the usual experiment Obviously the moving mechanism of the dock needs some air to start the vibration with. It was supposed that if we could have two bell jars, one within the other, and place the clock inside the inmost one, and then exhaust the air from the space between the two bell jars, that we would then have the proper conditions for testing the accuracy of Swedenborg's statement.

     Swedenborg, however, is referring evidently to some fact of experience with which he was familiar; and it is quite unlikely that he had in mind any experiment involving such elaborate conditions as those just specified. What Swedenborg means is that sound penetrates glass through which the air cannot enter. Thus sounds without the house penetrate through the windows and are heard within, and alarm clocks set off within a bell jar from which no air had been exhausted would be heard without.

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The reason for this phenomenon is that the ether can traverse the glass and set the air outside into a similar vibration to that within the jar. This is the conclusion that Mr. Wilfred Howard derived from his study of the passage in the English translation. But how about sound penetrating the glass of an "exhausted" receiver? The answer to this is that Swedenborg makes no such statement. The "exhausted" receiver is a gratuitous addition by Dr. Wilkinson. In the original Latin, the particular part of the passage to which the addition was made reads as follows: "NAM IPSE SONUS PENETRAT VITRUM RECIPIENTIS, PER QUOD AER NEUTIQUAM TRANSIRE POSSIT" (for the sound itself penetrates the glass of a receiver through which the air can never pass).

     The "receiver" may mean a bell jar placed over the source of the sound so as to test its transmission. It may just as properly, however, mean the human being who is the recipient of the sound after it has traversed the glass. There is no reference made to the exhaustion of air. The translator erred in introducing an interpretation in place of a translation, the result of which has been that the passage for some time has come to be regarded as one that might call Swedenborg's accuracy in scientific matters into doubt. The simplicity of the solution found by Mr. Howard leads one to believe that similar solutions to the other difficulties in the scientific works may come to hand one by one.
     E. E. IUNGERICH.
EXCOMMUNICATION OF N. O. SCHULDZ 1911

EXCOMMUNICATION OF N. O. SCHULDZ       RUDOLPH WILLIAMS       1911

     In our November issue we published a communication from "A Member of the Humboldt Park Parish of the New Jerusalem, Chicago, Ill.," imploring his friends not to "pass a false judgment upon the contents of this book, [the LAWS OF ORDER], as many have allowed themselves to do, without reading it carefully and, at the same time, comparing it with the work on CONJUGIAL LOVE itself."

     In consequence of this letter we have received the following communication from Col. Rudolph Williams, who has constituted himself Inquisitor-in-chief at Humboldt Park:

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NEW CHURCH LIFE:

     As you published the letter referred to by the inclosed, it seems to be fitting that you publish the sequel. If you desire not to publish it, please return envelope inclosed. Yours truly, RUDOLPH WILLIAMS, 2821 Pine Grove Ave., Chicago, Ill., Nov. 22, 1910.
EXCOMMUNICATING AN UNKNOWN MEMBER 1911

EXCOMMUNICATING AN UNKNOWN MEMBER       N. O. SCHULDZ       1911

     Mr. Williams encloses the following copy of preambles and a resolution adopted with but one dissenting vote by the Humboldt Park Church Congregation, November 17, 1910:

     "Whereas There is in the official organ of the organization which is known as 'the Academy of the New Church,' for the month of November, 1910, a letter which highly approves the false, blasphemous and obnoxious book, entitled 'LAWS OF ORDER FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE CONJUGIAL,' and

     "Whereas: The signature to this letter is 'A Member of the Humboldt Park Parish of the New Jerusalem, Chicago, Ill., thereby favorably associating the name of our church congregation, which is honored by, and which is very dear to us, with that which we consider an emanation from hell; therefore,

     "Resolved: That we consider the willingness to, and the writing of said letter, to such an extent accompanied with spiritual opposition to, and destructiveness of, tenets of our doctrine, that we refuse communion and fellowship with the writer, and believe he or she should depart from our church, as utterly inharmonious with it."

     THE EXCOMMUNICATED MEMBER SPEAKS.

     Having advised the excommunicated member of the reception of Mr. Williams' letter and enclosed resolution, we received the following communication from Mr. N. O. Schuldz, a Newchurchman of some thirty years standing:

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:

     A resolution directed against me was adopted by the members of the Humboldt Park Parish at their special meeting on November 17, 1910, in which they refuse me communion and fellowship with them because I, from a manifestly good motive, expressed my free thought and opinion in warning my friends not to pass a false judgment against the Truth divinely revealed through Swedenborg in CONJUGIAL LOVE.

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As I understand you are about to publish this "charitable" resolution, I will ask you to be kind enough to publish also this letter from me. I could wish that Mr. Williams had also asked you to publish the proceedings of that special meeting, as well as their main reason for calling it, but as he seems to have left that to me, I shall certainly be glad to do my duty.

     Mr. Eisemann, the secretary of the Parish, had prepared a series of three resolutions, avowedly for the purpose of preserving the honor of the Parish, and a special meeting was called by the Pastor, the Rev. Mr. Francisco, in order to have said resolutions considered by the members. In the meantime the resolution against me was gotten up, together with another resolution by Mr. Williams. The first of the three resolutions introduced by the Secretary was directed against the Pastor of the Parish, for having misused the Lord's name in the pulpit; the second of his resolutions censured the renting of the church building, Sunday afternoons, to a Spiritualist minister, and the third resolution was directed against the wicked act of certain "broad-minded" members of the Illinois Association, at the meeting in Laporte, in having an article against Mr. Schreck published in the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. On account of these three resolutions Mr. Williams, knowing that in this Parish he was all-powerful, poured out all his wrath, calling Mr. Eisemann down in a most shameful manner. Mr. Eisemann, in answering the personal and foul attack made upon him, told Mr. Williams that he had said things that were not true, and immediately resigned from the Parish. Sincerely yours, N. O. SCHULDZ. Chicago, Dec. 2, 1910.
MR. SCHULDZ'S RESIGNATION 1911

MR. SCHULDZ'S RESIGNATION              1911

     On November 19th Mr. Schuldz sent in his resignation from the Humboldt Park Parish, in a letter in which he states that at the special meeting on November 17th the work, entitled LAWS OF ORDER, had been "declared to be a monster from hell.

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Such a declaration is absolutely false and deceiving in the worst way, because the book is a true presentation of the teachings in the work on CONJUGIAL LOVE. As such a condemnation does not appeal to my reason, I most respectfully withdraw from the Humboldt Park Parish, with my best wishes for the spiritual good and welfare of all the members. I am in full confidence that we will be on the safe side if we trust in the truth as it is revealed to us by the Lord in His Second Coming through Swedenborg. And if we are meek enough not to put our own judgment against the Truth, the Lord will provide that no monster from hell shall enter the gates of the New Jerusalem.

     In a subsequent letter to the LIFE Mr. Schuldz states that at the special meeting the Rev. Mr. Saul, the former pastor of the Parish, "protested very strongly against the resolution introduced by Mr. Williams. He then left the meeting, together with three other persons, who were opposed to it. Mr. Eisemann, the secretary, refused to vote, and that is the reason why I was the only one who voted against the resolution."

     Mr. Schuldz continues: "Mr. Williams has made every effort to produce a split in Mr. Schreck's parishes in Englewood and on the North Side, but it seems to have worked the other way, for about ten of our old members are now attending Mr. Schreck's services. It looks to me is if Mr. Francisco and Mr. Williams are trying to work up a Socialist Church and pervert New Church Doctrine to fit such a body. At the special meeting I told them that to call the LAWS OF ORDER a "monster from hell' is the same as to say that the second part of CONJUGIAL LOVE is a monster from hell, and the chairman then said that it is from hell. I then told them that in the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION adultery is explained as signifying the falsification of truth, and I asked them how it was that Swedenborg, in the T. C. R., could refer to the Second Part of C. L., for further elucidation, if this was 'a monster from hell,' but there was no one to respond to my question."



     Since the above was written, Mr. Schuldz has been received as a member of the General Church of the New Jerusalem.

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STORY OF SWEDENBORG'S SKULL 1911

STORY OF SWEDENBORG'S SKULL              1911

     THE MORTAL REMAINS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. BY J. Vilh. Hultkranz. Upsala and London, 1910. 100 pp. + 8 plates. History, anatomy, ethnography, chemistry and statistics, all sitting in conclave to discuss and determine whether the skull found in Swedenborg's coffin in London was truly the skull of Emanuel Swedenborg,--such in a few words, is the character of the work before us,--a work which is a detailed account of the investigations conducted by a committee of the Royal Society of Sciences of Upsala, and printed in commemoration of the unveiling of Swedenborg's Sarcophagus in Upsala Cathedral on November 19,--though it was "presented" to the Royal Society some months earlier.

     The whole investigation and the learned account of it would alike have been unnecessary but for a doubt communicated to the Upsala authorities as to the genuineness of the skull which, as already decided, was to find its final resting place in the Cathedral at Upsala, the city of Swedenborg's Youthful years. And the doubt itself would never have risen had not certain gentlemen, more than a hundred years ago, through inability, carelessness or haste, failed to close the coffin which they had opened.

     The whole history of this circumstance and of the important events which followed it, is given with great minuteness; and though this part of the work contains nothing new to the student, except some corroborative documentary evidence of clearly established facts, yet it is a most important contribution to the literature dealing with Swedenborg; and this, not only because of the new evidence adduced, but also because it Presents documents in full, of which, before, we have had only general accounts, and because it, for the first time, assembles all that is known respecting Swedenborg's mortal remains.

     These remains were buried in an hermetically sealed leaden coffin in St. George's Church, London, on April 5, 1772, and there for eighteen years they remained undisturbed. But about 1790 a Swedish admirer of Swedenborg's philosophical works, though not of his theological, visited certain Newchurchmen in London.

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This gentleman was a "Rosicrucian," and he held that a man of Swedenborg's high attainments could not die like ordinary mortals, but must either have been carried into heaven like Elijah, or else have transported his body to some distant part of the earth.

     To convince the credulous foreigner, about ten Newchurchmen accompanied him to the vault, and having obtained admission, sawed open the leaden coffin, and soon put an end to the doubts of their curious companion. Unfortunately, however, when leaving, they omitted to fasten, by solder or otherwise, the coffin they had opened.

     A few days after this visit a second visit was made by Robert Hindmarsh and one or two friends, who noted the faithful likeness between the face exposed before them and the portraits with which they had become familiar. But again the severed part of the coffin was left unfastened, and from this circumstance have arisen those doubts which, to some minds, will never be settled with certainty.

     Twenty-six years later, in July, 1816, a Swedish lieutenant entered the vault as a member of a funeral party, and here, seeing the condition of Swedenborg's coffin, he at once conceived the idea of adding to his slender resources by securing the skull of the great thinker and selling it to some Swedenborgian in London. The theft was accomplished without difficulty; and, concealed in a handkerchief, the skull was carried out of the church.

     Some, at least, of the original hair still remained, for its presence is mentioned as having given rise to sinister suspicions in the mind of the lieutenant's landlady. Partly, perhaps, to obviate these suspicions, the purloiner removed all the hair, and then proceeded to the task of disposing of his ill-gotten possession. But he had been sadly deceived in his estimation of Newchurchmen; for not one would consider his proposition for a single moment. They were not worshipers of bones and relies, was their answer. It is probable, also, that they doubted the lieutenant's story, whatever it was; for otherwise they would likely have taken steps to have the stolen skull restored to its rightful place. However this may bet the skull could not be sold, and in a few months he who had stolen it became himself dust, dying in great poverty in January, 1819.

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But before his death he called Pastor Wahlin, of the Swedish Church, and made a secret confession.

     From this point the narrative becomes somewhat obscure. It is well established, however, that shortly after the lieutenant's death the skull came into the pastor's hands, apparently against the wishes of the deceased officer's heirs. In July, 1819, the pastor offered it to the Council of St. George's Church for reinterment. The offer was accepted, but the skull was left in Pastor Wahlin's personal charge until such time as occasion arose for opening the vault, which was not until March, 1823.

     In the meantime Pastor Wahlin appears to have deposited it among the phrenological collection of Charles A. Tulk, M. P. Here it was seen by Mr. Clowes and by the sculptor, Flaxman. The latter was unstinted in his admiration of its beautiful symmetry, remarking, among other things, that, but for certain marked characteristics, it might be taken for a female skull. It was this remark that probably gave rise to the first rumor of substitution,--a rumor that was published by the London TIMES and other papers on the occasion of the reinterment in 1823.

     Be this as it may, it is certain that on March 25, 1823, Mr. Tulk, Pastor Wahlin and a member of the Nordenskjold family took a skull which they believed to be Swedenborg's and repaired to a caster's shop where three casts were made. One, at least, of these casts is still in existence, and was used for the purpose of the present investigation.

     After the casts had been made, the three gentlemen on the evening of the same day proceeded on foot to St. George's Church, with the skull wrapped in a handkerchief, as when it had been stolen seven years previously. And here, at night, in the presence of these three witnesses it was returned to its first resting place.

     It was not again disturbed until 1908, when the coffin was opened by authority of the Swedish and British governments prior to its removal to Sweden; and later in the same year, when the skull was taken but in Upsala for the purpose of a complete examination.

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On the latter occasion, every precaution was taken, by seals, witnesses and documents, to place beyond possibility of doubt that the skull now resting in Upsala is the same as that which was found in the coffin in London. The anatomical investigation also shows in an equally positive way that this skull is the same as that which was reinterred in 1823. For it agrees in every detail,--barring some wear,--with the plaster cast made at that time. Further, it is certain that the skull taken by the Swedish lieutenant was truly that of Emanuel Swedenborg.

     The next question to be settled was as to whether the skull reinterred in 1823 is the same as that which was stolen in 1816, To this, therefore, the investigators, after establishing the historical facts, directed their main attention.

     The examination established it as a fact that the present skull is that of a man advanced in years; though nothing militates against its being also that of a Swede of "pre-eminent genius." It is comparatively small, but, as the investigators observe, "a fine well adapted organization of the brain substance is of greater value for the higher intellectual functions than a mere increase of its volume;" and, as they further note, the bones of the arms and thighs found in the coffin, as well as contemporary records, show that Swedenborg was a man of medium stature.

     Examination also proved beyond a doubt the possibility that the skull belonged to the lower jawbone found in the coffin. The latter undoubtedly belongs to the genuine skull, for, that it was not stolen with the latter, is indicated both by intrinsic probabilities and by the fact that there is no jawbone in the original cast taken while the skull was on its way to reinterment; moreover, the same is further confirmed by the state of the bone itself, which was much more decayed than the skull, which latter had doubtless been carefully kept and nicely cleaned during the period of its theft.

     The probability of the genuineness of the skull is further indicated by photographs thereof thrown upon other photographs of authentic paintings of Swedenborg, when it was found that, making slight allowance for an artist's inaccuracy or license, the two nicely agreed.

     But the most convincing probability of genuineness lay in the result of a not over-common experiment. This consisted in the construction of a face, built up mainly on the indications of the skull.

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To ensure lack of bias, the artist, who was no other than Professor Hultkrantz himself, during the first part of his work carefully refrained from consulting any portrait of Swedenborg. From known data as to the thickness of the skin and flesh at various fixed points of the human cranium, plaster pegs or posts were placed at these points--over thirty on the front view alone--and the plaster cast was then laid on the skull so as to be exactly level with, but not cover, these posts. To the result thus obtained, Professor Hultkrantz, by study of Swedenborg's portraits, added the features that necessarily cannot be calculated merely from a skull, namely, wig, eyes, wrinkles, lower chin, etc. The outcome was a bust which is so strikingly like the portraits of Swedenborg, especially in those parts--the forehead and chin--where the first cast, determined solely by the skull, still appears, as to be all but convincing proof of the genuineness of the skull.

     It must be admitted, however, that no single line of investigation proves beyond doubt the genuineness of the present skull. But, on the other hand, all the lines of investigation point to the possibility, and some to the extreme Probability of the skull's being genuine. And when we consider that clues, individually unconvincing, become convincing in the ratio that they all point to the possibility of the same thing; and when further we consider, that, granting that the present skull is not the genuine one, the conclusion is forced upon us that the skull substituted by the lieutenant, or (an impossible assumption) by Mr. Tulk or Pastor Wahlin, was so similar to the original as to give every evidence of being the genuine skull, the conviction is irresistibly forced upon us that the skull now lying in Upsala Cathedral is in truth that which had been purloined by the Swedish lieutenant, and the genuine skull of Emanuel Swedenborg. The conclusion reached by the investigators themselves is that the present skull "may, with the greatest degree of probability, be regarded as genuine," but the reservation implied in these words, may be attributed rather to the caution engendered by a love of exact science than to any real or even passing doubt in the minds of the investigators themselves.

     But granting that the skull now resting in Upsala Cathedral, never perhaps again to be seen by human eyes, is genuine, what then?

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The investigation has brought to light some facts not hitherto known, namely, that Swedenborg's skull was comparatively small, and that his forehead was somewhat receding, a characteristic necessarily undisclosed by the existing portraits which are more or less full face. All this is interesting, and, undoubtedly, in its way useful, and useful, perhaps, in ways that we see not now. We may be thankful that this work of investigation has been done; that it has been done by men inspired with the spirit of exactness, impartiality, and patient and untiring research. But we may also be thankful that this work has been accomplished, that men have been raised up to do it, without distraction from the time and labor and devotion of those who are more concerned with the thoughts and ideas that have been born to the world by the living brain that was contained in the now lifeless skull that lies in Upsala.

     The work that has been done, and so well done, is laudable, necessary, useful. But, as we of the New Church see it now, perhaps its greatest and overshadowing use, is that it fosters and nourishes that spirit of interest and enthusiasm that has brought forth such noble fruit as the magnificent publications of Swedenborg's philosophical works, and that promises a continuation of this great work, the offspring of a well founded and patriotic pride in the ability and the learning of a fellow countryman.

     Prof. Hultkrantz's work is illustrated by a great number of excellent pictures of the Swedish church in London, the open coffin, the various bones deposited therein, the skull at different angles, etc. Mr. Stroh has furnished a systematic account of all the various portraits of Swedenborg, with splendid reproductions of these. The whole work appears in English, the translation from Professor Hultkrantz's manuscript being the work of Mr. Stroh and Miss Cyriel Lj. Odhner.

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NEW DOCUMENT CONCERNING WILLIAM COOKWORTHY 1911

NEW DOCUMENT CONCERNING WILLIAM COOKWORTHY       REGINA IUNGERICH       1911

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:

     William Cookworthy, the celebrated chemist and Quaker leader of Plymouth, England, is known as the first actual receiver of the Heavenly Doctrines in England. He visited Swedenborg in London, during the summer of 1769, translated and published the first English edition of the DOCTRINE OF LIFE in 1770, and assisted his friend, the Rev. Thomas Hartley, in translating and publishing the first English edition of HEAVEN AND HELL in 1778. He died October 17, 1780. (See NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1895, pp. 86, 90.)

     The following new document concerning this early pioneer of the New Church was recently discovered among the unpublished papers of Mr. Jabez Maud Fisher, the youngest brother of Mr. Miers Fisher, a noted lawyer of Philadelphia, who was one among those who attended the first New Church lecture ever delivered in this world, by Mr. James Glen, in Philadelphia, June, 1784 Miers Fisher, together with Francis Bailey and John Young, by this means received the Heavenly Doctrines, and he afterwards procured a full set of the Writings in the original edition. (See Mr. DeCharms' NEWCHURCHMAN, Vol. I, p. 71, and the NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, Vol. 44, p. 289.)

     His brother, Jabez M. Fisher, spent several years in Great Britain and Ireland, and left a Diary contained in nineteen note books, with most minute descriptions of the places and people he visited, having introductions to many influential houses. He was present on several occasions in the Houses of Parliament during the exciting sessions preceding the outbreak of war between England and the Colonies of America. Owing to a most remarkable memory he was able to report almost verbatim all the speeches he there heard.

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On this account he was in great demand at the coffee houses and other places of reunion, to supply the information withheld from the public, as no journalists were given access in those days to the Houses of Parliament. At the time the following extract was penned, he was in his early twenties. He died in America a few years later, and before the visit of James Glen. The following account may have been the means of arousing the interest of his brother, Miers Fisher, in the Writings of Swedenborg. Nevertheless we have not been able to trace any record of Miers Fisher's connection with the New Church, in any of the papers left by him, nor in his last will does he make any mention of the fact. It is also unknown what disposition he made of his set of the Writings of Swedenborg in Latin. Jabez M. Fisher's Diary is in the possession of Mr. Wm. Redwood Wright, of Fisher's Lane, Germantown, great-grandson of Miers Fisher. The following is the extract referred to: "Plymouth, England, January 1st, 1775 (2d day). Spent this whole day from 9 o'clock in the morning till half past 12 at night with William Cookworthy, canvassing Politics, Religion, History, etc., etc., etc. The most sensible, learned, kind man I ever knew. The History of every nation is familiar to him--he has explored every country, understands many languages, an amazing memory, excellent Delivery and a style that we nowhere else meet with. Catholic in the extreme( deep in argument, meek, humble. and divested of the least particle of vanity, pedantry or any one disagreeable sentiment,--in short, the most refined and accomplished Man, and in his discourses no less extraordinary.

     "He is the translator of several performances of Emanuel Swedenborg, a man of amazing genius and the greatest Metaphoriser of Scripture that hath ever appeared. His visions and some other extraordinary parts of his works have obtained for him the character of an Enthusiast and by some he is suspected of Insanity. However, Wm Cookworthy has the most implicit Confidence in all his Writings, and having personally known him, gives him the most amiable and accomplished character."
     REGINA IUNGERICH, Bryn Athyn, Pa., Dec. 10, 1910.

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UNVEILING OF SWEDENBORG'S SARCOPHAGUS 1911

UNVEILING OF SWEDENBORG'S SARCOPHAGUS              1911

     We have received from Mr. Alfred H. Stroh, A. M., a complete and detailed report of the proceedings connected with the recent unveiling, in Upsala Cathedral, of the sarcophagus which contains the mortal remains of Emanuel Swedenborg. The unveiling itself, with its accompanying ceremonies, took place on Saturday, November 19, but there were preliminary proceedings on the preceding day.

     Mr. Stroh's report is too long to publish in these pages, and we, therefore, content ourselves with presenting to the reader the following summaries and extracts:

     AN AUDIENCE WITH THE KING OF SWEDEN.

     "His Majesty Gustaf V. having honored the International Swedenborg Congress by consenting to act as its Patron, the Swedenborg Society of London desired to send a deputation in order formally to thank his Majesty and to present a sumptuous copy of the Congress TRANSACTIONS." The deputation consisted of Mr. James Spiers, the secretary of the Society; the Rev. Messrs. J. R. Rendell, B. A., and Arthur Wilde, and Mr. James Wynter, the son of the Society's president. Arrangements for an audience with the King were made by Mr. Stroh, and accordingly at 2 o'clock on November 18 the deputation accompanied by Mr. Stroh were ushered into the royal presence.

     After some preliminary conversation, Mr. Spiers read an Address by the Society, written on a vellum roll, gratefully thanking his Majesty "for the gracious patronage extended to the Swedenborg Congress." Following this, Mr. Spiers presented to the King "a sumptuously printed and bound copy of the Congress TRANSACTIONS containing a special dedicatory page to King Gustaf." This is one of twenty-five copies of the TRANSACTIONS printed on fine paper in advance of the regular edition of 2,000. Similar copies, each with its own special dedicatory page, have been presented to Upsala University, the Upsala Anatomical Institute, the Swedish Royal Academy, and the Royal Library, all of which bodies were represented at the Congress, and will be presented to the other bodies so represented.

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     The King expressed a friendly interest in the work of the Swedenborg Society, and asked several questions which were answered by Mr. Spiers. As editor of the Stockholm edition of the Scientific Works, Mr. Stroh presented to his Majesty finely bound copies of volumes I. and II. of that edition and also a copy of Mr. Stroh's own work, GRUNDORAGEN AF SWEDENBORG'S LIF.

     AT UPSALA.

     The audience was a short one, lasting about a quarter of an hour, and at its conclusion the deputation and Mr. Stroh took the train to Upsala accompanied by Mrs. H. G. Stroh and Commodore Nils Sundstrom, the President of the Stockholm New Church Society. At Upsala the party was met by the two genial representatives to the Swedenborg Congress, Librarian Aksel Anderson and Professor Martin Ramstrom, by whom they were escorted to their hotel.

     "At 6:30 we proceeded under the guidance of our genial hosts to the Cathedral, which had been especially lighted up for the occasion, the brilliant electric lights sometimes blazing in gorgeous glory through the aisles and vaulted arches of the magnificent old French Gothic structure, anon, subdued and faint, suggesting to our minds mystic spheres and holy awe. We were conducted by the Chancellor, Pastor N. J. Soderberg, a member of the Swedenborg Sarcophagus Committee, through the aisles of the cathedral, where we inspected the handsome Swedenborg sarcophagus, the sarcophagus of Gustaf Vasa and those of other Swedish kings and heroes; also the Silver Room, in which are preserved jewelry, crowns and other ornaments. . . . We also inspected the rooms in which are preserved the remarkable collection of garments and decorations used by the Archbishops and priests of the Cathedral since the thirteenth century."

     THE SARCOPHAGUS.

     "Of course, the chief interest of the party centered in the Swedenborg sarcophagus, a fitting monument in memory of him whose ashes it is destined to hold. The sarcophagus is hewn out of dark red granite . . . with pedestals resting upon a base, in two steps, of black granite. . . . It stands in the center of the Liewen-Bielke chapel, opposite the chapel, on the other side of the cathedral, which contains the handsome porphyry memorial erected in memory of Linneus by his disciples. . . .

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     "The sarcophagus is so placed that the eye of the beholder immediately rests upon the side which bears the medallion of Swedenborg's bust (in profile, facing to the left), recently modeled by Professor Teodor Lundberg, of the Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm. The remainder of the decorative work on the sarcophagus is the work of its designer, the Court Architect, Agi Lindgren. Beneath the medallion, on the side of the sarcophagus, may be read in raised bronze letters:

     EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
     MDCLXXXVIII-MDCCLXXII

     "Running around the upper part of the sarcophagus there is placed on the granite a band of bronze, ornamented by pine needles and cones with borders of 'lingon' leaves (mountain cranberry).

     "On the side of the sarcophagus facing the observer there are two square bronze plates representing the faculties of Theology (a cherub's head enclosed in wings);of Philosophy (an owl standing on a book); and, on the opposite side, the series is continued, moving to the right, with two similar plates representing Medicine (a serpent entwined around a goblet); and Law (a pair of balances) The position on the lid of the sarcophagus, opposite the medallion on the other side, is occupied by a bronze plate bearing the arms of the Swedenborg family. . . .

     After having finished their view of the sarcophagus, the gentlemen of the party were invited to dine with Professor Ramstrom. A delightful evening was passed, which was introduced by a speech of welcome made by the host. After referring in graceful terms to the "never to be forgotten Swedenborg Congress," the professor continued that, while the immediate cause of that meeting was the centenary of the Swedenborg Society, its ESSENTIAL cause "was the desire to do historical justice to Swedenborg's memory and great attainments in spreading the knowledge of the inspiring principles contained in his writings, and in procuring for him the public acknowledgment to which his scientific genius fully entitled him; and in calling attention to him who, self sacrificingly, had set up as the goal of his life the solution of the questions most full of vital importance for the whole of humanity."

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     THE UNVEILING OF THE SARCOPHAGUS.

     "The first official action of the King, who arrived at Upsala during the morning of November 18th, was to proceed through the festively decorated university town, Fast the many thousands of his loyal subjects who lined the streets, to the imposing old castle on the heights, where His Majesty received the corps of students, led by their "Nation" banners, and wearing their white caps. After the King and Queen, who were accompanied by the Crown Prince and Princess, and the King's brother, Prince Carl, had been addressed by the head of the student corps, His Majesty replied in a speech filled with patriotism.

     "From a height, surmounted by a bell-tower, we listened to the King's speech, and to the patriotic songs which ever and anon broke from the student body and stirred the hearts of all present. And I could not but reflect how that these proceedings, in the midst of fog, rain and snow, fittingly reflected the same hope and sturdy courage in the breasts of Swedish men and women, which in those dismal days after Pultawa restored the nation from the darkness of defeat and again established Sweden.

     "Wending our way from the castle heights to the University House, we took our places in the seventh group of the procession, which, leaving the handsome university headquarters, proceeded to the neighboring Cathedral, as its clock was chiming twelve, and took our places in the seats behind the gilded chairs reserved for royalty. Beyond the space occupied by the members of the royal house, who entered and took their seats while the organ was still pealing forth its welcoming paean, could be seen the sarcophagus, mantled in gray and surrounded by the standard bearers of the thirteen Nations, present-day successors of the ancient student corps, now guarding the mighty dead, one of Upsala's first memories."

     After singing by the choir, the dean of the Cathedral, Hermann Lundstrom, delivered the address or sermon, taking as his text the words "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another."

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Culture without love, although it might produce great masterpieces, yet bore within itself the seed of dissolution. But in the cold darkness of the past breaks the Divine ray, pure and clear. "In spite of the battle of a thousand years of selfishness with the 'new commandment' it belongs today to the most precious jewels of our spiritual treasury. Swedenborg had bowed himself before the power of love; and though seeking for knowledge, he placed love as the greatest of all things.

     "This characteristic should not be concealed on this day, any more than the ideal direction of his deepest thought and his genuine Swedish characteristics,--a day, in reality, dedicated to the memory of the eminent investigator of nature, the universal genius with a really wonderful power of scientific intuition. . . . He has, as few have done, spread luster over the Swedish name. And, however changeful judgments concerning him and his works may have been in other respects, as to one thing his native land has been convinced--that his grave should be among the great of his country."

     The speaker dwelt further on this point, and expressed the fervent hope that Swedenborg's memory might be for all Swedes "an inspiration to the fear of God, to honorable desires, and an irreproachable, honest performance of duty, to a vital and deep desire for truth, and a genuine wide-hearted love of man." "But (he concluded)--and this we finally desire, both love and truth demand it--"may the dress in the Swedish Seer's world-view and life-work do no injury; but may that which is noble and indestructible therein be of still undreamed of service."

     At the conclusion of his address, the dean then uttered the words:

     "By the most gracious command of His Majesty the King I hereby order the curtain to fall!"

     "After the veil had fallen and the monument stood revealed in all its brilliance, the banners of the Nations were inclined over it, a silent tribute in memory of the greatest alumnus of Upsala University, and now could be heard from the distant cathedral choir the last two verses of the Ode composed by Professor C. G. Santesson for the occasion, sung by students to the music of Integer Vitae."

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     The following is offered as translation of the Swedish verses:

     "Faith in the purpose of life's strife and combat,
     Hope without boundaries of times or spaces,
     These through the solemn realms of death and shadow,
     Lighted thy pathway.

     "Safely thy dust thy Fatherland embraces,
     Greeted by new-born races, bowed, revering
     Him who of all most boldly lifted pinions
     Up to the light-source."

     Their Majesties and the other members of the Royal House then inspected the sarcophagus, being followed out of the Cathedral by the members of the various corporations present, the student corps coming last. Before leaving the Cathedral the representatives of the House of Nobles and Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences each placed a wreath of oxidized copper, with gilded berries, designed by Professor E. G. Clason, of the Academy of Fine Arts, upon the top of the sarcophagus, to the right and left, the central position being already occupied by the silver wreath presented in 1908 by the New Church Societies of Sweden.

     Five wreaths had already been sent to Upsala and deposited around the sarcophagus, before the unveiling. These were: I. A large laurel wreath with red and white roses at its lowest part, with a pendent vellum leaf on which was the inscription:

     In Memory of Emanuel Swedenborg.

     The Academy of the New Church     The Swedenborg Scientific Association
And
Students in North America, November 19, 1910.

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     2. A wreath of heather on ivy "from the Danish New Church friends." These were placed at the head of the sarcophagus At the other end were, 3. A large wreath of chrysanthemums and lilies on palm leaves "from the Swedenborg Society." 4. Another of chrysanthemums on laurels, from the New Church people of Stockholm; on one of the bands of their wreath were written in Swedish the words, "To Swedenborg, the man of faith and science. 'Faith is an internal acknowledgment of truth, D. F. I." and on the other the words, "Thy Science we love deeply; thy Faith, more deeply still. Thankful disciples." The fifth wreath was from Captain Carl Magnell and G. V. S., it was of various flowers on evergreen, and had the inscription, "Of such flowers as Swedenborg cultivated in his garden in the Southern quarter, 158 years ago, according to annotations in his almanac for 1752."

     "Mr. James Spiers, representing the Swedenborg Society, with few introductory words handed to the Rector Magnificus Schuck for the Cathedral archives a duplicate of a Latin address to the King, engrossed on vellum, together with the Society's festival publication, Swedenborg's Camena Borea, bound in blue morocco with gold lettering. We shall furnish below a list of the other festival publications which saw the light on November 19th, and need here only add that one of them, Swedenborg's academic disputation, Selectae Sententice, bound in vellum with gold lettering, the festival publication of the New Church Publishing Society of Stockholm, was also handed in for preservation in the Cathedral archives by the Society's representative, Mr. Otto Murray.

     This concluded the morning ceremonies, but in the afternoon there was a further gathering in honor of the bi-centenary of the Royal Society of Sciences of Upsala. This society was organized at the end of 1710 by Eric Benzelius, Jr, Swedenborg's brother-in-law, and "second father."

     The celebration was held in the "Aula" of the University house, and was attended by their majesties and included addresses by the King, and the president, and an account of the history of the Society.

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     After the celebration was ended, two more or less formal dinners were given,--one by the Royal Society, and the other, which Mr. Stroh calls "the 'Swedenborg' dinner," given by the Secretary of the Sarcophagus Committee, Dean Lundstrom. The guests were Messrs. Spiers, Wynter, Hjalmar, Kylen, Aksel, Anderson, A. G. Lindgren (the court architect), F. G. Lindh, Alfred H. Stroh, the Rev. Messrs. Rendell, Manby, Wilde. J. E. Bergren (ex-dean), and U. J. Soderberg (Chancellor of the Cathedral); Commodore Lundstrom; the Hen. J. F. Nystrom, and Professors T. Lundberg, O. M. Ramstrom and J. V. Hultkrantz. Proposing a toast to the foreign representatives, Dean Lundstrom, said, among other things:

     "In one of the university towns of England there are said to be three gates. Above the first may be read porta humilitatis. The second is called porta laboris. The third is known as porta honoris. Has not the memory of Swedenborg passed through all three? The period of humility has been long. Then by the work of investigators in various lands the porta laboris was passed through. It was necessary to dig through, as it were, whole layers of misunderstanding before the third gate was reached. But today this brilliant Swedish memory has also in its fatherland passed through the gate of honor. But the honor of this achievement is in great part due to the nations and the learned Societies which you, sirs, represent."

     Mr. Stroh spoke briefly as the representative of the Academy of the New Church and the Swedenborg Scientific Association.

     Many other speeches were made, including one by Mr. Rendell, who noted that in England Swedenborg was recognized as a great theologian. But though he (the speaker) belonged to the New Church, he fully realized that Swedenborg was broader than all the Churches. In wide range of thought, in masterly exposition, in charity of vision, in comprehensive and catholic grasp of truth, he was beyond any church of today, and the truths he had been privileged to give to the world were to be the common heritage of the race."

     FESTIVAL PUBLICATIONS.

     The eight festival publications issued on the November 19th were the following:

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     1. Kungliga Vetenskaps Societetens i Upsala Tvahundraars Minne. By Professor Nils Duner, including the early minutes and statutes of the Society and facsimile reproduction of Dadalius Hyperboreus. Published by the Royal Society of Sciences of Upsala.

     2. The Mortal Remains of Emanuel Swedenborg: An account by J. Vilh. Hultkrantz. In Nova Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis. Ser. IV., Vol. 2., N. 9. Published by the Royal Society of Sciences of Upsala.

     3. Till Kungl. Vetenskaps Societeten i Uppsala vid dess 200-arsjubileum. After the Preface by Rector Magnificus Schuck follows a work by Professor O. M. Rarnstrom: Emanuel Swedenborg's Investigations in Natural Science, especially his statements concerning the functions of the Brain. Published by Upsala University.

     4. Constitutiones Nationis Dalekarlo-Vestmannicae MDCC Datae. Including notes in Swedish on Swedenborg's student days at Upsala. 1699-1709. Published by the Vestmanland-Dala Nation.

     5. Emanuelis Swedenborgii Itineraria. Resebeskrifningar af Emanuel Swedenborg under aren 1710-1739. Published by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

     6. Selectae Sententiae, Disputatio Emanuelis Swedenborgii. Editio Phototypica. Published by the New Church Publishing Society of Stockholm.

     7. Camena Borea, Opusculum juvenile Emanuelis Swedborgii. Editio Phototypica. Published by the Swedenborg Society, British and Foreign, of London.

     8. En Swedenborg's Reformation,-by Hr. Hjalmar Kylen, Stockholm, describing early New Church and "Swedenborgian" movements in Sweden.

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Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. Thanksgiving Day was marked by two impressive services, which made the day an especially pleasant one. The beautiful Thanksgiving service was held at half past ten, after which the congregation adjourned for a short time to gather again at the hour of noon in celebration of the wedding of Mr. Warren Potts and Miss Valerie Van der Steen, who left later in the day for a short trip, with the final destination New York, where they will make their home.

     The "Bal Masque" given on November 30 by the Civic and Social Club proved a grand success. Beautiful, interesting and comic costumes transformed the members of our society into a kaleidoscope of mystery which failed to unravel until the unmasking.

     On the twenty-fifth the usual Friday supper gave place to a more elaborate banquet, in lieu of our annual District Assembly which was omitted, owing to the so recent General Assembly which was held here in June. The banquet was much enjoyed, especially the paper read by Mr. Acton on Swedenborg's ADVERSARIA, which opened for the first time to many of us a clear understanding of its contents. We look forward with pleasure to the time when an English translation will enable all of us to profit at will from this wonderful commentary on the Word. During the discussion which followed, Mr. Synnestvedt voiced the sentiment that perhaps many of us did not realize the importance of the work Mr. Acton had performed in his review.

     On the second Friday in December the usual banquet supper took place, at which the subject considered was the style of church architecture for which we should strive. Mr. Synnestvedt read an interesting paper in which many passages from the Writings were cited, and in which the main idea was that we should strive to consider our present needs and the use to be performed, as well as the doctrine of correspondences, in our decision as to forms, and not try to follow too blindly suggestions from the doctrines as to forms in the other world; as we might attain by so doing something remote from the use and expression intended.

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A paper by the Bishop followed, full of beautiful and practical suggestions as to the adaption of some of our forms of worship to the shaping of our architecture. The Bishop spoke of one influence already strongly in evidence, namely, the use of the Word as the center of worship in distinction from the Catholic and Protestant churches, in which the altar and the pulpit, respectively, hold first place.

     At the close of the discussion which followed, some letters from Sweden were read, giving interesting outlines and impressions of the national ceremonies at Upsala at the unveiling of Swedenborg's sarcophagus.

     On Saturday evening, December 10, Mr. George Heath and a local company of young people presented cleverly the old English character play, "Caste." The inability of Mr. Heath on account of present ill health to pursue his calling elsewhere enables us to benefit by his presence among us, and we owe him much appreciation for his continual efforts to produce worthy entertainment on our local stage. R. E. S.

     ACADEMY SCHOOLS.

     The regular monthly school social took place on November 3d, and was arranged in a manner appropriate to the Thanksgiving season.

     On the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day an interesting game of foot ball was played between the varsity eleven and a team composed of former students of the Academy. The lack of training told on the "has beens" eleven, but they held their own until half time, when the game was brought to an end by the failing light. No score was made on either side, but a hard tussle was witnessed between the exponents of old and new style foot ball.

     The school concert arranged on November 26th by Mrs. Colley was a great success. The program mainly consisted of singing by the college and seminary, and instrumental music by various members of the school, while Miss Gwladys Hicks also contributed two songs.

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     The basket ball season has begun, and the captain and coach are seeking the material to develop into a team that shall preserve the school's good record in this sport. D. T. R.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. We are hoping to occupy our remodeled school house early in January, and to hold our Christmas and New Year's celebrations in the assembly room. The period during which we have been meeting in the private houses has been a pleasant one, and the social events during the past two months have been very enjoyable. In October we met twice at the home of Mrs. Barnitz, on the 15th and 29th. On the former occasion a literary and musical program was presented, of which the piece de resistance was a reading by Dr. King of the "Rhyme of the
Ancient Mariner," accompanied by a chorus of invisible spirits and a marginal commentator. The social of the 29th was a Hallowe'en party, with music, stunts and dancing.

     On November 12th, at the home of Mr. Junge, Dr. King delivered an interesting stereopticon lecture with pictures of various scenes on the Mediterranean Sea, including the Chinese Wall. (Rather far-fetched.)

     Our annual bazar was held at the Manse, and brought to the building fund over $100. This was a splendid affair. The house was decorated in grand style, and never was there seen in the Park such a bewildering array of fine things to eat, wear, and look at. Candy, cookies, and preserves, flowers, pictures, and notions, clothes for dolls and for babies, a fish pond, and money banks for sale looking like the supposed model of our future church building. Everything was eagerly bought, and when the evening was over not a thing was left.

     At our December steinfest the program, under the direction of Dr. King, comprised a series of about twelve speeches, some of them three sentences in length, some of them three paragraphs, others fifteen minutes in duration. The subject was Greek philosophy, and each speaker gave a rhetorical and encyclopedic display of knowledge concerning one of the Sophi and his teachings. The Chicago Public Library officials are still wondering at the unprecedented "run" on books relating to Greek philosophy.

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But while we attended this steinfest expecting to be bored, and to poke the usual fun at these ancient wise gentlemen, we were agreeably exhilarated instead, and left with a sense of admiration and respect for their sagacious minds, and their strugglings for truth amid the darkness of their times.

     An exceptionally jolly party took place on December 10th, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Maynard. Each person present wore a mystical badge representing some town of Illinois, and after a lively period of guessing, prizes were awarded for the cleverest inventions. Three judges had been appointed, and sat in state upon the bench. They also had the task of judging a number of poetical compositions which had been written and submitted in competition for this evening. About twenty authors and authoresses were involved, and we were regaled with verses upon a great variety of subjects,--hymns, odes to the New School House, and "funny business." Prizes also were awarded for the best two of these.

     Among recent visitors were Mrs. Theodore Bellinger, Miss Aurora Synnestvedt, Miss Clara Tafel, Dr. Felix Boericke and Dr. Martin Heilman. A. M.

     THE MISSIONARY FIELD. Since my last notes were sent to the Life, our church people have been visited in thirteen places, and services were held in several of them. Time and space do not admit, therefore, to speak of all the places here.

     From November 8th till the 23d seven families were visited near Columbiana and at Greenford, O. On Sunday, 13th, we had a meeting at the home of Mr. Solomon Renkenberger and family. Being invited to come to Cleveland to baptize two little children (whose mothers had been baptized by me in Erie, Pa., in May, 1907), two days were passed with three families in that city.

     On Sunday, November 27th, at the residence of Edward Cranch, M. D., and family, in Erie, our meeting was attended by twenty-eight persons. As ever, the devout worshipers made an ultimate for a warm and enjoyable sphere. In the evening the meeting for the reading and study of the T. C. R., was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Burns.

     Returning to Ontario on December 1st, the evening was spent with Mr. James Lennie and family, in the city of Hamilton.

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It was a pleasant visit, the only drawback being the brevity of the time at our disposal. Mr. Lennie made application for membership in the General Church. Seeing once more the four nice children, who have all been baptized into the New Church, caused the wish that they, or some of them, might in the future attend the schools of the Academy. And this wish may be realized.

     Sunday, December 4th, I preached for the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, at Berlin, to a good and most attentive audience. For many years the people there have received the pastor's faithful ministrations and thorough instruction in the Heavenly Doctrines. And the hopeful state of the Church in Berlin, is emphasized by the presence of the large number of young people.

     In Huron Co., at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Izzard, near Clinton, on the evening of December 8th, the young people met for their weekly doctrinal reading. They are at present studying the work on the LAST JUDGMENT, and it was a pleasure to be with them on the occasion. On Sunday, the 11th, service was held at the house. The attendance was twelve persons, all adults. On account of the severe winter weather several of the members who live at a distance could not come to the meeting. On the evening of the 13th we had another interesting meeting of the doctrinal class at the home of Mr. Thomas Cole and family.
     J. E. BOWERS.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The BALTIMORE New Church mission reports sales for the present year aggregating $130 and including 247 of Swedenborg's works, a slight increase over last year, more than accounted for by an increased sale of the paper edition of HEAVEN AND HELL.

     An account of the Swedenborg Congress was given before the members of the PHILADELPHIA society at its fall meeting last October. Mr. Wm. McGeorge spoke of the place of the Congress as "the centre of the New Church in England, if not in the world, . . . where one church can almost be seen from an other; where the New Church in influence, and almost in numbers, stands on a par with those of other denominations; where contributions are made by the public authorities for the support of New Church education in the day schools," etc.

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The speaker's enthusiasm seems to have completely carried him away from the vision of the sober facts. For only by a wild stretch of imagination, inspired by lively hope, can it be said that New Church "influence" is on a par with that of "other" denominations; and as for New Church education, why, outside the General Church, there is no such thing in the whole of Great Britain.

     The Rev. Julian K. Smythe spoke on "The Spirit of the Congress." He noted that at this meeting "Swedenborg had a real try-out as a scientist," and--with success; and that the Congress assembled men of eighteen different nationalities representing as many languages into which Swedenborg's works had been translated.

     In its report of the ILLINOIS ASSOCIATION at La Porte last month, the MESSENGER makes no mention whatever of the effort there made to revive the "Schreck case," and the final appeal of the matter to a "public jury of Christians of all denominations."

     There was an unusual number of ministers present at this the seventh annual meeting of the Association, including the Rev. Messrs. Charles S. Mack, of Toledo; E. D. Daniels, of Berlin, Canada; O. E. Lorenz, of Chicago; (Humboldt Park), and S. S. Seward, of Detroit. The ministerial membership of the Association itself was increased during the meeting by the ordination of Dr. Axel Lundeberg, and W. A. Simons, by the Rev. John S. Saul.

     The latter of these is an Afro-American, who reported to the Illinois Association as to his work among the colored people of Chicago about two years ago.

     Dr. Lundeberg is a Swede of illustrious descent, and a fluent speaker in English. From 1890-1895 he worked as a Unitarian in Minneapolis, where he was ordained in 1893. He was then a reader of the Writings, but he first became a student of them after his visit to the St. Louis Exposition in 1903, where he met several New Church ministers.

     The Rev. O. E. Lorenz, who was formerly a Lutheran minister, is now preaching the doctrines in the Humboldt park chapel of the CHICAGO society.

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Mr. Lorenz is not a member of the Illinois Association, and, so far as appears, his work is supplementary to the work of the Rev. A. B. Francisco, the pastor at Humboldt Park. In addition to this, since last May, the chapel of this society has been used by Dr. Axel Lundeberg for Swedish lectures on the doctrines.

     The society at Humboldt Park is reported to have had a "phenomenal increase" during the past year; but we judge from Mr. Schuldz's letter, printed in our editorial columns, that this increase is now seriously threatened. The Chicago society is building a new house of worship for this parish.

     In the early part of November, the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck delivered a stereopticon lecture before a large audience in Englewood church, CHICAGO. The lecture was well advertised, and an admission fee was charged. Many of the lantern slides had been procured by the lecturer on his recent trip to Sweden, while others were made from pictures which he had brought over. The lecture was somewhat in the nature of an attempt to interest strangers, as well as to inform Newchurchmen. Among the audience were several public school teachers, who expressed themselves in high terms of praise.

     At the recent meeting of the Women's Council of the Illinois Association, the discussion was mainly upon the question as to whether the body was justified in continuing its existence. Ultimately a resolution was passed favoring continuance.

     Mr. T. Mower Martin has organized a New Church Society at Seattle, Wash., with Mr. Burns as president and Mr. Peters as vice-president. Mr. Peters was the only one of the thirty-one Seattle visitors to the New Church exhibit at the Yukon Exhibition who gave a reply to the written invitations sent out by Mr. Martin. The Society owns a lot and furnished cottage, and it was estimated that it could raise an annual sum of $30. As it was felt desirable, however, to secure an experienced minister, Mr. Peters offered to subscribe $100 a month to his support if such a man could be secured. Mr. Martin is in communication with the Mission Board with respect to the matter.

     CANADA. The 47th annual meeting of the CANADA ASSOCIATION was held in Toronto, October 28-31. The Rev. Dr. Sewall was present and addressed the Association on the work in the Northwest.

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In the course of the meeting the sum of $200 was appropriated for the prosecution of this work by the Association in connection with the Convention's Mission Board.

     The church building of the BERLIN society, through the kindness of two members, has installed two memorial windows, one of them in memory of the late Rev. F. W. Tuerk.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The annual meeting of the ORPHANAGE was held in London on November 8th, with Mr. David Wynter in the chair. In his address the chairman noted that the administrative expenses of the society amounted to only five per cent. of its expenditures. This was partly due to considerable voluntary work, including the free medical services of New Church doctors, and partly to the policy of the orphanage in keeping its wards in the charge of the mothers or other relatives.

     The reports showed an investment fund of $36,500 bringing an income of $1,125. The balance of the annual expenditure of $2,750 is made up by subscriptions. The present number of wards is 27. One new ward has been added during the year, and five, having reached the age limit of fifteen, have been dropped from the rolls.

     Mr. E. C. Stewart, the witty Scotchman of Devonshire street, together with the Rev. Messrs. G. B. Meek, and Wm. E. Hurt, have issued a call for the formation of "a special Lodge of New Church Freemasons," to which all New Church men in England shall be eligible. A charter has been obtained and a meeting for formal organization will be held in LONDON in the early part of November.

     At the annual meeting of the BRIGHTLINGSEA society, the minister, the Rev. Thomas Moss, B. A., noted that "the evening congregations during the past year had been fairly satisfactory, but the morning hardly so." The young people, however, "attended worship with Praiseworthy regularity." But "he was glad to report that a very kindly feeling existed among the Free Churches of Brightlingsea, which must tend to strengthen and prosper the cause of the Master!" Nothing was said as to a possible connection between this "kindly" fraternalism with the Old Church, and the decreased attendance in the New.

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DECLINE OF LOVE TO THE LORD 1911

DECLINE OF LOVE TO THE LORD       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1911




     Announcements.






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     NEW CHURCH LIFE
     VOL. XXXI FEBRUARY, 1911 No. 2
     (An address delivered before the Ontario Assembly, Dec. 31, 1910.)

     Love to the Lord and love to the neighbor are conjoined, and can never be separated; neither can the one love exist without the other. There is however in the Christian world a decline of love to the Lord, coupled with an increase of love to the neighbor. But this is a condition that cannot really take place, for the one love increases or diminishes in equal step with the other, and any other condition is but an appearance and not an index of the real state of things. If love to the Lord is declining, love to the neighbor is also declining, or if love to the neighbor is increasing, love to the Lord is also increasing.

     Love to the Lord and love to the neighbor are the two universal loves. Where one is the other is, and though one may appear to exist without the other, it is but a temporary state, a temporary appearance that soon passes away. Sometimes love to the Lord may predominate or take the lead, as it is in the celestial kingdom, or love to the neighbor as it is in the spiritual kingdom; but the law still abides that where the one love is the other is also. The angels of the celestial kingdom are in love to the Lord, but they are not without love to the neighbor; and the angels of the spiritual kingdom are in love to the neighbor, but they are not without love to the Lord. On earth the good among the Gentiles, or the simple good among Christians, are, as it were, in love to the neighbor without love to the Lord, because they are ignorant of the Lord and His coming into the world, or they do not know that He is the only God of heaven and earth; yet they are in love to the Lord because they think of God as a Man in their worship, and this Divine Man whom they worship they will be told afterward is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save them from their sins.

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     Love to the Lord and love to the neighbor are always together in the Word of God. In the Ten Commandments, which are the first of the Word and a Divine summary of the same, these two loves appear in the two tables of the Decalogue; the first table being for the Lord, and the second for man; or the first table treating of man's duties to God, and the second of his duties to his neighbor; or again the first table treating of love to God and the second of love to the neighbor. But the two tables are joined together as one table, and this was done to represent the truth that these two loves are joined as one, and as one make the whole Word of God, even as our Lord said in the Gospel, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew xxii. 40.) There is no place in the Word of God where these two loves do not reign. They not only reign in all things of the Word but in all things of doctrine from the Word, and the doctrine of the New Church is nothing else than the doctrine of love and charity, of love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor. (A.E. 724.) They are together as one in every society of heaven, and wherever the true church appears on earth they reign conjointly as one. It is the conjunction of these two that makes heaven and the church. They are what make an angel of heaven to lie an angel, and a man on earth is preparing to become an angel of heaven in proportion as these two loves are conjoined in him in the process of regeneration.

     The presence and conjunction of these two loves, therefore, is essential to all religious life; and, if the two are not actively present and united, the life of religion is but an appearance having within it no life from heaven; for the life of heaven and the life of religion are essentially and primarily a life of love to the Lord, proceeding and going forth actively in love to the neighbor.

     Concerning the conjunction of love to the Lord and love to the neighbor, and the necessity of that conjunction, the Writings teach as follows:

     Good works proceed from charity, and charity or love to the neighbor proceeds from love to the Lord. (A. C. 1873).

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     Love to the Lord can never be separated from love to the neighbor. (A. C. 2023.)

     Love to the neighbor is derived from love to the Lord, and no one can love the Lord unless he also loves his neighbor. (A. C. 2227.)

     Unless charity be interiorly in works they are not works of charity, and unless love to God be interiorly in charity it is not charity. (A. C. 5608.)

     These are indeed two; but the one cannot be separated from the other; for to separate them would be like separating the Lord from man and man from the Lord; and in this case there is no church. (A. R. 903.)

     We find, therefore, that the teaching is clear, direct and unmistakable that the church does not exist where love to the neighbor alone is, but where there is both love to the neighbor and love to the Lord.

     Now another element of consideration comes in here, one of exceeding great importance, namely, that wherever there is love to the Lord there is the acknowledgment of Him, the acknowledgment and confession of His Divinity; for love always openly acknowledges and confesses the object that is loved. Hence we read that there are two things necessary to make works good, namely, that the Divinity of the Lord be acknowledged, and that the evils forbidden in the Decalogue be shunned as sins. (A. E. 935.) And further that those only are in interior life who are in love to the Lord, and that none are in love to the Lord except those who acknowledge the Divinity of His Human. (A. E. 148.)

     It is clear, therefore, that when we see evidences of love to the neighbor, it is necessary also to look for evidences of love to the Lord, and that these evidences will become manifest in the confession and acknowledgment of His Divinity. For love to the Lord as an active quality must make itself manifest, and this manifestation consists in the confession that as the Savior of men He is Divine, and not human as other men are human.

     Now, therefore, if we take this truth in the inverse ratio, we have presented to us the fact of the situation in the Christian world; that is to say, the evidence of the decline of love to the Lord appears in the decline of the acknowledgment of the Divinity of His Human.

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It ought to need no argument to show any one who closely observes the state of the world and the trend of religious opinion in the churches, as well as in the literary sphere, that the decline of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the decline of the acknowledgment of His Divinity, is marked and even rapid in its unfolding, development and increase. Within the past hundred years a large and active religious body has come into existence, organized and openly committed to the denial of the Divinity of the Lord God the Savior. This is indeed its leading article of faith,--Jesus Christ is not Divine, is not a Divine Man. He is not even the second person of a Divine Trinity. He is merely a great leader, a great religious reformer, but still a man like other men. Unitarianism is, however, not confined to one religious body. The sphere of Unitarian thought and influence is widely extensive, pervades all the churches, and is increasing in all. It appears almost everywhere-in the researches of theological thought and scholarship; and we find the learned critics treating the Word as a human book, denying it's Divinity, its Divine inspiration.

     Now the Word is the Lord, and the Lord is the Word, and love to the Lord is at the same time the love of His Word, and the acknowledgment of the Divinity of the Lord is at the same time the acknowledgment of the Divinity of His Word. On the other hand, he who denies the Divinity of the Lord denies also the Divinity of His Word, and a denial of the Divinity of the Word is at the same time a denial of the Lord. These two cannot be separated. The evidences of the spread and increase of this denial multiply on every hand, and there ought not to be any doubt about it in the mind of a reflecting and observing Newchurchman.

     From all the considerations that we have been endeavoring to set forth, it becomes plain that if love to the Lord is decreasing in the Christian world, genuine charity is also decreasing, and it cannot be otherwise. This does not appear to be so, but the appearance is nothing else than an appearance; for genuine charity is the appearing of love to the Lord, coupled with the confession of His Divinity. Such is not the charity that now prevails in the world. The charity that exists is for the most part merely natural.

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For charity is made spiritual, and thus real and genuine, by the presence of the Lord in it; and the Lord is present only where He is acknowledged as God, as the Divine Savior of men. Nothing is spiritual where the Lord is not seen, and known and loved as God. The charity of the Christian world is, therefore, for the most part a merely natural thing, in which self love and self interest reign, and not the Lord.

     A clear seeing of this truth is vital to the existence of the New Church-the truth that the very first and living essential of the Church is love to the Lord, together with the open and public confession of His Divinity. It is of supreme importance to see this truth as the very essential of the Church, and at the same time to see and acknowledge the momentous fact that the denial of this living essential is increasing in the Christian world; for it will lead us to look for the Lord and to the Lord, not in the midst of the old church, but in His Word as He reveals Himself therein in His Second Coming. In His Word alone, as opened by Him, is the Lord to be found, and in the Church alone which is established by Doctrine from His Word, the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, the Doctrine of Heaven, the Divine Doctrine which is the Lord Himself in His Coming.

     The Lord is the Word and the Lord is Doctrine from His Word. He who loves the Doctrine, which is from the Lord by the Word, loves the Lord; for the Lord is in the Doctrine which is from Him, and He is that Doctrine; and the Lord in His Second Coming is nowhere else but in the Doctrine revealed by Him.

     Doctrine, therefore, is the living internal of the Church,--not Doctrine as a scientific in the memory, but Doctrine loved from the heart. In the New Church, therefore, the love of Doctrine is the internal of the church, for the love of Doctrine is love to the Lord; and there is no other love to the Lord in the New Church, but the love of Doctrine which is from Him and is Himself. When this truth is seen and acknowledged in heart and life, then the New Church begins; and its continued increase will be according to the increase of this love which is in the midst of it, and which is the true internal of the Church, the true internal of the Church which is the New Jerusalem on earth.

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ASSUMPTION OF THE HUMAN 1911

ASSUMPTION OF THE HUMAN       Rev. N. D. PENDLETON       1911

     And the Angel answered and said unto her. The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the Power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35.)

     It was the Angel Gabriel who spoke to Mary, that is, an angelic society consisting of those who "teach from the Word that Jehovah came into the world, and that the Human which He took there is the Son of God, and Divine." (A. R. 548.)

     An angelic society, indeed, ministered on this occasion, but it was a ministry of absolute subservience to that which is here and elsewhere in the Word, signified by an angel, namely, the Lord Himself in His Divine Human, the Human which He had from eternity, and which, prior to its Advent in the flesh, presented Itself to view by transflux through the heavens, whereby a Divine Angelic Man was reproduced. As such an Angel-Man He appeared to many, both in heaven and on earth. Every angelic appearing, therefore, of which there is Scriptural record, was in truth and fact an appearing of this Divine Angelic Man--the Human of God from eternity, clothed in heavenly forms, veiled by angelic appearances, and, indeed, often presented to aspect view by ultimation in the person of an angel. Yet it was the Divine Human which thus appeared, and no other. It was the first begotten, as Truth descending from the Essential Divine Good into the heavens, infilling them, and, as said, by transflux setting forth an Angel-Man.

     While it appears from the statement that this Angelic Human form was, as it were, reflected upon the Divine by heaven acting as a mold, yet the higher--the inner--truth revealed is,--that this human form was, in the first instance, stamped upon the heavens by the Divine, creating, inflowing, and molding all things thereof in the likeness of, and into correspondence with, Itself, thereby imparting that which we call the Human form to heaven as a whole, to the individual angels, and, so far as possible, to men on earth.

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     In one of the last numbers in the Arcana in which this subject is set forth we find the following conclusive statement:

     "Before the Advent of the Lord into the world, Jehovah . . . appeared in the form of an angel; for when He passed through heaven He clothed Himself with that form, which was the Human form . . . still it was Jehovah Himself, and that form itself was also His, because it was His Divine in heaven; this was the Lord from eternity." (A. C. 10579.)

     That very form, then, was His--His to give and His to take. He gave it to the heavens and He also took it upon Himself from the heavens. In a word, He descended and assumed a Human from the heavens, but in doing this He took upon Himself that which was of, and from, Himself, with the Angels.

     However, it is clear that while the Angelic Human form thus assumed was, indeed, His own Divine Form, yet a certain distinction is to be noted between this Divine in the heavens, and the Divine Itself, the Infinite Father, above the heavens--a distinction to which the Writings call attention in the following significant words:

     "Before the coming of the Lord the Divine Human was Jehovah in the heavens. . . . But at that time the Divine Human was not so completely one with the Divine Itself, called the Father, as was the case when the Lord made it altogether Divine in Himself. That before this they were, as it were, distinct." (A. C. 6000.)

     This doctrine is drawn from the Scriptural statement in Genesis xix., 24: "Jehovah caused it to rain upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire from Jehovah out of heaven," that is, from the appearance in the Letter of two Jehovahs--the One who came to Abram, passed on to Sodom, walked in the streets thereof, entered Lot's house, and, finally, when all was prepared, caused it to rain sulphur and fire from Jehovah out of heaven, as if from another.

     Of the apparent distinction thus indicated between Jehovah the Father above the heavens, and Jehovah in the heavens, or, what is the same, Jehovah Himself and the Angel of Jehovah, the Writings say that they were not so completely one, as they were after the Glorification,--that they were, as it were, distinct.

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At once this falls into agreement with that other teaching that the Divine in the heavens was not so powerful to save mankind--after the race had fallen--as was the Human Glorified on earth, and this, it would appear, because the Angelic Human was not so much one with the Infinite Divine above, as well as for that other reason given, that the Human Glorified was granted a deeper reach and more ultimate hold with man.

     The question why the Angelic Human was not so much one with the Infinite Father is of deep significance and profound interest. It can only be answered by a knowledge of the nature of that Ancient Human. The teaching is that Jehovah God descended into the heavens as Divine Truth--that this Truth veiled itself with the rational appearances of truth in the minds of the angels, taking thence an angelic form,--even, at times, possessing itself of the very person of some Angel,--or it may be a whole Angelic Society. It can be seen that these appearances of truth, while essentially from the Divine, were, as appearances, finite and imperfect, and when a greater extension of the Divine Power was required those veiling appearances operated as encumbrances, and set bounds to the exercise of the Divine Power--rendering it "not sufficient." It can be seen
that the Angelic Human, the Divine in the heavens, thus veiled was not so much one with the Infinite Father above as was the case after Glorification; for by the Glorification of the Human assumed in time and on earth those very appearances of truth with the Angels were in the mind of our Lord made Divine, and in this way that which was not so much one with the Father became altogether one in Him.

     This, in part, answers the question. But more is involved. There is deeper ground for the statement just as made--Jehovah God descended into the heavens as Truth--and the statement is that whether we say Truth or the Divine Human it is the same thing (A. C. 2643); primal Truth is the Essential Divine Human organic, the containant of its Divine Good. He descended into the heavens as Truth, even as He also descended into the world in the fullness of time as Truth. In neither case did He separate the Divine Good. And yet by virtue of the descent and the need of accommodation there arose a distinction between them, so that they were not so completely one.

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This was the case with that Truth which constituted the first Human in the heavens, and it was the same with the Truth which by descent constituted the Human born into the world, that is, this was the case prior to full Glorification. That there was such a distinction and, as it were, separation between the Divine Good and the Divine Truth in the Human on earth appears from the fact that the entire process of Glorification was concerned with the reunion of this Truth with the Good from which it originally came forth. And for this reason the Lord said that He came forth from the Father and that He returned to the Father--returned into the Glory which He had with Him before the world was.

     In this respect the Human prior to Glorification was circumstanced as the heavens--as the Divine in the heavens. It was Truth sent into the world, in the Human, not as yet united to the Divine Good, not so much one with it as it was after Glorification.

     This is strikingly brought to view by the statement in the CANONS, (Redeemer), to this effect: "These two (namely, the Divine Truth and the Divine Good), in the Lord recently born were distinct, as are soul and body, but they were afterwards united." And this is just that which is predicated concerning the first Human in the heavens, i. e., it was, as it were, distinct from the Divine Love, the Father above the heavens, or not so much one therewith.

     This teaching concerning the state of the Lord recently born is given in connection with our text: "The Angel said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore also that Holy Thing which, shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." And in explanation it is said that the Holy Spirit is the Divine Truth--the Word which was in the Lord by nativity from conception, and which was afterwards increased beyond all measure, that is, infinitely. And that the Most High is predicated of the Divine Good. This was also in Him by nativity from conception, but as His inmost Soul. Thus the statement of doctrine is that "these two things, the Holy Spirit coming upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowing her, signify . . . the Divine Truth and the Divine Good, the Divine Good forming the Soul, and the Divine Truth the body. . . thus that these two in the Lord recently born were distinct, as are soul and body, but were afterwards united" (Can. Redeemer v.), and this by the process of Glorification.

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     It appears, then, that the Human of the Lord recently born was circumstanced as are the heavens, even as the Divine in the heavens, and it may be said that this was so because they were the same, with the addition of a material body in the case of the Human born into the world. This we know from many statements in the Writings, as that the Lord took upon Himself the Divine Man in the heavens and made it Divine in Himself. (A. C. 5663) That He put on the transflux with the Angels. (A. C. 6371) That the Human assumed in the world was superinduced over the former Human (in the heavens). (D. L. W. 221.) That He made His Human Divine Truth while He was in the world, thus such as in heaven, afterwards it successively became Divine Good by unition. (ATH. CREED, P. 34) These things are predicated, not of the mere body that was taken from Mary, for that was altogether put off, but of that Human as Truth which was born from the Divine Good, and which is variously described in the Writings, sometimes as the Lord's internal man, (A. C. 5689), and again as the Lord's interior man. It is also spoken of as an intermediate structure, and in the primary formation it is described organically as that "nearest covering of the Divine Itself in the Lord," (A. C. 5689), and is given the name of the celestial of the spiritual, or truth, from the Divine.

     Such the Human of the Lord was when recently born--a heavenly Man--a man having all heaven as to Truth in Himself, and this in the intermediate plane, or in addition to the Soul, which from the beginning was Infinite and Divine, one and the same with the Father.

     He then, when born, had all heaven, and the Divine therein, involved in the intermediate: structure or plane of the interior human, that is, in the plane of the rational mind, as distinguished from His soul, and as distinct from His material body. But this at first, unconsciously, for on this plane there was a gradual and successive awakening, accompanied by a stirring of all the angelic societies in their series.

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Moreover at such moments He was given inmost perceptions of Truth, called Divine Revelations whereby His mind was opened in the supreme degree and structurally composed in Divine: perfection and fullness, according to the idea of an infinite heaven, (S. D. 4845), composed of, and by, that Truth, the Word, which was in Him latently from conception.

     That there was a gradual awakening, and a coincident stirring of the angelic societies in their series, we know from the teaching that He called these societies to Himself, and changed them at pleasure; yet He took nothing from the angels, but only from the Divine. (A. C. 1752.) He took nothing from the angels--nothing from their propriums. Yet He took all as through them, that is, all the Divine in the heavens.

     This He drew to Himself in all its fullness and power, for it was thus that He made the Human Rational Divine as to Truth, or what is the same He thus made His Human Divine Truth while in the world.

     This He was enabled to do because at the time of the conception the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her, i. e., because of the character of the Divine Seed from which He was conceived and born. This Seed was Divine Truth in which was the Divine Good, the Divine Good forming the Soul, and the Divine Truth the body. This Divine Truth, in the most holy moment of creation, passing by transflux through the heavens; penetrated the chosen ovum, and wove the body of the Christ Child in the womb of Mary out of substances taken from nature.

     This Truth in passing, by transflux, clothed itself with the heavens, and involved all the holy angels in the Divine Act. For this reason the Divine Seed is also called the seed of woman. With the Lord at birth, therefore, there was a full heavenly inheritance, and this in place of that which is called paternal with other men. Wherefore the Child, when born, was like no other, and this not only with regard to the Lord, but also as to the intermediate plane. He alone was born a spiritual celestial man. (A. C. 4592-4.)

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The Holy Thing born of Mary was at once the Son of God, the Son of heaven and the Son of earth, for while He walked the earth doing the will of the Father He was clothed with a material body, His mind was vested with the heavens, and His Soul was one and the same with the Father, the infinite and eternal God.

     This One was not yet fully the God over all, but was to be called the Son of God, according to the words of the Angel Gabriel to Mary; and the Writings say that He was to be so called, because such, in truth and very fact, He was. But such He could not remain, because the Divine Truth which structurally composed the Human of the Son, by the inevitable Glorification, became one with the Divine Good of the Lord, and when this was accomplished He put off both earth and heaven and became, as to the Human, solely one with the Father. He could then no longer be called the Son of God; and His disciples called Him Lord instead of Master. So neither could it be any longer said of the Divine in the heavens that it was not so much one with the Divine Above. For, as was shown, the Divine in the heavens, the Divine Truth there, was one and the same with the Divine Truth which structurally composed the mind, or the Human of the Lord; and it was even this that was now Glorified or made Divine by union with the Divine Good of the Soul, which was the same with the Father above the Heavens.

     This was so because all heaven was in the Lord at birth, yet because of evil inherited from the mother He, like other men, was born in ignorance. Heaven was in Him, and every angelic society was involved in the convolutions of His brain. Yet over all was spread the veil of infirmity from Mary. The darkness of ignorance shadowed Him. Wherefore, like others, His mental development must needs be gradual and successive. This was effected by flashes of Divine Revelation from the Soul or Father passing to the conscious plane of His mind, by and through the angelic societies inseated in His brain.

     It was thus that His mind became the Divine Truth successively more and more. Thus the Divine Human from eternity in the heavens, latently in Him, from conception by the seed Divine, came to its full bodiment and perfect development as He grew in the Wisdom of Good, and was perfected according to the idea of an Infinite heaven.

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     When we realize that every least unit of His brain was the seat of some angelic society, and that thus the whole grand man of the heavens was actually contained in Him, and this from birth, by virtue of the fact that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and wove the Infant brain and body a perfect containent of heaven and that of Itself in heaven, we begin to see how it was, as His mind awakened, He first became heaven and the Divine Truth therein, and that afterward, when H bared Himself fully and finally to the Fire of Divine Love, He put off, not only the earth, but also the heaven of angels, and that then the Divine in the heavens, now the Truth in Him, became fully united with the Divine Good--the Father.

     Wherefore, after the Glorification it could no longer be said that the Divine in the Heavens was not so much one with the Divine above.

     This brings to view the hidden reason for the Advent in the flesh. It was undertaken in order that the Divine in the heavens might become one with the Divine Above--and this could be fully and lastingly accomplished only by making the Divine with the race on earth one with the Divine above the heavens. At the time of the Advent, the Divine with the race on earth was ceasing to be, and the Divine in the heavens was becoming even less one with the Divine Father above. And this because evil was surpassing itself and hell was threatening heaven. This condition could be changed by one means alone, namely, that the Lord should take upon Himself and subdue all evil and every hell. And this He could do only through the instrumentality of the natural human of a man in the world of nature, where was to be found the root of all evil and the seat of every hell. Wherefore it is said that the Lord came into the world, not primarily to assume the Human Essence, for this He had taken upon Himself before, by means of the heavens, but that He came to take on evil. (A. C. 1573.) He came to take on evil and subdue it in Himself and this to the end that the Divine--the saving Divine with the angels, and with men, might be absolutely one with the Infinite and all powerful Father. And now this saving Divine with angels and men, which is one with the Father, is that which we call the Divine Human, even our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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EPOCH ON THE FIRST AURA 1911

EPOCH ON THE FIRST AURA       LILLIAN G. BEEKMAN       1911

     From the recognition of the mystery and verity of the relation between the Father and the Only Begotten, the Divine Esse and the less universal Divine Essence from which the primitives of all created things are framed, the living all-wise Infinite and the primordial sphere of simple points of reflexing motion therein, at once vortex and human, nexus and intermediate between the Invisible Infinite One and the concrete or finite many, we pass to the first great epoch of the actual creation of a finite universe.

     This is the epoch of the formation of a first aura or primal ether, as a fine bulluiar or foam like structure, framed of circling lines and concrete massings of primal vortex points,--a structure extended in the Infinite, and in volume great enough to fill the universe. So that, in fact, Swedenborg calls it the "atmosphere of the universe" and even the universe itself. (E. A. K. 11:312, 339.)

     The mighty creative movement of this epoch, once beginning, in a first consociative flowing together and massing of the primordial vortex simples which everywhere exist in the universal Infinite,--sweeps without break or pause, as by a certain unify of act, to its close and consummation in the actual production of the primal aura, as to a first basis of attained equilibrium.

     The formative movement of the simples during this epoch is indeed so rapid and so total that Swedenborg especially mentions that the two successive phases of consociative action involved in producing the volumes of the first and second finites, or the two grades of concrete vortices which are necessary for the bullular structure, scarcely eventuate in their actual production before already they have attained their mutually equilibrated place and motion in the structure of the primal aura,--and in that attainment of equilibrium the movement of the epoch comes to a close and rest. (PRINC. I, Ch. vi. 5.) For in the bullular structure of the primal ether the conditions of equilibrium are first present in the nascent universe. In its bullae the conditions of elastic action and reaction first exist, and the potency of receptive reciprocation and communication of any force impressed.*

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The primal ether is the first form or plane, therefore, which provides the necessary ground or basis for the undulatory transmission of energy. Therefore it is the first form produced in which is possible the reception and propagation of those elastically undulating ripples and pressure, or centrifugally expansive gyrings, to which, in the lower analogues, we give the names "light" and "heat." Although on the highest plane more vital names are theirs; for this highest plane receives and reciprocates the activities of the Infinite alone.
     * That its bullae are the first forms that are elastic, and indeed so much so, that they are as it were the very power of elasticity in form. Principia, part I, Chap. VI. paragraph 3.

     Thus the fine foam structure of the primal aura, so near in the line of genealogical derivation of essence to the living Infinite, presents as in very form and substance the first attained equilibrium and resting place of the consociating outgo and use of the primal sphere of the active points at once human and vortex,--which, interiorly viewed, are the Only Begotten, the creative Logos. Therefore every consociative active of that primal sphere in the production of the concrete entities of creation is, as it were, the Divine creative Logos giving of His essence, to be the essence of the finite universe. For from the beginning, as in the last law of the sacramental image, the Only Begotten, the creative Logos, gives, as it were, His flesh to be the substance and bread of the world. For without that primal giving, the world could not be. This is the world's first gift from Him who came.

     Moreover, the marvelous elastically reciprocal fabric of the Primal ether or the first aura presents the first full outgo of the Only Begotten as the Divine in use, and therefore in power.* And as its fine bullular structure lies extended in the Infinite,** (since the very simples or primal leasts of which it is composited are points of whirling motion therein), it lies everywhere subject and obedient to the immediate touch of the Infinite, and ready for reciprocation with that Infinite in every formative and reformative determination.

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For all the work of creation proceeds conjointly from the Infinite Father and the Only Begotten together.*** This is to seen rationally, moreover, since the two are consubstantially one in the circuit of the life of the Infinite One I AM; even as, according to Swedenborg, the soul and its body in the highest plane are one form and circuit of life. The primal ether, then, considered as to form and substance,--the primal ether, so close in the derivative line from the very form of the Infinite Esse, that it is only the third therefrom,--stands from the beginning as the Divine Human Essence of God Man, in first, fullest, and finest "form" of Divine use and power, gift, accommodation, and act, present in His universe.
     * It is known that the atmospheres present the Divine as to use, and therefore as to power. (D. L. W. 296, 299, 300.)
     ** For the universe, which is full of God, could not be created except in God, and from God; not from nothing." (D. L. W. 55.)
     *** THE INFINITE, Chapt. I. paragraph X. no. 4. See also T. C. R. 167, for the statement that Divine, Operation is always from the Father and Son together; that is from the soul and body of God Man . . . and that the Divine Esse is the Soul.

     PARTICULARS CONCERNING THE FORMATION AND PRESERVATION OF THE EQUILIBRIUM OF THE ELASTIC STRUCTURE OF THE PRIMAL ETHER.

     In the bullular or foam-like structure of the primal ether, the bullular walls are formed of circling lines of the second finites; the relatively wider orbits, slower motion, and larger mass of those finites fitting them natively for that place and function. In the hollow centers of all these vesicles or bullae, numbers of the first finites, moving as unassociated individuals, find sufficient scope for their finer and higher orbital activity; and they gyre there freely in the apparent void of the Infinite. These finites flying in the hollow centers of the bulle by their frequent fine impact against their surrounding bullular walls exert a delicate force tending perpetually towards the expansion of the envelopes. Against the over action of this interior expansive force, another force is set which acts upon the fine bullular walls from without.

     Everywhere, outside all the bullular forms, in every interstice between them, are to be found myriads upon myriads of the free primordial simples or vortex points, which have never entered into consociate combination with others; which never do so enter, which therefore cannot be called finite.

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It is the fine action of these upon the outside of the bullular walls which offsets the expansive Pressure of the active first finites within them. Thus there is provided for the fine walls of the bulls of the first ether the equal pressure on both sides, which is the condition of all bullular surfaces or intermediate walls, (Prin. I. ch. vi:5), and on the preservation of such equilibrium depends the power of bullular walls or intermediates to act; react, and move within the margin of their freedom and ability.*
     * That an infinite number of these active simples or points may be present in one space without conflict of their flying motion, and that they are entia as it were everywhere present, and "fill all space, both the least in the world and the greater in consequence on which there cannot be any vacuum." Principia, Part I. Chapt. V, last paragraph.

     Here something is to be noted. Only those simples which take part in the consociate act, and actually are massed together into finites, constitute that portion of the marvelous primal sphere which we can think of as given to be the substance and bread of the world, and thus as actually entering the finite world, and being part of the nascent universe. (Princ. I. ch. iii: 14; ch. iv.:1, 2.)

     The vast sphere of these simples which do not so consociate into finities--and which are so abundant that they are everywhere throughout the universe in space without space, in the world and not of it, yet circumfluent about every finite form, preserving to even the integral forms of the atmospheres their freedom of equilibrium--may stand to us as the ever present Lord surrounding all finite things, and preserving, as by a miracle, the freedom and play of motion to every finite or compound structure.*
     * In this aspect of their omnipresence the Divine minima of the Infinite and of the Divine Providence appear to coincide. "For the Divine is universal from the most minute particulars, and the Divine minima are what is called the universal. . . . Moreover each Divine minimum is also infinite." (Nam Divinum est universale ex singularissimis, et Divinia singularissima sunt quae vocantur Universale; . . . et Divinum singularissimum etiam infinitum est.--D. P 294:6)

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     It is thus that the primal ether or first aura, "the atmosphere of the universe," is formed; and thus it is conditioned as its fine bullular structure lies extended in the Infinite, in volume vast enough to fill the height and length and breadth of the universe. With its fine foam structure the potency of elastic action and reciprocal action first enters upon the stage of creation. For the volumes of the first and second finites are incapable of anything in the slightest degree analogous to the peculiar motion of light and heat, previous to their formation into this vesicular of bullular structure of the primal ether; nor can the animatory motions of 'life" be received, elastically accommodated, and communicated; nor any other force deriving to forms of the universe from the Infinite Esse, sole self-acting fount of motion, before the universal primal ether is in existence.

     STUDY OF THE BULLULAR FORM INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR, THE BULLULAR FORM, THE ARCHETYPAL MARRIAGE-UNION FORM.

     The primal ether, third in successive production, from the Infinite itself, stands, then, as a certain compound form of use, into which the two foregoing phases of consociative product--the volumes of the first and second finites--were at once combined.

     For first there were produced two grades or degrees of finites, or concrete vortices resulting from the consociative action among the vortex points of the primordial sphere--a universe-wide volume of first finites framed from and in the great primordial sphere, and interspersed everywhere among them, again, the less universal volume of second finites.

     There were now two degrees of concrete entia made ready.

     Compared with one another the first finites were relatively small, and in perfection near to that of the simples themselves; the second finites, as aggregates of the first, were relatively large; and as being a degree farther removed from the simples, relatively less perfect. The first were the prior, the second took their rise secondarily the substance from which they formed being, as it were, a loan from the volume of the prior finites. The first finites as relatively fine, subtle, and swift in motion, and as in nature and composition nearer to the simples and the Infinite Esse, are entia of distinctly higher grade or degree than the second finites, which beside them are bulky, dense, slow in movement, and farther removed in the genealogical line from the simples and the Infinite.

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Thus, even as these two degrees of concrete entia were brought forth in the universe, in degrees related to each other as the prior is related to the posterior, or by sublime analogy and truth, as love is related to wisdom, they were swung at once into a mutually equilibrated place into the bullae: of the first ether, primal and supreme. The second finites fell into place and use in framing the relatively dense bullular envelope. The first finites, free and unattached, occupied the centers of those bullae. This was the rise of the first aura, the fine foam of which was in plenum throughout the universe. (Lesser Principia, 62). Now, it Is to be remembered always that the first finites, occupying the centers of the primal ether bullae, are not only smaller, finer, less dense, and of a far higher order of activity than the second finites, but they are a distinctly higher grade of substance, since they stand a degree nearer the Infinite Esse, and in perfection and production are proximate to the sphere of the free primordial simples, the Only Begotten and very essence of that Infinite Esse. For the first finites, considered as entities, stand as the first and simplest of concrete vortices, or "devolutions of the Infinite." But the second finites are such concrete vortices doubly compounded.

     When, then, we regard the individual bulla or bubble of that great foam volume, we see that its relatively rarefied active center and its envelope combine inseparably to form the elastic bulla or bubble. The bubble form is an integral whole, possesses potencies of elastic reciprocations to, and receptions of, the living activities of the Infinite; and potencies of rhythmic vibration, and the accommodation and propagation of the received forces, absolutely impossible to its constituent finites when arranged in any other form.

     When we consider the distinctly different constitution present in the hollow centers of the bullae and their envelops; the proximately prior degree of concrete entities, the higher order of activity, and altogether different state and condition of the centers, as compared with the grade of concrete entities, order of activity, state and condition belonging to the envelopes--such bullae seem to present a certain likeness to a soul and body combined in one full form.

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The active center, framed of substance of a prior degree, is as it were the soul of the bullular form, and the envelope its body, the unbroken unity of the two being capable of a peculiar and full reciprocation with the Infinite, unattainable otherwise. Nor is this the only great likeness appearing in these bullular forms, as in primal and archetypal image. Such a union of two degrees of finites, related as prior and posterior, to bring forth and compound the bullular form, potentized to peculiar powers, like all union of prior and posterior in one form, the union of love and wisdom in one use, presents the
great similitude of a marriage. The fine foam structure of the primal ether, then, presents itself as at once the marriage, conjunction, and offspring of the prior consociative productions of the sphere of the simple vortex points.

     We are to imagine, then, that the consociative action of the great sphere of simple vortex points (the Nexus between the Infinite and the finite, and interiorly the Very and Only Begotten), having once begun, the circling twining lines of these simple vortex points combined swiftly and without pause to the full formation in the Infinite of the fine foam structure of the primal ether or first aura. In the production of this primal ether, the first aura, the atmosphere of the created universe, the consociative movement and "use" of the marvelous sphere of the primal simples, came to their rest, as in the attained plane of its own fullest reciprocation to the activities of the Infinite Father. The formation of this first aura, therefore, is the formation of a first full equilibrated basis of Divine action and reaction throughout the universe, and a first structural ground capable of reception, communication, elastic propagation, and accommodation of the activities of the Infinite. In the attainment of this, therefore, the mighty first epoch of creation closes.

     In considering the first aura in its large relations, the great governing generals of its relation to the Infinite, its simple numerical place in the succession of essential involutions of the Infinite first holds attention. It stands third, and is the last result and outcome of the first consociative, or concreting activity of the sphere of the primordial simples or vortex points.

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     Moreover, since the fine bullular structure of the primal aura is formed of these consociated lines and masses of primordial simples, called by Swedenborg the first and second "substantials" or "finites," the Primal aura is, as to its essence or substance, consubstantiate with these simples.

     And again, as the primal aura is formed by means of the free intrinsic motion of these simples, without other cause of consociation or binding, its fine structure represents, embodies, and is, as in very form, the Involved fullness of the intrinsic reflexive activity of the only begotten Son, the creative Logos. And in the production of the primal aura in plenum throughout the universe is the equilibrated close of the great first epoch, the epoch of a free, purposed consociative motion one among another of those primal simples, the minima and leasts, immediately Divine, involving all human end and power; the sole substance of creation and the seed, immediately Divine, of all finite production.

     Love and Wisdom unite in use.

     The atmospheres present (are) the Lord or the Divine Human as to use and power.

     For the atmospheres are the union of the Divine Love and Wisdom. And Love and Wisdom united are the Lord.

     Love, Wisdom, and Use are the three-in-one which proceed as one from the Lord. Moreover they flow in as one, immediately into the souls, or inmost essence of man. (C. L. 183.)

     The primal ether, as the first atmosphere, presents (is) the Divine Love and Wisdom of the Lord, united in this primal and first use; supreme, highest, farthest reaching, and most universal; so that it is termed the universe.

     As the primal plane presenting the Divine as to use in the universe, it is the Divine atmosphere of the conjugial.

      Now this simple numerical place of the primal ether in the series of derivative production from the Infinite Esse, its plate as third and last essential proceeding from the consociative operation of that primal sphere which is interiorly consubstantiate with the Infinite Father, affords definite standing place for comparison, contrast, correlation, conclusion.

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     For in a number of places, both in the philosophical works and in the theological writings, we find the same series appearing, the series running from the Infinite Esse of God to the third product of the immediate consociative, or generically productive, operation of the Divine Essence, or a primordial Divine sphere. And in each individual instance we find it given with new names, a wider range of definition, and additional particulars of office not elsewhere emphasized. Nor can one of these particulars be omitted. The basis which a consensus of the whole affords for coincidence, comparison, enlargement of comprehension, is beyond compare.

     For one instance, in illustration, memory recalls S. D. 4847, where it is stated that there never could have been a Divine creating all things, unless it were a One (distinguishable) into three successive essences. The first essence must have been Man in conatus or in course of becoming (fieri), where it was as it were man, thus Man reflexively. The second essence is as to Man born, and so as to essence from the first. And the third essence in successive order is Man proceeding, which is in the whole heaven. And if it is named it may be called the Holy Spirit.

     Elsewhere this third production is given still other names being variously denoted as the universal heaven, the celestial aura, the universal Divine sphere by which the Lord is immediately present and operates upon the firsts and lasts of order alike, and rules forms and non-forms of creation from Himself alone. These will be given later in their place and order.

     RANK, AND OFFICE OF THE PRIMAL AURA AS UNFOLDED IN ITS RELATION TO THE INFINITE FATHER, AND ITS PLACE AND USES IN THE UNIVERSE.

     In our study hitherto we may seem to have dwelt with reiteration upon the plane of creative production, and the details of the production and constitution of the bullular form. Perhaps it may be pardoned. The immense practical import involved in the details and particulars of the primes of the elementary kingdom seems to have been largely overlooked. This, partly, from an impression that details are tedious, and especially tedious the steady, patient determination of will necessary to clearly image them, and keep them always in mind; partly from a true thought that generals come first and particulars afterwards.

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     But as the particulars of the primes of a series set themselves as universals for the whole ensuing series, and give its turn to the common feature of the derivative generals, the effort is intellectually worth while: for the sake of a perception of the nexus and unity of creation, moreover, the student of Swedenborg is driven to search among the apparently involved Particulars of the primal planes for the very keystone of the arch of his later thought. How delightful it may come to be, what blood and spirit and life, what unifying and developing power, may come through it to the body of study,--of that I will not speak. All uses are an opening of the organic channels to a fuller flowing of the Infinite Life.

     Yet these things of the primal creative plane are the primes of truth, (E. A. K. II:218), and concern us all a little; not as workers only, but as human beings. And it concerns us all alike, in every disposition of our thought, if this primal aura is the plane in which God Man is present with, and governs, His universe; whether His creatures dwell in the obscure outskirts of human order, or in the supreme obedient and distinctive joys of the celestial plane; and if in the making of the primal aura the foundations were laid for the heavens and the earths alike; moreover, if, in the things of this study, the mind may see and be assured of what the heart loves, the inescapable nearness and presence of our Lord,--the study even in its details, is of intimate concern to the deepest and most ardent loves of our life.

     But the arcana of finite life, experience, education, up-lift and enlargement of power, which may lie waiting for us in patience for studious reflexion upon the particulars given us as to the primal planes, are suggested by the fact that Swedenborg, so late as Part IV. of the ANIMAL KINGDOM notes that he heard "an admonition" to return again to the consideration of the pure and unconditioned planes, treated of in the earlier philosophical works, the PRINCIPIA and the INFINITE, with the promise that thus new powers, or a new winging of powers, would be given him. (THE SENSES, Ch. VI., I.)

     In all our considerations, however, of these primal planes, we must ascend and descend by the chain and connection of uses in order that we may do so either safely or truly.

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"For it is dangerous, With principles that are erroneous and hostile to the truth, to let ourselves loose in the height and depth of nature's prior sphere. For the higher and deeper we go, the nearer we come to the essence and state of the soul. But those who let themselves be led by truths may enter legitimately even into absolute singulars, and the higher they got the rather and the more do they ascend from use. For uses serve for reducing those things to order that are derived from the imaginary specious apparent truths of others; and which apparent truths are falsities, and would disturb the way leading to absolute truths." (E. A. K., Part II., 316) Yet truths of the inner sphere especially advantage for the opening of the mind toward the life and light of the Lord. For a way of communication needs to be opened to the human spirituous fluid, that it may pour light from above into the sphere of our intellectual minds (ibid., 277) and "principles of the sciences in agreement with the order and truth of things" approach to the nature of the soul and peculiarly expand and restore to primal integrity the intervening fibers. (ibid., 296.)

     It is by the mingled wreath of vine and olive in interlinked communication that the path is traced to the home of the central truths.

     We come, then, to the consideration of the nature, place, and office of this primal ether, the first aura of the Principia, as they are expounded at once in its near genetic relation to the Infinite, and in its uses in the universe, macrocosmic and microcosmic, as Swedenborg gives these uses in the great works of this series.

     This presentation of the series and connection of uses which Swedenborg affirms for the first aura will be found in the following section together with a correlation of the significant passages on the Divine essence as the "Spiritual Sun," and the first or celestial aura as, 1) the universal basis of creation, 2) "the body" of the Lord God's immediate presence and rule in firsts and lasts of order, greatest and leasts of form, 3) the universal mediator of the activities of the Father Himself to all creation, 4) the universal connective or nexus of the three kingdoms of creation, celestial, spiritual, and natural, 5) the soul creatrix or materia of derivative planes.

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HISTORY OF CREATION AS GIVEN BY MOSES 1911

HISTORY OF CREATION AS GIVEN BY MOSES       EMANUEL SWEDENBORG       1911

     GENESIS.

     CHAPTER III.

     23. And though Adam and his consort were both naked, yet they were not ashamed, or, as Schmidius has it, they had no cause for shame (v. I).* Before their fall, nothing was regarded but end and use, which flowed down from heaven into their intellectual mind. So long as nothing was intended in their actions except end and use, so long also nothing could exist in act, except what was good; for every act is judged from the end. But afterwards, when various affections had insinuated themselves from the world and nature, by the posterior way, that is, by the doors of the senses, then mediate ends began to be substituted in place of ultimate ends; or, in place of the end which was the procreation of offspring and thus the establishment of the kingdom of God, came pleasure or self-glory, arising from dominion over the world, and this without the ultimate end, or in preference to it. Hence arose evil; for pleasure follows use, but ought not to precede it. Hence the cause and origin of evil was at once perceived, and the perception could not but be accompanied by shame, or by an affection contrary to their nature. As in this conjugial love, so, also, in the other affections, which are so many loves of the body and the world. If these flow according to order from the end established in and with creation, they involve nothing but good; but otherwise if they flow from means without any looking to the ultimate end, and direction thereby; for then comes evil, and it brings shame to him who knows or perceives the true end. This is sufficiently apparent from the shame felt by such persons in the presence of the wise, as was the case with Adam; for he well knew that the thrice blessed God was most closely present.
     * Swedenborg quotes this verse as the first of Genesis ii; but in the Hebrew, and in all the versions it is the last verse of Genesis i, and is so quoted in the ARCANA COELESTIA and elsewhere in the Writings.--TR.

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     24. The serpent, which was the most subtle of all the beasts of the earth, which Jova God had made (v. 2). It was pointed out above, [n. 17], that there is nothing to be seen in the ultimates of nature and in the terrestrial globe that is not some type of that which exists in the heavens. Such was the case with the grasses, flowers, trees, and fruits of the whole Paradise, yea, of the whole earth. Such likewise was the case with the living creatures, as, with fish, fowl, and quadruped. Moreover, in heaven, the very affections, inclinations, and many other thing are represented by different kinds of animals; for instance, thoughts by birds of different form; the understanding or intelligence by horses, etc.; but cunning and deceit by serpents. Such representations are so familiar to spirits and angels that there is nothing that is not exhibited, as it were to the very life, by similar forms. Adam, who was an inhabitant of heaven, or a spirit under a human form, that is to say, clothed with a body in order that he might at the same time be an inhabitant of the earth, had as yet learned no other kind of interior thought and speech than such as was representative and celestial. Therefore it is said that the serpent, who was the most subtle of all animals, had spoken with him; or, as the text reads, approached the woman with these words, or, according to Schmidius, said unto the woman (v. I). But whether it was a real serpent, that is, the devil, the prince of this world, under the form of a serpent; or whether it was a representation of a serpent in Adam's mind,--to believe the one or the other, or even both, amounts to the same thing, since it is not an article of faith. In regard to the Speech: The speech of the celestial,* produced by wonderful gyres of the celestial form, is so universal, that it corresponds to every single tongue in use at the present day. For the sense of each word forms some celestial gyre such as no mortal can know but he who has been introduced into heaven and has joined speech with spirits as though himself a spirit.

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That this is the case I know, having, by the grace of God, experienced it. This speech first insinuates itself into the thought, or into the internal sight, and produces certain profound and hardly intelligible ideas; and then it puts itself forth into the speech familiar to man. The devil, therefore, under the form of a serpent, could thus speak with the firstborn according to their connate ideas, wherein they represented to themselves things heavenly and natural,--things which penetrate not only to man's internal sight, or thought, but also to the hearing itself, which readily follows; on which matter, by the grace of God, I can speak from experience.
     * We would again remind the reader that Celestial and Heavenly are expressed in Latin by the single word Caelestia. Instead of "the speech of the celestial," the original might therefore be rendered "the speech of the heavenly ones."-TR.

     25. To whom the woman [answered], or, as Schmidius has it, And the woman said unto the serpent (v. 2). From this it is evident that the woman gave an answer, or that she also spake with him. For between spirits and men, especially men living in the state of the firstborn, there is speech like the speech between companions and conversers on earth; but it is an internal speech, and yet is just as sonorous as if it were given out through the tongue and mouth, although it does not go forth into sound. The nature of the reciprocal speech between spirits and human minds, shall, God willing, be treated of more fully elsewhere.

     26. But God has forbidden us to feed on the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the fruit garden, or to touch it; or, as Schmidius renders it, But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it (v. 3). That fruit was so sacred that it was forbidden not only to eat of it, but even to touch it. That is to say, that of their own effort and choice, they should draw forth nothing from the memory that had been admitted thereto from the world and nature through the gates of the senses, and thus acquire understanding for themselves by the posterior way, which is the way of the knowledge of good and evil; but that all such things, even those that had come in through the posterior way, should be called forth by God alone through the superior way; and thus they would lead a life wholly that of celestial spirits. For it is thus that celestial spirits suffer themselves to be led by the Love and the Prince of heaven; as also will be the nature of all who are in the holy society, or in the kingdom of God. For in all things they were taught by divine inspiration.

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     27. But God knoweth that if ye eat of it then ye shall walk with opened eyes, and will thus be as gods, knowing good and evil (v. 5). From what follows it is apparent that he spoke the truth; that is to say, that not only would their eyes be opened, but they would also be like God in the knowledge of good and evil; otherwise he could never have persuaded them. For whatever was true, this they at once recognized of themselves; as is the case also with celestial spirits, who at once perceive, as it were by an inmost sense, the truths connate with them, and give their assent to such truths. But they could not yet be conscious of what the knowledge of evil would bring, since they were at the same time swollen with the love of self, or with the affection of their own glory. For evil is then eagerly taken up in place of good; and because falsity then begins to appear like truth, evil also begins to appear like good. The love of self carries this with it. Shade then follows in place of light, although the shade feigns the light. For in truth, and in the good concluded therefrom, is celestial light and fire; but in falsity and evil, natural light and fire, which, relatively, are mere thick darkness and cold of the rational mind. Truth itself dictates that we are soil and dust of the earth; and that we are potencies who, of ourselves, are able to do nothing; and that thus it is self-acknowledgment and hence humility of state, whereby we are rendered acceptable to God; and that to God alone belongs glory. If we are deprived of this truth, then, as we recede from truth to falsity, so we recede from good to evil; and thus are separated from heaven, and embrace things which give assent to that love, and hence things which are most highly false. That this cunning serpent inspired that love, and this with affection, as is usually permitted by God for the sake of temptation, is evident from the fact that he promised them that they would be like God,--they not knowing that afterwards they would no longer, like celestial spirits, suffer themselves to be led by God, but, like infernal spirits, by the prince of this world and his genii or spirits, who, together with their leader, the devil, inflated with the love of self, had in like manner revolted, and had departed from light to darkness.

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     28. Then the woman, when she saw that the tree was both suitable for food and pleasant to the eyes, being desirable for acquiring learning, or, better, as Schmidius has it, And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and appetizing to the eyes, and especially desirable for giving intelligence (v. 6). From these words it is clear, that it was permitted even to this infernal serpent, to inspire in the mind of the woman, and also of Adam, at once affection, desire, and appetite, as is said in the text; for we read that the woman saw the tree that it was suitable for food, appetizing, and desirable. For the sake of temptation, it's permitted that states of this kind be induced, which persuade against the truth of a thing; and desires of this kind which excite the animus against its goodness; and this in order that, by the choice of good, men may deserve the prize of victory. Such are the exercises, or such the almost perpetual wrestling of the sons of God. That such is the case I myself can confirm, having learned it, by the grace of God, from daily experience. But to resume. That this tree with its fruit signifies the understanding, or intelligence induced into human minds by the gates of the senses, and thus by aid of knowledge, is sufficiently clear from the words of this verse; for it was appetizing to the eyes, and especially desirable for the giving of understanding. To us, born and educated to the natural life, that is, instructed by the posterior way and thus by the way of knowledges, it may seem remarkable that there was so great crime in the following of this desire; but when men carefully weigh the fact that the firstborn had been led by the heavenly way, that is, by influx from the superior towards inferiors cording to divine order, thus immediately by the only Begotten son of God, and by the Holy Spirit; and on the further fact that when order is inverted, namely, from the inferior to the superiors, they could not but be led by the prince of this world or the devil; it may then be sufficiently evident how great was the guilt and crime in this endeavor and daring. For the whole order was then inverted, and, with this order inverted, they could not but live, with their new leader, separated from heaven.

     29. And moreover she gave also to her man, who did also eat (v. 6).

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That is to say, she persuaded him also to recede from perpetual heavenly influx, and to give himself up to influx through the sensations, and thus to admit only the allurements of the world and the body,-perhaps also for the sake of consulting her own advantage, and that he might learn the causes of effects, the uses of objects, and the ends of means from nature and from his own experience, but not from divine inspiration. The nature of that state in which we are ruled by celestial influx, and this not only as to our thoughts but also as to the very actions or motions of the body; and that then it is not permitted to do the least thing from a judgment excited by the inferior faculties,--this is well known to me, I having, by the grace of God, experienced it.

     30. Then, their eyes being opened, they both noticed that they were naked, and weaving fig leaves they made for themselves breech cloths (v. 7). That is, they noticed the evil, or the infirmity of their understanding. After the fall this infirmity was also represented by nakedness, just as before the fall innocence had been represented by the same thing. Nothing evil is brought forth so long as they are led immediately by the Divine spirit; for then nothing is called forth from the memory and comes into the thought or perception except what is good, that is, Divine which, as if by mediation, regards some further end. But when they come as it were under their own jurisdiction, although they are not under their own, but under the jurisdiction of the genii of the world who persuade them that they are under their own, then they are carried away by their senses, first external then internal, and by the delights thereof and the allurements of the animus; then also they are rendered as it were conscious of the fact that they are being led by themselves, because it is evident to their senses that they are being led corporeally. But I can solemnly assure you that the case is wholly different. Thus now, with order inverted, they began to enter into a natural life, when before they had lived a heavenly life, and, like potencies, had been led by the spirit and by the only Begotten of God. They were ashamed, and made for themselves breech cloths, so that they might hide themselves from the Divine face which now represented before their eyes the state of innocence and integrity, and at the same time the state of infirmity introduced by the fall; but in vain did they seek to conceal themselves from these, and from the truth which then shone in.

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Thus they well perceived, as it were with open eyes, how much of impurity there would be in conjugial love when men do not suffer themselves to be led by the Divine spirit to most perfect ends.

     31. But Jehovah God, calling to Adam, says, Where art thou, etc. (v. 9). That it was a real voice and was also perceived by the hearing, but by Adam alone, no one can doubt, except he who is ignorant of this state. In the same way also did God speak with the prophets, and finally with the apostles. But of these matters we shall treat more clearly elsewhere.

     32. Then God speaks thus to the serpent, Because thou host done this, thou shalt be the most accursed of all the beasts of the earth, both tame and wild; on thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat as long as thou livest, or, according to Schmidius, Because thou hast done this, be thou cursed above all beasts and above all the wild beasts of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat, all the days of thy life (v. 14). This was followed, both spiritually and naturally, by its effect. For if natural effects, such as the objects of the vegetable kingdom, and also of the animal, be types of celestial things that correspond to them; and if they be spiritual representations in things natural, and natural representations in things spiritual; then from the one must follow the other. The spiritual effect was that the devil with his genii or angels was cursed above all creatures, or genii, and that he was to go upon his belly, that is, would look to things inferior, earthly, and mundane, and would not, as before, look up to things superior and celestial. For he was so fashioned that by him celestial things could be joined with earthly, or superior spiritual things with natural, and vice versa, for he was a uniting medium or bond between celestial things and terrestrial, or spiritual things and natural. But now that the order had been inverted, he was to go upon his belly and to be open only to things earthly and mundane. Moreover, from its cause in things spiritual, such a state could not but rebound upon every kind of serpent, and this by reason of the correspondence of the divine representation, which, in the ultimates of nature, is in all respects actual, or, which necessarily exist, in actuality in the things that correspond.

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     33. And I will put such enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, that it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel; or, according to Schmidius, And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall trample (with its heel) thy head, but thou shalt bruise it (only in the) heel (v. 15). This saying can never fall within a human understanding that has been acquired by a natural way, or by way of mundane sciences; for to know what is here meant by the woman, what by her Seed, and the seed of the serpent, and what by the trampling of the head, and the bruising of the heel, there is need of Divine illumination. It seems to be explained to some little extent in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse, where it treats of the woman and of this serpent, then cast down from the heavens. One thing is quite evidently apparent, namely, that here was the first promise of the advent of the Messiah, who was to destroy the powers of the devil, and who would restore the order inverted and perverted by the firstborn, and would thus, yet establish in the posterity of Adam, the Kingdom of God which had been foreseen. By the head of the serpent are meant the powers, efforts, and darings of the devil; for effort and will descend from the head. These powers were to be wholly broken, so that he would no longer be able to exercise any power over celestial genii. For the head is where man regards superior things, and when this has been thrust down to the earth and dust, or to the ultimate of nature, he will no longer look to superior things, that is, to heaven, but to inferior things, that is, to the earth. Wherefore it is said in the Apocalypse, Chap. XII., v. 9, 10, 12. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, which seduceth the whole world; he was cast down into the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come Salvation, and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, and of the seal for the devil is come down unto them, having great wrath.

     34. By the heel is meant nature, and therefore it is said that the serpent would bruise him, that is, her seed, by this, namely, that, under the active guidance and inspiration of the prince of this world, the greater part of Adam's posterity and of the gentiles would live a natural life; but he would not bruise him as to superior things spiritual or celestial.

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For it is said of the Messiah that, when He sitteth on the throne, that is, in heaven, God will subdue under him, the earth and all the enemies of heaven as His footstool, [Ps. 110], that is, will put under His feet, the devil and all his crew, and thus will bruise the head; but the devil, on the other hand, will bruise his heel in the manner already mentioned. The animus also, with its affections, which in us rules the bodily nature, will, like a footstool, be subject to the rational or intellectual mind, which has become celestial. And so, lest, with the inversion of order, the animus with its affections should rush into this celestial mind; and, on the other hand, that this mind might flow into those affections of the animus and excite them according to divine order; therefore, all these passions of the animus, or all the infernal genii by whom such passions are excited, are to be trampled upon by the coming Messiah, lest they look with uplifted head, and in order that they may look only downwards, that is, to nature; although nature, which flows in from beneath through the senses, and afterwards through the animus, will in very many ways bruise the heel or the lower part of that mind. But of this matter we have treated elsewhere, under the Divine auspices.

     35. Then to the woman, I will afflict thee, O woman, with sorrows and tribulations; or, according to Schmidius, in multiplying I will multiply thy sorrow, and thy conception (v. 16). In place of a state of the utmost happiness, with supreme tranquility resulting from a mind and animus conjoined, was now to come a troubled and restless state, such as necessarily follows when order has been inverted and perverted. For then the faculties wage war with each other, or the rational mind, which is made celestial, wages war with the inferior mind which is natural. Thus the bodily nature, which is ruled by two mutually conflicting or inimical minds must suffer; whence arise sorrows.

     36. Therefore with sorrow shalt thou bear children; and thou shalt depend on thy man, and he shall rule over thee; or, according to Schmidius, Under thy man shalt be thy desire, and he shall have dominion over thee (ib.).

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Here natural desire is signified, arising from the love of one's own and the husband's body, and from the love of the world; while formerly the desire had been purely spiritual, arising solely from the love of ends and uses or by the posterity, yet to be born, of the Kingdom of God. Thus, the one will have dominion over the other, while formerly there had been such concord and mutual love that they were deeply ignorant of what dominion and discord meant. For one mind in two bodies, or two minds most closely conjoined by such love, cannot but be ignorant of what is meant by the dominion of one over the other. For in this state the man would cleave to his wife and they would become one flesh, Genesis 2:24. Moreover, from their concordance, such partners present the appearance of a unit, or of being one only; for love between minds is spiritual conjunction whereof natural conjunction is a consequence; since on the judgment and state of the mind depends the nature of the whole body. It was different afterwards, when they lived, not from the Divine or from a unanimous spirit, but from discord, thus, as it were, separate. Then arose perpetual discords which are necessary consequences when merely corporeal affections are excited by way of the senses and of the body and rush into the sphere of their mind.

     37. And then unto Adam: The ground shall be unfruitful because of thee, and with labor shalt thou seek food of it all thy life; or, according to Schmidius, Cursed be the ground because of thee, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it, all the days of thy life (v. 17) Heaven and the world, with their two natures, are so effigied in man that he is formed wholly after their type in heaven and the world are active forces, but in man passive forces; which two mutually correspond to each other, like things that act, and those that correspondingly suffer and react. For we are nothing but passive potencies formed after the nature of the active potencies of heaven, and the world; so that, like, as it were, little walking universes, we represent little worlds, or microcosms. When the order in this human microcosm has been inverted or perverted, or, when the nature of its body has invaded its heaven, then follows a similar state in the universe also; for the world is united to heaven by means of man, its correspondent effigy, and nowhere else.

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But when this bond has been cut asunder by an inversion and perversion of order induced by the prince of this world, or the devil, then universal nature also suffers; otherwise that prince with his disciples and the torches of their loves would infest heaven itself and its inhabitants. This is the reason why, according to the words of the Apocalypse, that serpent was cast down from heaven. All this scarcely comes to our understanding, even obscurely, unless we have a perception of order itself as instituted by God; and therefore this order has been treated of in a special little work.* Hence the cursing of the earth, and afterwards of Adam's posterity, which, in like manner, is meant by that earth; or, that the earth should bring forth thorns and thistles, and the man himself should eat the herb, or, according to Schmidius, the produce of the field (v. 18); while formerly, as may be evident from the preceding verses, he had eaten only the most delicious and tasty fruits; that is, had perceived the uses of all things,--which uses are compared to fruits.
     * The reference is probably to THE WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD. See Part 2 of that work, n. 87 seq.-TR.

     38. With the sweat of thy brow, thou shalt earn food, until thou returnest to the ground from which thou art arisen; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (v. 19). These perpetual discords rising from the destruction of order, are perpetual causes of sorrows and diseases both of the animus and of the body, the effect whereof is death itself; for an image of death lies in every single cause of death. Moreover, according to the quality of the general state, or of the state in the universal order of the body, such is the state in its single or most single parts, and thus in the thoughts, affections, actions; for the general or whole is constituted of its parts. Since now the love of self or the ambition to become like God, was the true cause of the inversion of order, or the true reason why his inferiors aspired to superiors, that is, his nature to heaven, when yet nature can never enter heaven, therefore truth itself was actually assailed and thus the connection cut asunder.

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Therefore sentence was passed on him that he should return to the dust from which he was risen, and that thus, with the spirit of his pride broken, he should be extinguished and be reduced to the deepest humility and to nothingness. This also is the reason why prostration to the ground and the scattering of dust [on the head] was afterwards widely accepted as a token of humility before God.

     39. Afterwards he says. Since man has now become as one of us knowing good and evil; or, according to Schmidius, Behold the man is become as one of us, knowing good and evil (v. 22). That is, that he had acquired the knowledge of good in the state of his integrity, and the knowledge of evil in his state after the fall; for from heaven there flowed into his mind nothing but good; but, when order was inverted, from nature flowed nothing but evil. Therefore he came to the knowledge of both, and in this was like the persons of the divinity. In these respects also the devil spoke truth. But, in that he chose evil and exercised it in act, but neglected the good which he knew, and rejected it for the sake of ends terminated in nature,--in this, as is apparent in all his posterity, he became wholly unlike God and like the devil; but concerning this, the devil had been silent.

     40. And therefore there zeros danger that he put forth his hand also to the tree of life in order that, having plucked and tasted its fruit, he might live forever. Therefore he drove him out of the fruit garden of Eden, to till the ground whence he was risen (v. 22, 23). Because this is meant both spiritually and naturally, the effect also is meant both spiritually and naturally. Spiritually, in that the superior way into the intellectual mind, that is to say, the way from heaven through the soul which is the way of the One Only Love, or of the only Begotten of God, was closed; and naturally, in that he was expelled from the garden lest he also touch the tree of life. For since the tree of life with its fruit signified the intelligence which flowed in immediately from heaven through the superior way, that is, that true wisdom and verimost life which the celestial live, and which Adam also lived in the state of his integrity; and since the tree of the knowledge of good and evil signified the intelligence which was to be acquired by the posterior or natural way, in which intelligence there is nothing of life and light but an image of shade and death; and since the earthly Paradise signified heaven or the celestial Paradise; therefore the superior way into his mind, that is, into the heaven of his body, was closed, lest nature should strive to rush into it; and thus he was expelled from Paradise or heaven, and the posterior or natural way was opened.

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Thus, with the prince of this world his seducer and now his master, he was separated from heaven, and, with him, he was to cultivate the ground or nature from which he was risen. Because this was effigied or represented in a Paradise and its fruits, therefore he was actually expelled from an earthly Paradise as he had been from the heavenly, lest he put forth his hand to the tree of life and taste its fruit. Thus Adam was devoted to death both spiritual and natural; nor could he or his posterity return to heaven or to his paradise, until he had been rescued to heaven by means of the Messiah who was to trample upon the head of the serpent, thus upon those human minds which lived a natural life with the prince of this world.

     41. When the man had been cast out, he placed at the eastern side of the fruit garden, cherubs and a flamy waving sword to sword the approach to the tree of life; or better, as Schmidius renders it, And when he had expelled the man, he made cherubim to dwell at the east of the garden, and the flame of a sword turning itself this way and that, to guard the way of the tree of life (v. 24). By Cherubs are meant the guards or guardians around the throne or seat of God, lest inferior things rush into superior, or natural into celestial. Therefore also they were placed at the eastern side where the sun of wisdom, or God, is always in his rising. By the flame of a sword turning itself this way and that, are meant the loves of self and the world, or cupidities, which are torches, or the flames, or fires, as of firebrands or of dried out wood, which turn and wave themselves, on the one side into the intellectual mind, that is, into the heaven of the human microcosm, and on the other into nature or into the very body. As long as these fires burn, he can never enter heaven; for it is in vain that natural flames endeavor to extinguish celestial flames, however much they may consume the lowest part of the mind, and thus injure the heel of him that sitteth upon the throne. Thus the way to the wood or tree of life is guarded, that is, lest natural things should rush in by this way, which is the way of the prince of this world.

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     42. Moreover, that by the tree of life is meant the Prince of heaven, the One Only Love, the Son of God, or the Messiah himself who is to establish the kingdom of God; and by his Paradise heaven, where are the choirs of the celestial; and by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the prince of this world; will come to be shown elsewhere; for the superior way is the way whereby the prince of heaven enters into our minds, while the posterior way is the way whereby the prince of this world enters. And that Adam in the state of his integrity had been led like a celestial spirit by the Prince of heaven, but afterwards was led by the prince of this world, will also clearly appear in what follows.

     These things are premised.

     43. But let us examine the Scriptures, especially with the intention of searching the kingdom of God; that is to say, its future quality, and many things appertaining to it. The Scriptures treat of the kingdom of God, not here and there, but everywhere; for this kingdom was the end in the creation of all things both of heaven and of earth.

     [THE END.]

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Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     Col. Rudolph Williams' "latest" is a pamphlet of twenty pages, containing a variety of choice matters referring to the Academy, Mr. Schreck, "the Immorality of the Illinois Association," the Purification of Humboldt Park Church," etc. The writer is evidently a simple but sincere believer in the bugaboo raised by the leaders of the Convention. They started him on his Quixotic campaign, but soon found themselves embarrassed by his earnest insistence upon publicity and consistency. If the Academy really was what they had painted it, why should not he and they keep up the fight to a finish? Why must he be suppressed while Mr. Seward keeps up advertising his (not the Academy's) "ACADEMY DOCTRINE'" But Col. Williams' campaign became too openly personal, and he has now been properly punished, ("practically kicked out," he puts it), by being deprived of his membership in the Executive Committee of the Chicago Society, on account of having "disturbed the peace of the Church." But who were the real disturbers of the peace? This poor tool, or the leaders of the Convention who brought scandal upon the Church in order to divert a trust from its legitimate objects, and then spread the disturbance far and wide in the Convention and its Associations, by their Resolutions and pamphlets' It may be difficult, now, to "lay the ghost."



     The Rev. John Whitehead in his recent series of articles on "Nunc Licet and Authority" in the MESSENGER seems to have succeeded in the difficult task of giving equal satisfaction to all the different wings arrayed in opposition to the Academy's stand for the Divine Authority of the Writings as the Word of the Lord. On the one hand he is commended by a conservative journal such as the QUARTERLY, and on the other hand he is thanked "for the able and conclusive manner in which he has supported the main contention" of the Rev. Arthur Mercer, who rejects all authority of Divine Revelation, "save that of the living Spirit of Truth within us,"--in other words, the "inner voice" of the Quakers.

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The secret of Mr. Whitehead's success lies in the vagueness and ambiguity of his teachings, which are "broad" enough to cover all shades of so-called liberal thought, and sufficiently "spiced" with veiled allusions to supposed teachings and practices of the body which was Mr. Whitehead's Alma Mater. Safe and easy is the method of "insinuation." You can convey any impression you please without fear of exposure, as long as you mention no names. But is it a frank and manly method, worthy of Newchurchmen?



     Accounts of the imposing ceremonies connected with the unveiling of Swedenborg's sarcophagus in Upsala have appeared in all the New Church journals, and there is, of course, a great deal of rejoicing at the royal honors paid to Swedenborg's memory in his native land. In the midst of all this eclat it is well to keep steadily in mind the fact that it was exclusively Swedenborg as a man that was thus honored by belated compatriots. Of his actual scientific and philosophical system there is scarcely any knowledge in Sweden or in the world generally, while Swedenborg's Master, the Lord in His Second Coming, is as unknown and unhonored as ever before, outside of the New Church. At the ceremony itself, moreover, there was "a reverse side to the medallion," of which a brief glimpse appeared in the "pious wish" of the pulpit orator, the arch-dean: "And, finally,--both charity and truth demand it,--we hope that the dress [slagget] in the views and life-work of the Swedish seer may work no harm, but that what is noble and indestructible therein may be of still un-dreamed-of service."

     The speaker, on this occasion, wisely refrained from specifying what was "dress" and what was not, but Lutheran orthodoxy soon afterwards found a freer opportunity. One of our correspondents writes: "On Sunday, November 29th, some of us attended services in the Cathedral, but, oh, the dose of Old Church Theology and trumpet-of-doom denunciations that we Swedenborgian heretics came in for!

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It was so terrible that we came to the conclusion that the familiar spirits of the cathedral, having been denied admission the previous day, now gave free reins to their indignant feelings through the mouth of the preacher." And she concludes her impressions: "The ceremonies were undeniably beautiful and solemn, but my Academy training has, I am afraid, spoiled me for being taken in, very deeply, by all this demonstration, after all, superficial, in honor of the man, Swedenborg."



     The following paragraph is taken from a review, by the editor of the NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY, Of the KRAMPH WILL CASE. We invite the attention of all whom it may particularly concern to the suggestion given at the end of the paragraph:

     That there should be an authoritative history, based upon authentic documents which can be consulted in the Academy archives by whomsoever will, of a case of such gravity and importance for the New Church, seems to us in the highest degree desirable; and that in the present book we have a sincere effort to present a genuine history, and not a mere partisan statement, will not, we think, be seriously denied even by the Trustees. That the effort, however sincere, should be absolutely successful in all respects, is more than can be expected from poor human nature; but it does appear to us to be as successful as was, in the circumstances, possible. And Now, when the facts are fresh in the minds of all concerned, when means of correction (if correction is needed) are more available than they ever will be again, when all the parties are living and able to challenge material error if it exists, is the time of all times for the book to have been published. It may easily be that the Trustees are not satisfied with this statement; if that is so, it seems to us that their course should be to publish a counter statement--not in me way of controversy, but of correction--so that the Church may be in possession of the facts as they appear from both points of view, set forth in each case, as they would be, by honest and sincere men and Newchurchmen.



     The above is the concluding paragraph of the first part of Mr. Buss' review, in which he makes it perfectly clear to his readers that, so far as the Kramph Will Case proper is concerned, the position of the Academy was unassailable. Indeed, in none of the several reviews of the Academy's publication on the case that have appeared, has this ever been disputed.

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     The second part of the review deals with the doctrine involved in the case, and is mainly a discussion of the paper by the Rev. Alfred Acton, printed at the end of the Academy's publication. "In our judgment (says Mr. Buss), and we say it with thankfulness, Mr. Acton is entirely successful" in showing that the teaching of the second part of Conjugial Love is not open to the charge of immorality; but he adds the wish that the paper had renounced "an interpretation of that teaching which we, in common with many other earnest and loyal students of the Writings, believe to be at variance with its real meaning and import."



     Mr. Buss further refers to the Kramph Will Case in his review of NEW CHURCH LIFE for November, where he criticizes the editorial statement that "part of Mr. Seward's testimony . . . was openly branded as 'irrelevant, improper and scandalous' and, in consequence, was thrown out of court." "It is quite true (says Mr. Buss) that the testimony in question was 'openly branded as irrelevant, improper and scandalous;' but as this was done by the counsel for the Academy, the fact cannot be held to carry any great weight. Nor was it 'in consequence' of this that the evidence was struck out; the Court ruled that the answer must be stricken out as not responsive to the question."

     We readily admit Mr. Buss' correction. It must be patent to Mr. Buss himself, however, that the omission of the words "in consequence"' does not materially affect the main point of the editorial in question,--a point which the QUARTERLY has entirely lost sight of in its anxiety to "put right" a minor error. It is not material who branded the testimony in question with respect to the character of members of the Academy as "improper and scandalous;" the real point is that the testimony was such in fact. Does Mr. Buss dispute this? We think not,--and yet this is the decided impression which his words convey.

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"ORIGENISTS OR ADAMANTINI." 1911

"ORIGENISTS OR ADAMANTINI."       H. L. O       1911

     A mistranslation which unfairly represents Swedenborg's knowledge of Church History occurs in all English and American editions of the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. In no. 378 of this work Swedenborg enumerates the various heresies that have vastated the Christian Church, and among these a sect called "Origenitae seu Adamantini." Mr. Clowes, in the first English edition of 1781, boldly turned this into "Origenists or Adamites," and the faux pas has been faithfully copied by every subsequent translator and reviewer. A student of Church History cannot but marvel at this, for the "Adamites" were a totally different sect from the "Origenists." The former were a sect that arose in the second or third century from Gnostical and Dualistic elements in Northern Africa, claiming to have acquired the primitive innocence of Adam by means of the Gospel dispensation, and fanatically insisting on the practice of this "naked innocence." The Origenists, on the other hand, confined their heresies to some extreme positions on abstract doctrine which Origen, the great Church Father, is said to have held at least in the early part of his career, including the belief in the non-eternity of hell and the transmigration of souls.

     Puzzled at this apparent contradiction we referred to a number of standard works on Church History, but gained no light, until, looking up "Origen" in MCCLINTOCK AND STRONG'S Theological Encyclopaedia, we found the solution of the mystery. We learn these that Origen, on account of his remarkable firmness and iron-like assiduity, was termed "Adamantinus." The Adamantini, therefore, are simply the Origenists under another name, and Swedenborg was perfectly correct in writing "Origenitae seu Adamantini." It is surprising, however, that Mr. Clowes' careless substitution of "Adamites" was never corrected in any English edition, while all the Swedish, German and French translations have been faithful to the original. H. L. O.

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"INVISIBLE" NEW CHURCH 1911

"INVISIBLE" NEW CHURCH              1911

     The NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY for January opens with a paper by the late Rev. T. K. Payton on "The Church Visible and Invisible," in which, after introducing the general Doctrine on the subject of the Church Universal and the Church Specific, the writer shows very ably how vain it is to look for the whereabouts of the Lord's "Special New Church" in the organizations of the consummated Church; the latter, instead of approaching the New Church, is steadily growing further away from it as to all its essential doctrines. It is unfortunate that the writer counteracts the valuable lesson thus imparted by perpetuating the old confusion generally prevailing in respect to the "Church Universal," the "Universal New Church" and the "Invisible New Church." His teaching is that all the good people in the Old Church, who "do what they can to suppress vice, immorality, oppression, and all forms of wrong doing, and who are living beautiful lives, ii their internal state is like their external conduct belong to the Lord's invisible and universal New Church" even though "they are in the false doctrines of the consummated Church." "So that we may say of the invisible or universal Church, that it is now, from the new light which illuminates it, the Lord's invisible and universal New Church."

     It does not appear, from the passages quoted by Mr. Payton, whence he derives authority for these distinctions, nor does he explain how or by what means the Church Universal has gained that "new light" which is supposed to have illuminated it and made it the universal New Church. The writer himself admits that the good people in the Old Church, who "are still in the false doctrines of the consummated Church," have not received their new light from the Divine Revelation given to the New Church. Whence, then, their new light? From the New Heaven? New light means new truth, new doctrine. The doctrine of the New Heaven is not communicated by "influx" from the angels of Heaven, but by immediate Revelation from God out of Heaven. The "new light" with the Church Universal is, therefore, a thing of the future, a thing to come, in the degree that the New Church on the earth is able organically to extend its evangelistic functions.

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     It is the new Revelation alone that makes the New Church new and since the Church Universal has not yet received this new Revelation, it is vain to talk about it as the "Universal New Church." It is new neither as to truth nor as to good, but consists of all those, throughout the earth, and all other earths, who live sincerely according to whatever truths remain with them from previous dispensations. Thus there are at this day on the earth certain Gentile nations who possess truths remaining from the Most Ancient Church, and others from the Ancient Church. The Mohammedans live largely according to truths remaining from the Hebrew Church, and the simple good in the Christian world draw all their spiritual life from remains of early Christian truths. But none of these people are of the "Universal New Church" except in a prospective sense, for though they all will receive the faith of the New Heaven some day, either in this life or in the life to come, the fact remains that they have not yet received it.

     It is a great and mischievous delusion to mistake this "Church Universal" for the "Universal New Church." The latter consists of all those, and of those only, who have rationally and consciously received at least the essentials of the True Christian Religion in faith or in life, or in both faith and life. These are the ones who are described in the Apocalypse by "the Seven Churches which are in Asia," and in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED they are (of necessity) spoken of as those who will be of the Lord's Universal New Church, that is, the Lord's specific New Church in its universal, most inclusive sense. Among these there may be those who have not yet made outward profession of their faith,--have not yet actually united with the body which alone is and constitutes the "Visible New Church," but who, if they are sincere, will do so, here or hereafter. And, again, among those who have openly professed their faith, there are those who are external men and those who are internal men, those who are of the New Church in faith and profession only, or mostly, and those who are of the New Church also in love and in life.

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Who these latter are can be known to the Lord alone, but whoever and wherever they may be, they constitute the Lord's genuine, and, therefore, invisible "New" Church,--a very different company, indeed, from the good but simple and external folks who, though they are of "the Lord's Church Universal," have never yet heard the first thing concerning the Lord in His Second Coming.

     The truth we wish to emphasize is the fact that the "Invisible New Church" exists within the Visible New Church, and not outside of it, just as the invisible living soul exists within the visible body, and not outside of it,--in this world. To confound this most genuine and most essential New Church with the "Church Universal" is to mistake what is most external for what is most internal. And this mistake is mischievous because it is bound to perpetuate the ancient "permeation" heresy with all its direful consequences to the distinctive life and work of the actual New Church.
FROM A FRIEND IN SOUTH AMERICA 1911

FROM A FRIEND IN SOUTH AMERICA       LEVINDO CASTRO DE LA FAYETTE       1911

Dear Brethren of the Academy of the New Church:

     I rejoice that the Academy has gained its rights in the question of the Kramph Case.

     I believe with you that the victory has been won, not merely on the civil plane, but more especially on the spiritual plane, because I believe that all this trouble has been instigated by the Powers of Darkness, who have never failed, and who never will fail, to unite all their efforts to destroy the foundations of the nascent New Church.

     I rejoice with you that the design, treacherously conceived in darkness by the Adversary, has been put to naught, to his shame and to the shame of his legions.

     When one follows the true way, indicated and made clear in the Writings of Swedenborg, which are the Word of the Second Coming of our Lord, one has nothing to fear from the snares of his adversaries, for the New Light has the grand power to make visible at once the projecting horns of the Dragon.

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We must always be on the alert, for, as you know, if the light given by the Lord is great, great also will be the artifices employed by the Dragon against the Church.

     As is always the case, the victory is won by the Lord, but your patience has been tried indeed....

     What has astonished me in all this affair, is the blindness of many ministers of the Convention concerning the teaching upon conjugial love. Is it possible that ministers of the New Church intend to separate the work on CONJUGIAL LOVE from the Writings, forgetting that all these Writings form one body of doctrine?

     To reject CONJUGIAL LOVE, or, what is the same thing, to be ashamed of it, is just the same as to be ashamed of the Word itself. "For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory and in the glory of His Father and of the Holy angels." Luke IX, 26.

     Let me warmly congratulate you upon the happy result of the trial and be assured of the sympathy with which I follow the Academy in its work of effectively establishing the Kingdom of the Lord upon the earth.

     Please accept, dear Brethren, my best sentiments.
     (Signed.) LEVINDO CASTRO DE LA FAYETTE.
Santiago de Chili, Oct. 20, 1910.

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EIGHTH ONTARIO ASSEMBLY 1911

EIGHTH ONTARIO ASSEMBLY       E. R. C       1911

     The Eighth Ontario Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem was held in Toronto from December 31, 1910, to January 2, 1911.

     The total attendance was 117, comprising 82 members of the General Church in Ontario, and 35 visitors and young people. Of this attendance sixty-three were from Toronto, thirty-one from Berlin, five from Randolph, five from Bryn Athyn, Pa., three from Pittsburgh, Pa., two from Bridgeport, two from Wellesley, and one each from Clinton, Windsor, Glenview, Ill., Philadelphia, Pa., New York City, Buffalo, N. Y., and Le Roy, N. Y.

     FIRST SESSION.

     The first session of the Assembly was held on Saturday afternoon, December 31, 1910, at three o'clock. Bishop Pendleton, having opened the meeting with religious services, delivered an address on "The Decline of Love to the Lord in the Christian World. (See p. 65.)

     Rev. A. Acton: Love to the Lord is not possible except where He is seen; and He is to be seen in the Divine Revelation which He has made. There is love to the Lord when His teachings are loved; and where this is done there is also charity,--a charity which judges the neighbor, not from his weaknesses, but from his love of the Doctrines of the New Church. The love of these Doctrines is what must be cultivated in the church, but it cannot be cultivated unless knowledges be first implanted in the mind; and this is done by reading the Writings, in the spirit and acknowledgment that they are Divine. The reason why the New Church grows slowly is because there are few who will elevate their minds to thought concerning interior and spiritual things; and without this, charity is merely external, and from this the New Church cannot be built up.

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     Rev. W. H. Alden: What is called charity in the world is not charity. It lies outside of the realm of charity properly speaking, and is made necessary because of the lack of genuine charity. The loves that are active in the world are the very opposite of charity. Many who practice what is called, charity are ready to do the most diabolical evils to others. In all respects they appear to be model members of society, yet they are ready to destroy other men. The question before us is, Is there an increase of real charity in the world?

     Rev. N. D. Pendleton: Why is there so much natural charity when there is no love of the Lord? The question is one that recurs to the mind often; for the knowledge concerning the apparent spread of charity in the world, is frequently a source of infestation to the Newchurchman. And yet, when the Writings say that there is in the Christian world no love of the neighbor, no love of the Lord,--they mean exactly what they say. The whole purpose of the existence of the New Church is to show that there is a love of the neighbor such as exists in Heaven. Every one loves his neighbor according: to his idea of the neighbor. There is much natural good in the world, but they do not love the neighbor unselfishly. They do not love the Lord in, the neighbor. The spiritual love of the neighbor is to see the image and likeness of the Lord in him. This is what the New Church stands for.

     Mr. J. Pitcairn: There is a tendency in the world to deny the Lord and the divinity of the Scriptures. It is not known in the world what is meant by loving the Lord, and it is scarcely known in the New Church. It is taught very clearly, in the Writings that the Lord is doctrine--a truth whish is not acknowledged by the whole church.

     Rev. F. E. Waelchli: The address marks another step in the history of our church. Every man in his progress through life must go backwards or forwards; he cannot stand still. In the Academy and in the General Church we have ever gone forward. The first step taken was that the Writings are of divine authority. This involved all the other steps that have been taken. The next step was that the Writings are the Word. Finally, it was shown that they are the Divine Human. It is now placed before us that to love the doctrines is to love the Lord. There should be no doubt with regard to this step.

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In the doctrines we see the Lord as Divine Good and Divine Truth. If He is there as such, certainly it is there that we love Him. To love the Lord is to love that which proceeds from Him. The Lord has made His second coming by Himself coming to us in the doctrines which are the Lord Himself coming; therefore to love the Doctrines is to love the Lord.

     Rev. J. E. Bowers: A great deal is said about the new state of the world. We all know that this is almost universally an age of materialism and agnosticism. The Word is rejected and thereby the Lord is rejected. The world is led by appearances. Wherever there is display of something that appears to be good and genuine the people are carried away by it.

     Mr. Jacob Stroh: People are permitted to believe that the body rises in order that belief in a future life may be preserved; and are they not for a similar reason permitted to believe that the natural charity of the world is genuine charity?

     Mr. R. Carswell: It is often asked, How can I love the Lord? To love the Sacred Scriptures is to love the Lord. To love the Lord's teachings that He gave in the world is to love Him. If we judged from externals we would conclude that there are many heavenly men in the world; but the state of the world is evil and therefore we must always guard against judgment from mere externals.

     Rev. A. Acton: The statement is made in the Writings that the quality of a man's life is such as his idea of God. Every man has some idea of God. Even in hell there is a kind of worship, and we are told they even have a liturgy. But the difference between the good and the evil in respect to their idea of God is, that with the evil there is always conceit and also the hope and desire to themselves become a God, while with the good there is humility. When the works of charity are accompanied with humility we may safely judge that there is something of a genuine love of God. But where there is external charity and at the same time conceit we may safely presume that there is no real love of God. And this latter is the real condition which we find characterizes the Christian world at this day.

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And this is of the Divine Permission, because if natural charity were not first established in the world an internal church could not be built up. An external charity has been built up that we may be free on that plane--undifferentiated from the world--and thus free to develop a genuine or internal charity.

     Mr. R. B. Caldwell: It is necessary to pass some judgment upon the charity of the world. The love of the Lord is in reality that love which we show toward doctrine. It is from good in himself that man can see good in another. That we may have good in ourselves we must shun our evils as sins. Do they shun evils as sins in the world? They do not, and therefore there is not genuine charity in the world. We are apt to derive our ideas from the world. We guard ourselves against the opinions of the world if we take the idea that the love of the Lord is the love of doctrine. The love of making money prevails in the world. A New Church man need not enter into this. He should love his use and perform it faithfully.

     The minutes of the Previous meeting were then read and approved.

     Second Session.

     The second session was held on Monday morning, January 2d, 1911, at 10 o'clock. The meeting was opened with religious services. A paper by the Rev. O. L. Barler on "The Word of the Lord" was then read by Rev. E. R. Cronlund.

     Mr. Rudolph Roschman: I appreciated the paper very much. It is clear. In it the doctrine is presented more clearly than I ever heard it presented before.

     Mr. Brown: "If the foundations are overturned, the just, what shall he do?" If there is not faith in Divine Revelation, how can the church be established? It is strange that they who are the teachers of the church do not see that the Writings are the Word.

     Rev. F. E. Waelchli: The passages quoted in the paper are very striking. It is strange how any one could read them and not see that the Writings are the Word. Many say that whether the Writings are called the Word or not, is not a matter of importance. And yet there must be some strong reason why they will not call the Writings the Word.

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There is, something within this unwillingness. If you acknowledge that they are the internal sense of the Word, then they are the Word in the internal sense. If they are the second coming of the Lord, then they are the Lord in His second coming. It is said that they have no internal sense, and that therefore, they are not the Word. But they contain senses more and more interior. The paper will be of use in spreading the truth that the Writings are the Word. They who are ready to see this doctrine will be given by the Lord to see it.

     Rev. E. R. Cronlund: The belief that the Writings are the Word, and the belief in the distinctiveness of the New Church go together. If the New Church has had no Word, no divine revelation given to it, then it is but a continuation of the farmer Christian Church. Each church that has existed on this earth in the past has had its own Word given to it. Is it rational, is it reasonable to suppose that to the New Church, the crown of the churches, no Word has been given? Some hold that the letter of the Word is alone the Word. But if this were so then there would be no Word in heaven, for the letter of the Word, such as we have it in the world, does not exist in heaven. Yet the Writings declare that the Word is in all the heavens, but it is the internal sense that is the Word of the Lord in heaven.

     Rev. N. D. Pendleton: The Most Ancient Church could see the Lord in nature, but ever since the fall there has been a necessity for the kind of a conflict that we have passed through in the New Church. Are the Writings a revelation? This is a question every one must settle. We are told in the Writings that the spiritual man says to himself, that what is doctrinal cannot be Divine; but that the celestial man says, that what is doctrinal is Divine. The man of the Church should see that the Lord is doctrine, and that He is in doctrine. The perception that the Writings are the Lord is what makes the Academy.

     Rev. A. Acton: There is power in the truth that the Writings are the Word. Every Church derives its quality and also its power from its idea of the revelation to it; and it is to the power of the truth that the Writings are the Word that we must ascribe the increase of the Academy. A new revelation can be seen only in the light of a former revelation.

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Therefore, every revelation is given to the former Church where the Word or former revelation remains; for it is only in the light still remaining that the revelation can be received. A new revelation comes as a confirmation of the former revelation. In addition new doctrine is given. The first thing the man of a new church sees is a confirmation of the former revelation; and it is in the light of this that he is then able to see the new doctrine.

     It was then moved by Mr. Rudolph Roschman, seconded by Mr. Brown, and unanimously carried, that "This Assembly sends affectionate greetings to Mr. and Mrs. Barler, and expresses its appreciation of the paper."

     Bishop Pendleton: The difference between a genuine and a spurious revelation is this: The genuine revelation confirms the former revelation, but a spurious revelation rejects it.

     Mr. J. Rothaermel: The inability to see that the Writings are the Word lies in man, in his own selfishness. If he denies that they are Divine he can interpret them as he likes.

     Mr. J. Evens: Do not many in the Convention believe that the Writings are the Word?

     Rev. W. H. Alden: I do not know of any who do.

     Mr. J. Stroh: We must be charitable. There may be many who will come into this acknowledgment.

     Third Session.

     The third session was held Monday afternoon. January 2, at three o'clock.

     The discussion of Mr. Barler's paper was continued.

     Rev. A. Acton: The only thing that prevents us from seeing truth is evil in ourselves. But we cannot say that those who do not see the doctrine of the Divine authority of the Writings are in evil internally. We have been brought up to believe. It is the doctrine of our Church. It may be with us a mere belief in the doctrine of our Church, and thought of this should temper our judgment of others. We should believe the doctrine not merely as the doctrine of our Church but it should be with us an inner conviction.

     A paper was then read by the Rev. F. E. Waelchli on "The Formation of the Woman from the Rib of the Man."

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     Rev. A. Acton: The wife is formed into a wife while the man does not know anything about it. It is an important truth, and one that calls to mind the canon handed down by the Most Ancient Church to the simple people that followed them: "Sons, if you would have heavenly happiness, love your wives alone." This is the supreme truth that involves everything; if men will love their consorts, and shun what opposes, then the wife is formed into a wife, even though they know nothing of how this is done. But it must also be remembered that genuine love of the wife springs from, and is according to the love of wisdom.

     Mr. J. Pitcairn. The New Church will progress so far as conjugial love progresses.

     Mr. R. B. Caldwell: A man's wisdom should be worthy of the love of his wife. The duty of a husband is to see to it that his wisdom be such as to be of assistance to his wife in her regenerate life.

     Rev. N. D. Pendleton: In marriage there must be freedom. That is probably one of the most fundamental principles for our guidance in this matter. That is man's real life, the life that he lives at home with his wife and children. Freedom is a fundamental principle of our Church. In the marriage relation the whole idea is that there may develop an internal bond. By freedom in marriage, I mean a tender regard for the freedom of the other in her life's development. Self-love makes a man want to rule others, to have his own way. Where there is a love of pre-eminence conjugial love cannot exist.

     Mr. J. Pitcairn: There has been a disposition to reject CONJUGIAL LOVE because it is a book on morals. It is important to have moral wisdom.

     Bishop Pendleton. By natural truth is meant moral truth, which is signified by bones and ribs, that is moral truth from a spiritual origin.

     Rev. A. Acton: There are no greater champions for freedom for themselves than the devils of hell, The angels wish others to be free.

     A paper was then read by the Rev. E. R. Cronlund, entitled "Perfection Increases Towards Interiors."

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     Rev. J. E. Bowers: The teachings of the paper reminded one of the following in C. L. no. 329: "Every thing divided is more and more manifold, and not more and more simple, because it approaches nearer and nearer to the Infinite, in which are all things infinitely."

     Rev. A. Acton: The principle brought out in the paper is a universal one. All things are good so far as they are perfect. Externals are perfect so far as they receive that which is Divine. The knowledge of perfection increases as we draw near to the Lord. The Word itself is perfect only as it is regarded as a receptacle of the Divine. To all those who read the letter of the Word and perceive something of the Divine in it, it is perfect. It is only in so far as we believe that the Writings are a revelation of Divine truth we see their perfection.

     The Rev. A. Acton then gave an address on "Swedenborg's Skull," and on the removal of Swedenborg's remains from London to Stockholm.

     Mr. Rudolph Roschman moved a vote of thanks to the Parkdale Society for their entertainment and hospitality, which was seconded by Rev. W. H. Alden, and carried unanimously.

     After singing "The voice of one crying in the wilderness," the meeting adjourned.

     Worship.

     On Sunday morning the Rev. N. D. Pendleton preached on "The Assumption of the Human by the Lord." (See p. 70.)

     In the evening the Holy Supper was administered by Bishop Pendleton, assisted by Rev. E. R. Cronlund.

     Social Events.

     On Saturday evening, December 31st, a banquet was held in the basement of the Olivet Church. The first toast was to "The New Church," responded to by Rev E. R. Cronlund.

     The second toast, "To the Spirit of Faithfulness," was responded to by Rev. F. E. Waelchli.

     The third toast, to "Faithfulness to the Truth," was responded to by Rev. W. H. Alden.

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     The fourth hast, to "Faithfulness to Duty," was responded by Mr. Rudolph Roschman.

     The fifth toast, to "Faithfulness in Marriage," was responded to by Rev. N. D. Pendleton.

     The sixth toast, to "The Heroes of the New Church," was responded to by Mr. J. Pitcairn.

     Bishop Pendleton then proposed a toast to "The Ontario Assembly," and spoke of the fact that this was the tenth anniversary of the organization of that body.

     The banquet was followed by a social.

     Men's Meeting.

     On Monday evening the gentlemen had supper together in the basement of the church. A paper, entitled "Fornication on Evil," was read by the pastor of the Olivet church, which was followed by discussion. E. R. CRONLUND, Sec'y.

     Meeting of the Executive Committee.

     A meeting of the Executive Committee of the General Church of the New Jerusalem was held at the Olivet Church Saturday morning, December 31, 1910. The members present were: Messrs. John Pitcairn, chairman; S. S. Lindsay, A. Sellner, W. H. Alden, Rudolph Roschman, Richard Roschman, R. Carswell, R. B. Caldwell. E. R. C.

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Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     ABINGTON, MASS. The Christians service here was of especial interest. The choir sang the Twenty-fourth Psalm in Hebrew, as a processional, and the pastor read the Commandments in Hebrew, the congregation responding in the same tongue. The Holy Supper was administered also.

     As Christmas came on Sunday, we celebrated on the following Monday. A delightful Christmas dinner, with all the "fixins" was served at two o'clock, and a regular New England Christmas dinner it was, from turkey and cranberry sauce to plum pudding. After the nineteen present had done full justice to the meal, greetings were read from Mr. and Mrs. Alden, of Bryn Athyn.

     The girls cleared up and a "sing" followed until dark. Then all formed in line and singing "The Christmas Tree is an Evergreen," marched down into the hall below, where a beautiful Christmas tree had been prepared.

     After the tree had been stripped of everything except branches and ornaments we cleared the floor and listened to some recitations by the children. Dancing followed and during the evening we served a New England lunch of apples, squash, pumpkin and mince pies.

     As a new feature recently introduced into the Friday suppers a short service, partaking of the nature of family worship is held immediately before rising from the table. G. M. L.

     ATLANTA, GA. Through the assistance of the Church Extension Committee it was possible for the circles located in Atlanta and Macon to receive a visit from their former pastor, the Rev. R. H. Keep, who is now settled in New York City. Services were held in Atlanta, January 1st, and in Macon the following Sunday.

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The attendance included eight adults and three children in Atlanta, and two adults and three children in Macon. In response to the efforts of the Church to provide for their needs, the members contributed liberally of their means, and expressed very earnestly a desire to do their utmost toward the support of a resident minister. Now that they cannot enjoy regular services the deprivation seems to be keenly felt. I am glad to have this opportunity of again expressing my gratification at the evidence of church life in the South and to acknowledge the cordial welcome I received. K.

     BALTIMORE, MD. After a year's assistance from the Church Extension Fund, the local society has assumed the entire defrayal of the bi-weekly ministerial visits.

     The children's dancing class, started at Arbutus in the summer, is still being kept up twice a month on Saturday afternoons. Since the last report three new families have moved to Arbutus. Messrs. H. Glebe and H. W. Gunther, with their families, have moved into their new house on the grounds, and Mrs. Fitzpatrick and family have rented a house in the vicinity close to the station and street car line. The children of these families attend the public schools at Arbutus or Halethorpe. With the probable addition of two more families within the current year the number of New Church children of school age could be raised to fifteen, including all eight grades except the seventh. An educational fund has been started among the members, and is growing at a lively rate, chiefly owing to the activity of the local A. P. C. (which has nothing to do, be it said, for the comfort of our Catholic neighbors, with the A. P. A.).

     The settlement now enjoys a fine water supply, which is piped from Catonsville. Electric lighting will be installed within a few months, and a forty foot roadway through the property is nearing completion.

     Miss Emilie Schneider visited the society in November, and Mr. Valentine Karl spent a week of the Christmas vacation at Arbutus.

     On Christmas day the regular service was adapted to the children.

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The familiar Christmas hymns took the place of the liturgical music, and instead of a sermon there was an address on the "Appearing of the Lord in the Spiritual World." There was a Christmas tree in the chapel which was lighted at the conclusion of the service, and a distribution of presents followed.

     The New Year was introduced by a short watch-service, at the conclusion of which Mr. Karl gave a brief address in English on the history of the New Church in German lands. The New Year was tolled in by the bell which has recently been placed on the chapel.

     The bi-weekly services are now held regularly in the afternoon at 2:45 at Arbutus. In the morning of those Sundays, a Sunday School service is held. On the Sunday afternoons when there is no ministerial service, the regular Sunday School services are held at Arbutus, under the leadership of Mr. Reynolds. The men's doctrinal class meets bi-weekly in town on Friday evening at 216 West Clement street. The subject is the True Christian Religion. A doctrinal class for the ladies in the Divine Providence is held bi-weekly on Saturday evening at the home of Mrs. Fitzpatrick.

     BERLIN, ONT. In the Carmel Church there have recently been two silver wedding celebrations. The first was that of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Ferdinand, October 29th. It was held in their home, which was tastefully decorated for the occasion; and was attended by the married people of the society. After some time spent at cards, refreshments were served and toasts proposed and responded to. When the toast to the couple was proposed the presentation of a gift to them from the society was made by Mr. Jacob Stroh. The close of the enjoyable evening came all too soon.

     The other celebration was that of Mr. and Mrs. George Scott, held in the school room, November 25th, and attended by about eighty of the members and young people. It opened with a banquet, given by the couple. The pastor, in responding to the toast to Conjugial Love, spoke of the sphere of this love as the most universal of all spheres proceeding from the Lord. As at the other celebration, when the toast to the couple was offered, there was the presentation of a gift from the society, made by Mr. Rudolph Roschman.

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After a delightful time spent at table there came dancing and other social pleasures, When all was over the young people carried home little pieces of the wedding cake of twenty-five years ago to place under their pillows; but of the dreams we have heard not a whisper.

     On Thanksgiving Day, October 31st, there was also a banquet, provided by the young people. The decorations of the school room, the result of much labor, were very beautiful and appropriate. The principal toast was to "The Blessings which we Enjoy," and there were many responses to it, a number of them coming from the young men. After the banquet all went to the chapel; where a series of tableaux was given representing the Beatitudes, each of which was chanted by a choir while it was being represented. So well was it all done that there came a sphere like that of worship; deeply moving the affections. Afterwards, in the school room, a social was held. On the following evening the tableaux were repeated for the benefit of the children.

     The society enjoyed a unique entertainment on December 2d, given by the married ladies, who styled themselves the Old Time Ladies. The entertainment opened with a song of welcome given by the ladies, who appeared upon the stage in costumes of fifty years ago. Then came old time recitations, songs, charades and tableaux: but the best of all was a series of representations of old-time occupations,--the spinning room, showing an art which some had learned in childhood; a kitchen scene, including drying apples, making apple-butter, candle making, etc.; a quilting bee, with all the fun attending it. After the stage entertainment, refreshments were sold, old-time refreshments served in old-time style. The evening was most heartily enjoyed by all, and besides a good sum was realized for the fund for the purchase of church pews.

     At the services on December 4th the congregation had the pleasure of listening to a sermon by the Rev. J. E. Bowers on "What the Spirit saith unto the Churches."

     Christmas was celebrated in the usual manner. In the morning services were held. The singing on this occasion was probably the best we have ever had at worship.

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In the evening the school celebration was held, including the bringing of offerings. After the service gifts were distributed to the children. The children, in their turn, remembered the teachers with tokens of regard. The pastor was also presented with a gift by the young people.

     On Sunday, January 1st, no services were held, as the pastor and a large part of the congregation were attending the Ontario Assembly at Toronto; but of that useful and delightful meeting others will tell.

      BRYN ATHYN, PA. Events have crowded thickly during the holidays and their pleasures have been as various as they were numerous.

     On the Sunday preceding Christmas, a festival service was held, leaving Christmas morning free for the sacrament of the Holy Supper. Both services were beautiful and filled with the spirit of Christmas, and the festival service that was given added delight by the performing of the coming of age rite for Mr. Hubert Hyatt.

     On Christmas eve, at four o'clock, the annual festival was held and was unusually successful, owing to the many advantages of the new auditorium, which allowed of greater comfort, both to the audience and to those who took part in the representations. Several beautiful tableaux were given, among which the Captivity of the Children of Israel and the scene of the Nativity were, perhaps, most beautiful, sufficient action being introduced to make the pictures especially living and powerful. In the scene of the captivity the participants sang with great effect an appropriate selection from the Psalms, and in the last scene the group about the Babe of Bethlehem was given intense interest by the arrival of the Wise Men with their gifts of gold, frank-incense and myrrh.

     While there is no doubt that the greatest use of these tableaux is to inspire affection in the hearts of the children there is truly no age which does not draw inspiration and delight from them in a marked degree. This is especially noticed by those who attend our festivals for the first time. The evening closed with a united Christmas offering by young and old.

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     Thursday evening, December 29, at 8 o'clock, the wedding of Mr. Raymond Pitcairn and Miss Mildred Glenn was celebrated in the chapel, and the ceremony will remain in our memory as one of the most beautiful and impressive which we have been privileged to attend. The large audience was composed wholly of members of the New Church, and it taxed to the full the capacity of our chapel. After the prelude by the organ, the silence that followed was broken by the sweet sound of girls' voices singing in the distance. "Odhecha ki anithani." As the bridal party mounted the steps to the chapel, the singing became louder, but none the less sweet, suggesting that melody of conjugial love sung by the virgins of heaven. And then the singers came to view--the eight bridesmaids, who were followed by the bride and groom. The singing continued until all were assembled before the Bishop. Then, the organ playing softly meanwhile, the marriage service was read, the bride and groom were declared husband and wife, and prayer was made for the Divine blessing on their union.

     The beautiful and impressive service was followed by a reception in the auditorium, where, after all had expressed their heartiest wishes for the happiness of the young couple, the guests were treated to a most delightful evening, in which beautiful music and two very lovely tableaux, representative of scenes from Memorable relations in Conjugial Love, added greatly to the delight of the occasion. The scenes were two of those formerly given for the ladies at the Assembly last June, and were especially enjoyed by the men, to whom they were entirely new; though there was no one present to whom their repetition was not a great delight, their beauty being so great and their details so fraught with significance that it was difficult to grasp their full meaning in such short glimpses. The scenes were drawn largely from Swedenborg's descriptions of the wives and maidens in the rose garden and the wives by the fountain.

     Wine and refreshments were served later, and then came three toasts. Introducing these toasts, Mr. John Pitcairn spoke of an account given by Swedenborg of a marriage in heaven where, after the ceremony, the whole audience joined in wishing a blessing on the newly married pair. His suggestion was immediately responded to and all the persons assembled in the large auditorium joined with hearty voice and good will in saying the words, "May the Divine blessing be upon you."

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The toasts were: The Church, responded to by the Bishop. The Husband and Wife, responded to by Mr. Raymond Pitcairn, and Conjugial Love, responded to by the Rev. Alfred Acton. And then came dancing, which--at a late hour--brought to its close the "festivity" in which this marriage had been celebrated.

     The ball on New Year's eve was well attended, by young and old, and ample entertainment was provided throughout the evening. Just before midnight the company assembled in the chapel where service was conducted by Mr. Synnestvedt, and the New Year was welcomed in as hopefully and helpfully as such occasions make it possible to be. The services on New Year's day were conducted by the Rev. R. W. Brown, who read a sermon of Bishop Benade, on The Lord as the Father.

     The climax of our delightful events occurred on Founders' Day, Saturday, January 14th, on the occasion of a grand banquet given by Mr. Pitcairn in the auditorium on the evening of that day.

     Founder's Day banquets have on previous occasions always been confined to those among the men, who, as founders, charter members, members of the Council, or officers and teachers in the Academy, were privileged to an invitation to that delightful event every year at Cairnwood. But on this occasion Mr. Pitcairn, wishing to give especial emphasis to the day, as a time for rejoicing over the happy conclusion of the recent Kramph Will controversy, generously extended the invitation to every member of the Bryn Athyn and Philadelphia societies, including also the students in the Academy Schools. The beautifully decorated tables were surrounded by the happy faces of over 250 guests, and a most delightful program was blended with a generous and delicious repast.

     Mr. Pitcairn extended a heartfelt welcome to all, and, after a few well chosen words expressing the object of the gathering, he introduced Mr. Odhner as the toastmaster. Toasts followed to the Church, to the Day we Celebrate, and to the Founders of the Academy. After this the large screen curtain was illuminated and the Founders of the Academy were given to our view by the aid of our new stereopticon from slides made especially for the occasion.

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These aroused great enthusiasm and many interesting things were brought out about the different men by the toastmaster, and also by Mr. Childs and Mr. Pitcairn, the only surviving members of the original twelve. The pictures came to an end with a portrait of Bishop Pendleton, a new view of the College building, and the Academy seal, all of which called out the most hearty response from the assembly.

     The words of several new songs were also thrown on the screen, which enabled every one present to take part in these most delightful responses to the different toasts.

     In the midst of the evening a well planned surprise took place, when the tables were turned on our kindly host, by the presentation to him of a beautiful loving cup and flagon, the gift of the United General Church, including even the babies, as an expression of their love and affection on the occasion of Mr. Pitcairn's seventieth birthday, which occurred two days earlier. The presentation was made by Bishop Pendleton, who conveyed the love and good wishes of the givers in most appropriate words.

     The cup and flagon are each of special design. Round the base of the cup were engraved the names of the eighteen societies of the General Church who took part in the offerings, and on the one side were the words, in Hebrew, "Shalom lecha" (peace to thee), and on the other, the words, "To Mr. John Pitcairn on his seventieth birthday, from friends in the General Church." The flagon was similarly inscribed, except that a Latin quotation from the Writings took the place of the Hebrew.

     Mr. Pitcairn was overwhelmed with surprise and delight; and though he said he felt wholly unable to express his gratitude,--yet his simple words and the evident embarrassment of modesty were themselves the most eloquent testimony of gratitude and appreciation. Dr. Boericke contributed several bottles of rare wine to the filling of the cup and flagon, and Mr. Pitcairn, drinking from the cup, handed it to the Bishop, from whom it passed from hand to hand of the entire assemblage.

     Several appropriate speeches followed and a short poem was read in honor of Mr. Pitcairn.

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Letters of congratulation followed and expressions of love affection from near and far, all of which dwelt strongly on the great help and strong affection our kind friend had always bestowed upon the Church and the workers therein. Mr. Pitcairn responded in a few simple words expressive of the delight it had given him to be of whatever use it had been permitted him to be.

     After this the regular program was resumed and the following interesting group of toasts were proposed and ably responded to by the different speakers, while songs, new and old, added much to the affection called out for "Our Own Academy:"

     THE STRENGTH OF THE ACADEMY MOVEMENT.

     1. Its Strength in the Heavenly Doctrine, Bishop Pendleton.

     2. Its Strength in the New Heaven, Mr. Odhner.

     3. Its Strength in a Loyal Church, Mr. Pitcairn.

     4. Its Strength in the New Church Marriage, Mr. Acton.

     5. Its Strength in the Affections of Youth, Mr. L. E. Gyllenhaal.

     The most delightful and useful occasion Bryn Athyn has enjoyed in years drew to a regretful close, and before adjourning the toastmaster called for a spontaneous toast to the Founders Day baby, a son of the Academy, born that morning to Mr. and Mrs. George Heath. R. E. S.

     ACADEMY SCHOOLS.

     The past month has been largely taken up with holidays, and there is, therefore, but little news to chronicle. The Phi Alpha fraternity, the organization of the boys of the dormitory, gave an informal reception on the afternoon of December 18th, and visitors were invited to inspect the rooms, and see how comfortable the boys were in their home at Stuart Hall. There was a large attendance, and the boys were glad to be able to return some appreciation of the settlement's hospitality to them throughout their stay in Bryn Athyn.

     The basket ball team has started its career with a victory by the score of 68-8, and a defeat by the close margin of 20-21.

     A very successful school dance on January 7th brought the holidays to a close, and on January 9th work began again.

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With the mid-year examinations approaching and excellent skating and hockey on the creek, the school does not lack employment or amusement. D. F. R.

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND. The new year finds the Colchester congregation full of hope and trust that it may be gifted with an increase of strength and progress in the uses of the Church. The social and intellectual activity of the society has been well maintained during the last months of the closing year, and this argues well for the future.

     Meetings have been held every two weeks for the reading of Miss Beekman's work on Cosmology and kindred subjects; and here Mr. Rey Gill's special study of Swedenborg's Science has been of great assistance to us. Socials have been held every two weeks under the management of different families.

     On Christmas day the Holy Supper was administered to twenty-two communicants, and in the afternoon a sacred cantala, "The Star of Bethlehem," was given by the young people.

     The new year's social was, as in former years, held at Mr. W. Gill's studio. The evening began with a musical program, followed by a substantial supper, during which a series of toasts was proposed and honored. After the supper we enjoyed the performance of a play, "The Golden Goose," by our young people, and the evening was then filled out with dancing. The passing of the loving cup brought the evening to a close. F. R. C.

     TORONTO, ONTARIO. After weeks of happy and busy preparation the great event of the year in Toronto has come and gone, and the Eighth Ontario District Assembly has passed into history.

     The large number of visitors and the attendance at each meeting showed the healthy growth of the church in Canada.

     The concluding address of the Assembly was on a subject which some of us were unaware had made history--"Swedenborg's Skull." Mr. Acton gave us a most vivid account of its history, showing us the illustrations in Professor Hultkranz's work on "The Mortal Remains of Emanuel Swedenborg."

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     Two years ago we increased the accommodation of our church room by making the partition between it and the boys' school room a door, which can be opened when occasion requires it, making the two rooms one. That gave us the required space for our meetings, but our dining room was not large enough to accommodate an assembly banquet. In Parkdale when we wish to accomplish a thing we find a way or make it. Soon a sufficient sum was subscribed to enable us to enlarge the regular dining room, and by a sliding partition between it and the men's club room to throw them both into one, also to repaint both rooms. When the work was done we scarcely knew the old time basement ourselves.

     The banquet was held on Saturday evening, December 31st, and the speeches which followed the toasts proved so interesting that 11 o'clock still found us at the festive board.

     There was no midnight service this year as the following day was Sunday, and there was time for only a short dance before midnight. However the young people made up for that on Monday evening.

     The usual ladies' meeting was omitted and instead they made up a theater party, after which they adjourned to the church where the men's meeting was just over, and dancing interspersed with clever vaudeville "stunts" by Mr. Harold Scheirholtz and Mr. Theodore Bellinger sped the time into the wee sma' hours. We have been enterprising this winter. On Friday, December 8th, we held a bazaar. A great many of the articles contributed were made by the ladies at their meetings during the autumn.

     On the evening of the bazaar we all took supper together at 7 o'clock, in order to be ready for the sale of work afterwards. Of course, a charge of twenty-five cents was made for this supper, which was quite out of the ordinary, as one of our gentlemen supplied us with venison for it, the trophy of his recent hunting trip. At the conclusion of the meal we went up to the church room, where Mr. Cronlund declared the bazaar open and we all sang "Hail, the Red and White," while Mr. frown held our flag aloft.

     There were four prettily arranged booths. The largest contained the ladies needlework.

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The Theta Alpha had one of their own, uniquely decorated and containing the work contributed by the members of the Theta Alpha. At the third, two young ladies busily dispensed ice-cream and; in the fourth, there was a rapid sale of home-made pickles, preserves, cakes, candies and sundries.

     Financially; it was very successful--$127 being cleared, and, as a social, it was a most jolly affair. B. S.
Building Notice 1911

Building Notice              1911




     Announcements.



     Private dwellings can be erected in Bryn Athyn this spring at a considerable saving under the co-operative, plan. All interested parties should write immediately for particulars. Bryn Athyn, Pa.
For Rent 1911

For Rent              1911

     After the first of March there will be three rooms on the second floor for rent, with board, at "The Inn," Bryn Athyn, Pa. For particulars apply to Ms. T. M. COOPER, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
FORMATION OF THE WIFE FROM THE RIB OF THE MAN 1911

FORMATION OF THE WIFE FROM THE RIB OF THE MAN       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1911



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NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXI MARCH, 1911          No. 3
     We read in CONJUGIAL LOVE: "The woman is essentially formed into a wife, according to the description in the Book of Creation. In this Book it is said that the woman was created out of the rib of the man, and that the man said, when she was brought to him, 'This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; and she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.' By a rib of the breast, in the Word, nothing else is signified, in the spiritual sense, than natural truth. This is signified by the ribs which the bear carried between his teeth (Dan. vii, 5); for bears signify those who read the Word in the natural sense, and see truths therein without understanding. By the breast of the man is signified that essential and peculiar quality [id essentiale ac proprium], which is distinguished from the breast of the woman; this is wisdom; for truth supports wisdom as ribs support the breast. These things are signified because the breast is that part in which all things of man are as in their center. From these considerations it is manifest that the woman was created from the man by the transcription of his own peculiar wisdom [ejus propriae sapientiae], which is from natural truth; and that the love of this was transferred from the man into the woman, in order that it might become conjugial love; and that this was done in order that in the man there might not be the love of self, but the love of his wife. For the wife, by reason of her innate disposition, cannot do otherwise than convert the love of self with the man into his love for herself; and I have been informed that this is effected by virtue of the wife's love itself, neither the man nor the wife being conscious of it.

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Hence it is that no one can ever love his married partner conjugially who is in the conceit of his own intelligence from the love of self. When this arcanum of the creation of the woman from the man is understood, it can then be seen that the woman is likewise, as it were, created or formed from the man in marriage; and that this is done by the wife, or, rather, through the wife by the Lord, who has infused into women the inclinations to do so. For the wife receives into herself the image of the man, by appropriating his affections to herself, and by conjoining the man's internal will with her own; and also by appropriating to herself the propagations of his soul. From these considerations it is evident that, according to the description in the Book of Creation, inwardly understood, a woman is formed into a wife by means of such things as she takes from her husband and his breast, and inscribes on herself." (193.)

     In this passage we are taught that by the rib is signified natural truth; and that the woman is formed into a wife by the transcription of the man's own peculiar wisdom [propriae sapientiae], which is from natural truth. The expression rendered from the Latin, "man's own peculiar wisdom," can also be translated, "man's proper wisdom," or, simply, "man's own wisdom," or, perhaps, "man's proprium wisdom." This wisdom is, as said, from natural truth.

     It is necessary that we should understand what is meant by natural truth, if we would clearly understand the teaching contained in the doctrine quoted.

     The expression "natural truth" is used in three ways in the Writings: first, occasionally, as meaning merely earthly scientifics, by which spiritual truths can be confirmed; second, more frequently, as meaning the truths of the literal sense of the Word; third, most generally, as meaning both earthly scientifics and the truths of the letter of the Word, and also the doctrinals of the Church. It is in this last named way that the expression is used in the doctrine before us.

     In the Writings we find the following definitions of natural truth:

     "Natural truths are nothing other than scientific, cognitions, and doctrinals." (A. C. 3508.)

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     "Natural truth is every doctrinal and scientific for the sake of the end of growing wise, thus for the sake of the end of serving the neighbor, the Lord's kingdom, and above all the Lord." (A. C. 3167.)

     "Those things which are in the natural mind from the spiritual are called natural truths." (A. E. 790:9.)

     From these definitions it is evident that natural truth is truth in the form of knowledges on the plane of the natural mind, and having, as its end, the life of religion. It is truth seen in the light of the world, and truth as seen is always in the form of knowledges or science, and not in the form of faith, which is the internal acknowledgment of truth. Faith is not possible except in the light of heaven; and it pertains to the spiritual mind, in which that light shines. (A. C. 9755.)

     Every teaching of the Writings and of the letter of the Word received into the natural mind,--and it is into this mind that every teaching is first received,--dwells there as a natural truth. Further, every knowledge in that mind concerning life in the world and concerning the things of the world is a natural truth when it has as its soul the truth of religion; as, for example, the knowledge concerning a moral life and its virtues, or concerning what pertains to one's daily life of use, or concerning the application of the things of the world to use,--these are natural truths, when they are seen to be the means by which love to the neighbor and to the Lord can be ultimated. But ii they are not seen to be such means, they are not natural truths, but mere external facts.

     Natural truth is distinct from spiritual truth. Spiritual truth is, as said, truth in faith, and pertains to the internal or spiritual man, which is in the light of heaven. It is not so much in the form of knowledges, but, rather, is an interior light in which spiritual things are seen. Such spiritual truth never becomes in any sense man's own, but is always the Lord's with him. Man cannot attain unto faith by an effort or exertion of his own, as he can in the case of natural truths; he cannot reach out and take it into his mind; it must inflow, and does inflow from the Lord when man, by regeneration, reaches a state capable of receiving it. Spiritual truth is, therefore, not a thing of man's proper or own wisdom.

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There is nothing proper to man, or nothing of proprium, in the spiritual or internal man. The truths in the spiritual man, or spiritual truths, all, relate to what is spiritual and heavenly, and are free from anything that is of the world, thus free from what is of time and space.

     It is evident that man could not live in this world if he had only spiritual truths, and not at the same time natural truths. He needs to be able to see truth also in the light of the world; he needs to see it as adapted for application to life in the world. And such truth can become man's own, or, as his own, a thing of his proprium. He can, as by his own effort, acquire it, and form from it a wisdom which is his proper wisdom. Such a proprium is necessary for man in order that he may be in freedom; without it there could be no choice between truth and falsity, between heaven and hell. The truth is as his own, and he can either receive and follow it, or pervert, deny and reject it.

     Natural truth is for man during his life in this world, and by means of it he is prepared for life in the other, that is, by means of it he is to be prepared for the reception of spiritual truth, which takes place when he lives according to natural truth. For when man lives according to natural truth, a heaven is formed in his spiritual man, and in that heaven dwells spiritual truth. So long as he remains in this world he is not consciously in that heaven, but comes into it after death. Nevertheless already during his life in this world the light of that heaven inflows into his natural mind, and fills what is there with spiritual life, and causes his natural truths to become things of heavenly intelligence and wisdom.

     It is of Divine Order that man come into natural truths before he come into spiritual; therefore, also, everyone is born upon earth to live there before entering into the eternal life of heaven. The natural truths, received into faith and life, during the abode in this world, form the basis on which spiritual truth can rest to all eternity; or, to use another comparison, they are the ribs which include the heart and lungs of spiritual life. Wherefore also the ideas of the angels, although indefinitely more profound than those of men, are, nevertheless, grounded in natural truths.

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     Natural truth is, therefore, something given to man as his own, whereby he may attain unto spiritual truth, and thus unto heavenly intelligence and wisdom, in which is the happiness of eternal life.

     Natural truth, and wisdom from it, is not man's own, but as his own; yet the inclination of man is to claim it and love it as something of his own. And when he does this, it cannot serve as the means for his reception of spiritual truth, and thus of eternal life; for he does not think of the application of his natural truth to serving the neighbor, the Lord's Kingdom, and the Lord, but of the honor which he may receive from men because of his knowledge and intelligence. And even if he applies them to life, the good life which results is merely externally good, for it, too, has for its end honor from men. Natural truth, thus defiled, becomes a part of man's evil proprium, and as such contributes rather to his damnation than to his salvation.

     This is the case especially with the man, but not so much with the woman. For in the man the intellectual predominates, but in the woman the voluntary. It is the man, therefore, who is particularly in danger of spiritual destruction because of his making that which should be the means of salvation a thing of the love of self. But the Lord provides that this danger may be averted; and He provides this by means of conjugial love.

     Woman is a form of love of the man's wisdom; and with a wife, the very center and all of her life is the husband's proper wisdom I it is the object of all her love. It is because the wife is such a form of love, that the husband loves her, though he is not aware that this is the cause. And if he does love her, then he is drawn away from himself loving his proper wisdom. Thus the rib, which would destroy the man, if it remained in him, is formed into a wife, and becomes a thing of beauty.

     The man, therefore, who would be saved from that love of his own wisdom, or from that conceit of wisdom from the love of self, which prevents his reception of spiritual truth, must love his wife. And he who is not in the married state, and also he who is in such a married state that love is not possible, must be in the desire to so love a wife. Whence it is evident that a man's salvation depends on loving the wife. On the other hand, it is also true that he who does not shun the evil of the conceit of his own intelligence can never love a wife.

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For while a man's love for his wife makes it possible for him to be freed from the conceit of his own intelligence, yet that conceit will not be removed unless he fight against it. If he does not fight against it, his love of his wife will remain a merely external thing, and in time disappear

     We have said that it is the man's love for his wife that makes it possible for him to be freed from conceit; but, in reality, it is the wife's love for the husband which effects this; for it is she who, by secret means, converts the love of self with the man into his love for herself.

     But the wife's love for the husband does more for him than this; for it also causes him to progress into that genuine wisdom which has its origin in the application of truth to life. The wife loves the wisdom of the husband, and it is the desire of her heart that that wisdom should be genuine, and become ever more dom is to be directed to the service of the neighbor, the Lord's Kingdom, and the Lord. She therefore encourages him to such wisdom. She causes him to feel her love for this wisdom, to the end that he may from love to her cultivate it.

     It is in the endeavor to promote with the husband the wisdom of a life in accordance with the truth that the wife will find her own spiritual progress and development. She cannot encourage him to such things unless she from the heart desires that he should cultivate them. And this desire she cannot have unless she fight against and overcome an opposing desire. For while a wife is from innate disposition a form of love of the husband's wisdom, yet her inclination, in so far as she is not regenerate, is that his wisdom be a thing whereby he may attain glory or renown, or worldly advantage, wherefrom she herself may also profit. She is not, without regeneration, a form of the love of genuine wisdom with the husband; she cannot be, without regeneration, in the desire that he be in that wisdom which is of the application of truth to life. She needs to put aside merely selfish and worldly ambitions in order that she may become a genuine form of love. If she does not put them aside, she will but encourage her husband to conceit of his own wisdom.

     But if she puts these evils away, she will be a true wife, a help-meet to her husband.

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For she will then make manifest to him her love for the truths of the church and for the welfare of the church; her love for the life of charity in his performance of his use; her love of a determined obedience to the dictates of conscience; her love of innocence and purity and of all the moral virtues. And he, recognizing these loves in her, will endeavor to be such a man that she can see in him those things which she loves. Her love of these things of the wisdom of life will spur him on to the cultivation of that life in accordance with the truths of religion. As he does this, heaven will be formed within him and become the abiding place of spiritual truth, and this will inflow into his natural man and cause him to become truly wise.

     It is not, however, only for the husband's sake, but also for her own, that the true wife desires that he should progress in genuine wisdom. She realizes that he must progress in wisdom in order that she may also progress as a form of the love of wisdom; that he must advance into an ever more interior understanding of the truth which is to be applied to life, in order that she may become an ever more interior form of affection for that truth and its life. She looks to him for guidance and for light, or for the truth, that she may receive it from him, knowing that the more interiorly she can receive it the more interiorly she can become a wife.

     Thus we see that the making of the man is largely in the hands of his wife, and the making of the wife largely in the hands of her husband. The progress of each in spiritual life depends in great measure on the progress of the other.

     Such being the case, there should be with each solicitude that the other may progress. Nevertheless this solicitude must be kept within bounds lest it evidence itself in such a manner as to deprive the other of freedom. The husband must leave the wife in freedom to agree or not to agree with the things which he believes to be of wisdom; and the wife must leave the husband in freedom in his growth into wisdom, and in his formation of his ideas and principles. Let each believe that the other is in the endeavor to promote what will be for the benefit of the spiritual progress of both. And let the solicitude for the progress of the other rather take the form that the husband be solicitous lest he do what may be of harm to the wife's progress, and the wife lest she do that which may harm the husband's progress.

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     Where there is such mutual regard for each other's welfare, the husband will become more and more a husband, and the wife more and more a wife. The rib will be taken from the man, so that he may become a true man and husband, and will be formed into a woman, that she may become a true woman and wife.

     And all this will be the work of the Lord, neither the man nor the wife being conscious of it. It will be a thing of interior growth. Yet the wife will know more concerning it than does the man; for it is she who is the form of conjugial love, and it is through her that it inflows into the husband. The Lord through her forms the man into a true man, and at the same time forms her into a true woman. And in order that this may be effected through her, the Lord grants unto her the gift of drawing the love of her husband to herself by secret means; which is meant by the woman being created while the man slept. These means she uses in such a way that the husband may in freedom leave father and mother and cleave to his wife, that is, leave the proprium of his will, which consists in loving himself, and the proprium of his understanding, which consists in his loving his own wisdom, and devote himself to the love of his wife.

     To the end, then, that conjugial love may come into existence and grow in the church, let every wife seek to do all in her power to draw her husband's love to herself, and let her earnestly endeavor to encourage him in the cultivation of genuine wisdom, shunning the evils of desiring him to strive after merely worldly honor and prosperity; and let every husband seek to cleave to his wife alone, that is, to put aside every selfish love and every conceit, and to so live that he may be worthy of the love of his wife. Where there is this endeavor on the part of each, there will be the conjunction of souls and minds, which is meant by the two becoming one flesh, and this conjunction will grow and become more interior to all eternity, so that they will become ever more fully one angel, and enter forever more and more into the happiness of that heavenly love, love truly conjugial, into which are collated all joys and delights from highest to lowest, and which is the love of loves of the angels.

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BAPTISM 1911

BAPTISM       Rev. EMIL R. CRONLUND       1911

     "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." (Mark 16:16.)

     The Sacrament of Baptism was instituted by the Lord Himself, and it is, therefore, a holy thing. Indeed, the two sacraments, Baptism and the Holy Supper, are the two holiest things of worship; they are like two jewels in the sceptre of a king; they are like two gates to eternal life, and there are no other universal gates.

     When the Lord came into the world He abrogated the representatives of the Jewish Church, which were all external, and instituted a Church, all things of which should be internal; thus the Lord put away the figures, and revealed the effigies themselves, as one removes a veil or opens a door, and causes the things within not only to be seen, but also to be approached. Of all those things the Lord retained only two, which should contain in one complex all things of the internal Church; which two things are Baptism, instead of washings, and the Holy Supper, instead of the lamb, which was sacrificed every day, and fully at the feast of the Passover. (T. C. R. 670.)

     In the two sacraments, Baptism and the Holy Supper, are, therefore, gathered together all the representatives of the Jewish Church, that is, all those representatives of purification and regeneration are stored up and contained in Baptism and the Holy Supper.

     Baptism is commanded by the Lord, both in the letter of the Word and in the Writings of the New Church. This fact alone makes it evident that this sacrament should be observed. Man should live according to the Lord's commandments; he should fulfill all righteousness. But in the New Church this sacrament should be observed, not only because it is commanded, but also because it is seen why it is commanded. It is permitted now to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith. It is permitted now to understand the truths and commandments of the Divine Word more interiorly than they have ever been understood before.

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And in order that the man of the New Church may come into the very use and benefit of the sacrament of Baptism, the heavenly things that are treasured up within it have been revealed to the New Church. And those heavenly things have been revealed, not only that the man of the New Church may know and understand why this sacrament should be observed, but also that from a knowledge of its uses and benefits he may come into a love of it and bless the Lord for having provided this means of salvation.

     The Writings declare that there are three uses of Baptism. The first use of Baptism is introduction into the Christian Church, and at the same time insertion among Christians in the spiritual world. The second use of Baptism is, that the Christian may know and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and Saviour, and follow Him. The third use of Baptism, which is the final use, is that man may be regenerated. These three uses may also be stated briefly, as follows: The first use is that one may be named a Christian; the second, following from this is, that he may know and acknowledge the Lord the Redeemer, Regenerator, and Saviour; and the third, that he may be regenerated by Him. (T. C. R. 685.)

     By the Christian Church, into which Baptism is an introduction, is meant the New Church; The former Church was Christian in name only, but not in essence and reality. The New Church is the only truly Christian Church, for in it alone is it acknowledged and believed that he that seeth the Lord Jesus Christ seeth the Father, and consequently in the New Church alone is the Lord Jesus Christ truly worshiped and adored. Hitherto there has been Christianity only in name, and with some persons some shadow of it; for men have not heretofore approached and worshiped the Savior Himself immediately as the only God in Whom is the Divine Trinity, but only mediately. Genuine Christianity is now first beginning to dawn, for now the New Church is being established by the Lord, in which the Lord Jesus Christ is to be the only object of love and worship. This is the Christian Church, therefore, into which man is introduced by Baptism as administered in this Church.

     By means of Baptism man is also inserted among Christians in the Spiritual World, that is, among those in the world of Spirits who are of the New Church.

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Consequently as man, by means of Baptism, is introduced into the Church on earth as to his external man, so by means of the same act he is introduced as to his internal man into the Church in the Spiritual world. Thus Baptism is a sign that a man is of the Church in this world and also a sign that he is of the Church in the other world.

     Baptism introduces into the same thing in the other world into which it introduces in this world. That this is so is further manifest from what the Writings teach with regard to the Baptism of John. John was sent before the Lord to prepare His way, and he prepared His way by baptizing and by announcing the coming of the Lord. They who were baptized by John were therefore introduced among those in this world who looked for and desired the Messiah, and the teaching is that they were also inserted in Heaven among those there who expected and desired the Messiah; and so they were guarded by angels, that devils might not break forth from hell and destroy them. If the way of the Lord had not been prepared by means of the Baptism of John, the earth would have been smitten with a curse, for it is written, "Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Matth. 4:5, 6.) By the "fathers" here are meant the angels of Heaven and also those in the world of Spirits who expected the Lord, and by the "children" are meant men on earth. By `that the hearts of these were to be turned to each other' is meant that those in both worlds who expected and desired the coming of the Lord were to be consociated, and they were consociated by means of the Baptism of John. By means of his Baptism the whole Jewish race was also guarded against total destruction by the hells, for these would have broken forth and caused the Jews to be destroyed by diseases of every kind unless they had been prepared for the coming of the Lord. They were prepared by the Baptism of John, by means of which they were consociated with the angels and were guarded and protected by them. And although they were only external men yet when they had been baptized by John they were regarded as pure in Heaven, and this for the reason that the Church with them was a representative one, and communicated with Heaven only by means of representatives, and, therefore, although their Baptism was only a representation of purification, they were, nevertheless, accepted in Heaven as though they were really purified.

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     At this day, however, when an internal Church is to be established, man is not regarded as pure internally, simply because he has been baptized. Man at this day is not regarded as pure unless he does the things that are involved in Baptism, that is, unless he acknowledges the Lord and permits himself to be regenerated by Him. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Baptism alone confers neither faith nor salvation, but it testifies that man can receive faith and so be saved. And, as has been said, it introduces the one baptized into the society of those in the other world who are of the Church. By these he is kept in a state of receiving faith in the Lord, for they constantly endeavor to infuse into him an interior inclination for the truths of the Church. Thus one who is baptized is in the company of those in the other world who are in faith and love. His Baptism causes him to be present amongst them as to his spirit, and when he himself receives faith and love to the Lord he becomes conjoined with them and with the angels of Heaven.

     In order that man may be kept in a state of receiving faith in the Lord, and that he may have illustration in spiritual things, he must be consociated as to his internal man with angels and good spirits, for through them spiritual light passes from the Lord to man. As Baptism consociates man with those who are of the Church in the other world, it may be evident how great is its use. And as such consociation takes place by means of Baptism it is further evident that this sacrament is a means through which the Church an earth and the Church in the other world are conjoined and made to appear before the Lord as one man.

     Baptism into the New Church introduces man into the society of those who are of the New Church in the other world, and so also Baptism into any other Church introduces the one baptized into the same Church in the world of spirits. The same Churches exist in the other world as exist here, and in that world peoples and nations are distinct from each other according to their religious systems: In that world all things, both in the whole and in every part, or in general and in every particular, are most distinctly arranged; upon distinct arrangement there depends the preservation of the whole universe; and this distinction cannot be carried out unless every one, after he is born, is recognized by some sign, showing to what religious community he belongs. (T. C. R. 678.)

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There must be order, both in the spiritual world and in the natural. But what is order without distinction? and what is distinction without evidences? and what are evidences without signs by which qualities are recognized? (T. C. R. 680.) Order requires that those who are of the Church should be separate and distinct from those who are not of the Church, and that there should be a sign showing that they are distinct and separate, and the sign that separates those of the New Church from others is Baptism into the New Church.

     From this it follows that he who has accepted the faith of the New Church ought also to be baptized into the Church; he ought to receive the sign of the New Church, for this is a matter of Divine order as well as for his own spiritual benefit. He that believes ought to be baptized. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." The Baptism of the old Church does not introduce any one into the New Church, nor does it insert among those who are of the Church in the other world. The Baptism of the New Church is a representative of the faith of the New Church, and the Baptism of the old Church is a representative of the faith of the old Church. It introduces the one baptized into the society of those in the other world who are of the old Church and is a sign and evidence that he is of that Church. And Baptism into the old Church cannot possibly be a representative sign and evidence that a person is of the old Church and at the same time that he is of the New Church, for the faith of the old Church and the faith of the New are opposite to each other. There are those who hold that Baptism into the New Church is not necessary if one has been baptized into the old. They who live according to this belief mix the old Church with the New, and the ultimate result of such a mixture, were it to prevail generally, would be that everything of the Church must perish.

     The New Church is a living Church. The old Church is consummated and dead.

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It has become so fully consummated that scarcely any remains of it are left, and this has come to pass, because they have divided the Divine Trinity into three persons, each of them supposed to be God and Lord; thence a sort of frenzy has gone forth into the whole of theology, and thus into the Church, which from the Lord's name is called Christian. It is said a frenzy, because the minds of men have been driven by it into such a delirium that they do not know whether there is one God, or whether there are three; there is one in the speech of the lips, but there are three in the thoughts of the mind, wherefore there is a disagreement between their mind and lips, or between their thought and speech; from which disagreement comes the conclusion that there is no God. (T. C. R. 4.) Wherefore a Divine Trinity divided into different persons has brought into the Church not only night but also death. (T. C. R. 23.) Consequently, the old Church is dead spiritually. If it is dead internally it is necessarily dead externally also, for an external is always of the same quality as its internal. Therefore if the internals of the old Church are dead and in consequence cannot introduce into Heaven, how could its externals possibly do so? How could its Baptism introduce into the society of those who are of the truly Christian Church in the other world, and how could the Holy Supper, as administered there, introduce any one into Heaven?

     The New Church is to be distinct and separate from the old. It has its own distinct internals, and it must have its own distinct externals. New wine must be put into new bottles. (Matth. 9:17.) There must be a correspondence between internals and externals. The externals of the old Church are not in correspondence with the internals of the New, nor can they be forced into correspondence with each other, and, therefore, we cannot impute to the Baptismal ceremony, as Performed by a dead Church, an internal, or a life, or an acknowledgment, which it utterly repudiated when it slew the Lord in its midst.

     The former Church is an external without an internal, and such a Church cannot be called a Church, but an idolatry, (A. C. 1242), and in like manner whatever is of the Church, whether statutes, judgments, or rites and ceremonies. (A. C. 4825, 9391.)

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As the old Church is an idolatry, and an external without an internal, therefore its externals do not represent truths and goods, but evils and falsities, and so the water of Baptism with the old Church represents, not the truth of faith, but the falsity of evil.

     He that believeth ought to be baptized. He who professes to be of the New Church ought to receive its Baptism, for he ought to be of the Church externally as well as internally. He who knows of the teachings of the New Church and professes belief in them but refuses to receive the sign of the New Church, he voluntarily associates himself with those in the other world who are not of the Church, and it is a general law that man becomes like those with whom he voluntarily associates himself. It is a noteworthy fact also that objections against distinctive Baptism are always conjoined with objections against external Church organization. They who object to distinctive Baptism see scarcely any difference between the New Church and the old, and so they
unable to receive the distinctive teachings of the New Church.

     That man, when he receives the Doctrines of the New Church, ought to put on the sign of the New Church, which is Baptism, is evident from this that the Lord our Savior was Himself baptized by John, although He had previously been circumcised in the Jewish Church. He put off the sign of the former Church when He had instituted a New Church. They also who had been baptized with John's Baptism, when they received faith in the Lord, were then baptized by the Apostles in the name of Jesus, and as a result they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 19:3-6.) Furthermore, although the children of Israel had received circumcision as a sign of the covenant between the Lord and them, still before they entered the land of Canaan the commandment was given for them to be circumcised again, and this for the reason that the land of Canaan represented the Church, and because the Church with the children of Israel was to be distinguished from others by that sign. This shows that if a man professes the faith of the New Church he ought then to receive the sign of the Church.

     It has been said that man, through Baptism is consociated with those who are of the Church in the other world; but the question may still be asked, Why is Baptism necessary in order to bring about this consociation?

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Is not man consociated with the good in the world of spirits and with the angels through his affections? The answer is, that he is not fully consociated with them through internals alone. The Church with man must be both internal and external. An internal Church without an external would he like a house in the air without a foundation on the earth. The internal things of the Church must be cultivated. The Church in order to be complete must have a body as well as a soul. Good will alone does not save man. He must also do good. Every internal must be clothed with its own external, with its corresponding ultimate. There is no internal without its sign in the external. The Writings teach that "Heaven is conjoined to man when he is in ultimates, that is, when he is in such things as are in the world as to his natural man, while he is in such things as are in Heaven as to his spiritual man; in no other way is conjunction possible." (A. C. 475) We have also, in the Writings, the following teachings with regard to ultimates: "It is necessary for the presence of the Lord to be equally in ultimates as in primes." (A. C. 6373) "Interior things are terminated and bounded in the ultimates of order, and are together there and, as it were, dwell together in one house." (A. C. 4539.) "The internal does not exist without the external, for the external is the ultimate of order in which the internal subsists." (A. C. 5247.) "If ultimates disappear, the interior things also are dissipated." (A. C. 9216.) These teachings of the Heavenly Doctrines of the Church show not only the importance, but even the necessity of ultimates. Ultimates provide a foundation and support for internal things. And because internals are together and terminate in the ultimates, therefore, the ultimate is called in the Writings a "holy terminus."

     Still, Baptism, without faith in the Lord and a life according to His commandments is of no spiritual benefit to man. In the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED it is said, "Baptism is an external which without an internal contributes nothing to salvation, but it does contribute when the external is conjoined to the internal." (475.) And how Baptism contributes to salvation is stated in the BRIEF EXPOSITION, Where it is taught that from Baptism man has the power, not only of hearing the Word of God, but also of assenting to it, and of embracing it in faith (69).

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[On the next two pages are pictures of loving cups.]

     When man believes, that is, when he is in the faith of charity, when he has the faith that has its origin in charity, then Baptism contributes to his salvation, and this is the meaning of these words, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." It is evident that Baptism without the things which are involved in it is of no use. But this external of the Church together with the internal is of much use, else, why Should it be commanded by the Lord? The Lord does not command man to do a thing that is going to be of no use to him.

     Baptism testifies that a man is of the Church, and that he can be regenerated. (A. C. 10387) It is a sign given by the Lord Himself which testifies that man can be regenerated. It is an assurance from the Lord that he is born for Heaven. And every one, when he sees this sign with the eye of the spirit, should remember regeneration, he should remember that through his Baptism he was introduced into the presence of the Lord, and that he is to be conjoined with the Lord through purification from evils, which is represented by the washing of Baptism. Thus this sign is intended to cause man to remember and to think of the Lord, and Heaven, and life eternal.

     As Baptism is commanded, and as it is shown in the Writings of the Church why it should be observed, therefore all who wish to be of the Lord's New Church in this world and in the other will necessarily obey His command They will desire to enter into the Church through the gate that the Lord Himself has provided, and will suffer themselves to be led and governed by the Lord's teachings in all things. There are those who regard the New Church as their own property, which should be regulated and controlled according to their ideas of fitness and propriety. But let us ever bear in mind that the New Church is the Lord's Church, and that He Himself has given the laws that are to establish and govern this Church. It can be established by means of those laws alone, and not through any man-made laws. Therefore it is to the Law and to the Testimony be made, and "if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isa. 8:20.)

     The laws governing the New Church cannot be changed by any man. "Not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken." (Isa. 33:20.)

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The Lord is the truth, and His truth alone leads to life everlasting. He Himself has provided a door through which those who receive Him in His coming are to enter fully into His Church and be saved, for it is written, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Amen.
"THE WORD OF THE LORD." 1911

"THE WORD OF THE LORD."       Rev. O. L. BARLER       1911

     "The Divine prophecy--Zech. xiv, 7--that "at evening time it shall be light," means that where one Dispensation or Church ends, there shall be a new beginning, and consequent new revelation. It has always been thus with the Ages. There is the rise, progress, culmination; then, decline, degeneration, and end. Morning, noon and night--and then, the dawning of a new day. We learn that the Most Ancient Church degenerated until nothing was left, and then was its consummation. The Ancient Church so departed from the good of charity that not anything of charity remained, and then was its consummation. The Hebrew Church, in the course of time, was perverted in various ways until its external worship was turned into idolatry, and then was its consummation. The first Christian Church, in its beginning and early progress, was grounded in good things of faith and life, but has become of such a character that they do not know, even, that the fundamental of faith is love towards the Lord and charity towards the neighbor. And although they say, from doctrine, that the Lord is Savior; that they will rise again; that there is a heaven, and a hell,--but few believe these things, and, therefore, the consummation is not far off. (A. C. 2243.)

     Swedenborg said these things while writing the second volume of the Arcana Coelestia, one hundred and sixty years ago, a little before the time of the Last Judgment. In the 24th chapter of Matthew we have a prophetic account of the same event,-the consummation of the first Christian Church,--now fully accomplished.

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The Lord's disciples, with seeming pride, had been showing Him the building of the Temple at Jerusalem, when He surprised them: "See ye not all these things. Verily, I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down!"

     And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, His disciples came to Him and entreated Him to tell them when all these things would be But We had spoken only of the consummation of the Age. He warned them that iniquity would abound; that there would be wars; nation would rise against nation; kingdom against kingdom; there would be famine, and pestilences, and earthquakes in many places. But these would be but the beginning of sorrows; and because iniquity would abound, the love of many would wax cold,--and then would the end come.

     "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man, coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory."

     It is manifest that by these words are meant that at the end of that Dispensation, when love and faith in the Church would be no more, the Lord would come and open the Word, as to its internal sense, and would reveal the arcana of heaven (H. H. 1.) "And this is what is meant by the Second Coming of the Lord." (Ibid.)

     "The Lord does not reveal Himself elsewhere than in the Word, nor there otherwise than by the internal sense. (A. E. 36.)

     This internal sense is the very sanctuary of the Word. The Lord Himself is in this sense with His Divine, and in the natural sense with His Human. And not a single iota of this sense can be opened, except by the Lord alone. This surpasses all the revelations that have hitherto been made since the creation of the world." (INV.44)

     Concerning the Word, we have the following definite affirmations:

     "No one can have religion except from revelation, and revelation, with us, is the Word." (A. E. 963.) "That which the Divine has revealed is, with us, the Word." (A. C. 1775)

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"By the Word is meant every revelation." (A. C. 2884.) "Divine revelation is called the Word; and in the supreme sense is called the Lord." (A. C. 5272.) "The Word is Divine Truth, and the internal or spiritual sense is the Interior Word." (A. E. 948.).

     It thus appears that the Interior Word makes one with the exterior or natural forms of the Word; and that it is in its fulness, holiness, and power in that farm, because of all the interior things that are in its bosom. We do not think of a house apart from its foundation; not more than we think of man apart from his human form. There is oneness in the Word, as in God. The form of the Old Testament Word is sensual; its form in the New Testament is natural; in the Writings of the Church it is rational--unity prevails. The facts of the New Church are forever set on the letter of the Word.

     When the SUMMARY EXPOSITION was published, preliminary to the advent of the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, the whole angelic heaven, from east to west, and from north to south, appeared to Swedenborg covered with beautiful roses, of a dark scarlet color, as a sign of assent and joy of the entire heavenly host! It was the power and glory of the "Interior Word" that created this scene, and affirmed the Divinity of Old and New Testament Scriptures--made so by the presence of its interior things--now revealed. Without these interior senses which give life to the revelations made there would be no Word of God on earth or in heaven. And to call the literal sense, alone, the Word is like calling man's physical form, alone, the man--denying that man is a spiritual being. The: inner forms of the Word are of such importance that:

     "It is not allowed to anyone in the natural world or in the spiritual world to investigate the spiritual sense of the letter of the Word, unless he be wholly in the Doctrine of Divine truth, and in illustration from the Lord." (DE VERBO, XXI.)

     Every Divine Revelation is a Coming of the Lord to man, no matter by whom that appearing is effected. It may be through the ministry of angels, as with the Most Ancient people; or by a written Word, as with the Ancient Church and succeeding Ages; or by the human assumed, as in the First Advent; or by a man, peculiarly fitted to receive the Doctrines of the New Dispensation into his understanding, and to make them known through the press, as in the case of Swedenborg.

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And this New Church is founded as directly upon Divine Revelations through Swedenborg as the Early Christian Church was founded upon the New Testament Word; as directly as the Jewish Church was founded Upon the Old Testament Word; as directly as the Ancient Church was founded upon an older Word, now lost. It was, not Swedenborg come, but the LORD come, in the cloudy letter of the Word.

     "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." (Matt. xxiv. 63.)

     That no man or angel can open the Word as to its interior senses, is affirmed in the Apocalypse;

     "And no man in heaven, nor in the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. (v. 4.)

     "And He that sat upon the throne said, I make all things new. Write, for these words are true and faithful,"--the thing is certain.

     We are told from Heaven that such a Word as we have is necessary for the reason that the man of this earth is such that he cannot receive immediate revelation, as can the inhabitants of other earths in the Universe, and thus be instructed in the things of heaven. The reason is that the inhabitants of our earth are the most external people of all. (H. H. 309) We have need to be taught Divine Precepts by others who know them from religion. To us, the Lord does not reveal Himself elsewhere than in His Word,--nor there otherwise than through the internal sense. (A. E. 36) Now, for the first time, the spiritual sense of the Word is revealed (A. E. 957) The spiritual sense is of the Word,-is the Word, in that form. The letter of the Word without the spiritual sense-- without its soul-would not be the Word of God--would not be Divine. The Word is a body living from a soul. (DE VERBO V.) The interior senses of the Word are in the letter's bosom--in fulness and power. The letter is like a vessel, filled with noble wine. If the vessel is broken, the wine is spilled. It is like the skin and bones of a man. Take these away, and the whole man falls to pieces. (DE VERBO, X, 5.)

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     The letter of the Word serves for support; all degrees of wisdom are present therein in simultaneous order.

     "In its inmost is the Lord, as a sun, from which the Divine Truth and the Divine Good, light and flame, vibrate forth and propagate themselves through media even to ultimates. Next in this simultaneous Word, there is the Divine such as it is in the highest or third heaven, from which the angels there have wisdom. Then succeeds the Divine spiritual, such as is in the middle or second heaven, from which the angels there have wisdom. After this follows the Divine, such as it is in the first or lowest heaven, from which the angels there have wisdom. The ultimate--or letter of the Word--constitutes the Divine natural, such as it is in the world, from which men have wisdom. This ultimate girds about, and binds together---thus contains the interior things and serves for support." (DE VERBO, XI.)

     Some knowledges must have been obtained by a man, if he is to receive aught that is Divine, since the Lord, or what is Divine, can find no resting place in an empty man. But there must be the will of good, else the knowing of things is of no avail.

     "If a man were to know from heaven all the things that angels ever know; if he were to know all the things of the Word; all the Doctrines of the Church; all which the Fathers have written and the Councils have decreed, and if still his will were in evil, he would, none the less, be looked upon after death as one who knows nothing, because he does not will what he knows." (DE VERBO, XIII.)

     From all these things it may be manifest what is the nature of the Word of the Lord in its bosom: that it is most full of Divine Wisdom. The natural Word, such as it is in the world, in the Christian religion, contains within itself both the Spiritual Word and the Celestial Word. The spiritual sense of our Word is the Word in the heavens that constitute the Lord's spiritual kingdom; and the celestial sense of our Word is the Word in the heavens which constitute the Lord's celestial kingdom. (DE VERBO, XIV, 7.)

     "And, therefore, in our natural Word there are contained both the spiritual Word and the celestial Word." (Ibid.)

     It is further evident that without the Word of the Lord in both its interior and exterior senses, man can know but little if anything about the Lord, about heaven; nor yet anything about all the rest of the arcana of heavenly wisdom.

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     On the other hand, the spiritual Word apart from the natural Word has no power or authority, and does not communicate with heaven--nor does it conjoin with the Lord. But together, they both communicate and conjoin. This is why the Lord is called the First and the Last.

     Such is the spiritual or "Interior Word" in respect to the Natural Word, that the latter is the ultimate form of the former, as truth is the form of good. To use Swedenborg's illustration: If you remove good from truth, it would be as if you took the kernel from an almond, or the flesh from a fruit. Truth without good is something fantastic, which outwardly appears like the real thing, but inwardly is empty.

     If the sense of the letter were alone, it would be like a tree without sap, or like its bark without wood. On the other hand, strip the tree of its bark, it will quickly wither and die.

     There is unity in Divine Revelation in its forms and substance and the Newchurchman, at least, is not to think of these, as apart,--as some think of three Gods. We do not, and cannot think of a house without a foundation. Who thinks of contents-water, for example--apart from the thing that contains?

     A Word, or Doctrine, not supported, not confirmed--by the letter of the Holy Scripture has no power, and no authority. A heaven of angels apart from the human race is impossible.

     Concerning the Word of the Lord, in heaven, this is written, in the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 241:

     "A copy of the word, written by angels under the Lord's inspiration, is kept by every considerable society in a sacred repository appointed for that purpose, lest it should suffer alternation in any of its points and marks."

     The style, of the written Word in heaven, is here minutely described, and the wonderful circumstance is treated of, that the Word in heaven is so written that the simple understand it in simplicity, and the wise in wisdom. And you will find there is clear teaching:

     "It is hence plain to see that the Word in heaven, as to the literal sense, is similar to, and at the same time corresponds with our Word, and that, consequently, they ore a one."

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EARLY HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH IN SWEDEN 1911

EARLY HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH IN SWEDEN       C. TH. ODHNER       1911

     THE STATE AT THE TIME OF SWEDENBORG'S DEATH.

     In a series of articles, published in NEW CHURCH LIFE for 1910, we presented a sketch of the beginning of the New Church in Sweden during the last years of Swedenborg's life in this world, giving an account of the great religious trial against the first two champions of the Church, Dr. Beyer and Dr. Rosen.

     At the time of Swedenborg's death, in 1772, the Gothenburg controversy had virtually been settled. The New Church doctors, though persecuted by Church and Government alike, had nevertheless won an actual victory by their intrepid refusal to recant their faith in the new revelation. The Government had requested the theological faculty of Upsala University to give an ex cathedra judgment upon the orthodoxy or heterodoxy of Swedenborg's writings, but the faculty persistently refused to commit itself. The enemies at Gothenburg still pressing the case, and clamoring for the summary punishment of the two doctors--while these were yet uncondemned by any proper tribunal,--the Government, in great perplexity, had referred the case to a civil court, which, after ten years of fruitless efforts to settle the question, recommended that the case be allowed to lapse. In the meantime, the Writings of Swedenborg had been condemned by the Diet, a body utterly incompetent to deal with theological matters, and had been forbidden throughout the kingdom. The aged Swedenborg, protected from personal injury by the favor he enjoyed at the court, had left his country in order to publish abroad the last great work of the Revelation given to him.

     The disciples of the Lord in His second advent were at this time few in the country of Swedenborg's birth. It will be useful, at the present point of our narrative, to give some account of the first receivers of the Church in Sweden, as these form the links which connect the life and work of Swedenborg himself with the subsequent history of the Church.

     The city of Gothenburg, which had been the scene of the first persecution against the New Jerusalem, was at this period the center of the New Church in Sweden.

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Beside Dr. Gabriel A. Beyer, and Dr. Johan Rosen, who have been described before, the following were the most noteworthy of the receivers in Gothenburg:

     The COUNCILOR WENNGREN, a wealthy and respected merchant of Gothenburg, at whose house Swedenborg first met Dr. Beyer and Dr. Rosen, was an intimate friend of Swedenborg, and an ardent receiver of the Doctrines. It seems that the expense of publishing Dr. Beyer's great "Index Initialis" were defrayed by his munificence. He subsequently became a member of the "Exegetic-Philanthropic Society," of which body more will be said in what follows. He also corresponded with the Rev. John Clowes, and other early receivers in England. The year of his death is unknown.

     PETER HAMMARBERG, a prominent banker in Gothenburg, was the brother-in-law of Dr. Beyer, and an intimate friend and correspondent of Emanuel Swedenborg. He also was a zealous receiver of the Doctrines, and became a member of the "Exegetic-Philanthropic Society."

     AUGUSTUS ALSTROMER, another Gothenburg merchant, was also honored by Swedenborg's personal friendship, and believed in the divine mission of the latter, as may appear from a letter which Swedenborg addressed to him during the trial against Dr. Beyer. He was the son of Jonas Alstromer, one of the greatest patriots and philanthropists of Sweden. He died in the year 1773.

     Outside of Gothenburg the friends of Swedenborg, and of the Doctrines, were few and scattered, but of high degree in the Church and State. Among these we may notice, especially,

     ARCHBISHOP MENNANDER, of Upsala, who for many years, while yet Bishop of Abo, had been a reader of the Writings, and afterwards became Swedenborg's most steadfast supporter during his troubles with the Consistory in Gothenburg, and with the Diet in Stockholm.

     BISHOP SERENIUS, Of Strengnas, was another influential friend of Swedenborg, and seems to have been favorably inclined towards the Doctrines of the New Church, as was also

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     BISHOP LARS BENZELSTJERNA, Of Westeras, Swedenborg's nephew and one of his principal heirs. Swedenborg writes of him: "He is a rational man, even in theology, and does not accept irrational doctrines in obedience to faith." (Doc. I., p. 612.)

     These ecclesiastical friends of Swedenborg were, however, silent believers, rather than active promoters of the cause of the New Church. A more active part was taken by

     COUNT ANDERS JOHAN VON HOPKEN,

a great scientist, writer and statesman, who was the prime-minister of Sweden during the troublesome period of 1752-1761. His pacific foreign policy was actively defended by Swedenborg at the Swedish Diet, and this political affinity soon ripened into a warm and steadfast friendship. Suffering from a rather skeptical turn of mind, Count von Hiipken at first regarded Swedenborg's theological writings as amiable vagaries, but a closer investigation taught him to value them as containing sound theology. The "Memorable Relations" were, for a long time, serious stumbling blocks to him, but Swedenborg assured him that "these relations had been published by the command of the Lord Himself." After Swedenborg's death, von Hopken maintained an extensive theological correspondence with General Tuxen, of Elsinoer, in Dentnark; his letters have been preserved and Drove conclusively that he, about the year 1780, had fully and unhesitatingly accepted the Revelation to the New Church as a whole. In his last letter to Tuxen he states that he had "sometimes told the king (Gustavus III.), that if ever a new colony was to be founded, no religion could be better, as the prevailing and established one than that developed by Swedenborg from the Sacred Scriptures, and this for the following two reasons: 1. This religion, in preference to, and in a higher degree than any other, must produce the most honest and industrious subjects, for this religion properly places the worship of God in uses; 2. It causes the least fear of death, as this religion regards death merely as a transition from one state to another, from a worse to a better situation; nay, upon his principles, I look upon death as being as of hardly any greater moment than drinking a glass of water." (Doc. II., p. 416.)

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     After the formation of the "Exegetic-Philanthropic Society," in the year 1787, Count von Hopken became its special patron, his prestige at the court, his high rank, and the universal esteem in which he was held, serving to influence a number of the highest aristocrats, nay, the king himself and his brother, the crown-prince, in favor of the new society. Von Hopken died in the year 1789. In his library was found a magnificently bound set of the Writings in the original Latin, presented to him by Swedenborg, now preserved in the Royal Library in Stockholm, and also a valuable portrait of Swedenborg, now in the national portrait gallery in the castle of Gripsholm.

     CARL ROBSAHM,

Treasurer of the National Rank in Stockholm, was probably more intimately acquainted with Swedenborg than any other person in that city. It seems that Robsahm, while yet a young man, had fully accepted the revelations given by Swedenborg, and this probably led to his close friendship with the aged revelator, of whom he states: "I had the advantage of being frequently at his house, in the character of a friend, and of meeting him in company at my own house, and at the houses of my relations." (Doc. I., 31.) To Robsahm the New Church is indebted for the invaluable "Memoirs" of his intercourse with Swedenborg, which he wrote down in the year 1782, before the lapse of time had veiled his recollections. From these "Memoirs" it is quite evident that the writer was an affectionate receiver of the Doctrines themselves. In the year 1787 he became a member of the "Exegetic-Philanthropic Society." We know nothing of his subsequent history.

     CHRISTIAN JOHANSEN

is the name of another early receiver, who played an important role in the history of the Church in Sweden during the last century. He was by profession a steel-manufacturer in the city of Eskilstuna, which has been called "The Swedish Sheffield," on account of the fine steel and cutlery there produced. Christian Johansen was a man of unusual talents. According to Dr. A. Kahl, he was "deeply versed in theology and philosophy, and by nature endowed with rare profundity of thought and a fine moral and religious perception.

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According to the unanimous testimony of all who knew him, there was developed within him a character marked by Christian forbearance, piety and humility, such as was well-nigh angelic. He was, indeed, what might be called a spiritual genius. Besides this, he possessed learning in modern, classical and oriental languages, such as might well be compared with that of many a famous philologist." (Kahl, "Nya Kyrkan," Part 3, p. 112.)

     Johansen was one of the very earliest receivers of the Doctrines of the New Church in this world, and has described his reception of these as follows: "Fifteen years ago [in 1767] I first heard the new voice from on high, the message of the Lord of heaven. I accepted it at once with inexpressible joy; for I was prepared for it. At that time I felt as if I had been transported to heaven. Since then the Lord has been pleased to lead me through strange states of mind, through joy and affliction." (Doc. II.,124.)

     In the same year he took occasion to call upon Swedenborg himself, then at his home in Stockholm, and asked him, among other things, concerning the character of the work on THE WORSHIP AND THE LOVE OF GOD. Swedenborg is said to have stated in reply, that this work "was certainly founded on the truth, but that somewhat of himself had been introduced into it, as he had made a playful use in it of the Latin language, on account of his having been ridiculed for the simplicity of his Latin style in later years. For this reason he did not regard it as equal to his other works." (Doc. II., p. 710.)

     Johansen was regarded by the contemporary Newchurchmen in Sweden as the patriarch, the Nestor of the New Church in that country. He is said to have been most deeply versed in the Heavenly Doctrines, and continually received letters from all parts of the country with cluestions on difficult passages in the Writings, or on matters of life. His letters to men such as Tybeck, Wadstram, Chastanier, Knas, Nordenskjold, Sturtzenbecker, and others, were copied and circulated among all the friends of the New Church in Sweden, as matters of spiritual instruction. He was also in the habit of writing, in the most excellent Latin, expositions of the internal sense of the Word, which were highly valued.

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     Nevertheless, his mind was not free from theological errors, nor was his influence upon the New Church in Sweden always beneficial. When the magical practices of animal magnetism came in vogue among the members of the "Exegetic-Philanthropic Society," Johansen is described as having been "one of the most daring of the magnetizers." This form of necromancy and spiritualism, as will be seen, ultimately destroyed the first society of the New Church in Sweden. When, some years later, the shattered forces of the New Church again began to collect themselves for renewed activities, it was the influence of Johansen that led these to assume the form of a secret organization, working in apparent harmony with the Established Church. To him the old Church was "as a womb in which the New Church was to be born." In his only printed production, entitled "Concerning the Spiritual in the World," (Copenhagen, 1793), he gives utterance to sentiments such as these: "The gratitude, which we can and ought to show to the old Church, is that we regard its institutions with veneration, and strive to preserve them. When we regard them from love of the Lord, and when illumined by the light of heaven, we see them enlightened and ennobled. Yes, the old doctrine itself, opposed to the new as it is in the letter, can nevertheless be seen as harmonizing with it, when regarded from a higher understanding. And when it is thus presented, all combat ceases at once, and the old doctrine will the gradually and insensibly prepare a multitude to receive the new doctrine."

     We have quoted this, as of importance in understanding the decay which subsequently set in upon the New Church in Sweden. Such cries of "peace, peace," where there could be no peace, were gladly hearkened to by the numerous Lutheran clergymen, who at that time had intellectually received the heavenly doctrines. The consequence was that they continued to hide the light under a bushel, leaving the people in utter darkness.

     Christian Johansen, after the dissolution of the "Exegetic-Philanthropic Society," became a leading member of the new, secret society, called "Pro Fide et Charitate," and continued as such until his death, which occurred in 1813.

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His extensive library became the property of the society, but was subsequently destroyed by fire. A great part of his correspondence, however, was preserved.

     These men, Beyer, Rosen, Wenngren, Hammarberg, Alstromer, Von Hopken, Robsahm, and Johansen, were, at the time of Swedenborg's death, the only known receivers or favorers of the Heavenly Doctrines in Sweden. There were, no doubt, others of whom history has made no record, for the subject of Swedenborg and his doctrines was at this period much discussed in Sweden, in consequence of the excitement caused by the trial of the so-called "Swedenborgians" in Gothenburg. Sweden, as well as Denmark, Holland and Germany were full of rumors of miracles performed by the seer, as may be evident from a number of little pamphlets, published at that time, in various places in these countries containing arguments pro and con his seership.

     The news of his departure from this world, on March 29, 1772, was, therefore, received with much interest in Sweden. The event was commemorated especially by a great meeting, held on October 7th, 1772, in the great hall of the House of Nobles in Stockholm, when Sir Samuel Sandels, in the name of the Royal Academy of Sciences, pronounced his famous "eulogium" or oration in memory of Emanuel Swedenborg.

     Samuel Sandels was a man of great reputation in his own country. Born in 1724, in the Swedish colony in Pennsylvania, where his father was a clergyman, he became subsequently, on his return to Sweden, a chemist and mineralogist, and had, in his youth, the opportunity of personal intercourse with Emanuel Swedenborg, as he lived in the House of Lars Benzelstjerna, Swedenborg's brother-in-law and colleague in the College of Mines. In the year 1759, Sandel became an Assessor in the College of Mines, and in 1762, was elevated to the rank of Councillor of Mines. In 1772 he was ennobled, when he changed his name from Sandel to Sandels. His son, the Baron, and finally, the Count Sandels, became Field Marshal of Sweden, and distinguished himself greatly in the war against Russia in 1808, and against Napoleon in 1814.

     Sir Sandels, in his oration, presented the first extended biography of Swedenborg, and dwelt upon his character, life and work in terms of the highest praise.

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His theological teachings, then so much in dispute, were treated in a very guarded manner, but without any words of condemnation. There is no doubt that this EULOGY, which was published at Stockholm in the same year, and which has been translated into the French, German and English tongues, contributed in a great measure to make the name of Swedenborg known and respected in Sweden as well as abroad.

     THE NORDENSKJOLD BROTHERS.

     Among the early promoters of the New Church in Sweden, none have taken more active and prominent part than the two brothers, Augustus and Carl Frederick Nordenskjold.

     They were members of an illustrious family of Sweden, a race of heroes and geniuses, whose deeds and talents have for two centuries shed glory upon their native land. "Shield of the North" is the meaning of their name, and well have they realized this signification. Among the most distinguished scions of this house we may mention Anders Johan Nordenskjold, military engineer, general and governor of Finland (1763) I Carl Frederick--the father of the subjects of our sketch--military engineer, colonel, scientist, patriot, and philanthropist (1779); Otto Henrik, admiral and famous naval hero (1832); Otto Gustaf, another distinguished admiral; and--most famous of all the Nordenskjolds--the professor and Arctic explorer, Baron Adolph Eric, who, in the year 1881, accomplished the Northeast passage and circumnavigated Europe and Asia. Many members of this family, in its various branches, have been identified with the New Church, and some are still connected with the Church.

     Of this noble and highly gifted race came the two brothers, who were destined to take so prominent a part in the early history of the Lord's New Church. The lives of the two brothers were closely interwoven, but the abundance of our material, and the interesting character of each, make it necessary to describe them separately.

     AUGUSTUS NORDENSKJOLD

forms one of the most interesting and complex characters in the history of our Church. Gifted by nature with unusual talents, and possessing a quick perception and an ardent love of truth, the suffered at the same time from an unstable temperament, a restless spirit, an ill-balanced judgment and an unbridled imagination.

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In him lights and shades were so closely and strangely contrasted that it becomes exceedingly difficult to form a just estimate of his character as a whole. Still, in spite of all his faults, it is evident that, above all things, "he loved our nation," the Church of the New Jerusalem.

     Augustus Nordenskjold, the eldest son of Carl Frederick Nordenskjold, Sr., was born at the ancestral seat, Frugard, in Finland, in the year 1754. He received a thorough education at the University of Abo, and continued his studies in Stockholm, where he became an "auscultant," or assistant assessor in the College of Mines. Shortly afterwards he was made superintendent over a mining district in Finland, and was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences of Sweden.

     While in Stockholm, when only a youth of nineteen years, he became acquainted with the doctrines of the New Church, and received them with the utmost enthusiasm. He soon communicated his new-found treasure to his father and younger brother, both of whom quickly accepted it, and he studied the Writings with such persistence and intelligence that within a short time became to be regarded by the friends of the New Church in Sweden as the most profound and ardent receiver of the Heavenly Doctrines in that age, and the chief active leader of the New Church in the countries of the North.

     His deep learning in chemistry soon made him prominent in scientific circles, and this, as well as his pronounced "Swedenborgianism," attracted the attention of the King of Sweden, Gustavus III., who at that period (about 1779), was surrounded by favored courtiers such as Count von Hopken, the poet Halldin, and others, who were well-known as "Swedenborgians."

     There is no reason, whatever, to suppose that this king was internally impressed with the rational truths of the Heavenly Doctrines. His talents were many and brilliant, but at the same time shallow, and his character was unstable, imaginative and highly impressionable. The age in which he lived was the production of the all-ruling court of France. It was an age of intellectual superficialism, and gilded moral corruption, carried to the extreme of satiety.

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The storm-cloud of atheism and social revolution which hovered over the world had not yet broken out, but was quietly gathering its electric forces in the oppressive atmosphere. Religion, as represented by the Catholic and Protestant Churches, had become utterly effete and uninteresting to the fashionable world, which had turned blast and now war desperately searching for some new intellectual diversion. This was opportunely found in the various forms of mysticism, which had lately been hatched by Law and Hutchinson in England, by Jacob Boehme, Paracelsus and Dr. Mesmer in Germany, and by Nostradamus, Cagliostro and the Marquis de Puisegur (the discoverer of "Animal Magnetism"), in France. The theories and practices of these modern magicians had been seized upon especially by the various secret orders of Free Masons, Rosecrucians and Illuminati, which at this time filled the civilized world with tales of wonders. With these puerile but abominable forms of magic, many confounded the pure truths of the New Church, and, we are grieved to state, some of the receivers of these truths were not sufficiently distinct or honest in explaining this mistake before the powers of the world.

     Gustavus III. was a typical child of his age. In mysticism he hoped, at this period, to find an easy atonement for his irreligious, frivolous and adulterous life, and also, it seems, a royal road to unlimited wealth and power. By entering various mystical fraternities he, as their royal chief, dreamed Of obtaining a secret, international influence over Europe, and by the chimera of alchemy, which was a chief article of faith among these mystics, he hoped to gain the "elixir of life" and "the stone of the wise, through which he would be able not only to prolong this earthly existence, but also to manufacture gold ad libitum.

     Such, then, were the character and aspirations of the only earthly monarch, who in any measure has favored the New Church. Totally misunderstanding the true nature of the revelation given through Swedenborg, he imagined it to be a most profound, esoteric, and at the same time respectable form of the fashionable mysticism. More than this, he thought that he would discover the secret art of gold-making through the teachings of the great mineralogist and "mystic," Swedenborg.

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In this delusion he was confirmed by Augustus Nordenskjold, who, honestly, we have no doubt, believed that he, by purely scientific and legitimate methods, was on the road to the discovery of the "mysterium magnum," which had been sought in vain by the alchemists of all ages. Nordenskjold knew that Swedenborg had written a treatise on the method of discovering gold mines (a purely scientific work), and he had heard a rumor that Swedenborg had declared the Hermetic Philosophy to be one of the greatest wonders of God--a report resting on the most doubtful of authorities, the Abbe Pernety. Nordenskjold's professed motives and theory in dabbling with alchemy are truly remarkable. By making gold and silver common, he intended to revolutionize and regenerate society. For as the spiritual man is regenerated by the abundance of good and truth given to the New Church, so, he argued, would society be made new, and class distinctions broken down, by a new and abundant influx of silver and gold. The reasoning will not be unfamiliar to modern readers!

     To return to our narrative. In the year 1779, Augustus Nordenskjold, by command of the king, and with his financial support, undertook a journey to London, in order to prosecute there more advanced studies in the arcana of alchemy. While in England he became acquainted with Dr. Messiter, Swedenborg's friend and physician, and found in his house the manuscript of the CORONIS, which Messiter had taken from the table in Swedenborg's lodging-house. The doctor, thought he, had lost the last sheets of this precious manuscript, but such as it was it was delivered to Nordenskjold, who immediately had it published, at his own expense. For this service the New Church owes him unending gratitude.

     Returning to Stockholm in 1780, Nordenskjold, "at the expressed command of the king" established a "gold-making laboratory" at Drottningholm, near Stockholm. The institution was to be kept strictly secret, for fear of public ridicule, and here Nordenskjold continued his experiments in the "noble art" for a number of years, with a success which by no means corresponded to his own or his royal protector's confident expectations.

     While thus engaged he did not neglect his interest in the promulgation of the doctrines of the New Church.

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In the year 1781 he asked permission to publish a work which he had composed on "Emanuel Swedenborg and all his Theological and Philosophical Writings, together with the opinions of learned men about his doctrinal system." It is much to be regretted that permission was refused by the "censor librorum," for the work must have been of great intrinsic and historical value. The same fate was meted out to another work, in which Nordenskjold proved "from Formula Concordice and the sacred Scriptures, that the human of Jesus Christ is divine, and that He is God Alone." To understand the refusal of the Government, it must be remembered that the Writings of Swedenborg had been officially condemned and forbidden in the kingdom in the year 1771, and that the ecclesiastical supremacy of the king was mostly nominal. As an evidence of this it is related that when the king, in 1782, desired to purchase some copies of the French translation of HEAVEN AND HELL, which had been published at Berlin by Abbe Pernety, the bookseller in Stockholm did not dare to import the work without the permission of the ecclesiastical consistory.

     As a member of the Academy of Sciences, Nordenskjold had free access to the manuscripts of Swedenborg, which had been deposited there in the year 1772; he made a careful examination of these documents and rendered valuable services to the New Church by arranging and having them substantially bound. Some important works, which had not been published by Swedenborg himself, such as the SUMMARIES OF THE INTERNAL SENSE, the INDEX TO THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED, and to the ARCANA COELESTIA, the DOCTRINE OF CHARITY, the CANONS, and others, were copied from the original manuscripts under Nordenskjold's supervision and at his own expense, and these copies, together with some of the original manuscripts themselves, were given to his brother, Charles Frederick, to be carried to England for publication.

     In the year 1784, while still engaged as the king's "gold-maker," Augustus Nordenskjold, in conjunction with the poet Halldin, received Governmental permission to publish a weekly journal, entitled AFTONBLADET (The Evening News). While this publication was supposed to be only an ordinary newspaper, it was the intention of the editors to use it as a means of promulgating the doctrines of the New Church, and as such it may be termed the very first New Church periodical ever published.

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     In a letter of 1784 Augustus Nordenskjold supplies the following private information:

     In AFTONBLADET you will see much that is Swedenborgian, and we intend to go on as far as we possibly can. The government--that is Count Creutz, Baron Axelson, and others--favor this paper quite strongly (though this must be kept secret), and they have even persuaded the Archbishop, Taube, to recommend it to all the ecclesiastical consistories in the kingdom; but now the ministers are beginning to realize the mistake, and are furious.

     When the editors finally began to publish Swedenborg's DOCTRINE OF CHARITY in the columns of their journal, the consistories of the Lutheran Church hastened to retract their previous recommendations by the declaration that "AFTONBLADET had not altogether fulfilled their expectations." Owing to this general opposition, the publication of the paper ceased in the eighth month of its existence.

     In the year 1785 the king's gold factory was removed from Stockholm to Nystad, in Finland, Nordenskjold still continuing as the superintendent. He now received as his assistant, Mr. Charles F. Bergklint, a talented chemist and zealous Newchurchman, who nevertheless shared in the incredible infatuation for alchemy. Two years later it seems that the king began to tire of the venture which had swallowed up a great deal of money, but had produced nothing. A new laboratory was then established near Stockholm, but Nordenskjold was now supplanted as superintendent by Count Munck, an unworthy favorite of the king.

     The gold factory now began to assume a criminal character. On command of the king great quantities of counterfeit Russian money were manufactured at the laboratory, in order to hurt the finances of Russia with which nation Sweden was then at war. This was scandalous enough, but worse followed, when Count Munck gave orders to manufacture spurious Swedish money, as he pretended for the use of the king, but really for his own purpose, and without the knowledge of Gustavus.

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The attempted fraud was reported to the king by Bergklint, and the whole affair became known to the public, with the result that Munck was deprived of all his dignities and possessions, and sent into permanent exile. This Count Munck is commonly reported as the real father of Gustavus III.'s heir and unfortunate successor, Gustavus IV. who was deposed in 1809, and sent into exile. Father and son, if such they were, are said to have met, subsequently, abroad, both in reduced circumstances. Thus much for the "chronique scamdaleuse" of the corrupt court of Gustavus III.

     The scandal caused by these alchemical and counterfeiting undertakings, aroused great indignation throughout Sweden and Europe undermined the popularity of the king, and cast suspicion and increased contempt upon the members of the New Church. Augustus Nordenskjold, it is true, had nothing to do with the work of counterfeiting, and Bergklint was publicly exonerated from participation in the fraud, but both soon found it conducive to their interests to leave Sweden temporarily. Bergklint returned to Finland, and Nordenskjold, in the year 1759, received royal permission and aid for a second journey to England.

     His restless and adventurous spirit was now busy with another great enterprise: the establishment of a free colony and community in Sierra Leone, on the western coast of Africa, which was to be ordered and governed according to the principles of the New Church. This community was intended by Nordenskjold to serve as a connecting and communicating medium between the New Church in Christendom and that celestial establishment of the New Jerusalem which he knew, from the Writings, to exist in the interior of Africa. Other prominent Newchurchmen in Sweden and England being also engaged in this undertaking, which took the form of a movement for the abolition of the slave trade, we shall describe it more particularly in a future article.

     The condition of the New Church in England had greatly changed since Nordenskjold's first visit there in 1780. A publishing society had been instituted in 1783, and separate public worship had been begun in London in January, 1788. Nordenskjold, while preparing for the proposed African expedition, now associated himself with the active young society in Great Eastcheap received the baptism of the New Church (the first Swede thus introduced into the Church), and took an active and prominent part in the First General Conference of the New Church in Great Britain, which was held in London in April, 1789.

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     In November of the same year, we find Augustus Nordenskjold in Elsinoer, Denmark, where he took occasion to visit Swedenborg's aged friend, General Tuxen, from whom he obtained an interesting and valuable account of Swedenborg's visit to Elsinoer in 1771. This account was forwarded to London, and published in the NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE in 1790, of which journal C. B. Wadstrom and Henry Servante were the founders and editors.

     While in Denmark, Nordenskjold published a very curious work, entitled "(FORSFORSAMLINGSFORMEN UTI DET NYA JERUSALEM." (Form of Church organization in the New Jerusalem.) A more remarkable mixture of interior perceptions of truth with absurd notions of self-intelligence has never been produced in the New Church. Thebookhas been reviewed in NEW CHURCH LIFE for 1884 (page 181), and was partly published in the NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE for 1790, but it has never been, and never could be, adopted or practiced by any society of the New Church.

     The Rev. John Clowes, in a letter dated September 11th, 1820, supplies the following information respecting the above mentioned plan of Church organizations:

     On an occasion, when the members of the New Church in London were employed in discussing the externals of worship, proper to be observed at their public and sacred assemblies, two Swedish gentlemen were present [Augustus Nordenskjold and Charles B. Wadstrom], one of whom produced a plan, which he declared solemnly had been revealed to him immediately from heaven, together with a peremptory command to publish it. But guess my astonishment when I read in the plan the following injunction, that the washing of the feet was sacramental, and binding as such on all ministers, who were accordingly obliged at stated times to wash the feet of every individual in the congregation. It was further insisted on in this plan, that no married woman should receive instruction in the truth from any other person that her own husband, and if this law was not strictly observed, spiritual adultery must of necessity ensue. Several other points, equally strange, and opposed to every sentiment of propriety, decorum and common sense of mankind, were pressed on the members of the Church in this extraordinary plan, as of divine authority. . . .

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You will, perhaps, better conceive than I can express, the manner in which I was affected with this plan. Suffice it to say, that I felt myself constrained to remonstrate warmly against it; and that, being supported by several members present, we succeeded so far that the plan was abandoned for the time, and we heard no more of it. (THE MEDIUM, Detroit, 1851, p. 309.)

     The good common sense of the New Church in England was not shared by the members of the "Exegetic-Philanthropic Society" in Stockholm, which, on February 20th, 1790, presented a copy of this work to the king of Sweden, with a petition for full religious freedom for the Church of the New Jerusalem, as organized according to Nordenskjold's plan.

     The petition was received with great displeasure by the king, who at once forbade its circulation in Sweden. The New Church was no longer in favor at the court. The bad results of the alchemistic experiments, and the malicious attacks of certain poets of the Voltaire school of philosophy, had heaped ridicule and unpopularity upon Swedenborgianism, and the political suspicions of the king had been excited by the prominent part taken in the affairs of the Swedenborgian society by his brother, the Duke of Sodermanland (afterwards King Charles XIII.), whom he cordially hated.

     Augustus Nordenskjold, frustrated in his hopes for the speedy establishment of the New Church in Sweden according to his own pet notions, in the summer of 1790 left Copenhagen for Paris, where, fevered with the contagion of "liberte, egalite, fraternite," he is said to have taken an active part in the earlier movements of the great French Revolution, and to have joined in the wild triumphant dance of the revolutionists upon the ruins of the Bastile. Gustavus III., on hearing of this, at once commanded Nordenskjold to return to Sweden, where, it seems, he soon regained the favor of the vacillating monarch, and in the year 1791 was commanded to proceed again to England, to put himself at the head of the African colonizing expedition.

     Undeterred by the remonstrances of his friends and family, by his own weak state of health, or by insufficient financial resources, he set out upon his dangerous and ill-fated expedition, and after many mishaps and discouragements, finally reached the coast of Africa. Here nothing could dissuade him from pushing on into the interior.

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     He set out with a caravan of merchandise, belonging to himself, and an escort of thirty persons, whom he considered trustworthy. He had no suspicion that his traveling companions were robbers; but while on his journey, he was stripped of everything; and all his great projects of making discoveries in Natural History and in Chemistry, and of finding gold-mines, were forever dissipated. Abandoned by his escort, he was left alone, and died either from fright, or from fatigue. (Doc. I., p. 648.)

     Such was the sad ending of this early and prominent pioneer of the New Church. A strange man, and a strange life, truly.

     (To be continued.)

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Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     It is reported that the widow of the late Rev. L. H. Tafel has for sale a stock of the Tafel Interlinear translation of the Word.



     "The donation of the de lure edition of the Writings of Swedenborg to the crowned heads of Europe and America, authorized conditionally by Convention, has not been made because the means were not available." The authorization referred to was given at the meeting of the Convention in 1908.



     THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE of January 26th publishes the "Statistics of the Churches of the United States," compiled by the Rev. H. K. Carroll, who for many years has had charge of the annual Religious Census taken by this journal. This year we are informed that the General Convention of the New Jerusalem counts 8,500 communicants, showing a net gain of 2,000 members. These figures, of course, are based on a printer's errors; the Convention itself, in its journal for 1910, reports a membership of 6,425, a net gain of five members during the year.



     Writing in reference to the article in the January LIFE on "Suckling in the Womb," our esteemed correspondent, Mr. Gerrit Barger, of The Hague, relates a conversation with an accoucheur of his acquaintance, to the effect that when, in the course of childbirth, the accoucheur found it necessary to feel the position of the babe in utero, whenever his fingers approached the infant's lips, the babe "instantly began to suck the doctor's fingers." The sucking here referred to may, of course, have been caused by the entrance of air, but, in any case, it confirms the truth of the statement in the Writings which was the subject of the article in question.

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     From the NEW CHURCH MESSENGER of February 1, we learn that the only available literature of the New Church in the Spanish language, excepting, of course, Dr Calleja's--periodical, LA NUEVA JERUSALEM, with its serial translation of the New JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE, is comprised in the following list: Credo de la Nueva Iglesia (Philadelphia Tract Society) ; Una Grant Necesidad y Una Goran Invitacion, 10 pp.; La Roca y las Llaves del Cristianisimo, 25 pp.; La Nueva Iglesia significada por la Nueva Jerusalem, donde esta y que est? (Nunc Licet Press); De la Penitencia (A. S. P. & P.); La
Nueva Jerusalem, by Mr. Anderson, a New Churchman resident in Valencia, Spain.



     Mr. Abiko, the publisher of the Japanese translation of HEAVEN AND HELL, and Mr. Suzuki, the translator, both come in for a large share of attention in the pages of our youthful contemporary, the NEW CHURCH LEAGUE JOURNAL. Mr. Abiko, it may be remarked, is a member of the Japanese branch of the German Reformed Church, for a congregation of which, in the absence of the pastor, he occasionally preaches. As our readers have already been informed, he has been on an extensive tour in the United States, where he visited and addressed a number of New Church audiences. He has also met, at the home of Mr. David Wynter, several of the London New Church people.



     Mr. George W. Worchester's paper on "The Correlation of Swedenborg's Cosmology and Theology, and the Place of the Principia in His Writings," which was read before the Swedenborg Scientific Association at its last annual meeting, is now printed in the NEW CHURCH REVIEW for January. The paper is a remarkable one in many respects as an intelligent endeavor to show the intrinsic harmony between the Scientific Works and the Writings, especially in regard to the doctrine of the Lord; and it will well repay the careful perusal of the student, who, to derive benefit from it and stimulus of thought, need not necessarily agree with all its conclusions.

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     In its issue of January 25, the NEW CHURCH MESSENGER takes the unusual step of permitting its readers to learn of the existence of a journal known as NEW CHURCH LIFE. The notice is contained in a review of Mr. Buss' review of the LIFE in the NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY for January. Our contemporary may be congratulated on this single departure from the past ostrich-like policy of burying its head in the sand of silence to avoid seeing what it will not meet; but it is a pity that the change of policy--if such, indeed, it be--is signalized by an unworthy lack of ingenuousness. The MESSENGER does indeed quote from the LIFE that the translation of the Library edition of CONJUGIAL LOVE is the "best of all that have ever been made;" but, unlike the QUARTERLY, it takes no note of the LIFE'S further statement that, "owing to the vicious note included in the translation, we must needs refuse to recommend the volume to our readers."



     The article, "Comparison of the Printed Latin Text of the 'Arcana Coelestia' with Swedenborg's Manuscript Draft," contributed to the NEW CHURCH REVIEW by the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, is of both interest and value, as stimulating the desire for the accomplishment of the work, planned in London last July, of phototyping Swedenborg's original draft of the ARCANA COELESTIA. Mr. Schreck's article must make it clear, even to the not over-learned reader, that there is great need of the revision of the printed Latin text. For even with the cursory examination with which, perforce, he had to be content, he is yet able to show errors of no mean importance, as for instance in n. 2832, I. 6 infra, where tum should be non.

     Mr. Schreck sums up his own conclusions as being that "while there are a number of inaccuracies and changes, there is not one which affects the truth or correctness of any doctrine revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg. On the other hand, comparison with the original draft throws much new light on many particular explanations and greatly helps us to a flawless text."



     Col. Rudolph Williams, the "relentless" leader of the campaign for purity in the Convention, has followed up his La Porte exploits by carrying his case to the General Council of the General Convention.

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At the last meeting of that body, held in New York on January 17, a communication was received from Mr. Williams "protesting against the retention of the name of the Rev. E. J. E Schreck on the list of Ministers of the General Convention, charging that Mr. Schreck is now a priest of the Academy and should not be in the Convention. The communication made no new charges against Mr. Schreck, but referred to several pamphlets that Col. Williams had circulated among the people of the Church and to other pamphlets and circulars that have been printed on the subject. The communication closed by demanding that Mr. Schreck 'be brought into comprehensive trial on the facts supplied as above, together with many facts and the general condition, already well known to members of the General Council, and other facts obtainable by the General Council.'

     "The matter was discussed at some length, after which the following resolution, offered by Mr. McGeorge, was adopted unanimously:

     "Resolved, That the Chairman of this Council be and he is hereby authorized to respond to the letter addressed to him by Col. Rudolph Williams in reference to the matter of the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, that the Council is unanimously of the opinion that the case has been definitely settled by the action of the General Convention, in which action Col. Williams then definitely concurred and with which he expressed himself as being satisfied; that entirely aside from this, other considerations and statements since and quite recently made by Mr. Schreck confirm this Council that Mr. Schreck is in entire accord with the position taken by the Convention in the Brockton Declaration and that we take this occasion to counsel earnestly that Col. Williams drop all further agitation of this matter, in furtherance of the peace and welfare of the Lord's Church."



     We have received from Mr. William Harbutt, of Bath, England, two pamphlets printed by Mr. Harbutt for private circulation, both of which are of considerable interest.

177


The first is a description, accompanied with a handsome illustration in colors, of the "Isaac Pitman memorial window" recently erected in the church building of the Bath Society. As the writer of the description (the Rev. H. Gordon Drummond) points out, this window is "a unique example of a work of art directly inspired by the writings of the Seer. We see in it an attempt to depict one of the remarkable scenes in the Spiritual World described in the Memorable Relations." "The attempt (continues Mr. Drummend, and we most heartily agree with him) is more than justified in the result. It points us to what is practically a virgin field for the energies of artists in symbolism."

     The subject selected is the temple seen by Swedenborg in the Spiritual World, on the portal of which were the words Nunc licet intrare intellectualiter in mysteria fidei (Now it is allowed to enter intellectually into the mysteries of faith). This temple, which represents the New Church, is certainly a most appropriate subject for artistic representation in a place of worship of that Church, and the artist, Mr. J. W. Brown of London, has performed his task in an admirable manner.



     The second of Mr. Harbutt's pamphlets is of very great importance to the Church. It is a photolithograph of a page from the missing volume of Swedenborg's manuscripts which contains SPIRITUAL DIARY, 1-148. The Latin text of this fragment was first printed by the Rev. James Hyde in the NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE for July, 1907, from which it was reprinted in the LIFE for August, 1907. To what was said in the LIFE at that time, we are now able, from the text of the pamphlet now before us, to add the following new particulars:

     The manuscript itself was found pasted on the back of a frontispiece portrait of Swedenborg contained in an English translation of HEAVEN AND HELL (1778), preserved in the library of the Bath Society. On the inside front cover of the same book is pasted a paper on which is written, "To the Reverend John Wickham Barnes from J. N. Cossham, Bristol, 5th January, 1846."

     The writer further relates that the book "appears to have originally belonged to Rev. S. Dean, and, subsequently, it came into the possession of Mr. J. N. Cossham."

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Beyond this, however, no hint is given as to the early owner of the book, nor as to the fragment of manuscript which has been preserved in its pages. In addition to this manuscript, the book also contains a Latin transcription and an English translation. The former is, unfortunately, not included in Mr. Harbutt's publication, which, however, presents the English translation, presumably the one found in the book. In this translation there are some omissions, besides a number of serious inaccuracies.

     But this defect is of comparatively minor importance when compared with the valuable treasure that Mr. Harbutt has given to the Church in his photolithograph of the manuscript fragment itself. His publication is a fitting sequel to the meeting of publishers held in London last July, and an important, though small, contribution to the extensive work of phototyping then decided upon.
IS THERE BAPTISM IN HEAVEN? 1911

IS THERE BAPTISM IN HEAVEN?              1911

     A correspondent asks. "Do children who go into the World of Spirits unbaptized receive the rite of Baptism there as administered in the natural world?"

     The only teachings in the Writings which would seem to bear directly upon this question are, as far as we are aware, the following in the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION:

     "Not only infants are baptized, but also all foreign-born proselytes who are converted to the Christian religion, both the young and the old,--and this before they have been instructed merely on their expressed desire to embrace Christianity, into which they are inaugurated by Baptism. . . . But this takes place on earth. In the heavens, however, infants are by Baptism introduced into the Christian heaven, and angels there are assigned them by the Lord, to take care of them. Therefore, as soon as infants are baptized, angels are appointed over them, by whom they are kept in a state to receive faith in the Lord; but as they grow up, and come into their own right and reason, these angel guardians leave them, and they adjoin to themselves such spirits as make one with their own life and faith.

179


From these things it is manifest that Baptism is an insertion among Christians in the spiritual world also. (T. C. R., 677)

     "But those who die in infancy or childhood, and thus do not reach the age when they may worthily approach the Holy Supper, are introduced by the Lord through Baptism; for, was shown in the Chapter on Baptism, Baptism is introduction into the Christian Church, and at the same time an insertion among Christians in the spiritual world; and the Church and Heaven are there one. Wherefore, for those who are there, the introduction into the Church is also the introduction into Heaven. And these, because they are educated under the auspices of the Lord are more and more regenerated and become His children; for they know no other Father. But infants and children born outside the Christian Church are introduced by another means than Baptism into the heaven assigned to their religion, after they have received faith in the Lord, but they are not mingled with those who are in the Christian heaven." (T. C. R., 729.)

     At first reading of these passages there is an appearance that Christian infants are baptized in Heaven, and many have so understood it. But a closer reading shows that T. C. R. 677 simply describes what takes place in Heaven when infants are baptized on the earth, while T. C. R. 729 describes the introduction into Heaven of such as die in infancy, by means of the Baptism which they had received on the earth. Nothing is said in either of the passages as to what becomes of such infants as die before they have been baptized, but we know that all those who die as infants are saved. Judging from general principles of Doctrine, we conclude that Baptism is an earthly ultimate for which there is no necessity in the other world, since infants who enter there come at once into the realization of those spiritual things which earthly Baptism represents.
PAUL AGAIN SANCTIFIED 1911

PAUL AGAIN SANCTIFIED              1911

     In the NEW CHURCH REVIEW for January appears a paper on "Swedenborg's Estimate of Paul," by the Rev. William F. Wunsch.

180


The writer's endeavor is to show "Paul's salvability," and the central point of his argument is that Swedenborg's "jottings" on Paul did not extend to the period of his 6nal lot. In the case of Luther, Melancthon and Calvin he gives their experiences through their vastation and their final redemption; "it may well be, therefore (says Mr. Wunsch), that because he could say nothing final as to Paul's destiny, the Seer did not revise and extend and publish his notes on Paul as he did those on the leaders of the Reformation." And on this slender thread, Mr. Wunsch proceeds to show the probability of Paul having been internally a good man.

     The key of the argument is contained in the word "jottings." For if the statements of the Revelator are merely the "jottings" of a man--even though the man be called a "Seer,"--then they are apt to be interpreted in any way to suit the taste of the interpreter. But, regarded as the words of Divine Revelation, the inevitable attitude of the reader is that, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, they mean exactly what they appear to say; and the corollary is at once suggested that the teaching in regard to Paul is given as an instance of the truth, now really seen for the first time since ancient days, that the external is no indication of the state of the internal.

     But Mr. Wunsch takes the statements of the DIARY merely as the "jottings" of the "Seer," and with this premise he is apparently blind to the patent fact that the "Seer's" statements with regard to Paul reveal a state of interior love of self by no means evidenced in the case of Luther and Melancthon. And so he proceeds to show that, after all, Paul may have been saved. On what basis of proof does this possibility rest? No New Churchman would claim any ability to read the internal character of men. Neither can it be justly claimed that Paul's writings afford any intrinsic evidence as to his character being that of a regenerating man; for those writings may be far more easily interpreted as the writings of one in the love of self. Why, then, should it be argued, and argued with affection, that Paul may have been interiorly good? The language of the Writings is unmistakable; external evidence supports it. Why should it be controverted?

181


The only reason that suggests itself is, because the thought of the Old Church, the thought of the Christian world, upholds Paul as a "Saint," the greatest exponent of Christian teaching. And yet, even in the world, there have not been wanting men who saw that the great weakness and falsity of the present day Church is that it is Pauline rather than Christian.

     We do not deprecate any attempt to show the true teaching of the statements made in the Heavenly Writings, even when that teaching may seem to be at variance with the words of the statement; but the discussion must be based on the Writings and on them alone. We have no light concerning spiritual things from any other course. Such discussion has, of late, been conspicuously absent in the case of Paul, and we can view the attempts that have been made to excuse Paul--and this in face of the plain statements of the Writings--in no other light than as making one with that general tendency in the Church to break down the distinction between the Old and the New, and to see, so far as is superficially possible, in the light of the Old. For it can hardly be questioned that the only doubt possible in the case of Paul arises from the estimation in which he is held by the vastate Church.
PROF. RAMSTROM'S TRIBUTE TO SWEDENBORG 1911

PROF. RAMSTROM'S TRIBUTE TO SWEDENBORG              1911

     EMANUEL SWEDENBORG'S INVESTIGATIONS IN NATURAL SCIENCE. . . . By Martin Ramstram. University of Upsala, 1910. pp-59

     In this work, which constitutes one of the festival publications in connection with the bi-centenary celebrations at Upsala last November, Professor Ramstrom has made a notable contribution to the better understanding of Swedenborg's investigations on the human brain.

     The learned professor, while noting with admiration the comprehensiveness of Swedenborg's studies and discoveries as embracing the field of mathematics, mechanics, chemistry, cosmogony, and anatomy, devotes the greatest part of his work to a discussion of the Swedish philosopher's discoveries in the field of cerebral philosophy; and more particularly to a consideration of his conclusions with respect to the cortical glands or gray nerve cells as the seat and center of the soul's activities; with respect to his doctrine of localization--that the highest region of the cerebral cortex corresponds to the lowest region of the body, the middle to the medial region, and the lowest to the highest--and finally with respect to his position as regards the modern doctrine of cell grouping.

182




     On the last named subject Professor Ramstrom justly points out that Swedenborg's conclusions are in agreement with the facts laid bare by modern experiments. Indeed the acknowledgment that certain groups of cells are connected with particular functions of the animal body, is necessarily and directly involved in the doctrine that every fibre is terminated in its own particular gland. Swedenborg's view is not affected, except to be confirmed, by modern discoveries in this field. After showing that each cortical nerve cell has its particular function in the body, he might well leave to future investigations the identification and localization of the different cell groups. Swedenborg himself was not so much concerned in examining the brain merely as a piece of mechanism, as he was in viewing it as a living machine, the seat and court of the activities of one living soul. He constantly regarded the brain, and hence its cortical glands, as a whole. It is the whole brain that sensates, even though the nerves of the particular sense organ are duly terminated in certain of the nerve cells. In the brain there is nothing discontinuous, but every fibre and gland is so connected with the whole that it cannot be affected in particular without the whole brain being affected in general. "Each nerve and each fibre when it is immersed in the medullary lake of the cerebrum, so merges itself with all the neighboring fibres, that all differences well-nigh disappear. For one fold is continually connected with another, a certain subtle membrane intervening between each fibre and vessel and the one next it, which joins and binds fibre to fibre and artery to artery. In the brain . . .there is nothing whatever that is discontinuous or disjoined, and the sensation is not able to pass solely upon a single fibre, or any particular [group of] fibers so far as to their origins, but is compelled also to pursue its journey through all that is continuous from the fiber. . . . The modifications begun in the last centres diffuse themselves about into the entire periphery. Hence it follows that there is no part of the cortex that does not become participant and conscious of the inflowing sensation." (RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, 18.)

183




     And as it is with sensation, so it must be with action; for the active force is from the soul acting upon the whole of the cortical cells, though the action is particularly determined to those which give origin to the fibres concerned.

     A particular and invaluable feature of Prof. Ramstrom's brochure is the attention that he had given to tracing the sources from which Swedenborg gleaned the suggestions that led him to his final conclusions. This is a field that has been little touched upon by students of Swedenborg; and yet it is one that must be thoroughly cultivated before there can be any just appreciation of Swedenborg's life and works.

     In the present case Professor Ramstrom shows that Swedenborg's deductions were based on much more than the quotations which he copies, and were based, moreover, to a very important extent, on his study of pathology. This, we may add, is very evident in THE FIBRE and the DISEASES OF THE FIBRES, both of which works evidence an extended study of clinical and pathological cases.

     The facts and experiences that were available in Swedenborg's day were remarkable in the new and accurate research that was then being prosecuted. But for the purposes Swedenborg had in view many facts, anatomical and pathological, were to be searched out, that could be found only here and there, and sometimes were regarded by the recounter as of small significance. "It was in truth a work of genius," says Professor Ramstram, "to search out of such a chaos the guiding threads which were concealed within it, and, in spite of their imperfections in many points, nevertheless to be able to find so much of truth." Suggestions were taken from Malpighi, Boerhaave, Willis, Vieussens and others of the most distinguished anatomists of that day; a mass of observations were gathered respecting clinical and pathological cases; and from out the whole, combined and refined by the alchemy of Swedenborg's mind, came those doctrines whose profundity and truth are now astonishing the modern student.

     Swedenborg's indebtedness to his contemporaries has been too little known in the past, and Professor Ramstrom has done a valuable work in throwing some light on this matter.

184


But there is another element in Swedenborg's work which the professor does not notice, and which perhaps does not properly come within the scope of the work before us. We refer to the part that in all his investigations Swedenborg was inspired by the acknowledgment of a God who was Love itself and Wisdom itself, and by the recognition that the body was but the recipient and servant of the soul which was moved by the inflowing wisdom of God. In his study of the brain, he did not, like many of the moderns, ask whether thereby the existence or non-existence of a soul could be demonstrated, but he searched the brain as the court and palace of the soul, and he sought therein the signs of its wisdom and care. It was this universal principle which enlightened him in the chaos of the facts before him, and which made him the great genius who from these facts could educe the guiding thread wherewith to weave his doctrines.
VISIT TO DALEKARLIA 1911

VISIT TO DALEKARLIA              1911

     The following account of Swedenborg's ancestral home in Dalekarlia, by the Rev. J. R. Rendell, is the first that has ever appeared, and is of permanent historical interest. We quote from THE NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE for January, 1911:

     "On December 2d, Mr. Stroh accompanied the present writer on a visit to Falun and Sweden. There is a great copper mine here which has been worked for 700 years, and which at one time found employment for 800 men. Our guide took us through some of the deep workings-there are about twenty miles of tunneling--and told us that 400 men were employed when he was a young man, but that the works, including plant for the manufacture of sulphuric acid, now only found work for forty. Very little copper mining was done now. Some of the machinery look today just as it did in the days when Swedenborg was an overseer of the mines. Thus the suction pumps, of which at one station there are forty, end-on, one over another, are made of the trunks of trees bored out from end to end, while the pistons are fashioned of layers of birch bark. These appliances, designed by Christopher Polhem, seem very primitive, but are certainly effective. These wooden pump cylinders sometimes last as long as seven years.

185


The water wheels, driven from the waters of a lake much higher than the mine, are just the ones we may see pictured in the Dadalus and the Principia.*
     * We suppose Mr. Rendell means the work ON COPPER.--ED.

     "Very interesting, too, are the models constructed by Polhem for mining and other purposes, which are kept in a museum. An inspection of these provided a very clear idea of the merits of Swedenborg's improvements in machinery. The models are closely crowded together and complete examination is not easy. There is, however, in a short time to be a Polhem celebration, and it is possible that we may have a full account of these interesting models. Some are very primitive; thus one shows us a large wheel in which men were to step forward, tread-mill fashion, to produce power!

     "The homestead, 'Sweden,'* so-called because it is a clearance by fire in the woods, is about a forty minutes' sledge drive from Falun. Here stands the house in which lived Daniel Isaacson, the paternal grandfather of Emanuel Swedenborg. It is a very simple dwelling. Rectangular in form, the door is in the center of one of the longer sides, and is flanked by two windows on each side; and there are two windows at each end. There is an outside porch which is supported by twisted pillars. There are two good rooms on the ground floor and a smaller one behind the vestibule. One of the rooms interested us greatly, for its walls from the floor to ceiling were covered with old frescoes very crudely painted, representing scenes in the life of David. Experts say that they are about 250 years old. Unfortunately they are much defaced not merely by the hand of time, but by vandals who have scribbled or scratched their names on the pictures. In this room, Linnaeus, the great botanist, was married to the daughter of a physician at Falun.**
     * The name is "Sveden," not "Sweden;" it is derived from the verb "sveda," lit. "to singe."-ED.
     ** Johannes Moraeus, Swedenborg's cousin and earliest tutor. See S. D. 4717.-ED.

     "Daniel Isaacson, with nine others, undertook the draining of a pit associated with the copper mines. The venture proved very successful, and he was able to give to his son Jesper, better known as Bishop Swedberg, the best education at Lund and Upsala, the times afforded.

186


How Jesper rose to be the Bishop of Skara, and how he, in turn, provided the scientific and literary training of his greater son. Emanuel, history records.

     "It was a very interesting experience to Visit the old home of the Swedenborg family, and to realize that here were bred a greatest and most spiritual of all Christian teachers.

     "We also visited the great church at Falun, where Daniel Isaacson and his family worshiped. In a most conspicous position there is a portrait of the lady who became the third wife of Bishop Swedberg.

     "We visited Stjernsund with two objects: to see a house in which Polhem had lived, and where Swedenborg stayed at the time he was engaged to Emerentia, one of Polhem's daughters, and also portraits of Polhem and his wife, in the possession of lady who lived here. We found our way to the house without difficulty, most beautifully situated in the midst of pines, on the side of a hill. We were informed that the house had formerly been in the valley, but that Polhem had transported it to its present position. This would be no difficult task, for it is best described as a Canadian log house. In plan it is almost identical with the homestead 'Sweden,' but there is no outside porch, and only one window at each side of the door. It is used as a store for models and machinery constructed by Polhem. Everything seemed to be In confusion, and it was very difficult to understand the purposes of the various machines and parts of the machines there to be seen. To our surprise we found in the smaller room at the back, a painting on canvas identical with one of these we had seen painted on the wall at 'Sweden.' There was no doubt that the pictures were by the same artist. The defects of drawing, the pigments, the extraordinary painting of leaf outline were all identical. It seemed evidence of some intimate relation between those who had lived in these houses. We could not ascertain that similar drawings were found anywhere else in the neighborhood.

     "It was interesting to learn that a small clock factory here, established by Polhem, was still active, and that though no longer a source of profit, it was being maintained in memory of its founder."

187


FOUNDERS' DAY BANQUET 1911

FOUNDERS' DAY BANQUET       GEOFFREY CHILDS       1911

     At seven o'clock on Saturday evening, January 14th, 1911, two hundred and fifty persons sat down to a sumptuous banquet as guests of Mr. John Pitcairn, in the Auditorium, Bryn Athyn. Combining, as it did, the celebration of Founders' Day and the birthday of the unsuspecting host, there was produced a remarkable sphere of intense interest and affectionate good-will that tended to make the evening unique in the history of Academy banquets.

     The speakers' table was placed at the head of the room just in front of the stage and the other tables were arranged in long rows perpendicular to this. All were beautifully decorated with flowers and greens.

     All the members of the Bryn Athyn Church, and of the Advent Church in Philadelphia, had been invited, and Mr. Pitcairn extended this invitation also to the pupils of the College and Seminary.

     The banquet was opened by the Bishop. Following the saying of the blessing, Mr. Pitcairn arose and delivered a speech of welcome.

     MR. PITCAIRN: "I desire to extend to you all a very hearty welcome. It is a great pleasure to see that the invitation has been so generally accepted.

     "We have met this evening to celebrate the founding of the Academy of the New Church, thirty-seven years ago. When we think of what has been accomplished by the Academy in this space of time, there is every reason for thankfulness. It is inspiring to take a retrospective view of the uses that have been performed.

     "A few years after the establishing of our body one of our enemies said that 'the Academy must be stamped out,' and it was predicted that its life would not exceed ten years. After thirty-seven years' existence there is no apparent evidence of decay and we all may hope that many years of usefulness are yet in store for it.

188


But whether the coming years be few or many, the result of the work already accomplished will endure.

     "To realize the necessity of such a body as ours let us consider the state of the Church when our movement began.. There was a state of apathy in the general body,--a lack of understanding of what is involved in the Second Coming of the Lord,--and a denial of the fundamental teachings, such as the Divine authority of the Writings and the state of the Christian World;--a rejection of what the Lord teaches in CONJUGIAL LOVE and a closing of the ears to the voice from heaven, as of a trumpet, saying: 'We perceive you are meditating on Conjugial Love, and we are aware that no one on earth knows what it is in its origin and in its essence, and it is all-important that it should be known.'

     "Such was the state of the New Church which impelled a few Newchurchmen, who realized the dangers that threatened its life, to take action. And what did they do? They established a university and schools to prepare priests for the work in the Lord's New Church and to educate their children for a life in heaven. They used the press,--that instrument which the Lord commanded Swedenborg to use in giving to the world the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Church.

     "WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH opened one battle for the truth. This publication was followed by the NEW CHURCH LIFE, which has continued the defensive warfare down to the present day, and in defending the truth it has not failed to attack the false. In the four quarters of the globe the voice of the Academy has been heard--in the United States and Canada, in Great Britain, in France, in Germany, in Switzerland, in Holland, in Belgium, in Sweden, in Australia, in South Africa, in Mauritius, and even in South America.

     "With such a record in the pages of the history of the New Church, who can be discouraged? Let us, then, thank the Lord that we have been permitted to participate in this great work, and let us pray that we may be given wisdom to continue the fight for the truth to the end, and that our children and our children's children may continue the battle we have begun.

189


Long live the Academy!" (At this the song, "Our Own Academy," arose from the assembly as from one man.)

     "The banquet this evening has a special significance, coming as it does after the successful termination of the Kramph Will trial, which involved the very life of the New Church, and which is second only in importance to the trial of Doctors Beyer and Rosen, which Swedenborg declared to be 'the most important and the most solemn which has ever been before any council during the last 1700 years, since it concerns the New Church which was predicted by the Lord in Daniel and the Apocalypse.'

     "I have the honor of introducing to you Mr. Odhner, who has consented to act as Toastmaster on this occasion." (Applause.)

     THE TOASTMASTER: "Brethren,--we have been invited by our beloved friend and host to celebrate with him the thirty-seventh anniversary of the birth of the Academy of the New Church. This, of all days, is the Academy's day, but the Academy does not exist for its own sake, but for the sake of the Lord's New Church--His Glorious Church. Our first toast, and our first song, therefore, on this day, is to the Lord's New Church. (Song: 'Our Glorious Church.')

     "Our second toast is to 'The Day We Celebrate,' the day in Pittsburgh, in the year 1574, when the Academy, after long years of gestation, first sprang into outward life. Long live the Academy! (Song: 'Academia March.')

     "Our next toast is to the men who, in the Providence of the Lord, were raised up to be the instruments through whom the Academy came into being: To the Founders of the Academy. (Song: 'Our Academy had its Rise.')

     "There were but four original founders of the Academy--Mr. Benade, Mr. Pitcairn, Mr. Childs, and Mr. Ballou. These were the only ones who were present at the dinner in the Atlantic Garden restaurant in Pittsburgh, on January 14th, 1874, when Mr. Childs first made the suggestion that those present form an organization, there and then, in order to begin a propaganda by means of the printed page, for a reformatory movement in the New Church.

     "The story is well known to the most of you,--the check 'for five hundred or so,'--the gradual development of this chrysalis until the day, on June 19th, 1876, when the final organization of the Council of the Academy took place.

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Of the twelve men then present, two are still with us, while ten have been gathered to their brethren in the New Heaven.

     "We shall now have the pleasure of seeing once more these patriarchs of the Academy."

     At this point the lights were turned out and magic lantern pictures were thrown on the screen in the following order:

1. The Academy Coat of Arms.
2. Father Benade.
3. John Pitcairn.
4. Walter C. Childs.
5. Franklin Ballou.
6. James Park Stuart.
7. Nathan Clark Burnham.
8. John Randolph Hibbard.
9. Rudolph L. Tafel
10. Louis H. Tafel.
11. David McCandless.
12. F. E. Boericke, M. D.
13. William F. Pendleton.
14. The School Buildings at Bryn Athyn.

     The exhibition of the portraits was accompanied with biographical remarks, affectionate, serious and otherwise, by the Toastmaster and Mr. Childs, and interspersed with songs of a more or less personal nature.

     Immediately following the singing of the "Alma Mater," the lights were again turned on and there was a brief recess. In the meantime two young ladies had entered the room unnoticed by Mr. Pitcairn and were now advancing up the center aisle, each bearing in their hands an unrecognizable object covered with dark red cloth. As they approached the head table the Bishop arose and prepared to receive the two objects, which, when the coverings were removed, proved to be a silver Loving Cup and a Flagon.

     The Loving Cup is a beautiful silver cup standing 13 inches high on a base 5 inches square. It has two handles and is of Grecian design. Around the top of the Cup there is a border about an inch in width of grapes and grape leaves. The inside of the Cup is heavily lined with gold.

     The Flagon is similar in design to the Cup and stands 15 inches high on a base 5 inches square. The inside is lined with gold.

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     THE PRESENTATION OF THE LOVING CUP.

     BISHOP PENDLETON: "We have here a Cup and a Flagon, and in my capacity as representing the members of the General Church of the New Jerusalem it gives me great pleasure to present this Cup and this Flagon to our friend and brother,--John Pitcairn." (At this point the Bishop lifted up the Loving Cup and, holding it in his hands, continued:)

     "I read on this side:

JOHN PITCAIRN
ON HIS
SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY
JANUARY THE 10th
MCMXI
FROM
FRIENDS IN THE GENERAL CHURCH.

     (Turning the Cup over.)

     "On this side is inscribed in Hebrew: 'Shalom Lecha,' 'Peace be unto thee.' This is an expression of the wish of the members of the General Church that our brother may have peace in this world and in the world to come. It is a small gift in recognition of the great uses which our brother has performed for the Church. The names of the societies and circles of the General Church, both small and large, are also inscribed in alphabetical order on the Cup: Abington, Allentown, Baltimore, Berlin, Bryn Athyn, Chicago, Colchester, Denver, Erie, Glenview, London, Middleport, New York, Philadelphia, Paris, Pittsburgh, Stockholm, Toronto, and Washington." (These names are engraved on the four sides of the base of the Cup.) The Bishop then placed the Cup on the table and, taking up the Flagon, said:

     "On this side of the Flagon appears the same inscription as on the Cup, namely: 'John Pitcairn, on His Seventieth Birthday, January the 10th, MCMXI. From Friends in the General Church.' (Turning over the Flagon:)

     "On this side is inscribed in Latin from the True Christian Religion:

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IN PRIMITIVA ECCLESIA
IPSA CONJUNCTIO CHARITATIS REPRAESENTABATUR
PER FRANGERE PANEM ET DISTRIBUERE
ET PER BIBERE EX EODEM POCULO
ET DARE ALTERT.
V. C. R. 433.

     (In the Primitive Church the very conjunction of charity was represented by breaking bread and distributing it, and by drinking from the same cup and passing it to the neighbor.)

     "As I have said, it affords me great pleasure to act as a representative of the members of the General Church in presenting this gift to our brother. Mr. Pitcairn. It is not necessary for me to express the warm feeling of affection which we feel towards him in appreciation of his services to the Church. I am pleased to say that it is a matter of general recognition that Mr. Pitcairn has ever been judicious in the use which he has made of that which the Lord has given him, and that in giving he has always left us in freedom:

     "I take great pleasure in presenting you. My brother, with this Cup. I propose a toast to John Pitcairn!"

     As the Bishop said these words, he advanced with the Cup and Flagon and presented them to Mr. Pitcairn. At the same time everyone united in singing

     "Here's to our friend!
     Him Heaven send.
     Good in o'erflowing store!
     Bringing him all peace and joy,
     Both now and evermore."

     Dr. Boericke made use of the interval to fill the Cup and Flagon with some very choice wine which he had saved up in his cellar many years, awaiting a fitting occasion on which to use it.

     MR. PITCAIRN: "Bishop and Friends,--I am really embarrassed. I (lid not realize that it was possible that such a movement as this could take place throughout the entire Church without my having some inkling of it. (Laughter.) I am afraid that this body map be open to the accusation that was made some years ago to the effect that it was a 'secret organization.' (Laughter.)

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     "I feel deeply touched, and I am truly grateful for the little that I have been able to do for the Church. To my mind the success of our body is due to those actively and earnestly engaged in the work, and to those who with affection and interest have upheld their hands.

     "So long as this continues, we may hope that the Church will grow, first of all in ourselves, and then if we are faithful to the Doctrines of the New Church, it will extend to others.

     "Really, in receiving this gift I am overwhelmed with what has been done for me. All I can say is that I thank you all very much." (Applause.)

     THE TOASTMASTER: "Now that we have all seen the Cup and the Flagon, Mr. Synnestvedt will explain the history of the movement."

     MR. SYNNESTVEDT: "I want to tell you a few things about the history of the movement, for I feel that all will be interested in hearing about it. The idea was suggested, and as a result a circular letter was sent out by a committee appointed to attend to the matter to all the ministers and leaders of the societies of the General Church.

     "The response was at once so hearty and so spontaneous that before the young men here had found time to start around to see the people we had more money than we had expected.

     "Of course, neither Mr. Odhner nor myself had any idea of the cost of Loving Cups, so we went to town together and found out that ordinary Loving Cups didn't begin to cost as much as the money we had. It was a case of the 'embarrassment of riches.' (Laughter.) It was certainly a new feeling for Mr. Odhner and myself, and we did not know what to do.

     "Finally we went to work and had a Cup designed according to plans suggested by one of our young artists. We could spend money on Art! We got designs from different sources and finally found one that suited us and had the Cup made to order. But by the time it was finished we discovered that there was still more money than the Cup would cost, so we added to the weight
of silver, and had an extra heavy lining of gold placed on the inside. Soon the Cup was finished,--but the money was not!

     "We were at our wits' end; the money kept pouring in and there was apparently no way to check it.

194


But at last the Bishop suggested a pitcher to follow up the Loving Cup. The pitcher was ordered, but when we compared it with the Cup we found it was too small and did not resemble it. As the money was still piling up we decided to have a Flagon made to match the Cup. Finally we got a box to go with the Cup and Flagon. And that is the best we could do to use up the money,--and we came pretty near it, too!

     "You will all remember the myth about Jove, who, when he heard that there was a country that was very wicked, went down to visit it and found only a couple of old folks who were in charity and loyalty. To reward them for their faithfulness he gave them a pitcher which had the quality of always being full according to need. This is a quality of all such vessels in Heaven. Let this Flagon, then, whose use is to replenish the Cup, represent this quality of inexhaustibility. It is indeed but right that the Cup should have that quality added, for it has sprung forth from the spontaneity and superabundance of affection of the members of the Church. It is a tribute to John Pitcairn of the fullness of appreciation all over the Church; for although gathered in very small amounts you see we got a great deal of money.

     "What is it that we are to drink from this Cup, as a band of friends and brothers about Mr. Pitcairn's hospitable table? "Chateau Yquem,' you will say,--the choicest vintage of Dr. Boericke's cellar. But wine itself is, among natural fluids, the most like the drink of the immortals, since it contains, thanks to our old friend Bacchus, some borrowed spirit from above. But this wine is different; this Cup, tea, is molded of a thousand sphere--particles given out from the substance of the bosoms of hundreds of loving friends from all the centers of the General Church. The wine also has something that fills the interstices of its fluid particles--the wine of a New Spirit--the Spirit of a New Age; and here, if the Toastmaster will permit me, I feel moved to add something in conclusion, in appreciation of this spirit or sphere.

     "What we have in the Church is not to be measured at all by what we are or what we have been, but by that which we stand for.

195


The spirit of our movement is truly a new World Spirit, and it is something very tangible. It is a new soul-inspiring nectar, a sphere which actually fills this Loving Cup full to overflowing, and fills this room, and fills this building and closely surrounds all these buildings, and makes the name of Bryn Athyn and of the Academy a name to stir the heart and bring tears to the eyes of those who know and love the all-compelling, all-building Truth which she stands for;--while it causes trembling and confusion to her enemies. For any counterpart of our movement we must go back to the beginning of the First Christian Church, or to the Renaissance in the Middle Ages, with its revival of learning acid restoration of freedom and intelligence, which, with all that has comet out of this of modern civilization, had much smaller beginnings than we already have here.

     "The immortal spirit of liberty and a love of truth for its own sake, after a long night of slumber, had again found an abiding place among a few in Italy;--first one man,--then two,--then three,--presently a dozen, got hold of the old treasures of wisdom from the philosophers of Greece and Rome, and it set their hearts and their minds aflame. It was nearly a hundred years, however, before we find the new learning well on its feet. Much rough pioneer work had to be done,--work of exploration, of excavation even, of investigation, of systematic preparation, gathering and ordering, and instilling a host of necessary scientifics; the development, in short, of an entirely new education, before we find the movement very wide-spread and effective. Just a little group of scholars in Florence, a few at Rome, and the small school at Mantua, contending for the right to think. But once this stage was reached, young men could be turned out equipped to carry the light and the flame of the light, kindled at these foci, to the remotest corners of the earth. These were the men who inspired Bacon, Columbus, Galileo, Gutenberg, and finally Luther and the rest of that generation. But it was not the new literature as literature, nor philosophy as philosophy, nor schools as schools, that made this great upheaval.

196


It was the flaming sword of a new spirit that touched their hearts with some rays of the ancient heavenly fire, and it was remote enough, in those Middle Ages, compared with what the Lord has vouchsafed to us here at this day, and which we are now,--largely through the means provided by the Lord, through one lover of this Truth, in which he shares,--enabled to undertake this most glorious and pregnant mission--the mission of giving the Cup of living Truth to the wayfarer in this diversorium, or place of wayside rest and refreshment, to weary souls.

     "May the living, flaming, compelling Spirit of this new revelation never fail from our Cup, is our wish tonight! And the whole-souled delight of the entire membership of the General Church, in joining to present this Loving Cup to Mr. Pitcairn, can mean nothing else, I take it, than a realization and acknowledgment on their part that to Mr. Pitcairn it has been given, under Providence, to perform, and to perform faithfully and well, no small part in this great regeneration." (Applause.)

     MR. PITCAIRN: "After hearing from Mr. Synnestvedt how general this matter is, my astonishment increases that it could have been done without my having the slightest suspicion of what was going on until the young ladies came walking up the aisle tonight.

     "I can only repeat that I am deeply grateful for the affectionate expression by all the members of the General Church of their regard, and I thank you one and all." (Applause.)

     THE TOASTMASTER: "I Will now ask Mr. Whitehead to read a poem written by Mrs. E. F. Stroh and dedicated to Mr. John Pitcairn."

     MR. WHITEHEAD:

"The Sculptor wrought with a loving hand
     A fair and precious thing.
From the unshaped stone its form had grown
     To a noble fashioning.

Beneath His warm and quickening touch
     Its wondrous outlines thrill
Through magic lent to the instrument
     Inspired by His will.

So keen and strong and delicate,
     It moves in His guiding hand;
A tempered blade, by the Master made
     To answer his least command.

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So straight and keen, yet pliant still
     To chisel the Sculptor's thought
With life inspired, to toil untired,
     And joy in the work it wrought.

If ever its surface was stricken dull,
     Or its delicate edge worn crude
In fire and pain it was forged again
     With beauty and strength renewed.

Before its stroke the marvel grew
     In beauty and power of line,
In grace and strength to bloom at length
     Immortal and sublime.

So swift and true the keen edge flew
     To reveal the connate end,
Till the great design in the Sculptor's mind
     Lay bared to the sight of men

Gigantic powers were blended there
     With a glory of kindling force,
Yet each strong line was rare and fine
     As the touch that had shaped its course.

And the Sculptor placed it with loving hand,
     Where the light shone clear and pure,
And His joy was crowned, that His theme had found
     A symbol that should endure.

And those who had studied and loved the art
     That the Master had graven there
Rejoiced in heart, that they might have part
     In a thing so wondrous fair.

They sought the Sculptor who had carved the stone
     And the tool so perfect and rare;
And eagerly turned, when they had learned,
     To seek new beauties there.

And the world passed by and many an eye
     Gazed on it and failed to see,
Nor dreamed of the task, or cared to ask
     'Who might the Sculptor be?'

198




'Twas God Himself,--and the instrument
     Was the soul of a noble man.
And the sculpture fair that lay graven there
     Was the thing that his life had been.

And those who were watching went their nay
     Rejoicing in what they knew,
That heaven again had been with men,
     In a form so pure and true."
          (Applause.)

     Following the reading of this poem a brief interval occurred to give opportunity for the clearing of the tables and the serving of ice cream, etc.

     THE TOASTMASTER: "We have here a number of messages, not only from various places in the United States, but also from Europe. I will ask Mr. Acton to read them."

     Mr. Acton then read the following communications:

     "Dear Mr. Pitcairn:
"It is with deep regret that Mrs. Caldwell and I find ourselves unable to accept your kind invitation to the banquet on Founders' Day. We must be content to postpone that pleasure. We wish you many happy returns of the anniversary of your birthday, which we had the pleasure of celebrating in our home.

     "We all feel gratified that at the proper time Founders of our loved Academy were provided. Our affections will go out to them for all time, until time is no more. "Very sincerely yours, "R. B. CALDWELL Toronto. Ont."

     "'It is with profound pleasure that I write you extending congratulations for the coming January 10th,--your 70th anniversary.

     "My prayer is that you may be with us yet many more years, in this world.

     "I honor, admire, and love you for your great love of the Church, and your activity in it. I am forever with you in the way you are going. Very sincerely yours, "O. L. BARLER." "Beatrice, Neb."

     "With earnest wishes that Mr. Pitcairn may enjoy many, many more anniversaries. Pittsburgh sends greetings. "S. S. LINDSAY, Secretary."

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     "I cordially thank you for the kind invitation to attend the banquet in celebration of Founders' Day. I will be unable to be with you, but will be with you in spirit. 'Vive l'Academie.'

     "I take this opportunity to express to you my heartiest congratulations on your 70th birthday. May you be long spared to perform the uses you love so well and for which the Church thanks you. "RUDOLPH ROSCHMAN." "Berlin. Ont., Can."

     "We have here, also, a contribution from Paris, and I will ask Mr. Deltenre to read it in French."

     MR. DELTENRE:
"Cher Mr. J. Pitcairn et ami:
     "La Section Francaise de I'Eglise Generale par I'organe de son bureau, presente a son grand ami et bienfaiteur John Pitcairn, I'expression de sa vive sympathie et de sa profonde reconnaissance pour les grands services qu'il a rendus et qu'il ne cesse de rendre a la Nouvelle Eglise, et a I'occasion de sa soixante dixieme Annee adresse au Seigneur notre Dieu les vaux les plus ardents pour son bonheur et sa prosperid."Ont signe: "T. HUSSENET, pasteur; presidente. "S. HUSSENET, vace presidente. "L. LUCAS, Secretaire. "B. LUCAS, Tresoriere." "Paris, France."
     (Applause. )

     Following the reading of this letter by Mr. Deltenre, Mr. Acton read an English translation of the same. He then continued by reading a letter from Mr. Alfred H. Stroh, of Stockholm:

     "ON THE OCCASION OF MR. JOHN PITCAIRN'S 70TH BIRTHDAY.

     "On this day, when Mr. Pitcairn's name is awakening feelings of affection and gratitude in the hearts of many friends at Bryn Athyn and other centres of the Church, the few members and friends of the General Church at Stockholm also desire to send greetings to that founder of the Academy whose constant support of its uses has been so tremendous a factor in the history of the New Church.

     "Humanly speaking, where would many of us be today had it not been for Mr. John Pitcairn?

200


But when reflecting during the past weeks concerning the significance of his work and that of the other founders of the Academy, I find my thoughts directed more and more away from the personalities of the founders to those principles for which they have fought so valiantly, every battle being a milestone, in the progress of the Lord's New Church. And the note which most powerfully resounds throughout the years is: 'Loyalty to the Writings and a Distinct New Church!' The Church with man is such as is his understanding of the Word, and the Word cannot be understood without true Doctrine. How important, then, that the Lamp of Doctrine be kept in view to guide our feet! That light was so much hidden under a bushel when WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH appeared that the reform movement commonly known as the Academy was felt by its founders to be an imperative necessity. And, judging by the past history of the New Church, its future progress will depend upon just such reform movements, as the spirit of the Writings becomes active on one plane after the other. If we review the history of the New Church during the century and a half of its existence we may trace three distinct periods of development.

     "The first period was characterized by the terrible conflicts in Sweden between the New Doctrine and the old dragon, and in England, on the Continent, and in America by the proclamation of the Doctrines and the first movements to organize the Church. Those old heroes, Beyer, Rosen and Hindmarsh, were filled with a spirit very similar to that which has established the Academy.

     "The second period in the history of the Church, after its first proclamation and organization, is characterized by an extension of its activities into the regions of the philosophy of nature and medicine, and simultaneously began the movements to unearth Swedenborg's scientific and philosophical works. There were published editions of Swedenborg's scientific, but chiefly of his Philosophical writings; then came the flood of Swedenborg biographies, a remarkable interest in Homoeopathy and the philosophy of medicine, and in the question of New Church education. Just before the organization of the Academy, when many factors of the previous movements were to be crystallized into a new form, an important step was taken, namely, to photolithograph Swedenborg's scientific, philosophical and theological MSS., the work of editing the ten folio volumes being carried through by Dr. Rudolph L. Tafel.

201


I know that both Mr. Benade and Mr. Pitcairn were among those who were directly interested in that work, and, in the Academy, interest in it never died out, so that the present expansion of the work of reproducing Swedenborg's MSS. and Swedenborgiana is in large part due to the flame which was kept alive by the founders of the Academy.

     "Now, while that work of reproducing Swedenborg's MSS. and documents is of fundamental importance for the universal development of our uses, on the three planes of theology, philosophy and science, it is of peculiar interest with respect to the last mentioned,--science. We are now in the midst of a scientific movement in the Church, a movement which should not be confused with the previous interest in the philosophy of nature, medicine, and education. We have received not only a New Church Theology and a New Church Philosophy, but we are also receiving a New Church Science. I have no sympathy with any attempt to advance the philosophy at the expense of science, and the science should be New Church, not the godless, materialistic science of the world. Above everything we must preserve as the soul of our movement the Theology of the New Church whose principles can be found neither by scientific investigation nor by the methods of philosophy, nor in literature, nor even in Swedenborg's scientific and philosophical works, but which had to be revealed from Heaven by the Lord. In the light of that Theology we shall see clearly how to employ Swedenborg's earlier works, constituting the record of his preparation by means of the sciences, and also the history of philosophy and the sciences, ancient and modern, and thus construct a new body of philosophy and science. We are in the beginning of this third Period in the History of the New Church, but already there are many who feel that there is such a thing as New Church Science and that it has come to stay. May all these uses combine to be developed and firmly established in our beloved Academy.

     "We in Sweden will be with you in spirit when you are celebrating the memory of the founders and of old Academy days, and we shall drink on these foreign shores a 'skol' in honor of the day. ALFRED H. STROH. Stockholm, Dec. 27, 1910. (Applause.)

202




     THE TOASTMASTER: "Friends, you can all realize that this is truly an historic occasion. Although we have had many great banquets in the Academy there are scarcely any to equal the present occasion, where there is such a concentration of spheres and such a presence of the old Academy spirit.

     In every center, from Denver to Stockholm, they are celebrating with us tonight and they are here in spirit and by means of the messages they have sent. Truly it is an unusual occasion.

     Tonight we are honoring a man, but he feels, as we all feel, that it is not a man but principles and movements that we are honoring and that we are loving. Therefore I will ask Mr. Pitcairn to lead in that song which so fitly brings back the spirit of the early Academy: "Vive l'Academie!"

"Beloved companions, fill glasses with wine,
     Vive l'Academie!
And drink to our Union in uses Divine.
Vive l'Academie!

                    Chorus
Vive la, vive la, vive l'amour!
Vive la, vive la, vive la foi!
Vive l'amour,
Vive la foi,
     Foi de 1'Academie.

The truths we acknowledge are mighty and strong.
     Vive l'Academie!
Upholding the right and opposing the wrong.
     Vive l'Academie!
                    Chorus.

Then away with the Old, and on with the New!
     Vive l'Academie!
The Truth will prevail though acknowledged by few
     Vive l'Academie!"
                    Chorus.

203




     "This finishes the birthday part of the celebration and if there is enough patience left we will begin our regular program. I am quite sure that we will all be glad to hear from the Bishop on the subject of the 'STRENGTH OF THE ACADEMY MOVEMENT,'--the movement that has survived all the battles that the Academy has passed through. I will ask the Bishop to explain the secret of that strength which is the strength in the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Church."

     BISHOP PENDLETON: "I Will Say a few words on the subject of the 'Strength of the Academy Movement' which, as the toastmaster has pointed out, is strength in the Doctrines of the New Church. It is interesting to note that this strength has been a matter of prophecy, for the Lord said He would come again with power and great glory when He was to come a second time into the world. This power is the power of Divine Truth, which as we are told is omnipotent.

     "This power is spiritual power and is exercised to prevent the hells rising up; to protect the Church, just as a besieged city is protected from the onslaughts of the enemy; and to build up the Church. It is exercised to remove the hells and the spirits of hell. We are told in the Writings that with those who believe in the Lord and who believe that all good and truth as well as all salvation and eternal life are from Him, and love that this be so, with these, all evil and falsity are removed while they read the Word.

     "It is the power of the Goon of the Word as revealed by the Lord in His second coming. Reading means understanding and understanding, in turn, means to take delight in reading. In that delight is all power and protection against the hells. With all who read the truths of the New Church and take delight in that reading there is present a power that will overcome the hells; and, finally, if they will persist in that reading, and if they will persist in the spirit of it in their daily life, it will be accompanied with a power that will finally remove the hells from them and elevate them into heaven." (Applause.)

     (Song: "Glorious things of Thee are spoken.")

     MR. ODHNER: "The primary source of the Strength of the Academy is from the Lord alone in His Second Coming, which is the Heavenly Doctrine revealed to us through Emanuel Swedenborg.

204


This Doctrine has indeed descended from God, but out of Heaven. The second source of strength of the Academy movement is from the New Church in the other world,--that New Church which is the New Heaven.

     "The light and life of the Church is from the Holy Spirit of God which proceeds immediately from the Word, and which proceeds also in the Church from man to man, and from the clergy to the laity, and, in general, from those who are more interiorly in the wisdom of the Doctrines to those who are less so; and therefore we can realize how much the 'Strength of the Academy movement' depends on those who have passed on and who realize the Doctrines of the New Church in a degree immeasurably superior to any one on this earth.

     "At the time of the Last Judgment there was a New Heaven formed out of those who had been collected together from the beginning of the Christian World; these had been held in bondage by the imaginary heavens for hundreds of years, but were set free by the Doctrine of the New Church in the Spiritual World, and were conducted rejoicing into the New Jerusalem and thus established the first New Church Heaven.

     "Those who have received the New Church in the other world and who have not realized it on this earth, are generally in an external state compared to those who have received it here, and who in this ultimate of nature have loved and lived the Heavenly Doctrine. They carry with them a new power into the other world, and from them there will gradually be established a new spiritual heaven, and in time a new celestial heaven, within the new natural heaven which was formed at the Last Judgment.

     "We often wonder why the New Church has grown so slowly. The reason has been the difficulty of establishing a permanent New Church society in the other world. In the beginning the receivers were thinking more of transmitting a few introductory truths to others than of entering more internally into the study and application of the Doctrines. There has been a conflict between this old spirit and the new spirit which desires to seek first the regeneration of oneself, and the education of one's children, rather than the transmission of the introductory truths to the world.

205


The old methods have produced but little progress: the children have left the Church by the thousands; and very little advancement has been made in the internal study of the Doctrines. But in the other life one has to go either forward or backward, and from spirits who are not willing to advance there can be formed no permanent society in the other life. This has been the secret of the slowness of the growth of the Church.

     "Among a few, however, the case has been different. From the very first days of the New Church there have been men who have been looking to the interior study of the Writings and the development of distinct New Church life. These men originated the Academy movement.' Mr. DeCharms and his associates added to it, and built on the work; done by the men before them; the Academy principles grew and developed, and the faithful laborers passed into the spiritual world, but not before they had left disciples,-Mr. Benade and others. These men immeasurably increased the common fund by still more intense study and still more devoted life. They crystallized the Academy principles, and then were 'gathered to their fathers.'

     "And in the present generation, also, there has been no stand-still. The Church has entered more and more interiorly into the Doctrine. Year by year the lovers of the Academy principles have been gathering into the spiritual world; that they have been building up a strong society there is evidenced by the permanency of the movement on this earth in spite of the united opposition of the New Church generally in the world. The Academy has survived!

     "Therefore we may conclude that the 'Source of Strength' is not from us, but from that heavenly society which is gathering in the other world, and of which we all hope one day to be allowed to become members.

     "I will ask you to drink a toast to that society." (Applause.)

"As one by one the passing years
Bring transient joys and many tears,
As loved forms no more we see
But with the eyes of memory:
Yet Heaven-sent the light of Truth
Brings faith that soon, eternally,
In blessed realms of fadeless youth
We'll join our own Academy."

206




     THE TOASTMASTER: "Another 'Source of Strength of the Academy' is from the loyal Church that has been built up on the earth. I will ask Mr. John Pitcairn to reply to this toast."

     MR. PITCAIRN: "Mr. Toastmaster and Friends: I regret that I have not Prepared a speech in response to this toast, but the Bishop has indicated what the 'Source of Strength' is, namely: reading the Word both in the letter and in its spiritual sense. The affection that the members have shown for the Doctrines, and the constant reading of the Writings by them, are marked indications that the Church is with us. So long as this continues, we may hope that the Church will grow, not only with its individual members, but also as a body.

     "You know that all have been much interested in the subject of the atmospheres during the past few years, and, as a result, there has been a remarkable development an the scientific and philosophical planes. We know from Swedenborg's philosophical works that there are four discrete atmospheres, each with a motion of its own, and each producing a corresponding motion in the human body, mind, and soul.

     "Now, consider the motions that are set up in the ether by the wireless telegraphy. A wireless instrument on a vessel in the middle of the ocean sends out waves of motion in every direction. These waves are not felt except where there is reception; that is, where there is another instrument so attuned that it will receive these motions.

     "We know that when we go above the lowest plane into the higher atmospheres, the motions are accelerated, and when we ascend to the atmosphere which produces thought, there is present intensely more activity. We must remember that we live not only in the natural world, but also in the spiritual world at the same time. We are in constant communication, therefore, with societies in the other world, and thought-currents pass from them to us, provided we have a basis here in the truth of doctrine. In other words, if truths of doctrine are active in our minds, we receive and retain the waves of thought coming from the societies in the other world. But there must also be a battery behind the receiver, and the spiritual battery with a man is his affection for the truth.

207




     "Therefore, with those in this world who have an affection for the Doctrines, and who read and apply them to life, the Church will grow; and if we faithfully continue to read the Writings and to cultivate an affection for reading them, the Church will endure and will become stronger and stronger as time goes on." (Applause.)

     (Song: "In the Church's Widening Circle.")

     THE TOASTMASTER: "Another mighty source of strength of the Academy movement,--the backbone of the Academy's strength,--is from the New Church marriage. I will ask you to sing the song to Conjugial Love, and will call upon Mr. Acton to respond."

     (Song: "Beauteous Child of Heavenly Love.")

     MR. ACTON: "Mr. Toastmaster, I feel considerable hesitation in getting up at this time of the evening to speak, and I think it some evidence of the importance of this meeting that notwithstanding the length of time that we have been assembled there has been such a deep interest and keen attention shown throughout. Still, though the hour is late, it seems most fitting that this toast to the 'Source of Strength' in the Academy and the New Church derived from Conjugial Love should be dwelt on to some little extent. For Conjugial Love, and the New Church from this love, is the crown of the Academy.

     "Conjugial Love gives strength to everything on earth and in heaven that receives the Lord. The real state that makes man is the marriage of good and truth. The true ultimate of the marriage of good and truth is the conjugial marriage of one man with one woman; and without this, man has not that which crowns and actually gives the delights of life.

     "It is not surprising, therefore, that in the Mew Church we find a special volume devoted to this love; and in this respect Conjugial Love is distinguished from every other love treated of in the Writings. The work on CONJUGIAL LOVE has been presented to us because that love crowns the Church. In addition to this book there has been given us the promise by the Lord that those who will come into the Church will be given Conjugial Love,--a love that never has been on the earth since the time of the Golden Age.

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     "In view of this it is surprising that the Church has not dwelt more on this subject. The New Church, as a whole, has not dwelt much on this subject; it has not realized that a new love has been revealed to man and that the opportunity is now given for everyone to enter this new love who will receive the New Jerusalem. I repeat it, the Church, as a body, has not recognized this, except that in the Academy there is beginning to be something of a realization of it. But the love itself cannot be established except so far as the marriage of good and truth takes place and this in turn depends on the reception of the truths of the New Revelation.

     "It has been a characteristic of the Academy from the very beginning that the truths concerning Conjugial Love have been taught. It is these truths that open the interiors of the minds of all who are affected by them and give to them the opportunity to enter interiorly into a realization of the promise by the Lord. "The Bishop spoke about the strength of the Church consisting in reading from the Doctrines with delight, and that this delight meant spiritual delight from truth. But in order that this delight may be ultimated and thus complete, there is given the delight of Conjugial Love. Every man who is in the Church knows that all the delight he has felt in reading the Word has been due partly to something of a feeling of Conjugial Love. He has been told to love his partner and to wish Conjugial Love with her to eternity. The thought of that, and the thought of the possibility of entering into that, has been the ultimate vessel which has been the source of delight in the spiritual things of the Church. It is surely because men have felt this delight and have been affected by it that they have had confidence in the truths of revelation now given them. It is because of this realization of the blessings of Conjugial Love that they have been able to stand against the attacks of the world, and it is because of the realization of the interior delights of this love that there has been present in men the ultimate strength found in the Academy. For we know that the Academy from the very beginning has been blessed with something of this love.

     "The Academy has no strength as an abstract proposition. Its strength lies in the strength received by its individual members, from the Lord.

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Every member of the Academy who is a true member is willing to fight for it; to die for it; and to submit to every conceivable attack, and slander, and assault,--and this because he is interiorly convinced that in the Academy there is present the truth from the Lord.

     "And let me add that it is the women of the Academy who have strengthened the men in this conviction. The women of the Academy have never wavered; they have ever encouraged and comforted in times of despair; have held up the hands of the men in the struggles of the past; their sphere of love and affection has ever been present and sustaining in all our battles.

     "To the women of the Academy, then, I propose this toast." (Applause. )

     THE TOASTMASTER: "As Mr. Acton has shown, a 'Source of Strength of the Academy' is Conjugial Love; but from Conjugial Love there is offspring, and from the offspring is the ultimate strength. Mr. Leonard Gyllenhaal will speak for the Youth of the Church."

     MR. GYLLENHAAL: "This toast involves the future of the Church. The work of the Academy began thirty-seven years ago, but the twelve men whose features we have seen this evening had as their purpose the continuation of the work of the Church,--a continuation through a special way, namely, through the education of the youth in the Church. We have all of us felt the affection that has been put into this work by the workers of the Academy, and I am sure I speak for all the youth of the Church when I say that that affection has not gone out in vain.

     "Youth is a state in which all kinds of affections are active. Perhaps for a time these affections are so various that they seem far from the ultimate affections for which we strive. But the work of the Academy has been to encourage and guide those affections with which youth is exuberant, and which will at the same time ultimately lead to Heaven; I am sure that all those who have worked for the Academy may rest assured that a great affection is returned to the twelve founders of the Academy and to all its workers. Mr. Synnestvedt spoke of the Academy movement as a greater Renaissance than that so famous in history. After that Renaissance interest in all the activities of life was stimulated: interest in religion; interest in science, and in art.

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When the first enthusiasm of interest was partially exhausted there came the critical period. Great controversies arose and great critical minds appeared. There was a long period of reform, and criticism was dominant.

     "Perhaps, as some of us have felt, there has already come to us something of that critical state. It is not an unhealthy state. It has aroused a rational judgment. There are questions that will have to be decided by each individual youth of the Academy; temptations and struggles will arise to decide what is the ultimate use and application of the Doctrines of the Church. The Renaissance so famous in history ended in the useless ruins of castles and cities. The Christian Church, as a whole, remains as one grand ruin, and science, reformed as it was, has already shown that it is a ruin in spite of all that has been added to the world's knowledge. But we are promised in the New Church a crown of all Churches. It will not pass away. We have every reason to expect that our Youth, awakening, will show the results of this renaissance. The youth of the Church must be expected to carry on the work so well begun. I myself have no doubt that they will do so, and, in closing, I wish to express on behalf of all the young people in the Church, to the founders of the Academy, and to the founder whose birthday we have celebrated tonight, the affection and gratitude for this work which has been begun in the Church." (Applause.)

     THE TOASTMASTER: "As a fitting conclusion of the remarks of Mr. Gyllenhaal I will ask you to unite in drinking a toast to the little boy of Mr. and Mrs. Heath, who was born on this Founders' Day." (Song: "Here's to the babies.")

     "And in closing this celebration, I will ask you to unite in a final toast to our beloved Academy, and we will sing 'Dear Academia.'"

Dear Academia
Ever with gratitude bless we thy fostering care
     Ever our hearts glow responsive to thy love.
Years in their passing,
     Bring to thee jewels that add to thy beauty rare;
Gems lit by pure truths resplendent from above.

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     Firm may we be
     In loyalty
Owning our loving allegiance to thee.
     Thus, ever free,
     Thine we shall be
In life and in death
     Our own Academy!

     GEOFFREY CHILDS, Reporter.

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Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. Social life has been quiescent during the past month, everyone being content to rest a little after the somewhat crowded events of the holiday season. We have, however, been reveling in illustrated lectures almost to the extent of dissipation.

     Mr. Brown gave us an interesting lecture on Yellowstone National Park, showing a lot of beautiful slides obtained from one of the railroad companies, which loans them for lectures as a unique advertising scheme for their route. It proved a rather clever scheme, for the evening left all who attended fired with a desire to see this wonderful region, although we doubt if the railroad company would have scored so great a success without the efforts of Mr. Brown, who gave us a most interesting and instructive talk on the forces and phenomena of the great volcanic park.

     Mr. Whitehead, who, during the holidays, took a short but inquisitive trip to the Bermudas, gave us one Saturday evening a share in the pleasure and profit of his trip, which all who attended enjoyed immensely. Many beautiful pictures, some original ones by Mr. Whitehead, illustrated a delightfully interesting talk on that romantic group of islands.

     Lectures by Prof. Odhner on Swedenborg have taken the place of the Friday night doctrinal classes for several weeks. These have been illustrated from the new set of lantern slides relating to Swedenborg and the history of the Church, which are being prepared under the direction of Prof. Odhner and Mr. Emil Stroh. The pictures add greatly to the interest of the lectures, bringing vividly before us, as they do, the land and people and the friends of Swedenborg, and showing us so many places to which the life of the great Revelator has attached undying interest.

     Attendance at church and lectures has slightly fallen off lately owing to a considerable amount of illness and some very disagreeable weather.

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     THE ACADEMY SCHOOLS.

     The event of the month was the Swedenborg banquet held on Saturday evening, January 28th, to which the students and the Faculty, the Board of Directors and several friends were invited.

     After a tasteful supper, which was greatly enjoyed, both conversationally and otherwise, Mr. Geoffrey Childs, as toastmaster for the evening, introduced, after the opening toast to the Church, a series of toasts suggested by Swedenborg's definition of the components of true wisdom:--"Experience, Geometry and Reason," and the subjects, divided as follows, were ably handled by the young men who responded:

     "Experience," Mr. Sydney Childs and Mr. Hugo Lj. Odhner.

     "Geometry," Mr. Karl Alden.

     "Reason," Mr. Winfred Hyatt.

     The papers brought out quite remarkably the way in which a Newchurchman might make use of these instruments to wisdom, illustrating well and strongly from Swedenborg's own use of them. The subject of Experience was divided into two subjects, "Natural and Spiritual Experience," and both were full of interest and suggestion.

     "Geometry," which sounded least promising, proved most interesting, as the speaker brought out very eloquently and clearly the wonderful meaning and inclusiveness of that term as Swedenborg uses it, showing that all the laws of form, life and Divine order are included in it, and that Geometry to a student of Swedenborg becomes a living, breathing form, as little resembling the dead bundle of fact and theory to which it is usually applied as a radiant and beautiful maiden resembles a mummy.

     "Reason," the highest faculty of the human mind, was also handled from the standpoint of its future and present development among the men of the Church; and all who listened to this most interesting group of papers felt new delight in the promise they contained, both in the subjects themselves and in the affection of truth which inspired the young speakers.

     The delightful evening closed with an informal dance.

     The basket ball team is continuing its chequered career, but with better weather approaching, out-door sports are beginning to claim attention again.

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     PHILADELPHIA, PA. The Advent church has been making a fresh start since the Bishop appointed the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt to come in regularly from Bryn Athyn and assume pastoral charge for the rest of the season.

     After Pastor Rosenqvist returned to Gothenburg last spring the church was closed as usual for the summer, and in the fall the Bishop arranged for various ministers to take turns in filling the pulpit, the Thursday evening doctrinal class being taught by Mr. Gilbert Smith. These classes have been held at the houses of the members, followed by the singing practice, hitherto conducted by Miss Lottie Grant. And here we must record a curious experience. In spite of the ability and excellence of the work in each of its parts, yet there lacked a continuing something, and that something it was decided was the regular pastoral care by some one minister. Happily for the Advent church, they were able to secure at about the same time the services of Mr. Fred. Cooper to take charge of their music, Miss Grant having resigned on account of her health.

     When the move was made into the country--not only here but in Chicago--it was confidently expected that in the course of time all would be able to follow. But experience has shown this not to be the case. In both cities there remains a certain number who from the exactions of their use or the limitations of their means, if not from choice, prefer the city, and it is now evident also that the General Church cannot afford to abandon such fields where the concentration of the uses of this world are certain to call some of our members in the pursuit of a livelihood, and where, moreover, the great tide and flux of humanity affords an occasional addition to our ranks. There seems to be even the chance that in the course of generations the city congregations, as in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia, will take care not only of a somewhat transient population, but will gather in a share of the remnant among the masses who must necessarily reside where work is to be found. Such congregations, although mixed, may in time become the largest of all numerically, but their problem will always be different from those centers which are composedly clustered about an educational use, as at Glenview or Bryn Athyn.

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This matter (among others) was discussed somewhat at length at the banquet held in the historic "Glenn Hall," the place of worship of the Advent church, at 555 North 17th street, on the evening of January 29th. There were fifty-four loyal and enthusiastic members present at this festive occasion, and they were well rewarded by hearing from Mr. Alden a well delivered address upon the important work now going forward in Sweden, and from Mr. Iungerich a lucid, concise and interesting resume of some of the fine things that were done by Swedenborg, the scientist and philosopher, some of which have lately been recognized in part by the scholars of the world. The second part of the programme was devoted to a series of toasts to the Advent church and its uses, responded to by Messrs. Samuel Simmons, Fred. Cooper, Knud Knudsen, Raymond Cranch, and the new pastor. But space forbids any more detailed account. Suffice it to say that the new pastor and his flock are enjoying each other thoroughly, and that the attendance at both worship and class has responded very satisfactorily

     ALLENTOWN, PA. The little society of the Church in Allentown had a red letter day on January 1st. Church services were held at the house of Mr. Jacob Ebert. The sacrament of the Holy Supper was administered to twelve communicants. Mr. Eric Ebert and Miss Ora Ebert were confirmed, and Miss Lulu Teresa Zerweck was baptized into the church.

     After the services the entire society sat down to a bountiful dinner provided by our hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Ebert. Among the guests present was Mr. Charles F. Theyken, who was home on furlough from the Canal Zone in Panama, where he has been engaged in construction work for the last three or four years.

     After dinner still another rite of the Church was performed, namely, the betrothal of Mr. Eric Ebert and Miss Lulu Zerweck. Mr. Ebert and Miss Zerweck were married on January 19 at the house of the bride's mother in Bethlehem, the Rev. Enoch S. Price officiating. The entire Allentown circle attended the wedding, and afterwards stayed for a fine wedding supper, at which toasts were proposed and songs sung in honor of the happy pair. Mr. and Mrs. Eric Ebert left in the evening for New York, whence they sailed on January 21st for an extended wedding tour in South America. E. S. P.

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     ABINGTON, MASS. On Sunday evening, January 29th, we celebrated Swedenborg's birthday by a religious service at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Harris. The service itself was very short, and was followed by a paper on Swedenborg by Mr. Harris, after which refreshments were served.

     Our congregation is still increasing. Two more persons have become interested, one of whom regularly attends worship and Friday suppers G. M. L.

     WASHINGTON, D. C. The members of the Washington circle met at the home of Mr. Schatt on Friday evening, January 27th. where the Rev. Alfred Acton conducted an informal doctrinal class. The first chapter of the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION was covered briefly by our pastor, after which all took part in a general discussion of the subject. The following Sunday services were held at the home of Mr. Stebbing in Anacostia, and the Holy Supper administered to eight persons.

     The circle continues to grow, a new member being added by the presence of Mr. Miltiades Glenn, at one time a student at Bryn Athyn, and now an engineer in the army.

     Visits by Mr. Acton have been arranged for the second Sundays in March and May.

     PITTSBURGH, PA. Swedenborg's Birthday celebration was held January 27th in the church building. The usual program was somewhat altered to meet present-day demands. The position of toastmaster was successfully filled by the Rev. W. E. Brickman. Speeches were made by Messrs. George A. Macbeth, A. O. Lechner, L. J. Schoenberger and Jacob Schoenberger. Mr. Macbeth spoke on the subject, "Man's Duty to the Church;" Mr. Lechner and Mr. L. J. Schoenberger on "Man's Duty to the State," and Mr. Jacob Schoenberger on "Man's Duty to His Fellowman." The speeches were all very instructive, and it was a pleasure to have the opportunity of listening to them. Mr. Jacob Schoenberger s speech, "Man's Duty to His Fellowman," brought attention to a subject which is of importance to all Newchurchmen, and we reproduce parts of it below.

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     ". . . How can the doctrines of the Church be spread? Some of us are contented and believe that the Lord in His Providence will lead His people to the Church whenever they are prepared to receive the Writings. Others think that we are doing our duty solely by raising our children in the Church, by giving them a New Church education. But should this be all? No! We have a further duty to perform. Has not our merciful Lord given unto us His light, appreciation and love for His sacred writings in order to build up His Church, individually and collectively? Do we ever realize that this noble use of propagating the doctrines is given to us by the Lord, using us as means to spread the New Church? This can't be done by putting our light under a bushel. No, we must come more in contact with our fellowmen, starting with the individual, with the friend, even on the natural plane in our social, civil and business intercourse, and wherever there is an opportunity of an ear willing to hear let us talk 'New Church' to them. We do not need to hold back the teachings of the Second Coming of the Lord, but should consider ourselves as means in His Hands. What should be our attitude toward a new receiver of the Heavenly Doctrines coming into our midst? Should we not show him a cordial welcome and give him a cordial invitation to call again, and make it pleasant for him? Should we not, if possible, invite him to our homes, to read with him and to assist him in the way of advancement wherever we can?

     "In our small society very little has been done in the last twenty years in the way of evangelization. Should we not wake up to the fact that we have been negligent and that it is necessary for us to make a start in the right direction, viz., to advocate the doctrines of the New Church wherever the least opportunity presents itself? Let us not get into a state of indifference
by delaying this holy mission entrusted upon us by the Lord. Let us not be afraid or shrink from presenting the truth, at least whenever we confront favorable conditions. The Lord will do the rest."

     Mr. Schoenberger's speech was the culmination of a discussion which originated in the Philosophy Club, and which, later, became a topic for general consideration.

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     Wednesday evening classes have been of unusual interest of late. Mr. Pendleton has taken up the subject of "The Glorification of the Lord." He has devoted much thought along these lines and has given us many new ideas.

     A "shower" was given Friday, February 10th, for Miss Eleanora Schoenberger and Mr. Percy Brown. They were really surprised and everyone seemed amused at their "discomfiture."

     Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Caldwell have inaugurated Sunday evening "at homes," which provides a place of meeting for us, socially, and for which the society wish to thank their kind host and hostess. B. P. O. E.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. C. H. Mann, who for some time past has been engaged in secular work in Los Angeles, Cal., has now returned to the work of the ministry, having accepted the vacant pastorship of the Convention society in ABINGTON, Mass. The Rev. Paul Sperry, pastor of the New Church society at BROCKTON, Mass., has recently inaugurated a great movement for "Christian Unity" among the various sectarian bodies in Brockton. "Delegates from the Protestant churches of this city, in session at the Church of the New Jerusalem, last evening, voted to level all creed barriers in an effort to bring every church in Brockton into a common fellowship." The name of the new body is to be "The Federated Churches of Brockton." Invitations to affiliate with the Federation have been extended to the Roman Catholic churches, the Jewish synagogues, and the Christian Science church. Christian unity, indeed!

     At the 58th annual meeting of the OHIO ASSOCIATION, held in Urbana, O., October 28-30, 1910, Mr. J. H. Williams, of Urbana, a brother of Col. Rudolph Williams, of Chicago, presented a petition and moved that the Association adopt, without discussion, what is known as the "Brockton Declaration," but by vote of those present it was laid on the table. This marks the second futile attempt that has been made to have the Brockton Declaration adopted in Ohio. (See NEW CHURCH LIFE, for December, 1909, p. 735.)

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     The society at LOUISVILLE, KY., has been without a pastor since the removal of the Rev. Mr. Fischer to Philadelphia. Soon after Mr. Fischer's departure arrangements were made for monthly visits by the Ohio missionary minister. Mr. Small, however, made only one visit. Since this time "the society has not seen its way to meet, and prefers to do without any special help for the present."

     The society at ST. LOUIS, MO., Celebrated Swedenborg's birthday on Sunday, January 29th, by an evening meeting, at which addresses were given by five of the members on Swedenborg's Early Years, Swedenborg as a Man of Affairs, as a Scientist, as a Philosopher, and as a Religious Teacher.

     On the evening of January 21st the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck delivered his lecture on Swedenborg at the Congregational Church in PEORIA, Ill. The lecture had been arranged for by the New Church people of Peoria. On the Sunday morning of the lecture, "because there are so few of us and all could not be present at a parlor service, it seemed best for those who could do so to attend, instead, the First Congregational church with Mr. Schreck, as a courtesy to its pastor, Rev. Cadmus, for in the evening Mr. Schreck was to give his lecture there." The subsequent lecture was listened to by a large audience.

     The Afro-American New Church Society of CHICAGO holds regular Sunday evening services under the pastorship of the Rev. A. Simons, who was ordained at the last meeting of the Illinois Association.

     At a recent meeting of the Women's Council of the Illinois Association it was unanimously resolved that the "feminine element" should be represented in the executive bodies of the church.

     The Rev. Edward C. Mitchell has officially informed the General Council of the General Convention that the "Minnesota Association" has ceased to exist, a fact that has been known to the Church at large for twenty years.

     CANADA. From the TORONTO dailies we learn that the Rev. Percy Billings is about to sever his connection with the (Convention) New Church Society worshiping on College street. "The society is said to be divided on the question of baptism, one part maintaining that baptism by a New Church minister is necessary for membership in the society.

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Mr. Billings expressed himself as not being in sympathy with this." "The society seems unwilling, as a whole, to work on the broader Christian lines which Mr. Billings favors. One result of the exclusive attitude that has been adopted is a financial stringency, and this is the more immediate cause of the coming separation. Mr. Billings desires, if possible, to find some means of usefulness in this city so that he can in freedom and on a broad basis continue religious work on Sundays." (Toronto Globe, and Toronto Star, of January 17, 1911.)

     GREAT BRITAIN. The statistics issued by the General Conference show a membership for 1910 of 6,684, being an increase of 19 over the previous year. The junior membership is 1,162, an increase of 75; Sunday School membership, 8,082, an increase of 175.

     The Rev. J. J. Woodford has been called to the pastorate of the Kiddeminister society. This is the first time in its history that this society has engaged the regular services of a New Church minister.

     The Rev. Arthur Farady has resigned the Pastorate of the Snodland society.

     BOBEMIA. The following extracts from letters by Mr. and Mrs. Jaroslay Sanecek, the enthusiastic New Church receivers of Prague, are taken from the pages of the NEW CHURCH MESSENGER:

     "We labor untiringly for the spread of the Heavenly Doctrines. Our circle is increasing in numbers every week and progressing. The services every Thursday are sought by more persons each meeting. Over twenty new persons are interested, about fifteen of whom are at our meetings on Thursday; this is the result of our last month's work. At every hour of our worship (in which I serve as leader), I deliver a discourse. . . . These lectures are awakening great interest, so that the persons present bring new friends the next Thursday, and oftimes our home is not sufficient to accommodate comfortably all in attendance. . . . Mrs. Janecek has frequent invitations to visit a lady here or there, and is sure always to find not her alone, but several who desire to hear 'more' of the good news.

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In the homes of our families and friends the name Swedenborg is commonly heard. Thanks be to the Lord!. . .

     "You will be interested to hear that in June of the coming year (1911) a Congress of the Austrian friends of the New Church is to be held in Vienna. The movement started with our brethren in Trieste."

     Mrs. Janecek writes:

     "You will be interested in our recent experience: Eight days ago a noble family of London arrived in Prague, coming from Dresden. While in Dresden, whither the family had come on their pleasure trip, the young child was taken sick and in three days passed away. In order to find consolation in this bereavement they decided to undertake a journey to the Holy Land. But the lady following an inner dictate desired first to visit Prague. Here they took their abode in the hotel 'The Blue Star' ('Zum Blauen Sternen') where, as you know, our friend and New Church brother, Mr. Pos, is the guide, who speaks German, French and English.

     "While the family was seeing Prague under Mr. Pos's guidance he had occasion to speak of the Divine Symbols in the churches and attracted Mrs. McCulloch's attention [she is the bereaved mother]. She felt moved to ask Mr. Pos whether he could give her some information as to her child's condition now in the other life. That, as you know, was Mr. Pos's opportunity, and with great joy he unfolded the picture from the heavenly doctrines. The family was amazed at what they heard, and on returning to the hotel, passed several hours in company with Mr. Pos, who had his hands full answering all their questions, and his heart's delight in performing the use. The lady wished to know where she could obtain the writings of Swedenborg in English and also, which would be the best book to begin the knowledge of the other world.

     "Early the next day Mr. Pos was at our house to procure the desired address. About an hour after he had left us there came to us unexpectedly and without our having ordered it a copy of Heaven and Hell in English from America.

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We immediately sent the book to Mr. Pos that he might give it to the English family. They had, however, left the hotel and were, after some errands, to take the train for Vienna.

     "While in pursuit of their errands the bereft mother felt a strong desire to return to the hotel before taking the train to leave Prague, so they went back again to 'The Blue Star' and met Mr. Pos as he was hunting for them to put the book into their hands. The English friends could not help seeing the Hand of the Divine Providence which led them back to the hotel and to the book.

     "A few days later we received a card from Mr. Pos which to our great surprise informed us that the family were once more installed in 'The Blue Star' and had asked for us. In the afternoon of the same day Mr. Pos came to acquaint us with the wish of the married couple to visit us, that they had returned from Vienna to learn more of the good news in Prague. Finding us ready to receive them Mr. Pos returned at once to the hotel to bring the honored guests to our house. They remained from four o'clock until half-past nine.

     "The mother who could use the German language to a degree told us with fervor that she had found the wished for consolation, convinced that the dear child was in better hands, and that they ought not to grieve over its loss, seeing that the loving Father had called it to Him. She felt such an assurance of the truth in her heart!

     "As we learned from them they spent all their time in Vienna reading `Heaven and Hell,' the book being their constant companion. The child's mother said that as soon as they should have returned to London they should seriously study Swedenborg's works. Mr. and Mrs. McCulloch said they would linger a few more days in, Prague and asked to be permitted to visit us again. They had given up the visit to Palestine, as they had found the true source of consolation."

     Concerning the Mr. Pos, (pronounced Posh), referred to in the above letter, the Rev. J. E. Werren writes in the Messenger: "He is a very interesting and intelligent man. He had been a bookseller and publisher, but contracting 'the writer's cramps,' had to give up literary pursuits by the physician's advice and gave himself to the out-of-door occupation as guide in Prague, for which work he has an unusual store of information, beside being a very genial companion brim full of good stories.

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But his stories have always a spiritual background, whether the hearers perceive it or not. He has been the companion of nearly every noted personage who visited Prague. His reminiscences alone would fill an interesting volume."

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UNIVERSAL AURA 1911

UNIVERSAL AURA       LILLIAN G. BEEKMAN       1911




     Announcements.






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NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXI          APRIL, 1911           No. 4
     I.

     THE UNIVERSAL AURA IS CALLED "CELESTIAL" WHEN VIEWED FROM WITHOUT, BUT "THE SUPREME SPIRITUAL" OR "THE DIVINE SPIRIT" WHEN VIEWED FROM WITHIN.

     In studying the specific constitution, form and powers of the bullular structure of the primal ether, we will find useful our former concept of the clear demarkation between the centers and the envelopes of the bullae,-a demarkation amounting to a distinct differentiation of the two, both as to the degree of their concrete substances and their characteristic states and types of motion.

     The external form of the bullae,-that is, the form of their revolving envelopes, framed of close-set lines of "second finites,"-and all the trend and flow of these interwoven lines of finites, are according to that highly complex variant of the simple circular form which Swedenborg calls the: "perpetual vortical" or "Celestial."

     And, in a general way, the same "perpetual vortical" or "Celestial" type of cycling motion marks every activity of the primal ether volume; and this no matter what the nature, or whence the source of the stimulant active force,-the contingent force,-which excites the ether to motion.

     The law is that its reactivity is always of the same nature with that of the primal ether itself,-being autonomatically governed by its own intrinsic constitution and inherent reflexive powers; and this irrespective of the nature of source of the active force applied.*

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The reduction of the Celestial ether is always Celestial, whatever the nature of the contingent active force applied. Nor will the law that all action and reaction of the primal ether is Celestial, (for action and reaction are the same, and are the same in type), be altered if the communicated force setting it into general motion come to it from outside (inter) its bulla, or whether it arise within (intru) those bullae, from the very fountain of activity, per se, the living Infinite. If the stimulant activity is applied to the bullae from within, even from the Divine Itself, the resultant action of the bullae will be according to the form and circulation of the substance proper to the envelopes of the bulla.
     * The general law that the reactivity of elastic reactants is according to the form and nature of the reactant, not according to the form of the actuating or stimulant force, may be seen in a common illustration from the world of sense organs. No matter what the stimulant coming to the fine structure of the eye, no matter what the nature of the force impressed, the reaction of the eye always is according to the general lines and possibilities of its inner structural form; and is perceived as light. Electricity, a blow, anything communicating motion to the structure of the eye, and the eye reads with movements felt as light. The eye is built sympathetically to react along the range of the light-movements "of the ether." Crush the eye, and it convulsively reacts to crushing by movements still of the same type; and reacts against its death and annihilation with inner sense as of a sharp blinding blaze of light. In like manner, the ear reacts to stimuli in the same general manner. Action and reaction must proceed in it according to the lines characteristic of its working structure. And the reverberation of its death blow might be perceived by it as broken thunder, in the instant before all feeling ceased. If that finer sensory plane which has built into its governing structure all sympathetic aptitudes of pervious sensitives experienced as potential memory images, be stimulated to reactivity, whether by natural means, or prick of fevered blood, or the falling blows of death,-wonderful are the images and motions of past activities which spring as its reactive play.
     For life or death, the reaction of a reciprocative elastic form is always according to the quality and power, the mutual arrangement of the bullular units of which it is composed, and images or represents its type and pattern.
     And as is the law of organic "sense forms," so supremely is the law of reaction in the ethers. For the play of sense forms is but obscurely patterned to the play of the ethers. And the ethers are supremely more organic than finite organisms themselves are. For the ethers present the Divine Human of the Lord in Use, and are the very planes thereof.
     See T. C. R. 577 for the statement that organic reactivity co-operant with the Lord, or Life, operates only by means of substances in their nature elastic.

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     For even the inner forces, the life of the universe, acting inside the bulla, will produce an activity of the bullular form governed, or at least modified, by the form, the flow of substance, and the state of the envelopes of those bulla.

     The universal law stands that inner life and force act according to ultimate determinations. (D. L. W. 259.)

     Of this universal law the primal ether is the first exponent and exemplar; for the envelope of each ether bulla is the ultimate determination, the exterior form, the "body," of that particular bullular form. Thus when the Infinite Father, and the creative Word in its first equilibrated fullness of use as the primal aura, conspire together in creative, recreative, and inspiring activity,-all the Divine activity of the Father is taken by that sacred Divine sphere; and the ineffable life of the Infinite, given to the universe, accommodated to celestial gyres.

     It is from this ground, of the inherent type of its general activity as perpetual-vortical or celestial, that Swedenborg generally terms the primal ether "the celestial aura."

     The title of "celestial" given to the first aura, the primal ether, (third from the Infinite Essence), will be noted in the following quotations, as also its definition as the perpetually-vortical form.

     "The purest fluid of animals, their soul, derives its origin from the second aura from which aura also the magnetic force has origin." (E. A. K. II. 339) But "with regard to the human spirituous fluid, this is determined by an aura still more eminent and celestial, all things in which are inexpressible." (E. A. K. I. 625.)

     "The perpetual spiral or vortical form belongs to the higher ether . . . the magnetic force is due to the motions of this ether; the idea of this form almost transcends human understanding." (DE FIBRA, 265.)

     "A still higher, prior, more perfect form than the vortical form is the perpetually vortical or celestial; the qualities of this form altogether transcend idea, or comparison with other forms." (DE FIBRA, 266.)

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     "The purest fluid of brutes is produced from the vorticle ether; and our human spirituous fluid from the celestial aura or primal aura of the universe." (E. A. K. II. 344, no. 2.)

     This appropriation of the term "celestial" and "celestial form" for the primal aura, which lies so close in the genealogical line to the Infinite Esse, is not a chance coincidence in the use of words, but, as a term, a name, imports the very nature, quality and power we find in the Theological Works associated with the plane of the celestial heaven, and the celestial-organic plane in men. At least there seems no other feasible point of view, in view of the fact that the primitive or simple human cortices, the highest membranous organisms of the human form possible to the human form, are also said to be celestial, (DE FIBRA, 308), and this in a context which shows that the only form and influx above them is the, very form of the Divine Spirit.

     In the work on THE SOUL, n. 125, the pure or simple human cortex is said to be celestial; and it is said that it knows no higher form than the spiritual,-that sole higher spiritual form which is the very form of the Divine Spirit; and since in these primal degrees the form and the substance coincide, the form is by catexochen or supreme governance to be called itself the Divine spirit. (DE FIBRA, 267.)

     Moreover in the work on THE SOUL, treating of the simple cortex, celestial in form, Swedenborg notes a series of characteristic powers which tally with the characteristics of what we know from revelation as the celestial degree, and with the characteristics of that degree only. Moreover, this plane of the simple cortex is opened late in life; and opened only by truths and loves approximating in nature that verimost essence of human organization, the soul.

     The simple cortex is the most eminent organ of the pure intellect, its form is the truly celestial form. (THE SOUL, 125.) The form of this intellectory is born of the essential determinations of the soul, which are s, many pure intelligences. (Ibid. 126.)

     The sensory depends upon the simple cortex. The organism of the body depends upon it. (Ibid.)

     The pure intellect possesses inmostly in itself a most perfect knowledge of natural things.

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Its property is to know universal nature. It is a supreme intellect prior to the senses. It is as perfect in the embryo as in the adult. (Ibid. 131, 134.)

     It comprehends simultaneously that which thought, or our rational mind, comprehends successively. For the celestial form embraces, and, as it were, contemplates all following forms as if existing in itself, when it begins its operations. (Ibid. 132)

     The pure intellect speaks in parables. (Ibid. 135.)

     Its relation to the plane of actual human thought is not a relation of influx. The relation between the lower planes and the higher ones is a relation of correspondence. (Ibid. 139.)

     As the human intellect, or plane of the cortical glands, is perfected and grows by truths approaching the essence of the pure, and by experience of life, the way is thus opened, developed, and habituated; then the pure intellect which has been present from the beginning of formation, but could not evolve itself in the plane of the human intellect and thought and sense, now comes forth and emerges just as from a prison in which it had been shut up. (Ibid. 155.)

     The primal ether is, then, predicated by Swedenborg as perpetually-vortical or celestial, so far as the form of the envelopes of its bullae and the pattern of the general cycling flow of its volume are concerned.

     The interiors of those bullae, however, are clearly discriminated from their envelopes; for their interiors, or what are called their active centers, present a far higher state than the envelopes, since they are far less dense; and moreover the only "finites" found in those active centers, the first finites,-are prior, more perfect, more active, and nearer in derivation to the Infinite Esse than the finites composing the envelopes. Thus as of a higher degree of substance, a whole step nearer to the Infinite Source, and of a higher state, moreover, they would anticipate the whole arrangement and flow of the "finites" occupying the active centers, to be according to a higher form than that distinguishing the envelopes. But the next higher form to the celestial is the perpetually-celestial, the form of the Divine Spirit, or the supreme Spiritual.

     If this be true, when the primal ether is named from its interior grounds, or the form and degree of the active centers of its bullae, it would be called the supreme Spiritual form, and the Divine Spirit.

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Now this double naming of the primal aura, third from the Infinite, is found in Swedenborg.

     In the work ON THE SENSES the four atmospheres are enumerated; it is mentioned, moreover, that they are the four atmospheres treated of in the PRINCIPIA, and twice in a few pages the lower three ethers are listed as natural, and the first aura is called the universal spiritual which is supreme. While in DE FIBRA, 267, the supreme spiritual form is defined as the Divine Spirit, and it is called the Divine Spirit.

     Thus the primal aura, near to the Infinite, when named by Swedenborg from external grounds of form and general activity, is called the celestial aura. But when from its internal grounds of form and reception, it is termed the Divine Spirit. Thus since the bullular units of the primal aura are interiorly of a higher form and flow, the form of the very Divine Spirit, and exteriorly those units are of the perpetually-vortical or celestial form,-therefore, the primal ether is peculiarly adapted and formed to act as the nexus or medium between the living forces of the Infinite and the celestial plane; thus partaking of the Father and showing Him to the heavens.

     Moreover, an emulous double constitution, and double naming, is found in the other ethers also. For instance, in the bullular units of the second aura or ether, the finites forming their envelopes are of a distinctly lower grade than the finites of the interior spaces. Moreover, the circulation of the finites constituting their bullular walls is of the vortical or perpetually-spiral flow; and vortical, likewise, is all the general movement of the second ether.

     But the flow and arrangement of the finites occupying their centers is according to an order of circular motion next higher than the vortical motion; that is, it is perpetually-vortical or celestial. And this is of the same order of motion as that which is proper to the envelopes or exterior forms of the primal ether bullae; a fact which becomes explicable so soon as we learn that the same grade of finites as that forming the envelopes of the bullae of the first aura, is the grade of finites which form the active centers, or "soul," of the bullae of the second aura.

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Therefore, both the exterior form of the first ether, and the interior of the second ether are "celestial;" the relation between the respective "celestials," that of the first aura and that of the second aura, seeming to stand much as the relation between the celestial itself, and the celestial of the spiritual.

     At least the form and flow and grade of the substance characterizing the relatively passive envelopes or exteriors of the primal ether, characterize also the active centers of the second ether. Thus the second ether also will receive two names, according as it is named from the grounds of its interior form and activity, or exterior form and activity; its interior form being celestial, its exterior form vortical. Both forms are actually so given. The vortical is the most common. But when the primal ether is found named according to internal grounds, the second ether will be found to be named so also. Thus if the primal ether may stand as the very primal embodiment of the Lord, the Only-Begotten as to use, and the great Nexus mediating between the Divine and the celestial,-the second ether would seem to be the nexus or medium constitutionally Prepared to intermediate between the celestial and the vortical.*
     * The study of the ethers considered as archetypal forms of soul and body, is profoundly interesting. The relatively dense and passive envelopes are "the body." The active centers are "the soul," and, as in all cases, the soul belongs to a relatively higher degree, both as to substance and form and activity than the body, so here also. The soul or active and non-dense interiors of the ether bullae in every instance are of a higher degree,-i. e., nearer to the primal simples, than their body or envelopes. The particulars of constitution wherein the several ethers differ, is important, too. For instance, in the two ethers grouped as terrestial,-the third and fourth, the series runs in an unexpected manner: the third ether harking back to the celestial for its interior, while the fourth takes its centers from the vortical.

     II.

     THE UNIVERSAL AURA AS THE NEXUS BETWEEN THE INFINITE AND THE CELESTIAL PLANE.

     Structural adaptation of the bullular form of the primal ether to act as a nexus between the Infinite All-Father and the Celestial degree of finite creation; a nexus able by form and structure to act as the intermediate by which the activity, per se, of the Infinite is gathered up, accommodated to a more general form, carried over to and received by the organic forms proper to the Celestial degree.

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     It is fitting also, and in keeping with its nature, that the primal aura, which presents the equilibrated fullness of the outgo of the sphere of the supreme Divine Human primes, the Only Begotten from eternity, the nexus and intermediate between the Infinite and finite as to essence and substance, should forever act by its very constitution as the nexus and intermediate between the Infinite All-Father and the Celestial plane, not as to essence only but as to life and form and animative motion. Moreover the primal aura, the first element of the world, is the only one which is universal and is the atmosphere of the world. (E. A. K. II. 312.)

     In it Swedenborg supposes as many active centers as there are stars or suns; and as many as are the stars or suns, so many are the individual vortices or subuniverses surrounding them.

     The second aura, the vortical or magnetic ether, possesses the ether characteristic of the subuniverses or vortices. But the superior ether, the first and highest and most universal "embraces and directs all other vortices or universes." (Ibid. 272.) This primal ether, the absolute atmosphere of the universe, and the finest ether of them all, passes through all vortices, fills all inter-spaces greatest and least,-fills the starry heavens, and flowing in the solar vortices together, or in one volume, with the vortical or magnetic ether, is the active power which puts and chiefly keeps even the vortical flow in motion. (PRINCIPIA, Part I, Chapt. VI, 39, par. 4, 50.)

     The first aura, the primal bodiment and manifestation of those simples which interiorly are the Only Begotten, would here stand in a relation to the universe and the vortices, which seems to connect with the teaching in S. D. 279, where it is said that "God Messiah as a man fills the universe; and thus all those things which are in the universe correspond to him; wherefore heaven is God Messiah Himself, because He is the All in All. And thus the heavenly sphere, the vortices and mansions, correspond to Him and His Members."

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     The primal aura would stand, therefore, as the Body of God Man, most intimately mediating and connecting the Infinite activities of the Divine Esse both to the universe and to the subspheres of the solar vortices; which are as members of the Body of God Man.

     III.

     THE OFFICE OF THE PRIMAL AURA TO THE HUMAN SPIRITUOUS FLUID.

     That this first aura is intrinsically a supreme human aura, all its action being fully human in its trend and powers, shines forth luminously from the truths given us concerning its office and relation to the primal essence of the human form, the human spirituous fluid.

     "The soul," Swedenborg says, "is an organism formed by the spirituous fluid." The body, senses, animus, and mind live the life of their soul, "and the soul lives the life of the spirit of God." (E. A. K. II, 311.) The human spirituous fluid is determined by an aura still more eminent and celestial. (Ibid. I, 635.) "This very fluid itself, in which is life, is determined from the most eminent aura of the world." (Ibid. 638) "Whence it obtains such a nature as to be a substance capable of forming its own body." (Ibid. 636.)

     That everything which proceeds from the Lord, tends to the human form. (DOCT. LORD, 32.) And in the human spirituous fluid, all ideas, laws and sciences of the universe are connate. (E. A. K. II, 300.) This human spirituous fluid is, Swedenborg says, "most exquisitely adapted for the reception of life, and lives, not from itself, but from the God of the universe." (Ibid. II, 245.)

     God is the first esse, the life, of the human spirituous fluid, the fountain of life, the sun of wisdom, the spiritual light, the very Esse and I AM, in Whom we live and move and have our being; from Whence, by Whom, unto Whom, are all things, Who is the First and the Last. (Ibid. II, 238.)

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     Moreover, the human spirituous fluid is the first, simplest, highest, inmost, remotest, and most perfect substance of its body; it is determined in the most perfect manner, and without a medium, by the aura of the universe, or the primal aura; it partakes in no respect of terrestial matter; is entirely above the world and nature of posterior things, and as far above the souls of brutes as the unassignable is above the assignable. And Swedenborg proceeds to confirm therefrom the everlasting immortality and safety of the human spirituous fluid,-even if the planet and the circumambient atmosphere should perish,-"suppose the like fate should overtake the universe, with its universes, stars and suns," still, he affirms, this fluid remains indestructible. (Ibid. II, 350.)

     And what the human spirituous fluid is in, and to, the microcosm of the human form, that the first aura or primal ether is in, and to, the macrocosm. "The form of the units of the human spirituous fluid results from the essential determinations of the first aura. Hence the high powers involved in the aura are transferred into this fluid, as its offspring. Also this, that it can play the first part in any series of organic substance of any body, just as the aura plays the first part in its own world or great system. Wherefore, the former acts in the microcosm in the same manner as the latter acts in the macrocosm. Thus it follows that both the one and the other is a formal, forming, or informing cause, . . . that is to say, it is the formative substance of all the posterior or inferior things in its universe or kingdom." (Ibid. II, 228.)

     All this would make the primal aura stand as the very universal aura or sphere of human generation and the conjugial.

     From all these things, the primal aura seems to stand to the universe as the plane or substance of the universal presence of the Lord Himself in the universe: the sole immediate body or plane of the Divine Human in Essence, and Form, and Use or Power.

     And from these connections with the human formative substance, it would seem also to stand to reason as the very plane, the prime and universal sphere of human generation, regeneration, providence, and the conjugial. For the primal aura is the sole atmosphere which is so universal that it can be termed the universe itself. And in the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, n. 652, it is said that the universal sphere infilling alike the spiritual and the natural worlds, and elevating all to heaven, is the sphere of the very current of the Divine Providence.

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While CONJUGIAL LOVE speaks of a universal sphere, the conjugial, which infills the universal heaven and the universal world and the souls of man kind; in which, moreover, is the force of generating. (n. 222-5, 355, 388-9.)

     (To be continued.)
RESURRECTION BODY OF THE LORD 1911

RESURRECTION BODY OF THE LORD       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1911

     "A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." (Luke xxiv. 39.)

     After the crucifixion the eleven disciples were gathered together in Jerusalem when word was brought to them that the Lord had indeed risen from the dead, and had been seen by several of His devoted followers. While they were yet speaking, we are told that "Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. And when He had thus spoken He shewed them His hands and His feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and of a honeycomb. And He took it and did eat before them.

     In this manner the Lord proved to His disciples that although He had suffered the death of the cross and His body had been laid away in the tomb, He was still alive and a man as He was before and to all appearance had undergone no change whatever. He was a man and not a spirit. He had flesh and bones as other men have, and all the other marks of a man such as they had seen Him have during the three years they had followed Him in His public ministry in the land of Canaan.

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     The disciples, therefore, rejoiced that they saw Him now alive as a man notwithstanding the fact that they had witnessed His death and burial. They had given up all hope of seeing Him again, for they knew that when a man died he was never more seen in the world of nature. But a wonderful thing had happened, a great miracle had taken place; their Master had died, but here He was alive and a man.

     They had given up hope because they were not yet fully enlightened as to the Lord and His kingdom. They had expected Him, as the promised Messiah, to establish a natural kingdom, like unto the other kingdoms of the world; but before this was accomplished He had been put to death, and their hopes of a worldly kingdom, with themselves as chief ministers in it, had vanished. In the light of this world they had seen Him as the one who was to be the promised king of Israel, the greatest of all earthly kings, but still one of the kings of this natural world, but this idea of Him had perished with His death, and in their despair a new light was about to dawn upon them, a light which would make the light of this world appear as a dankness and shadow. They were now face to face with the greatest of all the miracles performed by the Lord. He was dead and was buried, but yet He now stood before them and in their presence as a man; He even sat down and ate with them and in their presence as a man; He even sat down and ate with them, and proved to them that He was a man as He had been before.

     This was the beginning of a new light to them, the light of a spiritual kingdom, which the Lord had come to establish, and not a natural one as they had before vainly imagined. This new light began now to shine in their minds, a light that shone more brightly after the day of Pentecost, when the tongues of fire alighted upon their heads, and in this light they went forth to preach the spiritual kingdom of the Lord.

     In the appearance of the Lord unto His disciples, after He rose from the dead, two things were impressed upon their minds in the new light into which they were now introduced. First, that the Lord was still a man like other men, and yet He was not like other men. It now began to dawn upon them, even though faintly at first, that while He appeared to them as a man, yet there was about Him something more than any other man possessed, yea, more than all men in the world possessed; for He did things which no other man could do.

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They remembered the wonderful miracles which He had performed during His sojourn with them or during His ministry in the world; but the greatest miracle of all now took place. He showed Himself to them as a living man; and yet there was with Him something different from an ordinary man; and one thing in particular He did which no other man could do. On one occasion when He appeared to them, just before the event which we have now related, He suddenly became invisible or "vanished out of their sight." (Luke xxiv. 31.) On another occasion, before His ascension into heaven, "when the doors were shut, when the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in their midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said He shewed unto them His hands and His side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. . . . And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless but believing." (John xx. 19, 26) The Lord thus showed to them that He was a man like other men, and yet was different from other men. It filled them with wonder and amazement that He had all the appearance, all the characteristics and marks of a man, and them just as a suddenly vanish from their sight or appear to them just as suddenly in a room where they were assembled, the doors being shut. In fact, the truth now began to insinuate itself time far more than a man. They began to see Him now as the true Son of God, a Divine Man come into the world, not to establish a worldly kingdom or bestow material benefits upon men, but to save human souls.

     Their attitude towards Him now changed. They had reverenced Him before as a most wonderful man, but from this time they began to worship Him as the Son of God; and they established this worship in the Christian Church by their preaching, and the early Christians continued for three hundred years to do as the apostles had taught them, namely, to worship the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as the Son of God.

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But his pure worship was abolished by the decree of the Nicene Synod, when the doctrine of a tri-personal God was declared, and the worship of the invisible God established, called God the Father.

     This changed attitude of the disciples toward the Lord is most apparent in the book of Revelation, for John throughout that work speaks of Him as God, the true object of worship; and John says, when the Son of Man appeared to him in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks: "When I saw Him I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the First and the Last; I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore. Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death." (Rev. I. 17, 18) Thus He was different from other men, since He was a Divine Man, for the voice which John heard speaking the words we have read was not the voice of man but the voice of God. Well might John fall at His feet as one dead.

     The second thing impressed upon them was, that there is a life after death. They saw the Lord before them alive after His decease. The Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection, they did not believe in the immortality of the soul, or in a life after death. There was a general unbelief in this among the Jews. The disciples shared the doubts of others, or at any rater they were in great obscurity on this fundamental principle of all religion. But now the Lord stood a living man before them. He lived after death; therefore, man, every man, will live after death. Every man will rise after the death of the body. The human soul is not a temporary existence, like the soul of animals, but immortal, and man was created that he might live forever. This is what seeing the Lord as a living man before them impressed upon the minds of the disciples. He was man, but more than man, He was Divine, and it was made clear to them that there is a life after death. This was the beginning of faith in the Christian Church, the beginning of the Christian religion-Jesus Christ is God, and man lives after death, and since he is to live after death he must prepare for that life. This is what made the Christian Church, especially in its early days, a spiritual church-the idea of the Lord as god, and the idea of eternal life and preparation for it.

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The Jewish Church was not a spiritual church because these two were lacking in it. They had no idea of a life beyond the grave, nor any true idea of God; hence, while they had a form of worship they had no religion, for there is no religion without these two fundamentals. Worship is a dead form and religion a dead form without the worship of God from a true idea of Him, and without the thought and belief in a future life involving at the same time active preparation for it.

     These two doctrines were what the apostles went forth to preach,-not Jesus Christ and Him crucified, but Jesus Christ and Him glorified. This was what they proclaimed to the Gentiles, and they testified also wherever they went to the reality of a life after death because they had seen the risen and living Lord; therefore men were exhorted to make active preparation for that life, by repentance and obedience to the commandments, for men were sure to live, after the death of the body, in another world. But these two doctrines were afterwards perverted and destroyed and the Christian Church ceased to be a spiritual church, such as it was in its beginning, such as was established by the apostles.

     After the falsification and perversion of the early truth of the Church, among other things there arose the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. It was held and believed that at the day of the last judgment, which was to be at the end of the world, when all nature would be destroyed, the souls of men would be reunited with their material bodies-the latter then rising from the grave for this purpose-and men would then, and not before, be introduced into heaven. Among the proofs of this doctrine is the teaching in the Gospels, as in the text, that the Lord rose with His body and left nothing in the sepulcher. If the Lord rose with His body so man would rise with his material body into heaven. It was, however, not observed or heeded that the text really teaches that a man does not rise with his material body into heaven. It was, however, not observed or heeded that the text really teaches that a man does not rise as the Lord did. Man rises as a sprit and becomes a spirit in the spiritual world, leaving his material body and never to resume it again. Therefore, the Lord said to His disciples, "A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have," that is, a spirit does not have a body such as the Lord had.

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     The text is explained or referred to about twenty times in the Writings, and always to the effect that the Lord rose with His whole body, different from any man, and it is shown that this is the teaching of the text. The following are examples of what the Writings say on this subject:

     "The Lord is the only one who ever rose into heaven with the body also, is treated of." (A. C. 1729)

     "Not only the rational, but also the sensual, and thus the very body itself was made Divine . . . for the Lord alone rose from the dead as to His body." (A. C. 2083)

     "The Lord made the very corporeal in Himself Divine, as well the sensual thereof as the recipients, wherefore also He rose again from the sepulcher with His body." (A. C. 5078)

     "The Lord glorified or made Divine His body, while He was in the world." (Ibid.)

     "The Lord rose again not only as to the spirit but also as to the body. . . for His soul was the Divine itself, and the body was made a likeness of the soul, thus also Divine." (H. H. 316)

     "He took from the sepulcher when He arose His whole human body, both as to the flesh and as to the bones, otherwise than any man." (T. C. R. 170)

     "For the Lord disclosed to His disciples that He had glorified or made Divine His entire Human even to its natural and sensual." (A. E. 619)

     "Inasmuch as there was such a union or such a oneness in the Lord, therefore He rose again, not only to the soul but also as to the body, which is not the case with any man." (E. U. 159)

     "Inasmuch as the Lord was glorified, that is, made Divine, therefore after death He rose again on the third day with His whole body, which does not happen to any man; for man rises again only as to His spirit, and not as to his body. In order that man might know, and no one might doubt, that the Lord rose again with His whole body, He not only declared it by the angels who were in the sepulcher, but also showed Himself in His human body before His disciples. . . .

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As however His body was now no longer material but Divine substantial, therefore He came unto the disciples with the doors shut." (DOCT. LORD 35)

     It is also said several times that He left nothing in the sepulcher. (A. C. 10125, 10252, 10825; T. C. R. 109; A. E. 41, 66, 581)

     In all these numbers and in more of the Writings, the text is quoted and also other passages in the Gospels, to prove that the Lord rose with His whole body, which is not the case with any man; yet it is also shown that His body now Divine was therefore no longer material but Divine substantial; hence He appeared to His disciples when the door was shut; and it is also stated that "when the disciples saw Him (after His resurrection) the eyes of their spirit were opened, but when He became invisible those eyes were closed." (A. E. 53)

     These teachings establish the truth that the Lord, after His resurrection and glorification, had a human-no longer like that of an angel in heaven without a natural body-but He had a human like that of a man in the world; but it establishes also the truth that it was not material but Divine substantial.

     In approaching this subject we are drawing near to that which is perhaps the most holy mystery of the Church, and in doing so it becomes us to humbly acknowledge the limitation of the human understanding. The time is doubtless approaching when we shall know more of this Divine mystery than we do now; for the materials are being collected that will lead us nearer to a solution than we are able to attain in the present limited state of our knowledge. In the meantime it is most appropriate that we should accept in a simple faith the teachings of the Lord in His Second Coming, and pray the Lord that He will enlighten us, whensoever it shall seem good to Him to illuminate our thought on a subject which has up to this time baffled the thought of the theologians of the Church. Let us accept the teaching, then, with a simple heart, and let us realize at the same time that we are treading on holy ground, and take the shoes from off our feet, and bow before the Lord as He appears in the burning bush, in which He is present with all His Divine Love and all His Divine Wisdom and all His Divine Life. Amen.

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SWEDENBORG'S SCIENTIFIC PREPARATION FOR HIS MISSION AS REVELATOR 1911

SWEDENBORG'S SCIENTIFIC PREPARATION FOR HIS MISSION AS REVELATOR       Rev. GLENDOWER C. OTTLEY       1911

     (An address delivered at "Feast of Charity" on the 29th of January, 1911, Burton Road, Brixton, London.)

     It is the oft repeated teaching of the Heavenly Doctrines that the first is in all the series even as the end is in the cause and in the effect-a statement so philosophically true as to admit of no doubt whatever in the mind of a rational being.

     Now this principle applies to Swedenborg's Science and Philosophy; they are both based on an absolute recognition of the Divine from first to last. In the first chapter of his great work-THE PRINCIPIA-which treats of the macrocosm, he makes a statement on this point which is an unequivocal as it is truly worthy of his marvelous philosophical mind. He says:

     True philosophy and contempt of the Deity are two opposites. Veneration for the Infinite Being can never be separated from philosophy; for the who fancies himself wise, whilst his wisdom does not teach him to acknowledge a Divine and Infinite Being-that is, he who thinks he can have any wisdom without a knowledge and veneration of the Deity, has not even a particle of wisdom. (Ch. 1:4)

     Starting, therefore, with this belief, Swedenborg approached the sciences from a standpoint which was as new as it was unique. This is made quite clear by the opening words of the Second Chapter of the PRINCIPIA where he treats of the first Natural Point and "its existence from the Infinite."

     No rational and intelligent philosopher, (he exclaims), can deny that the first ens was produced from the Infinite, as well as the rest in succession, or all the parts of which the world is composed. For the world cannot derive its being from itself, because it is finite and consists of parts: neither can these parts derive their being from themselves, because these, also, are finite, and consist of their parts; nor again can these latter for the same reason. In short, nothing that is finite can exist from itself, that is, without a cause to bring it into existence. There must also be a cause why it was finited in this or that manner, and in no other; or why it acquired one particular limit, in preference to another.

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In other words, nothing can exist without a cause except the Infinite. The Infinite alone exists without a cause or from itself; nor does it consist of parts. Thus the ultimate cause of things terminates or begins in the Infinite-that is, who exists of Himself and who consists not of parts; so that from Him finite things must have proceeded. What is finite therefore, takes its origin from what is infinite as an effect from its cause. . . .

     If now this underlying and fundamental principle of Swedenborg's Science and Philosophy be well borne in mind, the reader will at once enter sympathetically into the object or scope of the PRINCIPIA which is stated in a luminous manner by its learned translator-the Rev. Augustus Clissold, the translator also of the ECONOMY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.

     The object of the PRINCIPIA, (says Mr. Clissold), is to trace out a true system of the world, and in so doing the author has distributed his subject into three parts. The First Part treats of the origin and laws of motion and is mostly devoted to the consideration of its first principles... their existence being traced from a first natural point [whose existence is from the Infinite] down to the formation of a solar vortex and afterwards from the solar vortex to the successive constitution of the elements of the three kingdoms of nature. . . . In the Second Part the author applies this theory of vortical motion to the phenomena of magnetism, by which, on the one hand, he endeavors to treat the truth of his principle, and on the other, by application of the principles, to explain the phenomena of magnetism.... In the Third Part, the author applies the same principles of motion to cosmogony, including the origination of the planetary bodies from the Sun, and their vortical revolutions until they arrived at their present orbit. . . ; so that the entire PRINCIPIA aims to establish a true theory of vortices, founded upon a true system of corpuscular philosophy. . . . In this work, then, the author...accounts, on a single principle, for the properties of atoms as of universes. . . .

     Now wherein, at the outset, do the true principles of Science, as laid down in the PRINCIPIA and which are applied more fully or interiorly in the anatomical and physiological works of Swedenborg, differ from those of other distinguished philosophers-Bacon, for instance? The difference lies in the fact that Bacon "desires," as Dr. Garth Wilkinson says, "unassisted by philosophical doctrines to scale the heights of nature, hoping that one correct induction piled upon another will enable him at length to arrive at the apex of the pyramid. . . .

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Swedenborg alone has propounded a science constituted of principles which, as it were, spontaneously are physical in the physical universe and philosophical in the mind of man from which we may pass and repass from the one into the other, so as to contemplate the end of creation in connection with the means and vice versa."

     Now what are those "philosophical doctrines" to which Dr. Wilkinson is referring in so pointed a manner and which are so intimately bound up with Swedenborg's Science and Philosophy? They are, as stated by him, in his eloquent "Prologue" to the ANIMAL KINGDOM (see p. 10), the "Doctrine of order and Degrees" of which, even so far back as 1717, he became fully conscious; the "Doctrine of Forms"; the "Doctrine of Modification"; the "Doctrine of Series and Society"; the "Doctrine of Communication and Influx" which is to be met with in the PRINCIPIA published in 1734. To these wonderful "doctrines" which he informs us he "discovered, disengaged and brought forth by the most intense application and study" and which accompanied him at every step or stage of his analysis (see A. K. 17), he finally added the "Doctrine of Correspondence and Representation." This particular "Doctrine," as Dr. R. L. Tafel - one of his most competent and trustworthy exponents-has truly said, constitutes the "crowning doctrine of his analytic career" was elaborated in 1741.

     With the publication, however, of the PRINCIPIA, Swedenborg's macrocosmic investigations were brought to a successful end.

     Shortly afterwards he entered upon higher studies-the examination of the structure of man. In other words, as a true philosopher and in accordance with his own sublime principles or "doctrines," he proceeds from the "general" to the "particular" in the domain of creation; that is, from the macrocosm to the microcosm. It is, indeed, while prosecuting his labors in the latter domain that he gives a striking proof of the wonderful results flowing from the rigorous application of those "new doctrines" which he had laid down for his "guidance" in his studies and investigations as a man of science and as a philosopher. (A. K. 17)

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     One is tempted to ask, en passant, how did Swedenborg-even at this period of his extraordinary life when he lays no claim to that spiritual or Divine illumination which he subsequently enjoyed,-succeed in elaborating for himself these "new doctrines" which the science or philosophy of his day did not even remotely suggest? No answer can be framed to this question except on the hypothesis that he was even then, unknowingly to himself, being quietly and steadily led to see, as if by a species of Divine intuition, some of those interior, spiritual principles which were essential to the working out of his unique system. The statement he made to a clerical friend would seem to justify the conclusion:

     I was first introduced by the Lord into the natural sciences and thus prepared. This happened from the year 1710 to 1744 when heaven was opened to me. (Letter to Oetinger; Document 232.)

     There is, however, abundant evidence of the closest connection between his scientific and philosophic works, the earlier ones having been clearly written for the sake of those that subsequently followed.

     The "new doctrines" which had yielded such brilliant results in his early scientific works were applied by him on even a more extensive and profound scale in the ECONOMY of THE ANIMAL KINGDOM and the ANIMAL KINGDOM.

     In speaking of the scope of the ANIMAL KINGDOM (which a former President of the Royal College of Surgeons-the late Dr. J. H. Greene-said was the "only system of physiology extant")* Swedenborg says:

     The end I propose to myself in this present work is a knowledge of the Soul, since this knowledge will constitute the crown of my studies. This, then, my labors intend and thither they aim. For the soul resides and acts in the beginnings, not of the body only, but also of the universal world; inasmuch as it is the supreme essence, form, substance and force of the microcosm; and appoints, establishes and governs the order thereof, of itself and by its own nature; consequently it is in the sphere of truths.
     * On this point Dr. Wilkinson is still more emphatic. He says: "It will one day be known of Swedenborg that he is, indeed, the founder of human physiology in distinction to general animal organology. He is not only the founder, but has, as yet, no successors. For the very conception of human physiology is not given in the scientific mind." (See HUMAN SCIENCE, etc., p. 166.)

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     The question now arises: How could he, as a physiologist, expect to succeed in attaining to a knowledge of a "substance"-the "soul"-so completely removed from the range or influence of the senses, when all other physiologists had altogether failed to reach so sublime a goal?

     Swedenborg gives the needed information himself. In the opening pages of the ANIMAL KINGDOM he expresses himself as follows when dwelling upon the subject of THE TONGUE.

     The nature of a member or organ is known from its use. The use determines what the organ is in itself, or in its own form; what it is in series with other organs which are contiguous to it and surround it and which continuously precede and continuously follow it: and what it is, in order, with those that are above and below, or prior and posterior to it. All these and their uses indicate the nature of the organ under investigation. The use and end are the first things that manifest themselves; for the end is, in a manner, all in all in every stage of the progress from first to last; the very soul of the thing. Thus all things that belong to the body and that act as parts of the body, vividly represent and manifest the soul

     By applying such a "new doctrine"-a Divine Doctrine, indeed, as Swedenborg was able to see when heaven was subsequently opened to him and when, for the first time, he became fully conscious of how miraculously his scientific and philosophic studies and investigations had been watched over for an altogether unique end-the giving of a Divine Revelation in a rational form-he unlocked or explained some of the abstrusest facts and functions of the organs of the human body. This fact was fully recognized in the pages of a medical journal published in 1844-called THE LONDON FORCEPS. The reviewer expresses his unbounded admiration for the theories and "doctrines" unfolded in the ANIMAL KINGDOM in these words:

     The philosophical unity of the work is astonishing, and serves to unlock the abstrusest organs, such as the spleen, thymus gland, supra-renal capsules and other parts upon which Swedenborg has dilated with an analytic efficacy which the moderns have not even approached, and of which, the ancients afforded scarcely an indication.

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Of the doctrine of Series, since called by the less appropriate term "homology," he has afforded the most singular illustrations, not confining himself to the laws of series in the solids, but boldly pushing it into the domain of the fluids, and this with an energy of purpose, and a strength of conception and execution, such as is rarely shown by any nine men in these degenerate days.

     Elsewhere in his review the same writer says:

     The book (THE ANIMAL KINGDOM) is a perfect mine of principles, far exceeding in intellectual wealth, and surpassing in elevation, the finest efforts of Lord Bacon's genius.

     The ECONOMY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM and the ANIMAL KINGDOM With all their wealth of principles were, however, only to lead up to a special treatise or work on THE BRAIN which may fairly claim, even at this day, to be the only work in the world which professes to treat of the organ of the mind on an altogether new and unparalleled plan or principle.

     This remarkable work after being preserved in manuscript during one hundred and forty years in Sweden was brought to light by the late Dr. R. L. Tafel, and consists, at present, of two volumes published during the life-time of its distinguished translator and annotator.

     The first volume treats of The Cerebrum and its Parts, and was published in 1882. In speaking of its extraordinary scientific merits Dr. Tafel says:

     Swedenborg's theory of the brain must appear in the eyes of the candid observer hardly less than miraculous; for not only has he anticipated nearly all the important discoveries made since his time in the science of the brain and of the nervous system; but under the guidance of those rational doctrines which he employed in order to wrest their secrets from the facts on these subjects, he also exhibits in broad daylight the functions of such obscure bodies as the pineal gland, the; infundibulum, and the pituitary gland.

     It was, however, at the Annual Meeting of the Swedenborg Society in 1882 that the late Dr. Garth Wilkinson, the Chairman on the occasion referred to, drew particular attention to its wonderful scope in language which was as Baconian in its philosophic ring as it was calculated to invite enquiry of any scientific mind not hopelessly steeped in, or biased by, the materialism rampant in the nineteenth century.

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After a lapse of twenty-nine years one passage in particular, is well worthy of perusal in which Dr. Wilkinson bears eloquent testimony to the power of these "new doctrines" which had enabled Swedenborg to prosecute his labors with such success in a field in which, even after one hundred and fifty years, he has no equal or compeer at this day.

     The work (he says) is a round and complete theory of the forms and functions of the human brain. Now such a theory is very nearly a doctrine; as it grows up to entire certainty, it is then a doctrine; as it increases in certainty it becomes doctrinal more and more; and the pellucidity of it becomes an eye in the head of science through which the real universe, then a very new universe, is seen. Swedenborg's theory involves the motion of the brain correspondent to the motion of the lungs, and the motion of the lungs as the universal physical and mechanical attraction of life into the body. It involves the motion of the highest substances, the cortical substances, according to the life of the highest faculties of the man. It, therefore, involves the determinate and most orderly motion of all the fluids in the brain from the principles of motion to the very ends of the same. His work is, according to the anatomy of the brain, a geography of the rivers of bodily and embodied life, a definite geography. So much for a brief word on his theory. It is embodied, embodied motion; and brain spirits and nerve juices moved, moved into the body, and constituting its momentaneous life.

     But above theory comes our old heaven-descended friend, Religious Doctrine. Doctrine again, and for ever again! Doctrine is the ever-potent father of Swedenborg's theory. The doctrine, namely, that there is a God, who is a Creator; and that God is the Author of the human soul. And that He made the living soul to be creative in its own finite sphere. And, further, that the soul, in order to embody itself, under God immanent made the brain, which is thus the Anthropoplasm of the human frame upon earth. The brain, from its first principles, conceived, through the Divine Wisdom of the Soul in it, all the details of its own form, fitting it to be the abode of the mind in all its faculties. The principles are the engineers of the causes, and the causes are the engineers of the effects or realized ends. So that in brain substance you have the body given, just as in a Stephenson you have the steam-engine given. But all is from the soul; because not protoplasm, but anthropoplasm, and if I may coin a word, pneumatoplasm and angeloplasm, are being pleaded here.

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The soul, also, which makes the brain mechanic, inventive, contriving for itself, imprints upon it with the form of motion also the power; and in an order and determination stupendous like the galaxies of heaven it commands a universal motion as the pulse and radiance of a universal life. And as there can be no motion without a corresponding and adequate something moved, there are fluids which are so eminent and so ordinate that they can be embrained and ensouled, and give life to the avenues of the brain, to the body and the blood.

     Well, this is all doctrine, and can never be destroyed, and it opens up theory; and thereby Swedenborg has entered the palace of the soul in the body.

     His way is a sublime illustration of his axiom, "Thought from the eye shuts up the intellect, but thought from the intellect opens the eye." In his case, intellect with God, the sou1, and eternity shining as a sun in every part of it.

     As Dr. Wilkinson foresaw at the very meeting at which this admirable Address was delivered, the first volume on the BRAIN attracted the notice of the scientific world shortly after its publication. In a journal, entitled BRAIN: A JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, and edited by some of the most eminent medical men in England, it was sympathetically reviewed by Dr. A. Rabagliati. The following opening words of the review will show the deep impression its perusal had left on the mind of the writer:

     This is without doubt one of the most remarkable books we have seen, and, perhaps, to a great extent, on that very account, it is a very difficult task to criticize or review it. The distinguished author lives in history more as the founder of a form of religious thought than as a scientific man.... It is a new experience to find him figuring as a writer of a work on the human brain, and still more curious to discover that, although that work has lain by for nearly a century and a half, it is now not only not valueless, but it appears actually to have anticipated some of the most modern discoveries in the region of its subject matter.

     How true this is, Dr. Rabagliati proceeded to show in detail:

     1. Swedenborg taught that the motion of the brain is coincident with respiration, not with pulsation. The origination of this view is now universally attributed to J. D. Daniel Schlichting, a physician of Amsterdam, who wrote, in 1750; but Swedenborg wrote in 1741 and 1744.

     2. Swedenborg held that the respiratory motion of the brain and lungs extends to the extremities of the body. This discovery is generally attributed to Dr. Piegu, who wrote in 1846. . .

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     3. Swedenborg taught that the anterior part of the cerebrum is the seat of the intellect. This is precisely the view adopted by modern science.

     Dr. Rabagliati then draws attention to a remarkable statement made by Swedenborg on the basis of "analogy" alone which modern science one hundred and thirty years later showed to be
a fact!

     4. Swedenborg held that the active parts of the brain are the cortical substance and that "the brain is made up of as many similars forms and natures as it has discrete cortical parts." And further, that "the cortical substance is so connected with the minute vessels of the brain, that you would believe that the cortical glands derive their origin from the vessels." Swedenborg did not say he had seen this structure, but, reasoning from analogy, he felt certain if his position that "the cortical glands hang down, and sprout forth from the sides and coatings of the producing and generating arteries, scarcely otherwise than as grapes and berries are wont to hang down." Dr. Bevan Lewis, writing in 1877... [offers] a remarkable corroboration of the truth of Swedenborg's statement.

     Would it be possible to adduce a more striking instance of the marvelous outcome of the application of those "new doctrines" which Swedenborg had "discovered and disengaged by the most intense application and study" and which, as the fact alluded to above testifies, he so boldly applied in the most complex and wonderful region of the human body-the brain? But there is still another remarkable discovery of Swedenborg's which remains unconfirmed by modern Science and which has far-reaching consequences in the domain of human physiology.

     Dr. Rabagliati says:

     Although Swedenborg taught that the movement of the brain was synchronous with that of respiration, he also held that it is independent of it.

     Now on what grounds is the theory propounded by Swedenborg one hundred and fifty years ago, and which has the fullest support in his theological works for profound and spiritual reasons, still called in question by modern Science? On the grounds that "the anatomical relations of the cerebrum to the other encephalic centres demonstrate that it is not one of the essential or fundamental portions of the nervous system, but a superadded organ receiving all its impulses to action from the parts below, and operating upon the body at large through them." (HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, by Dr. Carpenter, Sec. 568)

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The view here taken by Dr. Carpenter, and which fully represents the general attitude of modern physiologists with respect to the causes of the movement of the brain, is based, of course, on investigations made in the bodies of animals-their brain and nervous system.

     "As in the lower animals," says Dr. Tafel, "a great portion of the power of the cerebrum and cerebellum is transcribed into the corpora quadrigemina and into the spinal marrow, it is assumed that such also is, and must be, the case in man!"

     Swedenborg's theory of the "independent" motion of the brain is based on an opposite view of man-viz., that he is not like any other animal-high or low in the scale of existence-but has a higher and more complex nervous system because he alone is endowed with rational faculties which necessitate a more perfect organized medium-a human brain-for the display of those priceless mental gifts which are shared by no animal in creation.*
     * The immense gulf which separates man, as regards the size of his brain, from the most highly organized animal, was well pointed out by the late Professor Williamson in a lecture delivered at Manchester some years ago. He says: "The largest Gorilla has a brain of about 34 - inches of cubic capacity; but this magnitude is exceptional; generally speaking, the brain of the Gorilla has from 30 to 32 inches of cubic capacity. The brain of the highest form of intellectual man has about 114 inches of cubic capacity. Between these two extremes there is an enormous difference." If so, how call we logically or scientifically deduce from an investigation of the functions of the lower form of brain what must be the functions of the immensely superior organ in the human subject with its concomitant nervous system? "Nearly all that is here said concerning the trachea and larynx is a direct quotation from the Author's ANIMAL KINGDOM, pages 48, 94, 120."

     While applying, however, so rigorously in the domain of the brain those sublime and far-reaching "new doctrines" which had enabled him to elicit or discover a fact of the highest importance, but which the science of the day, as yet, shows no sign of endorsing, Swedenborg has practically restored by the publication, in particular, of his last and crowning physiological work the knowledge of a "spirituous fluid" to which he frequently refers in his earlier scientific works and which, according to him, plays a very important Part in the human economy.

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For in the chapter on the "Composition and Essence of the Blood" in the ECONOMY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, he says:

     There is a certain fluid of the highest degree of purity called by some the animal spirit which enters into the red blood as a principal substance and which constitutes its vital essence.

     In a subsequent chapter on the "Arteries and Veins" he shows, in his characeristically luminous manner, how the "cortical spherules . . . divide the blood, exclude the new spirituous fluid and transfuse it into the fibres, nerves and vessels." (Vol. I. p. 144; II. 177.)

     It is satisfactory to note that, at least, one eminent exponent of modern science-the distinguished reviewer of the work on the brain-should see the force of this teaching; for as Dr. Rabagliati adds:

     "We confess to have had our conceptions much cleared in this particular by a perusal of the book."

     Now to what logical conclusion do such striking facts as we have been passing in review, lead? Obviously to the following, that (1) not only does a wonderful solidarity run through Swedenborg's scientific and philosophic works, but that (2) the true principles of science which they set forth were intended to be an organic part of the system of spiritual truth then about to be revealed from God out of heaven. Indeed, Swedenborg himself adopted a course which does not appear to sanction any other inference. For instance, in a purely theological work-the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED-all the physiological and anatomical confirmations are drawn by him directly from the ANIMAL KINGDOM. If we refer to the Latin-English edition of the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED we shall find in the section called "Divine Love," V, the following foot-note of the learned Editor:

     On this vital point, however, we have-apart from the highly significant fact referred to-Swedenborg's own emphatic testimony that the science of his day could not serve as a plane for the truths of Divine Revelation. The reason of this he sets forth in the following striking passage which was written during the period of his Divine illumination:

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     "The science or the wisdom of the present day is such that it cannot serve as a plane for spiritual truths, mud? less for celestial truths. . . . For, at the present day, whatever is taught by the sciences respecting the natural causes of phenomena as of those which occur in the human body in connection with the senses and similar things; and likewise whatever is deduced respecting the knowledge of the soul and of other like things is full of false hypotheses in which not a single truth comes to sight, yea, by them, the way is even closed up in such a manner that it is impossible for the thoughts of men to extend beyond the grossest parts of nature, wherefore spiritual and celestial things are regarded as nothing. While the plane into which spiritual truths descend is such, they are of a necessity kept back, and do not penetrate; for no natural truth receives and continues, and thus confirms them, but either altogether repels them or perverts them into the opposite." (S. D. 249.)

     Although considerably more than a century has elapsed since these words were written, how far has the march of science diverged from those lines on which, in Swedenborg's day, it led to such disastrous results' According to the most brilliant and gifted of the exponents of his science, the late Dr. Garth Wilkinson, that march-despite delusive appearances to the contrary-has been towards greater error and fallacy than ever before,-a fact which, he avers, causes now a "plenary repugnancy" between Swedenborg's science and philosophy and modern science so far as its theories or hypotheses are concerned.

     By the relation in which Swedenborg's philosophy stands to the Science of the day, (says Dr. Wilkinson), it can be seen that there is no direct relation between the two, but plenary repugnancy. For the one is order, the other is chaos; the one is concentration, the other is infinite division; the one enlarges its limits in that interior world where creation exists in all its spiritual amplitude, the other loses its limits, and its distinct life along with them, in the great vacuities of space and time; the one is a rod and staff giving the mind a practical support in the exploration of Nature's fields, the other is a mist of hypotheses crawling along the ground and making every step uncertain and perilous.*

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     * The above was written fifty years ago; but in writing to me as late as 1895 with respect to the deplorable materialistic tendency of modern Science, Dr. Wilkinson expressed himself as follows: "Have you ever noticed that Swedenborg says-I think in the preface to his ECONOMY-that if, in and after, his day, the organic sciences are not elevated by Doctrinal Truths, these important branches will lapse into confusion and chaos? Now they have not been so caught up into a Divine Atmosphere and so they have fallen into dust and ashes. And the dust and ashes are so captivating to the dustman that they are regarded by the learned Haeckel as material palaces holding the August essence of "causation." Human nature is obliged to be proud of what it has when the product is of its own making. The whole evolution flight is, to me, so great an absurdity that I know it cannot last, but, meanwhile, it destroys the human mind and creates superstition in the public."

     If that be so-and no more competent authority than Dr. Wilkinson can be quoted,-is it not clear that it is only by the application of such true principles or "new doctrines" as are unfolded in Swedenborg's scientific and philosophical works, that modern science can be regenerated, as it were, and the "highway" between "Egypt, Assyria and Israel"-the scientific, the rational and the spiritual,-be opened up and man brought back to a state in which heaven-revealed truths will guide, govern and lead his thoughts and no longer the senses with their attendant fallacies and allurements which, in the past, have destroyed so many Churches and plunged mankind, (even at this day of so-called "progress") in darkness so great that the very "idea" of a "personal" God from a scientific point of view is openly and unequivocally said to be "inconceivable" as well as man's ability to believe in Him:

     "To speak in plain terms," says a distinguished astronomer-Richard Proctor-"so far as Science is concerned, the idea of a personal God is inconceivable, as are all the attributes which religion recognizes in such a Being." ("OUR PLACE AMONG INFINITES." p. 2.)

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WRITINGS OF THOMAS LAKE HARRIS 1911

WRITINGS OF THOMAS LAKE HARRIS       Rev. JOHN FAULKNER POTTS       1911

     In the year 1857 there was published in the city of New York a book entitled THE WISDOM OF ANGELS, Written by one Thomas L. Harris. In this same year great and memorable meetings were being held at Manchester, England, in commemoration of the Last Judgment of 1757, of which the year in question was the Centenary, and these meetings were distinguished by the attendance of members of the New Church from France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Spain, and America. These meetings were really great, inspiring and useful, and all who enjoyed the privilege of attending them were highly benefitted and received a lifelong impression. This was a very Providential circumstance, for the New Church in England was soon afterwards to pass through a spiritual convulsion of a very threatening nature, one which for a time caused a most serious dissension in its ranks. This convulsion was excited by the writings and the preaching of the eloquent and gifted American who in that same year published THE WISDOM OF ANGELS. The publication of this book marked the opening of Harris's career as a professed apostle and revelator, who claimed to be in advance of and higher than Swedenborg himself.

     What was the character of this book, called by so pretentious a name? A copy of it is preserved in the Academy Library at Bryn Athyn, and is now before me; it is a rather small book of 218 pages, called "Part I," and it was published by the "New Church Publishing Association" of 447 Broome street, New York. The preface informs us that "by the opening of the spiritual degree of the mind, the author has conversed with spirits for several years in a sensible manner. A portion of each day, embracing, with few intermissions, a period of time commencing in 1850, has been devoted by him to an investigation of the general subject of man's interior and immortal existence." The preface further informs the reader that the author "has numbered the Paragraphs for the convenience of indexing at the close of the three volumes, which will comprise the work."

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But as only one of these promised volumes ever made its appearance, the presumption, is that the numbering of the; paragraphs failed of its intended use.

     Who was this Thomas L. Harris, and what were his credentials as a revelator? This book informs us that up to the time of its preparation Mr. Harris had been a spiritist and an associate of this class of people, for on the last page but one of the book an angel is said to have given to its author the following command: "Go no more among spiritualists, unless they are willing to receive the heavenly doctrines which are committed to your charge. If they receive that which is given you to say, the works of the ministry given you to discharge will be first of all to them." This shows that the "angel" regarded spiritualists as the most hopeful material for the upbuilding of the new Harrisite Church, provided they would listen to the teachings of Mr. Harris and believe in his claims. But as this hope of the angel was destined to fail, then as a secondary resource we know that as a matter of fact Mr. Harris turned away from his former associates among the spiritists and made the members of the New Church the objects of his evangelizing work, coming before them as a member of an angelic society, a celestial angel, and a priest of the Most High God. These claims cannot be dismissed with a shrug of the shoulders, for they have been fully accepted and believed in by some highly respected members of the New Church, men most lovable and intelligent in all other respects. Whatever may be said about the claims of Harris, he certainly did possess the faculty of winning the regard of fine and excellent men, and it was in this that his success lay, and it was in this that his, work in England was a peril which culminated in the memorable White trial that took place in London in the year 1860. There is a lesson in all this for the members of the New Church which it is well worth their while to lay to heart. But first of all let us show from his own book that such was really the nature of Harris's claims;

     In Chapter V we find a long description of Mr. Harris's inauguration into his office. This is represented as having taken place in the spiritual world, and it is certainly a fine description and quite persuasive to those who are disposed to accept it as a true and faithful account of real facts.

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Behold a vast assemblage in a Capacious amphitheater. Most impressive ceremonies are carried on amid gorgeous representative surroundings, with precious and radiant objects of worship, and by male and female angels of magical beauty. Mr. Harris is brought into the central space of this amphitheatre, and there invited by an angel to ascend the pulpit which stands there. Behold him then ascending its seven steps, each of which causes a powerful electric shock of "heavenly doctrine" to shoot up into his body, thus making him fed the glowing light and heat of innumerable suns, and hear the voices of ten thousand planets making music together. The nascent apostle is struggling and wavering on this tremendous staircase, fighting his way up step by step, until at last he stands on the pulpit floor, when it seems to him that he has stepped upon the very floor of heaven. Behold then a semi-circle of twenty-four angelic maidens bursting forth in front of him into the triumphant song:

"He has crossed the bright portals,
     No more to depart;
He is one with Immortals,
     The child of the heart.
He has crossed the deep river,
     By faith in the Lord,
And now and forever
     Shall preach from the Word."

     After the singing of this chant a white robe was handed to Mr. Harris, and the angel addressed him as follows:

     "As this robe is simple and unadorned in its outward appearance, let all the outward manifestations of your conduct be free from extravagance. Be simple in diet, in dress, in manner. As this robe is of wool unmixed, let your garment of doctrine be exclusively composed of the truths of the heavens, and suffer no man's opinion, no spirit's dictation, to swerve you in your public ministration. . . . Be yours the faith that works by love and purifies the heart. You are no longer a novitiate spirit, . . . . your use is to be a priest of the Most High God, intrusted with Divine arcana to unfold in forms of earth-speech. . . . Go back into the world with the blessing of the Lord upon you."

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     Having thus passed through his novitiate period in the spiritual world, we soon find this favored apostle in the possession of a place of abode in heaven. From this he issues forth on important errands; for instance, on Page 127, we are informed that he "left his angelic abode" and descended into hell in the endeavor to rescue from it a spirit who called himself Seneca, with whom he entered into conversation, and whom he informed that a way existed "through repentance" by which he might "escape into a condition like that of childhood is to innocence." But Seneca proving obdurate, Mr. Harris was "moved to offer a Prayer that he might be redeemed from that unhappy state." While engaged in this devotional act he heard this remarkable utterance, "There is hope for all for whom angel's heart can pray." Nevertheless all these efforts proving finally unavailing, Mr. Harris tells the reader, "I soon was permitted to re-enter my own sweet home in the heavens and to enjoy the society of my angelic brethren."

     A little further on in the book, at page 143, Mr. Harris informs us that this heavenly home of his was in a society in the vicinity of the heart, and that his associates there were not spiritual, but celestial. Thus he was already holding the distinguished position of being a celestial angel at the same time that he lived outwardly in the city of New York, or in some other locality of this world.

     So much in answer to the question as to what were the credentials of Mr. Harris, and what was the nature of his claims. I have presented this answer just as he himself presents it in this book. It may be said that these claims are absurd and false on the face of them. But the formidable fact in relation to them is that a considerable number of old and faithful members of the New Church have believed them, and this not for a short time only, but throughout their lives. Doubtless there are a few such persons living who believe them still. These persons have professed to be better Newchurchmen for holding this faith in the revelations of Mr. Harris. They have not lost their faith in the Revelation given through Swedenborg; they have still held to this, but have said that Harris goes further in the same direction. What may seem nonsense to us has seemed to be Divine truth to them.

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Among these was Mr. William White, a hard-headed Scot, who once was an esteemed member of the Glasgow Society; he was always a man of literary ability, and on becoming a convert of Harris, he considered it his duty to sell the writings of Harris along with those of Swedenborg in the book room of the Swedenborg House in Bloomsbury Street, London. And it may be added that in this course Mr. White was supported by the secretary and also by the treasurer of the Swedenborg Society, who were its two principal executive officers. The Glasgow Society has always been one of the most intelligent of New Church societies, and yet some of Mr. Harris's most devoted adherents and supporters have belonged to it, and have been men that no one could know intimately without becoming much attached to them for their many remarkable and lovable qualities. It is evident, therefore, that it will not do for us merely to denounce Harris and all his followers as fools and heretics. This can do no good to anybody, and would blind us to the important lessons that wt might otherwise learn from a study of what was certainly a very remarkable phenomenon, and a severe experience in the history of the New Church.

     But before speaking further of this aspect of the case, let us examine this book, THE WISDOM OF ANGELS, a little further, and especially in regard to the light it throws on the nature of Mr. Harris's illumination. Was he a mere impostor who composed the contents of this book out of his own head? If not, then what was the source of them?

     I may say at once that the whole book is nothing but a series of memorable relations from one end to the other. It does not pretend to be an explication of the Word, nor even a didactic expression of its author's views. It professes to be merely the wisdom of angels, and throughout the book angels are presented as its real authors, the natural author being merely the scribe who writes down what the angels say, and also the descriptions of scenes and experiences in the spiritual world. Taking this into consideration, and also the fact that Mr. Harris had previously been an ordinary spiritist, the most likely hypothesis seems to be that he did really have the contents of the book dictated to him by spirits, including even those parts which are put into his mouth by the spirits as descriptions of his own spiritual experience, so that when he says, "I saw," or "I did," certain things, it is really a spirit who puts these words into his mouth, while he merely writes down what the spirit thus dictates to him.

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     It may also be said at once that Mr. Harris begins by taking all the leading doctrines of the New Church for granted. Without argument the Lord is assumed to be the only God, and His Word Divine and holy. The substantial reality of the spiritual world is also fully recognized, together with its three main divisions, as well as the tripartite nature of the heavens and the hells. All spiritual beings are seen to be in the human form and in the full possession of every sense and faculty. In fact, it is evident that Mr. Harris's book is specially prepared for the reading and acceptance of the members of the New Church, and that it is not at all adapted to the general public.

     With regard to the book's professing to be published by the "New Church Publishing Association," the NEW JERUSALEM MESSENGER, of July 24, 1858, says that this Association "takes its name from a congregation of spiritists who about two years ago seceded from Dodworth's Hall, in this city (New York), an assembly of avowed pantheists and materialists, because the majority of these were not willing to accept and pay for the services of Harris."

     The book shows further that Mr. Harris must have been a reader of the Writings, and this in some poor translation, for it is full of statements taken from the Writings, which are often expressed in that repulsive English which has so long caused the reading of them to be so formidable a task, except to those happy enough to be able to read them in their own clear and simple language in the Latin originals. Thus it is surely amusing to find that a book which pretends to be a revelation of angelic wisdom in advance of the one given through Swedenborg, is pervaded by such queer expressions as being "principled in doctrines," "to apperceive, intromitted," "made interrogation," "ascend into predominance," "there was placed a couch," "became seated," "corporeal principle," "intellectually cognitioned," and many other examples of a spurious Latinized style which might be sufficiently excusable in the first translators of the Writings, but seems very ridiculous in the mouth of a new prophet who professes to receive and publish a Divine revelation in his own native English tongue.

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     It was one of the methods of Harris to take up the facts about the spiritual world which are told in the Writings, and carry them out into absurd extremes. An example of this is his treatment of the subject of the book of life which every man has in his own memory, and which call be opened and read after death at the time of the man's judgment. The spirits who possessed Mr. Harris improved on this by stating that these memory books are in Heaven made into actual volumes that are preserved in the libraries there. "The archives of every Angelic Society," says Mr. Harris, on page 126 of THE WISDOM OF ANGELS, "contain the biography of every natural man or woman who is watched over by any of its members; and every incident, even the most trivial, is delineated therein;" and further, "the lives of the same individuals, and every change of state or condition which they undergo while in the world of spirits, may be found therein," so that "the life of every man who has ever lived upon the earth may be found in the archives of some angelic society." This is one example out of a hundred contained in this book of the way in which Harris's inspirers made the truths of the Writings ridiculous by means of a gross and sensuous exaggeration. And when we contrast this conception with the teaching of the Writings on the subject, we can very easily see wherein the difference lies between Swedenborg and Harris as describers of things that exist in the spiritual world.

     The same astounding inventiveness is manifested on almost every page of this book. Every subject that is mooted is treated with the same exuberance of a disordered imagination, and this is carried to such a length and with so much incredible ingenuity of absurdity that it is very difficult to believe that this mass of fable could ever have been hatched in the brain of any inhabitant of this world. And it is also difficult to believe that a man of Mr. Harris's mental powers could himself have believed in these imaginations unless he had been at the time taken possession of by the spirits who were the real authors of this book. Yet it is evident that the glamour of it did carry him along into a full belief in it, and that together with him it carried along also many of his readers, and this to so great an extent that they were not able to see anything absurd in this and other books of the same kind of which Mr. Harris became the professed author; but on the contrary saw nothing in them except an outpouring of the most sublime truths that have ever been presented to the world.

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In saying this I refer chiefly to what took place in England; in America the case seems to have been different, and for some reason the members of the New Church in the United States for the most part refused to be influenced by the Harrisite pretensions. The book called THE WISDOM OF ANGELS was briefly reviewed in the MESSENGER When it first appeared; on page 195 of the volume for 1857 the editor said of it, "Such a thing as a spiritual idea is not contained in the book. Its style is meretricious and tawdry, straining for effect, yet making a parade of scientific precision; but too offensive to taste and to the proprieties that belong to sacred subjects, not soon to repel all who do not prefer words to ideas, or excitement to instruction."

     A review of the book appeared also in the NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE for the year 1857, at page III, which says:

     This work professes to consist of communications from the angels to the author, who, as we understand, formerly resided in New Orleans, but whose present residence is the city of New York. . . . The writer has evidently made himself acquainted, to some extent, with the truths revealed by Swedenborg, and mixes these truths up with the vain imaginations of his own mind, or with the minds of the spirits with whom he is in consociation. . . . To the superficial reader, his relations of the things which he professes to have seen and heard in the spiritual world might be thought to resemble the memorable relations of Swedenborg; and he seems to imitate his manner, and even to use his words. But this resemblance is of the most external kind. . . . So far as the matter of the book is original, it consists- of rhapsodies, partly intelligible and partly not, tending to no use, to no self-denial, and to no important result whatever, unless it be the exaltation of Mr. Harris himself. . . . We understand that Mr. Harris feels no sympathy with the organized New Church. A writer in the "REVELATOR" who listened to one of his discourses, observes, "Toward the close of his remarks we were a little startled to hear him mention, among the sects whose spirit and organization would oppose the descent of this New Church, the technical Swedenborgians (we believe these were his words), who, he said, had taken possession of the most external of the truths of the New Church revealed through Swedenborg, and formed out of them a hard crust of sectarianism, that was as hostile to genuine Christianity as any other form of ecclesiastical dogmatism." . . .

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We would add, that we have been deeply impressed, by the perusal of the book, with a conviction of the necessity of the study of the Sacred Scripture, and of the truths and doctrines of the New Church as revealed in the works of Swedenborg, as the very best protection against such pernicious influences.

     It is characteristic of Mr. Harris to begin something that he does not finish. For instance, this book, the WISDOM of ANGELS, is entitled Part I. There never appeared another "part" of it. In the same way his ARCANA OF CHRISTIANITY is called "Part First, Vol. I." No Part Second, or Vol. II, ever appeared. A very striking instance of this unfinished way of working is found in the WISDOM OF ANGELS at page 21 and following pages. Here we find the question propounded to the instructing Angel, "By what process, in the most ancient times, did men arrive at knowledge concerning Deity?" A very interesting question, and the Angel replied, "One hundred methods, whereby the human mind became wise in Divine knowledge, I am permitted to make known." Then follow thirty-three chapters, each of which is devoted to describing one of these methods, and these chapters, together with interjected matter, bring us to page 111. But this is the last of them; the remaining sixty-seven methods are left unrevealed, and the subject is dropped there without explanation or excuse.

     According to this book, fairies are veritable facts and existences. In the following eloquent passage Mr Harris delivers his doctrine on this subject: "The existence of sylphs and gnomes, spirits of fire, of the air and of the sea, lovely aerial creations, resting in the aromal chambers of the flowers, collecting ambrosial food from their fragrant leaves, and living a pure aromal life in the midst of gardens, was not all mythical. The aromal elements of matter, permeated by celestial and spiritual influences, did actually unfold visible forms corresponding to those lovely ideals. . . . They are not entirely extinct at the present day."

     Swedenborg appears to the author, and holds forth on various subjects, even giving diagrams to illustrate his meaning.

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He is thus introduced. "I beheld a Spirit, dressed in the garb of a man of the eighteenth century, venerable and majestic to behold, and I heard Swedenborg say." Then follows a report of Swedenborg's speech, the diagrams (not at all profound ones) being printed in the book.

     Such was Mr. Harris's opening deliverance as a professed priest of the Most High God, and a second apostle of the New Church, and in the following year there was published the second of Mr. Harris's professedly New Church writings in the shape of a large octave volume of 476 pages, entitled ARCANA OF CHRISTIANITY, which the title page says is "an unfolding of the Celestial Sense of the Divine Word, through T. L. Harris-Part First, Vol. I. Genesis, 1st chapter-New York, New Church Publishing Association, 1858."

     In the course of a long Introduction to the ARCANA OF CHRISTIANITY, the author gives the following account of the method followed in the writing of it:

     "By means of an opening of the internal organs of respiration, which is continued into the external form, I inhale, with equal ease and freedom, the atmospheres of either of the three Heavens, and am enabled to be present, without the suspension of the natural degree of consciousness, with the Angelic Societies, whether of the ultimate, the spiritual, or the celestial degree. It is impossible to inhale in this continued manner, from the celestial into the corporeal without living among the Angels. Having been finally intromitted into these three degrees of interior respiration, I was led upward, through the series of experiences of which the narration now ensues, that, by a pathway of easy and instructive transitions, I might approach the state of qualification to understand the Arcana contained within the Celestial Sense of the Divine Word." (Pages 7, 8.) And at the end of the volume we find this further explanation: "This volume of the ARCANA OF CHRISTIANITY was dictated [by me] in the city of New York during the months of October and November, 1857. It is now published verbatim from the original and uncopied manuscript, no alterations being made, save to supply omitted and to erase redundant words. The work being dictated with extreme rapidity, the amanuensis was only able to perform her labors through a Divine influx from the Lord."

     We see, therefore, that Mr. Harris claims to have possessed the faculty of internal respiration, which enabled him to be present in any of the three Heavens, and which also enabled him to understand the celestial sense of the Word; and we also see that he dictated this celestial sense to an amanuensis with extreme rapidity, he being at the time in a state of trance.

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This book, therefore, does not profess to be addressed to the rational faculty, nor to have been written through the exercise of this faculty, but to have been dictated verbatim just as it stands. It is very important to remember this, because unless we do so we cannot meet Harris on his own ground, which is the ground of the affections, and by no means of any rational understanding of his revelations. His position is that Swedenborg used this rational method, but that he himself uses a superior one, which consists in an appeal to the regenerated affection of his readers, and a consequent perception on their part of the truth of what he tells them. It is the celestial sense of the Word that he reveals, and this sense is felt rather than seen. It was Swedenborg who revealed the spiritual sense of the Word, which is quite correct so far as it goes, but the regenerated men of the New Church need something that is a discrete degree higher. This is the position we have to meet and to consider, and we shall only be wasting our time by attempting to meet or to refute any other position. When Mr. Harris appeared in England he was attacked by the champions of the New Church on the basis of reason, and of an appeal to the rational ground of his revelations, which resulted in a complete failure to convince those who had once come under the Harrisite influence. The shots were fired in the wrong direction, and, of course, did but little execution. In dealing with any opponent it is absolutely necessary first of all to understand him, and then to meet him on his own ground. This is the only fair way to deal with any opponent, and it is also the only effective way; and this is the aim of the present dissertation.

     Mr. Harris often saw Swedenborg, or some one who so called himself, and he speaks very respectfully of his great forerunner. In his Introduction he says (on page 9), "that he saw the Seer of the New Jerusalem, and talked with him," and the readers of NEW CHURCH LIFE Will be interested to know that "after his career on earth, Swedenborg continued for about thirty years in the planet Venus, or rather in an Angelic Society composed of such as were originally inhabitants of that planet," and that at the time of writing he was "associated with a Society of Angels who are in conjunction with the fixed star Orion."

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But seeing that there is no fixed star of this name, but a great constellation of fixed stars, it is evident that either Mr. Harris or his spiritual informant has here made an awkward mistake in his efforts to fix too definitely Swedenborg's basis in the physical universe.

     Mr. Harris was a very poetical writer, and many have thought that his poetry is the best of his literary work; but his prose is often equally poetical, as we see in the following example, which is also taken from this Introduction, (page 12): "Looking up, I beheld at an angle of about forty-five degrees, midway between the horizon and the zenith, the Divine Sun. The flower cups of the affections within my breast, which had slept like blossoms drenched with the night dews, absorbed the heat of the Divine Love; they lifted up their chalices, and expanded their petals, as if to embrace the holy light, and I rejoiced exceedingly." This poetical style, although somewhat repulsive to the hard-headed intellectual men of the New Church, is precisely the style that is well adapted to charm those of a softer nature; and we can easily understand that men who are naturally of a celestial genius, and who have taken an affirmative attitude toward the writings of Harris, would be pleased to see New Church ideas clothed in language so eloquent and beautiful. There are oceans of such poetical writing in these books, and this is doubtless one of their strong points which must be taken into the account when we are trying to make a fair and impartial estimate of their merits and demerits. Of course, this is the reverse of Swedenborg's style; but Mr. Harris and his followers would say that this is an evidence of the truth of their general position. Swedenborg was only a spiritual revelator; a celestial revelation needs a very different style of writing; and must be one that appeals primarily to the affections; and, therefore, all this floridity is very attractive, provided we yield ourselves to the sweetness of it, and cease to look at it too critically. Think of it-"the flower cups of my affections"! Suppose you are addressing children, and used these words, would not the children be pleased with the imagery?

     Another interesting point in this Introduction is the statement that the word "self" was "translated" by Swedenborg as proprium (page 17).

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This was the view held by Dr. T. F. Wright, who expressed this opinion to me in a letter which I received from him shortly before his departure from this life; and in his translations of the ARCANA for the Botch edition of this work Dr. Wright has translated proprium by the word "self," at any rate in some instances As a general rule, however, Harris makes use of the word "selfhood" to express what Swedenborg means by proprium, and this was also the custom of that eminent New Church minister, Dr. Jonathan Bayley, as can be seen from his writings and translations.

     On the subject of the internal respiration which he claimed to possess, Mr. Harris says (on page 34 of the Introduction), "Emanuel Swedenborg was the first in whom this internal manner of respiration began to return. This process of spiritual respiration will become by degrees co-extensive with the Church. Then the Golden Age in its fulness will return." And he goes on to say that just as the wicked were suffocated at the time of the Flood by a change from internal to external respiration, so when the time comes for the change back again to internal respiration, there will be "a great calamity, for then all the wicked of the present age will in like manner perish. This will be the dawn of the Millennium The good in all nations will be preserved, but the wicked shall be swept away as with the besom of destruction. Preach this doctrine (said the Angel who gave Mr. Harris this instruction) on your return to the natural world, but preach it mildly and without fanaticism. But first make yourself perfectly familiar with such portions of the internal sense of the Divine Word as are needed to qualify you for your work. Search the Scriptures diligently, and do nothing except in faith toward the Lord and through His Divine Spirit." Excellent advice, and it must be said that such is the general character of the advice that Mr. Harris says he received from the Angels. Moreover it is evident that Mr. Harris followed this advice, for to whatever conclusion we may come as to the value of this new revelation, it is at any rate undeniable that it is very affirmative to the revelation given through Swedenborg, and also is to a great extent based on it, and this fact shows why the Harrisite revelation has proved so attractive to many well read Newchurchmen.

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     Of course, it may be said that this was merely a cunning device to entrap the people of the New Church. I do not dispute this view of the matter, but at present I merely draw attention to the facts and conditions that we have to deal with in making any thorough and adequate study of this subject. Let us recognize all that is good in Mr. Harris's work. This is not only truthful; it is also the only useful and effective way to deal with this truly extraordinary phenomenon. If this is a temptation for the men of the New Church, it is a very insidious one, and needs a corresponding management. If our purpose is to save men, and not merely to antagonize them, we must first of all thoroughly understand the nature of the danger that threatens them. It is easy to denounce, but very difficult to lead away from error. Denunciation is a pleasure to all that is evil in us, but the spirit of the Lord is needed if we wish to speak with true wisdom and really useful efficiency. Let us, therefore, here deal with the works and followers of Mr. Harris in a spirit of kindness and of honest effort to do them justice in every possible way; for by so doing we shall find that there is also much to learn on our own side of the subject, seeing that it is an undoubted fact that we are living in times of increasing spiritual danger for those who profess to be members of the Lord's Church, and also of more interior and more insidious temptations than have ever before assailed them.

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EARLY HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH IN SWEDEN 1911

EARLY HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH IN SWEDEN       C. TH. ODHNER       1911

     CHARLES FREDERICK NORDENSKJOLD.

     CHARLES FREDERICK, the brother of Augustus, was born in Nyland, Finland, on March 30th, 1756. After completing his collegiate studies, he was sent to Stockholm to study jurisprudence. So marked were his talents, that he was appointed assistant Secretary to the Supreme Court of Svea, when only sixteen years of age, and was in the same year advanced to a still more responsible position. His inclinations, however, soon caused him to leave jurisprudence, and to enter upon a diplomatic career. Appointed a Secretary in the National Archives, he acquired great skill in the reading of cypher-dispatches of foreign ambassadors, and was, in 1778, appointed Recording Secretary to the Department of Foreign Affairs. Possessing some independent means, he regarded it an honor to serve his country without compensation, and Gustavus III., who was in a chronic state of financial embarrassment, consequently looked with favor upon this unselfish young statesman, a "rara avis," indeed, among his courtiers.

     About the year 1773, C. F. Nordenskjold became acquainted with the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and, like his brother, Augustus, received the new gospel with boundless enthusiasm, but at the same time with a well-balanced judgment. He described this his reception, in his last years, as "the greatest good-fortune that had happened to him in his entire life." Having an enterprising disposition, he soon sought out other receivers of the doctrines as well in Sweden as abroad, and entered into correspondence with men such as Dr. Beyer, of Gothenburg; the Rev. Johan Tybeck, of Strengnas; the Rev. Thomas Hartley, in England; General Tuxen, in Denmark; the Marquis de Thome, of Paris; and Abbe Pernety, of Berlin.

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Many of these letters have been preserved, and are of great doctrinal as well as historical importance. (See especially the letter which Dr. Beyer wrote in 1776 to this young man of twenty years.-Doc, Vol. II., P. 424.)

     C. F. Nordenskjold was particularly interested in gathering up all possible information regarding Swedenborg himself, and performed a great service to the New Church by inducing the Bank-Treasurer Robsahm to write his well-known "Memoirs of Swedenborg." These he translated into French, and sent to the Abbe Pernety, who introduced them into the French edition of HEAVEN AND HELL. It is thus that these "Memoirs" have been preserved to posterity.

     In the year 1783 C. F. Nordenskjold undertook a journey to London for the double purpose of studying English politics, and to secure the publication of various manuscripts of Swedenborg-notably the APOCALYPSIS EXPLICATA, which his brother had borrowed from the Academy of Sciences. He remained in London three years, during which time he was in frequent and intimate association with the first Newchurchmen in that city, men such as Robert Hindmarsh, Benedict Chastanier, John Augustus Tulk, Peter Prove, Doctor William Spence, and other worthies, concerning whom he has written some highly interesting memoirs, which Dr; Immanuel Tafel received from him, and subsequently published in the NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE. (Boston, 1861; Vol. XXXIII., p. 541.)

     Returning to Sweden in 1786, he became the chief instrument in collecting and organizing the professed receivers of the doctrines into a society, which styled itself the "Exegetic-Philanthropic Society," modeled after the "Theosophical Society" in London. Under the auspices of this organization (of which more anon) C. F. Nordenskjold, in 1787, began to publish a journal entitled "SAMLINGAR FOR PHILANTROPER" (Magazine for Philanthropists), which was exclusively devoted to the interests of the New Church, and, indeed, the first distinctively New-Church periodical ever published. The journal was issued in four numbers, covering a period of two years. The first number contains, among other interesting matters, a collection of Swedenborg's letters to Beyer and other persons, in the original language.

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The second number contains a Swedish translation of the DOCTRINE OF FAITH, and some extracts "On Marriage" (from A. E.). The third number is occupied with letters on Animal Magnetism, and the fourth with a translation of the NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE.

     In the year 1788 C. F. Nordenskjold undertook the publication of a weekly political and literary journal, called "MEDBORGAREN" (The Citizen), in which he introduced many things of New Church doctrine. This periodical, which for a time gained a great circulation in Sweden, was at first patronized by the king and the court, while Swedenborgianism and mysticism were still fashionable, but was interdicted in 1790. The causes of its suspension were manifold-the alchemistic scandals; the ridicule which had been cast upon the Phil. Ex. Society on account of its dabbling in Mesmerism and Animal Magnetism; the democratic tendencies of the journal, and-above all the offense which the editor had given to the literary vanity of Gustavus III., by a sharp critique of an anonymous dramatic production, which turned out to have been written by the king himself.

     Nothing daunted, Nordenskjold immediately began another journalistic venture, with the title, "ALLMANNA MAGAZINET" (The Public Magazine), but the publication was forbidden in the same year, and the entire edition was confiscated and burned by order of the king, who, indeed, had flirted with the French Revolution in its earlier stages, but now was thoroughly alarmed at the appearance of anything like democracy in his own kingdom.

     Being now in great disfavor at the Court, and moreover utterly disgusted with the spiritistic character which the Phil. Ex. Society had assumed, in spite of his earnest remonstrances, C. F. Nordenskjold, in the year 1791, left Sweden for England. He remained there only six months, when he returned to Sweden Upon the reception of the news concerning the assassination of Gustavus III. at a masked ball in Stockholm. The Diet now abolished the absolute monarchy which had been imposed upon the country by the late king, and passed a law granting almost complete liberty to the press. The new king, Gustavus IV., being still a minor, the Regency was given into the hands of the Duke of Sijdermanland-afterwards Charles XIII.-who had been a member of the Exegetic Society.

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Nordenskjold was now permitted to continue his publications, but the prospects for the New Church had not improved, its former members having been scattered, discouraged and discredited in the eyes of the public. The Regent himself no longer dared to show any favor to the "Swedenborgians" at home.

     After a year the Regency found that Nordenskjold's diplomatic talents could be turned to greater advantage abroad, and he was accordingly dispatched to Hamburg, as Secretary to the Swedish legation there, an important post, with influences extending to the courts of Denmark, England, Hanover and Prussia. Here he published a number of historico-political works, in which he attacked the policy and later favorites of Gustavus III., who had caused the persecution against the Exegetic Society,

     Nordenskjold remained in Hamburg until the year 1801, When the young king, Gustavus IV.-ultra-orthodox, reactionary, conceited and semi-idiotic-removed him from his post. He then removed to Anklam, in Pomerania, where he remained until 1808, when Gustavus IV. was dethroned, and the Duke of Sodermanland became king. Nordenskjold was now appointed "charge d' affairs" of Sweden in Mecklenburg, residing in the city of Restock until his death.

     From the year 1793 Nordenskjold appears to have taken but little active part in the New Church, although his intellectual interest remained undiminished. He reappeared in the field of New Church literature in the year 1819, when he published a work with the title, "CONSIDERATIONS GENERALES SUR LE CHRISTIANISM ACTUEL, ET LA LUMIERE QUE M. EMANUEL SWEDENBORG REPAND SUR LES RELIGIONS." This book of which a continuation appeared in 1824, making the whole a great work of 432 pages, is a production of great literary merit, and contains a mass of important documents relating to the life of Swedenborg, and the early history of the New Church. For some reasons, political or ecclesiastical, the whole edition of this work was confiscated by the Mecklenburg authorities and condemned to the flames. Only a single entire copy, and two or three incomplete ones, escaped the destruction.

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     During the last years of his life, Nordenskjold found a congenial friend in Professor Immanuel Tafel, of Tübingen, with whom he maintained an extensive correspondence on subjects relating to the doctrines and the history of the New Church. Many of these letters have been published in German by Professor Tafel.

     Charles Frederick Nordenskjold departed this life in the year 1828, at the age of seventy-two years. The fragmentary sketch of his life, which is contained in Dr. R. L. Tafel's "Documents concerning Swedenborg" (Vol. I., p. 622), gives the following brief but telling testimonial to his character: "Charles Frederick Nordenskjold, throughout the whole of his life, appears to have been a man of integrity, and to have had an intense love for the New Church."

     CHARLES BERNHARD WADSTROM.

     Intimately associated with the two Nordenskjold brothers, in the halcyon days of the New Church in Sweden, we constantly meet with the name of Charles B. Wadstrom, an earnest, intelligent and prominent disciple of the Lord in His Second Advent, a man who, in the divine providence, was destined to serve as the first proclaimer of that new message of human freedom, which was given to our race after the Last Judgment had been effected in the spiritual world. As an illustration of the immediate effects upon the general conditions of the human race, resulting from the distinctive establishment of the New Church upon earth, the life and work of Charles B. Wadstrom forms an important and interesting chapter in the history of our Church.

     The subject of our sketch was born at Stockholm, on April 19th, 1746 After graduating from the University of Upsala, he entered the College of Mines, in Stockholm, where he quickly gained such confidence from his superiors that he was appointed to superintend the construction of the Gota Canal, at the falls of Trollhattan, the same canal which Polheim and Swedenborg had begun to build in the year 1717. His energy in this enterprise attracted the notice of the king, Gustavus III., who, in the year 1774, sent him on a secret mission to the city of Solingen, in Rhenish Prussia, in order to study the manufacture of arms and cutlery, for which that place had long been famous.

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With great danger to his own person, Wadstrom induced twenty-six of the most skillful smiths of Solingen to accompany him to Sweden, where he colonized them in the town of Eskilstuna. The result of this great industrial "coup" was that Eskilstuna soon acquired an international reputation for its fine steel and cutlery, and Wadstrom received a medal from the grateful nation.

     In the year 1776 he was again sent abroad by the government, this time to study mining and other industries in Germany, Holland, France, England and Wales. On his return, in 1777, he established the first mechanical weaving mills in Sweden. In 1778 the government appointed him to establish a factory for the manufacture of chirurgical instruments. In 1783 he was appointed chief director of the Swedish "Control" office, and in 1787 he was elevated to the degree of Councillor of Commerce, in consequence of his many services, and his great learning in political economy.

     Wadstrom, however, was even more of a philanthropist than a patriot; and above all these forms of charity, he loved the welfare of the New Kingdom, which the Lord, in those days, had begun to establish upon earth. It is uncertain when he first received the Doctrines of the New Church, but it must have been before the year 1779. We learn that Wadstrom, in that year, formulated a plan for the universal abolition of the slave trade, and that it was his knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem which caused him to sound that first bugle-note for warfare against this crying outrage upon human liberty and civilization. He describes this first movement-destined to have such important and world-wide consequences-in the following letter to the NEW-JERUSALEM MAGAZINE (London, 1790, pp. 70, 71):

     In the year 1779 a society of affectionate admirers of the Writings of that extraordinary man, EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, assembled at Norrkjoping, in Sweden, in consequence of reflecting on the favorable account this eminent author gives, both in his printed works and manuscripts, of the African nations. The principal business of this conference was to consult upon and devise the most practicable means of forming an unanimous association, whose wishes and endeavors might center in one object, that of forming a settlement among those nations, where a certain prospect seemed to open of establishing peaceably, and without opposition, this new system, which might serve as a basis for a new and free community.

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The more this subject came to be considered, the more these gentlemen were persuaded, that the coast of Africa would scarcely admit of being peopled by a body of true and sincere Christians, unless the slave trade, so firmly rooted, and the only object of commerce in those fruitful regions, could: be abolished. . . . Before this memorable meeting was dissolved, everyone present expressed his warmest and most cordial assurance to labor each in his particular station, unceasingly to assert his utmost abilities in concerting, and carrying into execution, a plan, not only for the abolition of that execrable trade, but for the general civilization, founded on true Christian principles, of those uncultivated and hitherto abused nations.

     It is to be observed that this meeting of New Churchmen took place nine years before Pitt, Fox and Wilberforce in the English Parliament began to preach their crusade against the slave trade; nay, we are prepared to show that these English politicians were in personal communication with Wadstrom, and that their agitation of the subject received a powerful impetus from the propaganda set on foot by this member of the New Church. Soon after the meeting in Norrkjoping, Wadstrom took up his residence at Stockholm, where he now began to associate with the small but growing and influential circle of New Churchmen in that city. His hospitable home became the center of their private meetings, and he himself, together with the Nordenskjold brothers, expended much money upon the copying of Swedenborg's manuscripts. Their private efforts finally resulted in the organization of the "Exegetic-Philanthropic Society," on November 1st, 1786, and in this society Wadstrom took a leading part during the first year of its existence.

     In the beginning of the year 1787, the propositions of the Society in Norrkoping began to materialize, mainly through the influence which certain of its members possessed at the Swedish Court. Under the appointment of Gustavus III., and with the financial aid of Louis XVI. of France, a scientific expedition was fitted out, with Wadstrom at the head, to explore the western coast of Africa and to prepare the way for the establishment of colonies, whence the slave-trade could be combated. The history of this successful expedition has been described at length by Wadstrom in the NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE: for 1790, pages 79, 125, 157.

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     Charles B. Wadstrom returned from Africa in May, 1788, but remained at home in Stockholm only a few months, when the king sent him on a mission to London, in order to secure English co-operation in the proposed work of colonization. When leaving Stockholm he took with him the original manuscripts of the SPIRITUAL DIARY, and of some other works, which, on his arrival in London, he deposited with Benedict Chastanier, in whose hands they remained for some years. The subsequent history of these precious documents has been described in a previous article.

     In London, Wadstrom now associated himself with the young New-Church society which had opened public worship in Great Eastcheap. He was a firm believer in the distinct and separate establishment of the New Church, and we find his name among the signers of Robert Hindmarsh's excellent pamphlet, the "Reasons for Separating from the Old Church." On Christmas day, of the year 1788, he and his friend and countryman, Augustus Nordenskjold, were publicly baptized into the faith and communion of the New Church, and he subsequently took an active part at the First General Conference, held in London, in April, 1789.

     In the following year he organized "The London Universal Society for the Promotion of the New Church," which held weekly meetings at his lodgings near Tottenham Court Road, and under the auspices of this Society, and with Mr. Henry Servante as co-editor, he began, in the same year, the publication of THE NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE. In this monthly journal, which was the first of its kind and of numerous successors, Wadstrom could freely ventilate his cherished object, the freedom and cultivation of the African race, and by this and other means he succeeded in interesting many prominent persons, both within and without the New Church, in his propaganda. In the same year, also, he published a work entitled "Observations on the Slave-Trade," which attracted much attention in England, and caused the great minister, William Pitt, to consult Wadstrom upon this subject, which had now begun to be much discussed in the House of Commons. He was repeatedly called before the British Privy Council, and was finally asked to develop his plans before a committee of the whole House.

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     Though all this led to no direct or immediate actions of the Parliament, yet, from this time forth, there existed in the House a small but determined party of abolitionists, bravely led by Wilberforce and Fox. The propaganda spread among all classes of English society, and "The British Association for the Abolition of the Slave-Trade" was instituted within a few years. To this Association, of which Wadstrom and another New Churchman, Mr. Henry Candy, of Bristol, were influential members, is due the continued agitation, which in the year 1807 led the Parliament to pass the act of the "Abolition of Slavery" in all British possessions.

     Wadstrom, however, was not contented with mere parliamentary agitation, but hoped to effect more immediate results by continuing the movement for colonization on the coasts of Africa. Augustus Nordenskjold and Wadstrom, having conjointly produced and published an interesting PLAN FOR A FREE COMMUNITY ON THE COAST OF AFRICA (London, Hindmarsh, 1790, 51 pages), the two friends now separated, Nordenskjold returning to Sweden, to put himself at the head of a Swedish colonizing expedition, with which he arrived in England in the following year. Wadstrom, in the meantime, had succeeded in organizing a similar enterprise in England, with the aid of prominent British capitalists. The two expeditions now joined their forces and proceeded to Africa, where they established a colony called Freetown, on the coast of Sierra Leone. The experiment at first was quite successful, and the colony flourished greatly for a few years, until war broke out between England and the French Republic, when the town was utterly destroyed by French privateers in the year 1794.

     Before the news of this sad fate of the colony had reached England, Wadstrom, who had remained to look after its interests in the mother-country, in the same year published a magnificent work, entitled ESSAY ON COLONIZATION, PARTICULARLY APPLIED TO THE WESTERN COAST OF AFRICA: ALSO BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE COLONIES ALREADY FORMED, INCLUDING THOSE OF THE SIERRA LEONE AND BOULAMA (London, 2 parts, 4Fto.). In this truly valuable work the author proposes a government for the new colonies, which is clearly based upon the doctrines of the New Church.

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Unfortunately this could no longer be put into practice.

     This enterprise having failed, Wadstrom now established a factory-of what nature we know not-in Manchester, but failed again, in consequence of the disastrous war against the French. His entire private fortune was consumed in the wreck.

     Hoping that his dreams of freedom for the Africans might be realized through the influence of the young French Republic, which had declared itself the champion of universal liberty, and acknowledged the freedom of the negroes of Hayti, Wadstrom now took up his abode in France. He was received with much enthusiasm in Paris, where the "Reign of Terror" had just ended, was acknowledged a French citizen, and received the kiss of fraternity and equality in the presence of the Directory. A French translation of his "Essay on Colonization" was published at Paris; his plans were taken up with much interest by successive governments, and Napoleon Bonaparte himself is said to have communicated with Wadstrom, and to have investigated his schemes for colonization, before he started out upon his Egyptian campaign.

     In the meantime our champion of the Africans labored unceasingly for his special object, the abolition of the slave trade. He published at Paris, in 1795, an Address to the Legislative Chamber and the Executive Directory, calling upon the French Government to make common cause with England in the protection of the black race-a bold and hardly practicable proposition at that disturbed period. France had, indeed, proclaimed the emancipation of all negroes in her colonies and dependencies, and a "Society d'abolitiort de la Traite des Noirs" had been instituted during the first years of the Revolution, but had become inactive during the turmoil of the "Reign of Terror." Wadstrom in 1797, caused a revival of this society, under the new designation, "Reunion des Amis des Noirs et des Colons," and was, himself, chosen as director of this body.

     In the midst of this useful activity our friend was stricken with consumption, and died on April 5th, 1799. His worthy and devoted wife contracted the same disease and followed him shortly afterwards, leaving behind a young daughter, who was brought back to Sweden by a traveler.

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In consideration of the father's eminent services to the nation, the daughter was granted a life pension by the Swedish Government.

     John Augustus Tulk, Esq., one of the earliest receivers in London, has handed down the following reminiscences of Charles B. Wadstrom:

     He was warm and sincere in his attachments and pursuits; and if not profound in judgment, yet of varied knowledge and attainments. His manners were polished and uncommonly pleasing; and his conversation, by his intercourse with all ranks in life, and by his knowledge of the world, was entertaining and instructive. His delight was in, active life and the love of uses; but he did not always sufficiently weigh the means of action, and hence, to his mortification, he was frequently disappointed in his object, and involved in troublesome consequences. (Doc. I., 645)

     Mr. Henry Servante, in the year 1806, writes thus to his friend, James Glen, of Demerara (the first apostle of the New Church to America):

     Had my friend Wadstrom lived in the natural world until the present time, he would have rejoiced at what is now going forward; I allude to a bill lately passed in the British Parliament, for restraining the slave trade, and also a motion made by Mr. Fox on Tuesday last in the House of Commons, to the effect that Parliament should pledge themselves to accomplish the abolition of that infernal traffic as soon as possible, which motion (notwithstanding great opposition), has been carried by a great majority. Knowing, as I do, how uncommonly zealous and active Mr. Wadstrom was during his natural life, towards promoting the abolition, by repeatedly giving his evidence before the House of Commons on the subject, I cannot help thinking that he has been, and still is, equally active in the spiritual world; and that much of the powerful influx which seems to have been received by Mr. Fox, Mr. Wilberforce, and others of the present administration, has, through the mercy of the divine human, passed through Wadstrom's sphere to them. (MONTHLY OBSERVER, VOL. I., p. 419)

     We know that the Lord's New Church, in the spiritual world and in the natural, serves as the heart and lungs to the great man of the Church universal, as the central channel of influx between heaven and earth. Stupendous as this claim may seem, it is nevertheless established through the universal order of influx.

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Whatever of spiritual enlightenment or of genuine natural reform, which may be observed in the history of mankind since the time of the Last Judgment, may, in some manner or other, more or less mediate, or direct, be traced to the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem as revealed in the inspired Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. In few cases, however, is the connection as plainly evident as in the preservation of the freedom of that race, which has been reserved for the celestial establishment of the New Church. The first impetus of this great movement came from that worthy citizen of the New Jerusalem, Charles Bernhard Wadstrom.
                    
In conclusion, we may state, that Wadstrom's memory is still highly honored in his native land. The "Swedish Academy," not many years ago, had a medallion struck in his honor, and caused a careful biography to be prepared by one of the members, in celebration of his distinguished services, not only to his own country but to mankind. The Swedish poet, Nicander, on this
occasion, wrote a poem to Wadstrom's memory, from which, in a faulty rendering, we may quote the following lines:

"Broken lie the chains of human slavery,
And the rays of light have come to every
Outraged brother, slave no longer now.
And the messengers of light, who carry,
For this work the glorious and starry
Crown of fame, are Wilberforce, and-thou!"

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Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     SWEDENBORG'S WORK ON SALT.

     DE SALE COMMUNI ... NUNC PRIMUM EDIDIT ALFRED ACTON. Swedenborg Scientific Association. Bryn Athyn. 1910.

     The Swedenborg Scientific Association has just published from a copy of the original manuscript Swedenborg's work, De Sale Communi (On Common Salt). The work makes a well printed volume of over 150 pages, and is followed by a number of editorial and critical notes, giving among other things, the references to the authorities quoted by Swedenborg.

     In his preface, the editor gives a brief review of the movement, coincident with the formation of the Scientific Association, that led to the present publication. This movement was originated by the late Carl Hj. Asplundh, and contemplated the copying and publication of all the unpublished scientific MSS. left by Swedenborg. As a result over 2,500 pages of MSS. were copied, and are now in the possession of the Swedenborg Scientific Association; but thus far only the work on salt has been printed.

     A perusal of this work can leave no doubt in the mind of the reader competent to judge, that it was intended by its author as a part of his Opera Philosophica et Mineralogica, of which only three volumes were published by Swedenborg himself. The first, the Principia, is more or less well known to English readers, but the second and third volumes on Iron and Copper, respectively, have never been translated, and consequently their contents are unfamiliar to most students of Swedenborg.

     Both volumes consist very largely, if not altogether, of descriptions of the mining, preparation and uses of the metals treated of. The first half, or even more, of each work is a description by the author himself, gathered from his own travels and experience, and also from conversations with others, as well as a few quotations; the latter third consists almost entirely of quotations from various noted metallurgists and chemists of the day, as well as from alchemists of an earlier day, such as Clauber, Paracelsus, Beccher, Albertus Magnus, and others. The quotations from the latter, however, are styled almost worthless, and are included in the work only for the sake of completeness.

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     Now the work on salt also, as pointed out by the editor, consists almost entirely of quotations,-and these from largely the same authors as are quoted in Iron and Copper. And this fact indicates, as is also pointed out, that the work was intended as a part of the mineralogical series, to be added to, perhaps, before publication, by Swedenborg's own observations in his native country.

     Besides describing the methods of obtaining salt used in the countries of Europe, and also in India, Persia, China, Egypt and Mexico, Swedenborg devotes much of the present work to quotations on the chemistry of salt, its weight, the figure of its particles, its action on various metals, and the preparation of saltpetre, sal ammoniac, the spirit of salt, etc., etc.

     The work is another of the means which are now being provided for the students of the Church, whereby there may be a fuller understanding of the inception and growth of the marvelous philosophy which distinguishes Swedenborg's earlier years; to say nothing of its contribution to a better understanding of the philosopher's chemistry and cosmology in which salt figures so prominently.

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CORRECTION 1911

CORRECTION              1911

EDITOR New Church Life:
     As a statement quoted on p. 104 of your February issue from a letter from Sweden regarding certain events at Upsala at the time of the unveiling of Swedenborg's sarcophagus, is ambiguous and may easily lead to misunderstanding, your correspondent begs that the following may be inserted in explanation. The letter states that on the following day (Sunday) a sermon was delivered in the Cathedral of Upsala, and refers to the "dose of Old Church theology . . . that we Swedenborgian heretics came in for," etc.

     No intended reference to Swedenborg's doctrines was, however, made in the sermon. This would have been not only contrary to an etiquette very strictly observed in Sweden, but also against the policy of the State Church, which admits of no expressions against dissenting churches to be publicly proclaimed from the pulpit. The incident is further illumined by the fact that this particular Sunday (November 20th, not 29th as printed in the LIFE) is the established day on which from time immemorial it is the custom to give the congregation a gentle reminder of what is in store for unbelievers on the last day, ("Domsdagspredikan"). The contents of the paragraph, which was extracted from a private letter, has reference only to the internal effect of the sermon on the individual writer. THE CORRESPONDENT. Stockholm, March 2, 1911.

     [The editor must plead guilty of an unintentional misrepresentation of our correspondent's statement. We supplied certain words which seemed necessary to the context, but which we supposed had been inadvertently left out of the statement.-EDITOR.]

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Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     ABINGTON, MASS. Beside the tea parties we have had a Washington's Birthday celebration for our social life this month. There were twenty present, including friends from Rockland and Bridgewater, and with two dozen new dancing records for the graphophone, two gallons of ice cream, a half dozen leaves of cake and the New Church spirit and sphere, everyone voted it one of the most enjoyable parties in our history. We also entertained new found friends from Brockton at one of our recent tea parties.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. Interest this month centered in the Fair held on Washington's Birthday,-an innovation in the way of fairs, which have heretofore been held in the fall. The new plan, however, proved a great success, as people have more leisure at this time of year than in the strenuous period preceding Christmas, and as the fair itself was a particularly well managed and enjoyable one, it was pronounced successful socially as well as financially. Included in the clever and amusing program were a cleverly acted pantomime, a department store entertainment, and a parody on Julius Caesar, written by Donald Rose and enacted by himself and two other college students. All were exceedingly laughable, the last mentioned being full of rather daring local hits. Financially, the fair succeeded to the extent of one hundred and thirty-six dollars for the building fund, and the community is grateful to the Civic and Social Club committee for its success.

     On Monday evening, March 6th, Bishop Pendleton gave an exceedingly interesting illustrated lecture on the Battle of Gettysburg, in which he himself had taken part. Having a veteran of our own to bring the scene and the struggle so vividly before us made the subject intensely absorbing.

     On the second Friday in March the monthly banquet supper was again held, after two months omission, owing to the interference of other events.

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Bishop Pendleton read an instructive paper on the implanting of natural truths in the minds of the young from the letter of the Word as a foundation for the rational and spiritual truths which were to find their home there later. Interesting discussion followed relative to the states of childhood. One particular point brought out by one of the speakers was that the child's confidence in its parents and teachers should to the utmost be preserved, and to this end adults should carefully avoid unpleasant discussion or criticism before the children. Indeed it would be wise if we might consider ourselves all children in this particular and avoid states of criticism which have in them a spirit utterly at variance with our united purpose. It would doubtless be of benefit to the younger ones about us could we cultivate a propensity for trust and belief in the aims and endeavors of each other, and rob criticism of the spirit which gives it that name, no matter what our opinion of the results of those aims and endeavors may be.

     The pulpit has been filled on the last two Sundays by the Reverend J. F. Potts, who gave us interesting sermons on the spiritual significance of Jacob and Esau and the history of their lives.

     The Rev. Homer Synnestvedt has been appointed to represent the Bishop at the British Assembly next summer. He expects to divide the summer between Colchester and London with a brief excursion to Sweden and the Continent. R. E. S.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. As foreshadowed in our last report, we were able to hold our Christmas celebration in the new school house,-an appropriate time for the inauguration of our uses in the improved surroundings. A new building is not of such common occurrence as to lack the charm of novelty, and it justified several forms of celebration. On New Year's Eve it took the form of a banquet, the speakers dealing with the various uses of the society. As introductory the pastor spoke on the "Effect of external things upon internal uses." Mr. George A. McQueen then read a paper on "Education," dwelling upon the first principles of the Academy movement; he was followed by Mr. S. G. Nelson, on the subject of "Worship," who showed how true worship should touch the heart and the affections.

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At this point a brief ceremony, introducing a member into the Immanuel church, was performed, the pastor extending the right hand of welcome to Mr. Sydney Lee. Dr. King then spoke upon the use of the "Doctrinal Class," and indicated the importance of individual study of doctrine in the New Church.

     Then came a presentation to Mr. and Mrs. Hugh L. Burnham of a silver dish, a token of affection from all the members on the occasion of their silver wedding anniversary. Mr. W. H. Junge made the presentation speech, referring to his long acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. Burnham, and remarking that their married life had been coincidental with the life of the Immanuel church, of which they had always been loyal and devoted members. After the singing of hymn 66, Mr. Burnham feelingly expressed thanks for the gift, and then proceeded to the subject of "Social Life," drawing a contrast between the social life that has the conjugial sphere as its source of inspiration and the social life which has not. Mr. John Forrest then spoke in a very happy vein of reminiscence, and congratulated the Immanuel church upon its growth, which he believed was due to its fidelity to the teachings of the Church. A toast to the "Pioneers" followed, and we listened to some interesting memories of the early history of the society by Mr. Swain Nelson. The final toast was one of gratitude to Mr. A. E. Nelson, whose planning and effort for some years had borne fruit in our new edifice. Mr. Nelson responded, giving some "facts and figures." Dr. King here felt called upon to inject some humorous remarks about the absolute "inadequacy" of everything connected with our former Club House. But Mr. Forrest thought this the psychological moment to read a memorandum written by his father years ago, to this effect, "I went to Oak Glen today to the dedication of the new Club House, which is to be used temporarily for worship and educational purposes. It is a very well constructed building, and admirably arranged for the uses intended." Space will not permit more detailed account of this very enjoyable evening. At the approach of midnight preparation was made for the Watch Night Service, and we entered the New Year with prayer.

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     We are now the happy possessors of a stereopticon and are light, and have enjoyed two lectures, one by Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, on Swedenborg and Sweden, and one by Dr. J. B. S. King, on the Early Christians.

     We have been living much in the past of late. On Swedenborg's Birthday a long series of speeches dealt with early philosophers. At Steinfests we have symposiums on "Ancient Religions," and on the "Pioneers of the New Church."

     The Gorand Ball on the eve of Washington's Birthday showed us how well adapted for social purposes our new assembly room is. A. McQ.

     THE MISSIONARY FIELD. A visit of two days was made at London, Can., and on the evening of February 28th a meeting was held in the home of Mrs. Catherine Gunn and family, on Oxford street. The sermon that was read was received with appreciation, earnestly expressed by those present. Conversation on the Doctrines continued till a late hour. We have no members of the General Church in London; but there are some who are decidedly friendly to our body and the Academy.

     Another visit of three days was made at Mull, Kent Co., Can. On the evening of March 2d a meeting was held at the home of Mr. F. E. Woofenden and family. Several persons who were present are not members of any religious body, and had never before heard a New Church sermon. Conversation followed, in which questions asked and remarks made indicated somewhat of an intelligent interest. At the beginning of the service a young lady was baptized. On the evening of the following day, March 3d, there was also performed the baptism of an infant. Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Woofenden are members of the General Church.

     On March 5th and 6th I had a pleasant and useful visit at Kalamazoo, Mich., with Mr. B. C. Henyan, the only believer in the Heavenly Doctrines we now know of in that city. He is a reader of the Writings; is evidently in the affection of the genuine truth of the Word; and told me that he is now pursuing with intense interest the study of the seventh volume of the ARCANA. J. E. BOWERS.

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     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. Chas. W. Harvey has been unanimously called to the pastorate of the PHILADELPHIA society to succeed the Rev. W. L. Worcester. Mr. Harvey will assume his new position at Easter.

     The BROOKLYN society has voted to ask the Rev. Arthur Mercer, who has been hitherto engaged on a two year contract, to "remain indefinitely as pastor."

     The semi-annual conference of the ministers of the MARYLAND ASSOCIATION was held at the German church in Baltimore on January 30th. The four ministers present discussed the question of the Apostolic Writings, pointing out the teaching of Swedenborg, that they are useful books. Spiritual Diary 4412 was read, dealing with the character of Paul as seen in the other world, and noting that "in his epistles he mentions not a single word from the Lord as to what He taught, nor one of His parables." In the discussion "the view was expressed that Christians who quote Paul are saved from profanation which would ensue from misquoting the Word."

     The Conference also discussed the respective duties of men and women, pointing out that while these could not properly be exchanged, yet various necessities made accommodations to conditions unavoidable. The Resolution of the Woman's Council of the Illinois Association, noted in our last issue, that the "feminine element" be represented in the executive bodies of the Church, "was brought up and commented upon."

     Apropos of this Resolution, it may be noted, that the same resolution was concurred in and adopted by the Woman's Council of the NEW YORK ASSOCIATION, at its meeting on February 8th.

     Despite the bad weather, there was an attendance of twenty-five persons at the celebration of Swedenborg's Birthday by the BALTIMORE Northwest Mission. Addresses were made by the Rev. G. L. Allbutt, Mr. Walter Giles and Mr. Willard G. Day. Mr. Day spoke on the Divine Providence, illustrating his remarks by the story of Washington's Bible, which "has copious notes, some of which approximate to the New Church doctrine of charity."

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     "The North Side parish (of the CHICAGO society) celebrated Swedenborg's Birthday by having a supper with a special birthday cake, decorated with candles, and bearing Swedenborg's name, and a lecture on the Swedenborg Congress and the unveiling of the Swedenborg sarcophagus, by the pastor, the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, who illustrated his lecture by lantern slides."

     The Afro-American New Church Missionary Association, of Chicago, held a meeting on February 7th, at the headquarters on Dearborn street, where missionary addresses on Swedenborg were given by the Rev. A. Simons and others. The membership of the Association is not confined to members of the New Church.

     GERMANY. The Rev. Adolph L. Goerwitz has recently completed an extended trip covering various places in Germany, Austria and Italy, where there are New Church people. In Berlin he lectured on the Life after Death. The lecture had been well advertised and a prominent hall had been engaged capable of holding 200 persons. The hall was filled before the advertised time of the lecture, and despite the putting in of additional seats, and the fact that that many stood, still others had to go away for lack of room. After the lecture, a number expressed a desire for further information, and the literature sold and given away found ready acceptance.

     At the service of the society proper, Mr. Goerwitz administered the Holy Supper to thirty-four communicants. At the same service he also officiated at the marriage of Mr. William Strueber and Miss M. Lincke, who have both been members of the society for several years.

     AUSTRIA. In Budapest Mr. Goerwitz found that "the opposition to the German language in Hungary makes it doubly hard for the New Church to get a foothold there. One hundred copies of the Hungarian edition of HEAVEN AND HELL were sold during the year. At Tengelicz he held two meetings. At one of these services he baptized the six children of Mr. and Mrs. Andreas Kraemer, who had spent some years in Ohio, but had returned to live in their native land.

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The two New Church families intend forming a Sunday School and employing a German teacher. One service was held at Gyoerkoeny where the pastor preached on the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ."

     From Gyoerkoeny Mr. Goerwitz went to Trieste where he held services in Italian. The society here, though small, is very active. "They have a Sunday School and a reading circle under the leadership of Mr. Cuppo. They feel the need of a Catechism for children, and are willing to bear half the expense of having the late Rev. Fedor Goerwitz's 'Religious Instruction for the Young' translated and published. The greatest interest, however, was shown in the idea of holding a general meeting of all the New Church people in Austria-Hungary. It was decided to hold such a gathering at Vienna on June 4, 5, 1911."

     BOBEMIA. In a letter to the Messenger of February 22d the Rev. J. E. Werren gives some further interesting news respecting the English family, (Mr. and Mrs. Murdoch), who became acquainted with the doctrines through the Prague guide, Mr. Pos, and his fellow New Churchman, Mr. Janecek, as noted in our last issue. Mr. Werren includes in his letter a quotation from a letter written by Mrs. McCulloch to the Janeceks', in which she says:

     "I am writing to thank you very much indeed for sending 'Our Children in Heaven.' It is a beautiful book. We have been back in England some little time now, but are looking forward to coming abroad again some time and seeing you all again. We have bought a great many of the New Church books from James Speirs, in Bloomsbury St. They are such a comfort to us, and help us such a lot. We saw Mr. Buss at his house some days ago. Tomorrow we are going up to London to the service in his church. . . . We really think of becoming members of the New Church. The religion helps one so much in everyday life, and in every little incident of everyday life, does it not? One cannot read and feel the doctrines without wishing to lead a good life, and not through fear but through love for Jesus. It has made us so happy internally, and has been a true light to our darkness. We are so happy."

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     As to the progress of the work in Prague, Mr. Werren writes: that, under the leadership of Mr. Janecek, the little band of receivers is "beginning the systematic reading of the Sacred Scriptures. The inquirers in Bohemia are to strengthen each other by reading the same passages as are appointed for daily reading in England, the 'New Church Almanac' for 1911 being followed for the purpose.

     "Mr. Janecek has a short Life of Swedenborg in the press. It covers about 100 pages. Some hymns translated from the New Church Liturgy and a series of prayers for every day in the week are also added. This will be the first New Church literature for inquirers in Bohemia.

     "Mr. Janecek sent a clipping from the Cechish Daily of largest circulation, in which the imposing unveiling of Swedenborg's sarcophagus in Upsala is given to the Cechish reading public. Mr. Janecek seems to make intelligent use of news items designed to prepare the way for an interest in the New Church."

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Special Notice       W. B. CALDWELL       1911

THE CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY.

     The Tenth Chicago District Assembly of the General Church will be held at the Immanuel Church, Glenview, III., May 12th to 14th, inclusive.

     Members and friends who desire to attend will please notify Mr. W. H. Junge, Glenview, Ill., who will provide for their entertainment. W. B. CALDWELL, Secretary.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH IN SWEDEN 1911

EARLY HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH IN SWEDEN       C. TH. ODHNER       1911



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NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. XXXI          MAY, 1911           No. 5
     THE EXEGETIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY.
In preceding articles we have presented a sketch of some of the earliest and most prominent members of the New Church in Sweden, men such as Andrew von Hapken, Christian Johansen, the Nordenskjold brothers, and Charles B. Wadstrom, who, with others, associated themselves into a society, styled "The Exegetic-Philanthropic Society." We come now to the brief but remarkable history of that society itself, and the peculiar conditions which made possible its establishment, characterized its life, and caused its fall.

     THE MYSTICISM AT THE COURT

     of King Gustavus III. has been referred to before, but needs some further explanation. The king, when he ascended the throne in the year 1771, seemed anything but inclined toward spiritual things. The form of his mind, and his whole education, inclined him rather to the "free thought" of Voltaire and the other French "rationalists," and it was consequently considered proper at his court to mock at old-fashioned piety, virtue and religious conviction. Faith, even the false and separate faith of the fallen Church, was banished, and left in its room a vacuum, which, within a short time, and to the astonishment of the outside observers, was filled by superstitions of various kinds. The very men who had been most famed for their fine "French taste" and great enlightenment in the spirit of the time, fell the easiest victims to an epidemic of magic and spiritism which visited the courts of Europe in the eighth and ninth decades of the eighteenth century.

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     It seems to have been Free Masonry that first introduced Mysticism into the Swedish court. The king and his brother, Prince Charles, were received into the Masonic Order in 1772, and were at once captivated by the mysterious symbolism of the brethren. The glittering prospect of international influence as the chief of the Free Masons was held up before the king, who, in 1783, traveled to Italy in order to seek "the light" of inmost wisdom from the last of the Stuarts, the besotted Charles Edward, who was supposed to have inherited the highest Masonic dignity from his royal grandfather, with the power of transferring this upon some other monarch. The result of this mission is unknown.

     About the year 1779, Gustavus was still further influenced in a mystico-religious direction through the instrumentality of a remarkable character, the poet, writer and traveler, Johan Gustaf HALLDIN. The person, who, on his foreign journeys, had been much impressed with the mystical teachings and practices of Cagliostro and Dr. Mesmer, had mingled up the alchemistry, spirit-conjuring and "animal-magnetism" of these master-magicians with some of the doctrines of the New Church. According to his own testimony-which is of exceedingly doubtful value-he, himself, had been a member of a "Swedenborgian" society, which, in the year 1768, is said to have been instituted in Gothenburg by Swedenborg, Beyer, Rosen and some other distinguished persons. He came into personal contact with the king in the year 1779, when he had been sentenced to death on account of a newspaper article, in which he attacked the whiskey distilleries which Gustavus had established throughout Sweden to enrich himself at the expense of the virtue and welfare of his people. When Halldin shortly afterwards received a pardon, he wished to show his gratitude by an effort to convert the king from irreligion and infidelity, writing, for this purpose, numerous letters filled with warnings, exhortations and passages from the Word.

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Being himself a Free Mason, he also explained the science of correspondences to the king at the meetings of the Order, and applied this science to his own advantage by intimating that each of the assembled brethren represented some one of the disciples of the Lord, while Gustavus himself represented their divine Master. The easily kindled imagination of the monarch was pleased with these flattering allusions. Halldin was appointed Royal Secretary, and clergymen of supposed "Swedenborgian" tendencies were called to officiate at the court.

     The most prominent of these latter was a poor but eloquent preacher named Peter Olof FREDELL, who, in April, 1780, is said to have announced the doctrine of the New Church to the assembled court with great power and enthusiasm. In the presence of the king and the arch-bishop, Uno von Troil, he pronounced a fiery condemnation of the old doctrine of Justification, as being "punishable and damnable, dishonoring the qualities of God and of no use to mankind." He addressed himself especially to the king, "hoping that he, who now had begun to desire a knowledge of God, would in this life find the gratification of this desire; that he might discover that God is love; that he might receive strength to know the secrets of nature; and that in him might be realized a prophecy-given thousands of years ago-that the true light and the true religion would be established in this world by a prince, prepared for this mission." (SUNDELIN, p. 197.)

     The arch-bishop had intended to call Fredeil to account for this extraordinary sermon, but the latter was protected by court-influences, and was not only permitted to preach his new doctrines in freedom for several years, but was even appointed court-chaplain, and later rector of "Adolph Frederick's" parish in Stockholm.

     The same Fredell, in the year 1783, published a work which is perhaps, the most curious production in the entire literature of "pseudo-Swedenborgianism." The full title reads: "Oneiromancy, or the Art of Interpreting Dreams. In this book is contained a part of the Science of Correspondences, or the wisdom of the Ancients; thoughts on Alchemy or the purification of substances by means of heat; palingeutesis, or the new birth of existences; metempsychosis, or the transformations of life under various external forms; further, hints toward a sure explanation of Mythology and the Hieroglyphics; sound views of the human heart, its evils and its reformation; means of preventing sicknesses and the mistakes of the present time as to their causes," etc., etc. (Stockholm, Stolpe, p. 346.)

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     This "omnium gatherum" is, essentially, a sort of "Dictionary of Correspondences" drawn, so the author intimates, from the manuscripts of Swedenborg. It is arranged alphabetically, and gives the spiritual representation and signification of everything under the sun. On the whole, the explanations are based on the revelations in the Writings of the New Church, but are by no means limited to them. Where the Writings are silent, the imagination of the author readily supplies the deficiency, and often with truly ludicrous results. Thus the letter "o" signifies the eye and light, "u" the ear and hearing, "e" signifies existence and food, "m," tree or mountain; "l," wings or arms; "r," nose or a corner, and so forth. The book is full of similar assumption, errors, and heresies, and bears witness of the danger and the futility of trying to gain the genuine doctrine of truth by means of a mere knowledge of correspondences.

     Though by no means creditable to the New Church, or representative of the average intelligence and soundness of the real Newchurchmen of that generation, this miserable counterfeit of the Doctrines created a great sensation in Stockholm, as an exponent of the mysticism which was fashionable at the court. Pandering to "the powers that be," the most radical of literati in Stockholm-the poet Kellgren, who edited a weekly journal, the Stockholms-Posten-bridled his sarcastic pen, and merely mentioned the book, without any criticisms. But when, some years later, the "Swedenborgians" were no longer in royal favor, but the poet was the pet of the monarch, then the "ONEIROMANCY" was called "a dream-book in the vilest sense of that word."

     Authors such as Kahl, Tafel and Sundelin, have given the "credit" of authorship of this work to Charles Frederick Nordenskjold, but it gives us great pleasure to be able to free his memory from this burden. There is intrinsic evidence in the book that it was written by a mere tyro in the study of the Doctrines, as well as in literary attainments, and, moreover, by a person of poor, if not unbalanced judgment.

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C. F. Nordenskjold possessed neither of these faults, and was, besides, absent from Sweden at the time of its publication; We have it, on the authority of Westen's "History of the Clergy of Stockholm" (Vol. I., Part III., p. 644), that Fredell was the author.

     To return to the "mystical" movements at the court. Through the official preaching of Fredell, and the personal influence of Halldin, the king at this period began to exhibit unmistakable signs of a religious conversion. He diligently attended worship, read the Word and some of Swedenborg's works, expressed sacred resolutions to devote himself to virtue and a domestic life, made peace with his queen, to whom he had been shamelessly unfaithful, and created universal astonishment among his "devoted" subjects. The cause of this remarkable conversion may, however, be traced to the state of his nerves-weakened by prolonged sensual indulgences-rather than to any rational convictions.

     Before long, certain "mystical" adventurers, such as Captain H. G. Ulfvenklou, Gustaf Bjornram, and Major G. V. Palmstruch-all members of the aristocracy-managed to profit by the state of the monarch, through the use of a few New Church expressions, with the addition of mystical phrases, prophecies and promises of the discovery of hidden treasures and of the art of goldmaking. Ulfvenklou was a master in "astrology, chiromancy, geomancy, and hydromancy," and "stood in communication with all possible spirits," according to the testimony of Prince Charles, whom he had secretly anointed "King of Sweden, Norway and Finland, even unto the white stone near Moscow." Ulfvenklou led the royal and aristocratic mystics into the most ridiculous situations. Thus Prince Charles and the most prominent of the courtiers were present at a midnight meeting in a cellar in Stockholm, where the master magicians, with the burning of incense and other magical ceremonies, vainly endeavored to discover a treasure which was hidden there, according to a revelation that had been given him. At other times the royal party, including the king, assembled at night in the public burial ground where Ulfvenklou and Bjornram made them hear spirit-voices and see the ghosts of the dead. The prince, moreover, was presented with a mystic "pentacle" (a figure composed of two equilateral triangles, crossing each other so as to form a six-pointed star), by means of which he would be able to "command all possible spirits," and a "consecrated hazel-stick" was given him, to be consulted in "difficult and unpleasant conjunctures."

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     THE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY.

     The more pronounced of the "Swedenborgians" at the court do not appear to have had the courage, or even the desire, to counteract these magical influences, which, on the contrary, favored their own enthusiasm for alchemy. They preferred to "fish in the muddy waters" and did so with an apparent great success. Being in high favor at the court, and drawing no sharp lines of demarcation between the New Church and spiritualism, they, that is, Counts von Hopken, Bonde and Ekeblad, with Augustus Nordenskjold and Halldin, within a short period were able to interest an astonishing number of gentlemen of the highest rank, in the doctrines of the New Church. This is the secret of the wonderfully rapid growth and equally rapid decline of the Exegetic and Philanthropic Society, which was instituted in Stockholm on the first of November, in the year 1786, by the Nordenskjold brothers and Charles B. Wadstrom.

     The chief object of this society was, professedly, to publish the writings of Swedenborg in the original Latin, as well as in Swedish and French translations, and to promulgate the Doctrines of the New Church through all other lawful means.

     The membership of the society was threefold: 1st, those who took part in its business, possessed a vote at the meetings, and yearly paid a fixed subscription; 2d, those who were permitted to be present at the meetings but had no voting power, in consequence of not paying regular dues; and, 3d, corresponding members outside of Stockholm or residing abroad. The society held regular meetings every Wednesday afternoon at four p. m., and celebrated its anniversary on the birthday of its chief patron, Duke Charles of Sodermanland, the crown prince of Sweden.

     Among those who were associated in this society, the following names have been recorded, besides those of the founders:

     1. Baron Sven Liljencrantz, Governor of Sadermanland, the first President of the society, and its chief financial supporter.

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He appears to have been a true-hearted and faithful Newchurchman, whose interest never forsook the true cause.

     2. His brother, Baron M. Liljencrantz, who at that time was the Minister of Finances of Sweden. We know nothing as to his activity in the society.

     3. Charles Frederick Bergklint, a Finlander, a talented chemist and a zealous Newchurchman, in spite of a temporary addiction to alchemy. It is from his letters to friends in Finland that a great part of the society's history has been preserved. He was, perhaps, of all the members the one most jealous of the integrity of the Doctrines. He was born in 1753 and died about 1825.

     4. Count Andrew von Hopken, whose life has been described in a preceding chapter.

     5. Christian Johansen, also described before, and

     6. August Johansen, his younger brother, who was employed by the society in copying Swedenborg's manuscripts, being the only person in Stockholm who could read with ease the difficult handwriting.

     7. Bank Treasurer Carl Robsahm, who also has been mentioned before.

     8. Olof Knos, D. Ph., a learned linguist, son of the Arch-Dean A. O. Knos in Skara, who was the leader of the New Church Lutheran clergymen in Westgothland. Olof Knos married a daughter of the Rev. Arvid Ferelius, and died in 1804 as Professor at the college in Skara.

     9. Johan Tybeck, a Lutheran clergyman, who subsequently became the standard-bearer of the New Church in Sweden. His history will form a chapter by itself.

     10. Professor Peter Falck, of whom we know nothing except that he was the society's Treasurer, and was the first translator of the "Divine Love and Wisdom" into Swedish.

     The above persons were the only ones of whose actual Newchurchmanship we feel at all certain. Those that now follow are more or less doubtful characters.

     11. Colonel Nils Rosenblad, who, many years later, furnished Professor Immanuel Tafel with some documents respecting the society.

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     12. Johan Gustaf Halldin, mentioned above, an enthusiast from whose influence the New Church reaped but small profit or credit.

     13. Peter Olof Fredell, the author of the "Oneiromancy."

     14. Johan Afzelius, a famous chemist and mineralogist, Professor in Upsala.

     15. Adam Afzelius, one of the most distinguished scholars of the great Linnaeus. He accompanied Wadstrom to Africa in 1787, and was with Augustus Nordenskjold in 1791.

     16. Baron S. Lejonhufvud, an officer of the army, who, in 1788, entered the clerical order for the sake of extending the influence of the New Church in the Lutheran Establishment. He was appointed court preacher, and subsequently rector in Westgothland, where he died in 1815.

     17. Baron Herman J. Lejonmarck, the Secretary of the society.

     18. Sven Roos, a wealthy brewer, and for some time the Treasurer of the society.

     19. Baron K. G. Silfverhjelm, captain, and later colonel in the army. He became the President of the society in 1791, and exercised a most unfortunate influence upon its development.

     20. Baron G. U. Silfverhjelm, cousin of the preceding one. Like Baron Lejonhufvud he had been an army officer, but took "holy orders" in 1788. Of him Augustus Nordenskjold wrote in 1787, "when he gets the clerical robes on, he will subjugate the whole order of blackcoats." He was so famous for his "Swedenborgian" views that he was repeatedly refused ordination, but succeeded finally through influences at the court. He was a favorite of Prince Charles, and was the chief means of introducing the latter into the society.

     21. Lieutenant Colonel Sturtzenbecker, a talented but erratic character, of whom more anon.

     Besides these we know of the following members in Stockholm:

     22. Baron Barnekow; 23. Count Ekeblad, first chamberlain to the king; 24. Mr. H. J. Elvius, a manufacturer; 25. Colonel Faltstjerna; 26. Judge Joegneus; 27. Master-of-Mines Lundstrom; 28. Commissary Olson; 29. Professor Oesterman; 30. Baron Palmqvist; 31. Lieutenant Quickfeldt; 32. Baron Reuterhjelm; 33. Ingenieur Raberg; 34. Major Schmitterborn; 35. Mr. John Strand; 36. General Strussenfeldt; 37. Mr. Wastergren; 38. Mr. Vinblad.

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     The society also possessed numerous corresponding members in the provinces. The greatest number of these were in the neighborhood of Skara, and in Gothenburg. In the fdrmer place we know of: 38. Emanuel Chr. Drangel, a provincial judge; 39. Baron Leonard Gyllenhaal, major in the Army, and, 40. the Rev. Jonas Pehrson Odhner, Dean of Wadsbo, who was the first Swedish translator of the "True Christian Religion."

     In Gothenburg, where the fruits of Dr. Beyer's activity still remained, the members of the Exegetic-Philanthropic Society had instituted a regular branch. The most prominent were: 41. Director Beyer, a kinsman of Dr. Beyer; 42. Mr. Greig, a merchant; 43. Peter Hammarberg, a banker; 44. Mr. Habich, and, 45. Mr. Hilfeling, merchants; 46. Ibens, a sea captain; 47. Lagergren, a merchant; 48. Lagerberg, a sea captain; 49. Lundblad, a merchant; 50. Martern, a major; and his brother, 51. Captain Martern, and, finally, 52. the Councilor Wenngren, who probably was the leader of this little band.

     Of the foreign corresponding members there are recorded General Tuxen and his son, Captain Tuxen, in Elsinoer, the manufacturer Apelberg, in Copenhagen, where also resided Admiral Frederick Herman von Walden, who subsequently became famous in the annals of the New Church. In Schleswig the society had a member in Prince Charles of Hesse, the brother-in-law of Gustavus III. In Lubeck, Dr. Johan Adolph Schinmeier, General Ecclesiastical superintendent (bishop), was a member of the society. Among other foreign members we may mention Professor Langersheim, in Livonia, Abbe Pernety, in Berlin, Messrs. Peckitt, Spence and Rainsford, in London; and in France, M. D'Aillant de la Touche, in Nanci, the Marquis de Thome, in Paris, the Royal Librarian Moit, in Versailles, and Captain Montravell, in Valence.

     A glittering array, this, of noble and distinguished names, and quite unique in the history of the New Church, which, in other countries and at other times, has drawn its membership mostly from the more humble strata of society.

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But names do not constitute Churches, as will be evident from the story of the Exegetic and Philanthropic society.

     THE FIRST YEAR

witnessed the greatest prosperity and activity of the society. In January, 1787, the members began to publish a quarterly journal, the SAMLINGAR FOR PHILANTRROPER, which has been described above. Several of the articles were published separately in the form of pamphlets, and gained a great circulation. "THE NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HE1AVENLY DOCTRINE," translated by C. F. Nordenskjold, was the first of the writings published in Swedenborg's mother-tongue. It was published in excellent form by Nordstrom, in Stockholm, without being submitted to the legal censor, and in violation of the law of 1772, which forbade the publication and circulation of Swedenborg's works in Sweden. The numerous enemies of the society did not neglect to call public attention to this offense, which, in view of protection from the court, was condoned by the legal authorities. The ecclesiastical Consistory of Stockholm, however, pressed the matter, until the society was obliged to have its subsequent publications printed in Copenhagen and smuggled into Sweden. The journal itself ceased with its fourth quarterly number.

     THE RECEPTION OF THE CROWN PRINCE.

     On August 29, 1787, the Exegetic and Philanthropic Society gained what was supposed to be its greatest victory when the Crown Prince of Sweden, Duke Charles of Sodermanland (afterwards King Charles XIII. of Sweden), was received as one of its regular members. The speech made by his Royal Highness on this occasion has been preserved, and reads as follows:

     Truth is simple; it is infinite; it may be shaded, but cannot be changed; and if ignorance, prejudice, or private views hide its true meaning, these clouds are dissipated by an upright inquirer, who, being led by a superior hand, has strength enough to distinguish truth from falsehood.

     This happy period is approaching, and, while unbelief is striving with superstition, truth is enabled to re-assume that right among mankind which it had from the beginning of time, namely, of enlightening them concerning their real good, the road which leads to union with their author and benefactor.

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     From reason, and also from what I have heard, and, were it not presumptuous, I would say, from what I have already experienced, I am convinced that such a road exists.

     Having found, gentlemen, that your thoughts are consonant with my own, I have with pleasure accepted your invitation to reckon myself one of your number.

     I wish to assist you in the pursuit of the aim of your meetings. Convinced that the hand of omnipotence protects your laudable intentions, I trust that by his grace you will reap the fruits of a labor consecrated to his glory. May He bestow his blessings for this purpose, is my ardent prayer. (NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, 1790, P. 179.)

     The exultation of the members at this important accession to their numbers may easily be imagined. Yet were there some of the more conservative who felt somewhat doubtful. Bergklint, for instance, remarks in one of his letters, that the real views of the prince were but little known, and that his life was anything but exemplary. Yet even he soon became persuaded that the prince would bring both honor and benefit to the society. But what the actual influence of the prince amounted to as regards the New Church, does not appear in history.

     By the middle of 1787 the membership of the society had increased to one hundred and fifty. Wadstrom, in a letter of this year, has expressed the general enthusiasm of the members:

     Our society works daily with great success. We have now gone through a great part of the "SUMMARIA EXPOSITIO," which is well translated. . . . A great number of translations have been received, and we are revising them as fast as we are able. . . . We are in daily receipt of most interesting letters from the provinces, especially from Wastergren and Judge Drangel, who is especially zealous. . . . Our society corresponds with the societies in London and Moscow and with foreign correspondents in various places. . . . We have now both princes and councilors of the State among us, and With the Lord's help we will soon dare to undertake anything. Soon we will have our own printing office, for which Governor Liljencrantz has presented us with 500 riksdaler. We may unite with the Free Masons, who now intend to establish a printing office, and let August Johansen be received as a Mason, if he wants to. But what will the clergy say of all this? If the rumor is true, that the Arch-bishop himself is "hicrosolymite" [Newchurchman], then he will bridle the mouth of his black comrades. If all this is of the Lord, then it will surely succeed. (SUNDELIN, p. 216.)

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     ANIMAL MAGNETISM.

     "Where God builds a church, the devil at once erects a chapel"-thus an old Swedish proverb. The cunning serpent of magical spiritism had established himself in the society soon after its first institution. Probably through the influence of Halldin, most of the members had been persuaded to look with favor upon the then newly discovered "sciences" of animal magnetism and mesmerism, as affording positive proofs of the verity of Swedenborg's revelations concerning the spiritual world. On the other hand, they regarded the doctrines of the New Church as able to present the only true explanation of the spiritistic phenomena. The society, they thought, would therefore perform a twofold use by experimenting with these. At the beginning some of the members, such as Bergklint, Wadstrom and C. F. Nordenskjold looked with suspicion upon the introduction of these fascinating practices, but even they, it seems, were finally persuaded, so that, at length "all the members were magnetizers," and the most zealous of these were Halldin, Sturtzenbecker, Silfverhjelm and the Johansen brothers. They "praised God, who had given this boon to men as a means of again gaining communication with the spiritual world." Instead of reading and translating the Writings of the New Church, as at first, the members were now occupied with spiritistic and somnambulistic experiments at the meetings. These dances were given a philanthropic appearance by the introduction of sick persons, whose cure was to be effected by means of magnetic influences, exorcisms and mediumistic communications.

     Of so great an importance did the society consider its "magnetic" activity, that on June 19, (sic!), 1787, they published a circular letter in the French tongue, with the title: "Letter of the Exegetic-Philanthropic Society, containing the only Satisfactory Explanation of the Effects of Animal Magnetism and Somnambulism, drawn from correct Principles concerning the Creator, Man and Nature, and confirmed by the Experiences of the Society." (Stockholm, A. J. Nordstrom, 45 pp.) The French edition of this letter is addressed to "The Magnetic Society in Strassburg, called 'Societk des amis reunis.'"

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A Swedish edition of the same letter was published in Stockholm in the same year, and dedicated to the king and the Board of Health (!). A German edition is also said to have been published.

     This letter, which is full of misapplied quotations from the Writings, explained so as to give countenance to universal and open intercourse with spirits, was sent broadcast over Europe to numerous learned institutions and prominent men. It attracted widespread attention, and caused a number of susceptible persons to join the society, but did incalculable harm in the learned world, by presenting Swedenborg and the Doctrines of the New Church in an entirely false light. Henceforth ridicule and general odium met the New Church everywhere in Sweden and on the Continent. By the publication of this letter, the Exegetic and Philanthropic Society had virtually signed its own well-merited death warrant.

     THE FALL OF THE SOCIETY.

     Within a few months, reclamations against the letter appeared in numerous learned journals of Germany. The poet Klopfstock, among others, attacked the society in some witty articles in the "Berlinsche Mionatschrift," (May, 1788), and in Leipzig the learned Dr. J. G. Rosenmiiller poured vials of wrath upon "Swedenborgianism" in a special work, entitled, "Briefe iiber die Phanomene des Thierischen Magnetismus und Somnambulismus." In Sweden, especially, the effects of the letter were fatal.

     The Consistory of the Lutheran Church in Stockholm informed the Chancellor of Justice that the society had broken the press-law, having published the forbidden Swedenborgian works, without submitting them to the censor. At first the information was without effect, as so many of the members were influential at the court, but when it seemed that the whole clergy was about to rise up in arms, the society was finally forbidden to continue its publications. As freedom of the press had about this time been established in Denmark, the society now had its publications printed in Copenhagen, and smuggled into Sweden.

     Enemies now rose up on all sides. In Upsala, Dr. R. Scheringson attacked the New Church in a Latin disputation, entitled, "Dissertatio sistens observationes nonnullas de philosophia recentiorum platonicorum, indolem atque originem fanatismi nostri aevi illustrantes," in which, in a most insidious manner, the author tried to show that Swedenborg had purloined the salient features of his system from the ancient school of Neo-platonism.

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     More dangerous, however, was the bitter attack on Swedenborg, the New Church, and the Exegetic-Philanthropic Society especially, which was begun in 1787 by Johan Henrik Kellgren, the most famous, witty and satirical poet of that age in Sweden. Kellgren was a special favorite of the king and chief of the infidel "French School" of literati in Sweden, who had Voltaire and Rousseau as their "beaux ideals." As long as the king seemed to favor Swedenborgianism at the court, Kellgren discretely held his tongue, but when, about 1787, the religious and mystical revival began to lose its excitement to his majesty, the poet let loose upon the New Church a long pent-up flood of most malicious vituperations. In his well known journal, the Stockholms Posten, Kellgren openly declared a war to the death against "Swedenborgianism," and called upon all "friends of reason and religion to prevent Sweden from becoming one vast mad-house." He now united the rationalistic opponents of the New Church into a club or society, styled "Pro Sensu Communi," instituted, professedly, in honor of the memory of the English philosopher, John Locke, "the most rational man that the earth had born."

     This society, with Kellgren at the head, now began to publish one attack after another on the New Church, both in Stockholms Posten and in other journals. The members of the Exegetic Society for a time replied to these attacks through the same channels. The controversy, after a while, became a grand combat between religion-and morality on one side-represented by the members of the New Church, who in their communications signed themselves as a society "pro usu veri rationis"-and rank infidelity on the other. Yet, such was the wit and plausibility of Kellgren's style, and such was the distrust against the New Church caused by its dabbling in animal magnetism, and such, finally, was the corrupt and irreligious state of society at large, that the public sympathy was overwhelmingly in favor of society "Pro Sensu Communi." No weapon was considered too ignoble by the poet, who also knew how to work upon the suspicions of the king, by holding before him the well known sympathy of his hated brother, Prince Charles, with the friends of the New Church, at the same time darkly hinting at the possibility of revolutionary intrigues being hatched among the Swedenborgians.

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One of Kellgren's poems was especially effective. It was dedicated to the king, and entitled: "A Man is not a Genius, because he is Crazy." The following is a literal translation of this malicious and silly poem, which is considered Kellgren's masterpiece:

"Though sometimes spots are seen upon the sun,
The moon, with all its spots, will yet remain a moon.
Though Newton once was sick in spirit-fever,
Yet Swedenborg remains simply a silly fool.

"O Sweden, ancient home of human sense,
As well as manly courage, where's the bottom
Of this abyss of errors?-Yet a year or two,
And all thy shores embrace one vast insane-asylum.

"From folly is all vice, all virtue is from light.
A crime gainst reason is a crime against the majesty,
The majesty of man, and thine, O king!-for know,
Where fanaticism goes, revolt is sure to follow.

     The above verses may be enough as a specimen. Not content with thus heaping ridicule and suspicion upon the New Church, Kellgren again and again called upon the legal authorities to support his arm in this highly "intellectual" combat, and he also influenced the public journals of Stockholm, so that their columns were closed to any further communications from the members of the New Church.

     Soon the orthodox party joined arms with the infidels. In the year 1788 there was published at Stockholm an anonymous work, entitled: "Incontrovertible Thoughts as to the Manner in which to Treat Fanatical and Erroneous Opinions in Religion, particularly the so-called Swedenborgianism." The author of this inquisitorial work was a Pastor Johan-Moller, who had been appointed Professor of Theology in Upsala as a reward from the ecclestiastical authorities for his previous attacks upon the New Church. In this book Professor Moller approvingly reprinted a number of Kellgren's atheistical attacks on the New Church, and called upon the government to exterminate Swedenborgianism with the utmost severity.

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The book, which in itself is utterly worthless, gained considerable importance by being approved and recommended by the Diet of 1789. Being thus threatened with a general political persecution, forbidden to publish any works of their own, and prevented from replying to their adversaries in the public journals, the tongues of the Newchurchmen were now effectually sealed in Sweden.

     These adversities, however, were to a great extent well merited by the profane admixture of spiritism with the pure doctrines of the New Church. It was the magnetic and spiritistic practices and teachings of the society, that were especially the objects of the attacks, and it is not surprising that the world at large identified these with the Heavenly Doctrine itself. In spite of the ill results of this admixture, and in spite of remonstrances, warnings and teachings from members of the New Church in England, the society persisted in dabbling with spiritism. Gradually, however, those of the members, who had any real knowledge of and love for the New Church itself, withdrew from active connection with the society, and those who were more interested in spiritism gained absolute control. The meetings became mere mediumistic seances, the work of translating and publishing the Writings ceased, and the society itself was dissolved about the beginning of the year 1791.

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"AND I HEARD BEHIND ME A GREAT VOICE AS OF A TRUMPET" (APOC. I., 10) 1911

"AND I HEARD BEHIND ME A GREAT VOICE AS OF A TRUMPET" (APOC. I., 10)       GILBERT H. SMITH       1911

     Although not textually separated into a paragraph, verses 9, 10 and 11 of the first chapter of Revelation present a distinct series of spiritualideas. This series is introduced by the name John and concludes with the names of the seven churches or early Christian communities in Asia Minor. Such an introduction and conclusion indicate that the general content of these three verses is doctrine concerning the Lord adapted to all degrees of intelligence from the Word; for the names of the churches summarize all degrees of receptivity, and John signifies doctrine concerning the Lord.

     Here we note a clear and easy transition from the preceding paragraph, which begins with the words "Behold he cometh with clouds," and ends with the phrase "who is Almighty." He who "cometh with clouds" is Divine Truth, because the subject of the chapter from the beginning is Enlightenment concerning a future interior state of the Church. The coming of Divine Truth "with clouds" pictures the envelopment or obscuring of absolute Truth,-the Divine Logos, which is Infinite,-with relative Truth; it pictures the Divine Wisdom of "Him who Is, Was and Shall Be" tempered, obscured, and mixed with appearances by the limitations of the human mind; but especially by reason of the connate inclination to self-love, the old will, which encompasses the perceptive faculty, as it were, with an obscuring mist or cloud.

     What the Infinite reveals concerning Himself is relative Divine Truth, Truth more or less distorted by reason of the necessity of placing itself within human comprehension. But nevertheless the power of Jehovah so to accommodate Himself to men is the very and only source of His "almightiness" as far as concerns salvation.

     In the paragraph preceding our present one, therefore, we see that the Divine object is to become "Almighty" in human salvation by means of coverings or clouds formed from human conception and human experience, recorded in the letter of Scripture.

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These one can easily comprehend. And now this teaching carries over to the paragraph before us, refining and increasing as it goes. The Divine Truth coming with clouds is now called John. By this we are instructed that Divine Truth all centers and comes to focus in one doctrine which is the core of all others, the doctrine concerning the Lord. It is this doctrine that comes with clouds; so deeply enshrouded, indeed, that "every eye shall see it, and they even who pierced Him." Both good and evil may see this doctrine. It is accommodated to the receptivity of each and every man, as we are to understand from the mention of churches in seven places; for this is involved in the number seven as well as in the names themselves.

     The previous group of verses also reveals the truth that to come in clouds means to come before the external man or the external of thought, not in a vague, but in a concrete and tangible form. And we are now taught that that which is of the Lord capable of being received into the external or conscious thought is the doctrine of the Lord. This is the first and the last of all doctrines. It is that from which all other doctrines derive and to which they all lead. And therefore it is that John heard behind him a great voice saying, "I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last." The Divine Truth communicated to us by John, that is, through the doctrine of the Lord, is the first and the last of all churches. For the primary thing-the "first" of every church is to effect knowledge and recognition of its Divine. Thus only is it conjoined to its Divine, and without conjunction with the Divine all things of doctrine are nothing. This also is the cause, that is, the "last," why the Divine has revealed Himself to the apprehension of every man. (A. E. 45.)

     Doctrine concerning the Lord, to repeat what was said before, is the "first" and the "last" of all doctrine and of every Church. It is the first in point of time; and it is the last in the sense that by it alone is conjunction with the Divine; and this conjunction is the end of it, the Last. But to see and understand this doctrine of the Lord obscurely is what is meant by hearing a great voice of a trumpet "behind" one, that is, to perceive it from the remains implanted from infancy in the interior of thought. One does not "turn himself" to behold the great voice, to see the seven golden candlesticks, until he has also received this doctrine in the external of thought, that is, from the written Word, from the Hebrew, the Greek, and the Latin Word.

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For these are the clouds of heaven which enter into and form the external of thought; the Old Testament being, to men of our day, a thick cloud, through which the Lord can be seen but dimly; the New Testament a thinner cloud, through which He may be seen more plainly; and the Heavenly Doctrine a more lucid cloud, through which now a clear and angelic vision of Him is possible.

     The Lord is seen when the end or use of a doctrine is clearly recognized. And the end or use of doctrine concerning the Lord is conjunction with Him. And this conjunction is what is called in the Writings the "good of love to the Lord." This is what is meant by John's calling himself "our brother." "I John, who am your brother, and companion," etc. Doctrine concerning the Lord which occupies and rules the external of thought is also a "brother," when it enters the internal of thought. By this is meant that there is perception there of the good of love to the Lord.

     Doctrine must be received as a brother before that state of regeneration is entered which is represented by John's "turning himself to see the great voice which sounded as a trumpet behind him." That is to say, the interiors of one's thought, of which one is never distinctly conscious, must be in a state of readiness to perceive the good toward which a doctrine aims, when the doctrine is presented to the understanding.

     The spirit is roughly to be compared to a dry plate in a photographic camera. The eye may be compared to the lens. The doctrine of the Lord enters the external of thought, seated in the fibers of the cerebrum, from the written Word. It is like the image of a man thrown upon the plate. But unless the plate had been previously prepared to receive the image and make it permanent, the operation would be useless. You will now have anticipated that the internal of thought, seated, broadly speaking, in the cerebral cells, is comparable to the emulsion of chemical salts which is affected and changed by the light-image projected through the lens.

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     So, to receive doctrine concerning the Lord as a "brother," that is, with perception of the good to which it leads, presupposes a previous state of preparedness without which the doctrine would be like seed cast upon bare rocks. And the preparation is made, in the individual, by remains. These are gathered chiefly before the external of thought is matured by impressions received from the sphere of others,-his elders who have themselves perceived the good of love to the Lord. This sphere has induced upon the cortical substance of his brain something of its own motion and state, accompanied with delight. Thus the child before maturity has gained a foretaste of that state which can receive enlightenment, here designated by the island of Patmos. As for the Church, her preparation to receive the doctrine of the Lord as a "brother," that is, with perception of the good of that doctrine, is accomplished, at any given period, by what she has received from past epochs of her history. The Church possesses "remains" in a larger sense by reason of which she, too, is said to be in Patmos, that is, capable of receiving illustration. These remains are as important in the process of illustration as the dry plate in the process of photography. For in the last analysis it is remains which determine whether or not a Church or an individual is of the quality signified by John. It is remains alone which enable him to make the heart acknowledgment that he can do nothing good nor exercise any rational thought of himself, which we have found to be the attitude prerequisite to the Lord's coming in clouds, or appearing in the external of thought. Again, it is remains alone which cause one to feel humiliation and, like John, to fall at the feet of the Son of Man as one dead. Seeing, then, that the subject of remains is inseparable from that of illustration, let us consider what remains really are. We may say that they are states impressed, through the agency of others and their spheres, by an external way upon the medullary fibres of the brain, and thence conveyed inward to the beginnings of these fibers in the cortical substance, where they are registered and preserved. Thus remains are in reality affections of the inmosts of the brain. But they also include perceptions,-states of the cortical substance similarly induced and preserved. These affections and perceptions, however, are never known or felt, as such, by the human mind, being, as indicated, related to the activity of the cortical substance, which is subconscious.

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Nevertheless the cortical substance is divided into fibers which compose the medullary substance, and here they enter consciousness as delights and thoughts. Thus delights are the "clouds" in which affections come into one's consciousness, and thoughts are the "clouds" in which perceptions envelop themselves. Remains may therefore be called thoughts and delights of a certain kind.

     What kind of thoughts and delights? Evidently those connected with doctrine from the Lord stimulated and awakened by the truth of that doctrine; for the grace and peace spoken of early in the chapter, involving the gift of remains, are said to come from "Him who Is, Was and Shall Be, from the Seven Spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ,"-a complete description of the Lord.

     These thoughts and delights are handed down in some form and degree from the Church of one epoch to that of another. They are also handed down from parents and teachers to children. And from the time of the Ancient Church they have also been recorded in a written Word.

     All such delights and thoughts, as well as the written words of past and present time, are nothing but the outward covering, therefore, or the perceptible forms of affection and perception which have secretly guided the destinies of the human race. It is these interior subconscious things, belonging entirely to the Lord, constituting the interior man, which are called "remains." And it is these which insure and make permanent in the external man, in the conscious thought, all doctrine relating to the Lord. They insure the very existence in external form of the Word itself; as is at once suggested by the command, "Write it in a book," which means to preserve to posterity.

     The doctrine concerning the Lord cannot be preserved to posterity except by means of remains. Were there no remains inherited by the New from the Old Church, no enlightenment would be possible, though the Writings were placed on every bookshelf in the world. For the truths of doctrine about the Lord, except with certain simple hearted ones, are strenuously opposed and denied by the ecclesiastical tendencies of the times; even as John describes himself as "our companion in affliction, and in the kingdom, and in the patient expectation of Jesus Christ."

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It is ordained that the remains of the Lord's Church must be buffeted about in a sea of afflictions even as the ark withstood storm and flood. But the consolation is, that remains are of such enduring kind that, like the ark, they cannot be overwhelmed nor destroyed; but rather by the very means of afflictions and temptations assume a definite and tangible shape in the external of thought. That is, by means of temptations they shape themselves in the thought into general and fundamental knowledges concerning the Lord. These knowledges may be withdrawn or be benighted in certain vicinities, but the Lord always provides that they be preserved in others. And when thus preserved they form the nucleus around which fresh truths of a new revelation are gathered.

     To be in Patmos means to be in a state to distinguish between what belongs to the Lord and what is of and from oneself. This state, we are instructed, "is seldom reached at this day except by means of affliction and temptation." Hence the words in Matth. xxiv., the ending of which chapter coincides with the whole of the Apocalypse: "In the consummation of the age they shall give you over to affliction; and then there shall be great affliction, such as there was not from the beginning of the world until now." That the name Patmos involves the ability to discern between the things of the Lord in the thought and those of self is evident from the words that follow the name: "For the sake of the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." These words are explained to mean that it was for the reception of Divine Truth, and that the Divine Human of the Lord should be acknowledged. It is clear that no one can receive Divine Truth and acknowledge the Human of the Lord as Divine unless he can first distinguish between thought of his own origination and that which he has received from revelation, that is, from the Scriptures or from the teachings of others. For it is altogether contrary to the mind's natural tendency to admit a supernatural source of knowledge.

     To make this distinction, as was said, involves temptations, as might be inferred from the desolate and barren nature of the island Patmos, used by the last of the Caesars as a banishing ground for criminals.

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But the conclusive evidence that temptation is involved is that John is called a "companion in affliction and in the patient expectation of Jesus Christ." Temptation, in turn, involves the presence of remains, that is, the presence of the Lord Himself in the internal man or the internal of thought. But the Lord is not present in the internal man alone; He must always reserve for Himself some ultimate knowledge in the external man, the external of thought. Moreover, the Divine never operates into internals alone or into externals alone, but into both together. Therefore, there has always been preserved some definite knowledge from revelation in the world concerning the Lord. This knowledge was indeed set aside and ignored by the Jewish Church, in so much that in spite of accumulated prophesy of the Lord's coming they rejected and crucified Him when He came. But it was preserved with the Gentile Greeks, for which reason Patmos was chosen for John's revelation, one of the islands of the Greek archipelago. By this was represented the continuance and rejuvenation of doctrine concerning the Lord by a nation which had not destroyed with itself all humiliation and remains, nor consequently lost the power to distinguish between self-derived and heaven-derived knowledge and delight. With the Greeks "the knowledge of the gods was man's divinest lore;" and this knowledge was to some extent kept alive by their poetry, philosophy, art, and culture, constituting, in another sense, and, as it were, a "voice behind."

     As the Jewish Church represented and prefigured the Christian Church, so the Christian Church, in its beginning, prefigured the New Church. The New Church is now in its Patmos, in its affliction, in the kingdom and the patient expectation of Jesus Christ. And it is there in order that it may transmit to posterity that which is written in books concerning the Lord and concerning the good of love to Him, which is conjunction with the Divine. It is commanded, "What thou seest write in a book and send it to the seven churches in Asia." To do this is the end to be accomplished in the present state of the New Church. It is to transmit to all succeeding time the true doctrine of the Lord both in its external and internal form. In its internal form it is to be given to "posterity;" in its external form to "all who are in the light of intelligence."

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     The doctrine of the Lord can and must be transmitted to the New Church of tomorrow by two distinct channels, if it is to survive the "affliction" which will try the "patience of her saints." It must be transmitted by the internal of thought, the internal man, that is, to "posterity;" and also by the external of thought, the external man, that is, the "light of intelligence."

     What do these balanced phrases mean? Simply this: the truths which we strive to propagate and defend will survive in posterity just in proportion as they take hold on our affections and their perceptions; that is, in proportion as they are received in the internal of thought which is the abode of remains. The extension and preservation of the sphere of the internal of our thought is the voice which speaks from "behind," because it inflows into the will. It is from this sphere of the internal thought that the future Church will turn to behold the voice from in front, that is, to receive the doctrine concerning the Lord in the understanding. Nothing else would accord with true order. Doctrine concerning the Lord must be given immortality by reception first of all in the internal thought, and from that in the external. This has been the case with every revelation that has been preserved to us. It is the law governing the preservation of revelation for ever, a law expressed by John's hearing the voice behind him and then turning to see the voice.

     And how is the internal of thought, the internal of the Church, extended, that it may form the basis of reception, both in ourselves and in others? It is extended only as the internal is implanted in the external of thought, or as the internal chooses and elects from the things of doctrine in the external what agrees with itself. This implanting of the internal in the external of thought, however, can come about only in proportion as evils are shunned as sins. And since evils only appear as sins in the external of thought, and since that thought appears entirely our own, they must be shunned as of ourselves. This is what is meant interiorly by "writing what we see in a book." For writing in a book, in a broad sense, means to fix in the memory something that is to be done. And it is only by doing or acting according to the doctrine of the Lord that the internal of thought enters and weds the external of thought.

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We cannot hope for the preservation of the new doctrine concerning the Lord, unless we thus receive it ourselves as a "brother"; for only in this way can we extend the sphere of our Church's affections and provide for her more outward acceptance in thought. And since the willingness to do this is in our own hand, (for freedom extends even to this), we can only pray the Lord so to dispose us,-to open our ears to the trumpet sounding behind us.
UNIVERSAL AURA 1911

UNIVERSAL AURA       LILLIAN G. BEEKMAN       1911

     IV.

     THE TWO THINGS WHICH ARE DRAWN FORTH FROM THE BODY AT DEATH.

     The human spirituous fluid is drawn forth wholly and entirely from the human body at death "by the searching action of an extremely pure fire," and remains indestructible after the body dies. (E. A. K. II, 350.)

     If the human spirituous fluid, the inmost and first human substance, which is determined immediately, or without a medium, by the primal aura and lives the life of the spirit of God, be that "inmost essence on inmost something" of CONJUGIAL LOVE, into which God immediately flows, it, of course, is drawn forth from the body at death.

     It is to be considered, however, that the human internal, that inmost essence into which the Lord immediately flows, ranks above the "heavens," even the highest, and is the plane of the Lord with us, as integral human forms acting therein, by Love and Wisdom equally joined; and is not, as it were, our own plane and substance. That is, it is not a plane destined ever to become the seat of the individual sensative and conscious life of man. It is a plane never given to a man to be, "as it were, his own," not even to a celestial man, and remains always the unperceived plane and substance of the Lord's universal presence and action, creating, recreating, forming, and sustaining, in the human organism. It is, in fact, the inner plane, Immanuel, or God-Man-with-us.

     But the human spirituous fluid is not the only thing drawn forth from the body at death.

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It is indeed "the first" of man, and the most central, prior, and perfect; and it is drawn forth.

     But there is something else drawn forth from the human body at death; and indestructible by the death of the body. Moreover, this something else outlines the walls of the recipient organic vessels of each and every plane of the human form, as if it was the very thread which wove them. And it is indeed the very thread which weaves them,-as if they were little baskets, little tubes, cunningly woven of ever-circling twinings of this "thread;" like little children weaving baskets of their rafia,-all the baskets that could ever be for any use,-of one endless rafia thread, by circling twinings. So with this "thread" and its weaving of the microcosmic human form,-which is framed of the recipient vessels of every plane and province and action of the universal life.

     Thus when this other thing, this interwoven thread, the patterning of which is the actual weaving of the living organic human form, is drawn forth from the body, this which is drawn forth in its whole stands forth in the very and full external form of all the organic recipient vessels of the whole human microcosm.

     Now the amazing thing is that this "thread" which really weaves man as a recipient vessel, sensitive and flexible, this "thread," almost fluid itself, is taken out of the substance of the spirituous fluid, is a condensed piece of it, and moreover, is composed of no other "materia" whatever. That alone, with no other substance conjoined!

     This thread, which by opposite weavings produces a membranous web, even as threads knit together can make a web of cloth, of any dimensions or form, by virtue of the derivation of its substance literally from the substance of the spirituous fluid, is sensitive; therefore, the membranous webs woven of it are so also.

     All that belongs to the organic memory, all the ripple marks of the organic sense experiences of the human form on any plane, reach, are stamped in, remained fixed in, this thread and the membranous webs it weaves.

     It is not in the human spirituous fluid itself that "the memory of things done and suffered" is infixed; nothing can infix itself there.

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The human spirituous fluid only acts, complies, permits, insinuates, rules.

     This other thing, this weaving thread, relatively non-fluid,-although fluid indeed in comparison with other things lower,-is "the plane" where all experience memories abide.

     And it is this thread and the range of recipient forms woven of it, which actually constitute the man as an organic recipient form, is what is given to him to be, as it were, his own. And when it is drawn forth at death, there it is, the whole outward basket mould of him, plane after plane, with all his "memories" in it.

     But do not think of this little thread, this weaving fibre, as an impervious thread. It is a hollow thread. Image to yourself a blood vessel, a great artery, and the way it is filled with blood, and the blood running pulsing through it. So with its primal weaving thread, this little hollow thread, this fine channeled fiber: with the spirituous fluid filing it, running through it, and pulsating as it runs, from the animations of the Divine.

     Now, the organic fabric woven of this primal thread constitutes the organic parts, which are woven by the Lord, and then, after that weaving, are given to angels, spirits, and men who also are spirits, to be, as it were, their own, their actual human form. But the vital principle or first living essence flowing through or in the fibers, does not belong to the man, so as to be his own. It belongs to the Lord, first, last, and always. Even the vital principle or essence which flows in and through the blood vessels, belongs to the Lord and not to the man. The membranous web alone is turned over to the man to be, as it were, he. It constitutes in fact that actual "recipient form" he is. (See S. D. 2218.)

     The Lord makes him in the womb by this weaving process. And by the same process, the Lord sustains him and he grows. And when he is altogether finished, then the human spirituous fluid beginning its gyre according to supreme circlings of use, can continue its flow unbroken, through every form which the Divine Human Love and Wisdom and Activity in the sum of outgoings would delineate, partaking of every form, of every plane, and at the outmost range returning on its wheeling circle back through other lines of ever subtler gyrings,-mated graciously with those of outward flow and return again to its center and source in the Divine, its prime, its first, which with new thrilling impulse sends it forth anew, as the heart its blood.

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     And everywhere the living fluid runs, this human pattern will be flowing within its own banks, within the unbroken channel of its little thread, the little weaving thread. Always within the little weaving thread runs softly in its continuous length from one form to another through all planes and loves and uses, delineating thus, in its complex curves, the fullest pattern of the full man; presenting itself as the living man, in whole form, quick with the flow of the liquid life within it, although not its own; in all its parts and acts presenting reception and reciprocation; the very form which the sum of the affections forthgoing from the Divine Love would delineate; itself the happy formed house and body through which they can flow forth from the center and as by a circle return. For all loves return as in a circle to the very source from which they were sent forth.

     Consider the following affirmed facts, as the premises of a deductive apprehension of the subject.

     From the supreme aura the human spirituous fluid is derived without a medium. (E. A. K. II, 350.) Thus the spirituous fluid is the richest progeny of the primal aura, and the perfections of the parent aura are transferred into the spirituous fluid. (Ibid. II, 313) The human spirituous fluid is perfectly alive in all its singulars or individual parts, and its intuitions and representations are coextensive with the created universe, and this from the primal conception. (Ibid. II, 238, 240, 245.)

     "Now from the wonderful character of this fluid originate the amazing production of forms, the perpetual animation of the system, and the fact that the fluid can become so fixed as to assume the form of a little tunic," or enclosing membrane. (E. A. K. II, 313) "First we shall learn the material of which the little tunic the enclosing membrane] of the first and purest fibre consists; namely, that it consists of the very material of the [spirituous] fluid. . . . Now if this fluid, in order to become a continuous tunic, be reduced from a more expanded or from a more free and perfect form, into a more contracted form, it follows that it changes into one which is not able to lead a perfectly distinct, but only a kind of general life; but nevertheless, the essence with its attributes remains, although the modes are varied; consequently, every part of the fibre still lives, yet only an obscure life." (Ibid. II, 296.)

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     Thus the human spirituous fluid gives of its own substance to form about it a reflexive tunic,-a body from itself, an ultimate and last,-and thus from its first, or itself, by its last, or containent tunic, weaves all the human organism. Thus it gives its last to be the, as it were, "own" of a "new-born man."

     Moreover, it is on the tunic or fibre,-not on the human spirituous fluid,-that the memory of things is impressed. "The memory of things is not impressed on the fluid itself, but on the fibers of the fluid," Swedenborg says. (Ibid. II, 297.)

     "Memory itself," he further says, "is neither a picture of objects or images printed upon a tabula rasa: or blank surface, nor a copy imprinted in the way in which the primary object appears, but it is only an adaptation or accommodation of the parts constituting the most delicate fibers by a species of expansion [opening] to the operations of the spirituous fluid." (Ibid. II, 358.)

     Therefore, it is in the fibre, the tunic of the fluid, that ignorance resides, imperfection and stiffness, and closing; and our faculties are "opened" and perfected and live, as the little tunic of the fluid, the fibre, is in its leasts delicately "expanded," or opened, accommodated, adapted, and itself rendered more fluent and near the "nature" of the very living inmost essence which courses pulsating within its channels.

     Now this little tunic about the human spirituous fluid, this little tunic framed from the very substance of that fluid by gracious loan and gift, is the very weaving thread and fabric from which the human fabric is contextured. For the simple fibre is the form of forms. (THE SOUL, I.) There is nothing else continuous in the whole body. (Ibid. 2.) Moreover, it is of a celestial nature, essence, and form, corresponding to the first and most universal aura. Wherefore, this fibre is immortal and cannot perish. (Ibid. 4, 5, 6.)

     So the acting human spirituous fluid and this other less fluid and active "thread," which the spirituous fluid graciously gives of its own substance to form, the two things which stand as the first and the "last," or the inmost and the outmost of the organic human form, are the two things which are drawn forth from the body at death.

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     Both of these are with the man after death.

     The one is that human spirituous fluid, the first in him, which is not his own but the gracious inflowing of the Divine Human in him. This is the medium and nexus of his conjunction with the Lord. Its predicates, its offices, its place in the series of the genealogical derivation from the Infinite, will parallel those of the human internal, or inmost something in which the Lord is.

     The other, the hollow weaving thread, would seemingly be the plane of possible adjunction with those natural-world and natural-human planes lost by death; the plane which is the medium of his continued though unconscious conjunction with the men of his own old earth.

     Such a conjunctive plane, intermediate and nexus between the spiritual and natural, is, however, termed "the limbus."

     This distinction of being a plane occupying an intermediate place between the spiritual and the natural, does not however belong to the limbus alone. The rational is so distinguished. And the Word below the heavens, or Word in the letter, is the supreme intermediate and nexus, ground of all others.

     The derivation of the primal weaving thread, or fibre of the human form, from the very substance of the spirituous fluid, and the relation of the latter to the celestial universal aura, would bring the fibre into peculiar relation to that aura. The rank of the spirituous fluid as prime and first of the human form, and the placing of the fibre as literally outmost containant and limbus of the living human organism, would seem to place both spirituous fluid and fibre, prime and outmost,-or if we dare correlate them so, human internal and limbus,-under the peculiar governance of the primal aura, the universal Divine Human aura.

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     The internal by which man is man, is that principle by which he lives after death; by this the Lord is able to elevate him among the angels; it is the very first by virtue of which he becomes and is a man. By this internal the Lord is united to a man. It is above the inmost angelic heaven. It is the habitation of the Lord Himself. (A. C. 1999.)

     V.

     THE UNIVERSAL AURA AS THE BASIS OF THE HEAVENS.

     The universal Divine sphere is above, is around, and is below the heavens. Thus it is at once that which is prior to, contains, and founds or bases the heavens. And as such it must itself be that plane or sphere which is the nexus and intermediate between the spiritual world and the natural world.

     The Word above the heavens by which all things were made, is the Nexus and medium of conjunction between the Father and the heavens; this same Word was made flesh, and is itself the Nexus and medium of conjunction between the spiritual world and the natural world.

     There are three things predicated as intermediates or means of conjunction between the spiritual world and the spiritual man with the natural world and the natural man. Three must belong to that plane.

     1. The limbus, connecting the spiritual with the natural man.          

     2. The Word "below the heavens," connecting the natural and the spiritual.

     3. The Rational, connecting the spiritual and the natural reciprocally, as soul and body connected.

     "This heat and light specifically are called the Divine Truth; but taken together with the auras, they are called the Divine which proceeds; from them the heavens were created and also the worlds." (A. E. 726.)

     "To create signifies not only to cause to be, but also perpetually to be, by holding it together and sustaining it through the Divine which proceeds." (Ibid. 609.)

     "That the Divine which proceeds is that from which nature had its origin; it is the inmost of the spiritual world; it is extended in the created universe." (ATH. CREED, P. 41.)

     "The most general universal principle, from which all things are kept in order, is the Lord Himself. And that which keeps them together is the Divine Truth proceeding from Him." (A. C. 6115.)

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     In man the most general universal principle, which keeps the singular parts together, is the soul; thus also it is the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord, for this continually flows in and causes the soul to be of such a quality.

     The Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord is what is called the Word by which all things were created, or by which all things have existed, consequently by which, all things subsist.

     Swedenborg once spoke with one whom he was given to believe was Aristotle. Aristotle said that he had in life represented to himself the Supreme Deity as with a human face, encompassed about the head with a radiant circle. And he now knows that the Lord is that very Man, and that the radiant circle is the Divine proceeding from Him, which not only flows into heaven, but also into the universe, and arranges and rules. He added: He who arranges and rules heaven also arranges and rules the universe. (A. C. 4658.)

     The Divine proceeding, just as it is received by the celestial heaven, extends also immediately to the ultimates, of order. This is the medium by which the Lord rules immediately, and immediately acts upon the lasts as well as the primes of creation. This celestial and universal plane of the proceeding Divine is the sole substance ruling in all substances. (A. C. 7270.)

     The Lord from eternity was the proceeding Divine, and thus the Divine Human. (ATH. CREED P. 28, par. 2, 3.) Of the proceeding Divine from which is the universe, the idea is to be conceive as of a Divine Man, or Man in firsts and primitives. (Ibid. page 28, 29.) Extension into the universe can be predicated of the proceeding Divine. This is called the Word. Through this were all things made, and the world was created from it. (Ibid. page 32, par. 2.) The proceeding Divine in things greatest and least is man.

     The Divine which proceeds from the Lord inflows principally into conjugial love. (H. H. 371.)

     The Divine sphere which proceeds from the Lord, which is called the Divine Truth, is universal. It appears before the eyes of angels as light. (A. C. 9407.)

     Concerning the celestial zone or girdle by which all the heavens, compassed around, are kept in order and connection. (A. C. 9828, 9837.)

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     The "golden girdle" of the Apocalypse signifies also the proceeding Divine, which is the conjoining Divine. (A. R. 46)

     "They shall be inclosed in gold in the fillings." (A. C. 9874 to 9887.) Concerning the golden cord from the superior, which bound all heaven in one, and by which cord also was conjunction with sustaining principles in extremes.

     "What in heaven compasses, the same also founds, for it leans or rests upon it as a house upon its foundation, and as the extremes of the body upon the air and the ether pressing about them: for it is what terminates, includes, and contains, consequently what supports and sustains. (A. C. 9490.)

     Concerning the universal Divine sphere which includes and contains heaven, and terminates, concludes and bounds it, and its comparison with the invisible atmosphere which in the natural world floats around man, containing all the surface of his body in connection, and preventing its dissolution. (A. C. 9498, 9499.)

     That it is the universal principle proceeding from the Lord, which arranges all the goods and truths of heaven in order. (A. C. 6338)

     That the Divine universal is the most elevated of all; that it is in the very singulars of all, and is the universal providence, foreseeing, providing and governing all, in lasts and thus in greatests. (A. C. 6482, 6483.)

     That the universality and providence of the Lord is represented to apprehension, and verily acted, in the formation of the embryo in the womb to the form of man. (A. C. 6491.)

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LIFE'S MEANING 1911

LIFE'S MEANING       REBECCA E. SULLIVAN       1911

Life was a mystery, inscrutable and sad;-
Questions insistent, answers mad.
My heart sobbed always. 'Prisoned in my breast
A dumb voice ever cried, and prayed for rest.

What is the meaning? my tortured thought did ask;
Why this unprofitable; weary-breeding task?
Why this unsought for gift of life,
Filled to the brim with bitterness and strife?

Then, Heavenly Father, Thou didst shed Thy light
Upon those wonderings of my darksome night,
Didst raise me up, my thoughts with wings didst gird,
To see Thy glory in the opened Word.

And now, O Lord, though often weak and sore,
I wander still in paths I trod of yore.
Yet not the same, for now in all I see,
That Thou are conquering Sin, and Death, for me.

And not a joy withheld, or sorrow given,
That Thou hast not o'er-ruled from out Thy heaven,
That I might rise from out the crucible of pain,
To sing with joy:-The Lord has come again!

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RELATION OF REASON TO REVELATION 1911

RELATION OF REASON TO REVELATION       E. E. IUNGERICH       1911

     The means which serve for the acquisition of a true philosophy are exact analogues of those which lead to an interior perception of the truths of revelation. The means leading to the discovery of the universals and singulars of that nature which is under the empire of the natural sun are identifiable, by virtue of a simple transposition, with those which bring to view the arcana of the Word, the empire of the spiritual sun which is the Lord. The three means that lead to the former are Experience, Geometry, and the Faculty of Reasoning. (PRINCIPIA, Chap. I.) The three means that introduce to the vision of the spiritual sense are The Doctrine of Genuine Truth, a Knowledge of Correspondences, and Illustration from the Lord. (DE VERBO, 21.)

     Experience, as applied to the empire of the natural sun, means all the knowledge of the things which exist in the world and which may be approached by our senses. It is only by the senses that instruction can begin, since truth does not flow to man by an interior, but by an external way, through the gate of his senses. Since the fall of mankind, truths can only come to the race on our earth by the avenues of the five external senses. Before the fall truths could come externally to the memory through speech with spirits and angels. But that avenue of acquiring experience has been closed, nor should men seek to have it opened. It is self-evident that a knowledge of the Doctrines is the Experience which concerns spiritual things. The field from which this Experience is to be collected is in the records of Divine Revelation or the Word. "The Doctrine of the Church is to be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word." (S. S. 50.) Today there are extant three Divine Records of Revelation, couched respectively in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages. In time a fourth Divine Record, the Ancient Word, at present lost, will be restored. The spiritual Experience, which is the first means to come into angelic wisdom, is an acquaintance with the contents of these several Revelations; and is rich or poor in the degree that their teachings are well known or unfamiliar to the mind.

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     Geometry is the knowledge of the mechanism which connects the facts of Experience. The Geometry of the things of spiritual Experience is the knowledge of the causal connections of spiritual phenomena, such as are described in the visions of Moses, Isaiah, John, or the things seen and heard by Swedenborg, with the spiritual forces that give rise to them. The name given to this Geometry of spiritual facts is the Doctrine of Correspondences and Degrees. The Geometry of the natural world has to do with the relation of forms. The Geometry of the spiritual world has to do with the relation of the activities which may actuate the forms of the several degrees. The two Geometries are related as the eye with sight, or the ear with hearing.

     When the memory is stored with facts of natural or spiritual Experience, and there is a knowledge of their relative values and degrees; there is needed a third means, Light, which is meted to the mind according to the extent and character of its movements. We may call this third means, the Faculty of Reasoning, when we have in view the organics of the mind; or Light, when we refer rather to influx into them commensurate with their activity.

     The use of this third and supreme means is to rearrange and dispose the facts of Experience, due regard being paid to their pattern or geometric relationship so as to bring to view yet more fundamental analogies.

     The appearance of a new analogy or universal connects and makes a one of many facts that had seemed isolated or possibly inharmonious. A restoration of harmony involves a consequent increase in faith, for when God, as to essence or utterances, is made to appear divided, faith wavers and wanes, but when the breach is healed, faith in His absolute unity is restored. The appearance of a new analogy or universal ushers in combat and temptation. There is a resistance to a new arrangement of the mind by the very organics of that mind and whenever such a resistance prevails there is hostility to the new universal. The resistance is strong when it is grounded in self-intelligence, servile dependence on the opinions of others, or whatever else may debase the mind from its abode in the aura of heaven. The new analogy as an introducer to combats and temptations is an awakener of the somnolent faculty of self-examination, and in arousing its activities may lead to humility, repentance, and the birth of a new will.

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     From what has been said it will be seen that the place of reason is the highest in the preparation of man to enter the palace of wisdom. It is not possible for the Church to advance if the use of reason in the development of its understanding of the doctrines be denied. But Reason must not be antagonistic to the Experience and Geometry of Divine Revelation, or employed in the denying or discrediting of these. It is not Reason until it has been nurtured by this spiritual Experience and Geometry. "No one can see the spiritual sense except from the doctrine of genuine truth; from this the spiritual sense can be seen, when there is some knowledge of correspondence. It is not permitted anyone in the natural or spiritual world to investigate the spiritual sense of the Word from the sense of its letter, unless he be altogether in the Doctrine of Divine Truth, and in illustration from the Lord. (A man should thus argue.) I know the Doctrine of Divine Truth; now I can see the spiritual sense if only I know correspondences; but he must be moreover in illustration from the Lord, because the spiritual sense is Divine Truth itself in light." (DE VERBO, 21.) "The Word in the letter is not understood without enlightenment. With those also who are spiritual while they live in the world, there is enlightenment in the Natural, but this comes forth from the enlightenment in the spiritual; for with them the Lord flows in through the spiritual man into the natural man and thus illumines the latter; from which illumination the man sees what is true and good and what is false and evil." (A.E. 176.)

     Again, though Reason must be in partnership with the other two means that lead to wisdom it must not be shackled by the appearances that have clothed them. The new light that comes to those whose minds can rearrange their contents so as to reflect it, is not to be denied on grounds derived from a lower plane. The new light that came into the world at the Incarnation, the new analogies that were set forth in the previous prophecies were not to be refused on the ground that the Lord came not as the external thought of men had anticipated. The new light that came into the world a century and a half ago is not to be refused because of prevailing external ideas as to how the Second Coming would be effected.

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It is similar with regard to new light which will come from time to time to those of the New Church through the ministrations of those who use the three means to acquire wisdom. Such a new analogy or universal as the doctrine that the Writings of Swedenborg are the Essential Word should not be refused on the ground that there is no specific statement in so many words among the facts of Experience about that Divine Revelation, or because its style is different from previous Revelations or because the thought of the Church has habitually associated the name Word with the Bible alone. Again such a new universal as the teaching that the Philosophical works of Swedenborg are a mirror of the subsequent Divine Revelation given him is not to be refused on the ground that they were written in a preparatory period and that it is commonly supposed they contain much error and obscurity which in subsequent works was dispelled

     The new analogy, the new universal, is to be judged of interiorly. "Believe not even spirits," said John, "but try the spirits whether they are of God." The mind which tests the new analogy which is presenting itself either through its own reflection or from that of others should ask: Did the facts of experience which the analogy joins appear contradictory and inharmonious before that time, and, therefore, relatively unserviceable to the Church? Is the reasoning of its critics one that proceeds from first principles, or an opposition from external grounds solely? Is there any other equally or more satisfactory explanation of these facts than the one the analogy offers? What is the effect upon the Divine Revelation when viewed from the standpoint of this presumably more interior elevation? All these questions and many more are to be pondered over by the men of the Church.

     It will not do to stay by the mere literal statements, as such, of the Revelation, and not permit the mind to reflect upon the validity or non-validity of some human statement made in regard to them. We approach the Revelation through doctrine drawn from it through formulations of its universal aspects, and such formulations are needed in order to facilitate the approach. Where such formulations are genuinely derived by those in illustration, the Church is in a relatively interior relation to the Revelation.

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They who by such doctrines are brought within its sphere should in turn come into the exercise of their own faculty of reasoning so as to see its truths not in a borrowed light but in light from the very source and origin of light. The teaching with regard to these is that they should approach the Word from the doctrine within the Church in which they were brought up; and then should test that doctrine with the Word, dismissing what they see does not agree, and accepting and confirming by the letter of that Revelation what can be seen to agree. "All disposition of good and truth in the natural man comes from the spiritual man, i. e., through the spiritual man from the Lord, and, in fact, through the truth there. Wherefore all disposition in the natural man is effected by the interior. The natural man can never be disposed, that is, regenerated, otherwise." (A. C. 4015.) "Each and all things with a man who is truly rational are so arranged that they much regard each other." (A. C. 2556)
SPHERES 1911

SPHERES       W. REY GILL       1911

     "About the Lord there is a Divine sphere, which near Him appears as a Sun, which is His Divine Love, from which that sphere proceeds into the whole heaven and fills it, and constitutes the light which is there; this sphere is the Divine proceeding from the Lord, which in its essence is Divine Truth. . . . The Divine proceeding from the Lord is the Lord Himself because it is the proceeding of His love, and the proceeding is Himself outside of Himself." (A. E. 392.)

     We gather from the work on the ATHANASIAN CREED, n. 191, that this above-mentioned Divine Proceeding is the same as the series of atmospheres,-celestial, spiritual and natural; and that these therefore constitute the sphere of the Lord in its various degrees, more and more ultimated until they terminate in the atmospheres of the natural world. These atmospheres proceeding from the Lord are the means by which creation was effected. And from all created objects, from the lowest even up to man, there arise as it were return-atmospheres to the Creator which return-atmospheres are called spheres.

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These are the subject of the present paper.

     Evidently the subject is one of vast scope, and all that can be attempted here is the merest outlines of outlines dealing with but a very few aspects of the question. In the SPIRITUAL DIARY, n. 982, we read: "This science [of spheres] is so vast that even general ideas alone concerning it would fill innumerable sheets." But that it is a subject the development of which is highly important the following quotation from the same work makes evident: "It is wonderful that the learned have not directed their thoughts to the subject of Spheres, inasmuch as they are of such a nature as to manifest themselves in a variety of ways, and that too in every department of the threefold kingdom, mineral, vegetable and animal." (S. D. 1846.) Evidently, too, from other teaching, the threefold kingdom in the spiritual as well as in the natural world is here understood, for we read: "A sphere flows forth not only from angels and spirits, but also from each and all of the things seen in the spiritual world, as from trees and their fruits, form shrubs and their flowers, from herbs and grasses, and indeed from earths and the particles of them ... this is a universal condition both in living and dead things . . . It is the same in the natural world . . . the natural world derives this from the spiritual world and the spiritual world from the Divine." (D. L. W. 293.)

     What constitutes a sphere? The answer is, "All that which flows forth from a subject and encompasses and environs it." (C. L. 386.) Spheres are caused by a kind of respiration, even when they are from inanimate things; for the teaching is, "A metal, or a stone, or even a grain of sand ... freely absorbs the ether, inhales what is natural to itself, throws off what is worn out, and restores itself with what is new." (T. C. R. 499.) Radium at once occurs to one's mind as an instance in which this process has been detected. What is thrown off from a subject is its sphere, and without this nothing in the universe could exist or subsist, for it would be as if its respiration ceased and it would be dissipated in consequence.

     The case is the same in regard to man.

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"There is no part within a man, nor any part without, which does not renew itself: this is effected by dissolutions and reparations, and hence is the sphere which continually pours forth." (C. L. 171.) This teaching refers to man's body but also, and especially, to his mind. From his body proceed natural and material spheres, such, for instance, as those by which a dog knows and can trace his master; but from his spirit emanate spiritual spheres which are as "an exhalation flowing forth from the life of his loves" (A. C. 6206), and as "a spiritual evaporation from everything of his life." (A. C. 6571.) In other words, "the life of everyone, not only of a man, but also of a spirit or an angel, forms a sphere about them." (A. E. 707) There is such a sphere around every angel because there is one around the Lord. (D. L. W. 291.)

     Real spiritual substances flowing forth in a continuous stream from the bodies of spirits and from everything within them form their spheres, which are "more perceptible to angels than is the sphere of an odour in the world to the most exquisite sense." (A. C. 4464.) Thus "one's sphere is his image as it were extended outside of himself, and indeed an image of all things which are within him." (A. C. 1505.) This teaching suggests that "appearing presences" of angels and spirits at a distance from the place where they really are, owe their origin to the sphere from the one who thus appears coming into a locality congenial to itself and there reappearing in the aspect of its originator.

     Human spheres which are so apparent in the other life are acquired in this, though here they are absorbed by the material body (T. C. R. 410), and enclosed within the natural sphere which then flows out from man. When a man appropriates either evil or good to himself he acquires at the same time a sphere of that evil or good, to which sphere spirits of a like nature adjoin themselves. (A. C. 6206, 4464.) This acquired sphere man takes with him into the other world, and it then conjoins him with those who are in a similar sphere, and thus it determines his eternal home.

     The spheres going out from each angel and spirit, and still more from every society, form their atmospheres, which therefore vary according to the quality of the spirits from whom they take their character.

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But though these "return-atmospheres" are formed by the spirits and angels in the middle atmosphere, or spiritual aura, which is one of the Lord's atmospheres, they are not commingled with the spheres of the Lord, but are tempered, and are in themselves most distinct. (S. D. 2006.) How real and tangible are these atmospheres which spirits make for themselves, is clearly shown in The Writings, where a poisonous atmosphere from those who had lived in hatred and revenge is treated of. It is there stated that "it is usual to test how poisonous they are, and how dense, by dark blue fillets: as these fade the sphere also is lessened." (A. C. 1512.) Another sphere which Swedenborg saw, appeared to him like a golden yellow atmosphere, which was reddish where it pertained to mercy. (S. D. 3344.)

     The manners in which spheres in the other life are sensated, and the forms under which they appear, are so numerous that it will be only possible to mention a few of them here. In the first place, the odours there arise from spheres, for instance, "the sphere of love going out from a wife who is tenderly loved, is perceived in heaven as sweetly fragrant." (C. L. 171.) On the other hand, spheres from spirits who are in various evils are perceived as most horrible odours, such as that from mice, and other smells even more disgusting. To give another example: an odor like that of wine arises from the sphere of those "who compliment one another from friendship and rightful love, so that there is also truth in their compliments." (A. C. 1517.)

     Another very usual way in which spheres appear in the spiritual world is by various odours, like little rainbows, around the spirits, varying according to the sphere which produces them. Again, they sometimes appear like clouds over the heads of spirits; dark, heavy and thunder clouds over evil ones, and thin, bright and shining white ones over the heads of good spirits and angels. There is an instance given in the Writings of one who had acquired a sphere of super-eminence and authority, which sphere appeared like a dark cloud encompassing him, and this cloud overspread other spirits and caused them distress. (A. C. 1507.)

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     "The misty and dark sphere which exhales from the evils and falsities of the infernals, appears like a mountain or rock under which they are hidden." (A. C. 4299.) Other appearances of spheres are as water, thin flame, murky fire, human flesh, thick sediment, mists exhaled from dirty places, wave motions, and other representative forms. There is teaching also that the garments of angels are from their spheres. In the Diary, too, there is an amusing description of one whose sphere was wound about him like a roll of paper of vast extent! (S. D. 4549 m.)

     The spheres which emanate from all things of the bodies of men, spirits, and angels have a range of action commensurate with the strength of the love or affection which propels the sphere. If the originator be a corporeal spirit his sphere has a very limited range; if he be a spiritual angel it can reach to many societies of heaven; and if an angel of the celestial genus it has indefinitely more power of action and extension, and consequently more power of communication with other angels and societies of them. (Ath. 154) An illustration is given of the manner in which a spirit's sphere can extend itself where the Writings treat of one who had acquired a sphere of self-eminence: the spirits near him had to flee away and he himself filled the whole surrounding sphere. (A. C. 8063) The following quotation will be of interest here: "This sphere (of a man or an angel) has an extension into the heavens in every direction according to the quality and quantity of the love, if the man or angel is good; but into the hells in every direction if the man or angel is evil. But the sphere of the love of man and angel has a finite extension only into a few societies of heaven or hell, whereas the sphere of the Lord's love, inasmuch as it is Divine, has an infinite extension, and creates the heavens themselves." (A. E. 1076.)

     The mode of action of spiritual spheres is similar to that of natural and material ones. The former, like the latter, excite the atmospheres-in this case spiritual ones-and are carried by them so far as their range of action reaches. (D. L. W. 291; A. E. 392)

     It is well known in the Church that man while in this world is kept in equilibrium by influx from the spiritual world; from heaven and from hell.

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This equilibrium is maintained by the Lord by means of the more general spheres from the spiritual world. (H. H. 49.) For man while here is encompassed by spheres from the other world which agree with his own loves and character. At the present day there prevail the spheres which flow from a dead church, and we are told that they are like tempest-driven atmospheres which invade minds and drive them. (T. C. R. 619.) Temptations arise from spiritual spheres, for it is written: "Evil spheres confirm man in falsities and evils, and if by permission the sphere of falsity prevails, the good come into temptation and anxiety." (A. C. 1510.) It should be well remembered, however, that only such spheres as a man has prepared a plane for can influence him, for evil spirits and genii are only allowed to operate into such things as a man has actually acquired to himself, even hereditary evils not forming a plane until they have been appropriated to the man's own life. (A. C. 1677) And we are further told that "before the man procures such spheres to himself, the evil spirits serve; but as soon as he procures them, they pour themselves in upon him and endeavor to rule, for they are then in his very sphere, and find a certain enjoyment or their very life." (A. C. 1677.)

     All the many happenings ascribed to fortune and chance are the result of the action of spheres from spirits, overruled of course by the Divine Sphere of the Lord. All accidents and misfortunes are brought about by spheres from evil spirits. These spirits actually set to work and produce or create a sphere which shall have the effect of bringing such mischances to pass. For instance, Swedenborg perceived that certain spirits endeavored to throw him under the wheels of carriages in the streets. Thus we can get an idea of how it will come to pass that when the New Church overspreads the earth such fearful accidents as occur at the present day will be much less common; namely, because there will be fewer bases on the earth to attract the spheres of such mischief-making spirits.

     The following quotation is interesting as noting the effects spheres have in diseases: "When a man falls into such a disease as he has contracted from his mode of life, then forthwith an unclean sphere corresponding to the disease attaches itself and is present as the fomenting cause." (A. C. 5715)

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     One's sympathies and antipathies, likes and dislikes, and the varying states of mind experienced by the same person, arise from the spheres which inflow into him from the other world. Swedenborg was in the unique position of being able to see the spirits from whom came the spheres which at times infested him. Numerous instances of this ability are given, as for example where Swedenborg states that it was the sphere of those who had no end but to live sumptuously, which occasionally took away from him the power of close application and made it so irksome for him to act in serious matters, true and good, that at last he scarcely knew what to do. (A. C. 1509.) It is such spirits as are mentioned in the above case who induce torpor on other spirits.

     There is also to be considered the effect of the spheres from natural objects and from men upon spirits. Some who were introduced into a sphere surrounding Swedenborg's mind were so affected by it that they spoke in a manner unusual to them, one, namely, that was more fluent than usual with them, and they also had a clearer understanding than before. (S. D. 1840) Men are also at times affected by spheres that have such an effect, and then they have a keener understanding than usual of the things which they think and speak. As an example of the effect of the spheres from material objects upon spirits, take that given in the Writings, of certain ones who were once with Swedenborg and who were much upset when he ate butter, because it gave rise to a sphere of goods, but they were pleased with tea because from that they felt a less spiritual sphere. (S. D. 3894.)

     We know that the heavens, the hells and the world of spirits, and all the individuals who compose them, rest upon man still living upon this earth, as upon their foundations and ultimates; but in what way is this teaching to be understood, or, rather, how is this relationship of dependence operated? I suggest that it is the spheres given off from the activities of the brains-in other words, the thoughts and imaginings-of men still living here as to their bodies, that form this necessary plane for our unseen neighbors to rest upon. I would suggest that each man while in this life is, as it were, a little manufactory of spheres for this use, in an analogous manner to that in which each single plant is a little laboratory for the manufacture of oxygen, to help to form a natural atmosphere which shall be suitable for the physical breathing of human creatures.

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Such man-prepared atmospheres, or spheres, would then afford spirits their nutriment, the exciting medium of their thoughts, and the very basis of their conscious existence. Also, each spirit must find here the type of sphere congenial to his own life, or else all his joy of life will perish. Surely if all this is the case, it alone is a use of spheres overwhelming in its import, the study of which will lead to wonderful conclusions indeed.

     A very important use of spheres is noted in the work on Conjugial Love, which states that "the wife is conjoined with her husband by means of the sphere of her life, which goes out from her love. The inclination of married partners to each other are from spiritual spheres." (C. L. 171.) By the way, it is mentioned that this sphere encompasses man densely on the breast and slightly on the back, and for this reason married partners who love each other lie breast to breast.

     There is a noteworthy statement in the Writings to the effect that man's sphere more interiorly affects his associates at feasts than on other occasions. A fact the truth of which we have often experienced at our feasts of charity, etc.

     But, as spheres are more evident in the other world than they are in this, let us turn our attention to a consideration of their effects and uses there.

     When a man enters the other world he comes into his interior memory (A. C. 2489), and this being in a state of activity sends forth a sphere which is perceived by other spirits, so that his whole quality is thus made known, not only that of his good but even that of his faith, and this too even if the spirit whose sphere is being inspected is not actively thinking. (S. D. 3334.) Thus it is useless for him to try to conceal his true character, though the Lord in His mercy sees that he shall not all the time be thus exposed before other spirits (A. C. 1520), and therefore sometimes does not allow his sphere to be perceptible to others, and He also tempers it in various ways, for all spheres are disposed by the Lord. (S. D. 2981.)

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     Communications in the spiritual world are effected by spheres, and it is said that when knowledges are thus communicated some spirits retain what comes to them in this way and some do not. (A. C. 1390.) We are also instructed that the origin of this communicative perception is from the wish of the Lord that all goods may be communicable, and that all may be affected by mutual love and thus be happy. (A. C. 1388.) The communication is effected by one spirit fixing his gaze upon another. When an angel thus gazes on an infernal the latter feels grief and pain, but when on a good spirit, its effect is to cause gladness and joy. It is a matter of common experience in this life, too, that if a person fixes his gaze on another, the one looked upon feels the effect of the other's sphere and is obliged to look up, though previously he had been unconscious of the other's presence. Not only individuals but whole societies of angels and spirits communicate with each other by means of their spheres. (H. H. 49.)

     And as there is thus communication, so, by the same means, consociations and conjunctions are effected in the spiritual world, and presence and absence there is dependent upon the similarity of loves and the spheres thence arising. And thus even the distances have their origins from spheres. But because spheres have the effect of associating spirits and societies of them according to their loves, so also they keep apart those in diverse loves, and form what appear like material obstacles which keep them apart from each other; for instance, a cloudiness over the antediluvians, formed from their sphere, divides them from all others in the spiritual world. (A. C. 1512) Other spheres have the same effect of repulsion, for when those who are not in agreement with them approach, their breathing is affected, they feel like vomiting, and often swoon away. Very numerous are the accounts given us in the Heavenly Doctrines of such happenings. We are told that when infernals approach a sphere where is good and truth "they are instantly sensible of their own hell, for they come into that which they hold in hatred, consequently into torment." (A. C. 3308.)

     Evil spirits make great use of spheres to perform magical arts, for by their phantasies they pervert the spheres, and having done so they can, by means of them, bind the ideas of other spirits and force them to believe that evil is good, and falsity truth.

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This is done by a sphere of persuasion, and probably the effects of hypnotism as practiced in this life are attained by a similar sphere of persuasion.

     As another example of the effect of a sphere in the spiritual world, let us take that of a man who regards himself in everything. The sphere of such a man swallows up everything that he can possibly turn to his own advantage, and takes away all the enjoyment and freedom of the spirits round about him. (A. C. 1316.) But in considering the power of the spheres of evil spirits it is well to remember that they can only exercise them when the Lord permits, and that they are overruled for good. Also that the sphere of one angel, or even that of an innocent child, can put to flight myriads of evil spirits, and even then the sphere of the angel has been tempered, otherwise the evil ones would have been dissipated.

     It would appear from all that the Writings teach us about spheres, their universality, their power and range of action, and their many uses and abuses, that they really are the means by which all man's activities are performed when he comes into the other life; and the more this subject, which is one of universal application, is studied, the fuller will be our understanding of all the phenomena of both this life and the life to come.

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Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     MORNING LIGHT for March 11th, in a very friendly notice of the CORRESPONDENCES OF CANAAN, says that "the book should not be treated in any approach to a 'can-any-good-thing-come-out-of-Nazareth' spirit. It is a really useful and valuable contribution to the literature of the Church, and deserves a place on every Newchurchman's book shelves." The reference to "Nazareth" is distinctly complimentary.



     The Rev. Adolph Roeder, in the BOTE for March, reproaches the New Church for its "disagreeable attitude" and "repelling coldness" towards "Modern Spiritism." "To simply sweep Spiritism away as only 'from evil spirits,' and as 'out of order,' does not really help." We think it has helped a great deal in the past; it has prevented both Newchurchmen and spiritists from profaning the holy truths of the New Jerusalem.



     We learn from the MESSENGER that the Rotch Trustees have now in press two volumes of Extracts from the Theological Writings of Swedenborg, in the American Braille system of writing for the Blind. It is published by the Perkins Institute for the Blind, in South Boston, Mass., and is furnished with an introduction by Miss Helen Keller, whose love of Swedenborg's works is well known. This is, indeed, a good work, wisely planned. Copies will be placed in all the libraries of the country which have collections for blind people.



     From the STOCKHOLMS DAGHLAD of April 1st, we learn that his majesty, the King of Sweden, was present at the annual celebration of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on March 31st.

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On this occasion "the American scientist, Alfred Stroh, received from the hands of the King the Academy's memorial gold medallion of Swedenborg, as an acknowledgment on the part of the Academy of the years of labor which Mr. Stroh has devoted to the study of Swedenborg's manuscripts and to the editing of the Academy's Swedenborg publications."



     Referring to "Swedenborg's mistakes," which have lately been brought somewhat to the fore by utterances in the MESSENGER and the REVIEW, the Rev. J. E. Smith concludes a letter to the former journal with the following fine passage:

     "Of Swedenborg's mistakes I have heard often since I have been in the New Church. I have listened to very learned papers and discussions of them, but I have never yet seen one definitely pointed out and proven to be such. I mean, of course, in his character as a teacher after his illumination and commission as a revelator. Are we to become a church of apologists for Swedenborg or are we to search more diligently his writings and look higher for the convincing power of truth itself?"



     The April REMINDER opens with the watchword "Remember the nineteenth of June." The sentence is peculiarly appropriate in view of the coming English Conference, where, in the past, there seems to have been a studied effort to avoid all celebration of the New Church Day. Among the contents of this number of the REMINDER we note particularly the following extract from an anonymous correspondent:

     "We have ourselves nine children, six of whom are married, and from these there are eighteen grandchildren, who are all being carefully kept within the Church, as their parents were. It is our greatest desire, as you will easily understand, to see a New Church Day School established here, before we go hence, where our children may receive their education in the light of the Doctrines. This is the way to keep them within the Church, for the principal growth of the Church must be from within. It is folly to be running about to make converts, whilst our own children are slipping away into other denominations. Surely charity begins at home!

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     "A great deal of this slipping away of the children is caused, I think, by a want of the knowledge by parents, and even teachers, of the distinctiveness of the New Church. When there are no clearly drawn lines between the Old and the New, the young people are likely to think that they may as well be in the one as in the other. If they were taught to believe in the Divine Authority of the WRITINGS, they would see for themselves the difference."



     The true spirit of the "Brockton Declaration" is in reality nothing else than an implied repudiation of the Second Part of the work on CONJUGIAL LOVE; indeed, in the "Statement" which accompanies the printed Declaration, the repudiation is somewhat more than implied. But, as is not uncommon among men not given to clear and logical thought, there has been a more or less active effort on the part of the subscribers to this newly set up creed of the General Convention, to escape the logic of their own action. Thus the same pens that describe CONJUGIAL LOVE as being "merely a book of morals," and its Second Part as being "intended for the merely natural man," a mere "description of infernal conditions" applying mainly to Swedenborg's own day, and which laboriously endeavor to explain away its plain statements, these same pens also proclaim the work as a Divine Revelation!

     But despite this weak evasion of the real spirit of repudiation which lurks behind the Brockton Declaration, that spirit cannot be long prevented from openly manifesting itself. For there are in the Convention some who will not be satisfied to believe and say one thing and explain it as meaning something else. And now that the General Convention has adopted the Brockton Declaration as its standard of faith on one subject and almost as its test of Newchurchmanship, such men cannot be easily prevented from following it to its logical conclusion.

     That conclusion is manifestly to refuse to publish or circulate the second part of CONJUGIAL LOVE and also to eliminate from the first part all references to the second, as well as the passage n. 98. Part of this logical effect of the Declaration is already in contemplation, for the Woman's Council of the Illinois Association have formally voted "to request that a special edition of CONJUGIAL LOVE be printed of the first part of the book only!"

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Similar is the independent action of the "Nunc Licet Press," whose last annual report announces that "An urgent request has been presented to us to have the first part of Swedenborg's work on CONJUGIAL LOVE, or perhaps certain chapters from this part, (the last part being only a narration of hellish conditions and the laws controlling these it is thought not useful to include), . . . gotten out to be placed in all libraries of Purity books!"



     THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL SWEDENBORG CONGRESS is a book fully worthy of the event which it chronicles. In its nearly four hundred pages are contained in full all the papers read at the Congress, and stenographic reports of all the official speeches. An interesting feature of the volume is the Appendix, which contains a list of the portraits, documents, books, etc., placed on exhibition at the Swedenborg Society's rooms during the Congress. The documents include two or three letters in Swedenborg's handwriting, and there is also the original manuscript of the Japanese translation of HEAVEN AND HELL. Among the books are some valuable and unique specimens, the principal being the copy of the SUMMARIA EXPOSITIO, on which Swedenborg wrote "Hic Liber est Adventus Domini;" and a Latin copy of TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, On which Swedenborg has written "Present from the author." These two books are the property of Mr. James Speirs. There is also the copy of HEAVEN AND HELL lent by the Bath Society, to one of the fly leaves of which is attached a page of the missing early part of the manuscript of the SPIRITUAL DIARY.

     The Appendix also contains the sentence, "All religion has relation to life," etc., written in fifteen of the nineteen or twenty languages into which the Writings or parts thereof have been translated.

     In addition to the text the work before us also contains a great number of illustrations. For the most part there are reproductions of photographs of the Congress and its officials, including the writers of papers; but there are also a number of illustrations accompanying the scientific papers. Among these we note a reproduction of Swedenborg's Flying Machine.

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In his address on Swedenborg's Inventions, Mr. Rendell notes that "a full account of this machine was published in the July issue of the AERONAUTICAL JOURNAL." From sundry statements that have appeared in the New Church press, it would almost appear that Mr. Rendell was not aware of the fact that several months prior to the Congress Swedenborg's description of his flying machine was printed in English for the first time by the LIFE, from which it was reprinted with corrections and a preface in pamphlet form by the Swedenborg Scientific Association. The editor of the AERONAUTICAL JOURNAL, however, seems to have been better informed, and it may be of interest to our readers to know that the editor has himself informed us that his "full account,"-which was Swedenborg's own article, was taken from the pamphlet just referred to.
NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY 1911

NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY              1911

     The Rev. G. C. Ottley's paper on "Swedenborg's Scientific Preparation for his Mission as Revelator," which was published in our last issue, appeared simultaneously in the NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY for April. The second paper, by the late Rev. James Hyde, is a biography of John Parry, an early and active member of the New Church in London during the first decades of the nineteenth century. The sketch throws interesting and valuable sidelights on the contemporary history of the New Church in England at a period of which but little has been known. The Rev. J. F. Potts contributes the first of a series of "American Notes," the present installment being an account of the writer's own work and life since his arrival in America.

     The department of "Reviews" is rich in interesting notes on a number of rather uninteresting books. Commenting on a paper by E. J. B[roadfield] in THE N. C. YOUNG PEOPLES) MAGAZINE, Mr. Buss writes as follows: "In the paper in this series on Urbana University Schools, the writer falls into the strange error of referring to this institution as the first and only New Church university; an error the more remarkable in that he might have learned from the quarterly for October last that, although it was the first, Urbana is not the only New Church university that has ever existed.

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There is, besides, the Academy of the New Church, which is a fully equipped university, possessed, under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, of the power of conferring degrees, and is carrying on an energetic and efficient work, attended by a success to which a steady and remarkable increase in the number of its students bears unmistakable testimony. But perhaps E. J. B. does not take the quarterly, if not, there are, of course, some matters of New Church interest and activity, on which he cannot be expected to be fully informed!"

     One of the most valuable features of the QUARTERLY is the department of "Difficulties and Solutions," in which the editor finds free scope for his scholarly and theological mind in answering difficult doctrinal questions. His explanation, in the present issue, of the passage in Matthew 22:30: "In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven," is the most complete, systematic, and convincing elucidation of this apparent difficulty that we have ever seen. In answering a question on the "Duration of the Earth,"-occasioned by the statement in A. C. 931, that "from this it may also appear that the earth is not to endure for ever, but that it also will have its end,"-the editor frankly confesses that the statement is very puzzling." It seems to us that Swedenborg here speaks according to the appearances of the letter. Another question deals with "the personal appearance of the Lord in Heaven," the questioner expressing terrible disappointment at the teaching of the Writings that the Lord never appears in His own Person in Heaven, but always through the human of an angel. Mr. Buss emphasizes the teaching that the Lord in His own Divine Human is Infinite and hence beyond "the finite faculty of sight." This is cold comfort, and, moreover, misleading, for the constant teaching of the Writings is that the Lord, in His own Divine Human, is seen as a Person above the Heavens, surrounded by the Sun of the spiritual world. Otherwise we would, indeed, be no better off than the men of the Ancient Churches who worshiped an invisible God.

     In his "Survey of the Quarter's Periodicals," the editor takes exception to the article on "Momentous Salvation" in THE NEW AGE for January, which "reads like a justification of the danger our fallacies involved in the doctrine named, in the teaching and practice of the Old Church revivalists-dangerous to the soul, in any case, but especially mischievous and reprehensible when brought forward in a New Church journal, as it has been during the course of the past year.

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It is an altogether inadequate analysis which asserts that the error of the Old Church was that it taught that salvation was merely salvation from hell, and not from sin, Co say nothing of the fact that revivalists would unanimously deny the truth of it. It does not go nearly far enough. The real vice of the doctrine in question is its fundamental postulate, namely, that instantaneous salvation from sin is possible. The truth on the subject, and the plain doctrine of the New Church, affirmed over and over again, is, that it is not; and when sundry writers-not merely one-same of them New Church ministers, publish, in a New Church journal, 'experiences' which they evidently intend to be interpreted in a sense contradictory of this doctrine, we confess that our sympathies are with the journal that denounces so reprehensible a proceeding, as NEW CHURCH LIFE does, and the NEW AGE here takes it to task for doing."

     In his review of four numbers of the LIFE, as usual very appreciative, Mr. Buss gently disagrees with the "carefully thought out, and in many respects valuable, sermon on 'The Assumption of the Human,' " by the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, who "takes up the position that the states of the angels which the Lord put on and glorified when in the world were put on at and by birth; whereas the truth would appear rather to be that they were 'born,' and thus put on, as well as glorified, subsequently to birth, by means of the influx of the Lord's Internal Man proper into the human from the mother." The whole subject is, indeed, recondite, and we devoutly hope that someone may before long take up the question of "what the Lord put on from the heavens" in a more systematic and gyganic study than has yet been given to it. We must confess that we do not understand what is meant by the putting on and glorifying of angelic states, but the assumption and glorification of the finite substances assumed, first, from the universal aura and, finally, from Mary seems more intelligible.

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"ARE THERE IMPERFECTIONS IN SWEDENBORG'S SCRIPTURE INTERPRETATIONS?" 1911

"ARE THERE IMPERFECTIONS IN SWEDENBORG'S SCRIPTURE INTERPRETATIONS?"              1911

     Under this heading the Rev. John Faulkner Potts, in the New CHURCH REVIEW for April, publishes a reply to the Rev. Harold S. Conant, who, in the January issue of the same journal, presented a list of fifteen instances where Swedenborg is supposed to have based spiritual interpretations on erroneous quotations of Scripture.
The arraignment might seem formidable, indeed, to such as are in the habit of studying the nature of the sun in the light of the sun-spots, but under the treatment of Mr. Potts' scholarly examination the greater part of the alleged spots on the Internal Sense of the Word vanishes into thin air. Of the fifteen supposed mistakes of interpretation, thirteen are conclusively proved by Mr. Potts to be mere "slips of the pen," purely "technical" mistakes, or "extremely small difficulties," "hardly worth mentioning."

     We are grateful to our venerable and learned friend for his clear and painstaking elucidations of these seeming difficulties. But we are proportionately surprised and disappointed at his treatment of the two remaining problems, where he unexpectedly expresses complete sympathy with Mr. Conant's implied contention in presenting his list of "wrong interpretations," viz., that there are imperfections in Swedenborg's Scripture Interpretations. One instance, in A. E. 72118, "seems to be," and another, in A. C. 9643, "is, a clear case of Swedenborg's basing the internal sense on a wrong word."

     Eliminating the case of "seems to be," (as evidently open to a possible explanation), we find that the one remaining "clear case" of wrong interpretation is based on a misquotation from Psalm 18:5, where it is said in the original that "the foundations of the world were overturned." Swedenborg, mistaking orbis (of the world) for urbis (of the city), in A. C. 9643 writes "the foundations of the city were overturned," and then gives the correspondence of "city" as meaning "doctrine," instead of the correspondence of "world" as meaning "the Church" in general. The passage is correctly quoted in A. C. 8226 and 9818, and "the correct internal sense," according to Mr. Potts, is given in the posthumous (!) work, the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED, n. 741:22. The citation in A. C. 9643 is purely collateral, introduced for the purpose of confirming the correspondence of the word "basis" or "foundation,"-not that of "city,"-and the occurrence or the word "city" has nothing to do with the explanation of the text itself treated of in A. C. 9643:

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"Thou shalt make forty bases of silver." It is therefore "a clear case" of exaggeration to claim that this is "a clear case of Swedenborg's basing the internal sense on a wrong word," (italics our own), the introduction of urbis instead of orbis being a mere slip of the memory, such as frequently occurs in the Writings.

     Yet of this trifling incident Mr. Potts writes: "Swedenborg not only made this mistake when writing the ARCANA, but he also published it in print, and the mistake stands there against him forever. Admitting this, what does it prove? Merely the fact that as a writer and revealer of the internal sense of the Word he was not infallible."

     Now, this would be a most serious accusation against the reliability of the whole Revelation of the Internal Sense of the Word, were we to believe that our respected friend meant by his statement anything more than that Swedenborg was not verbally inspired, and therefore liable to incidental slips of the pen and of the memory. Nevertheless the statement as it stands certainly appears to involve the validity of the whole Doctrinal system of the New Jerusalem, for the Doctrine was drawn from the Word by means of the Interpretation of the Internal Sense.

     We cannot believe that Mr. Potts, of all men, would consciously discredit the Writings, for he himself in this very paper in the REVIEW grandly proclaims their Divine Authority. "They have been given us by the Lord Himself," he testifies, "having been written, as Swedenborg says, 'by the Lord through' him. Practically this has been done; the Divine Providence has watched over every word and every teaching; and when mistakes have been allowed to pass, care has been taken that these have not affected any important doctrine or even minor teaching of the Church, and they have been of such a nature that men could detect them and render them innocuous.

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For more than a hundred years men have been finding mistakes, real or supposed, in these Writings, but in no case have they ever found any mistake that was of any practical importance. Such also is the case with these alleged mistakes that have been collected by Mr. Conant, as is manifest on the face of them."

     And yet, over against this splendid declaration of faith in the Writings as a whole, Mr. Potts with full conviction throws discredit upon what constitutes at least one-fourth part of the Revelation given to the New Church. We can hardly believe our own eyes when reading the following statements:

     "I have been thus particular in explaining the history and relative status of the 'Apocalypse Explained,' because I have desired this explanation to lead up to what I regard as a very important and fundamental principle, which is that in my opinion the authoritative Writings of the New Church consists of the works that were actually published by Emanuel Swedenborg, and of these alone. I do not regard, and I have never regarded, his other theological works as being of equal Divine authority and of equal Divine enlightening power; and I consider it to be a great mistake to endeavor to make them out to be so, and as also being a great source of weakness in our defensive position. This was the reason why in compiling the 'Swedenborg Concordance' I placed in a separate division the extracts from the works that were not published by Swedenborg. That these works are of supreme value no one knows better than myself; they contain whole volumes of invaluable matter on subjects that are not so fully treated of in the first great class of the works of Swedenborg. Especially are the 'Apocalypse Explained' and the 'Spiritual Diary' works of this nature, and no one values them more highly than I do; but still great as they are, and full of wisdom as they are, they are in my well and long considered judgment not equal in enlightening power and Divine authority to the works that under the Lord's own especial care and Providence were published by His ever faithful and specially equipped servant, Emanuel Swedenborg. It is right to state this principle here, because it comes to the front in my answer to Mr. Conant's paper."

     That Mr. Potts in his "CONCORDANCE," as to the greater part of the Writings, followed their chronological order, has been a cause of great satisfaction, but that, in this arrangement, he separated the "posthumous" Writings from those published by Swedenborg himself has been a cause of great regret to those students who believe that the only truly scientific manner of studying and treating of any subject is to follow it in its historical, that is, chronological development.

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     Granting that the posthumous Writings are not always in their literary form as perfect and finished as those which were edited and published by Swedenborg himself, are we to judge of them from their external form or from their internal quality? As Mr. Potts himself has shown, even the published works are not absolutely free from external imperfections, and the one "clear case" of supposed misinterpretation occurs in the ARCANA, not in one of the posthumous works. The discussion, therefore, resolves itself to the question of the Doctrine in both classes of works,-the only important and essential consideration. Is the Doctrine in the posthumous works the same as the Doctrine in the published works? We challenge anyone in the whole world to produce evidence that the Doctrine is not the same throughout all the Writings.

     Mr. Potts, however, discredits not only the form of the posthumous works, but also the whole quality of the Doctrine within them when claiming that they "are not of equal Divine enlightening power." Since no evidence is produced to support this claim, we must assume that our brother here speaks from personal experience, over against which we are at liberty to set our own personal experience. We,-and we know that we voice the experience of thousands of other members of the New Church,-have found the posthumous Writings of fully as Divine enlightening power as the other works. But even if this had not been the case, it would make no difference whatever, for these works, equally with the others, were "written by the Lord alone." They are Divine, and therefore of Divine authority. They are Divine and therefore as Divine as anything else that is Divine, for to be Divine is the same as to be Infinite.

     Is it reasonable to chop up the Divine revelation in this manner, separating one work from the other, as if they were not all written by Swedenborg himself in the same uninterrupted state of Divine Inspiration which he was enjoying whenever he wrote? Are we to suppose that the Divine Light within him shone fitfully as a flash-light, hiding itself in one book, gleaming forth in another, hiding itself again in a third, and so on? Even an ordinary human writer enjoys a continuous light, if his principles are maturely settled. Or does Mr. Potts seriously believe that the essential part of Swedenborg's mission consisted in the printing of the new revelation, rather than in writing it?

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     But consider what is involved in a rejection of the complete Divinity of all the posthumous works? Farewell to our complete confidence in the SPIRITUAL DIARY, in the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED, in the ATHANASIAN CREED, in the DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM, in the PROPHETS AND PSALMS, in the LAST JUDGMENT posthumous, in the DE VERBO, in the DOCTRINE OF CHARITY, in the NINE QUESTIONS, the CANONS, the CORONIS, the INVITAT1ON TO THE NEW CHURCH, in which final work it is written that "if this little work is not added to the former, the Church cannot be healed." The calamity to the New Church by such a rejection would be overwhelming, but happily needs not be seriously considered.

     Apart from their own intrinsic evidence of Divine and Infinite Wisdom, these very works abound in unmistakable claims to Divinity. It is in DE VERBO that we read: "I have not been allowed to take anything from the mouth of any spirit, nor from the mouth of any angel, but from the mouth of the Lord alone." (xiii.) And it is in the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED that we read: "It has been given me to see the light of Heaven, and from it to perceive distinctly what has come from the Lord, and what has come from the angels. What has come from the Lord has been written, and what has come from the angels has not been written." (A. E. 1183) It is not a question, here, of what has been published, but of what has been WRITTEN.

     The New Jerusalem is built as a city that is "compact together," and no man can make any breaches in its walls. Its truths are continuous truths from the Lord, His own inner garment, which may, indeed, be rejected, but cannot be cut to pieces.

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Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. The members of the Civic and Social Club enjoyed a novel evening on March 18th, though it was merely an informal social. The basement of DeCharms Hall being opened, the "Dutch kitchen" was the center of attraction for old and young, some playing cards, parchesi, etc., others pulling taffy and making coffee, and all singing songs and making merry. Two weeks later the club gave a dance which was managed by an original and enterprising committee. The "April fool" atmosphere was predominant, and the sketches and caricatures thrown on the screen by Mr. Gilbert Smith were highly appreciated, especially the one, entitled "The Future Development of New Church Community Life," where the price of lots is so high that people have to build in the trees.

     The first week of April was vacation week for the Academy schools, and the usual classes and meetings were suspended. The Friday supper was held as usual, followed by a short business sitting for our "treasurers" and the singing class, after which was held an informal "talk fest" in place of the doctrinal class.

     On Sunday, April 9th, at four o'clock, the new library building was dedicated. For the week previous the librarian, Mr. E. F. Stroh, had been directing the removal of the books from the College building with the very efficient and enthusiastic aid of a number of the college students, rapidly carrying out arrangements previously planned, so that the books found their place in their new home with the greatest order and dispatch, and Saturday night found everything in readiness for the service on Sunday.

     The impressive ceremonies took place in the beautiful Reading Room, which possessed a wonderful expansiveness, absorbing without evidence of crowding a seemingly endless stream of people.

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When all were seated the faculty entered, and Bishop Pendleton and Rev. C. E. Doering conducted services at the desk, behind which a temporary altar for the Word had been placed.

     After the reading and responsive service there followed an address by the Bishop on the uses for which books and libraries had been created, and of their especial uses to us, enlarging particularly upon the thought that all books center around the Word of God, being written either to confirm or to attack some truth contained therein. The Bishop afterward announced the desire of Mr. John Pitcairn to make formal presentation of his great gift to the Academy, and in a few appropriate words Mr. Pitcairn gave the building, free of all encumbrance, into the keeping of the institution.

     The Dedication followed, in which the building was solemnly devoted to the uses of the Lord's New Church, bringing to the doe a service which will find place in the annals of the Church as an event of greatest significance. Every one interested in the Academy and the work it is doing, will rejoice that, in the Providence of God, its invaluable collection of books and archives has been provided with so secure and permanent a home, and feel grateful to Mr. Pitcairn whose instrumentality made its establishment possible.

     The whole building was thrown open to inspection of the services.

     THE ACADEMY SCHOOLS.

     The spring vacation has considerably broken into the school life of the past month, but several events of interest have taken place.

     On March 18th, as an adjunct to their work in history and a final feature of the course in oral expression, the pupils of the Bryn Athyn Local School gave a public performance of an operetta, entitled "On Plymouth Rock." Over fifty children took part in this presentation, and their excellent work, under the careful management of the teachers, and the musical direction of Mrs. Colley, made the operetta one of the most charming and delightful performances that has yet been given by the school.

     The College and Seminary also gave a dramatic performance on March 25th, when the Junior History classes, with the assistance of several volunteers from other classes, gave a rendering of Shakespeare's play, "King John."

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This was no small undertaking, but it proved very successful, and the staging and excellent costuming made a fitting setting for some surprisingly good acting.

     The Local School dancing class held its annual reception on the afternoon of April 1st, when a large number of visitors were able to witness the result of the work of the dancing teacher, Miss Phoebe Bostock and Miss Ersa Smith.

     The spring vacation was brought to a close with a school dance held in the auditorium on April 8th. After having enjoyed quite a rest from social life for a while, the school was able to fully appreciate this dance, and a very good time resulted.

     The base ball team is sincerely hoping that spring has come at last; with a heavy schedule ahead, there is considerable work to be done if Bryn Athyn is to establish a good record in this branch of sport. D. F. R.

     ABINGTON, MASS. As the regular tea party night came on St. Patrick's Day, we had a St. Patrick's party. The walls of the hall were decorated with flags of Ireland, and harps and green crepe paper were used effectively. At each plate was a roll with a tiny silk flag of Ireland waving from the middle. Excepting the beans and coffee, our supper was green, to correspond with the day. Even the cakes were colored and frosted green. After supper Irish songs were sung, and every one kissed or tried to kiss the Blarney stone; potato races with spoons furnished much amusement, and dancing followed.

     Our Sunday School is divided into two classes, the children from 4 to 16 years in one, and from 16 to 21 years in the other. The younger class has fifteen minutes each of Hebrew, memory work and nature study. The older class has fifteen minutes each of Hebrew, nature study and reading of "The Prophets and Psalms." Divided in this way it makes a very interesting session, and at the last of the hour the classes unite in learning hymns in Hebrew. G. M. L.

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     BERLIN, ONT. The Carmel church celebrated Swedenborg's Birthday with a banquet and social on the 27th of January. A delightful feature was a series of tableaux representing Swedenborg's visits to the people of the various Ages. The school celebrated the day on January 31st with a supper and social, at which a number of the parents were present.

     In our last communication two silver wedding celebrations were recorded, and we now have the pleasure of adding a third, that of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Doering, held March 24th. The host and hostess entertained the society with a banquet held in the school room, at which eighty-four persons were present. The toasts centered, of course, in conjugial love, the special theme being the delights of that love. In the course of the banquet Mr. Richard Roschman, in the name of the society, presented the couple with a silver token of love and esteem. Afterwards an enjoyable social was held.

     An event similar to the above took place on the 6th of April, in connection with the monthly ladies' meeting, held at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Rudolf Roschman. The men were invited to supper, and the twentieth wedding anniversary of the host and hostess as also the fiftieth birthday of the host were festively celebrated. The presentation of a gift from the society was made by the pastor, who spoke of mutual love in the Church, which exists where there is a common love of the Church. What we should love in a Newchurchman is his love of the Church.

     The Rev. E. R. Cronlund, of Toronto, conducted the doctrinal class on Friday evening, March 31st, and the services, April 2d, while our pastor filled Mr. Cronlund's place in the Olivet church. Mr. Cronlund's ministrations were much enjoyed, and it is hoped that such exchange of pulpits may take place regularly at not too long intervals. W.

     TORONTO, ONT. A new phase of our work in Parkdale has been entered upon. We have had a series of missionary services.

     For some time Mr. Cronlund has been considering the advisability of holding some evening services with a view to missionary work. Recently he found it possible to carry out his plan, and he decided to devote to that purpose the three Sunday evenings preceding Easter.

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     Mr. Cronlund prepared a neat circular announcing a series of three services with sermons on the subjects, "The Lord," "The Word," and "Charity." A few quotations from the Word and explanatory paragraphs were appended to the page under each subject, stating our distinctive doctrine on that subject.

     The majority of these circulars were distributed from house to house in Parkdale by the young people and some of the gentlemen of our society.

     To further advertise the meetings a special notice board was made and put up at the street corner of our church property. For each meeting a printed announcement was placed on the board with the subject of the sermon in large type.

     The services have been very helpful and the attendance most encouraging. There were at least ten strangers at each meeting and an average attendance of about sixty. The order of the services was similar to that used in the morning, and the sermons were all simple, clear and comprehensive.

     Mr. Cronlund and Mr. Walechli, of Berlin, exchanged pulpits for the second service of the series, and we all enjoyed Mr. Waelchli's sermon on "The Word." At a little supper, which was served by the gentlemen after the service, the opinion was expressed that, even if little impression were made upon strangers by the services, the benefit we ourselves derived from sermons on such subjects was compensation for the effort that had been made. We feel encouraged to continue this work at some future time.

     Our ladies have been taking occasional bits of sociability by themselves this winter. On several occasions, when they have held their meetings at the members' homes, they have invited the girls of the society to tea, after which an hour or more of impromptu fun always followed.

     In January the "Theta Alpha" had a delightful little afternoon tea to which they invited all the ladies. Mrs. Ray Brown and Miss Edna Carswell gave an original sketch portraying many of the children and-young people twenty-five years hence. It was so entertaining they were requested to give it at the Swedenborg Birthday celebration on the 29th of January, when it afforded a great deal of amusement to all.

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     On the 14th of February the young people gave their annual valentine social. The pretty entertainment was suggestive of the day. There were tableaux illustrating fairy tale characters, poems, nursery rhymes and favorite old songs. The poems were read and the songs rendered before the tableaux were presented to view. Judging by the amount of applause the pictures were both appreciated and enjoyed. The entertainment was followed by the usual supper and dance. B. S.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. There have been a number of pastoral resignations lately in the Convention societies. The Rev. Thomas French has resigned from the Buffalo society, and has moved to California. The Rev. John Stockwell has resigned from the Kenwood parish of the Chicago society; the Rev. S. S. Seward has resigned from the Detroit society; and the Rev. Percy Billings has severed his connection with the Toronto society of the General Convention.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The Rev. Arthur Faraday who recently resigned from the pastorship of the SNODLAND society, held a farewell meeting with the society last March. In recognition of its pastor's twenty years' service the society presented him with a valuable gift. Mr. Faraday has now moved his residence to London.

     The Rev. Isaiah Tansley has accepted an invitation to succeed Mr. Faraday at Snodland. He will, however, continue to carry on his present duties as Professor of Sacred Languages at the New Church College in London.

     A reading meeting for the study of New Church doctrine has recently been inaugurated at Coventry,-the first regular meetings of the kind ever held in the town. The establishment of these meetings led almost immediately to the commencement of Sunday evening services. Started by local effort, these are now being assisted by the Birmingham Missionary Society. The smallest attendance thus far has been ten persons.

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     BOHEMIA. Mr. Pos, who is a guide to sightseers in PRAGUE, has been the means of introducing the doctrine to a young English couple, Mr. and Mrs. McCulloch, who were visiting that city. Through him they then became acquainted with Mr. Janecek, who gave them a copy of HEAVEN AND HELL. Since their return to England they have been attending services at one of the London churches, where hopes are entertained of their joining the church. The loss of a child with the discovery of how little the Church of England had to give about the other life was what predisposed them to receive instruction from Mr. Pos.

     BRAZIL. The following lines from a recent letter from Mr. A. Finster are published in the Montablatter for February: "There are already several friends of the New Christianity here. However, generally as well as particularly, the growth is very slow owing to the fact that the New Church demands such a complete change of the principles of life and that the Old and Bad [Church] cannot be all at once set aside. The Catholic Church, Babylon, is still a prominent force, and at the present time is making inroads among the simple and ignorant in the Protestant Church. Jesuits and Franciscans have a leading place here, and have now become hostilely disposed towards me because of my propagating the New Church Writings and refusing, for good reasons, to support their schools. This I notice plainly in my business dealings, although I trust in the Lord who has never yet abandoned me."

     ITALY. Mr. Giovanni Gnocchi died suddenly in Rome on November 24th of last year at the age of 63. He leaves two daughters, Misses Eden and Loreta, as the sole active members of the New Church in Italy, and in such straitened circumstances that their livelihood is in a precarious state. Shortly after his marriage he became acquainted with Professor Loreto Scocia, in 1874, and received the doctrines through him. He had become interested in matter of psychic research, and was contemplating an exhaustive study of spiritism when this chance encounter put him in possession of the truth. In 1884 he and his four children were baptized by the Rev. Alfred E. Ford in Florence. The eldest child, a son, Francesco Swedenborg Gnocchi, died at the age of 30, while on a cruise in the East on a man-of-war of the Italian navy, in which he was enlisted.

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A third daughter is Mrs. Scomparin. Miss Loreta Gnocchi is proficient in French and English, and is a regular reader of the LIFE. Mr. Giovanni Gnocchi would have been retired shortly on a pension in the government position he filled, and was planning to devote his remaining years to active missionary work Many Newchurchmen visiting Pome have been to see the family, and all have been charmed with their loyalty to the Church and their zeal for a distinctive New Church life. Their address is Via Vicenza 20 Interiore 5, Rome. E. E. I.

     SWEDEN. The double occasion of Swedenborg's Birthday and the twentieth anniversary of the New Church Publishing Society was celebrated in STOCKHOLM On January 29th.

     In the morning Divine worship was held with the large attendance of 108 persons. The Rev. C. J. N. Manby preached on the subject of "The Glorification of the Word," especially dwelling upon the opening of the Word by the Lord in His Second Coming.

     In the evening the New Church people again met, this time in the apartments of the New Church Book Room (Kammakaregatan 50). Here Pastor Manby in an appropriate speech called attention to the two reasons for the celebration. He also indicated the bearing of the Divine words, "Let there be light" upon the uses of the Publishing Society.

     Mr. Alfred Stroh then read a paper on "Swedenborg's preparation for his mission," in which he offered a short but very instructive review of Swedenborg's Science. After the lecture refreshments were provided. In the song program a Swedish translation of Miss Plummer's "Thou Prophet and Seer" was noticeable.

     The "Sewing Society" has been very successful, financially, this year, and has been enabled to assist the two New Church societies in Stockholm and Gothenburg, as well as other uses within the Church.

     The "Providentia Institution" also recently celebrated its anniversary. It was organized ten years ago, by the Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist, for the collection of a fund by which orphans might be assisted and educated within the New Church.

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The fund now has swelled to 2,362 crowns. The decennial was held: on the 27th of March.. Mr. Rosenqvist, who had come up from Gothenburg, spoke about the aims of the institution. Mr. Stroh, afterwards brought out the imperative necessity of New Church education; he indicated the reason why such attempts had failed elsewhere; and held forth the Academy Schools as true models. There are but few children and young people in the Stockholm society; but a New Church school, even on a small scale, would be highly useful.

     The late Fru Annie Unge, who died last year, had left a legacy of 10,000 crowns (2,500 dollars) to Pastor Manby for support in his declining years. But the pastor generously turned it over to the "Ministers' Salary Fund." Fru Unge has also donated 2,000 crowns to the "Sick Relief Fund."

     The outlook of the New Church in Sweden is now much more hopeful than in former years. By the discontinuance of the Rev. A. Boyesen's branch of the Church in Stockholm, the scattered forces are concentrating, and a great increase in attendance has been noticed in the weekly worship. This is no doubt also due, in part, to the Swedenborg propaganda connected with the removal of Swedenborg's remains from London to Sweden, and the bicentennial of the Scientific Society of Upsala University, at which Swedenborg was mentioned as the most illustrious son of his Alma Mater. As a result there has been a great demand for Swedenborg's Writings. Mr. Manby is just finishing his Swedish translation of the "Arcana," and hopes to have the whole work complete by July. The Stockholm Society is cherishing hopes of erecting a New Church temple within the near future.

     After having held together admirably for seven years without any resident minister, the little circle' in GOTENBURG has finally secured the services of their former pastor, the Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist. During his absence Mr. Manby made occasional visits. Mr. Rosenqvist now preaches every Sunday, and the attendance is visibly increasing. Eight new members have joined during the year.

     Pastor Rosenqvist has made a successful missionary visit to SRARA, the cathedral town of Westgothland, where Swedenborg's father once resided as bishop.

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Here Mr. Rosenqvist preached to an audience of about fifty persons. His object is to form a, society here, but only a few receivers are resident in the town. It is noteworthy that although the town for a long time was the center of "Swedenborgianism" in Southern Sweden, yet no society for New Church worship has ever been established there. H. L. O.
ANNUAL MEETINGS 1911

ANNUAL MEETINGS       C. TH. ODHNER       1911




     Announcements.



     Special Notice.

     The Council of the Clergy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will meet at Bryn Athyn, Pa., on June 21-26. The Executive Committee of the General Church will meet on Friday, June 23d, and a Joint Session of the Clergy and the Executive Committee will be held the following day. C. TH. ODHNER.
SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION 1911

SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION       REGINALD W. BROWN       1911

     The fourteenth annual meeting of the Swedenborg Scientific Association will be held in Philadelphia on Monday, May 22, 1911, at Odd Fellows' Temple, Room C, Floor 5, Cor. Broad and Arch streets.

     9:30 A. M. Meeting of Board of Directors.
10:00 A. M. First Session of Association.
12:00 M. President's Address.-Swedenborg on Life in Other Planets.
2:30 P. M. Election of officers, followed by papers and discussion.
Persons wishing to present papers or other communications will kindly communicate with the undersigned.
     REGINALD W. BROWN, Secretary.
FIRST AURA 1911

FIRST AURA       LILLIAN G. BEEKMAN       1911



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NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXI          JUNE, 1911           No. 6
     A CORRELATION OF SWEDENBORG'S PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS WITH THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS.

     THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS.

     If we look back over Swedenborg's philosophical works,* making a summary for basis of comparison, we find that we have the "simples" (or "natural points") given as the absolute first of finiting. These are mere points of perpetually revolving vortical motion, originating in and by the continuous Infinite,-Substance in itself. We might name them vortex rings of a circulo-spiral flow, so minute as to occupy no space; but lasting as the generative will and activity of the Infinite.
     * References treating of all these points, will be found in the preceding sections. Here their results are summarized only, without duplicating references.

     These simple points are not themselves to be called finite. They are the nexus between the Infinite Father and the finite creation, and are begotten of, and in, the inseparable continuous Infinite One. They are made immediately Divine by God, while all concrete derivatives of substance proceeding from them, are but mediately Divine.

     To these primitive simples we must look for the seed substance of creation. There is no other substance given, but these simple vortex points. All things of the universe, visible and invisible, are formed of aggregations, and, as it were, loans, of portions of this primal sphere, put together in different manners, and, as it were, accommodated and adapted into different forms.

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     These simples or primitives, the primes and minima of the creative derivation of the Infinite, carry the human ends and activities supremely involved in their conatus, power, nature. They are thus at once human and vortex; and in their activity, as immediately Divine, are the Divine Human.

     They are the sole medium, intermediate and nexus, between the Infinite One, God, and the finite or create, as to essence as well as to governance. Interiorly viewed, they are the Only Begotten of the Infinite Esse, or One; the eternal Word by whom God created all things.

     They were before any finite ens: they were by the foresight and providence of the Infinite, generated from the first, of such nature and potency and in such inseparable relations to the Infinite One, that by them the Avatar of God Man in the corporeal and sensual bodily form was possible at any epoch of need, that the human body also might be redeemed, and knit to the Infinite Father in like nexus as the human soul; and the outgoing circuit of creation completed in its mighty return, even by the same plane of simples, by which the forth going was made.

     In the first epoch of actual finiting, or concrete formation, before even the heavens were created or began to be,-all through the ground of the great universe-to-be, this primal sphere of simple vortex "points" flowed together and aggregated in such wise as to produce or "generate" a vast volume of the simplest form of the concrete vortex-corpuscles; the first finites of the PRINCIPIA; the perfect finites, and simple finites of the work ON THE INFINITE.

     As the supreme simples themselves are perpetually vortex points of motion in the universal Infinite, the "apparent void" which is substance-in-itself, so these first substantials produced as concretings of them, of relatively larger size, vortex in general form, and possessed of an analogous perpetual-vortical circulation, may be called the first compounded circumvolutions, devolutions, of the Infinite.

     From their vast volume, in turn, are generated the volume of second substantials or finites, concreted of masses of them; of larger size still, and of like general predicate, save that their circulation and motion are slower.

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     Still a third thing is produced. This is an aura, that is, a bullular or foam-like arrangement of the two sizes of concrete substantials already brought forth. In this bullular or foam arrangement, the mutual adjustment of the several finites is such that they are in equilibrated motion still.

     Indeed their harmonically agreeing motions are the very bond of their connection, and the basis of the equilibrium of the structure. The volume of this, the first aura or "bullular ether," is great enough to fill the universe full; in fact, it is the universe. Where heaven is to be, or earth, there is this aura.

     With the formation of the finites into the bullular or foam structure of this aura, the potency of elasticity first appears in creation, and the accompanying powers of vibrant motion, undulatory pressures, and circumscribed rotary or centrifugal expansion.

     In such a medium the forms of motion constituting light and heat are first possible,-animatory motion, and the rise, transmission, and communication of all forms of rhythmic force.

     The primal ether is a medium very near to the Infinite; and as formed of circling rows and compoundings of the primal simples, and sole begotten of the Infinite, it takes up the very essence of the primordial sphere, and frames it into a form capable of living and of full reciprocation to the Infinite. As soon as it is formed, the activity of God, which it call at once receive, may be by it accommodated, carried over to, and imparted to suitable finite receptacles.

     It is, moreover, not only supremely adapted and designed to the immediate reception of the Infinite Esse, of that life that is God; but it is also supremely adapted to the beginning of motion, the very correspondence and minister of life. At the slightest opening of an active center in it, at any touch of a prior force which call act as a center and communicate and initiate motion to its volume anywhere, it flows at once into motion, spontaneously, freely; die volume around the point of initiated motion passing with a whirling perpetually-vortical flow.

     For the primal ether is precluded by its constitution and genesis from flowing in any other manner, whatever be the mode in which that flow is initiated.

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Moreover, the area covered by that vortical flow is greater or less as the initiate activity is great or small. (PRINCIPIA, Part I, Chapt. VI, 38.)

     Further, as the whole universe is filled with the primal aura before other creative formation begins, every other thing in the whole series of finite productions, to the end of finiting, is necessarily brought forth in its volume, framed under the perpetual influence of its presence, and held together by the elastic pressure of its ever surrounding volume.

     Other powers and uses have been noted of it.

     The least and most delicate of all forms owe their cohesion to the fact that they are framed in the midst of its subtle outside pressure.

     All the starry suns are brought forth in its universal volume. In it also arise the vast vortex rings of grosser bullae which form about each newly generated sun and with slow revolution beat the planets on their airy stream. It embraces about their mighty solar whirl also; rules all and bears all on their appointed ways.

     Ends, causes, and effects are alike under its purvey and rule; it sets the order and conduct of the universe, since by its ministration alone ends flow to their effects.

     It is the nexus which holds all things together as by the human world bond, and binds all the universe in a golden girdle to the breast of God.

     Its human inclinations and protency are so intrinsic and all-providing that everything directly derived from it and under the rule of its immediate determinations flows of its own nature in the human organic form. It is because it is from this source that the human formative substance, or highest essence, possesses the power to build its own human body, with all its knowledges and delights, as the full reciprocal image of God Man.

     The pure human, celestial, or simple cortex is built to such sympathetic reciprocation with this first aura as the eye enjoys with the terrestrial ether or the ear with the air. And the rippling undulations and pressures of the first aura, as they fall upon the fibrils of that cortex and set them reverberantly tremulating, give to that cortex a sensitive and delicate transcendent sense-idea, involving far and first ends.

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     Externally viewed, the first aura is called the celestial and the perpetually vortex aura. Interiorly viewed, it is the very form and presence, perpetually celestial, of the Divine Spirit; since interiorly it acts as the organ and other self of that Spirit: it is the supreme spiritual form, therefore, at once prior to the heavens and universal. By it the human spirituous fluid lives, not its own life, but the life of God.

     In universal creation this primal aura is exactly what the living formative substance or human spirituous fluid is in the human organism,-nurse, purveyor, substance; within its bounds omniscient and all-provident. Outmost of all forms thereof, since it determines and flows in the tunics thereof; inmost of all things also; that which forms, reforms, heals, restores; transmits light and life from God, that by which the human organism is prenatally formed and ruled to human ends, and ever more human ends; that which flows into compliable minds with light and ardor.

     It is, moreover, that by which the stars are ruled and the sun directed in his courses; and in which all the subordinate universes of the heavens and the worlds are brought forth; and which conspires with the Infinite Esse, through the ages of growth, to human ends. For all begins from this, as the supremely human end; and to it returns.

     The first aura is the supreme organ, as it were, of the presence of God Man in His creation, to will and to do His good pleasure; the universal substance and body of His immediate presence in human form with the celestial heaven, and also throughout the universe of stars. For it is the aura of the celestial heaven that fills the universe and is the formative substance therein.

     Compare now with this what we have given in the Writings in regard to the Spiritual Sun, and the first aura formed from it.

     THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS. All the finite universe is brought forth by God, in God, and from God; not from nothing.*
     * "The universe, therefore could be created only in God, from God." (D. L. W. 55. See also J. Post. 262 and 265, and T. C. R. 30, last half of paragraph.)

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     The absolute first and least of finiting is in the nature of a sphere of a certain kind of primitives," brought forth in the Infinite God.*
     * "God first finited His Infinity by substances emitted from Himself, whence His proximate sphere which constitutes the Sun of the spiritual world." (T. C. R. 33.) The Spiritual Sun "consists of the Divine Essence that proceeds from God as a spherical emanation; there and thence is the beginning of finiteness." (T. C. R. 29.) "The Divine which proceeds from the Lord is called a sphere, because it goes forth from Him, encompasses Him, fills both worlds, the spiritual and the natural." (C. L. 386.) That the proceeding Divine is that from which nature had its origin. It is also the inmost of the spiritual world. And, in addition, it is extended throughout the created universe and of it all successive atmospheres are formed. (ATH. CREED, page 41, No. 5.)

     As the "primitives" of this primal sphere are the medium through which takes place all communication of essence, force, and motion from God to the finite universe, this sphere is called "the Spiritual Sun." This sphere of primitives, or absolute firsts of finition, the "Spiritual Sun," is in simple literalness omnipresent throughout the universe; although, on account of its fineness, it is as it were in space without space.* These "primitives,"" directly generated from the Infinite, are of the most supreme and subtle and swift activity of all that' is in the universe.**
     * That "the Spiritual Sun," or the first forth going of God Man, is omnipresence itself; for, like the Divine, it is the same in greatests and leasts, and is in space as it were without space. (D. L. W. 300.)
     ** That the "Spiritual sun," the "Divine Essence," which is a "sphere," consists of primitives. (T. C. R. 33.) And that these primitives are the sole substance of which all things are made. (D. P. 157.)

     The first of finiting, therefore, consists of this "sphere" of "primitives," or primal distinct entia, which are emitted in God, by God; and are formed from God, and not from nothing.

     This sphere of primitives thus brought forth in God, from God, in their esse and activity are termed the Spiritual Sun. There and thence is the first of finiting.

     This first of finiting, the sphere of primitives immediately generated of the Infinite Esse, and called the Sun of the spiritual plane of life, since it performs the office of a sun thereto, is the same as the Divine Essence; for the Divine Essence is said to constitute the Spiritual Sun.* It is also often called the Divine Love.**

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Its "primitives" or least units, are the sole substance of which all things in the universe, visible or invisible, are framed.***
     * The Spiritual Sun consists of the Divine Essence that proceeds from God as a spherical emanation. (T. C. R. 29.)
     ** This "Essence" is that which is called the Divine Love." (T. C. R. 36)
     *** The primitives of this Divine Essence are the sole substance of which all substances are formed. (D. L. W. 300D. P. 5, 46) Because the bounded forms of the universe are framed thereof, the Infinite is able to be in them. This is the reason given. (D. P. 54.) From this source of the primal substance from which they are framed, there is in the earths themselves a conatus to spiritual uses which renders them apt and compliant to the powers both of afflux and infux. (D. L. W. 305, 310.) And their spheres, moreover, flow forth as by an analogue of free will. (T. C. R. 499.)

     Such correlations give peculiar interest to the further statement that the Infinite, the Divine Esse, is more universal than the Divine Essence, into which it enters, giving it existence, sustaining it, empowering it, determining its activity, elevating it continually, and holding it in coherence.*
     * "I shall first speak of the Divine Esse, and afterwards of the Divine Essence. It appears as if they were one and the same thing, when, nevertheless, the term Esse is of more universal significance than Essence; as esse is the cause of an essence." (T. C. R. 18.) "We have made a distinction between the Esse of God and His Essence, by reason of the distinction between the Infinity of God and His Love, Infinity being a term applicable to the Esse of God, and Love to His Essence. For the Esse of God is more universal than His Essence, and in like manner the Infinity of God is more universal than His Love; . . . the Esse of God enters into the Essence, cohering with, determining, forming, and at the same time exalting it." (T. C. R. 36.) That it is the Divine Essence which interiorly is the Lord, since the Divine Essence constitutes the Sun of the spiritual world. (T. C. R. 29.) And that the Divine Essence is the first of finiting, and sole substance of which all "recipient forms" of the universe are created, see above.

     It would seem to coincide with the first of the three successive Divine Essences, (without which, the SPIRITUAL DIARY sayst creation could not actualize); that first which Swedenborg states to be Man in conatu or in becoming (fieri); thus as Man reflexive or in endeavor.*
     * See S.D. 3847: Cum angelis loquutus, ex illorum influenti idea percepi, quod nusquam dari potuerit Divinum creans omnia nisi unum, non divisum in tres essentias aequalies; sed quod in tres essentias successivas. . . . Perceptum etiam quod ipsum Divinum quod prima essentia, fuerit homo, in conatu seu in fieri unde erat sicut homo; ita reflexive homo." etc.

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     Thence, therefore, would be derived the ground of the further statement that all that proceeds from the Spiritual Sun endeavors into the form of man.*
     * That all which proceeds from the Spiritual Sun essentially breathes the generation of man, and thus induces some form or analogue of the human, upon everything framed thereof, or generated thereby. (T. C. R. 585) That which proceeds from God is of the human form . . . especially the first of man. (INV; 48.)

     Interiorly, it presents the very Lord Himself, in the primes or primitives of the Divine Human, So that we may as it were see the Lord in it.

     This Divine Essence is stated to be the Divine proceeding, and also to constitute the Existere of God Man.*
     * The Divine Love which is life itself, and is the Lord, is in the form of forms of all uses, which form is man.
     That the Lord from eternity was the proceeding Divine, thus the Divine Human. (ATH. CREED, page 28, n. 3.) The extension of the Divine into the universe call be predicated of the proceeding Divine. This is the Word from which the world was created. (ATH. CREED, page 32, n. 2.) That the Divine Human was from eternity. (ATH. CREED, page 31, n. 2.) The proceeding Divine is such that in things greatest and least it is the same. Hence angels are human forms. Hence love is the esse, where existere is the human form.
     This is an arcanum hitherto unknown, that affection clothes itself with a body, and this from the proceeding Divine. (ATH. CREED, page 31 nos. 2,3.) An arcanum hitherto unknown, is that every good conjoined with truth, clothes itself with forms, principally with the human form. This clothing of form goes or! everywhere in the atmospheres. It is the essential potency of atmospheres, natural atmospheres and spiritual. This is the arcanum of atmospheres. (ATH. CREED, page 8, nos. 5, 6, 7.)
     God as Man is surrounded with the Divine Love; this appears as a Sun. 'This Love proximately proceeds from Him. The radiant circles are devolutions of the Infinite. The proceeding Divine is what is extended in the universe, It is this from which nature had its origin. Also, it is the inmost of the spiritual world. The last sphere into which it is formed is the atmosphere of the natural world. (ATH. CREED, page 41, nos. 3, 4, 5)

     These primitives are not finite, and they are too fine to be per se applicable to finite recipients. But as they can be compounded, and aggregated together, from them can be concreted successive circurnvolutions or devolutions, which are applicable to finite recipients.

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     Two such successive formations are framed from it; and yet another third thing is formed; and this third thing which is formed is an ether or aura. This is the first aura.

     As it is formed of circumvolutions of the very primitives or simples of the Sun of the spiritual life and plane, the essence of the Divine, the sole immediate generation therefrom, it gathers up and bears that very Sun in its bosom,* and accommodates it to act as a medium and nexus between the Divine Itself and the plane of the celestial heaven. It constitutes the-aura and plane of its life.
     * It can now be seen from the origin of the spiritual atmosphere most closely encompassing the Spiritual Sun, that everything belonging to it is in its essence of the same nature as the Sun in its essence. (D. L. W. 300.)

     At the degree of proceeding and successive formation, at which it is possible to be received by the celestial heaven, it also goes without further change or formation throughout the universe of order, even to the ultimates thereof. And in the universe it constitutes the plane and aura through which God can act as immediately upon the ultimates of all created things, and even the hells as He acts immediately upon the firsts of the celestial heaven. For He who rules the heavens immediately from Himself must also rule the universe as immediately from Himself. And the same aura which is the organ of the one rule is the organ of the other.*
     * "He [Aristotle], now knows that the Lord is that very Man, and that the radiant circle is the Divine proceeding from Him, which not only flows into heaven, but also into the universe, and arranges and rules them He added, He who arranges and rules heaven, also arranges the universe, because the one cannot be separated from the other." (A. C. 9658.)
     "That the truth which proceeds immediately from the Lord cannot in any wise be received by any living substance which is finite wherefore the Lord created successives; . . . but the first thing in succession from this is so full of the Divine, that it cannot as yet be received by any living substance which is finite. On this account the Lord created yet another successive, by which the Divine Truth immediately proceeding might in some part be receptible; . . . the two first are above the heavens, and are, as it were, radiant belts from the flame which encompasses the Sun which is the Lord. Such is the successive order even to the heaven nearest to the Lord, which is the third heaven inhabited by those who are innocent and wise. . . . But it is well to be noted that the Truth Divine which flows in into the third heaven nearest to the Lord, also . . . flows in even to the ultimates of order; and there from the First immediately also rules and provides all and singular things. Hence successive things or principles are held together in their order and connection; . . . unless this was the case, the things formed could not in any wise subsist and act. But these things are for the intelligent." (A. C. 7270.)

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     This first or celestial aura is therefore the universal Divine sphere, by which, as a sphere at once within and without all things, most central and most external, the universe of heaven and the universe of earth are held together, in general and in singular; and firsts and lasts alike are ruled and nourished; and God is present with and in and about.

     It is therefore a Divine celestial aura. And the same aura is the universal ether of creation, filling the universe full. All things, all heavens, all earths, all souls, and all bodies, must be framed in and from it; and by it as the supreme "first and last," God rules the order of ends to effects.*
     * "To create signifies not only to cause to be, but also perpetually to be by holding it together and sustaining it, by the Divine proceeding." (A. E. 609.)
     All that proceeds from the Lord as a sun is called the Divine Truth. That which proceeds is Himself. Through that which proceeds, the Lord has power. The Divine Truth, together with the auras, which also are spiritual, are called the Divine proceeding; from them the heavens were created and also the worlds. (A. E. 726, ii.)
     The most universal principle from which all things are kept together, is the Lord Himself. And that which keeps them together is the Divine Truth proceeding from Him. (A. C. 6115.)
     Concerning the universal Divine sphere which includes heaven, and its comparison with the invisible atmosphere of the natural world that holds the body of man together, see A. C. 9498-9 That the Divine universal is the most universal of all, and the very universal of the most singular nurture and rule of Providence as manifested in the leasts and greatests, see A. C. 6482-3.
     That in the formation of the embryo in the womb, the form of man is the work of the universal Providence of the Lord. (A. C. 6491.)
     That what is highest in heaven, or the Divine sphere, is that same which encompasses and founds; for it is that which terminates and sustains. . . as the air and the ether bound and sustain the outer and inner forms of the body. (A. C. 9490.)

     Thus it is not only prior to suns and stars, it is prior to the heavens also.

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If it were not, there would be no ground nor nexus in the universe for the actualization of the dictum that the highest rules in firsts and lasts alike; and this simultaneously and immediately from Himself.

     CONCLUSION.

     Thus the comparison stands. From the bond and chain of uses and of vital relation, the citations from the Philosophical works and the Writings would seem, in all reason, to refer to one and the same thing; the Philosophical works giving, however, fuller detail.

     Such a correlation and application involves, however, a direct identification of the primal sphere of simples, of the Philosophical concepts, with the Spiritual Sun of the universe, in the Writings.

     The only thing which stands, in appearance, against such an identification, is the appearance, in heaven, of as it were a Sun at a distance from the angels there.

     In view of the direct statements, however, of D. P. 162, that such an appearance is a fallacious appearance and not a reality, an appearance paralleled by the terrestrial appearance of the sun's daily motion around the earth, as well as a number of statements such as D. Wis., X. XII, 3, that "the Sun of heaven is omnipresence itself," it would seem well to hesitate before barring out the abundant and full testimony of the bond and chain, the nexus and connection of uses and genealogical relations, simply because of that one appearance.

     The more so, as Swedenborg gives so explicit a statement that the phenomena of an apparent Sun in the spiritual world is not one which the instructed there rest their thought in; and also gives a rather detailed account of organic subjective states and conditions which act as the effective cause of such an appearance, individual to every man, and by no means the same to any two men, not even in the same direction seen.

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SALT OF THE EARTH 1911

SALT OF THE EARTH       Rev. ALFRED ACTON       1911

     Ye are the salt of the Earth; but if the salt have lost its savor wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men.-Matth. 5:13.

     These words follow immediately after the Ten Blessings with which the Lord opens His teaching for the establishment of the Church. Those Blessings describe the state of the Church to be established;-or what is the same thing, the state of the man of the Church. They also describe the means or progressions of state by which man becomes a man of the Church,-that is to say, is regenerated by the Divine Truth spoken by the Lord's mouth. He is poor in spirit, he mourns, he is meek, i. e., he confesses his evils and his weaknesses, humbly approaches the Word for enlightenment, and submits his life to its guidance. The interiors of his mind are then opened, and he thereby begins to feel hunger and thirst for spiritual truths, i. e., he seeks them from genuine desire. From the interiors also in which the Lord is present descend into his life the virtues of heaven, and he becomes merciful and pure in heart, i. e., in intention. Thus he is a peacemaker, that is to say, he strives for peace between heaven and earth,-the natural man and the spiritual,-by subduing the natural to obedience to the spiritual and thus bringing it into conformity. But with this comes temptation-the conflict between the lusts of the external man and the heaven-born loves that are descending from the internal. Hence there is reproach and persecution and all manner of evil. For the lusts of the external man will not be subdued without a struggle; inspired by evil spirits, their delights are roused up, and this with such power that they threaten the very life of him who would subdue them. But those who conquer in this temptation are called blessed, and they are told to "rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you;" i. e., they receive confidence from the perception that such is the nature of all evil that it continually wills the destruction of heaven and the Lord.

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     Then come the words of our text: "Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost his savor wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men."

     In these words the Lord teaches what is the very essential of the Church with man, i. e., what it is that conjoins heaven to earth and makes of all the earth an image of heaven or a genuine church. The word "ye" means in a general sense the disciples to whom these words were spoken, for we read; "And seeing the multitudes He went up into a mountain and when He had sat down, His disciples came unto Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them." But in a more particular sense by the disciples are not meant the men, but that which came to the world through the men, namely instruction from the Lord in the goods and truths which are to build up the Church. And in truth the disciples as the preachers of the Lord's doctrine were the salt of the earth. For by the earth is clearly meant men on the earth, and by the earth being salted and thus made fruitful, is meant that by means of instruction from the Lord preached by the disciples men on earth become fruitful, i. e., are conjoined with heaven and are thus formed into a church which gives forth the fruits of heaven which are spiritual uses and charity. The disciples were indeed, as was said, the salt of the earth; Instructed by the Lord they went forth and proclaimed His doctrine. And so long as their teaching was received as the teaching of the Lord, so long the Church prospered and, like a garden of God, was fruitful in genuine charity and love to the neighbor; but when the Church turned away from this Divine teaching, when it no longer received instruction from the Lord but was inspired by the love of self and the conceit of self-intelligence, it began to be barren of spiritual fruit,-good for nothing but to be trod under the foot of men. Such is the Christian Church at this day. The instruction given by the Lord still remains in the Word of the New Testament. Men read it and preach its words. But it is like salt that has lost its savor-salt that no longer performs its use, that no longer opens up the interiors of the earth and makes it fruitful, but that lays in the earth as something dead and useless.

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Such is the Word when it lies merely in the memory of men without the presence of the life and activity of heaven, that is to say, without the spirit from heaven which applies it to the life.

     This consideration leads us to a more interior contemplation of what is meant by the disciples. In the spiritual sense they represent not the men, nor even the truths which were promulgated for the church by means of the men. But what is meant are all the goods and truths which come to the individual man whose mind is opened to the Lord by regeneration. It is these goods and truths, which thus come by an interior way, that make him a living man, that descend into his natural and there produce their fruits which are wisdom and use or the knowledge of the Lord and the life of charity-which make the earth fruitful, which establish with man the Church of the Lord.

     That this is what is represented by the disciples may be manifest from the fact that they are called the salt of the earth immediately after the blessings were delivered. And in this fact is involved the truth that the salt of the earth is these blessings come from heaven, or that it exists with him who has received these blessings, i. e., who has been regenerated. It is only so far as man is regenerated or is being regenerated that he receives the goods and truths of heaven, and it is these goods and truths that are the salt of the earth.

     These goods and truths are love to the Lord present in the internal man and thence the perception of truth and delight therein. Neither this love nor this perception can be imparted to man by men; they cannot be given by preaching or teaching and still less by persuasion. Preaching and teaching may be the means whereby man may receive them from the Lord. But he receives them only so far as the interiors of his mind are opened by regeneration. It is the manifestation of the virtues received from heaven, their manifestation in the natural mind of man that is here compared to the salt of the earth, that indeed corresponds to salt, performing the same uses in the natural mind that salt does in the body. And this manifestation is in a word the Affection of Truth, called in the Writings the spiritual affection of truth-the love of truth and the love of truth for the sake of truth.

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It is this love that is the salt of man's earth, that conjoins it to heaven and makes it fruitful for heaven.

     The use of salt is in general well known, namely, that it serves to give savor and taste to the food. Without it food would be insipid, tasteless, and therefore of no use to the body; for unless the interiors of man's taste are excited the interior nourishment of the food eaten is not received and hence the body languishes. Hence many of the Greek's and Roman's bright and witty sayings were called salts; for they exhilarated the mind and hence produced a state of activity which is receptive of nourishment from the food taken, whether physical or mental.

     Salt performs this use because of the shape of its particles which are sharp and angular, i. e., each particle of salt has many spiculae or sharp points. These points gently prick the papilla of the tongue and thus stimulate them and excite them to action; and these papillae thus stimulated open more interiorly to receive the finest nourishment of the food. The salt produces this effect of making food more savory and thus more nourishing; and yet it is not the salt considered in itself that does this; but salt serves only as a medium whereby the interiors of the organ of taste are opened. It is really the organs of taste thus opened that by drawing forth the interior portions of the food make the latter more savory and sustaining. Hence salt is the medium which conjoins the interiors of the body to the external things presented to it. In furtherance of this use, which is its essential use, salt is a universal conjoining medium, being that medium which conjoins oil and water-as is seen in milk. And oil corresponds to good which is of the internal man and water to truth which is of the external.

     As it is with salt, so it is with truth, for truth is also sharp and angular, being compared in the Word to a sword and a two-edged sword. It is truth from the Word that affects man-it is truth that comes to him by an external way-it is truth that stimulates him and opens up his interiors and thus affects him and enables him to discern the quality of all things that flow in by way of the senses, and, as it were, to eagerly suck in all that is nourishing to the soul. But while truth is thus able to open the interiors of man, yet it can do this only so far as the man himself is willing.

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For man has the power of turning the vessels of his mind either upwards or downwards, i. e., of directing them up to heaven or down to the world. And he does this by all active determination of the will instructed by the understanding. If he fixes his mind solely upon things which have as their end the pleasures of the world and the senses, then his mind is closed above and opened below, So that in everything of the world he perceives delight, but in everything of heaven he perceives undelight. If on the other hand he fixes his mind on the things which concern eternal life and the good of Charity, then it is opened above and receives influx from heaven. Then when truths are presented they are perceived as something delightful, and this because they stimulate the interiors so that these interiors eagerly imbibe nourishment from the stores of etherial nourishment with which we are surrounded. For it is a fact revealed to the New Church that the atmospheres are filled with etherial nourishment-nourishment which consists of the spheres actually given off by men both good and bad. The spheres of evil given off by evil men are actual particles which are of such a nature, disposition, and determination that they are absorbed by and nourish the interior structure of the mind that is turned to the world. This is their very nature, just as it is the very nature of the products of contagious diseases to become absorbed by the blood of unhealthy men. Hence evil men delight in the company of those with whom thoughts of the world are active and especially thoughts that excite evil delights. But the spheres of the good, and even of all men when they are in a state of good, are of such a nature that they are absorbed by and nourish the mind that is formed after the image of heaven,-even as the sweet odors of flowers perpetually aspire to be received by the healthy nostrils to nourish and give the very delights of their life. Hence the good delight in the sphere of good men, i. e., in a sphere of spiritual activity.

     But truth is the only medium that opens the mind so that it can receive as from instinctive appetite these good spheres and absorb them, and can thus nourish, fix and conserve its life; and truth does this only so far as the man wills.

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Hence truth is compared and indeed corresponds to salt; but it has this correspondence in a good sense only so far as it affects man. Hence in a good sense salt corresponds to the affection of truth,-an affection stimulated from without but flowing in from within. The affection of truth is therefore the conjoining medium between heaven and earth, between the internal man and the external. The truth is indeed the Lord Himself striving to open the interiors of man that He may be received; but those interiors are opened only so far as the man allows the truth to affect him, that is to say, allows it to guide and govern his life; and then only does he receive truth.

     It is because of their knowledge of the correspondence of salt to the affection of truth conjoining the internal man to the external that the ancients instituted the custom, preserved even to this day, of the eating of bread and salt as a sign of a covenant and conjunction. For the same reason salt was an essential ingredient of all the meat offerings enjoined upon the Israelites, as we read in Leviticus. "Every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering. With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt." (Lev. 2:13.) The "salt of the covenant of God" is the medium of conjunction with the Lord. This law is confirmed by the Lord Himself who teaches its interior significance when He says, "Everyone shall be salted with fire (i. e., with love) and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt." (Mark 9:49.) And again, "Salt is good, but if the salt has become infatuated wherewith shall ye season it. Have salt in yourselves and have peace one with another." (9:50) By "peace" is meant the conjunction of the internal man with the external.

     Salt has also an opposite signification, namely, the affection of falsity; and this signification is also seen in its use. For though salt has the use of opening the interiors of the palate and thus rendering food palatable, its abuse has the contrary effect. Too much salt is poison; for it then closes the papillae of taste and hence no interior nourishment is taken in. Not that the abundance of truth injures man, but what injures him, what is deadly to his spiritual life, is truth in the memory that does not affect the interiors, i. e., that does not affect the life; in a word, truth without the affection of truth.

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Of such truth it is said that it is salt without savor, which is useless and is to be trod under the foot of men. And in the spiritual world it is openly seen that truth in the memory without the affection of truth is indeed of no use and is to be rejected, to be taken away from every evil man, lest he use it for the injury of others.

     It is from a knowledge of this evil signification of salt that the ancients derived the custom of sowing cities with salt after their destruction, to signify that they were utterly destroyed and were never again to be built up. Not that the sowing with salt in itself produced this effect. But the saying, and the deed of sowing with salt, was used by the ancients to signify utter vastation and wasteness.

     It is the interior affection of truth-the being affected by truth,-it is this alone that enables man to be spiritually nourished. It is this alone that opens the interiors of his mind so that they seek and have appetite for the goods of heaven. Men who are in this affection have an inmost appetite for truth and an inmost desire for good, and from this inmost quality they perceive delight in the reception of truth, in the reading of the Word, and in the life of use and of charity to the neighbor. It is this affection alone that gives life to man; it is this alone that conjoins him to the Lord, it is this alone that makes the Church. Where this affection is lacking the truths of the church may indeed remain in the memory, but because there is no real delight in them they are easily neglected and falsities easily imbibed, There is no real perception of truths, and hence comes spiritual stupidity and blindness, whereby falses are commingled with truths and the Church becomes perverted and falsified.

     In the beginning of the Church the affection of truth prevails. For in the beginning there are few, if any, external inducements to receive the truths of the Church. Those truths are received because they affect; because the men of the Church are willing to be affected by them, are willing that they shall open the interiors of their mind to the nourishment of heaven. And when this is the case, there is perception of truth, perception from the heart. Hence comes enlightenment, and the Church, and the man of the Church, comes into a more and more interior knowledge of the truths revealed from heaven.

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Hence, immediately after the words of our text we read, "Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid; neither do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." The disciples are called the "light of the world," because they have been called the "salt of the earth." A city on a hill, and a lamp that giveth light to all in the house, signifies truth from love or truth perceived from affection. And it is this truth alone that glorifies the Father in heaven, that is to say, that manifests His glory in a spiritual life of uses.

     Such is the Church in its beginning, and in this state the truths of the Word are indeed a light to all in the house, i. e., to all in the Church, and to all things in the mind of man. Such was the Christian Church in its beginning, and such would it have remained, if men had preserved the affection of truth, if they had continued to be interiorly affected by the truth, if the truth had continued with them as a medium of conjunction with heaven. But with prosperity came the love of the world. The external words of truth still remained,-but without perception. The light was no longer placed on a hill, i. e., was no longer seen from love. Perception ceased with its delight-the truths of the Word became perverted, and the church destroyed, with nothing left but the externals of truth, and even these perverted.

     As it is in the Church, so it is with the life of every body of the Church, and with every individual member of that body. In the beginning there is usually something of the genuine affection of truth, something of a genuine desire to allow it to affect the life, to guide and rule it; and hence there is then some genuine enlightenment and growth. This we see, and trust that we see aright, in the beginning of our own body; this we see in our own youth, and in the youth around us. But as the body grows, as it becomes established and recognized; and again as the young man grows up and the cares and loves of the world become active, there is the temptation to give up the first love; to let the loves of self and the world rule the life, and destroy the affection of truth.

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And if this state prevails the Church comes to an end with that body, or with that man. He may still defend its doctrinals, because they are the doctrinals of his church; but there is no longer any perception of their truth-no longer any affection of truth, and hence no longer any reception of nourishment for the life of heaven. And then the Church languishes; its truths become commingled with falses, and it dies away. Thus will it be with every body of the Church,; and with every man, unless he preserves with himself the affection of truth-unless he be salted with fire-unless the truth so affects him as to open the interiors of his mind for the reception of the heat of heaven, which is the love that continually enlivens the mind and makes it inmostly active for the reception of all that nourishes the heavenly life.

     The Lord has revealed Himself as the Divinely revealed Word solely that He may be received by man, that He may affect him and thus open his interiors to the heat and light of heaven. This light and heat given to the man who is in the affection of truth are the sacred flame that is to be preserved in the-Church,-that must not be suffered to be extinguished. That this sacred flame may be preserved among men is the sole end of Divine Providence. For this end the Church and the man of the Church are permitted to come sometimes into adversity; and temptation, and sometimes into prosperity and joy. But whether in peace or in temptation, the sole will of the Lord is that the fire of the affection of truth may be freely kindled and freely preserved. It is this sacred flame that has preserved the New Church thus far and kept it alive in the midst of the wilderness of evil and falsity; and it is only so far as it is kept burning that the Church can grow in our midst. But we must humbly keep before our eyes the thought that external prosperity, and even external adversity, brings with it the temptation to depart from the affection of truth and to embrace affection of the world. If we fall in this temptation the light of truth will be extinguished and the Church will depart from our midst to be established with those who are worthy. But though prosperity and adversity bring this possibility, they also bring to us the freedom in which we may receive the genuine affection of truth.

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This affection is the very life of the Church, and it exists only so far as it is enkindled in the heart of the man of the Church. May this sacred flame be preserved in our midst that the light of truth may shine before men and glorify the Father which is in heaven. Amen.
PERFECTION INCREASES TOWARDS INTERIORS 1911

PERFECTION INCREASES TOWARDS INTERIORS       Rev. E. R. CRONLUND       1911

     Let us consider first the application of this doctrine to the Word of the Lord. As the Word is Divine, it is evident that it is perfect, divinely perfect, even as to the letter. The Word is divinely perfect, for the Lord Jehovah, Who is the God of Heaven and earth, spoke the Word by Moses and the prophets. And the Lord the Savior, Who is one with Jehovah, spoke the Word in the Evangelists, many things from His own mouth, and the rest from the Spirit of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit, by His twelve apostles. As the Lord Himself spoke the Word it is perfect, and no human writing, however sublime and excellent it may seem, can be compared with it. The style of the Word is such that there is holiness in every sentence, and in every word, yea, in some instances in the very letters. The Lord therefore said: "The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and are life." (John 6:63.)

     The Word in the sense of the letter appears very simple, and yet there is stored up in it the wisdom of the three Heavens, for each least particular of it contains senses more and more interior; an interior sense such as exists in the first Heaven, a still more interior sense such as exists in the second Heaven, and an inmost sense such as exists in the third Heaven. These senses are in the sense of the letter, one within another, and they are evolved therefrom, one after another, each from its own Heaven, when the Word is read by a man who is led by the Lord.

     Thus although the Word is perfect in the letter, still the things which are contained within it are still more perfect, for it is a universal law that perfection increases towards interiors. The Word in the letter appears rude and imperfect, but when the letter is opened up so that the interior things appear, the apparent imperfections and contradictions vanish completely and all the truths of the Word are seen to be in perfect agreement and harmony with each other.

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Thus when the Word is opened up it is seen that the truths that are contained within the letter are even more wonderful and perfect than the truths of the letter. For in proportion as the Word penetrates deeper, that is, more interiorly into Heaven, so must the arcana become more indefinite, and also, ineffable, not only before man, but also before the angels of an inferior Heaven, and when they go to the inmost Heaven the angels there perceive that they are infinite, and altogether incomprehensible by them, because they are Divine: such is the Word. (A. C.3509)

     Thus as man, examines the Word more and more interiorly, truths more and more wonderful, glorious, and perfect will appear to him. As one veil after another is removed, truths more and more genuine and heavenly appear, and, finally, when man penetrates into the inmosts of the Word, the Lord Himself appears in ineffable Divine Glory and Splendor. In other words, in its inmost, the Word contains Divine truths which are altogether incomprehensible to men or angels. These are truths which cannot be heard or seen by any finite being. Below these are truths accommodated to the angels of the three Heavens, and, finally, there are only such things as are adapted to human apprehension. (A. C. 4383)

     But even in the letter, which is adapted to human apprehension, the Word is perfect, for it is Divinely and thus perfectly accommodated to all states of human reception. Moreover, the letter of the Word is perfect because it is a perfect clothing of interior and Divine truths. The appearances in the Word are real appearances, for they are forms under which the Divine itself appears in ultimates. There two kinds of appearances. There are real appearances, and there are appearances not real. When evil spirits in the other world, through magic and phantasy, are enabled to make their surroundings appear beautiful and heavenly, there are then seen appearances which are not real, for their surroundings are not real representations and correspondences of their internal.

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But the heavenly and beautiful surroundings of the angels are real appearances because they are perfect representations and correspondences of their internal, which is heavenly and beautiful. Thus appearances which are not a representation and ultimation of a similar internal are not real appearances, whereas those appearances which are a representation and ultimation of a similar internal are real appearances. Correspondences are real appearances, but appearances not real are not correspondences.

     The appearances in the letter of the Word are real, for the Word is written according to correspondences, and a correspondence is the appearing of the internal in the external and its representation there. The letter of the Word, therefore, is perfect, for, although the things which stand forth there are for the most part not naked spiritual truths, but are appearances of truth, yet: those appearances are the forms under which the Divine Himself appears to men on earth; they are ultimate and sensual truths, in perfect correspondence with spiritual and Divine truths; the Word is therefore Divine throughout, both in the letter and in the Spirit.

     Spiritual and Divine truths are stored up within the letter. The Writings teach that "the Word is like a mine, in which gold and silver are at the bottom in all abundance; and like a mine in which, more and more interiorly, stones more and more precious are concealed: these mines are opened according to the understanding of the Word." (T. C. R. 245.) This again makes it evident that the perfection of the Word increases towards its interiors. And it is possible for men to understand and perceive this; for although the letter of the Word is for man yet he is able to see the spiritual sense also, for the spiritual sense is not only for the angels, but also for men of angelic minds. Men of angelic mind are able to see the wonderful and glorious truths that are contained within the letter, they are able to see how the perfection of the Word increases towards its interiors.

     Not only is it the case with the Word that perfection increases towards its interiors, but it is also the case with every perfect form, thus with everything that the Lord has created. In the angelic Heaven, for example, inmosts, as being near to the Lord, are in a more perfect state than exteriors,-whence it is that the inmost Heaven excels the Heavens which are beneath in wisdom and intelligence, and thence in happiness.

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The case is similar, too, in each society of Heaven. All in each society are arranged among themselves according to the same law. The more perfect ones, that is, those who excel in good, consequently in love, wisdom and intelligence, are in the middle. Those who excel less are round about them, at a distance varying with the degrees of their perfection. This arrangement may be compared to light decreasing from the center toward the circumference. Those in the middle are also in the greatest light, and those near the circumference in less and less. (H. H. 43)

     It is similar with the man who is in the good of love and the truths of faith; his internal is in a more perfect state than the external, for the internal man is in the heat and light of Heaven, but the external in the heat and light of the world. (A. C. 9666.)

     The interiors of man's natural body also are more perfect than the exteriors, for all organic forms in man are composed of interior forms, and these of forms still more interior, even to inmosts. And it is further taught in the Writings that there are organic forms in the part as well as in the whole; and that the parts of parts, which are interior, are men more perfect than the composite parts, because all perfection increases towards the interiors." (D. Love 13.)

     The same law applies to the things that constitute the three kingdoms of nature. It is for this reason that the more deeply any object is examined the more wonderful, perfect, and beautiful are the things seen in it; and thus that the most wonderful, perfect and beautiful of all are in the first substance. That this is so because the first substance is from the spiritual sun, which is from the Lord, and in which the Lord is, therefore, that Sun is itself the only substance; and as this substance is not in space iris the all in all, and is in the greatest and least things of the created universe. Since that Sun is the first and only substance from which all things are, it follows that infinitely more things are in that substance than can appear in the substances that spring from it, which are called composites and at length material. These things cannot appear in those substances, because they descend from that Sun by degrees of a twofold kind, in accordance with which all perfections decrease.

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Thence it is, as was said above, that the more interiorly anything is examined, the more wonderful, perfect, and beautiful are the things that are seen. This has been said to show that in a certain image the Divine is in every created thing, but becomes less and less apparent in its descent through the degrees. (D. P. 6.)

     Perfection increases towards interiors, for finite things are receptacles of the infinite. The Writings teach that "all posterior things are receptacles of prior things, and these of things still prior, and thus, in order, receptacles of the primitives of which the Sun of the angelic Heaven consists." (T. C. R. 33)

     The reason why things prior are more perfect than the things which are formed from them, is that the prior or the simpler are more naked and less covered over with substances and matters devoid of life, and are, as it were, made Divine, consequently nearer to the Spiritual Sun where the Lord is; for perfection itself is in the Lord, and from Him in that Sun which is the first proceeding of His Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and from that in those things which come immediately after; and thus in order down to things lowest, which are less perfect as they recede. (D. L. W. 204.)

     It may thus be seen that those things which are nearest to the Divine, who is the center of all things, are the inmost, the purest and the most perfect, and that perfection decreases according to the degrees of removal from the Divine, and that, therefore, those things which are in the extremes are the least perfect of all.

     Posterior or last things are said to be less perfect than prior or interior things. The Writings teach that "things are said to be less perfect, which can be more easily worshiped from their form and beauty, thus from their order." (A. C. 9666.) Thus ultimates, or the less perfect things, are things that can be the more easily hurt and perverted. Many are of the opinion that ultimate or natural things are the most stable and the most enduring and the most real. However, the contrary is the case. Interior and inmost things are the most real and the most enduring and can less easily be perverted, for in D. L. W. it is said: "The more prior anything prior is, or the more simple anything simple is, the more exempt it is from injury, because it is more perfect." (204.)

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Thus the more prior or the more simple anything is the harder it is for evil influences to reach it. The more perfect anything is the less liable it is to suffer harm. In other words, the nearer anything is to the Lord the safer it is.

     From this it follows that the nearer man is to the Lord the safer he is, for the harder it is for evils and falsities to reach him and infect him. The more interiorly man receives the Lord's love into his heart the nearer he draws to the Lord and consequently the more perfect he becomes.

     From what has now been said it may be manifest that all things which are according to Divine order are perfect, but that their perfection increases towards interiors.
JONATHAN W. CONDY 1911

JONATHAN W. CONDY       GEORGE DE CHARMS       1911

     A study of the life, characteristics, and principles of a man such as Jonathan W. Condy cannot fail to be of interest and value to all who are today struggling to uphold the cause which he, in the very early days of the Church, championed so nobly. Although he lived at a time when there was as yet no strong body of believers with whom to take refuge from a scoffing world, and when as yet the fundamental principles of the Heavenly Doctrines were clearly seen by few, his mind had perceived many of those interior truths that later on became the platform of the Academy of the New Church. A consideration, therefore, of how much he really accomplished with the little material he had at his disposal should be an inspiration to all in the Church. Even the results of his deep and discerning study of the Writings, as shown in his avowed beliefs concerning fundamental doctrines, while they were far ahead of his age, yet do not afford the most interesting or useful lesson which he has bequeathed to posterity. It is his method of life and study which is of the greatest interest to the Newchurchman of today. The way in which he looked to the Lord, and to Him alone, for light, refusing to accept the opinions of other men, no matter how plausibly presented, is the keynote of all true advance in spiritual things, and is a lesson which many members of the Church today might heed with profit.

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We turn, then, with interest, to the study of the life of this early pioneer of the true religion, and our work is made still more alluring because we feel that he has been too little noticed by those who are now reaping the benefits of his labors, and we experience a desire to add some iota of tribute to his memory.

     Concerning the early life of Jonathan W. Condy we have been able to discover but little. The date of his birth, his parentage, his early environments, his education, are all facts which, so far as we have been able to learn, were never disclosed to history. We know in general, however, that he came from a Huguenot family (related to the royal house of Conde), which at some time before the American revolution emigrated to Philadelphia. It was in this city that Jonathan W. Condy was born. We are also told that he graduated at the University of Pennsylvania where he had studied law, and that afterwards he became quite eminent as a lawyer at the Philadelphia bar. He was made clerk to the House of Representatives in Congress during and immediately after the era of the Revolution, winning, in this capacity, much respect and approbation. He returned, however, to his practice of law, and so well did he utilize his power, brilliance of intellect, and eloquence, that he established the reputation of being the best known and most successful lawyer in Pennsylvania. His contemporaries recognized him as a man of genius and at the same time of integrity, as one worthy of their confidence and of their respect. He was well educated, refined, an intent student, and an exceptionally clear thinker.

     Mr. Condy had been brought up in the Presbyterian Church, but the doctrines of this sect, because they would not bear the searching light of reason, were wholly unable to satisfy his mind, naturally prone as it was to look for logic in all things religious as well as secular. When, therefore, in 1797, he came to a knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrine, his mind was fertile and ready for the implanting of the Divine truths there presented. As to how he first met with the teachings of the New Church, history records no particulars. All we have been able to learn is that, through personal intercourse with John Isaac Hawkins, who in 1797 was visiting Philadelphia, the attention of Mr. Condy was first called to the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.

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Mr. Hawkins had been drawn out of the Methodist Church in 1785, When he had received the Doctrines through James Hindmarsh, who had been a prominent preacher in that sect. Because of his great enthusiasm for the new truth, (and possibly because of the sound views he had imbibed from Robert Hindmarsh, the son of James, who was the great pillar of the early Church in England) he was peculiarly adapted to convert such a man as Jonathan W. Condy, and that man, it seems, grasped with great avidity the truths which were presented to him. We can conjecture from a general knowledge of Mr. Condy's character, that it was the compelling logic and reason so evident throughout the Writings of Swedenborg, and for which he had long sought in vain in the dogmas of the Old Church sects, that first attracted him to the new religion. At all events, he lost no time in applying himself to a study of the new-found doctrines, and was not slow in acquiring for himself a great store of the priceless treasure there awaiting his use. For several years he studied alone, but in time his zeal led him to seek out others who, like himself, had begun to see the dawn of a new day in the knowledge of the Lord's Second Advent. He became acquainted with Mr. Johnston Taylor, Mr. Daniel Thuun, Mr. Eckstein, Mr. Thomas Smith, Mr. M. M. Carll, Mr. Daniel Lamot, and others, who had gradually gathered around the standard of truth since the Writings were first introduced into this country in 1784. In 1808 these men began to hold meetings for the purpose of reading and discussing the Writings. They gathered at the house of Mr. Taylor every Sunday evening. Some of the members would read a portion of the Word and a selection from Swedenborg's Writings, accompanied by the Lord's Prayer. This service was followed by a general conversation and discussion on such points as were suggested by the evening's lesson. Mr. Condy joined these men most heartily, and entered with great zest and enthusiasm into the active support of the cause they all held dear. The wider dissemination of the Doctrines, of course, and the spread of the Divine light to the minds of others, lay at the hearts of these men who were all in the first enthusiasm of reception; but experience had taught many that the teachings of the New Jerusalem would not spread like "wild fire" among the Old Church sects of Philadelphia, and they had wisely sought, as their first duty, to promote the growth of those truths in themselves.

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No one was more zealous in this last purpose than Jonathan W. Condy. So heartily did he apply his entire energy to the study of the New Church Doctrines, that it is said his law practice, for some time, suffered severely.

     In 1815, it seemed advisable to extend, somewhat, the uses of this small society, and especially were some in favor of allowing the women to attend their meetings. As Mr. Taylor's house had, by this time, become inadequate, owing to the numerical growth of the society, a room was rented in what was then known as Norris's Alley, near Second and Walnut Streets. Meetings were now held in the day time, and were open to both men and women. In lieu of a minister, Mr. Carll was appointed as lay reader, a form of worship being adopted from that of the Episcopal Church, with such alterations as should make it conform to the Doctrines of the New Church. These meetings did not interfere with the evening gatherings at Mr. Taylor's residence, however, and both were continued every Sunday until 1816. In the beginning of this year the members began to meet at Mr. Carll's schoolroom in Arch Street, between Sixth and Seventh Streets, where service was performed every Sunday morning.

     By this time the society began to see the advisability of forming a definite organization, and consequently on December 25th, 1815, a meeting was held for, that purpose. They here assumed the title "The American Society for Disseminating the Teachings of the New Jerusalem Church." Owing to his energetic work for the Society, and to his evident abilities, Mr. Condy was chosen the first president. On January 1st, 1816, a notice was written and widely distributed by means of the press, addressed to the "Readers of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg in the United States." In this they announced the existence of the newly formed society, asking for such communications as would assist it in the work it had undertaken.

     Mr. Condy and others also began to urge upon the organization the importance of having a New Church temple.

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For some time this seemed impossible because the members had not sufficient means, but in 1815, Mr. William Schlatter entered the society and, possessing considerable wealth, he resolved to provide the Church with a suitable building. He bought a lot on the corner of 12th and George Streets (now 12th and Sansom), and erected there in 1816 a chapel built, as far as possible, according to correspondences. It is standing, though somewhat altered, at the present day, but has long since passed into other hands. During this year, also, a committee was appointed to compile a Liturgy for the use of the society. Mr. Condy did most of this work himself, founding the book on a Liturgy already in use in Great Britain.

     The New Church in Philadelphia had now advanced so far as to have a temple dedicated to public worship, and a liturgy so compiled as to become a guide to some distinctive New Church services, and the society was now prepared for the final step of obtaining a regularly ordained pastor. Nearly all of the members, however, were in rather straitened circumstances, and it was impossible to support any one in the exclusive use of the ministry. They looked, therefore, for some one who could carry on this use in connection with his secular calling. Mr. Carll, who was a school-teacher, was finally chosen, but Mr. Condy, because of his self-evident spiritual as well as natural pre-eminence, was first suggested. The members of the organization, therefore, wrote a letter extending an affectionate invitation to Mr. Condy to act, conjointly with Mr. Carll, was pastor over them.

     The stand which Mr. Condy took on this occasion goes farther to show what was his real character, and brings out more lucidly the firm principles upon which he based all his actions, than does any other one incident known in his life. The position he then took made for him many enemies among those who were not intimately acquainted with him, but it also strengthened the admiration and love for him in those who knew him well.

     One of Mr. Condy's chief characteristics was reserve. He was a man of action, a man of studied thought and deed, rather than a man of many words, and this fact led many to suppose him haughty, overbearing, unfriendly, and proud. Nothing could be farther from his real character.

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As one has said who knew him intimately, "It was not every man who could appreciate Mr. Condy. He was a remarkable instance of one in whom diffidence could be mistaken for pride." At the same time he was a keen observer of human character, and understood well those with whom he was associated, and who, although they disliked him, still recognized him as the only person fitted by "genius, education, and ability" to become teacher of the Heavenly Doctrines and a leader of the Church.

     When, therefore, he received the earnest invitation of his friends to accept the pastorate conjointly with Mr. Carll, because he saw that many were hostile to him on account of his personality, and because he had such a high and exalted idea of what a minister of the Lord's New Church should be that he could not believe himself good enough to undertake the work, and, above all, because he considered it necessary to receive a direct call from the Lord to the sacred office of the Priesthood, he refused their request. While he knew that Mr. Carll was a well-meaning man and one who was most ardent in the work of the Church, yet he also knew that in mental force, in classical and theological learning, and in that undefinable personal magnetism which alone can make one a successful leader and instructor, this man was lacking. There was no one else in the Society who was at all adapted to the use of the ministry. He was himself better versed in the Doctrines, better educated, and better qualified by all personal accomplishments than any one else at that time in the Church. And yet, so humble was he, so little "ambitious of clerical distinction" (though this was charged against him at the time), that he could not be persuaded without a direct call from the Lord to enter His service as a minister and teacher of His Holy Word. This stand defines his position on all points of doctrine and in all the crises of his life. He looked to God alone for light, and followed His guidance rather than the council of men.

     Mr. Condy's reply was most characteristic. It was very brief and to the point, merely stating in the simplest language the chief reason for his declining to accept, and expressing his hearty approbation of the choice of Mr. Carll.

     Although Mr. Condy did not feel it to be his duty to accept the office of the priesthood, he recognized that he did owe a duty to the Church, and was not backward in performing it.

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His love for the Doctrines, for the principles therein contained, and for those who were struggling to establish them, was boundless. Richard de Charms, who knew him well, says of him: "We have seen him weep like a child in his study, while contemplating the transcending stories of the New Jerusalem, and the worse than Egyptian darkness which was spread like a pall over the minds of men and prevented their seeing and embracing them for their eternal good." This ardent affection led him to seek every possible way in which he could use his genius, education, and ability for the furtherance of the cause that lay closest to his heart.

     In January, 1817, he began to Publish the "NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH REPOSITORY." This was the first periodical exclusively devoted to the promulgation of New Church principles that was issued in this country. The journal has been of lasting use, many of its articles being as fresh today as when they came from the pen of their author. It has been characterized as "one of the best conducted journals ever published in the New Church."

     Mr. Carll, having accepted the pastoral charge of the society, had immediately taken up the duties of a priest, but his health had for- some time been failing. Being forced to carry on his secular work as before, because he was nobly offering his time and labor gratuitously to the Church, he found the double burden hard to bear, and often sought the aid of Mr. Condy. Almost from the first, therefore, Mr. Condy lent his assistance by selecting, altering and even writing the sermons. In this way his views and his leading spirit were made to tell in the growth of the little body of believers.

     As early as the summer of 1817 the health of Mr. Carll was so badly broken down that he found it necessary to travel for his health. We planned a tour, therefore, through western Pennsylvania, Virginia, and into Ohio, intending to make it a missionary journey as well as a pleasure trip. He persuaded Mr. Condy to go with him as far as Steubenville. They traveled in the primitive manner of the time, now by stage, now by posthorses, and again for some distance on foot. Wherever they went they spread the teachings of the Church, Mr. Carll delivering sermons at every stopping place, and also engaging in religious conversation those who traveled in the same stage.

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The court-houses of the town through which they passed were usually utilized as lecture halls, and throngs gathered to hear these strange Doctrines of the New Church presented for their consideration.

     Although the trip was doubtless very successful as a missionary tour, it failed in its more immediate purpose of restoring the health of Mr. Carll. In the ensuing year his condition became so bad that there was fear lest he should have to give up his ministerial work entirely. To prevent this the society arranged to pay him a yearly salary of $500.00, by which means he was enabled to give up part of his secular work. Mr. Condy continued to assist him as much as possible. Finally his friends in the Church provided the necessary funds for a trip to Europe, in the hope that the voyage would restore his health.

     There were at this time several young men in the Society who were looking toward the ministry of the New Church, and three of these, Richard de Charms among the number, were appointed as lay readers to read the service of the Church. Mr. Condy undertook to instruct these young men and direct their studies in the Writings so as to assist them in the preparation for their future work. Here Mr. Condy had an opportunity to bring his genius and learning to good account. His deep and systematic study of the Writings, his clear logic and "the herculean manner in which he laid his arms about him in argument," and his method of steadfastly looking to the Lord for light, all were well calculated, when brought to bear on the formation of young and fertile minds, to lay a firm foundation for future growth and development in the right direction. We doubt not that at this time were planted some of those precious seeds which, germinating acid growing through years of study, painful experience, and mental development, finally burst forth into glorious bloom in the works of the first Academicians.

     Mr. Carll returned from Europe greatly improved in health. The society in Philadelphia now entered upon a brief period of prosperity, growing numerically, and seeming to advance in that internal growth which alone marks a true progress.

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Clouds, however, were already appearing on the horizon, and it was well for the Church that Mr. Condy retained his leadership. Although his personality and rigid views were distasteful to many, his robe for the Church was undeniable and his zeal was unflagging in the cause of truth. While those who were unable to penetrate his reserve thought bitterly of his attitude because they could not understand his true character, all gladly accepted his advice in the affairs of the Church, and it was his steady hand that held the helm of the society to guide it safely through the shoals of financial difficulties that soon began to threaten its existence. Mr. Schlatter, who had built the temple at his own expense, failed in business before he could carry out his generous plan of giving it to the Church. The ground rent and taxes on the property became so burdensome to him that the rent from the pews, which should have gone into the hands of the minister, were utilized for the purpose of defraying them. Other members were seriously affected by the financial depression which, about 1819, swept over this part of the country, and Mr. Carll was again forced to offer his services gratis.

     These difficulties, however, did not affect the numerical growth of the society, nor place a damper on the enthusiasm of its members. In fact, this is the period at which the Philadelphia Society was host active and zealous in the pursuance of the purpose for which it maintained its existence. Perhaps one of the chief reasons for this was the fact that, a heresy having sprung up in the Church, all were called upon to rally round the standard of truth, and the Philadelphia Society, under Mr. Condy's leadership, remained solid and unanimous in its firm opposition to the false notions advanced by men of the Church in other parts of this country.

     This false theory which, about the close of 1819, began to disturb the peace of the Church, was first developed by Mr. Thos. Worcester, of Boston and became known as the "Conjugial heresy." Mr. Thos. Worcester and his brother, Samuel Worcester having received the Doctrines while students at Harvard University, after their graduation had connected themselves with the General Convention of the New Church. They had not long been members of the Church before they began to promulgate the theory of a conjugial relation between the pastor and his congregation.

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They compared the priest to the Lord and his flock to the Church, thus making the society correspond to the life of the priest. The priest, according to this notion, is the truth of his own good, receiving truth only in proportion to his regeneration. The society is the good of this truth, or becomes such by living the truth which the pastor teaches. The men who originated the theory were young and immature. They were undoubtedly in the conceit of their own perception, and in the desire to present something new and original, and to force others to comply with it. Such a spirit, arising from a love of rule, could but breed discord and ill feeling, because of its tendency to take away individual freedom of thought, speech, and action, and before long led to a great deal of controversy. Although manifestly false, and opposed to the whole spirit of Swedenborg's Writings, yet so insidiously and plausibly was this theory advanced by the "Boston boys" that many fell into the trap and took up with in heart and soul. Not so Mr. Condy. He, being recognized as one of the most intelligent and profoundly theological members of the Church at the time, was naturally one to be sought for advice, and the enthusiastic young Bostonians wrote him letters asking his opinion as to their theory. We quote concerning his reply from the NEW CHURCHMAN EXTRA No. 1:-"Mr. Condy, with his remarkable intuition, saw at once the error, and it is believed rebuked with some severity the originators. They took exception to his manner,-expressed astonishment that one whom they had been accustomed to look up to as a father in the Church should allow himself to be betrayed into the manifestation of such a spirit-and with wonderful complacency in the contemplation of their own celestial elevation concluded that their principle was a true, spiritual and celestial one, and that the reason why it was not at once received at the South was because we here were in such low, natural, and sensual states that we could not perceive a truth of such purity." Such an answer, from men who were barely at the threshold of the Church, naturally grieved and wounded such a veteran defender of the faith as Mr. Condy. Many urged him at this time to openly expose the heresy, knowing that he was by far the most competent man for the task.

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Mr. Condy's mind was, however, weighed down by secular cares, owing to heavy financial losses, and for this reason he was, in his own opinion, unable to become the leader against so important a heresy. He thought it sufficient to express his views to the members in Philadelphia, and was content with the knowledge that they, at least, were not lured into so insidious a trap. Through it all he retained his charitable attitude towards the originators of the heresy, saying "they are young men, and will abandon all such notions as these when they grow older." Doubtless, had he been a priest, he would have considered it his: duty to call the attention of the whole Church to the error, but as it was he left this to such men as had entered upon the work of evangelization as a life use, contenting himself with merely holding his own opinion and giving it in private to such as asked him for it. What an opportunity for calumny from those who did not understand this surprisingly diffident character!

     That it was not fear that kept Mr. Condy silent, and that when he clearly saw it to be his duty he was ready and able to enter the lists as champion of the New Church Doctrines, he had ample opportunity to prove in 1822, when the Writings were attacked from another source.

     The Rev. Manning B. Roche, Rector of Trinity Church of Philadelphia, at this time received the teachings of the New Church. Being a very emotional man, but one of little depth or soundness, he began to preach the Doctrines in his Old Church pulpit, so plausibly representing them, and, so carefully avoiding such points as were likely to prejudice the minds of his hearers against them, that he succeeded in drawing over to the New Church practically his entire congregation. Such a decided victory was an occasion for unbounded joy among the members of the New Dispensation, but at the same time brought the Episcopal clergy and laity into a state of much alarm and consternation. The natural consequence was a series of virulent attacks against the teachings of Swedenborg, led by the Rev. Jackson Kemper, a prominent Episcopalian minister. He delivered several sermons against the Heavenly Doctrines, and finally come out with a pamphlet filled with calumny and false charges against them.

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He called Swedenborg insane and denounced his teachings as contrary to the Word of God.

     It now became most evident, not only that it was the duty of some one in the Church to utter a word of protest against this furious attack, but also that Jonathan W. Condy was the only man fully qualified to do so. It has been said of Mr. Condy that he never did things by halves, and the reply which he now prepared to Kemper's pamphlet would fully sustain such a belief. He clearly, logically and forcibly, yet in a cool and gentlemanly manner, answered every argument, silenced every accusation. He concentrated in this effort at defense all his literary talent, all his knowledge and understanding of the Writings, and all his skill at argument gained through years of practice at the bar. It is indeed well for the Church that his letter has been published and preserved, for it is a masterpiece and as useful today as it was at the time it came from his pen. No Newchurchmen, especially none who are priests or ministers, call fail to derive much instruction from a study of it, nor can it fail to rouse an admiration for its author in every one who reads it.

     The later years of Mr. Condy's life were years of trial and unrest. Financial embarrassment reduced him to a condition in which he could no longer exercise his charitable intentions towards his friends in the Church. The society entered a period of decline ending in utter exhaustion. Several of the members went over to the society of the Rev. M. B. Roche, which became known as the "Southwark" Society. All the leading members were suffering from the pressure of hard times. Mr. Carll was forced to give up the regular services in the Temple because of his increasing ill health, and also because he, too, was prostrated by the loss of nearly all his possessions. In 1824 the society lost its charter, and its future looked black indeed. The Temple at last passed out of the hands of the New Church and services were again conducted in Mr. Carll's schoolroom in Arch Street.

     Mr. Condy's life during this time was a comparatively secluded one, and one of which history tells us but little. That he still remained as active in the cause of religion as his natural circumstances would permit, there is ample evidence, but he did not again come before the notice of the entire Church.

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We cannot doubt that he was a sustaining spirit among the unfortunate members of the once flourishing society of which he had so long been an ardent supporter, for it would be little in keeping with his general character had he forsaken them in their extremity. He regularly attended the General Conventions, and took an interest in all the affairs of the Church. He was no longer a young man, however, and his work was almost accomplished. Others had arisen in the Providence of the Lord to carry forward the work of spreading the truths of Revelation, and Mr. Condy could serenely pass the standard on to other hands, knowing that he had performed his full share in the cause for which they all were striving. He died in August, 1827, at Bethlehem, Ohio, while visiting a settlement which he had started there.

     Only a few of his associates were able to fathom the depths of his heart, or recognize his real worth. None at that time could prophesy the fruits which were to be harvested from his years of patient toil. None guessed that he had pointed the way toward such a glorious movement as the Academy represents today. Yet there were a few men of discernment and insight who knew him well, and, appreciating the admirable qualities that were mistaken by others, loved him as a councilor, friend and brother.

     There is ample evidence that he held views far ahead of any that were held by others at his day. His stand in favor of freedom in the Church was forcibly brought gut in his opposition to the Boston spirit. That he had a wonderfully clear insight into the Doctrine concerning the state of the Christian World is shown by a letter written in 1818, in which he says:-"The New Church will then, in this country, take a rise wholly independent of the Old Church, for it cannot connect itself with any branch of it." Concerning the Authority of the Writings he also was remarkably strong. All these views recommend him to those who are in favor of Academy Principles, and proclaim him well worthy of the title of a most intelligent and learned, as well as a most profound supporter of the New Church in America during his day.

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Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     Two ministers of the General Convention have recently abandoned the clerical calling for the field of secular journalism. The Rev. John Stockwell, formerly pastor of the Kenwood church, Chicago, is to join his brother, Mr. Herbert Cr. Stockwell, of Philadelphia, in the publication of a new magazine, entitled THE BUSINESS RESEARCH. And the Rev. Percy fillings, of Toronto, together with his wife, has commenced to publish a weekly magazine called THE ONTARIO WOMAN.



     Our readers may remember that according to statistics recently published in THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE the General Convention was credited by a printer's error with 8,500 members, instead of 6,500. An amusing sequel to this error, illustrating also the carefulness of reviewers, is furnished in the NEW YORK AMERICAN, where a review of the ARCANA COELESTIA is concluded with the following high sounding sentence: "Its three hundred ministers and eighty thousand members are, however, a standing attestation of the fact that the 'Arcana Coelestia' was not written in vain."



     The May issue of the NEW CHURCH YOUNG PEOPLE'S MAGAZINE, Of Manchester, England, in a second very favorable notice of the CORRESPONDENCES OF CANAAN, states that the book "ought to be in the hands of every New Church Sunday School teacher. It would be difficult to find a larger amount of information on any subject included within so small a compass; while the orderly method and clearness of its statement are beyond praise."



     The MESSENGER for May 10th, in a lengthy editorial on "The Church in its Beginning," confidently proclaims that "the Lord's purpose was not in any sense to found a Church upon Swedenborg's writings."

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The editor does not state the source of his information concerning "the Lord's purpose." The servant of the Lord, to whom He revealed Himself in Person, declared on the contrary that "Of this I am certain, that after the appearance of the book referred to, [the UNIVERSA THEOLOGIA], the Lord our Savior will operate both mediately and immediately towards the establishment, throughout the whole of Christendom, of a New Church based upon this 'Theology.'" (Dec. ii:383.)



     THE NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE for May calls attention to "a most fascinating and even brilliant and appreciative paper by an Hindu author" on "Swedenborg the Prince of Seers" in THE THEOSOPHIST for March, 1911. "The sentiments expressed, though full of admiration for the subject, flow not from the Occidental but through the Oriental mind. Hence the Writing has a piquancy, raciness, and glow, which are altogether unique. Throughout there prevails an entirely- sympathetic not to say reverent tone of mind towards Swedenborg." The name of the writer, who seems to possess a surprisingly accurate knowledge of Swedenborg, as well as sympathy with his writings, is Pestonji Dorabji Khandalavala.



     We learn from the MORNING LIGHT that the first receiver of the Heavenly Doctrines in Bohemia was a Methodist preacher, the Rev. Vacl Pazdral, who became acquainted with them about the year 1892. H began to announce them publicly from his pulpit to his congregation in Kladno, but his new views did not meet with the approval of the members of his church, and he was forced to leave. He thereupon emigrated to America, and is now in Texas, unconnected with the New Church. His only known convert was Mr. I. E. Hora, a Methodist lay preacher now residing in Litovel, Moravia. The present movement, inaugurated by Mr. Janecek, has no connection with that of Mr. Pazdral. Mr. Janecek has completed the Bohemian translation of HEAVEN AND HELL, which will shortly be published by the London Swedenborg Society. He also has recently issued the first number of a periodical of sixteen pages, entitled NOVY JERUZALEM, the first New Church journal in the tongue of the Czechs.

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It is to be published every other month, and may be obtained at the yearly subscription price of Kr. 1.50 from the publisher, Mr. Jaroslav Janecek in kgl. Weinberge bei Prag. Taborgasse 18.



     At the meeting of the Massachusetts Association, held at Boston on April 19th, the Rev. James Reed, general pastor of the Association, delivered an address on "Some Temptations of the New Church." Reference was made to "the multitude of pamphlets from sources outside of the Massachusetts Association dealing with the relation of the sexes, which pamphlets have lately been forced on the attention of many of the members of the Association, greatly to the detriment of the church." . . . "In this part of the country, at least, the Church has never swerved from the standard of absolute purity as to the teaching of the Heavenly Doctrines and our only rule of life. The General Pastor deprecated the further discussion of the subject among us, and urged his hearers to fix their thoughts on other and more wholesome things." It would thus appear that the General Pastor advocated the cultivation of ignorance as a refuge from temptations, and he seems to forget that the whole trouble of which he complains started within the saintly limits of his own "part of the country," beginning with the "Decoy Letters" and the "Women's Petition" of 1902, and culminating in the "Brockton Declaration." This was supposed to have settled the matter, and it was hoped that the Church in New England might now return to its serene slumbers. But never a wink for the poor old Association. Having sown the wind they are now reaping the whirlwind,-the howling of controversy, the hailstorm of pamphlets, and the rattling of bones in the New Church closet.
INTERESTING HISTORICAL FIND 1911

INTERESTING HISTORICAL FIND              1911

     Mr. Alfred H. Stroh in a recent letter informs us that all the minutes and other documents of the Societas Pro Fide et Charitate have now been discovered and presented to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. This Society was organized in Sweden in the year 1796, a few years after the dramatic collapse of the "Exegetic and Philanthropic Society" which was described in the May issue of the LIFE.

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It was organized by "a few genuine friends of the New Doctrine," chiefly for the purpose of continuing the work of publishing Swedenborg's Writings in Swedish. Profiting by severe experiences, the members strictly avoided political discussions and the practices of "animal magnetism," and the very existence of the Society was kept "private." The members in Stockholm held occasional meetings, and communication with the widely scattered members in the country districts was kept up by means of a circulating manuscript journal, entitled FORSAMLINGS TIDNING. Copies of this journal have long been preserved in the present New Church Library in Stockholm, but the whereabouts of the other documents of the Society have been unknown since the dissolution of the Society in 1830.

     Mr. Stroh, (who writes from Bologna, Italy, where he was sent by the London Swedenborg Society to deliver an address on Swedenborg before the International Congress for Philosophy), states that "the Minutes extend from 1796 to 1830, and there are numerous letters from England and other countries. It is a perfect gold mine, a big package of New Church History. I was so pressed for time before leaving Stockholm that I could make only a very cursory examination of the eight incites of folio MS. There is a fine long letter about the early history of the New Church in England, by Hindmarsh, reminding me strongly of the admirable opening of the RISE AND PROGRESS. The Society received money from England for the publication of the Writings, and there was for a time a lively correspondence which will produce bibliographical information of much interest. The 'matrikel' [catalogue of members], handsomely bound in now faded silk, contains not only the names of members, in many cases in autograph, but also many dates and shows precisely how the movement was spreading."

     Among the more active members of this Society we find the names of Major Leonard Gyllenhaal, Councillor Schonherr, Prof. C. J. Knos, Prof. Adam Afzelius, Assessor Bergklint, the Rev. Johan Tybeck, the Rev. Jonas Pehrson Odhner and his son, the Rev. Pehr Hemming Odhner. Through the generosity of Mr. John Pitcairn, a typewritten copy of all these documents will now be made in Stockholm, to be deposited in the Library of the Academy in Bryn Athyn.

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LETTER REJECTED BY THE N. C. MESSENGER 1911

LETTER REJECTED BY THE N. C. MESSENGER       G. BARGER       1911

To the Editor of the New CHURCH MESSENGER:
     My attention has been called to a passage in Rev. Seward's book, THE ACADEMY DOCTRINE, etc., in which, on page 151, he refers to a letter from me published in NEW CHURCH LIFE for March, 1910.

     This letter, the Rev. Seward claims, "contains three distinct mis-statements," and as I am spoken of as "our staunch and intelligent brother of The Hague," who "cannot be accused of bearing false witness-because he must have been grievously misinformed, although he has been remarkably successful in creating false impressions," I earnestly request your permission in the interest of truth to offer some brotherly explanation, also considering that the letter of mine, referred to, was an appeal for brotherly charity among New Church people.

     1. My statement that the Kramph fund was "a legally made bequest to the Academy" is objected to on the ground "that the money was not left to the Academy because the Academy did not come into existence until twenty years after the death of Mr. Kramph." This objection is correct only in a technical and most literal sense. My statement is quite true when we consider that an educational institution on New Church principles, such as the Academy, in reality existed in the mind of Mr. Kramph when making his will, for he fully approved of the movement which Mr. Benade had even then inaugurated in Philadelphia, and which led directly to the organization of the Academy. That the bequest was legally made cannot be contradicted since the highest Court of Law in Pennsylvania pronounced it to be so.

     2. The argument "that the heirs did not contest the will" is most astonishing in view of the fact that "the young lawyers'' legally represented the heirs and contested the will not only against the claims of the Academy, but also against the Trustees, and this on the ground that the will was invalid on account of the "immorality" not of the claimants, but of Swedenborg's Writings, as stated by Mr. Appel on behalf of the heirs: "now I take the broad position, etc." (See Kramph Case, page 219.)

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     3. The counter statement that "the Convention hap nothing to do with the Litigation" is also technically true, but the fact that all the trustees (with the exception of one) were members of the Convention, including the President of that Body, evidently created the impression in the Convention itself that that Body was involved, as is evident from the utterances in the Official Organ of the General Convention (NEW CHURCH MESSENGER, Sept. 30th, 1908, Page 209), where it is said "the judge of the Orphans' Court had set aside the claims of both the General Convention and the Academy." Moreover it has been tacitly acknowledged by editorial comments on the Kramph Will Decision in the same official organ (see MESSENGER, July 20, 1910), where we are told that "through the Court's decision a defense was given to the Church far beyond anything that Convention has asked for."

     Isolated receivers, and students of New Church Doctrine, not connected with either party, must form their judgments of church events from printed reports, and from the above you will see that my statements were not all without foundation, and that it is only fair to give me an opportunity for explanation.

     Believe me,
          Fraternally yours,
               G. BARGER.
The Hague, Holland, Feb., 1911.



     The editor of the MESSENGER turned over the above communication to the Rev. S. S. Seward, who returned the reply printed below, a copy of which was sent to Mr. Barger. The editor, in a letter to Mr. Barger of March 24th, explained his reasons for withholding the publication of the correspondence.

     MR. SEWARD'S REPLY.

     Mr. Barger has kindly referred the above article to me, and said that I might have the "last word." I recognize cordially Mr. Barger's courtesy in this matter, but have very little to say.

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I freely asquit Mr. Barger of any intention to deceive. That much ought to have been evident from what I said in my book in this very connection, "We exonerate Mr. Barger because he must have been grievously misinformed" (p. 152). But we cannot agree with Mr. Barger that the three statements made in his letter, viz., that the Kramph fund was "a legally made bequest to the Academy;" that the heirs at law of the testator contested the will "on the utterly false ground that the Academy, because of their outspoken allegiance to the Heavenly Doctrine of CONJUGIAL LOVE, were unfit subjects to receive the bequest;" and that "the Convention sided with those heirs at law in this attack upon the morality of their brethren of the same church;"-we cannot agree with him that these statements are proper ones to be published in a New Church Journal, because they are really untrue, and are calculated to mislead and deceive those in the Church who are not conversant with all the facts in the case, and so to create a false and unjust impression regarding the action of the trustees and Convention.

     But, although we cheerfully absolve Mr. Barger from all wrong intention, the editors of NEW CHURCH LIFE knew that the statements were not strictly true, and ought to have known that they were calculated to convey a false and unjust impression, and that standing alone, without any explanation, they must inevitably do so.

     It may be that Mr. Kramph sympathized, fifty years ago, with Bishop Benade's views on education; but it doesn't follow from that that his will was "a legally made bequest to the Academy" established twenty years after, with all the added peculiarities that have been associated with it since. It may be that the heirs at law entered into the contest for the money when they found there was a contest, but it does not follow that "the Convention sided with those heirs at law in this attack upon the morality of their brethren," for they had no thought or intention of the kind. It maybe that the Convention is often spoken of loosely as carrying on this litigation, but it is not true that it did carry it on. It was carried on by the trustees themselves because they believed that the will devised the money to them, and that it was a responsibility that they could not properly avoid.

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It was not done for the purpose of siding with the heirs at law "in an attack upon the morality of their brethren," but to test the truth of the case. Nor was it meant as an attack on the Academy. For I believe that what I said in my book, in this very connection, is true, viz.,-"We have no doubt that every one of the trustees, all but one of whom were Convention men, would (if the fund had been awarded to them) have willingly turned the money over to the Academy, since they already had a school that met-the conditions, or most of the conditions, of the will, if it had not been for the fact that the Academy held the peculiar doctrine condemned in this book, and taught it, as was testified at the trial, not only to their people, but to the theological students and the boys of the graduating class of their school."

     In my opinion a New Church periodical should publish "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," and should take the utmost pains not to deceive or mislead its readers. In the light of Mr. Barger's communication I gladly exonerate him from all wrong purpose I leave all others to judge for themselves.
     S. S. S.

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Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. On April 11th another enjoyable "club night" was held in the Dutch Kitchen. On Good Friday the Bishop conducted services in the chapel, instead of the usual doctrinal class. His subject was "Humiliation." Miss Aurora Synnestvedt and Miss Volita Wells made their confessions of faith on Easter morning. This added to the impressive service by the Bishop.

     The first session of the spring quarterly meeting was held on April 26th. Papers on "Music," by Mrs. Colley; on "Order," by Miss Bellinger, and on "Religious Instruction," by Mr. De Charms, were read and discussed. All were glad to hear of the great progress made in the order of the Elementary School since the school has had the advantages of De Charms Hall. Interesting ideas were brought up by Mr. De Charms as to the great influence of early impressions, and as to the necessity of receiving the truths of religion through the senses. The meeting was concluded on the following Friday, when Mr. Doering read a report of the school work. After this there was quite a warm discussion about our overworked teachers and the lack of money with which to increase the force.

     On the 29th, the play, "She Stoops to Conquer," was produced, and proved to be one of Bryn Athyn's most successful theatrical performances. Of course, Mr. Heath chiefly made it possible to give this play. From the beautiful prologue given by Miss Fidelia Asplundh, until the curtain fell for the last time, it was a great success. Mr. Roy Wells, as young Marlow, did some good acting, and his laugh made "quite a hit." The other principal characters were very well taken by Miss Madeline Glenn, Mrs. Augusta Cooper, Mr. Karl Alden, Miss Lucy Boggess, and Mr. Reginald Brown. On the 4th of May a very successful banquet was given by the Younger Generation, who all brought their wives or "lady friends." Professor Odhner continued his lecture on "Swedenborg" on the 5th, when some fine new slides were shown. V. W.

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     THE ACADEMY SCHOOLS.

     The dramatic ability of the school was in evidence again last month in the performance on April 22d of a farce, entitled "The Princess," given by the Senior and Sophomore classes under the management of Mr. L; E. Gyllenhaal and Miss Rita Buell.

     Performances of this kind have provided considerable entertainment to the community, and the proceeds from them are being devoted to the establishment of a fund for the use of the school in dramatic work.

     On May 6th the Phi Alpha Fraternity gave its third annual ball in commemoration of its Founder's Day. It was held in the old gymnasium; a dome of blue and white rising from a foundation or green branches and cherry blossoms, and illuminated with blue and white electric lights, concealed the walls and ceiling, and beneath this dome about thirty couples made merry and joined in singing fraternity and school songs, and in a toast to the Phi Alpha. The dance was a great success, and will be long remembered by those who were able to attend.

     The monthly school social fell due on May 13th, and was very successfully managed and much enjoyed

     A feature of the evening was the singing of a boys' quartette, presenting some songs composed entirely by local talent.

     The athletic event of the month was the expedition of Bryn Athyn's track team to the relay races at Philadelphia. They returned unsuccessful, but unsuppressed, and immediately turned attention to base ball, in which sport Bryn Athyn is experiencing various vicissitudes. D. F. R.

     ABINGTON, MASS. On the 6th of April we celebrated the anniversary of our separation from the First Society of the New Jerusalem in Abington, and from the General Convention. The history of the event was reviewed in detail, and each individual contributed interesting items of information relative to the subject. Refreshments were served and songs were sung, which greatly enhanced the sphere of mutual love. The occasion was one of benefit to all, and we each felt that, as the years go by, the separation is becoming more internally complete.

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     Easter was celebrated with appropriate services and the Holy Supper. The offering was a contribution to the funds of the General Church.

     The pupils of the Sunday School continue their interest and enthusiasm in the different departments of study, and the teachers express themselves as very much gratified with the results of their efforts.

     On Saturday evening, April 22d, we enjoyed a dancing party in our little hall. Each and all expressed themselves as having spent a very pleasant evening.
     G. M. L.

     NEW YORK CITY. The society here has issued a handsome little folder giving particulars as to the time and place of services, and containing a blank page for the insertion of notices of meetings, etc., thus adapting it for the use not only of strangers but also of our own members. On the last page is printed "The Faith of the New Church," in five short paragraphs, stating that the Lord is the one God; that the Sacred Scripture is the Word; that Salvation is by the shunning of evils; that the Lord has made His Second Coming in the Writings; and that on these Writings a New Church is to be established.

     On April 28 and 30 we had a most enjoyable and instructive local Assembly, which, besides our own members, was attended by Mr. Pitcairn, Mrs. Acton and Mrs. Mary Doering, all of Bryn Athyn. On the evening of the 28th the Bishop opened the Assembly by reading a paper on "The Sabbath." Discussion followed, and after this refreshments and social intercourse. The Bishop preached on Sunday, April 30, the services being conducted by the pastor. Shortly after the services the society met at its usual restaurant, where over thirty persons sat down to a banquet which, with speeches directed to the subject of the Growth of the Church, was but too soon over by 5 o'clock.

     PITTSBURGH, PA. They say calm comes before a storm, and although we did not recognize the calm, the storm-showers, weddings, etc.-came with irresistible force. The first indication of the upheaval was an early spring shower which descended upon Dr. Rena Heilman and Mr. Alexander P. Lindsay.

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They sought shelter at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Chas. H. Ebert, but the "elements" still pursued them, and the "thankless" two blamed their host and hostess for being "caught."

     Early in April the Society indulged in a banquet. The topics for the evening's discussion were subjects of vital interest and importance to this society. Mr. Walter H. Faulkner made a most brilliant toastmaster and carried the evening with a swing.

     It was not long after this that Mr. Edgar Lindsay sojourned to Middleport, Ohio, and when he returned it was with a pretty bride.

     On April 10th a German was given at the Bellefield Club, Mr. and Mrs. D. E. Horigan acting as host and hostess. When the goodnights were said, the expression of the evening's pleasure was not conventional but genuine.

     Two nights later came the climax. All Pittsburgh betook itself to the home of Dr. and Mrs. U. O. Heilman to celebrate the marriage of their daughter, Dr. Rena Heilman, to Mr. Alexander P. Lindsay. It was a very beautiful wedding. The Rev. N. D. Pendleton officiated, and the bridal party consisted of Mr. Walter H. Faulkner, Mr. Marlin Heilman, Mr. Edward Bostock and Master Samuel Lindsay. The house was artistically decorated in smilax and wisteria.

     The rest of our time has been filled up with Theta Alpha, ladies' meetings, Philosophy Club and pleasant at homes given by Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Caldwell.

     The Rev. J. E. Bowers made us a visit the first week in May and preached the following Sunday. Rev. W. E. Brickman has conducted the services during two Sundays of our pastor's absence. B. P. O. E.

     DENVER, COLO. Swedenborg's birthday was celebrated by a supper at the chapel. There were nineteen present, and all had an enjoyable evening. Papers were read by five of the gentlemen.

     On the evening of the 23d of March the society's deficit was somewhat reduced by the proceeds of an auction sale of lunch boxes and other prize packages, one young man paying seventy-five cents for a safety pin.

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     On Easter Sunday the Holy Supper was administered at a special service held at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and was followed at 7 o'clock by a "feast of charity," at which papers were read, treating of the Lord's Advent and the work of Redemption. A feature of the afternoon service, which added much to its impressiveness, was the baptism of Mr. and Mrs. Schroder, who were given the right hand of welcome into the church and the society at the feast of charity.

     Mrs. Howland has given us two beautiful new art windows, placed at the back of the chancel, and a handsome altar rail; and now the inside of our little chapel looks somewhat like a place of worship. And the attendance has been larger-during the past year than for many years before. On Easter Sunday there were twenty-three adults and eight children present. F. G.

     LONDON, ENGLAND. For many years past the church in Palace Gardens Terrace, Kensington (connected with the General Conference), has been manifestly unsuitable for the needs of the society worshiping there, and a good offer having been received by the Conference Council, the society was consulted and assented to the sale of the premises. The sale was effected and the last Sunday services held in the building under the auspices of the New Church took place on the 12th of March, when the minister, the Rev. J. F. Buss, officiated.

     On the 14th of March the final meeting in the building around which so many dear associations clustered, was held, when the London District New Church Union held a reception in honor of the president of Conference, the Rev. W. H. Claxton. A very large number of Newchurchmen attended this function, including besides the ministers of all the London Conference Societies, the Rev. R. J. Tilson, of Burton Road; the Rev. J. J. Thornton, of Glasgow, and Mr. Samuel Ball, of the General Church. The meeting concluded with a short closing service in the church, conducted by the Revs. W. H. Claxton and James J. Buss.

     The Kensington Society is now temporarily worshiping in the Town Hall, Kensington, where lectures of a missionary character are being delivered by the minister.

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     The church of the Kensington Society, which has now been sold, was bought for the General Conference by Mr. John Finnie, and endowed by him. It was dedicated to the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Only God, on the 20th of March, 1872, by the Revs. Dr. Bayley, Dr. Rudolph L. Tafel, and Wm. Bruce. Dr. Bayley left the society at Argyle Square, King's Cross, London, to be the first Easter of the newly formed society in Kensington, which, under his able ministrations, grew in influence and numbers. At his death the Rev. Thos. Child was appointed minister and until 1906; this distinguished servant of the New Church labored successfully in the work of strengthening the members in the knowledge and love of the Heavenly Doctrines.

     Mr. Child was called to the eternal world in 1906, and the Rev. Jas. E'. Buss was selected to fill the vacant pastorate, He accepted, and is still continuing the work with the ability which only a profound and accurate knowledge of the doctrines can command.

     Many well known Newchurchmen have been intimately connected with the society, among whom may be mentioned the Rev. W. H. Claxton, the present president of the General Conference, who received his first instruction in New Church doctrine in the society, and was for several years superintendent of the Sunday School; the Rev. G. C. Ottley was a member in its earlier years, and the Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack was at one time superintendent of its Sunday School.

     THE MISSIONARY FIELD. A summary statement only can he given of the visits made since my last report.

     South Bend, Ind., March 7-9 At the home of Mr. and Mrs. H. J. Tyrrell. The reading of a paper, followed by a discussion of points in connection with the subject.

     Bourbon, Ind., March 9-13. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Fogle. A sermon on Sunday evening, 12th, and conversation on subjects of New Church doctrine.

     Bucyrus, O., March 13-15. With Mr. T. E. Martin. Have visited him for some years. His family are friendly and hospitable people, but are not interested in the new doctrines.

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     Also called on Mr. C. W. Luthy, two miles in the country. His father was a Newchurchman in Monroe Co., O.

     Mansfield, O., March 15-17. With Mr. J. A. Fankhauser, called on G. W. Statler, an attorney, and had a talk with him as usual. He bought a copy of the little book on Servetus, by Odhner.

     Galion, O., March 17-21. At the home of the Burger family, three miles in the country. Services on Sunday, 19th. The people here always express appreciation of the visits.

     Columbus, O., March 21-23. At the home of Mr. And Mrs. W. H. Wiley and Mrs. Allen. Informal meeting. A sermon was read, which was followed by conversation. A member of the Convention Society, Mrs. Haines, was present; and she manifested a friendly spirit toward the General Church.

     Waverly, O., March 23-25. With L. G. Dill, Esq., attorney-at-law. We had much conversation concerning the progressive work and uses of the Academy and the General Church. Judge Dill was quite interested, and expressed his intention to visit that prominent center of New Church activity and life in the world, Bryn Athyn, Pa. And if he does he will not be disappointed.

     Givens, O., March 25-29. At the home of Mr. S. A. Powell and family. Since my former visit a great change had come to pass in the home, in the departure of Mrs. Powell to the spiritual world last December. And this change makes our friend's isolation much harder to bear than before, as his wife was a member of the Church. We held a reading service on Sunday, 26th.

     Athens, O., March 29-31. Here I was entertained with the same kindness as ever, by A. M. Lewis, Esq., and his wife. We did considerable talking, but conditions were not favorable for holding a meeting.

     Zanesville, O., March 31, till April 4. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. N. E. Loomis and family. The visit with these good friends was a pleasant and a useful one. The eldest son, Mr. L. S. Loomis, and his wife are members of the General Church. Eight members of the family were present at the meeting on Sunday evening, when a sermon was read and received with appreciation.

     South Cresap, W. Va., April 4-5. With Mr. Quincy Cresap and family.

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     Welcome, W. Va., April 5-6. Here Mr. Geo, T. Peters and family have for some years made me welcome, although they are not members of the Church or of any one of the sects.

     Clarington, O., April 6-7 The day was passed with Mr. Fred. Waelchli, who is an uncle of the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, pastor at Berlin, Can.

     Wheeling, W. Va., April 7-10. Services at the home of Mrs. E. A. Pollock, Sunday, 9th. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered. One of our members was not able to be present on account of illness. One is in California.

     Bellaire, O., April 10-11. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Yost, where a visit is always made before leaving the Ohio Valley.     J. E. B.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES

     UNITED STATES. The MASSACHUSETTS Association held its 162d annual meeting last April, in Boston, Mass. The attendance numbered between two and three hundred persons, including fourteen ministers and seventy-six laymen. Reports were read showing the distribution of 2,500 copies of the missionary edition of Heaven and Hell, a deficit of over $315 on the New Church Review; an expenditure of over $2,200 for the aid of societies and ministers, and nearly $3,000 for missionary work. A legacy of over $9,000 has been received from the estate of Alonzo F. Lewis.

     The Rev. Frank A. Gustafson has been obliged temporarily to abandon his work as Pastor of the LA FORTE society, owing to a stroke of paralysis from which he is now slowly recovering.

     The CALIFORNIA Association held its annual meeting at Riverside, April 21-23, with representatives from Sail Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles and Riverside, the Rev. J. S. David presiding. The resignation of the Rev. John Faulkner Potts from the office of General Pastor of the Association was accepted with the utmost regrets. The reason given for the resignation was the great geographical distance separating the General Pastor from the Association The election of a successor to Mr. Potts was deferred until the next meeting.

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Two resolutions were adopted by the Association,-the one rejecting any change in the wording of the Lord's Prayer from the form in common use in the New Church; and the other expressing the endorsement of the Association of the warning issued by the Rev. J. S. David in his annual address against "emended editions" of the Writings.

     SWEDEN. The Rev. Joseph Rosenqvist, now residing in Gothenburg, has resigned from membership in the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and has been received as a member and priest of the legally acknowledged organization of the New Church in Sweden, after having shown documents proving his independence of any other ecclesiastical organization.

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SONS OF THE ACADEMY 1911

SONS OF THE ACADEMY       GERALD S. GLENN       1911




     ANNOUNCEMENTS.




     Special Notices.

     The annual meeting of the Sons of the Academy will be held at Bryn Athyn, Pa., on June 23d, at 8 P. M.
     GERALD S. GLENN,
          Secretary.
Title Unspecified 1911

Title Unspecified       REGINALD W. BROWN       1911


     The Annual Joint Meeting of the Members of the Corporation and Members of the Faculties of the Academy of the New Church will be held June 15, 1911, at 10:30 A. M.
     REGINALD W. BROWN,
          Secretary.
BRITISH ASSEMBLY 1911

BRITISH ASSEMBLY       A. CZERNY       1911

     The Tenth British Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at Colchester, August 5th to 7th. The members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. Visitors are requested to send notice of their coming to Mr. F. R. Cooper, 11 Hospital road.
     A. CZERNY,
169 Camberwell Grove,
     London, S. E.
SECOND AURA 1911

SECOND AURA       LILLIAN G. BEEKMAN       1911



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NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. XXXI JULY, 1911           No. 7
     We approach the second step of the involution of the Proceeding Divine in the production of a series of substances and forces for the uses of creation.

     The first stage of the Divine Proceeding closes with the existence of the primal atmosphere or aura,-the atmospheric substance which embodies the Divine as to creative use in its first, finest, and only Universal form. This is the plane of the Esse of the Proceeding Divine.

     Imagine it as a most fine bullular or foam-like structure existing in plenitude throughout the Universe so that the volume of it fills the Universe in its length, breadth and height. Imagine all the bullae of its vast volume palpitant, tremulent, wonderful; breathing softly in and out in keeping with the rhythm of the pulse beat of the God-Man Life; the alternating reciprocation between the Infinite Esse and the Essence, the Generator and the Begotten, the Soul and the body of the Living God, in all the stream and the Substance of which its fine form is set.

     This primal aura is the first of the series of the Proceeding Divine, ultimating in successive degrees of atmosphere; it is the first ethereal bioplasm of the Universe; both its formative substance and the matrix in which and from which every succeeding derivative and more ultimated or coarser involution of the Divine Proceeding must be formed, and subsist.

     Moreover, as the first of the series it reigns universally in all the rest, as its order, and its law.

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     Therefore, it is in and from this aura that those myriad individual volumes of second aura must be formed and subsist; those volumes of second aura which are to embody the divine spiritual; and in the human series of the Proceeding Divine stand related to the primal and universal aura as the reflexing entia of the Divine Essence, the existence of God-Man, less universal than the Esse, stand related to the Infinite One, the Father; in and from whom they all are brought forth.

     Here a check occurs. The primal ether is the first bullular and elastic structure made. From the first creative confluence of the reflexing primitives of the Logos to form the compounded vortex rings, and the long spirally winding rouleaux of vortex rings of which the envelopes of its bullae are wound, there was but one as it Were instantaneous impulse until the form of the primal ether appeared.

     In its elastic form, the formative impulse reached its goal, and rested.

     The fact of the bullular form of the units of the primal ether,-its volume filling the Universe, and, as it were, the Universes, -and its equal elastic pressure everywhere, testifies to its perfect equilibrium attained.

     What is already in bullular form and in perfect equilibrium, tends to remain so. Not by itself will arise the spontaneous initiative of farther motion, farther change, such as would be called for if the first degree of the Proceeding Divine is to be, in any portion of its volume, carried to farther involution and ultimation.

     Yet there is one characteristic of the primal aura, one intrinsic conatus and potency, which would seem all to lend itself peculiarly as a ministering coadjutor and reciprocative instrumentality to such farther involution; and this conatus is a characteristic which belongs to all its foam, whether the separate bubbles, or masses of the foam volume. In fact, the volume possesses the conatus and potency because all its individual bubbles do.

     So when we recount the qualities and power involved in the primal ether,-considering the adaptations it affords to further the next stage of the creative work in hand,-let us recall that in addition to its quick reflexing conatus, liquidly conspiring with the impulses of the All-Father, and in addition to the perpetual palpitant construction and expansion of its bullae, and the elastic possibilities of its foam, it also possesses in the highest degree an intrinsic aptitude to flow into a refixing or vortical gyre upon the slightest touch setting it in motion; a vortical gyre running out and returning to the point of that touch as to a center, and circling around it in a great whirling ring.

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     This circling gyre will continue so long as the inciting touch or force continue to act; and the reflexing whirlpool will extend widely in the expanse of the ether, or be of narrow extense, in proportion as the stimulating disturbing force, the active touch and impetus communicated to it, is a great one or one of slight and circumscribed energy.

     In this characteristic property, then the ease and readiness with which a vortex circulation, a reflexing whirlpool flow, can be set up around any active central force introduced in its volume, it assimilates in character with the protoplasmic foam; above all perhaps with the protoplasmic foam of the ovum. It evidently needs but the introduction of an active and pulsatile center of a simplicity and fineness and livingness commensurate to its own superlative rank, to generate in its volume a vortex first high, invisible, most active circulation, by means of which the primal threads of descending organization are drawn forth into circulation. Even as the high, simple, animatory nucleus of the human seed ingrafted in the human ovum, by its perpetual pulsatory act elicits from the Vital liquid foam surrounding it a fibre, twisted and woven.

     But since we cannot look to the primal ether for the self-initiament and sustenance of their active centers in its volume, where then can we look for their initiament?

     Where but to God, the ever-Generator, -the God-Man, in whom the Universe is to be brought forth, and in whom the marvel of the primal ether is framed? It is God-Man, in whom alone the self fountain and initiament of motion and its sustainment and repetition reside.

     It is God only,-He who brings forth the divine celestial aura, the primal plane or degree of the Divine Proceeding which regards Him alone, to be the Universal Matrix and Ovum of creation,-who is able in that vital and universal ground to sow the innumerable star seed; to maintain each single nucleus in its everlasting animatory pulse; and Himself, acting directly, in both seed and ground,-to draw forth and spin and weave the thread of the Proceeding Divine, in innumerable individual systems of descending involution,-basic for the great ascending evolutions of organic form, yet to be in the purpose of God.

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     We have to trace now the means and history of local involutions of the Proceeding Divine to a second, a less universal degree. This may be called a second epoch or stage of the genesis of the Universal Substance and forces from the very Substance itself of the All-Father. It closes with the production in the vast serene of the primal ether, highest bioplasm of the Universe, of myriad distinct vortex-ring volumes of a second grade of ether-foam of grosser bubble; related to the more universal ether of the primal degree as the points of the Divine Essence are related to the Infinite Esse: Each individual vortex-volume of this second grade atmosphere or ether, when brought forth, will be found to closely surround an individual star or sun, about which it wheels in majectic whirl, the number of the volumes of the second degree of Divine Proceeding, the divine spiritual or second ether, and the number of stars or suns in the Universe, being equal.

     For the active nucleus within each star or sun, is the star-seed, its animatory center and soul, the pulsation of which acted, under the Providence of God, as a negative center in the local production of the volume of the second degree of the Proceeding Divine, the second atmosphere, which lies about that star-sun. From this it began and it is this that is always forceful within lit.

     In imagining to ourselves how God prepares and sows the myriad star-seed in this ground of the universal celestial womb, the law or order is the law of the preparation of the human seed. For it is the human seed and the human ovum alone, which parallel, for height and living rank of substance, the cosmic planes which are involved in those early cosmic epochs.

     Gathering together all that Swedenborg says or implies on the subject, we may frame the following general idea of the initiament, development and maintenance of a sun and solar system with the parts of which it consists.

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Whenever God wills a new star to rise, a new solar system to be developed,-at any age of ages, yesterday, to-day, tomorrow, in far ages to come:-He begins its initiament most simply and organically. The bullae of the primal ether-foam are all pressed back from a small nuclear space.

     The mere interstices between the bullae of that primal foam are all potential, rudimentary, seed of solar spaces. (PRINC., Part I., Ch. ix:II.) The bullae are pushed back to the circumference of the spheric nuclear space or "sun-soul" of solar spaces. "For in every part of the world is latent a world; in the microcosm lies the macrocosm: the whole vortex in its smallest part." (Ibid.)

     The bullae of the foam, thus separated and relegated to the circumferenee of the spheric nuclear space, form then as it were the analogue of an enveloping wall, or shell.

     This nuclear space, as a whole, is kept in a perpetual pulsatory or animating motion; and this motion is directly acted, by God Messiah as Man. For the Universe is full of Him and is brought forth, is extended in the living One, the Infinite All-Father, the Very Man.

     This high, free nuclear space widens swiftly: a half-million, a million, two, five million miles in-diameter, it may become, although that is but a point and of no moment in ratio to the extense of the universal volume. Yet the cosmic sun-seed, the star nuclei and active pulsing interspaces thus arising, are of dimensions commensurate to the system to be developed,-as the nucleus of the microcosm is the seed or human internal of man. And its rank is as high in the hierarchy of possible substance.

     For at the first inception of the pulsing solar space there exists within all the vast nuclear area alone and only the Infinite Esse and the vortex Primitives of the Divine Essence or Logos, from the living mutual reciprocation of which the pulsing of the area arises. Just as the pulsing of each of the bullae of the primal ether arises from the-living reciprocation between the Esse and the Essence, together with a certain volume of those first or single finites, first concretions of the Divine Essence, which are scarcely less perfect and living and wonderful than the simple of the Divine Essence, the Logos and Only Begotten.

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The inciting drive and activity of these, added to the pulsing heart-like action of the whole nucleus set up currents of a vast vortex whirl and circulation in the foam of the celestial ether, So prone to motion, so swift to reflex whether in leasts, or in volume, to the great animatory activities of the heart of God.

     Concerning this fact, Swedenborg notes several times, that the active space of solar centers primarily contains of all the finites only the first or simple finites,-since they are the sole and immediate product of the Essence.

     In the great matrix of the divine universal atmospheres, this initiament of a star, this sun nucleus and first seed, performs three offices par eminence, the office of a heart; of a lung; and of the pulsatile vacuole of a secreting gland.

     In the human-initiament or seed,-where the active nuclear space is isolated, freed, left to itself-it has yet to be transferred to the vital ground of the ovum, where it finds, as it were, its hioplasmic ethereal-foam, with which it is to react.

     But when God prepares, isolates and frees such a perfect active nuclear space,-open to Him, pulsing from Him,-it is already in the universal ether, divine celestial matrix of all forms of the Universe, all the foam-bullae of which He has also prepared, pulsing to Him, even as the star center does; and in its qualities, conatus, powers, prepared to act as the co-operant of creative production.

     The first point to note after the initiament of a star, is the vortex set up, and the compression of grosser and more ultimate vortex rings or finites form the foam volume of the surrounding primal ether.

     Not merely does the action of the new active solar space, or star internal, stimulate a great whirlpool gyre in the surrounding ether. The rapid enlargement of that solar nucleus, from its minute beginning to its immense concluding dimension, introduces something cataclysmic into the result; something that could never be without this abrupt increase.

     Consider! If the active nucleus enlarged in such abrupt immense way, scarcely will the first impulse to gyre and reflex about that active center begin to take effect in the surrounding ether, than another wave, of swifter motion and longer reach, will, as it were, overtake it.

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The whirling motion set up in the surrounding volume of the primal ether, the great rotating outgoing current of it, wells out from that expanding center in a heap, in a crowd, faster than the vortex can serenely establish it.

     After a little, something else begins to shape near that active center.

     The waves of the primal ether, as they are driven out from the enlarging active center, strive and strive in farther and farther outreach to perfect their reflexing gyre, yet because of the increased intensity of the swiftly enlarging center they are, as it were, overtaken and crowded upon by the swifter waves sent out by that center.

     And as the immense centrifugal drive of these circling currents in the primal ether wells faster and faster, the fine foam bullae of the slower, more nearly rounded current, caught and struck upon by the liquid whirling hammer of the new and greater currents, become so compressed, so reduced in their lowest dimensions, that the spiral lines of second finites constituting their enveloping walls begin to "buckle in" and run in on their own active centers, as the direction of least resistance, and wind all up in a little spiral knot in that center. Much as one might imagine in a figure in a "German," where all the dancers at first formed a large open ring, circling around and around; and then suddenly the line of dancers should bend inwards toward the center of the circle, and there by clever continuous involutions wind up into a compact group.

     When the bullae of the primal ether foam are so compressed,-the lines of finites revolving around their envelopes, and constituting those envelopes, beginning to bend inward and wind up spirally,-these results form the envelope of each bullae thus compressed, a new entity, a close corpuscle, or vortex form. When inspected it presents certain characteristics of the prior vortex-entities. Its substance, its component finites, preserve in their new situation a continual circulo-spiral circulation. And the new little corpuscle, by virtue of this interior circulation, possesses the power of moving as it were spontaneously in an orbit of its own. It is, however, of a density and sluggishness and size hitherto unknown in the Universe; its orbit is relatively very large; and its motion in that orbit is relatively slow.

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These new entities are in Swedenborg's system called THIRD FINITES.

     Therefore, when a pulsatile star-nucleus or seed is first sown in the primal aura, and its action upon the primal aura sets up a great vortex current and circulation in that aura, the vortex thus produced is at first solely in the form of a current in that aura. But before long,-because of the centrifugal force of the faster current's continually outwelling from the center and driving against the delicate foam of the surrounding more slowly flowing ether-a sort of compression and condensation of the primal ether-foam begins to develop all about the active nuclear space.

     As that compressive force continues and becomes more resistless,-(until the resolving lines of the envelopes of the primal ether-bullae are driven inward and wind themselves up into the inextricable circulo-spiral knots of the third finites),-the density grows greater and greater and the entire nuclear active space becomes surrounded by a sort of inchoate layer or shell compacted of all these finites.

     It is of these third finites about the sun center that the bullae of the second ether, (the second atmosphere of the Divine Proceeding), are formed. We have noted that these finites, like the first proceeding finites, have the power of moving in circulospiral orbits, albeit orbits of greater breadth, and with velocity of motion much diminished.

     They have also, in emulation of the powers of the more primal finites, the power of associating together in long rouleaux winding around and around.

     Because of these derivative and real although lessened powers, it happens that whenever and as soon as there occurs any diminution of the surrounding pressures upon them, they tend to actuate themselves in this fashion; and of them, as they slowly move and flow in large circulo-spiral orbits after their nature and power, the Divine hand fashions the envelopes of large bulla, much larger than those of the celestial ether.

     Within the bullae of the second ether, interiorly viewed, it is second finites, finites of the grade of production which affords the envelopes of the first or celestial aura, that shape and arrange themselves as their active centers.

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These larger bullae or bubbles are caught up by the finer, swifter flow of the vortex-currents of the primal ether, and in great numbers and volumes are borne abroad along the lines of that primal vortex-flow, until at last the great volume of this second ether, this coarser atmospheric foam and bioplasm, lies produced to its full as a vast vortex ring in the sky-spaces whirling about the active sun-center, pulsing still within its thinner, but still dense and definite enveloping shell of the compressed finites.

     And everywhere moreover, in this large vortex-mass and volume of second ether, of coarser bubble, the primal ether liquidly interpenetrates, livingly flows. For although the foam of the second ether has both in bubble and in volume a conatus and power to a vortex motion,-emulous of the vortex flow of the primal ether, yet not by its own intrinsic effort thereto-would the second ether be able long to continue even that flow to which it has intrinsic desire.

     But by the interpenetration of the primal ether-vortex between and among the more sluggish foam, it is carried still, and forever, along the lines of its desire.*
     * We are coming within hailing distance of the things we think we know about in this vortex field of second ether about suns, and the shell of third finites immediately surrounding their active pulsing nuclear spaces. The second ether is the active or "father" factor in magnetic phenomena, and third finites are-the grade of vortex rings which figure in the constitution of the more active members of the metallic family.

     Thus within the vortex the two ethers, the two grades of foam, the finer and the coarser, co-exist; even as in derived images in the foam-field of protoplasm two grades of physiologic foams are produced and co-exist.

     In the vortex where the two ethers, the first and the second, coexist, the first and finer is the divine celestial, the second and coarser the divine spiritual; their uses and their powers are of different order; the offices and powers of the finer foam-ether being of more universal, living, active, sentient-human grade. Yet, together, in the one field they act their several powers freely, both individually and in conjunction, even as in the foams of two grades in the protoplasm,-the microcosmic field-the finer grade has all the living powers of sense and motion in finer and more central degree.

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The offices of the two are related as the offices of nervous tissue and of muscular tissue, both co-existing in one field, and in that field acting both distinctly and conjointly.

     In the genetic relative of the primal ether to the volumes of secondary ether we have an image and similitude of the relation of the Divine Esse to the Divine Essence; as of more Universal significance, and moreover the cause of the Essence.

     In the relation, moreover, of the supreme and more universal activity of the vortex-flow of primal ether which interpenetrates, sustains, and bears along those vortices of secondary ether of which it is parent, we have the similitude of the relation of the Divine Esse to the primitives of the Divine Essence, as entering into it as an adjunct, cohering with, determining, forming and at the same time exalting it. (T. C. R. 36)

     Even such is the relation of the primal ether-flow to and in the volumes of second ether begotten in its bosom. And even according to this image can we perceive the serene expanse of the primal ether, the sweep of whose universal flow is that of the whole created Universe, bearing all the whirlpools of the greatest solar systems as lightly as the broad stream bears a few fallen leaves and carries them whithersoever God wills.

     This is the outline, in general idea, of the operation from God-Man, and the place and service of a star-center in locally carrying the involution of the Proceeding Divine, from the universal and celestial degree to the second or spiritual degree, i. e., in the local production of a volume of second aura, in and from the volume of the first aura. And this volume of second aura is destined to act as the immediate containant plane and basis of general society of the Spiritual Heaven or Kingdom.

     (To be continued.)
Title Unspecified 1911

Title Unspecified              1911

     "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and let every man set free his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance; He will render unto her a recompense. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country; for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies." (Jer. 51:6, 9.)

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LOVE OF TRUTH IN KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS 1911

LOVE OF TRUTH IN KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1911

     "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have Kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love." John xv. 10.

     The commandments of the Lord are the truths of His Word; not only those truths that were given in the form of the ten words to Moses on Mount Sinai, but every truth of the Word is a commandment given by the Lord to be kept by men; and when the commandments,-every truth of the Word that is seen and understood-are kept, are observed and done, then it is that we are conjoined to the Lord by His love and in His love; and we are told that it was in this manner that the Human of the Lord was united to the Divine in Him, when He was in the world; He kept His Father's commandments; all the truths of the Word were observed and done by Him; He fulfilled all things of the law; the Divine Wisdom and the Divine Love were thus made one in Him, in the Human which He assumed when He came into the world. "If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love."

     The subject of the text in respect to man is the marriage of good and truth in him as an image of God, as an image of God in His Human. For as the Lord glorified His human, so He regenerates man; the latter is a finite image of the former; truth is conjoined to good iii finite man, even as the Divine Truth was united to the Divine Good in the Human of the Lord when He was in the world; and He saith unto us, Even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love, so shall ye forever abide in My love, if ye do all things that I shall command you to do, every truth of the Word that ye see and understand.

     We are told that whenever good becomes active in the mind and heart, that is, when love becomes active-love to God and love to the neighbor-that good, or that love, seeks truth, even as a hungry man seeks food to eat, or a thirsty man water to drink.

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But there is something to be done before good or love can became active in seeking the spiritual truth of the Word, and this Something is to keep the commandments in their most external or literal form, that is, in resisting and shunning the evils forbidden in the commandments because those evils are sins against God: When this is done, and not before, good becomes active, and there is created a spiritual thirst and hunger for the truths of the Word; and it is thus that the Books of Divine Revelation, the Books which reveal the Word in its natural and also in its spiritual form-the reading of these Books, becomes ever a spiritual feast to the man of the Church, the man in whom love has become active by shunning the evils as sins, which are forbidden in the commandments of the Decalogue.

     The teaching is, as given in the Heavenly Doctrines, that so far as a man shuns evils as sins, so far he loves truths-not merely when he shuns evils as sins, but so far as he shuns them, in the proportion, in the degree that he shuns them. Thus the activity of love, seeking truth, becomes an ever increasing quantity, ever growing and increasing so far as a man shuns evils as sins against God.

     In order to understand this subject clearly, let us endeavor to enter into it more fully, that we may see the reasons for the spiritual cause and effect indicated in the text, and taught throughout the Heavenly Doctrines, why it is, and how it is that so far as any one shuns evils as sins he loves truths, or why it is, and how it is that keeping the commandments causes him to abide more and more in the Lord's love, and in abiding in the activity of that love he will seek more and more the spiritual things of His kingdom.

     We are taught that there are two universals that proceed from the Lord, which are the Divine Good and the Divine Truth, or the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. These two appear in the spiritual world as heat and light from the spiritual sun, which also appears in that world. This spiritual sun is in its essence the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom united as one. Corresponding to those two universals of the spiritual world from the spiritual sun, are the two universals of the natural world from the natural sun-natural heat and light.

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     The two universals of the spiritual world, Divine Good and Divine Truth, are one in the Lord and proceed as one from Him; but they are not received as one by angels and men; for there are those in the spiritual world as well as in the natural world, who receive more of the Divine Good than of the Divine Truth, and there are those who receive more of the Divine Truth than of the Divine Good. It is from this cause that the Heavens are distinguished into two kingdoms, called in the Writings the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. The angels who receive more of the Divine Truth, and men who are similar to them on earth, constitute the spiritual kingdom.

     It is said that those who are of the spiritual kingdom receive more of truth than of good, because the truth with them is as it were in advance of the good; that is to say, truth, when it is received by them, is not immediately applied to life, because its application is not at once clearly seen, not at once clearly understood; for no truth is seen in its own bright light until its use or application to life is seen. Since the spiritual do not at once see the use or good of the truth, and at once will and do that good, it is said of them that they have more of truth than of good. The habit of quick perception, or instantaneous decision, is lacking, and if it is not acquired will continue afterward even in Heaven. These are they of whom the spiritual kingdom is formed.

     Of those in the celestial kingdom it is said that they have more of good than of truth, because the good with them is in advance of the truth. The truth, when it is received by them, is immediately applied to life, because its application to life is at once seen and perceived. But there is with them a deficiency of truth. There is a delay in its acquisition and reception, a delay having its origin outside of them. There is a hunger and thirst for it, a desire for instruction, but there is a delay in its transmission to them; or as we say in natural language in respect to natural things, the demand is greater than the supply, while with the spiritual the supply is greater than the demand. This is the state of those who are of the Lord's celestial kingdom while they are in the world. They are in ignorance of truth, and yet desire it.

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The truth which they desire is indeed given to them after death, but the habit and condition formed in their natural while in the life of the body, must necessarily continue with them after death-something of delay in the transmission to them of the truth which they desire. The delay is not in them but outside of them; that is, the Lord, in the merciful reasons of His Providence, Provides that the desire with them is greater or in advance of the truth which is actually provided for them. They are like children that are always hungry, but yet there is some delay in the feeding that their health may be preserved.

     But there is still another class who have neither more of good than of truth, nor more of truth than of good, with whom there is an even supply, and an even balance of good and of truth. Those who are in this state are angels of the inmost heaven.

     It is, therefore, necessary for us to realize that the celestial kingdom is of wider extent, so to speak, than the celestial or inmost heaven. The celestial kingdom includes a part even of the natural heaven, and a large part of the good who are still in the natural world. But not all of them are to be in the inmost heaven-but few of them in fact. To this heaven not many go from our earth at this day. In the even balance, or even union of good and truth, their wisdom is transcendent. They are so wise that it is difficult for us to conceive, or in any sense measure the extent of their wisdom. They are the great men, the real giants of the human race,-of whom it is said in the Word, that one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. (Deut. 32:30.) They are the supreme images of God among created beings, the most humble and the most exalted of mankind.

     Still it must not be forgotten that the angels of all the heavens are in intelligence and wisdom from good united to truth and according to it; that they are intelligent and wise so far as good is united to truth in them. The state of every angel is, to some extent, like that of the angels of the inmost heaven, or otherwise he could not be an angel or be in heaven at all; but this is to be understood with the modifications of which we have spoken. Truth not yet united to good in an angel, or in a regenerating man of the Lord's spiritual kingdom, is still potentially united, for it is on the way to union; and good not yet united to truth in an angel of the Lord's celestial kingdom, or in a regenerating man of that kingdom, is still potentially united to truth, for it is seeking, hungering, thirsting for it, and is thus on the way to union.

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Therefore, let us ever remember that it is good and truth conjoined that makes heaven, whether it be the heaven of the spiritual world, or the heaven of the natural world, which is the Church on earth.

     Since good and truth, as we have said, are one in the Lord and proceed as one from Him, it follows, therefore, that there is implanted in good a desire for truth, and in truth a desire for good; and wherever they are as it were separated, still the desire for conjunction is always present; or, to place the matter in more concrete light, whoever is in good desires truth, and there is nothing he so much desires as the truth, the spiritual truth of the Word; and whoever is in truth desires good, and there is nothing he so much desires as the spiritual good of the Word, or the spiritual good of heaven and the Church, which spiritual good is love to the Lord and charity to the neighbor; that is, there is nothing he so much desires as the spiritual intelligence and wisdom such as the angels in heaven have. The opposite of this is also true he who is in evil is ever seeking the falsity of that evil, and he who is in falsity is ever seeking the evil to which that falsity leads. The conjunction of good and truth is what is called the heavenly marriage, from which marriage in heaven descends the marriage of love truly conjugial on earth; and the conjunction of the evil and the false is called the infernal marriage, from which marriage in hell ascends the love of adultery and all that is destructive of the marriage bond with men in the world.

     When, therefore, the Lord said, "If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love," He means that all those who keep the commandments, and: who begin by keeping them in their literal form, will have opened in them the way to every good of heaven, because the fountain of love will be opened in them, and so far as this is opened, they will be continually inspired with a spiritual love of truth, which will lead them to every good it is possible for them to receive, especially to the good of love truly conjugial, the transcendent happiness of a union with one of the other sex in heaven forever.

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     The one thing that begins the work, and the one thing that carries it to a successful conclusion, without which there is no regeneration, no Church, no spiritual life, no heaven and no heavenly happiness, is keeping the commandments; and keeping the Commandments is resistence to the evils that are forbidden in the commandments-resistence and desistence, shunning and avoiding, putting them away, removing them from their place of activity in the mind and heart-keeping the commandment, not only in the outward conduct, but in the thought and will itself.

     Many definitions have been given of what it is that constitutes a gentleman, but in the light of this doctrine of regeneration by keeping the commandments of the Decalogue, and keeping them both without and within, the essential of all the definitions would be, that he is a true gentleman who keeps the commandments, not only before the eyes of men, but keeps them also when he is with himself alone, keeps them in his understanding and will, in his thought and affection, in every purpose of his heart.

     It is not difficult to be a gentleman in the outward form, but to be a true gentleman, who has in his heart no will of evil to the neighbor, no will, desire or purpose to injure the neighbor in any manner, requires a constant struggle and effort through life against the inherited tendencies to evil in the will and the evils acquired and added to them in early life. It is most true that regeneration consists in a resistance through life to the hereditary evils that have been ultimated and thus acquired to oneself, made one's own in childhood and youth. Even if a man ultimates no evil after this period, begins as soon as adult age is reached the active work of keeping the commandments not only in the appearance before men, but in his mind and heart before God and the angels of heaven,-even if he begins thus early the active work of regeneration, there is enough to occupy him for the rest of his natural life. Happy would it be for any man if he could realize this fact in childhood and youth that the evil implanted then will remain with him to plague him through life, and is only removed through the most bitter experience of spiritual temptation.

     Still as soon as he begins the combat, there begins with him at the same time the growth of a spiritual love of truth, and this love or desire will continue to grow according to the combat, according to the resistance to his inherited and acquired evils, fulfilling the teaching that so far any one shuns evils as sins, so far he loves truth and so far he is in good from the Lord.

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     The converse of this proposition is also a momentous fact in man's spirit or in his spiritual life, that so far as he does not shun evils as sins, he does not love truth, because he is not in good. For the good which is spiritual good out of heaven from the Lord, the good which is saving good, the good which makes a man a true gentleman or an angel, is only acquired by combat or resistance, and without the acquisition and possession of this spiritual or saving good there is in him no love of truth, no love of the truth which is the instrument of salvation. It is only through the spiritual process indicated in the text that the way of salvation is opened to men. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love."

     It is indeed possible that a man who does not shun evils as sins may love truths, but he does not love them because they are truths, he does not love them for their use, he does not love them for their spiritual origin in God and His Word, he does not love them because salvation and eternal life are in them, because heaven is in them; but he loves them because they may serve him-not that he may Serve them-but because they may serve him, because they may bring him fame in the world, because by them he can build up a reputation among men, because they may contribute to his own honor and glory, because they may be made the means of acquiring this world's wealth, wherefore if the truth does not serve him, or ceases to serve his selfish and worldly purposes, he does not love it, places no further value upon it, and perhaps rejects and despises it. In such a position and in such a danger is a man, a minister of any denomination, who, uses and teaches truths drawn from the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and yet who does not mention their origin or acknowledge their source. Such a man is proclaiming himself and not the Lord in His Second Coming, and is guilty of spiritual robbery. This is indeed what is meant by theft and robbery in the spiritual sense, namely, to ascribe to oneself what belongs to the Lord alone, to present and proclaim as one's own the truth of revelation for the sake of honor, power or glory in the world.

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No man will follow or wish to follow such a course of action who keeps in his heart the commandments of God, who shuns not only the evil act, but the lust of the wilt as sin against God; for when he does this, the Lord flows into his will with good, in which case it will be impossible for him to willingly and knowingly, from purpose and deliberation, to cherish a thought or do an act that is not honest and sincere before God and the angels of heaven.

     The good by which the Lord enters his will, when the lusts of evil are shunned as sins, will then make the center of his life, and the inmost ground of all his activities, internal and external; and from good in his will, from the love of good in his will, there will be the love of truth in his understanding, the love of truth because it is truth. From the love of truth in his understanding there will be in him the perception of truth, there will be the thought of truth; there will be nothing he so loves to think about as the truth, the truth of revelation, the truth, of the Word; the truth will be to him like the food of his life, for it will indeed be his spiritual meat and drink. In such a thought of truth from a perception of it will be the genuine acknowledgment of truth, and this acknowledgment is what is called faith; that is, he will be in a state of spiritual intelligence; for this is what faith is, not a blind thing, an obscure thing in the mind, but it is spiritual intelligence, a spiritual understanding of the Word. This is one of the new things now given us in the Lord's merciful Providence, now given us to see, that faith is not a thing of darkness but a thing of light, not a thing of shadow, not a thing of night, but a thing of bright and glorious day, in which the mind sees truth as the eye sees objects when the sun is shining; for the mind is then in the light of the sun of heaven, the light which He who is Himself the light of life gives to all men who keep His commandments, and thus abide in His love.

     Charity and faith, good and truth, Proceeding as one from the Lord, will thus become one in man, and will no longer be two separate things with him. For it is eternally true that good is not good unless it be conjoined to truth, nor is charity charity unless it be conjoined to faith; nor is the truth in man, unless it proceed from good in the will, nor is faith faith unless it proceed from charity, nor is there any spiritual intelligence unless there be in the will a genuine love of truth, from which a man has a perception of the things of the Word.

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     Since, therefore, good and truth proceed as one from the Lord, and although they first appear to man as two separate things, they must become united in him; nor does one exist until the other exists in him. He may appear to be in truth before he is in good, he may appear to have faith before he has charity, he may appear to be in spiritual intelligence before he is in spiritual good, but his truth is not truth, his faith is not faith, nor is his intelligence true spiritual intelligence until there is in him a love of truth for its own sake. The truth is not his before, his faith is not faith before, nor is his intelligence a spiritual quantity in him before; it is merely thought from the light of the world which appears like faith or intelligence, but it is only a sham and fantastic image of it, an idol made of wood or stone in which there is no real life.

     Keeping the commandments is the first condition, the first step to truth, to faith, to spiritual intelligence. When the commandments are kept because they are from God and lead to God,-in speech, in action, in thought and in will; when the evils forbidden in the commandments are removed from the speech, from the act, from the thought and from the will, then good enters from the Lord, and this good is kindled as a fire in the mind, and from this fire a light shines in the understanding, and this light is then man's truth, this light is his faith, this light is his spiritual intelligence; for in this light he sees God, as the pure in heart are said to see Him. There is then, or when this takes place, nothing a man so much desires as the truth, and desiring it he continually seeks it, continually seeks the Lord in His. Word, the fountain and source of all truth. So far, therefore, as a man is in good, from keeping the commandments, he loves truths, and so far he loves the Lord who is the truth itself. For "if ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love."

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     Therefore, the proposition stands as an eternal truth of God's eternal Word, that so far as any one shuns evils because they are sins against God, that is, so far as any man keeps the commandments in his heart and in his life, he will love and desire the spiritual truths of the Word, and the more he so shuns the evils mentioned in the commandments as sins against the God of the Word, so much the more will he love and desire, seek for and acquire, the truth of revelation, and so far will good be conjoined to truth in him, and from a child of the world he will become a child of God, conjoined with Him forever. Amen.
CORRELATION OF NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL TRUTH 1911

CORRELATION OF NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL TRUTH       Rev. W. B. CALDWELL       1911

     THE VALUE OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORDS, AND THEIR RELATION TO THE WRITINGS.

     (A letter addressed to the Denver Local Assembly of April, 1911.)

     We have been led to see in recent years that the philosophical works of Swedenborg are of greater use and importance to the New Church than formerly was supposed; that they are not alone of value in opening the interiors of nature and disclosing wonders of which modern science does not dream, but that they furnish a key to the understanding of many statements of the Writings, a key which we can obtain from no other source. More than this, we have been brought to see that all the teachings of the Writings on the subject of Creation are more fully understood when we have in our minds the science and philosophy which Swedenborg had in his mind when he received and wrote the Divinely revealed truths of the Writings. At the outset we must acknowledge that he had guidance from above in formulating and writing that philosophy, according to his own later testimony.

     For among other declarations, we read in the SPIRITUAL DIARY, 2951, "Before my mind was opened so that I could speak with spirits . . . there were not only dreams for several years, which informed me concerning those things which were being written, but there were also changes of state while I was writing, and a certain extraordinary light in the things which were being written.

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Afterwards, also, there were visions with closed eyes; light was miraculously given; and spirits sensibly inflowed; fiery lights were seen there was speech in the early morning; besides many other things." Again he states, in the ADVERSARIA, (Vol. IV. 7011), that "By a flame is represented confirmation, which, of the Divine mercy of God Messiah, has often appeared to me, so that for some months scarcely a day passed, while I was writing a certain little work, in which a flame did not appear as vividly as a flame on the hearth; which at that time was a sign of approbation; and this was before that time when spirits began to speak with me viva voce." No doubt some such sign appeared to him when writing the CORPUSCULAR PHILOSOPHY IN BRIEF, at the close of which he wrote, "These things are true because I have the sign."

     The fact is that the philosophical truth contained in Swedenborg's earlier works is of such a character than no man could have attained unto it by means of science alone, or even by reason unillumined by light from above. This is why no philosopher before him compiled a system of philosophy true and consistent throughout. For he had the help not only of dreams, spirits, and miraculous light, but was led by the Lord to evolve a true philosophy by means of science and reason. For Swedenborg again declares in the ADVERSARIA, "Since it is so dangerous to scrutinize and explore spiritual and celestial things by means of the natural sciences, it has been given me of the Divine mercy of God Messiah that I should dare to do so, not from my own daring, but from the inspiration of God Messiah."

     This, of course, does not mean that the philosophical works are "Divinely inspired" in the sense that the Word is, in the sense that the Writings are. We need not go beyond the statement that he was inspired by the Lord to do that work, and also was guided in it by the various means mentioned above. And this naturally brings up the question of the authority of the philosophical works. For myself I think we can safely leave it to the future to define their exact status. We are coming to regard them as of a certain authority not accorded the works of other men, and yet as not of the same authority as Divine Revelation.

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The more we study them the more we find that they are essentially in agreement with the Writings. But for the present we will do well to Submit them always to the final test of Revelation. Swedenborg himself has indicated what our attitude should be when he states in the ADVERSARIA, p. 7, Speaking of his WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD, that it had been written under the "guidance of the understanding or according to the thread of reason, and since no trust is to be placed in human intelligence unless it be inspired by God, it is to the interest of truth that we compare what has been set forth in that work with what is revealed in the Sacred page, with the History of Creation revealed by God to Moses; and that we examine how far they agree; for whatever does not absolutely agree with things revealed must be pronounced as wholly false, or as the raving of our rational mind." He adds, however, that "when I had made a diligent comparison I was amazed at the agreement." This, too, expresses our own experience. We are "amazed at the agreement" of the philosophical works with the Writings. But after all, why should we be concerned about the mere authority of that which should be a matter of rational faith, and not of persuasive faith?

     Swedenborg's own testimony quoted above, as to the aid he had in writing the philosophical works, when considered together with the intrinsic channels of the works themselves, is at least an indication to us that they are in a peculiar sense for the use of the New Church,-companion works to the Writings, and the Divinely provided means of a fuller comprehension of spiritual and celestial truths. Those who have studied this matter are fully convinced that Swedenborg's philosophy is to serve its chief use in enlarging and enlightening the understanding of the Writings with Newchurchmen, and that this is far more important than the use it may be to the learned of the outside world. And we may see that this use is to be realized in the future New Church chiefly through the education of the youth of the Church. The philosophical truth which was the means of Swedenborg's preparation to receive revealed truth is preserved in his books for our use, to the end that by the same truth the minds of the young may be prepared to comprehend the spiritual truth of the Writings.

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     Now this does not mean that the Writings cannot be understood without the philosophical works, but it does mean that they cannot be so fully understood. For spiritual and celestial truths are more fully comprehended, more clearly seen, and become more firmly fixed in the mind, when a natural embodiment is added to them, according to the teaching that "celestial and spiritual truths ought to be enrooted in natural truths to the end that order may be perfect, which is the case with the angels." (DIARY, 1531.)

     Let us take an example to show how the Writings are more fully understood when the teachings of the philosophical works are known. We read in DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, 174, that "The spiritual atmospheres are discrete substances, or least forms, originating from the sun; and as they singly receive the sun, the fire of the sun thus divided into so many substances or forms, and as it were enveloped by them, and tempered by these envelopments becomes heat; . . . similarly the light of the sun. The natural atmospheres are similar to the spiritual atmospheres in this respect, that they also are discrete substances and least forms originating from the sun of the natural world; which also receive the sun, and store up its fire in themselves, and temper it, and carry it down as heat to the earth; . . . similarly the light."

     It would be a mistake to say that Newchurchmen have not understood the wonderful truth here taught as to the origin and composition of the atmospheres of both worlds. But I submit that we had only a general understanding of what is meant by those "discrete substances and least forms," and their "originating from the sun," until we obtained from the PRINCIPIA a clear and distant picture of their form and structure and operation. It was like seeing a magnificent palace of which we had read only a description. It is true that the form and beauty of the palace is of secondary importance to the life of the king and his court within it. And so our knowledge of the constitution of the atmospheres is but a basis and containant for what we are taught throughout the Writings about the influx and operation of the Divine Love and Wisdom through the atmospheres to angels and men, and all the marvels imparted thereby.

     As one more example let us consider what is stated in DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, 362, "That the will and the understanding, which are receptacles of love and wisdom, are in the brains, in the whole and in every part of them, and thence in the body, in the whole and in every part of it."

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And also what is stated further on, (373), that "the will and the understanding are organic forms, or forms organized from the most pure substances," and that in their beginnings they are situated in the little glands of the cortical substance of the brain, and thence through the fibres in the body, although not apparent before the eye, even with the aid of the microscope.

     We accept these statements with implicit faith that they are true because given to us in Divine Revelation, and we may confirm our belief by common experience, because we perceive that our thoughts are in the brain, and that our acts proceed thence. But with what added clearness and grasp we comprehend such general teachings of Revelation as these, if we enter into some study of the brain, and into the psychology taught in the philosophical works.

     We could multiply these examples indefinitely, for it is becoming increasingly clear to us that all the teachings of the Writings concerning creation, concerning man and the universe,-the microcosm and the macrocosm,-are more fully comprehended when correlated with the prior philosophy and science; that the philosophical works truly describe the interior organic structure of the universe, of the suns, atmospheres and earths, and of the kingdoms of nature; of the soul, mind, and body of man; of the organic nature of influx, order, degrees, correspondence; and further that Swedenborg had this structural form in his mind as a basis when later he received and wrote the revelation of spiritual and celestial truth from the Lord.

     This is why it is proper to call the truth of the philosophical works natural truth; because truth concerning organic form and structure is in the realm of natural truth, while spiritual and celestial truth treat rather of the life of the organic form, of the qualities and predicates of that life. Thus it is the life of love and wisdom from the Lord that is brought to the forms of human minds through the forms of the spiritual atmospheres. The philosophical works treat more directly of the forms; the Writings treat more especially of the life.

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Spiritual truth in general is truth concerning the life of the human mind, the life of heaven and the Church, the life that is brought to us in the internal sense of the Word. Celestial truth in general is truth concerning the Creator in creation, concerning the Divine Human of the Lord, and concerning all the operations of the Divine Providence for the preservation, redemption, and salvation of the human race. And this truth constitutes the inmost sense of the Word.

     We would not like to be understood as declaring that the philosophical works treat of mere forms,-inanimate forms,-for we well know that such is not the case. And also when we say that they embody a system of natural truth we know that they do contain celestial and spiritual truth, as in the wonderful treatment of the subject of the Infinite. The acknowledgment of God, of the Divine Sun of Wisdom, of a heaven of angels, and of the sanctity of Sacred Scripture, is everywhere apparent in Swedenborg's philosophy.

     We recall the well known passage in the work on INFLUX n. 20, where Swedenborg says, "I once was asked, How, from being a philosopher, I became a theologian, and I replied, In the same way that fishermen were made disciples and apostles by the Lord; and that also from early youth I had been a spiritual fisherman. On this my questioner asked, What is a spiritual fisherman? I replied, A fisherman in the Word signifies a man who investigates and teaches natural truths, and afterwards spiritual truths in a rational manner."

     Swedenborg's earlier works may be said to embody a philosophy of creation such as may be comprehended by the natural rational, but in his case the natural rational illumined by "extraordinary light" from the spiritual world, and guided by a special Providence of the Lord. The truth of the Writings properly is truth revealed by the Lord to the plane of the spiritual rational. But this truth throughout the Writings is illustrated and corroborated by natural truth, not only from the Letter of the Word, but also from the domain of science and philosophy. And these illustrations and confirmations of spiritual truth in the Writings may be expanded indefinitely by the study of the philosophical works and all natural science.

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     In thus according the philosophical works such an exalted use in the Church, we are not derogating from the theological writings, which forever stand as Divine Revelation and the Word of God out of heaven, given only by actual intromission into the spiritual world and immediate inspiration from the Lord,-sufficient in themselves for the opening of the internal sense of the Word, for the spiritual enlightenment and salvation of man, and the establishment of the New Church; but requiring for their deeper understanding a basis in our minds of philosophy and science, such as is nowhere provided for us as it is in Swedenborg's philosophical works. In acknowledging that the former works were given for this purpose we are but admitting that even in the realm of science and natural truth the human mind errs unless guided by the Light of lights.

     If, then, this philosophy is-of such signal value to the thought of the New Church, it must also be of value to the life of the Church. For with regenerating men that which perfects the memory and the intellect likewise reaches the affection and touches the life,-enlarging, enriching, and exalting the interiors, bringing a new perception of things, and a new sympathy and touch with the great universe of which we are minimal parts,-bringing with it a more intimate communion with the Creator in our love and worship of Him. All enlightenment has for its end that we may with a deeper love and faith worship God and serve Him in His kingdom of uses.
Title Unspecified 1911

Title Unspecified              1911

     "'And I heard another voice from Heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest ye become partakers of her sins and receive of her plagues.' This signifies that those who are in truths and in the goods of life should guard themselves against those who are of that Church and that they should leave them, and have no communication with them, lest they come into their evils of self-love and love of the world, and into their falsities and evil, and thus perish, because intercourse with them is perilous." (A. E. 1105-1109.)

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JOHN HARGROVE, THE PATRIARCH OF THE NEW CHURCH IN AMERICA 1911

JOHN HARGROVE, THE PATRIARCH OF THE NEW CHURCH IN AMERICA       KARL R. ALDEN       1911

     A SKETCH

     Everyone who comes to maturity in the New Church, even one who is born of New Church parents and raised in New Church schools, will come to a point some time in his life when doubts will arise,-doubts about God and Revelation. Is there a God? And, if so, are the Word and the Writings His Divine Voice? No one can entirely escape the temptation of such doubts. They come at the very threshold of rational life and our whole future depends upon how we decide the issue. We must face them openly and conquer.

     In the Writings we find the statement:-"That they who are in the affection of truth for the sake of truth, when they come to years of maturity and are capable of exercising their own understanding, do not implicitly abide in the doctrine of their respective churches, but examine from the Word whether they be true or not." (WHITE HORSE.) One must first be in the affection of truth; then, when doubts come to him, he must attempt to solve them from an affirmative attitude.

     When such temptations arise, and confusion and upheaval at first seem to becloud the mind, the young Newchurchman finds aid from many unexpected sources and among these is the example of the early heroes of the Church-not a worship of them, but an affectionate study of their lives as an incentive to fight as bravely as they the battles without which no one can enter the gates of the New Jerusalem. Among these heroes we find no finer examples than the courageous founders of the New Church in this world as an external organization, When reading of the fundamental truths that made them give up the falsities of the Old Church for the truths of the New, we find that these same truths, if applied to our own life, will cause the old life to die in us also, and we may then begin the work of regeneration.

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     With this idea in view, let us, as young American Newchurchmen, read and profit by the life of John Hargrove, the American pioneer-for many years the only minister in this country who preached the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem publicly, the original bishop, from whose ordinations has sprung the whole priesthood in this country,-a man to whom we owe appreciation for his work and honor for his fearless courage.

     Early in the summer of 1750 John Hargrove was born in a quaint, out-of-the-way little town called "Six-Mile-Bridge" in the County of Clare, Ireland, just at the time when the Heavenly Doctrine was, for the first time, being announced in the English language by the publication of the second volume of the ARCANA in London.

     As a boy, John Hargrove was well built, strong and athletic, at the same time possessing an alert and eager mind. In his childhood he was placed in a curious balance between the two great divisions of the Old Church. His mother was a staunch Roman Catholic, while his father was equally zealous in the cause of the Church of England. Both of his parents were conscientious and esteemed by their friends, as also by their son, John. Such a combination of environment might have produced atheism in a man of weaker character than John Hargrove, but with him the conflict only served to sharpen his intellect and, finally, caused him to choose between the two. This he did upon arriving at years of rationality, when he could exercise his own judgment.
During this period of his life he had been placed at school and had received a good English education.

     When but a youth of seventeen he sustained the loss of his father. It was a heavy blow to him, making a deep impression on his mind,-in fact, he did not seem to be able to shake himself free from its depressing effects. All the familiar objects around him reminded him continually of his father. After two years of such misery he determined to leave the old world behind him and forget his sorrow in a new world.

     Accordingly, in 1769, he set sail from Limerick to Baltimore. It was a tedious voyage in those days and when shore was finally sighted young Hargrove became wild with excitement and desire to be the first on board to touch the coveted shore.

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In later years he used to tell the story of his landing in the following amusing way: "My first landing in America was nineteen feet under the water," and being asked how that happened he explained: "Upon the arrival of the ship at the port of Baltimore, being ambitious to be the first man ashore, I attempted to jump from the ship to the wharf before she was near enough for me to do so without extraordinary effort; in making that attempt my foot slipped and I fell into the water and went to the bottom. I was a good swimmer, but I had just put on my best suit of clothes." A modern American will be reminded of "McGinty."

     On his arrival at Baltimore he first sought work as a clerk, but after a few days of fruitless search he betook himself to the eastern shore of Maryland and lived in the house of a Quaker in Talbot county. While here he was occasionally employed as a teacher. He attended the yearly meetings of the Friends and seemed greatly impressed by the services. From here he moved to West River, where he lived with another Quaker for a number of months. Then he returned to Baltimore, but either things did not suit him or he did not suit them, for he left in about two weeks to open a little school in Frederick county. Here, while attending the services of a Methodist minister, he saw, for the first time, Miss Hannah England, who afterwards became his wife. In later days he used to say that he "felt a most singular attachment and affection for her, at first sight, although I did not speak to her for twelve months afterwards." He was then introduced to her and after a year, during which a pretty romance took place, he was married to her on November 28th, 1776

     After his marriage he became more concerned as to religion. He adopted the custom of family and private prayer, of fasting, and of performing what appeared to him to be other religious duties. About a year after his marriage he joined the Methodists and was soon made leader of a class. He felt a strong desire to speak in public as an exhorter, but he struggled hard against it for a long time before yielding. His exhortations being favorably received, he began, after about two years, to preach from a text.

     It now became necessary for him to move again, this time to Abington, Md., where he enjoyed the advantages of the philosophical apparatus and library of the Cokeburg College. Here he found a telescope which had been sent from the home country and had never been unpacked.

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He mounted it himself and was the first to make planetary observations with it. His versatile nature seemed to fit him for any occupation.

     To this period of his life, namely, during his stay near the college, he attributed most of his subsequent learning. He was a diligent student of Latin and Greek, and at the same time was an extensive reader of classical literature. He also performed many experiments in the natural sciences. Thus he obtained a broad education.

     When he was forty-four years old he was ordained into the office of local preacher in the Methodist Church. In the same year he heard the Rev. Mr. Wilmer, of Baltimore,* preach a sermon refuting the tripersonal idea of the Godhead. It made its mark upon him as we shall see later on, nevertheless in the following year he was ordained a deacon of the Methodists by Bishop Asbury.
     *An Episcopal clergyman who for a time espoused the New Church.

     Meanwhile his mind was becoming more and more active, and he began to be restive at the country life. So in 1798 we find that he moved again to Baltimore and now permanently. Here he was appointed leader in a Methodist Academy. At an earlier period he had had several controversies with Rev. Mr. Wilmer, and thinking that he had refuted Mr. Wilmer's arguments, the supposed victory induced him to borrow some of Swedenborg's works that he might refute their errors publicly. But for a second time he landed in the deep water! In later years he was disposed to believe that from having at first attacked the New Jerusalem he was the better prepared to bear and answer the current calumnies against Swedenborg and his Writings.

     About this time he was informed that two Methodists in Baltimore, Robert Houlson and Adam Fonerden, were readers of Swedenborg. Mr. Hargrove was then reading the DOCTRINE OF THE LORD and the DOCTRINE OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. He noted as he read, on a slip of paper, such objections as occurred to him. But the more he read and studied, the more interested he became in the new and rational explanations that he had found. He borrowed from the two Swedenborgians the MAGAZINE OF KNOWLEDGE and the LITURGY then in use in the New Church in England.

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In these he found many of his objections satisfactorily explained. At length he saw that if Jesus Christ is truly and eternally Divine, He must be the only God of Heaven and Earth.

     One morning he took breakfast with Mr. Fonerden. Up to this time he had held and cherished as true that the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus Christ was necessary to satisfy Divine justice. He believed this article of faith to be the foundation of the Christian religion. Mr. Fonerden addressed to him the following question: "If Jesus Christ is, as you say, the only God of Heaven and Earth, to whom did He atone?" This question struck Mr. Hargrove dumb. It shook his whole former faith and made him believe that he was on the verge of Deism. Having always been taught the doctrine of the vicarious atonement, it seemed to him to be as hard to give up as life itself. However, he fought and won. Fonerden lent him the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, which, he says, "really won the battle for him." A memorandum in his handwriting says that it shook his faith in a vicarious sacrifice, and enabled him to see, as in the light of heaven, that the Lord God is one Lord and consequently must exist in one person only. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit and of the Sacred Scripture were also rendered clearer by this time. But when he came to the memorable relations he was afraid that Swedenborg might be indulging in an enthusiastic imagination. Before long, however, I he came into clear light and saw the use of the relations as spiritual confirmations. Mr. Hargrove's growth in the Doctrines is best explained by himself in a letter to Ralph Mather, then in Philadelphia, dated April 20th, 1798, where we read: "I think to set about reading the works with more attention than formerly. Then, I only galloped along the frontiers of this New Religion to discover its imperfections. But having unexpectedly found some fragrant, fair and delicious fruit, I will now take a second tour more into the interior with a desire to become a citizen thereof, if I find it a place of safety from my spiritual enemies, and where I may eat bread without scarceness all the days of my life on earth."

     From now on he seemed to have devoted himself solely to the study of the Writings. He grew so fast in the knowledge of the Doctrines that in the following June he had come to the conclusion that he could no longer publicly worship with the Methodists without violating his conscience.

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Therefore, on the fifth day of that month he, together with Fonerden, made a public farewell to their brethren in the Methodist church. Mr. Hargrove wrote and delivered the "valedictory" and it certainly was typical of his style, written with the utmost charity and humility, clearly and boldly setting forth the reasons for his withdrawal.

     In all church matters Mr. Hargrove's wife had advanced with him. Her courage and trust in Providence are what made their home life so happy. This firm trust is shown in her conversation With her husband a short time before his withdrawal from the Methodists. They were discussing the probable reverses of fortune that would follow a withdrawal from the patronage of the Methodists. Mrs. Hargrove asked him, "Do you conscientiously believe that the New Doctrines are true?" He answered emphatically in the affirmative. "Then give up everything for the truth," she Said. "My dear wife," he replied, "if I do that, you and our children may starve." "No," she rejoined, "the Lord will provide. I and the children will trust in Him."

     Shortly afterwards Mr. Hargrove resigned all connection with the Methodists. All his fears were fully realized. Since he had left their faith, they would no longer employ him as a leader of their sons. Thus he was left, with a wife and eight children, suddenly cut off from the means of living, depending on Providence alone. Many and severe were the external trials that he endured, as we learn from a letter to a friend in England: "Be assured, my dear friend, these things have not been accomplished in us, but with fights dreadful and garments rolled in blood. To leave a people with whom we have traveled toward Zion, one of us [Fonerden], twenty-nine years and the other one twenty years, most of which time we have taught the doctrines which we now publicly reject! We shall loose all our friends; yea, they will shun and avoid us as persons afflicted with a loathsome disease; and I fear they will go further, if the Lord will not restrain them. My situation is enough to make a hero tremble." Nevertheless, having put his hand to the plow he did not look back.

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     After Mr. Hargrove became a Newchurchman he used to compare himself to Paul, and that quite aptly, for Paul first persecuted the Christians and then himself turned a Christian. Mr. Hargrove had studied the Writings in order to condemn them, but had found the truth too strong. Like Paul, too, he recognized the special guiding hand of Providence as is evident from these words in his first sermon: My beloved and respected Christian Brethren, it is with singular and solemn pleasure I now stand before you in this sacred place, called, as I am, by Providence, to assist today in opening the first religious temple that has ever been erected in these United States for worship of the Almighty in the sole and individual person of Jesus Christ." Here, however, the resemblance to Paul ends, for, unlike Paul, Mr. Hargrove did not everlastingly write about himself as superior to all his fellow-Christians. He was a simple, humble, self-effacing man.

     On June 27, 1798, he was elected president of the first organized New Church Society in America, and on July 15th of the same year he commenced his duties as a New Church minister, having been duly ordained by ten of the laymen laying their hands on him with solemn prayer. Ralph Mather, who was also ordained on this occasion, had preached in England. He had attended the Society in Great East Cheap, London, and was authorized to preach by Robert Hindmarsh, but he had never been regularly ordained. Now he was first ordained and then Mr. Hargrove, Because Mr. Mather was the older minister and had preached the Doctrines in England, the Baltimore Society chose him as their pastor and John Hargrove as his assistant.

     The infant society struggled along for two years with two heads. At the end of that time things came to a crisis. Hargrove could no longer be treated as an assistant when in reality he was the leading spirit. He and Mather came to an understanding and the latter withdrew and left for France, leaving Hargrove as sole pastor in America. Two years later Mr. Mather returned to this country but not to Baltimore; he died shortly after his arrival.

     The first New Church sermon which Mr. Hargrove preached was delivered on July 15th, 1798.

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It was delivered before a small but enthusiastic audience, the first nucleus of the New Church in America. Hargrove, as he appeared in the prime of his life, was large and athletic of figure, with dark hair and a ruddy complexion. His voice was fine and musical, and as he preached he put such sincerity into his tones that it could not but inspire confidence. He was a man fitted to command both respect and attention.

     The Baltimore society was so small and poor that it could offer its pastor no financial returns for his labors. Therefore, Hargrove undertook the keeping of a school for boys; he also taught night school and gave private instruction to other pupils, especially in mathematics; thus he struggled along.

     But greater trials were before him. In the midst of his external embarrassments the worst blow fell upon him when his brave and faithful wife was taken to the spiritual world. Of these deep sufferings he writes to Hindmarsh: "I stand alone here as to a fellow laborer in the pulpit, None preach the new Doctrines publicly in America now but myself, yet none of these things move me; though my sufferings in domestic life have of late been indescribable, chiefly owing to the death of Mrs. Hargrove, October last, by the yellow fever, which then raged horribly in this city. I myself am poor and needy in respect to this world's goods, but I have not received any recompense for ministerial services. The society is too small and poor." It was, indeed, a sad time in his life.

     In the fall of the following year Mr. Hargrove felt that there ought to be some means for announcing more broadly a knowledge of the Doctrines. Accordingly he edited and published from August to October thirteen numbers of a small periodical, entitled "TEMPLES OF TRUTH." This was the first attempt made in this country to disseminate a knowledge of the Doctrines of the New Church by a periodical publication. He also published several sermons which were much esteemed.

     Mr. Hargrove on December 20, 1802, preached a sermon on the "Four Leading Doctrines of the New Jerusalem" before the President of the United States and several members of Congress in Washington.

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The precise effects of this sermon are unknown, but we do know that two years later he was again given the opportunity to preach in Washington, and this time to both Houses assembled,-a privilege that few, if any other New Church ministers have enjoyed. Mr. Hargrove was courageous, for the subject of his sermon was "The Second Coming of the Lord and the Last Judgment." He opened the sermon with an earnest appeal to the rational faculty. He said that he was striving not for controversy but to feed those who hungered for truth. He proclaimed the Coming of the Lord not in the flesh but in the spiritual sense of the Word. He exhorted his hearers to mark the signs of the times, and at the same time he asked them to remember that the Jews denied Christ in His first coming, and he went on to show how the Old Church was taking just as much offense at the proclamation of the New Jerusalem. The whole sermon is simple yet powerful. And we know that this sermon had its effect, for shortly after Mr. Hargrove returned home he received several requests from Senators to publish the sermon so that they might read it in order to understand better the secrets of this New Dispensation.

     Hargrove seems to have found special favors with Thomas Jefferson. On three separate occasions he wrote to the President and on each occasion he received a personal reply showing that Jefferson had given thought to his letters.

     In the year 1804 Mrs. Mary Mather, the widow of Ralph Mather became his second wife.

     On October, 1806, Mr. Hargrove undertook a missionary journey to Bedford, Greensburg and Brownsville, Pa. At Bedford and Greensburg he baptized from thirty to forty persons, young and old, and at Brownsville he baptized nearly forty persons, among them a couple of seventy-eight years old. In about a month he returned to Baltimore and continued his work there.

     Mr. Hargrove's whole nature compelled him to action. While not engaged in ministerial or secular work, he used to go about visiting the sick and the needy. This part of his life was no less a pleasure than a duty. During the yellow fever plague he went great distances to comfort the sick and pray by their bedsides. When his wife remonstrated with him for periling his life by going into such dangerous districts, he replied to her: "I am in the path of duty and God will protect."

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     Mr. Hargrove's practical ability came as much from his love of human nature as from his education. He spent nearly thirty years in the country districts of Maryland, and the remainder of his life he lived in Baltimore. During all this time scarcely a day passed that he did not have a chance to study men in their various moods and passions of virtue and of vice. He was a man of great popularity, was known extensively throughout the state of Maryland, and was personally acquainted with all the great men there of his day.

     His hospitality and philanthropy were unbounded. He could not enjoy any pleasure, not even those of the table, without inviting some of his neighbors to partake of the meal with him He made it a point to seek an introduction to all men of distinction who visited Baltimore, if they did not already have one for him, and many of them were entertained at his home.

     In order to be more useful, and to keep in better touch with his fellowmen, he became a Free Mason. He took an active part in their proceedings, and addressed their assemblies several times. For twenty years he was grand chaplain of the Gorand Lodge of Maryland. Some of his prayers are still used in that section of the country.

     Thus, even though he was a "queer Swedenborgian," after a time the citizens of Baltimore began to realize that he was a big man. In the year 1808 he was appointed to the office of City Registrar and ex-office City Treasurer. He received and disbursed all the revenues and rendered account of them with his own hand. He held this office for sixteen years until he resigned. This period embraced the years of the war of 1812, when some very exciting occurrences took place. Mr. Hargrove was a lover of order, and this was exemplified in his external habits. He was remarkable in all the transactions of his life for a punctual and conscientious discharge of his duties. Washington himself, it is said, could scarcely excel him in the exact observance of appointed times, or in the prompt attention to orders.

     It was not until August 23d, 1812, that he ordained another New Church minister. This was the Rev. Hugh White, formerly a minister of the Church Scotland.

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Mr. White came from Charlotteville, Va., a distance of two hundred miles, that he might be ordained into the New Church.

     In September of the same year Mr. Hargrove was called upon to make a valedictory address to some of our troops that were leaving Baltimore to join their fellows on the Canadian frontiers. He expressed his love and sympathy for them in these words: "My prayer shall go with you, 'tis all I have to give. Had I a son-had I fifty sons-I would not keep one of them back in this hour of trial. I had a son. I have a son no more," with these words he closed.

     On July 29th, 1816, Mr. Hargrove ordained Adam Hurdus, an Englishman, who was now residing in Cincinnati. This ordination is especially interesting to us, for, although it was the second in time, it was the first in the way of clerical continuity, for Mr. White never ordained anyone else. By direct geneological descent the General Church today can claim a kind of ministerial primogeniture in America, for the first person Mr. Hurdus ordained was the Rev. Richard De Charms; the first person Mr. De Charms ordained was the Rev. Wm. H. Benade; and the first person ordained by Mr. Benade was our present Bishop, the Rev. Wm. F. Pendleton.

     On the 31st of the same year Mr. Hargrove ordained Maskil M. Carll, of Philadelphia, a noted minister in the early days of the Church. On May 15-17, 1817, the first General Convention was held in Philadelphia. Mr. Hargrove was unanimously elected president, and ten times afterwards he was elected president of the Convention. The last time, at the thirteenth General Convention, he felt compelled to resign on account of his advanced age. We find his farewell address in the Minutes of that Convention and they are worthy of quotation here to show his attitude:

     Your affection, and partiality in repeatedly electing me to preside over these solemn and pleasing convocations, has engraved upon my heart an indelible impression of most pure and pious' regard and brotherly love towards you all.

     But, my respected brethren, I am not insensible that the growing infirmities of old age have now so far invaded both my mental and physical powers as to render me no longer capable of performing the duties of your president in such a manner as might be expected and pleasing both to yourselves and me.

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     I beg you, therefore, beloved brethren, to permit me now to re-sign this chair to some other of our valuable brethren here present whose sense of hearing and mental powers have not yet suffered the decline that mine have.

     In the work of these Conventions he always took an active part. He served on various committees, for the regulation of ordinations, for preparing a catechism, for drawing up rules of order for Convention, etc., etc. He was always active. During this period he ordained three more ministers-Messrs. Manning B. Roche, Nathaniel Holly, and Thomas Worcester.

     In his eightieth year the increasing infirmities of age compelled him to resign the pastoral charge of the Society in Baltimore, but he was given the use of the parsonage for the rest of his life. From now on he occasionally administered the sacrament of the Holy Supper and it is interesting to note that only two months before his death he baptized five children. He died on the sixth day of December, 1839

     In his death, as in his life, he was a hero. A few hours before the end came he took the hand of Edward Hinkley, his son-in-law, and said: "Edward, I am going, but I am not afraid,-thank the Lord-I am not afraid."

     From the marble slab that covers his grave I transcribe these lines: "He was a kind parent, a faithful friend, and remarkable for his cheerfulness, hospitality, and benevolence; and he was universally respected, esteemed and beloved."
Title Unspecified 1911

Title Unspecified              1911

     "'Come out of her, my people!' This signifies exhortation from the Lord to all, as well to those who are of the Babylonish Religion as to those who are not in it, to beware of conjoining themselves with it by acknowledgment and affection, lest as to their souls they be conjoined with its abominations and thus perish, for their evils and falsities infest the very heavens, but the Lord will protect those who separate themselves from them." (A. R. 760, 761.)

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Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     From our friend, Mr. Hjalmar Kylen, of Stockholm, we have received yet another pamphlet in defense of Swedenborg,-the present being the third or fourth in succession within less than two years. It is entitled HEIDENSTAM'S SWEDENBORG, and contains strictures upon some misrepresentations by U. von Heidenstam, a well known Swedish literary man.



     Subscribers to the Royal Swedish Academy's edition of Swedenborg's Scientific Works, who have changed their address, are requested to communicate their new address to the Rev. R. W. Brown, Secretary of the Swedenborg Scientific Association, as volume three of the series has now been published and will soon be ready for distribution in this country.



     Lack of time and space prevents our giving in the present issue an account Of the recent meetings of the General Convention in Chicago, but our readers will be interested in learning that the Rev. Julian K. Smyth was elected president in the place of the Rev. S. S. Seward.



     It was with great interest we received a copy of the first number of our new contemporary, NOVY JERUZALEM, Of Prague, the first New Church periodical in the Bohemian tongue, the first also in any of the Slavic languages. Helpless we gazed upon the fearful combination of consonants: "nejucenejsi nejvyssiho jmsnovaly skehtickeho muozstvi vssch prsdstihl pozdsjsim." This looked suspicious, but a Bohemian friend in New York has pronounced the paper "strictly and thoroughly New Church," and kindly furnished a translation of a great part of its varied and interesting contents.

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We can, therefore, unhesitatingly recommend the journal to all our readers.



     "What brings us together is our common belief in a Divine Revelation, a complete new system of religious teaching, more luminous, more beautiful and more uplifting than any which the world was known. . . . These doctrines do not merely tell us that the Lord has come, but, if rightly apprehended, bring us into His very presence.

     "This is not saying, however, that Swedenborg's Writings are the Word. It is not saying that their style or method of teaching is the same as that of the Word. On the contrary, their appeal is made to man's rational faculty. He is encouraged by them not to think or act blindly but in freedom according to reason. In a sense unknown to former ages they make it possible and allowable for him to enter intellectually into the hidden things of faith." (The Rev. James Reed in his recent address to the Massachusetts Association.)

     And therefore they are not the Word of God!



     The Rev. James Reed, in the same address, which is published in the MESSENGER for May 17th, declares that "the fact that in the latter part of his book on [CONJUGIAL LOVE] Swedenborg deals with the dark side of his subject, and points out the perversions of true love, and the grades of evil among them, does not concern us. It is something with which we personally, aspiring after the best possible, have nothing to do; though Swedenborg, writing for all time and for all sorts and conditions of men, must needs cover the whole ground. Such has been the general consensus of the Church from the beginning, with the exception of a small and separate body."

     Such was not the attitude of the Lord Jesus Christ towards "the dark side of the subject." He did not, like the Priest and the Levite, pass by on the other side, declaring that fallen humanity did not concern Him, or that it was something with which He, personally, had nothing to do.

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Nor did the Lord in His Second Coming lift His skirt to pass by on the other side, but He came with wine and oil and healing in His wings for every sinner willing to repent. He has indeed come for all time and to all sorts and conditions of men, but a church that will not follow Him whithersoever He goeth is not a church of the Lord but a church of Pharisees and Puritans, too pure, too righteous, to do His-work. Such was the "general consensus" of the Jewish Church, with the exception of a small and separate body called-Samaritans.



     The Rev. E. J. E. Schreck has performed a service of genuine value in offering a convincing solution of the much disputed problem concerning the eternal duration of the earth. Writing to the editor of the MESSENGER, in the issue for May 17th, Mr. Schreck refers to the statement in ARCANA COELESTIA, n. 931: "From this it is also evident that the earth will not endure to eternity, but that it too will have its end; for it is said during all the days of the earth, that is, as long as the earth endures." (Library edition.)

     On this passage Mr. Schreck comments as follows:

     "The error here is not Swedenborg's, but that of the translator or reader. Even in the 'Library edition' we read, 'From this also it is evident that the earth will not endure to eternity, but that it too will have its end; for it is said, 'during all the days of the earth,' that is, as long as the earth endures.'

     "This volume went through the press before I was asked to read the proofs, or I should have corrected this rendering, for it is a mistranslation. Swedenborg does not say, 'From this also it is evident;' for this would read, in his Latin, 'inde quoque constat.' What Swedenborg says is, 'inde constare quoque potest.' In English: 'From this it can also appear.' And so it can, to him who looks merely to the literal sense of the words, and knows nothing of the internal sense. But this is the very state of mind that Swedenborg, from the beginning of the 'Arcana Coelestia,' controverts. When he says 'From this it can appear,' he refers to the conclusion drawn from the passage by interpreters of the Scriptures in the Old Church. It was by no means as you interpret it, the statement about the final destruction of the material earth,' which was from his own mind, a supposed fact of science under which the word then was, and still is.'

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He did not refer to a scientific fact, but to a conclusion which theologians had drawn from the literal sense of the Word; for he goes on to say what 'they believe;' 'quod autem credunt.' And in this very connection he shows that the end of the earth does not appear, or is not evident to him who understands the internal sense of the what 'they believe'; 'quod autem credunt.' And in this very construed literally, but spiritually. On the contrary, he states that 'the earth will not then perish,' and that 'a church is always raised up by the Lord.'"



     "My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord. Ye that have escaped the sword, go away; stand not still: remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind." (Jer. 51:6, 91 45-50)

     "'Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.' This signifies joy of soul and heart and thence glorification of the Lord, because henceforth there may be a full marriage of Him with the Church; and because they who are to be of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, are collected together, inaugurated and instructed. . . . (A. R. 812, 813.)

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SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION 1911

SWEDENBORG SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION              1911

     The Swedenborg Scientific Association held its annual meeting in Philadelphia on the afternoon of May 22d. The reports showed, among other things, the publication of the work DE SALE, the prospective completion in the July NEW PHILOSOPHY of the translation of THE SENSES, and the completion of the translation of one-fourth of the work on THE FIBRE. President Sewall and the Rev. Alfred Acton reported the action of the meeting of New Church publishers held in London last July, which they attended as representatives of the Association. Among the things thus reported was an offer made by Mr. Acton and subsequently confirmed by the Directors of the Association, to contribute the sum of $50.00 to the support of Mr. Alfred H. Stroh in his investigations and publication of Swedenborg's works.

     Following this report, the Association recommended to continue this support during the coming year.

     The annual address of the president dealt with the subject of Swedenborg's teachings respecting the inhabitants of the Planets. After citing some remarkable statements from modern astronomers to the effect that astronomy could not give any authoritative opinion as to the habitability or non-habitability of the planets, but that the matter was rather to be left to the consideration of the philosopher and theologian, Dr. Sewall gave a comprehensive and pleasing survey of the genius and general characteristics of the inhabitants of the various planets as revealed in the Writings. The paper will be published in full in the July NEW PHILOSOPHY, and well merits a careful reading.

     The Rev. E. E. Iungerich gave an address-a resume of which will appear in the July New PHILOSOPHY, wherein certain statements in Swedenborg's works on CHEMISTRY, which have hitherto been rejected by some as incorrect, were examined and commented on with a view of showing their absolute truth.

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The address was remarkable for the clearness and simplicity with which it dealt with a subject ordinarily somewhat difficult to understand except in the case ,of the skilled mathematician.

     Among the resolutions adopted by the Association was one of congratulation to Mr. Alfred H. Stroh on the occasion of his being presented by the King of Sweden, acting on behalf of the Royal Academy of Sciences, with a gold medal in recognition of his distinguished services in the investigation and publication of Swedenborg's manuscripts.

     A committee consisting of Messrs. Acton, Brown and Iungerich was appointed to investigate the 2,000 MS. pages of transcriptions of Swedenborg's unpublished works, and to report on the same with recommendations. These transcriptions are now in the possession of the Swedenborg Scientific Association, and we shall await with interest a report giving some accurate and
particular account of their contents.

     The membership of the Association was reported to show a net decrease of twenty. In view of the important work now being steadily carried on by this body-the transcription, translation and publication of Swedenborg's scientific works, and the encouragement of the study thereof-this decrease in membership is much to be regretted. We earnestly recommend the Association to the support of our readers, for it represents in the New Church a concentration of efforts to produce translations, and studies and reflections, that are of a value to the Church not to be measured by monetary expenditure. It represents a work for which the future will thank the present,-a work, however, which cannot be efficiently carried on unless it receives adequate support.
TENTH CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1911

TENTH CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       G. A. MCQUEEN       1911

     The meetings opened on Friday evening, May 12th, with a banquet supper in the Assembly Room of the School House, Glenview. Bishop Pendleton presided, and there was present a large attendance of the members of the Immanuel and Sharon Churches. In addition, we were pleased to number among our visitors the Rev. N. D. Pendleton and Mrs. Pendleton, of Pittsburg.

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     At the conclusion of the repast Bishop Pendleton delivered an address on the subject of "The Lord's Day," in which a comparison of the Jewish and Christian Sabbath was made, and the use of the day to the New Church considered. In the discussion that followed

     Dr. King said that this subject had come up on former occasions, and he had always been surprised at the meagreness of the teaching on the Sabbath Day as then presented. Tonight we have heard the subject very thoroughly ventilated. It shows among other things that when a Church is only a representative one, and has no internal of its own, how very rigid its external observances must be. It explains what previously has puzzled me, why such severe punishment was inflicted for such slight offences. I also see how absolutely necessary it was that the ceremonial observances should be performed. It is also true that with the growth of the spiritual internal of the Church we call relax somewhat the strictness of ceremonial and external observance, though we should be on our guard not to go too far in that direction, remembering that children are somewhat in the state of the Jews in this matter. The difference between the Sabbath and other days of the week is not so noticeable in the country as In town, where there are so many outward signs of Sabbath observance, such as closed stores, church bells, etc.

     Mr. Burnham pointed out that Sunday is not considered legally a sacred day, although ours is supposed to be a Christian country. It is regarded as a good institution by the civil law, but only for sanitary and other reasons.

     Mr. McQueen referred to the fact that the commandment concerning the keeping of the Sabbath is among those which are not compulsory to the New Church in an external sense. But the Writings are clear as to what the Christian Sabbath involved.

     Mr. A. E. Nelson: It seems that Sunday is a very different day from the old Sabbath day. We must seek Sunday ideals, not Sabbath ideals.

     Rev. N. D. Pendleton: I feel that this subject is of growing interest in the General Church. The history of our body has been quite a remarkable one, and it is always interesting to observe the phases through which the development of such a Church as this passes.

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In the beginning of our movement there was a very decided throwing off of external restraints, not only in the observance of Sunday but in other directions. Now we all agree that it prepared the way for a freedom which we could not have obtained otherwise. It is always external things that bind. More internal things are involved, however, when the controversy is waged about the external. It is for this reason that every religion, like everything else, in order that it may have any continued existence, must have a body, an ultimate that is in correspondence with itself. The life of the body is altogether dependent upon the correspondence that is within it.

     Whenever there is a new movement, or a New Church, to be established one of the first things brought about is the breaking of the old shell, in order that there may be a more interior establishment. At first it appears almost bodiless. It has thrown away the external,-the old external,-and has not yet chosen to itself a new body. The first state of the Academy was the throwing away of external restraint, and a lack of external forms, or rather a state of unformed externals. We have been going through another stage now,-the putting on of an external that is to be in correspondence, to be expressive of the internal form of our Church. It is well that this should be done slowly. The development should be a matter of life. It is well that we should not attempt to establish artificial externals and make them in any sense binding; but that slowly, as we see the light clearly, step by step, we should enter a little more fully into an external that is expressive of the internal state of the Church.

     I was interested in what the Bishop said of the custom pf our friends in New York, who meet to dine together after Sunday worship. This custom has come in a purely providential way. It is a custom that arose with the early Christians. A similar thing had a beginning in the Friday evening suppers of the Immanuel Church. I believe these customs will spread and grow. The line of development seems to be that we should study and base our lives upon the Doctrines of the Church and the love of them. As we live together from day to day, and as one movement follows another, there will be given to us customs that will be far superior to any that we could invent, that will be characteristic of the life of our Church, and that it will go on from generation to generation in that way.

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     Sabbath observance is an important matter especially with regard to the children. There will be as time goes on an approximation to what they have in the heavens, where their externals are most pliable, being the instantaneous product of internal states. With us, externals must always have more or less of fixity, because of the facts of existence in this ultimate life. And yet I think that there will never be in the New Church anything like the binding external that has existed in past churches, which was a sign of their death.

     Personally, I am a base ball fan, and believe in the national game. I believe it is a healthy thing for our people, and that the young men should be encouraged to play it, even on Sunday. The Sunday crowds that go to a base ball game are better off there than in other places they might go to. On the other hand, I recognize that base ball is of the natural man, and has no spiritual significance,-it is not necessary to the establishment of our Church.

     Mr. S. G. Nelson: The subject is one of great interest, especially the Feasts of Charity that have been referred to. I recently had the pleasure of attending a feast conducted by the young men at Bryn Athyn, and it was a most useful and enjoyable event.

     The Bishop: Banquets are an essential feature of our work. If it were possible to have these things, which we have during the week, on Sunday, it would be carrying out in a very important way what is said in the True Christian Religion, that the Sabbath is to be a "day of love to the neighbor," in addition to its being a "day of instruction in Divine things." Revelation is to take place on the Sabbath day specifically. In ancient times revelation,-that which made the letter of the Word,-took place in a state of the spirit, that is, in vision. Representatives were seen in the other world. In the Most Ancient Church, as you know, there was no written Word, but they had what was essentially the same thing. The heads of families had visions, saw visions in the other world, and there was given them a perception of what the representations signified. These remained in their memories after they awoke, and they were able to expound them.

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From those things seen in the other world arose the representatives of the Ancient Church. These representatives were seen in a state of vision. My point is that by "being in the spirit on the Lord's nay" is meant being in a state to receive revelation from the Lord. The minister and the forms of worship are instrumental in conveying ideas of truth to the mind, but neither the minister nor the forms can give perception of those truths. That can be given by the Lord alone, if you are prepared for it. If a man is prepared, if his body is in a state of rest and health, then, on the Sabbath Day in worship he is in a state to receive revelation. He is in a state in which the Lord will be able to give him a perception of the signification of the forms of worship, of the Word as it is read, and of the truths of the sermon, all of which are revelation to him. So the end and purpose of the Lord's Day is to come into the state of worship signified by John's being in the spirit on the Lord's Day.

     Rev. W. B. Caldwell: It is evident from what the Bishop has said that the essential thing is the Sabbath Day state, not the Sabbath Day form. A man who in his heart worships God, who worships God in his life, whose mind is open to receive revelation from the Lord, is internally in the Sabbath nay state even during the week and its work. But the Writings teach that there should be a day set apart when outer works are to be suspended, to the end that the Sabbath Day state within may be expressed in formal worship of the Lord, and that man may receive new and greater influx from the Lord in the instruction and revelation given in worship. The Bishop's paper makes it clearer than ever before what is meant by the teaching that Sunday is to be a day of instruction in Divine things. The plan of having a dinner after Sunday service was tried in Sharon Church a few years ago, and was successful. We have been considering in the Immanuel Church whether a Sunday evening supper would not be better than the Friday supper. It may be that we will come to try this. But it should not be introduced merely as an innovation, but as the expression of a state and a need.

     The Bishop then delivered a message of good will from the Denver Society, where he had just: spent a very pleasant week. They had had a banquet similar to what we were now having. Among them was the same spirit of love for the Doctrines.

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     This greeting was received with applause, and a toast was immediately proposed to the Denver Society. This was followed by one to the Chicago District Assembly on the occasion of its tenth anniversary. And it was remarked that while in the first Chicago Assembly the idea seemed to be that the chief use it was to undertake was to minister to the isolated, we now realized that the annual gathering had been a great use to the two societies that meet at this time. Which, however, does not take away our hope for a larger attendance of visitors from a distance as time goes on.

     The evening was concluded at eleven o'clock, but not until the conviviality had been heightened by several post-prandial stories "from Pittsburgh."

     On Saturday afternoon, May 13th, Bishop Pendleton conducted the dedication of the Immanuel Church School House, formerly the Club House, and the occasion was one which will long be remembered. After a short service, which included the singing of several hymns from the Hosanna by the School, the Bishop gave an appropriate address, and then formally dedicated the building, in the name of the Lord, to the uses of education, the social functions of the society, and the assembly room to the uses of worship temporarily. . . . At the conclusion of the service the room was rearranged and the pupils of the school formed in line, when Mr. McQueen stepped forward to make the presentation of an Academy flag to the school, which he handed to the head master with the request that it be placed in charge of one of the pupils for protection and proper care. Mr. Caldwell accepted the gift on behalf of the school, and expressed appreciation for the affection which prompted the donor, and gratification that we should now possess this emblem to inspire us with the spirit and principles of the Academy. After a few more words on the meaning of the red and the white, he asked Mr. Pendleton, the former pastor and head master, if he would address the scholars, which he kindly did. He said that the present pupils were babies when he had charge of the school. Nevertheless he recognized the several "tribes" to which most of them belonged. He himself had gone to school with some of their parents, while others had been taught by him in the school.

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As the years went by, nothing became so certain to him as that the New Church was the greatest and most precious thing in the world, and that the principles for which this flag stands were more worth fighting for than any other thing. We have not the exact words, but it was an inspiring speech which touched the hearts of young and old. At its conclusion all joined in singing "Alma Mater."

     On Saturday evening the second session of the Assembly was held. Reports from the Sharon and Imanuel Churches were read, and also a communication from Mr. Carl Hj. Gustafson, of Rockford, Ill., sending greetings and expressing regret at his inability to be present. Mr. W. H. Junge read a report as Collector for the Extension Fund in this district, showing that about $69.00 had been contributed through him since he was appointed in November, 1909).

     The Rev. N. D. Pendleton then read a paper on "The Correlation of Natural and Spiritual Truth. The Value of the Philosophical Works, and their Relation to the Writings." A discussion followed.

     The Bishop: At Denver when discussing the same subject I spoke of the distinction between spiritual and natural truth, and also between natural truth and sensual truth. I also referred to what Swedenborg says as to how from being a philosopher he became a theologian.

     On request Dr. King then read the passage treating of this, from "INTERCOURSE OF THE SOUL AND THE BODY," n. 20.

     Mr. Caldwell: I wish to express my appreciation of the paper. I thoroughly enjoyed the treatment of the subject. It expresses convictions that are the results of the writer's deep study, and sums up so well the ideas to which we have been led gradually of recent years in the General Church. The paper shows the place of natural truth in the Word. As is shown in the ADVERSARIA the truths of creation, or cosmology, are contained in the internal natural sense of the 1st chapter of Genesis. While the literal sense of that chapter presents the story of creation as adapted to the minds of children and the simple,-to the sensual plane or degree,-the internal natural sense really contains all the philosophy of creation. The spiritual sense, as shown in the Arcana, treats of the regeneration of new creation of man, while the inmost sense treats of the Creator.

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There are degrees in the human mind which are receptacles of these four planes of the Word, and if all these degrees are to be opened and stored, the truth of the internal natural sense, or natural truth, is not to be omitted.

     Mr. Junge said that he had experienced of recent years a growing appreciation of the value of the philosophical works, and Mr. Pendleton's paper seemed to crown this experience in a delightful way.

     Dr. King: This essay of Mr. Pendleton's call hardly be discussed, in the proper sense of the term, but I desire to speak a word of commendation. It is a well-knit argument, logical and illuminating throughout, especially and perhaps solely to those who have devoted much time to the study of the earlier writings,-the so-called scientific writings of Swedenborg. For years Newchurchmen have bowed down too much to the dicta of modern science; have felt disconcerted and ill at ease because some new discovery or advance in science seemed to be incompatible with what Swedenborg had taught. The truth of the matter was that we were content to admire and assent to Swedenborg's philosophy without really grasping it, and we were somewhat in awe of modern science, without understanding anything of its weakness and fallacies.

     It seems on the face of it an absurd idea to think that Providence would fill the mind of Swedenborg, the specially prepared instrument of Revelation, with scientific falsities as the preparation for the reception of spiritual truths. Divine truth is one from firsts to ultimates, and it is illogical to think that a life-long preparation for its reception is compatible with fallacies and falsities in scientific knowledge,-the vessels and containants thereof. It is perfectly safe, then, to say and to believe that there is no essential fallacy in the philosophical works of Swedenborg.

     An instance occurs to me. If you will read in the ANIMAL KINGDOM about the physiological functions of the suprarenal capsules, you will learn of things not dreamed of in Swedenborg's time and entirely unknown in the ultra-scientific present. You will there read that the essential functions of these mysterious, ductless organs is to save pure, good blood that would otherwise be lost in the kidneys, or undergo hardships and abuse in the splanchnic organs,-to save it from destruction, and convey it back by a short circuit to the lungs and heart.

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Who can doubt that these scientific ideas, thought out and studied in his earlier years, remained with Swedenborg when, years after, he was introduced into the spiritual world and saw a society or assemblage of chaste virgins, anxious and sighing lest truth should be lost or destroyed. Who can doubt, I say, that these spiritual truths fitted exactly into these forms of anatomical knowledge garnered into the invisible granaries of his brain in his student years.

     One cannot resist a thrill of admiration for this great man, Swedenborg, so armed and fitted out, cap-a-pie, with necessary knowledge. He exceeds any man that ever lived in the ability to arrange, divide, subdivide, methodically and patiently, until some vast subject that would have dismayed a smaller mind stands out in clearness and light and order. Every country has its heroes. Greece honors her philosophers and soldiers; Italy has had great leaders; England points to her great statesmen; in America we have Washington and Lincoln as the brightest flowers of our history. But the time will come, when the New Church is extended, when all nations will unite in honoring this humble, devoted, diligent servant of the Lord, Emanuel Swedenborg.

     A motion recommending that Mr. Pendleton's paper be published in the LIFE was unanimously carried.

     The time of holding our next District Assembly was discussed by several speakers, and a "straw vote" was taken, but we have forgotten whether it was in favor of spring or fall. The matter was left for later decision.

     On Sunday morning the service was conducted by Bishop Pendleton, who also baptized an infant. The sermon was preached by Rev. N. D. Pendleton on the subject of "Innocents," from the text of Isaiah xi:6. At the afternoon service the Bishop performed the rite of Confession of Faith for two candidates, and afterwards administered the Holy Supper to 79 communicants. In the evening a men's meeting was held in the Assembly Room, and a ladies' meeting in the library, and there was a pleasing interchange of messages between them.

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     Looking back upon our Assembly this year, it seems notable especially for the three services that came closely together on Saturday and Sunday, bringing with them a sphere of worship that was felt by all as most uplifting and delightful. W. B. CALDWELL, Secretary. G. A. MCQUEEN, Reporter.
Title Unspecified 1911

Title Unspecified              1911

     "When the end of the Church is at hand, then the interiors of the Word, of the Church, and of worship, are revealed and taught: the reason is that the good may be separated from the evil, for these things are received by the good, but are rejected by the evil. Hence results a separation. It was thus when the Jewish Church was at hand, and the same takes place at this day, for it has now pleased the Lord to reveal the internal sense of the Word. The reason for this revelation at the end of the Church is, as was said, in order that by means thereof there may be a separation of the good from the evil and the establishment of a New Church, and this not only in the natural world, where men are, but also in the spiritual world, where spirits and angels are. For the Church is in both worlds and the Revelation is given in both worlds, and by means of it there takes place a separation, as also the establishment of a New Church."

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Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. The last monthly "Conference" was given on May 12th, the program including a number of interesting speeches by the younger men. A picnic on the 26th of May was the last of our weekly suppers for this season, and the College and Seminary were invited.

     During the Bishop's absence Mr. Gilbert Smith and other ministers have preached to the society.

     For a couple of weeks there was a pause in social life, but soon the time arrived for the closing of the schools with all the events this brings with it. The yearly meeting of the "Theta Alpha" was opened with services in the chapel. The Bishop in his address spoke of preparation for spiritual uses, especially impressing upon us the importance of obedience without which no uses can be fully performed. Whether in youth or old age, in this world or the next, through love or fear, man must at some time learn to obey. Saturday evening, June 10th, the tables in the auditorium were prettily decorated for the annual Theta Alpha banquet, to which the Senior girls were invited. The subject of the Bishop's address was discussed, the point especially considered being the necessities of the young girls in going out into the world. Two fine papers were read, one by Mrs. E. E. Iungerich, and the other by Miss Fidelia Asplundh. These and many impromptu speeches made the evening a great success.

     A surprise party was given to the Rev. and Mrs. H. Synnestvedt on their twentieth anniversary, Monday, June 5th; they have now started on their European journey.

     The following Monday night all Bryn Athyn turned out to see the beautiful wedding of Miss Gwladys Hicks to Mr. Donald Edmonds. After the ceremony there was a short reception in the gymnasium, where we all had a chance to congratulate the happy husband and wife. The girls of the Seminary danced a slow and graceful dance, and at the end each girl threw the rose she had carried before the feet of the bridal couple.

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A merry reception was then held at the bride's home, but lack of room limited the number of invited guests.

     THE ACADEMY SCHOOLS.

     The past month has been a very eventful one in many respects. Early in May the long-felt need of closer organization among those students of the College who have their homes here was met by the institution of a new fraternity, which designates itself by the Greek initials, "Sigma Delta Pi." The "Phi Alpha," the organization of the residents in Stuart Hall, invited the newly born fraternity and 'the faculty of the College to a "kommerz," where those present discussed the uses of the fraternities and their range of co-operation

     The next week the "Sigma Delta Pi" exhibited their good talents and intentions by giving a, Picnic in the creek woods The sumptuous provisions were enjoyed beside a blazing camp-fire. The woods and creek were illuminated by Japanese lanterns, and a large "transparency" was suspended across the Pennipack reflecting the motto of the frat, "Non sibi sed omnibus," into the softly flowing water,-all combining in the mystic effect of an improvised fairy-land.

     The second event in the history of the "Sigma Delta Pi" was not so eminently successful This was a series of two friendly base ball games waged between the two organizations. The competition was close, but at the end the Phi Alpha pennant waved from the chimney of the power house.

     The class of 1911 had "class day" on Friday, the 9th of June, and in the program the valedictory of Miss Creda Glenn deserves especial mention. It treated in a striking and affectionate manner of the motto of the class, "May the Lord be with us as He was with our fathers." As a mark of their appreciation the class presented to the school a life-sized photograph of Robert Hindmarsh, the founder of the New Church in England and the first pioneer of the principles of the Academy. It was reproduced by Mr. Ray W. Gill, of Colchester, from an oil portrait now in the possession of the Swedenborg Society in London.

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     The closing of the Elementary School took place on the morning of June 15th. There were no graduates from this department, for it is the intention to add an eighth grade to the school if the teachers can be provided. The evening of the same day the first part of the commencement exercises of the College and Seminary were held in the chapel. Mr. Winfred Junge read an essay on the recent Portuguese revolution, and Mr. Gilbert H. Smith presented a very interesting and instructive paper, treating historically of the development of the teaching that the Heavenly Doctrines are the Word of God and the Lord Himself in His Divine Human.

     The school closing took place the following morning. Mr. John Pitcairn delivered the annual address, speaking of the meaning of true progress in distinction to that which is such only in appearance. The paper, which will appear in the JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, was a masterly production, pointing out the insanities of modern science, and emphasizing obedience and an affirmative attitude as the basis of all true progress. The valedictorian, Mr. D. F. Rose, expressed the gratitude and loyalty of his class to the Academy. The Bishop then addressed the graduating young people. He spoke of the five successive "weeks" or states which man experiences during his earthly life. He welcomed the graduates who were about to enter the fourth of these states, the one most important to the formation of character.

     Mr. G. H. Smith was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Theology, having finished his studies in the Theological School. Miss Lucy Boggess graduated from the Normal School, and Messrs. Winfred Junge and Donald Rose from the College.

     The graduates from the Seminary were the Misses Rosalba de Anchorez, Ruth Armstrong, Gladys Blackman, Constance Burnham, Bella Campbell, Helen Colley, Creda Glenn, Janet Lindrooth, Anna Niederer, Beata Roschman, and Evangeline Roschman,-fifteen graduates in all.

     The Senior Ball, in the evening of the same day, was thoroughly enjoyed both by young and old. All the classes sang snappy new class songs, and a beautiful banner in white and yellow was presented to the Academy by the departing Seniors.

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     The next day the buoyant young people ebbed out from old B. A., whose hills and vales for a while will assume a misty blue. H. L. O.

     BALTIMORE, MD. The work here for a distinctive New Church education and life is proceeding quietly and faithfully. The children are taught weekly in general classes and daily and hourly by their parents what it is to lead on earth a life that brings to heaven, and that this knowledge can be had only from the instruction of the Lord given in His Second Coming.

     The family of Mr. and Mrs. Benj. Reynolds and their four children are now at Arbutus, permanently we believe, as the two oldest are attending the public school in the neighborhood.

     On the first Sunday in February Mrs. Altvater was received into the New Church by the gateway of baptism. For years an appreciative student of the doctrines, she has become an active member in the uses of a distinctive New Church. E. E. I.

     DENVER, COL. From the third until the tenth of May we had the benefit and great enjoyment of Bishop Pendleton's presence. In fact, we had a miniature District Assembly, although we belong, properly, to the Chicago District Assembly.

     Bishop Pendleton arrived on a Wednesday, and was welcomed at the depot by five of our gentlemen, who also went down to see him off on the following Wednesday, although it was with great reluctance that they watched him depart. The Bishop's time was well occupied with meetings and social calls, all but three families having the pleasure of his company in their homes.

     The first public meeting was on Friday evening, and the Bishop then read a paper on "Externals of Worship." The attendance was twenty-two adults and three children.

     On Sunday morning he preached on the text, "Resist not evil," the pastor assisting with the service. The attendance was twenty-six adults and fifteen children.

     On Sunday evening a grand banquet was held at the chapel. The chancel and its furnishings were removed, and the tables set in the chapel room,-a separate low table for the children. The room was decorated with red and white streamers and carnations of the same colors.

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The pastor acted as toastmaster, and the toasts were to the Church, the Academy, the Bishop, and the Chicago District Assembly. The subject of the evening was The Correlation of Natural and Spiritual Truth, and thus of the Philosophical and Theological Writings of Swedenborg. The Bishop opened the subject, and was followed by a long letter from the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, and a paper by the Rev. W. B. Caldwell. The Bishop's remarks and the letter and paper were all received with deep enthusiasm, and it was unanimously voted to thank Mr. N. D. Pendleton and Mr. Caldwell for their kindness in adding to the instructiveness and enjoyment of our meetings. The attendance was twenty-four adults and thirteen children.

     On Monday night Mr. and Mrs. Howland gave a very pleasant sociable at their home, at which the Bishop read an excellent paper on Baptism and the Holy Supper. As the hour of midnight approached the guests departed reluctantly attendance was twenty-four adults and six children.

     The last meeting was a men's meeting at Mr. Lindrooth's on Tuesday evening. Eleven men were present.

     The meetings were all successful, and we only wish that we might have the Bishop with us every year.

     Dr. Wheeler, of Denver, attended several of the meetings, and Mr. and Mrs. Harold Boericke, of Newmere, Col., were present at the Sunday morning service.

     Our services close for the summer on the last Sunday in June and reopen again on the first Sunday in September. But in order to keep in touch several picnics during July and August have been planned.

     Miss Amy Marelius and Miss Leora Marelius are visiting their sister, Mrs. Lindrooth. F. G.

     THE MISSIONARY FIELD. Summary statement of places and people visited since the last report.

     Eureka, O., April 11-13. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. L. Wunderlin. While with them, at their request, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered to them.

     April 13-14 called on Mrs. E. Renkenberger, Columbiana.

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Mr. T. A. Renkenberger, one of our members, who lives in the town, spent the evening in conversation with us.

     April 14-17 At the home of Mr. S. Renkenberger and family, in the country. Service was held on Sunday 16th:

     Greenford, O., April 17-19. With Mrs. Mary and Miss Lydia Rhodes. The former was one of the early members of the Church in that part of Ohio. At the age of four score and four years she was well and interested in the things of the Church the same as ever.

     Warren, O., April 19-20. After an absence of two years, visited Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Goodrich. Some years ago Mrs. Goodrich was a member of the church in Toronto. She had missed the reading of NEW CHURCH LIFE, and subscribed for it while I was there.

     Youngstown, O., April 20-21. With Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Woods. The latter, though not yet fully convinced, is quite favorable to the new doctrines.

     Eureka, O., April 21-25. At the home of Mr. J. Renkenberger and family. Service was held on Sunday 23d. Two days were passed with Mr. and Mrs. D. Detrow, at their home on the farm in the vicinity.

     Pittsburg, Pa., April 27-May 2. With Mr. J. Schoenberger and family. Also had the usual visit with Pastor N. D. Pendleton.

     Leechburg, Pa., May 2-4. With Dr. U. O. Heilman and family, who appreciate the spiritual blessings of having come into active association with the Academy and the General Church. All the adults are members of our body.

     Erie, Pa., May 4-12. Divine worship was conducted at the home of Dr. Edw. Cranch and family, on Sunday 7th, with an attendance of thirty-one. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered to an invalid member of the circle. As usual, several families were visited at their homes.

     Renovo, Pa., May 12-18. Services at the home of Mrs. E. I. Kirk, on Sunday 14th. Baptism of an infant. The Holy Supper was administered to ten persons. Stopped with Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Kendig, and visited three other families.

     Hyner, Pa., May 18-19. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Kintner, on the evening of the 18th, two little children were baptized.

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     Philipsburg, Pa., May 19-26. With our earnest Mew Church friends, the Shultz family; a sister and two brothers. My first visit with them was in 1880. Sunday 21st a sermon was read to twelve persons. Prior to my going to Philipsburg, the Rev. W. H. Benade was there a few times; and his visits are still remembered.

     Williamsport, Pa., May 26-31. With Mr. W. M. Kendig and Mr. W. E. Creamer and families. Baptism was administered to two little children, one in each family. Also visited Mr. W. B. Jordan, who was baptized by me in April, 1880.

     Sunbury, Pa., May 31-June 2. My first visit in this city with Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Shurtz.

     Harrisburg, Pa., June 2-3. Here an evening was spent in an interesting talk with Mr. P. E. Cornman and Mr. Ira J. Mosey. The former has taken the LIFE recently, and said he intends to make a visit to Bryn Athyn in the not far distant future. He seemed to have a good impression as to the place, and as to the uses of the Church that are done at that center. It was a surprise to me to learn from Mr. Cornman that some twenty-eight years ago he had received his first knowledge of the Heavenly Doctrines through me; as all recollection of having met him had passed out of my mind. J. E. BOWERS.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. From the annual report of the AMERICAN SWEDENBORG SOCIETY we learn that during the past year the Society has distributed two hundred copies of the DOCTRINE OF THE Loan and the DOCTRINE OF LIFE, respectively, to two hundred Japanese clergymen who were understood to read English. From the first two hundred seven acknowledgments were received containing applications for other gift books offered by the Society. The second two hundred have not yet been heard hem.

     Copies of DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM were sent to one hundred American professors of psychology, but without eliciting any favorable response.

     The work on HEAVEN AND HELL was advertised in thirteen consecutive weekly issues of 240 papers, the work being offered at 18 cents in paper and 30 cents in cloth.

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"The results have not been at all satisfactory from a natural standpoint,-$175.00 were spend for the 'ad' and only one hundred books sold thus far, in abut four months."

     A most successful effort was made by a private individual, Mr. Clodfelter, of Kansas City, Mo. This gentleman advertised the 10 cent edition of HEAVEN AND HELL, and vol. I. of the ARCANA (a gift book supplied from the Ellis Fund) free on receipt of postage,-8 and 18 cents, respectively. The advertising cost was $300.00, and from July, 1910, to April, 1911, Mr. Clodfelter has received orders from about 650 persons.

     The Convention's THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL announces as its staff of professors the Rev. William Worcester, president, Scripture Interpretation; the Rev. A. I. Ager, Doctrine; the Rev. J. E. Werren, Languages; the Rev. L. Hite, Philosophy; the Rev. W. F. Wunch, Church History, two or three times a fortnight; Mr. Charles Copeland, of Harvard College, Bible Reading, and Mr.
G. J. Parsons, Voice Culture.

     The partial paralysis which has lately afflicted the Rev. F. A. Gustafson, has compelled that gentleman to resign the pastorate of the LA PORTE, Ind., Society. Dr. Gustafson will remove to Rockford, Ill., where he hopes to resume medical practice as soon as his health permits.

     Professor Svante Arrhenius, Ph. D., member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, who wrote the Introduction to the second volume of the Academy's edition of Swedenborg's Scientific Works, received last May "the Willard Gibbs Gold Medal, at Chicago. Several Newchurchmen, among them the president of the Swedenborg Philosophy Club, the Rev. E. J. E Schreck, were present, by invitation, at the reception and dinner given by the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society when the medal was presented to Professor Arrhenius."

     Having become "much distressed of late on account of the circulation of matter creating misconception regarding the teaching of the New Church, and especially regarding the views of some ministers and people of the church on subjects relating to marriage," the women of the Chicago Society at a well attended meeting held at the Kenwood Church last May adopted resolutions stating that "the Chicago Society affirms that it stands unequivocally for morality and civil order, neither condoning nor excusing anything that is contrary to the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ in His Divine Word."

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And that the Society further affirms "that all the writings of Swedenborg which bear upon questions of sex, teach that the marriage of one man with one woman is the highest and holiest of all human relationships; . . . all sex relations outside of such marriage are evil. We repel every insinuation that any departure from marriage purity is consistent with New Church doctrine; and we affirm our belief that the preservation of the purity of marriage opens the gates into the beauty and blessedness of the Kingdom of God."

     Certain amendments to the above resolutions "were amendments proposed by Col. Rudolph Williams, more specifically naming particular evils which he desired to have the Chicago Society condemn. These amendments were not approved by the meeting."

     Rev. Frank L. Higgins now has charge of the work in Mobile and Fairhope, Ala. Mr. Higgins holds service every Sunday in the new school house, Fairhope, to an audience of from ten to twenty. A number of the New Church families have moved away, leaving the distinctive circle very small. Fairhope, it may be remembered, is a Single Tax Settlement.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The annual celebration of Swedenborg's Birthday, which is a fixed custom in the KEARSLEY society, was held on the evening of January 28th. There was a good attendance of young people from a number of the Lancashire societies. The Rev. J. R. Rendell gave an illustrated talk on the Swedenborg Congress and on the Upsala celebrations of last November.

     The practice of New Church ministers being members of the local church councils of their town,-a practice which is very prevalent in England, and is growing in this country, particularly in New England,-has led to quite a local storm in Southport;

     Some twenty years ago the Rev. Joseph Ashby, the New Church minister at Southport, was asked to state his views-the object being his inclusion in the membership of the Church Council then to be formed.

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In answer, he said "his church claimed to be 'evangelical' insomuch as it accepted the teachings of the Evangelists." The position was accepted, and from that time to this Mr. Ashby has been an active member of the Council, and has shared with its other members the annual "exchange of pulpits." But though all the other sects-for, according to the action of Mr. Ashby and many of his fellow ministers in England, it would seem that they regard the New Church as a "sect" of the Evangelical Churches,-but though all the other "sects" had had representatives in the presidential chair, the New Church had never once been "so honored." This year, however, the executive committee determined to nominate Mr. Ashby, having first obtained his consent. The result was disastrous. Despite the adjourning of the first meeting for election, Mr. Ashby was again defeated, and his defeat was plainly based on the ground of the doctrinal difference between his Church and the other Churches. The defeat on this ground was, of course, entirely unconstitutional, and has led to a protest by another New Church member of the Council-a layman-and also to some considerable newspaper agitation; for the Council is pledged to "advocate religious equality." But possibly Mr. Ashby's opponents had a better knowledge of the intrinsic opposition between the teachings of the New Church and those of the Old than Mr. Ashby himself appears to have.

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TIME AND SPACE IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD 1911

TIME AND SPACE IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD       Rev. ALFRED ACTON       1911




     ANNOUNCEMENTS.





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NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXI      AUGUST, 1911          No. 8
     We are told concerning the angels that they have absolutely no notion of time and space, and yet that all the appearances by which they are surrounded are appearances of time and space; in fact, that they could have no thought without such appearances. The like is true respecting the man who thinks justly concerning spiritual things-for he must elevate his thought above time and space, and yet he cannot think at all without the appearances of time and space. As an aid to the understanding of this seeming paradox it is necessary to understand the origin of time and space, that is to say, to understand the real thing of which time and space are the appearances.

     Space is the appearance of state; time, which in its essence is nothing but the measurement of space, is the appearance of progression from state to state. In the spiritual world these appearances are real appearances, in the natural or material world they are fixed appearances; or, in the spiritual world the places in which a spirit is and the progressions he makes actually mirror forth as in a picture, the real state in which he is and the real progressions which he makes while in the natural world are the appearances of those states and progressions as fixed in gross and inert matter.

     The perception that space or place represents state, that is, some state of the human mind, has led to many expressions of speech which are matters of common usage; as when we speak of a fertile mind and a barren mind, a lofty mind and a base mind, a mind well furnished and an empty mind, a man of wide views and a man of narrow views, of the heights of joy and the depths of despair-all of which expressions manifestly refer to material spaces as representations of states as to will and understanding.

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     But because this representation is fixed in matter, and because men can move from place to place without regard to the state in which they are, therefore, while spaces in this world are the appearances of human states they are not necessarily the appearances of the states of the men who are in them, and in this respect they may be called mere appearances, or dead appearances. (W. 160.) A heavenly man may live in barren or squalid surroundings, and an evil man in the midst of beauty and luxury. The squalid surroundings are the appearances of the state of evil, but they are not, in this case, the appearances of the man's state who is in such surroundings.

     It is similar with regard to time. There is with every man an actual and real progression either to heaven or to hell, and this progression is represented in fixed matter as that progression which we call time. Thus men progress from obscurity to light, from ignorance to wisdom-and so, likewise the earth progresses from night to day, and winter to summer. But these progressions of the earth, while they actually represent in fixed matter the progressions of human minds, yet do not necessarily represent the progressions of the individual. The mind of the infant becomes that of the child and then of the youth, and finally of the mature man-or, a man from being natural may become spiritual and finally celestial; all these are real progressions of states, which are represented in general by the progressions of the earth about the sun, or by progressions from place to place on the earth-as in the case of the Israelites, from Egypt to Canaan-but they go on quite independently of these material progressions. A man may live in a valley all his life, and yet spiritually be ascending to the mountain tops of heaven; or he may dwell in the temperate zone, and yet spiritually be progressing to the cold of hell. A child becomes a man in twenty years, yet the mere succession of years does not contribute to the growth of his mind. That growth is indeed in time and space, but at the same time without time and space.

485




     We read: "The times of the day in the natural world exactly represent changes in the spiritual world, but with this difference, that the changes in the spiritual world inflow into the understanding and will, and present those things which are of life, while those in the natural world inflow into the things which are of the body and sustain them." (A. C. 6110.)

     Time and space on this earth are, therefore, the fixed appearances of state and the progression of state, and they exist in the material world, because state and progression exist in the spiritual world where the human mind is. Thus we read in the ARCANA: "The spaces and distances and hence the progressions which appear in the natural world in their first cause and origin are changes of the states of the interiors." (9440.) And again: "In the heavens states of love and light, i. e., of good and truth, succeed each other continually as morning, noon, evening and dawn, and spring, summer, autumn and winter on earth. It is from this that those times of the day and year derive their origin, for the things which exist in the world are images of things which exist in the heavens, because everything natural exists from the spiritual, i. e., from the Divine in the heavens." (10200.)

     To the natural man these appearances-i. e., time and space-are mere appearances, for he sees nothing but the matter in which they are fixed; and, therefore, the merely natural man thinks from time and space, and has no ideas elevated above time and space. But to the spiritual man they are not mere appearances, for he sees within them that from which they spring. To him the whole world is a grand theater representative of living things which are above time and space, but come to appearance in time and space.

     The ability to thus elevate the mind above time and space depends on the habit, from love, of turning from mere worldly cares, and of cultivating thought about spiritual and eternal things-a habit which involves reading of the Word and meditation thereon.

     We have said that time and space are fixed appearances in this world and real appearances in the other; and from what has been shown it is clear that there is both time and space in the spiritual world.

486


For there are states and progressions. But there is no thought from time and space, that is to say, no measurement of state and progression or change of state, by the standards of material time and space.

     Considered abstractly, space is that which has limits or bounds; and in its first origin it is the finite reception of life from the Lord,-thus the state in which an angel or man is as to this reception. The Lord alone is omnipresent, and the reception of life from Him by finite beings constitutes their finite state, the appearance of which is space, i. e.,-the place in which they are, nearer to or more remote from the Lord..

     We read in HEAVEN AND HELL that "The verimost first cause [of the appearance of space in heaven] is that the Lord is present with everyone according to his love and faith and that all things appear near or at a distance according to His presence, for thence are determined all things in the heavens," (199), and in the ARCANA, "Distance from the verimost good which proceeds from the Lord makes the appearance of distance in heaven. There the angelic societies appear mutually distinct, yea most apart from each other, but this idea of space comes from the distance from the good and truth which is from the Divine of the Lord." (8918)

     This origin of space gives also the origin of time,-for time in its essence is nothing but the progression from space to space, or from state to state, and in the other world, the progressions and alternations of spirits from state to state actually appear as progressions of time.

     Here, then, is the very origin of time and space. Every human being, whether man, spirit or angel, is in a definite and finite state of love and wisdom, and he progresses from state to state in his reception of the Lord. And because this is so, therefore every human being is in a definite place;-in other words, there is but one who is omnipresent and eternal.

     Therefore, there is time and space in the spiritual world equally as in the natural world; and, in fact, time and space in the spiritual world are more real than in the natural, because they are the real and living appearances of those spiritual distinctions, of which material space and time are but the inert fixations in dead matter,-and the matter in which they are fixed adds nothing to their reality. (E. 1218.)

487


There is a real distinction between one soul and another as to reception of the Lord, and, in the spiritual world, this distinction is shown forth to the life by the place in which each is, howsoever far from, or near to, each other they may have been in this world. Without the real appearance of time and space in the other world there would be no distinction, and thus no existence. Therefore, in the Writings there are chapters on TIME IN HEAVEN, and ON SPACE IN HEAVEN.

     On this subject we read in the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION: "In the spiritual world there are not material spaces, and times corresponding thereto, but still there are the appearances of these and the appearances are according to the discriminations of the states in which the minds of spirits and angels there are; wherefore times and spaces there conform themselves to the affections of their will and hence to the thoughts of their understanding. But those appearances are real because they are constant according to their states. It is the common opinion regarding the state of souls after death . . . that they are not in any extense and hence not in space and time, from which idea it is said of souls after death that they are in a Pu or Ubi, and that spirits and angels are breaths of whom nothing else is thought than as of ether, air, breathing, or wind. When yet they are substantial men and live among themselves upon spaces and in times as do the men of the natural world, which spaces and times are determined according to the states of their minds. If it were otherwise, i. e., if they were without them, that universe into which souls go and where angels and spirits dwell might be drawn through the eye of a needle or gathered on the point of a hair; which would be possible if there were not a substantial expanse there. But because this is there, therefore angels dwell among themselves as discretely and distinctly, yea more distinctly than men, who have the material expanse, dwell among themselves. . . From this it may be comprehended that spaces and times finite all and single things which are in both worlds, and hence that men are finite not only as to their bodies, but also as to their souls, and likewise angels and spirits." (n. 29, cf. E. 870.)

488




     Without a knowledge of the truth that there are real appearances of time and space in the other world, there can be no clear understanding of anything in that world, and therefore, throughout the Writings, the descriptions of the spiritual world are all expressed in terms of time and space, (A. 3387, 2149, 450),-and this, not that we may put aside the appearances as of no account, but that they may serve as the true basis for rational comprehension. Not even the highest angels could receive or perceive anything unless they were in real appearances. Therefore, they have a body, apparently material; they have earth on which they walk, houses, woods, fields, gardens, food, clothes, books, etc.-and without these real appearances they could not exist, (W. 73), still less receive influx from the Lord. (A. 3404.)

     We read in the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED: "There is no idea of space and time with the angels of heaven, but a spiritual idea concerning them which is an idea of state. But the idea of state and hence the idea of the appearance of space and time is not possible except in the ultimate of creation there, and from those ultimates. The ultimates of creation there are the lands upon which the angels dwell. The spaces and times appear there and not in the spiritual things themselves from which the ultimates are created, yea, not even in the affections of the angels unless thought from those affections pervades to the ultimates." (1219.)

     But important as it is to know that there are spaces and times in heaven, it is equally important, and for us natural men emphatically important, to know that there are no ideas from space and time there, or no notion of space and time as such. Spaces and times do not appear with the angels, as they do with men, from something outside themselves, still less from the Sun of heaven which shines constantly; but they are the variations of the angels themselves with regard to their reception of heat and light from their Sun. (E. 351, 1219, D. 5623, A. 10635) Thus in the spiritual world there is absolutely no measurement of space or of time, (H. 195), for all such measurement proceeds from what is fixed, and in the spiritual language there are no words expressing distances, such as furlongs and miles, nor any words expressive of time such as days, weeks, months and years; but all their words relating to the appearances of time and space are expressive of the quality of state with respect to love and wisdom and the propinquities and distances of states.

489


It is true that angels and spirits have morning, noon, and evening, (C. L. 2), that they have times for worship, for work and for recreation, (C. L. 23), that they have varying seasons of greater or lesser warmth corresponding to the seasons of our year; but all these distinctions are not distinctions of times but distinctions of state. (W. 73.) Nor do they recur at set times from causes outside of the angels, but they are the appearances of the states of the angels. (D 5623)

     Thus the angels do not think "It is morning, and therefore I must work," or noon, and therefore I must rest; but when they are in the activity of their love and use, i. e., when they are in the fullest reception of life from the Lord, then they are in the joyousness of morning; and when, because they are finite they become less receptive of the activity of the Divine, it is evening with them; nor have they, nor can have, any other thought respecting morning and evening except a thought of state,-state of reception whereby the Lord who is omnipresent appears to be nearer or more remote. In this connection we note the teaching that "in the inmost sphere of heaven there is a certain progression according to the Divine celestial form, which comes to the perception of no one, and according to which the states of all who are in heaven undergo changes," (A. 8750),-a teaching which indicates a certain regularity or periodicity in the variations of the states of spirits and angels.

     It is from state that angels and spirits number their times, and not from the sun, as do men. (E. 747.) And so we find the teaching that there are "no times in the other life," a teaching which is explained by the words:

     "The progression of life of spirits and angels appears indeed as if in time, but there is no thought from times . . . but from states of life and this without the notion of time." (A. 4901, D. 5623)

     The same also applies to the spirit of man even while in this world, in that he has no notion of time as such, but only of clearness and obscurity of state according to his activities, and this wholly independently of earthly day and night.

490


In this respect men differ from animals, because they live in the spiritual world as well as in the natural.

     And so with regard to space and distance-although these exist in the spiritual world equally as in the natural world, (H. 191, 195, 198), being the appearances of state and similitudes and dissimilitudes of state. Yet there is no notion either of space or distance. (H. 162.) "Nothing (we read) is there estimated according to spaces, but according to states." (H. 191, 198, D. 5623a, 5624, 5627) Thus when an angel sees those at a distance he does not think of them as being separated by the distance, but of the distinctions of state which produce the appearance of distance. (D. W. VII. S.E. 1219.) Of this We lead in DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM: "Because angels and spirits see with eyes equally as do men in the world, and objects cannot be seen except in space, therefore in the spiritual world . . . there appear spaces similar to spaces on earth, and yet they are not spaces but appearances, for they are not fixed and set as on earth; they call be lengthened and shortened, changed and varied; and because thus they cannot be comprehended by a natural idea but only by a spiritual idea, which is no other in regard to the distances of space than of the distances of good or of truth which are affinities and similitudes according to their states." (n. 7.).

     A remarkable illustration of this is given in the work on HEAVEN AND HELL Where we read that "when any one progresses from one place to another (in the spiritual world) . . . he arrives more quickly when he goes with desire and more slowly when he goes without desire; the road itself is lengthened and shortened according to the desire although it is the same road. I have often seen this and been amazed." (195)

     Going from one place to another is nothing else than a change of the state of him who thus progresses; and by change of state is meant a change of the state of the organic vessels of the mind. which with man are the inmost vessels of his cerebrum. According to the change of the state of these vessels so they become receptive of and responsive to the active spheres of varying societies of heaven or of hell; and these spheres bring the actual presence of such societies, so that they are with the man and the man with them.

491




     Such changes of state are undergone by man on earth from infancy up,-changes of state that lead him, as to his spirit, into the presence of and association with many societies,-changes of state that are voluntarily induced while the man is on earth, but which after death are all governed by the one ruling state which the man has confirmed and thus fixed and infilled.

     These changes of state of the inmost vessels of the cerebrum or of the mind of man are actual journeyings in the spiritual world from one society to another. It was by such changes that Swedenborg travelled from society to society, and even to other earths while his body remained in one place. It is by some such changes that different spirits are present with us in our dreams, and induce upon us the various appearances of their presence; and it is by such changes that every man on earth is actually progressing to his final abode.

     With some these changes are more easily effected than with others according to the desire of their love, for according to this desire they put off things discordant and put on things concordant more quickly or more slowly. This may be illustrated by the ease and quickness with which some men come into the Church, or into other active forms of use, while others come more slowly. In the spiritual world, because distance there is the real appearance of similitude and dissimilitude, the road or path of the journey is actually-not apparently, but actually-lengthened or shortened according to the eagerness of the desire.

     To sum up the doctrine as to time and space in the spiritual world: There is time and space in both worlds; but in the natural world space and time are fixed and are the subjects of man's thought and affection, i. e., they are that from which the natural man thinks. But in the spiritual world they are the real appearances of the man's state, and are the objects of the thought and affection, i. e., they are the ultimates in which the thought and affection rest; and they change as the thoughts and affections change. (D. W. vii. 5.)

     The contemplation of this change in the ultimate appearances of the spiritual world according to changes of state-as that the surroundings may be created in a moment, and is a moment be dissipated,-has led some to cherish a vague idea of that world as being something intangible and unstable, in which one can be sure of nothing.

492


While those who have some such idea may acknowledge from reason that the states of angels and spirits as to the reception or rejection of the things of heaven are the real and substantial things within time and space, and that time and space in the spiritual world are the real appearances of these states, yet they feel the need of something fixed and permanent which shall react to that which inflows, and their thought as to the real appearances produced by the states of spirits does not satisfy this need.

     Others again have gone to the other extreme, and from feeling the same need of something ultimate and fixed to react have more or less cherished an idea of the spiritual world as of a purer material world. Knowing that spirits and angels are finite recipients of life from the Lord and' therefore in certain finite states; and knowing that each is in a finite or definite human form, and therefore in a certain distinct place, they have thought that they must rest on fixed matter, and that therefore there is fixed space in the spiritual world.

     In both cases the obscurity arises from not comprehending the inseparable connection between the material world and the spiritual world,-the world of the natural sun which gives fixity and the world of the spiritual Sun which gives life.

     It is true that all things in the spiritual world would be intangible and unstable, nay, that all the infinite things which inflow from the Lord who is the Sun of Life would be unfinited and hence invisible and incomprehensible to angels unless there were fixed inert matter in which they could rest and whereby they could be presented as living forms. It is also true that, because angels and spirits are finite, they must rest on fixed inert matter, in order that they may have distinct and individual existence. But this fixed inert matter which is the ultimate clothing of all finite states is in the world of matter and not in the spiritual world. In the latter world there is nothing material; everything there is real and substantial from the Lord who is substance itself. But this real and substantial can not exist in finite forms unless it rests on and is contained in that which is inert, fixed and dead and which can therefore react. Without reaction there is no effect, (A. 6262), but only proceeding.

493


Therefore, we are taught that the Lord created a spiritual Sun and a natural sun and that by these two suns was effected the whole of creation of finite forms. For, as we read in the DIVINE PROVIDENCE, "All creation is in the stream of reaction." (n. 190, W. 165.) The natural and material world, or the world of effects, was therefore created by the Lord that it might be distinct from the spiritual world, or world of causes, and that from Him it might serve as a reagent to and an ultimate clothing and containant of all created things. The spiritual world rests upon the material world as on a basis on which its finite existence depends. The two worlds are held in such close connection that neither could be destroyed without the utter destruction of the other. (A. 9216.)

     The image of this connection and -interdependence is seen in the presence and operation of the spirit or mind of man in his body. The spirit or mind is the seat and subject of all our varying states,-states which are, to us, the verimost realities even though they undergo multitudinous and oftentimes sudden changes, as from the height of joy to the depth of despair, even though the body apparently remains the same. All these states of the mind, yea the mind itself, could not exist for a moment without a body to serve as a fixed and ultimate containant wherein man's Spirit may subsist and be permanent. Without such a body, limitation or finition could not be, and the mind and the soul itself would be dissipated. By means of the body the spirit of man is formed from the life of God which is man's inmost soul; by means of the body his spirit is in space and yet without space, i. e., it rests on space, receives definition from space, and yet is wholly above or within space. The things of space, as they are in themselves, do not enter man's spirit; but nevertheless, by virtue of his connection with the body, and thus with the things of fixed space, his spirit is at it were held together, limited, defined, and is thus able to live its life above the things of space,-is able to become and remain a permanent, an immortal, individual, and finite form receptive of life from the Lord.

494




     So necessary for the permanent existence of man as an individual form of life in this connection with the things of the natural world that the connection is never dissolved to all eternity. Therefore, we are taught that by death a man only puts off the grosser things of nature, while he still retains a certain border or limbus consisting of the purest substances of nature which serve him as a cutaneous envelope and containant whereby he remains finited, and whereby he can subsist and continue and perpetuate his life. (W. 257, 388, D. W. viii. 8.) In fact, it would appear that death is nothing but the putting off of the gross kingdom of the heart and the blood.

     The purest substances that have been received by means of the kingdom of the heart and have served to fix, infill and confirm the states and possibilities of states that man has made his own,- these are not cast off by death, but remain as the fixation and ultimate of all that the man may call his own.

     The angels are not conscious of the presence of this natural envelope-just as men on earth, in many of their states, such, for instance, as deep thought or interior affection-are not conscious of the presence of the body. Nevertheless this "cutaneous envelope" is forever with every spirit and every angel of the other world as the ultimate, the containant, the reagent to all the real and substantial things of love and wisdom of which they are actively conscious even to sensing their real and ultimate appearances as the beautiful things of heaven, and the monstrous things of hell. And it is by means of this cutaneous envelope that the inhabitants of the spiritual world are held eternally in space without space, and in time without time.

     This teaching respecting the limbus is, however, but a particular of a more general doctrine, namely, that the whole spiritual world rests upon the material world which serves as its ultimate covering and by which it has permanent existence.

     As man's soul exists within the body-even after death as already set forth-so the whole spiritual world exists within the natural world of time and space. We may not understand by natural thought where the soul' is in the body or that it is everywhere in the body; but we may see clearly that it is within the body, yet not partaking of the limitations of the body; and that it is the one real and living thing in the body, enclosed and contained by the body.

495


And from this knowledge and perception we may come to some knowledge and perception of the relation between the spiritual world and the natural world,-that the spiritual world is within the natural and yet no partaker of its limitations; that it is the world of substantial realities, and that it is enclosed and contained by the natural world. That to the natural world it gives life, while the natural world in turn gives to it finiteness, limitation, and appearance.

     The analogy between the two worlds on the one hand, and the soul and body of man on the other, is perfect. For man is that microcosm in which is imaged the macrocosm of universal creation, nay, by the gift of Divine Love man is the image of the Divine Itself who alone is Man. It is by the study of man that we shall arrive at a clearer knowledge of the profound arcana revealed to the New Church concerning the spiritual world. Such study is indeed indispensable; and therefore it is so frequently referred to in the Writings, and so strongly emphasized as of prime importance. I refer not to the mere study of anatomy-though this is the necessary basis and foundation for further progress-but to that study of the human" body as the scene of the wonderful operations of the soul, as the stage on which the mind plays its part, and as the instrument which it holds to its bidding, to that study which characterizes the physiological treatises of Swedenborg.

     Indeed it is doubtful whether without such study of man's body as the court of his mind any but the most general knowledge can be obtained concerning the relation of the spiritual world to the natural. The two worlds are epitomized in man, for he is an inhabitant of both. The whole of creation is one grand man of which the Lord is the Supreme Life and Soul, the spiritual world the mind, and the natural world the body. As the soul ultimates its wisdom in the wondrous works of the body, so the Lord created the world as a type representing the Divine Wisdom. As the mind flows into the body with the thoughts and affections which inspire its actions, so the spiritual world flows into the natural, so angels and spirits affect men. But, on the other hand, as the mind is in sleep and lethargy and as it were dead unless it rest on the ultimate and active sensations, experiences and memory of the body, so the spiritual world would be in lethargy and sleep unless it rested on the natural world, and on the sensations and experiences and memories of men there.

496


As the mind is enlightened when the eyes of the body read the Word, so angels are in illustration when man reads the Word. As without the ultimate Word and ultimate worship our spirit itself would languish and grow faint, so without a church on earth, even though among only a few, the heavens themselves could not subsist. In all respects, the image of the macrocosm is perfectly represented in the microcosm, and by the study of the one we shall arrive at an understanding of the other. Hence the truth of the ancient saying, man's highest study is man.

     The natural world and the spiritual world are inseparable. There is absolutely nothing with angels and spirits in the spiritual world which does not flow into, inspire, and rest upon the fixed things of the natural world where spiritual things appear in ultimate form and present indefinite things as some one general-even as the indefinite things of the brain are presented in the generals of the body.

     Therefore, spirits and angels actually rest upon and delight in the spheres of earthly places which correspond to their delights, just as the mind of man dwells in and is delighted with those corporeal spheres which enter the blood and serve as the resting place of his love. Evil spirits dwell in and delight in stercoraceous places; by means of the spheres arising from such places, spheres which tittilate and excite the "finest substances" which spirits have retained from the body, and which are their connection with the ultimate world,-by means of these spheres, the loves of spirits are aroused and made active, and the surroundings which are the appearances of those loves with their thoughts and affections become actual before their eyes. If there were no such spheres nor men who receive such spheres as the harmonious fixations of their own states, evil spirits would come into inactivity and lethargy.

     Angels and good spirits, on the other hand, rest on good spheres and if there were no such spheres, no men in whom such spheres serve as the harmonious fixation of their states, the angels themselves would be deprived of illustration.

497




     From this truth with regard to the connection between the spiritual and natural worlds we may be prepared to comprehend the teaching that spirits and angels of the ultimate heaven dwell around the particular earth on which they had lived as men, while the superior angels have a wider ultimate. (U. 1, Ath. 115, A. 6701, 7078, 7358, D. 552.)

     From this general view of the spiritual world as resting on the fixed things of time and space in the natural world we may come to some clearer understanding of the revealed truth that the things of heaven are real and substantial because they exist immediately from the Sun of Life who is the Lord; that these spiritual things are finited and limited because they rest on the ultimate things of nature; that the substantial things of the spiritual world which are without time and space yet appear as in time and space, because they rest on the things of fixed time and space. And we can come to a nearer view of the universal creation of the Lord as one Gorand Man whose loves and affections are the real and substantial things of heaven and whose body is the fixed things of nature,-a Gorand Man to whom the Lord gives life and light through heaven, and finiteness through the world-a man whose soul and body are held together by the Lord in indissoluble and eternal conjunction, that heaven may exist from the human race and may forever rest thereon,-a man whose very ultimates, when they had become perverted, the Lord took upon Himself that He Himself might become the Divine ultimate for His creation,-the Last, as from eternity He was the First.

498


SECOND AURA 1911

SECOND AURA       LILLIAN G. BEEKMAN       1911

     II.

     We have figured the initiatory preparation for such a further local production of the series of the Proceeding Divine, as the preparation, the clearing and freeing in the midst of the celestial ether of a great nuclear space like a great seed, of dimension commensurate with the work to be done, the breadth and scope of the series it is carrying toward completion.

     Within this active star-center, this nuclear space as it is first opened as a great spheric interstice in the primal ether, during all its earlier and more productive stage we have called attention to the fact Swedenborg lays stress upon: the fact that within its field there exists solely and alone the Infinite Substance of God-Man, in the Divine Esse and Divine Essence. And those first immediate productions of the Divine Essence, the simple finites, the first-substantials in their full, active potency and unhindered individual movement. We have figured the cardiac and pulsating motion in which this center is kept.

     We have figured, too, that in the rapid increase, the providential widening of this nuclear space, the built of the surrounding celestial ether are necessarily displaced, crowded, thrust toward the circumference of the pulsing space, so that from that cause alone there arises about the space a delicate densation and, as it were, a first delineation and foreshading of a protective shell.

     In all this there shines forth the gracious analogy, on a scale of cosmic greatness, of the preparation of the human seed as a freed, pulsing, nuclear center. This image, so intimately organic, is the image Swedenborg gives of the formation of that nuclear space which is the heart or "soul" of a star; the inmost giver of energy to the vortex of a solar system; the unending fount of the animations of light and heat to that system.

     We have figured also how when such an active nuclear center, such a star seed and beginning is generated and maintained by God, in the vast of the primal ether, the perpetual stimulant power of that active space sets up a great vortex-whirl in that primal ether.

499


We have figured also how that vortex, which, at first, consists of the primal ether, alone becomes infilled, as it were, with bullae of the second ether multiplied till they form a sort of vortex ring volume, a volume of foam of larger bubble, and less active and determinate potencies of motion.

     And we have briefly indicated the causes at work and the history of the development of a veritable shell about that central arcane heart of the star; until at last that high pulsatile center, sacred, holy, of the star-nucleus and soul, is compassed about by a fine shell of the first metallic-primitives or vortex corpuscles; so that there is found about that wonderful, that supernal interior, a sort of wall of viscous metallic fire; a type of an enveloping ocean of flame, encompassing, shadowing and guarding about that living and holy center.

     For closer concentration upon the process, we have outlined this history in a single instance; as if it had happened only once and in a single place in the universe,-as if there were but one star, one sun, one solar System, brought forth in the universal divine, the divine celestial atmosphere,-the ease of the series of the Proceeding Divine.

     But the vortex-volumes of the second ether, those atmospheric volumes embodying the second or spiritual degree of the Divine Proceeding,-by so much as they present a cosmic correspondent images in the atmospheric series of the individua of the Divine Essence itself-cannot even be thought of as one only; but as of myriads and myriads in association and coexistence.

     Let us then return on the line of our thought and prepare our minds for a fuller and truer image of the unfolding of the proceeding Divine.

     Consider that the first epoch, the first degree, of that proceeding consummates in the production of the divine universal, the celestial aura, in its completeness, as one volume, of most ineffable nature, structure, function, rank.*
     * To this aura no predicates of later auras or atmospheres can be applied, save by the most sublime analogy. Yet in ifs reality, all the others are real, and from it and in it all others are formed. (E. A. K., Part II., 166, 311, 312.)

500




     On the scene and stage of the primal aura, the second epoch of creation opens; the second epoch, which covers the history of the production of the series of the Proceeding Divine to the second degree.

     God, the Creator, opens in the vast of the primal ether myriads of such sun-nuclei or pulsing star seed at distances from each other almost beyond our computation. Yet there is room enough for these in the volume of the primal ether; and room enough still for all that shall yet be created to everlasting ages.

     These nuclei as they have been already opened are as many as the starry suns of creation, as many as are the points of light in the Milky Way strewn with its stars: as many more as the sky of the Southern Hemisphere flashes forth; as many more as the telescope reveals to the sight; and more; and still more.

     Even so many are those local pulsing star centers or nuclei which the creating God has opened in the universal aura; and round about each of those centers God-Man the Creator has already carried, or is now carrying, the production of the great ultimating series of the Proceeding Divine through its successive descending involution, of a solar system, and every part, plane and member of its sacred series is complete from the vortex volume of second ether even to the shaping form; from it and in it of planetary masses, terrestrial ethers, waters, salts, and the primal seed-soils. Only then is all prepared in that earth-point of the universal aura and around about that sun, in the immediate vicinity of the planetary masses, for the beginning of a creative formation of individual forms, from these prepared and produced substances, this descending series of the Proceeding Divine: individual forms, organized, recipient of influx, living.*
     * That the Divine Truth together with the auras constitutes the Proceeding Divine, see A. E. 726

     Concerning the interior and exterior of the Lord's Body, as a One and inseparable Divine Proceeding, see the following paralleled quotations,-where in one paragraph a certain use is attributed to the Proceeding Divine, and in the other paragraph the same use is attributed to the auras, natural and spiritual. Things which are equal to the same are equal to each other 1 the Divine proceeding and the auras are evidently absolutely inseparable, and invariably act as one.

501




     For all things are so created that affection clothes itself with what is human in the several degrees from first to last. This arcanum has been hitherto unknown in the world. That affection clothes itself with a body, and this from the Proceeding Divine, is for the reason that what proceeds from the Lord proceeds from the single things of His Body, interior and exterior.

     "An arcanum in heaven and in the world is this, that the work of creation has been so effected that every good, conjoined to truth, clothes itself with forms, principally with the human form,... The clothing of form, which goes an everywhere in the atntospheres, is an arcanum of which no one yet has knowledge; and it is an essential of atmosphere; both spiritual and natural." (ATH. CREED, page 8.)

     These quotations give peculiar interest and sanction to the truths stated in Swedenborg's physiological works as to the derivation of the internal or formative substance of all finite organisms from the Proceeding Divine, or the auras of the Elemental Kingdom.

     The Human internal,-the formative substance of the entire human organism, mental and bodily, spiritual and terrestrial,-is derived from and in the first aura, the divine-celestial plane of the Proceeding Divine. This is commonly called the human spirituous fluid.

     The Animal internal,-the formative substance or plane of being of all animal organism,-is derived from the second aura; or second plane of the Divine Proceeding. This is commonly called the animal spirit. The office for its range of being is analogous to and emulous of the office of the human spirituous fluid.

     The Vegetative internal-the formative substance or plane of being of the vegetative world is derived from the third aura, or third exterior plane of the Proceeding Divine.

     Figure, then, back in the beginning, before ever a star is in the universal sky, that wherever God means to develop a starry sun and solar system, there the Gracious Creator opens such an active unlsing "vacuous" nuclear space.

502




     And figure that all these myriad active centers, each by itself beating, acting and reacting in the common ground and matrix of the foam volume of the primal ether, sets up a whirling vortex current therein, and the primal ether vortex according to the image of the history we have traced, becomes infilled with a volume of second ether, a grosser ether foam, and the pulsing sun center becomes surrounded with a sort of guarding viscous shell or crust, of third finites or highest metallic primitives compressed out of the surrounding ether particles in such fiery dissociate activity, compounded as they are, their activity dazzling as a flame.

     In the mass of these myriad volumes of second ether, each developed around its own generative sun center, we are to see that production of the Proceeding Divine-Spiritual, which answers in its human image to the Proceeding Divine-Celestial as the myriad primitives of the Divine Essence or Existence answer to the Infinite Esse or One.

     Consider the particulars:

     First: These vast vortex-currents or whirls which arise in the primal or divine celestial ether, about a newly initiate sun are at first whirls or currents of that primal ether only. (LESSER PRINCIPIA 65.)

     In each of these great vortices there is developed a volume of second-order ether; the development beginning, always, toward the center of the vortex.

     That the least parts, the units, or bullae, of the volume of second-order ether always originate near the center of the primal ether vortex. (See PR., Part I, Chap. VIII, 4, 5, Chap. IX.)

     The substance of the second-order ether is derived from the substance of the primal ether, and given to it to be the materia of its form, so long as the conditions of its first formation continues, i. e., so long as the vortex-whirl continues to exist.

     See PRINCIPIA, Part I, Chap. VIII, 4, Chap. VI, 4, and E. A. K., Part II, 228, for the prime law that what the human spirituous fluid is and does in the human organism or form, this the first aura is and does in the whole Universe,-their powers being the same, i. e., the first aura in the macrocosm is a formal, forming, or informing cause; it is the formative substance of all the posterior or inferior things in its universe or kingdom.

503




     After this volume of second-order ether has been developed, the two ethers, first and second, whirl together in the one vortex.

     This second element together with the first then constitutes the vortex. (PR., Part I, Chap. IX.) But it is the second element which possesses principally the solar-vortex or that of our universe and mundane system. It likewise enters into the vortices of the planets and earth within which move the satellites. (PR., Part II, Chap. XV, 2.)

     That the elementary particles or bullae of the first and second auras may concordantly flow in one volume, sphere and vortex. (PR., Part I, Chap. IX, 5, par. 2.)

     The purer ether is streaming everywhere round about and in the interstices between the bullae of the other, preserving the equilibrium, both of its volume as a whole and of its bullae, or units, and furthering its powers and conatus of motion.

     That the bullae of the second-order ether owe their equilibrium, and the maintenance of their bullular form, to the surrounding pressure of the primal aura, in the volume of which they are formed, and by which they are everywhere embraced. (See PR., Part I, Chap. IX, 5.)

     That the universal aura surrounds and embraces all the vortices or masses of second-order ether, which latter are as many as the stars of heaven, the motion of the primal ether being that of the whole created Universe. (E. A. K., Part II, 272, 312, 339)

     Thus the individual masses of second ether bullae which constitute the vortices about the stars, as their individual or sub-universes, not only owe their existence and their substance to the primal ether, but also in the universal and prior ether they subsist, being held together by it. And this according to the supreme law that singulars which exist from a universal, subsist in it; and are by it held together in order and connection. (T. C. R. 714)

504




     While these vortices of second ether, these sun centers, are self similar, all of them bearing the same intrinsic rank and name, as to substance and forces; all on a cosmic scale of greatness,-yet among themselves they differ, are individual, distinct, as the grey cells of the brain, of like rank and nature, differ among themselves. No two star nuclei are precisely similar, as to size or force. Like human seed they differ, and the series of the Proceeding Divine descending from them differs, even as men are all of the grade Man, yet differing in glory and genius. Yet none can replace another, and it takes all to reflex to God-Man in competent image.

     We can see the inner reason or end for this difference of size of solar centers; the different dimension, pressure, flow of the second ether volume formed about them as their own peculiar product and kingdom.

     Each volume of solar ether in its place is to be the continent and ground of a distinct human or heavenly society of the Spiritual Kingdom; to the individual peculiarities of that second ether the second plane of the organic mechanism of the sentient mind of human beings having future nativity under the light of that sun-center will be framed peculiarly respondent; and thus a basis is laid in the peculiarities of the second ether volume about that sun even before the creation of a human race in that solar system, for the after-evolution of it as a distinct genus, among the myriad human races produced in the myriad solar systems.

     Nor are we to think of the rise of solar systems as all finished and done with. Yesterday, today, tomorrow, a thousand ages from now, God can open, where He will, In the universal aura, a new star nucleus, and carry the descending involution of the Proceeding Divine to its ultimate consummation, preparatory to creation.

     Fresh systems, Swedenborg says, may arise every moment; new heavens and new earths; neither are any two tenanted by a precisely similar race of living creatures. (PR. Part III, Chap. II, SEC. I.)

     From all solar systems which have arisen since the universal ether was framed, or which are yet to arise, it is evident that the general history of the creative process here outlined as given in the LESSER PRINCIPIA, covers the ground.

505


Yet this Mother of origin, this present and future rise of myriad systems, need not preclude us from considering that God may have begun the production of myriad starry systems very early in the creative impulse and history.

     For before the framing of the primal ether, there was a time,-as it were before time was born, being scarce as yet conceived in its seed,-when through the whole ground where the primal ether was to be, there existed but the vortex primitives of the Divine Essence, and their first product, active and perfect,-the very Divine Love and Spiritual Sun itself in creative breadth.

     What we wish to do is to image the universal of all suns, as contractile, vacuoles, pulsing with the life of God-Man. Image their primal parental relation, in conjunction with the coaction of the primal ether, in bringing into existence this volume of second ether foam which lies about them; and the viscous surrounding shell of fiery primities. Image also the three-fold office of these animating centers, inmostly pulsing with the life of God-Man, the three-fold office of heart, lung and gland, which, in sublime rhythm, they perform to their surrounding vortices. In the office of heart, their perpetual slight expansion and contraction stimulates and continues the vortex motion around them. In the office of lung, that expansion and contraction send out through the Volume of foam ether about, rippling waves of undulatory pressure and release, which communicates to and enforces perpetually upon the elastic bullae of the surrounding ether, rhythmic contractions and expansions which Swedenborg calls their respiration; and says constitutes the actual inside view of what light is; for it is this undulatory pressure communicated to the ether by the pulsing expansions and contractions of the active star center or soul, which is called light.

     Moreover the high office of such solar centers as glands is apparent. Since its coaction with the primal ether has been efficacious in compressing and remolding from the substance of the primal ether foam, new materia, entia, corpuscles of happiest value in the ensuing work.

     By this means is thus carried on the work of production of the great human image shaped in the flowing Proceeding Divine, the active atmospheres of the Elementary Kingdom and all their ensuing product; a human image shaped through starry astronomical aeons, until its planes and their relations stand forth in large answerable generals imaging God-Man; a plane of ground of being, a plane or ground of existence; a plane of proceeding bound in one cycling unity of life; even a plane of proceeding involving and expressing both.

506




     That the universe as a whole is organic. (See S. D., 3576-77) "As uses and ends can never exist but from organic substances, and because uses and ends are the vital principles of organic substances, it thence appears that the Universe, as to its contents, from the inmost to the outmost, is organic, and that the Lord alone is Life, and thus the universe is filled by the Lord."

     And these planes and their relations are to be provided for, stand forth, in great "image" in the Elementary Kingdom, a full preparation before ever yet in all the universe of stars a man can be formed beneath the auspices of any fair shining sun; or beasts low upon the green clothed field; even before any earth in all the shaping universe of God as yet can be verdure clad.

     But this Proceeding Divine cannot. be considered apart from the auras. For the Divine Truth, together with the auras, constitutes the Proceeding Divine. Moreover, it is an axiom of the Church that the auras or active atmospheres are in the Lord and are the Lord as to use; the term Lord here involving Father and Son, the consubstantiate Divine Esse and Essence,--as the term Man involves the human soul (or internal) and its consubstantiate body, the celestial, spiritual and natural Man (or specialized reflexive organization).

     Now the Proceeding Divine, as it extends itself to the universe,-to be the active ground and substance of farther creation,-must itself, within the compass of its own proper series represent and involve, in large architypal generals, an image of God-Man; if only as a provision for the series of the animate creation yet to be evolved from and in the Proceeding Divine.

     (To be continued.)

507


SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS 1911

SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS       Rev. N. D. PENDLETON       1911

     (A letter read at the Local Assembly of the Denver Society April, 1911.)

     The subject is of such scope and its bearing upon the life and development of the Church is of such vital importance that one hesitates before presenting views which, after more thorough consideration, may be regarded as immature if not incorrect.

     However there are certain generals which I am convinced will stand the test of time, experience and a far more interior grasp of the subject than that which we now possess. The first of these generals may be described as an affirmative attitude towards the proposition of the absolute necessity of a correlation between natural and spiritual truth in order that there may be given a spiritual rational development, and as well a thorough-going recognition of the fact that as the Writings give us the spiritual truth of Divine revelation purely and authoritatively, so do the philosophical and scientific works of Swedenborg give us principles of natural truth, which are in correspondence with, and therefore act as receiving vessels for the spiritual truths of direct Divine revelation.

     That this is so may be comprehended by any Newchurchman, at least in a general way, if merely he has an outline grasp of the Principia plan of creation, with the addition of some knowledge from the other works, concerning the human form, its functions and degrees, and its organic place and relation in that plan. If he has this he will perceive that he is in possession of the framework upon and in which the heavens of the after-revelation are built, and as a thinking man he will be confronted by the necessity of considering, either that the after-revelations are nothing more than a systematic series of imaginative visions and intellectual speculations concerning the unknown, based on an early formed scientific theory; or that the mind of Swedenborg, of providential leading, was, from the beginning, guided in the way of discovering fundamental truth concerning the planes and degrees of creation and of the human form, and this, in order that there might be in the mind of the Seer adequate knowledges to act as receiving vessels for the spiritual truth of Divine revelation.

508




     Being confronted with these two propositions leading in opposite directions, the Newchurchman's faith will abide. His religion will stand-with the result that the authority of revelation-the light of spiritual truth-will be carried over into the receiving forms of natural truth, which were discovered and published to the world long before the pure light of Divine revelation as such broke upon the mind of the Prophet.

     Moreover, it will be seen that the accordance between this pure and after truth is so perfect as to make them seem, in many cases, identical. And the thought will be suggested that the truth taught in the earlier works was also given by revelation; even this will be allowed with a proper discrimination The principles laid down in the philosophical writings were indeed revealed to Swedenborg. How else did he know them? He did not make or manufacture them out of his human conceit. If he had, the element of essential falsity would have been present, and they would not have been suitable as receiving vessels for the Divine revelation when given. However, they are found to accord with that revelation marvelously. The two fit together like pieces of one thing. So that we may say that the principles of natural truth were revealed to Swedenborg. Not, for the most part, by conscious revelation, or with Divine authority, as was later the case; but they were revealed, in that they were, of manifest providence, discovered to him. His mind was opened to see and received the truth on all the subjects upon which he wrote, and this from the beginning. Only thus could he be prepared for the performance of the greatest and most unique work that man was ever called upon to do.

     Recognizing this, we, as Newchurchmen, should lay side our conceit of knowledge when we approach these earlier works, and this, even as we, in the first instance, bow before the Divine Authority of the Writings, for we see that this authority-this light of revelation-is sustained and illustrated by the earlier teachings.

509




     The importance of the so-called scientific and philosophical writings comes clearly to view when we realize that no spiritual truth whatever can be defined before the rational mind, unless it be clothed in some concordant natural idea of truth. Wherefore, such natural ideas, as basic images, are a sine qua non. We must have them. The question arises, from what source are they to be drawn. Fortunately they are to be had by all Christians in most ultimate grade and permanent form in the letter of the Word. But we note, for instance, that it is a long leap from the history of the patriarchs, as literally given in the Old Testament, to the profound truths concerning the Glorification of the Lord, which are deeply involved in that history.

     It is a human need that this distance should be bridged by an intermediate structure, by a grouping of natural ideas arranged in ascending series like the steps of a ladder, so that there may be a graded passage from the ultimate words and ideas of Scripture to the celestial and Divine meanings involved. Now the Writings give these intermediate ideas-very many of them-incidentally. But the earlier works present them, not individually but in their own structural series and organic plane, as a whole, so that they may be comprehended in a larger way. Certainly it is at times necessary to go to the earlier works for this larger view, and not infrequently this is necessary to a clear understanding of some individual statement in the Writings.

     Swedenborg himself, in expounding the spiritual sense according to the Old Testament Scripture, laments the lack of intermediate natural ideas, without which the distance between the letter and the heavenly sense can not be satisfactorily bridged. And on one occasion he says that he can go no further with the exposition because of this lack, as in the following:

     "These things are of such a nature as to transcend the apprehension of the natural man, and can not be seen except in the light of the rational or internal man, in which light at the present day there are but few, because few are being regenerated, therefore, it is better to illustrate them no further, for the illustration of things unknown and transcending the apprehension does not bring them into light, but into more shade. Moreover, such things are to be built upon ideas of natural truths, through which they are to be apprehended, and at the present day these also are wanting. This is the reason why the words just preceding have been explained so briefly." (A. C. 3596)

510




     We could hardly ask for more definite instruction with regard to the need and use of natural ideas of truth, as intermediate between the sensual imagery of Scripture and the internal sense, which is one with the Word in the heavens. For the statement is that the deeper things of that sense are to be "built" upon such natural ideas of truth. Of course, the spiritual meaning rests solely upon the Letter, as upon its own sure and everlasting foundation, but this resting place, as a living form, is the Word of Scripture, as it is in the minds of men, and the efficient operation of its Divine is by and through the Scripture there placed, that is, according to the understanding or interpretation which men place upon it. This is the same as saying that in order that there may be a Divine communication between the internal and external senses of the Word, the external must be rightly understood. There must be in the minds of men certain ideas of natural truth, in the light of which the Letter must be rightly comprehended, and which, therefore, may serve as a medium of communication, and thus bridge the distance between the high heavenly and the low earthly-between the phases of the Glorification of the Human, by which the whole creation was ordained, and the outwardly trivial incidents in the lives of the patriarchs. That right ideas of natural truth serve this purpose, may be seen from the influence and effect of wrong ideas belonging to the same plane. These wrong ideas, which prevail greatly at this day, effectually inhibit the communication between the external and in internal, they close up the way of such communication, and seal it with the seven seals of a materialistic science. And it may be said that the way thus closed can never be opened unless the false ideas, as guides to thought, are put aside, and, at least, a few true ideas of natural truth are given place.

     Every man must have a few such true natural ideas, in the light of which the Letter of the Word may be naturally understood, but which by their nature penetrate somewhat deeper than the pure surface meaning of the letter of the Word, and which may thus serve as an intermediate structure, or as a ladder of ascent to the plane of the genuine spiritual.

511


A few such ideas held in simplicity and sincerity of heart, will open the way. But the need of the growing rational mind is for many such in order that the communication between the internal and the external may be adequate-in order that the bridge may be firmly and strongly built, and a broad way given for the ascent and descent of the angels of God.

     The need of natural truths of this kind is thus established, for their use is seen as one which call not be dispensed with. The question then arises, from whence are they to be had from what sense drawn? As we have seen-Swedenborg labors with the explanation of the internal sense, because of the "lack" of these ideas. He says they are "wanting" at this day. Obviously his own mind was sufficiently instructed with them. He did not labor to understand the internal sense, but only to explain it that other men might understand. He well knew that other men were not possessed of that notable series of natural truth, which had been given him throughout the many years of his preparation for his mission. He well knew that few, if any, of the readers of the ARCANA, in his day, had followed him in his marvelous course of preliminary training. Therefore, he said, that "at this (his) day," these ideas are "wanting." The learned as well as the uneducated knew them not; and their place in the minds of men was filled by other ideas of a very different nature-ideas which were inimical even to the presumption that there was an internal sense contained in the letter of the Word. Ideas which predicated Divinity of the Scripture, only in the sense that the Bible was historically true, and that it in a certain general but authoritative way treated of salvation. In process of time this idea gave place to others having a more matured outlook, and which ceased altogether to predicate any distinctive attribute of Divinity to the sacred books, but insisted on regarding them as but the religious literature of one of the ancient peoples.

     The mental attitude thus determined prevailed more and more, so that if it could be said of Swedenborg's day that the ideas of natural truth of a quality to bridge between the letter of Scripture and the spiritual meaning were wanting, what, it may be asked, can be said of the prevailing natural thought of the present day.

512




     There is no lack of knowledge of a certain kind at this time. But it may be said that the "idea" which governs this knowledge is not turned heavenward. The leading idea is that which gives a turn to all knowledges, and an idea of natural truth is knowledge turned in the right direction, knowledge which opens inwardly, thus which is of service in the way of understanding the Scriptural things of the internal sense. It may almost be said that those of this nature, especially those which pertain to the plane of the natural rational, are entirely wanting. That is, they can hardly be found outside of the Writings and the earlier scientific works. It is true that an idea of this description may be discovered, one here and one there, in the writings which have come down to us from more religious ages. But these scarcely count against the dense formation of materialistic presumptions which overcast the mental horizon of the modern thinking world, causing the true heaven above to be entirely concealed.

     This is a simple fact. The cloud is black, and the earth and the Church of the Lord on earth have been resting in the shadow of it. Necessarily so, for while the men of the Church have long since broken with the theological dogmas of the past, they have not been able to break so fully with the dictates of the material science of the age-which science is lamentably wanting-as a support to spiritual truth. The men of the Church in general have not as yet been sufficiently instructed in those "ideas of natural truth" upon which the Writings in the number quoted place such high value, to which they impart such a distinguished use.

     The man of the Church is indeed blessed. He has the Writings, and he is in possession of the Sacred Scripture, but his weakness lies in the plane of the natural rational; the intermediate structure with him is not all that it should be. His ideas of natural truth, where they are not wrong, are inadequate, these being of a nature to constrain rather than facilitate the intercommunication between the letter and the spirit. As long as this condition remains general, the Church must abide more or less under the shadow of the nontranslucent structure of prevailing modern scientific thought.

513


That this is so will be clear to anyone who notes the very general tendency within the pale of the Church to set up natural standards and ideals which are contrary to the genuine, and which often counter against the obvious teaching of the Writings, and it is equally obvious that this tendency arises from no other source than the dictates of modern thought. This state of things could not exist if there was a general realization of the adequacy of that which is called "Swedenborg's science." Its adequacy not only as a system of natural truth, which opens out in the direction of the internal sense,-the heavens and the Divine-but also as a key to a deeper and truer insight into all the natural sciences.

     It may be said that he who has the Writings and the Word is fully armed. It is, true that the letter of the Word presents all the needed sensual imagery on the ultimate plane. It is also true that quite a part of the body of the Writings is composed of the intermediate natural order of truth, the need of which has been shown. But it is also a fact that that truth exists in the Writings in an incidental and illustrative way,-not by itself as an organic structural whole. In this form it can be found only in its earlier Works. Nor can it be questioned but that the minds of Newchurchmen have been profoundly impressed by this form of truth found in the Writings, and that to a considerable extent the natural modes of their thought have been reorganized thereby, with the result that the overhanging cloud of adverse and antagonistic idea-forms, derived from the thinking world of today, have been broken, or, at least, penetrated in spots. Yet the need is that the whole malformed structure, as at present organized, should be swept from the mind, and a new and true formation given its place. It appears that this can be accomplished by a thorough-going study of the so-called scientific works in conjunction with the Writings, and an intelligent application of its principles discovered to present-day knowledges. And it is a happy fact that this work of correlation is being undertaken at the present time, with the result that the horizon is clearing. Faith is taking a deeper and firmer hold, and there is a new beginning of many things, all looking to the up-building of a superior rational grasp, not only of the doctrine of creation, but of all the doctrines as unfolded in the Writings, and especially that one to which all others are tributary, i. e., the doctrine concerning the glorifying and glorified Human-the comprehension of which is not only central to the understanding of the whole system of revealed truth but is also vital to the spiritual health of the race.

514




     It may be recalled in this connection, that the Writings make the statement that the "Divine Human is to be comprehended by many things." That is, not by one idea, nor yet adequately by several, but by "many." The fact is that this supreme of human love and worship is to be comprehended by all ideals, inasmuch as every true idea has its inner look thereto, whatsoever its outer aspect may be. This inner look, or bearing, is what makes all idea true, and any direction therefrom converts the idea into a falsity. From which it follows that according to the number, the variety and the orderly arrangement of ideas having this inner bearing, so will the vision of the Divine Human be. All truth opens towards the Divine in a greater or less degree according to its placing and bearing; but it may be said that this opening is especially characteristic of those large, true and more exact knowledges concerning creation, its origin and sequences, its modes and planes, which of late years been slowly but surely penetrating and enlightening the conscious thought of the members of the Church. These ideas because they have enlarged and unified the view of creation have also, and in a like degree, defined more clearly the vision of the Divine infilling creation, the only Divine which can ever come to man's apprehension. And this is the same as the Divine Human or God-Man, personally present in the midst of the Spiritual Sun, and eminently present as a Divine substantial essence surrounding and infilling, as well as creating all forms and arranging these forms into series and degrees, whereby planes are established in a most universal correspondence with the infinite degrees of life in the Divine itself, and also into a certain mutual correspondence with each other of degree with degree and plane with plane, from highest to lowest, so that creation as a whole, is seen to stand as an outer vestment, a woven fabric, which both conceals and reveals the living Divine within.

515


The concealing is a needed accommodation for the sake of creation-the revealing a result of the orderly reception and reflection of the influent Divine by the created forms in their ordained series and degrees, when cast in living images upon the sensitive planes of the human mind. Then does the inner vision of the Divine Human reveal itself, and man knows because he sees his God.
Title Unspecified 1911

Title Unspecified              1911

     The attention of our readers is called to the havoc made by the omission of one line, and the repetition of another, in Mr. Schreck's explanation of A. C. 931, in the July LIFE, P. 460. The
passage should read as follows:

     "It was by no means as you interpret it, 'the statement about the final destruction of the material earth,' which 'was from his own mind, a supposed fact of science under which the world then was, and still is.' He did not refer to a scientific fact, but to a conclusion which theologians had drawn from the literal sense of the Word; for he goes on to say what 'they believe:' 'quod autem credant.' And, in this very connection, he shows that the end of the earth does not appear, or is not evident, to him who understands the internal sense of the quoted passage. He indicates that this passage is not to be construed literally, but spiritually. On the contrary, he states that the earth will not then perish,' and that 'a church is always raised up by the Lord.'"

516


IMPRESSIONS OF GENTILE JAPAN 1911

IMPRESSIONS OF GENTILE JAPAN       SOPHIE FALK       1911

     It is commonly said that the West cannot understand the East. The New Church throws light on the wonderful subject of the East, as it does on everything else, and the Newchurchman may see what underlies many of its strange ideas and customs. The courteous little people of Japan, with customs and costumes so different from ours, are of special interest to us now, because one of them, Mr. Abilto, has become interested in the Doctrines of the New Church and is spreading the work on HEAVEN AND HELL in his native language.

     What most impresses the sympathetic traveler in Japan, is the loyalty of all to their Emperor and Country; the earnestness and reverence with which they worship before their images, and the utter lack of self-consciousness. A little conversation which we had with our guide, who is a gentleman of the Samurai class of old Japan, may serve as an example of the way in which they regard things. We were speaking of the high duty imposed by our government on. all goods imported from other countries, and of an American lady who had twenty-seven trunks of beautiful things which she had bought in Japan; how she complained of the duty she would have to pay on reaching San Francisco. My. Kaidzu said, "Why should she mind that, when her own country will get the money?" When we saw how they crowded their trains, making it impossible for more than two-thirds of the people to sit down, I asked Mr. Kaidzu why they gave their people so little room. He replied, "They don't mind; the government can make more money in this way and the government needs the money." To him, with the Japanese way of putting his country first and the individual last, this needed no further argument.

     We visited many of their temples and shrines, where we saw hundreds of the common people, and it was touching to see the way in which they bowed before an image, with their palms pressed together and faces to the earth. Nothing distracted them while murmuring their prayers, and their whole attitude and the sphere going out from them, reminded us of the instance given in the Writings, of the heathen who worshiped before an idol with such adoration and humility that the angels were deeply affected.

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     While at a temple in Nara, we saw an old man with a child strapped to his back, coming up to the image of Buddha. When he reached the altar the child slid down from his back and bowed down in the attitude of prayer while the old man did the same beside him.

     The people, as a whole, seem unconscious of self in all their actions and bearing; they never appear as if trying to make an impression and are earnestly intent on their own affairs. Their state seems to be like that of children who will receive the truth when it is presented to them by those whom they love and respect. We know that a true love of country saves many even in the Christian world, and with these people it will surely be a basis for love and loyalty to the true King when they shall learn that the Lord is that King.

     The West is constantly accusing Japan of immorality. To us there was no sphere of immorality, but quite the reverse. I had a conversation on this subject with a lady missionary, who was returning home after a six years' sojourn among them. She acknowledged that there was not an atmosphere of evil around them, as there is about Western people who have a different standard and do not live up to it. What distressed her was the -entire openness of everything, as if they did not understand that there could be any cause for concealment. I suggested to her that there are great and wonderful things about them that we do not understand, and the God who created them and loves them, only requires them to live according to the light they have. She agreed with this. The truth given in the Heavenly Doctrine that the "Christian conjugial, only, is chaste," gives forth great light. Miss Beekman, who has given much thought and study to the subject, thinks that CONJUGIAL LOVE is pre-eminently the book that will appeal to the Japanese, because that love comes directly from the celestial heaven with which these people are in close touch.

     Now a few words regarding some of their customs.

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They build the shrines and temples on heights and in groves, as a rule. At the entrance of a path leading to a temple there is always placed a sacred arch or "torii," as it is called. It is also placed before ways which lead to a sacred mountain, stream of running- water, and before venerable old trees.

     The most sacred place in Japan is Yamado, where the Imperial shrines are. Every Japanese hopes to make a pilgrimage to these shrines at least once during his lifetime. There were thousands of such pilgrims at Yamada while we were there, and all were reverent and for the most part silent before the shrines. The grounds about the shrines cover hundreds of acres and are filled with beautiful trees, and a picturesque mountain stream runs through the grounds. Before the shrines are placed large boxes covered with slats of wood about a foot apart. These are for the money offerings, which are thrown in. Often the money does not reach the box, but falls on the ground and steps, so that a great deal of money lies scattered about. Some one asked the guide if the money pieces were safe from thieves. He replied that in all Japan there was no one who would steal money given to a shrine. The people are very poor for the most part, and many of them cannot offer money or even rice, so they bring smooth gray stones of a uniform size, to help make the walks in the temple grounds. As there are numerous paths, many stones are needed. The Imperial shrines are torn down and built anew every twenty-one years. They have a temple where a sacred white horse is kept and when he dies he is always replaced by a new one.

     The kimono is always worn with the left side lapped over the right. They say that to fold the right side over the left is death. The obi or sash is worn around the waist from left to right. We could not help thinking that there was significance in their use of the true spiral. What all these things mean will be an interesting subject of study to the New Church. The mountain streams often overflow their banks and sweep away whole villages, so on the banks of these rivers two stones are set up, one on the top of the other in a most artistic way, and having an inscription on the upper one. On our asking Mr. Kaidzu what this inscription was, he said that it was a prayer to the god of waters not to let the stream overflow and destroy their villages.

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The people are very patient and cheerful. In the face of some disappointment or disaster they will say in a quiet way, "It can't be helped," and that is all.

     The last place we visited was the sacred island of Miajima, which we reached after a day's sailing through the lovely Inland Sea. According to the law of Japan no one may be born on this island, and no one may die there. No factories are allowed and no industry except the selling of pictures and curies. There is a fort high up on the cliff because Miajima is the key to the Inland Sea.

     There are many shrines and temples in the mountain groves and large numbers of sacred deer and flocks of doves. The deer and doves came to eat out of our hands without fear. It was interesting to see how they would go to those who wore kimonos rather than to us, to be fed.

     From Miajima we took the train for Kobe, whence we sailed for home. We left this wonderful land of little people amidst the bright sunshine, and in our hearts was affection for them and a sense of humility. We experienced nothing but courtesy and kindness from the multitudes we came in contact with, and we felt that these Gentiles will some day sing the new song: "The Lord God Jesus Christ doth reign."
SWEDENBORG'S INSPIRATION 1911

SWEDENBORG'S INSPIRATION       Rev. GILBERT H. SMITH       1911

     In support of the view that not only the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem but also all that "pertains" to this Doctrine, including the account of all things "seen and heard" by Swedenborg, are from the Lord alone, permit me to communicate the following:

     "Seeing that such viva voce colloquies with the angels of God Messiah have taken place for so great a time with me, and that continually in various ways, as those of man with man, no one ought to call into the least doubt the colloquies of Jehovah, through angels, with Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, etc.

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Or, further, that there are many modes of revelation . . . nay, what is more [that] all these things which have been written have heretofore been written in the council of many who had formerly died, of many spirits, and of the angels of God Messiah; and, in fact, so that they have spoken with me about these things before: and after; but still it is allowed to add here only these things: that I have been allowed to say here nothing which has been orally dictated to me by any of them. Whenever this has been done-as sometimes it has been done-it has been obliterated. [I have been allowed to say] only those things which have inflowed from God Messiah alone: mediately through them, and immediately." (2 ADVERSARIA 181.)

     Notice the words at the end, "mediately through them, and immediately."

     Swedenborg, it would seem, received influx into two planes of his mind, into his internal thought and into his external thought. The one influx was immediate from the Lord; the other mediate through the spiritual world, but still from the Lord in that way.

     Swedenborg minutely describes his double thought: "I am gifted with a double thought; one interior, another more exterior; wherefore whenever I am with evil spirits I can still be in consort with good spirits at the same time, and thus perceive the quality of the spirits who would rule over me." (S. D. 484)

     "Afterwards this double thought was manifestly perceived by me, viz., an interior thought concerning such things as were submitted to the understanding, and as belonged to the objects of sense, as, e. g., upon reading the Word of God, I noticed this double thought manifestly and for a long time; and likewise in the state in which I am now while writing, and most frequently while reading, when I hear the spirits speaking with me; at such times this interior thought has been noticed by me; it was also observed by the spirits." (S. D. 2900.)

     The difference between Swedenborg and other men in respect to this double thought seems to be that with him they were distinctly separated, and consciously so; whereas with other men they are not consciously separated. Hence the ordinary person could not have thought otherwise than that what he heard from spirits and angels was from them (as is the case with spirits). But Swedenborg was able to listen to them and then by his interior thought perceives by immediate influx from the Lord what was from the Lord in their speech.

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In his interior thought the Lord was constantly present with Swedenborg, and He thence dictated (not verbally but nevertheless really) what to write, what to speak and what to do; hence Swedenborg states (S. D. 1647):

     "Whenever any representation, vision or conversation took place I was kept interiorly and more interiorly in reflection upon these things; what was their use, what good flowed thence, and hence what I was to learn from them. No attention was paid to this reflection of mine by those who caused these representations and visions, and who spoke; but sometimes they were indignant when they perceived that I did reflect. I was therefore instructed by no spirit, and by no angel, but by the Lord alone, from whom is everything good and true. Even what they wished to instruct me there was scarcely anything but what was false; wherefore I was forbidden [that is, by the interior reflection from the Lord] to believe anything spoken by them, nor were they allowed to inject anything of their own. When they desired to use persuasion I perceived from an interior and more interior persuasion that a thing was so and so, and not as they wished me to believe, at which they wondered. This perception was very manifest, but it cannot be described to the apprehension."

     Referring to this passage in his Index Swedenborg says: "There was interior reflection or perception given me by the Lord when I spoke with spirits, and when I saw representations." (See AUTHORITY, by R. L. Tafel, p. 104.)

     "We see, therefore," (says Dr. Tafel), "that Swedenborg enjoyed this double thought not only while reading the Word of God but also when he spoke with spirits, and spoken he saw representations. We see further that Swedenborg was instructed by the Lord alone not only while reading the Word of God, but also while storing zip in his mind the things heard and seen in the spiritual world." As the Lord was thus constantly present with Swedenborg in his interior thought, and as He flowed into his interior thought with the Divine Truth proceeding immediately from this Divine Human; and as Swedenborg was conscious of this influx, he declares, "It was given me to perceive distinctly what came from the Lord, and what from the angels;-what came from the Lord was written and what came from the angels was not written." (A. E. 1183.)

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     Even after death the influx of angelic societies is not accompanied with a perception of what provinces they belong to, "unless the Lord grant sensitive reflection," (i. e. reflection upon what enters by the senses, such as visions, speech, and representations), "to which perception is adjoined." (See A. C. 5171.)

     This "sensitive reflection" depended upon the use of Swedenborg's own freedom, and rationality; but the "perception" which was "adjoined" to this reflection was caused by the Lord's immediate influx into Swedenborg's internal thought. This perception came from the Lord alone, and was beyond the control of Swedenborg's personal freedom and rationality; wherefore we also read that it Was "adjoined" to his state of reflection. (See AUTHORITY, p. 106.)

     All this seems to relieve the difficulty of obtaining a rational View of Swedenborg's inspiration which arises from trying to reconcile the freedom and rationality which he evidently enjoyed with the fact of his having set down in his works only the Lord's words and not his own. The words were not dictated into his external thought as with the prophets of old; wherefore he enjoyed perfect freedom and rationality in this plane of his mind. But his own freedom and rationality did not enter so far as the interior of his mind and thought; and it was into this plane that the "dictation," not of worms, but of ideas of Divine Truth, took place.

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PHILOSOPHY OF DISEASE AND CURE 1911

PHILOSOPHY OF DISEASE AND CURE       E. E. IUNGERICH       1911

     1. THE FIRST ORIGIN OF DISEASE.

     Disease and evil had the same origin. It was not with God, but with man, and lay in the abuse of the freedom of will given him. Disease and evil first arose when man used this gift in the pursuit of a lesser good than the worship of God.

     To use the language of the RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, (Every love, and every pleasure is for the end that we may live healthy in a healthy body, and this is why the earth abounds with all things which we are to enjoy as means and not as ends. When we look upon individual loves and . . . pleasures as means, we then enjoy them . . . as means, and in such a way as to obtain the [real] end. But when we look upon them as ends [in themselves], and not as means, we then fall into excess. [Such] intemperance denotes a perverted state of the mind, one, namely, which shuts [its] ends within narrow limits; for a sublime mind discerns that one thing is for another, and that there is a chain of means to some most universal end, . . . for we do not stop except in the Deity of the universe, who is the end and beginning of all things. . . . Intemperance occurs in all means which are taken as the end . . . and is against nature, does violence to nature and destroys either mind, animus, or body. Therefore, when [we] are ruled by the will, and the will by the desire, and the desire by the loves not as means, but as ends, we then rush into causes of destruction, from which is the death of the body." (R. P. 281-5.)

     This, to use the language of the ARCANA, "closes the smallest and quite invisible vessels, [evidently the simple fibres], of which the next greater ones which are also invisible are composed; for the smallest and quite invisible vessels are continued from man's interiors; hence the first and inmost obstruction, and hence the first and inmost vitiation in the blood; this vitiation, when it increases, causes disease, and at last death. But if man had lived the life of good, his interiors would be open to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord, thus also the smallest and invisible vessels.

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Hence man would be without disease, and would only decrease to the last of old age and when the body could no longer minister to its internal man or spirit, he would pass without disease out of his earthly body, into a body such as the angels have." (A. C. 5726; comp. D. 4592)

     "So far as [a man] loves [only the things of the body and the world], so far he does not love things celestial and spiritual, so far he does not look to the Lord, and so far he becomes evil.... The ultimate spiritual which is called the spiritual natural, can be separated from its superiors, and is so separated with men from whom is hell. [It] cannot be [so] separated and look towards hell . . . . with beasts . . . but only with men [and when it is thus separated with men, it] operates . . . evil uses upon earth." (D. L. W. 345.)

     2. THE OFFICES OF EVIL SPIRITS IN DISEASE.

     The influx of the hells through the evil spirits attendant upon man occasions two classes of evil uses upon earth. Evil spirits have a direct operation into the animus of man or into the external of his thought and will, but not into the solid parts of his body, (except as a penalty for courting communication with Spirits). But when a vitiated state of the body is occasionally the unclean spheres from hell will flow down from the animus into the body and there act as a fomenting cause of the disorder.

     The second operation of evil spirits upon man is indirect. They inflow into the solid matters of the evil forms on earth, be they mineral or vegetable poisons, noxious effluvia, or wild and ferocious beasts, and by sustaining the activity of these evil forms on earth they can endanger the health and safety of man's body.

     (a) The direct operation of evil spirits. "All Infernals induce diseases, but with a difference; because all the hells are in the cupidities and concupiscences of evil, thus are contrary to the things which are of heaven. . . . Heaven beeps all things together in connection and good condition; hell destroys and rends asunder all things. Thus if the hells are applied, they induce diseases, and at last death.

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But they are not permitted to flow in so far as to the solid parts themselves of the body or into the parts of which man's viscera, organs, and members consist, but only into cupidities and falsities: it is only when man falls into diseases, that they inflow into such unclean things as belong to the disease." (A. C. 5712)

     "When a man falls into such a disease as he has contracted from his own life, at once an unclean sphere corresponding to the disease adjoins itself, and is present as a fomenting cause." (A. C. 5715)

     "Concerning spirits who induce disease. There were with me such spirits as produced a most grievous nausea of the stomach, to such an extent that it seemed I could scarcely live through it. There was so vile a stench that it could induce swoons with others, for there was an impotence of vital forces, thus as with death swoons. I perceived it was spirits about me who induced this. I was instructed that they were such as in the life of the body had been busied in no work, not even of a domestic sort, but only in pleasure, chiefly that of eating, and had been delighted with it alone. What domestic duties art or other matters relative to husband and wife, they had not known. Such in the other life become of this sort, and this after several centuries. They then have so little life that they cannot be driven away by any persuasion, but remain fixedly where they are, like certain insects. It was said that they cannot be driven away, except by the Lord, and if they are not driven away they bring death to the man. They are almost insensible. Such sometimes come with sick men, and thence there is death to them, and it was said that in diseases with men there are spirits inducing and aggravating diseases." . . . (DIARY MINOR 4:33.)

     "But because we do not believe spirits are around us, all those things are attributed to natural causes. Medicaments help, but still more, as they [i. e., most men] say, the Lord's Providence. But what is remarkable, they pray to God to be restored, and they say they have been restored by God, yet each of them when he is outside that state, attributes it to nature." (Ibid. 4650)

     "Diseases are indeed with men from natural causes, which do not at the same time come forth with the spirit in the other life; but as often as they come forth, spirits gather who correspond to that disease; for the spirits who are in evi1 and falsity produce precisely such things as are perceived by the sense in diseases; as I most clearly experienced from hypocrites that their presence injected a pain of the teeth and gums, as also of that part of the cranium, and this without any fallacy.

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When I was laboring with a heaviness of the stomach and intestines, spirits corresponding to that disease applied themselves there, which I perceived by sense, and sometimes they spoke; thus in other diseases. (Ibid. 4648)

     "Hence it is, that as such spirits apply themselves there, and increase the disease by their presence, if they are removed by the Lord the man is at once restored; for there are evil and false spirits to which correspond every kind of disease and sickness." (Ibid. 4699.)

     "But this does not prevent man's being healed naturally; for the Lord's Providence concurs with such means." (A. C. 5713)

     (b) The indirect operation of evil spirits. Before the fall of the race there were no noxious exhalations, no baleful bacilli, no poisonous reptiles or ravenous beasts. These have all sprung into being as the result of the influx of the malevolent spheres from hell which inflow with sustaining power into the solid matters of their bodies. Evil spirits do not flow into the solid parts of man's body except when diseased or when he courts intercourse with spirits. But in the lower kingdoms there are species which receive the infernal influx and serve as its tools; and other species which are receptacles for the influx of heaven. It was on this account that animals were divided into clean and unclean beasts.

     "That influx from hell operates those things which are evil uses, in places where there are things which correspond. The things which correspond to evil uses, that is to malignant herbs and noxious animals, are cadaverous, putrid, excrementitious, stercoraceous, rancid and urinous matters. Therefore, in places where such are, there arise such herbs and animalculae. . . .

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That the hells not only have communication but conjunction with such things on earth, may be concluded from the fact that the hells are not remote from men, but are around them, yea, within those who are evil, thus contiguous to earths; for man-as to his affections and cupidities and consequent thoughts, and from the latter and the former with respect to his acts which are either good or evil uses,-is either in the midst of angels of heaven, or in the midst of spirits of hell; and because such things as are upon the earths are also in the heavens and the hells, it follows that influx thence immediately produces such things when the climate assists; for all things which appear in the spiritual world, in heaven as in hell, are correspondences of affections and cupidities, for there they exist according to these. Wherefore when affections and cupidities, which in themselves are spiritual, meet on earths things homogeneous or correspondent, there is present the spiritual which gives the soul, and the material which gives the body. Inherently within every spiritual is the conatus of putting a body over itself. The hells are around man and thence contiguous to the eartlis, for the spiritual world is not in space, but is where there is a corresponding affection." (D. L. W. 342-3)

     "The ultimate spiritual separated from its superior, as is the case with those who are in hell, operates those evil uses upon earth mentioned above. That noxious things upon earth derive an origin from man, and thus from hell, may be confirmed from the state of the land of Canaan, of which in the Word; that when the sons of Israel lived according to the commandments, the lands yielded their produce, and likewise flocks and herds, but that when they lived against the commandments, the lands were sterile and cursed, as it is said. In place of harvest, they put forth thorns and brambles, and flocks and herds were subject to abortions, and wild beasts rushed in. A similar thing can be concluded from the locusts, frogs and lice in Egypt." (D. L. W. 335.)

     "A beast is led by a certain influx flowing into its soul, but because its spiritual cannot be elevated, it must be determined downwards and look upon such matters Is are of its affection, relating only to the things that concern its nutrition, habitation, or propagation; and from the science of its affection recognize these by means of sight, smell and taste." (E. 1202.) "Because with a beast, the two faculties, called affection and science, cannot be separated, therefore a beast could not destroy the order of its life; hence it is born into all science which is of the affection." (E. 1202.)

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[In the spiritual world it is plainly shown that beasts] "exist from the affections of angels and spirits, so that they are appearances of the affection. Therefore they also vanish as soon as the angel or spirit departs, or his affections cease. Hence it is evident that their soul is nothing else; consequently that so many genera and specie, of animals occur as there are genera and species of affections." (E. 1199.)

     "Wild beasts whose souls are similar evil affections, were not created from the beginning; such as mice, poisonous serpents, crocodiles, cockatrices, vipers, and the like, with various noxious insects, but arose with hell, in pools, swamps, decaying and fetid waters, and in places where are effluvia from corpses, clung, and urine, with which the malignant loves of infernal societies communicate. In the beginning only useful and clean beasts were created, whose souls are good affections." (E. 1201.)

     3. DISCRETE DEGREES IN DISEASES.

     There are diseases of the red blood and its unsheathing vein or artery, of the purer blood and its unsheathing nerve or medullary fibre, and of the purest blood and its unsheathing simple fibre. The planes of these three bloods and their vessels are termed the Body, the Animus, and the Intellectual Mind. There is a truth or highest degree, that of the Soul, which may also be affected injuriously.

     (a) "There are, still further, diseases of a higher degree; for the soul is above our intellectual mind, and the intellectual mind in the external form of its soul, which is the internal or inmost and supreme form of its own system. But diseases are not predicable of the soul, neither are sicknesses or affections, but rather guilt, wherefore also essential changes of state." (FIBRE
376)

     By the guilt which is the disease of the soul is meant a turning away from the Lord. The organic effect of this is the dosing of the simple fibers, (i. e., as part of the external form of the soul), spoken of in A. C. 5726 as occasioning the inmost vitiation of the 'blood. All men are born into the world with their simple fibers closed against a concordant reception of influx from the soul or human internal.

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They are said to be in an inverted, right to left, gyre, tending downwards. (D. L. W. 270) This hereditary guilt becomes actual unless there is a regeneration and cure of this disease of the soul.

     (b) "Diseases of the purest blood are . . . sicknesses of the intellectual mind, the function of which is perceiving, thinking, judging, and willing. . . . These are not properly [to be called] diseases which are of the body, nor sicknesses and passions which are of the animus, but rather affections of the mind, and perversions of its state, as are the various loves of self, vain ambitions, misanthropy, hatreds, inordinate desires for what is wrong, whence are malice and insanities of which there are many kinds; imbecility, as also too great a fire of thinking, of judging, and of originating phantasies thence; yea, also stupidity and many others; which stream forth from a misconception of false principles concerning the connection and order of causes and ends, by servility towards and connivance with the animus and its unrestrained cupidities, and especially from the banishment of conscience; thence are verimost evils, vices and prevarications, which lay waste and destroy the whole republic." (FIBRE 374)

     The purest blood ensheathed in the simple fibre is the external form of the soul. By this blood and simple fibre the cortical substance is excited. This cortical substance is the substantial or first organic form of the soul, woven of simple fibers, and the abode and lodging place of the rational mind. Its best parts are called cortical glands. "According as the internal state of this substance is changed, so also is the state of our rational mind changed, from which, if it be perverted, hallucinations and insanities burst forth."

     (c) "The diseases of the purer blood, or nerve juice are of the animus, and are called sicknesses, passions, as also affections of the animus." (FIBRE 373.) This plane is that of the common sensory and embraces the medullary substance of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and of the two medulla, as well as the nerves in the body and certain medial cortical glands.

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     "From a vitiated state of the [animal] spirits arises sicknesses which . . . affect . . . the animus of the body. Such are angers, furies, hatred, a species of ludicrous pride, melancholies, inconstancies of the affections, impatiencies, frenzies, timidities, excessive ardor and too great remission of the concupiscences; infirmity of the imagination, deficiency of the memory, finally, the loss of it, and many things which are of the cerebrum and are attributed to the heart." (FIBRE 373.)

     (d) "Diseases of the red blood are those properly [to be called] disease, and, indeed, are diseases of the body." (FIBRE 372)

     4. RELATION OF THE DISEASES OF ONE PLANE TO THOSE OF OTHERS.

     "Our intellectual mind, that is to say, its thought, will, love, and desires, inflows into the animus and its imagination, whence cupidities are excited; and . . . these inflow into the sensations of the body, and its features, actions and delights. The mind often so operates into the body that it renders the blood turbid and dark; just as when the mind desires some end, if it fails in attainment, the animus becomes so angry, inflamed and furious that the blued grows hot, and the bile is expelled from its cyst, and a fever seizes upon the viscera, yea, even to that extent that the intestines are twisted into a knot. . . . Yea as often as they [the several planes] do not correspond, a combat is excited, whence is disharmony, which is the cause of many sicknesses and diseases." (FIBRE 377)

     To diseases in the body there correspond sicknesses in the animus, affections or changes of state in the mind and guilt or essential changes of state in the soul. "Pain itself, which is in the body, is called anxiety in the animus, evil conscience in the mind, and hell in the soul. Biloous fevers in the body are wraths, furies, ragings in the animus, and burning hatred in the mind. The one also excites the other. Paralysis in the body corresponds to rage in the animus, and to fluctuation of the will and indeterminateness in the mind." (FIBRE 378)

     Diseases of the body and sicknesses of the animus interfere with the cure of diseases of both the intellectual mind and the soul. Where body and animus art not infected, bur there is a perversion of the intellectual mind, such as blindness, stupidity, and a confirmed belief in falsity, guilt of the soul cannot be removed.

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     "No one is reformed in a state of sickness of the animus, for sickness of the animus takes away rationality, and hence the freedom of acting according to reason . . . [reformation may be taken to refer to the cure of the intellectual mind; regeneration, to that of the soul.] Such sicknesses are melancholies, spurious and false consciences, phantasies of various kinds, pains of the animus from misfortunes, anxieties and anguish of the mind from a vitiated [condition] of the body, which things are regarded occasionally as temptations but are not." (D. P. 141.)

     "No one is reformed in a state of disease of the body, because the reason is not then in a free state, for the state of the mind depends on the state of the body. When the body is sick, the mind also is sick. (D. P. 142.)

     "No one can be reformed in a state of blindness of the intellect . . . for when the intellect is blinded, the will also is shut in, and from freedom according to reason can do nothing else than the evil which has been confirmed in the intellect, which is falsity. Besides ignorance, religion which teaches a blind faith also blinds the intellect; so also the doctrine of the false; for as truths open the intellect, so falses close it. They close it superiorly, but open it inferiorly, and an intellect open only from below cannot see truths but only confirms whatever it wills, especially falsity. The intellect is also blinded by cupidities of evil. So long as the will is in these, it drives the intellect to confirm them, and so far as the cupidities of evil are confirmed, so far the will cannot be in the affections of good, and from them see truths, and thus be reformed." (D. P. 144.)

     5. CAUSES OF DISEASES OF SOUL, INTELLECTUAL MIND, AND ANIMUS.

     (a) The cause of diseases of the soul, or guilt, is the fall of man, and the choice by him of a lesser good than the worship of God. The cause of the persistence of guilt with men who inherit it from birth is due to no progression towards the state of reformation.

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     (b) The causes of diseases of the intellectual mind are thus stated in the work on the FIBRE,-"The perverse changes of state of the intellectual mind arise from causes which act in the simple fibres, and within the simple fibres, as also those which act outside the substances or forms of the soil, yet into them, therefore, in the cortical glands, which are the first or external organic forms of the soul." (FIBRE 375)

     (c) "The sicknesses of the animus are all those which arise from causes which act in the nerve or medullary fibre or within them; and which act outside the simple fibres yet into them, consequently also within the cortical glands, but into them. For . . . the cortical gland . . . is a small ventricle, the likeness of a heart, or a follicle which passes through the midst of a gland and is continued into a fibre or its canal. Around this follicle is the body of the gland woven together from the simple fibres. Wherefore, when the purer blood passes through this follicle, it is said to act within the gland but into it,-that Is, into the simple fibres; then outside and into the organic forms excited by the simple fibres." (FIRRE 375)

     (d) Diseases on any one plane may be occasioned, as noted above, by lack of harmony with another plane. (cf. FIBRE 377.)

     6. CAUSES OF DISEASES OF THE BODY.

     "These all arise from causes which act in the blood vessels or within the blood vessels, and which act outside the nerve and medullary fibres yet into them; consequently also outside the cortical glands but into them; finally outside and into the organic forms excited by these fibres." (FIBRE 375)

     "All things which change a better state of the blood into a worse one are causes of diseases of the body." (FIBRE 381.) A change of blood causes, of course, corresponding changes in all other humors, vessels, fibres of vessels, members and viscera, that depend upon the blood.

     (a) BUT, "the principal, and most common cause of diseases of the body is the food itself." (FIBRE 381 1/2. Italics our own.)

     The food supplied to the body is either terrestrial, aerial, or ethereal. Terrestrial food enters by the mouth into the alimentary tracts.

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Aerial food enters by the lungs or by the cuticles into the capillary veins. Ethereal food enters from the ether by the Sanctorian respiration and is conveyed by certain fibres towards the cortex of the brain, from which place it is insinuated into the purer blood for the purpose of renewing the animal spirits. Improper quantity or quality of these three kinds of foods is the cause of disease of the body. A fourth cause of disease of the body is, as noted above, a disease of the next higher plane, a sickness of the animus.

     "These four principal and common causes of disease are also the same by means of which we exist and subsist, that is, by means of which we live in the body, and also the same by which we die; so that the causes of corporeal life are also the very causes of diseases, and likewise of death. For we live upon aliments taken from the earth, the air, and the ether, but the quantity of these aliments, wrongly distributed as to quality, is the veriest cause of disease, or the cause that we daily draw near to death. Ignorance of the quality of the nourishment, and of our constitution, and of the art of distributing,-that is to say, that the quantity and quality respectively may be distributed according to the constitution of the receiving body, as also that these may be relinquished to our will and its desires, effect that the same things which are causes of life are the causes of the destruction of life. Similarly the affection of our animus and mind; for as many as are the desires and lusts, so many are the heats and excitements of life; but immoderate excitation or extent of these desires which tend towards depraved things and are inimical to us-that is, of poor quality, badly distributed, similarly shows that they may be the causes of our destruction or death. As abuse or quality injures, so also does defect or paucity." . . . (FIBRE 387.)

     (To be continued.)

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HOUR ALONE 1911

HOUR ALONE       HERMANN LECHNER       1911

In the stillness and gloom of that lonely hour,
     When thought takes its flight to the past,
And so quickly reverts, with absorbing power,
     To days which we knew could not last.

'Tis then scene after scene, with intensity,
     Is pictured so wondrously clear,
While we long for the joy (which may now not be)
     That thrilled when the loved one drew near.

How we yearn for the sight of that graceful form,
     The glance from that radiant eye,
As the love it revealed took the heart by storm
     In dearest of days now gone by!

And we think of the children God gave, in love,
     To further His uses sublime,
Whom we cherished together, and prized above
     All things of the world and of time!

Then we live the sweet life all o'er again,
     When happiness reigned supreme,
When all care for the morrow did seem so vain,
     And sorrow a shadowy dream.

And we dwell now again in those states of bliss,
     The states in the spirit made whole,
Which united us even by the touch or kiss,
     And fashioned the things of the soul!

And the soul crieth out in that lonely hour,
     And calls for a conscious response
From the loved one adored with that heavenly power,
     Which, truly, God gives us but once.

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In the stillness and gloom of that hour alone,
     Which, first, was so sad and forlorn;
Though no blessing, it seems, can the loss atone,
     Yet Hope soon within us is born.

And, uplifted, the thought then bespeaks the mind
     To trust in this hope by God given;
That, despite all the doubts of an earthly kind,
     We shall dwell with the loved one in heaven!

Then let's look to the life that will ever last-
     The dearest of days yet to come!
Let the mind not be prone to bemoan the past
     But think of the spiritual home.

Where, instead of the child from the flesh brought forth,
     The offspring is truth and its good;
Thus conjugial love in its pure, full worth
     Is blessed in the Kingdom of God!
               HERMANN LECHNER.
Conjugial love 1911

Conjugial love              1911

     "They are in this marriage (of good and truth) who are and who will be of the Church which is meant by 'the New Jerusalem.'"

     "Conjugial love is not now on the earth, but still it can be raised up with those who will be of the New Jerusalem."

     "They alone have conjugial love who are being received into the Lord's New Church, or the New Jerusalem."

     -From the Index to the missing work on CONJUGIAL LOVE.

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Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     The Danish monthly paper, DEN NYE TID, established by the Rev. S. C. Bronniche in 1908, has been discontinued during the present year, awaiting "more favorable prospects."



     The Rotch Trustees reported to the General Convention that "the compilation of the Book for the Blind has been completed by the Rev. Paul Sperry and it is now being printed at the Perkins Institute for the Blind in South Boston. It is expected to have an edition of 500 copies in two volumes. This is printed for free distribution among the blind, and it is hoped that anyone who knows of blind people who would be benefitted by the work will feel free to apply for it, at the cost of carriage only."



     In the Report of the Treasurer of the General Convention, printed in the MESSENGER for June 21st, we find an item of more than usual interest: "Bills amounting to $1,598.50, in connection with the Kramph case, were authorized to be paid by the [General] Council." This item will create astonishment, not only now but in ages to come, in view of Mr. Seward's statement in the June issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE (P. 407), that "it may be that the Convention is often spoken of loosely as carrying on this litigation, but it is not true that it did carry it on." Why then has the Convention paid for it ? Will Mr. Seward explain?



     Our readers will learn with regret that the Rev. Alfred Acton has found it necessary to resign from the position of assistant editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE,-a position which he has filled now exactly ten years. Increasing work for the General Church, the Academy, and the Swedenborg Scientific Association has caused him to take this step, which does not however, mean a cessation of his interest in the uses of the LIFE.

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While his name has but seldom appeared beneath his editorial productions, a glance at the yearly indexes for the last ten volumes will reveal the scope of his activity in the Editorial Department, which now will sadly miss his bright comments and mature critical judgment.



     "In regard to the support of the ministry, we have forty societies that pay nothing in the support of a minister, ten that pay less than $100, sixteen that pay between $100 and $500. Sixteen that pay over $500 and less than $1,000, twenty-eight that pay from $1,000 to $1,800, nine that pay $2,000 and over." (From the Report of the Committee of the Council of Ministers of the General Convention, on the Non-Growth of the Organized New Church, published in the MESSENGER for June 14th.)



     Among the matters that came up before the recent Council of Ministers of the General Convention was an application from the New York Association that the name of Ferdinand Muhlert be placed on the Convention list of ministers, under date of his "original ordination." This "ordination" so-called, was performed by certain laymen of the Second German Society of BROOKLYN; and was done as an act of distinct repudiation of the order of ordination as recognized in the New Church. The Council of Ministers, however, does not appear to have taken any notice of this phase of the request, but in its discussion confined itself to the consideration of two points. The first, raised by the New York Association, was that if Mr. Muhlert were now to be ordained by the Convention, doubt might be cast upon the marriages, baptisms, etc., at which he has officiated in the past. The other point, raised by Mr. Seward, was as to the danger of precedent. "We have been too easy in the past in admitting persons into the ministry," was his opinion. The matter was finally referred to the General Pastors who subsequently recommended the granting of Mr. Muhlert's request.



     The MESSENGER, in an editorial of June 7th on "The Rise of the New Thought and of Christian Science," observes that "the New Thought has great prospects ahead for additional converts, because in its highest form it approximates the truth, so much so that it would ofttimes seem that it has but to acknowledge that the Divine Human of the Lord is the origin of the inner force, to be quite in accord with genuine Christian teachings concerning the saving power of the Lord in ultimates."

538




     Only a "but," but what a "but"!



     A point of translation in the Creed of the New Church gave rise to a lively discussion at the meeting of the Council of Ministers of the General Convention. It appears that the sentence "et quod absque eo nemo mortalium salvali potuerit" has been rendered "without whom no mortal can be saved," but it was now proposed to change this to "without whom no mortal could have been saved," which was adopted. The change is, of course, an improvement, being the only literal rendering possible, but some curious reasons were advanced in favor of its adoption. The Rev. John Goddard, for instance, "spoke of a practical difficulty which the creed has brought out in his own congregation. When taken literally it seems as though the New Church believed that it was not possible for any one to get to heaven who did not accept our creed. Unitarians come to our church who cannot accept it as it reads, but another form avoids the difficulty." The Rev. Julian K. Smyth said he had a similar experience in Roxbury.

     The Rev. H. C. Small, on the other hand, did not think we should try to make a compromise between the New Church and Unitarianism. "Unitarians will accept the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ is Divine, but they deny that He is God. He thought that if we put it we put the clause In the past tense, their present conceptions of the Lord will be retained. No man now is admitted into heaven who bees not believe the Lord to be the God of heaven and earth. Gentiles must be initiated into this doctrine in the spiritual world. We should keep this primary teaching before the minds of the people."

     It would seem that Mr. Goddard's Unitarian hearers object to the idea that no one can be saved now without the Lord Jesus Christ, but that they do not object so much to the idea that no one could have been saved without Him nineteen hundred years ago.

539


We wonder what their feelings would be were they ever to hear the statement further on in the creed: "From these things it is manifest that without the coming of the Lord into the world, no one could have been saved. It is similar at this day; wherefore unless the Lord again comes into the world in the Divine Truth, which is the Word, none whatsoever can be saved," (nec quisquam potest salvari).
"THE CONVENTION DOCTRINE EXAMINED AND CONDEMNED." 1911

"THE CONVENTION DOCTRINE EXAMINED AND CONDEMNED."              1911

     Early in April we obtained a copy of a pamphlet recently printed, entitled THE CONVENTION DOCTRINE EXAMINED AND CONDEMNED. INVOLVING A CONSIDERATION OF THE QUESTION OF AUTHORITY IN THE NEW CHURCH. BY A MINISTER OF THE CONVENTION. (32 pages; no date or place of publication.)

     It is with some hesitation we notice this pamphlet, partly because of the semiprivate nature of its publication, and partly on account of its own repellant characteristics, but as it is a somewhat important document in the long controversy on "Conjugial Love," and as all mention of it has been suppressed by the contemporary journals of the New Church, a sense of duty to posterity compels us to review it, at least briefly.

     The title reads like a parody on Mr. Seward's famous or infamous ACADEMY DOCTRINE EXAMINED AND CONDEMNED, but a brief glance at the contents soon brings conviction of the deadly earnestness of the writer, who, it is understood, is the Rev. Arthur Mercer, of Brooklyn. His frank purpose is "to rid" the General Convention "of a pestilence which has ravaged it for years," and this "pestilence" is nothing less than the acknowledgment of the Divine authority of the Heavenly Doctrine,-an acknowledgment which, he realizes, must inevitably lead to the full acceptance of the whole of the work on CONJUGIAL LOVE. Instead of obfuscating and explaining away the teachings of this work, the writer wants the General Convention to utterly repudiate them, and this on grounds which would at the same time repudiate the Divinity of all the Writings of the New Church, nay, all Divine Revelation.

540




     The writer is unique among the opponents of CONJUGIAL Love in being nearly correct in his reading of the Doctrine concerning pellicacy and concubinage, finding that this Doctrine teaches exactly what is maintained by the Academy, and that the leaders of the Convention, in their unwillingness either to accept or openly reject the Doctrine as it stands, have been led to misinterpret it in every essential point. He himself admits, indeed, that "the general doctrine with which Swedenborg here deals, the doctrine, namely, that it is the motive in any act, rather than the act itself, which constitutes it sin or otherwise, is beautifully and rationally true. But he adds, that in applying this doctrine, Swedenborg used it "in such a way as to degrade and falsify it," and fell into "error of the most repellant nature." And he then proceeds to characterize not only the application but the Doctrine itself as "false," "indecent," "an insult to womanhood," "repugnant to the instinct of manly chivalry," "too disgusting for words to express," "inhuman," "profane," etc., etc., and all this accompanied with comments too terrible to cite.

     The author next turns his attention to the attitude and declaration of the General Convention on the doctrine involved, and here the legitimate offspring of a false position with unmerciful logic, devours its parents. Having realized the actual teachings of CONJUGIAL LOVE, he riddles the compromises of the Convention as "absurd," "false," "dangerously immoral" and "essentially slanderous." We may be permitted to quote him on this last charge:

     The Convention position, he says, "involves a slander, which has provoked, in some cases, a long continued and harassing persecution of people in the Church who have been guilty of no more serious fault than a thick and thin loyalty to the letter of what they regard as Sacred Writings. Swedenborg taught this and, therefore, they must teach it in defiance of all consequences. From their standpoint they are entitled to be applauded for an extraordinary degree of courage. They are, at least, entitled to the justification of having their writer back of them in this position. To deprive them of this is rank injustice.

541


For if they did not get their teaching from Swedenborg, they stand stigmatized before the world as a suspicious people, evolving indecent doctrines from their own peculiar propensities.

     "The study of years has convinced the writer that these people have misrepresented Swedenborg in this matter in no important particular. . . . That such people should be opposed, no one believes more devotedly than the writer. But let us oppose them on the right grounds. In the present controversy their position is impregnable. They can be successfully attacked on the score of a mistaken and fanatical loyalty to the dogmatic authority of Swedenborg, and it will be time to attack them on that ground when the Convention itself has sufficiently purged its own soul of the same blighting heresy."

     After this outspoken statement, the writer closes with a broadside against "authority," and a final appeal to the people of the Church in general, and the women in particular, to force from their pastors and ministers an unqualified repudiation of "the offending passages," so as to clear once and forever "the outside reputation of the Church, and the position in which we as members of it stand in the public eye." The Church, then, after a formal repudiation of the Doctrine, "will be no longer a 'Swedenborgian,'-it will henceforth be a truly Christian Church," based, not on the Writings of the Second Coming, but on the letter of the Word alone, while "using the teachings of the great seer as it finds them helpful in the search for the Truth."

     It may be doubted whether such a church will finally find much that is really "helpful" in Swedenborg's Writings, but the less of helpfulness, the less of the state which is neither hot nor cold.
ECHOES FROM THE CONVENTION 1911

ECHOES FROM THE CONVENTION              1911

     The General Convention met this year in Chicago under a clouded sky. The public scandal stirred up in Laporte, Ind., by Col. Williams and the Rev. E. D. Daniels had scarcely been forgotten before a more private but deeper disturbance was caused by the appearance of Mr. Mercer's pamphlet, reviewed above. This was followed by another of Col. Williams' frantic brochures, entitled "THE CONDITION NOW," in answer to the question "Where we are now at?"

542


While calling the Academy by various bad names, he compliments it on the "fearless and honest statement of its doctrine," and condemns the "brazen untruthfulness and hypocrisy of the General Convention," which lays its curse on the Academy, while protecting men suspected of holding Academy views.

     Towards the end of May the relentless Colonel experienced a rare treat in receiving a letter from the Rev. W. A. Lamb Campbell, a negro preacher in Galveston, Texas, who many years ago was ordained a New Church minister. This colored brother protested against the Colonel's persecution of Mr. Schreck, but-horribile dictu!-mistook the whole doctrine concerning the Intermediates in Conjugial Love for a wholesale endorsement of-Polygamy. Though perfectly well aware that the Academy teaches the doctrine that Polygamy, among Christians, is nothing but adultery, Col. Williams immediately published this miserable hodgepodge under the heading "An Associate Wife," with some introductory remarks stating that the fact that the writer is a colored man "should have no weight in considering his argument, which is representative of the possibilities of the Academy."

     Not content with privately circulating this letter, Col. Williams next presented it to some of the yellow journals of Chicago, which took up the subject with as much gusto as buzzards take up carrion. For a week the subject of "associate wives" was ventilated in flaring headlines in connection with Swedenborg and the New Church, until "a protest arose from Chicago's 500 Swedenborgians." The Rev. John S. Saul, in an interview with a reporter, branded Col. Williams' statement as "absolutely false," and he is reported as saying that "these are all old heresies made new, of which Col. Williams speaks. They belong to the general church of the academy, which differentiated from the New Church in 1876 under a species of 'Henry VIII. religious policy practiced by the late Bishop Benade. The academy believes that the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are divine; the church orthodox believes them merely inspired."

     Mr. Saul, upon inquiry, has earnestly assured us that he has been incorrectly reported, but he has failed to inform us as to what he did state to the reporter.

543




     In the midst of these electric, not to say shocking, conditions the Council of Ministers met in the Hotel La Salle, Chicago, on June 6th. As stated in an editorial in the MESSENGER of June 14th, reviewing the meetings: "The matter that created the most painful interest in the Council and received much attention in several executive sessions of the body was the attacks that have been made upon the Church by two ministers of the Convention and by a layman, who have been sending out pamphlets and circulars to ministers and laymen, without solicitation, imposing their views upon the public contrary to the-general feeling of what is right and proper. Even the secular press has been given a great mass of matter during the past year, and especially within a few days of the meeting, that was calculated to bring the Church into disrepute and to prejudice the public against it. This matter has much of it been very misleading and if published at all should have been kept strictly within the Church itself, because it concerned the Church and not the general public. Great indignation was felt by members of the Council at the bad taste if not absolute disloyalty to the Church of those who have been guilty of these things."

     In order to counteract the impressions which had gone forth to the public, the Council in a resolution reaffirmed its acceptance of the Sixth Commandment, together with the declaration that "all forms of sexual intercourse outside of the marriage relation are forbidden thereby; and that we deny and repudiate any and all interpretations of Swedenborg's writings on the subject which are contrary thereto."

     At the close of the meetings the Council furthermore passed the following resolution which was given to representatives of the press for public consumption:

     Whereas, There have appeared in the public prints, and in privately circulated pamphlets, statements associating the General Convention and the ministers of the New Church with such phrases as "polygamous marriages," "concubinage," "associate wife," the "doctrine of allowableness;" and,

     Whereas, Our ministers are said to preach, defend, and protect said things; therefore, be it

544




     Resolved, That we deny holding to, believing in, preaching, or practicing said evils, but that we, on the contrary, denounce the same as being forbidden by the Word of God, the doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg, and the faith of our church; and, furthermore, that any minister doing these things would be expelled from our body as a disturber of our peace, a defiler of purity, a blasphemer of God's Word; and a scandalize of our doctrines.

     Resolved, Further, that a copy of these preambles and resolutions be sent to the journals which have printed such expressions.

     The Convention itself opened on June 10th, the very first business being the adoption of the above resolution passed by the Council of Ministers, together with the further resolution that

     This Convention adopts the said preamble and resolutions of the Council of Ministers as an expression of its final action and belief concerning the subjects therein mentioned, entirely agreeing with the Council of Ministers in emphatically denying that our ministers hold to, believe in, preach or practice the evils referred to in the public prints and private circulars mentioned, under the names of "polygamous marriages," "concubinage," "associate wife," the "Doctrine of Allowableness," and we hereby denounce such things as being forbidden by the Word of God, the writings of Swedenborg, and the faith of the church.

     Quite a stir was caused at a later session by the efforts of Col. Williams to be recognized as a delegate. The Rev. A. B. Francisco questioned the accuracy of the list of delegates of the Illinois Association. The Humboldt Park Parish had nominated Col. Williams; but the Illinois Association had failed to appoint him as a delegate. The Colonel arose, tragic as the grand old Spanish fighter of wind-mills, demanding to know why he had been discredited in his Association and in the Convention. Mr. Saul explained that "there were a number of names submitted to the Executive Committee of the Illinois Association, and the Committee could not appoint them all. If a man is left off the list of delegates, it does not mean that he is discredited." Mr. Smyth moved that the question be referred to the Committee on Credentials,--a perfectly constitutional method of drowning the disturbance. After long and heated discussion this was finally adopted, in spite of Mr. Francisco's expiring declaration: "We do not object to the ruling of the chair, but we do object to the insincerity and treachery of the Illinois Association." (At this point the Convention hissed Mr. Francisco to his seat.)

545




     Among the other dramatic incidents of this meeting of the Convention was the "soul-stirring" speech of the Rev. Arthur Mercer in nominating his candidate for the presidency: "A man who more than anyone in this body incarnates the spirit of democracy, . . . a man, moreover, who does not believe that the prophets of the New Church are to be confined to a set of books. . . . To overcome the cloud of disgrace and scandal which overhangs this Convention, I nominate the Rev. A. B. Francisco." While deeply appreciating the "splendid oration," and heartily agreeing with the spirit of the nomination, the "Man from Texas" modestly declined the preferred honor. "I'd rather be a high private in the rear ranks, and kinda 'hoop 'em up from the rear,' than be at the head."

     Towards the close of the Convention Col. Williams tried to offer a motion, but was ruled out of order, as he was not a delegate. Mr. Francisco then offered the resolution for him, which was to the effect that "the belief and teaching that the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are the 'Lord's words,' or the 'Word of God,' or that they are in any sense whatever Holy, as is His most holy Bible, are false and impossible, and, further, that such belief, itself entirely unwarranted, justifies grave and terrible evils of doctrine now in existence, and makes possible great evils of life."

     The motion was seconded by Col. Williams, but the tender infant was swiftly doomed to a slow but sure death by being "referred" to the Council of Ministers. (Our reporter-a rank outsider-states in parenthesis that "during the reading of this resolution there were audible gasps on the part of the women present, and several of the older members showed broad smiles.")

     There was no further reference to "the" burning question, except that the Convention adopted a ukase of the Council of Ministers, informing the Rev. W. A. L. Campbell, of Galveston Texas, that "if he did not disavow the sentiments expressed in a published letter, and make a satisfactory reply within twenty days, his name be dropped from the Roll."

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Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. School closing over, there followed another busy week in Bryn Athyn. First came the annual celebration of the Nineteenth, commemorated as usual by a special service in the afternoon and a banquet in the evening. The toastmaster, Prof. Odhner, in introducing the first toast, "To the New Church in Christendom," dwelt on the certainty of the ultimate establishment of the New Church throughout Christendom, according to the distinct promise of the Lord in His Second Coming. Mr. Acton, in responding, called attention to the fact that the New Church is the only body in the world that celebrates an event which took place in the spiritual world. The Bishop, in responding to the second toast, "To the future Church among the Gentiles," spoke of the two horses, mentioned in Ezekiel; first a Black Horse went forth, by which is meant that the Letter of the Word will first be given to the Gentiles, before they can receive the White Horse, or the Internal Sense. In response to a toast "To the New Church in Japan," two brief but most interesting papers were read by Miss Sophie Falk and Miss Maria Hogan, who had recently returned from a journey to the land of the Rising Sun. Another traveler recently returned was our genial friend, the Hen. Charles Francis Browne, who, in a humorous speech spoke of his experiences in South America where he had spent a year. Impromptu toasts and speeches followed, the whole evening being enlivened by our own inimitable Walter Childs with his guitar and ever-flowing fountain of original New Church songs.

     On Wednesday, June 21st, the Council of the Clergy held its first session, with a "Symposium" in the evening at which, we are informed, the reverend gentlemen had a merry as well as useful time. Thursday and Friday, however, there was a very serious discussion of a most sublime and difficult subject,-the Divine Human before the Incarnation,-which was treated of in five papers, from five somewhat different points of view.

547


The Council will take another year to consider the subject. On Thursday evening, June 22d, the "Sons of the Academy" held a their annual meeting, and on Friday evening there was a public session of the Council of the Clergy, at which the Rev. J. E. Bowers presented a paper on the "Origin and Creation of Man." On Saturday there was a Joint Meeting of the Council of the Clergy and the Executive Committee. At the services on Sunday we witnessed the solemn ordination of Mr. Gilbert H. Smith, and enjoyed a sermon by the Rev. T. S. Harrs, of Abbington, Mass., and on Monday there was a final session of the Clergy. Then followed the usual exodus "to Greenland's Icy Mountains," (or thereabouts), and "to Paris and to Rome," while "most, perhaps, will stay at home."

     ABINGTON, MASS. As our pastor was to leave for the Ministers' Council at Bryn Athyn on the 19th of June, we held the celebration of the 19th on the evening of the 18th at the home of the pastor.

     The celebration consisted of worship and an address, after which we adjourned to the dining room, formed a circle, passed the loving cup and sang appropriate songs.

     Our little circle held their service without any leader on Sunday, the 25th, as Mr. Harris was in Bryn Athyn. Mr. Waelchli's sermon, "Watchman, What of the Night?" was read by Mr. Freeman.
     G. M. L.

     BALTIMORE, MD. In February Mrs. A. M. Atwater was baptized and became a member of the General Church, coming, as it were, to use her expression, "from the universe." But just as we were counting on her as a prospective member of the Arbutus colony, she had to leave for Santa Barbara, California. On April 2d the second child to be born at Arbutus was added to us, Miss Helena Coffin, to the happiness of her six older brothers. She was baptized on June 18th, and her name was entered on the cradle roll the following Sunday.

     In a society like the Bryn Athyn the building of new houses scarcely attracts attention. But in Arbutus this is still a matter of absorbing interest.

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Mr. Roland Trimble has built himself in the woods a one-room house, which is something more than a shack, and will entertain there this summer Mr. Iungerich and Mr. Sidney Childs. Mr. Benj. Reynolds has built an additional room and added a porch to his bungalow, and he and his family are now "perched upon a hill where the poison oak was found and the sharpest kind of drill cannot penetrate the ground." Mr. Behlert has just given out a contract to build his house. By September we will have nineteen children of school age.

     In addition to the regular services and classes, an occasional class on the Divine Providence has been given on Saturday evenings. The sermons this Year have been expositions of the first chapter of Ezekiel. In this there is not that versatile variety which is to be found in the texts chosen by our Convention confrere in the city, one of whose sermons was advertised as "The Rose-breasted Pastor."

     On the 18th of June we celebrated the following day by a feast of reason and song. Five speakers spoke successively on five planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and this was followed by a speech declaring the 19th of June to be the greatest day in the year, greater than Christmas and Easter which are only peculiar to our earth, because it marks the preaching of the Lord's Second Coming, which preaching was carried out. to the universe. Among the Songs was one to Jupiter, by Mr. Henry Grebe, and the appearance of a new topical song in which are described all the hardships patiently conquered by the seven who have settled at Arbutus. The visitors on this occasion were Mrs. L. H. Tafel, Miss Irma Tafel, Miss Augusta Lotz, Miss Julia Davis, and Mr. Sidney Childs.     E. E. I.

     WASHINGTON, D. C. The Washington Circle met with the Rev. Alfred Acton at Mr. Wright's home on 9th St. Friday evening, June 30th, for the doctrinal class. There were six members present besides our host and his family-Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Schott, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Stebbing, and Mr. and Mrs. Donald Edmonds. Mr. John Helmus who has attended several of the preceding classes, was also there.

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The circle has been taking up in succession the chapters of T. C. R., and Mr. Acton reviewed somewhat the chapter on "Redemption" before taking up that of "The Holy Spirit." It was a most interesting and instructive class. Mr. Edmonds was elected secretary-treasurer for the ensuing year at the brief business session following the class. Before the company separated Mr. Wright offered refreshments, and we had a very pleasant social time.

     Our Sunday services were held at Mr. Schott's home on 35th St., and there were about fourteen present. After the usual service all partook of the- Holy Supper.

     We feel that we are very fortunate in having Rev. Alfred Acton as our pastor, and we hope that in time we may be able to have him with us more frequently. At present he visits us every other month. G. H. E.

     GLENV1EW, ILL. Our Nineteenth of June celebration included a festival service on the 18th, followed in the evening by the Holy Supper. The next day was given over to outdoor recreations, including the inevitable ball game, but the evening found a large gathering at the banquet table, including many friends from the city. Dr. King presided, and the toast list he had prepared brought forth a series of excellent addresses on the general topic: "The Instability and Impermanence of Temporal things, and the Stability and Permanence of Spiritual things." Mr. S. G. Nelson spoke on "The Instability of Fame," Mr. W. H. Junge on the "Insecurity of Wealth," Mr. H. L. Burnham on the "Decay of Material Forms," Mr. G. A. McQueen on the "Uncertainty of Life," Dr. J. W. Marelius on the "Permanence of Character," Mr. Charles S. Cole on the "Endurance of Truth," Mr. Louis B. King on the "Ineradicableness of Remains," and Mr. Caldwell on "The Everlasting Church,"-a most satisfying feast of reason. The flow of soul came not only in the music, but by a coincidence most of the speeches closed with a burst of poetic fervor that harmonized well with the warm sphere that prevailed.

     Our Fourth of July celebration began with a dance on the evening of the 3d, an obliging cool wave arriving just in time, and lasting just long enough to make dancing possible.

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The next day was as hot as ever, which was some hot, believe us! Nevertheless, the beauty and chivalry and loyalty turned out at midday for the parade, and sweltered once around the Park with flags flying, drum beating, and voices raised in song. At the school there was a flag raising and the reading of portions of the Declaration of Independence by Mr. Burnham, who inadvertently stated that it was signed in 1876, which made some of us feel as if we must have heard the revolutionary guns. Stirring patriotic addresses were then delivered by Mr. Louis B. King and Mr. Harold McQueen, the latter gentleman inadvertently referring to the revolution of thirty-five years ago. Surely some of us must have heard those revolutionary guns.

     At one o'clock we dined, in a picnickjan sense, family groups gathering under the shade of the sheltering elms. It is authoritatively stated that, with the thermometer at 102 plus, the loyal hens had laid hard boiled eggs for this occasion. Those who could stand the heat attended the ball game in the afternoon, and saw the younger generation triumph over the "middle ages" to the tune of 4 to 3, the lowest score ever recorded here. In the evening we assembled by the lake to witness a series of tableaux on the opposite shore. Among the scenes depicted were "The Early Settlers," the "Soldier's Farewell," "The Spinning Wheel," "An Emblem of Peace," a "Family Group in America,!' "The Modern Girl" (tennis racquet and canoe paddle in hand), and, as a concluding picture, a flag-bedecked "Statue of Liberty." These were beautifully represented, and the reflection in the lake added greatly to the "oil painting" effect.

     Needless to say, the spectators were enthusiastic. With the help of an accordion we furnished an accompaniment to the tableaux by singing all the old songs. A fine display of fireworks brought the day to a close with "bombs bursting in air."     M.

     MIDDLEPORT, O. Your correspondent has been negligent and now must report briefly for the past six months. Swedenborg's birthday and June Nineteenth were both observed in the usual way.

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On the latter date the subject considered was the message of the Apostles to the universal spiritual world. Dr. S. B. Hanlin answered the question, "What stands in the way of its acceptance in the world?" and Dr. W. A. Hanlin, "What stands in the way of its acceptance in the Church?"

     Both papers were carefully prepared studies from the Writings, showing that what delays the day of the Lord's kingdom is naught but the love of self and of the world.

     Then followed "The Crown of all the Churches," by the pastor. Two reasons were given why this is to be the crown of the churches. 1. That she will be in wisdom, both spiritual and natural from worship of the visible God. 2. The crown is the symbol of victory through conflict. The New Church is established with those only who will fight against the loves of the natural man and triumph over them. Thirty-one were present. There were a number of toasts and songs and a good time. We have had two weddings, that of Miss Dorothy Davis to Mr. Edgar Lindsay, of Pittsburgh, and a little later Mr. Fred. G. Davis to Miss Jackson. The first wedding brought to Middleport Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Lindsay and all their family, Mrs. and Miss Pitcairn and Miss Gilmore. We always feel the benefit of visits of Newchurchmen from the church centers, and wish they might come oftener-yet we cannot but regret their taking our young people away with them.

     We almost always have visits during the summer from some of the many who have left us to make their homes elsewhere. At present the following persons are here: Miss Frances McQuigg, from Bryn Athyn; Mrs. Esther Boggess Lechner, from Pittsburgh, and Miss Pauline Downing, from Chicago. Others are expected during the summer, and Miss Lucy Boggess will soon return via Pittsburgh from Bryn Athyn. W. L. G.

     BERLIN, ONT. The months of April and May were an overclouded period in the Carmel church, owing to an epidemic of scarlet fever, on account of which a number of our families were quarantined. The school was poorly attended and for a time suspended; the same was-the case with the doctrinal classes.

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But towards the end of May came a return of sunshine, evidenced in a successful picnic on the school grounds on Victoria Day, May 24th. In the month of June the church life became still brighter, bringing a delightful close to the year's work. The school closing was held on the 13th, and was, as usual, much enjoyed by all. Work with the oldest class of the school was continued a week longer. The celebration of the Nineteenth of June began on Sunday, June 11th, when the sermon bearing on this church festival was given. On the I8th the Holy Supper was celebrated. And on the day itself, the 19th, a successful banquet was held, at which seventy-five persons were present. The pastor responded to "The Day We Celebrate," Mr. T. S. Kuhl to "Loyalty to the Truth," Mr. Fred. Roschman to "The Growth of the Church," and Mr. Jacob Stroh applied what had been said by the preceding speakers in responding to "The Carmel Church," calling attention to the fact that this is the time of the twentieth anniversary of the institution of the Carmel church, and showing that what prosperity we have had and look forward to depends on the spirit of loyalty and the effort for true growth. W.

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND. Since the last communication but few events of interest have occurred here.

     The celebration of Swedenborg's birthday on February 5th was well attended, and our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Montum, once more provided a very generous supper. In reply to the toast, "To the Church," our pastor delivered an excellent address upon "The Establishment of the Church through the Instrumentality of Emanuel Swedenborg." This subject was developed throughout the evening by means of papers and by various members. On this occasion also Mr. Rey Gill read his interesting paper on "Spheres," which has since appeared in the LIFE.

     A very enjoyable time was spent on May 27th. Mrs. Bellinger, of Berlin, Canada, visited us, spending a week end here, and we all very much enjoyed the pleasure of her company.

     Our "June Nineteenth" celebration was held on the twenty-fifth of June. Among the thirty-five persons present were Mr. and Mrs. Pryke, of Chelmsford; Mr. Boozer, of Maidstone; Mr. Howard, Jr., of London, and Mr. Will Cooper on a holiday from Philadelphia.

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Our pastor opened with an address, "The Sending of the Apostles throughout the Spiritual World." Among several toasts was one to Mrs. Bedwell, who is leaving us for London. We shall all miss Mrs. Bedwell very much, for her home has, during the past twenty-five years, been a rallying place and a center of affection and service to the Church. F. R. C.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     FRANCE. Acting according to its usual custom, the PARIS Society held its annual meeting at a date near June 19th, so as to unite with the meeting the celebration of New Church Day. This year the meeting was held on Sunday, June 18th, when, to quote from MORNING LIGHT, "the members and friends of the Society were invited by the pastor, Monsieur F. Hussenet, who is a municipal councillor of St. Cloud, to spend the day at his residence in that delightful suburb. At 11 A. M. an appropriate and instructive service was conducted by the pastor, special reference being made to the origin of this important festival of the Church and its significance to the world at large. At 1 o'clock about thirty persons, including several children, sat down to the excellent lunch provided by Madame Hussenet, during the course of which letters were read from absent friends, and suitable toasts proposed and responded to. The pretty menu cards were a particularly interesting feature from the fact that they bore the Latin inscription from T. C. R. 46: 'Quisque providere debet corpus suum victu, hoc primum erit, sed ob finem, ut mens sana sit in corpore sane; et quisque providere debet mentem suum victu, nempe talibus quae intelligentiae et judicii, sed, ob finem ut ille inde sit in statu serirjendi concivi, societatis, Patrice, Ecclesiae, et sic Domino; qui hoc facit, ille providet sibi bene in aeternum.' During the afternoon, whilst the ladies and children enjoyed the pleasures of the house and garden, the gentlemen accompanied Monsieur Hussenet on a delightful walk to the heights of Montretout, from which-as its name implies-a magnificent view of the surrounding country is obtained. At 6 o'clock refreshments were provided as a viaticum for the return journey to Paris by way of the beautiful Bois de Boulogne, to be seen at its prime in this season.

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It was with sincere regret that their guests bade farewell to Monsieur and Madame Kussenet and family, to whose unstinted efforts so much of the success and pleasure of this most enjoyable holiday were due. It may be useful to note that the Society no longer meets in an out-of-the-way quarter of the town, but services are held regularly at 3 p. m. on the first and third Sundays of the month at No. 100, Rue St. Lazare, a minute's walk from St. Lazare terminus. There is a fair proportion of English-speaking members, so English and American visitors may always rely upon a very hearty welcome, and their occasional presence and help would serve as a stimulus and encouragement to the struggling little Society there."

     DENMARK, After much disturbance and trouble over the use of "individual cups,"-a practice which was finally adopted by the Copenhagen Society in 1909,-the society has now gone back to its former practice of using both the individual and the common cup.
SWEDENBORG'S DOCTRINE OF FORMS 1911

SWEDENBORG'S DOCTRINE OF FORMS       Rev. C. TH. ODHNER       1911




     Announcements.




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NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXI SEPTEMBER, 1911          No. 9
     A STUDY

     INTRODUCTION.

     In a number of places in his philosophical works Swedenborg refers to certain "New Doctrines" which he regarded as indispensable in reaching the ultimate goal of his researches. Thus, in the Prologue to the ANIMAL KINGDOM, in presenting a summary of the work, he states his purpose to publish "An Introduction to Rational Psychology, consisting of certain New Doctrines, through the assistance of which we may be conducted from the material organism of the body to a knowledge of the soul which is immaterial. These Doctrines are: the Doctrine of Forms, the Doctrine of Order and Degrees, the Doctrine of Series and Society, the Doctrine of Influx, the Doctrine of Correspondence and Representation; and, finally, the Doctrine of Modification." (A. K. I:14.)

     And in the work ON THE SENSES we read:

     "Nor [can we explore] modifications except by means of the doctrines of forms, of order and of series, finally of influxes. 1. The doctrine of order teaches that the more perfect modifications are in the superior degree. 2. The doctrine of forms teaches of what quality is the more perfect form of fluxion which thence arises. 3. The doctrine of influxes teaches how the inferior obtains the power of acting from the superior. 4. The forms themselves of the fluxions indicate what are the qualities of the substantial forms; for they concur." (266.)

     "These things have been taught in my philosophical PRINCIPIA, where the forms of the parts of each atmosphere have been treated of and delineated. 1. These things were done for the present end; 2. now comes the application.

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3. I pass over the delineations for they are there extant." (267)

     "These things cannot be understood except by means of new doctrines: 1. namely, by the doctrine of forms, 2. of order and degrees, 3. of influxes, 4. of correspondences, 5. of modifications, 6. wherein these things will all be explained. 7. In the meanwhile we live, as it were, in the shadow of things and although we acknowledge truths, we [perceive] them, as it were, not by sight, but by touch. 8. And they are not even acknowledged except by those whose understanding is immune to hypotheses and false principles. 9. For, as has been said, all things are co-established from posterior to prior things, not pre-established. 10. Things must first be reduced into true order by these doctrines, and thus we must progress from prior to posterior things, when first we struggle out thither from the posterior to primes. 11. But still truths are not thus evident, unless the order be so re-established that the affections of the superior faculties may flow into inferior things; 12. thus, not unless the affections of the Divine spirit be received by the soul, thus by the understanding." (489.)

     These "New Doctrines" run through the whole series of Swedenborg's philosophical works; in fact, his whole system is based upon them. While he wrote no special works devoted exclusively and nominally to any one of these Doctrines, yet we find many of them systematically developed in various treatises. The Doctrines of Order and Degrees, of Series and Society, and of Influx, receive thorough treatment in special chapters of the ECONOMY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, and the Doctrine of Correspondence and Representation is the chief subject of the little work called AN HIEROGLYPHIC KEY. But the Doctrine of Forms is not to be found as a whole in any single work, though we may justly regard the ONTOLOGY as an introduction to this Doctrine, abstractly considered, and the chapter on Forms in the work ON THE FIBRE as a general outline of that Doctrine itself in reference to the successive degrees of Form. It is the purpose of the present Study to bring together into one correlated whole, within the framework of the two treatises last named, the numerous references and teachings scattered throughout Swedenborg's writings, theological as well as philosophical, that have a direct bearing on the Doctrine of Form and of Forms.

     Like his other Doctrines, Swedenborg's Doctrine of Forms is of a character unique in the history of philosophy, though based, of course, on pre-existing materials.

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His ontological definitions of Form are largely founded on the metaphysics of Racon, Dupleix, and others, but most especially on Wolff, with the infusion of a new and peculiarly spiritual element as a soul. This digest he then combines with the Doctrine of Discrete Degrees, the whole resulting in a Doctrine of Forms that is entirely new in the history of human thought, without a parallel in ancient or modern science and philosophy,-the Doctrine of a sevenfold scale of discrete Forms, by which, through the constant application of the Perpetual and Continuous, he climbs steadily upwards from the dead angular forms of matter through the atmospheres and auras and heavens, even unto the eternal form of the Infinite itself. With mathematical and geometrical precision and incontrovertible logic he reasons from the known to the unknown, establishing each successive degree on a scientific basis, until it would seem that he had, from human reason alone, found the Ladder of God upon which angels ascend and descend.

     In ages to come the existence of the Spiritual and the Divine will no longer be regarded as a matter of faith, but as a matter of knowledge scientifically demonstrated by Swedenborg in his Doctrine of Forms, but the appearance that it was Swedenborg's discovery will vanish in the acknowledgment that God alone could have wrought this work. For though Swedenborg appeared to himself an inductive and analytical philosopher, reasoning a posteriori from things known to things unknown, yet all his reasoning flowed from the acknowledgment of the Infinite as the most real of all actual facts. And that in developing his Doctrine of Forms he was led by the Lord, he proclaims in a series of remarkable statements in the SPIRITUAL DIARY:

     "I also was at one time kept in the fantasy [of confusing the Divine Infinite with the infinite of space], though I still remembered that the former was before the latter. But I was delivered from this fantasy by this that I thought of infinite space as being no longer space, when outside the universe, and that it was without end and thus imperceptible. Afterwards I was led by the Lord into some perception of forms, the notion of which utterly exceeds the notions of the geometricians for forms, even the lowest human forms, as, for instance, the form of the intestines, exceed the forms of geometrical notions to such a degree that they can never be perceived from them. When the intestinal spires and forms, and especially the forms of their operations, are such that these most subtle things call never be conceived by geometricians and their calculus-of infinities, because these indefinite things transcend their calculus of infinities, how then can they from their geometrical things perceive the forms of the more subtile organs, or how the vital forms, or vessels accommodated to the reception of life, which indefinitely transcend the organic forms, even those of sight?" (S. D. 3482.)

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     "Therefore, lest I should be kept in these lowest and most finite things, there was given to me by the Lord a notion of forms, which transcend geometrical forms, for Geometry terminates in the circle, and in the curves relating to the circle, which are only terrestrial, and do not even reach to the lowest atmospherical forms, nor even to the aqueous forms. From these lowest or terrestrial forms I was led by means of removals of imperfections, such as those things which cause gravity, rest, cold, etc., until it was given to perceive in a most general way forms which are not burdened with such things,-forms in which nothing could be conceived of except a center in each point, so that they consisted of mere centers,-forms which were almost without terminations, thus without space and time, but which still are finite since an idea can be conceived of them; all such forms, therefore, still remain within nature, and are without life; but those forms which are within and above these are living from the Lord, but still organic, since they have nothing of life in themselves." (S. D. 3485.)

     It is somewhat difficult to determine when this superior "perception of forms" first dawned in Swedenborg's mind, but it is clear that it took place gradually and synchronously with the dawning of his perception of discrete degrees in general and of the atmospheres and human bloods in particular. We catch glimpses of his Doctrine of Forms as early as 1717 in certain statements in his DAEDALUS HYPERBOREUS; in his MECHANISM OF THE SOUL AND THE BODY in 1718; in his CHEMISTRY and LESSER PRINCIPIA Of 1721 and 1722. The whole of his larger PRINCIPIA is manifestly based on this new Doctrine, though it is not mentioned by name there. The first distinct statements occur in the ECONOMY and the ANIMAL KINGDOM; the RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, the FIBRE and the SENSES are full of it, and it reaches a complete fruition and application in the WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD, the last of his philosophical works.

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DOCTRINE OF FORMS 1911

DOCTRINE OF FORMS              1911

     CHAPTER I.

     GENERAL DEFINITIONS OF "FORM."

     1. Etymology of the term. The word "form," from the Latin forma, is said by some authorities to be derived by transposition from the Greek "morphe,"-which is an evident absurdity. More scientific etymologists derive it from a Sanskrit root dhur, whence, on one hand, came the words firm, farm, and form, and, on the other hand, true, and truth, the t and the f being related radicals. Thus, in its very origin, the idea of form is one with the idea of truth, for form is to substance what truth is to good. Indeed, the form of every single things is essentially nothing but the truth thereof, whereby it is manifested and known, and rendered firm and established.

     2. Modern definitions of Form. Webster has sixteen different definitions of form in its various senses and applications, of which we need quote only a few:

     1. "The shape and structure of anything, as distinguished from the material of which it is composed; particular disposition and arrangement of matter, giving it individuality and distinctive character; configuration, figure, external appearance."

     2. "Constitution, mode of construction, organization, system, etc."

     14. "That assemblage or disposition of qualities which makes a conception, or that internal constitution which makes an existing thing to be what it is."

     3. Swedenborg's definitions. Among numerous statements in Swedenborg's philosophical works, we select the following as, perhaps, the most universal:

     "There is no entity and no substance in the universe without form; that it is anything, and that it is such as it is, is owing wholly to form. The essential determinations constitute form; but what those essences are which are determined, cannot be conceived without the idea of parts or of substances, nor this determination itself without the idea of fluxion or of co-existence; these substances themselves are called determinating, and that which is determined by substances is a new but composite substance, in which there is form." (RATIONAL PHYSIOLOGY, 175.)

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     "Form is the entire construction of a body; namely, the composition, coordination, subordination, and determination of the parts, both integral and individual, in a compound, whence that compound derives not only its essence, but also the quality of that essence; for it is from its form that an ens is what it is taken to be. Therefore, from a knowledge of the form there follows a knowledge of the duality and essence of any given body, as also of its dependence and relation; since a knowledge of the form involves a knowledge of the connection, the position, the order, the fluxion, and many other things which cause the body to be what it is rather than something else." (ONTOLOGY, 5.)

     "Nothing in the created universe is anything except from its form. Anything considered without form is without predicates and relation, consequently it is an entity altogether apart from order or rule, in short, a nothing, whether it be called a simple, an element, an atom, or a primitive without form. Matter, according to the philosopher, [Aristotle], desires form as the female desires the male, (NATUR. AUSCULT., Book I., chap. 10) and form cannot be abstracted from matter except in thought. Truth itself, which is said to be perfectly simple, and is depicted naked, still is not acknowledged, and does not please without form." (ECONOMY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, 286.)

     4. Form in relation to substance. Apart from substance, form is inconceivable; it must always be the form of something substantial, and therefore form is not a thing by itself alone.

     "It is known in the learned world that essence without form, and form without essence, is not anything; for essence has no quality except from form; and form is not a subsisting entity except from essence." (T. C. R. 367)

     "Substance remains substance even though the state of its form is changed; for nothing substantial is either destroyed or produced by variation of form or modification." (ONT. 33.)

     This is so well known that we need dwell no longer upon this phase of the subject. But though we cannot possibly separate form from substance, yet we can in thought distinguish between these two most universal essentials of everything. And in seeking to answer the question, What is meant by Form? we learn that there are three essential ideas involved in the idea of Form abstractly considered.

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These are, 1. the idea of determination; 2. the idea of quality; and, 3. the idea of state.

     5. Form as Determination. The concept of "determination" is derived from the idea of limitation, (terminus), and thus of finition. That which had no terminus, no boundary or limit, is infinite and presents no idea to the thought,-nothing upon which the thought may rest and dwell. The first essential of form is therefore finition, boundary, or determination,-it matters not whether these be internal or external.

     "As good has its quality from truths, so also it has its form from them; for where there is form there is quality. Thus the animal spirit receives its determinations and hence its form by means of the fibres, and in like manner the blood by means of the vessels." (A. C. 9754, 9514.)

     6. Form as Quality. The term "quality" is derived from the Latin qualis, and this from qua, and it means, therefore, the "what-ness" of a thing,-the condition of being of such and such a sort or kind, as distinguished from other sorts and kinds,-that which makes anything to be what it is,-anything; belonging to a subject or predicable of it. The quality of a form means, therefore, the sum-substance of everything that can be determined respecting that form, or all the determinations by which that form is presented to the thought or the senses.

     "By duality is signified whatever is within." (A. C. 3935.)

     "The reason Esse is not Esse unless it exists, is that it is not in a form before; and if it is not in a form it has no quality, and what has no quality is not anything." (D. L. W. 15.)

     "Every form consists of various things. The form which does not consist of various things is not a form, because it has no quality nor any changes of state." (L. J. 12.)

     "All good has its quality from truth." (A. C. 3986.)

     "Good has its duality from truths, and it has its form also from them; for where there is form there is quality; and where there is not form, there is no quality." (A. C. 9154)

     7. Form as State. As determination is the first essential of form, and as quality, or all known determinations, makes the second essential; so "state," or the co-existence of these determinations, makes the third essential.

     "In every form there is its state, which is the co-existence of the substances which are being determined or have been determined." (R. 179.)

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     "By form is meant a man's state as to his love and at the same time as to his wisdom." (T. C. R. 366.)

     "State as the co-existence of the determinations in any given form; as, in the circle, the co-existence of the determinations of the diameters from the circumference towards the center. The state of a circle is not changed so long as the circle remains a circle. When the circle is expanded or contracted, its state is not then changed, but its forces are varied and modified; or, there is a variation and modification of its forces." (ONT. 23.)

     "Changes of state are changes of the determinations in any given form with respect to their co-existence; as, in circular forms, with respect to the co-existence of the determinations, that is, of the radii, to the center. Thus, when the determination of the center is changed, the state of the circle is changed; as when it is raised to an ellipse, a cycloid, a conoid, a parabola, and other figures. So also in all other forms, except the angular, where no change of form earn occur without the destruction and privation thereof, change of figure being alone possible." (ONT. 24.)

     "From changes of state, or variation of modes, new forms exist. Thus they exist successively before they exist simultaneously, or before they co-exist. For there can be common states under which are contained many particular states; universal states under which are singular states;-and general states under which are specific and individual states. The common and universal state is formed from the particular and singular states." (ONT. 27.)

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CHAPTER II 1911

CHAPTER II              1911

     THE ORIGIN OF FORM.

     1. All forms are from God, who is Form Itself. While Form, i. e., finition and determination, cannot be predicated of the Infinite Esse, it can be predicated in a super-eminent sense of the Divine Existere as the first and supreme manifestation or standing forth of the Infinite Esse.

     "God is Form, because all the Quality of subjects has arisen from Him. Quality exists from no other source than form." (T. C. R. 53.)

     "In order that each and all things may be form, it is necessary that He who created all things shall be Form Itself, and that all things that have been created in forms shall be from Form Itself." (D. P. 4.)

     "That the One God is Substance Itself and Form Itself: whatever is substance is also form, for unless a substance is a form, it is an ens rationis; and, therefore, both may be predicated of God, but in this way, that He is the only, the very, and the first Substance and Form. This Form is the Human Form itself." (T. C. R. 20.)

     "God is Substance Itself and Form Itself. He is Substance because all things that subsist have come forth and do come forth from Him. And He is Form, because all the duality of substances has originated and does originate from Him and quality can only be derived from form." (T. C. R. 53)

     2. This Divine Form is the Divine Truth, the Infinite Existere of the Infinite Esse.

     "As good is the very esse of a thing, and truth is the existere of the thing thence, so the will with man is the very esse of his life, and the understanding is the existere of life therefrom; for the good which is of the will forms itself in the understanding, and there presents itself to view." (N. J. 32, 75.)

     "Love is the esse of life, and wisdom is the existere of life from that esse." (D. L. W. 368.)

     "The Esse of the Lord's substance is Divine Good, and the existere of His substance is Divine Truth."

     "'God' signifies the Divine Existere, and the Divine Existere is the Divine of faith, thus the Divine Truth; for all truth exists from good, for truth is the form of good." (A. C. 10158.)

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     3. In the "Principia" this Infinite Existere or First Form is called the "First Natural Point." The Infinite, in its first Existere, is the Logos, the Word which was with God in the beginning and which was God. The same is the Only Begotten of the Father, which became Flesh and dwelt among us. In relation to the creation of the universe; this Word, as the first and most simple of all forms, is called the First Natural Point, which, indeed, coincides with the "Mathematical Point," but is to be spiritually regarded as the first, self-manifesting end and conatus of Infinite Love, pointing to the creation of a finite universe.

     "The following rules appear to be conducive to the knowledge of those secrets of nature which are involved in the natural mechanism of particles. 1. Let us assume that nature acts by the simplest means, and that the particles of such elements are of the simplest and least artificial form. 2. Let us take for granted that the beginning of nature is identical with that of Geometry; in other words, that the origin of natural particles is due to mathematical points, just as the origin of lines, forms, and the whole of Geometry: the reason being that there is nothing in nature but what is geometrical, and vice versa." (MISC. OBSERVATIONS, p. 84.)

     "If the nature of particles is derived from the same beginning as Geometry, whence, then, does the line originate? Is it not from an infinity of points combined into length? And whence the substance, unless from an infinity of lines combined into width? Whence body, but from an infinity of surfaces combined into depth? The case is the same if we suppose that in the beginning of all things there were only mathematical points, without any shape, dimensions, motion, or geometrical attributes; and then suppose motion among these points." (Misc. OBSERVATIONS, p. 85.)

     "Rational Philosophy acknowledges some first ens produced from the Infinite, and some Simple as the origin of things not simple. This first Ens, or this Simple, we here call the Natural Point." (PRINCIPIA, Vol. I., P. 48)

     4. All subsequent forms of finition were produced from the First Natural Point by means of Motion.

     The First Natural Point itself was "produced by means of motion." (PRINC., I., p. 50.)

     "It is purely motion in the universal Infinite, and consequently it is pure and total motion, a motion which cannot be conceived of according to any laws of Geometry." (Ibid., p. 55.)

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     "This pure and total motion cannot be understood in any other way than as an internal state or effort, (conatus), to motion." (Ibid., p. 57.)

     "Motion is the cause of all modification and of all existence, that is, of all standing forth in form," (pp. 49, 62, 77). "Motion itself is not substantial, but produces the appearance of substance and form." (p. 65.)

     "Whenever any action is intended, a corresponding motion is induced, and a form imprinted and stamped, corresponding to the motion, viz., on substances as the proper subject from which motions, forces, powers, and modes result; thus the form, or, as it is commonly called, the structure and frame of substances, coincides with the form of the active forces, consequently with the form of the motion which produces the action." (ANIMAL KINGDOM, Vol. I., P. 124.)

     On this subject see, further, the articles on The First Natural Point in NEW CHURCH LIFE for July, August, October and November, 1907.

     5. Among all the successive finites or forms, the actives are called "goods" and their enclosing passives are called "truths."

     "The truths which are from good are said to be the forms of good, because they are nothing else than goods formed. He who conceives of truths in any other way, does not know what truths are." (A. C. 4574; A. E. 242.)

     "The actives of life are called celestial things, and the passives of life are called spiritual things." (S. D. 1741)

     "Truths, or passives, become goods, or actives, when man acts according to them." (A. C. 4984.)

     "Truths five in so far as they have goods within them and also around them." (A. C. 9151.)

     "The spiritual origin of all human seed is truth from good, yet not Divine Truth from Divine Good, in its own essence, infinite and uncreated, but in its own form finite and' created."
(CANONS, Trinity iv:5.)

     (To be continued.)

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GOING OUT AND COMING IN 1911

GOING OUT AND COMING IN       Rev. W. H. ALDEN       1911

     "Jehovah shall keep thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even forevermore." (Psalm 121:8.)

     The expression going out and coming in is in common use to signify the vicissitudes of life, and is found many times in the Word with this general meaning. It is easy to perceive in our text and elsewhere that it means the whole of life from the beginning to the end of it. Therefore in general our text teaches of the universality of the Divine Providence. But the use of this expression to intimate the whole of life leads the mind to enter more particularly into this general idea. Going out and coming in imply changes of state; going out implies one kind or direction of such change and coming in implies another bind or direction.

     In the letter of the Word the whole progress of the process of regeneration is contained in the story of the coming in of Noah into the ark that he and his might be preserved from the waters of the flood; and the going forth of him and his family from the ark after the flood had subsided. Another picture of the whole course and progress of regeneration is contained in the story of the children of Israel being brought up out of the land of Egypt and being brought in to the land of Canaan. The Lord describes the incarnation and the whole process of His glorification as His going forth from the Father and coming into the world, and again His leaving the world and going to the Father.

     In the spiritual thought of life the going out and coming in is not a matter of changes in one's natural occupation, nor of the natural vicissitudes of life; it is a matter of changes of internal states within the external happenings; changes in those essential things in which life consists. The goings out and the comings in referred to in our text are goings forth from one state of life, and the coming in to another state of life, and the thing revealed in the text is that the several and successive goings forth and comings in of life are each and all under the protecting care of the Divine Love, the purpose of which is the formation of a state of heart and life which is heaven in the soul, the pre-requisite of the coming into heaven hereafter.

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Indeed, the hereafter is a place only as a setting for the state of heart and life which is the abiding reality of it.

     These spiritual states, their succession and alternation, may be illustrated by the successive states of the natural life from birth to old age. The child at birth goes forth into the world, enters by birth into a new state, which is that of the opening of the senses. This is done, not only under the tender ministrations of parents, but with the watchful care of the angels of heaven. The sensual plane of the mind having been formed in this opening of the senses of the body, there is based upon this state a second state which is the state of knowledges, the state of the storing up of scientifics. The growing mind in due course passes out of this state and comes into the youthful state of reasoning, which state in its turn is followed by the mature state of love for the uses of life. Into this mature state are gathered up all the previous states, the opening of the senses, the storing of knowledges, the development of the reason;-all these are gathered up and garnered into the orderly state of useful manhood and womanhood. So the natural life is a going forth and coming in, a series of changes of state, something that is larger being taken on with each succeeding state, if it be in true order, and the later gathering, and summing up within its own boundaries, of all that was good and true in that which went before.

     But the changes in the natural life of man from birth to death are all and every one of them subservient to changes of state of the soul which are larger and of more consequence than all or any of the changes in natural states. The changes of natural state lead up to and are preparatory for the final state of maturity of human life on earth; the changes of spiritual state are preparatory for and lead up to an eternal state in heaven.

     There are changes of spiritual state which are attendant upon the changes which take place in natural states. The change from infant to child, from child to youth, from youth to manhood, each involves more than mere change of form of body, more than change of form of mind. It does indeed involve these. Tender receptive forms mark infancy and, in somewhat less degree childhood; firm and assured forms of mind and body characterize the man.

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But back of these forms and in them, giving them their life and force; is the presence of angelic societies.

     The state of anyone is his presence in some angelic society, or it may be in some infernal society, the sphere of which forms the quality of the state. In passing from infancy to childhood, from childhood to youth, from youth to manhood, from manhood to old age, one journeys in the spiritual world from one society to another. About infants and little children are the angels who always behold the Father's face. As the child grows, he passes out from the association of these angels and comes into association with those who are in the love of scientifics, who instill into the mind of the child the love for knowing things, which its insatiable questioning develops. When the time for storing scientifics is done, the child or youth goes out from the presence of these societies into the society of spirits who are in the love of reasoning, that the mind may be trained to think for itself, preparatory to the soul's entrance upon the active uses of mature life.

     The man himself is unconscious of this companionship. It is all under the care and protection of the Lord and it is the teaching of our text that His providence is over it at every step of the way. He it is who leads us out from one society to another, and assigns the spiritual fellowship which is suited to each age and state.

     But while we are not conscious of the spiritual fellowship involved in these changes of state, we may find a great use in knowing of them, and in adapting the external life to make the most of them. It is thus made possible to cooperate with the Lord at every stage of life, so that the work which is being done by Him within in consociating the soul with societies of the spiritual world may have its ultimate effect of developing the character. At the age when celestial love and innocence rule the infant's mind, there should be a sphere of love about the child as well. This atmosphere of love is indeed breathed upon those who have the care of little children, and they have but to yield to it to enjoy the life and the good of it for themselves and for the little ones. For the time those who care for little children enter into the heavenly societies, or may enter the heavenly societies in which the children are, and partake with the children of the loves of the angels.

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It is a precious thing that this is so, for by means of this association the Lord prevents the utter destruction of innocence in an evil world.

     In the age when the mind is surrounded on the spiritual side with those spirits who are in the love of knowing, there should be provided for the child the scientifics which may be learned, both the scientifics of the world, and, at every step with them and based upon them, the scientifics of heaven, for we know that during that age and in that state those scientifics will be seized upon with eagerness.

     When the time comes for the going forth from the state of childhood's obedience to the coming in to the state of the assumption of the reasoning powers, there is trial, for the first rational is very certain to have with it conceit and impatience of guidance or control. It is a period calling perhaps for more patience than any other period of life. The mind of the youth draws away, not always gently, from the control of the parent. The state of dependence upon and of obedience to command of masters is passing away. But it is to be remembered that this state must pass away in order that the other state into which the child must come that he may be a man may come in, namely, the state in which he judges for himself before the Lord. It is not good or right that the child should remain in a state of subjection to the will of the parent; and while it is often hard to bear that the youth should wilfully, in the transition, choose many things which the greater experience of the parent sees to be unwise, even evil, it is to be remembered that the experience of the malign results of unwise choice may be the prelude of entering into wisdom which can be by no means gained through the persistence of unthinking tutelage. The Lord is with this going out from the state of childhood to the state of manhood and guards and protects it, and, while we can only stand by and realize our own helplessness, let us be mindful that the Lord is leading and that He keeps the going out and the coming in.

     But the changes which have been spoken of are subordinate to another series of changes of state. In a general way it may be said that every man, when born, and so long as he remains unregenerate, is in the state of hell.

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Heavenly societies are, it is true, adjoined to him in infancy, and as he grows older,-though in more and more external ways,-stimulating the powers of the opening mind. But the spirits who are associated with him by his own essential love, whom he draws more and more closely to him, into whose fellowship he more and more fully enters as he comes into manhood, are societies of hell. The goings out and the comings in of our text relate in a vital sense to the changes of state by which the man, if he can be regenerated, is withdrawn from association with these infernal societies, and brought into the association of societies of heaven. This is the going out from Egypt and the coming in to the land of Canaan, with the forty years wandering in the wilderness, with temptation combats, with discipline, with defeats, with victories.

     But all through the larger change of state, there are lesser alternations of state. No one is ever wholly in a society of hell, until he is confirmed in evil; no one is wholly in a society of heaven, except when he is regenerated. Men in the world are in both; or to speak more exactly, have in them that which associates them now with one, now with the other. There is no man who is without the means of salvation; there is no man who is without evils from which he may be regenerated. By his inherited lusts he pants for the lowest hell; he has within him, whether conscious of it or not, evil tendencies, more or less confirmed by his own acts, which draw about him infernal influences, which place him in an infernal society. But every man has also, by the adjunction of angels in infancy, by the instruction of parents and teachers in childhood and youth, by more or less confirmation through acts of his own life, some of the loves of heaven, some of the truths which confess the Lord and His law. With him who is unregenerate the inherited evil love is at the inmost and the truth and love which point heavenward are without; with him who is regenerated or regenerating, the truth and love of heaven are within, and the evils of inheritance are without, these evil loves in the final issue being removed to the very circumference and forever held in subjection.

     During the progress of regeneration man is, as it were, the subject of two kingdoms, and dwells now in an infernal society, and now in a society of heaven.

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He passes through alternations of state, now being allied with the evil in hell, now with the angels of heaven. The greater journey from Egypt to Canaan is made up of many lesser journeys; the great change of state from that of the unregenerate natural man to that of the heavenly man is inclusive of many lesser changes of state; states of discipline and temptation alternating with states of peace and refreshing.

     Evils with which man is born, which are the form of him, must be seen that they may be put away; and they are brought to the consciousness through the man's being brought into association with the spirits who are in that evil. He is brought in, that is, into the society of spirits, who are spirits of hell, who are in that evil, brought into that particular infernal society. To put this another way, the lust for that evil is strongly excited. This is done that it may be recognized in its opposition to the truth of heaven. The combat which then ensues between this evil lust and the truth of heaven is the conflict of temptation. It is the more severe, not in proportion to the power of the evil lust, but in proportion to the love for the truth and good which is opposed to it. Were there only the lust for evil, there would be no temptation at all, but the man would in the freedom of his life go the way in which his lust led him, enter into the infernal society and abide in it as in his home. As a matter of fact, this is the case with every man before regeneration. He is in the love of his life, which is the love of evil from his inheritance of evil from his ancestors. This seems to him the only life worth having, that which offers to him the greatest possible delight. Swedenborg tells how it was permitted him to perceive the delights of the loves of self and of the world, which are the essential principles of all infernal loves, and he perceived that the delight in these loves exceeded all other delights in the world. While a man is under the persuasion of this delight he has no consciousness that such loves are evil. There is no conflict with him, but simply the going with the current which bears him exactly whither he wishes to go. How far we, or any of us, are removed from such a state as this, we cannot judge. But we may know that so far as we are regenerated, so far as there is yet evil of our inheritance to be cast out, so far there is something of this state with each and every one of us.

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If we may be permitted to judge by the state of the world as revealed in the Writings of the New Church, and confirmed by our experience, we may be in such state to far greater extent that we can bear to think. But we are not required to judge of this. No man can, by taking thought, add one cubit to his stature. We are bidden not to be anxious for the morrow, for sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. We are not to be concerned as to our state of regeneration, nor as to our progress in it; sufficient unto the day, i. e., for the present time, is the evil which the Lord brings us to know of now.

     No one can come into temptations before he has reached the age of rationality and freedom. This is signified by the sons of Israel not being commanded to go forth to war till they were twenty years old and upward. Whatever the appearance of the life, the states of childhood and of youth are for preparation; for the storing up of remains; for the providing of truths in the understanding and something of external orderliness of life, by which when the hereditary evil breaks forth there may be that by which it can be met and by which there can be victory.

     This is the state of spiritual temptation when man is led into the presence of his spiritual enemies, and in the light of Divine truth knows them as enemies. The part of man in this is simply to learn truth and in the light of it to shun evil as sin. Not that this external shunning of evil as sin is the whole of temptation. The temptation lies deeper than this, in the consciousness of the lust for some evil strong upon one-seen over against the truth and the good which are heaven-seeming to make that truth of no avail, seeming to cast that good far away.

     Some conception of spiritual temptation may be formed from contemplation of the following picture. There exists some evil lust in the soul. We know it is there and secretly cherish it, not realizing that it is seriously opposed to the Lord and the life of heaven. But now suppose that we could be introduced into the society of those who are in that evil lust, with whom its outward consequences of wickedness appear openly in forms of external crime, would not we then be made to realize that all these fearful things are bound up within the secret lust which we have cherished in the heart; that these abominations are our abominations, that they are the goings forth of that secret lust of which we have thought so lightly.

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Would we not, under such circumstances, recoil with horror, realizing that we are in the love of all these things, that it is because of them that we have been brought into association with those who are in the outward expression of them; that we belong to their company, that we are of the same infernal brood with them, that we are lost? Would not, under such conditions, despair seize upon the soul?

     But this is no fancy picture. Such things actually occur in the world of spirits. And as to internal state, if we are to be regenerated we must pass through the same experience. The Lord permits the evil lust to come forth, He permits us to be brought into the fellowship of the infernal society which is in that lust, that what lies within it may be disclosed, and He permits the hellish crew to reduce the soul to despair in the thought that because of it we are allied with them and must dwell with their foul crew forever. All this, even to despair, and during such state, too, the Lord seems absent. But He is not absent. He is more present then than at other times, and by means of the goods and truths of remains He fights for the soul so hardly beset. In the very hour of despair He saves; and gives to know that of His mercy He continually saves. After such temptation and the victory of it, which is His victory, not ours, He brings us out into broad places.

     Note how little in this temptation the living of an external good life has to do. Nearly every man lives a good life. It is relatively a little thing to shun evil in the outward act, where it can be seen of men. The world is, in profession, one with the church in that. But it is quite another thing to be brought into the consciousness of the lust of evil in the heart, into the consciousness of a lust which allies us with infernal spirits, which, unless we are saved from it, will lead us at last to seek hell as the place where we would best love to dwell. In the one case we have the world at our back; in the other, a state where we are apparently alone, at the mercy of the attack of hell, with the thought of the Lord as our only stay.

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     Temptations come to those only who have some hold upon spiritual truth by which the Lord and His angels can protect from the assault. The severity of the temptation is in proportion to the truth which is in the mind and the strength with which the truth is loved. The grievousness of the temptation is due to the fact that in it is assailed the love of the truth of heaven and the love of the life of heaven. Because heaven is loved, because the truth which the Lord has revealed is loved, it is grievous that the soul is brought into the consciousness within itself of loves which shut away from heaven and darken the perception of that truth. Nevertheless, the apostle counsels "Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations," (James 1:2), since this signifies that we have the means for victory, and may be assured that through the fire of the temptation the Lord will bring us into fellowship with heavenly societies through removing the lust which was the occasion of the temptation.

     The Lord tempts no man more than he is able to bear. It has already been suggested that temptations do not come till the man is prepared to meet them, and that the Lord permits them in such measure as the soul is able to bear them. We come in, in temptation, into an infernal society, but the Lord protects our state therein, so that, although we make our bed in hell, behold, He is there. And with victory, He lifts us up into association with angels. He gives us periods of consolation, of refreshing, periods in which we may enjoy the peace of the fellowship of heaven. This He does by shutting up evils from our consciousness, and opening for a time the consciousness of His goodness which He has laid up for those who fear Him. These are the places of rest in the journey in the wilderness.

     Our great prototype in these experiences of temptation of the goings out and the comings in of regeneration is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said, "I came forth from the Father and am come into the world: again I leave the world and go unto the Father." (John xvi. 28.) This coming forth and returning of the Lord was not simply a theophany, an appearing of God in the world. It was that, but it involved far more than that. His coming forth from the Father and coming into the world was the taking upon Him of the Human, the entering into human life, into a human nature in which He could meet temptation assaults, so that He might overcome the hells and so deliver man from infernal bondage.

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This was His humiliation, the taking upon Him of the form of a servant, the becoming man that He might admit into Himself temptations from all the hells, and overcome all the hells. The Divine may not be tempted. But by taking upon Him a human from man by means of birth from a virgin, He put Himself into such a state as could admit of influx from all the hells, could bring them into a state of combat with Himself, so that He could overcome them. That which with man is the overcoming of hereditary evil, and the birth and growth of the new man in regeneration, was, with the Lord, the overcoming of all the hells which were admitted into Him through the heredity from the mother, and the glorification of the Humanity, which was the unition with the Divinity from which it was begotten. As in man there is the opening of evil lusts, and his entering into association with societies of hell answering to those lusts for the sake of temptation, combat and victory; so with the Lord there was the opening of the lusts of all mankind, and by them He was brought in association with all the hells, for the sake of temptation beyond any with which man is tempted, that there might be victory which should be the redemption of all mankind. Thus "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5.)

     As man is thus led to see his own lusts in their infernal character, as they are excited by this infernal fellowship which they invite, over against the truth of revelation, by which there is combat against it; so with the Lord all the hells entered into and excited the lusts of all mankind, which were the from of His maternal heredity, but with him, over against these lusts was the very Divine love of saving the human race by which He conquered. Our conflicts are partial, involving only those evils which may enter into one man, and on the other side the hope of heaven of the single human soul. With the Lord the conflict was waged between all the hells on the one hand and the Divine love of saving all men on the other.

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     Hence His combats, His temptations were grievous beyond all comparison with those of man. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. (Isa. 53:3) We could say, Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow." (Lam. 1:12.)

     During the progress of His life on earth there were marked in Him two states; there was with Him a going out and a coming in from the one state into the other. There was the state of humiliation, the state of emptying out, of the pouring out of His soul unto death; the state when He was in the deserts of which it is written that He was with the wild beasts. To be with the wild beasts is to be with the infernal societies of hell. This was going forth far from the Divinity within Him. In such states there was the appearance as if the Divine were altogether absent from Him. In Gethsemane His despair was such that His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. On the cross when was suffered the most grievous of these temptations, He cried, "My God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me." Conceive, if you can, but you cannot, that state in which the Lord the Savior of the world was placed; in the midst of all the infernal hosts, with the persuasion of that infernal delight upon Him which Swedenborg speaks of as greater than all other delights of the world, with the knowledge that He might, if He would, rule over all things in the world, and possess all things,-and know, at the same time, that should He yield there could be no salvation for the Human race, the love of saving whom was His ruling love. The infernal hosts said, "This is the heir; come let us kill Him and the inheritance shall be ours." (Mark 12:7.) These delights were excited in Him, not once, but continually during His life in the world, and the combats of which these were the occasion, are represented by the temptations in the wilderness. Here was conflict indeed, grievous beyond all that we can conceive of. This was His going forth from the Father and His coming into the world.

     But there was also His leaving the world and His returning to the Father. This was the state of conjunction with the Father within Him. This, in its fullest significance, is His coming into full union with the Divine, the unition of the Human with the Divine, the Glorification of the Humanity.

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During His whole life in the world He was now in one state, now in the other; now coming forth from the Father into the world, into the humiliation of the Human nature, into the apparent absence from the Divine, when He must pray to the Father as to another than Himself; into states when He could be tempted like as we are, yet without sin, when He was with the wild beasts, girt about with infernal societies, which gaped upon Him with their mouths, as a roaring and a ravening lion; and then there were those other states, of glorification, when He spake not as man spake, when He knew what was in man; when He spake as one having authority; when He laid down His life only to take it again; when He declared that He had power to lay it down and that He had power to take it again. Thus were there with Him the going out and the coming in; the ascending up into fellowship, nay, into oneness with the Father within Him, and again the coming forth with renewed life for the life of the world. Thus He met temptation from all the hells, thus He reduced the hells and the heavens also to order and in the glorified Humanity holds them forever in subjection to Himself.

     Because He has overcome the hells, he keeps the going out and the coming in of man. In all our afflictions He was afflicted. He was tempted in all points like as we are. There is no point of our temptation which was not His temptation, and in no point that we need power to win in temptation is there wanting the Divine power to conquer for us. Round about us in all the temptations of our regeneration are the everlasting arms, from this time forth, and even forevermore.

     We are disposed to think that the severest temptations are those at the beginning of the regenerate life. We quote "The first step counts," and look forward confidently to the gradual ceasing of conflict, and the increasing peace of heaven. We think of heaven as entirely free from temptation. It is indeed true that temptation passed in this world is not repeated in the spiritual world, it is indeed true that it is the first step which counts. But exception the celestial heavens there are temptations even with the angels. With the spiritual angels there are temptations but they always conquer in temptation.

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     In the progress of regeneration in this world, it is not the severest temptations which are first met. As the soul progresses, there is increasing stress of temptation as the deeper evils of the selfhood are brought to light; but with the increasing severity of temptations there is increasing realization also of the Divine power to save. As the soul advances into deeper experiences, deeper and more grievous evils will be unveiled, but with the unveiling of them there will be the apprehension also of more interior truths by which they may be overcome. While the harder temptations come with advancing states of regeneration, there is also for these states the greater consolations, and more precious delights in victory. In the heavens, while there are still temptations, while there are evenings as well as mornings, while it is said that the angel realizes that of himself he is nothing but evil, nevertheless such is the state of conjunction with the Lord there that the evening never becomes night, and the evening dusk is such as but to bring out more gloriously the brightness and the joy of each new day.

     Let us, in closing, review in brief the whole of the Psalm of which we have been considering the final verse, and note how it has its fitting termination in this assurance to the soul of the Divine keeping of it in all its alternating states of combat, of victory; in its states of entering into the consciousness of evil that it may be seen and put away, and in its states of consolation and rest in the Lord.

     The Psalm as a whole is an acknowledgment of the Lord as Guard and Protector, in the series of Psalms called "Psalms of Ascents" or goings up, which in their own series teach of the going up to Jerusalem, the progress of the soul out of the unregenerate into the regenerate state; the progress from Egypt to Canaan, from earth to heaven.

     The understanding is first enlisted in the acknowledgment of the true source of strength which is in the exalted loves of the angels, and in the Divine love which is the life of the angels which made man on earth that he might be re-created for heaven. Therefore it is written; "I will lift up mine eyes to the mountains, from which cometh my help. My help is from Jehovah, Maker of heaven and earth." (Ps. 121:2)

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     After this acknowledgment follows the perception that every external event of life is controlled, made sure, and that the Lord's guard is unremitting. Therefore we read on: "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that doth keep thee, will not slumber." (v. 3.)

     Then come the acknowledgment and perception that it is the church which the Lord guards and protects, which He calls out and builds up, the kingdom of the Lord, His chosen people upon the earth and His kingdom eternally in the heavens. Thus it follows: "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." (v. 4.)

     It is then taught that the Lord protects from the lusts of the will and the fallacies of the understanding into which the love and wisdom from the Lord are perverted by man in his unregenerate state, by the words: "Jehovah is thy keeper; Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, neither the moon by night." (vs. 5, 6.) And it is further revealed that this is to keep the very life of man rather than any external happening to him, and that this is in very deed to keep him from all evil. "Jehovah shall preserve thee from all evil; He shall preserve thy soul." (v. 7.) But this preserving of the soul involves temptations and alternations of state, the long forty years wandering, the going out and the coming in of the wilderness which has as its goal and final summing up the going forth from the land of Egypt, and the coming in to the land of promise, and in these, as we have learned, there is universal and most particular care and guard. "Jehovah shall keep thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and even forevermore." Amen.

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PHILOSOPHY OF DISEASE AND CURE 1911

PHILOSOPHY OF DISEASE AND CURE       Rev. E. E. IUNGERICH       1911

      (Continued from the August number, p. 533.)

     To these teachings about improper quantity or quality of food, and a disordered state in a higher plane as causes of diseases of the body, may be added the following relevant statements from the theological works:

     "He who enjoys material food for the nourishment of the body, is better nourished by such food, if at the same time he is cheerful in spirit, and is engaged in conversation about such things as are favorable thereto." (A. C. 5576)

     But when a man is not in that state "the vessels in him which receive the food are constricted; but when he is in the former state they are open." (A. C. 8352)

     Food should be prepared according to use, and not to taste. Useful food should be regarded as the savory food. (cf. 8378.)

     "If anyone believes that a food which he has loved is injurious to him, and then on principle abstains from that food, he at last abhors it." (DIARY MINOR, 4613)

     (b) The body may be impelled to receive its food in a disorderly way, by a variety of agencies. These agencies are called accidental, as in the case of blows unforeseen; voluntary, if premeditated; and [inter]mediate between these if anticipated as possible, as in the case of battles. The agency may be called contingent, when met with through chance, as in the case of the disasters just mentioned, or when we unexpectedly "meet with noxious food, come into places where there are poisonous or deadly vapors, or into disturbances of the animus, and into desires and immoderate fires of the mind." (FIBRE 389)

     These four agencies, accidental, voluntary, [inter]mediate, and contingent, are to be classed as essential agencies because they concern the rise of diseases. Besides such essential agencies, there are other classes which may be called mediate, ultimate, and innate or adnate.

     The mediate agencies are those which impede the progress of the food, as in a total obstruction of the progress of terrestrial, aerial, and ethereal elements.

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Such mediate agencies are "disturbances of the animus and mind, which are the heats of life, whence are diseases. Sleep, watching, action, quiet, the intercourse of Society, business, and many things, promote progress, but if these are not turned into their natural order of progression, diseases arise, the causes of which are termed mediate. . . . For diseases flow forth from an excess of sleep, watching, action, quiet, or from privation of these, and also the privation of business by which we are excited." (FIBRE 391)

     Ultimate agencies are those which restrain normal effects. Such effects are "discharges of the faeces, urine, sweat, Sanctorian breathing, the exercise of venery, (cf. C. L., 450; R. P. 205), haemorrhoidal flux, menses, saliva, and many others. If these be impeded, diseases ensue." (FIBRE 392)

     Innate causes are hereditary, derived from parents. Adnate causes are those made actual through one's own life and transmitted to posterity as innate with them. But these cannot properly be called the causes of disease, for they are only dispositions for receiving diseases of this or that kind of species." (FIBRE 393.)

     (c) Conclusion. The improper distribution of the foods needed by the body is therefore the real cause of diseases of the body. This universal might have been deduced a priori from the doctrine that the terrestrial body is nothing more than an envelope to enable the spirit or true organic structure of man to inhabit this world; and that this envelope is a tissue of foods. Consequently if there arise a disorder in the supplying of foods to the envelope of the spirit, it is made more or less inadequate as a maintenance of the spirit in this world.

     7. GENERAL STATEMENTS AS TO THE CURE OF DISEASES ON VARIOUS PLANES.

     (a) Diseases of the body or red blood.

     "For these a remedy is prepared from drugs, wherefore from the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms; similarly from moderate food or diet; from exercise and rest, sleep, moderate temperature of the air, and tranquillity of the animus; likewise from other discovered means, which purify the blood, amend, and renew it." (FIBRE 372.)

582




     (b) Diseases of the purer blood.

     "For these a remedy is also prepared from drugs, which purify and restore the blood; and especially from agreeable and convivial companionship and society; and also from moral philosophy. But it is to be ascertained whether these sicknesses arise from a defect of the red blood or some disease of the body, or from causes of their own, or from a perverted state of the intellectual mind." (FIBRE 373.)

     (c) Diseases of the purest blood.

     "For these a medicine is prepared from the same remedies which amend the animal spirit and the sickness of the animus; then also from this that the mind suffers itself to be informed by masters of sounder judgment; thus from natural as also revealed theology; especially that it may curb and check its animus and impetus, and itself lay claim to its own right and its own liberty." (FIBRE 374) To this may be added the article "That it is not against rationality and liberty to compel oneself." (D. P. 145. See also A. R. 936; A. C. 57; DIARY 4571, 6035)

     (d) Conclusion. As the improper distribution of food is the principal cause of all diseases of the body (FIBRE 381 1/2), the means for their cure have in view the restoral of the proper distribution. The positive means for this are such as have in view the bringing of the body into a normal state. Therefore, moderate food and diet, exercise and rest, sleep, moderate temperature of the air, and tranquillity of the animus are the positive means to be employed in the treatment of the body; agreeable conversations and society, in the treatment of the animus; and theological and philosophical, instruction by competent teachers who have access to genuine truth, together with the practice of self-compulsion, in the treatment of the, intellectual mind. Diseases of the intellectual mind are falsities which are harbored; and the treatment of these is by rational truths by which intelligence can be acquired.

     The employment of drugs as part of the remedies for diseases of the red blood and purer blood is regarded by the writer as a negative use, which is only occasionally to be resorted to, and then, only in cases of necessity when positive means fail or are unavailable.

583


This point cannot be emphasized too strongly.

     To found any science of cure chiefly on a negative means, such as the administration of drugs, seems to the writer to be even more unphilosophical than to elevate a minor particular of doctrine into a universal tenet.

     The normal, rational mode of cure is to remove the cause of the disease by positive methods-if possible. If not possible, then drugs or surgery may be employed as a lesser evil than the continuance of the disorder. To illustrate the matter, suppose a burr is placed between the shirt and the skin. If it remained there for some time there would result an active disorder exhibiting itself in symptoms for which administrators of drugs could prescribe. The normal and rational mode of cure would be to remove the burr. Modern science has in recent years discovered many equally simple and positive methods of removing the causes of diseases, for which drugs had been previously administered because of ignorance of the real cause and of how to remove it. By mere mechanical pressure stoppages in the alimentary or lymphatic channels, the irritating causes of a diseased condition can be removed. By mechanical and electrical agencies the supply of blood can be altered. By such means even the quality of the blood can be altered as the result of stimulating or depressing the activity of some organ which elaborates an important essence. Control can be obtained over organs and muscles out of reach of the hand, and this through the tremulations that run through their afferent nerves. It is possible to increase or lessen the number of tremulations per given time.

     Results are obtained by the use of drugs. But these, at best, are only palliative, even when used in infinitesimal amounts. The cure is really brought about by the positive methods. Though changes of state are produced by the drug, it is not proper to ascribe the cure to it. To make use of an illustration, evil uses "are serviceable in absorbing malignities, and also as remedies," (D. L. W. 336), just as evil spirits are of service in withdrawing evils from a man; but it is the positive means, the truths, applied to the evil as water to filth, that do the real healing. The writer would compare the employment of evil uses such as drugs, with the laws of permission.

584


Though occasionally to be used in cases of dire necessity, for the most part positive means are the ones to be employed. A state of disorder or abuse need only occasionally be treated by some evil use. To found a universal system of cure upon the sole application of evil uses, drugs, to all disordered conditions, is, in the writer's opinion, similar to declaring that the general method to remove falsities is not by truths, but by falsities of a nature similar to the evils. To be sure, it may be necessary to exhibit the nature of a falsity by a falsity, but no beneficial removal of the falsity takes place save through truths.

     8. STATEMENTS FAVORING VARIOUS CURRENT METHODS OF HEALING.

     (a) Homeopathy.

     The chief passage is the following from the ADVERSARIA. It occurs in the exposition of Numbers, Chap. XIX, which treats of the ashes of a red heifer that were used for purification:

     "But that the ashes of this cow should be sprinkled with water on him who touched a dead body, who was unclean, this represents that what is unclean must be wiped off by what is equally unclean (italics our own), as in nature, which is presented for the sake of, illustration, namely that the bite of a scorpion and of serpents is taken away by their ashes or powder, etc. So likewise in spiritual things. For that unclean spirits carry away unclean things, cannot but be a most arcane matter, for this can be witnessed by experience alone in similar matters. For evil spirits are used to excite evils in man, and thus they are not only recognized by man, but also acknowledged. Before this they are not taken away. But they are evil or damned spirits, which thus receive these [evils] upon themselves and, as it were, swallow them, whereby man is delivered. This is, indeed, also met with in combats and temptations, but man then does not know at all that the case is thus. These things through the Divine mercy of God Messiah, from long continued experience I can testify, for I have frequently spoken with certain spirits about this matter when it took place. And frequently I was driven into great indignation that so unclean spirits should excite so many evils which had been deeply hidden within my nature, but I learned that without them there is given no cure; for thus wounds are to be opened, and to be healed.

585


Thence now it is that the unclean ashes could separate dead things in man, etc., wherefore, when man believes himself to be most unclean, because he is such, then he is in the best state, and conversely; which I can testify that I also learned by experience." (3 Adv. 7484-5.)

     The doctrine involved in this passage is that of man's humiliation, and that without the acknowledgment of his own uncleanness, evils can never be removed from him. To represent this acknowledgment, the rite of sprinkling the moistened ashes of a red heifer upon those who were unclean was used in the Jewish Church. In connection with this, Swedenborg cites a phenomenon known in his day, that the ashes of a snake would cure the bite of a snake. There is in this statement a similarity to the fundamental principle of the school founded by Hahnemann; with this exception, however, that the snake-cure seems to have been effected by a local application of a salve of snake ashes on the bite, this having evidently a drawing action on the poison; whereas Hahnemann has in view an internal administration of poisons.

     But admitting that the ADVERSARIA statement warrants an approval of the system of Hahnemann in cases where it is known that a given poison produced the disease, what are we to say with regard to the administration of poisons as remedies in diseases not occasioned by an overdose of the same poison? In the great majority of cases treated under the homeopathic system, a poison is applied to meet certain symptoms which did not arise from that poison, but which appear similar to those which could arise in a case of poisoning from that drug. Swedenborg's statement seems favorable to the use of poison to counteract the evil effect of a dose of the same, but whether it favors its use to meet similar symptoms arising from another cause, is a matter that must be settled in some other way.

      If, however, the cause of symptoms of a disease can be removed by some positive method not necessitating the introduction of a poison, it is better to use that method.

586




     (b) Serum Therapy.

     The following passage from the FIBRE is taken from an account of the disease resulting from the bite of a tarantula:

     "These poisons are compatible with the blood of the tarantula, but not with human blood, for bites from tarantulas or scorpions are cured by oil mixed with their blood, for it [the oil] absorbs things homogeneous and inmostly stores up those things which with the blood of the other cannot be united." (FIBRE 545.)

     In this case there is a similarity to serum therapy. For here is advocated the use of the blood of the tarantula for the purpose of collecting to itself out of the human system the poison which is related to it, and of thereby removing it from the human blood to which it is detrimental. In serum therapy, however, as used in the treatment for diphtheria, there is introduced not the blood of an animal which normally held the poison in suspension; but of an animal whose blood is artificially prepared to do this. But whether this involves a real difference will have to be settled in some other way.

     (c) Mechanical and Electrical Treatment,

     It is stated in the second chapter of the SENSE IN GENERAL, said chapter treating of the general trunks of the carotid arteries, that there are internal, external, and mediate or ministering causes that regulate the quantity and quality of the blood. The internal causes are from the suction in the brain, the external causes are from the propulsion by the heart, but the mediate causes are due to tremulations in fibres. If we add to this various references from the works on TREMULATION and the INFINITE With reference to tremulations in membranes and the possibility of controlling these from without, we have evidence favorable to the schools of mechanical and electrical treatment.

     (d) Allopathy.

     Reference to drugs by Swedenborg can properly be taken to favor the methods of allopathic dosage current in his own time.

     9. GENERAL SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.

     From the foregoing it is evident that the teachings of the Writings and the Philosophical Works do not designate any one particular school or mode of curing as the exclusive one for the New Church.

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That there is some value in each and all under special conditions, might be inferred from the statements made. That which does come out prominently in the teachings, is that the proper reception and distribution of food from earth, air, and ether; and the concordant action of higher planes with the body is the pre-essential to health. Denial of God, unwillingness to be led by His truth, solitary habits that lead a man to shun his neighbor, lack of self control, induce diseases of the higher bloods, and derivatively occasion a vitiation of the red blood. The same evils invite evil spirits who will fasten themselves upon acid aggravate a disease as soon as it commences. It is possible for a Newchurchman, however, to shun and avoid all such causes of disease if he wants to.

     With regard to diseases of the body and their cure, the important and primary thing is self control in rejecting aliments from earth, air, and ether that do not conduce to a healthy body. Having the rationality to do this, he should not let mere animal or sentimental reasons deter him, and should then show judgment in selecting those foods that are especially adapted to his nature. If untoward events happen, occasioning diseases, the best methods of cure are the positive ones that introduce nothing of any injurious element; and the most rational are those which show all the logical steps to the removal of the irritating cause, and do not depend for their sanction on admiration of results that appear miraculous. If the medical studies in the New Church be directed more along the lines of developing healthy flesh, nerve and tissue among our New Church children by positive work along food lines, instead of being confined chiefly to giving poisonous antidotes for symptoms as they arise; if again, those students who have a love for medical studies be encouraged to look to ap fields of human experience under the tutelage of the Doctrines as rationalized and philosophized by the Scientific Works instead of being imbued from childhood with an inrooted persuasion and loyalty to one school, a great benefit to the health of the members of the Church and to the intellectual grasp of its laws will be secured.

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Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     In the present issue we publish the remaining part of the paper on "The Philosophy of Disease and Cure," by the Rev. E. E. Iungerich. It should be distinctly understood that a signed article appearing in the LIFE does not involve any one but the author in the views there expressed. Mr. Iungerich, in his paper, challenges the principles and methods of Homoeopathy; our pages are open to a friendly discussion of this subject in the light of the New Church.



     Now that the Convention's "policy of silence" has broken down, owing to the publicity of the Kramph Case and subsequent developments, it has become the custom to refer to the General Church as "the little separate body known as the Academy." There is need 6f caution here, for outsiders who know of the Convention only as a small and separate body, might infer that the diminutive is used as a term of endearment.



     The recent performances of Col. Rudolph Williams in the Chicago press were quickly reported in the Stockholm journals, through the intermediation of the Swedish-American papers in Chicago. Thus AFTONBLADET, of June 19th, under the heading "Did Swedenborg defend the doctrine of Polygamy?" published an interview with the Rev. C. I. N. Manby, who, of course, denied the allegation, but permitted the impression to remain that polygamy was defended by a "minority party" which had "grossly misinterpreted" the work on CONJUGIAL LOVE. This impression, however, was corrected by Mr. Alfred H. Stroh in a letter to AFTONBLADET of June 30th, where he makes it very clear that "neither the majority nor the minority party have ever asserted that Swedenborg defended polygamy," and closes with a reference to the decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in the Kramph Will Case.

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     THE NEW AGE for June quotes with evident satisfaction from the paper on Thomas Lake Harris in the LIFE for last April, where, in the opinion of many of our readers, this direful spiritist was far too gently handled. That Mr. Potts, in this paper, did not express the editorial sentiments of the LIFE, may be seen from our account of Harris in the issue for June, 1900, p. 204. which we feel impelled to quote:

     "There suddenly arose upon the horizon the seemingly gigantic figure of a pivotal man, a young Universalist preacher from New Orleans, Thomas Lake Harris by name, a man of extraordinary talents, eloquence, brilliancy, and magnetic power of persuasion, Fired by the love of dominion over the spirits of man, wrapped in stupendous self-conceit, and armed cap a pie with cunning, this man became the willing medium through whom the magical spirits now sought to deceive, if possible, the very elect! Deeply versed in all the arts of Spiritism, he became acquainted through some means or other with the Writings of the New Church. As the cobra sips the dew of heaven and distils it into poison, so Harris absorbed the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, arrayed himself without in heavenly light, and now began a comet-like wandering across the intellectual firmament of America and Europe, a glittering course of nearly fifty years, which has but lately ended in disgrace and nameless scandal on the Pacific coast."
NEW BIOGRAPHY OF DR. WILKINSON 1911

NEW BIOGRAPHY OF DR. WILKINSON              1911

     JAMES JOHN GARTH WILKINSON. A REMOIR OF HIS LIFE WITH A SELECTION FROM HIS LETTERS. BY CLEMENT JOHN WILKINSON, London. Eiegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. 1911. pp. 300. (Price, $4.00, post paid. May be ordered through the Academy Book Room.)

     It was with genuine pleasure we received this new biography of our ancient friend, whose strong yet genial features beam upon us from an excellent portrait in front of the book. It is now ten years since the first biography of Dr. Wilkinson appeared in the pages of the LIFE and afterwards was published in book form. While it was only a sketch of thirty-six pages, it was a very complete, and certainly appreciative, outline of his life and work, and was written with the consent and approval of members of Dr. Wilkinson's family.

590


It is somewhat surprising, therefore, that the present biographer, a nephew of the Doctor, makes no reference to the first biography, while publishing a whole chapter of other "Appreciations" from various quarters.

     The writer of this new work is evidently not a Newchurchman, though possibly a Semi-Swedenborgian of "non-separatist" tendencies. In numerous places he terms the members of the New Church "sectarians," and makes much of the fact that Dr. Wilkinson never joined the distinctive organization of the Church. His own knowledge of Swedenborg seems rather limited, as is shown by several curious blunders, as, for instance, when he calls Swedenborg's father "Jasper Swedenborg," though in other places he calls him 'Jasper Swedborg." Countess Gyllenborg figures as "Countess Gildenberg," etc.

     The new biography, as might be expected, dwells at greater length than did the first one on the more external and public phases of Dr. Wilkinson's life and activities, and on his relations with men such as William Blake, Carlyle, Henry James, Emerson, Victor Rydberg, Robert Browning, Coventry Patmore, and other distinguished persons, and on his successive connections with Tulkism, Fourierism and Spiritualism, from all of which he was finally delivered.

     The work is rich in new and interesting materials drawn partly from an incomplete autobiography of Dr. Wilkinson, and partly from letters and other original documents which have never before been published. We read with sympathy of Wilkinson's unhappy childhood, and of the wonderful change in his life produced by the reading of Swedenborg's Writings, with which like Robert Hindmarsh) he became acquainted almost in the same month that he found the beloved partner of his life.

     An interesting account is given of his conversion to the principles of Homoeopathy, and of his activity as one of the earliest champions of Medical Freedom versus Compulsory Vaccination. The latter he looked upon as "a monster instead of a poisonous Midge; a Devourer of Nations. As a destroyer of the Honesty and Humanity of Medicine, which is through it a deeply degraded Profession.

591


As a Tyrant, which is the Parent of a brood of Tyrants, and through Pasteur and his like a Universal Pollution Master. As a Ghoul which sets upon Parliament, and enforces Contamination by Law, and prepares the way for endless violations of personal liberty and sound sense at the bidding of cruel experts. Not denying other forms of Social Wickedness, I now, after careful study, regard Vaccination as one of the greatest and deepest forms, abolishing the last hope and resort of races, the new-born soundness of the Human Body," (p. 265.)

     Exactly one-half of the work being given to the "Biography" of Dr. Wilkinson, the other half is devoted to his activity as a "Swedenborgian." On this we need not dwell, as it is familiar to our readers, but will confine ourselves to a few quotations indicating his attitude towards the Writings. While in his earlier years he entertained an idea that Swedenborg some day would be superceded by further revelations, towards the close of his life his ideas grew more clear. Thus, in the year 1896, he wrote of the work on HEAVEN AND HELL: "I regard it as the Law-Revealing Sinai of the Lord's Second Advent. I do not regard Swedenborg's works as subsidiary to the Word, but as capable of being absorbed into it; so that the internal Word will be all in all; those Works from without and from within subsisting to declare it." (p. 158.) And again, in a letter to Mrs. Cockerell, he writes of the same issue in the Church: "This seems to connect itself with the question, How a Divine commentary on the Word, like the authoritative explication vouchsafed to and through Swedenborg, is to be taken as itself the Word, and co-real with the Word? If in any age it is all that man can know of the Word, such Voice of God is the Word to men, external or literal, internal or spiritual; and doctrinal." (p. 161.)

     The friends of the Academy will always love the memory of Mr. Wilkinson, and we fondly believe that his free and valiant spirit has been very busy during the last ten years in fighting the increasing horde of shams infesting the New Church from without and from within, and in extending the light of what was, perhaps, his most dominant affection, a profound appreciation of Swedenborg's genuine natural Philosophy.

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LIBRARY EDITION OF THE ARCANA COELESTIA 1911

LIBRARY EDITION OF THE ARCANA COELESTIA              1911

     A review of the first two volumes of this edition was published in NEW CHURCH LIFE for November, 1905, but we have not, until now; found an opportunity to review the work as a whole, though the twelfth and last volume appeared almost a year ago.

While the Library Edition of the ARCANA COELESTIA is professedly a "Revision" of the Rotch edition, it amounts in reality to a new translation, as is evident from a most cursory examination. The Reviser, the Rev. John Faulkner Potts, has stated that "more than ten thousand changes were made in every volume for the Library Edition, and even more than that in the larger volumes.

     It is doubtful whether there could have been found in the Church at large anyone better qualified for this work than Mr. Potts with his thorough classical learning and his years of preparation in translating virtually the whole of the Writings while compiling the CONCORDANCE. When we add to this consideration the fact that his chief coadjutor has been the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, who has gone over every word of the revision, (with the exception of vol. I., which was read by Mr. Marston Niles, and vol. IV., which was read by the Rev. Louis H. Tafel), the Church has cause to expect a very perfect work, indeed.*
     * We must note also that the whole work has been most carefully proofread by Miss Edith Potts.

     Nor are there just grounds for disappointment if we view the Revision as a whole, in respect to its general faithfulness to the original, its consistent terminology, and its simplicity and beauty of diction. There is a harmony throughout which can be secured only by the continuous work of one chief reviser, a consistency even in its faults, which is in marked contrast with the old New York edition, the Rotch edition, and the present edition of the British Swedenborg Society, in all of which the various volumes have been patched up by a succession of different revisers, each leaving his own impress upon the text.

     Faults there are, indeed, even in the Library Edition, and in our opinion serious faults, but these are as few as they are marked, and, therefore, easily recognizable by the general reader.

593


These faults are the result of an unfortunate effort to popularize three or four distinctive words of New Church terminology, instead of retaining the well known Latin forms. We called attention to these in our former review, but deem it useful to register our objections once more. They are:

     1. The constant use of "own" for proprium, making a possessive adjective out of an abstract neuter noun which contains the substantial ideas of own-hood or self-hood. The unhappy results of this substitution may appear from the following instances:

     4168. "The twenty years have I been with thee." That this signifies His own, is evident from the signification of "twenty" as being the good of remains. But when predicated of the Lord these remains are nothing else than His own.

     From this language one would naturally suppose that by "His own" is here meant His own remains, whereas the meaning is that these remains were what collectively constituted His very proprium.

     4735. The Lord's own itself, which He acquired to Himself by His own power, is Divine.

     The first "own" here is the noun proprium, while the second "own" is the adjective propria, but there is nothing in the L. E. to indicate the difference to the reader, who, moreover, could hardly form any intelligent idea from the obscure and un-English "own itself."

     2. The constant use of "knowledge" for cognitio, and of "memory-knowledge" for scientia and scientificum.

     In an editorial published in the LIFE for 1905, p. 161, we went at length into a study of the distinction between these terms, showing the absolute necessity of retaining in the English the terms-"cognition," "science," and "scientifics." We pointed out also that "memory-knowledge" is neither a translation nor a sound interpretation, but rather a somewhat ridiculous tautology, since all knowledges are of the memory, and of it alone.

     A single instance will show the impossibility of the artificial contrivance introduced in the L. E.

594


Whenever the land or nation of the Philistines is treated of, the Writings state that it signifies "the science of cognitions," which is explained to mean the knowledge of doctrinal things reduced to a science. Mr. Potts, however, invariably paraphrases this by "a mere memory-knowledge of knowledges," which is to prop up a meaningless phrase by two words not belonging to the text, in the hope that two negatives might make one positive. But what is the effect on the poor reader? By the "knowledge of knowledges" he cannot possibly understand anything else than "the most precious of all knowledges," but this last spark of hopeful intelligence dies in the gloom of that "mere memory-knowledge of knowledges!"

     3. The complete elimination of the terms "Esse" and "Existere" from the chart of Theology, by the constant substitution of "Being" and "Coming Forth." This feature was not pointed out in our review of the first two volumes, but is undoubtedly the most serious fault in the whole text of the L. E., as may be seen from the following instances:

     4687. The Most Ancient Church . . . adored the infinite being, and the derivative coming-forth.

     6880. From this it can be seen that the Divine Being cannot communicate Itself to any one except through the Divine Coming-forth.

     This is terrible! The "infinite being," and the "Divine Being," are terms of Deism, not of New Church Theology, and they totally fail to represent what is; meant by the Divine Esse. And the "Divine Coming-forth" presents the idea of the Divine in the act of proceeding, thus mixing up the second with the third of the essentials in the Divine Trinity. In any case "coming-forth" is a wrong translation of existere which literally means the state of "standing forth," without any idea of either coming or going. Beside this, the terms "being" and "coming-forth" in this connection substitute participial nouns for infinitiaes, and thus introduce finite modes into the idea of infinite essentials. Against such subversions the whole New Church should arise as one man to protest with might and main, for they strike at the very core of the True Christian Religion.

     There are other objectionable features in the Library Edition, but they are of minor importance.

595


After all, there are only three or four essential faults, and these are so consistently committed, and are so often accompanied by the Latin terms in italics, that they can readily be recognized and set aside. As to the L. E. as a whole we are particularly anxious that our criticisms should not be taken as a universal condemnation, for, as a whole, the edition is without question THE BEST that the Church has ever possessed. It is with pleasure we now turn to its superior merits, of which we can note only the following:

     1. Its excellent external make-up, its unsurpassed paper, binding, print, etc., which make the volumes a joy to handle and to read.

     2. Its delightful diction, simple, graceful, clear and strong,-real intelligible English, so far as any Latin work on philosophy and theology can be anglicized and yet remain faithful to the original. We know of no more striking testimony as to this virtue of the L. E. than the experience of some families who have been reading the ARCANA COELESTIA in family worship. They were using the old New York edition; but the patres familiarum were constantly forced to interrupt the sphere of worship by having to correct the translation or explain the meaning of the obscure and faulty language in answer to the questions of the young people present. A change was made to the Library Edition, and it is difficult to describe the state of relief ensuing to the readers and to the young hearers who now seemed to have no difficulty in understanding the diction.

     As to the general faithfulness of the new Edition, as compared with the old, let the following parallels, chosen at random, suffice:

     THE OLD N. Y. EDITION.

     618. It is said that Noah was just and upright, that he walked with God, and, in the passage before us, that he begat three sons, when yet these expressions relate not to what Noah then was, and did, but to what he was about to be and do at a future time; concerning which mode of expression it is to be observed, that the internal sense of the Word is such as to have no respect to times; and this mode of expression is usually adopted in the original language, where sometimes one and the same word is applicable to any time; thus the interior contents appear more evidently. The original language derives such mode of expression from the internal sense, which is more manifold than any one can suppose, or believe, hence it is not suffered to be limited by times and distinctions.

     THE NEW EDITION.

     618. That "Noah was righteous and perfect," that he "walked with God," and in this verse that he "begat three sons," is all said in the past tense, and yet these expressions look to the future. It should be known that the internal sense is such that it has no relation to times; and this the original language favors, where sometimes one and the same word is applicable to any time whatever, without using different words, for by this means interior things appear more evidently. The language derives this from the internal sense, which is more manifold than any one could believe; and therefore it does not suffer itself to be limited by times and distinctions.

596




     Comparing these two versions with one another and with the original text, the student is struck with amazement at the license and carelessness of the old translation. The sentence "when yet these expressions relate not what Noah then was, and did, but to what he was about to be and do at a future time," simply does not exist in the Latin text, but is a swollen periphrastic explanation, which Mr. Potts avoids by a simple and direct translation. Nor is there anything in the text about the original language usually adopting this mode of expression," but simply "this the original language favors," as Mr. Potts has it.

     On the other hand, the text contains the words "sicult nec distinguit inter voces," which the old version calmly drops out as if they did not exist, while Mr. Potts. in this case does not translate them, but interprets them as meaning "without using different words," When it should be rendered "as neither does it distinguish between the words." The clause clearly refers to the fact that in the original Hebrew MSS. there was no spacing between the words and no signs of interpunctuation. (See A. C. 5578; S. D. 2631). On the whole, however, the language of the Library Edition in this passage is far more faithful and simple than the old version.

     THE OLD EDITION.

     6935. . . . that Jehovah appearing denotes the appearing of the Lord's divine principle in is human, is evident also from this consideration, that his divine principle cannot appear to any man, not even to any angel, except by the divine human; and the divine human is nothing but the divine truth which proceeds from himself.

     THE NEW.

     6945. That "Jehovah seen" denotes the appearing of the Lord's Divine in His Human, is evident also from the fact that His Divine cannot appear to any man, nor even to any angel, except through the Divine Human; nor the Divine Human except through the Divine truth which proceeds from Him.

597




     While we regret that Mr. Potts has here retained the weak and vaguely suggestive "denotes" instead of the correct and forceful "is," yet his rendering is immensely superior to the old version with its "principles" and "considerations," and small letters for Divine things, and terrible carelessness in translating (!!!) the words "Et Divinum Humanum non nisi quam per Divinum Verum quod procedit ab Ipso,"-"and the divine human is nothing but the divine truth which proceeds from himself," instead of "nor the Divine Human except through the Divine Truth which proceeds from Him." Such blunders would be enough to make the angels weep, were they compelled to read the "Heavenly Arcana" in the mangled old English form!

     Speaking of "principles," Mr. Potts has earned the everlasting gratitude of the readers of the Library Edition by dropping that fearful appendage when translating abstract neuter nouns. Like a vein of lead in a mountain of transparent gold this "principle" runs through every page and passage of the old version, adorned with parentheses and brackets, until the reader groans with shattered nerves and lacerated feelings. Take, for instance, the following, in the old version:

     8780. "And Jehovah said to Moses"-that hereby is signified the influx of the Divine [being or principle] by truth from the Divine [being or principle] concerning revelation, appears from the signification of saying, when the subject treated of is concerning revelation from the Divine [being or principle] as denoting influx.

     After perusing such a paragraph the unhappy reader not only has his mouth full of grit, but does not know what the sentence is "all about," and, what is worse, is no longer certain whether the Divine is the Divine, or only a quidditative "being" or non-substantial "principle." From this confusion Mr. Potts rescues us by the simple translation:

     And Jehovah said to Moses. That this signifies the influx of the Divine through truth from the Divine concerning revelation, is evident from the signification of "saying," when revelation from the Divine is treated of, as being influx.

     No translation of the Writings can ever become a perfect finality; but will always be open to corrections and improvements, but if the few glaring errors of the Library Edition were removed, it would become the Standard Edition for many years to come. Even in its present state, it is a great work, for which a profound debt of gratitude is due the faithful and painstaking reviser.

598


MINUTES OF THE TWELFTH MEETING OF THE JOINT COUNCILS OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1911

MINUTES OF THE TWELFTH MEETING OF THE JOINT COUNCILS OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       F. E. WAELCHLI, WM. H. ALDEN       1911

     HELD AT BRYN ATHYN, PA., JUNE 24TH, 1911.

     SATURDAY MORNING.

     1. The meeting was opened at 10 a. m. with worship conducted by Bishop Pendleton.

     2. There were present:

     OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY.

Rev. W. F. Pendleton.
Rev. J. E. Bowers.
Rev. Richard deCharms. Rev. E. S. Price.
Rev. C. Th. Odhner.
Rev. F. E. Waelchli.
Rev. N. D. Pendleton.
Rev. Alfred Acton.
Rev. W. L. Gladish.
Rev. Charles E. Doering.
Rev. T. S. Harris.
Rev. E. R. Cronlund.
Rev. Reginald W. Brown.
Rev. Eldred E. Iungerich.
Mr. Charles R. Pendleton, Jr.
Mr. Gilbert H. Smith.

     OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

Mr. John Pitcairn.
Mr. Robert Carswell.
Rev. William H. Alden.
Mr. Seymour Nelson.
Mr. Anton Sellner.
Mr. Walter C. Childs.
Mr. Jacob Schoenberger.
Mr. Richard Roschman.
Mr. Raymond Pitcairn.

     3. The Minutes of the last annual meeting were read and approved.

     4. The Bishop stated that he had no special report to present.

     5. The Secretary of the General Church read his report, as follows:

     REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.

     1. The membership of the General Church of the New Jerusalem numbers at present 900 persons, showing a net increase of 49 members over the membership reported in June, 1910.

599


Altogether, 54 members have been received since the last report, while, on the other hand, two members have resigned, and ten have died.

     2. The following have resigned:

     The Rev. and Mrs. Joseph E. Rosenqvist, of Gothenburg, Sweden.

     3. The following members have died:

Miss Vera Pitcairn, Bryn Athyn, Pa., July 22, 1910.
Miss Miriam Smith, Bryn Athyn, Pa., August 17, 1910.
Mr. Wm. C. Swayze, Toronto, Ont., November 12, 1910.
Mrs. Mary E. Powell, Givens, O., December 8, 1910.
Mr. Jesse A. Burt, Chicago, Ill., February 7, 1911.
Mr. Richard Hickman, Toronto, Ont., February 7, 1911.
Mrs. Eliza B. Trautman, Pittsburg, Pa., February 2, 1911.
Mr. George Rieck, Berlin, Ont., March 27, 1911.
Mrs. Beatrice S. Ashley, Wivenhoe, England, May 6, 1911.
Mrs. Catherine M. McQuigg, Pomeroy, O., May 16, 1911.

     4. The following new members have been received since the last report:

     I. IN THE UNITED STATES.

     Baltimore, Mid.
Rev. Alfred Kurtz.
Mr. Frank Coffin.
Mrs. Anna M. Altwater.

     Philadelphia, Pa.
Mr. William H. Alden, Jr.
Mr. Robert C. Hilldale.

     Bryn. Athyn, Pa.
Dr. Ernst Deltenre.
Mrs. Maria S. Deltenre.
Miss Vida Doering.
Miss Berith Odhner.
Miss Florence A. Roehner.
Miss Eudora Sellner.
Miss Ersa Smith.
Miss Celestine Schwindt.
Miss Aurora Synnestvedt.
Miss Ora Stroh.
Miss Volita Wells.

     New York City.
Mr. Anton A. Sellner.

     Erie, Pa.
Mrs. Hannah G. Ward.

     Pittsburg, Pa.
Mrs. D. E. Horigan.
Miss Mary, J. Horigan.
Mrs. Joanna J. Null.

     Cincinnati, O.
Mr. Charles G. Merrell.
Mrs. Lillie H. Merrell.

     Chicago, Ill.
Mr. Sydney E. Lee.
Mr. Nils O. Schuldz.

     Macon, Ga.
Mr. W. E. Pendleton.

     Columbus, O.
Mr. W. H. Wiley.

     Washington, D. C.
Mr. Donald S. Edmonds.

     Denver, Colo.
Mrs. Angella R. Bergstrom.
Mr. S. W. H. Schroder.
Mrs. Hildegard Schroder.

     Norfolk, Va.
Mr. Eric E. Ebert.
Mrs. Lulu T. Ebert.

     Allentown, Pa.
Miss Ora M. Ebert.

     Glenview, Ill.
Miss Olive T. McQueen.
Mr. Felix Junge.

     Bridgewater, Mass.
Mrs. Rosalia M. Frost.

     II. IN CANADA.
Berlin, Ont.
Miss Vera L. Kuhl.
Miss Agnes Northgraves.
Miss Olivia Waelchli.

600




     Toronto, Ont.
Mr. Carl Ahrens.
Mrs. Martha E. Ahrens.
Mr. Hubert Hyatt.

     Randolph, Ont.
Miss Viola J. Evens.

     Hamilton, Ont.
Mr. James Lennie.

     Waterloo, Ont.
Miss Uarda Doering.

     Windsor, Ont.
Mr. Alfred G. Bellinger.

     III. IN ENGLAND.

     London.
Miss Lily M. McCay.
Mr. Charles D. McCay.
Miss Kathleen Waters.

     Colchester.
Miss Florence M. Cooper.
Miss Florence B. Everett.
Miss Maud M. Everett.
Miss Muriel Gill.

     Of these new members, four were previously connected with the General Convention, seventeen are converts from the Old Church, and thirty-three are young people of families connected with the General Church.

     5. The Clergy of the General Church numbers at present 23 pastors and ministers and 4 authorized candidates.

     6. The Rev. Frederick E. Gyllenhaal, on June 19th, 1910, was ordained into the second degree of the priesthood by Bishop Pendleton.

     7. In the fall of last year I was invited by the publishers of the "New Schaff-Horzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge" to write an account of the General Church of the New Jerusalem and of the Academy of the New Church. This account has been printed on pp. 142, 143 of vol. VIII of this important work. C. Th. ODHNER, Secretary. Bryn Athyn, Pa., June 20th, 1911.

     6. The Report of the Council of the Clergy was read, as follows:

     REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY.

     The Annual Meeting of the Council of the Clergy has been held from the 21st to the 23d of this month, and there will be another session on the 26th.

     The reports of the ministers indicate that in the various societies and circles of our body, and also among the isolated, the uses of the Church have, during the past year, been earnestly carried on; in some cases not so fully as might be desired, but as fully as circumstances permit.

     There have been performed, during the year, by ministers of our body 15 baptisms, of adults, 45 baptisms of children, 34 confirmations, 7 betrothals, 11 marriages, and 16 funerals. Of the infant baptisms, 12 were performed by the Rev. J. E. Bowers. The number of confirmations is worthy of note, indicating that the young people are taking upon themselves their responsibilities as New Church men and women.

     From the ministers' reports we take the following items as being of greatest interest:

601




     The Rev. N. D. Pendleton visited Erie three times and held worship on Sunday and a doctrinal class in the evening. Mr. Gilbert Smith was stationed at Erie during last summer.

     The Rev. Thomas S. Harris confines his work chiefly to Abington, Mass., with the end of establishing a strong center there. He was a Sunday School of twelve pupils and a Normal Class of three teachers. The effort of this school is to cover such ground of elementary instruction as is covered in the Academy Schools and not given in the Public Schools.

     The Rev. E. E. Iungerich visits Baltimore twice a month. He also spent last summer there. He reports that several families are now located at Arbutus, and that with a little assistance from the General Church a New Church School could be started, in which there would be eighteen children. There has been a decided internal growth of loyalty to the Church and of friendship to one another. The attendance at church averages a dozen more than the previous year.

     The Rev. J. E. Bowers has made two tours of his circuit. Fifty places were visited, twenty-six places twice, and twenty-four once. The number of families visited and individuals called On is ninety-eight. Services were held forty-five times, and the Holy Supper administered eight times.

     The Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal reports the happy event of the visit of the Bishop to Denver.

     The Rev. E. R. Cronlund conducted a series of three missionary services, which were attended by several strangers. These services were found to be of much value to the members of the society themselves.

     The Rev. F. E. Waelchli spent two weeks last summer with the circle at Clinton, Ont.

     The Rev. W. L. Gladish has kept up monthly visits to Rutland and Kyger. The work in Cincinnati gives some promise of increase. The monthly visits to Columbus were temporarily discontinued after January, but it is hoped that they will be resumed in the future. Several days were spent in Sandoval last October.

     The Rev. David Klein is still prevented, by uncertain health, from carrying on any of the active uses of the ministry.

     The Committee on Statistics, appointed a year ago, reported to the Council that it has instituted a card-catalogue system by which a complete Church record of every member of a General Church family is kept at Bryn Athyn. On this card are entered the following items: Full name, date and place of birth, names bf patents, baptism, confirmation, reception into the General Church, marriage, death. Arrangements are perfected so that all these facts may be duly reported.

     A School Hymnal, a much needed book, is under preparation by a committee of the Council, and will probably soon be completed.

     The Council has decided to simplify the reduplication of the minutes, to be sent to members, by omitting the report of discussions. The minutes are to appear in the form of booklets. It may be useful for the Joint Council to consider whether it desires to take similar action in regard to its minutes.

602




     The Council desires to refer to the Joint Council the consideration of two subjects:

     (1) Is it desirable to establish a school in a center before there is a resident pastor there?

     (2) The publication of a Directory of the General Church. Respectfully submitted, F. E. WAELCHLI, Secretary. Bryn Athyn, June 24, 1911.

     7. The Treasurer of the Orphanage Fund read the following report:

     ORPHANAGE FUND OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM.

Statement from June 21st, 1910, to June 10th, 1911.
Cash balance, June 20th, 1910...............           $374.90

June 26. Mrs. Louis Werckle, Brooklyn                         $5.00
Sept. 16. Mr. Rudolph Roschman, Waterloo, Ont.               1.00
Sept. 16. Mr. Rudolph Roschman, Waterloo, Ont.               2.00
Sept. 16. Miss Venita Roschman, Waterloo, Ont.               .50
Dec. 3. Mrs. K. Knudsen, Philadelphia.                         2.00
Dec. 28. Middleport Society Sunday School, Xmas Offering.     2.10
Dec. 29. Pittsburgh Society Sunday School, Xmas Offering.     18.00
Dec. 31. "A Bryn Athyn Friend."                              3.00
Dec. 31. Baltimore Society Christmas Offering.               5.87
Jan. 1. New York Society Sunday School, Xmas Offering.          1.90
Jan. 9. Dr. Felix A. Boericke, Bryn Athyn.                    10.00
Jan. 9. Mrs. A. W. Manning, Riverdale, Cal.                    10.00
Jan. 11. Mrs, Janet Pitcairn, Pittsburgh.                    10.00
Jan. 11. Miss Agnes Pitcairn.                              5.00
Jan. 13. Berlin Society, Xmas Offering.                    12.85
Jan. 21. Advent Society, Phila., Xmas Offering.               5.35
Jan. 31. Rev. Wm. H. Alden.                              5.00
Feb. 17. Dorothy and Alpha Reynolds, Balto.               2.00


603



April 4. Mrs. M. J. McKallip, Pittsburgh                    30.00
April 23. Mrs. F. O. Breitstein, New York Society.          1.00
April 23. Mrs. Louis Werckle, Brooklyn.                    10.00
May 11. Mrs. Regina Iungerich.                         3.00
May 12. Miss Eliza Mitchell, N. Y. Society                    5.00
May 12, Mr. Fred. J. Cooper, Phila.                         1.00
May 12. Mr. Louis J. Schoenberger.                         10.00
May 15. Mrs. J. G. Blair, Pittsburgh.                         1.00
May 15. Mr. Anton Sellner.                              5.00
May 15. Miss Rebecca E. Sullivan, N. Y. Society.               1.00
May 15. Mrs. Anna M. Lechner, Pittsburgh.                    5.00
May 19. Parkdale Society.                              16.80
May 19. Mrs. Janet Pitcairn, Pittsburgh.                    5.00
May 19. Miss Agnes Pitcairn, Pittsburgh.                    5.00
May 19. Mr. John S. Kessler, Allentown, Pa.               5.00
May 22. Miss Roberta Carswell, Bryn Athyn.               1.00
May 25. Mr. Louis B. Pendleton, Bryn Athyn.               5.00
May 25. Miss Emma Pendleton, Bryn Athyn.               1.00
May 25. Miss Zella Pendleton, Bryn Athyn.                    1.00
May 26. Mr. Charles Brown, Toronto.                    10.00
May 26. Mrs. Charles Brown, Toronto.                    1.00
May 26. Miss Emma Roschman, Toronto.                    .50
May 26. Walter C. Childs, N. Y. Society.                    15.00
May 29. Mr. R. Carswell, Toronto.                         10.00
May 31. Mr. John Pitcairn, Bryn Athyn.                    100.00
June 3. Rev. Andrew Czerny, London, Eng.                    2.00
June 4. Mrs. George Hoffman, N. Y. Society.               2.00
June 5. Miss Ellen V. Wallenberger, Chicago.               2.00
June 5. Dr. S. B. Hanlin, Pomeroy, O.                    1.00
June 5. Mr. Fred. G. Davis, Middleport, O.                    1.00
June 5. Middleport Sunday School.                         3.00
June 7. Miss Sophie Roehner, Phila.                         1.00
June 7. Mr. A. S. Pendleton, Valdosta, Ga.                    10.00
June, 8. Mr. Hermann Lechner, N. Y. Sec.                    2.50
June 8. Mr. Oscar Glenn, Erie, Pa.                         1.00
                                                       $750.27
Collections for fiscal year by Rev. Charles E. Doering, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
1910.
Aug. Glenn Family.                                   5.00
Nov. Mrs. W. S. Howland.                              13.00
Nov. Dr. George G. Starkey.                              2.00
Dec. Mr. Francis Frost.                              .25
Dec. Bryn Athyn Xmas Offering.                         71.25
     Miss Alice E. Grant. Total, July to Dec.                    1.50
     Miss H. S. Ashley. Total, July to Dec.                    2.05


604



Jan. Mr. Wm. Evans                                    1.00
Jan. Glenn Family.                                   5.00
Jan. Mr. G. W. Doering                               1.00
Jan. Mr. William Drost.                               5.00
Feb. Mr. Charles Brown.                               5.00
Aprl. Dr. George G. Starkey.                          2.00
May. Miss Mary Glenn                              1.00
May. Glenn Family.                                    8.00
May. Mr. Emil F. Stroh.                              .50
May. Mr. Richard Roschman                              1.00
Mrs. A. E. Walker.                                    5.00
Miss H. S. Ashley. Total, Jan. to June.                     4.75
Miss Alice E: Grant. Total, Jan. to June.                    1.50
                                                       $886.07
Disbursements.
1910.
July 5. Franklin Nahrgang.                               $37.50
Aug. 17. Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick.                         40.00
Oct. 5. Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick.                          20.00
Nov.1. Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick.                          40.00
Nov. 12. Franklin Nahrgang.                          37.50
Dec. 1. Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick.                         20.00
Jan. 2. Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick.                          20.00
Jan. 4. Franklin Nahrgang.                               37.50
Feb. 1. Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick.                              20.00
Feb. 1. Mrs. R. M. L. Frost.                              15.00
Mar. 1. Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick.                          20.00
Mar. 1, Mrs. R. M. L. Frost.                              15.00
April 1. Franklin Nahrgang.                              37.50
April 1. Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick                          20.00
April 1. Mrs. R. M. L. Frost.                               15.00
April 27. Stamped Envelopes, Circulars.                    15.93
April 28. Multigraphing.                               4.50
May I. Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick                               20.00
May 1. Mrs. R. M. L. Frost.                               15.00
June 1. Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick.                         20.00
June 1. Mrs. R. M. L. Frost.                              15.00
June 10. Printing, Expressage, etc.                          2.35
                                                                 $487.78
Balance in Bank, June 10th, 1911.                                    $398.29

     WALTER C. CHILDS, Treasurer.

     8. On motion, it was Resolved, That this Joint Council recommends to the General Council the continuance of Orphanage aid to Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick, of Arbutus, M., to Mrs. R. M. Frost, of Bryn Athyn, and to Franklin Nahrgang, of Toronto.

605




     9. Mr. Alden presented the following Financial Report of the Extension Fund:

     CHURCH EXTENSION FUND.
     RECEIPTS.
Balance on Hand, June 1, 1910.                          $1,535.20
Academy Book Room (Overcharge last report).               13.00
Interest on Bank account.                                   33.40

     Contributions.
Glenview.                               $25.91
Philadelphia.                               14.00
Bryn Athyn.                              1,069.00
Colchester.                               6.69
Berlin.                               17.00
New York                               12.00
Toronto.                                    18.00
Denver.                               10.00
Erie.                                   1.50
Ohio.                                    6.75     
                                                             $1,180.85
Pension Fund Loan, Returned with Interest                    $257.63
                                                                           $3,020.08

     EXPENSES.
Rev. T. S. Harris, Appropriation.                         $1,076.65
Exp. to Assembly.                                    19.00
Rev. F. E. Waelchli, Appropriation.                          700.00
Exp. to Baltimore.                                    10.00
Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal.                               79.50
Rev. W. L. Gladish.                                    150.00
Rev. N. D. Pendleton, Exp to Erie, 3 Trips.                     75.00
Exp. to Assembly.                                    75.00
Exp. to Toronto.                                   15.00
Rev. W. E. Brickman, filling Rev. N. D. Pendleton's Pulpit.     10.00
Rev. G. H. Smith, Exp. at Erie.                          100.00
Rev. R. W. Keep, Part Exp. to Atlanta.                     30.00
M. Lucas, for Church in Paris.                         193.23


606



Rev. A. Czerny.                                    250.00
Circular Letter.                                    6.75
Books for Missionary Use, Post, etc.                     8.75
Loan to Pension Fund.                               256.03               
                                                       $2,329.91
                                                       $690.17

     10. In reply to a question, Mr. Bowers stated that Mr. A. Lindsay is still trying to make a sale of the Greenford property.

     11. On motion, the subject of Giving Aid from the Extension Fund for the institution and support of local New Church Parish Schools was considered.

     The Bishop stated that the question had arisen out of an application for help in the support of a school at Arbutus, Md.

     Mr. N. D. Pendleton observed that the Church Extension Fund had in view the extension of the Church and should be able to assist from that fund where there was need. The Academy had formerly given such aid, but did not do so now. He favored the Extension Fund doing it unless there were some other place to which application could be made.

     Mr. Odhner held that the fund existed in the first place for the extension of distinctly ecclesiastical uses. The work of a school, while of great importance, could not be said to be of as great importance a the work of the priesthood. Pastoral work must be held in the first place and school work in the second. There was needed a special fund for assisting schools.

     Mr. Price agreed that a society should have a resident pastor and regular pastoral work before it had a school. Children could grow up to be of the New Church even without a New Church school, but there must first be a pastor from whom adults and children might receive instruction in spiritual things. The first aid given to a society should be for the support of a pastor.

     Mr. Nelson pointed out that the fund had been established for a certain purpose, to help societies which could not sufficiently support a pastor, and to send out field into the field. Subscriptions had been made to this end. Unless understood throughout the Church that the Fund was to have a wider use, it would be out of order to apply it in other channels.

607




     Mr. Pitcairn said that when the Fund was established it was not considered that it should cover so wide a range. The support of local parish schools seemed more like a use of the Academy which formerly did perform it, but hesitated to do so again. He questioned the advisability of using the Extension fund for this purpose. The chief idea in its establishment had been that ministers might be assisted so that centers might be established. The work of Church extension might be so interpreted as to take in all the uses of the Church. Care was needed in extending it to uses not intended at the beginning.

     Mr. Doering also emphasized the intent of the Extension Fund for ecclesiastical uses. A school had in it: also a secular use and was separate and distinct. The matter should be carefully considered before the scope of the Fund was enlarged.

     Mr. N. D. Pendleton suggested that if a school were assisted where there was not a resident pastor, the tendency would be to put off into the future the engagement of a pastor. He doubted if it would be wife to have a school before having a pastor.

     Mr. Iungerich described the situation at Arbutus, from whose application the question had arisen. There were ten families there in which were nineteen children of school age. Not many more children were in prospect. If time was allowed to go by without a school an opportunity would be lost. It would, perhaps, be years before there could be a resident pastor in Arbutus; nevertheless, there was considerable pastoral work being done. During the past year there had been held there thirty Sunday services. He asked if, under such circumstances, it was not worth while to depart from a strict adherence to a certain principle, and to have a school temporarily, while there was an opportunity for it.

     Mr. Alden had no question as to the usefulness of a school at Arbutus. The question was whether the Extension Fund should be used for such a purpose. If the Fund were confined to the purposes for which it was intended people would know for what they were contributing.

     Mr. Acton would view the matter apart from consideration of the question whether or not there was a resident pastor in the place. The question was simply whether the Fund should be used for any but distinctly ecclesiastical uses.

608


This the Committee would like to know. Should a fund be established for assisting schools, it might be well that it be administered by the same committee.

     Mr. Carswell regarded Arbutus as a field for the support of a pastor; who could then see to the establishment of a school. There was nothing more important than our New Church schools. Without them there would not be that growth of the Church which was now enjoyed.

     Mr. Acton would be sorry to see the hands of the Committee tied. He thought the policy should be to regard purely ecclesiastical uses in the first place, but that the Committee should be free to assist other uses where there were indications that this should be done.

     Mr. Pitcairn asked if the use of aid to schools did not come more properly under the Academy than under the General Church. The Academy had in the past aided schools, but perhaps went too far.

     Mr. Acton replied that the schools were schools of the societies of the General Church under the direction of the Bishop. Part of the work of the General Church was the establishment of schools. Should the Academy take charge of these schools there would arise the old and difficult question of divided authority.

     The Bishop stated that the question of divided authority had arisen from the Academy's retaining the government of the schools. This need not be done. The Academy might simply assist.

     Mr. Odhner showed the work of the Academy and the General Church to be distinct. The Academy had charge of the higher education in the General Church, a work of charity; but the uses of the General Church belonged more distinctly to the sphere of worship and love of God. There should be the same distinction observed in each society between the pastoral and the educational uses. The former use is of a more universal character, and the latter is more particular; we must first look to the universal use, and see to its maintenance.

     Mr. Carswell recalled that the Academy had done great work in the establishment of the schools at Toronto, Glenview and Berlin. The same might be done again.

609




     After some further discussion it was moved by Mr. Alden and seconded by Mr. Acton that it is the sense of this Council that the assistance of New Church Schools does not come within the scope of the Extension Fund.

     The motion was put and carried.

     SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

     12. The Report of the Executive Committee was presented by Mr. Alden, as follows:

     REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
     
     The Committee has held several meetings during the year, all in Bryn Athyn with the exception of one which was held in Toronto, in connection with the Ontario Assembly.

     At the meeting in Toronto, at the beginning of the present year, an important subject before the Committee was the proposition to remove the publishing of the NEW CHURCH LIFE from Lancaster to Philadelphia, with a view to the obtaining of better work, and bringing the printer into closer touch with the Editors.

     This subject was continued at a meeting of the Committee in Bryn Athyn, February 2, when Mr. Pitcairn's offer to contribute the sum of Five Hundred Dollars yearly for a period of two or three years, in order that the experiment might be tried, was before the meeting.

     Upon investigation it was found that the cost of making the transfer would be upwards of a thousand dollars per year, owing to the great difference in cost between work done in Philadelphia and that done in Lancaster. It was also pointed out that other uses of the General Church needed first to be provided for. Among these is that of providing for the book-keeping of the General Church, which is done now by Mr. W. A. Farrington and takes about half his time, although his whole time is paid for by the Academy.

     After full consideration the Committee concluded that it would be best to leave the LIFE With its present publishers, but to put into the hands of the Editors the sum of $20.00 per month to provide for proof reading, writing of news-notes and other special editorial assistance to be used at the discretion of the Editors. This sum for the current year has been donated by Mr. John Pitcairn.

     At a meeting in March the Committee appropriated the sum of $250.00 for assistance to the Rev. A. Czerny, Pastor of the London and Colchester Societies. Mr. Czerny is the only active minister of the General Church in Great Britain. The subscriptions for his support are less than when he went to England, having fallen from $600.00 to $450.00 per year. The Committee felt that it was imperative that he should be supported in so important a field.

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     At this same meeting it was voted to appropriate from the general treasury the sum of $300.00 to defray the expenses of a minister to visit England during the coming summer as representative of the Bishop.

     The question of the need for clerical assistance, referred to above, was further considered at a special meeting held April 30. In addition to the work of keeping the books of the General Church, including the NEW CHURCH LIFE, there is need for assistance in the Book Room. There is need of an assistant there to attend to detail work, and be ready to respond to telephone calls and other duties requiring the regular presence of some one person. In the absence of any assistance, Mr. Alden has been compelled to attend to these detail duties himself, so far as other imperative demands upon his time made it possible for him to do so. This has been a serious hindrance to him in the performance of his own proper functions.

     The Committee has recognized the need, but has not felt able to take action. Consultation with the Officials of the Academy has been had in the hope that a portion, at least, of the salary of such an assistant might be provided by that body in recognition of the fact that the. Book Room itself was an arm of the Academy work. The Academy, however, has not been able to take any step in this direction owing to the pressure upon its resources. It seems, indeed, to the Directors of the Academy, that in view of the generous assistance which in many ways has been afforded by the Academy to the Uses of the General Church it would not be unfair for the General Church to defray entirely the expense of the assistance needed in the Book Room as well as for the book-keeping for which it is directly responsible. The best that the Committee has been able to do was to empower Mr. Alden to make such arrangements for the book-keeping as were absolutely essential.

     No steps in this direction have yet been taken. But the need is as imperative as ever. It is not good economy, nor does it make for efficient work, for Mr. Alden to be encumbered with detail work which could be better done by one with whom it was the direct use.

     The Annual meeting of the Committee was held yesterday. At this meeting was received the resignation of the Rev. Alfred Acton as Assistant Editor of the NEW CHURCH LIFE. This resignation was accepted with regret by the Committee, With expression of cordial appreciation of the many years of service in this function which have been rendered by Mr. At the same meeting the Committee voted to accede to the request of the Council of Ministers, for copies of papers read before that body at its recent meeting on the Subject of "The Divine Human From Eternity," for the use of the ministers.

     The subject of the finances of the Church has been considered by the Committee from time to time. The contributions during the past year have considerably increased over the preceding year, but the expenditures have also increased, so that the treasury at the end of the year contained only $35.00 as against $110.00 at the beginning of the year.

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In view of these increased expenditures a special circular was sent to the members of the General Church in the month of April, making appeal for increased contributions.

     An application was received from the Rev. D. H. Klein for assistance from the Pension Fund. After consideration, an appropriation was recommended to be given him from the Pension Fund during the coming year of $300.00. WM. H. ALDEN, Acting Secretary. Bryn Athyn, Pa., June 24, 1911.

     13. The following Report of the Work of the Extension Committee was presented by Mr. Alden:

     REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CHURCH EXTENSION.

     For the past year the Committee has been strengthened by the addition to its membership of the Rev. Alfred Acton, appointed by the General Council, who was added to the committee with the view of its having one member who was directly engaged in the pastoral use.

     In the fall of the year 1910 a circular was sent out to the members of the General Church on behalf of the Committee, setting forth the work which had been accomplished by it, and the work which it hoped to accomplish.

     The uses which have been supported or assisted from the Extension Fund, during the past year, have been:

     1. The support of the Rev. T. S. Harris as pastor of the little flock of the General Church in Abington, Mass. This is the only point of vantage of the General Church in New England. Mr. Harris has held together the people who first followed him; is teaching them, old and young, in the Doctrine of the Church, and signs of progress are not wanting.

     2. The work in Paris, France. The appropriation has been made to enable the society of the General Church in Paris, the only one in France, to rent a hall for their worship. The members of this society are in very meager circumstances. Their Pastor, M. Hussenet, is maintained by secular work.

     3. Assistance to the Rev. W, L. Gladish on account of his extension work in Ohio, especially in Columbus and Cincinnati. The Society in Middleport, of which Mr. Gladish is pastor, is not strong, and it has seemed wise to supplement its, support so as to keep Mr. Gladish active in a very important missionary field.

     4. Assistance has been given to Mr. Waelchli in Berlin and to Mr. Gyllenhaal in Denver, also to the Rev. Andrew Czerny in England. The Extension Fund has also provided for quarterly visits to Erie by the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, of Pittsburgh.

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All these under the rule of help for weak societies.

     5. An appropriation has been made for the coming year of $600.00 for Mr. G. H. Smith, just graduated from the Theological School, who will take up the work of Secretary to the Bishop of the General Church.

     6. Minor appropriations have been made to assist in defraying the expenses of a visit to Atlanta last Christmas by the Rev. R. H. Keep; the expenses of the Rev. Mr. Price to supply the place of Mr. Waelchli in Berlin while Mr. Waelchli makes a missionary visit to the western part of Ontario, during the coming summer; to assist Mr. Alden in a trip to St. John, N. B., and to Nova Scotia, where there are earnest isolated Newchurchmen who are but seldom visited by a minister.

     An application has been considered by the Committee for assistance in establishing a New Church School in Arbutus, Md., which led to the bringing before the Joint Councils the question of whether such help was within the field of this Committee's use. The held is wide, without this, including such uses as the assistance to weak societies, the visiting of the isolated and the assistance of the newly graduated candidates from the Theological School of the Academy.

     Consideration has also been given to the question of the policy of giving assistance to ministers in attending Assemblies. It was decided that this might be done where it was in the nature of help given to a weak society, but not as personal help to ministers of stronger societies. Wm. H. Alden, Acting Secretary.

     13a. Mr. Acton added to the report that the Committee in paying the expenses of ministers to the Assembly considered such help as being given to the minister, not to the Society.

     14. On motion, the Council considered the question: Is it desirable to establish a New Church School in a center before there is a resident pastor there?

     Mr. Iungerich did not doubt that the true principle was, as brought out by the morning discussion, to have a pastor first. But it was not well to have a hard and fast rule. It would be well to regard the states of the people. Again, if there were frequent pastoral visits it might not be necessary to have a resident pastor before having a school. The people were moving from Baltimore out to Arbutus in order to have a school. Should they be able to have a school now there would be children in it, which was not likely to be the case ten years from now. The people there were sincere and earnest. The Sunday School was effective. Visitors had been struck by the affection of the children for the things of the church.

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     Mr. Odhner said that we could not well offer definite advice to any Society as to what should be done under all circumstances, but our general principle is to provide for essentials first, and for non-essentials afterwards. It is not an absolute essential that reading, writing, and arithmetic be taught to our children by New Church teachers only, but it is absolutely essential that old and young worship the Lord and be instructed in Religion. It is, indeed, desirable that New Church children be educated in distinctive New Church schools, where they can be kept away from Old Church influences. This should be done wherever possible, but if a Society is too poor to maintain both a school and a pastor it should not rush hastily into the establishment of a school, but remember that poverty as well as wealth is of the Divine Providence, and that the most essential use of a New Church School can be maintained by a good Sunday School. It is a known fact that some of our weaker Societies have been unduly burdened by the struggle to keep up a Day School, and that the pastoral work has suffered in consequence. In order that the school might be maintained, pastors have been obliged to make all manner of sacrifices, receiving far from sufficient salaries, finding themselves in a constant grinding struggle for the bare necessities for themselves and their families, unable to provide a suitable education for their children, and unable to maintain themselves and their home in the social standing which their calling demands. Thus the support of the Day Schools has fallen upon the pastors to an unjustifiable extent. And, further, in order that the Schools might be kept up, it has often been necessary for the pastors to give so much of their time to the work of actual teaching, even in the primary branches, that it has been simply impossible for them to give their best time and strength to the study of the Doctrines, and to lead their flocks into the interior things of the Church, as should be done. The school work is a necessary and heavenly use, but is, after all, subordinate. The situation is somewhat like that among the earliest Christians in Jerusalem, who dined together daily and were served by the Apostles. There came a time, however, as the Church multiplied, when the twelve protested that "It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God, and serve tables."

     Mr. Acton recognized that while Mr. Odhner was right, there might be exceptions.

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Societies must be their own judges as to what was best. If the general body was called upon for aid, it must also have a voice in the matter.

     Mr. N. D. Pendleton expressed full agreement with Mr. Odhner's remarks. He would rejoice to hear of any arrangement by which the Arbutus circle could have a school. But the first thing was that there should be provision for spiritual uses. It seemed to him that there might be an extension of the uses of the Academy to the giving of aid to local schools, inasmuch as education was the use with which it was directly connected, while the General Church as a Church was not.

     Mr. Carswell was not aware that the Church had been injured by the work of the schools, but had rather been strengthened from the bottom up. He asked, if what Mr. Odhner said regarding the teaching of secular branches was true, why were these taught in the Academy? Why not get instruction in these in Old Church schools? It was important that instruction in science should he in the hands of New Church teachers; it would be a decidedly backward step to separate this from New Church educational work. By such work in our schools the Church was strengthened from its very foundations,

     Mr. N. D. Pendleton believed that Mr. Carswell was under a wrong impression. There had been a time in the history of the Academy when, in a state of disorder, school work was regarded as more interior and more important than pastoral work. It had even been claimed that the former was a celestial and the latter a spiritual use. The truth was that the school was a means, and the Church the end. The school existed for the sake of the Church, and not the Church nor a society of the Church for the sake of the school. Means would prosper better when regarded in their true light as means than when erroneously regarded as ends.

     Mr. Carswell cited the case of Mr. Hyatt as an example of what school work could accomplish. Soon after coming to Parkdale, Mr. Hyatt had instituted a school with three boys; as a result, those three were today strong men in the Church, two of them ministers of the General Church. It was right to make the Church the end, but we must not detract from the school as a most important means.

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     Mr. Odhner had no desire to separate the spiritual from the natural, religion from philosophy and science; but urged that where both could not be had, let us have first the things which are distinctly of the kingdom of God.

     Mr. Acton found the case cited by Mr. Carswell to be in direct line with the policy advocated. Mr. Hyatt had come to Parkdale as pastor. He was able to begin a school of one class and still carry on his pastoral work. "But had there been five classes," he asked, "would it not have been to the injury of his pastoral work'" There must needs be much accommodation to conditions, but care must be used not to so develop educational work that pastoral work will be injured. Sunday Schools might serve a great use where it was not possible to have a Day School. He would not do away with the secular part of education, but have first regard to the things which are most essential.

     Mr. Reginald Brown described his experiences in two of our societies, where he had found the state described by Mr. Odhner, namely, the sacrificing of pastoral work for the sake of the school.

     Mr. N. D. Pendleton declared that every pastor was glad to give all the religious instruction he possibly could; but, if obliged to give too much time to secular work, things would end sadly. All things would prosper if the spiritual work prospered; but a large and successful school without this would not lead to prosperity.

     15. The Publication of the Minutes of the Joint Council was considered.

     15a. On motion, it was Resolved, That the minutes of this meeting be published in full in NEW CHURCH LIFE.

     16. On motion, the question of the Publication of a Directory of the General Church was considered.

     16a. On motion, it was Resolved, That this Joint Council recommends to the Executive Committee the publication of a Directory of the General Church.

     17. On motion, the meeting adjourned. F. E. WAELCHLI, WM. H. ALDEN, Secretaries.

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LONDON SOCIETY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1911

LONDON SOCIETY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH       A. Czerny       1911

EDITOR New Church Life:
     Would you kindly call the attention of the friends to the fact that the Rooms of the London Society are no longer at 99 Holland Road, nor are they at Camberwell Road, but that the present address is 169 Camberwell Grove.

     It may save those who intend visiting London a good deal of trouble trying to find us. That few of the friends have the correct address is plain from the fact that several letters and postcards I received recently were addressed to the above places.

     It is very confusing to have the same name with slight variations in the same district.

     There are in Camberwell, a Camberwell Road, a Camberwell new Road, a Camberwell Green, and a Camberwell Grove. Our Rooms are in the Grove.

     You will oblige me very much. Sincerely yours, A. Czerny. London, July 1st, 1911.

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Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     ABINGTON, MASS. We had a very delightful visit from a few of our Bryn Athyn friends, July 2, in the persons of Rev. W. H. Alden, Mrs. Alden and their daughter.

     Mr. Alden conducted the service, preached the sermon, and administered the Holy Supper. It is an inspiration to us to meet with our New Church friends from Bryn Athyn and especially with Mr. Alden, whose first visit meant so much to us.

     On July 30 the children of the Sunday School were given a test on the year's work. The pastor had written out twenty-five test questions on slips of paper. The questions were of such a nature that they covered, in a general way, the work of the entire year in all its subjects. Each pupil in turn drew a question and answered it according to his ability. The examination proved very interesting and the pupils gave evidence of a fair knowledge of the subjects.

     The tea parties and Wednesday evening readings have been discontinued until after the summer vacation. G. M. L.

     PENETANG, ONT. My annual visit with William Evens and family, at this place, on the eastern shore of the Georgian Bay, was made July 18-24. On the 19th an interesting event took place at the home, namely, the marriage of the second son, Mr. Archibald S. Evens, as will be seen by the announcements in the present issue of the LIFE. A score or more of the friends and neighbors of the family were present, and all took dinner together.

     On Sunday, 23d, we held services, with an attendance of tell. After the sermon, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered to the eight adults present.

     Mr. Evens is a diligent reader of the Writings, and we had much conversation on points of doctrine during our visit. J. E. Bowers.

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     PARIS, FRANCE. Our little society has, of late, become somewhat more active and there are clear signs that we may hope for a better unity among us. The 19th of June was celebrated on the day previous, that being a Sunday and more convenient to most of us. As we had some difficulty to secure a suitable meeting place, Mr. and Mrs. Hussenet had very kindly proposed to lend their house for this occasion, which was gladly accepted by all. At 11 o'clock in the morning we were all present (about thirty) and an impressive service was then held, Mr. Hussenet conducting. We thereupon sat down to a nicely prepared "dejeuner," and by the happy faces one could easily see how much one another's company and pleasant conversation were enjoyed by all. Toasts were in abundance, to "The New Church," "Our friends in America," etc., but all responded very warmly when our pastor called upon us to drink the health of our benefactor, Mr. John Pitcairn, who so generously had enabled us to have a place of worship in Paris.

     In the afternoon some of us went but for a walk in the beautiful country round St. Cloud, before dispersing in the evening. All of us felt that we had spent a very happy day, and we much felt the want of having more meetings, especially on the social plane. That would do so much toward keeping the society together, but distances and many other reasons make it, at present, rather difficult. However, we have hopes for the future.

     American friends, visiting Paris, are informed that services are being held at No. 100 Rue St. Lazare, Paris, at 3 p. m. on the 1st and 3d Sunday of each month. L. L.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. J. B. Spiers, while engaged in making missionary calls on the several Mew Church circles scattered throughout the South, called, for the first time, at the home of Mr. Charles B. Pendleton in MACON.

     Mr. Spiers writes: 'Through his paper, the Macon Telegraph, the leading daily in that section of Georgia, Mr. Pendleton has sown many seeds of New Church truth. In the Sunday issues of February Mr. Pendleton replied at length to Mr. Edison's agnostic position on immortality.

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He tells me that he received a large number of letters of commendation from all parts of the State, and such was the demand for the articles that the issues containing the reply were exhausted. But as the requests still kept coming in he had the articles printed in pamphlet form. He has about 500 left and will be glad to mail one or more to anyone making the request. Mr. Pendleton has avoided all technical terms and has embodied the general New Church doctrines regarding the reality of the spiritual world with other doctrines, incidentally touched upon in the language of the world. To one entirely ignorant of the New Church this is an excellent introduction to Swedenborg."

     In ATLANTA the Rev. Spiers held service on July 2d at the residence of Mr. Glenn Smith, 29 Cunningham Place. Though three members were away for the summer there were eight communicants and three children present. The attendance of a new receiver, Mrs. Prather, made the meeting more than ordinarily an enjoyable one.

     The Rev. L. G. Landenberger has, during the summer, been holding many meetings in the Canadian Northwest, and preaching to the numerous German circles existing in that section.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The General Conference assembled for its 104th session at the church in Queen's Drive, Glasgow, on Monday, June 26th. The President, The Rev. R. R. Rodgers, now holds this office for the fifth time. Mr. Rodgers took the chair for the first time in 1886, and will be succeeded in 1912 by the Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack.

     The session was productive of little of interest and most of the time seems to have been devoted to business of a more or less routinary nature. Among other things it was resolved to push the long deferred publication of the Index to New Church Periodical Literature which has been prepared by the Rev. and Mrs. Arthur Faraday.

     On Thursday evening, June 29th, a special ordination service was held, when three candidates, Messrs. C. E. Parry, of Sheffield, Edwin Field house, of Barnsley, and F. A. Schmidt, of Middleton, were ordained into the ministry.

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     While visitors from the United States were conspicuously absent, there were two in attendance from Australasia, Mr. George Marchant, of Brisbane, Queensland, and Mr. H. R. Hyatt, of Auckland, N. Z.

     AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. The first New Church Assembly in Austria-Hungary. At the suggestion of Mr. Peccenco, of Trieste, upon his return from the Swedenborg Congress in London, the various New Church circles in this polyglot monarchy decided to hold triennial assemblies. The first one was held on the 3d, 4th and 5th of June, 1911, in VIENNA, the meetings taking place in a room of the Horeis restaurant.

     There were 49 in attendance, of whom Vienna furnished 28; Triert, 8; Budapest, 31 and Kis Tenkelicz, Kacking, Cad Ischl, Littau, Prague, Klosterneuburg, Neulengbach, 1 each. In addition, there were three outside visitors, Rev. A. L. Goerwitz, of Zurich; Miss Marguerite Burger, from Lausanne, and Miss Louise Kretschmer, of Berlin.

     Thanks to the linguistic abilities of Messrs. Prochaska and Brambora, of Vienna, it was possible for the German members to understand the delegates from Trieste, who spoke in Italian, and Mr. Janecek, of Prague, who spoke in Czech.

     The most important addresses were the sermon by Rev. A. L. Goerwitz on the growth of the Church, and one by Mr. Karl Haftmann, of Vienna, on the responsibility of individual and society in promoting it. Both speakers mentioned the slow external growth of the New Church and the lack of religious freedom in Austria. Quite an emphasis was laid by them and subsequent speakers upon the importance of a New Church sphere in the home. "If the parents will only remain awake to the fact," said Mr. Goerwitz, "that their children have been committed by the Lord to their charge for instruction for heaven, they will then find the path easier to wake and strengthen them in love and truth."

     The other speakers dwelt on the strengthening of the human instrumentalities that are to bring the New Church before the world and to establish it more strongly in home and individual. Messrs. Peccenco and Janecek spoke about the urgent need of translations into the various languages current in Austria.

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Mr. Janecek has ready for the press a translation of the "True Christian Religion."

     Mr. Cuppo, of Trieste, declared himself as follows: "It is of the greatest importance to preserve the doctrines in their purity. No foreign sources should press into the sacred repository of divine truth. The holding fast to the pure doctrine and that alone is a fundamental condition for the upbuilding of the Church."

     Towards the conclusion of the meetings resolutions were passed looking forward to a cooperation of the various centers in furthering home-instruction, the work of publishing the Writings in the various languages, and a triennial assembly. During the service on June 4th the Misses Hilda and Johanna Stamminger made their confession of faith, and Mr. Edward Hora, from Littau, for eighteen years a receiver of the doctrines, was baptized, "having already had for a long while (see Monatblaetter, 1911, page 98) the wish to enter through baptism fully into the Church even as to externals, and it was an uplifting ceremony and a speaking testimony of the actual existence of the New Church in Austria that now in the presence of the delegates from all parts of the country a receiver [of the doctrines] accepted the baptism of the New Church." E. E. I.

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PITTSBURGH DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1911

PITTSBURGH DISTRICT ASSEMBLY              1911



     ANNOUNCEMENTS.



     Special Notice.

     The Pittsburgh District Assembly will be held in Pittsburgh at the Wallingford Street Church on October 6th, 7th and 8th.

     Members and friends who desire to attend will please notify Mr. S. S. Lindsay, 359 Stratford Ave. N. D. PENDLETON, Secretary.
Needed 1911

Needed              1911

In family, a refined New Church woman, able and willing to do hard work. Wages $5.00 or $6.00 a week. Address Business Office, NEW CHURCH LIFE. Bryn Athyn, Pa.
WRITINGS AS THE WORD AND AS THE DIVINE HUMAN 1911

WRITINGS AS THE WORD AND AS THE DIVINE HUMAN       Rev. GILBERT H. SMITH       1911



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NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. XXXI OCTOBER, 1911          No. 10
     (A Graduation Address, delivered at Bryn Athyn, June 15th, 1911.)

     In the second number of the AURORA, a little journal published in London, 1799-1801, there appeared the following proposition, being one of a short series entitled "A Key to the Right Understanding of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg," by the Rev. Francis Leicester:

     "That Swedenborg's Writings are not a revelation independent of the written Word of God; but are the Word itself in its spiritual sense, made manifest." (p. 78.)

     This affords a starting point in the history of the idea it expresses. The July issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE for 1902 will serve excellently for comparison and contrast, after the lapse of more than a century. Here we find a reprint of the paper by Rev. W. H. Benade on "The Standard Authority in the New Church," which was read before the American Conference of New Church Ministers in 1873.

     In this paper something new is added to the conception first presented by Mr. Leicester in the AURORA. Mr. Benade adds that the Writings are the Revelation of the Divine Human of the Lord. And it is this especially which represents the position of the Academy on this point.

     This position was combated by Dr. R. L. Tafel in a pamphlet on "The Writings in relation to the Word" published at London in 1892. He regards this position as one extreme, the opposite to which is the position which exalts the literal sense to supremacy over the Doctrines.

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He pleads for a "golden mean" position, avoiding, on the one hand, the extreme of regarding the Writings as indeed the Divine Human, and, on the other, that of the supremacy of the letter of the Word.

     TO say that the Writings are the Word seems a stronger way of stating that they are of divine authority; but there is in reality no difference in meaning.

     The author of the well-known book on AUTHORITY IN THE NEW CHURCH did not, however, seem to realize as Bishop Benade did, that the authority we now attribute to the Writings is also that of the Divine Human of the Lord. For in 1892 Dr. Tafel taught (in his pamphlet on "The Relation of the Writings to the Word") that the Lord did not come in the Writings as the Son of God, that is, as the Divine Human, but that He came as the Son of Man, that is, as the Word.

     This discrimination the LIFE Of the same year assails with the cogent argument that it would be utterly impossible for the Son of God and the Son of Man to be separated, that when one comes the other comes. The Lord came indeed as the Divine Truth, but He did not separate from it Divine Good.

     A full and eloquent presentation of the truth that the Divine Human and the Word are one, is found in the above-mentioned "Standard of Authority," by Bishop Benade, written about the same time as Dr. Tafel's work. There it is shown that "as in the heavens and to the heavens the Lord is and appears a man; so in and to the Church He is and appears a man. Hence is the Word even in its literal sense in the human form, treating of the Lord everywhere as a man, existing and appearing as a Man; and in its spiritual sense, now opened to our understandings, revealing Him transfigured on the mount of His infinite love as the Divine Man." "The Word, therefore, for the Divine Truth in the heavens and in the Church, and thus in the world,--or the only standard of all true thought and good living,--is the Lord Himself in His Divine Human." And the writer continues in this emphatic style:

     "WHAT IS REVEALED IN THE WORD IS THE LORD IN HIS DIVINE HUMAN; WHAT IS REVEALED BY THE WORD 'MADE FLESH' AND FULFILLED IS THE LORD IN HIS DIVINE HUMAN; WHAT IS REVEALED FROM OR OUT OF THE WORD, IN DOCTRINE DRAWN FROM IT, IS THE LORD IN HIS DIVINE HUMAN." (See LIFE, July, 1902.)

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     Herein lies the master key to the right understanding of the Writings. Though involved in Leicester's article in the AURORA, wherein he said that "that they are the Word in its internal sense, made manifest," this writer, probably, was not fully conscious of the truth long afterwards brought out in the report by Bishop Benade that every revelation, inasmuch as it is a coming of the Lord, is the appearing of His Divine Human, and hence is of divine authority.

     Revs. Manoah Sibley, Joseph Proud and James Hodson, editors of the AURORA, in the volume referred to above, answering an inquiry, replied: "The editors . . . conceive that Emanuel Swedenborg, as to his Theological Writings, is no more an author than Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John; but that they were, as he is, a scribe of the Lord, and has written down that which he received, was ordered and appointed to write. We do not pretend to say that the whole of his Theological Writings are the Word of the Lord equally with those of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We say that what he has written is strictly true--his revelations real facts, that there is no error or mistake in them; that he was under the peculiar direction of the Lord throughout the whole; and that his ARCANA in particular is no other than the Lord's own Word, opened and exhibited in its spiritual sense, its true spiritual meaning, and, therefore, is infallible truth."

     Of these men we find Mr. Proud, in 1800, entreating the "Brethren of the New Church in Birmingham" to "let no man or body of men prevail upon you to reject them, [the Writings],--to view them in any other light below what they really are, or to persuade you that the Writer was only a commentator, explainer, or expositor of the Holy Word, according to the light and understanding of his own mind. For thereby their testimony must be invalidated, their truth denied, and your faith rest upon the sentiments and wisdom of a man. But be assured that the ARCANA COELESTIA and the APOCALYPSE REVEALED are no less or other than the Lord's own Holy Word."

     These opinions are supported by the Conference of 1818, which resolved "that the distinction between the Word of God and the Writings of Swedenborg . . . is like the distinction between an inexhaustible fountain and its stream, or the sun itself and the light proceeding from it."

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In these comparisons the water is the essential and the same in the stream as in the fountain, and the motion which produces the light is the motion of the sun itself. From these quotations it may appear that the position which regards the Writings as in no sense comparable to the Word is in some measure a falling away from the original attitude of the founders of the New Church in England.

     We will consider next some of the many reasonings which have been advanced, most of them from the earliest days of the New Church, against this important doctrine. The most ill-considered of these negative views is that presented editorially in MORNING LIGHT (1890, p. 393), where it is maintained that Swedenborg was not inspired, and that he did not claim that he was inspired.

     In line with this position is one expressed editorially in the NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, Of Boston, (Nov., 1842, p. 115), where we read: "There is all the difference between the Writings and the Word that there is between the infinite and the finite. They are not the truth itself but angelic and human views of the truth." This is but a scion of what we will term for convenience's sake "the small part idea." The small part idea is that the Writings at best can contain but a small part of the internal sense and therefore cannot be the Word, because the Word is infinite. This idea has wrought many changes in the Church, cropping out in many-headed form. In 1899, for instance, the Swedish congregation announced that the Writings contain only a small part of the infinite treasures of truth. To which Pastor Manby, then of Gothenburg, protested logically that the same could be said of the Ten Commandments or of the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament. For it is just as possible, says he, for the Writings to contain infinite truth as that the whole of the Law and the Prophets can be expressed in the Two Great Commandments or in the Golden Rule. (N. C. LIFE, Aug., 1899.)

     Another view of the Writings which limits their perfection as a divine revelation is what we will call "the partial infallibility idea." It is believed by some that if you could separate those things in the Writings which teach directly the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, you would have what is of divine authority and infallible, because stripped of all the philosophical and scientific illustrations, and of the description of things seen and heard in the spiritual world, which must of necessity be subject to Swedenborg's mental limitations.

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     An attempt to set forth this view by the Rev. W. C. Barlow is reviewed in NEW CHURCH LIFE for 1885 (p. 88). Mr. Barlow believed the doctrine contained in the Writings to be infallible, but held that Swedenborg made serious mistakes in physical science and in material knowledge, yes, even in his use of the letter of the Word.

     J. R. Boyle and Henry McLagan, in 1883, give a number of specific instances culled out by Mr. Boyle with great diligence, including all kinds of errors from simple misquotations to "errors of perception." Thus there has sprung up in the Church a virulent sort of higher criticism, which, as we know, still continues. Its tendency and aim is to show that the Writings are only partially infallible if not altogether untrustworthy as divine revelation. These writers appeal to one's personal "rational conviction" as the only authority in religious matters. They make the true doctrines of the Church to be something quite apart from the writings which contain them. They see a possibility of arriving at what is infallible by means of something fallible. They would exercise their personal rationality upon a collection of fallible teachings and evolve therefrom a true and infallible doctrine. Thus the reason is exalted above revelation even to the point of discovering error in Swedenborg's perception.

     Let us now consider especially the importance of the conception of the Writings as the Word of the Lord to the New Church, and as the Divine Human itself.

     Such a conception immediately precludes the "small part idea" and the "partial infallibility idea" with all their variations, such as have just been reviewed. It precludes at once the possibility of Swedenborg's having erred in perception, and the multitudinous divergencies of view which must result when each reader uses his own perception in those alleged instances wherein Swedenborg's was at fault.

     But the great central advantage of this conception is that it gives a clear and definite idea of thought concerning the Lord in His Divine Human, where He is and how He can be laid hold of for salvation.

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It presents the Divine Human as the Word, not only in the literal and specific use of that term, but also in its universal and internal use. As the thought of the Divine Human is the only basis of conjunction of mankind with the Infinite, so a universal and interior view of the Divine Human is the basis of more interior conjunction with the Creator.

     From the Old and New Testaments alone men of our day are no longer capable of obtaining a complete view of the Lord's Divine Human, by which alone the Lord can be present. To assert that we can form a complete concept of the Divine Human from the Old and New Testaments alone, is like saying that we can understand our friends from their personal appearance and their external words and deeds alone without ever considering their motive and intention. The Writings alone, in the present state of darkness, reveal the Divine Human motive and the Divine Human intention, which, at one time, were known to men without any written Word, but which, without the Writings would lie concealed in the letter of the Old and New Testaments. But now no one under the influence of the Christian Churches can ever gain a rational idea of the Divine Human motive and intentions in regard to men except through the Writings of the New Church.

     The importance of believing that the Writings constitute the Internal Sense, and consequently the essential Word and the Divine Human; is brought home when we consider what happens and has happened when they are not so thought of. It is a common view that the Writings are not the Internal Sense itself, but are about the Internal Sense. This means simply that the Internal Sense has never yet been put into such language that men can grasp it. It means that the Divine Human of the Lord is a thing that cannot be expressed; that the Internal Sense can never enter the thought, except as one thinks about the letter of the Word. For it is claimed that as soon as the thought enters beyond the sense of the letter it is no longer in correspondence with the Divine Human, a habitation for it, as it were, but is merely about the Divine Human.

629


And, it is added, that if Swedenborg, with all his advantages of learning and of daily intercourse with those in the other life, could not in all his volumes express an idea of thought which was in complete correspondence with the Divine Human, and therefore was a covering of the Divine Human,- how could anyone else hope to do so to the end of time?

     Such a view limits the idea of correspondences. It allows of no sort of correspondences except those between spiritual and natural things. This is why it is so repeatedly asserted that the Writings cannot be the Word because they have no spiritual sense. Does this mean that there is nothing within the Writings to which Swedenborg's expressions or ideas correspond? Is it not known that ideas correspond to affections; affections to loves? Is it not stated in the Writings that spiritual things correspond to celestial things; celestial things to the Divine Life Itself? Therefore in a broader and hence a truer idea of correspondence, there is a correspondence between the Lord in the Sun of the spiritual world and everything that has been produced from Him. And not only can Divine Truth, which is the life of the Word, fall into Hebrew letters as receptacles, but also into whole words, as in the Greek New Testament; and even into less limited receptacles in the Latin of Swedenborg, that is, the sentences and ideas themselves. The same science of correspondences which shows how letters and words contain spiritual truths is also capable of showing how these truths can be expressed in sentences of rational doctrine.

     The outcome of the denial that the ideas expressed in the Writings are in correspondence with the internal sense on the one hand and with the literal sense on the other, is virtually a denial that such correspondential ideas could ever be expressed except in the letter of the Old and New Testaments. It is, therefore, equivalent to a denial that the Lord has made His Second Coming, or ever can make it.

     In our unregenerate state many, almost all, of the precepts of life deducible from the Writings are contrary to natural perceptions and delights. Consequently when it comes to a matter of choice between natural reason and inclination, on the one hand, and life patterned according to the Doctrine, on the other, there is nothing to move the will in favor of the latter unless we believe it to hale the Lord's authority within it,--and often not even then, as we know.

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If then the recognized authority of the Lord Himself is not sufficient to induce us to give up the way and thought of our natural inclination, in every case, how can anyone expect a noticeable influence upon the life when the authority of the Lord's Divine Human in the Doctrine is denied? We then do but repeat the State of the Christian world at large, in which there circulate reams of literature appealing to "honesty," "decency," "altruism," and the "better self," but without the least potency to turn the will of the people from the greed of gain, from pretense and deceit, and from selfish disregard for the future of the race. Nothing but a divinely authoritative Revelation, a new Word, can accomplish this. Nothing but the Divine Human Itself within this new Word can move the will. The Son of God and Son of Man must come at the same time.

     The idea has been emphasized in this address that a great doctrinal advance appears in the concept of the Writings as identified not only with the Word, but also with the Divine Human.

It has been pointed out that those who do not recognize this deny practically that the Lord has made His Second Coming. At least they have no rational view of the manner and import of the Second Coming. He who in reading the Writings fails to be impressed with a vivid estimate of the lifelessness of the Christian world, falls into; indifference to the imperative need of a New Church; a certain toleration, therefore, of existing evils; and a compromise between falsities and truths. Thus, as Mr. Proud pointed out, to regard the Writings in any light lower than what they really are, to be persuaded that the writer was only a commentator, an expositor of the Word, invalidates their testimony, denies their truth, and rests faith upon the sentiments and wisdom of a man.

     We are not stating too much, in conclusion, when we say that the most universal truth concerning the Lord in His Second Coming is that the revelation in which the New Jerusalem descends is the Word of the Lord, His own Divine Human proceeding. In the fifth chapter of the Apocalypse we read:--"I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the Book and to loose the seals thereof?"

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The influx of divine truth into the heavens is the subject introduced by the "proclaiming angel." The first subject upon which the heavens are to be explored is as to who is worthy (or able) to open the Book. And the answer returned by the heavens was, "No one is able to open the Book but the Lion of the tribe of Judah." It may be clearly seen from this that it is acknowledged in heaven that nothing but the Divine Human of the Lord could open the Book of the Word as to its internal sense. And not only is this acknowledged in heaven, but it is the first thing acknowledged, since it is the first response by the heavens to the inquiring angel. The first effect of Divine Truth flowing into heaven is to produce the conviction that this truth is from the Lord's Divine Human.

     Similar should be our thought concerning the Writings,--which open for us the Book of the Old and New Testaments that was written within and without; we should say of them in our hearts, "Worthy is the Lamb," alone the Lamb alone, "to receive power and riches and wisdom and honor and glory and blessing."
"Providence Evident" 1911

"Providence Evident"              1911

     Under the very appropriate heading of "Providence Evident," the MESSENGER for August 16th published a remarkable account of how one person received the Doctrines of the New Church: "Some forty-three years ago there was a man, an Episcopalian, who became troubled over the doctrine of the Trinity; he could not understand how there could be three persons and yet one God. He studied the Word, but could not see the light. One evening while visiting the public library at Louisville he saw through a gap made by a book being removed from the front row another book in the rear, entitled 'True Christian Religion;' he reached back and withdrew the volume from its seclusion and in a few minutes he could rationally understand the Trinity. From that time he became a Newchurchman. He ordered all of Swedenborg's works, and some of the collaterals.

     "The writer of this is that man."

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COMBAT AND CONJUNCTION 1911

COMBAT AND CONJUNCTION       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1911

     "To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne." (Rev. iii., 21.)

     So long as man lives in the world, he is in combat against evils and the falsities: of evil, which are in him and out of him in others; for it is impossible for him to be wholly removed from the sphere of evils and falsities so long as he is in the life of the body, or so long as he is in the life of the world in the body; that is to say, in the present state of mankind, with its hereditary and acquired evil, and in the spheres proceeding from them which dominate the life of the world, which state has ultimated itself in the very life and organism of the body itself, no one can be wholly elevated into spiritual light and life, so as to be altogether free from infestation, from temptation, from the combat of temptation, until the body has been removed, with all its disorderly and diseased habits and conditions, and man has been introduced into the spiritual world, or into the midst of the angels of some society of the new heaven, where he will at last be at rest and peace, because he will be conjoined with the Lord, and consociated only with those who are in a like state with himself.

     It follows, therefore, that it is a matter of supreme necessity that every one should remain and persist in the combat till the end of life in the world. For then the work is finished, but not until then; for that only which continues to be done, and thus continues to be loved, until the end of life, remains to eternity. For death is the completion, and at the same time the confirmation and establishment, of that which has been one's active and habitual life, of that which has been the active and habitual life of the thought and action, from the life of the love of the will. Death is the completion and fulfilling of this man's continuous state in the world; and it is impossible after death for him to pass into any other state so as to remain in it.

     It is well known how habits become fixed as men grow older, and how it becomes more and more difficult to change them.

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This is true of habits of the body and is still more true of the habits of the mind, or the habits of the thought proceeding from the ruling love of the will. And after death they cannot be changed at all, for then no one is willing to depart from the life of his ruling love. This is the reason why men cannot be saved after death, if they have not been already saved by life in the world during life in the world; and this is the reason why no evil spirit; can ever be taken out of hell, and transferred into heaven. For he is wholly unwilling to change the habits of his life, or wholly unwilling to depart from the life of his ruling love, which love is himself; for to depart from his ruling love would be to him absolute death or annihilation, from which he shrinks in the utmost horror and dismay.

     This is illustrated by the fact that in adult age men for the most part are unwilling to depart from the habits of thought and life acquired during childhood and youth. This may be done in adult age, for the habits of life acquired in childhood are not so fixed that they may not be removed; but it takes for the most part the whole period of life in the world to remove them. Hence the supreme necessity of which we have spoken,--the supreme necessity of the attitude of resistance to evil, the attitude of combat against falsity and evil, until the end of life, that there may be a permanent establishment of a life that is to endure after death forever. This is what is meant by the words which occur so frequently in the second and third chapters of the Apocalypse, and elsewhere in the Word, "He that overcometh." He that persists in the combat against evil and the falsity of evil, until the end of life in the world, will conquer in temptation; the evil of life, or of his ruling love will be overcome, the ruling love itself will die, and the man will rise again into the life of a new love, in which life he will live to all eternity.

     This new ruling love is implanted early, yea, even in childhood. But it is a tender plant at first. It is not strong and vigorous; but it grows stronger, and its stronger growth is growth in spiritual life. For this new love is spiritual, from which there is derived the spiritual affection of truth. Truth is desired above all things, and the love of it becomes so ardent that he is willing to fight for it, yea, to die for it. This fight for the spiritual truth of the Word is what is called the combat of temptation, a fight for what one loves above all things.

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But the victory is not complete till the end of life in the world, and the reward of victory cannot be given until then. But he who continues the combat till death, will be given a crown of life (Rev. ii. 10); or as is said in the text: "To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne."

     It is evident that the general idea involved in these words is the conjunction with the Lord in heaven of those who continue in combat, or resistance to falsity and evil, until the end of natural life; for, as has been Shown, these are they that overcome or gain the victory, and no others. They who endure, who do not yield in the conflict, to the end of life, shall be conjoined with the Lord in the new heaven, where: He dwells. "To him that overcometh, I will grant to sit with me in my throne."

     By the Lord's throne, when it is mentioned in the Word, is meant heaven; and heaven is sometimes called God's throne, as in the following passages: "Thus saith the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool." (Isa. lxvi. 1). "The Lord has Prepared His throne in the heavens." (Ps. ciii. 19) "Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is God's throne nor by the earth, for it is His footstool." (Matt. v. 34, 35) "He that shall swear by heaven, Sweareth by the throne of God, and by Him that sitteth thereon. (Matt. xxiii. 22.) By throne in these passages is manifestly meant heaven, and since it means heaven in these cases, heaven is also signified wherever God's throne is mentioned, as in the text, "To him that overcometh, I will grant to sit with me in my throne." To sit with the Lord in His throne Clearly signifies to be with the Lord in heaven, that is, to be conjoined to Him.

     It is love that makes conjunction, it is love that is conjunction; and nothing else is conjunction but love. What is other than love is hatred, and hatred causes all disjunction; it is disjunction itself. And it is said that they who endure unto the end will be conjoined with the Lord in heaven after death, because they who endure unto the end, they who resist evils to the end of life in the world, are they who love the Lord.

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It is because they love the Lord that they are willing to endure, it is because they love the Lord, and all that proceeds from the Lord, that they fight against falsities and evils, and continue to fight against them to the end of life. And in the persistency of the resistance is the continual growth and strengthening of the love, from which the warfare was begun. It is said that conjunction with the Lord is heaven, which is the same thing as to say that love to the Lord is heaven; and since wherever love to the Lord is, there also love to the neighbor is, therefore these two loves together are what make heaven. Therefore heaven is love to the Lord, and love to the neighbor; or, heaven is conjunction with the Lord, and consociation with the neighbor. But what it is that makes heaven, we shall consider more fully a little later, in the consideration of the remaining words of the text, which words are, "Even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne."

     It will be noted that a comparison is made between the man of the church and the Lord Himself, when it is said, "To him that overcometh, I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne."

     The general reason of this comparison is, that the life of the Lord when He was in the world was an example according to which all who are of His church are to live, even as the Lord Himself said in the Gospel of John, "For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done unto you." (John xiii. 15.)

     This is the general sense, but more interiorly what is involved in the comparison is, that the regeneration of man is an image representing the glorification of the Human of the Lord. As the regeneration of man consists in the conjunction of good and truth, so the glorification of the Human of the Lord consisted in the union of the Divine Good represented by the Father with the
Divine Truth represented 6y the Son; and so as the conjunction of good and truth is heaven in man, and introduces him into heaven, so the Divine Good united to the Divine Truth makes heaven.

     This also is the result of combat. The marriage of good and truth takes place in regeneration according to the degree of the combat and resistance to falsity and evil; and so the glorification of the Lord, or the union of Divine Good and the Divine Truth in Him, followed His combats with the hells and His victories over them.

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And since by a throne is signified heaven, the effect of the marriage of good and truth in man, or the effect of his combats against falsity and evil, is, that he is introduced into heaven; and so the effect of the union of Divine Good and Divine Truth in the Lord, or the effect of His combats with the hells, is, that heaven comes into existence. Hence the Divine force of the words, "To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne."

     The comparison is carried still farther. As the Divine which is called the Father was not united to the infirm human taken from Mary, but cast it out, and so was united to the Divine from Himself which was in the midst of that Human, and which was properly the Son of God; so in regeneration the Lord is not conjoined to anything of the proprium of man; but what is man's own is cast out by regeneration, and the Lord is conjoined with His own in him. This, indeed, is regeneration itself, the conjunction of the Lord with His own In man, the proprium of man being removed. As this is the very reason itself of the comparison in the text, it may be well to enter the subject more fully.

     We are taught that the Divine of the Lord makes heaven. There is nothing of the proprium of man in heaven; nothing of man's own can enter into heaven. All there is the Lord's, and from Him alone. Hence the force of the words in John (iii. 13). "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven." The Son of Man in heaven is heaven; this, comes down from heaven, unites itself to that which is from itself in man, and ascends into heaven bearing man with it,--all things that are his own, or which are in his proprium, being removed. The removal of all things of the proprium is effected by the combats of temptation, and is what is signified by overcoming.

     The angels, indeed, taken together, or the angels considered as a collective body, are called heaven, since they constitute heaven; still not anything of their own life enters into the actual constitution of heaven; this has been left behind in the process of regeneration; this has been left behind in the process of combat, and the combat has been against the things of their own life, which things are falsities and evils.

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     It is the Divine proceeding from the Lord, which inflows with the angels, and which is received by them, which makes heaven In general and in all its parts. The Divine of the Lord, or the Divine which proceeds from the Lord, is love and wisdom, or good and truth; but since wisdom is but love in form or since truth is but good in form, the Divine of the Lord in heaven is love. As far, therefore, as the angels receive love from the Lord, so far they are angels, and so far they constitute heaven.

     This is the reason that man can will and do nothing of good from himself, but only from the Lord. For since all things of man's own life are false and evil, nothing but falsity and evil can proceed from that life; and so in order to will and do good he must act from another life than his own, from a life that is good, which life is the life of the Lord alone.

     Since the angels of heaven know and perceive this, that they have no good, no truth, no life of their own, and that in order to will and do good they must act from the Lord's life and not from their own, therefore they are indignant if anyone attributes to them the good which they do; and they wonder that anyone should believe that he is wise from himself, and that he does good from himself, when it is so far away from the real truth.

     The first of good, and the first of doing good-the first in order of time-is combat against falsity and evil, but the combat is not from self but from the Lord. If it be from self evil is not overcome, nor will man persist in such combat, for there is no real combat in such case against evils, no real interior resistance to it. No man can resist evil interiorly unless he does it from the Lord; and so in reality it is the Lord alone who fights against evil, and evil is not removed unless the Lord removes it, the appearance remaining, however, that it is of and by man; for man does appear to live from himself, even when he lives from the Lord alone. This appearance exists because love is received by man, reacts in him and returns to the Lord. This reaction and return of love produces the appearance that man lives of himself and from himself, in which appearance he has all freedom and delight of life.

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This reaction and return of love in the angels is love in them, and it is as it were their own love. Hence it is clear that the angels do not and cannot love the Lord from themselves; even their love to the Lord is from the Lord, and we so often come across the expression in the Writings, love to the Lord from the Lord.

     The Lord's love is not only received by the angels and returns to Him as love to Him, but it at the same time goes forth as love to the neighbor; love, therefore, in its reaction in heaven is two-fold, love to the Lord, and love to the neighbor. This love to the Lord, and this love to the neighbor, are not from the proprium of the angels, or from anything from their own life, but they are altogether from the Lord with them. Hence the Lord is the all in all of heaven, and the Divine of the Lord makes heaven, and the Divine of the Lord which makes heaven with the angels is love to the Lord and love to the neighbor--love to the Lord from the Lord, and love to the neighbor from the Lord. And so, we repeat, the Lord is the all in all of heaven; and no man ascendeth into heaven, save the Son of Man who is in heaven.

     And now while the life of love makes heaven with the angels--or what is the same thing the activity of love to the Lord from the Lord, and of the love of the neighbor from the Lord-while this life makes heaven, it must be acquired during life in the world. This life is not in the world or of the world, but it must be acquired while man is in the world, while he is in the life of the body. But so long as he is in the world he must continue to fight for it, or it cannot be maintained, or remain in him. Hence the teaching that he that overcometh, he that endureth unto the end, he that is faithful unto death, he alone shall be saved. By the continued conflict against falsity and evil, the life of heaven enters,--an entirely new life, a life not his own, a life not from his natural parents or from anything that he inherits from them, but a life from a new Father, the Lord, but which is to be in him as his own forever.

     When the regenerating man overcomes as the Lord overcame, and the work is done and made complete, then he is said to sit with the Lord in His throne.

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The life of heaven is now in him, which is the life of the Lord in heaven; the old life has been removed, he no longer lives his own life, he no longer lives from himself, the Lord is in him and he is in the Lord, by means of what he has from the Lord he has become conjoined with the Lord, everything in him is from the Lord in Him, he is a new man, he is an angel of heaven.

     No wonder then that the angels are indignant when any one attributes good to them, since all that they have and all they are is from the Lord. It is not that the angels do not admit acknowledgment from others for uses done by them; they indeed do this, we are told, but then it is for the sake of the use which they perform, nor does this arouse any indignation in them. But what makes them indignant and causes them to turn away is that they perceive that the good which they have done is attributed to them and not to the Lord, because it is thought that they have done it from themselves, and that the glory is therefore given to them which belongs to the Lord alone.

     A general in the world gains a great victory, a king or a statesman does great things,--who attributes it to the Lord, or sees the operation of the Lord's Providence in it? And perhaps the king or the general, when he hears his praises sounded, really thinks he has done these great things from himself. But if he were like the angels he would not ascribe them to himself, would be indignant at the thought; but would see and acknowledge that what he has done is but a particular in the operations of the Lord's universal Providence, of which the doer of the deeds, and the deeds done, are but an infinitesimal part.

     The angels are indignant if the good which they do is ascribed to them, and not to the Lord; but evil spirits, and evil men, are angry if the good they do is not ascribed to them. This is the difference between the two, and this is the test. When praise is given, or acknowledgment for uses done, do we attribute it to ourselves, and are we exhilarated with self pride, or do we in humility acknowledge the Lord as the source and the doer?

     Herein we see a danger to the church, for herein is the cause of the destruction of every former church, namely, in ascribing to self the works of the Lord; and the New Church does not actually exist until the Lord is seen and acknowledged as the all in all, not only the all in all in the doctrine of the church, but the all in all in the uses of its life, until the men of the church acknowledge as the angels do,--acknowledge, not from a scientific in the memory, but from seeing that it is so, that the proprium of man contributes nothing whatever to the life of the church, that the Divine of the Lord, since it makes heaven, also makes the church, and that the Divine of the Lord in heaven and in the church is love to the Lord from the Lord, and love to the neighbor from the Lord.

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     "Because the angels believe thus, therefore they refuse all thanks on account of the good which they do, and they are indignant and recede if any one attributes good to them. They wonder that any one should believe that he is wise from himself, and that he does good from himself. To do good for the sake of oneself, this they do not call good, because it is done from self; but to do good for the sake of good, this they call good from the Divine; and say that this good is what makes heaven, because this good is the Lord. For good from the Lord has the Lord interiorly in it, but not good from the proprium of man. Those spirits, who, while they lived in the world, confirmed themselves in this belief, that the good which they do, and the truth which they believe, are from themselves as their own, . . . are not received into heaven. The angels avoid them; they regard them as stupid and as thieves; as stupid, because they continually look to themselves, and not to the Divine; and as thieves, because they take from the Lord what is His. These are against the faith of heaven, that the Divine of the Lord with the angels makes heaven. From these things now it may be evident that the Lord dwells in His own with the angels of heaven; and this because good from the Lord is the Lord with them; for what is from Him is Himself; consequently, good from the Lord is heaven to the angels, and not anything proper to themselves." (H. H. 9, 10, 12.) And good from the Lord is the good of love to the Lord from Him, and the good of love to the neighbor from Him. Amen.

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VISION OF THE DOVE 1911

VISION OF THE DOVE       M. A. O       1911

Golden light her heart is flooding,
     All creation sings of love,
As the maiden soul, awakened,
     Sees the vision of the dove.

Lo! From but the shining heavens
     Comes a harbinger of love.
O'er the altar where she kneeleth
     Soars the vision of the dove.

In the gleaming rests a mother
     With a newborn gift of love.
Softly o'er the two immortals
     Breathes the vision of the dove.

To her tender woman's frailty,
     Tried by cares and works of love,
As she prays upon her pillow,
     Comes the vision of the dove.

Silvering years their course have taken
     Up the mountainous path of love. Peaceful o'er an earthly deathbed
     Broods the vision of the dove.

With her spouse she walks in heaven,
     On her shoulder, perched, a dove.
From her eyes the glory shining,
     Gift of God, Conjugial Love!      M. A. O.

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SWEDENBORG'S DOCTRINE OF FORMS 1911

SWEDENBORG'S DOCTRINE OF FORMS       C. TH. ODHNER       1911

     A STUDY

     CHAPTER III.

     GENERAL LAWS IN RESPECT TO FORM.

     1. There is Internal Form and External Form, and the External corresponds to the Internal.

     It is the universal characteristic of Swedenborg's Philosophy that every subject is first reduced into order out of its primary chaos by the introduction of the idea of discrete degrees. The very first law of the doctrine of degrees is the distinction between what is internal and what is external.

     "The term external form is regarded in two ways: First, as denoting inferior form; second, as the external construction and determination of a body. I. As denoting inferior form. For the inferior is always exterior, and the superior is always interior. Thus the rational mind is an internal form, while the body is an external form. Or, the cause is the internal form, and the effect is the external form, that is, so long as the effect in an image reproduces its cause. II. The external construction and determination of a body, from which is comeliness, deformity, a beautiful form, a lovely form, etc., is also called external form. This external form is likewise an image of the internal form; for, as form has its determinations, so also it must have its terminations, namely, such as correspond to the internal determination. For example, every circular form must consist of perpetual circles as its parts, while the common circle itself by its own determination indicates the quality of its internal form. Thus internal form and external form must correspond to each other;" (ONT. 9.)

     "On the other hand, the angular form may extrinsically assume the circular and even the spiral form; not, however, from itself and its own nature, but artificially; for, from its very hardness, coldness, and resistance, it is evident that the form itself is angular. It must, therefore, be seen whether the internal form produces the external naturally, thus whether they correspond to each other; or whether a more perfect form has been superinduced, as in the case of the human form molded in wax or engraved on marble or brass. In order that the form may be truly human, the human itself, or the human soul, must be inspired in every least part of it." (ONT. 10.)

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     2. External Form is more General than Figure.

     "It appears as if figure meant external form, but there is a difference between them. External form refers itself to internal form as to what is continuous with it; as the expression of the face, the actions and speech are continuous with the mind. Thus the face itself,--so far as it is regarded as the external form of the human head, and refers itself to the internal form thereof,--cannot be called a figure. But when it is regarded separately from that form, and, indeed, as a surface, which belongs to planeometry, it can be so called. Therefore we have the figure of the face, the figure of the mouth, the figure of the nose, the figure of the eye; but the form of the face involves all these figures together." (ONT. 14.)

     3. Internal determinations constitute Form, while External terminations constitute Figure.

     "Figure differs from form as, in geometry, a plane differs from a cube; and the property of figure in respect to the property of form, is like the property of figure geometrically considered, in respect to the entire construction and hence resulting nature of a compound. Thus we recede from figure the more we elevate our attention to the higher powers, as to the cubes of the square of a cube, and so forth; for these are more removed from planometry." (ONT. 15.)

     "So also with superior forms. These, at least, cannot be called figured forms, because they are not terminated by space within themselves, but only by imaginary space outside themselves. For, that they may include space within themselves, there must be reference to a center, a surface, a diameter, and many other things; these perish when there are such determinations, and with them perishes also the idea of space, of which there are none in the form itself, but which can be conceived of as being outside the form. Such form is also void of figure, because void of space and extent. Hence it is without any limitation. Thus superior forms always recede from the idea of space and figure the more highly they are elevated. Therefore, as determinations regarded in space constitute form, so terminations regarded as if outside that space, constitute figure. But in a form of which there are no terminations, except such as are to be regarded as continuous forms, figure itself must be ideally conceived of, as being outside the form, and not as adjoined to it. For a form which occupies no space, regarded as such in itself, cannot be said to be terminated; but the terminus, or all that termination, must be conceived of as occupying space outside the form." (ONT. 16.)

     "But lest we halt uncertain in the meaning of words, we must at this threshold explain what FORM is, and what FIGURE is.

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Form is the essential determination, or the determinate fluxion of parts, points, substances, forces; thus there is a form of motion, a form of modification, and a form of substances, but no idea of form is conceivable without an idea of fluxion. But figure is the boundary of an extense, or the termination of such fluxions, that is, the terminus of essential determinations otherwise called external form. This definition of form agrees with ancient and modern philosophy. There are, indeed, essential determinations or forms of which neither terminus nor limit can be predicated, since figure cannot be predicated of them, as, for instance, spiritual forms. Nevertheless, these are to be understood by analogy with similar forms, and we are to predicate of them by eminence. For termini and limits are not possible unless there are parts which must occupy space and form an extense. The external form is born after the likeness of the internal form, but not the reverse; for when the angles of an angular form are cut away, and the planes are rounded, the form is turned into a spherical or more perfect form; but there still remains the internal form or the former essential determination, and every quality thence resulting and inborn. Moreover, from the figure, when not changed, we know what the form is, as from the countenance we know what the mind is." (THE FIBRE, 262.)

     4. Form is more Universal than Structure.

     "Structure is the same as form, but only in compounds considered physically and mechanically, and to which are attributed parts, space, extent, mass, size, matter, weight, motion, figure, and the like. Form, however, is something more universal than structure, and is in more simple things, yea, in the most simple. Still structure corresponds to it. For we must conceive that such things as those mentioned above are within every single form, although they themselves are not in the form, but only their analogues and eminents, which cannot be called by the same name, or to which such predicates do not apply." (ONT. 18.)

     5. The concept of Form by degrees rises from Figure and Structure to the concept of Image, Idea, Universal Law, Truth.

     "What is Form? In the lowest degree form means the structure of a body, both internal and external. 'The form of everything,' says the philosopher [Aristotle], 'is perceived by the sense of sight.' Form also means the structure of other things, and thus we speak of forms of government, forms of motion, forms of words, or forms of speech, etc. In a higher degree form means image, for such as it is successively represented to the ear or the eye, such it is simultaneously represented to the animus abstractly from matter.

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In a still higher degree it means pure form, or, according to some, idea; for figure, magnitude, situation, motion, or the limit of these, are abstracted from it. In a still higher degree it means the universe, as the complex of all and single things, and in this respect, indeed, it is the form of natural forms. To ascend beyond this to forms still higher would be to climb both above and beyond the universe, where the mind's intuitive power perishes, and language with it, so that to discourse of such forms would be to utter empty terms." (E. A. K. 244.)

     6. Form makes the unit of every compound.

     "A unit is never composed of identities, but of varieties in form, which constitute a unit according to the form." (A. C. 4149.)

     "The quality of each form exists from, the orderly arrangement of the various things which it contains, and from their relation to each other, and from their consensus towards a unit; from this it is that every form is considered a unit." (L. J. 12.)

     7. Form gives quality, predicate, and actuality.

     "Every one who thinks intently can clearly see that a unit is not possible without form; for whatever exists derives from its form that which is called quality, and also that which is called predicate; further, that which is called change of state, as also that which is called relativity, etc. And, therefore, that which is not in a form has no power to affect, and that which has no power to effect has no reality. It is the form itself which gives all these things; and because all things which are in a form, if the form be perfect, have a mutual regard for each other, as link has to link in a chain, therefore it follows that it is the form that makes the unit, and thus the subject, of which quality, state, power to affect, and anything that accords with the perfection of the form, can be predicated." (D. P. 4.)

     "A unit which is not from various things has no form, and therefore no quality. But when a unit exists from various things, and the various things are in a perfect form in which each thing joins itself to another in a friendly agreement in a series, then it has perfect quality. Heaven is such a unit. (H. H. 56.)

     "All things must have their own form in order that there may be anything. From form is derived actuality or essence, the 'quiddity' of the ancients, quality, causality, and the faculty itself of acting and of being acted upon. Thus a thing without form is an atom without a beginning, i. e., nothing. Every thing, mode, sense, or force, has its own form.

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Every body, intestine, or part, whether solid or liquid,--as the parts of the blood or of the animal spirit, has its own form; yea, the soul has its own form. Every society, least and greatest, has its own form of government, its dependence and relation, its order, laws, and many other things which are determined simultaneously with its form." (ONT. 11.)

     8. All finite Forms are subject to the laws of Geometry and Mechanics, even though it be only by way of "eminent analogy."

     "Geometry is the law and essential attribute of every individual substance in the world, or of the whole world," and "Mechanism is the mode by which the world acts or is acted upon." (PRINC.
I., p. 51.)

     "Nothing can be ascribed to the Point that is ascribed to a composite, except by way of analogy,--seeing that it is the most simple, unmixed, pure, and first ens. It is of such a nature that it must necessarily be contemplated as immediately proceeding from the Infinite, and yet existing before any finite, and thus it must be considered as non-geometrical, although it resembles what is geometrical." (PRINC. I., p. 61.)

     'The motion of the Point' cannot be conceived of according to any laws of Geometry, but, nevertheless, a conception must be formed of its figure, in the way of analogy, and in reference to its conatus or motion, for motion creates space and figure; and whatsoever is present in the motion is present in the conatus.'" (PRINC. I., pp. 59, 60.)

     "That the soul is bound by rules; that it is bound by mechanical rules, and that it can be explored by Mechanism and Geometry. No one can deny that the soul is created, that it is finite, that it is not infinite. If it is not infinite but created, it must be finite, for whatever is created cannot be infinite, and whatever is not infinite must be finite. It will have either space or figure, or the likeness or appearance of space and figure; therefore no other rules are possible than mechanical and geometrical ones; if not, it would be something of the Infinite; it would be something of the non-create; if it be bound by rules, they cannot be other ones than those which arise from Geometry; therefore it is natural. The angels ought to know of what quality the rules are. Why should they not, since the soul is angelic? Wherefore the soul cannot know in this state of what quality it is, but it will know in the subsequent state, what it is, of what quality it is, how large it is." (MECHANISM OF THE SOUL AND THE BODY, n. 11.)

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     9. The perfection of every Form is according to its ability to change its state, and thus according to its power of accommodation.

     "Every form except the angular, in the atmospheric world and in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, is able to change its state, and from a more perfect natural state to pass over into imperfect ones, and from these to return again into the more perfect. The power of changing state is itself the perfection of a form, which in superior forms is so great that these changes of state exceed all number, and are to be reckoned as infinite." (R. P. 180.)

     "When a circular form passes over into elliptical or other geometrical curves, it is said to change its state; thus also when a spiral form passes into spirals of another genus, geometrical or arithmetical, it is said to change its state. It is the same with the superior forms, whose varieties of form cannot be geometrically demonstrated or expressed in words. The most perfect form, in whatever degree, is unchangeable, but the others, in their degree, are changeable; thus, the circle alone is the circular form." (R. P. 181.)

     10. The more perfect the Form, the more simple it is, the less subject to injury, and thus the more free and permanent.

     "That which is indistinct is confused, from which there results all imperfection of form." (D. P. 4.)

     "A form makes a unit the more perfectly, in proportion as the things entering into the form are distinctly different, and yet united." (Ibid.)

     "The more compounded a thing is, the fewer are the things that are in it; thus there are more things even in a single visual ray than in the whole of sight." (R. P. 455.)

     "At death first the angular form is destroyed, or their connection is severed, and the angular bodies which are in the blood and the humours are dissipated, on which account so slight a portion of the blood is seen remaining in the dead. Afterwards the circular form, or the form of the several viscera, is destroyed, and also the outward form of the body, which collapses; then the brain of the spiral form, and so the remaining ones in their order." (R. P. 488.)

     "The lowest forms, because they are changeable, inconstant, imperfect, and their determinations less harmonious, are always the first to die, and so in order up to the foremost. The triangular form perishes before the circular, the circular before the spiral; for there is always something of the perpetual added, or something of the finite and inconstant taken away, as the form ascends." (R. P. 489.)

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     "A globule of the red blood consists of all the forms even to the first spiritual. The red blood is first dissolved and the angular elements are dissipated, which effect takes place immediately; next the pure blood then remaining is dissolved, but after a considerable lapse of time; then remains that which properly is called the animal spirit or its individual parts; this is not readily dissolved because it is a celestial form. After this remains the soul purified from all that is earthly." (R. P. 491.)

     11. A Summary.

     "Wherefore they differ in the perfection of all qualities. 1. Superior forms are the measures and beginnings of inferior ones. 2. They are to be conceived as a form of unities respectively to the inferior forms, which are referred to the forms of a number of such unities. 3. To our sense, respectively to inferior forms, they are almost infinite; nor are their differences recognized except by a superior sense. 4. Respectively to our senses all successions are represented together in those forms, or as simultaneities. 5. There are infinite forms of celerity respectively to inferior forms, for myriads of celerities scarcely compose a one which may appear as a simultaneous in an inferior sense. 6. They can put on infinite changes of state in the smallest moment of an inferior sense. 7. They are more perfect in respect to form, essence, nature, attributes, accidents, and therefore in respect to modes. 8. They are in their own form, and are more constant than are other things which depend upon them. 9. They are more fluid. 10. They are more powerful than any force, as for instance the elastic force. 11. They are more beautiful and suitable. 12. They are more distinct, more unanimous, more similar to one another, more harmonic. 13. They are more unlimited and freer. 14. They are more sensitive, more rational. 15. They remain longer, for they cannot be hurt by inferior things; for prior forms exist without posterior forms, not the reverse. 16. They are as it were without time and space. 17. Terms which can be applied to inferior forms cannot be applied to them except by analogy and eminence; for they pass beyond the sphere of words, when they pass into a superior degree. 18. Thus sight is in a higher degree than hearing, understanding in a higher degree than sight, the representation of the soul in a higher degree than rational sight. 19. Superior forms are prior, interior, more remote, simpler. 20. They are also more universal. 21. These things will be seen in the doctrine of forms, and of order and degrees." (SENSES 472.)

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     CHAPTER IV.

     THE DISCRETE DEGREES OF FORMS.

     1. A Synopsis of the Sevenfold Scale of Forms. Applying the doctrine of Discrete Degrees to the doctrine of Forms, Swedenborg develops a series of seven discrete degrees of Form, or seven discrete Forms, each one of which will be described in a chapter of its own. We will here present a brief synopsis or outline of this series, as illustrated by the forms in the elementary kingdom and in the body and soul of man. These seven Forms are: 1. the Angular, 2. the Circular, 3. the Spiral, 4. the Vortical, 5. the Celestial, 6. the Spiritual, and 7. the Divine Form.

     2. The angular Form is the lowest of all in the ladder of forms which reaches from the Infinite itself down to the dead matter of the earth. In the angular form everything of activity and life has been withdrawn by the process of compression, and it is therefore the very form of rest and inertia. It is the form prevailing throughout the Mineral Kingdom, with its salts and chemicals, and is represented in the human body by the particles composing the bones and cartilages and the salts in the blood-globules. It possesses no inherent motion of its own, and can naturally communicate no other than a purely local or translatory motion, by particle pushing upon particle in a straight line, or by a tremulatory motion throughout the whole mass, the whole shaking to and fro.

     3. The circular or Spherical Form is the second and next higher, and is described as the perpetually or infinitely angular form, since each curve is a continuous angle. This form prevails in water and hence in fluids generally, and is also the form of the human body as a whole, and of the blood vessels and its globules of blood. It moves in waves or undulations, i. e., in curves instead of zigzag tremulations. "Into this form," Swedenborg says, "something infinite and perpetual has insinuated itself," not only because the circle is a continuous angle, but also because its beginning and its end cannot be determined. As it is the origin of the angular form, so also is it the measurement thereof.

     4. The Spiral Form is the third and next higher, and is called the perpetually or infinitely circular form, since it consists of continuous circles.

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Its radii and diameters are no longer rectilinear, as in the circle, or converging into a fixed center, but they themselves are curves and meet in a circle instead of a point. Here, therefore; the imperfections of the angular and circular forms are removed, and something further of the perpetual, the continuous and infinite, is added. This is the form inherent in the aerial atmosphere, and is illustrated in the human body by the convolutions of the brain and its fibers. Its motion is called axillary or central, and it is the measure of the circular form, as the latter is the measure of the angular form.

     5. The Vortical Form is the fourth in the ascending series of forms. This still more closely approaches the image of the infinite and the eternal, because it is a perpetually and continuously spiral form. The imperfections of the lower forms are here laid aside, inasmuch as the vortex has a spiral form for a center, just as the spiral centers in a circle, and the circle in a fixed point. This form manifests itself especially in Magnetics, and is properly the form in which the ether flows,--a superior kind of axillary or central motion. According to it, also, is the flux of the organic vessels constituting the internal sensory of the brain and the inferior mind or "animus."

     6. The Celestial or fifth Form is the supreme natural form, and is called "celestial," i. e., heavenly, because it is the proper form and flux of that magnetic element or second aura in which float the "celestial bodies" of planets and satellites in each solar system. This form is perpetually and continuously vortical, and can be depicted, distantly, by the ingyrations and egyyations of a smoke-ring in the air. It does not possess any fixed center, but there are as many centers as there are points, all regarding each as a center, each working for all, and all for each. This, in man, is the form of the pure intellectory or the, intellectual mind, (mens); and its motion is an animatory motion of alternating contraction and expansion, or systole and diastole.

     7. The Spiritual Form, the sixth and supreme of all finite forms, can be described only as super-celestial or perpetually and continuously celestial, flowing from the irradiation of the very Sun of Life, the spiritual Sun, even as the celestial form flows from the irradiation of the natural suns.

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This is the form of the first or universal aura, the atmosphere of the whole spiritual world, embracing in its bosom also the whole natural universe. In its pure and simple form it is to be found only in the super-celestial heaven, the "heaven of human internals," from which is formed, and in which is preserved to all eternity that inmost organ of human life which is called the soul.

     8. The Divine Form. The seventh, supreme and inmost form, perpetually and infinitely spiritual, is the Divine Form itself of that Word which became Flesh, the God-Man who is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End of all Form and of all Substance. Of the Infinite Father, such as He is in His Infinite Esse, the term "form" cannot be predicated, but it can be predicated of that essential manifestation of Himself, which is the Divine Existere or Standing Forth. It is this inmost, Divine Form itself, which in the PRINCIPIA is identified with the Conatus of pure motion which Swedenborg, for lack of another name, ventured to call "the First Natural Point"; he called it a "Point," because it is the beginning of all Form, and he called it "Natural" because it is the beginning of all motion. For the word "natural," from natus, to be born, means what is produced, what is led forth, by influx or motion, from an internal cause into an external effect. This term, however, can be used only in a cosmic sense, when describing the relation of the Creator to the work of creating a universe of finites and elementaries. In relation to man, as the crown of organic creation, the "Point" is the "Nexus," the Only Begotten; its motion is that of Infinite Love, and its form is that of Infinite Wisdom, both one in the Divine Human of the Lord Jesus Christ.

     9. The degrees of Form correlated. A remarkable chapter in the work ON THE SENSES is introduced by the statement: "It is to be observed that according to an admonition heard, I ought to refer to my philosophical PRINCIPIA, and to consider the lightness, gravity, and actuosity inscribed upon the pure [simple]; and it was said that thus it will be given me to fly whithersoever I may wish." (262.)

     In this chapter Swedenborg enumerates the atmospheres as being "1. the aerial; 2. the etherial; 3. the celestial; 4. then the universal spiritual, which is the supreme;" and he adds: "these have been treated of in my philosophical PRINCIPIA, Where the forms of the parts of each atmosphere have been treated of and delineated. This was done for this use; now comes the application. I pass by the delineations, which are extant." (n. 264.)

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From this it is manifest that by the "celestial" or "heavenly" atmosphere he means what in the PRINCIPIA he calls the second clement or solar aura, and that by "the universal spiritual" atmosphere he means the first element or supreme aura. This is a most important identification in view of the subsequent Theology of the New Church. It shows beyond doubt that in the PRINCIPIA by his "first element" he meant the universal spiritual aura, which was prior to the inner belt of third finites around the primitive sun; and it shows also that the first natural point, being above this spiritual aura, is also above the whole spiritual world.

     Swedenborg then proceeds to deliver his ever recurring Doctrine of Forms, but now in statements more compact and definite than ever before:

     "There are many forms, in their order, inferior and superior. 1. The first is the angular form; of this form are the entities of the earth. 2. The second is the circular form; of this are the entities of fluids or waters. 3. The third is the spiral form, such as is the form of the air. 4. The fourth is the
vortical form, such as is that of the ether more subtle than the air. 5. The fifth is the celestial form, the form of the whole universe and of nature, in which lie hidden the beginnings of the rest. 6. The sixth is the spiritual form, by which the universe is ruled, and from which the supreme beginnings are implanted. 7. Then comes the purely infinite, which is not form, but is the beginning of all forms, out of which flows forth the form and essence of the spiritual form." (n. 268.)

     He then goes on to correlate this Doctrine of Forms with his Doctrine of Motion and his Doctrine of Atmospheres.

     (1) "The modifications of the ANGULAR form are called tremulations or vibrations,--in greater bodies, oscillations.

     (2) "The modifications of the CIRCULAR form appear in waters, and thence are all those secrets which lie hidden in undulation.

     (3) "The modifications of the aerial form is perpetually circular or SPIRAL.

     (4) "The ether is similarly modified according to the form of its parts, which is superior and more perfect, and is called PERPETUALLY SPIRAL or VORTICAL.

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     (5) "There are superior forms still more perfect, such as the one next higher, which is called the CELESTIAL form.

     (6) "The SUPREME form is still higher.

     (7) Finally, there comes nothing except the Infinite." (nos. 269-291.)

     "The form of the soul is spiritual, that of the intellectory is celestial; that of the internal sensory is vortical; that that of the external sensory or the brain is spiral; and that of the body itself is circular. Its bones, cartilages, and similar parts, are of the angular form, likewise the many elements which enter into the blood and constitute it, in every globule of which every form is concealed, from the first one to the last." (R. P. 486.)

     "The first form of all, proper to the soul, is called super-celestial; but the second, which is of the intellectual mind [mens], is named celestial; the third, which is of the inferior mind, or of the animus is called infra-celestial. To these now succeed forms purely natural, which, if they are to be denominated from the nature of their fluxion, are to be named as follows: the first of them is to be called spiral, conspicuous in the corporeal fibers themselves; the second, circular or spherical, conspicuous in the blood vessels; the third, angular, properly terrestrial and material, serving the fluids and the blood itself, and also the spirit of the fibers, for corporiety." (WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD, 93.)

     10. A Diagram.

     Forms      Human degrees           Elements           Motions

Divine          God Man               First Natural Point     Pure Conatus
Spiritual     Human soul          First Aura
Celestial          Intellectual Mind     Second Aura     Animatory
Vortical          Animus               Ether
Spiral          External Sensories          Air          Axillary or central
Circular     Body and Blood-vessels     Water          Undulatory
Angular     Bones                    Minerals          Local and tremulatory

     (To be continued.)

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JOHAN CONRAD DIPPEL 1911

JOHAN CONRAD DIPPEL       HUGO LJUNGBERG ODHNER       1911

     A SKETCH

     Among the representative men whom Swedenborg met in the spiritual world, Johan Conrad Dippel was an extreme instance of that type whose great learning made them incapable of any spiritual thought.

     Dippel was born in 1673 at the Castle of Frankenstein in Hesse (Germany), where his father was preacher. From early youth Johan Conrad manifested a propensity to brood over religion. Even as a boy of nine he expressed strong doubts in regard to his catechism, but otherwise he showed small signs of intellectuality.

     Suddenly--as by a miracle--the boy is said to have developed into a genius. At sixteen he entered the University of Giessen, and took up studies in jurisprudence and medicine, as well as in theology, for he regarded himself as a "universal genius," and his vanity grew in proportion to his knowledge, thanks to the untimely praise of teachers and fellow-students alike.

     At this time a bitter controversy was raging between the Orthodox Party and the Pietists. Dippel joined the Orthodox side, and in order to show how genuinely Lutheran were his sympathies, he defied the Pietists by leading a rather wild student-life. He writes in his autobiography: "I frequented all disorderly crowds, duels and fights; in short, I showed in every way that I wished to remain a good Lutheran and not be suspected of any heresy because of a retired life." But meanwhile his conscience tortured him. and he confesses how he "tried, at night, to redeem from heaven by prayer and singing" what he "had sinned by day." Though he outwardly tried to play the part of an orthodox believer, doubts infested him and Pietism gained influence upon him. But this fact he carefully hid from his associates.

     Dippel's great ambition was to be original. It must have been this that prompted him to choose so odd a subject as "De Nihilo" for his disputation thesis in 1693 when he was to receive; he degree of Master of Arts. The degree was granted, but in his hope to receive a professorship at Giessen Dippel was sadly disappointed. He now tried his fortune at Wittenberg, where he expected to be hailed as a champion of Lutheranism.

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But here also he was coldly received; perplexed at his in luck he removed to Strassburg, where he made quite a name for himself. He preached occasionally, not without applause; gave lectures on the occult arts of Astrology and Chiromancy; and, at the same time, brawled with the students and led the life of a common bully, piling debt upon debt. But, finally, he was suspected of having taken part in a row which resulted in a death, and to escape capture by the police he fled from the city.

     Dippel now entered upon the life of a lonesome adventurer and spiritual tramp. He drifted about from place to place, living from hand to mouth, yet ever dreaming of future greatness. At Worms he pawned the ring which he had received on his graduation from Giessen; and with an innkeeper in the Hardt mountains he left, as security for a debt, the manuscript of a polemic work against the Pietists.

     Albeit Dippel was secretly influenced by the spirit of Pietism he never connected himself with that movement, nor had he ever any unselfish sympathies with it. This became evident in the year 1698 when his first important work, entitled "Papismus Protestantium Vapulans oder das Gestiiubte Papsthum," made him notorious in religious circles. The author, already at odds with mankind, assumed the pseudonym "Christianus Democritus," which he ever afterwards retained. In doing this he compared himself to the "laughing philosopher" of classic Greece, who scoffed at everything. Dippel, indeed, summoned both satire, scorn and logic to his service in this work. Both the Eietists and the Orthodox, (whom he had formerly favored), smarted from the blows which Dippel here bestowed so freely. In his characteristically haughty manner he attacked not only the dogmas of the Vicarious Atonement and Faith Alone, but also the Inspiration of the Scriptures. His enraged adversaries made several bitter replies, but this only stimulated Dippel to new literary ventures, virtually all of which were controversial in spirit if not in form. By his second well-known publication, "Wein und Oehl in die Wunzden des gestaubten Papsthums," he utterly destroyed all his chances of being promoted to a professorship, and realizing this sad fact he took up the practice of medicine, but with small success.*

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From medicine he drifted into metaphysics and soon he began to dabble in "the riddle of the ages,"--the alchemical manufacture of gold. His hopes were rising fast and on the strength of his expected success he purchased a manorial estate for fifty thousand not yet materialized gulden. But, alas, by the moment when he fancied he had obtained the precious tincture, the glass retort broke. Without stopping to pick up the pieces, Dippel folded his tent and quietly stole away.
     * The original of these publications, as well as a great many others by the same author, have recently been added to the ACADEMY LIBRARY, Bryn Athyn.

     In Berlin, where he next turned up, he resumed the study of Alchemy and as a side-result, by a happy chance, discovered the animal oil, which became known as "Oleum Dippeli," and he also invented the famous "Berlin-blue." But, irony of fate! Even these encouragements were used by his ingenious enemies to create opinion against him; and this sentiment increased when in 1707 he became involved in a libel suit instituted by the Swedish Embassy, resulting in his arrest and severe reprimand by the authorities. Life in Berlin was now found unhealthy and he secretly left the city.

     After some further adventures he came to Leyden, and here he studied for some years, being finally awarded the Doctor's Degree in Medicine, in 1711. But not even here could he stay long.

His disorderly habits and his unruly pen soon led to his banishment. He next went to Altona in Denmark, where he passed himself off for a Danish registrar. Unable to hold his tongue, he came into fresh troubles. He expressed his opinions of the government somewhat too freely, and was promptly put into chains and sentenced to spend the rest of his lifetime in prison on an island in the Baltic.

     But Dippel was not yet destined to quit his vagaries. In 1726 he was released through the influence of the Danish Queen, and in January of the following year he arrived in the capital of Sweden, the King himself having invited him as a renowned physician. "The Diet was in full session, and he was well received by a great many of its members, especially by some prominent members of the nobility, who had no real knowledge of his doctrines, but supposed him to be a Pietist.

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They now hoped to be able to use this powerful ally as a battering-ram whereby the walls of Orthodoxy upon some point might be broken down, and permit a fresher breeze to blow life into the Church of Sweden, the chains of which were at this time well nigh intolerable, smothering all private conviction." [BERG: Goteborgs Stift.]

     During his stay in Stockholm Dippel undoubtedly met Swedenborg, who attended this Diet; and it is probable that Swedenborg read or saw some of Dippel's writings which the author imprudently circulated very widely in Stockholm. The heterodox sentiments of the new Democritus were thus made known and the clergy soon forced him to leave the country, in the winter of 1729. But before the clergy could prevent him, Dippel had made a great many disciples in Sweden, especially in West-Gothland, where this form of Pietism is said to have prepared the way for the future "Swedenborgian" invasion of that province.

     After his banishment from Sweden, Dippel wandered from place to place, everywhere an unwelcome guest in whose foot-steps the seeds of rebellion against civil as well as ecclesiastical authorities were known to sprout. A poem, attributed to this period of Dippel's life, seems to evince a recognition of the vanity of his ambition:

"Oh Jesus, look, and give me conquering arms!
     My spirit sinks; I'm touched by Death's cold dart;
The will I have but not the power to do,
     Because all strength has left my weary heart.

"Sin has ensnared, and Death has captured me;
     Go where I will my longing gets no rest.
I fondly thought 'How high I stand,'
     Low in the dust, my fame is but a jest.

"The Peace I seek flees ever from my grasp;
     No arm lifts from my heart its heavy weight;
The law discloses all my grievous sins,
     But has no power to open Heaven's gate."

Such was the expression of a morbid heart, the despair of one who rejects the saving efficacy of the Divine Word.

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Humble though these verses may seem, it will be seen from the interior character of the poet that they were prompted only by a wounded self-love.

     For some time afterwards not much was heard of Dippel, and I many thought him dead. Then he suddenly amazed mankind by declaring in a new publication that he "was still living and would live until the year 1808" (!). But pride, as usual, preceded a fall. Having at last found an asylum at the Castle of Wittgenstein; (whose owner was a protector of all religious refugees), Dippel died suddenly in the spring of 1734.

     Posterity has bestowed no laurels upon the memory of Johan Conrad Dippel. His adherents were but few. As he was persecuted in his lifetime so he was criticized after his death for his self-esteem and his mania for refuting the opinions of all who dared to differ from him. His theological system, which he formally published during the last period of his life, has thwarted all modern efforts to assign him a definite place among the different schools of thought. Even as superstition and unbelief, frivolity and despair, madness and originality, mingled in his personal character, so did Mysticism and Rationalism, Phantasticism and Pietism, present their contrasting characteristics within his theology.

     Dippel's onslaught upon the Church was centered chiefly against the attitude of Orthodoxy toward the Bible. In granting the justice of the accusation that the Catholics worshiped in their crucifixes a wooden god, he made the countercharge, that the Protestants worshiped a paper god. He was dissatisfied with the deadness of the Protestant conception of the Gospel as dogmatic writing. The Word of God, he said, exists not in Christ alone nor in the Scriptures alone, but it was from eternity before any Scriptures. He contrasted the outer written Word with an inner Word immediately proceeding from the mouth of God and communicating itself into the hearts of men even without the Scriptures. But in maintaining this he denied that the Word was the only road which can lead to a true knowledge and love of God; and so he expected to substitute for the Word of the Lord a "natural theology" born by the intuitive power of his own mind, instead of extracting, by an impartial study of the Scriptures, the real truth from among the appearances.

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     Dippel applied this idea to the central doctrine of the Church, the "Vicarious Atonement." Christ, by His internal life rather than by His natural sufferings, taught men how to bear the chastisements which He indeed could not remove. It is, therefore, only when man receives Christ in himself that he can profit by His merit.

     This view was very closely connected with the repudiation of the error of Faith as the only means to salvation. And Dippel would no doubt have performed a great use in checking the fearful advance of this draconic doctrine, had he not, at the same time, minimized the all-importance of the Lord's mission and made the Redemption of the human soul to be man's own accomplishment, rather than "a work purely Divine."

     Dippel could not confine his restless brain to theology alone. He speculated on cosmology and proclaimed dogmatically an obscure conception of the universe as the body of which God is the soul. The Divine Being he thought of as "surrounded by a matter of light and fire, in which lies the seed of the whole material world. All created spirits are parts and sparks of that light-matter from which the surrounding airy and etherial bodies move. What the physicists regard as the forces of nature are to him so many spirits, which are the effluences of the infinite World-Spirit, to whom all again return in an eternal circle."*
     * HAGENBACH, Hist. Christ. Church, XVIIth and XVIIIth Cent., Vol. I., p. 179.

     Like Bohme and other mystics, Dippel was led into Alchemy by these contemplations of the primal substances of the cosmos. He assumed that in all the kingdoms of nature there was the seed of gold, and that by patience, understanding and penetration one might discover the art of precipitating this essence into the metal itself.

     It may be noticed that some of the ideas of this remarkable man bear a striking resemblance to certain detached parts of Swedenborg's system. In the CORPUSCULAR PHILOSOPHY Swedenborg states that "the smallest round particles of all are from the compression of the first aura, whence is the primary substance of gold."

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But it should be well remembered in the first place that Swedenborg's idea of the supra-sensuous world was real and spiritual whereas that of Dippel was imaginary and pantheistic; and in the second place, that Swedenborg never advocated gold making but on the contrary condemned as impossible the fancy that the primeval cosmic conditions necessary for the formation of gold, could be repeated in a laboratory. (Misc. Obs.)

     Such fundamental differences, however, have not kept theologians from the sacrilege of classing Dippel and Swedenborg together, sometimes under the convenient title of "mystics," and sometimes as adherents of the same (!) views in regard to the Atonement. Oetinger, who first introduced the Heavenly Doctrines into-Germany, once wrote to Swedenborg: "The theologians in the universities condemn you on account of your errors in respect to the Trinity, Justification, and Redemption, which you explain according to Dippel's method." (Dec. 233.)

     How unfounded was such an accusation may best be realized when we consider that the Revelator of the New Church received his illumination while reading the Word, whereas the German vagabond reformer derived his information through channels tainted with pride and phantasy. Hence Dippel's work was mainly negative and destructive. He tore down, but could not build anew. He opposed the pride of the Scribes and Pharisees of his day with the fanatical pride of his self-intelligence. As such did Dippel's character appear in the spiritual world when he met Swedenborg:

     It was believed that Dippel had been able to observe matters keenly, for the reason that he wrote with acuteness in opposition to many and appeared in these productions as though he understood the matter better than others. But he was examined and it was found that he is incapable of seeing anything of truth, in fact, anything of a subject, but merely to asperse others; wherefore the things which were from himself were ridiculous and foolish, as may be manifest from the fact that he said that fire is a spirit, and many other absurdities. . . . (S. D. 5962.)

     At another time Swedenborg relates how a certain spirit was for some time at his left side, attempting wicked things:

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     I did not know who he was because he acted with much subtlety so that I was scarcely aware of his influence, but yet it was given me to perceive it. He was also, as it were, within me on the left side, and I called him a most vile devil. He then receded to a station in front a little higher up, and spake, but he induced a common [or general] sphere of ideas, which cannot be described. It was however such that there was no idea of particulars, and yet he spake as if from particulars, for all discourse is of particulars; a similar sphere I do not recollect of having perceived before, that is, of one's speaking in such a general kind of sphere:* His sphere therefore was the sphere of his nature, the nature of one who was bound to no principles, but was in general opposed to all, whoever they might be, of whatever principle or whatever faith. He therefore arrayed himself against all and could ingeniously refute and vilify them, while he himself knew nothing of truth and good. I afterwards wondered that such a genius (or character) should exist,--one that could refute others with so much dexterity, and sting them so keenly, when yet it was not from the knowledge of truth.
     * It is very common in the theological literature of modern Germany. EDITOR.

     He afterwards approached nearer, and appeared at first black in the face. At length advancing still nearer and being in a certain light, he took an earthen flask, of a greyish white appearance, and came up to me with the flask in his hand, that he might offer it to me to drink from, at the same time intimating that it contained excellent wine, so that I began to be almost persuaded to comply, for I knew not who he was; but I was presently informed that he was Dippel, and that he displayed this flask of wine because he formerly practiced the same stratagem when, in consequence of becoming angry with any one for contradicting him, he would give him wine containing some poisonous mixture, that he might destroy his understanding, and cause him to know no more what he said than if he had been an infant. He was moreover of such a character in respect to those whom he deceived, from whom he took away, as it were, all understanding of truth and good; and even those who adhered to him [seemed to know nothing] except his own opinion. I had myself been among those who had adhered to him, and had heard the various things collected from his writings, but could not retain in memory the least item, nor know what I thought, nor even help thinking things absurd. Such was his contrariety even to those who adhered to him as to take away all their intelligence of truth and good, and leaving them in a kind of delirium, not knowing what they were about; yet still they adhered to him. Whether therefore he gave such a poisonous draught to any one, or whether by the flask and the wine was signified such a quality in himself which he imparted to others who adhered to him, I know not; it might be both. (S. D. 3485, 3486)

     In another place Swedenborg relates how obscure had been Dippel's idea of the spiritual world and its inhabitants, while yet upon earth. (S. D. 3890.)

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     Much else is said about Dippel in the SPIRITUAL DIARY. He is described as persuasive, and his features appeared to Swedenborg as if they were nothing but teeth. He acted through the good affections of men and bent them to his own purposes. Another remarkable thing is that he is mentioned together with Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravian church. Their similarities of sentiment must have been very small, for Zinzendorf spurned the life of charity because he thought that it contributed nothing to salvation, while Dippel altogether rejected the dogma of Faith alone. But we know from the Writings that deeply in the hearts of both these men there lingered the denial of the Lord.

     Zinzendorf told Swedenborg that he had once loved Dippel, but had discovered that the latter afterwards receded.

     In a dream, says Swedenborg, Zinzendorf was looking at me and then at the same time, Dippel, who appeared like a wild stag chained up. Zinzendorf saw him, and loosed his chains, and set him at me; but he was then mangled by others; and then I came upon a huge dog, also chained up, which likewise was about to tear me; but he rushed upon the stag which was above me, and roughly handled him. It was said to me that his (Dippel's) style, when he confuted others, was as if full of knowledge and intelligence; but, that when he disclosed his own sentiments, he was almost idiotic, as where he discoursed of systems, religious topics, and other matters. The delight of his love was to refute all and to excite disturbances. (S. D. 5995.)

     Such was the life and character of Johan Conrad Dippel. Although he held that religion consisted not in dogmas, but exclusively in love and sacrifice, yet his own life was spent in angry and useless wrangling, with but little evidence of charity and self-sacrifice. Living in the very night of the Old Christian Era, he grew to hate his mental and social environments. But he did not wish to sacrifice the fame which seemed to beckon him, and devote his life and abilities to the work of really reforming the world by searching earnestly in the Word of God. Instead he chose to feed his conceit with the illusions and fallacies of man-made truth, which made him a useless adventurer not only in his earthly career, but in the life that was to come.

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Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     The Rev. Glendower C. Ottley has issued in pamphlet form his paper on "Swedenborg's Scientific Preparation for his Mission as Revelator," which was published simultaneously in the NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY and NEW CHURCH LIFE.



     Lack of space prevents our publishing in the present issue the interesting Report of the British Assembly of the General Church, together with the important paper on "The Bodies of Angels and Spirits," by Mr. W. Rey Gill, which was read and discussed on that occasion. Both will appear in our November issue.



     The Rev. W. A. Lamb Campbell, the colored minister who was threatened with excommunication by the recent General Convention, has written to the secretary of the Council of Ministers, "disavowing the position which appeared to be his from the 'open letter' published by Mr. Rudolph Williams before Convention. It is to be presumed, therefore, that his name will remain on the Roll of Ministers of the Convention unless otherwise ordered by Convention itself in the future." (N. C. MESSENGER Of August 9th.)



     In the Report of the Treasurer of the General Convention, printed in the MESSENGER for June 21st, we find an item of more than usual interest: "Bills amounting to $1,598.50, in connection with the Kramph case, were authorized to be paid by the [General] Council." This item will create astonishment, not only now, but in ages to come, in view of Mr. Seward's statement in the June issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE, (P. 407), that "it may be that the Convention is often spoken of loosely as carrying on this litigation, but it is not true that it did carry it on." Why, then, has the Convention paid for it? We are still awaiting an explanation from Mr. Seward.

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     A writer in the MESSENGER for August 30th calls attention to a reference to Swedenborg and the Swedenborgians occurring in Alexandre Dumas' work, DE PARIS A ASTRAKAN, in which this author describes the somewhat erratic movements of Daniel Douglas Home, a Scotch spiritualist, who, in 1849, after astonishing the people of the United States with his weird performances, resolved to quit that business and seek less spectacular employment in New York City.

     "There," says our author (I translate from the original), "Home made the acquaintance of a Swedenborgian professor (Swedenborgiste). Have I need to tell you, dear readers, that Swedenborg is in Germany, or, rather, was in Germany, for he died in 1772, the chief of a sect of illumines,--better still, of a sect of religeuses, who have chapels in London and in America? Professor Boucher that was the name of the Swedenborgiste--wished to make Home a priest of his religion. Home attempted it; but soon retired, for want of a call."

     We do not remember seeing any mention of Mr. Home in the New Church journals of that period, but the "Professor Boucher" undoubtedly referred to Professor George Bush, who, in 1849, was the leading spirit in the New Church in New York, and who also dabbled a little in Spiritualism, and, moreover, ordained several persons into the ministry on his own authority.
TROUBLES OF THE CONVENTION 1911

TROUBLES OF THE CONVENTION       C. Th. O       1911

     As an aftermath of the late Convention there comes the news, in the Chicago papers of September 5th, of the resignation of the Rev. A. B. Francisco from the Humboldt Park parish of the Chicago Society. In presenting his resignation, Mr. Francisco; delivered this Parthian shot: "Toleration of. the doctrines of the academy by the Illinois Association, and their treatment of me and others who do not tolerate those doctrines and who interpret the teachings of Swedenborg relative to life differently from what they do, makes impossible for me in fraternalship to serve with them. For nearly twenty years I have served the New Church, for years on the plains of Texas, never with a dollar that belonged to me, love being my recompense; but now, seeing the church in doctrine as it actually is, I cannot serve it."

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Immediately after his resignation Mr. Francisco removed to Springfield, Ill., to become a lecturer on the "Ethics of Business." Bereft of his lieutenant, Col. Rudolph Williams as usual gave vent to his wrath in the yellow journals, proclaiming that Mr. Francisco's resignation was "a protest against the immoral and abhorrent polygamous doctrines which the recent General Convention of Swedenborgians at the Hotel La Salle refused to condemn," stating also that "this is not the end by any means," and that "if substantial people in the congregation can help it, the pulpit will never be filled by any preacher who does not formally condemn the academy doctrines." The Rev. J. S. Saul, in denying these allegations, cited the resolutions passed by the General Convention and by the women of the Chicago Society.

     The ventilation of the delectable subject is continued under scare-crow headlines in the CHICAGO EXAMINER for September 6th, which furnishes the information that "the members of the Humboldt Park Swedenborgian Church refused to pay their pastor, the Rev. A. B. Francisco, his salary; in other words, as they put, 'starved him out,' and he has left the city. And now that he has gone, a tempest truly has broken out, and bitter charges are being hurled back and forth by the heads of the organization in Illinois." Col. Williams again declares that "our fight will still go on and to a finish," because the Convention, in spite of all its resolutions, "allows the existence of the doctrines to continue!"

     The MESSENGER of September 13th, commenting on the doings of the insurgents who are now "vilifying the Church," expresses regrets at its possibly "unnecessary caution in the mention or discussion of these matters," and admits that it "has, perhaps, erred somewhat" in "advocating the greatest freedom consistent with order," which sounds like a Roman Catholic phrase describing the prevention of discussion by withholding information and enforcing the policy of silence.

     As for the insurgents themselves the MESSENGER observes that "it is not necessary to say that these disturbers seem to be trying to work injury and disruption in the church and should, therefore, be regarded as its enemies rather than as friends, and should be treated accordingly."

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     While our sympathy goes forth to our brethren of the Convention in their present affliction, we cannot help reflecting on the danger of playing with boomerangs. Ghosts are easier raised than laid. Frankensteins are easier created than disposed of. The misguided fanatics who have been pouring out upon the Convention this deluge of Unjust and scandalous accusations,-which no amount of virtuous Protestations and resolutions can ever quite blot out of the memory of a scandal-loving public,-what was it that started them running amuck and has kept them running? What with the accusations raised against the Academy during the Kramph Trial by leaders of the Convention; what with the false testimony of the Brockton Declaration; what with the constant appearance of the MESSENGER'S inflammatory advertisement of THE ACADEMY DOCTRINE EXAMINED AND CONDEMNED, is there any wonder that weak minds were set on fire and were led to think they would be doing God's work in trying to stamp out of the Convention itself that foul thing which had been represented-to them as "Academy doctrine"?

     To denounce these fanatics as enemies of the Church. and to call upon the New Church to "treat them accordingly," is worthy of Rome, not of the New Jerusalem. These persons deserve pity rather than hatred. The real enemies of the Church, the evils and falses which have brought forth all this trouble and may do so again, can be discovered only by introspection, and can be removed only by repentance. 'If we are not willing to do this, there remains only the inexorable Divine law: "For with what judgment ye judge, ye Shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete; it shall be measured to you again." C. Th. O.
"The Strength and Peace of the New Jerusalem" 1911

"The Strength and Peace of the New Jerusalem"              1911

     From the annual address delivered at the recent meeting of the California Association of the New Jerusalem; by its President, the Rev. J. S. David on "The Strength and Peace of the New Jerusalem," we quote the following timely teachings:

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     Many there are within sight of the New Jerusalem who have not yet entered her gates. Too often are they satisfied with but a superficial knowledge of her doctrines. Too often do they allow the sensuous reasoning of the serpent to cloud the deeper perceptions of the soul. Hence they accept parts of the New Jerusalem Revelation and reject other parts. They are hovering between the darkness of the old and the light of the new. Half way to the New Jerusalem is dangerous ground. The way to her gates is beset with sirens of the deep, whose fascinations would draw unheeding souls aside into seemingly safe and pleasant by-paths. They say, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. They whisper, "Hell is a myth, sin is an error of judgment, ye shall not surely die." They offer easier ways to eternal life than denying oneself, taking up the cross and following the Lord.

     There are not wanting those who would trim the Revelation of Swedenborg by lopping off a branch here or a sprig there. A New Thought lady once suggested to me that there ought to be an edition of "Heaven and Hell" with the section on hell left out. She would not read that part; it was too horrible. Another (a New Church person this time) suggested that an edition of "Conjugial Love" be published with the part on "Adulterous Love" left out. Another suggested a set of Swedenborg with the memorable relations left out. It was feared that the relations would conflict with people's prejudices and prevent their reading any of Swedenborg. My friends, any new doctrine given to the world always conflicts with the prejudice of those who are in the old. The man who believes in the tri-personal theory, or the substitutional theory, or any other unreasonable and unscriptural theory, will find his prejudices bombarded as soon as he reads Swedenborg. If he turns away from Swedenborg because his prejudices are attacked it is because he is not prepared to become a citizen of the New Jerusalem. The prepared soul, being in the love of truth will fight his way through prejudices and falsities to find it. '"The kingdom of heaven suffereth forcefully, and the forceful press into it." (Matth. xi. 12.)

     "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts," saith the Lord. 'It is therefore a very serious thing to undertake to trim or cull the things which we believe to be revelations from Him. What Newchurchman would ask for an edition of the Sacred Scriptures that would leave out all the many passages that might offend our modern sense of propriety? The Lord in His infinite wisdom gives us the dark pictures as well as the bright ones, that we might learn the bright, the beautiful and the good by contrast with their opposites. The Lord forbids all attempts to prune or mutilate Divine Revelation when He says: "If thou wilt make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it thou hast polluted it." (Exod. xx, 25) It is essential to our highest development that we see all sides, the evil as well as the good; otherwise we cannot truly understand human life nor be of the highest service to humanity, here and hereafter.

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     It is also of vital importance that our children be well instructed in the doctrines of the church. They should know that the New Church is not a sect among the churches, but is a New Dispensation of Divine Truth. They should understand the difference between the old and the new so as not to be allured by the "outward show" of the superficial churches. They should be educated for the church, for marriage, for a useful life here and for heaven hereafter. This will make Jerusalem a tabernacle of strength, whose stakes cannot be removed and whose cords cannot be broken.
JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 1911

JOURNAL OF EDUCATION       H. S       1911

     The Academy's JOURNAL OF EDUCATION is, as usual, filled with meat for those whose hearts feed upon the sphere of the Academy's work. From the spirited and practical address upon "True Progress," by Mr. Pitcairn, with which the JOURNAL opens, to the Minutes of the Teachers' Institute, with which it closes, the interest is sustained, and the subjects various.

     A very pleasant feature of these Journals are the addresses of the students. Here we can trace something of the interests of the students, and form some idea of what is being done for them,
as well as by them.

     The spirit that breathes in the valedictory address by Miss Creda Glenn of the graduating class of the Girls' Seminary is, indeed, reassuring. As our old Chancellor used to say, "The Academy will never die out as long as she has such loyal daughters."

     Miss Helen Colley's paper on "The Development of Music in the New Church" is a piece of research work of real historical and critical value, such as one might expect from a post-graduate student.

     As sometimes happens, quite without design, one subject was the theme of several of the addresses.

     In Bishop Pendleton's address to "Theta Alpha," the note of warning is sounded, lest we lose our traditions of laying well the foundations of character in obedience. This should be read by every New Church parent. Mr. Pitcairn very strongly illustrates and enforces the same doctrine.

     We cannot pass over the Editorial Department without a word of commendation for the editor, Mr. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal.

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Here the reader will find a judicious and balanced statement of not a few of the thought currents that have run through our meetings and discussions during the past year. Those especially who are interested in the modern struggle between the old humanism and the modern scientific ideals will here find food for thought.

     Last, but not least, is Mr. Wm. Whitehead's article upon "A New Policy as to Moral Education." Only a portion of this paper, and that not the best, was read at the Teachers' Institute, last spring.

     For many years Bishop Pendleton has held before us the need of developing this subject, so vital to the carrying out of any religion or philosophy, and some attempts have been made to collect material, on the one hand, and to formulate our principles upon the other. The paper is divided into five sections, preceded by an introduction treating of the widespread discussion of this subject by educators, both within and without the New Church.

     In Section I., the "Definitions of Ethics," after showing that "Morals are developed through customs, not from them," (contrary to a common assumption), we find this statement: "Thus out of the ritual of custom is made a ceremonial-moral law which means no more to the modern man than the rites of ceremonial worship meant to the average Hebrew." Rather severe, but, doubtless, true of the prevailing state. But the writer goes further than that when he asserts that "At this day a representative morality is falsely identified with actual morals." Perhaps this is why our great book of morals is so unpopular with the good people of the Old Church!

     Further, we are told that "No set of human customs can give Genesis to a Divine idea of morality," and that "Personal happiness is not a sufficient motive for moral action. This is a shifting and unstable end, dependent on the measure of the individual desire."

     As to our need for positive moral instruction, the writer has much to say in Section IV on "The Nature of Ethical Instruction," and he also describes the requisite qualifications of one who is to formulate such instruction.

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     To meet our needs in this field two things are suggested: "A moral or natural theology, drawn from the Word and reinforced by studies in the historical growth of ethics," and "as a practical basis of moral instruction History receives the whole emphasis." But Literature ought not to be forgotten in this connection. It is even the literary stimulus applied in the field of History that is of most value for moral purposes.

     The whole paper, though slightly marred by some caustic references to our own lacks, is a valuable contribution to this most vital subject, and, we hope, will lead to some further constructive work in the near future. The public at large, as well as the author of the paper under review, are little aware how much has already been done in the teaching of morals by those who have worked for years in the field of New Church education, but only those who have fully entered upon a field can truly appreciate its needs, and eagerly welcome all contributions toward the work. H. S.
DISCUSSION OF NEW CHURCH BAPTISM 1911

DISCUSSION OF NEW CHURCH BAPTISM       C. TH. O       1911

     The subject of the distinctive Baptism of the New Church has been discussed recently in our Swedish contemporary, NYA KYRKANS TIDNING. The Rev. C. J. N. Manby, in an editorial of December last, explained at length his objections to the "Rebaptism" of adults upon their entering the New Church. A reply, by the Rev. C. Th. Odhner, setting forth the reasons for New Church Baptism as the only Baptism that can be recognized by the New Church, was published on the installment plan in the April, May and June issues of Mr. Manby's paper, accompanied with copious comments by the editor who was not in the least impressed by the arguments of his opponent. While we do not admire a conception of literary etiquette which does not permit every one to be heard without constant interruptions, we rejoice that the discussion, on the whole, was distinguished by a calm and friendly tone. At the close of his comments, however, Mr. Manby complains of the "offensive" language employed in a sermon on Baptism by the Rev. Emil R. Cronlund, published. in the LIFE for March, which Mr. Manby regards as "pointed" against himself.

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     The offending paragraphs state that "there are those who hold that Baptism into the New Church is not necessary if one has been baptized into the Old. They who live according to this belief mix the Old Church with the New, and the ultimate result of such a mixture, were it to prevail generally, would be that everything of the Church must perish." (p. 145.) And, further, "It is a noteworthy fact also that objections against distinctive Baptism are always conjoined with objections against external Church organization. They who object to distinctive Baptism see scarcely any difference between the New Church and the Old, and So they are unable to receive the distinctive teachings of the New Church." (p. 147)

     While these observations are correct on the whole, as more than a century of New Church history has proved, there are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Mr. Manby, certainly, has always been a friend of New Church distinctiveness, with the one astonishing exception of his attitude towards New Church Baptism. The fact is that Mr. Cronlund's sermon was written before the appearance of Mr. Manby"s first editorial, and was delivered at the request of members of the Convention Society in Toronto who felt disturbed by the teachings of the minister who was then their pastor.

     In the light of the recent discussion on Baptism, Mr. Manby's position, as the leader of the organized New Church in Sweden, has, indeed, become difficult to understand. Not only does he uphold the full validity of the Baptism of the Old Church, but also its sacrament of the Supper, and he goes so far as to recommend to isolated Newchurchmen to partake of that Communion "wherever it may be celebrated among the congregations of the Old Church," forgetting that the time of Communion, above every other time, should be a time of Peace, and that there can be no Peace for the Newchurchman in the worship of the Old Church, unless he completely surrenders to its sphere.

     What seems incomprehensible to us, and what Mr. Manby does not explain in plain and simple terms, is why, on his premises, there should be any external separation whatsoever of the New Church from the Old. If the two Sacraments,--the most holy things of worship--as administered in the Old Christian Church are to be considered of full validity to the Newchurchman, why should not the rest of its worship be considered equally valid?

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And, if so, why should there be any distinctive worship and organization of the New Church?

     Mr. Manby, however, considers the Old Christian Church as still occupying "the centre" of the Church Universal, in which the New Church is the "centre of the centre,"--a living point in a dead heart! "Baptism," he maintains, "is Baptism to Christianity, not to this or that group of Christianity." "We have but one Divine Word, and so also there is but one Baptism." True! And so also we have but one Church,--the Church of the New Jerusalem, which alone possesses the Word undefiled and understood.

     Mr. Manby grows rather indignant at our statement that the Old Christian Church is spiritually dead, for this to him seems equivalent to a charge that everybody in the Old Church is spiritually dead, including his own respected parents and all others of the "remnant." It is' difficult, indeed, to reason with an attitude of mind which does not discriminate between principles and personal considerations. The personal equation seems to occupy the center of Mr. Manby's thought on this subject. He repeatedly introduces the personal example of the man Swedenborg, who not only was baptized in the Old Church, but died partaking of the sacrament from the hands of an Old Church clergyman. Dr. Beyer and Dr. Rosen were baptized in the Old Church. Are we to suppose that these were not true members of the New Church, because they were not baptized over again by a New Church clergyman? Mr. Manby brings up his own case, and claims that he had "some spiritual life even before he received the light of the New Church. And as a final warning against "Rebaptism" he refers to the case of two persons who were rebaptized in the New Church, but subsequently relapsed to the Old.

     What can be gained but confusion by introducing all these personal considerations, each one of which must needs be considered separately, involving an almost endless discussion of the various conditions of each individual case. "Persons limit the idea, and concentrate it to something finite." (A. C. 5225.)

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"In the spiritual world nothing determined to person is regarded, because the regarding of person contracts and limits the idea." (A. C. 5223.) "It is material to think about persons, but spiritual to think without the idea of person." (A. E. 100.) "For the idea of persons and places bounds the thought; for it determines it to these things, and these bound it. This idea of thought is properly natural. But an idea abstracted from persons and places extends itself into Heaven on every side, nor is it bounded otherwise than as is the sight of the eye when the sky is regarded without intervening objects. Such an idea is properly spiritual." (A. E. 405) It will, therefore, be impossible for the New Church to make any progress if it is to be bound by the personal examples of individuals who lived before there was any organized New Church on the earth. It is somewhat late in the day to call upon the New Church at large to reconsider, on such grounds as these, the "dogma" of Rebaptism, and to throw off this "yoke," which Mr. Manby believes was adopted "without critical judgment." And it is futile to charge the whole Church with the heresy of "Anabaptism," (T. C. R. 378), for Mr. Manby ought to know that the heresy of the Anabaptists consisted in their refusal to permit the baptism of infants.

     We cannot follow this discussion further, but we rejoice in the knowledge that both sides of the subject have now for the first time been placed before the New Church in Sweden, thus providing a freedom of choice which did not formerly exist. C. TH. O.
NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY 1911

NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY              1911

     The leading article in the NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY for July is one on "Evolution or Separate Creations," from the pen of Mr. George E. Bolman, whose object is "to consider whether this modern theory of evolution agrees with even the most elementary principles of our religion. For we cannot keep our religious knowledge and our scientific knowledge in separate air-tight compartments." We offer the following brief digest of the article:

     There are many facts which throw grave doubts on the theory of evolution, even when looked at solely from the scientific standpoint.

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First, there is no valid way of looking upon extinct species or upon evil and noxious creatures as contributory causes in the evolution of a higher type. Secondly, there is an essential contradiction in the theory itself, which requires at one and the same time a divergence of the types from each other so as to produce distinct species, and a convergence so as to cooperate in the production of a higher type. Thirdly, the facts taken as a basis for the theory are themselves susceptible of a different interpretation. That lower species are found in the earlier Silurian rocks, Carboniferous beds, and Secondary rocks; whereas no human remains are to be met with before the later Tertiary deposits, is not a conclusive argument for the later and derivative creation of man. Though each of these periods marks a distinct state in development, it does not follow by all means that all regions on this earth were simultaneously in each of these states, in order. "We ... may say," remarks the writer, "that when Scorpions were alive, in the Carboniferous period of Northern Europe, it is quite possible that mankind, together with animals and plants of a Tertiary character, may have existed in some distant country, now, perhaps, buried beneath the ocean, the geological strata forming the present dry land of the globe being merely the record of changes in nature since man's creation, and mainly since his fall. Personally, I believe that the science of geology is destined to undergo as radical a reformation as its sister science astronomy, underwent in its transition from the Ptolemaic to the Copernican interpretation, or, in other words, from its interpretation according to appearance to its interpretation according to truth." By quotations from the Writings, chiefly ATH. C. 90, A. E. 1201, T. C. R. 78, D. L. W. 339, it is evident that mammals of the highest order were created from the beginning, and that evil animals only appeared subsequently. Therefore, the "beginning of the [human] race [is] so far back in the dim past as to make almost inadmissible any theory of the slow development from animal ancestors as steps in the creation of man." The concluding pages of the article ate devoted to the philosophy of creation and present the general teaching that the souls of all things are atmospheric effluvia to which a body or infilling is furnished by material particles.

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     We warmly recommend this excellent and valuable article to our readers, and with it to point our remarks we would again impress strongly the value and importance of reading and subscribing to the QUARTERLY. AS a concluding remark on Mr. Holman's article, we feel that it could have been improved if in its latter philosophical part he had not confined himself exclusively to the general statements in general language of the theological works, but had pursued the more concrete lines of thought on these subjects, taken up in the philosophical works. "Such truth," as he has been presenting, "exists in the Writings in an incidental and illustrative way,--not by itself as an organic structural whole. In this form it can be found only in the earlier Works." (NEW CHURCH LIFE, August, p. 513.)

     The second instalment of the biography of John Parry, by the Rev. James Hyde, is found in this number. For painstaking treatment of minutiae, as exemplified in one instance by the adducing of testimony from the Writings to account for a state of aloofness into which Parry came, the writer emulates the Biblical encyclopaedists. Another instalment of Rev. R. L. Tafel's course on theology appears in this number. It consists of brief headings of a general, elementary character, followed by long, undigested quotations from the Writings. We note further in this number a second instalment of "American Notes," by Rev. J. F. Potts; chatty, interesting, full of a quiet humor, and confining themselves in this number to the city of Philadelphia. Of general interest is Mr. Potts's account of the sect of "Cowherdites" or "Bible Christians," a semi-Swedenborgian body, now worshiping near Fairmount Park under the ministry of Rev. Henry Clubb. "Philadelphia," says Mr. Potts, "seems, under the Divine Providence, to have become the earthly center of the New Church in America. . . . It possesses the great distinction of being called by the name of one of the Seven Churches. . . . The message which John was commanded to write to the Church in Philadelphia contains no word of reproach. . It is interesting to note how far these prophetic utterances have been and are being fulfilled in this new 'Philadelphia' of the North American Continent." Especially interesting when we consider the notorious political conditions of the city!

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The British readers will also learn from these American Notes,--that there is a hall in Philadelphia called Independence Hall, and an East room in it, where, on the 4th of July, 1776, The Declaration of Independence of the United States "was adopted and signed." [N. B. It was signed in Carpenter's Hall.]

     In his survey of the recent issues of NEW CHURCH LIFE, the editor notes appreciatively the series of articles on "The Early History of the New Church in Sweden," but fails to grasp the real value of a sermon by Bishop Pendleton in the April number on "The Resurrection Body of the Lord." The acknowledgment that this subject is one not well understood and that we can afford to wait patiently and humbly for greater light seems to him "lame," "weak," and deplorable as a pronouncement "that it is all 'a Divine mystery' which it behooves the Church for the present to accept in 'simple faith.' " He contrasts with this an article in the REVIEW for April, as showing from the "light of the Doctrines how to 'enter understandingly' into it." It may be pertinent to note here, that the ability to discourse familiarly about such words as "Resurrection Body," "Pre-Resurrection Body," "Glorified Body," "Divine Substantial," etc., does not indicate more than an appearance of an understanding of the subject. Until the Church knows more about the relations of the organic planes in man and in the universe, which constitute the merest threshold for approaching this subject, it is quite proper to say and to repeat it again that there is little understanding of the subject and of the meaning of such terms.

     In conclusion we note the warm commendation of Mr. Odhner's CORRESPONDENCES OF CANAAN. "NO Other book in the world even attempts what this one so admirably accomplishes. We heartily wish the book as large a circulation as its unique and great merit entitles it to." As a specimen of editorial higher criticism, in re the statement that,-"Abraham still, inclined to infant Sacrifices, as is shown by the attempt to offer up the child Isaac upon the altar of his god, Shaddai,"--we note the following comment: "At the time at which the incident referred to happened, it was quite clear from the details in the narrative in Gen. xxii that Isaac was far from being an infant; and it is very doubtful whether he was not even well beyond the age of childhood.

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What the incident does establish is, that Abraham inclined to the abomination of the sacrifice of offspring, and specifically of the first born."
RACIAL DECAY 1911

RACIAL DECAY       M. A. O       1911

     From time to time the LIFE has been calling attention to that universal tragedy, which, in the space of a comparatively few years, has assumed the proportions of a catyclysm,--the wilful self-destruction of the mightiest race the world has ever known. The actors, the nations of Christendom, imitating the accursed Canaanitish race, are madly sacrificing their offspring on the altars of Moloch, who now presents himself in the alluring guise of Utilitarian Philosophy, Social Science, Political Economy and "Eugenics." Each decade means decadence, and each census return completes an act of the tragedy. At the present rate of "progress" it will not require many centuries before the curtain will fall, to rise no more, upon the scene of the Christian world.

     Heretofore the indifference of Christendom to its impending ruin, has been such that the protesting voices of a few patriots and unbiased thinkers have fallen on deaf ears, their warnings Unheeded and sometimes deliberately suppressed. This indifference or hostility to truth has resulted in a lack of authoritative information on the subject of "race suicide" beyond the mere figures of official statisticians, which find their way to the public in a mangled piecemeal form, their true value nullified, and reducing the serious treatment of the subject to the level of mere comments which are read and forgotten.

     The first comprehensive work that has come within our notice, adequately dealing with all the various phases of the prevention of offspring, is an Australian publication, entitled "RACIAL DECAY, A COMPILATION OF EVIDENCE FROM WORLD SOURCES," by Octavius Charles Beale, (Sydney, Angus & Robertson, 1910, 461 pp. 4to.). A copy of this invaluable book was recently presented to the Academy by our friend, Mr. Richard Morse, of Sydney.

     The work itself is simply overwhelming in character and scope, and within our limited space it is impossible to do it entire justice. It is an almost inexhaustible mine of information--a complete compendium on the subject of Race Suicide, Prevention of Conception, Infanticide, etc.

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But as its title, "Racial Decay," would imply, it does not confine itself to this alone, but supplies the student with a masterly treatment of the state of marriage and all the conjugal and extra-conjugal relations which exist in the world today.

     In this respect it is the most important and telling confirmation we have ever seen collected under one cover of the revelations in the Writings concerning the state of the Christian world.

     The author, a Royal commissioner of the state of New South Wales, was instructed to make a world-wide investigation of fraudulent and dangerous patent medicines and nostrums for prevention of offspring as one of the most virulent causes of the declining birthrate of the state. However this may be, the author in his present work, while he lays great stress on the evils instilled by unscrupulous nostrum-mongers, strikes back to the inmost motive and cause of racial decline, numerically, physically and mentally. To quote the words of his introduction: "I have preferred to suppress any natural desire for originality, to relinquish any claim to formulate a law, to propound either a new remedy or a prophylactic. The whole retrogression is of a character old as history, and older, whilst there is no cure nor prophylaxis that is not embraced by the oldest formulae. The one cause is that which made Cain slay Abel,--selfishness. The one cure is social affection and self-denial."

     "Racial Decay," as treated by Mr. Beale, is separated into seven divisions, preceded by an astonishing bibliography of over 120 works written by authorities on the subjects of racial suicide and depopulation. The first division,--"Genesis of the Carcinoma," is an historical account of that cancerous disease of nations specifically known as Malthusianism. It shows to what an awful extent the theory of Malthus, as further developed by John Stuart Mill, Annie Besant and others of the "Manchester school," has permeated the minds of men, especially in France and Anglo-Saxondom.

     Divisions two and three treat of the example of France and of the terrible ravages on the vitality of that nation incurred as a result of the practice of prevention.

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     Division four, the "Pathologic Consequences," introduces the reader into a veritable chamber of horrors, one and all caused by "frauds in the fulfillment of generative functions." Citations from the works of eminent physicians in all parts of the globe prove conclusively that the afflictions which can be traced directly to such "frauds" run the whole gamut of human infirmities from the most subtle of mental abnormalities down to the gross ravages of cancer and even more revolting diseases. Nor are these curses visited on the parents alone. According to tables and graphs supplied in division five, "The Progress of Decay-Depopulation in Graphic Form,"-crime and insanity increase with the same rapidity as the birthrate diminishes. Thus the few poor wanderers who are allowed to attend "the banquet of life" and breathe the air polluted by the vice of their fathers, are born with ever increasing mental deficiencies. In this connection the author publishes a remarkable chapter on the "Genesis of Genius" showing that the greatest geniuses of the earth have been the products of large families--oftentimes the last-born. The author also shows that large families are the normal ones and that prolific matrons are the healthiest women. To use his own words: "Widely as the practice of prevention has spread, you will still have to go to the mothers of large families if you want to point out the finest and healthiest examples of advanced matronhood."

     In this day of gradual neglect of the sanctity of the family tie, Mr. Beale is unique in insisting on its preservation and refers us to the example of the ancients. To borrow his translation from a French writer: "Reproduction in the ancient community (cite antique) was a religious duty. We touch here on one of the most remarkable characteristics of the ancient family. Religion which formed it demands imperiously that it shall not perish. A family which becomes extinct is a worship (culte) which dies." (Compare A. C. 4835.)

     Division six, "The Parallel of Ancient Rome," portrays a vivid and striking picture of the frightful moral decay of Rome in the time of Augustus, and of that Emperor's ceaseless, but unavailing efforts to stem the tide of national depravity. Then, as now,--especially in our own America,--divorces multiplied, the practices of abortion were studied, and articles for the prevention of conception were manufactured and sold by apothecaries.

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Then, as now, the term "child-begetter" (proletarius) became a term of contempt--synonymous with "lower classes." The author holds up to Christians "the mirror of history" where they may see themselves in retrospect, a race ripening for destruction, blinded by external appearances of luxury and power, inviting the cupidity of a scourge the parallel of Attila and Alaric. The comparison is concluded with a quotation from Goldsmith's "Deserted Village:"

     "Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
     Where wealth accumulates and men decay."

     The seventh division deals with the attitude of "Parliament and the Churches" towards race suicide, but it is hardly worth while going into this, as we know that neither the law nor the supine churches of today are capable of coping with the evil.

     The work is characterized by a sublime faith in Divine Providence, breathing throughout so religious a spirit that the New Church reader cannot but suspect that the author is a reader of the Writings. In this age of natural luxury and profound spiritual darkness it stands alone, calling on those who have ears to hear and hear not,--a great teacher of public morality,--the solemn voice of one crying in the wilderness.

     There is no hope for the Christian races but the New Church with its gospel of Conjugial Love and the love of offspring for the sake of Heaven and the Church. M. A. O.

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LIBRARY EDITION OF THE "ARCANA." 1911

LIBRARY EDITION OF THE "ARCANA."       N. D. P       1911

     In connection with bur review of the Library Edition of the ARCANA COELESTIA, which appeared in the September LIFE, We have received the following communication from one of the ministers of the General Church:

     "One can hardly speak too highly in praise of Mr. Potts' translation of the ARCANA. Its general excellence is such that it is in a class by itself. 'Of course, I do not like the rendering of proprium with 'own.' Nor is the descriptive phrase 'memory knowledge' in place of 'scientifics' satisfactory. But passing these, and a few similar objections, there is nothing left to be said save in words of praise.

     "It is a pleasure to note the remarkable ease with which Mr. Potts turns the Latin into simple, direct English, employing equivalents rather than the heavy, conventional, thought-killing Latin derivatives so often used. For this reason his translation is not only far more readable, but generally speaking it is more exact, more true to the idea, because of the right use of the English in expressing the idea.

     "When one commends the English of a translation, the thought is apt to arise that good English can only be attained at the expense of exactness. This, to my mind, is far from the truth. A merely literal rendering may be, and often is, inexact, because no consideration is given to the English values. Of course, by good English I do not mean ornate English, which is apt to be an abomination in any case, but simple, direct English, without which no translation can be exact in a true sense.

     "I have made comparison of the first five volumes with the Latin, and have had occasion to rejoice over and over again at its discriminating use of the English language. Perhaps I can best express my estimate of Mr. Potts' work by saying that, in my opinion, he has given us the groundwork of the future 'authorized version.'" N. D. P.

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Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. A quiet summer, a few picnics and dances, folks setting out on and returning from their vacation trips, what else is there to report from Bryn Athyn? A great transformation has taken place on the Academy's grounds in front of the School, where the hill has been leveled, new drives opened and fine cement walks laid down. Several new houses have gone up during the summer. The pretty cottage of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Glenn is now finished, as is also the stately chatelet of Mrs. R. Iungerich. The house of Mr. Chas. R. Pendleton is nearly ready, as is also the residence of Mr. Raymond G. Cranch.

     The Academy Schools opened on September 15th with the usual impressive ceremonies, the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt delivering an address on "The Remains in the Old Church." The reception in the evening crowded the auditorium to overflowing, inspiring feelings of wonder and joy at the growth of our Schools, mingled a little with the fear that our present accommodations may, before long, prove insufficient. It is too soon to tell of all the new teachers and pupils and of all the improvements in the Library and the various other departments; we could fill a whole issue of the LIFE With a description of them, and, perhaps, we will. It would certainly be worth the effort.

     On Saturday, September 16th, the new flagstaff was dedicated with military honors. It is the gift of our generous builder, Mr. Raymond Raff.

     Another "staff," the new editorial club of the LIFE, was inaugurated by a first meeting on September 11th; while limited in numbers, it was a very successful affair, and promises to make up, to some extent, for the loss of Mr. Acton's services as assistant editor.

     ABINGTON, MASS. The regular service has been kept up all summer, a short service being used during hot weather. The reading circle on Wednesday was discontinued, but a class has been studying DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM as a special course.

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     Several social events have taken place, but the Friday suppers have been discontinued.

     The pupils of the School have met every Sunday after service during the vacation and a very thorough review of the work of the past year has been taken up instead of the regular lessons. Last Sunday, September third, the school began the regular work for the coming year, namely, a course of reading in the books of GENESIS and EXODUS.          G. M. L.

     BERLIN, ONT. On the Sundays from July 30th to August 20th, inclusive the Rev. E. S. Price, of Bryn Athyn, filled the pulpit of the Carmel Church, while the pastor visited the circle at Clinton, Ont. Mr. Price's sermons, a series on the first chapter of Isaiah, were much enjoyed.

     A large number of visitors from other centres favored us with their presence during the summer. From Bryn Athyn were the Rev. and Mrs. E. S. Price and two children, Mrs. Gustav Glebe and family, Miss Philo Pendleton, Miss Helen Colley, Miss Ora Stroh, Miss Vida Doering, Miss Amy Doering and Miss Stella Bellinger; from Pittsburgh, Mr. Doering Bellinger; from Allentown, Mrs. Mary Waelchli; from Guelph, Ont., Miss Carrie Doering; from Toronto, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Potts, Miss Vera Bellinger, Miss Olive Bellinger, Mr. Fred. Bellinger and Mr. Percy Izzard; from Windsor, Ont., Mr. Alfred Bellinger and Mr. Walter Bellinger; from Wellesley, Ont., Miss Lucinda Bellinger; from Stratford, Ont., Dr. Ahrens and Miss Cora Ahrens. As many of these are young people, there were, of course, quite a number of dances, parties and outings.

     The school opening took place September 5th. The pastor gave an address on Sincerity, and Messrs. John Schnarr and Rudolph Roschman also spoke to the children. Miss Venita Roschman, who has taught during the past two years, has gone to Bryn Athyn to teach in the Elementary School there. Her place is filled by Miss Olivia Waelchli and Miss Evangeline Roschman. We have this year twenty-five pupils, divided into eight classes. W.

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     CLINTON, ONT. Services were conducted near this place by the Rev. F. E. Waelchli on the four Sundays from July 30th to August 20th inclusive; three were held at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Izzard and one at the house of Mr. and Mrs. James Cartwright, Sr. The average attendance was twenty. Five doctrinal classes were held, at which the average attendance was seven. On the last Sunday the Holy Supper was administered to nine communicants. These ministrations were all much appreciated, and the work was undoubtedly useful. The Clinton Circle is, however, suffering because of the departure of the young people, four of the young men having recently made their homes elsewhere. The prospects for the future are consequently not so bright as formerly. In this respect the circle is faring as do most of the circles and small societies of the Church not located in large cities. Nevertheless, the work done in these places is far from lost; for much of the growth of the larger societies has been from these smaller centres. Interesting and perhaps surprising statistics as to this might be compiled in the General Church. In this we find an indication that in the performance of the work of Church extension too much weight must not be given to the local prospects for the future. Where there is an earnest desire for the ministrations of the Church, there, if possible, they should be given. W.

     LONDON. As this is our first appearance in the LIFE since last September, there are a number of events which deserve recording.

     Sunday services, doctrinal classes and the young people's doctrinal class have been held regularly during the year. At the invitation of our pastor, the Rev. W. H. Acton conducted service on March 12. Socials have averaged one per month, while music practices have been of more frequent occurrence. Swedenborg's birthday and the Nineteenth of June were celebrated with toasts, speeches and papers on the growth and establishment of the New Church.

     On Whit-Monday a number of the young people of Colchester visited London and made a trip up the Thames in company with a party of their town friends.

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In the evening we indulged in music and the dance.

     July, in spite of the heat wave, has proved our busiest month. Our pastor and the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt conducted service on the 2d, and on the three following Sundays Mr. Synnestvedt officiated. A social on the 3d of July welcomed Mr. and Mrs. Synnestvedt, on which occasion we had the pleasure of hearing the detailed uses and activities in the various centers of the General Church. Another evening was reserved for the young men, when the Academy spirit from America met the Academy spirit in England in the form of a "boom."

     Throughout the whole month Mr. and Mrs. Synnestvedt visited the friends of the Society at their respective homes, and also called upon many other New Church people residing in London. On the 26th they gave a reception at the Church rooms, when Mr. Synnestvedt read a paper on the subject of mutual love and charity. Toasts and speeches followed and the evening concluded with dancing, music and recitations.

     Other visitors to the Society have been: Mrs. and Miss Bellinger, Mrs. and Miss Sommerville, Miss Liden, of Stockholm; Miss Barger, Mrs. Benade; Messrs. W. Cooper, D. Rose, W. Hyatt, Theodore Pitcairn, and Mr. G. E. Holman.

     Mr. Synnestvedt and several of the members of the Society visited the Kensington Conference Society, where the Rev. J. F. Buss is minister.

     We have just returned from the assembly held at Colchester, which has proved to be of the greatest refreshment to all. It was characterized throughout by a full and harmonious sphere and was especially privileged with inspiring papers. We cannot mention more at this time, but take this opportunity of expressing our appreciation of the overflowing hospitality that the Colchester friends extended to us--their London visitors. F. W. E.

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CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1911

CHICAGO DISTRICT ASSEMBLY              1911




     ANNOUNCEMENTS.



     Special Notice.

     The Eleventh Chicago District Assembly of the General Church will be held at the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Ill., October 13th to 15th, inclusive.

     Members and friends who desire to attend will please notify Mr. W. H. Junge, Glenview, provide for their entertainment. W. B. CALDWELL, Secretary.
Doctrinal Studies 1911

Doctrinal Studies              1911

     The Rev. G. H. Smith has prepared mimeographed copies of Prof. Odhner's NOTES ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE WORD, chapters X and XI, treating of "The Relation of the Literal Sense to the Internal Sense." They will be of great value to ministers, students, and others interested in this subject, and may be obtained at the price of twenty-five cents per copy. If sufficient encouragement is received, this work will be continued. Address the Academy Book Room, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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DIRECTORY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1911

DIRECTORY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM              1911

     I.

     THE CLERGY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH.

     BISHOP.

     THE RT. REV. WILLIAM FREDERICK PENDLETON.
Ordained, September 3, 1873 Consecrated, May 9, 1888. President of the Academy of the New Church. Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     PASTORS.

     THE REV. JOHN ELY BOWERS.
Ordained, May 11, 1873 General Missionary. Address: 37 Lowther Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.

     THE REV. RICHARD DE CHARMS.
Ordained, January 21, 1877 Instructor in the Academy Schools.

     THE REV. ANDREW CZERNY.
Ordained, June 10, 1883. Second degree, March 21, 1886. Pastor of London and Colchester Societies. Address: 169 Camberwell Grove, S. E., Camberwell, London, Eng.

     THE REV. WILLIAM HYDE ALDEN.
Ordained, May 30, 1886. Treasurer of the General Church. Manager of the Academy Book Room.

     THE REV. ENOCH SPRADLING PRICE.
Ordained, June 10, 1888. Second degree, June 19, 1891. Professor of Hebrew and Latin, Academy of the New Church. Pastor of the Allentown Circle. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     THE REV. CARL THEOPHILUS ODHNER.
Ordained, June 10, 1888. Second degree, June 19, 1891. Member of the Bishop's Consistory. Professor of Theology, Academy of the New Church. Secretary of the General Church. Editor of New Church Life. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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     THE REV. FRED. EDWIN WAELCHLI.
Ordained, June 10, 1888. Second degree, June 19, 1891. Secretary of the Council of the Clergy. Pastor of the Carmel Church, Berlin, Ont. Address: 380 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.,

     THE REV. NATHANIEL DANDRIDGE PENDLETON.
Ordained, June 16, 1889. Second degree, March 2, 1891. Member of the Bishop's Consistory. Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society. Address: 706 Ivy St., Pittsburgh, Pa.

     THE REV. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT.
Ordained, June 19, 1891. Second degree, January 13, 1895. Member of the Consistory. Professor of Theology in the Academy Schools. Pastor of the Advent Church, Philadelphia. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     THE REV. ALFRED ACTON.
Ordained, June 4, 1893. Second degree, January 10, 1897. Member of the Bishop's Consistory. Professor of Theology, Academy of the New Church. Secretary of the General Council. Pastor of Circles in New York and Washington, D. C. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     THE REV. WILLIS LENDSAY GLADISH.
Ordained, June 3, 1894. Pastor of the Middleport Society and of Circles in Cincinnati and Columbus, O. Address: Middleport, O.

     THE REV. CHARLES EMIL DOERING.
Ordained, June 7, 1896. Second degree. January 29, 1899 Superintendent of the Schools of the Academy. Professor or Mathematics and Swedenborg"s Philosophy, Academy of the New Church. Treasurer of the Academy of the New Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     THE REV. THOMAS STARK HARRIS.
Ordained, April 8, 1897. Pastor of the Abington, Mass., Society. Address: 4 Chapel St., Abington, Mass.

     THE REV. RICHARD HAMILTON KEEP.
Ordained, June 27, 1897. Second degree, May 22, 1898. Assistant Pastor of the Circle in New York. Address: 166 W. 65th St., New York, N. Y.

689




     THE REV. DAVID HAROLD KLEIN.
Ordained, June 26, 1898. Second degree, October 27, 1902. Engaged in secular work. Address: Flat Rock, N. C.

     THE REV. EMIL ROBERT CRONLUND.
Ordained, December 31, 1899 Second degree, May 18, 1902. Pastor of Olivet Church, Toronto, Ont. Address: 99 Tyndall Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.

     THE REV. WILLIAM BEEBE CALDWELL.
Ordained, October 19, 1902. Second degree, October 23, 1904. Pastor of the Emanuel Church, Glenview, and of the Sharon Church, Chicago. Address: Glenview, Ills.

     THE REV. FREDERICK EDMUND GYLLENHAAL.
Ordained, June 23, 1907. Second degree, June 19, 1910. Pastor of the Denver Society. Address: 543 Delaware St., Denver, Colo.

     THE REV. FERNAND HUSSENET.
Ordained, into First and Second degrees, October 10, 1909. Pastor of the New Church in Paris, France. Address: 31 Rue Henri Regnault, St. Cloud, Seine et Oise, France.

     MINISTERS.

     THE REV. ERNEST J. STEBBING.
Ordained, June 26, 1898. Engaged in secular work. Address: Congress Heights, Washington, D. C.

     THE REV. REGINALD WILLIAM BROWN.
Ordained, October 21, 1900. Professor of Natural Science, Academy of the New Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     THE REV. ELDRED EDWARD IUNGERICH.
Ordained, June 13, 1909. Instructor in the Schools of the Academy. Minister of the Baltimore Society. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     THE REV. GILBERT HAVEN SMITH.
Ordained, June 25, 1911. Secretary to the Bishop. Instructor in the Schools of the Academy. Pastor's Assistant, Bryn Athyn Church. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

690




     CANDIDATES.

     MR. ALFRED HENRY STROH.
Authorized, June 7, 1900. Editor of the Scientific Works of Swedenborg. Address: Odengaten, 47, Stockholm, Sweden.

     MR. CHARLES RITTENHOUSE PENDLETON, JR.
Authorized, June 4, 1905. Instructor in the Schools of the Academy. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     MR. WILLIAM WHITEREAD.
Authorized, June 19, 1908. Instructor in the Schools of the Academy. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     II.

     SOCIETIES AND CIRCLES.

     Abington, Mass. Place of Worship, 29 Orange St. Services on Sunday at 11 o'clock. Sunday School following service. The Rev. THOMAS S. HARRIS, pastor. Address, 4 Chapel St., Abington, Mass.

     Allentown, Pa. Services held last Sunday in each month at private residence. The Rev. ENOCH S. PRICE, visiting pastor. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa. For information address Mr. Charles D. Weirbach, 708 N. 6th St., Allentown, Pa.

     Atlanta, Ga. For information address Prof. Kurt Mueller, 15 Forest Ave., Atlanta, Ga.

     Baltimore, Md. Place of Worship, Arbutus, Md. Service every first and third Sunday in the month at 11 a. m. The Rev. E. E. IUNGERICH,, visiting minister. For information address Mr. Roscoe S. Coffin, Secretary, 328 N. Howard St., Baltimore, Md.

     Berlin, Ont., Canada. The Carmel Church of the New Jerusalem. Place of Worship, King St., West, opposite the High School. Sunday services at 11 a. m. Weekly supper and doctrinal class Friday at 7 p. m. The Rev. FRED. E. WAELCHLI, pastor and headmaster of the Parish School. Address, 380 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.

     Bryn Athyn, Pa. Sunday services at 11 a. m. Weekly supper and doctrinal class every Friday at 6:30 p. m. The Rev. WILLIAM F. PENDLETON, pastor. Address, Bryn Athyn, Pa. Rev. Gilbert H. Smith, pastor's assistant. Address, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     Chicago, Ill. Sharon Church of the New Jerusalem. Place of Worship, chapel at 1379 Carroll Ave. Chapel closed during summer months. The Rev. W. B. CALDWELL, acting pastor, Glenview, Ill.

     Cincinnati, O. Worship and Doctrinal class monthly at home of Mr. Colon Schott, Clifton, conducted by the Rev. WILLIS L. GLADISH.

691




     Colchester, England. Place of Worship: Priory St. Services every Sunday at 11 a. m., and Sunday School, 3:00 p. m., doctrinal class, 7:00 p. m., every other Sunday. Fortnightly visits by the Rev. ANDREW CZERNY, visiting pastor.

     Columbus, O. Worship and doctrinal class monthly at home of Mr. W. H. Wiley, 642 Neil Ave., conducted by the Rev. WILLIS L. GLADISH.

     Denver, Colo. The Denver Society of the Lord's Advent. Place of Worship: 543 Delaware St. Doctrinal class 8:15 p. m. every Wednesday. The Rev. F. E. GYLLENHAAL, pastor, 543 Delaware St.

     Erie, Pa. Services on alternate Sunday evenings at private residence. Quarterly visits by the Rev. N. D. PENDLETON. Semi-annual visits by the Rev. J. E. Bowers. For particulars address Dr. Edward Cranch, Secretary, 109 W. 9th St.

     Glenview, Ill. The Immanuel Church of the New Jerusalem. Sunday services at 11 a. m. Supper and doctrinal class on Fridays at 7 p m. The Rev. W. B. CALDWELL, pastor and headmaster of the parish school.

     London, England. Place of Worship: 169 Camberwell Grove, S. E., Camberwell. Sunday services at 11:30 a. m. Doctrinal class, Fridays, 8 p. m. The Rev. ANDREW CZERNY, pastor and headmaster of parish school, 169 Camberwell Grove, S. E., Camberwell.

     Middleport, Ohio. Sunday services at 10:45 a. m. Doctrinal class on Sunday at 7:30 p. m. The Rev. WILLIS L. GLADISH, pastor.

     New Pork City. Place of Worship: 839 Carnegie Studios, 57th St. and 7th Ave. Every Sunday except during the summer months, when services will be held fortnightly in July and discontinued in August. For particulars, address W. I. Parker, Secretary, 347 W. 23d St., Or the Rev. R. H. KEEP, assistant pastor, 166 W. 65th St., New York, N. Y. The Rev. ALFRED ACTON, visiting pastor. Address: Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     Paris, France. Services at 100 Rue Lazare. Rev. F. HUSSENET, pastor. Address, 31 Rue Henri Regnault, St. Cloud, Seine et Oise, France.

     Philadelphia, Pa. The Advent Church of the New Jerusalem. Place of Worship: Glenn Hall, 555 North 17th St. Sunday services at 10:45 a. m.; Sunday School at 9:30 a. m. Doctrinal class, Thursdays, at 8 p. m. Second week in month, Wednesday. The Rev. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT, pastor. Address, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     Pittsburgh, Pa. Place of Worship, the chapel at Wallingford near Morewood Ave., East End. Sunday services at 11 a. m. Sunday School at 11 a. m. Doctrinal class on Wednesdays at 8 p. m. The Rev. N. D. PENDLETON, pastor and headmaster of parish school, 706 Ivy St., E. E.

     Toronto, Ont., Canada. The Olivet Church of the New Jerusalem. Place of Worship, the chapel at Elm Grove Ave., and Melbourne Ave., Parkdale. Sunday services at 11 a. m. Supper and doctrinal class every Wednesday at 6:45 p. m. The Rev. EMIL R. CRONLUND. pastor, and headmaster of parish school. Address, 99 Tyndall Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.

     Washington, D. C. Bi-monthly visits by the Rev. ALFRED ACTON of Bryn Athyn. Pa. Mr. Donald I. Edmonds, Secretary, Solicitor's Office, Dept. of Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.

692




     III.
MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL CHURCH.
Acton, Rev. and Mrs. Alfred, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Ahlberg, Mr. Peter, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Ahlstrom, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas L. 918 Portland Ave., Beloit, Wis.
Ahrens, Dr. A. E., 11 Market St., Stratford, Ont., Can.
Ahrens, Mr. and Mrs. Carl, Lambton Mills, Oak Kree, Ont., Can.
Alden, Rev. and Mrs. William H. Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Alden, Mr. William H. J. 1620 N. 62d St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Allen, Mrs. Julia, 642 Neil Ave., Columbus, O.
Allen, Mr. Lewis J. 642 Neil Ave., Columbus, O.
Allen, Mr. Percy B. 215 S. Quitman St., Denver, Colo.
Anderson, Mrs. Emily G., 22 Close Aire., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Anschutz, Mr. Edward P., 4228 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Appleton, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur H. 125 Putt Rd., Colchester, Eng.
Appleton, Mr. Alwyn J. 125 Butt Rd., Colchester, Eng.
Appleton, Miss Edith M. 125 Butt Rd., Colchester, Eng.
Armstrong, Mrs. Lona G., Hebbardsvilie, O.
Arrington, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred, Arbutus, Md.
Ashby, Miss H. Elizabeth, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Ashley, Mr. Herbert A. Ernest Rd., Wivenhoe, Essex, Eng.
Ashley, Miss Harriet S., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Asplundh, Mrs. Emma S., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Asplundh, Edwin T., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Ball, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel, 81 Milkwood Rd., Herne Hill, London, Eng.
Barnitz, Mrs. Myrtle T., Glenview, Ills.
Barrows, Mrs. Leonora, Middleport, O.
Bauman, Mr. Emil, Brunner, Ont., Can.
Bauman, Mr. and Mrs. Solomon, Milverton, Ont., Can.
Bauman, Mr. Stacy T,, Box 93 R. F. D., Houtzdale, Clearfield Co., Pa.
Beal, Mrs. Lucien, Box 126, R. F. D., Santa Barbara, Cal.
Beam, Dr. and Mrs. Alfred H., Williamsburg, Ind.
Beaten, Mr. and Mrs. William. (Address unknown.)
Becker, Dr. and Mrs. Henry, 1330 King St., W., Toronto, Ont.
Beekman, Mr. and Mrs, Samuel G., 3037 Peach St., Erie, Pa.
Bedwell, Mrs. J., 144 Ladywell Rd., Lewisham, London, S. E. Eng.
Beekman, Miss Lillian, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Behlert, Mr. and Mrs. L. Rudolph, 514 N. Chester St., Baltimore, Md.
Bellinger, Mr. Alfred G., Box 225, Windsor, Ont., Can.
Bellinger, Miss Celia, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Bellinger, Mr. Charles H., 18 Springhurst Ave., Toronto, Ont.

693



Bellinger, Mr. Doering, 922 Frick Bldg., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Bellinger, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest, 18 Springhurst Ave., Toronto, Ont.
Bellinger, Miss Estella, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Bellinger, Mr. and Mrs. George, Wellesley, Ont., Can.
Bellinger, Mr. and Mrs. Homer G. C., 37 Joseph St., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Bellinger, Mrs. Lizzie, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Bellinger, Miss Lucinda, Wellesley, Ont., Can.
Bellinger, Mr. Norman G., 18 Springhurst Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Bellinger, Miss Olive, 18 Springhurst Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Bellinger, Mr. and Mrs. Peter, 226 Dunn Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Bellinger, Miss Vera G., 226 Dunn Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Bergstrom, Mr. and Mrs. A. Elis, 1230 Mariposa St., Denver, Colo.
Bergstrom, Mr. Julius E., 1230 Mariposa St., Denver, Colo.
Bergstrom, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar A., 939 Inca St., Denver, Colo.
Blackman, Dr. and Mrs. George A., 1636 Roscoe Boul., Chicago, Ills.
Blackman, Mr. and Mrs. Harry E., Glenview, Ills.
Blackman, Mr. Lewis R., 4407 N. Paulina St., Chicago, Ills.
Blackman, Mrs. O., Glenview, Ills.
Blair, Mr. Edmund, 723 Ivy St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Blair, Mrs. J. G., 723 Ivy St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Blake, Mrs. Minna, 2436 Campbell St., Baker City, Ore.
Boatman, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur E., Kyger, O.
Boatman, Mr. and Mrs. John S., Cheshire, O.
Bobo, Miss Viola G., R. F. D., Cheshire, O.
Boericke, Mr. and Mrs. Edward E., 145 Gorand St., New York, N. Y.
Boericke, Dr. and Mrs. Felix A., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Boericke, Miss Winifred, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Boggess, Mr. and Mrs. James S., Middleport, O.
Boggess, Miss Lucy, Middleport, O.
Boggess, Dr. and Mrs. W. Benjamin, 4919 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Bond, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur, 17 Mary St., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Boozer, Mr. Edward G. T., 129 Week St., Maidstone, Kent, Eng.
Bornscheuer, Mr. John, 141 S. Central Ave., Baltimore, Md.
Bostock, Mr. Edward C., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Bostock, Miss Margaret, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Bostock, Mrs. Mary E., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Bostock, Miss Olive, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Bowers, Rev. John E., 37 Lowther Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Bowie, Mr. and Mrs. Archibald, Crosslands, Balmore, By Torrence, Glasgow, Scotland.
Boyesen, Rev. J. E., Upplandsgatan 79, Stockholm, Sweden.
Breitstein, Mrs. F. O., 1133 Broadway, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Brewer, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey I., Winnetka, Ills.
Brewer, Mrs. Horatio S., 6623 Ferry Ave., Chicago, Ill.
Brewster, Miss Flora L., Kingston, Mass.
Brickman, Mrs. W. E., 429 Evaline St., Pittsburgh, Pa.

694



Broussais, Miss M. A., 11 Rue Chevalliei, Levallois-Perret, Seine, France.
Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Charles R., 153 Cowan Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Brown, Mr. and Mrs. C. Raynor, 43 Macdonell Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Brown, Mr. and Mrs. G. Percy, 1622 Frick Bldg., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Robert G., Streetsville, Ont., Can.
Brown, Rev. Reginald W., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Browne, Mr., Charles F., The Art Institute, Chicago, Ills.
Buell, Miss Rita, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Buell, Mr. Robert H., Blackstone, Va.
Burkhardt, Mrs. F. P., 1334 N. Anvers Ave., Chicago, Ills.
Burkhardt, Miss Margaret, Deming, New Mexico.
Burnham, Miss Dorothy, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Burnham, Mr. and Mrs. Hugh L., Glenview, Ills.
Burns, Miss Florence G., 927 E. 5th St., Erie, Pa.
Burns, Mr and Mrs. Robert G., 927 E. 5th St., Erie, Pa.
Burt, Mrs. Jesse, Glenview, Ills.
Caldwell, Mrs. Alice C., 15 Emerson St., Rockland, Mass.
Caldwell, Mr. and Mrs. Robert B., 50 Leopold St., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Caldwell, Mr. and Mrs. Robert B., Jr., Grant Boul. and 5th Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Caldwell, Rev. and Mrs. William B., Glenview, Ills.
Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. A. G., 181 Stratford Rd., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Campbell, Miss Beatrice, 181 Stratford Rd., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Campey, Mrs. A. (Address unknown.)
Carpenter, Mr. and Mrs. Paul, 3664 Pine Grove Ave., Cor. Waveland Ave., Chicago, Ills.
Carson, Mr. and Mrs. Fred. W., 90 O'Connor St., Ottawa, Ont., Can.
Carswell, Miss Flora E., 1534 King St., W., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Carswell, Mr. and Mrs. Robert, 134 King St., W., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Carswell, Miss Roberta, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Carter, Mr. Arthur G., 469 Gladstone Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Carter, Mrs. Emma F., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Carter, George, 603 Dufferin St., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Carter, Mr. George, 603 Dufferin St., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Cartwright, Mr. and Mrs. James, Londesboro, Ont., Can.
Catford, Mr. Darnley. (Address unknown.)
Catford, Mr. and Mrs. Dudley A. (Address unknown.)
Childs, Randolph W., 1 Livingstone Ave., Yonkers, N. Y.
Childs, Mr. Sydney B., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Childs, Mr. Walter C., 1 Livingstone Ave., Yonkers, N. Y.
Clark, Mrs. Mary W., 5535 Ellis Ave., Chicago, Ills.
Cleare, Mr. Albert J., 112 Webster Ave., Wyncote, Pa.
Coffee, Mrs. William R., Chappequa, N. Y.
Coffin, Mr. Frank K., 202 Woodland Ave., Baltimore, Md.

695



Coffin, Mr. and Mrs. J. Price, Arbutus, Md.
Coffin, Mr. Roscoe S., 328 N. Howard St., Baltimore, Md.
Coffin, Mrs. Susan M., Arbutus, Md.
Cole, Mr. and Mrs. Charles S., Glenview, Ills.
Cole, Mr. and Mrs. Louis S., Glenview, Ills.
Cole, Miss Violet, Clinton, Ont., Can.
Cole, Mr. William H., Clinton, Ont., Can.
Colley, Mrs. Besse E., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Comer, Mrs. A. J., 83 15th Ave., E., Cordele, Ga.
Cooper, Mr. Frederick J., 19 S. 50th St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Cooper, Miss Florence M., 11 Hospital Rd., Colchester, Eng.
Cooper, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick R., 37 Culver St., Colchester, Eng.
Cooper, Mrs. George M., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Cooper, Mr. and Mrs. James M., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Cooper, Mr. William R., 19 S. 5oth St., W. Philadelphia, Pa.
Cowley, Mr. David M., 507 Dearborn Ave., c/o W. F. Boehmer, Chicago, Ills.
Cowley, Mrs. Henry B., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Cowley, Miss Margaret M., Aspenwall, Pa.
Cowley, Dr. William, 6015 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Cox, Mrs. J. Frank, Echo Point, Wheeling, W. Va.
Cox, Miss Mary R., 144 Centre Ave., Abington, Mass.
Craig, Miss Ethel C., 99 Tyndall Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Cranch, Mr. and Mrs. Charles E., 3041 Peach St., Erie, Pa.
Cranch, Dr. and Mrs. Edward, 109 W. 9th St.. Erie, Pa.
Cranch, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond G., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Cranch, Mr. and Mrs., Walter A., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Creamer, Mr. W. E., 1602 W. 4th St., Williamsport, Pa.
Cresap, Miss Elizabeth R. J., R. F. D., Captain, W. Va.
Cresap, James M., 4835 Guernsey St., Bellaire, O.
Cronlund, Rev. and Mrs. Emil R., 99 Tyndall Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Czerny, Rev. Andrew, 169 Camberwell Grove, S. E., Camberwell. London, Eng.
Daniels, Mrs. Hattie C., 214 Art St., Spokane, Wash.
Davis, Mrs. Dr. Edward, Middleport, O.
Davis, Miss Eva, Middleport, O.
Davis, Mr. Frederick C., Middleport, O.
Davis, Mrs. Lena M., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Davis, Mr. Roy S., Newmire, Colo.
Day, Mr. Horace O., 57 New St., Hamilton, Ont., Can.
De Anchoriz, Miss Rosalba, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
De Charms, Mr. and Mrs. Richard, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
De Charms, Richard, Jr., State College, Pa.
De Maine, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, Middleport, O.
Dean, Miss Ida A. (Address unknown.)
Deltenre, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

696



Deppisch, Miss Laura, 345 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Deppisch, Mr. and Mts. George, 345 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Detrow, Mrs. Dayton, R. F. D., Columbiana, O.
Dexter, Miss Luise, 347 Elm St., Meriden, Conn.
Dill, Judge L. G., Waverly, O.
Doering, Mr. and Mrs. Albert, Waterloo, Ont., Can.
Doering, Mrs. Aretta, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Doering, Miss Carrie, Macdonald Hall., Guelp, Ont., Can.
Doering, Rev. and Mrs. Charles E, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Doering, Mr. David F., Milverton, Ont., Can.
Doering, Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand, Milverton, Ont., Can.
Doering, Mr. and Mrs. George W., Plymouth, Neb.
Doering, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.
Doering, Mr. Herbert H., Milverton, Ont., Can.
Doering, Miss Lizzie C., Milverton, Ont., Can.
Doering, Miss Mary M., Milverton, Ont., Can.
Doering, Miss Uarda M., Waterloo, Ont., Can.
Doering, Miss Vida, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Doering, Miss Vera M., Milverton, Ont., Can.
Doering, Miss Wilhelmina, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Drinkwater, Mr. and Mrs. B. F., 811 E. Colfax Ave., Denver, Colo.
Drinkwater, Mr. and Mrs. James 1415 Lafayette St., Denver, Colo.
Drost, Mr. William, 6504 Fairhill St., Oak Lane, Pa.
Drynan, Miss Mary J., 329 Evaline St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Dykes, Mr. and Mrs. George, 1568 E. 18th St., Flatbush, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Ebert, Mr. and Mrs. Charles H., 701 Filbert St., Pittsburgh, E. E., Pa.
Ebert, Mr. and Mrs. Eric E., 402 N. New St., Bethlehem, Pa.
Ebert, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob, 31 N. 12th St., Allentown, Pa.
Ebert, Miss Ora M., 31 N. 12th St., Allentown, Pa.
Eblin, Mr. and Mrs. Austin H., Rutland, O.
Edmonds, Mr. and Mrs. Donald I., Solicitor's Office, Dept. Commerce and Labor, Washington, D. C.
Elphick, Mrs. Frederick, Frederick Lodge, Carshalton Park Rd., Carshalton, Surrey, Eng.
Elphick, Mr. Frederick W., Frederick Lodge, Carshalton Park Rd., Carshalton, Surrey, Eng
Erickson, Mrs. Svea, 1800 W. Erie St., Chicago, Ills.
Erickson, Miss Svea M., 1800 W. Erie St., Chicago, Ills.
Evans, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin F., 3061 Peach St., Erie, Pa.
Evans, Mr. George W., 443 W. 4th St., Erie, Pa.
Evans, Miss Pearl, 642 Neil Ave., Columbus, O.
Evens, Mr. and Mrs. Archibald S., Randolph, Ont., Can.
Evens, Miss Elsie, Randolph, Ont., Can.
Evens, Mr. John, Randolph, Ont., Can.
Evens, Miss Mary, Randolph, Ont., Can.
Evens, Mr. Nelson, Alsask, Saskatchewan, Can.

697



Evens, Miss Viola J., Randolph. Ont., Can.
Evens, Mr. and Mrs. William, Randolph, Ont., Can.
Everett, Miss Florence B., 124 Butt Rd., Colchester, Eng.
Everett, Miss Maud M., 124 Butt Rd., Colchester, Eng.
Everett, Mr. William E., 124 Butt Rd., Colchester, Eng.
Falk, Miss Sophie, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Farrington, Mrs. Ernest A., Glenview, Ills.
Farrington, Dr. and Mrs. Ernest A., Haddonfield, N. J.
Farrington, Dr. and Mrs. Harvey, 72 Madison St., Room 1002, Chicago, Ills.
Farrington, William A., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Faulkner, Mr. Wallace R., Woodland Ave. and Brighten Rd., Allegheny, Pa.
Ferdinand, Mr. and Mrs., Adolph, Waterloo, Ont., Can.
Ferdinand, Miss Theodora, Waterloo, Ont., Can.
Ferdinand, Mr. William. (Address unknown.)
Fincke, Mrs. L. H., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Mabel A., Arbutus, Md.
Flon, Mr. K., 2 Rue Ramus, Paris, France.
Fogle, Mr. and Mrs. John D., Bourbon, Marshall Co., Ind.
Forrest, Mr. John, 321 Centre St., Chicago, Ills.
Forsberg, Mr. Charles E., 501 Arch St., Camden, N. J.
Fox, Miss Mary A., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Frame, Mrs. Sarah E. L., 4022 Parrish St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Frame, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace V., 7537 Hamilton Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Frankish, Mr. and Mrs. Charles, Ontario, Cal.
Frankish, Mr. Charles G., Drawer 308, Ontario, Cal.
Fraser. Mr. John A., The Grunewald, New Orleans, La.
Freeman, Mr. and Mrs. Burton R.. 29 Orange St., Abington, Mass.
Frost, Mrs. Rosalia M. L., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Frost, Mrs. Sarah, 35 Walnut St., Atlanta, Ga.
Frydenborg, Miss Christine, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Fuller, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin D., Elbur Ave., Lakewood, O.
Fuller, Mr. and Mrs. Edmund H. S., Aspinwall, Pa.
Fuller, Mrs. Emma W., 6338 Marchand St., E. E., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Fuller, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert P., 4717 Ben Venue Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Gill, Miss Muriel, 142 Maldon Rd., Colchester, Eng.
Gill, Mr. and Mrs. William, 142 Maiden Rd., Colchester, Eng.
Gill. Mr. and Mrs. W. Rey, 41 Harsnett Rd., Colchester, Eng.
Gillespie, Mrs. Catherine, 326 Galespago St., Denver, Colo.
Gilmore, Mr. and Mrs. Augustus G., 217 Harvard St., Brookline, Mass.
Gilmore, Miss Evelyn, 811 St. James St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Gilmore, Mr. Ernest A., 406 Woodward St., Waban, Mass.
Gladish, Rev. and Mrs. Willis L., Middleport, O.
Gladwin, Miss F. E., M. D., 2204 N. 17th St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Glebe, Mr. and Mrs. Adam, 452 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.

698



Glebe, Mr. and Mrs. Gustav V., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Glebe, Mr. Nelson H., 126 N. Peach St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Glenn, Miss Carina, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Glenn, Mrs. Cara S., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Glenn, Mr. and Mrs. Gerald S., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Glenn, Miss Madeline, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Glenn, Miss Mary A., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Glenn, Mrs. Oscar, 343 W. 4th St., Erie, Pa.
Goerwitz, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred L., Glenview, Ills.
Good, Mr. and Mrs. L. D., 522 Parkside Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.
Goodrich, Mrs. E. P., 109 N. Chestnut St., Warren, O.
Grant, Miss Alice E., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Grant, Miss Electa M., Middleport, O.
Grant, Miss Lucy, Middleport, O.
Grant, Mr. and Mrs. William H., 2210 E. 35th St., Kansas City, Mo.
Grant, Mr. and Mrs. William T., Keith and Ferry Bldg., Kansas City, Mo.
Grebe, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, Arbutus, Md.
Green, Mr. and Mrs. George G., 864 Preston St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Grigg, Mrs. E. N., 1192 Howard St., Port Huron, Mich.
Gunther, Mr. Adolph, 116 W. Clement St., Baltimore, Md.
Gunther, Mr. and Mrs. Emil P., Arbutus, Md.
Gunther, Mr. and Mrs. Herman W., Arbutus, Md.
Gunther, Mrs. Pauline, 116 W. Clement St., Baltimore, Md.
Gustafson, Mr. Carl Hj., 229 Catherine St., Rockford, Ills.     
Gustafson, Mr. Gustaf S., 229 Catherine St., Rockford, Ills.
Gustafson, Mrs. John, 229 Catherine St., Rockford, Ills.
Gyllenhaal, Miss Agnes, Glenview, Ills.
Gyllenhaal, Mr. Alvin G., Glenview, Ills.
Gyllenhaal, Rev. Frederick E., 543 Delaware St., Denver, Colo.
Gyllenhaal, Mr. Leonard E., Glenview, Ills.
Gyllenhaal, Miss Margaret A., Glenview, Ills.
Gyllenhaal, Mrs. Selma A., Glenview, Ills.
Gyllenhaal, Miss Vida L., Glenview, Ills.
Hachborn; Miss Annie M., Market St., Brantford, Ont., Can.
Hachborn, Miss Irene C., Gait, Ont., Can.
Hager, Miss Elena, 2736 California St., Denver, Colo.
Hager, Miss Hilda, 2736 California St., Denver, Colo.
Haglind, Miss Anna, Goshen, Ind.
Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. Otto, 636 Longwood St., Rockford, Ills.
Hanlin, Miss Clara H., Middleport, O.
Hanlin, Dr. S. Bradbury, Pomeroy, O.
Hanlin, Dr. W. Arthur, Middleport, O.
Hanlin, Mr. William A., 668 Montclair St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Hansen, Mr. and Mrs. F. T., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Hansen, Mr. N. Christopher, Skellerup paa Feyn, Denmark.

699



Harris, Rev. and Mrs. Thomas S., 4 Chapel St., Abington, Mass.
Harrison, Mis. Anna, Lindsborg, Kan.
Hasenpflug, Mrs. Henry, 17 Agnes St., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Heath, Mr. and Mrs. George, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Heaton, Mr. and Mrs. George B., 179 Laurel St., Woodbury, N. J.
Heilman, Miss Goldie G., Leechburg, Pa.
Heilman, Dr. Marlin W., 212 N. Canal St., Brackenridge, Pa.
Heilman, Mr. Otho W., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Heilman, Dr. Uriah O., Leechburg, Pa.
Henderson, Mrs. R. T. (Abroad.)
Herau, Miss Augusta, German Home, South Ave., Rochester, N. Y.
Hickman, Mrs. R., 43 Adams Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Hicks, Mr. Curtis K., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Hicks, Miss Ruth, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Hicks, Mr. Ralph W., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Hicks, Mrs. Samuel H., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Hill, Miss Annie C., 72 E. Main St., Le Roy, N. Y.
Hill, Miss Emma L., 72 E. Main St., Le Roy. N. Y.
Hill, Mr. J. Edward, 44 Brown St., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Hill, Mr. Joseph E., Suffield, Alberta, Can.
Hillas, Mr. Tom., Calgary, Alberta, Can.
Hilldale, Mrs. John, 153 N. Dewey St., W. Philadelphia, Pa.
Hilldale, Mr. and Mrs. Robert C., 1838 S. Cecil St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Hobart, Miss Carrie A., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Hobart, Mis. Cyrinthia, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Hoffman, Miss Emma E., 6214 Wellesley Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Hoffman, Miss Anna, Valley Stream, Long Island, N. Y.
Hogan, Miss Maria C., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Hollis, Mrs. Irene S., 66 Bank St., Abington, Mass.
Homiller, Mr. and Mrs. William F., 5003 Wayne Ave., Germantown, Pa.
Horigan, Mr. and Mrs. D. E., 329 Eveline Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Horigan, Miss Mary Jean, 329 Evaline St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Howard, Miss Clarice, 55 Rye Hill Pk., Peckham Rye, London, S. E., Eng.
Howard, Mr. Conrad A., 55 Rye Hill Pk., Peckham Rye, London, S. E., Eng.
Howard, Mr. Horace Henry, 55 Rye Hill Pk., Peckham Rye, London, S. E., London, Eng.
Howard, Mr. Wilfred H., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Howe, Mr. Donald I., Box 194, Macon, Ga.
Howland, Mrs. Carrie R., 16th and Stout Sts., Denver, Colo.
Hug, Miss Lydia M., Summerville, Ore.
Hunt, Miss Marie L., Office, Mr. Daniel Gimbel, Gimbel Bros., Philadelphia, Pa.
Hunter, Miss Ida E., 5827 Alder St., E. E., Pittsburgh, Pa.

700



Hussenet, Rev. and Mrs. F. 31, Rue Henri Regnault A'St. Cloud, Seine et Oise, France.
Hyatt, Mr. Hubert, 47 Elm Grove Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Hyatt, Mrs. Mary E., 47 Elm Grove Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Hyndes, Mr. and Mrs. R. W., 571 Dupont St., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Iler; Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, 356 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Iungerich, Rev. and Mrs. Eldred E., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Iungerich, Miss Helene de L., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Iungerich, Mrs. Regina, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Iungerich, Miss Solange N., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Izzard, Mr. Albert E., Clinton, Ont., Can.
Izzard, Miss Eliza A., Clinton, Ont., Can.
Izzard, Mr. Ernest W. R., 119 Howard Park Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Izzard, Mr. H. Percy, 119 Howard Pk. Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Izzard, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph, Clinton, Ont., Can.
Jasmer, Mrs. Henry J., 2146 Grace St., Chicago, Ills.
Johnson, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin R., 12 E. 5th St., Erie, Pa.
Johnson, Mrs. M. M., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Johnson, Mr. Nels, 2651 W. 15th St., Chicago, Ills:
Jordan, Rev. Leonard G., 484 44th St., Oakland, Cal.
Junge, Mr. Carl F. W., 1377 Carroll Ave., Chicago, Ills.
Junge, Miss Elise, Glenview, Ills.
Junge, Mr. Felix, Glenview, Ills.
Junge, Miss Frieda, Glenview, Ills.
Junge, Miss Susan M., 1377 Carroll Ave., Chicago, Ills.
Junge, Mr. William F., Glenview, Ills.
Junge, Mr. and Mrs. William H., Glenview, Ills.
Karl, Mr. Valentin, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Kaufman, Mr. Benjamin, 1638 E. Duval St., Jacksonville, Fla.
Keep, Rev. Richard H., 166 W. 65th St., New York, N. Y.
Kendig, Miss Elizabeth, Renovo, Pa.
Kendig, Mr. F. Lewis, 1209 S. 19th St. S. Birmingham, Ala.
Kendig, Mr. Julian H., c/o Mr. Paul Synnestvedt, Frick Bldg., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Kendig, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R., Jr., Renovo, Pa.
Kendig, Mr. Roscoe B., 92 N. Regent St., Port Chester, N. Y.
Kendig, Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred M., 1146 Erie Ave., Williamsport, Pa.
Kertcher, Mrs. Charles, 452 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Kessler, Mr. John S., 410 Union St., Allentown, Pa.
King, Miss E. Vivien, Glenview, Ills.
King, Dr. and Mrs. J. B. S., Glenview, Ills.
Kintner, Mr. and Mrs. J. J., Renovo, Pa.
Kirk, Mrs. Ellis I., Renovo, Pa.
Kirk, Mr. and Mrs. J. B. (Address unknown.)
Klein, Miss Anna M. Klein, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Klein, Rev. and Mrs. David H., Flat Rock, N. C.

701



Klein, Miss Ida M., Flat Rock, N. C.
Knapp, Mr. and Mrs. Peter, Maple and Cedar Aves., Overlea, Baltimore, Md.
Knudsen, Mr. and Mrs. Knud, 2202 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia,, Pa
Knudsen, Mr. Thomas, 1 Downing St., Llanelly, S. Wales, Eng.
Kuhl, Miss Emma, 44 Brown St., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Kuhl, Mr. and Mrs. George S., Waterloo, Ont.
Kuhl, Mr. John S., Elmira, Ont., Can.
Kuhl, Mr. and Mrs. Theobald S., 285 King St., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Kuhl, Miss Vera L., 285 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Kurtz, Rev. Alfred P., 2533 McHenry St., Baltimore, Md.
Labarre, Miss Gabrielle Pothin, 81 Ave., Ledru-Rollin, Seine XII., Paris, France.
Labarre, Miss Jeanne Pothin, 81 Ave. Ledru-Rollin, Seine XI1., Paris, France.
Larson, Mr. Alfred, 229 Catherine St., Rockford, Ills.
Laughead, Mr. and Mrs. A. H., Jasper, Mo.
Lechner, Mrs. Anna M., 5433 Baywood St., Pittsburgh, Pa
Lechner, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur O., 726 Ivy St., E. E., Pittsburgh, Pa
Lechner, Miss Elsa C., 5433 Baywood St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Lechner, Mr. Fred. G., 340 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa
Lechner, Mr. Hennan, Room 1, 96 5th Ave., New York, N. Y.
Lechner, Mr. Harvey L., 5433 Baywood St., Pittsburgh, Pa
Lee, Mr. Sydney E., 740 E. 42d St., Chicago, Ills.
Lennie, Mr. James, 39 Mountain Ave., Hamilton, Ont., Can.
Leonard, Mrs. D. E., 1440 W. Congress St., Chicago, Ills.
Lesieur, Madame Ernestine, 7 Villa Juge, Paris, France.
Lewis, Mrs. A., Hotel Athens, Athens, O.
Lindh, Miss Mabel V. (Address unknown.)
Lindrooth, Mr. and Mrs. Alvin E., Boston Bldg., Denver, Colo.
Lindrooth, Miss Eleanor, 1377 Carroll Ave., Chicago, Ills.
Lindrooth, Mr. Oscar T., 3458 Elaine Place, Chicago, Ills.
Lindsay, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander P., 14 Trenton Ave., Swissville, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Lindsay, Mr. and Mrs. G. Edgar, 550 Elmer St., E. E., Bellefonte, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Lindsay, Mrs. L. E. (Address unknown.)
Lindsay, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel S., 359 Stratford Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa
Locke, Mr. and Mrs. William Walter, 28 Long Wyre St., Colchester, Eng.
Longstaff, Mr. and Mrs. Fred. E., Earlton, Ont., Can.
Longstaff, Mr. and Mrs. Frank R., 1446 Bloor St., W., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Loomis, Mr. and Mrs. Lyman S., Zanesville, O.
Lucas, Mr. and Mrs. Louis, 173 Rue de Paris, A'Montreuil Sous Bois, Seine, France.

702



Lucas, Mrs. Vve Marie H., 7 Villa Juge, Paris, France.
Lynn, Mrs. William J, 30 Frankish Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Macbeth, Miss Anna, 717 Amberson Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Macbeth, Mr. and Mrs. George A., 717 Amberson Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Macbeth, Miss Helen, 5559 Washington Ave., Chicago, Ills.
McCandless, Mrs. Eliza S., 4740 Bayard St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
McCay, Mr. and Mrs. Charles D. A., 144 Ladywell Rd.. Lewisham, London, S. E., Eng.
McColl, Mr. Duncan. (Address unknown.)
McColl, Mrs. Margaret, Earlton, Ont., Can.
MacDonald, Mrs. Malinda B., 105 Sassafrass St., Erie, Pa.
MacDonald, Mrs. Margaret I., 660 W. 4th St., Erie, Pa.
McGregor, Mr. John, Constance, Ont., Can.
McKague, Mrs. Ida. (Address unknown.)
McKallip, Mrs. L. S., 100 Watkins Ave., Bellevue, Pa.
McKenney, Mrs. Abbie A., 491 Washington St., Abington, Mass.
McKenney, Miss Ida H., 29 Orange St., Abington, Mass.
McLennon, Mrs. Francis, Lakeport, Ont., Can.
McQueen, Miss Florence M., Glenview, Ills.
McQueen, Mr. G. Alexander, Glenview, Ills.
McQueen, Mr. and Mrs. George A.. Glenview, Ills.
McQueen, Mr. Harold P., Glenview, Ills.
McQueen, Miss Olive T., Glenview. Ills.
McQuigg, Miss Emme, Pomeroy, O.
McQuigg, Miss Francie E, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Marelius, Dr. and Mrs. John W., 2329 Cornelia St., Chicago, Ills.
Marshall, Miss Katherine, c/o W. D. Updegraff, 900 Braddock Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Marvin, Mrs. William, 5713 Whittler Ave., Cleveland, O.
Maynard, Mr. Arthur T., Glenview, Ills.
Maynard, Miss Helen, Glenview, Ills.
Maynard, Mr. and Mrs. Henry S., Glenview, Ills.
Maynard, Mr. Henry S., Jr., Glenview, Ills.
Maynard, Mr. J. E., Glenview, Ills.
Merrell, Mr. and Mrs. Charles G., 3595 Wilson Ave., Cincinnati, O.
Miller, Mrs, Park, R. F. D., Columbiana, O.
Mitchell, Miss Eliza, I Livingstone Ave., Yonkers, N. Y.
Moir, Miss Annie, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Moir, Mr. Alexander J., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Moir, Mrs. Mary M., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Morris, Mrs. John, 81 Manwood Rd., Crofton Pk., London, S. W. Eng.
Motum, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur, 79 East Hill, Colchester, Eng.
Mueller, Mrs. Anna A., 1st National Bank Bldg., Meriden, Conn.
Mueller, Miss Emma A., c/o L. V. Reifstahl, 5201 Jefferson Ave.,
Mueller, Mr. Kurt, 15 Forrest Ave., Atlanta, Ga.

703



Munkel, Mr. C. Lewis. 2812 Ruth St, Philadelphia, Pa.
Nathans, Miss Gwendolyn, Fell Farm, Centrebridge, Pa.
Near, Mrs. Mary H., 322 W. 11th St., Erie, Pa.
Nelson, Mr. and Mrs. Alvin E., Glenview, Ills.
Nelson, Miss Adah J., Glenview, Ills.
Nelson, Miss Emilia, Glenview, Ills.
Nelson, Miss Hannah, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Nelson, Mr. Swain, Glenview, Ills.
Nelson, Mr. and Mrs. Seymour G., Glenview, Ills.
Niederer, Miss Anna, Summerville, Ore.
Norris, Miss Elizabeth, Welton Apartments, 335 Melwood St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Norris, Miss Katherine, Welton Apartments, Melwood St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Norris, Mr. and Mrs. William C., 23 Adams St., Akron, O.
Northgraves, Miss Agnes, Berlin, Ont., Can.
Northgraves, Mr. Ivan W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Northgraves, Mr. Walter W., 72 Concord Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can,
Northgraves, Mrs. W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Norton, A. E. (Address unknown.)
Null, Mrs. Joanna J., 5622 Wilkins Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Odhner, Miss Berith, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Odhner, Miss Cyriel Lj., Frejgatan, 6 I., Stockholm, Sweden.
Odhner, Rev. and Mrs. Carl Th., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Olson, Mr. and Mrs. Hall Olof, Lindsborg, Kan.
Orchard, Mrs. Charles, Munhall, Pa.
Osborn, Miss Lulu, Dowagiac, Mich.
Osborne, Mrs. Ida B., 1424 Wilson Ave., Spokane, Wash.
Pagon, Mr. and Mrs. George, Kenora, Ont., Can.
Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Edgar, 502 S. 44th St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Parker, Mr. Ernest F., School Lane, Germantown, Pa.
Parker, Mr. and Mrs. William E., 347 W. 23d St., New York, N. Y.
Pendleton, Miss Amena, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Pendleton, Mr. Alexander S., Valdosta, Ga.
Pendleton, Miss Constance, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Pendleton, Mr. and Mrs. Charles R., Macon, Ga.
Pendleton, Mr. Charles R., Jr., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Pendleton, Miss Eleora, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Pendleton, Miss Emma T., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Pendleton, Miss Freda, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Pendleton, Mr. James C., 219 Ashby St., West End., Atlanta, Ga.
Pendleton, Miss Luelle, Macon, Ga.
Pendleton, Mr. Louis B., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Pendleton, Rev. and Mrs. N. Dandridge, 706 Ivy St., E. E., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Pendleton, Miss Ora, 706 Ivy St., E. E., Pittsburgh, Pa.

704



Pendleton, Miss Philola C., Macon, Ga.
Pendleton, Miss Venita, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Pendleton, Miss Wertha, Bryn Athyn, Pa,
Pendleton, Mr. W. Edmond, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Pendleton, Rt. Rev. and Mrs. William F., Bryn Athyn, Pa
Pendleton, Miss Zella, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Peppier, Miss Annie, Bridgeport, Ont., Can.
Peppier, Mr. Calvin, Bridgeport, Ont., Can.
Peppier, Miss Clara, Bridgeport, Ont., Can.
Petterson, Mr. Anders P., I4Io Nelson Boul., Rockford, Ills.
Pflueger, Mr. Frederick, 2904 Poplar St.. Philadelphia, Pa.
Pierson, Mrs. J. V. L., 1534 Vine St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Pitcairn, Miss Agnes, 350 Stratford Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Pitcairn, Mrs. Alexander, 350 Stratford Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Pitcairn, Mr. David A., 6425 Darlington Rd., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Pitcairn, Mr. John, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Pitcairn, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Pollock, Mrs. Elizabeth A., Pleasant Valley, Wheeling, W. Va.               
Pollock, Mr. Julius, 30 14th St., Wheeling, W. Va.
Pollock, Mr. and Mrs. John D., 137 Cortez St., Chicago, Ills.
Pollock, Mrs. Ophelia C., 4835 Guernsey St., Bellaire, O.
Pollock, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F., 137 Cortez St., Chicago, Ills.
Potter, Mr. and Mrs. John, 148 Butt Rd., Colchester, Eng.
Potts, Miss Annie F., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Potts, Miss Alice K., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Potts, Miss Edith, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Potts, Miss Ellen, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Potts, Miss Jane, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Potts, Miss Lucy E., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Potts, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph, 45. Macdonell Ave., "Toronto, Ont., Can.
Potts, Mr. S. Warren, 34 Shepherd Ave., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Powell, Mi. and Mrs. Arthur H., Great Milts, Md.
Powell, Mr. S. A., Givens, O.
Price, Miss Ethne, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Price, Rev. and Mrs. Enoch S., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Prows, Mrs. Elizabeth, Market St., Brantford. Ont.. Can.
Raymond, Mr. and Mrs. Frank S., Earlton, Ont., Can.
Regnell, Mr. Karl A. L., 309 S. 5th St., Rockford, Ills.
Reid, Mr. and Mrs. William Rruce, St. Johns, Ore.
Reilly, Mrs. Adah B., 327 Fox St., Denver, Colo.
Renkenberger, Miss Alice E., Columbiana, O.
Renkenberger, Miss Altai V., Columbiana, O.
Renkenberger, Mrs. Bertram, Columbiana, O.
Renkenberger, Miss Edna M., Columbiana, O.
Renkenberger, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob, Columbiana, O.
Renkenberger, Miss Laura B., Columbiana, O.

705



Renkenberger, Miss Minnie A., Columbiana, O.
Renkenberger, Miss Pearl L., Columbiana, O.
Renkenberger, Mr. Solomon, Columbiana, O.
Renkenberger, Mr. Tirzah A., Columbiana, O.
Reynolds, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin, 51 S. Gay St., Baltimore, Md.
Rhine, Miss Alice F., 3958 Langley Ave., Chicago, Ills.
Rhodes, Miss Barbara, 616 E. Diamond St., N. S., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Rhodes, Miss Lydia, Greenford, O.
Rhodes, Mrs. Mary, Greenford, O.
Rhodes, Mr. T. O., 616 E. Diamond St., N. S., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Richardson, Dr. Edwin K., 705 Spadina Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Richardson, Mr. and Mrs. William H., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Richey, Miss Janet C., Blairsville, Pa.
Riefstahl, Mr. and Mrs. Louis V., 5201 Jefferson Ave., Chicago, Ill.
Robinson, Mr. Ernest F., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Robinson, Mrs. J. K., 312 Cole St., Camden, N. J.
Robinson, Rev. and Mrs. T. F., 1 The Broadway, Phippsville, Northampton, Eng.
Robinson, Mrs. W. S., 22 Close Ave., Toronto, Ont.     
Roehner, Miss Emma, 4135 Cambridge St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Roehner, Miss Florence A., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Roehner, Miss Sophie E., 4135 Cambridge St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Roehner, Mr. and Mrs. W. Frederic, 4r35 Cambridge St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Roehner, Mr. William John, 4135 Cambridge St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Roschman, Miss Alena, 375 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Roschman, Mr. Carl R., 385 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Roschman, Miss Edith, 385 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Roschman, Miss Emma, 153 Cowan Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Roschman, Mr. Fred. J., 375 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Roschman, Richard, Mr. and Mrs., Waterloo, Ont.
Roschman, Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph, Waterloo, Ont., Can.
Roschman, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel H., c/o Canadian Fishing Co., Vancouver, B. C.
Roschman, Miss Venita, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Rose, Mr. and Mrs. Frank H., 49 High St., S. Norwood, London, Eng.
Rosenqvist, Mr. Bernard. (Address unknown.)
Rothaermel, Mr. and Mrs. John E., 118 Spencer Ave., Toronto. Ont.
Rothaermel, Miss 1Minnie, 174 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Rothaermel, Mr. Theodore, 118 Spencer Ave., Toronto, Ont.
Routier, Mr. G., 70 Rue Julien Lacroix, Paris, France.
Roy, Mrs. A. K., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Saeger, Miss Dorothy M., 5700 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Sanner, Mrs. Lydia A., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Scalbom, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar L., Glenview, Ills.
Schierholtz, Mr. and Mrs. Emil, 349 W. Marion, St., Toronto, Ont.

706



Schmidt, Mrs. Emil, 97 N. Linwood Ave., Crafton, Pa.
Schnarr, Mr. and Mrs. George, 456 King St, W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Schnarr, Mr. and Mrs. John Henry, 350 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Schnarr, Dr. and Mrs. Robert W., 551 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Schnarr, Mrs. Werner, Kenora, Ont., Can.
Schneider, Miss Emily, 161 View St., Meriden, Conn.
Schoenberger, Miss Helena J., 249 Craig St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Schoenberger, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob, 249 Craig St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Schoenberger, Mr. and Mrs. Louis J., 340 Craig St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Schoenberger, Miss Stella E., 249 Craig St., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Schott, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur C. M., 2010 35th St., N. W., Washington,
Schott, Mr. and Mrs. Colon, 809 Provident Bank Bldg., Cincinnati, O.
Schott, Miss Chara M. 2010 35th St.,.N. W., Washington, D. C.
Schroeder, Mr. and Mrs. S. William H., 500 Downing St., Denver, Colo.
Schulds Mr. Nils O., 1530 N. 40th Ave., Chicago, Ills.
Schweitzer Mr. and Mrs. Conrad, Berlin, Ont., Can.
Sehweilzer, Miss Mary, Toronto, Ont., Can.
Schweitzer, Mr. Henry. (Address unknown.)
Schwenk, Mrs. W. Therese, 161 View St., Meriden, Conn.
Schwindt, Miss Celestine, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Schwindt, Miss Ethel M., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Schwindt, Mr. and Mrs. Orlando B., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Scott, Miss Clara M., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Scott, Mr. and Mrs. George, 31 Mary St., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Scott, Mr. Henry, B 1831, Calgary, Alberta, Can.
Searle, Mr. Alfred H., 14 Broadway, High St., Bromley, Kent, Eng.
Sellner, Mr. Anton, 338 6th Ave., New York, N. Y.
Sellner, Mr. Anton, 338 6th Ave., New York, N. Y.
Sellner, Miss Eudora, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Semple, Miss Ida M., Wellsville, O.
Semple, Miss Maude, Middleport, O.
Sharp, Mrs. Herbert H., 200 Highland, Ave., Salem, O.
Sherman, Miss Alice, Sandoval, Ills.
Sherman, Mr. and Mrs. A. H., Sandoval, Ills.
Sherman, Miss Ellen, Sandoval, Ills.
Sherman, Miss Jean, Sandoval, Ills.
Sherman, Mrs. Melissa H., Sandoval, Ills.
Sherman, Mrs. Nellie W., Sandoval, Ills.
Shurtz, Mrs. J. F., 1066 Court St., Sunbury, Pa.
Simons, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel, 1620 N. 62d St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Skinner, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey P., Middleport, O.
Smeal, Miss Florence L., Glenview, Ills.
Smeal, Mr. William J., Glenview, Ills.
Smith, Mr. and Mrs. B. Glenn, 29 Cunningham Place, Atlanta, Ga.

707



Smith, Miss Charlotte, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Smith, Mr. and Mts. Charles S., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Smith, Miss Ersa, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Smith, Rev. and Mrs. Gilbert H., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Smith, Miss Marie L., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Smith, Mr. Reginald C., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Smith, Mr. Royden H., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Smith, Mr. Rowland S., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Smith, Mr. Sobieski C., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Sobieski C., Jr, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.
Snow, Mrs. Wilbur H., 254 Newbury Ave., Atlantic, Mass.
Snow, Miss Zella M. (Address unknown.)
Snyder, Miss Mary, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Soderberg, Mr and Mrs. John, 2728 Brown St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Somerville, Miss Blanche G., 99 Tyndall Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Somerville, Mr and Mrs. James M., 99 Tyndall Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Somerville, Mr. Robert B., 99 Tyndall Ave., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Southgate, Mrs. John, 1864 Race St., Denver, Colo.
Sponseller, Mrs. H. S., Columbiana, O.
Stamps, Miss Agnes, 143 Dowling Ave., Toronto, Ont.
Stamps, Mr. Henry, 63 Lyall Ave., E., Toronto, Ont.
Starkey, Dr. and Mrs. George G., 5412 Madison Ave., Chicago, Ills.
Stebbing, Rev. and Mrs. Ernest J., Congress Heights, Washington, D. C.
Stebbing, Mr. Robert A., 9 Ewhutst Rd., Crofton Pk., London, Eng.
Stebbing, Mrs. Thomas C., 93 Narbonne Ave., S. W., Clapham, London.
Stebbing, Mr. William H., Bryn Athyn; The Beeches, Carshalton, Eng.
Steen, Miss Anna K., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Steen, Miss Daisy, Berlin, Ont., Can.
Steen, Mr. Herbert, Berlin, Ont., Can.
Steen, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac, Berlin, Ont., Can.
Steen, Miss Lillie, Berlin, Ont., Can.
Steiger, Mr. Arnold, 1011 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa
Stevens, Mrs. Ada L., Rutland, O.
Stevens, Mr. Jesse V., 1815 Humboldt Boul., Chicago, Ills.
Stidham, Mr John, 1310 E. 8th St., Erie, Pa.
Stigen, Mr. Thomas, Birmingham, Snohomish Co., Washington.
Streich, Mr and Mrs. Frank. (Address unknown.)
Stroh, Mr. Alfred H., Odengaten 47, Stockholm, Sweden.
Stroh, Miss Cornelia El, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Stroh, Mr. Emanuel, 72 Foundry St., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Stroh, Mr. and Mrs. Emil F., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Stroh, Miss Edna L.. Waterloo, Ont., Can.
Stroh, Mrs. Henry G., Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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Stroh, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob G., Waterloo, Ont., Can.
Stroh, Miss Ora E., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Strutz, Mrs. Marie, 48 Boulevard Pipus, Paris, France.
Sullivan, Miss Rebecca E., 527 Jackson, Ave., Jersey City, N. J.
Synnestvedt, Miss Aurora, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Synnestvedt, Rev. and Mrs. Homer, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Synnestvedt, Mr. and Mrs. John B., Glenview, Pa.
Synnestvedt, Mr. and Mrs. Paul, 6214 Wellesley Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa..
Taylor, Miss Ellen E., 193 Washington St., Abington, Mass.
Tenley, Mrs. Lutie, 231 Division St., Bellevue, Newport, Ky.
Thairgen, Mrs. Richard, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Theyken, Mr. and Mrs. Charles F., 410 Union St., Allentown, Pa.
Thomas, Miss Minnie C., 131 N. 16th St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Trautman, Mr. and Mrs. August J., 39 Branch St., Allegheny, Pa.
Trautman, Mr. George A., 39 Branch St., Allegheny, Pa.
Trimble, Mr. Rowland, B., 216 E. Eager St., Baltimore, Md.
Tyler, Mr. and Mrs. George W., 2308 15th St., Denver, Colo.
Tyler, Mrs. Sylvia E., 2801 Quitman St., Denver, Colo.
Van Horn, Mr. and Mrs. John Fred'k, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.
Van Horn, Mr. and Mrs. Walter F., Huntingdon Valley, Pa.
Van Horn, Mr. William O., Bryn Athyn; Pa.
Van Sickle, Mr. Dukeen, North Bend, Pa.
Van Sickle, Mr. Dallas E., North Bend, Pa.
Vickroy, Miss Laura H., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Vinet, Mr. and Mrs. Camille, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Waelchli, Miss Alma, Flower Hospital, New York, N. Y.
Waelchli, Rev. and Mrs. Fred E., 380 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Waelchli, Mr. Homer A., Okemah, Okla.
Waelchli, Miss India N., c/o Mrs. W. R. Coffee, Chapgequa, N. Y.
Waelchli, Mrs. John, 508 Lumber St., Allentown, Pa.
Waelchli, Mr. Noah L., 508 Lumber St., Allentown, Pa.
Waelchli, Mr. Loah L.,1508 Lumber St., Allentown, Pa.
Waelchli, Miss Olivia, 380 King St., W., Berlin, Ont., Can.
Walker, Mrs. Annie M., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Walker, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert B., 1225 N. 29th St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Walker, Mrs. William, Cor. Danford and Cedarvale Aves., Toronto, Ont., Can.
Wallenberg, Miss Clara, 224 N. Hamlin Ave., Chicago, Ills.
Wallenberg, Miss Ellen V., 224 N. Hamlin Ave., Chicago, Ills.
Walls, Miss Laura, Palmer Home, Dover, Del.
Ward, Mrs. Hanna G., 861 E. 10th St., Erie, Pa.
Waters, Mr. and Mrs. Edward John, 212 Croxted Rd., Herne Hill, London, S. E., Eng.
Waters, Mr. and Mrs. James, 164 Loughboro Rd., Brixton, London, S. W., Eng.
Waters, Miss Kathleen, 164 Loughboro Rd., London, S. W., Eng.
Waters, Miss Margery, I64 Loughboro Rd., Brixton, London, S. W., Eng.

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Waters, Miss May, 164 Loughboro Rd., Brixton, London, Eng.
Webster, Mr. and Mrs. J. S. (Address unknown.)
Weirbach, Mr. and Mrs. Charles D., 708 N. 6th St., Allentown, Pa
Wells, Mr. Arthur B., Field Station, Lycoming Co., Pa.
Wells, Mr. John A., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Wells, Mr. Leroy S., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Wells, Miss Marjorie, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Wells, Miss Volita, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Whitehead, Rev. William, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Wiedinger, Mrs. Mary L., 1240 W. 15th St., Chicago, Ills.
Wiley, Mr. and Mrs. W. H., 642 Neil Ave., Columbus, O.
Williams, Mrs. Carrie W., Middleport, O.
Williams, Mr. Leo C., Middleport, O.
Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Francis, 454 W. Marion St., Toronto, Ont.
Witham, Mrs. Martha A. (Address unknown.)
Woelfle, Mr. Oscar M., 328 Arlington Ave., Jersey City, N. J.
Woods, Mrs. Albert S., 317 Homer Ave., Youngstown, O.
Woofenden, Mr. and Mrs. Francis E., Mull, Ont., Can.
Woofenden, Mrs. Catherine, W., Mull, Ont., Can.
Wright, Mr. Samuel B., 218 9th St., N. E., Washington, D. C.
Wunderlin, Mr. Archie C., Columbiana, O.
Wunderlin, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, Columbiana, O.
Xandry, Miss A. M. Elizabeth, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Yarnall, Mr. Bennet K., Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Zeppenfeld, Mr. William E., Philadelphia, Pa.
Zeppenfeld, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H., 1386 Greenup St., Covington, KY.
Ziegler, Miss Laura E., 4043 Green St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Ziegler, Miss Marie K., c/o Mrs. Jesse Burt, Glenview, Ills.
Title Unspecified 1911

Title Unspecified              1911



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711


PRE-ESSENTIAL TO HEALTH 1911

PRE-ESSENTIAL TO HEALTH       Rev. JOHN FAULKNER POTTS       1911


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXI NOVEMBER, 1911          No. 11
     The very interesting article on "The Philosophy of Disease and Cure" in the August and September numbers of the Life brings to view the teachings of Swedenborg both in the Writings and in his scientific works in relation to what the writer of the article calls "the concordant action of higher planes with the body." And the writer declares his belief to be that this concordant action of the higher planes is the pre-essential to health. In so far as this point is concerned I think that every intelligent reader will agree with the learned writer of the article in question. I for one do so, and I will endeavor to show from a remarkable statement in Swedenborg's great work on the Creation. of the Universe which he entitled ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM, that this view of the subject of the cure of disease is not only true, but is of importance so great that nothing connected with the subject could possibly be of greater importance.

     The statement I refer to occurs in the Second Part of this ANGELIC WISDOM, which treats of the Spiritual Sun and the part it has played and still plays in the creation of the universe. In numbers 135 to 139 Swedenborg devotes a whole chapter to the subject of the way in which with certain people all the interiors of both mind and body are turned to the Lord as a Sun, and he says that this is the case with the angels of heaven that these have a mind composed of will and understanding, and that the interiors of these are their interior affections and thoughts. He says further that the angels have bodies and faces as well as minds, that the interiors of their faces are their brains, and the interiors of their bodies are the viscera contained in them, the leading organs of which are the heart and lungs, and that all these interiors of both the mind and the body are with the angels turned to the Lord as a Sun.

712


He goes on to show that this being the case with the interiors of the angels, the same must also be the case with their exteriors of both mind and body.

     So far all is clear, plain, and easy. It is what every intelligent reader of the Writings would expect to be the case. But Swedenborg does not stop here, but most astonishing to say goes on to declare that the like is the case with a man also, provided that he has the Lord constantly before his eyes, which is the case if he is in love and wisdom; that is to say, that with him too all things of both his mind and his body are turned to the Lord as a Sun; and that this turning to the Lord is an actual turning, being a kind of elevation, the effect of which is that the man is raised into the heat and light of heaven, which cause love and wisdom to flow into the interiors of his mind, and the heat and light of heaven into the interiors of his body.

     This being the case it is evident that Mr. Iungerich is most emphatically correct in saying that the concordant action of higher planes with the body is the pre-essential to health, for there can be no question that if it is possible for a man to turn "all things of his body" to the Lord as a Sun, and to keep them so turned, as we are here told it is possible for him to do, then it is also possible for him to enjoy the pre-essential to health, even in his body, his natural body. To doubt this would be to imagine that the spiritual sun can shine upon all things of a man's body and leave some of them in a state of disorder and disease. It would be to think it possible for "the heat and light of heaven" to flow into the interior things of man's natural body without expelling from it everything that is contrary to this heat and light. We know that even in the realms of nature all things that are in order are impelled to turn to the sun of nature. Every tree, shrub and plant will do this if it is free to do it; every flower will do it, every fruit, and every leaf will do it if it can. And we also know that the effect of so turning is always good health, good growth, and good fruit, in so far as the turning itself is concerned.

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How much more must this be the case with all the myriad forms within the human body when they are turned to the Lord as a Sun, and receive from Him into all their varied organizations the heat and light of heaven. Surely this must indeed be the pre-essential to health.

     That the heat and light of heaven can be thus turned into all things of our natural bodies on condition that we are in love and wisdom, is plainly declared in the sixteenth Psalm, where we read the very striking words, "I have set the Lord always before Me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved." These words are for men on earth; they are put into our own mouths by Him who has written every word of them: "I have set the Lord always before me."

     The Lord as a Sun shines at a middle altitude in the east of heaven, and never varies from this position; it neither rises nor sets, nor moves in any other way. Therefore the man who can truly say that he has set the Lord always before him can also say that he has turned his spirit toward the east of heaven, and keeps it turned there all the time. Moreover it is a fact that although the angels can turn their bodies about in all directions precisely as we can, yet it still remains true that they always have the Lord as a Sun before their eyes, for although this would be impossible in a world of fixed space such as the one in which we live, it is perfectly easy in the spiritual world, where there is no fixed space, but only an appearing of space.

     And we all know for a fact that this is really the case, because we constantly find that no matter where we kneel down to pray to the Lord, and no matter how we may turn our body about, we always have the Lord before us as soon as we raise our minds to Him. In heaven this is a visible fact, plain to the senses, as in this world it is plain to the mind. But of course no one can set the Lord always before him who does not love the Lord with all his heart and mind, because the spirit of a man always turns toward his love, and therefore when a man enters the spiritual world and takes a walk, he walks toward that which he loves, for this is the direction in which his spiritual body is turned. If he loves the Lord with all his heart he then walks toward the east, for this is where the Lord as a Sun is always shining; but if he loves himself with all his heart he then turns his back toward the east and walks away from the Lord as a Sun, and in this way every one after death goes in a different direction to his own place of his own free will.

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     From all this it follows that it is not a slight and easy thing to set the Lord always before us. To set Him before us In so unswerving a manner that we never let Him go from our sight is what no one can do until he is far advanced in the regenerate life. It is possible for the angels to do it, but not for us until we have learned to do it, by constantly trying to live a life according to the Lord's will, and thus have come to love Him with all our hearts. "If ye love Me keep My commandments." This is the method and the only method. "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me."

     And from this it follows again that it will always be impossible for us to turn all things of our natural bodies to the Lord as a Sun, and to keep them so turned, until we have fulfilled the necessary condition by coming into a state of love and wisdom. No doubt we may be able to turn some things of these bodies to the Lord as a Sun as soon as we begin to live the regenerate life, and by so doing we may begin to secure for ourselves in some measure this pre-essential to health; and no doubt as we make progress in the regenerate life we can in the same proportion advance in what must always be the only radical cure of our diseases, that namely which is due to the flowing of the heat and light of heaven into our natural bodies. But still it is to be feared that
in these early days of the Lord's New Church the members of it will on the whole not appear to be appreciably better in bodily health than any one else who lives a decent and orderly outward life, but who knows little or nothing about the Lord and cares as little.

     It is, I think, perfectly evident that inasmuch as the origin of disease has been internal, so the real cure of it must also be internal. The origin of disease is evil. Our minds are full of hereditary tendencies to evil, and therefore our bodies are full of hereditary tendencies to disease. The one corresponds to the other. The regeneration of the mind being the cure for the one, the regeneration of the body must be the cure for the other. No cure can he considered to be real and sufficient which leaves the body open to a subsequent attack of the same disease, for if the body is thus open to another attack, this must be because the tendency to the disease in question still remains in it.

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Therefore it is plain that what is needed is something that will go to the very root of the matter, that will act upon the body from within, and will thus remove from it that diseased condition which forms the basis of the actual attack and outbreak of bodily illness, and this internal curative agent is, I think, undoubtedly pointed to in this memorable chapter of the DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, as being the heat and light of heaven which flow into all things of the natural body with those who have the Lord constantly before them, and who consequently have all things of their natural bodies turned to the Lord as a Sun. For "unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings."

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MANY MANSIONS 1911

MANY MANSIONS       Rev. E. E. IUNGERICH       1911

     "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.)

     Love or the will prepares all things in its human form in order that it may be able to act conjointly with wisdom or the understanding. It is so with the regenerating man whose ruling love bends all the subordinated affections into acting in consonance with the truths of Revelation that constitute his wisdom and understanding. It is so with the wife who bends and adapts her own and her husband's affections that they may act conjointly with their united understanding in which the male wisdom takes the lead. It is so again in the conjunction between the Lord and His Church; for the Lord, who is Love itself, has continually elaborated, modified, and accommodated the Divine sphere, the Divine Human transflux through the heavens, in order to prepare in it dwellings suitable to the varying characteristics of the human race, in which to live to eternity in a partnership of uses. "In my Father's house," He says, that is, IN THE HEAVEN FORM OF THE DIVINE WILL, "are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you."

     It was so, supremely, in the progression of the human on earth towards union with the indwelling Father. The Lord superinduced upon His former Divine Human a human assumed from a finite mother, and then glorified the latter by gradually replacing what was of the mother by that which was from the Divine. The former Divine Human was the Father's house in which there are many mansions, because in Him infinite things are distinctly one. This former Divine Human is the human form of the Divine Will. In this human form all things were prepared by the Lord in order that the assumed Divine Wisdom or Understanding might be introduced into it, and the Father thereafter act conjointly with the Son.

     How it is with this preparation or disposal by the love of its human form, so as to draw upon it, as a covering, perceptions of wisdom or thoughts of the understanding which shall execute more fully the behests of the master love, can be seen and comprehended only by analogies.

717


The analogy given in the Writings is the preparation and disposal of the lungs by the heart so that they may work together in the same body. This analogy was used by an angel of the Most Ancient Church in his reply to Swedenborg who had commented upon the unity of souls observable in the faces of the man and his wife. "We are one," he said; her life is in me, and mine in her; we are two bodies, but one soul. The union between us is like that of the two sanctuaries in the breast, which are called the heart and the lungs; she is my heart and I am her lungs; but as by the heart we here mean love, and by the lungs wisdom, she is the love of my wisdom, and I am the wisdom of her love; wherefore her love from without veils my wisdom, and my wisdom from within is in her love. Hence, as you said, there is an appearance of the unity of our souls in our faces."

     The same analogy is elsewhere used to denote the union of love and wisdom in the individual man. The heart with all its vessels throughout the body corresponds to the will, its blood corresponding to the love and affections which constitute the life of the will. The lungs, trachea, larynx, and tongue correspond to the understanding; and the respiration by the intake of air through these organs corresponds to the life of the understanding. (DIV. WISDOM x:3.) Everything in the body is connected with both heart and lungs; with the heart by blood vessels, and with the lungs by ligaments, muscles, and ribs. (D. L. W. 403.) The pulse of the heart, corresponding to the life of the will, is communicated everywhere in the human body which is the form of the will. The respiration of the lungs is also transmitted everywhere throughout the body as movements of the attached ligaments, etc., and these movements, passed upwards along the nerves and membranes to the cerebrum, enable the latter to remain in a concordant animation with the lungs. In the conjoint operations of heart and lungs, the heart takes the lead in motions, and the lungs in sensations. (DIV. WIS. x:4) Since the source of motions is in the motor impulses of the efferent nerves, which themselves originate in the movements or affections of the will, it is evident why the heart is said to correspond to the will; and as the goal of sensations is, via the efferent nerve, the cortical glands which constitute the vessel for the understanding, it may be seen why the lungs are said to correspond to the understanding.

718


Motor-impulses and sensations are respectively the seats of will and understanding; and pulse and respiration are their corresponding activities in the lower sphere.

     Consider now how the heart prepares everything in its body so that it may act conjointly with the lungs in that body. A grasp of this will show as in a mirror how the will prepares everything in its spiritual human form so as to act therein conjointly with wisdom or the understanding.

     Embryology teaches that the heart first forms the lungs and then weaves the entire body before the lungs receive life, (D. L. W. 402). In this way it first prepares everything in the body, and then at the birth of the child, the lungs are waked by the inrush of air from without, and are introduced as origins of respiration and membrane movement throughout the previously prepared body. So on the higher plane; the life of the will and the life of the understanding begin to act together in spiritual birth, as the pulse of heart and respiration of lungs do in the new born child. The heart sends its blood to the as yet unopened lungs, from the lower auricle along an artery which is a projection of the heart's covering membrane. The white lungs, upon reception of the blood, become red. In the same way, the life of the will flows into the understanding and makes its inmost life, and the understanding, provided it has been prepared by instruction from without, opens spontaneously to receive this current. The will through the influx of its love then produces by co-operations in the understanding, first affections, which are proper to the will or love, then perceptions and finally thoughts with ideas. (Div. Wis. X 1.) So on the lower plane, the influx of blood from the heart produces first an activity among the lungs' blood vessels, which are proper to the heart or pulse, and, subsequently, activities in the air passages.

     The conjunction of heart and lungs is reciprocal; as is illustrated, first, by the need that the lungs be aroused by outside air before they call receive the heart's blood, and, secondly, by the fact that the lungs return this blood after pet-forming the use of purification upon it. (Div. Wis. X 2.)

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The life of the understanding co-operates with the life of the will in a similar manner, the use of the former being to correct and purify the latter.

     If the lungs from preference select aliments from the atmosphere that are not injurious, there is added to the blood in the lungs what is pure and homogeneous as a replacement for the feculent, decayed, and noxious gases excreted by the lungs. In the spiritual world where internals invariably clothe themselves with the corresponding externals, a good spirit draws in fragrant odors with delight, and abhors bad odors of every kind; whereas an evil spirit shuns fragrant odors and finds delight in inhaling such odors, for instance, as come from carcasses.

     Even on earth a similar thing obtains to a certain extent. The blood being spiritual in its inmosts, (which are the stream of animal spirit), and corporeal in its outmosts, it follows that they who are spiritual intuitively nourish the blood from such things in nature as correspond to things spiritual; whereas those who are merely natural, nourish it from such things in nature as correspond to the natural. (Div. Wis. X. 6.) It follows, therefore, that the very blood of a regenerating man is different from that of an unregenerate man, the basic ground of it being the divergence of the two with regard to the love of the will and the wisdom of the understanding. In the regenerating man there is love of good and understanding of truth therefrom, but in the unregenerate there is love of evil and understanding of falsity therefrom. Since now, with the regenerating, the love of the will is purified by the understanding in a manner analogous to the way in which the lungs remove impurities from the heart's blood, and is further perfected and exalted by the substances given to it from the understanding, as the lungs add volatile substances to the heart's blood,--it must follow that with an unregenerated man the opposite will be the case. His understanding will not purify his heart's will, being averse to self-examination and unwilling to confess that there are evils to be removed. Nor will it add any pure elements to it, for the understanding of such a one finds no pleasure in the genuine truths of revelation, or if it does occasionally meditate on these, it is only to pass them over to the will, perverted by the lusts of profit, gain, or self-interest.

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     Transfer now the arcana of this correspondence to the union of husband and wife. As the heart cannot transmit its blood to the lungs until the latter have been awakened from without, so it is seemly that the man should court his bride before she makes known her choice of him. In making her choice, she is guided by the love of a wisdom able to lead and purify the impulses of her affections, able to supply the intellectual nourishment that will renew and reinvigorate their spiritual life, the life of the will of the two. In the preparation for the common life of the two it is necessary on her part that she be willing to have the impulses of her affections corrected, willing to have them thus reinvigorated. It is necessary at the same time that the man should have a genuine love of imbibing the truths of revelation, that he should love to accommodate and adapt these to her states according to her needs, always meeting and ministering to them gently, and that he should be willing to keep the form of his wisdom plastic under the touch of that tender love that veils it from without. The woman is created a form of conjugial love, love of the church, love of truth, love of children. When led by the Lord, she is given the intuition and prudence to recognize the consort for and with whom the mansions of their loves can be inhabited, and then to prepare these mansions, while she governs his impulses, so that they may act conjointly in them. Then "her love," as the angel said, "veils my wisdom from without, and my wisdom from within is in her love."

     Apply now the arcana of this correspondence on the supreme of all planes, the Divine. The Lord's love, the Father, willed to prepare all things in His own form, all the mansions, in order that the glorified Human might be introduced into these. There had to be in the assumed Human a preparation from without, and also an obedience to the will of the Father. But the end and purpose of this introduction was that His love might act conjointly with the glorified Human; and the object of this was the salvation of the human race. "I go to prepare a place for you." Notice the affection here and in the preceding words, "If it were not so, I would have told you."

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It is not the Son which was the object of the Father's love, but the human race which the Son was sent to save; that is, a Wisdom was acquired by and to which the human race could be conjoined and saved. As the Father introduced the Son into all the mansions of His love, so into the same mansions human beings will come and there see God if they had in charity acknowledged Jesus Christ to be that God. It is in the Divine Sphere, the Holy Spirit, that the regenerate find their mansions. The Lord while on earth passed through every mansion that would subsequently be in that sphere. Armed by each and every truth of revelation, made active with Him by the will to live it as an act of obedience to the Divine Love within Him, He subdued and dispelled the falsities that strengthened the encroaching hells and infested the heavens with the belief that the said truth was not a mirror of Himself. "Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

     Each of these truths remains on earth as a mirror of the Lord; and if we will but learn these truths and live according to them, we will see God and dwell in the mansions where those truths are made active in heavenly uses.

     It is the wish and object of all who sincerely love the New Church that our young men and women should fit themselves by a study of the Doctrines and a life in accordance with them to enter into the mansions of these heavenly uses, to enter them, each with his consort, in a life of conjugial love which is the fullness of heaven upon earth. If each of us, husband and wife, is awake to the urgent need of the Doctrines in our lives, then the failures and neglects of the past are as nothing, and the whole future is before our united life; and, what is equally comforting, as a result of acting conjointly from religion, our sphere which sustains the tender children committed to our care, will guard them from straying so far as we did, before they enter into the fullness of a life for heaven.

     "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple."

     "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."

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EVIL THE ORIGIN OF DISEASE 1911

EVIL THE ORIGIN OF DISEASE       GEORGE M. COOPER       1911

     So long as disease has existed there has been a countless variety of opinions offered in explanation of its cause. Each of these theories has soon been superceded by new assumptions, usually based upon hypothetical argument and destined to a brief existence. Hand in hand with this kaleidoscopic change m medical thought relative to the cause of disease there have sprung up numerous systems of cure, each designed specifically to remove its corresponding gratuitously constructed form of disease. As a result the science of Medicine, in the past and as now acknowledged, is, I unhesitatingly declare, one of the most theoretical and consequently unreliable of the sciences.

     In general two schools of thought have prevailed, and the various explanations given to account for the morbid phenomena under which the human body labors at intervals easily fall in line with the declared teachings of one or the other of these two schools. We have what I may call the Materialistic School of Medicine and opposed to it the Vitalistic School, each closely following the corresponding schools of thought in universal science; the Mechanistic and the Vitalistic.

     The breech between these two schools is great; the one representing the synthetic method of reasoning and the other the analytic. The Mechanists in their research proceed from the outer material world and by means of physico-chemical experiments attempt to explain the inner world. They believe that there is no limit to their reach into interior nature, microscopically, physically or chemically. So agreeable have been many of their explanations of the gross processes of life that they now freely make the assertion that "the assumption of a specific vital force in every form is not only wholly superfluous, but inadmissable" (VERWORN, p. 46.)

     The Vitalists claim a special or vital force within nature and make this the basis of their arguments, reasoning from it to the outer world. They claim that "all processes in the organism which may be explained mechanically are no more phenomena of life than are the movements of the leaves and branches of a tree that is shaken by the storm, or the movement of the pollen that the wind wafts from the male poplar to the female." (BUNGE)

723




     The two schools seem irreconcilable. Verworn, a Mechanist, while acknowledging "that thus far many, especially the elementary and general vital phenomena, have defied all chemicophysical explanation," still believes that modern methods of research will in time account for all vital phenomena. But Bunge answers, with equal certainty, "the more thoroughly and conscientiously we endeavor to study biological problems, the more are we convinced that even those processes which we have regarded as explicable by chemical and physical laws are in reality more complex and at present defy any attempt at a mechanical explanation."

     Thus the war wages between the two schools but with the tide of victory well turned toward the camp of the Mechanists.

     As I previously remarked, these two schools of thought have not been without their influence on the science of Medicine and we see disease considered in the light of Mechanistic reasoning or of Vitalistic reasoning.

     The Materialistic or Mechanistic School of Medicine views disease from the microscope and the test tube. In the early days of medicine they hunted the Prima causa morbi with the naked eye, and the search still goes on. In modern analysis, disease has been reduced to a specific poison, which enters from without and its cure is the antidote of that poison. The play of any interior force is denied, susceptibility is being ignored and a cruel, hard, unyielding school of medicine holds the life and happiness of the majority of mankind in a hand of iron that daily wrings innocent blood in its inexorable grasp.

     The Vitalistic School of Medicine, especially since the time of Samuel Hahnemann (2775-1843) has developed along the lines of the Vitalistic School of thought. Let the quote a few words from the founder of Homoeopathy. After stating that a "spirit like force (dynamis) animates the material body, and by it all its parts are maintained wonderfully in harmonious vital process, both in feelings and functions, in order that our intelligent mind may be free to make the living, healthy, bodily medium subservient to the higher purposes of our being," Hahnemann says:

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     Paragraph 11. In sickness this spirit-like, self-acting (automatic) vital force, omnipresent in the organism, is alone primarily deranged by the dynamic influence of some morbific agency inimical to life. Only this abnormally modified vital force can excite morbid sensations in the organism, and determine the abnormal functional activity which we call disease. This force, itself invisible, becomes perceptible only through its effects upon the organism, makes known and has no other way of making known its morbid disturbance to the observer and physician than by the manifestation of morbid feelings and functions; that is, by symptoms of disease in the visible material organism.

     Paragraph 12. Diseases are produced only by the morbidly disturbed vital force.

     It is not my desire here to enter into a discussion of those principles for which the Homeopathic school of medicine in its purity has stood since the time of Hahnemann. As a school of Vitalists, Homeopathy has received the almost universal support of the New Church. For its noble and persistent fight against the spirit of materialism it merits our profound admiration. We believe the law "similia similibus curantur" to be the true law of cure, based upon corresponding principles operating during the regeneration of the spirit of man. But when the thoughtful Newchurchman investigates the philosophy of Homeopathy he finds that there is something lacking. The obscure doctrine of the vital force is not satisfying; the explanation of drug potency and action is vague and indefinite. Consequently the Writings of Hahnemann are not of authority to us and mean nothing more than the convictions of an honest, earnest worker in medicine imbued in a remarkable way with a perception of the truth.

     We therefore, as in all the other sciences, must seek for the truth of medicine in the Writings of the New Church. Here, and here alone, are we sure of our ground. The Mechanistic School is seen in its true light; man is no longer thought of as a mere machine with energy measured in units of horse-power. The Vitalistic school nourished upon the abstruse doctrine of the vital force has supplied to it the missing links in the chain of life and from it like a moth from a chrysalis, warmed in the heat of spring, breaks forth a new science of medicine with wings of truth shimmering before the sight.

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     Let us now turn our attention to the Writings and see what light they throw upon this most perverted and misunderstood subject, the cause of disease.

     In the ARCANA COELESTIA, n. 5711, we read: " . . . all diseases with man have correspondence with the spiritual world; for whatever in the whole of nature has not correspondence with the spiritual world has no existence, having no cause from which it can exist, consequently from which it can subsist. The things which are in nature are mere effects, their causes are in the spiritual word. . . . An effect cannot subsist unless the cause be continually in it; for on the cessation of the cause the effect ceases."

     The teaching in this passage is plain enough; it is one of the fundamental and universal teachings of the Doctrines that all things whatsoever in the natural world have their cause in the spiritual world.

     But what is it in the spiritual world that lies at the origin of natural disease. We have further teaching on this point.

     All the infernals induce diseases. Heaven keeps all things in connection and safety. Hell destroys and rends all things asunder; consequently if the infernals are applied they induce diseases and at length death. (A. C. 5713.)

     This is another well known Doctrine of the church, that diseases come from hell and are due to the influx of the infernals there.

     But now the lines draw closer and the question becomes more obscure. In fact, I might say that up to the present time very few understand much more about disease than these first two general propositions. Yet there are laws involved here that are of vital interest to every individual; laws which relate to the preservation of the health of each and every one.

     In the SPIRITUAL DIARY, 2439, it is said: "everyone draws diseases upon himself from the evil of life." And in the ARCANA, 5772: "Diseases correspond to the lusts and passions of the mind; these therefore are the origins of diseases I for the common origins of diseases are intemperances, luxuries of various kinds, pleasures merely corporeal, also envy, hatred, revenge, lasciviousness and the like, which destroy a man's interiors, and when these are destroyed, the exteriors suffer and draw him into disease and thereby into death. . . ."

     A similar statement is made in S. D. 4592, but with the addition of anxiety about the future as a cause.

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     It must be evident to everyone that the infernals art: not unbridled and without provocation permitted to blight the human race with suffering and death. It is true that they would like to do this, but the statement is "that man draws disease upon himself from the evil of life."

     How, therefore, is it possible, man acceding and preparing the way, for evil spirits to inflow into the physical body and produce natural disease? There must be definite organic channels or planes capable of receiving this corrupt current from hell. Where are these channels and what is their nature?

     Here again we have the teaching of the Writings to guide us. "As death comes from no other source than sin, and sin is all that which is contrary to divine order, it is from this ground that evil closes the smallest and altogether invisible vessels [of the human body], of which the next greater vessels,--which are also invisible,--are composed; for the smallest and altogether invisible vessels are continued to a man's interiors; hence come the first and inmost obstructions and hence the first and inmost vitiation in the blood. This vitiation when it increases causes disease and at length death. But if a man had lived the good of life, in this case his interiors would be open to heaven and through heaven to the Lord; thus also the smallest and invisible vessels, (it is allowable to call the first lineaments of the first stamina, vessels, by reason of correspondence), would be open also, and hence the man would be without disease, and would only decrease to ultimate old age, until he became altogether an infant, but a wise one." (A. C. 5726; S. D. 4592)

     We must seek, therefore, for the first of disease in the natural body, the first organic planes receptive of infernal influx, in the fittest lineaments in the brain, the first fibers there, and with these we are familiar. But now the question is asked, In what manner does the evil of life close the finest vessels of the cortex? How does it close them to heaven and open them to hell, and what is the exact process of the opening and closing? There must be some physical change in the lay of the fibre, some actual, organic structural difference in a fibre open to heaven and closed to hell, and one open to hell and closed to heaven. What is this? we ask.

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     In A. E., 1163, we read: " . . . the interiors of all things of the human mind, and with them the interiors of all things of the spirit, are capable of being turned either downwards or upwards; they are turned downwards when man loves himself above all things, and they are turned upwards when he loves the Lord above all things. This is an actual turning . . . The reigning love is what turns.

     "Evils and their falsities have their seat in the natural mind, because that mind is, in form or image, a world; while the spiritual mind in its form or image is a heaven, and in heaven evil cannot be entertained. The natural mind with all its belongings is coiled into gyres from right to left, but the spiritual mind into gyres from left to right; the two thus curving in directions contrary to each other,--a proof that evil has its seat in the natural mind, and of itself acts against the spiritual mind. Moreover, the gyration from right to left is turned downward, thus towards hell, but the gyration from left to right tends upward, thus toward heaven. This was made evident to me by the fact that an evil spirit can gyrate his body only from right to left, not from left to right; while a good spirit can gyrate his body from right to left only with difficulty, but with ease from left to right. Gyration follows the flow of the interiors, which belong to the mind." (D. L. W. 270.)

     Here then is the final link in the chain. The ruling love in man determines how the spiral twist of the finest fibres of the brain shall flow. By the evil of life there is an actual turning of these fibres from right to left. This is the whirl of evil spirits, to this gyre only does their body fit. Now add to this the further fact that they do adjoin themselves to the body whenever opportunity is given and we readily see how natural diseases have their origin in the spiritual world.

     "When man appropriates evil to himself he procures to himself a sphere of that evil. To this sphere the spirits from hell who are in like evil adjoin themselves, for like is conjoined to like." (A. C. 6206.)

     In conclusion I desire to reiterate an oft-repeated expression of gratitude for the privilege of seeing the wonderful and profound truths revealed in the Writings. Our deeper sight is made keenly alive by them. The Mechanistic school with its fallacies and materialism is revealed in its true light; the Vitalistic school, clinging to a ray of truth, vague, obscure, unsatisfying, is placed on its proper footing. Or I had better say, it gives way to a new school of Vitalism, full of strength, and hope, firm in its conviction, because based on the rock of truth.

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BODIES OF SPIRITS AND ANGELS 1911

BODIES OF SPIRITS AND ANGELS       W. REY GILL       1911

     We are all familiar with those oft-repeated statements of the Writings of the New Church which teach that man after death is in the human form; that he has a body, and that he appears just like a man still living upon earth; but there is also a class of statements on this subject which seem--until recently--not to have received their due consideration in the Church. I refer to those passages which appear to teach that though after death man retains the human form, he does not have a body in the shape to which we are accustomed in this life. Such passages are numerous, there being over thirty in the SPIRITUAL DIARY alone. Permit me to quote a few by way of preface to this paper:--

     Those who come into the other life at first suppose that they are surely still in the body, and wonder much when they are told that they are not in the body, nor clothed with a body. (S. D., 2330.)
Spirits have no other perception than that . . . they have a body, with skin, bones, blood, etc.; whereas it was shown to them that they cannot retain those things which are of no use (to them); that they have hair, and also feet upon which they stand, and other things; whence it would follow that they have viscera, as the belly, intestines, bladder, etc., of which, however, they have no need. (S. D. 355)

     They (the spirits) suppose they are endowed with a body and have hands because they perceive touch. Then one said that this is not a phantasy, because he feels his hand touching it . . . but his hand can be taken away from him, and a new one substituted in its place, yea many hands be added to him, and he not knowing: differently, and can deny it to be a phantasy, because he sees and touches it. (S. D. 2985.)

     When a certain (spirit) . . . conversed with me, he appeared to me as though 'he moved his lips; which, when I mentioned it to him, he said that he spoke to me with his lips; but when, in reply, I told him that spirits have no lips, and that consequently he could not speak with the lips, he nevertheless persisted, until he was instructed by a lively demonstration, that it was not so, but that it was a representation of lips. (S. D. 1342.)

     They think that they have garments, and entertain various other conceits, some of which are ridiculous. (S. D. 4360.)

     Very many similar examples are given us of what are termed the phantasies of spirits, such as that some spirits feel a sense of shame when they learn that they have no garments (S. D. 355); that they feel bodily pains, cold and heat, even perspirations; also bodily cupidities and appetites (S. D. 3664); that they ride in carriages (S. D. 2985), and dwell in houses with all the usual furniture and utensils (S. D. 2447); etc., etc.

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     But though we are taught that these corporeal imaginings of spirits are phantasies, it must not be supposed that this implies that their sensations of them are any less real than in the world. Quite the contrary. Having lost as it were the sheath of the material body, they still retain all their senses, and feel and sensate much more keenly after death than before; for it is the spirit of man that sensates, even while he is in the body. In the SPIRITUAL DIARY, n. 1343, we read:-

     It is indeed said that (the sensations of spirits) are not real, because not such as in the world; it is sufficient that a soul, spirit or angel is utterly unconscious of its being otherwise, and this with every sense;--thus if he were to touch he would have the sense of feeling. If this were not so, what would be the life after death, or the life of the soul? For without exquisite sensation there is no life. The intellectual principle of a man must he exquisitely susceptible of sensation . . . wherefore the acuteness of sensation rises according to degrees; although those who are in the heavens are, at the same time, regardless of such (external objects), and consequently make no account of them . . . but when their attention is drawn to them they instantly have such (an exquisite sense).

     With angels there are real appearances, because those things which they see and sensate correctly represent and correspond to their internal states; but appearances with evil spirits are not real, for to each other their bodies and surroundings do not appear as they would if such things corresponded to the internal states of the evil ones. It is a merciful provision of the Lord that they should thus be left in their phantasies. We are also taught that for the angels to receive such things as food, clothing, houses, etc., which appear as these things do in the world, though of a far more perfect description, "and to arrange them according to use, in tranquillity and innocence, this is the chiefest reality, because it conduces to their felicity. Such imaginations, so called, are real, because they have real things in themselves." (S. D. 2449)

     Recently deceased spirits appear to themselves and to each other just like men, they talk together, and even feel the different parts of their bodies more distinctly than they did in the world. (A. C. 4527.)

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So real to them is their sense of being clothed in a body that they seem to themselves to attempt even the lowest function of the body. (S. D. 3172.) It is because spirits have this bodily sense and sensation that they can suffer torments, for these are caused by evil spirits inducing on their victims the phantasy of a body, and then torturing it, for instance by laceration and rending, so that pains can be induced even more severe than could be experienced in the natural body (S. D. 1720); and the pain becomes greater the more the phantasy is induced that it is the body which suffers (S. D. 404). "Nay, such spirits can, as it were, harden the body, and so put them in torture by mangling all their limbs, and breaking them in different ways, accompanied by immense anguish." (S. D. 4207.)

     The reason spirits have such a sense of being in the body is that they take the nature of the body with them into the other life, and all the sensations experienced here being sensated in the mind, (which is the spirit, and that which survives after death), the sensations survive too. This is of course especially the case with those who have been corporeal and have thought that their life was in their bodies. (S. D. 1718)

     It is only with great difficulty that spirits can be convinced that they are no longer men and clothed with material bodies. Swedenborg himself sometimes taught them how the case was, as in the following instance:

     I said to him, dost thou suppose that thou art a man, clothed with garments, and as a man upon earth? and he touched what he thought to be garments which he had on; he also touched what he thought were his own hands: and then I asked him where he was, and whether he had feet! He said that he had; but when he was asked what ground it was upon which he stood, and whether he was not in a sphere above the earth, he acknowledged that he was. Wherefore I suggested to his sense whether such things were only fallacies of sense and phantasies, inasmuch as he was a spirit; whereupon, being convinced, he desired to flee away. In this manner he could know that they were mere fallacies of sense. (S. D. 860.)

     In another instance a spirit was so terrified when Swedenborg helped him to this discovery that he fled, crying out, "I am a spirit, I am a spirit!" (S.D. 2288.)

     It is only when spirits reflect on the subject, that they seem to themselves to be clothed with bodies and garments; and when they experience as it were corporeal sensations and also torments it is only because they believe in their reality.

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But with the good this state does not last very long after death, for they are taught that such corporeal sensations are phantasies. (S. D. 2306.) As the good spirits advance in the other life and receive faith from the Lord, they are withdrawn from such phantasies and can be affected by them no longer. Thus is made evident one of the uses in our knowing, before we get into the other life, the undenying reality beneath these appearances. In time good spirits even forget about their having a corporeal nature, for when they become angels they think they have put it off, and they then come into "another idea which is that of almost no garments at all, scarcely of bodies, as they call them." (S. D. 1796.) There is an actual appearance to them on entering heaven, or seeing others do so, of putting off garments, representing that they are no longer in their external natural state. This is again represented more interiorly by the angels of the inmost heaven appearing naked as infants. (S. D. 1797.)

     When man ends his life here he sheds his material body, and it seems that spirits too, before they enter even the exterior heaven, must again shed as it were a body, which is their adjoined natural. Some, when the necessity arises for them to do this, have as much fear of losing part of their life as many men do at the prospect of the death of the body, (S. D. 1314); although in each case they come into a fuller life. Again, the interior natural has to suffer as it were death before a spirit can come into an interior heaven.

     We have said that spirits have all the senses that they had in the body, and, indeed, far more exquisite ones; especially is this the case with the sense of touch, for to this sense all sensations, even the most interior, refer themselves. But there seems to be one sense lacking to spirits--that is, taste. (S. D. 3567). The reason for this is, that taste is especially a corporeal sense (S. D. 3567), and also that if a spirit had this sense it might prevent or lessen his spiritual appetite (A. C. 4794); of which shortly. Instead of taste spirits have a sense more analogous to that of odor. (S. D. 3998) Although they do not themselves taste, they can tell how anything tastes to man, but even this is only the case when they reflect on the subject. (S. D. 3529.)

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     It may be objected that this fact, in regard to spirits lacking the sense of taste, seems to conflict with the accounts given us of feasts in heaven. But let us see what the food and drink of spirits and angels consist of; for spirits have the appetite of eating, "although they know, say and affirm that they cannot eat." (S. D. 818.) We are taught that "their food and drink are spiritual, that is, they continually desire to know whatever occurs. . . . The food of the celestial angels is love and at the same time the intelligence of what is good and true. The food of spirits who may be called affections are numerous affections. . . and the cupidities of knowing are their drinks." (S. D. 178.) And again, "Knowledges in general are spiritual food." (S. D. 885.) So that it would appear that feasts in the other world are merely representations accompanying the reception of knowledges and affections. The food of evil spirits, for which they have a ravenous appetite, is the knowledge of the evils and misfortunes that befall others. (S. D. 1056.)

     Spiritual food accomplishes for the bodies of angels just what natural food does for our bodies. Children in heaven are nourished, and grow to maturity, on their spiritual food and drink of knowledges and affections. (A. C. 4792) It is because the desire of learning is a real spiritual appetite that children are so inquisitive about everything; and that there is so much pleasure in acquiring knowledges, even in this life, (A. C. 1480), except with those who, through depraved states, have lost their appetite for truths, and through indulging in evil spiritual food have ruined their spiritual digestions.

     It is well worthy of note that the angels and spirits present with a man enjoy their spiritual food at the same time that he enjoys his natural food; and for this reason we are instructed that we should eat slowly and long, so that we may not debar them from sufficient spiritual nourishment, which they obtain through the correspondence of natural to spiritual food.

     There is another great difference between the condition of spirits and that of men still living on earth, and a difference that is sometimes used to prove to spirits that they are no longer in the body. It is that a spirit can to all appearance suddenly change his situation, be now here, now there; in fact that he can and does appear in places where he really is not at all.

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This appearance, as of actual bodily presence, is so real to every sense that spirits find it very hard to believe that the spirit who appears may be in fact in quite another place. (S. D. 2887.) Again, as a general rule, the journeys of spirits, which seem the same to them as journeys here, are apparent only, and are caused by their changes of state. Spirits do not know the origin of this appearance, however, and think it a real one, but we are told "the angels of heaven know, indeed, but do not talk about it." (S. D. 5646) This last phrase would seem, from the heading of the paragraph in which it occurs in the Writings, to imply that the angels also know that the real form of their bodies is not as is the appearance.

     In confirmation of the fact that spiritual bodies are not as natural ones, it is said in the SPIRITUAL DIARY (3472) that "in the other life the various viscera, as the stomach, the intestines, the liver, the heart, the lungs, are of no use, for these are all formed for the sake of the blood, and this for the sake of the muscles and the organs of sense, that man may be able to live and act in the world." In other words, man has these organs that he may have a basis, while here, upon which his spirit may rest, but after death he subsists upon the common basis of mankind and not on his own individual one. (L. J. 98.)

     Now comes the question: How then are we to understand the many passages of a similar nature to the following:--

     From all my experience, which is now of many years, I can say and affirm that angels are in form entirely men, that they have faces, eyes, ears, body, arms, hands and feet; that they see one another, hear one another and talk together; in a word, that there is nothing whatever wanting to them that belongs to man, except that they are not clothed over all with a material body. (H. H. 75)

     Surely--remembering the teaching on the subject we have adduced above, and very much more to a like effect--the passage just quoted must mean that this is how spirits appear, and though, as said, they certainly have a body and are in the human form, it is not in the external human shape as we know it. In many places in the Writings where similar passages occur it Is distinctly said that angels and spirits "appear" in the human form exactly as in the world; and in these passages it is not said that they actually are in such form.

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The material body is the ultimate human form, and after death spirits appear to themselves and to others to retain this shape, because, as was said above, all their sensations have been accustomed to, and were formed in, such a body. So spirits from another earth who during their natural life have thought little of, and even despised, their bodies, appear after death rather in the form of clouds than in bodily forms. (A. C. 10134; S. D. 1668.) Another reason that spirits and angels appear to themselves in the human form, is because the universal heaven aspires to no other form (S. D. 4618), which is because the Lord is most eminently and perfectly in the human form. The inmost of angels aspires to such a form, just as "the primitive of man, which is from the soul of the parent, makes effort to the formation of the whole man, in the ovum and in the womb, although this primitive is not in the form of the body, but in another most Perfect form, known to the Lord alone." (A. C. 3633.)

     Now let us pause a moment to consider what really constitutes the human form. In the first place it is necessary to distinguish clearly between form and shape. It is not the body which makes a man, "but the mind from the understanding and the will, wherefore good spirits and angels are men." (S. D. 21.) Hear another quotation:--"love and wisdom with use not only constitute man, but also are man; yea, what possibly you will be surprised at, they propagate man; for in the seed of man is his soul in a perfect human form." (C. L. 1834) For whether in greatests or leasts, the human form is the same. The human commences in the inmost of man's rational (A. C. 2194), and his external is human only because it proceeds from this. One more quotation must be given here; it is this beautiful teaching: "The most perfect and noble human form exists when two forms become one form by means of marriage." (C. L. 201.)

     We all know from revelation that angels and spirits are real substantial beings,--in fact, more truly so than men on earth,--and also that they are organic; and this teaching cannot be overemphasized. We are taught, too, that those who deny the predication of place, extension and similar things to spirits are corporeally minded. It is only necessary to remember that while living on earth our spirits are in our bodies and never outside them, to see that it would be absurd to say a spirit is not in a place.

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The same holds good after death, for spirits remain fixed in their places (S. D. 1986), which places are always in the vicinity of the earth upon which they lived in the body. (A. C. 9968.)

     A very convincing proof, and one used by the Writings themselves, that a spirit--or, what is the same, the will and understanding of man,-must have organics, is conveyed in the question:--What would otherwise be the need of a brain, and so large a one, to enable man to think, and to form an organ for his interior senses? "If not so, the skull might have been hollow, and yet thought within it actuate the spirit. From this consideration alone, as well as from the operation of the soul in the muscles, giving rise to so great a variety of motion, one might be assured that the spirit is organic, or organic substance." (A. C. 444.)

     It is because spirits and angels are substances which are organic forms--and indeed the substances which were adjoined to material ones in the body--that they are able to think, to carry on all their operations and activities, and can speak to and see each other. Otherwise all these things would by no means be possible to them. Their thought needs a subject from which it may exist, just as natural sight implies the necessity of an eye, for thought is internalsight. (S. D. 3470.)

     If we take it as proven that it is only in appearance that angels and spirits have bodies as we know bodies in this life, there remains for consideration die question, What is the true form of their bodies? We may assume that this form will differ greatly from that of our material bodies, because on more than one occasion in the Writings the difference is compared to that between caterpillars and the butterflies into which they afterwards are changed. This comparison is also given in Swedenborg's work on RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, together with the contention there that spirits cannot have bodies such as they possessed in the world. Perhaps the Church will find that in this, as in other instances which have been used to discredit the philosophical works, Swedenborg's ideas square with the truths of Divine Revelation.

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     In the Writings there seems to be no absolutely direct teaching as to the exact form of the after-death man; apparently because it is not possible while in our natural life and thought for us to have any clear idea of such spiritual forms. But it appears to the writer that many hints and suggestions are given us from which we may form some sort of an idea on the subject. The leading clue seems to be given us in the SPIRITUAL DIARY (355), where we read that the nature of the human form in which spirits are, although not known to spirits, may however "in some measure be concluded from the least organs of the brain, where are the principles (i. e., the first beginnings) of the bodily form,--that they are in forms not unlike those, but that they may be restored to a form similar to the human, as often as they direct their minds to it by thoughts."

     When we have grasped this idea, namely, that the form we are in search of is not unlike that of the complex of the cortical glands of the brain, we shall find that there are very many passages in the Divine Writings which confirm this conception; I mean passages such as the following:

     When the brain is denuded of the skull and the integuments which encompass it, there are seen in it wonderful circumvolutions and foldings, in which are situated the substances called cortical. From these run fibers which constitute the medulla of the brain. These fibers proceed thence through nerves into the body, and there perform functions according to the will and determination of the brain. All these things are just according to the heavenly form; for such a form is impressed by the Lord on the heavens, and thence on what is found in man, and especially on his cerebrum and cerebellum. (A. C. 4040.)

     And in the succeeding number of the ARCANA COELESTIA, Swedenborg says that he has been shown "of what nature the heavenly form is in the lowest sphere, and it was like the circumvolutions seen in the human brains." Then also there is the teaching that the source of thoughts which are of the understanding, and of affections which are of the will, is in the brain; that man's mind (which is the same as to say, his spirit) is in the brain. (A. C. 4042 and 4054) We learn, too, that the bodies of spirits and angels make one with their minds, (D. L. W. 369); which as was said reside and are formed in the brains during the earth life.

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     One might go on quoting passage after passage all adding testimony to like effect, but the compass of this paper will only admit of one more on this particular point. Let us take the teaching given in THE DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, n. 388. We read:

     The mind of man is the man himself. For the first warp of the human form, or the human form itself with all and each of the things of it, is from the first principles continued from the brain through the nerves. This form it is into which man, comes after death, who is then called a spirit and an angel, and who is in all perfection a man, but a spiritual man. The material form which has been added and superinduced in the world, is not the human form of itself, but is so from that spiritual form; and is added and superinduced in order that man may be able to perform uses in the natural world; and may also draw with him from the purer substances of one world some fixed containant of spiritual things, and thus continue and perpetuate life.

     The number just quoted might seem, if taken by itself, to teach that it is the form of the nerves from the brain, as well as the brain itself, which constitutes man's spiritual form, but taken in connection with other teaching, the nerves would seem rather to represent the thoughts and affections flowing from a spirit than the spirit himself. Remembering that the human form is the same in greatests and leasts--the same in the heavens as in an angel--let the following passage serve as an example of many whence the just mentioned deduction may be drawn:

     The multitude of these glands (the cortical) may also be compared to the multitude of angelic societies in the heavens, which also are innumerable, and in similar order, as was told me; and the multitude of the fibrils going forth from these glands may be compared to the spiritual truths and goods which in like manner flow down as rays from the angelic societies. Hence it is said that a man is as a heaven in least form. (D. L. W. 366.)

     We are given teaching that enables us to go a step further yet in gaining a general idea--albeit but a natural one--of the form which we now have within us and which we shall take with us into the spiritualworld. The organic forms of man's mind or, what is the same, his spirit, are said to be vortex-like circlings inward and outward, after the manner of perpetual and inbending spirals wonderfully combined into forms receptive of life. . . . In the good the spirals turn forward, but in the evil backward; and the substances and forms which have the spirals running forward are turned towards the Lord, and receive influx from Him: but the spirals turned backward are turned towards hell and receive influx therefrom. . . as far as they are turned backward they are open behind and closed in front; and on the other hand, so far as they are turned forward they are open in front and closed behind. (D. P. 319.)

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     Man by the love of his will makes the spirals turn in the one direction or the other, and thus actually shapes the form of his spirit during his life in the world.

     The bodies of angels and spirits have a pulse and a respiration (D. L. W. 391), and it will be interesting to look for a moment into the reason of this. Swedenborg taught that the brain respires; and that each little cortical gland has an expansive and a contractive movement; and he also discovered that this respiration and pulsation of the brain is synchronous with the respiration of the lungs. This supplies an additional explanation of how it is that spirits and angels have the sensation as of a natural body; namely, because in the life of the body, while their spirit respired in their brains, it was connected with, and kept time with, the respiration of their lungs, and this sensation as of lungs therefore persists, though, as is the case after death, the lungs no longer remain.

     If the deductions made in this paper as to the form of man's spirit being like the internal form of his brain, be true, added force is seen in the teaching that "the states of spirits and angels together with all their varieties, can in no wise be understood without a knowledge of the human body, for the Lord's kingdom is like a man." (S. D. 1145 1/2.)

     We shall also see why Swedenborg spent so much time in the study of the anatomy of the human body, especially the anatomy and physiology of the brain, in the course of his preparation for his sublime mission. And it may well be that when, in years to come, a deeper study of these most wonderful anatomical works has been made by Newchurchmen, the Church will be enabled thereby to understand and answer much more fully and satisfactorily the question approached in this paper than can be done at present.

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SWEDENBORG'S DOCTRINE OF FORMS 1911

SWEDENBORG'S DOCTRINE OF FORMS              1911

     CHAPTER V.

     THE ANGULAR FORM

     The present and following chapters will consist simply of a compilation of Swedenborg's own teachings concerning the Discrete Degrees of Form, in order that the material may be fully presented before any further digest is attempted.

     From the work "On the Fibre."

     The most imperfect form, which is also the ultimate of forms is the ANGULAR FORM, which consists of angles and interjacent planes, and is bounded by mere straight lines which are not determined to any common center, but in various directions, as appears in triangles, quadrangles, etc.; for if lines be drawn perpendicularly from any given point of the planes, they do not flow or come together in any center, but intersect each other perpetually.

     In a circle, however, all the lines drawn from the surface are concentrated in a single point. And if, by any external force or by pressure of the finger, you wish to reduce a circle or sphere,--in which interiorly there is such a determination and nature,--into a triangular form, so that it shall remain triangular, then it is absolutely necessary that the determinations themselves undergo change, i. e., the lines which converge in the center, or are directed toward the center, must remove themselves from the center and look to other points outside of the center, whither they must be determined; here also they are met by other lines, let down perpendicularly from another plane of the triangle; otherwise the form rebounds into its own sphere.

     That straight lines, so determined, cannot produce any perfect form was, I see, held by the philosopher of old where he says: A circle is perfect, but no straight line is wholly perfect, since it is not infinite, for it must have a terminus or end; nor is any ratio of the things finite, perfect. DE CAELO I; chap. II). And further, local motion in a straight line is not in harmony with nature itself, because such motions as take place in a straight line are opposed to each other by reason of their positions, for each single position is set distant from the other by a straight line. (Ibid. C. III, IV)

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     From these things it appears that in such forms the determinations are opposed or more or less contrary to each other; that is to say, they meet each other more or less obliquely or directly, wherefore in every point where they intersect and meet, the progression is stopped, the fluxion terminated, and the forces extinguished. Hence it is that such forms in themselves and in their nature are absolutely unsuited for the continuity of motion, and are the very forms of rest and inertia. By such a meeting of lines not only is there produced a profound rest in the internal structure itself, but the same is also produced among many forms when turned mutually against one another. For on their external surface they are in like manner angular, that is to say, they are formed of planes and angles; for as the essential determination is, such is the termination; or, what comes to the same thing, such as is the form, such is the figure which is the limit of the extense. For as many as are the angles, so many are the hindrances; and as many as are the planes, so many are the points of coherence; for not one of them can be rotated around any axis, still less around any centre, (which, indeed, they lack), since angles and apices impede, and planes are conjoined, if they come together.

     Thus every angular form is to be perceived as if it were intrinsically composed of mere triangles or cubes, just like the mass in the larger effigy into which they coalesce, when many of them are mutually applied to each other in one space; for they cannot be moved about unless all the neighboring forms yield place. Therefore, these forms are the most imperfect, and are endowed with the force of inertia, and thus they properly belong to the earth, and are the same as those which are called saline, acid, alcaline, urinous, sulphureous, nitrous, mineral, and vitriolic.

     In planes the triangle, or in solids the trigon or tetrahedron, is the first and as it were the simple form of the angular forms, for to these the rest refer themselves however composite they may be, and if they are to be resolved they must be reduced to these. The most perfect of the triangular forms is the equilateral, or equiangular, but the more imperfect are the scalene.

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In planes, the quadrangle, and in solids the octohedron, is the second of the angular forms immediately composed of the first; the most perfect of the quadrangular forms is the equilateral and equiangular; the rest are more imperfect, such as the paralellograms, rhomboids, trapeziums, or those in which the sides and angles are more or less unequal. Then come polygons and many-sided figures, which in like manner are regular or irregular, consequently more or less perfect or imperfect; the last of these forms exceed all numbers. Thus there are genera and species of the angular form. Since, as Wolff teaches, specific differences depend on essential determinations, it is by these that the genus and species of an entity is determined; an entity has from its form that it is of a certain genus or species, and is distinguished from other entities. (Wolff's ONTOL. 945.)

     From these considerations it follows that the first of the angular forms are the most minute tetrahedrons and octohedrons; these elements, therefore, are to be called primitive entities, and the beginnings of salts and sulphurs. (Comp. TRANS. I., n. 69-80). These, together with their compounds, are so many hard and inert corpuscles, wholly incapable of motion among themselves except by the aid of fluids; properly speaking they are heavy, material, extended figures, in themselves fixed and fixing, not expansible or elastic, frigid, tempering in divers modes the fluidity and heat of active forms, but most fitted for the formation of their various compounds. For without them there would be neither the earth, nor the vegetable kingdom, nor the animal; in a word, there would be no visible world. These forms are what affect with such great variety the sensories of taste and smell. Properly speaking, they constitute that part which in every animal we call the body; and these are the forms of which geometry, trigonometry, physics, and chemistry scientifically treat. (THE FIBRE, 261.)

     From the "Ontology."

     "The angular forms may extrinsically assume the circular and even the spiral form; not, however, from itself or of its own nature, but artificially; for, from its very hardness, coldness, and resistance, it is evident that the form itself is angular.

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The superior form may indeed be superinduced, as in the case of the human form impressed upon wax or engraved on marble or brass. That the forms may be truly human, the human itself, or the human soul, must be inspired in every least part of it." (ONT. 10.)

     "In the angular form no change of form can occur without the destruction and privation of the form, change of figure alone being possible." (ONT. 24.)

     "Physical matter, or the material, is that which is found only in the lowest forms, especially in the angular form, and on the earth. This material begins to be put off by superior forms; for the less a thing is finited, the less material does it become." (ONT. 48.)

     "Material bodies are all those that arise from the elements of material things, or from so many most minute triangular and square particles. Thus they are all angular forms, whatsoever be their figure and composition. For those triangular and square particles are the primitive corpuscles, yea, the very elements, from the aggregates of which material bodies arise and are derived." (ONT. 64.)

     "The attribute of the angular form is that it is hard, heavy and angular; and this attribute reigns universally in all the species and individuals of that form. The essentials [of the angular form] are the elements whence are the essential determinations, which are continually opposite and repugnant, thus contrary to each other; from this comes their gravity." (ONT. 87.)

     From the "Rational Psychology."

     "In the senses of taste and smell all angular forms are harsh and displeasing, unless the angles are so disposed that they may represent some more perfect form and excite some sense which the man judges to be conformable and adapted to restoring the state of the body. This is the reason why the salty and the bitter often give pleasure, and the sweet and the aromatic give displeasure. But the more perfect forms, such as the circular and spherical. which are next to the angular in perfection, and those still more perfect, naturally please because they are soothing; as for instance, sweet and sugary substances." (R. P. 34)

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     "The sense of touch cannot be so far perfected that it can perceive the effluvia floating in moistures, and their little points, still less the order and arrangement of the angles among themselves, and as mixed with particles of rounded surfaces." (R. P. 39.)

     "There are degrees of the angular parts or forms, as of the more or less composite or simple. Those which are composite are of that inferior, positive, and imperfect kind which the touch perceives; while the taste perceives those that are more simple, prior, superior, and more perfect." (Ibid.)

     "In general, it is to be observed that the three senses of touch, taste, and smell, do not take in anything more than the figures of the parts or of the angular forms, that is, of the inert and heavy particles; they do not take in the forms themselves and their essential determinations, as do the sight and hearing." (Ibid.)

     "The sense of smell is a still higher sense of touch, and discerns those figures or external angular forms which are still more simple, and which float and are borne about in the aerial atmosphere." (R. P. 43)

     "The most perfect angular form, or form of angles, is the equilateral triangle, or a figure of three similar corners; the more imperfect angular form is the oblong, the parallelogram, the trapezium, etc." (R. P. 178.)

     From the "Animal Kingdom."

     "In the angular form we are not to begin from parallelograms, trapezia, or polygons, but from triangles, which are the bases of all the rest, and first, indeed, from the right-angled triangle. So, likewise, in the circular form, we must begin from the circle, but: not from curves; still less from variously-inflected curves."' (A, K. 1301 note e.)

     "The lowest form is the angular, which is also called the terrestrial and the merely corporeal form, inasmuch as it is peculiar to bodies having angles and rectilinear planes, the measurement of which is the primary object of the present geometry." (A. K. 97, note f.)

     From the work on "The Senses."

     "Modifications of the angular form are called tremiscences, vibrations, in the greater forms oscillations. 1. It is known how these modifications penetrate the whole continuum in an instant;

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2. for instance, how when a small grain of dust is scraped upon a marble table there is a sound; 3. that is, from the vibration of the whole from the smallest origin, etc." (SENSES 269.) "The sensations of touch, taste and smell arise from a touch or impulse of things heavy or of the forces of inertia, that is, of particulars. 1. This has been shown in separate treatises. 2. As that these sensations arise from saline, sulphurous and other vola- the bodies which are figured, of an angular form furnished with diverse angles, planes, protuberances and cavities; 3. thus from the external figures of the things themselves which prick, soothe and variously affect. 4. That the objects of taste are rolled about in water and dissolved by the salivary fluid and other menstrual is known; 5. that the objects of smell float in the atmosphere, see above. 6. All the parts of an angular form are angular in their smallest parts and variously pointed; so that their elements are of such a character, having by contrary determination lost all active and elastic force. 7. Thence arise similar compounds; 8. but of these things elsewhere. 9. The external figure can be of any kind, even circular, but still its internal determinations make it to be referred to that class, not, however, its external form. 10. The essential determinations themselves, from which forms are produced, make them to be of this or that form; 11. these are principally called parts, yea, the very elements of them, deeply within which are such determinations. 12. These parts can be divided even to their parts or elements, but if further, then the determination is destroyed, thence they fly off into forms of that order from which they were originally determined. 13. From this it appears how a division of those forms can be made. 14. Their elements are from the elements of many forms, the most perfect of which are from the purer ether, then from the common ether, even from the air itself; the last have less of gravity; they can be dissolved even to the parts of the air." (SENSES 453)

     From the "Worship and Love of God."

     "The lowest form, or the form proper to earthly substances, is that which is determined by mere angular, and at the same time by plane substances, whatsoever be their figure, provided they flow together into a certain form; this, therefore, is to be called the Angular Form, the proper object of our geometry." (W. L. G. 6.)

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     "The first or angular form, from the determination of all essentials opposed to each other, derives this quality that it is heavy and inert matter, of itself unadapted to all motion." (W. L. G. 93).

     From the "Arcana Coelestia."

     "In the other life, Truth is presented to view as angular in various forms, but Good is there presented in a continuous quantity; it is also presented as round, which is continuous in form." (A. C. 8458)

     "What is angular signifies strength and stability, because in it [i. e., "the corners"] there is the greatest resistance, and also the connection of the whole. Hence the Lord, as to Divine Truth from Divine Good, is called 'the stone of the corner,' as in David: "the stone which the builders have rejected has become the head of the corner.' Hence also horns were placed upon the four corners of the altar, in order to signify stability." (A. C. 9494)

     From the "Apocalypse Explained."

     "The corner stone signifies all Divine Truth upon which Heaven and the Church are founded." (A. E. 417.)

     CHAPTER VI.

     THE CIRCULAR FORM.

     From "The Fibre."

     "The form next higher is the CIRCULAR or SPHERICAL form, in which there are no angles and no planes; for in order that angular forms may be elevated into this next higher or spherical form, the angles must be cut off, and the planes so rounded that nothing of these things remains, on which account this form deserves to be called the INFINITELY ANGULAR, or the PERPETUALLY PLANE.

     For in respect to that which is finited in angular forms, the circular is like something perpetual or infinite; what is perpetual is also a [continuous] one; thus, since there is no longer a number of angles, nor a number of planes, there is in this form as it were one common angle, or one common plane.

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This also comes about naturally, when angular forms, in a volume comprising many such forms, are forced to turn about their axes, and likewise when they are held in a circumlambient flame, for then the angles are cut off, and thus the forms are rounded and, with the help of nature itself, are adapted to the axillary motion among their neighbors. Moreover, the longer the motion persists, and the more swiftly, i. e., the more forcibly they are driven around, the more they are liberated from the form of rest, so that they put on extrinsically the form of a most perfect sphere.

     But what is linear none the less remains, for there are as many straight lines let down perpendicularly from the periphery, as there are semidiameters or radii. That two [kinds of] lines are let down, is evident, for in the circle we must consider upwards as being towards the center, and downwards as being towards the periphery, as is also the case in the largest spheres, as in our great [tellurian] sphere, where the center of the earth is in the lowest place.

     Hence it follows that the spherical form is the verimost form of motion, and that it is most powerful in its resistance, and the most constant in remaining in its own essence, and at the same time most fitted to every kind of composition with angular forms. But we will treat of these things in their order.

     That the spherical form is the verimost form of motion, follows from the fact that it is devoid of angles and planes, for as many the angles, so many the hindrances; and as many the planes, so many the coherences. For many spherical forms or globules may rotate around their axes most freely in one volume and circumscribed space, nor does one move another from its place, nor touch it except in the least and similar point; and after contact it almost instantly recedes and is rolled away with the plane itself; wherefore angular forms, moved and driven around among themselves, are turned around by the mere force of the motion, i. e., the angles being cut off, they are rounded, and, by the help of nature, they are adapted for an axillary motion among their neighbors.

     Thus circular forms are in the utmost readiness to gyrate around some axis, for there are as many axes as there are diameters, but not around the center unless the linear directions are changed into circular ones, when a spiral determination arises; for in more perfect forms there is an axillary motion and a central motion, on which two motions depends the nature of the fluidity, undulation, and modification.

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And the smoother they are superficially, the more fifted are they for continuing the motion; but the rougher they are, the more unfitted are they; thus such forms of motion are more or less perfect or imperfect.

     The determination itself of the lines interiorly in the circle or sphere, conspires to this, viz., that this form may be the genuine form of motion; for the semi-diameters flow together like perpendiculars from every point of the periphery into one common center, and do not meet each other elsewhere on the way, as is the case in angular forms, where there are as many oppositions
as there are points, and as many causes of inertia as there are oppositions, and these are perpetual and infinite. From the confluence of the determinations in one single center it follows that axillary gyration agrees with the form of nature itself, for nothing outside the center impedes its being turned about, and each single diameter represents an axis. That the diameter represents an axis, follows not only from the fact that one diameter is distant from another, and that one is always presenting itself as an axis, but also because the spherical form must be considered as consisting of mere concentric circles, from the ultimate periphery even to the center; for circles are formed if from any given point of any diameter we draw perpendicular lines, for these simultaneously continued describe a perfectly circular line.

     (To be continued.)

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Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     The NEW CHURCH LEAGUE JOURNAL for September publishes a picture of the recent "Conference of the British Federation of Young People's Societies." Most of the young gentlemen in the group are bearded, white-haired, or bald-headed.



     The Journal of the General Convention for 1911 reports a total membership of 6,396 members, with 99 societies and 82 ministers, showing a decrease during the past year of 34 members and 1 society, and an increase of 2 ministers. On close examination, however, we find that there are 109 societies instead of 99.



     The Swedenborg Scientific Association has published in pamphlet form the address by its president, the Rev. Frank Sewall, entitled SWEDENBORG ON LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS. Copies of this extremely interesting tract may be obtained from the Academy Book Room.



     The Library of the Academy of the New Church is now issuing a weekly Bulletin giving information as to recent accessions. Thanks to the munificence of Mr. John Pitcairn, a great number of books, old and new, are now being acquired. The Bulletin for October 2 gives a list of 175 new volumes of great value to teachers and students.



     A correspondent, commenting on the recent papers on "The Philosophy of Disease and Cure" in the LIFE for August and September, writes: "Mr. Iungerich's article is very interesting and I hope it will lead to a more rational investigation of the subject than we have ever had.

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I like the tone of the paper, but I think the author takes a somewhat superficial view of what is involved in 'food' for the interior bloods. Certainly, such diseases as cancer, are not to be explained nutritionally merely. I would be glad to know whether any of our New Church doctors have undertaken to reply." No adequate reply has been received as yet.



     Once more we have to thank our loyal friend in Australia, Mr. Richard Morse, for his annual NINETEENTH OF JUNE SOUVENIR, in which he keeps up his untiring defense of the authority of the Writings and all the other principles flowing therefrom. Much of the contents of the issue for 1911 is familiar to the readers of the LIFE, but there is also much that is new, among other things a thorough comparison, doctrinally and historically, of the standards and viewpoints of "The Academy and the Convention," from the pen of the Rev. William Hyde Alden. The "Souvenir" deserves financial as well as moral support from those whose cause it so bravely champions. Contributions should be sent to Mr. Richard Morse, Sydney Harbor Trust, Sydney, N. S. W., Australia.



     A friend of the General Convention asks of the LIFE: "Why are you continually criticizing the principles and methods of our body, pointing out its defects and failures as if delighted at them? Why cannot you leave us alone, as we leave you!"

     We think our correspondent has read the LIFE very superficially, indeed, if he imagines that we delight in the defects and failures of the General Convention. The members of the General Church entertain nothing but the best wishes for the Convention, and they certainly are more interested in the work of the Convention than the Convention is interested in the work of the General Church. Criticism, remonstrance, even indignation, is a matter of duty on the part of a man who sees his brother rushing headlong into destruction. While hope remains, the LIFE will continue to lift up the voice of warning as it has done from the beginning, and this for no other reason than a love of the Lord's New Church as still existing in the General Convention.

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     The LIFE is not the only journal which suffers at times from the aberrations of its printers. Thus a lady writer in a communication to the MESSENGER for August 30 had underscored a certain quotation and added, in brackets: "[the italics are my own]." The printer, who did not happen to have any italics on his line-type machine, used a bold-face type instead, and made the lady say: "[The bold-face is my own]." Poor Mr. Saul subsequently had to offer a most humble apology "to the fair authoress for the reflection on her countenance."
CALL FOR CONSTRUCTIVE WORK 1911

CALL FOR CONSTRUCTIVE WORK              1911

     The new president of the General Convention, the Rev. Julian K. Smyth, inaugurates his administration by an earnest call upon the Church to unite in some constructive and progressive work. Referring to the past era of controversy he observes: "Issues have been raised,--grave issues. They have to be dealt with; but if we make then our chief concern, our church organization will steadily decline. I believe there is a longing throughout the Church to unite in some forward movement; to do something together that will carry us past the division marks and advance the cause in which we are enlisted." To this end he publishes, in the MESSENGER for September to, 27, and October 4, three important projects upon which he desires the advice of those interested in the measures proposed.

     The first of these projects is the securing of "an accurate and perfect copy of the original text of the ARCANA COELESTIA." This project, it appears, was originally suggested by the Hon. John Bigelow in a letter to Mr. Smyth, calling attention to the necessity of securing at least one manuscript or typewritten copy of the original Swedenborg text of the ARCANA, "to be enclosed for safety in the Ark of our Covenant." Mr. Smyth proposes, in addition, that the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck be sent to Stockholm to prepare and publish a new Latin edition of the ARCANA COELESTIA, comparing the text of the original edition with the first manuscript copy which is preserved in the Library of the Academy of Sciences,--the copy from which Swedenborg prepared a second copy for the printer in Amsterdam.

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This first draft, (of which all but the first volume has been preserved), contains as is known certain variant expressions throwing additional light upon the text of the printed work, and all these variant readings should be embodied as footnotes in the proposed new edition.

     The president's call for peaceful and constructive work would seem to have come at an opportune time, now that the MESSENGER has come to realize that "of late years too much of the time and energy of the General Convention have been devoted to the correction of supposed disorder in the church, and not enough to the building up of the church in the individuals and furthering its stability as an institution among men." We most sincerely congratulate our contemporary on this discovery, and we heartily concur with the desire of the new president of the Convention for united efforts in some progressive work. While the Academy and the General Church are not directly invited to cooperate in the proposed undertaking, we know that it commands their entire sympathy. Mr. Schreck is undoubtedly well qualified for this important use, and a new Latin edition of the ARCANA COELESTIA, such as has been suggested, would be of the utmost value.     

     Mr. Smyth, however, seems to have overlooked the fact that a meeting was held in London, in July of last year, of representatives of the various publishing houses in the New Church, at which it was decided to proceed at an early date with the phototyping of the ARCANA MS. If this work could be hastened, under the direction of Mr. Stroh, who is already in Stockholm, the Church would soon be in possession of an absolutely accurate photographic copy of this manuscript, from which Mr. Schreck could prepare the desired new edition without having to take up his residence in Sweden.

     The second project suggested by Mr. Smyth is the creation of an "augmentation fund for the strengthening of small societies."

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To this we have referred on another page. While we do not believe that such a fund would alone be sufficient to save the societies from the threatening extinction, it is, of course, entirely proper to extend all possible financial aid, if, indeed, so vast a fund can be collected and if ministers can be found. It is of interest to note the new president's frank realization of the conditions in the body over which he has been called to preside:

     The list of societies which, so to say, have had to slowly edge off the field and die almost unnoticed, is all too long. The loss entailed in this way has been greater than the numerical loss of the societies themselves, serious as that has been; for it has resulted in a spirit of discouragement which has spread throughout the church and depressed its energy. It was encouraged doubts as to whether a visible New Church organization was ever Divinely intended or whether it can last for long. Such a state of doubtfulness may have had and may be having much to do in discouraging young men from entering our ministry.

     The third and concluding project suggested by Mr. Smyth is "A Federation of the Publishing Interests of the Church." Introducing this subject with an eloquent description of the silent influence of the Press in the service of the New Church, Mr. Smyth calls attention to the remarkable fact that in this country alone there are no less than six independent publishing houses in the New Church, [not to mention the Academy, which has published quite a few books, periodicals, tracts, etc.]. There are the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society, the Rotch Fund, the New Church Board of Publication, the American New Church Tract and Publication Society, the Massachusetts New Church Union, and the "Nunc Licet Press,"--all working independently of one another, without any conference or consultation, often resulting in duplication of work and waste of energy and money. In any other denomination such rivalry of identical interests would be considered foolish, and Mr. Smyth therefore proposes that all these "resources of men and money" be amalgamated "into one well-equipped, resourceful, energetic organization, intent on increasing the missionary value of our books, periodicals and tracts, advertising them more widely, sending them out in larger numbers, on wider circuits, and according to some concerted plan."

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     Under present conditions in the Convention, common sense would seem to require a general acceptance of Mr. Smyth's suggestion, for the differences between the various sections and interests in that body nowadays amount to very little. There are no longer any "schools of thought" amongst them, and all parties are now Pretty well united on the common platform of the various negative but dogmatic "declarations" and "reports" recently adopted by overwhelming and hence infallible majorities. There seem to be no internal reasons, therefore, why the various publishing houses in the Convention should not combine in some manner. The only thing that might prevent it would be some vague remembrance of the "grandfather's principles," which once upon a time originated this variety of New Church publishing societies. The varying "principles" of Otis Clapp, Thomas Worcester, George Bush, T. S. Arthur, B. F. Barrett, and others, may now be forgotten, but the memory of the fact that they did fight about something may still linger in various quarters and cause a hesitation in accepting Mr. Smyth's well meant suggestion.

     But in a really living and liberty-loving Church, such as we hope the Convention may yet become, an all-powerful centralized Publishing Trust would be neither desirable nor possible. In such a Church there would be the utmost respect for differences of opinion and for the freedom of speech. In translating the Writings, as in interpreting them, there would necessarily be various views and methods, and all would be free to give expression to their convictions. Some would prefer a literal translation, others a popular version. There would be plenty of room for criticism and discussion,--all good natured because fearless of any external coercion,--and the intellectual discussion would be regarded as merely pleasant sword-play, sharpening the intellect for the common warfare against evils and falsities. The more publishing houses, then, the better, providing for the greater freedom of expression and of choice, in that future day "quando charitas praevalebit."

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DWINDLING NUMBERS 1911

DWINDLING NUMBERS              1911

     At the meeting of the Massachusetts Association in the fall of the year 1887 the Rev. James Reed read a paper in the course of which he called attention to the failing growth of the organized New Church. Taking up the statistics of the Massachusetts Association he pointed out that the ratio of growth from decade to decade had been continually decreasing, the percentage of increase having been for the several decades as follows:

From 1838 to 1848                    71 per cent.
"     1848 to 1858                    42 "
" 1858 to 1868                    32 "
" 1868 to 1878                    21"
" 1878 to 1887 (9 years)               19 "

     The membership of the Massachusetts Association in 1887 Mr. Reed states to be 1,636. Its growth continued up to 1897, in which year its membership was reported to the Convention as 1,849, or a gain of 13 per cent.

     Since the year 1897 there has been a steady decline, the membership for the Massachusetts Association reported to the Convention for the year 1911 being scarcely more than that reported by Mr. Reed in 1887, namely, 1,694, a loss as compared with the membership for 1897 of nearly 9 per cent.

     This loss of membership is not confined to the Massachusetts Association alone. It has been marked in many societies as well as in the Convention as a whole. The Boston Society reported to the Convention this year 500 members; we must go back more than fifty years, namely, to the year 1859, to find its membership so small, while in the year 1884--three years before Mr. Reed's article was written--it counted 656 members. Berlin, Ont., noted in 1883, 235 members; it reports to Convention this year, 73 Wellesley, Ont., in 1883, reported 70 members; its last report of 15 members; was made in 1905. The San Francisco Society reported in 1896 143 members; in 1911, 75 members. The Portland Society records in 1883, 182 members; in 1911, 41. Abington in 1868 had 96 members; in 1911, 42. New York in 1873 reported 306 members, in 1911 reports only 232. The Brooklyn Society has shrunk from 185 in 1900 to 144 in 1911.

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There have been a few notable exceptions to this general rule. The Philadelphia Society counted about one hundred members when Mr. Giles assumed the pastorate in 1876; at his death in 1893 it numbered upwards of 400 members, and in 1908 it counted 464. The Cincinnati Society has increased from 252 members in 1887 to 304 members by its last report. The Lakewood Society has increased in the same period from 42 to 115 members, and Cleveland from 54 to 98 members in 1998. But these few gains but accentuate the general decay.

     The General Convention, as a whole, showed its maximum in 1897, when its Journal recorded a membership of 6,496. Two Bears later it had fallen to 6,274. In 1900 the number was swollen to 6,926 by the addition of the German Synod, with a nominal membership of 535. That this addition was only apparent is shown by the fact that after being reported at the same figure for four successive Journals it was scaled down to 420 in 1904, and in 1910 and 1911 is recorded as only 120. The membership of Convention has regularly declined, the Journal of 1911 noting a total membership of 6,396.

     With Mr. Reed in 1887 we admit "that statistics are to a certain extent misleading, and that the real growth of a church does not depend on numbers alone." But when decline in membership is long-continued and persistent, and accompanied with policies of like persistence and extent, it is but fair to place the two together as cause and effect. This persistent policy we cannot do better that; state in Mr. Reed's own words:

     "The lines of demarcation between the visible New Church and other religious bodies are constantly becoming more indistinct." "Our own young people, having daily intercourse at school and elsewhere with members of other church bodies, . . . are in danger of forming the opinion that one phase of so-called Christianity is about the same as another and that the body with which they are connected is simply a small and feeble denomination among many that are larger and more attractive." Wherefore, unless they are carefully taught . . . they succumb to the glamour of external appearances, and withdraw from the Church in which they have been born and bred, to unite with some other or with none. This danger . . . almost inevitably makes its appearance whenever marriage connections are formed without regard to religious belief." "The New Church . . . has failed to impress on the minds of those without and Within its borders a true conception of its distinctive character."

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"Must we not confess it true that far too often . . . the vital principle [in marriage] is altogether lost sight of, and the question of spiritual oneness, or sympathy in those matters which are highest and holiest, receives no serious consideration! It is stating the fact mildly to say there is an alarming and growing laxity in this regard. . . . In recognition of the foregoing principle it was formerly the custom . . . for those who were betrothed to go together to their pastor; and to receive, as it were, his blessing, before their new relation was made known to others. We fear that even this simple custom has fallen into general disuse at the present time." (N. J. Mag., vol. XI, pp. 693.)
                    
     These are accusations, not by an opponent of the Convention, but by one of its leading ministers who followed up their presentation by a strong appeal for that distinctiveness in teaching and in life which alone can make the New Church. His words fell upon deaf ears; his arguments were overruled by the persuasive idea that the General New Church was made up of all the Christian denominations and that of this General Church the New Church was the heart and lungs. (Rev. John Worcester, in N. J. Mag., Vol. XI, p. 714)

     Today the seeds, the sowing of which Mr. Reed marked and warned against twenty-four years ago, are bearing their inevitable fruit. The New Church mingles in worship with the old, not alone in Thanksgiving service and in the exchange of pulpits, but in the installation of New Church pastors, and even in the administration of the Holy Supper. Marriage within the Church is neglected, even decried. Generation by generation the children of those nominally of the New Church become but indifferent members or drift out of the Church altogether.

     Until the real causes are recognized and removed, all remedies which are proposed will but "heal the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying Peace, peace; when there is no peace." W. H. A.
DESPAIR OF A DYING CHURCH 1911

DESPAIR OF A DYING CHURCH              1911

     From our brethren of the General Convention there has come, of late, a general outcry of despair on account of the dying out of its societies, of its ministry, and of the body as a whole. The moribund condition of their organization,--long known to careful observers,--has at length become so desperate that it can no longer be concealed.

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     "The total number of our active societies is not large," says the MESSENGER of September 20, but nevertheless "as many as eight of these, owning their houses of worship in large and wealthy cities or communities, are at present without pastors and without any prospect of obtaining them." There is "a condition of actual wants in actually existing societies which, if ministers are not forthcoming to serve, will soon be discontinuing services, closing their doors and selling out their property."

     The new president of the Convention declares in another issue of the MESSENGER that the lack of ministers "is so apparent, the effects of it are so keenly felt, that it is creating serious misgivings. Wherever New Church people converse together about the Church, the question is almost sure to be asked, 'where are our ministers to come from?'". . . . At this very moment there are societies that are trying to keep up an unequal struggle. They will almost certainly pass out of active existence, to the increased discouragement of the Church and through no fault of their own, unless as a body we rouse up to the necessity of doing what obviously should be done to prevent their collapse."

     And the NEW CHURCH REVIEW for October, referring to a paper read by Mr. Smyth at the Convention in Chicago, states that the writer "was not alone in the feeling that the discussion of subordinate questions of interpretation had been carried to a point where incalculable harm was being done, if the ruin of the organization was not already 'imminent."*
     *Italics our own.--ED.

     A careful analysis of the Directory published in the Journal of the General Convention for 1911 fully confirms these gloomy forebodings. The following statistics speak for themselves:

     STATISTICS OF SOCIETIES.

     1. Thirty-six societies are still supporting resident Pastors

Baltimore, Md. (English).
Bath, Me.
Berlin, Ont.     
Boston, Mass.     
Bridgewater, Mass.
Brockton, Mass.
Brooklyn, N. Y.     
Cambridge, Mass.     
Chicago, Englewood.
Chicago, North Side.
Cincinnati, O.
Cleveland, O.
East Bridgewater, Mass.
Frankford, Pa.
Fryeburg, Me.
Lakewood, O.

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La Forte, Ind.
Newtonville, Mass.
New York, (English).
New York, (German).
Orange, N. J.
Portland, Me.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Providence, R. I.
Riverside, Cal.
Roxbury, Mass.
San Francisco, O'Farrell St.
San Francisco, Lyon St.
St. Louis, Mo.
St. Louis (Second German).
St. Paul, Minn.
Toledo, O.
Urbana, O.
Washington, D. C.
Wilmington, Del.

     II. Twelve societies are not self-sustaining; but have the services of a resident pastor.

Baltimore, Md. Mission.
Brooklyn, N. Y. First German.
Brooklyn, N. Y. Second German
Denver, Col.
Easton, Md.
Fawnee Rock, Kan.
Richmond, Va.
Rosenfeld, Man.
San Diego, Cal.
Springfield, Mass.
Waldeck, Sask.
Washington State Association.

     III. Twelve societies are self-sustaining, but at present without resident pastors.

Baltimore, Md. (German).
Brookline, Mass.
Chicago, Humboldt Park.
Chicago, Kenwood.
Detroit, Mich.
Fall River, Mass.
Indianapolis, Ind.
Los Angeles, Cal.
Pretty Prairie, Kan.
Toronto, Ont.
Walfam, Mass.
Yarmouth, Mass.

     IV. Twenty societies, until within recent years, supported a pastor, but are no longer able to do so.

Abington, Mass.
Buffalo, N. Y.
Contoocook, N. H.
Galveston, Texas.
Glendale, O.
Henry, Ill.
Iowa General Society.
Lancaster, Pa.
Lancaster, Mass.
Louisville, Ky.
Minneapolis, Minn.
Montreal, P. Q.
Olney, Ill.
Paterson, N. J.
Riverhead, N. Y.
Salem, Mass.
Savannah, Ga.
St. Louis, (First German)
Texas General Society.
Vineland, N. J.

     V. Twenty-nine societies have no ministers and never were self-sustaining.

Almont, Mich.
Ballston, Ore.
Canton, Ill.
Columbus, O.
Connecticut Association.
Dayton, O.
Fishing Creek, Pa.
Gorand Rapids, Mich.
Gruetli, Tenn.
Hamilton, Ont.
Hohoken, N. J.
Jacksonville, Ind.
Jefferson, Wis.
Joliet, Ill.
London, Ont.
Manchester, N. H.

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Mansfield, Mass.
Marengo, Tenn.
Montgomery's Ferry, Pa.
Osage Co., Kan.
Peoria, Ill.
Pittsfield, Ill.
Polk, Ore.
Portland, Ore.
Preston, Md.
Springfield, Ill.
Union City, Tenn.
Wellsville, Mo.
Wilmington, Ill.

     Thus, out of a total of 109 societies connected with the General Convention, or mentioned in its Journal:

36 are still supporting resident pastors.
12 have the services of resident pastors, but are not self-sustaining.
12 are self-sustaining, but at present without pastors.
20 until within recent years supported pastors, but are no longer able to do so.
29 have no resident ministers and never were self-sustaining.

     In other words, 61 societies are in danger of extinction from lack of pastoral teaching and leading, and twelve others are too feeble to support their pastors.

     It may be of interest to mention, here, that the NEW CHURCH ALMANAC for 1889, (published by the Mass. N. C. Union), contains a chronological list of all New Church societies ever existing in America. Out of the 178 societies there mentioned, 193 are now completely extinct. Eighty-five of these still remain, and of these 13 are now in the General Church of the New Jerusalem.

     STATISTICS OF THE CLERGY.

     Such being the condition of the societies within the General Convention, what are the facts in regard to its priesthood? An examination of the list of 107 ministers, published in the Journal for 1911, shows the following figures:

39 are pastors, supported by societies.
10 are pastors, subsisting on their own means, or on outside assistance.
13 are employed in general Church uses.
3 are foreign missionaries.
6 are superannuated and unemployed.
36 are not employed in any Church uses.

     Thus there are in the General Convention sixty-one flocks with one shepherds, and forty-two shepherds without flocks!

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Was there ever so abnormal, unhealthy and ominous a situation in any denomination in the Christian world?

     And if the unpublished but well known facts were told:--the accounts of societies dissatisfied with their ministers or on the point of giving up the struggle to maintain them;--of ministers preaching to dwindling congregations and subsisting on steadily decreasing salaries;--of graduates of the Convention's Theological School who after a few years in the ministry have forsaken the pulpit in discouragement and disgust;--and if the "water" were to be let out of the Convention's inflated list of membership, eliminating the inactive members, the indifferent members, the non-attendants, and the defunct,--what a story there would be to tell! What lover of the New Jerusalem but must grieve at this tale of lingering decay?

     THE PROPOSED REMEDIES.

     That the Convention is most seriously ill is now generally recognized, and various remedies are being proposed to infuse new life into the moribund body. But instead of inquiring into causes, the consulting doctors are only suggesting external palliatives and stimulants such as "greater respect for the sacred calling," enforced uniformity of worship, consolidation of publishing interests, etc., and--chief of all-Money, more Money! The MESSENGER blames "the present meager salaries" as the chief cause that is deterring young men from entering the ministry, but, apparently despairing of any general increase, it calls upon "the wealthy families" of the Church to induce their sons to take up the sacred profession. The president of the Convention, however, hopefully proposes the creation of a great "Augmentation Fund," "to produce an annual income of from ten to twenty thousand dollars," which shall ensure to every man who goes into the work of the New Church ministry, and proves his efficiency, an adequate salary.

     Others complain of the "lack of respect" for the ministry, chiefly, it seems, on the part of the lay "bosses" who rule the various societies and terrorize the ministers, but what is the real cause of this disrespect? It is impossible for a church to respect a clergy which does not itself respect the Divine Revelation which it is supposed to teach.

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No matter what might be the external deficiencies of the clergy, it would still command respect spiritual things, if it possessed the one virtue of complete confidence in THF, HEAVENLY DOCTRINE and self-surrender to its service. But this confidence and this self-surrender do not and cannot exist with the clergy of the General Convention as a whole, for they have not been inspired at that Theological School where this clergy has been trained.

     The Theological schools in the Christian world at this day are filled with the spirit of Higher Criticism, which teaches that the Bible is a mass of man-made and fallible documents, though, forsooth, it is still maintained that the general principles of truth within them are a revelation from God. Going forth to proclaim such a message, the doubting messengers can inspire no confidence and no respect from the laity, which still entertains a belief in the "good old Book." In the New Church the Convention's Theological School has been for years the fountain-head of an exactly similar attitude of Higher Criticism towards THE WRITINGS, systematically teaching that "the Writings are Swedenborg's, but the revelation of truth made by means of them is the Lord's." (See NEW CHURCH REVIEW for Oct., 1911, P. 612). Who is to tell, then, what is of man, and what is of God, in these Writings? With such a message, how can the ministers of the New Church command confidence and respect? It is a known fact that the laymen of the Convention often know the Doctrine better, and have more faith in its Divine Authority, than do the ministers whom they would like to respect.

     As for Money, more Money, it is not the lack of this that is the trouble in the Convention, for the U. S. Census tells us that this body is, proportionally, one of the wealthiest denominations In the United States. The New Church people as a whole have always been remarkably generous in their support of distinctively New Church uses. It is the WRITINGS that interest New Church people, as is evidenced by the fact that the Societies that publish the Writing are the ones that are best endowed. If the priesthood would cleave to the Writings, read the Writings, teach the Writings, defend the Writings, and exalt the Writings, instead of continually doubting them, decrying and belittling them,--then this priesthood could go forth endowed with power from on High, and the remnant of sincere lovers of the Writings throughout the Church would enthusiastically rally round its banner.

762


But "respect" and "money,"--what good will they do without faith and love? The true servant of the Lord does not seek "respect'' for himself, but for his Master, and all the "salaries" in the world could not buy the services of any man whose work would be worth a farthing to the Lord's New Church.

     The Church is a spiritual institution, and its life or death depend entirely upon internal causes. No amount of money can infuse new life into a moribund Church, and no amount of poverty can prevent the success of a Church that is filled with undivided faith and devotion. What Church was poorer in worldly goods than the Church of the Galilean fishermen, the Church of the catacombs and the martyrs? It was a living Church, successful in the work of the salvation of souls, from the one and single reason that it believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and loved Him alone. It failed when this faith and love was divided between a Divine Christ that was not human, and a human Christ that was not Divine. Then came "money" in plenty and "respect" for the hierarchy, but neither of them could restore the Christian Church.

     To the New Church the Lord has come again in the Writings of the New Jerusalem. They are the Lord in His Second Coming, and they alone will crown the New Church with success. If the Priesthood of the Convention continues to divide these Writings into a human nature that is not Divine, and a Divine nature that is not human, the death of their body is inevitable, for this notion is deadly poison to all confidence, trust, courage and faith. But let them once realize that the human nature of the Writings is actually Divine, as their Divine nature is actually human, and that the whole is Divinely Human,--and the Lord in His Second Coming will again be with them and save their Church.

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TENTH ANNUAL BRITISH ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1911

TENTH ANNUAL BRITISH ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM              1911

     The Assembly met this year at Colchester, in the studio of Messrs. Gill & Son, at 7 p. m., August 5th, the Rev. Andrew Czerny in the chair. The first session was opened by the Assembly uniting in repeating the Lord's Prayer, which was followed by the president reading from the Word.

     After the minutes of the last Assembly, and the reports from the London and Colchester Societies had been read, the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt gave to the Assembly a loving message of greeting and good wishes from the Bishop, whom he had been sent to represent.

     Mr. Gill, in moving a vote of thanks to the Bishop for his message, and also for the means adopted for its conveyance, expressed the hope that in the future we would more deeply study the Writings, and thus assure the Bishop that his flock are doing their best to support him in his work.

     Mr. Appleton seconded and spoke of the faithful way in which our Bishop adhered to the Writings, and how his love and affections were in the General Church, and the great use which he was carrying out in its establishment. The speaker pointed out that we could not live without the spiritual food which we obtained from the Writings any more than we could without natural food. The more we appreciate this fact the more will our love go out to the Bishop and those of the Ministry with him at the helm, who are making every effort to keep alive the spark of affection on which the Lord will establish the Church.

     After Mr. Howard had also expressed the appreciation and thankfulness of the Assembly to the Bishop for his message, the motion of thanks was carried with cordial unanimity.

     Letters of greeting were read from Mr. William Whitehead, of Bryn Athyn, and Mr. Fred Cooper, of Philadelphia, The letter from the former treated of true patriotism, and how this was not inimical but helpful to a true love of the Church. The Assembly wishes to record its thanks to the writers of these appreciated letters.

     Mr. Czerny then delivered his presidential address, in which he outlined the history of the British Assembly from its inauguration ten years ago by the Rev. E. C. Bostock, and spoke of the uses which these Assemblies had performed.

764


It was pointed out that the affection of truth for the sake of truth and the affection of good for the sake of good is what really constitutes the Church. The interest of the young people in the things of the Church was noted as an encouraging sign, and they were warned not to be led away by external things The necessity of the Church to us was shown, namely, that the distinctive form of Divine Truth revealed to the New Church is essential to the salvation of everyone who has been led into this Church, and that it is not in the least degree because such are more spiritual in nature than those outside the Church. Those in the Church must use the means given for their spiritual development, for we must either progress or retrograde.

     In conclusion the writer stated that a church which grows spiritually will never grow less numerically, for the love of good and truth in parents is transmitted, as an inclination, to their children, and this inclination is the Church in potency. Mr. Waters, speaking in appreciation of the address, remarked that our pastor had, with his usual modesty, entirely eliminated his own part in the progress the Church had made in the two societies; and testified to the fact that Mr. Czerny had presented to us the truths of the Church in their purity. The speaker instanced the case of Mr. Bostock in illustration of the way the Lord always provided for His Church, mentioning that when Mr. Bostock was taken into the other world just after he had been appointed to lead us, and we had looked forward with joy to his doing so, it had seemed to us as if no one could take his place, but this had proved not to be the case.

     Mr. Derick Elphick. It is very fit that a paper like Mr. Czerny's should have been given us. This is our tenth Assembly and ten years is a good round period on which to look back. In doing so we should be very grateful for the Church, and we hope the principles given us by our pastor will lead us through life. The interchange of visits between the two societies of London and Colchester, which has arisen through the Assemblies, has been of great benefit to the young people, and there is every indication for them to go on and take up the work their elders have commenced. Our responsibilities increase as our perception of truth increases.

     Mr. Cooper also spoke of the great benefit derived from Assemblies, and referred to the delights experienced at each being of a more interior quality than the preceding one. These delights will help us to face the trials and difficulties we meet in the world.

765




     The Rev. T. F. Robinson. I would like to express appreciation of the message and address. I have been thinking of those Newchurchmen who hold the Writings as the Word of God, and yet are not in our organization. It has impressed me with the necessity of having, as we do, a strong center and priesthood to look to.

     Mr. W. Howard. The point of the paper is that it is essentially the truth and not the personality which counts. It is not a personal magnetism which keeps the Church together, but a love of the truth. As long as the affection is true it will last to eternity.

     It was now proposed that Mr. Synnestvedt be asked to present his paper on "REMAINS." This he did, remarking that the subject suggested itself to him as being an appropriate one for the tenth anniversary of the Assembly,--the number ten representing remains. After the speaker had prefaced the paper with a brief sketch of the degrees of man's mind, the Assembly was treated to the most interior and illuminating presentation of the subject of Remains that the members had ever received. At its conclusion, which came all too soon, no time remained for discussion, which was, therefore, adjourned to the next session.

     Refreshments were now served and several toasts were honored, interspersed with Church songs, amidst a sphere of true New Church companionship.

     At Service the following morning the congregation numbered 79, and there were 56 communicants. The rite of Confession of Faith was administered to the following young people:--the Misses Winnie Potter, Bertha Motum, Olive Cooper, Gladys Bedwell, Gwyneth Hart, and Mr. Donald Rose. This rite, as always, was very impressive and the entire service was delightful. Mr. Synnestvedt assisted Mr. Czerny in conducting the worship.

     A pleasing prelude to the Sunday evening session was the rendering of a selection of sacred songs and anthems by a choir of the Colchester Society, under the able direction of Mr. Potter. The introductory worship was conducted by Mr. Synnestvedt, and he was invited to give a resume of his paper prior to a discussion of the subject.

     Mr. W. Rey Gill said that awhile we knew all men had sufficient remains implanted to enable them to be regenerated if they so desired, it would seem that those whose upbringing and home surroundings gave opportunity for more remains to be implanted had an advantage over those with whom this was not the case.

766




     Mr. Synnestvedt. I think the answer to this question was given in Mr. Czerny's address; namely, that we who have these advantages need them to do the little we do towards our regeneration. The Lord provides a balance for every man.

     Mr. Potter. The doctrine of Remains has always appeared to me to be a very difficult and abstruse one, and I feel very thankful for the clear exposition which has been given us by Mr. Synnestvedt. Each minister of the Academy seems to be a specialist in some doctrine. The subject has been treated in a most scientific manner, and I think the use of such terms as "Plane A," "Plane B," etc., a good way of dealing with such a subject.

     Mr. Howard. I would like to hear in what way we can encourage in our own lives the ultimation of the remains which have been implanted in us.

     Mr. Synnestvedt. When the first state of tenderness passes away from children, and their own proprium begins to come out, then just so far as they refrain from giving way to temptation, and just so far as they make a start in early youth, just so far will they find it easy to regenerate. It is not till we are about 15 years of age that more than one-third of our brain comes into use, especially that part of the brain consisting of the cross connections, from which comes rationality. Then when the boy begins to act as from himself, it is a very grievous error to think it does not matter if you countenance what is called the sowing of his wild oats. It is true, the evils of youth are not so grievous, and there is more chance of reformation than there is when evils are given way to in in later years, but still if the boy gives way, he is building up his brain with fibres which all lay wrongly, and is thus laying up evil remaitls, which make necessary a reconstruction of these fibres, and this means a serious fight. The scars left through giving way to evils will always remain. However, man never conquers on all occasions; the Lord alone perfectly resisted all the evils of heredity.

     Mr. Ball. What distinction would there be in the effect of remains at the present day and in our children who will form the Church in years to come!

     Mr. Synnestvedt. A similar distinction to that between those who are not born from parents in conjugial love and those who are. The latter are said to be born with the inclination and faculty, if a son, for perceiving the things of wisdom, and, if a daughter, for loving the things which wisdom teaches. Whatever you have made habitual becomes part of the tendency you transmit to your offspring, for the seed retains everything habitual in the father. It is possible that through conjugial love existing in the parents, there will he a different lay in the inherited tendencies of our children, but a perverse tendency will always remain.

     Mr. Waters. I would like to add a word of praise, not to the man, but to the Lord who has given us a man with such a sweet cluster of grapes from which he has pressed for us noble and generous wine. Courtship with its sweet states seems analogous to those states of delight in childhood during which remains are implanted; for at times there seems in courtship something of motherhood toward us in the beloved one.

767


Then, too, when we talk on things belonging to heaven and the church, we recognize a similar state of delight to those which we had in childhood. Our appreciation of the music we have heard tonight may have been made possible to us by the crooning over us of our mothers, and remains are thus called back to our minds.

     Mr. Appleton. The subject is an especially interesting one to us as Newchurchmen, because we know that our remains are with us to eternity. We have desired a New Church education for our children in order that good remains may thus be implanted in them. The Church is our foster mother, and all instruction which has been brought to us on this subject could only have come through revelation from the Lord.

     The next paper was now called for and read; its subject was, "THE BODIES OF SPIRITS AND ANGELS;" the writer being Mr. W. Rey Gill.

     Mr. Cooper. The ideas presented in the paper are new to me. We have always had the impression that we shall have tangible bodies in the other world. There must be a means of recognition there as between man and man.

     Mr. Rose. It seems the writer has taken a position contrary to the general teaching of the Writings, and one flat I am not prepared to accept. The quotations used from the SPIRITUAL DIARY Seem to imply only that the spirits lacked their material bodies. The writer states that the form in which we shall exist in the other world is similar to that of the brain, but the form of Heaven is that of a Gorand Man, and has the two kingdoms of the lungs and the heart.

     Mr. W. Rey Gill. I tried to make clear in the paper that we shall appear in the other world just as we do in this, and certainly I said nothing which would lead one to infer that when he got there, instead of people, he would see brains floating around.

     Mr. Waters. I, too, think the passages used by the writer are to explain that there is no material body in the other world. In a sense the whole body is the brain and formed from the brain, and when it is said the man is the brain, the whole brain and its derivations are taken in a complex.

     Mr. Ball. The writer has possibly pursued the subject in one direction without taking sufficient notice of others. I think it very questionable for such a paper to be presented before a gathering in which there are young people. It is a fundamental truth that after death we are in the human form, and this because the heavens are, and they because the Lord is. We should not run Off at a tangent in our speculations but keep near the earth. It has been a beautiful thing to think of the spiritual world as real, and the paper seems to destroy this idea. The Writings state that we have the sense of taste in the other life, but that it is subordinated to the other senses. We shall even have feasts there.

768




     Mr. Anderson. I offer my congratulations to the writer of the paper. Because what I have heard is new to me, I do not propose to criticize. There may be more in the ideas presented than we see at present.

     Mr. Derick Elphick. The paper came as rather a shock at first, but it brings together all the classes of statements in the Writings on this subject. Under the pageantry of appearances there is the philosophy of reality.

     Mr. W. Howard. The paper brought out very clearly that it is spiritual things which are the true realities. In the work on THE INFINITE it is mentioned that the auras from which the earths arose are more real than the earths themselves.

     Mr. Gill. The paper does not question the fact that spirits appear as men. As to recognizing our acquaintances of this world in the next, this only happens in the world of spirits; afterwards no earthly relationships remain. The writer has not given us his own conclusions, but has simply brought together passages from the Writings.

     Mr. Howard. We are taught by means of appearances, but we must not remain in them. Let us keep our minds open towards the truth.

     Mr. Synnestvedt. I admire the English habit of getting up and saying fearlessly how a thing strikes you. It came as a shock to us all the first time we heard the teaching which has been presented tonight. In regard to the wisdom of presenting such a subject to young people, I have found in my school work that those under 16 years of age are not prepared for it. Fixity, time and space pertain only to this earthly realm, and not to the spiritual world, but reality does, and is there the outward fact without the fixed form it has in the world. All that exists here makes an impress on the soul, and in the other life these impressions can be revived and embody themselves by means of the spiritual atmospheres. The appearances thus presented are real because they represent the realities within them. We are told a wise man thinks according to the reality, but a simple man speaks and thinks according to the appearance. We have been accustomed to think and talk of the appearances in the other life and not of its realities.

     My ground for believing the paper to be correct is based on the teaching in THE DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM and THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, Where the laws are given concerning appearances and realities in the other life; especially those passages there which deal with the appearance of the Sun of the Spiritual World. When you get into the other life you will see this glorious orb representing the Lord; but we are told this is an appearance, for the Lord is not in one situation only, at a middle altitude, as the Spiritual Sun is said to appear, but is inmostly throughout the universe as its soul.

     In the other life the Lord provides the outside appearances, such as houses, etc., so that the spirits may see Divine verities set forth and can receive them as if from themselves; for without such appearances there could he no intelligence and no illustration; but, given the appearances, the light can inflow and the Lord give an idea of the realities within.

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     In the spiritual world creation only projects itself down as far as the atmospheres there, and not to the grade where it can be infixed with material particles. As an example there is the case of the bird shown to Sir Hans Sloane. (D. L. W. 344) But because things are not material there, pray do not think they are not real.

     If you take the collection of passages made by the writer of the paper, I think you will have to come to the same conclusion that he has done.

     Mr. Czenzy. I think it very useful to bring out the apparently contradictory statements in the Writings. We shall get no further if we do not advance beyond appearances. In the other life we have the sensation as of a body, because sensation is in the brain even in this life, and not in the body. There are intimations in the Philosophical Works that throw light on some of the passages in the SPIRITUAL DIARY. We have not yet reached the end of the understanding of the Writings, for they, being a Divine Revelation, are inexhaustible.

     The Assembly now adjourned until Monday morning, when the opening service was conducted by the Rev. T. F. Robinson. A paper by the Rev. E. E. Iungerich on "THE PHILOSOPHY OF DISEASE AND CURE," was then taken up. Unfortunately Mr. Iungerich was uilable to be present at the Assembly, as had been hoped, and his paper was, therefore, read for him.

     Dr. Boericke. Qualifications must be added to the statement in the paper that man cannot be regenerated when in a state of disease. It is so when a man is in fear of death or some other states of a like kind, but if a person who has been and is regenerating comes into disease, it will not prevent him going on in regeneration, but will help him to realize that one can attribute nothing of good to oneself. This is one of the uses of disease. The conclusion that no one school of medicine is applicable to all cases or all individuals is correct. I do not think, however, that the writer has by any means stated all the teaching favorable to Homoeopathy which is given in the Writings, though there certainly are passages which can be used to favor other forms of cure. The suggestions given in the paper as to the use of "positive cures" are applicable only to Newchurchmen, for merely natural men are not willing to remove the internal causes of disease.

     Mr. W. Howard. It is a question whether a man in an unhealthy state be able to use the positive methods. It would seem he must first cure himself by the "negative methods" in order to form in himself a plane on which he could use positive methods.

     Mr. Ball. The paper is very useful because it leaves us all free to adopt any form of cure we like. It cuts away the theory that drugs are going to do much in vitiated states of the body. The doctors themselves have little faith in drugs and use them only to inspire confidence, which results in a peaceful state with the patient. When we come into contented states and shun evils, we shall have a decrease of diseases. The best thing to do is to think as little about disease as possible.

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     Mr. Howard. The paper speaks of diseases of the soul, but we have been taught that the soul is inviolate in every man.

     Mr. Synnestvedt. On further study you will find that in these cases it is the receptive vessel of the soul, or a rudimentary addittament on "Plane B," clothing "Plane A," which is referred to. There is the plane we call "A. 1"; i.e. the fluid living soul which is the Lord's alone, and there is that from the plane below which contains it. In a similar sense we say the soul is from the father, and yet this soul is contaminated. Really it is the covering of the soul which is from the father and this is liable to vitiation.

     Mr. Rose. The whole idea of the paper seems to be the importance of preserving the body in this life as long as possible, but the Lord's Providence regulates this as it does all else. In the paper it is suggested that negative methods should be used only when positive cures fail: are the negative ones then stronger? I would like to take this opportunity of stating that I think some discrimination should be shown in using quotations from the Writings and Swedenborg's Philosophical Works, and that they should not be put together as if they were of equal authority.

     Mr. Gill. The references to the quotations were given, and it is left free for individuals to decide what weight there may be in the case of each class of quotations. The paper points out the use of a sound mind in a sound body, and surely Mr. Rose would not suggest we should not look after the health of the body. All diseases originate in the spiritual world from anxieties and lusts; afterwards they are propagated here. It is the Lord's will that we should be free from anxieties and lusts.

     Mr. Synnestvedt. I am a believer in Homoeopathy and I differ from some of Mr. Iungerich's views. His remarks, however, have force against those homoeopathic doctors who seem to almost disregard hygiene in their anxiety to remove all symptoms by drugs. We must not, however, throw aside medicine because there are some quacks. There is a great deal to be learnt about the treatment of disease, and we must take a broad view of the subject, but under present conditions we should not give up the use of medicine.

     Dr. Boericke. Mr. Iungerich made a very good point in regard to the evil of inhaling tobacco smoke. The body is nourished in three ways, namely, by material, aerial and ethereal foods. Aerial food is taken in through the lungs and thence goes into the circulation. Moreover breathing affects the thoughts: when you think deeply you breathe deeply. In the inhaling of tobacco smoke the poison goes to the brain, as is evidenced by the dizziness caused when this is first done, and inability to think interiorly follows.

     Mr. Rey Gill. The paper states that if man were in the order of his life he would have no diseases, but animals are in the order of their lives and yet they have diseases.

     Mr. Synnestvedt. Animals do not have diseases in the same way men do; those they have are impressed on them from men.

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Men at this day have a spiritual taint and this has an effect on their bodies. The Lord by His incarnation won corporeal freedom for men. This is the reason a healthy child may be born from diseased parents. Spirits cannot now inflow into a man's body until either a disease is present or a man dabbles in spiritism. If you clear up the material and aerial dirt you can get rid of these evil spirits, and thus of the disease.

     Mr. Waters. Positive cures are derived from an acknowledgment of the Lord. When a man acts from instruction from the Lord, he begins to reform his methods of life and to avoid excesses, especially in eating and drinking, which excesses are the causes of diseases. Let us use common sense arising from observation.

     The sessions now came to an end and the greater part of those present adjourned to a pleasant meadow for a picnic lunch and an afternoon of social intercourse in the open air. We met again at the studio in the evening when numerous toasts were proposed and honored, after which we listened to a program of songs, recitations, etc. The musical monologues of our inimitable Mr.
Anderson "fairly brought down the house." The Assembly came to an end, all too soon, just before midnight. The number of those signing the attendance roll was 78.

     This report would not be complete unless it mentioned the deep thankfulness of every one present at the Assembly for the privilege of having Mr. Synnestvedt with us. His wife, too, as well as the other visitors present from America, contributed very greatly to the enjoyment of all. W. REY GILL, Secretary.

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Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. The month of October finds the school work well started and the various other serious or recreative activities that cluster about it beginning to appear. The foot ball team has played three games, the school socials have commenced, the "Deka" has shown signs of life, the new boys have been inaugurated into the heavenly choirs of the "Phi Alpha," the Civic and Social Club has met once, the "Younger Generation" will soon again resume the guidance of the Church, the Friday suppers have started, and we hear of preparations for a District Assembly at Thanksgiving.

     Two of our most active young teachers have left us for other fields, Mr. Leonard E. Gyllenhaal from the College and Miss Venita Pendleton from the Seminary. Two new lady teachers, Miss Olive Bostock and Miss Dorothy Burnham, are in the Seminary, and two new teachers are in the College, Mr. Otho Heilman and Rev. Gilbert H. Smith, the latter having completed his course in the Theological School. Miss Bostock is the teacher of science in the Seminary, and Mr. Heilman is assisting Mr. Brown as master of the Boys' Dormitory, besides coaching the foot ball team and teaching in the College the German language which has not been on the roster for many years. In the Elementary School Miss Phoebe Bostock has left and Miss Scott and Miss Roschman, both from Berlin, Canada, have taken two of the grades.

     The entering class in the Theological School, with a membership of seven students, is the largest in its history. Mr. Madefrey A. Odhner has entered after two years of military training. His cousin, Mr. Hugo Lj. Odhner, comes after a summer spent in work in the Academy Library. Then there is Mr. Sydney B. Childs, of New York, who spent last summer in missionary work at Arbutus, Md.; Mr. Donald Rose, of London, who has just returned from his native land; Mr. George De Charms, grandson of the original starter of the Academy movement in America, and Mr. Llewellyn David, of San Francisco, the son of the Rev. J. S. David, who is president of the California Association.

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Mr. Erneste Deltenre, an advanced student, is continuing his second year in the School.     E. E. I.

     ABINGTON, MASS. On Wednesday evening, September 12, there was a special service at which Miss Jessie Florence Campbell was baptized into the faith of the New Church, after which we spent a social hour together in the hall as a send off for our three girls who are now in Bryn Athyn.

     We have had an addition to our circle in the small person of Caroline Ruth, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell, who was born August 16, 1911, the first "Academy baby" born in New England.

The Friday suppers have been started once more, the first one of the season being held October 6th.

     The curriculum of the Sunday School, mentioned in our last report, is being carried out in a very satisfactory manner to both teachers and pupils.

     For the sake of awakening a spirit of loyalty to the school, the classes all join in the singing of "Our Own Academy," at the stroke of the bell which announces a change of teachers. We received an inspiration from the thought that our school is one of the Academy's, and we are beginning to understand the meaning of "Our Own Academy." G. M. L.

     BALTIMORE, MD. During August Mr. Sydney R. Childs conducted Sunday worship at Arbutus, reading in all six of the published sermons of Bishop Pendleton. In the doctrinal class held on Thursday evenings five "Laws of the Divine Providence" (from A. E.) were read and discussed with much interest.

     On September 1 the Circle held its annual meeting, which included a social supper at the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. Price Coffin. Speeches were made emphasizing the fact that the hope of the Society rested on our steadfast loyalty to the truths of Revelation and to each other, and that in community life the Church is given an ideal basis of growth.

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The evening closed with a feeling of gratitude to Providence for the indications of genuine progress both past and present. S. B. C.

     THE MISSIONARY FIELD. A visit of three days was made with the New Church Circle at Milverton, Ont. On Sunday, September 10, services were held at the home of Mr. Ferdinand Doering and family, six miles from the town. Thirteen persons were present, all adults but one. After the sermon the Holy Supper was administered to twelve, all of whom except two are embers of the General Church.

     I called on Mr. and Mrs. H. B. White and family, and also on a few other old-time friends in London, but we did not have a meeting.

     Three days with the two Woofenden families at Mull, Kent Co., Ont. Several very useful conversations on doctrinal subjects were mutually enjoyed. Mrs. Catherine Woofenden, and one of her sons and his wife are members of the General Church.

     With Mr. John D. Pollock and brother and their families, on the west side in Chicago, September 19-21. During the time also had an enjoyable visit With Dr. J. W. Marelius and his family, at their home. It was in Chicago that I attended the General Convention the first time, in June, 1871. It was then that my acquaintance began with some of the ministers of the Church, who afterwards became founders of the Academy.

     Arrived in Rockford, Ill., September 21. The members of our Circle in this city gave me the same cordial welcome as ever. Sunday, 24th, services were held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Hamilton. At the close of the sermon on John 14:2, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered to the seven adults present. Three members of the Circle were unable to be at the meeting.

     On Friday evening, 29th, a meeting for social conversation was held at the home of the Gustafson family, which is always my stopping place in Rockford. The topics were the Principles and Uses of the Academy and related matters. On Sunday, October 1, services were again held at the home of the Hamiltons with a little larger attendance than the week before. At all the meetings there was an enjoyable New Church sphere.

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An annual visit is not sufficient for the good of the Church in Rockford, and it would be well for the committee on Church Extension to consider the question. J. E. BOWERS.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The story of the New Church society in Portland, Me., related by Mr. Sewall in the MESSENGER for September to, comes as news to us. There is here at present "a little society of very humble means,--the relic of the once large and flourishing New Church in Portland, which numbered some of the wealthiest and leading citizens in its membership and worshiped in a fine large church under the ministry of one of the most scholarly and charming men our clergy ever contained, the Rev. William B. Hayden. Those early founders have all passed away. The families have become scattered abroad. One of the wealthiest supporters still surviving withdrew his aid entirely." . . . "The Church was sold to pay off its debts and the society met for a time in a hall." "There seemed to be every symptom of a decay and death, like that in too many of the early societies of the Church that started out with much promise. Witness Gardiner and Banger in Maine, and many towns in other States." There remained a living germ, however, and with some aid from the Young People's League the Portland society built a neat and attractive little parish house in a pleasant suburb, where new members are now being gathered in. The society has long been without a resident pastor, but has now secured the services of the Rev. H. C. Small, lately of Indianapolis, who will also engage in general missionary work in the State of Maine.

     GREAT BRITAIN. A new and interesting missionary enterprise has been undertaken recently by the New Church Evidence Society. A big, well equipped van has been purchased, built of solid mahogany and painted dark blue, with the inscription "New Church Bible and Book Van" in large golden letters. Well provided with Bibles and all kinds of New Church literature, the van started on August 11, from No. 1 Bloomsbury St., on a twelve months' tour through the south and west of England, with the Rev. W. R. Horner as missionary and Mr. John Cozens as assistant.

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Recent issues of the MORNING LIGHT give interesting accounts of the journeyings, adventures and labors of the itinerant evangelists, who stop in the market place of small towns, Preach in the open air, gather around them big crowds, answer questions, engage in private conversations, sell Bibles and New Church books, give away tracts, meet isolated receivers, and generally perform the kind of active missionary work which the early apostles of the New Church used to do a hundred years ago.

     This new effort appeals to us as something really worth the while if systematically followed up. Too long the New Church has been talking about missionary work instead of doing it. The old method of trying to reach the "intellectual'' classes by occasional lectures has dismally failed. Possibly it is on the highways and byways that the "remnant" is to be found that may be willing to accept the invitation to the "wedding feast."

     When first starting out upon its journey, the van had quite an adventure, being "held up" by a crowd of rioters in the great London strike, who supposed the vehicle was carrying provisions of a material kind. The ringleader, "a bull-necked, red-haired, truculent ruffian, appeared bent on making mischief. He breathed out fire and slaughter, together with an odor of bad beer and cheap tobacco." The van was finally released through the service of two able-bodied constables. "Ask not how we overcame their coy reluctance."

     SOUTH AFRICA, DURBAN.--An interesting function took place on Thursday afternoon, July 6, at the New Church and Bayley Hall, Berea Road, on the occasion of the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Cockerell. A short thanksgiving service was first held in the church, which was tastefully decorated for the event. The service was attended by a number of guests and nearly all the descendants of Mr. and Mrs. Cockerell were present. After the service, a reception was held in the adjoining hall, which was also artistically decorated and arranged as a drawing room, with a throne composed chiefly of golden flowers and greenery. Here a large number of presents were displayed. The golden couple were heartily toasted, after the presentation of an illuminated address, which was signed by all their children, children-in-law, and grandchildren.

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The grandchildren contributed largely to the success of the afternoon by performing many charming little items. A pretty little song was attractively rendered by Miss Doris Ridgway, the words and music having been composed for the occasion.

     Both Mr. and Mrs. Cockerell came out to the Garden Colony with the early pioneers, and were married on July 6, 1861, at Umgeni, since when they have shown their affection for the land of their adoption by refusing to leave it except for short intervals. (MORNING LIGHT, August 19.)

     SWEDEN. The first general meeting of the New Church in Western Sweden took place in Gothenburg the 29th to 30th of last July.

     Among the visitors were: Pastor S. Chr. Bronniche, of Copenhagen; Mr. A. H. Stroh and his mother, Mrs. H. Stroh, of Bryn Athyn; Mr. and Mrs. John Headsten, of Chicago; Miss Cyriel Odhner, of Stockholm, and Mr. and Mrs. Carl Spamer, of Baltimore, who Were upon their wedding tour, which has extended from Japan and China to all parts of Europe.

     The Rev. C. J. N. Manby, of Stockholm, took charge of the meetings. Among the papers read there was one by Pastor Bronniche on the "Revelation of the Internal Sense," which was followed by a short, but lively discussion on the Authority of the Writings. The Rev. J. E. Rosenquist, pastor of the Gothenburg Society, took the occasion to explain his present standing as to this question by stating that the Writings were written "by Swedenborg from the Lord," rather than (as Swedenborg states in the ECCLESIASTICRL HISTORY of the N. C.) "by the Lord through" Swedenborg.

     On Sunday, July 3oth, the Holy Supper was administered to 50 or 60 communicants, this being a record-breaking figure for the New Church in Sweden. The attendance at worship was considerably over a hundred persons, owing, no doubt, partly to the wedding of two of the society members. To the apparent delight of the editor of our Swedish contemporary, the wedding-banquet took place at a Vegetarian restaurant, where toasts were drunk in unfermented grape juice.

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     In the evening Mr. H. Stroh read a paper on "The Last Years of Swedenborg's Life, and the Rise of the New Church." After this the question of organization was taken up, and after a discussion the Gothenburg Society resolved unanimously to petition the civil authorities for legal recognition as a religious body.

     The meetings were altogether successful and it is to be hoped that they may occur regularly.
Directory 1911

Directory              1911




     Announcements.


     A few copies of the Directory of the General Church have been bound and interleaved for additions and corrections. The price is: Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.

     Address, Academy Book Room, Bryn Athyn, Pa.
PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY 1911

PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ASSEMBLY       HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1911

     Special Notice.

     The Sixth Annual Meeting of the Philadelphia District Assembly will be held at Bryn Athyn on Friday and Saturday evenings, the first and second days of December. The supper on Friday will begin at 6:30 p. m. The Bishop's address will be read on Saturday evening, and the Holy Supper administered on Sunday.

     All members and friends are cordially invited. Entertainment will be provided for visitors if they will kindly send their names to Rev. Gilbert Smith, Bryn Athyn, Pa. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT.
Secretary.
Correction 1911

Correction              1911

     On p. 599 of the September LIFE it was reported that Miss Miriam Smith, of Bryn Athyn, Pa., died on July 25th, 1910. The date should have been August 17th, 1910. [Corrected in the electronic text.]
FATHER AND THE SON 1911

FATHER AND THE SON       Rev. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1911



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NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXI DECEMBER, 1911          No. 12
     A CHRISTMAS ADDRESS

     The Lord from eternity, who was before the world, descended into the world in the fulness of time, assumed a human in the Virgin Mary, and became our Redeemer and Savior. When He was in the world He made Divine the infirm human which He assumed from the Divine in Himself, putting off successively all that was inherited from the mother, and replacing it with the Divine from the Father. He made His human Divine Truth, and afterwards Divine Good, thus one with Jehovah. This human was, therefore, no longer a form recipient of life, but was life itself. The unition in the Lord of the Divine and the human is called the Glorification which was effected by acts of Redemption, or by continual combats with the hells, and by victories over them. The Lord, therefore, when He was in the world, glorified His whole Human, even the ultimate which is called natural and sensual, wherefore He arose from the sepulcher, not as a man, with the spirit only, but with the body itself. And as He was in Firsts, so also He became in ultimates, the One only Lord God, who reigneth Omnipotent forever.

     This greatest of all events that ever took place in this or any other earth, could not but be attended with the most momentous results. For it was a change-not, indeed, in God Himself, for He is Infinite, and the Infinite comprehends within itself all possible changes,-but in His relation and presence with the whole human race, both in this and in the other world.

     The assumption, therefore, of a human in time and space was but the superinducing of another form or means of appearing to men, and thus of reaching them in their fallen estate, and conjoining them with Himself.

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As long as men could see with their spirits, it was not needed. But when their evils so beclouded their spirits that they could no longer see their Father in the heavens, He came upon earth. But in order to reach man in that state, and especially to reach the hells in whose bondage the human race was then held, He had to veil the glory which He had from the beginning, for unless He could reach them, He could not redeem them. He sent Himself into the world, therefore, as the Son of God. Thus of His mercy there was effected, as it were, a degree of removal for the time being between His own Omnipotence and the arm which He used in this great deliverance. Otherwise the hells would have been annihilated, for they cannot exist for a moment in the presence of the Divine itself, unless it be so veiled. Thus also man's freedom would at the same time have been annihilated-for only by being free to love the hells, can man in freedom reject them.

     But how is it, the children ask, that God could be His own Son? How can Father and Son be one, as the Lord declares in John? To avoid confusion in our answer, let us remember that at first there were things in the human which were not Divine, and as to these it can only be said that the Father was in the Son, that the Divine was in the midst, and the human, finite, fallible things were round about, like it is with us, when the Lord puts a willing spirit within us, and the flesh is still weak round about. But there is this great difference that when we fight against these evil lusts and overcome them, we become conjoined with the Lord as receivers of His life, while the Human which He had became one with the Father, because inmostly it was Himself. Now when a human father is to be provided with a posterity, it is effected by means of a seed, which contains a graft from his own soul. This soul of his, however, is but a form receptive of life from the Divine, and has not any life in itself. Hence the grafts which it propagates are separated from it, and while they have a similar form imposed upon them, yet they no longer live from the parent soul, but immediately become equal to the parent soul, and distinct from it, in that they then receive their life as he did from the Lord. But when the Lord Himself decided to embody His Divine Human,-for He was always Man, and thus always had a Divine Human in potency,-the soul which became the first or seed of this body, was not a finite form, or a form receptive of life from elsewhere, but was in itself one with the Infinite,-thus was Life itself. And since the Divine is one and indivisible, He could not, as men do, propagate another from Himself, and then recede from it. Hence the soul which was within the human born of the Virgin, (who in this act represents the whole Church, and especially that in the race which we call the feminine), could not be other than God Himself. Here, therefore, Father and Son are one-for they are but two names expressive of two aspects of the one only Lord, in His relation to His creatures.

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As He is in Himself Infinite and Unchangeable, we could never form the slightest conception of Him. It is as He manifests Himself by means of these human relationships and human offices, in which His Infinity is represented amongst us, that we are able to think of Him, to hear Him, to see Him, to learn of Him, and to obey Him,-in short, to love and worship Him.

     Those who think spiritually as the angels do when they read the terms, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Word, think of three successive essences or loves, from which all other things proceed. The inward idea of "Father" is love, for love is the origin and parent of all things. So likewise when they read of "Son" they think of that which proceeds or is derived from love,-which in general is truth, for all love sends itself forth, and provides, as it were, a posterity for itself by means of truth. Thus in the spiritual sense, by the Father is meant the Divine Good of the Lord, and by the Son is meant this Good manifested or sent forth as Divine Truth. It was only when the infirm and merely human things which still adhered, as it were, in the surface, were allowed to manifest themselves that He appeared or spoke as if He were separate from the Father. This He could not do now, since all these infirmities, which gave rise to the alternate states of humiliation and of glorification, have been purged away by means of the combats which He passed through from infancy to the end on the cross, and in their place was substituted that which was of His soul, and thus Divine. This process we may compare to a seed, which, falling into the bosom of the earth, first decays as to its shell or husk, and then the vital germ within, drawing forth from the rich chaos of the substances around it, those infilling substances which its own life requires, then appropriates them, and incorporates them in a new form in the image and after the pattern of its own soul and then pushes itself, forth downward, upward, and on every side displacing that which cradled it.

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So also the Lord deigned to clothe His Divinity with an infirm humanity, which, having served its use in furnishing the means of abode in the earth, and opportunity for the hells to attack Him, was gradually displaced by the new life in its own form.

     In this He did but follow the unchanging law of His own universe, where nothing is static, but all things are subject to a constant renewal. Moreover, the mode which He followed in the Glorification of His Human is the type and pattern of His new creation of man, of which it is written in Ezekiel xxxvi, 26: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh."

Thus also was wrought the great change in His Human, whereby from being a form of death it became a form serviceable for the perfect reception of Divine life, and thus, there being no disobedience left in it, it became one with the Father, so that He could say:

     "He that seeth Me, seeth the Father. I and the Father are One."

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REGENERATION AND WORK 1911

REGENERATION AND WORK       Rev. GILBERT H. SMITH       1911

     "He, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." (Isaiah 55:1.)

     The wine and milk here mentioned are eternal life. Men of the commercialized Christian Church desire it to be given them free; considering that only to be free, however, which costs no effort and does not interfere with enjoyment of the world's pleasures, gains, and honors. They want it to come to them along with their other interests. They are unwilling to put forth the necessary effort that is meant by "coming to the waters." Although desiring eternal life as a free gift, they would still have it appear that they merit or purchase it; but they would make the purchase in coin of their own inherent worth and intelligence; and they are even unwilling to partake of it after it has been so purchased. Yet upon the specific terms mentioned by Isaiah in the passage before us, and upon these only, is eternal life free: they are that men should come to the waters, buy without money, and eat.

     These terms express what is of divine order in human life, but human nature as it stands today is unwilling to receive eternal life in ways which are of order. The commercial spirit, which strives to acquire much for little or even nothing, is the very thing which destroys divine order in life. And the only thing competent to restore and maintain that order is the fulfilment of the conditions upon which alone the Lord gives eternal life gratuitously, as expressed in Isaiah's invitation to the waters.

     These conditions, however, can never be fulfilled except by means of uses or occupations in the world. It is our present purpose to show why this is so.

     First of all, the conditions of order cannot be fulfilled apart from occupation and study, because occupations are essential to order, as order is essential to regeneration. This was true even of the Lord's divine work. He was employed in the greatest of all uses during all His life in the world.

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Otherwise He could not have reduced the hells to order or glorified His Human, as will be seen more clearly in what follows.

     To establish this assumption that occupations are essential to order, let us seek a definite idea of what order is We find it defined in seven summaries, on an occasion of Swedenborg's instructing an evil spirit. (T. C. R. 71) Among these summaries it is said: "God created the human rational mind according to the order of the whole spiritual world, and his natural mind according to the order of the whole natural world. Hence it is a law of order that from his little spiritual world, (or rational), one should rule his little natural world; just as the Lord Himself rules the natural from the spiritual world. It is a sequent law of order that one should instruct himself into faith by truths from the Word; and into charity by good works; and thus reform and regenerate himself. It is a law of order that one should purify himself from sins by his own work and power. And also that one should love God with his whole soul and heart, and his neighbor as himself, and must not wait and expect that these two loves will be put into his mind [apart from his own effort].

     He who observes these laws of order keeps the Commandments. But they cannot be observed apart from some useful study or occupation, since it is only by means of such study or occupation that one can rule his little natural world from his little spiritual world, or instruct himself in charity; for charity call he performed nowhere except in the line of one's occupation. One cannot put forth his own effort and ability to purify himself from sins except in the work Providence has given him to do at any particular time.

     These two things are also said to belong to order, that one acknowledge God and His omnipotent protection against hell, and on his part fight the evil in himself. But neither this acknowledgment nor this fight can be made except in connection with some useful work, since they are made only from soundness of reason, which, as will be shown, depends upon occupation.

     Again, order is defined as that disposition and activity of the parts or substances in any form, which determines the state of the form.

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But such a state of the substances of the mind as will oppose evil in oneself and admit of the acknowledgment of God can be induced only by faithful application to the work one has before him.

     The reason for this is that soundness of reason depends upon a certain restriction or limitation. "When one is in any study or business, that is, in any use," we read, "his mind is limited and circumscribed as in a circle, within which it is successively coordinated into a form truly human, and from which as from a house he sees various concupiscences outside of himself, and from the soundness of reason within he banishes them." (C. L. 249)

     This circumscription may be called, in familiar term, "concentration." The concentration of the mind upon any work is not only to the advantage of the work but is more especially of value to the worker. Concentration has this result: it circumscribes or limits the mind, directing the whole mental force to certain brain centers. In these centers the substances become ordinated or arranged into order. They became like orderly little communities in the midst of a wilderness, or, as suggested in the above reference, like orderly households in a thriftless neighborhood. For that part of the mind which reacts to the world through the senses is at first as a wilderness, chaotic, and full of wild beasts, whose inroads cannot be checked except by means of order in the community.

     The order which is established in the brain centers by employments, is the order of the employment. Every use or employment has its own order. In every employment the factors and instruments which enter into it must have a certain circumscribed relation to each other; there must be a definite relation of cause and effect; such things constituting the order of the employment. Thus when it is said that the order of an occupation is stamped upon the centers of brain substance, the meaning is that there are stamped upon them certain truths and knowledges relating to the causes and effects of that employment.

     Every use, in order to take actual ultimate form, must first be imagined; it must also be thought out; and it must be loved. When the imagination, thought, and love of a use are occupying the substances of the mind, these substances are actually undergoing motion and change.

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More exactly, they undergo change at first, until by continued or repeated process of imagining, thinking, and loving they become stiffened to a certain line and curve, which they retain or easily reproduce. Thus the order of the occupation or use is induced upon the substances of the mind, consisting in a certain disposition and activity of the parts of the substances involved. And without this definite arrangement and activity of the mind's substances, the higher substances which compose the interiors of the mind or man would have nothing against which to react, no cups to contain and hold them. They would flow, as it were, into sieves. It would be as if one tried to build a house upon the shifting sands. And where the ultimate substances of the mind display no stability, but ate altogether plastic, as in infancy, evil spirits cannot oppose or gain a vantage ground of attack. It is said that infants in the other world can play in the very presence of enraged, malignant spirits without the least alarm.

     The truths and knowledges connected with an occupation, though restricted in their scope, yet afford the necessary coupling between good and evil spirits in the spiritual world, thus bringing a man into equilibrium and freedom. On the basis of these truths or laws of order of any occupation there can be present with the man both good and evil spirits. Without them neither good nor evil spirits could be present Continuously or uninterruptedly. But it is necessary that evil spirits should have their opportunity of attack in this world; otherwise no seeing of evils in oneself or regeneration by shunning them would he possible. "It must be that offenses come."

     Because of the very plasticity of the infant mind evil spirits can be made, as we know, to be of service. The child consults nothing at first but his own desires. This may be in large part due to the influx of corporeal spirits, who are in servitude, however, to the best of the angels; but it can affect the child only for nourishment and health. Note, however, that this is before there is any firmness to the external tissues of the mind, caused by the learning of knowledge. Along with the learning of knowledges, evil spirits place their foot upon the threshold.

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But if the youth allows these knowledges to be arranged and disposed into order to be unified and correlated by the application of them to something which is of service to others, then the evil spirits may be banished without so long as he is in the imagination, thought, and love of that service. But if not, then the entire collection of truths which he learns can be molded and pushed by evil spirits, along with the mind substance, into varying relations, none of which is permanent. Each new arrangement and state of the substance, moreover, will attract a different group of spirits; and no sooner will one group gain possession of the mind than another will seek to drive it out, thus tending to deprive the individual of freedom of choice. Such a loss becomes possible through lack of concentration upon some employment. The vessels of the mind of one so deprived of freedom of choice do not remain in one state and condition long enough, or repeatedly enough, to gain resistance to the continuous flow of other and different influences. It is well known that lack of application to any definite use is productive of men with no strength of purpose. The inability to carry any work to completion, moreover, has a physiological as well as a spiritual basis. Nevertheless, it is a grateful fact to those who seek spiritual perfections that by application to use, if in no other way, purpose can be strengthened.

     The soundness of mind spoken of above, within the circumscribed circle of one's use, is, in physiological terms, nothing else but the configuration and tension of the units of mind substance, which comes about when one recognizes a group of truths or laws in their proper bearing upon each other. But such a recognition is impossible except when one limits or restricts his mind to some useful work.

     Order itself is infinite. The whole field and compass of truths is infinite. It is an inexhaustible torrent of waters, to which the prophet invites when he cries, "He, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." By our drinking is meant that we can and should learn a little finite portion of truth and order. Every such portion, each little series of truths, is called a use, and is embodied in an employment. By means of any use or employment the external image and form of order can be established in the external mind; and thus only call be laid the true foundation for regeneration.

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Therefore, "let everyone who thirsteth come to the waters" that he may procure wine and milk.

     Spiritual truth, signified by wine, and spiritual good, signified by milk, can only be obtained by approach to natural truths, such, for instance, as are involved in ordinated series in every useful occupation. Natural truths are frequently described in the Writings as those of which the letter of the Word is composed. Let us inquire, therefore, whether there is any resemblance between the truths connected with one's employment and those of the letter of the Word. To what extent do we find truths in the letter which relate on the surface to worldly interests and occupations? There is surely no occupation whose governing truths and rules find no origin or counterpart in the letter of the Word. Indeed it is of just such truths as govern the many uses of man to man that the letter of the Word is composed.

     Is it not significant that Noah, in building the ark, and Moses, in building the tabernacle, were instructed in the particulars of carpentry? There are many places, indeed, where the truths of the letter of the Word are also truths bearing directly upon some employment. The whole book of Leviticus treats mainly of the laws and regulations of the Levites, who were the priesthood of that time. Deuteronomy lays down many ordinances and strictures which have relation to law, and have actually contributed an influence upon the ethics and civics of Indo-Teutonic peoples and their descendants to this day. There are even many instances wherein the letter of the Word contains truths relating to military affairs. Hence it may be seen that the many natural truths one learns by application to business or study can also be traced in the literal sense of the Word. Herein lies a fundamental reason why studies and occupations are essential to regeneration they bring one into the sphere of the letter of the Word. Wherever work is found to be a necessity, there will the presence of the Lord, in an image more or less perfectly reflected from the letter of the Word, be inevitable. "Whither shall I go from Thy presence?" we may ask of the Lord, even in the sense of the letter of His Word.

     If then we may say that regeneration cannot take place without the letter of the Word as a most ultimate means, we may say with equal truth that it cannot take place without application to some useful occupation or study.

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And if every work and study has its beginning, its rules and laws, more or less directly from the letter of the Word, then what is concentration upon some work or study but a bringing into life of that very letter? Every man may take his part in the resurrection of the Lord by bringing in this way the letter of the Word, which is His body, into life.

     It is especially in the beginning of regeneration that occupations are essential. They supply the means of approach to the waters, or natural truths, in response to the invitation, "Come ye, buy and eat." If they are never seriously approached by anyone, he can never respond to the invitation to draw near to the waters. And because he does not draw near, he cannot taste of the spiritual life signified by the wine and the milk. Buying the priceless wine and milk is understanding the Word in its internal sense, beyond the letter of its surface. But before this can be done, the waters must be approached, that is, the Word must be known in its letter. And it is especially to a knowledge of the letter that one may approach through his occupation, though he may progress later, through this knowledge, to the understanding of truths deeper down than the letter.

     But employments cannot be regarded as unnecessary even after one has unlocked for himself the treasures of the internal sense. For just as there must be constant reference to the literal sense of the Word to confirm and preserve the internal truths, so will these internal truths ever come to actual physical life and growth in work.

     The uses of employments and studies in regeneration, therefore, are that they lead life into divine order; that they enable man to rule his little natural world from his little spiritual world or rational mind; that they are the means by which one may reform and regenerate himself,-purifying himself by his own work and power; that they enable him to acknowledge God and His omnipotent protection against hell; and that they enable the Lord to order and dispose the activity of the parts of human mind substance so that by soundness of reason and actual firmness therein there may be no yielding to the unseen hands of evil spirits, who are ever striving to sculpture out of spiritual clay weird forms to bear the name of man.

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Work is a common platform upon which evil spirits may stand against good, or rather where a, man, driven by evil spirits, as all are, from birth, may halt and fight, with good spirits at his back, strengthening his arms. Work is as the earth to the giant in the myth, who fought and overcame as long as his feet were upon the earth, but who, when lifted from it, completely lost his power. And the power of occupations in regeneration is due to the final and fundamental use which they perform as embodiments of the truths of the letter of the Word. It is in these truths that all power lies. Every useful work is, as it were, a little finite cup full of the great waters; it holds before the eyes a little image of the eternal laws of order, upon which if a man concentrate or limit his gaze, he may finally quench his thirst with wine and milk, "without money and without price."
LAWS OF CURE 1911

LAWS OF CURE       EDWARD CRANCH       1911

     This subject in its entirety is vast and intricate, and should rightly have the extended collaboration of the clergy with the medical fraternity. Only a few notes and opinions of a general nature can he given here at this time.

     A consideration of the laws of cure involves an inquiry into several sets of ideas, namely, the source of life, the state of life free from disease, the beginnings of disease and of cure, the function of the complete physician, the need of cure, and the need of prayer.

     Looking to the Word and to the experimental sciences together, let us examine each of these problems, striving to arrive at some general laws of cure that can be depended upon by members of the Church.

     Man is nothing else than an organ or vessel which receives life from the Lord, for man does not live from himself. The life which flows in with man from the Lord is from the Divine Love Itself. (A. C. 3318)

791




     If man had lived the life of good, then his interiors would be open to heaven and through heaven to the Lord; thus also the least and most invisible little vessels (it is permissible to call the outlines of the first filaments, little vessels, by reason of correspondence) would be open. Thence man would be without disease, and would only dwindle to extreme old age, even till he would be again an infant, but a wise infant, and then when the body was no longer able to serve its internal man or spirit, he would pass without disease from his earthly body into a body such as the angels have, thus from the world, immediately into heaven. (A. C. 5726)

     Here is the answer to the first two questions: The Lord's Divine Love is the source of all life, and an ideal life is one of good, free from evil, even in inheritance, and thus open in its inmost filaments and vessels, to heaven and the Lord.

     Everything that is according to Divine order is open within, even to the Lord, thus it has heaven in itself. (A. C. 8513.)

     If man would heed instruction and live well he could, in his usual health, approximate such a state, and this should be his constant aim, and prayer, though, with human life as it is, he must expect many interruptions to his state of health.

     As to the beginnings of disease, let us quote again from the Word:-

     All diseases with man have correspondence with the spiritual world, for whatever in universal nature should have no correspondence with the spiritual world, this could not exist, for it would have no cause from which it existed, consequently from which it could subsist. In nature there are nothing but effects: their causes are in the spiritual world. (A. C. 5711)

     Every disease in the human race is from spiritual evil, because from sin. (A.C.8364.)

     The origins of diseases in common are intemperance, luxuries of various hinds, pleasures merely of the body, also envyings, hatreds, revenges, lasciviousness and the like. (A. C. 5712)

     All the infernals induce disease . . . when man falls into disease they then flow in, into such unclean things as are the products of the disease . . . (and aggravate it). (A. C. 5713.)

     All evil is contagious, and infects as a ferment infects dough, thus at length it would infect all. (A. C. 6666.)

     These (least) vessels, with man, from the hereditary evil into which man is born, and from actual evil which he has procured for himself are in a position obstructive to life. (A. C. 3318)

792




     Nothing can do evil to the Divine, but its influx may be hindered, and all evil has this effect. (A. C. 4078.)

     There are evil spirits, who inflow with their persuasions and false principles, and excite similar things (similia) with man. (A. C. 705)

     In Swedenborg's scientific work ON THE FIBRE we find the following:

     We live upon aliments drawn from the earth, the air, and the ether, but their quantity and quality being poorly ordered or distributed, is the chief (bodily) cause of diseases, or that we daily draw near to death. (n. 387)

     There are also accidental causes of disease . . . as an infection of the fluids. . . . Innate or adnate causes are not active but passive, thus properly they are states of receiving causes. For wherever there is an action, there also is something to be acted upon, (ubi agens, ibi patiens). (n. 394.)

     This last phrase describes the state now called susceptibility, or predisposition to disease.

     That all diseases arise from man's interior organism seems contrary to experience, as it seems incredible that sight is really from the eye, and not, except as an occasion of sight, from the external objects viewed; but, in the light of the Word, the actual reality appears. That man may fall into disease or accident, from external causes, there must be about him, and infesting his interiors, various societies of evil spirits, without whom he would be safe.

     If there were not some constitutional immunity in many persons, at various times, then in the case of dangerous epidemics all would suffer, whereas we know that, in nearly all such visitations, the great majority keep well.

     Now to consider the source of cures.

     The Lord's miracles were chiefly healings of diseases . . . signifying deliverance from various kinds of evil and falsity. (A. C. 8364)

     Unless the Lord defended man every moment, even the least of every moment, he would then perish. (A. C. 59)

     Withdrawing man from evils is the continual work of the Divine Providence. (D. P. 177.)

     With every man who is regenerated, societies are applied to him by the Lord, which serve for introducing genuine goods and truths, not from them, but by them . . . man has not the least of thought, nor the least of will, but by influx from the Lord through them, and by these societies the Lord mediately governs the human race, and every individual in particular. (A. C. 4077.)

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     The Divine Love, or the Life thence, flows in and applies itself to the vessels which are in the rational and the natural of man . . . and arranges those vessels as far as possible to its own reception. . . . Before they can be rendered obedient, and made fit to receive anything of the life of the Lord's Love, they must be softened, and this softening is not done by any other means Elan by temptations . . . afterwards the man is made new, and given another disposition, becoming mild, humble, simple, and contrite in heart. (A. C. 3318)

     Diseases can be, and also ought to be cured by natural means, for the Providence of the Lord concurs with such means, and thus also man is longer kept from faith concerning a Providence in most particular things for if man should believe this, and then deny it, he would profane a sacred truth, which profanation is itself a most dreadful hell. (D. 4585.)

     The Lord, we see from all this, is The Only Healer. This means that there is a constant tendency in all diseases towards elimination and recovery, and this fact is abundantly borne out by all experience, for even in chronic and incurable diseases there is a constant and visible struggle for all alleviation of conditions, and even consumption, gangrene and cancer, three of the most deadly ills that afflict mankind, have been known, occasionally, to get well, as if of themselves.

     This continual operation of Divine Providence is that very "vital force" of which so much is written, some denying its existence, and some calling it, with truth, "the physician's best friend." Without it his art would be absolutely futile, and useless, for it is the real agent in all cures. Hence the truth of that often quoted saying of Cicero, "Aegroto, dum anima est, spes est"-For the sick, while there is life, there is hope.

     The need of cure is evident from all we read and see around us. Every one has inherited a portion of sin, and most, if not all of us, have added to it. Some preserve a fair show of natural health, but the one who is "perfectly well" is indeed a rarity. Concerning some of the means of cure, spiritual and natural, let us read further in the Word:

     Evils cannot be removed, unless they appear. (D. P. 278.)

794




     Temptation is induced by the evil spirits who dwell with a man in his evils; these spirits excite his evils, and accuse him; but the angels from the Lord, who dwell in his goods and truths, call forth the truths of faith, and defend him. (A. C. 8960.)

     Evil spirits could not live, if they could not serve in temptations, punishments, and the like, from which things there is good. (D. 2880.)

     Evil spirits are applied, or admitted, that they may excite the evils in man, and thus not only are evils known to the man, but they are also acknowledged. Before this they cannot be taken away:-but there are evil or damned spirits who receive these evils in themselves, and as it were swallow them up, and thus man is liberated. This indeed is also obvious in combats and temptations. (Adv. 7485.)

     Speaking of the numbers of evil Jews and Christians permitted to be born, it is said: "This is foreseen, and because it is so, one is born that he may be the remedy for another, for evil is cured by evil, as is known in temptations and other like things." (D. 2874.)

     There was grief at first, because when truths are introduced into natural good, they at first cause sorrow, for they aggravate the conscience, and bring in anxieties, because there are lusts present, against which spiritual truth fights. But this first sorrow, or pain, by degrees diminishes, and at length vanishes. It is as a weak and sickly body that is to be restored to health by painful means; when it is in this state, then at first there is distress. (A. C. 3471.)

     By "curing" in the internal sense is meant the restitution of spiritual truth (when doubt has been excited) which restitution is effected by a just interpretation of scientific truth, or of the literal sense of the Word ...because disease or sickness signifies want of health in the internal man. . . . The leaf which is for medicine signifies the truths of faith which are for the recreation and restitution of spiritual life. (A. C. 9031.)

     Granting that the Lord alone cures, it is still, for convenience of expression, permissible to say of this or that method or medicine or manipulation, that it "cures"-putting the instrumental cause for the primary cause.

     Now what is the function of the physician?

     "Physicians" signify preservation from evils . . . which obstruct, and hinder conjunction. Physicians, the medical art and medicines signify preservation from evils and falses. . . . The leaf, which is for medicine, signifies the truth of faith . . . for the truth of faith, when it leads to the good of life, inasmuch as it withdraws from evils, preserves. (A. C. 6502.)

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     "Embalming" signifies to preserve the good which is from truth, for it denotes the means of preservation from contagion. (A. C. 6503.)

     The physician must look to every ascertainable indication of disease, and strive to remove it, for as Hahnemann says, "After the cure of the whole of the symptoms of a disease, there cannot remain any other than a healthy state."

     In all his work, the physician must ask the Lord's help-not in a disorderly way, as a sort of magic, but while using natural means, as it is said he "ought to do." Thus it is said in the Word, "The Divine Providence operates by a thousand modes, the most remotely hidden and secret, with every individual man everywhere, and He is continually in the purpose of purifying him because in the purpose of saving him. Nothing else is incumbent on man, but to remove evils in the external of man; the rest the Lord provides, if He is implored." (D. P. 296.)

     Any symptoms merely suppressed, however, will return in the same or some other form until eradicated. We learn from D. P., 251, and DOCT. LIFE, 110, that no evil can be kept back or inhibibited by any Providence, but that it must appear, if not in this world, then in the next, when man comes to judgment.

     The physician, in his function, must endeavor to encourage his patient, quiet his fears, and inspire a desire for recovery, for- as Seneca has it-"Pars sanitatis velle sanari fuit,"-Part of the cure is to wish to be cured. But the physician dare not rely entirely upon mental influences, however important and valuable these may be, but he must get to work, remove all causes that are apparent and accessible, direct the most suitable surroundings, the best of air, and diet, light and warmth, baths, exercise, electrical or other vibration, massage, joint-setting, etc., he must allow due time for spontaneous recovery if such appears likely, alone, or with the aid of mild and soothing means, such as flax-seed, hot water, olive oil, or wine, yet, after all these things have been attended to, he will find that the great majority of cases coming to him for counsel need treatments that correspond more or less closely to temptations, trials, or combats with evil forces, which treatments or combats rouse the system to the right reception of the ever present "vital force."

796




     There must often, in short, be some use of the "painful means," by drugs, or Surgery, or both, by which "a weak and sickly body is to be made whole, or restored to health."

     An editorial in LIFE AND HEALTH for Sept., 1911, quoted by the LITERARY DIGEST, riddles some of the arguments of "drugless healers" who say that "all drugs are poisons and poisons have no place in the human body." The editor reminds them that the adrenal secretion, most essential to life, yet yields an extract of such virulence, that one-fourth of a grain would destroy a grown man. (Saliva contains prussic acid.) He concludes by reminding the "non-drug" schools, (and he might have included here the anti-alcoholic teaching many text-books for the public schools), that their position is based upon ignorance, and leaves out the first precept of the complete physician, "to be open and receptive to all methods which may favorably influence right physiological activity." This, assuredly, is a precept of the first,- indeed of universal-imp6rtance, for every physician should know all methods, yet allow himself to be confined exclusively to none.

     Returning to the Word, we read:

     Every plant contains a Use, a spiritual use in the spiritual world, and both a spiritual and a natural use in the natural world. The spiritual use in for the various states of the lower mind, or animus, and the natural use for the varying states of the body. It is well known that one's spirits are refreshed, recreated, and stimulated, or on the other hand led into lethargy, sadness or fainting, by the odors and flavors of certain plants; and it is also known that the body is healed by them, and by the various alkaloids, tinctures, and drugs prepared from them, and on the other hand destroyed by poisons made from them.

     In the heavens, the external spiritual use from them is the recreation of the spirits, and the internal is the representation of the Divine in them and thus also an exaltation of one's spirits, for the wiser angels see in them the quality of affections in series. Those that are skilled in the arts of botany, chemistry, medicine and pharmacy, come into be knowledge of the spiritual uses. of plants there after death, and also cultivate that knowledge, and are much delighted with it. I have spoken with such, and have heard wonderful things from them. (A. E. 1214.)

     Those things which bring harm to man are called uses, because they are of use to the evil in doing evil, yet they also contribute to absorb malignities, thus also to healings. (D. L. W. 336.)

     "Hyssop"-(a purgative and emetic plant, known to botany and to medicine as gratiola officinalis)-is external truth which is he medium of purification, because all purification is done by truths.

797


For earthly and worldly loves from which man is to be purified are not known except through truths. When these are insinuated from the Lord, there is at the same time also insinuated a horror at those loves, as at things filthy and damnable. This causes that when the like flows into the thought, that horror returns, whence comes aversion from those loves; man is thus purified by truths, as by external means. It "as on this account ordained that circumcision should be done by knives or lancets of flint. Lancets or knives are truths of faith by which is purification. (A. C. 7918.)

     Healing remedies and instruments prepared from substances that also furnish poisons and do injury, may be compared to the varying correspondence of the lion, of wine, of the sword, and other things mentioned in the Word, also they may perhaps be likened to temporary, not yet genuine, goods and truths made use of during periods of instruction. We read:

     It is like the immature vessels in green fruit, by which a juice is introduced, but which later wither, and the fruits ripen through other fibers (vessels) and at length through fibers (vessels) containing genuine juice. It is known that man learns many things in infancy and childhood for the sole use that by them as means, he may learn things yet more useful, and by these, things still more useful in their order, even up to those things which are of eternal life, in which case the former things are nearly obliterated. Man is similarly led when he is born anew from the Lord by many affections of good and truth which are not affections of genuine good and truth, but useful to that end. (A. C. 3982.)

     In the hyssop, or gratiola, we find a plant yielding both poison and remedy, yet called in the Word a means of purification. In large doses it rapidly empties the alimentary canal of offending substances. This is called its direct, primary, or "allopathic" action. Too much action of this sort would soon make one ill, or even occasion death, as noted of every ailment, in the work On the Fibre" where either excess or defect of anything required, is declared hurtful. Here, in the case of hyssop, over-action may be checked, whether it exists from the hyssop itself or from some other agency, (providing always that the vital force has not been so violently assaulted as to be rendered incapable of reaction), by the use of very small doses of hyssop, provided again that the symptoms are as nearly like those of hyssop as possible, if from any other origin.

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This is the secondary, reactive, or "homoeopathic" action, or cure by similars, known to the ancients, endorsed by the great physicians, Hippocrates and Paracelsus, favorably spoken of by the poets Ovid and Shakespeare, and developed into a scientific art by Hahnemann. Both the direct and homoeopathic actions of any drug may be utilized by all physicians, and are so utilized, by some from deliberate choice and purpose, by some, as it were, accidentally, or empirically, that is to say, from knowledge of their former use, not from a proven theory.

     This occurs, for instance, in the frequent use of quinine in certain forms of malaria, or of arsenic in forms of anaemia.

     Either mode of use is proper, when the case in hand demands it, and when the action is not allowed to become injurious or destructive, for then beneficial reaction and recovery will not follow as they should.

     The products of certain diseases, as small-pox, diphtheria, tuberculosis and typhoid fever, are prepared for internal use, sterilized and diluted with alcohol, and called "nosodes" by the Homeopaths, or, as sterilized by carbolic acid, and diluted several times with blood serum or normal salt solution, are called serums, antitoxins and vaccines, and are injected under the skin by "regular" or "Allopathic" physicians, in the same sort of cases. It has been long noted that the best results are had, when the nosode or serum is prepared from germs furnished by the patient himself. These methods of "similar" treatment would seem to correspond to the truths about certain evils, which excite remorse, horror and aversion, with desire for combat against them, especially when these truths are exactly fitted to the case, by being prepared from a knowledge of the exact evils residing in the man who is the subject of temptation or trial. For instance, truths about stealing are best suited to the thief, truths about murder to those who are angry, and so on.

     Those who fail under trial are the incurables, in whom treatment is often not resorted to at all, when their weakened condition is known, as those who are not fitted for the combat, are not, by the Lord, admitted to temptations.

     In the case of evil loves, horror being aroused, and the afflicted soul being anxious for deliverance, those evils are, in His Providence, swallowed up by other evil beings, perhaps as the devils in the country of the Gadarenes were sent into the swine.

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     Something analogous occurs in medicine, for when the body is getting well of itself, or, more so when nosodes or serums are used to stimulate its resisting powers, the microscope reveals certain white globules of the blood, called "phagocytes" or "devouring cells," in the art of swallowing, and, as it were, digesting the invading bacteria of the infectious disease, which is under treatment.

     In all these studies we may see references confirming the general propositions sought for, namely these, the Lord is the Only Healer; the causes of disease and cure are both interior; the function of the physician is to prevent and remove whatever obstructs the vital forces from the Lord; the remedy must be fitted to the case in hand, and in all our work we must not forget to pray.
SHAPE OF THE SPIRITUAL BODY 1911

SHAPE OF THE SPIRITUAL BODY       C. TH. ODHNER       1911

     The paper on the "Bodies of Spirits and Angels," by Mr. W. Rey Gill, in the November LIFE, has been read with surprise, not unmixed with anxiety, by many of our readers. Some of our friends have criticised us for publishing a paper which has seriously disturbed their faith in the reality of life in the spiritual world, while others regard it as a valuable contribution to a more internal perception of that reality. There is certainly room for the growth of such perception, even as there is room for free discussion of this or any other doctrinal subject. In view of the divided opinions on the questions at issue, the editor of the LIFE now steps out of his (not always) easy chair, in order to present some considerations that militate against a conclusion which he regards as untellable and dangerous. If he has misunderstood Mr. Gill's position, or if any of our friends can make more clear that interior view which, it seems, Mr. Gill strives to express, correction or instruction would be welcomed.

     It is somewhat difficult to summarize Mr. Gill's conclusions, for in some of his statements he seems to deny the actual existence of a spiritual body, while in others he earnestly maintains that spirits do have a body, but denies that this body is in the human shape such as we possess in this world.

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In his own words: "Though after death man retains the human form, he does not have a body in the shape to which we are accustomed in this life." . . . "It is only when spirits reflect on the subject, that they seem to themselves to be clothed with bodies and garments."

     The writer draws this conclusion from a great number of statements in the SPIRITUAL DIARY which, if not viewed in the light of the Doctrine as a whole, would appear to support his contention. But as to the general Doctrine of the Church there can be no doubt. A volume could be filled with quotations from the Writings explicitly teaching that a man after death retains a spiritual body which is human not only as to internal form or determinations, but also as to external termination, shape or figure,-including head and trunk, arms and legs, and within these all the viscera, organs, and vessels which go to make up the whole human frame,-the only difference from the earthly body being the difference between material and spiritual substance.

     Of these many and explicit statements our friend quotes but two; one of these is the following from HEAVEN AND HELL:

     From all my experience, which is now of many years, I can say and affirm that angels are in form entirely men; that they have faces, eyes, ears, body, arms, hands and feet; that they see one another, hear one another, and talk together; in a word, that there is nothing whatever wanting to them that belongs to a man except that they are not clothed over with a material body. (n. 75.)

     Commenting on this passage, Mr. Gill says: "Surely,-remembering the teaching on the subject we have adduced above,-and very much more to a like effect,-the passage quoted must mean that this is how spirits appear, and though, as said, they certainly have a body, and are in human form, it is not in the external human shape as we know it."

     But why "must" general truths be explained away by some particular statements the bearing of which may not have been correctly understood? Particulars fill out generals, but do not destroy them. To say that spirits and angels only appear on certain occasions to have face and hands and feet, is the same as to say that in reality they do not possess these parts, and this is to contradict the plain and universal teaching of the Heavenly Doctrine.

801


If the passages quoted by Mr. Gill be read carefully, it will be seen that they do not refer to human shape, but to the human body and the human form, and that they apparently teach that spirits do not possess the human body and the human form. This would prove entirely too much,-too much for Mr. Gill's contention,-beside upsetting the whole Doctrine concerning the other life,-and this fact should warn the reader against misunderstanding the connection and bearing of the passages in question.

     But if the statements in the DIARY be viewed in the light of the universal Doctrine, they will be seen to confirm it instead of contradicting it, for they go to show that the spiritual body is so substantial and so real, that some spirits imagine it be the same as their former material body. As Mr. Gill himself says: "It is only with great difficulty that spirits can be convinced that they are no longer men and clothed with material bodies." (p. 730.) It was this phantasy that Swedenborg, who still possessed a material body, was permitted to remove from their minds by experiments so living and words so striking, that-had nothing else but the DIARY been written-they might leave the impression that spirits have no shape, no body, and no form. The case is somewhat similar to those passages in the DIARY Where the non-eternity of the hells seems to be taught, but which, when interpreted in the light of the whole Doctrine, are seen to refer simply to the non-eternity of infernal punishments.

     The fundamental Doctrine of the Church, though well known, can never be read too often. Let us read it as presented systematically in the work on HEAVEN AND HELL, nos. 74-77:

     "THAT EVERY ANGEL IS IN THE PERFECT HUMAN FORM."

     74. "That angels are human forms, or men, has been seen by me thousands of times; for I have spoken with them as man with man, sometimes with one, sometimes with many together; and I have seen nothing whatever in their form different from the form of a man; and I have sometimes wondered to find them such.

802


And lest it might be said that this was a delusion or a vision of fancy, I have been permitted to see them when I was fully awake or in possession of all my bodily senses, and in a state of clear perception. And I have often told them that men in the Christian world are in such blind ignorance in regard to angels and spirits as to believe them to be minds without form, and mere thoughts, of which they have no idea except as something ethereal in which there is some vitality. And as they thus ascribe to angels nothing human except a thinking faculty, they believe that having no eyes they do not see, having no ears they do not hear, and having no mouth or tongue they do not speak.

     "To this the angels replied that they are aware that such a belief is held by many in the world, and is prevalent among the learned and, to their surprise, even among the clergy. The reason, they said, is that the learned, who were the leaders and who first hatched out such an idea of angels and spirits, thought of them from the sensual things of the external man; and those who think from these, and not from interior light and from the common idea which is implanted in every one, must needs fabricate such notions, since the sensual things of the external man take in only what belongs to nature, but nothing above nature, thus nothing whatever of the spiritual world.

     "From these leaders as guides this falsity of thought about angels extended to others who did not think from themselves but adopted the thoughts of their leaders; and those who first take their thoughts from others and make that thought their belief, and afterwards view it with their own understanding, cannot easily recede from it, and are therefore in most cases satisfied with confirming it.

     "The angels said, furthermore, that the simple in faith and in heart have no such idea about angels, but think of them as the men of heaven, and this for the reason that they have not extinguished by learning what is implanted in them from heaven, and have no conception of anything apart from form. This is why angels in temples, whether sculptured or painted, are never depicted otherwise than as men. In respect to this thing that is implanted from heaven they said that it is the Divine flowing into such as are in the good of faith and of life.

803




     75. "From all my experience, which is now of many years, I am able to say and affirm that angels as to their form are altogether men, having faces, eyes, ears, breast, arms, hands and feet; that they see and hear one another, and talk together, and, in a word, lack nothing whatever that belongs to a man except that they are not clothed in a material body. I have seen them in their own light, which exceeds by many degrees the noonday light of the world, and in that light all their features could be seen more distinctly and clearly than the faces of men are seen on the earth. It has also been granted me to see an angel of the inmost heaven. He had a more radiant and resplendent face than the angels of the lower heavens. I examined him closely and he had the human form in all its perfection.

     77. "Upright spirits, with whom I have spoken about this matter, were grieved at heart that there was such ignorance in the church concerning the state of heaven and concerning spirits and angels; and in their indignation they charged me to declare by all means that they are not formless minds nor etherial breaths, but are men in shape,* and that they see, hear, and feel equally with those who are in this world."
     * "In effigie;" this Latin term does not, as in English, mean "in a representative image," but is the exact synonym for shape or external figure, being derived, like figure, from fingere, to form in a fixed shape.

     This is the Doctrine of the New Church, clear, plain and unmistakable, upon which must be founded all and any further or more internal conceptions.

     It is well to strive for interior views of truth, and to elevate the mind as far as possible above considerations of time and space, extense and figure, but we must remember at the same time that these externals do exist in the spiritual world as well as in the natural, because both worlds are finite. As Mr. Gill himself observes, "We are taught that those who deny the predication of place, extension, and similar things, to spirits, are corporally minded." (p. 734.)

804


It is totally impossible for the human mind to conceive of internal form without a corresponding external shape or figure, for it is by figure alone that form is made manifest. As the internal always, when in freedom, produces itself and exists in a corresponding external, so the human form produces itself in the human figure. And this figure in the spiritual world is not merely an occasional appearance, but it is the internal form itself in its own permanent termination.

     Our friend admits that spirits do possess a human body, but would limit the actual figure of that body to the shape of the human brain. He admits, therefore, that a spirit has some permanent shape, and that figure as well as form exists in the spiritual world. He would not, we conceive, hold that the spirit possesses the shape of a brain only when he reflects upon the form of the brain, but would admit that this shape is a permanent one and independent of his conscious thought. Why not admit, then, also the actual existence of the whole human shape of the spiritual body? A mere brain is not a body.

     Mr. Gill quotes the teaching that "the first warp of the human form, or the human form itself with all and each of the things of it, is from the first principles continued from the brain through the nerves.... This form it is into which man comes after death, who is then called a spirit and an angel, and who is in all perfection a man, but a spiritual man." (D. L. W. 388.) And on this he comments as follows: "The number first quoted might seem, if taken by itself, to teach that it is the form of the nerves from the brain, as well as the brain itself, which constitutes man's spiritual form, but taken in connection with other teaching, the nerves would seem rather to represent the thoughts and affections flowing from a spirit than the spirit himself."

     This simply begs the question, for thoughts and affections, even with spirits, are nothing but modifications of organic substances and vessels. If a spirit had no fibers and nerves extending from his brain, his thoughts and affections could have no means by which to flow forth, but would have to remain in confinement within the closed membrane of his brain, very similar to the unfortunate "monads" of Leibnitz, which were represented as absolutely isolated beings, self-conscious indeed, but leading a purely subjective existence, void of sensation, extension, or use.

805




     To say that spirits and angels enjoy sensation, but do not possess sensory nerves,-that they are able to communicate with one another, but have no tongue by which to speak,-that they can perform uses, but have no hands by which to perform good works,-this, we must confess, is beyond our comprehension. And if they only appear to themselves to have eyes and ears, tongue and hands, when they "reflect" upon these particular parts, why are not the sensations themselves, and the speech and the actions, mere appearances like their instrumentalities? Does the spirit see, or does he only appear to see? Does he speak, or does he only imagine that he speaks? Does he write with his hand, or does he only think that he writes? And, if so, why are there whole libraries in heaven, containing actual and permanent books?

     It seems to us that conclusions such as those presented in the paper under review, are apt to lead to a purely idealistic conception of the other world, making it wholly subjective and denying its objective reality. If the spiritual brain enjoys no extensions through fibers and nerves, and no organs and limbs clothing those fibers, how can a spirit possibly appear to other spirits, except when he happens to "reflect" upon his-non-existent-shape! There is small comfort in this thought to one who hopes to live with his wife forever, and with his beloved companions in the Church. Is he to behold his wife only when she reflects upon her own form? Is it only in imagination that he is to clasp the hand of the friend? If so, he is surely a "monad" who never can be certain that there are any other beings existing outside of himself.

     It may be that we have not correctly understood the arguments of our friend, but Idealism or anything approaching it is in itself so fraught with terrible potentialities to the faith of a Newchurchman, that it must be handled without gloves. It is evident that children, and young people, and the simple in the Church, cannot possibly grasp any such illusive doctrine. And we doubt if there be anyone, even in heaven, possessing so subtle a perception that he is able to entirely divorce any internal thing from its corresponding external.

806


We quite understand the laudable intentions of our friend in his efforts to solve an apparently difficult doctrinal problem, but if he reflects upon the consequences of his line of arguments it will become evident that such teachings can only lead men to doubt the sincerity of the Heavenly Doctrine, and make it quite impossible for the New Church evangelist to go forth proclaiming, honestly and without mental reservations, the glorious Gospel of a real life and in a real heaven, instead of the empty heaven of the Old Church, where shapeless angels float about in atmospheric space.

     Happily, there is no need to fear any such direful contingencies, if we only remain steadfast with the Heavenly Doctrine itself. Spirits and angels do possess a brain, and this brain extends itself by spiritual fibers and nerves, and these are fully clothed in spiritual organs and vessels constituting a complete human form with a human figure equally complete and real. This spiritual human figure, moreover, is to all eternity fixed by a "limbus" or border of the purest things of nature. (T. C. R. 103), which constitutes "the cutaneous envelope of the spiritual body in which angels and spirits are." (D. L. W. 257.) For "the mind remains the same as it was in the world: and because the mind is not only in the head, but also in the whole body, therefore a man [in the spiritual world] has a similar body; for the body is the organ of the mind, and is continued from the head." (FIVE MEMORABLE RELATIONS, 5.)

     This faith of the Newchurchman is fixed and founded upon the Rock of Ages,-the eternal fact that the Lord in His Glorified Human arose with the whole body which He possessed in the world. This Divine body, with its whole form, and its whole shape and figure, remains forever to be seen above the heavens, as the permanent Existere of His Divine Human Esse. Without this ultimate shape and figure the worship of Him as the visible God would be impossible to angels or to men. But He is, in ultimates as in firsts, the Divine Man, and from Him we will exist to all eternity in His image and likeness.

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SWEDENBORG'S DOCTRINE OF FORMS 1911

SWEDENBORG'S DOCTRINE OF FORMS              1911

     CHAPTER VI.

     THE CIRCULAR FORM.

     (Continued.)

     From "The Fibre."

     That the spherical form is most powerful in resisting, or in resistance itself, against any external attacks and assaults whatsoever, is evident from the fact that all the lines, as so many radii, meet in one common center, in which there is an absolute opposition of the single lines and, of all the lines, so that one cannot be removed from its place, unless the other is removed at the same time; thus by conjoined forces one protects another lest they should fall apart. This is the cause of the resistance in the spherical form, which goes forth the less, the more centers there are to which the determinations flow off,-as in the elliptical or oval form, in which there are two centers, and in other curved [forms] in which there are many centers; for the relation of the centers from the periphery, from which the perpendiculars flow, is what measures the degrees of resistance; in the circle there is a relation of all the lines, or if instead of lines we substitute forces, there is a relation of all the forces to one only center, in which all meet according to every possible ratio of opposition, for one line in this center regards another diametrically opposite to itself, but the others it regards obliquely, and thus according to every perceptible obliquity. Wherefore it is to be said, that there is nothing more inert, harder, firmer, colder, than in the center of this form.

     From these things, also, it follows that spherical forms are most constant in remaining in their own essence, however the modes may be varied, for the determination of one line is most similar to the determination of another, nor can it be changed unless all the others are changed at the same time; lest this take place, one protects all, and all one; for each one regards, and as it were contemplates, the universal state of its form, from the center; and there feels whatever happens to another companion.

808




     It is now taken for granted that essential determinations in the circle or sphere are not containent lines or radii, or hard corpuscies, but that they are innumerable lesser spherules, and within these still smaller, which, the more interiorly they reside, the more perfect are the forms; hence it fellows that such an entire sphere, composed of lesser included [sphericals] in their order, is in the highest degree elastic and yields a little on the surface to every inrushing or attacking force; for if the lesser spherules are most yielding the greater one which is their total or complex cannot but yield in like manner, that is, be powerful in elastic strength.

     I concede now that spherical forms are most constant in their essential determination, whence it follows that such forms cannot be reduced from their spherical form, or be transmuted into another, and still 1ess into any angular form, from any accidental cause, however much they may be pressed extrinsically; but as often as they are urged, they are compressed into spheres of a less diameter or dimension, and when the urging force is removed they immediately return into their pristine expansion; so that the variation of their modes consists in this, that they suffer themselves to be constricted into a smaller spherical space, but not into any oval form. Thus also they correspond to every ratio of the invading forces, and with the least loss of forces they react as much as they are acted upon; for the more constricted the spherules become, the more firmly and hardly do they resist and increase their resistance in the ratio of the forces externally acting. This flows from the rule that nowhere is there more inertia, hardness and firmness, than in the center of such forms, and so Proportionately to the distance from the center. That the parts of the atmosphere are such forms, becomes manifest from the particular phenomena observed in the air.

     That spherical forms are most perfectly accommodated to every ratio of composition in consociation with angular forms, appears from this, that the primordial saline, sulphureous and mineral particles are not angular forms simply, but mediate between angular and circular forms; for they are so many exceedingly small trigons and octahedrons, hollowed out exactly according to the convexity of the spherical particles, as, for instance, of the water particles; so that they can be applied to one another mutually and be united conveniently into a large corpuscle; it would be otherwise if their sides were plane and not hollowed.

809


That the primitive saline and sulphureous entities or elements are hollowed at the sides suitably to the convexity of the water particles has been shown in my little treatises throughout; see also the whole of paragraph I., TRANSACTION I., on the blood.

     Moreover, their birth must be derived from water, since they were born in the interstices of the water particles, and were consequently formed according to every convexity of their parts; hence there arose not only octahedral but also triangular forms. This has convinced me that there exists no saline element possessing any absolutely plane surface, for if such were the case, they could never be consociated with any spherical particles whatsoever, whether they be water particles or air particles, nor with those of fluent mercury, since they would only touch each other in one point, and thus could not be applied to each other or be united and made coherent. From this principle it undoubtedly follows that there was a universal ocean before the existence of the earth; and that the crust of the earth was produced from elements which had thus arisen between the water particles. Hence are oils, spirits, red and white blood, and other humors of the animal kingdom, (compare TRANS. I., n. 115), essential humors, tinctures, yea, even solid corpuscles, such as the sulphureous, saline, stony, crystalline, mineral, and all vegetations; the elements of these, which are of angular form, could never coalesce without interjected globules and without mutual embraces or kisses.

     Moreover, the circular or spherical form is the measure and form of forms of all angular forms, and thus as it were their universal type and complex, for angular forms and figures can never be measured and still less can they be reduced to calculation except by means of the circle. This follows from the fact that the spherical form is perpetually angular and infinitely plane, and what is perpetual and infinite furnishes the law for changeable and finite things, and judges these as to their quantity and quality. The superior form, moreover, is always prior; hence the angular is produced from the circular, on which account this latter is the measure and form of the former.

810




     There are also genera and species of the circular of spherical form, and the genera are more perfect or less perfect; similarly the species. There are elliptical or oval forms; there are cycloids, parabolas, hyperbolas, and very many other forms, geometrical as well as arithmetical, all of which Newton has divided into their genera and classes. The essential determinations of these do not, indeed, adjust themselves to one fixed centre, but to several, still their directions do not meet nor oppose each other as in angular forms, but concur in some line or plane. These forms are thus more imperfect and more inert than those which are simply circular, but on the other hand, they are more perfect and more active than those which are angular." (THE FIBRE, 263.)

     From the "Ontology."

     "Every circular form must consist of perpetual circles as its parts, while the common circle itself by its own determination indicates the quality of its internal form. Thus internal form and external form must correspond to each other." (ONT. 9.)

     "When the determination of the centre is changed, the state of the circle is changed, as when it is raised to an ellipse, a cycloid, a conoid, a parabole, and other figures." (ONT. 24.)

     "That which is outside must be either above, below, or at the sides; and, therefore, it must be given a position either towards the center or towards the surface, or somewhere. When, in a form, such a relation has perished, as, for instance, in the circle, [nothing can be said to be above, or below, or at the sides]. Who shall say that at any point of a circle is above or below any other? So it is in every superior form. Hence the idea of breadth, length, and thickness perishes." (ONT. 55.)

     "'Part' signifies that which is of an angular, terrestrial, and figured form; thus the elements of material things are parts. And because angular forms can put on a superior appearance, and, superficially, a superior form, such as the circular and spiral, therefore a circular or spiral part is also called 'part.' But if it were purely circular or spiral, it would at once cease to be such part." (ONT. 60)

811




     "The things which constitute the essence of a circle, are circumference, diameter, and center. Without these there is no circle, and, therefore, if they are not in it, they are to be assumed as being in it." (ONT. 77.)

     "The attribute of the circular form is that it can be expanded and compressed, the greatest hardness being concentrated in the center, and mobility in the circumference outside the center; motion and rest, or liberty and compulsion, being thus together in one body; [its further attributes are] that it can revolve about its axis; can resist and yield; can undergo change of state; can be the measure of all angles; and can furnish their sines." (ONT. 88.)

     "In the circular form all motion can be referred to the center, and all rest diffused to the circumference." (ONT. 89.)

     "In the circular form there is no angle, no plane, no opposite direction, except in one place, namely, in the center, where direction is absolute." (ONT. 89.)

     From the "Economy of the Animal Kingdom."

     "The most convenient form in which any force of nature can act, is the spherical,-a form which deserves to be called the genuine form of activity and motion, for it is one that has no angles or prominences, which are the sole impediments to motion. It is also the first principle of all the other forms, as well as their basis and measure; while again the first principle of the spherical form is the perpetually spherical, or cubico-spiral, in which the substances, while in their state of utmost activity, describe an ellipsis distinguished by its poles and greater and lesser circles, according to the irrefragable laws of geometry. It is into this higher curve that nature betakes herself, as she recedes from her posterior world into her prior." (E. A. K. 101.)

     From the "Rational Psychology."

     "The forms which affect the hearing are chiefly circular, for such are the forms of the modifications or of the fluxions of the particles of the air. As these more nearly approach the circular form, in the same degree they are the more harmonious and grateful." (R. P. 34.)

812




     "The spherical or circular form is in itself and by its nature more perfect than the triangular form, but the most perfect of the spherical forms is the circular; less perfect are the ellipses, Cycloids, parabolae, and others. Likewise in superior forms, whether they be spiral, vortical, celestial, or spiritual." (R. P. 178.)

     From the "Animal Kingdom."

     "The second and next higher form is the circular or spherical form, which may also be called the perpetual-angular, since the circumference of the circle involves neither angle nor rectilinear plane, because it is a perpetual angle and a perpetual plane this form is at once the parent and the measure of angular forms; for it is the means of showing the properties of angles and figures, as trigonometry teaches." (A. K. 97, note f.)

     "The statement that the human body is a machine that is made up of mere centers, cannot but look like positive absurdity to those who do not extend their mental sphere beyond the circular form or measure, in which they contemplate only a single circumference, and a single center, upon which the points of the circumference fall by rectilinear radii. But such a form, or, rather, figure, has no aspiration to perpetuity; for what flows as Perpetual in such circumstance, is terminated as fixed in the center itself wherefore this circular form cannot possibly be the most perfect of all forms, because it does not aspire to perpetuity." (A. K. 450, note c.)

     From the work "On the Senses."

     "Modification of the circular form appear in waters: 1. When it runs out from centers to peripheries by continuous rays and elevated surfaces, 2, one after the other in a continuous series.

     3. There is an action from the center in the direction of a right line. 4. There is an action from every point of motion in a circle, which extends upwards and to the sides; 5. thence there is continuity; for a perpendicular line acts upon the other with full force; 6. but the parts resist, thence they are impelled upwards and to the sides into the line of a tangent; 7. from which by the pressing in of the points they are turned into circles-8. into greater circles, the farther they are removed from the center. 9. Thence all those things which lie hidden in an undulation come together, and thence the single things are unfolded.

813


10. But a modification similar to these least things does not occur in the blood within the vessels." (SENSES, 270.)

     "The blood concurs with the modification of water, according to the circular form." (SENSES, 315.)

     "Hearing and sight are from a touch and impulse not of things heavy, but rather of active forces. 1. Hearing is from a modification of the aerial atmosphere. 2. Sight is from a modification of the etherial atmosphere. 3. There is some gravity in the air, wherefore the sensory of the ear is composed of membranes, tremiscible and cartilaginous, and these membranes are composed of little nerves. 4. Thus they respond as well to the elasticity of the air as to its gravity; they have forces of inertia and forces of the active, or something distinctly in the ear. 5. The forces absolutely active or elastic respond altogether to the forces of gravity, for the latter arise from the former, for all gravity is from the active forces which determine it; 6. rather from the tendency of the ether to the center of gravity; the ether enters every part of the angular form, yea of the circular form; so also every part of the superior form, such as are all the parts of the inferior form. 7. Thence gravity increases according to degrees, and it arises from those things which are less heavy, or from pure active forces. Thus there is a kind of superior gravity in the ether itself. 8. The beginning of gravity is in celestial forms themselves." (SENSES, 454.)

     (To be continued.)

814


Editorial Department 1911

Editorial Department       Editor       1911

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     Mr. Charles Higham, in the NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE for October and November, publishes a series of "Notes" on the Tafel Photolithographs and Documents, in which he traces the history of the movement which led ul, to this important undertaking, and makes full and graceful acknowledgment of the services of the Rev. William H. Benade in this work.



     One often hears the statement that the Word in the letter is the Sun, while the Writings are the Light proceeding from that Sun; and that the Writings are no more the Word of God than the light is the sun itself. The comparison, though plausible, is fallacious, for both the letter of the Word and the Writings are the Light proceeding from the one and only Sun, the Lord Himself in His own Divine Person. The difference between the two Revelations is this, that in the letter of the Word the Light is shining through the clouds, while in the Writings it is shining through the opened heavens.



     Those of our readers who are acquainted with our little work on Michael Servetus will remember that this unique forerunner of Swedenborg spent some twelve years of his life as practicing physician in the ancient city of Vienne, a few miles to the south of Lyons, in France. A project to erect to him a modest bronze statue in this place became known abroad, with the result that contributions flowed in so abundantly (especially from America, where President Taft, among others, became deeply interested), that the monuments grew to vast proportions and was finally unveiled on October 15th, in the presence of a distinguished international company.

     The monument, which weighs 122 tons, is thus described by the noted Parisian art critic, Camille Monclair: "On a high rectangular pedestal stands the naked figure of the martyr, his hands bound behind his back, tied to the stake.

815


He looks gigantic, gentle like a Christ, tortured, yet calm, under the sting of the leaping flames. Below him sits youth, symbolized by a young man and a young woman. Over them bends an ideal figure, that of Reason, free and tolerant Reason, teaching them the lesson of this man who sacrificed his life for an idea. On the other side of the pedestal a mournful, lonely being, raising his arm to conceal his face, completely dejected, is skulking away; it is Remorse leaving the scene of the crime." The whole is the work of Joseph Bernard, a sculptor of Vienne.

     This is the third monument recently erected to Michael Servetus, chiefly at the expense of various medical societies and associations of Unitarians and Free-Thinkers. While the Newchurchman is pleased at the belated honors thus paid to a spiritual kinsman, he cannot but wonder at the shallowness of modern learning. Someone wrote an article on Servetus for an Encyclopedia, evidently judging of his theology from the mere titles of his works; other encyclopedists elaborate upon the first account according to their fancy, still without looking into the original works,-just as they have treated Swedenborg. And so, without comparing the two, they talk learnedly of each of them as a wonderful scientific prophet, and a "rationalistic mystic" of the "Neo-platonic school of Pantheism," etc. Of the real Servetus, who laid down his life for his one central principle of faith,-the supreme and sole Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ,-they apparently know as little as of the real Swedenborg.



     The MESSENGER for November 8th, publishes a "spontaneous" letter by the Rev. E. D. Daniels, written at the request of the Rev. J. S. Saul, who had asked him to explain "his conduct last year in giving to the public press [of La Porte, Ind.] certain matter about the New Church and its shortcomings and troubles." In response, Mr. Daniels (who is a former Methodist) makes abject penance and confides to the New Church public the fact that "during the summer the Lord, by His own means, wrought a great change in my life, for which I am very thankful.

816


That change is a very radical one, and has been growing and deepening ever since. Under its influence I have been led to look upon the New Church organization, and its leaders, and those who differ from me, and even those who do not like me, with an affection which I never felt before. In my changed state it would be absolutely impossible for me to use the methods I did before." Nevertheless "my principles are the same. I do not believe that the question at issue is settled by any means; nor that the crucial point has been met by any recantation which has been given. But I now see that I should have confined my discussion and agitation of the subject to our own body, and not brought it before the public who do not understand it."

     Mr. Daniels further reveals the fact that "efforts have lately been put forth in sending damaging matter to the city papers where Associations are about to meet, which efforts go altogether too far." "Let us cease all this. Let us discuss our questions in charity and true affection for each other. Can there be any harm in trying it? Why not do so? Why be miserable?" etc., etc.
TEACHING IN THE ACADEMY SCHOOLS 1911

TEACHING IN THE ACADEMY SCHOOLS       E. E. I       1911

     It is useful to remind the New Church public occasionally, that the excellence of the work in the Academy is not to be determined entirely by the external utilitarian tests by which other training schools in the world are judged. It is, of course, important that its students be equipped with such scientifics as will enable them, without any feeling of deficiency, to compete successfully with students taught in other schools. It is as necessary that this condition be complied with as it is that we should have a sound body as a receptacle for a sound mind. But though success has attended the fulfilling of this external condition, as is occasionally brought to our attention by favorable comments on the proficiency the students trained here display in their subsequent studies elsewhere, it should not be forgotten that the end in view, in general and in particular, is the development of a sound, rational mind, trained in the only doctrines that can make it truly rational, and predisposed to favor, and not to decry or neglect, every instrumentality that will be useful for the firmer establishment of the New Church on earth.

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     It takes some time to impress upon the new students that the object of the school is not primarily social or utilitarian. Possibly some parents are not, as yet, fully in touch with the aims and ideals of the work here, and most of the students who come are in the state of the first or natural rational, which measures interior things with the eye of a grocer. Though willing to receive the two hours a week of specified religious instructions this state of utilitarianism is apt to challenge attempts to apply the religious instruction to the singulars of the secular studies. As we know from theology, it is not the acknowledgment of the universality of Providence, but that of its entrance into the singulars of life, at which the natural mind cavils. Its impulse is against such studies as Hebrew, Greek, Archaeology, Anatomy, and Ancient History, and when religious reasons are given defending the place of such studies in the curriculum, the answer occasionally heard is "Only a few of us are going to be ministers."

     The object of the Academy is, however, to prepare its students so that whether they become laymen, or priests, they may be peculiarly fitted for positions among the leaders in the Church, composing that class which is described in the Writings as consisting of "the learned [docti] of the clergy, and the erudite of the laity." As the government and the leadership of the Church in general and in each society is vested in a body composed of a priest with an associated council of laymen, it is important that the latter, as well as the former, should be educated to have broad sympathies for all that makes for the interior growth of the Church.

     These special studies, just mentioned, are in the curriculum, for doctrinal reasons. Though of little utilitarian value, they are closely associated with an appreciation of the Word and its setting. Such studies, too, by bringing the mind into touch with the wisdom of the ancients, bring angels from the ancient heavens about the New Church, and conversely make men on earth a firmer foot-stool for the heavens to rest upon. It is a circumscribed view to think that New Church education concerns itself merely with the development of the individual pupil.

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It has obligations to fulfill through him for the Church on earth, and for the angelic Heaven.

     The aims and objects of the Academy are also the essential tests by which the proficiency of the individual student is measured. A student might stand high in all secular studies, and show an acquaintance with the Doctrines, and yet not satisfy those who are to pass on his fitness for graduation. It is an affection for the doctrines, and a respect and honor for the uses of the New Church and the offices attached to these, that will weigh the most. Again, when it is a question of choice among candidates for a scholarship, less weight is attached to an argument that this or that one needs it the most. The question uppermost is, which student will give most return to the Church, which will profit most by the instruction to be given. To the servant whose pound gained ten pounds, was given authority over ten cities.

     On a future occasion, a description will be given of the interior, constructive work that characterizes the teachings in the various branches taught in the school. The aim of the Academy is that these subjects be taught, not only as means to furnish some specific food to a developing mind, but also in a way to illustrate the teachings of the Doctrines on that field. There is no branch taught in which constant vigilance has not to be exercised, lest false scientifics and false philosophies from the Old Church creep in. The New Church teacher is required to reconstruct his subject, in all except the external facts of accurate observation. His essential principles are from the Doctrines, and his philosophy is from the preparatory works of Swedenborg. Such work, confronting each and all of the teachers, is a huge undertaking, requiring not only remarkable efficiency and specialized training, but gifts of correlative perception, and a love and zeal for the things of the Church. Think of it, a small handful of men and women attempting to revolutionize the teachings and philosophies of every department of human learning, and battling, with scarcely any New Church text-books, in fields where the false philosophies are enthroned in an endless mass of apparently confirmatory literature! E. E. I.

819


WORK OF THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY 1911

WORK OF THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY       M. A. O       1911

     From the 101st Report of the Swedenborg Society we gather the following items:

     The Society has since its institution published one million and a half of New Church books and pamphlets in twenty different languages. During the past year 6,426 volumes were delivered as compared with 5,393 of the previous year. Of these there were in English 4,090; Japanese 518; Magyar 164; Esperanto 96; Welsh 6; Italian 6; Arabic 3; Dutch 2; Hindi 2; and French 1.

     These statistics are indeed remarkable. Among the Japanese,-a people lately arisen from semi-barbarism,-518 volumes of the Writings have been distributed, while only one,-one lonely gleam of light,-has been permitted to find its way to the highly cultured French public. During a whole year the French have bought one volume of the Writings!

     Such a showing cannot be ascribed wholly to Gallic indifference toward the Writings,-which are completely unknown,-but rather points to neglect on the part of the Swedenborg Society, as is evinced by its failure to save for the uses of the Church the whole stock of French New Church literature which, owing to the financial difficulties of Madam Humann in Paris, has for a long time been unavailable to the public and is now in danger of being dispersed. There is no one in France able to take charge of these books, and it seems to us that the Swedenborg Society should make efforts to secure this stock,-which comprises many thousands of volumes, the results of the devoted labors of Boys des Guays, Harle, and others,-and then advertise these works in the papers of Belgium and France.

     In Japan the edition of HEAVEN AND HELL has been so well received that a plan is now afoot for the publication of DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM; DIVINE PROVIDENCE and the HEAVENLY DOCTRINE in Japanese. When the translations are complete, Mr. Suzuki, the proposed translator, is to write a Life of Swedenborg which is to be first in the order of publication, though no reasons are advanced as to why this delay is necessary.

820




     For the benefit of the blind throughout the English-speaking world it was urged that certain works of Swedenborg be rendered in English Braille. As a step in this direction 50 copies of the HEAVENLY DOCTRINE have been issued in Braille from brass plates, which can if required produce thousands of copies. One copy of this edition of the HEAVENLY DOCTRINE was presented to Miss Helen Keller, who was brought up under New Church guardianship.

     The publication of the PRINCIPIA, it seems, is again to be delayed owing to the extension of the plan so as to include the LESSER PRINCIPIA and all of the works on the subject of Cosmology. Prof. P. Klasson, who was to have written the Introduction, on account of the limited time at his command has given up the undertaking, which will now be carried out by the Rev. Isaiah Tansley.

     A version of HEAVEN AND HELL in the Bohemian tongue is now under way. The translator, Mr. Jar. Janecek, is to have at his disposal one-half of this edition of 2,000 volumes, which he will be free to sell or use for propagandist purposes as the occasion may warrant.

     In Italy the facilities for the distribution of the Writings appear almost as poor as those in France. On the decease of the faithful Signor Gnocchi it was necessary to transfer the whole of that part of the Italian editions, which was under his custody in Rome, to Trieste, where the Swedenborg Society has its stock. Trieste in Austria is in no way a good situation from which to circulate New Church works in Italy, but something could be done if the Swedenborg Society would only advertise the books. It would be better to give away the books than to let them mold for ages on the shelves.

     The Society has recently purchased some manuscripts of the late Rev. James Hyde, notably his collection of material for a Life of Swedenborg and a nearly complete translation of Vol. III. of the work ON THE BRAIN. M. A. O.

821


NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY FOR OCTOBER 1911

NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY FOR OCTOBER       E. E. I       1911

     The October issue of this magazine contains articles by Mr. Leonard Clayton, Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, and Mr. I. H. H. Gosset. A third instalment of American Notes by Rev. J. F. Potts, and the usual reviews, reports, editorials, and solutions to problems, follow.

     Mr. Clayton's article is on the Divine Providence, and contrasts the dicta of revelation on this subject with various human speculations, notably those of Maeterlinck, who ascribes fortune and luck to a superconsciousness which will lead certain sensitive natures to avoid the unfortunate. To this is compared the teaching of D. P. 212 and A. C. 6494 with appropriate conclusions as to the universality of Divine Providence in spite of the appearances of human prudence. Mr. Schreck, beginning with a reminiscence of the Swedenborg Congress, takes up the scientific phase so much in evidence there, and explains the need and importance of having natural truths and scientifics as a basis for revelation. Mr. Gosset writes on "The Psychology of Sex with Special Reference to the Woman Question and Race Suicide." The article bristles with quotations that bear on a scattering number of subjects, though the chief end in view seems to be to show from the doctrines that woman should not be placed "on an equality with man in all professions, political and civil rights and duties," and that whenever this is done, there results a neglect by women of domestic life, race suicide, and an increase of insanity among women. "Marriage," he says, "appears to be the only possible condition in which adult men and women can advance and develop themselves in the higher spiritual life, and this even more in the case of women than of men." He inveighs against militant women, questions whether they are in a state to receive anything from heaven, says it is high time now that the fallacy of woman's rights should be "pricked by the pen of our inspired author," and concludes with the following ukase of Queen Victoria, as the coup de grace: "The Queen is most anxious to enlist everyone who can speak, or write, to join in checking this mad, wicked folly of 'Woman's Rights' with all its attendant horrors, on which her poor, feeble sex is bent, for getting every sense of womanly feeling and propriety. . . . God created men and women different-then let them remain each in their own position."

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     Two pages of Mr. Potts' "American Notes" are devoted to a detailed description of the new Library Building and a general account of the neighboring buildings at Bryn Athyn. Not only here, but in a two-page report of the Tenth British Assembly of the General Church, do we note the willingness of the QUARTERLY to record the activities of the Academy. The QUARTERLY, possibly anticipating critisism, declares as its policy, adopted from its inception, "that the men and women of the New Church ought to be informed, without prejudice, of the more important . . . doings of their New Church brethren, in other bodies of the Church than their own."

     In the part of the American Notes that refers to the meeting of Convention in Chicago, Mr. Potts writes as follows: "This evil of sectarian rancor, which had, until recently, been confined to the outside dealings and attitude of the Convention, has now attacked the Convention itself, and has caused a very serious outbreak among its own people. The facts are only very partially revealed in the Convention periodicals, but have been fully published in the pages of NEW CHURCH LIFE, and besides are well known to all here. I will not enter into particulars further than to say that both clergy and laity have been taking an active part in the disturbance within the Convention Church itself. . . . Being well acquainted with the people of both Churches, I know that this evil state is very far from being general. The great majority in both Churches are excellent and well-meaning people. There are rancorous folks in all religious bodies, and such people usually made up in vigor what they lack in numbers." In commenting upon the decrease in membership of the Convention societies, Mr. Potts suggests the consoling thought that numbers are no sign of excellence, and that the better angels in heaven dwell "solitary," etc. He warns the Convention not to encourage the thought that the decrease of its members is accompanied with a compensatory improvement of the Christian world, as some have opined; but to seek consolation in the fact that there is one branch, the Academy, "which is rapidly increasing in numbers, and at present possesses almost exactly one thousand registered members, and six hundred children besides, almost all of whom are being carefully educated in the love of the Lord and the New Church, and as experience has already shown, will in all probability, when grown up, remain in the body in which they have been baptized and educated."

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     In his survey of several numbers of the LIFE, the editor, perhaps fresh from a perusal of Mr. Gosset's article, takes active issue with several articles by Miss Beekman, not on the ground of their intrinsic merit, but as being unnecessarily "profound" and "obscure." The editor further notes that one of the speakers at the Tenth Chicago District Assembly "stated that 'the Commandment concerning the keeping of the Sabbath is among those which are not compulsory to the New Church in an external sense,' and that no subsequent speaker, or the Bishop, is reported as correcting him!" Neither, be it noted, were the apostles corrected for disregarding the traditional rules of the Sabbath imposed by the Jews.

     A perusal of any number of the QUARTERLY shows that the LIFE is no longer the only publication which dares to be outspoken, impartial, and unlimited by partisan policies, in its utterances. It is pleasant to know that there is a reading public in a sister organization that welcomes a journal with such principles, and applauds its efforts in developing a school of impartial criticism with the Heavenly Doctrines as sole criterion. E. E. I.
PERENNIAL ISSUE 1911

PERENNIAL ISSUE              1911

     The question whether the Writings are the Word of God was definitely settled in the negative by the solemn "Report" of the Convention in the year 1902, and it has ever since constituted the chief subject of discussion in the Convention's organs. Negation has followed negation in an endless series, each writer seemingly thinking that he had disposed of the question once and forever. But still it will not down. Still it continues to trouble the members of the Convention. They never seem able to let it alone, and lately there has appeared an avalanche of articles on the subject, or references to it, all-with one exception-of a negative character.

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What is the cause of the perpetual unrest? May it be that the conscience of the Church is not quite at peace, but must be stifled with further negations?

     THE ONE EXCEPTION.

     The NEW CHURCH REVIEW for October again takes up the Perennial issue, this time in answer to a remarkable letter from "an appreciative reader," which shows the irresistible influence of the Writings themselves in circles far removed from any "Academy" spheres. We quote the letter as published.

     Now the thought that occurs to me is this, Is the spiritual sense of the Word in the Writings; or, in other words, do the Writings contain the Word in its spiritual sense? For whether we say the spiritual sense of the Word or the Word in its spiritual sense it is one and the same thing. And if this spiritual sense is not in the Writings where are we to find it? If it is contained in the Writings, then we have there the very sanctuary of the Word, where, according to Swedenborg, the Lord is with His Divine, and we have the Lord present with us enlightening the suitable and warding off those to whom a knowledge of the spiritual sense would be hurtful. I do not see how a church could be built upon a commentary or a key or a human creation; and that the church must be built upon these Writings is evident, for they are the means by which the Lord reveals Himself to the present age, and having provided this means He will not make Himself known elsewhere. They fill the soul of the humble inquirer with light and life. And what is more, Swedenborg in the same quotation goes to the extreme length of declaring that the revelation made to the world through him "surpasses all the revelations that have hitherto been made since the creation of the world.". . . Either Swedenborg exaggerated his mission and his work or we must accept the revelation made through him as superior even to the gift of the letter of the Word. . . . Then again, Swedenborg says, at the end of the same quotation, "Trough this revelation a communication has been opened between men and the angels of heaven, and the conjunction of the two worlds has been accomplished." How can any human composition effect this! How can the angelic heavens rest, as upon a plane, upon what Swedenborg has written if there is nothing Divine there, if the Lord is not present in it? The Lord can dwell only in what is His own. If He is present in the Writings of Swedenborg He is there in His Divine truth or Word. If He is not in them, then they are nothing more to me than any other man's comments on the Word, and I must seek for my Lord elsewhere. The Lord cannot be revealed to us outside of His Word; any revelation from Him of Himself must be in some way His Word.

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Do the Writings perform this office? When I hold in my hands the "Apocalypse Revealed" or the "Arcana Coelestia" do I not have the Word in a higher sense than when I have simply the book of Revelation or Genesis and Exodus in the literal sense! Have I not in one case the Word in its spirit and letter, and in the other case the Word only in its shell which has to be broken to get at its contents? Have I not in the first case the very sanctuary of the Word, the open Word, where only the Lord is to be seen, and where He dwells if He has made His second coming and abides with men?

     THE NEGATIONS OF THE "REVIEW."

     Against this strong citadel of faith the editor of the REVIEW now lays siege, bombarding it with the old familiar assortment of assertions and negations. The Writings "are not inspired but 'illumined.' " They "have no spiritual meaning within that of the letter,"-as if there could be a "letter" without a spirit! Swedenborg "unfolded only three books of the Word,"-Genesis, Exodus, and the Revelation,-"and of these three books he gives little more than what may be called the internal natural sense, or such as may be enjoyed in the world of spirits or the natural heavens." The editor could not well drag the crowning revelation further down without denying that it has revealed anything of the internal sense. Nevertheless he asserts that the Writings "do unfold the spiritual meaning within that of the letter of the Word. And for this very reason we are confirmed in the conclusion that they are not the Word, for that which unfolds and that which is unfolded cannot be the same thing." An unfortunate conclusion, indeed, and one which should not be confirmed, for it is the LORD alone who can unfold His Word, and it is the LORD alone that is unfolded!

     THE MESSENGER'S TRITHEISM.

     Warmly applauding the editorial in the REVIEW, the MESSENGER for Nov. 1st contributes in addition a distinctly new and original thought. The editorial writer begins by stating that the question about the Writings being the Word "is not an essential of faith," but nevertheless the teaching that they are the Word is "so apparent an heresy that not many could be misled by it." Then follows the new and original thought.

826


The writer has discovered that the idea of the Writings being the Word "has spiritual origin in the sphere of those who believe in a tri-personal God. It accommodates itself to their form of though in maintaining that there are three persons in the Godhead, a that these three are one. That the Bible is one Word of God, Swedenborg's writings another, and the Lord another Word, and yet these three are one Word, is a perfect parallel to this. . . ." "If the subject is viewed with any interiority, it will be seen in light as clear as day that the conception of Swedenborg's writings as 'the Word in its spiritual sense' implies the existence of not only two but three gods."

     A wonderful discovery, indeed! Each successive revelation of the one God is a different person in the godhead, and so the MESSENGER convicts itself of Tritheism, for it believes in the Ancient Word as one person, in the Old Testament as another and in the New Testament as still another person, each being a distinct revelation! Perhaps each book in each Testament is a different divine person. Where will the awful analogy land the MESSENGER, and when will our esteemed contemporary stop talking nonsense? How true the honest confession of the NEW CHURCH REVIEW for October (p. 597), that "panic has thrown the thoughts of some of us into unintelligible confusion."

     Having proved this point, the MESSENGER next proceeds to prove that the Writings are written by correspondence. "It is true," it admits, "that in explaining some passages of the Word, Swedenborg says, 'This is the spiritual sense; but the statement should be taken in connection with what he says elsewhere, that the spiritual sense does not fall into human language, that what
he has given is but the merest part of the spiritual sense.... The spiritual sense of the Word does not fall into human language except by correspondence." Since, therefore, "the merest part of the spiritual sense" has fallen into human language, in the Writings, it follows that these are written "by correspondence," and consequently are-the Word of God.

     A BRITISH CONCEPTION.

     Our English contemporary, the NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE, for October, contributes an incidental note to the simultaneous chorus of negation.

827


We find here, (p. 441), the statement: "We cannot incorporate Swedenborg's works with the Word of God. He possessed no faculty that other men may not possess if and when their wills are as fully attuned to the Divine as was his." We quote this simply to show how almost universal is the misconception of the Writings in the organized New Church. The MAGAZINE but voices the old notion that the Revelation given through Swedenborg was dependent upon his personal regeneration, and the consequent belief that further and higher revelations may be expected from some future individuals who may attain to a degree of regeneration equal to that of Swedenborg or possibly higher. But if they believe that the Lord has made His Second Coming, they must admit also that He is now present in His Divine Human, never again to depart, and that therefore it is manifestly impossible to think of a third or fourth coming. This whole misconception is based on the idea that the Truth of the Heavenly Doctrine is Swedenborg's truth, the truth of his good, instead of being the Lord's Truth, the Divine Truth of His Divine Good.

     MR. WORCESTER'S FLEA FOR POSITIVE POSITIONS.

     In the midst of all this noise of negation and confusion there comes a note of alarm from the Rev. William L. Worcester, who at last seems to have waked up to some realization of the prevailing doctrinal anarchy. We reprint the following communication to the MESSENGER for Nov. 8th:

     EDITOR NEW-CHURCH MESSENGER:-"NO" is a necessary word; regeneration must begin with a "Thou shalt not." But there is no life in a negative and no strength in a merely negative position. Life and strength are in the positive truth. For example, we may contend that the Writings of Swedenborg are not the Word of God, and I strongly sympathize with the contention; but if we stop with that denial, there is no strength in our position. In addition to the essential weakness of a negative position, there is danger that the assertion of a negative, except as preparatory to a declaration of positive truth, will go further than is intended in its effect and be destructive of truth. If, for example, we assert that the Writings of Swedenborg are not the Word, and do not go on to show fully and strongly what they are, the negative is in danger of giving the impression that the Writings are nothing very precious.

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     My plea is for positive positions, and in this case for a positive attitude toward the Writings of the New Church. It is for positive study of these Writings and positive teaching of their message; for increased and increasing interest in and love for these Writings for what we find them to be. It is safe to say that none of us, by whatever name we call the Writings, begin to know them as we should or to value them at their real worth. The wonder of them grows, the more we know them. They are connected in a necessary way with the Lord's opening of the Scriptures; they are a necessary means in the Lord's Second Coming and in the Lord's redemption of His church and of the human race. Let our assertions of what the Writings of Swedenborg are not, be only incidental in our study of them and our love for them for what they are. WILLIAM L. WORCESTER.

     This note of warning is the first expression of any love for the Writings of the New Church that we have heard in the midst of the endless negations. We regret that Mr. Worcester is not able to see that the Revelation of the Lord in His Second Coming is the Word of the Lord; we regret that he regards them only as "a" necessary means in the Lord's Second Coming, instead of "the" means. But we rejoice that he recognizes the danger involved in mere negations. A denial is in itself a nothing and can lead to nothing; no affirmative valuation of the Writings can be based on such a foundation. In one sense it is profoundly true that "none of us, by whatever name we call the Writings, begin to know them as we should or to value them at their real worth." None can realize this more than those who believe that these Writings are the infinite Truth of the Lord. But on the other hand, all beginnings are on the plane of intellectual perceptions, and a beginning has been made in the true valuation of the Writings by the perception that they are the Word of the Lord, and not the word of a mere man. It is certain that they could not be placed on a higher level.

     The spirit of Mr. Worcester's remarks would seem to imply that we cannot over-value these Writings. Why then quarrel with those who place them at the highest possible value? Why denounce these lovers of the Writings as heretics, tritheists, and what not? All the members of the New Church place, or are supposed to place, some value on the Writings of Swedenborg, some more, some less. Why then tolerate every degree of valuation except the highest?

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HOMOEOPATHY 1911

HOMOEOPATHY       E. P. ANSHUTZ       1911

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     It seems to me that Mr. Iungerich's conclusions in his "Philosophy of Disease and Cure" (in the LIFE for September) point the way towards Christian Science or some form of mental healing; also they smack of that "broad" charity which refuses to be bound by any creed or doctrine, but sees "a little" good in them all, which, properly understood, is true. Men may splash about in the speculations made in this paper until weary, and arrive nowhere. Right living, right food, good air, the learning of truth, and all things else that enter into a rational life, are essential to health, but when the good man has developed a case of rheumatics between his shoulders, or a bad pain in his stomach, what then? He wants, and needs, a remedy, something of the earth, of which he is still a part. Throughout the Word we are told that men and things are to be judged by their "fruits." Applying the Divine test to the various schools or systems of medicine extant we find that the fruits of Homoeopathy are excellent above the others and conclude that it is best for the good man with the rheumatism or stomach ache to tie to until our philosophers have produced a better one from their abstruse speculations. For example, when Asiatic cholera,-great for its stomach ache,-first appeared in Europe about 80 years ago the death-rate was about 50 per cent. of all cases save those who received the aid of Homoeopathy; among these it was about 6 per cent.

     When yellow fever last visited this country, the cases under allopathic treatment,-then verging towards what is now known as "scientific,"-showed a death-rate of 35 per cent., while at the same time and place under Homoeopathy it was 6 per cent.

     When the malignant form of influenza, giving rise to the popular term "grippe," swept this country some to years ago, a Buffalo newspaper sprung a sensation by announcing that practically all the death certificates in that city were signed by the doctors known as "allopathic," while there were scarcely any by the homoeopaths.

830


This was more or less true of the entire country. Also the stock of quinine was exhausted. Also a remarkable wave of suicide followed in the wake of this epidemic, which some observers hinted was the result of the enormous amount of quinine consumed under the guidance of what was then, self-styled, the "scientific" treatment.

     A whole issue of LIFE could be filled with official or reliable comparative statistics, telling a similar story. It may be asked then, Why does not the world adopt this treatment? As a counter question, Why does it not adopt the clear rational truths of the New Church instead of the thousand and one murky speculations it does adopt?

     Homoeopathy is not, properly speaking, a "system" or "school" of medicine. It is the universal law of the action of drugs on the human body. By a knowledge of the action of that law man is able to relieve many human ills, and you may term it an "evil use" if you please. Experience has taught thousands that a drug which will produce certain conditions and pains in a healthy human body will relieve the similar conditions when they occur in disease. Whether it is a case of "similars'' as Hahnemann said, or "the same" as the Newchurchman, Dr. Hempel, maintained, is immaterial in the presence of sickness, and to the one seeking relief.

     Homoeopathy and the New Church have ever traveled side by side. It was a Newchurchman, a physician, who introduced the newly discovered, ("revealed," Hahnemann intimated), law of healing by medicine, into the United States in 1825. Since then it has almost been taken as granted that all Newchurchmen are homoeopaths, probably because the rational in natural healing harmonizes with the rational in spiritual healing. In the beginning men employed the 3d, 6th or 30th potencies, but when the inevitable fermentation began, which seems inseparable from what we may term organized truth, then on the one hand we had men going back to crude and strong mixed drugs (polypharmacy), and on the other going up into potencies numbered by millions and made by letting water run from the hydrant.

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It would take centuries to make some of the "potencies" now used as they should be made to be worthy of the name. The result was that the "school" was split up, some going into gross materialism and some into "scientific medicine" which injects all manner of uncleanness into the blood under the cloak of science, while others "advanced" into Theosophy, Christian science, and other fantastic things.

     During all this the great law guiding the selection and use of drugs remained unchanged and unchangeable, always acting for the dispersion of evil when employed on the lines of common sense.

     Many plain citizens are apt to think that medicine is a very profound science because of the big and learned words with which it is clothed, but if you run those words back you find them to be but the baby babble of the Greeks. Whether the child says "it hurts to swallow," or the learned one says "dysphagia," it practically amounts to the same. If a little homoeopathic Belladonna will make it cease to "hurt" or will remove the "dysphagia," and does so in repeated similar cases, it is common sense to use Belledonna; it is also the highest of medical science, for true science and common sense are almost synonyms.

     In conclusion, Mr. Editor, I am well aware that this is not an answer to Mr. Iungerich's several points, and, indeed, it was not intended to be one in detail. His "conclusion" (d), on page 582, furnishes enough material for a whole college of scientists to scrap over for a life-time and then arrive at no conclusion; in fact, the oftener you read it the plainer you see openings for ceaseless logornachy and tearing of wigs, even though the whole might be summed up from the Word: "Cease to do evil." This, from the Word, is a mighty "general," but there are many particulars in it and many aches and pains for him who follows its lead out of the evil slough. For these aches and pains, I hold, in the words of Hahnemann, "God mercifully permitted Homoeopathy to be discovered." E. P. ANSHUTZ, 1011 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa.

832


Church News 1911

Church News       Various       1911

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. During the Bishop's absence in October, Mr. Synnestvedt conducted the Friday doctrinal classes. In place of one of these, the subject of the government of the Church was taken up at one of the Friday suppers. Speeches by Mr. Wm. Whitehead, Mr. E. E. Iungerich, and Mr. Gilbert Smith, portraying the ideals of government in the Old Christian Church and in the New Church, past and present, were followed by an interesting discussion in which many took part, notably Mr. Seymour Nelson, who outlined some recent developments in the government of the Glenview society.

     After various substitutions during the illness of Mr. Walter Van Horn, the place of organist to the Bryn Athyn Church has been given to Miss Helen Colley, who acquits herself of her duties with great credit. Mr. Van Horn's illness has terminated fatally, and we have lost one who by years of faithful work in his important office, and by patient courage in spite of ill health, had won our love and esteem. As a token of the regard in which he was held, a company of school children for whom he had often played at "opening" congregated about his home and sang several beautiful songs to the relatives whom he has left. A service was held for him on Sunday, November 12th.

     Among the Various events of the past month, as yet unchronicled, we note the following: The foot ball team has just concluded a successful season of seven games, winning four, tying one, and losing two, with the strongest foot ball teams outside of college in this vicinity. The victories were by scores of 6-0 against Penn Charter, Swarthmore Preparatory, and Radnor High School; and by an overwhelming score against Cheltenham Academy. A tie game, 6-6 was played with Germantown Academy; and defeats were sustained from Atlantic City High School, 3-12, and Haverford Grammar School, 6-14.

     Mr. Heath is at present drilling a company to present a New Church melodrama, the scene of which is laid in the spiritual world.

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     The "younger generation" has held its first meeting and arrangements have been made for a full and thorough discussion of Homoeopathy at a subsequent meeting.

     Conferences are being held by those interested and qualified in matters of architecture, and plans of church building are under consideration.

     There are at present 155 pupils in the Academy schools, distributed as follows: Kindergarten, 12; Elementary School of Eight Grades, 71; Girls' Seminary, 28; Boys' College, 30; Normal Course, 6; Theological School, 8.

     Mr. Headsten, of Chicago, who for many years has been an active layman in Convention circles, and for several years past has preached to various Swedish circles under a special authorization, is now a student in the Theological School here. E. E. I.

     BALTIMORE, MD. A distinctively Academic use has been started this fall in the colony at Arbutus, through the enterprise of Mrs. S. M. Coffin, and the generous assistance and counsel of Miss Emilie Schneider, Miss Elizabeth Ashby, and the A. P. C. Mrs. Coffin gives two hours of every morning to kindergarten work with what would have been our entering class this year, had we been able to start an elementary school with ten boys and two.

     All classes in the Sunday School are following a systematic plan of topics through the New Testament. The same group of topics is assigned to each class, but presented differently. The visiting minister, or, in his absence, the superintendent, Mr. Reynolds, reads from the chancel one of the topics for the day, and then gives a short extemporaneous talk to show what the angels think of when that part of the Word is read by man. The several classes then meet with their respective teachers, Mr. E. P. Gunther, Mr. Trimble, Mr. Reynolds, and Mrs. S. M. Coffin. These teachers hold a meeting once a Week to study the internal sense of the lesson for the following Sunday.

     It has not as yet been mentioned that Mr. and Mrs. L. R. Behlert are now in full occupancy of their new and commodious house at Arbutus; nor that Mr. E. P. Gunther has bought a house at the base of the Arbutus hill, though connected with our property by fronting on a road which is our purchased right of way.

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He and his family are now firmly established at Arbutus, making the seventh family who have settled here.

     This year is probably the crucial one in the existence of our society. The first "balm of Gilead" state of delight in the prospects of our independent development as a society that has a distinctive NEW Church colony, place of worship, and a school, must, of course, pass, and give place to the problems of financial and social adjustments. Every day shows how much we are dependent on one another in working for the success of our aims. We have the diversified elements, out of whose harmony we may anticipate the greatest degree of unity and efficiency. These elements are drawn from two Convention societies who have never been able to weld together, and it is only on a basis of the doctrines as taught in the General Church that a union could he hoped for. But we find hope also in the following philosophy of the Arbutus classic: "To colonize this earth, requires men whom fight, to colonize this earth is not a sheer delight. But a thing of any worth is worth at least one fight." E. E. I.

     MIDDLEPORT, OHIO. We were all greatly cheered and benefitted by a visit from the Bishop, October 27-29. Our first meeting was at Doctor Hanlin's home, Friday night. Bishop Pendleton read an address on the state of the Church before and after the Lord's coming into the world. The paper was followed by an interesting discussion, after which supper was served, and conversation drifted to more external topics, especially "wet" and "dry," as the county was to vote on that question on the following day. Twenty-five were at this meeting. Saturday night our meeting was at the church, and the Bishop read an address on "The Lord's Day."

     Sunday was a bright day, and our members from the country were able to meet with us. There were forty at the service and thirty-two communicants at the Holy Supper following the sermon.

     The Sunday evening meeting was held at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Davis, and again combined instruction with social life, the Bishop reading a paper on the human form.

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     The influence of the Bishop's instruction and his presence among us will long remain as an inspiration to greater loyalty, in thought and life, to the Heavenly Doctrine. W. L. G.

     ERIE, PA. Erie has been very quiet, and we miss our brother, Oscar Glenn, exceedingly, for he was the life of our meetings, in starting conversation and remarks. The young ladies are getting up a "sewing circle," to start this week and meet every second week.

     We had a short call some time ago from Mr. Louis Schoenberger, and recently Mr. Raymond Cranch and family came to the city for a visit. Our young doctor, Arthur Girard Cranch, has deserted the profession, and removed to a farm in Crawford County, near Centerville, where he proposes to raise chickens, and other live stock, at which he has always been an adept.

     Mrs. W. H. MacDonald, one of our most active members,-at least as far as her strength went, for she has been confined to her bed for nearly ten years,-is now getting out, in wheel chairs and street cars, and attending our meetings, and so rejoicing our hearts, to see her getting back so much of her strength.

     We are delighted with the regular visits of the Rev. N. D. Pendleton and Mr. Bowers, and feel that our spiritual food is much enhanced thereby.

     We keep in correspondence with friends in Australia, England, and Chicago and all the Eastern societies, and do not feel so isolated as might be thought. E. C.

     PITTSBURGH, PA. For some time news notes from this "town'' have been among those missing. 'Twas not from lack of material, but owing to unavoidable circumstances. One thing of importance, which we were sorry not to report in due time, was the beautiful wedding of Mr. George P. Brown and Miss Eleanora Schoenberger. There are many other things we should have made note of, but at this late date we hesitate to chronicle them lest our memory fails us.

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     To embody in this communication more recent news we will start with the Fall season. Our local school is in full swing once more with an attendance of 16. Doctrinal classes are being held every Wednesday evening. The Ladies' Society has resumed its meetings after the summer vacation; also the Men's Philosophy Club.

     The Pittsburgh District Assembly was held October 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th. On October 5th, the evening preceding the opening of the Assembly, the Philosophy Club held a special meeting, having as its guest of honor Dr. J. B. S. King, of Chicago, Ill. Dr. King read a very interesting paper on "Some of the Characteristics of Use and Form." He guaranteed to be able to put us to sleep, which guarantee he could not fulfill,-his words being too valuable to miss. The following night, Friday, a banquet was held in the church building. The general subject for discussion was "Friendship." We were somewhat disappointed that two of our speakers were unable to be present. Rev. N. D. Pendleton, however, helped to fill the gap and spoke extemporaneously on the subject. His speech was very much to the point and full of wisdom. Mr. L. J. Schoenberger next spoke on "Friendship Among Children," which was very interesting. Dr. King followed, and considered the subject in a very practical way. Bishop Pendleton, Mr. John Pitcairn and Rev. W. L. Gladish made remarks which were appreciated. Mr. Chas. Ebert as toastmaster performed his duties in a pleasing and able manner.

     Saturday night Bishop Pendleton read a paper on "The Lord's Day," giving us great food for thought. So much so that it was deemed inadvisable to attempt to consider the subject in the short time we had at our disposal. Dr. King then read a short paper on "The Diseases of the Eye and Various Forms of Faith."

     Sunday, regular services were held in the morning, Bishop Pendleton delivering the sermon. Communion services were held in the afternoon.

     Monday night, the Assembly closed with the Ladies' Meeting at the home of Mrs. Anna Lechner and the Men's Meeting at the home of Mr. Jacob Schoenberger. A distinctive feature of the former was the presentation of a little play, "Place Aux Dames," given by four of the ladies.

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It may be remarked in passing that more than one man was heard regretting that he was debarred from being present, while no similar regrets were heard on the part of the ladies with regard to the Men's Meeting. B. P. O. E.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. Although the last report from this center bore the date of July, we were far from idle socially during the "dull season," when many were away on vacations. Among the visitors during the summer were Mrs. E. C. Bostock, Mrs. Augusta Cooper, Mrs. Besse E. Colley and Miss Helen Colley, Miss Hannah Nelson, Miss Jean Horigan, and later, Mrs. Robert Caldwell, of Pittsburgh. We were indebted to the Colleys for much enjoyable music.

     Late in July Miss Vivien King, in conjunction with some of the young people, got up a clever comedy, entitled "Mr. Bob," and presented it at the School House to a highly appreciative audience. Parts were taken by Miss Ring, Miss Dorothy Cole, Miss Elise Junge, Miss Maud McQueen, Mr. Harold McQueen, Benjamin McQueen and Crebert Burnham. The acting was something beyond the usual range of amateurs.

     During August two Friday Suppers were held in the open air by the side of the School House, followed by an adjournment to the Assembly Room, where, on one occasion, we listened to the graduating essays of the pupils recently returned from Bryn Athyn; on the other Dr. King rigged up an extempore stage and gave a number of readings from English literature. Labor Day was celebrated by a noon-day picnic in the Park, with many from Chicago present. Base ball in the afternoon and a dance in the evening filled out the day's program.

     Our stereopticon has not been idle of late. In September Dr. King gave us a lively description of a Bicycle Trip through England, and in October Mr. McQueen gave a lecture on Colchester, illustrated by beautiful pictures from slides made by Mr. Gill, of Colchester. Our District Assembly was held from October 13th to 15th, and no doubt will be reported elsewhere in the LIFE.

     The evening of October 21st witnessed the first wedding that has taken place in the Park in ten years.

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Mr. Jesse V. Stevens was the party of the first part, and Miss Agnes Gyllenhaal of the second part. Bishop Pendleton performed the ceremony. The Assembly Room was artistically decorated with a profusion of autumn-tinted leaves, so that the chancel looked like a leafy bower. Two white doves were suspended by hidden wires and hovered over the happy pair. The bride's sisters, Miss Vida and Miss Margaret Gyllenhaal, and the groom's sisters, Miss Winifred and Miss Abby Stevens, were the bridesmaids. Two little girls threw roses in the path upon which the bridal procession made its exit from the room. Congratulations followed, and a toast to the novitiate husband and wife was proposed by Bishop Pendleton in a few weighty words. The wedding cake was distributed, and as the dancing began Mr. and Mrs. Stevens departed for their honeymoon trip. The ceremony was both impressive and beautiful, as befits a marriage in the New Church, where the nature of the union is more fully understood than in the world. J. B. S. K.

     THE MISSIONARY FIELD. Since my last report was sent to the LIFE, Sixteen places have been visited. Only a few things call be said here concerning some of the places.

     My first attendance of the Chicago District Assembly, was at the meetings in October, and it was to me an interesting occasion. My return eastward after the Assembly was in company with Mr. and Mrs. John D. Fogle, to their home at Bourbon, Ind. It was the first time that these earnest New Church friends were present at an Assembly of the General Church, of which they are members. And it was a most enjoyable experience for them, and they expressed their appreciation of the meetings in warm terms.

     At the home of Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Beath, on a farm in Madison Co., O., four days seemed to pass very quickly. The Beaths are the only New Church people we know of in that vicinity. On Sunday, October 29th, the youngest of their two children was baptized; and a sermon was also very acceptable to these isolated friends.

     At Waverly, Pike Co., O., a day was spent with L. G. Dill, Esq.

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As he is an attorney and court was in session, we had our visit in the evening. Two days with Mr. S. A. Powell, at Givens.

     Doctrinal talks were given to several of Mr. Powell's neighbors, whom he invited in on the two evenings of my visit.

     Was with the Loomis families at Zanesville, over Sunday, November 5th. Had conversations on various points of Doctrine. In the evening the members of the family gathered at the home of the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Newell E. Loomis, to hear the reading of a sermon. Had several talks with Mr. Judson Loomis, who was two years at the Academy, in Bryn Athyn. He seemed to be rather out of his element, and expressed the strong desire he has to be back there. Both the family and Judson himself heartily appreciate the inestimable benefit that the education he received in the Academy has been to him. There can be no doubt as to the blessings to the young, and to future generations, of a genuine New Church education, such as the Academy is in the endeavor to give and to provide for. J. E. BOWERS.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. Herbert C. Small has resigned the charge of the Indianapolis Society to accept a call to the pastorate of the PORTLAND, Me., Society.

     The Rev. Warren Goddard has resigned the pastorate of the Fall River, Mass., Society to accept a call to LAPORTE, Ind.

     The Rev. Clyde W. Broomell, for seven years pastor of the societies in Roxbury and Mansfield, Mass., has given up his work there to become Missionary in the State of TEXAS, to which large field he has been called by the Missionary Board of the General Convention.

     The ABINGTON Society, which has been without a pastor for the past year, is to share the pastoral care of the Rev. Paul Sperry with the Brockton Society. Brockton is only four miles from Abington and Mr. Sperry will conduct services in Abington on Sunday afternoons.

     The Rev. John W. Stockwell, until recently pastor of the Kenwood Parish, Chicago, has been called to the charge of the FRANKFORD Society, made vacant by the resignation of the Rev. J. W. MacPherson, who is to take up missionary work in the Pennsylvania Association.

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Mr. Stockwell has been pastor of the Kenwood Parish for eight years, and resigned in August to remove to New York to engage in a special study of the relationship between employer and employee for the Bureau of Business Research, and to take charge of the educational work of the Stockwell Institute. His charge of the Frankford Society is undertaken in addition to his duties in New York.

     The Rev. John Whitehead has been appointed Librarian of the Convention's Theological School, and Keeper of the Archives of the Convention. His present address is 48 Quincy St., Cambridge, Mass.

     The Michigan Association met at Detroit, on Oct. 7-8. As there is no longer any active New Church minister in the State, a layman occupied the chair, though three visiting ministers were present.

     The Ohio Association met at Lakewood, Oct. 13-15. The meeting pledged the Association to support the three proposals presented by the president of the General Convention. There were present "many new members" who "brought with them their enthusiastic love of the church so characteristic of newcomers." What a reflection upon the old members!

     The Maryland Association met at Preston on Oct. 20-22. At the meeting of the Ministers' Conference a paper on "The Writings of Swedenborg, and His Disclaimer" was presented by the Rev. J. E. Smith, combating the doctrine that the Writings are the Word of the Lord. The writer warned against the delusion "that everything Swedenborg has written is of equal merit, and especially concerning the things heard and seen, that they are the Word of God." "If Swedenborg's writings are the Word, they are a written Word." Of course they are a written Word.

     MORAVIA AND BOHEMIA. Littau, in Moravia, is the home of a Newchurchman, Mr. Ed. Hora, who 18 years ago in company with a friend, the Rev. Pazdral, of the Methodist Church, received the doctrines of the New Church. The latter was compelled to retire from his congregation, taking with him a small flock with which the New Church in Bohemia began.

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The Rev. Pazdral, however, emigrated to America, where, independently of any New Church organization, he spread his propaganda among the Czechs, notably in Texas, but with no results. He had translated from German into Czech, the True Christian Religion, a catechism and a liturgy, and the manuscript was ready for the press; when he received, a year ago, a letter from Mr. Janecek, of Prague, who had learned about him from the Monatblatter. The correspondence of these two gentlemen has succeeded in putting Messrs. Hora and Janecek in touch with all the Czech Newchurchmen in Bohemia.

     The Rev. Adolf Goerwitz reports a recent visit to Mr. Hora, giving an account of a service held in Czech, at which his two daughters, Evangelina and Ctimila, were baptized. At Prague, which he next visited, he held a service at Mr. Janecek's house, to an audience of twenty, all of whom are subscribers to his paper. Mr. Janecek had just received the joyful news that the Swedenborg Society would defray the publication of HEAVEN AND HELL in Czech. He has made a translation of it, and proposes to give out at the same time a biography of Swedenborg. Mr. Janecek reports that 650 persons in his own country receive his bi-monthly publication, Novu JERUZALEM. Other subscribers reside in Bosnia and Slavonia. Appreciative letters are received every day at the publisher's office. About a hundred copies come to the United States. Regular weekly meetings are held at the home of Mr. Janecek, with an attendance of from sixteen to thirty persons. E. E. I.

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For Rent 1911

For Rent              1911


     Announcements.



     At Bryn Athyn, Pa., light, airy, southwest room, furnished or unfurnished, without board. Temporary occupancy welcomed. Address: R. G. CRANCH, Bryn Athyn, Pa.