RECEPTION OF THE LORD IN THE HOLY SUPPER       Rev. WILLIAM B. CALDWELL       1914



NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. XXXIV JANUARY, 1914          No. 1
     In the light of the Gospel teaching, illumined by the truths of the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Church, we may now be given to perceive how the presence of the Lord in the Holy Supper is real and actual, and not merely representative, figurative, and imaginary; thus, how the Sacrament is not merely a ceremonial of worship, but also spiritually beneficial and truly significative with all who approach the Holy Table worthily.

     We are taught that "in the Holy Supper is the whole of the Lord, and the whole of His Redemption,-the whole of the Lord both as to the glorified Human, and as to the Divine from which the Human is, because His Divine can no more be separated from His Human than the Soul from the Body." (T. 716.) And further, "That the Lord is present, and opens heaven to those who approach the Holy Supper worthily, His presence with these being a universal and also a singular presence, or an external and at the same time an internal presence; while with the unworthy it is a universal or external presence without the singular and internal presence." (T. 719.) And again, "The Lord is present with both the worthy and the unworthy because He is omnipresent, both in heaven and hell and in the world, consequently with the evil and the good; but with the good, that is, the regenerate, He is universally and singularly present, for the Lord is in them and they in the Lord, and where the Lord is, there is heaven, which makes the Body of the Lord, on which account to be in His Body is to be at the same time in heaven." (T. 719.)

     Again we read, "That the Holy Supper, to those who approach worthily, is like a sign and a seal that they are the sons of God, because the Lord is then present, and intromits into heaven those who have been born from Him, that is, the regenerate. The Holy Supper does this because the Lord then is also present as to "His Human, as said before: for He says of the Bread, 'This is my Body,' and of the Wine, 'This is my Blood;' consequently He then admits them into His Body, and heaven and the Church make His Body. When man is being regenerated, the Lord is indeed present, and by His Divine operation prepares man for heaven, but in order that He may actually enter, man must actually present himself to the Lord, and because the Lord actually presents Himself to man, man must actually receive Him, not as He hung upon the Cross, but as He is in His glorified Human, in which He is present. His Body is the Divine Good, and His Blood is the Divine Truth. These are given to man, and by them He is regenerated, and is in the Lord and the Lord in him. For the eating which is exhibited in the Holy Supper is a spiritual eating." (T. 728.)

     These statements of the Doctrine indicate in general how we are to understand that the Lord is actually present in the Holy Supper, and confers a spiritual benefit upon the regenerate, making the act truly significative, and not merely ceremonial, with the man of the Church. They show how the New Christian Church is to come into the "very use and fruit of the Sacraments." (T. 700.)

     This is to come in the New Church because there is to be an internal in its worship, as was the case with the Ancient Church, which on that account is called in the Writings a "significative church," all its life and worship being an outward sign of charity and love to the Lord; while the Jewish Church is called a "representative church," because there was no internal in the rites and ceremonies of that church. (A. C. 1361.) But the New Church is to be a significative church, wherein worship is to proceed from a spiritual internal, and to be a sign thereof. By the understanding of the Heavenly Doctrines, and life according to them, the New Church is to be led into the "very use and fruit of the Sacraments."

     Now we may gather from other teachings of the Doctrines that the Lord's presence in the Holy Supper is real and actual because by glorification in the world He put on the Divine Natural, or glorified Body, in which He can adjoin His Divine to men even in their natural, and thus be present in the Church immediately, and not alone mediately through heaven, as before His advent into the world.

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This is agreeable to the teaching "That before the assumption of the Human, the Divine, which infilled all spaces without space, penetrated even to the ultimates of nature, but the Divine influx into the natural degree was mediate through the angelic heavens, while afterwards it was immediate from Himself, for which cause all the churches before His advent were representative of spiritual and celestial things, but after His advent were made celestial and spiritual natural, and representative worship was abolished." (W. 233, T. 109.)

     For the Christian Church, indeed, the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper were instituted, but not to be merely representative, as the washings and eatings of the Jews, but to be actually significative with true Christians, and to involve and contain all things of the internal worship of the Church. (See A. C. 4211.)

     Bearing in mind, then, that the Divine of the Lord never has been absent from any man, still it is a truth that after the assumption and glorification of the Human, a more immediate presence of the Lord became possible,-the immediate presence of the glorified Human in the natural of men, as well as the spiritual and celestial with them. Indeed the Holy Supper was instituted as a memorial and representative of this new presence of the Lord.

     With the Most Ancients the Divine Presence, influx, and government was immediate. They were spiritually nourished or instructed by Divine influx through the soul into the mind and body, producing in them a perception of correspondences in nature, and this without the intervention necessarily of angels and spirits. (H. 247, 296. A. 5850, 5993.) But when, after the Most Ancient times, men had closed the inmost way of the Divine entrance through the soul into the mind, it was necessary to the preservation of mankind that the Lord should come by an outward way, which was done by the written Word, and through the angels of heaven adjoined to the correspondences of the Word in the minds of men.

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     Spiritual life was imparted to the regenerate through heaven. Without the presence of spirits and angels man could then have no thought, no affection, no life,-no spiritual food, no bread of heaven, corresponding to the bread of the world. But both of these forms of sustenance are necessary to man's life,-to his spiritual life and natural life,-spiritual life by influx from the Divine; natural life by afflux from nature. The two are mutually dependent. Man's spirit and body are to be nourished in correspondence, and when he is in order they are. He is to live "not by bread alone, but by every word proceeding out of the mouth of God," not alone by the material foods in which natural heat and light operate to sustain the body, but also by influx of spiritual heat and light, proceeding as love and wisdom from the spiritual sun, thus from the Lord. The body cannot subsist without the spirit, nor can the spirit exist without the body. The two actually correspond, and are mutually dependent. Hence the imminent destruction of the human race when Most Ancient man severed the bond of conjunction with the Divine; hence the need of a new coming of the Lord then, through the angels and spirits adjoined to man's mind or spirit outwardly, to the forms of the revealed Word there implanted.

     Until the advent of the Lord in the flesh, and His glorification of the Divine Natural, or His putting on of a Divine Body, the sustenance of man's spirit was effected by the Divine influx through heaven, through angels adjoined to the forms of the Word reposing in the memory, this memory being intermediate between the spiritual and natural with man. It was in this manner that the Word was the bond between the two worlds, and preserved the human race. But after the Lord Himself became the Ward made flesh, taking to Himself a Divine ultimate even lower than the angels, He was able to enter the external of man from without, to enlighten and instruct man from, the written Word, and at the same time from Himself as the Living Word,-to enter man by immediate Divine influx into his natural, without the mediation of spirits and angels, and thus to sustain and support man's life by the Divine influx from His own Divine Body. For man cannot live without conjunction with the Divine, or without correspondence between the life of the spirit: and the life of the body, and a medium through which that correspondence is maintained.

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And when by evil of life he had all but destroyed this medium,-by rejection of the Word, which was the basis of influx through heaven,-then the Lord Himself became the Mediator, and thus Redeemer and Saviour to eternity, in the glorified Body put on in the world. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Who so eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." (John vi, 53, 54.)

     In confirmation of the above, let us note the following teaching in the INVITATION TO THE NEW CHURCH: "The Lord made the natural man in Himself Divine, for the end that He might be first and last, and so be able to enter with men even into their natural minds, and teach and lead them from the Word. For He arose with the whole natural or external man, nor did He leave anything whatever of it in the sepulchre. Wherefore He said that He had flesh and bones, which spirits have not; and also He ate and drank natural foods with His disciples, and in their sight. That He was Divine He showed by passing through closed doors, and being made invisible, which never could have been done unless with Him the natural man itself also had been made Divine." (56.) "That there is so great a force in correspondences is because in them heaven and the world, or the spiritual and the natural, are united; for this cause the Word was written by mere correspondences, and is the conjunction of man with heaven, thus with the Lord, and thus the Lord is in firsts and at the same time in ultimates; on which account the Sacraments were instituted by correspondences, and, therefore, there is Divine power in them." (61.) "The correspondences by which the Word was written, possess such power and virtue that it may be called the power and virtue of Divine omnipotence, for by means of them the natural acts conjointly with the spiritual, and the spiritual with the natural, thus everything of heaven with everything of the world. Hence it is that the two Sacraments are correspondences of spiritual things with natural, whence come their virtue and power." (45.)

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     Now the Holy Supper was instituted in remembrance of the giving of the Lord's Divine Body, or glorified Human, for the life of the human race; in remembrance of His perpetual presence in this Divine Body, which is the "Word made flesh,"-the Lord Himself as the Mediator between heaven and earth, as the only Life of that communion which is the Church, and which is called the "Body of Christ;" as Himself the only Bond or Covenant of conjunction between the spiritual and the natural, by which the human race in both worlds is sustained and preserved. Because He alone is now the Mediator between the two worlds, the mediating life maintaining the conjunction of the spirit and body of man, We alone maintains the correspondence between natural sustenance by material food and drink and spiritual sustenance by the bread of heaven, upon which correspondence man's life, temporal and eternal, depends. And so the Sacrament of the Holy Supper, wherein the bread and wine represent the Lord's flesh and blood, may be called the sacrament of eternal life. And as it is the most ultimate, so it is the most holy act of worship in the Church, involving the actual and immediate reception of the Lord by man, the conjunction of the Lord and man, and hence eternal life for man. "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." (John vi, 51.)

     When we say that the Lord is really and actually present with man, and received in his partaking of the bread and wine, it is not meant that the bread and wine are the Divine flesh and blood. It is indeed said that, when He ate the supper with His disciples, "Jesus took bread; and blessed in and brake it, and gave it to His disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body." And of the wine He said, "This is My blood, of the new covenant." But by this was meant that the disciples were such as received Him spiritually, in His Divine Good and Truth, which are the very substance and form of His Divine Body; and thus that the act was fully significative and correspondential with them, as with all true Christians after them. But the idea that the bread and wine are by consecration changed into the flesh and blood of the Lord is the Roman Catholic error of transubstantiation, or the supposed conversion of the elements of the Eucharist into the body and blood of Christ, and consequently the actual appropriation of the Divine body and blood by the participant.

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     The error of this is seen in the light of the truth that the Body of our Lord is Divine substantial, and thus Infinite, and that the Infinite cannot be imparted to and appropriated by the finite so as to become part of the finite, but that the Infinite can only be adjoined to the finite. In the influx of the Infinite of the Lord into the finite of man there is no separation of the Infinite substance from the Lord, but only an adjunction to the forms of man, and an acting upon them, producing a reaction to the Divine action, which reaction is reception. To illustrate this truth, the Writings cite the fact that the light of the sun cannot be conjoined to the eye, nor the sound of the air to the ear, but only adjoined to them, and thus give the faculty of seeing and hearing. (T. 718.) And as light and sound inflow in this manner with man, and do not conjoin themselves to him and become part of him, so in an eminent degree the Divine of the Lord inflows into man's spirit, flows in and out perpetually and unceasingly, as the Divine circle of life, never separated from the Lord, and put into man, but only adjoined to him according to his state of reception. For we read, "They who believe that the Bread is the Lord's Flesh, and the Wine His Blood, and cannot elevate their thought further, may remain in that idea, but not unless they regard as most holy that conjunctive with the Lord which is attributed and appropriated to man as his own, although it constantly remains the Lord's." (T. 727)

     This is the nature of the Lord's presence with man in His Divine Natural, in the Infinite gyre and flow of the Holy Spirit,-the Divine presence in a form accommodated to a closer application to the finite forms of angel and man than possible before His advent and glorification. But still this Divine Natural is also Infinite because Divine, and is imparted by influx and adjunction, not by an actual separation of the Divine and the implanting of it in man. And the spiritual reception of this is eternal life, and is what is represented in the Holy Supper, when the Lord said, "This is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me."

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     There is a sense, however, in which the partaking of the bread and wine is actual reception of the Lord, with those who approach the Holy Supper worthily, with those who are regenerating, and who thus are spiritual recipients of the Divine Good and Truth of the Word, recipients of the Divine substance of the Lord as the living Word made flesh, recipients of the Infinite in the finite forms of the spiritual mind, in the manner before described. With such the act is not merely representative of their reception of spiritual life from the Lord in the regeneration, but is actually significative and correspondential at the time, that is, their natural eating corresponds to their spiritual eating, and the two take place simultaneously. Indeed, the finer essences of the bread and wine, passing at once into the brain, and there infilling the organic substance of the mind, may be said to become at once receptacles of the spirit of life from the Lord. Thus in verimost actuality is heaven opened to the worthy participant, and his soul fed by the Lord with the bread of eternal life. In this connection consider what is said of the ancient feasts of charity, that they were so potent in effect as to have blessed the men of the Church with health and long life, with intelligence and wisdom, and with an opening of heaven to them, (A. C. 7996, T. 433, D. 3566), and this because mind and body were then nourished "unanimously and correspondingly." Greater than this must be the power and virtue of the Christian sacramental feast of love to the Lord, and the spiritual gifts then actually imparted to the humble worshiper, realized in him according to his holiness of state, and produced by the efficacy of the representative act.

     There is a closer connection by correspondence than is commonly supposed. The correspondence of natural with spiritual things is not merely figurative, not merely ideal, of the thought and imagination. There is always a point of contact, of contiguity, where the spiritual meets and touches the natural, where the spiritual inflows and acts, and the natural receives and reacts. With man this point of contact is intermediate between the spiritual and natural with him, where the states of his spirit meet and touch the very fibre and blood of the body, and the relation between the two is a very intimate and organic correspondence, a mutual acting and reacting.

     This is the case with natural and spiritual nutrition.

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The finer essences of material foods are prepared through the blood to become the substantial body of the spirit, to provide man with a permanent habitation to eternity, thus a form receptive of eternal life from the Lord. For those finer essences of the food in the blood ascend to meet the inflowing spirit from the; brain, and there is a conjunction of the two, a conjunction of the spiritual and the natural, the spiritual inflowing, the natural receiving and clothing or embodying the spiritual. The natural essence provides the fixed containant or body, wherein the fluid spirit may dwell. Thus the substance of this body is provided by the finest essences of material foods, eaten or breathed in, (the purest substances of nature), but the form of it is according to the impression made upon it. Upon this sensitive membrane or vessel, which is on the borderland between man's body and spirit, on the borderland of the two worlds with him, is impressed everything of his spiritual and natural experience, from the beginning of life in the world to the end of it. Upon it is impressed every truth received from the written or spoken Word of God, which there becomes a basis for the presence of the angels, as a medium through which the spiritual may inflow into the natural, heaven into the world, with him. And when this has been formed by a life according to the Word to correspond with the inflowing spirit of life from the Lord, to receive and react to the gyres of heaven, then has heaven been opened to man, and he has been prepared to draw near and receive the benefits of the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

     Thus we see that correspondence in man is a very real, organic thing, depending upon the actual touch of the spiritual upon the natural, resting upon an intermediate structure that is built up in him from the purest essences of natural foods, and formed by experience to become a permanent receptacle of life from the Lord. This is why there is actual reception of the Lord when a regenerating man partakes of the bread and wine of the Supper. For during the natural act of eating and drinking, when the mind is active, and there is a holy state, and thus reception of the influx of good and truth from the Lord, the body and spirit are nourished "unanimously and correspondingly." And there is actually in the inmost realm of the body a conjunction of the spiritual and natural essences, a conjunction of the two worlds in man, and thus a conjunction of the Lord and heaven with him.

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     For in the spirit that puts on its embodying counterpart in that inmost of the natural, there is all the state of man's regeneration his goods and his truths, and in these the actual presence of the Lord. Especially is this fulfilled in the partaking of the correspondential bread and wine of the Holy Supper, whose finer essences pass immediately into the brain, and a purer circulation, as the clothing and embodiment of the fluid spirit, of the good and truth of the spirit,-the Divine Good and Truth, which art the very Life Essence of a man's regenerate spirit.

     At that moment the truths of the Word in the memory, in that intermediate plane between the spirit and body, are quickened to life by an influx of good from the Lord. The Lord Himself enters there to form man a receptacle in which He may dwell forever,-He who as the Word made flesh is the only Mediator, the only Giver and Preserver of eternal life by His enlightening and vivifying presence. And it is this presence by influx into the spirit of man, that is meant by the presence of the Lord in His Divine Natural,-His glorified Body,-by which He is able to enter the natural of man immediately. And the living action of this Divine Body within and without man, entering in and out, as the "wind blowing where it willeth," is the Holy Spirit, by which the Lord the Redeemer and Savior is omnipresent in the Holy Supper, given as the very bread of heaven to all who are able to receive it.

     "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified              1914

     "It is believed in the Christian world that angels had assumed human bodies and thus had appeared to men:-but they did not assume [bodies], but the eyes of the spirit of the man were opened, and thus they were seen. In this manner angels appeared to Abraham and to the others." (DE DOMINO, p. 48, N. Y. ed.)

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EYES OF FIRE AND THE FEET OF BRASS 1914

EYES OF FIRE AND THE FEET OF BRASS       L. W. T. DAVID       1914

     These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire and His feet are like fine brass. (Rev. ii:18)

     Revelation was given to mankind for the purpose of leading men through the Church to heaven, that is, to the Lord, and because its purpose is to lead to the Lord, it is a revelation of Him, throughout, so that men may know Him to whom they are to look. For the same reason the Word everywhere reveals the states of man and of the Church, and the laws according to which men must live if they would gain eternal life, so that they may also know the way by which they can come to the Lord. These things are involved in every part of the Word, and are seen in the internal sense, but in the literal sense they appear only here and there, and then it is sometimes one and sometimes another that is set forth. It is the same with the Apocalypse as with the rest of the Word. This book from beginning to end, in every least part, is the Lord revealing Himself, but this is seen only in the internal sense. In the literal sense He is seen in some parts and not in others, in the latter part of the first chapter especially does He appear, being called the "Son of Man," and being described as to many attributes. But in the following chapters, in the messages which the Son of Man gave to John, the states of the Church and of men are described. It is to be observed, however, that each of the seven messages has at its beginning a sentence, telling to those for whom it was written who its author is. This is done by using one or more of the attributes by which the Lord, the Son of Man, is described in the first chapter. From the literal sense it cannot at all be seen what relation or connection there is between the attributes and names of the Lord at the head of each message, and the message itself or the Church to which it is addressed. In the internal sense, however, the relation becomes clear, for then it is seen that each of these little descriptions contains a distinct doctrine concerning the Lord, and that this doctrine has a peculiar bearing upon the state represented by that one of the seven churches with which it is connected.

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     The words now before us are those in which the Lord appears manifestly as the Author of the message to the church in Thyatira. He, therefore, in His relation to the things represented by Thyatira, is our subject. So first we must consider briefly the general signification of Thyatira.

     In the APOCALYPSE REVEALED (n. 124) we are told that Thyatira represents "those who are in faith grounded in charity and thence in good works." In the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED (n. 150) it is given thus: "This signifies those of the Church with whom the internal and the external make one." These are two statements of the same truth and both describe the angelic or regenerated man. Faith in the understanding is of the internal or spiritual man, so also is charity in the will; but they are not real faith or real charity until they are embodied in the acts of life, and the acts of life are of the external man. In the acts of life the thought of the understanding and the affection of the will act together as one and thus the will and understanding are made one, one internal man; and in acts or works this internal man conjoins with itself the external or natural man, and the whole is then in heavenly order from inmost to outmost, which is to be regenerated.

     Such is the signification of Thyatira as applying to man. The same principle rules in other applications. In a most general statement Thyatira represents the conjunction of what is external with what is internal, and it represents this conjunction not only in man or the Church but also in the Lord, and this conjunction as it is with the Lord is the subject of our text.

     With respect to the Lord the conjunction of externals and internals is to be understood in two ways which should be clearly distinguished, or rather, there are two such conjunctions: one is the conjunction of externals to the Lord who is the common internal of all; the other is the conjunction of externals and internals in the Lord Himself. The first began with creation and is perpetually being perfected. The second was a single work done in time, perfectly, and sufficient for all time.

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     Before the Incarnation the conjunction of external things with the Lord was only by means of man. The whole of nature, apart from man, was indeed a manifestation or reflection of the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and an ultimation of the Lord's uses, and as each thing of nature received and responded to life from the Lord in its own way, there was, in every creature, life as it were of itself, and thus an appearance of freedom and conjunction, yet nature could not receive His love and react to it from determination of will and thought or from free choice, could not acknowledge and adore Him, hence there was no real conjunction. But when, in the midst of nature, and from her as a mother, the Lord caused man to be brought forth, then conjunction was possible, for the Lord has created man so that he has a rational mind in an earthly body and with this mind he can not only view the world and consider his own experiences therein, but also he can receive from the Lord truth concerning the Lord, concerning himself, and concerning life, and can, if he will, determine his life according to that truth. When he does so he is conjoined with the Lord, primarily as to his mind or will and understanding, and secondarily as to the things of the body, both finer and grosser, which are all from the kingdoms of nature, and in and by means of which the mind is formed.

     This, however, is not a full conjunction of external things with the Lord, for in this way natural things are brought to the Lord, as it were, vicariously, by being lifted up and carried about in the gyre of heaven, so far as men on earth are also in that gyre; and the Lord inflowed into natural things only successively, through and by means of the heavens and the world of spirits. Hence it was possible for the Lord's operation into men on earth to be interfered with by an accumulation of evil spirits who interposed themselves between heaven and men on earth, and so threatened to destroy the human race. And because the Lord was present with men only mediately through angels, when that danger was imminent, men could not have been saved unless He had come into the world and taken upon Himself an external in which he could act without the mediation of angels and men.

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     This He did by being born into the world, taking upon Himself a body like that of another man, which He then glorified and united with Himself, thus conjoining externals and internals in Himself. This is the conjunction meant in the words describing the Lord in the message to Thyatira, and it is a conjunction, so complete as to be a full union of ultimates with the Divine.

     There are three distinct expressions used in application to the Lord in our text: the first is His name, "the Son of God;" the second is, "who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire;" and the third is, "and His feet are like fine brass."

     By the "Son of God" is meant the Divine Human, the Human by which God came into the world and which He glorified and united with Himself.

     In the Writings are to be found a number of passages to this effect, such as the following:

     "The Divine Human born in time is meant by the 'Son of God.'" (E. 10253.)

     "By 'Son of God' is meant Jehovah God in His Human." (T. 92.)

     "The Divine which the Lord had was from Jehovah the Father, and the Human He had was from the Mother; these two united are the 'Son of God.'" (T. 922.)

     The Lord is called the "Son of God" because His inmost or soul was from Jehovah God alone, it was not given to Him through the organism of any finite father, but the Divine Itself, the Divine Love acting by the Divine Wisdom, was His Father, causing conception to take place in the virgin Mary, and a Son to be born, who thus was truly the Son of God.

     The Divine Love acts by the Divine Wisdom and these together are Life itself or Activity itself in the Lord; by virtue of being active they go forth from Him as Divine Good and Truth. This is the first sphere which the Lord creates and puts forth from Himself, the universal atmosphere; this is the Divine of the Lord which makes heaven and earth, and men and angels. This is the Divine which is present with every man communicating life to him. In relation to the Lord it is called the Divine Proceeding or the Holy Spirit, but in relation to man it is called the Human Internal.

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It is this which forms the body in the womb and causes it to grow after birth to full maturity and capacity for use with all its wonderful and complex structures. It is man's very life, but in human beings this inmost or soul takes upon itself a covering and peculiar determination from the intellectual and voluntary activities of each man's proper life which is carried over into the new man when there is propagation, which also makes fully discrete what is Divine and what is human, and in which are collected all things of the paternal heredity.

     But the Lord when He came into the world, as was said, did not come by means of a man as father. He, therefore, did not have that covering and paternal heredity. He came of His own Divine choice alone, and so, acting through the soul or human internal of the virgin, that is, through His own Sphere, by which He always was present with her, He caused it to flow according to its own proper form, the form of Divine Truth, and determined it not into her mind, but into her body, so that it could, begin to form for itself a body from her.

     Two things conspired to this determination, both of which were necessary. The first thing was the end in view, the use to be performed of saving mankind; subordinate to this end and ready for its use were all the laws as to greatest things and as to leasts which nature obeys in her workings. This use or end determined itself as to all its operations, and did so according to those laws. This was the internal determination. The second thing necessary was a receptive state in the external forms into which the life from within was to flow. This was to be found only in a Jewish maiden who would have inscribed upon her the traditions of her race and the definite prophesies of their Holy Scriptures concerning the Messiah, and who would, therefore, be in the expectation of His coming, and in the hope that that great event might be in her day. It was further necessary that this maiden should be one betrothed, one looking forward to the state of marriage and motherhood, not merely as possibilities, as they may be with every woman, but as things which are about to be actually realized, so that her whole mind was turned upon them continually, and from this every fibre of her body was disposed to a certain readiness for that which was to come. These states were found in Mary, the virgin betrothed to Joseph.

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     But this was not yet sufficient for the work that was to be done. The states just mentioned were the things in Mary making her one suitable for the use to be performed. There was, however, one thing more needed for its performance, which was that she should know what was to be done, and should consent to being the means of its accomplishment.

     Because Mary was, as was said, in a suitable and receptive state, the Lord sent to her an angel to make known to her His will in order that she might both know it and consent to it. The manner of the angel's coming and the message which he delivered are given in the Gospel of Luke (1:26-38).

     "And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God . . . to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the House of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. . . . And the angel said unto her, 'Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the House of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end.' Then said Mary unto the angel', 'How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?' And the angel answered and said unto her, 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.' . . . And Mary said, 'Behold, the handmaiden of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.' And the angel departed from her."

     The effect of this knowledge and consent on the part of Mary was to add to the states which she already had a new state of particular thought and disposition in her mind, for now she knew that she was to have a son, and was most happy because she knew that that son was the long-wished-for Messiah. This new state in her mind resulted in another new state in her body, for all the inmost fibres of the body, which before had had a general disposition looking towards the future state of marriage, now took on a particular determination toward the conceiving and forming of the new infant body. This was the external determination.

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     There were, then, in the mind of the virgin three states which will now be summarized. First and inmostly, from her religion, her attitude toward the Lard was that she continually hoped for the coming of the Messiah as the Great Deliverer; secondly, as respects the neighbor, her mind was filled with anticipations of her approaching marriage, and she had accepted all the responsibilities involved; and thirdly, as to her-self, she gave herself entirely to the Lord's service, both as to mind and body, in giving her consent.

     Thus naturally and freely her whole mind was successively disposed into the order and state necessary that the Lord might by means of her become incarnate. The internal state was very general and the external very particular, and when all these states existed together as one, in her consent, there was provided an uninterrupted channel determined to specific ends in ultimates, that is, in the body, and by means of this channel the Lord could descend.

     And now that the external receptacles were not only acquiescent to the Lord's will, but were also disposed in every least thing to the same ends, the Lord acted through His Divine sphere by which He was immediately present with Mary, that is, through the human internal, and by it operated into the inmost fibers of her body with the purpose of causing conception and having that effect. This sphere did not act according to a superinduced form such as would be derived from a human father, but according to its own proper form, the form of Divine Truth. This form is essentially human and in descending into the planes of nature creates innumerable things emulating itself; hence it is that all things in nature emulate the form of the human body, and this emulates the form of heaven, the Gorand Man, and all these, each in its own manner and degree, the form of that Divine Truth Proceeding which makes them all.

     The proceeding Divine Truth, then, being itself human in form, having within it the definite purpose of becoming incarnate, and descending into vessels already determined to conception and gestation, could do no otherwise than cause a human body to be formed and born into the world with itself as the soul of that body. In this way Divine Truth, the pure and unperverted form of the universal sphere of the Divine Proceeding manifested itself on earth in a body of flesh and bones.

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Hence we read in the Writings that Jehovah God descended as Divine Truth and assumed the human; and in the Gospel of John, "The WORD was made flesh and dwelt among us." (i, 14.) This Divine Truth, the internal of the Lord incarnate, is meant in the text by "His eyes," and the external or body with which He clothed Himself is meant by "His feet."

     We must not think, however, that it was Divine Truth alone which took upon itself this body. It was Divine Truth and Divine Good together. It was not the form alone of the sphere of the Divine Proceeding which descended along the paths of the fibers, but it was the substance of that atmosphere, or active emanation from Divine Love, descending according to that form. And because, in His inmost, Divine Good and Divine Truth are united, it is said that He "hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire." This: is also shown by the words of the angel to Mary (Luke i, 35), "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee." Both of these expressions, "the Holy Spirit" and "the Power of the Highest," mean the Divine Proceeding, Divine Good and Truth united and active, or the Divine going forth into uses powerful to accomplish the purposes of the Lord's Love.

     The Divine Love may be distinguished into two universals: the love of creating, and the love of conjoining to itself the things created; the love of making creatures discreted from itself and thus capable of being recipients of goods from Divine Love; and the love of making those creatures happy by imparting those goods to them. This latter love, because men are evil and perverse, becomes the love of saving men from their evils and of redeeming them from the bondage of hell, for these things must be done before men can be conjoined to the Lord and be made happy; it thus also becomes the Lord's love of making Himself known to men in Revelations. It is this love with its various ends and in all its aspects which is the living internal of every revelation of the Lord and which gives to Revelations its power. It is this love which caused the Lord to manifest Himself before the eyes of men in a body like that of another man, the most ultimate and most powerful of all revelations.

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And yet, while it was specifically the love of saving men, or the love of conjoining that was active in the incarnation, the love of creating was co-active with it simultaneously. In other manifestations these two loves have acted, as it were, separately, the love of creating being active in making and maintaining the human race, while the love of saving has made special use of some of these already created beings, as prophets, priests, seers, teachers, law givers, etc., that is, as its agents for doing its work. But in the Incarnation these two loves acted together at once and as the one which they really are, thus the Divine Love was in its full and entire activity in this manifestation. The Divine love as a whole and as to all its qualities, which are of Divine Wisdom, was present in this child born of Mary, hence it has been said, "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily."

     Hitherto we have given our attention to the Incarnation or the descent of the Divine into the ultimate or merely human. There remains to be considered the conjunction or union of these two into one Divine Man. Although the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom as active and formative powers had made for themselves a body to dwell in, there was as yet no conjunction because no reaction from that body. The Lord when born was as to His finite body just like any other man. He took from the virgin all the materials both grosser and finer with which to build the body from the inmost things of the brain, to the outmost things of bone, flesh and skin. On these materials was stamped all the evil heredity from many generations of evil men. But there was not yet any mind in this body. The Lord as a new born babe could not have a mind any more than any other infant. This mind had to be gradually built up and organized beginning with sense impressions and the forming of the memory. Knowledges of nature and her operations had to be stored up, also of men and their affairs. The language of the country was to be known and the Hebrew Scriptures learned, besides many other things, for the Lord was instructed like other men, only He learned more quickly and perfectly. Upon these knowledges was to be built up a rational mind of idea, thought, and intelligence, and it was many years before He was ready to begin the active outward work for which He came.

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This state of instruction and preparation was represented by His sojourn in Egypt and His life in Nazareth, and is also very briefly described in the Gospel of Luke (ii, 40, 52): "And the Child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."

     But this besides being a preparation for His work was also the means by which He came into the realization of what His mission was, and when His preparation for going out among men was completed, He also clearly knew what He was born into the world for, and what He was to do, and He at once set about His work.

     These were all states of the finite mind which was formed from and by means of the body as the only medium by which the Divine could meet men in the world, and because the mind was finite and built up from without it seemed to itself to be independent of what was more interior whence arose the appearance that the man walking on the earth was a person separate from the Father within. This appearance was necessary for two reasons. In the first place, conjunction is possible only when there is reciprocation, and reciprocation takes place only in the consciousness of freedom of choice, or in reaction "as of itself." The glorification or the conjunction of the human with the Divine could not have taken place unless the human had as it were voluntarily obeyed the Divine Will within. This voluntary obedience is manifest in the Letter of the Word in many places and especially in the prayers addressed to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. The second reason is, that unless there were this appearance of separation and freedom there could be no temptations. Nowhere in the whole realm of creation can there be temptation except in man, for nowhere but in man is there the appearance of independence and the consciousness of freedom of action. And as we know unless there is temptation there can be no regeneration in man, and likewise unless there were temptations the human of the Lord could not have been glorified, neither could the hells have been subjugated. Hence it was necessary that the human of the Lord should have a finite mind with its full sense of freedom.

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     At the same time this mind must be stored with knowledges, precepts and laws from the Scriptures, with which to form a conscience and sense of responsibility to the Father. In A. C. 1461 it is stated that "the Lord was instructed in childhood as other men are" in knowledges, and we read on:

     "But these knowledges must be derived from the Word. Knowledges derived from that source are of such a nature as to be open for communication from the Lord Himself; for the Word itself is derived from the Lord through the heavens, containing the life of the Lord in all and every part of it, although this does not appear in its external form. Hence it may be manifest that the Lord, in His childhood, would not imbibe any other knowledges than those of the Word which to Him was open, as just observed, for communication from His Father, Jehovah Himself, with whom He was to be united and become one; and so much the more, because there is nothing said in the Word, which in its inmost contents has not relation to Him, and which did not previously come from Him. . . ."

     From this passage we may gather that the Lord knew of His oneness with the Father because His internal or the Divine flowed into the things of the Word in His mind, fitting into them everywhere perfectly, and giving Him the perception that all those things referred to Him and to the work of redemption. From this perception came the desire to obey the will of the Father. In opposition to this was the hereditary tendency to evil inscribed on His body from Mary, and from this opposition came temptations, As we know, it was by means of temptations that the Lord was victorious over the hells, subjecting them to Himself, at the same time ordinating the heavens and setting men free from the domination of evil spirits.

     It was by means of these same temptations that He glorified His Human, uniting it with the Divine. How this was done we can know, perhaps, only in a very general way. At least we know that from the beginning of His life in the world to its end He was continuously tempted and continuously victorious. Each victory prepared His mind and body in some particular for the full influx of the Divine Good and Truth which was His Soul, and these changes were more and more ultimate until in the last and most grievous temptation the very life of the corporeal body was involved.

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Being victorious in this also, and the body being dead, all was ready for the Divine to enter even into the most ultimate things or the body to glorify the whole.

     The glorification was the casting off of the forms taken on by the Divine from the mother in becoming incarnate. We must remember that there is only one substance, the Divine, and that all created things whether spiritual or natural are only forms of that substance, variously compounded. Thus the whole human assumed by the Lord was the Divine Substance finited in various forms, and it was these forms which were rejected in the tomb. Thus we read in A. C. 6892: "With the Lord the previous forms, which were from the maternal, were altogether destroyed and extirpated, and Divine forms were received in their place; for the Divine Love does not agree with any but a Divine Form, all other forms it absolutely casts out; hence it is that the Lord when glorified was no longer the son of Mary."

     The human which the Lord assumed in the world is called "His feet," and when glorified it is said that "His feet were like unto fine brass as if they burned in a furnace." By "fine brass" is meant natural good, or good works done in the plane of natural life, and by a burning in a furnace is meant Divine Love in the fulness of its activity; the whole means that the Lord's human was made Divine by works actually done in the world from a Divine End and Motive, and that by means of these works the Divine Love acted into it, casting out all that was finite until the whole was an Infinite Divine Form, or, Divine Wisdom in full union with the Divine Love.

     Thus were external things conjoined or united with the internal in the One God, the Divine Human, the Lord, the Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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MYTHOLOGY OF EGYPT 1914

MYTHOLOGY OF EGYPT       C. TH. ODHNER       1914

     III.

     SATET, ANQET AND MUT.

     Always associated with Khnemu, in the sacred triad worshiped especially in the island of Elephantine in Upper Egypt, there are two sister-goddesses named Satet and Anqet.

     SATET or SATI, the principal wife of Khnemu, wears the crown of Upper Egypt alone, from which project upward a pair of long and slender cow's horns. The distinctive hieroglyphic in her name is an arrow piercing the skin of an animal, and it is possible that this was intended to represent the faculty of celestial perception penetrating sensual appearances. According to Horapollo, (an Egyptian priest who wrote a treatise on the Hieroglyphics some time after the birth of the Lord), Satet represents heaven and he adds the observation that "the Egyptians think it absurd to designate the heaven in the masculine, [as the Greeks do], but represent it in the feminine, inasmuch as the generation of the sun and the moon and the rest of the stars is perfected in it, which is the peculiar property of a female." (W. 4:268.) All the goddesses of Egypt represent Heaven and the Church, but Satet, as indicated by her crown, clearly stands for the Celestial Kingdom of Heaven, and consequently the Internal Church, which immediately receives the Divine Celestial represented by Khnemu.

     ANQET, (also called Anouke or Anukit), the second wife of Khem, is depicted with a foreign-looking crown of feathers standing upright in a close ring. Her name is said to be derived from a root meaning "to surround, embrace," and she is supposed to represent "the waters of the Nile which embrace, nourish and fructify the fields." (G. E. ii:57); just as Satet is supposed to represent "the Inundation of the Nile." But while in later ages the spiritual correspondences were replaced by natural ones, the more ancient ideas were distinctly internal.

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[Drawings of Satat, Anquet, and Mut.]

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We learn that as Khnemu had two sister wives, Satet and Anqet, so Osiris, (who is but another name for Khnemu, in a different series), had two sister wives, Isis and Nephthys. Dr. Brugsch and Dr. Budge agree in identifying Satet with Isis and Anqet with Nephthys. And as both Satet and Isis represent the Celestial Kingdom and the Internal Church, so Anqet and Nephthys both represent the Spiritual Kingdom and the External Church. (Compare Adah and Zillah, the two wives of Lamech; and Rachel and Leah, the two wives of Jacob.) That such is the signification of Anqet is indicated by the crown of feathers, by the meaning of her name "to surround," and by the determinative hieroglyphic of her name, a serpent, signifying "knowledge."

     The female counterpart of Amen-Ra is known by the name of MUT, (variously read Ament, Maut, or Tmau), a name which simply means "mother," and she was regarded as the great "world-mother" who conceived and brought forth all things that exist. Other goddesses, such as Isis, Nephthys, and others, are occasionally hailed as the "mother goddess," but Mut carried this title par excellence, and she had hardly any other attributes. Her distinctive symbol is the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, and the hieroglyphics constituting her name are a vulture, a female breast, an egg, and a sitting woman. She is often represented with large protruding wings on her arms, stretched out at full length at right angles from her body.

     The Egyptologists say that this goddess "symbolized Nature, the mother of all things," but a New Church student may venture to say that she, the wearer of the double crown, represents Heaven as a whole, as to both good and truth, and, in cosmic sense, that first and universal aura which makes Heaven as a whole, and which constitutes that first passive, receptive and reactive element in which and out of which all lower forms have been conceived and created.

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     IV.

     PTAH.

     This interesting deity is considered one of the great primeval gods of Egypt, and from earliest times to the end of the nation his distinctive characteristics appear to have suffered no change. So great was the reverence paid to him throughout the land that the whole country became known as Het-ka-Ptah, "the house of the 'double' of Ptah," which by the Greeks was pronounced Aigyptos, and by us "Egypt," though originally it was only the name of the city of Memphis, the most ancient capital of the nation.

     With singular unanimity all the Egyptologists agree that the name of Ptah, (by the Greeks written "Pthah"), can be recognized, letter for letter, in the well known Hebrew verb patach, "to open," "to begin," and derivatively, "to carve, to engrave, to make a sculpture." Each of these meanings thoroughly supports our interpretation of the significance of Ptah, who stands for the idea of Revelation, the Divine Word, the creative Logos which was in the beginning with God. By it were all things made that were made; by it the Infinite created, [in Hebrew bara, "carved"], all things out of His own Divine substance, and by it He opens His Infinity to His human creatures in representative types or letters which in ancient times were carved upon tablets of stone. Ptah is generally represented as a man clothed in a close-fitting garment or mummy shroud, with face and hands bare, while on his head is a skull-cap without any crown or other emblematic ornaments. He is sometimes seen standing, sometimes sitting on an ornamental chair or throne, holding in one hand a roll of papyrus, and in the other a writer's pen;* but whether standing or sitting there is always beneath him a kind of pedestal, the name of which is Maat, (= truth), "shaped like a cubit rod which is the sign for truth and just measurement." (Wiedemann, p. 131.)

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[Drawing of Ptah and the Boat of Ptah, the Understanding of the Doctrine of the Word.]

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When standing he holds in his two hands the usual staff, combined with the anch and a miniature tet-pillar, and at his back there is again the tet-pillar with its three degrees, while from the back of his neck there extends into the highest degree of the tetpillar the menat, formed like a pendant bell-shaped flower.
     * "The writings of Ptah" are referred to in the BOOK OF THE DEAD. (G. E. i :502.)

     Every one of these emblems is full of significance, representing various truths of the Doctrine concerning the Word.

     1). The close-fitting garment or mummy shroud represents the letter of the Word, in itself dead, while the naked face and hands represent the internal sense which in places is open even in the letter. The Assyrians and Babylonians in the same way represented the letter of the Word by their god Nebo.* The bald head with the skull-cap again represents the letter of the Word in which, as a whole, spiritual truths are not apparent, (compare the "baldhead" of Elisha, who represents the letter of the Word).
     *In Hebrew, nebu, a prophet, from naba, to bubble forth, to utter inspired sentences. The name is frequently used as part of personal names such as Nebuchadnezzar, Nabopolazzar, etc.

     2). The papyrus-roll and the writer's pen speak for themselves as signs of the written Word. The pedestal of "truth" also, is the self-evident emblem of the letter of the Word as the basis of the internal senses. The staff represents the Word as the "firmament" which confirms and supports the interior truth, while the anch in his hands is the universal emblem of spiritual life and holiness. Thus we find that the ancient Egyptians were well acquainted with the "New" church Doctrine that the letter of the Word is the basis, firmament and containant of the internal sense, and that in it the Divine Truth is in its fulness, in its holiness and in its power.

     3). The tet-pillar behind Ptah speaks volumes concerning that internal sense behind the letter which is contained in a series of three successive degrees, while the menat,-the emblem of conjunction and delight,-is a symbol of the affection and delight which is extended especially to those who enter into the inmost sense of the Word,-the sense which treats of uses, of goods, of love to the neighbor and to the Lord, and which like a flower exhales the fragrant delight of perception.

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     Porphyry states that Ptah came forth from an egg which issued from the mouth of Khnemu, and the monuments describe him as "the Lord of Truth;" "the very great god who came into being in the earliest time;" "the Father of the mighty fathers; Father of the beginning; he who created the sun-egg and the moon-egg;" he from whose eye the gods came forth, while men came forth from his mouth. Ptah is recognized as the primeval creative power; not such as the sun, for he is never represented with any solar emblems, "but as an abstract idea of intellectual power." A bas-relief in the island of Philae shows him turning upon a potter's wheel a lump of clay, or, as others say, a chaos-egg, from which all things were made, just as Khnemu, Atnen and Ra are represented in the same creative act. But their distinctive emblems show that the One Creator is thus variously represented as to His distinct essentials, just as a Newchurchman might, without contradicting himself, ascribe the act of Creation successively to the Divine Love itself, to the Divine Wisdom, to the spiritual Sun, and to the Word.

     Regarded originally as the creative Logos, Ptah became gradually invested with the character of a demiurge and master architect and designer of everything created, as the chief god of all handicraft, the great artificer in metals, as smelter, easter, sculptor and engraver of all forms in the universe. By the Greeks he was identified with Hephaistos or Vulcan, (= Tubal-cain, the "loud-sounding smith," the "instructor of every artificer in brass and iron"), but Hephaistos was a very subordinate deity as compared with Ptah, and Wiedemann shows that "Ptah has no essential connection whatever with Hephaistos," (R. A. E., p. 137), unless it be, as he suggests, that the name of Hephaistos was originally derived from Ptah.

     Many of the Egyptologists recognize the close relation of Ptah with the Ibis-headed god Thoth. The attributes and associations of the two are, indeed, very similar. Ptah like Thoth, figures as the scribe of the gods, and like him is called "Lord of maat," i. e., of "truth." The goddess Maat, the wife of Thoth, is also said to be the wife of Ptah, and Dr. Budge comes very close to the true interpretation of the two deities when he states that "Thoth was in reality only a personification of the intelligence of Ptah." (G. E. i:516.)

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For though both of them represent the Word, Thoth more particularly stands for the understanding of the Word in its interior sense, as is evident from his emblems: the Ibis bird, the utchat eye, the crescent moon, etc.

     The form of Ptah figures also in various combinations with other deities, forming new series of representations. Of these we will mention only two: Ptah-Tanen and Ptah-Seker-Asar.

     Ptah-Tanen shows the mummied body of Ptah, with the ram's horns of Khnemu, the plumes of Amen, and the solar disk of Ra. The Egyptologists de not know the meaning of the word "Tanen," and are equally in the dark as to the significance of the composite deity himself; but, judging from the emblems on his head, we feel safe in suggesting that he represents the Divine Trinity of Esse, Existere and Procedere, the whole contained in the letter of the Word. (G. E. i:508.)

     Another composite form is that of Ptah-Seker-Asar, or, as the Greek writers name him, Phthah-Sokaris, whom Budge interprets as "a personification of the union of the primeval creative power with a form of the inert powers of darkness, or in other words, Ptah-Seker is a form of Osiris, that is to say, of the night sun, or the dead Sun-god." (G. E. i:503). Now Seker* is a somewhat obscure deity, represented by the mummied body of Ptah and the hawk's head of Horus. Put by the hawk the Egyptians invariably represented the Divine Proceeding, and the combined forms of Ptah and Horus, (Ptah-Seker), clearly signify the Word as the Divine Proceeding. And the further combination of Ptah-Seker with the crown of Osiris, (the crown of Upper Egypt), represents the combined idea of the Word as the Divine Proceeding fulfilled in the glorified resurrection-body of the promised Redeemer. A curious form of Ptah-Seker-Asar is that in which the triune god appears as a chubby infant or squat pigmy, with a large bald head and thick limbs; on the top of his head he usually has a beetle, but sometimes the plumes of Amen. "An examination of the variants of this form proves that he was supposed to possess the creative power of Khepera, which is symbolized by the beetle, and the youth and vigor of Harpocrates, [the younger Horus], which is represented by the lock of hair on the right side of his head; and as he sometimes stands upon a crocodile, and holds a serpent in each hand, he must have possessed the powers of several of the great solar gods.

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Ptah-Seker-Asar is, then, like Osiris, the type and symbol of the resurrection from the dead, and he has been fittingly described as 'the triune god of the resurrection.'" (Budge, G. E. i:507-508) To us, however, this pigmy form, which is also supposed to represent an embryo, signifies not only the Logos as the first creative conatus, but also the same Logos as "the Only-begotten," who was born an infant on the earth and who by the might of His Innocence conquered the powers of hell. As the Word incarnate He was born, and as the Word fulfilled He arose from the dead, the triune God of the Resurrection,-Ptah-Seker-Osiris,-to whom in the Book of THE DEAD is ascribed the double function of "opening the mouth of the dead," and of "fashioning the new bodies in which the souls of the dead were to live in the underworld." (G. E. i:501.) For it is the Lord as the Word that opens heaven and bestows eternal life.
     * His name still services in the neighborhood of the vast necropolis of Memphis in the village of Saqqarah.

     BAST.

     Among the Egyptian goddesses none except Isis and Hathor is of greater mythological importance than Bast, the lioness-headed counterpart of Ptah. It is under the name of Bast, (Basit, or Pasht), that she was worshiped as the goddess of peace in her special sanctuary at Rubastis, while in Memphis her name was Sekhet, and she there appears as a lioness-headed goddess of vengeance and war. It is generally admitted, however, that Bast and Sekhet are essentially one and the same divinity, though with apparently opposite attributes. According to Wiedemann, (RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, P. 138), Sekhet "is one in nature with other feline-headed goddesses: the lioness-headed Tefnut, Mut of Thebes, Pakht of Speos, and Bast of Bubastis,-all of whom represent the variable power of the Sun, from genial warmth to scorching heat." And Budge, though minutely differentiating between Sekhet and Bast, admits that "it is probable that Bast was a female counterpart of Ptah-Seker-Asar." (G. E. i:158)

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[Drawings of Bast, the Mirror of Thoth, and Maat.]

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     According to the wearisome monotone of the naturalistic school of interpretation, which never can raise its eyes above the natural sun, Sekhet with her knives personifies the fierce and violent heat of the natural sun because she is said to destroy the souls of the wicked in the spiritual world (!); while East, with her more ladylike emblems, personifies the more gentle heat with encourages the growth of vegetation and "makes the human germ to grow in the mother's womb." The trouble with these brilliant interpretations is that they make both Sekhet and East to be solar divinities, while Ptah, their male counterpart, is decidedly and admittedly-not a sun-god. Rut the difficulty vanishes when it is seen that Ptah represents the Word and that both Sekhet and
East personify-not mere natural temperature-but spiritual heat of the most sublime degree, the celestial love of the Word which on the one hand bestows all growth in the internal life of regeneration, and on the other hand wage relentless warfare against all the powers of hell that oppose heavenly life.

     According to the same stupid school of materialistic interpretation East was entitled "the lady of the East," because her principal shrine was situated in the Delta, on the eastern branch of the Nile, in the city of Pa-Bast, ("the city of Bast," known to the Hebrews as Pibeseth and to the Greeks as Bubastis.) But East was not called "lady of the East" from any such geographical limitations,-for she was honored with an equal divinity on the western bank of the Nile as or, the eastern,-but because the Egyptians knew that the East represented the celestial love of the Lord, just as they knew that the goddess Neith was called "lady of the West." because she represented the intellectual faith of the Church.

     Bubastis, on the eastern branch of the Nile, was undoubtedly chosen as the principal shrine of the goddess in order to correspond to her general representation. Here she had a magnificent temple, (recently excavated by M. Naville), which in ancient times was visited by Herodotus, who describes the splendid annual festivals held in honor of Bast, when wealthy Egyptians gaily repaired to Bubastis in richly decorated boats to offer their gifts to the goddess,-and also to bury there the carefully embalmed and bandaged corpses of their favorite cats, thousands of which have been found among the ruins of "Tel-Basta."

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     The earlier Egyptologists insisted that Bast herself was cat-headed, but this contention now appears to have been abandoned, for even a cursory glance at her various images shows that her head is indeed that of a lioness. As we have shown before, (NEW CHURCH LIFE, July, 1913, p. 398), the cats became sacred to Bast not only because of their resemblance to a miniature lioness, but more especially because this goddess was identical with the Greek Hestia or Vesta, patroness of the sacred fire on the domestic hearth, to which, in ancient times as in modern, all tabbies were irresistibly attracted. The very name "Vesta," may have been derived from "Bast."

     The name of East, as seems to have been definitely established, is derived from the word bes, meaning "fire." Her image, like that of Ptah, never wears a crown or head-dress of any sort, but above her lioness' head there rises a royal serpent, while in her right hand she carries a musical instrument known as a sistrum, and on her left arm a basket.

     All the emblems, attributes and characteristics of Bast, as well as the meaning of her name, point clearly to the conclusion that she represents something distinctly celestial, something of the will, of good, of affection, charity and love. We need no argument in proof of the assertion that the lion is the chief animal representative of the Lord in His Divine Omnipotence, and that the lioness consequently represents the celestial love of the Lord. This love is the inmost life of every heavenly affection, and hence we need not be surprised that East has been "identified" with a great number of other goddesses. As the special companion of Ptah-the Word-she clearly represents that inmost, and, therefore, celestial love of the Word which is the real love of the Lord. East, moreover, is said to be "the personification of the soul of Isis," (G. E. i:447), and by Isis, as will be shown, is represented the Internal Church. It is the celestial love of the Word, the inmost and purest affection of the Divine Truth, that makes the very soul of the Internal Church.

     The royal serpent on the head of East is the emblem of that simple and unadorned wisdom which is the crown of this celestial love of the Word. The sistrum, as a stringed instrument, is the Egyptian symbol for harmony, beauty, and delight, and corresponds to the affection of truth.

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And the basket on her arm, bringing good gifts to men, corresponds to the affection of good, the good will which contains and carries the goods of celestial love. (A. C. 5144, 9996.) Such was the ancient conception of that love which the Egyptians termed "lady of the East," and to whom they prayed: "May she grant all life and power, all health and joy of heart!"

     VI.

     THOTH.
     "The character of Thoth," says Dr. Budge, "is a lofty and beautiful conception, and is, perhaps, the highest idea of deity ever fashioned in the Egyptian mind, which, as we have already seen, was somewhat prone to dwell on the material side of divine matters. Thoth, however, as the personification of the mind of God, and as the all-pervading and governing and directing power of heaven and earth, forms a feature of the Egyptian religion which is as sublime as the belief in the resurrection of the dead in a spiritual body, and as the doctrine of everlasting life." (G. E. i:415.)

     And Wilkinson, with a similar spiritual discernment, points out that "the very fact of a god being figured with a human body and the head of an ibis, might sufficiently prove the allegorical character of Thoth, or Mercury, the emblems of the communicating medium of the Divine Intellect, and suggest the impossibility of any other than an emblematic existence." (MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, vol. 4, p. 171.) Thoth, "the god of letters and the patron of learning, was the medium of communication between the gods and mankind. It was through him that all mental gifts were imparted to man. He was, in short, a deification of the abstract idea of the intellect, or o personification of the intellect of the Deity." (Ibid. vol. 5, p. 9.) Plato, Plutarch and Iamblichus describe him as a ministering spirit, "carrying the prayers of mortals to heaven, and bringing down in return oracles and all other blessings of life." (Ibid. vol. 5, p. 10.)

     Armed with the supporting opinions of authorities such as these, we do not fear the accusation of "wild allegorizing" when concluding that Thoth stands as the universal representative of the WORD AS TO ITS INTERNAL SENSE, or, what is the same, the INTERIOR UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORD.

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[Drawings of Thoth.]

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The god Ptah, as we have shown, represents Divine Revelation in general, and Thoth is described as the son of Ptah,-in other words, Doctrine drawn from the Word, or, as Dr. Budge states it: "Thoth was in reality only a personification of the intelligence of Ptah," (G. E. i:516), i. e., the understanding of the Word. That this is the correct interpretation of the ibis-headed god, is proved further by all the emblems and attributes of Thoth.

     The Egyptian name of this deity is Tekuti or Dhuti and we are assured that it is derived from the oldest known name of the ibis, tehu, with the termination ti, i. e., "belonging to the ibis." This etymology, however, is considered doubtful by other authorities, and it does not seem likely that any deity would be named after one of his emblems.

     The ibis head is, par excellence, the characteristic emblem of Thoth and seems to signify "the scientific intellectual," (A. C. 1186), that is to say, the intellectual faculty of the Egyptian scientific mind. Sometimes the head is bare, but more often it is surmounted by the crescent moon and the sun-disk, or by the moon and a standing feather, or by the twisted horns of a ram with the Atef crown of Upper Egypt and the two suns; at times he is adorned with a triple crown,-three Atefs standing side by side, which Dr. Brugsch tells us was known as the "Thoth crown," probably in reference to his title of "thrice great,"-trismegistos. The sun and the moon refer, of course, to the doctrine of charity and faith; the moon and the feather refer to faith and its understanding of truth; and the ram's horn with the Atef crown symbolize the good of Divine Love predominating in the internal sense of the Word.

     In his hands the ibis-headed god sometimes holds the anch and the staff which signify spiritual life and power in ultimates, while other representations show him as "scribe of the gods," holding the writing-tablet and the reed pen, or a long staff with little pegs ah along one side, used for purposes of counting. In front of him there is always the "symbolic eye," sometimes two or four eyes, in various positions. Occasionally he is holding the Eye between his two hands, or he is seen facing a large mirror with the Eye in the midst of it,-a very evident representation of the Word with its internal sense as reflecting the face of God; or he is holding a bowl in which is seen an anch enclosed on each side by a small staff, to signify the Word in the letter enclosing the spirit and life within.

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Finally there is, as his invariable companion, the dog-headed ape standing before the god in an attitude of adoration, often balding the Eye in his hands, a symbol of the humble acknowledgment that a single-hearted person derives all genuine understanding from the Word in its internal sense.

     Not the emblems alone confirm our interpretation of Thoth, but also all the attributes ascribed to him in ancient Egyptian literature. "Thoth, according to innumerable statements on the monuments, is the lord of the holy speech,' 'the one who is wise in the holy speech,' 'the speaker in the upper hemisphere,' 'the powerful speaker,' 'the one of a sweet tongue,' etc. He is the one who has bestowed speech and writing, for he is 'the lord of scripture, the lord of the papyrus, the king of books,' and his instruments are the ink-pot and the writing-tablet." (Brugsch, REL. UND MYTH., P. 446) All scribes regarded him as their patron and tutelary deity and invoked his aid in their labors. He himself is "the Scribe of the gods," "lard of writing," "master of the papyrus," "maker of the palette and the ink-jar," "the great god of words," "the lord of Divine words," "the lord of the words of God." (Budge, EGYPTIAN MAGIC, P. 128.)

     But he was not the lord of words alone, but of that which words stand for, or originally stood for,-Truth, Divine Truth. "Ah the actions of Thoth 'rest upon the Truth;' he 'propitiates the gods by means of the Truth,' and 'he lives on (or in) the Truth.' As 'king of the Truth' and 'lord of the Truth,' he writes down the laws of the land and performs his office as judge of men and gods. In all his works and deeds the object of his efforts is the Truth, the same as the goddess MAAT, who on this account is his beloved sister and consort." (Brugsch, REL. UND MYTH., p. 447.)

     The "Johannine" doctrine of the creative Logos, by which were made all things that were made, stands forth most distinctly in the Egyptian doctrine concerning Thoth.

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"At the creation of the world it was Thoth who reduced to words the will of the unseen and unknown creative Power, and who uttered them in such wise that the universe came into being." (Budge, EG. MAGIC, p. 128.) "Lord of the voice, master of words and of books, possessor or inventor of those magic writings which nothing in heaven, or earth, or in Hades can withstand, Thoth had accomplished the creation, not by muscular effort, but by means of formulas, or even of the voice alone, 'the first time' when he awoke in the Nu, [or primeval chaos]. In fact, the articulate word and the voice were believed to be the most potent of creative forces, not remaining immaterial or issuing from the lips, but condensing, so to speak, into tangible substance, into bodies which were themselves animated by creative life and energy; into gods and goddesses who lived or who created in their turn." (Maspero, HIST. OF EG., vol. i, p. 208, 209.)

     The power of Thoth as the creative Word, and as the "guide, philosopher and friend" of gods and man, is thus described by Dr. Budge in his GODS OF THE EGYPTIANS, (vol. i:407-408). "Thoth was held to be both the heart and the tongue of Ra, that is to say, he was the reason and the mental power of the gods, and also the means by which their will was translated into speech; from one aspect he was speech itself, and in later times he may well have represented, as Dr. Birch said, the Logos of Plate. In every legend in which Thoth takes a prominent part, we see that it is he who speaks the word that results in the wishes of Ra being carried into effect, and it is evident that when once he had given the word of command, that command could not fail to be carried out by one means or the other. He spoke the words which resulted in the creation of the heavens and the earth; and he taught Isis the words which enabled her to revivify the dead body of Orisis in such wise that Orisis could beget a child by her; and he gave her the formula which brought back her son Horns to life after he had been stung by a scorpion."

     The great popularity of Thoth throughout the history of Egypt is easily understood from the fact that he was preeminently the god of Science and of all sciences, both human and Divine. Plate, in his PHOEDRUS, relates that this god "according to tradition, first discovered numbers and the art of reckoning, geometry and astronomy, the games of chess and hazard, and likewise letters."

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And Brugsch states that Thoth "taught a knowledge of the heavens; he taught astronomy in connection with astrology, taught arithmetic and mathematics, the science of measuring the earth and the fields, choregraphy, botany, etc., and was regarded also as the inventor of the laws of musical harmony." (REL. UND MYTH., P. 498) In the inscriptions he is called "he who reckons in the heavens, the counter of the stars, the enumerator of the earth and what is therein." He "measured time, counted days, numbered the months and recorded the years," and in the Egyptian calendar the first month of the year, and the first day of each month, were named after Thoth. It was Thoth who had taught men arithmetic; Thoth had revealed to them the mysteries of geometry and mensuration; Thoth had constructed instruments and promulgated the laws of music; Thoth had instituted the art of drawing, and had codified its unchanging rules. He had been the inventor and patron of all that was useful and beautiful in the Nile valley, and the climax of his beneficence was reached by his invention of the principles of writing, without which humanity would have been liable to forget his teaching, and to lose the advantage of his discoveries." (Maspero, HIST. OF EG., vol. i, P. 314) "His knowledge and powers of calculation measured out the heavens and planned the earth and everything which is in them; his will and power kept the forces in heaven and on earth in equilibrium; it was his great skill in celestial mathematics which made proper use of the laws upon which the foundation and maintenance of the universe rested; it was he who directed the motions of the heavenly bodies and their times and seasons; and without his words the gods, whose existence depended upon them, could not have kept their place among the followers of Ra." (G. E. 1:407-408.) And, finally, "his pre-eminence in magic naturally led to his becoming the god of medicine, for magic was fully as important to the medical practitioners of the Nile valley as knowledge of remedies." (Wiedemann, REL. OF THE ANC. EG. p. 227.)

     But more important than the invention of all these natural sciences were the services of Thoth as the first teacher or revealer of all knowledge concerning God and the worship of him.

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According to Diodorus, Thoth was "the first who taught man the proper mode of approaching the Deity with prayer and sacrifice." "He was the first to found a system of theology, and to organize a settled government in the country. He established the worship of the gods, and made rules concerning the times and nature of their sacrifices; he composed the hymns and prayers which men addressed to them, and drew up liturgical works." (G. E. i:414) Thoth is "the author of the Memorabilia of the gods, the composer of the hymns to the gods and of the curses against Set and his crew, and he is also the inventor of the magic formulas and talismans which give protection against the influence of evil. . . . All these attributes of the inscriptions are in thorough accord with the unanimous testimony of the classical writers, who describe the god Thoth as the founder of theology, of states-craft, and of all the sciences and the fine arts. According to these writers, Thoth was the first to teach everything that had relation to the nature and essence of the Divine; he instituted the State and its order, wrote the first laws, invented the letters, differentiated the vowels from the consonants, was the first grammarian, author of poetry, and at the same time was the first philosopher." (Brugsch, REL. UND MYTH., pp. 447, 448)

     Closer and closer we approach to a faint recollection of Thoth as the Ancient Word, as handed down in the traditions concerning "Hermes Trismegistus," described in NEW CHURCH LIFE, 905, pp 655-657. We will add here only that the researches among the ruins on the Nile have abundantly established the title of Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes, as "three times great" or "thrice greatest," and that Thoth himself was considered the original author of the BOOK OF THE DEAD, "certain chapters of which he wrote with his own fingers, as he also wrote the BOOK OF RESPIRATION." (G. E. i:409.) "His teachings, which were engraved on tablets of stone and on the walls of secret temple-chambers, were afterwards written down on rolls of skin and of papyrus, and formed a special library known as 'the Books of Thoth,' or the Hermetic Writings, the number and titles of which have been enumerated in a remarkable passage by Clement of Alexandria." (Rrugsch, REL. UND MYTH., p. 448)

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     The services of Thoth to man were not confined to this world alone but followed him beyond the grave, even as the Word, and the true understanding thereof is the only safe guide in the journey of the soul through the varying states of the world of spirits. Not only was Thoth "the author of the funeral books by which the deseased gained everlasting life," but he, with Anubis, raised up the spirit of man after death and possessed the power to utter the name of the deceased in such a way that his new, spiritual body would straightway come into being in the realm of Osiris." (G. E. i:401, 402.) "It was after death that man most needed the help of moth; it was Thoth who would restore to him his speech, teach him to recite the true formulas, and with Anubis conduct him to the Judgment Hall." (Wiedemann, REL. OF THE ANC. EG., P. 228.) "As 'king' or 'lord of the Truth,' Thoth gives to the inhabitants of the deep the rules for their wanderings in the underworld from the West to the East. It is he who, as the advocate of Osiris and the Osiris-man, is helping them to victory over their enemies in the other world; or, as the inscription states, 'he makes their voice then' he 'opens up the Truth, sets lose her voice,' and lets it ascend to the god of light.'" (Brugsch, REL. UND MYTH., pp. 447, 448.) It was the formula of Thoth that "opened the secret pylons," [gates], to the resurrected spirit and "provided him with the necessary meat and drink and apparel; they repelled baleful friends and evil spirits, and gave him the power to know the secret or hidden names of the monsters in the underworld, and to utter them in such a way that they became his friends and helped him on his journey." (G. E. i:409.)

     On the arrival of the resurrected spirit in the dreaded Judgment Hall of Osiris, his heart is placed in a jar on one of the scales of the Great Balance, and the feather of Maat, the emblem of truth and justice, is placed on the other, while Thoth, with his tablet and pen, stands by as recording angel, to note down the result of the weighing. It is not called "the weighing of the heart," however, nor the weighing of the deeds of the man, but "the weighing of words," utclza metet, (G. E. i:403), for the Egyptians believed that in the other life the true character of the spirit would reveal itself in his words.

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The Lord Himself also taught this doctrine: "I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." (Matth. 12:36, 37.)

     The weighing completed, Thoth with his opened book finally presents the whole record before Osiris on his judgment seat, and then "the dead are judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

     VII.

     MAAT.

     Though MAAT, the goddess of the single feather, is sometimes described as the female counterpart of Ptah, she is at the same time the constant associate of Thoth, and this to such a degree that she may be said to be simply a female Thoth. This, of course, involves no contradiction in her correspondence, for as Ptah includes Thoth as the letter of the Word includes the internal sense, so Maat, the affection of the interior truth of the Word, includes in her love the letter as well as the spirit of the Word.

     Maat is represented as a woman wearing upon her head a single ostrich feather, the simple but universal symbol of truth. Sometimes she is figured with the body of a woman, but with a feather instead of a head, and she is also, at times, provided with a pair of wings attached to her arms. As the goddess of truth and justice she is occasionally seen with bandaged eyes, like the Greek Themis, to represent impartial judgment, uninfluenced by personal considerations.

     Like Ptah and Osiris she is always standing or sitting on the peculiar kind of pedestal which is called maat after the name of the goddess, and which has been variously interpreted as a "flute," a "cubit," or a sculptor's "chisel;" there seems to be no reason for regarding it as the figure of a flute, and it would be ridiculous to base the images of the gods on so insecure a foundation. The idea of a "cubit" agrees with the conception of maat as a standard of true measurement, and the idea of a sculptor's "chisel" connects with the idea of the written Word as the basis of all internal truth.

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     "About the meaning of the word maat," says Dr. Budge, "there is, fortunately, no difficulty, for from many passages in texts of all periods we learn that it indicated primarily 'that which is straight', . . . a rule, or law, or canon, by which the lives of men and their actions were kept straight and governed. The Egyptians used the word in a physical and a moral sense, and thus it came to mean 'right, true, truth, real, genuine, upright, just, steadfast, unalterable," etc. (G. E. i:417.)

     The hieroglyphics composing her name include the maat pedestal, a sickle, an arm, a feather, and a carpenter's level, as if to signify that the power (arm) of the affection of truth lies in equitable (level) judgment (sickle) according to truth (feather), based upon the letter of the Word, (the pedestal). Her name is often written in the dual form, Maati, and she is then supposed to represent the goddess of the South and the North, i. e., charity and faith, or the celestial and the spiritual. In her dual form she is always present in the Judgment Hall of Osiris, and the Hall itself is called "the Two Truths."
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified              1914

     "The spirits observed especially that there is inspiration in the things which are written in the Word of the Lord; for now it appeared to them how and in what abundance the inspiration inflowed into the things which are written by me, and this not only into the [general] sense, but also into the single words and ideas of the words. Nay, it seemed to them as if certain ones were holding my hand and wrote, supposing that it was they who were writing; and it was also given me to perceive by a spiritual idea, and even as it were to feel beforehand that [it inflows] into the minutest parts of each little letter that is written. Hence it is as in clear light that the Word of the Lord is inspired as to each and every letter." (S. D. 2270.)

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NEW DOCUMENT CONCERNING SWEDENBORG 1914

NEW DOCUMENT CONCERNING SWEDENBORG              1914

     Among those of Swedenborg's contemporaries who have left to posterity their written testimony concerning his life and character, there occurs the name of Nicholas Collins, Rector of the Swedish (Old Swedes) Church, in Philadelphia. While a young man, Collins spent three years, 1765-8, in the vicinity of Stockholm, as tutor in the family of Dr. Celsius, afterwards Bishop of Scania. On several occasions he met Swedenborg, who excited his interest and admiration, although Collins never completely acknowledged the new revelation.

     His testimony comprises Document 253, in R. L. Tafel's collections, and has been frequently quoted in biographies. It first appeared in the PHILADELPHIA GAZETTE for August, 1801, and simultaneously in the columns of the AMERICAN DAILY ADVERTISER. The following is the author's own statement of his reason for writing it. The influence of the Swedish is quaintly perceptible in style and idiom:

     "Swedenborg's writings have, for some years, in this country, been objects of curiosity to many persons, and they have also gradually won disciples to his doctrines, either in the whole or in part. From this have arisen frequent and sedulous inquiries on the character and life of this remarkable man. It having been reported that I had conversed with him, and otherwise for certain knew several facts concerning him, I have been requested by several persons, some of them living in distant parts, to communicate such information. To gratify them, and also to prevent mistakes that arise in repeating verbal relations and even in copies of letters, I choose to state what I can impart in print; and prefer the vehicle of a gazette to that of a pamphlet, as more speedy and general."

     The account then opens in the number of the GAZETTE for August 5th, with Swedenborg's autobiographical letter to Thomas Hartley, and proceeds in the next installment, August 8th, with Mr. Collins' "Comments on the . . . account given by Swedenborg himself."

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This includes valuable information and anecdotes concerning Bishop Swedberg's and Swedenborg's early merits in the world of letters. (Section A. of Tafel's Dec., 253.)

     The third instalment, August 10th, is entitled: "My conversation with Swedenborg, and other authentic sources of information concerning him." (Section B. of Doc., 253) The following quotation from it may be of interest:

     ". . . During that time [1765-8], Swedenborg was a great object of public attention in this metropolis, and his extraordinary character was a frequent topic of discussion. He resided at his house in the southern suburbs, which was in a pleasant situation, neat and convenient, with a spacious garden, and other appendages. There he received company. Not seldom he also appeared in public, and mixed in private societies. Therefore, sufficient opportunities were given to make observation on him. I collected much information from several respectable persons who had conversed with him; which was the more easy, as I lived the whole time, as private tutor, in the family of Doctor Celsius, a gentleman of distinguished talents who afterwards became bishop of Scania; he and many of the eminent persons that frequented his house knew Swedenborg well.

     "In the summer of 1766 I waited on him at his house; introducing myself with an apology for the freedom I took; assuring him that it was not in the least from youthful presumption: (I was then twenty,) but from a strong desire of conversing with a character so celebrated. He received me very kindly. It being early in the afternoon, delicious coffee without eatables was served, agreeably to the Swedish custom: he was also, like pensive men in general, fond of this beverage. We conversed for near three hours; principally on the nature of human souls, and their states in the invisible world; discussing the principal theories of psychology, by various authors; among them the celebrated Dr. Wallerius, late professor of Natural Theology at Upsal. He asserted positively, as he often does in his works, that he had intercourse with spirits of deceased persons. I presumed therefore, to request of him as a great favor, to procure me an interview with my brother, who had departed this life a few months before; a young clergyman officiating in Stockholm, and esteemed for his devotion, erudition, and virtue.

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He answered that God having far wise and good purposes separated the world of spirits from ours, a communication is never granted without cogent reasons; and asked, what my motives were? I confessed that I had none besides gratifying brotherly affection, and an ardent wish to explore scenes so sublime and interesting to a serious mind. He replied, that my motives were good, but not sufficient; that if any important spiritual or temporal concern of mine had been the case:, he would then have solicited permission from the angels who regulate those matters. He showed me the garden. It had an agreeable building; a wing of which was a kind of a temple, to which he often retired for contemplation; for which, its peculiar structure, and dim, religious light, were suitable.

     "We parted with mutual satisfaction, and he presented by me, to the said Dr. Celsius, an elegant copy of his Apocalypsis Revelata, then lately printed at Amsterdam.

     "I should have improved this personal acquaintance, but Swedenborg went soon afterwards on his last travels, from which he did not return; he died in London, and was buried in the cemetery of the Swedish church."

     Thus ends the third installment in the PHILADELPHIA GAZETTE.

     It also ends all that was published in the NEW JERUSALEM CHURCH REPOSITORY, from which Dr. Tafel's account-very incomplete and omitting entirely the last two paragraphs-was evidently taken.

     But the contributions of Nicholas Collins are not yet at an end! Why the New Church editors omitted the following two articles of August 12th and 15th seems hard to understand, unless they were misled by the tone of finality in the closing paragraphs of the third article into believing there were no more to follow.

     At the instigation of Mr. A. H. Stroh investigations have recently been undertaken of all original sources, during which the following two documents were brought to light by Miss Cyriel Odhner. They are presented now for the first time, it is believed, before a New Church public.

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FROM THE "PHILADELPHIA GAZETTE," 1914

FROM THE "PHILADELPHIA GAZETTE,"              1914

     Wednesday, August 12th, 1801.

     No. IV.

     SWEDENBORG'S RELIGIOUS AND MORAL CHARACTER; MANNERS; CELIBACY; ECONOMY; PERSONAL APPEARANCE.

     All parties generally agree that he [Swedenborg] had a firm belief of all his doctrines, and all his visions in the spiritual world: I never heard any person in Sweden surmise the contrary. He withdrew, in the unimpaired possession of his talents, from a career of public life which would have led him to greater honors and emoluments; and he sacrificed the enjoyments of his favorite sciences. He could expect no pecuniary advantage from his new pursuits; and the compensation of honor was dubious. By the laws of Sweden he was not permitted to print his books at home, nor to translate them: neither could he set up for a public teacher.

     His life was uniformly marked by practical piety and moral virtues, without any tincture of vice. Integrity and benevolence were evident in his general dealings, public spirit, friendship, charities. Though persuaded of being commissioned from Heaven to establish a new system of religion, he had no desire to see it enforced by violent measures; nor did he exert himself in making proselites, except by his writings. As to Sweden, he never intimated a wish to be the head of a sect; but indulged the fond hope that the ecclesiastical establishment would by a tranquil gradual illumination assume the form of his New Church. His natural mildness, education, connections, learning, and experience both in public and private life, produced a warm esteem for social order inimical to fanatical turbulence.

     Several things in Swedenborg's works lead to favorable opinions of his moral character:-The union of truth and goodness is a leading article, interwoven with all the parts of his system, even the scenes of the invisible world; which show that these principles were deeply impressed on his mind. His high estimation of chastity very probably influenced him in depicting the blissful loves of celestial spirits, and the infernal penalties on the slaves of sensual corruption.

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Swedenborg's ideas on the Divine justice and mercy do not in all respects come up to the most refined humanity; but are on the whole better than those of several other systems. He seems anxious to mitigate the hells by various equitable arrangements. He represents the vastness and felicities of Heaven in a manner which has much of the sublime and pathetic.

     Swedenborg affected no appearance of sanctity in his manners. His dress was neat and reasonably conformed to the general modes. He observed the customary rules of good breeding. He partook in the conversations and pleasures of the company where he was, so far as they were rational. Though very temperate, he had no useless scruples in eating or drinking. The only singularity in his deportment was that revery on the invisible world which made him speak to and salute spirits. This, however, happened not frequently, nor in companies. I never saw it, but had it from persons of veracity.

     Swedenborg was never married. Whatever his speculation might be on a partner in the future life, the report of his asserting this, was not, so far as I knew, well founded.

     His own property and the public pension enabled him to live easy, and to make expense in his main pursuit, by foreign travels, etc.

     Swedenborg had a pretty tall, erect, rather slender, stature; a fair complexion; good features; eyes of serene brightness. At the time of my interview with him he was seventy-seven; yet retained marks of beauty and appeared to have considerable vigor both of mind and body.
FROM THE "PHILADELPHIA GAZETTE," 1914

FROM THE "PHILADELPHIA GAZETTE,"              1914

     Saturday, Aug. 15th, 1801.

     No. V.

     VARIOUS OPINIONS ON Swedenborg's PRINCIPAL DOCTRINES, THAT PREVAILED IN SWEDEN, PREVIOUS TO MY DEPARTURE IN THE YEAR 1769.

     The ground on which he reared the whole system, was a spiritual sight conferred on him by divine influence, for the purpose of manifesting the internal sense of the scriptures: instruction from angels was in his own estimation but a secondary aid: and his occasional conversation with spirits of the deceased, still of less consequence.

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I never heard that any person was a disciple of Swedenborg on that foundation. Nor could it be supposed, because his works were in Latin, and moreover scarce. These two circumstances did also confine the discussion of several doctrines within the circles of the learned. I shall first speak of these:-His representation of the Divine Unity had not any declared favorers. The orthodox deemed it far less agreeable to scriptural sense than their own creed. Nor did they find it more consistent with reason; because, notwithstanding their profession of triple equality, the genius of their whole religious system, both theoretical and practical, held up the supremacy of One; and they, accordingly, judged redemption unsuitable to the majesty of the Father, but worthy of the Son. As to the votaries of mere philosophical religion, they believed that GOD can administer all the affairs of the universe without assuming for any time a human form.

     Swedenborg's theory on the origin of moral evil, and of its consequential misery to mankind, was not satisfactory, either on scriptural or philosophical ground. His assertion, that no angels had originally been created, but that all, both good and bad, had at first been men, did not clear up the just mentioned doctrine; nor was it better founded.

     Swedenborg considered the human form so excellent, that he gives it not only to men in the future state, but to angels, to the inhabitants of other worlds, to the universal heaven, and to every society in it; how whimsical this appeared to judicious persons, I need not show.

     As I said, these doctrines were little known among the public; because Swedenborg was not solicitous to communicate them; and few of his readers thought proper to do it. That very article on the unity was so little known or noticed, that I cannot recollect any mention of it in the many conversations that I heard on Swedenborgian matters; except in some among the learned.

     Swedenborg's intercourse with the invisible world was believed by a great number of people, and held probably by many; both happened from these reasons:-

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Belief in spirits and apparitions was not uncommon, at that time, in Sweden and other well civilized countries of Europe: though in many degrees from silly superstition to philosophical discrimination. That belief has been common to mankind in all times, and in all countries, but modified by religion, morals, modes of life, arts and sciences, circumstances in climate, romantic scenes of land and water, remarkable animal and vegetable production, etc:-Not a few judicious persons believed that Swedenborg might on some occasions receive information from invisible agents, and yet be a visionary as to many things; and that such a faculty was not at all a proof of doctrines unconnected with it: just in the same manner as theologians, politicians, natural philosophers, physicians, are liable to a mixture of truth and falsehood; and the more so in proportion to enthusiastic propensity. Such persons disregarded most of his pretended conversations with deceased persons, although persuaded of his sincerity. As to those who seemed to be attested by communication of supernatural knowledge, they carefully investigated the facts. Some cases of this kind happened: and two among them were topics of general conversation in Stockholm at my time.-The aforementioned Queen Louisa Ulrica had requested of Swedenborg to bring a message to a brother, who had died in Prussia; and he, after a few days, reported an answer, verified by communication of secrets which had been known only to that brother and herself.-The widow of a foreign nobleman, who died at Stockholm, was troubled by some persons who demanded payment of considerable debts, that he had, to her knowledge, discharged, though she could not find the receipts. She solicited Swedenborg to procure information from her husband on this matter. He did so; told her that she would find them in a certain secret place; which proved true.-I frequently heard both these accounts in the same manner as to substance, but differing in some circumstances; nor was either of them disputed so far as I knew. These, and some other cases, were reported even in foreign countries. They are related by Hindmarsh in his Defense of the New Church, etc., p. 61-64. His statement of the first is with particulars that I cannot recollect.

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This author relates also that Swedenborg knew how far the great fire at Stockholm in 1759 extended, when the event was too recent, and the distance too great, for intelligence by any person or by letter; this I heard both in Sweden and London, in the same manner.

     Some of Swedenborg's doctrines on the happiness of a future state are very pleasing to cultivated minds:-His good sense and philanthropy in peopling Heaven with all the good among the human race was the more estimable, because those generous sentiments were not professed by many Christian theologians in his time:-Admission of children into Heaven was not denied by the National Church; but he improved it by the assertion that they are educated there: into a perfect state of wisdom and goodness.-The Church had also declared that the virtuous attachments formed on earth shall be permanent in Heaven; but it was silent on heavenly marriages. These he represents as blissful reciprocal affections between two congenial spirits, perfectly free from anything corporeal. In the progress of national civilization, the social affections grew strong, refined, and frequent; grief for the loss of parents, children and conjugial partners, will often be inconsolable, if religion does not afford the most satisfactory assurance of re-union.

     Swedenborg's theory on the immensity of Heaven is an evidence of sublime piety, that renders him with all his foibles very respectable to every mind that is elevated to God by the contemplation of his works. He represents it as the last eternal mansion prepared for the innumerable rational creatures that inhabit all the parts of this vast Universe, of which our whole earth is a very minute part! His knowledge of astronomy enabled him to treat this matter well; and he does not rest it on the instruction of angels, but says that they only confirmed what is evident to human reason. His treatise, De Telluribus in Universo, was composed for this purpose. In the book on Heaven and Hell, P. 275, etc., is an extract from it. He shows the number and magnitude of the planets in our Solar System, and the moons of some, their regular, annual, and diurnal revolutions and other appearances, which make them fit for inhabitants like our earth. He proceeds to the many thousands shining spheres that bespangle the starry Heaven; whose distance from us is so amazing, that the best telescope cannot increase their apparent smallness which, on the same principle of analogy must be Suns of so many systems.

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What rational man, says he, can suppose, that such an immense Provision of means should not be in order to a proportionate end; or be weak enough to imagine that so stupendous art apparatus should all be for the sake of the inhabitants of one earth, only! These many suns, enlighten, warm, and fructify, so many earths for the support of men, that should in due time become angels All these systems serve as subordinate means to the ultimate end of creation, which undoubtedly was to Provide and prepare for Heaven art infinite number of human beings, to be blessed with the divine Presence and communication.

     Though this doctrine could not be generally understood; and though it was too great for the narrow-minded among both clergy and laity; yet it had many admirers, because astronomy had become one of the favorite sciences in Sweden; and the learned imparted its most pleasing theories: they adorned not a few female minds.

     These anecdotes are entirely impartial, and accurate to the best of my knowledge. My cordial desire is that they may contribute to promote the general interest of religion.

     [The End.]
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified              1914

     "All and single things that are in the Word refer in the supreme sense to the Lord; and the Lord is Doctrine itself, that is, the Word, not only as to the supreme sense there, but also as to the internal sense, and also as to the literal sense, for this is representative and significative of the internal sense, and this, again, is representative and significative of the supreme sense; and that which is representative and significative in the Word is in its essence that which is represented and signified; thus is the Divine of the Lord; for the representative is nothing but the image of that which is represented and in an image is He Himself who is presented." (A. C. 3393.)

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Editorial Department 1914

Editorial Department       Editor       1914

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     From the MESSENGER for Nov. 26, we learn that the New Church Tract Society of Philadelphia, (22d and Chestnut Sts.), has issued a handsome edition of THE NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE, "with the first 'more mystical' chapter, as it is sometimes called by strangers, omitted." This is certainly a unique edition,-the "Heavenly Doctrine," with the chapter on "The New Heaven and the New Earth; and what is meant by the New Jerusalem," deliberately omitted! What next?



     "Who would suppose that the present attitude of distrust and dislike towards religious 'doctrine,' and the modern tendency to have nothing to do with it, was represented by the predicted vagabondage of Cain, upon whom, nevertheless, the Lord set a mark for his preservation?" A correspondent in the MESSENGER thus exclaims in wonder and admiration in regard to a recent sermon "of exceptional interest and power," by the Rev. Julian K. Smyth. We also must express our wonder, for by Cain is meant faith alone, and by his vagabondage is meant faith alone departing from the knowledge of good and truth. The mark set upon Cain means that faith, even though separate and false, is better than no faith such as is represented by "the present attitude."



     The Rev. W. A. Presland, in a review of Rev. B. N. Stone's little book on WHAT THE NEW CHURCH STANDS FOR, (in N. C. MAGAZINE for December), is greatly pleased with the manner in which Mr. Stone has shown the difference between "the Writings and the Divine Word," but at the time cannot help expressing regret at "the absence of any adequate explanation of the Doctrine of the Second Coming." But how can anyone present an adequate explanation of the Second Coming when laboring under the delusion that there is "no internal sense" in those
Writings by which the Second Coming has taken place!

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"The Writings have no internal sense," is the unanimous verdict of Messrs. Stone, Presland, Whitehead, Buss, and others. We would ask these gentlemen, then, if they believe that the Writings have a literal sense? If the answer be "yes," then the Writings are either a dead letter or else they must have a spirit within the letter. If the answer be "NO," then it must follow that the Writings have no sense at all.



     In THE CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH of NOV. 5th appeared a review of the "Everyman's Library" edition of Swedenborg's THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE from the pen of Sir William Barrett. F. R. S. After a eulogistic reference to Mr. Spalding's excellent introduction, and a few extracts from the book itself, Sir William makes a long lamentation of the fact that there is such an organization as the New Church. He says:

     "One cannot but regret that the bulk of Swedenborg's disciples in Great Britain and America have thought it necessary to form a new and separate church organization. It is, of course, a pleasant and helpful to worship with those who are the same way of thinking as oneself, but the 'New Church' which Swedenborg foresaw was not a new sect, but a new spirit of life and liberty in the existing Christian churches," etc.

     It may seem incredible, but it is a fact, that this "Sir William," who is neither a Newchurchman nor even a lukewarm Swedenborgian, was elected President of the Swedenborg Society at its annual meeting in June last, in recognition, we suppose, of his eminent services in misrepresenting Swedenborg on various occasions by patronizing but somewhat contemptuous and grossly ignorant references, prefaces, introductions, etc. While New Church reviewers in England have gratefully fawned upon his hand for every kind word, this gratuitous attack upon the organized New Church proved too much even for the NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE, which mildly protests, and for the MORNING LIGHT, which remonstrates in more vigorous language.

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     In MORNING LIGHT for Dec. 6th we are informed that "Mr. D. Teitaro Suzuki, who translated Swedenborg's HEAVEN AND HELL into the Japanese language, has recently completed three other translations for the Swedenborg Society, viz.: THE NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE, DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, and DIVINE PROVIDENCE. These will shortly be published in Japan. By way of preparing the public mind for their reception, Mr. Suzuki has written a 'Brief Life of Swedenborg' in the Japanese language, a copy of which has just reached us. The following is a translation of the brief preface to this latter work:

     "'A reformer of theology, a pilgrim of Heaven and Hell, a spiritual giant, "the prince of mystics," a seer unique in the history of mankind, a scholar whose untiring energy is unmatched, a scientist whose insight is clear and penetrating, and a saint with a heart perfectly free from all worldly pettiness,-this was Swedenborg.

     "'Heavy clouds are gathering over the present religious outlook in Japan, and no one can tell what the final viewpoint will be. Those who are anxious about the future of our spiritual life, as well as those who desire to cultivate their minds, cannot afford to remain ignorant of this remarkable personage. This is the author's plea for the publication of the present booklet.'

     "Towards the expense of publishing these works in Japan a gift of L50 has been received from Mr. John Pitcairn. There is also reasonable hope that when some effective method of distribution has been devised further help will be forthcoming from institutions in America. Mr. F. G. Sale, who recently came from Japan and is returning thither for a few months' visit, is co-operating with the Swedenborg Society in making suitable arrangements for the custody and the effective distribution of these books. The Japanese nation offers a fine field for missionary effort, and the Council of the Swedenborg Society are to be congratulated on their efforts to make the works of Swedenborg well known in that country."

     All those who love the cause of the New Church among the Gentiles will rejoice at these news; but their joy would be greater if means were provided for advertising the Writings in the Japanese Press.

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If the Swedenborg Society lacks means for this purpose, would it not be well to organize an International Society for the Propagation of the Heavenly Doctrine among the Gentiles?
WAS SWEDENBORG A MUSIC LOVER? 1914

WAS SWEDENBORG A MUSIC LOVER?              1914

     THE NEW YORK MUSICAL COURIER for Nov. 19th publishes a lengthy editorial: on "Swedenborg and Music." Introducing the subject with a brief sketch of Swedenborg's life, the editor repeats the ordinary twaddle about Swedenborg "losing all interest in science," and how "between the ages of sixty and seventy-four [should be eighty-four] he wrote those weird and fantastic words of prophecy, vision, phantasmagoria and religious fervor, which have made his name famous and caused his scientific works to be utterly forgotten." The editor then call's attention to Swedenborg's letter of Sept. 8, 1714, in which he gives a list of mechanical inventions which he had planned, among these "a universal musical instrument by means of which one who is unacquainted with music may execute all kinds of airs that are marked on paper by notes," and the editor observes that "we are still working hard to perfect" such an instrument, "because the young Swedish scientist went no further than to describe on paper the substance of a dream." He concludes that "there is nothing to prove, or even to indicate, that Swedenborg was a music lover."

     This assertion is based on ignorance. At the age of twenty-two years Swedenborg wrote from his father's episcopal residence at Brunsbo, to his brother-in-law, Eric Benzelius, in Upsala: "I have but little desire to remain here much longer, for I am wasting almost my whole time. Still, I have made such progress in music that I have been able several times to take the place of our organist." (March 6, 1710. See Tafel's DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG. i:203.) That he kept up the practice of music throughout his life is indicated by the fact that even in his old age he possessed an organ, which a few years ago was exhibited at the "Northern Museum" in Stockholm. His intimate knowledge of the theory of music is evident from numerous references in his scientific works, especially in the work ON THE SENSES, while in the theological works there are teachings concerning Harmony and Music, which some day will help to bring the music of Heaven down to the earth.

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And that Swedenborg was a lover of music seems pretty well established by the testimony of General Tuxen, who relates the following incident from Swedenborg's visit to the home of the General in Elsinoer, in July, 1770:

     "After some little pause he cast his eye on a harpsichord and asked whether we were lovers of music, and who played upon it. I told him we were all lovers of it, and that my wife in her youth had practiced it, since she had a fine voice, perhaps better than any in Denmark, as several persons of distinction who had heard the best singers in France, England, and Italy, had assured her; and that my daughter also played with pretty good taste. On this Swedenborg begged her to play. She then performed a difficult and celebrated sonata, of which he beat the measure with his foot as he sat on the sofa; and when finished, he said, 'Brava! very fine.' She then played another, by Ruttini; and when she had played a few minutes he said, "This is by an Italian, but the first was not.' This finished, he said, "Brava! You play very well. Do you not sing also?' She answered, 'I sing, but: have not a very good voice, though I am fond of singing, and would sing if my mother would accompany me.' He requested my wife to join; to which she assented, and they sang a few Italian duets, and some French airs, each according to her respective taste, to which he beat time, afterwards paying many compliments to my wife, an account of her taste, and her fine voice, which she had preserved notwithstanding so long an illness." (DOC. ii. 438)
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified              1914

     "The spirits who now spoke with me said that the things which I have written are so rough and crude that they supposed nothing interior could be understood from the words themselves or from the mere sense of the words. I also perceived in a spiritual idea that this was so: that they are indeed very rough, and therefore it was given me to reply that these things are only vessels, into which purer, better and more interior things can be infused, like a literal sense." (S. D. 2185.)

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Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified       F. E. WAELCHLI       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     In your October news notes, page 634, it is stated that on the occasion of the Rev. Mr. Hoeck's visit to Rosthern, Sask., Can., I "invited him to occupy the pulpit." Kindly permit me to correct this statement. Mr. Hoeck's visit was expected by the Rosthern society, and on his arrival I suspended my work for the time of his stay. No invitation on my part was necessary; though had it been, it would have been a pleasure to me to extend it.
     Sincerely yours,
          F. E. WAELCHLI.
Berlin, Ont., Can., Oct. 16, 1913.
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified       R. B. CALDWELL       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     The warning you have given at page 595, of the October issue, as to the importance of securing correct translations, applies to other prominent journalistic statements. In the NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY, page 283, issue of July, 1910, a book is said to be "a great, a brave, a necessary book," and in the same magazine at page 349, issue of October, 1913, another book is said to be "a book to weep over," and yet these two books exploit with cunning dexterity precisely the same dangerous error. Your warning should be heeded; we should be careful not to accept statements as correct until we have investigated. Statements are often made to exploit some pet idea. We should "be wary them best safety lies in fear" in cases of this kind.
     Yours truly,
          R. B. CALDWELL.

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Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     THE MISSIONARY FIELD. My tour this fall has not been so long as usual, lasting just three months. For some years Rockford, Ill., has been the most distant point on my circuit. I visited Rockford the first time in September, 1900. Since then until and including 1912, my visits to our earnest friends in that city have been made every fall, excepting in the years 1905 and 1908. But this fall it was arranged for the Rev. John Headsten, resident in Chicago, to visit Rockford, and he is preaching acceptably for the New Church circle there once a month.

     During my recent tour, circles and isolated New Church people have been visited in thirty places, in parts of Ontario, and of six of the states. Services were held every Sunday with one exception. On November 9th, when I was in Kent Co., Ont., the great wind and snow storm was raging, which wrought such serious destruction on Lake Huron. We were to have a meeting, but the unusual thing of snow drifts from three to five feet deep, made it impossible for people to come.

     In the course of the three months fifty families were visited at their homes; the length of my stay varying from a few hours or a day, to a week or ten days. In these families there are one hundred and eighteen adults and forty children. Of the adults, eighty-five are members of the General Church of the New Jerusalem; and all the children have been baptized. J. E. BOWERS.

     BRUSSELS, BELGIUM. From recent letters of the Rev. Ernst Deltenre we learn that his work is meeting with increasing success. There are now fifteen enrolled students in his class of Theology, with sixteen enrolled in the class in Swedenborg's Cosmology, and nine in the class in the study of the Hebrew language. The two Sunday services, at 11 a. m. and 5:30 p. m., are also well attended. "Last Sunday, Nov. 23, we enjoyed a visit from the Rev. R. H. Keep, of New York.

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The day being the Sunday preceding the American Thanksgiving Day, we had a solemn service of Thanksgiving. At the afternoon service our little chapel was crowded with people. Madame Le Fevre was good enough to add to the celebration with her marvelous voice. The Holy Supper was administered. The subject of the sermon was 'Care for the Morrow.' There were over thirty persons present, and some of them were manifestly impressed. After the service we invited to a tea those who have been attending the class in Theology, including Mr. Keep and the two students whom he is conducting through Europe. Mr. Keep was delighted with the sphere prevailing.

     "On Oct. 15th I received a very singular visitor, a person presenting himself as 'Dr. Corland,' formerly a Lutheran pastor in New York. This man was perfectly familiar with the history of the New Church. He said he had been obliged to flee from Russia, where he had been shadowed by the police on account of a political offense. He said that he had not been aware of the existence of a New Church mission in Brussels, but that Pastor Mayhoffer, to whom he had appealed for aid, had directed him to me. He asked me to assist him to rejoin his brother in Cologne. He pretended he belonged to our Church, knew the Academy, spoke of Mr. Odhner, the Kramph case, etc. in short, he was familiar with our Church. To crown all, when I told him my name, he said that he knew, and recounted my history to me. I was mistrustful, nevertheless; said that I would send a telegram to Mr. Gardener, (whom he said he knew), to advise him of the situation. He replied that he was in need of immediate help. When I told him that before becoming a minister I had been a lawyer, he seemed troubled; said he would return at 8 p. m., but he never returned.

     "Yesterday I received a charming letter from the famous artist, Jean Delville, expressing a desire to become better acquainted with me. He was present at the service on August 31st, conducted by Bishop N. D. Pendleton, and seemed much affected. He is the greatest of living Belgium painters, and is certainly the most intellectual and idealistic. On Dec. 15th I am to deliver a lecture on Swedenborg to the Belgium Theosophical Society."

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     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. C. W. Broomell, who was stationed in San Antonio, has found it necessary to leave Texas, and to engage in other work.

     Mr. Herman Faber, the well known artist, who died in Philadelphia on Dec. 10th, at the age of eighty-one years, was in former years intimately associated with the New Church. He was the teacher of art in Mr. Benade's first New Church School in Cherry Street, and afterwards taught for some years in the Academy Schools in Philadelphia.

     GREAT BRITAIN. On Wednesday evening, November 19th, at the invitation of the Swedenborg Society, Professor Bottomley, of King's College, delivered an address at the rooms of the Society of British Artists, Suffolk Street, on "Swedenborg's Philosophy of the Origin of Life." Professor Sir W. F. Barrett, F. R. S., presided. The audience was large and included many people distinguished in science, philosophy, and literature. The address was followed by a conversazione.

     "Under the will of Miss Amanda Hinchliffe, of Southport, the Conference receives a bequest of L1,000 for Pension Fund A (of which the testatrix has always been a generous supporter), and of a further sum of L1,000 to be held by the Conference in trust for the Yorkshire Missionary Association; two sums of L5,000 free of legacy duty in which Miss Hinchliffe had a life interest under the will of her father, George Hinchliffe, Esq., J. P. (of Todmorden), also come to the Conference, the proceeds to be equally divided between the Augmentation Fund and the National Missionary Institution. We are informed that these latter bequests were made on the advice of the Rev. Richard Storry." (MORNING LIGHT.)

     The Rev. Isaiah Tansley, Secretary of the "New Church College," (the Theological School of the Conference), reports in the MORNING LIGHT that "we expect to have another resident student next year, and as far as we see at present, we are likely to have a gentleman from the church in Sweden to train for work there.

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There are now thirty-four students on the books, three Conference students, and the rest at centers or working by correspondence. There are six students attending the London Class. Mr. Mark, a Swedish Newchurchman over here for the first time, also attends the Class."

     On Monday, October 27th, the Society worshiping at Woodlands Road, Glasgow, held their half-yearly meeting-the first in their new century-when sixteen new members were elected, this large increase being due, in great measure, to the special lectures delivered during the past twelve months. A feature of the meeting was the formal closing of the old roll book, with its historic associations, reaching back as far as the pioneer Glasgow Newchurchman, Alexander Paterson, and the opening of a new roll book, in which the members now living are entering their names. Another feature was the delivery, by the retiring President of Conference, Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack, of his address to the members of the Church. The Woodlands Road Society not only felt it a privilege to have him read it to them in person, thereby bringing out fully the spirit that led him to write, but the substance of it came home to the Society as of the Divine provision in this the beginning of a new century of their corporate life. Indeed, it is most gratifying to record that, after a century of stress, of alternating evening and morning, winter and summer, a new state has been ripening, one token of which is the closer relationship of the two Glasgow Churches. As previously reported united commemorative services were held in both churches and now joint fortnightly meetings for the devout study of the heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem are being held alternately in the two churches, on Wednesday evenings, the first book taken up being THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. The formal opening of the Scottish New Church library-the reference library for all Scotland, which is being established as a memorial of the Glasgow centenary-will, in all likelihood, take place on the occasion of the annual "Russell Soiree" on Friday, December 5th.

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LAW, OBEDIENCE, AND ORGANIZATION 1914

LAW, OBEDIENCE, AND ORGANIZATION              1914




     Announcements.




NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. XXXIV FEBRUARY, 1914          No, 2
     (Delivered at the Ontario Assembly, Toronto, Jan. 1st, 1914.)

     BY THE REV. W. F. PENDLETON.

     Law, obedience, and organization are inseparably connected, and neither one of them can be fully understood without considering them, each in its relation to the other two. Law is Divine in its origin, but without obedience it is not operative, has no being with men. But if there be obedience, the law not only has being, but it also has existence; and the product, the fruit of the two, is organization.

     Let us first examine the meaning of the word organization, for in organization we find the end accomplished that is involved in the idea of law and in obedience to the law. Organization is a direct derivation from the Greek word ergo, to work; and thus the Greek noun organon signifies a work that is done, or an instrument by which work is done, an instrument, implement, or tool, for making or doing a thing; hence more generally it signifies that by which some action is performed, some end accomplished, some function and use made actually existent or operative,-involving structure and function together as means; to ultimate uses.

     Now law coming forth from God, appearing and operating in ultimates, takes the form of command and requires obedience, and the result is organization as a further means of the ultimation of law in use, both in society and in the individual man. Law as revealed by God and requiring obedience is called Moses in the Scripture of the Old Testament, and the man Moses, the person who was named Moses in the historical narration, was but a representative of that thing which is called law, and hence the law was given through him to the Israelites, and he as the representative exponent of the law, required obedience of them, and the result of their obedience was the organization of the Jewish political state, the Jewish worship, and the Jewish church,-an organization to be used for the giving of the Word to mankind, and for the birth and Incarnation of Him who was to be to eternity the Law or the Word, for men on earth and for angels in heaven.

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     It is in the literal sense especially that the law appears as command and requires obedience, and hence Moses represents primarily that law which is revealed at Sinai, requiring absolute and exact obedience in the ultimate actions of life, as a basis for a higher and spiritual organization which is to follow obedience to the command of the law as coming forth from God and leading back to Him.

     It is, therefore, by obedience to the law in the ultimate actions of life, beginning in childhood and youth, that there is ascent to the higher organic planes of human life, ascent from the natural to the rational and the spiritual, or from the earth to heaven. Obedience on earth or in the world, opens the plane of the spiritual mind, introduces man into the church and through the church into heaven, and into conjunction with the Lord in heaven; or obedience in the body opens the mind in successive degrees of ascent, even to heaven and the Lord, that is, the mind is formed and organized by the influx of the soul into the body, and by the reaction of the body, or what is the same, the obedience of the body to the law.

     It is thus by the obedience of the body in the outer world, by the obedience of several or a number in the outer world, while still on earth, that a heavenly society is formed; that is, heaven is formed by the obedience of the Church on earth, or by a number of men on earth united and organized for this purpose,-organized for the purpose of obedience to the law as revealed from God, the law as given to Moses on Mount Sinai that heaven may be formed by means of ultimates with men.

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     The point we are endeavoring to set forth is, that when there is obedience to law in the outer world, or in the ultimate actions of men, organization results, by which there is ascent in successive order and formation to the higher planes of life. This is illustrated even in the kingdoms of nature. Law, by what is analogous to obedience, operates even in the mineral kingdom, and the result or product is vegetable formation or the vegetable kingdom; and law operating in the vegetable kingdom produces, organizes the animal kingdom,-including man as to his body, which is the central thing or the completest organic form in the animal kingdom. Man as to his body, therefore, with all other animal forms, is organized by means of reactive obedience to law, or the reactive operation of law in the ultimates of the vegetable kingdom. The mind of man, as we have already indicated, is a still higher organization formed and ordered by means of the obedience of the body to law as flowing in from the soul. The mind becomes thus wholly distinct and discrete from the animal kingdom, thus from its own body, and, therefore, able to live after the body and independently of it, that is, after it has been fully organized by the obedience of the body in the outer life of the world.

     The next step in the ascent by organized obedience is the formation of heaven itself; for heaven is formed, ordered, organized, comes into existence by means of and on the basis of, obedience and the love of obedience in the minds of men, in the minds of the men of the church on earth. When the body in the outer world obeys the law, and the natural mind loves the law which is obeyed, the ascent continues, the spiritual mind is opened, formed, and organized, that is, heaven comes into existence as an organic form, as the result of obedience on the lower planes of life.

     We thus see that the lower is an instrumentality for the formation of the higher, the means used by the Lord for the formation and organization of the higher planes of life, which, when so organized, are capable of independent existence,-all taking place when the lower is in obedience.

     Law from God is the inmost, obedience in ultimate or lower forms is the instrumentality, and the result is the higher or the intermediate which is called organization, rendered permanent and lasting by fixed obedience in the ultimate.

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     Organization is thus the means of ascent to that which is higher; the organization is, therefore, higher than the means to it, and is itself intermediate,-the law as coming forth from God and obedience to law in the ultimate conditions of life. The vegetable kingdom, formed and organized by means of the mineral, is higher than the mineral. The animal kingdom is in the same way higher than the vegetable. The mind of man formed by the obedience of the body is higher than the body. The church, formed by the obedience of its individual members, is higher in its collective sphere than the sum of its individual isolated parts. Heaven formed by the love of obedience in the minds of the men of the church on earth, is higher than the church, is higher than the sum of the individual parts that entered into its formation. It may be said, therefore, that organization is the mode of ascent to meet God, the effort to return to God,-is to return to God. All return to God is thus organic, and there is no other mode of return to Him.

     It will be seen, therefore, that the return of man to God is by successive planes of organization in an ascending series, beginning with the ultimate, or with obedience to the laws of order in the ultimate things of the outer world in the life of the body; so that when an intermediate is formed, an intermediate organic form,-itself becomes an intermediate instrumentality, an intermediate organized form, or plane of obedience, by which a higher formation or organization is effected, a higher ascent made, another discrete step taken in the journey upward to meet God.

     This ascent to meet God by successive planes of organization from below upward, by successively purer organic forms, is what is meant by salvation, is what is called salvation in the Scripture and in the Heavenly Doctrine,-all based upon obedience in ultimates, by which there is escape from the disorganized or disordered and destructive conditions of human life that reign in hell.

     Man, therefore, returns to God by obedience, and gives ground for the truth that is well known, that there is no organization without obedience, that all organization is based upon the obedience of its members to the principles which give life and power to the organization, that give it a reason to exist; and when obedience has completed its work on any given plane, a higher formation or organization results, indeed a higher heaven is opened and man is introduced into it to become a part of it, a pillar in the temple of God.

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     It follows also that the more perfect the obedience, the more perfect is the order that is established, and the more perfect the organization, of which obedience is the basis and foundation.

     Two points of general application suggest themselves in conclusion. The first is, that the obedience of a number together makes of them a common organic form by which many together may ascend to meet God; for obedience is not only the basis and the means of ascent to meet God, but it is also the ground and basis of consociation with men or the neighbor. Thus organization by means of obedience has a two-fold effect, it conjoins man with God and consociates him with the neighbor; and the result of this is, the organization of a heavenly society, which is the end of all organization, the end of all obedience,-wherein man lives an inhabitant forever.

     The other point is, that the organization is more than the individual, and more than the sum of the individual spheres, considered as separate entities. The organization is thus not only more than the individual, but it is higher than he. The individual is indeed a basis and support of the organization. He is a pillar in the temple of God. But a temple is more than its pillars. The organization is more than its supporters, or its individual members. So that when the individual is in the general sphere of the organization, he is out of himself, his understanding is then elevated above himself into a light superior to his own. Nor is there any elevation of the understanding into superior light without this organic connection with others, without organic connection with men in this world, and with men or angels in the spiritual world.

     We are thus able to see how necessary an organized church is for the salvation of men, for the existence of the human race, and even for the integrity and preservation of the heavens,-an organized church with organized forms of worship, in which there is obedience to the laws of order or the spiritual truths of the Word, and by means of which there is organic and thus permanent ascent into heaven.

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NAAMAN THE CLEANSED LEPER 1914

NAAMAN THE CLEANSED LEPER       Rev. JOHN HEADSTEN       1914

     (For the first sermon of this series see N. C. LIFE for June, 1913.)

     "And now, I pray, take a blessing from thy servant. But he said: As JEHOVAH liveth, before whom I stand, I take, none. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. And Naaman said: Let there be given, I pray, to thy servant a two mules' burden of earth; for thy servant will not offer any more burnt offering and sacrifices to other gods than to JEHOVAH. In this thing may JEHOVAH pardon thy servant; when my lord goeth into the house of Rimmon to bow down there, and he is supported by my hand, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, and in bowing down myself in the house of Rimmon, JEHOVAH pardon, I pray, thy servant in this thing. And he said unto him: Go in peace. So he went a tract of land." (II. Kings 5:15-19.)

     In our former discourse we considered the cleansing of Naaman from leprosy; we shall now learn something from what is said about him as a cleansed man. We saw that as a leper he represented those whose faith denies the Divinity of the Lord's Human, and that his purification from that malady by the prophet Elisha signifies a thorough change of faith, which is brought about by the Doctrine of the New Church. Today we shall consider the verses in the same story which give a true insight into the state of those who are meant by Naaman, after they have accepted the true faith in the Lord, and worship Him alone. Their internal life is fully set forth in the verses we have just read.

     Our text begins by saying: "And now, I pray thee, take a blessing from thy servant."

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     A little serious thought on this subject will convince us that these words, considered in themselves, would not be worth mentioning in the Word of God if there were not heavenly arcana concealed within them, even though they are expressions of thankfulness to the Lord for having been healed from a deep-seated physical disorder; for what is such an insignificant deed to Him who has created all things and preserves all by His omnipotent hand? It is nothing to Him! But every word in this sacred story has a message from the Lord, for it treats of Him inmostly; every action brings out an affection, and taken together these describe the state of life of those who are meant by the two actors in this narrative; hence these words contain spirit and life, and they give life and preserve it with all who read and hallow them as being God's Word. A man may not see any more than a story, which seems to be an overruling of the laws of nature, but nevertheless they convey life to a devout soul. This life may be of an external kind only, but it is still life. But if the reader sees and believes that there is a Divine lesson in this story he becomes a partaker of true spiritual life.

     Immediately before our text we read that Naaman confessed his conviction that there was but one God, and that He was the God of Israel. In our former sermon we saw that this means that even those who deny the Divinity of the Lord may see their error by means of Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem and thus come to a true faith.

     In our text today we are told that Naaman desired to give a gift to Elisha, the man of God: thus to enrich him by the blessings of Syria. He said: "I Pray thee, take a blessing from thy servant." By a blessing in the Sacred Scriptures is signified anything that is good in any state of life, the duality of it being determined by the state it refers to. Hence we have celestial, spiritual, natural and earthly blessings. The first three refer themselves to the three spiritual states men are in, and can be of value to those only who in some degree are spiritually minded, while the earthly blessing may be enjoyed by any one. From these words it is evident that the presents which Naaman desired Elisha to take, were blessings in the state of life he had been in, and were yet regarded as Divine benefits.

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     What are these blessings? We read in the fifth verse of this chapter: "And he, (Naaman), went, and took in his hand ten talents of silver, six thousand of gold, and ten changes of raiment."

     These things correspond to the blessings proper to a life made up of cognitions of truth and good, which is represented by Syria, but the Israelitish state stands for something much higher; hence the man of God refused to take any. But what do these gifts stand for? To understand this, we should notice the order in which they are named, and in what connection the number six is used. The ten talents of silver denote all the cognitions of truth which are mostly in the memory. These are mentioned first because they are considered the primary of religion. Six thousand of gold are the knowledges of good, which are ultimated in the struggles to live an outwardly well-ordered life, and the ten changes of raiment signify the external scientifics which adorn the two former. As these blessings are of an external kind, it is plain why the prophet would not accept them; for all his deeds were in strict accordance with the internal dictates.

     But are not these blessings of use to those who are in the Divine truths, which the man of God stands for? No, they are not; for the state of life in which these are the essential principles has been passed long ago. Not, however, that these are not of use as knowledges, but as a state of life they are of no value in the Lord's Church. They who are in the spiritual sense of the Word see and affirm that the purpose of the truth is, that man might be conjoined to the Lord, who is life, and thus live spiritually; which is contained in these words: "As JEHOVAH liveth, before whom I stand." They see clearly that it is contrary to order to return to a former state; wherefore the prophet said: "I will take none." Yet the desire to return to the external life after one has become affirmative to the Divine truth, presses itself on very strongly, even taking the form of a temptation with those who are in the New Church. This is taught in the words: "And he urged him;" but the words: "And he refused," contain an assurance that they always conquer.

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     When they who are meant by the purified Naaman find that external blessings will not be accepted and adjoined to the life of the Divine truth, a reversal of the attitude to these truths take place; which is set forth in these words: "And Naaman said: Let there be given, I pray, to thy servant two mules burden of earth." Here we learn that the former attitude is wholly changed; for as the different things in this story set forth the progression of the regenerate life, therefore it is plain that this request, which is a complete reversal of Naaman's former wish, marks the completion of a transition from one state to another. It dawns upon the soul that the Church cannot find a permanent abiding place, unless the evils of the selfhood are resisted, and thus counterbalanced by the rational truth and good which are proper to it. That these words involve this, is plain from the meaning of "a burden," which means temptations; "two mules" denote rational truth and good, and "earth" from the land of Israel signifies the church in man.

     When the regenerating Naamanites have reached this stage, they begin to actually see what has taken place with them; also the reason why. The changes they have undergone up to this time have been as to faith primarily, but now it becomes established in the life. Evils and falsities are seen in the Divine light, and charity and faith become the dominant elements,-and this establishes the true worship of the Lord. Evils are shunned because they are against the Lord; works of charity are done from a spiritual motive with rational discretion: the Church is loved and receives due honor, and worship is carried on in a worshipful spirit. Now, indeed, are the essentials acquired which make them truly spiritual,-but let no one think that this great work can be accomplished in a short time. Nay! even for an individual it takes years. These are the generals of the word of Naaman to the Man of God: "For thy servant will not offer any more burnt offerings and sacrifices to other gods than JEHOVAH.

     In the eighteenth verse there is a complete portrayal of the ultimation of the spiritual affection of those who have been inverted from a denial of the Lord to the faith of the New Church. There is revealed their actual turn of mind, and also what delights them the most after they have come to the true faith.

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From, the verse just before, we saw that they are true to the essentials of the Heavenly Doctrine, and in this we learn how far they can be raised into a genuine affection for the Church. This, however, does not give a practical knowledge that can apply to any individual,-that belongs to the Lord alone. All that any man can gain is a general knowledge and an insight into the state.

     In the continuation of this Divine story we further learn of the internal condition of life with those who have been imbued with an actual disbelief in the Lord's Divinity. One might think that it is possible to rid oneself of the impressions which false principles have made on the mind providing these are renounced. That, however, cannot always be done; for whatever anyone is interested in from a religious motive molds the external mind, and if it has been a part of a man's religious life after having reached ripe years, it serves either to extend or retard his spiritual possibilities after having entered the Lord's Church.

     Before we enter into the meaning of this verse, let us firmly inculcate into our minds that those whom the cleansed Naaman represents do not leave the New Church after having become imbued with its truths, as the continuation of the narrative would seem to indicate; for in it is simply set forth their internal leaning as to use after they have entered the Church.

     We, who are in the New Church, are often much inclined to minimize the value of the Newchurchmanship of him who is not as staunch as we would require. This would be very wrong, unless we find that the vital principles of the Church are being denied. Wherever we find one who believes in the Heavenly Doctrine and endeavors to worship in the light of them, let us bear in mind that he is a brother, love him as a brother, and from a charitable purpose encourage him to walk in full freedom to our common goal; for if we do not love those who love the same God, the same truths and the same Church, then,-whom do we love' The Lord mercifully takes care of all, and leads each one of us so far as we can be led into the New Church; hence let charity prevail in each and all of us toward all.

     They who are represented by Naaman as a cleansed man are born outside of the sphere of the Church of the New Jerusalem, and have either been brought up in the denial of the Lord's Divinity, or acquired it themselves; but no matter how they have come into this destructive falsity, their belief has left an impression which fixes the limit of their spiritual possibilities.

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This is quite clear from the eighteenth verse, which reads: "In this Jehovah pardon thy servant; when my lord goeth into the house of Rimmon to bow down there, and he is supported by my hand, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, and in bowing down myself in the house of Rimmon, Jehovah pardon, I pray, thy servant in this thing."

     The literal story states that the act of going into the house of Rimmon to worship was known to Naaman as a deed against the Lord; for he even asked in advance that the Lord would pardon him for so doing. While they whom he represents do this spiritually, yet they are not aware of it as a wrong deed, which hinders the development of the true affection for the Church. His entreaty denotes their state of life to be of such a quality that it is ever asking the LORD to forgive all their shortcomings. This is because they are upright, and such a life is ever in the desire that their sins may be forgiven, and it prays: "Have mercy upon me, O GOD, according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sins; for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me."

     Let us now see what it means to bow down, i. e., worship, in the house of Rimmon. The signification of Rimmon, as a name, is not given anywhere in the Writings, but as Rimmon is the Hebrew word for a "pomegranate," and thus is explained in many places, it is quite easy to learn the spiritual' signification of that word. It signifies the cognitions of good and truths; hence by "the house of Rimmon" is meant the good of these cognitions. They are of an external kind and are also called the scientifics of good. They who are represented by the cleansed Naaman find their delight in external good and are swayed by it as by a lord. They enter into the activities of such good with delight; they rejoice in the widening influence of it, and they support it by their strength which is from the spiritual truth.

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These things lie hidden in these words: "When my lord goeth into the house of Rimmon to bow down there, and he is supported by my hand, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon."

     Another circumstance which reveals the unavoidableness of an external spiritual life by those of whom our text treats, is the repetition of the house of Rimmon, and the bowing down there three times. This denotes a plenary conjunction both as to the will and the understanding; for "bowing down" has reference to the former, and "Rimmon" to the latter. (A. C. 9565.)

     After this repetition follows the prayer again: "JEHOVAH pardon, I pray, thy servant in this thing." Here is set forth the constant spiritual desire that the Lord would keep their interiors open to him. When this is done there is conjunction with Him whereby all the shortcomings of life are removed to the circumference, and thus as it were blotted out. The repetition of this prayer twice denotes that the desire for conjunction with the Lord is both internal and external, hence of both the will and the understanding.

     What answer did the prophet give Naaman? This is of the greatest import for us to know; for as the man of God he represents the Lord as the Divine truth of the Word, and as such his answer is conclusive. His answer denotes that there is an inspiration from the Divine truth which causes them to live, to do well and enjoy the blessings which the Lord mercifully bestows upon all who seek Him, and desire to serve Him in the light of His Church. That these things are involved in Elisha's answer, is, because these words: "He said to him," signify influx and perception of the Divine truth, and: "Go in peace," denotes to live and to enjoy the blessings proper to that life.

     Our text closes by saying: "And he went on from him a tract of land."

     Here is revealed the internal state of life of those who are meant by the purified Naaman. We have already seen their chief delight to be of an external nature, such as is proper to the scientifics of good; consequently, all things appeal to them which serve to promote civil and moral good, even trying to raise these to a religious standard.

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We have also seen that their earnest wish is to be conjoined to the Lord, and in the foregoing words we learn where they dwell spiritually. They are the intermediate between the natural and the spiritual, and thus compose the connection between the spiritual heaven and the natural, as is evident from the meaning of the words of "He went on," which means to live; "A tract of land" denotes what is between; hence in the other world they dwell between the natural and the spiritual heaven. (A. C. 4584, 6244.) Amen.
FATHERS.* 1914

FATHERS.*              1914

Ye giants of a generation past,
     How firm your leaders grasped the quivering helm,
And sped the ship, all shaken by the blast,
     To seas where tempests cannot overwhelm.

The course, uncharted, that ye fearless sailed,
     Becomes a highway which on every wind
Brings in some treasure from the Word unveiled,
     To glorify the chambers of the mind.

This hour, could your immortal tongues unbend,
     To sound their secrets on a listening ear,
What wealth of love your messages would send,
     What words of wisdom, loyalty and cheer!

DeCharms, Benade and all that peerless throng,
     Who smile benignly from celestial height,-
The Hands of God your mighty works prolong,
     And guide the ship forever toward the right! M. A. O.

     * Sung at the Founders' Day Banquet, Bryn Athyn, Pa., Jan. 14th, 1914.

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JOHN SCOTUS ERIGENA 1914

JOHN SCOTUS ERIGENA       GUSTAF BOECKSTROM       1914

     As in each of the preceding Churches there had been a morning, noon and night, followed by the dawning of a subsequent dispensation, so the last time of the Christian Church was the very night of all the former Churches regarded as one. But even in this night of nights some bright stars were still shining, vainly seeking to dispel the universal darkness.

     Now in the dawn of the New Jerusalem, when the Lord has removed the clouds that prevented His appearing, the stars that shone in the long night are beginning to fade before the risen such yet these faithful lights should live forever in our memory, immortalized on the pages of history, while the false artificial lights are flickering out.

     The Christian Church in its beginning, though insignificant externally, was mighty and powerful within, being founded on Divine Truth. But when the teachings of the Lord became falsified,-when at the time of the Council of Nice, A. D. 325, the Christian Church forsook the Lord, and instead of a Trinity of God in one person began to believe in three personal gods, and in consequence thereof began to teach the doctrines of faith alone, of predestination and other terrible heresies,-it pronounced its own doom, and henceforth spiritual darkness enfolded the earth. If it had not been for a few flickering torches of light there would not have been left any remnants of truth, and as a consequence all mankind would have been swallowed up in the depth of evils and falsities. But there were remains until the end, and it was upon these remains that the Lord in His Second Coming founded the Church of the New Jerusalem on the earth.

     One of these lingering lights, these links of a slender but continuous chain of teachers of truth in the darkness of the Middle Ages, was John Scotus Erigena. He was a philosopher and theologian, and even outside the New Church he is considered "one of the greatest men of history."

     Concerning his personal life very little is known.

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Probably he was born in Ireland, then called "Scotia Major," between 800 and 815, and was educated in one of its monastic schools, where the Greek Fathers, particularly Origen, were studied. He went later to France, where he was appointed principal of the "School of the Palace" by King Charles the Bald, who especially favored him. He was there very highly esteemed, both for his great knowledge and his ready Irish wit. The following story is told of him. The Irish, (Scots), were even then known as heavy drinkers, and the king, who was worse, tried his heavy wit upon Erigena, who was dining with him: "Can you tell me what is the difference between a Scot and a set?" The quick answer was: "The table, your Majesty."

     John Scotus took a leading part in the doctrinal controversies of his age, and wrote several works of original and independent thought. His language is often to be understood figuratively and sometimes in the opposite sense. He seems to have had almost a prophetical idea of some of the principal doctrines of the New Church, especially concerning the Divine Trinity. He says that God is the essence of all things. God alone truly is and "is all that is and that is not." He is the beginning, middle and end of all things. Although not even the angels can see the essence of God, yet His Being,-i. e., the Father,-can be seen in the beings of things; His Wisdom-i. e., the Son-in their orderly arrangement; and His Life i. e., the Holy Spirit-in their constant motion. And he further compares the Trinity to light, heat and radiance united in the flame, and he understood by the "three persons" the "names of the aspects and relations under which God's being comes out." (DE DIVISIONE NATURAE, i:13 and ii:33.)

     God realizes Himself in creation and in every part of it. He subsists outside and above the world, which has no independent existence apart from God, but is His manifestation. God is what creates, and He is not Himself created. In Him all things exist from eternity, and creation is their appearing in time. The Divine Thought is the primary of ah things. God made the universe not from nothing but from His own Essence. The creation in the ultimate is but "the shadow of real existence." (Ibid. iii:10, 19; i:27, 56-58.)

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     Creation is the effect of the Divine Nature which, as cause, eternally produces its effects. The pure Being of God cannot immediately manifest itself in the finite, whence it is necessary that the prototypes should be created in which He can appear. In creation God passes through these prototypes or primordial causes into the world of visible things. Thus God enters the finite in all created existences. And our life is God's life in us. We know God, because He reveals Himself to us now as He first occasionally appeared to the pious in visions and then constantly in the form of different virtues. (Ibid. iil:23; ii:19, 22; i:7-9.) The principle of the development of the "primordial ideas" is the Holy Spirit. The center of the phenomenal world is man. All nature is created in man and subsists in him, because the idea of all its parts is implanted in him. Adam is not so much an historical' personage as "the human race in its pre-existent condition." The Paradise is to be spiritually understood. (Ibid. ii :22, 9; iv:7, 14.)

     There is a return to God as the end of all creation; and Erigena emphasizes the human freedom in saying that free will is the very essence of man, which was not lost by the fall. There is in God neither before nor after, neither past nor future, and, therefore, God cannot foreknow nor less fore-ordain in more than one sense, that is, the predestination of the righteous, to holiness, only to the good, because God Himself is goodness. God does not know evil as such, but as "the negation of the good." There is no divine predestination as to the punishment of the evil, for this ensues in consequence of their violation of law. They punish themselves. Hell is the rebellions will. Punishment is simply the inner displeasure of the sinner at the failure of his evil aims. For God has established immutable laws, and he who sins against them punishes himself. (DE DIVINA PRAEDESTINATIONE, xvi:i, ix, x.)

     The Holy Supper he regards as "a typical representation of a spiritual communion with Christ," and says that the bread and wine are "symbols of the defied, omnipresent humanity of Christ which communicates itself in a real manner to believing souls." (DE. DIV. NAT. v:38.)

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     Such are in brief the leading teachings of John Scotus Erigena, and it surely seems wonderful that this man, living in the darkness of the Middle Ages, should have had such clear perceptions of truth. We might find an explanation of the phenomena in the statement of Neander, that Erigena "poured out many a devout and earnest prayer to a redeeming God for his inward illumination, and that he diligently sought for it in the Sacred Scripture." (CHURCH HISTORY, P. 462.) And it was, as has been said above, through such open and searching minds as his that some remnants of truth were preserved until the Second Coming of the Lord, and the salvation of man on earth thereby made possible.

     It seems often to be the fate of men of pre-eminent genius not to be appreciated by their contemporaries. Erigena was considered a heretic and a madman. But if the ideas of John Scotus Erigena had no great influence while he lived, much was afterwards drawn from him, though it might be said that he had no real followers. It is now acknowledged that he was a man of "rare originality and mental vigor, full of ideas and bold arguments, superior to his age." (Schaff's HISTORY of THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, vol. iv, p. 772.) It is no wonder that he was not appreciated in an age of utter darkness; that he was violently assailed and opposed. One of his opponents called him the "Scotch porridge," and his most important work, DE DIVISIONE NATURAE, which contains his whole system, was condemned by the pope, who ordered that all copies of it should be destroyed as being "a book teeming with the worms of heretical depravity."

     On the other hand, we cannot expect from a man living in that age of darkness that he should see only truths. He fell into error on some points. Thus he says that the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures by the Fathers ought not to be questioned, thus putting them almost upon a level with the Sacred Writers, though, when the Fathers differ among themselves, it might be allowed to select that interpretation "which most recommends itself to reason as accordant with Scripture," and "where church authority contradicts reason, its language must be understood figuratively, and, if necessary, in the opposite sense." (DE DIV. NAT. ii:16, iv:16.) But he sees that there is a hidden meaning of the text which is manifold, inexhaustible and striking like a. peacock's feathers." (DE DIV. NAT. iv:5.)

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     He further says that "self-consciousness cannot be predicated of God," (DE DIV. NAT, ii:28), which, of course, is a great mistake, and that "God is an essence in three substances, (Ibid. i:19), though we know that there is only one real substance which is pure love; the form of this substance is wisdom, and its activity is the proceeding or the Holy Spirit.

     He further says that "man was never sinless, for sin, as a limitation and defect, is not accidental or temporal, but original in the creation and nature of man," an opinion which evidently is a great mistake, inasmuch as God could not create anything defective for God saw that all that He had created was "very good," and sin has come into the world through perversion by the fall of man.

     His teaching that "the very character of wickedness renders it unreal, and, therefore, not an object of divine knowledge," (Neander's CHURCH HIST. p. 465), seems somewhat obscure, but may be explained by his understanding of evil, that it is "the negation of the good."

     In regard to salvation he uses another obscure expression, saying that "salvation, as far as we are concerned, consists in speculative knowledge. We unite ourselves with God by virtue of contemplation." (DE DIV. NAT. V:21.) But On the other hand, he says that "the death of the Savior is only important as the means of resurrection, which began with the resurrection and exaltation of Christ, because then all things began to return to their union in their primordial causes, and this return constitutes salvation." (Ibid. v.)

     He further speaks of a "deliverance from the bodily forms" and "the abrogation of sex," which seems to indicate an idea of the spirit after death as something very indefinite, according to the common old church ideas.

     As has been said above, Erigena regarded the Holy Supper as "a spiritual communion with Christ," but he seems to consider that "in the sacrament of the altar the true body and blood of Christ were not present, but only a memorial of them." (DE PRAED. c. 31.) But we know that the Lord is there, actually present in His Divine Human.

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     However, though he made mistakes in some respects, the fact remains that through the dense mist of falsities around him he saw certain fundamental truths. As merely a forerunner it was not given to him to explore more widely the rich land through which he was passing; he saw but glimpses of truth, but of genuine truth.
MOHAMMEDANS AND THE NEW CHURCH 1914

MOHAMMEDANS AND THE NEW CHURCH       ASTLEY H. GUYLEE       1914

     MOHAMMEDANISM.

     The religion propagated by Mohammed is one well worthy of our attention, not merely on account of the fact that "the prophet" was the founder of an empire which in less than a century spread itself over a greater part of the world than the Romans were ever masters of, but chiefly on account of the success which Mohammedanism has had in the world, and is still having in Africa and Asia where the old churches are failing in their efforts to convert the people.

     As there is no doubt that, triumphant as this religion has been, it must at last come to naught, it is our duty to understand in what way the Moslems can be reached and the best means of approaching them.

     It was not very long after Mohammed's death when his followers began to study carefully the text of the Koran. They found one theme which loomed far above all others, and, taking into consideration the state of the world at that time, they believed it would unite men of all religious opinions in one feeling of admiration. This theme was the grandeur, majesty and beneficence of One Supreme Being, the Creator, ruler and preserver of the world. "Shame!" exclaims the Mohammedan in India today, "that our educators should think of Allah being more than one person; even my ignorant brothers in the deserts of Arabia generations ago could not regard Allah as two, still less three."

     Mohammed suggested the name "Islam" for the religion which he propagated, and this must be regarded as its proper name.

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It signifies "resignation," for trust and resignation to the will of Allah were second only in importance to the acceptance of one God, and of Mohammed as his prophet.

     With all its errors, the followers of this religion must be admired for the way in which they live up to their belief. A pious Moslem binds himself to the performance of five duties,-acceptance of the formula repeated so frequently by these people: "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet;" prayer; alms-giving; the fast of Ramadan; and the pilgrimage to Mecca.

     Excluding the acceptance of the formula, the most important of all the duties is prayer. The Moslem must pray five times in twenty-four hours,-at daybreak, noon, in the afternoon about three o'clock, just after sunset, and at nightfall. He should pray in the simplest possible apparel, and there must be at least partial washing of the body beforehand. Every mosque is provided with a well, but in such places as the desert, where there may not be any water, sand may be used. A small rug called a "prayer-carpet" is recommended for kneeling upon, but in India a strip of white cloth is frequently employed. The worshiper must be careful that he faces towards Mecca. In the mosques there are niches which mark the direction in which the holy city lies, but when outside a mosque, the pious Moslem can find out the place towards which he ought to pray by means of ready-made tables or charts.

     Five times every day does the true believer say the following chief prayer of the Moslems,-the most beautiful part of the Koran:

     In the name of Allah, the compassionate Compassioner. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, the Compassionate, the merciful, Sovereign of the Day of Judgment! Thee we worship, and of Thee we beg assistance. Guide us in the right way, in the way of those to whom Thou art gracious, on whom there is no wrath, and who go not astray.

     This is followed by the reciting of the creed: "Say: He is one God; God the Eternal. He begetteth not, nor is begotten; nor is there one like unto Him."

     It is expected that on Fridays the men shall pray in the mosque, but the presence of women there might be detrimental to the true devotion of the men, and principally for this reason women are not supposed to pray in the building; but it is a mistake to conclude that they must never enter it.

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     Next to prayer stands the duty of giving alms. These were formerly of two kinds, legal and voluntary, but now there is practically no distinction between the two terms. While referring to almsgiving, it has occurred to the writer that the majority of the natives of India are adherents of religions in which consideration for the poor, the aged and the infirm is not only imperative, but at the same time faithfully practiced.

     Fasting is also very important for the followers of Mohammed. "The odor of the mouth of him who fasteth is more grateful to Amah than that of musk." Fasting not only refers to abstaining from food, but also to restraining all the members from sin, the heart from worldly cares, and the thoughts as much as possible from everything besides God. The principal fast is during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Mohammedan year, but it is now much less observed than in former times. Mohammed is said to have had his first revelation in this month. "The month of Ramadan shall ye fast, in which the Koran was sent down from heaven. He among you who shall be sick or on a journey, shall fast an equal number of other days." (KORAN, Sura ii.) A Moslem is enjoined to abstain then from eating, drinking, bathing, smoking and smelling perfumes from dawn to sunset of every day. After sunset, however, he may enjoy himself until he can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daybreak. This yearly fast is followed by the feast of Beiram.

     The pilgrimage to Mecca is expressly commanded in the Koran. "We appointed the holy house of Mecca to be a place of resort for mankind." (Sura ii.) "The first house appointed unto men to worship in was that which is in Mecca. Therein is the place where Abraham stood. And it is a duty towards God, incumbent on those who are able to go thither, to visit this house." (Sura iii.) "Sura" corresponds to "chapter."

     The writer has seen Moslems in India with their beards dyed, and on asking why this was done, he was told that they were those to whom peace was assured as they had returned from the tedious journey to the home of Mohammed.

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They will bring back some silver money and a small solid silver slipper, which is a sort of passport to their sacred city.

     Lastly, there is the command of the Koran to make war against infidels. If a man is slain while fighting in defense of Islam, he is reckoned a martyr, and is destined for the highest immortal bliss; a deserter from a holy war has forfeited has life in this world as well as in the world to come. "God hath preferred those who fight for the faith before those who sit still, by adding unto them a great reward." (Sura iv.) "Those who have employed their persons in the defense of God's true religion, shall be in the highest degree of honor with God." (Sura ix.) "Verily, God hath purchased of the true believers their souls and their substance, promising them the enjoyment of paradise, on condition that they fight for the cause of God." (Sura ix.) "The sword," saith Mohammed, "is the key of heaven and of hell; a drop of blood shed in the cause of God, a night spent in arms, is of more avail than two months' fasting or prayer. Whosoever falls in battle, his sins are forgiven at the day of judgment; his wounds shall be resprendent as vermillion, and odoriferous as musk; and the loss of his limbs shall be supplied by the wings of angels and cherubim." (GIBBON, vol. ix, P. 256.) Yet the Moslems of western India positively deny that it is a rule or faith for them to force their religion upon others, as is generally believed. "Fight for the religion of God against those who fight against you, but transgress not by attacking them first, for God loveth not the transgressors." (KORAN, Sura ii.)

     The Mohammedans do not essentially believe in an invisible God, for they assert that God will be seen at the resurrection with the eyes of the understanding. They are specially averse to the "Christian" doctrine concerning the trinity of persons in the Godhead. Swedenborg says with good reasons that the Mohammedans abhor and almost hate the Christians because the latter worship three Gods. (S. D. 6021.) It has often occurred to the writer whether the missionaries in India have yet come to a realization of this fact that to tell a native they worship three persons in the Godhead is invariably regarded by him as the same as believing on three distinct and independent Gods.

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It is hard to knock the points of distinction into his head, or rather for the missionaries to get out of the maze in which they are finally placed. Many Mohammedans believe that the other two persons of the Christian Trinity consist of Jesus and Mary. "And when God shall say unto Jesus at the last day, O Jesus, son of Mary, hast Thou said unto men, Take me and my mother for two gods beside God? He shall answer, Praise be unto Thee! It is not for me to say that which I ought not." (KORAN, Sura v.)

     God is the Creator of all things in heaven and earth; He rules and preserves all things, but He has no offspring. Jesus is regarded as a prophet like Moses, although His birth was due to a divine intervention. Jesus is not acknowledged as one with the Father, yet they acknowledge Christ as the Messiah, and believe that Jesus had no earthly father; also they regard Him as the wisest of all men.

     Probably the following quotations from the Koran will throw more light on the subject now entered upon than one's own words:

     We sent our spirit Gabriel unto her (Mary), and he appeared unto her in the shape of a perfect man. He said, I am the messenger of thy Lord, and am sent to give thee a holy son. She said, how shall I have a Son, seeing a man hat not touched me? Gabriel replied, so shall it be; thy Lord saith, This is easy with me! Wherefore she conceived Him. And she brought the child to her people. And they said unto her, O Miriam* now hast thou done a strange thing. O sister of Aaron, thy father was not a bad man. . . . But she made signs unto the child to answer them. Whereupon the child said, "Verily I am the servant of God, he hath appointed me a prophet!" This was Jesus, the son of Miriam; the Word of Truth. It is not meet for God that he should have any Son. (Sura xix.)
     * Mohammed mistook Mary for Miriam.

     O Miriam, verily God sendeth thee good tidings, that thou shalt bear the Word, proceeding from Himself; His name shall be Christ Jesus. Mohammed is no more than an apostle. (Sura iii.)

     Nevertheless, the Mohammedans to whom I have spoken, insisted that Mohammed was the greatest of all the prophets. It should be mentioned that they believe in six social prophets,- Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed.

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     Verily Christ Jesus, the son of Miriam, is the apostle of God, and His Word, which He sent to Miriam, and a spirit proceeding from Him. He shall he a sign of the approach of the last hour wherefore doubt not thereof. (KORAN.)

     They believe that Christ was not really crucified, but taken up to God. "They slew Him not, neither crucified, but He was represented by one in His likeness. . . . They did not really kill Him, but God took Him up unto Himself, and God is mighty and wise. And those who have received the Scriptures but believe not in Him . . . on the day of resurrection He shall be a witness against them." (Sura iv.)

     However, they do not really acknowledge the Divine of the Lord, because they cannot comprehend how the Creator Himself could come into the world, (D. P. 255; S. D. 5600), nor how God could have any Son, since He had no wife. Consequently He is not God, nor equal to God. (KORAN.) Therefore, they acknowledge Jesus as a perfect natural man. (C. L. 341)

     It has been stated that the Mohammedans claim that their Mohammed was the greatest of all prophets, and the writer has never heard a Moslem state anything to the contrary, yet we read that many make Jesus greater than their prophet, since the latter was not miraculously conceived nor taken up bodily into heaven. (D. P. 255) It must not be forgotten that they are separated into several sects, and that opinions are divided on many subjects, e. g., concerning the Lord, Paradise, etc.

     The Moslems are absolutely required to believe in Angels. These are endowed with a kind of immaterial body, and stand between God and man. They are neither males nor females, and are free from all depravity and sin. Some of the first rank among them are entranced in the contemplation of the divine perfection which they witness, so that they are ignorant of the fact that the Almighty has created the world and mankind. There are four chief angels,-Jabril, (Gabriel), Maikail, (Michael), Azrael and Israfil. The message of revelation is the business of Gabriel; Israfil has to attend to the blowing of the trumpet; the surety of professions is Michael's; and Azrael keeps watch over the souls.

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     The angels can in some form appear to the inhabitants of our earth; "especially to the eyes of the guides of the ways, from among the possessors of constancy, the prophets and apostles."

     There are good and evil spirits of a grosser fabric than the angels, and these spirits are subject to death. One of them was rejected by God because he refused to pay homage to Adam;. This one, whose name is Iblis or Azazil, is now the head of all the evil spirits.

     An important article of faith is the belief in the resurrection and a final judgment. An angel comes to the graves of the dead and announces that two other angels, Munkar and Nakir, will be coming to question them regarding their ideas of God and their belief in Mohammed. If the person questioned gives a right answer, then they keep his grave open, and make a window which will enable him to behold his future dwelling in heaven. But if his answer does not prove satisfactory, they beat his face with a club and squeeze him in his grave so tightly that a noise issues from his body. They also open a window so that he might see his future fate in hell. All infidels continue to undergo unspeakable tortures until the day of resurrection. No place in the meantime will receive them, so their soul's remain in a well in the Chamber of Death.

     Concerning the day of resurrection, it is stated that Mohammed could not learn the time. It is a mystery,-a perfect secret to all but God alone. However, believers are given some guidance so as to judge when that day is at hand. There will be great distress over the earth, tumults, seditions and wars. People will pretend to be religious, and the greatest hypocrites will attain to the highest earthly honors. Lastly, and most important, the buildings of Medina will extend to Mecca. When the period of the world shall be terminated, the name of God shall not be pronounced by any tongue; then, by God's orders, shall Israfil sound the trumpet and extinguish all light. Afterwards, during ages, there shall be no motion upon the face of the earth, until Israfil shall again blow the trumpet. When the day of resurrection arrives, the earth will be like a planet of pure silver, and in this earth no blood shall be shed, and no crimes shall be committed.

     All actions during life on earth are recorded, and at the last judgment the angels shall place the record on the right of the virtuous, and on the left of the iniquitous.

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If the good actions are in excess of the evil, the person goes to heaven; but if the scale with sins weighs down the other, the sinner must expect to enter hell.

     On that day shall a man be told that which he hath done first and last. A man shall be an evidence against himself: and though he offer his excuses they shall not be received. Some countenances shall be bright, looking towards their Lord, and some countenances shall be dismal. Doth man think that he shall be left at full liberty, without control? Was he not a drop of seed, which was emitted? Afterwards he became a little coagulated blood: and God formed him, and fashioned him with just proportion: and made of him two' sexes, the male and the female. Is not He who hath done this able to quicken the dead? (KORAN, Sura lxxv.)

     After judgment, all shall be driven over an invisible bridge, which is sharper than the edge of a sword and thinner than a hair. This bridge reminds one of the "Chinvat" of the Parsees, and the "Wogho" of the Chinese.

     Mohammedans believe in seven heavens. Concerning Paradise, there is much dispute among the followers of the prophet. Some, principally the orthodox, say it is situated above the seven heavens or in the seventh heaven. Other authorities assert that this place is only for half-saints, and that it is divided from hell by a partition. We know the Koran often speaks of the rivers of Paradise as a principal ornament thereof, and that all its glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and ravishing houris with their large black eyes. These are free from all natural impurities and defects, and are secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearls.

     The description of paradise, which is promised unto the pious therein are rivers of incorruptible water; and rivers of milk, the taste whereof changeth not; and rivers of wine, pleasant unto those who drink; and rivers of clarified honey: and therein shall they have plenty of all kinds of fruits; and pardon from their Lord, (KORAN, Sura xlvii.)

     Martyrs and the blessed depart to Al-Jannah, or the abode of eternal delight. Doubtless the sensual imagination of Mohammed himself has added greatly to its pleasures, which will be endless. There they will be attended by youths whom one would think at first to be scattered pearls.

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They will be allowed to drink wine out of sparkling cups, and their heads shall not ache through partaking thereof. They will feast reclining on gorgeous couches, will wear brilliant garments, be surrounded with sweet odors and music of the most enchanting nature; but above all, they will enjoy the company of the daughters of Paradise, who are created of pure musk.

     All those destined for heaven will be allotted to a certain gradation according to the estimation of their deeds on earth. The ordinary believer either stays near the grave or is in the lowest heaven, which they consider is the place where Adam is.

     Hell is divided into seven apartments, one below another, respectively assigned to evil Mohammedans, Jews, Christians, Sabians, Magians, idolators, and,-lowest of all,-to the hypocrites, who in their hearts followed no religion at all; although outwardly they appeared to be saintly. Over each of these stories they believe there will be set a guard of angels, to whom the condemned will confess the just judgment of God. Their prophet has been very exact in describing the Various torments of hell which, according to him, the wicked will suffer. The Moslems, and all those who professed the Unity of God, will finally be freed from suffering, but endless punishment awaits all unbelievers and idolators. The Moslems in hell, after expiating their crimes by their misery through pain and torture, will be distinguished by the marks of prostration on those parts of their bodies with which they used to touch the ground in prayer while on earth, and over which the fire will have no power. Being known by this characteristic, they will be released by the mercy of God at the intercession of Mohammed and the blessed. When they come out of hell, they shall wash themselves free of smoke in the Kawser, a river of Paradise, the water of which is "whiter than milk or silver, sweeter than honey, smoother than cream, and more odoriferous than musk."

     There are certain divinely given Scriptures, revealed successively to the different prophets. Originally there was a large number, but only four have survived,-the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Koran.

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The first three are believed to have undergone so many corruptions and alterations, that though there may possibly be some part of the true Word of God therein, yet no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands of the Jews and Christians.

     To the Moslems, the Koran is the Word of God. It was revealed little by little and at various intervals. "Verily we have sent down unto thee the Koran by a gradual revelation," (KORAN, Sura lxxvi.) Its contents are extremely varied. God is magnified as the One, the All-powerful. Idolatry is unsparingly condemned. Many passages contain moral reflections, and there are others on ceremonial or civil laws; also special rules for individuals. Even the regulation of Mohammed's harem is not forgotten. The unbounded reverence of the Mohammedans for the Koran reaches its climax in the dogma that this book, being the divine Word is eternal and uncreated. It is immanent in God. This dogma has been accepted by the majority of Mohammedans. Besides commentaries, the Moslems possess a whole literature bearing on their sacred book.

     (To be continued.)

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MYTHOLOGY OF EGYPT 1914

MYTHOLOGY OF EGYPT       C. TH. ODHNER       1914

     VII.

     OSIRIS.

     Our studies in the Theology of the Ancient Egyptians have taken us through a course quite similar to the sequence of subjects in the first chapter of THE TRUE CIIRISTIAN RELIGION: "Egyptian Monotheism" corresponding to "The Unity of God;" Khnemu representing "The Divine Esse, which is Jehovah;" Amen, "the Divine Existere;" and Ra, "the Divine Essence:" We then took up Ptah and Thoth, corresponding to the "Doctrine of the Word or the Sacred Scriptures" of the Ancient Church and we will now present the story of OSIRIS as prefiguring the Doctrine of "the Lord the Redeemer."

     From the first dynasty to the last Osiris was worshiped as the national god of Egypt, and it is generally admitted that the whole Osirian theology was based upon systems of re6gious thought and life, long preceding the dynastic period, and therefore dating from the Ancient Church itself. To Osiris were ascribed all the attributes of the One Supreme God who had created all things, and he was moreover regarded as the only God who was able to bestow life everlasting, because he alone had the power of making "men and women to be born again." (Budge, THE GODS OF THE EGYPTIANS, vol. i. p. 152.) "These things were declared of no other god, and no other god united in his person the attributes of an ethical god, and an almighty creative god, and a god who was the vivifier of the dead. The conception of Osiris included the conceptions of every other god, but the conception of no other god included that of Osaris." (Ib.) "From hundreds of funeral and other texts we learn that Osiris was held to be partly divine and partly human," [or, to speak more correctly, Divinely Human]. "Unlike any other Egyptian god he possessed two natures and two bodies, the one divine and the other human, and two souls, the one divine and the other human, and two spirits, the one divine and the other human." (Ib. p. 150.)

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[Drawing of Osiris in the Judgment Hall.] He alone of all the gods had been born a man on the earth; here he had redeemed mankind from ignorance and evil, but had been treacherously slain by the powers of darkness. After death, however, he arose again in a complete and glorified human body, a body Divine and at the same time human. As such he "passed into the region of the Underworld, where he became the judge and god of the dead, and, as we have seen, was made the possessor of all the attributes of the sun-god Ra and of the great One God." (Ib.) In other words, to him was given all power in heaven and on earth and the right to judge the quick and the dead.

     The figure and story of Osiris is nothing less than the Egyptian representation of the original Messianic prophecy, derived from the Ancient Word, the story of the Incarnation of the Word which was in the beginning with God, the story of the Lord in His human, the one Divine Person in whom dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

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"From first to last Osiris was to the Egyptians the god-man who suffered, and died, and rose again, and reigned eternally in heaven." (G. E. ii:126.) He was, Par excellence, "the Lord," and throughout the history of Egypt his name was used almost as the term "the Lord" is being used by the members of the New Church.

     Numerous attempts have been made to explain the meaning of the name "Osiris," (in Egyptian As-ar), but without success, and, says Dr. Budge, "the truth of the matter seems to be that the ancient Egyptians knew just as little about the original meaning of the name As-ar, as we do, and that they had no better means of obtaining information about it than we have." (G. E. ii:114.)     The Egyptologists can derive no etymological light from the hieroglyphics composing his name-a throne and an eye-a very simple yet baffling combination. As to the spiritual significance of these signs they are equally in the dark, for it does not seem to have occurred to them that a throne always represents Heaven, and the eye is the Eye of the Heavenly Father, the God-Man who alone sees and reigns in Heaven, the Visible God who is seen in the heavenly sun.

     The figure of Osiris is invariably represented as a human form in the white shroud of a mummy; his face and hands are always bare and generally colored a light green; on his head he wears the white crown of Upper Egypt, bordered with ostrich plumes; in the hands of his crossed arms he holds the curved shepherd's crook and the flagellum.

     The crown of Osiris is of a form peculiar to himself exclusively, and is worn by no other divinity unless to signify a merging with the idea of Osiris. It is an especially rounded crown of Upper Egypt to represent the predominating character of the Divine Good, for Osiris was most especially the good god, the god of Divine Goodness; sometimes the curved ram's horns of Khnemu are seen beneath the crown, for Khnemu was said to be "the soul of Osiris," (G. E. i:103; ii:131), even as we might say that the Divine Esse is the soul of the Divine Human.

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[Drawing of Osiris protected by Isis and Nephthys.]

     The mummied form on the maat pedestal clearly represents the glorified Human as the Word fulfilled, the face and hands bare and green to represent the Divine life shining through the shroud of the literal sense. The shepherd's crook or staff is the symbol of heavenly rewards for the faithful of the flock; and the flagellum or whip the symbol of everlasting punishment for the unfaithful. In this connection we must quote the statement of Dr. Budge in his most recent work, OSIRIS AND THE EGYPTIAN RESURRECTION, vol. i. p. 79: "Osiris was 'the great Word,' and he was 'the Word of what cometh into being and what is not.' In other words, Osiris the Word spake the words through which all things in heaven came into being from non-existence." In a very ancient version of the BOOK OF THE DEAD, dating from the first dynasty, we find this eternal "Osiris-Word" uttering the following sentence: "I am Yesterday, and I am Today, and I have the power to be born a second time," (G. E. ii:116),-in substance meaning "I am He who was, and who is, and who is to come."

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     The chief title or attribute of Osiris was "Un-nefer," a word which Dr. Brusch derives from un, "to open, to make manifest," and neferu, "good things," (REL. UND MYTH. p. 81), and Osiris was above all the other deities "the Good Being," the one supremely good, the Divine Good itself. "We see in him the goodness of the Deity, which was supposed to have been manifested upon earth for the benefit of mankind." (Wilkinson, M. C. 4:325.)

     THE STORY OF OSIRIS.

     Before Osiris came into the world, the Egyptians were savages and did not know how to cultivate the fruits of the earth. But "Osiris taught them the art of making agricultural implements, field labor, the rotation of crops, the harvesting of wheat and barley, and vine culture. As he had been the model of a just and pacific king, so did he desire to be that of a victorious conqueror of nations; and, placing the regency in the hands of Isis, he went forth to war against Asia, accompanied by Thoth and Anubis. [Compare the journey of Jupiter and Mercury]. He made little or no use of force and arms, but he attacked men by gentleness and persuasion, softened them with song in which voices were accompanied by instruments, and taught them also the arts which he had made known to the Egyptians. No country escaped his beneficent action, and he did not return to the banks of the Nile until he had traversed and civilized the world from one horizon to the other." (Maspero, HISTORY OF EGYPT, i:249)

     No connected account of the earthly life and death of Osiris has been found among the Egyptian papyri and monuments. According to Plutarch, in his book DE ISIDE ET OSIRIDE, Osiris was the son of Kronos and Rhea, who correspond to the Egyptian gods Seb and Nut. On his return to Egypt from the foreign expedition of peaceful conquest, as described above, he resumed his beneficent reign but was betrayed by his red-headed and evil-minded brother, Typhon, whom the Egyptians know under the name of Set.

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[Drawing of Isis mourning over the body of Osiris.] The latter, who had long coveted the crown of Egypt and the possession of Isis, now formed a conspiracy with seventy-two officers of the court and invited Osiris to a banquet, in the midst of which he brought in a wooden chest of great beauty and cunning workmanship,-probably a highly ornamented mummy case. This was offered as a present to anyone of the guests whom it should exactly fit; one after another tried it, but without winning the prize, but when finally Osiris lay down within it the conspirators quickly put on the lid, nailed it firmly down, soldered it together with melted lead, and then threw it into the Nile, whence it was carried to the sea. Isis, on learning of her husband's fate, put on mourning apparel and wandered about the world in search of the coffin, which she finally found cast up by the sea at Byblos* in Phoenicia.
     * Byblos means "book,"-an evident allusion to the Ancient Word.

     Opening the box she found her husband's body which she tenderly embraced and conveyed to Egypt in a boat. The body, however, was discovered by Typhon, who on a moon-lit night, cut it up into fourteen pieces which he scattered in various parts of the Nile valley, but which Isis subsequently recovered after a long and mournful search. Later on Osiris returned from the other world, united with Isis, and became the posthumous begetter of his son, Horus, who after long battles vanquished Typhon and avenged his father.

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Such, when eliminating many tedious and fabulous details, is an outline of the story of Osiris as recounted by Plutarch; other details, relating to the resurrection of Osiris, are supplied by original documents in the papyri, of which Dr. Budge presents the following summaries:

     "It is clear from the above passages that the head of Osiris was cut off, that his body was broken up and its internal organs separated, and that his bones were scattered. It is equally clear that his head, bones and organs were re-united, that his body was reconstituted and restored to life, and that he had the power to speak, and to command his followers as he had done when on earth. And by whom was the reconstitution of the body of Osiris effected! The texts answer this question, and tell us that it was by Horus, the son of Osiris, who was assisted by his four sons." (OSIRIS AND THE EGYPTIAN RESURRECTION, vol. i. p. 70.)

     And again we read in the same work, p. 74: "From the above passage it is clear that Horus did not only collect and reunite the flesh and bones of Osiris, but that he made him once more a complete man, endowed with all his members. Having done this, it was necessary to, restore to Osiris the power to breathe, to speak, to see, to walk, and to employ his body in any way he saw fit." The manner in which this was accomplished involves another story. The Eye of Horus had been carried away by the arch-fiend, Set, and it was only after a serious conflict and by the aid of Thoth that Horus succeeded in wresting it away from the enemy. "Now the Eye of Horus contained his soul, that is to say, his life, and during the period when his Eye was in the hands of Set he was a dead god." Nevertheless "Horus restored life to himself by bringing back his Eye to his body, and he made Osiris to live again by transferring the Eye to him." (Ib. p. 32.) "When the body of Osiris was ready to leave this earth for heaven, some difficulty, it seems, arose in raising him up to the sky, and a ladder was found to be necessary." (Ib. p. 75) But when Osiris stepped from the ladder into heaven, he entered in among the company of the gods as a 'living being,' not merely as one about to begin a second state of existence with the limited powers and faculties which he possessed on earth, but as one who felt that he had the right to rule heaven and the denizens thereof.

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[Drawing of Horus giving "life" to Osiris.] He possessed a complete body, the nature of which had been changed by ceremonies which Horus and his seas had performed for him; the number of his bones was complete, and every internal organ and limb were in their place and it a perfect state." (Ib. p. 77.)

     The Divine perfection of the Resurrection-body of Osiris is thus described in a prayer of King Thothmes III: "Homage to thee, O my divine father Osiris; thou hast thy being with thy members. Thou didst not decay, thou didst not turn into worms, thou didst not rot away, thou didst not become corruption, thou didst not putrefy. [And therefore] I shall not decay, I shall not rot, I shall not putrefy, I shall have my being, I shall live, I shall germinate, I shall wake up in peace." On this Dr. Budge comments: "Because the human body of Osiris rose from the dead, the body of every man could rise from the dead also, but man lacked what Osiris possessed, i. e., the divine body, soul, spirit and nature, which had brought about the resurrection of his human body, soul, spirit, and nature." (G. E. i:151.)

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     The question will arise as to the time and circumstances under which Horus was begotten and brought forth. All the Osiris legends agree in representing Isis as being childless when her husband died, and yet it is Horus,-her son by Osiris,-that assists in the Resurrection of his father. We puzzled long over this problem, until, in Dr. Budge's most recent work, we found quoted a remarkable passage in the Pyramid Texts, explaining how Isis succeeded in obtaining a child by her dead husband: "Thy sister Isis cometh unto thee rejoicing in her love for thee. Thou settest her upon thee, thy issue entereth into her, and she becometh great with child like the star Sept. (O. E. R. i:93.) Or, as described in a hymn to Osiris of a somewhat later period:

     "Thy sister Isis acted as a protectoress to thee. Isis avenged her brother. She went about seeking untiringly. She flew, [as a swallow], round and round over the earth uttering wailing cries of grief, and she did not alight on the ground until she had found him. She made light to appear from her feathers, she made air to come into being by means of her two wings, and she cried out the death cries for her brother. She made to rise up the helpless members of him whose heart was at rest; she drew from him his essence, and she made therefrom an heir. She suckled the child in solitariness, and none knew where his place was, and he grew in strength, and his arm increased in strength in the house of Keb." (Ib. p. 94)

     THE INTERPRETATION OF THE MYTH.

     Many attempts have been made to interpret the story of Osiris, but mostly by the inverted method of trying to explain a distinctly religious and spiritual myth as hiding a purely historical and material inner meaning. Some have regarded this story as a "solar myth," describing the daily journey of the sun which, as it were, dies each night and arises glorified in a new day, but the Egyptologists generally reject this interpretation on account of the overwhelmingly human and non-solar character of Osiris.

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Others, including Plutarch himself, believed that Osiris typified "the inundations of the Nile," Isis "the irrigated portion of the land of Egypt," Horus, their offspring, "the vapors and exhalations reproducing rain," Typhon, or Set, "the sea, which swallowed up the Nile water," and so on, and so on, in endless and muddy profusion.

     The early Christian Fathers, such as Clement and Origen, dimly recognized the Messianic import of the legend, and its prophetic nature is, indeed, self-evident. But it has an historical sense, as well, not of a personal' character, but one related to the internal historical sense of the Word.

     I. ITS HISTORICAL MEANING. As we have shown before, the god Ra stands, historically, for a recollection of the Golden Age, like the Greek Ouranos. Seb, his grandson, represents the last posterity of the Most Ancient Church, like the Greek Kronos or Saturn. Osiris and Isis, (like Jupiter and June), are in general the Ancient Church during and after the Flood; and Set, their malignant brother, is the profane spirit of the Antediluvians who, like Typhon and the Titans, tried to destroy the new religion.

     More particularly, Osiris, the beneficent king, teacher, and civilizing missionary, is the New Divine Revelation, the Ancient Word, which was given to Noah. It is of interest to note in this connection that the monuments as well as the classical writers speak of Osiris as "the first to drink wine, and he taught men to plant the vine and how to make and preserve wine," (O. E. R. i:10), and Dr. Budge, (in the same work), reproduces vignettes from the papyri showing a pool of water, near which is growing a luxuriant vine, extending its branches and fruit to the figure of Osiris, (Ib. p. 19),-signs pointing to a tradition concerning Noah. Osiris, moreover, held Hermes in high honor and invariably accepted his advice upon all matters. (Ib. p. 10.) Now Hermes, or Thoth, as we have shown, clearly represents the Ancient Word, and in the first instance the Book of Enoch, which was the first of that Word.

     The new Revelation given to Noah was the object of intense hatred on the part of the Nephilim, and their efforts to pervert and destroy it were the cause of the temptations of the Noahtic Church.

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At first they sealed up Osiris in a mummy case, i. e., covered up the living internal truth by the dogmas of a dead literalism; and afterwards they cut the body of Osiris into pieces and threw them into the Nile, i. e., perverted the truth by scientific falsities of doctrine. But Isis, the interior affection of truth in the new spiritual Church, had already conceived the essence of the new Revelation, and in the solitude of the papyrus swamp she brought forth Horus, i. e., the real spirit of the Divine Word. It was this Spirit that vanquished the powers of darkness, and when the understanding of this Spirit, (the Eye of Horus), was applied to the dead letter of the Word, it rose again, glorified and Divine in every part, to reign supreme in the Ancient Church and in the Ancient Heaven.

     II. THE OSIRIS MYTH AS THE SUPREME MESSIANIC PROPHECY IN THE CHURCH OF EGYPT. As all the historicals of the Old Testament are at the same time prophetical,-all of them pointing to the Coming of the Messiah,-so also were the historicals of the Ancient Word. Osiris, among the Egyptians, figured not only as a tradition of the past, but also as the prophecy of the Hope of the Ages. The Doctrine of the Lord,-His incarnation, temptations, works and victories; His death and His resurrection in a complete and glorified Human body and nature,-was the very corner-stone of the Theology of the Ancient Church in a prophetical sense, even as it is the corner-stone of the Theology of the New Church in a sense fulfilled. That Osiris was the Egyptian form of the prophesied Messiah, was suggested by Sir J. Garner Wilkinson in his MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, as where he says: "I cannot attempt to account for the belief of the Egyptians in the manifestations of the Deity upon earth, similar ideas have been handed dawn from a very early period, and having been imparted to the immediate descendants of Noah and the patriarchs, may have reached the Egyptians through that channel, and have been preserved and embodied in their religious system." (Vol. 4, p. 185) "The discloser of truth and goodness on earth was Osiris: and it is remarkable that, in this character of the manifestation of the Deity, he was said to be 'full of goodness, (grace), and truth,' and after having performed his duties on earth, and fallen a sacrifice to the machinations of Typho, the evil one, to have assumed the office in a future state of judge of mankind." (Ib. p. 189.)

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"The existence of Osiris on earth was, of course, a speculative theory,-an allegory, not altogether unlike the 'avatars' of the Indian Vishnoo; and some may be disposed to think that the Egyptians, being aware of the promises of the real Savior, had anticipated that event, recording it as though it had already happened, and introducing that mystery into their religious system." (Ib. p. 326) Dr. Budge, also, recognizes the remarkable parallelisms between the story of Osiris and the story of the Christ, and regards the former as having prepared the way for the reception of Christianity in Egypt. (G. E. ii:220.) In conclusion we need but point to all that we have adduced above concerning the Divinely Human character of Osiris, and his resurrection in a complete and glorified body. [Drawing of Osiris on his throne. A condemned spirit is driven to hell in the form of a pig.]

     THE OFFICE OF OSIRIS IN THE OTHER WORLD.

     Being himself "Eternity and Everlastingness," it was Osiris who "made men and women to be born again," the new birth being "the birth into the new life of the world which is beyond the grave and is everlasting.

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Osiris could give life because he was life,-he could make men to rise from the dead because he was the resurrection." (G. E. ii:141.) And the Egyptians believed that the name of Osiris would be given after death to all virtuous men and women, without distinction of sex. They would then be "Osiris-men" and "Osiris-women," because having become regenerated, even as he was glorified, they would in a finite measure partake of his infinite quality. To represent this Osirian quality of future angelic companions, the Egyptians placed in the coffins of the deceased great numbers of little figures,-all in the form of Osiris,-which are known as Ushabtiu or "Respondents," because they were to respond for the deceased in the Judgment Hall of Osiris and afterwards work for him and with him in the Elysian fields.

     As for Osiris himself, he sits enthroned for ever in the great Judgment Hall which is situated in Tuat, the world which is intermediate between Heaven and Hell. Here he is the final arbiter of the eternal lot of men and women, for all are finally judged according to their reception or rejection of the Lord.

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Editorial Department 1914

Editorial Department       Editor       1914

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     "By some unhappy mischance," says the editor Of the NEW AGE, Of Australia, "the NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY has not reached us regularly during the current year." The LIFE has worse cause for complaint, for we have not received a single copy of the QUARTERLY for the last two years, and this in spite of frequent remonstrance. What can the matter be?



     In his address to the Swedenborg Society, last year, the president expressed the hope "that one of these days we may have a new biography of Swedenborg written with no prepossessions in his favor or prejudice against him, but designed simply to present to us the man as he was." This desideratum, often expressed, is an utter impossibility, for no one could describe the man as he was without having formed a prepossession in his favor.




     The NEW YORK TIMES speaks with approval of the recent publication of Swedenborg's work, THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, in the Theology and Philosophy series of "Everyman's Library." The great daily observes that "If more people read the works of Swedenborg, there would be less careless use of the term 'mystic,' and various slippery gentlemen from the Orient would find their circle of admirers greatly diminished."



     "The current number of the NEW PHILOSOPHY contains a very unfavorable notice by the editor, the Rev. Alfred Acton, of the translation of the new edition of Swedenborg's PRINCIPIA, recently published by the Swedenborg Society. While disclaiming any intention of holding any one up to contempt or ridicule Mr. Acton does not hesitate to declare that the translation is unworthy of the Society; that it makes Swedenborg to speak with a looseness and inexactitude unworthy of a philosopher; to contradict himself; to utter nonsense; and even to declare what is palpably false.

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He cites, moreover, a number of specific instances of misconception and mistranslation which seem to substantiate these damaging charges. It will be interesting to learn what can be said in reply. A paper on The Offices of Nutrition, from the pen of Miss Lilian Beekman, in the same number, shows profound research, and is very suggestive and informative." (THE NEW AGE, Dec., 1913.)



     From the long belated but very interesting REPORT OF THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY we learn that the total number of Swedenborg's works delivered in 1913 amounted to 8,377, as compared with 11,284 in 1912, and 6,426 in 1911. Of these there were 3,220 volumes of the Theological Works in English, as compared with 2,960 in the previous year; and 218 volumes of the Philosophical Works, as compared with 42 in the previous year. The phototyping of Swedenborg's MSS. has been steadily maintained in Sweden: the INDEX BIBLICUS in three volumes, and the ADVERSARIA in three volumes, (all folio), have been completed and are ready for distribution. Progress has been made with the volume on MISCELLANEA THEOLOGICA, and the first volume of ARCANA COELESTIA, (first draft), is so far completed that the work on vol. II. has been begun.



     The New Church in general and Dr. Deltenre's mission in Brussels in particular received gratis a magnificent advertisement in Dec. 6th, by an account, two columns long, in LE SOIR, the most widely circulated daily in Belgium. This journal had previously offered to give the mission a "puff," at an exorbitant price; but when this was declined, an interviewer called on Dr. Deltenre and became so interested that he wrote and published the account referred to, as a contribution to "The Discovery of Brussels." First there is a brief sketch of the life and work of Swedenborg, then a summary of the Doctrine, and finally an account of the temple at rue Gachard. The whole is extremely favorable, but in his enthusiasm the interviewer, (who signs himself "Fram"), has made some overstatements, as when he speaks of the Swedish chemist, Arrhenius, as one of "the most celebrated adepts of the doctrine."

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It is news to us, also, that "Maurice Maeterlinck has meditated much upon the works of Swedenborg, to whom he has devoted an important essay," and that "he was inspired by the thought of the great Swedish mystic, when he wrote certain scenes in 'The Blue Bird.'"



     "There is sometimes an apparent tendency, in the ranks of professed Newchurchmen, to confuse the mind by attributing to Swedenborg, the man, the beauty and rationality of what he has written. Indeed, such admiration for Swedenborg seems to be growing among his followers, and there may be danger that we thereby lose our grasp upon the vital features of what is taught in the Writings. Instead of saying, as some of our ministers do, in quoting the doctrines for instruction, that 'Swedenborg teaches,' would it not be better to say 'the Writings teach,' and thus convey a clearer idea of where and by what authority we may look for the love and wisdom outflowing from the opened Word? It is in the Writings we can verify the living truths revealed by the Lord alone for His New Church upon earth,-the New Jerusalem. This will not detract from Swedenborg, but elevate and sanctify the intrinsic value of the spiritual knowledge he was instructed to impart to mankind." (A. H. C. in the MESSENGER for Dec. 31, 1913.)



     Mr. T. Mower Martin, commenting in the MESSENGER for Dec. 31, on the tendency to "abbreviate the Writings," observes that we have "no valid right to curtail, or in any way mutilate, any book or books that we believe to be a Divine revelation, and that no endeavor to popularize them, or even to cheapen their production, gives us any such right; but that we are by so doing dissociating them from their source in the Word as it is expounded, as to the internal senses, in the Arcana, so that while we can sap and believe that the Arcana and the Apocalypse Revealed contain much of the Word in its natural, spiritual and celestial senses, so far as the Lord sees fit to give us power to approach Him in these temples of His Holiness, we are not allowed even to call the other books the Word which have not the same connection with the letter of the Word, as we are plainly taught in S. S. 39: 'The celestial and spiritual senses are not the Word without the natural sense which is the sense of the letter.'

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It seems that this is a good time to consider our attitude toward the Writings as a Divine revelation and not allow cheapness to stop us from seeking first the kingdom of God by doing thoroughly and legitimately whatever we undertake to do for the spread of the Lord's kingdom on earth, knowing that we are only instruments in His hand, while our only possibility of real happiness here or hereafter is by co-operation with Him."

     It would seem that Mr. Martin acknowledges as the Word those volumes of the Writings in which books of the Old and the New Testament are quoted and explained seriatim. But is not the DIVINE TRUTH the same in all the Writings? It is the Divine Truth, the continuous and universal Divine Truth, that causes the letter to be the Word, and this Divine Truth is the same in every Divine Revelation. Moreover, the books constituting the Second Advent of the Lord are in themselves, and in tote, a revelation in Divine words and letters, the literal sense of the Word on the rational plane. The Writings are not "the celestial and spiritual senses without the natural sense," but they are the natural-rational sense of the spiritual and celestial senses.



     THE NEW AGE for December, in a review of the NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY, states that "the editor, the Rev. Jas. F. Buss, finds himself in general accord with the Rev. W. L. Worcester, and the Rev. John Whitehead on the subject of The Divine and Human in Revelation, and The Word and the Heavenly Doctrine. The editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE, the Rev. C. Th. Odhner, on the other hand, combats the views of all three. An expression used by Mr. E. C. Mongredien, in his caustic review of Mr. McGeorge's work above-mentioned, has always seemed to us to possess great force and cogency in this connection also. He points out that the author's main idea is based on no direct statement in any of the Writings.

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Yet they are very plain and lucid as to the things which it is really necessary to know, and it may naturally be concluded that if the Writings, as Mr. Odhner maintains, are the only authority and the only law to be recognized by the Church, they would have said so, explicitly and unmistakably. We certainly find ourselves more in accord with the REVIEW and the QUARTERLY On this point than with LIFE. With Mr. Buss's cordial appreciation of the educational work which is being done by the Academy, we heartily agree, and we could wish, though in vain, that it were possibly to emulate it elsewhere. In no sphere of human life do the psychological principles unfolded in the Heavenly Doctrines promise a richer harvest than in the education and training of the young. Some day they will be more generally applied."

     Our Australian contemporary does not appear to realize how completely the Lord in His Second Coming leads the men of His New Church "in freedom according to reason." It would be contrary to His Divine Love and Wisdom to claim Authority by any statement in His Writings so "explicit and unmistakable" as to compel belief. Even in the former Revelations He has made no such statements, but ever speaks so as to leave room for doubts, for spiritual temptations, for free conviction of rational truth.



     Our Scandinavian contemporary, the NORDISK NYKIRKELIGT TIDSKRIFT, for Nov.-Dec., 1913, opens with a paper by the editor, the Rev. S. C. Bronniche, drawing a number of interesting comparisons or "parallels" between the Virgin Mary and Emanuel Swedenborg. The main purpose of the paper is to show that the conception of the Heavenly Doctrine, like the conception of the Human of the Lord, was of a purely Divine origin. With this view we are in hearty sympathy, but we would inject the word of caution, that it will not do to carry the analogy too far. For the human embodiment which the Divine Soul assumed from Mary, was a human which was full of hereditary evil and therefore had to be completely put off by the glorified Human. But the embodiment, assumed from the mind of Swedenborg at the Second Advent of the Lord, does not have to be put off, for in the very act of Revelation the human words of the revelator were completely filled with the Holy Spirit of the Divine Human, once and forever glorified.

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The current number of Pastor Bronniche's paper contains, further, a very valuable correspondence on the subject of New Church Baptism; a discussion of the question regarding "the birth of conjugial pairs," (C. L. 316), by Mr. Gustaf Baeckstrom; an important letter, never before published, by General C. Tuxen to C. F. Nordenskjold, dated March 24, 1782; and a long communication full of encouraging news from "the Circle" in Stockholm.
SLEEP 1914

SLEEP              1914

     Ponder for a moment upon the miracle of sleep!

     Man's little daily span of living and of work is done. He has felt, he has thought, and he has wrought the little, the infinitesimal portion assigned to him. What is a day in the great cycle of the ages' "Behold, a thousand years are but as yesterday, or as a watch in the night, when it is past." Yet even during the part of a day which measures the limit of our conscious striving, the dynamic energy which sustained our efforts has been but momentary, and intermittent, for not only does one foot rest while the other steps, but at every breath we take in our life and yield it up again! As far, then, as our own working is concerned, how utterly insignificant is a day's work! One atom of humanity, crawling about upon the vast surface of a great world, which is itself but an invisible point swimming in the active ocean surrounding a single star! Omnipotent Creator! What does it amount to? And then we sleep. Tired, perhaps even to exhaustion, we lay ourselves down, and if the diseased anxieties of the day have not precluded it, our brains collapse, our limbs relax, our very senses fade, and total insensibility ensues. Is not this during as to all' that is proper to us and to our consciousness? Indeed it is, and as far as we ourselves are concerned, we are but dead men.

     For no sooner does our proprium relax its wearing, straining grip upon our faculties, than there supervenes another control,-present all the while, but beneath our consciousness, and instead of being blotted forever out of existence, we begin to take deep, strong breaths.

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Our hearts begin to beat more evenly-our drawn countenances relax, and the myriad forces of the Lord's celestial kingdom, under the direct inspiration of our Keeper, who doeth neither slumber nor sleep, come forth into unimpeded action, and begin the repair of the day's damages. And so it goes, from day to day, a brief period of battle and strain; then rest-and sleep. Who cannot sing with the Psalmist, "Behold, He giveth to His beloved in sleep." But it is not only in the sleep of the body that the Lord does such miracles of restoration and new creation, but even so is it done to our spirits, for of all that is done to us spiritually to add to our growth and to restore that which is broken down, we are as completely unconscious and have as little to do as with the renovation of our physical tissues during sleep.

     So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how; for the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. (Mark iv, 26-8.)

     Thus also spiritually He giveth to His beloved in sleep, since the wonderful little seeds of truth, once imbedded in the fertile soil of our natural wants, are warmed by His sunshine, and watered by His heavenly dew, until from these least beginnings there goeth forth all that makes life and even heaven itself beautiful. Greatest miracle of all, that out of our so puny striving, the least of our own effort, He giveth, and goeth on to give, until the whole kingdom of heaven is laid before the astonished sight of His poor creatures! Great things may hinge upon even such a little fragment of the eternal universe of use, as one day's work. Forever so does the beneficent Creator, out of His infinite Fatherly love, draw out and greatly magnify our puny doings, even as we do with our well-behaved infants.

     How literally true is that text which says: "Man can receive nothing unless it be given him from heaven"     H. S.

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APPRECIATIVE REVIEW OF "THE GOLDEN AGE." 1914

APPRECIATIVE REVIEW OF "THE GOLDEN AGE."              1914

     THE GOLDEN AGE.

     The Story of the Most Ancient Church. By C. Th. Odhner. Academy Book Room, Bryn Athyn, Pa. pp. 230. Cloth, 1.00.

     Xenophon in his "Anabasis" relates how Cyrus the Younger after partaking of an especially toothsome meal sent portions of the food to his friends, with the explanation that Cyrus relished this, and would like his friends to participate in his enjoyment. So in like manner the writer has read with deep zest and profit the new work from the pen of Mr. Odhner, and brings it to the notice of his friends of the New Church in the hope that they also may participate in the same pleasure.

     In the production of "The Golden Age" the author evidently brings the results of years of study and meditation on the subject. In addition to a thorough acquaintance with his theme, he has the gift of a finished style, and what is of more moment than even insight he possesses in an unusual degree the faculty of vision, enabling him to collect the disjecta membra-the scattered fragments-of the story as given in parable and myth, and actually to visualize it before his readers.

     In addition to an exhaustive use of all that is given in Genesis, the author brings out in confirmation the vast amount of modern research in Egypt, Assyria, and the more recent discoveries in Syria as to the Hittites.

     Mr. Odhner's work is, as might inevitably be predicted, most distinctively New Church. From the introduction to the closing paragraph he leaves no doubt as to where he stands.

     In the publication of this work, which appeared serially in NEW CHURCH LIFE, the author has done a good work. Had he passed away without infixing his thoughts on this theme with substances from the world of nature-paper and printer's ink-thus giving it permanence, there would have been a distinct lack in the collateral literature of the Church.

     The "fixation in the natural world," as a specimen of "the art preservative of all arts," as printing has been called, leaves nothing to be desired. The illustrations on the myths of Egypt and other lands are quite helpful to an understanding of the subject. (R. Matheson, in the N. C. MESSENGER, for Nov. 26.)

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Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. It is not to be inferred from our silence in the last number of the LIFE that nothing has been doing in Bryn Athyn lately; it is simply an indication that in the eyes of the editor our festive and frivolous doings are of secondary importance to the serious business of the LIFE, and consequently we were crowded out. But since a slack season in the intellectual market usually follows the activity of Christmas, it may be that we may demand an unusually large space this month, to reassure an anxious world as to our continued existence.

     Four great church festivals have been celebrated since our last record of news. Thanksgiving was appropriately celebrated, and soon followed Christmas with its attendant events. The Children's Festival, the great event of the children's year, was held on Christmas Eve. A service was conducted by Bishop Pendleton in the Auditorium, the children, and the college and seminary, singing Christmas anthems prepared for the occasion, and this was followed by the presentation of a series of lantern slides illustrating the expectation and advent of the Lord. A single tableau followed representing the adoration of the wise men, and the appearance of the host of angels, and the celebration closed with the usual gifts to the children. On Christmas day the Holy Supper was administered, the Christmas service having been held on the previous Sunday.

     New Year's coming was greeted bright and early by almost the entire population of Bryn Athyn at a sunrise service and breakfast in the Auditorium. At the moment of sunrise a trumpet was sounded, and Professor Odhner then conducted a brief service, and gave an address as to the historical and spiritual significance of the New Year celebration. After a very sociable and satisfying breakfast, three speeches were made by the young men of the theological class in retrospect of the past year in Bryn Athyn, in the Church at large, and in the outside world.

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The inevitable dancing followed, concluding a very useful time; there is no doubt that the early morning service is preferable to the watch night service which we used to hold, for it is better to be devoting our energies to trying to wake up, than to trying to keep from going to sleep, and at least we start the New Year right with early rising.

     Another great festival is just at an end, but we have not time to treat of it here, and must hope that space will be given to it on other pages. This was the celebration of the Academy's fortieth birthday, taking the form of a banquet given by Mr. Pitcairn to all connected with the Academy's work. It was a wonderful and historic occasion, and fortunate were they who were able to attend.

     This banquet and other events, such as Alumni gatherings, and Consistory meetings, have drawn many distinguished visitors to our midst. Mr. Synnestvedt is here again; Mr. Waelchli and Mr. Harris are here with stirring accounts of their experiences in carrying the war of evangelization into the enemy's own country; Bishop N. D. Pendleton is amongst us, and we trust is learning to feel at home with us; Mr. Alex. Lindsay is here bubbling over with Alumni enthusiasm, and Mr. Leonard Gyllenhaal is visiting the scene of his childhood labors; Mr. Seymour Nelson brought us greeting from Glenview, and Mr. Walter Childs led us in our singing at the banquet, with his son, Randolph, as a close second. To look around one would almost imagine that an assembly were brewing.

     Mr. and Mrs. Price invited the society to join with them in celebrating the 25th year of their married life, and a very fine time was enjoyed on December 27th. The older folks told of their younger days, when they went to school together, and the Academy boys got engaged to the Academy girls in a manner most exclusive, and of the happy results of this policy; while the younger ones, not being blessed with twenty-five years of happy reminiscences, and having no anxiety over the twenty-five years to come, kicked up their carefree heels in one of the most delightful dances of the season.

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The society presented Mr. and Mrs. Price with a set of table silver, in expression of their united love for them, and rejoicing over their happiness.

     The Civic and Social Club held a monthly dance, the last one being held the day after Christmas, and proving a great occasion. With it was combined a card party under the management of Mrs. James Cooper, and consequently both old and young were satisfied and nobody felt jealous. The club was entertained to a card party during the Christmas holidays by Miss Anne Hachborn,-another very successful occasion. Club nights have been held every two weeks, and are now established on a comfortable basis; everybody is free to come or not, as they please, and to have a good time, or not,-just as they please.

     The Younger Generation held a banquet on November 29th, which deserves to become historical. Not only was it a triumphant success as a banquet, but it is further remarkable for its thorough and amicable discussion of the vexed question of Woman's Suffrage. Of course, the question was not settled, and another meeting is to be held, with the hope, though without the expectation of finally disposing of the problem. The Alumni Association, scorning banquets and similar banalities, held a heavily intellectual meeting on January 13th, at which papers were presented by Prof. R. W. Brown, Mr. Wilfred Howard, and Mr. Wilfred Hyatt, on the general subject of the Theory of Color, and a great deal of interest to the New Church scientist and philosopher was presented.

     The various local fraternities have been busy in many events lately, notable amongst which is the "Sigma Delta Pi" annual ball, which was held on January 3d,-the great social event of the year to the members of the fraternity. This Bryn Athyn fraternity also devoted one evening to the entertainment of the Stuart Hall fraternity, the "Phi Alpha," and the faculty and questions of inter-frat importance were discussed. The Phi Alpha, and particularly Mr. Heilman, gave a dance on December 22d in Stuart Hall, with cards and story telling, and music as well; while the "Deka" entertained the Phi Alpha on Christmas eve in accordance with well established custom. The Phi Alpha held open house to the whole society one Sunday afternoon before the holidays, and showed their friends through their roams.

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And the "Theta Alpha" has also been busy, entertaining the Seminary to an evening of games.

     During the holidays the school boys and girls were entertained at several parties in the settlement, whereat the Christmas games were put to strenuous use. The school listened to an address by Mr. Pitcairn on the morning of the 14th of January, wherein he explained the meaning and importance of the celebration of that day, and a banquet, with speeches by several of the Alumni, was given on the Friday following in the Dining Hall, in commemoration of the same event. Three basket ball victories are to the credit of the school so far, and the prospects are good for a successful season.

     These news notes would not be complete without some mention of the new church building. There is little to speak of yet, except a hole in the ground, decorated with concrete foundations, and flanked with the great beams of oak which are to be the roof. But judging by the meetings and conferences; by the number of people who circumnavigate that hole daily; by the activity and interest of all, the church is already built in the minds of those responsible for it, and time and warm weather is all that is needed to bring about big changes. D. R.

     PITTSBURGH, PA. It was with a mingled feeling of sorrow and gladness that we learned of our pastor's call to Bryn Athyn, to take up actively the work of assisting the Bishop. Mr. Pendleton leaves us on February 1st, after eleven years of service as pastor, teacher, philosopher and friend. His wise counsel, his wonderful intellect and his charming personality will be greatly missed by all of us. But we are content in that he enters into a larger field of use where he will be of benefit to the whole Church and not to one center alone. With him, of course, go his family, and they, too, will be missed. They have been so much one with us that it seems absurd to think of Pittsburgh without connecting them with it.

     Arrangements for a new pastor have not been completed at this writing, (January 15th). Whoever accepts the call that is extended, will take charge of a society stronger spiritually and better equipped than when Mr. Pendleton took up his work here in 1903.

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     On Christmas morning a special service for the children was held in the church. The first part of the service was conducted in the chapel, after which the children marched down stairs, where a representation of the town of Bethlehem had been arranged by the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Theta Alpha. This scene was the best planned and most beautiful thing of its kind that we have ever had. At the conclusion of the service the children were given their gifts from the church. Mrs. D. H. Shoemaker had charge of this work.

     Mr. William Whitehead delivered an illustrated lecture before the society Friday, December 26th, under the auspices of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Sons of the Academy. Mr. Whitehead's subject was "Unity in Literature," and his talk strongly appealed to us, as he considered the question from a New Church standpoint. We have always enjoyed Mr. Whitehead's visits, and hope we shall have him with us soon again.

     Two other visitors who added pleasure to our holidays were Miss Constance Pendleton and the Rev. C. E. Doering. Mr. Doering made an address on "Numbers" before a special meeting of our Philosophy Club held December 29th, and delivered the sermon on Sunday, January 4th.

     On January 9th the annual meeting of the society was held. This meeting was preceded by a supper, after which we listened to reports from the pastor, the school teacher, the treasurer, and the statistician. The pastor's report was a review of the past year's work together with the formal announcement of his resignation. The report of the teacher, Miss Evaline Gilmore, was very complete and showed that there were four classes in our local school composed in all of eighteen children. The announcement of Miss Gilmore's engagement to Mr. Robert Coe was made a month or so ago, and consequently this was her last report to the society, as she retires next June. The treasurer's report, by Mr. S. S. Lindsay, was replete with cold, hard figures enumerated and tabulated in a very thorough manner.

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Mr. Lindsay's annual message is always eagerly anticipated, and our expectations were thoroughly realized this year. Lastly, we had the statistician's report, by Mr. D. E. Horigan, and it was certainly worthy of the effort. We would like to reproduce it as it would make interesting reading for many of our friends.

     On Sunday, January 11th, we had the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt with us. Mr. Synnestvedt used to be our pastor years ago, and we always have a welcome for him. He preached the sermon in the morning, and in the evening delivered an address on "Education" before a regular meeting of the society. Later in the evening the meeting took more of a social turn, and Mr. Synnestvedt had a busy time of it getting acquainted once more with old friends. J. E. B.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. A mild, moist, snowless winter has given more activity to social functions than usual in this wind-swept corner of the earth. The lack of reports from this corner has not been for any dearth of news but due rather to the forced activity of the scribe in other fields. We have formed a dramatic club with Mrs. Paul Carpenter as manager, and it has already presented successfully one comedy, entitled "Love by Induction." There have been a considerable number of dances, some progressive card parties and a harvest festival.

     At the latter, beside the candy stand, toy stand, goose grab bag, and the play mentioned above, the children gave some delightful fancy dances. The little tots by their grace, naivety and abandon greatly added to the pleasure of the occasion. Upstairs, under the able management of the Junge family, refreshments were provided on the help-yourself-freely and pay-before-you-eat plan, so successfully adopted by some of the large restaurants of the city. In all these divers and sundry ways everybody was gratified and a considerable sum of money for the temple fund was raised.

     In other lines the society has been active: there seems to be increased interest in the instruction offered. The Friday classes have been resumed with interesting doctrinal subjects. The Philosophy class on Thursday evenings is largely attended, and a young men's class has been formed which meets on Sunday mornings before the regular service, for the study of the Writings.

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     One of our regular and justly famous institutions,-the Steinfest.-has been twice arranged for the attendance of the ladies, because it was thought that the subject of consideration would be of interest to all. Once under Dr. King's leadership the subject was "Memory," and once under Mr. H. L. Burnham it was "Remains."

     The Christmas celebration was this year adapted to both children and adults, instead of being, as usual, purely a children's service. The dramatic club is busy studying and rehearsing a play under the supervision of Madame Burnham, who is training its members in full tones, half-tones, rising inflections, sotto voce thrills and distinct enunciation with surprising results.

     The Philosophy class resumed its severe studies after the holidays with a large number of interested attendants. The fact that Dr. King never allowed a session to exceed one hour, no matter how interesting the subject, keeps the interest keen. All danger of a surfeit,-a frequent danger,-is thus avoided.

     Between times there were plenty of dances, card parties, ladies' meetings and other means of amusement. A player piano, constructed by the ingenuity of Messrs. Lechner and Schoenberger, of Pittsburgh, and bought by the collective industry of our young people, adds greatly to the enjoyment of our social events.

     CHICAGO, ILL. The Sharon church held its celebration on Christmas Eve, uniting with the Lakeview circle, ministered to by Mr. Headsten. The hall in which we hold worship was prettily decorated, and many of our members worked till late at night the evening before to bring a Christmas look to the bare walls of the room.

     The hall was well filled with the children and adults of both societies. After the service gifts were given to the church and received from the church by the children. The tables were set in an adjoining room, and all the children sat down to a simple but delightful supper.

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     On New Year's Day a reception was given at the home of Miss Bessy and Mr. John Forrest to the members of our church friends from Glenview, and friends from Mr. Headsten's circle. We were rich in the presence of four ministers, Mr. Caldwell, Mr. Smith, Mr. Headsten, and Mr. Klein.

     Our Glenview friends added much to the enjoyment of the evening by rendering again the songs prepared for their own celebration on New Year's Eve. We all had "a good talk," the young people danced, and all enjoyed the refreshments prepared by our generous host and hostess.

     The ladies' meetings have been held at the different homes every two weeks preceding Christmas, but now we shall return to monthly meetings.

     The great distances that we have to travel prevent as good an attendance at Sunday School and doctrinal classes as we should wish. E. V. W.

     MR. HEADSTEN'S WORK IN CHICAGO.

     My first effort in Chicago, after the General Assembly in Glenview, was to find a hall for my work. That is not always easy, but a new, suitable one was found, and rented at a reasonable price,-Lincoln Music College Hall, 1920 Irving Park Boulevard.

     The first Sunday in August I began Sunday School and a doctrinal class with an attendance of 23. This was continued during July and August, and the first Sunday in September I began with services in English at 11 o'clock, holding the Sunday School before that hour; but as the services assumed the form of a family worship, it became evident that it was a mistake to carry on the work I am doing in English at that hour, and a change was made from the forenoon to the afternoon, and then to preach in Swedish only. The Sunday School, which is carried on in English, was changed to 2:30 o'clock and the preaching to 3:30. This has already proved a more suitable time, for, while at the last forenoon service there were only 5 present, the one before this writing had 17. The Sunday School has gained also.

     At the request of earnest New Church friends I began parlor meetings in Englewood the last Sunday in September,-a doctrinal class in English for the study of the N. J. H. D. at 7 o'clock, and preaching in Swedish at 8 o'clock.

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They who attend these are mostly all interested in the Doctrines, and desire to see the Swedish work prosper in Chicago.

     In the beginning of October I visited Rockford Ill., to see what could be done to interest the friends there in having me call on them regularly. After having preached for them, and held a class with the children, it was decided that I should visit them the second Wednesday of every month. They will pay the expenses.

     So far my work has increased, but had I not had the hearty co-operation of my daughter and friends, it would have been impossible to keep up the Sunday School; for one person cannot teach on an average of 16 persons, ranging from six to fifty years. It is no easy task to get suitable teachers. Much kindness has been shown me by friends whereby the discouragement has been counterbalanced.

     So far the work has grown. Thus, during July and August I ministered to an average of 15; during September 23, and so far in October 46, besides the group in Rockford.
     JOHN HEADSTEN.
Oct. 15, 1913.

     (We must apologize for this belated report having been overlooked.-ED. )

     BERLIN, ONT. On the 30th of November the pulpit of the Carmel church was occupied by the Rev. J. E. Bowers, who preached an excellent sermon on "The Exaltation of the Lord."

     On the 6th of December Mr. Calvin Peppler was called to the other world. He was one of the most active of the young men of our society, full of zeal and earnestness in the cause of the Church. As a member of the society's Executive Committee he rendered valuable services. We miss him very much, and the sympathies of all go to his wife, to whom he was married a little more than a year ago. The funeral service was held on the 9th, and on Sunday, the 14th, a memorial service was held, this taking the place of the regular services.

     A Golden Wedding is an unusual event in our society, or in any society.

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Such an event it was our privilege to enjoy on the 20th of December, when Mr. and Mrs. Adam Glebe invited the married members of the Carmel church to join with them in a festive celebration of the completion of their fifty years of married life. At the banquet toasts were drunk to Conjugial Love, to Mr. and Mrs. Glebe, and to their children and grandchildren. Gold tokens of affection were presented to the couple by their children and by the members of the Carmel church. The occasion was a most happy one, and will long be remembered. W.

     TORONTO, ONT. The Tenth Ontario District Assembly! Those words bring a sigh, half of regret that those few happy days are over, half of satisfaction that our efforts were crowned with success. The committees in charge planned everything carefully and all went smoothly.

     This year Mr. Cronlund requested the Bishop to give his address on the afternoon of the second day in order that the ladies, who had the banquet in charge, could be present then and hear it. The Bishop consented, so Mr. Waelchli's was the first paper read at our opening meeting on Wednesday afternoon, December 31st.

     We felt sure our church rooms would not accommodate our members at the banquet so, for that occasion, we rented a pretty new hall quite near the church.

     A reception was held in the ball room at six thirty, and at seven we adjourned to the banquet room, where a pretty sight met our gaze, as we looked over the tables daintily decorated with pink and white flowers. One hundred and thirty-two persons sat down, and the hall, while smaller, somehow reminded one of the Bryn Athyn Assembly room. The company really seemed like a small General Assembly, for we had visitors from Bryn Athyn, Pittsburgh, Glenview, and other places, as well as Berlin. Space does not allow of our expressing our appreciation of all of the five speakers at the banquet. The Bishop gave us a splendid guide for the coming year,-not to allow accusing spirits to intercept our absolute faith in Divine Providence in every detail of our lives.

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In lighter vein, the speech which turned out a song, (Mr. Caldwell), and the "extra song," "The Beaver," which was read by Mr. Junge, proved great aids to digestion. Some of us probably needed aid. The sumptuous repast, prepared by Mrs. Ernest Bellinger and her helpers, tempted us to tax our capacity.

     When the toast list was completed we adjourned to the ball room above where, after the short delay necessary for arranging dance programs, dancing was enjoyed to the strains of a good orchestra until the midnight hour, when all joined in singing "Academia" and "Our own Academy" as the bells began to "ring out the old, ring in the new." It was an inspiring occasion, and one thrilled with the thought, on looking round that gaily dressed circle, that this large gathering were all New Church people.

     A delightful sphere of good fellowship prevailed throughout this rallying evening, and seemed to extend to and permeate every meeting during the Assembly.

     Next morning, New Year's, the sacrament of the Holy Supper was administered, and 77 communicants partook of it. In the afternoon Bishop Pendleton delivered his splendid address, and in the evening we had a "musicale" under the direction of Dr. Richardson.

     Two violin solos by Miss Edwina Carswell, two piano solos by Miss Freda Roschman, of Berlin; violin duet by Mr. Hubert Hyatt and Mr. Fred. Bellinger, songs by Mr. Wilson and Dr. Richardson, a flute solo by Mr. Theodore Bellinger, a double trio by ladies' voices, and numbers by the orchestra, made up a very enjoyable program. A unique number was the singing of the 40th Psalm by a choir trained by Dr. Richardson and accompanied by an orchestra also trained by the same gentleman. The doctor had the orchestra score written for him by a Toronto musician, who spoke highly of the music.

     The Friday meetings were occupied with Mr. Alden's paper, which was followed by an animated discussion, and Mr. Pitcairn's report of the Church movement in Belgium. All the papers and discussions will be reported elsewhere in the LIFE, so all that need be said is that the wish was often heard expressed during Assembly that our time of meeting should be lengthened another day to allow time for fuller discussion.

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Many subjects brought up required further discussion, but had to be dropped owing to lack of time.

     Looking forward to Assembly, the Decoration Committee, under the direction of Mrs. Hyatt and Mr. Craigie, carried out a very beautiful scheme of decoration for the church. Mr. Craigie painted in gold on a green frieze, round the back of the church room, "The Lord was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory." The same in Greek, Hebrew and Latin were round and over the altar, while arches of green outlined the paneling of the walls, and two beautifully painted panels were hung, one on each side of the Word.

     The Assembly closed with a men's meeting at the church and al ladies' meeting at the home of Mrs. Craigie, whose large rooms were ideal for such a gathering,-over 75 being present.

     The discussion at the men's meeting took a very serious turn,-on conditions existing at the time of death and the separation of the soul from the body. Not so at the ladies' meeting! The evening opened quite informally with a short address of welcome and a paper on "Froebel," by Mrs. Cronlund, and one on "Montesson, by Mrs. Frank Longstaff, followed by discussion. Next came a laughable little skit, entitled "Now and Then," written by Mrs. Ray Brown, who took the leading part,-old-fashioned Aunt Martha, an old lady who did not approve of suffragettes or "tango" dances. Games, dancing and singing sped a jolly evening, which lengthened into the morning hours, after the arrival of many of the gentlemen. Altogether it was the jolliest ladies meeting we have had.

     Before parting at Mrs. Craigie's it seemed strange to have to bid our visitors "good bye." Assembly seemed scarcely to have begun, but we parted with the hope that we might meet at another Assembly next year in Berlin. B. S.

     SYDNEY, N. S. W., AUSTRALIA. The Rev. Richard Morse, enclosing seven applications for membership in the General Church of the New Jerusalem, writes: "You will, I am sure, be interested in a brief account of the first administration, in Australia, of the Sacraments according to the ritual of the General Church.

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     "Labor Day being the 1st Monday in October, a small party of us journeyed to Lithgow on the previous Saturday and spent a very pleasant time with Mr. and Mrs. Jones and their family. On Sunday morning, the 5th of October, Mr. and Mrs. Jones were baptized into the New Church and afterwards, with a Mr. Campbell, who has manifested considerable interest in the Writings, and Mr. Kirschstein, received the Sacrament of the Holy Supper The Misses Taylor, who were present, preferred not to take the Sacrament until after their baptism, a fortnight later, for which they were making special preparation. The sermon I used on the occasion was one by the Rev. E. S. Price,-'The Lord known in the Breaking of Bread,'-published in the LIFE for May, 1909. The service was impressive and much enjoyed by those present. In the evening a very profitable reading meeting was held. The reading was from the DIVINE PROVIDENCE, nos. 275-84: (That evils are permitted for a certain end which is salvation.) All enjoyed the reading very much, but none more than Mr. Campbell. He was very much impressed, and has since visited Mr. Jones on several occasions when united readings were engaged in.

     "On October 19th the second administration of the Sacraments was held in Sydney. The circle, unknown to me, had had made a somewhat elaborate and handsome cedar combined reading desk and desk for the Word. It was used for the first time an this occasion, as was also a white marble font which I had made for this and future services. It is intended to be set in a suitable wood stand.

     "At this service five adults and a boy of 12 years were baptized, and the Sacrament of the Holy Supper was partaken of by seven adults."

     Mr. Morse calls attention to his new address: 180 Regent St., Regent, Sydney, N. S. W.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. Jean Paul Dresser began his active ministry for the Brooklyn Society in September last.

     The Detroit Society continues to hold its services in the chapel of Wayne Castle, K. of P., corner of Cass Ave. and Bagg St., although the chapel is not as satisfactory as might be.

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No suitable lot for the contemplated new building has yet been found.

     Mr. Nussbaum has completed a second series of missionary lectures in Seattle, and reports a gratifying continuance of interest, the audiences numbering from 60 to 90 each evening.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, M. A., spent a delightful Sunday in Edinburgh, on the ad of November. The little church, a "wee kirk" indeed, is most admirably arranged for the use of the small society. The church proper has a seating capacity of between fifty and sixty. It was full both morning and evening, although not to the limit of its capacity. The Society kept the minister busy. In the morning he had the regular service with sermon, then the administration of the Holy Supper. In the afternoon he addressed the school. After tea the minister was asked to give the friends a talk. He spoke to them about the Hebrew language, and the wonderful things that are disclosed in the writing of the Church concerning that sacred language, and the necessity for the understanding even of the English Bible, that every Bible reader have some elementary knowledge of the language. A delightful sphere prevailed throughout the day, and seemed almost cumulative.

     BOBEMIA. Mr. Jaroslav I. Janecek, the New Church missionary in Prague, reports in the MESSENGER that theta are now nineteen baptized members of the New Church in Prague, and that a reading circle has been formed with thirty members, situated in Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia. "A month ago we had the visit, here in Prague, of the two sisters Doering, from Philadelphia, who obtained my address from our subscriber, Mr. Anton Sellner, in New York, who is from South Bohemia."

     SWITZERLAND. From the MONATBLATTER of November last we learn that the Rev. Adolph L. Gaenvitz, on September 11th, visited Lausanne, in French Switzerland, where he baptized two infants: Solange Alice, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. M. E. Galland; and Berthe Marcelle, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Clifford Mayer.

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Dr. and Mrs. Mayer, as well as her sister, Mrs. Galland, are from the island of Mauritius, and are members of the New Church society there, which was founded some seventy years ago by Edmond de Chazal, the great-grandfather of the two young mothers. The baptism was enacted in the English tongue, in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Galland; among those present were a number of relatives, mostly from Mauritius, and also the Maharani (or queen) of Baroda, India, who traveled from the Engadines to act as god-mother of little Berthe Marcelle. At the supper after the services, the Gaikwar (or reigning native prince) of Baroda, was present.
UNITY IN THE CHURCH 1914

UNITY IN THE CHURCH       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1914




     Announcements.




NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXIV MARCH, 1914          No, 3
     (Read at the Ontario District Assembly, Dec. 30, 1913.)

     At the Seventh General Assembly of the General Church, held at Bryn Athyn in June, 1910, the Bishop's Address was on the subject of Unity in the Church. It was shown therein that organic unity of some kind of the general bodies of the New Church is clearly indicated in the Heavenly Doctrine, and is, therefore, much to be desired; and it was suggested that there might be almost general body performing uses which are in common, to which the lesser general bodies send delegates and perhaps report their work. At the same time it was pointed out that such unity can be possible only if it flow from that charity which the, doctrines of the Church prescribe.

     The Address was fully and affirmatively discussed by the Assembly, and no word of dissent has been heard to this day. We can, therefore, say that it stands as the expression of the attitude of the General Church on this question.

     Yet though it so stands, it may be useful to consider whether our attitude is consistently that which the Address expresses; whether there are not in our body frequent utterances indicating a state of thought at variance with it; and, if so, whether there should not be an effort to bring the state of thought more fully into harmony with the enunciated position.

     The essential of true thought on this subject is an understanding of what is meant by the New Church-and by a Newchurchman. This is clearly presented in the Address in the following words: "By the New Church is meant the Church as existing wherever there is a heart acknowledgment, and an open confession in faith and practice, of the two universal essentials of salvation, namely, the acknowledgment of one God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and repentance of life according to the precepts of the Decalogue. The New Church is where these two universals are."

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     In regard to these two essentials we read as follows in the doctrines:

     "These two things, the acknowledgment of the Lord and a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue, are the two essentials of the New Church." (A. R. 491.)

     "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of the covenant signifies the New Heaven, in which the Lord is worshiped and they live according to the commandments of His Decalogue; which are the two essentials of the New Church, by which there is conjunction." (A. R. 529.)

     "All are in the New Christian Heaven, who, from the first establishment of the Christian Church, have worshiped the Lord, and lived according to His precepts in the Word. . . . So all the infants of Christians are in that heaven, because they have been educated by the angels in the two essentials of the Church, which are the acknowledgment of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue." (A. C. 876.)

     "There are two essentials which constitute the Church; one, that the Human of the Lord is Divine; the other, that love to the Lord and Charity towards the neighbor make the Church." (A. C. 4723.)

     These and similar teachings are at times lost sight of by members of the General Church when speaking of the General Convention or of certain members of that body, especially when things are said and done not in harmony with the principles of our body. It is said that they are unwilling to follow the Writings, that they deny the clear teachings of the doctrines, and that consequently they cannot be called New Church.*

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Or, again, we hear the view expressed that there is only one course open to any genuine Newchurchman in the Convention, and that is to come into the General Church.
     * We do not remember having heard or seen such a statement.-EDITOR.

     Granting that all that may be said in regard to lack of loyalty to the doctrines on the part of the Convention be true; granting that the most extreme statements in this respect be true;-even then, are we justified in reading the Convention or members thereof out of the New Church? Do we do right in so doing in view of their acknowledgment of the two great essentials of the Church? Let us not lose sight of the vast difference there is between the person who acknowledges these two essentials and one who denies them, between one who in worship approaches the one only God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and one who worships three gods and denies the divinity of the Lord, between one who believes that the laws of the Decalogue must be kept as spiritual laws and one who deems it useful to keep them as merely moral laws. The one is of the New Church, the other of the Old; and the line separating them is clear-cut. And this is true even if he who is of the New Church has only a most general idea of those two essentials, and perhaps scarcely anything more of the New Church, perhaps has never read a line in the Writings of the Church. He is nevertheless a Newchurchman.

     But it is unwise to judge any organization by the most extreme states manifested in it. If as members of the General Church we feel that we can judge the General Convention only from the standpoint of our principles, then let us recognize that there is not a principle of our body, save one, that is not more or less recognized also in that body. Following in their order the twelve principles of the Academy presented in the Bishop's Address to the General Assembly in 1899, let us consider what is the measure of their recognition on the part of the Convention.

     1. It is recognized that the Lord has made His Second Coming in the Writings of the New Church, although it is not seen that He reveals Himself therein, nor that they are the very essential Word, which is the Lord. Despite all that may be said, we must recognize that the Convention and members thereof consider the Writings as authority; they quote them and from them confirm their positions, or from them controvert the positions of others.

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     2. They recognize that the New Church is new and distinct from the Old. The very fact that they maintain a distinct organization is evidence of this.

     3. They believe in a priesthood of the Church to administer its ecclesiastical affairs.

     4. They believe, for the most part, in distinctive New Church baptism.

     5. They believe that Baptism and the Holy Supper are the essentials of the worship of the Church.

     6. They believe, in principle at least if not in practice, that there should be marriage within the Church.

     7. They would, for the most part, assent to the principle that there should be no interference on the part of man with the law of offspring in marriage.

     8. They do not believe-here is the exception-that the laws in the latter part of Conjugial Love are laws of order, given for the freedom and preservation of the conjugial. Yet let us note that in all or at least most of the opposition to this principle there has been an endeavor not to deny the Writings. We may say, and perhaps justly, that the endeavor has been to twist the Writings to suit the standards of the world. Yet, if this be true, cannot we here see at least a wish that their views should be in harmony with the Writings.

     9. They would probably acknowledge that the New Church is in itself a celestial Church, but yet accommodated to all states of reception.

     10. They would probably acknowledge that unanimity in the life of the Church is desirable, though not seeing its practicability.

     11. The same they would say in regard to not legislating in matters of the Church, other than giving a proper form to present needs and uses.

     12. They recognize in a measure the need of New Church schools.

     Besides this partial recognition of our principle there is a full recognition of them on the part of some member of the Convention, though always with the exception of one or two points. Some make this principle their exception, some that, although accepting it to a certain extent.

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We can and should believe that where such exceptions are made, it is because the persons do not see these points to be in harmony with the Writings.

     Yet, taking the Convention as a whole, it is certainly true that its acknowledgment of the aforementioned principles is very different from that of the General Church; and from this it follows that the two bodies are of different qualities; each has its own peculiar spirit and life. And each body must be free to develop along its peculiar lines. Any proposition towards unity
which would interfere with this freedom cannot be entertained.

     To ask either body to give up its views for the sake of unity would be absurd. We believe that the General Convention is lacking in things which are necessary to the true life and faith of the Church; they believe that the General Church has in many things entered upon dangerous ground and has developed ideas that are not in accordance with the doctrines. Each body is sincere in its position; and, therefore, any plan of unity that would deprive the General Church of its freedom to vigorously promulgate its views, or the Convention of its freedom to as vigorously oppose them, cannot be considered. There can be no unity where there is not freedom of speech, or freedom of discussion.

     And yet there can be unity-unity in the two great essentials; for in these all Newchurchmen are, or should be, brethren, animated by a common zeal for the cause of the Church in the promotion of such uses as are common.

     Comparison can be made with two political parties in the State. Each believes that it is right and that the other is in error; each believes that its ideas are those which will bring prosperity and that the ideas of the other party will bring misfortune; they say that in no uncertain tones; and yet, true men on both sides will recognize that both parties have a common love of their country, and are a one in the general principles which are fundamental to its well-being and continued existence, in short, that they are fellow-citizens

     As there are varieties of views in the State, so also will there inevitably be in the Church, and this will lead to various general bodies. From among these each Newchurchman can make his choice as to membership. As is said in the Address: "It is unreasonable to expect that all the variety of views and opinions that exist and will continue to exist in the New Church can have full and free operation in a single organized body."

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     The unity of these bodies which is to come, which we fully believe will come, will be a unity in uses. Something of this already exists, as in the Swedenborg Scientific Association and the German Missionary Union, in both of which organizations members of the two general bodies work together; besides, the two bodies and also a third, the English Conference, work together in the support of the copying of Swedenborg's manuscripts. In time other such uses will open. All these will lead to the final step,-a most general body for the performance of common uses. One of these uses suggested by the Address is the work of announcing the evangel to the Christian world of the Second Coming of the Lord.

     But all this must be the result of growths. There could be no more serious mistake, no greater injury to the cause of unity, than rushing headlong into the formation of such a most general body. What must first come into evidence is charity, genuine charity, such as the doctrines teach; a charity which has regard for the freedom of others, and which recognizes fully and with for what is of the Church with others. This idea can also be expressed by saying that what is necessary now and perhaps for a long while to come is the cultivation of a right attribute towards unity. This attitude is not a thing that can come into existence simply by determining to be in it. It requires in both bodies a reconstruction or reformation of past modes of thought, and especially of the thought that the other party is not New Church. It requires, we say, a repentance.

     We, as members of the General Church, have to do only with our own repentance. If we regard the Address on Unity as our platform on this subject, we must learn to stand on it more and more fully and firmly. We can know how fully and how firmly we stand on it by examining how earnest is our desire for unity. Let us then cultivate the true attitude and wait for the indication that the same is being done on the part of the Convention. We say, we must wait for this, for there has been no general manifestation of it in that body. Although more than three years have passed since the publication of the Bishop's Address, there has been no public utterance on the part of any leader of the Convention that may be taken as a response to it.

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Some such utterance and a general approval of it would be a good omen of coming unity.

     It would not, however, be true to say that there are not some in the Convention who desire such unity, or at least are inclined towards it,-how many, we cannot know. Recently the writer received a letter from a prominent minister of the Convention in which are these words: "I feel that we in the two bodies of our Church do not work together as we should, which is largely due to misunderstandings on both sides, and that the only hope of rectifying these misunderstandings is to cultivate a closer personal relationship." Without discussing now the cause herein assigned for the two bodies not working together, nor the remedy that is proposed, we would note that it is gratifying to hear from such a source the expression "the two bodies of our Church," and the wish that there should be more "working together."

     We have endeavored in this paper to confine ourselves as much as possible to what is the necessary repentance, if we may so call it, on the part of the General Church in order that there may be a true attitude towards unity in our body, and have avoided touching in particular on any necessary repentance on the part of the Convention, Whether any such thing be necessary there, and, if so, what must be its nature, is something for those of that body to determine.

     In the end unity will come; it must come. To quote the words of the Address: "The New Church is where the two universals are, and with those who are in them there is essential unity of spirit; and that there is to be in time actual organic unity of some kind is clearly indicated in the Heavenly Doctrine."

     It is for us to place ourselves in the Stream of Providence which leads to that end.

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GOING IN AND GOING OUT 1914

GOING IN AND GOING OUT       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1914

     "I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out, and find pasture." (John 10:9.)

     The tenth chapter of John treats concerning the Lord as the Shepherd, and concerning the sheep whom He leads into His sheepfold, that is, into heaven. The chapter opens with the teaching concerning the Lord as the door to the sheepfold. "He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." The Lord is the door and at the same time the Shepherd of the sheep. The sheep hear His voice and follow Him, and He calleth His own sheep by name; and they will not harken to the voice of strangers. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and find pasture."

     The Lord, in these words and throughout the chapter, in the spiritual sense, speaks of Himself as the Mediator between the Divine of the Father and the human race, and at the same time as the Mediator between heaven and men; or, as the door through which, and only through which men can enter into heaven and be saved. The general spiritual idea of the chapter and of the text in the abstract is, that there is no salvation by immediate mercy, but all salvation is through means or media, and the means or media are the truths of the Word.

     Those who are ignorant about heaven and the way to heaven, those who are ignorant about the Lord and the laws of order which proceed from the Lord, and who judge only from appearances in the Word, suppose that admission into heaven is merely from the arbitrary mercy or favor of the Lord; and that all men can be saved by the Lord's good pleasure; and that even all the devils can be taken out of hell, and elevated into heaven, if the Lord so wills, by a decree like that of a monarch pardoning a subject who has committed a crime; and since God has all power, He can do as He pleases, and admission into heaven is but an act of pardon by the Ruler of the universe, who decrees forgiveness when the recipient has faith in the merits of Christ, and His suffering on the cross.

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But those who hold this faith do not know God or what God is, nor do they know man nor what man is, nor do they know Divine order nor what Divine order is; therefore, they do not know what heaven is, nor what the Word of God is which introduces into heaven; and they are wholly ignorant of God incarnate, who is the Word made flesh, who is the only Door, the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life.

     They do not know the Divine Life, and so they no not know human life. They do not know that although God is love and mercy, He is also wisdom and law and order, and that to act against His own wisdom, is to act against His own law, against His own order, against His own love, against His own life, thus it is to act against Himself, which is an impossibility. No man call act against his own love, against his own life, except from a higher love and a higher life than his own; but there is no higher love, no higher life, from which God can act but His own; for His love, His life, is Infinite, and anything prior to what is Infinite is inconceivable and impossible.

     The whole man is nothing but his love, or his love is the man, and there is nothing of man that does not pertain to his love; every thought of his speech, every act of his life, every portion of his body, is nothing but the obedient servant of his love, which is the man. The quality of the whole man, therefore, is the quality of his love; as is the love, such is the man, spirit, or angel; and if man does not have in him the love of heaven, which is the life of heaven, he can no more enter heaven than darkness can enter into light, than falsity can enter into truth, or evil into good. So long as men in the world do not know these things, it is easy for them to believe, according to the appearance, that salvation is nothing but the good pleasure of the Lord, nothing but an arbitrary act of immediate mercy, or mercy without the means of mercy, like the decree of an absolute monarch in the world who pardons a subject from mere inclination, favor, or caprice, and not from law, justice, and equity.

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They do not know that the image and likeness of God is not found in an arbitrary monarch who acts from caprice or favor, but in a monarch who acts according to law and justice, and thus administers for the good of his kingdom, without fear, or favor, looking solely to the good of those whom he serves, and who judges men, not from their profession, but from their conduct and life.

     Mercy is not anything without the means of mercy, and the means of mercy are the truths of the Word, and the truths of the Word are the laws of order by which mercy exercises itself and carries into effect its beneficent operations. The Divine Mercy is mercy itself, and is exercised towards the whole human race, towards every angel in heaven, towards every devil in hell, and towards every man in the world, to save every man, if it is possible for him to be saved; and it never recedes from him, but continues with him to eternity to make his lot happier in heaven, or to mitigate his misery in hell, and even to take him out of hell, if this could be done in accordance with the laws of order; and if man remains in hell to eternity, as all do who of their own free will enter into it, as all do who voluntarily enter into evil-and it is a remarkable fact that when man once voluntarily enters into hell after the death of the body, he will never voluntarily come out of it again, because he will never voluntarily make use of the means of rising out of it, but he strives With all his might and power to remain in it, and even to eater more deeply into it. God from His own Divine order cannot act against the free will of man, for this would be to destroy His order, it would be to destroy His own means of mercy, His own means for the salvation of the human race, which means are to lead man as of himself to co-operate with the means of salvation, to co-operate with the means of mercy, to co-operate with the laws of order which are the truths of the Word. If man cannot be induced of his own free will to do this, if he cannot be induced to act in freedom according to reason and thus co-operate with the Lord for his own salvation, to co-operate with the Lord by His means of mercy, he cannot be saved; and the Divine mercy, the Divine Power of the Divine Mercy, can effect nothing for him, but to mitigate as far as possible his sad and miserable condition.

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It is thus a most essential, a most universal, a most fundamental law of order, that the Divine Mercy acts by means or media in the salvation of men, and he who attempts to climb up into heaven by any other way than by the means of mercy, to enter into heaven any other way than by the door of mercy, the same is called a thief and a robbery; and the sheep will see him only as a stranger to flee from him on his approach, to shun him as they would a pestilence, as something that would destroy their life, if they were to enter into consociation with it; and thus no place can be found for such a one in heaven; and he is driven to seek his own his like in hell, to dwell with them forever.

     Every one, therefore, is saved, who can be saved by the means of mercy; and no one can be saved except by those means, which means are revealed by the Lord in His Word. This is what the Word is for, this is the reason it is given to man. The truths of revelation as given in the Word are the means of mercy, and there are no other means provided under heaven by which man can be saved, no other means but the truth of the Word, no other means but the commandments of God; and no man is saved except he avail himself of the means of mercy, which are given in the Word, except he obey the means of mercy, which are the commandments of God.

     Divine means, therefore, or what are called Divine truths, each one of which is a commandment of God, each one of which teaches in what manner man is to live that he may be saved, by those truths the Lord leads to heaven, and by them He implants in man the life of heaven; this is the purpose for which they are given, and there is no other purpose in their giving,-no other purpose than to implant in man the life of heaven, to implant the means by which the Lord exercises mercy, and wills to exercise mercy towards all.

     The Lord reveals the means of mercy in His Word, by pointing out first the things which shut out mercy from man, and thereby imparting to him the power to shun the things which shut out mercy from him; in short, by imparting to him the power to abstain from evils, from the evils which are sins against God, the evils which will shut him out of heaven forever, if they are not removed from his life.

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To reveal to man the evils, which close heaven to him, is the supreme act of mercy on the part of the Lord to the individual man; so far, therefore, as man in his own freedom, as of himself, abstains from evil, so far the Lord out of pure mercy leads him by His Divine means, and this from infancy to the end of life in the world, and afterwards to eternity. This is the Divine mercy that is meant when mercy is spoken of in the Word, the mercy that exercises itself by the means of mercy, the mercy that exercises itself by the truths of the Word, when man from the free will given to him co-operates with it. There is thus no immediate mercy that can save man, no matter what his life has been, that can save him even though he has not availed himself of the means of mercy so freely accorded every one in the Word of God.

     Most men, perhaps all men, are willing to be saved, or they think they are willing. They suppose themselves to be willing, because when they hear of the joy of heaven, the delight and happiness of the angels, and feel something of the sphere of that happiness and delight, as all do on some occasions of their life, they experience a desire to obtain it, and then think that it is of all things the most desirable; but when they discover, as they will discover, that there is involved in the means of mercy temptation and bitter conflict, they turn away from heaven and wish for it no more. They are unwilling to accept the means of mercy which involves prolonged trial and temptation, bitter conflict with the evils of sin. Perhaps they will even then attempt to enter heaven, for heaven is denied to no one after death; and many endeavor to gain entrance to the heavenly societies, some succeed in entering for a time, who have not accepted the means of mercy while in the world, and have persuaded themselves that heaven is given by immediate mercy to all who profess faith in the merits of the cross, no matter what has been the character of their life. These are they who are said to climb up some other way than by the door, and are called thieves and robbers. When such as these enter a heavenly society, and their character is laid bare, as it will be, the sphere of heaven immediately rushes into them, and being as it were suffocated by it, they rush away, and desire heaven no more; for the sphere of heaven is so contrary to their own life, that it is to them death to remain where it is, and they can no longer endure the thought of heaven or of the heavenly life.

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     The text, the chapter before us, and the Scripture everywhere, teach that heaven is only entered by the door, or by that which is meant by the door to the sheepfold, and that which is meant by the door is the Lord Himself or the Word. Specifically by the door is meant doctrine from the Word; and when the Lord says, "I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved," He is speaking as the Divine Doctrine. No man can enter into the interiors of the Word, and thus into heaven,- for heaven is in the interiors of the Word,-except by the Divine Doctrine; no man can be conjoined with the Lord, and consociated with the angels except by the Divine Doctrine; no man can be saved except by the Divine Doctrine; and he that endeavors to enter by some other way than by the Lord as Doctrine, will never enter, will never be able to find the fold of the sheep, and cannot be saved.

     In the remainder of the text we find what is the result with those who enter by the door into the sheepfold, that is, with those who enter into heaven by the Lord as doctrine, and who do not think of climbing up some other way than by the Lord Himself as the Divine Doctrine. "I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and find pasture." We notice in these words it is said, that not only will a man be saved who enters into heaven by the door, which is the door of doctrine, but having entered, having been saved, he will then be able to go in and out and find pasture. Whatever this wonderful privilege may be, it is accorded to none but to those who enter into the fold of heaven by the door of doctrine. It is said that they will then be able to go in and also to go out, and that whether they go in or go out they will find pasture. The word translated pasture means literally feeding, and it is the food of spiritual life that is meant. The picture is that of the sheep, which, when they have entered by the door into the sheepfold, find abundant feeding, whether in the enclosure or fold, or outside of it; when they go in they will find it, and when they go out they will find it, wherever they go they will find the food of their life.

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     By going in is meant to ascend into the sphere of spiritual truth, by going out is meant to descend into the sphere of natural truth; and whether ascending into the heaven of spiritual truth, or descending into the world of natural truth, the result will be the same to him who is principled in Divine Doctrine, and pasture will be found everywhere. "By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and find pasture." And the opposite also presents itself,-By me if any man does not enter in, but attempts to climb up some other way, or by the path of immediate mercy, he shall not find pasture whether he ascend into heaven or descend into the world, no pasture will be found, and wherever he may turn he will find only the desert; he will find no food for the nourishment of his soul, nor water to cool his parched tongue. Such is the fate of all who do not enter by the door of the Divine Doctrine into the fold of the sheep.

     The same law, or the same wonderful fact of heaven, is expressed in the dream of Jacob when he saw the angels of God ascending and descending the ladder. To ascend is to go in, to descend is to go out; or, putting it the other way, to go in is to ascend into heaven, and to go out is to descend into the world; or, as was said, to go in is to ascend into the sphere of spiritual truth, and to go out is to descend into the sphere of natural truth.

     A momentous fact of angelic life is revealed here, for the Word of God in its spiritual sense treats primarily of the angelic state, or the state in which the angels of heaven are; and in these words we find that the angels are not always in exalted states, nor in states of spiritual truth, but at times they descend into the sphere of natural truth; they are not always in heaven, if we may so speak, but in regular alternations they descend into the sphere of the world, or into the natural sphere, or sphere of nature, only to return again into the spiritual sphere or sphere of heaven; but wherever they go, they find pasture, that is to say, they find the good of use everywhere, and the good of use is the food of spiritual life. This must be so, since the Lord is everywhere performing the uses of His kingdom, and wherever they go they find the Lord, and wherever they find the Lord, there they find the good of use.

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For we are told that the Lord's kingdom is everywhere, that His kingdom is over heaven, over hell, and over the world, and His kingdom is a kingdom of uses. Even in hell uses are performed, that is, the devils of hell though unwilling are driven to perform uses, and thus even they are in the kingdom of the Lord, and under the Divine government and order; and the angels would find in hell itself much to learn of the wisdom, of the love, and of the mercy of the Lord; and so it may be said with truth, that the angels find pasture even when they go out or descend into hell, and observe the wisdom of the Lord in the government of the hells, and the uses which He performs even to the devils themselves, and by them to others. And we may go so far as to say, and say with truth, that the angels, those who are appointed for this purpose, find pasturage even in exploring the evils and falsities which are active and rampant in hell. For every evil is a good perverted, and every falsity is a truth falsified; and when an angel sees evil he at once perceives the good of which it is a perversion, and when he sees falsity, his mind at once reverts to the truth which has been falsified.

     It is most remarkable that as good descends from heaven it is turned into its opposite evil, and truth descending from, heaven is turned into its opposite falsity; and it is even more remarkable that the converse of this law is also true, namely, that evil ascending into heaven is turned into its opposite good, and falsity ascending into heaven is turned into its opposite truth. The law thus applies both ways, and it is all a matter of reception. He who is principled in the true doctrine and life of heaven, cannot be hurt by any evil or falsity, for it undergoes a wonderful transformation as it approaches him, and the evil is no longer evil, and the falsity no longer false, for each has returned to its origin, and the angel receives only that which it was in its origin, namely, good and truth. It is thus that the angels find pasture everywhere, not only when they go in or ascend to interior things, but when they go out or descend to the things of the outer world, and even when they go down into hell itself; for the Lord is there and everywhere, and they are always safe under His guidance and protection.

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And so is everyone safe, who has entered by the Lord as the door; he is safe whether he ascends into heaven, or goes down into hell; for the Lord is in him, and he is in the Lord, and no ill can befall him; he will go in and out and find pasture; he will find the good of use everywhere, for wherever he may go, or wherever he may be, he will be led by the Lord, and taught by the Lord, and the gates of hell shall never prevail against him. Amen.
CORRESPONDENCES OF EGYPT 1914

CORRESPONDENCES OF EGYPT       C. TH. ODHNER       1914

     VIII.

     ISIS.

     1. Isis, the sister and royal consort of Osiris, was the national goddess of Egypt even as Osiris was the national god, and this from the earliest dynastic times even to the end of the ancient religion. The center of her worship was the beautiful temple-covered island of Philae, where her cult maintained itself until the fifth century* of our era,-the last dying embers of the Ancient Church.
     * From an inscription on the temple of Isis, at Philae, it is known that her worship continued here until 453 A. D.,-seventy years after Theodosius, by a decree, had prohibited the old pagan worship in Egypt. (Wiedemann, RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, p. 219.)

     As the attributes of all the other gods of the Egyptians were absorbed by Osiris,-the Divine Man in whom dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily,-so his consort, Isis, absorbed in herself the attributes of all the other goddesses. "It is manifestly impossible," says Dr. Budge, "to limit the attributes of Isis, for we have seen that she possesses the powers of a water goddess, an earth goddess, a corn goddess, a star goddess, a queen of the Underworld, and a woman, and that she united in herself one or more of the attributes of all the goddesses of Egypt known to us. (GODS OF THE EGYPTIANS, 2:216.) For each goddess represented some specific affection or quality of Heaven and the Church, and Isis, the "myriolnymus," the goddess of ten thousand names, represents all these affections or heavenly qualities in one complex, thus Heaven itself, and the Church itself, as one whole.

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     Nevertheless, and because of this universal representation, Isis occupies in the Egyptian Pantheon a position that is entirely different from any other goddess, for she was specifically the personification of heavenly goodness itself, even as Osiris personified the Divine Goodness. Isis was the great and beneficent goddess and mother, whose influence and love pervaded all heaven and earth and the abode of the dead, and she was the personification of the great feminine creative power which conceived and brought forth every living creature and thing, from the gods in heaven to man on the earth and to the insect on the ground; what she brought forth she protected and cared for, fed and nourished, and she employed her life in using her power graciously and successfully, not only in creating new beings but in restoring those that were dead. She was, besides these things, the highest type of a faithful and loving wife and mother, and it was in this capacity that the Egyptians honored and worshiped her most. (G. E. 2:203.)

     The monuments mention, among her innumerable acts of beneficence, that Isis weaned the primitive people from their barbarism: she healed their diseases by means of medicine and words of Divine magic; she united women to men in legitimate marriages; she taught them to grind the grain between flat stones, and how to prepare the bread for the household; she invented the loom by the help of her sister, Nephthys, and was the first to weave and bleach linen. (Maspero, HISTORY OF EGYPT, 1:249.)

     2. The name of Isis, ("Ast"), has, like the name of Osiris, "up to the present defied all explanation, and it is clear from the punning derivations to which the Egyptians themselves had recourse, that they knew no more about the meaning of her name than we do." (G. E. 2:202.) "The symbol of the name, Isis, is a seat or throne, but we have no means of connecting it with the attributes of the goddess in such a way as to give a rational explanation of her name, and all the derivations hitherto proposed must be regarded as mere guesses." (Ibid.) And the learned and "authoritative" Prof. Wiedemann observes that "this throne or chair denotes nothing peculiar to the nature of the goddess, but is merely the ideagram used in writing her Egyptian name, the meaning of which is unknown." (R. A. E. p. 219.)

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     This professed ignorance as to the meaning of "a throne" betrays either a woeful lack of imagination or a wilful ignoring of the simplest evidences of religious symbolism. The common perception of mankind in all ages has known that a throne signifies Heaven, and the Bible, the Old Testament as well as the New, is replete with distinct statements to this effect. "Thus saith Jehovah, The Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my foot-stool." (Is. 66:1.) "Swear neither by Heaven, for it is God's throne." (Matth. 5:34.) We need quote no more, nor worry as to the philological meaning of the name Isis.

     The most common representations of Isis show her as a woman wearing the queenly head-dress of a vulture, signifying the protecting care of heavenly love, and in her hand she carries the papyrus scepter, symbol of the power of the affection of truth. Above the head-dress she wears either a throne, or a pair of cow's horns enclosing the solar disk, or the double crown, or two plumes. Sometimes she is seen with the head of a cow, and occasionally with a pair of ram's horns beneath the double crowns. Very often she is seen standing behind the enthroned Osiris, and as it were enfolding her husband between her winged arms.

     One of the most common representations of Isis shows her seated, with the suckling Horus at her breast; this form, on the introduction of Christianity into Egypt, was at once identified with the Madonna and the Child, nay, became the foundation of the innumerable representations of the "mother of God," with the Child at her breast, which spread from Egypt into all parts of the Christian Church. Hence also spread the worship of Mary, whom the Monophysites termed theotokos,-"the one who gave birth to God,"-and so deeply rooted was the worship of Mary-Isis among the Christians in Egypt that the Coptic Church there split off from the Catholic Church on account of this heresy, and remains Monophysite to the present day.

     But the Christians in Egypt were totally mistaken in identifying Isis with the Virgin Mary, as is evident from the whole myth of Osiris, Isis and Horns. As has been shown above, Osiris was a prophetic representation of the Lord in His human, and Isis represents,-not His mother, but Heaven and the Church conjoined with Him as His wife. Isis, it seems, was childless before the resurrection of Osiris, because there could not be a complete conjunction between the Church and the Lord until after the Glorification.

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[Drawing of the Birth of Horus in the Papyrus Swamp.] Then, after her dead husband had been restored to life, she was united to Him, and as the result of their union she conceived her son, Horus, (see G. E. 2:204), who represents the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Glorified Human.

     Osiris having ascended to Heaven, the pregnant Isis was persistently persecuted by Set, the power of evil and darkness, and to escape his malignity Isis now fled to the wilderness, where in a lonesome papyrus swamp she gave birth to her son. "I, Isis, conceived a man child, and I was heavy with Horus. I, the goddess, bare Horus, the son of Isis, within a nest of papyrus plants.

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I rejoiced over him with exceeding great joy, for I saw in him one who would make answer for his father. I hid him, and I concealed him, for I was afraid lest he should be bitten." (G. E. 2:209.) Who cannot see here a prophetic representation of the Woman in the wilderness, described in the Apocalypse?

     IX.

     HORUS.

     HERU, the Egyptian name of Horus, is said to mean "he who is above," or "that which is above," but it is also connected with Hre, the word for "face" or "countenance," invoking the idea that Horus "represented the Face of heaven, i. e., the Face of an otherwise unknown and invisible god." (G. E. 1:466.) The hieroglyphics composing his name are: 1) the sign for the wind-pipe = h, which also stands for breath or spirit; 2) a human face; 3) an open mouth = r; 4) a chick = u; and 5) the head of a hawk, which always stands for a spirit, whether human or divine. It is possible that the Greeks hence derived the name of their war god, Ares, (Mars), who stands for the same idea as Horus, that is, the Divine Truth proceeding and fighting against evil and falsity.

     There are a great many different Horus-gods, or varying forms of the god Horus, but we will here consider only the two most important forms: Horus the Elder and Horus the Younger. Some of the Egyptologists declare these two to be absolutely identical, while others make them so distinct from each other as to have nothing in common. The fact is that both forms represent the Divine Proceeding, but Horus the Elder stands for the idea of the Divine Spirit before the Incarnation, while the Younger Horus was a prophetic representation of the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Glorified Human of the Lord. Of this distinction, however, the learned in the Old Church can have no idea; they do not even suspect that Horus in either form represents the Spirit of God. But the theologians of the Ancient Church in Egypt possessed the true Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in definite outline and with a wealth of details that is to us a source of constantly growing astonishment.

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     I. HORUS THE ELDER, (Her-ur), whom the Greeks called Aroeris, is described in the monuments as the son of Ra, but according to Plutarch, in DE ISIDE, he was the grandson of Ra (Ouranos), and son of Kronos and Rhea, i. e., of Seb and Nut, and thus a brother of Osiris. In either case, he was of a generation anterior to that of the Younger Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, and seems to be identical with the Greek Phoebus, the Titan sun-god, whose place was afterwards usurped by Apollo, just as Neptune came to occupy the place of his Titan granduncle Oceanos.

     The Egyptologists have great difficulty in distinguishing Horus the Elder from the god Ra, from whom he is said to have "proceeded." According to Maspero, (H. E. 1:134), "Horus and Ra have so permeated each other, that none could say where the one began and the other ended. One by one, all the functions of Ra were usurped by Horus, and all the designations of Horus were appropriated by Ra." To a Newchurchman this does not present any unsurmountable difficulties, for Ra stands for the Sun of the spiritual world, and Horus the Elder is the spiritual light thence proceeding; and that which proceeds is and possesses all the attributes of that from which it proceeds. The light from the sun is the sun, as far as the human eye is concerned. [Drawings of Horus the Elder, Horus in Action, and Horus the Infant.]

     The Elder Horus is represented as a human figure with the head of a hawk, or as a lion with a human head, or the hawk's head, or simply as a hawk.

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Above the head there is a pair of ram's horns and the crown of Upper Egypt with the two suns, or sometimes the sun-disk with encircling serpent. The body of the lion represents the omnipotence of the Divine Truth, and it was to Horus, in this aspect, that the famous lion-bodied and human-headed Sphinx of Ghizeh was dedicated. But the distinguishing and characteristic symbol of Horus is the Hawk. The Hawk, to the earliest Egyptians, was a most impressive emblem of that which is high, that which is above our human earth-hound life, that which is Divine in the heavens. They knew that all the atmospheres, in their four-fold degrees, are the Divine spheres proceeding from the spiritual sun, and constitute the substantial breath from the mouth of God. And the golden-mottled sparrow hawk,-sailing swiftly in highest air without a tremor of his wings, keen of sight, and putting all other birds to flight,-naturally became the visible representation of "the Divine in the heavens," which is the Divine Truth, the Divine Light, which is ever proceeding from the heavenly Sun, and which is ever operating to enlighten the human mind. That the Egyptians had a very clear conception of Horus as the Divine Proceeding is evident beyond doubt from the inscription which we reproduced on p. 400 of the LIFE for July, 1913, representing Horus as "the true and living god, journeying, journeying, traveling." His being called "the Face of Heaven," "the Face of an otherwise unknown and invisible god," is in distinct harmony with the idea of Horus the Elder representing the Spirit of God before the Incarnation, for from most ancient times the invisible God rendered Himself visible by means of representative angel's who were completely filled with the Spirit of God.

     II. HORUS THE YOUNGER, who was not until Osiris had been glorified, represents that Holy Spirit "which was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified." In order to understand the difference between the two forms of Horus, we must here introduce some teachings from the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem:

     "The Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit are two distinct things; the Spirit of God did not operate, and could not operate upon man, except imperceptibly; but the Holy Spirit, which proceeds only from the Lord, operates upon man perceptibly, and makes man able to comprehend spiritual verities in a natural manner, for the Lord united the Divine Natural to His Divine Celestial and Divine Spiritual, and He operates through it from them. . . .

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Hence it is said that 'the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified.' John 7:39." (NINE QUESTIONS, V.)

     "There is no mention of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, but only 'the Spirit of Holiness,' in three places; . . . but frequently in the New Testament. The reason is that the Holy Spirit was first when the Lord came into the world, for it proceeded out of Him from the Father. . . . Hence it is that in the Word of the Old Testament it is nowhere stated that the Prophets spoke from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah." (T. C. R. 158.)

     "Afterwards, when glorified, the Lord became Divine Good, even as to His Human; and then, from this, proceeded the Divine Truth, which is 'the Spirit of Truth," or 'the Holy Spirit.'" (A. C. 8127.)

     "The reason why it is said that 'the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified,' is that while the Lord was in the world, He Himself taught Divine Truth; but when He was glorified, which was after the resurrection, He taught it through angels and spirits. This Holy which proceeds from the Lord and flows into man through angels and spirits, whether manifestly or not manifestly, is 'the Holy Spirit' mentioned in this statement; for it is the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord that is called 'holy' in the Word." (A. C. 9818.)

     "Horus the Younger" is a literal translation of the Egyptian name "HERU-P-KHART," which the Greeks turned to "Harpokrates," and he is represented in many different forms, among which we distinguish three predominant types: 1. Horus, the Child; 2. Horus, the Avenger of his Father; and, 3, Horus as a funerary god.

     We have referred to Horus the Child in the story of Osiri; and Isis: how he was begotten of Osiris and conceived of Isis after the death of her husband; how he was born in a wilderness of papyrus plants and, like Moses, laid in an ark made of the papyrus reed; how he was stung to death by scorpions sent forth by Set, but restored to life by the magic words of Thoth, or by the power of his own "eye;" how he afterwards was removed from his persecutors and grew up to become the victorious avenger of his father,-in all of which we cannot but discern a remarkable likeness to the Apocalyptic story of the Man-child born by the woman in the wilderness.

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     [Drawing of HORUS THE YOUNGER, TRIUMPHANT.]

     1. Among the numerous representations of Horus the Child we see him first as a newborn infant on the knees of Isis; again as an infant springing into existence out of a lotus-flower which blossomed in the heavenly abyss of "Nu" at dawn in the beginning of the new year; this latter representation is almost identical with the Hindu pictures of the birth of Buddha. Another form shows Horus as a child of larger growth, wearing the triple crown of Upper Egypt; here, as in all the figures of Horus the Child, he is seen sucking his forefinger, in the manner of infants, and wears the conventional braided lock of hair which was the special mark of infancy.

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And finally we see him as an infant, trampling upon crocodiles and strangling serpents and scorpions in his chubby hands,-a favorite way of representing the final victory of Divine Truth over all the powers of hell.

     2. As "Horus the Avenger" the hawk-headed god appears in a series of significant representations, of which we may note the following:

     a) As the great god of war, in full action; on his head the double crown, in his right hand a war-club, and in his left a bow and three arrows,-a most "striking" picture! (G. E. 1:474.) b) With ram's hems supporting a five-fold crown of Upper Egypt; in his right hand an "anch," and in his left a sickle,-clearly representing the Divine Truth executing the final judgment, but judging nevertheless from Divine love and mercy (G. E. 1:470.) c) Standing upon an hippopotamus that is bound with iron chains around its legs and mouth, while the god is driving a long spear into its head,-representing the power of evil conquered and bound by the Divine Truth. d) Horus without crowns or weapons, but with his right hand outstretched, in an attitude of teaching and explaining. (G. E. 1:476) e) Horus seated, holding in his right hand a long staff and in his left a bowl containing the simple crown of Upper Egypt,-representing the Divine Truth teaching the good of life out of the Word. (G. E. 1:488.)

     3. As the son of Osiris, the great king of all those who had died, Horus was intimately associated with the idea of death, burial, and resurrection,-meaning here the death of the life of self, and the awakening into the life of regeneration by means of the Holy Spirit of Divine Truth proceeding from the Glorified Human of the Lord. Thus Horus became a funerary god, in many respects identical with his jackal-headed cousin or brother, Anubis. The monuments describe him as having taken charge of the mummification and funeral of his father with such loving attention that "his filial affection became the pattern which was followed by every pious Egyptian from time immemorial." We find, however, that Horus was believed to help the dead generally, even as he helped Osiris, and all men hoped that he would come to their assistance after death, and act as a mediator between the judge of the Underworld and themselves.

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In the Judgment Scene in the BOOK OF THE DEAD, (Papyrus of Ani, plates 3 and 4), Horus, the son of Isis, "leads the deceased, after the heart has been weighed, into the presence of Oisiris, and he says to his father, ii have come to thee, O Un-nefer, and I have brought unto thee Osiris Ani, and then goes on to say that Thoth has weighed Ani's heart in the Balance according to the decree of the gods, and has found it right and true. He also asks Osiris that Ani may be allowed to appear in his presence, and that cakes and ale may be given him, and that he may be among the followers of Horus forever." (G. E. 1:490.)

     "More than this, however, was done for the deceased by Horus, for he took the bodies of the dead under his care as he took the body of his father Osiris into his own hands, and superintended the performance of his funeral rites and ceremonies." (Ibid.) In this work he was assisted by four gods or spirits known as "the Followers of Horns" or "the Four Children of Horus," which are to us of great symbolic interest. They are supposed to represent "the four pillars of heaven," "the four quarters," etc., but to us they are of far deeper significance "In the Book of THE DEAD these four children of Horus play very prominent parts, and the deceased endeavored to gain their help and protection at all costs, both by offerings and prayers. In the pictures of the funeral procession four melt draw along the coffin containing the mummied intestines of the deceased, four animals are taken Bor sacrifice, and all the instruments used in the ceremony of 'opening the mouth,' as well as the vases and boxes of unguents, etc., are in quadruplicates. Even prayers and formula: are said four times over." (G. E. 1:491) Each one of these four "Children of Horus" had his own name and was supposed to preside over a certain quarter of heaven and to be the protector of certain viscera, i. e., interiors of man. We would suggest, however, that they represent something more than this, viz., the four heavens and the four interior senses of the Word. The body of each of them is that of a mummy, (the letter of the Word), but one of them has the head of a man, another the head of a hawk; the third has the head of a jackal, and the fourth the head of a cynocephalus, (or dog-headed ape).

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The man represents the celestial heaven and the celestial sense of the Word. The hawk stands for the spiritual heaven and the spiritual sense accommodated to the angels there. The jackal, as we have endeavored to prove, represents the celestial-natural heaven, (see N. C. LIFE, 1913, p. 396), and the interior-moral sense of the Word. And the dog-headed ape stands, as we believe, for the spiritual-natural heaven, (Ibid. p. 393), and the interior historical sense of the Word, which is the lowest degree of the internal sense. This interpretation will no doubt seem fanciful to many, but the key seems to fit in a remarkable manner.

     In the accompanying cut (from G. E. 1:490), the four "Children of Horus" are seen standing about a funeral chest, from which a resurrected spirit is rising, with the sign of eternal life in each hand. It will be noticed that the man and the jackal stand nearest to the awakened spirit, for these two represent the angels of the celestial kingdom, who actually assist in the process of resuscitation, (H. H. 449, 450); while the hawk and the ape, representing the angels of the spiritual kingdom, stand further off. In the Judgment Hall the four children of Horus are seen standing upon a great lotus-flower immediately in front of Osiris upon his throne, and they undoubtedly signify the four heavens united in prayers of intercession for the spirit about to be judged.

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[Drawing of the "Four Children of Horus" attending a spirit arising from the tomb.] The whole scene reminds us forcibly of the "four living creatures," in Ezekiel 1:10, and of the "four beasts" in Revelation 4:7, of whom we read, "And in the midst of the throne and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as of a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle." Instead of the lion and the calf, two of the "beasts" in the Egyptian judgment scene are a jackal and an ape, but the man is the same in both scenes, and the hawk is closely related to the eagle. The four beasts in the Apocalypse represent "the Word of the Lord from first principles in ultimates and its guards." (A. R. 239.) They also represent "the Lord's guard and providence," (A. E. 277), and "Heaven as to the Word, for the heavens are heavens from the reception of Divine Truth through the Word from the Lord." (A. R. 275.) And "the reason they were four animals or cherubs was that 'four' signifies conjunction into one, and they who are in Heaven enjoy such conjunction." (A. E. 362.)

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Editorial Department 1914

Editorial Department       Editor       1914

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     THE EVANGELICAL NEW-CHURCH1LIAN for December solemnly asserts that "Yule; French, Noel Hebrew and Chaldee, Nule, is the ancient name for Christmas." It would be interesting to know from what source Mr. Daniels derived this astounding bit of information respecting the Jewish and Chaldee celebrations of this Christian festival.



     In a little Chicago periodical, devoted to Ido, the new international language, a paragraph from HEAVEN AND HELL is printed as an example of the adaptability of Ido, in which the original Latin is translated almost word for word. The paragraph is n. 528, headed, "That it is not so difficult as some believe to live the life which leads to heaven."



     The Spanish translation of HEAVEN AND HELL is briefly noted in the BULLETIN of the Pan-American Union, to the effect that "the recent distinguished honors shown to Swedenborg by having his remains brought in state from England to his native land had awakened new interest in his writings."

     Dr. Sewall adds, in the MESSENGER, that "as this Bulletin is published in four languages-the Portuguese, Spanish, French and English-this little line of intelligence may be instrumental in carrying the name and the work of Swedenborg into regions which would not have been easily reached by other means.



     The REMINDER in a recent issue, publishes a letter complaining of the lack of distinctiveness in many New Church sermons, and ascribes this as the cause of the poor attendance at services. It continues: "All the places of worship of the 'General Church' are well attended; nearly all partake of the Sacrament regularly, and have been baptized before they enter the 'General Church;' and there is always a delight amongst the members of the 'General Church's to meet each other and talk of religious subjects, the growth of the Church, etc. . . . "

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     "Rev. Dr. Crawford, for twenty-three years a missionary among the tribes of Central Africa, has been lecturing in the East, and recently at Cleveland, and bore this testimony to the Negro character there:

     "'The Negro in his native land is a thorough gentleman. He is tender, kind and considerate to all. Reared in savagery, as opposed to civilization as we know it, he knows no artifices of mere politeness, and if he wore clothes it might be said that he wears his heart upon his sleeve for all to see.

     "'He is a gentleman at heart, and, therefore, the true gentleman.

     Like multitudes of the Gentiles, he seems to be in a state of simple good, and no doubt in time will be prepared to receive the higher truths of the new age, become enlightened, and take his place in the new civilization spreading over all lands." (N. C. MESSENGER, Jan. 21.)



     John Scotus Erigena said of the Lord: "He went forth from the Father, and came into the world, that is, He took upon Him that human nature in which the whole world subsists; for there is nothing in the world that is not comprehended in human nature; and again, He left the world and went to the Father, that is, He exalted that human nature, which He received, above all things visible and invisible, above all heavenly powers, above all that can be said or understood, uniting it to His Deity in which He is equal to the Father." (DE DIVISTONE NATURAE, V:25.)



     In an interview with Mr. A. H. Stroh, reprinted in MORNING LIGHT, Prof. O. M. Ramstrom, of Upsala University, is mentioned as the probable future editor of Swedenborg's work on THE BRAIN. Two volumes of this work were published under the editorship of Dr. R. L. Tafel, in London, about 1885.

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Tafel's manuscripts, partly worked over by his successor, the Rev. James Hyde, were classified by Mr. Stroh during July in the Library of the Swedenborg Society, and have now been deposited in the Library of Upsala University for use by Professor Ramstrom. Dr. Ramstrom is well known to the New Church public as an investigator of Swedenborg's cerebral physiology, and his affirmative interest was exhibited in an address before the Swedenborg Congress in 1910, and in several published articles.



     While studying the subject of Ecclesiastical Symbolism, recently, we came across the following choice bit of High Church "'Angelology" in the Rev. Ernest Geldart's MANUAL OF CHURCH DECORATION AND SYMBOLISM, (London, 1899, p. 130): "There is one thing that can most positively be insisted upon. No angel as sex. The 'lady angels' of latter days are an outrage on faith and reason alike. The dead mother who grows angel's wings and appears to her sleeping infant: the child that is taken from us and becomes a 'cherub,' are fantastic and heretical imaginings. But Divine Redeemer took not on Him the nature of angels, but of man; we shall not take on us, or have given to us, the nature of angels, either. They that 'attain to the resurrection' will not have wings, and when it is told us that they shall be as the angels, are explanation is given at the same time-they shall not marry; i. e., all notion of sex is excluded. Wherefore, in all healthy medieval angels, nothing is more noticeable than the absence of any distinguishing mark of sex in feature or form. Since Holy Scripture sometimes uses the term 'man' as interchangeable with 'angel' to show the stature and general figure, the angel is, perhaps, rather more male than feminine likeness, but never markedly so." (The italics are the author's.)



     The Academy's Archeological Museum has been enriched, recently, by the acquisition of a fine set of facsimile casts of treasures such as the Rosetta Stone, the black obelisque of Shalmaneser II; two beautiful statues of Osiris and Isis; large tablets showing the Siloam inscription in the ancient Hebrew characters; Ashurbanipal and his queen in their garden; Shamash, the Assyrian sun-god, in his temple, etc.

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The Reading Room in the Library, moreover, has been furnished with a series of fine busts of Greek gods and classical heroes and writers, which lend a delightful sphere and finish to the beautiful room. We need not mention the name of the generous friend who has provided these lovely additions to our educational equipment.



     The NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY for January maintains that there is no warrant in the Writings for "supposing that the New Church will ever come into possession of the Ancient Word, or that it will ever need the Ancient Word." Nay, "even if recovered, that Word would be of no service to the New Church."

     The hope for the restoration of the Ancient Word may not be so unwarranted as Mr. Buss seems to think. We know that the Ancient Word "is still preserved among the people who dwell in Great Tartary," where they still "conduct their Divine worship according to it." (T. C. R. 279.) And we are divinely directed to "seek for it in China, and peradventure you will find it there among the Tartars." (A. R. 11.) The QUARTERLY, furthermore, takes exception to the statement that "the Hebrew text, as found in the early chapters of Genesis, is the original document from which all the Gentile legends are derived," and he points out that "the Ancient Word"-not Genesis-"was the common source of all such legends." It is difficult to understand this objection in view of the fact that the introductory chapters of Genesis are also in the Ancient Word and that "they were copied thence by Moses," (a Mose inde exscripta sint." T. C. R. 279); and this so carefully "that not one little word is missing," (ut non verbulum desit. S. S. 109. DE VERBO 15). These chapters; therefore, are an integral part of the Ancient Word and they certainly are of service to the New Church, as will be all the rest of the Ancient Word, when recovered. How, indeed, could any Divine Revelation fail to be of service?

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DID SWEDENBORG SUGGEST THE EXISTENCE OF THE PLANET NEPTUNE? 1914

DID SWEDENBORG SUGGEST THE EXISTENCE OF THE PLANET NEPTUNE?              1914

A correspondent writes: "I have read somewhere that the existence of the planet called Neptune was suggested by Swedenborg, and I wonder if you can tell me where in his writings this can be found."

     The only passage known to us that may suggest the existence of some planet at the boundary of our solar system, is the statement in the EARTHS IN THE UNIVERSE, n. 128: "While in a state of wakefulness I was led as to the spirit by angels from the Lord to a certain Earth in the Universe, accompanied by some spirits from our world. The progression was toward the right hand, and continued for two hours. Near the boundary of our solar system there appeared at first a cloud, shining white but dense; and beyond it a fiery smoke ascending out of a great chasm; if was a vast gulf separating our solar system on that side from certain other systems of the starry heaven; that fiery smoke appeared at a considerable distance. I was borne across the midst of it; and then there appeared beneath in that chasm or gulf very many men, who were spirits, (for all spirits appear in the human form, and actually are men). I also heard them speaking; with one another; but whence they were, and of what quality, was not given me to know. Nevertheless, one of them said to me that they were Guards, placed there lest spirits should pass from this world into another in the Universe, without permission having been granted."

     We would be grateful if any one of our readers could shed further light on this question. While on this subject; we would suggest, as a long-cherished desideratum, the preparation of an edition of the EARTHS IN THE UNIVERSE, annotated with quotations from the SPIRITUAL DIARY, Where we find an amazing wealth of detailed information concerning the inhabitants of the various planets within and also outside of our solar system. It would make quite a volume, but of immense interest and usefulness, Young people would eagerly read such a book, and we believe it would attract some attention even outside the Church.

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But the greatest value of the work would be in the preparation of Newchurchmen for their important use, after death, in carrying the Gospel of the Second Advent of the Lord to every corner of the Universe.
"QUARTERLY" AND THE ISSUE 1914

"QUARTERLY" AND THE ISSUE              1914

     In the NEW CRURCH QUARTERLY for January the editor finds us guilty of "misrepresentation" when stating, (in the LIFE for October, 1913), that Mr. Buss had "deliberately reduced the Writings of the Second Coming to the level of the Epistles." In refutation of this charge Mr. Buss points to the fact that he has "publicly stood, for now thirty-three years, for the position that the Writings of the New Church are 'a Divine Revelation' in the most unequivocal sense of which that phrase is capable, and has never deviated from it."

     We would not knowingly misrepresent Mr. Buss, or detract one iota from his splendid record as an uncompromising champion of the Divinity of the Writings. Throughout his public life he has defended the Divine authority of these Writings, and has, more clearly than any one outside of the Academy, demonstrated the nature of the Divine Inspiration granted to Swedenborg. Nay, what is more convincing than any verbal confessions, in all his writing he has unswervingly sought to teach from the point of view of the Writings as a Divine Revelation. No one can recognize this fact more gladly and heartily than the LIFE, which in the QUARTERLY has found not only a fair-minded opponent but a sympathetic friend.

     The discussion concerning the Writings as the Word is, however, of too profound importance to be obscured or complicated by matters of personal consideration. It is a question to be decided calmly in the light of clear reason, and each one should, without offense, take the consequences of his own arguments.

     Mr. Buss,-in arguing that the Writings, like the Epistles, are not the Word of the Lord,-reduces the Writings, in that most important respect, to the level of the Epistles: they have in common the negative Quality of not being the Word of God. With the utmost deference to our valued friend, that this is a misrepresentation of his position.

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Mr. Buss stilt maintains that the reference to "doctrinal writings," in Swedenborg's letter to Dr. Beyer, applies to "ALL 'doctrinal writings,'" and thus also to the Writings in which the Lord has made His Second Advent. But, though proclaiming that the Writings are a Divine Revelation, which the Epistles are not, Mr. Buss is not able to see that Swedenborg refers to human doctrinals, and all human doctrinals, but not to Divine books of Doctrine.

     In the last analysis our respective positions are reduced to the following simple syllogisms:

A. The argument of NEW CHURCH LIFE.
1). The Word is Divine Doctrine.
2). The Writings are Divine Doctrine.
3). The Writings are the Word.

B. The argument as stated by the QUARTERLY:
1). Doctrinal writings are not the Word.
2). The Writings are doctrinal writings.
3). The Writings are not the Word.

C. The argument of the QUARTERLY as it appears to the LIFE:
1). Human doctrinal writings are not the Word.
2). The Writings are Divine doctrinal writings.
3). The Writings are not the Word,-which is a non-sequitur.

     Mr. Buss believes that the Writings are "a Divine Revelation in the most unequivocal sense of which that phrase is capable."

     The term "Divine Revelation" in all past ages has meant "the Word of God." This is the most unequivocal sense of which the phrase is capable.

     The Writings, according to Mr. Buss, are not capable of being a Divine Revelation in the sense of being the Word of God.

     Consequently, Mr. Buss cannot consistently maintain that the Writings are a Divine Revelation "in the most unequivocal sense of which that phrase is capable."

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RACHEL, WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN 1914

RACHEL, WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN       HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1914

     To those whose hearts are centered in the work of New Church Education, and who realize how fully the hope of perpetuating our precious heritage in the midst of a rapidly disintegrating religious world, depends upon this most powerful agency, nothing could appeal with more poignancy than such a cry as is raised by Mr. H. N. Morris in the English NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE for January, under the heading: "Religious Education and the New Church."

     Mr. Morris, who is a prominent member of the General Conference, and who is obviously en rapport with the educational situation both in England and in India, writes as follows:

     "We are always deploring the loss of the youths who constitute what is referred to as the bridge between the school and the Church. It is a universal complaint. And many of those who remain in the schools and in the Churches, do not seem to be what you would call' spiritual-minded. The demand is all for short sermons, and sermons of not much depth, and for religious teaching and Church work of an external character.

     "The old order has changed, and the parent has no longer the responsibility of the education of his children. The secular part of the work is undertaken by the State in public schools; the religious part in Sunday Schools. Now, let me ask the question, is half an hour or an hour a week sufficient time for the instruction in spiritual knowledge which is so necessary to a child as a spiritual being? We give five or five and a half days of six or eight hours to the learning of secular knowledge, and only half an hour or an hour to spiritual knowledge.

     "You may say that the parents must supplement this with systematic instruction at home. But is it practicable?

     "It is certain not much practiced even in the best regulated families. Children attending day schools now, have to spend so much time upon home lessons, that except on Saturday, which children look upon as their special day for play, and Sunday, when they may have the half hour or the hour at Sunday School, there is not much opportunity.

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The parents, too, want recreation and relaxation from work, and it would in any case be extremely difficult for any parent under existing conditions, and with a large family, to give the best instruction to a number of children of varying ages and sexes.

     "You may say that some kind of religious instruction-Bible teaching or Cowper-Templeism-is given in public day schools. In most schools it is true that some sort of religious teaching is given, but it is quite optional; and in some no provision is made. In others, with the exception of the voluntary schools that have managed to escape extinction, no religious test is necessary for the teachers, so that we may have an unbeliever teaching little children what is to be taught them of the Christian faith.

     "To Newchurchmen the situation is serious. . . .The teachers are directly in touch with the children every day. We know from experience how children, especially at an early age, take in whatever the teacher says, without any doubt. Some of the deepest impressions are made and remain all through life.

     "The New Church children are taught at home to address their prayers to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Father, and the only God; but at the day schools the same children hear the Lord referred to as a good man, or as the Son who has paid the penalty for man's wickedness, and appeased the wrath of an angry Father. This must produce confusion, and raise doubts in the children's minds on the most sacred of all subjects; and this, too, at the most impressionable age.

     "The day school teachers have the children continuously every week for five or six consecutive days. Think what the influence of these teachers must be! How well I remember my own son's absolute trust in his first day-school teacher. Whatever the subject, the teacher was looked upon as the supreme authority, and as absolutely infallible. It is only natural that the child should have, in the earliest and most impressionable years, implicit faith in his teacher.

     "We are told in the New Church that our ideas of God influence all our life, even in every detail.

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This must affect the whole sphere of school life, and where the teacher has no true idea of God, it must have an influence on all the subjects taught.

     "What, then, must be the effect where the school is entirely secular, where Bible teaching and anything of a religious character is excluded, and where the teachers themselves, chosen entirely on account of their knowledge and possibly their ability to teach secular subjects, are agnostic or openly atheistic? They may even delight to throw ridicule on the Bible and on religion, on anything connected with the spiritual life which the New Church deems of such importance.

     "There are not yet many schools of this latter class in England, but there are some; and it has been repeatedly discussed as a matter for serious consideration that all the public schools should be entirely secular.

     "We can only view such a prospect as a national calamity. I sympathize very much with that ruler of one of the native states in India, who, after secular education had been taught in the day schools in the State for some years, found the result was so disastrous to the morality and general character of the scholars turned out of these schools, that it was found necessary to make religion an essential part of the teaching in every school.

     "Our forefathers were more fully alive to the importance of religious instruction. As long ago as 1827 a public day school was started in Manchester, where children were taught daily by New Church teachers; and in addition to Bible stories they had simple lessons in correspondences and truths of the future life. These New Church day schools spread quickly, and there were soon others in Birmingham, Accrington, Middleton, Failsworth, and Heywood, Wigan, and other places. Where would the New Church organization be today had it not been for these schools? They provided not only scholars for the Sunday Schools but members of the Churches, and many of the preachers and ordained ministers had their training at these schools either as scholars or teachers. They undoubtedly had much to do with the building up of the New Church as an external organization in this country.

     "It is well known that owing to changes in the Government control of public day schools-in other words, owing to the Education Act of 1870, these New Church day schools and many other so-called voluntary schools, gradually deteriorated. . . .

     "I think the views of Mr. E. T. Broadfield, who was an authority on education, are worthy of serious consideration.

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His proposals were in effect, to hand over all schools to the public authorities, but allow a period of each day for religious education. This religious education would be given either by the minister or outside instructors, or by teachers in the school.

     "I believe that unsectarian instruction is impossible, and I hold that this view is in accord with the teachings of the New Church where we are taught so distinctly how important is a right idea of God. We should welcome any system that will allow us to instruct our own children daily in the truths of the New Church.

     "The New Church as an organization cannot bring about a change in the Education Act, but it can make up its mind and thus influence public opinion in its small circle. But until some opportunity is afforded of giving daily instruction in the schools what can we do? Not much, perhaps, but still something.

     "In Manchester there are the 'Becconsall' scholarships awarded to children in the Sunday Schools of the district, and available for continuing the education at some good secondary school. The money that is being used for this purpose was left for the instruction of children in day schools in the teaching of the New Church, especially those contained in the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION by Emanuel Swedenborg.

     "What a pity it seems to be that there is no New Church training college anywhere in this country, where such scholarships could be taken; where at least some children could be brought up in a New Church atmosphere.

     "We deplore the lack of New Church ministers, and our College for training students for the ministry has often only three or four resident students. Why is this?

     "One chief reason is undoubtedly that we have no training schools which can feed such a college; all our New Church day schools have disappeared owing to the conditions of national education. There are, it is true, one or two private boarding schools which are not connected with the Church, but which have New Church men or women as principals. But these are of a private character, are expensive, and not under any control from the New Church organization.

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We have no institution for training pupils for the New Church College, and thus for the ministry.

     "We have to face facts. Even in the best regulated New Church families, in ministers' families even, the children are sometimes drawn away; and there is no doubt that, in most cases, if not all, it can be traced to the influence of the day schools or of the universities. It is the lack of a New Church atmosphere in the daily life; and it is certainly most deplorable.

     "If we cannot have our own New Church College or University at Oxford, Cambridge, London, or Manchester, we might surely do something to keep in touch with the Church those children of New Church parents who attend such places.

     "There is one simple way of making suitable provision for such cases. It is by the establishment of New Church hostels or homes in educational centers. There should be one in Oxford for university students, and others in centers of New Church activity, such as London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Glasgow. Students would have the advantage of a New Church home life, and participate in the public worship and the social life of the New Church.

     "I speak with some experience in this, inasmuch as I myself was sent abroad to study at one of the Continental Universities, and had the privileges of boarding during that time with a New Church family, and participating in the social and religious life of a New Church Society. I can assure you that the impressions of that New Church sphere will never be erased. . . .

     "We cannot alter the education system of the State ourselves. We cannot, as has been proved by experience, compete with the State in elementary education. We must wait for the changes that are to come. But in encouraging the one practical suggestion I have made we can help to keep some of the best educated of our youths in touch with the Church. We can do something to encourage students to enter into the ministry, or into the missionary ranks of the Church."

     The proposition to introduce sectarian religious instruction into the public schools is not a new one, and indeed might be done in communities not too complex.

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But even though something might be gained by such a procedure, why stop at this? Mr. Morris is manifestly inconsistent with his own better perceptions-for his whole argument shows that the real need is for schools "where children could be brought up in a New Church atmosphere." And if the need is such as he has truly and feelingly described, how can we, at the peril of the immortal souls of our children, so tamely surrender all real efforts in this direction? Surely Mr. Morris is not unaware that such schools, which can and do "compete with the State in elementary education," are already in existence, and that at least a few loyal and devoted societies of the New Church are maintaining such schools? There is one in each of the following places: Berlin, and Parkdale, in Ontario, and Glenview, and Pittsburgh, in the United States-besides an excellent little school in London at 169 Camberwell Grove. Mr. Tilson's society also maintains, we believe, a small school. Thanks to the frequent and generous notice in the NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY, Mr. Morris must have heard of the splendidly equipped institution at Bryn Athyn, which is, among other things, busily training teachers to do this work, and to do it in a thoroughly New Church way, giving the central position to religious instruction and yet keeping their pupils abreast of the best standards of the State Schools? Now if such a work is being done here and there, through the self-sacrificing devotion of a few really loyal Newchurchmen, without any aid from, endowments in rates, (except through the training of their teachers at Bryn Athyn free of tuition), why should it be impossible in England? Is the proposition to attend upon the outskirts of the giant institutions of the world with some sort of a hostel for the student's hours of relaxation, the best that Mr. Morris can offer? Is there not sufficient money in New Church hands in England? Are there no willing hearts there, with courage to make the attempt? Why does not Mr. Morris at least dare to suggest the possibility of a real New Church college or institution such as the Academy is maintaining here? Why should a man of the stature and zeal of Mr. Broadfield, moreover, be content with a compromise proposition such as that attributed to him, of endeavoring to inject the Holy City, now descending from God out of heaven, into one carefully isolated corner of this great secular stronghold?

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As a makeshift, indeed, we should welcome any opportunity, however partial, to extend our present reaches but why not set up as our ideal the purpose to put the Church where it belongs, in the centre of the education of our young, where the fringe of her holy garments may hallow the halls of all her attendant sciences? Sure this is the ideal. But, nay, perhaps the Church is still dominated by a voice from the past-a voice that destroyed distinctively New Church Education in the Convention, by instructing her that "the Church, being an ecclesiastical organization, has no more right to invade the strictly lay field of education, than it would have to go into the business of making shoes." (See the Presidential address of the Rev. Thomas Worcester, in the Journal of the General Convention for 1853.) And, again, we hear dead voices pleading that we must "leave our children in freedom to choose their own religion," and that it is "uncharitable to withdraw our children from the association with their companions of the Old Church, now happily being permeated with the blessed spirit of the New Dispensation."

     If the public schools of England either teach nothing of the Word, the only fountain of spiritual life, or teach it so wrongly as to ridicule or destroy the foundation thereof, i. e., the idea of God as a Man-together with other things of religion that are most holy, then where indeed is the permanent remedy to be found short of a New Church school? That the State should supply that part of education which prepares for the uses of the civil plane, there call be no question. But education is for both worlds, and is, therefore, like the Rational itself, a joint function of the Church and State-and the Church cannot escape the consequences, if she shirks her part in this responsibility. Moreover, where the secular education is such as to injure or undermine the three essentials of the Church, then indeed is there no alternative but to take over the entire work, so far as we must, to save that which is the life of it all, and of our civilization. Perhaps in time, the State will recognize the joint concerns of the Churches-for they are many-and give us credit for all work done in her field, if it meets the requirements of her inspectors, and not require us to carry a double burden in this respect. Perhaps this would be feasible now, in certain localities, were it not for the fear of fattening Rome at the public expense!

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But be this as it may, we cannot wait. Our children insist upon growing up, and if we are not most diligent in that education which is the center and ruling part in the molding of their minds, which God has given for no other purpose than to receive the stamp of His image, they will receive only the mark of this world, (and worse), upon their foreheads and upon their hands. May God speed the day when the New Church, as a whole, will again return to a recognition of her duty in this matter, and when we shall hear no more this heartrending cry from those who love the interior truths of the Church, lamenting the toss of her own children,-but shall rejoice, (even as the Academy has begun to rejoice), in the glad sound of youthful voices-of a generation that shall worship the Lord with a beauty of holiness unrealized by ourselves.
     HOMER SYNNESTVEDT.

     GREAT BRITAIN. "The Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, of Woodlands Road Church, Glasgow, has accepted an invitation to become the minister of the Birmingham (Wretham Road) New Church. The date when he will commence his new pastorate is not, we believe, finally settled, but it will probably be some time after the end of March. Mr. Schreck has done such good work in Glasgow that we shall look forward in confidence to the success of his efforts in Birmingham, and we trust that his association there will be long and prosperous." (MORNING LIGHT.)

     The Camberwell Society, (London), celebrated in January the 50th anniversary of its formation. The Rev. W. E. Hurt is the present pastor of the Society, but six other ministers also attended the meetings, among them the Rev. R. F. Tilson, who for five years had been pastor at Camberwell,-"a ministry during which 127 persons were baptized into the New Church, (47 children and 80 adults), 4 couples were married, and 61 were added to the roll of membership The meetings extended from Sunday, Jan. 4th, to Tuesday, Jan. 6th. On Tuesday the Rev. J. F. Buss delivered a lecture on "The Mission of the New Church," which reviewed the history of the churches, which led up to the "crown of Churches."

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GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN 1914

GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN       JOSEPH E. ROSENQVIST       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     As the New Church in Gothenburg with the beginning of the present year entered into a new state, it may be interesting to the readers of NEW CHURCH LIFE to learn of the development of the Church in the city during the past two or three years.

     After an absence of seven years the undersigned returned to this place in the year 1910, and was at once put in charge of the little New Church Society, to which he had ministered as pastor from 1900-1903. It was well known that I belonged to the Academy, and no one even intimated that my doctrinal attitude would make my position here as pastor untenable. As a matter of external form I had now, as was also the case in 1900, to sever my connection with the General Church of the New Jerusalem in order to be properly recognized as a member and minister in the Swedish Society of the New Church, recognized by the State, and as at that time I saw no possibility of carrying on work on strictly Academic lines, I did the best I could do under the circumstances. My remuneration was nominal, but I managed the financial side by giving private lessons in languages.

     To my delight my sermons were during the first year well received, as also had been the case during my first ministry to the Society, but later on complaints were heard because of the following reasons: that I was in the habit of reading a lesson from the Writings at our Sunday morning services; that when the subject demanded it, I used the term "hell," which was by some regarded as objectionable and not suited to our times; that I refused to invite strangers from the Old Church to partake with us in the Holy Supper, when this was administered; that in my sermons I used to mention Swedenborg's name; that I did not prepare my sermons with a view to draw strangers who were not familiar with such New Church expressions as I often employed: in a word, the sermons were not in the opinion of the majority popular enough.

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     On one point I felt that I could meet the demand of the dissatisfied, and I often did so by using the term "Hades," (dodsriket), for the objectionable word "hell." But farther my conscience did not permit me to go.

     For reasons not well known to myself I began to fall into a state of spiritual darkness and doubt; and I am very sorry to say that I caused many in my Society to believe that I had changed my convictions on several important issues, which also was the sad truth. In this state I continued for nearly a whole year. This brought joy to many in the Society, and their confidence in me was thereby renewed or strengthened, so that when at a General meeting in June, 1911, it was decided upon to form a new Society recognized by the State, located in Gothenburg, I was made its leader and pastor.

     Some time after this the "Circle" in Stockholm was called into existence by Mr. Alfred H. Stroh. By this time I had begun to return to light, and my state of doubts and negation was slowly followed by one of conviction and affirmation. When, therefore, the news of the formation of the "Circle" reached me my heart was made glad, because I saw in it a promising sign for the true establishment of the New Church in Sweden. And so, when my friends came to me for comfort in their distress because of the formation of the "Circle," which by them was looked upon as an evil omen, they were surprised and disheartened when I affirmed that we had reason to rejoice, because the formation of the "Circle" was only for the true welfare of the New Church, and, in fact, the best that had ever happened in the history of the Church in Sweden. In this spirit I always spoke when complaints about the "Circle" were made in my hearing. They soon realized that I in heart and soul was just as much an Academician as ever, no doubt regarding me as being a turncoat, for which opinion I do not blame them, having myself given them reason to regard me as such. But that I did not intentionally deceive them I hardly need to say, but I am very sorry that I gave them reasons for so believing.

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     One day in May, 1912, I received a letter from Stockholm in which the writer asked me if I were willing to baptize her into the New Church. I at once replied that I would be very glad to do so; the day for the baptism was fixed, and I was very happy to have an opportunity to show my attitude towards so-called "re-baptism."

     Soon after this I received a letter from Mr. Manby in which he strongly argued against the keeping of my promise to baptize, holding that it would be disorderly and even unlawful, as the lady in question had not formally severed her connection with the established State-Church. Many letters were exchanged between us on this subject. Among his many arguments was also this that if I fulfilled my promise to baptise before the General meeting, which was to be held in Stockholm, the whole meeting, nay, his whole Society, would be so disturbed that the usefulness of the meeting would be impaired. I, therefore, met him in so far that against my will I changed the time for baptism to some day after the meeting.

     In the spring of 1912 Mr. Manby had asked me to prepare a paper on "The Education of Children," to be read at the meeting just mentioned. He also requested me to write out a resolution or resolutions to be offered to the meeting for acceptance after the reading and discussion of my paper. I complied with his wishes. But when the paper was found to be Academic from start to finish, Mr. Manby in particular figuratively tore it to pieces, and treated both paper and the resolution that I offered so contemptuously that even his personal friends took exception to his conduct.

     My confidence in Mr. Manby was now gone. I reluctantly realized that there was no possibility to work successfully in connection with a man who did not appear to accord me any freedom of thought expressed in speech, writing or action.

     How much we differed also on other important subjects beside that of baptism the following sufficiently illustrates:

     I had started to deliver a series of sermons on Matth. 24, where the last state of the Old Church is treated of. I simply preached the plain truth and nothing else.

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On the same Sunday the first of this series was delivered, the latest issue of Mr. Manby's paper, NYA KURRANS TIDNING, arrived, and was as usual distributed to those who take the paper. In it was found an editorial by Pastor Manby, in which he held forth about the desirability of co-operating with the Old Church movements, which would indicate that they were animated by a love for the common good, and so on.

     The editorial really appeared to nullify all that I had just preached. My sermon appeared uncharitable and cold compared with Mr. Manby's "charitable" article. That my sermons hereafter were by many designated as "awful" is not to be wondered at. When I sent Mr. Manby one of these sermons for his paper, I was informed by him that it was not suitable as a sermon in NYA KYRKANS TIDNING. I now saw still more plainly that there was no use in any longer putting off the inevitable: separation from the Swedish Society in which Mr. Manby's will seemed to be all-powerful. I, therefore, decided to do so, if I could obtain re-recognition as member and priest in the General Church of the New Jerusalem. I at once applied for the privilege of being thus readmitted into the General Church. It required some time before a decisive answer could be given, but when it arrived it informed me that my application had been favorably received, and that I had regained my old status in the General Church. I now at once resigned as a member and priest of the Swedish Society of the New Church, my resignation to go into effect on January 1, 1914.

     Mr. Manby was very glad when he heard of my resignation, and informed me in plain language that I ought to have resigned long before this, and that I would never have become the leader and pastor of the recently formed Society had it then been known that I did not fully accept the Constitution of the Society.

     In the meantime my sermons became so obnoxious to some that they stayed away from services altogether. Those who had children did not want these to listen to sermons in which the Old Church was painted in such dark colors, especially as they had their children preparing to be "confirmed" in the Old Church. I was also informed that the Society did not wish me nor any one for their pastor who favored the Principles of the Academy.

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     Together with some five or six men, (two of whom I had recently baptized), I now started a Sunday evening class, where the situation could be discussed and the Writings studied in an affirmative sphere.

     On January 1st these few formed a "Circle" with the same ends and uses in view as the "Circle" in Stockholm, with which we want to work together for the establishment of the New Church on a sound basis. I was made the leader, and Mr. Eric Johanson the treasurer of this little "Circle," which for the present holds its informal meetings in the home of Mr. Chr. Bromberg, at 6 o'clock every Sunday evening.

     The Swedish Society of the New Church in this city has engaged Mr. Manby as visiting pastor. He will probably visit the Society three or four times a year. Sunday services will be conducted by laymen in his absence.
     JOSEPH E. ROSENQVIST.
          Address: Ostra Skansgatan 18 A.
Gothenburg, Sweden, Jan. 11, 1914.
TENTH ONTARIO ASSEMBLY 1914

TENTH ONTARIO ASSEMBLY       E. R. CRONLUND       1914

     The Tenth Ontario Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem was held in Toronto from December 31, 1913, to January 2, 1914, inclusive.

     The total attendance was 140, comprising 100 members of the General Church in Ontario, and 40 visitors and young people. Of this attendance eighty-six were from Toronto; thirty-five from. Berlin and Waterloo, six from Bryn Athyn, four from Randolph, two from Pittsburgh, two from Glenview, and one each from Chicago, Wellesley, Peterborough, Clinton and Suffield.

     First Session.

     The first session of the Assembly was held on Wednesday afternoon, December 31, at half past two o'clock. The meeting was opened with religious service conducted by Bishop W. F. Pendleton. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved.

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A paper on "UNITY IN THE NEW CHURCH" was then delivered by the Rev. F. E. Waelchli.

     The discussion of the paper was opened by Mr. Carswell, who briefly noted the difference between the angelic spirit and its opposite as being that the one was a spirit of excuse, while the other was a spirit of that delighted in censure.

     Mr. Acton referred to the Bishop's paper on Unity in the Church, delivered before the General Assembly some years ago. The burden of that address was that we should cultivate the spirit of unity, the desire to be one with our brethren. This is the essential of real unity, and if this exists, doctrinal differences will not make internal division. The writer of the paper had also emphasized this need of charity as the essential of unity, but he (the speaker) was afraid that in his anxiety to show the need for unity in the New Church the writer had been led to exaggerate the points of similarity between the views held by the Convention and those held by the General Church. Convention was a very miscellaneous body, but while there were some of its members who approximated more or less closely to the General Church in their estimate of the Writings yet this was not characteristic of Convention membership generally.

     Their ideas concerning the Writings were extremely varied, but those ideas were not generally characterized by that spirit of belief in the absolute Divinity of the Writings which characterized the General Church. Some held that Swedenborg made mistakes, others that he had a qualified inspiration, and all were unwilling to place the Writings on a level with the Letter of the Word, as regards Divine Authority.

     Again, in respect to marriage in the Church, it could not be justly said that this teaching was at all characteristic of Convention. The periodicals of that body and the facts of marriages outside the Church, and the descendants of members leaving the Church or maintaining only a partial relation thereto, is convincing testimony to the contrary.

     Nor did the Convention at all approach the principles of the Academy with regard to New Church education. Indeed, years ago, Convention distinctly repudiated the doctrine that the Church should enter into the work of what is called secular education, nor had any of its subsequent actions or utterances withdrawn or modified this repudiation.

     As to the Convention being a body of the New Church the speaker noted that it had been so recognized by the General Church without the suggestion of an exception. Its ordinations and baptisms are and always have been recognized. No dispute could arise on this score. The Convention is based on the recognition, according to its constitution, that the Lord has made His Second Coming in the Writings of Swedenborg. We may confidently assert that so far as any body or any man accepts the Lord in His Second Coming, so far he is a Newchurchman; each one can make the application for himself.

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     But while differing from the writer of the paper as to one aspect of his theme the speaker did not Wish his remarks to weaken the real purpose of the paper, which was to promote the spirit of unity. Doctrinal differences must be frankly recognized, and yet these would not separate if there were the true spirit of, unity. We cannot unite with Convention externally, but we can show a spirit of willingness to co-operate with that and other bodies of the Church where such co-operation is practicable. This spirit, he believed, had been shown by the General Church, which was even now co-operating in the work of phototyping, and was ready to co-operate in other possible directions. It had also been shown in the spirit of friendly welcome extended to all members of the Convention, who came to visit us. The spirit was a laudable one and should be cultivated. But it should not blind our ideas to the real and fundamental doctrinal differences which actually exist.

     The Rev. W. H. Alden could not agree with the paper that there was in any sense acceptance on the part of the Convention of the Principles of the Academy. While we could not judge of the spiritual states of the members of the Convention, we could and must judge of acts and from the acts of Convention it was evident that the principles held and published by that body were not in harmony with the Principles of the Academy. The Convention does not believe that the Lord has made His Second Coming in the Writings of the New Church, though they do hold that those Writings are closely associated with the Second Coming and publish that Coming to the world. They do not believe that the Christian Church is consummated and dead, but rather publicly affiliate with its Sects as one of them. They do not hold that New Church baptism is the essential door of entrance to the New Church; they do not, in practice, believe in marriage within the Church; they do not believe in New Church education, distinctly holding that secular education is the function of the State, not of the Church. The Convention does not believe that the most fruitful field for evangelization lies with the children of New Church parents. Their missionary effort is with the outside in world, while their children drift out and are lost to the New Church; The Academy believes in the distinctive New Church; the Convention believes in permeation. The signs of decay and death seem to us to be visible in the Convention, and we believe this is a result of the principles which they practically hold, which have scarce any point of agreement with the principles of the Academy.

     Mr. Acton noted that his own remarks and Mr. Alden's, emphasizing, as they did, that there was a decided lack of doctrinal unity between the General Church and the Convention, and even opposition, should not obscure our sight as to the need of charity in our mutual relations. This was the real spirit of unity, and, as he had previously remarked, could be shown in many ways, without any attempt to make out a case of doctrinal unity.

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The spirit of charity is the internal bond between all who were in love to the Lord, and is that spirit which unites what is called in the Writings the "community of saints."

     The Rev. J. E. Bowers, while supporting the idea of internal unity, stated that ever since the separation from the Convention, his idea had always been, that there could be no organic unity as a Church body, except among those who fully acknowledged the Lord in His Second Coming, as revealed in the Writings. We should practice charity with all, and should welcome everything that promotes the spirit of unity, but there can be no doctrinal unity where the Lord is not fully recognized in the Writings.

     Rev. F. E. Waelchli: One point in the paper seems to have been misunderstood. It was not said that Convention holds the same principles that we hold. It was said that there was a certain acknowledgment of the principles of the General Church by Convention. There is with them something of an acknowledgment of the authority of the Writings. In general they desire that their ideas shall be in harmony with the Writings. They give their time, money, and labor to publishing them, they quote them, they teach from them. They also acknowledge in principle, though not in practice, that there ought to be marriage in the Church. As a principle they believe New Church education to be desirable, but they do not see their way to its being carried out. Sometimes statements are made which could allow nothing of the New Church outside of the General Church. We should recognize a New Church quality in other organizations than our own.

     Banquet and Social.

     In the evening, at 7 o'clock, a banquet was held in the Parkdale Assembly Hall. The Rev. E. R. Cronlund acted as toastmaster. After the toasts to the Church there followed a series of toasts suggested by no. 434 of the THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, which treats of social gatherings in the early Christian Church. The first toast in this series, "The Church as a Spiritual Brotherhood," was responded to by Bishop W. F. Pendleton. The second, "The Assembly a Consolation in Adversity," by the Rev. F. E. Waelchli. The third, "The Assembly a Season of Rejoicing in the Increase of the Church," by the Rev. W. H. Alden. The fourth, "The Assembly a Spiritual Recreation," was to have been responded to by Mr. R. B. Caldwell, but owing to the lateness of the hour Mr. Caldwell, in a humorous speech, stated his intention to reserve his speech till the next Assembly, and contented himself with a song of welcome to our guests.

     The regular program being now concluded, there followed a few impromptu toasts and remarks.

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     Mr. Waelchli spoke feelingly in memory of the Rev. E. S. Hyatt, to whose faithful and intelligent labors the Toronto Society owed its existence. Next Sunday, he remarked, would be the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first sermon preached by Mr. Hyatt in Parkdale, and it was fitting that a toast to his memory should be offered at this Assembly which owed so much to him.

     Mr. Acton spoke of what might be called the first Assembly of the New Church,-a group of five men with Mr. Hindmarsh as their leader, who met every week in London, in 1783, to read and study the Writings. In his account of these meetings Mr. Hindmarsh tells us that on a table before them lay the Latin Writings, which they viewed as the source of all spiritual wealth. Although they were few in numbers, they had the vision of the future of the Uses of the Church. Mr. Hindmarsh was then a young man of 24, and if all our young people had his spirit no hall would be big enough to hold our assemblies.

     Mr. William Junge, of Chicago, made some remarks as to the loyalty of our young people, which, exceeding that of their parents when they were young, gave the brightest promise for the growth of the Church.

     Throughout the meeting there prevailed a most delightful sphere of mutual love and harmony made strong by the speeches expressing our ideals and aspirations, and ultimated in the singing of those songs of the Church and of jovial fellowship so characteristic of our assemblies.

     A social then followed, of which dancing was the principal feature.

     Worship.

     On Thursday morning, January 1, the Holy Supper was administered by Bishop Pendleton, assisted by Rev. E. R. Cronlund. There were over 80 communicants, and it was a delight to see the number of young men and women who in this approach to the Lord's Table, testified their devotion to the New Church.

     Second Session.

     On Thursday afternoon at half past three o'clock, Bishop Pendleton delivered an address on "Law, Obedience and Organization."

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     Rev. A. Acton: The subject of the address is not only of peculiar interest but of great importance. There is no mind at birth, but there is the nucleus, the faculty of a mind. The mind itself begins to be formed after the lungs have been opened. And it is formed in quality according as we, as of ourselves, induce on the organic vessels of the mind those states of truth to which we are exhorted by revelation. As we induce on ourselves these states by obedience to the Law of revelation, so the Lord flows in and arranges, organizes, our mind, as abodes for His dwelling. It is in this way that we must co-operate with the Lord in lasts, that He may act from firsts. Every moment of our life we are forming our mind, every thought and will and action is a process in its building. And if the Lord build the house or mind, it is built indeed.

     This is an actual building,-an actual organization of those vessels which are receptive of the Lord's influx. And so it is in a body of the Church. We are apt to think of the organization, as an affair of constitutions,-an organization on paper. But this, in itself, is nothing. The real organization is an organization from uses by the Lord, and in that organization each man is a part. We do not see this organization in its real form; but just as all the parts of the mind of the regenerating man are brought and held together in organic human form by the Lord, so every member of the Church who does his duty is a part of that greater organization, which is formed by the Lord,-a part which is built in with the other parts by the Lord, to form a human whole. It is this whole that constitutes a true Church in whose members reigns obedience to revelation and hence submission to Divine organization.

     It is something of this thought that has led to our general policy not to legislate beforehand,-not to attempt to provide for all future contingencies. It is sufficient to act according to present conditions, striving to follow the teachings of the Writings. In this way the Church can be organized, even externally, by the Divine Law.

     And this led to the remarkable, but true statement of the paper, that the whole in a true organization is greater than the sum total of its parts. This was true because the parts are human, but when they are organized by the Lord there is a more full presence of the Divine. The case may be illustrated by a great business, in which each man has some particular work to do. But the sum total of that work, as organized by the head of the business, is far greater than the mere addition of the spirit and work of the individual workers. So in the Church, if each man does his part, he is brought into an organization from Divine Law which presents the appearance of the Lord in greater fulness.

     This is of especial importance when disorder creeps in. Then our duty lies in firmly obeying the indications of the Divine Law, that we may submit ourselves to the Divine organization. In heavenly societies, when disorder comes in, the society assumes the human form, and then the evil ones are expelled.

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So in the Church, if each one will submit his own will to Divine Revelation, the Church will be organized in human form by the Lord, and thus disorders will be expelled. Mr. R. B. Caldwell stated that the paper came to him with peculiar comfort, as showing him that the real necessity for our true coming into the Church was obedience to the Divine Law. This was especially comforting, since many members found it difficult to understand some of the deeper questions which were now to the fore. The finiting of the Infinite in the work of creation was not an easy matter for many to comprehend. But the paper had shown that it was not essential to have a clear understanding of questions such as these, in order to be a good Newchurchman. It is enough if we cultivate the spirit of obedience and loyalty and affection for the Divine Law.

     Mr. Acton, referring to the remarks by Mr. Caldwell, stated that he fully agreed with that gentleman, that all that was necessary to become a good Newchurchman, was obedience to the Divine Law. It is not essential to salvation to understand all the new things which were now being studied in the Church. But it is our delight to enter more deeply into the doctrines, for thereby we see the face of our Lord more nearly,-and thus is the delight of the spiritual man.

     Mr. Noble, an attendant at the Assembly, who is not a member of the General Church, read a quotation from the Arcana to the effect that where there is charity doctrinal differences will not prevent unity of Churches; and he asked for some further elucidation of this teaching.

     The Bishop stated that his views on this point were contained in an address on Unity in the New Church, which he had delivered at a General Assembly. This address had been printed and could be obtained.

     Mr. Alden stated his belief that the unity, despite the doctrinal differences, to which Swedenborg referred in A. C. 1799, quoted by Mr. Noble, was not unity of the different sects as we knew them in the Christian world,-unity of trinitarians and unitarians,-but a unity in love to the Lord. Love to the Lord could not exist in the denial of Him nor in the division of the Godhead into three distinct persons.

     Mr. Acton called attention to the thought that when the Writings spoke of charity they meant spiritual charity, and not that natural emotion which is ordinarily meant by charity. Spiritual charity is essentially charity to spiritual truth, an unwillingness to injure such truth. It is this charity that unites even where there is difference of doctrine, even where there is falsity of doctrine,-provided only those in false doctrine are unwilling to injure the precepts of their religion. Where there is enmity to spiritual truth and denial of the Word there can be no conjoining charity.

     An interesting communication was then made by the choirmaster, Dr. Richardson. The idea had occurred to the doctor to have the fortieth Psalm orchestrated; and for this purpose he took it to the bandmaster of Toronto, an accomplished musician.

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The bandmaster, after looking is over, remarked: "This is good stuff." Indeed it seemed to him such assuredly "good stuff" that he was sure it must have been orchestrated. "They couldn't have overlooked it," was his remark. However, Dr. Richardson convinced him that by some chance "they" had overlooked it, and thereupon he most willingly orchestrated it. It was this orchestral setting that we had the pleasure of listening as rendered by the Toronto Society's orchestra under Dr. Richardson's able leadership.

     On Thursday evening a delightful musical entertainment was given. A choir, accompanied by the orchestra of the Olivet Church, sang the fortieth Psalm. A quartet of ladies sang the Hebrew anthem "Odhecha," and six ladies rendered the beautiful terzetto from Elijah, "Lift thine eyes to the mountain." Other selections were given, both by the orchestra and by soloists, the latter including the piano, violin and flute. Altogether a most entertaining evening was spent, and to the young people above all was suitably concluded by a dance.

     Third Session.

     The third session of the Assembly was held on Friday morning, January 2, at ten o'clock, worship having been conducted by the Bishop. Rev. W. H. Alden read some Notes on the subject of the "Objective Actuality of the Bodies of Spirits and Angels."

     The speaker began by referring to the introduction into the Church within a recent period of theories respecting the spiritual world which seemed not only new and strange, but even revolutionary in their character. We had been called upon to give up our belief that we should be full men in the spiritual world with all the organs with which we are familiar as making up the physical body, and to understand that the actual form of the spirit was that of the brain only; we had been asked to believe that the spiritual world, instead of being an objective reality, was in all its parts and details a creation of the imagination, a reality only in a subjective sense. These views had caused considerable perturbation of mind in the Church, giving an impression of insubstantiality to that state and world in which we are to abide forever. That such perturbation is intended was indeed denied; nevertheless it existed, and he felt that it must be admitted that the vision which the new theory conjured up of a multitude of congeries of cortical glands floating about in the spiritual atmosphere whose only external consciousness was composed of the several imaginings made up from the experiences of the earth life or from the impressions which the imaginings of one or more individuals made upon others, was disturbing.

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The new view had affinity with idealism, and, like idealism, was hard to combat with argument. He was willing to admit that if the primary premise of the subjective nature of the spiritual world be granted, almost any difficulty in the Writings might be explained. It was a view which lent itself with peculiar facility to the explanation of any phenomena or of any condition or state whatsoever. But such premise did not square with the teaching of the Writings and the speaker thought it well to make appeal "to the law and to the testimony" and see what were the things which are believed among us. He emphasized, with numerous quotations, which he declared could be indefinitely multiplied, that the state of man after death was the state of a full man, not merely the state of the cortical glands of the brain; that the world in which the spirit finds himself after death is like the world which he has left, having land and water, trees, plants and animals, houses with all their furnishings. That these things not merely appeared to be, but were actual objective entities, formed from atmospheres and earths, created from the living spiritual sun even as the atmospheres, waters and earths of our natural world are created from the dead natural sun. All these things are entities not of the imagination, but formed out of discreted substances or least forms. This was the teaching of the Writings; it was not consistent with idealism, nor with the motion of mere imaginative or subjective existence in the spiritual world. He urged that this teaching was not to be ignored, and Challenged those who had advanced the theory which had disturbed the Church to connect that theory rationally with it.

     Rev. F. E. Waelchli: The Church has been more or less disturbed by the subject dealt with in the paper. We are not called upon to give up the idea of man being in a body that is real. The great use of the discussion of this subject has been that it helps us to realize what is essentially a man. The real man is his love and wisdom. The good and the truth itself is the substance that makes the man. With regard to the spiritual body it is no otherwise than it is with the house and surroundings of a spirit. We are apt to confuse the two words "form" and "shape." The human form ultimates itself in the human shape. Heaven is a grand man. We form a wrong idea of Heaven if we think of it as being in the human shape. It is not the spiritual body that feels and tastes, it is the spirit. All things in the spiritual world are created in a moment; why should it not be the same with the body? Let us remember this fact that all things in the other world are correspondences. If we can think of the spiritual body as being the correspondent of the real man it becomes more real to us than the old idea in which many of us have been in the past. The subject cannot be clear to us until we gain a clearer idea of the glorified body of the Lord. The Lord is sometimes seen as a man, and that is necessary that there may be an ultimate idea for the interiors to rest upon.

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     Mr. Waelchli concluded his remarks by saying that doubtless Mr. Acton would speak on the subject at more length. Other speakers also expressed the desire to hear from that gentleman.

     Mr. Acton stated that owing to the nearness of the hour for adjournment he would be unable to make a speech on the subject. He would merely state briefly that to his mind the difficulty in Mr. Alden's position was not that it failed to meet all the passages; any of us might be in that position; but because it failed to recognize the discrete difference between the spiritual world and the natural.

     Fourth Session.

     The fourth session was held on Friday afternoon at three o'clock. A report of the Carmel Church was read by Mr. Waelchli; of the Olivet Church by Mr. Cronlund, and of the general missionary work in Ontario by Mr. Bowers. Mr. J. Pitcairn then gave an account of the state of the Church in Belgium, showing that wonderful progress had been made under the able leadership of the Rev. E. Deltenre.

     The Rev. W. H. Alden then read a communication from the Executive Committee of the General Church, in which the Rev. N. D. Pendleton had been called to assist the Bishop, and that in consequence additional financial support would be needed by the General Church.

     A vote of thanks to the members of the Olivet Church was passed for their entertainment and hospitality, after which the meeting adjourned with singing the forty-first hymn in the Liturgy.

     Men's Meeting and Ladies' Meeting.

     On Friday evening a Men's Meeting was held, during the first part of which Rev. Mr. Waelchli and Mr. Jacob Stroh gave accounts of their work in Saskatchewan during last summer. The reports by these gentlemen, and that by Mr. Pitcairn, were exceedingly interesting and served to arouse affection and enthusiasm for the things of the Church.

     A paper was then read by Rev. F. E. Waelchli on "Thinking in the Cold Body," which was followed by discussion.

     At the same time a very enjoyable and instructive Ladies' Meeting, under the auspices of the Toronto Chapter of the Theta Alpha, was held at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Craigie.
     E. R. CRONLUND,
          Secretary.

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Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. The Academy and the Bryn Athyn Society suffered a real loss in the removal, on Jan. 16th, of Mr. Emil F. Stroh and family to Ontario, Cal., where he has taken up the cultivation of a fruit ranch near his father-in-law, Mr. Charles Frankish. Having served as clerk and afterwards as manager of the Book Room for two years, Mr. Stroh was appointed assistant librarian in 1904, and librarian in 1907. During his administration the Library grew by the addition of about 10,000 volumes, all carefully stored, arranged and catalogued according to the most modern methods in the commodious fireproof Library building, which was planned by Mr. Stroh, and was completed in 1911. Under Mr. Stroh's directions, moreover, the Academy's Archives were arranged and catalogued, the archeological collection was mounted and arranged, etc., and the whole Library department finished in splendid working order. Besides his activities in the Library, in the Civic and Social Club, and in various other fields, Mr. Stroh served for about ten years as Secretary of the Bryn Athyn Society, and it may be said, without exaggeration, that the was the most efficient secretary the Society has ever had. We will all miss his genial, courteous and ever-busy presence, as well as the presence of his active and talented wife, and the sincere wishes for a prosperous future follow with them from the whole Church in Bryn Athyn.

     A new celebration has been added to our list of church festivals. February 6th is the anniversary of the day whereon six ministers met in 1897, in order to organize the General Church of the New Jerusalem. We call it "General Church Day," and this year we celebrated it with a Friday supper expanded to the dimensions of a banquet, at which we enjoyed a number of most interesting speeches from the ministers, and honored toasts suitable to the occasion, proposed by our Bishop.

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     Swedenborg's birthday was celebrated by the Elementary School with songs and recitations, and Mr. Baeckstrom gave the children a talk on Swedenborg's native land, and assisted Miss Ethne Price in presenting a Swedish folk dance.

     The growth of the new church building stimulates our interest in all kinds of new topics, and Mr. Odhner had an interested audience on Sunday evening, February 1st, when he addressed the society on the subject of "Ecclesiastical Symbolism in the New Church." Mr. Odhner showed by means of lantern slides something of what the old church had done in the way of symbolic representation, and offered suggestions as to what lines our thought should follow in adapting our material to our own needs.

     The Younger Generation spent an evening in the consideration of a paper on "The Use and Abuse of Chivalry;"-imported from England, and written by Mr. Derick Elphick. The local members of the Phi Alpha alumni banqueted the active fraternity on Feb. 8th, and many practical topics were discussed. The Theta Alpha has met during the month, but the nature of their deliberations is hidden from us.

     Various changes in the personnel of the place are to be noted. The Rev. N. D. Pendleton, with family, is now settled in Bryn Athyn, and the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt was with us for a period of five weeks' during which he was busy continually emanating a sphere of educational wisdom which is to carry us over until his next visit. A large class of normals, theologs, teachers and visitors attended his lectures on the doctrine and history of education. D. R.

     CHICAGO, ILL, Since the belated report, published in the February LIFE, some changes have been made in my work here. After I had found how many there were who would attend regularly at the services on the North Side, the hall was given up, and we now meet every Sunday forenoon in private houses, holding Sunday School and doctrinal class at 10 o'clock, and Swedish service at 11. The average attendance of both together, without duplication, has been 17 since my last report. The enrollment is 21.

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     The work in Englewood is also going forward. There we have a Swedish service at 3:30, and a doctrinal class at 5 o'clock; the last one being held in English, with three nationalities represented, (Bohemia, Scotland and Sweden). The combined attendance has been 15. On Friday evening we have a class in CONJUGIAL LOVE With an average of 8 in attendance. The enrollment in Englewood is 15.

     Beginning with this month I shall visit Rockford, Ill., twice a month, the second and the fourth Wednesdays, holding a class for the instruction of the younger generation at 7 o'clock, and a Swedish meeting at 8. So far the interest is growing, and we are in the hopes that we will be able to build up an affirmative New Church Society there that will prove a nucleus for a permanent work.
     JOHN HEADSTEN.

     CHICAGO, ILL. On Wednesday, January 28th, we celebrated Swedenborg's birthday at the home of our pastor. The tables were spread in the diningroom and parlor, and the speakers stood between the two rooms, and were in danger of dislocating their necks trying to turn impartially to the audience in either room. They accomplished this feat gracefully, however, and without serious results.

     There were thirty-two at the tables. Our young girls came early and helped the lady of the house in her arduous task.

     Mr. Smith read a very interesting paper on "Swedenborg and Feminism." In it he contrasted the woman in an orderly spiritual state of society, such as is shown to us in the Writings, with the woman of today, outside of her sphere, striving and competing with men in politics and business. Mr. Forrest, Mr. Brown and Mr. Klein also spoke briefly, to be sure, but in such a way as to make us "wish there was more" which, according to Dickens' Sam Weller, is the great art of letter writing and speaking.

     The ladies' meeting and Wednesday classes are held regularly. E. V. W.

     LONDON, ENGLAND. Since the Assembly the Society at Camberwell Grove has entered its usual quiet routine.

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The fortnightly services and classes are held regularly, and our loyal pastor has been giving us thorough New Church sermons reminding one of the responsibilities of the new faith and life.

     Our social activities have been varied. In October a farewell social was given to Mr. Conrad Howard, and although his colleagues were sorry to lose him, they wished him a good voyage and good luck on departing for Bryn Athyn. In November Mr. and Mrs. Rose provided a social evening, and Mr. Rose read a short paper on the history of the cinema. Mr. Czerny, aided by three of the young ladies, provided the School social in December at which gathering there were a good number of the friends who enjoyed the company of the youngest generation.

     Swedenborg's Birthday was celebrated on Wednesday, January 28th. Our pastor provided a co-related program on the phases of Swedenborg's preparation and use, and papers or addresses were given by Messrs. Waters, Ball, Howard, Rose, Anderson and Elphick. As the festive tables were due to the ladies Mr. Waters voiced a few words of appreciation, and Mr. Anderson responded on their behalf.

     The interesting celebrations of the Jubilee of the Flodden Road (Conference) Society and the celebration of Swedenborg's Birthday at the Burton Road Society have caused a little extra excitement in South London, at which meetings several of the friends from the "Grove" were visitors. F. W. E.

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND. We are still on the map in spite of the interval being much too long since our last appearance.

     The annual meeting of the Society was held Sept. 27, our pastor presiding. The reports were encouraging. Our membership was maintained in spite of several removals, and financially a small balance on the right side was shown.

     The Cosmology Class, under Mr. Gill, is now meeting weekly, but subjects are arranged to accommodate some members who can only attend fortnightly. The subjects are of a most interesting nature and much appreciated by those able to attend.

     The fortnightly socials commenced on Oct. 9th on the same lines as last year. The earlier part of the evening is devoted to reading the "Conflict of the Ages" in WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH.

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     On Oct. 11th the new home of Mr. and Mrs. Alwyne Appleton was dedicated with an appropriate service by our pastor. The service was concluded by placing the Word in the position designed for its reception, after which the company of well-wishing guests spent a very enjoyable time together. This is the second new home dedicated within a year.

     Nov. 4th Was the 25th anniversary of the wedding of our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Motum, and as two days later the fortnightly social was in their charge, the society took advantage of the occasion to present them with a silver flower vase, as a token of our affection for them. This affection is by no means limited to the Colchester Society, for it is doubtful if there are not members in every society of the General Church who have not pleasant memories of the genial sphere and hospitality of our friends, and who have not enjoyed one of those delightful drives, rendered so interesting by the affection of our friends for all things of nature, whether plant or animal.

     It was a most delightful occasion. Mr. and Mrs. Motum were also the recipients of a present from, the young men of the London Society.

     Our Christmas service was held Dec. 21st, and was much enjoyed by all. The Sacrament of the Holy Supper was administered to 20 communicants.

     On Dec. 25th a short service was held and collection was taken for the Orphanage Fund. F. R. C.

     THE HAGUE, HOLLAND. Our Pastor, the Rev. Ernst Deltenre, of Brussels, again paid us his periodical visit on December 28th, when our old friend, Miss Emma Helderman, was by baptism received into the New Church. After the sermon the Holy Supper was administered to twelve communicants, nine of these having been introduced by means of Baptism.

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     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. Wm. G. Stockton has accepted a call to become the pastor of the Pittsburgh Convention Society. The former pastor was the Rev. John R. Stephenson, who died last September.

     Mr. Nussbaum, in Portland, Oregon, is still carrying on his missionary campaign. One feature is the exchange of pulpits with the ministers of "other denominations." The New Church Society there approves of this as being one form of missionary efforts.

     During the last year the Baltimore N. C. Book Depot-housed in the Homoeopathic Pharmacy of Messrs. Boericke & Tafel-has sold 157 vols. of Swedenborg's works and 203 collateral books. Sales have been made to 102 strangers, and 54 receivers of the Doctrines.

     Mr. Allbutt, the book agent, relates one remarkable instance, when a set of the PRINCIPIA, was purchased "by a class of fourteen ladies belonging to a Methodist Episcopal Sunday School, and presented to their teacher on Christmas Day. This gentleman and his son-in-law study the lesson from the 'Helper' every Saturday, and give instruction to their classes, (a ladies' class and a boys' class), the following day." (N. C. MESSENGER, Jan. 21st.)

     After a visit to New Orleans, a correspondent writes to the N. C. MESSENGER: "It is sad to think that at one time there were three flourishing New Church societies in this city, but that, owing to heresies of different lay leaders only a small remnant remains, who through all these years have kept alive the sacred fires until new arrivals came."

     CANADA. "Recently the Toronto Society held their annual meeting, which was well attended, harmonious and encouraging. Mr. W. W. Tafel, a graduate of the Convention's Theological School, who is temporarily preaching to the Toronto Society, is doing a good work there, especially among the young people. He contemplates giving a course of Sunday evening lectures very soon on some of the distinctive doctrines of the church." (EVANGELICAL NEW CHURCHMAN.)

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     GREENLAND. The first administration of New Church Baptism in this arctic region took place on September 14th, in the colony of Agto, North Greenland, when the colonial magistrate, Alfred Tycho Hedegaard,-after consultation with Pastor Bronniche, of Copenhagen, baptized his daughter, Karen Else Ruth, born April 20, 1903.
SPIRITUAL BODY AND THE OBJECTIVE REALITY OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD 1914

SPIRITUAL BODY AND THE OBJECTIVE REALITY OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD       JOHN PITCAIRN       1914




     Announcements.





NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. XXXIV APRIL, 1914          No. 4
     There is a difference of view within the New Church in regard to the fundamental teachings of the Writings concerning the spiritual body and the objective reality of the spiritual world. The Church, as a whole, hitherto, has believed that the Writings teach that angels and spirits are actually in the human form and shape, and that the spiritual world is an objective as well as subjective reality; but recently we have been told by members of the New Church that spirits and angels are not in the human shape, and that the spiritual world "has no objective existence, but is purely subjective." (See NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1913, p. 663.) I now propose to submit evidence from the Writings, and rational considerations deduced therefrom, in support of the generally accepted view.

     That a true idea of the nature and quality of the bodies of spirits and angels, and of the objective reality of the spiritual world, was not known to Swedenborg before his intromission into the spiritual world, is evident from his work on THE SOUL or RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, n. 621, where he says:     

     But it is asked, What is to be the form of the soul in heaven, whether similar to the bodily form, or another which is called angelic and then, whether the angelic form is like the human form? This, indeed, I do not think, that we are to put on the human form. For such a form exists solely for use in the lowest world. In heaven souls are like birds, nor do they have intercourse with any earth; they have no need of feet or arms, hence neither of muscles, that is, of flesh and bones, for they are spirits; nay, they require neither the red blood nor ventricle, nor intestine, nor mesentery, for these things belong to the reception of food, to chylifaction, to nutrition, the making of blood, and similar uses, Nor is there need of heart, inasmuch as there is neither red blood, nor liver, nor pancreas, nor spleen.

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Neither are there teeth, jaws, throat, trachea, lungs, nor tongue; there is no use of air, of respiration, speech, digestion; neither ear nor eye, for where there is no air there is no sound, and where no earth exists, there is no vision, nor could this be of any use. Even the members of the brain, with the meninges, and the medullae oblongata and spinalis, will there be of no use; with the use itself perishes all necessity for their being. For what use could the generative organs exist, All these things will serve for no use as soon as we become spirits and angelic forms. Hence it would appear that the soul is not to receive that form which is imperfect and not celestial; unless, as some hold the opinion, there shall be created a new earth and a new atmospheric heaven into which we shall be admitted like new inhabitants.

     How entirely contrary this is to the evidence given in the Divinely inspired Writings will be seen below, where the teaching will be given. But even in the work just quoted Swedenborg is not dogmatic, and admits his lack of knowledge, for he says in the following number (522): "But it is asked, What form shall we have? This we can no more know than the silkworm which, when a miserable worm, crawls over its leaves, but after its long-endured labors is turned into an aurelia and flies away a butterfly." But after his intromission into the spiritual world he did know, for he says (T. C. R. 281): "Since it has been granted me by the Lord to be in the spiritual world and in the natural world at the same time, and therefore to speak with angels as with men, and thereby to have knowledge of the states of those who after death pass into that hitherto unknown world, (for I have spoken to all my relations and friends, and likewise with kings and princes, as also with learned men who have met their fate, and this now continually for twenty-seven years), I am therefore able to describe from living experience the states of men after death, what they are with those who have lived well, and with those who have lived wickedly."

     That the distinction between the spiritual and the natural was unknown even to the angels, until the Lord through Swedenborg instructed them, is declared in the Relation in T. C. R. 280.

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The primate there mentioned,-one who "excelled in wisdom,"-upon hearing the words "the distinction between the spiritual and the natural," asked: "What distinction? Is it not as between the purer and the less pure? Thus, what is the spiritual but a purer natural?" And Swedenborg replied: "The distinction is not such; the natural can by no subtilization approximate the spiritual, so as to become spiritual; for the distinction is like that between the prior and the posterior, between which there is no finite ratio; for the prior is in the posterior, as a cause in its effect; and the posterior is from the prior, as an effect from its cause. It is for this reason that the one does not appear to the other." To this the wise one said: "I have meditated on this distinction, but hitherto in vain. I wish that I might perceive it." And Swedenborg said: "You shall not only perceive the distinction between the spiritual and the natural, but you shall also see it." And he continued: "You are in a spiritual state while with your associates, but in a natural state while with me; for with your associates you speak in a spiritual language which is common to every spirit and angel, but; with me you speak in my native tongue: for every spirit and angel, speaking with a man, speaks the man's own language; thus French with a Frenchman, Greek with a Greek, Arabic with an Arab; and so on. That you may know, therefore, the distinction between the spiritual and the natural as to languages, do this: Go to your companions, and there say something; and retain the words in memory, and come back, and utter them in my presence." He did so, and returned to Swedenborg "with the words in his mouth, and uttered them; and they were words altogether strange and foreign, which are not found in any language of the natural world. From this experiment, several times repeated, it was clearly manifest that all in the spiritual world have a spiritual language which has nothing in common with any natural language; and that every man comes of himself into that language after death."

     Swedenborg further says, in the same Relation, that "the angels had not formerly known the differences between the spiritual and the natural, because there had not before been given the means of comparison with any man who was in both worlds at the same time; and the differences cannot be known without comparison and relation."

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And to the angels he said further: "These distinctions exist only from this, that you in the spiritual world are substantial and not material, and substantial things are the beginning of material things. What is matter but an aggregation of substances? You, therefore, are in the chief principles of things, and thus in singulars; but we are in things thence derived and in things composite; you are in particulars, but we in generals; and as generals cannot enter into particulars, so neither can natural things, which are material, enter into spiritual things, which are substantial; just as a ship's cable cannot enter or be drawn through the eye of a sewing needle, or as a nerve cannot be drawn into one of the fibres of which it consists. This now is the reason why the natural man cannot think the things which the spiritual man thinks, and therefore cannot speak them."
In contrasting the above teachings concerning the difference between the spiritual and the natural, we do not discredit the great and fundamental principles of Swedenborg's philosophy. Before his spiritual eyes were opened, he simply did not know wherein the difference consists. He admits that he did not know. No man knew. Even the angels did not know, until after Swedenborg's intromission into the spiritual world.

     The view that spirits and angels do not have bodies, and that there is no objective reality in the spiritual world, is in its essence materialistic. Spiritual substance being unknown, matter is regarded as the only substance. This is illustrated by the experience of those, (especially the learned), who, when entering into the spiritual world, and finding they are actually in a body, believe they are still in the natural world. And now, even in the New Church, we hear the strange and mystical doctrine that "the spiritual world is purely subjective;" that "the spiritual body is not in the human shape;" and that "its real shape is limited to that of the gray cells of the brain,"-oracular assertions which are in direct opposition to the teaching of the Writings that the soul or mind is in every part of the spiritual as well as the natural body, and that it is in the perfect human form and shape.

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     Quoting from an article in the November LIFE, that "spirits are appearances," (p. 565), and that all things in heaven "are called appearances," I wish to add the further teaching from the Writings: "The appearances existing in the heavens are called real appearances, because they really exist," (H. H. 175), and also: "Because they correspond, they really exist" (H. H. 178).

     That angels, good spirits and regenerating men, as to their spiritual bodies, not only appear to be in the human form, but actually are "substantial men with members, organs and viscera," and are in a perfect human form and shape,-celestial angels in the image of God, and the spiritual angels in the likeness of God,-and that all evil men, evil spirits, satans and devils, as to their spiritual bodies, are not in the human form and shape, but are in a monstrous form and shape, although in their own fatuous light they appear like men, is clearly taught in the Writings.

     That angels and good spirits not only "appear" as men, but actually are men in the human form and shape, is shown by the overwhelming evidence of the Writings. The general definition of "form," as given by Swedenborg, is internal structure in all its degrees,-not merely "shape." "Form" is interior to "shape," and produces it. This is the general meaning of form; but it often is used synonymously with shape. Both form; and shape are spiritual as well as natural. The issue is confused by limiting the idea of "shape" to the natural world. It is not form or shape that distinguishes the degrees, but what is contained in shape and form. Angels and good spirits are men because "God being a Man, He has a body, and everything belonging to the body; consequently, He has a face, a breast, an abdomen, loins, feet; for apart from these He would not be Man" (D. L. W. 18). "God is a perfect Man, in face like a man and in body like a man, there being no difference as to form, but as to essence." (ATH. CR. 27).

     It is a revealed truth that the Lord is the only God of heaven and earth and is in the human form and shape, and that man was made in His image and after His likeness. Angels, good spirits and regenerating men, as to their spirits, are celestial men if in His image, and they are spiritual men if in His likeness.

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We should not, however, think materially of God or of man, but we should bear in mind the injunction given by the master to his pupil in the relation given in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED n. 611: "Wherefore, my pupils, think of God from His Essence, and from that of His person, and not from His person and from this of His essence: for to think of His essence from His person is to think materially of His essence also; but to think of His person from His essence is also to think spiritually of His person. . . . You must know that the material does not flow into the spiritual, but the spiritual into the material. It is the same with thought concerning the neighbor from his form and not from his quality." In thinking from essence we do not obliterate the body which is the object of thought and which is in the background of thought. Every wise man regards his neighbor, or any historical character, from his quality. If he is a regenerating man, his spiritual form and shape will be heavenly in the image or in the likeness of God; if he is an evil man, his spiritual body will not be in the human form and shape, but in the light of heaven it will be in a monstrous form, and shape, but angels and regenerating men are in the human form and shape is confirmed by well-nigh innumerable passages in the Writings, of which we can quote here only the following:

     From, all my experience, which is now of many years, I can declare and affirm that the form of the angels is in every respect human; that they have face, eyes, ears, breasts, arms, hands, feet; that they see, hear and converse with each other; in a word, that they lack nothing which belongs to man, except the material body. I have seen them in a light which exceeds by many degrees the noonday light of the world; and in that light I observed all parts of their faces more distinctly and clearly than ever I did the faces of men on earth. (H. H. 75)

     I have seen a thousand times that angels are human forms, or men; for I have conversed with them as man with man, sometimes with one alone, sometimes with many in company; nor did I discover in their form anything different from the form of man; and I have repeatedly wondered that they were such. And lest it should be said that it was a fallacy or a visionary fancy, I have been permitted to see them in a state of full wakefulness, when I was in the exercise of every bodily sense, and in a state of clear perception. I have also frequently told them that men in the Christian world are in such blind ignorance concerning angels and spirits, as to believe them to be minds without form, and mere thoughts, concerning which they have no other idea than as something ethereal, in which there is something vital; and because they thus ascribe to them nothing human except a thinking principle, they imagine that they cannot see, because they have no eyes; nor hear, because they have no ears; nor speak, because they have neither mouth nor tongue.

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The angels said in reply that they knew such a belief exists with many in the world, and that it is the prevailing belief among the learned, and also, to their astonishment, among the clergy. They also assigned as a reason for this, that the learned, who were the leaders, and who first broached such ideas concerning angels and spirits, thought of them from the sensual conception of the external man. . . . They further said that the simple in faith and heart have no such idea concerning the angels, but think of them as heavenly men, because they have not extinguished by erudition what was implanted in them from heaven, nor can they conceive of anything without a form. Hence it is that angels are always represented in temples, both in sculpture and painting, as men. (H. H. 74)

     That "man after death is in a perfect human form may be seen still more clearly from the consideration that man is a man by virtue of his spirit and not by virtue of his body, and that the corporeal form is added to the spirit according to the form thereof and not the reverse; for the spirit is clothed with a body according to its own form. Wherefore the spirit of man acts upon every part of the body, even the most minute. . . . Spirits appear in their own form, which is the human,-not only spirits who are in the spiritual world, but also the spirit who is in the other world while he is yet in his body. . . . What is material sees nothing but what is material, but what is spiritual sees what is spiritual'." (H. H. 453.)

     That when a man passes from the natural into the spiritual world, he takes with him all things belonging to him as a man, except his terrestrial body, has been proved to me by manifold experience. For when he enters the spiritual world, or the life after death, he is in a body as he was in the natural world; and to all appearance in the same body, since neither touch nor sight can detect any difference. But his body is spiritual, and thus is separated or purified from things terrestrial; and when what is spiritual touches and sees what is spiritual, it is just the same to the sense as when what is natural touches and sees what is natural. Hence when man first becomes a spirit, he is not aware that he has deceased, and believes that he is still in the body which he had when he was in the world. A human spirit also enjoys every external and internal sense which he possessed in the world.

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He sees as before; he hears and speaks as before; he smells and tastes as before; and when he is touched he feels as before. He also longs, desires, wishes, thinks, reflects, is affected, loves, and wills, as before. And he who is delighted with studies, reads and writes as before. In a word, when man passes from one life into another, and from one world into the other, it is just as if he passed from one place to another; and he carries with him all things which he possessed in himself as a man, so that it cannot be said that man after death,-Which is only the death of the terrestrial body,-has lost anything which belonged to himself. (H. H. 461)

     "They are in error who believe that man's mind is in the head only; it is there in principles only, from which first goes forth everything that man thinks from the understanding and acts from the will; but it is in the body in the derivatives formed for sensation and action; and because inwardly it adheres to the body, it imparts to them sense and motion and inspires a perception, as if the body thought and acted from itself, but every wise man knows that this is a fallacy." (T. C. R. 156.)

     "The soul not only makes the inmost of the head, but also the inmosts of the body; in like manner the mind, which is mediate between the soul and the body; which although it appears to be in the head, is yet actually in the whole body." (C. L. 178)

     In the world men are in a material body; in heaven they are in a substantial body. "A substantial man sees himself and his companions around him, just as a material man sees himself and his companions around him; for the substantial is the primitive of the material; and because you think, see, smell, taste and speak in like manner as in the natural world, therefore you suppose that the same nature is here, when yet the nature of this world is as different and distinct from the nature of that world as the substantial is from the material or the spiritual from the natural, or the prior from the posterior." (T. C. R. 79.)

     In the scholarly papers that have appeared in the LIFE or have been read at our General and District Assemblies, much valuable instruction has been given, but we believe theories have been advanced which are not in accord with general and fundamental doctrines nor with common perception, and these theories have been supported by passages dealing with the subject of phantasy in the world of spirits and not with the realities of heaven.

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The world of spirits,-the intermediate state into which all men go before reaching their final abode, and in which are all men in the world as to their spirits is a world of phantasy, excepting with those who are in faith from the Lord. By phantasy there are constant; changes by which spirits are vastated (S. D. 392-394). "A very large portion of those from this our earth," especially "the philosophers, the learned in the sciences, and the clergy, are in phantasies and cannot believe." "The unlearned are they who can believe." (S. D. 426, 461, 1741, 3417, 3421.) Spirits by phantasy "believe they still have a material body." Spirits "by phantasy fancied they had not merely two arms, but more." "By phantasy they suffer from pains and perceive them as real." In short, they are in a world of phantasies. The use of phantasy in the world of spirits is said to be for the sake of vastation, and in that world there are fantastical representations. On the contrary, in heaven there is no phantasy and the representations there are angelic. "Concerning angelic representations it was granted to me to say that such things are imaginations, signifying celestial and spiritual truths, and are thus exhibited to angels and angelic spirits. Wherefore they are not phantasies, for they feel them and are intimately delighted by them. Such delight and felicity cannot come from any other source than from the truths of faith which are therein." (S. D. 3173.)

     It is important, however, to distinguish these heavenly imaginations from the objective realities in heaven, such as waters, lands, paradises, palaces, houses, etc., and not to regard all the spiritual creations that are in heaven as matters of the imagination, as is done by idealists. In this connection we may refer to the Palace of Wisdom described in C. L. n. 270, which was a representative palace: "I inquired of the angel whether it is granted to anyone to enter and see it, because it is a representative palace; he answered, that it is not granted to any but to those who are in the third heaven, because to them every representative of love and wisdom becomes real."

     In regard to the "purely subjective" idea of the spiritual world,-which is a denial of its objective reality, and is in effect spiritual idealism,-confusion of thought has arisen by confounding degrees, as has been done in the treatment of the question of the bodies of spirits and angels, which question is closely related to it.

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Without constantly having in mind the doctrine of discrete degrees, there can be no true understanding of the questions under consideration. In order to have a clear idea of the reality of the spiritual world we must have a clear idea of spiritual substance, and in order to have a clear idea of spiritual substance we must bear in mind the difference between spiritual creations and natural creations. The two creations are distinct and discrete, yet intimately related and interdependent, but the law of natural creation and spiritual creation is one and the same. Natural creations are from the natural sun, by means of the natural atmospheres, and all things created by this sun are dead. Spiritual creations are by the spiritual Sun, by means of the spiritual atmospheres, and all things thus created are living. The fact that they are living makes them none the less real; neither does it follow that they are without form or shape. Substantial and material things in the universe, considered individually, are infinite in number. (T. C. R. 32.) All created things, both spiritual and natural, have their containant which serves as vessels. (A. C. 5114.) "Each is discrete from the other by a covering drawn around it." (D. L. W. 195.)

     That the spiritual world is an objective reality and not "merely subjective," every Memorable Relation in the Writings testifies. Reference is made to a few convincing statements:

     All things which are presented to our eyes as objects of sight, are correspondences; such as houses and the furniture in them, tables, meats, clothes, coins of gold and silver, and also diamonds and other precious stones with which wives and virgins in the heavens are adorned. From all these things we perceive what each one is as to love and wisdom. The things which are in our houses and serve as uses constantly remain there; but to the eyes of those who wander from one society to another, such things are changed according to consociation. The difference is that such things in our world are created by God instantaneously, according to the affections of the angels: but in your world they were created in like manner in the beginning, but it was provided that they should be perpetually renewed by generations of one from another, and that creation should be so continued.

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The reason why creation in our world is instantaneous and in yours continued by generations, is that the atmospheres and earths of our world are spiritual, and the atmospheres of your world are natural; and natural things were created that they might clothe spiritual things, as the skin clothes the bodies of men and animals, as the rind and bark clothe the trunks and branches of trees, as the dura mater, the arachnoid and pia mater clothe the brain, as the nerves are clothed by their coats, and as delicate membranes clothe the nerve fibers, etc. (T. C. R. 78.)

     It was also perceived that a sphere wells forth not only from angels and spirits, but also from all and singular things which appear in the spiritual world, from trees and from their fruits, from shrubs and from their powers, from herbs and from their grasses, nay, from earths and from their very particles. (D. L. W. 293.)

     The Doctrines teach that there are genuine truths in the letter of the Word in relation to God, to faith and to charity, perceived and acknowledged by the simple, the single-minded or the unlearned, as they are variously designated. These genuine truths have been perverted by the learned by making God incomprehensible, "without body, parts or passions," and by falsifying all the genuine truths of the letter of the Word. So also there are general and fundamental truths in the Writings, which should be confirmed, and not obscured by abstract and metaphysical reasonings. Among these general and fundamental truths,-foundation stones in the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem,-are the teachings that the spiritual world is an objective reality, and that angels and spirits are in the human form and shape.

     A true idea of God, a true idea of man, and a true idea of the spiritual world, are essential to progress and to the attainment of wisdom. Let the learned in our Church, therefore, enter interiorly into the arcana of the human form, to which all things in creation have a relation; let them enter interiorly into the doctrine of spiritual creation and spiritual substance; but in doing so let them confirm general and fundamental doctrines, and not by abstract and metaphysical reasonings befog the simple truth which is in the common perception of the members of the Church.

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LOVE TO THE LORD 1914

LOVE TO THE LORD       Rev. F. E. WAELCHLI       1914

     "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." (John 14:21.)

     The Lord is Love Itself, the Divine Love. This Divine Love is the Divine Substance, the Divine Man.

     From the Divine Love by its Divine Wisdom the universe of both worlds, the spiritual and the natural, was created, even down to that which is lowest, the material substance of the natural world. There it terminated; it could go no farther; for it had reached that which was ultimate, that which was inert and fixed.

     This created universe was and is an image of God, into which His Divine Love can forever inflow as into its own. In its inflowing it proceeds to the ultimate, to that fixed resisting wall, and having reached this it as it were rebounds, the action becomes reaction, the Love which has proceeded begins to return, and ascends even to its origin, the Lord. This return is made by things created reacting as of their own freedom, and thus the love which has proceeded as the Divine Love towards all its creation, returns to the Divine, or to the Lord, as love towards Him. But in this return there is more than mere reaction; for there is on the part of the Lord a drawing again to Himself of that which has proceeded from Him; it is this Divine drawing or attraction which is the cause, the very soul, of the reaction on the part of things created.

     In order that love in its reacting may ascend even to the Lord there must be created subjects in which are all the planes of life, higher and higher, of both worlds, up to that highest created plane which is the first finition of the Divine Love. Such a subject is man. To him there pertains a soul, constituted of the highest finite spiritual substance, beneath this a spiritual mind of three degrees, and beneath this successively a natural mind, of its degrees, and a natural body, of its degrees. Thus in man can there be the ascent, the reaction; and also in angels, whose spiritual planes of life rest upon the natural planes of men in this world, with whom they are associated.

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But all lower things of creation, whose life can be active only on the plane of the natural world, can find their reaction or ascent only through man; and hence all things of the natural world look to man. And further, the reaction on the part of all things other than man is not a conscious reaction; it cannot be, because the higher planes are wanting. They cannot, therefore, feel or sensate love to the Lord. But with man, the crowning work of creation, it is otherwise. To him it is given consciously to react, to feel and sensate love to the Lord, to look up to Him with all his heart and soul and mind, and in so doing to find the very happiness of life for time and for eternity.

     The essence of love is to give its own to others. Such is the Divine Love, infinitely. It is the Lord giving His own to all creation. And the reaction of that love, or man's love to the Lord, should be the same; it should be the giving of all one's own, all one's life, all one's affection, thoughts and deeds, all one's heart and soul and mind, to the Lord. In so far as a man does this, in so far he is in the order of his life, in so far he is that which he is created to be, thus in so far he is a man. But no one, not even the highest angel, is perfect in this reaction; yet all, in whom there is something of it, can be perfected therein to eternity. Everything that makes man to be really man centres in love to the Lord; for that love is the one only real thing of human life. It alone is real, because only where it is does there exist and subsist that order into which the universe was created, which order is the action and reaction of love. Where love to the Lord is not, there is not that which is real. The man in whom love to the Lord is not, has not in his life, in his being, that which is real. He is as it were but the shadow of something; he is not a reality; his life is only something that seems like life; it is not life at all, but death; for he is spiritually dead,-dead and yet having an existence, as is the case with the devils of hell.

     Would we see a picture of creation in its order, we must go back to the days of the Golden Age, when mankind was in its integrity. Then love to the Lord ruled the hearts and souls and minds of men; it was the all of their life.

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The Lord their Father in heaven, was He in whom their affections and thoughts centered, with all that love which an infant manifests to its parent, yet having in it a wisdom now lost to the world. They looked to Him as their loving Father who provided for them in infinite abundance all things of this world and of the other; and these gifts they received with loving and thankful hearts, and with full trust and confidence that He would ever guide them in the true use of all that He bestowed upon them,-that He would so guide them that the use of His gifts would be none other than the doing of all things in such a way that in that doing there would be the return of His love. Living thus from the Lord and in the Lord, innocence, peace and happiness filled their lives. They dwelt indeed in a paradise.

     As men then loved the Lord, so should they today love Him. Yea, if anything, that love should be even more ardent and wise. For He who was for the Most Ancients the Creator and Father is for us also the Redeemer and Savior; He who was known to the Most Ancients as the Father in Heaven, is known to us as that same Father made manifest as a Divine Man before the eyes of men in this world; He, the God of heaven and earth, who was present with the Most Ancients only mediately, is present with us immediately; He who sent forth heat and light from His sun in heaven for the Most Ancients, sends forth that heat and light for us with sevenfold the splendor of those days. Yet love to the Lord on the part of men at this day, far from being greater than that of the men of the Golden Age, is scarcely anything compared with theirs. In fact, that love has well-nigh perished. Men do not love the Lord; except a few, and with these the spark flickers but uncertainly.

     Yet, though we may not love the Lord, or may, perhaps, love Him in but a weak and feeble way, "yet we can know how we should love Him; we can know that this love should be our all, that it should be our very life, that our life should be nothing other than this love; we can know that in this love alone there is happiness,-happiness for eternity. And there can be with us something more than the knowledge of these things, namely, a stirring of the heart to come into and be in this love. Who has not felt this when thoughts have come into his mind of the Lord's great love towards us His creatures, of His providence, care and mercy, of His constant endeavor, unworthy though we be, to lift us out of our fallen state and raise us up into the very happiness of heaven.

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He who has not in the contemplation of these things formed the determination to return that love, is in a state indeed lamentable. But although the determination to reciprocate the Lord's love may have been made, do we not most of us find that this determination is soon lost sight of, that we soon again are looking downwards to self and the world instead of upwards to our God?

     This experience will indicate that something more than a sudden impulse and a consequent determination is necessary in order that we may come into love to the Lord. That which is necessary is told in the words of our text: "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he at is that loveth me." There is but one way in which love to the Lord can find an abode in us, and that is by our having and keeping the Lord's commandments. To have His commandments is to know them; to keep them is to do them. We must first have or know the commandments, that is, the truths elf the Word; for every Divine Truth is a Divine Commandment. We must go to the Word, to the Word which the Lord Himself has opened and revealed for us, and there learn to know Him and His Will; we must meditate on what is there given, that we may become intelligent and wise in the Truth; and we must do this with earnestness, diligence and zeal; and he who desires to come into love to the Lord will so do it; for the Lord tells him that this is the way, the first step, towards the attainment of that love. But this first step, important as it is, will avail nothing towards the end unless the second step be also taken. The commandments known must be kept. To the knowledge, intelligence and wisdom in things spiritual, must be conjoined the life according to the same.

     The second step must be taken. For unless it is taken man can never become such that the Divine Love may inflow into him, and having inflowed, be reciprocated. Man from birth is nothing but evil, and so long as he remains such there can be no inflowing of the Divine Love. A new birth must take place, a new man must be formed and born, and this takes place by the keeping of the commandments.

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     That we may clearly see how necessary this is, let us contemplate the nature of man as he is at this day. We have already seen how with the Most Ancients love to the Lord was their very life. At this day we have the direct opposite. Man's life is the love of evil. It is his all. From it everything flows, towards it everything centers. This love of evil is the love of adultery, revenge, fraud, blasphemy, and depriving others of their goods. The love of evil, in thinking and doing these, feels pleasure and delight, its only pleasure and delight. From the love of evil two things are derived, affections and thoughts. The affections of this love are as many as are the evils to which it has determined itself. As soon as anyone has permitted himself to enter into the indulgence of any evil, an affection of that evil has been established; and the more he has so indulged, the more deeply rooted has the affection become. Every one who is willing to reflect upon the extent of his indulgence in evil, can realize, or at least partly realize, how wide is the range of his evil affections and how deeply rooted these are in him. The other thing besides affections that is derived from the love of evil is thoughts, for thoughts like affections flow from love. The thoughts from the love of evil are as many as are the falsities which favor the evils that man indulges. No one ever indulges an evil without a consent of the mind to that evil, and such consent is a falsity, a falsity of evil. This is true even when truth speaking through conscience admonishes him that the indulgence is evil; he sweeps that admonition aside by a reasoning, an argument of some kind; and as he persists in the indulgence, as he casts himself into it again and again, the voice of the truth becomes fainter and fainter, until perhaps finally it ceases altogether, while in the same proportion the falsity becomes established as his permanent mode of thought in regard to that evil: Here again everyone can make an examination of himself, and see the multitude and also the insidiousness of all those falsities which he calls into activity day by day to excuse, favor and confirm those things which his heart is set on doing. These falsities make one with the evils, as the understanding makes one with the will; and they are not separated from each other, because one is of the other. Where the one is the other is also.

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Let no one imagine he does not have these falsities of evil; let no one deceive himself; he may not find them in his exterior thought, but he can, if he will, find them in his interior thought.

     Such is the picture of man at this day as he is of himself. The love of evil ruling, and active in his delights; the love of evil sending forth the affections and thoughts of evil to all parts of his mind, even to its remotest recesses.

     Need we at all marvel, need we at all wonder why it should be that the Lord's love can find no entrance into such a man, and that a new man must be born before this can take place? This new birth is effected, as already said, by the keeping of the commandments; for the keeping of these means that man shuns his evils in thought and in deed; and as he does this the Lord removes the love of evil's, and with it its affections and delights. Then can the Lord inflow with love, and that love will give forth new affections, thoughts and delights; and from all this new life there will be the return of love to the Lord. That this new birth can take place with all who are willing, the Lord teaches when He says: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come into him, and sup with him, and he with me." By hearing the Lord's voice is meant learning the truth; by opening the door, living according to that truth; by the Lord's coming in and supping with man and man with Him, is meant conjunction with the Lord by the reception of His love and the reciprocation of the same.

     The very end in the having and keeping of the commandments should be that love to the Lord may be established. And he who has this love as his end will shun his evils from the true motive, that is, because they are diabolical. It is having love to the Lord in view, having it before the eyes as the goal or end, looking to it as that dearest of all things to be attained, that will enable man to see by contrast what is, the real nature of his: evils; he will see them as so many black and fiery devils; and as such he will abominate them, and gain the victory over them. Little by little will he gain ground in the struggle; and step by step with his successive victories will love to the Lord grow in his heart and soul and mind.

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     We have seen how man can come into love to the Lord, and this more and more fully. Let us now consider what that love is. On this subject we are taught as follows in the Heavenly Doctrines: "To love the Lord is not meant to love Him as to His person, but to love the good which is from Him; and to love good is to will and do good from love." (H. H. 15.) To love the good which is from the Lord is the same thing as the reciprocation of the Lord's love. For the Lord's love is, as we have seen, His giving all His own to His creatures, that is, it is His Goodness to the universal human race. That Divine Good inflowing into each one of us who is regenerating, is not limited in its inflowing to the bestowal of good on us individually; it is still good towards the universal human race; and our reciprocation of that good can therefore be nothing other than the coming into the state in which the good of our fellow men of the human race is what we seek above all to promote. The Lord's love of giving all His own to others, if received by us, becomes in us the love of giving all our own to others, that is, in devoting our lives to promoting the good of others, which is done by the performance of use from the love of use. This and this only is the reciprocation of the Lord's love. The good from the Lord which we are to love is therefore the good of love to the neighbor. This makes evident what is meant when the Lord says that the second of the two great commandments is like unto the first. It is like unto it, because it makes one with it; because in the second the first finds its fulfillment.

     There is in the world much of spurious love to the Lord; spurious, because it is not love, but mere sentiment; because it is directed to the person of the Lord and not to the good which is from Him. We, all of us, must be on our guard against such spurious love within ourselves. But is it wrong to love the Lord as to person? No; if such love be derived from the love of His essence, which essence is Love and Good. On this point we have the following clear teaching of doctrine, given us as an admonition: "Think of God from Essence, and from this of His Person; and not from Person, and from this of His Essence; for to think from Person about Essence, is to think materially even about Essence; whereas to think from Essence about Person, is to think spiritually even about Person." (A. R. 611.)

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This mode of thought must enter into our love to the Lord; there must be first the love of His essence, the love of the good which is from Him; then from this there can be a true, a spiritual love of His person. The love of His Essence is the love which will be active in our daily life of use in the world; but the love of His Person, derived from the love of His Essence, will be that active in states of piety and worship.

     In the light of the teaching that to love the Lord is to love the good which is from Him, the words of our text become for us fuller in meaning. "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." We have spoken of the having and keeping of the commandments as that which leads to love to the Lord; but they are more than a leading to that love; they are that love, that is, they are it when the having and keeping are done from, love. As to this the doctrines teach us when they say: "To love the Lord is to love to do the things which the Lord has commanded."

     To thus love the Lord is both the opening of ourselves to the inflowing of His love and our reciprocation of the same. The Lord is then with us and in us, as the very all of our lives, for His love is then our all, taking in us the form of love to our fellow men. If our hearts be set on that love and on it alone, then need we have no fear of the powers of evil which seek to destroy us; for the Lord's own power, the power of His Love, wielded by His omnipotent Wisdom, will sustain us in all our struggles against the forces of hell, and give us the victory, leading us out of the gloom of night into the splendor of eternal day. Victory will be ours,-but no, not ours, but His. The victory of Him who is in us the all in all; the victory of Him who is leading us step by step into the order of life, so that through us there may return to Him that love which proceeds from Him, and there may be thus established in us that circle of life which is the end of His Providence, and this being established we may receive from Him happiness eternal. This happiness is open to us; we can have it, if we will; all that is necessary is that we be willing to have and keep His commandments. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." Amen.

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MOHAMMEDANS AND THE NEW CHURCH 1914

MOHAMMEDANS AND THE NEW CHURCH       ASTLEY H. GUYLEE       1914

      (Continued from, p. 92 of NEW CHURCH LIFE for February, 1914.)

Believers are strictly forbidden to partake of blood, the flesh of pigs, animals which have died from disease, or which have been sacrificed unto an idol, or which have been killed by some other beast, or by a fall or blow; also these which have been strangled. "Verily he hath forbidden you to eat that which dieth of itself, and blood, and swine's flesh, and that on which any other name but God's hath been invocated. But he who is forced by necessity . . . it shall be no crime in him if he eat those things." (KORAN, Sura ii.)

     Polygamy is permitted, but there are restrictions. The legal limit is four wives, but a Moslem may cohabit with any number of concubine slaves. The Arabs dwelt in warm regions, where sexual appetite is ardent, and Mohammed was shrewd enough to perceive that this concession concerning women would be an irresistible bribe to them. He, however, added that it would be better if his followers could be content with one or two wives. Some of the writer's best acquaintances among the community in India had only one wife, and one who had passed the marriageable age, had not sought a partner up to the time the writer left the country. The man was, on this account, despised by many of his co-religionists. This circumstance is mentioned, because such cases a few years ago would have been considered exceptional.

     We learn from the Writings of the New Church that a plurality of wives was allowed owing to their residence in hot regions. (DE CONJ. 46.) Because they do not acknowledge Jesus as one with the Father. (C. L. 341.) Had it not been permitted they would have blazed with adulteries. (S. D. 5061.) It is not imputed to them as a sin. (C. L. 348.)

     Their prophet declared himself endowed with special privileges, and not subject to the common law.

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     O prophet, we have allowed thee thy wives unto whom thou hast given their dower, and also the slaves which thy right hand possesseth; and the daughters of thy uncle, and the daughters of thy aunts, both on thy father's side and on thy mother's side, who have fled with thee from Mecca, and any other believing woman, if she give herself unto the prophet; in case the prophet desireth to take her to wife. This is a peculiar privilege granted unto thee, above the rest of the true believers. (KORAN, Sura xxxiii.)

     A Moslem may marry a Christian woman or a Jewess, but their own women must not, under any circumstances, marry an unbeliever. The offspring of a mixed marriage, whatever the mother's faith may be, are Moslems.

     Believers may look upon the faces of their wives, their concubines, or any women within close relationship to them, e. g., mothers, daughters and sisters, but they are commanded not to behold the face of any other woman. "Speak unto thy wives, and thy daughters, and the wives of the true believers, that they cast their outer garments over them when they walk abroad; that they may be known to be matrons of reputation, and may not be affronted by unseemly words or actions." (KORAN, Sura xxxiii.) In the same portion of the Koran we read that when a Moslem wished to speak to any of the wives of Mohammed, he was commanded to speak "from behind a curtain."

     If a girl is under age, she may be given in marriage to a certain man chosen by her guardian, without her own consent. Should the couple have reached the age of puberty, they declare their intention to become husband and wife in the presence of two witnesses, and either the whole or a part of the dowry is handed to the man. This simple ceremony is sufficient for a legal marriage.

     Regarding divorce, a man may become separated from his wife with comparatively little ceremony. Their laws are very lax on this subject; but though divorce is very easy in theory, it is very rare in practice. A wife may be sent away twice and be taken back again; but on the third time the husband should not receive her again in wedlock unless she has previously been properly married to another man and been divorced by him, or has become a widow. The marriage tie may be dissolved for the reason of mere dislike.

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If the husband has decided to send his wife away, he must be careful to see that he has the dowry intact, as this will require to be repaid. Sometimes a poor man is unable to raise sufficient money, and must then keep the woman. Should he, however, have the necessary sum, he hands this over, and says, "I divorce thee." This is all that is required of him by law. But a wife is bound to her husband, and cannot become separated from him, unless she can prove some flagrant ill usage on his part.

     Again we learn from the Writings that the position of Mohammedans in the spiritual world is in the next circle outside the Papists. They are still distinct according to their countries. (L. J. 47.) Their spirits are very docile and obedient to their Mohammeds. (S. D. 403.) They seek their Mohammed as soon as they come into the spiritual world. He is never shown to them, but instead of him, some other spirit, who impersonates Mohammed. There has been a regular succession of such Mohammeds. (CONT. L. J. 69; L. J 50; L. J. POST. 82.)

     The Mohammedan Heaven is distinguished into two in the power one, which is an imaginary heaven, they live becomingly with several wives, but no others are elevated thence in the higher heaven than those who give up their concubines and acknowledge the Lord our Savior, and at the same time His dominion over heaven and hell. (T. C. R. 832.) The Mohammedan heaven is separated from the Christian heaven. (C. L. 352.)

     The good among them at first live with many wives and concubines, but afterwards only with one woman of like mind. (DE CONJ. 47.)

     In the other world ah the good are converted to the Christian religion by means of angels who had been Mohammedans. (H. 514, 515.) They acknowledge Christ because He was able to bind Mohammed. (S. D. 560.)

     Although converted, they are still distinct from the Christian Heaven, and are advised to remain outwardly in their own religion. (S. D. 5669.)

     Before passing to the Moslems of India and the hope there may be for the New Church among them, we will first very briefly consider the two principal divisions of sectarian Islam to which we referred above.

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     The "Sunnites" and the "Shiahs" or "Shiites" are fully represented in India. These two sects arose when the followers of All, a cousin of Mohammed, claimed that only the family of their prophet had the right to the caliphate. They were opposed by the Ornmiads, or family of Olthman, the third caliph, who descended from a more wealthy and powerful branch of the tribe of Koreish at Mekka.

     The Sunnites affirm that the first four caliphs were the rightful successors of Mohammed. They are divided into four sects, two of which have many followers in India. They greatly outnumber the Shiites, and observe the tenth day of Mohurrum as sacred because Mohammed is said to have kept the tenth day as a fast day; but it should be stated that they do not observe it in the same way as the Shiahs.

     The Shiites are of Persian origin, and are most numerous in Bengal and around Lucknow. They believe Ali to have been the legitimate successor of Mohammed, because of his double relationship with their prophet-being both cousin and son-in-law to him-as well as by tradition assigning him the appointment at the hands of Mohammed himself. To this day they refuse to recognize the claim to the defunct caliphate of any except Ali and his descendants, and they, therefore, reject Abu-Bekr, Omar and Othman. They commemorate the death of Hassan and Hosein, the sons of Ali and Fatima, observing the tenth of Mohurrum as a day of mourning when they carry the tazias or tabuts-tombs of the martyrs-in procession through the streets.

     Besides Sunnites and Shiites, there are scattered remnants of the "Assassins" in India. Their terrible founder Hassan, "The Old Man of the Mountain," is remembered on account of his connection with the Crusaders. As late as the year 1862 a Judge of the High Court in Bombay was called upon to settle a dispute that had arisen among these people.

     Lastly, the Mohammedans, like the Hindus, have a sect of Fakirs, who are usually exceedingly haughty and overbearing in their demeanor. They wander from place to place obtaining alms, but are not beggars in the same sense as we use the term.

     In regard to the influence of Mohammedan dominion in India, it has certainly improved the social conditions; it introduced a method of land settlement, and fixed the annual payments to be made by the holders of land. Akbar was the first monarch who thought of uniting the people under his sway.

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This, of itself, was a most noble idea, for it is a problem perplexing India to this day. That there was a strong tendency towards unity is attested by the fact that there were at that time intermarriages between the Hindus and Mohammedans, and that we find some of the songs of the Hindus either written by or originating with a Mussulman.

     The Moslems of India are chiefly descendants of its Asiatic conquerors from Afghanistan, Persia, Baluchistan and Arabia, and it is the writer's opinion that, taken as a whole, they are more liberal-minded than the present Mohammedans in these countries. As found in India today, they are, considering them apart from their religious frenzy, an affectionate and faithful race of people, and brotherhood among them is a reality. Their confidence in Allah is like the trust of little children in a loving father.

     India, besides being a land of religions, excels all other countries in ceremony and courtesy. The people of that country must be educated in the true sense so that they may rise above all adverse conditions, learn to govern themselves, to become united and to cultivate their land. To one who has learned to appreciate their art and to understand the meaning of their many charming ways, it causes a pang to think that these are being swept away. Would that they could endure amidst the onrush of so-called civilization!

     The writer remembers entering a Mosque on one of the narrow streets in Bombay and noting the simplicity of its interior. There were no images whatever in the building, but it contained a large number of lamps suspended from the ceiling, and these were covered with red cloth. The floors were of plain marble, the walls had no decorations, and there were no seats.

     The followers of Islam in India delight in arguing on any subject, since in religious matters they have very little patience with the Christians. The words in the Writings apply to them perfectly: "When Christians and Mohammedans talk together about God, the Mohammedans are indignant and despise the Christians as of little, and indeed of scarcely any judgment in spiritual matters." (S. D. 6021.)

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Also, "the Mohammedans are in natural light above the Christians and desire to know truths more than they." (S. D. 5246.) Again we read how they pestered the Greeks about their three gods, (S. D. 5952); how they shamed a certain Christian on account of his tritheism, (S. D. 5600); that they think much and are longing for truths, comprehending spiritual things better than Christians, (J. POST. 92); that they are better than most Christians as to the understanding, (S. D. 5060); the Decalogue with them is a matter of religion, (CONT. L. J. 71).

     Besides being indignant at Christians, the Moslems abhor the religious rites and customs of the Hindus. During the Mohurrum festival at Agra recently, the situation was so serious that it appeared to be beyond control, and British troops had to patrol the streets. The trouble started when the Mohammedans discovered that at about the time their procession of "tazias" would be in full swing a Hindu marriage procession would also be on the way.

     Their belief in fatalism, or "Kismet," is so strong that they are seldom known to worry about anything that may happen, however great a loss it may cause them. All calamities are the will of Allah, and they must not attempt to thwart the working of His will.

     Out of all the natives of India, whether rich or poor, it is believed that the Moslems reveal the greatest simplicity in their mode of living. In their dress both men and women are very plain, though their clothes are, as a rule, exceedingly clean. Their houses are plainly furnished, and they do not display the amount of jewelry that the Hindus do. Their style of living seems to be fashioned after that of Mohammed, for it is related that their prophet, even in the height of his power, lived in a hut and slept upon straw. They assuredly believe that glory awaits them according to their adherence to the precepts of Mohammed, and they look to his promised "hereafter," so that the following advice of Omar Khayyam would certainly not suit the Moslems of India:

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     Some for the Glories of this world; and some
     Sigh for the Prophets' Paradise to come;
     Ah, take the Cash, and let the Credit go,
     Nor heed the rumble of a distant drum.

     Their courtesy and consideration for the feelings of all those to whom they become attached makes them, on the whole, easier to approach than their co-religionists outside of India, yet great tact is very necessary and also a thorough understanding of them which only years of residence among them can give. They are so positive in their opinions, and pay such reverence to the utterances of Mohammed, that nothing but a sound, clear and convincing argument will move them; but once moved, they are capable of being raised to the highest degree of interest and enthusiasm.

     The writer believes that even the fanaticism of these people is destined-although not at present-to serve an excellent purpose, when it will be converted into a high state of enthusiasm and sincerity for the Spiritual Truth of the New Church; and being most faithful devotees of all that they believe to be true, they would be a glorious acquisition to the New Church.

     The chief arguments used by the followers of Islam towards Christians are on the doctrine of the Trinity and the Vicarious: Atonement, and on these two they gain the victory in every discussion. The efforts of missionaries among these people are almost entirely without results. Up to the time the writer left the country only one Moslem had been interred in the Christian cemetery at Sewree. Example, moreover, is potent to the masses of India. The Europeans do not live up to their religion, but a native will faithfully follow what he believes to be true. Drunkenness is very prevalent among the white people in India; people in influential positions live in laziness and luxury, and sexual vice is common. "There are gentiles who, during their life in the world, have known that Christians lead the worst kind of life in adulteries, in hatreds and quarrels, in drunkenness and the like; at this they are horrified, because such things are contrary to the laws, customs and religions of the gentiles." (A. C. 2597.)

     If you speak with a Moslem on a religious subject, he will converse in a surprisingly logical and sound manner.

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Swedenborg, in speaking of the Mohammedans who were allowed to ascend into the heaven of Christians, says: "When they came, they spoke so intelligently and prudently, and also with so much graceful skill, that the spirits of the heaven of Christians were affected with shame." (S. D. 344.)

     In considering, the success of Mohammedanism, we shall find that it depended in the first place upon the shrewdness of Mohammed. Note the way in which he won over the Arabs by conceding to the pilgrimages which had previously existed among them; also his concession in regard to polygamy. The strength of their prophet lay in his shrewdness, and in his enthusiastic and fiery imagination. His weakness lay chiefly in the Koran itself. He gave out as Divine revelation all sorts of petty regulations which proceeded from his own notions or were suggested to him by advisers. These few facts are stated because the weaknesses of Islam should be well known to any person who hopes to be a successful worker among these people.

     Now, two very important considerations for the New Church are that on the one hand Islam is gaining an ascendency over Christianity in Africa and parts of Asia, while on the other hand, the influence of Mohammedanism itself is waning. Signs are not wanting that the faith in Mohammed's precepts is weakening. Seclusion of women is being abolished, pilgrimages to Mecca are less numerous, and the fast of Ramadan is not as strictly observed as formerly. Many Moslems are disgusted with those parts of the Koran which treat of Mohammed's relations with women; pious Mohammedans are scandalized by their prophet's relations with the female sex. Then there is the assertion of the Wahibis, a reforming sect in Arabia, that Moslems, by accepting the eternity of the Koran and its being uncreated, thereby believe in two Gods.

     In speaking of the methods which the New Church should adopt towards the Moslems, the writer feels that he cannot do otherwise than state his views plainly, although they may not be generally accepted. He has lived among these people, and in doing so purposely adapted himself to their customs and usages in order to understand them thoroughly.

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     Although there may be assertions in the world to the contrary, it will be stated again that a very close observer must see that the influence of Islam is waning, so that from what has been said in the foregoing it will be recognized that the opportunity for the New Church is approaching. It is not centuries hence, but neither is it in the immediate present. India, of all countries in the world, is a place where, if one makes a wrong move or a hasty step, the whole future prospects of success will vanish. We must act cautiously and with well-laid plans. The country is weary of the worn out methods of the missionaries, the methods of persuasion and all present systems of inducement. Ours is the New Church, so let us work neither according to the dictates of the world nor according to the ways of the Old Churches; but let as adopt new methods based on a thorough understanding of the people and the country.

     There can be no doubt that a grand held is open for us, and that we can attain to such success among the natives of India as can never be hoped for in the Christian world. The New Church may establish a small settlement in a suitable locality in India under the guidance of one who has been trained to know how to educate the natives in order to make them of the highest service to their own country. This is one of the crying needs of India today. The British Government, with its years of effort, has turned out scarcely a half dozen natives who could be termed leaders. To obtain such a man as is needed might be difficult at first, for it requires a thorough understanding of the tendencies of the Oriental mind, years of residence among the people, a thorough training in the Doctrine of Education, a close acquaintance with the History of India and its people, a knowledge of the so-called sacred languages, and to be conversant with at least a few of the principal languages spoken in the country. The writer believes that we already have a Hindu friend in India, who is anxious to come to the Academy and be trained for work out there.

     Of course, success may and possibly will attend efforts which are made in accordance with various other suggestions, but as the informant realizes the great opening there is for us in Hindustan, he is writing with the object of suggesting methods by which we may achieve the greatest possible success in that land.

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     The writer has no doubt that such a nucleus would become a beacon light to the whole of India; people would ultimately flock to it from all parts, and knowing the natives as he does, he knows they are capable of overcoming almost insurmountable obstacles in order to gain the object of their desires. What more appropriate words could we use in regard to that country than the following: "The gentiles shall walk to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." (Is. 60:3)

     It might be said, "We cannot start in this manner. What are we to do to obtain such a nucleus!" The answer is as follows: Train one of your men along the Fines indicated, i. e., if he has the other qualifications mentioned and has that love for the country and its people which is so essential. From eight to twelve months before his departure-BUT NOT ANY EARLIER-bring Swedenborg and the Writings to the notice of the native public by means of wisely selected advertisements in carefully chosen papers. About three months before the arrival of your man in one of the large cities, let there be distributed from one of those centers, which exist in all the principal cities, small pamphlets on the life of Swedenborg, placing special emphasis on his being the revelator of the Last Judgment and the Second Coming of Christ, on his search for knowledge previous to his appearance as a revelator, and the supreme excellence of his scientific works. To this add extracts on his testimony concerning the Writings, also a few forceful points from the DIVINE PROVIDENCE, HEAVEN AND HELL, and on the Unity of God. In larger type it might be stated that a representative of the New Church is expected to arrive at such a time, and that a lecture will be given at a place selected for the purpose. Perhaps it would be advisable to include a short list of the Writings, such as those mentioned, and to state where they can be obtained.

     The man you send out should be thoroughly capable of meeting everyone of the many thrusts that will surely be darted at him with sound, clear and positive arguments from which there could be no possibility of leaving any other impression than one of strength and conviction.

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For this purpose he should be so conversant with the present religious beliefs of the people among whom he is to work that he may readily and convincingly point out their ancient correspondences and fundamental truths, showing in a sympathetic spirit how these have been perverted by the love of dominion over the minds of simple men. He must glide with his audience, as it were; that is to say, with Moslems, he must heartily denounce the doctrine of three persons, and introduce to them those parts in the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION on the Unity of God. Many other examples might be given, but this one is sufficient to explain what we mean.

     There is one point on which the writer would like to speak, concerning which, when stated in a few words, one is liable to be misunderstood. It must readily be seen that in a country like India great care is needed in the selection of a locality, and in the adoption of such methods as will ensure for the Church that nucleus of QUALITY which is essential for successful work.

     Again, the man selected should specialize along one line, and that line should be the Doctrine of the Lord-how He became manifested on earth-thus being capable of treating this subject in detail and of meeting the questions that might arise in the minds of the natives.

     The lecture that would be given should end with the announcement that a class or classes would be held at an appointed time and place. From the very outset there must be tactfulness, assurance and proof of friendship, and a love to win them for THEIR own sakes, and not for the purpose of adding numbers to the Church.

     The writer is convinced that the ordinary method of advertising indiscriminately, of distributing pamphlets broadcast, and the premature free circulation of books will not in any way benefit the cause. In India, more so than in any other country, we must exercise patience, and especially beware of hastiness in any form. It is essential in that land to "strike once and once only, but when you strike, be well prepared and hit your mark." It should be ever borne in mind that the natives have ideas of dignity and strength totally different to our Western conception of these things. If this were understood, at least some of the difficulties at present confronting the country would be overcome.

     The people delight in secrecy and in springing surprises.

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Meet them along their own lines. Glide with them, as stated before. Work silently, as it were, in the meantime, and let us prepare ourselves fully for that day when we may be able to carry out perfectly the ideas mentioned.

     Only those thoroughly acquainted with the History of India and its people will understand the writer's reasons for laying so much stress on the points outlined.

In speaking of a settlement and educational center, the writer means that this should be the goal for the establishment of which we should look forward in the future after obtaining a nucleus or circle of membership. From this nucleus let there shine forth the light of the Unity of God and Brotherhood of Man. The winner of the prize of ?50, which was offered some sixty years ago by a Mohammedan Society for the best essay on the "Unity of God," was an Old Church missionary, who simply translated into the vernacular the first chapter Of the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. We could start with nothing better for the people of India IN GENERAL than the first chapter of this book.

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SWEDENBORG AND FEMINISM 1914

SWEDENBORG AND FEMINISM       Rev. GILBERT H. SMITH       1914

     In a section of the work on the ANIMAL KINGDOM, (GENERATION, no. 290), written in 1742, Swedenborg states that the genius of our age is such that we excel in powers of imagination at the expense of powers of reason. And this he gives as the reason for the remarkable assertion that therefore it cannot be but that men should become subject to women. To quote his exact words:

     "The activity of the rational mind and its resistance to the affections of the animus, that is to say, its exercise of a dominating power, is not esteemed at this day as a token of character and scarcely as a token of judgment. This is the reason why men cannot fail to be subject to women; for this is favored by the consent of the majority, which is the voice of the age." (GENERATION, P. 290, 1912 ed.)

     It is not made clear just what kind of subjection to women the men of our age are destined to undergo, that is, whether it will extend to business and political matters or not. In order to be a real influence over men it is not altogether necessary that it should descend to the civil plane. This is clear enough. Yet it is likely that it would descend to this plane indirectly if not directly. So that in some way we may expect our whole social and civil life to be affected, because of the peculiar genius and temper of our age, which is that our powers of imagination overtop our powers of rational judgment. Imagination and the things it produces are more; esteemed than moral wisdom and intelligence in spiritual things. And for this reason, it is said, men will be subject to women.

     Now, speaking from a man's point of view and sure that the ladies of the Church will pardon it, the prediction of such a state of affairs comes with something of a shock. It may be that even our fair subjectors themselves will feel some disapproval of the idea. It is a matter of concern for men and women alike. The question why it should be so opens the further question of the ideal interrelation of the sexes.

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     There are many things taught in the Writings of the New Church upon these questions. We have found it interesting to gather together some of these teachings.

     The great cry of the New Church should be, Freedom! Both man and wife in the New Church recognize, this as one of the first essentials to the growth of the Church in the family and between themselves. The wife is as anxious not to trespass upon the offices proper to the husband as that he should not trespass upon hers. Normally and ideally each wishes the greatest freedom for the other. But this ideal condition cannot even be known unless, like all vital matters, it is learned from the Heavenly Doctrines.

     Let us first recall the teaching that a woman is born to be voluntary, a man to be intellectual; the woman is born affection, the man understanding; a woman thinks more from the will, a man more from the understanding. This is the real reason for the differences in form and figure. No one who understands the matter will say that superiority or inferiority are in any way involved. There is absolute equality, yet there is a difference between the sexes. Who will say that the will is inferior to the understanding or the understanding inferior to the will? That is what it is to say that either sex is inferior to the other. Yet the differences between man and woman are so great that no matter what the education has been the feminine uses can never be successfully performed, in social and civil ceremony, by men nor those of men by women.

     A man, being born understanding, should normally be interested in growing wise, that is, in gaining for himself all possible intelligence and learning in the natural subjects for which he is apt, and all possible intelligence and learning in spiritual subjects. And he should also be interested, as the essential part of wisdom, in regulating all his thoughts and actions by means of this two-fold intelligence and learning. He has by nature a love for doing this. But a woman, being born affection, should normally be in love with the wisdom in a man.

     Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace; in his SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND MORAL PROGRESS, (Cassel & Co., 1913), says:

     "The great philosopher and seer, Swedenborg, declared that whereas men loved justice, wisdom, and power for their own sakes, women loved them as seen in the characters of men.

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It is generally admitted that there is truth in this assertion," continues this writer, "but there is surely more truth in the converse, that they do not admire men who are palpably unjust, stupid, or weak . . . though under present conditions they are often driven to marry them." (p. 151.)

     Wallace has put the matter generally but clearly. But let us enlarge upon it a little. Let us take wisdom alone, including, as it does, both justice and power, since these are derivatives.

     Wisdom is of two grades, rational wisdom and moral wisdom. In marriage it is said that the wife loves both these grades of wisdom in her husband and joins herself to them. But rational wisdom is higher; and with this the wife joins herself from within, by an inner way; while with the lower order, or moral wisdom, she joins herself from without. The same should hold true when we are considering the sexes in general; that is, it should be for the masculine sex to proceed to rational wisdom and to cultivate at the same time moral wisdom; and then the general feminine would respond to and co-operate with the masculine rational wisdom from within, and with the masculine moral wisdom from without.

     We must now state what rational wisdom consists in. It is of a man's understanding. His will does not enter into it. And in this it differs from moral wisdom. It is composed of knowledge, intelligence, and principles of action of great variety. It is of one kind with those engaged in one occupation and of another with those who follow another. It differs in a clergyman, physician, lawyer, artist, and artisan. The doors are opened to rational wisdom by such studies as philosophy, mathematics, history, and science in general, including government and ethics. Rational wisdom is formed by these. And it is intimated that these are primarily masculine pursuits. (See C. L. 163.) And we may add that when women follow these subjects it is with greater profit when it is done under some masculine lead; for these are the things to which the masculine applies itself spontaneously, that it may grow wise. This is, of course, when things are normal.

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The feminine mind adjoins itself to the man's mind "from within," when he follows these studies or leads in them. The man loves these things for their own sakes, and he loves the woman who displays affection for them. Hence we read in the ARCANA (8994): "Those who are in spiritual perception love women who are affected with truths, but do not love women who are in scientifics; for it is according to divine order that men should be in scientifics, but women only in affections; and thus that women should not love themselves on account of scientifics, but should love men; whence comes the conjugial. This is why the ancients said that women should be silent in the Church. . . . This is the case in the spiritual kingdom," But with these in the celestial kingdom the case is exactly reversed; the husbands are in affections and the wives in scientifics and knowledges. This is the celestial conjugial.

     At the present day what true conjugial principle there is, speaking generally, is of the spiritual' kind. Therefore, it would seem to be ideal for us that men should take the lead in scientific and rational things, and that women, without entering independently into them, so as to love themselves on account of them, should receive and respond to them as masculine possessions, with affection. This is the root of the true marriage relation in regard to the rational and the scientific; and it should enter into the other and general relations between the sexes.

     But the other kind of wisdom with men, moral wisdom, is quite different. To this it is said, women join themselves outwardly and openly. And the reason they can do this is because moral wisdom is a more common ground where the sexes may meet. Into moral wisdom with men, as is not the case with their rational wisdom, the will enters; and women have their moral wisdom also: and because they, too, have it, and because with either sex the will enters in, it is a common external bond between man and wife in particular, and between the sexes in general. The virtues of moral wisdom with men are such things as temperance, probity, benevolence, friendship, modesty, sincerity, generosity, earnestness, and many others. These things all look to the life and enter into it, as the virtues of rational wisdom do not so directly. Moral wisdom relates, in other words, to justice, but rational wisdom to judgment.

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And the feminine is more openly responsive to matters of justice than to matters of judgment.

     This brings out another point that there is a certain superiority of the masculine sex over the feminine, and a superiority of the feminine over the masculine; but the respective excellencies of the sexes complement and counterbalance each other so as to create equality. Men's minds are ideally in a higher light, from which women, it is said, do not think except in conjunction with the man. The feminine mind on the other hand is in a greater warmth and higher quality of affection, to which men cannot attain except conjointly with the women. Which is better? Neither, for they belong together. The true social unit is a strong and distinctive masculine united with a strong and distinctive feminine.

     "The feminine principle," we read, "consists in Perceiving from love and love reaches no further than to what it feels.

     When it reaches further it is in consequence of conjunction with the understanding of the man. Nor is the moral wisdom of the man possible with woman, so far as it partakes of his rational wisdom." (C. L 268.)

     Moral wisdom is different with men from what it is with women, that is, there is a difference between masculine and feminine sincerity, generosity, friendship, temperance and the like virtues. With men moral wisdom proceeds from his rational wisdom, from his higher light; but with women it proceeds from and is united with the will, with the higher feminine affection. And we read that when it goes beyond these it is always in conjunction with the masculine understanding, otherwise it is mere cleverness and elegance.

     But let us present the matter in a little different form. In the first reference we made to the work on GENERATION it is said that there is a higher animus and a lower animus. In the higher are the things of rational wisdom, and in the lower the things of moral wisdom. The higher animus is identified with the rational with men; the lower animus is akin to or identical with the imagination This is more keen with women than with men; but women do not enter into the life of the higher animus except under masculine lead.

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This does not mean that there is no higher animus or rational with women, but merely that it is of a different quality. It is responsive in its nature to the masculine. It is not aggressive as with men. To open it the masculine must take the initiative; but when it is opened the feminine can enter into its life, and then contributes a warmth of affection which the man alone would never be able to feel. Thus it is said that feminine thought is never separated from the will, the voluntary, as it may be with men; and when it attempts to separate itself from the will it is always by means of the man's understanding, so that the woman or wife loves the truths of rational wisdom as seen in the characters of men. She does not strive to gain the truths of rational wisdom and love them as her own possessions, and love herself on account of them. But if she takes the other course, that is, loving the truths of rational wisdom, or of the higher animus, as her own independent possessions, and especially if she discourses upon them, she turns away the man's love from herself and leaves him to his own self-love. The unit of society which, in a normal state is man and wife, is destroyed; and we become individualists and freedom-lovers in a distorted way.

     Now we are prepared to see, perhaps, the interior reasons for the marked tendency of our times, which is that individualism has chosen the wrong unit as a starting point. It is not of Divine order that each individual should be accounted a unit of society, but each married couple. And all other general relations between the sexes should look to and be determined from; this. The reason why, as it is said, men cannot fail to be subject to women is that the development of the higher animus or the rational wisdom of men is not at this day considered a mark of judgment and scarcely as a mark of character. We live, therefore, chiefly on the plane of the lower animus, the plane of the imagination-witness fiction in general, and still more palpably the moving pictures with which we are inundated. And on this plane women excel men. They are more alive to principles of justice (since justice belongs to the lower animus) than to principles of judgment.

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But this would not have so revolutionary an effect if men would but "stick to their last," which is to cultivate the sciences and ethics and philosophy and religion with greater earnestness and application. If men would do this, good women would respond to it. And then the higher animus of the man of the race would not only rule over his own lower animus and imagination, heightening his moral wisdom, but it would also and without opposition rule over the lower animus of the woman of the race.

     The men may say, "Our course is clear, to avert any catastrophe." But in saying this men do not assume the whole responsibility: the other sex must co-operate. For although at present women seem to have keener perceptions of moral justice and are determined to gain this, if necessary over the heads of men, they must remember that the will of the race as a whole, from, which their thought and action proceed, is corrupt. Women think from the will, but when the will is corrupt it is nothing but cupidity, that is, arrogance, self-conceit, desire for dominion and other such things. And cupidity will gain the upper hand, if the feminine power increases, unless men develop the principles of rational wisdom to stay and balance all.

     This, we think, suggests the interior causes of the modern feminist movement all over the world. Men must rise to the occasion or else lose their traditional place in the social economy.

     Nothing bat the Doctrines of the New Church can enable us to enter into rational wisdom through the men. There is at present no true rational wisdom from a, spiritual source outside of these Doctrines. Nothing but Newchurchmen, working with the Lord's power, can avail to set the social standard right and avert disorder. Nothing else can maintain the idea of man and wife as the true social unit.

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Editorial Department 1914

Editorial Department       Editor       1914

     NOTES AND REVIEWS

     The Swedenborg Scientific Association announces the publication of Swedenborg's work, ON THE SENSES, now ready in book form. The work may be obtained, bound in cloth, for $2.50; by members of the Association, for $1.25; from the Academy Book Room, Bryn Athyn, Pa.



     From our indefatigable friend, Mr. Gerrit Barger, of the Hague, we have just received a copy of his latest production, a Dutch translation of the DOCTRINE OF THE LORD: "DE LEER VAN HET NIEUWE JERUSALEM OVER DEN HERR." This is the first edition of the work in the language of Holland, and it is published by the Academy of the New Church. The paper is excellent, and the print is large and clear,-a beautiful edition.



     The British Swedenborg Society has recently published in Japan a BRIEF LIFE OF SWEDENBORG, by Daisetz Teitero Suzuki, who translated HEAVEN AND HELL into Japanese, and more recently, the NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE, the DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, and the DIVINE PROVIDENCE, all of which will be published in Japanese at intervals of a few months. Though the Biography of Swedenborg was on the market only for a few weeks, over seven hundred copies were disposed of, nearly all of them having been sold.



     Mr. T. M. Triplett, of Beatrice, Neb., describes his experiences as a "non-separatist" as follows, in the MESSENGER for March 4th:

     "At the time I accepted the doctrines of the New Church I was teaching a Bible class in the Congregational Church to which I belonged. I never said anything in the class about the New Church nor any of its doctrines as such.

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One day the subject was 'What think ye of Christ?' I said I thought He was God. Deacon Denney said, 'What's that? Is He the only God?' I replied that the Father is in Him and that the Holy Spirit is from Him. The old deacon rose to his feet and, waving his arms, said, 'There are three Gods, three Gods, three Gods.' I said that he had made a remarkable statement and that he should think it over and try to see what it meant. He told the minister, and at the next prayer meeting he said to the audience that I had accepted strange doctrine and had ceased to be of them. So I had nothing to do but quit.

     "Since then I have been distributing HELPERS and MESSENGERS, and talking when I found an open door. I believe I have been fairly tactful, but I am not aware that more than half a dozen people have been in the least interested. A Methodist minister once said to me, 'It makes no difference to me whether there is one, two or three Gods; I'm not going to bother my head about it.' That is a common state. Many people in the old church are too indifferent to investigate what the New Church offers. Many who think enough to see that it is a question of one God or three Gods, will take the Unitarian view rather than accept the doctrine of the sole Deity of the Lord.

     "So far as influence is concerned it-doesn't make the slightest difference whether one separates himself or not. As for myself I could not and I cannot now worship, worship, in an old church atmosphere with its two-God prayers and its 'Jesus-paid-it-all' atonement-two-God vicarious atonement.

     "With all our efforts we don't get enough from the old church to equal those who die out of the New Church. . . . Non-separatist parents owe something to their children. They can't keep them in a two-God atmosphere without spiritual injury. What goes into the ear will fall upon the heart. I have a long-felt conviction that the Lord says, 'Come out of her, my people.'"



     The MESSENGER of Feb. 11th, in an editorial on "Church Statistics,"-based on the recent Report of the annual statistics of the Churches of the United States for 1913, compiled by "the Federal Council of Churches,"-observes that "the statistics of our own 'Churches of the New Jerusalem,' do not seem complete, and only show a gain of 47 communicants, and these credited to the 'General Church.'

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The number of communicants in the General Convention is put at the previous figure, 8,500, but we are confident that many have been added to that, and not reported."

     The somnolence of the official organ of the General Convention in regard to the "vital statistics" of its own body is past belief. Since the death of the Rev. T. F. Wright it appears that there has not been anyone in the General Convention taking the least interest in its numerical increase or decrease. The statistics of the General Convention, as reported to Dr. H. K. Carroll, of the CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE, are like the law of the Medes and Persians, "which changeth not." Year after year the same number-8,500-is reported, without any reference whatever to the statistics published annually in the Journal of the Convention itself. The maximum number ever reached by the Convention was 6,926 in the year 1900. The Journal of 1913 claims only 6,458, with 99 societies and 68 ministers,-an apparent decrease of 2,042 members, 39 societies and 34 ministers as compared with the report published in the BULLETIN OF CHURCH STATISTICS issued this year by the "Federal Council."



     Mr. F. A. Gardiner, in his communication in the present issue of the LIFE correctly defines our position when stating: "I take it that the claim for an internal and an external sense to the Writings means that there is a literal sense obvious to the leader, and that throughout, from the beginning to the end, there is in addition an internal sense distinct from the letter, and conveying teaching on an internal plane of thought, something analogous to the internal and external senses of the Scriptures."

     This is our idea, exactly, and for illustration we need only point to the experience, the continuous experience, of every earnest student of the Writings. To the beginner these Writings often appear obscure, but here and there he recognizes a brilliant star of spiritual light.

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After a time when he reads the works over again, he finds that they are now illumined by a general light, the moon-light of faith; and as the years pass on and he begins to realize that the Divine Love itself has given these Books to him for the sake of life and salvation, he begins to perceive in the Writings the light and the heat of the spiritual Sun. And this becomes a daily and continual experience. We may have read a certain passage a hundred times, thinking that we are quite familiar with its import, when suddenly, the next time we read it, we find there some entirely new and unsuspected truth of deeper and more universal value. Thus we see that in the Writings, throughout, there is an internal sense, and sense within sense, for internal sense means simply internal understanding and feeling.
ORIGIN OF THE REPORT THAT SWEDENBORG WAS INSANE 1914

ORIGIN OF THE REPORT THAT SWEDENBORG WAS INSANE              1914

     Mr. Charles Higham, whose many contributions to New Church History have often been noted in the LIFE, is at present publishing a series of papers in THE NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE, entitled "Some Phases of the Swedenborg 'Insanity' Myth." It will' be remembered that John Wesley, on the authority of Paul John Brockmer, reported that Swedenborg, while lodging at the house of Brockmer in London, in the year 1743, had been attacked by a violent fever, "in the height of which, being wholly delirious, he broke from Mr. Brockmer, ran into the street stark naked, proclaimed himself the Messiah, and rolled himself in the mire." Brockmer subsequently denied that he had ever reported this or any other story to Wesley, but acknowledged "that he had heard a report that Baron Swedenborg had rolled himself in the mire." (Doc. II. p. 601.)

     Mr. Higham reviews the whole story and calls attention to a number of interesting details which have not been generally noticed, though contained in Tafel's DOCUMENTS. In his DIARY for 1744, (the "DREAM BOOK"), Swedenborg speaks of "a pious shoemaker, who had been with me on the journey, and with whom I was then lodging." This shoemaker, as reported by Wesley in his ARMINIAN MAGAZINE was "a Moravian brother, by name Senniff, who, in his return to London from Holland, where he had been visiting his children, became acquainted in a packet-boat with Baron Emanuel de Swedenborg, who desired to be recommended to a family in London, where he could live retired.

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Mr. Senniff brought him to Mr. Brockmer." (Doc. 11:587)

     A few months later, Swedenborg moved from Brockmer's to the house of Shearsmith, "because the persons he lodged with used to meddle with his papers. Mrs. Cartwright, a lady of property, knew Swedenborg, and he complained to her. She recommended Shearsmith's lodgings. Shearsmith used to dress her hair. The other people were so angry at his leaving them, that they spread a report that he was mad." (Doc. 11:597.)

     We would suggest, as a possible explanation of the origin of the "Insanity Myth," that Brockmer and his maid, while meddling with Swedenborg's papers, came upon the private DIARY in which he was recording his dreams. Finding that it was written in Swedish, their curiosity may have led then to show the manuscript to some Swede, who found there the following entry, under "June 20 x 21:" "Afterwards, one night, I was found in the church, bur I was naked, having nothing on but the shirt, so that I did not dare to come forward. This may mean that I am not yet [spiritually] clothed and prepared as I need to be." These lines, describing a dream were written while Swedenborg was still lodging with Brockmer, for he mentions in his Diary, under the date of July 9 x 10, that "on the previous day I chose other lodgings for myself."

     Brockmer, disappointed at losing a lodger and at the same time a possible convert to the Moravian Church, (which Swedenborg had been attending while living with Brockmer), may have told others of this dream (and other dreams equally personal) as if it had described an actual occurrence,-subsequently adding further embroideries,-until it finally reached the ears of Wesley, and of Mathesius, the Swedish clergyman in London, who was personally acquainted with Brockmer, and whose malevolent gossip coined the "Insanity myth" into common currency.

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PRESIDENT OF THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY 1914

PRESIDENT OF THE SWEDENBORG SOCIETY              1914

Our valued correspondent, Mr. F. A. Gardiner, in his present communication to the LIFE, offers an explanation of the action of the Swedenborg Society in electing as president Sir William Barrett. We quite appreciate the fact that this election was entirely legal according to the constitution of the Society, and that the motive of the action was to secure the widest possible publicity for the name of Swedenborg and for the work of the Swedenborg Society.

     Whether we may approve of the constitution of the Society or not, the fact remains that it is nominally an undenominational organization so broad in its scope as to be able to include in its membership all and any persons having any interest in the Writings of Swedenborg. Its scope ranges from such Newchurchmen as cherish the most intense admiration for the Writings, down through all the varying degrees of admiration, even unto those who, like Sir William Barrett, have scarcely any knowledge of or interest in the works, or barely enough to lend the weight of their names to the work of the Society. Naturally, those of the latter class will not take a very active part in the Society, and it is therefore a matter of surprise that one whose interest is admittedly at the bottom-most step of the ladder, should be placed nominally at the head. It seems to us that both Sir William and the Society are thereby placed in false positions not only before the world but before the New Church, of which the Society, in spite of its constitution, is actually a part.

     Let it be supposed, for the sake of the argument, that the Society should become packed with members of the type of Sir William Barrett; persons whose interest would be less than lukewarm, and whose intelligence in the work of the Society would be correspondingly small. How would a governing board, consisting of such members, treat the Writings of Swedenborg? What kind of translations would they produce? How would they advance the uses of the Society? Sir William Barrett, we understand, is a prominent member of the "Society for Psychical Research,"-in other words, deeply interested in the phenomena of Spiritism.

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We cannot close our eyes to this fact, for the Swedenborg Society, in the year 1860, actually became packed with spiritists, who formed a conspiracy to take possession of the whole Society, with its funds and its Book Room. Who, in that day of trial, were those that saved the Society for its legitimate purposes and uses? Who but the genuine: Newchurchmen among its members,-notably Jonathan Bailey and Samuel M. Warren?! Sir William Barrett, of course, is a very worthy gentleman, of a type totally different from that of William White and his spiritistic crew, but the precedent of his election does not seem a good one to follow. The publicity gained by this figurehead is a false publicity because it misrepresents the Society, the real spirit and strength of which is the spirit and strength of the NEWCHURCHMEN among its members.
"FORM" AND "FIGURE." 1914

"FORM" AND "FIGURE."              1914

     A correspondent writes: "According to my understanding of the Writings, there are no figures in the spiritual world, but forms only. A form becomes a figure when it is ultimated or fixed in matter. As long as we are in this world we cannot think of 'form' only, for there is always something of 'figure' in our thought. But when the spiritual eyes are opened,-as was the case with the prophets, the evangelists, and Swedenborg-then the forms are seen. There is a discrete degree between the 'human form' and the 'human figure;' they are in the same relation as cause and effect. I do not understand how a 'cortical gland' can be a 'form' only. Being something material; possessing a pattern and dimensions, it belongs to geometry, (although infinitesimal geometry), and is thus a 'figure.'"

     The idea that the figure of the cortical gland, or of the brain as a whole, remains after death, while the human figure in general perishes, certainly seems inconsistent to us; and our correspondent is more consistent when maintaining that all idea of figure perishes in the other life. But this conception, also, seems incomprehensible to us, for surely a triangle is a triangle, and a circle a circle, in the spiritual world as well as in the natural. It is not the idea of figure that is material, but it is the matter itself infilling the figure.

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The figure is the common form containing all the internal farms, and without some common containing form all the interior forms would be dissipated. The idea that there are no figures in the spiritual world seems to be based upon a misunderstanding of Swedenborg's Doctrine of Forms.

     Swedenborg, in his ONTOLOGY, does indeed state that "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," (ONT. 15); the superior forms cannot be called figured forms, because they are not terminated by space within themselves, but only by imaginary space outside themselves. For, in order that they may include space within themselves, there must be a reference to a center, a surface, a diameter, and many other things. Such form is also void of figure, because void of space and extent. Hence it is without any limitation. (ONT. 16.) And again: "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." (THE FIBRE, 262.)

     Our correspondent may have based his conclusions upon definitions such as the ones quoted above, which, however, apply only to purely spiritual forms, abstractly considered, but not to concrete and organic vessels of life such as spirits and angels, who are not purely spiritual forms but are forms fixed by their retaining a border of the purest substances of nature. The difference between Form and Figure is set forth by Swedenborg as follows:

     "But lest we halt uncertain in the meaning of words, we must now explain what 'form' is, and what 'figure' is. 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, i. e., the terminus of essential determinations, otherwise called external form. This definition of form agrees with ancient and modern philosophy." (THE FIBRE, 262.)

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     To say that there are no figures in the spiritual world but only forms;-or, what is the same, to say that spirits and angels possess forms but not figures,-is to deprive them of extense and surface, dimensions, boundaries and limits. It is to elevate them to the Infinite, or else to reduce them to nothing. But as neither of these contingencies can be in the mind of our correspondent, we would invite further discussion of this interesting and important subject.
ISSUE, IN SWITZERLAND 1914

ISSUE, IN SWITZERLAND              1914

     The writings are the Word of the Lord in His Second Coming. It is an encouraging sign that this teaching is attracting more and more attention in the Church at large. In various quarters it is being discussed with ever increasing interest, and though the attitude is still negative to the teaching, yet it seems now to be generally admitted that the Writings are a Divine Revelation.

     The latest contribution to the discussion comes from a quarter which has hitherto preserved, unbroken, the "policy of silence." The MONATBLATTER, edited at Zurich by the Rev. A. L. Gorwitz, in its issue for December, 19I3, publishes an account of a lecture on "The Word and the Writings of Swedenborg," by Hear Stud. Phil. Paul Hartli, delivered at Zurich on Nov. 23d. "the lecturer, after a brief review of the historical significance of the Bible, next presented the great importance of the Writings of Swedenborg for the correct understanding of the Word. He then passed on to define the meaning of "the Word of God" and of "the apostolic and other doctrinal writings," and to distinguish them from one another, just as Swedenborg himself has done. The didactic and philosophical style which characterizes the Doctrinal Writings of the New Church, was presented in the correct light. It was shown that the Doctrines do indeed contain and teach the internal sense, but that for this very reason they are not written in correspondences and are not the Word itself, i. e., they are not altogether identical with the whole internal sense. (See A. C. 10400, 9430.) The notion that the Doctrines contain a higher or more internal sense than the Word, refutes itself.

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The external sense of Scripture contains the interior and inmost sense, so far as it can be made known. Even the fact that the Inscription on the cross was written in the three languages of Revelation,-Hebrew, Greek, and Latin,-does not prove that the Latin Writings of Swedenborg are the Word. The Writings of Swedenborg are simply the Doctrine, and Doctrine is related to the Word somewhat as Science is related to the whole of creation.

     "The interesting and instructive lecture was followed by a lively discussion. It was pointed out that the Books which constitute the Word, are carefully distinguished in the Writings themselves. The doctrine that the Writings are the Word has sprung from the desire to confirm the authority of these Writings in the New Church, but it is nevertheless a doctrine established by men, and, moreover, it has not been received except by a minority in the New Church. The untenable nature of this doctrine is evident also from its resulting consequences, for [if this doctrine were received] then the texts of sermons might just as well be chosen from the Writings of Swedenborg as from the Word; in fact, this has already been done within recent years in that part of the New Church where this doctrine is cherished; by such a practice the Word is deposed from its position as the medium of conjunction between the Lord and the Church.

     "The Writings of the New Church do not stand in need of any peculiar doctrine invented by men in order to elevate and make manifest their value; they are a Revelation of the Lord out of His Word, and they come to us, therefore, with the same authority as the Word. The unqualified belief in the Writings as Divine Revelation is in itself sufficient to make it impossible to accept a doctrine which is not expressed in those Writings. For if the Writings were "the Word," this would be a fact of such extreme importance that it would necessarily have been set forth again and again in those Writings in which every doctrine of the New Church has been presented at length." (Translated from the MONATBLATTER for December, 1913.)

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     The lecturer, who is evidently a neophyte in the New Church, would seem to stand in need of some instruction and guidance on the part of his pastor, Mr. Gorwitz. Mr. Hiirtli speaks of some un-named party holding "the notion that the Doctrines contain a higher or more internal sense than the Word," a charge which, as Mr. Gorwitz is well aware, is mere nonsense. The lecturer makes the dangerous admission that "the Doctrines do indeed contain and teach the internal sense;" Mr. Gorwitz should have warned him that this is the same as to admit that the Doctrines are the Word, for the Word alone contains the internal sense. As a loyal member of the General Convention Mr. Gorwitz should have instructed his disciple that the Writings teach that which they do not have or contain within themselves, for "the Writings do not have an internal sense." And when the lecturer drew the grand conclusion that the "Doctrine is related to the Word somewhat as Science is related to the whole of creation," Mr. Gorwitz, as a more advanced thinker, might have pointed out that this relation or analogy is untenable, since Science is a system of human discoveries and conclusions, while the Heavenly Doctrine is a purely Divine work, like the whole of the Word and like the whole of creation.

     In the discussion which followed the lecture it was pointed out that "the Books which constitute the Word are carefully distinguished in the Writings themselves." The Books which constitute the Second Coming of the Lord are not enumerated in the list of those Books which constitute the Word of the Old and the New Testament: ergo, they are not the Word-of the Old and the New Testament! Certainly not. But the revelator of the Second Coming refers also to another list of Divine Books: "The Books which were written by the Lord through me must be enumerated." The Books written by the Lord are the Books of His third and last Testament.

     The argument that the teaching which is attacked is accepted as yet only "by a Minority in the New Church," is unworthy of serious consideration. Some day the minority may have become a majority, and it would be sad, indeed, if the truth should then be accepted because of that majority. It was such persuasive acceptance that destroyed the Christian Church.

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     The fact that texts for sermons have sometimes been chosen from the Writings, instead of texts from the Old or the New Testament, is spoken of with horror as "deposing the Word from its position as the medium of conjunction between the Lord and the Church." Here is the "crux" of our offense; we put our faith into practice, not only in life, but in worship. We not only read lessons from the Writings in the Worship, but we actually dare to preach from the Writings as texts when the occasion demands. The Writings are a Divine Revelation, as all our opponents now verbally admit; they constitute the last, the most excellent, the very crown of all Divine Revelations, but nevertheless they must not be used in the worship of the Lord! It is the "crown" that destroys the conjunction with "the King"!

     And yet this crowning Revelation, (which is not the Word of God), is supposed to "come to us with the same authority as the Word." What but the Word itself has the same authority as the Word? Who but the Lord who is the Word in His Second Coming as in His First, has the same authority as-the Lord?

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Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified       T. MOWER MARTIN       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     May I be allowed to say, respecting your mention of my letter to the MESSENGER in your February number, that your account of my position respecting the Writings, though true so far as it goes, is liable to misconstruction; for the ARCANA and the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED are not only quoted and explained, but actually ore the Books of the Word, with exposition of so much of the internal senses as the Lord has seen fit to reveal.

     The other books I spoke of are referred back to these for confirmation by Swedenborg as part of his commission or instruction to write them. That "the celestial and spiritual senses are not the Word without the natural sense which is the letter, (S. S. 39), I understand to refer to these expositions of the internal senses, as the soul, of which the literal sense is the body; (see n. A. C. 1408), by means of which the Lord is making His Second Coming; and which surely no Newchurchman would desire to put asunder; for "the Word without the literal sense . . . is without all power, and is thus no longer the Word; . . . in the spiritual world nothing ran resist genuine truths, confirmed from the literal sense of the Word." (E. 1086.)

     "The fulness of the Word may be compared to a common vessel of marble, in which are innumerable vessels of crystal, and in these, still more innumerable vessels of precious stones, in and about which are the most exquisite delicacies of heaven. Inasmuch as the Word is such, it follows that it is not fully the Word before it is in that ultimate . . . the letter." (E. 1087.)

     Personally I have no distinctions to make; I wish only to be guided by what the Writings themselves disclose and can only understand them according to my state like the rest of us, and I quite agree with the following from the sermon by the Rev. W. F. Pendleton in the November LIFE "one of the fundamental things to lay aside, to shun as a sin against God, is the desire and wish to control the actions of others, to dictate to another what he shall think or shall do."

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Insistence on making definition for others has cost many human lives in the churches of the past. The increased freedom and rationality, since the 19th of June, 1770, of "the man of the church" will prevent its repetition in the New Church. T. MOWER MARTIN.
INQUIRY AND AN EXPLANATION 1914

INQUIRY AND AN EXPLANATION       F. A. GARDINER       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     As an interested reader of NEW CHURCH LIFE I would crave permission to ask a question in regard to the repeated statement in your columns that there is an internal sense to the Writings. Would you have the great kindness to give an illustration of your exact meaning? The reference to the internal and external made in T. C. R. 785 can hardly be the explanation because that condition is common to every created thing down to a "particle of mold." I take it that the claim for an internal and an external sense to the Writings means that there is a literal external sense obvious to the reader and that throughout, from the beginning to the end, there is in addition an internal sense distinct from the letter and conveying teaching on an internal plane of thought, something analogous to the internal and external senses of the Scriptures. If this is the idea would you kindly give one or two illustrations; it would be most interesting and instructive to those of your readers who, like myself, have an open mind on the subject.

     While writing I would like to take the opportunity of referring to another matter for the purpose of imparting some information which appears to be invited by the statement in your columns that you suppose Sir William Barrett was elected president of the Swedenborg Society "in recognition of his services in misrepresenting Swedenborg." It may come as a surprise, but it is nevertheless a fact, that his election to the presidency was exactly on the same grounds as those of his predecessor: which were simply that he might help forward the work of the Society in that capacity; nothing more, nothing less.

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He is not a Newchurchman, but he is a member of the Swedenborg Society because he believes that the spread of Swedenborg's teaching will benefit mankind. Everybody who subscribes for this purpose is welcomed as a member of the Society. We have no class distinctions, and our office bearers are not asked to subscribe to a formula of religious belief. In fact, the Swedenborg Society is undenominational, and, would you believe it, that fact enables us to obtain the co-operation of more active workers than would otherwise be possible and to reach by that means a wider range of readers than would otherwise be the case. We even welcome subscribers who thus far are interested in Swedenborg's philosophy only and have as yet not studied his theology, because we know that Swedenborg says that true philosophy enables the mind to see clearly in spiritual and celestial things, and as his is the only philosophy which answers this description, we act on the assumption that he really meant what he said and that it would apply to all honest seekers of the truth.

     Sir William Barrett's views on a separate ecclesiasticism are not peculiar to himself. They are and have been held by many members of the Swedenborg Society and constitute no disqualification for active participation in the translation and publication of Swedenborg's Writings, as is abundantly testified by the eminent services rendered in the past by members sharing non-
separatist opinions.
     F. A. GARDINER.
London, England.
NEW CHURCH SCIENCE VERSUS SWEDENBORG'S SCIENCE 1914

NEW CHURCH SCIENCE VERSUS SWEDENBORG'S SCIENCE              1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     It seems to me a great mistake to consider and call Swedenborg's preparatory works "New Church" science and philosophy as they were written before the New Church was in existence. That they are the works, however, of the greatest of Christian scientists and philosophers, who was being prepared to receive and promulgate the doctrines of the New Church cannot be denied, so that they should receive careful consideration in the development of New Church science and philosophy.

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The preparatory works can not throw light on the Writings of the New Church, but can merely reflect to a greater or less extent the light from those Writings, just as nature can not throw light on Divine Revelation, but can reflect the light from Divine Revelation into our minds in so far as our minds are opened by the Lord.

     As a New Church student of the natural sciences, and as a forester, my opinion is that the arboreal birth of man as described by Swedenborg in THE WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD must be taken as an allegory. The following considerations favor this view. In the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, n. 585, we are taught: "In trees and all other subjects of the vegetable kingdom, there are not two sexes, the male and the female, but every one there is male;" and in CONJUGIAL LOVE, n. 174: "There are duties proper to the man and duties proper to the wife; and the wife cannot enter into the duties proper to the man, nor the man into the duties proper to the wife and perform them rightly." From these two passages alone it would seem that the birth of man from a tree would be contrary to Divine Order, since conception, gestation, birth and suckling are functions proper to the female or wife. Science confirms this by showing that a constant difference between animals and vegetables is that vegetables have cellulose cell walls and animals have not, and that keeping the sap of any plant at blood heat will soon kill the plant. When the most perfect vegetable tissues and structures are compared with those of the human body it is readily seen that one could not be developed directly from the other.

     Having demonstrated the arboreal birth of man to be allegorical, it may justly be asked what we have to offer in its place. Since conception, gestation, birth and suckling are functions proper to the female, and since the only females in nature: are the earth, (T. C. R. n. 585), and female animals, man must have been born directly from the earth or else from a female animal. That he could not have been born directly from the earth is self-evident, so he must have been born from a female animal. Swedenborg, in the ADVERSARIA, points out in confirmation of the arboreal birth of man not conflicting with the statement in Genesis that man was formed of the dust of the earth, that "whatever runs through the roots or fibres of vegetables is from the earth," so I hope I may be allowed to point out that all the constituents of the animal body are taken either directly or indirectly from the earth.

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     In the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, n. 566 and 673, we are taught that the natural man separate from the spiritual man is merely an animal, and in n. 296 that the sensual and corporeal man viewed in himself, is altogether an animal, and only differs from a brute animal in that he is able to speak and reason. We are taught in the DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, 77-80: "That the Divine in the greatest and least things is the same," and in n. 227, that it is also a tenet of angelic wisdom that the perfection of the created universe consists in the similitude of generals and particulars, or of the greatest and least things, as to these degrees, (of altitude and latitude), for then one respects the other as its like, with which it may be conjoined for every use, fixing and exhibiting every end in the effect." With these truths in view does not the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, from the womb of the Virgin Mary, confirm the belief that the first men were born of virgin female animals in an analogous manner? Science would seem to confirm this by showing that the female animal womb is the only organ known in nature capable of developing the wonderful structure of the mammalian body. As traditionary confirmation of this theory we; have the story of Romulus and Remus being suckled and cared for by a wolf.

     The finding of the remains of great monsters in geologic strata formed before the creation of man seems to trouble some Newchurchmen, because we are taught in the Writings that good animals only were created before man, and that evil animals arose only in correspondences with the evils of fallen men. In this connection it is well to remember that evil cannot exist except in man, and that the mere fact that an animal devours other animals does not show that it has an evil correspondence, especially if it preys upon the lower forms of animal life. If greater fishes had not been created to devour lesser fishes the multiplication of the lesser fishes would have soon overstocked the ocean, rivers and streams, and so also on the land, probably, if the greater animals had not been created to devour the lesser animals, the multiplication of the lesser animals would have soon overstocked the earth, and denuded it of its vegetation.

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We must also remember that the records of geology are very imperfect, so that we cannot know for certain at just what period man was created; we can only tell roughly when his bones were first preserved.

     There is a great abundance in the Writings on the correspondences in general and particular of the three kingdoms of nature, and considering the fact that the science of correspondences should be the science of sciences in the New Church, would it not be better to devote more time to its development than has been done in the past, or is being done in the present, and pay less attention, honor, and devotion to Swedenborg's preparatory works? His early science and philosophy are Swedenborgian but not New Church.
     Sincerely yours,
          ARTHUR B. WELLS.
Fields Sta., Pa., Feb. 8, 1914.

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Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. The doctrinal class on February 26th was held in the chapel where the Bishop gave some exceedingly useful and interesting instruction as to the use and significance of the different features of the Sunday worship. At the same time some practice was obtained in the use of the new announcement boards, presented by Mr. Wilfred Howard, which are to obviate the necessity for making any announcements of pages during the progress of the service.

     On February 24th we celebrated the wedding of Miss Solange Iungerich to Mr. Wilfred Howard. The service was begun with a procession of the children of the elementary school singing a Hebrew anthem, and after the beautiful ceremony of the wedding was over, the Holy Supper was administered to the newly married couple. An informal reception was held afterwards at the home of Mrs. Regina Iungerich.

     We have enjoyed a couple of old-time cotillions lately as a change from the mysterious intricacies of the modern dances. Mr. and Mrs. Roydon Smith managed the figures at the school dance, and gave us a very lively and enjoyable time; the other cotillion was held in celebration of the silver wedding of the Rev. and Mrs. C. Th. Odhner. This last was originally set for March 2d, but just about that time a tremendous blizzard visited our lonely hamlet; it snowed up our roads, stopped our trains, closed the school, broke down our telephone and electric light service, and necessitated the postponement of the dance. The celebration came off, however, on March 10th; the Rev. E. S. Price was the toastmaster, and the Bishop made the presentation of silver to Mr. and Mrs. Odhner in expression of the affection of their friends in Bryn Athyn and of the General Church as a whole.

     The unexpected operatic abilities of the pupils of the Academy Schools were demonstrated in the production, on March 7th, of the favorite old opera, "The Pirate of Penzance."

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Such ferocious pirates, such intrepid policemen, and such refreshingly charming maidens were never before seen on stage, and the acting and singing of the principals were excellent. Miss Helen Colley and Mr. Hugo Odhner were especially good, but the greatest credit belongs, of course, to Mrs. Roydon Smith who managed and directed the whole play, and whose difficult task it was to train sixty boys and girls into that harmonious unanimity which is necessary to chorus work. An appreciative audience witnessed the play and the receipts are to be used in the purchase of music for the school work.

     The Civic and Social Club proposes to change the character of the bi-weekly club nights by introducing something of a more serious and profitable nature than pool, pinochle and ping-pong into the programs on such occasions. At the last Saturday evening a musical was given by Messrs. Frank Bostock, Hubert Synnestvedt, and Hugo Odhner. A small but enthusiastic audience was treated to one of the best arranged and executed programs that we have ever enjoyed. The main feature of the program was Beethoven's "Sonata IV. in A Minor," played by Mr. Bostock.

     Lovers of the old creek woods will be horrified to learn that this sylvan spot, hitherto sacred to picnics, fishing (!), courtship, engagements, and other diversions, has become the scene of quarrying operations. Where so often the Bryn Athyn youth whiled away the pleasant summer evenings, "the Bryn Athyn Quarry Co." is now busy getting out granite, and mussing the woods up with derricks and dynamite, stone crushers and steam engines. Thus perish the beauties of nature in the devastating march of commercial progress! D. R.

     ABINGTON, MASS. Although we have been saying but little these last few months, we have by no means been idle. Our usual activities are still going on. Because of the number of severe storms the Sunday School attendance has been small, but the children are doing excellent work in Greek. We have taken up the Lord's Prayer, and they can repeat it and read it from the Greek.

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They know all the grammatical relations and all the parts of speech from the beginning to the end. And next Sunday we begin on the Blessings.

     Swedenborg's Birthday was celebrated in the usual manner with Mr. and Mrs. Freeman. Papers were read and toasts honored. The three reading classes are still being continued. The Tuesday afternoon class are studying APOCALYPSE REVEALED. The Thursday evening class are in the fifth volume of ARCANA COELESTIA, and the Monday evening class are reading the FOUR LEADING DOCTRINES.

     Our pastor has been giving us a series of sermons on "The Intercourse between the Soul and Body," and now the series have been sent to the friends in the North Lands, to be read at the meetings there. Besides this series, a sermon is sent to Canada every week and read the following Sunday.
     G. M. L.

     BERLIN, ONT. Christmas was celebrated in the usual manner in the Carmel Church, namely, with services in the morning and a children's service in the evening. For the latter the chapel was beautifully decorated. The sand-table representation of the inn, the angel and the shepherds, the star and the wise men, prepared by the "Theta Alpha," was this year on a larger scale than usual, and greatly delighted the children. The pastor gave an address on the story of the shepherds. As usual there was the bringing of offerings by all, old and young.

     No services were held on January 11th, the pastor being absent to officiate at the funeral of Mr. George Bellinger, at Wellesley. Mr. Bellinger was a life-long member of the church, and a member of the General Church since its organization. He was a regular attendant at the Ontario Assembly,-indeed, but a few days before his departure was present at the one just held in Toronto. Four sons and three daughters, all either members of the General Church or associated with it, are the legacy he leaves to the church.

     On the Sundays, January 18th and 25th, the pastor being absent to attend the meeting of the Consistory and to visit Erie, the services were led by Mr. Rudolf Roschman.

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     The school celebrated Swedenborg's Birthday, according to its custom, with a social and supper. At the supper speeches were made by pupils. Some told certain parts of the Life of Swedenborg, others related his visits to the people of the various Ages of the world. On the following evening the Society celebrated the day with a banquet and social. At the banquet the speeches were on the two things involved in Swedenborg's mission, indicated in T. C. R. 779. The first toast was to "Swedenborg's reception of the doctrines by the understanding," and was responded to by Mr. Rudolf Roschman; the second was to "His publication of the doctrines by the press," responded to by Mr. Nathaniel Stroh. The speakers showed that we as Newchurchmen have a similar mission,-that we must receive the doctrines of the Writings by the understanding and then do our part that they may be made known, that is, co-operate in the uses of the church. During the social the Swedenborg Birthday Song was beautifully presented in tableaux, verse by verse, while the choir sang the song. W.

     COLCHESTER, ENGLAND. The New Year was duly initiated here by a social at "The Studio," on January 1st. The young people appeared in fancy dress, and after merry-makings of various kinds, a supper was served followed by toasts and speeches.

     Swedenborg's Birthday was commemorated a month later, when Mr. and Mrs. Motum provided a bounteous supper for thirty-three attendants, some visitors having come from London. A series of seven papers were read on the general subject of the preparation of Swedenborg for the Office of Revelator; toasts and responses followed, and a fine sphere prevailed which kept the friends for fully another hour in animated conversation.

     On Jan. 17th we were delighted to have a weekend visit by Mr. Alvin Gyllenhaal, of Glenview. He was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Rey Gill, and it was a great pleasure to hear from him personally of the progress of the church, and also to get into closer touch with some of our old friends and co-workers who have made Glenview their home.

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     SWEDEN. From letters received from Stockholm we learn with extreme regrets that Mr. Alfred H. Stroh is suffering from nervous prostration and has been in a very low condition. He is now being cared for in a private hospital by Miss Nancy Liden, who is a professional nurse of high standing. According to the latest report Mr. Stroh shows some improvement, but a complete and long rest from his complex duties will be necessary, and it is hoped that he will return to Bryn Athyn for a visit as soon as he will be able to travel. In the meantime one portion of his work will be continued by Miss Greta Ekelof, and another by Miss Cyriel Odhner, who has returned to Stockholm.

     ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA. The Rev. Richard Morse, accompanied with his youngest daughter, on Dec. 20th left Sydney for a visit to Adelaide. "The journey, which covered more than a thousand miles, and included a brief visit to Melbourne, occupied six days. The objective point was the home of Mr. and Mrs. John F. White, at Glen Brook, Macclesfield,-about 25 miles from Adelaide,-where the Whites have a farm among the beautiful hills which surround that fair city, a city of churches, olive trees, vines and fruit-trees. Our hosts were delighted with our visit and called the occasion 'our Assembly.' Baptism, confirmation and the Holy Supper were administered on Sunday morning, December 28th. Miss White, at her request, was confirmed, and six persons partook of the Holy Supper. Three other persons would have been present at the services had they been notified. In the afternoon a children's service was held, and in the evening a reading from the ARCANA COELESTIA."

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     GREAT BRITAIN, "On January 1st, 1914, suddenly, at 6, Bramshill Mansions, Dartmouth Park Hill, Highgate, London N., Arthur Hodson Searle, aged fifty-four. Mr. Searle belonged to the fourth generation of Newchurchmen, to a family [the Hodsons] conspicuous in each of them for intelligent reception of, and loyalty to, its doctrines. Very early in life a serious illness deprived him of the sense of hearing. Responding to the efforts of a most devoted mother, the power of speech was in large measure preserved, and in other respects his deprivation was not permitted to interfere with a liberal education.

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Coming under the strong, affectionate influence of the then minister of his Society-Camden Road-the Rev. R. L. Tafel, he became a well-read Newchurchman, well versed in the sacred languages, and an expert in the writings of the Lord's servant, Emanuel Swedenborg. The revision of the translation of not less than five volumes of the ARCANA COELESTIA and of the work on CONJUGIAL LOVE was entrusted to him by the Swedenborg Society, for whom also he did valuable work in collating and copying the text of the INDEX BIBLICUS-a task he has left not quite finished. He compiled the INDEX TO SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS which bears his name, and was also an occasional contribution to our serial literature. Though living in a silent world, unable to participate in uses where hearing was required, he was among the most regular attendants at public worship. If he could hear neither singing nor preaching, he could feel the sphere of worship, and knew that it was good to be there. For about three years he had rendered valuable help as a vestry deacon, discharging his duties with most exemplary thoroughness. He was never absent without due notice, never late, he gave most careful attention to every particular. His was a systematic mind; attention to detail was indispensable to the high measure of success he attained in his profession as a scientific draughtsman, reproducing every line and mark in a minute object, as, for instance, a tiny shell, that had to be magnified many diameters that they might so much as be visible. Faithfulness was as conspicuous in him as thoroughness. After the loss of his devoted mother he entered into a marriage which, if brief, has been singularly happy. To the partner now left lonely awhile, the very tenderest sympathies of their many friends at Camden Road have gone forth. We know that all the uses he served so well here will have their counterpart in the spiritual world, and that to them will be added very many which physical incapacity can no longer preclude. He lived in peace, and in peace departed, and he has entered into the peace which prevails where all dwell together and work together in unity." (NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE, Feb., 1914)

     "Mr. F. Hodson Rose delivered a lecture on 'The Last Judgment' before the Literary and Recreation Society of the New Church, Flodden Road, Camberwell, on Monday evening, December 8th.

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Mr. Geo. E. Holman presided in the absence through indisposition of the Rev. W. E. Hurt. There was a good attendance and several strangers were present....

     "At the conclusion of the lecture, which was enjoyed by everyone present, a number of questions were asked, among those taking part in the discussion being the Rev. W. H. Acton and Messrs. F. Chadwick, T. Chadwick, Chamberlain, Teed and Weavers. The lecturer replied and a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to him for his able treatment of the subject." (MORNING LIGHT.)

     SPAIN. Mr. J. H. Anderson, of Valencia, reports to Pastor Bronniche, that during the past year there were sold in Spain about 40 copies of HEAVEN AND HELL and about the same number of the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. "Besides this, 50 copies of H. H. and 70 copies of T. C. R. have been sent, on order, to San Juan, Porto Rico, Santos, and Buenos Ayres, where I have found a few New Church people who are anxious to assist in the work." Mr. Anderson has also prepared a little work in Spanish containing extracts from the first Chapter of the ARCANA COELESTIA; and extracts from the APOCALYPSE REVEALED, together with a tract, entitled "From Adam to the New Jerusalem, or the Church throughout the Ages."

     AUSTRALIA. (Sydney; the Conference Society.) "During the past months we have met regularly, usual attendance five. We are now reading Chapter 15 of the 'Apocalypse Revealed.' On 11th January we had our 45th meeting. At our last annual meeting, in November, 1913, one of our members expressed surprise at the slow growth of oar Society.

     "To my mind this is not at all surprising. When many members of a New Church Society are so apathetic in the study of our marvelous doctrines, as the small attendance at our doctrinal class proves, what hope is there to influence outsiders in their favor? All new causes need great enthusiasm and persistence on the part of their adherents, to induce others to support the cause. If the flag holders are half-hearted and apathetic, what hope is there of large numbers joining the new cause?"
     F. H. M. (in THE NEW AGE.)

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Personal Notice 1914

Personal Notice              1914

     The Rev. and Mrs. C. Th. Odhner desire to express their gratitude to all the friends in the General Church, who so unexpectedly and generously remembered them upon their silver wedding.



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SENDING OF THE COMFORTER 1914

SENDING OF THE COMFORTER       Rev. N. D. PENDLETON       1914

     
NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXIV          MAY, 1914          No. 5
     "I will Pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth which the world cannot receive because it seeth it not, neither knoweth it; but ye know it because it dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come unto you." (John xiv. 16-18.)

     The Lord entered Jerusalem as a king, riding upon the colt of an ass; the people crying "Hosanna" and waving palm branches before Him. Yet even then were His feet anointed for burial; His betrayal was at hand. The time was near when the Son of Man should be lifted up. And so He gathered His disciples together and, washing their feet, spoke unto them words of consolation; knowing that He should soon depart from their sight and that they were to be left as sheep without a shepherd; knowing the doubt and despair which would come upon them when they should see Him no longer. He forewarned them of the event, and consoled them with the promise of a Comforter who should come to them revealing and teaching all things, removing their doubts and relieving their despair.

     He made it plain to them that this Comforter, the Spirit of truth, was none other than Himself, for while He said, "I will pray the Father and He will give you another Comforter," yet He added, "I will not leave you orphans, I will come unto you." The first were words of humiliation, words of the Human looking upon the Father as separate; and the state was one of exinanition. The last was the voice of exaltation proceeding from union and glorification.

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The first were words of intercession. The last was an expression of mercy. The two are interiorly the same. The Lord interceding for men is the same as the Lord granting Mercy to them. In the natural idea there is indeed a difference, intercession being a coming between two who are at variance, with a view to their reconciliation. The old Christian theology was built upon this natural idea. It conceived of the Lord as such an intercessor between God and men. And it is true that since the fall man has been at variance with God; it is true that the Lord came into the world to bring about reconciliation, and in appearance He plead with the Father for man; but the pleading was with man for God, even for Himself as God, that He might be believed by men, and abide in them and they in Him. Thus while He prayed the Father to send another Comforter, the Spirit of truth, upon His disciples, He said, "I will not leave you orphans, I will come unto you. Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me. Because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in Me, and I in you." (John 14:18-20.)

     This is the true intercession: the Lord came into the world, to meet with man face to face, and commune with him as man with man touching all matters having reference to his relations with God,-even with Himself as the one sent from God, the Son of God who made the Father manifest in Himself, and who being glorified entered into complete union with the Father. By this intercession or mediation, God was brought to man and man to God. This was the intercession of the Divine Love reaching to man. The life of our Lord as a man in the world, was the life of love to the whole race of man. Therefore was He called the Intercessor. For love intercedes, and the Lord's love is continual intercession. This also is His mercy to man. The testimony of the Writings is that "there is intercession in all love," for love pleads and intercedes for that which is loved. It is so with the Lord and the human race. He continually extends to the men of the race His Infinite Love which is His mercy interceding. He does not now pray to the Father for them, "for this would be acting after the manner of men," but it is said that He continually intercedes now in that He continually excuses, forgives and remits the sins of men, and this He does of mercy.

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He loves and He pities, He excuses and He forgives. He does not now pray to the Father for men; as He Himself said, "At that day ye shall ask in my name, and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved me." (John 16:26-27.) "In that day" is after the glorification, i. e., after perfect and absolute union with the Father. "This arcanum," it is said, "is for those who will be of His New Church." The meaning is that it is given to the members of the New Church, and to them alone, to know, that the Lord, after His glorification would no longer pray the Father for men, that He would no longer intercede for them after that manner; but that all men should ask in His name, i. e., pray to Him as one with the Father, and that He would answer them by extending His Divine Mercy, or by sending His Holy Spirit upon them, whence would come all enlightenment and the consequent revival of spiritual life. Therefore His intercession after glorification would be by an extension of Divine Mercy.

     Those whom we love we readily forgive, and desire to take them to our hearts again. Such is the nature of love, even of human love, and it is so because such is the Divine Love. In a word, love is merciful. Therefore the Writings tell us that when it is said that the Lord intercedes for man, the meaning is that He is merciful to man. And it is a sure truth that except for His interceding, except for His Mercy, no one of us could be saved. Save for His pity we should all be lost. And in His excusing we find safety.

     "I will pray the Father and He will give you another Comforter." The Lord will intercede. He will extend His Mercy. Consolations will be given, doubts will be relieved and despairs removed. This is the Comforter: the Lord coming to man after temptations, Only after temptation is man prepared to receive the Lord's healing presence? Only then does man realize his need of Mercy, only then can he experience spiritual consolations; i. e., after he has undergone temptation, found himself evil, convicted himself of sin, and pleads for forgiveness, begs for mercy.

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It is then that man is given to know Him by that other came,-the Comforter. No other word is so expressive of the Lord's mercy reaching to man in his great despair.

     After temptations the Lord's mercy comes to man with consoling power. It is not that the man feels himself forgiven, or that he has found an excuse with God and is therefore clean. The Comforter which then comes to man is the Spirit of truth, or the light of Divine revelation. It is open communion with heaven, renewed perception, restored faith, and the sense of the Lord as round about the man like a wall of defense.

     During the period of temptation, the heavens are closed. Shadows gather. It is a time when no man can walk. Spiritual things are not active. The truth of doctrine may be called to mind but only by an effort of the memory; and then it does not seem living or real, but as something dead or artificial. There is within the man an inner antagonism, a repugnance to the truth. This is the effect of the presence of evil spirits. When doctrine thus lies in the memory, it is lifeless and devoid of power. But the lack is really in the man; he is for the time unable to raise the doctrine in defense of his soul. But this is not for long. After a time the state changes. The man turns to the Lord and prays, not that he may be relieved of stress, but that the light may be restored, and with the light the power of truth, and when this is granted the temptation is over.

     Take away man's perception of the truth in which he believes and he is deprived of all power. Restore that perception and his strength is renewed. Such renewal of light and consequent restoration of spiritual vitality is what is meant by the Spirit of truth, that other comforter which the Lord said He would pray the Father to give. And this also is that Holy Spirit which, as long as it abides with man, keeps him safe from all temptation, guards him from every harm and every spiritual misadventure. When this spirit comes man is able to see the truth, and perceive it. By perception man not only sees but feels; seeing is to become aware-to know-while perceiving is this, and more; it is to realize and thus to know from inner sensation and sure conviction. A thing merely seen as true, and yet not felt, is still open to doubt.

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But when it is both seen and felt, it is as something settled for all time and the man goes forward with an undisturbed mind.

     It is thus, when the Spirit of truth comes upon a man after he has endured temptations. It "abides with him forever" according to the words of the text. This coming of the Holy Spirit is given to man as an individual experience. It is not the result of any doctrinal confession of faith, but is a matter of life. It is the result and consequence of the endurance of temptations in the name of the Lord. It is a new and perceptive faith that is added and is called in the Word, the "faith of God;" the faith which is communicated to man by God, the Lord, after the man is prepared to receive it, by having undergone temptations, by having suffered hard things and yet stood fast to the point of victory, by having overcome evils in himself by the power of the Lord with him and in him. This is even that "Spirit of Truth which the world cannot receive, because it seeth it not, neither knoweth it; but ye know it, because it dwelleth with you and shall be in you."

     This "Spirit" comes as an individual experience. The world cannot be convinced of it. Science cannot demonstrate it, nor can reason unaided lay hold of it; for it is of the inner life. It is a living verity which reason may confirm, which science may recognize, but in itself it is above the sight of both of these-and can only be known by those of whom the Lord speaks when He says, "but ye knoweth it because with you and shall be in you." It is with the essence of religious life, as it is with religion as a whole: while not a subject of scientific demonstration, yet it stands as it has ever stood, as the fulfilment of the greatest of an human needs. This is recognized. There is not now, nor has there ever been, any nation without religion. The worship of God, and a life in accordance with the power on high, have ever been recognized as the source of true happiness-the fountainhead of all blessings. Yet now, as ever, the world, or the worldly man, cannot receive this happiness, cannot know this blessing. Only those to whom they are given may know. They know because the Spirit dwelleth in them, and they in it.

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It is so provided. Faith in spiritual things cannot be forced. It therefore cannot be a matter of scientific demonstration or of absolute ultimate proving, but only an inner realization, and an individual experience.

     If science could prove religion there would be no freedom. All would believe. Science has endeavored to do this and of providence failed. Some have supposed that a great good would come if man could demonstrate the fact of another life beyond the grave-that in this case evil would soon depart.

     Suppose the life to come, with its rewards and punishments, could be so demonstrated that no man could doubt! What would be the result? Certainly a great fear would take hold upon the heart of man. Every action would be constrained. Compliance there would be, but it would not be spontaneous. It would be an unnatural subservience to fear. Men would not love their God but they would fawn upon Him. What a world we should have! The freedom of evil would be destroyed, and the free doing of good made impossible. To prevent this worst of all conditions the mercy of the Lord ever guards the evil man in the freedom of his evil, and the good man in the freedom of his good, and to this end the future life, while revealed, is yet hidden, that no one might be forced to believe, or forced into a life of seeming good. For this cause two trees were placed in the Garden of Eden in the beginning. And when the man and his woman ate of the tree of knowledge, God did not prevent. In like manner it was allowed that Israel should turn from Jehovah to the worship of the golden calf; David insisted on numbering the people and many thousands died of the plague; Solomon profaned the temple by permitting the worship of idols; and God did not prevent. The history of the race is a record of evils permitted in order that human freedom, the freedom of the good, might be preserved.

     The doctrine given us on this subject is that the internal of every man is constantly held in the permission of evil-and that otherwise there could be no salvation, no opportunity for reformation or regeneration. And herein lies a most profound, far reaching precept for our guidance. We must teach the truth, for the truth makes men free.

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But we must not insist with any man. Our attitude should be like that of the angels. They, when called upon, speak the truth and then they leave the man alone, i. e., they leave him in the hands of the Lord. They stand aside, lest in their ignorance, they should interfere with the all-wise and all-merciful providence which is in constant operation with every one. They cannot say; for they do not know but that in any given instances the permission of evil, even to the act thereof, may in providence be the means of ultimate salvation. But this they do know that no man can be regenerated unless the freedom of choice is constantly granted, unless his evils be excited, and he be brought to acknowledge them, and repent.

     It is recorded that all persons on coming into the other life desire to avoid hell and enter heaven; therefore they become solicitous and enquire of the angels what they should do in order to be saved. The angels answer: "Do as you please; but know that all who are in heaven do good, and all who are in hell do evil." This seeming indifference is far from being such. The truth is that the angels do not dare to tell another what he should or should not do,-especially with reference to the vital matters of good and evil. For they know that the supreme requirement of life is that in this the man should be left alone, i. e., in freedom, in the hands of the Lord. And the Lord Himself will not in the least interfere with the man's freedom, will never constrain or enforce, but even guards him in the internal permission of evil as over against the internal provision of good. The religion, the Church, the land, which does not regard this essential of internal human freedom, as the Lord has provided it and as the angels recognize it, becomes an abominable despotism.

     On what grounds should men attempt to constrain, where the Lord would set free? And yet it lies in men to do this thing. The Lord holds every man in the internal permission of evil, in order that he may in freedom do good. Wherefore He never constrains or forces his internal man, but teaches and enlightens in order that the man may see and as of himself do the Lord's teaching, and this enlightening is the Holy Spirit,-the "Spirit of truth," which indeed the world cannot receive, because it knoweth it not; "but ye know it because it dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."

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It cannot be demonstrated to the world, lest the world should be convicted, and the freedom of the world destroyed; but ye know it, for ye have the proving of it in yourselves. This proving is "spiritual enlightenment." This is now the sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and especially the sign of the presence of the Lord in the Second Coming, for this Coming is meant by the sending of the comforter in the spirit of truth.

     The Writings speak of the Holy Spirit as the Divine operation or the Divine working with man for his salvation, mainly because the Christian Church has ascribed this property to the Holy Spirit. The early Christians saw the presence of the Spirit in their states of religious enthusiasm, as when they prophesied or spake with tongues. This was a sign to them of the presence and power of the Spirit; and indeed it was so, but it was relatively an external presence, limited to external states. This idea not being inconsistent with the truth, it is adopted in the Writings; but it is explained that the Holy Spirit as the term is used in the Scriptures signifies the Divine Truth proceeding; and the true sign and internal evidence of the reception of the Divine Truth proceeding is enlightenment in spiritual things. This at least is the sign which is given to an internal Church. And the New Church, the Church of the Second Advent is to be none other than an internal Church. In other words, enlightenment is the sign of the presence and power of the Spirit in the New Church. To this, therefore, the Church and the man of the Church must ever look for guidance. And to this state alone is enlightenment given by the Lord through His truth revealed, given by mediation from the Divine Human in the heavens, and even passes from man to man, and especially through an instructed and ordained clergy by means of teaching and preaching; but not exclusively so, for the Spirit passes freely wherever a medium is found. Yet the priesthood is instructed and ordained to be and become such a medium and chief instrumentality. This medium, the priesthood, is however efficient only when its teaching and preaching is from enlightenment.

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For it is by this means that the Holy Spirit truly passes from man to man; by this means the light of heaven is communicated from one to another. To further this the clergy is ordained as a chief instrumentality, and to the same end the Church is organized to facilitate the communication of spiritual enlightenment,-the passing of the Spirit.

     The Holy Spirit then is the Divine presence with new leading and guiding into states of spiritual enlightenment and the church as a whole is the great human instrumentality by and through which the Spirit works. In view of this we may regard neither the church nor its ordained priesthood as a thing of man's devising, but as a provision of Divine Providence, an instrumentality formed and organized by the Divine operating through open revelation.

     While the church as a body was organized by the operation of the Spirit,-while the work of the priesthood as the chief function of the church is not of man's devising, yet they may be by men corrupted. When, therefore, a church fails, another is provided and raised up; and another and new church always necessitates another and new priesthood, for the passing of the Spirit,-for the communication of enlightenment.

     But we must ever remember, that the church as an organization and the priesthood as a function are entirely subordinate instrumentalities given for the purpose of adaption and accommodation to the ever changing state of the growing race. The supreme instrumentality,-in itself its sole guide, and its only enlightenment,-is the Divine Revelation, the truth revealed, the Spirit manifesting itself, and bringing the glorified Human to the view of men. Of this the Lord spoke when He said: "I will pray the Father and He will send you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. The Spirit of Truth which the world cannot receive, because it seeth it not, neither knoweth it, but ye know it, because it dwelleth with you and shall be in you: I will not leave you orphans: I will come unto you." Amen.

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PRAYER 1914

PRAYER              1914

     A home, O Lord! We beseech Thee, give unto us a home, where our weary bodies may rest from their labors; where pain may be soothed and health restored; where loving hands may perform the thrice blessed services of mutual love. Give us a home O Lord, for our hearts to find rest, where our inmost thoughts and highest aspirations may meet with fullest sympathy; and where, in the sequestered privacy of what is Thine own with us, Heaven itself may breathe around us its subtle satisfactions, and weave the consort hearts into a union which shall not be dissolved to Eternity. O most merciful One, we implore Thee to help us remove from this sacred enclosure all that worketh abomination and maketh a lie, in order that Thou mayest enter in and sup with us and we with Thee. Even so come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
SPEECH IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD 1914

SPEECH IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD       W. REY GILL       1914

     It seems strange to reflect that immediately after the death of the body we shall be able to speak the universal spiritual language without any preparatory instruction. But as this is so, it follows that even now we must have within ourselves the knowledge of that language. We have. "The thought of a man while speaking is nothing but the speech of his spirit; and the apperception of the speech is nothing but the hearing of his spirit." (A. C. 4652)

     Spiritual language is the speech of ideas, and after death-even as before-whatever ideas we have, whatever thoughts we entertain, will be instantly communicated to our neighbors in the spiritual world. And it will seem to them, and to us, that we are talking with vocal sonorous words issuing from our lips and reaching their ears. Only if reflection, (that is, means of comparison with past states), were given us, as it was to Swedenborg, would it occur to us that a great change had happened in our mode of speaking and hearing, and that we now had only representations of lips and ears. (S. D. 1342; 2309.)

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For spiritual hearing is really a species of sight, and it is literally and exactly true that spiritual speech excels natural speech as sight does hearing. (A. C. 4408; S. D. m. 4647.)

     Think what it would mean to us in our earth bodies if, regardless of separation by space, we could converse with any inhabitant of this globe! After death, by means of the universal language from which all natural languages arose, we shall be able, if need arise, not only to speak with all those of our own generation who may be in the spiritual world, but with those of all past generations. So great is the gain in dispensing with words as a method of communication!

     The speech proper to man on earth is that of words from the external memory, but when man leaves the body all the many ideas of mental images which reside in the interior natural memory and which had been associated with the words, are discreted. Each idea, however vague it may have before appeared, becomes clear and distinct, forming now a "word" of the spiritual language.

     When a spirit has an idea or thought, the organic vessels of his natural memory, or spiritual body, take on the form of that idea, and the affection giving rise to that form causes it to send out waves along the Ether or 3rd Aura, in which the bodies of all spirits and angels whatsoever, as well as the spiritual bodies of men still in this world, exist immersed. (A. E. 392.)*
     * Remember that no spiritual atmosphere is given apart from a natural one, and that the bullae of the latter enclose those of the former "as shells do nuts." (T. C. R. 76.)

     The ether waves thus undulating out from that spirit reach his companions, and induce on their memory vessels a form as closely resembling the communicated idea as the organic vessels of the "hearers" can assume. Thus the ideas or "words" of a spirit are transmitted and received. "Spiritual hearing is the attention of the understanding, and at the same time the accommodation of the will." (C. L. 220.)

     The speech of ideas is, however, only the lowest grade of spiritual speech-that of the natural mind or world-of-spirits plane.

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The higher or more interior planes of a man-his spiritual rational and his celestial rational-have each their own discrete kind of speech. Still, as was said, the speech of ideas is the universal or common spiritual language, for when an angel speaks to a spirit, and when an angel from one society of heaven speaks to a friend, known to him on earth, but who had found his eternal home in another heavenly society,-the spirit does not enter heaven and use the speech of one of the heaven planes of his mind; but the angel meets with the spirit, and with his angel friend from another society, in the world of spirits-that natural mind plane which is common to them all. We can see in the case of the angel friends, that they could not have remembered each other had they not for the occasion had their natural memory, or world-of-spirits plane, aroused.

     When a man leaves the World of Spirits, that is to say, when his natural mind being closed, he enters into the conscious life of his spiritual-rational mind, he will use a yet more interior form of language; a language that unconsciously to himself was interiorly within him all the while; which language indeed gave birth to the speech of ideas, as that in its turn was the parent and generator of natural speech. The speech now referred to is that used by those in the Spiritual Heaven. The "words" of this language are intellectual thoughts of the rational mind plane. "It is thought speaking." (S. D. 5102.) All the indefinite number of thoughts that were inmostly in each idea of the angel now come into active use, flashing quicker than light along the finer medium of the 2nd Aura, and coming to the "hearing" of all angels on that plane who may be dwelling anywhere within the confines of the solar system into which that angel had been born.

     One still higher form of speech it is possible for man to come into the use of, if only he attains to that plane in which he can be in closest possible communion with, and adjunction to, his Lord and Maker. This plane is the inmost or celestial degree of the rational, whose speech is formed by affection of love to the Lord talking or communicating themselves by means of that more than wonderful Universal Aura, by which the Lord is present in firsts as in lasts and rules all things. (A. C. 7270.)

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Thus are the celestial affections communicated to all in the Celestial Heaven, which heaven is one throughout all God's mighty universe of creation. Swedenborg says, "The speech of the angels of the 3rd Heaven has only appeared to me as a radiation of light, in which there was perception from the flame of good which was in it." (A. C. 3346)

     If a man attains to this speech of the Celestials, then for every thought-word he had the use of in his spiritual mind or heaven, he now has for "words" the all but infinite number of affections which were inmostly in, and originators of, his every thought. All the three lower forms of speech mentioned above derive their origin and fount of life through this celestial speech, which, in its turn, derives from the Lord alone, Who is Speech and the very Word Itself. (S. D. 2141.)

     Celestial speech corresponds to the heart and its derivations, but spiritual speech corresponds to the pulmonary respiration; and it is interesting to note that the ideas of angels are said to be nothing but respirations. (S. D. 3323-6.) The respirations here referred to are, of course, those of man's spirit, or his will and understanding, which respirations during earthly life took place in the cortical substances of his brain, and in strict correspondence and coincidence with the bodily respiration. (S. D. 390.)

     Thus there are proper to man four kinds of speech: 1st. Vocal or exterior-natural speech; 2nd. Interior-natural speech; or that of ideas; 3rd. Spiritual speech, in which thoughts speak; and 4th. Celestial speech or that of the affections of love. This is the most usual division given in the Writings, but sometimes we are given different classifications and subdivisions, as for instance in S. D. 5943, where angelic speech is grouped into four classes-one for each of the four kinds of angels, namely, the Celestial, the Spiritual, the Celestial-natural, and the Spiritual-natural. In this classification the Spiritual Kingdom forms of speech are described as visual, either material or interior; and those of the Celestial Kingdom as a speech of the affections of the body, and a speech of the affections of the heart; which latter two are of the will of the affection, while the former or visual pair are the speech of the understanding or thought.

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     Again, in S. D. 1889, there are described four kinds of speech which appertain to those still in the World of Spirits. But subdivisions might be made endlessly, for every spirit and angel speaks differently from any other, just as, and because, affections and thoughts are never the same in the case of any two persons, and, therefore, manifest themselves in the spiritual world as if by voices that are gentle, harsh, sweet or discordant, etc., etc.

     A curious phenomenon in a spirit's speech occurs if, while he is speaking, he fixes his attention on some sound-(presumably as it is heard in the man's mind with whom the spirit is)-as for instance, the sound of a horse walking. In such a case the voice of the spirit appears to come from the horse's hoofs! It was in some such manner as this that Balaam's ass appeared to speak. (Adv. 3/7535; S. D. 1770.)

     When spirits speak to man they use the man's own native language, though unconsciously to themselves, (C. L. 326), for, as is well known in the Church, the spirits with man do not use their own natural memories, but that of the man on whom they are attendant. And they have a so much more ready use of that memory than the man himself has, that their ideas immediately and spontaneously clothe themselves with the most suitable words in that man's vocabulary. Thus it is that spirits can speak the man's language more readily and fluently than can the man to whom the natural memory belongs. Not only this, but if a spirit speaks with an audible voice to a man, no sound reaches those standing around the man, for his sense of hearing is affected from within, the sensation being just the same as if it were reached from without by way of the external ear. (S. D. 2309; H. H. 246.)

     Angels never speak or communicate to a man directly, but always through the mediation of good spirits. (H. H. 168; S. D. 1146.) They do this by directing the memory vessels of the subject spirits, who nevertheless think they are speaking of their own accord. And, of course, the angel's themselves are directed by the Lord, though they, more than all other human beings, have the greatest sense of freedom of action.

     We know that the men who lived in the Golden Age had open conversations with angels, but it is said that it was then only granted them to be in natural light. (Inv. 52.)

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This may possibly mean that their intercourse with angels was through intermediating spirits, as described just above, for the active mental life of spirits is only that of the natural plane of the mind, the animus plane, the ideas of which are all formed from material objects which are seen by natural light.

     It is interesting to learn that the first kind of speech on every earth has been a communication of ideas by means of changes of expressions in the face, and that when such a mode of speech prevails, communication with angels is possible. (A. C. 8249.) "As soon as the mind began to think one thing and speak another . . . the speech of words began to grow." (A. C. 8259.) This teaching opens the question as to whether, when the New Church has reached her maturity, the speech of ideas shining forth in men's faces shall again prevail, and vocal words become obsolete? For if this were to be the case it would mean that, like the Most Ancients, men might again have open communication with the angels, as appears even now to be the case on nearly all the earths, save our own, the spirits from which "speak many things and think little." (A. C. 8031.)

     Another question arises. We have shown from the Writings that the thought of a man when speaking is nothing but the speech of his spirit,-is this spiritual speech of man heard by the inhabitants of the spiritual world? Yes. When it so pleases the Lord, even man's tacit thought is audible to spirits and angels. (A. C. 6624.) More even natural gestures are heard in Heaven as speech, according to the affections which were in the man at the time. (S. D. 4821.) "Even the silent supplication of those who supplicate from the heart is heard in Heaven as a cry. . . . The case is the same with those who are teaching; they are heard in Heaven as though they were crying aloud. But the affections of evil and falsity are not at all heard in Heaven. . . . These are heard in Hell." (A. C. 9202.)

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"DIARY" AND THE SPIRITUAL BODY 1914

"DIARY" AND THE SPIRITUAL BODY       C. TH. ODHNER       1914

     In his paper on "Speech in the Spiritual World," which is published in the present issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE, Mr. W. Rey Gill again introduces his purely subjective view of the spiritual body, when assuring us that after death we shall have "only representations of lips and ears."

     In order that the reader may grasp the full import of this remarkable statement, we must refer to a few other statements in the preceding papers from the pen of this writer that have appeared in the pages of the LIFE.

     In his paper on "The Bodies of Spirits and Angels," published in November, 1911, Mr. Gill astonished the New Church by the statement that "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 form." (P. 736.)

     And again, in the same paper, he says:

     "It is only when spirits reflect on the subject that they seem to themselves to be clothed with bodies and garments." (p. 730.)

     "Surely, the passage just quoted, [H. H. 75], 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." (p. 733.)

     And in his paper on "Man's Memories, Before and After Death," (NEW CHURCH LIFE, January and February, 1913), Mr. Gill draws the conclusion that "the most ultimate human form which man has after he leaves his natural body is the form of the vessels of his memory, or the form of the cortical glands of his brain, as it was infilled and fixed with the purest substances of nature, during his life in the world.

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Indeed, one of the very chief reasons that he had to live in this world at all is to acquire this plane of fixity and permanence; after death the uses of the bodily shape as we know it here are finished, and, therefore, it is no longer needed except, maybe, in appearance. This being the case it follows that this acquired and infilled form of the cortical glands is the outmost form and shape of man's spiritual body as it is in reality-not as it appears to every sense and sensation in the spiritual world, for there it appears in the same shape as here." (pp. 89, 90; all the italics are Mr. Gill's.)

     And in the same paper Mr. Gill clinches his argumentation by the following reductio ad absurdum:

     "Now, as the limbus, or the natural memory plane, is the cutaneous envelope of the spiritual body, it necessarily follows that it is only in appearance that our spiritual bodies are in like shape to that of the body we know here otherwise the spiritual bodies would be either outside their own skins, or woul'd have a body like ours, but enveloped in the covering of their brains!" (P. 90.)

     We believe that these extracts fairly represent Mr. Gill's theory,-a theory against which we entered a protest in a paper on "The Shape of the Spiritual Body," published in the LIFE for December, 1911. Since then the subject has been discussed at the General Assembly and various District Assemblies and has become "a burning question," indeed, in every society and in almost every family in the General Church. For the sake of convenience we shall refer to this theory as the "Docetistic" theory, from the Greek dokeo, "to seem," "to appear."

     The dangerous tendency of Mr. Gill's method of reasoning is well illustrated by his statement "that the place, and the only place, where the soul does 'put forth any representative or intuitive force,' is the cortical substance of the brain, see the same work, [E. A. K.], in many places, as well as the RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, and, to confirm all, the Writings of the Church." (N. C. LIFE, 1913, P. 89.)

     Against this method we must issue an earnest protest. "The Writings of the Church" are not to be used to confirm conclusions drawn from the Scientific works, but on the contrary, the natural truth of the preparatory works should be used to confirm the spiritual truth revealed in the Writings.

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And neither the Writings nor the Scientific works should be referred to in this general manner in support of unconfirmed assumptions. Anything may be "proved" by such a style of reasoning.

     The theory formulated by Mr. Gill is founded almost exclusively upon certain passages occurring in the early portions of the SPIRITUAL DIARY. To these statements-imperfectly and partially quoted-the whole Doctrine of the New Church is made to yield. In these passages alone, according to the theory, Swedenborg spoke the genuine naked truth, but everywhere else he spoke only in the language of appearances,-appearances by which the whole New Church hitherto has been utterly misled, and this because the countless definite teachings of the Writings have not been interpreted in an esoteric and opposite meaning.

     We shall undoubtedly be accused of "discrediting Swedenborg" when pointing out the fact that in three of the statements in the DIARY, (nos. 355, 2917, 3472), relied upon as supports of the Docetistic theory, Swedenborg distinctly admits that as yet he did not know the real quality and form of the spiritual body, and we believe that those are really discrediting Swedenborg who refuse to accept his word. He says he did not know, and this cannot possibly be made to mean that he did know. And we do not believe that any writer adds to Swedenborg's credit when, in quoting the passages in question, he eliminates the sentences in which Swedenborg admitted his ignorance.

     The Rev. E. E. Iungerich, in his present communication to the LIFE, points out that Swedenborg, in all his Preparatory works, consistently maintains the "bodiless" theory, but we beg to differ from him as to this supposed consistency.

     In the work ON THE SOUL, n. 521, Swedenborg states: "This, indeed, I do not think, that we are to put on the human form," and he goes on to say that we shall have no need of stomach, intestines, etc. "Even the members of the brain with the medullae oblongata and spinalis, will there be of no use."*

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But at the same time Swedenborg freely and frankly and repeatedly admits that he really did not know. "We are wholly unable to say what form we shall put on" (n. 522). "When We live as souls perhaps we ourselves shall laugh at what we have guessed at in so childish a manner." n. 524.)
     * Why does Mr. Iungerich omit this sentence in his quotation of the passage?

     Nevertheless, in this same work ON THE SOUL Swedenborg manifestly enjoyed certain glimpses of the truth which was afterwards fully revealed to him. In the first chapter, "On the Simple Fibre," he shows that this Fibre, which alone weaves the whole FORM Of the body, and Is the human form itself, is of a celestial nature, superior to accidents, injuries and death. And in n. 517 Swedenborg illustrates the after-death form of man by the phenomenon of flowers, burned to ashes, which when placed in water reassemble their particles into the outlines of the pristine form. And he asks: "Why, then, should not human souls do likewise after the destruction of the body!"

     Finally, in the ECONOMY of THE ANIMAL KINGDOM Swedenborg states definitely:

     "That when emancipated from the bonds and trammels of earthly things, the soul will assume the exact form of the human body. . . . The moment the soul is freed from its bonds, it again asserts its right, and obeys its own laws of action. It follows from the proofs already brought forward that whenever this happens, it must return into its own verimost or common form: yet this in such wise that it is then no longer the body, but the soul under the form of the body; the spirit without the red blood or the flesh and hard bone produced from the blood, the soul transmuted from a lower to a higher life. And it can never again attract elements from the three kingdoms of nature, or enter anew into a fleshly covering such as it had formerly carried about it; for the natural passages constructed of terrestrial materials for the purpose of successively insinuating and adapting elements of those kingdoms, and which might serve these elements as vehicles, now no longer exist. The necessity and the desire to open them have died together. Nor can the soul again migrate back into life by means of an ovum, according to the dream of the ancient philosophers, [metem-psychosis], for THE VOLUME OF THE ANIMAL SPIRIT IS GREAT* and cannot possibly begin a new existence e minimo. Therefore the soul is under the necessity of living in its own state and in no other." (E. A. K. 351.)

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     * The volume of what? Of fibre-less cortical glands! No, the great volume of animal spirit, circulating not only inside the minute glands, but through every fibre and nerve of the whole spirit who has been resurrected in "the exact form of the human body."

     In view of the conflicting statements in the Preparatory works, what are we to conclude, but that Swedenborg, during that period of his life, was occasionally in obscurity in regard to things purely spiritual. As a philosophical proposition he was at times able to see that the soul after death "will assume the exact form, of the human body," but lacking the knowledge resulting from a prolonged experience in the spiritual world, this philosophical light would be obscured at times by the conception of the other life as commonly held in the Christian world. How could it possibly have been otherwise?

     Swedenborg himself, in the SPIRITUAL DIARY, n. 3217, states that in his earlier works he had written things according to the common belief of the Christian world: "It was granted me to speak concerning certain things written and published by me, concerning the devil, that he was created before the creation of the world, as a connecting link between things celestial and corporeal, and this was further confirmed by the fact that it could not be written otherwise, because the universal Christian world does not believe otherwise, and also that he was created a good angel, but afterwards fell and was cast down from heaven, beside other things." Are we to assume from this statement that Swedenborg, without a new revelation from heaven, then knew the real truth about the devil, but wrote as he did in accommodation to the prevailing conception? No, for he was above all an honest man. It is self-evident that he himself then shared the common views in which he had been brought up, and that he wrote according to the appearances in which he was, but it is to be observed that these appearances never entered interiorly into his mind.

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     It is absurd to insist that Swedenborg knew everything from the beginning. There was a time when he knew nothing. There was a time when he knew only that which he had been told by his parents and teachers. There was a time when he believed that the fire of hell consisted in the remorse of conscience (Doc. i:314). There was a time when he believed that the angels were created before animals and men. (MECH. SOUL AND BODY, 42.) There was a time when he was persuaded that the Holy Spirit was the Third Person. (S. D. 2938.)

     The early portions of the DIARY, Written during the years 1747-1748, are the records of Swedenborg's accumulating experiences in the spiritual world. It is evident that he could not be introduced at once into all knowledge. As he himself admits, he did not, (for a while), know the real nature of the form in which spirits are, and until he knew he necessarily remained, so far, in his former appearances. But very soon the light grew perfectly clear and strong, and there is nothing in the DIARY, after the year 1748, to indicate any lack of knowledge as to the fact that spirits and angels actually possess a complete and substantial spiritual body, in figure as well as in form, a body-with head, trunk, and extremities. And when, in the year 1749 and 1750, Swedenborg transferred the memoranda of the DIARY to the pages of the ARCANA COELESTIA, he removed from these same passages every appearance of uncertainty as to the nature of the spiritual body.

     Do we, then, deny to the DIARY the authority of Divine Revelation? By no means! The Doctrine gradually unfolded in the DIARY is one with the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem as a whole. In the DIARY, especially, we have the evidences of a Progressive Revelation, as truth upon truth dawned upon Swedenborg "ex auditis et visis." As to personal experiences Swedenborg simply recorded things as he saw and heard them, day by day. Spirits appeared to him claiming to be historical personages, but later on he found that their claims were false, and that they were impersonating. Others appeared to him at first as good spirits, but their evil character was afterwards disclosed. Calvin, for instance, appeared at first as an upright spirit who had been received in heaven, but in the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION we learn that he was a deceiver, who was cast out after the New Heaven was established.

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Which testimony are we to receive as the real fact, the earliest or the latest?

     Let us now examine, one by One, all the passages in the DIARY, which are claimed as supporting the Docetistic theory. The italics are ours.

     (S. D. 21.) "That natural spirits suppose themselves to be men, endowed with the body, and thus they wish a man to be understood; but the body does not make the man, but the mind, thus understanding and will; it is on this account that good spirits and angels are men." (INDEX S. D. under "Corpus."

     (S. D. 207.) "Every single spirit supposes himself to be a man, and he is indignant if he is told otherwise; nay, they suppose themselves to have ears, eyes, and senses, such as men have; and when I told them, and demonstrated to them from certain causes that this could not be the case, they were indignant. Indeed, by certain reflections permitted of the mercy of God Messiah, I was able to affect them as though they enjoyed the senses, and in several other ways." (S. D. 296.) "I have learned from much experience that spirits, and souls, after death suppose and indeed believe that they are in the life of the body; and some are so persuaded that they are most astonished when this is said to them; and they are then able to know that they are spirits,-from the fact that they can be transferred, and from other experiences,-without the bones and the flesh; nor could they [otherwise] know that they are dead as to the life of the body."

     (S. D. 333.) "The souls of the dead take with them from the body all [its] nature, insomuch that they still think themselves to be in the body, clothed with garments, etc. They have also desires and appetites of eating, and the like, so that those things which belong to the body are inscribed upon souls."

     (S. D. 352.) "I have been taught from, much experience that the souls of the dead think that they are still in, the body and in the world; and this with such certainty that they will scarcely suffer themselves to be persuaded that they are in the other life.

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If it be asked where they are, whether they stand upon the land or the sea, whether they have garments as in the world, and such like thing,-they instantly reply that they think no otherwise; but soon after they have reflected upon it, they perceive that they are in the other life."

     In these passages the words italicized prove conclusively that the spirits here mentioned believed they still possessed the material body, with its material organs of sense. The spiritual body is not referred to, and these passages, therefore, do not support the contentions of the subjective theory. It is to be noted, however, that Mr. Gill, in his rendering of the passages quoted by him, translates "corpus" as "n body," instead of "the body." Let the reader judge, from the context, as to the correct translation. The Latin has neither the definite nor the indefinite article.

     (S. D. 355.) "Spirits do not perceive otherwise than that they are in human figure, thus that they are in the body with skin, bones, blood; but it was shown to them that they cannot retain those things, which are of no use; as, that they have feet upon which they stand, beside other things, whence it follows also that they have viscera, such as the belly, intestines, etc., of which, however, they have no use. When they hear this, they do indeed perceive that they have no use for these things, but still they [believe] that they retain the figure, if not the internal yet the external, and indeed some retain from the world the shame of nakedness, that therefore they suppose they clothe themselves in garments, for they think it shameful to appear naked. But of what quality the form is, properly speaking, this, indeed, is not known, yet from the least organs of the brain, where are the beginnings of the form of the body, it may to some extent be concluded that the forms are not unlike these, but that nevertheless they can be restored into [a form] like the human, as often as they direct the mind to it by the thoughts. 1747. Dec. 15."

     This passage has been quoted as the very back-bone of the "bodiless" theory, but in reality it is only an "apparent" backbone. It is supposed to prove beyond a doubt that angels and spirits do not possess the human figure, "except, maybe, in appearance," when they "reflect upon it," etc.

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     We must therefore beg the reader to pay close attention to the language of this passage, and he will then find:

     First that, again, it is the material body that is referred to, for otherwise the word "retain" would not be used. The spirits believed they retained the material body, and this body is by them identified with "the human figure."

     Second, Swedenborg in this very passage distinctly states that "of what quality the form is, properly speaking, this, indeed, is not known." This means that it was as yet unknown to Swedenborg, for immediately afterwards he draws a tentative conclusion as to what the form may be, and in n. 2917 he uses the expression, "I do not know."

     Third, the surmise that the real form is "not unlike" the least organs of the brain, is not stated as a positive fact and a definite teaching, but as an hypothesis, for he very modestly uses the term "aliquantum," which means "a little," "to some small extent."

     Fourth, the hypothetical nature of this conclusion extends also to the statement that the spirits "can be restored into [a form] like the human, as often as they direct the mind to it by the thoughts." We would submit the suggestion that this statement involves the fact that spirits are restored to a consciousness of their bodily form only when directing their mind to it by the thoughts. But view it as you may, it is certainly astounding that a theory so revolutionary, and, we may say, so cataclysmic in its consequences, should be based on so slender and uncertain a foundation as is found in this passage.

     (S. D. 360.) "I afterwards said to him [a certain spirit], Do you not think that you are a man, clothed in garments, and thus as a man in the world" and he touched his quasi garments, which he thought he had; he touched his hands, which he thought he had; and I asked him where he was, whether he had feet? He said that he had. But when he was asked what kind of ground it was that he stood upon, whether it was not in a sphere above the earth, he acknowledged it. I therefore recalled to his perception, whether such things were only fallacies of the senses and phantasies, inasmuch as he was a spirit?

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Being thus convinced, he wanted to flee away."

     (S. D. 1243.) "As frequently observed before, the souls think that they are not otherwise than in the body, which they call [to be] man, thus that they are men; and, except it be granted them to reflect, they cannot know that they are spirits. Concerning this subject I have now also been speaking with two spirits who supposed that they were living in the world, for whatever they had had in the body they still retained; that is, they still had with them all their cupidities, which is their corporeal life, and even their appetites, such as the appetite of eating when they beheld food such as they had desired in the life of the body. Thus now one of them affirmed, as he beheld me eating; and I told them that they also retain the senses, such as sight, hearing, smell, and touch, just as sensitively as in the body, and as it were corporeally. I said further to them that nevertheless they are spirits, as they might know by reflection, and that now they have no need of caring for the body, as in the world."

     (S. D. 1253.) "I told them that it was nothing but their own phantasy, for they cannot be my body, but that it is my spirit, not theirs, that is clothed with the body; and to this they could give no answer."

     All these passages clearly refer to the fantastic persuasion of recent spirits, that they still live in the world of nature and are clothed in a material body.

     The next passage is the much-abused statement about "the lips" of the spirits.

     (S. D. 1342.) "When a certain spirit, who had been known to me in life, spoke with me, if appeared to me as if he moved lips, and thus spoke to me with lips; and when I told him, he said that he spoke to me with lips; but I answered him that a spirit does not have lips, and thus that he cannot speak with lips, but still he insisted until he was instructed by a living demonstration that it was not so, but that there is a representation of lips, and it appears thus according to the representation of spirits. 1748, March 14. Hence the word for lips in the Word of the Lord signifies ideas and thus thoughts."

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     It is this statement that has been relied upon to prove that spirits have no spiritual lips, and consequently no spiritual bodies, but only representations of lips and representations of bodies. But is it rational, is it legitimate, to separate this statement from all the other preceding statements which manifestly refer to the persuasion of the spirits that they retain the material body? Is it not clear that the spirit here mentioned appeared to Swedenborg and to himself as if speaking with material lips. Swedenborg, as he himself states, did not yet know what kind of bodies spirits have; nor, consequently, did he as yet know what kind of lips they spoke with. But soon afterwards he learned that spirits actually possess lips,-spiritual but none-the-less substantial lips,-and that without such organs they would not have a complete human form. Such spiritual lips are, indeed, representations of lips, in the sense that they correctly re-present in external form those interior functions and uses to which lips correspond. But they are not mere representations, or representations only.

     (S. D. 1715) "It cannot but seem wonderful that such things as are merely corporeal exist also in the world of spirits; namely, that they appear to themselves to be bodies, nay, clothed in garments; that they perceive pains; consequently that they possess the sense of touch, beside other things which are merely corporeal, and such as it would seem could never take place in spiritual essences, or with a spirit; that nevertheless these things still exist, is so true that the whole of heaven, affirms it."

     (S. D. 1718) "They suppose that they are living altogether in their body, nor can this phantasy be taken away from them, except by living demonstrations, concerning which [I have spoken] frequently."

     (S. D. 1775.) "The spirits of this [our] earth have such an impression that they live in the body as can hardly be believed, and they can hardly be persuaded that it is otherwise. I have shown them by various things that this was a phantasy, so that at length they have acknowledged it, but still they returned into similar phantasies, on which account their mind [animus] after death still remains long in the body."

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     (S. D. 2287-88.) "A certain spirit, who is quite high above the head towards the front, now spoke with me; when he heard that I was speaking concerning the spirit he asked, What is a spirit? supposing that he was a man. . . . And then it was given me to say that he himself is now a spirit, as he might know from the fact that he is so high above the head and does not stand upon the earth, and that he could now perceive this. He then, terrified, fled away, exclaiming: I am a spirit! I am a spirit!"

     (S. D. 2330) "Spirits, when they first come into the other life, suppose that they are still altogether in the body, and they are quite astonished when they are told that they are not in the body, nor clothed with the body, but that they are spirits, and in the other life. When they reflect upon this they then know that they are spirits, and they wonder how they are able to live after death. They are then told that it is not the body that lives, but the spirit in the body."

     (S. D. 2917.) "I was speaking with new spirits concerning bodies. They, like others, supposed that they are clothed with a body similar to the human body, for to this their imagination and their interior man leads them, namely to the ultimate of order which is the body. But it was given me to answer them that I do not know what is the nature of their body, [quod non sciam quali corpore sint], but that they are forms most perfect for every use, so that they may be called spiritual and celestial forms. This was representatively confirmed by [comparison with] little worms which, when they become transformed and winged, are then born into another form of body adapted to every use to which they are carried in their other life."

     (S. D. 2985.) "I spoke with certain ones, that they seem to be conveyed in carriages and do not believe otherwise than that it is so, and that they are in carriages; and it was told them that this was a phantasy. They also suppose that they are endowed with the body and that they have hands, because they have in every way the sense of touch. One of them then said that this was not a phantasy because he could feel his hand and touch it, as I perceived.

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But a hand can be taken away from him, and a new one put in its place; nay, a number of hands can be added to him, without his knowing otherwise; and he could still deny that this was a phantasy because he could see and touch."

     It is to be observed that this phenomenon of hands being taken away and put on, etc., was a phantasy, a representation induced by other fantastical spirits, of whom the world of spirits was full, especially just before the Last Judgment. Can it be that the supporters of the theory believe that a hand was actually taken away from the spirit, or that he would actually walk through eternity possessing three or more hands? Do they not know that the spiritual body is an organic and indestructible substance, from which nothing can be taken away for ever?

     (S. D. 3157.) "Concerning a spirit who supposed he was altogether myself, and that he was endowed with the body. He said to me that he was speaking with me in his own tongue, and it was given me to answer that it was not his tongue but my own; . . . and, further, whether he supposes that he has lips and a tongue, wherewith to speak, and what need would he have of lips and tongue in the other life? But he thought that he had them. . . . And, further, when some other spirits insisted that they as it were my body, it was given me to say that my body was adjoined to my own spirit, thus that it is the body of my own spirit, and that the body of his spirit was dead; and thus that he only inflowed into my spirit as one spirit into another."

     (S. D. 3472.) "There was a conversation concerning the form, which spirits have, because they do not know in what form they are, except the human, inasmuch as the inmost things of the spirit aspire to a form similar to the human body, as the spirit of the parent aspires to that form in the ovum, and as the whole spirit of man aspires to the form of the body, but that still it is a much more perfect form, adapted and accommodable to the heavenly life, as may be illustrated by the nymphae which from little worms are transformed into winged things, thus into a form adapted to generation and life in the atmosphere, for use in the things of their heaven.

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This form is altogether unlike to the form of the worm, because the use creates the form. But that they [the spirits] are not bodies is manifest from this that bodies are the image of the worms, and [become] the food of worms, nor is there in the other life any use for the viscera, such as the stomach, the intestines, the liver, the heart, or the lungs, because all these are formed for the sake of the blood, and this again for the sake of the muscles and organs of the senses, in order that the man may live and act in the world. And, therefore, the forms of the spirits are much more perfect, and that they are represented as human forms is for a reason concerning which [I shall speak] after a while. But of what quality are the forms of spirits, this, for various reasons, is not given to be known. 1748. Oct. 4."

     Here, again, we find the admission that Swedenborg did not yet know the real quality of the forms of spirits, (sed quales formae spiritibus ob varias causas non sciri datur), but this is also; the last time that such an admission occurs. When next he speaks in the DIARY concerning the human form of spirits and angels, it is in no uncertain terms, nor ever afterwards do we find in the Writings any statement giving as much as a shadow of support for the Docetistic theory.

     (S. D. 4613) "The spirit after death appears altogether in the human form . . . as also is known from the Word, when they appeared to men. Hence, to the least thing, it is manifest that the angelic form is the human form. The reason why souls appear in the human form, is that the universal heaven conspires to no other form, and because in heaven it is the case that the universal heaven acts into the individuals there, and the individuals into the universal. Hence it can never be otherwise than that each and everyone there, whether angel or spirit, has the form of a man."

     "THAT THE ANGELS HAVE THE HUMAN FORM.

     (S. D. 5556) "Everything of the life of man conspires from the Lord to the human form, the least and the greatest of it. Everything of truth and good, which is from the Lord, belonging to the understanding from its will, strives for the human form, for the reason that the Lord is Man, and Heaven in its complex is man.

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Hence is the human form with man; hence, also, with a spirit; hence, also, with an angel. When a man lays down his body he has the human form; and when a spirit is laid to sleep as to the exteriors which are in the human form, he is under the human form still more perfectly. The soul is the man. If you say that the soul is the very life which inflows from, the Divine, that is in the human form; for whatever is from the Divine, thus from the Lord, is human in form. Love, or the good of love, is the very esse of that form; and truth thence, when it becomes good, is the very existere from that esse. That many learned men doubt about the resurrection, and have a notion about a resurrection of the body, is because they have thought about the soul from theories, and have had about it only the idea of wind: and some, differently, as of air, of fire, of flame. Hence that learning has blinded them, and has confounded and annihilated the interior perception about man's life after death. The simple are different, unless they think similarly about the soul. Wherefore, in Christendom, when they think about the soul after death, they are not able to have an idea of the human form; when, nevertheless, that idea remains with all who have not annihilated the interior perception concerning the life after death by such notions. . . . The Ideas of the simple were also examined and they were found to be in entire agreement with the ideas of a spirit concerning himself."

     (S. D. 5720.) "After death, man becomes such as he has lived, and is in the human form. . . . The will of man is everywhere in the body, and is not seated as it were in one place, although its beginning is in the brain. Hence is manifest what the body is: that it is nothing but the voluntary and the intellectual in form. Why not, then, a spirit? He is a man after death. Is he more than man or more than will and understanding? For a spirit is nothing else in form, and this form also is the human form, because everything of heaven and everything Divine is of such a form and in such a form. And when he has had such a form in the world, still more will he have it when he becomes a spirit."

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     As far as we have been able to ascertain, there are no further references, in the DIARY, to the subject now under discussion. From all the passages here examined it is indisputably manifest that the spirits with whom Swedenborg spoke were natural spirits, to whom the natural body had been everything and the spiritual body an airy nothing. They, therefore, imagined that they still possessed the material body, and this imagination was especially strong when they were present with Swedenborg who was living consciously in both worlds. As he himself says: "For with me they live as it were in the world, or as in the life of the body, knowing nothing else." (S. D. 2899.) Consequently, when Swedenborg by various "living demonstrations" showed them that they did not possess a natural body, their own spiritual bodies appeared to them as nothing, when compared with Swedenborg's natural body.

     In conclusion we must again plead for the right of Swedenborg to have his earlier statements viewed in the light of his later teachings, and not vice-versa. Every writer has a right to be so treated, because it is the only fair and rational way, the only truly scientific way of studying any subject. Particular statements must be understood in the light of general Doctrine, and generals and universals cannot be set forth in their fulness except as final conclusions. But to seize upon some particular statement and build a general Doctrine upon it alone, can only lead to the development of heresies, destructive to the faith of a Newchurchman.

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GROWTH OF THE NEW CHURCH 1914

GROWTH OF THE NEW CHURCH       Rev. ALBERT BJORCK       1914

     (Read at the California Association, Sept. 13, 1913.)

     (IN THE "NEW CHURCH REVIEW" FOR APRIL, 1914.)

     When the Lord chose the Israelites for His people, He gave them a new revelation of truth to take the place of the Ancient Word, whose meaning no one could understand any longer, because it had been perverted by men. Through this new revelation a covenant was established between Jehovah on the one hand and the Israelites on the other, by which covenant they came into very particular and definite relations with the only true God, relations which all represent the spiritual relations that conjoin the spirit of man to the love and wisdom of his Maker.

     This covenant contained also certain commandments to the chosen people with regard to their relations with the peoples that surrounded them, and to their religion and worship.

     In Exodus xxiii, 24-26, we read:

     Thou shalt not bow down thyself to their gods, and shalt not serve them, and shalt not do after their works, for destroying thou shalt destroy them, and breaking thou shalt break in pieces their statues?

     And you shall serve Jehovah your God, and He shall bless your bread and your waters; and I will take disease away from the midst of thee.

     There shall not be one casting her young, nor one barren in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfill.

     We who "will be of the Lord's New Church" believe that when the meaning of the Word that the Lord gave to and through the Israelites, and which He Himself came into the world to fulfil, had become perverted in the Christian Church, and that Church therefore had come to an end, He gave a new revelation to men, through His servant Emanuel Swedenborg. We believe that this revelation contains true doctrines, revealed by the Lord Himself out of His Word, and that He gave this revelation in accordance with His promise to come again in the Gospels and the prophecies of the Apocalypse.

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     We also believe that this revelation contains the principles for interpreting the Word in its letter as given to the Israelites and to the early Christians; and that we, therefore, using these principles, will be able to see the truth of the heavenly revealed doctrines confirmed in the very letter of the Word, and to see more and more clearly the spiritual truth and application of all the statutes and commandments given to the Israelites of old, including those governing their relations to other nations. Thus we will be able to apply the teaching contained in those commandments to the glory of the Lord and the growth of His Church.

     We know that the explanation of the verses quoted from Exodus, given in the ARCANA COELESTIA, applies them to our fight against the evils in our inherited natures, but the question has arisen, in the mind of the writer, whether they do not also apply to our relations as Newchurchmen to the bodies of the old church, which surround us in very much the same manner as the hostile nations surrounded the Israelites.

     If I have not read the history of the New Church wrongly, many of our early Newchurchmen found a parallelism in their relation to the Christian bodies with that of the Israelites to the surrounding nations, so striking and clear that this application of the commandments appeared in their very letter. The perversion of the idea of God in tritheism, as taught in the old church, with the consequent dogmas of reconciliation and atonement, embodied in the creeds of different church bodies, with but slight variations in form and hardly any in meaning, were to most of our fathers enough to show that the old church worshiped other gods.

     Obedience to the obvious meaning of the commandments given to the Israelites relating to their connection with other nations would make it their duty, whenever opportunity offered, to call attention to the fact that these Christian bodies worshiped gods that a Newchurchman must not bow down to. In the same light it would seem to them that the so-called good works done in the old church in connection with such faith in three gods were works that Newchurchmen were forbidden to "do after."

     The teachings and doctrines of the old church bodies seemed to them to answer to the statues of the nations that the Lord had commanded the Israelites to destroy, and fearlessly our early ministers and lecturers tried to show up the falsity of those teachings, and to destroy their power over the minds of men; and in connection with this they proclaimed the Second Coming of the Lord in the revelation that opens the Word, unfolding its spiritual and genuine meaning, and confirming the doctrines taught by the very letter.

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     In our days the situation has changed. The majority of the ministers and members of the organized New Church take another view of the situation. The old church, it is said, is not what it was in the time of our grandfathers. It is changing all the time, and changing rapidly. It is in fact no longer the old Christian Church, talked about in the revelation to the New Church as devastated or dead, but it is fast becoming rejuvenated and a part of the Lord's New Church.

     Not many years ago the writer shared these opinions; he felt certain that the influences from the new heaven were continually at work in an interior way, changing the conceptions in the minds of men within the churches with regard to the old teachings and doctrines, preparing the way for the acceptance of the heavenly revealed doctrines of the New Church, so that the difference between the earnestly religious men of the old church and of the new consisted more in the formal expressions of thought than in any real difference in the principles that should govern men's lives. The difference that still exists should, therefore, not raise any barriers between us. He is still of the opinion that a change is going on in the old church bodies; that the influence from the heaven is at work preparing the way of the Lord to men, but of late he has come to regard the change in a different light and to doubt the validity and correctness of the attitude taken towards these bodies by Newchurchmen in general.

     The subject seems to him one of the utmost importance, and he wishes to present some of the reasons that have led him to doubt that our relations to the old church are correct, in order that different views may be called out, and perhaps more correct ones formed.

     Looking back to the time of our grandfathers, when New Church ministers and lecturers fearlessly assailed the doctrines held in the old church, and when the Lord's Second Coming as an accomplished fact was one of the chief topics of their discourse, together with the upbuilding of the New Church in accordance with the prophecy in the Apocalypse,-looking back to these times, we find that they were also the times when the organized New Church did grow.

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It grew as fast as any one with a knowledge of the statements of the Writings could very well expect it to grow, and the growth was accompanied by a very decided and strong interest in the study of the Writings that contain the revelation of truth from the Lord in His Word to those who will be of His New Church.

     In those times the children of New Church parents were instructed, and carefully instructed, in the doctrines of the Church, and the Church grew not only from converts from without, but also from the fact that young people in the Church valued the teachings so highly that it came to be a natural thing for them to intermarry, and to bring up their children in the Church.

     In our generation all this has changed. The time is past when the organized Church could say that it was growing. There is more missionary work done than ever. In the early days the Writings of the Church were difficult to get; now they are spread broadcast, and it may safely be said that any one who will inquire about them will have no difficulty in getting them to read. Still the converts that come to the Church through the missionary efforts and through the distribution of the Writings are comparatively few, very few indeed compared: to the times when most of our New Church Societies were formed, as the result of preaching and lecturing.

     The interest among members of the New Church themselves for the doctrines of the Church, revealed by the Lord in the Writings, is moreover fast declining. The young people are not brought up to regard them in the same way as in former days, or if they are, the influence of the world about them seems to be stronger than in former days. Intermarriages are becoming more and more rare, and the children in mixed marriages are, as a rule, lost to the New Church. From the statistics of the Church it would indeed appear that for each new convert that comes into the Church from without, we lose at least one of those born and baptized within the church, not to mention their children.

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     The question that presents itself is this:

     Is it simply a coincidence that the cessation of growth in the Church and the waning of the interest in its doctrines among its own members become apparent at the same time that the attitude of the New Church's members to the old church has changed?

     Is there, in other words, no interior relation of cause and effect between the two apparent facts or does the cessation of growth and the waning interest come as the effect of the change in attitude?

     The question presents itself to us every day, and it is important that we should try to solve it For if our attitude to the old church rests on mistaken ideas as to the state of that church, those mistaken ideas prevent us from drawing the needed application of the teachings in the Lord's commandments to the Israelites:-"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to their gods, and shalt not serve them, and shah not do after their works, for destroying thou shalt destroy them, and breaking thou shalt break in pieces their statues."

     If there is an application to be made of these commandments relating to our attitude to the old church, then we certainly have not obeyed them, and the reason for our lack of growth lies in open light.

     If there is not, and our attitude to the old church is the right one, if the old church has changed and become the new, and it is right for us to call the New Church "one of the Protestant denominations," affiliating with them as one of them and holding union services with them, then we should inquire what the real causes of the cessation of growth of the Church are; or else consider whether the organized church is longer needed.

     Individually I have tried to solve this question, or questions; and in trying to do so I have been led first of all to inquire into the real state of the old church bodies.

     As briefly as possible I will try to give the results of this inquiry, without claiming for it any more than that I have tried to judge from facts as far as I could ascertain them; and have tried to judge dispassionately and without prejudice.

     There seems to be a good deal of difference in the state of different bodies. Those who have been most firmly established, like the Lutheran and the Episcopal churches, seem to have changed the least.

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In the Lutheran church the catechism is taught to the children very thoroughly; and this catechism has been very slightly modified in the last hundred years,-the three chief articles of faith, relating to the three persons in the God-head, hold the same prominent place. Every child must be able to repeat them by heart, and almost every child born in the Lutheran church is confirmed at an early age.

     In other bodies the doctrines are held more loosely, and are less spoken of than formerly. There is no instruction to the young apart from the Sunday School, and no catechism.

     In some of the denominations the tradition of the teaching of the church as based on Divine authority yet holds a strong sway over the minds of the people, and keeps the doctrines of the church almost intact, though various ministers in their teaching may put less stress on some doctrines than on others. In general I think we are mistaken in our thoughts about the state of the different bodies, because we do not distinguish between individual Christians and the churches as organizations. A movement of thought may arise in any one body, and it may spread very rapidly, and seemingly change the whole attitude of the people and the ministers toward some particular doctrine, but meanwhile the organization's schools and seminaries are conducting their work on the old lines, and the next generation of preachers may think and preach very much like their grandfathers, though modified in terms and expression to suit the spirit of the age.

     The movement in Sweden among the clergy of the established Church, which began with Dr. Beyer and Dr. Rosen in Gothenburg before the death of Swedenborg, and which at one time had proceeded so that the majority of the clergy in one of the largest and most influential of the dioceses were said to be open Swedenborgians, affords a good illustration of this. One by one they died out, and new men instructed in the old Theology at the University of Upsala took their places, with the result that at present not one clergyman in the establishment, to my knowledge, takes any interest in the doctrines of the New Church.

     A change is going on, but that change is not so notable within the churches, looked upon as organizations, as it is in the thinking of the individual.

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And there it is most notable from the fact that a greater and greater number of individuals withdraw from all connection with the churches, or have a purely formal one. The change does not seem to bring about any definite conceptions of truth, or any decided thoughts about God and His relation to men, but rather to express the opinion that men have to work out their own destinies, and that in men themselves we have to look for the Divinity that shapes the fate of peoples and nations.

     As a general thing the impression received from my observations is, that those who belong to the various church bodies, in a way to take an interested and active part in their work, are very well contented with the teachings of their respective bodies, and that these teachings, though considerably modified, are in essence the same as they were a hundred and fifty years ago.

     But of course I recognize that different individuals may come to very different results in an inquiry of this kind, and that the conclusion that seems to one inevitable, from certain observed facts and conditions, to another may seem erroneous.

     Having this in mind I have thought about the question from another point of view. If the different denominations of the old church have changed in such a way that they are really approaching the New Church, that fact ought to be most easily observable in their thought about God and His Word and their attitude to it. If they have changed so that they really are of the New Church, the conception of God met with in them as taught in their schools and seminaries and appearing in discourses and sermons ought at least to resemble the Lord God as He has revealed Himself to those who will be of His New Church," so that we, who have our knowledge about Him from that revelation, can be able to recognize Him and see that He is our God, before we bow down and worship Him.

     It is often said that all earnest Christians now-a-days accept the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that they try to lead a good life; but has not that always been the case? Was not the acceptance of the Lord's Divinity even more common among men before the establishment of the organized New Church than it is now.

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     It is true that the bodies of the old church teach that the Lord Jesus Christ is Divine, and it is also true that the doctrine of faith alone, in its old form at least, is very seldom met with, and also that all the churches teach that men ought to live good lives, But does this imply that they have the same idea of God as we have? Can we in the conceptions met with in the old church bodies of the Divine Christ recognize even the faintest resemblance to the God revealed in the opened Word, the risen Christ, identical with the Creator from everlasting, the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last,-Infinite Love, Infinite Wisdom, Infinite Power, infinitely active as one!

     In those bodies where authority and order are yet recognized, the people accept the teaching of the Church, and that teaching is almost unchanged as far as the idea of God is concerned. In the minds of the people the Divine Justice is thought of as retribution, and the retributions of Justice are penal-so much pain for so much transgression. It is as rare today as it was a hundred years ago to hear a discourse in any of these bodies, or even to find individual members who see and understand that the Divine Justice is one with the Divine Love and Mercy, or that they even can be harmonious. The doctrine of vicarious satisfaction may not be preached so much in its old crudity, but it is still in the thoughts and ideas of men as a consequence of the teaching that salvation is altogether of the Divine Mercy, and condemnation is altogether of Divine Justice, for the irreconcilability of justice with mercy necessitates a kind of division of God, by which one part is thought of as Merciful and the other part as Just.

     In those bodies where the lay element is making itself felt more, as is the case in the Calvinistic bodies in general, and the authority of the clergy in matters of faith is less recognized, the greatest change is taking place. But it is not a change of doctrines and creeds, but a change away from doctrines and creeds. The old doctrines are not much spoken of, they are looked away from, the interest in them is gone to a great extent; but with that the interest in the truths of religion also seems to be going. It is the same change which causes some individuals to withdraw from the churches as unnecessary. The old idea of God is falling into disrepute within and without these churches, but no other idea is advanced in its stead, except, indeed, in the movement which under the name of Christian Science exalts man's own will and thought to be the Divine power, and so turns man himself into God.

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     The Bible is taught in the Sunday Schools of these churches, but there is no guide for its interpretation. How could there be, if it is true that the letter of the Word can not be understood without doctrine? The Word of God is interpreted not according to doctrine, because men do not want doctrine, but it is interpreted according to men's natural reason, their natural affections, predilections and very prejudices; according to their traditionally religious, political, and civil ideas. That which does not harmonize or can not be made to harmonize with those ideas, and with the different reform measures which to their natural reason seem desirable, is looked away from, or entirely disregarded.

     The Word of God is not understood, and therefore can not be a guide shaping their lives into the form of heaven. Nor is it very commonly so regarded, but rather as a storehouse, where men can find teachings and arguments favoring their particular ideas, and by which those ideas are strengthened and given a certain authority.

     The places of worship in those denominations are fast becoming clubhouses, to which people go because they happen to be their churches; or they join the organization in much the same way that they join a lodge of some secret society; where people with ideas held in common meet and get their views Divinely sanctioned to their own satisfaction, and then lay plans and unite for common action to get their ideas accepted by the majority and incorporated in the laws and statutes of the land.

     And this activity it is that is recognized by Newchurchmen as doing good in such a sense that the doing of it brings the life of religion into the old church and transforms it into the New.

     How can that be? Is there anybody good but the Lord alone? Can the life and good of religion be born in men except through obedience to the truth from God, in which He reveals to us what the good of life is?

     Go to the really active church members and try to interest them in the doctrines of the New Church.

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Tell any one of them individually that you know he is interested in the welfare of his fellows; tell him of the doctrine of charity as revealed to the New Church from the Lord Himself out of His Word, which doctrine teaches us what love to the neighbor really means, and tell him you think that he can get a clearer guiding light by this doctrine for his activity in the welfare of his fellows; tell him about the revelation that shows us that there is an inner spiritual meaning in the Word of God, and assure him that he, by learning about that, can get the true principle of interpreting the Word, and see what the Lord really teaches. Canvass the churches and compare the result with the statement in the Writings that "every one receives truth just so far as he is lilt good."

     It is in those churches you most commonly hear it said, that it does not matter so much what a man believes as long as he tries to live a good life, a sentiment which also frequently is heard expressed within the New Church. But how can we really know what a good life is, if we do not have clear and definite ideas, beliefs, and knowledges about the Lord and His heaven, and of what He would have us think and do?

     Human history shows that during such periods of failing spiritual understanding the things of religion are confused and mixed up with entirely external reforms, traditions, ceremonies, and conventionalities, and even with human rules and regulations concerning what we should eat or drink or with what we should clothe our bodies. Then the state of the church is like that of the Jewish, of which the Lord said that they strained out gnats and swallowed camels.

     The bodies of the old church have not the same Word as we have. They regard the epistles of the apostles and of Paul as equally Divine with the Gospels; and, ruled by their natural thoughts, even in their desire to do good, they have put higher value on Paul's teachings than on those of any of the apostles, or the Gospels, "though Paul has received nothing from the life and discourse of the Lord." And the principles they think they see taught in the letters of Paul are taken as guidance even when directly antagonistic to the teaching of the Lord in the Gospels.

     Of course there are good remains stored up by the Lord in all men, as surely as their own nature is all evil, or they would not have the freedom of determination that makes men human, but in the man of the Church that which enables him to choose between the influences coming into the remains, and those coming into his own nature is his faith in God and the obedience he renders to His truth.

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     Those who really try to obey what they understand to be the Lord's truth in His Word, obey from a religious motive, no matter how false their understanding may be. If their understanding of the truth is false, they nevertheless get good from the Lord through their obedience, and they belong to the Lord's universal Church on earth, and they will come into the Lord's New Heaven after death; but to the Lord's New Church on earth can only those belong who from faith in the Lord strive to obey the truths in His Word, revealed by Himself in His Second Coming.

     If God's truth is interpreted according to the natural reason of man, that reason becomes his God, and he worships and serves; it, instead of the Lord of Heaven and Earth.

     The Lord teaches that man is never in a greater state of freedom than when in states of temptation, because then the good in him from the Lord clashes with the evil tendencies he is born with, and he has then a chance of his own free will to turn to the Lord and be guided by His truth. A heavenly character cannot be built up in man without temptations. But the natural thought of man sees in things that set the evil desires of men in motion the evil that should be fought against and taken away from men's lives.

     The teaching and activity of the Churches with regard to doing good to the neighbor, or the education of the young, seems largely to be concentrated on the idea that we, as our brother's keepers, should remove all temptations from him, and, instead of teaching him to subdue and control the inherited tendencies to evil, looking to the truth of the Lord to show up those tendencies, and to the Lord Himself for help in the fight against them, they teach him to regard the things that can arouse those tendencies as the evils to be removed from men's lives. A vain endeavor indeed! And still, the works done from that principle seem to a good many Newchurchmen commendable, and to be practiced.

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     I do not mean to imply by what I have said that the growth of the Church should be measured by numbers, for the spiritual life and the true understanding of the revealed doctrines can grow even if the Church is decreasing in numbers. Nor do I mean to imply that there are not in the Church today young people who read the doctrines with great interest, and perhaps to better account than some of our early men and women. Nor do I mean to say that the reading of the doctrines by all individual Newchurchmen is a necessary condition for their spiritual growth, for it is comparatively few who have the time to give to this study, or the intelligence to bring what they read together so that they themselves get a luminous light for their path in life. For this reason the clergy exists, for this reason sermons and dissertations are published, and by going to church or by reading such sermons anyone who has not the time to study for himself can get the necessary instruction. Upon his own application of that instruction to his life depends whether he is a good Newchurchman or not.

     But the fact that so many young people, born into the Church, many of whom have been baptized and received instruction in New Church Sunday Schools, when they grow up leave the Church, some to join one or another of the old church bodies, seems to me to show that there is a disease in our midst. And I believe that it is caused, partly at least, by our having lost the conception of the New Church as the only true Church, based on the Lord's own revelation of the teaching in His Word; and because we mistake the state of the old church too commonly, thereby giving to the young the idea that it matters not where they worship or what they believe, as long as they "live a good life."

     As long as that is the case our missionary efforts will have but poor results. We should not give up those efforts, nor should we go back to imitate our fathers' methods, for the churches around us have changed, but we should base our efforts on a true understanding of our own doctrines and of the state of the churches and the gentiles of the Christian world around us.

     A disease is in our midst ravaging our beloved Church, hindering its growth and progress, and where progress ceases the inevitable retrogression soon becomes apparent.

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     We have the truth of the Lord, set forth in the heavenly revealed doctrines in a way that we can understand. There we can get the light for the guidance of our thinking and activity, light that comes from the Lord Himself in his Divine Humanity; and if we follow that light we can become the light of the world, because love and truth from the Lord Himself will then be in us, and come out revealing itself in our actions. Still, the interest in these doctrines is waning in the Church. There are numbers who belong to the Church in the same way that the majority of the old church members belong to their respective bodies or societies, because it happens to be their church-and the children in these families are allowed to go to any church which best pleases them. The distinctiveness of the New Church from the old, as based on a new dispensation of truth, is lost sight of, and the children in these homes are lost to the Church.

     Is this disease caused by the fact that we as Newchurchmen bow down to the God of the natural reason and the thoughts of the religiosities round about us? Is the fact that so many New Church parents cast their young, as far as the Church is concerned, and become barren, caused by our doing after the works of the churches round about us? If so, it is time that we return to Jehovah our God, the risen Lord in His Divine Humanity, and to his Word, the truths laid open in the heavenly revealed doctrines, and serve Him.

     Then He will bless our bread and our waters, He will unite His own good with the truths from Him that we live, and He will remove disease from our midst; "none shall be casting her young nor one be barren in our land, and the Lord Himself will fulfill the number of our days."

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Editorial Department 1914

Editorial Department       Editor       1914

     In our next issue we hope to publish a long delayed review of the new edition of the WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD.



     "NYTT LIF," our wide-awake Swedish contemporary, published at Minneapolis by the Rev. Axel Lundeberg, devotes three columns of its March issue to a review of the little work on MICHAEL SERVETUS, With a very kind reference to the author. The review is to be continued in a series of papers on this martyred forerunner of Swedenborg,



     The NEW CHURCH REVIEW for April, in the course of a very kind and appreciative review of THE GOLDEN AGE, observes: "Were any positively adverse criticism to be passed on the book, it would fall upon the unpleasant feeling displayed in it now and then. The theory of evolution is scornfully recited, for instance, and not a few adherents of it would say altogether unfairly. The most flagrant exhibition of this feeling is a coarse reference, in a footnote and purely gratuitous, to Christian Science." The footnote, which is found on p. 154, refers to "those who in the world had believed themselves to be as God, according to the deceitful saying of the serpent," (Cor. 38), which is followed by the foot note: "Nowadays represented by 'Christian Science' and similar reptiles."



     THE HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW for April contains an interesting paper on "Recent Translations of Buddhist Writings," by Albert J. Edmunds, of Philadelphia. This profoundly learned Orientalist in nearly all that he writes manages to introduce the name and teachings of Swedenborg, sometimes in very strange connections. In the present article Mr. Edmunds observes that "The non-ego doctrine of Buddhism has a Christian counterpart in Swedenborg's statement that the Lord is the only man, that the exterior light is merely the window for a more interior one, and that in the last analysis it is the Lord alone who sees.

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Both Swedenborg and Myers-[who is Myers?]-two names which will go sailing down the centuries when a thousand lesser ones that fill our mouths to-day are forgotten-both these supreme geniuses agree that as the spirit ascends, the egoism falls off; a whole society appears as a single angel, says Swedenborg."



     "How our hearts yearn to give men the light of the true gospel as revealed in the Writings of the New Church; and yet when presented they are invariably rejected. Men say they are crying out 'for God, the living God,' and yet when He is shown to them they are so purblind that they cannot see Him. There has been New Church literature enough published to convert all the nations of 'Christendom' if they were disposed to be converted. Often times it seems as if the office of our publications were more to condemn the world than to enlighten it, according to the declaration of the Writings, that before the consummated church departs entirely from any people they must first have the truths of the new dispensation presented to them, which they reject, owing to being in a foggy mist or inundation as to their interiors, which prevents them from receiving the new revelation. Such seems to have been largely the function of the Iungerich gift books.

     "There looms up large on our western horizon an awakening Asia. Nations which have long slept the sleep of oblivion to spiritual things, brought on the posterity of the Ancient Church by vastation centuries ago, are waking up and rubbing their eyes and preparing to do great things and be great peoples. They are casting about for a religion that shall meet the highest aspirations of the human mind. What and if the Christian religion, which has been the valued possession of our fathers, and so sorely ill treated by them, shall pass over now in a new form to these gentiles of the East and become with them the love form, or Jesus religion, as they seem to like to speak of it-in the soft form of Jesus and not the hard form of Christ. The Christian world has been appealed to for over a hundred years to forsake its course and come under a new banner, but all in vain. Now is the gentiles' opportunity.

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"I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things.'" (J. HENRY SMITH, in the N. C. MESSENGER April 1, 1914.)
INTERESTING NOTICE OF SWEDENBORG 1914

INTERESTING NOTICE OF SWEDENBORG              1914

     Usually when mention is made of Swedenborg in the public press the nice things that are said about him in the way of eulogy, praise, or admiration, are counterbalanced, and in effect nullified, by ascribing to him mental aberrations, and by criticisms which really show only the writer's ignorance of the subject.

     An interesting exception to this occurs in a syndicated newspaper article by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, published December 26, 1913. The article is a plea for the development of the spiritual and religious side of man, describing the perfect man as a triangle of strength, one who is physically, mentally, and spiritually strong, and vigorously portrays those who have one or two of these sides undeveloped. Then we are told that there have been many men on earth who have testified to the reality of spiritual things. Swedenborg is evidently chosen as an example of these. The article continues as follows:

     One of the greatest men who ever lived on earth, a great scientist, a great scholar, was Swedenborg. And this man gave up position and power and place among the ambitious people of earth to devote his mature years to telling the world the marvelous facts he had learned about Realms within Realms, and Life beyond Life.

     When he was dying at the advanced age of 83 he was offered all the solaces of orthodox religion if he would say that he had not heard these voices or seen these visions. "But I did see and did hear," he replied. And those were almost his last words.

     Swedenborg's opinion on politics or science left no marked impression on the world; very few people even know that he was renowned in those days. But Swedenborg's great religious philosophy is the comfort and the strength of thousands of intellectual and useful human beings.

     There is an old Hindu phrase which reads thus:

     He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, he is a fool; shun him.

     He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, he is simple; teach him.

     He who knows, and knows not that: he knows, he is asleep; wake him.

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     He who knows, and knows that he knows, he is wise; follow him. Swedenborg was the latter. He was the perfect triangle. Great in all ways.

     Of coarse, there is here no appreciation of the Divine character of the work that it was given him to do, but there does appear the acknowledgment that Swedenborg's spiritual experiences were real experiences in a real world and useful to men on earth, and not mere imaginations of an abstracted mind. Further, it is interesting to note the exaltation of the later religious work of Swedenborg above the earlier scientific and philosophical work, an attitude quite contrary to that usually taken by writers and critics of the world who patronizingly praise him for his scientific attainments, while they deride Swedenborg the revelator as a dreamer of delirious dreams.

     The article as a whole showed the eclectic attitude of mind on a Theosophical foundation, and it is marred by a mention of reincarnation as a necessary part of the regeneration of souls. L. W. T. DAVID.
ARRAIGNMENT OF NEW CHURCH PEOPLE 1914

ARRAIGNMENT OF NEW CHURCH PEOPLE       J. E. BOWERS       1914

     In the NEW CHURCH MESSENGER of February 4th, a contributor, "F. A. G.," under the heading, "Lame Christians," describes the states and characteristics of New Church people, evidently referring to members of the body of which he is a representative-the General Convention. His delineation is one that is not pleasing to look at or to contemplate. But it is exceedingly suggestive. Among several other striking things said in the article, is this: "There are any number among us who are merely traditional Newchurchmen, born of New Church parents, brought up in New Church Sunday Schools, sat under New Church preaching all their life, and yet seem to know absolutely nothing of what the New Church is or what it means."

     That there is much truth in the accusation made in this statement, and in other things said in an equally emphatic manner, in connection with the subject, is indeed most deplorable.

     An important question concerning this matter is, in how far the ministers of the Convention are themselves responsible for the lack of intelligence, earnestness and zeal on the part of many of their people, with regard to the things of the Church.

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For instance, "F. A. G." declares that the Church has "the authority of Divine Revelation." By this Revelation no other can be meant than that given by the Lord in the Writings of the New Church. Since it is DIVINE, from the Lord our God, who is the Word, this Revelation most certainly is the WORD OF GOD to the people of the Church of the New Jerusalem, and is given for the sake of the salvation of the human race.

     That the Writings are a Divine Revelation is admitted, but that they are therefore the Word of God, has hitherto been denied by nearly all the ministers of the Convention. And they seem to be oblivious of the fact of the logical absurdity of this doctrinal position. For the testimony of the: Writings themselves on this essential point, is perfectly clear and convincing. But this testimony is rejected. And it does seem as if this must at times, or in states when they perceive the sphere of such rejection, affect the minds of the angels with sadness; especially the angels of the New Christian heaven. But on the other hand, the angels are glad and rejoice, when the men of the Church with all the heart fully acknowledge the Lord in His final and most glorious Revelation of the Divine Word.

     The New Church is founded upon this stupendous and all-comprehending Revelation. Without it all men in the world would be in mental and spiritual darkness; because without the Divine Doctrine, which the Lord Himself has given by inspiration through His servant, Swedenborg, the Word can not be rationally understood. But under an influence which is certainly not from heaven, some people who are ministers or members of the New Church, do not seem to consider the fact that without the Writings there would be no such Divine Institution as the Lord's New Church in existence with men.

     The Lord has come as the Word "with power and great glory." And as He commanded the disciples of old, so He admonishes the representative men of His New Church today, those who are in the sacred office of the ministry, to go forth and preach the gospel. But to do this is not to entertain the people with fanciful notions of their own; but to instruct them in the genuine truths of the Word.

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There is power from the Lord for the salvation of souls in the preaching of the new gospel, according to the heavenly doctrines revealed in the Writings. All else is in vain, for it does not promote spiritual enlightenment. To this end the people should read the Writings diligently, so as to be able to understand and to appreciate the preaching of the gospel, when it is distinctively New Church. If this is done faithfully, there will be a desire for and an intense interest in, doctrinal sermons; that is, sermons in which the Heavenly Doctrines are taught in their purity, on the part of the people. For thus their minds will be opened ever more interiorly to perceive the sublime things, to behold the wonders and glories of the Word, now opened as to the spiritual sense, in the Writings. It is for us to look to the Lord, to devote our best endeavors, in the spirit of humility, fidelity and loyalty, to His Church, during our life in this world, if in the World to come we would attain the peace and blessedness of the life eternal in the kingdom of the heavens.
     J. E. BOWERS.
SWEDENBORG'S ANTECEDENTS 1914

SWEDENBORG'S ANTECEDENTS              1914

     Mr. Alfred H. Stroh has been publishing recently, in the pages of MORNING LIGHT, some papers on Swedenborg's childhood and youth. The following, containing new information concerning Swedenborg's ancestors, ancestral home, and parents, will be of interest to our readers:

     "There is a well known tendency to derive heroes from heroic ancestors, and according to tradition Swedenborg was descended on the paternal side from Engelbrekt, the Dalecarlian hero. On the maternal side he was descended from Gustavus Vasa. It is certain that Swedenborg's father, Bishop Jesper Swedberg (1653-1735), descended from a family in the neighborhood of Fahlun which for several generations had been well situated miners and peasants, and that the family of Swedenborg's mother was originally of German descent. Emanuel Swedenborg was born in Stockholm on the 29th of January, 1688. His father, Jesper Swedborg, was the son of Daniel Isaacson, a miner, living on an estate near Fahlun in Dalecarlia called 'Sweden.'

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This estate, on which, some buildings dating from the time of Daniel Isaacson still remain, had been bought by Swedenborg's grandfather in the year 1642, as is testified by the original letter of purchase which, together with other similar documents and old curiosities from the estate, have recently come into the possession of the Northern Museum, Stockholm. Situated on the lake Backen, the estate 'Sweden' lies between some low mountains, which explains the family name 'Swedberg' a place in the mountains cleared by fire (svedja-to clear the ground by burning; berg-mountain). If we give free rein to our fancy we can see Daniel Isaacson, a hardy miner, wandering home from the mine at Fahlun, after a hard day's work. He finds a welcome rest in the bosom of the family, thanks his children for the food, because, he declared, it was for the sake of his many children that God gave him food, and afterwards he explained to the little ones some of the Bible-pictures on the wall of the best room in the house, scenes from the life of David, and reads a chapter about King David or Solomon. From this atmosphere of strict work, from this Godfearing home, came one of the greatest bishops and psalmists of Sweden. A room is still shown in the attic where Jesper Swedberg studied. In the room on the first floor, decorated with Bible motives was celebrated, in 1739, the marriage of Carolus Linnzeus and Lisa Moraeus. The father of the latter, Johan Moraeus, provincial physician, was the cousin of Jesper Swedberg and the first 'informator' or tutor of Emanuel' Swedberg at Upsala. It is highly probable that Swedenborg visited 'Sweden' as a guest several times during his earliest years.

     "According to a statement of a certain investigator in Stockholm, which statement, however, no one has so far been able to verify with documentary evidence, Swedenborg was born in the 'Rantmastarehuset' near the sluices, in Stockholm, which connect the Baltic with the Lake Malar and separate the old city proper from the Southern Quarters. That Swedenborg was born in Stockholm on the 29th of January, 1688, (not 1689), appears from his own statement in manuscript in some family notes which he wrote down in his capacity as head of the family, (caput familia). The documents referred to are preserved in the Archives of the House of Nobles, where there is also a copy of the patent of Nobility of the Swedenborg family, the original of which, is preserved by the present head of the family, and the draft in the State Archives.

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Swedenborg says in his printed letter to Thomas Hartley that he was born in the year 1689, but his manuscript in the Archives of the House of Nobles, GENEALOGIE UTAF SWEDENBORGISKA FAMILIEN, weighs the heaviest, and the year 1689, given in the letter to Hartley, is probably owing to a printer's error or a slip of the memory.

     "At the time when his son Emanuel was born Jesper Swedberg was pastor of the Cavalry Life Guard. After having been successively Court preacher, pastor in Vingaker, professor of theology and dean of the Cathedral at Upsala, he ended his career as bishop of Scara where, in 1735, he died at the episcopal residence, Brunsbo. His first wife, Sara Behm, (1666-1596), was the daughter of Albrekt Behm, an assessor in the College of Mines. She had nine children, five sons and four daughters, of whom Emanuel was the third. When he was eight years old, in 1696, his mother died at Upsala. The following year his father married Sara Bergia, and after her death in 1720 again married, this time Christina Arrhusia. In the year 1719 Queen Ulrica Eleonora bestowed the title of nobility upon the second wife of Bishop Swedberg, and also the children which he had with his first wife were at that time ennobled with the name "Swedenborg.' Jesper Swedberg had no children with his second wife.

     "Many are the episodes related by Bishop Swedberg himself in his thousand-page folio Autobiography, concerning his relations with the Kings Charles XI. and Charles XII. Among other things it is mentioned that Swedberg, while Court Preacher, was opposed to the baptism of infants in the home seeking to introduce baptism in the churches. He was met by such a powerful opposition that he was unable to find any one who would consent to be godfather for his own child. The result was that King Charles XI. himself became godfather. From this we may conclude that Jesper Swedberg's son Emanuel also was baptized in a church in Stockholm. In many other ways the enthusiastic cavalry chaplain and Court preacher found a powerful support in Charles XI.

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Scarcely had he been appointed pastor of Vingaker, (Charles XI. desired also to make him rector of Hedemora and afterwards dean in Vesteras, but this Swedberg refused), before the King, without giving heed to Swedberg's protests, appointed him professor of theology at Upsala, 1692. He soon became first professor of theology and dean of the cathedral and thus also pastor of the congregation at Danmark, situated near Upsala, and where there is a portrait of him. Another portrait hangs in the Westmanland-Dala Nation House at Upsala, where Professor Swedberg was for several years Inspector of the Nation and also took his turn as Rector Magnificus of the University." (MORNING LIGHT, Feb. 14.)
ANGELIC HUMAN FORM IS A DISCRETELY INTERIOR HUMAN FORM 1914

ANGELIC HUMAN FORM IS A DISCRETELY INTERIOR HUMAN FORM       ELDRED E. IUNGERICH       1914

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     It seems to the undersigned that Mr. Pitcairn has, failed to set forth clearly the real issue between the conflicting views on the subjects of the appearance of the spiritual world and the nature of the human form there. According to his paper it would appear that the only issue is one between a number of passages cited by him, on the one side, and a belief that the spiritual world is purely subjective and that spirits and angels are devoid of any human form whatever, on the other. If this were the issue, there would be no need of debating the subject, but it would be in order to prefer the charge of falsity, and for those who hold the view condemned, to make a humble retraction.

     One argument that appears in his paper will be hailed with pleasure by those who have not endorsed the validity of correlating the philosophic with the theological works. It is the stress Mr. Pitcairn lays on Swedenborg's admission of obscurity prior to the opening of his spiritual eyes, as evidence that his prior utterances and reasonings on the subject of the shapes of angels were falsities.

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     The real issue may be tabulated as follows:

     MR. PITCAIRN'S VIEW.

     1. The human form of spirits and angels is the exact duplicate of the human form on earth, as seen by the natural eye.

     2. The spiritual world is in every detail the exact duplicate of the natural world, the only difference being that the corpuscles composing the objects there are different and are to be called substantial in place of material, and that many of them can be instantly created or dissolved.

     THE OPPOSING VIEW.

     1. It is an interior human form, as different from the one seen on earth as a seed is from the tree springing from it. Swedenborg in S. D. 355 compares it to the human form of the least organs in the brain.

     2. The similarity of the two is purely an appearance due to the arousal of the beholder's memory-images which are derived from this world. The spiritual objects which arouse these are, however, in themselves objective to him. They appear when they arouse the lowest plane of his mind, as if they were intrinsically identical in every way with objects on earth, although they are quite different.

     The undersigned, in a paper published December, 1908, in the NEW CHURCH LIFE, sustained the thesis that admissions of obscurity by Swedenborg do not invalidate the prior views. Before his eyes were opened he had not the spiritual experience to confirm him in his perception of the spiritual world that he had previously set forth, but this does not invalidate the truth of his prior perceptive inspiration. If the reader will but turn to the Index to the SPIRITUAL DIARY Under the heading "Inspiratio," he will read the following:

     "INSPIRATIO, quod loquutus sim veritates, quas non intellexi, postea explicatas, sic quod voces inspirentur, 1 Vol: (Adversarian: 1409."
"INSPIRATION, that I have spoken truths which I did not understand, [but which were] afterwards explained, thus that words are inspired, Vol. 1. Adv. 1409."

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     The view set forth by Swedenborg in 1740, in the RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, no. 522, (which Mr. Pitcairn decries as a falsity that was discarded when Swedenborg's spiritual eyes were opened and he came into greater light), was held by him as early as 1717 and was afterwards reiterated in 1746, in the ADVERSARIA, (3 Adv. 2471-6), and on December 15, 17471 in the DIARY.

     To show the continuity of this view held from 1717 to 1747, when his eyes had been opened already four years, the reader is referred to the following citations:

     1717. ON THE NATURE OF FIRE AND COLORS [translated from the Swedish by Rev. C. Th. Odhner]. "[It is a question] whether one may judge, with any degree of certainty, respecting the nature of fire and colors simply by a comparison with water and its nature, for although there may be many external similarities for the sake of comparison, nevertheless they may be of quite another quality. Would it not be better, perhaps, to take those very qualities of fire and colors which we know by experiments, and thus, as we think and investigate, direct ourselves to a knowledge of their nature? For, if we proceed by means of other elements, which are more visible to our sight and knowledge, we may soon be deceived into accepting certain notions which in themselves are contrary to the truth,-just as if one were to make conclusions respecting the shape of angels from the shape of men, simply because both are living and have the general senses, such as sight, hearing, etc." [Italics our own.]

     1740. RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, 521, 522. ". . . . This I do not think will be that we shall put on the human form, for such a form is solely for use in the ultimate world . . . souls have no need of feet nor arms . . . stomach, intestine, mesentery . . . [etc.] all these things when we shall be spirits and angelic forms, perform no use . . . before we know what that aura is, and what life we are to live in it, we can never say what form we might put on . . ."

     1746. ADVERSARIA (3 Adv. 2.471-3). ". . . but when this natural ultimate perishes, the life adhering to it does not indeed perish, but remains as a character in the superior mind, wherefore genii after death suppose they are endowed with the body, nor do they persuade themselves otherwise, yea, that [they are endowed] with members, when yet such members of which they persuade themselves are to them of no use, like all the members of the human body.

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But of what form they are, they know not at all. It depends on the representation, so that they seem to put on such a form as is induced on them by the representation.

     "This same matter is confirmed in the: vegetable kingdom, for the things which are ultimate perish, as, for instance, fruits. Their rind is first loosed, then the interiors successively, at length there remains the seed which is inwardly hidden. This seed is also loosed. Thus at length there bursts forth that which is truly prolific and represents eternity, which begets tree and fruit.

     1747. SPIRITUAL DAIRY, 355. "Spirits perceive no otherwise than that they are a human figure, thus that [they are in] a body with skin, bones, blood, when yet it is shown them that they cannot retain things which are of no use, . . . as stomach, intestine, bladder, etc., . . . but what their proper form is not known at all', but yet can be somewhat concluded from the least organs of the cerebrum, where are the beginnings of the form of the body. . . ."
     ELDRED E. IUNGERICH.
PHANTASY IN THE NEW CHURCH 1914

PHANTASY IN THE NEW CHURCH       JOHN PITCAIRN       1914

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     I have been kindly permitted to read the communication by the Rev. Eldred E. Iungerich which appears in the present issue of the LIFE, in answer to my article in the April number.

     I heartily support the correlation of the truths in the scientific works with the Writings of the Church, but I am not in sympathy with any attempt to correlate errors with the truths of Divine Revelation. It is a remarkable fact that the whole new theory is based on and supported by statements in Swedenborg's philosophical works and in the early part of the SPIRITUAL DIARY wherein Swedenborg admits obscurity and lack of knowledge as to the real nature of the spiritual body. But, beginning with the ARCANA period (1749), there is no longer any uncertainty in his mind.

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     A brief chronology of the intermediate period between the scientific and theologic works is here given:

     743-October-The Lord appearing in a dream, not described.

     1744-Representative dreams; no open visions.

     1745-April-A spirit spoke with him for the first time.

     1746-47-The ADVERSARIA period; Swedenborg undergoing many mixed experiences and states.

     1747-48-The early portion of the DIARY; open visions, in which Swedenborg is gradually learning the real facts concerning the spiritual world.

     1749 -The ARCANA period; no longer any uncertainty; all obscurities had disappeared.

     That obscurity and lack of knowledge as to the form of man after death existed in Swedenborg's mind, during the preparatory period, is plainly stated in his RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, written in 1740, (nos. 521, 522), to which I referred in my article published in the April LIFE. That the obscurity continued for some time in the DIARY is evident from that work itself, as follows:

     S. D. 355. "But of what quality the form [of the spirit] is, properly speaking, this, indeed is not known." Dec. 15, 1747.

     S. D. 2917. "I spoke with new spirits: also concerning their bodies: they supposed, like others, that they are clothed with a similar human body, for to this their imagination and interior man leads them, to wit, to the ultimate of order, which is the body: but it was given to reply to them that I do not know of what quality their body is, but that they are forms most perfect for every use, so that they can be called spiritual and celestial forms." August 25, 1748.

     S. D. 3473. "But of what quality are the forms of spirits, it is not, for various reasons, given to know." October 4, 1748.

     That the SPIRITUAL DIARY is a true record of Swedenborg's experiences is not to be doubted, nor that he was in obscurity in the early part of that record, but after he began the ARCANA COELESTIA we search in vain for any statement that the human form is limited to the "cortical glands of the brain."

     Quoting from Mr. Iungerich: "The view set forth by Swedenborg in 1710, in the RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, n. 522, (which Mr. Pitcairn decries as falsity that was discarded when Swedenborg's spiritual eyes were opened and he came into greater light), was held by him as early as 1717."

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Mr. Iungerich is not warranted in saying that I "decry as falsity" Swedenborg's statement in his philosophical works and in his early records in the SPIRITUAL DIARY. "Obscurity" and "lack of knowledge" are not "falsity." Nor is a fallacious appearance a falsity, unless it is confirmed, which never was done by Swedenborg. He plainly avers that he did not know, that no man knew, that the angels did not know, until after his intromission into the spiritual world, and this "because there had not before been given the means of comparison with any man who was in both worlds at the same time." (T. C. R. 280.)

     I firmly believe that Swedenborg gave to the world the greatest system of natural truth that ever emanated from the mind of man; that from early youth he was led and prepared by the Lord for his great mission, and that the philosophy which he evolved serves as a genuine basis for the Lord's Divine Revelation. But this philosophy was from Swedenborg's rational mind, and is not Divine Revelation, wherein there is no error. To say that Swedenborg could have known the actual facts concerning the spiritual body, without a new and immediate Divine Revelation, is to deny the necessity for such Revelation. Our friends discredit the Lord's Revelation when they place Swedenborg's philosophical works On the same plane as the Writings, and when they give precedence to "states of obscurity" and "lack of knowledge" over the plain teachings of the Writings, in which there is no obscurity.

     Mr. Iungerich repudiates the view that "the spiritual world is merely subjective," but when he makes the human shape of the spiritual body "purely an appearance," it necessarily follows that all ether objective forms in the spiritual world are also "purely appearances," which is the same as to make them mere appearances. This is nothing but idealism. He condemns the view "that spirits and angels are devoid of any human form whatever," but condemns equally the teaching of the Writings that spirits and angels possess the complete and perfect shape and figure of a man.

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It is difficult to follow the rapid evolutions of Mr. Iungerich's views. In his paper in the LIFE for July, 1908, he earnestly labors to prove that Swedenborg in the RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY does not contradict the teaching in the ECONOMY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, that the soul after death "will assume the exact form of the human body." (E. A. K. 351.) In 1914, Mr. Iungerich just as earnestly labors to prove that Swedenborg from 1717 to 1747 consistently maintained the opposite. In 1908 Mr. Iungerich very properly characterized Swedenborg's preparatory works as "constituting a true philosophy which is not repugnant to the truth of revelation, but in complete accord with it. The later works are that truth of revelation." (N. C. LIFE, 1908, p. 707.) But in 1914 Mr. Iungerich appears to claim for the preparatory works not only a "perceptive inspiration" but a verbal inspiration, placing them on the level of the letter of the Word.

     The idealism which our friends are attempting to establish as the teaching of our Church makes the spiritual world a "merely appearing" or imaginary world,-a world of phantasy,-leaving the material world as the only real world. This is a sensual view of the spiritual world and is pure materialism; it is by no means an "interior" view, as they claim.

     Should the theory of "the bodiless angel" and "the purely subjective idea of the spiritual world" obtain in the New Church, it would be more dangerous than the heresy of Charles Augustus Tulk, because the theory has abler and more learned exponents.
     JOHN PITCAIRN.
ISSUE MISUNDERSTOOD 1914

ISSUE MISUNDERSTOOD              1914

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     I have read with interest and deep appreciation Mr. John Pitcairn's article in the April LIFE and by the courtesy of the Editor I have been permitted to read Mr. Iungerich's rejoinder which is printed in the present issue.

     I ask permission here only to point out certain general considerations which seem to me to seriously affect the value, to the truth-seeker, of Mr. Iungerich's reasoning.

     Mr. Iungerich appears to have a wholly erroneous notion of the issue at stake in the discussion.

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Neither in his presentation of what he declares to be Mr. Pitcairn's notion of the issue, nor in his own presentation of it, does he indicate that he sees clearly what the issue is. Mr. Iungerich states that from Mr. Pitcairn's paper "it would appear that the only issue is one between a number of passages cited by him on the one side, and a belief that the spiritual world is purely subjective and that spirits and angels are devoid of any human form whatever, on the other."

     Let the candid reader judge whether this is a just representation of the issue which is stated by Mr. Pitcairn in these words:

     "The Church as a whole hitherto has believed that the Writings teach that angels and spirits are actually in the human form and shape, and that the spiritual world is an objective as well as subjective reality; but recently we have been told by members of the New Church that spirits and angels are not in the human form and shape, and that the spiritual world has no objective existence, but is purely subjective." (N. C. LIFE, April, 1914, p. 193.)

     Let the reader also judge whether Mr. Iungerich is any more exact when he attempts to state the issue for himself, than when he purports to give Mr. Pitcairn's version. Mr. Pitcairn is terse, simple, clear; Mr. Iungerich is neither simple nor clear, and, it must be added, not accurate. If, then, he himself does not see the issue with sufficient clearness to state it truly, is it to be expected that he will deal with it satisfactorily? To us, he does not.

     In his rejoinder, Mr. Iungerich makes two points:

     (A) He quotes the INDEX Of the SPIRITUAL DIARY, to the effect that Swedenborg had spoken truths that he did not understand, which afterward were explained thus, that words were inspired, to prove "the truth of his [Swedenborg's] prior perceptive inspiration." This; in our humble judgment, is an attempt to hang a very heavy coat on a very small peg. Give the quotation from the INDEX its full value: does it mean more than that there were occasional flashes of inspiration in Swedenborg's earlier works? To say that it proves all the earlier works to have been inspired, ipsa verba, is too much.

     (B) Mr. Iungerich quotes several passages from the earlier works,-from the ADVERSARIA, from the early DIARY,-to show that Swedenborg was consistent throughout this period in the opinion that spirits and angels did not have the human form.

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For the sake of argument, let us admit that they do so teach and are consistent shall they therefor overweigh and invalidate the equally consistent teaching of the later DIARY and published theological works, that spirit and angel are in the full human form and shape? Mr. Iungerich implies that they do,-they are quoted to no purpose otherwise,-but he does not venture openly to say so.

     Mr. Pitcairn needs no defense from such strictures as this. He has appealed to the law and to the testimony; his position is confirmed by the common perception of the Church. To those who have felt the disturbance which has arisen on account of the presentation in the Church of idealistic views respecting life in the spiritual world, Mr. Pitcairn's paper has come with a very real sense of satisfaction and relief. In an atmosphere claiming to be of interior thought, some of us had asked ourselves: Have we been mistaken all our lives! Has the Church been all the time in error? Is the common perception of the simple to which the Writings so often make appeal, at fault? Is it after all true that the spiritual world is an abode of imagination merely?

     Mr. Pitcairn's simple and downright statement of the issue and of the doctrine has made sure the place of our feet and shown the illusive basis of the phantasy into which some seemed in danger of being led. The Church should thank him, and for one, I do. WILLIAM H. ALDEN.
REAL APPEARANCES IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD 1914

REAL APPEARANCES IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD              1914

     The following, from Swedenborg's posthumous work ON THE LAST JUDGMENT, has never before appeared in English:

     "In the natural kingdom in which men are while they live in the world, and in the Spiritual Kingdom where the spiritual angels are, and in the Celestial Kingdom where the celestial angels are, similar things appear; even so far that hardly any difference exists, except that the similar things in the spiritual kingdom are more perfect than in the natural kingdom, and in the celestial kingdom more perfect than in the spiritual kingdom.

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A spirit or angel appears similar to man in the world: even to such an extent that he does not know otherwise than that he is a man of the world; he has a similar face, he has a similar body; in the face the eyes, nose, ears, lips, mouth are similar; the hair is similar;-in the body there is a similar breast, similar belly, similar loins, similar hands and feet, similar organs of generation also,-in a word he is a man in external form altogether similar to the man in the world. He has similar lungs, for he breathes, and he also has a similar heart for the pulse beats. The rest of the viscera within the body are also similar, because to them equally correspond the societies of heaven. There is even redness in the face and in the hands, in the arms and in the body, as from blood in the arteries and veins; there are fibers, nerves and muscles, for he moves his joints as does the man in the world. Moreover he has similar sight, similar tastes, and similar sense of touch. Besides he has similar speech, so also song, also similar imagination, thought, understanding and will, affection, desire,-in a word, the angel and a spirit is so similar to a man in the world that he does not know other than that he is a man of the world. Conjugial love also is similar in its effect, except that there is no propagation, but in the place of propagation unition of minds, and thence increase of intelligence and wisdom. From this it is that in the spiritual sense of the Word by marriage is meant the conjunction of truth and good, by daughter's goods and by son's truths, and so on.

     Their clothing is similar to the clothing of men; the younger of them have coats, robes, breeches, stockings, shoes, caps, turbans, undergarments, similar to those in the world, with some differences to colors, especially of the coats. The reason of this is that colors signify appearances of truth from good, and garments signify truths and thence the understanding clothed.

     The houses are similar, and within there are rooms and chambers, with halls as in the world, and within them tables, seats, utensils, various decorations. In heaven there are palaces so magnificent that those of the world cannot be compared with them.

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There is magnitude, there is harmony, architecture, without and within; the decorations are from gold and precious stones, in such forms as no painter can express by any picture. There are houses of marble and also of cerulean stone. The use of every chamber is known from the decorations therein.

     They have similar foods and drinks as in the world, and these are named foods and liquors.

     They have lands, mountains, acclivities, plains, grassy fields, paradises and gardens, woods and forests; there are ways everywhere tending to the various societies, some guarded, which are first seen when spirits pass to their own society. There are fountains, lakes, seas.

     There appear there animals of the earth and flying things of heaven of every kind, as well greater as smaller; there appear also composite animals such as are frequently described in the Word; there are various insects or little worms.

     In a word, there are in the spiritual world not only similar things as are in the natural world, but also innumerable more things, and every one with an infinity and in a harmony from which expires delight. In a word, in heaven there is heaven in all and single things, in general and in every particular; every external sense has its own heaven, and every internal sense has its own heaven; and every angel is a heaven in least form, and every one as he has heaven within him has thus a heaven about him.

     But it is to be known that all these things which have been mentioned are not material but spiritual, or that they are from a spiritual origin; and nevertheless the spirits know no otherwise than that they are material. The reason is that when the spiritual touches the spiritual, or tastes the spiritual, it is altogether as if the material touches or tastes the material. On account of that appearance I have very frequently argued with spirits who believed that the things which they see and touch are material. I showed them by various modes and by various reasons to the life that nothing there is material, but that all there is spiritual. I showed this by the houses that they are formed in a moment, and in a moment destroyed or dissipated; from their clothing, that they are in a moment put on, given anew, changed; from their dinners and feasts, that the tables, upon which is their food, exist in a moment and afterwards in a moment are dissipated; and that spirits themselves can go into houses through the walls, and very often not entering by the doors.

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There was a certain one known to me, with whom I spoke, when his body which he had in the world was buried, and I told him that he was now being buried. But he answered that he did not know what of him was buried, because he had everything with him, a similar body as before and for the rest similar; for he as others knew no otherwise than that he was material, when nevertheless he was spiritual. He was then instructed that the material body which he had carried about with him in the world was buried and that he was then clothed with his spiritual body." (LAST JUDGMENT POST. 316-323.)
Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. Easter, with its services, and its holidays, and its visitors, and its parties, has been the notable item in the history of the past month. The Easter festival opened with the service on Friday, and closed with the administration of the Holy Supper on Sunday afternoon. The last service for the children was held on Sunday morning, and was attended by a large number of adults in addition to the crowd of children.

     School closed up for the holidays; it seemed, in fact, as if the round of merrymaking during the week left little room for serious occupations. The first event was given in connection with the Club night,-a dance recital by Miss Ethne Price, assisted by Mr. Fred. Finkeldey, Miss Marjorie Wells, and Mr. Frank Bostock. A large and appreciative audience witnessed one of the most interesting and unusual programs that we have ever had. Miss Price gave a particularly fine rendering of the Blue Danube Dance, and the duet numbers were very delightful.

     On the Monday evening Mr. Whitehead gave us a talk on "England, between the years 1710-1712," this being the period of Swedenborg's visit to that country.

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The lecturer had collected a great deal of information from the contemporary writers and journals, and gave a vivid picture of the condition of state and church at the time.

     Two dances were held during the holidays; the first was a club dance, and, at that, the most successful that we have had for a long time, and later in the week a dance for the school. The new dances are much in evidence, and on closer acquaintance are proving not nearly as terrible as they at first appeared, though they do sadly bring to light the constitutional clumsiness of some of us.

     A number of visitors have been with us during the week, including all those who are attending the universities, and only get home at such times as these. Their presence has added much to the enjoyment of the season, and we have been further favored with the presence of Mrs. David, of San Francisco, and Miss Emma Frost, who are here for their first, though we trust not last, visit.
     D. R.

     PITTSBURGH, PA. On January 29th Swedenborg's Birthday was celebrated with a banquet at the church. This occasion was taken advantage of as a farewell to Rev. and Mrs. N. D. Pendleton. Mr. D. E. Horigan acted as toastmaster.

     The Rev. Homer Synnestvedt took charge as pastor of our society on Sunday, February 1st. During the month of February Mr. Synnestvedt gave a course of lectures to the students in the Normal Schools at Bryn Athyn, and consequently was unable to be in Pittsburgh every Sunday. On Sunday, February 8th, the Rev. E. E. Iungerich occupied the pulpit, and on Sunday, February 22d, the Rev. Alfred Acton was with us.

     On Friday, February 20th, "The Little Theater," as it is called, gave its first performance under the direction of Messrs. Hermann Lechner and Walter Faulkner. A vaudeville program was rendered and made quite a hit. Our theater is no small affair. We have regular scenery, doors that slam, and no end of electrical apparatus, and we expect to make good use of all our advantages.

     On Friday, March 6th, a banquet was held in the church to welcome Rev. Homer Synnestvedt to Pittsburgh.

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Since Mr. Synnestvedt's arrival here our regular routine and study has, of course, been changed. Doctrinal classes are to be held on Wednesday evenings. Sunday evenings another class is held at which the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION is being taken up. The Philosophy Club is studying the Rational Psychology. B. P. O. E.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. After living here in security from fire for twenty years this settlement has been recently twice afflicted thereby in a way that might have been very serious. Some time ago Mr. Scalbom's cottage caught fire in the early morning hours of a cold day, and was completely consumed together with all the furniture, books and clothing of the family. Later the large chicken house of the Junge family was burned to the ground, and, as it was situated near their residence, that, too, was threatened for a time. As it was, the windows were broken with the heat and the paint blistered off. Thus we were all given a warning, and it resulted in the examination of insurance policies, attention to the accessibility of water and fire extinguishers and other necessary things to which our long immunity had rendered us careless.

     There have been some pleasant social events under the supervision of Mr. and Mrs. G. A. McQueen, and at the steinfests many literary and political problems have been discussed and solved. It seems a pity that the Federal Government does not have the benefit of these mature deliberations.

     Among events out of the routine was a meeting under the auspices of the "Sons of the Academy" of all the men of the Immanuel and Sharon churches at a hotel in the city to consider ways and means of extending the knowledge and influence of the Church among the people now on the outside.

     The Rev. Frederick Gyllenhaal paid us a brief visit on his way around the world. A Friday supper was devoted to a reception and farewell to him during which he gave an interesting account of his proposed trip and sojourn in South Africa. We have had recent accessions to our numbers,-the Stevens family from Chicago, at present at the home of their son; a girl to Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Nelson; and a boy to Mr. and Mrs. Louis S. Cole.

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     Wr. Winfred Junge recently came of age and was received into the Church on Sunday, March 28th. On Palm Sunday the following young ladies made their confession of faith: Miss Jennie Cole, Miss Lenore Junge, Miss Helen Wiedinger, Miss Nellie Synnestvedt and Miss Ruth Synnestvedt. At Easter the chancel was suitably decorated with flowers, and a full service was enjoyed by a large congregation.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. L. E. Wethey, formerly pastor of the Englewood parish, Chicago, is at present occupying the pulpit of the (English) New Church society in St. Louis, Mo.

     The Rev. Adam B. Dolly died at Horton, W. Va., on Feb, 24, 1914, at the age of nearly 89 years. Mr. Dolly, late in life, left the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, and united with the New Church. He served for a few years as pastor of the society in Lancaster, Pa., (now defunct), and though connected with the Pennsylvania Association and the General Convention, was a warm friend of the Academy and the General Church.

     GREAT BRITAIN. Mr. E. C. Mongredien, of London, has been appointed manager of "The New Church Press, Ltd.," a publishing association which acts as the agent for the Swedenborg Society, the General Conference, and the Missionary and Tract Society, with headquarters at No. 1 Bloomsbury St., London.

     The address of the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck will be, until further notice, "9 Wretham Road, Handsworth, Birmingham."

     AUSTRALIA. Dr. M. F. Underwood, of San Diego, Cal., has accepted a call to the pastorate of the Society in Brisbane, Australia, which has been without a minister for many years.

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Annual Meetings 1914

Annual Meetings              1914




     Announcements.



     The Annual Meeting of the Councils of the General Church will be held on June 23d to 26th, 1914. The Consistory will meet on June 23d; The Council of the Clergy on June 24th to 26th and the Joint meeting of the Council of the Clergy and the Executive Committee on June 27th.
Swedenborg Scientific Association 1914

Swedenborg Scientific Association       REGINALD W. BROWN       1914

     The seventeenth annual meeting of the Swedenborg Scientific Association will be held in Room 7A, Parkway Bldg., Broad and Cherry streets, Philadelphia, May 13th, 1914. During the afternoon session, at 2:30 P. M., a paper will be read by Prof. C. Th. Odhner on "Swedenborg's Dreams, or Diary of 1744."

     At the evening session, 7:30 p. m., the President of the Association, the Rev. Frank Sewall, will deliver an address on "The 'Only Begotten,' in Cosmology and Theology."
     REGINALD W. BROWN,
          Secretary.



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NOTES AND REVIEWS 1914

NOTES AND REVIEWS              1914


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXIV JUNE, 1914          No. 6
     The Swedenborg Society announces the Publication of a new and improved edition of Swedenborg's SUMMARY EXPOSITION OF THE PROPHETS AND PSALMS, including details from the original manuscript: which have not been published before.



     In his review of the little work on MICHAEL SERVETUS, the Rev. Axel Lundeberg, in the NYTT LIF, for April, quotes the following saying by Robert Ingersoll: "Swedenborg has said something for which I feel almost grateful. He reports that he had met Calvin in hell. There is nothing supernatural that could be more natural than this. The only thing that could possibly diminish the value of this report is this, that if there is a hell, then we would know, without paying a visit to the place, that John Calvin must be there." It would be interesting to know in what work of Ingersoll's Mr. Lundeberg has found this statement.



     From time to time we have called attention to the many remarkable things associated with the Nineteenth of June, in ancient times,-the birthday of Isis in Egypt, of Pallas Athene in Athens, of Minerva in Rome; the opening date of the Council of Nicaea; the "Fete Dieu of the Catholic Church, etc. Quite recently we learned also that the night between the 18th and 19th of June was "celebrated in all Egypt in ancient times; and it is still celebrated by the Mohammedans there, by whom it is called Lelet al- Nukta, i. e., the 'Night of the Drop,' because it is believed that on that night a miraculous Drop falls from heaven into the Nile, and makes it to rise." (Wallis Budge, GODS of THE EGYPTIANS, vol. II., p. 47.)

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     A correspondent to THE REMINDER writes in the April number: "T. C. R. 791 says: 'After this work was finished, the Lord called together His twelve disciples . . . and sent them,' etc., and n. 108 says 'Some months ago.' Can you explain what appears to be a contradiction?" To which the editor replies: "Our querist seems to think that words 'this work' applies to the book T. C. R.; but may not the words refer to the work accomplished by the Lord at His coming? If that were so the two statements would not necessarily conflict: for the work may have been accomplished many months prior to the writing of the book. Indeed, the indication in 791 is clearly, that the 'work' referred to was completed and the disciples sent out so long before the recording of it, that not only the day and month, but also the year had to be noted!"

     We are not sure that we comprehend Mr. Lardge's explanation, but the apparent contradiction is quite easily explained by the fact that Swedenborg wrote two distinct drafts of the TRUE CHRTSTIAN RELIGION. The first was finished at Stockholm on June 19th, 1770 Swedenborg soon afterwards left for Amsterdam, where he wrote out a clean copy for the printer, and then inserted, in n. 108, the statement: "I will add this news, that some months ago the twelve apostles were convoked by the Lord, and were sent forth throughout the universal spiritual world," etc.



     The NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY, for April, observes that the discussion concerning the Writings and the Word in the New Church periodicals "has now virtually come to an end,-so it seems to us,-through the recent proclamation of the editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE, who originally maintained that the Writings had an internal sense, that, of course, they contain it, for is there not a spirit and a letter to every writing? This is certainly not the sense in which the editor's contention for an internal sense in the Writings, for many years past, has been understood by his readers; and, if this was really all he meant, he was surely under obligation to make the fact clear before now."

     The editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE begs leave to answer that the QUARTERLY not only misunderstands him, but also misrepresents him.

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He takes no offense at either of these facts, since the misrepresentation in this case comes not from any ill will, but from a misunderstanding which is clearly chronic and incurable. But to those who are not thus afflicted we will once more point out that the internal sense in the inspired Writings of the New Church is continuous and therefore Divine and Infinite, while the internal sense in all merely human compositions is finite within and without, and therefore not Divine, not the Word of God. This makes quite a difference, does it not?

     The March-April issue of the NORDISK NYKIRKELIGT TIDSKRIFT opens with a sermon on "The Non-Appropriation of Evil," by the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, translated into Swedish by Mr. Olof Nordenskiold. This is followed by a paper on "New Church Schools" in which Miss Sophie Nordenskiod describes the benefits derived by her during her attendance at the Academy Schools in Bryn Athyn, the work of these schools, in the various departments, and the possibilities, or, at least, desirability, of opening a similar school in Sweden. Miss Nordenskiold, herself an experienced teacher, and at present instructor (in "Church History," among other things) in the most prominent Girls' School in Stockholm, bears enthusiastic yet sober-minded testimony to the kind of education provided by the Academy Schools and to the character of the pupils. Modesty forbids our translating anything but this sentence concerning the youngsters: "At the same time they are full of sparkling life, and also of mischief, just like other children, for such is the quality of the natural."

     The editor, Pastor S. C. Bronniche, commenting on a criticism in the February LIFE, takes exception to our statement that "in the very act of Revelation the human words of the revelator [Swedenborg] were completely filled with the Holy Spirit of the Divine Human, once and forever glorified." It seems to Mr. Bronniche that this is to claim for the Writings a literal inspiration, similar to that of the Sacred Scriptures, but, he adds, "perhaps we have not understood" the editor of the LIFE.

     We are glad to have this opportunity to express ourselves more fully. The Academy of the New Church has never claimed for the Writings a literal inspiration such as that of the Sacred Scriptures.

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In each of the Divine Revelations the inspiration descends to a different plane: in the Old Testament the very letters are filled with the Divine; in the New Testament the words are inspired; and in the Heavenly Doctrine the thoughts. These are the successive planes of the inspiration of the Word, and the freedom of expression with the inspired medium increases according to the ascent to the rational plane. In the New Testament the writers speak far more "sicut a se" than do the prophets of the Old Testament, and in the Writings Swedenborg speaks apparently altogether of himself.

     The language of the Writings, therefore, is not infallible when viewed from without, for there are various external slips and errors, which in no manner affect the Doctrine itself. But when viewed from within, it is seen that the Doctrine itself could not have been stated otherwise than in the very words which Swedenborg has used. If the language had been different, the Doctrine would have been different. As to the Doctrine, therefore, the language of the Writings is filled with the Holy Spirit, for the Doctrine is the Holy Spirit, and the language is filled with this Doctrine.

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WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD 1914

WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD              1914

     "THE WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD. By Emanuel Swedenborg. Originally published at London in 1745. In Three Parts. A Revised and Complete translation, including the Third Part now first published and translated into English from the Latin Manuscript of the Author, by Alfred H. Stroh, A. M., and Frank Sewall, A. M., D. D. Boston. Published by the Trustees of Lydia S. Rotch. Massachusetts New Church Union, 134 Bowdoin Street, 1914." 292 pp. Price, $1.00.

     After some fifteen years of patient (?) expectation, the Church has at last been benefitted by the publication of Swedenborg's WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD in a new English edition, at a popular price. The volume is especially interesting, however, because it contains a great deal of material from Swedenborg's pen that has not until now been available in printed form, although a photo lithographic reproduction appeared already in 1870. To the text of the first Part has been added a translation of the indicative notes which Swedenborg made in the margin of his own copy, so as to constitute headings or propositions which are further elaborated in the text. The reader, however, is not informed that these notes were written by the author at a later date, although this knowledge might help in explaining Swedenborg's attitude toward this his work-composed, as it was, at the culmination of his scientific and philosophical career and thus in the transition period of his life.

     The most important addition of new material is the inclusion of the Third Part. This Part, which even in manuscript form is fragmentary, was never published by Swedenborg, although he received the first sheet from the press.* The editing, however, of this part, seems somewhat hurried. The second subdivision (indicated in the manuscript above n. 121) is neglected; and although nos. 111-117 are translated from proof sheets bound in Codex 68, the impression is given that the original is wholly in handwriting. Such important details should be mentioned.
     * This sheet is now bound up in Coder 68, at the Library of the Royal Academy of Sciences, in Stockholm.

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     Besides the third Part (-which covers thirty pages and treats of the "Married Life of the First-born Pair"-) the new edition also includes an Appendix of two pages, viz., two fragments, on the "Origin of Disease," and on the "Beginning of Vital Functions." These are selected from some MS. pages, which seem to outline the remainder of Part III, as far as the author had completed it. While the portions chosen for the Appendix indeed are interesting, we feel that the publication of all these extant fragments would have made the volume a more complete and satisfactory production. We hope this will be done in the complete Latin edition, which, according to the Preface, is now contemplated.

     The translation of the first two parts is only a revision of the Rev. John Clowes' previous version, the changes made affecting the style especially. An instance of improvement is the exclusion of the word "principle," which so frequently was arbitrarily appended to abstract words in the old version. In translating the Third Part a simultaneous translation submitted for comparison by the Rev. Alfred Acton, "afforded valuable assistance in the effort to find the most accurate rendering of a text in places obscure both in the writing and the meaning," and is so mentioned in the preface.

     An "analytical Index" is appended. This fact will, no doubt, increase the appetite for the subject matter, but its inferior quality both as to thoroughness and as to arrangement make it of relatively small assistance to the student. However, in spite of the regrettable omissions above mentioned, the present volume represents a most comprehensive version of the WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD and therefore it may be timely to review the history of the book somewhat more fully than the Editors of the new edition found space to do.

     Swedenborg, in his Diary for the year 1744, mentions that he was then writing on the topics discussed in the third part of the REGNUM ANIMALE.

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On September 29th-while in London*-he had finished the treatment of "forms in general," and he was told that night in a dream that "what he had then written, with the help of God, concerning forms, was such that it would carry him onwards to see things yet more glorious." The goal toward which he was being led was the WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD. Under "Oct. 6 x 7" Swedenborg notes: "Something has been told concerning my book; it was told that it would be (wore) a Liber divinus de Dei cultu et amore; I believe there was also something concerning spiritibus; I believed that I had something concerning this in my de Infinito, but no answer was given to this." For a time there was indecision in his mind as to whether he should continue the Regnum Animale or abandon his analytical studies for the synthetic and speculative philosophy of the WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD. But the new love seemed to have arisen, in him, and we next find him: stating, on the 27th of October: "It had formerly been told me, that the 27th of October would come again when I should undertake the Cultum et Amorem Dei." The same night he was told by dreams concerning the work which he had now undertaken "in the name of God" that he was not to take from, the material of other [authors], but only from his own.
     * Mr. Hyde, in his monumental BIBLIOGRAPHY (P. 104), makes the ludicrous mistake of assuming that Swedenborg returned to Sweden in 1744. The basis of his conclusion was a statement in the above mentioned Diary, where Swedenborg described a dream, in which he seemed to himself to be in Sweden. (Cf. Doc. II, p. 204.)

     Before returning to Sweden in July, 1745, Swedenborg published, in London, the first two parts of the WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD. Exactly how the author regarded his work is a matter of conjecture. His marginal notes are entirely confirmatory, and the fact of the work's being left unfinished is not a ground for discredit since his wider mission as a revelator began before he had wholly prepared the Third Part for the press. Mr. Christian Johansen's statement that Swedenborg did not regard it equal to his other works because in it he had made a playful use of the Latin language (Doc. 285) is by some thought of little weight in view of what the author himself testifies in the HISTORY OF CREATION:

     "The origin of the earth, and also Paradise, the Garden, and the birth of Adam, have been dealt with in the first part of my treatise on the WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD,-but there under the guidance of the understanding, or according to the thread of reason.

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Since, however, 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 the above mentioned little work with what is revealed in the Sacred page . . . and 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. . . . When I had made a diligent comparison of these chapters [of Genesis with the work in question], I was amazed at the agreement."

     While this passage definitely states that the book was written not from inspiration but by the thread of reason, it is clear that as scientific and philosophic truth it has incalculable value on its own plane, stimulating the imagination and rational faculties of the reader who must be suffered to categorize it for himself according to the truth that he sees in it.

     Dr. Gabriel Beyer, Swedenborg's intimate friend, who probably knew the revelator's estimation of the work better than Johansen, includes it in his INDEX of Swedenborg's later works, and comments upon it as follows, in a letter to C. F. Nordenskald, dated 1776:

     ". . .The work DE CULTU ET AMORE DEI is not of importance in respect to theological doctrine; but in respect to natural truths it contains many beautiful and profound thoughts. On the subject of God, and love and wisdom, on the Son, the person of Adam, the sources of life, and imputation he expressed himself quite differently after he had received instruction from the Lord . . . wherefore this work is never cited in the other works." (Doc. II, p. 427.) The reference in the HISTORY OF CREATION must have been unknown to Dr. Beyer.*
     * Some students have supposed a reference to the W. L. G. to be made in T. C. R. 33, where the phrase "MY WORKS concerning Creation" occurs.

     The book has been printed in a number of editions. The original Latin edition of the Second Part seems to have been inaccessible soon after Swedenborg's death, for in 1791 this volume was reprinted in 4to by Robert Hindmarsh.

     English translations of portions of the First Part were issued about the same time in the NEW MAGAZINE OF KNOWLEDGE (1790-1791), in the AURORA (1799) and in the HALCYON LUMINARY, Of New York (1812), and in 1801 the Aurora press (J. Hodson) issued the complete translation of the two first Parts, in detachable installments.

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All these translations are supposed to be by Robert Hindmarsh.

     The Rev. John Clowes soon made another complete translation, and published it in Manchester, 1816, and London, 1828. This was reprinted in two American Editions, Boston (John Allen), 1832, and Boston (T. H. Carter), 1864. After this no new edition appeared until the Rev. Tho. Murray German, M. A., edited a handsome new version of the Latin, (so faithful to the original as to include even the advertisements of a printing house, defunct a century ago), and later he issued a new edition of Clowes' translation, uniform in size and style with his Latin 8vo. edition (Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1885). The next edition was the Rotch Edition, of this year.

     To make the history of the book complete, a mention should be made of a fragmentary Swedish translation by Allan Arvid Afzelius (a prelate, poet, hymnologist, and member of the Pro Fide et Charitate Society). This was published in 1816, by Carl Deleen, but includes only 48 pages. Later, in 1902, a new Swedish translation was begun by A. H. Stroh and J. E. Boyesen but it was left uncompleted, only a few numbers being published in the NYA KYRKANS HAROLD. We are also informed of a French Manuscript translation, made as early as 1780 and 1785, by J. P. Meet, whose widow sold the MS. to J. A. Tulk. It is now in the possession of the New Church Society in Kensington, England.

     For the benefit of those who are not acquainted with the contents of the work now brought before the public in a completed form, we quote an account by Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson:

     In the WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD, Swedenborg gives an ornate scientific narrative of the creation of our solar system, dropping the mathematical form of the Principia and telling the story of the world in a physical and pictorial strain. The method runs from the general to the universal, making use of nature as a vast tradition that speaks to those who understand her, of the whole past by the present. Thus as the sun is the material sustainer of the system, so this sustenance demonstrates a parental relation and hence the sun was originally its material parent.

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Further, as all growth and springing take place in spring times, so the vernal seasons of all things point backwards to a primordial universal spring, the ocean of every rill of geniality, the germinal warmth of the world. This parentage with its conditions is unfolded; the conception and birth of the planets near the bosom of the sun from his own body and substance; their incubation in the great egg of the universe; their exclusion therefrom and their entry into space for themselves. The first kingdoms of nature are also described and their difference from all others, for they were pregnant with all; moreover the general spring resulting from the nearness of the earth to the sun, and from the rapidity of its revolutions, whereby all the seasons were blended into one as to their temperate and delightful mean, night also being melted into, and mingled through, day, as winter through summer. And as the mineral was parturient with the vegetable, and the vegetable with the animal, so the innermost of the vegetable, the tree of life, bore the transcendent ovum of our race, and there the infinite met the finite and the first Adam was born. This concludes one department of the work.

     The remainder of the book is occupied with a description of the education of the first man, which took place by spiritual ministrations; and the second part is devoted to the creation of Eve, her education and marriage to Adam; the whole being an allegory of a six days' work. In both sexes, the spirit-lessons [of their instruction] are taught by delightful representation and scene-work born of the plastic atmospheres; and the novitiate mankind is raised to its feet, and eye after eye opened to the heaven above them, by sportive children fluttering around, and by attractive fruitage pendant overhead from the motherly groves of paradise.

     The Third Part, it should be added, is devoted to a depicting of the married life of the first two men, and in connection with this the preserved fragments foreshadow in representative visions the end and goal of mankind, its destinies and glories beyond the grave,-the heaven from the human race. But the full description of that heaven was reserved for a later time, when Swedenborg could speak from Divine inspiration and actual experience.

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BEHOLD MY HANDS AND MY FEET 1914

BEHOLD MY HANDS AND MY FEET       Rev. W. L. GLADISH       1914

     "Behold my hands and my feet that it is I myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have." (Luke 24:30)

     The Lord spoke these words to His disciples because they thought that He was a spirit. He wished to convince them that He was not a spirit, but a Man; that He had a body such as spirits have not, and indeed that He was altogether the same Man whom they had seen crucified, dead and buried. He calmed their fears. He called them to Him, showed them His hands and feet, made them handle Him (A. E. 619:15) and see that He Himself was there in a substantial body.

     After they had seen and felt of Him their fear gave place to joy and yet they could not believe for joy and wonder that such a thing could be-that the body which they saw dead and buried should now be alive. They feared to trust their senses prove still further that it was He Himself He asked them: "Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and of an honey-comb. And He took and did eat before them."

     Then having convinced them that it was really He Himself He opened to them the Scriptures and showed them that thus it was written and thus it behooved the Christ to suffer and to enter into His glory. And they were to be witnesses of these things to all the world.

     But Thomas, one of the twelve, was not with them. When the other disciples told him that they had seen the Lord, he refused to believe and he said: "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into His side I will not believe." (John 20:25.)

     Eight days later Thomas was with them. And again the Lord appeared in the midst and said 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."

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     In the DOCTRINE OF THE LORD (41) we are taught that Thomas, as commanded, not only beheld the Lord's hands, but also touched His side. Then he answered and said unto Him: "My Lord and my God!"

     Thus even Thomas was at last convinced, convinced by the testimony both of sight and touch, that the Lord Himself was living even as to His body; that He had triumphed over death; that He was not therefore mortal, but Divine, "My Lord and my God."

     It was on this foundation stone that the Christian Church was built. On this rested men's hope of immortality. The Lord had raised up His own body, triumphing over death. So would He cause all men to rise and live again at the last day.

     In the New Church we have learned that man's physical body is not to be raised. And therefore perhaps we are inclined to doubt that the Lord's body was raised. But it is the doctrine of the New Jerusalem that our faith, no less than that of the disciples, must rest upon His resurrection even as to the body.

     A superstructure can be no stronger than its foundation. All power is in ultimates. The New Church stands for the worship of the visible God in whom dwells the invisible God bodily. (T. C. R. 787) In this is her strength and her excellence. By this she is to be the crown of the Churches.

     But if the Lord did not rise with His natural body He is not the visible God. He took on flesh and came into the world that men might "see and handle" the Word of God (I. JOHN 1:1): if His body were put off by death He would have ceased to be the visible God. It was not therefore for the sake of His disciples alone that He so fully demonstrated that He rose with the whole body, but also for all who might believe on Him through their word, thus for His church throughout the ages.

     But are we to think that there were wounds in the body with which He rose? His body was not now material, but Divine Substantial. All that was from Mary had been put off. He rose with His Human "thoroughly and clearly glorified." (ATH. CREED 162.) Could there be wounds in the glorified Divine Human? If the nature of correspondences and representatives is understood it will be seen that there could not but be wounds in the Divine Human at that time.

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     The Lord suffered the passion of the cross as the Son of Man or the word. Every particular of His passion, although it seemed to happen but by chance, yet did not so happen but was permitted as representing the state of the church with that nation, their attitude toward the Word. The fact that so many particulars of His passion were foretold in the Scriptures might indicate that this was so. Their parting His garments, casting lots upon His vesture, offering Him vinegar to drink, crucifying Him, piercing His side, were all but representations of what they had already done in spirit to His Word.

     As it is said in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED: "By Piercing Jesus Christ nothing else is meant but to destroy His Divine Truth in the Word. This also is meant by one of the: soldiers piercing His side and blood and water flowing out. Blood and water are the Divine Truth, spiritual and natural, and thus the Word in its spiritual and natural sense; and to pierce the Lord's side is to destroy both by falsities, as was also done by the Jews." (26.)

     The wounds inflicted by the nails and by the soldier's sword were, indeed, but in the material body; but there were deeper wounds inflicted upon the incarnate Word of which these were the external signs. These deeper wounds could not but appear to all who saw Him in the spiritual world. And it was in that world that His disciples saw Him, for after His resurrection He was seen only by the opening of the spiritual sight. Representatives, which had prevailed throughout the Israelitish church, must be continued even in His glorified body until the truth which was represented was acknowledged and His Church was established.

     The Lord's eating the broiled fish and honey comb may also present some difficulties to the mind, but no more than the three angels' eating of the calf which Abraham prepared for them. Did we but understand the interior laws of nature such difficulties would instantly vanish. They arise from our ignorance. His eating before them was also according to the Divine laws of order as presented in ultimates by representatives; as we read in the ARCANA (5620): "The honey comb and broiled fish which the Lord ate with the disciples after His resurrection also signified the external sense of the Word-the fish as to its truth and the honey comb as to its pleasantness. . . .

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And because those things are signified the Lord (after eating) therefore said to them: "These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are spoken in the law of Moses and in the Psalms and in the Prophets concerning Me.'"

     Here the Lord taught first by representatives and immediately afterward He taught the same thing by words. To eat means to appropriate. The Lord had fulfilled all things of the law. They had been His meat which the disciples knew not of (JOHN 4:32). To represent this He ate before them the fish and honey comb; then He also taught them the meaning of the Scriptures as fulfilled in Him, which was what His eating signified.

     The number continues: "It appears as if such things were not signified because their having a piece of broiled fish and a honey comb seems as if fortuitous; yet still this was of providence and not only this but also all other, even the least, of the things that occur in the Word. As such things were signified therefore the Lord said of the Word that in it were written the things concerning Himself. . . . By honey is signified the enjoyment which is from truth and good, as from affection for them and, in particular, external enjoyment, thus the enjoyment of the exterior natural."

     The fish signified truth of the same plane, i. e., sensuous truth. The fish and the honey represented the Word as to its natural sense such as it was among the Israelites and Jews, that is the Old Testament. And because the Lord had taken this sense of the Word into His Human and made it Divine therefore He asked for and ate the food which the disciples gave Him.

     In the Jewish Church spiritual things were only represented. In the Christian Church they were to be taught openly. When the Lord was here at the end of the Jewish dispensation and the beginning of the Christian, He both represented and taught the truth.

     But perhaps it may be objected that the body which the disciples saw and handled was not the body that was laid in the grave. The body placed there was mortal from Mary; the body in which He now appeared was Divine.

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All that He had from the mother was rejected on the cross and dissipated in the sepulcher; the body in which He rose was put on from the Divine within Him. The disciples evidently thought it was the same body-though they must have recognized that it had undergone some miraculous transformation. The fact that He now appeared in the midst of them, the doors being shut, and disappeared at will, showed that His body was not as it had been before His death and burial. But even if they were deceived as to the identity of the substance of the risen body, this was but due to their limitations. The Lord spoke and taught the truth. Their understanding of it might have been faulty or inadequate-just as it was when He told them that they should sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and they understood His words literally. Yet even this faulty understanding bound them to Him so that they remained in the way of enlightenment and could learn later the true meaning of His words. So also with their belief in regard to His resurrection body. The essential thing to be known was that He rose with His whole body, leaving nothing in the tomb. And this we must believe, too, if we are to be of the Church. A few truths are made known to us that they did not have concerning the nature of the body that died and of the one which arose. But these truths are given only to remove doubts not to awaken them. If we do not fully understand still we must believe what He so plainly taught, namely, that: He glorified and rose with the whole body even to its flesh and bones. This truth is itself the light which dissolves all doubts and reveals to him who accepts it the genuine verities back of all appearances.

     The necessity that the Lord should rise with the whole body is taught in the following passage-as also in hundreds of passages in the Writings:-

     "The Divine Itself which is the Esse of all things was in the Lord alone; for He was conceived from Jehovah, and every man has from his father the esse of his life, i. e., his soul; hence it is evident that the Divine Good of the Divine Love was in the human of the Lord as the soul of a father is in a son; and because with man nothing lives but the soul-for the body without the soul does not live-it hence follows that the esse itself in the human of the Lord was Jehovah; and the esse of life makes everything which thence exists in its own image and likeness; so the Lord from the Divine in Him made the Human the Divine Good of the Divine Love. . . .

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For this reason the Lord took up with Him into heaven all His Human glorified, that is, made Divine from Himself and left nothing of it in the sepulcher, otherwise than with man." (A. C. 10125.)

     This is the reason why the Lord must of necessity rise with the whole body. The soul is the only thing that lives in the body. The soul is continually bringing the body into the image and likeness of itself. The Lord's soul was Divine. Therefore it follows that He could not but make His body Divine so that it might be the perfect likeness of His soul. This involved the rejection of all the forms and substances which He had from the mother and the substitution in their place of both forms and substances from the in-dwelling Soul. It involved the entire remaking of the assumed human, the putting off, the dissipation, if you please, the destruction of the natural human; but it equally involved the putting on of a new Human, or a new body, from the soul within. The Divine was not left without a body-thus unclothed and invisible as before-but by means of an assumed and finite human He put on a Divine Human and so became visible in a body fully infinite and Divine.

     Taking on mortal flesh by birth of a virgin was not in itself to reveal the Divine and make it visible. The flesh assumed was a thick veil through which the Divine could scarcely be seen. The manifestation of the Divine lay in putting off the flesh from the mother and putting on Divine Flesh from the indwelling Father. This work began in early boyhood, was continued throughout His life and completed on the cross and in the sepulcher; so that He rose with the Human fully and clearly glorified. Thereafter He was seen in His own Divine Body and was indeed the visible God. But unless He rose with the whole body He would not be the visible God nor would there be any Natural Divine Human.

     It is clearly shown in the following passage that what was done on the cross and in the sepulcher in the rejection and dissipation of the body from Mary was but the completion of the same work of glorification which progressed throughout His whole life in the world:-

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"That natural death, which is a casting off of the unclean things of the body, and spiritual death, which is a removal of the unclean things of the spirit, signify resurrection can be seen from passages in the Apocalypse where the first and second death are treated of, which are also called the first and second resurrection. . . . Also in David: 'Precious in the eyes of Jehovah is the death of His saints.' (Ps. 116:15.) Evidently the death of the saints does not signify damnation but the separation and removal of the unclean things of their spirit, thus resurrection and regeneration. So also in John: 'Jesus said except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die it beareth much fruit." (12:24.)

     The same is true of man, who that he may rise again must die both in respect to the body and in respect to his proprium, which is in itself infernal: for unless both of these die he does not have the life of heaven.

     As men rise again after death so it was the Lord's will to suffer death and to rise again the third day, but to the end that He might put off everything human that He had from the mother and might put on the Divine Human for everything human that the Lord took from the mother He cast off from Himself by temptations and finally by death; and by putting on a Human from the Divine that was in Him He glorified Himself, that is, made His Human Divine. Therefore in heaven His death and burial do not mean death and burial, but the purification of His human and glorification. "That this is so the Lord taught by comparison with wheat falling into the earth which must die that it may bear fruit." (A. E. 899:13.) And in the ATH. CR. (P. 35): "The Lord in the sepulchre and thus by death rejected all the human from the mother and dissipated it . . . and so He assumed the Human from the Father."

     The rejection of the matter of the body from Mary and their dissipation, to be replaced by substances from the Divine, was but the completion of the same work that had gone on during His whole life. First, His spirit was to be glorified and then His body. If the glorification of the former can be understood and accepted there should be no difficulty in accepting that of the latter.

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     But it may be asked, If the Lord rose with His whole body; why does not man so rise? Why does man leave his body never to resume it and rise in a spiritual body only?

     The Lord was Life Itself. Therefore He made His body Life Itself from Life within it. Man is but a created receptacle of life. He has a finite soul. Moreover man's soul from his father is an evil affection; therefore evil with man cannot be expelled and dissipated but only removed to the circumference and covered. Consequently his body cannot be made even spiritual, much less Divine. It can only be rejected and the soul which Is spiritual is raised out of the body together with a border of the purest substance of nature. But from the beginning to the end of His life in the world the Lord was making His Human even as His Divine, His Body even as His Soul. Therefore He must needs rise from the tomb with the whole of His body fully and clearly glorified.

     "Unless this had been done no man could have risen again to life for man has resurrection unto life solely from the Lord and indeed from His having united the Divine with His Human and from this union, or strictly speaking, glorification, man has salvation." (A. E. 659:19.)

     In His Divine Human, because He is thereby in ultimates with full omnipotence, God retains to eternity the power to keep the hells in subjection. He is at the same time the visible God, the only object of His Church's love and worship. He who looks to God in His Divine Human is conjoined with Him, regenerated and saved; but he who does not look to the Lord worships an
invisible God with whom there; can be no conjunction. Amen.

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DOCETISTIC THEORY 1914

DOCETISTIC THEORY       C. TH. ODHNER       1914

     The question whether the human figure remains with man after death, and whether the spiritual world is objective as well as subjective, is an issue of such importance as to demand a most thorough discussion. Full freedom has been and will be allowed in the pages of NEW CHURCH LIFE for the presentation of the negative side,-the side which denies the human figure to angels and spirits, and which denies the objective reality of the spiritual world; it is but fair that the affirmative side: should also enjoy the same privilege. As editor of the LIFE We Should have preferred to stand aside in this discussion, and we have waited for more than two years for some one to present the affirmative arguments in greater fulness than was done by us in December, 1911, but no one appeared until Mr. Pitcairn issued his earnest protest in April of the present year. We are therefore impelled to continue the critical examination of the theory at some length in the present issue of the LIFE.

     THE MEMORY IS INSCRIBED UPON THE WHOLE MAN.

     The Docetistic theory rests upon the assumption that the natural memory of man is inscribed upon the cortical substance of the brain, as it exists in the head only, and it is therefore claimed that "as the limbus, or natural memory plane, is the cutaneous envelope of the spiritual body, it necessarily follows that it is only in appearance that our spiritual bodies are in like shape to that of the body we know here: otherwise the spiritual bodies would be either outside their own skins, or would have a body like ours, but enveloped in the covering of their brains!"

     Mr. Gill's contention, however, falls to the ground, together with his reductio ad absurdum, in view of the fact that the cortical substance, upon which the natural memory is inscribed, is not limited to the brain only, but exists throughout the body. Every one knows this, but the Writings present the interior truths concerning this elementary fact of physiology.

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It seems almost superfluous to point out that the memory is nothing but the ultimate function of the mind, and that the memory therefore is concomitant with the mind, i. e., the will and the understanding.

     "The will and the understanding are in the brains, in the whole and in every part of them, and thence in the body, in the whole anal in every part of it." (General article, D. L. W. 362.)

     "The spirit of man, is in the whole and every part of the body, and is its purer substance, in both its motor and sensory organs, and everywhere else." (A. C. 4659.)

     "The soul constitutes not only the inmost things of the head, but also the inmost things of the body; so the mind is actually in the whole body." (C. L. 178.)

     "The mind remains the same as it was in the world, and since 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 it is continued from the head. And therefore the mind is the man himself, no longer however a material man but a spiritual man." (FIVE MEM. REL. 5.)

     "The brains are the seat of the understanding and the will, which in one term are called the mind and in consequence they are the seat of intelligence and wisdom, and these are there in their first beginnings. And the organs that are formed to receive sensations and to produce motions, are derivations thence, precisely like streams from their fountains, or derivatives from their beginnings, or composite things, from their substances; and these derivations are such that the brains are present everywhere." (A. E. 775:3)

     "That the spirit of man is his mind, and whatever proceeds from it. By the spirit of man in concrete, nothing else is meant than his mind, for this it is which lives after death, and is from it. By the spirit of man in concrete, nothing else is meant than his mind, for this it is which lives after death, and is then called his spirit. . . . The mind of every man is his internal man, which is actually a man and is within in the external man, which makes his body; wherefore when the body is rejected, which takes places by death, it [the spirit] is in the perfect human form.

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They, therefore, err, who believe that the mind of man is only in the head. It is there only in its beginnings (principiis), from which there first goes forth all that which man thinks from the understanding and acts from the will; but in the body it is in its principiates, formed to feel and to act." (T. C. R. 156; see also T. C. R. 375, 403, and A. E. 775)

     In view of these teachings it is most astonishing that intelligent students of New Church philosophy and theology should claim that the memory is impressed only upon the cortical glands of the head, and not at the same time upon the cortical substance which, through the fibers and the nerves, is distributed throughout the human body. But the teaching continues even more definitely:

     "When man's acts are disclosed to him after death, the angels to whom is given the office of searching, look into his face, and the search is extended through the whole body, beginning from the fingers of each hand, and thus proceeding through the whole. Because I wondered as to the reason of this, it was made known to me, namely, that as all things of the thought and will are inscribed on the brain, for their beginnings are there, so also they are inscribed on the whole body; since all things of thought and will extend thither from their beginnings and there terminate as in their ultimates. Hence it is that the things which are inscribed on the MEMORY, from the will and its thought, ARE NOT ONLY INSCRIBED ON THE BRAIN, BUT ALSO ON THE WHOLE MAN, and there exist in order, according to the order of the parts of the body." (H. H. 463.)

     It will be seen, therefore, that there is no foundation for the claim of the Docetistic theory that the memory is confined to the head alone. It is a claim that is distinctly refuted by the Writings of the Church, and it can be maintained only by ignoring their distinct teachings.

      THE UNKNOWN FIBRE-LESS SHAPE.

     The Docetistic theory necessitates the denial of any fibers and nerves existing in the spiritual body.

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In the DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, n. 388, we are taught that "the human form itself with all and each of the things of it, is from the first beginnings continued from the brain through the nerves. . . This form it is into which man comes after death." Commenting on this teaching Mr. Gill says:

     "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." (1911, P. 737.)

     This manner of disposing of the whole fibrous and nervous organization of the spiritual body is simply a begging of the question, for thoughts and affections do not exist outside of organic substances; and affections and thoughts are, in fact, nothing but actuations and modifications of the inmost fibers. Were we to follow Mr. Gill's method of reasoning we might just as well deny the existence of the cortical glands themselves by saying that the spiritual glands "would seem rather to represent the will and the understanding of the spirit than the spirit himself."

     We are assured by our Docetistic friends that they do not deny the existence of the spiritual body; they only deny that it is in the human shape "as seen in the natural world by the natural eye under the natural sun,"-that is to say, the spiritual body is a body without head, trunk and extremities. An angel has no eyes, but only "representations" of eyes, and, says Mr. Gill, "it seems hard to suppose that these eyes are organs shaped like the natural eye," (N. C. LIFE, 1913, p. 660). And so with the rest of the human forms. Nothing, according to him, is similar in form to what: we know here, whether in general or particular, excepting perhaps the cortical glands in the head. But what is the exact form and shape of these glands? Do our friends have any idea of them, except such as they have gained through the microscope in the natural world by the natural eye under the natural sun? No! and the spiritual glands also must therefore be of a totally unknown form and shape, according to the Docetistic theory.

     What kind of an organic form is it, then, that our friends would grant to the after-death man?

347


Mr. Gill claims that "in the Writings there seems to be no absolutely direct teaching as to the exact form of the after-death man,"-a most astounding claim! We are assured that the angels really have no lips and ears, but only representations of lips and ears. They possess no face or features whatsoever, but only mere appearances of these things. What, then, is their form' Only a collection of cortical glands of unknown form, enclosed within some kind of a membrane of unknown shape! Thus the unknown, of which we can form no idea, is to be substituted for the known form, that form and shape which is the beautiful image and likeness of God Man! Not even a brain is left, for not a single fibre is permitted to extend from the little glands, and there is, therefore, no medullary substance, no organic connection between the glands and their general covering, no sensory nerves extending into and through the cutaneous envelope. In "splendid isolation" from all other spiritual beings, the tight little monads remain silent forever within their tight envelope,-the shape of which appears to us something like a jelly-fish, floating about in empty space,-"sans teeth, sans eyes, salts taste, sans everything."

     The Heavenly Doctrine presents a very different picture, indeed, of the organic form and shape of the spiritual body.

     THE SPIRITUAL BODY IS A COMPLETE FIBROUS ORGANIC FORM.

     In the Writings we are taught in most definite manner that angels and spirits possess not only cerebral glands, but, extending from these, spiritual fibers and nerves which compose a complete organic spiritual body.

     "From the cortical substances 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)

     "From what has been said above it can be seen that the mind of man is the man himself.

348


For the first stamen of the human form, or the human form itself with all and single things thereof, is from its beginnings from the brain continued through the nerves, according to what has been shown above. THIS form it is into which man comes after death, and he is then called a spirit or an angel, and he is in all perfection called a man, but a spiritual man. The material form which is added and superinduced in the world, is not the human form of itself, but is from it. It is added and superinduced in order that man may do uses in the natural world, and also in order that he may take with him from the purer substances of the world some fixed containant of spiritual things, and thus continue and perpetuate life. It is a truth of angelic wisdom, that the mind of man, not only in general but also in every particular, is in a perpetual conatus to the human form, because God is Man." (D. L. W. 388)

     And in order to show that by "This form" is meant not only "the first stamen," but the whole human figure "continued through the nerves," the following teaching is immediately added:

     "In order that man may be man, there must be no part lacking, either in the head or in the body, that exists in a perfect man, for there is not anything there which does not enter into that [human] form and makes it; for it is the form of love and wisdom, which in itself regarded is Divine. All the determinations of love and wisdom are in that form, and they are infinite in God Man, but finite in His image which is man, angel, and spirit. If there were lacking any part, which exists in man, there would be lacking something of the determination from the love and wisdom corresponding to it, by which the Lord can be with man from firsts in ultimates, and from His Divine Love by His Divine Wisdom provide uses in the created world." (D. L. W. 389.)

     Can anything be more plain, simple, and downright exoteric? In the spiritual body, as in the natural, there is no part lacking, "either in the head or in the body." And therefore Swedenborg tells us, just as definitely, that

349




     "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 I 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.)

     According to the Docetistic theory, however, this passage should be interpreted as follows: "I can say and affirm that angels appear in form entirely men; that they appear to have faces, eyes, ears, body, arms, hands and feet; that they appear to see one another, appear to hear one another, and appear to talk together; in a word, that there appears to be nothing whatever wanting to them that belongs to man, except that they do not appear clothed over all with a material body."

     In Swedenborg's preparatory works we find the scientific and philosophical basis for the spiritual teaching of the Writings concerning the permanence of the human form and figure after death. In the RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, the entire first chapter is devoted to a demonstration that "the simple fibre" is of a heavenly nature, corresponding to the substance of heaven or to the first and most universal aura; that it is secure from all injury; and hence is immortal and imperishable. And in the ECONOMY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, n. 348, Swedenborg teaches, further, that "the human spirituous fluid," circulating through these simplest fibers, also remains immortal, and that, "when emancipated from the bounds and trammels of earthly things, if will still assume the exact form of the human body,"-a teaching which is further developed in nos. 351-356.

     We cannot understand why our Docetistic friends pay no heed to this definite teaching or to the beautiful rational grounds which Swedenborg in this work adduces for his belief. The Divinely inspired conatus or effort towards the production of the complete human form remains in the celestial cortex of each little gland and operates through every thread of the immortal fibre. The celestial aura in which man finds himself after death,-the human-formative element,-also conspires to produce this form, and, being endowed with the most perfect elasticity, offers no resistance whatsoever.

350


There is, therefore, absolutely nothing to prevent the spiritual glands and fibres from "assuming the exact form of the human body."

     This is the answer of Swedenborg, the philosopher,-an answer repeated numberless times throughout the inspired Writings,-to the preposterous claim that "there is no absolutely direct teaching as to the exact form of the after-death man," and we shall, in addition, quote the following from an author who, here at least, seems to support our contention:

     But there is something else [besides the human spirituous fluid] drawn forth from the 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. . . . 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.

     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, remain fixed in, this thread and the membranous webs it weaves. . . . 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 after death, there it is, the whole outward basket mold of him, plane after plane, with all his "memories" in it. (THE KINGDOM of THE DIVINE PROCEEDING, by Miss Lillian Beekman, pp. 55-57, with much more to the same effect, pp. 58-60.)

     Mr. Gill believes that a spirit or an angel appears to have hands and feet, face, etc., only when reflecting upon these nonexisting entities of thought. But he himself gives away his whole position when admitting that the bodily shape is reassumed whenever, after death, "the mind-form or brain-form has a certain thought or feels a certain affection." (N. C. LIFE, 1913, p. 90.) For since, whether the spirit be awake or asleep, his entire life is nothing but a continuous stream of thought and affection, it follows that: the bodily shape after death is constant and not merely occasional or dependent upon his self-conscious reflection upon his own form.

351




     And this human form and figure is constant, moreover, because it is substantial, consisting of actual substance, completely organic, for it is fibrous and membranous, and furnished with spiritual bones, spiritual muscles, spiritual organs and viscera, all enclosed within an outer cutneous envelope. The Heavenly Doctrine so teaches, the Docetistic theory to the contrary notwithstanding. And to this spiritual ultimate there are present in simultaneous order all the successive degrees of body, mind and soul.

     It is true that the mind of the angel makes one with his body, because in complete correspondence with it, but it is false to teach that his soul is not discretely distinct from his mind, or his mind from his body.

     "The upright spirits, with whom I have spoken concerning this matter, were grieved at heart because there is such ignorance within the Church concerning the state of heaven and concerning spirits and angels, and they asked me in indignation by all means to report that they are not minds without form, nor an aerial breath, but that they are men, in shape, and that they see, hear, and feel, equally with those who are in the world." (H. H. 77)

     "The reason angels and spirits have internal and external affections, is that they have mind, and body." (C. L. 304)

     "The angels have a body, a rational, and a spiritual." (H. H. 334.)

     "The natural mind of man consists of spiritual substances, and at the same time of natural substances: thought comes from its spiritual substances, but not from its natural substances; these latter recede when man dies, but not the spiritual substances. And therefore after death, when man becomes a spirit or angel, this same mind remains in a form like that in which it was in the world. The natural substances of the mind, which recede by death, sonstitute the cutaneous envelope of the spiritual body in which angels and spirits are. Through this envelope, which is taken from the natural world, their spiritual bodies subsist." (D. L. W. 257.)

     "The body of every spirit and angel is the external form of his love, exactly corresponding to the internal form of his mind." (H. H. 363.)

352




     "Man is born spiritual as to the soul, and is clothed with a natural which constitutes his material body; wherefore, when this is laid aside, the soul, clothed with a spiritual body comes into a world where all things are spiritual." (T. C. R. 583.)

     "Such now is the world's idea of the soul of man; although in the Word 'soul' has no such meaning, but means instead the life of man, which has no existence separate from a body, but only in a body; for a body is the external form of that life which is called the soul, giving effect to its will and pleasure in both worlds, the natural in which men live, and the spiritual in which angels and spirits live." (A. E. 750:27.)

     "Such as man is in his beginnings such he is in the whole, for the body, with all and single things thereof, is thence derived. If therefore the mind is in the faith of falsity and in the love of evil, then his whole body is in the like, that is, the whole man. This also can be manifestly evident from man when he becomes a spirit, good or evil; then his whole spiritual body, from head to heel, is altogether such as is his mind; if the mind is heavenly, the whole spirit is heavenly even as to the body; if the mind is infernal, the whole spirit is infernal even as to the body." (A. E. 775:41.)

     Were the spiritual body a mere "appearance," a "representation," or mirage-projection, it would be impossible to predicate of it either substance or sphere. But so substantial is it, that there is continually emanating from it a sphere of actual substances, as we are taught in the DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM:

     Speaking of the spiritual Sun as the Proceeding of the Divine Love and Wisdom, the angels said that "they have a clear perception of it in their own spiritual light, but that they cannot easily present it: to man in his natural light," but they compared it "to the sphere of affections and thoughts which encompasses each angel, whereby his presence is manifested to others near and far.

353


But that encompassing sphere, they said, is not the angel himself, but is from each and all things of his body, from which substances continually emanate as a stream, and the things which emanate also encompass him; and these substances, contiguous to his body, continually actuated by his life's two fountains of motion, the heart and the lungs, excite the atmospheres into their activities, and by this means present a perception, as it were, of his presence among others." (D. L. W. 291.)

     "By these things I was confirmed that every one in heaven and every one in hell is encompassed by a sphere consisting of substances set free and separated from their bodies." (292.) And again: "Those things which flow forth from angel and man, and constitute the spheres, about them, are not the angel or the man, but are from them, devoid of their life. This sphere makes one with the angel or man in no other way than that they are concordant, because taken from the forms of their bodies, which were the forms of their life in them." (294.)

     To speak of the spiritual body being merely an appearance, devoid of any membranous tissue, is to disregard the teaching concerning the "limbus" being the cutaneous envelope of the spiritual body. "Cutaneous" simply means skinny, membranous. And it is the spiritual body, not merely the spiritual brain, that possesses this cutaneous envelope from the finest: things of nature. From it proceeds the sphere of the angel, and this sphere; when descending into lower planes, "is clothed for use in a lower sphere with such things as are in that lower sphere, in order that the internal thing from which it proceeds may act in the lower sphere." (A. 5689.) "The angels and societies are conjoined and also disjoined according to these spheres." (A. C. 9606, 4126.)

     "This is the source of all sympathy and antipathy, and of all conjunction and disjunction, and presence or absence in the spiritual world is according to them." (C. L. 171)

     REAL APPEARANCES VERSUS MERE APPEARANCES.

     The Docetistic theory would turn all the real appearances of the spiritual world into mere appearances.

354


Mr. Gill, for instance, asserts that "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." (N. C. LIFE, 1911, p. 733.)

     Again we must express our profound astonishment at such an assertion, which is disproved by the actual language of the Writings in hundreds if not thousands of definite statements. But that Mr. Gill means that the human shape of the spiritual body is a mere appearance and not a red appearance, is evident from almost every statement he makes,-as for instance:

     The angels know that the real form of their bodies is not as is the appearance, (N. C. L., 1911, P. 733).

     We take it as proven that it is only in appearance that angels and spirits have bodies, (1911, P. 735).

     After death the uses of the body shape, as we know it here, are finished, and therefore it is no longer needed, except, maybe, by appearance. This being the case, it follows that this acquired and infilled form of the cortical glands is the outmost form and shape of man's spiritual body as it is in reality-not as it appears, (1913, pp. 89-90).

     It necessarily follows that it is only in appearance that our spiritual bodies are in like shape to that of the body we know here. (Ibid.)

     If the appearance of a spiritual body is only an appearance, merely an appearance, etc., then it is actually non-existent, a mere phantom, an unsubstantial mirage in the atmosphere, of which real appearance cannot be predicated. And if the very body of the angel himself is such, then everything else outside the angel is similarly a mere appearance, and there are no real appearances in the universal spiritual world. It is of no avail to claim that they are real appearances because they "really do appear," for a mirage also "really does appear," but it is not a substantial and real existence.

     Instead of juggling with the word "appearance" our friends should give attention to the clear definition of the Writings as to the nature of a "real" appearance and wherein it differs from a "mere" appearance:

     "The real is distinguished from the non-real in this that the real actually is such as it appears, whereas the non-real is actually NOT such as it appears." (A. C. 4623.)

355




     "These appearances, when with the angels, are called real, because they appear as they really ARE." (A. C. 4882.)

     How utterly Unwarranted is the Docetistic fallacy will be seen from the following: Divine teachings:

     "The appearances which are in heaven are called real appearances, because they really exist. There are also appearances not real, which are those that indeed appear, but do not correspond to the interior things." (H. H. 175.)

     "That the garments of angels do not merely appear as garments, but really ARE garments, is evident from this that they not only see them, but also feel them; and also that they have many garments, and that they put them on and put them off; and those which are not in use they preserve, and when they have use for them they put them on again." (H. H. 181.)

     "All spirits and angels are clothed according to their intelligence, or according to their reception of truth in life, this constituting intelligence; for the light of their intelligence is formed into garments, and when these are thus formed they do not merely appear as garments, but they also ARE garments. For all things that exist in the spiritual world, and appear before the eyes of those who are there, exist from the light and heat that proceed from the Lord as a sun; from that origin have been created and formed not only all things in the spiritual world, but also all things in the natural world; for the natural world exists and subsists by means of the spiritual world from the Lord. From this it can be seen that the appearances which exist in heaven before the angels are altogether real; in like manner also their garments." (A. E. 395a.)

     "All appearances which exist in the heavens are real, because they are correspondences; for the interior things which are of affections and thence of thoughts with the angels, when they pass through to the sight of their eyes, are clothed in forms such as appear in the heavens; and because they are visible they are called appearances, and are said to be correspondences, and they are real because they ARE from creation.

356


But it is otherwise with the appearances in some of the hells, where are those who are in persuasions of falsity from evil; from these persuasions there exist fantastic visions, in which there is nothing real within; wherefore they also vanish when only a ray of the light of heaven inflows." (A. E. 553.)

     Such are the real appearances in the spiritual world, which are very different, indeed, from the mere appearances set forth by our friends. It is simply impossible for them to state their views without constantly introducing some expression such as "only" an appearance, "purely" an appearance, "merely" an appearance, "except, maybe, in appearance,"-clearly revealing the fact that they are haunted by the illusions of Idealistic philosophy, the very essence of which consists of "mere appearances."
SWEDENBORG'S MARGINAL NOTES IN THE SCHIMIDIUS* BIBLE 1914

SWEDENBORG'S MARGINAL NOTES IN THE SCHIMIDIUS* BIBLE              1914

     DANIEL.**

     TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN BY THE REV. E. E. IUNGERICH.

     CHAPTER II.

     Verses 31-49

     Vers. 31 to end are prophetical things, but the rest in Daniel are historical. He was not a prophet except as to the explications of prophecies. With respect to this dream, they signify the state of the church from the first day of reformation, that is, from Noah, to the last [when it would be destroyed crossed], for the time before the flood was like that during conception in the womb, thus a time of oblivion.
     * Italics are used to denote explanatory words introduced by the translator; quotation marks to enclose words of the text cited by Swedenborg in, the notes; parenthesis, to enclose references to the text necessary to an understanding of the notes; brackets, to enclose words that Swedenborg has struck out or such as have faded; and small capitals for words which he underscored.
     ** INDEX BIBLICUS. Daniel, for the just imputation through faith after temptation, Ezek. xiv, 14; for the wisest man in the arcana of faith, xxvlil, 3.

357




     The first state* of the church, that is, of the Ancient, was "gold," that is, from celestial love, because the infancy and the first of the reformed one. This "is the head," or "first kingdom." The "second" is spiritual, it excelled in the understanding of celestial things, but not in love; that is, "silver."
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. Nebuchadnezzar, for God Messiah, love, good itself, gold. Dan. ii, 37, 38.

     The "third" was an inferior spiritual one, such as it is in the rational mind, this is "brass."

     The "fourth" was partly mundane, such as it is in the natural mind, imaginative, partly "mire," that is, corporeal.

     Thus the state of the church degenerated, for evils in man were successively accumulated by continued actualities, which transplanted and fixed new roots in the posterity.

     These successives are like things simultaneous, for the inmost mind is celestial; the more interior mind is spiritual; the interior mind is [spiri crossed] rational; [his crossed] the exterior or that of the senses, especially those of sight and hearing, is "iron" or mundane; and what is outmost is corporeal or "mire," thus what will perish, thus successively.

     That the whole statue fell to pieces, with the gold, silver, brass, iron, and mire, signifies that at the last time all these things no longer cohered, but were commingled; for the spiritual destroys the celestial; the natural destroys the spiritual; the mundane, especially when mixed with things terrestrial or corporeal, destroys spiritual things.

     Nebuchadnezzar here represents love and good, that is, God Messiah, vers. 37, 38.

     Verse 43.

     "Iron" and "clay" are the things in man which are corporeal and mundane when the man lives in outmosts and when he is to be destroyed, for otherwise he becomes like a wild beast. Then all that was human ceased, or all acknowledgment of truth. Wherefore it is said that they will commingle themselves [wherefore-crossed] "by the seed of man," as previously, namely, by what is transplanted into posterity. By "iron" and "mire" is thus meant dissension in man, [espec. if crossed] especially in the church; its [heresies crossed] heresies, in which things terrestrial and mundane dominate.

358




     Verse 45.

     "The stone from the rock cut out not by hands," vers. 45, is truth which will come forth and destroy the things which have been said just now. "Cut out of a rock," is from love, that is, from God Messiah. From Him came the truth which shattered all those metals, because they no longer cohered then, as is the case in inverted order, and occurs because in this state there is the cognition of such things, but they do not cohere in the character for it is wise about nothing else than time and the world. Wherefore it understands no other good which is celestial than what is similar to the mundane and the terrestrial, which it supposes also to be in things celestial.

     A similar thing takes place in the first time and in the second, namely, in the time from the first reformation of the church up to the advent of God Messiah, and then in the second reformation.

     Similarly in other times and societies; also in the individual man, successively by those reformed.

     CHAPTER III.

     Verse 3.

     They are historicals brought here also by the writer.

     CHAPTER IV.

     These things are fully explained by the prophets, namely, that pride is thus punished, namely, by a humiliation even to the lowest degree before the man is reformed thus. See equally Ezek. ch. xxi, 31.* Ch. xxxi, 2 to end. Ch. xxxvi, vers. 1 to end. Because "seven times," see vers. 20, concerns those who have been instructed in the doctrine of true faith, also those who possess the arcana of heaven, as the Jews at the time of the advent of God Messiah, and the modern Babylonians, wherefore it is said by the prophet that they will undergo a sevenfold punishment, and therefore the seventy years of captivity, for they profaned the kingdom of God Messiah or the seventh day representing his kingdom, and this in the individual man, and in societies lesser, greater, and universal, for a similar thing exists in each.

359


They who have been instructed, gradually degenerate-thus and become proud until they aspire to heaven and the throne of God Messiah, [hence sevenfold crossed] as is read vers. 8, 17 to 19, unto a sevenfold punishment.
     * Authorized Version, English, verse 26.

     Verse 8.

     Nebuchadnezzar* was he who had been instructed in things [Divine crossed] celestial, as is evident from Chap. II. Thus he now [in the singular crossed] represents those who instructed from the love of self become as a "lofty tree."
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. Nebuchadnezzar, for those who gladly instructed in arcana degenerate, become proud, and are smitten more than others, and are at length restored. Dan. iv, I to end.

     Verse 9.

     The "leaves" appear "beautiful," for the order is inverted; thus in outmosts, truth and good; in inmosts, [evil crossed] falsity and evil.

     Verse 10.

     It is God Messiah, the Sole "Watcher" and "Holy One."

     Verse 11.

     "Beast" and "birds" are the things which are external, goods in appearance, namely, the beasts; and the birds are reasonings.

     Verse l2.

     A "stock" is left, otherwise no reformation, which is also remains, concerning which before.

     Verse 15.

     No one except those who have been instructed by God Messiah, believes this.

     Verse 22.

     The deepest humiliation is signified, even till from a new or reformed root a tree arises.

     Verse 24.

     "Justice" is truth and "compassion" is love. An exhortation unto the amelioration of life as elsewhere.

360




     Verse 26.

     Universally it signifies the end of time, thus the last judgment.

     Verse 27.

     Here pride, concerning which previously.

     Verse 29.

     Humiliation, which takes place through torments.

     Verse 30.

     "Grass" is the terrestrial as [is read concerning the serpent, "dew" [crossed [?], is read concerning Adam, Gen. iii, 18 [and as Ezek. xxxvi[?] 24 to the end crossed].

     Verse 31.

     Add what is at ch. v, 20, 21.

     Verse 33.

     Ezek. xxxvi, 24 to end.

     CHAPTER V.

     Verses 1, 2, 3.

     It treats of those who profane holy things, which is to "drink" together with "wives and concubines" out of the "vessels" of Jerusalem given into their keeping.*
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. Belshazzar, King of Chaldaea, son of Nebuchadnezzar, for those who profane holy things, so that they perish, Dan. v, I to end: for their posterity who have degenerated into pride, but have been led back by torments, ibid.

     Verse 4.

     Profanation is here set forth, because "gods of gold and silver" are cupidities and false reasonings and those who, imbued with them, [yet cross out] [drink crossed out] drink from the things which are holy.

     Verse 6.

     Their punishment is death, that [against crossed out] they are divided between the Medes and Persians. The Medes are those who abound with cupidities; the Persians, with reasonings thence.

361





     Vers. 18 to 24. [It is a successive crossed.] It is a successive degeneration which does not chastise but slays man.

     Verse 25.

     Man is numbered or measured, whether his remains can sustain him, or whether anything of faith or how much is therein.

     Verse 26.

     But he is made vile, when there is not so much therein that he can be sustained.

     Verse 28.

     Therefore he is divided between the Mede and the Persian, hence perishes. See Mede and Persia in the indexes. See notes Under REMAINS.*
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. Media, the land; Kings of Media among those, who live in ignorance, and perish on the day of the last judgment, Jerem. xxv, 25; for the genii who excite insane cupidities, and thus discord in a society, and in oneself in the meanwhile in some one, Jerem. ii, 11, 28; for similar ones, Dan. v, 28; viii, 20. . . .
     Persia, for those who war for falsity in reasonings concerning the mysteries of faith. one kind, Ezek. xxvii, 10; similarly almost, Ezek. xxxviii, 5; for similar ones, Dan. v, 28; Viii, 20; similarly, Ch. x, 13.
     When remains in the human race are so slight, that they can no longer sustain it from perishing, then is its last, and the judgment comes, which is signified by the words written on the wall, namely, "numbered, numbered, weighed, dividing," for at the last time the state of the ultimate heaven which inflows into human minds, is such that they turn all goods of faith into evils and all truths of faith into falses; which thing now was also shown me by a word or a speech from the more interior heaven through internals, which could not penetrate to the ear without being turned to the opposite. Dan. v, 15 to end. . . .

     CHAPTER VII.

     Verses 1-3.

     It treats here of the change of state of the church from the first reformation. Here four ages are signified, as the four parts in man, namely, the soul, the [more interior crossed out] human mind, the natural mind, and the mere life of the body.

     Vers. 4. The first age is compared to a "lion" as to love, and to it as to intelligence are attributed "wings," thus saving faith, whence it is called "man."

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[Erect crossed] "Erect," because to heaven; and "the heart of a man," that is love or the will of good, thus the understanding of it and of truth.

     [Vers. 5 crossed.] The wings are said to be "plucked" when the will of good formed from the understanding remains, as in those who live after the death of the body.

     Vers. 5. When intelligence ceased, [thus crossed out], and man could not be reformed thus, then he is likened to a "bear," a rapacious animal. There are no wings but "ribs in the mouth," thus in the rational mind, and it gapes for rapine, for then his will is occupied by other loves, as occurs when the understanding [perishes crossed out] vanishes. There is nothing then by which the man is amended. "Flesh" is cupidity, [cup. crossed out]. "Ribs," are the things which they speak from cupidity.

     Vers. 6. The "leopard with wings," signifies the natural sciences, [those which crossed out] which seduce man, thus a blinded [intell crossed out] reason, or falsity concerning every matter of truth, whence 4 as the quarters of the globe, or the winds. "Heads [of a beast" are phantasies], reasonings, dominion, and persuasion.

     Vers. [11 crossed] 7. It is cupidities of the body and of magniloquence thence, which are wild beasts that trample all interiors, a void [?] alone remaining. Concerning the "horn," it is treated of below.

     Vers. 8. The "little horn" is philosophy destroying all the more interior things, for a new philosophy had entirely eradicated all the science of the three previous ages so that they understood nothing of these, as is quite evident, since they stick in the letters only and can or will not understand interior things, still less more interior ones. Wherefore it lacks [not] comeliness nor the "eyes of a man," [and crossed], for it appears outwardly as the: doctrine of [good crossed] true faith, but inwardly it is null. Wherefore the interiors have been separated from the exteriors, and therefore this beast was separated from the other beasts, outwardly as it: were a man, but inwardly a wild beast.

     Vers. 9. ("Ancient of Days.") It is God Messiah, because from antiquity, that is, eternity. The "garment," that which appears in the human mind, namely, good and truth.

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The "hair," what is as it were outside Him. "Flame" is love; "Wheel" is wisdom; the remaining things, namely, the garment and the colors, are intelligence.

     Vers. 10. The last judgment when He will come into glory.

     Vers. 11. The judgment over those who are meant by the 4[th] beast, who, namely, are inwardly animals, but being burst outwardly, as it were, they cherish their cupidities.

     Vers. 13, 14. "(AS THE SON OF MAN COMING.") Most clearly that it is' God Messiah, that His Human Essence has been united to the Divine; and that His Kingdom is over the universe, and to eternity.

     Vers. 17. The ages are called "kings," for the things which dominate inwardly [?] in man are called kings.

     Vers. 18. What will obtain in the end of days.

     Verse 19.

     "Iron" is the corporeal, and "brass" is the natural, which tramples all things.

     Verse 20.

     The new philosophy seducing, when it is applied according to the cupidities of man.

     Vers. 21. This "makes wars with the saints," for from [such crossed] such an application of philosophy holy things also are perturbed [thus crossed].

     Vers. 22. As previously, vers. 9, 10, 18, [27 crossed] and afterwards 27.

     Vers. 24. These are changes of state, for when the 3 horns, or the sciences of the previous ages, have perished, there will then be [nine crossed out] seven, by which number is signified the perversity of all things.

     Vers. 25. They who speak from the senses of the body and natural genius, believe nothing, wherefore they speak also against God Messiah, and judge entirely otherwise, which is "to change the times and the law." Every period of time is distinguished into 2 which is "time and times." "Part of time" is a particle which also here [?] approaches to a third time, by which is meant the last judgment.

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     These things signify the first as well as the second advent of God Messiah. Each was for judgment.

     Similarly the heaven of spirits as well as the globe of men is meant, for there is a similar condition with each. Spirits in great abundance are inside, who are similar to the fourth beast. Thence is the seduction of men. The dead have thus continually increased [?] the number, and will increase it. If they could have hidden their character they would then become similar to men on earth, because inwardly they would hide rapines and discords, whereas outwardly they can speak sanely and at the same time understand these things. But because spirits are so astute, that it can hardly be described, it comes out instantly before those nearby so that even the least thing is seen through; which I am able [to attest] from a continued experience of that world during 25 months. Astuteness grows in proportion to man's understanding.

     CHAPTER VIII.

     Verses 1, 2.

     Here are signified things almost similar to those before, but with a difference. It treats of the perversion of man's state.

     Vers. 3. "The ram with two horns," is cupidity, but the same thing as Media, and false reasoning, the same as Persia, as is evident vers. 20. But here it was not thrusting towards the east, that is against the kingdom of God Messiah as that horn did, concerning which vers. 23, 24, 25.

     Vers. 5. The "he-goat of goats,"* who had one horn, is what fights both by cupidity and reasonings, which is Greece. It thrusts according to the likeness of a he-goat. To thrust with the horn, is to fight by reasoning and at the same time from petulance.
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. . . . because it cast; down truth to the earth, but it will be broken without a hand. Dan. viii, 5-11, 25. At "goat."

     Vers. 8. "Four horns in place of" the one, are the things which the four winds signify, concerning which previously, namely, by which he fights against the north or the things which are a shade; against the south, thus those which are in light against the east, which are in celestial love; against the west which are indeed in a certain cold, [and] for a long time [do not: want] to be amended. [?]

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For he is in cold when in ignorance, but he does not come into cold [by crossed] from an understanding of truth and good; [but crossed] but it is such a cold as follows ignorance, and with the uninstructed nations.

     With respect to one horn, the little one, it is explained sufficiently that it is the intelligence of truth, and good, but an evil all; which have been separated, or as previously the fourth beast.

     Verses 11-14.

     This now is that which confirms and at the same time denies the Kingdom of God, the former with the mouth, the latter with the heart.* It is described sufficiently, vers. 23, 24, 25. For it tramples the doctrine of true faith, and launches itself against God Messiah. Such were the Jews at the time of the first advent of God Messiah. Such today are the Babylonians, specifically and in general everywhere.
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. Prince of the army, for God Messiah, Dan. viii, II; as also prince of princes, ib. v. 25.

     Verse 14.

     Let it be seen whether they are years.

     Verse 16.

     "Gabriel"* signifies the angels who explain the arcana of God Messiah.
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. Gabriel, for the angels who explain the arcana of heaven, from propheticals and visions.

     Verse 18.

     "Fallen asleep" represents ignorance.

     Verses 21, 22.

     "Greece"* is taken for those who are in the light of truth, and have intellectual faith, but deny in heart, wherefore Greeks are called "nations."
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. Greece, for the nations, who are in the light of truth, and have intellectual faith, but deny in heart, Dan. viii, 21; x, 20; xi, 2, they are also called King of the South in the last of these chapters, SEE THE NOTES.

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     Verse 26.

     It signifies truth, for "evening and morning" is the last judgment. Hence the truth was confirmed by these.

     CHAPTER IX.

     Verse 24.

     Concerning the advent of God Messiah upon the globe, concerning the cessation of sacrifices, concerning the completion of the prophecies, also concerning the destruction of the Jewish Church. These matters are too obvious to need explanation.

     Verse 25. Concerning the old church which was destroyed when the Lord came.

     Verses 26, 27.

     ("Messiah will be cut off.") [For the vastating of faith in God Messiah crossed out.]

     Concerning the destruction of the new church.

     The time of reformation.

     CHAPTER X.

     Verse 6.

     "Multitudinis"* = crowd, substituted for ("turbae," throng).
     * According to the Latin version of Tremelius and Junius.

     Verse 13.

     "Michael,"* for the angels of the primitive church, who confirmed man concerning the advent of God Messiah.
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. Michael, the angel, for the angels of the Ancient Church, who confirmed men concerning the truth of the advent of God Messiah, and similar things, Dan. x, 13, 21.

     Verse 20.

     "Kings of Persia" are the things about which previously "Greece," the same as before, thus they entirely concord with these.

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     CHAPTER XI.

     It treats in this chapter in general of the combat of falsity and truth. "Prince of the north" is falsity, "Prince of the south" is truth. Thus the persecution of faith even till the last times, concerning which in the Apocalypse much.

     That it treats here of the last time or of the times of last things, is evident. Ch. xii, 1 to 5 and from the series or 13, 6.

     Verse 1.

     Persia,* specifically, signifies those who reason from the letter concerning celestial things, who thus remain in shade, for the doctrine of faith has passed successively from things more interior to externals, where is mere shade.
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. That they are those who from the literal sense, from the lumen of reason and the senses judge concerning celestial things, Dan. xi, 2; the same as King' of the north in this chapter.

     Greece, however, signifies those who indeed do not speak according to the letter, but according to the interior and the more interior sense, but yet disagree at heart. Wherefore among their princes a combat is waged; as when the salt of the new church is among the leaders of the old church.

     Vers. 2. They are successive changes from the first reformation, as previously concerning the beasts, for they gradually lapse into the densest shade, namely, because they would remain in the letter Only. So indeed they have expected a Messiah who also rules openly [?], but not the king of the heavens and of the whole circuit of lands. But king of the land of Canaan they have "confirmed" as the "truth," prince of Canaan as a house among them; and he "irritates" them who believes [?] things interior.

     Vers. [3]. The last king will rule with a great dominion, as was done. But [?] then when [?] no life [?] any more [?] the kingdom and the heaven was divided and dispersed.

     Vers. 5. "King of the south" is he who instructed in the true light of the gospel believes intellectually, but not with the heart. For these [?] in the prophets he provides [ ?] the literal sense. This kingdom succeeded. "The dominion made ample" is that of Greece.

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     Vers. 6. "King of the north," Persia, he who from the letter which is dead, from philosophy, science, from the light of reason, induces a shade. They reason concerning things spiritual and celestial, which is from mere shade or inverted order. "Daughter of the king of the south" is this nature, but here [?] those who want to be wise from the letter and the senses and nature, and do not believe because they are in shade. Hence with him neither "powers," nor "those bringing," nor the "progenitor," nor the "confirmer" prevail, because he is in darkness [?].

     Vers. 7. That truth will nevertheless prevail. "One [?] from this branch of roots" is more interior [?] truth [?]. Thus [?] is beheld [?] this "pedestal." "Fortifications" are the books of the prophets.

     Vers. 8. The literal sense is called "their princes." "Vessels of desire," those who are delighted by these things which are corporeal; which is also their "gold and silver." They are then called "captives." "Egypt" is natural science.

     Vers. 9. Thus the "king of the south," or Greece, will come into the kingdom.

     Vers. 10. The "sons of the king of the north" are reasonings from science and the objects of the senses.

     [Ve]rs. 11, 12. Wherefore the "king of the south" will fight with them, and will refute the "fortifications."

     [V]ers. 13. Afterwards the literal sense will prevail.

     At about the ends of times, namely, about each advent of God Messiah, the "king of the north" will come with great resources, with science, with a reasoning philosophy, and with an argument from nature.

     14. Thus against the "king of the south" or the interior sense of words.

     Vers. 15. In the last times science will prevail. Thus the words of God Messiah will perish. "A people of selection," are the chief arguments. They will not stand before these.

     (To be continued.)

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DISCRETELY INTERIOR FIGURES IN A DISCRETELY INTERIOR WORLD 1914

DISCRETELY INTERIOR FIGURES IN A DISCRETELY INTERIOR WORLD              1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     I note that Mr. Al ten is not in agreement with my statement of the real issue at stake in the discussion about the shapes of angels. He holds with Mr. Pitcairn that the issue is between a belief on the one side that angels and spirits have no human form whatever and that the spiritual world has no objective features, and the plain declaration to the contrary of many well known passages, some of which were cited by Mr. Pitcairn. If that is the issue then they have no opponent in me, for there can be only one side for a Newchurchman to take.

     It does not seem to be in order as yet to determine to whom the Church owes a debt of gratitude for articles written or views expressed on this subject, any more than it is proper to fix blame. All expressions of belief based on a study of doctrine will be profitable to the Church even though some serve no more permanent use that that of having helped to make the issue at stake clearer by means of the contrasts presented.

     I have noted some verbal statements made by Mr. Gill to which such a damaging sense as that which they are combating might be imputed, but I have no knowledge as to whether Mr. Gill wishes such a sense to be taken, and my impression is to the contrary. He has been endeavoring to give expression to what many regard as a more internal and therefore more adequate concept of the spiritual world. It is no easy matter for any man who is the instrument to convey some new thought, to do this with complete success in every detail, not only of schematic arrangement as to relations and derivations, but of accommodative expression as well.

     As to the real issue at stake, it is obviously deeper than the juxtaposition of certain printed statements susceptible of a damaging construction that may not have been intended, with passages which everybody believes.

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The real issue is concerned with the understanding of the latter. It is,-

     1. That the human shape of beings in an interior world is recognized by the new view to be discretely interior to the human shape seen by the natural eye in the natural world under the light of the natural sun. Mr. Pitcairn's view makes the two virtually identical.

     2. That the spiritual and natural worlds are similar only in appearance. The objects of the spiritual world are discretely interior as to both substance and shape. The appearance of similarity of the two is with the beholder and is due to the arousal by outside stimulation of that lower part of the mind which is stocked with images from the natural world, or, rather, is in association with those whose minds are so stocked, since it itself is quiescent. Mr. Pitcairn's view seems to make the spiritual world a structural duplicate of the natural, with every detail thereof made out of a similar stuff except that it is called by another name, substantial and not material.

     In my previous communication statements made in support of the difference of the shape of angels from that of men on earth were advanced from works written by Swedenborg covering the years 1717-1747 to show the continuity of his endorsement of that view. Mr. Alden regards such testimony as unconvincing because two of the references are from the Scientific Works, one is from the ADVERSARIA and the fourth (viz. S. D. 355) from the "early part of the DIARY." There is, however, analogous teaching in the DIARY at a later date, viz., 2917:

     CONCERNING THE BODIES OF SPIRITS. 2917. I have spoken with new spirits also concerning bodies, they supposing, like others, that they are endowed with a body similar to the human, for thither their imagination and interior man leads them, namely, to the ultimate of order, which is the body, but it was given to reply to them that I know not of what body they are, but that [it is] of a form most perfect for every use, so that they can be called spiritual forms or celestial [ones]; it was representatively confirmed by grubs who when they are becoming reformed and winged, acquire then another form of body, adapted to every use to which they are carried in their other life. 1748. 25 Aug.

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     It is inadmissible to construe the expression here and also in the Index to this passage: ("I know not of what body they are") as invalidating everything else said. It can mean no more than that he did not know what was the precise conformation of that interior human form which is like the least organs of the brain.

     These two passages, (S. D. 355 and 2917), reiterate in almost the identical words the teaching in the RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY, nos. 521, 522, which Mr. Pitcairn regards as contradictory to the Writings and as showing conclusively Swedenborg's obscurity at that time. These two passages were written four years after Swedenborg's intromission into the spiritual world and after he had penned these words in his Latin Bible: "That now for some months I have spoken almost continuously with spirits and angels, and they with me. 2. That thus I have been instructed concerning the state of souls after death."

     It is certain he could be no longer in any obscurity as to the experience that the human shape of angels as well as the shapes of other objective features there, are in appearance similar to those on earth. But he must by this time have perceived that the similarity of appearance does not denote structural equivalence, or how could he state, (S. D. 355), that the genuine shape of the spiritual organism is as the least organs in the brain;" or intimate, as in S. D. 2917, that it is as different from the one here as the butterfly from the chrysalis? In his Index to the DIARY, under the key word "Body," he refers to the form of spirits, described in S. D. 355, as the "human:" "That spirits suppose they are in the body, and endowed with its external and internal men and dressed in garments; something concerning their form that it also is human." It is inadmissible to regard this note as a sort of codicil intended to supercede S. D. 355; and to substitute a human shape identical with that on earth for the one he has there defined. It must be taken as supplementing and not as invalidating the teaching of S. D. 355.

     These passages, at a first superficial glance, seem, indeed, to contradict other passages in which the usually unexplained statement is made that spirits or angels are in the perfect human form. As upholders of a Divine Revelation we are, however, to believe that both sets of passages are in agreement and that if we do not see the agreement the fault lies with us.

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It matters not whether the balancing be of many passages against one or more; or of statements in published or subsequent Divine Works against others in an unpublished and somewhat earlier Divine Work. Such consideration has no weight whatever in determining which rules. What does have weight is, in my opinion, that one set gives little explanation beyond the mere statement about angels in a human form, whereas the supposedly contravening passage, (S. D. 355), gives an explanation of said statement, which in any court would have more weight than the statement alone, by declaring exactly what the organics of the human form there are. The new view in the Church suggests an agreement on the basis that by the angels' perfect human from, spoken of in other passages, is meant the human form on an interior degree and that this is nothing else than the one explained in this passage (S. D. 355)

     The chief objection to this conclusion seems to be that there has been a tradition among some Newchurchmen to limit every reference to the term "human form" to that which the natural eye in the natural world under the light of the natural sun recognizes. Yet we have been repeatedly taught in regard to the spiritual world that we must lift our minds above thoughts from nature and not reason from it. The spiritual world is a world of causes and of merely representative effects. The form of the cause is discretely different from the form of the effects. The representative effect, although produced by means of media which are objective and substantial, (A. E. 944), is with the beholder only a picture in his mind. This picture may be real or fantastic, according as it accurately portrays or hypocritically masks the affection and thought that aroused it.

     Mr. Alden belittles my use of the passage from the Index to the SPIRITUAL DIARY which I adduced to counteract an inclination to construe Swedenborg's admissions of obscurity as proof of ignorance or falsity on his part. It was not intended for any other purpose than this.

     In conclusion, please note the two following passages cited to show that objects in a representative spiritual landscape are not in themselves such as they appear to the beholder.

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The first passage (A. E. 781) groups together all representative spiritual landscape phenomena, whether visible to the inhabitants of that world, or manifested to seers like the prophets and Swedenborg, as operations of one and the same spiritual law. The second passage picks out from these representative landscape phenomena one seen by John and Swedenborg and shows that the terrestrial image with them was an entirely different thing from the objective excitant that gave rise to it:

     But what of heaven and hell [beasts] signify cannot be known better than from representatives in the spiritual world, where beasts also appear; which are all appearances representing those things which angels or spirits from affections, inclinations, appetites, pleasures and cupidities think.
These are represented before their eyes in various forms, as in gardens, in woods, in fields, in meadows, and also in springs; also in palaces, houses, and rooms in them, in which are ornaments and utensils; tables are also presented upon which are foods of various kinds. Moreover these things are also presented in the forms of animals of the earth, fowl of the sky, and reptiles, in infinite variety; not only in the forms of animals and fowls as are upon our earth; but also composites from many, which nowhere occur on earth, of which it was given me to see many. And when these appear it is instantly known from what spiritual origin they are, thus what they signify. But these animals and fowls instantly vanish as soon as the spirit or angel desists from his thought and his meditation. That such things appear in the spiritual world is manifestly evident from similar things seen by the prophets; as that the Lord appeared as a lamb, that cherubs were seen as to their faces like a lion, an ox, and as an eagle, (concerning which in Ezekiel); that horses were seen going out from the book of life, when the lamb opened the seals; also a white horse, as also many white horses upon which those in heaven rode (in John). (A. E. 781.)

     That horse signifies some reality [aliquid rei] may appear manifestly from the fact that horses were seen when "the seals were opened." and it is said that "they went forth;" for horses could not go out from a book, but the things signified by the horses could be manifested. That horse signifies the intellectual, and color its quality, has been made known to me from experience; for sometimes spirits who were meditating appeared to me to be riding upon horses; and when I asked them whether they were riding, they said it was not so, but that the riding on a horse was an appearance representing the operation of their understanding. There is also a place which is called the assembly of the intelligent and the wise, whither many go in meditation; and when anyone comes thither, there appear to him horses of various colors and variously caparisoned, and also chariots, and some riding and some sitting in the chariot.

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They also when asked whether they sit upon horses and are being conveyed in chariots say it is not so, but that they walk meditating. (A. E. 364)

     Note also the following:

     In heaven doves frequently appear, and as often as they appear, the angels know that they are correspondences of affections and of thoughts thence concerning regeneration and purification with some who stand in the vicinity; wherefore as soon as they approach those and talk with them about some other matter than that which was in their thoughts, the doves instantly vanish. This is similar to the many things which were seen by the prophets, as that a lamb upon Mt. Zion, Apoc. xiv, I, and elsewhere, appeared to John. Who does not know that the Lord was not that lamb, nor in the lamb, but that the lamb was a representation of his innocence? Hence is manifested the error of those who from the dove seen upon the Lord when He was baptized and from the voice heard then out of heaven: "This is my beloved Son," deduce three persons of the
trinity. (T. C. R. 144.)

     It is my present opinion that such representative effects as doves, lambs, horses, etc., have as their objective basis merely the affection of an angel (A. E. 781) and a ripple or undulation (see A. E. 8223) in the atmospheric (A. E. 944) medium about him. This ripple,-when, by the intervention of the sphere of angels, reinforced by the memory of those on earth on whom they are attendant, it strikes upon their sensorium of sight,-arouses with them pictures of this sort. By appropriate modifications it may also affect the four other senses. (Cf. A. E. 1100.) To argue that this ripple or undulation compresses or elicits from among them infilling particles already there, for the purpose of building up structural forms identical in shape with those on our earth, only to be dissipated when the angel's mood changed, seems an unnecessary requirement to place upon the Divine economy. The sensoria on which the ripples impinge would also appear to the recipient to be located in a terrestrial shape, like the human shape on earth.

     The other views on this subject would bring us back to the Old Church views of the Lord and the angels sitting on thrones with crowns on their heads and scepters and harps in their hands. But we are told, (A. R. 661):

     That their being seen to have harps, and their being heard to sing a song, was representative of confession from the faith of charity.

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The affections of the thought and thence the sounds of the discourses of the angels of heaven are heard variously below, in the spiritual world, either as sounds of waters or as sounds of thunders, . . . or as sounds of trumpets. . . . or as sounds of harps. . . . But yet there are not waters which sound nor thunders which thunder, nor trumpets or harps which resound, yea, not songs either; but it is the discourses of the angels, and their confessions according to their affections and their thoughts thence which are so heard below.

     That they had not harps may be evident to everyone [italics my own], but that truths of faith are signified by the harps. (A. C. 420.)

     I at one time supposed that Swedenborg, in his statements in R. P. 521, S. D. 355, 2917, A. R. 661, A. C. 420, A. E. 364, about there being no members of the body, no thunders, no horses and no harps, meant merely to convince the spirits that they were no longer on earth, and that they must not believe they had carried over from the natural world these articles. But when he says,
as in A. C. 420, "that they had not harps," he certainly cannot be regarded as endeavoring solely to correct an impression that harps of a terrestrial make had been procured from this earth; and when he says, as in A. E. 364, that "horses could not go out of a book," he surely cannot mean merely to correct the thought that these were ever terrestrial horses coming out of a terrestrial book transported there.

     The new view enables us to understand this on the basis that such horses or harps as they saw are to be regarded as pictures in their minds, aroused indeed by real objective causes, operating through objective media outside them, but pictures none the less. That all other representative landscape phenomena in the spiritual world obey the same law illustrated here by horses and harps was demonstrated above by A. E. 781 and 364 read conjointly. Further evidence to the same purport may be gathered from Div. Wisdom, viii, 3, A. E. 927, 1037; nor can we disregard the following testimony from the New Testament:

     "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or lo, there! for behold the Kingdom of God is within you."

     "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." (See also A. C. 9315.)
     E. E. IUNGERICH.

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Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. Sunday evening services are now resumed, the sermons being preached By the theological candidates after several years of absence from Bryn Athyn, Mr. Leonard Gyllenhaal has returned to us. We welcome him not only as our new librarian, but as a valuable member of our society, and we wish him every success in the new use which he is performing.

     On the evening of April 18th, a production of one of Sheridan's plays, "The Rivals," was given under the directorship of Mr. Richard Price for the benefit of the Athletic Association. This production was considered by many to be one of the most successful theatrical performances ever given here, and proved a financial asset to the club as well, which was largely due to the work of the business manager, Loyal Odhner. The play was funny from, beginning to end. Those who know Creda Glenn know why "Mrs. Malaprop" was at her best. Helen Colley, as leading lady, took the part of "Lydia Languish." Henry Barger, who starred in this his first appearance, as Beverley, was "a regular pineapple of politeness."

     The Phi Alpha ball rolled off with unusual success on the evening of May 9th. The gymnasium took on a rustic appearance and the old boys, who came back for the occasion, were more than pleased with the work of the active members. The annual banquet was held on the evening after the dance in the fraternity room at Stuart Hall. Donald Lindsay, Madefrey Odhner, Troland Cleare, and Geoffrey Childs, all of whom were very active members of the fraternity while living in Stuart Hall, honored us with their presence and inspiring speeches.

     On Friday afternoon of May 15th an exceedingly delightful exhibition of the work done by the pupils of the local school in their dancing was given in the auditorium. Refreshments were served and perhaps constituted a large part of the entertainment for the youngsters, but to those who were there as spectators the remarkable display of the successful training of the pupils was the main feature of the afternoon.

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Miss Ethne Price is to be congratulated on the success of her work.

     In the evening, in the place of the regular Friday class, Mr. C. E. Doering read a paper to the society on "The Relation of Home and School." Emphasis was laid on home work. Co-operation was the theme. The use and value of home work was then discussed. Mr. Doering brought out the point that the school was a use of the church and the church must have that use for the sake of its own preservation, and further, that we must view both sides in order to get the proper relation between the home and the school. He likewise brought out that the proper kind of home work would tend to bring the parent in closer touch with the child. Later a discussion took place in which some valuable points were brought out. Mr. Paul Synnestvedt stated that too much of the time of the pupil was taken, up at home in preparation of school work and that the pupil had not sufficient time to develop in other lines equally important.

     On May 16th the Deka Club of the girls' dormitory entertained other members of the seminary at a picnic supper at "the pond." Canoeing and other out-of-door sports made the event a memorable one. It looks very much as though "the pond" was going to come into prominence now that the picnic grounds at the creek are being used for other purposes.
     O. W. H.

     PHILADELPHIA, PA. Since the departure of the Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, Mr. George de Charms has been called to act as minister to the Advent Church. The regular services and Sunday School have been continued, as well as the weekly suppers and Doctrinal classes. Because of his work in the Theological School, Mr. de Charms has been unable to conduct the classes himself, but pastors and teachers from Bryn Athyn have very kindly consented to address the Society on topics of special interest. We have in this way been enabled to enjoy most useful and instructive lectures by the Rev. C. T. Odhner, Rev. R. W. Brown, Mr. William Whitehead, Rev. E. E. Iungerich and Rev. W. H. Alden.

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On Easter Sunday the Rev. N. D. Pendleton occupied the pulpit and administered the Holy Supper.

     Two very successful social functions have been given in the Society, one, a general sociable, in which every one took part, and the other, a young folks' dance. At the latter we enjoyed the presence of a number of guests from Bryn Athyn, who not only added to our numbers, but joined heartily in making the dance all that it should be. As a fitting climax to our weekly suppers for the year we had the pleasure of a visit from some twenty-five of our Bryn Athyn friends who were in the city to attend the meetings of the Swedenborg Scientific Association. It was a matter of regret to all of us that our limitations made it impossible to provide for all the Academy people at these meetings, and we hope that in the future we may be able to do so.

     BERLIN, ONT. On the 10th of March the Young People's Class met at the house of Mr. Rudolph Roschman. Instead of the regular lesson, papers on the subject of Ritual were read by three of the members, and discussion followed. A variety of views were expressed, some favoring an elaborate ritual, others a simple one. The use of Hebrew selections in singing was much favored. A number of useful suggestions were made in regard to singing.

     On March 11th an entertainment was given in the school room by the married ladies of the society. The program announced the event as "The Pink Ladies' Entertainment." The curtain rose upon a charming scene,-all the ladies grouped on the stage in their pretty pink costumes. They greeted the audience with a song of welcome. Then followed a program of charades, readings, recitations, songs, and a play, entitled "How It Grew,"- the "It" being gossip. Two beautiful tableaux were given at the close, one representing the School the other the Church. Afterwards refreshments were sold, and then dancing followed about forty dollars were realized, which go towards electric lighting of the chapel. The whole evening was much enjoyed by all.

     Another entertainment was given in connection with our annual bazaar, on April 10th, this time by members of the Young People's Club, who presented a play, entitled "Mr. Bob.

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All of the seven members of the cast did excellently. Afterwards the various booths were opened, and a rushing business was done. As is always the case at a bazaar, everybody had a good time, and, incidentally, an empty purse at the end.

     On Easter Sunday, April 12th, worship commemorative of the Lord's resurrection was held in the morning. In the afternoon the Holy Supper was celebrated and there was used, for the first time, the new silver communion service recently acquired.

     On the 24th of April the silver wedding of the pastor and his wife was celebrated with a banquet, at which one hundred and five persons were present, all members of our congregation, excepting three persons, two of whom were Mr. Waelchli's brothers, Homer and Noah, who had come for the occasion. Mr. Rudolph Roschman, as toastmaster, spoke of the pastor's work, during nearly all of the twenty-five years of his married life, for our school, our society, and the General Church, and proposed toasts to these three phases of his work. Dr. Robert Schnarr responded to the toast to the School, Mr. T. S. Kuhl to that to the Carmel Church, and Mr. Jacob Stroh to that to the General Church. Then came the toast to Mr. and Mrs. Waelchli, in response to which the toastmaster made an affectionate address, and ended with the presentation of a silver table service to the couple. Mr. Richard Roschman followed, presenting a purse of silver in behalf of Mr. Waelchli's mother and her family. To all this Mr. Waelchli now replied, thanking the society for the banquet, the gifts, and the kind words spoken. He also spoke reminiscently of the events since the wedding here in Berlin twenty-five years ago. The delightful evening closed with dancing.

     Two special meetings of the society have been held lately. At the first, on April 10th, the pastor announced that he had received an offer for half of his time, during the coming year, to be given to the Extension Work of the General Church at various periods throughout the year, and asked the society to consider whether it would be willing to release him for this time, and to employ an assistant. The question was discussed, but it was thought well to defer action, so that the matter might be fully considered.

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The second meeting was held on May 1st, and it was then decided to release the pastor for half of his time and to invite Mr. Hugo Odhner, of Bryn Athyn, to become his assistant for one year.

     On the 9th of May the Berlin Chapter of the Phi Alpha gave their annual ball in our school room, which was beautifully decorated for the occasion. All the young people and a number of the older members were present, as also members of the fraternity from Toronto and Wellesley. An orchestra furnished the music. During the evening letters and telegrams from other Chapters and from members in other centers were read. The event was a great success.
     W.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. Just now is the season when the park is a thing of beauty; flowering bushes are in bloom, forsythias vying with Judas trees in the profusion of blossoms and contrasting with its rich purple the brilliant lemon yellow of its own colors. Mr. Caldwell haunts forgotten and deserted corners with a pair of field glasses, seeking out new species of bird visitors. He is on speaking terms with many of the park songsters. In the lake the fishes are fattening themselves on the bitter herbs that grow in its bottom and otherwise preparing themselves to be caught when the season arrives.

     The Rev. Gilbert Smith and the Rev. John Headsten have recently preached for us here. The Philosophy Class is well attended and said to be interesting. The recent steinfest was upon the subject of Science as applied to secular life, under the guidance of Mr. Seymour G. Nelson. Very lately we enjoyed a mixed social, that is, one in which dancing for the young and giddy was mixed with literary entertainment for the more grave and sedate. It was in charge of Miss Vivien King. The Friday classes have been more interesting this season than ever before. On Saturday, May 9th, the young men of the society here are going to give a show of the minstrel variety for the benefit of some of our numerous needs here.
     K.

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     CHICAGO, ILL. We were all glad to welcome Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H. Alden, Jr., and Mrs. A. P. Byrd as members of our congregation.

     Our place of worship has been changed to an attractive room in the Fine Arts Building, one of the most desirable buildings in the down town district.

     On March fourth we had a delightful gathering at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Farrington to celebrate their crystal wedding. There were twenty-three in attendance. The subject for the evening was "Sharon Church and Its Prospects." Mrs. Klein, Mr. Smith and Mr. Alden each prepared original songs for the occasion, which were greatly enjoyed. The program was in charge of Mr. and Mrs. Klein and was greatly to their credit. A crystal vase, filled with red roses, was presented to the happy couple.

     The annual meeting of the society was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Curtis, on April 8th. The pastor's address was on "Sell all thou hast and give to the poor." The reports were read, and Mr. Wm. H. Alden, Jr., was elected secretary in the place of Mr. L. V. Riefsdahl, who contemplates a removal to Chicago Heights. Mr. Riefsdahl was elected as trustee in place of Mr. Oscar Woelfli, who has returned to his mother's home in Canada for a time.

     On Easter Sunday, April 12th, there was a union service of Sharon Church and the Society under Mr. Headsten, who performed fifteen baptisms, for five children and ten grown people. Mr. Headsten preached and assisted Mr. Smith in the ministration of the communion. E V. W.

     LONDON. The Rev. Andrew Czerny writes that the London Society of the General Church will soon have to vacate the premises at Camberwell Grove, and that the new address will be 174 Peckham Rye, London, S. E.

     HOLLAND. Mr. G. Barger, of the Hague, writes that his Dutch translation of the work ON THE SACRED SCRIPTURE is now complete and in the hands of the printer. "Dr. E. Deltenre, of Brussels, recently gave a lecture on Swedenborg, here, in the French language.

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We had a small audience, but there were very good reports in three of the public journals, in which it was announced, also, that I would be glad to give further information to any inquirer. Thus far only one person, a Spiritist, has availed himself of the opportunity; he wanted to know why we are opposed to Spiritism. No further results have been seen, so far, from our last advertisements, but I have fresh hopes in the effect of the work ON THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, which I intend to advertise in the newspapers throughout the country."

     BRUSSELS, BELGIUM, Dr. Ernst Deltenre delivered, in Brussels, in January, a lecture before the Theosophical Society on Swedenborg and the New Church. He had an audience of more than one hundred and fifty persons. As a result, LE SOIR, a leading newspaper of Brussels, printed a full account of the Brussels Mission and the New Church. It is interesting to note that it has thus done, of its own good will, as a matter of news, that which it formerly offered to do only at a large price as an advertisement. A portion of the lecture was printed in the Belgium THEOSOPHICAL REVIEW in its February number. As a result of all this great interest in the New Church was excited.

     Dr. Deltenre writes: "Last week I received a visit from the great artist, Jean Delville. He talked to me of his great painting, 'The Man-God.' This is what he told me: 'The Man-God, who appears in the clouds, is the Word glorified in the Human Form; His garments are transparent because one now sees the Divine Human through the letter (the garments) of the Word. In other words, God is really man and this is seen rationally. This therefore constitutes the Second Coming of the Lord. The rainbow in the picture represents regeneration,-that is, the new means for regeneration that this new manifestation of the Word brings to humanity. The human forms who are drawn toward this revelation become more and more beautiful and perfect as they come nearer to it.' Delville knows but little of Swedenborg. He told me that the name alone of Swedenborg inspires him with the feeling of something great, unknown and Divine. He has glanced through DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, but I showed him that he had misunderstood that work. He is a man I mean to work upon, for he is worthy of it. He is married and is the father of seven children.

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     "I must tell you of two newcomers; a young artist with flowing light hair, and a graceful young Polish girl, who came to the evening service. They told me that they had read Maeterlinck and that: he frequently mentioned Swedenborg in his latest works. . . . I have lately read Maeterlinck's (THE TREASURE OF THE HUMBLE) and received the impression from it that the author must have read CONJUGIAL LOVE."

     Mr. Prosper Balcaen, one of Dr. Deltenre's converts, writes in addition:

     "We now have two services on Sunday, Mr. Deltenre thinking that we might have a larger attendance in the evening. His hopes were realized in that respect. . . . The advertisement in LE SOIR is very useful for our propaganda. It states that the service will be held according to the "Swedenborgian Rite," and these two words have the effect of exciting the curiosity of the
Belgians. I do not think I am mistaken if I say that there may soon be two or three new members, persons who have attended the services regularly as well as the doctrinal classes."

     LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND. Dr. Deltenre after urgent request, recently visited the colony of New Church people from Mauritius, at present sojourning at Lausanne.

     Dr. Deltenre writes:

     "I met, at Lausanne, the Baron and Baroness de Chazal, and their five children; the engineer, Renee de Chazal and his wife; M. Caland and his wife, nee de Chazal, and the good old lady, Rouillard, daughter of Edmond de Chazal, the founder of the Church in Mauritius; Mme. de St. Fern and a number of youths and young girls, all Mauritians, whose names I have forgotten. I was most graciously received by these brothers of the Church, who, after some hours' conversation, became friends. Baron Pierre de Chazal wept when he said that the Society was upon the point of being without a pastor and would be doomed to extinction. These friends would like me at Mauritius, if only for a brief visit. I made them see how difficult, even impossible, it would be for me to quit the post which I occupy in Belgium."

     STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN. Rooms for the use of the Circle of the General Church in Stockholm have been secured and regular quarterly visits are being made by the Rev. S. C. Bronniche, of Copenhagen.

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The Circle meets regularly, and the attendance has been very good. The Circle is still suffering from the loss of the leadership of Mr. Alfred Stroh, who has sustained a serious nervous breakdown, which necessitated hospital care for a time. The latest reports are favorable for his entire recovery, but he will be obliged to take a long vacation. Another Circle has been added to the General Church, viz., in Gothenburg, where the Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist has gathered a few staunch supporters who have joined the General Church.

     DURBAN, NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA. Arrangements have been made for supplying Durban with a pastor from the General Church. The Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, for six years pastor of the General Church Society in Denver, Colo., and during the past year in charge of the Advent Society, Philadelphia, has started on the long journey, intending to remain, at least, two years in Natal. On the way he will spend several weeks each in Australia, India, and Mauritius, reaching his destination probably some time next September.

     INDIA. Professor Manishankar R. Bhatt, writing from Bombay, on April 15th, informs us that "a Swedenborg Society of India was framed here yesterday. Mr. S. J. Patel, who had undertaken to proceed to Bryn Athyn for training, was the only receiver who could be entrusted with the office of secretary to the society, and so he has been appointed. This will prevent his intended journey to Bryn Athyn. At yesterday's meeting in the Theistic Hall, at Girgawm, Mr. H. N. Morris presided. A good number have become members and many more are expected to join later. More than a thousand rupees per annum are promised, and the society has started in a most promising manner. More anon."

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. Duane Vinton Bowen died at Yarmouthsport, Mass., on April 11th, at the age of seventy-five years. Mr. Bowen had been a Unitarian preacher for fifteen years, when he became converted to the Doctrine of the New Church and was ordained in 1880.

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He served successively as pastor in Roxbury, Pawtucket and Salem, Mass.; Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, Cal.; Springfield, Fall River, Cambridge and Yarmouthsport, Mass.

     At the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Association, on April to, Mr. Norman O. Goddard was ordained into the ministry of the New Church. "Encouraging reports of union services with neighboring churches were received from Cambridge, Manchester and Providence,' where "four churches, representing four denominations, united in Holy Week services." "Surely times are changing!"

     Home-coming Sunday was observed by the Boston Society on April 5. A very gratifying attendance of nearly 300, in spite of inclement weather, was the record of a very helpful and interesting day. Thirteen new members were admitted, most of them being from the young people of the society. After the morning service a lunch I was served to those who wished to remain, and at 3 P. M. the Holy Supper was administered to 225 communicants.

     At the eighteenth anniversary of the Metaphysical Club of Boston, on March 25, Mrs. Julius A. Dresser delivered an address entitled "The Future for the New Thought," which was received with great satisfaction. Mrs. Dresser is the only surviving pupil of Dr. P. P. Quimby, with whom she and her husband studied mental healing at the same period when Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy (founder of "Christian Science") and Rev. Warren Felt Evans (a New Church clergyman, best known as the author of certain standard works on Mental Healing) were also studying with him. She and her husband were among the founders of the New Thought movement; and her son, Horatio W. Dresser, has long been a recognized leader of that movement. Readers of the MESSENGER are acquainted with that fact that one of her sons, Rev. J. Paul Dresser, is now the minister of the Brooklyn New Church Society, over which the late Rev. J. C. Ager so long presided; also that Mrs. Dresser herself joined the Boston New Church Society a few years ago; and finally that her son, Horatio W. Dresser, recently became a member of the Cambridge New Church Society, and is now both an instructor and a student in our Theological School.

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With her knowledge of the entire history of the New Thought movement (and incidentally of Christian Science), it is natural that Mrs. Dresser should not only speak of the strong points of that movement, but should also bring to attention its weaknesses and should finally point the way clearly to Swedenborg's writings as containing the solution of difficulties. On request, her address has been printed in neat pamphlet form; and copies can be procured by sending ten cents to the Massachusetts New Church Union, 134 Bowdoin street, Boston, Mass." (N. C. MESSENGER, April 15.)

     The Rev. J. B. Spiers presents an encouraging report of the work in the New Church Mission at Richmond, Va. At Easter services there were seventeen communicants, the largest number present at any time. Seven young persons were confirmed. The present membership includes 17 resident and 23 non-resident members.

     A new Society of the New Church in Cleveland, known as the Glenville Society, was organized on April 18th, with a membership of thirty-one. Seventeen of these are associate members, who have not, as yet, been confirmed into the New Church. This is the result of the "Glenville Mission," which is conducted exclusively by lay members of the Church, under the leadership of Mr. Otto Pfister.

     The Detroit Society has purchased a lot on Forrest avenue, east of Woodward, and near John R. Street, and plans are being prepared for a church and small parish house, which, it is hoped, will be ready for use in October or November. Rev. Frank A. Gustafson has been compelled, by the state of his health, to curtail the amount of mental work he has been doing.

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British Assembly 1914

British Assembly       A. CZERNY       1914




     Announcements.
     The Thirteenth British Assembly of the General Church of the New Jerusalem will be held at 174 Peckham Rye, London, S. E., on August 1-3. The members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. Visitors are requested to send notice of their coming to the Secretary, Mr. F. W. Elphick, Frederick Lodge, Carshalton Park Road, Carshalton, Surrey.
     A. CZERNY.
SWEDENBORG'S DREAMS, OR DIARY OF 1744 1914

SWEDENBORG'S DREAMS, OR DIARY OF 1744       C. TH. ODHNER       1914


NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXIV          JULY, 1914          No. 7
     Emanuel Swedenborg, like many other great men, had an intermittent "diary habit." It does not appear that he contracted this habit before the year 1733, when he wrote down a very brief sketch of his first two foreign journeys, beginning with the year 1710. This was followed by a larger itinerary, describing his travels in Germany during the years 1733 and 1734, but it was discontinued during the year 1735, when Swedenborg remained at his home in Stockholm. When, in the year 1736, he started on his fourth and most extensive foreign journey, he again began to keep an itinerary, or, more properly speaking, a Diary, which he kept up until March, 1739, describing his travels in Holland, Flanders, France, and Italy. It has been reported that Swedenborg, in the manuscript containing this Diary, also described some remarkable dreams which he experienced during these years, but that his heirs removed the pages containing these dreams. Only two leaves, however, are missing from this manuscript. (Doc. II:130.)

     We come now to Swedenborg's fourth attempt at keeping a Diary,-the manuscript which has become known as "SWEDENBORG'S DREAMS, 1744,"-an octave pocket book, (6 1/2 by 4 inches), bound in parchment and containing 104 written pages. Of the history of this Codex nothing is known except the fact that it was "found by Mr. L. B. Borberg in the library of the late R. Scheringson, professor and lector in the city of Westeras," who died in 1849 at the age of ninety years. Concerning this Professor Scheringson nothing further was known until we found that he was one of the earliest opponents of the New Church, having published at Upsala, in the year 1787, a work in two volumes, entitled DISSERTATIO SISTENS OBSERVATIONES NONNULLAS DE PHILOSOPHIA RERENTIORUM PLATONICORUM, INDOLEM ATIIUE ORIGINEM FANATISMI NOSTRI AEVI ILLUSTRANTES, (a dissertation presenting certain observations concerning the philosophy of the Neo-Platonists, illustrating the genius and origin of the Fanaticism of the present age).

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According to Professor Sundelin, in his HISTORY OF SWEDENBORGIANISM IN SWEDEN, (p. 245), this work was an insidious and learned attack upon the theology of the New Church, attempting to prove that Swedenborg had borrowed almost the whole of his system from the Neo-Platonic philosophers.

     But how did it come about that the manuscript of Swedenborg's DREAMS was found in the library of this enemy of Swedenborg? We do not know, but the fact that Bishop Lars Benzelstjerna, who was Swedenborg's nephew, and, therefore, one of his heirs, was Bishop of the Diocese of Westeras, suggests the probability that he had obtained possession of the manuscript in question, and had loaned it to Professor Scheringson, with whom it had remained, forgotten, more than half a century.

     In the year 1858 the existence of this manuscript became known to Gustaf E. Klemming, the chief librarian of the Royal Library in Stockholm, and it was now purchased by this institution. Klemming was an avowed enemy of the New Church, but was deeply interested in Swedenborgianism as a curious literary phenomenon, and he made a specialty of collecting all works relating to it. Having perused the manuscript recently purchased, he recognized in it not only a literary discovery of the first magnitude, but also an opportunity to deal a would-be deadly blow at the New Church. The publication of this MS. would prove beyond question to the whole world that Swedenborg was not only a madman but also a person of unclean moral character. The little pocket-book, which in many places was extremely difficult to decipher, was therefore placed in the hands of Mr. F. A. Dahlgren, amonuensis at the National Archives, and this expert chirographist produced a clean copy, which, in 1859, was published in an edition of 99 numbered copies by P. A. Nordstedt and Sons, Royal Printers at Stockholm, under the title: SWEDENBORG'S DROMMAR. (SWEDENBORG'S DREAMS, 1744, TOGETHER WITH SOME OTHER NOTES BY HIM. FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS.)

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In order to make the assurance of infamy for Swedenborg doubly sure, Klemming, at the end of the book, published a photographic reproduction of what he conceived to be the most immoral passage in the volume; and the manuscript was then placed in a show-case in the Royal Library, opened so as to expose this very passage. And thus it has remained to this very day.

     The printed volume, which was dedicated to Dr. J. F. Immanuel Tafel and Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson, contains as an appendix a number of documents from Swedenborg's hand, among these the passages in the SPIRITUAL DIARY which were written in Swedish and which Dr. Im. Tafel had not been able to decipher for his Latin edition of this work, (nos.9679, 4787, 5763, 6035, and the long account of the marriage, after death, of Count De la Gardie and the Empress Elizabeth of Russia); there are followed by the Latin text of the little paper on "The Signification of the Horse and the Hieroglyphics," and a letter by Swedenborg to the Academy of Sciences, dated Sept. 10, 1766; and finally the list of presents received by Swedenborg in the spiritual world, listed in the copy of VERA CHRISTIANA RELIGIO which was afterwards purchased by the Rev. William H. Benade and now belongs to the Academy of the New Church.

     As was expected, the publication of the DROMMAR created a tremendous sensation both within and without the New Church. Soon after the appearance of the volume, a review was published in the AFTONBLADET, then as now the leading journal of Sweden. It was undoubtedly written by Dr. Klemming, who here called public attention to the "immoral" character of the Dreams; they are described as "scenes of a most unclean nature," "in the least details most repulsive," "the muddy and impure source of a self-claimed prophetic office." "Were it not known that the little book had this famous man as its author, it would be impossible not to regard it as composed by an inmate of a lunatic asylum or by some person soon ripe for such an institution." "It is evident that Swedenborg, until 1744, and also during that year, had led an irregular life in respect to the other sex.

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This has not been known publicly, until now, but the fact has been handed down, quietly, by tradition among the older and higher Swedenborgian adepts in Sweden," etc., etc.

     The few and scattered New Church people in Sweden, usually very timid, now took courage, and, in the year 1860, issued a second Swedish edition of the work, prefaced by twenty-four pages of "REFLECTIONS ON THE LATELY DISCOVERED DREAMS OF SWEDENBORG." (Stockholm, J. and A. Riis.) This unsigned preface was written by Lady-Anna Fredrika Ehrenborg, a noble, gifted, and fearless authoress, who had championed the cause of the New Church in many publications and had edited two distinctly New Church journals, NAGOT NYTT, (Something New), and ETT CHRISTLIGT SANDEBUD, (A Christian Messenger). In her "Reflections," Lady Ehrenborg explained the real nature of these "Dreams" of Swedenborg, describing the transition state through which Swedenborg was passing in the year 1744, and the spiritual temptations and vastations he was then sustaining. In her splendid defense she shows that the unreserved frankness with which Swedenborg writes down his most intimate dreams is the best proof of the innocence of his mind, and she indignantly scores the publisher who had "torn down the wall from a man's bedroom, pointing out and exhibiting a man in his sleeping garments, a man who believed himself alone with his God, before whom he pours out the inmost thoughts of his heart with intense prayers for help in his combats against an inherited nature and in all the temptations which every sincere Christian understands from the experiences of himself and others." Space does not permit further quotations from this eloquent preface, which is also an able defense of the work on CONJUGIAL LOVE.

     Dr. Wilkinson, in 1860, completed a first English translation of the DREAMS; it was never published, but the manuscript is still preserved in the library of the Swedenborg Society in London. During the next two years there appeared what was claimed to be a new and independent English version, but which was in reality nothing but a clumsily disguised transcription of Dr. Wilkinson's translation. Mr. William White, in his second, (and hostile), Biography of Swedenborg, (1867-1868), asserts that "Baron Constant Dirckinck Holmfeld, of Copenhagen, has very kindly made for me a translation into English of the rough and difficult Swedish of 'the DREAMS.'

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This translation, with discreet omissions, has been printed in THE DAWN for 1861-62, a monthly magazine published by Mr. F. Pitman, 20 Paternosterrow, London. For the help of the curious American readers I may mention that THE CRISIS, a paper published at La Forte, Indiana, has reprinted in its columns 'THE DREAMS,' as they appeared in THE DAWN." (Vol. 1. p. 197.) It should be mentioned that THE DAWN was the English organ of the Pseudo New Church followers of Thomas Lake Harris, and that THE CRISIS, afterwards known as THE NEW CHURCH INDEPENDENT, was the organ of the spiritists and celestialists of the New Church in America. Dr. R. L. Tafel, in his DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG, has thoroughly exposed the fraudulent character of the version published in THE DAWN, (DOC. II. p. 1312.)

     It was not until 1877 that the English-speaking New Church public became more generally acquainted with Swedenborg's "Dreams," and then only through the incomplete translation made by Dr. R. L. TAFEL, and published in the second volume of his DOCUMENTS. As is well known, Dr. Tafel omitted all the passages that might be considered offensive to public modesty,-an omission for which we cannot blame him, but which a thorough student must nevertheless regret since it prevents a complete knowledge of the book and its author. Dr. Tafel, moreover, though he had gained a remarkably good knowledge of the Swedish language during the two years of his sojourn in Stockholm, was nevertheless not thoroughly acquainted with the finer shades of meaning of words and idioms, and with many of the now obsolete terms of the language as spoken in Swedenborg's days On the whole, his version is good, but not good enough; many statements he quite misunderstood, and in many more he did not bring out the full meaning. Another weakness of his translation is his determination to make meaning out of passages which in the original are decidedly obscure. But we do not care to multiply criticisms of Dr. Tafel's able and conscientious work. Our new version recently completed is more close to the original, and based upon a more intimate acquaintance with the history of the Swedish language.

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     In our new translation we have introduced a new numbering of the paragraphs, as we cannot follow Dr. Tafel's numbering on account of his un-numbered omissions. The passages which he omitted we propose to turn into Latin, as the students of the Church certainly should have an opportunity to judge of their character and contents. Sentences which seem unintelligible in the original we have simply translated word for word, hoping that some day a phototyped copy of the original text will clear up some of the obscure places.

     The contents of the manuscript may be described briefly as follows:

     1. A meager account of Swedenborg's fifth foreign journey,-leaving Stockholm on July 21st, 1743, arriving at Stralsund, Aug. 6th, passing on through Wismar, Hamburg, Bremen and Groningen, to Harlingen in Holland, where he arrived on Aug. 20th, on his way to The Hague. Here the itinerary abruptly ends, for two leaves have been torn out of the MS., and these are followed by 16 blank pages.

     2. Then come two written pages containing eleven numbered annotations, briefly recording some undated dreams, with observations as to the mental state of the writer after his arrival at The Hague.

     3. The body of the Diary itself, dated from March 24th to October 27th, 1744, covering eighty-nine pages of the written MS, From these we learn that Swedenborg remained at The Hague until April 22d. On April 23d he was in Leyden, on April 24th in Amsterdam, returning to The Hague the next day. On May 4th he arrived at Harwick, England, and was in London on May 5th.

     4. After an interval of sixteen blank pages there follow, on p. 101, a few additional notes concerning some dreams, and then again two blank pages.

     5. Some memoranda concerning transactions with his bankers in Holland and England, on p. 104, the latest date recorded being Dec. 21st, 1744. This, again, is followed by two blank pages.

     6. Finally, on p. 108, an undated Latin note concerning Verities being represented by virtuous ladies, and concerning himself as being their humble servant.

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     The style of the writing, both as to chirography and orthography, is that of a man getting out of his bed at almost any hour of the night in order to jot down his dreams, immediately upon becoming awake or half-awake. A man in such a state would naturally pay no attention, whatsoever, to finish of style, correct spelling, or punctuation, but no one can blame the writer, under the conditions, and inasmuch as he did not write for the benefit of anyone but himself. But the facts mentioned certainly put difficulties in the way of his uninvited posthumous editors and translators. And it serves us right, for in a sense we are profaning the sanctuary of a gentleman's inmost privacy, his dreams, thoughts, and reflections, which he never for a moment supposed would ever reach the eye of anyone but himself. But since he did write these things down, and since everything relating to this man is of eternal interest and import to God's crowning Church upon the earth, we feel justified in withdrawing even this sacred veil of privacy. And we feel secure in the conviction that the perusal of these intimate pages will leave the New Church reader more than ever Swedenborg's ardent friend and admirer,-a brother indeed in human frailty and temptation-combats, but superior to other mortals in frankness, self-knowledge, self-affliction, humiliation and absolute surrender to his God.

     The biographical importance of this little DIARY is beyond calculation. It is a sine qua non! No one who has not read and studied it can know the man, Swedenborg, such, as he was in the transition period, in the most "climacteric" years of his life, nor why and how he was chosen to become par eminence "the Servant of the Lord," the instrument of the Second Coming.

     Biographers of Swedenborg have often expressed regrets that so little is known of his childhood days, but the DREAMS will supply some of the lacunae. Scenes from his childhood are constantly recurring in the dreams of the philosopher, now fifty-four years of age. In his dreams he is living again, at times, in his father's home in Upsala; the annual "Disting" fair is being held, and every room is crowded, (n. 281); or he is climbing up on a shelf and breaking the neck of a bottle, (perhaps a jar of jam, n. 124); again, he is racing down a stairway, when his father calls out: "You are making such a noise, Emanuel!" (n. 123).

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His father figures very frequently in his dreams, and to the son he always represents the Word, the clergy, or some heavenly society. Once Emanuel is kissed by the old man because he reminded the hot-tempered old Bishop "not to swear." (n. 215).

     Again he dreams of his earliest tutor, Dr. Moraeus, and is teasing the latter's fiancee, (n. 126); or he is dreaming of his sister, Caisa, (a pet name for Catherine): "she pretended she was sick and threw herself down on the floor, screaming, but when our mother came, then she put on a different mouth and words," (n. 106). He dreams also of his other sister, Hedvig, but with her he "did not wish to have anything to do," (n. 119), the reason being that she had married his secret enemy, Lars Benzelstjerna. She tells him, however, that Ulrica Adlersteen, (perhaps a childhood sweetheart), "had longed for him for a long time," (n. 262). He dreams of Eric Benzelius, his "second father," who had died the year before, and he sees him "tired and old, sitting in the lowest place in a church," (n. 208). He dreams of his brother, Eliezer, who had died many years before, (n. 188); and he has a very troubled dream about his still living brother, Jesper, who had been somewhat wild in his youth; this dream signifies to the writer that he himself had been running wild in his thoughts, (n. 191). Everyone of the relations and friends, figuring in his dreams, carried a message of admonition as to something to be amended in his own affections and thoughts.

     A vast number of his friends and associates in public and social life appear to him. The dead hero, Charles XII, figures very largely, and Swedenborg had not yet discovered the real character of the king who had befriended and favored him in his youth. As a King Charles XII still represents God Himself to Swedenborg. Amusing little traits are touched upon: he dreams that the king is speaking in broken French, and is much astonished,-the reason being that the stubborn monarch had steadfastly refused to learn the fashionable, but to him effeminate, French tongue. Scenes occur from the corrupt court of King Frederic I, then still living. Queen Ulrica Eleonora appears, complaining of her husband's mistresses and adulterous intrigues. He sees Erland Broman, the king's go-between in these disreputable affairs, and Broman, though a personal friend, represents to Swedenborg the essence of "luxury, riches, pride."

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He sees his associates in the College of Mines, in the political affairs of the Diet, etc., and in every case the persons mentioned stand for Some moral and spiritual principle, (or, more generally, the opposite), always bringing home some lesson as to his own spiritual state. It may be of interest to note that nearly every person mentioned has been identified with an historical personage. Dr. Tafel had access to the old and voluminous "Swedish Biographical Dictionary." We have had access to one more recent and complete, from which we have prepared our biographical notes, and in this work we found portraits of most of the persons seen by Swedenborg in his dreams. We wish that we had the means to reproduce these portraits in the forth-coming edition of the DREAMS, so that all might share more fully in the scenes appearing to Swedenborg.

     There are also some interesting little touches as to personal characteristics and habits that may be of value to the biographer. Swedenborg dreams, far instance, (n. 93), of sitting at table with one of his acquaintances who greeted him: "but I did not notice it at once, and before I had returned his greeting he became offended and gave me some harsh words. I wanted to excuse myself, and finally managed to say that I am often in deep thought and do not observe when someone greets me, and sometimes I pass my friends on the streets without seeing them, . . . and I said that no one was more anxious to be polite and humble than I am. (God grant that this may be the case!)." His healthy Swedish appetite worries him a good deal, and a dream about a drunken soldier and a wild boar, (n. 187, 188), is interpreted as a warning that during the preceding day he had indulged his appetite and "had partaken too freely of the necessaries of life, which is a work of the flesh and not of the spirit, for such is the life of swine, and is forbidden by Paul." It does seem that at this time of his life he was more fond of-bread and milk than the spirits thought necessary, and it is somewhat amusing to witness his enthusiasm when dreaming of "some beautiful white vessels containing milk and bread, so appetizing that nothing more appetizing can be imagined," (n. 257).

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     Food and drink, however, were never the objects of his "chief passion," but the love of womankind, as is the case with every normal man, In the opening pages of his note-book he does, indeed, express his surprise that "the inclination for woman, which had been my chief passion, had suddenly ceased," (n. 14), but this must have been a temporary state, for throughout the subsequent dreams women figure to an astonishing extent. He dreamed that he loved some of these women, and he describes certain scenes so nakedly as to forbid any general circulation of the book. The words used are neither unchaste nor coarse,-but they were not meant to be seen by anyone else but himself. As he himself says, after the most vivid of the dreams: "this signifies a most ultimate love for what is holy . . . but silence must be kept in regard to it, and no one hear of it, for to the worldly understanding it is impure, but in itself pure," (n. 172). Again, there is not one adulterous dream or thought in the book. Twice he dreams of a married woman pursuing him, but with thankfulness he states: "I escaped," (n. 177, 178). It is to be noted, also, that he expresses no shame or regrets at these erotic dreams; they were simply dreams to him, and no once can be held responsible for his dreams. And the women simply represented to him the various branches of science and philosophy in which he was interested: "all the objects of the sciences are represented to me by means of women," he observes in n. 213. There were also a number of women from whom he turned away. One of these signified that he "should keep quiet in politics," (n. 120); another represented the Moravian Church, (n. 264); another was to him a reminder that he should employ his remaining days in higher things, and not write anything more concerning worldly things, (n. 185).

     The "worldly things" upon which he was then engaged in writing were the last parts of the ANIMAL KINGDOM, the work ON THE BRAIN, and on THE FIVE SENSES, concerning all of which there are many interesting data, in the DREAMS. He was continually receiving supernatural guidance in writing the works then under his hands, but throughout the dreams we can detect an undercurrent of impatience to leave the whole field of natural science and philosophy in order to devote himself wholly to the immediate service of the Lord and His Word in the domain of pure Theology.

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It is perfectly evident that he was now conscious of having received a Divine call to a higher and more important mission. When and how this call had come to him, we do not know for certain, but it is clear there had been a long period of preparation. He had long been aware of a peculiarly internal form of breathing, attended with an extraordinary profundity and clarity of thought; flames of fire had appeared to him, with a perception that these signified Divine approval of the things he had been writing. Dreams, which he recognized as significative and representative, had been experienced for many years; and, since his arrival at The Hague in 1743, he had "enjoyed a preternatural kind of sleep," during which, it would seem, the Lord appeared unto him in a dream.

     It is certainly remarkable that there is no record of this first manifestation of the Lord to Swedenborg, but it is perfectly clear that there had been such a manifestation in the year 1743. Not only does Swedenborg, in six distinct statements, assign the year 1743 as the earliest date of this manifestation, and the consequent opening of his spiritual eyes, (Doc. II:1124), but in the remarkable dream in the night of April 5th, 1744, the Lord again appears to him, asking him if he had a "bill of health." To this Swedenborg answered: "Lord, Thou knowest better than I," upon which the Divine voice said: "Then do it." Swedenborg interprets this as meaning: "Do what thou hast promised," and he prays for pardon because he had "doubted so long," and because he had "asked for a miracle," (nos. 55, 56).

     In the subsequent dreams there are several references to the manifestation of April 5th, 1744. There is no longer any doubt in his mind but that he had looked upon the face of Jesus Himself. "I lay in His bosom and beheld Him face to face. It was a countenance of a most holy mien, and everything was such that it cannot be described; it was also smiling, so that I believe His face had been such also when He lived" upon the earth, (n. 54) Later on he speaks of "Jesus, whom I have seen," (n. 122), and in the night of April 22d Jesus Christ was again presented vividly before his internal eyes, (n. 168). Again, in the night of Oct. 26th, he dreams of conversing in an innocent and familiar manner with Christ, (n. 276).

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     He realizes that so high a favor has been shown to him, that he does not dare to speak of it to others, (n. 80), and that he had received talents and had been prepared from youth up for a most holy purpose, (n. 164), the nature of which is not yet quite clear to him. He has "a premonition that the Lord Himself will instruct me, since I have now first come into such a state that I know nothing, and that all preconceived opinions have been taken away from me," so that he is now "being wet-nursed into knowledge," (n. 267).

     Very wonderful is the study of the state of Swedenborg during this transition period, in the very dawn of the New Dispensation, when, on the one hand, he is preparing to leave the work which he had loved all his life, and when, on the other hand, he is embarking upon a new and untried work, which will lead him he knows not yet where; but he is determined to follow the Divine Call withersoever it may lead him. He has no desire to enter the priesthood, for "I am and ought to remain in civil service," (n. 58); "nevertheless, if the King has resolved upon it, then the matter is settled," (n. 59.) He knows that after the ANIMAL KINGDOM should have been finished, his thoughts would turn to priora, instead of posteriorai (n. 195), and after this work was finished it is represented to him under the form of a woman to whom he says farewell, kissing her with a special tenderness, (n. 212). He has still under hand the work on THE FIVE SENSES, but he is wearied of the scientific work yet to be done, (n. 31); he wishes "it would not draw me away from what is more important, (n, 228); he wants to write about that "which is the very centre of all things, and which concerns Christ. May God be so gracious as to enlighten me further as to my duty, for I am still in some obscurity as to whither I ought to turn," (n. 185). He dreams of carrying away two silver vessels from a clergyman and is much troubled on this account, wishing to return them, but interprets the dream as meaning that he is "to return something to the universal Church in some manner," (n. 63); and after a dream concerning the Dragon, he most ardently wishes that he "might be an instrument to slay the Dragon," (n. 227).

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     During this transition period he experiences a distinct religious awakening. He had always been a profoundly religious and pious man, but his mind had not, hitherto, been specially directed to the contemplation of things spiritual and Divine. But now, having received the Divine Call, he realizes more than ever the sinfulness and utter unworthiness of his human nature, and he is overwhelmed at the thought of the Divine grace which has been shown to him. He experiences states of heavenly joy and exstacies, so intense that they would seem to dissolve him, (nos. 44, 48, 127, 201); but, on the other hand, he is often seized with tremors such as would shake him from head to foot and throw him on his face. He sometimes seems overwrought, and who can wonder, in view of his stupendous and overwhelming spiritual experiences. He feels himself trembling at times on the brink of insanity, and in this state he is subjected to a most terrible temptation, the nature of which he does not yet realize.

     This temptation, which we consider the most dangerous of all recorded in the book, consists in the approach of Moravian spirits, who endeavor to draw him into their deadly sphere. On his journey from Holland to England he meets on the boat "a pious shoemaker," (n. 197), who, as we now know, (thanks to John Wesley), was a Moravian brother, named Senniff. Swedenborg inquires of him as to lodgings in London, and is conducted by him to the house of another Moravian brother, named Brockmer. The latter invites him to the services of the Moravian chapel in Fetter Lane, where Swedenborg finds much to attract him. The intense personal love among the Moravians for Jesus Christ appears to him somewhat similar to the love which stirs his own breast, but while their secretly worship Him only as "their elder brother," Swedenborg worships Him as truly and supremely Divine. On the surface, however, their worship is enthusiastic and exstatic, and they declare they are conscious of the operation of the Holy Spirit. Swedenborg is drawn towards them and for a time regularly attends their services. From the beginning, however, he feels somewhat skeptical towards their claims. He is "not yet permitted to join brotherhood with them," (n. 202); and though in a dream he sees them as a congregation of crowned martyrs, with John Huss in their midst, yet he wishes to "remain unknown;" amongst them, (n. 219), and later on declares that he was "not accepted" by them, because he "had no knowledge in religion, but had lost it all," (n. 264).

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     And truly thankful we may be that Swedenborg avoided this pitfall, even at the cost, (unknown to him), of being reported "insane" by the chagrined and revengeful Brochmer who had lost not only an aristocratic lodger, but a distinguished possible convert to his sect. The story of Swedenborg's "insanity" was spread from this foul though sanctimonious source,-founded, possibly, upon Swedenborg's statement in this very note-book, that he dreamt he had been found naked one night in the Church. John Wesley, who also attended the Moravian chapel about this time, heard something of this from Brockmer, and afterwards gave world-wide and century-long currency to the false report through the pages of his ARMINIAN MAGAZINE.

     If we are correct in our surmise that someone in Brockmer's house had read Swedenborg's note-book, he may have seen there also statements in which the writer spoke of his temptations being at times so severe that he felt he would have become insane if it had not been for the grace of God, (n. 65). The book is, indeed, a record of spiritual temptations and vastations of a nature and intensity such as, perhaps, were never before experienced by mortal man. He had to undergo vastations as to all his former ideas of religion, of all his worldly affections and ambitions, of every vestige of pride in his former mighty works.

     He had never been much of a student of systematic Theology, and in one of his dreams of 1744 he is warned "not to contaminate myself with books treating of theological and such like things, for this I have in the Word of God and from the Holy Spirit," (n. 180). Nevertheless, in speaking of religious things, he is still using the terms of the old Theology which he had heard in his childhood. He still speaks of "the blood and merit of Jesus," (n. 156), and of "the Son of God who took upon Himself the sins of man, even to the most extreme punishment," (n. 214), etc. And though he has realized that "Christ, in whom is the fulness of all the Godhead, is alone to be addressed in prayer," (n. 73), he is still "looking upon Jesus crucified," (n. 122), for he had not yet come to a full vision of Jesus Glorified.

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As to all other things of religion he is being utterly vastated. "In spiritual things," he exclaims, "I am a stinking carcass" (n. 134), and "I know nothing about religion, except that Christ must be the all in all," (n. 266).

     He is being vastated also as to his natural rational thought. It had been his ambition, in all his work, to serve Religion by developing a system of natural truth that should confirm things spiritual and revealed, but he is now brought to see that Religion stands in no need of human confirmations, and that something of the pride of self-intelligence is bound to mix itself into the thought of such service. As Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only son, so Swedenborg is now ready to sacrifice his human rational upon the altar of simple, child-like faith. "We must believe because He has said it, He who is God, supreme over all, Truth itself," (n. 152).

     Concurrently with this vastation as to intellectual things, there is going on a similar vastation as to the things of his will. It is, indeed, profoundly affecting to witness how he rebukes every affection of pride and conceit as to his own monumental works, (n. 78, 270) ; to read of the bitterness with which he smiles at the question he had heard someone ask: "how anyone can be melancholic, who has an abundance of money." (n. 76). He is brought to a recognition that "pleasure, riches, high position, which I had pursued, I found them all to be vanity," (n. 165),-and, in the next line, with sardonic self-contempt, he records that "I seemed to hear a hen cackle, as is done at once after laying an egg."

     The intense activity of his thoughts is represented to him by the wings of a windmill going at a frightful speed, (n. 113), and he is very often anxious, also, at what he terms his "double thoughts," (n. 69, etc.),-two contrary currents of thought,-a phenomenon which at that time he was not able to explain, but which, in 1798, he recognized as being caused by the simultaneous presence of good spirits and evil spirits, (S. D. 484). His dreams, in many other respects, are often terrible and almost unbearable. He dreams, for instance, of an executioner who is roasting and eating the heads he had cut off, (n. 136); and then that the devil is casting him, bound, everywhere, in hell, (n. 137).

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To Swedenborg this represented that his own confirmatory philosophic thoughts must be rejected, and that he must simply believe, like a child, (n. 152).

     Towards the end of the volume there is evidence of victory and peace coming to Swedenborg after the many and intense temptations and conflicts which he had sustained during this momentous year of 1744. In his dreams he hears voices speaking concerning himself the words "interiorescit" (he is growing more internal), and "integratur," (he is being made whole), (n. 170). He dreams of being prepared for membership in the heavenly society where his father dwelt, (n. 206). At first there is some doubt about his being admitted, but finally the society resolves to receive him as a member, though it seemed to be against the rules to accept anyone who still lived in this world, (n. 243). In company with a beautiful and innocent little child he is permitted to visit "the kingdom and innocence," and laments that he could not remain there upon awakening from his sleep, (n. 259). And finally he is told that he is beginning to "look more handsome, and like an angel," (n. 268).

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COMBAT AGAINST THE DELIGHT OF EVIL 1914

COMBAT AGAINST THE DELIGHT OF EVIL       Rev. W. F. PENDLETON       1914

     "And now also the axe is laid at the root of the trees." (Matthew 3:10.)

     John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Judea; and to the multitudes who came unto him he proclaimed the doctrine of repentance, because now the kingdom of heaven, the rule of the Messiah, the promised one of Israel,-was at hand; and they should prepare for Him who was to be their anointed King and Ruler; a greater than Moses, and a greater than David.

     John spoke with the voice of a prophet; he was the last of the line of Jewish prophets, the one who was to make the final announcement of the Messiah, whose kingdom was now to come. He announced that he it was who was foretold by the prophet Isaiah, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. And the burden of his cry was, Repentance. This was the way they were to prepare and make straight the paths of the Lord.

     John, like the prophet that he was, and like the prophets of old, was clothed with a raiment of camel's hair, and girt about his loins with a leathern girdle. His food, the only food to be found in that desert country, was locusts and wild honey. And the people flocked unto him. It was noised abroad that a prophet had appeared in the Judean wilderness, bearing with him the signs of his office; and the multitudes came, eager to hear the voice of this inspired messenger; for they groaned under the Roman yoke and longed for deliverance. They came from Jerusalem, and all Judea, and from all the region round about Jordan; and heeding the voice which spake, they confessed their sins, and were baptized by John in the river Jordan.

     The self-righteous Pharisees, and the unbelieving Sadducees also came; and John spake unto them, but now in the tone of denunciation and warning, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance.

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And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; and every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire."

     This and more John spoke unto them-to the simple multitudes of the promised kingdom of the Messiah, but to the Pharisees and Sadducees of the impending wrath, which they little knew was even then hanging over the Jewish nation.

     But neither the Pharisees, nor the Sadducees, nor the simple multitudes, understood the voice of the Prophet. He spoke to them of a heavenly kingdom, which the Lord God of heaven and earth had come to establish among men, but they thought only of an earthly kingdom, which their Messiah, the greatest and most powerful of all earthly kings, would set up for them on the earth.

     The Christian Church saw the truth dimly, or as in the shadows of the morning twilight; but not until this our day are we permitted to see face to face, or in the clear light of the sun, the things that have been so long dark and obscure, hidden from the view of man. For the spiritual sense of the Word has now been revealed, in which all things are seen in the light of heaven.

     We are on this occasion concerned especially with the meaning of the words, And now also the axe is laid at the root of the trees; which words were used by John in his address to the Pharisees and Sadducees, and meaning, in their most general sense, that the work of the Messiah was to be thorough and complete; not like a man who merely prunes or cuts down a tree bearing poisonous fruit, but like one who lays his axe at the roots of the tree, destroying it root and branch; even as is said in the words which follow the text, "Therefore, every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire."

     By "a root" in this general sense is meant the source, origin, or cause of a thing. The tree comes forth from its root; to remove the fruit, or even the tree, without removing the source of root, would be but a temporary removal, to be followed again by a renewal of the fruit with increased power of harm and ill effect.

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     In this general or historic sense, the Jewish nation was the tree which must be removed with its evil fruit; for instead of being a blessing it was fast becoming a curse to the human race; and the Romans were the axe, or instrument, in the hands of the Lord, to remove this pernicious tree from the land of Canaan, that it might never more return to Jerusalem and re-establish its worship, which had now become profane. This is the general sense of the letter; but this sense deals only with general effects which have their causes in the spiritual world. The letter of the Word indeed treats in general of effects which are in the natural world; but the spiritual sense of causes which are in the spiritual world.

     The Jewish nation was itself an effect, having its cause, source, or origin in the spiritual world. And when John said that the axe was now to be laid at the root of the tree, the words have reference to the root or source in the spiritual world of that which inspired the Jews to pervert and profane all things of the Church, and to crucify the Lord. The root or source of those direful results was in the imaginary or fantastic heavens, which had been formed in the spiritual world, before the Lord's Advent, from the corrupt members of the Ancient Church; and the spirits of that heaven-evil spirits, but seeming angels-had taken complete possession of the Jewish Church, and by means of it infested the whole human race, shutting off the communication of heaven with man. The end of the Lord's Advent into the world, was not only to put an end to the Jewish Church, not only to destroy the tree, with its branches and fruit, in the natural world, but to destroy the very root itself by overturning these fictitious heavens, and casting into hell the evil spirits who formed them. Destroying this root of the tree which bore such poisonous fruit was the universal work of redemption which the Lord accomplished when He was among men in the world. It was the Lord God Himself who came and laid the axe at the root of the tree. Without this no spiritual kingdom could have been established in the world, and no man could have been saved. The good, who were under the dominion of the evil in the imaginary or seeming heavens, were taken out from among them, and formed into a new heaven, and from this a new church was begun on the earth, which was to become a tree bearing good fruit, having its root in a genuine spiritual heaven.

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     After this universal work was accomplished, Redemption was to be individual; that is, after the Lord had performed Redemption, and established a new heaven, and a new church on the earth, it became possible to save every man that is born, to take him out of the imaginary heaven in which he is, and introduce him, by means of a new church on earth, into the new heaven of angels. The manner by which this is done, by which the individual man is saved, is also described in the words of the text; with every man, before he can be saved, the axe must be laid at the root of the tree. John came preaching the doctrine of repentance, and it is by means of the works of actual repentance that man is transformed, while still in the life of the body-transferred as to his spirit from the societies of the evil to the societies of the good in the spiritual world. The work of individual repentance is therefore involved in the words of John the Baptist, "And now the axe is laid at the root of the trees." And as baptism brings into effect this transfer and insertion into the societies of the good, when actual repentance is performed, John also preached the necessity of baptism, and did indeed baptize all who came to him confessing their sins.

     The essential in actual repentance is combat, or resistance to evil. This combat is what is represented by the axe that is to be laid at the root of the trees. For the axe mentioned is the battleaxe, or axe used by the ancients as a weapon of war. It was used also for ordinary purposes of utility. It is the battleaxe that is to be laid at the root of the evil tree such as the man is before regeneration. By the battle-axe is therefore signified the truth combating, or the truth which fights against falsities and evils, or the truth by which man fights against or resists the evils which come forth into his thought from his will, inspired by the evil spirits of the imaginary heavens in the spiritual world. In man's spiritual environment, the combat is between the angels and the evil spirits, but in this world the combat is between the man and himself, or between the new man and the old man, between the new self and the old self, between the new will and the old will.

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In the supreme idea the combat is of the Lord Himself with the infernal hosts, but He makes use of all the instrumentalities mentioned, for the individual redemption of man, or his regeneration and salvation.

     The tree is the man himself; and when it is said that the axe is to be laid at the root of the trees, by the trees are meant the men of the church; who at first bear evil fruit, but who are to be wholly transformed, made into new trees, bearing new and noble fruit. This cannot be done except the root of the old trees be extirpated, and a new root implanted; that the men of the church may become trees with their root in heaven-not in hell.

     Everywhere in the Word by "trees" men are signified, as, for instance, in Ezekiel, (17:24), "Air the trees of the field shall know, that I, the Lord, humble the high tree, exalt the low tree, and dry the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish." And in the first Psalm, "Blessed is the man. . . . whose delight is in the law of the Lord. . . . He shall be like a tree planted upon streams of waters, that yieldeth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and all that he doeth shall prosper." And the Lord also says in Matthew (3:16-20), "Ye shall know the false prophets by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree, that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."

     A tree means a man; and it does indeed correspond to a man, in the whole and in all its parts. The root of the tree is the heart, and operates in the tree as the heart does in the human body; for it sends forth throughout the tree a juice or sap, which acts as the blood which the heart sends out into the body; the stalk or stem, shooting out of the ground and extending to the limbs, is the body of the tree, and is, in fact, called by the same name as the corresponding part in man-the trunk; the branches and twigs, too, are called by the same name as the related parts in man-the limbs; it is well known that the leaves answer to the lungs, having a similar function; flowers are related to lovely speech and manners; and it is usual in the Word, as well as in common language, to speak of actions or works as fruits.

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     The root of the tree is the root of man's life, which is his heart, his will, especially the interior will. The interior will, that which does not usually appear to the outward world, is evil by birth and inheritance; from which there is an innate tendency, an inward striving or endeavor, to evils of every kind. And if it so be that one does not think evil to be sin against God, and exercise self-restraint on that account, evil is committed continually in the spirit, and also outwardly, as often as opportunity offers, or when worldly interest and reputation are not at stake, or the punishment of the law is not feared. And what is more, when evil is not regarded as sin, there is a yielding to it with irresistible delight-a delight that man cannot resist because he will not. This is the tendency of the will inherited at birth, and the tendency grows stronger and is more confirmed as age advances.

     Such a root cannot be removed, until the evils which constitute it are regarded as sins against God, destructive of all things of spiritual life, and on this account man is stirred to his depths with a desire for their removal. But this is difficult, and where there is no desire it is impossible.

     We read that the hereditary of the Jews could not be rooted out by regeneration, because they did not admit of it. There are very many at this day like the Jews. They cannot be regenerated because they cannot be Bed to resist their own delight, the delight of hereditary evil, the delight of their interior will; and they cannot be led to resist it, because they have no desire for it, and they have no desire for it because they do not see evil as sin against God. But even when there is this acknowledgment of evil as sin, and where the soul is stirred with a desire for its removal-even then such removal is difficult. It is not easy to resist that which gives innate delight, for the delight occurs before the thought of its enormity suggests itself; for such a delight is native to man's life, and the thought of it as sin is as yet outside of him. The struggle is difficult and prolonged; perhaps requiring the whole of life in the world, from youth to old age, followed perhaps by a period of vastation after death-so inrooted is the delight of evil, so difficult is it for man to resist the flow and tendency of his native love, to make war against his own life.

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     The root of life is found therefore in our innate delight, the delight of the interior will, in that which gives delight when we are left to our own thoughts, or are in meditation alone. This delight, being evil by inheritance, is that which must be overcome, is that against which the long and arduous struggle is made,-the delight of the interior will, the delight of the ruling love, the delight which makes the very life itself. The axe must be laid at the root of the tree.

     It is essential to know that which is the most important thing to do. The necessity of penetrating to the heart of a thing is recognized in all human affairs. What is true in the natural is still more true in the spiritual activities of life. It is necessary to know that which is the most important thing to do; and the most important thing in regeneration is to make war with the delight of evil. It is not sufficient to shun the evil act, nor to resist the evil thought, but there must be a fight against the delight itself of evil. It will not do to destroy the fruit of the poisonous tree, and cut off its branches and limbs, and leave the root; but the tree itself must be torn out by the roots, and cast into the fire to be burned.

     The root of life before regeneration is found in the delight of the will in contemplating evil, which delight carries with it the purpose of doing when occasion or opportunity offers. Delight, rooted in the will, is the very life of man, whether evil or good, natural or spiritual; this is evident from the distress or anxiety into which the mind is thrown when the delight is threatened or denied from any cause. The removal of the delight of evil is therefore the removal of the life of evil, and the life of evil is the life of the natural man before regeneration. This life of evil, or this delight of evil, this root of the life of the natural man, must be removed before natural life can become spiritual life; or rather, it must be removed before the delight of spiritual life can be rooted in him, or before the spiritual can take root and grow and become a tree bearing everlasting fruit.

     Regeneration is difficult and prolonged, and it is attained through much trial and sorrow, because of the difficulty of removing this root of the life of the natural man, this delight of the love of evil; for evil spirits are entrenched in this delight, and by means of it they hold and exercise their power and dominion.

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For the same delight is their life, and entrenched in the delight of man, they are able to retain their place in the world of spirits, in their imaginary heavens; and so long as this continues they cannot be dislodged and cast into hell. That this dislodgment may be effected, and the judgment take place, there must be co-operation on the part of man while in the life of the body; hence the necessity of regeneration during this life, and hence the necessity of a church upon the earth, that there may be an ultimate fulcrum among men by means of which, according to Divine Order, the evil may be torn from their strongholds in the world of spirits and cast into hell.

     Man therefore must make war with his delight, that the root of his life, which is in the world of spirits, may be removed from him by the Lord, and that the new life, the new delight, which has its root in heaven, which has its root in some heavenly society, may be implanted.

     The work is difficult; and yet the work is not difficult; for the Lord says His yoke is easy and His burden light. The appearance is that it is difficult; and the difficulty appears in the fact that the delight of evil is for the most part not removed except through a long and arduous struggle, so deeply is the root implanted, so great is the power of evil spirits over man by means of his delight.

     The removal of the natural delight of evil takes place, the power of evil spirits is broken, when the delight of evil becomes undelightful; when in the place of delight there enters a feeling of aversion. We are told that the angels experience a sensation of loathing and horror at the sight of evil, such as we feel at sight of the decaying carcass of a dead animal. When this state is reached by the regenerating man, he is safe; evil has no longer any power over him, and evil spirits can no longer have dominion; the root of the life of the natural man has been extirpated, the root which was implanted by inheritance; and nourished by actual indulgence in thought and act, is now no more.

     The way is long and arduous, the work is difficult, the combat is grievous and severe.

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This is the appearance, and the appearance is a real one in the natural. The fact that it is easy is seen only from the spiritual man. Yet the difficulty of the work, the grievousness of the combat, the prolonged anxiety and distress of spiritual temptation, varies greatly in different individuals. The work of regeneration is not difficult in itself; the appearance of difficulty depends upon the nature and extent of the indulgence in evil delight into which man has plunged himself in his earlier years. Those who for a length of time have wholly surrendered themselves to the delight of evil lust, with deliberate purpose, will find the combat grievous. For when evils have been confirmed in act, from deliberate thought favoring and excusing it, or in a series of acts, their removal is difficult, and the task of overcoming them seems at times insurmountable. The combat is also grievous with those who have rejected the holy things of the Word and of the church. If they repent after they have done this-and they may so repent-they will suffer grievous infestation and temptation. But to others we are told the work is not grievous; in the language of the Doctrine, "Let them but resist evils in intention only once in a week, or twice in a month, and they will perceive a change." (D. LIFE 97.)

     With some there is no combat, or no internal resistance to evil. In their hearts they do not see and acknowledge evil to be sin; for in their hearts they do not see and acknowledge God, against whom sin is. Such as these cannot in their inward thought condemn evil, nor in their inward will resist it. Combat therefore, and the grievousness of it, cannot be predicated of them, but of those in whom some root of charity has already been implanted. It is only from charity,-which broadly considered is both love to God and love to the neighbor-it is from charity only and the good or delight of charity, that there is any desire and impulse to resist evil, or any thought against it. And, what is of great value and importance to us in our work of religious education, the root of charity must be implanted in childhood; there must be insinuated into the mind of the child an interest or delight in holy things, together with a good will for that which is good. Those in whom this root of charity is implanted in childhood will not yield in temptation in adult age, even though the combat be grievous and prolonged.

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Others who have not this root in them will yield at the first onset, and the root of evil cannot be torn out or extirpated; they yield as a tree, not well rooted in the earth, yields to the storm and is blown down to lie, and rot, and perish.

     If evil, the love and the delight of evil be implanted in childhood, and this be the only root that remains to the age of manhood, man may for the sake of the appearance of moral and civil life in the world, cut down the tree; but the root will still remain in the earth to spring up again into a tree bearing a fruit more poisonous than before,-if it does not bear such fruit in this world, it will in the next.

     Let us therefore, heed the Heavenly Doctrine, as it speaks these words of admonition to the man of the church: "But my friend, cut down not only that tree, but also pull up its root, and then plant thou in thy garden trees which shall bear good fruit." (T. C. R. 173.) And so shalt thou become, we may humble add, a tree that is planted in the midst of the Paradise of God, bearing good fruit in eternal life forever. Amen.
SWEDENBORG'S MARGINAL NOTES IN THE SCHMIDIUS BIBLE 1914

SWEDENBORG'S MARGINAL NOTES IN THE SCHMIDIUS BIBLE              1914

     DANIEL.

     (Continued from the June issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE, p. 368.)

     Similar things exist in one and the same man in whom there are doubts concerning the understanding of the Word of God Messiah, as among many. For he who has not saving faith, although he should not destroy the faith of celestial things, yet fights with himself since the prince of the south is absent, and does not believe, and is the king of the north of the PEOPLE.

     Vers. 16. Thus science and natural philosophy will reign, and no one believe the Word of God Messiah unless he grasp it with the senses. In a "land of adornment" is in the doctrine of true faith which is thus consumed.

     Vers. 17. It treats concerning the doctrine of faith. Among the sons of the north it is said according to the letter that good works save, which is the "strength of his kingdom," to which are adjoined "upright things," but not in true order, for it begins from externals.

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"Virgin" is faith, which he thus corrupts, which does not abide, and will not be his.

     Vers. 18. "To the islands," is to natural doctrines, from which he reasons, for he cannot from the more interior man [because crossed]. Islands, also, are various confirmatory sayings. As to the remaining things there, see the text. [Vers. 19 crossed]. They signify that he cannot have help from them, but that he is repressed by a certain leader or prince, but without disgrace.

     Vers. 19. "Fortifications of the land" are the fundamental laws and doctrines, but there "he will stumble," [but will not die crossed], and "will fall."

     Vers. 20. Similarly.

     Vers. 21. See in the text. When therefore he stumbles and falls upon the "pedestal," he becomes contempt, but [by falsity crossed] falsity, or he who vaunts falsity, thence converts himself to deceit, and thus usurps the "kingdom" by "flatteries." He flatters others through their cupidities and loves, and thus allures them to his side.

     Vers. 22. Thus the forces, or "arms" will be broken, or "will be inundated." The "prince" with whom he "covenanted," is [evil or the cupidity of evil crossed], is seen from the following to be evil, or falsity; whom he also deceives for there is never any agreement of evils, for one always [contrives crossed] thinks out a deceit against the other.

     Vers. 23. Wherefore he defeats him, that he alone may possess the kingdom.

     Vers. 24. Thus he occupies the empire, and indeed thinks against the true doctrine, dispersing all those things by which it was established, otherwise than the primitive churches. "Ramparts" are the principal articles of the true doctrine.

     Vers. 25. Wherefore now "against the king of the south," or truth and good. God is king, truth is prince. But falsity still obtains on account of deceit.

     Vers. 26. It is deceit, that [with the things which crossed] the things which are with him fight with him, for he excites them, whence a collision.

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     Vers. 27. The will of both is similar, for the prince of truth has ever an evil heart, which has been excited.

     Vers. 28. Then he possesses the things of things, a prerogative for a time; but he, thinks against the doctrine of true faith, for otherwise he cannot be safe.

     Vers. 29. Thus he wages war against faith itself.

     Vers. 30.* "Roman ships" are the things which fight for faith, against those who preach a false Messiah. A false Messiah is falsity [itself crossed] and evil. Therefore, because he cannot resist them, he is "indignant" and "returns" to his own.
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. Rome, Roman ships, for those who fight for the true faith, against falsifiers, Dan. xi, 30.

     "Navales Kitthim" = ships of the Chittim, for ("Navales Romani" = Roman ships).

     Vers. 31. Therefore they now "profane the sanctuary," namely, the doctrine of true faith, which is the fortification itself, to such a point that they abandon those things which the "continual sacrifice" involves, and become desolated or without faith.

     Vers. 32. Again deceit; but it has no power against the elect.

     Vers. 33. Persecution, as is evident from the primitive church.

     Vers. 34. What will happen to the church, or to those who persist in truth; predicted here and elsewhere.

     Vers. 35. The cause of persecution.

     Vers. 36. Thus now, as if he alone reigns, he worships and allows himself and his cunning to be worshipped as a god.

     Vers. 37. "God of fathers" is [Jehovah God crossed] God Messiah, who is love, and is here called "desire of females" on account of the representation of the Church, for he does not either acknowledge anything above himself, which is "to attend to no God."

     Vers. 38. He acknowledges and honors only himself and his cunning; whence he acknowledges whatsoever gods give him honor and riches. These he worships with offerings.

     Vers. 39. Deceit again that he may allure "many" to worship gods of falsity.

     Vers. 40. "King of the south," is the truth of the holy scripture. But those who preach falsity from the letter and at the same time from science, [nor conquer still crossed out], still conquer, as was also predicted in the Apocalypse.

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"Chariots," "horsemen," "ships," are deceit, and rational falsities.

     Vers. 41. "Land of adornment" is where is the sanctuary or the doctrine of faith. But because they stand in these divisions, they will escape, as "Edom" who elsewhere stands for hatred sprung from pride. That he persecutes the sons of the church, etc., see the names. "Moab" for those who blaspheme faith from pride and contempt,* see the name. "Ammon," for those who reject everything spiritual and celestial,** see the name.
     * INDEX BIBLICUS. Moab for those who blaspheme the faithful, or for the blasphemy of faith: conjoined in Seir, signifies from pride, but with Ammon, signifies with contempt, Ezek. xxv, 8, Ir; similarly with the first fruits of Edom and Ammon, Dan. xi, 41.
     ** INDEX BIBLICUS. Sons of Ammon for those who despise the internal man, and thus reject everything truly spiritual and celestial, Ezek. xxxv, 21, seq. 10 similarly, Dan, xi, 41.

     Vers. 42. Thus he invades and destroys faith; and the "land of Egypt," that is, sound reason.

     Vers. 43. He rules over these things with pride and contempt, or over good, truth, intellectual things, rational things.

     Vers. 44. Identical with these things in the Apocalypse, that the devil with great wrath, Apoc. xii, 17.

     Vers. 45. Which is the same, as that he will persecute the remaining seed of the woman, who hold the commandment of God.
                              
"He shall come to the end," because he will have then a brief time, Apoc. xii, 13.

     CHAPTER XII.

     Verse 1.

     "Michael," are angels who explain the interior things of the doctrine of faith. He will come at the last times when there is no more faith, a time which is called the "time of straitness." He will fight with the dragon, Apoc. xii, 7.

     "People" here are all those who are of true faith, thus [of crossed out] the truly intelligent.

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     Vers. 2. That these things will happen at the times of the advent of God Messiah, see elsewhere.

     Vers. 3. It treats of the truly intelligent, namely, who obtain "saving faith," namely, "intelligent" from the understanding, and "just" from the will. They are compared to "stars," from light in which is flame; as elsewhere the starry sky is compared to heaven.

     Vers. 4. That these things will obtain in the end of days. How far science will be multiplied," see the text.

     Verse 7.

     Chap. x, 5, 6. "One clothed in linen garments," is intelligence, hence truth. Love is described, ibid. vers. 6. But here because it treats of intelligence alone, he is described as clothed in linen garments. "Time, times, and half a time," see previously. It is the last time, when the third day. But "time" is when the total is meant; "times," as to both advents of God Messiah.

     Verse 9.

     [Names [?] crossed].

     Vers. 10. Concerning these things in the Apocalypse and frequently elsewhere, by God Messiah, that they have ears and do not hear, etc.

     Vers. 11. The time from the first advent of God Messiah to the second is [time crossed] a mystic number which does not concur with human numbers.

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ARCANA OF THE VEDAS 1914

ARCANA OF THE VEDAS       MANISHANKAR R. BHATT       1914

     (Reprinted from THE NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE for June, 1914.)

     MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN.-YOU are aware that the sacred books of the Hindus are divided into two great classes called Shruti and Smriti. Shruti means hearing, and denotes directly revelation; while Smiriti means recollection, and includes those sacred books which are attributed to human authors. Shruti, strictly speaking, denotes four collections of hymns, called Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, and Athara-Veda respectively; though sometimes the word is used in a wider sense, and includes several collateral works called the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads.

     The word Veda is derived from the Sanskrit root vid which means to know. The Vedas therefore signify knowledge, and particularly that which is best worth acquiring. It is worthy of note that the verses are called Mantras or "arcana," and the Rishis or poets "seers or the arcana."

     The hymns appear to have been composed when the Indo-Aryans were entering India, as the Sindhu is called the great river, the Ganga is only twice mentioned, and the Sarasvati is said to be the eastern boundary.

     Do the Vedas contain a Divine revelation? Are they the Word of God delivered to the ancients?

     It may be answered that the Vedas do contain stray fragments of an older revelation. They contain things which the mind bf man is unable to discover, things which have always been revealed from above; and yet they are not the Word of God. The following hymn called the hymn of Creation, and attributed to Prajapati-the Lord of Creation-will be seen to have many points of resemblance to the first chapter of Genesis:

     There was not, non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it.

     What covered it, and when? and what gave shelter? was water there, unfathomed depth of water?

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     Death was not there, nor was there aught immortal; no sign was there, the day's and night's divider.

     That One Thing; breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever.

     Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness this All was in discriminated chaos.

     All that existed then was void and formless; by the great power of warmth was born that unit.

     Thereafter rose desire in the beginning, desire the primal seed and germ of spirit.

     Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent.

     Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it?

     There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder.

     Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence came this creation?

     The gods are later than this worlds production. Who knows then whence it first came into being!

     He, the first Origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it.

     Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not.

     Mark the last words, "He verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not," is very far from the definite language of Divine revelation.

     There is one Mantra or arcanum, believed to be the highest among all the arcana of the Vedas, which is supposed to have very great power inherent in it. It may be translated thus:

     "We contemplate the adorable glory of the Divine Sun, who may propel our understandings," Rig-Veda, Mandala III., 62:10.

     It is remarkable that the Vedic term for the sun-Savitar-primarily means the creator or generator. One would like to have more information about the Creator who is also the Sun of heaven. Dr. Muir has collected the passages describing the Savita in his ORIGINAL SANSKRIT TEXTS, but the description resuiting from them all is not sufficiently clear and distinct. It is therefore interesting to read what Emanuel Swedenborg, the great Swedish seer, says about the subject in his HEAVEN AND HELL. He writes:

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     The sun of this world is not visible in heaven nor anything derived from that sun, because all this is natural. Nature, in fact, has its beginning from this sun, and whatever is produced therefrom is called natural. But the spiritual world which includes heaven is above nature and entirely distinct from the natural world; neither do they communicate with each other except by correspondences.

     But though neither the sun of this world is seen in heaven nor anything derived from that sun, yet there is a Sun there, and light, and heat, and all things as in the world, besides innumerable others, though they are not from the same origin; for all things in heaven are spiritual, while those is the world are natural. The Sun of heaven is the Lord, and the light there is Divine truth, and the heat is Divine good, and both proceed from the Lord as the Sun. . . . The Lord appears in heaven as the Sun because He is Divine love from which all spiritual things and by means of the sun of this world all natural things exist. This love is what shines as the Sun.

     That the Lord is actually seen in heaven as the Sun has not only been told me by angels; I have also sometimes seen it for myself.

     I am aware that this last statement is likely to appear most astounding to some of my hearers; and they may refuse to listen to what follows. I would therefore request such hearers to be more patient and hear what Swedenborg has to say further. He continues:

     The Lord appears as the Sun, not in heaven but high above the heavens not directly over the head in the zenith, but before the faces of the angels at a middle altitude.

     More interesting than even the Sun of heaven is the mention made in the Upanishads of a man in the Sun with golden hair and beard said to be sometimes visible to the spiritual eyes of Uogis. The account of this man as given in the Chhandogya Upanishad bears a remarkable resemblance to the glorious figure described in the first chapter of the Apocalypse.

     Indian thinkers of later times have not paid due attention to this statement of God being in a human form, because they lost sight of the personal God and became pantheists. But I know that even to the believers in a personal God, the statement of His being in a human form appears derogatory of the Divine Being. Let them hear what Swedenborg says upon the subject:

     Those who have not a just idea concerning spiritual and heavenly things are unable to perceive that these are arranged and combined into the human form and likeness.

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They think that the earthly and material elements which compose man's body are what make him a man and that without these man is not a man. But let them know that man is not a man by virtue of his body, but because he can understand what is true and will what is good. These spiritual and heavenly powers are what make him a man.

     The inhabitants of heaven are astonished that men should imagine themselves intelligent who, when they think of God, think of what is invisible, that is, incomprehensible under any form; and that they should call those who think otherwise unintelligent and simple when the contrary is the truth. The angels say, "Let those who imagine themselves in this way to be intelligent ask themselves whether they do not look upon nature as God; some of them nature as evident to the sight, and some of them nature in her invisible recesses. Are they not so blind as not to know what God is, what an angel is, what a spirit, what their own soul which is to live after death and what the life of heaven with man? And are they not equally ignorant on many other intellectual matters? Yet those whom they call simple know all these things in their own way. They have an idea of their God, that He is a Divine Being in a human form; of an angel that he is a heavenly man; of their own soul which is to live after death that it is, as it were, an angel; and of the life of heaven with man that it is to live according to the Divine precepts.

     The prayers in the Vedas are addressed to various gods, such as Agni, Indra, Varuna, etc. There is indeed a famous Mantra which lays down the unity of God. In Rig-Veda, Mandala I. 164:46, it is said, "The one esse is variously named by the sages, they call it Agni, Yama, Matarishvan." And yet it cannot be maintained, I think, that the Vedas as a whole distinctly teach monotheism.

     Agni means fire. One is tempted to identify Agni with the Divine esse, the first of Divine love; but it will be found that the old bottles cannot hold the new wine. The very first hymn of the
Rig-Veda is addressed to Agni. Here it is:

     
I laud Agni, the great high priest, god, minister of sacrifice.
The herald lavishest of wealth.
Worthy is Agni to be praised by living as by ancient seers:
He shall bring hitherward the gods.
Through Agni man obtaineth wealth, yea, plenty waxing day by day.
Most rich in heroes, glorious.
Agni, the flawless sacrifice, which thou encompassest about.
Verily goeth to the gods.
May Agni, sapient-minded priest, truthful, most gloriously great,

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The god, come hither with the gods.
Whatever blessing, Agni, thou wilt grant unto thy worshiper,
That Angiras is thy true gift.
To thee, dispeller of the night, O Agni, day by day with prayer,
Bringing thee reverence, we come;
Ruler of sacrifices, guard of Love eternal, radiant one,
Increasing in thine own abode.
Be to us easy of approach, even as a father to his son;
Agni, be with us for our weal.

     This hymn does not seem to have been written in what Swedenborg calls the language of correspondences. But there is another hymn, called the hymn of the Man, very highly esteemed and used in various ceremonies, in which that language appears to have been used, and which is also remarkable as containing a sort of prophecy of the coming Christ. Here it is:

A thousand heads had Purusha, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet.
On every side pervading earth he fills a space ten fingers wide.
This Purusha is all that yet hath been and all that is to be;
The Lord of immortality which waxes greater still by food.
So mighty is his greatness; yea, greater than this is Purusha.
All creatures are one-fourth of him, three-fourths eternal life in heaven.
With three-fourths Purusha went up: one-fourth of him again was here.
Thence he strode out to every side over what eats not and what eats.
From him Viraj was born; again Purusha from Viraj was born.
As soon as he was born he spread eastward and westward o'er the earth.
When gods prepared the sacrifice with Purusha as their offering.
Its oil was spring, the holy gift was autumn; summer was the wood.
They bound as victim on the grass Purusha born in earliest time,
With him the deities and all Sadhyas and Rishis sacrificed.
From: that great general sacrifice Richa and Sama-hymns were born:
Therefrom the meters were produced, the Yajus had its birth from it.
From it were horses born, from it all creatures with two rows of teeth;
From it were generated kine; from it the goats and sheep were born.
When they divided Purusha how many portions did they make?
What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs and feet?
The Brahman was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rajanya made.
His thighs became the Vaishya, from his feet the Shudra was produced.
The moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the sun had birth;
Indra and Agni from his mouth were born, and Vayu from his breath.
Forth from his navel came mid-air; the sky was fashioned from his head;

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Earth from his feet, and from his ear the regions. Thus they formed the worlds.
Seven fencing-logs had he, thrice seven layers of fuel were prepared,
When the gods, offering sacrifice, bound as their victim Purusha.
Gods, sacrificing, sacrificed the victim: these were the earliest ordinances,
The mighty ones attained the height of heaven, there where the Saduyas, gods of old, are dwelling.-Rig Veda, Mandela x. 90.

     The word Purusha means a Man, and Virajis the grand man described in the writings of Swedenborg. My own dim vision is not adequate to a detailed interpretation of the arcana involved in these "dark sayings of old"; but I am confident that before long they will be illumined by some student of the Vedas familiar with the science of correspondences revealed in the writings of Swedenborg.

     As I am convinced that a knowledge of the science of correspondences is essential to a true and luminous interpretation of the Vedas, I must give some more extracts from Swedenborg to show what it is:

     The whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual world, not only in general but also in particular. Whatever, therefore, in the natural world derives its existence from the spiritual, is said to be its correspondent. It is to be observed that the natural world exists and subsists from the spiritual world, just as an effect exists from its efficient cause.

     The animals of the earth in general correspond to affections; tame and useful animals to good affections; fierce and useless animals to evil affections. In particular, oxen and bullocks correspond to the affections of the natural mind, and sheep and lambs tot the affections of the spiritual mind; but winged creatures, according to their species, correspond to the intellectual things of both minds; and hence it is that various animals such as oxen, bullocks, rams, sheep, she-goats, he-goats, he-lambs, she-lambs, pigeons, and turtle doves were put to a holy use in the Israelitish Church; for that Church was a representative Church and those animals were used as sacrifices and burnt-offerings.

     The Ancient Hindu Church was also a representative Church, when sacrifices were much esteemed. The dry and dark details of our ancient rituals become exceedingly illumined when understood according to their correspondence. The use of water, for instance, becomes quite interesting when we learn that water corresponds to and signifies truth.

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     One of the gods addressed in the Vedas is Dyaus-Pitar, which means Heaven-Father. Max Muller says: "If I were asked what I consider the most important discovery which has been made during the nineteenth century with respect to the ancient history of mankind, I should answer by the following short line: "Sanskrit Dyanus-Pitar = Greek Zeus Pater = Latin Jupiter Old Norse Tyr.

     We Hindus, children of the great Rishis of old have, however, forgotten to pray to our ancient Heavenly Father. We have yet many gods and many creeds; and we can never be united as a people so long as great religious differences prevail in our midst. But they will not long prevail. The holy city New Jerusalem is coming down from God out of heaven; and some rays from the new light have already touched this land of ours. Some of us have tasted the waters of "the pure river of water of life, clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." We are told that the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations; and we may confidently expect to be healed in proportion as we become receptive of the Divine good and the Divine truth. The invitation is to all. "And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

     You must have noticed, gentlemen, how the Vedas and Swedenborg support each other. The Vedas contain important statements about the immortality of the soul, about heaven and hell, about the Sun in heaven, and about the Lord in a human form abiding in that Sun. The writings of Swedenborg throw a flood of light on all these subjects. An interpretation of all the Vedas in the light of the science of correspondences is still to come. But come it will; and when it does, we shall all be convinced that the Savitar of the Vedas is no other than "the Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."

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Editorial Department 1914

Editorial Department       Editor       1914

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     Those of our readers who are interested in the present lively discussion concerning the Spiritual Body, will be glad to learn that the Rev. Alfred Acton's paper on "The Nature of the Spiritual World," which was read a year ago before the General Assembly in Glenview, has finally been completed and will be published within a month by the Academy Book Room. It will make a book of nearly a hundred pages.



     We are requested to point out the distinction between works published by the "Academy Book Room" and those bearing the imprint "The Academy of the New Church." The latter alone are to be regarded as the official publications of the Academy itself, whereas the former are published in the interest of the more general uses of New Church literature, without involving the official and unanimous approval of the Academy as a body.



     Prof. Acton's forthcoming work should have been published in the NEW CHURCH LIFE, as part of the proceedings of the General Assembly, but the author considered it, at the time, too unfinished in form and too lengthy for publication in one issue. To cut it up into several installments would interfere with the reader's continuity of thought, and the Church, therefore, will now have the opportunity to study the work as a whole. We ask for it what the subject and the author deserve, a serious and unbiased consideration.



     "The discussion at the recent Convention on 'How to Co-operate in Movements towards Church Unity' emphasized the desirability of recognizing the Word of God as the sole basis of our Church. This is the common basis of all Christian movements. To place the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg on a level with God's Word, and make the acceptance of these writings by others an essential of fellowship with them interferes with our ability to co-operate with them.

427


We may indeed be loyal to the doctrines of the Church, may fully recognize that they are from the Lord, but yet the Word of God alone can furnish the common basis of co-operation with God's children throughout the world. Our belief in the writings of Swedenborg should not prejudice our fellowship with Christians everywhere who are working together for the coming of the Kingdom."-(Rev. Louis G. Hoeck in the MESSENGER for June 10th).



     In a recent pamphlet entitled "NUCLEI, NON CRUSTAE SEU PUTAMINA" (Kernels, not Shells or Husks), addressed to the Council of Ministers of the General Convention, by W. McG., we find the following statement, which is interesting, if true: "I know of another young pastor, universally loved and respected, who told me that when in the Theological School (at Cambridge), he was tempted to leave the ministry, because he and every members of his class believed that the Academy had the better of the argument, based on the apparent teachings of this book, [C. L.], and was only prevented from falling into the error of the other, [Arthur Mercer], by sensing the absolute purity of Swedenborg's teaching generally, and believing that he could not possibly contradict himself."



     Much appreciation has been expressed concerning the paper on "The Growth of the New Church," by the Rev. Albert Bjorck, which We reproduced in our April issue from the NEW CHURCH REVIEW. The following letter, in the MESSENGER for May 13th, will be of interest to our readers:

     "EDITOR OF THE MESSENGER:-Readers of the New-Church Review for April will do well if they read and re-read the article entitled The Growth of the New Church, by Albert Bjorck. It may be said in all truth that this article is an eye-opener, and probably the most startling since the time that Ingersoll astounded the doctors of Divinity. In a masterly fashion the writer discusses the loose ideas held in the New Church regarding the old church, and as one of our talented ministers puts it, the present condition of the religious life and methods of the Church is handled without gloves.

428


We hope and trust: that the young New Churchman in general and our theological students in particular will benefit from a critical analysis of the article.

     "I would like to suggest that it would be useful if the Secretary of the Convention were instructed to compile statistics relating to New-Church marriages, etc. It may seem remarkable to be compelled to admit that where the grandfather has been an admittedly enthusiastic New Churchman his grandson is found to be unusually lukewarm, to such an extent, it often appears, that the great-grandson knows absolutely nothing whatever about the doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church.

     "What is really needed is a New-Church bureau of statistics that will show the drift or tendency; this would be practical, I believe, and would enable those thoroughly within the Church to correct deficiencies. If a disease exists in the Church, as the writer of the article claims, why not call the doctor and make a statistical diagnosis?
     G. CLEMENT ALLBUTT."



     From time to time, the opponents of Swedenborg have attempted to bring discredit upon his life-work by raising the cry that he was a madman. This theory, in the past, has easily been exploded by a scrutiny of the life-history of the seer, and all the contemporary stories of his insanity have been proved to be fabrications. Recently, however, a more insidious charge has been brought forward, by a Swedish physician and author, Dr. Emil A. G. Kleen. This writer is known as "a polemic of rank who has shown that he thoroughly knows the art of casting ridicule upon the side which he attacks, in a witty, but rather ruthless manner" (SVENSKT BIOGR. LEXIKON).

     Dr. Kleen, as we read in a Swedish Daily (DAGEN, May 24), recently gave a lecture before the Swedish Medical Society, wherein he asserts that Swedenborg was encumbered with a nervous heredity from both the maternal and paternal side, and by this illuminating statement his "paranoia" would be explained. The learned Doctor calls Bishop Jesper Swedberg "an unusually successful humbug" who "was extremely superstitious" and claimed to have hallucinations.

429


All these and other accusations are based mostly on "little knowledge" (which we know is a dangerous thing), or on bias, which is worse. The biography of the venerable bishop is a lasting testimony to his integrity and sincerity. The only fact which might be construed in support of the insanity charge is the unfortunate fate of Swedenborg's maternal grandmother who shortly before her death suffered from a disease which affected her mind so that she committed suicide, but this is hardly a sufficient ground for such an elaborate theory.

     Although the present attack is directed specifically against Swedenborg, it represents in its philosophy the altitude of that materialistic school of scientists which classes all states of consciousness more highly active than the ordinary, as abnormal and morbid. Newchurchmen, on the other hand, will realize in the peculiar gifts of Swedenborg and in his necessarily sensitive and extremely responsive nervous constitution a means of the Lord to open a normal, though unique, path of intercourse with the spiritual world, differing from the pathological condition of mediums and visionaries in the important item that Swedenborg retained full freedom of action, thought and speech, full self-control and consciousness on both the spiritual and natural plane; i, e., while "mediums" are passive to the nervous forces of other men in this world or in the world of spirits, Swedenborg lost nothing of his active powers, being governed-as is every sane man-by the Lord alone, in a state of liberty and as-of-itself life.

     Dr. Kleen intends to publish a book on these his latest "discoveries." Already, however, our friend, Dr. Hjalmar Kylen, has made a reply to the article, refuting its errors and misrepresentations, and Dr. Kleen's book will certainly not be the last word on the subject.
     H. L. O.

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DOCETISTIC CONTROVERSY 1914

DOCETISTIC CONTROVERSY       W. REY GILL       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     Against the statements in the LIFE that I, amongst others, have upheld an idealistic theory as the teaching of the Writings, I feel it necessary to make an emphatic protest. The aim in my papers, from the one on "The Bodies of Spirits and Angels" onwards, has been to show the real nature of the spiritual world,-that it is not a purer natural world, but one discretely higher and different, though much more real, that is to say, living.

     When I have said that to me the Writings throughout teach that the spiritual world is subjective, I mean that all appearances there are subjective in the sense of being dependent on, and correspondent to, the states of the angels and spirits. I fail to see how anyone can help acknowledge that such is the teaching.

     All objects appearing in the spiritual world, including the bodies of spirits and angels, are however framed of spiritual substances, and hence are the greatest realities, and objective so long as they appear; (under this head come the numerous passages saying that man after death has a body similar in appearance to the one he had here). But directly the state of an angel changes, we are taught his surroundings do so too. This being the case in regard, for instance, to the ground upon which an angel walks, it must be so in regard to the feet which walk upon that ground. But the organic spiritual "body," as it is in se, is man's natural mind, (A. C. 3539:2; D. Wis. V. 3; D. P. 279; D. L. W. 369, 386), which during life in the world is formed and inseated in the cortical glands of the brain, which mind "consists of spiritual and at the same time natural substances," (D. L. W. 257), and therefore, unlike purely spiritual substances, it has the characteristic of fixity and permanence. The spiritual substances which are present in the rest of the body during earth life are explicitly declared to be withdrawn entirely from the body at death, without retaining any containant envelope of natural particles, and without the latter, spiritual substances cannot possibly retain permanent form. (D. L. W. 257.)

431




     As the cutaneous envelope of this spiritual "body" is framed from "the purest things of nature," (D.L. W. 388), it does not and cannot appear in the spiritual world. But it is, as Mr. Iungerich says, a discretely higher, or interior, human body,-differing entirely from the material one. For instance, the "eyes" of the spiritual body are the intellectual mind or understanding. (A. C. 3438, 6032, 6068, 10569.)

     I must also protest against the assumption that it is only the yearly passages of the DIARY which teach the doctrine I have endeavored to present, for such an opinion tends to engender a critical feeling towards this book which we have always held to be part of the Lord's Revelation to His New Church. The references given above should be alone sufficient to dispel this assumption. If I were to rewrite my paper on "The Bodies," I could adduce as much teaching to the same effect from the ARCANA and other books of the Writings as I then did from the DIARY. There are no contradictions in the Writings, and it certainly seems to me that the theory I hold is consistent with every single passage in the Writings that I have ever read; whereas the theory held by Messrs. Odhner, Alden, and Pitcairn will not stand this test, and, moreover, does not help us to understand the phenomena of the spiritual world. For instance, it makes devoid of meaning the passages which teach the reason why, after we have no body in the ultimate human shape, we still have all the sensations of having such a body. (See A. C. 7475.) And, in regard to the phenomena of the other life, how, for example, does such a theory attempt to explain such cases as an angel appearing at one time as a little child, and at another as an adult; or a married pair appearing as one angel; or an angel appearing at places far distant from the place where is his organic spiritual body, as when an angel appears to the devils in hell, his body remaining in his own society, (A. C. 1276, 6893, 8237; H. H. 121); or that angels can change their faces according to their changes of affection, the changes ranging from infancy to old age. (S. D. 2094-5; D. L. W. 369.)

432




     Besides the passages Mr. Odhner quotes from the DIARY in the May LIFE, there is another notable one, germane to the subject now under discussion. I refer to S. D. 5646-7, which should be read most carefully, weighing every word, for it implies, to my mind at least, that the wiser angels know that the real form of the spiritual body is not as it appears to every sense.

     I take strong exception to the first two paragraphs of Mr. Odhner's article in the May LIFE. I do not assure anyone that after death we shall have "only representation of lips and ears." It truly is, as Mr. Odhner says, a remarkable statement, but it is contained in the Lord's Revelation to His New Church. The paper he so strongly condemns as again introducing my "purely subjective view of the spiritual body," is merely a gathering together of the teaching on the subject with which it deals from practically all the volumes of the Writings.

     I agree with Mr. Odhner when he says "The Writings of the Church are not to be used to confirm conclusions drawn from the Scientific Works." It was unfortunately expressed, but I merely meant to imply that the teaching of the Writings-(as given, for instance, in A. C. 444; D. Wis. V. 3)-was my chief warrant for making the statement that the natural memory is the spiritual body, having its seat, during life in the world, only in the cortical substance of the brain.

     I make an appeal that all the passages from the Writings quoted in my papers should be as fully considered as those from the DIARY, as to whether or no they support the position I have endeavored to maintain.

     I add a few passages from many of a like purport in the ARCANA; (the italics are my own):

     "A certain robber coming to me gnashed with his teeth. The sound of the gnashing was as manifestly heard as is that of a man-which was strange, since they have no teeth." (A. C. 820.)

     "Those who have been blood-thirsty are delighted to torture spirits-for they suppose spirits to be men, knowing nothing to the contrary-even till they draw blood, on seeing which-for such is their phantasy that they see as it were blood-they are greatly delighted." (A. C. 954)

     "Chastising spirits . . . clothed them, as it were, with bodies, visible to the sight, and with bodily senses, and so tortured them by violent collisions of the parts this way and that, with pains induced by resistance." (A. C. 959.)

433


I would here ask if the appearing spiritual bodies are more than A. C. 2576:2 states them to be, i. e., representations of the exteriors of angels and spirits-how is it that spirits can survive such direful punishments of rendings and being torn almost limb from limb, as described in the ARCANA?

     "For although man after death becomes a spirit, he nevertheless has with him in the other life the things which are of his external man, namely, natural affections and also doctrinals, and even outward knowledges, in a word, all things of the exterior or natural' memory, (see n. 2475-83); for these are the planes in which his interiors are terminated.." (A. C. 3539)

     "He said also that there was no other food to eat but filth; and when I asked why he, a spirit, should desire to eat, he said that he did eat, but nothing else was offered him than filth, at which he greatly lamented." (A. C. 940.) What the food of angels and spirits consists of, see A. C. 1480, 1973, 4792, 4794, 5915.

     "Let no man think that man is man from having a human face, a human body, and brain and organs and members-these members are common to him with brute animals and are therefore what die and become a carcass. But man is man from being able to think and will as a man." (A. C. 4219.)
     W. REY GILL.
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified              1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     I have read the communication by Mr. Iungerich in the June issue of the LIFE. It seems impossible for him to present fairly the views which I have already expressed, in the April and May issues of this journal, or to grasp the fundamental issues in the controversy. He simply reiterates, in a more insistent manner, the opinions which he has already expressed, and attempts to confirm them by additional hypotheses.

     I can safely trust to the common perception of the members of the Church to penetrate the sophistry of Mr. Iungerich's reasonings. I shall limit myself, therefore, to two references in which he has misrepresented me, with the hope that someone else may deal more in detail with the fallacies advanced by him.

434




     1. Mr. Iungerich states that my view makes the two worlds "virtually identical," and thus imputes to it a denial of discrete degrees. Let the reader turn to my article in the April issue, (page 202), and judge if this statement is warranted.

     2. Mr. Iungerich further insists that my view "seems to make the spiritual world a structural duplicate of the natural, with every detail thereof made out of a similar stuff, except that it is called by another name, substantial and not material."

     This astounding misrepresentation needs little comment. The writings of the New Church everywhere name the "stuff" of the other world "substantial," and not material. Moreover, the Writings do not simply "call" it by another name, but clearly describe wherein the difference lies.

     But it is unnecessary to dwell further on Mr. Iungerich's confused rendering of views already expressed by me.

     According to this new theory,-the so-called "interior view,"-the end of creation is not a real heaven for the human race, containing human beings in perfect human form and shape, because, according to the exponents of this theory, when men leave this world they put off their arms, legs and trunk, and all their internal organs and viscera, not only those of the natural body, but also those of the spiritual body, so that all that remains to them are cortical glands, or grey cells of the brain. All things else, not only of the spiritual body, but also of the whole spiritual world, are described as mere appearances that are perceived by spirits and angels from the "memory-images" which have been impressed on the grey cells of their brain while they lived in the natural world.

     Let the reader compare this view with the teaching contained in the following passage from the DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, (n. 389):

     "In order that a man may be a man, there must be no part wanting either in the head or in the body, that exists in a perfect man for there is nothing there that does not enter into that form, and make it. For it is the form of love and wisdom, which viewed in itself is Divine.

435


All the determinations of love and wisdom are in it; which are infinite in God-man, but finite in His image, which is man, angel and spirit. If any part that exists in man were absent, something of the determination from the love and wisdom corresponding to it would be absent, something through which the Lord can be with man from primes in ultimates, and from His Divine Love through His Divine Wisdom provide uses in the created world."

     The "interior view!"-these two magic words have done service for every heresy in the New Church as well as in the Old. The consciousness of possessing an "interior view" always is accompanied by a sense of superior knowledge and intelligence, an insight not possessed by others, nor subject to the ordinary canons of exposition and proof. The learned in the First Christian Church had the "interior view" that spirits and angels were merely "wind, ether or a thinking principle." They permitted the common people to believe that they would retain, to some extent at least, the human form and shape in the spiritual world; but it is affirmed in the Writings that the common people had the true view. The Idealists claimed to have an "interior view," and that the common herd had a material and sensual view; but Swedenborg strongly condemns the Idealists and declares their view to be the sensual view. Charles Augustus Tulk claimed to possess an "interior view," a "spiritual view," which he endeavored to read into the Writings, but his "interior view" has been completely exploded by the truths of the Writings themselves. And to-day history is repeating itself in the "interior view" that the form of spirits and angels is limited to the cortical glands of the brain, and that the spiritual world is purely subjective.

     Do we, on this account, object to all interior views? By no means! Every progressive Newchurchman should desire to gain ever more interior views of the teachings of the Church, and we are taught that with the regenerating man progress into clearer perceptions of truth is continually being made. But we do object to any "interior view" opposed to the fundamental teachings of the New Church.

     The letter of the Word is written in appearances in accommodation to the states of the sensual and natural man. In many cases the obvious meaning of the letter appears opposite to and conceals the interior meaning. But the Writings of the New Church are not written according to sensual appearances, as is the letter of the Word.

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There is no hidden truth in the Writings opposite to their apparent meaning, as is the case with the letter of the Word. The Divine Revelation to the New Church is written for the rational man, and by means of that Revelation itself we may progress forever into a clearer knowledge, understanding and perception of its deeper truths.
     JOHN PITCAIRN.
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified       WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     I have been much interested in Prof. Iungerich's letter in the June issue of the LIFE, regarding discretely interior figures in a discretely interior world, and beg to record a layman's conviction that the arguments by Mr. Iungerich will only add difficulties to an already profoundly difficult problem.

     If Mr. Iungerich had merely misrepresented the views of his opponents, his letter would not be particularly disturbing, for this is a frequent fault of controversy into which the most able debaters are liable to fall, especially when the issues involved are rooted in the conscience or deal with those questions which stir men's souls. But Mr. Iungerich makes an extreme attack on a certain understanding of doctrine, which, rightly or wrongly, has been the commonly accepted belief in the New Church until a recent date. To casually inform the reader that "there has been a tradition among some Newchurchmen to limit every reference to the term 'human form' to that which the natural eye, in the natural world, under the light of the natural sun, recognizes," conveys a wholly misleading impression, for the true idea which has been held is of quite a different nature. Before seeking to take away this idea, it surely is incumbent on Mr. Iungerich to present a clear understanding of the alternative which he proposes, but, besides the citation of several passages which may or may not support his position, he merely Presents a vague hypothesis the crude terminology of which betrays the idealistic nature of his philosophy.

     In short, Mr. Iungerich's treatment is a bit of special pleading. The use which he makes of S. D. 355 is an illustration of the dangers attached to special pleading.

437


The numberless other passages in which Swedenborg tells us that he did know, from actual experience in the spiritual life, that spirits and angels are in the perfect human form, Mr. Iungerich struggles to minimize on several grounds. First, he pleads that such passages are "wholly unexplained statements," and that our generally accepted view, that Swedenborg simply meant what he said concerning the perfect human form, must be due to a "first, superficial glance" at the passages in question. The assumption that such passages afford no explanation whatever is simply a claim the validity of which, in any case, a scientific worker would at once suspect, because of the claim that the true explanation had been located in a single passage.

     Mr. Iungerich's argument that "it matters not whether the balancing he of many passages against one or more," and that "such consideration has no weight whatever in determining which rules," calls for the repeal of common sense. His further statement that S. D. 355 would have more weight in any court than all the other passages, because it affords an explanation of or key to them, is not complimentary to the intelligence of our courts. Even apart from the fact that a wise court first seeks for the most obvious and apparent meaning of a document, as being more likely to convey the meaning of the writer of the document in dispute, the acceptance of any special explanation or plea based on a single passage would depend entirely upon the nature and value of the explanation. Moreover, the burden of proving that each and every passage apparently opposed to the explanation meant something other than its obvious and apparent meaning, would he put entirely on the shoulders of the special pleader. At present it seems impossible that the mass of passages in the Writings, on the subject in dispute, can be proved to have hidden within them a meaning so radically different from the meaning conveyed by the plain words of Revelation. If such proof of an esoteric meaning can be given, then the laymen of the Church certainly are confronted with an, entirely new and herculean difficulty in understanding the Writings, and one which is likely to shake the faith of many.

     It seems to the writer that the application to Revelation of certain modern types of critical processes is quite as likely to take place in theological research as it is, say, in the field of historical research, and with equally disastrous results.

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Monsieur Langois recently remarked: "The excess of criticism, just as much as the crudest ignorance, leads to error. It is related to criticism as logic-chopping is to logic. There are persons who scent enigmas everywhere, even where there are none. They take perfectly clear texts and subtilize on them till they make them doubtful, under the pretext of freeing them from imaginary corruptions. By constantly guarding against the instinct of credulity, they come to suspect everything. It is to be observed that in proportion as the criticism of texts and sources makes positive progress, the danger of hyper criticism increases." It is impossible to escape the feeling that when a single passage such as S. D. 355, in which it is stated that Swedenborg did not know something, is used to prove that he then knew of far more interior and fundamental ideas than he expressed later in numberless passages, something of the hypercritical danger has invaded the discussion.

     In the interests of rational scholarship, I would respectfully urge that all who seek to interpret any work, whether divine or human, should especially bear in mind the danger once described by Fustel de Coulanges. He said: "To bring one's personal ideas into the study of texts is the subjective method. A man thinks he is contemplating an object, and it is his own idea that he is contemplating. He thinks he is observing a fact, and the fact at once assumes the color and the significance his mind wishes it to have. He thinks he is reading a text, and the words of the text take on a particular meaning to suit a ready-made opinion."

     In conclusion, I would state that none of the foregoing opinions detract at all from the writer's belief in the sincere motives with which Prof. Iungerich has urged his case, but, with many others, the writer feels that the claims made on behalf of the new "interior view" should at least be more modestly and certainly more scientifically stated. It is easy to appreciate the desire to discover the nexus between the doctrinal general as the starting point and its verification in an ultimate scientific goal; but between the starting point and the goal there is a series of connected inferences to be made in which there are numberless chances of error and fallacy, and in which a single false step of the reason may destroy the validity of the conclusion.

439


But such ordinary care in research work as is necessary to avoid the dangers described does not appear to have been exercised either by Mr. Iungerich or Mr. Gill in several of their recent articles, as a careful study of some of the passages upon which they base their theory will demonstrate.

     The average layman may well be pardoned for desiring to proceed with caution in the acceptance of new hypotheses, however brilliant and alluring, for experience shows that nothing is easier than for the natural mind to desire to accept a new idea simply because it claims a spiritual and intellectual superiority over views previously held. And though it may be true that some passages must remain for a time unexplained, it is even more true that it is better to bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of.
     WILLIAM WHITEHEAD.
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified       GEO. V. ADELMAN       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     I have been reading the various articles in the LIFE on the subject of the human form and shape in the spiritual world, and, being a simple-minded layman, I must say that some of the conclusions set forth make me dizzy, especially those presented by E. E. Iungerich. I think I know the general impression among the simple laymen, like myself, on this topic. To me, at least, it seems this way Swedenborg in his scientific works made certain statements concerning the form of man after death, and he said at the same time that he was not certain that they were right. Afterwards, in the Writings, he made quite different statements on the same subject, and these we accept as true.

     Swedenborg's comparison, (in the ADVERSARIA, quoted by Mr. Iungerich on p. 312), of the soul with the seed in the fruit, does not seem to lead anywhere, as it simply typifies the general cycle of reproduction. The first finite substance,-the function of which gives the true human quality to every other human function and form, even to the human shape,-is not the human shape itself, but produces it, as the acorn produces the oak.

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All the potential factors as to shape, fibre, and quality of the oak, are in the acorn, but the acorn is not the oak as yet. Neither is the brain, or any part of it, the entire body, but the force and active principle, which produces the human form and shape, reside in the brain. The soul and the body thence proceeding are the human shape and form.

     There is nothing existing without form, substance and place, and there is no form without shape. Even the most ultimate, or the body, is produced and is an expression of the potential force in the seed, and thence from the brain come all the other organs and extremities, and the soul is as much in the feet and hands as in the head.

     In contemplating the Lord Jesus Christ it is clear to me that after His glorification He arose from the grave in the perfect human shape, with arms and hands, legs and feet, nor was there anything lacking. The angels who were seen with Him after the resurrection were also in the human form and shape, even though they did not have material flesh and blood such as the Lord's. There is a spiritual and angelic use for the arms, legs, and other members and organs, or there would not be the spiritual force present in the brain to produce the material arms, legs, members and organs for natural uses.
     GEO. V. ADELMAN.
          Franklin, Pa.

441


Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. The varied social program of the last month permits but a rapid review of its events. In the last part of May, while we were waiting for the usual influx of visitors to the annual meetings, we continued the enjoyable spring routine, including "Friday suppers" and "Sunday evening services." But these ceased at the end of the month, the last Friday supper being devoted to an interesting discussion of the Mexican situation. On May 21st Mr. Hubert Synnestvedt, in collaboration with Mr. Francis Bostock, Mrs. Paul Synnestvedt, and others, gave us an evening of music worth attending, and on May 30th a song cycle, entitled "In a Persian Garden," was given by a mixed quartet, (Mrs. Elsa Hilldale, Mrs. Gwladys Edmonds and Messrs. Leroy Wells and Hugo Lj. Odhner), assisted by some young ladies of Terpsichorean talent. Private events, notably a shower for prospective Mesdames Rose and Finkeldey, and various picnics and excursions to Willow Grove, contributed in adding momentum and celerity to time.

     Two beautiful weddings have been witnessed recently. That of Ethne Price and Mr. Fred. Finkeldey occurred on the 6th of June. The chancel was banked with palms, and the very festive and delightful sphere was enhanced by the rendering of the 45th Psalm by the choir, the solo part being sung by Miss India Waelchli. The wedding was followed by a reception in the auditorium, with toasts and dancing. Miss Marjorie Wells and Mr. Donald F. Rose were wedded on the following Saturday, when the chapel was again transformed, and the candlesticks on the altars were lit behind the transparent veil of the chancel. After the ceremony the couple was congratulated at a lawn party at the home of the bride. The couple intend shortly to leave for Europe.

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     Many others harbor similar plans, and already some have left us for foreign shores, viz., the Rev. E. E. Iungerich, Misses Hogan and Falck, Mr. Peter Ahlberg, Mr. John Pitcairn, and Mr. Theodore Pitcairn.

     The death of Mr. George Heath, who at the time when his health was better, was of so great a value in stimulating interest in the stage and in helping with our theatricals, was a real loss to us, and all felt great sympathy with him in his illness, which he so bravely and cheerfully bore.

     The annual meetings of the Alumni Association took place on June 14th, and a banquet was enjoyed in the evening at the Dining Hall, where recent rumors that the organization was wholly or partially defunct, were enthusiastically and effectively refuted. The Alumni were, on the Saturday preceding, invited to a joint meeting of Faculty and Corporation; this meeting was full of interest. The Sons of the Academy met on Monday the 15th, when Mr. Harvey Lechner was elected president, and at a banquet the next day, where Mr. Whitehead surpassed himself as a toastmaster. The Theta Alpha met on the 5th of the month in their decennial, and this was duly celebrated under the guidance of Miss Alice Potts, the new president. A special meeting of the Younger Generation, and a reunion of old members of the Phi Alpha at a rousing banquet in Stuart Hall are also rumored of.

     THE ACADEMY SCHOOLS.

     The schools were meanwhile the centrum for other activities. On May 23d the Junior Ball was rolled off, and it is said that a swifter evening was never spent. The Seniors were, of course, humiliated by the mock reverence of their juniors, but they recovered very gracefully and their dignity was altogether restored by the ninth and tenth of June, when the graduates from the College and the Seminary read their essays. We hope to see these published in the JOURNAL OF EDUCATION. The Normal students read their graduation essays on June 11th. All these readings were followed with great and appreciative interest.

     The Elementary School celebrated commencement on June 11th, in the Chapel Mr. Doering gave an address on the Parable of the Sower, and the children presented gifts to the school; one of the classes had prepared a handsome banner with Hebrew inscription, which is now to beautify the Assembly Room.

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     The commencement of the Secondary and Post-Graduate departments took place on the twelfth of June; Mr. Kesniel Acton read a paper on the "Constitution of Matter," and thereupon gave a short Valedictory on behalf of the Senior Class of the College. Mr. Hugo Lj. Odhner then gave a Valedictory for the graduates of the Theological School, in which he discussed the basis of Conviction. The annual address was finally delivered by Mr. Robert Carswell, of Toronto, who spoke of the various uses which the students who leave here may enter into, showing that all were instrumental to heavenly uses.

     Diplomas and degrees were then granted, as follows: The Medallion of the Seminary, to Misses Roena Acton, Guida Asplundh, Amy Doering, Rhona Glenn, Bessie Harris, and Verna Price; the diploma of the College, to Messrs. Kesniel Acton, Carlos Dexter, Egbert Glebe, and Doron Synnestvedt; the diploma of the Normal Department, to Misses Bella Campbell, Helen Colley, Ema Sellner, and May Waters; and the degree of Bachelor of Theology, to Messrs. George de Charms, Llewellyn W. T. David, and Hugo Lj. Odhner. The honorary scholarship of the Theta Alpha was announced as having been conferred upon Miss Olivia Doering.

     In the evening came the Senior Ball; and in the course of the evening the class of Seniors presented to the school a banner in their class colors, garnet and grey; songs were sung and a class will was read, and at midnight the young folks-more than commonly regretful,-parted, to pack their trunks in the morning. Still in the early morning hours, however, the echoes of songs were heard on the campus, where-around the dying embers of a huge bonfire-some still lingered, in the shadows of the goal posts of lusty youth, loath to submit to the ever victorious march of time.

     ABINGTON, MASS. One of our members, Miss Ellen Taylor, has moved to Brockton, but the family hope to attend the services in Abington as before.

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     Mrs. T. S. Harris has gone to Bryn Athyn to attend the graduation of her daughter, Bessie. Miss Gracie Leach had planned to accompany Mrs. Harris, but an operation for appendicitis on May 15, necessitated waiting until some future date, before making the long journey.

     Mr. Harris will soon be leaving us now for his summer's work in Canada.     G. M. L.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. Summer has arrived without bringing any of the mosquitoes that troubled the General Assembly attendants last year. Important events, conventions and assemblies seem to draw them to the park. They neglect the ordinary inhabitant. Social events have occurred with hebdomadal regularity. Under the management of Miss Vivien King and her committees we have
had a mixed literary and dancing evening, a pure dancing party and a picnic on Decoration Day.

     The local school gave an operetta which was very enjoyable. The training of the children for the musical part was done by Miss Vida Gyllenhaal and the dances were arranged by Miss Vivien King. The young men gave a minstrel performance which resulted in some accretion to the Building Fund. The Friday suppers, classes and singing, as also the Philosophy class are being kept up to almost the nineteenth of June this year.

     It should have been mentioned in a previous account that Mr. G. A. McQueen's new house in the park was dedicated by an appropriate ceremony. Building operations are still active; Mr. Oscar Scalbom had erected a one story cottage of pretty external form as a temporary residence, while a larger, strictly fire-proof, very convenient and eminently artistic home is being put up. The work is proceeding with remarkable celerity. Among the unusual happenings was the very pleasing one of having Mr. John Z. White, popular lecturer, orator and politician, address us in the school house upon the live subjects of the Referendum, the Initiative and the Recall. Upon the following evening the same subject was taken up at the Steinfest, which disposed of the whole matter in a couple of hours. Ladies were invited to both meetings and many were present.
     K.

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     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Council of Ministers of the General Convention met at Cincinnati on May 19th to 21st. Among the proceedings we find the following points of interest:

     The Rev. Julian K. Smyth, in a discussion on "Our Mission to the World," asked the pertinent question, "How do we know that the Lord is anxious for this great inpouring into the Church at the present time? How do we know that if we did this or that, there would be such different results? There is nothing to prevent Mr. Murray from trying any new methods in proclaiming our message, preaching it from the housetops if he likes. We will watch the results with interest. . . . It cannot be said that we have not reached the masses. Chauncey Giles drew thousands in New York City, not only because of the power of his addresses, but by advertisements in the horse cars, in the programs in the theaters, and through the use of neat up-to-date methods.'" Mr. Smyth found consolation for the apparent failure of all such efforts in the teaching that "the New Church must first be among the few! 'MUST be!' Mark the words! They declare that the New Church must first be among the few, while preparation is being made for its reception among the many."

     "How shall we Co-operate in Movements towards Church Unity?" was the subject of papers by the Rev. G. H. Dole and H. C. Hay. The latter expressed surprise that "the one body which, more than any other, confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior, had not been invited to join in the movements. . . . There is a general impression that the New Church regards the writings of Swedenborg as a revelation in addition to the Bible, and Swedenborg as being, as a revelator, equal with the Lord Himself." The Writings of Swedenborg, however, "are valuable, not in themselves, but because of the light which they shed upon the Scriptures."

     Rev. Frank Sewall expressed himself as being in almost total disagreement with the point of view of the papers. The New Church is bound by its own doctrines to regard itself as the crown of all churches and the heart and lungs of the church universal.

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If we take this position frankly, we shall never be admitted to movements for Church unity, and if we deny or conceal it, we shall be false to ourselves and to our doctrines. No superficial gain through external union with other religious bodies is worth attaining at the cost of disloyalty and insincerity.

     Rev. E. M. L. Gould emphatically supported this view. The New Church does not regard itself as a part-even the inmost part-of the Christian Church; it is True Christian Church, and there is no other. Also, the New Church does possess in its doctrines "a Divine revelation other than the Word," although based upon it.

     Rev. Junius B. Spiers doubted whether the New Church could ever find any other basis of union with other religions except the doctrine of charity. In the field of actual theology, the differences are too great to admit of coming together.

     Rev. Julian K. Smyth was in entire sympathy with the feeling that no union with other religious bodies would be worth having at the expense of disloyalty to our doctrines, but felt that no such disloyalty would necessarily be required. He related his personal relations with the leaders of the "Faith and Order" movement. He has made a number of efforts to have the New Church admitted to this movement, but so far without result.

     Rev. H. Clinton Hay said that the New Church is the only church in the world today, and that all the spiritual life in other bodies is the life of the New Church. At the same time we must not "fall down at the feet of the angel," by, according to Swedenborg powers and qualities which belong to the Lord alone. He related his own attempts to have the New Church invited to take part in the "Faith and Order" movement. He had been officially informed that the New Church "did not come within the scope" of that movement.

     Proceeding to business, the Council voted to refer to the Committee on the Translation of "Conjugial Love" a communication on the subject received from Mr. Wm. McGeorge, Jr.

     The Committee to Provide an Annotated Edition of "Conjugial Love" reported that a new and thorough study of that work is: being made at the Theological School, and that much valuable material for its use is being accumulated. This task, however, is not yet completed, so that no final report is possible.

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Rev. Lewis F. Hite spoke of the splendid work in this field which is being done by the Rev. William F. Wunsch, who is now in charge of the theological department at the school.

     The Committee on the Translation of "Conjugial Love" reported that its work had progressed very favorably, but was not yet completed. A thorough study of the book is now being made at the Theological School under the direction of the Rev. William F. Wunsch, and very valuable results have already been attained. It was voted that the Committee and its work be continued.

     It was voted that the name of Rev. O. L. Barler be dropped from the Roll of the Convention, at his own request.

     The General Convention itself met at Cincinnati, May 23-26. The proceedings appear to have been peaceful and somnolent.

     Five candidates were ordained into the Ministry at the Cincinnati Convention. They were Mr. George G. Pulsford, of San Antonio, Texas; Mr. Joel Richard Stewart, of Biloxi, Mississippi; Mr. Frederick S. Mayer, of Louisville, Ky.; Mr. Gould Johnson Brown, of Urbana, Ohio; and Mr. Fitzherbert Alonzo Wiltshire, the minister of the colored New Church society at Georgetown, British Guiana.

     The church-building of the old New Church society in Minneapolis,-which became defunct some fifteen years ago,-has been deeded to the General Convention and will be turned over to the present society, organized by the Rev. Axel Lundeberg.

     Rev. Adolph Roeder explained to the Cincinnati Convention that the disbanding of the "German Synod" would probably cause a temporary diminution of the nominal membership of the Convention. The loss, however, is only apparent, for most of the members of that body, with a good many others, are included in the "Northwestern New Church Conference," which will probably apply for membership in Convention next year, either independently or as a part of the Canada Association.

     At the meeting of the General Convention it was voted that the usual appropriation of $500 be given for the support of the work of Mr. Alfred H. Stroh in Sweden, and that the Convention assist in meeting the expenses incident to the illness of Mr. Stroh. The latter, we are happy to report, is now recovering, and is at present in Spain, on the advice of his physicians.

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     The heirs have contested the will of Mr. H. M. Peters, of Seattle, Wash., bequeathing about $150,000 to be divided equally between the American Swedenborg Society and the Augmentation Fund of the General Convention. "Until the contest is disposed of and the estate divided, it is not only not a source of income, but the contest is a source of expense, so that the resources of the Church will be temporarily reduced on account of this liberal bequest.

     EAST INDIA. The following letter from Mr. H. N. Morris, of Manchester, appeared in the NEW CHURCH YOUNG PEOPLE'S MAGAZINE for June:

     "Whilst in Bombay I was pleased to have a visit from Prof. Bhatt, who is one of the students of Swedenborg whom I met on a previous visit. It was arranged that a New Church Service should be held at my rooms on Easter Sunday, [April 14th]. The students from the Fergusson College of Poona were unable to come as their examinations were going on, and it would mean an eight hours' night journey by train each way, but there were twelve earnest men assembled and took part in a Service which will long be remembered by all who were present.

     "It was conducted partly in English by myself and partly in Guzerati by Prof. Bhatt. At the close of the Service a Reading Meeting was held, and an animated discussion took place on passages from Swedenborg that were read aloud.

     "The possibility of forming a Society for bringing the writings of Swedenborg before the people of India was seriously discussed before and after the Service, and an advertisement was inserted in the local papers asking any who were interested in Swedenborg's writings to write to; a certain address.

     "Only two replies were received, and both from Parsee gentlemen who have been for many years appreciative readers of Swedenborg, and one of whom afterwards presented the new Swedenborg Society with 28 handsomely bound volumes of the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY from his private library of New Church literature.

     "So many promises of help were received that Mr. Bhatt and his friends decided that the time had come to do something.

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A suitable shop was found [at the Govind Building] in Princess Street, in quite a good position in Bombay. The rent of thirty-five Rupees a month was considered reasonable and it was secured.

     "The Brahmo Somaj Committee kindly lent us their hall for a public meeting, and on April 14th the Swedenborg Society of India was formed at this public meeting.

     "Mr. Bhatt was appointed the first President of the Society; Mr. S. J. Patel, who intends to devote all his time to the work of the Swedenborg Society, and to study under the supervision of Prof. Bhatt, was appointed Secretary; and Mr. D. P. Amin, a third year student at the Wilson College in Bombay, Treasurer.

     "On the following Sunday a Dedication Service was held at the New Swedenborg Society's Depot, in Princess Street, and on the evening of the same day a public meeting was held at the Brahmo Somaj Hall, which, although not advertised, was attended by over two hundred, and at which Prof. Bhatt gave a lecture on the Arcana of the Vedas, the Sacred Writings of the Hindus, an account of which has been sent to the NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE.

     "Mr. Bhatt tells me that he expects they will have about 50 members of the new Swedenborg Society, and it is the intention of these enthusiastic students to hold regular Reading Meetings for discussing the teachings of Swedenborg. They also propose to publish a quarterly "Journal of the Swedenborg Society of India." This will be like many others in India, an "Angle-Vernacular" Journal, that is to say it will be part in English and part in the vernacular. Translations of Swedenborg will appear in this way and, if funds will allow of it, these will afterwards appear in book form.

     "Prof. Bhatt, as you know, has already translated and published, at his own expense, two volumes. He has also translated Swedenborg's DOCTRINE OF CHARITY, part of which has been published in a local journal. I hope he will find time to continue this work of translating and that this new Society will be the means of bringing the wonderful truths contained in the writings of Swedenborg before the millions of people in India, who are of a deeply religious nature and to whom English is an unknown tongue.

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     "I shall ask some of our institutions at home to give a helping hand to these pioneers in India. Not only in Bombay, but in other parts of India have I found earnest Swedenborg students, and if I was not afraid of wearying you I could tell you of efforts that are to be made in other parts to sow the seed of the New truths which have been given to the world through Swedenborg."

     The following is a copy of the resolutions that were passed at the first meeting:

     "Resolutions passed at an Inaugural Meeting, held at the Brahmo Somaj Hall, on April 14th, 1914, for the purpose of forming a Swedenborg Society in India:-

     1. That a Society be formed for the purpose of translating, publishing, and distributing the Writings of Swedenborg in India.

     2. The Society be called "The Swedenborg Society of India.."

     3. That anyone over to years of age who sympathizes with the objects of the Society may become a member.

     4. That the minimum annual subscription of members shall be one Rupee.

     5. That the first President of the Society be Prof. M. R. Bhatt.

     6. That the first Treasurer of the Society be Mr. D. P. Amin.

     7. That the Secretary of the Society be Mr. S. J. Patel.

     8. That the affairs of the Society be managed by a Committee of not less than three, and that it shall include the President, Treasurer, and Secretary.

     9. That a general meeting of the members of the Society be held between the 1st October and the 31st December in each year.

     10. That the first Committee consist of the following:-
          M. R. BHATT, President.
          S. J. PATEL, Secretary.
          D. P. AMIN, Treasurer."

     NEW ZEALAND -Although there are many receivers of the heavenly doctrines scattered over New Zealand, the only organized Society of the New Church is in Auckland, and this has been in existence for a quarter of a century.

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This Society is at present making a special effort to establish itself on a firmer basis and to extend its sphere of usefulness. With this object a new place of worship has just been erected in a very convenient and central position. The building though not at all pretentious has been much admired. It is built of brick, and the front portion is finished off in rough-cast plaster. It is fitted throughout with the electric light, and has all modern conveniences and appliances. The Church has seating accommodation for one hundred and fifty, and in front of this there is a vestibule with two class rooms or vestries. These latter three compartments can be thrown into one, by means of folding doors, so as to be used for social gatherings and meetings of a secular character. The Society has to thank friends in far away parts of the Dominion and in Australia for their generous assistance, whereby the building has been erected free of debt. Another effort at the same time has been made in the shape of a stall for the sale and distribution of New Church literature at the Auckland Exhibition. In this venture the sale of books has not come up to the expectations, but a large quantity of the smaller literature has been distributed. In supplying this stall the Church has had the help of the Swedenborg Societies of England and America, the Academy of the New Church, and all the Australian Societies. As a result of these efforts the church attendance has been trebled. The stall has also been the means of making the friends acquainted with several hitherto unknown sympathisers and isolated receivers.
DIVINITY OF THE WRITINGS 1914

DIVINITY OF THE WRITINGS       Rev. JOSEPH S. DAVID       1914




     Announcements




NEW CHURCH LIFE
VOL. XXXIV      AUGUST, 1914          No. 8
     That the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are a revelation from the Lord is devoutly believed by all who read them intelligently and endeavor to live in harmony with them. And the transcending beauty and universal harmony of the truths they reveal are perceived with ever increasing clearness of vision the more deeply they are entered into, until every shadow of doubt as to their Divine origin vanishes forever.

     As we stand in awe in the presence of these wonderful Writings we naturally ask, How are they to be regarded in the economy of Divine Revelation? Are they a form of a Word of God or are they the writings of a highly illuminated teacher, but not the Word?

     A majority of New Church people claim that they are a divinely illuminated exposition of the Word; that they are the true doctrines of the Word, etc., but they are not the Word itself, and are not holy and Divine as are the Scriptures. The General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States requires its members to "acknowledge the doctrines of the New Church as revealed by the Lord. God the Savior Jesus Christ in His Word by means of the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg," etc. (Constitution, Art. I.) The General Church of the New Jerusalem (the Academy) goes farther than that, holding that the Writings are not merely an exposition of the Word, but are the Word itself in its internal sense. I think there are but few in the Convention who take the latter position, though, of course, any one is free to do so if he wishes under the Constitution.

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     A word, commonly speaking, is a vocal expression of thought. It also expresses affection; for a word is made up of tone and articulation; the tone expressing affection, and the articulation expressing thought. As a human word or language expresses the affection and thought of man, the Divine Word (the Logos) expresses the Love and Wisdom of God. Broadly speaking, any message that is divinely illuminated and reveals the Lord to man is the Lord's Word. The Writings of Swedenborg might be called the Lord's Word to His New Church.

     If the Writings had originated in the brain of Swedenborg they would have been the word of a man, and not the Word of God. If they had been the result of instruction received from angels, as such, they would have been the word of angels. But he informs us that "from the first day of that call I have not received anything which pertains to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word." (T. C. R. 779.) Therefore we can safely and most reverently conclude that his expositions of the Word are the Lord's own teaching, and thus His Word to Swedenborg, and through Swedenborg to the world. He says moreover: "The Second Coming of the Lord takes place by means of a man before whom He has manifested Himself in Person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit, to teach the Doctrines of the New Church through the Word from Him." (T. C. R. 779.)

     Being filled with the Lord's Spirit implies inspiration, and teaching from the Lord as the result of that inspiration implies the Lord teaching, and what the Lord teaches is His Word.

     But it is sometimes objected that a distinction should be made between an exposition of the Word and the Word itself; or between doctrines of the Word and the Word itself. Can an exposition or a doctrine be itself the Word? Yes, if it is from the Lord. We see illustrations of this in the Scriptures themselves. "The sermon on the mount, for example, was largely expository and doctrinal. It revealed a deeper meaning in many of the laws of Moses than was before known. Every Newchurchman admits that while His teaching was to some extent an opening of the Word it nevertheless was itself the Word. It was at once the Word and the doctrine of the Word, and "the people were astonished at his doctrine."

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He also explained the meaning of some of His own parables, such as the Sower and the Wheat and Tares. On the day of His resurrection, as He walked with two of His disciples, "beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." He did not reveal the internal sense as it is revealed today, but He gave the interior natural meaning. He gave as much as they could bear. And who can say that His expositions were not quite as much the Word as the original historicals, prophecies and parables? Being more interior, were they not more in the spiritual sunlight, which itself is the Word?

     According to Swedenborg, the Doctrines of the New Church not merely explain the Word, but they are the Word itself in its very inner light. This is confirmed by the following teachings:

     "The doctrine of charity and faith is the internal of the Word, and the sense of the letter its external. . . From that doctrine the internal of the Word is known, for the internal sense of the Word is the very doctrine of love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, which also the Lord teaches in saying that on those two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (A. C. 9409.)

     "It is to be known that the true doctrine of the church is what is here called the internal sense, for in the internal sense are truths such as are with the angels in heaven." (A. C. 9925.)

     "Those who remain merely in the literal sense of the Word, and do not collect: anything of doctrine thence, are separate from the internal sense, for in the internal sense is doctrine itself. The conjunction of the Lord with the externals of the Word is by the internals." (A. C. 9380.)

     "The doctrine which should be for a lamp is that which is what the internal sense teaches, thus it is the internal sense." (A. C. 10,400.)

     "To dwell in Beer-sheba is to be in doctrine, but when predicated of the Lord it is to be doctrine, just as to dwell in heaven, which is also said of the Lord, signifies not only that He is in heaven, but also that He Himself is heaven, for He is the all of heaven. That the Lord is the Word is known, and thus the Lord is doctrine (n. 2531), for all doctrine is from the Word.

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The all of doctrine in the Word is from the Lord, and is concerning the Lord." (A. C. 2859.)

     "That the Lord is doctrine itself as to truth and good, and thus that it is He who alone is regarded in doctrine, He teaches in John: Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (xiv. 6, 7) where the Way is doctrine, the Truth all that is of doctrine, and the Life the good itself which is the life of the truth." (A. C. 2531.)

     In A. C. 2894 it is taught in unequivocal terms that all revelation is the Word. In explaining the words "In the beginning was the Word," etc., it is said:

     "And because the Divine Human is meant by the Word, all truth also is meant which relates to Him, and is from Him, in His kingdom in the heavens, and in His church on earth. And because the truth is meant by the Word, all revelation is meant, and thus also the Word itself, or the Holy Scripture."

     In A. C. 3740 it is said: "The Word stands for all truth in the heavens and on earth which is from the Divine."

     In A. E. 963: "No one has religion except from revelation, and with us revelation is the Word."

     In the APOCALYPSE REVEALED Swedenborg declares that "this revelation is from the Lord alone, and that it will be received by those who will be in His New Church," (I Preface); that "they have been revealed by the Lord through Heaven to those who are in the good of life" (n. 5). They are called "a Revelation by the Lord concerning His New Church . . . and concerning the difficult reception of and assault on its doctrine." He speaks of "a Revelation by the Lord concerning the state of the Church on earth," (656), and "a Revelation by the Lord from the inmost heaven concerning the Roman Catholic religiosity," (718); and he says that "the quality of the Word in its spiritual and celestial sense no one sees but the Lord, and he to whom He reveals it," (824); etc., etc.

     The Doctrine revealed through him he calls "immediate revelation:" "That at this day such immediate revelation exists, is because this is what is meant by the coming of the Lord." (H. H. 1) A mediate revelation is that which is given through symbols and representatives.

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Therefore, speaking of the Israelitish Church he says, "There could not be given an immediate communication of the Lord's kingdom with any true church on earth, and therefore a mediate communication was effected by representatives." (A. C. 1850.)

     As variety is a universal law, operative on all planes, Divine Revelation, like all other things, is diversified by this law. Hence Swedenborg tells us of Revelations of different kinds, in different ages, and among different peoples, everywhere adapted to the states of the people to whom they are given. With the Most Ancient Church the Word was not written, but Divine Truth was perceived inwardly and inscribed on the hearts of the people. "For they were celestial men, and were thus in the perception of good and truth, as angels are-with whom they also had familiar companionship-thus they had the Word written on their hearts." (A. C. 2896). After the flood there came an external Revelation, written by "pure correspondences." It is lost to us, but referred to in our Bible, and we are informed: that it is preserved in that inland country of Asia known in Swedenborg's day as "Great Tartary." Later came the Hebrew or Jewish Revelation, which was also written by correspondence, but from Abraham down founded on actual history. Later came the Christian Revelation, including the Gospels and the Apocalypse; and finally the New Jerusalem Revelation. Every Item Dispensation is accompanied by a new Revelation from the Lord,-thus a new form of the Word.

     Three of these Revelations are organically related to one another, namely, the Hebrew, or Old Testament, the Greek, or New Testament, and the Latin, written by Swedenborg. In the Hebrew the internal sense is deeply concealed, so that no one would suspect its existence. In the Greek the internal sense lies nearer the surface, and in some cases projects through its covering as a man's face and hands project through his clothing. In the Writings of Swedenborg the internal sense is brought forth to view in its fulness, and all who have eyes to see can behold its glory. The New Testament unfolds the Old in a degree, and the Writings unfold both in a far greater degree. It is like the successive openings of a flower,-first the calyx, then the petals, then the golden center.

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Or like the maturing grain,-"first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." There is thus a trinal order in Revelation as in all other things. It is suggested by the superscription on the cross: "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews." "And it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin." The Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Heavenly Doctrine-the Hebrew, Greek and Latin,-all reveal the incarnate and glorified Lord as the Divine King of the universal Israel.

     Swedenborg also speaks of a Revelation to the Africans at the center of their continent. He says:

     "I heard the joy of the angels over that Revelation, because by it communication is opened to them with the human rational, hitherto closed by the blindness induced by matters of faith. It was told me from heaven that the things now published in the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD, CONCERNING THE WORD, and in the DOCTRINE OF LIFE FOR THE NEW JERUSALEM, are orally dictated to the inhabitants of that country by angelic spirits." (CONT. L. J. 76.) But since angels are not allowed to instruct men from themselves, but only from the Lord out of His Word, therefore the books just named are forms of the Word.

     We are also taught that in every inhabited globe of the universe the Lord is revealed, though not in writings as in our earth, and that He is worshipped under a human form. Thus the Divine Word pervades the universe.

     It is to be understood that the Writings are not in any sense an addition to the Word. They are an exposition or drawing forth of that which is within the Word, and one does not add to the Word by revealing its inner meaning. They do not reveal the whole of the internal sense, nor even a ten-thousandth part, but as much as can be adapted to the rational minds of men in the flesh and made serviceable for their salvation.

     It is sometimes objected that the internal sense of the Word, as it is in itself, cannot be drawn forth from its place, but must always be enclosed within the letter of the Word, and that therefore no exposition of the Word can ever be the Word itself. But let it be understood that the Word in Scripture is compared to a well. The stonework is the literal sense; the water within is the spiritual sense.

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Now water can actually be drawn forth from a well, and when it is drawn forth it is exactly the same element as when it was within the well. It is still the crystal water. There is only one sense in which it has changed. It has changed its position. It is drawn forth with a bucket; and that bucket is the earthly language of Swedenborg. Language is the vehicle of ideas, and the writings of Swedenborg, as writings, are the vehicle by which the truths of the internal sense are drawn forth from their depths and presented to the rational minds of men living in the flesh. In this respect the Writings are like a literal sense, just as a bucket is like the stonework of a well in that it is a container. This fact is recognized by Swedenborg in his SPIRITUAL DIARY (n. 2185), where he says:

     "The spirits who now spoke with me said that the things which I have written are so rough and crude that they supposed nothing interior could be understood from the words themselves or from the mere sense of the words. I also perceived in a spiritual idea that this was so: that they are indeed very rough, and therefore it was given me to reply that these things are only vessels, into which purer, better and more interior things can be infused, like a literal sense."

     As to the style of the Writings, they are plain, simple, dignified and classical, in some places repetitious, so that some readers have pronounced them tedious, in other places exceedingly concise, especially in the SUMMARY EXPOSITION OF THE PROPHETS AND PSALMS. Some parts are characterized by a beauty and sublimity of style that cannot be found in any other writings with which we are familiar, and everywhere there is a sphere so pure and heavenly that the open-minded reader feels that he is on holy ground.

     And yet the style is Swedenborg's own. He is everywhere himself. This has led some to assert that he was not inspired, but simply illuminated; and a distinction is made between inspiration and illumination. The prophets were inspired, they say, but Swedenborg was illuminated. But would it not be nearer the truth to say that the prophets were inspired but not illuminated, whereas Swedenborg was both inspired and illuminated?

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The prophets were inspired to write, but did not know the internal meaning of what they wrote. Swedenborg wrote with his rational mind fully opened. He was inspired of God, being "filled with His Spirit," and by that same Spirit he was illuminated while reading the Word. Hence he says:

     "From this New Heaven the Lord Jehovah derives and produces a New Church on earth, which is effected by a revelation of truths from His own mouth, or from His Word, and by inspiration." (CORO. 18.)

     "The things which have now been written appeared Divinely inspired, for the very words, though not dictated, were still sensibly inspired. . . . I sacredly confess, that not a syllable . . . is from me." (ADVERSARIA 3/3764)

     But Divine Revelation must always assume the style of its subject; just as a river, however pure its waters, must assume a form according to the topography of the country through which it flows. Hence each writer in the Bible has his own peculiar style. Among the prophets the differences in style are very marked, also in the Gospels and the Apocalypse. Swedenborg gives the reason thus:

     "The angel who inspires the words into a prophet, or into those who speak inspired things, as here into Moses, is only in spiritual things, and thus acts into the mind of him who is inspired. He thus excited his thought by which (the internal things) fall into words in the wonted manner. The words are such as are in the prophet, thus are according to his apprehension, and according to the form in which they are seated in him, which is the cause of the very diverse styles of the prophets. . . . But this I can sacredly asseverate-who am inspired-that there is not the least of a word, there is not a jot, which is not inspired, but it is varied a little, according to the gift of him who sets the things forth, but still so, that even there is not a jot which is not inspired." (ADV. 3/6965.)

     There is similar teaching in a number of places in regard to the inspired books of the Old Testament; but I do not find quite the same teaching in regard to the Gospels. In the former books the internal sense was so deeply concealed that the writers did not have the slightest idea that such a sense existed; and therefore they could not be trusted to produce a composition of their own that would be a true correspondent of the internal sense. In the Gospels, the internal sense lies nearer the surface; and therefore the evangelists wrote with more intelligence and with a degree of discernment of spiritual things.

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And it is a law of Divine order that as man's intelligence increases the Lord uses it as a vehicle of Revelation. This being so, it is evident that the inspiration of the Old Testament is an inspiration of words, in which are natural, spiritual and celestial truths, that the inspiration of the New Testament is an inspiration of ideas, in which are spiritual and celestial truths; and that the inspiration of Swedenborg is an inspiration of spiritual and celestial truths themselves. Therefore the style and composition are of Swedenborg's choosing because he wrote with full intelligence, but the spiritual and celestial truths were the Word of the Lord flowing into his mind, and by him adapted to the world. Hence whatever imperfections or inaccuracies may be found in the Writings are merely on the surface. The interior truths revealed are perfect, and are the Word of the Lord.

     The internal truths of the Word descending into natural language is like sunlight descending into clouds. The letter of the Old Testament consists of the lowest and densest clouds, accommodated to those who could bear but little light. The letter of the New Testament consists of higher and thinner clouds, letting more light descend. The Writings of Swedenborg consist of bright clouds in the upper air through which the sun can be seen, and are well worthy of being called "the clouds of heaven" in which the Lord comes. The Lord must always come to man in clouds, for no man can see the Divine Truth unveiled. We are taught that "by the glory of Jehovah seen in the clouds, (Exod. xvi. 10), is signified the presence of the Lord in truth accommodated to apperception," and that "the speech of the angels of the lower Heaven appears as a bright cloud, varied in its form, density and tenuity according to the quality of the truths." (A. C. 8443.)

     But even as to the style of Swedenborg, the more we reflect upon it the more we see the guiding hand of Providence in it.

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It is of the very best kind to protect the truths revealed against profanation. Simple, exalted and dignified as it is, it is not alluring, hypnotizing or persuasive, as is the style of some other books. It totally lacks the charm of the serpent or any element that would fascinate the natural mind. If Swedenborg had written in a fascinating or persuasive style he would have had millions of readers today instead of a few thousands. Excited by a new sensation, multitudes in his own day would have crowded within the sacred precincts of his temple of truth, wholly unprepared to live in harmony with it, and thus they would have profaned the holy things of God, and destroyed themselves by the profanation. In order to guard against this, the Lord, in His infinite love and wisdom, caught away the newborn child lest He be destroyed by the great red dragon. (Rev. xii. 5.)

     Both the style and the truths revealed are of such a nature that the selfish, the sensual and the worldly-minded are not attracted by them, but rather repelled. Spiritists, who seek phenomena and care nothing for interior and practical truth, soon tire of the reading and turn away. Those who are full of the pride of self-intelligence find nothing in them and instinctively reject them with scorn. Those who are unwilling to renounce their falsities and prejudices cannot be admitted to the inner light. The Writings never appeal to the selfish and the sensual in man. They never flatter or make him feel good when he is in evil. They never cry "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. They never smooth over the hells. They unearth them. They raze to the ground all false hopes and ambitions. They convict the soul of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. They lead to warfare, but they lead through warfare to victory. Those who are in the love of truth, and especially in the love of the good life to which truth leads, are inwardly attracted by them. And though such persons may have many falsities and prejudices to overcome, they will persist until they enter the gates of the New Jerusalem on earth and rejoice in the inner light of the Word. Therefore the Heavenly Doctrines are so written that they keep out the unprepared and admit the prepared. The Lord Himself is establishing His New Church, and He is jealously guarding its Heavenly Doctrines against profanation; and if the multitudes are not crowding at her gates, it is because they are not prepared.

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How foolish, therefore, it is to be discouraged at the slow reception of the Heavenly Doctrines.

     Sometimes objection is made to calling the Writings the Word on the ground that Swedenborg does not authorize us to do so. It is true that he does not say in direct terms that his writings are the Word, and yet all his statements about them confirm that idea. It is worthy of note that the authors of the four Gospels nowhere claim that their records of the Lord's life are the Word of God. They claim nothing more for them than a faithful record of the Lord's works and teachings. Luke claims credence on the ground that he "traced the course of all things accurately from the first." (Revised Version.) And John says that he knows that his record is true. But when any of the Evangelists refer to the Word of the Lord the reference is to Moses and the Prophets. It is quite possible that the first readers of the Gospels did not regard any part of them as the Word of God except the sayings of our Lord. But by degrees they learned to overcome the exclusiveness of their reverence for the Old Testament and added the Gospels to the canon of the Holy Word. And now we know that they are the Word because of the strong internal evidence that Swedenborg gives us. But far stronger is the testimony of Swedenborg to the Divinity of his own theological writings than any testimony made by any of the Evangelists to the Divinity of the Gospels. What can be stronger than this:

     "This [disclosing of the spiritual sense] excels all the revelations which have been made since the creation. . . . Through this revelation there is an open communication of men with the angels of heaven, and there has been effected a conjunction of both worlds." (INVITATION 44.)

     Can a revelation that is not the Word of God "excel" a Revelation that is? And are we not taught that the conjoining medium of heaven with man is the Word? (H. H. 305.)

     Moreover it is plainly taught that this Revelation is the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. That it is the opening of the seven seals of the book seen in the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne.

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That it is the opening of heaven, out of which proceeded a white horse with his rider, whose name is called THE WORD OF GOD. That it is the New Jerusalem seen coming down out of heaven from God. That it is "the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." It is predicted in Scripture symbols too numerous to mention. Can it, therefore, be other than the Word of the Lord in its internal sense?

     We are also taught that it is the resurrection of the Word, or the Word risen. It is said:

     "The Lord's rising again on the third day also involves that Truth Divine, or the Word as to the internal sense, as it was understood by the Ancient Church, will be revived in the consummation of the age, which is also the third day; on which account it is said that the Son of Man, that is, Truth Divine, will then appear." (A. C. 2813.)

     This Revelation is therefore "the Word as to its internal sense," "the Son of Man," and "Truth Divine."

     This being true, it is of the utmost importance that it be regarded with the deepest reverence; that it be our supreme guide in matters of faith and life; that it be seen as the light of the New Jerusalem and as the Holy City itself as to doctrine. Our children should be taught to reverence it as the Lord's Word to that Church which is "the crown of all the churches that have hitherto existed on earth," in order that as they grow up they might know that this Church is not a sect of the Christian Church, but that it is a New Dispensation, which is being established by the Lord Himself. In my opinion the Writings ought to be read in our Sunday services as the Lord's Word to His New Church. This would help greatly to impress upon our young people the distinctiveness of the New Dispensation.

     When the New Church universally comes to acknowledge from the heart and see with the understanding the Divinity of the Writings, a cloud of darkness will be lifted from our organization; the Spiritual Sun will shine out with greater clearness; the New Church will come into a state of harmony and fellowship never before realized; and being a more perfect human form it will be the medium of a stronger influx of life into the world. Therefore saith the Lord:

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     "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee."

     "And the city hath no need of the sun neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb."
TENANTS OF THE HOUSE 1914

TENANTS OF THE HOUSE       Rev. HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1914

     "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house, from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then, goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Ever so shall it be unto this wicked generation." (Matt. xii. 43-45.)

     "By the unclean spirit going out of a man, is meant the repentance of him who is in evil. By walking about through dry places, and not finding rest, is meant that the life of good is such to him. By the house into which he returned because he found it empty and adorned for him, is meant the man himself and his will, that it is devoid of good. By the seven spirits whom he adjoined to himself, and with whom he returned, is meant evil conjoined to good. By his state then being worse than the former state, is meant profanation." (H. D. 172.)

     ". . . These are the same things which are signified by taking the name of God in vain (also by blaspheming the Spirit, or the Sin against the Holy Ghost). That such a state cannot be cured, thus cannot be forgiven, is signified by the words which are added in the commandment 'The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.'" (A. C. 8882/2.)

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     "After a person has explored himself, and acknowledged his sins, and acted repentance, he must remain constant in good even to the end of life. For if he afterwards relapses into the former life of evil, and embraces this, he then profanes, for he then conjoins evil to good, whence his latter state is worse than the former." (H. D. 169.)

     "The unclean spirit is for uncleannesses of life with man, and also for the unclean spirits who are with him; for unclean spirits dwell in the uncleannesses of man's life. Dry places, or places where there is no water, for where there are no truths. The empty house for man's interiors again replete with uncleannesses, that is, with falsities from evil." (A. C. 4744.)

     Spirits are associated with men in all their eating and drinking, and in all other matters pertaining to the satisfaction of their desires. While it is from the Fountain of Life Himself, through heaven and our soul that all life currents inflow, and thus all our desires, yet at this day matters are so arranged, for the sake of our freedom and well being, that no spark or ray of life of any kind finds its way into our conscious life, except through the intermediation of spirits of one kind or another associated with us. They dwell in us and use us as their houses. They also come and go, and are constantly,-or at least frequently being changed.

     Our entire welfare, in this world and in the world to come, will depend finally upon what class of spirits we house. The quality of our appetites and of the sphere which surrounds us and determines our relations to others is also determined by this same company. Hence it is of the utmost importance to know just how the Lord places in our hands, through our control of ultimates, the power to effect a change in these associates.

     If an "unclean spirit is gone out of a man, and is wandering about in dry places, seeking rest and finding none," it is because some man, who was his abiding place, has ousted him. Or something has happened to alter the state or arrangement of the ultimate forms of that man's brain, so that it became a misfit to that spirit, and he had to get out, for this is the law of influx.

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Present a suitable ultimate, and the spirit who corresponds will attach himself; change the ultimate, and he will have to move, though usually not without reluctance and protest. This is the secret reason why we find it difficult to change our state or our habits.

     Even our garments or our wonted food have a sphere which is delightful to certain spirits who resent a change, and try to keep us from making it. This explains the curious and far-reaching power of habit. Our habits would not hold us so powerfully if there were not an interested "lobby" at hand to stir them up. And so it comes that all our doubts and temptations, our inward struggles, are really conflicts between opposing spirits accusing and tempting, and good spirits resisting and protecting.

     All this is taught in the parable of the unclean spirit, and elsewhere where the Lord spoke to spirits and drove them out of their unfortunate and helpless "houses." In those days they obsessed even the bodies of their victims, but since then they can only obsess men's minds.

     Our first duty is indeed to cut out the doing of those gross evils of sin which make us utterly detestable before God, for in actual adultery, theft or murder, the sphere of the hells is so strong that heavenly influences cannot draw near without causing profanation and something of nausea. But then the real fight begins, for if we do not go on, with the help that is given and the new power that draws near after the house has been swept of the outward filth, we shall only find our last state worse than our first, for "seven other" devils worse than the first will "enter in and dwell there." Seven refers to what is complete because interior. If we only clean up our outward bad habit, in order that we may the more successfully pursue our interior ends of selfishness whether of ambition or avarice, then indeed is our last state worse than our first. We have only exchanged one devil for seven others, worse than the first.

     It is supposed that this parable refers simply to the fact that if a man makes a stand against some evil habit and then relapses or backslides again, it is very much harder for him to brace up again. But, while there is some truth in this, it is by no means the whole of the truth here contained.

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In fact, understood in this superficial way, it tends rather to exaggerate the difficulty of trying again, and to discourage repeated efforts. The fact is, that a single lapse may undo a lot of patient work. Still, we are all fallible, and the law is not to despair if we do slip, but to keep on trying. Don't let your infernal tenant find an empty house hungering for him when he returns. In fact, it is definitely promised that "he that perseveres to the end, shall be saved." And the reason of this is, that perseverance involves the continuance of the internal will to resist.

     Many errors have crept into the Christian religion, and terrible misconceptions of what the Lord's own teachings mean, because of a superficial way of looking at them. Now that the internal or genuine sense of all these teachings has been unfolded by the Lord Himself, who found it necessary to come again into our world for that purpose, there is no excuse for us if we continue to stumble blindly for lack of understanding.

     In the parable before us, we can readily understand the condition of the poor devil "walking through dry places, seeking rest and finding none." That is just the way we feel when cut off from some accustomed delight. We can understand also his determination to return to his "house" whence he was gone out. Here we see plainly that we are only "houses" or roosting places for unclean spirits. They literally inhabit us, and use us for their convenience and satisfaction, regardless of consequences to ourselves, and this more and more, as long as we permit it. But we have the power, with the Lord's help, of evicting them, and securing better tenants. And here is a most important point. Our house, which is our mind (even more than our body), cannot remain empty. It is said that all men have desires or appetites. The fact is, men, as to all that is natural, are appetites, or desires. No life of any kind enters into any animate creature apart from some desire or appetite; for the said desire or appetite is nothing else that the activity of his organism, which we feel as a craving for its appropriate satisfaction. A muscular fibre was created to pull and it longs to pull and it is not happy until it does pull.

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A terminal filament of the retina of the eye was created to answer to the vibrations of light, and it longs to see, and it is only at rest or happy when it is seeing, or being put into its native tremulations by the pulsation of light upon it. A tactile corpuscle in the finger tip was formed to reach to the stimulus of contact with something solid and it craves touch, and it is not happy until it does touch. But all these are only the servants, the underlings. Their craving, and likewise their satisfactions are as nothing compared to those of their masters, the men higher up; the grey cells of the brain. Here, in the circumference of these cells desire itself dwells, for these little brains are the instruments, the tools, the inmost chambers of life and of desire. They are indeed composed inwardly of substances of a discrete degree above the body, and responsive to the activities and forces of spiritual or truly living atmosphere. And here we meet at last with the greatest marvel of all; for here it is that the Divine life, which is life itself, can touch directly our inmost self, and at this meeting place of the touches from all the world outside can make us aware of the great toucher of all our touches, the taster of all our tastes, the feeler of all our desires, the affected of all our affections. And here also in this meeting place, this agora of our conscious human life, are all things weighed and measured and the coin of the realm is use, both silver and gold, or truth and good, but in terms of ultimation in use. All the exercises of all the least fibers or nerves as they act and enjoy their action are here measured by the contribution which they are making towards the ultimate end of the Divine love of use; the Infinite love of Him whose whole being is the burning desire for the happiness and welfare of others-of the whole human race. Hence comes the new supply of delight to the senses, and recreation of all our faculties. Lacking this they begin to wither.

     So you can see that we cannot but desire and have appetites of all kinds and degrees. There can be no empty houses. As long as it lives, each and every fibre and all of our organism must receive and house and respond to the influx of some active force, and in the case of our mind, being of the substance of the borderland of the two worlds, it will harbor either some unclean spirit and feed itself and delight itself and find rest in the unclean spheres of his past indulgence, or it will eject him, and occupy itself, or, rather, be occupied, with the corresponding good spirit or chastened and rightly directed indulgence of its native appetites.

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     See how grievous is the error of those would-be reformers who think that appetites and desires, the various delights of the body and the senses, are in themselves wrong, and who would have us win our way to heaven only over the slain bodies of all our natural cravings like so many dragons. It is in each and every case the abuse of a sensual delight, not its use that condemns. Man is not saved by renouncing the world and the flesh, but by making them serve the beneficent ends of use.

     The world and all things in it were created solely for the use of man, and to this end he was gifted with five good gates through which all its enjoyments might enter in. So it was in the beginning, and so it is meant to be now. But the serpent gained the ascendancy and was cursed. Hence the necessity of struggle in order once more to win the use and enjoyment of our birthright; and this conquest is effected through the seed of the woman, the Lord, Jesus Christ, mighty to save, and invincible in us, if we but look to him, and enlist beneath His banner. Amen.

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Editorial Department 1914

Editorial Department       Editor       1914

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     The annual meetings of the Council of the Clergy of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, held this year at Bryn Athyn, June 22d to 29th, were attended this year by 22 ministers and 2 candidates, the whole of the Clergy now numbering 33 ministers and 6 candidates. A brief account of the proceedings of the meetings will be found in the Report of the Secretary of the Council, (p. 482, of the present issue of the LIFE). The sessions of the Council, with the exception of two public evening meetings, were, as usual, of a private character and devoted largely to discussions of spiritual and theological subjects.



     The most important action of the Council was the election of the Rev. N. D. Pendleton as Assistant Bishop of the General Church, an election which was unanimous and hearty. It was subsequently ratified at the meeting of the Joint Council, on June 27th. The latter Council, it should be remembered, is a joint meeting of the Clergy and the Executive Committee, (or Council of the Laity), and this Joint Council represents and acts for the General Assembly in the intervals between its triennial sessions. This year the Laity was represented by a very few (but quite active) members. Some measure should be adopted, it seems to us, to secure a larger representation of the Laity at these important annual meetings.



     Bishop W. F. Pendleton, after his many years of eminent service, has felt it necessary-in view of declining physical powers-to retire gradually from active work. Having tendered his resignation from the Presidency of the Academy, he has now been succeeded by his brother, Bishop N. D. Pendleton, who was unanimously chosen by the Board of Directors of the Academy to fill this important office.

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The Bishop, who desires to devote his time to liturgical work, is to be congratulated upon securing relief from his many burdens, but it is to be hoped that the Church will yet for many years enjoy the benefit of his wise counsel, ripened as it is by life-long study and experience.



     The members of the General Church will rejoice in now having before them, in definite form, the "Statement of Order and Organization" of our body, as prepared by Bishop W. F. Pendleton and published on p. 496 of the present issue of the LIFE. This "Statement" is not to be regarded as an "Instrument of Organization," adopted at any general meeting and binding upon the Church, but is simply a statement of existing facts and conditions which have gradually grown up,-a brief account of the principles of order, organization and government, and of the methods of procedure at present prevailing in the General Church. It has the authority of "precedent" only, but it is nevertheless a most important document, presenting to our members, and to the New Church as a whole, a clear outline of our principles, methods and uses.



     From a sentence in the "Statement," dealing with the LIFE, it will be seen that we have not, for some time, been acting according to the order there laid down: "To the Editor is adjoined an Editorial Board or Council appointed by himself, under rules and regulations similar to that of a Pastor's Council." At various times in the history of the LIFE there have been editorial boards, but somehow or other they have all fallen into abeyance after a period of activity, like the "LIFE Club," which met each month until two years ago. If the Editor were able to devote his entire time to the LIFE, there would be no great difficulty to have all matters ready for criticism by an Editorial Board at a fixed date each month; but the difficulty is great when he can devote only spare moments, at various times, to the writing of editorials, etc. All the other workers in the Academy are also very busy men, who, moreover, have to attend very many meetings; and those, whose advice we would most desire, are the very ones who are most strenuously occupied. We have therefore been in the habit of seeking counsel from these gentlemen individually, on all important questions, without fixed meetings, but we hope that means will be found, before long, for the establishment of a regular Editorial Board.

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     The excellent paper on "The Divinity of the Writings," by the Rev. Joseph S. David, (pastor of the O'Farrel St. Society in San Francisco), which is published in our present issue, was previously offered to the NEW CHURCH REVIEW, but was declined as not being in harmony with the principles of that magazine. One of these principles is the policy of paternalism,-the policy of protecting the public from the opportunity of seeing more than one side of any question, the side "officially" adopted This represents one view of Freedom and Reason in the New Church. Another view is that represented by the General Church, where the members are left "unprotected" from the possible seductions of opposite views. The names and addresses of our members are public property; the pages of our official organ are an open forum; and our opponents are heartily invited to do their utmost to convert any or all of our constituents. Unless freedom of choice be maintained, the Church cannot serve as the Lord's means of salvation to men.



     We find the following in THE REMINDER for July: "A correspondent refers to a remark we incidentally made at the annual meeting of the Lancashire and Cheshire Union with reference to an excellent article in NEW CHURCH LIFE for March last, on the subject of 'Unity,' by the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, which might be read with profit, and which might be seen at the Manchester New Church Book Depot. Our correspondent, evidently anxious to read the article, says he could not find the publication, on a recent visit to the Depot, and he wonders if he has misunderstood us? No, our correspondent has not misunderstood us. The publication in question is, we learn, not placed on the table among other New Church publications for perusal. It may, nevertheless, be seen if our correspondent, or any one else, will ask one of the attendants for the loan of it. We are not sure if it is not kept on a shelf, under a glass case?"

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     The church edifice now in the course of erection at Bryn Athyn is receiving considerable publicity. In an account which seems to have been syndicated among a number of papers throughout the country, we find a veritable mine of misinformation.

     The following paragraph, commencing the version appearing in the N. Y. World for June 21, contains no less than eight errors:

     "In the quaint and semi-socialistic community of Bryn Athyn (Hill of Solidity), twenty miles outside of Philadelphia, the cornerstone will be laid to-day of the Swedenborgian Church of the New Jerusalem, an edifice that is to be erected at a cost of $400,000.00 by John Pitcairn, President of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, and founder of the religious community in which live several thousand followers of the celebrated religious leader, Swedenborg."
SWEDENBORG SOCIETY'S 104TH ANNUAL MEETING 1914

SWEDENBORG SOCIETY'S 104TH ANNUAL MEETING              1914

     It is interesting to note that at the proceedings of the 104th annual meeting of the Swedenborg Society, held at No. I Bloomsburg St., June 9th, the presidency of the Society was tendered to Dr. de Beaumont-Klein.

     Sir William Barrett, F. R. S., the retiring chief executive, proposed his successor and, in seconding the nomination, Mr. F. A. Gardiner, the much re-elected treasurer, said that he knew "of no man in the Church who had shown more clearly than M. de Beaumont-Klein that he had the power of appreciating the threefold genius of Swedenborg. As a learned scientist, as a cultured philosopher and as a well-read theologian, M. de Beaumont-Klein had accepted Swedenborg's genius as an outstanding fact in history, and this in a way that very few men were capable of interpreting."

     It would seem that M. de Beaumont-Klein is somewhat more of a Newchurchman than is Sir William Barrett. However, Sir William will remain in connection with the organization in an official capacity, as a change in the rules was effected making the outgoing president of the body, vice-president, ex-officio.

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     During a speech in which he lauded the plan providing for the delivery of lectures on Swedenborg's Science and Philosophy by distinguished persons, Mr. E. H. Bayley, J. P., uttered an enconium to the effect that the gentlemen who had thus far exercised this privilege had done good service, "like the learned pundits [!] of Sweden and the eminent savants of Germany, in drawing attention to their author's vast attainments and the extraordinary powers of his mind."

     The Society has continued its usual activities, among other things officially recognizing the newly-formed Swedenborg Society of India, which is under the leadership of Mr. M. R. Bhatt, and has offered one hundred pounds worth of foreign and English editions to the new Society.

     The sale of Prof. Tietaro Suzuhi's BRIEF LIFE OF SWEDENBORG, Written in the Japanese, has been very gratifying. Already 615 copies have been sold and 150 presented free. Toward the cost of this publication, and of the NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE, which is just off the press, 100 pounds were subscribed from America, L50 of which were donated by Mr. John Pitcairn.

     The distribution and sale of the other works, however, has not been quite so successful, and in most cases statistics for the various books offered, show a considerable decrease as compared with the record for the year previous. In all 14,589 volumes, parts and booklets, were delivered, of which number 3,780 represent actual sales; 1,086 volumes and parts of the CONCORDANCE were distributed, as compared with 503 for the year before. This is the only work which can lay claim to an increase. Of the Writings in English the figures are 2,919, as compared with 3,220; of the Philosophical Works, 107, as compared with 218.

     A report of the phototyping work in Sweden, which, since the serious illness of Mr. Stroh, has been in the hands of Miss Greta Ekelof, shows that the ADVERSARIA in three volumes, the INDEX BIBLICUS in three volumes, and Vol. I. of the ARCANA COELESTIA, have been phototyped and printed and are awaiting Latin title-pages and prefaces before being bound and distributed.

     The Council looked forward to Mr. Stroh's restoration to good health in order that operations in Sweden might be accelerated and a vote of sympathy with Mr. Stroh in his illness was unanimously carried.

476


QUESTION AS TO SWEDENBORG'S SKULL 1914

QUESTION AS TO SWEDENBORG'S SKULL              1914

     (From the BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, London, June 6, 1914.)

     "There are, we believe, at least two claimants to the possession of the head of Oliver Cromwell. The body of the Protector was, as is well known, exhumed at the Restoration and decapitated, the head being set up on Westminster Hall. The story goes that it was blown down in a storm and picked up by a soldier, from whose hands it is said to have passed into the keeping of some other person. We have no wish to revive the controversy on the subject which raged in the newspapers some years ago. It may be mentioned that a similar dispute in France as to the skull of Richelieu was settled by bringing the two relies together, when it was found that the collectors had each a part of a skull; these parts, when fitted together, formed a complete cranium. There is also a mystery about the skull of Emanuel Swedenborg; the subject was discussed by Mr. W. Rutherford in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology for October, 1913. In 1998 the Swedish Government sent the battleship Frygia to England to convey the bones of Swedenborg, which had been lying for a hundred and thirty-six years in the vault of an obscure Swedish church in Princes Square, St. George's-in-the-East. They were buried in the Bjelke Chapel at the Cathedral of Upsala. The books of the church in the George's-in-the-East show that the skull was taken from the old coffin in 1817, and it is recorded in the same books that it was replaced in 1819. Here, as Mr. Rutherford says, begins the mystery. Half a century ago a phrenologist and collector of curies who lived in Wellclose Square, close to the church, exhibited to his friends a skull which he declared to be that of Swedenborg. Before he died he made over his collection to a friend, who, however, was not aware that this skull was among the others. It is only recently that the letters "E. S'borg" were found scratched on one of the skulls.

477


The discoverer contends that this is the true skull of the famous Swedish mystic, which was, to use Sir Thomas Browne's phrase, "knav'd out of his grave" in 1817, the one replaced two years later not being authentic. It was this spurious relic, he holds, that was buried at Upsala. This skull has been examined by Swedish anatomists, it has been made the subject of a monograph by a professor, and a bust has been modeled from it. But it is still doubtful which is the skull that held the brain of Swedenborg. There are few so remarkable in the vast Golgotha of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and according to Mr. Rutherford the forehead has a certain similarity to that of the portraits of Swedenborg; other evidences, too, point to the probability that its discoverer is right. At the same time, it is pointed out that the Swedish men of science had to deal with the bones put before them, and there was nothing that could have led them to suspect that the relic had been tampered with in England. Professor Alexander Macalister appends a note to the effect that the question of the authenticity of the skull should be settled without difficulty if there be any data available as to the shape of Swedenborg's head. Photographs of the English skull reproduced in the paper show that it is a well-marked example of the not uncommon anomaly of scaphocephalus, due to interparietal synostosis. The condition, says Professor Macalister, is obtrusively noticeable during life, and could not escape observation in the case of a living man of mark. From a considerable body of literature sent him, he has not gathered that any one in Swedenborg's lifetime recognized the peculiarity in the shape of his head. There is, he adds, absolutely no evidence that this cranial deformity is associated with any specific type of mental or moral development. The reader who wishes to study Swedenborg's mentality should read an interesting study of him contributed by Dr. Hubert J. Norman to the Journal of Mental Science for April, 1913. A hereditary neuropathic strain was very marked in the Swedish mystic in his youth, but in his manhood he did much work of a high order in various departments of science. Important discoveries in the physiology of the brain are claimed for him. It was not till 1744, when Swedenborg reached the age of 56, that he had an acute attack of mania in London.

478


Afterwards he seemed to the ordinary observer to have recovered his mental balance, but he was a changed man. He gave up his scientific work and devoted himself to the study of the Scriptures. As the result of this, he wrote many volumes of exegesis, mostly of portentous length, and for the general reader at least stale, flat, and unprofitable. For twenty-seven years he continued to record his visions and to promulgate his system of religion. He died in London in 1772, at the age of 84, and apparently retained his faith in his divinely appointed mission up to the last. When the scientific work of his earlier days is separated from his record of visions and delusions, Dr. Norman believes that Swedenborg will take a high place not only among the thinkers of the eighteenth century, but among the learned men of all time."

479


JOURNAL OF THE FOURTEENTH MEETING OF THE Joint Council OF THE General Church of the New Jerusalem 1914

JOURNAL OF THE FOURTEENTH MEETING OF THE Joint Council OF THE General Church of the New Jerusalem       Various       1914

     Bryn Athyn, Pa., June 27, 1914.

     The meeting was opened at 10 A. M. with worship conducted by Bishop W. F. Pendleton.

     There were present:

     OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY.
Rt. Rev. W. F. Pendleton.      Rev. T. S. Harris.
Rt. Rev. N. D. Pendleton.      Rev, John Headsten.
Rev. Alfred Acton.               Rev. R. H. Keep.
Rev. J. E. Bowers.               Rev. C. T. Odhner.
Rev. R. W. Brown,               Rev. E. S. Price.
Rev. W. B. Caldwell.               Rev. G. H. Smith.
Rev. Richard de Charms.      Rev. Homer Synnestvedt.
Rev. W. L. Gladish.               Rev. F. E. Waelchli.

     OF THE COUNCIL OF THE LAITY.
Dr. F. A. Boericke.               Mr. Raymond Pitcairn.
Mr. E. C. Bostock.               Mr. Jacob Schoenberger.
Mr. Walter Childs.               Mr. Anton Sellner.

     OF BOTH COUNCILS.
Rev. W. H. Alden.               Rev. C. E. Doering.

480




     CANDIDATES PRESENT BY INVITATION.
Mr. Gustaf Baeckstrom.           Mr. H. L. Odhner.
Mr. L. W. David.               Mr. Charles R. Pendleton.
Mr. George de Charms.

     The Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.

     The Secretary of the General Church read his report:

     REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH.

     1. THE MEMBERSHIP Of the General Church of the New Jerusalem numbers, at present, 1,171, showing a net increase of 70 members over the membership reported in June, 1912. Altogether, 81 new members have been received since the last report; while, on the other hand, eleven members have passed into the spiritual world.

     2. The following members have DIED:
Mr. George Bellinger, Wellesley, Ont., Jan. 9, 1914.
Mr. George Heath, Bryn Athyn, Pa., June 9, 1914.
Mrs. Arabella King, Glenview, Ill., July 16, 1913.
Mr. Raymond King, Glenview, Ill., Aug. 24, 1913
Mrs. Caroline Kirk, Renovo, Pa., Nov. 7, 1913.
Mrs. Hildegard Odhner Ljungbergt Bryn Athyn, Pa., March 27, 1914.
Mr. Chas. R. Pendleton, Macon, Ga., Jan. 16, 1914
Mr. Calvin Peppier, Bridgeport, Ont., Dec. 6, 1913
Mrs. John A. Schwindt, Bryn Athyn, Pa., Dec. 3, 1913
Mr. Nils O. Shultz, Chicago, Ill., Sept. 13, 1913
Mr. Henry Scott, Calgary, Ont., Oct. 8, 1913

     3. The following NEW MEMBERS have joined the General Church during the past year:

     NEW MEMBERS.

     I. IN THE UNITED STATES.
Denver, Colo.
Mr. Ernest E. Bergstrom.
Mr. Harry L. Tyler.

     Vanadium, Colo.
Mrs. Roy S. Davis.

     Miami, Florida.
Miss Carolina E. Fritz.
Mr. Joadhim Fritz.
Miss Martha J. Fritz.

     Chicago, Ill.
Mrs. Wm. H. Alden, Jr.
Mr. Alfred V. Helm.
Mrs. Alfred V. Helm.
Mr. Bernhard H. H. Holm.
Mr. N. A. Birger Holm.
Miss May F. Homolka.
Miss Mabel G. McFarlane.
Mr. Fred. A. P. Peterson.
Mr. Robert W. Peterson.
Mr. Victor H. Peterson.
Mr. William T. Peterson.
Mrs. William T. Peterson.
Mr. Oliver P. Shattuck.

     Glenview, Ill.
Miss Jennie Cole.
Miss Lenore Junge.
Mr. Winfred Junge.
Miss Nellie Synnestvedt.
Miss Ruth Synnestvedt.
Miss Helen M. Wiedinger.

481




     NEW MEMBERS.
Bryn Athyn, Pa.
Miss Beatrice Ashley.
Miss Nora Ashley.
Mr. Francis G. Bostock.
Mr. Astley H. Guylee.
Mr. Earl S. Smith.

     Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. Eric N. Nilson.

     Pittsburgh, Pa.
Mr. Donald E. Lindsay.
Mr. Homer Schoenberger.

     Renovo, Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Rebekah K. Kaley.

     Spokane, Wash.
Mr. Emil Hansen.
Mrs. Emil Hansen.
Mr. H. Peter Kobberoe.
Mrs. H. P, Kobberoe.
Mr. Anton D. Sorensen.
Mrs. Anton D. Sorensen.
Mr. Nels S. Ware.

     II. IN CANADA.
Berlin, Ontario.
Miss Carita Roschman.
Miss Frieda Roschman.
Miss Yadah Roschman.
Miss Provida Waelchli.

     Alberta.
Mr. Wm. A. Evens.

     Charteris, Quebec.
Mr. Henderson Harris.
Mrs. Henderson Harris.

     III. IN ENGLAND.
     Colchester.
Miss Beryl Gill.
Miss Phillis Cooper.

     London.
Miss Tovia E. Hart.
Miss Vera A. Rose.
Mr. Frederick G. Waters.

     IV. IN SWEDEN.
Mr. Alfred T. Dahlberg.
Rev. Joseph E. Rosenqvist.

     V. IN HOLLAND.
     Arnhem.
Miss Emma Helderman.

     The Hague.
Mr. H. W. Bulthius.
Mr. H. G. Engeltjes.
Mrs. H. G. Engeltjes.
Miss Johanna Gerritse.
Mr. E. J. Maat.

     VI. IN BELGIUM.
Mr. Jean J. Gailliard.
Miss Maryla Winska.

     VII. IN FRANCE.
Les Milles, Bozlches du Rhone.
Mrs. Gaston J. Fercken.
Miss Phebe Fercken.
Miss Adele Siebeck.

     VIII. IN AUSTRALIA.
Sydney, N. S. W.
Mr. Peter J. Dupen.
Mr. Alfred Kirschstein.
Rev. Richard Morse.
Mrs. Rebecca Naseby.
Miss Annie Taylor.
Miss Beatrice C. Taylor.

     Lithgow, N. S. W.
Mr. Henry S. Jones.
Mrs. Henry S. Jones.

     Macclesfield, South Australia.
Mr. John F. White.
Mrs. John F. White.
Miss Martha M. White.

     IX. IN THE ISLE OF MAURITIUS.
Madame Pierre de Chazal.
Miss Mary H. Collins.
Mr. L. L. E. Emile.
Mr. S. B. Emile.

     4. Of these 81 new members, 14 were previously connected with other organizations of the New Church; 40 were previously connected with various denominations of the Old Church; 27 are from our own young people, and of these, 21 have attended the Schools of the Academy.

     5. THE CLERGY of the General Church includes, at present, 39 men. Of these 2 are in the episcopal degree; 26 in the second or pastoral degree; 5 are in the first degree of the ministry; and 6 are authorized preachers.

482




     6. The Bishop, on October 1st, 1913, authorized Mr. Richard Morse, of Sydney, N. S. W., Australia, to preach and administer the Sacraments, as a minister of the first and the second degree, pending ordination.

     7. The Rev. Joseph E. Rosenqvist, of Gothenburg, Sweden, was, on Oct. 1st, 1913, restored to the office of teaching minister and pastor in the General Church.

     8. Mr. William Evens, of Penetang, Ont., Canada, on July 8th, 1913, was authorized to lecture and perform general evangelistic work. Mr. Frank H. Rose, of London, England, received a similar authorization on Oct. 20th, 1913; and Mr. Gustaf Baeckstrom, a student in our Theological School, on June 18th, 1914, was authorized to teach and preach the Doctrines of the New Church.

     9. The following table shows the growth of the General Church since its organization in the year 1897:

     Years.           Total Membership.                          Net Increase.
1897                     287                                   287
1898                     454                                   167
1899                     504                                    50
1900                     560                                    56
1901                     578                                    18
1902                          615                                   37
1903                     650                                    35
1904                     698                                   48
1905                          751                                   53
1906                          804                                   53
1907                          834                                    30
1908                          859                                   25
1909                          904                                    45
1910                          941                                    37
1911                     990                                    49
1912                     1,054                               63
1913                     1,101                               47
1914                          1,171                               70

     Respectfully submitted,
          C. Th. ODHNER.

     The Secretary of the Council of the Clergy read the following report:

     REPORT OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CLERGY.

     Sessions of the Annual Meeting of the Council of the Clergy were held from June 24th to 26th, 1914, and another session will be held on the 29th.

483


Twenty-four ministers and candidates are in attendance.

     The reports of the ministers indicate great activity of church life, both in old and in new fields. The statistical returns show that there have been, during the past year, 102 baptisms, 42 confirmations, It marriages, 18 funerals, 85 administrations of the Holy Supper, and 2 ordinations.

     Several changes have taken place in pastorates and ministries. The Rev. N. D. Pendleton resigned from the pastorate of the Pittsburgh Society on the first of February, to accept a call to assist the Bishop in the work of the General Church, the Theological School, and the Bryn Athyn Society. He was succeeded in Pittsburgh by the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt. The Denver Society, of which Mr. Synnestvedt had charge, has been without a pastor since his leaving; but Mr. L. W. David will shortly become its minister. The Rev. Frederick Gyllenhaal resigned from the pastorate of the Advent Society in Philadelphia, to take charge of the New Church Society at Durban, Natal, and has been succeeded by Mr. George De Charms. The Rev. W. L. Gladish brings his work in Middleport to a close at the end of this month, having served the Society for ten years. The Rev. E. E. Iungerich was, on April 12th, succeeded in the pastorate at Baltimore by the Rev. R. H. Keep, who is the first resident pastor that this society has ever had. Mr. Keep had been assistant pastor of the New York Society and his withdrawal from the work there is spoken of in the report of the pastor of that society as a great loss as it will now be impossible to have services every Sunday, unless some new arrangement can be made. The Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist has become pastor of a new circle of the General Church, established by him at Gothenburg, Sweden.

     An event of importance during the past year was the visit made by the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, as representative of the Bishop, to centers of the General Church in Europe, as follows: London, Colchester, Stockholm, The Hague, Brussels, Paris.

     The Rev. J. E. Bowers has continued his valuable and faithful services among the circles and the isolated receivers. In Ontario and in seven of the United States, New Church people were visited twice in twenty places, and once in twenty-four places. Fifty families were visited. In these families are 116 adults and 51 children. Of these adults 80 are members of the General Church.

     A number of the ministers have been engaged for all or part of their time in Extension Work. Those who have given all their time are the Rev. Ernst Deltenre, pastor at Brussels and The Hague, and the Rev. John Hedsten, engaged in mission work in Chicago. Their work will no doubt be reported in full to this meeting by the Extension Committee; but we wish here to record that in the Council of the Clergy appreciation of the excellence of the work of these men was most heartily expressed. The ministers who gave part of their time to Extension Work were the Revs. Messrs. W. L. Gladish, T. S. Harris and F. E. Waelchli. Reports of their work have appeared in NEW CHURCH LIFE.

484




     During last summer five of the theological students of the Academy as candidates for the ministry, filled the places of the pastors at Glenview, Pittsburgh, Berlin, Abington and Baltimore.

     Interesting letters from the Rev. Frederick Gyllenhaal and from Mr. Morse, telling of Mr. Gyllenhaal's visit to Australia, were read at the meeting. Mr. Gyllenhaal preached, lectured, and conducted classes at Sydney, Lithgow and Adelaide; also administered the Holy Supper and officiated at several baptisms.

     There has been a new department of work in the General Church during the past year, namely, that of authorized lecturers. The men who gave their time to this work were Mr. F. H. Rose, of London, Eng., and Mr. William Evens, of Penetang, Ont. Mr. Rose delivered several lectures at various places in England. Mr. Evens lectured and did colporteur work at a number of places in Ontario and in England. He sold 131 books of the Writings and gave away It. In his work as colporteur he travelled many miles on foot, some days fourteen miles. He says: "I was out day after day without selling any, and one day I called at one hundred houses in Plymouth without selling any."

     One of the sessions of the Council was occupied with reading and considering "A Statement of the Order and Organization of the General Church of the New Jerusalem," prepared by Bishop W. F. Pendleton. This Statement was regarded as meeting a great need in our body, and it was thought that it should be published not only in the LIFE, but also in pamphlet form. It was decided that the same be presented for consideration at this Joint Meeting.

     The Council also passed the following resolution: "Resolved, That the Rev. N. D. Pendleton be hereby chosen as Assistant Bishop of the General Church, and that this action be reported to the Joint Committee.      Respectfully submitted,
          F. E. WAELCHLI, Sec'y.

     The Report of the Executive Committee was read by the Rev. W. H. Alden:

     REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.

     The Executive Committee has held six meetings since the meetings held in Glenview in June, 1913: two meetings in Toronto in connection with the meetings of the Ontario Assembly, and four meetings in Bryn Athyn, Pa., in January, April and June, 1914.

     The Committee has had under special consideration the matter of obtaining contributions from members of the Church. The call of Bishop N. D. Pendleton to assist the Bishop of the General Church has entailed an increased burden upon the treasury of the General Church of Five Hundred Dollars per year beginning with February 1, 1914.

485


The salary formerly paid to the Bishop of the General Church has been provided for in part from the Pension Fund of the General Church, in part from the Pension Fund of the Academy. There has been appropriated from the General Church treasury $2,700.00 per annum, as salary to Bishop N. D. Pendleton, the remainder of his salary of $3,500.00 being provided by the Academy of the New Church.

     The increased needs of the Church were laid before the members of the Church in January, with emphasis upon the desirability of contributions being made from a larger number of members as well as the necessity for larger contributions. The responses to this appeal which was followed in May by a second circular to those from whom no response had been received, have been very gratifying. The sum of contributions, and better yet, the number of contributors has been materially increased, resulting, despite larger and unusual expenditures, in a considerably larger balance on hand at the end of the fiscal year than was the case a year ago.

     The number of contributors on record, by name, is upwards of five hundred. This does not, however, properly indicate the number of individuals contributing, as in some societies of the Church the practice obtains of making a general contribution on behalf of the society which is collected by individual contributions into a common box. A large number of unidentified individuals also contribute in connection with the several Assemblies of the Church.

     Provision has been made for the reception of contributions by Local Treasurers at the several centers of the Church, as well as by direct remittance to the Treasurer. In all the several methods of collecting contributions the aim is to secure contributions from as many as possible of the membership of the General Church, with due regard as to amount and manner of contribution, to the freedom and good will of each. Wm. H. ALDEN, Acting Secretary.

     The Report of the Treasurer was read by the Rev. W. H. Alden:

     REPORT OF THE TREASURER

     FOR THE YEAR ENDING MAY 31, 1914.

     RECEIPTS.
Balance on hand, June 1, 1913                     $319.17
Interest on Bank Account                $9.17
Interest on Investment                62.50
Rent of Addressograph                5.50
Sale of Directory                     .25
                                                            $77.42

486




     CONTRIBUTIONS.
Colorado                    $15.75
Connecticut                    5.00
Delaware                    1.10
District of Columbia               14.00
Florida                    16.50
Georgia                    86.75
Illinois                    3.00
Chicago                    51.30
Glenview                    209.60
Indiana                    47.00
Kentucky                    9.00
Maryland                    16.75
Massachusetts               9.10
Michigan                    15.00
Minnesota                    5.00
Missouri                    20.00
Montana                    2.00
Nebraska                    2.00
New Jersey                    5.00
New York                    83.00
Ohio                         251.00
Oregon                    2.00
Pennsylvania                    192.15
Bryn Athyn                    2,486.60
Philadelphia                    90.90
Pittsburgh                    376.50
Texas                         3.00
Washington                    26.00
West Virginia                    49.75
Wisconsin                    3.50
Canada                    103.60
Berlin and Waterloo               124.00
Toronto                    512.93
Great Britain                    40.73
France                         2.00
Holland                    6.00
Sweden                    1.00
Australia                    9.73
Unknown                    5.00
                                   $4,903.29

     NEW CHURCH LIFE
Subscriptions                    $947.27
Contributions                    11.00

487



Special contribution by John
     Pitcairn for Editorial
     Assistance               24.00          $1,198.27
Total                                             $6,498.15
Total receipts forward                              $6,498.15

     EXPENDITURES.
     GENERAL CHURCH.
Salaries Bishop's Office                    $2,366.66
Traveling Expense Bishop's office               162.50
Salary Missionary                         514.60
Traveling Expenses Missionary               136.35
Salary Treasure's Assistant                    600.00
Salary Secretary Council Clergy               25.00
Traveling Exp. to Meeting of Consistory
     Rev. N. D. Pendleton                    15.00
     Rev. F. E. Waelchli                    32.00
Traveling Exp. to Gen. Assembly.
     Rev. C. Th. Odhner, Sec'y               48.00
     Rev. Wm. H. Alden, Treas.               48.00
Traveling Exp. to Toronto Dist. Assembly
     Rev. Wm. H. Alden, Treas.               20.30
Reporting Assembly                         25.00
Printing Quarterly Reports and Sundry
     Circulars                         67.80
Stationery                              31.20
Postage                              83.84
Sundry                              26.07
                                             $4,202.32

     NEW CHURCH LIFE
Salary Editor                              $500.00
Special Editorial Assistance                    255.00
Paper                                   138.13
Printing and Mailing Life                    876.23
Cuts                                   26.27
Stationery                              27.89
Postage                              34.83
Bound Copies to Subscribers and
     Complimentary Copies               6.35
Sundries                              13.15
                                             $1,877.85

     Total Expenditures                                             $6,080.17

     Balance on Hand, May 31,1914.                                   $417.98

488




     ENDOWMENT.
Bequest of Mrs. R. T. Henderson:
General Church of the New Jerusalem           $2,000.00
Orphanage Fund                               2,000.00
                                                   $4,000.00

     Invested in 5 $1,000.00 5 per cent. Gold Bonds of Mich. Northern Power Co. yielding income of $250.00 (one-half for General Church and
one-half for Orphanage Fund):
Bequest of Mrs. Henderson                     $4,000.00
Loan from Pension Fund                     192.80
                                             $4,192.80

     NEW CHURCH LIFE.
Subscribers who are members of the General Church      325
Subscribers who are non-members                     196
Academy Book Room                         33          
Glenn Hall                                    3
Stuart Hall                                   3
Academy Library                               3
Agents                                    14
Exchanges                                    25
Missionary                                   2
                                        604

     New Subscribers May 31, 1913, to June 1, 1914           26
Discontinued Subscribers May 31, 1913, to June 1, 1914      43

     THE PENSION FUND.
FOR THE YEAR ENDING MAY 31, 1914
Balance on Hand, May 31, 1913                          $1,125.11

     Receipts.
From Invested Capital                     $2,650.00
From Invested Income                     250.00
Bank Interest                              40.04
Interest on Loans to Extension Fund                12.59
                                             $3,012.63
                                             $4,137.74

     Expenditures.
Rev. W. F. Pendleton                     $366.67
Rev. J. E. Bowers                          200.00

489



Rev. D. H. Klein                          390.00
Mrs. Mary Hyatt                                   300.00
Safe Deposit Box                          6.86
                                             $1,263.53
Balance consisting of
Loan to Extension Fund                     $500.00
Loan to General Church                     192.80
Cash on Hand, May 31, 1914                    2,181.41
                                             $2,874.21

     The Treasurer of the Orphanage Fund, Mr. Walter Childs, read his report:

     REPORT OF THE TREASURER OF THE ORPHANAGE FUND.

     FROM JUNE 11, 1913, TO JUNE 18, 1914

     CONTRIBUTIONS.

     Ashley, Miss H. S.                          $2.50
Baltimore Society, Children's Christmas Offering      7.38
Berlin Society Christmas Offering                12.80
Berlin Society Contribution Box                1.55
Boericke, Dr. Felix A.                     15.00
Breitstein, Mrs. F. O.                     2.00
Brickenstein, Estate of Prof. L. C.                81.33
Bryn Athyn, Children's Offerings                24.79
Bryn Athyn Christmas Offering                47.20
Coffin, Children of J. Price                     .45
Colchester, Eng., Society, Christmas Offering      3.17
Covert, Mich., Sunday Offering                2.00
Childs, Walter C.                          15.0
Denver Society Christmas Offering                9.66     
Doering, Geo. W.                         1.00
Drost, Wm.                                             5.00
Ebert, Children of Chas. H.                     1.71
Evens, Wm.                              1.00
Friend, Bryn Athyn                          .60
Glenn, Mrs. Cara S.                          5.00
Glenview Society Christmas Offering           3.25
Grant, Miss Alice E.                          3.00
Henderson Bequest, Interest on                62.50
Hogan, Miss Maria C.                     10.00
Howland, Mrs. W. S.                     7.50
Iungerich, Mrs. E. C.                          10.00
Karl, Valentine                          3.00
Knudsen, Mr. and Mrs. K.                     2.00

490



Middleport Society Sunday School Christmas Off.      5.00
McKallip, Mrs. Margaret J.                     30.00
Parkdale Society                         44.66
Pendleton, Mrs. N. D.                     1.00
Philadelphia Society Easter Offering               10.11
Pittsburgh Society Children's Christmas Offering     49.85
Potts, Miss Edith W.                          7.00
Reynolds, Robert and Katherine                1.50
Schott, Colon, Jr., and Madele                1.00
Smith, Mrs. Royden H., from sale of songs           22.25
Starkey, Mrs. G. G.                          1.06
Starkey, Dr. G. G.                          1.00
Walker, Mrs. Annie M.                     20.00
Werckle, Mrs L.                          10.00
Total                                    $544.76
Balance on Hand, June 11, 1913                          $974.27

     DISBURSEMENTS.
Mrs. E. J. Fitzpatrick                     $385.00
Mrs. R. M. L. Frost                          120.00
                                             $505.00
Balance on Hand, June 17, 1914                          $469.27

     The Report of the Church Extension Committee was the Rev. W. H. Alden:

     REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CHURCH EXTENSION.

     The Committee has held, during the year, eighteen meetings, on the following dates: June 17, 23, July 16, 18, Aug. &, Sept. 15, 22, Oct. 25, Nov. 12, 1913; Jan. 15, Feb. 7, 9, March 9, 16, 26, 30, Apr. 29, May 26, 1914. One of the meetings was held jointly with the Consistory.

     It will be observed that only one month, during the year, has passed without a meeting, and that in Some months two or more meetings have been held. Meetings have been held, not at regular intervals, but as the need arose. Many and important subjects have been before the Committee and have received careful consideration.

     The amount of money placed at the disposal of the Committee has been larger than in any previous year. As in previous years, the largest contributor has been Mr. John Pitcairn, who has given, during the past year, $1,000.00, in addition to the income of the endowment fund of One Hundred Thousand Dollars reported last year, and has also provided the sum of $1,809.99 to defray the expenses of the Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal to and from Natal, South Africa.

491


Contributions from other sources amounted to $427.61, a sum considerably in excess of contributions of previous years. At the beginning of the year it was deemed advisable to make a short time investment of the major portion of the income then on hand, and $2,908.0 was used in the purchase of bonds of the face value of $3,00.0. From time to time during the year money was borrowed, pending receipt of income from Endowment Fund, interest upon which was received at intervals of six months. At a meeting in April, 1914, it was decided that $2,000.00 be added to the permanent invested fund.

     The assistance begun in previous years has been continued in the support of the Rev. T. S. Harris in Abington, Rev. E. Deltenre in Brussels, to the missionary work of the Rev. W. L. Gladish, and in providing for visits quarterly to Erie, Pa.

     During the summer of 1913 the students of the Theological School of the Academy were employed at the charge of the Extension Fund in pastoral work in Pittsburgh, Glenview, Arbutus, and Berlin, Can. This permitted the pastors of the several Societies opportunity for missionary work in other places or afforded them much needed rest and, at the same time, gave valuable experience to the students. Of these students three have now entered upon permanent ministerial work.

     Assistance to Societies in Chicago and Philadelphia has been continued. In Philadelphia, the work of Mr. Gyllenhaal has been taken up by Mr. George de Charms, who has become resident minister of the Advent Church under very favorable auspices. Mr. Gyllenhaal has accepted a call to Durban, Natal, South Africa, and began his journey thither last February. Through the liberal provision of Mr. John Pitcairn, already mentioned, Mr. Gyllenhaal is enabled to visit an his way, Australia, India, and Mauritius, spending several weeks at each place. Already very pleasant reports of the usefulness of his stay in Australia have been received.

     Beginning the last fall, assistance was given to provide for regular weekly services at Arbutus, Md., and in April, 1914, the Rev. K. H. Keep was called to be resident Pastor, which action was made possible by the assistance of the Extension Fund.

     Assistance has been given to the newly formed Circles of the General Church in Stockholm and Gothenburg, Sweden. In Stockholm a reading room and library have been established and provision made for quarterly visits from the Rev. S. C. Bronniche, of Copenhagen. At Gothenburg, the Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist is resident pastor of a small circle who have separated themselves from the society led by Mr. Manby and come into relations with the General Church.

     The Rev. F. E. Waelchli has replaced Bishop N. D. Pendleton in quarterly visits to Erie. In the report of a year ago, mention was made of the hope of engaging Mr. Waelchli more fully in the missionary field. The hope then expressed has become a reality.

492


Mr. Waelchli has been engaged from June 1, 1914, to employ one-half his time in the missionary field under the direction of the Bishop of the General Church. Mr. Hugo Lj. Odhner has been called to Berlin to assist in the pastoral work of that society. It is probable that the time is not far distant when the entire time of Mr. Waelchli will be demanded for the growing needs of the missionary field.

     Some small appropriations have been made for provisions of books for missionary service. This is a use which seems appropriate to the Extension Fund, and for which there is no other provision. A substantial use of this sort will be performed in the publication of a liturgy in the French language, which is in preparation.
     FELIX A, BOERICKE,
     WM. H. ALDEN,
     C. E. DOERING,
     ALFRED ACTON, Committee.

     REPORT OF THE TREASURER OF THE CHURCH EXTENSION FUND.

     FOR THE YEAR ENDING MAY 31, 1914.

     Cash on Hand, June 1, 1913                          $3,231.58

     Receipts.
Contributions                         41,427.61
Special Contributions for Traveling
     Expenses, F. E Gyllenhaal               1,800.00
Interest on Endowment Fund           5,500.00
Interest on Investment Income          105.00
Interest on Bank Deposits                50.58
                                        $8,883.19
Loan                                         $500.00
                                                  $12,614.77

     Expenditures.
Assistance to Societies:
Arbutus                         $104.75
Philadelphia, Advent                    290.00
Chicago, Sharon                    300.00
Paris                              96.62
Stockholm                         216.30
Gothenburg                          72.00
                                        $1,079.67
Compensation and traveling expenses for
summer, 1913:
Students.
*Mr. L. W. T. David, at Pittsburgh           $65.00     
*Mr. George de Charms, Glenview           80.00

493



Mr. D. F. Rose, Arbutus                151.43
*Mr. Sydney Childs, Abington           105.00
*Mr. Hugo Odhner, Berlin, Ont..           46.00
                                                            $447.43
Salary and expenses, Pastors and Missionaries:
Rev. T. S. Harris, Abington                $1,083.34
1913. Summer expenses, Canada           50.00
Rev. John Headsten, Chicago           750.00
Advance Expenses, 1914-15               10.00
Printing                          18.75          
Rev. W. L. Gladish, Missionary           200.00
Expense trip to Spokane, summer of 1913      53.70
Rev. E. Deltenre, Brussels                1,700.00
Rev. F. E. Waelchli.
Quarterly visits, Erie                     100.00
Summer, 1913, Saskatchewan           286.15
Mr. F. H. Rose, England                22.22
                                                  $4,274.16
Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal, Traveling Expenses
to Durban, Natal and return                1,800.00
Books for Missionary Use and Sundries      85.76
Postage                          30.04
Interest on Loans                     12.59
                                                         $128.39
Investment in 3 $1,000.00 Penna. R. R.
Cons. Bonds, 3% per cent., due 1915
@ 96 1/4                                         2,908.75
Cash on Hand, May 31, 1914                          1,976.37
                                                                  $12,614.77

          *In addition to the amounts named, the sum of $206.00 was paid to these students for summer work in the summer of 1913, in May prior to the beginning of the fiscal year, making in all paid to students for summer work in 1913 $653.43

     CONTRIBUTIONS.
     RECEIVED DURING YEAR ENDING MAY 31, 1914.
Colorado                                   $2.50
Delaware                                    .10
Florida                                    15.10
Illinois-
Chicago                                   5.00

494



Maryland
Arbutus                                    108.72
New York                                    2.00
Pennsylvania
Bryn Athyn                                    1,125.25
Erie                                         72.50
Philadelphia                                    23.09
Canada                                        59.45
Berlin and Waterloo                               11.00
Toronto                                    .50
Great Britain                                    2.49
                                                             $1,427.61

     The Statement of the Order and Organization of the General Church of the New Jerusalem was read.

     This Statement is published on page 496, of the present issue of NEW CHURCH LIFE.

     In the discussion which followed, the fact was emphasized that this Statement is not an Instrument of Organization or a Constitution, but simply a Statement of our order as it has developed. It does not bind us. It is not legislation for the future. There is nothing to prevent departure from anything that is in it. Yet: all it presents has the strength of custom and precedent. It was decided that Mr. Odhner be requested to write an historical preface for the Statement, presenting these facts. Various points in the Statement were considered.

     On motion, the meeting adjourned.

     AFTERNOON SESSION.

     The consideration of the "Statement of Order and Organization" was continued.

     On motion, it was "Resolved, That the Bishop's Statement of the Order and Organization of the General Church of the New Jerusalem be printed in the NEW CHURCH LIFE and in pamphlet form, and that the members of this Joint Council express their appreciation of this Statement prepared by our Bishop."

     On motion, it was "Resolved, That we now take action in the matter of the Assistant Bishop."

     The Bishop stated that according to our order the Joint Council can act for the General Assembly in those years when no General Assembly is held.

495


It can therefore take action in this matter.

     Doubt was expressed by some of the members whether the mode of the choice of a Bishop in our body, as presented in the Statement of Order and followed in the present instance, be the most desirable. After discussion, it was

     "Resolved, That this joint meeting of the Council of the Clergy and the Executive Committee hereby expresses its hearty approval of the choice made by the Council of the Clergy in the selection of Bishop N. D. Pendleton as Assistant Bishop of the General Church.

     "Resolved, That the question of the mode of appointment of a Bishop of the General Church be referred to the General Council for consideration."

     On motion, the meeting adjourned.
          F. E. WAELCHLI,
          W. H. ALDEN, Secretaries.

496


STATEMENT OF THE ORDER AND ORGANIZATION OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM 1914

STATEMENT OF THE ORDER AND ORGANIZATION OF THE GENERAL CHURCH OF THE NEW JERUSALEM       Various       1914

     The General Church of the New Jerusalem is a body of the New Church, organized for the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the performance of spiritual uses of charity, which are in general, teaching men the way to Heaven and leading them to walk therein.

     Faith.

     The faith of the General Church in a summary form is as follows:

     God is one in essence and in person, and the Lord Jesus Christ is that God, in whom is the Divine Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

     The Lord came into the world to glorify His Human and thereby to redeem and save the human race; and all are saved who believe in Him and keep His commandments.

     The Sacred Scripture is the Word of God and the Divine Truth itself. It has a spiritual sense within the literal sense, and is given for the use of angels and of men.

     The Lord has made His Second Coming by means of a man, His servant, Emanuel Swedenborg, before whom He manifested Himself in Person, and whom He filled with His Spirit, to teach the Doctrine of the New Church, through the Word, from Him. In the Doctrine so revealed, the Lord appears as the Word, to establish on earth a new Christian Church, which is signified by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, and which is to be the crown of all the churches that have hitherto been in the world.

     Principles of Order.

     In the General Church of the New Jerusalem, the priesthood or ministry is charged with the administration of those things in the Church which are of heaven and are called ecclesiastical; and the laity with the administration of those things in the Church which are of the world and are called civil. Since joint consideration and joint action are often necessary, provision is made for the frequent meeting together of the clergy and the laity in Council and Assembly.

497




     In all meetings of the General Church the ordinary rules of parliamentary procedure are followed in the transaction of business, and for this purpose voting is in order. But no question of doctrine or revelation, or any matter involving doctrine or revelation, is decided in Council or Assembly by a vote of the members, or by any ruling of a presiding officer; but a full and free discussion is allowed, and after discussion the subject is left to each individual member to be understood and applied by him in his own freedom according to his reason.

     In order to preserve unanimity in the Councils of the General Church, no measure involving principles or policy is decided by a majority vote; but the objection of a single member, formally expressed, is accepted as an indication for delay of action until unanimity is reached. If it should appear that postponement or delay would result in injury to the uses of the Church, then a decision is reached either by a majority vote, or by a ruling of the Bishop, Pastor, or other presiding officer.

     In the councils, assemblies, and society meetings of the General Church two essential things are done. First, the giving of instruction on some point of doctrine or revelation, and the discussion of the same; second, making provision for present and existing uses.

     In the General Church there is no legislation for the sake of enforcing doctrine, or for meeting future contingencies. Doctrine is to be taught but not enforced; and the possibilities of the future are in the hands of the Lord, who will enlighten those who are active in the affairs of the Church at any given time.

     It is recognized as the duty of the clergy of the General Church, and of all others in positions of authority, to maintain the freedom of the individual member to act according to his own judgment and conscience in all application of doctrine to life; and that no one is to exercise any control over the conduct of the members of the Church. The truth of doctrine is to be taught, but never enforced by word or deed.

498




     Membership.

     All persons who have been introduced into the New Church by Baptism are eligible for membership in the General Church of the New Jerusalem.

     Application for membership is made in writing to the Bishop of the General Church. To all who are received as members, certificates of membership are given, signed by the Bishop and the Secretary of the general body.

     Members are received into the General Church as individuals only, and societies are formed only of such individual members.

     The Priesthood or Ministry.

     This body recognizes the Priesthood as the office of the Lord in the Church for the salvation of souls.

     The office of the Priesthood exists in the Church in a threefold order, namely, in the ministry of instruction, in the ministry of worship, and in the ministry of government. By means of these ministries the members of the Church are taught the doctrine of the Church, and are to be led by the truth of doctrine to the good of life.

     To the end that these ministries may exist in the Church, they are to be clothed by men set apart and inaugurated into the office of the Priesthood, by the laying on of hands in the solemn act of ordination.

     Before ordination takes place, a student for the Ministry may be authorized as a Candidate for the Ministry, to lead in public worship, and to teach and preach the doctrines of the New Church.

     The ministry of instruction is provided for in the first degree of the Priesthood, in the office of Minister. By the act of ordination into this degree, a Minister is authorized to lead in public worship, to preach the Word of God according to the Doctrine of the Church, and to administer the Sacrament of Baptism. A Minister during the period of his ministry may serve as assistant to the Pastor of a society, or he may be appointed to take charge of a Circle, Society, or Church, under the supervision of the Bishop.

     The ministry of worship is provided for in the second degree of the Priesthood in the office of Pastor.

499


By the act of ordination into this degree a Pastor is authorized, in addition to the duties already prescribed for the first degree, to administer the Sacrament of the Holy Supper, to consecrate marriages, to preside over a society of the Church, and maintain order in the same.

     The ministry of government is provided for in the third degree of the Priesthood, in the office of Bishop. By the act of ordination into this degree a Bishop is authorized, in addition to the duties already prescribed for the first and second degrees, to ordain ministers, to preside over a general body of the Church, and to maintain order in the same.

     A minister is introduced by the act of ordination into the first, second, or third degrees of the Priesthood of the New Church; he may afterwards be recognized as a Priest or Minister of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, in the degree into which he has been ordained.

     Assemblies.

     A General Assembly of the members of the General Church is held triennially, or as often as circumstances shall permit. In years when the General Assembly does not meet, instead thereof a Joint Session of the Council of the Clergy and of the Executive Committee is held, acting for and representing the General Assembly.

     The membership of the Assembly consists of the ordained ministers of the General Church, of the members of the Executive Committee, and of other officers and members of the general body who may be present at any given meeting of the Assembly.

     The officers of the General Church are also officers of the Assembly, namely, the Bishop, the Secretary and the Treasurer. The Bishop is chosen by the Council of the Clergy and confirmed by the General Assembly. The Secretary is chosen by the General Assembly, and the Treasurer by the Executive Committee. The sessions of the General Assembly are always dated to include the Nineteenth of June.

     The General Church, as distinguished from the General Assembly, consists of all the members of the general body, including all the constituted officials thereof.

500




     Besides the General Assembly there are District Assemblies, which are held, as a rule, once each year.

     A District Assembly is a meeting of members of the General Church residing in a certain specified district or territory.

     There are at present five District Assemblies. These are, in the order of their formation, the Ontario Assembly, the Philadelphia Assembly, the Chicago Assembly, the Pittsburgh Assembly, and the British Assembly.

     There are also local Assemblies composed of members of the General Church residing in any given locality.

     The General Assembly, the District Assemblies, and the local Assemblies, are presided over by the Bishop, or by one who represents him.

     Councils.

     The Council of the Clergy is composed of the ordained Ministers of the General Church, and is a distinct and independent body.

     To the Bishop is adjoined a Consistory, or Council, of certain of the Pastors of the Church selected by him.

     The General Council is a Council of Ministers and Laymen selected by the Bishop and presided over by him.

     When the Bishop retires from office, the Consistory and the General Council hold over until a new Bishop is chosen.

     Society Organization.

     Members of the General Church residing in any given locality may be organized into a particular body, variously designated as a circle, society, or church, presided over by a Pastor or Minister.

     A circle consists of a few members not as yet under a resident Minister or Pastor.

     A society is presided over by a resident Pastor, or by a Minister who is under the supervision of the Bishop.

     A church is a society in a more completely organized form.

     A congregation in the General Church is an assembly of members of the Church gathered together for the uses of public worship. All who are attendant at this worship, but who are not yet members of the General Church, or who have not yet enrolled themselves as members of the circle, society, or church, are considered members of the congregation, and are entitled to all the privileges of members, except the taking active part in the administration of the affairs of the said circle, society, or church.

501




     The choice of the Pastor of a society is by the joint action of the Bishop and of the society. The Bishop nominates two or more in the pastoral degree, and the society makes its choice from these by ballot or otherwise.

     A Minister of the first degree may be appointed by the Bishop to take temporary charge of a society without formal action by the society; or he may be appointed by the Bishop as a temporary assistant to a Pastor without such formal action.

     The Pastor, as the head of the society or church, presides over all meetings of the society.

     The Bishop takes charge ex-officio of a society in the vacancy of the pastorate.

     The Bishop is ex-officio Pastor of the society of his residence.

     A society or local church is organized in general after the model of the General Church.

     The Pastor appoints a Council of three or more members to act as his advisors in the conduct of the ecclesiastical affairs of his church. The Pastor's Council is dissolved of itself on the retirement of the Pastor, though continuing in office until a new Pastor is appointed.

     A Business Committee or Board of Finance is elected annually by the society, or may be chosen for a longer term.

     The "New Church Life."

     The NEW CHURCH LIFE is the official organ of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, the Editor of which is appointed by the Bishop after consultation with the General Council. To the Editor is adjoined an Editorial Board or Council appointed by himself, under rules and regulations similar to that of a Pastor's council.

     The Academy.

     The Academy of the New Church is an independent body of the Church, organized under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, "for the purpose of propagating the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, and establishing the New Church as signified in the Apocalypse by the New Jerusalem, promoting education in all its various forms, educating young men for the ministry, publishing books, pamphlets, and other printed matter, and establishing a library."

502


These uses of the Academy are now being conducted at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania; the annual meeting of the Corporation is held in the city of Philadelphia, Pa.

     The ecclesiastical affairs of the Academy, including the religious instruction given in its schools, have been placed, by resolution of the Board of Directors of the Academy, under the supervision of the Bishop of the General Church of the New Jerusalem.

     The General Church as a Corporate Body.

     "The General Church of the New Jerusalem" is a corporate body, organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, and as such is charged with the care of the civil affairs of the general body of the Church.

     This Corporation was organized with the following stated objects:

     To present, teach, and maintain throughout the world, the Doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church, as contained in the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg; and to take over and carry on all the civil uses of the ecclesiastical body known as the General Church of the New Jerusalem. (See Journal of General Assembly for 1907, page 585.)

     The said Corporation of the General Church holds its annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois, and also meets at the General Assembly for the purpose of transacting such business as may come before it under its organization and charter. The Corporation at the same time elects an Executive Committee to conduct and manage the business affairs of the General Church until the next meeting of the Assembly.

     Every male member of the General Church who has attended at least two General Assemblies, shall be eligible to become a member of the Corporation.

     On June 20th, 1907, the General Assembly voted that the offer of the Corporation known as the General Church of the New Jerusalem to take over and carry on all the civil uses of the ecclesiastical body known as the General Church of the New Jerusalem, other than those performed by the Corporation known as the Academy of the New Church, be accepted. (See Journal of the Assembly for 1907, page 586.)

503




     Church Extension.

     A special Committee called the Church Extension Committee has been appointed by the Executive Committee of the General Church, to act in co-operation with the Bishop and the Clergy in the work of Church extension, and to administer all funds appropriated for that use.

     The Orphanage.

     An Orphanage Committee is appointed by the Executive Committee to act in conjunction with the Bishop in giving financial and other aid, when necessary, to orphan children of the General Church.

504


DIRECTORY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1914

DIRECTORY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH              1914

     Officials of the General Church.
Bishop.
The Rev. William F. Pendleton.

     Assistant Bishop.
The Rev. N. D. Pendleton.

     Secretary.
Rev. C. Th. Odhner.

     Treasurer.
Rev. W. H. Alden.

     Consistory.
The Bishop.
Rev. A. Acton.
Rev. C. E. Doering, Secr.
Rev. C. Th. Odhner.
Rev. N. D. Pendleton.
Rev. Homer Synnestvedt.
Rev. F. E. Waelchli.

     The General Council
The Bishop.
Rev. Alfred Acton, Secr.
Rev. Wm. H. Alden.
Dr. Felix Boericke.
Mr. E. C. Bostock.
Mr. Hugh L. Burnham.
Rev. Wm. B. Caldwell.
Mr. Robert Carswell.
Mr. Walter C. Childs.
Rev. Chas. E. Doering.
Rev. E. E. Iungerich.
Mr. Seymour G. Nelson.
Rev. C. Th. Odhner.
Rev. N. D. Pendleton.
Mr. John Pitcairn.
Mr. Raymond Pitcairn.
Rev. E. S. Price.
Mr. Richard Roschman.
Mr. Rudolph Roschman.
Mr. Jacob Schoenberger.
Rev. Homer Synnestvedt.
Rev. F. E. Waelchli.

     The Executive Committee
Mr. John Pitcairn, President
Dr. Felix A. Boericke, Vice-President
Mr. Paul Carpenter, Secretary
Rev. Wm. H. Alden, Treasurer
Mr. Edward C. Bostock.
Mr. Hugh L. Burnham.
Mr. Robert Carswell.
Mr. Walter C. Childs.
Dr. Edward Cranch.
Rev. Chas. E. Doering.
Mr. S. S. Lindsay.
Mr. Seymour G. Nelson.
Mr. Raymond Pitcairn.
Mr. Richard Roschman.
Mr. Rudolph Roschman.
Mr. Jacob Schoenberger.
Mr. Anton Sellner.
Mr. Paul Synnestvedt.

505




     The Church Extension Committee.
DR. FELIX BOERICKE, Chairman. REV. ALFRED ACTON.
REV. W. H. ALDEN, Secretary. REV. C. E. DOERING.

     Directory of the Clergy.

     Bishops.

     PENDLETON, WILLIAM FREDERICK.
Ordained, 1st and 2d degrees, 3/9, 1873; 3d degree, 9/5, 1888. Bishop of the General Church. Pastor of the Bryn Athyn Church.

     PENDLETON, NATHANIEL DANDRIDGE.
Ordained, 16/6, 1889; 2d degree, 2/31 1891; 3d degree, 17/11, 1912. Assistant Bishop of the General Church. President of the Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     Pastors.

     ACTON, ALFRED.
Ordained, 4/6, 1893; ad degree, 10/1, 1897. Pastor of the circles in New York and Washington. Professor of Theology, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     ALDEN, WILLIAM HYDE.
Ordained, 1st and 2d degrees, 30/5, 1886. Treasurer of the General Church. Manager of the Academy Book Room, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     BARLER, ORSON L.
Ordained, 1st and 2d degrees, 1/11, 1879; Beatrice, Neb.

     BOWERS, JOHN EBY.
Ordained, 1st and 2d degrees, 11/5, 1873. General missionary, 37 Lowther Ave., Toronto, Ont., Canada.

     BRICKMAN, WALTER E.
Ordained, 1st and 2d degrees, 7/11, 1900. Engaged in secular work, 419 Evaline St., Pittsburgh, Pa.

     CALDWELL, WILLIAM BEEBE.
Ordained, 19/10 1902; 2d degree, 23/10, 1904. Pastor of the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Ill.

506




     CRONLUND, EMIL ROBERT.
Ordained, 31/12, 1899; 2d degree, 18/5, 1902. Pastor of the Olivet Church, 201/2 Melbourne Ave., Toronto, Ont., Canada.

     CZERNY, ANDREW.
Ordained, 10/6, 1883; 2d degree, 21/3, 1886. Pastor of the Societies in London and Colchester, 174 Peckam Rye, S. E., London, England.

     DECHARMS, RICHARD.
Ordained, 1st and 2d degrees, 21/1, 1877. Instructor in the Academy Schools, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     DELTENRE, ERNST.
Ordained, 1st and 2d degrees, 26/5, 1912. Missionary in Belgium and Holland, 33 Rue Gachard, Brussels, Belgium.

     DOERING, CHARLES EMIL.
Ordained, 7/6, 1896; 2d degree, 29/1, 1899. Superintendent of the Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     GLADISH, WILLIS L.
Ordained, 1st and 2d degrees, 3/6, 1894. Pastor of the Society in Middleport, Ohio.

     GYLLENHAAL, FREDERICK EDMUND.
Ordained, 23/6, 1907; 2d degree, 19/6, 1910. Pastor of the Society in Durban, Natal, South Africa.

     HARRIS, THOMAS STARK.
Ordained, 1st and 2d degrees, 8/4, 1897. Pastor of the Society in Abington, Mass., 4 Chapel St.

     HEADSTEN, JOHN.
Ordained, 1st degree, 19/6, 1913; 2d degree, 28/6, 1914. Missionary, 3848 N. Hermitage Ave., Chicago, Ill.

     HUSSENET, FERNAND.
Ordained, 1st and 2d degrees, 10/10, 1909. Pastor of the Society in Paris, 31 Rue Henri Regnault, St. Cloud, Seine et Oise, France.

     IUNGERICH, ELDRED EDWARD,
Ordained, 13/6, 1909; 2d degree, 26/5, 1912. Professor of Theology, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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     KEEP, RICHARD HAMILTON.
Ordained, 27/6, 1897; ad degree, 22/5. 1898. Pastor of the Society in Arbutus, Md.

     KLEIN, DAVID HAROLD.
Ordained, 26/6, 1898; 2d degree, 27/10, 1902. Engaged in secular work, 6411 Normal Boulevard, Chicago.

     MORSE, REV. RICHARD.
Authorized minister and pastor, pending ordination, 31/7, 1913. Pastor of the Society in Sydney. 180 Regent St. Redfern, Sydney, W. S. W., Australia.

     ODHNER, CARL THEOPHILUS.
Ordained, 10/6, 1888; 2d degree, 19/6, 1891. Professor of Theology, Academy of the New Church. Secretary of the General Church. Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     PRICE, ENOCH S.
Ordained, 10/6, 1888; 2d degree, 19/6, 1891. Professor, Academy of the New Church. Pastor of the Allentown Society, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     ROSENQVIST, JOSEPH E.
Ordained, 19/6, 1891; 2d degree, 23/6, 1895. Pastor of the Circle in Gothenburg, Ostra Skansgatan 18 A, Gothenburg, Sweden.

     SMITH, GILBERT HAVEN.
Ordained, 25/6, 1911; 2d degree, 23/6, 1913. Pastor of the Sharon Church, 1329 East 54th St., Chicago, Ill.

     SYNNESTVEDT, HOMER.
Ordained, 19/6, 1891; 2d degree, 13/1, 1895. Pastor of the Pittsburgh Society, 2319 Baltimore St., Beach View, Pittsburgh, Pa.

     WAELCHLI, FRED. E.
Ordained, 10/6, 1888; 2d degree, 19/6, 1891. Secretary of the Council of the Clergy. Pastor of the Carmel Church, 380 King St., W. Berlin., Ont., Canada.

     Ministers.

     BROWN, REGINALD W.
Ordained, 21/10, 1900. Professor, Academy of the New Church, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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     DAVID, LLEWELLYN W. T.
Ordained, 28/6, 1914. Minister of the Denver Society, 543 Delaware St., Denver, Colo.

     DECHARMS, GEORGE
Ordained, 28/6, 1914. Minister of the Philadelphia Society of the Advent, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     ODHNER, HUGO LJUNGBERG.
Ordained, 23/6, 1914 Assistant minister of the Carmel Church, Berlin, Ont., Canada;

     STEBBING, ERNEST J.
Ordained, 26/6, 1898. Engaged in secular work, 302 Nichols Ave., Congress Heights, Washington, D. C.

     Authorized Candidates and Preachers.

     BAECKSTROM, GUSTAF.
Authorized, 19/6, 1914 Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     EVENS, WILLIAM.
Authorized, 8/7, 1913 Randolph, Ont., Canada.

     PENDLETON, CHARLES R.
Authorized, 4/6, 1905 Instructor in the Academy Schools, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     ROSE, FRANK H.
Authorized, 18/8, 1913 No. 5 Market Parade, Portland Road, South Norwood, London, England.

     ROSE, DONALD F.
Authorized. 29/5, 1913. Instructor in the Academy Schools, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

     STROH, ALFRED H.
Authorized, 7/6, 1900. Editor of Swedenborg's Manuscripts, Odengatan 47, Stockholm, Sweden.

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Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. The celebration of the Nineteenth of June was signalized, this year, by a ceremony which was as grand as it was unique in the history of our church,-the laying of the corner-stone of the temple, (or cathedral), which is now rising on a hill of beauty.

     The ceremonies commenced in the Academy Chapel, at 5 P. M. After a delightful foretaste of the correspondential ritual, which is to ripen into rich fruition in the new edifice, the hundreds assembled marched out of the chapel to form a long procession. Young and old, infant-in-arms and faltering octogenarian, were in that line of earnest New Church people who followed the steps of the venerable Bishop, arrayed in his sacerdotal raiment, to the place where a seven-ton block of stone, unhewn by the masons, was suspended.

     After the reading of appropriate Scriptural passages the great stone was swung into its permanent abiding place and solemnly dedicated by the Bishop to its sacred representative as well as actual use. The whole assembly united in singing the Hebrew anthem, "Odecha," which contains the words: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner." The beauty of the ceremony and the sphere of solemnity were beyond description, and many an eye was dimmed as memory recalled the wanderings of our society from hall to hall, contrasting the past with the promise of a glorious future.

     The out-of-doors ceremony over, the congregation returned to the chapel, where the service was concluded.

     On the evening of the Nineteenth a very pleasant banquet, in commemoration of the day, brought forth the fact that for many years we have neglected to take advantage of the services of a very efficient toastmaster, Father Pendleton. His innovation of recess periods at intervals during the evening had the effect of securing close attention for the speeches, which were of a high order.

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     Bishop N. D. Pendleton spoke on "The Doctrine of the Lord," Prof. Odhner spoke on "The Doctrine of the Word," and Prof. Acton on "The Life of Charity." The impromptu speeches were also very good and the whole program was carried off with a smooth forcefulness which will, no doubt, long be remembered.

     On Sunday, June 28th, three of our Theological students were ordained into the ministry of the New Church, Llewellyn David, Hugo Odhner and George de Charms; while the Rev. John Headsten was ordained into the second degree of the priesthood. The earnest and inspiring declarations of faith, the laying-on-of-hands by the Bishop and the presence of four stalwart men kneeling at the chancel to devote their lives to the service of the Lord and His Church, produced indeed a most solemn sphere of the Divine presence.

     Mr. Llewellyn David will begin his ministry in Denver, Colo.; Mr. Hugo Odhner in Berlin, Ont.; while Mr. George de Charms will continue his services to the Advent Church in Philadelphia.

     The annual meetings of the Consistory, the Council of the Clergy, and the Executive Committee, brought many welcome visitors to Bryn Athyn. There were two public meetings; on Friday evening, June 26th, when the Rev. T. S. Harris expounded his views of choral reading, assisted by members of the Bryn Athyn choir; and on Saturday evening, when the Rev. J. E. Bowers delivered an address on "The Academy and the Uses of Evangelization."

     Of social events and doings there have been many, among other things a number of "showers" for some young ladies who, before long, intend to start housekeeping. The other showers hereabouts have not been quite as pleasant. It has been raining pitch-fork's. The crops are suffering and, most of all, our tennis enthusiasts.

     Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Doering and family are occupying a house at the Delaware Water Gap and expect to remain there all summer. From the glowing reports which their numerous visitors bring back it must be "some place." The Pride family have also gone to their summering place in the mountains in the vicinity of Allentown, Pa.; while Mrs. Heath and family are occupying the Ventnor, N. J., cottage belonging to Mr. Paul Synnestvedt.

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     The Synnestvedt family in meantime have left Bryn Athyn and are living in a handsome house owned by Mr. Synnestvedt, which is located at Manhattan Beach, Long Island.

     The Rev. Gilbert Smith and family have been visiting here and were present at the quiet celebration of the golden wedding anniversary of Mrs. Smith's parents, the Rev. and Mrs. John Faulkner Potts.
     M. A. O.

     ABINGTON, MASS. The annual reception and send-off party came on July 2, this year, when we received Mr. Gustaf Baeckstrom, who is to take Mr. Harris' place during the summer, and sent off Mr. Harris, who is to be with our Canadian friends until September. Mr. Harris has taken a supply of literature for sale and circulation among the people there.

     Mrs. Harris attended the graduating exercises of her daughter, Bessie, at Bryn Athyn, and Bessie returned with her for a summer at home.

     Mr. Harris attended the Ministers' Council, at Bryn Athyn, and gave us glowing reports of his visit. G. M. L.

     BERLIN, ONT. On Sunday, May 17th, the rite of Confession of Faith was performed for the Misses Carita Roschman, Iadah Roschman, Frieda Roschman, Emily Northgraves, Provida Waelchli and Mr. Victor Waelchli; and on Sunday, June 21st, for the Misses Nova Kuhl, Edith Scott, Olivia Doering, Aurelle Deppisch and Mr. Hubert Doering.

     In the evening of the 17th of May the society celebrated the silver wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Theobald Kuhl. A number of toasts were proposed and responded to, and the response made by Mr. Kuhl to the toast to himself and his wife deeply stirred the affections of all present. A silver token of esteem and good wishes was presented to the couple by Mr. Jacob Stroh in the name of the Society.

     On the 25th of May, Victoria Day was celebrated by the Society with a picnic on the school grounds.

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There was a good program of races and other sports. The great event was the annual base ball game between the young men of the Olivet Church, of Toronto, and those of the Carmel Church, Toronto winning. In the evening there were fireworks and an immense bon-fire.

     On June 10th the school's dancing class came to a close with an evening's entertainment, to which all were invited. The excellent manner in which the children went through their dances reflects great credit on their teacher, Miss Beata Roschman. The closing school party was held two days later. On Sunday evening, the 14th, the school year ended with a Children's Service. The pastor gave a sermon for the children on The Lord as the Shepherd.

     Our celebration of the 19th of June, this year, was of an unusual, but most appropriate nature. The marriage of the Lord and His Church, which is the subject of our thoughts and affections on this day, was this time represented for us ultimately in the wedding of Mr. Percy Izzard and Miss Vera Kuhl. The wedding took place in the beautifully decorated chapel, at 6 o'clock. Afterwards the entire congregation were the guests of the bride's parents at a wedding supper in the school room, which also had been beautifully decorated. There were a number of toasts and responses. After the supper came dancing. The newly-married couple will, after their wedding trip, make their home in Toronto. W.

     LONDON, ENGLAND. In order to keep pace with our society life we have pleasure in sending a little longer report than usual.

     The socials for March and April were respectively taken by the young people. Though of an informal nature, extempore programs helped to pass two pleasant evenings.

     Early in February the Society had to face the problem of finding a new home; and after the necessary meetings and worries with legal agreements, we became occupiers of premises facing Peckham Rye and designated as number 174. On the whole, we feel fairly comfortable, though the quiet seclusiveness of our old home at Camberwell Grove has been exchanged for a noisy thoroughfare.

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We do not, however, lack comfort within and kind thoughts have taken form in adding much to this necessity. Indeed, we cannot refrain from thanking our good friend, Mr. Posthuma, for his very liberal help in this direction.

     The first service in our new home was held on May 31. On June 3d a social was held, under the guidance of Mr. and Mrs. Archie Stepping, and turned out-as it was planned-a regular "house warmer." The full program did not flag for a moment, and our hard working dramatic quintette, Misses Tovia and Gwyneth Hart, Messrs. Fred. and Alan Waters and Felix Elphick, gave a very pleasing sketch, entitled "The Doctor's Patients."

     At our service on June 14 we had the pleasure of having Mr. Barger as visitor, and it was only through having to comply with conditions of natural time and space that we could not have him as guest on the 19th.

     New Church Day received its due honors. Our pastor gave an address on the Sending Forth of the Twelve Apostles, and as no correlated program was followed, the remainder of the time was occupied with papers and conversation. Mr. Waters took for his subject "Essentials and Ultimates;" Mr. Howard, "The 19th of June, and its meaning to a Newchurchman;" Mr. D. Elphick, "The Growth of the New Church." Mr. E. Waters also read a few thoughts on education leading up to a toast to the "Academy Schools."

     On July 5th the Rev. E. R. Cronlund conducted morning service, and in the evening a social gathering was held to welcome him and also Mr. Robert B. Somerville. Under Mr. Rose, as toastmaster, with convivial speeches and toasts, we passed a very pleasant evening, and the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Rose added yet another link to Bryn Athyn.
     F. W. E.

     SWEDEN. The Rev. J. E. Rosenqvist, of Gothenburg, reported that the New Church circle in that city holds three services every Sunday: at 11 a. m. worship, with sermon; at 12:15, lecture, in English, concerning Swedenborg's life and teachings; and at 5 p. m. lecture in Swedish.

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Though the number of attendants has not been great, several strangers have been present at the services, and a number of books have been sold. The place of worship, at Kungsgatan 21, is very centrally located.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. From Pittsburgh comes the report that the North Side (Convention) Society there is flourishing under the leadership of the Rev. W. C. Stockton. The Sunday morning congregation numbers from 50 to 75, of which, at least, half are young people, who enter heartily into the spirit of the worship.

     The Rev. L. E. Wethey has accepted a call to the pastorate of the "Church of the Divine Humanity" in St. Louis.

     Mr. A. C. Christern, president of the New Church Society in Riverside, Cal., on June 25th, was killed by an automobile. About a year ago he gave $5,000.00 to the Augmentation Fund of the General Convention, with the provision that the interest should go to the Riverside Society as long as the members were united on a minister.

     The New Church Society at Curepipe, Isle of Mauritius, has obtained the services of the Rev. Chas. Nussbaum, recently pastor at Portland, Oregon. Mr. Nussbaum began his ministerial career at the "temple" in Rue Thouin, Paris, some 25 years ago. Subsequently he held, for many years, the pastorate of the German New Church Society in St. Louis, which, finally, under his leadership, was amalgamated with the English Society there. While in St. Louis Mr. Nussbaum was editor of the BOTE DER NEUEN KIRCHE.

     GREAT BRITAIN. MORNING LIGHT for July 4th observes, concerning the recent meeting of the General Conference at Brightlingsea: "Conference itself was not perhaps as successful as usual. A peculiar spirit of unrest was manifest throughout the week. One had a feeling that the mental atmosphere was highly charged with electricity and that only a spark was needed to produce a serious explosion. There were times when the President had our sincere sympathy. Not that he appeared consciously to need it. When the proceedings threatened to be stormy he beamed with his most genial smile.

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And by good fortune the threatened typhoon was averted."

     GREAT BRITAIN. At the Swedenborg Society's Examination for Young People held a fortnight ago, a record number of candidates presented themselves. One hundred and five young people took part. The highest number previously recorded was one hundred and two. Last year eighty-six candidates sat, so that the figures this year show an improvement most encouraging. Six Societies took part for the first time in the Examination. There are still nearly a score of societies that have not participated in this admirable scheme.

     The Rev. E. J. E. Schreck was formally recognized as the minister of the Birmingham, (Wretham Road), Society, on May 5th. The lecture hall was crowded when the President of Conference took the chair. In welcoming Mr., Mrs., and Miss Schreck, on behalf of the Conference, the Rev. J. G. Dufty alluded to Mr. Schreck's distinguished career in America and declared that the Birmingham Society would have a strong and able minister. The Rev. J. Mrylie, minister of the Soho Hill Congregational Church, in a breezy speech seconded the greeting already given, saying that inasmuch as he himself had lived in Glasgow, had there often heard the Rev. J. F. Potts, and had been for an extended ministerial visit to the United States, he felt that his experiences had been somewhat akin to those of Mr. Schreck, The Handsworth Baptists were represented by the Rev. R. H. Coats, of Hamstead Road Church, who asserted that he had an even greater point of contact with Mr. Schreck since "I," said he, "have lived in Woodlands Road." Speaking on behalf of the congregation, Mr. C. B. Bragge said that the Birmingham New Churchmen were the first in the world to build a Church for the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ as the one God, and that there were in the Society members who belonged to the fourth and fifth generation of New-Church worshipers. Mr. John Sutton representing the Sunday Schools and the other institutions of the Church, reminded the assembly that Mr. Schreck could only do his own work and that constant attendance at Church and loyal support must be given to the minister if progress was to be made. Mr. Schreck, who had a rousing reception, thanked the speakers for their kind words.

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It was, he said, a very great thing to stand up in such a position before such an audience; he had come to do, not his own, but the Lord's work; he asked them to oppose any course which they felt was from himself, but whatever was from the Lord he besought them to support. Mr. Eadie, of the Woodlands Road Church, then gave some interesting facts relating to Mr. Schreck's coming to England and to Woodlands Road.
WAR, VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH 1914

WAR, VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEW CHURCH       Editor       1914




     Announcements


     
NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. XXXIV SEPTEMBER, 1914          No. 9
     In the work on THE LAST JUDGMENT it was predicted that "the state of the world hereafter will be entirely similar to what it has been heretofore; for that great change which has been affected in the spiritual world does not induce any change in the natural world as to external form; and therefore there will be civil affairs just as before; there will be peace-treaties, alliances and wars as formerly, and other affairs that belong to societies in general and in particular." (L. J. 73.)

     The history of the world since the time of the Last Judgment has abundantly confirmed the verity of this Divine prediction. We may say, without fear of contradiction, that not a single year has passed, within the last century and a half, that has not witnessed the flame of war burning somewhere on our blood drenched earth. The Last Judgment in the spiritual world took place in the midst of the Seven Years' War in Europe (1755-1762). Since then,-what terrible conflicts have taken place! Without mentioning a thousand minor campaigns, a hundred lesser wars and revolutions, we need refer only to some of the greater historic wars, such as the American Revolution, (1775-1783); the wars of the French Revolution, (1789-1799); the great Napoleonic wars, (1800-1815); the war of United States against England in 1812; the wars of liberation in South and Central America, (1820-1830); the war of liberation in Greece, (1820-1827); the Russo-Turkish war of 1828-1829; the war of Belgian Independence, (1830); the wars of Abd-el-Kader in Algeria, (1833-1846); the successive Carlists wars in Spain; the Opium War in China, (1840-1842); the war of the United States against Mexico, (1846-1847);

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the Revolutions of 1848 in France, Germany, Austria and Italy; the Kossuth revolution in Hungary, 1849; the Taiping rebellion in China, 1851-1857; the great Crimean war, 1854-1857; the Sepoy mutiny in India, 1857; the wars of Italian unification, (1859-1861); the Civil War in the United States, (1860-1865); the war of Prussia against Denmark, (1862-1864); the Seven Weeks' war of Prussia against Austria, (1866); the Franco-Prussian war, (1870); the Russo-Turkish war, (1877-1878); the war between China and Japan, (1894); the war between Turkey and Greece, (1897); the war between United States and Spain, (1898); the war between the English and the Beers, (1899-1900); the Boxer uprising in China, (1900); the Russo-Japanese war, (1904-5); the Revolution in China, the recent Balkan war, the Mexican revolution; and, finally, the nameless war now raging almost throughout the world.

     Very far, therefore, is the Christian world from that millennial age when all swords shall have been beaten, into plowshares and all spears into pruning hooks; when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and when they shall not learn war any more; for this prophecy refers to that Celestial kingdom, where there shall be no disputation about truths, because they have truth itself inscribed upon their hearts. (A. E. 403.) But here on earth, where all men are natural, and few indeed even spiritual, nations will continue to wage war against one another as long as hell and the Old Church shall retain their sway; nay, even if the New Church were triumphantly established among all nations, there might still be wars, for thousands of years to come, for a nominal or chiefly intellectual acceptance of New Church faith does not necessarily involve the undisputed reign of charity.

     It would not be true charity to prevent all wars by a universal court of arbitration, enforced by an international army of intervention, were such a thing possible, for this would simply mean the establishment of an intolerable prison for all mankind. The spirit of peace and arbitration should by all means be encouraged, and the spirit of war-lust discouraged in every way consonant with reason and human freedom, but the sickly sentiment of merely natural good must not-and cannot-destroy the inalienable right of any nation to defend its freedom against foreign aggression, nor the equally inalienable right of a nation to attack another nation when persuaded, justly or unjustly, that aggression means defense.

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     "War is hell,"-the living image of infernal hatred and unmercifulness, and yet, as the Heavenly Doctrine teaches:

     "Wars which have as an end the protection of our country and our Church are not contrary to charity; the end for which they are waged declares whether there is charity in them or not." (T. C. R. 407.)

     "There is sometimes mercy where mercy is not apparent; as for instance, when one aims at the common good by punishing the evil and reducing others to order; mercy is then exercised towards the community. So also in war, where the end is victory and thence the common good in the preservation of the many, in which case there is no mercy towards those who fall, because mercy has for its end the saving of the many." (S. D. 4346)

     That the use of a soldier, even in the midst of war and battle, may be, and should be, a use of charity, of love to the neighbor in a higher sense, is evident from the following teachings in the DOCTRINE OF CHARITY, nos. 164-166, which we may well read once more at the present time:

     CHARITY IN A WARRIOR.

     "Charity in the Commander of an army. By the commander of an army is meant its highest officer, whether he be a king or grand-duke, or one appointed general, who holds authority from them. If such a commander looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, and if he acts sincerely, justly, and faithfully in the affairs of his leadership and command, he performs the goods of use which are the goods of charity. If he be a king or a grand-duke, he does not love war but peace, even when in war he continually loves peace. He does not go to war except for the protection of his country, and thus is not an aggressor but a defender; but afterwards, when war has commenced, if so be that aggression is defence, he becomes also an aggressor.

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In battle,-unless he be born of a different disposition,-he is brave and valiant; after battle he is mild and merciful; in battle he would he could be a lion, but after the battle, a lamb. Within himself he does not exult in the overthrow of his enemy or in the glory of victory, but in the deliverance of his country and his people from the invasion of the enemy and from the destruction and ruin which they would inflict. He acts prudently; cares faithfully for his army as the father of a family for his children and servants; and he loves them, all of them, as they do their duty sincerely and valiantly. Cunning, with him, is not cunning but prudence." (DOC. OF CHARITY 164.)

     "Charity in the Officers subordinate to the Commander of an Army. Everyone of them may become charity, that is, an angel of heaven, if he looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, and sincerely, justly, and faithfully performs the duty of his office. For thus they also do goods of use perpetually, which are of charity; for their minds are in these things, and when the mind is perpetually in the goods of use, it becomes a form of charity. His country is his neighbor; in a spiritual idea he is its defense and security from invasion and destruction. He does not falsely exult: in what is of no merit; nor does he exult even in that which is of merit. This he thinks ought to be, which makes him of a contented mind, and not vainglorious. In war he loves the soldiers under him, according to their valor, sincerity and obedience; he is thoughtful for them, and desires their good as he does his own; for they are the victims to the glory of his use. For the officers have the glory of the use and the glory of the honor; the soldiers who are charities have the glory of the use but not the glory of the honor. . . . I have seen such officers in the higher heaven, and I have seen officers, who were not such, in hell.' (DOCTRINE OF CHARITY 165.)

     "Charity in the Common Soldier. If such a one looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, and sincerely, justly and faithfully does his duty, he also becomes charity; for as to this there is no distinction of persons. He is averse to unjust depredation; he abominates the wrongful shedding of blood. It is otherwise when in battle; there he is not averse to it, for he does not think of it, but of the enemy as an enemy who desires his blood.

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When he hears the sound of the drum calling him to desist from the slaughter, his fury ceases. He looks upon his captives after victory as neighbors, according to the quality of their good. Before the battle he raises his mind to the Lord, and commits his life into His hand; and after he has done this he lets his mind down from its elevation into the body and becomes brave; the thought of the Lord-of which he is then unconscious-still remaining in his mind, above his bravery. And then, if he dies, he dies in the Lord; if he lives, he lives in the Lord." (DOCTR. OF CHARITY 166.)

     The light in which the men of the New Church should look upon the whole subject of warfare, is given as follows in the work on THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE:

     WAR, AND THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

     "One who worships himself and nature confirms himself against the Divine Providence when he reflects that wars are permitted, and the consequent slaughter of so many men, and the plundering of their wealth.-It is not of the Divine Providence that wars exist, for they are connected with manslaughter, plunderings, violence, cruelties, and other enormous evils, which are directly opposed to Christian charity. And yet they must needs be permitted, because, since the time of the most ancient people, the life's love with men has become such that it wills to rule over others and finally over all; also to possess the wealth of the world and finally all wealth. These two loves cannot be kept in bounds, for it is according to the Divine Providence that every one be allowed to act from freedom in accordance with his reason; and that without permissions man cannot by the Lord be led from evil, thus cannot be reformed and saved. For unless evils were permitted to break out man would not see them, and therefore would not acknowledge them, and thus could not be led to resist them. For this reason, evils cannot be prevented by any Providence; for if they were, they would remain shut in, and like the diseases called cancer and gangrene would spread and consume all that is vital in man." (D. P. 251:1.)

     "For man from birth is like a small hell, and between it and heaven there is a perpetual discordance.

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No man can be withdrawn from his hell by the Lord, unless he sees that he is in hell and wishes to be led out; and this cannot be done without permissions, the causes of which are laws of the Divine Providence. For this reason there are wars, lesser and greater,-the lesser between the possessors of estates and their neighbors, and the greater between the rulers of kingdoms and their neighbors. Between the lesser and the greater there is no difference, except that the lesser are kept within limits by the law of the nation, and the greater by the laws of the nations; also that while both the lesser and greater wish to transgress their laws, the lesser cannot, and the greater can, but still not beyond what is possible." (D. P. 251:2.)

     "The spiritual man acknowledges that the wars in the world are ruled by the Divine Providence of the Lord, but the natural man does not acknowledge this except when a celebration of victory is appointed, that he may then on his knees return thanks unto God who has granted the victory; and likewise offers a few prayers before going into battle. But when he returns to himself, he then ascribes the victory either to the prudence of the general or to some plan or some occurrence in the midst of the battle, of which they had thought nothing, but from which nevertheless the victory had come." (D. P. 251:6.)

     "That the Divine Providence, which is called 'Fortune,' is in the least particulars of even trivial things, has been shown above. If you acknowledge the Divine Providence in these things, you must certainly acknowledge it in the affairs of war. Moreover, the successes and favorable turns of a war are in common parlance called 'the fortune of war;' and this also is of the Divine Providence, especially in the councils and plans of the general, even though he at the time and later may attribute all things to his own prudence. But let him do this, if he wants to, for he is in full freedom to think either in favor of the Divine Providence or against it, nay, even in favor of God or against God; but let him know that no part whatsoever, either of the council or of the plan, is from himself; it all inflows either from heaven or from hell,-from hell by permission, from heaven by Providence." (D. P. 251:6.)

     "One who worships himself and nature confirms himself against the Divine Providence when according to his own perception he reflects that victories stand on the side of prudence and sometimes not on the side of justice, and that it makes no difference whether the commander be art upright man, or not.

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Victories seem to be on the side of prudence, and sometimes not on the part of justice, because a man judges from the appearance, and moreover favors one side more than the other, and that which he favors he is able to confirm by reasonings; nor does he know that the justice of a cause is in heaven spiritual, and in the world natural, and that these are conjoined by means of a connection between things past and things future, which are known to the Lord alone." (D. P. 252:1.)

     "It makes no difference whether the commander is an upright man or not, and this for the reason that the wicked perform uses equally with the good, and that the wicked from the fire of their love perform uses with more ardor than the good. This is especially the case in wars, because a wicked [commander] is more crafty and astute in contriving ambushes, and from a love of glory takes more pleasure than does a good man in killing and plundering those whom he knows and declares to be enemies. For a good man is in prudence and zeal only for the sake of defending, but rarely in prudence and zeal for the sake of invasion. The case is similar as among the spirits of hell and among the angels of heaven: the spirits of hell attacking, the angels of heaven defending themselves. The conclusion to be drawn from these things is that it is allowable for every one to defend his country and his fellow citizens against hostile invaders, even by the means of wicked commanders, but that it is not allowed to become an enemy without a cause. A cause that looks to glory alone is in itself diabolical, for it is of the love of self." (D. P. 253:2.)

     To these teachings there should be added the following concerning the spiritual significance and the spiritual causes of wars:

     ALL WARS REPRESENTATIVE OF SPIRITUAL CONFLICTS.

     "There are many other reasons stored up in the treasury of the Divine Wisdom, why the Lord does not prevent the greater wars among the kings and commanders,-connected as they are with manslaughter, depredations, violence, and cruelties,-either in their beginning or in their progress, but only at the close, when the strength of the one or the other has become so exhausted that it is threatened with the danger of destruction.

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Some of these reasons have been revealed to me, and among them is this: that all wars, however much they are concerned with civil affairs, are in heaven representative of the states of the Church, and are correspondences. Such were all the wars described in the Word, and such also are all wars at this day. The wars described in the Word are those which the children of Israel waged with various nations, such as the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philistines, the Syrians, the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Assyrians; and when the children of Israel, who represented the Church, departed from their commandments and statutes and fell into the evils signified by those nations, they were punished by some nation, because each nation with which the children of Israel waged war, signified some particular kind of evil. For example, when they profaned the holy things of the Church by foul idolatries, they were punished by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, because "Assyria" and "Chaldea" signify the profanation of what is holy. (D. P. 251:3.)

     "Like things are represented by the wars of the present day, wherever they may occur; for all things that take place in the natural world correspond to spiritual things in the spiritual world, and everything spiritual has relation to the Church. It is not known in this world what kingdoms in Christendom answer to the Moabites and Ammonites, what to the Syrians and Philistines; or what to the Chaldeans and Assyrians, and the others with whom the children of Israel waged war; and yet there are those that do answer to them. But what is the quality of the Church upon earth, and what the evils are into which it falls, and for which it is punished by wars, cannot be seen at all in the natural world; because in this world externals only are evident, and these do not constitute the Church; but it is seen in the spiritual world where internals are manifest, in which the Church itself is; and there all are conjoined in accordance with their various states.

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The conflicts of these states in the spiritual world correspond to wars; which are governed by the Lord on both sides correspondentially, in accordance with His Divine Providence." (D. P. 251:4.)

     ARMAGEDDON.

     While it would be idle to speculate as to the particular correspondence of the various modern nations, and as to the special spiritual causes which have led to the present direful conflict in Europe, we may nevertheless view it in a general spiritual light. That it is a culminating crisis, resulting from the Last Judgment, seems self-evident. Even worldly writers refer to it as "the Armageddon," though without any knowledge of the real meaning of this ominous name. It will be of interest, therefore, to read these words in the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED:

     "And he gathered them together into a place called, in Hebrew, 'Armageddon,'" signifies a state of combat from falsities against truths, arising from the love of self with the man of the Church. . . . "Armageddon" signifies the love of honor, of rule, and of supereminence. This love is also signified by "Megiddo," in the old Hebrew tongue, as evident from the meaning of that word in Arabic. Nor is anything else meant by "Armageddon" in the heavens. . . . The love of honor, of rule, and of supereminence is the last state of the Church, when falsities are about to fight against truths, because that love is about to rule in the Church in its last times, and when that love rules, falsity from evil rules also, and this overcome; truth: for that love, more than all other loves, extinguishes the light of heaven and induces the darkness of hell, because that love is man's very proprium; and by no force can man be drawn away from what is his proprium, and raised up towards heaven, so long as that love rules; and one's proprium, in which man is wholly immersed by that love, is nothing but evil and falsity. That man from that love is in thick darkness as to all things of heaven and the church, consequently in mere falsities, does not appear to the man who is in it, because according to the brilliancy of the natural light in them spiritual light is extinguished. But that brilliancy is from a delusive light, for it is a light kindled from the love of glory, thus from the love of self-intelligence.

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And when that intelligence is seen in heaven it is insanity and folly. Therefore, when that love rules in the church it is all over with it. For no one has any longer any understanding of truth or any will of good; since honor, rule, and supereminence constitute the highest pleasure, and are felt as the highest good; and the highest pleasure and the highest good are the end for the sake of which all other things are regarded. And then all goods and truths,-civil, moral, and spiritual,-serve as means, which are loved only from the end and to the extent that they serve the end, and when they do not so serve they are utterly despised and rejected. This is true of all uses,-civil, moral, or spiritual. It is otherwise when uses are made the end, and man does not attribute glory and honor to his own person, but to the uses themselves according to their excellence. Then honor, rule, and supereminence are the means, and are esteemed only to the extent that they serve uses as means. From all this it can in some measure be seen what "Armageddon" means.

     "Moreover, it has been shown me to the life that that love has devastated the Church and adulterated all its goods and truths, not only in the kingdom of Babylon but in all other kingdoms. For almost everyone at this day, when he comes after death into the spiritual world, carries with him out of the natural world the desire to be honored, to rise, and to be supereminent, and there are very few who love uses for the sake of uses, but it is their will that uses should serve, and that honor, which is not a use, should govern; and when that rules, which when separated from use is nothing, there can be no lot or inheritance gained in the heavens, where uses alone rule, since the Kingdom of the Lord is a Kingdom of uses; and when these rule, the Lord rules." (A. E. 1010.)

     WAR IN THE CHRISTIAN WORLD.

     As to the extremes to which the men of the "Christian" world are led by this insane love of honor, rule, and supereminence, we have the following vivid but fearful descriptions in the Writings:

     "In the hell of the colon intestine are they who have been merciless, and who without conscience have desired to destroy mankind, namely, to kill and to plunder them without respect or distinction of persons, whether they resist or not, or whether they be men or women.

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Of such a ferocious disposition are a great part of the soldiery and their officers, who, not only in battle but after it, rage ferociously against the conquered and unarmed, and kill and despoil them in their fury. I have conversed with the angels about such men, as to what they are when left to themselves and when they are permitted to act without law and in freedom, how that they are more savage than the worst of wild beasts, which do not thus rush to the destruction of their own species, but merely defend themselves and appease their hunger with what is allotted them for food, and, when sated, do no such things. It is otherwise with the man who acts thus from cruelty and ferocity. The angels were horrified that mankind should be of such a nature as to first begin to rejoice at heart and be elated in mind when they see a whole field strewn with fallen troops and reeking with blood;-not rejoicing that their country has been freed, but only in being themselves lauded as great men and heroes. And yet they call themselves Christians, and even believe that they will come into heaven, where there is nothing but peace, mercy, and charity. Such are in the hell of the colon and the rectum." (A. C. 533. See also T. C. R. 498.)

     "The celestial angels, even, beheld this [represented], and were struck with horror that the human race, on this earth, should be of such a nature; for without seeing such a spectacle it would have appeared incredible to them. And I also conversed with them, asking whether such souls could ever be admitted into heaven, where love, mercy and peace prevail? Would they not, in such a case, cherish a similar disposition to extirpate all, if only license were given them, and if they could act from the love of self and of the world? The angels were moreover informed that when such spirits behold masses of the slain scattered about, to the number of many thousands, and when they hear the miserable wailings of the wounded, and behold streams of blood covering their bodies, and also when they themselves and their swords are imbrued in human blood,-that then they are rejoiced at heart and are proud in spirit, boasting and imagining themselves to be heroes; yea, at such a time they sing their 'Te Deums;'-and nevertheless, they call themselves Christians." (S. D. 1063.)

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     "Men abhor executioners, whose office it is to punish criminals and those sentenced to death; but such as are above described are far worse than executioners, since they slay, burn and plunder the innocent without mercy or conscience, but nevertheless they are praised, esteemed, and raised to honors and dignities." (S. D. 1065.)

     THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE LOVE OF THE WORLD AND THE LOVE OF DOMINION.

     All nations in the Christian world are steeped in these two universal loves of hell, but with a difference: in some the love of dominion prevails over the love of the world; and in others the love of the world over the love of dominion. The Last Judgment in the spiritual world, in the year 1757, was most especially a judgment upon Babylon, the love of dominion, which ruled supreme in the imaginary heavens, and which in the natural world had built up the great dominions where men were fettered as to body and soul. On the earth the lightning strokes of the Judgment fell most immediately upon these dominions, as witness the downfall of the Jesuits, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the besom of Napoleon sweeping over Europe, the downfall of the Papal dominion, etc. And the means by which these judgments were effected was none other than the love of the world, which, for the exercise of its delights, demands external order, freedom for all, the undisturbed performance of uses and the semblance of charity among men. (See T. C. R. 394.)

     This is the reason for the rise of the present "Great Powers" in Europe, where, for the sake of the love of gain-by means of industry and commerce,-the formerly universal love of dominion has been concentrated into a few heads, leaving the masses more free to pursue the ends of the love of the world. Anything and everything obstructing this pursuit is bound to be swept aside. Autocracies, aristocracies, state-churches, class distinctions,-all these are bound to be broken down, for these remnants of medievalism are so many hindrances to the free exercise of the love of the world.

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     IT IS ALL FOR THE SAKE OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     Behind the Divine Permission, which allows the love of the world to prevail, a Newchurchman sees the loving hand of the Divine Providence turning the greatest evils to the highest goods. And the supreme good of all is the Lord's New Church, bringing eternal salvation to the human race. But the New Church cannot grow where the love of dominion reigns unchecked. It cannot exist without external freedom and order.

     The immediate effect upon the New Church by the present international war will undoubtedly be depressing as it has been in former great conflicts. In times of great natural commotion and excitement, the interest in spiritual things is distracted and dimmed. But after the tumult is ended, and after the atmosphere in the spiritual world has been cleared by the judgment, the New Church will reap the chief benefit by a new order of things, a new freedom, and a renewed interest and growth without and within. It was thus at the time of the American Revolution which had just ended when the New Church made its first appearance here, in the year 1784. It was thus during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, when the New Church languished and almost died out in England, but after Waterloo it sprang into wonderful life and successful activity. It was thus also in the United States during the Civil War, which so affected the New Church that not even the General Convention was able to meet in the year 1862. But after peace and order were restored, and the black cloud of slavery had been lifted from our nation, there was a renewal of life and light, and the Academy of the New Church became a possibility.

     Therefore, "Away with the old, and on with the New," though it be through unspeakable suffering, rivers of blood, and apparent ruin in a universal cataclysm! These things must be; the Christian world so wills it. The New Church can come forth only through the vastation of the Old.

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SPIRITUAL BODY AND THE INTEGRITY OF THE SPIRITUAL DIARY 1914

SPIRITUAL BODY AND THE INTEGRITY OF THE SPIRITUAL DIARY       Rev. ALFRED ACTON       1914

     In the discussion on the spiritual world I have noticed with some wonder that none of the writers has alluded to the remarkable position taken in the May LIFE as to the authority of the early part of the SPIRITUAL DIARY. Rut before myself speaking on this matter, I should like, if I am able, to make clear the real issue at stake in this question of the spiritual body,-an issue which has been obscured by an indiscriminate use of terms, such as "bodiless angel," "idealism," etc. These terms have been frequently used in the LIFE to characterize the position of Messrs. Gill and Iungerich. As a fact, they describe the very opposite. But such is the force of the constant repetition of a phrase that, like a species of incantation, it banishes reflection and finally induces on the mind a persuasion that it truly describes what, in fact, it misrepresents. In the LIFE for December, 1911, Mr. Odhner writes, "Mr. Gill admits that spirits do possess a human body." Yet Mr. Pitcairn describes Mr. Gill's view as being "that spirits and angels do not have bodies" (April, 1914, p. 196);and both he and Mr. Odhner again and again refer to that view as a concept of "bodiless spirits." Moreover, Mr. Odhner represents Mr. Gill as holding that the spiritual body is devoid of any membranous tissue, that is, is not organic (June, p. 353); and he is at particular pains to show that spirits "are not minds without forms" (ib., p. 351); as though Mr. Gill had maintained anything else. "Were the spiritual body a mere appearance (says Mr. Odhner) it would be impossible to predicate of it either substance or sphere" (ib., p. 352); and he then quotes passages to show that spheres proceed from the bodies of spirits.

     That one of Mr. Odhner's well known ability should write thus purposely is a matter of surprise. He himself, on reflecting, must realize that no one denies that spirits have an actual substantial organic form, and consequently, that from this form proceed spheres of like quality and power.

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Mr. Odhner has, in fact, recognized that "Mr. Gill admits that spirits do possess a human body, but would limit the actual figure of that body to the shape of the human brain" (Dec., 1911, p. 804); consequently, all that he writes about spheres and about minds without forms, becomes meaningless so far as the present discussion is concerned. On some minds, however, its effect will necessarily be to give the impression that Mr. Gill thinks of the spirit as something without substance and without form. This is not true.

     This disposes of a number of arguments based on misapprehension such as the following: "To speak of the spiritual body being merely an appearance devoid of any membranous tissue is to disregard the teaching concerning the limbus being the cutaneous envelope of the spiritual body" (June, p. 353). And so we come to the main point of difference.

     Mr. Gill's position is that a spirit is a substantial organic form or vessel receptive of life; that this organic form is the mind (as distinguished from the body) which alone lives after death; that, considered as to its lowest or natural degree which is composed of spiritual and natural substances, it is the ultimate of the spiritual body, and is fashioned by the man himself into a human form or a monstrous. Thus far, I believe, there will be no dispute, for even Mr. Pitcairn admits that with the evil "the spiritual body will not be in the human form and shape" (April, p. 198). The difference arises not as to "bodilessness" but as to the shape of those spiritual and natural substances which constitute the body; or, as to the shape of the finest things of nature commonly spoken of as the limbus; for since this limbus constitutes the cutaneous envelope of the spiritual body it is certainly in the organic shape of that body. On both sides it is held that this limbus is in the human form. But the one side limits the idea of the human form to the corporeal shape, while the other believes that form to be of a different and more perfect appearance as it ascends to interiors. The one side maintains that the limbus is actually in the exact ultimate shape of the material body, with arms, legs, etc. The other holds that, in actuality, it is a discretely more perfect human form (S. D. 5556), though it appears to spirits to be in the corporeal form (C. L. 31), and this because they are in appearances drawn from ultimates; that it is a wonderful and interior form of which Swedenborg says in the DIARY that he does not know what it properly is except that it is human and most perfect, and that its true nature may be concluded to some extent from the form of the cortical brain; that it is a form which, though itself may not be known, yet is known as to its state receptive or rejective of the Lord,-just as we may not know the interior form of the eye, and yet can see; or the interior forms of the cortical brain and yet are fully conscious of thoughts and affections which are nothing but variations and changes of those forms.

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And here I would call attention to the teaching that perfection of form ascends according to discrete degrees (D. P. 179 fin., D. L. W. 199): and that without a knowledge of correspondences there can be no knowledge of the spiritual world, or the spiritual body (H. H. 88). Where, in the philosophy of those who are opposing Mr. Gill, is there any consideration of discrete degrees, or of correspondences?

     Now it is not only in the DIARY that Swedenborg speaks of the stupendous form of the limbus. In a much later work,-written long after 1748,-he says "That there is such a medium between the spiritual and the natural, the angels know, but because it is from the inmost things of nature and the words of language are from her ultimates, it cannot be described except by abstract terms" (D. Wis. viii. 5). If the Writings speak thus, how then can it be maintained that this limbus is in the shape of the corporeal body?-a shape which is certainly not "indescribable."

     Mr. Odhner speaks of Mr. Gill's conception of the organic of the spirit as suggesting to him "tight little monads" which "in splendid isolation remain silent forever within their tight little envelope,-the shape of which appears to us like a jelly fish floating about in empty space,-sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything" (June, p. 347). We can account for the use of language such as the above in speaking of the interior organic forms of the human brain, only by supposing that the writer does not know, or did not at the time reflect, that the form of the human brain is the highest exemplar in the microcosmic world of the "stupendous form" of heaven itself, of the Gorand Man (A. C. 4041 seq.).

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Would Mr. Odhner use the same words in speaking of the interior form of heaven of the Gorand Man? Or would he not acknowledge that this form is truly human, and that for the sake of man it appears before the natural mind to be in the ultimate human shape?

     The organic of the mind is the real and only spiritual body, framed by the man himself as a form of his love. Its seeming before spirits to be the same as the material body, is only an appearance,-though with the good a real appearance, since it is really human, and this is the only conception of the human that spirits are capable of. But the superior angels do not think of the ultimate form, though with them also the appearance is present, but remotely; their sight dwells not on persons but on the wonderful and ineffable forms of love and wisdom (A. C. 8985).

     Reflect on the circumstance that Swedenborg was at such pains to prove to spirits that they did not have a body as they thought they had. It matters not that their idea was of a material body. The point is, that they thought it the same in shape, and that they were shown that this shape was only an appearance which, by the direction of their thoughts, could be varied into an appearance of a body with no hands, or with more than two, or of a body suffering untold torments; and yet in each case they thought the new appearance was equally actual as the former. Now if, as our friends maintain, the spiritual body is actually the same as the material body, except that it is constituted of spiritual substances clothed with the finest things of nature, what was the need of those "living demonstrations?" Would not sight have been sufficient? And why, when convinced by the demonstration, were spirits so terrified as to flee away crying, I am a spirit? Mr. Odhner says "The spiritual body is so substantial and so real that some imagine it to be the same as their former material body. It was this phantasy that Swedenborg 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 had no shape, no body, and no form" (Dec., 1911, p. 801).

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We pass by the last few words,-for the DIARY is everywhere filled with the teaching that spirits are actual organic shapes, bodies, forms,-and again ask Why? Why should these experiments and words have had any such effect if the spiritual body is what Mr. Odhner maintains? The spirits could have examined themselves, and Swedenborg need only have taught them that what they felt in the examination was spiritual and not material.

     The whole teaching shows that the spiritual body is indeed exactly like the natural in appearance to spirits; no difference is discernible. Yet there is a discrete difference, but living demonstration is necessary before spirits can see this difference, and when they see it they imagine they have no bodies,-even as seems to be the case in the New Church itself.

     Moreover, we must consider the reiterated, and even remarkably emphasized teaching of the Writings as to progressions in the other life, that they are all changes of state (see particularly A. C. 1376 seq.). Even we on earth journey as to our spirit, either to heaven or to hell. Swedenborg went to far distant earths while his body, with his mind or spirit, remained in the same place (A. C. 9967, 9579). What then are we to imagine is the use of the corporeally shaped members, infilled by finest things of nature, on which our friends insist? Are they transferred from place to place? Do they traverse space? and did they journey to distant earths while still remaining in Swedenborg's body? It seems clear that for any adequate comprehension of the wonderful phenomena of the spiritual world we shall have to elevate our thought; that, instead of limiting and confining our ideas to natural appearances derived from time and space, we shall have to realize what is meant by a more perfect human form. We do this when we think of the Lord; for although He appears in the human form, yet interior thought perceives that the Lord has not ears and eyes like men have (A. C. 2553, 3869 fin.), but that He is in an infinitely perfect Human Form. So angels are in celestial and spiritual human forms, discretely more perfect than the bodily shape; and devils are in a monstrous human form.

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     Spirits do indeed appear to walk as on earth, that is, to put foot before foot, yet this is only an appearance,-necessary indeed for those who cannot think except in appearances (A. C. 3387).

     A spirit hath not flesh and bones, and consequently neither the form belonging to flesh and bones, although it appears to have them. It has a more interior and perfect form, and, in all nature, things interior or causes, are never of the same appearance as exteriors or effects, although they may assume that appearance. Thus, if I conceive of an article to be written, or of a machine to be made, it may appear in my mind as a complete ultimate effect,-yet this is only the real appearance of the cause which will produce the actual effect.

     And here, I am reminded of the term to which Mr. Odhner has become so attached as to characterize the position he opposes,-Docetistic. The Doceta were a gnostic sect which held that the Lord on earth had not a material body, but only a body such as spirits have, that is an apparently material body. The term has no application here like the charge of Tulkism and Idealism. What is clearly involved in Mr. Gill's position is the opposite of Docetism, namely, that the Lord had an actual body and now has an ultimate glorified body unlike any angel or spirit; for the latter lack this ultimate and, for their perfection, need and ever will need the service of man (L. J. 9).

     THE CHARGE OF IDEALISM AND SUBJECTIVISM.

     The charge of idealism against Mr. Gill has been repeated many times in the LIFE,-the charge that, according to him, all things in the spiritual world are purely subjective, mere appearances, and unsubstantial mirages in the atmosphere (June, p. 354.)

     Here is a use of words that is both misleading and inexact. Idealism,-the idealism condemned in the Writings,-is the belief that nothing really exists except ideas; that there is no tree, for instance, but only the idea of a tree; that man himself does not exist as a substantial entity but is "only an idea that he is" (D. P. 46). In the spiritual world this idealism is manifested in the belief that "nothing is real, but all things, even those in heaven, are ideal" (A. C. 4623).

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Evil spirits are in this idealism and from it they endeavor to persuade others that things are really what they make them appear to be, that is, that reality depends not on the real origin of the appearances of the spiritual world, but on the ideas spirits take concerning those appearances (ibid). Thus it is idealism to think good one's own (D. P. 309); in fact, all phantasies are nothing but the fruits of idealism; for a phantasy is, in a good sense, the appearance of a thing in the mind as an idea, and to make the idea the real and only thing is to deny the real things of heaven. How far this is from Mr. Gill's position ought to be manifest to all who have read his papers. He maintains that spirits are organic forms most highly sensitive of all things that come to them. These things are substantial spheres carrying the image and likeness of heaven or of hell; these spheres are perceived by the angels as what they really are,-by the wise as interior thoughts and affections in ineffable forms, and by the simple as beautiful representations appearing as though of this world. But the evil perceive them, not as they really are but only according to their own idea of them; hence from idealism they make the appearance or phantasy the only real.

     The case is well illustrated in the mirage. It is commonly supposed that real appearance cannot be predicated of a mirage, when yet a mirage is nothing but a real appearance, for it is the appearance of something actually existing, and appearing in its true form, but which, owing to a condition of the atmospheres, appears to be where it actually is not. To the wise and the simple the appearance is the same; but the wise know the underlying reality, while the simple deem the appearance itself the reality.

     Both the spiritual world and the natural are subjective so far as man is concerned, for the subjects of thought or sight are all things that come to him by afflux. The difference is that, in the spiritual world, the subjects of thought are spiritual, being goods and truths or evils or falses; while, in the natural world, the subjects of thought are material objects. But, so far as man's spirit is concerned, whether before or after death, the objects of his thought and affection, that is, the ultimates to which they are determined, are all drawn solely from the memory and imagination (D. Wis. vii. 5).

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This is so vitally a part of the Heavenly Doctrine that we wonder that there can be any dispute about it. Again and again we are told that the real things that affect the spirit are goods and truths or evils and falses, and that its objective appearances are only appearances according to the state (A. C. 1273, 1375). Such also is the case with the spirit of man in his body, except that then material things are the subjects of his thought; hence he can be regenerated. But the objects of his thought on which he gazes with delight or undelight are essentially quasi material appearances drawn from memory and appearing and disappearing according to the state.

     Such also are the appearances of the spiritual world,-real when they represent real things, fantastical when they represent things not real,-as when the evil represent themselves to themselves and others as gods and emperors, when yet they are vile slaves. The case is fully illustrated in ourselves as spirits. In themselves our thoughts are all spiritual but they present themselves objectively to the sight of the external mind as words or images. Would Mr. Gill's opponents call those words or images thus representing realities, mere appearances, or real appearances? Their argument would seem to imply that there are no real appearances except such as are fixed.

     One more point. Our friends apparently admit that the mind is formed in the cortical or cineritious substance, but say that this substance "upon which the natural mind is inscribed is not limited to the brain only but exists throughout the body" (June, p. 343), being "distributed through the fibers and nerves" (p. 345). As a fact, however, the cineritious substance does not exist throughout the body; nor is it distributed through he nerves and fibers, if by distributed anything more is meant than that through the nerves the cineritious substance exercises its functions in the body. Actually it is limited to the brains, medullae, and nerve ganglia, though in the latter it is not original, but only as it were succenturiate to the brains for the fuller government of the body. And according to the Writings, the memory, which is the ultimate of the mind is formed in the substances which are the beginnings of the fibers" (A. C. 2487); and affections and thoughts are changes of state and variations of forms of these same substances (D. P. 279); while, according to the last of the physiological works "our internal sensory faculties reside in the single cortical substances of the brain" (Senses, 580, 600).

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     I have written more on this subject than I had intended, for what I wished particularly to call attention to is the more serious and fundamental question, raised by Messrs. Odhner and Pitcairn, of the status of Swedenborg the philosopher, and, most vital of all, of the integrity of the SPIRITUAL DIARY.

     The general attitude hitherto obtaining among Academy writers in cases where Swedenborg appears to contradict himself has been to wait, being assured that there is no real contradiction,-certainly not in the Writings, published or unpublished, and almost certainly not in the other works. But in the present discussion some of the writers appear to have modified this attitude.

     A DEFENSE OF THE PREPARATORY WORKS.

     Mr. Pitcairn begins his article by a quotation from the SOUL to show "how entirely contrary" the teaching there, concerning the bodies of spirits, is "to the evidence given in the Divinely inspired Writings" (April, p. 194); and the burden of the article itself is that the simple from common perception have a true idea respecting the forms of spirits, while the learned by their reasoning have destroyed this common perception. The only inference to be drawn is that Swedenborg is to be classed among the learned. The writer, moreover, leaves this impression (based on a single passage) without a word to correct or even modify it; and this although many passages could be taken from Swedenborg's philosophical works showing the author's thought that spirits are in the human form. Thus in the ECONOMY Swedenborg says that after death "the soul will assume the exact form of the human body" and, in developing this thesis, he shows that the soul cannot return into "any other than its own, that is, the human form, this being the form into which it is necessarily determined when left to itself,-and the form which has made the body. "It must return into its own form, yet in such a way that it is then no longer the body but the soul under the form of body" (2 E. A. K. 351).

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Elsewhere he says that after death the soul "is presented under a form similar to the form grasped by the senses when it is combined with terrestrial elements; but this form is purified of its corporeal parts" (Brain 83). Still again, he shows that after death the soul remains "in that effigy of its body and of its motions and effects most particularly impressed on its most simple modifiable substances" (Opusc. Phil., p. 120). And, even in the work from which Mr. Pitcairn quotes, and just a single page preceding that quotation, Swedenborg, after referring to the resuscitation in their own forms of plants from their ashes, asks "Why not then human souls after the death of the body?" (Soul 517).

     Not one of these teachings is noticed by Mr. Pitcairn. No! He bases his conclusion as to Swedenborg falling into "error,"-error from which the simple are saved by common perception,-on one single passage. And herein, he is open to the very charge that he makes against Mr. Iungerich with respect to the Writings, but with this difference that while Mr. Iungerich does notice and weigh the passages which apparently oppose his interpretation of the Writings, Mr. Pitcairn fails to note the passages opposing his interpretation of Swedenborg's philosophical teaching; and as a result, the uninformed reader cannot but suppose that the single passage quoted is the whole of that teaching.

     Mr. Odhner quotes more fully: for in addition to the passage from the Soul (n. 521) Cited by Mr. Pitcairn, he also quotes the preceding passage (n. 517) and the teaching from the ECONOMY. But what conclusion does he reach? Simply that Swedenborg contradicts himself. "In view of the conflicting statements in the Preparatory works (he says) what are we to conclude but that Swedenborg during that period of his life was occasionally in obscurity in regard to things purely spiritual? As a philosophical proposition he was at times able to see that the soul after death 'will assume the exact form of the human body,' but lacking the knowledge resulting from a prolonged experience in the spiritual world this philosophical light would be obscured at times by the conception of the other life commonly held in the Christian world" (May, p. 276).

540


And in confirmation of this "obscurity" Mr. Odhner goes on to say that at one time Swedenborg believed hell fire to be remorse of conscience (I Doc. 314); that angels were created before men (Soul and Body 42); and that the Holy Spirit was a third person (S. D. 2938). His whole effort is apparently to show Swedenborg's obscurity. But if these instances he gives be examined in another spirit it can easily be seen that Swedenborg had no such false ideas as are intimated. The idea as to hell fire is certainly not opposed to the truth; and as to angels being created before men Swedenborg in the reference given distinctly says "angels or created substances," and it is not difficult to suppose that he meant the same as by his "intelligences" and "wisdoms" in the WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOOD;-namely, the operations of the Divine through the human soul. With respect to the Holy Spirit this was a persuasion induced upon Swedenborg by evil spirits, after his intromission into the spiritual world; and they were permitted to do this in order that he might learn the nature of those who believe themselves to be the Holy Spirit.

     We are asked to believe, not only that Swedenborg was at one time in error, but that, even in his deliberate writings he fluctuated between the truth and errors inspired by the Christian world,-that in n. 517 of the SOUL, he had a glimpse of the truth," but on the next page had fallen into error,-and this despite the fact pointed out by Mr. Odhner, that he had previously supported his true teaching in the ECONOMY by rational grounds which give a philosophical basis for the teaching of the Writings. "In Swedenborg's Preparatory works, (says Mr. Odhner) we find the scientific and philosophical basis for the spiritual teaching of the Writings concerning the permanence of the human form and figure after death;" and then, after quoting from the ECONOMY, he continues, "We cannot understand why our Docetistic friends pay no heed to this definite teaching, or to the beautiful rational ground which Swedenborg in this work adduces for his belief" (June, p. 349)

     We imagine that, quite apart from any respect for Swedenborg as one prepared by the Lord, the average man will require some other explanation than fluctuation to justify the charge that a great philosopher contradicts what he himself had formerly supported by "beautiful rational grounds," especially when the alleged contradiction is opposed to common perception.

541




     As a fact, there is no contradiction, Throughout his writings from beginning to end Swedenborg maintains consistently that after death man will be in the human form. But he had a deeper apprehension than any man before him of what the human form is.

     In the DIARY he says "The ideas of the simple (respecting the form of spirits) were found to be in entire agreement with the ideas of a spirit concerning himself" (S. D. 5556). Now the idea of a spirit,-that is, of a spirit in the world of spirits,-concerning himself is but an external one, as is quite evident from the DIARY. He sees himself a man and knows no other than that he is a man just as on earth, for he has hardly any idea of what makes a man except the shape that appears before him. This also is the idea of the simple, and it is not opposed to the truth since it is based on the real appearance. But Swedenborg, the philosopher, prepared from his early years for his great and unique mission, entered more interiorly into the idea of the human form. This is manifest from his idea concerning God-Man. It is also specifically manifest from his teaching concerning the soul after death. It is then a "celestial" form, human, but more perfect than the corporeal form (Soul 1 seq.). In the ECONOMY, after showing that after death it will assume the form of the body, he shows that the spirituous fluid,-that wonderfully formed fluid of which such marvels are predicated,-is the soul that lives after death; and that the perfection of its form ascends by degrees (2 E. A. K. 356, 352; see also Periosteum 7, Senses 472-5).

     Swedenborg's whole reasoning shows that he saw the soul to be human because from it the body is formed; but he saw also that it is human in a discretely more perfect degree than the body. Hence, so far from "sharing the common view in which he had been brought up (?)" (May, p. 276), that is to say, so far from being influenced by the dogma of the Christian Church, he is utterly and specifically opposed to that doctrine, and in fact, adduces rational grounds for this opposition.

542


Nay, further, the passage in the SOUL On which our friends lay so much stress, is in fact nothing more than a philosophical argument against the doctrine of the Christian Church respecting the resurrection of the body. "Is the angelic form similar to the human form," he asks; and he answers, "This indeed I do not think, namely, that we are to put on the human form, for such a form is solely for use in the ultimate world." And then, comparing the soul to the butterfly and the body to the worm,-as is frequently done in the Writings,-he continues, "In heaven they are like winged souls, nor do they associate together on any planet; they do not have need of feet or arms . . . ; of stomach, intestines, or mesentery, since these are for the reception of aliment; nor of ear or eye; where there is no sound, and where there is no planet there is no sight, nor can it perform any use. . . . With the use perishes all necessity. . . . Hence it does not seem that the soul will take possession of (adeptura) that form which is more imperfect but not heavenly,-unless, as is the opinion of some, a new planet be created, and a new atmosphere, and we be sent into this new planet as new inhabitants" (Soul 521).

     This is the passage, written against "the opinion of some," that is taken by our friends as proof of Swedenborg's "error." But read the passage carefully; consider the teaching of the ECONOMY, Of the BRAIN, Of the almost immediately preceding paragraph in the SOUL itself (n. 517); and can any other conclusion be reached than that Swedenborg is giving rational grounds for rejecting the belief of the Christian world that the soul will again take on a body and will inhabit a new earth?

     Swedenborg did indeed teach that the soul is in the human form and will be in that form after death. Hence he could write as he does in the ECONOMY. But his interior thought as to the human form led him also to deny that the soul then actually assumes the body or its shape which is adapted to purely earthly requirements, although, as he plainly teaches, it will do so in appearance. After death, he says, "the soul remains in that effigy of its body most particularly impressed on its most simple modifiable substances.

543


Whatever habit or natural instinct it has drawn by means of the body is represented in the soul to the life." If heavenly habits have been contracted "the soul is then a most suitable subject, organ and instrument of celestial modes, highly harmonic and almost instantaneous. Thus it enjoys heavenly delights with which the delights of the world cannot be compared" (Opusc. Phil., p. 120).

     This is the unity of Swedenborg's teaching-the unity of a philosophical mind, to say nothing of a mind prepared for the greatest of all uses. As Mr. Odhner says when speaking of the unity of the Writings: "Even an ordinary human writer enjoys a continuous light if his principles are maturely settled" (May, 1911, P. 351).

     What the true nature of the form of the organic spirit is, Swedenborg did not know, or, at any rate, he had no full perception of it except that it was angelic, human, celestial, perfect and free from accidents, injuries and death (Soul, I seq.), "We can no more know this form (he says) than the silkworm which crawls over its leaves and after its labors are finished flies off a butterfly" (ib. 532); and therefore he adds, "When we live as souls we perhaps will laugh at ourselves that we have guessed so childishly." And yet, despite this modest statement, the student of Swedenborg's Doctrine of Forms,-a doctrine repeated and confirmed in the WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD,-cannot but think that Swedenborg had more perception of the celestial and perfect form of the soul than at first sight appears, or, perhaps, than he could fully describe in words. That he does describe it, and that the description is given as applying to the form of the soul is distinctly stated in the work on GENERATION, n. 164.

     This doctrine of the soul after death, runs through the philosophical works, the ADVERSARIA, the early part of the DIARY, and the rest of the Writings. In the ECONOMY Swedenborg shows that the soul after death will be in the form of the body; in the SOUL he gives rational considerations to show that it is actually in a more perfect human form than the body. In the early part of the DIARY he repeats these considerations as laid down in the SOUL and the ADVERSARIA, but now confirmed by "living demonstration" in the spiritual world.

544


In the later Writings he again returns to the teaching, now also on the basis of experience, that the soul is in the human form, but carefully retains the qualification that it is a more perfect human form.

     THE INTEGRITY OF THE SPIRITUAL DIARY.

     According to Mr. Odhner there is no such unity in Swedenborg's works as regards the doctrine of the form of the soul after death. According to this writer, Swedenborg obscurity" continued from the SOUL (n. 521,-not 517) and the ADVERSARIA to the early part of the DIARY, and was then dissipated. And therefore, so far as this doctrine is concerned, he would divide the DIARY into two portions, one more or less obscure before 1749, and the other after 1749. After quoting a passage from the DIARY (n. 3472) written on October 4th, 1748, Mr. Odhner observes "Here again we find the admission that Swedenborg did not yet know the real quality of the forms of spirits, but this is also the last time that such an admission occurs. When next he speaks in the DIARY concerning the human form of spirits and angels, it is in no uncertain terms, nor ever afterwards do we find in the Writings any statement giving as much as a shadow of support for the Docetistic theory" (May, p. 285).

     Again Mr. Odhner writes, "As Swedenborg himself admits he did not (for a while) know the real nature of the form in which spirits are, and until he knew he necessarily remained so far in his former appearances [the doctrine of the ECONOMY with its "beautiful rational grounds?"]. But very soon the light grew perfectly clear and strong, and there is nothing in the DIARY after the year 1748 to indicate any lack of knowledge as to the fact that spirits and angels actually possess a complete and substantial spiritual body, a body-with head, trunk and extremities. And when, in the year 1749 and 1750, Swedenborg transferred the memoranda of the DIARY to the pages of the ARCANA he removed from these same passages every appearance of uncertainty as to the nature of the spiritual body" (ib., p. 277).

     Likewise Mr. Pitcairn writes: "I am not in sympathy with any attempt to correlate errors with the truths of Divine revelation.

545


It is a remarkable fact that the whole new theory is based on and supported by statements in Swedenborg's philosophical works and in the early part of the SPIRITUAL DIARY wherein Swedenborg admits obscurity and lack of knowledge as to the real nature of the spiritual body. But beginning with the ARCANA period, 1749 [?], there is no longer any uncertainty" (May, p. 312).

     What is the basis of this remarkable dividing line between 1748 and 1749? It is not that prior to 1749 Swedenborg had not been fully intromitted into the spiritual world; for it can readily be shown from Swedenborg's own words, that this full and complete intromission was at the latest in June, 1745 (Hist. of Creation, preface, pp. 3-4). It is not that between 1748 and 1749 Swedenborg underwent any remarkable spiritual or natural experience. Nor is it that in 1749 he commenced the ARCANA; for it is clear that volume I of that work was commenced at the very latest in the summer of 1748, so that if this division between 1748 and 1749 is to obtain we must also draw a line through the first Volume of the ARCANA, somewhere between n. 1 and n. 1886, admitting some measure of obscurity in the one division, and the entire absence of "uncertainty" in the other; but though, according to the theory advanced, this would explain the statement in A. C. 820, that spirits "have no teeth," yet Messrs. Odhner and Pitcairn would never countenance so drastic a step.

     No! the division in the DIARY is made on one ground only, namely, that prior to a certain date Swedenborg sometimes uses language giving support to a doctrine which our friends hold to be opposed to the later Writings. And the line of division is arbitrarily fixed at the last passage in the DIARY where such language is supposed to occur,-the passage dated October 4th, 1748. "Never afterwards (says Mr. Odhner) do we find in the Writings any statement giving as much as a shadow of support to the Docetistic theory" (May, p. 285).

     But if this is to be the distinction between Swedenborg obscure and Swedenborg better informed, between an immature Divine Revelation and a Revelation devoid of all "uncertain terms," then the date must be set much later than 1748, for ARCANA COELESTIA 820, SPIRITUAL DIARY 5646 (written in 1757), DIVINE WISDOM viii. 5, and CONJUGIAL LOVE 31, certainly give very much more than a "shadow of support" to the condemned theory.

546




     And are we to draw our line through the Writings, as between "obscurity" and "light perfectly clear," at any passage which we do not understand? or because it seems to oppose our idea of what the Writings teach elsewhere? Mr. Odhner says of his opponents that theirs "is a claim that is distinctly refuted by the Writings of the Church, and it can be maintained only by ignoring their distinct teaching" (June, p. 345); but his argument as to the obscurity of the early part of the DIARY would seem rather to indicate that the claim in question can be refuted only by ignoring or belittling passages in the DIARY.

     If this principle of interpretation is to obtain, where shall we stop? Granted the existence of "obscurity," "uncertainty," "surmise," in any part of the Writings, as a sign of a "progressive revelation," who shall say where the line is to be drawn? The principle is false and dangerous. Under its guidance the freedom to ascribe obscurity to Swedenborg as an explanation of apparent contradictions must be accorded to all,-and this in respect to other doctrines than the one now under consideration; and so we shall have the Writings full of holes. And yet these Writings are the Word of the Lord in His supreme coming to the human race! Do those who hold to this theory of a nebulous division in the DIARY sufficiently reflect that the Writings are the Second Coming of the Lord God? the greatest event in all creation? that Swedenborg was prepared from early youth to "receive in his understanding" the doctrines there revealed?

     True, our friends would confine the "obscurity" of the DIARY to certain passages wherein Swedenborg is thought to declare that he "did not know." But the danger of their position and the impossibility of confining its application to restricted limits is illustrated in their own words; for, as we shall presently show, their language imputes to the DIARY not only obscurity but actual misstatement.

     We have no wish to be unjust in this matter. We freely recognize our friends' faith in the Divinity of those Writings in whose cause Mr. Odhner has written so often and so well.

547


We freely accept their word that they have no intention to discredit the DIARY. And yet,-does not their argument against what they regard as a dangerous heresy actually discredit the DIARY? And will absence of intention take away the effect of that argument as insinuating a doubt as to the reliability of the early part of the DIARY, and as implying a fundamental distinction in respect to authority, between that work and the "Writings?"

     "We have no desire (says Mr. Odhner) to invalidate the authority of the SPIRITUAL DIARY, . . . . this work was not edited by Swedenborg himself in a final form for publication," and "a great portion of its contents reappears in edited form in the other works" (Feb., 1912, p. 99). Now what else can be the implication of this qualifying "but," other than that the unedited portions have not received the Divine imprimatur? And what other effect can it have but to insinuate a doubt with respect to all such unedited portions;-especially if they do not coincide with the reader's notion of what is taught in the "edited" Writings?

     But Mr. Odhner writes "Do we then deny the authority of the Divine Revelation? By no means. The doctrine gradually unfolded in the DIARY is one with the doctrine of the New Jerusalem as a whole. In the DIARY especially we have the evidence of a progressive revelation, as truth upon truth dawned upon Swedenborg. As to personal experiences Swedenborg simply recorded things as he saw and heard them day by day. Spirits appeared to him claiming to be historic personages, but later on he found that their claims were false. Calvin, for instance, appeared at first as an upright spirit who had been received into heaven, but in the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION We learn that he was a deceiver. Which testimony are we to receive as the real fact,-the earliest or the latest?" (May, p. 277). To this we answer that the question under discussion is not a question of the facts of experience, but of doctrine. If it is a question of fact which is to determine the "progressiveness" of Divine Revelation, then Mr. Odhner must also include with the DIARY the LAST JUDGMENT (and, of course, the preceding works) as somewhat inferior to the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION; for in the CONTINUATION OF THE LAST JUDGMENT,-edited by Swedenborg himself,-we are told that Calvin was upright and was received into a society of heaven (n. 54).

548


We are quite willing to admit progression so far as Swedenborg was concerned, and the same would apply to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But by no means can we admit progression in the Divine Revelation, if by that is meant preceding "uncertainty" or misleading teaching. And this is what Mr. Odhner would seem to imply; for he characterizes the teaching of the early DIARY, at any rate as to one particular, as a "surmise" which Swedenborg "very modestly" qualifies, and which, we are to understand; he afterwards abandoned. "The surmise (in S. D. 355) that the real form is 'not unlike' the least organs of the brain, is not stated as a positive fact and definite teaching, but as an hypothesis; for he very modestly uses the term 'aliquantum,' which means 'a little'; to some little extent" (May, p. 280).

     A Divine Revelation with "surmise" and "hypothesis"! A Revelation "modestly" and as it were tentatively stated. No wonder that Mr. Odhner writes "We shall undoubtedly be accused of 'discrediting Swedenborg' when pointing out the fact that in three of the statements in the DIARY, (nos. 355, 2917, 3472), . . . Swedenborg distinctly admits that as yet he did not know the real quality and form of the spiritual body, and we believe that those are really discrediting Swedenborg who refuse to accept his word" (May, p. 274).

     Who is it that refuses to accept Swedenborg's word? Certainly not Mr. Gill for he very distinctly affirms it, and Mr. Odhner indeed cites the affirmation (June, p. 347).

     What Swedenborg says in these citations is that he did not know the quality of the organic form of spirits,-that form which angels cannot describe except by abstract terms; but he affirms that it is a celestial and spiritual form, most perfect for every use, and comparable to butterflies evolved from worms (S. D. 2917). And from his study of the Doctrine of Forms, and from his inspiration as Revelator, he "concludes" that this form is not unlike the forms of the least organs of the brain (S. D. 355),-a conclusion which, far from being a "surmise" due to "lack of knowledge," is the result of the widest knowledge and the most profound reflection, and, moreover, is confirmed in the Arcana 4041 seq.

549




     In the last of the statements cited by Mr. Odhner (S. D. 3472), after a philosophical argument showing that spirits do not have bodies and the viscera thereof but much more perfect forms, Swedenborg concludes "But of what quality are the forms of spirits, this for various reasons is not granted to be known."

     "For various reasons"! What these reasons are is not stated, but we may judge as to their nature when we reflect that the Christian Church was permitted to believe in the resurrection of the material body because otherwise it could not have believed in the reality of spirits,-being incapable of conceiving of any other human form than of the gross corporeal body (S. D. 5556 fin.),-and when we further reflect on the antagonism aroused, even in the New Church, at the least suggestion that the organic of the spirit is in actuality of a different appearance than the corporeal body, because discretely and more perfectly human. "For various reasons it is not given to be known,"-and it may be, and I think it is, to these same reasons that we may ascribe the Providential circumstance that the teachings of the Writings present outwardly the appearances of the spiritual world and spiritual body,-lest otherwise men should not be able to see and acknowledge the reality of that world. Not only in the DIARY, however, but throughout the Writings; and not only in specific statements, but in the great universal doctrines of the Writings the truth is given where; by to enter into the appearances without at the same time destroying them.

     It would seem that Messrs. Pitcairn and Odhner admit that the early part of the DIARY does teach the doctrine to which they are opposed,-otherwise, why the argument to show the limitations in the authoritativeness of that teaching. But they hold that it is weakened by Swedenborg's admission that he did not know; and further that it is superseded by the "edited" DIARY and by the later Writings where Swedenborg is better informed.

550




     Undoubtedly Swedenborg says "Of what quality of body spirits are I do not know" (S. D. 917). But that is all. If I should say that I have been to a certain country and should assert that the men there did not wear cotton, though what they do wear I did not know,-this would not justify my hearers in reporting that I did not know whether or not they wore cotton. Yet this is just what our friends are doing to Swedenborg in their use of his "I do not know." Swedenborg's statement that he does not know one thing, gives no justification for saying that he is in error about something else which he positively declares to be true. It gives no justification for judging he is in obscurity or ignorance when he positively declares that spirits do not have a body similar to the human body, do not retain the figure of the latter (S. D. 355, 360); do not have lips (ib. 1342); or hands (ib. 2985), or teeth (A. C. 820); and he not only declares these things as matters of positive knowledge and teaching but he records that their truth was shown by "living demonstration" (S. D. 1718), and this as against a spirit who insisted that he had hands because he could feel them, and when hands were added to him he still insisted that these also were actual like the others, though both were appearances and, with him, phantasies. These are all positive teachings which, quite apart from their agreement with the great doctrines of the Church,-are not in the least affected by the statement that Swedenborg did not know something quite else.

     What our friend's argument really involves is not only that Swedenborg "did not know," but that, in consequence he made positive misstatements even when fortified by "living demonstrations"; that he was wrong when he concluded that the form of spirits was like that of the brain; wrong when he positively stated and proved that spirits do not have teeth, or lips, etc., and this, because "Swedenborg did not know what kind of body spirits have, nor what kind of lips. But soon afterwards he learned that spirits actually possess lips" (May, p. 282); Yet Swedenborg positively says that they do not have lips, and,-has never corrected this saying. Are we then to correct it?

     But how, pray, did Swedenborg afterwards learn that spirit; have lips, etc. From experience?

551


But he had been in the spiritual world constantly for over three years and during this period had spoken with thousands of spirits as man to man. How then could he say that a spirit does not have lips if, as held by our friends, their lips are the same in every respect as ours except that they are of spiritual substance-which, however, appears to the spirit just as matter appears to the body? Throughout the Writings it is experience that Swedenborg adduces to show that spirits are real human forms complete in every respect except that they do not have a material body. But that experience he had already in all fulness. He talked with this very spirit with his lips; he saw the spirit answer with lips, and yet he affirms positively that a spirit has no lips. Is this owing to lack of knowledge? Is this owing to obscurity? Was Swedenborg with three years open intercourse with spirits, with three years' experience during which he was in both worlds at the same time and could compare,-was this man, Philosopher and Revelator, with all these so unique advantages in obscurity as to a matter in which the simple have the truth? The thought is impossible.

     At what other conclusion then can we arrive but that at the beginning of the DIARY Swedenborg, following the thread of the preceding works, dwells more on organic forms, while later he refers to these mostly in passing (since they had already been fully dealt with) and dwells mostly on states and their spiritual gifts? that in the SOUL and the early DIARY, and scattered in the rest of the Writings, he is speaking of the organic of the spirit; but usually in the Writings he dwells on the spiritual appearances presented by the states of these organics? Indeed, I would venture to say that in this we have a general definition of the difference between the preparatory works and the distinctly theological, namely, that the former deal with organic forms as the means for the operation of the soul in the formation of human minds, while the latter deal mostly with the Divine of the Lord as presented according to the forms of those organics. It is as though the former works dealt, for example, with the eye, and the latter with the beauties of sight; or as though the former dealt with the brain, its structure, and especially with the cortical brain as the organ of the mind, while the latter dealt with goods and truths, or thoughts and affections which are nothing but changes and variations of the cortical brain.

552




     Here is no contradiction. In the early DIARY and elsewhere, Swedenborg speaks of the wonderful, indescribable forms of the organic of the spirit; in the DIARY, as also elsewhere, he shows that man is in the human form because he receives life from God-Man, and that, apparently, or as to the natural, he appears as a man just as in the world, but internally, or to the wise, he appears as a living form of love and wisdom, a living image and likeness, in ineffable beauty, of God-Man.

     But even supposing we had no comprehension of these disputed passages in the DIARY, would that justify us therefore, and because of our limitations, in ascribing obscurity or lack of knowledge to the Revelator,-to him to whom the Lord had appeared, who had been prepared from earliest years, and whose eyes had now been opened? Are we so certain that we truly understand the Writings that we can safely put aside or explain away any statement therein that seems to oppose our understanding? Mr. Odhner quotes a long passage from Miss Beekman's KINGDOM OF THE DIVINE PROCEEDING to support his own contention. And yet, this passage was penned from a conception quite opposed to that which it is now dragged in to support. For, as is well known to students of the subject, the position against which Mr. Odhner argues is the position held by Miss Beekman. If her language can be understood as teaching ideas diametrically opposed to those which inspired the language, and which, to my mind, are expressed in that language, is it not possible that the Writings may be misunderstood in the same way? But I need not use this illustration. For Mr. Odhner has himself repeatedly stated in public that the new ideas concerning creation derived from correlation of the Writings with the preparatory works has "revolutionized" our theology; and while I should not express the fact in just that way, yet it is certainly most true that these new ideas have led us to see how little we understood where we thought we understood so clearly; how little we saw of the true meaning of passages with whose language we were so familiar.

553




     In the light of these experiences we surely must feel the need of ourselves being modest, and, while affirming what we hold to be the teaching of the Writings be at least silent as to what therein we do not understand; at least refrain from denying it, or weakening it on the ground of Swedenborg's lack of knowledge. The SPIRITUAL DIARY proclaims clearly its own Divine authority as to its every word,-and this before 1749. "Those things which I have learned in representations, visions, and speech (says Swedenborg, in March, 1748) are from the Lord alone. Whenever there was any representation, vision and speech, I was held interiorly and still more interiorly in reflection thereon as to what therefrom was useful and good; thus as to what I might learn." The spirits who made the representations or spoke the speech did not know this, and were indignant when they observed it. "Thus I was instructed by no spirit nor by an angel but by the Lord alone." When spirits wished to instruct, Swedenborg was prohibited from believing, and he was given interior perception as to the truth of things,-not as the spirits wished him to perceive but as the things really were (S. D. 1647). And Swedenborg was as much under this Divine guidance when he wrote that a spirit has no lips as when he wrote that spirits are in the full human form.

     I would that I had the pen of Mr. Odhner in order more adequately to defend the SPIRITUAL DIARY from this charge of obscurity,-a charge which ascribes errors to the early part of this work, and which if not repelled, will extend itself to more of the Divine Writings. Perhaps I can do no better than quote the words used by Mr. Odhner himself when he writes in defense of the works not published and edited by Swedenborg himself.

     "We have found the posthumous works (he says) 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 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?

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Are we to suppose that the Divine Light within him shone fitfully as a flashlight, hiding itself in one book, gleaming forth in another? Even an ordinary human writer enjoys a continuous light if his principles are maturely settled.

     "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. . . . The calamity to the New Church by such a rejection would be overwhelming, but happily needs not be seriously considered. . . . 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" (May, 1911, p. 351).
IDEALISM IN THE NEW CHURCH 1914

IDEALISM IN THE NEW CHURCH       JOHN PITCAIRN       1914

     (A paper read before the British Assembly of the General Church, Aug. 1st, 1914.)

     In introducing the subject of "Idealism in the New Church" it may be interesting to recall the fact that Idealism has existed in various forms from the most ancient times, its first exponent being the ancient Greek philosopher, Parmenides, who was born 519 or 529 B. C. It is not my purpose, however, to treat of the various early phases of the subject. I shall therefore confine myself to the Idealism of Swedenborg's day, and since the establishment of the New Church.

     The New Church has been infested by Idealism at various periods of its history. The Idealism most in vogue in Swedenborg's time was that of Bishop Berkeley; and Swedenborg probably had the Berkeleian philosophy in mind when he wrote in the DIVINE PROVIDENCE (n. 46):-Man is not "merely an idea of being, according to those visionaries who are called Idealists. . . . Every created thing, and especially a man and in him love and wisdom are something and not merely an idea of being."

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     In the present issue of the LIFE there is a reprint of an editorial by the Rev. Samuel Noble, which appeared in THE INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY in the year 1828, giving an account of "The Doctrine of Idealism as taught by Bishop Berkeley." The cause of this editorial was the attempt of Charles Augustus Tulk to introduce Idealism into the New Church.

     It may therefore be useful to give a brief historical sketch of Charles Augustus Tulk and his propaganda, as recorded in the ANNALS and various periodicals of the New Church. Incidentally, attention is called to the fact that Tulk denied being an Idealist. In a communication to the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY he writes as follows:

     You, Mr. Editor, and those who think with you, have chosen to fasten the title of Idealist upon me. You may think it is justifiable. It has certainly tended to create a prejudice against me. But I beg leave to say that, though it may be convenient to call me an Idealist, I do not hold the doctrine of Idealism. Possibly not knowing what Spiritualism is, you may see no difference between them; but I can assure you that they are quite distinct, and that I desire to be, and be called a Spiritualist (1845, p. 421).

     John Augustus Tulk, the father of Charles Augustus, was an English gentleman of independent fortune, and one of the earliest Newchurchmen in the world. He was a man of unusual intelligence and erudition in the Doctrines of the New Church, a firm believer in the Divine Authority of the Writings, the principal founder of the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY,-and a decided opponent of the heresy of his own son, Charles Augustus Tulk.

     Charles Augustus Tulk was born in 1786, and received a liberal classical education. His unusual mental qualities and attainments, his amiable and benevolent character, and his virtuous private life, altogether leave a very pleasant impression so far as his individual character is concerned. They lead the reader to hope that he was not himself entirely confirmed in the direful falsities of which he was the exponent. He very early accepted the Writings, and, in the year 1810, became one of the founders of the Swedenborg Society, continuing as a member of that Society until the year 1843.

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In the year 1819, he, together with the Rev. Samuel Noble, revised the Fifth Edition of THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION; but in 1829 he was excluded from the Committee of the Society by a nearly unanimous vote. Nevertheless, he continued to be active in propagating his heresy, which he tried to introduce and spread by writing in various New Church magazines, under many different pseudonyms, all of which were exposed by Mr. Noble.

     The phase of "Tulkism" which may be a warning to us in the present discussion, is the fact that Tulk started on his heretical course by mistaking the real appearances of this world and of heaven for mere appearances.

     As to the manner in which Mr. Tulk became converted to "Idealism," Mr. Noble gives the following account in the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY for 1828, (page 189):-

     Till after the year 1817, this gentleman held the doctrines of the New Church in the same manner as they are held by the readers of Swedenborg in general, but during that year he was introduced to the acquaintance of a celebrated writer (Samuel T. Coleridge), well known as the most popular advocate, in this country, of the German philosophy,-of the doctrines of Kant, Fichte and Schelling. This gentleman is distinguished for his powers of conversation-or rather, for the eloquent harangues which, to supply the place of conversation, he is in the habit of pouring forth when he finds an auditory to his mind. But all who approach the oracle must receive its dicta with implicit faith; they are not to converse, or to discuss, but to listen and learn. Our friend soon fell under the power of this fascination. With rapture did he use to tell us that the discourse of Mr. Coleridge was as if it "flowed from inspiration," etc. From that time forward he labored incessantly, until his death in 1849, to introduce the idealistic philosophy of Coleridge and Berkeley into the doctrinal system of the New Church.

     He (Tulk) looked upon Swedenborg as, upon the whole, the most intelligent writer that has ever appeared, but that he had erred on some points upon which other writers had more accurate views. The writers superior to Swedenborg, on some points, were Malebranche, Kant and Berkeley. He appears at present to be a confirmed Berkeleian, or idealist. (See INT. REP., page 114) He denies the reality of all outwardly existing objects, both in the spiritual and the natural world, affirming that what we take to be such are nothing but impressions of our minds, resulting from the states of our minds themselves. At last, however, he has found out what at first he did not suspect, that Swedenborg was as good a Berkeleian as himself.

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He therefore advocates a new and improved translation to divest the phraseology of Swedenborg of everything that recognizes the reality of outward objects. The chief means of accomplishing this is by continually introducing the words mind or state in the translation, where there is anything in the original that implies thing or external existence. Because Swedenborg, when treating of the lend of Egypt, states that by saying that it signifies the natural (principle) naturale, he means the natural mind; therefore, this term naturale is to be translated the natural mind wherever it occurs throughout his writings,-though, in the great majority of cases, it either would make absolute nonsense or give a meaning totally different from that intended by the author. But there is not even the pretense for the continual use in the new and improved translation, of the word "state" which is perpetually introduced where nothing answering to it, either in- words or idea, is contained in the original, merely because it is so efficacious in excluding the idea of all actually existing objects.

     The Rev. Wm. Mason, commenting on this subject, says:-"Mr. Tulk may try, as long as he pleases, to turn our author's writings into idealistic conundrums, dignifying their solution as 'spiritual truth' unknown to all but himself and his adepts; but he will never induce one lover of honesty amongst Swedenborg's readers to believe that their revered author has acted so dishonest a part as that attributed to him by Mr. Tulk, with such unaccountable simplicity." (INT. REP., Dec., 1845, p. 445.) To the comments of Mr. Mason we may add that, if the contention of Tulk were true, there would indeed be some foundation for the claim of Abbe Barruel (one of the earliest opponents of the New Church), that Swedenborg "had two systems, the one apparent, for fools and dupes; the other secret and hidden, and reserved for adepts."

     In 1823, the Rev. John Clowes, in a letter to Charles Augustus Tulk, Esq., expresses the "horror" which has been excited in his mind by perusing a manuscript by the latter gentleman.

     In 1826, Tulk was secretly preparing for his Gnostic doctrines; and, in the same year, he began the great Tulkite controversy in the periodicals of the Church.

     In 1829, a long resolution was adopted by Conference solemnly condemning as "awfully erroneous" the teachings of Charles Augustus Tulk. In the same year he was excluded from the Committee of the Swedenborg Society by a nearly unanimous vote; nevertheless, he continued actively propagating his heresy. (REPORT OF SWED. SOCIETY, 1837; INT. REP., 1837, p. 605; 1838, p. 332).

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     In 1839, a Fourth English Edition of the LAST JUDGMENT was published by an anonymous individual receiver, to give countenance to the heresy of Charles Augustus Tulk. The fraud was exposed by Mr. Noble in the INT. REP., 1839, p. 661.

     In 1845, a second Tulkite controversy broke out in the periodicals of the Church. The Rev. William Mason, in December of this year, wrote in the REPOSITORY, p. 445: "The Conference of 1829 passed a resolution solemnly declaring the views of Mr. Tulk to be utterly repugnant to the doctrines of the New Church. Certain I am that, with the fewest exceptions imaginable, the whole Church is still of the opinion of 1829."

     The death of Charles Augustus Tulk occurred in 1849.

     The above is a brief sketch of a most interesting period in the history of the New Church. To the student of the Church interested in "Idealism," and its refutation from a New Church point of view, I would commend the reading of the literature of this particular period bearing on the subject.

     "Idealism" in the New Church, however, did not die with Tulk. About 1876 it invaded America, and was introduced into the Toronto Society by a member of that Society named Henry Cone, a majority of the Society being affected with the heresy, much to the distress of the intelligent, sincere and devoted pastor, the Rev. George Field, who was obliged to resign his pastorate and was succeeded by our fellow-member, the Rev. J. E. Bowers. In the year 1877, the Rev. Arthur O. Brickman, one of the most powerful and successful missionaries the New Church ever possessed, went to Toronto and, in a series of lectures, demolished the Tulkite heresy and restored sanity in the Society.

     In 1889 and in 1890 Tulkism again appeared in the periodicals of the Church, due 40 the republication by Mr. James Speirs of one of Mr. Tulk's books. This re-appearance of Tulkism was critically reviewed in the NEW CHURCH LIFE, 1889, p. 160; and 1899, p. 89.

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     Briefly stated, Tulk not only denied the reality of all material or outward objects in the natural world, but also denied the objectivity of the spiritual world. He therefore inevitably denied the reality of the Incarnation of the Lord, maintaining that it was not the Lord Himself who assumed the Human, but the Jesus Christ was only an apparition-the representative out birth of the idea of God as held collectively by the men of that age. He was opposed by Hindmarsh, Clowes, Jones, Sibly, Noble and other devoted students of the Writings.

     In the present day, an influence of the same nature as that advocated by Tulk would seem to be again at work in the New Church; disorganizing the whole rational mind with many members of the Church; and, strange to note, this influence may be expressed in the same terms as those used: by Tulk to deny the reality of the Incarnation of the Lord. Indeed, the new theory denies the reality of the bodies of angels and spirits, maintaining that they are mere appearances, the representative outbirth of a certain idea of the human form and shape as held individually by the men of the earth, and mirrored in memory-images taken from the earth.

     We have been asked:-"Why not grant the subjective nature of the spiritual world, if there are difficulties in the Writings that cannot be answered unless it is granted?"

     In reply, we would ask:-"Is a doctrine or theory necessarily true for the mere reason that it explains difficulties or seems to solve problems?"

     For instance, one man is sick during his whole life, another in good health;-one is rich, another poor;-one lives to a great age, another dies in youth;-facts which our Doctrines explain, but facts which Theosophy also claims to explain by the "doctrine of Reincarnation." But does it follow that the "Reincarnation" doctrine is true?

     To take another example, Yogis claim to come into states of illumination and open vision by means of internal or artificial breathing; and some theosophists claim to explain the states of illumination of Swedenborg by the same law!

     But, to reply more explicitly to the question quoted above, we would say that difficulties can be explained without granting the subjective theory.

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In granting it you destroy not only the basic ideas of the human form, but also the true concept of the whole objective reality of the spiritual world. You might equally grant that this whole natural world is a mere appearance simply because such a conclusion would provide a solution of countless unexplained natural phenomena.

     In starting with the false premise of a "bodiless angel" and a "purely subjective" Spiritual world, our friends, by their intricate reasonings, are producing confusion of thought in regard to fundamental teachings of the Church; the whole tendency of which is to destroy faith-especially with me young-in the Divinely Revealed Doctrines of the Church, The young people are admonished and we are asked, to have an "affirmative attitude" to these new teachings. Questions must not be asked; nor is it permitted to express the innate perceptive objections to the so-called "interior view" that is being taught. Such an attitude of mind may be proper for children to their parents and teachers; but it is not the proper attitude, nor should it be required, of those who have come to the age of rationality; and it is certainly not the proper attitude for rational men and women of the Church.

     The new view denies the fibrous organization of the spiritual body. "The simple fibre is not active after death;" "the glands of the brain alone, from memory impressions, produce a constant belief that he is in his former human shape." Men are not really in the human shape but only think they are, on account of their memory-images. The angels are shapeless understandings and wills; and the realities of the other world are reduced to mere abstractions, having no form, substance, or actuality.

     The "new thought" which has been introduced into the Church,-and which we are asked to accept more because it is new than because it is true,-appears to some of us like an infestation from a dead and consummated Church; it suggests the magic and theosophy of India; it predicts a change into another shape than the human; it brings to mind the many Yogis which that form of the dead and consummated Ancient Church has produced,-who withdraw from the active affairs of the world to meditate; and finally it suggests the vain imagination of the absorption of its adepts into the Nirvana.

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     On the other hand, those who oppose the "new thought" believe that the "bodiless spirit and angel" idea and the "purely subjective" idea of the spiritual world, are false premises; that they multiply difficulties, necessitating the rejection or explaining away of a thousand explicit statements in the Writings as to the form and shape of spirit and angel; that the "mind without a body"-which our friends see-is a spectre; and that the "new thought" in regard to the spiritual world essentially takes its rise from phantasy, and is contrary to the many teachings on the subject given to us in the Writings.

     The doctrine that angels and spirits are in the human form and shape is only second in importance to the doctrine that God the Creator and Preserver of the universe is in the form or man. This teaching is based upon the still more fundamental doctrine that Love and Wisdom, or Good and Truth, cannot exist without a subject, and that this subject is God who made man in His own image and likeness.

     In this connection, it is sufficient to quote the following passages from the DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, (nos. 286-289):-

     The Lord from eternity or Jehovah could not possibly create the universe and all things there unless he were a Man.

     That God could not create the universe and all things there unless He were a Man, may be very clearly comprehended by an intelligent person on the ground that he cannot deny to himself that in God there is Love and Wisdom, that there is Mercy and Clemency, and also that there is absolute Good itself and Truth itself, because these are from Him. And because he cannot deny these things, neither can he deny that God is a Man; for no one of these things is possible apart from man; man is their subject, and to separate them from their subject is to say that they are not. Think of wisdom, and put it outside of man. Is it anything? Are you able to conceive of it as something ethereal, or as something flamy? You cannot; unless perchance within these; and if it be in them it must be Wisdom in a form such as man has; it must, be in all his form, not one thing can, be wanting for wisdom to be in it. That love and wisdom are not possible except in a form has been shown above.

     That love and wisdom are man may also be known from angels in heaven, who in the measure in which they are in love and thence in wisdom from the Lord, in the same measure are in beauty, men.

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In so far as he does not receive, he becomes a monster.

     There are societies of heaven which constitute the province of all things of the brain and all things of the organs of the face, also of all things of the viscera of the body; and these provinces are distinct from each other, just as those organs are in man; and the angels know in what province of man they are. The universal heaven is in this effigy, because God is a man: and God is heaven, because the angels who constitute heaven are recipients of love and wisdom from the Lord, and recipients are images. That heaven is in the form of all things of man is shown in the ARCANA COELESTIA at the end of several chapters. That God is very Man from whom every man is a man according to reception of love and wisdom, may be seen above.

     The following further teaching is given in the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION (n. 375):-

     If a man were merely to will well, or think from charity and not do well and perform uses from this, would he not be like a mere head, and thus like a mere mind, which cannot subsist without a body; there is nothing in the mind to which there does not correspond something in the body, and this which corresponds may be called its embodiment; and therefore while charity and faith are in the mind only, and are not embodied in the man, they may be likened to . . . a specter, and because they are such specters, and yet able to think, they must needs be harassed by phantasies, which also takes place by means of reasonings from various sophistries, scarcely otherwise than are the reeds of a marsh shaken by the wind, beneath which shells lie at the bottom, while frogs croak at the surface.

     The signification of croaking frogs is reasoning from scientifics against Divine Revelation.

     In the light of such passages as the above, we were not surprised recently to receive the following written statement from one of the two surviving founders of the Academy of the New Church:-

     "We should have the authority from the Doctrine for the 'interior view' that is being advocated. Not to demand this would involve a credulity and a liability to an acceptance of falsity, wholly at variance with the teachings and traditions of the New Church and the responsibilities of an enlightened spiritual conscience."

     Finally, we believe that the illusion under which our friends are laboring is due to a hypnotic influence which seems to have taken possession of their minds,-a magic spell, which we trust, with time, may be broken.

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SOME ACCOUNT OF THE DOCTRINE OF IDEALISM AS TAUGHT BY BISHOP BERKELEY; WITH A REFUTATION OF IT FROM DR. REID 1914

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE DOCTRINE OF IDEALISM AS TAUGHT BY BISHOP BERKELEY; WITH A REFUTATION OF IT FROM DR. REID       Rev. SAMUEL NOBLE       1914

     IN THE "INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY" FOR 1828.

     (Owing to the general interest taken in the present discussion on the subject of the Spiritual Body, and on the question whether the spiritual world is purely subjective or at the same time objective, we re-print the following from the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY for 1828, pp. 320-333.)

     In the discussion into which we have reluctantly been drawn in our last two Numbers, respecting the extraordinary sentiments which it has lately been attempted to introduce into the New Church, [by Charles Augustus Tulk], we have had occasion to mention the opinions of modern Idealists, and one of their chief advocates, the celebrated Bishop Berkeley. Few of our readers, in all probability, have any accurate knowledge respecting what these opinions are: indeed, very little is now known of them by the public in general, they having been long and completely exploded. As, however, the discussion alluded to has invested this writer and his doctrines, for the present, with some degree of interest in the minds of members of the New Church, it cannot, we apprehend, but be acceptable to our readers to be presented with some account of his system, and to be shown how easily, after it had long been generally regarded as something which it was equally difficult to believe and to refute, it is demonstrated to be raised altogether upon a foundation of sand.

     Dr. George Berkeley was born, in 1684, near Thomas-town, in the county of Kilkenny, in Ireland. Some rudiments of his peculiar system are contained in his ESSAY ON VISION, published in 1709; but it was fully developed in his TREATISE ON THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE, Printed in the following year at Dublin; at which time he was a Fellow of Trinity College in that city. In 1713, he published at London his DIALOGUES BETWEEN HYLAS AND PHILONOUS, being a defense of the doctrine of his former work. Of his other writings, the principal are his MINUTE PHILOSOPHER, (1732), which is an admirable exposure and refutation of the Freethinkers of his time; and his SIRIS, OR INQUIRIES CONCERNING THE VIRTUES OF TAR-WATER, &c. (1744.)

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He was made Dean of Derry in 1724, and Bishop of Cloyne in 1734: and he died in 1753. He was a man of a truly amiable and philanthropic character. Few have excelled him in the power of reasoning acutely and accurately from principles assumed: yet he forms a remarkable exemplification of the truth of the assertion by Swedenborg, that such a power of reasoning is a totally distinct thing from the principle of genuine intelligence, which consists, not in the capacity of confirming a sentiment by reasoning, but in discerning whether it is true or false antecedently to such confirmation. Indeed, Berkeley's reasonings often remind one of those by which Swedenborg illustrates the character of the persons whom he styles confirmators, who exercise the art of making a thing true, and can prove by argument that a crow is white. But though the paradox which Berkeley undertook to maintain gives to his reasonings much of this character, he appears to have espoused that paradox from very excellent motives. The infidels of his time were the disciples of Hobbes and Spinoza,-men who denied the existence of any substance but matter, because of nothing else do we receive information from our senses. The thought therefore occurred to Berkeley, that by annihilating the matter in which those gentlemen rested,-taking away the existence of the whole material universe,-he should take away the screen which shut out God from their view, and should force them to the belief of His existence. While, however, a zeal for religion may have been his chief actuating motive, the distinction which is commonly awarded to the ingenious supporters of paradoxical systems may also not have been without its charms for a young academic of the age of twenty-six. He found the material's for his scheme ready supplied to his hands in the philosophical doctrine of ideas then generally received, as the result of the labors of Des Cartes, Malebranche and Locke. By following out the consequences of that doctrine to a certain extent, and there arbitrarily stopping short he certainly took away the basis of the arguments of the infidels of his time; and he did not see that he was at the same time opening a path, which only required to be followed to its natural and necessary termination, as was done by Hume, to conduct to absolute and universal scepticism.

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     His system will be most fairly stated in his own words. A sufficient insight into it will be afforded by a few of the first paragraphs of his PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE.

     In a rather long Introduction, he labors to disprove the possible existence of what are called abstract ideas: a position necessary indeed to his system; but which is at once sufficient to evince the gross and sensual nature of that system to a member of the New Church, who is abundantly instructed in the Writings of Swedenborg, that without abstract ideas there can be no perception of interior truths. He then begins to deliver his Principles of human knowledge as follows:

     1. It is evident to any one who takes a survey of the objects of human knowledge, that they are either ideas actually imprinted on the senses, or else such as are perceived by attending to the passions and operations of the mind, or lastly, ideas formed by help of memory and imagination, either compounding, dividing or barely representing, those originally perceived in the aforesaid ways. By sight I have the ideas of light and colors with their several degrees and variations. By touch I perceive, for example, hard and soft, heat and cold, motion and resistance; and of all these more and less either as to quantity or degrees. Smelling furnishes me with odors, the palate with tastes, and hearing conveys sounds to the mind in all their variety of tone and composition. And as several are observed to accompany each other, they come to be marked with one name, and so to be reputed as one thing Thus, for example, a certain color, taste, smell, figure, and consistence, having been observed to go together, are accounted one distinct thing, signified by the name apple. Other collections of ideas constitute a stone, a tree, a book, and the like sensible things; which, as they are pleasing or disagreeable, excite the passions of love, hatred, joy, grief, and so forth.

     2. But besides all that endless variety of ideas or objects of knowledge, there is likewise something which knows or perceives them, and exercises divers operations; as willing, imagining, remembering, about them. This perceiving active being is what I call mind, spirit, soul, or myself. By which words I do not denote any one of my ideas, but a thing entirely distinct from them, wherein they exist, or, which is the same thing, whereby they are perceived; for the existence of an idea consists in being perceived.

     3. That neither our thoughts, nor passions, nor ideas formed by the imagination, exist without the mind, is what everybody will allow. And on the sense, however blended or combined together, (that is, whatever it seems no less evident, that the various sensations or ideas imprinted an odor, that is, it was smelled; there was a sound, that is, it was heard: objects they compose), cannot exist otherwise than in a mind perceiving them.

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I think an intuitive knowledge may be obtained of this, by anyone who shall attend to what is meant by the term exist. The table I write on, I say, exists; that is, I see and feel it; and if I were out of my study I should say it existed, meaning thereby, that if I was in my study I might perceive it, or that some other spirit actually does perceive it. There was a color or figure, and it was perceived by sight or touch. This is all that I can understand by these and the like expressions. For as to what is said of the absolute existence of unthinking things without any relation to their being perceived, that seems perfectly unintelligible. Their esse is percipi,* nor is it possible they should have any existence out of the minds or thinking beings which perceive them.
     * Their to be is to be perceived; their esse consists in being perceived. (Ed. INTELL. REPOSITORY.)

     4. It is indeed an opinion strangely prevailing amongst men, that houses, mountains, rivers, and in a word all sensible objects, have an existence natural or real, distinct from their being perceived by the understanding. But with how great an assurance and acquiescence soever this principle may be entertained in the world; yet whoever shall find in his heart to call it in question, may, if I mistake not, perceive it to involve a manifest contradiction. For what are the aforementioned objects but the things we perceive by sense, and what do we perceive besides our own ideas or sensations; and is it not plainly repugnant that anyone of these or any combination of them should exist unperceived?

     6. Some truths there are so near and obvious to the mind, that a man need only open his eyes to see them. Such I take this important one to be, to wit, that all the choir of heaven and furniture of the earth, in a word, all those bodies which compose the mighty frame of the world, have not any subsistence without a mind, that their being is to be perceived or known; that consequently so long as they are not actually perceived by me, or do not exist in my mind or that of any other created spirit, they must either have no existence at all, or else subsist in the mind of some eternal spirit: it being perfectly unintelligible, and involving all the absurdity of abstraction, to attribute to any single part of them an existence independent of a spirit. To be convinced of which, the reader need only reflect, and try to separate in his own thoughts the being of a sensible thing from its being perceived.

     7. From what has been said, it follows, there is not any other substance than spirit, or that which perceives. But for the fuller proof of this point, let it be considered, the sensible qualities are color, figure, motion, smell, taste, and such like, that is, the ideas perceived by sense. Now for an idea to exist in an unperceiving thing, is a manifest contradiction: for to have an idea is all one as to perceive; that therefore wherein color, figure, and the like qualities exist must perceive them; hence it is clear there can be no unthinking substance or substratum of those ideas.

     These extracts contain a sufficient development of the main features of the Berkeleian doctrine. All things that common apprehensions take to be outwardly existing material objects, are nothing but ideas in the mind of a spirit perceiving them. But by thus being resolved into mere ideas do they not lose their reality? By no means, says the maintainer of the paradox. Those ideas which come into our minds independently of our own volition, though not differing in their nature from those which we conjure up ourselves, are to be regarded as real things, the latter only being unreal.

     33. The ideas imprinted on the senses by the Author of nature are called real things: and those excited in the imagination, being less regular, vivid and constant, are more properly termed ideas or images of things, which they copy and represent. But then our sensations, be they never so vivid and distinct, are nevertheless ideas, that is, they exist in the mind or are perceived by it as truly as the ideas of its own framing. The ideas of sense are allowed to have more reality in them, that is, to be more strong, orderly, and coherent than the creatures of the mind but this is no argument that they exist without the mind. They are also less dependent on the spirit, or thinking substance which perceives them, in that they are excited by the will of another and more powerful spirit yet still they are ideas, and certainly no idea, whether faint or strong, can exist otherwise than in a mind perceiving it.*

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     * This will enable the reader to understand what is the meaning of the gentleman, [Chas. Aug. Tulk], with whom we have been in controversy, who is, in all these points, a strict Berkeleian, when he expresses his "belief that the Lord's appearance on earth with all the circumstances accompanying it, from His conception and birth, the miracles which He wrought, and the truths which He uttered, to His crucifixion, His death, His resurrection and ascension, were most real effects from a divinely spiritual cause." (N. J. MAG. for June, p. 191.) They were real effects in the same manner as, in the above passage from Berkeley, "the ideas imprinted on the senses by the Author of nature are called real things;" though they are nothing but ideas all the time. Berkeky, however, candidly explains his meaning, which the other gentleman does not, and thus the simple, on reading such apparently plausible statements, lay aside their suspicions. But Berkeley also though he deals, for the most part, candidly himself, seems to allow a little mental reservation to his disciples. He says, (paragraph 51): "It will be demanded whether it does not seem absurd to take away natural causes, and ascribe everything to the immediate operation of spirits? We must no longer say, upon these principles that fire heats, or water cools, but that the spirit heats, and so forth. Would not a man be deservedly laughed at who should talk after this manner. I answer, he would so; in such things we ought to think with the learned, and speak with the vulgar." So, at the close of the Third Dialogue, the convert HYLAS proposes to his tutor PHILONOUS to "retain the term matter, applying it to sensible things;" that is, to ideas. "This," he says, "may be done without any change in your sentiments: and believe me, it would be a means of recommending them to some persons who may be more shocked at an innovation in words than in opinion. PHILONOUS replies: "With all my heart: retain the term matter, and apply it to the objects of sense, if you please, provided you do not attribute to them any subsistence distinct from their being perceived:" in plain English, "You have my free consent to say one thing and mean another." He thinks, however, that "so long as the terms sensible, substance, body, stuff, and the like, are retained, the word matter would be never missed in common talk." Certainly, the use of these terms, without that of matter, might be deemed quite sufficient to hide the true drift of the doctrine from the simple. HYLAS, however, will have matter also. He says: "Well but Philonous, since I am content to give up an unthinking substance exterior to the mind, I think you ought not to deny me the privilege of using the word matter as I please, and annexing it to a collection of sensible qualities existing only in the mind. I freely own there is no other substance, in a strict sense, than spirit. But I have been so long accustomed to the term matter, that I know not how to part with it. To say there is no matter in the world, is still shocking to me. Whereas to say, There is no matter, if by that term be meant an unthinking substance existing without the mind; but if by matter is meant some sensible thing, whose existence consists in being perceived, then there is matter; this distinction gives it quite another turn: and men will come into your notions with small difficulty, when they are proposed in that manner. A notable lesson of disingenuousness indeed! (Ed. I. R.)

568




     The natural consequences of this doctrine would be that no man has a right to believe in the existence of any other being but himself; and we shall see in the sequel that, by a sect very properly called Egoists, (a Latin term which may be translated Selfites), the principle has actually been carried to this extent. As a faint guard against this consequence, (which, however, he does not seem much to have reflected on), Berkeley makes a rather arbitrary distinction between an idea and a notion.

569


We can have no idea of any existence, he contends, out of our own minds; but we may have a notion of existences distinct from our own minds, nevertheless. Ideas can only be conversant with objects of sense, because all things that we call objects of sense are nothing but ideas. But the mind and its operations are not objects of sense: of them, therefore, we cannot have ideas; yet we comprehend something of them by experience; thus we have some notions about them. And from the notion we have of our own mind or spirit, we can form a notion of other minds or spirits also, both of finite minds like ourselves, and of an infinite mind who is the immediate author of the great majority of our ideas,-of all those that are not the production of our own minds alone, or that are not produced in us by other finite minds like ourselves; and, ultimately, of these also;

     27. A spirit is one simple, undivided, active being: as it perceives ideas, it is called the understanding, and as it produces or otherwise operates about them, it is called the will. Hence there can be no idea formed of a soul or spirit: for all ideas whatever, being passive and inert, they cannot represent unto us, by way of image or likeness, that which acts. Though it must be owned at the same time, that we have some notion of soul, spirit, and the operations of the mind, such as willing, loving, hating, inasmuch as we know or understand the meaning of those words.

     148. A human spirit or person is not perceived by sense, as not being an idea; when therefore we see the color, size, figure and motions, of a man, we perceive only certain sensations or ideas excited in our own minds and these being exhibited to our view in sundry distinct collections, serve to mark out to us the existence of finite and created spirits like ourselves. Hence it is plain we do not see a man, if by man is meant that which lives, moves, perceives and thinks as we do: but only such a certain collection of ideas as directs us to think there is a distinct principle of thought and motion, like to ourselves, accompanying and represented by it. And after the same manner we see God; all the difference is that whereas some one finite and narrow assemblage of ideas denotes a particular human mind, whithersoever we direct our view, we do at all times and in all places perceive manifest tokens of the Divinity: everything we see, hear, feel or anywise perceive by sense, being a sign or effect of the power of God; as is our perception of those very motions which are produced by men.

     We have now adduced sufficient to enable the reader pretty clearly to understand the system of Berkeley.

570


Every person of unsophisticated common sense will be disposed to regard the whole as egregious trifling, and will hardly believe it possible that the author could be serious in the sentiments he utters. Certainly, without pretending to any superior share of metaphysical acumen, we think, after carefully perusing all his arguments, that we could demonstrate their fallacy with the greatest ease. The whole theory is built upon the false assumption in the first sentence of the work, cited above, that the ideas of things in our own minds are the actual and only objects of our knowledge whereas all persons of common perception understand that the ideas in our minds, instead of being the objects of our knowledge, are our knowledge itself, and that the objects of our knowledge are quite distinct things, which, by means of our ideas, are made present to the understanding. Allow that the ideas in our minds are the actual objects of our knowledge, and the whole Berkeleian doctrine follows of necessity, being regularly deduced from this principle: take this unfounded assumption away, and it all falls to the ground.

     But perhaps our sentiments upon this subject will have greater weight with many, if we deliver them in the words of a writer of acknowledged reputation. Dr. Reid,* late Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow, in his ESSAYS ON THE INTELLECTUAL POWERS OF MAN, first published in the year 1785, has clearly shown the untenableness of the principles of the Berkeleian philosophy and of the doctrine of ideas on which it is founded: and this writer's arguments are peculiarly worthy of regard, he having been originally a disciple of that philosophy. Dr. Reid's sentiments have not, on all points, passed undisputed; but no answer has been attempted to his refutation of Berkeley. After observing that his doctrine "has generally been thought so very absurd that few can be brought to think that he either believed it himself or that he seriously meant to persuade others of its truth," and stating briefly what his doctrine is, Dr. Reid has the following observations:
     * THOMAS REID, celebrated Scotch divine and metaphysician, 1710-1796.

     But however absurd this doctrine might appear to the unlearned, who consider the existence of the objects of sense as the most evident of all truths, and what no man in his senses can doubt, the philosophers, who had been accustomed to consider ideas as the immediate object of all thought, had no title to view this doctrine of Berkeley in so unfavorable a light.

571




     They were taught by Des Cartes, and by all that came after him, that the existence of the objects of sense is not self evident, but requires to be proved by arguments; and although Des Cartes, and many others, had labored to find arguments for this purpose, there did not appear to be that force and clearness in them which might have been expected in a matter of such importance. Mr. Norris* had declared that after all the arguments that had been offered, the existence of an external world is only probable, but by no means certain. Malebranche thought it rested upon the authority of revelation, and that the arguments drawn from reason were not perfectly conclusive. Others thought that the argument from revelation was a mere sophism, because revelation comes to us by our senses, and must rest upon their authority.
     * Mr. Norris was a clergyman, who, in 1701, published an ESSAY TOWARDS A THEORY OF THE IDEAL OR INTELLECTUAL WORLD. (Ed. I. R.)

     Thus we see that the new philosophy* had been making gradual approaches towards Berkeley's opinion, and, whatever others might do, the philosophers had no title to look upon it as absurd or unworthy of a fair examination.
     * The philosophy introduced by Des Cartes was denominated the new philosophy, in contradistinction to that of Aristotle, which had so long prevailed in the schools. (Ed. I. R.)

     In the new philosophy, the pillars by which the existence of a material world was supported, were so feeble that it did not require the force of a Samson to bring them down; and in this we have not so much reason to admire the strength of Berkeley's genius, as his boldness in publishing to the world an opinion which the unlearned would be apt to interpret as the sign of a crazy intellect. A man who was firmly persuaded of the doctrine universally received by philosophers concerning ideas, if he could but take courage to call in question the existence of a material world, would easily find unanswerable arguments in that doctrine. "Some truths there are," says Berkeley, "so near and obvious to the mind, that a man need only open his eyes to see them. Such," he adds, "I take this important one to be, that all the choir of heaven and furniture of the earth,-in a word, all these bodies which compose the mighty frame of the world,- have not any subsistence without a mind." (PRINC. 6.)

     The principle from which this important conclusion is obviously deduced, is laid down in the first sentence of his PRINCIPLES OF KNOWLEDGE as evident; and indeed it has always been acknowledged by philosophers. "It is evident," says he, "to any one who takes a survey of the objects of human knowledge, that they are either ideas actually imprinted on the senses, or else such as are perceived by attending to the passions and operations of the mind, or, lastly, ideas formed by help of memory and imagination, either compounding, dividing, or barely representing those originally perceived in the aforesaid ways."

572




     This is the foundation on which the whole system rests. If this be true, [that the ideas themselves are the objects of our knowledge], then, indeed, the existence of a material world must be a dream that has imposed upon all mankind from the beginning of the world.

     The foundation on which such a fabric rests ought to be very solid and well established: yet Berkeley says nothing more for it than that it is evident.* If he means that it is self-evident, this, indeed, might be a good reason for not referring any direct argument in proof of it. But I apprehend this cannot justly be said. Self-evident propositions are those which appear evident to every man of sound understanding who apprehends the
     * It is truly remarkable that in no part of his writings does he say a single word in support of this assumption: he simply takes it for granted, and expects his readers to do so too. (Ed. I. R.)

     It was this theory of ideas that led Des Cartes, and those that followed him, to think it necessary to prove, by philosophical arguments, the existence of material objects. And who does not see that philosophy must make a very ridiculous figure in the eyes of sensible men, while it is employed in mustering up metaphysical arguments to prove that there is a sun and a moon, an earth and a sea? Yet we find those truly great men, Des Cartes, Malebranche, Amauld and Locke, seriously employing themselves in this argument.

     I might mention several paradoxes which Mr. Locke, though by no means fond of paradoxes, was led into by this theory of ideas. Such as that the secondary qualities of body are no qualities of body at all, but sensations of the mind.* That the primary qualities are resemblances of our sensations: That we have no notion of duration, but from the succession of ideas in our minds: That personal identity consists in consciousness; so that the same individual thinking being may make two or three different persons, and several thinking beings make one person that judgment is nothing but a perception of the agreement or disagreement of our ideas.
     * Berkeley does not fail to avail himself of this ridiculous admission of Locke. (Ed. I. R.)

     However, all these consequences of the doctrine of ideas were tolerable, compared with those which came afterwards to be discovered by Berkeley and Hume: That there is no material world: No abstract ideas or notions: That the mind is only a train of related impressions and ideas, without any subject on which they may be impressed: That there is neither space nor time, body nor mind, but impressions and ideas only: And, to sum up all, That there is no probability, even in demonstration itself, nor any one proposition more probable than its contrary.

573




     These are the noble fruits which have grown upon this theory of ideas, since it began to be cultivated by skillful hands. It is no wonder that sensible men should be disgusted at philosophy, when such wild and shocking paradoxes pass under its name. However, as these paradoxes have, with great acuteness and ingenuity, been deduced by just reasoning from the theory of ideas, they must at last bring this advantage, that positions so shocking to the common sense of mankind, and so contrary to the decisions of all our intellectual powers, will open men's eyes, and break the force of the prejudice which hath held them entangled in that theory.*
     * Essay II. ch. XIV.

     How happy should the members of the New Church think themselves, that they are not required to believe any such absurdities,-that no trace of them is to be found in those heaven-descended Writings in which are delivered the doctrines of the New Church! Indeed, among the copious evidences of the reality of Swedenborg's claims to Divine illumination, this deserves to be regarded as not the least decisive: that though he lived at the time when the philosophic "doctrine of ideas" flourished in its full vigor, there is no trace of it to be found in his writings. He very frequently, it is true, employs the useful word ideas, but always in the general and popular, never in the technical and philosophical sense. That he always recognizes the actual existence of substances, both spiritual and material, is known to all who have any general acquaintance with his writings.* He often, indeed, speaks of the fallacies of the senses, but he hereby means conclusions drawn from the appearances to the senses respecting subjects in regard to which it is out of the province of the sense to convey information: but so far is he from saying anything to invalidate the testimony of the senses in regard to things properly within their sphere, that he speaks of those who scarcely believe what they hear and see as being in the extreme of incredulity,** and of the evidence of sense as not to be doubted, even when it testifies things incomprehensible.*** A sensual man, with him, is not one who believes the evidence of his senses on those matters of which the senses are given us to convey information, but is one who believes nothing beyond what the senses inform him of.****

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In the same manner, he reckons the doctrine that all things are ideal, among infernal falses.*****
Assuredly, then, to introduce amongst us either the opinions of Berkeley or of the German Idealists, is not the way to make our views more spiritual, or to bring them into nearer conformity with the true meaning of Swedenborg.
     * See in particular DIV. L. AND W. Part IV.
     ** A. C. 1510.
     *** A. C. 1630.
     **** A. C. 5094, 7693.
     ***** Ap. Ex. 988, A. C. 1510.
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified              1914

     Anent the question whether figure remains the same in a discretely interior world, we found the following suggestion in Chesterton's recent work, THE BALL AND THE CROSS, p. 282, (describing the visit of two belligerent Scotchmen to a lunatic asylum):

     "'And he says,' went on Mac Ian, monotonously, 'that he cannot see why anyone should suppose that a triangle is a three-sided figure. He says that on some higher plane-

     "Turnbull lept to his feet as if by an electric shock." I never could have believed, "that you had humor enough to tell a lie. You've gone a bit too far, old man, with your little joke. Even in a lunatic asylum there can't be anybody who, having thought about the matter, thinks that triangle has not got three sides. If he exists, he must be a new era in human psychology. But he doesn't exist.'"

     Later on it turned out that the supposed madman was one of the doctors of the institution.

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Editorial Department 1914

Editorial Department       Editor       1914

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     "Nearly all the Stockholm newspapers on July 3d contained pictures illustrative of the removal of the library of the Academy of Sciences from that city to Frescati, a few miles out of town. The present writer spent a few hours watching the removal, and was much impressed by the care and solicitude manifested by the authorities for the safety of the books and documents. The chief interest for New Church people in this event lies in the fact that among the treasures of the library are Swedenborg's MSS. The officials of the Academy of Sciences have a keen sense of the value of these documents, guarding them with as much care as if they were the gold reserve in the vaults of the Bank of England. (The Rev. Arthur Wilde in MORNING LIGHT for July 11.)



     A writer in the present issue of the LIFE maintains that the idea as to hell fire consisting in remorse of conscience "is certainly not opposed to the truth." It would be interesting to know how our correspondent can make this statement to square with the truth, in view of the distinct and repeated teachings of the Writings: "Infernal torments are not, as some suppose, the stings of conscience, for those who are in hell do not possess a conscience and consequently cannot be tormented as to the conscience. Those who possess a conscience are among the blessed." (A. C. 965.) "Everlasting fire is not elementary fire, nor is it the sting of conscience, but it is the lust of evil. . . . That it is not the sting of conscience is because all who are in evil have no conscience, and those who have had no conscience in, the life of the body, cannot have any in the other life." (A. C. 5071; see also H. H. 566.)

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NEW CHURCH IN INDIA AND THE ENGLISH CONFERENCE. 1914

NEW CHURCH IN INDIA AND THE ENGLISH CONFERENCE.       ISAIAH TANSLEY       1914

     The MORNING LIGHT for July 18th under the heading "The New Church in India," publishes the following amazing proclamation by the President of the General Conference, the Rev. Isaiah Tansley:

     "Members of Conference, and those who have lead the proceedings of the Conference in the MORNING LIGHT, Will have fresh in their minds the highly interesting account of the movement in India which Mr. H. N. Morris, of Manchester, gave at the Thursday's session. He had visited Bombay in the spring and had found a very great interest aroused in the minds of a number of highly intelligent natives. Mr. Morris found Prof. Bhatt, a learned Indian, profoundly alive to the value of Swedenborg's Works. Several devotional meetings were held during the visit, and an Indian Swedenborg Society was thereupon established, with an earnest young Secretary, Mr. S. J. Patel, to take charge. The London Swedenborg Society has promised substantial help with a supply of literature, and the cause has been commended by the Conference to the Foreign and Colonial Mission Committee. But the need for urgency in this matter has impelled us to call upon the Church to come forward without delay to help this conspicuously remarkable opening for the New Church in the Orient. Mr. Morris feels that no technicalities should be allowed to stand in the way of raising money, and would like to see ?50 come in at once to meet immediate needs. He is acquainted with the work on the spot, and having extensive business relations with India, will always possess first hand information. The Church, then, must give ear to the call of India. We must recognize the Divine Providence in this unforeseen opening, and be responsive without delay or demur. The deeply religious character of the Indian natives and their inherent monotheism offer a fertile field for New Church Missionary effort.

     "There is a further point of great moment. Mr. Morris foreshadowed the possibility of an educated Indian offering himself for a course of training in this country for mission work in that part of the foreign field.

577


This would involve an outlay of perhaps L100 a year for two years. The Church can easily raise this sum if it will; and we would urge this the more because-and we say this of knowledge-influences have been and are at work which bode ill for the success of Mr. Morris's efforts. The Conference has been plainly informed of the action of the Academy, and the Church in this country, represented by the Conference, must see to it that the disastrous experiences of the past are not repeated in the future. As President I shall consider it my special duty to keep a watchful eye upon the matter in this regard. This work must be entered upon in that broad and liberal spirit which breathes throughout the New Church teaching, and we must beware of anything which savors of medieval dogmatism when entering upon so promising and wonderful a field as that which the Orient now opens up before us. I would suggest that subscriptions should be sent to the treasurer of Conference for the above purpose now. Mr. H. N. Morris would also be glad if any friends would send to him at 286, Dickenson Road, Rusholme, Manchester. As no technicalities should be allowed to stand in the way of this movement, I beg to say that, as president of Conference, I also shall be happy to receive subscriptions.
          ISAIAH TANSLEY."
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified              1914

     The New Church public will wonder what are the plots and machinations on the part of "the Academy," referred to in the darkly mysterious words of Mr. Tansley, whose fervid imaginative powers have been, proved in his work as one of the "translators" of the new edition of the PRINCIPIA. NOW, lest the reported invasion of the Academy into one of the British dependencies should lead to actual diplomatic complications, it becomes incumbent upon the editor of the LIFE to confess that in January, 1913, he ventured to address a letter to Prof. M. R. Bhatt, of Bhavnagar, India, offering some suggestions for advertising the Writings in the Hindu press. We also sent copies of the LIFE to him, the Rev. W. H. Alden adding some Academy literature, including (horrible dictu!) a copy of the KRAMPH WILL CASE.

578


This led to a very friendly and interesting correspondence with Prof. Bhatt, and culminated in the offer, by the Academy, to educate a native Hindu for the work of Evangelization in India. The offer was accepted and a draft was sent to India to defray the expenses for the journey of the prospective student to Bryn Athyn, but, quite unexpectedly, (Mr. H. N. Morris having paid another visit to Bombay), the money was returned together with the explanation that the student could not come, as he had accepted secretarial charge of the newly formed "Swedenborg Society of India."

     It is to be noted that the General Conference, during the more than a hundred years of its existence, has never lifted a finger for the dissemination of the Heavenly Doctrine in any of the English colonies or dependencies,-either in Canada, Australia, India, Mauritius, or South Africa,-the complaint having often been raised in those quarters that the attitude of the Church in England has been that of a stepmother, indeed! Now, however, when it was found that the Academy had offered its services in the neglected field, to preach the Gospel of the Lord in His Second Coming to the Gentiles, a cry of warning and execration is raised by the President of the General Conference, who promises "to keep a watchful eye upon the matter."

     From Mr. Tansley's edict it might be supposed that the brethren in India do not possess freedom of choice as to their ecclesiastical affiliations, but must be kept in vassalage under the "watchful eye" of the puissant President of the General Conference. But even if Mr. Tansley were supported by all the king's horses and all the king's men, he would not now be able to restore that state of spiritual slavery and captivity which prevailed before the time of the Last Judgment.

     According to numerous letters which have appeared recently in the MORNING LIGHT respecting the state of the Conference, it would seem that that body does not very successfully represent "that broad and liberal spirit which breathes throughout the New Church teachings." The Rev. A. E. Beilby, for instance, thus characterizes the recent Conference:

     "Something was certainly wrong with the Conference of 1914. A few more like it would be as disastrous as a fire or a flood, and we should be lucky to snatch a bit of salvage from the wreck.

579


Our annual assembly is never exactly suggestive of an early Christian re-union. It may have been at some primaeval period I was born too late for. It is not now. If the bloom were ever on the fruit it was long ago knocked off.

     "But, for sheer disagreeableness, I can recall no Conference more depressing than that of Brightlingsea. I went to it with pleasurable anticipation, having never previously visited the town. And, in some ways, I was not disappointed. So long as one kept rigidly outside the roped arena all was delightful. Where then lay the ill? Not in the place, which is charming, and speaks only of peace; still less in the hosts and hostesses, who, in my experience, were ideal; not in the arrangements and recreations organized on our behalf, which, for the most part, were admirable, and reflected great credit on the organizers. In none of these things. Rather in a certain pervading sphere, a sphere so repellant that anyone sensitive to spheres, even although stone-deaf and born blind, could not have failed to perceive it.

     "As you say, Sir, it is difficult to define the causes of the unrest. Still, it is not impossible. It is easy, at any rate-without probing causes too curiously-to point to some very regrettable, and perfectly avoidable, evil elements in the Conference. And when I say the Conference I mean both during its sittings and its between-while relaxations.

     "For example, an absence of Christian tolerance for others' views, a lack of good feeling, good nature, chivalrous respect, even common courtesy.* A spirit which will scarcely permit a person to sit at the same table with another who has chanced to vote for something he disapproves of-such a spirit has nothing in common with the New Church, or with any Church, and would get short shrift in what we approbriously term the 'world.' And such a spirit was present, as others, besides myself, could testify. Unmistakably present, even to the intrusion of the most amazing breach of chivalry and good manners I have ever witnessed in any civilized circle. And we are the visible Church of the 2d Advent, are we? Tantaene animis caelestibus irae?"- (MORNING LIGHT, July 25, 1914.)
     * All the italics are Mr. Beilby's.

580


"APPEARANCE" THEORY 1914

"APPEARANCE" THEORY       CHAS. G. MERRELL       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE.
     The average lay member of the church has been more or less disturbed because of the discussion for some time and now in progress regarding the spiritual bodies of angels and because of the differences which exist between leaders in New Church thought to whom we have been accustomed to look with more or less confidence for light on doctrinal points and with the expectation of finding substantial unanimity of exposition.

     Provided this discussion is carried on by all in the attitude of the humble searcher for more interior presentations of the Truth itself, nothing but good can come from searching the Word for that deeper understanding that we are taught will continue to be unfolded to all eternity. At all times it must be remembered that the Writings are true in all particulars and that they contain no contradictions; that when we fail to correlate all the passages bearing on the subject, we fail equally in presenting the true doctrine.

     Individuals will always have somewhat different concepts of the teaching on various points, but before an "advanced position," a more "interior view," a deeper understanding of any doctrine, can safely be assumed, not only must there be a rather perfect correlation of the related passages, but a nearly unanimous concurrence in such correlation.

     Much of the difficulty in dealing with this subject, especially for the lay mind, and I doubt not to some extent with the leaders in the discussion, lies in our present imperfect appreciation of what spiritual substance really is and in fully carrying with us throughout the argument the great difference between substance and matter. These are elementary subjects which we have all assumed to understand more or less perfectly, but of which the present discussion may disclose the need of a fuller comprehension.

581




     No devout or loyal member of the Church need feel disturbed over the views promulgated by Mr. Gill, for when the subject has been more fully considered, we must all of necessity, in order of things, come to an understanding not out of harmony with the generals of doctrine into which we have already been introduced.

     If, as we are taught, "the whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual world not only in general but in particular" and "whatever, therefore, in the natural world derives its existence from the spiritual," we may rest assured that not only do the legs, arms and trunk of the natural body have correspondences in the spiritual body, but all the minute parts, organs and viscera have a spiritual counterpart, even though we fail at present to comprehend just how these things can be in the light of other passages which seem to contradict this general teaching but which we may rest assured do in reality most fully agree with and confirm it.
     Very truly yours,
          CHAS. G. MERRELL.
"APPEARANCE" THEORY 1914

"APPEARANCE" THEORY       GEO. STEBBING       1914

Editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     It seems to me, on checking Mr. Gill's quotations from the more accessible of the Writings, that all his articles on the Spiritual World have been written up from the CONCORDANCE and not from the Writings direct. This is understandable in a layman, but the priests who take his views appear to have followed his methods also. Now, the CONCORDANCE is invaluable as an index, but unreliable as a text book. That Mr. Gill still uses this method is shown by his four diverse quotations on p. 430 of the July LIFE in support of one statement. The fathering of this theory appears to have obsessed Mr. Gill's understanding, for, after stating that an Angel's surroundings change with his state, he assumes that the Angel's feet and other limbs are his "surroundings." The "ground" he refers to is only changed as to state, i. e., it may become fruitful or arid, but it is still ground and the Angel's feet are still feet. The change in the angel and in the ground is a change of state and not of the identifiable shape which distinguishes one form of substance from another.
     GEO. STEBBING.
          Liverpool, England.

582


Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     PHILADELPHIA, PA. Regular Sunday services have been continued through the summer this year, with a good attendance, considering the number of people who leave the city for vacations at this time. On June 21 we enjoyed a visit of the Rev. Richard De Charms, who administered the Holy Supper, assisted by his son, the Rev. George De Charms, who is now our minister. Our social life has continued through the summer by having a general church picnic on Memorial Day, also several "Moonlight" trips down the river on the hot evenings, which have bees well attended and enjoyed.
     A. E. S.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. Last news letter from this center neglected to mention the celebration of the 19th of June. Mr. Alvin Nelson was toastmaster and had enlisted the services of four ministers as speakers. After the formal program, the laity were called upon. Among the speakers were Mr. H. L. Burnham, Mr. Charles Francis frown, and Dr. King.

     Soon after this event many of the local inhabitants departed to resorts on vacations. A highly appreciated fancy dance was given by twelve young ladies under the tuition of Miss Vivien King, on the "smooth shaven" lawn, the reporter tried to get the names of the dances, but the young ladies were so breathless that no names were caught. Miss King also gave a pas-seul, entitled "Bird Play."

     A Fourth of July parade, picnic and address at the school served to feed our patriotism on that day. In August a reception at Mr. A. E. Nelson's home was given to the Misses Creda and Rhona Glenn, visitors from the East. Miss Margaret Boericke was another visitor to the park this summer. Miss Clara and Miss Helena Boericke are now visiting their sister, Mrs. Junge.

583




     Mr. Oscar Scalbom, as toastmaster, gave a magnificent steinfest on the subject of "Habit." Bodily Habits, Mental Habits, the Tyranny of Habit, Spiritual Habits, were the heads taken up by the various speakers. The discussion was very full and interesting.

     During the absence of Mr. Caldwell, the Rev. Mr. Gilbert Smith and the Rev. Mr. John Headsten officiated at the Sunday services.

     Mosquitoes continue absent from Glenview, except a few brought here by visitors from the East. No heat, nor dust mar the enjoyment of the dwellers of the park.

     MICHIGAN. The readers of the LIFE Will be interested to hear from the thriving little New Church summer colony on the tree covered bluffs of Lake Michigan, in Palisades Park and Covert Resort.

     The Rev. J. E. Schreck was the first to build a cottage in Palisades Park. Through him many New Church families, both of the General Church and the Convention, built in the two adjacent places.

     For the first few years services were held on the porches of the larger cottages. But last year money was collected for a building, and the four trustees,-two General Church members and two from Convention, were authorized to proceed with the work. This year an attractive building is standing on a beautiful bluff over sixty feet high overlooking the lake.

     As there were between twenty-four and thirty children in the two resorts whom the parents were anxious to have instructed in the truths of the Church, classes were formed which were instructed by the Rev. David Klein, Mrs. Klein and Rev. W. L. Gladish. These classes have been held twice a week. Mr. Gladish has also held a doctrinal class every Friday, after which the families meet at a picnic supper which is followed by games and dancing.

     The Assembly Hall was dedicated on July 12th. The Rev. Wm. Wunsch conducted the service and the Rev. W. L. Gladish preached the sermon on the text: "Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain who build it."

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     The Sunday congregation numbers from fifty to seventy. They have been ministered to by Rev. Wm. Wunsch, the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt, who made a flying visit to us and gave an inspiring talk on "Remains," and by the Rev. W. L. Gladish who has preached four or five Sundays, as the only Convention minister who is spending the summer here wishes to have a complete rest.
     E. V. W.

     BERLIN, ONT. There are moments, even in Berlin, when we consider that we have completed our season's work, and require a rest. We do not allow the time to pass without engaging somewhat in frivolous pursuits, and during the past month several dances, picnics and pleasure parties have served to beguile away the heat of the long afternoon, or the still quiet of a summer evening. Among the social gatherings might be mentioned a society picnic at the Gorand River, on the site of our old "New Church camping grounds." This was especially enjoyed by the youthful majority, whose happy voices all day long echoed among the hills and woods, and mingled with the delighted cries of the would-be swimmers from the shallow water in mid-river.

     It was a source of regret that so few of our numerous vacation visitors from other centers found it possible to remain with us for the most auspicious occasion of the season. This was the wedding of Miss Lillie Steen to Mr. Percy Barber, of Toronto. The ceremony was conducted on August 5th by Mr. Bowers in the local chapel, which was prettily decorated for the occasion with white pillars entwined with smilax. The bridal party entered during the singing of the Hebrew anthem, "Hodhoo," which together with the singing of the nineteenth psalm by the choir as a recessional, created a sphere of reverence and holiness. We all felt deeply, as is usual, at such occasions, the All-Love of the Lord for us His children, and we could-not doubt but that the angels of heaven were rejoicing with us, for was it not thus sung, "The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the works of His hands announceth the firmament?"

     The impressive ceremony was followed by a banquet, of which the entire society partook, and during which were drunk toasts to The Church, The Home and other Newt Church ideals.

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Each address again removed us in spirit from things mundane, and brought us nearer, as it seemed, to the realization of that for which we all strive. In conclusion a toast was proposed to the country, and hope was expressed that soon peace might again reign among the nations. Needless to say, there was a quick and hearty response and glasses rang, as with patriotic zeal was sung the national anthem, "God Save the King."

     After the banquet the bride and groom narrowly escaped a well-planned shower of "confetti," and the young people consoled themselves with much dancing.

     Our pastor is engaged, for a few months, with work in the Canadian Northwest, and our newly-arrived assistant pastor, Mr. Hugo Odhner, is taking his place. Mr. Waelchli is engaged to do General Church missionary work during six months out of the year. C. S.

     STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN. Mr. John Pitcairn, on July 4th, arrived in Stockholm, expecting to meet Mr. Alfred H. Stroh, but the latter had not yet returned from Spain, where he had gone by advice of physicians. He has, since, returned to Sweden, making his way with difficulty through Switzerland and Germany.

     Mr. Pitcairn spent nine days in Stockholm. His arrival was celebrated by a banquet in the evening of July 4th, at the rooms of the "Circle," No. 19 Ostermalmsgatan; beside the members of the Circle there were present the Rev. S. C. Bronniche, of Copenhagen, and the Rev. Arthur Wilde, of London, who was visiting Stockholm in the interests of the Swedenborg Society, of which he is the Acting Secretary. The services, on Sunday, July 5th, were conducted by Pastor Bronniche with an attendance of eighteen persons, of whom fourteen partook of the Holy Supper, and one young lady was baptized; after the services a number of friends took lunch with Mr. Pitcairn at Hasselbacken and supper at Gorand Hotel. There were several other social functions during Mr. Pitcairn's stay in Stockholm, much of the time being devoted to arrangements for the more speedy phototyping of Swedenborg's manuscripts,-this work being threatened with delay on account of the removal of the library of the Academy of Sciences to its splendid new quarters at Frescati, a new suburb of Stockholm.

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Mr. Wilde and Mr. Bronniche left Sweden on July 8th, and Mr. Pitcairn on July 12th, left for Brussels.

     BELGIUM, FRANCE, SWITZERLAND. The European trip taken by Rev. E. E. Iungerich, accompanied by Miss Maria Hogan and Miss Sophie Falk, of Bryn Athyn, has proved of great interest, pleasure and usefulness.

     June 19th was celebrated in BRUSSELS by fourteen persons, who listened to a sermon preached by Mr. Iungerich on the first Chapter of the Apocalypse. The service is highly ritualistic and was most impressive and affecting. The Holy Supper was administered to eight. Mr. Deltenre, at this time, was suffering from an injured foot. Dr. le Febre, who has since visited Bryn Athyn, was present, with his wife, at this service.

     PARIS had its celebration on the following Sunday, the 21st, at the home of Pastor Hussenet, who baptized Mme. Le Duc and then preached a simple, but powerful and well written sermon to the thirty-one persons present. After the service strong and hearty speeches were made by different members of the congregation.

     On June 28th Mr. Hussenet preached in Brussels for Mr. Deltenre. His ministering was much appreciated by those in that city. Mr. John Pitcairn was present this time.

     Seven Philadelphians had a day of sightseeing in Paris together, dining in a restaurant favored years ago by Bishop Benade. The number included all those mentioned above with the addition of the Misses Doering.

     Mr. Iungerich preached on July 5th in Paris at 100 St. Lazarre. The room was crowded, every seat being taken, but it has now been given up as a place of worship.

     On July 6th our friends proceeded to LAUSANNE, in Switzerland, adding to the trio Mr. Theodore Pitcairn. They arrived just in time for the wedding of Miss Yvonne de Chazal to Mr. Norman Mayer, to which they were graciously invited.

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It was held in the Chapelle de Villards of the "Eglise Libre" at two-thirty on July ninth, the Rev. Adolph Goerwitz officiating in English. Following his sermon on the text: "Except the Lord build the house," and the wedding ceremony, the Rev. Mr. Ferckien gave an affectionate address in French on Conjugial Love, using the fable of Narcissus to illustrate the state of man's love of his own intelligence if never supplemented by woman's love. A reception followed at the home of Mme. Rouillard, at which Mr. Iungerich was invited to give a toast to the bride. The couple expected to leave later in the season for Mauritius.

     Mr. Iungerich tells of pleasant interviews with Prof. Charles Byse, of Lausanne, who preaches to about one hundred and fifty people there, thirty of whom seem well disposed to the New Church.

     Mr. Theo. Pitcairn entertained the Mauritians at Lausanne by giving an all day trip around the beautiful Lake Geneva. This was the occasion of many interesting New Church talks, as well as a delightful social affair. Mr. Iungerich preached on July twelfth in Lausanne, having given a lecture on Swedenborg's Cosmogony the Saturday evening before.

     On July nineteenth Mr. Iungerich preached again in Paris, amongst those present being Pastor Labelle, a friend of Prof. Byse, who, though a Protestant minister, is a devout student of the Writings. Three other strangers were present. On this same date Miss Hogan, Miss Falk and Mr. T. Pitcairn had the pleasure of listening to Mr. Fercken preach at Lausanne. Our friends speak appreciatively of the genial hospitality extended to them by the New Church people there.

     Mr. Iungerich and party afterwards attended the British Assembly and are, at present, (Aug. 18th), among the other friends stranded in London on account of the war.

     LONDON. Mr. John Pitcairn, in a letter dated August 5th, writes as follows:

     "Mr. Deltenre and I left Brussels for the Hague on Wednesday of last week (July 29th) and spent two days with Mr. Barger. On Thursday evening, all the New Church friends (fourteen in number, including Dr. Deltenre and myself) assembled at Mr. Barger's house and we spent a most enjoyable evening considering doctrinal questions.

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     "We came to London on Friday, where I found all our American visitors excepting Miss Constance Pendleton. I think she is in Paris, and I have twice wired to Mr. Hussenet, but up to the present time I have no reply. [Miss Pendleton was subsequently heard from, and is now safe at home.]

     "We have had a very interesting British Assembly meeting of the General Church, with the largest attendance we have ever had.

     "I do not speak of the war, as you will have read all the details of it in the newspapers. We are stranded here in London. Mr. Iungerich's trunk is in Paris, and he is much concerned about his notes. My trunk is in Brussels. We are awaiting developments, and do not know when we shall be able to leave. Happily we are all well.

     "Dr. Deltenre returned to Brussels on Monday. Mr. Iungerich went to Dover, and saw him safely on the boat; and I have a telegram from the Doctor that he arrived safely."

     AUSTRALIA AND INDIA. As previously reported in the LIFE, the Rev. Frederick E. Gyllenhaal, on the 30th of March, started on his long journey from Philadelphia to Durban, South Africa. On his way through the West he visited his relatives and childhood friends in Glenview, and his former parishioners in Denver, leaving San Francisco on the 7th of April, and arriving in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, April 29th. Here he was met by the Rev. Richard Morse and his faithful little circle, for whom, during two weeks, he preached, held classes and administered the Sacraments at Miss Taylor's home, 180 Regent street, Redfern, a suburb of Sydney. During his sojourn in Sydney he met also a number of New Church people who were opposed to the principles of the Academy, and some who, though affirmative to these principles, had not united with Mr. Morse's circle. In the afternoon of Sunday, May 10th, he visited Hurstville, where he baptized four children of Mr. and Mrs. Kellberg and two children of Mr. and Mrs. Morgan.

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     On the evening of May 11th, Mr. Gyllenhaal, by invitation, attended a tea and reception held by the Thomas Street Society in honor of the Rev. and Mrs. Underwood, who had just arrived in Sydney on their way to Brisbane, and on Wednesday, May 13th, a reception was held in honor of Mr. Gyllenhaal, at Redfern, when members of the Thomas Street Society were also present. The visit, it is to be hoped, may result in a more friendly state of feeling between the various groups of New Church people in Sydney.

     On May 14th Mr. Gyllenhaal left for Adelaide, arriving at Glen Brook, Macclesfield, on May 16th, where he visited the family of Mr. and Mrs. Jones, remaining with them until Thursday, May 21st. On May 25 he visited Freemantle, where he met a few members of the Church, and from this point embarked for India.

     At Colombo, on the third of June, he received a letter from Prof. Bhatt, inviting him to Bhavnagar, Prof. Bhatt's native city. This city is about 500 miles to the north of Bombay, and Prof. Bhatt very courteously offered to go to Bombay should Mr. Gyllenhaal prefer to meet him there.

     Arriving in Bombay Mr. Gyllenhaal decided to go to Bhavnagar in order to meet Prof. Bhatt in his own home and native surroundings. While in Bombay he visited, at Mr. Bhatt's suggestion, the rooms of the newly organized Swedenborg Society of India. Here he met Mr. Patel, the secretary. The following telegram hastened him on his way to Bhavnagar: "Please wire to Prime Minister, Bhavnagar, thus: 'Coming Bhavnagar, Friday. Mail. Kindly make arrangements.'"

     The guest of the State! At first he did not realize what that involved, but he sent the wire as instructed, and left for Bhavnagar, Thursday, June 11th, in a first-class compartment, in a car with electric light, electric fans, and a large bath tub.

     Very comfortable, indeed, but on the following day he had to change to a narrow gauge road. He occupied the only first-class compartment and was the only white man on the train. No electric fans, but terrible heat. The breeze created by the motion of the train afforded no relief and was like a hot blast. It would have gone ill with him, had it not been for the ministrations of his "Be" or native servant.

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     On Friday, at half past seven in the evening, the train pulled into Bhavnagar station and on opening his compartment he found Prof. Bhatt standing at the door. After a hearty greeting the Professor put a chain of flowers about the visitor's neck and handed him a bouquet.

     At a command from Prof. Bhatt a carriage, drawn by two beautiful horses and attended by a coachman and three foot-men, drove alongside the train. Mr. Gyllenhaal was invited to enter, and Prof. Bhatt and a son of his did likewise. Immediately they were driven over splendid roads to a large estate the roadway of which was barred by a gate. A footman opened the gate and they were driven through beautiful grounds to a large house. They alighted from the carriage and at once ascended the stairs to a bed room. Here Prof. Bhatt informed Mr. Gyllenhaal that house and grounds with servants and carriage were all at his command and service. He would be the sole occupant. Tea was served in the bed room and he was told that the Prime Minister would call on him the following day and that he was to meet the Maharajah. Stating his sensations mildly-he was somewhat surprised.

     All these honors, however, involved disadvantages. He could not, he felt, remain long as a guest of the State and it was not possible to live at a hotel after having filled the exalted position of a state guest. When he ceased to be a state guest, there was nothing to do but leave the state.

     The caste system also complicated his position, and on Sunday, the fourteenth, Prof. Bhatt and his son were the only persons of high enough caste to attend the service which was held at Prof. Bhatt's request. However, he was able to give a public lecture in Bhavnagar, which was attended by 250 Brahmins. His subject was "The True Idea of Marriage."

     In order to celebrate "New Church Day" with those of lower cast it was necessary to leave the state of Bhavnagar and on the Nineteenth of June we find Prof. Bhatt, his son, and Mr. Gyllenhaal at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay.

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Prof. Bhatt notified his friends, three of whom made a trip of about four hundred miles in order to be present at a solemn celebration, which commenced at five o'clock in Mr. Gyllenhaal's room at the Taj Mahal. The Holy Supper was administered to Prof. Bhatt and four of his friends, in compliance with a request of Prof. Bhatt's when he first met Mr. Gyllenhaal. At six o'clock the meeting was augmented by three more persons and on the 20th four of those who partook of the Holy Supper returned at half past eight in the morning for instruction in the Heavenly Doctrines. The last we hear from Mr. Gyllenhaal is that in the evening of June 20th he was to hold a class for all those who were present on the Nineteenth with several others in addition.

     A future letter will, no doubt, tell us just when he left India, and we surmise that he is now in the Isle of Mauritius, on his way to his charge in South Africa.
For Rent 1914

For Rent       RAYMOND G. CRANCH       1914

     For rent, with board, a suite of three rooms and bath. For particulars apply to Mrs. J. M. COOPER, "The Inn," Bryn Athyn, Pa.          

     A congenial home is offered to a New Church lady by a mother of three, who needs help with the children, as housework. Wages, $4.00 weekly, to start.
     RAYMOND G. CRANCH, Bryn Athyn, Pa.

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NATURAL SPACE 1914

NATURAL SPACE       Rev. N. DANDRIDGE PENDLETON       1914




     ANNOUNCEMENTS.





NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. XXXIV      OCTOBER, 1914          No. 10
     (Reprinted from the NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY for July, 1914.)

     The space of which the Writings speak is the area filled by extended forms and the interval's established between those forms in their mutual relations one to another in a continuous medium. On one occasion, however, the continuous medium itself appears to be referred to as space; for the statement is made that "space is continuous" (H. H. 196).

     As a relation between separate extended forms, space can of course exist only after such forms have been brought into existence by the will of God. The complex of these, in all their degrees of successive formation, constitutes creation as a whole. Therefore, beyond the created universe there is no space in the sense of a relation of extended forms to each other (Canons: "God," iii. 13).

     But continuous space substantially considered as that which lies between, that is, the continuous medium itself, in the last analysis of it, is purely continuous-is, in fact, the Infinite Divine. This men call "absolute space," the "void" or "empty space," as if it were not filled until occupied by finite entities; whereas according to the Writings, we must think of this so-called empty space as the most filled of all things, as absolutely filled with a purely continuous substance, Life Itself, the Infinite. For this was the original unlimited continuous medium in which all separate and extended forms were brought forth, and out of which they were made by a finiting process which the PRINCIPIA describes as a circling or vortical motion-a motion continuous indeed, but rounding upon itself, whereby an enclosure was established and the beginning of finition initiated.

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     As soon as we conceive of this creative process as having taken place, even in its first stage, we must allow for the conditions of relative space and spacing under the above definitions, that is, of space as the purely continuous, and also as a relation in the continuum between finite entities. The latter, however, is what is meant, almost without exception, by the term "space" in the Writings; yet it comes to the same, since the interval as an interval, or as distance is considered as such, is merely a relation; whereas the interval as that which lies between, substantially considered, is one with the continuous medium itself. These two must, therefore, be allowed as coincident with the first of finition, and as pertaining to all the degrees thereof from fist to last; the one everywhere, within and without creation, and the other everywhere in creation from primes to ultimates.

     We must regard space as "intrinsic," if by that expression we understand the actuality of the forms thus extended and related. But if by space we mean the continuum itself, we must regard it as the most intrinsic of all things, even as the only thing that is in itself intrinsic; and this on the ground that Life is the only thing that really is, since nothing can be without it. But the recognition of this most fundamental of all truths must not lead to the denial of the actuality of those created forms which are, and can only be, because they exist from Life. If, however, we think of space as a kind of continuous emptiness in which the universe is extended, this certainly is not intrinsic, for it is not anything and we are told to deny it (D. L. W. 81; L. J. Post 265). It is an agnostic fiction which penetrates and controls modern thought, and is a most subtle and harmful fallacy; for it banishes God by taking His place. It gives us a void where He should be, and an emptiness instead of His Presence.

     By space in the Writings is meant the definite area which is filled by, and the relation which exists between, created and extended forms; and this, as was shown, must be allowed wherever there are finite entities, for these cannot be given without at once establishing a relation between themselves, and each and every entity is a separate and limited form filling a given extense.

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They are, therefore, from first to last, "spatial" in the strict sense of the word; while the primary medium in which they are extended, the pure continuum, the Infinite, is not thus extended nor spatial. This Divine fill's all space without space. It is not separated into discreted entities, but is purely continuous. Separate entities came into existence with the beginning of finition; and by the successive formation of them the whole of creation was produced. But in the ultimates of nature there arose a third condition resulting in that which is called material space purely as such; and this because in ultimates creation entered into a state of rest, the activity of its entities there subsided, as it were stood still, thereby giving rise to fixed and measurable intervals. That this is the definition of space as it pertains to the outer natural world, see D. L. W. 160, and T. C. R. 29, where the statement is made that times were introduced into the natural world by the rotation of the earth about its axis, and space by the conglobation of the orb.

     Clearly what is here meant by time pertains to the natural world alone; but that there is also time in the other world, in the sense of continued existence, involving a past, present, and future, is the burden of the whole revelation given us. This continued existence in essential time is called duration of state in S. D. 5613. In like manner, space, in the sense of fixed or stated intervals between created forms in a state of rest, while characteristic of the world of outer nature, does not pertain to the other world; yet it is quite as essential that there should be space there as time. The one is a necessary companion to the other; for the continued existence of any organism demands a spatial ground.

     That there are both time and space in the other world, though differing from the ultimate manifestations of times and spaces in the natural world, we must accept as a matter of revelation as well as a necessity resulting from all rational considerations.

     The doctrine is that the heavens are founded in and upon spaces; and it must be that they are so founded, not only in the sense of space as a continuous medium but also as a relation of finite forms.

596


The heaven of human minds, and even of human souls, is within the planes of creation, and structurally formed of the finited substances of those planes; and these are below that primary stage of finition whereby the first of relative spacing was established in the Infinite medium. But in what way shall we reconcile this necessity of the case with the positive and iterated statement that there are no spaces in the spiritual world?

     We cannot entertain the idea that Swedenborg was influenced in making these seemingly opposed statements, now by one and again by another of the opposing theories of the learned world, for we are dealing with Divine Revelation. The statements of revelation on the subject fall under three general heads; First, There are no spaces in heaven. Second, There are spaces in heaven. Third, There are no such spaces in heaven as those of the world.

     The first impulse is to conclude that the third statement is the qualifying clause by means of which the first two are to be reconciled. But no satisfying result will follow from this line of thought. Not only will it fail to lead to any advanced understanding of the subject, but it will place one in the position of continually correcting the statements of the Writings, and of thinking that they do not mean just what they say.

     That there are not such spaces in the other world as in this, may be taken as true, both with reference to the appearance of space before the eyes of spirits and angels, and to those actual underlying spaces belonging to the superior planes of creation upon which the heavens are founded, which in themselves are non-apparent. That there are spaces in the spiritual world and yet that they are not such as those of outer nature, is clear from the definition of material spaces (T. C. R. 29) as existing between quiescent forms in ultimates, and the like relative spaces between forms of finition not at rest. More is involved in this than a mere difference between entities at rest and those in a high state of activity, though this is a fundamental distinction. In addition, there is a difference arising from the fact that the spiritual substantial is discretely above the material substance of outer nature, and is therefore on a different plane. It is evident that this additional consideration will yield us a difference only in the state of the spatial relations of such entities.

597


This is all that we need; for, as to the finited substance of the spiritual plane, we cannot conceive of it otherwise than as composed of distinct and separate entities (A. E. 726) in themselves extended and filling space, or as separate and distinct particles observing spatial relations to each other. Although these particles are to be conceived of as highly active and livingly fluent, and in volume plastic to a marvelous degree, still, that they observe essential spatial relations to each other is a necessity which we cannot, and ought not to endeavor to, escape This is and must be true of all the elements of the proceeding spheres, or atmospheres, from first to last, whether spiritual or natural. It is also true of all organisms living in those atmospheres and structurally formed out of them, as well as of all spheres given off by such organisms.

     How, then, are we to understand the teaching, so often insisted upon, that there are no spaces in the other life? How, with any justice, may it be said that the space which appears there is "nothing real," that is, not really space? This may be said because it is a simple fact. There is one thing and one alone, which has in itself absolutely no spatial qualifications. This thing is Life, the Infinite, Substance in Itself, and we are to conceive of this substance as unbounded and purely continuous, that is, not separated into individual extended particles. This substance is everywhere, omnipresent. It is God.

     There is another, a derived substance, which by the process of its derivation, puts on spatial qualities. This substance in its several degrees of composition constitutes creation as to the whole and every part. Being a derived substance, it is receptive of the Life that gave it birth. Hence in creation everywhere there are the two, the continuous and the "discontinuous" substance, Life and the vessels receptive of life, the one not having and the other having spatial' qualifications. By virtue of the continual influx of life into these forms they subsist, that is, perpetually exist; and if for a moment influx were to be withheld, those discontinuous or separate forms would cease to be. Thus constantly is creation maintained in existence.

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     Now, the human organism is constructed of all these discreted substances according to their several grades, and in responsive harmony with all planes of the proceeding spheres, or atmospheres, and as such it is constructed purely as a vessel for the reception of life, the Divine Life, the purely continuous non-spatial substance inflowing. This Life inflows into the human organism, into all parts and planes of it, causing it to live as if of itself; and by this influx of life that organism is empowered, that is, given all its faculties of sensing. It is the Life inflowing, therefore, that senses all things, and not the organism as such, or by any power of its own.

     The influx of life into the soul, the highest degree of the organism, causes the whole to live as of itself; the influx of life into the mind imparts the faculties of thinking and loving; the influx of life into the body enables it to see, hear, taste, touch and feel. All these faculties, the as-of-self life, thought and affection, and so-called bodily senses, while appearing as faculties of the organism, are in fact a result of the life inflowing, which however can only stand forth as faculties when organically received. Thus, we say that the eye sees: the teaching is that it is not the eye but the mind through the eye that sees; nor yet is it the mind, and not even the soul, but the Divine through the soul: This alone sees, for It alone lives. In a word, it is Life, the purely continuous substance, that empowers the soul, the mind and the body of man with the sensing faculty; this sensing faculty, which is the characteristic of the life in all organic forms-, is non-spatial. Thus thought and affection are neither in space nor of space, but their organ the brain has every spatial qualification. It is the same with the bodily senses. The eye as an organ is in space and is of space, it is entirely constructed of forms that are finite and extended; but its marvelous faculty of vision in no way partakes of space, and yet by means of it all spaces, all extended things, are seen and estimated. Even this is spoken according to the appearance; for that which is really seen is not the extended things of space in themselves, but a living representation of them, a nea-spatial recording of them by the sensing faculty. The same is true of the spiritual as well as of the natural eye. It is true of every sensing faculty on all planes of organic formation.

599




     In reality, we have as it were two worlds here, the one spatial and the other non-spatial; and the same is literally true of that other world, which we shah know after the death of the body. There is, also, an outer spatial world in itself not visible, and an inner world of sense and sensation. This inner, non-spatial world of living reflex, is all that we can ever know of the spatial world, either here or hereafter.

     It is by this sensing of the objective spatial world on the part of an organism, that the non-spatial, or sense-perceived world, is as it were instantly developed and presented to view by the life inflowing. This world is therefore of, and belongs to, Life. It is the living world, and is derived immediately from God, though it appears to be derived from the outer, spatial world. A certain impress, form, mould, or qualification arises from reaction with the outer spatial world; but the thing itself, all sensation, and the world of sensation, is of the Life inflowing from the Divine, and partakes of the non-spatial quality of the Divine. It is God's own living world with man. This sense-apperceived world then is living; but, as it is with us, it is developed by contact with, and the sensing of, the outer spatial world, made of separate extended forms in a state of rest.

     These external spatial forms are never seen nor sensed as they are in themselves, save by the Divine. Nothing but a limited and partial sense-manifestation called an "appearance," ever comes to the view of man or angel; yet these appearances ascend in perfection according to degrees. For instance, bodily vision can never rival the range and power of thought, and the appearances of such vision compared with the appearances of rational thought are far less perfect.

     The direct contact of the mind, through the bodily organs, with the spatial world of outer nature, gives rise to a non-spatial or sense-perceived world, which while in itself non-spatial, yet has every appearance of space, and even the fixed appearance of the spaces of quiescent nature. Herein there is a certain difference between this and the other, the spiritual world. The outer spatial world around spirits and angels differs from the corresponding world about men not only in the grade of create substance of which it is composed, but also by virtue of the fact that ultimate nature has subsided, and become quiescent, fixed and stable; while the spatial world of the spiritual plane of creation is livingly fluent.

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     Round about men there are objects fixed and immovable, formed and shaped by the hand of God, and in correspondence with His Infinite loves and perceptions (T. C. R. 78). They stand fast regardless of the states of men; whereas the livingly fluent world external to the organic bodies of spirits and angels, undergoes instant alterations with every change of mood. And from reaction with that outer substantial world there is developed with spirits and angels a sense-apperceived world which, even as the like world with us, is non-spatial, being a living reflex world-having, however, the appearance of space. This their mental world, even as with us, is the only world of which they are conscious. The outer spatial world around them is seen as it is in itself by God alone. Essentially considered, it is an atmosphere of several grades and is the native dwelling place of the interior man even while that man is living in the natural body. It may be identified with the interiors of nature, if by the term nature we mean the whole of creation.

     But however we may define the natural as distinguished from the spiritual with reference to the planes of creation, the primary and governing distinction which should control our thought with regard to the subject in hand must be that which exists between the Infinite, the purely continuous non-spatial substance of the Divine, and those separate extended forms of creation from and with which space arose. This will carry over to a like difference between the non-spatial life influent and the organic vessels recipient of that life; and this, again, will lead to the further recognition of the fundamental difference between the non-spatial world of sensation and of living representation, and the great spatial world of creation which is sensed and represented.

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RAISING OF LAZARUS 1914

RAISING OF LAZARUS       Rev. JOHN HEADSTEN       1914

     AN EXPOSITION OF THE INTERNAL SENSE.

     Concerning the raising of Lazarus we read:

     "The raising of Lazarus from the dead by the Lord involves the resuscitation of a New Church among the gentiles; for all the miracles which the Lord wrought, as being Divine, involved states of His Church." (A. C. 2916.) "The reason why the gentiles are meant by Lazarus was that the gentiles were loved by the Lord; as Lazarus, who was resuscitated from the dead, was loved by the Lord; and he was called His friend; and reclined at the table with the Lord." (S. S. 40.)

     This remarkable story, internally, gives a complete history of the first Christian Church from its beginning until it is wholly consummated; and then the beginning and the progress of the New Church until it becomes a truly living body.

     The sacred text divides the narrative into three sections, of which the last has two parts. The first section, comprising verses 1-16, treats of the first Christian Church from its beginning to its end; the second section, (verses 18-29), sets forth the revelation of the Heavenly Doctrine, and the purely intellectual period of the New Church, during which time the Church assumes external form; and the third section, (verses 30-44), reveals her state of internal affection for the Doctrines as being Divine and saving, whereby she is enabled to enter into temptations and undergo the process of being purged from evils and falsities which prevent her from becoming a truly living Church. Verses 41-44 of this section treat of the New Church becoming celestial, i. e., ruled by true unselfish love for the salvation of men.

     I.

     "Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha." (John 2:1.)

     These are the opening words of the wonderful story concerning the raising of Lazarus from the dead; they contain the names of the place, the people, and the state of those who represent the passive in it.

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This story concerns us most profoundly; but if we are to see its Divine message we must not regard it merely as a miracle-even though it was performed by the Lord-but view it as a prophecy concerning the establishment of the Church among the gentiles. As such arcana are contained in the record of this miracle, it is plain that each name, word and act describes in detail the progress of the Lord's redemptive work of raising His Church to life, and also the hindrances which its enemies put in its way, especially those within its organization.

     Let us now consider some of the phases of this Divine narrative, using the revelation given by the Lord to unfold the meaning of some of the words and deeds, and thus bring down the message to concrete ideas. The story begins: "A certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha."

     The name "Lazarus" is found in only two places in the Word, and in both it refers to the same. In the first place the Lord chose to raise from the dead a man who had that name, and in the second the Lord used the same name in a purely representative sense, teaching by means of the parable concerning "Lazarus and the rich man" about the same subject. The name is Divinely chosen, and hence as to its literal meaning sets forth the state of those with whom the Church was to be established; for it means "without help," derived from the Hebrew La, meaning "no," and azer, meaning "help."* The general signification of Lazarus is given in S. S. 40, where we read:
     * Others derive the name from Eliezer, (of Damascus. Abraham's servant), who also was a gentile. This means "God is my help."-ED.

     "The reason why the gentiles are meant by Lazarus, is, because they were beloved by the Lord, as was also Lazarus whom He raised from the dead, who is called His friend, and who sat with Him at the table."

     This Lazarus was sick; a circumstance which describes the state of those with whom the Church is to be established, whether in the first century, or at this day; for to be sick denotes here interior acknowledgment of being in falsities and evils, and hence in need of a Savior.

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The Lord declares concerning this sickness "that it was not unto death . . . but that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." This teaches that the sickness of Lazarus corresponds to the spiritual ailment and helplessness which precede faith and trust in the Lord as being God even as to His Human.

     Bringing this down to concrete ideas it simply means that there was a remnant among the gentiles who were in a state of internal struggle against evils; they were bound by the chains of falsity and ignorance; and hence, as they could not see any way to be freed from them, they were in grief and unhappiness because they lacked the things which would make them spiritually well and happy. But they had some simple truths and goods, which gave them an insight into their plight, and caused them to yearn for a Savior.

     Lazarus was from the town of Bethany-a name derived from the Hebrew Beth, meaning "a house," and th'enah, meaning "figs," or fig trees. A town signifies the exterior things of the Church, which are the knowledges and scientifics from revelation made to mankind; and Bethany-the house of figs-denotes that these external things of the Church are preserved in natural good.

     But it is said that "Lazarus was of the town of Mary and her sister Martha." Why not his town? Simply because the two sisters represent the two essentials which make "a town" spiritually. These are simple rational truths of an internal and external order which strive to keep rational good alive; for Lazarus the brother, denotes that good. These simple truths are rational on their own plane; for they point to the Divine law which teaches faith in the Divine; the sinfulness of committing adultery, of stealing, of bearing false witness, etc., and they are found in every nation in the world.

     The story continues: "This Mary was also the one that anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair." This interjection into the sacred text is highly significative; for it corresponds to the acknowledgment that the Lord's Human is Divine, and that to Him belongs all good and truth. Here the text continues by saying: "Her brother was sick;" which teaches that although there were rational truths among the gentiles, causing them to believe in the Divine and its laws, and also giving them an interior yearning for things that would make them spiritually well and happy,-yet these were not sufficient to keep their rational good in a healthy state. Hence we read:

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     "Therefore, his sisters said unto Him, saying: Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick." These words reveal that only what there is of rational truth, together with the affection for more genuine ones, can know the disorderly conditions which exist; and also that these principles alone can desire the Lord, as being the Divine truth, who can dispel falsities and remove evils. The good which Lazarus represents at this stage cannot but be of an inferior kind, developed into a conscience which, like the truth that is known, is very obscure and weak, and hence cannot withstand evil influences, but falls, causing much sorrow and spiritual sickness. Sending to the Lord denotes honest efforts to help themselves to attain happiness, together with ardent prayers to the God they acknowledged that He would bring them deliverance.

     The Lord's answer to the message about the sickness was not direct; for when Jesus heard it, He said: "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby." These words involve the Divine teaching that the all-wise Father of the Church cannot impart to it the life-giving truth that He is the only true God even as to His Human, before it has come to see its own helpless state, and has wholly died as to its own life of false trust in self and its own resources. That these things lie concealed in these words, is manifest; for anything that takes place for the glory of God signifies preparation that the Divine truth may be received which enlightens the Church: that the Lord as to His Human is the only God and Savior, and that He, consequently, should be worshiped as such by His Church. The "glory of God" is the Divine truth; and "the Son of God" is the Lord as to His Human.

     The following words: "Now, Jesus loved Martha, her sister and Lazarus," set forth the reception of genuine natural good from the Lord, and also the highest state of life to which the first Christian Church attained. This manifested itself in a simple faith in Him, and in charity to the neighbor; for the Lord's love for the Church is nothing else than faith and charity in the acts by its members.

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     In order that what there was of simple truth in the Church might be conjoined to good, we read further: "When He heard, therefore, that he was sick, He abode two days still in the place where He was." This reveals the state of temptations which the first Christian Church underwent, whereby the internal opposing powers were broken, so that natural truth could be united to natural good; for the Lord's staying two days away from them denotes the first conjunction of these principles in the minds of those who composed the Christian Church. Unless that had taken place, what the Lord says in the following words could not have been accomplished. We read:

     "Then after that saith Jesus to His disciples: Let us go into Judea again," which signifies His presence in the Church as being the truth from Divine good, to mitigate, control and subjugate falsities from evil which infested it and strove to extinguish every truth and vanquish the possibility of raising the Church to life. That "going into Judea" has that significance is plain from these words:

     "His disciples saith unto Him: Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee, and goest thou thither again." By "Judea" is here represented self-love, and by "the Jews" falsities therefrom which exerted all their power to destroy the Divine truth, which is meant by "the Master."

     But the Church could not come into the true faith and live in it unless the Lord had subjugated the internal power of evils and falsities by truths from the Word; hence He answered the disciples:

     "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not because he seeth the light of the world." These words teach that the Church in the beginning could not be removed from the infestations of hell, any more than it can now, and that it had to use all the truths and goods it had from the Lord that it might see its way and not fall into the snares and pitfalls which were ever in the way. "To walk in the light," signifies to live in the truth, and "to see the light of this world," denotes to believe the Lord to be the only God of the Church.

     The internal sense of the tenth verse treats of a new stage in the life of the first Christian Church; for here is set forth the beginning of its decline. It reads:

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     "But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him."

     These words mark the turning away from the Lord by dividing the Godhead into three persons. Before that time the Church had walked in the day and say its way; because her members believed in and went to Him alone. But, alas, it did not continue long to see the true light; for it wanted, and darkness overtook the Church as soon as the Lord with them was divided into three persons. These Divine words were fulfilled: "But if a man walk in the night he stumbleth, because the light is not in him." "To walk in the night" signifies to live in falsities concerning the Lord.

     Here the sacred record continues:

     "These things said He; and after that He saith unto them: Our friend Lazarus sleepth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep."

     The Lord saying these things, denotes revelation and perception concerning the Church that it was now in the literal sense only,-which is indicated by being called "our friend"-and in complete spiritual obscurity and ignorance, which is signified by "to sleep." But in spite of this sad state the Lord's mercy watched over the Church by overruling and leading away from evil as much as possible, until the time when He, as the Divine truth, could come and by true instruction dispel ignorance, remove evil, and thus awake her out of sleep.

     All the principles of good and truth fell into a state of lethargy when the true idea of the Lord was destroyed; obscurity was proclaimed as light, ignorance a bliss, and the literal sense of the Word without any life from its internal, constituted the only relationship between the Lord and the Church. That condition is set forth in these words:

     "Then said His disciples: Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death; but they thought he had spoken of taking a rest in sleep."

     From this is evident that the Lord first spoke of Lazarus as sleeping, and afterwards as dead, because He set forth the gradual decline and fall of the first Christian Church. The shades of night fell upon it when the Nicene Council raised "the abomination of desolation in the holy place" of the Church by destroying the true idea of the only true object of worship.

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This caused ignorance, falsity and stupor in spiritual things, which finally ended in death; i. e., the Church became subject to the rule of the love of self and the world. This sad condition infused itself into the Church with such subtlety that the leaders of it at all times believed that it was in perfect harmony with the Lord and prospering on the proper lines. That the Church was in such a degree of blindness is plain from these words: "But they thought He had spoken of taking a rest in sleep."

     But did not the Lord disclose the terrible condition the Church was in? Indeed He did! but it would not hearken. He sent preachers who from the Word pointed out the dreadful evils practiced in the high places, and who spared not in declaring that the Church was dead and that outward ceremonies entirely foreign to the Word were the only things left. These preachers made their appearance from time to time during the centuries of the Church; but their reward was persecution, dungeon, torture and most cruel death. The Church became more and more corrupt and dead, according to the prophetic narrative of our text, which reads:

     "Then said Jesus unto them plainly: Lazarus is dead."

     By "Jesus speaking plainly," is meant promulgation by means of preachers concerning the dead state of the Church, which Lazarus represents.

     Yet, in spite of falsity, evil, unmercifulness and death on every side in the Church, "Redemption was drawing nigh." The cock crow, announcing the approach of the morning, was heard; for, indeed, the Word was restored to the Church. This, however, was but the first sign of gladness-it was "the Lord going to Lazarus"-and it came while yet "the darkness covered the earth, and thick darkness the people;" yea, long before the nations had come to the light, and the kings to the brightness of the rising up." Continuing, the Lord said to His disciples in connection with the declaration that Lazarus was dead:

     "And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent that ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him."

     Why did the Lord say "He was glad that He was not there to the intent that they might believe?"

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To understand this it is necessary to leave the idea of the Lord as a person when the Word treats of His coming and presence in the Church; He does not come to it as such, but as the Divine Truth; hence they who believe and obey the Lord as the way, the truth and the life, have Him with them; and again: they who do not believe and obey the Divine Truth, no matter how much they assert their faith in Him; He is far from them.

     The Lord is the Divine Truth; Lazarus represents here the Church which was dead; the disciples, whom the Lord addresses, stand for the simple good within it, and "His gladness that He was not there" denotes the Divine Providence which prevented the Divine Truth from being revealed to the Church while it was in that state. If such a revelation had taken place before the evils of the Church had come to open view by actual life, the simple good who were influenced by pious words and external display of holiness, would have denied the truth, profaned it, and thus made true faith and eventual salvation impossible. "The Lord's gladness for their sake," signifies that the simple good would eventually receive the Divine Truth; and that "He was not there," denotes His providential absence as the Divine Truth while they were in a foregoing state; and "to go to Him" means the restoration of the Word as to the literal sense to the Church.

     The complete death of everything of life in the first Christian Church is set forth in these words:

     "Then said Thomas, who was called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples: Let us go that we may die with him."

     Thomas, "who was called Didymus," meaning "a twin," represents an intelligence and consequent faith that lacks internal charity; hence in the other two places where Didymus "is added to his name, it treats of the Church when it is in externals without internals, or else of men in that principle who make a common cause with those who from a sincere desire strive to build up the Church. In our text he stands for an intelligence and consequent faith that is "a twin;" for it is the "faith alone" of the Protestant Church, the holding of which, as a means of salvation, is a positive factor for death; and wherever it goes, it says indirectly: "Let us go that we may die with him."

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     This also sets forth the transition period of the Church from the natural to the beginning of the spiritual. That state is like a delivering up and death. The Church, like an individual will then exclaim: "Let us also go that we may die with him." In other words: "What is the use in trying to believe? What I thought I had, I have lost; better give up all hopes of salvation."

     II.

     "Then when Jesus came He found he had been four days in the grave already." (John 11:17-29.)

     The Church in building passes through many discouraging experiences. Its progress is like that of an individual-for the individual's is patterned after it-beginning with the inculcation of the external things; such as acquiring a knowledge of the literal dictates of the Word, and obedience to them-all on the natural plane. This is followed by a strong inclination toward sensual externality which seems entirely devoid of life, and at times even rebels against religion. That state closes up and ends the first period. But as the Church must continue upon the earth, a new stage begins in its existence on a higher plane. This is at first but a preparation, and consists in learning truth of Doctrine from the Word which develops the mind to think rationally about God and religion, with this for an end that these truths eventually may become truths of life and for the life only. This state cannot be gained at once,-the Church must grow into it, and the growth is slow and full of bitter experiences. But although death and hopelessness are seen on every side, yet the Church is progressing. Hence we read:

     The "coming of Jesus" signifies the revelation of the Divine Truth from the Word. Such a revelation could not take place before there was some one in the Church on earth who from an earnest longing for rational truths, and consequent affection for Divine Truth, could conjoin it to life, and thence be raised into genuine spiritual love. This is involved in these words: "He found he had been in the grave four days already;" for "four days" denotes a state where conjunction of good and truth can take place, and "grave" signifies the raising into spiritual life, i. e., regeneration.

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     But Divine truths could only be revealed to one who was in possession of natural good and truths which were of a quality to agree with them, and there had to be a sufficient amount so as to give them the proper environments; for Divine truths cannot find a lasting abiding place unless they descend into their own receptacles. This is contained in these words:

     "Now, Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off."

     That these words have that meaning is evident; for "fifteen furlongs" and "near" denote what is sufficient for conjunction of natural good and truth, meant by Bethany," with the Divine truths of doctrine which "Jerusalem" represents.

     This conjunction with the Heavenly Doctrines could not have been kept up by the first receivers, had not heavenly consolation been imparted to them by means of seeing and becoming confirmed more and more in truths from a celestial origin; for interior rational good, which constitutes the Church, was as yet apparently dead, i. e., it had not been attained; and the enemies of the Church interiorly and exteriorly were constantly working to vanquish the newly established hope of rational spiritual life. Hence we read:

     "And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother."

     This "comfort." or kindly speech of the Holy Spirit, caused an elevation of the will of the external rational mind, and thence obedience to the Divine teachings by the early receivers. Thus their attitude was changed gradually so that while they at first viewed the Doctrines as being a good exercise for the mind, they soon began to approach them as a Divine revelation, and thus as the Lord, as being the Divine truths of the Word, which these words reveal:

     "Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him."

     (To be continued.)

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BUILDING THE TEMPLE 1914

BUILDING THE TEMPLE       R. M. L. FROST       1914

A fair green hill to heaven its wealth unflings
     And heralds morn with high and vibrant tones,
     The harmony of hammers on the stones
A temple shaping to the King of kings.

Soft summer airs waft far the antiphons.
     With deep round notes, Love answers Truth's clear call;
     And, like a working rhythm under all,
Charity chants in solemn monotones.

On, on the music swells through long warm days,
     Orchestral hammers rounding out a theme
     Of love and worship, such as men might deem
In measure fitted for their Maker's praise.

And listening, the servants of the King,
     Though all unworthy, bend the knee and pray,
     "O Lord, within our hearts show Thou a way,
To make us altars for Thy offering."

"Spare us not stroke on stroke, in weal or ill;
     Rear us, Thy temples, with a mighty hand;
     Send Thy great harmonies across our land,
And build us to the pattern of Thy will."
                         -R. M. L. FROST.

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REFLECTIONS ON THE "APPEARANCE" CONTROVERSY 1914

REFLECTIONS ON THE "APPEARANCE" CONTROVERSY       C. TH. ODHNER       1914

     The present discussion concerning the nature of the spiritual body and the spiritual world in general has aroused a degree of interest in a purely spiritual subject almost without a parallel in the history of the New Church. The fact that this discussion has assumed the proportions of a controversy should not cause anxiety or regrets, for it has followed, and must be kept on, the impersonal lines of a purely academic discussion.

     As to the usefulness of the discussion there can be no question. As never before, the thought of the Church has been strongly drawn to the consideration of the spiritual world and the constitution of man after death, and we may feel assured that out of the present seeming confusion our common faith will emerge purer, clearer and stronger than ever.

     The position of our opponents is based on so many interior truths, slightly twisted out of their proper connection, that it is no easy task to unravel the tangled skein. It would fill a large volume were I to try to answer categorically all the reasonings presented by my friends, Mr. Gill, Mr. Iungerich, and Mr. Acton, and in my present review of their arguments I can deal only with a few essential points of the issue.

     MR. GILL'S LETTER.

     Mr. Gill, in his letter in the July issue of the LIFE, gives this definition of the term "subjective," as used by him: "I mean that all appearances there [in the spiritual world] are subjective in the sense of being dependent on, and correspondent to, the states of the angels and spirits." (p. 430) Were this all that Mr. Gill means by "subjective" I could quite agree with him; but his position involves far more than this, for according to him these appearances exist and remain only as memory images within, the spiritual brain and never assume any substantial objective form outside the spirit. They remain merely subjective and indistinguishable from the "ideas" of the Idealists.

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     In support of their theory our friends interpret passages from the Writings in a manner that is perfectly bewildering to me. Let us examine, as a sample, Mr. Gill's interpretation of the teaching in the DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, n. 2571 which, according to him, "explicity declares" the following astounding proposition: "The spiritual substances which are present in the rest of the body during earth life, [outside the cortical glands of the brain], are explicitly declared to be withdrawn entirely from the body at death, without retaining any containant envelope of natural particles, and without the latter, spiritual substances cannot possibly retain permanent form. (D. L. W. 257.)"

     Compare with this orphic utterance the "explicit declaration" of the passage itself:

     "The natural mind of man consists of spiritual substances and at the same time of natural substances; thought arises from its spiritual substances, but not from the natural substances; these latter substances recede when man dies, but the spiritual substances do not recede; and on this account this same mind after death, when man becomes a spirit or an angel, remains in a form similar to that in which it was in the world. The natural substances of that mind, which, as was said, recede by death, make the cutaneous envelope of the spiritual body in which spirits and angel's are. By means of such an envelope, which was taken from the natural world, their spiritual bodies subsist, for the natural is the ultimate containant. Hence it is that there is not any spirit or angel who was not born a man." (D. L. W. 257.)

     How Mr. Gill from this teaching can draw the conclusion which he presents is beyond my imagination, unless, misled by the word "recede," he imagines that this means that the natural substances of the mind are dissipated, and consequently also the spiritual substances, leaving behind nothing at all, except a mental-dissipation! But the word "recede" means simply a drawing back, a slipping into the background, or becoming quiescent,-not an "entire withdrawal, without retaining any containant envelope," etc. And I must call Mr. Gill's attention to the simple fact that there are no "spiritual substances present in the rest of the body" which are not part and parcel of the spiritual make-up of man: anima, mens, and animals.

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Outside of these there are no "spiritual substances" lying loose and inorganic anywhere in the body. Consequently, there cannot be any spiritual substances now present anywhere in the body that will not all be contained after death within the general cutaneous envelope of the "limbus." And since these spiritual substances do exist from the brain "in the rest of the body," it proves that these also will exist permanently in the other life in an organic form similar to that which they possessed in the life on earth.

     Take as another instance, the statement in A. C. 820, which is so often and triumphantly quoted by our friends to prove that spirits and angels do not possess any spiritual teeth: "A certain robber approached me," says Swedenborg, "gnashing his teeth, the sound of which was as plainly heard as if it had proceeded from a man, which was strange, since they have no teeth." The context, as well as common sense, shows that Swedenborg was astonished that a spirit possessing no material teeth nevertheless could produce a sound as loud as if it had proceeded from a man in the natural world. But that the spiritual body is furnished with spiritual teeth is plainly taught in A. E. 556:22: "Because teeth correspond to the ultimate intellectual things of life, which are called sensuous things, therefore good spirits and angels rejoice equally with men in the Possession of teeth; but with them teeth correspond to truths in the ultimate sensuous, for the sensuous with them is not separated from the interior truths of the understanding which are called spiritual things." But according to our friends the angels rejoice without reason in the possession of things which they do not have; for they "have no spiritual teeth," or, what is the same, they possess no truths in their ultimate sensuous.

     MR. IUNGERICH'S PHILOSOPHY.

     Mr. Iungerich, in his letter in the May LIFE, condemns as false the idea that "the spiritual world is purely subjective, and that spirits and angels are devoid of any human form whatever." He admits, therefore, that after death we shall possess something of the human form, but the members of the New Church have been promised something better and more definite than this they will not rest content without the "complete and perfect" human form and figure.

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This is what the new Divine Revelation holds out as their eternal hope, and they will be inclined to smile at Mr. Iungerich's assertion that this hope is nothing but "a tradition among some Newchurchmen." (June, p. 372.) Mr. Acton, also, in his book, (p. 87), admits that the human after death form which he believes in, is "not more perfect as a more finished and beautiful human figure, that is by increase in perfection according to a continuous degree," but this is a poor substitute for that most perfect, most beautiful and glorious form and figure which is promised in the Writings.

     Mr. Iungerich, like Mr. Gill and Mr. Acton, is continually confusing the "human form" and the "human figure." In denying the human figure they often, in so many words, deny the human form. Mr. Acton, for instance, in his book, says in a heading on p. 90: "The human form is appropriated to man by means of ultimate appearances; these remain after death." He means here, undoubtedly, the "human figure," but makes a slip, because the fact is that earthly minds cannot think of form without some idea of figure. Mr. Iungerich, similarly, (May, p. 309), says that "the angelic human form is a discretely interior human form,"-which no one denies! But the subject under discussion is not this interior human form but the figure and shape of the spiritual body in its ultimate determination.

     Mr. Iungerich loftily sets aside all those "other passages in which the usually unexplained statement is made that spirits or angels are in the perfect human form." "One set [of passages] gives little explanation beyond the mere statement about angels in a human form." This method of treating the vast multitude of plain and definite teachings in the Writings does not appeal to us as either reverent or true. Any statement undoubtedly seems "unexplained" to Mr. Iungerich unless it is explained in harmony with his philosophy, but to accuse the Writings of not explaining their teachings is-not according to fact.

     It is Mr. Iungerich's "present opinion that such representative effects as doves, lambs, horses, etc., have as their objective basis merely the affection of an angel, (A. E. 781), and a ripple or undulation, (A. E. 822), in the atmospheric, (A. E. 944), medium about him," and he holds that "to argue that this ripple or undulation compresses or elicits from among them infilling particles already there, for the purpose of building up structural forms identical in shape with those on our earth, only to be dissipated when the angel's mood changes, seems an unnecessary requirement to place upon the Divine Economy."

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(July, p. 374). Really, may there not be more secrets in the Divine Economy than are even dreamt of in Mr. Iungerich's "present" philosophy?

     In accordance with this philosophy Mr. Iungerich essays to explain the statement in A. E. 364 concerning angels at a distance appearing to ride on horses, when in reality they were walking in meditation. Any one might know that this appearance took place in the eyes of those who beheld it, but according to Mr. Iungerich the angels were not even walking, since they have no feet to walk with or ground to walk upon.

     In regard to the statement in A. C. 420 that the angels "had not harps," etc., our friend believes that Swedenborg here "certainly cannot be regarded as endeavoring solely to correct an impression that harps of a terrestrial make had been procured from this earth; and when he says, as in A. E. 364, that 'horses could not go out of a book,' he surely cannot mean to correct the thought that there were ever terrestrial horses coming out of a terrestrial book transported there." (p. 375.)

     But this impression is exactly what the new Revelation is correcting, as over against the prevailing literal method of Bible interpretation. In a thousand places in the Writings we find statements such as this: "By 'a tree' is not meant a tree, but perception," etc. The Writings simply teem with such statements, but according to Mr. Iungerich we must in each instance exclaim that "surely" and "certainly" Swedenborg cannot mean merely to correct the idea that by a tree is meant merely a terrestrial tree,-when nevertheless every reader knows that this literal idea is the very thing that is first of all to be removed.

     But in Mr. Iungerich's philosophy there seems to be no room for any simple and obvious truth, and therefore he must deny the existence of any spiritual harps or any spiritual horses, just as he denies the existence of spiritual eyes and ears. We know, however, that the confession and praise of the Lord not only appears as but is a spiritual harp; that the affection of a progressive intelligence in spiritual truth is a spiritual horse; just as we know that the spiritual understanding itself is the spiritual eye, and that the obedience to the will of the Lord is the spiritual ear.

617


If there is no such thing as a spiritual ear, then there is no such thing as obedience; if there is no spiritual eye, then there is no such thing as an understanding of spiritual truth. And thus we find ourselves face to face with a denial of all spiritual life.

     "The other view," says Mr. Iungerich, "would bring us back to the Old Church view of the Lord and the angels sitting on thrones with crowns on their heads and scepters and harps in their hands." Now, friend, this is not the "Old Church" view, but the view of the simple, derived from the appearances in the letter of the Word. The real Old Church view,-the view of "the learned,"-is that of an empty ether, inhabited by nothing but "thinking principles,"-a view which to me appears strangely similar to the "new and interior view" concerning a universal aura inhabited by nothing but unknown and indescribable cerebral forms, in which "memory images" and "mental pictures" are stirred up by "ripples" in the circumambient atmosphere.

     AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO MR. ACTON.

     To Mr. Acton I owe a profound debt of gratitude for pointing out the important fact that Swedenborg, in the work ON THE SOUL, n. 521, refers to the idea of the resurrection of the material body when he there states: "This, indeed, I do not think, that we are to put on the human form;" . . . after which follows a long statement ending with these words: "unless, as some opine, there shall be created a new earth and a new atmospheric heaven, into which we shall be admitted as new inhabitants."

     In other words, "unless" after the Last Judgment there shall be created a new material earth, there is no reason to believe that we shall resume a material body with all its organs and viscera. And though some hold to the opinion that there will be a resurrection of the material body, Swedenborg does not share this material view.

     It is, indeed, remarkable that in all the discussions that have been expended upon this passage no one had noticed the import of the qualifying phrase introduced by the little word "unless." This, however, clearly proves the point raised by Mr. Acton, and I am exceedingly happy at the simple solution thus offered of a problem which has so long puzzled and confused the readers of the work ON THE SOUL.

618


It quite sweeps away the mistaken notion that Swedenborg here contradicted his later, (as well as former), teachings concerning the form of man after death. And, what is of even greater importance, it removes from my mind the idea that the seeming uncertainty as to this matter remained with Swedenborg while he wrote the earlier parts of the SPIRITUAL DIARY. Mr. Acton's defense of the absolute consistency and Divine integrity of this work is, indeed, a masterly performance, and every lover of the Writings will thank him for his conclusive demonstration.

     I was misled, I confess, by Swedenborg's repeated statements in the DIARY that he "did not know" what was the real form of the spiritual organic, and by his similar statement in the work ON THE SOUL, and this led me to impute to Swedenborg a certain degree of obscurity at that early period, which I now recognize as quite inconsistent with the nature of the Divine inspiration of which he was even then a perfect medium.

     I am thankful to Mr. Acton, furthermore, for having proved so convincingly though unintentionally Swedenborg's complete consistency, throughout the Preparatory works as well as the inspired Writings, in teaching that man after death remains both in appearance and in actuality in the exact figure of the human body,-a complete spiritual man furnished not only with brains but also with a head and face, neck, trunk, and extremities. For this is the plain and overwhelming testimony of the wealth of passages which Mr. Acton adduces from both series of works. No words of mine are needed to add to their self-evident meaning.

     In view of Mr. Acton's explanation of the real meaning in the SOUL, n. 521, and in view of Swedenborg's consistent testimony in the Preparatory works, it has now become manifest that the "human form" referred to in the DIARY, n. 355,-the form concerning which Swedenborg says: "but of what quality the form is, properly speaking, this indeed is not known," refers to that inmost human form which is beyond description in earthly language and even beyond the concept of human thought, a form "known to the Lord alone."

619


The nearest conceivable idea of the likeness of this form is that of "the most minute organs of the brain, where are the beginnings of the form of the body,"-in other words, the interior form of each cortical gland, a form which is depicted as a super-celestial and purely spiritual form, consisting of perpetual helixes of ingyrations and egyrations, a form which cannot be further described by any terms derived from spherical geometry, but which nevertheless is the essential human and angelic form "properly speaking."

     This form, however, is the inmost form of each spherule of the cineritious substance, and does not describe the general configuration or collective determination of all the spherules of which the human brain is made up. It presents no idea of figure at all, and scarcely even any idea of form, but rather an inmost motion, the "animatory motion" of the PRINCIPIA and of Swedenborg's general "Doctrine of Forms." This, therefore, cannot refer to the external form of the spiritual body, and the passage in S. D. 355 must consequently be eliminated from a discussion which deals with the external form or general figure of the spiritual body.

     In support of his position Mr. Acton quotes A. C. 3632, where we are taught that "Divine order is terminated in ultimates, but the interiors that inflow are not such as they appear in exteriors, but are of quite another appearance and countenance," as if this involved that the spiritual' body is not in the human shape! The brain, of course, is of a different shape from the external body, even as the soul itself is of a form different from the brain,-"in another and perfect form, known to the Lord alone." Nevertheless, "Divine order is terminated in ultimates," and even in heaven the interior human forms are all terminated in the human shape of an angel. The inmost form, "known to the Lord alone" is not a subject for discussion. It is as unknown to Mr. Acton as it is to the rest of us.

     Mr. Acton holds that "at the beginning of the DIARY, Swedenborg, following the thread of the preceding work, dwells more on organic forms, while later he refers to these mostly in passing, (since they had already been fully dealt with), and dwells mostly on states and their spiritual gifts," etc.

620


We cannot possibly accept this discrimination, for the form of the spirit is referred to in the Preparatory works "only in passing," and then consistently in harmony with the teaching in the ECONOMY that the soul after death will assume the exact form of the human body. It is in the Writings that he deals with the spirit and its form not only in general but in particular, which he could not have done before the spiritual world was opened to him. In the following teaching, for instance, he cannot be said to dwell merely on "states and their spiritual gifts," etc., but treats definitely of the organic itself of the spirit:

     "The angels possess understanding and will, and they possess face and body; and they also possess the interior things of understanding and will, as well as the interior things of face and body. The interior things of the understanding and the will are those things which are of their affection and thought; the interior things of the face are the brains, and the interior things of the body are the viscera, chief among which are the heart and the lungs. In a word, the angels possess all and each of the things that men have on the earth; it is from these that the angels are men. The external form apart from these internal things does not cause them to be men, but the external form together with these internal things, nay, from them, cause them to be men, for otherwise they would only be images of man, in which there would be no life because inwardly there would be no form of life." (D. L. W. 135.)

     It seems to me that Mr. Acton occasionally descends to a bit of quibbling, as, for instance, in regard to the use of the term "bodiless" angels. He ought to realize that the term is used in the ordinary, common-sense meaning. A being having only a brain cannot be said to have a body. He may be said to possess some kind of "embodiment," but for all practical purposes he is "bodiless." And it does not seem fair to accuse me of having spoken disrespectfully of the form of the "Gorand Man." The form and figure of the Gorand Man, as described in the Writings, is that of a Man, a most complete and perfect Man, in which there are angelic societies corresponding in their uses to all the organs and viscera and every least part of the individual man. It is never described as merely a brain, and it is the "amputated" figure, which our friends are trying to force upon the Church, that excites a sense of humor.

621




     The clear teaching of the Writings that the brain and the mind are present everywhere in the body, and that on this account the memory is inscribed upon the whole body of the spirit, is quietly set aside by Mr. Acton in the simple declaration that the cineritious substance "does not exist throughout the body" but is "limited to the brains, the medulla, and the nerve ganglia." If so, Mr. Acton should admit that the spiritual body may include a medulla and nerve ganglia as well as brains proper.

     Mr. Acton in fact admits that the spiritual brain-form consists not only of a cerebrum but also of a cerebellum, for he speaks of spirits traveling now by changes of state in the cerebrum, and now by changes of state in the cerebellum. If so, he must admit also the existence of a spiritual medullary substance, for otherwise there would be no difference between a cerebrum and a cerebellum. And if this be admitted, why not admit, also, the existence of spiritual medulla, and the whole system of spiritual nerves and fibres, constituting finally a complete spiritual body?

     A final word! All the supporters of the "appearance" theory agree in the admission that the only form in which spirits and angels ever appear to themselves and to one another is the usual form of the human figure. If so, what earthly or heavenly use is there in contending and disturbing the Church about that unknown and unknowable form which never appears and which has no appearance?

     In a subsequent paper I shall deal with the issue in some of its broader aspects and consequences.

622


PRESERVING THE "BALANCE OF POWER." 1914

PRESERVING THE "BALANCE OF POWER."       C. TH. O       1914

     The love of dominion and the love of the world, the two universal loves of hell, have from the beginning waged a continual war against the Woman with the Man Child. In the most external and general aspect of this warfare we have seen that the love of dominion has shut tight the door against the Lord's New Church in all those nations where the Catholic Church Greek or Roman, has retained its control or influence. Consider the hundred millions of Russians, to whom the Writings are completely forbidden and among whom not a single receiver is known at this day. Consider Austria-Hungary, where three or four little circles of Newchurchmen are struggling for existence under despotic police regulations, and where a New Church evangelist is forbidden to preach or lecture in public on any religious subject. In Greece and the Balkan States the New Church was never even heard of. In Italy the promising movement which was inaugurated by Prof. Scocia some forty years ago, has completely died out. Our Italian speaking brethren at Trieste are under the Austrian yoke. In Spain and Portugal not a single native receiver. In all of France, after more than a century of active propaganda, there remains one feeble circle, sustained by our General Church. And in Catholic Belgium, only our recent mission, with its few converts! Truly, the Last Judgment as yet has scarcely been felt in these nations.

     And in the Protestant countries of Continental Europe the story is not much more encouraging. Everywhere the ancient love of dominion, through the instrumentality of Established Churches and established prejudices, makes the progress of the New Church almost impossible. Think of great intellectual Germany, the center of modern "scientific" culture,-where the great New Church movement of eighty years ago has completely collapsed, leaving behind one feeble handful in Berlin, which is visited once or twice a year by the New Church missionary in Switzerland. And though Switzerland has enjoyed political freedom for five hundred years, the "Established" churches in the various cantons still retain their sway, and the one New Church minister there can be sustained only by the help of the Church in England and America.

623


In Holland our one small circle of recent birth appeals, apparently in vain, to an unresponsive people. In Denmark the small society in Copenhagen is still hidden from the public eye. In Norway there are only a few isolated receivers. And in Sweden, where the light of the New Dispensation first dawned upon the earth, there are three or four little circles, but,-as in the rest of Continental Europe,-not one well established, flourishing and self-sustaining New Church society! Surely, a Judgment is needed in ah these nations,-a tearing down of imaginary heavens and a change of stagnant states, before the dove of the New Church ark can find dry ground for the palm of her foot.

     In those more blessed regions of the earth,-the British Empire and the United States of America,-where freedom of speech and of religion has been triumphantly established, and where, consequently, the Lord's New Church has obtained a foothold which can nevermore be destroyed by the ancient hells of the love of dominion, there is a different problem, a different danger, a different hell, that confronts the Church of the New Jerusalem. Political and civil oppression of the New Church would not be tolerated here, for recent history has shown that in any attempt at external persecution "the earth" here will "help the Woman." But the New Church in these nations is confronted with the soothing but deadly sphere of the universally prevailing love of the world, a love which is as opposed to everything spiritual as the love of dominion is opposed to everything celestial. Here we find the sphere of merely natural good trying to choke to death every perception of what is meant by spiritual good, while the overwhelming interest in merely natural truth has resulted in a complete indifference to anything like spiritual truth. There is no external opposition, here, to the New Church,-nothing but smiling toleration and amused contempt! Nevertheless, the New Church becomes a possibility here, with the "remnant" and their children, for the love of the world, in protecting its own freedom, must also protect the freedom of the New Church.

624




     But the everlasting warfare does not end on this external or superficial plane. In the New Church itself, wheresoever it has made its appearance on the earth, we find the same malignant activity of these two infernal loves. In the New Church itself we find the love of dominion with its insane efforts to prescribe what all members of the Church are to believe and to do; and the love of the world, with its concomitant fear of the world, ever ready to induce indifference toward the Heavenly Doctrine and toward everything distinctive in the thought and the life of the New Church.

     In every true-hearted member, in every society and in every general association of the New Church, the love of the Lord and the love of the neighbor must wage daily and perennial warfare against their two opposite infernal loves. The combat seems hopeless, indeed, at times, nay every time that we look to our own strength for help. But we know that the Lord will fight for us, that Heaven will help us, and if we look deeply enough we shall find that Hell itself will inadvertently help us.

     For those two universal loves of hell fight not only against Heaven but against one another, each striving for universal supremacy. The devil's and the satans hate not only the angels, but they also hate one another, and by this mutual hatred and combat an equilibrium, a "balance of power," is maintained even among the subjects of hell upon earth.

     We are, all of us, as far as our selfhood is concerned, a small hell, a mikrotartaros, in which evil tendencies, inherited from a thousand generations of ancestors, strive not only against every heavenly good and truth, but also against the countless variant tendencies of evil and falsity. There is such a warfare, for instance, between our native love of disobedience to law against our equally native and selfish love of reputation and reward. Thus also the love of hoarding fights against the love of spending, the love of personal safety and freedom fights against the love of persecuting and ruling over others. And thus the current of infernal tendencies inherited from one line of ancestors fights in our life-blood against currents inherited from another line, and thus the "Great Powers" of Hell serve to maintain within us the freedom of choosing between a lesser evil and a greater evil, and ultimately, between evil and good.

625




     Put the "balance of power" is sometimes disturbed. Sometimes, by the accumulation of similar hereditary evils, freedom of choice becomes impossible with certain individuals, or families, or nations, or races of men. And when this happens, then, in the merciful Providence of the Lord of eternal Love, that individual is removed from this world to a sphere where freedom of choice will be possible; or, if the evil becomes too far extended, that family dies out, and that nation or race becomes extinct, or so weakened in its sphere of influence as no longer to be a menace to the freedom and welfare of the rest of humanity.

     It was thus that all the nations of the Ancient Church perished,-the Jewish race alone remaining, an impotent degenerate preserved purely for the sake of guarding, like a watch dog, the integrity of the Hebrew Word. And a similar destruction will surely overtake the nations of the Christian world at this day unless they repent,-repent of those colossal and universal evil loves which have made the name of "Christian" a mockery and an offense in the nostrils of every God-fearing Mohammedan and Pagan.

     And it is useless to hope that, as Old Church nations, they ever will repent. Though the power of the love of dominion, in the form of "militarism," will ultimately be broken down, yet the evil of RACE SUICIDE goes hand in hand with the triumph of the love of the world, and there is nothing now existing on earth that can check this overwhelming evil except the New Church doctrine of Conjugial Love. And this doctrine cannot be received without the doctrine of the Lord and the rest of the Heavenly Doctrine.

     But will the nations of the Christian world as a whole ever receive this one and only saving Doctrine? For a century and a half the Lord in His second coming has been crying His saving message unto the Christian world, but it has been as One crying in the wilderness. As far as the great world is concerned it is as if a cry had never been uttered! The Writings, in spite of really wonderful efforts, are still practically unknown to the world as a whole, and the "permeation" does not seem to be in working order in these days of internecine carnage.

626


Perhaps the Christian nations will open their eyes in astonishment some day, after their political, social and intellectual supremacy has passed over to some nation now Gentile, by whom the "true Christian Religion," long sought for, shall have been found!

     However this may be in the counsel of the Eternal Ruler of nations and races and earths in the universe, the present small organic body of the New Church needs entertain no fear, for in all the nations now constituting the so-called "Christian world," there is a salvable remnant which will receive the Lord in His Second Coming. And this remnant, after it shall have been "collected, inaugurated, and instructed," will become the nucleus of new nations and of a new and truly Christian race of men. It is for this remnant that the Lord in His merciful Providence is working throughout the ages, through peace and through war, through prosperity and through devastation, breaking down all the barriers that the love of dominion and the love of the world have erected against the freedom of that remnant. We have the Divine Promise that the Lord's New Church will be established not only among the Gentiles but also throughout the Christian world. Let us be trustful and hopeful, therefore, in the kingdom and the patience of Jesus Christ.
     C. TH. O.

627


MR. ACTON'S WORK ON THE SPIRITUAL WORLD 1914

MR. ACTON'S WORK ON THE SPIRITUAL WORLD       WM. H. ALDEN       1914

     THE NATURE OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. BY THE REV. ALFRED ACTON. Pp. 290. Including Index of Subjects and of Passages from the Writings.

     This small book is an expansion of the address delivered by Professor Acton at the General Assembly in Glenview in June, 1913, on a subject which has aroused much interest and no little controversy in the General Church. The view maintained in this work will be recognized as essentially one with that which has been set forth by Mr. Rey Gill in sundry papers in the LIFE. But Mr. Acton's work must be placed in another class from that of Mr. Gill. The arguments of the latter seemed to us crude, fragmentary and inadequately supported by the narrow range of quotations from the Writings designed to confirm them. Mr. Acton's is the fruit of mature scholarship in the Doctrines of the New Church, the result of deep research and profound thought. His abundant use of confirmatory passages comprehends an appeal, to the whole range of the Writings of Swedenborg, both Scientific and Theological. His work is orderly done, and presents an argument consistent with itself from beginning to an end.

     What is his argument?

     He believes that creation is one, and that both worlds, the natural and the spiritual, are concerned in every creative act and are inherent in every created thing. The process of creation was thus: The Lord sent forth from Himself atmospheres in degrees compounded or composed one from the other; the atmospheres of the spiritual world and the atmospheres of the natural world in a descending series until there was reached the outmost or ultimate plane in matters at rest. From these matters as reacting and enclosing basis were created in an ascending series, minerals, plants, animals, and at the crown of the series, man. In each and all of these there is the spiritual and the natural, the spiritual within, and the natural without; all were created from inmosts by ultimates; that no other creation is possible, and that in each thing of the creation there is the spiritual within as the cause thereof, and the material without as the enclosing effect.

628




     Man, at the summit of the ascending series in creation, has the power of apprehending both worlds, not only of sensing the world of effects without, but of entering by an interior sense into an apprehension of causes within, and of God at the inmost of all.

     The spiritual world is the world of causes, and of causes alone; and the natural world the world of effects and of effects alone. There is nothing of cause in the natural world, and nothing of effect in the spiritual world.

     Therefore, urges Mr. Acton, there is not and cannot be any creation of external things in the spiritual world, whether bodies of spirits or angels, or of surrounding objects constituting their environment.

     Mr. Acton indeed affirms that to all sensation angels and spirits appear to have about them an environment complete in every detail, so like to their former environment in the natural world that without reflection they do not know but that they are still in the natural world; and by reason of this perfect sensation it is urged that belief in the reality of the spiritual world, in which the New Church has confidently rested, is not in the least disturbed, nor can be.

     Note now the explanation which Mr. Acton offers as to how this sensation of the reality of a spiritual world is effected. As preparatory to his argument we are led through what to the common mind must seem metaphysical mazes. We are advised that all life is in sensation, that properly speaking we know by the sense no object external to us, even in the natural world. Natural objects set up vibrations in the atmosphere which cause a change of state in the sensory of the ear and we say, "We hear." Or the external object sets up a vibration in the more subtle ether which causes a change of state in the sensory of the eye, and we say, "We see." Or by actual contact a change of state is induced in the sensory of the nose, of the tongue, of the skin and we say, "We smell, we touch, we taste." But, we are told, we do not thus really perceive external objects at all; all that we really perceive is the sensation, the change of state in the organic of the body; only by interpretation do we ascribe the source of the excitation of these sensations to objects out side ourselves.

629


Consequently, says Mr. Acton in effect, as a matter of fact, we know nothing of arty external world except by influence, even in the natural world, all that we really know is that which takes place within our own organism. We know only the sensation; and we know no difference, Mr. Acton would have us believe, whether the sensation is induced by some external object or in some other way, as by hypnotism, or as in dreams, by spirits in an inner world.

     Furthermore, that the organic in which these sensory images exist, with their resultant thought and imagination gradually built up in and by the experience of life in the world, constitutes the man who lives after death. That this organic is the mind, actually formed in wonderful; fashion of natural substances, allbeit of the purest things of nature, and constitutes the "limbus," that marvelous cutaneous envelope by which the soul and spirit of man is held in form and consistency in the spiritual world, and through which the spirit, angel or devil, rests upon the natural world. That this mind or organic of the purest things of nature has the power of reproducing any image which has been impressed upon it, and of forming from these images by rearrangements, other images. This reproduction of images is memory; their rearrangement into other images is imagination. The mind also has the power of seeing within the sensory images the spiritual things of thought and affection to which they correspond. Thus he who will, sees heaven in earth, and the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom in all things.

     The faculty of seeing the external sensual image is shared by man with the beast of the field and the bird of the air; but what man can do, which the lower creation cannot do, is to see within the natural image the internal things of the spiritual world, that is, the world of causes, which Mr. Acton declares is the only spiritual world, the only objects of which are the things of love and wisdom, of goodness and truth. These he affirms are the objects of sight and of thought therefrom in the spiritual world. External objects of sight, he admits, indeed appear in the spiritual world, but are only appearances; they are not the actual things of that world.

630




     How, then, comes the appearance of external objects in the spiritual world? Exactly, says Mr. Acton, as external objects appear in the natural world in the sensory plane of the mind. That is to say, they are sensations which as in the natural world present to all appearance external objects; but, while in the natural world these sensations are interpreted to mean the veritable existence of external objects, in the spiritual world only the simple and the foolish so interpret them. The wise know that there is only the appearance of external things in the spiritual world, and that the corresponding things of love and thought alone really exist, and to them alone they attend.

     As to how these sensory images are produced which appear as external images in the spiritual world, Mr. Acton is not altogether clear. He presents several modes: They are said to be actual objects of the natural world, seen through the eyes of men in the world; they are said to be the offspring of the marriage of the Lord and the Church; or to be produced by afflux from angelic societies. That is, they are produced by spheres proceeding from spirits, conveyed to the sensories of other spirits by atmospheres, but there are no external objects, nor can be, according to Mr. Acton, in the spiritual world.

     Mr. Acton indeed states, and with emphasis, that the form of the body of spirit or angel will be the human form, but urges that this does not mean that it, is delineated to the sight in the same shape as that of the body of man on earth. He cites the teaching of the Writings that the body of man in the spiritual world will be in a much more perfect form than his body in the natural world, and understands that by this is meant a higher form, discretely different from that of the body of man on earth. What this form is he believes that Swedenborg did not know, or at all events could not describe in terms of natural language, and to this want of knowledge or of ability to describe he ascribes such expressions as are found in the early parts of the DIARY (3551 etc.).

     Whenever, in the Word, an angel or spirit is described as appearing as a man, or whenever in the Writings angel or spirit is spoken of as being in the figure of a man in the world, Mr. Acton would have us believe that this figure is simply an appearance,-not the actual shape of spirit or of angel, but that figure which, from the observer's experience in the natural world, he expected to see.

631


The real shape of the spirit or angel is postulated to be something higher, more perfect. Mr. Acton does not deny that the spirit has a shape; he does not deny that the spirit has a body; but it is denied that the spiritual body has the same figure as that of the body of men on earth. The spiritual body is believed to be in a shape comparable only to that of the brain, which, it is claimed, is the form of the mind, which is declared to be the sole part of the man, the form of which he himself determines, the sole form which is infilled with the purest things of nature and so has eternal permanence.

     Mr. Acton enters very fully upon an attempt to show that the mind is only in the brain, and that therefore a shape comparable to that of the brain is the figure of the man who endures after death. He recognizes indeed that there are many passages which declare that the mind exists throughout the body and that its form is the full human form, but seeks to show that the body is the form of the mind only derivatively. The expression of the Writings, "The mind is in the brain in its principles and in the body in its principiates," he interprets to mean that the mind is not by the extension of the nerves actually itself in the whole body, but only communicates with the whole body by means of the nerves. This is the most important link in Mr. Acton's argument, to the forging of which he applies to the utmost his logical powers and his knowledge of the Doctrines; but after careful reading and study of his reasoning, we remain unconvinced that he has in any degree weakened the force of such plain language as that of the following passages, which he indeed quotes: "The mind is the interior man which lives after death as a spirit. It is actually the man, and it is within the external man which makes the body. Therefore, when the body is rejected, it is in the full human form. They err, therefore, who believe that man's mind is wholly in the head." (T. C. R. 156.) "They are most highly hallucinated who assign to the soul a peculiar plane whether in brain or heart; for the soul of man which will live after death is his spirit." (D. Wis. vii. 2, 4.) And Mr. Acton says of the soul:

632




     "The soul is present everywhere in the body. It is the universal blood of the body, and the sole living principle of the animal spirit and red blood which it has formed for itself in order to become present and operative in the sublunary world. It designates every web and tissue of the body from first to last,-a designation or delineation which is filled in and fixed by substances of the world, subtle and gross. . . . It may, therefore, be said that the body is the soul, held in the stream of its flow even as men and angels like minute particles in the Gorand Man are held in the stream of the infinite life of the Lord in whom they live and move and have their being." (pp. 59-60.)

     What then shall we say of this philosophy respecting the nature of the spiritual world, which we have endeavored to present in brief summary and outline? We frankly admit that it is consistent with itself, that it presents a tangible and complete subject of thought, carefully and fully supported by quotation of hundreds of passages from all parts of the works of Swedenborg, both scientific and theological. It has been called "Docetism," which taught that the Lord did not have a physical body while on earth, but merely the appearance of a body. It has been called "Idealism" which taught that "man is not anything, thus either nothing or only an idea that he is." (D. P. 46.) It is not properly to be identified with either of these old heresies, but there is nevertheless a certain resemblance to both. For as the Docetist declared that the Lord as seen by men on earth was merely an impression internally produced upon their sensories, so Mr. Acton declares that the appearance of objects in the spiritual world is merely a sensory change of state. The new theory is not Idealism because it does postulate a subject, but it is allied to Idealism in its assumption that all external appearances in the spiritual world, including the bodies of spirits and angels, are in actuality only ideas, that is, changes of state in their minds.

     The new theory has close affiliation with Tulkism, and Tulk indeed used arguments which Mr. Acton might have quoted with effect, to support his contention; but Tulk carried his reasoning a step further than Mr. Acton, in teaching that all things which appear, not only in the spiritual world, but in the natural world as well, are merely states of the mind; for Mr. Acton insists that the source of sense images, whether in the spiritual world or in the natural world, is in the ultimately fixed material things of the natural world.

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     The weakness of Mr. Acton's endeavor to set forth his philosophy of the nature of the spiritual world is that he passes over lightly or altogether ignores the innumerable affirmations of the Writings which teach the external actuality of the spiritual world. For we are distinctly taught that angels and spirits not only appear to have garments but actually have them; that these garments clothe bodies in every particular like to those which the spirits had on earth, only more perfect; that about them are external things, houses and landscapes, with all that pertains to them, created by the Lord in the spiritual world out of substances of three degrees, atmospheres, waters, earths; that animals, plants and minerals in the spiritual world are composed of concreted particles and give forth spheres. For all this there is abundant confirmation in the Writings and throughout the Writings. All this is commonplace to the instructed Newchurchman. A system of thought cannot properly plead for rational acceptance which does not take account of these things. Mr. Acton has not taken account of them. He has not attempted to include them in his philosophy. The present writer is unable to see how they can be shown to be consistent with his philosophy.

     If we ignore the class of passages referred to, the philosophy of Mr. Acton on this great subject is easy to accept. It has the merit of Idealism in making apparently easy the explanation of many of the phenomena of the spiritual world. But if it is to stand as the true philosophy of the New Church on this subject it must bring into connection with itself the unmistakable teaching of the Writings concerning an external forth-standing spiritual body and spiritual world. Can Mr. Acton do this?
     WM. H. ALDEN.

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ACADEMY'S FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE 1914

ACADEMY'S FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE       ROBT. JAS. TILSON       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:-
     Having been engaged recently in correspondence with a New Church minister, who was formerly a member of the Academy, on the subject of the Writings being the Word as to its spiritual sense, I have been advised by one of your colleagues to send the following to be inserted in your journal:

     My correspondent wrote; re the claim that the Writings are the Word, which claim I unequivocally make.

     "No such claim was ever made by the Academy, nor by Bishop Benade. You will not find it in the WORDS, nor in the LIFE, prior to the time of the disruption of the Academy."

     In replying I wrote as follows:

     I am amazed at this wholly erroneous and mischievous assertion.

     The history of the Church clearly demonstrates the exact opposite conclusion.

     In the AURORA for June, 1799, there is an article by "Philanthropos," (the Rev. Francis Leicester), on "A Key to the right understanding of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg," and the contention is there expressed that they are "The Word Itself, in the interior sense, made manifest" (vol. i, p. 78).

     In no. 6 of that same volume one Roger Bernet writes: "In my journeyings from place to place I have met with two very different classes of readers of the Hon. Baron Swedenborg's works. One class holding it as a fixed principle that the Baron's Writings are really the Word* of the Lord, as positively as the writings of any of the four evangelists."
     * Italics here are mine, as elsewhere in quotations in this letter.-R. J. T.

     This testimony was quoted with evident approval in WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH, 1879, P. 470.

     In 1800 the Rev. J. Proud entreated the "Brethren of the New Church in Birmingham" to "be assured that the ARCANA COELESTIA and the APOCALYPSE REVEALED are no less or other than the Lord's own Holy Word."

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     In WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH, pt. iv, 1879, there is a monograph on "The New Heresy," pp. 331-348, wherein it is stated on p. 337, "The Writings of Swedenborg are the internal sense of the Word."

     As to NEW CHURCH LIFE, in its very first vol., no. 6, in 1881, it is stated:

     "The Academy regards the Doctrines of the New Church, as contained in the Writings of Swedenborg, to be the Divine Truth of the Lord or, in other words, the infallible Word of the Lord to the New Church."

     In 1885, (eleven years before the "disruption of the Academy"), the following most explicit editorial appears:

     "Their claim of being an immediate Revelation from the Lord, of being the internal sense of the Word, of being the spirit of the Word, and thus of being essentially the Word and therefore Divine."

     In 1890, referring to the combats then raging over the Writings, the LIFE says in an editorial on p. 1:

     "The most important cause of the trouble seems to be that the majority of those who attend the conventions, and prominently the ministers, do not acknowledge that the Writings of the Church are the Word, and therefore the Lord." (See also PP. 153 and 171 of same year.)

     In the LIFE for 1891, pp. 11 and 61, the same emphatic claim is maintained.

     In the NEW CHURCH MONTHLY for May, 1891, p. 89, it is asserted:

     "They, (the Writings), are the very Word of the Lord in its Internal Sense."

     In the NEW CHURCH STANDARD for May, July and August, 1895, there are three sermons by me on "Divine Truth in every degree is the Word of God."

     In the NEW CHURCH TIDINGS for June, 1891, there is a remarkable sermon by the Rev. E. S. Hyatt on "The Word with us on every plane."

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     These three journals again and again in their editorials assert the claim that "The Writings are the Word." (TIDINGS, March and June, 1892.)

     That the Academy of the New Church most distinctly claimed the Writings to be the Word in its spiritual sense, is beyond question.

     In the COLLEGE LETTER dated June 8, 1886, the chancellor (Bishop Benade) said:

     "We must know and ever bear in mind the use given us, to maintain the infallibility of the Writings, that there is only one Word, and that the Writings are the internal sense of that Word."

     In the COLLEGE LETTER dated Nov. 15, 1892, the Vice-Chancellor, (Bishop Pendleton), says: "When we look to the Lord in the Writings, we look to Him in His Word."

     That Bishop Benade held that the Writings were the Word I know from much and intimate intercourse with him. He cordially endorsed my three sermons in the N. C. STANDARD for 1895, and he magnificently made the claim, and nothing less, in his wonderful "Report on the nature of Swedenborg's Illumination" made in 1861.

     In the closing sentences of that classic the beloved bishop speaks of the Writings as being "the Lord's spiritual Word," and says, "These truths have all Divine authority as the Lord's Word to His New Church."

     That he most unequivocally made the claim I make, is further shown in that marvelous paper presented to the 12th annual meeting of the American Conference of New Church Ministers held May 30th to June 4th, 1873,-twenty-three years before the "disruption of the Academy."

     On p. 24 he writes:

     Now if the Word is what it means, in other words, if the Word is its own Sense, the living Divine Truth of the Lord, enveloped and embodied in a series of senses from first to last, then it is clear that the Doctrines of the New Church, as that Spiritual Sense of the Word, wherein its Divinity resides, are the Divine Word in its Spirit and life, as now given to the New Church.

     Such, then, I claim is overwhelming evidence against the error of your assertion.

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     I have yet other testimony, however, to the gross error of your assertion which I desire to add.

     In a really splendid article by the Rev. W. H. Acton on "The Word," printed in LIFE for March, 1886, (ten years before the disruption of the Academy), he says, on p. 152:

     Thus, then, the Word and the Writings, since they are a Revelation from the Lord, are the Word with us, and also, as being the Spiritual Sense of the Word, they constitute its essential life.

     Again he says:

     The sanctity of the Word lies in its Spiritual Sense, which sense is revealed in the Writings, and NOWHERE ELSE.

     Further, in a sermon by the Rev. W. H. Acton, printed in the LIFE for August, 1891, he declares that "The acknowledgment of the Writings as the Word, and Divine, is indeed a stumbling block to many," but he very forcibly shows it ought to be a stumbling block to none.

     In the light of all this I ask how can anyone assert, re the claim that the Writings are the word, that

     No such claim was ever made by the Academy, nor by Bishop Benade. You will not find it in WORDS, nor in the LIFE, prior to the time of the disruption of the Academy.

     I am not concerned with any particular phase of the matter Mr. Hyatt may have introduced, for I have always used, and do still use, the expression that the Writings are the Word, basing my contention upon, inter alia, the statement of H. D. 251: "That which the Divine has revealed is with us the Word."

     I submit that it is a most dangerous error, one likely to cause serious injury to the Church, to weaken in any way the literal expression of the fact that the Writings are an immediate revelation from the Lord, and, therefore, that they are "the Word with us."
     Yours in the Lord's New Church,
          ROBT. JAS. TILSON.

     THE NATURE OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD.

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Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified       WILLIAM WHITEHEAD       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:-
     Will you permit me through the medium of your valuable pages to express a whole-hearted regret that the present controversy as to the form and shape of the bodies of Angels and Spirits should have assumed an acrid tone, which seems distinctly unsuitable to a discussion on the nature of the spiritual world. Whatever the real issue at stake may be it is hardly likely to be rendered more clear by the use of such terms as appear in recent correspondence on the subject.

     Mr. Acton complains that the real issue at stake has been obscured by an indiscriminate use of terms. But it is doubtful whether this has obscured the issue half so much as the disproportionate emphasis with which the: new view has been urged and expounded. Mr. Acton's sharp and voluminous analysis of his opponent's supposed inconsistencies is an illustration as to how the real question is being steadily buried under heaps of minute and unimportant controversial victories and defeats. It will shortly be as difficult for the respective parties to the present controversy to discover the truth as it is to disinter the truth concerning Rameses II from beneath the huge heaps of broken pottery near Memphis.

     It should be remembered that the present controversy originally arose out of a certain teaching advanced as to the form and shape of the bodies of spirits and angels. This teaching which Mr. Acton attributes to Miss Beekman as its originator was taken up and publicly expounded by Mr. Rey Gill in a paper read before the British Assembly in 1911, and afterwards printed in the NEW CHURCH LIFE. This teaching at first aroused mystification, later some opposition, and, after it had been fully set forth by the Rev. E. E. Iungerich, and others, much opposition. The teaching is admitted by Mr. Acton to be new as to its presentation in doctrinal form as advocated by Miss Beekman. Yet curiously enough, he insists in his letter to the NEW CHURCH LIFE for September that it is, old and well known that it is a matter for astonishment that all who read the Writings of Swedenborg are not able to instantly come into agreement as to the doctrinal position advanced.

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     It is quite certain, however, that to the average member of the New Church the entire question bristles with difficulties. I would propose to plainly set down a few of such difficulties. Certainly my learned friends may brusquely dismiss such queries as being the elementary problems of the simple, but I would respectfully urge them not to overrate the capacities of our members in dealing with the subject, which appears strongly to be quite as much of a philosophical as of a theological nature Moreover, the lack of distinction between the private academic discussing and the positive and public teaching of the disputed view has added confusion to the already bewildering enigma.

     The reading of Mr. Acton's article inspires the following questions:

     1. In spite of the rebuttal of the charge as to the subjectivity of the Spiritual World, how does Mr. Acton explain the following statements made by him:

     "Both the spiritual world and the natural are subjective so far as man is concerned."

     "So far as man's spirit is concerned whether before or after death the objects of his thought and action, that is, the ultimate to which they are determined, are all drawn solely from the memory and imagination."

     "The objects of his thought on which he gazes with delight or undelight are essentially quasi material appearances, drawn from memory and appearing and disappearing according to the state."

     I would respectfully ask Mr. Acton if he does not consider it reasonable assertion that man reading Swedenborg's HEAVEN AND HELL for the first time or even for some years would find a bewildering contradiction between the theology as to the objectivity of the Spiritual World as contained in this book and the philosophy involved in the passages from Mr. Acton's letter which we quote.

     2. The following statement presents difficulties which seem to call for clearer treatment:

     "A spirit hath not flesh and bones and consequently neither the form belonging to flesh and bones, although it appears to have them.

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It has a more interior and perfect form and in all nature things interior or causes are never of the same appearance as exteriors or effects, although they may assume that appearance."

     Will Mr. Acton explain upon what ground in the Writings he bases the deduction, that because a spirit has not flesh and bones it consequently does not have the form which in this life is infilled with flesh and bones? Is there no relation whatever between the human form and the form which the spirit takes after death? It is true that Mr. Acton answers that it has a more interior and perfect form, and this he seems anxious to identify with the form of the cortical gland which, according to his philosophy, is the only envelope of the spiritual body. How in the world Mr. Acton sees in this conception a form which is less materialistic and more rational than the idea of the complete human form and shape, it is impossible for a simple man to say. I can only comment on the apparent fact that whether it be a gross and materialistic idea or not, the normal idea of an angel or spirit being in human form, though spiritually construed, is at least an idea which Swedenborg thought sufficiently important and necessary to the human mind to cause him to write the majority of his books as if the idea represented an actual fact, and not, as we are now asked to believe, a pleasant illusion for the sake of the simple and children. Whatever the memory and imagination may do in the spiritual world, it is certain that in the natural world they are both revolted by the idea of a future life in which nothing is real save the mirages reflected from the memory and imagination.

     3. Mr. Acton asks us to reflect on the circumstance that Swedenborg was at such pains to prove to spirits that they did not have a body as they thought they had. "It matters not that their idea was of a material body. The point is that they thought it the same in shape."

     Now this is really a little too much for even the mind of an elementary student of Swedenborg. Mr. Acton asks us in all calmness to believe that the real interpretation of this passage in the SPIRITUAL DIARY is that the idea which Swedenborg was endeavoring to dispel from the spirits was the idea that they thought their body to be in the same shape as that which they enjoyed in the natural world.

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In other words, their minds were so filled with a subtle metaphysical problem as to shape, that Swedenborg had to go to great pains to prove to them that they had an entirely different kind of shape. Frankly, we think that a reasonable spirit would have more common sense. It is certain that the mind of the average man in this world contains more common sense than to entertain any such idea. Mr. Acton states that "it matters not that the idea of the spirit referred to was that of a material body." In reply, we would say clearly and plainly that it matters everything. The point and the only point of concern to Swedenborg was, that it should be known to all who leave this life that they leave behind them a material body and take on a spiritual body. This elementary idea is in agreement with every teaching of Scripture and every paragraph of the theological teachings of Swedenborg. And to cast about this fact a glamor of subtle reasoning and fanciful hypothesis is to entirely confuse the mind, and cause one to regard such a spiritual world with feelings of repulsion and bewilderment. In brief, the heaven which Mr. Acton postulates is of so singular a nature that we are not sure that it should be called heaven at all.

     4. Mr. Acton's defense of the Preparatory works seems to us to be somewhat unnecessary. The attack which he alleges has been made upon these works, as well as upon the integrity of the SPIRITUAL DIARY, is difficulty to locate. I do not believe for a moment,-whatever may be the controversial appearances upon which Mr. Acton dwells,-that Messrs. Odhner, Pitcairn, and Alden have, in actual fact, disputed the integrity of the Writings, or assailed the true place and worth of the Preparatory works. Indeed, it seems to me that the gentlemen named have simply been defending both the Writings and the Preparatory works from fanciful and damaging interpretations. If there are in the letters written by these gentlemen in the LIFE some appearances to the effect alleged, I would respectfully point out that they are simply appearances, and it seems a little unworthy to assail their loyal Newchurchmanship on such dubious grounds.

     The problem which is disturbing the minds not only of the gentlemen named, but also of a number of others, is, as to what precise value is being placed upon the Preparatory works in relation to the Writings.

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Although our learned friends will probably deny that they wish to attach to the philosophical and scientific writings of Swedenborg an authority quite equal to that of the theological Writings themselves, yet many arguments embodied in recently printed articles, letters, public discussions, private conversations, and even in the religious services of the Church, indicate that there exists so strong a drift in this direction that it is almost impossible for the average man to avoid the idea that an equal authority is to be conceded in all essential respects to the Preparatory works as to the theological Writings of Swedenborg. It is true that the less radical of our friends seem to concede that some kind of difference exists as to the precise delight of authority to be attached to these classes of works. But they are so preoccupied with the search for passages to support a particular theory that they do not tell us in clear and plain terms what this difference really is. And the interests of sound scholarship would appear to demand that an accurate idea of the proportionate weight and value to be placed on the various works should be arrived at before any of them are used as a quarry from which controversial material may be drawn. In plain language, our friends should put to rest the natural and growing suspicion that the philosophical and scientific writings of Swedenborg are regarded as a Divine Revelation.

     Can it be true that, as Mr. Acton suggests, it is not possible to understand the theology of the New Church until we have obtained a general grasp of the Preparatory works of Swedenborg? If this is really true, then few persons at present will have the honor of becoming real Newchurchmen. The old prejudice that Newchurchmen or Swedenborgians have necessarily to be of a peculiarly advanced intellectual type before they can be said to be real members of their Church, would thus find some basis in actual fact. It seems a Pity that a sense of proportion has not been observed by oar learned friends in this question. We do not think, as is alleged, that it is practically impossible for us to be spiritually minded, unless we accept the new theory as to the actual form and shape of angels and spirits. The urgency with which this idea has been thrust upon us by its various expounders, gives us the impression that we are called upon to drop every other interest, and duty, and idea, in order to contemplate the new idea which we are to accept without rational enquiry, consideration, and possible criticism.

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The old children's game in which participants open the mouth and close the eyes is very admirable for infants of tender age, but we are afraid to adopt a similar idea in regard to religion.

     Finally, I would point out that the idea of a secret or esoteric meaning involved in the Writings of Swedenborg,-a meaning which is apparent only to those who are gifted with a spiritual perception or genius,-is as foreign to the Academy as it is to the entire rational revelation of the New Church. And, certainly, so far as the correspondence in this matter is concerned, the real inwardness of our friend's position as to the form and shape of the bodies of angels and spirits still remains secret and esoteric to the majority of the members of the Church. But this may not be an unmixed blessing.
     WILLIAM WHITEHEAD.
INTERPRETATION OF 1914

INTERPRETATION OF        JAMES WATERS       1914

S. D. 355Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:-
     In common with other minds,-probably myriads that have gone before,-I am taking great interest in the subject of recent discussion relating to Soul and Body, and especially to the body of spirit, the mind, and the world in which it lives and moves and has its being.

     Being surrounded by societies of spirits in like affection, it is natural that we should wish to examine the concept and the grounds upon which certain presentations of this subject have been made. Such an examination may prove as useful as bringing together a further pile of evidence either for or against the presentations already given.

     Let us use these many eyes which the Lord has given. "For He wills that man should reason about Divine things," saying, "Those have spiritual light who love to understand whether that which another says is true; while those have natural light who love to confirm what has been said by another." (D. Wis. i, 5.)

     Not wishing to enlarge the field of operation, let us take the latest declaration of our friend who proffers it, (I have not the slightest doubt), in all good faith.

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     In a recent presentation by Mr. W. Rey Gill, (N. C. L., July, 1914), it is asserted that "the organic spiritual body as it is in se, is man's natural mind, (A. C. 3539:2; D. Wis. v. 3; D. P. 279; D. L. W. 360, 386), formed and inseated in the cortical glands of the brain, which mind, consisting of spiritual and natural substances, (D. L. W. 257), therefore, unlike purely spiritual substances, it has the characteristic of fixity and permanence.

     Again, "The spiritual substances which are present in the rest of the body during earth life are explicitly declared to be withdrawn entirely from the body at death, without any containing envelope of natural particles, and without the latter spiritual substances cannot possibly retain permanent form, (D. L. W. 257); as the cutaneous envelope of the spiritual 'body' is framed from, the purest things of nature, (D. L. W. 388), it does not and cannot appear in the spiritual world." "But it is," as Mr. Iungerich says, "a discretely higher and interior human form, differing entirely from the material one, as, for instance, the eyes of the spiritual body are the intellectual mind or understanding, (A. C. 3438, 6032, 6068, 10569)."

     This, of course, is a restatement of Mr. Gill's original hypothesis: "The body of a spirit or angel is simply the complex of the cortical glands of the brain." He also protests against the assumption that the doctrine which he presents rests only on early portions of the SPIRITUAL DIARY, saying that this tends to produce a critical feeling toward this work.

     Not having this alleged critical feeling towards the DIARY, I think it will be more satisfactory to first consider one or two passages from that work which have been advanced in support of his theory. And, as Mr. Gill alludes to Mr. Iungerich, and as both our friends rely so much on S. D. 3551 (see N. C. L., June, 1914, p. 431), urging that when we have grasped the idea presented in this number we shall find many passages in the Writings to confirm their position, we propose to advance through this strong fort,-not doubting its strength, but only doubting whether our friends have sufficiently examined its ramifications.

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     In the first part of S. D. 355 it is plainly stated that: "Spirits have no other perception than that they are in the human form, having a body with skin, bones, blood," etc.

     It is evident that these spirits are aware of the fact of possessing a form, as to its external shape like that to which they have been accustomed; and also that they retain the same ideas respecting it that they had when in the world, namely, that their body was and is, to them, the only evidence of life.

     It is clear that these spirits are of the same quality as those spoken of in S. D. 3521 who think they are still in their earthly body, and even still in the natural world; and it is said that some of these spirits, on being told or persuaded that they are in the other life, after some reflection perceive this to be the case; they then also see there is no need of such a body as they had in the world. But, as stated in S. D. 355: "Nevertheless, they retain the shape, [FIGURA], if not the internal, yet the external." The external human form and shape in all its nakedness;-this they retain.

     "But what is properly the nature or quality of the form [FORMA], they do not know. . . . But it may, in some measure, be concluded from the least organs of the brain, where are the beginnings, [PRINCIPIA], of the bodily form,-that they are forms not unlike those." That is to say, according to the principles of their minds so is their internal form,-so is their quality,-a quality governing them from their internal to their external form, even as transpires today in this world; and this in no way effecting any change as to the general external human form and shape, which is always according to the order of nature. That this is so, is confirmed by E. A. K., vol. ii, 314:

     There is no worthier matter of enquiry within the field of rational psychology than that presented by the question, whether, besides accidental mutation there can exist also a real or essential mutation in the spirituous fluid,-(which is demonstrated to the contrary. Continuing:) If any mutation happened with regard to its principle of motion, the soul might cease to be the order, truth, law, and representation of its universe; but that no such mutation takes place is confirmed by the fact; for whatever be a man's character, still his children are born with the details of the human form; whereas if an essential mutation could be induced, the human race in the lapse of ages might degenerate into some monstrous shape different from the human.

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     We learn also from rational anatomical enquiry that this cannot be, for the spirituous fluid resides so high above other forms, and is concealed so deeply within its fibres, that it cannot be touched as regards its essential determinations by any extrinsic natural force; except by a force of the most general kind derived from perpetual disharmonies of the senses, especially of sight. But besides that, this sense in itself does not penetrate beyond the sphere of the animus, and by no means reaches the mind, and much less the veriest singular sphere of the soul, no affection can result from it to the essential determinations of this fluid.

     That this conservation and retention of the form and shape of man is continued when he leaves this world, and lives on in the spiritual world, is also clearly shown by the doctrine of Influx, (see i. 12/4): "Hence it may be perceived that the union in a man of what is spiritual with what is natural, causes him to live as a spiritually natural man." "The reason that he lives in a similar and yet dissimilar manner after death is, because his soul is then clothed with a substantial body, just as in the natural world it was clothed with a material body."

     That spirits and angels have real substantial bodies, with head, trunk and extremities to every minute particular, is declared over and over again, and when, in various parts of the Writings, this subject is specifically under consideration, we are referred to H. H. 73-77. Indeed, this work is the text-book upon the subject. Stated briefly, "The arcana revealed in its pages are what concern Heaven and Hell and the life of man after death. Lest, therefore, a denial prevailing, especially with those who have much worldly wisdom should also infect and corrupt the simple in heart and faith, it has been given me to talk with angel's as man to man, to see what is in the heavens and what in the hells, to describe these things in the hope that ignorance may be enlightened and unbelief dispelled."

     The evidence given in S. D. 355 declares plainly that these spirits were in a complete human body and, (necessarily), form, and shape, but were in principles so corporeal and to such a degree, that they could scarcely be persuaded that they were in the other life. They were in the phantasy that it was a material body, and that they were in the material world. This phantasy was due to the disordered state of the mind, and its recipient organ, the brain; for, as stated, "when they directed their mind by thoughts upon the matter," or, in other words, when they reflected upon it, the state of their mind and the form of its organ, (the brain), was restored to a more orderly condition; a form and quality similar to the humans.

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That this is the obvious meaning of the latter part of S. D. 355, is evident from the explanation given in S. D. 353, where it is stated: "The soul retains a certain spiritual memory, or a memory of rational and immaterial ideas, as they are called; and that it is that memory, which is the cause why a man after death does not know otherwise than that he is still in the body, but since this memory is born from the memory of the natural mind, it is replete with fallacies, and disturbs and obscures, and if left to itself perverts truths; wherefore this memory successively vanishes, and the rational principle hence arising perishes. But this memory is nevertheless so long retained, and is imbued with knowledge of truths, until it can be obliterated, (or dispensed with). At length the man remains, in so far as he is a man, that is, as to his essential nature, together with what is acquired, which is the ground in which is sown the new or heavenly seed, hence arises,-the new man." In other words, he is in a truly human form and shape because he is in the true Order of Creation.

     Having entered our friends' fortifications, and considered to some small extent their clue, let us follow the leading given in D. L. W. 388,-quoting more freely than our friends have done. This number begins with the qualification: "from the things now said it may also be seen." These things alluded to occur in nos. 386-7; and, as we are directed to bear them in mind, we will briefly note a few of these rays of light upon the subject, D. L. W. 386: "The mind of a man is his spirit and his spirit is a man, and the body is the external through which the mind or spirit acts in ITS world."

     From a corporeal judgment it is said by our friends: "How can a spirit be a man, when it is a spirit? and how can a soul be a man, when it is a soul?" From such judgment various hypotheses are invented, founded upon merely sensual concepts.

     But that a man is equally a man after death, and so much a man that he knows no other than that he is still in the former world, is declared in reference to CONT. L. J. 32, 8:

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     That he sees, hears and speaks as in the former world, he walks, runs and sits, he eats and drinks; he sleeps and awakens, he enjoys conjugial delights as in the former world. In a word, he is a man as to each and all things; from which it is evident that death is but a continuation of life and a mere passage.

     Further, in CONT. L. J. 37, we read:

     There are lands, hills, mountains, plains and valleys, fountains, rivers, houses, books, professions, trades, precious stones, gold, silver, etc., in short, all things whatsoever which exist in the natural world, and those in the heavens are infinitely more perfect. The difference in general is this: things in the spiritual world are from a spiritual origin, from the sun there, which is pure Love; and things in the natural world are from a natural origin from the sun there, which is pure fire. Hence it is that the spiritual man must be nourished with food from a spiritual origin, and the natural man with food from a natural origin. (Here again we are referred to H. H.)

     But now to advance to D. L. W. 388:

     From the things now said it may also be seen that 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. According to what was also shown above, 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 is 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 the world some fixed containant of spiritual things and thus continue and perpetuate life. It is of angelic wisdom, that the mind of man not only (in general) but also in every particular is in the effort toward the human form, because God is a Man.

     And D. L. W. 389:

     That man may be man, no part can be wanting either in the head or in the body, that exists in perfect man, for there is nothing there that does not enter into that form and make it, for it is the form of Love and Wisdom which viewed in itself is Divine.

     All the determinations of love and wisdom are in it, which are infinite in God Man, but finite in His image which is Man, Angel and Spirit.

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     How different, then, is the doctrine of DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM to that suggested by our friend, who presents as a condition for our future life a concretion of corticals having neither permeability nor orbit of life;-fibre less;-having no ingress, no egress;-every imaginable animation transpiring within its own cell This is not life; it is mere animation, mere conception, mere thought with no ultimate activity,-which produces nothing. This is indeed reminiscent of many doubtful things. Surely, 'tis not possible to conceive of an angel as simply brain corticals. D. L. W. 87 declares that "angels have an internal and an external as well as men. Their internal thinks and is wise and wills and loves, and their external feels, sees, speaks and acts." Our friend appears to think that this is impossible, for he says, "that the spiritual substances in the rest of the body, (that is, other than the brain corticals), during earth life, are explicitly declared to be withdrawn entirely from the body at death, and without retaining any containant envelope of natural particles and without the latter spiritual substances cannot possibly retain permanent form." D. L. W. 257 is given in support of this assertion; but, as we read it we find it states that "the natural substances of the mind which recede by death, constitute the cutaneous covering of the spiritual body in which spirits and angels are; through such covering, which is taken from the natural world, their spiritual bodies subsist for the natural is the ultimate containing form; hence there is no spirit or angel who was not born a man."

     The fact that a spirit has a soul, a mind, and a body, appears to be overlooked by our friends; and should they query, "where then is the difference between spiritual life and natural'?" I would answer in the words of the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, (in N. C. L., Aug.-Sept, 1913, page 503), "There is no difference. . . . The real thing here is just the same as the real thing there."

     Also I would reply in the words of the Revelator, "death is but a continuance of life and a passage."

     I would repeat therefore that, as the mind accompanies the soul into every particular of its kingdom, and this by means of the simple fibers, this should demonstrate the entirety of a spiritual body and shape like to the natural body, as is so often reiterated in the Writings, as, for example, D. Wis. vii, 4:

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     The spirit of man is not a substance that is separate from his viscera, organs, and members, but it cleaves to them in close conjunction; it goes along with every fibre and filament from outermosts and innermosts;-and thus of the heart and lungs; consequently, when the bond between man's body and spirit is loosed, the spirit is in a form like that in which the man was before, there has been merely a separation of spiritual substance from material;-how greatly then do those err who assign to the soul a special seat in the brain or heart.

     Substances in the spiritual world appear to be material, although they are not, and because they are not material, they are not permanent, they are correspondences of the affections of angels, and they remain as long as the affections or the angels; remain and disappear with them, and the same would have been true of angels if they had been created in the spiritual world. (D. Wis., VIII, 7.)

     An angel takes to himself existence, for from the inmosts of nature he takes to himself a medium between the spiritual and the natural by which he is so terminated as to have stability and permanence. (D. Wis., VIII, 8.)

     Note the distinction between the permanence of the angel, and the changes of the state of his mind, as seen in the creations around him; these changes of the mind, decreasing or increasing his love's affection; pleased or displeased, the point of view diminishes or enlarges the aspect of the outlook.

     Does this help in accounting for the strange phenomenon that puzzles some of our friends, namely, that of a spirit appearing at one time as an infant, and at another as an adult,-as a pigmy or as a giant.

     Surely it is but a matter of estimation, for we hold in minimum our friend's hypothesis with the difference that, to him, it looms large upon his horizon,-a very full-orbed eye of day. Yet, by the very terms of his contract, 'tis but a "mere appearance," his real in se being somewhat small.

     We see, then, that it is a matter of interior activities undoubtedly affecting exterior conditions, and we must not confuse these, but distinguish them. By so doing, we may progress, not necessarily discretely, but continuously; for, after all, we do but exercise our rationality which is exterior, (being natural), upon spiritual things which are interior.

     Let us not unduly exalt ourselves, claiming that to be interior which is only exterior.

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     But enough,-let us now shake hands; and if, like boys upon the village green, we have wrestled and striven for mere mastery, maybe this growing strength will be useful for service and allegiance to the Lord. We proffer, then, to Him, the staff, the sword, the buckler, and the power to wield; and if we in our ignorance have offended, we crave forgiveness and repent us, acknowledging that, "The most universal law of Our Kingdom is to love 'the Neighbor' as ourselves, and 'the King' more than ourselves, and that Holy Scripture is our code of rules;-these rules are not so dark or obscure as the philosophy of the mind and love of self and of the world would make them, nor so deep and hidden but that any sincere soul, which permits the spirit of God to govern it, may draw from this pure fountain;-pure enough for the use and service of the members of the City of God." (E. A. K., Part II, 366.)
     JAMES WATERS.

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Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST. This year I again spent the summer in the Canadian northwest, the greater part of the time in Rosthern, Sask. In this field Mr. John Zacharias, a student of the Convention Theological School, and I worked together from the 11th of July to the 10th of August. We preached alternately at Rosthern and at Hague, eleven miles from Rosthern. The Rev. Claas Peters, of Waldeck, Sask., also preached in Rosthern on the 19th of July. From the 10th to the 28th of August I worked alone, as Mr. Zacharias then served the societies in southern Saskatchewan. The average attendance at worship for the summer was 51 at Rosthern and 21 at Hague.

     At Rosthern I conducted a school for the religious instruction of children two afternoons each week. The Ten Commandments were committed to memory, talks were given on the generals of doctrine, and the story of the Word was told from Numbers to Judges, inclusive. The average attendance was 14 children. A young people's class was held once a week at which doctrine from the work on HEAVEN AND HELL was in part told and in part read. The average attendance was 17. A general doctrinal class, conducted in German, was also held once a week, reading DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM. The average attendance was 19.

     The work in the school and the classes was a continuation of that begun a year ago. I also delivered missionary sermons at Resthern, Hague, Waldheim and Laird.

     During the summer seven adults and two children were baptized into the New Church at Rosthern. The Holy Supper was celebrated on the 23d of August, in the morning at Rosthern, and in the evening at Hague.

     On the 12th of August I attended the annual meeting of the Northwestern German New Church Conference, held at Herbert, Sask.

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This Conference consists of six societies; one of these is in Manitoba, at Rosemont, (the Rev. J. Ens, pastor); three in southern Saskatchewan, at Chaplin, (the Rev. P. Hiebert, pastor), at Herbert and at Waldeck, (the Rev. C. Peters, pastor); two in central Saskatchewan, at Rosthern and at Hague. The morning session was devoted to worship, at which the Rev. Mr. Hiebert preached an excellent sermon. At the afternoon session business was transacted,-the administration of finances and the election of officers and committees. It had been intended, as stated at the last meeting of the General Convention, that the Conference should join the Convention at this meeting; quite active work had been done during the summer in some societies of the Conference in the way of preparing for this step; but the matter was not brought up at the meeting. The Conference, therefore, remains an independent body, and its members are left free to become individual members either of an association of the General Convention or of the General Church. The Conference and its component societies thus present another field in which members of the two general bodies can work together in the cause of the Church. Business being concluded, I on invitation read a paper prepared for this meeting on Baptism on Entrance into the New Church from the Old. The subject was discussed by the Rev. Messrs. Hiebert and Peters and Mr. John Zacharias. None of the speakers supported the paper, and Mr. Peters was emphatic in his opposition to it. The evening session, like that of the morning, was given to worship, which it was my privilege and pleasure to conduct.

     From August 29th to September 1st I visited the society at Chaplin, on invitation of its pastor, the Rev. Mr. Hiebert. I preached three times: first, fifteen miles south of Chaplin, where 25 persons were present; second, at the house of Mr. Hiebert, two miles north of Chaplin, 28 present; third, in Chaplin, 35 present. Mr. Hiebert is an earnest worker in the cause of the Church and loyal to the Heavenly Doctrines; the result of this can be seen in his society. I received a hearty invitation to come again and for a longer period.

     September 3d to 6th I spent with our General Church members at Kenora, Ontario, Mr. and Mrs. Pagon and Mrs. Werner Schnarr.

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On Sunday, the 6th, services were conducted at which the infant of Mr. and Mrs. Pagon was baptized, a sermon given, and the Holy Supper celebrated.
     F. E. WAELCHLI.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     SPAIN. Mr. Rowland Lees, of Barcelona, sends the following extract from a letter received by him from Mr. J. H. Andersen, of Valencia: "The sale of the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION and HEAVEN AND HELL, as well as of the booklet, NUEVA JERUSLEM, has been going on better than I ever dared to anticipate. Out of the 500 copies of the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION I have only about 170 copies left, and out of the 200 copies of the HEAVEN AND HELL only about 50 left. I have recently published another little book, EXTRACTOS DE ARCANA COELESTIA, APOCALYPSIS REVELATA, etc., 1,000 copies. My bookseller in Barcelona did a fair sale in 1912, and last year also. This year I don't know how he is getting on, as we settle accounts only when the year finishes. The books have sold well, especially abroad, in Buenos Ayres, Rosario, Santos, Puerto Rico, Havana. I have sent more than 150 copies to these places on order. The buyers here, as well as there, are principally theosophists and spiritualists, except at Puerto Rico and Santos, where I have found eager New Church friends. The bookseller's commission is 40 per cent.; that is what increases the cost of the books so much. When New Church societies are established in Spain this will, of course, be modified. Here at Valencia quite a number of young men have formed a society for propagating the work. Perhaps they will soon be able to form a New Church society. I am now translating THE PATH OF LIFE, a precious little volume of some 250 pp., octave, being a compilation in doctrinal form from all the writings of Swedenborg. Rev. W. L. Worcester will assist me to have this published. I know the SPIRITUAL COLUMBUS; it is a good biography of Swedenborg, and ought to be published, but our very limited means do not allow us to publish more than the very essential of the Writings in the form of extracts. We must hope for better times." It is of interest to know that a translation of the SPIRITUAL COLUMBUS into the Spanish exists in MS., and only awaits the provision of necessary means for its publication. (NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE for Sept., 1914.)

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Chicago District Assembly 1914

Chicago District Assembly       W. B. CALDWELL       1914




     ANNOUNCEMENTS.



     The Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Chicago District Assembly of the General Church will be held at the Immanuel Church, Glenview, Illinois, from October 9th to 11th, inclusive.

     All members and friends of the General Church are cordially invited to attend. Those who expect to attend are requested to send notice of their coming to Mr. W. H. Junge, Glenview, Illinois, who will provide for their entertainment.
     W. B. CALDWELL,
          Secretary
Local Assembly in Pittsburgh 1914

Local Assembly in Pittsburgh       HOMER SYNNESTVEDT       1914

     A Local Assembly will be held at Pittsburgh, October 23 and 25. Members and friends of the General Church are welcome.
     HOMER SYNNESTVEDT.



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CREATION IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD 1914

CREATION IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD       C. TH. ODHNER       1914


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. XXXIV NOVEMBER, 1914          No. 11
     In entering upon a study of creation in the spiritual world it must be recognized at the outset that this subject can be comprehended only with great difficulty by men in the natural world, for the angels themselves testified that while they have a clear perception of it in their own spiritual light, they cannot easily present it before a man in his natural light, (D. L. W. 291), and that it cannot be comprehended by any natural idea, but only by a spiritual idea. (D. L. W. 7.) Any attempt to grasp such arcana by the aid of natural science and philosophy would be as futile as the effort of a camel to enter through the eye of a needle. There is, however, a wealth of revelation concerning this subject in the Writings of the New Church, and we shall endeavor now to present these revealed teachings in something of a systematic outline and digest.

     1. That there is such a, thing as "creation" in the spiritual world, and hence actual objects produced by the Creator, is not to be doubted, for in that world man idea of creation comes forth perpetually,"-objects of creation being produced instantaneously before the very eyes of spirits and angels, from moment to moment and day by day to all eternity.

     "There, creation is unceasing and instantaneous, for in the spiritual world lands exist in a moment, and upon them paradisal gardens, and in these trees full of fruits, also shrubs, flowers, and plants of every kind. When these are contemplated by one who, is wise, they are found to be correspondences of the uses in which the angel's are, to whom they are given as a reward." (A. E. 1226:2.)

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     "In the spiritual world, the same as in the natural world, beasts of every kind, and birds of every kind, and fishes of every kind, are to be seen, and so like in form that they cannot be distinguished from those in our world; but there is this difference that in the spiritual world they spring evidently from the affections of angels and spirits, so that they are affections made apparent, and consequently they disappear as soon as the angel or spirit departs, or his affection ceases." (A. E. 1199:2.)

     "From all this it can be seen that all things in the universe, viewed from uses, in an image refer to man, and that this bears witness to the truth that God is a Man. For all those things that have been enumerated above, do not exist round about the angel from the angel, but from the Lord through the angel; for they exist from the influx of the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom of the Lord into the angel, who is the recipient, and there is produced before his eyes as it were the creation of a universe." (D. L. W. 326.)

     2. The following summary of the doctrine concerning creation in the spiritual world is found in the "Canons of the New Church."

     "7. That Jehovah God, through the Sun in the midst of which He is, created the spiritual world; and through this mediately He created the natural world.
"8. That spiritual things are substantial and that natural things are material, and that the latter have existed and subsist from the former, like what is posterior from what is prior, or exterior from interior.

     "9. That hence all things which are in the spiritual world are also in the natural world and vice versa, with a difference of perfection.

     "10. That the natural originates from the spiritual, as the material from the substantial, and that therefore they are everywhere together; and that thus the spiritual exercises its activities and performs its functions through the natural.

     "11. That in the spiritual world an idea of creation perpetually exists; since all things which there exist and are made, are created in an instant by Jehovah God.

     "12. That around every angel in heaven there is an idea of (creation." (CANONS, God, chapter iv.)

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     And the following note is added in the margin:

     "That creation in the spiritual world can be seen. In that world everything is created instantaneously by the Lord; houses and domestic utensils, foods and garments are created; fields, gardens and plains are created; flocks and herds are created. These and innumerable other things are created according to the affections and perceptions of the angels thence arising, and appear around them and continue as long as they are in those affections, and are removed as soon as those affections cease. In the hells also, serpents, savage beasts and hurtful birds are created; not that they are created by the Lord, but that goods are there turned into evils. Hence it is evident that all things in the world are created by the Lord and are fixed by means of natural things which encompass them." (Annotation to CANONS, God, ch. iv. 12.)

     3. The completeness and fulness of substantial creations in the other life are thus described in the Writings:

     "All the things which are on the earth are also in the heavens." (S. D. 5592)

     "In the spiritual world there is a fulness of all things, all things being substantial and not material; and material things derive their origin from substantial things." (C. L. 207.)

     "It should be known that the spiritual world is in external appearance wholly similar to the natural world. Lands, mountains, hills, valleys, plains, fields, lakes, rivers, springs of water, are to be seen there as in the natural world; thus all the things belonging to the mineral kingdom. Paradises, gardens, groves, woods, and in them trees and shrubs of all kinds, bearing fruit and seeds; also plants, flowers, herbs, and grasses, are to be seen there; thus all the things pertaining to the vegetable kingdom. Animals, birds, and fishes, of every kind, are also to be seen there, thus all the things which are of the animal kingdom. Man is there as an angel or as a spirit. This is premised in order that it may be known that the universe of the spiritual world is altogether similar to the universe of the natural world, with this sole difference that these things which are there are not tired and settled as are the things which are in the natural world, because in the spiritual world nothing is natural, but everything is spiritual." (D. L. W. 321.)

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     "Not only do all things exist in the spiritual world that exist in the natural world, but innumerable things besides, which are never seen in the natural world, nor can be presented to the sight." (L. J. 27.)

     4. That the creations in the spiritual world are "creations" in the full sense of that word, is evident from these words of the angels:

     "The difference is that in our world such things are created by God from moment to moment in accordance with the affections of the angels. In your world they were created in like manner in the beginning; but it was provided that they should be renewed unceasingly by the propagation of one from another, and creation be thus continued in that manner." (T. C. R. 78.)

     "A type of the creation of the universe was shown to me, to the life, by the angels. I was conducted to heaven, and it was given me to see there all things of the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdom, similar to the objects of those kingdoms in the natural world. And then they said: 'All these things are created in a moment by God; and they continue to exist as long as the angels are interiorly as to thought in a state of love and faith;' also that this instantaneous creation evidently testifies to the creation of similar things, yea, a similar creation in the natural world, with the sole difference that natural things clothe spiritual things, and that this clothing was provided by God for the sake of the generative processes by which creation is perpetuated. Hence, that the creation of the universe was affected in a manner like that in which it is effected every moment: in heaven. Nevertheless, all noxious and hideous things in the three kingdoms of nature were not created by God, but had their rise with hell." (INDEX TO RELATIONS IN T. C. R. xi.)

     6. All the objects created in the spiritual world are termed "appearances" for the simple reason that they appear and again disappear according to the states of spirits and angels. And the only reason why they are thus fleeting is that they are not "fixed " by infilling material particles as are the creations in the natural world.

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     "The spiritual man, or spirit, does not possess matter, space, time, and quantity, as subjects, but only as objects. The reason of this is that in the spiritual world there are objects entirely resembling those which are in the natural world, such as lands, plains, fields, gardens and forests; houses with rooms in them, and in these all kinds of things, whose purpose is use. In addition to these, there are garments, such as there are in the world, suitable both for men and women; tables, foods, and drinks, such as there are in the world; animals, too, both tame and savage; and consequently there are spaces and times, as well as numbers and measurements. All those things bear such a resemblance to those that are in the world, that they are not distinguishable by the eye. Nevertheless, all those things are appearances,-on the one hand, of the wisdom of the understanding of the angels, and on the other hand, of the perceptions of the loves of their will; for they are created in a moment by the Lord, and are also in a moment dissolved, being permanent or non-permanent according to the permanence or non-permanence of spirits or angels in those things of which they are the appearances. This is the reason why those things are only the objects of their thought and affections, and why the subjects are those things from which the appearances arise,-these being, as stated, the things that relate to wisdom and love, thus spiritual things." (Div. Wis. vii:5.)

     "As there are like things in heaven and in our world, in the heavens there are spaces and times, but the spaces there, like the lands themselves, and the things upon them, are appearances; for they appear according to the states of the angels, and the extensions of spaces and distances appear according to the similarities and dissimilarities of states. By states are meant states of love and wisdom, or of affections and of thoughts therefrom, which are manifold and various." (A. E. 1219:2.)

     6. The first of spiritual creation was the production of those substances which constitute the Sun of the spiritual world; and from this finite spiritual man there were produced three spiritual atmospheres.

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     "When I have been in a state of enlightenment," [said Swedenborg to the angels], " I have perceived that by means of the heat and light from the Sun of your world spiritual atmospheres, which are in themselves substantial, were created one from another. As there were three of these atmospheres, and consequently three degrees of them, three heavens were made. . . . But as this spiritual universe cannot exist without a natural universe, wherein it can work out its effects and uses, so at the same time a sun was created from which all natural things proceed, and through which in like manner, by means of heat and light, three atmospheres were created, encompassing the former as a shell its kernel, or as bark its wood; and finally by means of these atmospheres the terraqueous globe was created." (T. C. R. 768.)

     "The spiritual atmospheres are discrete substances, or least forms, originating from the Sun; and as they receive the Sun molecularly, (singillatim), 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; . . . in like manner the light of the Sun." (D. L. W. 174.)

     "The three atmospheres in the natural world are natural, and are in themselves passive, because they proceed from a Sun which is pure fire. But the three which correspond to them in the spiritual world are spiritual, and are in themselves active, because they proceed from a Sun which is pure Love. The angels of the heavens dwell in the regions of these three atmospheres: the angels of the highest heaven dwell in the celestial aura, which proximately environs the Sun where the Lord is; the angels of the middle heaven dwell in the spiritual ether beneath; and the angels of the lowest heaven dwell in the spiritual-natural air beneath the two other atmospheres. Thus are firmly established all the heavens, from the first to the last." (COR. 17. See also D. L. W. 176; A. R. 238; A. E. 342, 538, 594, 726; J. POST. 312, 313.)

     7. There spiritual atmospheres, as they proceed one from the other, become successively more composite, dense and compressed, and finally so compressed that they are no longer atmospheres but substances at rest, inert but not yet "fixed," as are the matters of the earth.

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     "These spiritual atmospheres increase in density by discrete degrees, even to the angels of the lowest heaven, to whom in this way they are accommodated. It is for this reason that the angels of the highest heaven live as it were in a pure aura, the angels of the middle heaven as in an ether, and the angels of the lowest heaven as in air. Beneath these atmospheres in each heaven are the lands (terrae) upon which they dwell. All these things are from a spiritual origin, and none from a natural origin. . . . Everything in the natural world has been created correspondent to these things, wherefore on this account similar things exist, with this difference that the latter are similarly from a spiritual origin, but at the same time from a natural origin. They have a natural origin in addition, in order that they may at the same time be material and therefore fixed, with the procreation of the human race as the end." (DIV. WIS. xii:5.)

     "It was shown in Part iii, [of D. L. W.], n. 173-176, that in each world, the spiritual and the natural, there are three atmospheres, which are distinct from each other according to degrees of altitude, and which, in their progress toward lower things decrease according to degrees of latitude. And since these atmospheres decrease in their progress toward lower things, it follows that they continually become more compressed and inert, and finally in their ultimates they become so compressed and inert that they no longer are atmospheres, but substances at rest, and, in the natural world, fixed such as are in the earths and which are called matters. As such is the origin of substances and matters, it follows, first, that these substances and matters are also of three degrees; secondly, that they are held together in their mutual connection by encompassing atmospheres; and, thirdly, that they are accommodated for the production of all uses in their forms." (D. L. W. 302.)

     "The angels said that from the Sun, [of the spiritual world], as a vast center, there proceed circles, one after another, and one from another, even to the ultimate, where their termination is, and where they subsist at rest; and that those circles, of which one is from another and one after another, and which appear to be extended in latitude and longitude, are spiritual atmospheres, which are filled by the light and heat from their Sun, by which they propagate themselves to the ultimate circle.

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Also, the creation of the earth, and of all things upon it that are for use, took place in the ultimate by means of those atmospheres, and afterwards by means of the natural atmospheres which are from the sun of the world." (ANG. IDEA CONC. CREATION.)

     8. That there is such an ultimate spiritual substance,-an inert substance from a spiritual origin,-a substance at rest but not fixed,-is a fact in complete harmony with Swedenborg's philosophical teachings in the "Principia" concerning the origin and nature of the "Third Finite or Substantial."

     "This finite derives its origin from the elementary particle; for it is the same as the elementary particle in its most highly compressed state, in which the actives have vanished in consequence of the compression; . . . that in their highest state of compression they more and more divest themselves of their elementary nature, and become more and more like a finite, until the whole of their elementary nature becomes changed into that of a finite, their elastic nature into a hard nature, and their highly compressible nature into a stubborn resisting nature." (PRINCIPIA, vol. I. chap. viii:4.)

     9. This first inert or quiescent substance, which is the lowest of spiritual substances and the highest of natural substances, is in the Writings termed "the ultimate spiritual" or "the spiritual natural." In the Preparatory works it is sometimes called "the prince of this world" because, being in itself inert, passive and resisting, it can be separated from the higher spiritual substances, and can be turned into evil forms and uses.

     "From all this it is evident that the ultimate spiritual, which is called the spiritual-natural, can be separated from its higher things, and is separated with the men of whom hell consists. This ultimate spiritual can separate itself from its highest things, and look towards hell, in men only; it cannot be thus separated either with beast or in the earths." (D. L. W. 345.)

     "Animals live only from the ultimate degree of the spiritual, which is called the natural." (D. L. W. 346.)

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     "That such representations exist in the spiritual world is because there are spiritual things interior and exterior. Spiritual things interior are all things which are of affection and of thought thence, or which are of the understanding of truth and the wisdom of good; and spiritual things exterior are so created by the Lord that they clothe or invest spiritual things interior. And when these are clothed and invested, then there stand forth forms like those in the natural world, and in these the interior spiritual things close in an ultimate, and in these they stand forth in an ultimate." (A. E. 582.)

     "These three forces,-the active force, the creative force, and the formative force,-are in the spiritual in every degree of it, but with a difference of perfection. But since there is nothing without its ultimate, in which it terminates and subsists, so the spiritual has its ultimate, which in the earth is in its lands and waters; and from this ultimate the spiritual produces plants of all kinds, from the tree to the blade of grass, and in these the spiritual abides, manifesting itself only in a certain likeness to animals that have been spoken of above." (A. E. 12102.)

     10. This ultimate spiritual substance forms the earths and lands in the spiritual world,-"earths from a spiritual origin," upon which spirits and angels dwell.

     "The idea of state which the angels have, and the derivative idea of the appearance of space and time, is not given except in the ultimates of creation there, and from them. The ultimates of creation there are the earths upon which the angels dwell; it is there that spaces and times appear, and not in the spiritual things themselves from which the ultimates have been created; and they do not appear] even in the angelic affections themselves, unless the thought from them reaches through to the ultimates." (A. E. 1219.)

     "That plants have the same origin is evident, especially from the plants in the heavens, in their appearing according to the affections of the angels, and representing those affections, even so that the angels see and recognize their affections in them as in their types; also that they are changed as the affections change; but this occurs outside of the societies.

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The only difference is that the affections appear formed into animals by the spiritual in its intermediate parts, while they appear formed into plants in its ultimates, which are the lands there. For the spiritual which is their source, is living in its intermediates, but is not living in its ultimates. In ultimates, the spiritual retains no more of life than is sufficient to produce a resemblance of being alive." (A. E. 1212:2.)

     "These forces proceed continually to their ultimates, in which they close and subsist; and for this reason there are lands also in the heavens, for the lands there are these forces in ultimates. There is this difference, that the lands there are spiritual from their origin, but here they are natural; and the productions from our lands are effected from the spiritual by means of nature, but in those lands without nature." (A. E. 1212:4.)

     11. That there actually are substantial earths and lands in the spiritual world may seem incredible, but it is nevertheless a fact. "Beneath these atmospheres in every Heaven there are earths upon which they dwell." (D. WIS. xii. 5.)

     "In the spiritual world there are earths equally as in the natural world; bur, like all things there, the earths are from a spiritual origin." (A. R. 865.)

     "Hell . . . is beneath the earths of the spiritual world, which also are from a spiritual origin, and are therefore not in extension, but in appearance of extension. (C. L. 475.)

     "John was in the spirit, in which state no other 'earth' appeared to him than the earth of the spiritual world; for there are earths there as in the natural world. . . . For the heavens are expanses, one above another, and each expanse is like an earth under the feet of those who are there." (D. L. W. 260.)

     "In the spiritual world there are lands, hills, and mountains. In appearance they differ nothing from those in the natural world; so that: after death men scarcely know that they are not living upon the earth; and when there is an opportunity for them to look into our Earth, they see nothing dissimilar. Moreover, the angels of the ultimate heaven call that, 'Heaven' where the angels of the third heaven dwell because it is high above them; and where they themselves dwell they call 'the earth;' for the third heaven which is upon the mountains, appears to those who are upon the earth as the highest region of the atmosphere appears to us." (A. E. 304.)

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     "In the spiritual world, there are earths as in natural world, full of mountains and hills, also of valleys and of rivers. When all these taken together are called 'the earth,' then 'the earth' signifies the Church; but when the lowest parts of the earth are meant, as is meant by being 'cast down from heaven into the earth,' 'the earth' signifies what is damned, because beneath the lowest parts are the hells; and there are earths in the hells, too, but damned earths. For this reason no angel is wont to go with his head down or nodding, so as to look to the earth nor even to lie upon the lowest parts of the earth, nor to take up any of the dust of it. Indeed, no one is allowed to walk on those earths with bare feet. The earths which are damned are readily distinguished from the earths which are not damned, from the fact that a damned earth is quite barren and is nothing but dust, being covered here and there with thorns and briers; whereas an earth which is not damned is fruitful, full of plants, shrubs, trees, and also fields." (A. E. 742)

     The angels said: "'There are heavens and earths here also; heavens where the angels dwell and lands upon which they dwell.' At this the novitiates responded, 'What is this? Perhaps you are joking? Are not angels spirits? What is a spirit but a breath of wind! And where is this breath? Does it not fly about in the atmospheric heaven and go even to the stars?' The angels then replied, 'You are now in the spiritual world, and as yet you know not otherwise than that you are in the natural world. Here heaven, where the angels are, is above your head, and hell where the devils and satans are, is under your feet. The soil upon which you and we stand, is it not earth? Stamp upon it with your feet, and know." (5 MEM. 10.)

     12. The earths and lands in the spiritual world, like all other objects created there, are termed "appearances," because they can be crested in a moment, and again in a moment be dissolved, inasmuch as they are not "fixed" by angular particles as in the natural world. They are nevertheless substantial and real, and are the ultimate basis of the phenomena of space and time in the other life, which are as real as in our world, but not fixed and constant.

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     "If there were no spaces and times in the spiritual world, that whole world could be drawn through the eye of a needle, or concentrated on the point of a hair. This would be possible if there were no substantial extense there; but as there is one there, the angels dwell as discretely and distinctly from each other as men do, and even more so." (T. C. R. 292.)

     "Since angels and spirits see with eyes, just as men in the world do, and since objects cannot be seen except in space, therefore in the spiritual world where angels and spirits are, there appear to be spaces like the spaces on earth, yet they are not spaces but appearances, for they are not fixed and constant, as spaces are on earth. They can be lengthened or shortened; they can be changed or varied. Thus because they cannot be determined in that world by measure, they cannot be comprehended by any natural idea, but only by a spiritual idea. The spiritual idea of the distances of space is the same as the idea of distances of good or distances of truth, which are affinities and likenesses according to the states of good and truth." (D. L. W. 7.)

     "But this idea of state with the consequent idea of appearance of space and time comes solely in and from the ultimates of creation there; the ultimates of creation there are the lands upon which the angels dwell." (A. E. 12195.)

     "Since these lowest things of nature, which form soils, are dead, and are not changeable and varying according to states of affections and thoughts, as in the spiritual world, but unchangeable and fixed, therefore in nature there are spaces and spatial distances." (D. L. W. 160.)

     "Moreover, in the inmost heaven there are fruits and seeds of pure gold, in the middle heaven of silver, and in the lowest heaven of copper; there are also flowers, of precious stones and of crystal. All these germinate from the lands there. There are lands there as with us; but nothing springs up from seeds sown, but only from seeds created; and creation there is instantaneous, sometimes enduring for a long time, and sometimes only for a moment; for they exist there by means of the forces of light and heat from the Sun of Heaven which is the Lord, and apart from the forces that serve as substitutes and aids from the light and heat from the Sun of the world.

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This is why the matters in the lands of our globe are fixed, and the germinations are permanent; while the matters and substances in the lands that are in the heavens are not fixed, and consequently the germinations from them are not permanent. There all things are spiritual with a natural appearance; but in the lands which are subject to the sun of our world it is not so. These things have been mentioned to show that in everything spiritual, both in heaven and in the world, and both in the firsts and in the ultimates, there are these three forces, . . . and that these forces proceed continually to their ultimates, in which they close and subsist; and for this reason there are lands also in the heavens, for the lands there are these forces in ultimates. There is this difference, that the lands there are spiritual from their origin, but here they are natural; and the productions from our own lands are effected from the spiritual by means of nature, but in those lands without nature." (A. E. 1212:4.)

     13. This ultimate spiritual substance, which serves as earth or soil in the spiritual world, is the passive and re-active basis upon which and out of which organic spiritual forms are created.

     "In the spiritual world lands exist in a moment, and upon them paradisal gardens, and in these trees full of fruits, also shrubs, flowers, and plants of every kind." (A. E. 1226:2.)

     "The only difference is that the affections of the angels appear formed into animals by the spiritual in its intermediates, while they appear formed into plants in its ultimates, which are the lands there. For the spiritual which is their source is living in its intermediates, but is not living in its ultimates. In ultimates, the spiritual retains no more of life than is sufficient to produce a resemblance of being alive." (A. E. 1212:2.)

     "All these, [spiritual plants], germinate from the lands there. There are lands there as with us, but nothing springs up from seeds sown, but only from seeds created." (A. E. 1212:4.)

     14. There are three degrees of spiritual substance and hence three degrees of spiritual organic forms.

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     "In each world, the spiritual and the natural, there are there atmospheres which . . . continually become more compressed and inert, and finally in their ultimates so compressed and inert that they no longer are atmospheres, but substances at rest, and, in the natural world, fixed such as are in the earths and which are called matters. As such is the origin of substances and matters, it follows that these substances and matters are also of three degrees." (D. L. W. 302.)

     "The substance itself, the essence of which is intermediate between natural and spiritual substance, is at death first of all loosed from its connections with terrestrial things, which are properly called the body, and is carried with him, because it includes that higher substance the essence of which is spiritual, and which is called the intellectual mind. And this at the same time includes in itself the principal and purer substance of man, the essence of which is supercelestial and which is properly called the soul." (ADV. 2:1374.)

     "The most simple substance of man is his soul itself, which is also the first and the highest one. From this is born the second substance, which is that in which these changes-the thoughts-are carried on. From this again is a third substance, in which come forth the changes of state which are called imagination. Here is the memory itself. To this next succeeds the sensations." (ADV. 925.)

     "The soul, being a higher spiritual substance, receives influx immediately from God; but the mind being a lower spiritual substance, receives influx from God mediately from the spiritual world." (INFLUX 8.)

     "Thus the human mind has been organized,-interiorly of spiritual substances; exteriorly of natural substances; and finally of material things. A mind whose delights are good, is organized interiorly of spiritual substances such as are in heaven; but a mind whose delights are evil, is organized of spiritual substances such as are in hell." (T. C. R. 38.)

     15. The animals and plants seen in the spiritual world are not mere beasts and vegetables such as exist on earth, because they are from a spiritual origin. Nor do they have any existence independent of human life in the other world, but are organic forms of use, created by the Lord out of the ultimate spiritual substance, according to the affections and thoughts of spirits and angels and therefore in complete correspondence with them.

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     "Two flocks were seen in the spiritual world: the one consisted of goats, the other of sheep. I wondered who they were, since I know that the animals seen in the spiritual world are not animals, but that they are correspondences of the affections and hence of the thoughts of those who are there." (A. R. 417.)

     "As the animals that appear in that world bear such a resemblance to the animals that appear in this world, that no difference is discernible, and as the animals in the world derive their existence from the affections of the angels of heaven or from the lusts of the spirits of hell, it follows that natural affections or lusts are their souls, and when these have been clothed with a body they are animals in form." (A. E. 1200:4.)

     "Something shall now be said about plants in heaven, as the animals there have already been spoken of. In the heavens, as on the earth, there are plants of all genera and species; yea, in the heavens there are also plants which are not on the earth, for there are composite forms of the different genera and species, with infinite variations." (A. E. 1211:2.)

     "The difference, therefore, between the plants in the spiritual world and those in the natural world is that in the spiritual world both their seeds and their germinations exist in an instant according to the affections of the angels and spirits there; but in the natural world the origin is implanted in the seeds, from which they spring each year. Moreover, there are two things proper to nature, time and consequent succession, and space and consequent extension, but these do not exist in the spiritual world as Properties of it, but in their place are appearances of the states of life of those there; and this is why from the lands there, which are from a spiritual origin, plants spring up instantly and disappear instantly, but this occurs only when the angels go away; as long as they remain the plants continue." (A. E. 1212:5.)

     "Every plant there represents a form of use; and whatever appears in it, from its first to its last, and from its last to its first, that is, from seed to flower and flower to seed, exhibits the progression or extension from end to end of an affection and of its use.

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Those that are skilled in the sciences of Botany, Chemistry, Medicine, and Pharmacy, come after death into a knowledge of spiritual uses from the giants in the spiritual world, and cultivate that knowledge, and find the greatest delight in it." (A. E. 1214:4.)

     16. The organic creations in the spiritual world are altogether similar to animals and plants in this world as to external figure and internal structure and form, the only difference being that the ultimate spiritual substances of which they consist are not interstitially packed and fixed by material particles.

     "It is the Spiritual, deriving its origin from the Sun where the Lord is, and proceeding to the ultimates of nature, that produces the forms of vegetables and of animals,-exhibiting the marvels that exist in both,-and packs them with matters from the earth, in order that these forms may become fixed and constant." (D. L. W. 340)

     "Once in the spiritual world I heard two former presidents of the Royal English Society,-Sir Hans Sloan and Mr. Martin Folkes, conversing together concerning the existence of seeds and eggs and concerning productions from them on the earths. Sir Hans Sloane ascribed these things to nature and maintained that nature was from creation endowed with a power and force to produce such effects by means of the heat of the sun. The other one said that this force is continuous from God the Creator in nature. In order that this contention might be settled, a beautiful bird was shown to Sir Hans Sloane, and he was told to examine it to see whether it differed in the smallest particular from a similar bird on the earth. He held it in his hand, examined it, and said that there was no difference. He indeed knew that it was nothing but the affection of some angel, represented outside that angel as a bird, and that it would vanish or cease to exist with the affection of the angel; this also took place. By this experience Sir Hans Sloane was convinced that nature contributes altogether nothing to the production of vegetables and animals, but that they are produced solely by what flows into the natural world out of the spiritual world.

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If that bird, he added, were to be infilled, in its minutest parts, with corresponding matters from, the earth, and thus rendered fixed, it would become a permanent bird like the birds on the earth, and that it is the same with such things as are from hell. To this he added, that had he known what he now knew of the spiritual world, he would have ascribed to nature no more than this, that it serves the spiritual, which is; from God, by fixing those things which continually inflow into nature." (D. L. W. 344.)

     17. The permanence of spiritual creations depends upon the permanence of the affections and states of spirits and angels.

     "The things in our houses which are of use," said the angel, "remain there permanently, while to the sight of those who wander from one society to another these things change as their associations change. . . The difference is that in our world such things are created by God from moment to moment in accordance with the affections of the angels. In your world they were created in like manner in the beginning; but it was provided that they should be renewed unceasingly by the propagation of one from another, and creation be thus continued in that manner." (T. C. R. 78.)

     "That the universe of the spiritual world in an image refers to man, may be manifest from this that all the things which have been enumerated just above, (n. 321), appear livingly and exist round about an angel and round about the angelic societies, as if produced or created by them; they remain round about them, and do not recede. That they are as if produced or created by them, is manifest from this that they no longer appear when an angel goes away or when a society passes to another place; as also when other angels come in the place of the former, for then there is a change in the aspect of all the things around them; the paradises are changed as to trees and fruits; the flower gardens are changed as to blossoms and seeds; the fields as to herbs and grasses; and there are changes also in the varieties of animals and birds. Such things have existence and are changed in this manner, because all these things exist according to the affections and hence the thoughts of the angels, for they are correspondences.

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And because those things which correspond make one with that to which they correspond, they are an image representative of it. This image is not seen when these things are regarded in respect to their forms, but it does appear when they are regarded in respect to their uses. It has been granted me to perceive that the angels, when their eyes were opened by the Lord, and they saw these things from the correspondence of uses, recognized and saw themselves in them." (D. L. W. 322.)

     "In the natural world things are fixed, because they endure however the states of man may be changed, like lands, mountains and seas. They are permanent, because they recur regularly in turn, like the seasons, generations and germinations. And they are measurable, because all things can be defined, as spaces by miles and furlongs, and these by feet and spans, and as times by days, weeks, months and years. But in the spiritual world all things are as if they were fixed, do if they were permanent, and as if they were measurable; and yet in themselves they are not so. For they exist and continue according to the states of the angels, so that they make one with those states, and consequently they change in whatever way those states change. But this takes place especially in the world of spirits, into which every man first comes after death, and it is not so in heaven or in hell. It occurs in the world of spirits, because every man there undergoes changes of state, and is thus prepared for heaven or for hell." (A. E. 1218:2.)

     18. The spiritual body of man is the only organic form in the spiritual world endowed with eternal permanence, because it alone possesses substances of fixation derived from the moat highly sublimated forms of matter.

     "Man first enters extremes and ultimates, which is done by birth, in order that he may then be introduced into things interior and superior. And therefore there is no angel or spirit that was created such immediately. Hence they have extremes and ultimates which in themselves are fixed and set, and within and by which things interior can be held in connection." (D. P. 220.)

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     "It is to be observed that the very forms of man's members, organs, and viscera, as to their contexture itself, are from fibers which arise from their beginnings in the brains; and that these become fixed by means of substances and matters such as are in the earths and from the earth in the air and in the ether. This is effected by means of the blood." (D. L. W. 370.)

     "Man's spirit is not a substance separated from his viscera, organs, and members, but is intimately conjoined with them; for the spiritual accompanies every minute part from outmost to inmost, and therefore also all the minute structures and fibers of the heart and lungs. When therefore the connection between man's body and spirit is dissolved, the spirit possesses a form similar to that which the man had before; it is merely the separation of spiritual from material substance. Consequently the spirit has a heart and lungs as the man had in the world; he has therefore similar senses and motions, and he has also power of speech. And sense and motion and speech are not possible without a heart and lungs. Spirits also have atmospheres, but these are spiritual. How greatly, therefore, are those mistaken who assign a particular place for the soul, whether in the brain or in the heart; for it is the soul of man which is to live after death, that is, his spirit." (DIV. WIS. vii:24.)

     "Angels and spirits take with them from the inmost things of nature a medium between the Spiritual and the Natural, by means of which they receive that limitation, (finitio), which gives the capability of subsistence and permanence. By the Natural the Spiritual has relation to those things that are in nature and also corresponds to them. By this means, also, spirits and angels can be adjoined and conjoined to the human race; for there is a conjunction, and where there is conjunction there must also be a medium. The angels know that there is such a medium, but because it is from the inmost things of nature, while the words of all languages are from its ultimates, it cannot be described except by abstract things." (DIV. WIS. viii:4.)

     19. The ultimate spiritual substance, of which the spiritual body consists, exists together with its material fixations throughout the natural body; and on this account it arises after death in the complete form and figure of the natural body.

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     "As soon as the interiors of the body grow cold, the vital substances are separated from the man, wherever they are, even if enclosed in a thousand labyrinthine interlacings." (A. C. 179, S. D. 1104.)

     "The angers informed Calvin that he was now in a substantial body; and that previously he had been not only in the same, but also in a material one, which he had put on around the substantial one; and that the material body had been rejected, while the substantial one, from which man is man, still remained." (T. C. R. 798.)

     "Angels, as recorded in the Word, were seen by many as men, and these did not assume a human form, but made themselves manifest in their own form before the eyes of the spirit of those to whom they appeared, these eyes being at that time open."

     "The reason why man after death is a man equally as he was before death,-with the exception that after death he becomes a man-spirit,-is that his Spiritual is adjoined to his Natural, or the substantiality of the spirit is adjoined to the materiality of the body, with such adaptations and so intimately that there is not a fibril, thread, or the minutest part of them, where the human of the spirit is not in union with the corporeal human." (DIV. WIS. vii:4.)

     "Those who do not understand how it is with the spirit of man and his body may suppose that the spirit dwells within the body [like a nut in a shell], and that the body as it were girds and invests it, when yet the truth is that the spirit is in the whole and every part of the body and is its purer substance as both in its motories and its sensories and everywhere else; and the body is the material everywhere annexed thereto and fitted for the world in which he then is. This is what is meant by man being a spirit, and by his body serving him for uses in the world and by the spirit being his internal and the body his external. From this also it is evident that after death man is in an active and sensitive life, and also in the human form, in like manner as in the world, but in greater perfection." (A. C. 4659.)

     "I have been permitted to hear from the angels that there is equally a pulse in their arteries from the heart, and that they respire just as men do in the world; also, that the pulsations vary with them, according to the states of love, and respiration according to the states of wisdom.

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They themselves have touched their wrists, and have assured me of the above fact, and I have myself frequently noticed their respiration." (DIV. WIS. vii:2.)

     40. The permanence of the spiritual creations round about spirits and angels is derived from, and in according to, the sphere proceeding from the human spiritual body thus "fixed" by the finest substances of nature. Hence these spiritual creations are "as it were" fixed.

     "That which proceeds from anything derives its essence from that from which it proceeds; but it is clothed with such things as serve for communication, thus for use in a lower sphere. The things with which it is clothed are taken from such things as are in a lower sphere, to the end that the internal from which it proceeds may act in the lower sphere by such means as are there." (A. C. 5689.)

     "All the things which exist in the heavens appear in forms like those in our world in its three kingdoms. Their appearing in such forms is according to the order of creation, which is that when the things pertaining to the wisdom of the angels and to their love, descend into the lower sphere in which angels are as to their bodies and their bodily sensations, they are manifested in such forms and types." (A. E. 926.)

     "By these things I was confirmed that a sphere, consisting of substances set free and separated from their bodies, encompasses every one in heaven and every one in hell." (D. L. W. 292.)

     "These spheres make one with the angel or man no otherwise than that they are concordant, and this they are because taken from the forms of their bodies, which in them were forms of their life." (D. L. W. 294.)

     "Substances in the spiritual world appear as if they were material but still they are not so, and because they are not material, therefore they are not fixed. They are the correspondences of the affections of the angels, and they remain permanent with the affections or with the angels, and disappear with them.

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It would have been similar with the angels themselves, if they had been created there." (DIV. WIS. viii:3.)

     "All things which are on the earth are also in the heavens, but there they are not fixed, but nevertheless there is the appearance as of fixity. Many things may be enumerated, such as houses, fields, gardens, carriages, animals. It is hence plain that when man lives in the world he acquires to himself a plane of fixity, and that this, therefore, cannot be changed; hence it is that man remains to eternity of the quality he has been in the world. He has this plane with him, but it is entirely passive. Still his interiors close in it." (S. D. 5552)

     "The things of the interior memory manifest themselves in the other life by a certain sphere, from which the quality of spirits is known at a distance, i. e., what is their affection, and what their opinions. This sphere comes forth from the activity of the things in the interior memory." (A. C. 2489.)

     "There are as many spheres as there are affections and combinations of affections, which are innumerable. The sphere is as it were the man's image extended outside of himself, the image in fact of all things that are in him." (A. C. 1505.)

     The angels "never think about persons who are absent; but, when they are among themselves, and as it were alone, they think according to the objects which are before their sight; many objects also shape themselves visibly from others, with a variety according to their affections. They also perceive, from the variations in the objects, the presence of the sphere of others." (S. D. 5122.)

     "It is the affections and the thoughts thence that produce these appearances around the angels; for spheres are exhaled from all, and these spheres are changed into such appearances." (A. E. 342:10.)

     "They said, however, that the matter may be likened to the sphere of affections and of thoughts thence which encompasses every angel, whereby his presence is evident to others near and far. But that encompassing sphere, they said, is not the angel himself; it is from each and everything of his body from which substances are constantly flowing forth like a stream, and what flows forth encompasses; also that these substances, contiguous to his body, as they are continually actuated by the two fountains of the motion of his life,-the heart and the lungs,-excite the atmospheres into their activities, and by this means produce a perception as of his presence among others." (D. L. W. 291.)

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     "All garments signify things that proceed, for they are outside the body and clothe it, as things that proceed are also outside the body and encompass it. That this is so can be seen from what is said in the work on HEAVEN AND HELL concerning the Garments with which the angels are clothed, (n. 177-182), namely, that everyone is clothed with garments according to his affection of being intelligent and wise, and this affection is what: proceeds from them; for there is a sphere that proceeds from every angel and spirit, which is a sphere of affection and is called the sphere of his life, and their garments are according to this sphere. That this is so does not appear before their eyes, but yet they know that it is so." (A. E. 65.)

     "It was also perceived that a sphere flows forth, not only from angels and spirits, but also from each and all things that appear in the spiritual world,-from trees and from their fruits, from shrubs and their flowers, from herbs and from grasses, nay, even from the soils and their very particles." (D. L. W. 293.)

     21. A suggestion as to the "modus operandi" of the work of creation in the spiritual world.

     Now, when man enters the spiritual world, clothed with a cutaneous envelope of these purest substances of nature, there emanates from him a constant stream of exhalations, an enveloping sphere consisting also of these purest substances, and these sphere particles serve for an "as-it-were fixation" of creations in the spiritual world, just as the grosser matters of mother earth served for the fixation of all organic forms in the natural world.

     And these waves of sphere-emanations proceed from the spirit: in correspondence with the rhythmic motions of his life's love, which are identical with the affections of his will. And these again are clothed in the forms of his understanding and, ultimately, in the images impressed by the senses upon his memory.

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The sphere of the spirit, therefore, goes forth in correspondence with the forms of these "memory images," and when these sphere-forms are filled with the actives and passives of spiritual substance they become actual substantial and objective creations round about the spirit, in complete correspondence with all his affections and thoughts. As the affections expand the sphere expands and lends its infilling substance to the kinetic energies or use-endeavors that fill the atmosphere of the spiritual world, just as the water-particles in the air lend infilling substance to the vegetative soul in the ether, when on a frosty morning we find forms of flowers and leaves on pavements and window-panes. And when the affections of the spirit contract the sphere contracts: the infilling particles are withdrawn together with the sphere; and the spiritual object which had been created in an instant, is in an instant dissolved, the spiritual substances returning into their original elements.

     Thus the combined sphere of the human race from our earth gives an "as-it-were fixation" to a common and permanent earth in the spiritual world, a spiritual Tellus with spiritual lands and waters. The combined sphere of one general society forms out of the ultimate spiritual substance one spiritual mountain, with hills, plains and valleys below, and caverns underneath. The combined sphere of a lesser society forms an actual spiritual city, with temples, houses and gardens. The combined sphere of one married pair forms an actual spiritual house completely furnished, just as the individual sphere of each spirit forms actual spiritual garments, etc.

     These are not mere appearances, or mere "memory-images," but actual substantial creations surrounding each spirit and angel. If they were nothing but subjective memory-images, it would be a mockery to describe them as creations,-as the Writings everywhere do,-for a memory-image is a permanent impression remaining forever in the sensory,-and though they may appear and disappear to the conscious thought, such recollections cannot honestly be called new "creations."

     But let us give an illustration. A man possessing a celestial affection of innocence has in this world beheld a lamb, and in the sense-impression produced by this lamb the affection has found a corresponding and imperishable form in the ultimate plane of the mind.

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When this man has passed into heaven the same affection goes forth from the angel through the corresponding image of the lamb, and extends itself through his surrounding sphere, shaping a portion of its sphere-particles into the outline of a lamb. This substantial outline of a lamb now becomes the ultimate into which the creative influx of the Lord can pour forth the ultimate spiritual substance, and-an actual spiritual lamb is the result, perfect as to every detail of the lamb-form, and yet it is nothing but the affection of the angel thus formed. But if this affection should undergo some accidental (not essential) change, there must be a corresponding change among the memory images and in the proceeding sphere; the loan of infilling sphere-particles is withdrawn from the lamb, and the lamb is no more, but in its place, maybe, a corresponding bird or flower.

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RAISING OF LAZARUS 1914

RAISING OF LAZARUS       Rev. JOHN HEADSTEN       1914

     AN EXPOSITION OF THE INTERNAL SENSE.

     (Continued from the October LIFE.)

     "Then Martha, as soon as size heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him."

     As yet there was no activity of the internal rational mind, hence we read: "But Mary sat in the house."

     The following verse shows the progress of the Church in regard to the attitude it has taken to the Doctrines: it has advanced more and more into a rational conception and thence confession that they are the only means given by the Lord for the raising of the Church to life and causing it to live. This conception was external in the beginning, but it could not be otherwise; for as its establishment as a functionating body is done in the same way as the reformation and regeneration of an individual, it proceeds first from the outward inward, and afterwards from the inward outward; i. e., the first is the instruction and enlightenment of the understanding, and then the regeneration of the life. This progress is set forth in these words:

     "Then said Martha unto Jesus: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."

     Martha, speaking unto Jesus and calling Him "Lord," denotes perception of the Divine truth that it is the only source of life for the Church, and that by means of it alone interior rational good could be caused to live.

     But although there was such acknowledgment, still the true nature of the Heavenly Doctrine was not yet seen-they were held to be something apart from the Word itself, even as Martha believed Jesus to be a man apart from God Himself; hence these words:

     "But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give thee."

     The work of instruction was progressing in the Church.

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It became clearer and clearer to some of its members that the Church of the New Jerusalem would become a reality, not merely as to Doctrine, but also as to life; in other words, Lazarus, the brother, would rise again. Interior rational good would in due time be imparted to the Church, and it would live a life of true charity and faith. The forms which were as yet not filled with animating life would be made truly living by the inflow of genuine love to God and charity to the neighbor. That such a promise was made to the early receivers of the Heavenly Doctrine by means of influx and perception from the Lord Himself, as being the Truth, is manifest from these words:

     "Jesus saith unto her: Thy brother shall rise again."

     Although the Church was progressing it did so very slowly. What one day was a progression seemed the following to be a retrogression. Old ideas and conceptions cling and will not allow the new to gain the ground. We may read the Heavenly Doctrine with an affirmative mind, and yet not see its clear statements; and if we see them we do not dare to let go and trust in their Divine assurances that the Divine Providence rules all in general and each one in particular. Thus we might have read a statement of a certain doctrine for years, but did not see what it actually involved until it dawned upon us at some moment. Then we wondered that we had not seen it before.

     So it was with the Church. It saw that a complete set of doctrines was given to it, and that it had everything necessary for the building up of a true Christian Church. The Lord had revealed a true Doctrine concerning Himself; a rational Doctrine respecting the Sacred Scriptures; a Doctrine of Life based upon the Ten Commandments, and consequently free from all the statutes of men, besides rational and convincing light shed upon all subjects necessary for the establishment and life of a true Church; and yet the idea adhered and swayed the minds of the believers in the Doctrine that the New Church should be raised to life on the basis of the literal sense. It was believed and asserted that the Church was to be built with truths in their last form only, as is expressed in these words:

     "Martha saith unto Him: I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

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     After this idea had held the mind of the Church a much stronger influx from the Lord manifested itself, with clearer perception concerning the establishment of the New Church and its future life. This proved conclusively from the Doctrines that the New Church is not a continuation of the Old, nor a permeation of the Doctrines in the different sects in Christendom; but that the Church of the New Jerusalem is a distinct spiritual church, built upon the foundation adorned with all manner of precious stones, each stone of which is a distinct truth of the New Heaven and the New Church, and that the life of that Church is the Lord Himself as being the Truth. That these things are contained in the following verse is plain, for, speaking of the raising of Lazarus to life-by whom is represented the Church-the Lord meets Martha's assertion by these words:

     "Jesus said unto her: I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die."

     By "Jesus said unto her" is signified the influx of a true perception concerning the principles by which the New Church was to be established; and "I am the resurrection and the life" denotes that the Lord alone, as being the Divine truth of the spiritual sense of the Word, will cause the Church to live. "He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," means that even though self-love is dominant in the Church, yet if it but turn to the Doctrines with an affirmative heart, making them the standard of faith and life, it shall surely live. "And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die" signifies that if the Church, truly acknowledges the Lord's Divine Humanity it shall be regenerated and enjoy eternal life-i.e. be conjoined to Him by love and faith.

     But we might ask: Is there not any difference between a faith in the sole Divinity of the Lord's Humanity and a faith In the Writings of the New Church? The answer is: No, there is none; for the Writings alone reveal the Lord in His Second Coming. Hence a church that does not believe in them does not acknowledge the Lord to be the only God and Savior, but the Church which makes them the guide has alone a true faith in Him, and it alone will have that life which proceeds from the Lord's Divine Human.

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     After these words the Lord asks Martha: "Believest thou this?"

     As Martha stands for the external rational of the Church it is evident that the Lord's inquiry denotes an indirect calling forth of an open confession of the stand the Church takes to the Heavenly Doctrine in general and the Lord's Divine Human in particular. Such a confession was also of vital import for regeneration; for the elevation of the Church into the interior rational, with its affection for genuine Divine truths, could not have taken place before this was accomplished. In order that the Church might progress toward higher things it had to confess, and has confessed, but perhaps with fear:

     "She saith unto Him: Yea, Lord, I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world."

     By "Christ" is meant the Divine truth from the Word, and "the Son of God" signifies the Lord as to the Human which He assumed in the world; and that "He should come into the world" denotes that a Divine revelation from the Word concerning the Lord would be made to the Church.

     Continuing, the sacred narrative reads:

     "And when she had so said, she went her way and called Mary her sister secretly, saying: The Master is here and calleth thee."

     The Church entered upon a new stage of progress when the foregoing confession of Martha had been fulfilled. Up to this time Mary had sat still in the house seemingly inactive, but now she is called "Martha" (in the Aramaic meaning "lady") had done all the work and all of it had been transacted outside of the town; this for the reason that she represents a principle which is external and has to do with the ordering of the outward things of the Church. But when this had been done she called Mary, her sister-that is, the internal rational with its affections, to meet the Lord and lay before Him the sad state of their brother; i. e., interior rational good is still dead; it lies stiff and inactive incased in impractical literalism. The life-giving force from heaven, which makes man truly free and living, had not as yet been imparted to the Church as a body.

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But it was going forward: an interior longing for higher things manifested itself; a perception from good which opens the interior rational mind and conjoins it became active.

     Whatever is done from good by means of truths produces a perception of sublime things. The mind ascends to a higher spiritual level from which it sees the Lord and the things of eternal life in a new light. His goodness becomes more evident and the hopes of reaching the final goal is strengthened. This has taken place in the Church, and is expressed in our text by Martha's deeds and words, which read: "And she went away and called Mary her sister secretly, saying." Martha calling her sister secretly, signifies perception from good of higher truths, and "saying" denotes influx and consequent entering into the meaning of her words: "The master is here and calleth thee."

     These are actually words for the New Church, and set forth the first actual perception by the Church that its Doctrines were the Master Himself, and that by means of this, the principle represented by Mary was called into active operation.

     This marks the beginning of a new stage in the raising of the Church to life, for it reveals the first vivid perception of the importance of a true attitude to the Heavenly Doctrines in order that the Church may become regenerated. The meaning of these words of our Lord became clear:

     "For if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins." (John viii, 24.)

     The first experience in this new perception was a general rejoicing as if the end had been gained. This was because the Church as a whole undergoes the same experience as an individual, and as it also is ignorant about what it is to go through it was thought the first affections would continue uninterruptedly until the field had been won. But it was but the foretaste of the joy which is to be at the end of the battle; i. e., the elevation into a perception Which will enable the Church to enter into spiritual temptations, whereby discordant loves are shorn of their power, so that heavenly love might be attained eventually. It was a conjunction with, and a bestirring of, the interior rational represented by Mary, which rational now took the lead in the fight against all kinds of evils and falsities which beset the Church inwardly and outwardly.

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     The last words of our text read:

     "She, when she heard, arose quickly and came unto Him."

     This is the last clause of the paragraph in the inspired text, which in the internal sense completes the preparatory period of the Church before it enters into spiritual temptations and consequent regeneration. It is remarkable, and one cannot but notice that it indicates an affectional drawing near to the Lord; the spiritual meaning of each word makes this fully evident, for they denote that as soon as obedience had been established in the Church, an obedience to the Doctrine as being Divine and consequently saving, there was a sure elevation into a truer perception and consequent conjunction with the Lord as being the Divine truth. This enables the Church to fight more internal falsities and evils, and to remove the obstacles which prevent it from performing the functions of the Lord's Church with vigor and in freedom. The interior affection of the Divine truth of the Word which would enlighten, deliver and vivify could not begin its work before the external knowledge had been acquired and obedience established. That is because it had to descend into the conscious life of the Church and operate therefrom. Before the external was in order this interior affection had no outward vessel and support into which it could be let down by the Lord, and from whence it could do its work; but afterwards the whole body of the Church could be drawn into the gyre of regeneration, which at this period means-fierce combats.

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NOTABLE ACADEMY PAIR 1914

NOTABLE ACADEMY PAIR       G. G. S       1914

     DR. AND MRS. ERNEST A. FARRINGTON.

     With the passing away of Mrs. Elizabeth Farrington-widow of Dr. Ernest A. Farrington, who died nearly thirty years ago-we lose one more earthly link connecting the rising generation in the Church with those who took part in the formative stages of the Academy of the New Church. Of that notable couple each had an important part in that eventful phase of the Church's history, the one as a leading thinker and counselor, the other as home-maker and mother.

     Long before the days of the Academy, Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Aitken, parents of Mrs. Farrington, had been associated with those whose high estimate of the place of the Writings of the New Church finally crystallized into acknowledgment that they are no less than a Divine revelation, the very internal sense of the Word, in and by which the Lord makes His Second Coming. In similar faith, from childhood, Ernest Farrington-early bereft of his mother-had been raised by his aunt, Mrs. Susan Dick, known to many as a staunch and lifelong member of the New Church. An exemplary youth, he made a brilliant record as a student in Philadelphia; in early manhood his openness of mind, strong intellect and high principle, which soon led to eminence in his profession, added to a strong spiritual bent, fittingly prepared him for a prominent part in the new movement inaugurated in the early "seventies" by the Academy of the New Church, a movement which was destined to make a profound impression upon the life of the whole Church.

     In order to give the Doctor and his wife their proper place in the doings of that period one needs to have a picture of the state itself which attended the new formulation of doctrine later known as "Academy Principles." Of these the following principles were especially prominent: 1. That the Lord has now made His Second Coming; 2. that this will not be acknowledged by the spiritually defunct Old Church, whence 3. the absolute need (for the sake of perpetuity of the New Church) for distinctiveness of doctrine and life.

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From the earnest effort to carry out these principles there arose a new state having a sort of dawn-like quality characteristic of the reception of new truths.

     Not only in doctrinal utterances and discussions, but also in all social and individual life there were indescribable freshness, intensity and zest. Nothing just like it ever existed before on earth. Spiritual subjects completely dominated old and young, and promptly became the center of interest wherever the members came together, whether casually or socially; and in the freedom arising from throwing off old errors and obscurities there naturally arose a light-heartedness, which gave a sprig-time charm to even the prosaic things of life, and fell readily into a sportiveness all the more relishable because of the earnestness of purpose underlying it all.

     Such support and refreshment were indeed needed, for, as commonly happens, the appearing and propaganda of new truths were attended with pain and conflict, as well in the Church in general as in the lives of the individual members. The quality of the unregenerate natural man in itself is the same everywhere and always, and ever resists and persecutes the truth: and old errors, old affections and old habits rise up against the truth which comes to disturb their reign. In some cases even fast friends of former days, in the church at large, were completely alienated, sometimes becoming even hostile and persecutory. But these and other trials only served to tighten and strengthen the fraternal Academy ties; one of those who. suffered most from the slanders that were then circulated, once said to me: "I really don't mind it as much as you would think, for I feel that I can nestle down with the protecting arms of the Academy around me, and all the rest doesn't so much matter."

     Of the few larger homes having adolescent young people,-who almost without exception showed surprising appetite for the discussions of the time, even the more abstruse,-Mr. and Mrs. Aitken's was one of the most alive, the more so since Mrs. Aitken had some of the theological students as boarders. Many were the impromptu socials and extempore expositions and debates, and great the good feeling and growth in knowledge and grasp of the Doctrines.

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And as likely as any one to drop in at such times and take a brief but active and valuable part was our Dr. Farrington, living as he did in the same square.

     One thing which especially contributed to the beauty and charm of the mutual regard and charity of those days was a new insight into the essential spirituality of marriage, a fuller and more definite acknowledgment of conjugial love as the very foundation of earthly and of heavenly life. Since all human life rests on the home, the resulting quality of home life in the Church affected the whole state in a way hardly to be over-estimated. In proportion as it became clear that to be a spiritual conjunction marriage must be based on concord in the vital things of religion, consorts began to perceive added sweetness and strength in their mutual bonds and also in their church life as fostering and sustaining such unions; thus to marry out of the Church became an unthinkable paradox. As it was seen that the home and the Church are so intimately interwoven and mutually interdependent for internal growth and progress, both of these supreme treasures became more appreciated and reverenced than ever before, for both were seen as more visibly connected with the Lord the Giver. Furthermore, in applying to life the teaching that in marriage, as elsewhere, He alone is the Creator, and that without love of offspring there is neither true love of Him nor conjugial love, nor yet love of the neighbor, the Academy couples made living and practical their faith by rearing families for service to the Church and to their fellow men. With courage and a sort of stern joy the burdens and sacrifices involved were met; and in order that their own great privileges and responsibilities might be passed onto worthy successors and to greater development and perfection they early began to grapple with the problems of distinctive New Church Education, and this became and has remained one of the chiefest and most living uses of the Church.

     In the study and teaching of Doctrine and applying the same to the uses and order of the Church, the ministry, of course, took the lead. Very happy was the relation of laity and priests, and very clear the discrimination made between the Lord's office in the Church and the men themselves who ministered therein, all being brethren together.

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The promise of endurance and permanence thus held forth has been well sustained by the event, and still continues bright. Conceive of a benignity, on the one hand, entirely frank and unassuming and, on the other, an affectionate confidence and reverence quite free from servility and repression, and you have a general notion of the attitude of the personal relationship. In the worship the simple but impressive ritual, including the use of priestly vestments, was a great innovation to many, raised in customs almost puritanical in their severity, but the shock soon wore off and correspondential externals, approved by the criterion of Doctrine, took an increasing hold upon the imagination and affections of all.

     Such, roughly sketched, were the early days of the Academy. Bright among the homes of the Church shone that of the Farringtons, with its genial hospitality and its wholesome family sphere. There were four children, three being boys, and all were imbued with the general spirit of the times; the oldest was later graduated from the Academy College as perhaps the first of the new generation which had received none but Academy schooling. The Doctor made a whole-hearted host and a rare entertainer, in all things co-operating with his excellent wife. Early called to an influential part in the councils of the body, he has often spoken to me with deep feeling of the spirit of single minded devotion to the living uses of the Church he found among his colleagues, money being regarded solely for what it might be made to accomplish for the good of the cause, the problem being simply to discover,-in the enlightenment induced by study of principles of Truth,-the plain indications of Providence, and then act.

     Mention should be made of certain leading points in the lives of the Doctor and his wife. He was born in the year 1847, in Long Island, N. Y. After a brilliant high school course in Philadelphia he graduated in Medicine in 1868 from the Hahnemann Medical College of the same city. He rose rapidly in his profession and was elected, in 1870, to a professorship in the faculty of his alma mater, in which he soon became a leading figure, winning a world-wide reputation in his department of Homoeopathic Materia Medica.

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As a physician his high sense of honor, his kindliness and devotion and his hearty, jovial presence, no less than his skill, won for him the confidence and affection of his patients. Marked literary ability qualified him to give to the world the fruits of his eminent scientific and doctrinal attainments, through the pages of journals both outside and within the Church, and in both fields his editorial labors were most highly appreciated. While science formed the field of his labors in writing for the Church, revealed truth was the standard under which he uncompromisingly fought. Notable among his contributions to the Academy Serial, the WORDS FOR THE NEW CHURCH, is the article "Science and Philosophy," (1879), and also his arguments on the Wine Question in controversion of Dr. John Ellis's position of total-abstinence. Reference to the "19 years' Index" of NEW CHURCH LIFE for articles written by him, discloses a long list of such subjects as "Protoplasm," "Animal Spirits," "Man," "Adaptation of Body to Influx from the Soul," "The Seed," "Derivation of Body from Brain," etc., with a series of "Suggestions on the Reformation of the Arts and Sciences." His conversation was well informed and highly edifying, as I can gratefully testify. For years it was his custom to visit on Saturday evenings with Bishop Benade, and from the notes he took of those intimate counsels we may reasonably hope to inherit some day a rich legacy. He early recognized that the philosophy of modern science rests on a false internal, and to its false dictum that human reason is the criterion of truth he fearlessly opposed the spiritual principle that essential truth depends upon revelation, and that natural truth must be brought into harmony therewith by subordination thereto, not by domination over it.

     The Doctor had a natural gift of language, and oratorical talent of no mean order; hence he was a doughty champion indeed of his cherished convictions and was respected as such by his opponents on any field of debate. Impressive in person, with a Jove-like brow, his was a presence which commanded attention in his many public appearances, while to the sick it carried support, confidence and comfort; at the same time his boundless store of fun and humor carried brightness to many a bed of pain or heart-sick breast.

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     In all these notable uses, as well as in his wise and loving parental relations, he met with fullest sympathy and co-operation from his wife, as an intelligent and devoted helpmeet. Quiet in manner and equable in temperament she had a fine, gracious presence and a strong motherly sphere. None may estimate how much to her husband were her courage and her steadfast loyalty and love of the truth.

     Mrs. Farrington's mind though intellectual was markedly practical, and even grave bodily infirmities gathering upon her with the later years could not quench her zeal for "doing something." By her three sisters, (all of whom married ministers of the New Church), she was cherished with a peculiar regard, largely due to her even justness and love of peace, and to her respect for the freedom of others, even for that of children. These qualities stood her in excellent stead when, during her later widowhood, she was called upon to assist in caring for Academy pupils coming from other localities, before the days of the "Dormitory." Her first charges were boys, but later she was given girls. Her government is said to have been of that kind which is "most efficient because least felt," and it was not only toward her own daughter that she showed spiritual motherhood. She was very fond of the church social occasions, which she used to describe to her correspondents in long, graphic letters; and many guests enjoyed the hospitalities of her table. Kind, steadfast, capable, hers was a nature to contribute strength to any cause and any walk of life, as well as to resist successfully the shock of earthly trials; and of these she had large share. Although during most of her married life she enjoyed a home and family almost ideal, her husband, at the early age of thirty-eight, failed in health and, after a year spent in search of help, passed from earth, leaving her to raise her family alone, rich in spiritual heritage, but poor in this world's goods; for the Doctor was ever financially lenient toward his patients, and, like Academicians in general, ready in support of the many church uses. Fortunately she lacked not friendly aid, especially that of the Rev. E. J. E. Schreck, who, with his wife, for several years, lived with the family and gave the children paternal oversight.

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     As the children grew up and married, Mrs. Farrington found a loving home with them. In 1899 she suffered a stroke of paralysis, which left one side seriously disabled and in other ways her cross of physical infirmities became a heavy one to bear; yet consistently with her character she bore it all so uncomplainingly that an onlooker could hardly realize the extent of her endurance. On the other hand, she fully appreciated her many compensations and blessings, her last years being passed in the beautiful rural home of her daughter, Mrs. Alvin E. Nelson, at Glenview, among a rare family of grandchildren, upon whose tender years her gentle influence made an impression not to be measured by earthly standards of value. Cherished on all hands, at home and in the community, gently she sank to rest, the unavoidable distresses of her last illness being much softened by the skill of her oldest son, whose steps-like those of the youngest son-have followed the profession of his father.

     Beautiful were the memorial services held for her; simple, tender, with the sadness brightened by hope, were the last rites at the grave. Loving, childish hands helped those of older growth in strewing above the mound sweet flowers, emblematic of the fragrance left by her memory and of that higher spiritual fragrance into which we love to think of her entering together with her life's companion. Reunition with her husband was the goal to which she looked steadfastly to the end, and in it, we may well believe, she now enjoys the reward of life's many stern lessons, patiently accepted and faithfully carried to rich fruition.
     G. G. S.

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Editorial Department 1914

Editorial Department       Editor       1914

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     The paper on "The Divinity of the Writings," by the Rev. J. S. David, which appeared in the LIFE for August, 1914, has been reproduced in pamphlet form. Copies can be obtained from the Academy Book Room.



     THE YOUNG NEW CHURCH MAN, the quarterly organ of the British Federation of New Church Young People's Societies,-edited by the Rev. W. H. Claxton,-in-its July issue publishes a very friendly and appreciative review of THE GOLDEN AGE, signed "E. J. P." (the Rev. E. J. Pulsford?)



     Mr. Alfred H. Stroh, writing in the MORNING LIGHT for Sept. 26th, describes in a very vivid manner his experiences and impressions while traveling from Spain and Switzerland through Germany to Sweden in the midst of the excitement and turmoil incident to the mobilization and outbreak of the European war.



     Referring to the subject of the authority of the Writings, the Rev. John Goddard states in the MESSENGER for Sept. 9th: "Perhaps some of us are a little over-sensitive on the subject. If one has been pounded a long time on one spot, he is sure to become some. Some of us have been Pounded by the advocates of a blind [?] authority in Swedenborg, while others, whose name is legion, are practically destroying his mission by classing him with mystics of various kinds."



     The Rev. S. C. Bronniche, in recent issues of his interesting and valuable journal, the NORDISK NYKIRKELICT TIDSKRIFT, has published a series of letters from Swedenborg's friend in Elsinoer, General Tuxen, to Charles Frederick Nordenskiold. These letters are new and very important historical documents, and are furnished with careful historical notes by the editor, but Mr. Bronniche would increase our indebtedness by stating how and whence the originals have been obtained.

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     The following statement by ex-Speaker Cannon (quoted in the MESSENGER for Sept. 2d) will-with Democratic members of the New Church-go a long way to expiate some of his political sins:

     "To me there is great comfort in some of the spiritual interpretations of Holy Writ given by Swedenborg. He said, in his DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM:

     "It was given to me to be caught up into the spiritual heaven, and I saw one who was counted a saint on earth, who had just died, demand entrance into heaven. On entering, being informed that heaven was denied to no one, he fell down headlong until he found the place that would be most comfortable to him, according to his character and his loves."



     Once more we have received the annual present of A 19TH OF JUNE SOUVENIR from our faithful brother, the Rev. Richard Morse, of Sydney, N. S. W. The issue opens with a number of "affirmative testimonies" in answer to the question: "Are the Writings the Word to the New Church?" And among those whose words are quoted we find not only the Rev. W. H. Benade, but also the Rev. J. F. Buss, the Rev. John Faulkner Potts and the Rev. John Whitehead. The greater part of the issue is occupied by "The True Story of One Girl's Life," by Mrs. Fanny Schreck, reprinted from NEW CHURCH LIFE for 1885-1886. Among the News there is an appreciative account of the Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal's, recent visit to Australia.



     A number of the New Church folks, who were on the Continent during the outbreak of the great European war, had troubles in getting away. The Rev. G. J. Fercken, who is now visiting in Bryn Athyn, had a curious experience. Having arrived at his home in Nantua, France, after a seven years' sojourn in the isle of Mauritius, he fell under suspicion as a stranger-possibly a German spy-and his house was visited by two gendarmes, who examined his books and papers, and then promptly hauled him and his family to the "Gendarmerie," where the policemen stated that the suspect had in his possession a book entitled "Canons of the New Church!"

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This certainly looked like contraband weapons of a Church Militant, but happily Dr. Fercken's passport was in good order, and the "Canons" were satisfactorily explained as being a collection of purely theological guns directed against the German Luther's doctrine of faith alone.



     Recent issues of MORNING LIGHT are agitated by a storm of indignant protests against an unpatriotic appeal, published in that journal by the Rev. S. J. C. Goldsack. "I am ready to go to the 'front,' " says Mr. Goldsack, "if I can serve the Lord and the Church by so doing; but as far as I can ascertain only those who will shoot are needed there, and I am absolutely certain that he who sincerely desires to act as befits a disciple of the Lord will not kill. I devoutly trust neither our students, nor young ministers, nor any other Young Newchurchman, will join 'Kitchener's Army,' but regard it as their highest duty not to do so. There are millions engaging in this war who confess no allegiance to the Lord's Church end have no faith in Him and His Kingdom; if we sink to their level' and become merged in the foul shambles of the battlefield we shall surrender ourselves to the influx of hell," etc., etc. Fancy an English Newchurchman pouring forth such treasonable sentiments, and an English New Church journal publishing them!



     Here are some gems from a recent attack on "Swedenborgianism" in the vigorous style of the old-fashioned orthodoxy: "This 'prophet' [Swedenborg] admits the Trinity, but denies its threefold personality. Jesus is said to be the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, in and of Himself. According to this theory Jesus, when sitting at the right hand of God, is sitting at His own right hand. . . . Swedenborg's belief in the inspiration of the Scriptures was at once unique, original and devilish. Swedenborgianism denies the existence of the mightiest personage, [the personal Devil], next to God Almighty, in the spiritual universe. . . . The egotism of this false leader, Swedenborg, reaches the point of sublimity, when he tells the world that he alone witnessed the final judgment day scenes, in the year 1757. . . . Swedenborgians profess that they know God, but their 'works' deny Him; they are to every good work 'reprobate.'" (THE BURNING BUSH, of Waukesha, Wis., Aug. 20, 1914)

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"SPIRITUAL CAUSES" OF THE PRESENT WAR 1914

"SPIRITUAL CAUSES" OF THE PRESENT WAR              1914

     Members of the New Church are, and should be inclined to look for the spiritual causes underlying all natural effects and phenomena, and in consequence we have heard a great deal of speculation, lately, as to the spiritual causes of the present world-wide war. Some of our good friends have wondered, for instance, if there could be some hidden connection between this war and the present controversy in the New Church on the subject of the spiritual body. We rejoice in the belief that there is no immediate connection, or we should certainly close our pages to any further discussion of such a fateful subject.

     Of this we may be certain, however, that there is a tremendous conflict going on in the Spiritual World at the present time-a conflict between the New Heaven and the New Hell, both of which were formed at the Last Judgment in the year 1757. There is where the real battles are taking place, and the issues there are spiritual and concern the future of the Lord's New Church on the earth.

     It seems clear to us that the ever-increasing hordes of evil spirits, constantly arriving in the world of spirits since the time of the Last Judgment, have always attempted to establish new imaginary heavens, and on this account minor judgments have been necessary from time to time, in order to clear the alimentary canal of the Gorand Man. We infer that such judgments take place generally at intervals of from twenty to thirty years (see A. R. 866), and it may be readily perceived that such upheavals in the spiritual world will be accompanied by corresponding judgments on earth, exhibiting themselves in some great natural crisis such as a war or some other terrible catastrophe.

     The last great European war took place in the year 1870. Since then "the piping times of peace" have prevailed in Central Europe for the unusually long period of forty-four years, during which time the elements of national jealousies, suspicions and hatreds have accumulated in both worlds, until the surcharged atmospheres no longer could bear the malignant weight.

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The two opposing clouds of the love of the world and the love of dominion gradually drew nearer each other, and at last-the lightning strokes of ultimatums and the dreadful thunders of war, a war the more terrible because of the long deferred judgment in the other world.

     We could not enter upon a more particular analysis of the spiritual causes underlying the present war without trespassing against that attitude of neutrality which must be observed by a New Church journal which has readers of many different nationalities. Our inmost sympathy is-with the New Church in every nation. Our "Communicated" columns are open, however, for discussion of the interior causes of the war, if anyone is disposed to write upon the subject.

     In the meantime we cannot refrain from referring to a communication in the MESSENGER for Sept. 9th by Mr. A. L. Kip, the author of a work entitled PSYCHOLOGY OF THE NATIONS-just to suggest how this subject should not be discussed. Mr. Kip has solved the whole subject by a wonderful series of "correspondences," evolved out of his own inner consciousness. "Germany corresponds to the faculty of synthesis," Austria to "determination and caution," and Italy to "the will to do" [nothing]! France corresponds to "keen analysis of ideas," Russia to "a desire for comprehensive knowledge," and England to "careful judgment," while Turkey corresponds to "the faculty of faith," Tripoli to "the love of children," and Crete to the "shutting off discussion on a subject." Every cloud has a silver lining, and a bit of unconscious humor will do no harm in the present gloom.
SWEDENBORG PRAISED IN A MOHAMMEDAN JOURNAL 1914

SWEDENBORG PRAISED IN A MOHAMMEDAN JOURNAL              1914

     Our readers will be deeply interested in the fact that in the July number of the ISLAMIC REVIEW there is a short article bearing the title "Mohammed and Swedenborg." We copy the following from THE NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE for August, 1914:

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     The writer introduces his topic by the statement that: Mohammed lived at a time when Christianity was a flower that had been plucked to adorn the temple of idolatry. Not only were the nations sunk is idol worship, but Christianity itself had become so contaminated by Paganism that it had made for itself a creed wherein a mere lip acknowledgment of One God was confused and confounded by the false declaration that God was a trinity of persons-or, in plain words, that there were three Gods: a doctrine which is as idolatrous as any of the doctrines of heathenism.

     "He then proceeds to show that according to Swedenborg there is One God only, and that this is the foundation of all real religion, and only as Christianity returns to the acknowledgment of that truth forsaking the idolatrous dogmas of the trinity of persons, can Christianity truly take its place again among the pure religions of the world. He draws attention to Swedenborg's work on the DIVINE PROVIDENCE, which he recommends all Mohammedans to read, because, as he truly says, they are often mentioned, and states that Swedenborg clearly shows that those who are sincere and who truly worship God are the children of God, just as are all the good and true in whatever religion they may be born.

     "He concludes his reference by the statement that it is by the acceptance of such truths as Swedenborg sets forth that men are drawn nearer to one another, that old animosities and foolish enmities are put away; and instead of men wasting their lives in vain efforts to make converts from one religion to another, they will seek to prove by lives of charity and true brotherhood that God, the one and only God, is the Father of all who love Him, and the Guide and Protector of all who serve Him."
SWEDENBORG'S MINOR POSTHUMOUS WORKS 1914

SWEDENBORG'S MINOR POSTHUMOUS WORKS              1914

     POSTHUMOUS THEOLOGICAL WORKS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. Rev. John Whitehead, M. A., Th B., Editor and Translator. New York. The American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society. 1914. Vol. I. pp. 604.

     Students of the Writings, the world over, will be grateful to the American Swedenborg Society for the publication of the present volume of "Posthumous Theological Works;" which is soon to be followed by a second volume. We all know how difficult it has been to collect and keep together the many small treatises, sketches of projected works, and fragments of works never finished, which have been found among Swedenborg's manuscripts and which have been published at various times during a century and a half after his death.

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Some of these tracts have never appeared in English translation; others have appeared only in serial translations in New Church journals; others, again, have been published only in editions now inaccessible to the general public; and all of them have suffered from a chronic habit of getting mislaid or lost. Now, however, these fugitive tracts have secured a firm setting within volumes convenient for ready reference and study.

     The volume before us contains the following works:

     1. SWEDENBORG'S AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL LETTER to the Rev. Thomas Hartley.

     2. An extract from a letter to Dr. Beyer, giving a brief account of Swedenborg's early youth.

     3. THE CORONIS, OR APPENDIX TO THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

     4. A sketch on the CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE, the Lord's Second Coming and the New Church.

     5. The INVITATION TO THE NEW CHURCH.

     6. THE ADDITIONS TO THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, (from the DOCUMENTS. These are not "Additions," however, but "Notes," connected with T. C. R.)

     7. THE CANONS OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     8. THE DOCTRINE OF CHARITY.

     9. THE SKETCH OF AN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     10. THE WORD OF THE LORD, FROM EXPERIENCE. ("De Verbo.")

     11. THE POSTHUMOUS WORK ON THE LAST JUDGMENT.

     12. VARIOUS THINGS CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL WORLD.

     13. ARGUMENTS CONCERNING THE JUDGMENT.

     14. FIVE MEMORABLE RELATIONS.

     15. CONVERSATIONS WITH ANGELS.

     16. JUSTIFICATION AND GOOD WORKS.

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     17. A CONVERSATION WITH CALVIN.

     18. GOD THE SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST.

     19. SPECIMEN AND SKETCH OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW CHURCH.

     20. THEOLOGICAL EXTRACTS FROM SWEDENBORG'S CORRESPONDENCE. (From the DOCUMENTS.)

     21. ON GAD AND ASHER, (a fragment of the lost part of the SPIRITUAL DIARY).

     It will thus be seen that the Church has now ready access to a wealth of revealed truths, a great portion of which will be new material to most readers,-exceedingly interesting and important material,-and "more is coming" in the next volume.

     A few criticisms are offered for the consideration of the publishers.

     The title of the volume should have been "Minor Posthumous Works," to distinguish it from the larger posthumous works such as the SPIRITUAL DIARY and the APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED.

     There seems no reason why this volume should not have been issued in style uniform with the "Library Edition." The paper in the new volume is distinctly inferior.

     The style of the "General Index" (should be "Table of Contents") is unsatisfactory owing to the small type that has been used. In a volume of this composite character the reader wants to find at a glance the place of the particular work to which he wishes to refer. The volume, moreover, is very deficient in bibliographical information, and it gives but small comfort to be referred "for further information" to Hyde's BIBLIOGRAPHY and Tafel's DOCUMENTS, as Mr. Whitehead does in his prefatory note to the CORONIS. There are but few readers that have access to these bulky volumes. Each one of these treatises, many of which have been practically unknown to the Church, should have been introduced by a note or preface briefly stating the history of the original manuscript and its chronological place among Swedenborg's other works, giving also some account of the first Latin edition and of the various English versions, but no such information is vouchsafed in connection with the CANONS, DE VERBO, the FIVE MEMORABLE RELATIONS and all the other little tracts which follow these in the volume.

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     Mr. Whitehead indeed states that most of these posthumous tracts "have appeared in whole or in part in serial form in the NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, and in NEW CHURCH LIFE, and fragments of them in the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY," but surely it would not have been amiss to make some acknowledgment of the labors of those who produced the first English versions of these works. There is, or should be, such a thing as courtesy among New Church scholars and a frank recognition of mutual services. The lack of these graceful virtues is the more noticeable in the present volume, when upon examination it becomes evident that nearly all the treatises in the book,-which the common title-page leads us to suppose to be quite new translations by Mr. Whitehead,-have been taken bodily from previous versions, the text remaining the same as a whole, with here and there a few slight revisions.

     Thus the version of the CANONS, in the present volume, is but a very slight revision of the translation made by the Rev. G. C. Ottley and published by the London Swedenborg Society in 1891. For the DOCTRINE OF CHARITY Mr. Whitehead has followed the translation of the Rev. Samuel M. Warren, published by the Am. N. C. Tract and Publication Society of Philadelphia. In the work known as DE VERBO the greater part of the text has been taken almost ipsissima verba from the Rotch edition, although a few of the earlier paragraphs seem to be taken from an earlier translation by the Rev. T. B. Hayward, and some paragraphs show signs of original work. The text of the Posthumous work on THE LAST JUDGMENT is in general' that of Mr. Hayward's translation in THE NEW JERUSALEM MAGAZINE, vols. 36 and 37, though Mr. Whitehead has evidently utilized also Mr. Acton's translation of this work in the NEW CHURCH LIFE for 1903 and 1904. The translation of the FIVE MEMORABLE RELATIONS is essentially that of the Rev. E. S. Price, published in the LIFE for 1900. The text of the little work on JUSTIFICATION, A CONVERSATION WITH CALVIN, and SPECIMEN AND SKETCH is little more than a transcript of the translation made by Mr. Acton, as published in the LIFE for 1902 and 1903. We congratulate Mr. Whitehead on his choice of versions, but do not admire his conception of literary ethics.

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     The "Theological Extracts" from Swedenborg's Correspondence, and the version, which is copied from Dr. Tafel's "Documents" is often misleading, as was pointed out in our reply to Mr. Whitehead and Mr. Buss, in October, 1913, p. 610. It is interesting to note that Mr. Whitehead has entirely omitted from his "Theological Extracts" the letter to Dr. Beyer concerning "the Doctrinal Writings" of Paul and the apostles, in which we pointed out a small but most important error of Dr. Tafel's. In view of this omission, and of other theological matters of equal importance, the collection of "Extracts" becomes of little value. We sincerely hope that air of Swedenborg's letters may be speedily phototyped, and that they may then be published in a new and literal translation, with the original Latin or Swedish on pages facing the English version. How many years must we wait for this?

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FROM THE FIRST EDITOR OF THE "LIFE." 1914

FROM THE FIRST EDITOR OF THE "LIFE."       E. P. ANSHUTZ       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     The gentlemen who are laboring so earnestly to prove that the human form in the heavens isn't the human form, but something more perfect, remind me, vaguely, of the philosopher whom Dean Swift met when he was masquerading as the traveler, Gulliver. This gentleman,-the philosopher,-had spent ten years in the effort to extract sunbeams from cucumbers, evidently bent on trying to prove that a cucumber isn't a cucumber. No doubt he could prove his point, to his own satisfaction, at least.

     When you look around among your friends, (and at yourself), you must admit, that while all are in the human form, still they all could be much more perfect, yet still retain that form, for to take any other would, as I see it, be to become something else than human. Have our philosophers ever tried to imagine a form more perfect than the human? Try to fancy your friends, who have gone on before, in some other form than the human, the human as we understand it! What good can come of all this ratiocination against an idea universally implanted in mankind?
     E. P. ANSHUTZ.
          Philadelphia, Sept. 18, 1914.
FROM THE AUTHOR OF "THE WEDDING GARMENT," 1914

FROM THE AUTHOR OF "THE WEDDING GARMENT,"       LOUIS PENDLETON       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     When the ancient Israelites wished to describe any new development particularly surprising and unwelcome, they spoke of it as an astonishment and a hissing." I hesitate to employ such violent and picturesque language in reference to the new shapeless-spirit idea, but I can think of no other phrase so adequately expressive of my involuntary attitude. My feelings are somewhat similar to these of the child in Hans Andersen's tale of "The King's New Clothes," who could not be induced to confess that he saw an invisible garment which he did not see.

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     I have followed the "bodies-of-spirits-and-angels" discussion in your columns with much interest and some anxiety. Though my "state" at the outset was properly respectful and quite sufficiently "affirmative," I have not been able to follow through the gossamer web of reasonings without hopeless entanglement. Although the new light appeared harsh and intolerably artificial, I have wished at least to grasp in its entirety the view point of those offering that light; but, after reading a recent extensive exposition in your pages, I must reluctantly confess that the tenebrosity of my intellectual obfuscation, where this new idea is concerned, is perhaps more complete than ever.

     One reason for disappointment in this particular case is that relatively little space was devoted to the subject itself, the bulk of the article seeking to show the heinousness of calling into question any single statement in the preparatory works. What I desired and expected was a studious attempt to show the true relation between the few earlier statements on which the new idea is mainly based and the countless later statements appearing to support the old idea. But the only explanation-that I was enabled to grasp-of the seeming conflict between these few earlier statements and the great mass of later teachings was the suggestion that the one dealt frankly with the real organic structure and form of the spiritual body while the other consisted of misleading references to mere "spiritual appearances," and it was unmistakably intimated that the multitude of passages must yield precedence to the few.

     If this be so, it seems pertinent to remark that Swedenborg himself would appear to have been at fault, failing to do what he positively declared that he was doing: addressing the rational mind in plain terms and no longer clothing or clouding the truth in mysterious symbols after the manner of the prophets of old. To assume that the true meaning of the great bulk of the Writings is hidden in a somewhat similar manner, and that the real truth must be unlocked with a key furnished by a few introductory statements, would seem to involve not only a reconstruction of the whole system but a bold casting of discredit upon a supposedly honest and plain-spoken revelator-the acknowledged servant of the Lord Jesus Christ-convicting him of deliberately and craftily condemning the world to struggle still in the darkness of mere appearances until the coming of a second revelator able to find the magic key.

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Beside such a colossal assumption, of unparalleled temerity, the theory that Shakespeare's plays have an internal sense proclaiming on every page that Lord Bacon wrote them, is as trivial as the disputations at a young ladies' tea party when measured by the tremendous contending forces of a world at war.

     If Europe or America possessed a mind ingenious enough to construct a system whereby the Writings could be rendered satisfactory to the scientific world and the followers of Swedenborg led back to a perverted Christian Church's idea of a God "without body, parts or passions," I should think that precisely this method would be adopted as the only one sufficiently convenient and promising to serve the purpose.

     The fear has been expressed in the LIFE that this controversy would disturb the faith of the Church. Speaking for myself alone, I may say that I am not in the least disturbed about the structural conditions of the future life, believing that in the spiritual universe whatever it is right, however tragic may be the consequences of human perversity and error in this lower mundane sphere. Moreover, this discussion leaves on the mind the not altogether unsatisfying impression that nobody has fully grasped the subject, and that perhaps Providence did not intend that anybody ever should, however momentarily persuasive may be an employment of words and passages which, though no doubt altogether worthy in aim, is suggestive of the dialectics of lawyers skilled in shrewd selection with a view to make the most of a case and to convict.

     The only real disturbance, as I see it, is to be found in the inevitable tendency to question the soundness of much of the new teaching, although reflecting minds can hardly fail of a more or less confident expectation that a fruitful residuum is ultimately to follow the controversy and the thought and study it invites. We should all sit at the feet of Swedenborg as individuals, but the Writings are a vast sea; we have need of those who can dip from the sea and give us to drink in cups.

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There has never been in the past, and probably even now there is not, any concern as to the quality of the contents of the sea; but at present there is a manifest disposition toward concern as to the quality of the contents of some of the cups.

     Surely this can not justly be complained of now that, in lieu of Swedenborg's idea of a man-shaped immortal spirit, altogether lovely, beautiful and perfect, there is offered an idea of an earless, eyeless, tongueless, brain-shaped creature, a sort of celestial jellyfish, more forbidding and loathsome than the monster manufactured by Frankenstein.
     LOUIS PENDLETON.
SWEDENBORG AT COLCHESTER 1914

SWEDENBORG AT COLCHESTER       CHARLES E. BENHAM       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     The account of Swedenborg's DREAM BOOK in the July LIFE, page 394, incidentally discloses a fact of special interest to inhabitants of this Borough,-the circumstance that on May 4th or May 5th, 1744, Swedenborg was in Colchester and passed through its principal thoroughfares on his journey from Harwich, (not Harwick, as misprinted in the LIFE), to London.

     Whether this was the case on his first visit in 1710, or on the occasion of his subsequent visits to England, does not appear. He may have sometimes crossed by a boat that went direct to London. On the other hand, if he always journeyed via: Harwich, as in 1744, he must, in going to and fro, have passed many times through Colchester, and must have become quite familiar with the old town, which has, singularly, numbered so many devout students of his Writings, more perhaps in proportion to population than any other town in England.

     Colchester was much the largest and most important town through which he would pass between Harwich and London, and its considerable repute in the 18th century, together with the special historic interest of the place, must have caused it to hold his attention strongly. The splendid old timbered houses of the High Street 170 years ago, the quaint "Middle Row" then standing, the little church of St. Runwald, also in the middle of the street, the old Moot Hall built in the time of William Rufus, the curious obelisk hard by, marking the mileage,-these and other unique features, cannot have escaped his observation,-nor yet the venerable castle going back to Roman days, the ancient churches, the Roman walls, the medieval gates and the people themselves.

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     If the coach took him through Colchester on May 5th it was a Saturday, and the streets would have been busy with the frequenters of the principal market of the week, impressing him still further with the character of the prosperous old town, once the capital of Britain and the site of the royal mint of King Cunobelin, the Cymbeline of Shakespeare.

     All this may perhaps be of only passing interest to your readers on the other side of the Atlantic, but they will at least appreciate the fascination which such a retrospect possesses for us who live here.
     CHARLES E. BENHAM.
          Colchester, Oct. 2, 1914.

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THIRTEENTH ANNUAL BRITISH ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH 1914

THIRTEENTH ANNUAL BRITISH ASSEMBLY OF THE GENERAL CHURCH       W. REY GILL       1914

     London, August 1-31 1914.

     The first session commenced at 7 p. m, on August 1st, the president, the Rev. Andrew Czerny, being in the chair. After a Psalm had been read, all united in repeating the Lord's Prayer. The Minutes of the previous Assembly were read, and the secretary of the London Society delivered his annual report. The president, after reading a kind message of greeting from the Rev. N. D. Pendleton, introduced the Rev. E. E. Iungerich, who assured the gathering of the Bishop's interest in the work that is being done here, and of his hope that the meetings might be profitable from an intellectual standpoint, but especially in uniting all in the bonds of affection. Mr. Iungerich also conveyed greetings from M. Hussenet and his wife, and from the two members of the General Church in Lausanne. Thanks to the Bishop for his message were voiced by Messrs. Howard and Appleton.

     Mr. Iungerich's paper, entitled "Swedenborg's Marginal Numerals in the Schmidius Bible," was chosen from the docket and read.

     (The discussion of this paper will be published in a future issue, in connection with the paper itself.-ED. N. C. LIFE.)

     The first session concluded with the reading of the annual report of the Colchester Society, and also a letter of greeting to the Assembly from Mr. Fred. Cooper, of Philadelphia.

     The Sunday morning service was extremely impressive and affecting. The Sacrament of the Holy Supper was administered by the Rev. Mr. Czerny to 75 communicants. The congregation numbered 111-a record number for the British Assembly. During the service the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Appleton was baptized.

     The Rev. E. Deltenre conducted the short opening service preceding the Sunday evening session.

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The paper chosen for consideration was one, entitled "Idealism in the New Church," written by Mr. J. Pitcairn.

     Mr. Ball: A very great use is being performed by those who are attempting to bring us back into first states. The children growing up in the Church will one day receive truths in a different way than is done at present, but the time for a change is not yet. The learned in the Church are the most dangerous; they destroy that primitive perception of truth which exists with the simple. The primary use of this discussion has been to teach us not to trust too much in our leaders, but to go to the Writings and substantiate everything.

     Mr. Pitcairn: There has been an idea that this subject has not disturbed the Church. It is not so. The clergy do not realize the disturbance it has caused throughout the Church. The priests are the teachers of the people, and it would be unfortunate if the laity were to lose their confidence in the clergy.

     Mr. W. Rey Gill: There is hardly a sentence in Mr. Pitcairn's paper with which I am in agreement, but as the Rev. Alfred Acton's book is now published, which will answer every point raised in a much more full and able manner than is possible for me, I will only reply briefly.

     In regard to the suggestion in the paper, that the position there attacked is one originating in the minds of its defenders,-this is not true. For my own part I can assure you that my papers have been written with the one object of finding out the truth as given in the Writings, and have not been based upon any preconceived opinions. Mr. Pitcairn made the extraordinary statement that the position I have endeavored to defend was unsupported by teaching from the doctrines. Mr. Acton's book, with which I entirely agree, consists almost entirely of teaching collected from the Writings. Let us at least give each other credit for desiring to be led by the Doctrines. I can honestly say that I have not found a single passage which contradicts the position my study of the Writings has led me to adopt.

     The discrete difference between the two worlds has not been sufficiently realized, nor that the relation between them is one of correspondence only. (Quotations from A. E. 553; H. H. 175; A. C. 3488, 9174, 5658; C. J. 23, were read to prove that this is the case.)

     Mr. Pitcairn also asserts that we deny that spirits have real bodies, that we believe spirits to be non-organic wills and understandings, etc., etc., when yet we have repeatedly adduced teaching from the Writings showing that man's spirit is organic, is extended, and is in place; as well as how, when, and where the spiritual body is formed, and of what substance it consists. It is love and wisdom that make the human form, and it must be realized that there are discrete degrees of this human form.

     Mr. F. H. Rose: This subject has now been before us for four years.

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It would be better for us to agree to disagree, and to leave the matter for discussion in the journals of the Church.

     Mr. Whitehead: I am not learned enough to be dangerous, nor so simple that our friends need retard their studies, but I simply wish to express myself in regard to the interior doctrine especially involved. First, as to this subject causing disturbance in the Church. I joined the Church because I believed in the doctrine of the priesthood. If the New Church is to remain with us the priesthood must be free, and though I may differ from them in individual opinions, I do not regard that as challenging the use of the priesthood, for the faith of a Newchurchman is a rational faith, and the laymen must come to the Writings and study for themselves. Finally only the truth on this matter will remain.

     The disturbance in the Church arose because our fundamental concepts of the spiritual world were changed. The very objective content of the spiritual was presented to us in a wholly different light. Our idea of its objectivity is altogether taken away unless there is a truth put in its place, which we can see to be a more interior truth. The urging of this new truth I do not want. At present if seems too drastic in regard to the objectivity of the spiritual body. If there is so tremendous a disparity between the apparent statements of the Writings and their real meaning, I am face to face with an entirely new way of looking at the Writings. Is there not a true literal sense of the Writings? I think there is. I beg that the simple and the young be considered, for I think they are the biggest factor in the Church. Our professors must be in freedom to think out these problems, but the chief use of the priesthood is to save souls, and all truth that redounds to the saving of souls must be supported.

     Mr. Donald Rose: This is not a matter which can be settled in a few words. It is a matter relating to the understanding of doctrine, and the man of the Church should not easily be disturbed by such matters. The Church fell when charity failed, not when heresy came into the Church. If it is to be the Lord's Church, heresy will do no harm, but lack of charity will break the Church. "The time will come when charity will prevail." I doubt whether that time is yet. Who are we to pass judgment on our brethren? The doing of this has been the most hurtful part of the matter. None of us call do more than approach to a clearer understanding of the truth, and in the fullness of time we shall get more light. One of the leading men of the Church has written a book on the subject, and nothing but good can come of reading it in a right spirit.

     Mr. Waters: We have a great deal of information on this subject, and upon that information we should rely in forming a judgment on the matter. In a Memorable Relation in CONJUGIAL Love it speaks of a spirit who had thought that his soul resided in the cortical glands of the brain, and the headmaster proved to him that he was still a man with arms, legs, etc. The doctrine as given in H. H. 73-77 is most clear and understandable, but our friends base the whole of their theory on S. D. 355, which they misunderstand.

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In that number Swedenborg was only proving to those who still believed they possessed the material body, that what they retained was the spiritual form, which is an exact replica of the natural form. He goes on to say he does not know what is the quality of that man, but that it could be found out if you examined his brain, for the substances of his brain can be brought into the man's true human form if he reflects on the matter. The Divine Revelation says what it means.

     Mr. Pryke: The question of charity has been touched upon. You may not call a man heretical, but it may be just as hard to be called "external." Mr. Gill has said that he does not set up a theory and then go to the Writings to support it; but I can't find that the references he gives have more than the remotest bearing on the subject. It comes to a matter of interpretation, and we should interpret single passages in the light of the general doctrine.

     Mr. Pitcairn: When I say that this idealistic view is a "heresy," it is very different from condemning the persons who hold these views. Any doctrine opposed to the general doctrine of the Church is heretical. In our Revelation the interior view is never opposite to the literal view.

     Mr. Czerny: Swedenborg would never have been able to know anything of the spiritual world, had he not been intromitted into that world. And what was his intromission but a divine revelation? The trouble is that we have two standards here in regard to which books are included in the revelation to the New Church. I hold that every statement, whether in the DIARY or the ARCANA, is a Divine Revelation. The philosophical works are on a different plane altogether. There are many apparent contradictions in the Writings, and the only way is to endeavor to get all the teachings together and so try to find the truth on the subject: or let those do so who have made a specialty of the subject. Some of the passages Mr. Pitcairn has used to support his view appear to me to teach just the opposite.

     Mr. Iungerich: I was brought up in the Convention, where they have no authority but by-laws. When I found the Academy I joined that organization because it seemed that there they were hearing the voice of the Lord. The Lord says in John, "He whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God." Swedenborg was sent by God. Did he speak the words of God? Everyone of the Writings, as given in the list in the Liturgy including the SPIRITUAL DIARY, I believe to be the Word of the Lord. I propose all my life to stand on that platform and never to recede from it.

     Dr. Deltenre conveyed greetings from Mr. Barger and his little Society at The Hague, which Mr. Waters suitably acknowledged, asking Dr. Deltenre to return our heartfelt greetings.

     At the final session of the Assembly Mr. Donald Rose conducted the opening worship. He was afterwards asked to read his paper on "End, Means and Methods in New Church Education."

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He prefaced the paper with a tribute of love to the Rev. Homer Synnestvedt, "that great leader in the field of New Church education."

     Mr. Gill: Mr. Rose has given a hint in his paper of the great law that all education is merely an opening or preparing of the way. In every man at birth there is present in his soul and its body, the "simple cortex" or pure intellectory, all the knowledges of creation, which man may receive to the extent that he forms from truths vessels which shall be capable of receiving these knowledges. A knowledge of psychology, with the various planes existent in man, is an absolutely necessary basis for all educational work.

     Mr. Cooper: I am thankful to the Lord that there has been given some appreciation of the connection between education and religion. We who have families that have grown up in the affection for the Church are more and more confirmed that we are working along the right lines. Our efforts have been small and trifling compared to those being made in the center of the Church, but the idea of education is one of the chief mainsprings of any advance we have made. When we see the development which has taken place in only a few years, we can realize more and more the great blessings we are enjoying.

     Mr. F. H. Rose: The need for distinctive New Church education was seen early in the history of the Church, and even 50 or 60 years ago attempts were made near Woodford on the lines laid down at Bryn Athyn. But the Church was not ready for it, since the authority of the Writings has to be acknowledged before New Church education is possible or can be prosperous; otherwise the sphere of the world is too powerful.

     Mr. Whitehead: I can corroborate what Mr. Donald Rose has said as to the profundity of the work of Prof. Synnestvedt. It would be foolish to pretend that we are not liable to grave errors,-to suppose that we may not thwart the purposes of Providence in the educational field. We have no monopoly of the truth, and the Church may die with us, but if we believe in the Revelation and endeavor to put those truths into effect in our educational work, we don't need to fear the morrow. The names of our leaders may be forgotten, but the end will be a new city coming down from heaven.

     Mr. Waters: I thank God for the benefits of education that have been provided. It is the evidence of the Lord in a man that makes the neighbor we are to love, and the means for this are provided by New Church education. All education must have the principles of love to the Lord and the neighbor as the basis of instruction. We are brought into existence in order to learn to glorify the Lord in His own Divine Person, and you can't have any interior thought concerning the Lord unless He is manifested in the human form and shape. Hence was the reason for the manifestation of the Lord in the Human.

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     Mr. Pryke: The field of education is so wide and deep that we can only take one or two general truths as landmarks. The basis of them all is to be found in Revelation, for without that we do not even know what man is. There is education and instruction, the end of the former is to educe the affections, whilst the latter is connected with truths and teachings. Education is more the work of the home, and instruction more the work of the school. The end and aim of it all is that man should know the Lord better, and from knowing Him better should love Him better.

     Mr. Ball: The danger is that having such favorable surroundings as exist at Bryn Athyn, you are apt to engender feelings of spiritual and intellectual pride. We should not draw comparisons between our states and those of others. The sermons which were preached by Hindmarsh and his associates, when there was no New Church education, will compare favorably with any we get at the present day. We should be careful not to be thankful that our children are better than other peoples'. The paper does very great credit to the writer and infinite credit to the instruction he has received.

     Mr. Appleton: The building up of the mind from the cradle to the end of life is a subject of the greatest importance to the people of the Church. Benade's CONVERSATION ON EDUCATION Will Stand as the corner-stone of the whole system of education in the New Church. I have been privileged to see that through all our ups and downs we must be educated in our duty by the Church. We must know in all the transactions of our life what is our duty to our neighbor. We need to be instructed in our perceptions of these things in order that our thoughts and affections may return to the Lord.

     Mr. Czerny: The duty before us is to continue this work of education, for the reason that the New Church cannot continue unless the work of education goes on. What is first put into the child's mind is most important, for this remains and lasts longest. The influx of the Lord through the soul can only be perceived in the natural mind, and how can we get better materials for the building of that mind than those which are provided in the Writings? We should never think of comparing ourselves with other people, but only think of our duty which lies before us, and of educating ourselves and our children.

     Mr. E. J. Waters: I wish to emphasize the importance of home instruction, and would like to render a tribute to the women of the Church for the educational work they are performing in the homes. It would be well to remember; the saying, "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world."

     Mr. F. H. Rose was now invited to read his paper, "The Last Days of the First Christian Church."

     Mr. Whitehead: I would suggest that the application of the Doctrines of the Church to the records of the past, needs to be done with very great care lest injustice be done, not only to men, but also to Providence; for at the utmost all that we may see are the back parts of Providence.

716


I am impressed with the fact that it is but very little we can know of past history, and all that we can do is to generalize.

     The elements of dissolution in the Christian Church were there from the second century, and these grew until their consummation in the 18th century, when the Last Judgment passed by almost unnoticed so far as external evidence was concerned. I would suggest the affirmative aspect-that the Letter of the Word was being freed slowly and surely. The labors of Wycliffe and Tyndale were under Providence and helped to elevate the morals of the community. The evils of Methodism are not lessened one whit by this statement, and Wesley's ultimate destiny is his own business, not mine, but Swedenborg's interest in Wesley is evidence that he was the leader of the cardinal religious movement of the time. All that century, and the preceding one, the Letter of the Word was being given more and more to men, and the hands of the priests were being lifted from it. It was given to the rabble, but they did not tear it up as is done at the present day, for the simple people heard it gladly. Freedom has been given us to go to the Word of God, and we are indirectly indebted to all those institutions and men that made this possible.

     On motion the sessions of the Assembly were now adjourned to the following year at Colchester. The number of those signing the roll book was the record one of 108, of whom 69 were members of the General Church.

     On Monday at 7 p. m. nearly 130 members and friends gathered together for a social evening. An enjoyable program was arranged by Mr. R. A. Stebbing, who was also guilty of composing the topical song, "When George the Fourth was King," with its up-to-date references to events in the Church. However, the audience appreciated it. Praise is also especially due to the performers of a humorous one act play. The toast list was long and varied, and special mention can only be made of a few. The one to "Our Country," was ably and eloquently proposed by Mr. Whitehead and, under the shadow of the coming war, we all honored it with deep feeling. The toast to the Academy was responded to by Mr. Pitcairn, that to the Priesthood by the Rev. E. E. Iungerich, and that to "Our Visitors" called forth a welcome and brotherly speech from the Rev. J. F. Buss. About midnight the meeting terminated very reluctantly, and all united in singing "For Auld Lang Syne."
     W. REY GILL,
          Secretary.

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Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN, PA. The Elementary, College, and Normal Departments of the Academy Schools opened their year's work on September 15th, with the customary ceremony. Bishop N. D. Pendleton delivered the address of greeting to the students and teachers;-a message inspiring all with ambition and hope for the coming year's labors.

     The social reception given by the faculties to the students was held in the evening of the same day. Old friends were welcomed and new acquaintances made, while teachers and students established amicable relations in anticipation of the coming year's intimacy. The evening concluded with just a taste of dancing, and was in all a most successful occasion.

     The schools are now in full operation, with a broader field of work before them than ever. The Collegiate Department, lately inaugurated, has assumed considerable proportions, and the subject of Extension Courses is engaging the attention of those in charge. There is a large Normal Class; but the Theological School, depleted by the recent graduation, is this year attended only by two gentlemen. The influence of the new president of the Academy is already being manifested, and a notable addition to the various meetings connected with the work is the monthly meeting of the teachers of all the departments with the president. The joint meetings of the faculties and corporation have also been made into quarterly, instead of yearly, occurrences, and on October 3d, the first of these meetings discussed some important subjects.

     The Civic and Social Club has opened its season by the inauguration of a series of classes for the learning of the new dances. These are under the instruction of Mr. Fred. Finkeldey, the new instructor in Physical Training in the Academy Schools, and bid fair to be very enjoyable and profitable.

718


Under Mr. Finkeldey's illuminating guidance the complexities of the new dances appear far less hopeless than on first acquaintance, while the adverse criticism, which was aroused by their first intrusion amongst us, has disappeared since we learnt to dance them correctly.

     A delightful event in the society life of the past month was the wedding of Miss Berith Odhner to Mr. Winfred Hyatt on September 30th. The decorations of the chapel were unusual and carried out with great taste, and the presence of little children in the wedding procession added greatly to the sphere of the ceremony. An informal reception was afterwards held in the Auditorium, at which a very large number gathered to congratulate the newly married young couple and their parents.

     We hear rumors of criticism from afar as to the slow progress the church building is making. Friends in other centers are not above saying that if they were building the church, it would have been finished long ago, and a chapter house, and a church warden's house, and half a dozen other things as well. However, those who appreciate the tremendous amount of care and labor that is being expended on this undertaking; the patient attention to every detail, which is producing a building worthy to be a Temple,-a cathedral, in fact,-of the New Church the thought and study looking to a result as beautiful, as permanent, and as fully adapted to its use as may be,-those who appreciate these things can have no criticism to offer as to what is being done. 'The building is growing perceptibly day by day, and has reached the stage of great interest to even the lay mind, so that Sunday afternoon sees the majority of our people paying their weekly visit to the church site to see what progress has been made. So the church grows amidst a sphere of interest and affection, and when it is finished there will be no doubt in the mind of the true Bryn Athynite but that this is indeed his own house of worship, nor will he complain that it was built slowly and with deliberation, and with every possible care and forethought. D. R.

     GLENVIEW, ILL. Labor Day was celebrated by a supper in the open air followed by a series of fancy dances on the lawn, the dancing being illuminated by an electric foot-light apparatus.

719


Some recitations and readings were afterwards held in the school house.

     Two progressive, (not political), card parties were held during the month, and once a picnic among the trees had to be changed to an indoor festivity owing to inclement weather, On this occasion a very delightful feature was the dancing of the school children.

     Mr. Scalbom's house is looming up prodigiously; the style is early Norman in the middle, trailing off to English perpendicular on the edges; the Gothic decorations harmonize beautifully with Renaissance foundations. His family will be comfortably installed there by the end of November. We are busy intellectually, Mr. Maynard has purchased a commodious wagon built upon the architectural lines of a dachshund. Mr. Burnham is deeply immersed in the study of Communal Life and the Magna Charta; Dr. King is pursuing his researches in Erysipelas with great industry and profit. Mr. G. A. McQueen fills in the occasional social interstices with "Evenings with Favorite Authors." A considerable accession of new and second-hand automobiles are raising dust in the Park roadway. The Reuter family have enriched our community by their presence. On two Sundays we were favored by the ministrations of the Rev. Mr. Gladish and the Rev. Mr. David.

     On Friday, October 9th, 7 p. m., the Thirteenth District Assembly was opened with a supper at which probably ninety people were present.

     After the supper Bishop W. F. Pendleton gave an address on "Separation," which was discussed by a number of gentlemen. The second session was held Saturday evening at 8 p. m. Reports from the Sharon church, the Immanuel church, and the Rev. John Headsten's circle were received.

     Three papers were then read: One by the Rev. Gilbert A. Smith on the now hackneyed subject of the "Constitution of the Spiritual Body," which was most tediously discussed; one, a very interesting one, by Dr. J. B. S. King, on "The Anatomy of Self-Examination," and one by Mr. G. A. McQueen on "Preaching from Unusual Texts," neither of which was discussed.
     K.

720




     BERLIN, ONT. The summer has passed with its frivolities, and the year's work has started in earnest. Our pastor returned from his trip to the great Northwest on the 8th of September. The School opened, as usual, on September 1st, and Mr. Hugo Odhner, in Mr. Waelchli's absence, welcomed the nineteen scholars with a talk on "Knowledge," and its importance in life. The school has since received six more pupils, owing chiefly to the arrival in Berlin of the family of Mr. H. O. Day, a General Church member from Hamilton, Ont.

     Our teaching staff this year consists of Miss Venita Roschman, (primary grades), Miss Olivia Waelchli, (middle grades), and Mr. Waelchli, (highest grades). In Mr. Waelchli's absence: Mr. Odhner takes charge of his work.

     Friday suppers, classes for adults and young people, ladies meetings and men's meetings are now in full swing The pastor has just left for another trip, intending to spend five weeks in Ohio and neighboring districts.

     Canadian Thanksgiving was celebrated by an appropriate service on October 11th, and by a supper and social on the next day; At the supper Mr. Waelchli guided our thoughts to the topic of Patriotism, and speeches were made by Messrs. Edw. Hill, Harold Kuhl and Eugene Roschman, on the Unity, the Justice and the Freedom which the British Empire enjoys, and which all were proved blessings in the present crisis. The announcement that a copy of Mr. Benade's now classic dedication address had been presented to the society occasioned a stirring speech on "Education" by Mr. Waelchli. Mr. and Mrs. Day were welcomed into our society, and Mr. Day responded with innate English eloquence. Card playing and dancing concluded a very pleasant evening spent under a beautiful pergola of autumn leaves, which the Decoration Committee had provided.

     The twentieth anniversary of Mr, and Mrs. John Schnarr's wedding was recently celebrated by a banquet given by them to the older members of the congregation. Mr. George Schnarr proposed toasts which were responded to by Mr. Theo. Kuhl, Mr. Sam. Roschman, Mr. Hugo Odhner and Mr. J. Schnarr.
      H. O.

721




     CLINTON, ONT. The circle at this place was visited by the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, September 25th to 28th. On Friday evening, September 25th, a doctrinal class was held at which five persons were present. On Sunday, the 27th, services were conducted; attendance, twenty-one. Nine persons partook of the Holy Supper. Both class and services were held at the house of Mr. Joseph Izzard.

     MILVERTON, ONT. Services were conducted at the house of Mr. Ferdinand Doering by the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, on October 4th. Ten persons were present, nine of whom partook of the Holy Supper.

     EAST INDIA. (From a letter by the Rev. Frederick E. Gyllenhaal.) I arrived at Bhavnagar, seven o'clock Friday evening, June 12th, and was formally met by Professor Bhatt and his son, and after greetings was decorated with a necklace of flowers. We then entered a carriage and were driven to the guest house where Professor Bhatt informed me that I was the guest of the native state of Bhavnagar, and that the house, servants and carriage were entirely at my disposal and command. He also informed me that the prime minister would call on me the next afternoon, and that I would be invited to call on the Maharajah or king. After tea we drove until nine o'clock, when I returned for dinner. Professor Bhatti remained but did not eat with me, for he is not permitted as a Brahmin to eat European food.

     The next morning Professor Bhatt took me to visit a native girls' high school. I was introduced to the charming lady superintendent, and after being seated, a Parsee girl of about sixteen years read about a half a page in English for me. I complimented her, but she did not return to her seat until I had been asked by the superintendent to dismiss her. There were many servants in this school to wait on teachers and pupils. I kept my hat on as this was proper for the men, but I did not, as the rest, remove my shoes. I was shown the beautiful hand work of the pupils, and a class danced for me. The same evening the superintendent sent me a book in which to write my opinion of the school. I was much surprised how up to date their methods are.

722




     That afternoon I received a call from the acting prime minister-the prime minister himself was away on leave-his title is Naib Dewan, and his name Fribhuvandas Kalidas Frivedi. I found him an interesting man of excellent education, much interested in education, particularly that of women. Professor Bhatt arrived while the Nahib Dewan was present, and remained after he left. He was much interested in my explanation of the charts I have on creation.

     At 6 p. m. we drove to Mr. Bhatt's home. He says that I am the first European or American to enter his house. I met his wife. She is charming, almost enchantingly charming. She is very youthful looking, and yet she has a son of nineteen years, and has done much work during her married life. His daughter and three sons are also very attractive. The oldest son is the only one who can talk English, but the others express themselves by the face. I have quite fallen in love with the whole family. One of the fixed customs of hospitality among the Hindus is to give the guest the beetle nut to chew. After explaining its use, Professor Bhatt handed me the beetle nut in the form of a paste on a lettuce leaf. I was thankful my stomach was strong, for, though I did not like it, I chewed it. It seemed to please the whole family that I accepted this mark of their hospitality.

     On Sunday, at Professor Bhatt's request, I held a service for him and his oldest son in my bedroom at the guest house.

723


It was a most solemn service. As Professor Bhatt wished it, I used a complete office from the hymnal with three lessons and a sermon. I also at his urging sang the sanctus and hymn, and it came to me as an inspiration to say the Ten Commandments in Hebrew. This was probably the first complete New Church service to be held in India. It was most impressive. There was an unusually strong sphere, and at times I felt moved almost to tears. Prof. Bhatt had left his shoes at the door, but his son is somewhat European in his ways and wore his shoes. Both prostrated themselves completely in prayer. They responded well in the service, where a response by the people is called for I wore my robe, and stood during practically the whole service. It was indeed a remarkable event.

     On Sunday afternoon I again visited Professor Bhatt at his home, and had two hours' conversation with his family and some of his friends through him. I showed them some pictures of Glenview and my family, and taught the children some American games and tricks. Even the grown folks joined in the games. Mrs. Bhatt laughed very heartily at some tricks, and frequently clapped her hands. It was an afternoon I shall never forget.

     Sunday evening at seven o'clock, by special' invitation, I attended a meeting of the Theosophical Society. I was introduced to several of the forty members present. I was asked to make some remarks about a paper by Mrs. Annie Besant, read to the meeting, and Mr. Bhatt told me afterwards that my remarks pleased those present. My attendance at this meeting was in the nature of a test to determine how general the invitation should be to a lecture I had been asked to give to the same organization.

     Tuesday morning Professor Bhatt again invited me to his home. This time I was asked to remove my shoes, and was shown more of the house than Europeans are usually allowed to behold. I had breakfast by myself with the family looking on. During the whole time we had an animated conversation, Professor Bhatt acting as interpreter. We talked principally about domestic matters, and many of their customs were explained to me. I came again in the afternoon to tea. I was served in a silver cup, because one not a Brahmin is supposed to defile by touch any vessel except one of silver or gold. I sat on a chair, but the rest of the company sat on the floor. After tea I called on the prime minister and had an interesting conversation with him.

     At seven o'clock that evening I gave my lecture on the True Idea of Marriage to an audience of about two hundred and fifty men. Before the lecture the most prominent men of the city were introduced to me, for I had a very distinguished audience, including the prime minister, the wealthiest man of the town, a very old and learned professor, Brahmins, Parsees, Mohammedans and men of one or two other native religions. I stood on a platform beside a table, and my audience, bare-footed, were seated on the floor. After being introduced with some flattering remarks by Professor Bhatt, I talked for about fifty minutes. In my introductory remarks I stated who and what I was, and that everything I would say was derived from the theological works of Emanuel Swedenborg, which works I believed to be infallible because a divine revelation.

724


All present understood English, and I was afterwards told that my lecture was well received. After my lecture about twenty men gathered about me, and I continued a general conversation on my subject. All this time the thermometer registered a hundred degrees in the shade.

     Professor Bhatt drove with me back to the guest house and invited me for dinner the next night. He told me that Mrs. Bhatt had expressed surprise that I was not married, and wanted to know if there is a dearth of women in America. After dinner, Tuesday night, I was taken to a native play. The performance began at ten o'clock and continued until half past two in the morning. The audience chattered throughout the play. The players were all men, some of whom took the part of women. There were at least sixty changes of scenery in the one act I saw. It was; interesting to look at, but, of course, I could not understand one word.

     On Wednesday morning Professor Bhatt informed me that the Maharajah, having heard my lecture on marriage, desired me to all at his palace. I called with Professor Bhatt and had a short talk with his Highness. He is kindly disposed towards his people, and has made his state one of the most advanced in India. He believes in monogamy, and has only one wife, whom he seems to love very much. At his request I showed him the plan of Glenview Park and explained it to him. On Thursday morning, just as I was about to leave the guest house to return to Bombay, the Maharajah called on me, but we had time for only a few minutes' talk.

     To return to Wednesday. In the afternoon the Naib Dewan paid me a second call and told me much about the customs of the Brahmins, the Hindu religion, and his view as to the future of India. Later in the day I visited a very old temple of the tutelary goddess of Bhavnagar and was allowed to take off my shoes and enter. In the evening I took dinner at Professor Bhatt's home. Mrs. Bhatt, as her religion required, did not eat with us, but she served and directed the servants. The dinner was prepared altogether of native foods, and I ate it after their custom with my fingers.

     The next day my visit to Bhavnagar was over.

725


Professor Bhatt had decided that it would be better to celebrate the nineteenth of June in Bombay. I drove from the guest house to Professor Bhatt's home, where I said farewell, and was decorated with two wreaths and a bouquet. At the station some other friends again decorated me.

     We arrived in Bombay on Friday morning the nineteenth of June. In the afternoon, in my room in the Fay Maholl Hotel, we had the Communion service. I was in my robe. The congregation sat bare-footed on the floor. Five were present and all partook of the Holy Supper. It was the first time some of them had ever tasted wine, for it is against the Brahmin religion to touch alcoholic spirits. The five were: Professor Bhatt, K. K. Bhatt, a cousin; H. D. Choksi, S. B. Divari, and G. K. Patel. Mr. Divari had come a thousand miles, Mr. Choksi and Mr. Bhatt three hundred miles, and Professor Bhatt five hundred miles to attend this celebration. So far as I know it was the first celebration of the Nineteenth of June in India. After the service several others came and we talked about the Church. On the following day and on Sunday I held services and classes in which there was general conversation. On Monday all but Professor Bhatt left for their homes.

     Professor Bhatt while in Bombay opened the way for me to meet many of his countrymen. I have done so, but have seldom talked religion with them, nor have I offered to hold services for those not already interested. I have kept away from religious subjects because I am convinced that it is necessary for this people to know one before they will listen to him on the subject of religion. Unfortunately Christians have not only not taught the truth, but many of them in this country have not lived according to their own teaching and, therefore, Christian ministers have not a very good reputation here. I believe the work of a New Church minister here will be, first, to win the respect and affection of the people, and second, to teach them in classes. Later he may open services for worship, either according to our ritual, or according to a new ritual adapted to the people of India.

726




     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. Hiram Vrooman has resigned the pastorate of the North Side parish of the New Church in Chicago, and has again taken up secular work.

     The mission established in Minneapolis, Minn., by the Rev. Axel Lundeberg, has entered into possession of the church edifice owned by the former, now extinct, Minneapolis Society, The church was erected 42 years ago, and is one of the few remaining downtown churches. It has been thoroughly renovated this summer.

     GREAT BRITAIN. The Rev. W. T. Stonestreet has received and accepted a call to the pastorate of the church at Blackpool, which has been vacant since the removal of the Rev. J. R. Presland to Willesden Green in January last.

     MAURITIUS. The New Church in this crown colony has sustained a heavy blow by the death of one of its most valuable members, M. Pierre Edmond de Chazal, of the distinguished order of St. Michael and St. George, and who had been for some time an unofficial member of the legislative council there. Mr. de Chazal died at the age of 77 at his fine residence at Vacoas. He was a man much honored and esteemed, being endowed with deep feelings of uprightness. On the day of his funeral, which took place on the 25th of June in Port Louis, there was a numerous attendance at the New Church. The divine service was most impressive, and the prayers on the occasion were listened to with a deep concern. Mr. de Chazal is survived by his devoted wife, sons and grandsons and granddaughters.

     The Rev. C. A. Nussbaum, who had accepted pastoral charge of the New Church in Mauritius, has been prevented from sailing to this island on account of the war, and has returned to Portland, Ore., until something definite is decided.

     AUSTRALIA, SYDNEY, N. S. W. "Once again we have celebrated the 19th of June, the day which should be to every Newchurchman the one most prominent in the year. Is it not the Christmas of the New Church? The day on which, one hundred and fifty-five years ago, the Lord Jesus Christ sent His disciples throughout the spiritual world to proclaim the New Dispensation, revealed by means of His servant Emanuel Swedenborg?

727




     "The celebration was deferred to the night of the 20th of June, this being more convenient to some of our friends.

     "Mr. and Mrs. Jones were again present, having come all the way from Lithgow especially for the occasion. We regret that others had been prevented from being present.

     "The beautifully decorated table abounded with all manner of refreshments; but our spiritual wants were also most liberally provided for. The Rev. R. Morse, in his opening speech, reading from the T. C. R. the passage reminding us of the significance of the day, stated that it is a deplorable fact that hardly anyone outside the General Church considers this day worthy of recognition. Touching upon the late discussions in the NEW CHURCH LIFE, re 'doctrinal writings,' he said that the Church should be very thankful to Mr. Odhner for the giving of a correct translation of Swedenborg's letter to Dr. Beyer, which should be the ending of a grave misunderstanding. He also read the passage from INVITATION TO THE NEW CHURCH, 44, which leaves no doubt as to the divinity of the Writings.

     "His closing words ended with a toast for the spiritual progress of the Church, which was heartily responded to.

     "Our friend and veteran, Mr. Dupen, who spoke, said he had derived great benefit from Mr. Gyllenhaal's visit, and in recalling memories from the early days of the Society he raised much merriment.

     "Mr. Jones expressed his confidence that the General Church is the Lord's Church; and he could not comprehend that some Newchurchmen, and among them even leaders in the Church, can entertain any doubt whatever concerning the divinity of the Writings, seeing that it comes to him in such a simple way. He reviewed the progress made by the Society, and referred to the fact of our now having a minister of our own, and also to our having been received into membership with the General Church. He used to lament the slow growth of the New Church and the antipathy shown by so many of its members to its doctrine; but he no longer makes it a cause for anxiety, well knowing that the Lord in His Divine Providence will establish the Church.

728




     "Mr. Kirschstein thought that the past year had been a very profitable one. Mr. Gyllenhaal's visit had caused him to reflect more deeply upon the vast amount of good received, directly and indirectly, from the Academy, and that we are much indebted to it. Everyone most readily responded to his toast for the Academy.

     "A very interesting reading was given by Miss Annie Taylor of Bishop W. F. Pendleton's speech, delivered on the 19th of June, 1907. It is largely applicable to our Society. And Miss Beatrice Taylor expressed her love for the Writings by the reading of the Memorable Relation concerning the Golden Age, which on this occasion seemed more beautiful than ever.

     "The most fraternal spirit reigning, we passed a very delightful evening, time was wholly absent."-A. K. (From A NINETEENTH OF JUNE SOUVENIR.)
Correction 1914

Correction              1914




     Announcements
     The linotype, at the last minute, made a mess of the first line of Mrs. Frost's poem, "Building the Temple," in the October LIFE, p. 611. The line should read: "A fair green hill to heaven its wealth upflings"-not "unflings."
Notice 1914

Notice              1914

     The Philadelphia District Assembly will meet at Bryn Athyn, Pa., on Friday, November 27th, at 8 p. m. and Sunday, November 29, at 2 p. m. Visitors will please send their names to the Rev. W. H. Alden.



729


ADVENT OF THE LORD 1914

ADVENT OF THE LORD        W. F. PENDLETON       1914


NEW CHURCH LIFE
Vol. XXXIV      DECEMBER, 1914          No. 12
     "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a heart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert." (Isaiah XXXV:5, 6.)

     The Lord came into the world to save the human race, which otherwise would have perished in eternal death; nor would men have continued to exist upon the earth, for when there is universal spiritual death, there can be no natural life.

     When it is said that the Lord came into the world to save the human race, the whole human race without exception is meant. The Lord came to save every man who has been born from the beginning of creation, and every man who is to be born in the countless ages to come; every man born on this earth, and every man born on every earth in the universe. For the end of the incarnation is one with the end of creation, an angelic heaven from the human race, and every man was created and is born for that heaven. The Lord therefore came to save every man in the natural world, and every man in the spiritual world, and every man who is to go out of the natural into the spiritual world. The Lord came to save the angels of heaven, for He brought order into the heavens by His coming; and He came to save the devils of hell, for He reduced the hells to order by His coming, and order is salvation. By the renewal of order in the heavens and the reduction of the hells to order, a new and true spiritual church is established on the earth, by which, as by a Divine instrumentality, men are prepared for heaven and will continue to be prepared forever.

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     Because by the Divine work of Redemption the Lord also glorified His Human. He has therefore established His perpetual and eternal presence in the natural with men, and has rendered Himself perpetually and eternally able to withhold men from their evils and lead them into good, to hold them in the good of Divine order.

     Every man of himself is nothing but evil, and unless he were withheld from his evils by Divine Power he would rush into the deepest hell and be eternally destroyed. For the evil that once enters into man is never eliminated nor wholly blotted out. This being the case with every man, unless the Lord had come into the world, performed the work of redemption and glorified His Human, the angels themselves could not have been restrained from rushing into their own evils and thus into hell. But the Lord by the work which He performed while in the world withholds the angels in heaven from their evils, and thus saves them. He withholds them from evil and holds them in good by means of the internal affection of good and truth, which was implanted in their midst and centre by their life in the world. The devils of hell He withholds or restrains from evil by means of the affection of fear, and thus saves them by compelling them to order, an order that is not within but around them. For order is around the hells and within the heavens; around the devils but not within them; within the angels and also around them; not around the angels as a compelling force or bond as it is in hell, but in full equilibrium with the order that is within them; so that by the order within and around them they are in full freedom and happiness of life. But the devils of hell are not in full freedom and happiness because the order around them is wholly opposed to the disorder within them; for it has been imposed upon them contrary to every effort and striving of their internal will. And since their will opposes the order that is around them, a conflict and collision results that brings them untold misery. But their wills cannot be changed; the opportunity for this was given them while in the world, and they might have done it then but they did not seize upon it; they strove against order then and they will continue to strive against it forever.

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If they will not restrain themselves it is necessary that they should be restrained from without, necessary for the salvation of the human race.

     The Lord therefore came into the world to establish order in heaven, in hell, and in the world; for order comes into the natural world and can be maintained there when it has once been established in the spiritual world. By the order re-established in the heavens and around the hells a church may be established, and is established on the earth; and from the church as a center order spreads even into the moral and civil planes of human life. It is thus that we are to understand that the Lord by His coming into the world saved the whole human race.

     Since so great and so mighty was the result of the Lord's Coming, no other event in the history of mankind can approach it in importance; no other event can even be compared with it, for every other event bears relation to it as a centre and cause; and the coming of the Lord stands second only in importance to the creation of the universe itself, and was effected that the creation might be preserved, and that the creative work of God might continue to eternity.

     There is in the coming of the Lord, therefore, a most potential cause for gladness and rejoicing to man and angels; and the human heart does rejoice with exceeding great joy when there is a perception of the Lord's Coming, and of the mighty results involved in it,-results which summed up under one idea are expressed in the phrase, The Preservation of the Universe. As we might naturally expect, it is the burden of ancient poetry and song, especially the song and poetry of the Word of God. The Coming of the Lord, the universal Redemption effected by Him, the Glorification of His Human, the establishment of a true spiritual Church on the earth, these are the burden of the Psalms of rejoicing, and the prophetic songs of the Old Testament and of the New; they are at the same time songs of rejoicing because of the fulfilment and fruition, the actual taking place, of these great events. Besides the very many songs of David and in the Prophets throughout, we have in the New Testament the song of Mary, the song of Zacharias, the song of Simeon, the song of the angels to the shepherds, the songs in the Apocalypse, and the frequent mention in the Writings of angelic songs, which were songs of rejoicing over the Advent of the Lord.

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     The thirty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, from which the text is taken, is one of these songs. In its letter it is a prophetic song of rejoicing over the Advent of the Lord yet to come; but in its spirit it is a song of rejoicing by the Gentiles over the actual facts of the Coming when it has been revealed to them. "The wilderness and the solitary place shall rejoice for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. Behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (Isaiah 35:1, 2, 4-7, 10.)

     As we have already indicated, this prophetic song treats from beginning to end of the rejoicing of the Gentiles over the Advent of the Lord. The rejoicing arises from a perception of the Lord's presence with them, and deliverance by His presence, and, in consequence, a total change of state and renewal of life. Where before was a desert there is now a beautiful garden, a Paradise of fruits and flowers, and streams of water renewing and fructifying wherever they flow; no more the sands of the desert and the burning heat of the sun, but a beautiful prospect everywhere; no more distress and anxiety from famine and hunger and thirst; for these terrible agencies of destruction have disappeared, and with them all sorrow and sighing have fled away. Where before was the paralysis and apathy of despair, of decay, and of death, now there appear the evidences of prosperity and peace, of hope, of light and life on every hand. The Lord has come, the Sun of Justice has arisen with healing in His wings, and men see Him and rejoice.

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     As we have said, the evidences of rejoicing from a perception of the Coming of the Lord and of the work that He does when He comes, appear everywhere in ancient song and story, especially in the song and story of the Word. But let us confine ourselves to a consideration of the text, noting first that the same things are described as being done that were for the most part the subject of the Lord's miracles when He was in the world. The blind see, the deaf are made to hear, the lame to walk, and the dumb to speak.

     In general the words before us signify that when the Lord comes, in the place of ignorance of truth, there will be knowledge, understanding, and perception, with an entire change of state, an entire renewal of life. Those who were not in understanding of truth will then understand, are signified by the eyes of the blind shall be opened. Those who were not in the perception and will of good will then obey and live in good, are signified by the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Those who are in good, but because they are not in genuine truths cannot make progress in the regenerate life, are signified by the lame, or those who cannot walk, or who can walk but little, or with great difficulty; for there can be no spiritual growth or progress where there is ignorance. By the lame man shall leap as a hart is signified the delight and freedom there will then be on account of the coming of the Lord, or on account of the perception of His presence in the church. The hart is a wild deer that delights in the freedom of the forest. The dumb are they who, on account of ignorance, are not able to confess before men their faith in the Lord and in the truths of His Word; but when instructed by the Lord in His coming they are able to do this, and do it with gladness of heart; hence it is said that the tongue of the dumb shall sing.

     All these things will take place because the Lord when He comes, will open His Word and reveal truths in abundance to those who were before in ignorance, but who have desired truths. This is what is meant by the words, "for in the wilderness shall waters break out;" then there will be spiritual intelligence which is signified by streams in the desert.

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The land no longer remains a desert when waters break forth and streams are formed; for this is all that is needed to make of a desert a garden or paradise.

     The intelligence that is formed by the truths of the Word is always represented by gardens such as the garden of Eden and other gardens that are mentioned in the Word. But the state of the Church when it is consummated, or when there is no longer in it any spiritual intelligence because there is in it no knowledge of genuine truth, is represented by a wilderness or desert. All this is changed when the Lord comes and opens His Word, all this is changed with those who, although they are in ignorance, desire truths and long to be instructed. They desire instruction because there is in them still some remains of charity and good, and good desires truth as a thirsty man longs for water; and where there is this spiritual thirst the water of life will be given by the Lord when He comes. The land, too, or the desert is said to be thirsty, because all things of nature are compared to man, or have relation to the human form. There is nothing a desert or thirsty land, like a thirsty man, so much needs as water, and when the water is given the whole surface of the land is changed, and the representation of a new life is seen everywhere. There is no better picture or representative image of what takes place within man when the Lord comes to him or when a new perception of truth is given him; it is followed by a total renewal of life. The desert blossoms as the rose.

     What is true of the church and of man is also true of the Word. As the church, and the man of the church, is represented by a wilderness, when there is no intelligence or understanding of truth, so the Word itself is like a wilderness, and is represented by a wilderness when there is no understanding of it with men; for then nothing of living truth, or but little, is seen in the Word; it is as a dead letter or as a land uncultivated, nothing appearing in it to feed the flocks of sheep, or men. But when the Lord comes the whole face of the Word is changed; for when the Lord comes He appears in His Word, and the Word becomes as a paradise or garden of the Lord. Then is fulfilled the words of the text, "For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert."

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When truth is seen everywhere in the Word by virtue of the coming of the Lord, then the church also becomes as the garden of the Lord, or the man of the church enters into a state of spiritual intelligence, in whom before was nothing but the darkness of ignorance. Such is the difference between the state of the understanding of the Word, and the state in which there is no understanding, or when there is ignorance.

     There are two kinds of ignorance. One is the ignorance that is from confirmed evil in which there is no desire or will to understand the truth of the Word; in this state there is no acknowledgment of ignorance nor perception that one is ignorant, but instead thereof a persuasion and phantasy that one is most highly intelligent, and a state of pride and conceit on account of the persuasion of superior knowledge and learning. Such a state is hopeless because the one who is in it cannot be led to see and acknowledge his own dense ignorance, a step supremely necessary in order that new light from the Lord may enter and produce a state of genuine intelligence.

     The other kind of ignorance is where there is some degree or good or charity from remains, in consequence of which there is a confession and acknowledgment of ignorance, and thus a desire to learn or to be taught the truth. These are meant by the poor in spirit who alone are to receive the kingdom of heaven. The poor in spirit are the humble in spirit and in their humility they acknowledge their ignorance and desire to be taught, and who will permit themselves to be taught when the Lord comes, or when He appears in His Word, and appears there as the God of heaven and earth.

     We are told that this is the state of the "well disposed Gentiles, and of those like them within the church." The well disposed Gentiles and the well disposed within the church are signified by the poor in spirit, or in the text by the blind who receive their sight, by the deaf who receive their hearing, by the lame who are able to walk or even to leap as the hart, and by the dumb who will be able to speak or even to sing the praises of the Lord, all because of the waters which break out in the wilderness, and the streams which flow in the desert, because of the coming of the Lord and the opening of His Word, because of the perception that is then given them of the presence of the Lord in His Word.

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     We have said that by a desert is signified a state where there is ignorance of the spiritual truth of the Word, and where this ignorance is, the Word itself is seen as a desert in which nothing of life appears to the eye or to the understanding. Now we are to add that the same thing that is true of the letter of the Word is also true of the letter of nature, to him who has in his mind no light of spiritual intelligence. Hence nature itself is as a desert, or as dead, to him who views it from the false light of the sensual science of the world. And thus nature, or the sensual science of nature which prevails at this day in the world, is as a desert before the Lord and before the angels of heaven; for there is in it ignorance most dense and dark, with hardly a ray of the light of heaven to illumine the thick darkness that prevails in it. The theologian is in the dead letter of the Word, and the church is in it; the scientist is in the dead letter of nature; and unless such a state can be brought to an end with some, no flesh can be saved.

     We have said also that the Lord comes or appears in His Word to those who are able to see Him there; and the whole face of the Word is changed, the letter of the Word is seen as a paradise or garden of the Lord, and there is great rejoicing by those who are permitted to see it thus. We have now to add that the Lord comes or appears in that wilderness which is called science, which is the wilderness of nature unillumined by spiritual light; and when the Lord is seen there by those who are willing to see Him, the whole face of nature is changed; where before was only death, all things are seen to teem with life; the science of nature itself is changed and becomes spiritual intelligence, and nature and its science is seen as a veritable paradise of God. If the Lord when He comes is not seen in the church, if He is not seen in the Word, if He is not seen in nature, the church, and the Word, and nature, will remain as a desert with those who refuse to see Him in His Coming.

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     We are told in the Writings that the real coming of the Lord is perception, just as real revelation is perception. For revelation and the coming of the Lord are one thing; but where there is no perception there is no Coming nor revelation. The Lord indeed comes and is on the outside of man, all around him, but He does not come to the man until the man hears the knocking at the door, opens it and permits the Lord to enter. To hear the knocking is to perceive the presence of the Lord in His coming, and to open the door is to acknowledge that presence; it is to open the mind and heart to receive Him. Happy is he who hears the knocking and opens the door.

     The church begins, and the regeneration of man begins, with a perception of the presence of the Lord. The New Church begins with a perception of the presence of the Lord in His Word, with a perception of the presence of the Lord in the Writings, with a perception of the Lord in nature, and with a perception of the presence of the Lord as Providence in the life of each individual. When there is a perception of this presence, the Lord has come, the church has begun, regeneration has begun, and the wilderness is about to flourish and blossom as the rose.

     One thing is important here, namely this,-it is necessary for the Lord to continue to come in the church in order that the church may continue to grow, in order that regeneration may continue to progress. There must be from time to time a new perception of the presence of the Lord, that there may be from time to time a renewal of the church. It is important to understand that there are periods or stages in the growth and development of the church. Each period or distinct stage is inaugurated by a change of state, and the change of state is the beginning of a renewal of the life of the church from a new perception of the Lord's presence. The church cannot remain in the same state; if it does it will stagnate, and this is what brings the consummation of a church; that is, the state of the church is then such that no new perception of the Lord's presence can be given, and instead of the Lord's coming again to the church, He departs from it, and establishes His presence elsewhere, or with those to whom a new perception can be given.

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But if the church is such, or the men of the church are such, that the Lord can come again to them, or reveal Himself to them anew, by a new perception of Him, and thus renew the life of the church, then the church,-or that church,-will have increase, will go on to flourish and prosper, will advance into more interior states of intelligence and wisdom.

     The renewal of the church in this way from time to time is absolutely necessary for its continued existence; a renewal by the coming of the Lord again, and without it there is, as we have said, stagnation, apathy, death, disintegration.

     With each renewal of the church there follows in the course of time temptation, and if the temptation be long continued apathy sets in, and if renewal does not follow there is paralysis and death; the men of the church yield by reason of the bitterness of temptation, and surrender to the enemy. And so if the church is to grow or is such that it is capable of growing, the Lord comes again and reveals Himself to the perception of the men of the church, and there is in consequence new life.

     In the state of temptation the church is in the wilderness, hence by a wilderness in the Word is signified temptation. The period of temptation is also relatively a period of ignorance, and the ignorance will become a permanent apathy as to all spiritual things if the church yields in the temptation. But after temptation in which the combat and resistance is successful, there follows perception or the coming of the Lord and renewal of life. Then it is that "the eyes of the blind are opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; and then shall the lame man leap as the hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; because in the wilderness waters break forth, and streams in the desert." Amen.

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FIBROUS ORGANIZATION OF THE SPIRITUAL BODY 1914

FIBROUS ORGANIZATION OF THE SPIRITUAL BODY       Rev. GILBERT H. SMITH       1914

     The nervous tissue of animals and men is composed firstly of cells,-nerve cells or ganglion cells; and secondly of nerve fibers. The cell is the beginning of the fibre. And most of the nerve fibers possess a sheath or wrapper, within which is the peculiar white substance known as the white substance of Schwann. The fibers which have this sheath are distinguished from others, and are called medulated fibers. It is believed by histologists that every nerve cell is connected with one or more nerve fibers.

     Every nerve cell, when fully developed, has one or two or many processes, which may remain without branches or may be variously branched or ramified. And one at least of these processes passes into and becomes a nerve fibre. The nerve cell and its fibre together, and whatever other processes there may be extended from either, is known as a neuron, and this neuron is the physiological and organic unit of the nervous system.

     Besides the sheath investing the fibre of a neuron, the fibre also possesses finer fibers within it, or, fibrils. The cell also, as well as its fibre, is traversed by these little fibrils. Thus the whole neuron has within it fine fibrils traversing the cell and extending also down into the fibre, which is a process of the cell.

     And thus the neuron, the anatomical unit of the nervous system, is essentially a cell with one or two or many projections, and usually contains a nucleus and nucleoli; and it has at least one of its projections sheathed about with a membrane, containing usually a fatty white substance; and in both cell and projecting fibre many fine fibrils traversing.

     The cells of the brain's cortex are therefore to be classed as neurons. And there are also neurons distributed all through the appendages of the brain,-in the medulla, in the spinal cord, and in the numerous ganglia of both the central and the sympathetic nervous systems.

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Swedenborg recognizes this manner of distribution of the neurons. And though the beginnings of all nervous fibers are in the cells of the neurons, not all the nervous cells are situated in the head. Some are as far from the head or encephalon as the lumbar region, as, for instance, in the ganglia of the sciatic nerves.

     Now, whether the cells have one fibrous projection, or two, or several, they are, according to the closest microscopic appearance, structurally and functionally similar. And hence from a purely scientific point of view one would say that in all probability the ultimate substances of the spirit are extended to and included in the nervous ganglia of the body, even those most remote from the encephalon or the head region. And this supposition would rest upon the similarity between the cortical neurons of the brain and the other neurones or nerve cells. It is also supported by the fact that all the neurones in the body originate embryonically from a given area in the outside layer of cells in the ovum, which become folded in to form the neural canal. Thus it appears that in origin, development, and essential structure neurons or nerve units are like each other; and therefore we might suppose that whether these are found in the head or in the extremities of the spinal cord or even outside the cord, they may all contain the substances which are the ultimates of the spirit of man, and hence of his spiritual body.

     I do not mean to say that the neurones are themselves the very forms in which the bodies of spirits are ultimated, but certainly the limbus or spiritual body must be formed in the interior things within the cortical neurones of the brain, if anywhere; and so likewise it would seem reasonable from scientific fact to think it is also contained within other neurones not in the brain cortex, and perhaps within all of them in the body, as well as in those in the encephalon.

     But I cannot dwell too long on purely physiological matters. So much I have presented only by way of introducing this idea; that supposing all the cells, from which fibers originate, were the only part of us in which the spiritual body subsists after death, then the external form of that body would have to include parts of the entire nervous systems, and thus would be found not only in the encephalon but also in the extremes and appendages of the spinal cord.

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     But this is not all that is involved in the following out of this idea. For one of the main points at issue in the discussion of the bodies of spirits and angels is the question whether the fibers of the neurons contain any of those "higher substances of nature" which we carry with us into the other life. And in this question a fuller knowledge of physiology and histology is certainly indispensable. For let us consider: if the natural substances of the spiritual body's ultimate form are contained only in the cells, the beginning of the fibers, and not in the fibers too, then they must be found at any rate in certain cells at least two feet away from the cerebrum in and near the spinal cord. And if those purest natural substances are to be found only in the nerve cells, and not in the fibers from those cells, then after death those cells outside the head region or encephalon must be severely isolated from the cortical cells in the head; for what is there to connect them with the cortex but the fibers of the spinal cord? Some of the cells, in which fibers originate, would then have to be completely severed from the brains or else lost, unless you think that they could in some way be drawn up and gathered together,-which hardly seems possible without something to connect, that is, if none of the fibers survive death by which alone the neurons in the head and those in the extreme of the cord are connected.

     In other words, I would ask this question: if the ultimates of the spiritual body are contained only in the beginnings of the fibers and nerves of the body and not in the fibers and nerves themselves, then what interior organic connection can there be between a cortical gland in the head and a similar gland at the extremity of the spinal cord? Both such glands are beginnings of fibers alike. But if the interior forms in the fibers do not survive death there would be absolutely nothing to connect such a pair of remote glands.

     Therefore from a purely scientific view it would seem that the substances of the spiritual body's ultimate must pervade the fibers of the nervous system as well as the beginning of those fibers or the gray cells themselves.

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Moreover, the smaller fibrils are in cell and fibre alike, a fact which makes it even more difficult to imagine the leaving behind at death of the interiors of any of the nerve fibers; for then some of these fibrils would also be lost, that is, their interiors.

     But if this be the true view, why would not the material of the spiritual body also pervade all the nervous fibers in the body and thus extend as far as the nerves extend?-i. e., to the hands and feet. It will be remembered that some of the neurons are of great length, and their fibrous extensions, being bundled together, form the nerves running even to the extremities of the body. The fibres of the nervous system are arranged as it were in relays. So that if we trace them up from the foot we find them originating in cells of the spinal cord in the lumbar region; and then if we trace other fibers in contact with those cells, we are led upwards along the cord until we find them originating in the glands or cells of the head.

     I realize perfectly that science alone is a false and misleading guide to the understanding of the nature of the spiritual world. But I have the science of Swedenborg also in mind, and can see no disagreement as far as structure is concerned. For Swedenborg tells us that the beginning of some of the fibers are in the spinal marrow as well as in the encephalon; and we can infer from him also that nothing connects the neural cells in the head with those in the cord but fibers. But if there is nothing eternally permanent contained within those connecting fibers and their finer interior fibrils, how can the scattered neural cells in the cord be connected after death with those in the head?

     And, certainly, in whatever form or figure the bodies of spirits may be, we must think of it as being at least connected.

     Therefore, as a general conclusion, which we must let stand unless contradicted by Divine Revelation, we would present the idea that those interior substances which comprise the spiritual body are most probably contained not only in the cells, the beginning of fibers, but in the fibers themselves, which connect the cells, thus in the complete nervous systems of the body, and thus more or less agreeing with the external figure of our bodies.

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     I am unable to follow this line of scientific argument farther than I have already carried it. This is because of a lack of knowledge about the minute structure of the internal viscera and of the organs of sense. I can only say that in the retina of the eye there are nerve cells exactly resembling the pyramidal cells of the cortex of the brain; and that there are fibers there also like those in the medulla except that they have no sheath around them full of medullary white substance. From such facts it would seem reasonable to suppose that the interiors of such sense-organ cells, and for that matter of all sense-organ cells, might also contain some of those "purest substances of nature" which are to form the envelope of the spiritual body.

     The idea of the ultimates of the spiritual body being contained only in the cortical and cineritious cells of the brain and the spinal cord, is a new one in the Church. We should be extremely careful not to take an opposing attitude towards it merely because it is new. What we must do, if good Newchurchmen, is not to seek to confirm this or that view without sufficient knowledge, but to find out just what the Writings really teach.

     I do not intend in this paper to deal only with scientific arguments. I will now take up a few points from the Writings.

     Though future discussion may disprove it, I should like to offer this thesis upon the subject: the ultimate substances constituting the body of the spirit are present throughout the material body even at birth, irrespective of what the figure of the spiritual body may appear to be in the other life; and that in those substances the angelic mind, or its perversion, is formed by the man himself.

     In support of the first part of this we read, (W. 412): "The respiration of the spirit depends upon fibres as that of the body upon the blood vessels." Swedenborg gives evidences of the respiration of spirits by his own internal respiration when withdrawn, partially, from the body. But in what way could the breathing of spirits depend upon fibres unless they carry something of the fibrous system with them into the other world?"

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     The passages referring to the respiration of spirits seem to me important; for it is said that such respiration "depends upon the fibres." If there should be doubt as to whether they refer to the real respiration of spirits one need only read W. 391:

     "That the spirit possesses a pulse and a respiration as a man does cannot be confirmed otherwise than from spirits and angels themselves. . . . They said that they are as much men as men in the world, like them possessing a body, but a spiritual one; and that they also feel the pulse in the wrist. . . . Once angels were permitted to control my respiration . . . and at length to withdraw it, until only the respiration of my spirit remained. From these and other living proofs it has been plain to me that the spirit of man respires not only in the body but also after it has left the body.

     From this it would seem that the interiors of the fibers-the interior forms of them-must also be retained after death; and even the interior forms of the compounded fibres or nerves; else why should he especially say that the spirits can feel even the pulse at the wrist? This may indeed be a mere appearance to them, (their pulse-beats), but if it were it would not prove anything as to the nerve fibres; it would only show that there are no actual arteries and veins with spirits.

     However, it would seem strange if spirits possessed a complete spiritual nervous system but no spiritual arteries and veins. W. 135 seems to point to the fact that spirits possess an interior spiritual counterpart even of the lungs, heart, and viscera of the body; for there we find a definition of what is meant by the "interiors" of man:

     "Angels have will and understanding [thus an internal], and they have a face and a body. They have the interiors of will and understanding, and also the interiors of face and body. The interiors of the face are the brains; the interiors of the body are the viscera; chief of which are heart and lungs."

     And in another place we read: "The interiors of the will and understanding make a first degree; the interiors of the body make a second degree; the whole body makes a third degree. These all correspond."

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     The question is whether a man carries into the other life the first and second degrees, forsaking only the third, which is the "whole body" (the external body), or whether he takes with him only the first degree, which are the interiors of the will and understanding. I am inclined to believe that one retains not only the first degree of his interiors but the second degree also, which is, as was said, the interiors of the body.

     I can find nothing in Mr. Acton's exhaustive essay on THE NATURE OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD which cannot be interpreted in accordance with this view. But on the other hand, exhaustive and forceful as that work is, there are striking passages in the Writings with which it does not deal. Such passages have been quoted in articles in the LIFE bearing on the subject, as that (to quote from W. 388): "The first stamen of the human form is from its beginnings from the brains, continued through the nerves. . . . This form is that into which man comes after death, . . . the material form which is added and superinduced in the world, is not the human form itself but is from it."

     And in A. C. 4659 We read: "It is to be known that the spirit dwells in the body, and is its purer substance, both in its motories and in its sensories, and everywhere else, and the body is the material everywhere annexed thereto." Now if the spirit of a man is in his motories and his sensories, it would certainly seem that the interiors of the motor nerves and of the sensory nerves are retained in the other world, even though the activities of motories and sensories should be rendered quiescent or become dependent for activity upon those of men still living in the world.

     In the new view which has been set forth in the Church it is acknowledged that there is something retained at death which "recedes" or is rendered quiescent. What is this? Surely it is not those forms of the will and understanding alive to affection and thought; these cannot become quiescent. These the interiors of man that are said to make a first degree. But rather that part which is made quiescent must be, it would seem, that second degree of active forces which have been described as "the interior forms of the body" and its organs.

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But although this second degree may be made quiescent, it is nevertheless apparently present and is retained to the spirit.

     And this introduces a final thought. I believe there is a distinction to be made between mind and spirit, which has not been well observed. In a sense it is true that the mind is the spirit, but yet it seems that the spirit may include more ultimate things and substances than the mind,-may have a lower basis. Thus we may say that at birth there is no angelic or proprial "mind," yet it cannot be said there is no "spirit" at birth. Though it may be said that the new-born child has no mind, in a strict sense, can it be said that he has no spirit? The spirit must be there; and in it or upon it the proprial mind is to be formed; otherwise the body could not have been formed from the soul. There must be, I should think, even before birth, those intermediate substances, the last of the spiritual, the first of the natural-by which the soul forms and completes the body. There must be, in other words, not only those substances which form the first degree of active forces but also those which for the second degree, before the third degree, the externals of the body, can be completed. And so we think these two higher degrees of substances, the first and the second, must be the soul and the spirit, or the soul within the spirit, whereas the "mind," strictly speaking, is the angelic image or state stamped upon the substances of the spirit during later life. No one will deny that there is in the pre-natal infant a complete system of nerves and fibers; and the interiors of this system, as well as nerve cells from which they have originated, I take to be the ultimate substances of the spiritual body, when as yet there is no proprial or self-directive "mind."

     Thus I should think the spirit of man may be thought of as including spiritual substances which form the interiors not only of the neural cells, or cortical glands, in the head and spinal marrow, but also the spiritual substances forming the interiors of all the nerve fibers throughout the body, and perhaps substances interior to all the sense organs and viscera of the body; and that the "mind" may be thought of as only that part of these substances which remains active in the other life, or which receives thought and affection by influx; while the more ultimate substances of the "spirit," which we had even before birth, may be rendered quiescent; and that these quiescent substances, forming a second degree, are the real ultimates of the spiritual body, which when acted upon from within present all the appearances of a body, and are such a body actually, having parts to correspond with every part of the material body, whose figure we know.

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MARGINAL NUMERALS IN THE SCHMIDIUS BIBLE 1914

MARGINAL NUMERALS IN THE SCHMIDIUS BIBLE       Rev. E. E. IUNGERICH       1914

     A paper on the character of Swedenborg's notes in his copy of Schmidius' Latin Bible was read before the Joint Council of the General Church in June, 1912, and subsequently published in the LIFE in September of the same year. In the account of the discussion of that paper recorded in the same issue, Bishop Pendleton is reported as saying: "It would be interesting to know what is meant by the numbers in the marginal notes,-whether they refer to the 'seventeen universals' of the PROPHETS AND PSALMS."

     There are four distinct series of numerals, as follows: I. In JUDGES, the series 2-13 from chapters 3-5. II. In KINGS, from I K. 17 to 2 K. 2, the series 1-9. III. In KINGS, from 2 K. 2-13, the series 1-16. IV. In Exodus 34, the series 2-10. These will be considered in order.

     I. THE SERIES 2-13, JUDGES 3-15.

     This is an enumeration of the Judges who judged Israel, subsequent to Joshua, viz.-2. Ehud, Jud. 3:15,-3 Shamgar, 3:31,-4 Deborah, 4:4,-5. Gideon, 6:11,-6. Abimelech, 11:22,-7. Tola, 10:1,-8. Jair, 10:3,-9. Jephthah, 11:11,-10. Ibzan, 12:8,-II. Elon, 12:11,-12. Abdon, 12:13,-13. Samson, 15:13.

     II. THE SERIES 1-9, I. KINGS 17-11. KINGS 2:9.

     This is art enumeration of the miracles of Elijah.

     1. That dew or rain fell only according to his word, I K. 17:1.

     2. The ravens brought him bread and flesh, I K. 17:6.

     3. The barrel of meal and the cruse of oil belonging to the widow of Zarephath, did not waste or fail, I K. 17:14.

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     4. The soul of her child was brought back again, I K. 17:22.

     5. Fire from heaven consumed Elijah's burnt offering on Mt. Carmel, I K. 18:38.

     At I K. 19:8, which treats of Elijah's going forty days and nights as far as the cave in Horeb upon the strength of a single meal, the numeral 6 is entered in the margin, but is struck out by two transverse horizontal lines.

     6. Fire from heaven consumed the first captain and his fifty, 2 K.

     7. Fire from heaven consumed the second captain and his fifty, 2 K.

     8. Elijah divided the Jordan by smiting its waters with his mantle, 2 K. 2:8.

     9. Elijah was parted from Elisha by a chariot and horses of fire, and ascended into heaven by a whirlwind, 2 K. 2:11.

     III. THE SERIES 1-16, 2 K. 2:14-13:21.

     This is art enumeration of the miracles of Elisha.

     1. He divided the waters of the Jordan by smiting them with Elijah's mantle, 2 K. 2:14.

     2. He healed a spring of waters at Jericho, 2 K. 2:21.

     3. Two she-bears rent forty-two children from Bethel who reviled him, 2 K. 2:24.

     4. Water came by way of Edom and filled the country, 2 K. 3:29.

     5. A prophet's widow's debt was paid by the multiplication of the oil from a single pot, 2 K. 4:7

     6. He gave the Shunammite woman to bear a son, 2 K. 4:17.

     7. He raised up this son after he had died, 2 K. 4:35.

     8. He healed with meal at Gilgal a deadly pottage, 2 K. 4:41.

     Over this numeral 8, in the margin at verse 41, has been written the numeral 9. This probably refers to the ninth miracle, the feeding of one hundred men with twenty leaves, recorded in verses 42-44.

     10. The healing of Naaman the leper, 2 K. 5:3.

     11. The transference of Naaman's leprosy upon Gehazi, 2 K. 5:27.

     12. He caused an iron axe-head to swim, 2 K. 6:5.

     13. He opened a young man's eyes to see the horses and chariots of fire around Elisha, 2 K. 6:17

     14. He smote the Syrians with temporary blindness, 2 K. 6:18.

     15. He foresaw the arrival of a messenger from the king, 2 K. 6:32.

     16. The bones of Elisha revived a dead man who was put into his sepulcher, 2 K. 13:21.

     IV. THE SERIES 2-10, EXODUS 34:15-26.

     This is art enumeration of the ten commandments in the more external form in which they were couched when written on the second pair of tables.

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     The general opinion for thirty-four centuries has been that the decalogue of Exodus 20:1-17 was written, not only on the first pair of tables that were shortly destroyed, (Exod. 32:15, 19), but also on the second pair as well. This has seemed to be confirmed in Exod. 34:1, 28 and DEUT. 10:1-5; and to be endorsed by implication from certain passages in the Writings, the most notable of which are T. C. R. 283, A. R. 669, A. E. 1026, A. C. 10453. On the other hand, there is as evidence to show that the inscription on the second tables was that of Exod. 34:10-26; first, the explicit declaration of verse 27 of that chapter; second, the marginal notes in the Schmidius Bible supported by the series of numbers 2-10; third, most emphatic declarations in the ADVERSARIA notes to that chapter; and fourth, a valid conclusion from the general doctrine in the ARCANA on this subject, formulated A. C. 10453, 10461.

     Before considering this evidence it will be useful to have in mind the text of Exodus 34:10-26, which is postulated as being the inscription on the second pair of tables, the only ones ever placed in the ark.
     In the Schmidius Bible the numerals 2-10 are placed in the margins of verses 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, respectively, indicating, as will appear anon, that each of the last nine commandments on the second pair of tables began with one of those verses in order. I have been unable to make out any number in the margin, which I should have expected to find at verse 10. But this is probably because it has been written over by the marginal notes there.

     A. THE TESTIMONY OF EXOD. 34:27.

     In the nineteenth chapter of Exodus is given the account of the arrival of the children of Israel at Sinai. The next four chapters, 20-23, contain an uninterrupted series of laws spoken virtually without a break on "the day of the assembly" by Jehovah to Moses. The laws in these four chapters constitute that first "covenant" (Exod. 19:5) which the Lord desired to establish with that nation. These four chapters were written in a book called the "book of the covenant," as is clearly evident from Exod. 24:4, 7, 8, viz.-"And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah. . . .

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And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people; and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." This covenant was broken by the Jews as the result of a lapse into idolatry, (Exod. 32); and as a sign of its being broken Moses destroyed the first pair of tables (IBID. 15, 19) on which had been inscribed the laws of the same few chapters that had been written in the book of the covenant. (Adv. 4007, 4107, DEUT. 9:10.) Since a new or second covenant was now to be framed, the Lord commanded, (Exod. 34) to hew out two new tables of stone and to bring them to the top of the mountain. There then follows, in Exod. 34, the proclamation of verses 10-26, the text of which will shortly be presented. Immediately thereupon follows this explicit testimony of verse 27,-"And Jehovah said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel." (Italics my own.) This can mean nothing else than that Moses was to write on these tables the laws just given in verses 10-26.

     As opposed to this conclusion we find at Exod. 34:1, 28; DEUT. 10:1-5; and A. C. 10453 the statement that the second pair of tables contained the same ten words that were on the first pair. This, according to the ADVERSARIA, as will appear anon, is not to be taken as a statement of literal fact, but to be understood in the sense that each covenant was divisible into ten articles, that everything in the second covenant of Exod. 34:10-26 had been previously stated in the laws of chapters 20-23 that constituted the first covenant, and that the decalogue proper is interiorly involved in the second covenant.

     Attention is called in passing to the declaration of the ADVERSARIA that the first pair of tables had on them all the laws of the first covenant, chapters 20-23, and not merely the first seventeen verses of chapter 20, as is commonly supposed. This is confirmed by DEUT. 9:10.

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     1.

     V. 10. AND HE SAID, BEHOLD, I MAKE A COVENANT: BEFORE ALL THY PEOPLE I WILL DO MARVELS, SUCH AS HAVE NOT BEEN DONE IN ALL THE EARTH, NOR IN ANY NATION: AND ALL THE PEOPLE AMONG WHICH THOU ART SHALL SEE THE WORK OF JEHOVAH: FOR IT IS A TERRIBLE THING THAT I WILL DO TO THEE,

     V. 11. OBSERVE THOU THAT WHICH I COMMAND THEE THIS DAY: BEHOLD, I DRIVE OUT BEFORE THEE THE AMORITE, AND THE CANAANITE, AND THE HITTITE, AND THE PERRIZITE, AND THE HIVITE, AND THE JEBUSITE.

     V. 12. TAKE HEED TO THYSELF, LEST THOU MAKE A COVENANT WITH THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND WHITHER THOU GOEST, LEST IT BE FOR A SNARE IN THE MIDST OF THEE:

     V. 13. BUT YE SHALL DESTROY THEIR ALTARS, BREAK THEIR IMAGES, AND CUT DOWN THEIR GROVES.

     V. 14. FOR THOU SHALT WORSHIP NO OTHER GOD: FOR JEHOVAH, WHOSE NAME IS JEALOUS, IS A JEALOUS GOD.

     2.

     V. 15. LEST THOU MAKE A COVENANT WITH THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND, AND THEY GO A-WHORING AFTER THEIR GODS, AND DO SACRIFICE UNTO THEIR GODS, AND ONE CALL THEE, AND THOU EAT OF HIS SACRIFICE.

     3.

     V. 16. AND THOU TAKE OF THEIR DAUGHTERS UNTO THY SONS, AND THEIR DAUGHTERS GO A-WHORING AFTER THEIR GODS, AND MAKE THY SONS GO A-WHORING AFTER THEIR GODS.

     V. 17. THOU SHALT MAKE THEE NO MOLTEN GODS.

     4.

     V. 18. THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD SHALT THOU KEEP. SEVEN DAYS THOU SHALT EAT UNLEAVENED BREAD, AS I COMMANDED THEE, IN THE TIME OF THE MONTH ABIB; FOR IN THE MONTH ABIB THOU CAMEST OUT OF EGYPT.

     5.

     V. 19. ALL THAT OPENETH THE MATRIX IS MINE; AND EVERY FIRSTLING AMONG THY CATTLE, WHETHER OX OR SHEEP, THAT IS MALE.

     V. 20. BUT THE FIRSTLING OF AN ASS THOU SHALT REDEEM WITH A LAMB: AND IF THOU REDEEM HIM NOT, THEN SHALT THOU BREAK HIS NECK. ALL THE FIRST-BORN OF THY SONS THOU SHALT REDEEM, AND NONE SHALL APPEAR BEFORE ME EMPTY.

     6.

     V. 21. SIX DAYS THOU SHALT WORK. BUT ON THE SEVENTH DAY THOU SHALL REST: IN EARING TIME AND IN HARVEST THOU SHALT REST.

     7.

     V. 22. AND THOU SHALT OBSERVE THE FEAST OF WEEKS, OF THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE WHEAT HARVEST, AND THE FEAST OF INGATHERING AT THE YEAR'S END.

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     V. 23. THRICE IN THE YEAR SHALL ALL YOUR MEN CHILDREN APPEAR BEFORE JEHOVAH GOD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL.

     8.

     v. 24. WHEN I SHALL HAVE EXPELLED THE NATIONS BEFORE THEE, AND ENLARGED THY BORDER: A MAN SHALL NOT DESIRE THY LAND. WHEN THOU SHALT GO UP TO APPEAR BEFORE JEHOVAH THY GOD THRICE IN THE YEAR.

     9.

     v. 25. THOU SHALT NOT OFFER THE BLOOD OF MY SACRIFICE WITH LEAVEN; NEITHER SHALL THE SACRIFICE OF THE FEAST OF THE PASSOVER BE LEFT UNTO THE MORNING.

     10.

     v. 26. THE FIRST OF THE FIRST FRUITS OF THY LAND THOU SHALT BRING UNTO THE HOUSE OF JEHOVAH THY GOD. THOU SHALT NOT SEETHE A KID IN HIS MOTHER'S MILK.

     B. THE TESTIMONY OF THE SCHMIDIUS MARGINALIA.

     The occurrence of the numerals 2-10 at the exact places where the text of verses 10-26 would naturally divide itself, has already been noted.

     In the marginal notes to verses 27, 28, Swedenborg observes further: "Thus the new covenant was made. From a comparison of the words with those at DEUT. 10:2, 3, 4, it appears as if the ten prior words were written by God Messiah, and these words of a covenant were written by Moses, [nor is it indicated whether written anywhere else than upon the tables crossed], but here it appears that these words were inscribed on the tables by Moses, thus it is evident an arcanum is in them. The words of the decalogue could not have been inscribed by any other than by God Messiah. But the words of this covenant were [what were] to be written."

     C. THE TESTIMONY OF THE ADVERSARIA AT EXODUS 34.

     In the following citations I have italicized that which is directly pertinent to this demonstration.

     3879. Vers. 1. Concerning the former tables which Moses broke, you may see above: namely, that they were the work of God, and the writing of God; hence it was the internal law impressed on the first man, as also on every work of creation, which therefore was called perfect, because there was nothing that did not regard the kingdom of God, and thus God Messiah.

     3880. These tables were now broken in man by Moses, for unless they had been broken, that people could never have lived.

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     3881. Hence now Moses is commanded to hew out or make other tables with his own hand, in which the same words should be written as in the former ones, but they were only external words of the Lord: such as is the man, such the tables. . . .

     3894. Here indeed it is very difficult to know whether Jehovah wrote the ten words, or the precepts of the decalogue anew upon the tables; for it is read, vers. 28, that he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, ten words: thus whether Moses wrote thus with his own hand.

     3895. For it most frequently has so happened to me, that I wrote, and the hand was directed into the very words by a superior force, even to the sense, and sometimes quite manifestly, wherefore I also said that these things were not written by me, but by some one outside me; sometimes also it was given me to know by what angel of God Messiah these things were thus written.

     3806. But besides these words, Moses also wrote these things which pertained to worship in externals, as is clearly evident, vers. 27 [of Ex. 341] which words are called words of the covenant. . . .

     3994. With regard to the words of the covenant, it is read, vers. 1., that Jehovah wrote upon the tables the words which were upon the former tables: the words were ten, namely, the words of this covenant were arranged into ten articles; for it is not said that the words of the decalogue, concerning which above, were inscribed, but the words of this covenant, vers. 27, 28, 29. Concerning the former tables it is read, Chap. 32, vers. 15 and 16: where it is not said what was inscribed on them, but that they were written from two sides, thus before and behind; also this way and that, that is, both tables.

     4003. But with regard to these words, which are read in this Chap., vers. 1, namely, that the words which were in the former tables were written on the table; it is not read here the "same" words [N. B., the word "same" does not occur in the Hebrew]; but yet that those which were on the former tables were now here on the latter tables; the same are contained, which seems to be confirmed from the things which are read, vers. 27, where [these occur], "afterwards Jehovah said to Moses, write for thee these words, because upon the mouth of these words I have established a covenant with thee, and with Israel," moreover that the writing is a confirmation of the covenant: hence now it follows, that on these tables given later these words were inscribed, which we contained in this chapter [i. e., 34] from vers. 10 to 26 incl., thus also are explained those things which are read DEUT., Ch. 9, vers. 9 and 19. That in this Chap., namely, DEUT., Chap. 9, it treats of the former tables, is clearly gathered from the series of things mentioned there, see there from verse 11 to 17 incl.

     4004. Hence thus it follows, that on these tables were not inscribed the precepts of the later, but only these things, which are contained, as was said, from vers. 10 to 26 incl.

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     4005. But that the contents of the Law, thus strictly called, are here comprised, and also contained, may be seen from a light examination.

     4006. Namely, that they should not worship other gods, here are similar things, but in other words, and indeed applied specifically to them, when they should come into the promised land, as is evident from vers. 12 to 17 inclusive of this chapter. Concerning the holy seventh day mention is made here specifically, vers. 21, besides in general concerning feasts, and the celebration of them, vers. 18, as also vers. 23. Concerning concupiscence nothing more is read here than what are at verse 24. The remaining things, namely, that they should honor parents, that they should not kill, that they should not commit adultery, are not read here.

     4007. Yet the things which are here in addition, were also said before, thus inserted in the former covenant, and thus engraved on the former tables which were written from both sides and this way and that as can, be evident, Chap. 23, namely, vers. 15, there, where is what is in this chapter, vers. 18. See also whether other things are contained there.

     4107. That these words were the above mentioned words of the covenant, see above, from this text [i. e., at vers. 28] this is evident, but if the words elsewhere, as it were, belie, let them but reconciled, for here it does not treat of the precepts of the decalogue. Consult articles 3998 to 4006 inclusive, especially Deut., Chap. 9, vers. 10, 11, which were the former tables, and DEUT., Ch. 10, vers. 4, which were the latter: these are said to have been written according to the former writing, which is also true, for the words of this covenant are also contained in the former covenant; but here it is not read that they were written from both sides, as the former, Exod., Ch. 32:15: thus they were the same words, but fewer; for they refer themselves to the former covenant.

     6499. [At NUMBERS I.] But the Law was not any more in the ark, only the tables of the testimony, or of the covenant, which Moses hewed, on which were inscribed the covenant by God Messiah through Moses.

     6500. With respect to the choir of angels who were in the ark, it follows now from this that God Messiah was not so Present as if the Law itself had been engraved.

     From these passages we are asked to conclude that the laws of Exodus 34:10-26 were on the second tables, that these laws are divisible into ten articles, that they are the same ten words in the sense that they were all included in the previous covenant, and that the laws of Exodus 20-23 were what was inscribed on the first pair of tables. (As to this latter point, note DEUT. 9:10: "And the Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; AND ON THEM ACCORDING TO ALL the WORDS WHICH JEHOVAH SPOKE WITH YOU IN THE MOUNT OUT OF THE MIDST OF THE FIRE IN THE DAY OF THE ASSEMBLY."

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Such is the testimony of the statements I italicized and which I herewith collate together:

     "The words of this covenant were arranged into ten articles; for it is not said that the words of the decalogue, concerning which above were inscribed, but the words of this covenant, vers. 27, 28, 29." ADV. 3994.

     "That on these fables given later these words were inscribed, which are contained in this chapter" [viz. 34] from vers. 10 to 26 incl. ADV. 4003.

     "They were only external words." ADV. 3881.

     "Moses also wrote those things which pertained to worship in externals." ADV. 3896.

     "That on these tables were not inscribed the ten precepts of the Law, but only those things which are contained as was said, from vers. 10 to 26 incl." ADV. 4004.

     "If the words elsewhere as it were belie, let them be reconciled, for here it does not treat of the precepts of the decalogue." ADV. 4107.

     "But the contents of the Law, thus strictly called, are here comprised and also contained." ADV. 4005.

     "These are said to have been written according to the former writing, which is also true, for the words of this covenant are also contained in the former covenant . . . thus they were the same words, but fewer." ADV. 4107.

     They "were also said before, thus inserted in the former covenant, and thus engraved in the former tables which were written from both sides and this way and that; as can be evident, Chap. xxiii, namely, vers. 15, there, where is what is in this chapter [i. e., xxxiv] vers. 18." ADV. 4007.

     D. THE TESTIMONY OF THE ARCANA.

     The general law that applies here is stated A. C. 10453, 10461:

     "It is an arcanum that the sense of the letter of the Word would have been different, if the Word had been written with a different people, or if this people had not been such; for the sense of the letter of the Word treats of that people, because the Word was written with them." A. C. 10453

     "'And he cast the tables from his hand, and broke them under the mountain,' that it signifies the external sense of the Word changed and different on account of that nation is evident from the signification of the tables upon which the law was written, as being the external sense of the Word or the sense of the letter . . . and from the signification of casting them out of the hand and breaking,' as being to destroy the genuine external sense, thus also to change and make it different." A. C. 10462.

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     The teaching here is that the Lord willed to give this people an internal revelation, but that on account of its gross character the genuine external sense had to be changed and a different one given, namely, one clothed in ritualistic laws and national tradition. Now as the tables of stone were the center and epitome of their revelation, would it not be logical and proper to regard the letters of the inscription on them as having undergone the same alteration? Yet although the external inscription was changed, the tables still comprised and contained the Law or decalogue in the strict sense, as interiorly involved in them. The recurrent expression that "the same ten words" (verba not voces) were written on this second pair of tables may be explained not only in the natural way given by the ADVERSARIA, as noted above, but also to mean that the same Divine celestial and spiritual content was still in them, as appears from A. C. 10604.

     According to this evidence we are asked to accept two entirely novel views with regard to the inscriptions on the tables, viz.: first,-that the first pair of tables contained not merely the decalogue of Exod. 20:1-17, but the laws of four entire chapters, xx-xxiii; and, secondly,-that the second pair of tables contained an abridged summary of these four chapters, couched in the language of Exod. 34:10-26. With regard to this latter point; which also, as is evident from the ADVERSARIA passages, entails the former one, Swedenborg expresses himself most positively thus: "if the words elsewhere, as it were, belie, let them be reconciled,-for here it does not treat of the precepts of the decalogue."

     It would be in order now to consider some of the words or passages that "as it were belie," and to endeavor, pursuant to Swedenborg's recommendation, to reconcile them as far as we are able.

     OBJECTION I. At DEUT. 5:22, after a recapitulation of the decalogue in a form varying but slightly from that at Ex. 20:1-17, we read: "These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly. . . and he added no more. [Italics my own.] And he wrote them on two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me."

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     If we take the "he added no more" as referring to the characters actually inscribed on the tables, we have here a direct contradiction to DEUT. 9:10, which Swedenborg adduces as warrant for considering that the first pair of tables contained all that was spoken on the day of the assembly, viz., Exod. 20-23.

     The reconciliation that suggests itself is one that we ourselves make when we meet the phrase "the Word is nothing but the decalogue." So with each pair of tables. What was on them was likewise nothing but the decalogue, and nothing more was added, in conformity with the instruction at DEUT. 4:2, 12:32; APOC. 22:18. The four chapters on the first pair of tables are, like the entire Word itself, only an expression of the decalogue, with nothing else added.

     OBJECTION 2. The second pair of tables are said to contain the same ten words that were on the first, Ex. 34:11 28; DEUT. 10:2, 4, and this is reiterated twice in A. C. 10453, thus,-"the same words were afterwards inscribed by Jehovah on other tables, which were hewn out by Moses."

     Swedenborg in his ADVERSARIA comment on EXOD. 34:1 says "it is not read here 'the same' words," evidently referring to the fact that the word "same" does not occur in the Hebrew text. In his translation of this phrase, he invariably renders "words," not by "voces," which mean the literal words of inscription, but by "verba," which mean the substance or purport to be conveyed. Swedenborg gives various explanations of how the phrase "the same ten words" is to be understood, which we have already set forth and to which the reader is again referred. The fact that the ARCANA in A. C. 10453 reiterates this phrase of the letter of the Word does not obligate us now to regard it as the statement of a specific literal fact which is to do away with the evidence as to the character of the inscription on the second pair of tables, and is to nullify the explanation of that phrase which Swedenborg has given. Swedenborg, at times, states some general propositions in the language of the Bible. The genuine sense of such expressions is not any different from what it is in the Bible. Numerous illustrations of this are familiar to everyone.

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     OBJECTION 3. The Writings state definitely that the ten commandments were written on two tables and that these were placed in the ark. We will cite several passages to this purport:

     "That when Moses carried down those tables the second time his face shone. That the tables were afterwards deposited in the ark; and the latter inmostly ire the tabernacle." T. C. R. 283.

     "The inmost of the tabernacle was where the ark was, in which were the two tables, on which by the finger of God had been inscribed the ten words, which are the ten precepts of the decalogue." A. R. 669.

     "Therefore there were two tables, on which those ten precepts were inscribed, and they are called a covenant by which is signified conjunction: and then they were placed in the ark, not one beside the other, but one on top of the other, for a testimony of the conjunction between the Lord and man. . . . The first three precepts are of love to the Lord, and the last six precepts are of love toward the neighbor, and the fourth precept, which is 'Honor thy Father and thy Mother,' is the mediating precept." A. E. 1026.

     The reconciliation here needed is that given in 3 ADV. 4005-6, quoted above. Seeing that the inscription on the second pair of tables "comprised and contained the contents of the Law, thus strictly called," it need occasion no surprise that the language of the Writings should speak with reference to the interior contents of the actual inscription and not to the latter when referring to their place in the worship of the Jewish Church.

     As a reflection here, it may be added that every Divine Revelation, in order to inculcate fundamental principles that are needed first of all, makes emphatic statements, which, for a time, may be taken as merely literal facts, but afterwards are understood more deeply. The well known statements about Jehovah as an avenging punishing deity, are first to be taken literally in order to inculcate the principle that He has all power. In the present connection, it was necessary to emphasize that the entire Word, or its epitome, the two tables, is nothing but the decalogue; and to do this it was necessary that the inscription be made to appear to have been simply the decalogue. Had instructions about the inscription's being something else been presented first, there might have been a weakening in people's minds of the acknowledgment of the prime importance of the decalogue.

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     OBJECTION 4. The inscription on the second pair of tables has been styled as an external revelation when compared with the internal one on the first pair, which were broken, and 3 ADV. 6500 has been cited to show that on this account the choir of angels could not be so present as if the internal revelation or the decalogue had been inscribed on them. But it may be asked "how can Exod. 34:10-26 be regarded as more external than the previous inscription seeing that it is a repetition of Statements scattered throughout the four chapters, 20-23?" It is more external in the sense that a man clothed and having his face and hands concealed as well, is less manifest than the same man in the same clothing, but with hands and face bare. In the second pair of tables the decalogue is involved and concealed, but in the first it is openly stated. Moreover Swedenborg says of the inscription on the second pair of tables, "They were only external words" 3 ADV. 3881.

     OBJECTION 5. Again it might be asked, "if the four chapters on the first pair of tables were of too internal a character to be given to the Jews on that inmost representative of their revelation, the tables, how came it that those chapters were preserved at all, being recorded in the book of the covenant, (Exodus 24), and subsequently written in the Pentateuch of Moses?"

     The answer is that this written record of revelation was for a future age as a preparation for a more internal state. Prior to the return from the captivity the religion of the Jews was exclusively ritualistic and sacrificial with virtually no reading or direct instruction from the written Word. In fact, in the reign of Josiah, one of the last kings of Judah, it is stated that Hilkiah, the priest, had discovered the book of the law. It was not, however, until the return from Babylon that synagogic readings of Scripture were established. The period from then until the Lord's first advent may, in this, as well as in other respects, be compared to the epoch of the Protestant Reformation, which made a Word that had been buried again accessible to mankind as a preparation for the approaching advent of the Lord.

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     It seems quite evident from the considerations presented, that these marginal numerals in the Schmidius Bible at Exodus 34 were put there to mark the ten articles of the inscription that was on the second pair of tables. As to whether the Church is ready to accept the consequences of this fact on the basis of this and the other evidence offered, is a matter to be determined subsequently.

     In one respect the matter involved in this new conception seems of rather slight and trivial moment. It is not a question involving the integrity of the decalogue or the Written Word or diminishing their importance. It is merely the consideration of what was the inscription on two tables now lost; tables which were the central representative of the now abrogated ritual of the Jewish Church at a time when it had been clearly shown that they were not capable of receiving a more interior revelation.

     But in other respects there are several far-reaching consequences of these considerations that do vitally affect the thought of the Church, and that make active several of the problems now before the Church. Here, for instance, we have emphatic statements in works prior to the ARCANA, which appear to disagree with the implications of some of the statements on the subject in the later period. Which of these should rule, and how does this affect our confidence in the reliability of the ADVERSARIA? Again, are we obligated to construe every statement in the later theological works in a purely literal, matter-of-fact way, or is it correct to conclude that some statements are general in character and need interpretation? This suggests the ever-present question as to whether the Writings possess an interior sense, which is not always the one that, at first sight, appears in its general statements.

     In presenting this research to the criticism of the Church, I would request it to be noted that apart from my own personal view on this subject and the consequences that arise from it, it is, after all, statements by Swedenborg and reasoning used by him that are before us.

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MR. IUNGERICH'S PAPER DISCUSSED AT THE BRITISH ASSEMBLY 1914

MR. IUNGERICH'S PAPER DISCUSSED AT THE BRITISH ASSEMBLY              1914

     Dr. Deltenre: Mr. Iungerich's position is sustained by the ADVERSARIA, but is contrary to that of the Writings. He referred to the passage in the ARCANA where, in treating of the destruction of the first tables on which the Commandments were written, it shows that the words would have been different had they not been written for the Jewish Church. I understand this teaching to apply not only to the Decalogue, but to the whole Bible. In the section on the Decalogue in the T. C. R. it says that the ten words were put in the Ark, but the law was not.

     Mr. Wm. Whitehead: It is refreshing to have so enthusiastic a study of the Decalogue for this contains in a summary the religion of the New Church. I have had an opportunity to look into the testimony adduced, but I do not think the hypothesis is proved. For very many centuries it has been believed that the Decalogue was written in the form in which it is given in the chapter of the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. After all these centuries we are asked to change this opinion because there are difficulties in statements occurring in the marginal notes in the Schmidius Bible. The apparent inconsistencies in the ADVERSARIA are in the minority, so let us wait before condemning the numerically stronger set of passages. If the Decalogue were altered, all our existing laws would have to be changed, for all human law is based upon the Commandments as we have them. I rather deprecate a tendency to find an hypothesis opposed to this commonly held belief.

     Mr. Rose: We have definite statements that the words written on the first tables of stone were the ones written on the second tables. Mr. Iungerich wishes to reject the teaching of the ARCANA on the authority of the notes in the Schmidius Bible. The use of the term "God Messiah" shows that Swedenborg was not yet in full illustration. I cannot conceive why, if the notes in the Schmidius Bible were correct, no mention of such an important thing occurs in the T. C. R. There is too much hypothesis in the air at present; it is undermining the authority of the Writings.

     Mr. Iungerich: My paper was rather a technical one, so I do not wonder that some have misunderstood me. I am not making any proposal to reject any teaching of the ARCANA, but these are statements made by Swedenborg which I am considering together with those made subsequently. The truth of any statement is not to be found by chronology, nor by taking a date and believing all after it and nothing before it. It is, of course, true that after a certain period Swedenborg spoke from the Lord alone, but this state did not come immediately.

     We should get all the evidence and consider the relation of the various strata of truths, and then there will come an understanding of the truth.

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My hypothesis is supported by passages in the Letter of the Word, which passages have been noted by commentators in the Old Church. There is the evidence of the marginal notes, the evidence of the ADVERSARIA, and there is a chain of reasoning in the ARCANA which shows that there had been a change from an internal to an external revelation in the Jewish Church. I think the production of this new testimony may help, for instance, in our understanding of the passages in the Writings which appear to give different ways in which the Decalogue was written. The only question is as to whether the Decalogue, in the form with which we are familiar with it, was written on the second tables.

     Mr. Rose: My point is that there is teaching in the ARCANA that the contents of the two tables were identical. Therefore any attempt to prove that they were not is a denial of the ARCANA.

     Mr. Donald Rose: There are problems throughout the Writings which invite speculation, and an attitude that endeavors to suppress it is unwholesome. The danger is in endeavoring to answer these problems immediately. Mr. Iungerich has shown that there is an important connection between the two parts of the Word he has referred to. His conclusion was that what was written on the tables consisted of the whole of the four chapters from Exodus XX-XXIII inclusive. If this be true we should have expected the Writings to have something to say on the matter.

     Mr. Iungerich: It is true that I base my opinion that there were four chapters of the Law written e, the first pair of tables, on evidence of an external character. For instance, there is no break from the beginning of the 17 verses occupied by the Decalogue until the 23d chapter of Exodus; and Swedenborg says that Deut. 9:10 shows that four chapters were written on the tables. As to why the Writings make no mention of it,-I might as well ask why they don't mention Neptune and Uranus! The Writings are to make us reflect. There is no royal road to an understanding of the Doctrines. The principle is laid down that we should desire to be led by the Lord to the truth, and it is for us to be willing to follow Him wheresoever He leads. This may mean that traditions we have held must be supplanted There are certain problems the truth about which we can never understand as it is in itself, but gradually and carefully we can replace our first understanding of them by others more pertinent and interior. The earlier works contain statements that produce modifications in our understanding of the Writings. Are these statements of value? Must we reject them! One must present statements of any difficulties in a straightforward way, and it often happens that the spokesman of any new idea will hold it in an extreme sense, but no harm need thereby be done to the Church.

     Mr. Pryke: We should keep before us the fact that in these discussions we are on holy ground. These new views come in a disturbing way. Let us try and understand them but let us hold fast to what we have, before taking up something we do not understand.

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     Mr. Czerny: The idea presented is an entirely new one to me. I understand that Mr. Iungerich did not mean to imply that the whole section of the Word referred to in Deut. 9:10, was to replace the Decalogue as we know it; but that the passages written on the second tables were meant to be laws for the Jews only; and that the Commandments in the form in which we know them were not placed in the Ark.
PERSUASIONS VERSUS PROCESS 1914

PERSUASIONS VERSUS PROCESS       H. S       1914

     We have often heard the statement that man is born a "mere mass of concupiscences." Potentially this is so, but not actually, except so far as persuasions come to light and develop the concupiscences. Persuasion is the connubial partner of lust, without which no progeny is put forth and no permanence effected. Thus it may as well be said that we are, as to our individuality, our proprium, nothing but a bundle of persuasions.

     As we grow up and begin to think for ourselves, (we only borrow thoughts at first), what is more natural than to seize upon those persuasions which favor our native desires, and embrace these as true. We also think all others inferior who do not have the same standards. This is why so little essential progress is made from father to son, or from mother to daughter. The air we breathe is full of ready-made persuasions of which we readily drink in those held by our set, and few there be that ever review these in the light of revealed truth, or take any distinct steps beyond the state and quality of their forbears.

     The great drawback about a code imbibed in this way only, is that it is devoid of extension and thus of all adaptability. It is bigoted and narrow, even if right. Thus even the best traditions, as well as those that are false, stand in need of such a process of digestion, when adult age is reached, as shall give to them the requisite breadth. Travel helps, and being thrown into sympathetic contact with different sorts of persons and modes of life. But wisdom can only come through humility, and this is the refined product of Temptation. Nothing else can in the long run prevent the national misunderstandings which result in war.
     H. S.

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Editorial Department 1914

Editorial Department       Editor       1914

     NOTES AND REVIEWS.

     THE EVANGELICAL NEW-CHURCHMAN, a monthly journal published at Berlin, Ont., by the Rev. E. D. Daniels, has been gathered to its numerous literary ancestors.



     We regret to learn that the MONATBLATTER, edited by the Rev. Adolph Goerwitz at Zurich, Switzerland, has suspended publication, owing, we presume, to the disturbed state on the Continent.



     Bishop W. F. Pendleton, on Nov. 3d, 1914, recognized the Rev. Gaston J. Ferken as a minister and pastor of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and as a member of the Council of the Clergy.



     Though in many respects opposed to the principles of the Academy, THE NEW AGE, of Sydney, N. S. W., frequently refers in a friendly manner to the work of the Academy and the General Church. From other quarters, also, both in America and in England, more gentle winds seem to be blowing. The "policy of silence" appears to be breaking, and our thanks are due, in the first instance, to the consistent attitude of THE NEW CHURCH QUARTERLY.



     We have received a great number of communications dealing with the discussion on the shape of the spiritual body, etc.,-more than we can possibly publish. Some of our readers are heartily tired of the controversy and have urged us to shut off the discussion in the LIFE, While others are profoundly interested. To the former class we would suggest that they need not read the things that do not interest them, while to the latter class we would drop a gentle hint that when writing to the LIFE on this subject they make use of arguments, and, as far as possible, new arguments.

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     From the OHIO N. C. BULLETIN We learn that the organ which had been constructed by the Rev. Adam Hurdus, the first Pastor of the Cincinnati Society, and had been in the possession of the late Mr. Franklin Lawson, has been placed in the Sunday School room. One of the scholars played the hymns on it and it sounded very sweet. "We hope to have the organ played regularly with the piano, and intend to add one or two violins in leading the service of song."

     Concerning this organ we may add the following, from De Charms' REPORT ON THE TRINE IN THE PRIESTHOOD, p. 97: "Mr. Hurdus at last settled in Cincinnati. Here, in 1808, with eight children, and with a view of preserving them from the falsities of the consummated Church, he performed worship according to the new faith, in his own house. Being a man of mechanical genius, and having made a small chamber organ, he used it as an accompaniment to his singing in worship, and was at first both minister and organist. His organ was the first in Cincinnati. The novelty of it, with singing, attracted many to the services." From other sources we learn that many Indians were attracted by the novel sounds, stealing silently into the room of worship, and as silently stealing away.



     The editor of NEW CHURCH LIFE has received instalments of a musical publication, entitled THE GOLDEN TREASURY OF SONG. Words and music by W. J. C. Thiel. This work was prepared for use in the Sunday School of the "Jehovah Congregation of the New Church," which is located in Chicago. The hymns, both words and music, are widely different from those used in the societies of the General Church. They are in the style of the Moody and Sankey collection, called "Gospel Hymns." which is used by a large section of the Old Church. But there is no false theology in them, and, while the hymns are not poems, they contain occasional nuggets of truth. The music is reminiscent of the Salvation Army gathering on the street corner, simple in harmony and decidedly rhythmic.

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     It may be that, with the varying kinds of people who will accept the Doctrine in the future, hymns may be needed which correspond in character to the popular songs of secular life. The Church of the future, while one in doctrine, may be diverse in form and ritual, and there may be societies which need just such hymns as THE GOLDEN TREASURY OF SONG.
     BESSE E. SMITH.
"PASTOR PAMBO." 1914

"PASTOR PAMBO."              1914

     In his DIARY (or "Book of Dreams") for 1744, Swedenborg states that on April 17th he received the Holy Supper from the hands of "Pastor Pambo" at The Hague. Unable to find any information as to this clergyman in Tafel's DOCUMENTS, we wrote to our friend, Mr. Gerrit Barger, of The Hague, asking if he could find any trace of "Pastor Pambo" in the records of that city. In response we received the following letter, which will find a valued place in the future "SWEDENBORG ARCHIVES:"*
     * This Pastor Pambo may have been that "preacher at The Hague" who is mentioned in S. D. 6070 and L. J. 187. "He was of the doctrine of faith alone, and, appeared altogether like a dragon," and he was of the crew that endeavored to devour the Woman with the Male Child. Compare A. R. 543-ED

     LETTER FROM MR. G. BARGER CONCERNING "PASTOR PAMBO."

     I can now begin to answer your inquiry about Pastor Pambo.

     My surmise that I must seek him among the German Lutherans at The Hague proved correct.

     We have at The Hague an old Lutheran church, now Dutch, but in 1680-90 it was established here as a German congregation. In their best days they had three ministers, called from Germany. In 1832 the last German minister died and Dutch Lutheran ministers were called, but these were "modern," which did not satisfy the remaining Germans, and after a few years, about 1852, they formed a German church at The Hague. The Protestant (Reformed) churches at The Hague had also become "modern" and some well-known Dutch noble families joined this German church for that reason.

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     In examining, yesterday, the archives of this German Lutheran church, styled the "Evangelical Lutheran" church, I found that in July, 1732, "Doctorandus JOHANN GOTTTLEB PAMBO" became one of the two ministers; he was called from Hertogenbosch in Holland, where he had served eight years, and was to have a salary of 1,000 Caroli Gulden (Dutch florins at that time). In 1735 some dispute arose between him and his colleague, Rev. Maassen, which was settled by a compact, signed by a number of people.

     The leader of this arbitration compact was Baron Preis, the Swedish Ambassador then at The Hague, and who, the DOCUMENTS tell us, called on Pastor Pambo on behalf of Swedenborg.

     There is also an old book "giving the names of those who are desirous to take with us the Sacrament." (1st vol., 1661-1760.)

     The folio pages of this book have two columns of names, giving the year and the ecclesiastical name of the Sunday and giving on the average, say, 12-20 names. In 1744 there is also a list of about to names of members admitted, dated 2 April, 1744. This list just comes to the right-hand corner of a right-hand page, about three-fourths of the length of the folio page, and at the bottom there was just room to write with a different pen and in different ink two more lines:
     "d H. EMANUEL SCHWEDENBORG, Assessor in bergwerk collegie in Schweden."
     Very sincerely yours,
          G. BARGER.
               The Hague,
                    30 July, 1914.

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INSPIRATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 1914

INSPIRATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT              1914

     In an editorial in the June LIFE we stated that "in each of the Divine Revelations the inspiration descends to a different plane: in the Old Testament the very letters are filled with the Divine; in the New Testament the words are inspired; and in the Heavenly Doctrine the thoughts." Commenting on this statement, the Rev. S. C. Branniche, in the July-August issue of NORDISK NYKIRKELIGT TIDSKRIFT, agrees that the inspiration of the Old Testament descends to the very letters of the Hebrew text, "but," says our friend, "we have looked in vain for any confirmation from Swedenborg for the teaching that the inspiration of the New Testament does not reach further down than to the words, and it would greatly interest us to learn what Mr. Odhner can adduce in proof of this assertion."

     The nature of the Divine Inspiration in the books of the New Testament is undoubtedly on a plane intermediate between the sensuous plane of the Hebrew Scriptures and the rational plane of the Latin Writings. The inspiration of the Old Testament is very fully described in the Heavenly Doctrine, but comparatively little is said concerning the inspiration of the New Testament, and our statement concerning the latter should therefore be regarded as a suggestion rather than a dogmatic assertion. It is, however, based on a number of considerations which to us seem conclusive.

     1. The intermediate nature of the New Testament is self-evident not only because of its historical position in the chain of Divine Revelations, but also because of its general style and composition. We are taught that "the interior things of the Word, of the Church, and of worship, were revealed by the Lord when He was in the world; and now again things still more interior." (A E- 641) "At the end of the Israelitish Church there were revealed by the Lord interior Divine truths for the Christian Church; and now truths still more interior for the coming Church." (A. E. 94)

     2. That the New Testament, like the Old, was verbally inspired is evident from the following teaching:

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"Because every word [in the Apocalypse] signifies something spiritual, therefore not a single word can be lacking without the series of things in the internal sense thereby suffering a change; and on this account it is said at the end of that book: 'If anyone shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, and from that holy city, and from those things which are written in that book.' (ch. 22:19.) It is the same with the books of the Word of the Old Testament; in them also every single thing and every single word contains an internal or spiritual sense, on which account not one word can be taken away from them either." (L. J. 41.)

     3. That, nevertheless, the Divine inspiration in the New Testament does not descend to the same ultimate level as in the Hebrew Scriptures, seems manifest from the teaching that "by the Divine Providence of the Lord it came to pass that the Word, ESPECIALLY [imprimis] the Word of the Old Testament, has been preserved as to every jot and tittle from the time when it was written. And it has also been shown to me from heaven that in the Word not only every word, but also every syllable, and-what may seem incredible-every little horn of a letter in the original tongue involves something holy which becomes perceptible to the angels of the inmost heaven." (A. C. 9349.)

     While there can be no doubt but that the Word of the New Testament also has been preserved entire, the term "especially" indicates the possibility for some degree of textual criticism in respect to the Greek Scriptures. An instance of such criticism, recognized by Swedenborg, occurs in Rev. 2:9, where, in the message to the Church in Smyrna, the words "but thou art rich" are included in parenthesis. Swedenborg, in A. R. 95, observes this fact, and states that these words "are included in parenthesis, because they are omitted in some manuscripts." Nevertheless, the internal sense of these words is given in A. E. 118, showing that they do belong to the Word. The lesson to be drawn is that in the New Testament the interior truths stand forth more nakedly than in the Old, and that on this account there has not been a need of the same extreme care for the minutiae of the Greek text as that which was provided for the Hebrew.

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     4. That in the New Testament there is a verbal rather than literal inspiration, seems manifest, especially from the difference between the Greek and the Hebrew tongue. The latter is unique in the Divine fulness of meaning in every curve and apex of every single letter. There is nothing in the Heavenly Doctrine to indicate that the same can be said of the Greek or any other writing. The Greek letters are indeed derived from the Hebrew, by way of the Phoenician alphabet, but in the transmission the original forms have become so changed that the similarity is scarcely recognizable.

     The same is the case with the many Hebrew names which are given in Greek forms in the New Testament. Take, for instances, the name of the Lord Himself-JESUS,-which is the Hellenized form of the Hebrew IEHOSHUA, meaning "Jehovah saveth." Some of the original Hebrew radical letters remain in the Greek form, but some have been lost and especially the H, which is the most important of all. "Jesus" means the same as "Jehoshua," but only by derivation and thus more remotely. The inspiration, and consequently the signification, rests upon the name "Jesus" as a word in general rather than upon each letter and curve of each letter in the name.

     Take as another illustration "the coasts of Caesarea Philippi," (Matth. 16:13), where the Lord and His disciples were when Peter made his grand confession: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." What is the special signification of "Caesarea Philippi?" We looked in vain in the Writings and the letter of the Word, but the meaning became perfectly clear when we remembered that Caesarea Philippi was nothing but the Roman name of the ancient city of Dan. And "Dan" everywhere signifies "acknowledgment!" The Hebrew name "Dan," as a whole and in every letter, perfectly expresses the principle of acknowledgment, but the name "Casarea Philippi" expresses the same only by virtue of the location of the city.

     Our view of this subject, however, is only tentative, and if Mr. Bronniche, or any one else, can offer something more conclusive, we shall certainly be open to conviction.

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Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified       ALFRED ACTON       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     In your October issue, p. 615, you say, "In denying the human figure Mr. Gill and Mr. Acton often, in so many words, deny the human form. Mr. Acton, for instance, in his book says in a heading on p. 90, 'The human form is appropriated to man by means of ultimate appearances; these remain after death.' He means here undoubtedly the 'human figure,' but makes a slip because the fact is that earthly minds cannot think of form without some idea of figure."

     Lest there be any misunderstanding, I would ask the privilege of your pages to state that in the passage in my book to which you refer I meant exactly what I said, namely, that the human form is appropriated to man by means of ultimate appearances, and that these ultimate appearances remain after death. My meaning is sufficiently evident from the work itself, pp. 90-96, and needs no elaboration here. ALFRED ACTON. Oct., 1914
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified       GEO. E. HOLMAN       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     I have read with interest (though often with considerable astonishment) the discussion which has been going on now for some time in your pages. Many of the writers quote passages from Swedenborg's scientific works. So far as these works relate to the material universe, they are invaluable; but so far as they relate to the spiritual world, they are valueless; because, as Swedenborg points out in D. L. W. 3941 no one can have any real knowledge of the soul without intromission into the spiritual world and instruction from angels, and Swedenborg's scientific works were written before his intromission into the spiritual world. In the latter part of his life Swedenborg was divinely commissioned to write and publish certain books ("to make known by the press,"-T. C. R. 779) which should contain the doctrines of the New Church including an account of the spiritual world and its inhabitants.

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These books come to us with divine authority and it follows that it is to them that we must go for information on the subject of the spiritual world. In the course of his preparation for writing these books, Swedenborg made voluminous notes (the SPIRITUAL DIARY). These notes were never published by him and were evidently not intended for publication. In many cases their sentences are incomplete and, though sufficiently clear for Swedenborg's own purposes, they are often incapable of conveying a clear idea to anyone else. It seems, therefore, contrary to common sense to take these rough notes of Swedenborg as the basis for any particular doctrine. I have no doubt that all that is written in the SPIRITUAL DIARY is, when properly understood, quite in accord with what is contained in the Writings proper, but it is only to the works which Swedenborg himself published by Divine command that we can go with absolute certainty for instruction.

     In regard to the form of the spiritual body, Mr. Acton calls attention to the fact that Swedenborg says the nature of the limbus is difficult to describe (Div. Wis. VIII, 5). I have always taken this to refer to the quality of the limbus as a substance, and an examination of the passage will, I think, convince most people that this is the correct interpretation, and that it has nothing to do with the shape of the spiritual body. It is true that in many passages Swedenborg states that there is a marked difference between the material body and the spiritual body. In A. C. 820, for example, he says that spirits do not have teeth "like men." But that does not mean that they do not have teeth at all. The substance is different; but the material form is not due to material substance, but to the spiritual form which dwells within it.

     Many passages might be quoted to show that in the world of spirits and in the hells, owing to the plasticity of spiritual substance and its rapid response to mental influences, the alterations of state in the progress of spirits, from external to internal, cause a temporary instability of external form. But the permanent spiritual form is the human form as we know it. This is what appears to be doubted by some of our friends who try to imagine something higher.

773


We ought not to forget that the human form, as we know it in this world, is the highest form we can possibly conceive. If we try to picture to ourselves a more perfect and yet different form, we shall fail dismally. We can imagine a different form which is lower, but not one which is higher. The most perfect of all forms, and the origin of all forms, is the Divine Form; and the human form, as we know it in this world, is the image of God. We are told in D. L. W.

     Because God is a man, He has a body and everything belonging to the body; consequently He has a face, a breast, an abdomen, loins, feet; for apart from these He would not be a man. And, having these, He has also eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, tongue; and, further, the organs which are within a man, as the heart and the lungs and the parts which depend on these, all of which, taken together, make a man to be a man. In the created man, these parts are many and, regarded in their tissue-works, they are innumerable; but in God Man they are infinite, nothing being wanting, and therefore to Him belongs infinite perfection. A comparison is made between the uncreate man, who is God, and the created man, because God is a man, and it is said by Him that the man of this world was created after His image and into His likeness. (Gen. 1, 26, 27.)

     Nothing can be plainer than this. We are here instructed, not merely that we ought to think of God as being in the human form as we know it, but that such is the actual fact. Of course, the divine human form is different from the material human form, but it is a difference in degree, not in kind. Mr. Acton has referred to A. C. 2553 and 3869, which passages state that Jehovah has not ears and eyes like men have. There is nothing here contrary to the teaching in D. L. W. 18, because not only is there the difference between Divine Substance and material substance, but by "Jehovah" is meant the Divine Inmost, not the Divine External, and the question under discussion is as to the external or body.

     Speaking of men in the Christian world who are in gross ignorance as to angels and spirits, Swedenborg says:-

     Because they thus ascribe to spirits nothing human except a thinking faculty, they believe that they do not see because they have no eyes, nor hear because they have no ears, nor speak because they have neither mouth nor tongue. (H. H. 74.)

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     And in H. H. 75, Swedenborg goes on to say:-

     From all my experience, which has now continued for many years, I can declare and solemnly affirm that angels as to form are in every respect men; that they have faces, eyes, ears, body, arms, hands and feet; that they see, hear and converse with each other and, in a word, that they are deficient in nothing that belongs to a man except that they are not clothed over all with a material body.

     No other interpretation can be put upon these passages than their obvious meaning. The Writings are not given in symbolic language. They are the revelation which was prophesied by the Lord on earth when he said, "The time cometh when I will no longer speak to you in parables but will shew you plainly of the Father."
     Yours faithfully,
          GEO. E. HOLMAN.
               London, Oct. 16, 1914.
Title Unspecified 1914

Title Unspecified       WILLIAM EVENS       1914

Editor NEW CHURCH LIFE:
     When Mr. Gill first advocated in the LIFE the peculiar ideas with regard to the bodies of angels and spirits which have since been described as somewhat similar to Idealism, Docetism, Tulkism, and Gnosticism, and more lately as "the Appearance Theory," it seemed to me so diametrically opposed to the teaching of the Writings as to be unworthy of serious consideration. But now, since professors of theology are advocating the same views, it seems necessary to modify that opinion. While I do not suppose that anything I can say will have much, if any, effect, I would like to be allowed to express a few thoughts on the subject, and also to draw attention to some passages in the Writings which to my mind are more convincing than all the arguments which have been advanced to show that the spiritual body is not in the human shape.

     Some years ago I expressed the opinion that some of the ministers of the General Church were making a great mistake in estimating too highly Swedenborg's scientific and philosophical works; that their position was untenable, and that there was grave danger of its lessening their influence, especially with the younger members of the Church.

775


They have now advanced to more "interior views," and whatever may be their views in the future, I believe that their usefulness will be diminished, and their influence weakened as the inevitable result of their advocacy of these so-called interior views.

     S. D. 1342 has been quoted to show that spirits do not have lips, because it is said that a certain spirit was "instructed by a lively demonstration" that he had no lips. That material lips are meant is evident from S. D. 1718, when it is said that "those who think themselves to be corporeal, or who are in corporeal phantasies . . . as is the case with many recently departed souls . . . imagine themselves to be living altogether in their bodies, nor can they be dispossessed of that phantasy, unless by living demonstrations of which see in abundance elsewhere."

     In A. C. 322 we are told that "man loses nothing by death, but is still a man in all respects;" but in A. C. 3869 it is stated that "Jehovah has neither ears nor eyes like a man." Now let us turn to D. L. W. 18, which treats particularly of the nature of God: "That there are infinite things in God anyone may affirm in himself who believes that God is a man; and that being a man, he has a body, and everything belonging to it, thus that He has a face, a breast, an abdomen, loins, and feet; for without these He would not be a man; and that having these. He has also eyes, ears, nostrils, a mouth, and a tongue; and also the organs within a man, as the heart and lungs, and their dependencies; all which taken together, are what make a man to be a man."

     Notwithstanding the above Mr. Acton says on page 175 of his work on THE NATURE OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD (although admitting that the Lord is seen by the angels "in ultimate human form with all the parts thereof"). . . "yet the Lord is not in this form."

     Now, as regards the Lord, do not we of the New Church worship Him as a glorious Divine Man? Do we not believe that the Lord rose again with His "whole body;" not a material body, but a Divine glorified body? And is not the belief in the Divine Human the most important of all the doctrines of the New Church?

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It does not follow from this that we think materially of God, for we are told that to think of His essence from person is to think materially, but to think of His person from essence is to think spiritually of God. Yet the idea of the Lord being in the human shape must ever be the basis on which the mind can rest, for we worship "a visible God, in whom is the invisible;" and we are assured in the Writings that this is the principal reason why the New Jerusalem will be the crown of all the Churches.

     In A. C. 4223 we are told that "sight cannot be conceived without the eye, nor respiration without the lungs." In A. C. 5078 we read: "It is not his external, which he carried about in the world, which he sees and touches, but it is the infernal, which constitutes that very human principle which lives. Its body, such as it has there, sees with its eyes, not those which it had in the world, but those which it has there, which are the eyes of its internal man; . . . it also feels it with the touch, not with the hands as sense of touch which it had enjoyed in the world, but with the hands and sense of touch which it there enjoys." See also H. H. 75: "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 there is nothing whatever wanting to them that belongs to men. . . it has also been granted me to see an angel of the inmost heaven . . . he had a human form in all perfection"

     These statements are explicit enough, surely, and cannot be explained away by any "interior view." In H. H. 181, it is said: "The garments of angels do not merely appear as garments, but really are garments," etc. In D. L. W. 388 it is stated that "the material form, added and superinduced in the world is not a human form of itself;" and in the next number it is stated that "for a man to be a man, no part must be wanting, either in the head, or the body." D. L. W. 391 is very clear as to the bodies of spirits and angels, as follows: "Spirits when questioned concerning this matter said that they are as much men as men in the world, and that they have a body, but a spiritual one, and that they also feel the pulsation of the heart in the chest, and of the artery at the wrist, like men in the natural world."

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     Mr. Acton's refutation of the charges of Docetism (from dokeo, "to seem"), Tulkism, and Idealism, is not quite satisfactory, as there is certainly some resemblance to those doctrines in the views he advocates. All those doctrines may be described as a belief in unrealities, in things which are not, but only seem or appear to be, as in the case with the bodies of angels and spirits according to the new view.

     If it should ever become the prevailing opinion in the New Church that the things recorded in H. H. about the bodies of angels and spirits are not realities, but mere appearances, few will then take the trouble to read this book at all.

     Men of great learning and undoubted sincerity have, in past ages, unwittingly led people astray, being "confused with hypotheses and scholastics." (See S. D. 2736)

     "Every falsity can be confirmed so as to appear like truth" (S. D. 5848); but "it is not the part of an intelligent man to be able to confirm whatever he pleases, but it is the part of an intelligent man to be able to see that the true is true, and that the false is false." (T. C. R. 334)
     WILLIAM EVENS.
          Randolph, Ont.

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Church News 1914

Church News       Various       1914

     FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS.

     BRYN ATHYN. The past month in Bryn Athyn has been largely occupied with a mass of meetings,-a condition which, to many of us, is becoming something of an affliction. Either owing to the complexity of our social organization, or to the activity of our professional consciences, we find ourselves burdened with an increasing number of business meetings, committee meetings, meetings of teachers, etc. Some of them are, of course, inevitable, but this habit of "meeting" on every possible occasion and subject, is one that increases with exercise.

     The annual meeting of the society was held on November 4th, and was mostly engaged in reading reports and discussion thereon. The pastor of the Society, in his address, spoke of the need for closer attention to preparation for the Sunday worship, and urged that an effort be made to exempt the preceding evening from distracting and disturbing influences. An attempt is therefore to be made to use Friday evening for social occasions and public entertainments, and for this purpose the weekly supper has been transferred from Friday to Wednesday evening.

     The Civic and Social Club elected its officers and discussed its problems and policies at the annual meeting of October 19th, and the Younger Generation opened its year on November 7th, when President Whitehead gave an address on "Probable Causes and Results of the Present European War." The strict neutrality of the LIFE, (upon this topic, at least) prevents any more detailed report of the address and discussion.*
     * It is only the Editorial Department that is and must be neutral.

     Two dances were given around Hallowe'en season; one by the school, and the other, a "Farmer's Costume Party," under the management of the Civic and Social Club. Perhaps it is fortunate that only once a year do we sacrifice our hard earned dignity to the requirements of a Hallowe'en costume ball, for this was a remarkably hilarious and truly rural evening.

779




     We are enjoying the presence of Doctor Fercken among us. He is lately from the island of Mauritius, and favored us on November 7th with a complete account of the history and nature of the Mauritius societies of the New Church. He has also addressed the Younger Generation as to certain experiences, amusing enough in retrospect, connected with the first days of the war in Europe. He occupied the pulpit on November 8th and gave us a most interesting sermon.

     Mr. Pitcairn was kind enough to devote an evening, on November 1st, to telling us of his experiences in Europe during the past few months. A large number attended the lecture and heard an account which gave a vivid impression as to conditions in warring Europe, and also gave us some anxiously awaited information as to the well-being of our Church friends in the war zone.

     An account of Mr. Pitcairn's visit to Paris, the Hague, and Stockholm, has already appeared in the LIFE. A number of the Bryn Athyn folks, who visited the Continent in July last, gathered in London, at the end of the month, in order to attend the British Assembly. After the meeting Dr. Deltenre returned to Brussels, Mr. Pitcairn remaining in London in the constant hope that developments would soon enable him to arrange his business affairs in Belgium, (connected with the plate glass factory at Courcelles, employing 700 men), and to obtain some definite news as to Dr, Deltenre and his family. It was not until after the occupation of Brussels by the Germans, and the fall of Antwerp, that he was able to return to the captured city. The account of the dangers and difficulties and diplomatic negotiations, which were experienced on the journey, was of great interest, but there is not room to recount it here; the story is to be published in full in the coming issue of THE BULLETIN. Mr. Pitcairn finally arrived in Brussels on October 17th, and found Dr. Deltenre and his family in good health, and not, as yet, suffering any very serious inconvenience through the occupation of Brussels, though the mission has been closed.

780


The sign has been taken down and a brass plate has been put on the door, bearing the inscription: "American University; The Academy of the New Church Book Room and Dispensatory." The American flag is also hanging from a window.

     Mr. Pitcairn concluded his address by saying that he felt deep gratification to be able to bring home to the anxious people in America word that all is well,-as well as can be midst the distress of war,-with our friends and co-workers in grief-stricken Belgium. D. R.

     PITTSBURGH, PA. The Rev. C. Th. Odhner, on October 22d, visited our society, as the guest of the "Philosophy Club," to whom he read a paper on "Creation in the Spiritual World." A Banquet and a Local Assembly were held on the evening of Friday, Oct. 23d, when Bishop W. F. Pendleton delivered an address on "Freedom," which was followed by an interesting discussion. On Sunday, Oct. 25th, Mr. Odhner preached to the society, the subject being "The Story of Absalom."

     ERIE, PA. The visiting pastor, the Rev. F. E. Waelchli, spent several days with the Society in October. On Thursday evening, the 15th, a meeting was held at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Evens, at which ten were present to listen to an account of Extension Work done by the General Church. On Sunday, the 19th, services were held at the house of Dr. and Mrs. Edward Cranch. Twenty-four were present, of whom eighteen partook of the Holy Supper. The baptism of the infant of Mr. and Mrs. Miltiades Glenn also took place. In the evening a doctrinal class was held at the house of Mr. and Mrs. George Evens; thirteen present. On Monday evening a social was held at the house of Dr. and Mrs. Cranch. There were twenty-three present. The excellent program of music, readings and games was enjoyed by all. The pastor also gave an address in the course of the evening, in which he encouraged the members to continue in their zeal in the cause of the Church and to look with good hope to the future.

     ABINGTON, MASS. We are once more settled for our winter season after a most delightful summer.

781


Our ecclesiastical welfare was in the hands of Mr. Gustaf Baeckstrom, of the Theological School in Bryn Athyn, while Mr. Harris was in Canada during the warm weather, and we all greatly enjoyed the services of Mr. Baeckstrom.

     Four members of the Bryn Athyn Society found their way here this summer: Messrs. Arthur, George and Hubert Synnestvedt and Mr. Reginald Smith.

     The reading classes are now in full swing, and Mr. Harris finds himself busy in that line of work. He has a class Monday evening, Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The Wednesday evening class is a new one this fall, and the work under consideration is the WORSHIP AND LOVE OF GOD.

     The Social Season opened with a surprise party for Mrs. Hollis on Friday, Oct. 23. Charades were acted and refreshments served, after which dancing followed.

     Mrs. T. S. Harris has gone to her old home in Canada for a two months' visit. G. M. L.

     MIDDLEPORT, PA. Middleport once more feels alert and awake and has taken heart again as to some kind of life in the Society. The Rev. F. E. Waelchli arrived here early Friday evening, October 23d, and later in the evening a few of our people met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Boggess to meet him and become acquainted. On Sunday, services were held at the church, at which twenty-one were in attendance. Monday afternoon a ladies' meeting was held at the home of the Misses Grant. At this meeting Mr. Waelchli discussed that part of children's education which pertains more to their training from the time of birth until they enter school. This was intensely interesting and instructive. At this meeting seven were present.

     Tuesday evening a men's meeting was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Boggess, and on Wednesday evening Doctrinal Class was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Williamson. Fifteen attended this meeting. Thursday evening a Supper was given at the home of Dr. Hanlin, at which there were twenty. As Ohio was at that time in the threes of a political campaign in which were two issues-State-wide Prohibition and Woman's Suffrage,-Mr. Waelchli discussed both questions from the point of view of the Doctrines.

782


It was most interesting and though none of us were Prohibitionists or Suffragets we were more "agin" it than ever. Friday evening a few gathered at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Boggess for a singing practice.

     Happily, Mr. Waelchli could be with us for two weeks, and on Sunday, November first, services were held and the Holy Supper was administered. Nineteen were in attendance at church and all partook of the Holy Supper. A meeting was held that night at the home of Dr. Hanlin, at which Mr. Waelchli gave an account of the Extension Work carried on by him in the Canadian Northwest. The sixteen who were present at this meeting were much interested in the work done there and rejoiced greatly in the success of the work.

     Monday afternoon another Ladies' Meeting was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Boggess, at which twelve were present. Tuesday evening there was nothing doing in the meeting line owing to the election. Ohio went "wet;" also we killed Woman's Suffrage. Good old Ohio! Wednesday evening a Men's Meeting was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Boggess with an attendance of eight. Since the meetings and services have been held we have felt more cheerful over an outlook of some sort for a New Church Society in Middleport. We expect to have a Sunday School for our handful of children and we hope to keep some life going and, perhaps, in the not far distant future, Providence will see fit to send a regular minister to Middleport.

     TORONTO, ONT. The Olivet Church is steadily becoming a larger New Church center. On Sunday, October 4th, we had to open the school room to accommodate the increased congregation. This increase is due to several causes. Many of the children of the society are now old enough to attend service regularly. Three families from England have joined us recently. We have also several newly married couples whose presence adds much to the happy sphere of our gatherings as well as to our members. These are Mr. and Mrs. Percy Izzard, Mr. and Mrs. Barker, Dr. and Mrs. Richardson, and we are now looking forward to welcoming Mr. Doering Bellinger and his bride.

783


There are also some inquirers from the Old Church, attending classes and services and apparently much interested in the Doctrines.

     Miss Celia Bellinger, who has gone to teach in Pittsburgh, will be missed this season for her unobtrusive, but capable helpfulness in preparing entertainments. One of the most effective of these was given for the children last summer. After the children had had their 19th of June fete on the church grounds they were shown a "Representation" of Swedenborg completing the work, "The True Christian Religion." Also of "the Disciples being sent through the Spiritual World to teach the Advent of the Lord." The Representation was given in Mr. Charles Brown's garden and was enjoyed by a large number of the adults as well as the children.

     After attending the Ministers' Meeting in June, at Bryn Athyn, our pastor, Mr. Cronlund, sailed from New York on the 26th for England on the way to Sweden. Mr. Cronlund was joined in New York by his brother-in-law, Mr. Robert Somerville, of Toronto, and they did their sightseeing in London and Sweden together, Mr. Somerville afterwards going on to the Continent, while Mr. Cronlund remained at Sodertelje, his childhood home, to visit his mother.

     Mr. Cronlund's visit was only half over when the European war broke out and we feared, for a time, he would be detained indefinitely, owing to the mines in the North Sea. However, we were able to welcome him home at a social on September 11th, when he gave us a most interesting account of his trip abroad. His sight-seeing included as many of the places associated with the memory of Swedenborg, both in London and in Sweden, as his time would allow. He also expressed the pleasure he had experienced in visiting many of the scenes of his boyhood days. Above all he had the privilege of baptizing into the New Church his mother, his two sisters, and one of his sister's two children.

     Mr. Cronlund experienced many delays and difficulties in obtaining a passage across the North Sea, but at length secured one from Bergen. Providence protected their ship from the mines in those waters and the voyage across the Atlantic was safe and uneventful.

784




     The Rev. J. E. Bowers officiated as our pastor during Mr. Cronlund's absence.

     Monday, October 12th, was our Canadian Thanksgiving Day, but we held our Social on Friday, the 16th. A committee of young people had charge of the arrangements and it was a most delightful affair. During the evening Miss Carswell, with her violin, and Mrs. Richardson, who is a most accomplished pianist, rendered some charming musical numbers.

     A large club of young people has been formed and it bids fair to have a successful winter's work. Mr. Cronlund conducts a doctrinal class the first part of the evening, which is followed by a social or literary entertainment.

     On September 23d the Wednesday Doctrinal Classes commenced with a paper by our pastor on "War and Divine Providence." It was most instructive to learn the meaning of war in the light of the Doctrines and to have our thoughts directed towards the Lord's Divine Providence in permitting even this tragic event for the sake of the states which will follow which will be more receptive of the Lord's new Dispensation of Truth.

     The two following classes were devoted to papers by the pastor on "The Form of Angels and Spirits in the Spiritual World."

     We have now commenced our regular subject of study for the winter and are reading and studying the work on THE DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM.
     B. S.

     A MISSIONARY JOURNEY OF THE REV. JOHN HEADSTEN.-In the middle of July I started on a missionary trip, which extended to the West Coast, and lasted until Sept. 28th. I visited fifteen places-five in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and ten in Washington State and Oregon. Thirty-two meetings and classes were held, with an average attendance of over thirteen. The Holy Supper was administered three times, to thirteen persons. Two adults were baptized. While this trip was more a reconnoitering tour, and must be followed up if some good is to result, yet I feel certain that the money and energy spent was not wasted. Of the eleven Sundays, five were spent in Spokane, Wash., where the General Church has a circle under the leadership of Mr. Emil Hansen.

785


Beside the regular Sunday morning services at the home of Mr. Hansen, and three classes during the week-one for adults and two for the children and the younger folks,-five missionary services were held at a rented hall in the center of the city-three in English and two in Swedish. The average attendance in Spokane at the forenoon services was 20,-the children's classes 11, and the adult 9. The English missionary services averaged 23, and the Swedish 8 in attendance. In Seattle I held three public meetings-two in English and one in Swedish, 17 attending the former and 17 the latter. At these meetings I met three persons who were readers, but knew nothing about the New Church organizations. In Everett, Wash., I held three meetings at the home of my old corresponding friend, Mr. C. E. Johnson. He and his wife were glad to meet a New Church minister, and expressed themselves very strongly to that effect, Mr. Johnson being a Swedish Finlander, all of the 28 who attended the three meetings were of his own nationality. In Birmingham, 15 miles down the Sound from Everett, I spent four days with our New Church friend, Mr. Thos. Stigen. At his house I simply rested. There are, however, some readers in the vicinity that I hope can be reached later on. Two days were spent in Portland, Ore., where I called on Mr. and Mrs. Castell and spent a pleasant evening with them. Mr. Castell is the president of the Portland New Church Society. Here a family was started to read the Heavenly Doctrines. From there I went to Mayger, Ore., to meet an old acquaintance of mine through correspondence, Mr. Erick Chilen. He being a fisherman, and much interested in the Church, a night was spent with him on the Columbia river, where he has lived in a house-boat for 24 years. The next day he took me ten miles up the river in his gasoline boat to Rainier, Ore., where Mr. C. F. Jernquist, another acquaintance, was staying; he, also, is interested in the New Church and was glad that I looked him up. In Tacoma, Wash., I called on Mr. and Mrs. Slater, but beyond a pleasant conversation with them, and providing another party with some of the Writings, nothing could be done. I met Mrs. Osborne at our service in Spokane later on. In Minneapolis I held a parlor meeting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Sandin. My visit was much appreciated, and 15 attended the meeting.

786


A trip was also made to Sutsen, Minn., where Mrs. C. A. R. Nelson is interested in the Church. A meeting was held at Nelson's Hall; 20 attended, and three persons provided themselves with some of the Writings. I called on Mr. Peter Sonesson, at Pine City, Minn., who has been a receiver a long time. I was the first New Church minister he had met. There I was to hold two meetings, but, owing to a hitch in the arrangement, they could not be held. The last place visited was Arpin, Wis., where our New Church friend, Mr. Alfred Bergsten, lives. There I baptized him, and his son, Alvin, and held a meeting in the school house. From there I went home, glad to be back among my own after a rather strenuous trip.
     JOHN HEADSTEN.

     FROM OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

     UNITED STATES. The Rev. Clyde W. Bromell, having retired from active work in the ministry, is at present engaged in the establishment of a rest cure institution at Sharon Heights, Mass.

     "That thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." While this promise has an application more directly spiritual than natural, earthly instances of its force are none the less interesting. In the MESSENGER for Nov. 11 is an account of the celebration of the 99th anniversary of the birthday of Miss Frances Eckstein, of Glendale, Ohio, born in the New Church and a granddaughter of Francis Bailey, the first receiver of the Doctrines in America and the first to publish them here.

     The New Church Society of Indianapolis, after years of expensive litigation, has finally, by decision of the Supreme Court of Indiana, come into possession of the Church property. Extensive repairs and improvements are needed, however, and the Society appeals for help to raise a fund of at least $600.00 for the purpose.

     The new Minneapolis Society, having come into possession of the temple belonging to the former, now extinct, society, celebrated its first communion on Sept. 27th. about 25 communicants partaking of the Holy Supper.

787


There were present also some of the aged people who, about forty years ago, organized the first society. Five young persons were received by baptism into the New Church. The finances of the society are reported in a flourishing condition, and the attendance at the services is increasing.

     CANADA. At the recent meeting of the Canada Association, Oct. 9-12, Mr. Walter W. Tafel, pastor of the Toronto Society, was ordained into the ministry by the Rev. Julian K Smyth. Mr. Tafel is a son of the late Rev. Louis H. Tafel, and is a graduate of the Convention's Theological School.

     Dr. D. L. Thompson, an aged homoeopathic chemist, of Toronto, who died Sept. 5th, 1914, in his will left a bequest of $2,59090, together with his library, to the Toronto Society. Dr. Thompson, who was a strong believer in the Writings as "the Latin Word," was for many years an ardent advocate of the views of Henry Cone and Charles Augustus Tulk.

     INDIA. The following letter from Prof. Bhatt, of Bhavnagar, to Mr. H. N. Morris, of Manchester, is published in the October issue of the English NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE:

     Writing from Bhavnagar on July 14th, Professor Bhatt says:

     "Today it [the new Swedenborg Society] is just three months old and promises to be a useful and growing institution. New and unexpected gentlemen are becoming members and a brilliant future is slowly dawning before us. Mr. Limji [one of the Parsee gentlemen who has been a student of New Church literature for years, and whom I was unable to meet before leaving India] has consented to become the treasurer of our Society, and I shall request him to take up the work when more money comes into our hands.

     "I was delighted to read what you wrote of your experience in Lahore. . . . M. is, I believe, quite right in thinking that though the Christian Missions have hitherto failed in converting India to Christianity, they have paved the way for the truth. . . .

788


Your meeting with Professor Vaswani may prove even more fruitful. I have heard much about him as one of the leaders of the New Dispensation Church' founded by the late Babu Keshub Chandra Sen. If he has accepted the truth of God being a Man, he is very near the acceptance of the glorious teaching of the Second Advent. A reading class has been commenced at Bombay, and Mr. Patel has been reading regularly with a medical student who has become a member of the Society. Sometimes others join them. Several people have borrowed books from the library and are reading and thinking in solitude.

     "Our Quarterly [a proposed magazine to be published by the new Hindi Swedenborg Society] will begin to appear with the beginning of the new year. The intervening time will improve the product.

     "The books sent by the New Church Press, Ltd., are duly received at Bombay and an answer has been already sent to their communication. The Swedenborg Society's letter has been received by the last mail and an answer will be sent next week. Their liberal offer will be suitably acknowledged.

     "I shall certainly send some more articles to the NEW CHURCH MAGAZINE through you, now that the ice is broken.

     "Mr. Amin [a young University student whom I had suggested as a student of our College at London] will not be suitable for training as a missionary, and perhaps he will not be allowed by his parents to devote himself to that work. Besides he is not yet a full receiver. In fact, that provision is not needed at present. Let the doctrine spread, and let us increase in numbers and be ready to organize a Society before we think of training one of us as a minister. Perhaps I may have to prepare myself for that duty or I may send my son after three or four years. Just now he is in the matriculation class.

     "Far better it would be to send a minister to India from time to time who may pass some months in Bombay, hold classes, encourage the reading circles, and also visit other circles in India. I am convinced that the present necessity is not of any of us going to England, but some one from there coming to us, visiting families and sowing seed."

     Mr. Bhatt goes on to describe a visit he received from Rev. F. E. Gyllenhaal of the Academy in America.

789


Mr. Gyllenhaal wrote to say that he had been appointed minister of the New Church Society in Durban and that he was going first to India specially to meet Mr. Bhatt. Mr. Gyllenhaal went to Bhavnagar, a day's journey from Bombay, and stayed there six days.

     Professor Bhatt writes: "Mr. Gyllenhaal is originally of Swedish descent though now settled in the U. S. A. He is about thirty years of age and still unmarried. He stayed here six days and visited my house every day. He gave a lecture on the true idea of Marriage which was well received. While here he was treated as a guest of the State.

     "On the 18th of June we both went to Bombay, and on the 19th the Eucharist was administered to five worshipers. He was there introduced to one or two families and he conversed with a number of friends. I could see that my countrymen would more readily receive the doctrines from, the lips of a white man than from one of their own set. This is the experience that leads me to think, that a minister should visit India either annually or biennially if possible. He need not become a resident. It is enough if he passes some months in India every year or every two years. At any rate a trial ought to be made."

     I have also heard from one of the friends in the Punjab. In an earlier letter he writes a little despondently, and asks if we cannot "send someone to the Punjab who could live in Lahore or some other big town in the Punjab or United Provinces and visit different stations and thus arouse interest amongst the educated classes of Angle-Indians, and Indians, and a depot may as well be started."

     "Unless a proper start can be made from outside," he says, "no true missionary work can be done. However, if you are over again in India next winter you may try and pay us a visit to Lahore and we will see in concert with Professor Vaswani of Lahore what can be done then."

     He gratefully acknowledged the receipt of my letters and books sent out. The latter were sent by the Manchester Printing and Tract Society. He asks for a few more books. "May I ask your favor," he says, "to arrange to send me a few more books. I want for my own use a copy of APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED and REVEALED; for distribution, portions of the TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION in booklet form, such as Charity, Faith, Doctrine of Life, etc., dealing with various subjects.

790


They are cheap and useful for distribution. You may kindly send as many copies of these as you can arrange and they will be disposed of very carefully."

     A recent letter from the Punjab is more cheering to read: "You will be glad," he says, "to know that the Lord graciously in His mercy is opening up the way for me to start a reading circle in Lahore and one or two other places in the Punjab. Before long many people will be reading New Church literature in this part of the country.

     "If it please God that you visit Lahore again, please come prepared to spend a few days with me that I may be able to introduce you to some people here and there reading Swedenborg's works, and it is possible then a branch of the Society may be formed in the Punjab like the one in Bombay.

     "Meantime, I pray kindly try to interest some friends in England and America who may come forward to help financially if a Book Depot was started in this part of India."

     Mr. Morris adds: "I appealed to Conference to help this new movement in India and I appeal again to the Church. We have already sent a sum of L25 and the same amount has been promised from America. At Conference it was decided to make an appeal to the Church for special subscriptions to an Indian Mission Fund, and I learn from the treasurer of Conference that only a small portion of the L25 sent to India has been raised in this way."